Ottawa County KS

Biography of Joseph B. Blades, M. D.

Joseph B. Blades, M. D. For a period of twelve years the health and sanitation of Randall, Jewell County, had been safeguarded by the zeal and skill of Dr. Joseph Brewer Blades, whose entire professional career had been passed in this community. He is one of the men who have brought to their honored calling high scholarship, thorough training and equipment and a full realization of the importance and responsibility of their profession, and his professional associates and the public generally have been prompt to testify to his ability and to the value of his services in their midst. Joseph … Read more

Biography of William Haley, Hon.

Hon. William Haley. To give adequate expression to the influence a man exerts over his fellows it is necessary to delve into the motives which inspired him and the circumstances under which he acted. While his contemporaries are in most cases better able to judge him after he had passed from this world, some men so firmly mark their impress upon their community that their characters are capable of being determined while they are still in the heyday of life. Judged in such a manner, Hon. William Haley shows up very advantageonsly, for he is a man of alert capability … 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 Isaac E., Lambert, Sr.

Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., whose tragic death in the burning of the Copeland Hotel at Topeka in 1908 is generally recalled, was in his time one of the most prominent attorneys of Kansas and stood in the forefront of his profession and also as a public leader. His son, Isaac E. Lambert, Jr., is also a lawyer, a resident of Emporia, and is now serving as chief clerk of the Kansas House of Representatives. At the time of his death Isaac E. Lambert, Sr., was fifty-five years of age and in the prime of his powers. He was born in … Read more

Biography of Cassius C. Surber, M. D.

Cassius C. Surber, M. D. An exceptionally long and valuable service in the field of medicine has been rendered by the Surber family in Kansas. The late Dr. David Surber was a distinguished physician in Kansas during the territorial period and afterward. The son, Dr. Cassius C. Surber, has been in practice more than thirty years, the greater part of that time at Independence, and is undoubtedly one of the ablest surgeons in the state. Originally in Germany, the Surbers were colonial settlers in America, and the family subsequently became pioneers in the Territory of Indiana. Dr. C. C. Surber’s … 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

Biography of W. A. Scidmore

W. A. Scidmore. The center of the financial interests of the Town of Tescott is the Bank of Tescott, an institution that had been holding up the financial credit and stability of the community for many years. It was founded by Mr. F. F. Scidmore in 1887. At the present time the bank had a capital stock of $50,000, surplus and profits of $10,000, and its deposits average $160,000. The two story brick structure on Main Street which was built and owned by the bank in 1911, is the most conspicuous business building in the town. The present officers are: … 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 George F. Beatty

George F. Beatty, who had spent nearly all his life in Kansas, had been enrolled in the ranks of the lawyers of Salina for the past twelve years, and is now serving as referee in bankruptcy with the United States District Court. His birth occurred August 17, 1877, at 1001 Olive Street in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents were Dr. George F. and Martha Ann (Posey) Beatty. His mother, who is still living, is a daughter of William Thornton Posey, who was closely related to the family of George Washington. During her girlhood Miss Posey graduated from a seminary at … Read more

Biography of Samuel S. Gross, M. D.

Samuel S. Gross, M. D. With an experience as a physician and surgeon covering over twenty years, and with increasing eapabilities for exact and thorough service, Doctor Gross had been located for the past ten years at Denton, Kansas, where he controls a large practice and had also identified himself with the business interests of the locality. His paternal ancestors several generations back came out of Germany and were early settlers in the State of Tennessee. Doctor Gross’ grandfather was a native of Tennessee and went as a pioneer to that pietureeque district of Northwest Missouri now known as Excelsior … 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 Samuel R. Dillinger

Samuel R. Dillinger. One of the well known families of Clay County is that of Dillinger, which for many years had been active in the grain elevator business, and it had a worthy representative in Samuel R. Dillinger, who is manager of the Farmers Elevator Company at Bennington, Kansas. Mr. Dillinger was born in Des Moines County, Iowa, July 15, 1855, and is the elder of two sons born to his parents, who were Daniel and Nancy (Davis) Dillinger. His younger brother, Daniel Dillinger, came to Kansas in 1886 and is a prosperous farmer in Sherman County. In tracing his … 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

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 G. S. Holt

G. S. Holt. A Kansas territorial pioneer whose name and services will always be specially remembered in the City of Ottawa was G. S. Holt, a native of Connecticut who came to Kansas Territory in the early ’50s. For a time he lived at Lawrence, but from there went to Ottawa and became proprietor of the first dry goods store, opened in a building at the corner of Second and Main streets. This building had been constructed from the timbers of the old capitol building at Mineola. Besides his work as a business man Mr. Holt was identified and was … Read more

Biography of John O. Adams, Hon.

Hon. John O. Adams. Of the men who in recent years have come to the forefront in the business and official life of Ottawa County, few have accomplished such great and substantial results within so short a period of time as had John O. Adams. A resident of Delphos since 1901, this energetic and capable young man had worked his way to a substantial place in business circles, while in official affairs he had been equally energetic and successful, and in the spring of 1917 was elected mayor of the city. His record as a merchant and as a public … Read more

Biography of Sarah A. Cole, M. D.

Sarah A. Cole, M. D. In a state which had thrown open the door of opportunity to women in many vocations and professions Doctor Cole, of Lincoln, Kansas, is one of the distinguished women in the field of medicine and surgery. She had been a successful practitioner for nearly thirty years, and had spent a great part of that time in Kansas. She was born October 23, 1855, on the high seas while her parents were en route from Ireland to America. Her primary education was obtained in the schools of West Virginia. As a girl she taught school in … 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

Biography of D. Maynard Dibble

D. Maynard Dibble. Steady application to the development of an idea had brought about the material success and business prorninence of D. Maynard Dibble, now well known in business circles in Topeka. He had practically been a resident of this city all of his life, for he was brought here when but nine months old, and from earliest youth had been identified with business affairs. While he is vice president of the Citizens State Bank, the major part of his attention had always been devoted to the grocery and market business, and through initiative, natural resource and an intelligent use … Read more

Biography of Mrs. Lavinia (Gates) Chapman

Mrs. Lavinia (Gates) Chapman. One of the most interesting personalities and entertaining conversationalists among the older residents of Ottawa County is Mrs. Lavinia (Gates) Chapman, one of Minneapolis’ most esteemed and admired ladies, whose actual life experiences are, to some extent, the basis of her published volume of “Pioneer Short Stories,” which book deserves a place in every library, and especially in those designed to preserve the true annals of one of the most trying periods in the progress of civilization in the West. Surrounded as she now is by every creature comfort and protected by stable laws in every … Read more