John G. Bridwell

JOHN G. BRIDWELL is cashier of the Farmers State Bank of Belpre. The consistent work of his life has largely been in the field of banking, and he has lived in Kansas since he was two years of age.

Mr. Bridwell was born March 30, 1882, and was brought to Kansas in 1884, his parents locating at Sterling. His father, John H. Bridwell, who died at Wichita in 1909, at the age of sixty-four, was a well known and prominent man of this state. He was born in Pennsylvania, went from there to Ohio, and enlisted and served four years as an Ohio soldier in the Civil war. At Portsmouth in Southern Ohio he became a foundryman, and from that locality came to Kansas and invested heavily in property at Wichita during that period. The collapse of the boom caught him unprepared and he lost heavily. In the early enterprise of Wichita he was associated with Marsh Murdock, they having come to Kansas together as pioneers in the '70s. With the flattening out of Wichita's boom John H. Bridwell engaged in building and selling hotels in Kansas. He afterwards returned to Wichita and for a time was associated with his former partner, Mr. Reed, of Portsmouth, Ohio, in the foundry business. He also became manager of Moore Brothers Stove and Iron Works at Wichita. He was a very keen and resourceful business man, and recuperated much of the fortune which he lost at Wichita in the early days. While he never developed land as a farmer he owned large quantities and much of it in the western counties of Kansas. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian Church, and in politics he was always a republican, voting the ticket but never seeking office. His attitude toward office was that it involved more burden than honor or opportunity for usefulness.

John H. Bridwell married Ann Hoffman, who was born at Ironton, Ohio. Their children were: Thomas, who went to the Klondike and has never been heard of since; Sadie, wife of C. A. Tincher, of St. Louis, Missouri; Mary, who married H. D. McQuade of Missouri; Pearl, wife of F. S. Larabee, of Stafford, Kansas; Samuel, of Brownsville, Tennessee; Jessie, wife of O. P. Martin, of Okmulgee, Oklahoma; and John G.

John G. Bridwell grew up in a home of substantial comforts and even of luxuries. He graduated from the Stafford High School and for a time was an apprentice at the molder's trade in his father's factory in Wichita. He subsequently became clerk in the Farmers Bank at Stafford, and in 1904 took up his residence at Belpre and became bookkeeper in the Farmers State Bank. Since 1908 he has filled the post of cashier and has given the best of his time and abilities to building up this substantial institution. The president of the bank is C. F. Skalsky and the vice president, E. F. Mayhew. Other members of the official board are S. C. Clark, J. E. Hardy and F. S. Larabee.

Mr. Bridwell has the distinction of having been elected the first full-term mayor of Belpre. He has also been a member of the town council. While mayor the chief constructive enterprise carried on in the municipality was the laying of many blocks of sidewalks. He is now serving as township treasurer. Politically Mr. Bridwell is a republican, though his vote is given independently in local affairs. He is active in Masonry, being a member of Stafford Lodge, Wichita Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the Scottish Rite Consistory, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita.

At Larned, Kansas, July 15, 1912, he married Miss Ida May Shaver. Her father, C. D. Shaver, came from Ottawa, Illinois, and is now living at Belpre. Mr. and Mrs. Bridwell have one son, John Shaver Bridwell, born in November, 1914.

Pages 2266-2267.