Salina Kansas

Biography of John Craig

John Craig. One of the most satisfying experiences of life is to review the career in which hardships and difficulties have been mingled with successes and good fortunes, and out of which had emerged a gratifying competence represented in a large body of agricultural lands, well improved, well tilled, and many times as valuable as it was when it was redeemed from the powers of the wilderness. An accident by which he lost his right hand caused John Craig to retire from his farm in 1908 and come to a comfortable city home in Salina. While he had lived retired, … 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 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 William L. Nesmith

William L. Nesmith is one of the Kansas pioneers. He had lived in this state more than forty years, having come here in 1874 with his young wife and their wagon trip from Iowa was in the nature of a honeymoon journey. For a great many years William Nesmith was actively engaged in merchandising and in other affairs at Wilson, and is now a resident of Salina and a member of the grocery house of Nesmith & Son. His public spirit as a citizen and his generous contributions to educational institutions and moral movements have been on a par with … Read more

Biography of Robert A. Lovitt

Robert A. Lovitt. As president of the Saline County Bar Association, Robert A. Lovitt’s professional status with his brethren may be judged, but his reputation in business, politics, social life and on the lecture platform extends all over the state. He had been a valued resident of Salina since August 5, 1876. Robert A. Lovitt was born in his father’s primitive log cabin in Muskingum County, Ohio, October 10, 1851. His parents were Evan J. and Leah (Stamats) Lovitt, he of English ancestry and she of German revolutionary stock. The father of Mr. Lovitt was born in New Jersey, was … 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 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 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

Biography of Daniel Wiegner

Daniel Wiegner is one of the veteran merchants and business men of Salina, went to that city more than thirty-five years ago, and while he is now retired from active merchandising he still looks after his extensive interests as a land owner in that section of the state. Mr. Wiegner is a native of Germany. He was born February 2, 1852, a son of Frederick and Catherine (Sipe) Wiegner. His early life in the old country was a combination of training in the common schools with practical vocational discipline that would fit him for a worthy place in life. He … Read more

Biography Of Alden C. Hillman, A. M.

Alden C. Hillman, A. M. One of the venerable educators of Kansas was Alden C. Hillman, of Salina, whose death occurred on the 24th of January, 1917. Mr. Hillman was the first man selected for a position in the faculty of the Kansas Wesleyan University. He began his work as an educator before the war, was very prominent in the State of Illinois in school work for many years, and for more than thirty years was a resident of Kansas. He was born May 23, 1832, at Charleston, New York, a son of Ezra and Permelia (Horton) Hillman. Both parents … Read more

Biography of Alexander M. Campbell Jr.

Alexander M. Campbell, Jr. Those who scan the pages of American history with a view of selecting the personages most deserving of attention in their day and generation because of lives which have been useful and inspiring to others, could not fail to mark the name of Campbell in the annals of Saline County, Kansas. It had been continuously identified with the county since 1858, when Alexander M. Campbell, father of the present bearer of that name, came herE and immediately became a vital factor in the development of this section. At the present time the family includes 400 individuals … 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 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

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 Charles Wilbur McCampbell

Associate professor of animal husbandry in the State Agricultural College at Manhattan and secretary of the State Livestock Registry Board whose offices are in the same city, Charles W. McCampbell is a native Kansan and for ten years had broadened and amplified his experience and authoritative knowledge of all phases of the livestock industry, not only with reference to Kansas but to the world at large. While he had perhaps rendered his greatest service as an instructor of the younger generation of Kansas farmers, some of his practical demonstration work and experiments have attracted national attention from livestock men. He … Read more