Ohio

Biography of Hon. Jeremiah D. Botkin

Hon. Jeremiah D. Botkin. This distinguished citizen of Kansas was born April 24, 1849, in a log house on a farm in Logan County, Illinois. His parents were Richard and Nancy (Barr) Botkin, and his ancestry traces straight back to a Revolutionary hero. Richard Botkin was born April 24, 1822, in Clark County, Ohio, and he died at Wellington, Kansas, March 24, 1898. He was a son of George and Sarah (Hester) Botkin, the father being a native of Virginia and the son of Charles Botkin, a Revolutionary soldier from that state, and the mother a native of Ohio. Richard … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Melancthon Z. Goodell

HON. MELANCTHON Z. GOODELL. – The family of which this pioneer is a member has ever been prominent and influential in the Pacific Northwest since its arrival hither. Jothan W. Goodell, the father was a pioneer of Ohio; and it was at Vermilion that Melancthon was born in 1837. In 1850 the family crossed the plains, the eight children being deemed no serious hindrance. A stop-over was made at Salt Lake one winter; and it has been thought that they missed but little a great calamity from Mormon treachery. Reaching Portland in 1851, they made their first home in Polk … Read more

Biography of Benjamin W. Grandy

BENJAMIN W. GRANDY. – Mr. Grandy has had the satisfaction of seeing the place which he homesteaded twenty years ago become a part of the city of La Grande, Oregon. This illustrates the rapid growth of the country. He has great faith in the future of this town, basing it upon the marvelously productive valley eighteen by thirty miles, surrounding and upon the milling and mining interests and the large water-power. He is a native of New York, was born in 1837, but as a child removed with his parents to Ohio, and before he was twenty had penetrated as … Read more

Biography of Thomas C. Harbourt

Thomas C. Harbourt. A resident for thirty-eight years is not the only distinction of Thomas C. Harbourt at Coffeyville. He is a man of wide interests and activities, has been a contractor and builder, has filled many local offices with credit and efficiency, and is one of the best known men in fraternal circles in Southeastern Kansas. He is still active in business, handles real estate, and is also a justice of the peace. His earlier years were spent in Ohio. His people were of German stock, lived in old Virginia some years, and afterwards identified themselves with the abolition … Read more

Biography of Col. Jeremiah B. Cook

Col. J. B. Cook. In all Southeastern Kansas there is no better known figure than Col. J. B. Cook of Chetopa. For more than forty years he has been recognized as one of the old and reliable and standard real estate dealers. He was one of the pioneers in Labette County, and lived on and improved a claim there before taking up his present business. He is not only an interesting character because of his long and honorable record in business, but for a life of varied service and experience. Many who know him well in real estate circles have … Read more

Biography of John P. Davis

John P. Davis, Topeka. A resident of Kansas for forty-four years, Mr. Davis has in his career set an example of all that is best in American citizenship, not only to his immediate family but to the public in general. He has been prominent in public and business affairs, and has discharged the responsibilities which have fallen to his lot in a conscientious and able manner. His most potent influence for good has been exercised in business as well as in every day life. By his extensive business connections and his extended personal acquaintance he is one of the well … Read more

Biography of Stephen S. Glidden

STEPHEN S. GLIDDEN. – Spokane Falls, Washington, has been fortunate in possessing from the first business men accustomed to large enterprises. Such a man is Mr. Glidden. He was born in Northfield, New Hampshire, in 1829, and at the early age of two years removed with his parents to Scotia county, Ohio. Upon reaching a few more years, he was taken back by his mother to his native state to enjoy educational advantages. Returning s a youth of eighteen to Ohio, he entered the store of the iron company with which his father and uncle were connected. Upon their purchase … Read more

Biographical Sketch of E. M. Kinnear

E.M. KINNEAR. – The mercantile house of Mr. Kinnear is one of the largest and most patronized in this part of the territory. Its owner and founder is a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1856. He came to Washington Territory in 1871 and located on the Touchet, engaging in merchandising. From 1878 to 1880 he was in business at Colfax, but removed in the latter year to Sprague for his permanent home. There he has bought quite a property, conducts a large business and is one of its most prominent citizens. He has served as city councilman … Read more

Biography of A. N. King

A.N. KING. – King’s valley in Benton and Polk counties, and King’s Addition to Portland, which embraces the beautiful city park, will perpetuate the name of the father of our subject and of Mr. King himself. The latter gentleman was born in Ohio in 1822; but as early as 1840 he removed to Missouri, operating a ferry across the Missouri river. A great flood destroyed his property; and in 1845 he was on the plains bound for Oregon. His father, mother, three brothers and five sisters were also in the company. The immigration numbered a hundred wagons; and it was … Read more

Biography of George W. King, M.D.

GEO. W. KING, M.D. – The early life of Doctor King of Pendleton was made dark by the terrible days of the Rebellion; and the recital of his early efforts to work out the distressful circumstances into which he was thus thrown is full of pathetic interest. He was born near Glasgow, Howard county, Missouri, November 14, 1844, and when but a boy of five went with his parents to reside near St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived until the spring of 1854, when his father moved to Kansas Territory, then but a prairie wilderness. He settled on Pottawatomie creek, … Read more

Biography of J. L. Stout

J. L. STOUT. – The proprietor of the townsite of Sea View on the weather beach, a city which boasts of a population of from five to eight thousand during the summer bathing season, is from the Buckeye state, having been born in Ohio in 1824. During his boyhood his father took him to Illinois; and he passed his early life on the frontier. he came up with a generation of men whose natural force and enterprise led them into the most exalted position in the great West which their energies had developed. While in Illinois he was ever restless, … Read more

Biography of William D. Stillwell

WILLIAM D. STILLWELL. – William D. Stillwell was born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 16th of November, 1823. While he was still quite young his parents moved to Michigan, and to Iowa in1838. After living there five years, he concluded in 1843 to emigrate to Oregon. Finding it too late to join the emigration trains, he stopped in Missouri until the following year, when he was among the first to camp at the starting point near Independence. The emigration company were slow in their preparations for starting, and, as Mr. Stillwell was eager to be off, he started out … Read more

Biography of Hon. Theodore L. Stiles

HON. THEODORE L. STILES. – Honorable Theodore L. Stiles was born at Medway, Clarke county, Ohio, July 12, 1848, and was the only child of Daniel J. and Marie S. Stiles. His mother’s maiden name was Lamme; and she, too, was a native of the same county as her son. Mr. Stiles’ father was born of German and English parents, in Danplin county, Pennsylvania. His mother’s family were emigrants from Virginia in 1809. Until the age of sixteen, he remained at his birthplace, which was a small interior farming village. But, his mother having died in 1863, his father removed … Read more

Biographical Sketch of McDonough B. Rees

McDONOUGH B. REES. – This is a brother of the well-known pioneer, W.H. Rees, of Marion county, and has in his own right earned a wide reputation as a man of unusual force of character and enterprise. He was born in Ohio in 1831, and came to Oregon in 1854. Much of his life on this coast has been devoted to prospecting and mining. As early as 1855 he was at the Pend d’Oreille mines, and in 1856 returned to the Willamette valley amid great dangers from the Indians. After farming a few years in the Willamette valley, he went … Read more

Biography of Christian Franklin Herring

Christian Franklin Herring. Starting his independent career as a cowboy on the open plains of Texas, later engaging in handling stock in the Indian country, next carrying on farming in Montgomery County, Kansas, and giving this up to be identified with mercantile pursuits and the oil fields of Oklahoma, Christian Franklin Herring finally settled down in his present business, that of proprietor of an automobile garage at Tyro. Mr. Herring’s career has been a varied and interesting one and has included the vicissitudes and experiences that make up the lives of the men who have sought and found success in … Read more

Biography of John Wesley Wheeler

John Wesley Wheeler. Forty-five years ago when the greater part of Kansas was still an unbroken prairie and open cattle range, John Wesley Wheeler pioneered into the southern part of the state, and his subsequent activities as a homesteader, farmer and stock raiser, have enabled him to amass a competence sufficient for all his future needs. In the meantime he has provided liberally for his family, has borne an upright and commendable part in local affairs. He is now living retired at Havana in Montgomery County. He is descended from Scotch-Irish ancestors who located in Pennsylvania. Mr. Wheeler himself was … Read more

Biography of O. F. Walke

O. F. Walke who has spent most of his life in Kansas has developed a very substantial business career, and for several years has been proprietor of the Independent Laundry, one of the best equipped establishments of its kind in the southern section of the state. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his great-grandfather came from the North of Ireland, and was an early farmer in Ohio. Mr. Walke’s grandfather, William Walke, was born in Ohio in 1840, came to Kansas about a quarter of a century ago, and was an active farmer until he retired and died at Columbus, … Read more

Biography of Edwin B. Morgan

Edwin B. Morgan. When Edwin B. Morgan came to Kansas in 1892, at the age of nineteen, he found his first opportunity for service and work as a school teacher. He taught in Linn County one year, and two years in Franklin County. Already his ambition was set upon the law as a career. Entering the State University at Lawrence, he pursued the studies of the law department until graduating LL. B, in 1898. In July of that year he began practice at Oswego, and was one of the rising young attorneys of that city for seven years. Since removing … Read more

Biography of J. F. Daniel

J. F. Daniel. He whose name initiates this paragraph is known and valued as one of the progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of Wichita, in which city he is vice president and general manager of the Daniel Shoe Company, which is destined to represent one of the most important industrial enterprises of commercial value to this thriving city. Mr. Daniel was born at Belton, Arkansas, and in the public schools of that place and Arkadelphia, Arkansas, he acquired his preliminary educational discipline. At the Baptist College in the latter place he pursued a higher academic course of study, also … Read more

Biography of Robert H. Childs

Robert H. Childs, now superintendent of the Petroleum Products Company plant in Independence, is one of the veteran oil men of America. His father was a pioneer in the oil fields of Western Pennsylvania, and Mr. Childs himself grew up in that environment, and took to the work as naturally as a New England youth goes to sea. There is probably not an important oil field in the country with which he has not been identified in some capacity or another. The Petroleum Products Company established a plant in Independence in 1908. The general officers of the company at Chicago … Read more