1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Thomas H. Urton, lumber and grain dealer and also a contractor and builder of Englevale, is representative of the best interests of his town, and his career here for the past twelve years has been most creditable to himself and of profit to the community in general. He is a broad-minded and public-spirited citizen, capable of that civic self-sacrifice which is the hope and mainstay of every community however small or great, and whether in his dealings with his fellows as a business factor or as a social individual he has proved himself a man of worth and high personal integrity.

Mr. Urton is an Ohioan by birth and early training, and only the last seventeen years of his life have been spent west of the Mississippi. He was born in Adams county, Ohio, February 10, 1862, being a son of William and Elizabeth (Crawford) Urton. His father, a native of Virginia, died in July, 1900, at the age of sixty-six years, and his mother was born in Ohio and died in 1867.

Mr. Urton was reared and received his education in Adams county, Ohio, at West Union high school, and at the age of seventeen entered upon his career of merchandising as a clerk in a general store. In 1887 he went to Iantha, Missouri, where he established and conducted for several years a general mercantile store. In 1892 he came to Englevale and bought his present business. He has a large trade in lumber and grain, and he also does a general contracting and building business.

Mr. Urton married, December 16, 1886, Miss Minnie Atkins, of Ohio, and they have three children: Fred, Geneva and Mark. Mrs. Urton is a member of the Presbyterian church, and he has fraternal affiliations with the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 1612. He served as township clerk for eight years, and has otherwise made himself useful in matters concerning the welfare of the town.