Jonathan N. Hostetler, a retired citizen of Mulvane, Sumner county, Kansas, was born at Bedford, Ind., Mar. 3, 1843, a son of Abram J. and Margaret (Newland) Hostetler. Abram J. Hostetler was a farmer and merchant and a man of affairs. From 1854 to 1858, he was a member of the Indiana state senate and in 1885, was elected to represent the Eighth district of Indiana in Congress as a Democrat. He served but one term in Congress and died on Nov. 23, 1899. His wife was born in March, 1825, and died on Oct. 11, 1888. They were married in 1842, and became the parents of the following children: Jonathan N., the eldest; John F., born in March, 1845, and died May 3, 1885, at Bedford, Ind., Sarah A., born in March, 1847, the wife of Judge Newton Crook of North Carolina; and Katherine B., born Feb. 28, 1852, the wife of Walter O. Thomas, a farmer at Bedford, Ind. Jonathan N. Hostetler was educated in the public schools and after the war attended a private school at Bedford. He enlisted as a private in Company G, Fourth Indiana cavalry, and served for three years. In 1866, he embarked in the mercantile business at Tunnelton, Ind., where he did a successful business for three years, when he removed to Bedford and continued in the same line there until 1883. In that year he came to Kansas, locating at Mulvane, where he followed farming for two years. He was then appointed postmaster at Mulvane, which position he held for four years, at the end of which time he resumed his agricultural pursuits and continued farming until he retired in 1906. He has served as president of the Mulvane school board for the last thirteen years; is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and belongs to the Christian church, On Dec. 18, 1866, Mr. Hostetler married Martha M. Fish of Bedford, Ind., daughter of Logan Fish, a farmer of Lawrence county. She was born on Oct. 11, 1845. Four children were born to this union: Stella, born July 8, 1868, the wife of Walter R. Stubbs, governor of Kansas; John F., born April 10, 1870, a merchant at Mulvane; Thomas J., born Aug. 29, 1872, a contractor and builder at Hutchinson, Kan.; and Eva M., born Sept. 19, 1875, the wife of George A. Neeley, a lawyer of Hutchinson, who was elected to Congress in January, 1911, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Edmond H. Madison.