Parsons Kansas

Biography of Samuel Brownlee Fisher

Samuel Brownlee Fisher of Parsons, consulting engineer of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, is one of the eminent railway engineers of America. He had had nearly fifty years of active experience and had been identified with the construction of various railway lines in the West and East. He comes of an old Scotch family of Covenanter stock. On the maternal side his ancestors were the Brownlees, who were Covenanters in Scotland and were exiled because of their religious belief and settled in Pennsylvania. Mr. Fisher’s great-great-grandfather in the maternal line, George Wilie, was a soldier in the Revolutionary … Read more

Biography of Louis R. Roter

Louis R. Roter. One of the very able business men of Parsons was the late Louis R. Roter, who was president of the Parsons Cold Storage and Crystal Ice Company and had followed merchandising and various lines of business in Kansas and other states for many years. He died in his fifty-fourth year at Parsons February 3, 1907. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, October 2, 1853, a son of Henry Roter, who was born in Germany and died at Dillsboro, Indiana. Henry Roter came to this country a young man, lived in Cincinnati many years, and then moved to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Rt. Rev John Ward

Rt. Rev. John Ward, Bishop of the See of Leavenworth, but with home at 1228 Sandusky Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas; has been one of the ablest priests and administrators of the Catholic Church in Kansas for over thirty years, and a host of friends and admirers both in and out of the church rejoiced in his elevation as a bishop on November 25, 1910. Bishop Ward was born in the Village of Westview near Cleveland, Ohio, May 23, 1857. He was the second in a family of three children. His parents were Joseph and Ellen (McGrath) Ward, both natives … Read more

Biography of Walter Gordon Cadmus

Walter Gordon Cadmus is one of the prominent business men of Parsons. He had had a long and active career in varied lines of enterprise, but now for many years had been a factor in the Parsons Cold Storage and Crystal Ice Company, of which he is secretary, treasurer and general manager. His Cadmus ancestry had its original seat in Holland. His great-grandfather emigrated from Holland and settled at Plainfield, New Jersey, soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. His Grandfather Andrew L. Cadmus was born at Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1809, became a physician and surgeon, practiced for … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Donnellan

Thomas E. Donnellan of Parsons has the active supervision of all Southeastern Kansas, Eastern Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri for the International Harvester Company. He has been general agent for that great corporation for the past fifteen years. Mr. Donnellan is a Kansas man, is a birthright farmer and knows the practical side of farming, an experience which has proved valuable to him as representing a great agricultural house. His family on both sides came to Kansas in territorial days. His father, John Donnellan, who was born in County Clare, Ireland, in 1824, came to this country at the age of … Read more

Biography of James W. Reid

James W. Reid, assistant general attorney of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company at Parsons, is one of Parsons’ young lawyers and a man of many brilliant qualifications and of rising reputation. He was born in Johnson County, Missouri, July 22, 1883. His ancestors came out of England and were early settlers in the State of Ohio. His father J. N. Reid was born in Ohio, and died at Xenia in that state in 1896. Most of his active career was spent in Missouri as a farmer, and he was also a traveling salesman for a number of years. … Read more

Biography of George W. Gabriel, M. D.

George W. Gabriel, M. D., of Parsons had his first medical experience as a hospital steward and soldier during the Civil war. He is now the oldest active medical man in the state, having practiced continuously for over forty-five years. Doctor Gabriel is one of the pioneer physicians of Parsons, and has identified himself with that community not only in a professional capacity but also as a public spirited man of affairs. He is a former state senator. He was born in that old center of education and culture of the Ohio Valley, Athens, Ohio, on November 17, 1841. The … Read more

Biography of Charles Sumner Newlon, M.D.

Dr. Charles Sumner Newlon, who for the past fifteen years has engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas City, Missouri, and who for many years prior to this period was a physician and surgeon of the state of Kansas, was born at Newton’s Grove, Cass county, Iowa, in 1858, a son of Dr. William Smithson and Maria (Wimp) Newlon. The ancestral line is traced back to his great-grandfather, John Newlon. The grandfather, Hiram Newlon, was born in Virginia and was a cousin of Dolly Madison, wife of the fourth president of the United States and also a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Mrs. C. E. Woodward

(See Ross and Holland).-Florence Ella, daughter of Daniel L. and Ruth Caroline (Holland) Ross was born November 30, 1879. Educated in the Cherokee Public Schools, Female Seminary and North Eastern State Normal. Married at Parsons, Kansas, February 6, 1910, Charles Earl, son of John W. and Nancy E. Woodward, born July 15, 1880 in Dent County, Missouri. Educated in Salem High School and Draughon’s Business College. Mr. Woodward taught school four years before their marriage and Mrs. Woodward taught ten years. Re was postmaster at Vera under President Wilson.  

Biography of Herbert M. Howison, Prof.

Prof. Herbert M. Howison. As one of the flourishing cities of Kansas, Parsons has representatives in nearly all the industries and professions. As a developer of its musical interest the city has recently received an important addition in the person of Herbert M. Howison, a prominent professional musician and a man of wide experience as a teacher and devotee of the art. Professor Howison is a young man of much talent and has been thoroughly trained in many of the best schools and under some of the best instructors of the country. The family have lived in this country for … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert Lehman Southworth

Albert Lehman Southworth, living retired at Longview, represents one of the old and substantial families of Champaign County, his people having located here more than sixty years ago and having played worthy and active parts in the development and transformation of Raymond Township. Mr. Southworth was born in Erie County, Ohio, August 14, 1850, son of John Randolph and Anna (Akers) Southworth. His father was a Connecticut man by birth while his mother was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was in 1855 that the family came to Champaign County and settled on a tract of raw and unimproved land … Read more

Biography of Arthur Fulton Cranston

Arthur Fulton Cranston. From time immemorial, the legal profession has attracted to its ranks a large percentage of notably brilliant men. When rightly followed it is one of the noblest callings, affording at once full play to Christian sympathy, and opportunities for helpful public service, and holding a mighty prerogative, that of instigating exoneration of and restitution to the wrongly oppressed, or the administration of just retribution to the guilty. It has no room or opportunity for the weakling, but the strong it strengthens with a keener insight to [p.2032] human thought and feeling, with a more accurate realization of … Read more

Biography of Frank Marion Hare

Frank Marion Hare is city engineer of Parsons. He is a competent and thoroughly versed man in his profession, and he trained himself for that career. His Harr ancestors came from Germany and settled in New York State in colonial times. His paternal grandfather, John M. Harr, was born in Ohio in 1820, spent his life as a farmer and died in Van Wert County of the Buckeye State in 1897. He was an active republican in politics. Of his children four are now deceased, and those still living, the uncles and aunts of Frank M. Harr, are: Corwin, a … Read more

Biography of Edgar W. Boardman, M. D.

Edgar W. Boardman, M. D. Medicine is constantly making tremendous strides forward, with scientific progress shown on every side, and discoveries and inventions are practically changing methods of practice and broadening the viewpoint of both physician and patient. To practice according to the enlightened ideas of the present century requires not only a most careful training but a certain, sure aggressiveness, and no physician of Parsons has this and other admirable qualities in greater degree than has Dr. Edgar W. Boardman, a practicing physician and surgeon of this city since 1888. Doctor Boardman was born at Fort Dodge, Iowa, January … Read more

Biography of Richard M. Kleinhans

Richard M. Kleinhans is a veteran railroad man, having been in the active service more than twenty years. He started in his native State of Michigan, worked through various grades of promotion with the Lake Shore Branch of the New York Central lines, and finally came to the Southwest in the employ of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. He is now car accountant for that road with headquarters at Parsons. Born in Detroit, Michigan, September 8, 1877, he is a son of George and Cecelia (Hunt) Kleinhans. His father was born in Pennsylvania in 1813, moved from that state to … Read more

Biography of Warner E. Williams

Warner E. Williams. While now one of the great trunk railway systems of the country, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was largely developed as a Kansas corporation. The main offices of the company at Kansas are at Parsons, where 2,200 of its employes reside. The different lines of the road converge and diverge from that point in six directions: To Hannibal and St. Louis, Missouri; to Kansas City, Missouri; to Junction City, Kansas; to Joplin, Missouri, to Denison, Texas; and to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. For several years the general manager of the system with headquarters at Parsons was Warner … Read more

Biography of Paul Phillip MacCaskill

Paul Phillip MacCaskill. One of the younger members of the Kansas bar, in active practice at Parsons, Paul MacCaskill has already had a wide range of experience in his profession and in public affairs. While studying law and since he spent a good deal of time in the service of public men, at Topeks and elsewhere, and in 1915 was secretary to Hon. Baille P. Waggener, the Atchison County representative in the State Senate. He is of a fine strain of Scotch ancestry. The name MacCaskill, or MacAskill, is of Norse origin, meaning Anses Kettle, or sacrificial vessel to the … Read more

Biography of Albert Smith, M. D.

Albert Smith, M. D. It is practically beyond the possible for the conscientious physician and surgeon to arrive at a condition of mind where he is satisfied with his accomplishments, no matter what their degree, for, with an understanding of what great things are coming to the man of science, the numerous avenues yet unopened which will lead to new realms in the cure of the ills of humanity, and a constant yearning to add to his store of personal knowledge, he, of necessity, keeps on striving for perfection as long as life remains. One of the men of the … Read more

Biography of William Wallace Brown

William Wallace Brown, general attorney at Parsons for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway and a director in that railway company, is one of Kansas’ prominent lawyers with many well earned distinctions in the profession. The secret of his success has been hard work. He began practice only after a thorough preliminary training of self reliance and after getting his professional education through his own earnings and efforts. A native of Kansas, he represents a pioneer family. Mr. Brown was born in Coffey County July 29, 1868. He is of English ancestry. His grandfather Robert Brown was born in England, … Read more

Biography of John Thomas Sims

John Thomas Sims, who many years ago secured prestige as one of the most forcible lawyers of the Kansas City, Kansas, bar and is now serving as judge of the Probate Court of Wyandotte County has had his share of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. His early life was one of hard and continuous work, often ill repaid, and again and again overtaken with calamity or disaster. He tried farming in the early days of Kansas, and various other occupations, and again and again when prosperity seemed to smile upon him he was put back at the beginning … Read more