Fred Schuyler Jackson, one of the best known lawyers in the State of Kansas, formerly attorney-general, and in 1910 elected to Congress, is a native of the Sunflower State, having been born near Osawatomie, Miami county, Kansas, April 19, 1868. His father, Martin Van Buren Jackson, came to Kansas from Indiana in 1854 and was a participant in many of the stirring scenes of the border war. He was an intimate friend of John Brown, took part in the battle of Osawatomie, and when the Civil war began he enlisted in the Second Kansas state militia. At Pony creek, early in the war, he lost a leg, being one of the first men wounded in that historic conflict. He was then appointed postmaster at Paola by President Lincoln, and held that position for five years. He was born on July 21, 1837, and died on Aug. 1, 1908. Fred S. Jackson's mother's maiden name was Eliza Berthana Cure. She was born in New York, Sept. 21, 1837. In 1861 she married Joseph Sawyer, who was killed in the battle at Milliken's Bend early in the war, and she was married to Martin V. B. Jackson in 1864.

Fred S. Jackson received his early education in the public schools of his native county and of Greenwood county, whither his parents removed in 1881. After teaching school for five years he studied law, and in 1891 was admitted to the bar. Subsequently, for the purpose of obtaining a more thorough knowledge of the law, he became a student in the law department of the University of Kansas, where he graduated with high standing. Having already commenced the practice at Eureka, he returned there immediately upon receiving his degree from the university and soon after was elected county attorney, which office he held for two terms. His work as county attorney and his inherent ability attracted the attention of C. C. Coleman, then attorney-general of Kansas, who appointed Mr. Jackson as his first assistant. Mr. Jackson continued as Mr. Coleman's chief assistant until himself elected attorney-general in 1906 and assumed the duties of the office in January, 1907. While serving as assistant attorney-general, Mr. Jackson developed in his mind a policy for law enforcement which he carried into effect upon becoming the principal in the office, and it is no disparagement to other capable and conscientious citizens of Kansas who have held the office to say that no attorney-general of the state ever made a cleaner or more brilliant record than Fred S. Jackson. Where the laws and court procedure were defective, he planned to have them remodeled, and it is doubtful whether any state officer of Kansas has drafted and secured the enactment of so many practical and essential laws. Among these laws may be mentioned those providing for service on corporations in criminal cases; compelling corporations to answer interrogatories in suits brought to enforce the anti-trust laws; fixing a penalty of $100 per day for any company violating the anti-trust laws and providing that such penalties might be collected in civil suits without a previous conviction in criminal cases; and the law compelling officers and agents of corporations to appear as witnesses in suits brought against their company. The most decisive blow struck in years for law enforcement in Kansas was the simultaneous institution in the supreme court of fifteen ouster suits against as many different leading brewery corporations of the country, the issuance of injunctive orders and the appointment of receivers for all the property of the companies found in the state. The success of the suits and the fearless and intelligent enforcement of the prohibitory liquor laws in general commended him to the people of the state for reëlection in 1908, and his second term began in January, 1909. His second administration was, if anything, more vigorous and effective than had been his first. Two years' experience, the passage of more stringent laws, the conviction of a number of offenders during his first term, all combined to render his work easier during his second, and consequently greater results were accomplished. To record in detail the great benefits secured to the state by his enforcement of law would require a volume. Being a man of great industry, with a conscientious belief in the sacredness of his official oath, and with the moral courage to discharge his duty, his record could not fail to meet with the approval of all law-abiding citizens. In 1910, while still serving as attorney-general, a number of his personal friends and leaders of the Republican party throughout the state, among whom were William Allen White and Senator Joseph L. Bristow, urged Mr. Jackson to make the race for Congress as a progressive Republican. He finally consented, and entered the campaign with such vigor that he won a triumphant victory at the primary and was elected by a substantial majority in November. His Congressional career has only begun, but to those who know Mr. Jackson's characteristics there is hot a doubt that he will "make good."

On Oct. 30, 1895, Mr. Jackson married Miss Inez Sarah Wood, who was born in Pawnee county, Nebraska, April 19, 1873, but is practically a Kansas woman, her parents having removed to Brown county, Kansas, while she was still in her childhood. She graduated at the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, and at the time of her marriage was engaged in teaching. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have one son, Schuyler Wood Jackson, who was born on Nov. 24, 1904. Mr. Jackson is a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Sons of Veterans, in both of which he is deservedly popular because of his energetic championship of the right and his genial good fellowship.