Platte County MO

Biography of Alonzo O. Blair, M. D.

Alonzo O. Blair, M. D. By nearly forty years of practice in Southeastern Kansas Doctor Blair has become widely known as a successful physician and surgeon, and for more than a quarter of a century has been identified professionally and also in a business way with the City of Pittsburg. By ancestry he is of Scotch-Irish stock. His great-great-grandfather came in colonial times from England and settled in South Carolina. Doctor Blair’s grandfather was a native of South Carolina, but was opposed to the institution of slavery and moved from that state to Tennessee and thence to Illinois. He was … Read more

Biography of William Schwartz

William Schwartz was one of the pioneers of Eastern Kansas. Many of his activities identified him with Miami County and the City of Paola, though in later years his interests were widely extended. Throughout his career the traits of industry and enterprise are strongly pronounced. He was born in Nassau, Germany, May 4, 1838, and there obtained his early education. He was one of a family of seven children, two sons and five daughters. When he was eighteen years of age, in 1856, William Schwartz set out for the land of promise, crossed the ocean and landed in Philadelphia. He … Read more

Biography of George K. Reid

George K. Reid, who had been a resident of Kansas nearly thirty-five years, had built up and maintained what is unquestionably the largest business at Howard in abstracts, loans and insurance. When it is stated that Mr. Reid is the son of a minister, there is no need to explain that he was not reared in a home of luxury or wealth, and as a matter of fact from an early age he had been dependent upon his own resources and had made good. His Reid ancestors at one time lived in England, moved from there to Scotland, thence to … Read more

Biography of Charles R. Hewins

Charles R. Hewins is in point of continuous service one of the oldest educators in Kansas. His work had been accomplished almost entirely within the limits of Doniphan County. For thirty years he had been connected with the schools of that county and in November, 1916, he was elected county superintendent, beginning May 14, 1917. Mr. Hewins represents a pioneer family of Northeastern Kansas, and his own birth occurred near Wathena on December 1, 1866. His family were Colonial settlers in Maine from England. His grandfather, John A. Hewins, Sr., was a native of Maine, followed farming in that state … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Anthony, A.J.

A. J. Anthony, stock-raiser, first came to Lawrence in 1857, and engaged in staging until 1863; he then became conductor and express messenger on the Southern Overland Stage Line from Kansas City, Mo., to Santa Fe, N. M., until August, 1867. He then located at a ranch twenty miles west of Dodge City, where he kept a few cattle and a provision store. A year thence he moved to Fort Dodge and engaged in the sutler business until 1874, when he located on a stock-ranch three-fourths of a mile west of where Dodge City now stands, where he has been … Read more

Biography of Edward Bell Payne, M. D.

Edward Bell Payne, M. D. With an understanding of what is awaiting the man of science, the many doors yet unopened which will lead to the further amelioration of the ills of mankind, and the constant yearning to add to his store of knowledge, it is practically impossible for the conscientious physician and surgeon to arrive at a state of mind where he is satisfied with what he has accomplished and, of necessity, he keeps on striving for perfection as long as life lasts. A long list of accomplishments in his profession have marked the career of Dr. Edward Bell … Read more

Biography of William Warring Gordon

William Warring Gordon is now in his second term as chief of police of Kansas City, Kansas. An office fraught with so much importance and complicated with so many difficulties and responsibilities had received an administration from Mr. Gordon which had been a splendid tribute to his tact, forcefulness and efficiency as a public official. Mr. Gordon had spent the greater part of his life as a resident of Kansas and was a successful business man before he was called upon to administer his present office. He was born in Kentucky in Owen County on a farm June 13, 1874. … Read more

Biography of Merle K. Scott, M. D.

Merle K. Scott, M. D. There are few lovers of literature who have not lost themselves in the incomparable romances of sir Walter Scott, and probably the most knowledge that many have ever gained of Scotland had been based on the illuminating writings of her greatest novalist. From that country and from the same stock came the Scotts of Kansas, a prominent reprecentative of which family is Dr. Merle K. Scott, physician and surgeon at Frontanac. Merle K. Scott was born at Coyville, Wilson County, Kansas, April 16, 1878. His parents are Rev. Robert M. and Sarah Kinnear (Kirkpatrick) Scott, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Nathan Frank Frazier, Jr.

Nathan Frank Frazier, Jr., the younger son of Nathan F. and Elmma (Crook) Frazier, and vice president of the Citizens State Bank of El Dorado, was born at El Dorado March 13, 1882. He was reared in his native town, where he received his preparatory education in the public schools, following which he entered Lake Forest Academy at Lake Forest, Illinois, from which institution he was graduated in 1903. After graduation he was employed at Kansas City, Missouri, for a short time, and then returned to El Dorado, where he became associated with his father and assisted the elder man … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert F. McFarland

Albert F. McFarland was born in Platte county, Missouri, near Weston, August 5, 1838, and resided there until he was twenty-three years old, receiving his education in the common schools and at Pleasant Ridge College, of that county. He pursued a course of medical studies at St. Louis, Missouri, during the years 1860, ’61, ’62 and ’63, and began practice in the general army hospital in 1863, where he continued to practice until the close of the war, in 1865. In 1866 he made a trip across the plains to Salt Lake City, Utah, and to Virginia City, Montana, returning … Read more

Biography of Arthur W. Evans, M. D.

Arthur W. Evans, M. D., is a native of the Sunflower State, a scion of a pioneer family of this commonwealth and has here achieved definite success in his profession, as one of the representative physicians and surgeons engaged in practice in the City of Independence. Dr. Arthur Whiting Evans was born at Lawrence, Kansas, on the 26th of October, 1870, and is a son of Arthur and Mary (Leishum) Evans, the former of whom was born in Lancastershire, England, in 1841, and the latter of whom was born in Wales, in the same year, she having been a young … Read more

Biography of George W. Pearcy

GEORGE W. PEARCY. Ability, when backed by enterprising business measures and progressive ideas, will accomplish more than any other professional or commercial requirement. An illustration of this is found in the mercantile establishment owned and conducted by George W. Pearcy at Thornfield, MO. This gentleman was born in Platte County, Missouri, in 1848, but his parents, William H. and Jane (Henry) Pearcy, were born in Kentucky in 1813 and Indiana in 1818, respectively. After their marriage, which occurred in Indiana, they came to Platte County, Missouri, later removed to Dallas County, and when the subject of this sketch was four … Read more

Biography of Gillis Q. Lake

Gillis Q. Lake has been in the drug business at Kansas City, Kansas, for the past eighteen years. Most of the people of that city know how he had built up the two finest drug stores in Kansas City, Kansas. The druggist is both a professional and business man, and Mr. Lake had apparently been equally strong in the professional and practical side of his business career. He was born at Wooster in Wayne County, Ohio, August 14, 1863. His parents were Constant and Ann (McDonald) Lake, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Charleston, South Carolina. … Read more

Lee, Oscar Grant – Obituary

Funeral services for Oscar G. Lee, pioneer realtor and hotel man of Oklahoma City who died in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday afternoon [June 13, 1934], will be held here at 10:30 a.m., Friday, it was announced Wednesday night. Death, caused by hardening of the arteries, came to Lee following almost a year’s confinement in St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. He had been a resident of that city since leaving Oklahoma City in 1913. While Lee was supposed to have staked out a claim in Oklahoma City following the run of 1889, friends of his here recalled that he originally … Read more

Biography of Maurice McAuliffe

Maurice McAuliffe, of Salina, had not only fitted himself comfortably and substantially into the agricultural affairs of Kansas as an individual farmer and stock man, but had been one of the leaders in the new agrisultural movement and uplift. He is most widely known as one of the fine factors in the organization of the Farmers Union of Kansas, and is now serving his ninth term as president of that vigorous organization. He was also a prominent figure in the Alliance movement. The Farmers Union of Kansas is affiliated with the larger organization known as the National Farmers Union, which … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Ramsey

Robert H. Ramsey. During the past thirty-five years no name had been more closely identified with the ranching and stock raising interests of Butler County than that of Ramsey. Robert H. Ramsey is a son of A. C. Ramsey, who was the pioneer of the family in the cattle industry. Robert Ramsey himself had handled cattle and ranching as a conspicuous interest of his career, but is also identified with the business community of El Dorado. He was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio, November 18, 1881. Albert C. Ramsey, his father, was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, June 7, 1837, one … Read more

Biography of William E. Schermerhorn

William E. Schermerhorn is a merchant at Wilson and for a man of thirty-five carrics some very heavy responsibilities. He is a native of Kansas and son of a pioneer whose career recalls some interesting events and developments in the far West. His father, E. D. Schermerhorn, is still living at Wilson, nearly seventy years of age. E. D. Schermerhorn was born near Troy, New York, in 1848. His ancestors were the Schermerhorn family of Holland established on Manhattan Island by three brothers in the time of Peter Stuyvesant. The name Schermerhorn is still found in local nomenclature in and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. J. Phillips

E. J. Phillips was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, May 18, 1831. His parents, Edward and Elizabeth Phillips, were also natives of Virginia. The subject of our sketch learned the carpenter’s trade when he was twenty-one years old, and was employed in that business for seven years; next worked as a millwright for a few years, then began farming, which has been his occupation ever since. In 1852 he came to Missouri and settled in Platte county, and in 1877 came to this county, and now owns a fine farm of 200 acres. Mr. Phillips was united in marriage, September … Read more

Biography of John Conover, Col.

Of the individuals whose lives have influenced, developed, stabilised and broadened the civic and commercial resources of the State of Kansas, one of the most conspicuous was that of the late Col. John Conover. Coming to Kansas in 1857 and locating in Leavenworth, he was one of the pioneer merchants of that city. Going from Kansas at the outbreak of the war into the service of the Union army, he made a brilliant record as a soldier and officer, and that record is one of the many reasons why Kansas people should have a grateful memory of his life. Following … Read more

Biography of Leonard V. McKee

Leonard V. McKee. The life, the personal character and the influence of Leonard V. McKee impressed themselves strongly upon the formative period of Marshall County’s history. He was founder and president of the Frankfort State Bank, was a large land owner and one of the leading business men and citizens of the community. He was born in Allen County, Ohio, August 18, 1845, and died at his home in Frankfort, Kansas, December 22, 1916, aged seventy-one years, four months and four days. His parents, Robert and Sarah (Dunlap) McKee, were both natives of Ohio. His father was a cabinet maker … Read more