John Baird Nicholson, manager for the Kaw Milling Company, of Topeka, Kan., a young man of exceptional business qualifications, has had a very successful career thus far in his business associations, and has risen to his present responsible position, step by step, through his ability and faithfulness to duty. He was born in Paola, Miami county, Kan., April 18, 1874, and is a son of Isaiah Nicholson, a retired farmer and stock raiser, residing in Lawrence, Kan., who was born at Senecaville, Guernsey county, Ohio, Nov. 10, 1830. Isaiah Nicholson, now eighty-two years of age (1911), is a son of John and Sarah Nicholson. The mother of John B. was Martha Baird, a daughter of John Baird. She is also a native of Senecaville, Ohio, having been born there March 12, 1838; she, too, is living and is now seventy-four years of age.

The parents of Mr. Nicholson removed to Baldwin, Kan., when he was ten years old and in 1891 the family took up their residence in Lawrence, where the parents still reside. He was educated in Baker University, at Baldwin, and in the University of Kansas, at Lawrence. He left school work, however, in 1895, when twenty-one years of age, and for three years was employed in a book store at Lawrence. In 1898 he became manager of the Kellam Book & Stationery Company, formerly a well known business concern of Topeka. Following that employment he spent one year with a mining company in the city of Mexico, but in 1901 returned to Topeka, where for six years he was superintendent of the plant of the Charles Wolff Packing Company. In 1907 he became manager of the Kaw Milling Company, which operates one of Topeka's largest flouring mills. In politics Mr. Nicholson is a Republican. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; is a member of the Elks, the Commercial, and the Country clubs of Topeka.