Saline County KS

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 John D. M. Conrad

John D. M. Conrad. Among the most interesting men of Salina are those who can justly be named pioneers of this fair city. They have a wealth of experience that no later comers can claim, and it is because of their courage and enterprise that such rich and rapid development had taken place. In John D. M. Conrad, who is the only survivor of a once very important body, the first city council of Salina, is found not only a pioneer of this section but also a veteran of honorable record of the great Civil war. John D. M. Conrad … Read more

Biography of John M. Danielson

The splendid development of the southern part of Saline County had been largely due to the presence of a colony of thrifty Swedish people who located there about 1869-70. This colony as a whole acquired many thousands of acres in what are now the Townships of Smoky View and Smolan, and the Swedish people have predominated in that section ever since the original colonization. While for many years he had been one of the most conspicuous among. the Swedish people of Saline County, John M. Danielson had a special distinction as a settler there, since he was in advance by … 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 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 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 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 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 Charles L. Ong

Charles L. Ong and his family bore an important part in the pioneer commercial and civic life of several communities in Western Kansas and he spent his last years at Salina. Mr. Ong brought his family to Kansas in 1883. Though the name had the flavor of foreign origin, it is in fact one of the oldest in America. The forebears of the late Charles L. Ong came out of England, crossing the ocean on the ship Lyon, and reaching the American colonies on February 5, 1631. Dr. A. R. Ong, A. M., M. D., now deceased, a brother of … 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 Jacob J. Fisher

Jacob J. Fisher. The thrift and enterprise that brought snecees to the early Kansas farmers were well illustrated in the case of Jacob J. Fisher, who now resided in a comfortable home at Salina, had abundance of this world’s goods for all his future needs, had reared an honorable and honored family, and had now reached that time in life when he can properly shift the heavier responsibilities to younger shoulders. He was born October 10, 1847, on a farm in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. His father, Oleriet Fisher, was born in Germany. Jacob J. was the third in a family … Read more

Biography of Daniel D. McAuliffe

Daniel D. McAuliffe. While Saline County knows him as a pioneer settler and for many years one of the leading farmers and stockmen, Daniel D. McAuliffe is in fact one of the few remaining picturesque characters of the real West. He was in Western Kansas during the time of the Indians, the buffalo, and all the other features of the wild and woolly West. Few men have had more experience in that life, and his career serves in a way as a connecting link between the now fast receding past and the modern and progressive era of the present. His … Read more

Biography of Fred N. Adam

Fred N. Adam. The popular and energetic postmaster of Longton, Kansas, Fred N. Adam, who was appointed to this office in April, 1916, had been a resident of Longton since 1911, and had been well known in mercantile circles as one of the proprietors of the establishment conducted under the style of Adam Brothers. Almost immediately upon his arrival here he became known as a live and energetic citizen, capable of handling official duties, and his appointment as postmaster was preceded by several terms of good work as a member of the local council. Mr. Adam is a native son … Read more

Biography of Frank Snow Crane

Frank Snow Crane, who had been a citizen of Kansas all his life, represents a family that had left its impress on Kansas affairs for fully sixty years, and is a son of one of Topeka’s most prominent business men, the late George W. Crane, whose life was a part of Topeka history, and is sketched on other pages. Since the death of his honored father Frank S. Crans had been at the head of Crane & Company, one of the largest publishing and printing concerns in the Middle West. A son of George W. and Ella (Rain) Crane, Frank … 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 Cleveland D. Miller

Cleveland D. Miller is one of the progressive and substantial younger farmers of Saline County. His home is Smolan Township and as the owner of 560 acres of land, devoted to alfalfa and other staple crops, he stands in the forefront of Saline County agriculturists. His far has all the improvements, and he had naturally allied himself with every movement for the betterment of his home community. He was born in the same locality where he now resided April 14, 1886. His parents were Valentine W. and Sarah (Barley) Miller. Valentine Miller was born in 1836 at Limestone, Tennessee, and … Read more

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 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 Henry Van Deman Faris

Henry Van Deman Faris, of Kanopolis, is a Kansas around whom center many associations of territorial and pioneer times. He is by five years the oldest living pioneer in Kansas west of Salina. He had been continuously identfied with Ellsworth County more than half a century. Mr. Faris comes of that adventuresome pioneer stock that in successive waves had peopled and developed American soil. His grandfather, John Faris, was born in Ireland of Scotch descent. On coming to this country he partieipated as a soldier in the struggle for independence, and afterwards became a farmer in Virginia. He located on … Read more

Biography of Frank H. Curtis

Frank H. Curtis is a school man, superintendent of the city schools of Bern in Nemaha County and had been a factor in Kansas educational affairs for a number of years. He was born in Massac County, Illinois, July 28, 1874, but when five years of age went with his parents to Western Kansas and grew up in Trego County when that was a frontier section. Mr. Curtis is of Scotch-Irish ancestry and members of the family were pioneers in Kentucky. His father, Dr. D. B. Curtis, was born in Kentucky in 1815. He graduated from the Louisville Medical College … Read more