John B. Auld, a successful stockman and capitalist of Frankfort, Kan., was born in Harrison county, Ohio, October 14, 1844, and is a son of Dan C. and Jane Auld. The father was a Pennsylvanian, and was born in 1810, while the mother was a native of Ohio. Dan C. Auld was a cabinet maker by trade, and also followed ship building on Lake Erie. In the real pioneer days of 1855 the Auld family came to Kansas, and settled in Marshall county. They were among the first settlers in this part of the State. When they first came here the father frequently made coffins when the unfortunate occasion required it. He homesteaded a farm when he first came here, but never followed farming himself. The family did not come to Kansas with the father, but about a year later. When the Civil war broke out the father enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas infantry, and served as second lieutenant of Company G, and after about two years, he resigned on account of failing health. He was a member of the territorial legislature when the capitol was at Lecompton, and served as postmaster at Nottingham, which was the name of the postoffice which was kept on his farm before the town of Frankfort was started. This was the second postoffice to be established in Marshall county, but when the town of Frankfort was located it was moved to that place. There were no railroads in Kansas then and the mail was brought up the river on boats and then by the overland route to Seneca, and from there to Nottingham, once a week. They had to drive to St. Joseph, Mo., over 100 miles, for provisions. At that time buffaloes were quite plentiful about fifteen miles west of the Auld homestead. John B. Auld, the subject of this review, still owns the original homestead bought from the Government by his father.

John B. Auld was educated in the public schools of the times and attended Lincoln College at Topeka for a year, when he returned to Marshall county and engaged in farming and stock raising for about twelve years. There were three boys in the family, and they all worked together on the farm. After farming twelve years Mr. Auld engaged in the mercantile business in Frankfort, where he prospered and made money. In 1874 he engaged in the grain business at Frankfort and later also engaged in the stock business, and was very successful in that, and in 1887 he sold his elevator, devoting all his time to the cattle business, and moved on his farm south of town, where he was very extensively engaged in the stock business, shipping hundreds of head every year. In 1909 he moved to Frankfort. On one of his farms there is a quarry of an excellent grade of stone, and in 1909 he built one of the best residences in Northern Kansas of this stone. He spared no expense and has one of the most modern and up-to-date residences to be seen anywhere. Its architecture and workmanship appear to be the perfection of those arts and the people of Frankfort all take a personal pride in the magnificence of this structure, the doors of which are open to the leading social functions of the town, and many distinguished persons have been entertained by the Aulds here.

On May 15, 1890, John B. Auld and Miss Lou J. Keener were united in marriage. She is a daughter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Stacey) Keener, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The father was a school teacher in the early part of his life, and later was engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed for fifty years. Mrs. Auld was born in Unity, Ohio. Her mother died when she was seven years of age. Mrs. Auld completed the schools of Unity, and later attended school in Youngstown, Ohio, and taught school one year at Unity, Ohio. She then went to Pittsburgh, Pa., where she remained until 1881, when she came to Kansas and for a time resided with her brother at Valley Falls, and later removed to Topeka, where she married Mr. Auld. Mr. and Mrs. Auld are members of the Presbyterian church, in which they are active workers and he is an elder.