Missouri

Biography of Samuel S. Gross, M. D.

Samuel S. Gross, M. D. With an experience as a physician and surgeon covering over twenty years, and with increasing eapabilities for exact and thorough service, Doctor Gross had been located for the past ten years at Denton, Kansas, where he controls a large practice and had also identified himself with the business interests of the locality. His paternal ancestors several generations back came out of Germany and were early settlers in the State of Tennessee. Doctor Gross’ grandfather was a native of Tennessee and went as a pioneer to that pietureeque district of Northwest Missouri now known as Excelsior … Read more

Biography of Theodore H. Polace

Theodore H. Polace has been a lawyer of recognized standing and ability at the Marysville bar for over thirty-five years. His career began as a teacher, but he soon turned to the law and had found in it an occupation fitted to his talents and tastes, and had made it the medium of his chief service in the world. Mr. Polace was born near Grete in Will County, Illinois, March 12, 1860. He comes of a scholarly family and one that had given several members to the ministry of the Lutheran Church. His father, Rev. Gustav W. Polack, was born … Read more

Biography of Kate L. Cowick

Miss Kate L. Cowick, now serving her second term as county treasurer of Wyandotte County, probably had the most responsible office of any woman in Kansas. She had the business efficiency needed in the administration of such an office. She is thoroughly trained in the public service, having for many years been a teacher and administrative official of schools, and her work as county treasurer had given her not a little of justly earned fame among the women of Kansas. Miss Cowick is a native of Missouri, born at Tarkio in Atchison County on February 8, 1885. She was the … Read more

Biography of Anna Mallows, Anna

Miss Anna Mallows. To paraphrase an old proverb, To woman’s work there is neither end or limit of capacity for human service and usefulness. Women have succssded as home makers, as teachers, in all the learned professions, in executive business, and one of the bright Kansas women, Miss Anna Mallows, is a very successful newspaper woman, proprietor, and publisher of the White Cloud Globe. The White Cloud Globe is now the only paper published in that city. It was founded in 1892 by John J. Faulkner, and throughout its twenty-five years it had never exhibited more enterprise as a real … Read more

Biography of Charles R. Hewins

Charles R. Hewins is in point of continuous service one of the oldest educators in Kansas. His work had been accomplished almost entirely within the limits of Doniphan County. For thirty years he had been connected with the schools of that county and in November, 1916, he was elected county superintendent, beginning May 14, 1917. Mr. Hewins represents a pioneer family of Northeastern Kansas, and his own birth occurred near Wathena on December 1, 1866. His family were Colonial settlers in Maine from England. His grandfather, John A. Hewins, Sr., was a native of Maine, followed farming in that state … Read more

Biography of John Harrison Atwood

John Harrison Atwood. While Mr. Atwood had had his home and law business at Kansas City, Missouri, since 1909, he is still regarded as a Kansas man. His is one of the names most familiar to the people of the state in the realm of law and oratory and political leadership. For a quarter of a century Mr. Atwood was a member of the Kansas bar, residing at Leavenworth. Perhaps as much credit is due to him as to any other individual for the rehabilitation and upbuilding of the democratic party in Kansas. In 1896 came Bryan and a new … Read more

Biography of Harrison E. King, Mrs.

Mrs. H. E. King is one of the capable business women of Leon, Kansas, where since her husband’s death she had managed the estate, is a director in the State Bank of Leon, and had many other extensive interests in Butler County. Her husband, the late Harrison E. King, was a man of great business ability, and his untimely death at the age of forty-seven, on February 7, 1914, was a matter of general regret throughout the large community in which he was so well known. Mr. King was a man of striking appearance, possessed business judgment in a marked … Read more

Biography of Charles C. Finney M. D.

Charles C. Finney, M. D. A native of Atchison and a representative of a pioneer family in that city, Dr. Charles Finney had his introduction to the profession of medicine during an erperience of eight years while he was in the hospital department of the Missouri Pacific Railway under Dr. D. J. Holland. He realized the possibilities of a professional career, was encouraged by his friends to make use of his talents in that direction, and soon entered the Beaumont Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, where he was gradusted M. D. on March 14, 1894. Since his graduation in … Read more

Biography of Solomon M. Jeffreys

In the front rank of the columns which have advanced the civilization of the northwest, Solomon M. Jeffreys has led the way to the substantial development, progress and up building of Idaho, being particularly active in the growth of Weiser, where he still makes his home. He is numbered among the pioneers of Idaho, California and Oregon, his memory going back to the time when the entire Pacific coast was but very sparsely settled, when the Indians were more numerous than the white men, and the land had not been reclaimed for purposes of cultivation, but remained in the primitive … Read more

Biography of George Ainslie

Hon. George Ainslie is a western man by birth, training and choice, and possesses the true western spirit of progress and enterprise. He belongs to the little group of distinctively representative business men who have been the pioneers in inaugurating and building up the chief industries of this section of the country. He early had the sagacity and prescience to discern the eminence which the future had in store for this great and growing country, and, acting in accordance with the dictates of his faith and judgment, he has garnered, in the fullness of time, the generous harvest which is … Read more

Biography of Henry Heitfeld

In considering the career of the present United States senator for Idaho, Hon. Henry Heitfeld, we are led to the following reflections: It is a well attested maxim that the greatness of a state lies not in its machinery for government, nor even in its institutions, but in the sterling qualities of its individual citizens, in their capacity for high and unselfish effort and their devotion to the public good. An enumeration of those men of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves and at the same time have honored the state to which they … Read more

Biography of Relf Bledsoe

The days of chivalry and knighthood in Europe cannot furnish more interesting or romantic tales than our own western history. Into the wild mountain fastnesses of the unexplored west went brave men, whose courage was often called forth in encounters with hostile savages. The land was rich in all natural resources, in gold and silver, in agricultural and commercial possibilities, and awaited the demands of man to yield up its treasures, but its mountain heights were hard to climb, its forests difficult to penetrate, and the magnificent trees, the dense bushes or the jagged rocks often sheltered the skulking foe, … Read more

Biography of John Hailey

The well-known pioneer and statesman of Idaho from whom the town of Hailey takes its name, is now a resident of Bellevue, this state. He has been twice elected a delegate to congress from this territory, and is one of the best informed men in the state on national affairs. Mr. Hailey is a native of Smith County, Tennessee, born August 29, 1835, of Scottish ancestry and a descendant of a family long resident in the Old Dominion, his grandfather, Philip Hailey, and his father, John Hailey, having been both natives of Virginia. His father married Miss Nancy Baird, a … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William H. Ridenbough

A business man of Boise engaged in the manufacture of lumber and flour, Mr. Ridenbough, is a native of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was born April 17, 1853. He has built a most palatial residence in Boise, and his home, with its beautifully arranged grounds, fittingly represents the good taste of its builder. In Boise Mr. and Mrs. Ridenbough possess a large number of friends, who are often the recipients of their cordial hospitality.

Biography of Carlyle L. Pelot

It is worthy of note that a majority of the pioneers of Idaho Falls were young, or comparatively young, men. They did not come to mold a new community in accordance with antiquated precedents which had been worn out elsewhere. They came open-eyed, susceptible to conviction, ready to take conditions as they existed and shape them according to the logic of the time and the place. How they succeeded, every one knows who knows anything of the history of the town. One of the most far-sighted of these pioneers was the man whose name appears above; and it is the … Read more

Biography of Columbus R. Shaw

One of the most enterprising, energetic and successful businessmen of Caldwell, is the gentleman whose name appears above. He is a native of the state of Missouri, his birth having occurred in Ray County, in 1859. His father, William P. Shaw, was a native of Tennessee, whence he removed to Missouri, in 1833, becoming one of the pioneers of the latter state. He married Miss Julia A. Waterman, a native of New York, whose people were also numbered among the early settlers of Missouri. The Shaw family is of Irish origin, and leaving the Emerald Isle crossed the Atlantic to … Read more

Biography of George W. Reed

George W. Reed, present mayor of Axtell and cashier of the Citizens Bank, had been actiyely identified with that community for the past ten years. The Citizens Bank of Axtell was established in 1886. It began with a state charter and had remained a solid and conservative financial institution for over thirty years. Its capital stock is now $25,000 and it had a surplus of $8,000. The bank is situated on Fifth Street and Maple Avenue. The present officers are: P. J. Gurtler, president; George W. Reed, cashier; and William Berry, assistant cashier. Mr. Reed is a native of Missouri, of the … Read more

Biography of John Child Maxson, M. D.

John Child Maxson, M. D. For over twenty-four years Doctor Maxson had practiced his profession in Kansas and is now located at Corning, where as a physician and surgeon of thorough attainments he had an extensive practice. His family were early settlers in Sonthern and Southeastern Kansas. Doctor Maxson is in the tenth generation from the immigrant of the family from England to the American colonies. The founder of the Maxson family in this country was Richard Maxson. Doctor Maxson’s grandfather, James Maxson, spent his life as a farmer in Alleghany County, New York. James S. Maxson, father of Doctor … Read more

Biography of Edgar Watson Howe

Edgar Watson Howe. Kansas journalism had produced several men whose names are household words in America. By no means least among them in attainments and influence is Edgar Watson Howe, founder of the Atchison Globe, for many years its editor and publisher, and now in his semi-retirement publishing Howe’s Monthly. His many colleagues and admirers in the newspaper profession have for years been accustomed to referring to him as “Old Ed Howe.” As a matter of fact he is not even now an old man. Mr. Howe was born near Treaty, Indiana, May 3, 1854, and is of English descent. … Read more

Biography of G. G. Wiechen

G. G. Wiechen, who came to Kansas over forty years ago, had found his best and most congenial activities in the line of grain merchandising. He is the leading grain merchant and elevator proprietor of Robinson, Kansas, where he had built up a large and successful business. Mr. Wiechen is a son of a veteran resident of Rush County, Kansas, J. H. Wiechen, who is still living, though past ninety years of age. J. H. Wiechen was born at Schweringen, Germany, in 1826. At the age of eighteen he came to America, living for a time in New York City … Read more