Solomon Kansas

Biography of William A. Hopkins

William A. Hopkins, now living retired at Solomon, had turned the seventy-fifth milepost on life’s journey. His years have accounted for something not only to himself but to his country and his community. He was a gallant and loyal soldier of the Union during more than three years of the Civil war. After his part in that struggle he came to Kansas and had been a resident of Dickinson County for practically half a century. The Solomon community esteems him not only as one of its oldest but one of its most highly respected citizens. An Indiana man by birth, … Read more

Biography of Mary Pierce Van Zile

Mary Pierce Van Zile. A very important member of the faculty of the Kansas State Agricultural College is Mrs. Mary Pierce Van Zile, dean of women and dean of the division of home economics. Her name is a household word in many widely separated homes, for each year Mrs. Van Zile has under her immediate care and instruction from 800 to 900 girls. They come from many environments and are mostly in the most receptive period of their lives, and the influence exerted by Dean Van Zile largely moulds their future. Mary Pierce Van Zile was born on her father’s … 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 Samuel H. Waddle

Samuel H. Waddle is now the oldest original settler in his locality of Saline County. He went there more than fifty years ago. He knew Central Kansas when it was an almost unlimited stretch of prairie. The buffalo and the Indians were still here and the frontier civilization was a straggling line of homestead shacks and habitations, putting up a bold front against the domain of the wilderness. He suffered those privations due to searcity of crops, isolation from large towns and settlements, and he experienced the prairie fires, the long continued drought, the grasshoppers and every other plague and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert Wildman

Robert Wildman, P. O. Ionia, was born in Ireland, February 25, 1848. Came to America in 1850, and located in Kankakee County, Ill. Came to Solomon City, Kan., and to Jewell County in February, 1870, and took a homestead eighteen miles southwest of Mankato, and is now the owner of the same. He and his brother are the owners of 200 head of hogs, and from 80 to 100 head of cattle. When Mr. Wildman settled in Jewell County, he was compelled to work out by the month, herding cattle etc., until he got a start in the world, so … 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