Biography of Charles M. Hilleary

Charles M. Hilleary, who had identified himself since early youth with educational work and is now superintendent of the city schools of Humboldt, represents one of the early pioneer families of Bourbon County. He was born at the Village of Xenia in Bourbon County, Kansas, May 28, 1879. His people located in that section of southeastern Kansas prior to the Civil war. The Hillearys came originally from England and were colonial settlers in Virginia. Professor Hilleary’s grandfather Daniel Stump Hilleary was born in 1823. In early life he removed west, to Ohio, later into Illinois, and still later to Kansas. … Read more

Scott, Sarah W., Mrs. – Obituary

Services Held Mrs. Sarah Scott Enterprise, Oregon Memorial services were held Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Bollman Funeral Chapel for Mrs. Sarah W. Scott who passed away Saturday, March 28, in a La Grande hospital where she had been a patient for the past ten days. Rev. John Munsey officiated and Mrs. A.L. Kintner was organist. Soloist was Mrs. Gerald R. Brown who sang “In The Garden” and “Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.” Casket bearers were: Wilbur Reece, Maurice Weaver, William Morris, Ray Repplinger, Lowell Wortman and Pat Wortman and burial was in the Enterprise cemetery. Mrs. Scott was born … Read more

Biography of Orvis Milton Bloom

Orvis Milton Bloom, one of the well known oil producers living at Independence, Kansas, has been closely identified with the oil districts of the southwest for over twenty years. He was born in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1873, a son of A. W. and Rebecca (MacCracken) Bloom. His mother is now living at Independence. Mr. Bloom was one of a large family of children, and his brother, C. L. Bloom, has been one of the most successful oil operators in the southwest. When O. M. Bloom was five years of age his parents moved to Fulton County, Indiana, and … Read more

Biography of John Ellsworth Wiley

John Ellsworth Wiley, a prominent lawyer of Mound City, had been a resident of Kansas for half a century and during his active life had made himself useful both in the field of education and in that of the law and had attained no small degree of success and honor in his chosen vocation. Mr. Wiley was born on a farm in Knox County, Missouri, November 20, 1861, son of Elijah Perry and Amy Jane (Shahan) Wiley. The Wiley family had the spirit of pioneers and have lived successively on various frontiers of advancing civilization. Elijah P. Wiley was born … Read more

Biography of Gilbert Leroy Jordan

Gilbert Leroy Jordan. Through persistent aspiration and unceasing labor, Gilbert LeRoy Jordan has won his way to the most satisfying and stable compensation of business life. Still a young man, with his best years before him, he is at the head of one of Topeka’s prominent business establishments, the College Hill Bakery, located at 1509 Lane Street, an enterprise which he has built up solely through his own efforts. Mr. Jordan commenced his business career without the aiding influences afforded by the possession of financial resources and has been the builder of his own fortune. He has kept persistently at … Read more

Biography of Frank McClellan

Frank McClellan. After many years employed as an educator in Kansas, Frank McClellan turned his attention to business affairs at Coffeyville, and now has one of the leading offices there for insurance and loans. His birthplace was Bedford, Pennsylvania, where he was born January 21, 1860. His grandfather, Abraham McClellan, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1798, came to the United States when a young man, becoming a farmer and stock raiser in Pennsylvania. He died at Rainsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1883. On account of his service in the state militia he was familiarly known as Captain McClellan. Captain McClellan married … Read more

Biography of Col. James Montgomery

Col. James Montgomery, one of the free-state leaders in Kansas and an officer in the Civil war, was a native of Ashtabula County, where he was born in 1814, and was a cousin of the hero of Quebec. In 1837 he went to Kentucky, where he taught school. He moved to Pike County, Missouri, with his family, in 1852, and a year later located in Jackson County in order to be ready to enter Kansas as soon as the territory was organized and the lands opened to settlement. Some of his friends, among whom was Doctor Thornton, knowing him to … Read more

Kansas Registrations of Enemy Aliens, 1917 – 1921

Enemy Alien Registration Affidavit for Bernhardt Vick - Cropped Photo

The series contains original affidavits of registration that record personal information about each registrant, their photograph affixed to the majority of documents, and the registrants fingerprints. All of these are specific to Kansas, and most have the actual documents attached.

Biographical Sketch of Richard W. Blue

Richard W. Blue, a Union veteran of Virginia and a leading lawyer and judge of Kansas, finally advanced to the halis of Congress as a representative of his adopted state. He was born in Wood County, Virginia, September 8, 1841, and was raised on a mountain farm near the present city of Grafton. In 1859 he entered Monongalia Academy at Morgantown, Va., and remained at that institution several years, first as pupil and later as teacher, Subsequently he entered Washington College, Pennsylvania, and remained there until he enlisted in the Third West Virginia Infantry, at the opening of the Civil … Read more

Biography Of Joseph Gardner

The ancestors of Joseph Gardner were descended from Quaker stock which landed upon the shores of Nantucket Island in 1620. Later they lived in North Carolina and emigrated from there to the Territory of Indiana in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It was in Union County, Indiana, that Joseph Gardner was born in July, 1820. His parents, William Gardner and Mary Hollingsworth, were ardently opposed to slavery, hence adhered to the anti-slavery wing of the Quaker Church. Upon attaining his majority, Joseph Gardner aligned himself with the Abolitionists and finally died fighting for the freedom of the slaves. … Read more

Biography of Fred L. Stephenson

Fred L. Stephenson is president of the Commercial State Bank of Yates Center. He had many other interests that connect him with that community, and for many years had been one of the live and energetic citizens, ever ready to co-operate in any plan for the advancement of local welfare. Mr. Stephenson had spent most of his life in Kansas and he owes to his individual energies and the opportunities of the state his prosperity and his position in affairs. His ancestors were English people who came to New York in Colonial days. His grandfather was Thomas Stephenson, a native … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Leslie A. and H. G. Breed

Leslie A. and H. G. Breed, farmers, P. O. Jewell City. Leslie A. was born in Erie County, Pa., December 11, 1855, removed to Johnson County, then to Linn County, thence to Missouri, and came to Jewell County, Kan., in 1873, and took a homestead and timber claim; and the father and son are now the owners of 320 acres of land, and they keep about 60 head of cattle and 120 fine head of hogs. Leslie A. held the office of Township Clerk for four years. He was married December 4, 1879, at McCabe Chapel, in Brown’s Creek Township, … Read more

Mahon, William T. – Obituary

Joseph, Wallowa County, Oregon W.T. Mahon Dies at Joseph Home Another Wallowa county pioneer has passed to the great beyond in the person of William T. Mahon, who died at his home near Joseph Friday, November 13, 1936. William T. Mahon was born March 8, 1853, in Illinois and died aged 83 years, 8 months and 5 days. When a child he moved with his folks to La Cygne, Kansas, where in May of 1874 he was united in marriage to Sophia R. Conley. To this union, which lasted for 62 years, four children were born, all of whom survive … Read more

Biography of Joseph Henry Hoopingarner

Joseph Henry Hoopingarner has for twenty-five years been identified with the Methodist Conference in Kansas, though he has not spent all of that time in the active ministry. He is a large property owner and is now pastor of the leading church at Baxter Springs. He comes of a very interesting family of pioneers in Southeastern Kansas. Rev. Mr. Hoopingarner himself was born in Crawford County, Kansas, April 3, 1871, only a few years after the real settlement of that region began. His ancestry goes back to Wuertemberg, Germany, where his great-grandfather Coonrad Hoopingarner was born. Coonrad and a brother … Read more

Biography of J. A. Brown, Hon.

Hon. J. A. Brown. In choosing the individual who shall occupy the highest official position within the gift of the municipality, the citizens of any live community may be generally trusted to name one who had proven his worth and ability in his own affairs, his fitness for handling large issues and his loyalty to the welfare of his section. The complex and perplexing duties attaching to the office of mayor of a thriving city such as La Harpe call for a high order of civic courage, for absolute integrity, and for progressiveness tempered with conservatism, for a community is … Read more

Conley, Mary Eliza Wood Mrs. – Obituary

Mrs. J. M. Conley Dies, Early Settler Here Mrs. J. M. Conley, resident of the Flora district for many years, passed away at a nursing home at Milton, Monday, February 26. She had been in poor health for some years and had been cared for in a private institution. Funeral services were held yesterday at Milton, and were attended by her daughters who live in Wallowa county, and by Mrs. J. C. Conley and Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Strickler. Mary Eliza Wood was born December 6, 1859, and was married to Jesse Monroe Conley at Mulberry, Missouri December 25, … Read more

Biography of Col. Ezra M. Beardsley

Perhaps throughout Rock Island County there is no name so often recalled or regarded among old settlers as that of Colonel Ezra M. Beardsley, unless it be those of the late Major James M. Beardsley, or the former’s brother, James M. Beardsley. The life of Ezra was one of incessant activity and brilliant success, and up to the time of his death and since he was highly esteemed as an exemplary citizen, a patriot of the most courageous and pronounced character, and a man whom all were delighted to call friend. Strong as iron, he was a child; gentle as … Read more

Biography of Keenan Hurst

Keenan Hurst, a veteran of the Civil war, forty years a resident of Elk County, is one of the most widely known and esteemed men in this section of Kansas. He followed farming and stock raising several years, took an active part in politics, finally entered the legal profession, and had handled a general practice as an attorney at Howard. He is now serving as city attorney and deputy county attorney. Mr. Hurst was born in Warren County, Ohio, March 5, 1839. His Hurst ancestors came from England to Virginia in colonial days. His grandfather, George Hurst, was born in … Read more

Biography of Hon. Jeremiah D. Botkin

Hon. Jeremiah D. Botkin. This distinguished citizen of Kansas was born April 24, 1849, in a log house on a farm in Logan County, Illinois. His parents were Richard and Nancy (Barr) Botkin, and his ancestry traces straight back to a Revolutionary hero. Richard Botkin was born April 24, 1822, in Clark County, Ohio, and he died at Wellington, Kansas, March 24, 1898. He was a son of George and Sarah (Hester) Botkin, the father being a native of Virginia and the son of Charles Botkin, a Revolutionary soldier from that state, and the mother a native of Ohio. Richard … Read more

Biography of Rufus Joel Hill

Rufus Joel Hill. There are many points of historical interest pertinent to the personal career and ancestral record of this venerable pioneer citizen who is now living practically retired in his pleasant home at Independence, Montgomery County. On both the paternal and maternal sides he is a scion of fine old American colonial stock and individually he had precedence as being one of the pioneer members of the Kansas bar, as well as a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen who had played well his part in connection with the civic and material development and progress of the Sunflower State, within whose … Read more