Albert R. Strowig, cashier of the State Bank of Paxico, and the leading implement and hardware dealer of that town, is of sturdy German descent, his father being one of those who immigrated to America and cast his lot with Kansas to save the state and Nation to freedom. He has the honor of being a native son of the Sunflower State, born in Jackson county, Jan. 9, 1863, son of William and Wilhelmina (Michalis) Strowig. His father first saw the light of day near Berlin, in 1824, and his mother was born in Germany in 1827. William Strowig was reared in the old country, received the educational advantages afforded German boys of that period, and learned the carpenter's trade from his father, who had followed it all his life. In the early '50s he determined to take advantage of the opportunities offered in the New World, and set sail from the Fatherland, accompanied by his wife and father. Wisconsin was settling up with Germans about this time, and the Strowigs located near Sheboygan, that state, where William ran a farm and at the same time followed his trade, for there is always plenty for a carpenter to do in a new and rapidly settling country. Within a year he heard of the good land to be had as homesteads in Kansas, and, in 1856, located in Jackson county, where he preëmpted a quartersection; later he homesteaded it and settled there for life. After clearing the original farm and making improvements, Mr. Strowig prospered by the thrifty habits he had learned in the Old Country and was soon able to buy more land, until he became the owner of about 400 acres. All this he cultivated and in time sold his highly improved land in order to engage in the milling business at Marion, Kan. He remained there four years and then moved back to Holton and retired from active life. He died there in 1900, having attained the advanced age of seventy-four years. Mr. Strowig was survived by his wife until 1903, when she passed away, at the age of seventy-four years. They reared a family of eight children, five of whom are still living: William is a farmer in Paxico; Robert is also a farmer near Paxico; Frank is a miller and contractor of Holton; Albert R.; and Alice is the wife of Ora Macumber, a carpenter of Holton.

Albert R. Strowig was reared in the country, led the healthy, happy, care-free life of the average country boy, working on the farm summers and attending the country school in the winter. He was nineteen when his father moved to Marion, and there he entered the mill and learned the practical side of that industry, working for a year and a half before he returned to Paxico and went into the milling business there. Five years later the Rock Island railroad was built some distance from the town and old Paxico became deserted, as the town moved to the railroad, and Mr. Strowig gave up his mill to conduct a lumber yard, in partnership with John Winkler. They put up the first building in the new town of Paxico, and soon added grain to their lumber business; but Mr. Strowig saw a good opening in the general mercantile business and opened a store, with Robert Guth as partner, and remained in the business three years before he sold out to open a general implement and hardware store, under the firm name of Thomson & Strowig. In 1898 Mr. Thomson sold out his interest to Mr. Strowig, who has carried on the store under the name of the A. R. Strowig Implement Company, which has proved very successful. A capable business man, it was but natural that he should desire to broaden his field of activities, and in 1907, in connection with some of the other prosperous business men of Paxico, he organized the State Bank of Paxico, of which he was at once elected cashier, a position he is filling to the entire satisfaction of the stockholders and patrons of the bank. He has taken an active part in politics, being a "stand-pat" Republican, but has never desired to hold office, though he has given of time and money to support the party, and for eight years has been chairman of the Republican County Committee. He is a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and took that degree in the 1906 class, which is the largest class Valley No. 1, of Topeka, has ever organized up to date (1911). He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, having joined that organization in Alma.

In 1884 Mr. Strowig married Mary, daughter of Peter Kaul, of Jackson county, Kansas, and seven children have been born to them: Warner H. has charge of his father's implement house; Harry M. is an electrician for the Rock Island railway; Edna W. assists her father as a bookkeeper in the bank; Olin R. is a member of the class of 1914, in the Paxico High School; Elmer is of the class of 1915, in the Paxico High School; and Mildred and Irene, also in school.