Asa Brade Dillon, the popular county superintendent of Osborne county, was born in Pennsboro, W. Va., May 2, 1875, a son of Asa and Catharine Simonton Dillon. The father was born near Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, January 1, 1850. During his early life Mr. Dillon was engaged in farming and as a cooper, but, in 1884, gave up these occupations to become a railroad man and today is the vice-president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen of the United States, Canada and Mexico, which position he has filled with credit seven years. Mr. Dillon, his father, and only brother, served in Company E, Seventeenth West Virginia volunteer infantry, during the Civil war. Mrs. Dillon was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, near Warrensburg, February 13, 1850. Five of her brothers served in the Union army during the Rebellion; three of them were killed on the battle field, while a fourth received a gold medal for bravery during the siege of Richmond. The Simonton family removed to Pennsboro, W. Va., where Mr. and Mrs. Dillon were married February 27, 1868. There were seven children born to this union: Harvey Walter and Katie died in infancy; W. E. Dillon lives in Denver, Colo.; Artie is the wife of D. B. Harrison, of Downs, Kan.; Asa B.; Creed M., of Downs, Kan., and Jennie, the wife of Mr. A. P. Cotton, of Downs.

When Asa Brade Dillon was but five years of age his parents removed to Lawrenceburg, Ind., where he attended school until ten years of age. In 1885 the family came to Kansas, locating at Downs, where twenty-seven years of Brade's life have been spent. He graduated from the Downs High School in 1895, with the second graduating class, and has taught every year since, four years in the district schools, six in the graded schools and four years acted as superintendent of the Downs schools. He is the oldest teacher, in point of service, in Osborne county, and is the holder of the first professional certificate issued to a teacher in the county. In 1908 Mr. Dillon was a teacher in the county normal, and in June, 1907, was elected president of the teachers' association, a position which he still fills with credit, for the association has had its best sessions since his election to the office of chief executive. In addition to his other duties Mr. Dillon served six years on the county examining board. He has done much to bring the Downs schools to the present high standard, for under him the teachers worked in harmony, the pupils respected him and the best results were thus obtained. His policy from the beginning has been to require thoroughness in school work, where pupils gain honest grades, and this policy he has enforced throughout the county. When promotions come under Superintendent Dillon everyone knows that the reward is just. As a result of this no high school in Kansas turned out a better class of pupils than that at Downs, and today he is gaining the same results in the rural schools of Osborne county. The people should be grateful for the high standard he sets and insists upon, for since he was elected, in 1908, there has been an appreciable raising of the scholarship throughout the county. Mr. Dillon is today recognized as one of the leading educators of north central Kansas, where he is gaining a wide reputation in educational circles. On September 17, 1899, Mr. Dillon married Cora May, the daughter of Justin E. and Mary Stanford Putnam, at Downs. Mrs. Dillon was born at Lake City, Minn., September 13, 1877. When a small child her parents came to Kansas, first locating at Gaylord, where they lived until 1894 before coming to Downs. Mr. and Mrs. Dillon have one child, Dean Dwight, born November 8, 1903.