Biography of Jefferson L. Steele

Jefferson L. Steele. For over thirty years Jefferson L. Steele, one of Minneapolis’ most respected retired citizens, had from choice been a resident of Ottawa County, finding here when he came in 1884 elements that go far in working out the scheme of a satisfactory life, business opportunity and some of the finest people in the world with whom to be neighborly and to work with in promoting the best interests of the place. Mr. Steele had proved his appreciation of these advantages in many practical ways and today occupies a foremost position among the representative men of this county. … Read more

Biography of Arthur Louis Cludas, M. D.

Arthur Louis Cludas, M. D. The medical profession in Ottawa County had no better representative than Dr. Arthur Louis Cludas, who for the last eighteen years had been established at Minneapolis and through professional knowledge and skill and high personal character had became representative of the city’s best citizenship. Doctor Cludas was born at Vinton, Iowa, November 3, 1872, and is a son of William and Belle (Gatka) Cludas. William Cludas was born at Berlin, Germany, in 1833 and there his parents both died. He was educated in Berlin and at Heidelberg University, served, as did his father, in the … Read more

Biography of Henry McMillan

Henry McMillan. A truly useful and justly honored citizen of Kansas, widely known in business, politics and public affairs generally is Henry McMillan, formerly and for years a member of the Upper House of the State Leglslature and strongly mentioned in recent years for nomination for governor, and for four comsecutive terms mayor of his home city, Minneapolis. He came to Kansas in 1885, and few men under the same circumstances in the interval have accomplished more deflnite results or achieved more for their communities in the way of solid and substantial progress. Henry McMillan was born at New Milford … Read more

Biography of Samuel V. Fraser, Rev.

Rev. Samuel V. Fraser. One of the younger members of the Roman Catholic clergy in Kansas is Rev. Samuel V. Fraser, pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Minneapolis, who in this, his first charge, had shown that he possesses with the dignity of his high calling Christian zeal, tempered with the knowledge of and sympathy for human frailty, that had endeared him to his parishioners, had won him the respect of his fellow citizens in general and promises to so increase his influence that it is certain that a rich field of usefulness awaits his future. Father … Read more

Biography of James M. May

James M. May. A great and forceful influence was removed from the religious affairs of the State of Kansas in the death of James M. May, which occurred at his home in Manhattan August 17, 1915. The best work of his life was performed as a Sunday School and church organizer and missionary. However, he had a wonderful adaptability and resourcefulness, and might have been successful as a mechanic, a farmer or in almost any line of business, had not his earnest devotion to the cause of religion kept him in that field of effort during all his active years. … Read more

Biography of Frederic Louis Flint

Frederic Louis Flint. Among the solid, reliable men of Ottawa County no one stands higher in public esteem and confidence than Frederic Louis Flint, president of the Minneapolis National Bank of Minneapolis, Kansas. Mr. Flint’s paternal ancestor, Thomas Flint, immigrated from Wales to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, he being one of the first settlers of Salem Village, Massachusetts, now South Danvers. Frederic Louis Flint was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, June 11, 1855. His parents were Joseph K. and Hulda (Wilder) Flint. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Flint, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, April 19, 1784, and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Alexander P. Riddle

Alexander P. Riddle, a widely known newspaper man and public character of Ottawa County, was born at Harlansburg, Pennsylvania, August 16, 1846. He learned his trade as a printer in the office of the Franklin (Pennsylvania) Spectator, and in 1869 came to Kansas as a “jour.” He first located at Olathe; then moved to Girard, where he set type and became half owner of the Press. In 1885 he sold his interest and settled at Minneapolis, which has since been his home. There he purchased the Minneapolis Messenger, which he still publishos and edits, as well as the Kansas Workman … Read more

Biography of George K. Powell

George K. Powell, member of the Muskogee bar, was born in Minneapolis, Kansas, a son of Samuel Joseph and Louisa (Rivers) Powell, the former a real estate dealer long connected with that line of business in support of his family. George K. Powell pursued his early education in the public and high schools of his native city and afterward entered the University of Kansas, from which he was graduated on the completion of a classical course in 1901, while in 1904 he received his professional degree, having for three years devoted his attention to the study of law. In April, … Read more

Biography of George W. Barker

George W. Barker. The art of successful salesmanship can not be acquired by every one, for to a large degree it is an endowment of nature, and particularly is this true in the business of auctioneering, in which a feature of chance prevails, which the salesman must have the wide-awake alertness to instantly recognize and take advantage. In systematized selling prices are stable facts, but no one knows better than the successful auctioneer that the price of his goods is controlled by the effect of his own shrewdness, manner and personality. Among the best known residents of Ottawa County is … Read more

Biographical Sketch of S. T. Blades, M. D.

S. T. Blades, M. D. The problems of health are really the problems of life and must pertain to all questions of human interest. Useless is wealth or station and vain are great achievements if good health is lacking. Thus comes the great value placed on the services of that body of noble men who have dedicated their lives to the healing art. The most necessary resident in any community is the physician, although he probably is never fully appreciated and seldom does he claim any foremost place, although his usefulness entitles him to it. Among the well known medical … Read more

Biography of Glocus P. Crosby

Glocus P. Crosby. There are few men better known in Ottawa County than Glocus P. Crosby, who had been an active and useful resident of Minneapolis for forty-five years, is county surveyor and is a veteran of the Civil war. He had seen this section of Kansas develop and had done his full part both in personal effort and in professional activities. Mr. Crosby was born October 7, 1843, at Piketon in Pike County, Ohio, and is the elder of two sons born to his parents, Ezra and Elizabeth (Maddox) Crosby. The early Crosbys were New England people, and Cummins … Read more

Biography of Henry Chase Bradbury

Henry Chase Bradbury. It is truly a fortunate man who can come to his seventy-third year with a record of so much good accomplished, with many responsibilities discharged and burdens bravely sustained as have been part and parcel of the life and experience of Henry Chase Bradbury, now living at Lincoln. Rev. Mr. Bradbury is the oldest active missionary of the Presbyterian Church in Kansas. For all the more than forty years of work he had done in Kansas Mr. Bradbury enjoys a vigorous old age and only his more intimate friends know that he had passed the three score … Read more