Topeka Kansas

Biography of Henry Bennett

Henry Bennett, of Topeka, has been a resident of Kansas over forty years. Before coming to Kansas he made an enviable record as a gallant soldier in the Union army, having served with the famous Chicago Board of Trade Battery. He has lived three-quarters of a century, but still retains his youth and the optimism of virile and aggressive manhood. No individual record could be more worthy of a place in Kansas history than that of Henry Bennett. He was one of the two sons of William and Rachel (Ludby) Bennett, and was born at Chicago, Illinois, June 15, 1841. … Read more

Biography of William J. Stewart, M. D.

William J. Stewart, M. D. His first years in. Kansas Doctor Stewart spent in the role of a practical farmer, but since finishing his medical course had been in successful practice as a physician and surgeon at Summerfield, Marshall County. Doctor Stewart is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His grandfather, William Stewart, was born at Strabane, Ireland, in 1808, and married Nancy Wilson, a native of the same place, born in 1806. Both of them were of Scotch-Irish families. They married in the old country and all their children were born in Ireland as follows: Charles, who became a farmer and died … Read more

Biography of William Baker, Rev.

Rev. William Baker was a well known figure in Kansas, and had a career of remarkable experience in foreign lands before taking up his residence in the Sunflower State. He lived and developed a fine farm in Wabaunsee County, but spent his last years in Topeka, where members of his family still reside. He was born in London, England, July 6, 1838. His father, William Baker, Sr., was a basket manufacturer and also a native of London. The country home of the family was at Plaistow in Essex County. Reared in the Episcopal or Established Church of England, Rev. William … Read more

Biography of John M. Leeper

John M. Leeper. One of the very successful contractors at Topeka is John M. Leeper, who when a young man learned the trade of brick mason, and on that trade as a foundation has built up a large business in brick contracting and the services of his organization has entered into the construction of several of the most conspicuous public buildings in the state. He is a native of Kansas and was born in Lyon County, September 6, 1872, when that section of the state was still well out on the frontier. His parents were Samuel S. and Elizabeth C. … Read more

Biography of Margaret Hill McCarter

Margaret Hill McCarter. No one had succeeded so well in translating the atmosphere of Kansas prairies and the experiences and ideals of Kansas men and women as had Margaret Hill McCarter, author of Middle West fiction. It had been her task to search out and clothe with fitting words the simplicity and the real grandeur of the people who made Kansas and are still its breath and life. Doubtless, many will find the source of Mrs. McCarter’s insight and sympathy in her Quaker ancestry. She is the daughter of Thomas Thornbury and Nancy (Davis) Hill. Through her mother she is … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Paul E. Walker

Paul E. Walker, a son of A. D. Walker of Holton, has been a Topeka lawyer for the past fifteen years. He was born at his father’s home in Holton, Kansas, August 27, 1876, grew up in his native city, attending the public schools, and took his college course in California, being a graduate of Leland Stanford University. He took his A. B. degree there in 1898, and then entered the Harvard Law School, where he was graduated LL.B. in 1902. In the fall of 1902 Mr. Walker began practice in Topeka as assistant attorney for the Rock Island Railway … Read more

Biography of William A. Myers

One of the well known and highly regarded citizens of Topeka, Kansas, with which state he had been practically continuously identified since 1888, is William A. Myers, who is a leading factor in and a probable candidate of the republican forces in Shawnee County. For twenty-eight years he had been a competent and faithful employe of the State of Kansas, in the state printing department, is a man of property and of personal high standing. William A. Myers was born in 1856, in Saint Joseph County, Indiana, and is a son of Andrew and Ellen (Oliver) Myers, and a grandson … 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 Carey J. Wilson

Carey J. Wilson is superintendent of insurance for the State of Kansas. His is one of the busiest offices at the State Capitol and practically every minute of his official time is taken up either with the broader policies of the state insurance department or with the immense amount of details pertaining to the ability of companies to meet solvency requirements, as well as the general conduct of business within the state. To this office Mr. Wilson brought years of practical experience in the insurance field. He had been solely identified with insurance since he left college. Though a native … Read more

Biography of Jeremiah Hampton Squires

Jeremiah Hampton Squires. One of the old and honored residents of Topeka, to which city he came thirty-seven years ago, is Jeremiah Hampton Squires, veteran of the Civil war, who is now living in comfortable retirement after a long and useful career as a business man and public official. Mr. Squires was born at Southampton, on Long Island, New York, September 11, 1842, and is the only survivor of the four children of Jeremiah and Phoebe (Jaegger) Squires, who were farming people. Mr. Squires resided on the home farm on Long Island until reaching the age of seventeen years, and … Read more

Biography of Anson S. Cooke, Hon.

Hon. Anson S. Cooke. A resident of Kansas during a period of forty-five years, a pioneer of the prairies of Mitchell County, and for twelve years a member of the State Senate, Hon. Anson S. Cooke is well and favorably known in various parts of the commonwealth, and particularly so at Topeka where he now is living in retirement. During his long and useful career he has risen from poverty to affluence and from obscurity to prominence, and while engaged steadfastly and successfully in the promotion of his personal interests has also contributed to the welfare of the state which … 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 John Milligan Johnson

John Milligan Johnson. Recently there died at Manhattan a Kansan whose character was even more important than his material achievements. He came within four years of living a century and he was a figure in the activities of the frontier until the frontier had passed away. But more important than all his experiences were the moral forces that emanated from his life, and the things he stood for, believed in, and worked to bring about. It is therefore as a character sketch that the following paragraphs are offered, and they find an appropriate place in the history of Kansas. John … Read more

Biography of Charles Joseph Boeger

Charles Joseph Boeger is without doubt one of the foremost men in the profession of photography in the State of Kansas. Some years ago he located in Topeka, and with his studio at 707 Kansas Avenue has done work that entitles him to his place in the profession, and his career is also dignified by the fact that he represents a pioneer family in this state. His father is the honored Joseph Boeger of Decatur County. Joseph Boeger was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1850, and before he left the fatherland became well known and highly respected in Westphalia. When … Read more

Biography of Alfred Gray

Alfred Gray, a pioneer of Topeka and always active in promoting the agricultural and industrial interests of the state, was born at Evans, Erie County, New York, December 5, 1830. He was educated in his native state, and in the spring of 1857 located at Quindaro, Kansas. Mr. Gray was a member of the first State Legislature; was secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture from 1872 to 1880, and was one of the commissioners to the Contennial Exposition at Philadelphia. His death occurred at Topeka on January 23, 1880, and his memorial monument stands in the cemetery at … Read more

Biography of William O. Worswick

William O. Worswick, though he began his career as a teacher and commercial man, had been in active practice as a member of the Oskaloosa bar for the past thirty years, and is an ex-county attorney of Jefferson County. Mr. Worswick is of English ancestry. The name was originally Warwick, and as such it is famous in English history. Mr. Worswick’s paternal grandfather was Henry Ward Worswick, who served as captain of a Man of War in the English Navy. He was born in Lancastershire, England, and in 1826 he brought his family to America and settled at Brooklyn, New … Read more

Biography of Hon. P. I. Bonebrake

There is great truth in the sontence “biography is history teaching by example.” After considering the story related in the following paragraphs one is convinced that there is more real history pertaining to a city, county and state in the life record of such a man as P. I. Bonebrake of Topeka than can be found in many pages of the detailed statisties. The editors of this publication have been fortunate in securing a transcript of Mr. Bonebrake’s personal reminiscences of his life and time, and the following article is a digest of those reminiscences, together with such comments as … Read more

Biography of Arthur W. Bronson

For the past seventeen years a resident of Topeka, Mr. Bronson has been a considerable factor in the material prosperity of the state, particularly in connection with the agricultural interests. As resident agent for a firm of foreign capitalists, he has been instrumental during his time in handling and distributing over $25,000,000 cash to the land owners and farmers of Kansas and adjoining states, and he is perhaps as well informed as any man in the state on the subject of agricultural credit, land values and farming interests from the financial standpoint. A native of Herkimer County, New York, where … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Eugene F. Ware

Eugene F. Ware, a soldier of Iowa, a lawyer and public man of Kansas, and an author both of that state and Missouri, was born at Hartford, Connecticut, May 29, 1841. His parents moved to Burlington, Iowa, in his childhood and he was educated in the public schools of that place. During the Civil war he reached the rank of captain in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry. He took a section of land in Cherokee County, Kansas, in 1867, studied law and was admitted to the bar at Fort Scott and to the United States Supreme Court; entered the law firm … Read more

Biography of Chester I. Long

Definite distinction and assured prestige have been gained by Chester I. Long as one of the representative member of the Kansas bar, and his influence in public affairs had been wide and potent, as indicated by the fact that he was elected to the United States Senate from Kansas and had been a recognized leader in the councils of the republican party in the Sunflower State. He is engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of Wichita, had honored Kansas by his character and achievement, and is eminently entitled to recognition in this history. Mr. Long was … Read more