David Ellsworth Clopper, a prominent physician of Argentine, was born in Hagerstown, Washington county, Maryland, Jan. 20, 1867, a son of Simon and Nancy (Light) Clopper. Simon Clopper is a prosperous farmer, now living retired in Hagerstown, having reached the advanced age of eighty-nine. His father, John Clopper, was a native of southern Pennsylvania and was also a farmer and of German parentage.

After acquiring the usual common school education Dr. Clopper attended the high school at Leitersburg, Md., and was graduated with the class of 1885. After his graduation he went to the southern part of the Dakota territory, where he was employed as a ranch hand until 1887. The following five years were spent in California, where he was employed in fruit ranches near Los Angeles. Having decided on the profession of medicine as his life work he returned eastward, and in 1892 matriculated at the Barnes Medical College at St. Louis, where he completed the course and was graduated as a Doctor of Medicine with the class of 1896, having in the meantime, however, served as an interne in the hospitals of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad at Las Vegas, N. M., and at Fort Madison, Iowa, during the year of 1895. He located for practice at Argentine, Wyandotte county, Kansas, and was appointed a surgeon for the Santa Fe railroad, in which capacity he is still serving. To keep abreast with the latest discoveries of his profession he took post-graduate courses in the Post Graduate Hospital and College at New York in 1902, 1905 and in 1910, and is a skilled surgeon and one of the leading medical practitioners of Wyandotte county, where he has built up an extensive and a lucrative practice. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the American Association of Railway Surgeons, and is a member of the staffs of St. Margaret, at Kansas City, Kan., and St. Joseph, at Kansas City, Mo., hospitals.

Extensive commercial as well as professional interests claim Dr. Clopper's attention. In September, 1906, he, with J. N. Altringer, F. F. Eshart and W. L. Speer, organized the Argentine State Bank, of which Dr. Clopper was made president, a position which he has continued to fill with credit to himself and to his associates. The institution was capitalized at $10,000, with a paid-in- surplus of $2,500; it has $200,000 in deposits and a surplus and undivided profits of $6,000—a most satisfactory showing considering that it started but a few months previous to the panic of 1907. It is exclusively a home institution, and is recognized as the leading bank of Argentine. Dr. Clopper is a Republican. His first official honor was his election to membership in the board of aldermen of Argentine in 1902; the following year he was elected mayor of the city and during the great flood of 1903 he conclusively proved his fitness for that executive office, giving both of time and money to relieve the suffering and distress which followed in its wake. During his two years of service as mayor he was a potential factor in securing many needed improvements. His rapidly growing medical practice, however, caused him to refuse renomination for mayor, and since prevented his active participation in public affairs. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of Ben Hur Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Argentine, of Abdallah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Leavenworth, and of the Kansas City Consistory of Scottish Rite Masons. He is also a member of Lodge No. 440, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Kansas City, Kan. Recreation is almost unknown to Dr. Clopper, as his extensive practice keeps him closely engaged. His love for fine horses is his one form of amusement, and his driving animals are the best that money can buy. One other pleasure is his complete and well selected library.

On Nov. 27, 1905, Dr. Clopper was united in marriage with Mrs. Rena Malow, of Kansas City, Mo. Mrs. Clopper is a lady of refinement and culture, and takes a prominent part in the social life of Argentine.