Arthur N. Rochester, cashier of the First State Bank, of Tribune, Kan., and a prominent man of affairs in Greeley county, is a native of Illinois, born at Bath, June 9, 1879. He is a son of Benjamin F. and Lois (Bonney) Rochester, the former a native of Bath, Ill., where he was born April 16, 1846. Benjamin F. Rochester was a merchant for a number of years and served as postmaster at Bath in the '70s. He removed to Kansas in 1886, and located in Scott county, where he estabished[sic] the town of Pence and conducted the first general store of that village. A Republican in politics, he entered actively into the public life of Scott county and, in 1888, was elected probate judge of that county, which office he held four years. He also served as register of deeds four years, as county attorney two years, and was twice mayor of Scott, where he died May 28, 1906. He was married, Dec. 25, 1875. at Bath, Ill., to Miss Lois Bonney, born Oct. 13, 1853, daughter of Rev. Charles A. and Sarah Bonney, the former a Methodist minister at Bath. The mother of Mr. Rochester was a college woman and had taught several years prior to her marriage. Benjamin F. and Lois (Bonney) Rochester became the parents of three children: Ernest Paul, born Aug. 21, 1877, graduated in the law department of the University of Kansas, with the class of 1900, and represented Scott county in the state legislature from 1905 to 1907, he was also county attorney of Scott county four years and is now a merchant at Scott, the county seat; Arthur N. is second in order of birth; and Bonney S., born in October, 1893, resides with the widowed mother at Scott.

Arthur N. Rochester received his education in the public schools of Scott. At the age of sixteen he took up telegraphy and was appointed Santa Fe station agent at Scott, when twenty-one years of age. After holding that position three years he was transferred to Syracuse, Kan., where he remained one year. He then entered the employ of the Missouri-Pacific railroad and for one year was station agent for that road at Scott. In May, 1905, he located in Tribune, Greeley county, where, in the following August, he organized the First State Bank of Tribune and was elected cashier, which position he has held continuously to the present time. It is the only bank in Greeley county and has been very prosperous. Mr. Rochester is mayor of Tribune and, politically, is a Republican. He is an active worker in the rank of his party and is a member of the Republican State Central Committee. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order and is District Deputy Grand Master of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Kansas. He is also a Knight of Pythias and an Odd Fellow.

On March 19, 1902, Mr. Rochester was married to Margaret, daughter of J. P. Starr, of Scott City. (See sketch.) Mr. and Mrs. Rochester have two children: Lois W., born Jan. 6, 1903, and Arthur N., Jr., born Feb. 1, 1906.