Richmond Indiana

Richmond, Indiana, located in Wayne County, is a city steeped in both historical significance and cultural development, marking an important node in the eastern part of the state near the Ohio border. Founded in 1806 by North Carolina Quakers, Richmond’s establishment was influenced by the westward migration of settlers seeking new opportunities. It resides within Wayne County, which was established in 1811, drawing its name from the city of Richmond, Virginia, reflecting the origins of some of its early settlers. The city’s growth was significantly bolstered by the National Road (U.S. Route 40), making it a crucial transportation and trade corridor in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The city’s rich history is marked by its involvement in the Underground Railroad, signifying its residents’ commitment to abolitionist movements.

Biographical Sketch of Will P. Blair

Blair, Will P.; brick business; born, Plainfield, Ind., June 28, 1849; son of Enos and Margaruitte Blair; educated, Earlham College, Richmond, Ind., married, Indianapolis, Ind., Viola V. Sanders; issue, one daughter, Marion W. Blair; pres. National Paving Brick Manufacturers’ Ass’n, 1904-5; also pres. in 1910; member of American Ceramic Society; member brick committee of the American Society for Testing Materials; author of “Direction Direction for the Construction of Brick Street Pavements”; 1894 to 1909, sec’y and mgr. of Terre Haute, Ind., Vitrified Brick Co.; sec ‘y and member board of directors National Paving Brick Mfr’s Ass’n; member Ohio, Indiana and … Read more

Biography of Harry A. Mendenhall

Harry A. Mendenhall. Though his home is in the largest city of Kansas, Harry A. Mendenhall’s business and civic activities have been such as to constitute him one of the best known men of Kansas City, Kansas. For nearly thirty years he had given his best time and energy to the building up of an organization and equipment for the efficient handling of local traffic and freight in the transfer line, he is a former sheriff of Wyandotte County, and is also prominent as a banker. He was born January 11, 1865, on a farm at the edge of the … Read more

Biography of R. T. Updegraff

R. T. Updegraff has been perhaps the leading individual factor in the commercial and business development of the Town of Maple Hill in Wabaunsee County for the past thirty years. Mr. Updegraff came to Kansas after completing his education, and the vigor and enterprise which characterized his early life in this state have borne abundant fruit in several different lines. Mr. Updegraff was born at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, November 28, 1862. He is of old Quaker family, the religion of the Friends having received the allegiance of the Updegraffs for many generations. The Updegraffs first came out of Holland in … Read more

Biography of Joseph A. Clark

The Idaho canal is fed by Snake River, ten miles above Idaho Falls. It has three head gates, is forty feet wide and thirty-five miles long and irrigates one hundred thousand acres of land, the country which it waters being largely settled by prosperous farmers who raise hay and grain in large quantities. The productiveness of this stretch of country and the prosperity which flows from it are made possible by this great inland improvement, and the canal was made possible largely through the personal efforts of Joseph A. Clark, who advocated it, promoted it and was chiefly instrumental in … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Hill

Charles A. Hill for thirty-seven years had been closely identified with the progress and development of Eudora and its vicinity. His had been a life worth remembering, and in the community in which his labors have been most productive and his influence most widespread that memory will not cease for a long time to come. His record and that of his family indicates some of the finer elements which have entered into the social makeup of Kansas. Mr. Hill was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, on June 9, 1838. His parents were John and Lydia B. (Starbuck) Hill Bock. … Read more

Biography of William B. Wade

William B. Wade. When the pioneers of 1854, who were men of solid worth, as was William B. Wade, later a member of the First Territorial Legislature of Kansas, came to Shawnee County, it was for the peaceful conquest of the soil and for the establishing of permanent homes in which they could rear their families to succeed them with credit to state and parentage. These pioneers were home-seekers, not restless, irresponsible wanderers, and, while many brought a measure of capital, all came with sturdy, industrious habits insuring the earning of it. The historian of today looks back over the … Read more

Biography of William H. Nelson

William H. Nelson, secretary of the Arkansas City Commercial Club, an office through which he had rendered inestimable benefits to that community, is an old time business man of the city, having located there more than thirty years ago. Mr. Nelson had the distinction of being postmaster of Arkansas City at the time it had its greatest population. He was appointed postmaster by President Harrison in 1889, and held the office four years and five months. It will be recalled that in 1889 the original Oklahoma Territory was opened for settlement. Then and for several years previously Arkansas City had … Read more

Biography of Nathan L. Hollowell

Nathan L. Hollowell is grand keeper of records and seals for the Knights of Pythias of the State of Kansas. He had his offices in the Husted Building at Kansas City, Kansas, and had been a resident of that city for several years. The office is an elective one and for an annual term. Mr. Hollowell became grand keeper May 15, 1910, and had been re-elected every year since then. He had long been prominent in the Knights of Pythias order and became active in the fraternity while living in Indiana. In that state he was a member of the … Read more

Biography of Walter Roscoe Stubbs

Walter Roscoe Stubbs. The distinctive features of the service rendered by Mr. Stubbs as governor of Kansas from 1908 to 1912 had been described on other pages of this history. A few other details as to his work as governor and something as to his personality and career will be of wide interest to the citizens of Kansas. Everyone knows former Governor Stubbs as a man of wonderful business ability and of absolute integrity. It is only natural that the resources of personal character should be partly explained at least by reference to ancestry. When it is explained that Governor … Read more

Biography of Winfield Freeman

Winfield Freeman. Lawyer, author, traveler, leader in republican politics and a business man, Winfield Freeman has been a Kansan for more than thirty-five years. He has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the foremost members of the bar in Kansas City, Kansas. He was born at London, Ohio, January 3, 1848, a son of James F. and Eleanor (Dawson) Freeman. His early life was spent in Winchester, Ohio, where he attended the public schools and where he read law in the office of Hon. A. Stiver. Admitted to the bar in 1869, at the age of twenty-one, he practiced … Read more

Biography Of Oliver Barber, Hon.

Hon. Oliver Barber was one of the foremost figures in the life of Kansas during the territorial and early statehood period. The Barber family played many noteworthy parts in the making of Kansas a free state, and in those early years there was hardly a man more justly honored by his fellow citizens than Oliver Barber. He lived for many years at Lawrence and in that city his son Oliver P. Barber is one of the oldest and best known business men and merchants. A native of Pennsylvania, Oliver Barber was born in Franklin County December 10, 1816. As a … Read more