Saline County KS

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 George Frederich Christoph Schrader

George Frederich Christoph Schrader has been a resident of Saline County, Kansas, thirty years. Measured by the practical results that have proceeded from his intelligence and energy, he is without question one of the foremost farmers of the state. It is not merely a matter of possessing large bodies of land, but the method in which they are improved and farmed, which constitute his achievements as a resident of Kansas. Mr. Schrader came to America when about in middle age. Some of his children were born in the old country, and he is a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war. He … 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

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 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 Charles P. Beebe

Charles P. Beebe. Among the well known newspaper men of Wilson County, one who had had broad experience in his vocation is Charles P. Beebe, who during the past three years had been managing editor of the Neodesha Daily Sun. Mr. Beebe learned the newspaper business at the case, and had worked his way up through the various departments of the business so that he had a thorough knowledge of all its details. Under his editorial management this publication had become one of the best daily papers of Wilson County and wields a wide influence all over this section. Mr. … Read more

Biography of Otto Philip Byers

Otto Philip Byers. Something less than forty years ago Otto Philip Byers was a railroad section hand in Kansas. He was a boy in years, and he grew to mature manhood in the close and orderly discipline of the railroad man’s life, in close touch with working men and working conditions. That he had risen to mature manhood in the close and orderly discipline sponsibility is a tribute both to his personal aggressiveness and also to the fundamental character which he probably inherited from a long line of fighting and industrious American ancestors. His later day distinction among Kansas business … 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 Hugh H. Morrison

Hugh H. Morrison. The history of Salina from beginning to the present time was like an open book to Hugh H. Morrison, who went to that section of Kansas when it was far out on the frontier and before Kansas had become a state of the Union. For over fifty-five years he lived there, and the farm which he once cultivated had gradually been absorbed within the city limits of Salina. His was a prominent part in connection with the various movements and events of Salina’s early history. Mr. Morrison was born August 8, 1836, in a log house on … 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 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 Charles G. Anderson

Charles G. Anderson. Prosperity in capital letters and all its meanings belongs to Charles G. Anderson of Falun, Saline County. Every one in that section knows Mr. Anderson and he knows everybody. He had spent nearly fifty years there. He is a very successful farmer and stockman and is the type of man who does not keep all his success to himself. His father came to Saline County in pioneer times, accumulated a splendid estate, but though indebted to his father’s enterprise Charles G. Anderson had really earned all that he had and probably would have been equally prosperous if … 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 Orrin Howard Ford

Orrin Howard Ford is probate judge of Saline County. His election to that office shows the confidence the people of the county have in his probity, ability and conscientious devotion to his every public or private responsibility assigned to him. Mr. Ford had a very creditable record as a farmer in Saline County, was born in that county, and his record is consequently an open book to his many friends and political associates. He was born on a farm seven miles northeast of Salina, July 8, 1876, a son of Orrin James and Minerva (Armstrong) Ford. His father was born … Read more

Biography of Nelse J. Ostenberg

Nelse J. Ostenberg. If there is any community in Kansas where rough and rugged aspects of life as known and experienced forty years ago have been smoothed out and softened into the outlines of prosperity it is in Saline County, particularly in those districts where the Swedish colonists have made a foothold and have expressed their natural virtues of thrift and industry in the thriving farms and institutions of home, church and schools. It is of one of the older settlers of the community around Smolan in Saline County that this brief article had to speak. A resident of Saline … Read more

Biography of Fred Harvey Quincy

Fred Harvey Quincy. Success in any line of occupation, in any avenue of business, is not a matter of spontaneity, but represents the result of the application of definite subjective forces and the controlling of objective agencies in such a way as to achieve desired ends. Senator Quincy has realized a large and substantial success in the business world, has been given important public office, in which he has served with honor and distinction, and his career has well exemplified the truth of the foregoing statements. He occupies a prominent place in the financial circles of Kansas, is the controlling … 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 Arnold Francis Weeks

Arnold Francis Weeks. Much of the commercial history and the civic annals of the prosperous little Town of Assaria in Saline County could be told as a commentary upon the life of Mr. Arnold Francis Weeks, the leading merchant and now the mayor of that little city. In 1907 Mr. Weeks organized the Assaria Hardware Company. He became president and chief executive in the concern, while his brother Joseph was made secretary. In 1913 the two brothers bought all the other interests, and since dissolving the incorporation had conducted it as a partnership and had made it the leading business … 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 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