1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

W. M. Holeman, president of the Walnut State Bank and otherwise prominent in the business and public affairs of his town and county, is a thorough product of the state of Kansas in everything except birth. He is plentifully endowed with the push and enterprise so characteristic of men of the Sunflower commonwealth, and his career has been successful and is such a pleasant record of progression from one stepping stone of progress to the one next higher that he is to be classed among the men of mark in Crawford county, with whose history he has been prominently identified more or less for the past twenty-five years.

Mr. Holeman was born at Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, March 29, 1857, a son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Bradbury) Holeman, natives of Ohio. His parents moved to Neosho county, Kansas, and became farmers there at an early day in Kansas history. His father died in October, 1902, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-five years, but his wife is still living at the age of seventy-eight, making her home with her son, W. M., at Walnut.

Mr. W. M. Holeman passed most of his youthful years in Neosho county, and had the advantage of the country schools and also those at Osage Mission. When he was eighteen years old he began teaching school in Neosho county. Two years later he moved to Bourbon county with his parents, and in the spring of 1880 came to Walnut as principal of the schools of that place, which position he occupied for three years. He then started and conducted the Walnut Journal for five years, following which he was engaged in another newspaper enterprise at Bronson for three years. He conducted a general merchandise establishment at Xenia, Kansas, for six years, and then sold out and returned to Walnut to engage in the banking business. The Walnut State Bank, of which he is president, is a sound and conservative financial institution, with ample capital and resources, and its excellent management has been a valuable factor in the business affairs of this part of the county and has likewise been a source of credit to Mr. Holeman.

Mr. Holeman was married in December, 1880, to Miss Lizzie Russel, a daughter of L. D. and Sarah M. Russel, natives, respectively, of Illinois and Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Holeman have one child, Edna, who is a graduate of the Walnut high school, attended college at Ottawa, Kansas, and graduated in the Conservatory of Music. The family are members of the Christian church.

Mr. Holeman is a Democrat in politics. He is a member of the city council, and has held the office of treasurer of the school board since he became a resident of Walnut. He affiliates with Vulcan Lodge No. 229, F. & A. M., at Walnut.