Wyandotte County KS

Biography of Early Whitten Poindexter

Early Whitten Poindexter. On January 8, 1854, there was born on a farm in Martin County, Indiana, near the village with the euphonious name of Loogootee, a boy whose destiny soon took him away from his father’s fields and livestock and in 1885 brought him to Kansas, where now for more than thirty years he has been general agent for Kansas of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is recognized as one of the ablest life insurance men of the country. He is one of the leaders in the force of men who are regarded as the most aggressive … Read more

Biography of William Timmerman

Western Terea Cotta Company of Kansas City, Kansas, is the only successful industry for the making of this building material, which has had such a remarkable growth of popularity in use during recent years, between Chicago and the extreme Pacific coast. It is an industry which reflects credit upon the growing importance of Kansas City, Kansas, and is the only concern of its kind in the state. Terra cotta, which is the Italian for “burnt clay,” is perhaps the oldest manufactured building material known in history. It has been manufactured in America only during the last forty or forty-five years … Read more

Biography of James A. Vaughan M. D.

James A. Vaughan, M. D. During his long and active career as a physician Doctor Vaughan had spent his most useful and profitable years in the State of Kansas. For more than ten years he had practiced successfully in Mound Valley in Labette County. Though most of his early years were spent in Southwest Missouri, Doctor Vaughan was born in Benton County, Arkansas, October 21, 1868. He is of English stock, and his great-grandfather came over from England and settled in Tennessee in the early days. His father, G. W. Vaughan, was born in Illinois in 1843, was reared in … Read more

Biography of William Lee Vaughan

William Lee Vaughan for a number of years had been one of the foremost business men and merchants of Kansas City, Kansas. Nearly all the residents of that city know his place of business at Eighteenth and Central Avenue, and particularly in that district of Kansas City his influence is recognized as having been one of the chief factors in many lines of development and improvement which have been brought about during the last decade or so. Mr. Vaughan had an interesting family history. He was born at Sedalla, Missouri, June 29, 1873, but had lived in Kansas for thirty … Read more

Biography of J. Edgar Buffington

J. Edgar Buffington, a representative of an honored pioneer family of Oklahoma, figures prominently in financial circles of northeastern Oklahoma as President of the Vinita National Bank, in which connection he is controlling one of the most substantial moneyed institutions in this part of the state. He was born in that portion of Indian Territory known as the Cherokee Nation, on the 13th of March, 1881, of the union of Ezekiel and Anna (Scarcewater) Buffington and when but an infant lost both of his parents. His boyhood was spent as an inmate of the Cherokee Orphans’ Home at Salina, in … Read more

Biography of Peter J. Broll

Peter J. Broll. Of the successful business men of Kansas City, Kansas, perhaps none began life with fewer opportunities and under more unpromising circumstances than Peter J. Broll. The education which most boys secure while living in comfortable homes and attending schools with nothing else to divert their minds was denied him and he obtained his education largely by direct contact with the world and those processes of intelligent thought which are quickened by a live mind and a fundamental interest in the life about him. A humble clerkship was his first opportunity of experience, and gradually, being of a … Read more

Biography of Joseph Kennedy Hudson, General

Gen. Joseph Kennedy Hudson. One of the ablest soldiers of Kansas and most determined fighter for the free-state movement, the late General Hudson will have a lasting fame not only for what he did in the trying years of Kansas’ youth, but also as founder and for many years editor of the Topeka Capital. It was his resourcefulness as a practical newspaper man and his wonderful ability as an editor and molder of public opinion that gave the Capital its wide influence and standing as a journal, and the history of the Kansas Press had no more notable figure than … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Sessions

Over the state at large the name of Charles H. Sessions is most familiarly associated with the office of secretary of state, which he held for two terms, and now as private secretary to Governor Capper. But Mr. Sessions himself does not consider his political honors to represent his real work. He is a newspaper man primarily and fundamentally, politics had always been a side issue, and he had never allowed anything to interfere long with his active participation in the newspaper trade. His home had been in Kansas for the past twenty-eight years. A son of M. L. and … Read more

Biography of Charles H. Prescott

CHARLES H. PRESCOTT. – The subject of this sketch is second vice-president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 22d of June, 1839, and is the son of Harrison and Sarah Harris Prescott. His father was a native of Massachusetts, and can date back for three generations as members of New England families. Harrison Prescott died when his son was yet in infancy; and at the age of six he suffered the loss of his mother. So under the care of guardians he was educated in the common and high schools of Boston. At … Read more

Biography of Henry H. Daniels

Henry H. Daniels has been a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, for over twenty years, and had risen from some of the minor responsibilities of business life to the presidency of the Armourdale State Bank at 514 Kansas Avenue. He is a Kansan by birth, and had always been loyal to the state where he grew up and where his carser had had its training and its successes. He was born on a farm six miles west of Olathe in Johnson County, December 19, 1874. He was the seventh in a family of eight children born to Richard and Bridget … Read more

Biography of Byron Judd, Hon.

Hon. Byron Judd was a pioneer of Wyandotte County. He established his home in the village of Wyandotte in November, 1857, when Kansas was still a territory. He lived in the village, his capacities expanding with the growth of the community, and his personal position and influence rising as Wyandotte County grew and prospered, and at his death on July 27, 1909, it was generally recognized and appreciated that he was one of the men who had left a permanent impress for good upon Kansas City, Kansas, a great city of which his old home village of Wyandotte had in … Read more

Biography of Joseph A. Butler

Joseph A. Butler, prominent and well known in local politics in Kansas City, Kansas, had been a factor in the business life of that city for many years and is proprietor of a complete service and equipment as an undertaker at 749-753 Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. Butler had lived in Kansas since he was nine months of age. He was born June 21, 1870, in the City of Cleveland, Ohio. He is the sixth in a family of eight children, all but one still living. Five are in the State of Kansas, one in Missouri and one … Read more

Biography of Dudley Emerson Cornell, General

Gen. Dudley Emerson Cornell. The career of the late Gen. Dudley Emerson Cornell was one characterized by participation in various lines of endeavor and experiences of an interesting and extraordinary character; by faithful devotion to the duties and responsibilities of both peace and war; by success in business; and by a high type of citizenship that won to him the friendship and esteem of men in all walks of life. From 1866 until his death, in 1911, he was a resident of Kansas, and during this time was not only widely known in business circles as a man of sound … Read more

Biography of James W. Reid

James W. Reid, assistant general attorney of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company at Parsons, is one of Parsons’ young lawyers and a man of many brilliant qualifications and of rising reputation. He was born in Johnson County, Missouri, July 22, 1883. His ancestors came out of England and were early settlers in the State of Ohio. His father J. N. Reid was born in Ohio, and died at Xenia in that state in 1896. Most of his active career was spent in Missouri as a farmer, and he was also a traveling salesman for a number of years. … Read more

Biography of Louis Henry Rose

Louis Henry Rose. That quality of citizenship which gets things done in a wise and constructive manner and at the same time is constantly looking out for the economy and welfare of the individual is wonderfully well illustrated in the career of Louis Henry Rose, one of the oldest business men of Rosedale. Mr. Rose identified himself with this village of Wyandotte County when its population did not consist of more than 500. He helped make it a city and in recent years had headed the fight to secure its consolidation with that larger metropolitan and industrial group of communities … 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

Biography of Thomas Jefferson Barker

Thomas Jefferson Barker. The history of Kansas is a generalization of the histories of thousands of individuals whose character and activities made the state what it is. Hardly one of those individuals came into closer touch with the adventures and exciting realities of pioneer times than the late Thomas Jefferson Barker, who was a pioneer of old Wyandotte and for many years one of the leading business men of Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. Barker died at his home in Kansas City, Kansas, August 4, 1913, and was then nearly eighty-five years of age. He was born in Bedford County, Virginia, … Read more

Biography of Harry R. Martin

Harry R. Martin, now serving as county clerk of Butler County, had been known to the people of this section of Kansas since his life began, and he had an extensive experience as a farmer and business man prior to his election to his present office. Mr. Martin was born at Douglass, in Butler County, October 25, 1882. His father, J. T. Martin, was a homesteader in Butler County, and part of his homestead was used for the townsite of Douglass. The Martin family came out of England in the early days and first settled in Maryland, in which state … Read more

Biography of Ira Puderbaugh, M.D.

Ira Puderbaugh, M. D. The second physician in practice at Ozawkis was Dr. Aaron Puderbaugh, and in that same locality his son Dr. Ira Puderbaugh had handled the bulk of the professional work for the past fifteen years. Ozawkie is the native town of Dr. Ira Puderbaugh, where he was born March 5, 1878. His ancestors were Germans who immigrated to Pennsylvania in very early times. His grandfather was born in Pennsylvania in 1810, afterwards moved to Western Ohio, from there to Indiana, and finally came to Kansas, where be lived retired until his death at Ozawkie in 1883. Dr. Aaron … Read more

Biography of Edward Alexander Enright, Hon.

Hon. Edward Alexander Enright. Distinguished as a statesman as well as for his achievements at the bar, Edward Alexander Enright is an honored, valued and admired citizen of Kansas City. For almost a quarter of a century he has been a prominent factor in the law and in public affairs, and his name stands foremost among the leaders who have organized, fathered and vitalized many of the progressive movements which have made Kansas the great commonwealth it now is. Edward Alexander Enright was born September 17, 1858, at West Burke, Vermont, the seventh in a family of nine children born … Read more