Woodson County KS

Biography of Edward Henry Leitzbach

Edward Henry Leitzbach. The thirty odd years since he came to Humboldt have dealt kindly with Edward Henry Leitzbach. In that time he had attained one of the most substantial business positions in the community, had acquired a large share of material prosperity, and had used his means and ability wisely to promote those institutions and affairs which are most vitally connected with a city’s welfare. Though of German ancestry, as his name indicates, Mr. Leitzbach was born in Connecticut at Robertsville in the town of Colebrook on August 6, 1864. His father, Nicholas Leitzbach, was born on the River … Read more

Biography of William Martin Ladd

William Martin Ladd. Prominent among the younger Government officials of Montgomey County, Kansas, is William Martin Ladd, who is capably discharging the duties of postmaster of the thriving little City of Dearing. Mr. Ladd had as training for his official services an experience in banking, and having attained his position by virtue of successful participation in a civil service examination, is handling the affairs of the mail service in an entirely acceptable manner. He is a native son of Kansas and was born at Vernon, Woodson County. October 4, 1891, his parents being Ira W. and Mine L. (Martin) Ladd. … Read more

Biography of Malcolm Campbell Newman, M. D.

Malcolm Campbell Newman, M. D., whose work as a physician and surgeon had brought him high standing among the citizens of Toronto and over a large part of the county, moved to Toronto in 1913 from Virgil, where he had practiced for several years. Doctor Newman looks after a large general medical and surgical practice, having his offices on the main street of town, and since locating at Toronto had served as health officer. He is a member of the Woodson County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. Doctor Newman was born in Gentry County, Missouri, August … Read more

Biography of William A. Nelson

William A. Nelson, a real estate man at Fall River, knows the early pioneer, conditions of this section of Kansas from first hand. He was a homesteader in Greenwood County in the early ’70s. He passed through that trying period when grasshoppers, season after season of drouth, low prices for farm products and other conditions made the lot of the Kansas farmer one hardship after another. He came through it all, gained and still retains a large share of the landed wealth of Kansas, and is a man whose experience demonstrates that there is nothing whatever the matter with Kansas. … Read more

Biography of Louis N. B. Anderson

Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he whose lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. In person, in character and talents, Mr. Anderson is a worthy scion of his race. Though his life has been one rather of modest reserve than of ambitious self-seeking, he has shown himself a peer of the brightest men of his adopted state, and his mental talents led to his selection for the important position of superintendent of public instruction of Idaho for the years 1897 and 1898, in which capacity he served … Read more

Biography of Asa Knowles Talbot

Asa Knowles Talbot. It is no small distinction in the business world to create and build up a business which is generally recognized as the leader of its kind in a city or county. That is the place occupied by the A. K. Talbot Harness and Manufacturing Company at Coffeyville. It is the leading concern in the handling of harness and other goods in Montgomery County, and Mr. Talbot has also developed a factory for the manufacture of leather novelties and is at the head of a very successful concern. While he has spent nearly all his life in Kansas, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel E. Hoffman

Samuel E. Hoffman was born in Pennsylvania about 1835. He came to Kansas from Iowa, locating in Neosho Falls, Woodson County, in 1858, being the first lawyer in that section of the state. Mr. Hoffman was prominent in the early stages of statehood, being a member of the Wyandotte constitutional convention of 1859 and of the first State Senate in 1861. He was also one of the agents appointed to select lands granted to the state by the general government in 1861-62. The later years of his life were spent in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was engaged in banking.

Biography of William Carroll

William Carroll. One of the most popular members of the county government of Woodson County is William Carroll, who had recently finished his second term as sheriff. Mr. Carroll had spent all his life since infancy in this section of Kansas, belongs to a family of pioneers of Woodson County, and his own career had been one of hard work and exceptional fidelity to every interest committed to his care. He was born in Kane County, Illinois, November 2, 1868, but was brought to Kansas when about two years of age. His father, Michael Carroll, was born in Southern Ireland … Read more

Biography of Orpheus S. Woodward, Col.

Col. Orpheus S. Woodward. The career of Colonel Woodward, who is past fourscore and is one of the most honored and respected citizens of Neosho Falls, represents a broad track of useful effort and service, beginning as a teacher, changing to the dangerous occupation as a soldier in the Civil war, subsequently as a rancher, business man, public official in Kansas, where he had lived the greater part of the last half century. Colonel Woodward was born in Erie County, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1835. The Woodwards were colonial Americans, tracing their original home to England. It is probable that the … 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 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 Harry O. Ashley

Harry O. Ashley. The Ashley family had been identified with Woodson County since 1877, a period of forty years. The name had been closely associated with business and professional affairs here ever since, and Harry O. Ashley, son of the founder of the family, is now serving as county surveyor and is also city engineer of Yates Center. The Ashleys are English people and for many years their home was at Frodsham, near Cheshire. The grandfather of Harry O. Ashley was Henry Ashley, Sr., who spent all his life in Liverpool and was an attorney by profession. Henry Ashley, Jr., … Read more

Biography of Augustus G. Dickinson

A. G. Dickinson is one of the leading business men of Humboldt, Kansas, and head of the Dickinson Hay & Grain Company, and for years had been vitally interested in the welfare and progress of this section of the state. Mr. Dickinson is a native of Allen County, Kansas. It will be appropriate in this connection to trace the movements of the family briefly from their point of origin to this middle western state. The Dickinsons were English people. In the early colonial days three brothers set out for America. One of them went to Nova Scotia, one to New … Read more

Biography of Elizabeth Tantum Spencer

Elizabeth Tantum Spencer was born near Jerseyville, Illinois, September 28, 1871. She attended the rural schools in Jersey County, Illinois, and Woodson County, Kansas, was graduated from the Yates Center High School (a member of the first class) in 1890, and from the Kansas State Normal at Emporia in 1894. She taught three years in the rural schools of Woodson County, during the first year riding fourteen miles each day. Since that time she had taught in the schools of Yates Center, Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1912 she became deputy county treasurer of Woodson County under … Read more

Biography of Charles E. Moore

Charles E. Moore. When Charles E. Moore came home from college in 1887, his first efforts were directed along the line of the loan and mortgage business. He had been at it continuously ever since, now for thirty years, and had built up the largest organization handling loans and mortgages at Eureka or in that section of the state. As the head of a successful business of this kind Mr. Moore’s interests have naturally gone into a wider field of finance and business affairs. Since 1908 he had been president of the Citizens National Bank of Eureka. He is an … Read more

Biography of Anton Diebolt, Jr.

Anton Diebolt, Jr., cashier of the Piqua State Bank in Woodson County, is one of the younger bankers of Kansas and had studied and practiced banking with a varied experience in different institutions ever since reaching manhood. He is a native of Kansas and represents a family that have had an important share in business and financial circles. He was born in Atchison County, Kansas, October 10, 1885, a son of Anton Diebolt, Sr., and a grandson of Joseph Diebolt. The Diebolt family in the earlier generations lived in the Province of Alsace, on the border between the French and … Read more

Biography of Augustine P. Heimann, Rev.

Rev. Augustine P. Heimann is the beloved priest and rector of St. Martin’s Catholic Church at Plqua, Kansas. He is a veteran in the service of the church in Kansas. He came to the state more than a quarter of a century ago, soon after his ordination as a priest, and for years had devoted himself to the constructive as well as the spiritual administration of several important parishes in different counties. Father Heimann was born in Lafayette, Indiana, February 15, 1866. His father, August Heimann, was born in Silesia, Prussia, in 1834. When eighteen years of age he came … Read more

Biography of Elmer Eugene Kelley

E. E. Kelley during his thirty years of residence in Kansas had played a varied and honorable part in affairs, as an educator, farmer, and, in more recent years, as editor and publisher. He is now head of the Toronto Republican and a former president of the Kansas State Editorial Association. Taken in connection with what he had accomplished himself in life, Mr. Kelley may take a reasonable degree of pride in his American ancestry. The Kelley family goes back to Ireland. While the population of America was still straggling along the Atlantic coast in thirteen colonies, James Kelley emigrated … Read more

Biography of George W. Lee, M. D.

George W. Lee, M. D. For fully twenty years Doctor Lee had practiced his profession as a physician and surgeon in Woodson County. The greater part of this time he spent at Toronto, but is now looking after his widely extended patronage from home at Yates Center. He is a highly qualified professional man and of equally high standing in social and civic affairs in Yates Center. Dr. Lee was born at Markham in Morgan County, Illinois, December 4, 1867. His paternal grandfather, George Lee, was born in 1814 in Yorkshire, England, and on coming to America settled near Jacksonville, … Read more

Biography of George Washington Smith

George Washington Smith. On first coming to Kansas thirty-three years ago Mr. Smith engaged in educational work, and was at the head of several city school systems for a number of years. He finally entered business at Lawrence, living in that city while his own children were finishing their educations, and in recent years had resumed teaching and is now superintendent of the city schools of Neosho Falls. He is one of the most widely experienced and competent school men in Kansas. He was born at Knoxville in Marion County, Iowa, May 25, 1860. His paternal ancestors came out of … Read more