Ohio

Biography of Amos S. Lapham

Amos S. Lapham. There are but few members of the bar of Southeastern Kansas who have exceeded the record of Amos S. Lapham, of Chanute, for length and continuity of service, for devotion to the best ethics of the profession and for connection with important litigation. His standing is that of one of the foremost members of the bar of this part of the state. Judge Lapham was born on a farm in Champaign County, Ohio, April 6, 1845, and is a son of Oziel and Mahala (Steere) Lapham, and belongs to one of America’s old and honored families. John … Read more

Biography of Father Berthold Staubach

Father Berthold. That the Church of the Sacred Heart at Emporia is now one of the strongest and most efficient Catholic parishes in Kansas is due primarily to the devoted services of its pastors, and more particularly to Father Berthold, who had been in charge there for the past ten years. The record of the parish during this time is sufficient evidence of Father Berthold’s excellent ability as pastor and church executive, but with these qualities he also unites an equally important one of spiritual adviser to his people. A small number of Catholic people located in and around Emporia … Read more

Biography of Ralph M. McKee

Ralph M. McKee is superintendent of the consolidated city schools at Neal in Greenwood County. He is one of the younger men engaged in educational work in Kansas, and had a highly creditable record for the work he had already done and stands high both among his fellow teachers and in his home community. Mr. McKee was born at Xenia, Ohio, December 1, 1893. His McKee ancestors were early settlers in America. Mr. McKee had strains of English and Irish ancestry, and inherits good qualities through both lines. His father, W. T. McKee, was born in Ohio in 1861, and … Read more

Biography of Keenan Hurst

Keenan Hurst, a veteran of the Civil war, forty years a resident of Elk County, is one of the most widely known and esteemed men in this section of Kansas. He followed farming and stock raising several years, took an active part in politics, finally entered the legal profession, and had handled a general practice as an attorney at Howard. He is now serving as city attorney and deputy county attorney. Mr. Hurst was born in Warren County, Ohio, March 5, 1839. His Hurst ancestors came from England to Virginia in colonial days. His grandfather, George Hurst, was born in … Read more

Biography of James Medill

James Medill. The late James Medill was one of the men who came to Kansas during its territorial period, and while he was but one of scores of similar pioneers, he bore his part worthily, although inconspicuously, in the upbuilding of the commonwealth. Mr. Medill was born on a farm in Jefferson County, Ohio, near Steubenville, May 21, 1824, a son of Joseph Medill, who was of the same family that produced the Medills who made the Chicago Tribune famous. James Medill was reared to manhood in his native county, where he acquired a good, practical education. As a young … Read more

Biography of Malcolm Campbell Newman, M. D.

Malcolm Campbell Newman, M. D., whose work as a physician and surgeon had brought him high standing among the citizens of Toronto and over a large part of the county, moved to Toronto in 1913 from Virgil, where he had practiced for several years. Doctor Newman looks after a large general medical and surgical practice, having his offices on the main street of town, and since locating at Toronto had served as health officer. He is a member of the Woodson County and State Medical societies and the American Medical Association. Doctor Newman was born in Gentry County, Missouri, August … Read more

Biography of Frederick Ruder

Frederick Ruder was a pioneer in Kansas Territory in the year 1857. His home was in Leavenworth, but he was closely identified with those activities which spread out from Leavenworth over the plains to the Far West. Leavenworth sixty years ago was one of the most important cities of the Middle West. It was a river town, was thriving and bustling with trade, and to the great territory to the west, now divided among a dozen or more states, Leavenworth occupied relatively a more prominent position than Kansas City does today. Frederick Ruder was for a number of years connected … 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 Joseph W. Laybourn

Joseph W. Laybourn. It is doubtful if any one now living knows the ups and downs and vicissitudes of Kansas life during the past half a century better than Joseph W. Laybourn, president of the Citizens State Bank of Osage City. Mr. Laybourn is an honored veteran of the Union army, and came to Kansas soon after the war. He had been a farmer, coal miner, banker, land owner and in every relationship, whether a poor man or high in the scale of prosperity, had been public spirited and a willing worker for the community benefit. Mr. Laybourn was born … Read more

Biography of Robert A. Watt

Robert A. Watt has been closely identified with the business life of Edna for a number of years and is now serving as postmaster of the town. He is widely known throughout Labette County, and had lived there about forty-five years. He is of Scotch descent and his grandfather, Thomas Watt, was probably the immigrant ancestor. Thomas Watt became a farmer in Belmont County, Ohio, where he died. It was in Belmont County, Ohio, that Robert A. Watt was born August 7, 1866. His father, John T. Watt was born in the State of Ohio March 10, 1844. Reared in … Read more

Biography of John W. Roberts

John W. Roberts, educator, superintendent of the city schools at Sedan, had attained prominence in educational circles in Southeastern Kansas, and though a native of the City of Topeka he represents one of the oldest and most noted families of Oskaloosa. Both his grandfather and father were men of distinction in the newspaper profession and his grandfather edited one of the early free state papers of Kansas. The family of which he is a member originated in England, and there were four of the Roberts brothers who came to America in Colonial times, one of them settling in New York, … Read more

Biography of Gillis Q. Lake

Gillis Q. Lake has been in the drug business at Kansas City, Kansas, for the past eighteen years. Most of the people of that city know how he had built up the two finest drug stores in Kansas City, Kansas. The druggist is both a professional and business man, and Mr. Lake had apparently been equally strong in the professional and practical side of his business career. He was born at Wooster in Wayne County, Ohio, August 14, 1863. His parents were Constant and Ann (McDonald) Lake, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Charleston, South Carolina. … Read more

Biography of Dennis Joseph Sheedy

Dennis Joseph Sheedy. One of the sons of the Nutmeg State who had achieved prominence at the Kansas bar is Dennis Joseph Sheedy. A practitioner at Fredonia since 1906, he had won a reputation in his profession through his conservative, self-assured, well-prepared, clean-cut and successful handling of the cases placed in his charge. He was born at Portland, Connecticut, October 14, 1874, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Marooney) Sheedy. Mr. Sheedy comes of good Irish stock, his grandfather having been Dennis Sheedy, a native of County Cork, who passed his entire life in his native Erin as … Read more

Biography of Francis Marion Abbott

Francis Marion Abbott. Prominent among the men who have been helpful factors in the development of Southeastern Kansas, is found Francis Marion Abbott, president of the Neosho Valley Bank, of Chanute. Mr. Abbott came to Neosho County in 1867 as a veteran of the Civil war, and for many years was engaged in farming, and at the same time lent his aid in various ways to the building up of this part of Kansas, where the best years of his life have been spent and where his enviable success had been gained. Whether as agriculturist, banker, public official or private … Read more

Biography of Fred G. Palmer

Fred G. Palmer was chiefly responsible for the establishment and upbuilding of one of the leading industries of Kansas City, Kansas. This is the Kaw Boiler Works Company. Like many other concerns that now wield a large influence in a city’s industrial life this business started on a small scale. Mr. Palmer was associated with exmayor T. B. Gilbert in organizing the business in 1905. They started making boilers and other equipment of that class in a rented building. The partnership was continued by these two men for six years. In 1911 the Kaw Boiler Works Company was organized and … Read more

Biography of John Quincy Smith

John Quincy Smith. The career of J. Quincy Smith, of Fredonia, had been an expression of well directed and diversified industry and in its development had invaded various fields of human activity, in each of which J. Q. Smith had won a full measure of material success and satisfying reputation. He had had experience in both professional and business labors, and while he is now retired from the activities of life, having approached the Psalmist’s three-score-and-ten years, is still an influence for good in his community and a citizen whose help and support continue to be factors for the development … Read more

Biography of John Quincy Smith

John Quincy Smith. The career of J. Quincy Smith, of Fredonia, had been an expression of well directed and diversified industry and in its development had invaded various fields of human activity, in each of which J. Q. Smith had won a full measure of material success and satisfying reputation. He had had experience in both professional and business labors, and while he is now retired from the activities of life, having approached the Psalmist’s three-score-and-ten years, is still an influence for good in his community and a citizen whose help and support continue to be factors for the development … Read more

Biography of Col. James L. Abernathy

Col. James L. Abernathy. For nearly a half century one of the conspicuous figures in Kansas history was the late James L. Abernathy, whose name is inseparably interwoven with the material prosperity of Leavenworth, to which he came in 1856, when it was but a frontier town. He was born in Warren County, Ohio, March 20, 1833. In early manhood he accompanied his parents in their removal to Rush County, Indiana, and at Rushville, the county seat, embarked in mercantile pursuits. In the early ’50s the great West, then represented by the vast unsettled territory west of the Missouri River, … Read more

Biography of William Hunter McKenzie

William Hunter McKenzie has found his work in the business administration of gas companies, and since 1905 had held the responsibilities of general manager of the Wyandotte County Company of Kansas City, Kansas. It was a boyhood experience while in a state institution in Ohio that gave him the permanent bent of a vocational experience. Mr. McKenzie was born in Harrisonville, Ohio, November 15, 1862, one of the four children of James T. and Mary C. (Hoover) McKenzie, both also natives of Ohio and of Scotch and Dutch extraction. James T. McKenzie was a cabinet maker by trade. At the … Read more

Biography of Lyman U. Humphrey

Lyman U. Humphrey, the eleventh governor of Kansas, was a resident of this state forty-four years. The City of Independence, which was his home all these years except the time he spent in the state capital, will always honor his name, and his upright life and splendid record of public service serve to brighten the annals of the entire state. He was born at New Baltimore, Stark County, Ohio, July 25, 1844, and died at his home in Independence September 12, 1915. Few men can accomplish so much in a lifetime of seventy-one years. He had a worthy ancestry. His … Read more