Asa F. Converse, owner and publisher of "The Globe," Wellsville, Kan., is a native son of Kansas, having been born in Louisburg, Miami county, Sept. 11, 1875. The Converse ancestry is of French origin. The parents of Asa F., John Melvin and Cynthia Caroline (Finch) Converse, were born respectively in Union county, Ohio, and in Indiana. They were married in 1873, and soon after their marriage removed to Miami county, Kansas, and settled on a farm where they resided until his death in 1881. The mother now resides at Ottawa. Melvin Converse gave loyal service to the Union during the Civil war in the Thirty-ninth regiment, Illinois volunteer infantry. In the siege of Petersburg he was captured and sent to Andersonville where he was subjected to the horrors of that noted prison for nine months before his exchange was effected. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Converse was James G. Finch, a native of New York who came to Kansas in 1869 and settled in Miami county. His death occurred in Ottawa. Franklin county, at the advanced age of ninety-four years.

Asa F. Converse of this record is one of a family of two children, the other being Hope, who resides with her mother in Ottawa. He received his education in the common schools of Louisburg, the high school at Ottawa, and in Ottawa University, graduating from the university in 1898, having completed the scientific course. In September, 1898, he became the owner of "The Globe" which he has continued to publish since then. The paper is Republican in politics, is carefully edited and in all is an excellent news sheet. Mr. Converse has other interests besides the one mentioned, being also a stockholder of the People's State Bank in Wellsville. He is a Republican as indicated, and his fraternal relations are with the Masonic order. He is also actively identified with all public interests of Wellsville and has served on the city council ever since his residence there.

On June 5, 1900, occurred the marriage of Mr. Converse and May, daughter of A. A. Frink of Brown county, Kansas. Mr. Frink was an early settler in Kansas, having come to the state from New York about 1858. Mr. and Mrs. Converse have three children: Adelbert Frink, Carolyn Maude, and Elizabeth Hope.