Osage County KS

Biography of John E. Kibler

John E. Kibler. Though he did not have the opportunity to attend school regularly after he was thirteen years of age, John E. Kibler found ways and means to acquire a liberal education, and that education had not only sufficed for his own needs but had always made him one of the leading educators in Southeastern Kansas. Mr. Kibler is now county superintendent of schools of Chautauqua County and had been engaged in school work for a long period of years. He came to Kansas when a small boy, but was born in Fulton County, Illinois, June 11, 1863. His … Read more

Biography of Walter L. Payne

Walter L. Payne, a native son of Kansas, had been closely identified with a number of its business and public activities for a number of years, and is vice-president of the Pioneer State Bank of Burlingame. The Payne family have had a part in the making of Kansas for fully sixty years. It was Mr. Payne’s grandparents, Lorenzo Dow and Mary Ann (Wildman) Payne, who were the pioneers of the family in Kansas. They located at Trading Post in Miami County, where Lorenzo D., who was a physician by profession, practiced for two years until the border ruffians drove him … Read more

Biography of William Anthony

William Anthony was long known as a dry goods merchant in Burlingame, Kansas. When he died there he left his widow and four young children. Mrs. Anthony, who now lives at Topeka, gave a splendid exposition of resourcefulness in a critical time. After the death of her husband she took the active management of the dry goods store, and though little acquainted with mercantile methods, she managed the enterprise so successfully that she gave her children the advantages they required at home and in school, and a few years ago sold the business, and moved to Topeka. Born at Marysville … Read more

Biography of William S. Tyner

William S. Tyner was one of the early settlers of Kansas, though he lived in the state only a few years, but founded a family which had become especially well known and prominent in Osage County. The Tyners were an old and prominent family of Indiana. William S. Tyner was one of seven sons and was born on a farm in Rush County, Indiana, September 20, 1820. His parents were John and Nancy (Sailors) Tyner, both Indiana people. William S. Tyner was a consin of James N. Tyner, who served as postmaster-general under President Hayes. The early education of William … Read more

Biography of Joseph W. Laybourn

Joseph W. Laybourn. It is doubtful if any one now living knows the ups and downs and vicissitudes of Kansas life during the past half a century better than Joseph W. Laybourn, president of the Citizens State Bank of Osage City. Mr. Laybourn is an honored veteran of the Union army, and came to Kansas soon after the war. He had been a farmer, coal miner, banker, land owner and in every relationship, whether a poor man or high in the scale of prosperity, had been public spirited and a willing worker for the community benefit. Mr. Laybourn was born … Read more

Biography of Jerry Hussey

One of the most interesting old timers of Kansas is Jerry Hussey, now living retired at Williamsburg. He served faithfully and loyally as a soldier during the Civil war, and soon after the close of that great struggle identified himself with the State of Kansas, where he helped to reclaim a part of the wilderness and make it a fertile and valuable farm. Of New England ancestry he was born in the State of Vermont in August, 1845, and when very young was left an orphan, so that he had to flght his own battles at a time when most … Read more

Biography of R. P. Kelley

R. P. Kelley. While the law had been his profession and he had been a member of the Eureka Bar continuously since 1884, R. P. Kelley had found his time increasingly absorbed by his various business affairs and interests. Financial success had come to him in large measure, and he had property and business interests in diverse parts of the country. He had traveled considerably for recreation, had covered most of the states of the Union and Canada, and had well defined opinions on events and affairs outside of his immediate province. Mr. Kelley is a native of New England … Read more

Biography of Eber Cowen

Eber Cowen. One of the oldest residents of Osage County is Eber Cowen, who came to this part of the state when it was raw and new, nearly half a century ago. The business by which he had gained his prosperity had been farming, and at the same time he had enjoyed the respect and esteem of his fellowmen by his sturdy citizenship and his ability as a home maker and valuable factor in community affairs. He was born in Jersey County, Illinois, February 22, 1846, a son of John and Maria Cowen, his father a native of Vermont and … Read more

Biography of Edward E. Dix

Edward E. Dix. The vocation of railroading continues to attract many ambitious young men when they enter upon life’s activities, and this field of activity has often proven rich in opportunity to those who have possessed the inclination to work industriously and faithfully, to scorn hardships, to face heavy responsibilities, and to give absolute devotion to the interests of the great systems which employ them. There is no place for those who do not thus prove themselves. Among the officials of almost every other line of business there are found men of sterling worth who would have succeeded well in … Read more

Biography of Hiram B. Miller

Hiram B. Miller. Kansas wheat and corn and other farm products have been so much emphasized as partly to obscure the fact that the great basic industry of the state up to twenty-five or thirty years ago was live stock. Older residents of the state, now a little past their prime, will recall that the leading industry of their youth, except perhaps in the few counties along the eastern border, was the raising of live stock on the great ranges. Of the men who stood pre-eminent in that industry special mention should be made of the late Hiram B. Miller, … Read more

Biography of Archibald B. Kirkwood

Archibald B. Kirkwood. In the death of Archibald B. Kirkwood on May 16, 1916, the City of Pittsburg and southeastern Kansas lost a very prominent business man and citizen. He was one of the pioneers in the development of the coal resources of this section of the state. At one time be was general manager of the Wear Coal Company and president of the Standard Mercantile Company of Pittsburg. Of later years his interests were rather widely diffused and long before his death he had acquired a generous competence which would have enabled him to take life easily and leisurely. … Read more

Biography of William Wallace Reed, M. D.

William Wallace Reed, M. D. A physician and surgeon of very thorough attainments and unusual experience, Doctor Reed had been in successful practice at Blue Rapids in Marshall County since October, 1906. While his practice is a general one, he specializes in surgery and his attainments in that department have brought him membership in the Clinical Congress of Surgeons. Doctor Reed is of the third generation of his family represented in the medical profession. He bears the same name as his grandfather, who was a pioneer physician in Wisconsin. William Wallace Reed, Sr., was born in Virginia, where his people … Read more

Biography of Thomas Gray

Thomas Gray is one of the largest stock raisers in Osage County. His fortunes have been identified with this state since early manhood, and though he had to start out with only an ordinary equipment of training and capital, he had made prosperity by sheer force of ability and constant exercise of good judgment and hard work. He was born on a farm at Crows Hill, New York, March 9, 1854. Of the eight children born to Joshua and Elizabeth (Foxley) Gray he is the only one now living. His parents were English people and on account of the crowded … Read more

Biography of Matthew B. Van Petten

Matthew B. Van Petten. The success which has attended the enterprise operating at Topeka under the name of the Pioneer Mortgage Company attests the foresight, sagacity and financial skill of its members, whose watchful care and fidelity have combined to build up and perpetuate their fortunes. The life of the financier is less conspicuous before the world than that of a member of a learned calling, or of one who mingles in public affairs, but is none the less one of arduous labor and thorough engrossment, requiring a high order of organizing talent, watchfulness of the trend of affairs and … Read more

Biography of Herbert Miller

Herbert Miller, president of the State Bank of Admire, and one of the very successful and influential farmers, bankers and business men of Lyon County, is one of the comparatively few men who have passed their sixtieth birthday and who can claim nativity in the commonwealth of Kansas. Of good English stock, of people who settled in America before the American Revolution, he was born in Osage County, Kansas, February 26, 1856. His ancestors located in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada, and it was there that his father Richard Miller was born in 1829. Shortly after his marriage he … Read more

Biography of Robert C. Heizer, Judge

Judge Robert C. Heizer. For fourteen years Judge Robert C. Heizer had been on the district bench at Osage City, and the dignities and honors of his later years are a merited tribute to a man who had always relied upon the principle of self help and endured many of the vicissitudes and hardships of early life in Kansas. He was brought to Kansas in 1858, when two years of age. He had been born at Vermont in Fulton County, Illinois, in 1856. On coming to Kansas his parents located on a quarter section of land along the Santa Fe … Read more

Biography of David O. Crane

David O. Crane. Of the men who have served Topeka in official capacities of importance and responsibility, few have won more fairly a reputation for fidelity than has David O. Crane, since 1884 superintendent of the Topeka Cemetery. In the thirty-two years that he has been the incumbent of this office he has labored efficiently and conscientiously to discharge its duties in a reverent and honorable way, and the mere fact that he has held his office during such a long period should be sufficient evidence of the quality of his ability and the worth of his service. Mr. Crane … Read more

Biography of Carl Judge

Carl Judge. While Carl Judge, the well known journalist, the owner and editor of the Beverly Tribune, at Beverly, Kansas, could ill be spared from the newspaper profession, there are other lines in which he was trained, and in which he would have undoubtedly gained recognition had he chosen to pursue them. Mr. Judge was a man of considerable newspaper experience before he came to Kansas, and had owned and very ably edited other journals than the Tribune. Carl Judge was born in Osage County, Kansas, July 10, 1878. His parents were Martyr C. and Mary (Roberts) Judge. His father … Read more

Biography of Parker W. Perry

Parker W. Perry. With the death of Parker W. Perry, which occurred on his farm in Williamsport Township of Shawnee County, March 14, 1914, there passed from the ranks of local citizenship one of the most highly respected men of that community. For upwards of forty years he had been a resident of Kansas. Of a genial and generous disposition, he had made friends wherever he was, and along with a talent for making friandships he also possessed keen business judgment and accumulated a competence for himself and family. He was of New England birth and ancestry and was born … Read more

Biography of Ansel B. Hackett

Ansel B. Hackett. The nation was celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence when Ansel B. Hackett was born July 4, 1836. His birth occurred at Minot, Cumberland County, Maine. It was in that picturesque district of the Pine Tree State that he spent his early years. Mr. Hackett, who with his venerable wife, now resided at Carbondale, is one of the true pioneers of Kansas, as is also Mrs. Hackett. Both came here when Kansas was a territory, and they experienced the dangers and hardships of frontier life. It is a matter of special … Read more