Salina Kansas

Biography of Capt. John May Smith

Capt. John May Smith. An honored veteran soldier and officer of the Civil war, now living retired at Salina, Capt. John May Smith had been identified with Kansas for more than forty years and he devoted much of his rugged strength to the development of a Kansas homestead. He served his country well, had reared and provided for a family of capable children, and in the evening of life he enjoys the honor and esteem of a host of friends. Captain Smith was born July 26, 1838, in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, a son of Charles and Jane (McClelland) Smith. His … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James E. Hyett, M. D.

James E. Hyett, M. D., who had been successfully engaged in practice at St. Marys since 1909, came to Kansas with his parents in 1875. He early learned the lessons of self reliance, and depended upon his own efforts to acquire both a college and a professional training. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, April 18, 1870. He attended the St. Marys public school, and afterwards was a student in the Academic Department of Washburn College, from which he graduated in 1894. He received his degree of B. S. from Washburn in 1897. Before going to college Doctor Hyett … Read more

Biography of Earl A. Nossaman

Earl A. Nossaman, secretary of the Monarch Cement Company at Humboldt, had lived in Kansas since early infancy, educated himself for the teaching profession, which he followed for a number of years, and was in the drug business before he accepted his present official position with the Monarch Cement Company. He went with this company while it was being reorganised, and as manager of the sales department had had much to do with its successful operations in recent years. His ancestry goes back to Hesse Cassel, Germany, where his great-grandfather was born. Coming to America, this ancestor settled in Pennsylvania. … 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 Edward J. Ryan

Edward J. Ryan. It is somewhat remarkable, wheu the fact is considered, that nine-tenths of the prominent men of the country were reared on a farm and with very many a love of out-door life continues with them ever after. In Edward J. Ryan, mayor of Lincoln, Kansas, is found a livestock dealer, and a man who understands agricultural matters as thoroughly as he does the insistent needs of the municipality he governs. Mayor Ryan is of Irish ancestry and parentage but was born at West Union, Iowa, November 30, 1859. The pioneer settler of his family in America was … Read more

Biography of Peter Gregorius

Peter Gregorius, who died at Salina May 20, 1914, was one of Saline County’s best known business men and in many ways was a notable character. He was a veteran German soldier, and had occupied many places of distinction and honor in the German government during the reign of Kaiser William I, father of the present German Emperor. He was born October 15, 1844, in Prussia, a son of Peter Gregorius. He was liberally educated, had the training of a soldier, and for two years was with the Prussian armies in the war against France in 1870-71. He won several … 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 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

Biographical Sketch of Joseph A. Muir

One of the farms that gives a character of progressiveness to Saline County is owned and occupied by Joseph A. Muir, one of the younger representatives of the agricultural industry in this state. This farm is near Mentor in Walnut Township. It is a farm that Mr. Muir had known all his life and he was born there. He had 200 acres of land, and well adapted for the raising of alfalfa, which is one of his principal crops. In every point it is modern in equipment and facilities. He had substantial buildings, including barns and silos for the care … 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 Charles Elda Banker

Charles Elda Banker, city clerk of Salina, had been a resident of Saline County forty years, and his family is one of the best known in this section of the state. His father was the late John A. Banker, who was especially well known for his services as a landscape gardener in Saline County, and also had the distinction of establishing the first nursery in the county. John A. Banker was born near Germantown, Ohio, December 25, 1848. He followed farming for many years in Ohio, subsequently became a merchant at Germantown, but in 1877 brought his family to Kansas … Read more

Biography of Alfred Clark Pierce

At the age of eighty-one, bearing the impress of a life of remarkable experience, a pioneer builder of Kansas, for many years identified with its public and business life, this venerable citizen is now living in comfortable retirement at Junction City. A small party of free state men arrived in Kansas in 1856. It comprised eight or ten men. One of them was Preston B. Plumb, whose name is a household word in Kansas. Alfred Clark Pierce was also in that little party. At Iowa City, Iowa, he had first met Mr. Plumb, and they were ever afterwards intimate friends. … Read more

Biography of Thomas Watson Roach

Thomas Watson Roach, for twenty-one years president of Kansas Wesleyan Business College, and a former president of Kansas Wesleyan University at Salina, had not merely found but had made for himself a distinctive place in educational history of the Sunflower State. He came to Kansas more than forty years ago. His name is closely associated with several progressive movements in Kansas educational affairs. He was the pioneer worker for the consolidation of country school districts. He also did the first practical work toward procuring uniformity of text books throughout the state. But even more important than all this he will … Read more

Biography of Benjamin Lynn Wilson

Benjamin Lynn Wilson. A forceful factor in Salina’s commercial, civic, educational and religious life was the late Benjamin Lynn Wilson, one of that city’s pioneer merchants. He had gone to Salina when it was on the edge of civilized things in Kansas, and he did his big life work there and the generous prosperity that rewarded his efforts came from that community, to which he was stanchly loyal to the end of his life and which remembers him with fidelity and gratitude for the much good he did. The late Mr. Wilson was born at Bealsville, Ohio, January 13, 1845, … Read more

Biography of Clinton D. Vermillion M. D.

Clinton D. Vermillion, M. D. The professional work of Doctor Vermillion had been performed with home and office at Tescott since 1901. He had spent the greater part of his life in Kansas. Doctor Vermillion was born in Clay County, Missouri, September 10, 1868. In the paternal line he is of French descent. The Vermillions were one of the French families that located the historic and romantic district of Arcadia in Canada, and after the English captured that country they went as exiles, locating in Virginia. Doctor Vermillion is a son of Clinton M. Vermillion, who was born in Bracken … Read more

Biography of Thomas Anderson

Thomas Anderson. The honors and responsibilities of public life come with singular appropriateness to Thomas Anderson, of Salina, where he was among the first group of pioneer settlers and where his home and activities have been centered for the past fifty-five years. He retired from business a number of years ago, and the greater part of his time since his retirement had been spent in the office of county commissioner of Saline County. This old time citizen of Salina is a Scotchman by birth. He was born March 24, 1838, at Fenwick, Scotland, a son of Archibald and Margaret (Young) … Read more

Biography of Levi D. Hill

Levi D. Hill is an old timer in Saline County and is now living retired at Salina. His had been a long and creditable career, and as a young man he served as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. He was born January 8, 1844, in a one-room log house on a farm in Johnson County, Indiana, a son of Squire S. and Mary Ann (Cunningham) Hill. His father was born in Kentucky and his mother in Indiana. Squire Hill was born February 17, 1810, and died August 5, 1886, at Tipton, Indiana. Throughout his active career … Read more

Biography of La Rue Royce

La Rue Royce, who recently began practice of his profession as a lawyer at Salina, represents one of the distinguished names of Kansas. He is a son of John Quincy Royce of Topeka, long prominent as a lawyer, editor and a dominating character in republican politics in this state. John Quiney Royce was born on a farm in Fayette County, Iowa, June 1, 1856, a son of David P. Royce, who was a native of New York State. When nine years of age John Quincy Royce was taken from the farm in his native Iowa county to Independence in that … Read more

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 Edwin Grant Betz

Edwin Grant Betz. The Arkansas City Business College is an institution in which the people of that community take special pride. Technical training for business is now a recognized necessity, and among the schools of Kansas that supply such technical training the Arkansas City Business College had in many respects a record of unexcelled competence and thoroughness. The proprietor of this school is Edwin Grant Betz, who had had a varied business experience but had given his chief time through his active life to commercial education. He comes of an old Dickinson County family, while Mrs. Betz, his wife, is … Read more