Newton Kansas

Biography of William I. Plumb

William I. Plumb, who had given the best years of his life to merchandising, had been a resident of Newton for many years and is well known in the business and civic affairs of that city. Mr. Plumb is a cousin of the late Senator Preston B. Plumb, one of the most famous figures in Kansas history. However, he belongs to a branch of the family which lived outside this state until he himself came to Newton about twenty-five years ago. His grandfather was Maj. Ichabod Plumb, also grandfather of Senator Plumb. Major Ichabod was a wagon maker and blacksmith … 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 Wilhelm E. Regier M. D.

Wilhelm E. Regier, M. D. The courageous, investigating attitude of the Twentieth Century is nowhere more forcibly shown than in the ranks of the exponents of medical science. The tendency of the modern scientific physician to avoid, above all things, a hasty jumping to conclusions or too ready dependence upon formulae, is serving to destroy ancient delusions, thereby placing the health of the nation in the hands of reasoners and independent thinkers. In this class of rational thinkers belongs Wilhelm E. Regier, M. D., whose opportunities along professional lines have been numerous and whose use of the same had made … Read more

Biography of Ruth Emma Mitten

Ruth Emma Mitten, of Newton, is now in her fourth consecutive term as county superintendent of schools of Harvey County. She had given the best years of her life to educational work and progress, and enjoys many enviable distinctions both as a teacher and as a school administrator. Born at Troy Grove, Illinois, Miss Mitten comes of a family of educators and farmers. The Mitten family originally came from England to New Jersey in Colonial times. Miss Mitten grew up on her father’s Illinois farm, attended local schools, and in 1894 graduated from the high school of Mendota, Illinois. While … Read more

Biography of John Charles Nicholson

John Charles Nicholson. To name John Charles Nicholson, of Newton, as one of the distinguished lawyers and citizens of Kansas is superfluous information for at least the present generation, since his services and position are too well known to require such introduction. Therefore the following paragraphs are confined to the simple and unvarnished statements regarding his individual career and those important achievements which he had been most influential in bringing about. He was born on his father’s farm in Parke County, Indiana, January 2, 1862, the oldest of nine children born to David and Mary Catherine (Dickson) Nicholson. The industry … 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 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 Ashton E. Morgan

Ashton E. Morgan, who had been steadily climbing to success as a lawyer at Newton, is junior member of the law firm of Von der Heiden & Morgan, his partner being W. H. Von der Heiden, one of the oldest members of the Newton bar. Mr. Morgan was born in Harvey County, Kansas, February 4, 1878, and belongs to a family of Kansas pioneers. His ancestors were from Wales and were frontiersmen and Indian fighters on the western line of Old Virginia, settling in what is now the state of West Virginia, where the City of Morgantown was named for … 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 Rev. John Walter Kliewer

Rev. John Walter Kliewer, president of Bethel College at Newton, one of the well ordered institutions at Kansas, referred to on other pages, grew up in one of the pioneer settlements of the Mennonite Church people in Western Kansas, and had spent his active career in the ministry of his church and as an educator. Rev. Mr. Kliewer is a native of Russian Poland, born near Berdichieff June 8, 1869. His ancestry is partly German. His grandfather, Peter Kliewer, was born in Danzig, Germany, and moved into the vicinity of Berdichieff in Russian Poland, where he followed farming and where … 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 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

Biography of James Noble Smith

James Noble Smith, now in his second term as sheriff of Harvey County, is a Kansan of thirty-five years residence and experience. He is a veteran railroader, having handled the throttle of an engine on the Santa Fe road for a score of years or more. He is a capable and trusted officer, and had long been a man of prominence in affairs at Newton and in Harvey County. Mr. Smith was born at Union in Pike County, Indiana, September 22, 1859, and had an interesting family lineage. His great-grandfather was a Scotch Irishman who came to America and founded … 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 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 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 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 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 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 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