John Milton Leeper, of Topeka, is the senior member of the firm of Leeper & Smith, general contractors. He is a native Kansan, having been born on a farm in Lyon county, Sept. 6, 1872. His father was Samuel Simeon Leeper, a farmer, who died when John M. was eleven years old. He was born and reared in Ohio and came to Kansas in 1870, residing at Osage city at the time of his death, in 1883. He was the son of John E. Leeper and wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Gibbs. The mother of our subject was Elizabeth Caroline Morey, a native of Iowa, and a daughter of Benjamin Milton Morey. After the death of Mr. Leeper she married John Stout, a contractor, who has since died, and she is residing in Baltimore, Md., with a daughter, Mrs. Gussie Runkles.

John M. Leeper began to hustle for himself early in life and soon after the death of his father, or at the age of twelve, he went to live with relatives at Galesburg, Ill., and remained there until he was seventeen, when he came to Topeka and made his home with his stepfather, John Stout. That was in 1889, while John Stout was contracting, and as he was a master bricklayer, John M. resolved to learn the trade and spent three years in mastering it, under the able direction of Mr. Stout. He had his trade learned by the time he was twenty years old and followed it as a journeyman in Topeka for several years, but since 1903 he has been doing a general contracting business on his own account. In 1907 he formed a partnership with Thomas G. Smith, under the firm name of Leeper & Smith, which is regarded as one of the most prominent contracting firms in Topeka. This firm has an enviable record in construction work and has successfully handled many large contracts, not only in Topeka, but throughout the state. They built the State Manual Training School, at Pittsburg, Kan.; the State Normal Academy Building, at Emporia, Kan.; numerous buildings for the Wells Fargo & Company, throughout Kansas and Oklahoma, and the Aetna Building & Loan Association Building, the Topeka State Bank Building, the Shawnee Bank Building, the Young Women's Christian Association Building, the Brown Building, the M. F. Rigby Building, and the new Warren M. Crosby Building, all of Topeka, besides many other works of lesser importance.

On Oct. 1, 1893, Mr. Leeper was united in marriage with Miss Jestine Brown, a native of Shawnee county, Kansas, and to this union have been born four children: Mildred Jestine, born Aug. 22, 1895; Dorothy Bland, born June 21, 1897; Helen Elizabeth, born Dec. 4, 1901, and Mary Rhodes, born June 4, 1903. Mr. Leeper has attained the Knights Templar degrees in Masonry and is a member of the Commercial Club.