Pottawatomie County KS

Biography of Leslie V. Johnson

With all the progressiveness and enterprise of the native Kansan, Leslie V. Johnson had made his years in this state count chiefly as a banker, and for many years had found a large opportunity to serve the public through his post as cashier of the State Bank of Randolph in Riley County. As in the case with many successful business men and financiers, he had the atmosphere of a farm during his youth. He was born on his father’s farm in Pottawatomie County, October 8, 1872, and his earliest recollections are associated with that rural district. As a boy he … Read more

Biography of John Milligan Johnson

John Milligan Johnson. Recently there died at Manhattan a Kansan whose character was even more important than his material achievements. He came within four years of living a century and he was a figure in the activities of the frontier until the frontier had passed away. But more important than all his experiences were the moral forces that emanated from his life, and the things he stood for, believed in, and worked to bring about. It is therefore as a character sketch that the following paragraphs are offered, and they find an appropriate place in the history of Kansas. John … Read more

Biography of Harry O. Sutcliff

Harry O. Sutcliff is superintendent of the city schools of Wheaton in Pottawatomie County. Mr. Sutcliff is still young, with life before him, but had already proved an instrument of great service in the educational affairs of his native state. He was born on a farm in Jewell County, Kansas, January 14, 1891. The Suteliff family had lived in this state for over thirty-five years. His grandfather, Robert Sutcliff, was born in England in 1820 and came when a young man to the United States, living in Illinois until 1880, when he removed to Jewell County, Kansas, and followed farming … Read more

Biography of Archibald Steel Johnson

Archibald Steel Johnson, a resident of Kansas nearly forty years, has one of the very interesting places historically considered. It is located a few miles from North Topeka on rural route No. 6 in Shawnee County, and is a farm of eighty acres which he bought in 1907. The history of this farm is especially interesting. The site comprises the old historic Town of Indianola. This town was established when the Territory of Kansas was new. It was the home of a large number of abolitionists, though there were two or three pro-slavery families in the same community. When this … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Miohakl Joseph McManus, Rev.

Rev. Miohakl Joseph McManus is pastor of St. Michael Archangel’s Church at Wheaton. Father MeManus had lived in America ten years and most of his work as a priest had been done in Kansas. A record of good deeds and capable service preceded him to Wheaton, and in this parish his good work had continued and had brought him high favor both with his own parishioners and non-Catholic people. Father McManus was born in County Mayo, Ireland, May 4, 1881. As a boy he attended the national schools and obtained his classical education in Mount Melleray College, County Waterford, where … Read more

Biography of Matthew A. Brennan

Matthew A. Brennan has been a resident of Kansas since 1903, was identified with farming, railroading and other lines of business for some years, but is now one of Topeka’s successful undertakers. He was born in County Limerick, Ireland, February 16, 1882. The Brennan family furnishes one of the old and respected names of Limerick County. His grandfather was John Brennan, a farmer, and the father was Bartholomew Brennan, a native of County Limerick and a cooper by trade. Bartholomew Brennan married Johanna O’Shea, who was born in County Limerick, daughter of Matthew O’Shea. The eight children of Bartholomew Brennan … Read more

Kay, Josephine Electa Drake Mrs. – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Mrs. J. S. Kay is Called Beyond Mrs. J.S. Kay died last evening, Wednesday, July 28, 1937, after an illness of only a few hours, at her home in Enterprise. Mrs. Kay had a little home near that of her daughter, Mrs. J. R. Wagner, and Monday was taken to the home of her son, Ralph, while Mr. and Mrs. Wagner were in La Grande. She stayed at her son’s home until Tuesday evening, when she asked to be taken to her own home as she was not feeling as well as usual. That evening she … Read more

Biography of Walter Robson

Walter Robson, a former representative of Pottawatomie County in the Legislature, is a man of large and important business interests in and around Westmoreland. His chief business is farming, but whether as a farmer, legislator, merchant he had played a forceful and virile part in every one of his numerous interests. Reared in Kansas from early infancy, Mr. Robson was born at Wilmington in Will County, Illinois, February 26, 1875. His father, John Robson, is and for many years had been a prominent factor in Pottawatomie County and is still living on his farm two miles northeast of Westmoreland. He … Read more

Biography of Oscar Ramsey Searl, M. D.

Oscar Ramsey Searl, M. D. The name Searl had been associated with the medical profession in Northern Kansas for fully half a century. Dr. O. R. Searl is a son of a pioneer doctor of Solomon, Kansas, Dr. O. F. Searl. The son had practiced for nearly twenty years at Belvue, and besides his success in the profession he had made himself an influential factor in local affairs. He was born at Solomon, Kansas, July 5, 1872. Dr. O. F. Searl was of English family and represented Colonial settlers in Massachusetts. He was born in Massachasetts November 15, 1841, grew … Read more

Biography of Lester Martin Combs

Lester Martin Combs has been an active newspaper man since he graduated from Baker University five years ago and is now editor, manager and treasurer of the Anthony Republican, the official paper of Harper County. The Republican is the oldest paper in Harper County and was established a few years after the county was organized in 1879. The first editors and publishers were George W. Maffet and Charles Metcalf. For several years in the late ’80s the Republican had a daily edition. At the present time the Republican is printed at a modern plant on South Bluff Street. The Anthony … Read more