Topeka Kansas

Biography of Henrietta Fulford (Wilson) Kinley, Mrs.

Mrs. Henrietta Fulford (Wilson) Kinley. In the developing of the beautiful city of Topeka, Kansas, many people who had been born in other states took part and it is surprising how large a number were natives of Illinois. As a rule they were well educated and accustomed to the refinements of life and in their new surroundings their influence was progressive and beneficial. One of these families bore the name of Fulford, a name that became well known at Topeka and which is yet identified with the city’s best interests. A well known and highly esteemed member of this sterling … Read more

Biography of William Edward Davis

William Edward Davis is the youngest state auditor Kansas had ever had and one of the youngest men who ever held such an official dignity in any of the states. It may also be added, to express a general opinion current at the capital and over the state, that Mr. Davis’ administration as suditor had been a synonym of efficiency and economy. He represents that splendid type of young American manhood which had drawn attention by its capacity for accomplishment. Though most of his life had been spent in the Middle West, he was born in West Virginia, and his … 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 Jacob Ramer Blackshere

Jacob Ramer Blackshere was one of the men who laid the foundation of Kansas’ great agricultural prosperity. He was a pioneer both in point of time and in point of achievement. The history of Kansas ought to give recognition and honor to such men, and that is the purpose of this brief article. One of the greatest sources of Kansas wealth is alfalfa. It is not strange, therefore, that many should have been mentioned for the premier honor of having introduced that crop into the Sunflower State. No doubt the controversy had been settled for all time in favor of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas Amory Lee

Thomas Amory Lee, a member of the Topeka bar, graduated from Kansas University with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, and from Harvard Law School with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He practiced law at Boston, Massachusetts, for several years, and has traveled in this country and abroad. He is second lieutenant in the Missouri National Guards, instructor on the Law of Real Property in the Law School of Washburn College, a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, sometime chancellor of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, ex-member of the Society of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Albert H. Horton, Judge

Judge Albert H. Horton was identified with the State of Kansas for a period of more than fifty years in the most important phases of its civil and judicial development. His great influence extended from the year of its birth in 1861 to the time of his own death in 1902. For nearly twenty years of that period he served as chief justice of its Supreme Court. Judge Horton was born near Brookfield, New York, March 12, 1837, his ancestors being of an anceient English family, the first American representatives of which settled in New England. Albert received his preparatory … Read more

Biography of Early Whitten Poindexter

Early Whitten Poindexter. On January 8, 1854, there was born on a farm in Martin County, Indiana, near the village with the euphonious name of Loogootee, a boy whose destiny soon took him away from his father’s fields and livestock and in 1885 brought him to Kansas, where now for more than thirty years he has been general agent for Kansas of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is recognized as one of the ablest life insurance men of the country. He is one of the leaders in the force of men who are regarded as the most aggressive … Read more

Biography of Zachariah Reser

Zachariah Reser. Among the comfortably situated residents of Rossville, Kansas, is Zachariah Reser, one of the substantial and well known retired farmers of Shawnee County. He has been a resident of Kansas for a half century and has large possessions here acquired through his own industry. Zachariah Reser was born in Kentucky, March 13, 1848. His parents were Wyatt and Nancy Reser, natives of Kentucky and of their thirteen children seven survive and live in Kansas, representatives of a sturdy stock from which class came many pioneers hither. When Wyatt Reser and wife packed their household goods and children in … Read more

Biographical Sketch of James S. Emery

James S. Emery was one of the stalwart pioneers of the free-state cause, who bravely and ably assisted the struggling territory and commonwealth to firmly lay their foundations. A son of the Pine Tree State, he was born in Franklin County, July 3, 1826; graduated from Waterville College in 1851; was admitted to the bar in New York City in January, 1854, and in the following September came to Lawrence with the second party of free-state immigrants to make the venture into the danger zone. He was a member of the Big Springs convention and in September, 1855, made a … Read more

Biography of Philander Hamilton Adams

Philander Hamilton Adams. Ever since the year 1871, members of the Adams family have contributed to the good citizenship, progress and development of Shawnee County, their activities having invaded the fields of agriculture, merchandising, consulting engineering, education, religion, and public service. The founder of the family in this state was the late Jacob Clendenin Adams, and at present it is worthily represented at Topeka by Philander Hamilton Adams, who at this time is the owner of the original homestead, in addition to being a well known business man of the capital city. Jacob Clendenin Adams was born in 1823 at … Read more

Biography of Roswell L. Cofran

Roswell L. Cofran, a prominent Topeka business man and former mayor of the city, has the faculty of growing old gracefully, and is still vigorous and useful though past the age of three score and ten. His has been a long and varied career. He served as a soldier in the Civil war. For forty years he has been proprietor of one of the largest foundries and machine shops in the State of Kansas, and is still active in attending to his business affairs. Born in the Green Mountain State of Vermont at Wheelock, Caledonia County, February 3, 1842, he … Read more

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

Biography of Frank H. Roberts

Frank H. Roberts is proprietor and editor of the Oskaloosa Independent. The Independent enjoys distinction among Kansas newspapers. It was established in 1860 by his father, the late John W. Roberts. It had been published continuously and successfully during all the intervening years by father and son. No other newspaper in Kansas had been published so many years in one locality. The town let in Oskaloosa where John W. Roberts began his pioneer enterprise as a newspaper publisher fifty-seven years ago is still the site of the present plant of the Independent, and in this quality of permanence and stability, … Read more

Biography of Herman Genthe

Herman Genthe. The oldest bakery establishment of Topeka under one continuous ownership and management is that conducted by Mr. Herman Genthe, who now had associated with him his oldest son. Mr. Genthe is a master of his trade. He learned it as a boy in Germany, where his ancestors so far as known were millers and had a great deal to do with those grains that furnish the staple food stuffs, wheat and rye. Mr. Genthe’s talent as a maker of fine bread is therefore partly an inheritance from his ancestors, though it had been developed by his individual experience … Read more

Biography of William E. Graves D. V. M.

William E. Graves, D. V. M. Among the men skilled in the practice of veterinary medicine and surgery in Kansas, one who has enjoyed a long and successful career, is Dr. William E. Graves. A graduate of a leading St. Louis institution, he began practice about the time that he attained manhood, came to Kansas in 1896 and carried on his vocation in Franklin County for ten years, and in 1906 changed his field of operation to Topeka, where he now has his home. Doctor Graves was born on a farm in Pike County, Illinois, in 1852, a son of … Read more

Biography of George M. Hoffman

George M. Hoffman, president of the Citizens State Bank of Little River, came to Kansas in territorial times and is one of the oldest residents of the state. His life had been as varied in its activities and experiences as it had been long, and perhaps no individual had contributed more to the real advancement and upbuilding of the Town of Little River than Mr. Hoffman. His birth occurred in Franklin County, Indiana, February 7, 1843, and he is of German ancestry in the paternal line and his paternal grandfather was a German soldier in the magnificent army of Napoleon … Read more

Biography of O. H. Deever, Rev.

Rev. O. H. Deever. One of the strongest churches of the United Brethren faith in Kansas is at Concordia. The pastor is Rev. Mr. Deever, who though a young man had had considerable experience in various pastorates, and is regarded as one of the most efficient leaders and most talented preachers in his church in the state. A brief reference to the early history of the church at Concordia should be given. The church was organized in 1887 with twenty-one charter members. The Rev. Joseph Bayz was the first pastor and one of the charter members. The other members who … Read more

Biography of William MacFerran

William MacFerran. If a record were kept of the daily trials, of adverse circumstances overcome and responsibilities faithfully discharged in the life of every financier, it would form not only a surpassing record of human experience but also a splendid index to human character. It is the man who can shoulder the everyday burdens, discharge multitudinous duties acceptably, and emerge successfully who is deserving of the esteem and admiration of his fellows. Banking serves to develop many of this class and in their hands is placed the responsibility for much of the community welfare. They build the foundation of their … Read more

Biography of Matthew Weightman, Jr.

In the way of public service Mr. Weightman is best known for his work as treasurer of Shawnee County, an office he filled two terms and from which be retired quite recently. He had been a resident of Topeka for over forty years, is a native of Kansas, and represents an old and substantial family of the state. His father, after whom he was named, came to Kansas in 1855 during territorial days. Matthew Weightman, Sr., was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, came to America a young man, and for a time was in newspaper work associated with G. W. Wilder at Leavenworth. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Arthur C. Engler

Arthur C. Engler. Undoubtedly the development of Shawnee County from a prairie wilderness to a region of fruitful farms and grazing lands was largely brought about by the sturdy industrious class that made up the body of the pioneer settlers and it is gratifying to the lover of state and county to see that the stock is not dying out. Old names that for years have represented the best of citizenship still appear as owners of property and as worthy successors of those who may still be recalled in the substantial improvements they left behind them. In this connection no … Read more