Joseph B. Tomlinson, lawyer, was born in Highland county, Ohio, January 22, 1861. He is a son of Paul and Lydia (Daniel) Tomlinson. His parents were Quakers and were natives of Ohio, in which state his father was a physician and farmer. Mr. Tomlinson obtained a common school education there and came west in 1881, since which he has resided in Kansas. He taught school and at Minneapolis, Kansas, studied law in the office of D. C. Chipman. In 1890 he was admitted to the bar and immediately afterwards began practicing at Minneapolis, where he remained until 1903, when he removed to Independence, his present residence. In 1899 Governor Stanley appointed Mr. Tomlinson warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary, which position he creditably filled for two years, during which occurred a stubborn mutiny among the convicts in the coal mines. He quelled this insubordination without violence or outside assistance. He voluntarily left this position and has never held any elective office. In 1894, Mr. Tomlinson married Miss Mary A. Rees, a daughter of Victor D. and Lois (Carroll) Rees, who came from Ohio to Kansas in 1866. Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson have two children—Lydia and Victor Rees Tomlinson.