Frank L. Travis, who for a number of years has been active in the affairs of Allen county, is a native of the Empire State. He was born at Newburg, N. Y., July 28, 1868, and is a son of Henry F. and Elizabeth (Malcolm) Travis, both natives of New York State. The father was engaged in the mercantile business in his native State until 1877, when he came to Kansas City, Mo., and followed contracting and building about two years. April 14, 1879, he removed to Kansas and settled on a farm in Allen county, five miles east of Iola. Frank L. Travis began his education in the public schools of Newburg, N. Y., his first teacher having been his father's teacher also. After the family came west he attended school in Kansas City and the Iola High School. He then engaged in farming for a few years, and in 1892, was elected clerk of the district court of Allen county, and reelected to that office in 1894. While district clerk he read law, but has never engaged in the practice. In 1897, at the expiration of his term of office, he engaged in the insurance business at Iola, in partnership with R. H. Bennett, under the firm name of Bennett & Travis. This arrangement continued about two years when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Travis operated alone until 1900, when he formed a partnership with Frank E. Smith, and this firm has been successfully engaged in the insurance business to the present time, and are one of the largest agencies in Kansas. They represent many of the leading fire, life, and casualty companies. Mr. Travis was manager of the Missouri Fidelity and Security Company for Kansas three years, and is now the manager for Kansas of the Southern Security Company, of St. Louis, Mo. In 1911, he was appointed receiver for the Great Western Portland Cement Company by Judge Pollock, and later was trustee in bankruptcy for that corporation, and closed up the business to the satisfaction of all concerned. Mr. Travis is owner and proprietor of the Travis Drug Co., of Blue Mound, Kans., and is also interested in the Osborne Process Liquid Carbonic Company, of Kansas City, Mo., and is a director in the State Savings Bank, of Iola, Kans. In 1908, he was elected State senator from the Fourteenth District and served in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth sessions of the Legislature. While a member of that body he was active and influential in legislation and introduced several important measures which became laws, among which was the Wife Abandonment Bill. He was a member of the committee on Cities, of the Second and Third class, Commerce, Corporations, Labor, Manufacturing and Industrial pursuits, Military affairs, Oil and Gas, Rules, and was chairman of the committee on insurance. He was a staunch supporter of the Compensation Act, which became a law, and it so happened that his was the one necessary vote which carried the submission of the Women's Equal Suffrage Amendment. He was the last of the thirty-nine senators to vote, and when his name was called the vote stood twenty-six for, and twelve against, and when his vote was recorded in favor of the amendment that gave the necessary two-thirds majority. Mr. Travis has been a life-long Republican and has taken an active interest in the affairs of his party. He has served as a delegate to congressional and State conventions and has been secretary of the County Central Committee, and been secretary of the Congressional and Judicial Committee. He was married June 24, 1905, to Miss Anna Belle McDonald, daughter of John M. and Lavina (Anderson) McDonald. John M. McDonald was a Kansas pioneer, coming to this State and settling in Allen county in 1857. He died June 2, 1910. Mrs. Travis was born on a farm near Iola, and educated in the public schools. Mr. Travis is second lieutenant in the First Regiment, Kansas National Guard, and is a Knights Templar Mason, and a member of the Knights of Pythias; the Ancient Order of United Workmen; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Military Order of The Loyal Legion. Mrs. Travis is a member of the Eastern Star, and Mr. and Mrs. Travis are members of the Episcopal church of which he is vestryman.