Shawnee County KS

Biography of S. E. Leinbach

S. E. Leinbach. Fifty years have passed since Mr. Leinbach became a resident of Kansas. He arrived in Pottawatomie County as a pioneer not long after the close of the Civil war, in which he had played a gallant part as a Union soldier. The war was the first great event in his life and his settlement in Kansas the second. Mr. Leinbach developed a homestead and had since acquired a large body of the fertile and valuable soil of Pottawatomie County. He is now living at Onaga and had been a public spirited factor in the progress of that … Read more

Biography of Frank Durein

Frank Durein. This venerable man, now in the seventy-fourth year of his age, who with firm step and unclouded mind still walks the streets and attends to his daily routine of affairs, had, during the thirty-seven years of his residence in Topeka, witnessed its great development and borne a share in the startling course of its progress. He had been connected with many and important business enterprises and had done much to contribute to the upbuilding of the city, but since 1890 had lived in retircment, his only activities being those of looking after his large holdings and taking a … Read more

Biography of James Cuthbert

James Cuthbert. One of the oldest and best known general contractors in the state is James Cuthbert of Topeka, which city has been his home and the center of his widely extended activities more than thirty-five years. As his name indicates, Mr. Cuthbert is a sturdy Scotchman, and his many associates and friends in Kansas say that he exemplifies all the best traits of the race. He was born in Nairnshire, Scotland, July 14, 1849, a son of James and Jane (Bowie) Cuthbert, who spent their lives in Scotland. He grew up among his native hills and heather, had a … Read more

Biography of Charles A. Hill

Charles A. Hill for thirty-seven years had been closely identified with the progress and development of Eudora and its vicinity. His had been a life worth remembering, and in the community in which his labors have been most productive and his influence most widespread that memory will not cease for a long time to come. His record and that of his family indicates some of the finer elements which have entered into the social makeup of Kansas. Mr. Hill was born in Randolph County, North Carolina, on June 9, 1838. His parents were John and Lydia B. (Starbuck) Hill Bock. … Read more

Biography of Clement Smith, Dr.

Dr. Clement Smith. The undaunted, inquiring attitude of the Twentieth Century is nowhere more definitely perceptible than among the exponents of medical science. The labor of the scientist and specialist of today is destroying ancicnt delusions and thereby placing the health of the nation in the hands of reasoners and independent thinkers. To this class of rational thinkers belones Dr. Clement Smith. of Topeka, whose opportunities along the lines of his specialty have been exceptional and whose use of the same had made him an important factor in connection with the treatment and cure of hernia for many years. Doctor … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Luther C. Challis

Perhaps Luther C. Challis, nearly forty years a citizen of Atchison, is best known as a pioneer railroad man. He was born in New Jersey January 26, 1829, and for some years before moving West was engaged in business in Philadelphia and Boonville, Missouri. In 1855 he located in Atchison and joined his brother as one of the first merchants of that town. He afterward became a banker, and maintained a profitable ferry across the Missouri River until the building of the bridge in 1875. Mr. Challis was elected to a seat in the Territorial Council of 1857-58, made vacant … Read more

Biography of George Bell

George Bell and members of his family have been prominently identified with various localities in Kansas for thirty-five years or more. The family now reside in Topeka. The birthplace of George Bell was Darlington, Yorkshire, England, where he was born in 1845. He grew up at Darlington, and while there he lived on an estate where Queen Victoria’s three noted grandsons came to hunt. George Bell came to know these distinguished European characters very well. They are now the Czar Nicholas of Russia, Emperor William of Germany and King George of England. George Bell in 1877 came to America, was … Read more

Biography of Archibald Steel Johnson

Archibald Steel Johnson, a resident of Kansas nearly forty years, has one of the very interesting places historically considered. It is located a few miles from North Topeka on rural route No. 6 in Shawnee County, and is a farm of eighty acres which he bought in 1907. The history of this farm is especially interesting. The site comprises the old historic Town of Indianola. This town was established when the Territory of Kansas was new. It was the home of a large number of abolitionists, though there were two or three pro-slavery families in the same community. When this … Read more

Biography of Josiah B. McAfee, Rev.

Rev. Josiah B. McAfee was one of the remarkable men of the State of Kansas, and it would be difficult to mention any line of activity or notable development from early pioneer days without giving a full measure of credit to this honored citizen. All over the great expense of the commonwealth may be found the material results of his foresight, judgment and unselfish public spirit, and many of the established educational and religious institutions of the Sunflower State have incorporated in their usefulness the work of his willing hands, great brain and sturdy heart. The birth of Rev. Josiah … Read more

Biography of Benjamin F. E. Marsh

Benjamin F. E. Marsh. For thirty consecutive years Mr. Marsh had served with unceasing diligence and fidelity the Santa Fe Railway Company. His many friends in the service and among Topeka people generally had a special sense of pleasure in learning of his recent promotion to the office of assistant general freight agent. He had earned every step of his promotion since taking his first clerkship, and had long been recognized as an expert on many of the technical subjects counected with the handling of the freight department of this great system. A native of Topeka where he was born … Read more

Biography of Lauren Newell

For more than thirty years Zeandale Township, Riley County, had been the chosen home of Lauren Newell, an old pioneer of this section and an honored veteran of the Civil war. Mr. Newell came to Kansas a youth of nineteen years, in search of material independence, and had done much in the way of making easier the paths of those who came later. After the close of the Civil war settlement in Kansas was rapid, but few found so much hardship as had faced young and old when they reached here in 1858. In his New England home Mr. Newell, … Read more

Biography of John Sayre Downes

John Sayre Downes. The City of Topeka is the home of the largest organization of its kind in the United States, the Aetna Building and Loan Association, which maintains about 600 agencies in Kansas and Oklahoma. The growth and development of this institution during the quarter of a century in which it has been in existence is a commentary upon the success to be attained by enterprises in the Sunflower State when their policies are directed by men of substantial ability, strict integrity and business foresight. At the head of the Aetna Building and Loan Association today, in the office … Read more

Biography of Lewis T. Hussey

Within the limits of Kansas there is probably no better informed insurance man than Lewis T. Hussey, who is now filling the responsible position of state fire marshal at Topeka. Mr. Hussey is the only son of Jerry Hussey of Williamsburg, reference to whom is made on other pages. Born in Clermont County, Ohio, November 19, 1866, Lewis T. Hussey came with his parents to Kansas when two years old, and in his early life imbibed the spirit of Kansas prairie. His youth was spent on a farm, where he learned all the duties of a Kansas country place during … Read more

Biography of Jason Clarke Swayze

Jason Clarke Swayze. Judged by the standard which must be applied to the men of his time and circumstances, Jason Clarke Swayze had many of the elements of greatness. He guided his life through a period of tense factional struggle, and always kept his rudder true and in the direction which his conscience told him was right and just. Kansas, and the City of Topeka particularly, has a just pride in recalling the record of this man. His home was in Kansas at Topeka from 1873 until his tragic death on the streets of Topeka. He was born in 1830 … Read more

Biography of Braden C. Johnston

Braden C. Johnston is a lawyer by profession and had in a few years’ time snccessfully established himself with a good practice and standing at Marion. A native of Kansas, his birth occurred on a farm two miles north of Lyons in Rice County March 7, 1889, His parents are James A. and Cynthia (Chitty) Johnston. His mother is of the same branch of Chittys that gave to the legal profession some of its brightest lights both as lawyers and authors of standard law books. James A. Johnston was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, and when a child he … Read more

Biography of William Anthony

William Anthony was long known as a dry goods merchant in Burlingame, Kansas. When he died there he left his widow and four young children. Mrs. Anthony, who now lives at Topeka, gave a splendid exposition of resourcefulness in a critical time. After the death of her husband she took the active management of the dry goods store, and though little acquainted with mercantile methods, she managed the enterprise so successfully that she gave her children the advantages they required at home and in school, and a few years ago sold the business, and moved to Topeka. Born at Marysville … Read more

Biography of Josiah C. Trask

Josiah C. Trask was one of the 180 victims of the terrible Quantrill raid and massacre at Lawrence, on August 21, 1863. He was a young and brilliant editor at the time of his death and few men of Kansas were more beloved. His father was a minister, who preached in Massachnsetts for many years, and he himself was born at Warren, that state, May 9, 1837. He pursued an academic course at Fitchburg, and when sixteen years of age went to Boston, where he was employed as a printer in various newspaper offices. Through his father-in-law, Joel B. Hibbard, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel N. Hawkes

Assistant attorney-general of Kansas with a residence at Topeka, Samuel N. Hawkes is one of the older members of the Kansas bar, and had been in active practice in various parts of the state for more than thirty years. He came to Kansas with a training and education received at one of the oldest eastern universities, and his career had been one of uninterrupted success and influential participation in the life of his own community and the state. He was born at Portland, Maine, May 8, 1861, a son of Charles M. and Susan A. (Whitney) Hawkes. His father, who … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William P. Snyder

William P. Snyder, deceased, was for many years closely connected with the community interests in and about Dover, Shawnee County, and some record of his life and family connections should be entered in this publication. He was born in Fayette County, Ohio, October 8, 1828. His parents John and Malinda (Campbell) Snyder had three children, all of whom are now deceased. Reared on a farm, William P. Snyder adopted farming as his life’s occupation. His early life was spent at a time when public schools were not in vogue, and the advantages of the old time subscription school were all … Read more

Biography of James M. Priddy

James M. Priddy. Among the progressive and substantial agriculturists of Shawnee County who have made an especially creditable record both in husbandry and in citizenship, is James M. Priddy, whose attractive residence and valuable farm are situated in Menoken Township, not far from the Village of Elmont. Since coming to Kansas, in 1869, it had been Mr. Priddy’s fortune to have realized many of his worthy ambitious, and through the exercise of industry, good judgment and business sagacity to have wrested from his opportunities a full measure of financial and general success. Mr. Priddy was born on a farm in … Read more