L. H. Hausam, president of the Hausam School of Penmanship, Hutchinson, Kan., was born in St. Charles, Mo., June 14, 1870, the son of Peter and Clara (Boellner) Hausam, both natives of Germany, who emigrated from the Fatherland in 1835, and were married in this country. The father located in St. Charles soon after reaching the United States and engaged in the mercantile business there; took a prominent part in local politics and was mayor of St. Charles at a time when it was the largest city in Missouri. Later he became interested in other commercial enterprises, but disposed of them and came to Kansas, in 1871, locating on a farm near Fort Scott. Later he moved into the town of Fort Scott, where he passed away, in 1894, being survived by his wife, who lived until 1909, when she died at the home of a daughter, at Dennison, Tex.

Prof. L. H. Hausam received his preliminary education at the district school near his father's farm, then entered the normal school at Fort Scott; when only fifteen years of age he began to teach, continuing his studies at the same time. He first taught penmanship at the district school near his home, but in the spring of 1887 took his first regular position as penmanship teacher and assistant in commercial subjects at Nevada, Mo., in the business college. He then held positions in the business colleges at Great Bend, Hutchinson, Fort Scott, Salina, and Concordia, which covered a period of fifteen years. In 1902 he went to California, and spent three years at Riverside. Returning east in 1905, he accepted a position as principal of the commercial department of the Central Business College, Denver, Colo., but the next year returned to Kansas and organized the Hausam School of Penmanship, at Hutchinson, the only school in the country which confers the degree of Master of Penmanship, which it is authorized to do by an act of the state legislature. The course in penmanship is taught by correspondence, as well as by attendance in person, and there is hardly a country in the civilized world, where the English language is spoken, but what has students of this far-reaching institution. In 1898 Prof. Hausam published a work called the "New Education in Penmanship," the greatest work of the kind ever published, which is used and widely commended by educators of this country. In addition to this he has published Graphology, a small work on the character of hand writing; the practical writing course, for use in business colleges and commercial schools, and the pedagogical writing course, a series of eight grade books, for use in the common schools. The last two named are published by the Hausam Book Company, of which Mr. Hausam is president. For years he has been a contributor to professional journals and has written considerable poetry and has given great attention to characteristic handwriting, and frequently is called upon as an expert in hand writing. Mr. Hausam organized the first state penmanship association in the United States, in 1893, "The Kansas State Penmanship Association," which was started at the normal school at Emporia. He has worked out his great system alone, as he had training in penmanship for only three months, and has thus developed an entirely new system.

In 1893 Mr. Hausam married Effle May Roper, of Fort Scott, who was born in Jasper county, Missouri. They have three children: Constance, Christine, and Clarice. Mr. Hausam is one of the progressive and leading business men of Hutchinson, where he has made many warm friends. Fraternally he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity.