Starling L. Sullivant.—Kansas is one of the greatest live stock states in the Union, and among the great cattlemen of the state who have helped to give it its reputation is Mr. Sullivant. He was born in Champaign county, Illinois, Nov. 16, 1867. He is a son of Joseph M. and Mary (Allen) Sullivant, the former born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1832, and moved to Kansas in 1878, settling in Morris, where for twenty-two years, until 1900, when his death occurred, he dealt extensively in the buying and selling of cattle, and also raised fine blooded live stock, the cattle being of the Hereford strain. Foreseeing the usefulness and popularity of the wire fence he enclosed one tract of four sections and another of 1,000 acres of his large farm with barbed wire fence, the first used in Kansas, at a cost of $12.75 per hundred. He was prominent in political as well as in business circles and gave his political allegiance to the Republican party. His church membership was with the Presbyterian denomination.

The father of Joseph M. Sullivant was one of the largest farmers in the world, in his day. He was reared in Ohio, but removed to Ford county, Illinois, where he became a very prominent man in public affairs. Mary (Allen) Sullivant, mother of Starling L., is a daughter of Josiah Allen, a miller and lifelong resident of Zanesville, Ohio, and a prominent financier of that city, where he owned extensive banking interests. She is still living, a resident of Kansas City, a literary woman of prominence and a noted writer. She is a member of the Kansas Day Club.

Starling L. Sullivant received his common school education in Illinois and his high school education in Junction City, Kan. He began his independent business career at twenty years of age, when he came to Coffey county and bought land, engaging at once in the buying and selling of cattle, a business continued to the present time, but in far more extensive proportions. In 1903 he bought his present farm, comprising 2,080 acres in one body. Besides the business interests mentioned Mr. Sullivant has been a very heavy and successful railroad contractor and has built many miles of railroad. Success has attended all of his business ventures and his remunerative reward has been large.

In June, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sullivant and Miss Jennie Taylor, daughter of Elijah and Sophia Taylor of Janesville, Wis., where Mr. Taylor is postmaster, a position he has held for a number of years. He is a stanch Republican and active in political affairs in Janesville. He is also an honored veteran of the Civil war.

Mr. and Mrs. Sullivant have four children: Starling, the eldest, is a student at the Manhattan Agricultural College; Ida is attending the high school at Waverly; and Thomas and Genevieve are grammar school students in the Waverly schools. Mr. Sullivant affiliates fraternally with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.