John Appley Ferrell, of Sedan, Kan., is a capable and successful lawyer who, in the short period of five years, has risen rapidly at the bar and has won a foremost place among the legal talent of his city. However, he was reared in the atmosphere of professional life, his father and his grandfather both having been ministers, and he largely inherited those mental endowments and that natural ability which made for success in the professions. Prior to taking up the practice of law he had spent nearly twenty years in educational work, and in that field of endeavor had won a very high standing. Mr. Ferrell was born in Maries county, Missouri, Sept. 23, 1865, a son of Rev. John M. Ferrell. The father was a native of Jackson county, Indiana. In 1849 he removed to Missouri, where he remained until 1893, when he took up his residence in Sedan, Kan., and continued there until his death. He was a Christian minister and also had engaged in farming. In political views he was a Republican. Rev. Enoch Ferrell, a Baptist minister, the father of Rev. John M. Ferrell, was a Kentuckian by birth and in an early day removed to Indiana and from thence to Missouri, where he died. In the last named state was solemnized the marriage of Rev. John M. Ferrell and Miss Elvira Fitzgerald, the latter a native of St. Louis county, Missouri. She was a daughter of John Fitzgerald, a farmer, who was a native of Kentucky, but became an early settler in Indiana, from whence he removed to Missouri, where he died. These parents were excellent people, of strong minds and good character, and their son grew to manhood under excellent influences. Gifted by nature with energy, ability and keen perceptive faculties, and inheriting from his parents strong probity of character and the inclination for a useful life, he was well prepared to enter upon an active career.

Mr. Ferrell was educated at the Valparaiso Normal and Business Institute, at Valparaiso, Ind., where he graduated in the commercial course in 1885, in the teacher's course in 1886, received his degree Bachelor of Science in 1887, and degree of Civil Engineer in 1897. I then became a teacher and taught for several years in the public schools of Missouri, and later in the Steelville Normal School, at Steelville, Mo. From that state he came to Kansas and for four years was superintendent of the public schools at Sedan. Following his service there he was a member of the Kansas Normal College faculty, at Fort Scott, Kan., one year, following which he returned and superintended the Sedan schools again five years, after which he became superintendent of schools in Chautauqua county. He shortly resigned that office, however, to take the chair of mathematics in the Southwestern Territorial Normal School, at Weatherford, Okla., where he remained three years. In the meantime, while superintendent of the schools at Sedan, he had taken up the study of law and had been admitted to the bar in 1896. He began the active practice of law in 1906 and, in February, 1909, was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Kansas. He was first associated in practice with Hon. Charles D. Shukers, now a member of the Board of Control of Kansas, and later with H. E. Sadler, with whom he continued until February, 1911, when a partnership was formed with W. H. Sproul. Both Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Sproul are strong attorneys, and command a large clientage. They are the legal representatives of different banks of Chautauqua county. Well qualified educationally and with strong powers for analytical and logical reasoning, Mr. Ferrell has made rapid strides in his standing as a practitioner of law and already has an enviable standing at the bar.

In 1887 Mr. Ferrell was united in marriage to Miss Emma Lugabill. She is a daughter of Christian Lugabill, who was born in Allen county, Ohio, and still resides in that state. Mr. Lugabill was head bridge carpenter for the Lake Erie & Western railroad many years. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell three children have been born: A daughter, Ray, the wife of Edgar Meacham, is a junior in the University of Oklahoma, Norman; a daughter, Pauline, died when about three years old: and a son, Enoch B., is a sophomore in the Sedan High School. Mr. Ferrell is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained a prominent standing. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, and a member of Wichita Consistory, No. 2, Accepted Scottish Rite. At the present time (1911) he is a Grand Marshal of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Kansas.