Topeka Kansas

Biography of Sadlier J. Hodgins

Sadlier J. Hodgins. In the practical everyday business world few Topeka citizens have achieved better results and have succeeded in making their careers more effective in the face of obstacles and through constant and hard fighting than Sadlier J. Hodgins. Mr. Hodgins is now head of one of the large commercial establishments in Topeka and has been prominently identified with the business and civic life of that city for a number of years. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, June 1, 1867. After the death of his mother in the old country the family emigrated to the United States … Read more

Biography of William F. Schoch

William F. Schoch, state senator and former probate judge of Shawnee County, is one of the prominent lawyers of Kansas and had practiced his profession in Topeka for over twenty years. One of the cardinal rules of his life had been that whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. Whether as school teacher, farmer, lawyer, political leader, public official, or in the prosecution of his various other interests, Mr. Schoch had applied this rule so faithfully and with such results that he had long stood among the leaders of the bar and in citizenship in Kansas. Practically … Read more

Biography of Jacob C. Mohler

Just twenty years after his honored father, the late Martin Mohler, retired from the same office, Jacob C. Mohler was inducted into the office of secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. However, for more than twenty years he had been connected with the state board, and was assistant secrstary for many years before he took the chief responsibilities of that office. As a young man he had a practical training that eminently fitted him for his present duties. Old methods and ideals are especially hard to brush aside for newer and more practical ones, and Mr. Mohler is … Read more

Biographical Sketch of David Gladstone Page

David Gladstone Page, son of Thomas Page, whose career as one of the leading millers of Kansas has been sketched on preceding pages, is a native of Topeka, and for the past fifteen years has been closely identifled with the Page milling interests of that city. He was born January 7, 1881, at the family home at 831 North Quincy Street in Topeka. His early training was acquired in the public schools, and in 1899 he graduated from the Topeka High School. After two years as a farmer he entered his father’s office in 1900, and for a number of … Read more

Biography of William Gibson Dickie

William Gibson Dickie. Though he began his career on a Kansas farm with very few advantages in the way of schooling and has had to work for his own support and for that of others since boyhood, William G. Dickie has acquired a very honorable position in business affairs at Topeka, and has a record embodying many useful years spent in public office, in manufacturing lines, and in connection with several Kansas corporations. A native of Kansas, he was born six miles west of Olathe, Johnson County, January 21, 1870. His parents, William Holmes and Charity (Gibson) Dickie, had moved … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Frank Adgate Quail

Quail, Frank Adgate; Henderson, Quail & Siddall; lawyers; born, Canonsburg, Pa., June 18, 1865; educated, public schools, and graduated Washburn College, Topeka, Kas., 1887, degree A. B.; University of Michigan, 1889, degree LL. B.; began practice in Cleveland the same year; January, 1895, entered the firm of Henderson & Quail; firm changed to Henderson, Quail & Siddall, in 1904, G. B. Siddall being added; director in a number of corporations doing business in Northern Ohio; member Union, Euclid, University, and Colonial Clubs, and Chamber of Commerce; Democrat.

Biography of Henry W. McAfee

Henry W. McAfee. Of the men who have been contributing factors in the development and progress of Shawnee County, none have given in greater degree of their time, talents and energies to the general advancement than had Henry W. McAfee, proprietor of Prospect Farm, lying two miles west of the City of Topeka, on the Sixth Street road just west of Gage Park. A resident of this property for more than thirty-eight years, Mr. McAfee had been identified with numerous enterprises for general betterment, but it is, perhaps, as a promoter of good roads movements that he is best known … 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

Biography of John W. Roberts

John W. Roberts, educator, superintendent of the city schools at Sedan, had attained prominence in educational circles in Southeastern Kansas, and though a native of the City of Topeka he represents one of the oldest and most noted families of Oskaloosa. Both his grandfather and father were men of distinction in the newspaper profession and his grandfather edited one of the early free state papers of Kansas. The family of which he is a member originated in England, and there were four of the Roberts brothers who came to America in Colonial times, one of them settling in New York, … Read more

Biography of Henry Knight Brooks

Henry Knight Brooks of Topeka is a Kansas man by adoption, and is as loyal to the state as any native citizen. The state may properly congratulate itself that Mr. Brooks has found a congenial home here. As an inventor, manufacturer and practical all around mechanic he has a genius which has made his name familiar in industrial circles, not alone in Kansas but in many parts of the United States. For one thing he deserves credit for building up and developing the Capital Iron Works at Topeka, one of the cornerstones of that city’s industrial prosperity. However, that has … Read more

Biography of James A. Walker

James A. Walker, a resident of Kansas for more than thirty years, had applied himself with credit to various lines of business and official activity, but is now most widely known as state deputy of the Modern Woodmen of America, with headquarters at Emporia, where he had had his home for the past six years. Born at Winterset, Iowa, February 12, 1866, he grew up on his father’s farm in Missouri, gained his early education in the public schools of that state, and early in 1884 at the age of eighteen arrived in Jefferson County, Kansas. Then followed two years … Read more

Biography of Charles W. Barnes

Charles W. Barnes. As reporter and newspaper editor, former state superintendent of insurance and now president of the Kansas Life Insurance Company of Topeka, Charles W. Barnes has had an exceedingly busy and successful career covering almost the entire forty-year period since he came to the state. He was born on a farm in Coshocton County, Ohio, October 28, 1869, a son of William O. and Maria Lonisa (McGruder) Barnes. His grandfather Charles Barnes was a lawyer, one of the pioneer members of the Ohio bar, and in the early days served as a judge. William O. Barnes was a … 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 James C. Shimer

Thirty years or association with the coal and feed business at Topeka had established for James C. Shimer a reputation for ability, resource and unflagging industry. He is one of the captains of suscess who have piloted their own craft to harbor. In his numerous varieties of experience, he had gained the good will of his fellow men, had made a place for himself in the business world and had served his county faithfully and well in public office, and out of all his struggles had evolved the belief that hard work rarely injures any one and that straightforward dealing … Read more

Biography of Hon. John Shaw Dawson

On the roll of men who have been prominently identified with the civie affairs of the State of Kansas during the past two decades, the name of Hon. John Shaw Dawson occupies a leading and conspienous place. When he came to this state, in 1887, it was as a country school teacher, but he possessed the ambition and ability necessary to carry him to high position, and it was not long are he became connected with public matters, and, being admitted to the bar in 1898, rose rapidly in his profession and in public confidence. After serving in various positions … Read more

Biography of John Kiene

John Kiene is one of the younger men in the educational affairs of the state and is principal of the high school at Madison. Mr. Kiene is broadly and liberally educated, and had a practical knowledge that comes not from books alone. He was born on a farm at Valencia, Kansas, December 30, 1893. His father is Mr. F. A. Kiene, a well known citizen of Shawnee County now living on his farm near Topeka. He was born in 1834 in Alsace Lorraine, France, but in 1846, as a boy of twelve, was brought to America by his parents, who … Read more

Biography of Charles Estabrook Cory

Charles Estabrook Cory, of Fort Scott, divides with Hon. J. G. Slonecker, of Topeka, the honor of being the two oldest referees in bankruptey in continuous service in the State of Kansas, Both were appointed to this office in 1898, before the Bankruptey Law actually went into effect. Mr. Cory received his first appointment from Hon. Cassius G. Foster, and was continued in office by reappointment from Judge William O. Hook, and his last several appointments came from Hon. John C. Pollock. As a lawyer Mr. Cory had been identified with Fort Scott for over thirty years. He began his … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William Francis Bowen, M. D.

William Francis Bowen, M. D. One of the best known surgeons of Topeka is Dr. William Francis Bowen, who while a general practitioner of both medicine and surgery had manifested a particularly high degree of skill in surgery and is accounted one of the ablest operators in the state. Most of his life had been spent in Topeka, but he was born in Wamego, Pottawatomie County, Kansas, December 25, 1872. His father, Frank C. Bowen, is a prominent and widely known man of Topeka and had long been identified with local politics and public affairs. Frank C. Bowen was born … Read more

Biography of Frank M. Stahl

If all the events, circumstances and movements with which Frank M. Stahl had been identified since he came to Kansas should be written out in detail the result would be a Kansas history perhaps as complete and certainly as interesting and instructive as could be written with one life as the central feature. To do full justice to such a career is manifestly impossible within brief limits, and the following must be in the nature of a suggestive outline of the career of one of the noted pioneer Kansans still alive, and an honored resident of Topeka. Born in Darke … 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