Newton Kansas

Biography of William MacFerran

William MacFerran. If a record were kept of the daily trials, of adverse circumstances overcome and responsibilities faithfully discharged in the life of every financier, it would form not only a surpassing record of human experience but also a splendid index to human character. It is the man who can shoulder the everyday burdens, discharge multitudinous duties acceptably, and emerge successfully who is deserving of the esteem and admiration of his fellows. Banking serves to develop many of this class and in their hands is placed the responsibility for much of the community welfare. They build the foundation of their … Read more

Biography of Henry Ford Harbaugh

Henry Ford Harbaugh. Even today the great State of Kansas is looked upon as a land of opportunities and a good place for the young man to settle and provide for the future. This is even more true thirty or forty years ago, though it required perhaps a stronger element of individual initiative, courage and ability to endure hardships with patience and fortitude. It was as a young man looking for a permanent home and a country where his energies and talents would be given the freest exercise that Henry Ford Harbaugh arrived in Kansas in 1878. An uncle was … Read more

Biography of H. B. Rodecker

H. B. Rodecker, an enterprising and successful druggist of Ramona, was born near Eureka, Illinois, on the 22d of August, 1874, and was taken by his parents, William B. and Leona (Hellen) Rodecker, to Newton, Harvey county, Kansas, in 1880. The mother is a niece of the late Cecil Rhodes, multi-millionaire and statesman of South Africa. The father was a tinner by trade and followed that pursuit until 1889, when the family removed to Oklahoma City and he entered the employ of W. J. Pettie, a hardware merchant, conducting a business that has since been developed into a large wholesale … Read more

Biography of Albert L. Egy

Albert L. Egy. A retired cattleman and a bank director at Newton, A. L. Egy had had many interests to identify him with Harvey County, in which part of Kansas he had spent all the years of his life since early boyhood. Albert Lorenzo Egy was born at Wenona, Illinois, September 9, 1863. Going back several generations to his great-grandfather, the family came from Germany. His father, the late Solomon Egy, was a prominent pioneer of Harvey County. Born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1827, he grew up in that rugged and historic section of the Keystone State, afterwards … Read more

Biography of David Bernhard Buhler, M. D.

David Bernhard Buhler, M. D. The work of Doctor Buhler as a physician and surgeon had been done in the county and locality where he was born and reared, Reno County, and the people living in and around the village of Pretty Prairie have for many years appreciated his abilities and excellent services. Doctor Buhler was born at Buhler, in Reno County, April 12, 1879. He represents a pioneer family of Mennonites who settled there in early days, and the village of Buhler was named in honor of his older brother, one of its most enterprising citizens. His father, Bernhard … Read more

Biography of Edward C. Willis

Edward C. Willis, superintendent of the State Orphans Home at Atchison, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and came to kansas nearly forty years ago with the equipment and training of a oultured New Englander. His work in this state had been largely of an educational nature, and he had taught, had been superintendent of schools, and was finally appointed to his present post at Atchison, where he had served with the exception of two years since 1907. Nearly all of Mr. Willis’ ancestors were colonial families of New England. The Willis family came originally from the northern part of … Read more

Biography of Charles Clifford Mack

Charles Clifford Mack, who so capably represented Harvey County in the State Legislature during the session of 1917, is a prominent business man of Newton, proprietor of the Mack Mortgage and Loan Company of that city. Mr. Mack is a comparatively young man, not yet forty years of age, and his record is especially interesting because of the success he had made from nothing except the sources and talents contained in his own energetic nature. Mr. Mack was born July 5, 1878, and his birth-place was the backwoods community of Southern Indiana, at the Town of Rising Sun. His father, … Read more

Biography of William Hasselmann

William Hasselmann is an expert florist. He learned the business in all its details and all its phases in Germany, and had had experience in some of the greatest flower growing centers in the world. Some years ago he located at Independence, Kansas, and is now proprietor of the leading greenhouses of that city and his business had grown so rapidly that it is constantly demanding more room and greater facillties for the better handling of a custom that now extends far beyond the borders of his home city. His full name is William Dietrich Hasselmann. He was born at … Read more

Biography of Zolo A. Emerson

Zolo A. Emerson. Through the business ability and courtesy of its owner the general merchandise store of Zolo A. Emerson in a comparatively short time has become an important source of supply to the people of Auburn and the surrounding vicinity. In addition to rendering this service to his fellow citizens, Mr. Emerson has a further claim to their esteem in the manner in which he is discharging the duties [p.1749] of postmaster, which office he has efficiently filled since his appointment in 1908. Mr. Emerson is a native of Holmes County, Ohio, born at Millersburg, September 24, 1873, one … Read more

Biography of Milton Wilder Browne

Milton Wilder Browne. The dining and hotel service par excellence and acknowledged without a peer in America is the Fred Harvey system. To hold the position of a manager in this system is about the highest word that can be spoken for any hotel man. Newton, as one of the division points on the Santa Fe road, had received the benefits of this system, and the finest hotel in Harvey County is the Arcade Hotel at Newton, now under the management of Milton Wilder Browne, who had been an employe of Fred Harvey for the past eleven years. Mr. Browne … Read more

Biography of Frank L. Abbey M. D.

Frank L. Abbey, M. D., long a resident of Newton and formerly a druggist but for twenty years a successful physician, had during the greater part of his professional career been identified with the Axtell Hospital as a member of its staff of physicians. Doctor Abbey was born at Kingsbury, Illinois, February 1, 1861. He is of English ancestry, his grandfather, Luke Abbey, having been born in Yorkshire, England, in 1787. When about twenty-four years of age he came to America with his second wife and two children, and settled first in New Jersey, then in Ohio and finally, as … Read more

Biography of Frank S. Porter

This representative business man of the City of Wichita was about twenty years of age when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Kansas, and he had since continued his residence within the borders of the Sunflower State, where he had been long and prominently identified with the retail drug business, of which he is now a leading representative in the City of Wichita, his attractive drug store, metropolitan in equipment and appointments, being eligibly situated on East Douglas Avenue, in the College Hill District of the city. Frank S. Porter was born in the Village of Rushsylvania, Logan … Read more

Biography of John Thomas Axtell, M. D.

John Thomas Axtell, M. D. In thirty-six years of practice in Kansas, most of which time had been spent in Newton, Doctor Axtell had made a distinguished name, especially in the field of surgery. He founded Axtell Hospital and had been at its head and its principal surgeon since 1886, and had enjoyed more than a local reputation as a surgeon and hospital administrator. Doctor Axtell had spent most of his life in Kansas and represents a family of early settlers here. His birth occurred at Roseville, Illinois, August 11, 1856. His ancestry goes back to a prominent English family. … Read more

Biography of Henry B. Lautz

Henry B. Lautz has hardly attained that period in life when he might be described as a middle aged man. Nevertheless he is a veteran in railroad circles, and beginning as a boy of fourteen in the capacity of messenger he had been steadily with the Santa Fe Railway Company, enjoying successive promotions based on merit and efficiency until he is now superintendent of the Middle Division of the Santa Fe lines at Newton. Mr. Lautz was born in Pekin, Illinois, August 2, 1876. His grandfather, Wendell Lautz, was born in Germany in 1801 and became a German machinist. Coming … Read more

Biography of William Henry Von der Heiden

William Henry Von der Heiden has been a resident of Newton, Kansas, forty years, and had been enrolled among the leading attorneys of Harvey County since 1889. He was born at Shullsburg, Lafayette County, Wisconsin, January 11, 1869, a son of H. D. Von der Heiden, who was born at Burbach, Germany, in 1834, who was reared in his native village, came to the United States in 1854, was engaged in the mining industry in Lafayette County, Wisconsin, was married there, and in 1861 volunteered his services for the defense of the union of his adopted land, enlisting in Company … Read more

Biography of Albert Arthur Hurd

Albert Arthur Hurd. The professional intimates of the late Albert Arthur Hurd unhesitatingly place him among the most able corporation lawyers who ever graced the Topeka bar. The reputation of men who gain eminence in this branch of the law is not made in a day. Such a reputation requires not only natural talent, but the most thorough preparation and strenuous, continuous and intense application and industry. That he became recognized as one of the best railroad lawyers in the United States was due to the possession of exceptional ability and character, and also to the fact that he was … Read more

Biography of Bernhard Warkentin

Bernhard Warkentin was born June 18, 1847, in the Village of Altonan, situate in Southern Russia, just north of the Crimea. His parents belonged to the Mennonites–followers of Menno Simon, a sect originating in Holland, migrating to Prussia, thence to Russia in 1783 when the Turkish government ceded to Russia the Crimea and Empress Catherine h of Russia induced them to colonize her new possession by offering them allotments of land, religious freedom and immunity from military service for 100 years. His father, Bernhard Warkentin, Sr., was born in Southern Russia in 1816. His mother–nee Tiesen–was born the same year … Read more

Biography of William Frederick Rapp

William Frederick Rapp, who came to Harvey County nearly forty years ago, had been a pioneer in many things, was one of the first merchants at Hesston, and had been identified with the growth and development of that town from the time it started. Among other interests Mr. Rapp is now president of the Hesston State Bank. Mr. Rapp was a practical farmer when he came to Kansas, and had acquired his early experience in one of the richest and most fertile farming sections of Illinois. He was born in Lee County, Illinois, May 17, 1852. His grandfather, Frederick William … Read more

Biography of Harry W. Hart

Harry W. Hart, former county attorney of Harvey County, had enjoyed a steadily increasing practice and prestige as a lawyer at Newton since his admission to the bar. Mr. Hart was born on a farm in Highland Township of Harvey County October 27, 1885. His grandfather, Henry Hart, was born in Germany in 1824. After his marriage he came to America, settling at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced his profession as a veterinary surgeon. He died at Dayton, Ohio, in 1897. At the outbreak of the war of the rebellion in 1861 he enlisted with the Fourth Ohio Cavalry and … Read more

Biography of David Franklin Shirk

David Franklin Shirk, a prominent Kansas educator and a worker in behalf of child welfare, had been a resident of this state thirty years. Born at Shannon, Carroll County, Illinois, July 10, 1859, he was reared and educated in his native state, and as a young man began teaching school in Illinois. In 1886 he came to Abilene, Dickinson County, Kansas, and followed educational work in this state actively for twenty-four years. In 1906 Mr. Shirk was graduated from Friends University at Wichita. Much distinction attaches to his work as a school man. He assisted in organizing the first county … Read more