Parsons Kansas

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

Biography of Charles E. Spooner

Charles E. Spooner. When he started upon his wage-earning career, at the age of fifteen years, Charles E. Spooner began at the bottom of the ladder in the capacity of bundle-boy in a department store. No favors were shown him, for he had no important friends or other favoring influences, but his fidelity, energy and ability won him recognition and promotion and he soon grew beyond the opportunities of his immediate environment, and from that time his advancement has been sure and steady. In 1888 he became connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, in a minor position and … 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 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

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 Middleton L. Perry, M. D.

Middleton L. Perry, M. D. Among the men of Kansas who are carrying on the highly important work of caring for the afflicted and irresponsible members of society, one of the best known is Dr. Middleton L. Perry, superintendent of the State Hospital for Epilepties, at Parsons. Doctor Perry was born at Lancaster, Dallas County, Texas, August 15, 1868, and is a son of Middleton and Ellen (Ellis) Perry. The family is of English extraction and settled during colonial times in Virginia, where the grandfather of Doctor Perry, Franklin Perry, was born. He was a farmer by vocation and in … Read more

Slave Narrative of Jim Threat

Person Interviewed: Jim Threat Place of Birth: Talidiga County, Alabama Date of Birth: September 1851 We all sung dat song and had a lot of fun singing it but it was true jest the same. Dat was one of the things dat the niggers dreaded most, was a patteroller. Slaves would have a little party all the niggers would gather at one of the cabins and lock the door so the patterollers couldn’t git in. When the party was over and they started home the patterollers would stop them and demand their passes. Woe to the nigger that didn’t have … 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 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 Fenton Broomhall

Edgar Fenton Broomhall is secretary of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company with headquarters and home at Parsons. Native ability and long experience in railroading have given Mr. Broomhall unusual qualifications for the large responsibilities he now enjoys. He was born in Chicago August 18, 1877, and from that date it will be seen that he is still a young man. His father, Charles W. Broomhall, was born in Wilmington, Ohio, August 9, 1850, grew up and married in his native state, and in early life learned telegraphy and was an operator until 1888. For several years he was … Read more

Biography of Arthur Richard Nash, M. D.

Arthur Richard Nash, M. D. A surgeon whose ability has brought him a rapidly growing reputation in southeastern Kansas, Dr. Arthur Richard Nash has practiced at Parsons for the past four years. He received his degree In medicine nearly twenty years ago, and has had a wide range of experience and opportunity in his profession since then. He is of Irish stock. The Nashs were English originally and moved from there to Ireland. Doctor Nash is a grandson of a physician, Richard Nash, who spent his life in Ireland as a physician and surgeon. He died in County Tipperary at … Read more