Woodson County KS

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 Richard Harrison Trueblood

Richard Harrison Trueblood. When it comes to long continued service in the newspaper field, some mention must be made of Richard Harrison Trueblood, who had been identified with the Yates Center News for fully thirty years, is its editor and manager, and more than anything else his energy, his knowledge of journalism, have been effective in making that not only the official paper of Woodson County but a strong and vital organ of public opinion in that section of the state. Mr. Trueblood comes of long-lived and sturdy family stock. He is not the only living representative of his family. … 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

Biography of Charles Edwin Westlake

Charles E. Westlake. There is a type of business man who had apparently a peculiar genius for doing a number of things well and efficiently. Such a man had the commercial instinct highly developed. Charles E. Westlake of Sedan illustrates the type. He had been a farmer and rancher, had merchandised in several different lines, had been an oil producer, and is now engaged in the undertaking business at Sedan, and one of the livest and most energetic citizens of that town. Both he and his family have been identified with Kansas a great many years. The Westlakes originated in … 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 Alfred Harris Hecox

Alfred Harris Hecox. One of the native sons of Allen County who are now holding official positions in the employ of the United States Government, is Alfred Harris Hecox, who since July, 1914, had served in the capacity of postmaster of the City of Iola. Mr. Hecox had had a diversified and interesting career, in which he had visited various parts of the country and engaged in a number of different occupations which have brought him in close touch with the public and at the same time had given him a broadened experience. These qualities have served him well in … Read more

Biography of Calvin Arthur Davis

Calvin Arthur Davis. The superintendent of the Cudahy Refining Company at Chanute, Kansas, Calvin Arthur Davis, is one of the sons of the Sunflower state who has worked his own way to position and independence. A product of the farm, when he started upon his career his equipment consisted of ambition, determination and good common sense, and these qualities he directed so well that he soon became recognized as a man from whom large things could be expected. Promotion naturally followed, and his career has since been one of constant advancement. Mr. Davis was born on a farm south of … Read more

Biography of Fred L. Stephenson

Fred L. Stephenson is president of the Commercial State Bank of Yates Center. He had many other interests that connect him with that community, and for many years had been one of the live and energetic citizens, ever ready to co-operate in any plan for the advancement of local welfare. Mr. Stephenson had spent most of his life in Kansas and he owes to his individual energies and the opportunities of the state his prosperity and his position in affairs. His ancestors were English people who came to New York in Colonial days. His grandfather was Thomas Stephenson, a native … 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 Truman W. Gardner

Truman W. Gardner had a wide and varied experience as a Kansas farmer, real estate man and banker, and is now cashier of the Neosho Falls State Bank in Woodson County. In 1906 he supplied part of the capital and much of the enterprise for the organization of that institution, and had filled the place of cashier ever since. The bank was founded by local people in Neosho Falls and the present officers are: J. Bishop, president; L. W. Knotts, vice president; T. W. Gardner, cashier; and Errol McCullough, assistant cashier. The bank had a capital stock of $10,000 and … Read more

Biography of Thomas F. Morrison

Thomas F. Morrison. One of the prominent members of the Neosho County bar is Thomas F. Morrison, who as a practitioner at Chanute since 1903 had been connected with much of the important litigation tried in the courts of this district. He is also a leading member of the democratic party of this portion of the state, where his influence had been widely felt in political as well as professional circles, and had represented his community in the Kansas Legislature, as a member of which body he was the author of some exceedingly beneficial legislation. Mr. Morrison was born June … 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 A. Richards

William A. Richards has found his work in life in the field of education, and is one of the youngest city superintendents of schools in the state. He is now serving in that capacity at Toronto. Mr. Richards is of English ancestry. His grandfather Richard Richards was born in England in 1831, and came to the United States when twenty-one years of age. He passed through New York City and Chicago and soon settled on a farm in Illinois, and from there moved to Adams County, Iowa, in 1864. He spent the rest of his career there as a farmer … 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 William Edward Hogueland

William Edward Hogueland, who had lived in Kansas since 1869, had the unusual distinction of being admitted to the bar when he was nineteen years of age and had been in active practice at Yates Center for the past thirty-six years. He had been elected to a county office just about the time he attained his twenty-first birthday, and having established his home at the county seat while in office he had remained there in the practice of law. Mr. Hogueland’s ancestors came out of Holland in very early times. There were three brothers, one settling in New York, one … Read more

Biography of Andrew Garfield Marple

Andrew Garfield Marple, a successful educator and school administrator, is now superintendent of the city schools of White Cloud, Kansas. He is a native of this state, was educated here, and most of his work in mature years had been secomplished within the borders of Kansas. He was born at Yates Center, Kansas, November 16, 1881. His ancestors were Englishmen who settled in Virginia more than a century ago. His grandfather, David Marple, was born in Virginia in 1812, grew up and married in that state Miss Sneff, and subsequently removed to Northern Illinois, where he became a merchant. By trade … Read more

Biography of Karl E. Bauersfeld

Karl E. Bauersfeld. One of the most prominent among the younger generation who are contributing to the advancement and prosperity of the smaller communities of Southeastern Kansas is Karl E. Bauersfeld, mayor of the thriving and progressive Town of Earleton, Neosho County, and cashier of the Earleton State Bank. Mayor Bauersfeld has been a resident of Earleton for but a little more than five years, but during this time has thoroughly established himself as a capable and energetic man of business, and in his official capacity has done much to aid civic advancement. Karl E. Bauersfeld was born August 12, … 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 John Pellegrino

John Pellegrino. Among the men of high merit that the State of Kansas has called to responsible position, is John Pellegrino, of Pittsburg, Kansas, state mine inspector. From the age of fifteen years to the present, Mr. Pellegrino has been identified with mines and mining, with the exception of two years, during which interval he served faithfully as a United States soldier in the Philippine Islands. He has had a wide field of experience, and by hard, practical work in the mines and by persistent study in different institutions of learning, he has thoroughly qualified himself for the important post … 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