Biography of George Dabney Ellis

One of the founders of Boise City and one of the most active spirits in the upbuilding and progress of this thriving place during the past quarter of a century has been George D. Ellis, a pioneer of Idaho, whither he came in 1863. He is and has been the president of the Capital State Bank of Boise City for several years; is a stock-holder and general manager and treasurer of the electric street-car line of this place and is a stock-holder and a director of the Artesian Hot & Cold Water Company, besides having materially aided and fostered many … Read more

Biography of John G. Haskell

John G. Haskell, who made a reputation both as a soldier and an architect, was born in Chittenden County, Vermont, February 5, 1832, and was educated at Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. In 1855 he entered an architect’s office in Boston, and two years later settled at Lawrence, Kansas. During the Civil war Captain Haskell served as assistant quartermaster general of Kansas, as quartermaster of the Third Kansas and the Tenth Kansas Volunteers, as captain and assistant quartermaster on the staff of Gen. James G. Blunt, and chief quartermaster of the Army of the Frontier. … Read more

Biography of David Johnson, M. D.

David Johnson, M. D., a prominent medical specialist whose home and laboratories are at Salina, returned to Kansas a few years ago after many years spent in practice in the New England states, most of the time at Boston. He returned to Kansas because many years ago, on first coming to America, he had located in this then new state, and it was those early impressions and experiences with Kansas life and people that caused him to locate here for a permanent home in his decliaing years. Doctor Johnson was born in Sweden on May 4, 1848. He was liberally … Read more

Biography of Frank Labadie

Coming to Oklahoma in territorial days, Frank Labadie has witnessed the marvelous growth of the state as its vast resources have been exploited, and in the work of development and improvement he has borne his full share through his operations as a farmer and lumberman and also in the oil fields. He was born in Miami County, Kansas, September 3, 1860, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Labadie, the former of whom was of French Canadian descent and spoke the French language fluently. In 1871 the family came to Indian Territory, establishing their home in the northeastern part of … Read more

Biography of Martin J. Kelly

Martin J. Kelly. The removal of the Kelly family to Kansas nearly fifty years ago brought a remarkably virile and substantial stock of people into the state. Martin J. Kelly, who was a child at the time of the family removal, and for thirty years or more has kept himself very busily employed at farming, contracting, and banking, and is now cashier of the St. Paul State Bank at St. Paul. There were fourteen children, and as a family these children have made a mark in the world. Their father was William E. Kelly, who was born in Tuam, Ireland, … Read more

Biography of Frank Winfred Shelton, M. D.

Frank Winfred Shelton, M. D. One of the institutions which serve to give metropolitan character to the City of Independence is the Independence Hospital, the founder and builder of which was Dr. Frank Winfred Shelton, one of the most prominent surgeons of Southern Kansas. Doctor Shelton built this institution in 1906. It is situated on a commanding site at 706 South Fifth Street and in equipment and service, considering its accommodations, it is one of the best hospitals in the state. Besides the hospital building proper, Doctor Shelton erected a special building to serve as nurses’ dormitory, storerooms, laundry and … Read more

Starry, Beverly C. “B.C.” – Obituary

Beverly C. Starry, better known as “B.C” or “Bunk,” 93, a former Baker City resident, died July 1, 2003, at Fresno of lung cancer. His memorial service was July 9. B.C. was born on Jan. 14, 1910, at Louisburg, Kan., to Beverly Cashman and Elizabeth Starry. The family included a brother and four sisters. He married Edith L. Livingston on May 10, 1931, at Louisburg, Kan. They had two children, Beverly Ann and John Livingston Starry. B.C. worked in Southern California from 1936 to 1944 in the grocery business. The family then moved to Mount Morrison, Colo., to operate their … Read more

Biography of George W. Longenecker, M. D.

George W. Longenecker, M. D. Fifteen years of conscientious work in his profession have brought Doctor Longenecker some of the best rewards and honors that come to the doctor in his home community at Elsmore, and he had long been recognized as one of the leading physicians and citizens of Allen County. Doctor Longenecker is a native of Kansas, having been born on a farm in Miami County March 5, 1876. His paternal ancestors were of German stock, but have lived in this country since Colonial days. Several generations of the family lived in Pennsylvania, where Doctor Longenecker’s grandfather spent … Read more

Biography of Charles Sumner Newlon, M.D.

Dr. Charles Sumner Newlon, who for the past fifteen years has engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas City, Missouri, and who for many years prior to this period was a physician and surgeon of the state of Kansas, was born at Newton’s Grove, Cass county, Iowa, in 1858, a son of Dr. William Smithson and Maria (Wimp) Newlon. The ancestral line is traced back to his great-grandfather, John Newlon. The grandfather, Hiram Newlon, was born in Virginia and was a cousin of Dolly Madison, wife of the fourth president of the United States and also a … Read more

Biography of Davison L. Youmans

Occupying public office ins Muskogee and previously in Kansas through a number of years, Davison L. Youmans has ever been found loyal to the trust reposed in him and has labored earnestly and effectively to advance public welfare and municipal progress. While born in the east the greater part of his life has been spent west of the Mississippi and he has ever been imbued with the spirit of western enterprise and progress which has been a dominant factor in the up building of this section of the country. A native of Pennsylvania, his birth occurred in Freemansburg, that state, … Read more

Biography of John Holt Rice

John Holt Rice was educated at Tusculum College in his native county. At that time his uncle, Dr. Samuel W. Doak was president of the school. In February, 1845, at the age of nineteen, John H. Rice was admitted to the bar. In the following May he located at Cassville, Georgia, where he took up an active practice. In 1855 he became editor of the Cassville Standard, carrying those responsibilities in addition to his legal practice. January 1, 1856, he was elected major general of the Twelfth Division of the Georgia State Militia. That election was important because of its … Read more

Biography of James A. Wilson

James A. Wilson.One of the richest oil land districts of Kansas is the territory lying in the vicinity of El Dorado, the county seat of Butler County. Among its citizens who have become prominent factors in oil production is James A. Wilson. All through this locality rich strikes have been made, and one of the best was on the land owned by Mr. Wilson, just 1 1/2 miles north of El Dorado. This copious pool was the third one developed and had become famous as the Derby-Wilson lease of 480 acres. Mr. Wilson had twenty-one producing oil wells on the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William E. Stich

William E. Stich. The largest general insurance office in Independence is owned and managed by William E. Stich. Mr. Stich is a brother of the late A. C. Stich, whose career as a business man and eitizen of Montgomery County had been described on other pages, where many of the detalls of the family history will be found. William E. Stich was born in Hanover, Germany, February 16, 1850. His parents came to this country in 1857 and located at Kalamazoo, Michigan. His early education was received in the schools there, and in the meantime he learned to be a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Rev. William N. Nickell

William N. Nickell is a native of Monroe county, West Virginia, was born December 27, 1838, and is the son of John A. and Mary J. Nickell, both natives of West Virginia. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the common schools of Virginia, and completed it by an additional course of two and a half years at the Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, of Rockbridge county, Virginia. In May 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-seventh Regiment Virginia Confederate Infantry as a private, was soon promoted to sergeant, and sergeant-major of his regiment. He … 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.

Biography of Emmor J. Sheldon

Emmor J. Sheldon, former mayor of Paola, and former county attorney of Miami County, had been an active member of the bar for over a quarter of a century. He was born on a farm in Osage Township of Miami County December 23, 1862, and is a member of an early pioneer and very prominent family in this section of Kansas. He is the third of the four children born to Dudley M. and Ruth B. (Hall) Sheldon. His father was born in Pennsylvania and his mother in Massachusetts. The paternal grandfather Sheldon came from Germany, was a farmer, and … Read more

Biography of Peter W. Goebel

When the American Bankers’ Association in their annual meeting at Kansas City, in September, 1916, gave unanimous choice to Peter W. Goebel for president of the association, they not only honored one of the ablest bankers of the country but also the State of Kansas, where Mr. Goebel’s career as a banker began and where for over thirty years his name and influence have been growing to that point where they were recognized in such distinctive manner by the bankers of the nation. The story of one of the greatest of Kansas banks and of Mr. Goebel is almost identical. … Read more

Biography of Rev. Cyrus R. Rice

Rev. Cyrus R. Rice, of Hartford, is one of the revered fathers of the Methodist Church in Kansas. He comes of a Tennessee family, and was himself born near Lebanon, that state, August 27, 1833. His father was a physician of many years’ practice in Tennessee and Missouri. The son also studied medicine, but his decided inclinations were toward the ministry, and in 1853 he united with the St. Louis Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The next year he was licensed to preach and appointed to the Thomasville Circuit, and in 1855 was sent as a missionary to … Read more

Biography of John H. Rice

John H. Rice had the distinction of having made his mark in two states of the Union of widely different tendencies–Georgia and Kansas. He was born in Greene County, Tennessee, November 14, 1825, and his father, a native of Virginia, was surveyor of the county, named for twenty-six consecutive terms. Mr. Rice commenced his higher education at Tusculum College, in his native county, of which his maternal uncle, Dr. Samuel W. Doak, was president. He was admitted to the bar in 1845 and, a few months afterward, opened an office at Cassville, Georgia. In 1855, in addition to conducting a … Read more

Biography of Fred Schuyle Jackson

Fred Schuyle Jackson, of Topeka, prominent lawyer, former congressman, ex-attorney-general of Kansas, is one of the many able men who have made Kansas notable as a commonwealth. His father was Martin Van Buren Jackson, who bore a conspicuous part in the border warfare of Kansas. Fred S. Jackson was born April 19, 1868, and his birth occurred in the block house at Stanton near Osawatomie. His early education came chiefly from the public schools of Miami and Greenwood counties, and of earlier experiences and service readered should be mentioned five years spent in the schoolroom as a teacher, In the … Read more