Herbert R. Ellsworth.—Among the many Eastern men who have become helmsmen of affairs along industrial and commercial lines in Kansas, and through their energy and ability have contributed so largely to the marvelous development of this great commonwealth, is Mr. Ellsworth, vice-president of the Moline National Bank and one of the sound and capable business men of Elk county. Born in Franklin county, New York, April 16, 1841, he is a son of Ralph D. Ellsworth and Evaline Ryan, both born in Fort Covington, N. Y., the former in 1812 and the latter in 1818. The parents remained residents of New York state throughout their entire lives. Ralph D. Ellsworth was a well educated man for his day and was a wide and intelligent reader. Earlier in his career he was a lumberman and floated lumber rafts down the St. Lawrence river. Later he took up farming, to which he thereafter gave his attention until his death, in 1866. The mother died in 1884. Sullivan Ellsworth, the grandfather, was born in Charlestown, N. H. In 1810 he removed to New York and settled in a section where there were a great many Indians, this necessitating the building of a fort for the protection of his family. He served in the war of 1812 and participated in the battle at Plattsburg, N. Y. The Ellsworth family is of English extraction and was established in this country by emigrants who left the Mother Country and came to America during the early Colonial period. William Ryan, the maternal grandfather of Mr. Ellsworth, was a large contractor in New York. His people came from Ireland.

Herbert R. Ellsworth was reared in the state of his birth and was educated at Fort Covington Academy, Fort Covington, N. Y. After his student days he went to Springfield, Mass., where he was employed in a gun shop, and during the Civil war was kept busily engaged in straightening guns for the United States government. From there he went to Providence, R. I., where he was employed in a United States lock shop two years. At the expiration of that period he returned to New York and there made all preparations for a voyage to Japan, but the death of his father at that time caused him to abandon his plans in that direction. He then engaged in the mercantile business at Brashen Falls, N. Y., where he remained thirteen years and conducted a very profitable business. In 1879 he went to Leadville, Colo., as a foreman for the Eagle Mining Company, of New York, and was employed in that capacity two summers. In 1884 he came to Kansas, of which state he has now been a resident over a quarter of a century. He and his brother bought 1,400 acres of land in Elk county and continued in possession of it until 1904, when they sold it. He dealt extensively in cattle and also engaged in the mercantile business for a number of years. He was one of the organizers and later president of the Moline State Bank, which is now the Moline National Bank, of which he is vice-president. Aside from his bank duties, he is also a director of the Moline Lime, Stone & Cement Company, of Moline. This concern does an extensive and very profitable business in the production of lime and concrete, and crushed stone for concrete and macadamizing purposes and for railroad ballast. The plant has an average output of twenty-five or thirty-five car loads per day, and employs a working force of 115 men. It was organized in 1907, with a capital of $150,000, and is incorporated under the laws of Ohio. Its corps of officers are: H. Ackerman, of Marion, Ohio, president; William Carlisle, of Toledo, Ohio, vice-president; S. M. Hall, of Moline, Kan., general manager; L. V. Uncapher, of Marion, Ohio, secretary; and J. W. Thew, of Marion, Ohio, treasurer. Mr. Ellsworth is interested in the company as a stockholder and as a director. He is also interested in the development of the natural gas field of southern Kansas and, in 1907, opened the largest well that Kansas has yet produced in that section.

In 1870 Mr. Ellsworth was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Isaac Tilden, who was a native and life-long resident of New York state, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-two. Mr. Ellsworth and his wife are members of the Methodist Episocpal church. Politically, he is a Republican and fraternally he sustains membership in the Masonic order and the Modern Woodmen of America. Elk county numbers Mr. Ellsworth as one of its strongest and influential men.