Frank B. Denman, president of the First National Bank, Osborne, Kan., one of the representative financiers of central Kansas, was born May 25, 1868, at Circleville, Ohio. He is a son of Samuel and Charlotte (Bechtel) Denman, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Maryland, both born in 1827. The father was born at Newark, Ohio, and was a carriage manufacturer at Circleville, in that State, in which business he was engaged up to the time of his death in 1894. He served in the Mexican war and during the Civil war acted as a drillmaster, ranking as captain. Samuel and Charlotte (Bechtel) Denman reared a family of eight children: James Wesley, George F. and William E., twins; Charles H., Frank B., Julia, Mary E., and Emma.

Frank B. Denman received his education in the public schools of Circleville, Ohio, and when sixteen years of age went to work in a printing office, and at times worked in a store as clerk until 1886, when he came to Kansas, located at Harland and accepted a position as bookkeeper in a bank one year. He then went to Gaylord, Kan., and accepted a position as bookkeeper in the State Bank, now the First National Bank of Gaylord. He remained there until 1888, when he came to Osborne, Kan., and acepted[sic] a position as bookkeeper in the State Bank of Osborne, where he remained until 1893, when he went to St. Louis as clerk in the general offices of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. The next year he returned to Osborne and was elected assistant cashier of the First National Bank, and in 1895 became the cashier of this institution, holding that position until 1898, when he resigned to engage in the mercantile business in Osborne. He was thus engaged until 1904. He then returned to the banking business, this time becoming president of the First National Bank of Osborne. The bank is one of the oldest and most substantial institutions in central Kansas. It was organized in 1884 as the Osborne County Bank, and later was reorganized and became a National bank under its present name. Mr. Denman is also the president of the State Bank of Harlan, Kan., which was organized in 1910. He was married May 3, 1893, to Miss Meliscent, daughter of William P. and Mary E. (Botefuhr) Gillette, of Osborne, Kan., where she was born December 18, 1874. The father was a native of New York and the mother of New Jersey. They came to Kansas in 1871, locating at Osborne, where the father was engaged in the mercantile business until his death in 1889. To Mr. and Mrs. Denman has been born one child, Edgar G., born July 22, 1896. In 1890 Mr. Denman was appointed deputy county treasurer and served one year, and in 1903 he was appointed a member of the Kansas State Board of Charities and Corrections and served as secretary of that board two years. He is one of the substantial business men of the community and his success in life is due to his own efforts.