Neosho County KS

Biography of R. W. Cates

R. W. Cates is a director and assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Independence. By profession he is a lawyer and practiced for a number of years with his father, Joseph B. F. Cates, who is one of the oldest members of the legal profession in Kansas. Joseph B. F. Cates, who is now general attorney for the Prairie Pipe Line Company, with residence at Independence, was born in Grainger County, Tennessee, April 19, 1840. His parents were Charles and Elizabeth (Lloyd) Cates. Charles Cates was a native of North Carolina, where he was reared and educated, and … Read more

Biography of Frank E. Bodley

Frank E. Bodley. The men upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility for prosperity and advancement along every line of commercial and industrial activity are the captains of industry and finance who are in command of the armies which are fighting to preserve the nation’s standing among the countries of the earth, as well as against those foes to established currency and methods of transacting business. Without them and their sound, conservative policies, the country would be at the mercy of every irresponsible, unscrupulous speculator or visionary idealist. As is but natural, the financiers of the country’s great cities are the … Read more

Biography of Frank A. Bardwell

Frank A. Bardwell. A large majority of the men who are engaged in working the oil fields of Kansas have been devoting their energies to this line of work all of their lives, whether as employes, employers, contractors, drillers or producers. They have had the experience from early youth and it is but natural that they should meet with success in their undertakings granted that opportunities are the same. But there is another class among the men who are making this one of the great industries, this being formed of the men who had their training in other fields of … Read more

Biography of Harry L. O’Bryan

Harry L. O’Bryan is a Chetopa business man who has made himself very active in local affairs there for a number of years. He is a banker, an extensive farm owner, and operator, his name is associated with several of the leading business and commercial enterprises, and at the present writing he is serving as postmaster of the city. He is of Irish descent. His great-grandfather came out of Ireland as early as 1760, settled in Maryland, and about 1800 moved across the mountains into the new State of Kentucky. Mr. O’Bryan’s grandfather Sydney Francis O’Bryan was born in Kentucky … Read more

Biography of Stephen E. Beach

Stephen E. Beach. In searching for the facts of history concerning any community, the mind of the chronicler turns naturally to the first things or the initial work accomplished in the formation of that community into a social and political body. An interest always attaches to these first things which is not to be found in anything else historic, and when there has been found the first settler, or the first house, or the first institution, it is looked upon with more than ordinary respect, and an endeavor is instinctively made to retrace the history of the subject of our … Read more

Biography of Amos S. Lapham

Amos S. Lapham. There are but few members of the bar of Southeastern Kansas who have exceeded the record of Amos S. Lapham, of Chanute, for length and continuity of service, for devotion to the best ethics of the profession and for connection with important litigation. His standing is that of one of the foremost members of the bar of this part of the state. Judge Lapham was born on a farm in Champaign County, Ohio, April 6, 1845, and is a son of Oziel and Mahala (Steere) Lapham, and belongs to one of America’s old and honored families. John … Read more

Biography of John L. Robinson

John L. Robinson. The absolute honesty, the feeling of community interest, the intelligent public spirit that belong and illuminate the best type of citizen, are all qualities demanded of men who enter the banking field. The close relation between banks and a community’s prosperity makes the banking business one of paramount importance. One of the well known financiers of Neosho County, Kansas, is John L. Robinson, president of the Fidelity State Bank, at Chanute, áa business man of long and honorable experience. Mr. Robinson was born June 25, 1865, in Delaware County, Iowa, and is a son of A. M. … Read more

Biography of Charles Trader Beatty

Charles Trader Beatty. One of the oldest and most prominent names in the history of Chanute is that of the Beatty family. It was in 1870 that the late John Brooke Beatty established himself at the old Town of Tioga, which had since become a part of the City of Chanute. He erected the first flour mill at that point, was the first hardware dealer in the Town of Tioga, and also an early day mayor. For eleven years he held the office of postmaster at Chanute. John B. Beatty married Maria Whiteman Trader. Of this worthy couple two children … Read more

Biography of John Norval Sherman, M. D.

John Norval Sherman, M. D. Although one of the younger physicians of Neosho County, Dr. John Norval Sherman, of Thayer, has gained the confidence and support of the public by reason of his thorough training for his profession and his fidelity to the ethics of the medical fraternity. He came to his present field of activity in 1916, with five years of experience behind him, and has already built up what promises to be a lucrative and representative practice. Doctor Sherman was born July 11, 1884, at Lafayette, Madison County, Ohio, and belongs to a family which originally came to … Read more

Biography of Zarah A. Eaton

ZARAH A. EATON. This enterprising business man is successfully engaged in dealing in timber, and is also the proprietor of a well-appointed mercantile establishment at Varner, Missouri He is a native of Licking County, Ohio, where he first saw the light of day in 1829. His parents, Joseph and Euincy (Curtis) Eaton, were born in the State of New York, the birth of the former occurring in 1796. They removed to Ohio in 1811, and in 1838 to Peoria County, Illinois, where Mr. Eaton died in 1857, and his widow in Woodford County, Illinois, in 1890. He was a Congregationalist … Read more

Biography of Mathew Alouisis Munding

Mathew Alouisis Munding, proprietor of the business at Muskogee conducted under the name of the New State Flour & Feed Company, a wholesale concern, belongs to that class of enterprising men whose activity and determination are salient elements in the up building of the community in which they reside. Muskogee owes not a little other commercial development to the efforts of Mr. Munding, who came to this state from Kansas, his birth having occurred in St. Paul, Kansas, July 30, 1881. He is a son of M. A. and Anna (Duling) Munding. The father engaged in the flour and feed … Read more

Biography of John C. Carpenter, Col.

Col. John C. Carpenter, retired attorney, veteran of the Civil war, Kansas pioneer, ex-state senator, successful business man and public-spirited citizen, had flgured so conspicuously and honorably in connection with the public interests, business activity and substantial development of Neosho County for forty-six years that no history of this locality would be complete without the record of his career. Throughout his entire life he had been looked upon as a model of integrity and honor, one who had always stood as an example of what determination, combined with the highest degree of integrity, can accomplish for a man of natural … Read more

Biography Of John H. Miller

John H. Miller. In a study of conditions which have combined for the advancement of men of prominence in the business world, the student invariably finds that those upon whom rests dependence for counsel, advice and leadership are those who have won their way to the forefront through the force of their own industry and application, rising gradually and fighting their way in the face of all opposition. The traits of character which may be depended upon for the greatest rewards are industry, integrity, self-reliance and perseverance, and to these may be attributed the success that had crowned the efforts … Read more

Biography of George W. Pens

George W. Pens. The oil fields of Kansas have attracted to them men of experience who have made this industry the study and the business of their lives. It is through the expert work and knowledge of these men that the industry had been developed to its present proportions. No mere tyros could have brought about the present great production; it needed the activities of experienced, trained oil producers to develop and regulate this great industry, which is proving to be one of the state’s greatest assets. Perhaps Indiana had contributed as many of these men as any other state, … Read more

Biography of Ario C. Mendenhall

Ario C. Mendenhall. While the Mendenhall name had been well and honorably known in Kansas for more than a quarter of a century, it is to Pennsylvania that the biographer must turn for the family’s earlier history. It had been established that three brothers of that name came to the American colonies from England at the same time that William Penn headed his party of colonists, and that one of these remained with the great Quaker colonist and peacemaker, and that one crossed the line into Ohio while the third was lost in the far west. The Mendenhalls that Kansas … Read more

Biography of D. R. Blankinship

D. R. Blankinship. The residence of D. R. Blankinship in Butler County covers a period of more than forty-seven years, during which time he had prospered greatly in the accumulatlon of property and in the gaining of respect and esteem at the hands of his fellow-townsmen. At the time of his arrival this well-known pioneer had little capital to aid him save that represented by his ambition and energy, yet he is now one of the most substantial men of his county, being the owner of 4,300 acres of land, and his home property, located abont two and one-half miles … Read more

Herbert Walter Todd of Kansas

Herbert Walter Todd9, (Edward P.8, Silas7, Elam6, Edmund5, Christopher4, Samuel3, Samuel2, Christopher1) born June 19, 1869, married in 1898, Gertrude H., daughter of J. S. and Mary J. Hileman, of Edna, Kan. Mr. Todd graduated from the Commercial College at Valparaiso, Ind., and the Kansas Normal School. He taught in the schools for fourteen years, when he entered the business world for five years as a traveling salesman at the end of which time he entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry in the Kansas Conference. In 1913, he was pastor of a church in Thayer, Kan. Children: 2664. Hubert Hileman, b. … Read more

Biography of Henry Edward Reece, M. D.

Dr. Henry Edward Reece, born December 27, 1877, in Jefferson, Iowa, was a prominent physician in Thayer, Kansas. After graduating from the University Medical College of Kansas City in 1900, he practiced medicine across Oklahoma and Kansas before settling in Thayer in 1911. Renowned for his dedication to medical ethics, Dr. Reece maintained a flourishing practice, contributing significantly to the community’s health. He was active in several medical societies and fraternal organizations. Dr. Reece married Elizabeth Quinton in 1901, and they had two children, Halley and Ethel.

Biography of Charles S. Denison

Charles S. Denison. The ordinary, every-day man, engrossed in the business avocation which brings his daily bread, is representative of the nation’s citizenship. This is the normal type, and his life begins and ends, perhaps, with nothing more distinctive than is the ripple on the face of the stream when the pebble is thrown into the water. It is the unusual type that commands attention and it is his influence exerted on his community, and the record of his life, that is valuable and interesting as a matter of biography. In the professions, and especially in the law, the opportunities … Read more

Biography of Guy E. Truitt

Guy E. Truitt. To the real lover of nature there is no vocation known to mankind which furnishes more interesting possibilities than the nursery business. Developments in recent years along this line have been as wonderful as they were formerly unexpected and unbelievable. Yet even to the man who labors faithfully to maintain high standards already established there is that satisfaction in accomplishment possible only when an individual works in collaboration with nature and the elements of creation. Kansas had had its full quota of earnest, painstaking men in this vocation who have delighted in their labor and have contributed … Read more