Woodson County KS

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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