Charles David Hickok, banker, capitalist and man of affairs, is a representative of the twentieth century business man who organizes, conducts and promotes the great commercial enterprises which make the United States the wonder of the world, for the conquests in this day and age are not of arms, but of mind over matter, and the victor is he who controls extensive business organizations and is able to conduct them on a paying basis. Mr. Hickok claims Missouri as the State of his nativity, having been born on a farm in Nodaway county, December 10, 1863, the son of James E. and Olive L. (Bowen) Hickok. On the paternal side he is descended from Puritan ancestors who came to America that they might worship God in the manner dictated by their own consciences. Charles Hickok's grandparents were natives of Massachusetts, who removed to Pennsylvania, and James Hickok was born on a farm in Bradford county, April 27, 1833. He was reared in his native State, but in 1857 removed to Illinois and three years later to Nodaway county, Missouri, where he was engaged in farming until he came to Kansas in 1877, buying land in Anderson county. Five years later Mr. Hickok removed to Sumner county and in 1886 to Grant county, where he was engaged in farming three years. In 1889 he returned to Sumner county and died at Argonia September 20, 1905. During his life Mr. Hickok was an educator, being engaged in teaching for many years. On December 19, 1857, he was married in Erie county, New York, to Olive L. Bowen, the daughter of Richard and Dorcas (Buffen) Bowen, who were Quakers. Mrs. Hickok now lives in Argonia, Kan. There were eight children in the Hickok family: James E., born February 17, 1860, died in 1881; William Penn and Luella Blanche, twins, born February 23, 1862—William is a lawyer at Taloga, Okla., and Luella is the wife of W. G. Rupp, of Trinidad, Colo.; Charles David; Esther Candace, born September 17, 1865, now the widow of Joseph C. Colin, of Argonia; Mary Angelia, born September 13, 1867, died in 1910; Hadassah Adella, born February 3, 1870, died in 1874; Galen Richard, born June 30, 1873, now a physician at Wichita, Kan. Charles Hickok attended the high school at Peabody, Kan., and then spent two years studying at the University of Kansas. He taught for a year in Anderson county and three years in Grant county. In 1885 he took a claim in Grant county, and since then he has taught for different periods. In 1888 Mr. Hickok accepted a position in the county offices as copyist and bookkeeper; as he was an expert accountant he filled this position six years. Being a popular man, his friends urged him to run for office, and, in 1893, he was elected county clerk, holding this position thirteen years. At different times Mr. Hickok bought land on an extensive scale and soon began to carry on a loan business and started a set of abstract books. Today he has extensive holdings of fine land in Grant, Morton and adjoining counties. He has been engaged in stock raising on an important scale, a business which he found profitable. In April, 1907, with other influential men, Mr. Hickok organized the Grant County State Bank, of which he is president. This is the only banking concern in the county, and from the first has gained the confidence of the people by the sound methods by which it is conducted. It has earned a surplus of $8,000 in five years, which is a good showing for an institution so young, located in a new country. Mr. Hickok has taken an active part in the promotion and development of various industries in the county and is now associated with R. R. Wilson under the firm name of Home Realty Company, which owns more than $75,000 worth of land. This company is a potent factor in building up the county and also the town of New Ulysses. Mr. Hickok is a member of the Masonic order, being a Thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner and Knight Templar, and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellow. On July 16, 1889, he married Ellen Olive, the daughter of William and Jane Craddock McCall. Mrs. Hickok was born in DeWitt county, Illinois, January 29, 1872; her father was a native of Ireland who came to this country when a lad of fifteen and to Grant county in 1878, passing away at Meeker, Okla., in 1905, after a long and useful life. Mr. and Mrs. Hickok have ten children: Ellen Marguerite, born August 28, 1890, a graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural College in 1911, is now a teacher in the Dickinson county high school, at Chapman; Charles William, born April 19, 1892, is a civil engineer, will graduate from the State agricultural college with the class of 1913; Mary Elizabeth, born February 27, 1894, graduated from the State agricultural college in 1912 and is now a student at Columbia University, New York City; Agnes Jane, born September 9, 1896; James Allan, born December 21, 1898; Glenn Francis, born October 25, 1900, died September 17, 1902; Esther Blanch, born September 9, 1903, died September 20, 1903; Kenneth Edward, born November 28, 1905; Kathleen Marjorie, born August 21, 1909, and Ruth Dorothy, born October 9, 1912. The Hickok family have a host of warm friends in New Ulysses, where their hospitable home is ever open to guests of old and young.