Joseph P. Emery, of Cimarron, a prominent business man, stockman and farmer of Gray county and one of the substantial men of southwestern Kansas, is an Ohioan by birth, born at the city of Zanesville on April 28, 1861. He was reared and educated to the age of sixteen in his native city and then learned the baker's trade, at which he continued to be employed there until his marriage, Aug. 8, 1882, to Miss Alice Young, of Zanesville. For two years after his marriage he was a salesman in a grocery, but in April, 1886, deciding there were broader and better opportunities in the West for a young man beginning a business career, he, with his wife and infant daughter, removed to Kansas and located at Cimarron, where he opened a bakery. He successfully followed that business eight years, also conducting a general store three years, and in the meantime bought town property and took up a homestead of 160 acres. To that modest beginning he has gradually added until today he is one of the large land owners of Southwestern Kansas, his holdings including a number of fine and improved farms in both Gray and Edwards counties. Of wheat alone he raises an average of 1,000 acres per year and he also deals extensively in cattle and horses, having been quite as successful a stockman as farmer. He is thoroughly imbued with the loyal and enterprising spirit of the progressive men of Southwestern Kansas and is an active worker in securing the further development of that section of the state.

In 1892, as a Republican, he was elected clerk of the district court of Gray county, which office he held for eight years in succession. He has also been a member of the Cimarron city council at different times and withal is one of the most popular and public spirited citizens of his city.

The parents of Mr. Emery were William and Mary (Beatty) Emery, both natives of Ireland, where the father was born June 20, 1803. They were married in the Emerald Isle on Aug. 8, 1840, and in 1841 immigrated to the United States, locating at Zanesville, Ohio, where he became a coal dealer. The father died at New Concord, Ohio, July 30, 1900, his wife having preceded him in death on Nov. 26, 1894. They were the parents of ten children: James F., born Nov. 8, 1842, died Oct. 2, 1911, at Medina, Ohio; Margaret Jane, born Sept. 6, 1844, married William F. Wilson, she died in 1907 and he in 1909 leaving nine children—William S., John, James, Mary, Anna, Elizabeth, Elsie, George and Alice; William J., born Nov. 22, 1846, is a farmer in Reno county; Mary N., born May 2, 1849, is the wife of Jesse W. Wilson, a salesman at New Concord, Ohio; Rachel E., born Sept. 2, 1851, died Sept. 17, 1854; Zenas J., born June 13, 1854, is a salesman at Columbus, Ohio; George R. and John T., twins, born May 18, 1856, both of whom are deceased, the latter having passed away June 5, 1884; Walter R., born May 17, 1859, is an accountant with the Armour Packing Company, of Kansas City, Mo.; and Joseph P., the youngest.

Mrs. Emery was born April 19, 1862, at Blue Rock, Ohio, and is a daughter of John and Amelia Young, both natives of Ohio and residents of Zanesville at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Emery have four children: Ethel May, born March 22, 1884, at Zanesville, Ohio, is a graduate of Baker University and taught four years in Gray county prior to her marriage on March 11, 1908, to D. Clarence Davis, a native of Nebraska, and they have two children—Elsie Fern, born Jan. 24, 1909, and Margaret Adelhite, born Sept. 4, 1911; Ilo Estelle, born Dec. 15, 1887, also a graduate of Baker University, married William F. Rinehart, a native of Ohio, on Nov. 18, 1908, and they have one child—Wilma Elizabeth; Elsie Leoti, born May 7, 1892, is a student at Baker University; and Joseph Fulton, born Sept. 22, 1898, is still at the parental home.

Mr. Emery is a Thirty-sccond Degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight Templar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He and his family reside in one of the most modern homes in Western Kansas.