Wilson County KS

Biography of James T. Cooper

James T. Cooper, a lawyer, banker and widely known citizen of Fredonia, was born in Woodson, but then Wilson, County, Kansas, August 30, 1866, and represents a family that came to Kansas while it was a territory. The ancestry of Mr. Cooper is particularly interesting. He is descended from that Sir Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftsbury, who founded a colony on the Ashley River in North Carolina, and from that settlement the family name had become widely dispersed. It may be of interest to recall the fact that the noted John Locke, the great English philosopher, prepared a model … Read more

Biography of Mary Pearl Smith, D. O.

Mary Pearl Smith, D. O. The theory upon which osteopathy rests is that most diseases and pains are due to some mechanical interference not permitting a free flow of forces and nourishment between the parts of the human anatomy so as to establish normal tissue and harmony of conditions. This adjustment theory had long since passed the experimental stage, and osteopathy is now a widely recognized science. It is a sane factor in lessening the suffering of mankind, and through it, in many thousands of cases, there had been re-established harmony of conditions and action known as health. A capable … Read more

Biography of C. F. Lutes

C. F. Lutes. The largest hand glass plant west of the Mississippi River is that of the Fredonia Window Glass Company, located at Fredonia, Kansas. The president and general manager of this enterprise, C. F. Lutes, had been connected with the glass industry ever since entering upon his career, and is a man of experience, resource and energy, who, since coming to Kansas in 1904, had occupied a position of importance among the business men of Fredonia. The success of the company with which he is identified, and its allied interests at Caney, Kansas and Okmulgee, Oklahoma, must be accredited … Read more

Biography of Merle K. Scott, M. D.

Merle K. Scott, M. D. There are few lovers of literature who have not lost themselves in the incomparable romances of sir Walter Scott, and probably the most knowledge that many have ever gained of Scotland had been based on the illuminating writings of her greatest novalist. From that country and from the same stock came the Scotts of Kansas, a prominent reprecentative of which family is Dr. Merle K. Scott, physician and surgeon at Frontanac. Merle K. Scott was born at Coyville, Wilson County, Kansas, April 16, 1878. His parents are Rev. Robert M. and Sarah Kinnear (Kirkpatrick) Scott, … Read more

Biography of G. K. Sipple, Hon.

Hon. G. K. Sipple. During 1910 the retired colony of Neodesha was augmented by the arrival of G. K. Sipple, whose activities have been centered in Wilson County since the year 1881, and whose career is expressive of the possibilities of country life when directed by a well-trained mind, an earnest purpose and a keen appreciation of its benefits and prerogatives. Mr. Sipple is a Union veteran of the Civil war, and a citizen who had contributed to his community’s welfare. That his worth had been appreciated is evidenced by the positions of public trust which he had filled, his … Read more

Biography of Fred Leslie Ervay

Fred Leslie Ervay, M. D. The medical fraternity of Wilson County had as one of its highly skilled and thoroughly trained members Dr. Fred Leslie Ervay, who had been engaged in a general practice at Fredonia since 1908. While Doctor Ervay had not carried on his profession as long as some of his fellow practitioners, he had risen to a prominent place in his calling, and the confidence in which he is held is evidenced by the size and importance of his clientele. He was born at Elk Point, South Dakota, June 14, 1880, and is a son of H. … Read more

Biography of Anderson M. Sharp

Anderson M. Sharp. Widely known in the financial field of Kansas and prominent in business and public life at Neodesha, is Anderson M. Sharp, president of the Neodesha National Bank, who had been officially identified with this institution since it was organized as the Bank of Neodesha, in the spring of 1899. For thirty-three years Mr. Sharp had been a resident of Wilson County, early proving his stable character as a business man and his public spirit as an earnest citizen. He was born July 28, 1859, in Calloway County, Missouri. His parents were William and Mary (Maupin) Sharp. The … Read more

Biography of Mamie J. Tanquary, M. D.

Mamie J. Tanquary, M. D., of Independence is one of the leading woman physicians and surgeons of Kansas. She comes of a family that has supplied several able members to the profession, and her work throughout the fifteen years she has practiced at Independence shows her capabilities are on a plane with her own brothers and her professional brethren throughout the state. Doctor Tanquary, whose maiden name was Edwards, was born at Water Valley in Hickman County, Kentucky, April 29, 1870. She is of old Southern stock, but her first ancestors in the Edwards line came from England of Seotch-Irish … Read more

Biography of Harry Pray Study, A. B., A. M.

Harry Pray Study, A. B., A. M. Among the learned callings there is none, perhaps, that demands a greater degree of patience, tact, specialized knowledge, judgment and natural executive ability than that of the educator, and the individual who enters into this important field, selecting it as a calling, is called upon to make many personal sacrifices and to give many of the best years of his life unreservedly to its demands, often without the emoluments that would be attached to an equal amount of labor expended in another direction. However, there are many satisfying rewards which come to the … Read more

Biography of Charles P. Beebe

Charles P. Beebe. Among the well known newspaper men of Wilson County, one who had had broad experience in his vocation is Charles P. Beebe, who during the past three years had been managing editor of the Neodesha Daily Sun. Mr. Beebe learned the newspaper business at the case, and had worked his way up through the various departments of the business so that he had a thorough knowledge of all its details. Under his editorial management this publication had become one of the best daily papers of Wilson County and wields a wide influence all over this section. Mr. … Read more

Biography of William Clyde Tomlinson

William Clyde Tomlinson. As one of the representative and old established undertakers of Southeastern Kansas, William Clyde Tomlinson, of Chanute, belongs to that class of men in his line who have elevated the calling to a profession and conduct their work scientifically and expertly. Mr. Tomlinson established his business in Chanute seventeen years ago and with the exception of an interval of three years, has been here continuously since. During this time has witnessed remarkable advancements made in his field of endeavor. The modern undertaker and embalmer must be the possessor of qualities which fit him for his calling, for … Read more

Biography of John Quincy Smith

John Quincy Smith. The career of J. Quincy Smith, of Fredonia, had been an expression of well directed and diversified industry and in its development had invaded various fields of human activity, in each of which J. Q. Smith had won a full measure of material success and satisfying reputation. He had had experience in both professional and business labors, and while he is now retired from the activities of life, having approached the Psalmist’s three-score-and-ten years, is still an influence for good in his community and a citizen whose help and support continue to be factors for the development … Read more

Biography of Simon Coats

Simon Coats. Among the men who are representing Wilson County in positions of public importance, none have a better record for clean and capable service than had Simon Coats, sheriff, who had held his present position since January, 1915, but who had been connected with the sheriff’s office since 1911. He had been a resident of Wilson County for more than forty-five years, during which time he had been identified with farming, stockraising and business ventures, and is well and widely known to the people of this community as an honorable man of business and an official possessed of the … Read more

Biography of Joseph Little Bristow, Hon.

No Kansan in recent years has rendered such distinguished public service to the nation at large as former Senator Bristow, now chairman of the State Public Utilities Commission. Mr. Bristow had been a resident of Kansas since he was twelve years old. From his father, who was a Methodist minister of the old type, he inherited a courage of eonvictions, a determined animosity to all public and private dishonesty, and his own life on the Kansas prairies had developed in him a zeal for popular rights and liberties and a fearless statesmanship equally removed from radicalism and reaction. For six … Read more

Biography of William Geiser

William Geiser. An impressive illustration of what may be accomplished through industry, sobriety and persistent endeavor is furnished in the career of William Geiser, one of the well known oil producers of the Mid-Continent field and the directing head of the Geiser & Bogue Machine Shops at Neodesha. Without aid and relying solely upon his own inherent energy, perseverance and sound judgment, he had worked his way upward from the very bottom of the ladder, and had built up a business that is highly creditable to himself and the community of which he is a worthy member. While he had … Read more

Biography of D. C. Hampton

Coming to Oklahoma during the territorial period in its development, D. C. Hampton is thoroughly familiar with the early history of the state and his memory forms a connecting link between the primitive past with its hardships and privations and the present with all of the advantages and comforts of present-day civilization. He is numbered among the progressive merchants of Bartlesville and his business interests are capably and successfully conducted. He was born in Moultrie County, Illinois, April 30, 1858, of the marriage of Roland Thomas and Ruhama (Howe) Hampton, and in 1866 was taken by his parents to Neodesha, … Read more

Biography of Floyd E. Doubleday

Floyd E. Doubleday. It has been the fortune of Floyd E. Doubleday to realize many of his worthy ambitions, and through the exercise of good judgment and business ability to wrest from his opportunities financial and general success. For many years he has been interested in the coal industry, and at the present time is accounted one of the leading operators of Pittsburg. Mr. Doubleday was born at Italy, New York, June 23, 1859, and is a son of Guy L. and Caroline (Hobart) Doubleday. The Doubleday family is of English origin and traces its ancestry back in America to … Read more

Biography of Maj. Emanuel N. Martin M. C. K.

Maj. E. N. Martin, M. C. K. The medical profession in Clay County compares favorably with any in the state, the practitioners being not only well qualified in the main, but men of high personal standing. During the seventeen years that Maj. E. N. Martin had practiced medicine in Kansas, he had advanced to the front rank as a careful, skillful nd conscientious practitioner, and his professional judgment is valued in such organizations as the Clay County and the Kansas State Medical societies and the American Medical Association, of all which representative bodies he is a member. The war had … Read more

Biography of Max J. Kennedy

Max J. Kennedy. An enterprise which, founded in 1904, had grown to large and important proportions is that of the Kennedy Printing Company, of Fredonia. In an era of specialization, the proprietor of this business, Max J. Kennedy, had confined the activities of his establishment to the printing of matter for banking houses, a field in which he had not only had phenomenal success in the immediate locality in which his business is located, but in towns and cities far distant, one of the most important branches of his house being that which handles the mail orders. Mr. Kennedy is … Read more

Biography of H. Clay Fisk

H. Clay Fisk, Superintendent of the city schools of Nowata, was born in Altoona, Kansas, on the 8th of August, 1887, a son of F. M. and Mary (Matkin) Fisk. The father came to Oklahoma at the opening of the Cherokee strip, making the run on the back of a bucking mule, and secured a claim of one hundred and sixty acres near Cherokee in Alfalfa County. In the acquirement of an education H. Clay Fisk attended the rural schools of Alfalfa County until he had finished the eighth grade, when he enrolled in the Stella Academy at Cherokee, where … Read more