Saline County KS

Biography of Olof Forsse

Olof Forsse. One of the strongest and most forceful elements in the citizenship of Saline County had been the colony of Swedish people who located there when all the country was a wilderness and out on the western frontier. Anyone who knows the character of that community is impressed with its thorough and forthright Americauism, though in many ways the sturdy characteristics of their native land have colored the activities and customs of the district. One interesting reminiscence of their native land is the Town of Falun, one of the most important centers of the Swedish colony. Falun was named … Read more

Biography of Claus J. Sjogren

Claus J. Sjogren is not only one of the pioneers in the agricultural district of Saline County, but as much as any other citizen had had a part in the progress and upbuilding of that flourishing little Town of Smolan, a name that reflects and preserves the native district in Sweden from which many of the early colonists here came. Mr. Sjogren had at different times been a figure in the commercial life of Smolan, and is now well to do and influential though at one time he was dependent entirely upon his manual labor and had come to America … Read more

Biography of John Englund

John Englund practically grew up from early boyhood on a farm in Saline County, and instead of going to some distant city he took the opportunities which were right at his door and had become financially independent as well as a citizen of wide esteem in the locality which he had known and which had known him for upwards of half a century. Mr. Englund was born at Smolan, Sweden, May 5, 1858. That province sent many of its sturdy men and women to Saline County in the early days, and the Englund family did their full share in making … Read more

Biography of John Bunyan Adams

John Bunyan Adams was born in Butler County, Kansas. That county had been his home all his life, and beginning there as a country school teacher and subsequently entering banking, he had achieved a reputation built up on constructive service that had made him widely known over the state as a legislator, banker and financier. He is a former president of the State Bankers’ Association, and for years had been a recognized leader in his part of the state in the republican party. His birth occurred on March 25, 1873, on his father’s farm near Potwin in Butler County. He … 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 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 Swan M. Carlson

Swan M. Carlson. Saline County lost one of its most capable citizens and one of its best known pioneers in the death of the late Swan M. Carlson, who had come to the vicinity of the present Town of Falun more than forty-five years ago and had become successful and prominent in that locality long before the accidental death which took him from his family and friends. Mr. Carlson was born in Christala Parish in Sweden December 31, 1850, a son of Carl M. and Anna (Erickson) Carlson. In 1869 the Carlson family immigrated to America. Carl Carlson took up … 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 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

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 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 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 Eric Sundgren

Eric Sundgren. One of the best educated of the early settlers in Falun Township of Saline County was Eric Sundgren. In his native Sweden he had received the benefits of a liberal college training. For six years he had taught school. However, the horizon of his opportunities did not seem to widen in the old country and in 1868 he set out for America. Mr. Sundgren located a tract of Government land in Falun Township, and he applied his energies to the stubborn task of breaking the virgin sod and growing crops. With many adversities and with many experiences of … 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

Biographical Sketch of Sitler, H.L.

H. L. Sitler, came to Dodge City, Kans., in 1868, and engaged in freighting for the United States government, and contracting, until 1876. He then engaged in the stock business, and continued until 1882. He is one of the stockholders of the Dodge City Bank. He has since the spring of 1882, retired from business. He was born in Crawford County, Pa., August 24, 1827, and lived in that county until 1865. He enlisted in the fall of 1861, to Company I, Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, and participated in all the battles of his command, and was made a prisoner at … Read more

Biography of George Howe Bechtel

George Howe Bechtel. Of the men who are maintaining Montgomery County’s reputation and prestige in financial circles, few are more highly esteemed as banking officials and citizens than George Howe Bechtel, eashier of the Liberty State Bank, of Liberty. Like many other Kansas bankers, Mr. Bechtel is a product of the farm and of the schoolroom. It would seem that the practicality developed in agricultural life and the mental sharpening acquired in the educator’s vocation form a combination happily adaptative to the great and important business of banking. At least, Mr. Bechtel’s career and his success support such a view. … Read more

Biography of Gotthart Schippel

Gotthart Schippel spent nearly fifty years of life in Kansas. He was one of the real pioneers. His active lifetime was one of hard work, and in the early days he encountered constant hardships and overcame difficulties that would have daunted any man less sturdy and courageous. He helped to build the solid foundation on which the prosperity of the great state now rests. Kansas was still the disputed territory of the wild Indians and the wild animals, and vast stretches of prairie grass occupied only by the countless herds of buffalo and the tepees of the red men surrounded … Read more

Biography of Carl P. Mattson

Carl P. Mattson is a factor in that sterling element of Swedish people who in the late ’60s colonized Saline County, and by their courage as pioneers, their thrift and industry made one of the most progressive and richest farming districts of the entire state. Mr. Mattson’s prosperity had been growing and increasing, as is the case of most of his fellow countrymen, and he had not only accumulated a fine farm at Smolan, but had provided for and reared to useful man and womanhood a large household of children, who do him credit. Mr. Mattson was born in the … Read more

Biography of James F. Blackledge

James F. Blackledge. Protective laws are passed in every state that seemingly assure the safety of all money that may be deposited either by the laborer or the capitalist in a bank, and still permit enough latitude in the bank’s policy to make the business profitable. On the president of the concern rests the responsibility and thus, at the head of financial institutions of solidity are usually placed men of business experience and known integrity, of sterling character and conservative habit. It reflects credit on Coffeyville, Kansas, that just such a man is president of the Caney Valley National Bank, … Read more

Biography of John Peter Drevets

John Peter Drevets. One of Saline County’s most useful and honored citizens passed away in the death of John Peter Drevets at his home farm three miles northwest of Smolan on March 23, 1914. Mr. Drevets was still comparatively young when death called him. His life’s achievements are not to be measured by length of years, but by the quality of the enterprise and the public spirit which characterized his relations among his fellow citizens in Saline County for about thirty-three years. Whether as a farmer, as a private citizen, as an official, as head of a family or member … Read more