Frederick Meryweather McInnes

FREDERICK MERYWEATHER McINNES, a native Kansan, has given his active career to railroading, and for many years has been on duty with the Missouri Pacific Railway Company and at Great Bend since 1906.

His father, Robert McInnes, is a well known retired farmer and citizen of Ellsworth County, Kansas. He was born at Dundee, Scotland, in December 1847. As a boy he learned the weaver's trade in the linen mills, his father, George McInnes, being a textile worker. Robert McInnes came to Kansas in 1872, and for a few months was employed in the Union Pacific Railway shops at Salina. He did not find America as satisfying as anticipations had led him to hope, and he would have returned to Scotland had he had sufficient funds to pay his passage. Finally he determined to make the best of his circumstances, and he accordingly took up a homestead in Ellsworth County, proved up and improved his farm and still owns the old claim. Success has come to him in generous measure as a grain and livestock farmer. In the southeastern corner of Ellsworth County he has acquired a large amount of land, divided into two improved farms aggregating 1,000 acres. For a number of years he has been a grower of Hereford cattle, and many carloads of this fine beef stock have been fed and finished on his ranch and shipped direct to the Kansas City markets. He has also carried his share of the burdens of Langley Township as an official, serving as trustee several times, and was almost always on the school board of his district. For two terms he was a county commissioner. He went on the board an advocate of a new court house, and that improvement was made while he was still a member of the county government. He is a stanch republican, and is a past noble grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In Scotland Robert McInnes married Jeane Meryweather. Her father, Frank Meryweather, was a sea captain and died of cholera at Hong Kong, China. Captain Meryweather married Agnes Russell. Their children were: Frank; Frederick, who became a leading citizen of Ellsworth County, Kansas, where he died; and Mrs. Robert McInnes, who is a few months younger than her husband. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Robert McInnes were: Agnes, wife of J. S. Myers, of Garnett, Kansas; Jeane, who became the wife of C. L. Anderson, of Lyons, Kansas; Frederick M., of Great Bend; Anna, Mrs. Baldwin Schermerhorn, of San Bernardino, California; Alice, wife of A. M. Lawson, of Gypsum, Kansas; Charles L., who was traffic manager for the Lee-Warren Milling Company of Salina at the time of his death, and by his marriage to Gertrude Koll left a son, Charles L., Jr.; Robert G., who is a lieutenant in the Eighty-Ninth Division and now with the Army of Occupation at Bitburg, Germany; and Roy K., conducting the home farm in Ellsworth County, who married Rose Nemechek.

Frederick Meryweather McInnes was born on his father's farm in Ellsworth County March 18, 1878. He grew up there and attended the district schools and later the Salina Normal University, taking a commercial course. From school he went to work for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company at the Lindsborg station, and was then promoted to agent at Olmitz, and has now finished his thirteenth consecutive year as representative of the railway company at Great Bend.

Mr. McInnes has always taken a good citizen's interest in local affairs, is a republican and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

At Pueblo, Colorado, November 7, 1898, he married Miss Selma A. Blomquist. Mrs. McInnes was born at Marquette, Kansas, September 21, 1877, daughter of Jonas and Amanda (Lindquist) Blomquist. Her parents were both born in Sweden and for many years were farmers at Marquette, Kansas. The other children in their family were: Rose, wife of John W. Burnison, of Marquette; and Oscar W. Blomquist, of Neoga, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. McInnes have three children, named Ardale, Robert and Frances.

Pages 2405-2406.