Biography of Harry A. Mendenhall

Harry A. Mendenhall. Though his home is in the largest city of Kansas, Harry A. Mendenhall’s business and civic activities have been such as to constitute him one of the best known men of Kansas City, Kansas. For nearly thirty years he had given his best time and energy to the building up of an organization and equipment for the efficient handling of local traffic and freight in the transfer line, he is a former sheriff of Wyandotte County, and is also prominent as a banker. He was born January 11, 1865, on a farm at the edge of the … Read more

Biography of Edwin Ruthven Heath

Edwin Ruthven Heath, a prominent physician and specialist of Kansas City, Kansas, had a record among Kansas citizens that is unique. As a boy he knew the terrors, excitements and thrilling incidents of life in California following the discovery of gold in ’49. As a traveler both in North and South America he had contributed a part of the world’s knowledge of geography, peoples and science. He spent twelve years in South America, practiced medicine in remote construction camps and among wild and semi-barbarous tribes, and he helped build some of the pioneer railways of that continent. To as great … Read more

Biography of Martin L. Foltz

Martin L. Foltz. His span of years greater than the average lifetime had been spent by Martin L. Foltz as an active citizen and resident of Kansas. He is one of the few survivors of that epoch when the nation’s destiny hung upon the outcome of the conflict in Kansas. He is also one of the survivors of the great Civil war, in which he served almost from the beginning to the end in the Union army. For many years his home had been in Williamsport Township of Shawnee County. Born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1841, he is a … Read more

Biography of Desire Debacker

Desire Debacker. The greatest sources of productive wealth along the Kaw River are the market gardens and fruit orchards. This is an industry which has developed to high proportions in Kansas, and as everyone knows is a business where hard work, careful management, and thorough planning are prerequisites of success. Perhaps no family has made a better record in this field and has shown more of these essentials than that of Debacker, one of whose representatives is named above. The Debackers are Belgian people. Desire Debacker was born near Brussels in Belgium in 1874. His father was the late John … Read more

Biography of Thomas J. White

Thomas J. White, a lawyer of high standing in both Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, had been a resident of Kansas forty-eight years. He had his experience as an early homesteader, was in railway service for a number of years, and gained a very thorough knowledge of public men and national politics in his relationship as confidential clerk to Senator Ingalls. He had been a lawyer for nearly thirty-five years. Mr. White was born at Whitstable, a town on the seacoast in County Kent, England, January 27, 1842. He was the second in a family of seven children … Read more

Morin, Helen Mary Margarete Fisher Mrs. – Obituary

Helen Mary Margarete Fisher Morin, 95. passed away at the home of her daughter, Vivian, in Pleasant View, Utah in July, 2003. Helen was born September 16,1907, in Edwardsville, Kansas to Mary Maiden and Charles 0. Fisher. Helen’s family moved to the North Powder/Wolf Creek area in 1914 where she received her education. In 1981, she moved to Utah to live with her daughter Vivian and family. She married Pierce Phillip Morin on July 3, 1926, in Baker City. Their marriage was solemnized in 1954 in the Idaho Falls Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Helen … Read more

Biography of Arthur W. Bronson

For the past seventeen years a resident of Topeka, Mr. Bronson has been a considerable factor in the material prosperity of the state, particularly in connection with the agricultural interests. As resident agent for a firm of foreign capitalists, he has been instrumental during his time in handling and distributing over $25,000,000 cash to the land owners and farmers of Kansas and adjoining states, and he is perhaps as well informed as any man in the state on the subject of agricultural credit, land values and farming interests from the financial standpoint. A native of Herkimer County, New York, where … Read more

Biograph of M. D. Jasper William Hayward

Jasper William Hayward, M. D. Since he earned his privilege of practicing medicine in 1909, Doctor Hayward has become increasingly well known as a physician and surgeon in Kansas City, Kansas. Aside from his attainments professionally much interest attaches to his career because of the valiant struggle he made as a youth to secure an education and win a position in a learned profession against heavy odds. Doctor Hayward was born in Kingman, Kansas, April 3, 1885, a son of Charles and Kate (Weir) Hayward. His father was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, of English descent, was reared in Boston, … Read more

Biography of Stephen A. Miller

Since the death of Chief Journeycake, Stephen A. Miller, a well known farmer and oil man of Nowata county, has been acting chief of the Delawares. He is now residing on his farm, three-quarters of a mile south of Delaware. A native of Kansas, he was born in Wyandotte county, on the 27th of September, 1863, a son of Andrew and Sallie (Hill) Miller. His father was born in White River, Ohio, and was one of the first settlers in Kansas. He came to Indian Territory with the first Delawares, to which tribe he belonged, and locating at Coodys Bluff, … Read more

Biography of Howard C. Tillotson

Howard C. Tillotson. Some men make a success in life apparently by disregarding the old rule of sticking to one thing and to one place. The possession of several talents, and the judgment to make use of them operate to contradict the rule which the average person finds safe for his guidance. One of these men of varied abilities and varied experiences is Howard C. Tillotson, a prominent resident of Latham. Mr. Tillotson is a native of Kansas, and both he and his wife are people of special interest and note because of what they have done for others as … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Paul Jean Wall

Paul Jean Wall was born at Wichita on the 19th of October, 1885, and after his graduation in the high school at St. Louis, Missouri, he entered, in 1904, the University of Kansas, in the law department of which he was graduated in 1908 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In June of the same year was recorded his admission to the bar of his native state, and in his chosen profession he is well upholding the prestige of the honored name which he bears., For three years after his admission to the bar he … Read more

Biography of Ira I. Cammack

Ira I. Cammack, who has devoted the greater part of his life to educational work, has done valuable service in the capacity of superintendent of schools in Kansas City, which position he still holds. He was born at Deming, Hamilton county, Indiana, on the 16th of February, 1858, his parents being James and Edith J. Cammack, who were pioneer settlers of eastern Indiana, taking up their abode in Randolph county. They held birthright membership in the Friends church and were prominently identified therewith throughout their entire lives. The father brought the first steam sawmills to central Indiana. Joseph Pearson, the … Read more

Biography of William Christopher, Hanson D.D.

William Christopher Hanson, D. D. For a quarter of a century steadily engaged in the work of the ministry in Kansas, Doctor Hanson had filled many important posts of responsibility with the Methodist Episcopal Church and is now superintendent of the Kansas City District of the Kansas Conference. He is a native of Chicago, where he was born October 18, 1866, a son of Louis Christopher and Carolina Christiana (Johnson) Hanson. His father was a Norwegian and his mother a native of Sweden. Both are now deceased and for many years they conducted a successful hotel business at Scandia, Kansas. … Read more

Biography of Leonard V. McKee

Leonard V. McKee. The life, the personal character and the influence of Leonard V. McKee impressed themselves strongly upon the formative period of Marshall County’s history. He was founder and president of the Frankfort State Bank, was a large land owner and one of the leading business men and citizens of the community. He was born in Allen County, Ohio, August 18, 1845, and died at his home in Frankfort, Kansas, December 22, 1916, aged seventy-one years, four months and four days. His parents, Robert and Sarah (Dunlap) McKee, were both natives of Ohio. His father was a cabinet maker … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Judge Mark W. Delahay

Judge Mark W. Delahay, of Leavenworth, a pioneer newspaper man of that place, founder of the first paper at Wyandotte, a father of the territory and the state and an honored Federal judge during the later period of his life, was a native of Maryland. Although his father was a slaveholder, his maternal ancestors were members of the Society of Friends, and he was averse to buying and selling slaves. Soon after attaining his majority he located in Illinois, where he wrote for different journals; studied law, and was admitted to the bar. In 1853 he went to Mobile, Alabama, … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Rufus E. Cable

Rufus E. Cable was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He came to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1856, and was employed as a clerk in the establishment of W. E. Proctor, who was the proprietor of a general store. The store of Mr. Proctor and all other business houses in Kansas City, Missouri, were at that time on the levee along the south bank of the Missouri River. The residences were scattered about on the hills back of the business houses. At that time M. J. Payne was mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Cable in 1865 moved to Wyandotte, now Kansas … Read more

Biography of Thomas E. Trigg

Thomas E. Trigg. “A map of busy life” mused the poet Cowper more than a hundred years ago, over his newspaper. The description yet holds good, a century of existence only having widened its field and strengthened its power. With its modern perfected machinery for the garnering of news, and with its vivid portrayal of the world’s happenings, it is, indeed, a map of swiftly passing events, one that had become a necessary vitalizing element and an indispensable factor of every day living. How surely the development of a newspaper in a community marks the latter’s progress. A name well … Read more

Biography of Anthony C. Fasenmyer

Anthony C. Fasenmyer, now retired, has been a constructive factor in the commercial affairs of Kansas City, Kansas, and many of the results of his thirty-one years of activity still stand and have entered permanently into the life and well being of the community. Mr. Fasenmyer was born at Fryburg in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, January 10, 1857. He was the third of five children whose parents were Jacob and Frances (Fletcher) Fasenmyer. His grandfather Balthaser Fasenmyer lived near Strassburg in Alsace, France. He spent seven years as a soldier under the great Napoleon. From there he emigrated to America and … Read more

Biography of James McGrew, Hon.

Hon. James McGrew was one of the historic characters of Kansas, has a place in the history of the state at large because of his early activities and influence as a free state man, and his service in the office of lieutenant governor, while locally he is to be credited with much of the enterprise which entered into the foundation of the present metropolis Kansas City, Kansas. He was born in Adams County near the great battlefield of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1822, and died at his beautiful old home, erected in the early days, and known as McGrew’s Grove, … Read more

Biography of Martin Van Buren Cagney

Martin Van Buren Cagney, whose home had been in Emporia for the past thirty years, is an old time printer, having first taken up the art of typography when a boy before the Civil war, and had followed his trade under many changing conditions and in many localities. For many years he had been proprietor of a commercial printing establishment at Emporia, and had also been frequently honored with positions of trust and responsibility in that city. His own career had the interest of much variety and he belongs to an interesting family. His father Maurice Cagney was born in … Read more