Salina Kansas

Biography of August Bondi

August Bondi was a splendid figure in the annals of Kansas for fully half a century, and had been fitly described as soldier and patriot and one of the immortal followers of John Brown. From the city of culture and of old world civilization, Vienna, Austria, it is a far cry to the plains of Kansas where were performed those deeds which will ring down through history. August Bondi was born at Vienna July 21, 1833, a son of Hart Emanuel and Martha (Frankl) Bondi, who were also natives of Vienna. His father was a Jewish manufacturer of cotton goods. … Read more

Biography of C. B. Goodrich

C. B. Goodrich. A life of quiet effectiveness, marked by a record of many duties well done and many responsibilities faithfully fulfilled, was that of the late, C. B. Goodrich, who died in Lawrence in 1910 at the age of sixty-six. He was one of those quiet unassuming men, rarely known to the world in general, but worthily filling the niche in the affairs of life allotted to them. Of Canadian nativity, born at Sarnia, he was brought to the United States when very young and was reared in and about Kankakee, Illinois. The first service in his quiet routine … Read more

Biography of Bryce Muir

Bryce Muir is one of the prominent pioneers of Saline County, Kansas. He had lived in that locality more than fifty years, and if any man can be accounted an authority on the early history and development of that section of the state it is this genial and well known old timer. Prosperity had come to him in large measure during these long years, but he still prefers to keep his home on his fine farm near Salina, on rural route No. 2. He was born September 9, 1840, in Scotland. He had many of the characteristics that have made … 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 Herman H. Sudendorf

Herman H. Sudendorf was born in Hanover, Germany, October 10, 1832, and came to the United States in 1848, locating at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned and followed the carpenter trade. In 1859 he removed with his family to Kansas and continued to work at his trade for ten more years. In 1868 he embarked in the lumber business at Salina with Mr. C. Eberhardt, they having opened one of the first lumber yards in the town. The partnership was dissolved in 1891, Mr. Sudendorf afterward continuing the enterprise alone, and the business is yet carried on in his name. … Read more

Biography of Richard Price Cravens

Richard Price Cravens. It must be conceded that the earlier history of Salina was made by a comparatively few reliable, responsible men, who, courageous in their action and steadfast in their belief in the future possibilities of the city, forged ahead, blazing the way for others, who, following in their footsteps and working with them, have developed one of the greatest business centers in the great state of Kansas. Had these men been less active, less willing to put their entire energies into their work, today’s prosperity would have never been developed. One improvement leads to another, each advance means … Read more

Biography of Ernest Fritchof Swanson

Ernest Fritchof Swanson. While Kansas gave its approval by liberal majority to the national administration in the election of 1916, it is noteworthy that the normally republican counties retained their political complexion and with few exceptions returned republicans to local offices. One of these exceptions occurred in Saline County, where with a normal republican majority of 500, Ernest Fritchof Swanson, the democratic candidate, was elected sheriff by a majority of 1,243 over his republican opponent. Long experience in the sheriff’s office, unusual qualifications for his official duties, and strong personal popularity were no doubt the principal factors in Mr. Swanson’s … Read more

Biography of Park E. Salter

Park E. Salter. The name Salter had had a very vital and intimate relationship with Butler County for forty years, particularly with the development of its livestock interests and also, in later years, with the oil and gas industry. The founder of the family in Butler County was the late Thomas B. Salter, a figure of unusual prominence in that section of the state. He was born in Centerville, Iowa, in 1849 and came to Kansas in 1876. In Butler County he took a claim of 160 acres, and after improving that he continued increasing his holdings until before his … Read more

Biography of Walter E. Connelly

Walter E. Connelly of Salina had had some unusual experience as an educator in the western part of the state. As a boy he attended one of the old dugout schoolhouses of Kansas, and he spent seventeen years teaching, concluding that service with a term as superintendent of instruction in Saline County. Since retiring from that office he had founded and is manager of the Salina Collection Agency, the first and only exclusive collection agency in the city. He represents a family that during the past century have by successive stages progressed half way across the American continent from New … Read more

Biography of James W. Jenney, M. D.

James W. Jenney, M. D. Among many other titles of distinction Dr. James W. Jenny, whose name is professionally known in almost every state in the Union, enjoys that of pioneer physician at Salina, Kansas, which city had been his permanent home for forty-six years. He came here a young man, in the first flush of professional success, earnest and ambitious, and the passage of time had in no way lessened his devotion to medical science. James W. Jenney comes of solid old Quaker stock. He was born in a log cabin on his father’s farm in Huron County, Ohio, … Read more

Biography of Ezra William Ober

Ezra William Ober. “Whenever a new railroad was to be secured, a new institution located, a new business brought to town, E. W. Ober was at the head of the list and generally headed the committee that landed the addition to Salina. There is probably not a permanent institution in the city today secured by general effort where Mr. Ober was not the leading spirit.” Such a tribute, voicing the general opinion of a community, can be paid only to the exceptional man. The late E. W. Ober was in every sense an exceptional man. He had good business ability, … Read more

Biography of W. A. Scidmore

W. A. Scidmore. The center of the financial interests of the Town of Tescott is the Bank of Tescott, an institution that had been holding up the financial credit and stability of the community for many years. It was founded by Mr. F. F. Scidmore in 1887. At the present time the bank had a capital stock of $50,000, surplus and profits of $10,000, and its deposits average $160,000. The two story brick structure on Main Street which was built and owned by the bank in 1911, is the most conspicuous business building in the town. The present officers are: … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Fred A. Cunningham

South San Francisco has a reputation of getting almost everything it goes after for the reason that most of its big men are unselfishly imbued with civic pride and interest, or in the language of the streets are “live ones.” Among these “live ones” is Fred A. Cunningham, real estate dealer and trustee and formerly mayor of South San Francisco. Mr. Cunningham is a worker for South San Francisco and the county at large. He was one of the organizers and is at present a member of the Board of Governors of the San Mateo County Development Association. He was … Read more

Biographical Sketch of A. N. Keeler

Keeler Brothers, Perhaps no more attractive town in Mitchell County, Kansas, can be found than the one that bears the name of Scottsville, which might now celebrate its thirty-eighth birthday, although it was not incorporated for a number of years afterward. It had made wonderful progress since first laid out in 1878, and from then on down to the present great credit must be given for the same to the Keeler family, for it had been continuously identified with all the substantial development here. Ira B. and A. N. Keeler, under the firm style of Keeler Brothers, are the leading … Read more

Biography of Wallace H. Johnson

Wallace H. Johnson. The newspaper men of Kansas, as a rule, need no glowing encomiums from other professions or the public. Their guild includes names that are as household words from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The newspapers of Kansas are moulding public opinion daily through the accurate knowledge and wide vision of the men in the editorial chair, and that the state had made such remarkable progress and had, in many ways, pushed so far ahead of many of her sister states of the Union, may justly be credited to the facile pen that gives expression to truths, calling … Read more

Biography of George F. Beatty

George F. Beatty, who had spent nearly all his life in Kansas, had been enrolled in the ranks of the lawyers of Salina for the past twelve years, and is now serving as referee in bankruptcy with the United States District Court. His birth occurred August 17, 1877, at 1001 Olive Street in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents were Dr. George F. and Martha Ann (Posey) Beatty. His mother, who is still living, is a daughter of William Thornton Posey, who was closely related to the family of George Washington. During her girlhood Miss Posey graduated from a seminary at … Read more

Biography of Edward A. Hood

Edward A. Hood, cashier of the Greenleaf State Bank, had had an active career in Kansas for a number of years, at first in the lumber business and leter as a banker. Mr. Hood did not begin life as the son of a wealthy family, but had gained his opportanities by hard work and constant vigilance. He was born at Salem, Arkansas, October 5, 1878. His ancestors in the paternal line were Scotch people. His grandfather, Graham W. Hood, was born in Scotland, came to this country when a young man and settled in Missouri among the pioneers, and for … Read more

Biography of Jonas P. Johnson

Jonas P. Johnson. In the life and affairs of Saline County, particularly in the locality around Assaria, the late Jonas P. Johnson played a notable part. He was one of those stanch and true men who have given their chatacter to the community, so that Saline County in its institutions and its moral standards largely reflects the personalities of such men as Mr. Johnson. He had begun life poor, but reached a place where he was surrounded with ample material welfare and bore an influential part in community development. He was born in Sweden March 1, 1849, a son of … Read more

Biography of Levi Livermore Tucker

Levi Livermore Tucker, late superintendent and president of the Kansas Wesleyan Business College of Salina, devoted practically his entire life to the training of young men and women for business. Fully forty years were given to that profession, and few men accomplished a more satisfying aggregate of results in this field than Professor Tucker. He was of New England birth and ancestry. The farm in Orange County, Vermont, where he was born December 10, 1853, was also the birthplace of his father, Levi Livermore Tucker, Sr., and the house that thus served as a birthplace to these two generations was … Read more

Biography of James R. Mead

James R. Mead, one of the founders of Wichita and one of the noted pioneers of Kansas, was a Vermonter, born May 3, 1836, and at an early age showed his love for out-of-doors life. During his school days he read and dreamed of the Great American Desert, and in the fall of 1859 started for the plains. For four years he traded with the various Indian tribes in the present State of Kansas, hunted buffaloes and finally established a post on the Salina River, about twenty miles from its mouth. In 1861 he contracted his first marriage, and two … Read more