Uriah Clayton Herr, owner and editor of the "Barber County Index," is a well known and progressive spirited citizen of Medicine Lodge, Kan., who has been engaged in newspaper work in that city for nearly twenty years and has been a potential factor in the upbuilding of his community. The Herr family is one of the oldest in Pennsylvania, where it was established in what is now Lancaster county about the middle of the Seventeenth century. Eight generations, descended from the original ancestor, Rev. Hans Herr, have been born in Lancaster county, so that the family has been represented there for more than 250 years (see sketch of John Nevon Herr).

Uriah C. Herr was born Nov. 11, 1873, on a farm in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, son of Abraham R. and Elizabeth (Shenk) Herr. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred on Feb. 23, 1848, in Lancaster county. He married Elizabeth Shenk, in 1868, and to them were born six children: Allen E., born May 18, 1869, is engaged in farming in Barber county, Kansas; Abraham L., born Oct. 18, 1871, is a graduate of the law department of the University of Kansas and is a practicing attorney at Chickasha, Okla.; Uriah Clayton is the next in order of birth; John N. (see sketch); Ada. M., born Jan. 6, 1877, is a graduate of the Kiowa High School of Southwestern College at Winfield, Kan., and of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and is a teacher of English in the Sumner County High School at Wellington; Kan.; and Mercy M. is deceased. The father was a farmer by vocation and, with his family, removed to Barber county, Kansas, in 1886. He purchased a farm near Kiowa, but was only spared to his family for a short time afterward, as his death occurred June 12, 1886. His widow married Henry Sommer, a farmer of Kiowa, Kan., and of their union two children were born: Mabel R., born March 4, 1889, is a graduate of the Kiowa High School of Southwestern College at Winfield, Kan., and of the Kansas State Agricultural College at Manhattan; and Lyman H., born June 19, 1891, is a linotype operator on his brother's paper, the "Barber County Index." Uriah Clayton Herr completed his education in the public schools of Kiowa and graduated in the high school with the class of 1891. In 1892 he entered the office of the "Barber County Index" to learn the printer's trade and, in 1894, became the editor and manager of that publication, which at that time belonged to a stock company. He purchased the paper, in 1898, and has since remained its owner and editor. It is a Democratic paper, influential in behalf of the Democratic party and a stanch supporter of any movement for the upbuilding of the community and the state. Mr. Herr was elected county printer in 1901, and has served as a member of the Medicine Lodge board of education six years. Fraternally he sustains membership in the Knights of Pythias and in the Modern Woodmen of America.

On Jan. 14, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Herr and Miss Lillian V., daughter of David F. Painter of Medicine Lodge, Kan. Three children have blessed their union: Opal A., born Nov. 8, 1897; Roland B., born Jan. 29, 1899, died July 2, 1901; and Jewel K., born Dec. 21, 1904.