L.G. Frisbie

L. G. FRISBIE. - Energetic and progressive, possessing sound judgment and business ability of a high order, L. G. Frisbie occupies an honored position among the useful and valued citizens of Bonner Springs. He has been associated with various interests in Wyandotte county, and has been an important factor in the advancement of the agricultural prosperity of this part of the state. A native of Ohio, he was born in Huron county, where the first three years of his earthly existence were passed.

His father, Charles T. Frisbie, came from excellent colonial stock, his early ancestors having lived in Connecticut. In 1863 he journeyed across the country with his family from Ohio to Kansas, arriving in Johnson county, his point of destination, on August 22, the very day after a band of guerillas, under Quantrell, had attacked and burned Lawrence. Intense excitement prevailed throughout that part of the country, and he saw many men on the road carrying coffins in which to bury the dead. Locating in Johnson county, he purchased eighty acres of raw prairie land, and began the pioneer task of redeeming a farm from its original wildness. He succeeded well in spite of the hard times that ensued, adding to his original purchase until he had title to two hundred acres of land. He was three times married. He married first Hester Frame, who was of Welsh ancestry, being the descendant of a boy named Frame, who was stolen from his home in Wales, and brought to America, where he married, and became the founder of a family whose descendants are scattered through many of the states of the Union. She died August 27, 1867, in Johnson county, Kansas, leaving two children, namely: Nettie, wife of H. Clifford Musser, of Cedar Junction, Kansas; and L. G., with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned. He married again, and by his second wife had one son. After her death, he married Emma Rolfe, and they have two sons, and are now residents of Argentine, Kansas.

But three years old when he came with his parents to Kansas, L. G. Frisbie received limited educational advantages, attending the short sessions of the pioneer district schools, and one term at Baker University. When he was seven years old, his mother died, and five years later he was deprived of the care of his first step-mother, who lived but a brief time after her marriage. Inheriting in a large measure the habits of thrift characteristic of his New England ancestors, he started life for himself two years before attaining his majority, having as his initial capital a horse on which he realized fifty-five dollars. His first purchase was twenty-six acres of land on the Kaw Valley bottoms. Success attended his every effort, his subsequent investments proving profitable, and Mr. Frisbie now owns about five hundred acres of good Kansas and Missouri land, while within the past year he has sold upwards of twenty-one thousand dollars worth of real estate, all being farming lands. He has made good profit in growing potatoes. He is president of the Farmers State Bank, and has about thirty thousand dollars invested in Bonner Springs property and industries. He also owns five residences and one business house in Kansas City, Missouri, and two dwelling houses in Kansas City, Kansas.

Mr. Frisbie is identified with various fraternal organizations, being a member of the Knights of Pythias; of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Bonner Springs, in which he has passed all the chairs; of the Modern Woodmen of America, of Wilder, Kansas; of the Alliance; and of others of importance. Mrs. Frisbie is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Mr. Frisbie married, April 16, 1888, Clara J. Nichols, a daughter of Charles Nichols, a farmer, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, and died in Johnson county, Kansas, January 21, 1909, aged seventy-seven years, and was there buried in the rural cemetery. Mr. Nichols married Sarah Branson, who died at the age of forty-six years, November 20, 1877, in Ohio, where her body was laid to rest. Two children were born of their union, Clara J., now Mrs. Frisbie, and a child that died in infancy.

Into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frisbie five children have been born, namely: Charles E., born June 13, 1890; a child that was born and died on January 3, 1895; Edith Adelaide, born December 12, 1897, is attending the Bonner Springs High School; Harold Lee, born August 8, 1902; and Wilber, born August 31, 1910.