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Biographies

ALLEN, Edward Payson

One of the most conspicuous figures in the financial and civic life of Southern Kansas was removed with the death of Edward Payson Allen at his home in Independence, November 27, 1915. He had already passed the age of three score and ten and with many ripe achievements to his credit and with the honorable associations of a long and useful life he went to his reward. He was a Civil war veteran, a pioneer in Montgomery County, Kansas, had filled public offices and had long borne the responsibilities of managing one of the largest banks in the state.

His worthy ancestry no doubt was a contributing factor to his own life and character. His great-grandfather and another member of the family had fought as Revolutionary soldiers, in the struggle for independence. After the close of the war this great-grandfather and some of his brothers emigrated out of Virginia and established homes on the western frontier in Kentucky. The Allens were originally from the north of Ireland and had settled in Rockbridge County, Virginia, as early as 1630. David Allen, grandfather of the late Independence banker, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, October 16 1773, and went to Kentucky with his father about 1783. He served with the Kentucky troops in the War of 1812, and died in Green County, Kentucky, in 1816. Thus members of the Allen family participated in practically every war in which this nation has been engaged.

The father of Edward P. Allen was William B. Allen, who was born in Green County, Kentucky, in 1803 and spent his life at Greensburg, Kentucky. He was a lawyer by profession, being a graduate of a seminary at Nashville, Tennessee, and of a law school. He was very prominent in Masonry, at one time served as grand master of the grand lodge of Kentucky. William B. Allen married Huldah Wilcox. She was born in Massachusetts of Puritan ancestry. Her forefathers had settled in New England during the seventeenth century. Her father Eli Wilcox possessed all the sturdy traits of the typical New Englander. William B. Allen and wife had the following children: Martha; Jennie, who married A. B. Nibbs; Harriet B., who married John Cunningham of Coles County, Illinois; Edward P.; Mary, who married William Hunter; and Ella M., who is the only one of the children still living and is the widow of George W. Reed, her home being at Rock Island, Illinois.

Edward Payson Allen was born in Green County, Kentucky, January 3, 1843. He received all the advantages of the schools at Greensburg, Kentucky, but at the age of eighteen in 1861 enlisted for service in the Union army as a member of Company E of the Thirteenth Kentucky Infantry, under Colonel Hobson. He was made first sergeant, and after three months was promoted to a lieutenancy, and bore that rank when he received his honorable discharge after three years at Louisville, Kentucky. He fought in some of the great campaigns of the war, was at Mills Springs, at Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River and many minor engagements and skirmishes. In later years he enjoyed the associations of his old comrades in the war and took a very prominent part in Grand Army affairs. After the war Mr. Allen went to Illinois and was engaged in merchandising at Mattoon until 1867. Then returning to his native town in Kentucky he opened a store and was in business there for two years following this he again went to Coles County, Illinois, and was a merchant at Mattoon until the fall of 1870. On the 16th of October of that year he arrived in Montgomery County, Kansas. This county was then on the frontier and the only activities to attract a man were homesteading and reclaiming a portion of the wilderness for farming purposes. He took a claim on Section 31, Township 33, Range 16, and long after he had attained a high position in financial affairs the little cabin he erected there was standing as a memorial of his days of poverty and hardship. He bore adversities unflinching and struggled for two years in order to make a living out of his land. In 1873 he gave up his farm and moved to the new Town of Independence, where he again resumed the business which was more to his liking, merchandising

Throughout his career Mr. Allen was a Kentucky democrat. He was always loyal to that party, and in Montgomery County his personal popularity always exceeded the party strength. In 1877 he was elected register of deeds of the county. It was a special tribute to his personality and ability since there were several hundred more republicans in the county than democrats. In 1879 he was re-elected and gave an administration which satisfied democrats and republicans alike. During these two terms he bore the burdens of the office almost alone, and set a standard of official performance that few of his successors have equaled. In the meantime he had acquired an extensive acquaintance over the county, and with this prestige he set up in the insurance and brokerage business with an office at the corner of Main and Sixth streets.

The late Mr. Allen was essentially a financier. He had the rare ability and judgment which make the true banker. He was conservative in temper, and was always strictly business, though a sympathetic personality always mingled with his financial transactions. He was first a patron and afterwards a stockholder in the First National Bank of Independence, and in 1885 was elected a director. In 1886 he bought the interests of the cashier of the bank and with the reorganization of the institution was elected its president, an office he filled with exceptional ability until June 1, 1904, a period of about eighteen years. In that time his judgment and ability were impressed upon the bank so as to make it one of the safest and most conservative institutions in Southern Kansas. In 1904 he sold a controlling interest to the late R. S. Litchfield; but continued as a director of the bank and looked after its loans and also his private interests until his death. During more than thirty years of connection with the institution he saw its deposits rise to more than $2,500,000.

His position as a banker and citizen is well summarized in the following brief quotation from a former publication: "The First National Bank of Independence was fortunate in having for eighteen years for its executive head a man of such wide and varied experience, of such unerring judgment and a gentleman of such popular personal traits as Mr. Allen. He came to Montgomery County almost with the earliest, and embodied in his career as a citizen here experience as a farmer, merchant, public official and financier, all of which stations he honored and in all of which he displayed a rational aptitude and adaptation, passing from one to another as a reward of industry and indicating the favor and confidence of his fellow citizens."

Mr. Allen was also interested in a bank at Caney and had extensive financial interests in other directions. He owned one of the best farms in the Verdigris bottoms, and took a great deal of pride and pleasure in the management of his farm lands. He was also identified with every movement calculated to advance the welfare of his community, was active in the Commercial Club, an officer and worker in the Presbyterian Church, and was one of the oldest and most prominent members of the Masonic order in Southern Kansas. He took his first degrees in Masonry in 1864, and was long associated with Fortitude Lodge No. 107, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Independence, with Keystone Chapter No. 22, Royal Arch Masons, and for a quarter of a century was recorder of St. Bernard Commandery No. 10, Knights Templar. He was past patron of the Order of Eastern Star and a charter member of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Knights Templar and Grand Army of the Republic were both represented at his funeral, and as a tribute to his financial leadership all the banks of the city were closed on the afternoon of his burial.

On May 2, 1865, a little more than half a century before his death, Mr. Allen married Mary F. Vansant. Mr. Allen was always thoroughly a home man, and found his greatest pleasure with his wife and children and in the recurring annual occasions when both children and grandchildren gathered at his home. Mr. and Mrs. Allen were married in Coles County, Illinois. Mrs. Allen, who still occupies the fine old family home on South Fourth Street in Independence, was born August 27, 1846, in Fleming County, Kentucky. Her father, Isaiah Vansant, was born at Flemingsburg, Kentucky, December 9, 1815, and died there April 17, 1854. His business was that of farmer and stock man, he was a whig in politics, and an active member of the Presbyterian Church. Isaiah Vansant married Martha Jane Darnall, who was born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, December 17, 1820, and died at Independence, Kansas, May 9, 1905. Mrs. Allen was the fourth among their five children, the others being: Cynthia, who resides at Hutchinson, Kansas, the wife of J. W. Brady, who is now retired and was formerly a bookkeeper and collector, and for many years connected with the banking institutions; Margaret, who died in Covington, Kentucky, was the wife of A. L. Scudder, who is an express messenger and lives at Covington; Amanda, who resides at Mrs. Allen's home in Independence; and Elizabeth, who died at Natick, Massachusetts, the wife of H. L. Balcom, a hardware merchant, who is also deceased.

Mrs. Allen's grandfather Aaron Vansant, was born in Pennsylvania, was reared and was married there to Margaret Keith, who was also a native of that state, and they settled early in Kentucky, where both of them died. The Vansants were originally from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania in colonial days. Mrs. Allen is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and all her daughters belong to that order, the latter having acquired two bars in that organization, and when the records are complete they will have six bars. The daughters received admission through Francis Barrett on their father's side. Francis Barrett was a Revolutionary soldier, a native of Virginia, and served with the Virginia troops in the war. He was born in 1762, was a farmer after the war, a member of the Baptist Church, and died at Greensburg, Kentucky, July 6, 1833. Francis Barrett married Elizabeth Lowry, and they lived both in Virginia and Kentucky.

Mrs. Allen's Revolutionary ancestor was her great-great-grandfather Alexander Givens, who came from Ireland to America, served in the Revolution, and afterwards spent his remaining years in Nicholas County, Kentucky. Mrs. Allen's maternal grandfather was William Givens, a native of Pennsylvania, and a farmer in Fleming County, Kentucky, where he died in 1846. William Givens married Mary Shields.

Mrs. Allen's children and grandchildren are as follows: Mattie H. was graduated in the classical course from Oswego College, and is now the wife of James F. Blackledge, a banker at Caney, Kansas; their children are: Ralph, who died young; Pauline, wife of Dr. Fillis of Chicago, Illinois; Gwynne, in the automobile and electrical supply business at Caney; and Mercedes, a student in the high school at Caney. Edith the second daughter, graduated from Baird's School at Clinton, Missouri, with the degree A. B, and took post graduate work in the Kansas State University and is now the wife of R. W. Cates, who is cashier of the First National Bank of Independence, their children are Catherine and Allen, both attending school. Lillian, the third daughter, graduated from the Montgomery County High School and is now the wife of H. H. Kahn, an oil operator living at Coffeyville; their two children, both in school, are Irene and Margaret. Annie, the fourth and youngest daughter, graduated from the Montgomery County High School and married Glen Amesbury, who is a banker at Longton, Kansas they also have two children, George Allen and Clifton, both now in school.

Mrs. Allen besides her beautiful residence at 301 South Fourth Street owns several other improved properties and has two fine farms in Montgomery County.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; transcribed October, 1997.

BAIRD, Jay

Jay Baird, M. D. The medical profession of Kansas has one of its able representatives in Dr. Jay Baird of Coffeyville. Doctor Baird is a man of broad experience, splendidly equipped professionally, and has acquired success and high standing in this state, and is particularly well known among eclectic physicians, and in 1915-16 served as president of the State Eclectic Medical Association.

Some generations back his ancestors were prominent Scotch people, and in that country enjoyed the distinction of a coat of arms marking them one of the ancient clans of Scotland. This coat of arms represents a bull and boar rampant. From Scotland the Bairds came to Pennsylvania in colonial times.

Josiah Baird, grandfather of Doctor Baird, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1802, and when he was quite young his parents moved to Muskingum County, Ohio, where he married and where he took up the trade of blacksmith. A number of years later, along in the '50s, he moved out to Iowa with his son, the father of Doctor Baird, and lived in Van Buren County of that state until his death in 1886. In religion he was a stanch old Covenanter Presbyterian. Politically he was a republican. Josiah Baird married Mary Thompson, who was born in Ohio in 1806 and died in Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1892. Their children were: Nathan; Cephas, who was a minister of the Lutheran Church and died in California; Letitia, who married Uriah Law, and both are now deceased, she having died at Troy in Davis County, Iowa.

Dr. Jay Baird was born near Keosauqua, Van Buren County, Iowa, October 23, 1870. His father, Nathan Baird, was born in Ohio in 1838, grew to manhood in that state, where he married his first wife, and along in the '50s moved out to Van Buren County, Iowa, where he was one of the pioneer settlers and until the close of his life, which occurred on his home farm in Van Buren County in 1900, he followed farming and stock raising. He was a very active member of the United Presbyterian Church, and in politics was a republican. During the Civil war he was a member of the Home Guards. Nathan Baird married for his first wife Susan Liming, who was born in Ohio and died in Van Buren County, Iowa. Their children were: Jefferson F., a merchant at Odell, Illinois; Luther C., a merchant at Sioux City, Iowa; Howard, a stock man in Van Buren County, Iowa. For his second wife, Nathan Baird married Lurinda Sophia Jones, who was born in Ohio in 1852 and still lives on the old farm in Iowa. Her children were: Seth, who is a farmer near the old place in Iowa; Oscar, who graduated from the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati and is now a physician and surgeon at Chanute, Kansas; Dr. Jay Baird is the third of the children; Rufus, the next younger died at the age of five years; Flo is the wife of Harry L. Gleason, a jeweler in Boston, Massachusetts; Clay runs the old home farm in Van Buren County, Iowa, his farm comprising a quarter section of land; Justice graduated from the University of Michigan, where he received his law degree and received the degree of Bachelor of Science from the State University of Iowa and is now in active practice at Kansas City, Kansas.

From a varied early experience as a farmer boy, student and teacher, Dr. Jay Baird pointed his career toward medicine. He attended district schools in his home county in Iowa, graduated from the Keosauqua High School, and for three years taught in Van Buren County. This was followed by a year spent in the State Agricultural College at Ames Iowa, and another year in the State Normal School at Cedar Falls. Earning his way by teaching, he began his medical education in the State University of Iowa, where he spent two years, and beginning with 1897 practiced medicine as an undergraduate at Vilas, Kansas. He was there for a year and a half. He finished his medical course in 1900 in the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, where he was graduated M. D. After graduating 2 1/2 years were spent in Nebraska, but in 1902 he located at Coffeyville, and has been steadily in practice there both as a physician and surgeon ever since. A large part of his practice in recent years is as a specialist in diseases of children. In 1914 he took a special course in that department of medicine in the Chicago Policlinic. Doctor Baird has his offices at 126 West Ninth Street, and is a member of the County and State Medical societies and belongs to all the medical associations of the Eclectic School, county, state and national.

Besides his residence at 105 West First Street, Doctor Baird owns a fruit farm, of forty acres in the Bitter Root Valley of Montana, also a tract of land in Oklahoma, and some 600 acres in Arkansas. Politically he is an independent republican, and is a trustee and active supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with Camp No. 665, Modern Woodmen of America at Coffeyville, belongs to the Commercial Club, and for four years was a member of the City School Board. While on the school board he was instrumental in raising the general standard of the local public schools.

In 1900 in Iowa Doctor Baird married Miss Ida K. Minear, a daughter of George and Emma Minear, both now deceased. Her father was a farmer and stockman in Van Buren County, Iowa. Doctor and Mrs. Baird have three children: Byrle, born November 15, 1902, and a student in the public schools, Bruce M., born August 9, 1906, and also in school; and Lois Catherine, born November 9, 1913.

BENSON, Andrew

Andrew Benson has had a long and varied experience in the oil fields of both the East and West, and for a number of years has been established at Independence, from which city as headquarters he has operated extensively in the oil and gas districts of Southern Kansas and Oklahoma.

Born March 5, 1864, in Warberg, Sweden, he was six years of age when his parents came to the United States in 1870 and settled in Jamestown, New York. He grew up there on a farm, received a fair amount of schooling, and in 1883, at the age of nineteen, went to Bradford, Pennsylvania. In the meantime he had received some experience while employed in a furniture factory at Jamestown, New York. At Bradford he became identified with the oil business, and for many years was connected with the Oil Well Supply Company of that city. In 1898 the company sent him to the West Virginia oil fields. In 1903, with his family, he removed to Independence, Kansas, where he has since operated extensively as an oil and gas man. He occupies a suite of offices in the Booth Building and has acquired some valuable properties, including his fine residence at 409 North Ninth Street, other residence buildings, and some unimproved property. Mr. Benson is president of the Benson Oil & Gas Company, and of the State Line Oil and Gas Company

In politics he is a progressive, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, belongs to Union Lodge No. 334, Free and Accepted Masons, at Bradford; to Lodge No. 780, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Independence, and to the Protected Home Circle at Bradford, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Benson married Anna S. Engdahl. She was born May 4, 1862, at Kalmer, Sweden, and in 1873 came to this country with her parents, who located in Cherry Creek, New York. To Mr. and Mrs. Benson were born four children: Flavia, who died at the age of two years; Carl W.; T. W., who is now a junior in the law school of the Kansas State University; and Allen Duane, who died when one year of age.

The son, Carl W. Benson, attended the public schools at Bradford, Pennsylvania, graduated from the high school of Jamestown, New York, in 1903, and has since identified himself with the oil and gas industry. As a representative of the Oil Well Supply Company he was sent to Independence, and in 1905 to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, for one year. In 1906 he entered the service of the Standard Asphalt and Rubber Company and remained with that corporation until 1911. Since then he has been in business for himself as an oil and gas well drilling contractor, and has put down many wells in Southeastern Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. He is a director in the State Line Oil and Gas Company and a stockholder in that and in the Benson Oil and Gas Company. He is a progressive in politics, a member of the Presbyterian Church, is affiliated with Elks Lodge No. 780 at Independence. He was married in 1908, at Independence, to Miss Nina C. Nees. Her father, W. M. Nees, is a prominent business man at Brazil, Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Benson have one child, Beverly Jane, born May 7, 1914.

Andrew Benson was the twelfth of thirteen children born to Bern and Edla (Gunnarson) Benson. His father was born at Warberg, Sweden, in 1816, was a farmer in his native country and also served his time in the regular army of that nation. In 1870 he brought his family to America, settling on a farm at Jamestown, New York, where he lived until his death in 1902. He was a republican and an active member of the Lutheran Church. His wife was born at Warberg, Sweden, in 1821, and died at Jamestown, New York, in 1908. Of their large family of children the four now living are: Anna L., who lives at Jamestown, New York, the widow of Andrew Erickson, who was a blacksmith; Olaf, who lives retired at Jamestown, was an oil operator and spent twelve years in the oil fields around Independence, Kansas; Christine is the wife of Andrew Benson (not related), who is a retired furniture manufacturer, and they live at Jamestown; the fourth is Andrew Benson.

BLACK, Will R.

Will R. Black is a native Kansan, grew up and received his education in this state, and is now one of the capable oil inspectors under the state government, with headquarters and home at Coffeyville.

He traces his ancestry back to a family of Scotch origin, and one that was planted in Virginia during colonial days. His grandfather Andy Black, was born in Pulaski County, Virginia, in 1814, was reared and married in that state, and in 1838 went to Western Indiana, where he followed farming and stock raising until his death. He died at Greencastle, Indiana, in 1872. He was a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. Andy Black married Clara McCammack, who was born in Virginia in 1816. and died in Indiana in 1878. Their children were: James, mentioned below; Jackson, who served with a Kansas regiment in the Civil war and has since followed farming in this state; Seleta, who died at Welda, Kansas, the wife of H. T. Hill, also deceased, who was a farmer and stock raiser; Robert, who lives at Welda, Kansas, was with an Indiana regiment in the Civil war and is a farmer; Thursa, who died at Welda Kansas, unmarried; and Nellie, who died, at Welda, also unmarried.

James Black, father of the deputy state oil inspecter, was born October 12, 1835, in Pulaski County, Virginia, and was about three years of age when his parents moved to Indiana. He grew up in that state, and in 1855 came as a pioneer to Kansas Territory, locating first at historic Ossawatomie, and in 1857 locating at Garnett. Settlers were just beginning to come into that section of Kansas, and James Black secured a homestead of 160 acres. A few years later he took his place in the ranks of the state militia and was in service in repelling Price's raid through Kansas and Missouri. From pioneer times until advancing years compelled him to lay aside active responsibilities he was a farmer and stock raiser. In April, 1913, being an invalid, he went to the home of his son Will and died in Coffeyville January 3, 1916, when in his eighty-first year. While living in Anderson County he served two terms as county commissioner. He was a democrat and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. James Black was married in 1858, the year after he located on his homestead at Garnett, to Ellen Norris, who was born in Ohio January 18, 1838, and is still living, making her home with her son Will. The children were: Albert L., who was born in 1861, was a cigar manufacturer at Garnett for several years and later farmed near Texarkana, Texas, where he died in 1906; F. J. Black is a newspaper man, connected with the Kansas City Star and living at Coffeyville; Nellie N. is the wife of John W. Hedley, a jeweler at Altus, Oklahoma; Ella M. married Charles H. Paxton, a jeweler at Paola, Kansas; Osroe died in Garnett, Kansas, in 1889, and was born in 1872; the sixth and youngest of the family is Will R. Black.

Born at Garnett April 17, 1878, Will R. Black received his early education in the public schools of his native town, and left high school in his junior year to begin life on his own responsibilities. He found plenty to do and a means of making a satisfactory livelihood as a farmer and stock raiser near Garnett. In 1913 he was called from his farm by appointment from former Governor G. H. Hodges as a deputy state oil inspector. Mr. Black is now filling the office of oil inspector under civil service rules. He is a democrat.

On May 8, 1899, at Garnett he married Miss Rhoda I. Ellis, daughter of H. M. and Cynthia E11is, her mother now deceased. Her father served as a soldier in the Civil war in the Ninth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and is now living retired at Garnett.

BOSWELL, George F.

George F. Boswell, who represents a pioneer family of Montgomery County, has spent most of his active career at Coffeyville, was a merchant there for a number of years, and now devotes his time to the management of his extensive property interests and also his holdings in the oil and gas district.

He was born in Atchison County, Missouri, October 29, 1859. The record of his family in America goes back to his grandfather George Finley Boswell, who was born in England of Scotch descent in 1804. After his marriage to Hannah Colter, who was a native of Ireland and of Irish descent, he came to America, settling in Tennessee, where he was a planter and on his plantation he also conducted a hattery. He died in Decatur County, Tennessee, in 1866 and his wife also passed away there. Of their children the only one now living is Mary, who resides at Stoutsville, in Fairfield County, Ohio, the widow of James Chenoweth, who was a farmer by occupation.

The founder of the Boswell family in Southern Kansas, was A. P. Boswell, father of George F. He was born in Decatur County, Tennessee, in 1837, grew up and married there, and from early life was well versed in the business of planting and farming. In 1857 he went to Northwest Missouri and was an early settler in Atchison County. After living there a few years and with the outbreak of the war between the North and the South he returned to his native state and in 1862 enlisted in a Tennessee regiment of the Confederate army. He was in active service until the close of the war. At one time he was taken a prisoner but was soon exchanged. Following the war he farmed in Tennessee, but in 1871 pioneered to Kansas, and was one of the early settlers near Coffeyville. After six years as a farmer, he moved to Coffeyville and was active in business affairs and as a money lender and in 1883 engaged in the hardware and implement business. He was a man of distinctive ability and enjoyed many honors from his fellow citizens. Politically he was a democrat. While living on his farm in Montgomery county he served as township trustee one term, and afterwards was elected and served for nine years or three terms as county commissioner. He also filled the office of mayor of Coffeyville two terms. Among other interests he was vice president of the First National Bank. While a resident of Tennessee he was an active member of the Methodist Church, and was affiliated with Keystone Lodge No 102, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Coffeyville.

In 1855 in Decatur County, Tennessee, A. P. Boswell married Miss Melissa Dudley Kelley, who was born in that section of Tennessee June 22, 1833. She died at Coffeyville February 9, 1914. A. P. Boswell in 1896 made a business trip through Oklahoma and while at Nowata was stricken and died. He and his wife had the following children: George F., Sarah S., wife of A. L. Wagstaff, who has for many years been engaged in the brokerage and real estate business and is now living in Kansas City, Missouri; Andrew A., a resident of Coffeyville; Tina C., wife of E. E. Wilson, who was in the lumber business at Coffeyville and is now a business man of Pueblo, Colorado; Robert, who died in infancy; William A., who was in the hardware business for a number of years and also a trader and died at Coffeyville in 1908.

When George F. Boswell was an infant his parents returned to Tennessee and he spent much of his boyhood in Decatur County. He was about twelve years of age when his father became a pioneer in Montgomery County and he grew to manhood on the farm. In 1876 he finished his early education by graduating from the Coffeyville High School. During the forty years that have followed many interests have engaged his enterprise and active attention. He spent three years as a young man in learning the trade of carpenter, and also gained some valuable experience as a grain buyer. From 1882 to 1895 he was in the mercantile business at Coffeyville. For the past twenty years he has devoted all his business energies to looking after his property as a real estate holder and also the affairs of several large oil and gas corporations. Among local real estate which he owns are his residence at 510 Elm street, other dwelling houses on Walnut, Elm and Willow streets, and some scattered property throughout the city. He is a stockholder in the Coffeyville Gas and Fuel Company; a stockholder and director in the Coffeyville Shale Products Company; a stockholder and director and president of the Georgia Oil and Gas Company; president and stockholder of the Delokee Gas and Oil Company; stockholder and director of the McAlester-Edward Coal Company in Oklahoma; stockholder and president of the Boswell Realty Company; and has interests in the Robinson Packer and Machine Company of Coffeyville.

In political affiliation Mr. Boswell is a democrat. For three terms he served in the Coffeyville City Council, was city treasurer six years, and is now serving as a member of the school board. As a young man he joined the Christian Church, but he now attends the Methodist. For a number of years he was one of the active workers in the Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally his affiliations are with Camp No. 665, Modern Woodmen of America at Coffeyville, with the Kansas Fraternal Citizen, and with the Anti-Horse Thief Association.

In February, 1887, at Coffeyville Mr. Boswell married Miss Alvira Burke, daughter of John Burke. Her father who lived on a farm west of Coffeyville, died November 29, 1916, in his ninety-second year. Mrs. Boswell died at Coffeyville in 1902, being survived by one daughter, Georgia. Georgia Boswell was born in Coffeyville in 1890 and is now the wife of Harry W. McEwen, cashier of the Cuthbert State Bank at Cuthbert, South Dakota.

On May 11, 1904 at Coffeyville Mr. Boswell married for his present wife Miss Leona R. Stephenson, a woman of brilliant mind and social leadership, and with a record of important public service to her credit in her home city of Coffeyville. Mrs. Boswell, who was born at Marietta, Ohio, December 5, 1871, was educated in the public schools of Johnson and Miami County, Kansas, her parents having come to Kansas in the early days. She was a student for two years in the high school at Paola, and then entered the Kansas State Normal at Emporia, from which she graduated in the spring of 1893 with a life teacher's certificate entitling her to teach in practically any state in the Union without further examination. Mrs. Boswell's first experience as a teacher was one year in the grade schools of Coffeyville, another year in the high school, and the third year she was in the Independence High School. Returning to Coffeyville she taught for seven years as assistant principal and principal of the high school. Since her marriage she has ably directed the affairs of her household and the care and rearing of her children, and has also borne many of the responsibilities laid upon the women of the city. She is a member of the Carnegie Library Board, and has filled a place on that board since the library was built, and has ably assisted in its support and maintenance. She is a member of the Coffeyville Culture Club and was president of the City Federation of Women's Clubs when the Carnegie library was opened. The library in fact stands as a monument to the combined efforts of these women's clubs. It fell to Mrs. Boswell to make the presentation speech when the city federation turned over its library and 2,700 volumes and other equipment to the new Carnegie institution. Mrs. Boswell is a member of the Methodist Church and the Royal Neighbors.

Mrs. Boswell is a granddaughter of John Stephenson, who was born 1793, and was one of the pioneer settlers in Southeastern Ohio, where he followed farming. He died at Marietta in that state in 1874. The maiden name of his wife was Gray, and she was born in Ohio and died at Marietta. Of their children the two now living are: Belle, wife of Benjamin Cogswell, of Marietta, Ohio; Jewett, a retired farmer at Gardner, Kansas.

Mrs. Boswell's father was Henry Stephenson, who was born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1837, and died at Arroyo Grande, California, in August, 1908. He was reared and married in Ohio, where he took up farming, and in the summer of 1876 brought his family to Spring Hill in Johnson County, Kansas. The buffaloes were still numerous on the plains when he arrived in Kansas, and he was one of the sterling pioneers who developed this country. Later he moved to Emporia for a year, and in 1890 began his operations as a rancher twenty-five miles southeast of Coffeyville in the Cherokee Nation, where he leased an extensive tract of land and devoted it to wheat raising and the cattle industry. He conducted that ranch until 1898, then removed to Coffeyville, where he had his home for three years, and after that spent three years in Seattle, Washington, in business with his son Russell. Returning to the Osage Nation, he was associated with his son Henry on a ranch there, and afterwards went with his son to a ranch in California, where he died. Henry Stephenson was a democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. He married Rebecca M. Sheets, who was born in Marietta, Ohio, in 1844, and died at Coffeyville in January, 1898. Mrs. Boswell was the third in a family of seven children. Her brother Rodney, now living at Arroyo Grande, California, is a miner and has some mines in Old Mexico, in the state of Sonora, 125 miles from Hermosillo. Her next younger brother, Henry, a resident of Los Angeles, is a manager of five large cattle ranches and is part owner and manager of the ranch at Palomas, which in recent months has attracted so much notice as being the scene of Villa's raid against Columbus, New Mexico. Catherine A., the next younger than Mrs. Boswell, lives in Santa Maria, California; Russell, who died at Santa Maria, California, in January, 1913, was a wholesale and retail meat merchant there. Odell died at Spring Hill, Kansas, in 1882. Sylvester S., the youngest child, spends his time traveling and lives in California.

Mr. and Mrs. Boswell have two children Catherine Parr was born November 7, 1906, and is now in the public schools at Coffeyville. Berenice Kelley was born October 2, 1908.

GRAY, Sarah Jane (1865-1961)

Sarah Jane Gray came to Kansas from KY in a covered wagon when she was 4. There were still Indians roaming the countryside & they often stopped & asked for food. One time an Indian woman wanted to trade for Sarah Jane! Jane attended Salt Creek School.

In her later years, she was a very small woman with steel gray hair in a bun on top of her head. She almost always had a long bib apron pinned to her dress. She had hundreds of flowers & loved roses especially. She had a large garden and canned. She also did sewing for family & neighbors. She was still making quilts when she died at age 96.

George and Jane lived in Cherryvale, KS when they were first married but in 1899 Jane’s dad bought a small house east of Brooks Station, KS and deeded it and a few acres to them. They lived there the rest of their lives. Both of them loved to sing.

Newpaper Article from Neodesha Newspaper, April 1961

By coincidence, April 18 also the birthday of another woman of the Neodesha vicinity who can look back a long way. On that day Sarah Jane will be 96. And, unless some unforseen happening prevents it, Sarah Jane will arise with the sun and, as has been her custom these many years, bake a pan of brown-top biscuits for breakfast ----in her wood-burning cook stove.

I have not heard what is planned for the rest of the day at her house, but if it wasn't her birthday Sarah Jane probably would spend the daylight hours sewing or quilting, and perhaps help some in the garden. When twilight falls around her farm home, Sarah Jane will light the coal oil lamps in the house--just as she has done most every day since she was married--near three-fourths of a century ago. Sarah Jane doesn't pay much attention to the new-fangled gadgets most people have in their homes; in fact, her only real concession to the modern pattern of living has been the use of a refrigerator--instead of the well--to cool her food-stuffs. And then, too, the lamps do have mantles, instead of the old-fashioned flat wicks---

Sarah Jane is the widow of George Housley, well known country blacksmith, who passed away in 1939. She and her son, Carlos, live in a small house on the county line road east of Brooks station. Mrs. Housleys parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Gray, were pioneer settlers in Montgomery county, having taken a claim on Salt creek in 1869, when Sarah Jane was but three years of age.

They came from Carter County, KY. Chief White Hair's Osage tribesmen were occupants of the Verdigris valley then, and Mrs. Housley recalls the Indians from her early childhood. A lifetime of work under plain and simple living conditions may have its "drawbacks" in the minds of some people, but not so with Sarah Jane. There may be a better way of life---but she just hasn't noticed anybody who is happier than she is.

Contributed Aug 1998 by Jean M. Labrie

HUMPHREY, Lyman Underwood

Lyman U. Humphrey is a former Governor of Kansas. One of the states most honorable and distinguished citizens. His experience as a soldier, a journalist, and a long successful career as a lawyer, together with his efficient service to the state in high official station entitle him to more than a passing word on the pages of Kansas history. Born, 25th day of July 1844 in New Baltimore, Stark County, Ohio, to Lyman and Elizabeth A. (Everhart) HUMPHREY.

His father was born in Connecticut in 1799; was of English descent, his progenitors in America having settled in New England in the early part of the seventeenth century, but when Lyman HUMPHREY was still a young man he removed to the Western Reserve in Ohio, then the Far West," and at Deerfield, Ohio, engaged in the business of a tanner. The Tannery he purchased formerly owned by Jesse GRANT, the father of Gen. U.S. Grant, who had removed to Southern Ohio. Subsequently Lyman HUMPHREY became a lawyer. He was a public-spirited man, served as Colonel of Militia and was highly respected. He died at the age of 54 years.

At Niles, Ohio, he married Elizabeth A. Everhart, who was born at Zanesville, Ohio 1812, daughter of John and Rachel (Jones) EVERHART. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania, and her father was identified with the iron industry in Niles, Ohio. Mrs. HUMPHREY was possessed of rare intelligence and a strong personality, gifts which her son, Lyman U., inherited in no small degree. She was intensely patriotic. She gave two sons to the service of her country during the civil war, remaining in care of the family home, duties she assumed as a widow at the death of her husband in 1853. Her son, John E. HUMPHREY, served in the Nineteenth Ohio Infantry. He was severely wounded at the battle of Shiloh, in consequence of which he was discharged from the army, but later he reinlisted in the First light artillery of Ohio and therein served until the close of the war. He became a pioneer settler of Montgomery County, KS, where he died in 1880.

Of the military career of Lyman U. HUMPHREY, mention follows, but of his mother we desire further to observe that she was the inspiration that prompted her sons and spurred them on to success in life. She lived to the remarkable age of eighty-four years, dying at the home of Governor HUMPHREY at INDEPENDENCE, Kansas, in 1896. Lyman U. HUMPHREY obtained a common school education at New Baltimore, Ohio, under the watchful eye of his devoted mother, acquired traits of character, which made him a man of distinction. He had just commenced a course in the high school at Massillon, Ohio, when on Oct.7,1861, at only seventeen years of age, he tendered his services in the defense of the Union, enlisting in Company, Seventy-sixth Ohio infantry. His regiment was attached to the First brigade, First division of the Fifteenth army corps, Army of the Tennessee, and participated in many of the severest battles of the war, among them being Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, Chickasaw Bluffs, Arkansas Post, Jackson, the Siege of Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. At Ringgold, GA., Nov. 27, 1863, he received his first and only wound, but remained with his command and ready for duty. He was with his regiment at the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, the desperate fight at Atlanta, July 22, where the noble McPHERSON fell--then at Ezra Chapel, Jonesboro, and on the march of Sherman to the sea, the campaign up through the Carolinas, including the battle of Bentonville, and, the final surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston's army. He was promoted to first sergeant, second and first lieutenant; commanded a company during the Atlanta campaign and on Sherman's march to the sea, rendering nearly four years of military service before attaining his majority, for he was mustered out of the army at Louisville, KY. July 19,1865, just six days before he was twenty-one years of age.

Lyman U. HUMPHREY developed from an unsophisticated, impulsive youth into a man of self-control, with a practical knowledge of men and affairs. He felt the need of a better education, and entering Mount Union College remained there one term. Later spending one year in the law department of the University of Michigan, but his funds becoming exhausted he decided to go west, and located in Shelby County, MO., where he first taught school and then assisted in publishing the Shelby County Herald. Meanwhile Mr. HUMPHREY continued the study of law, and in 1870 was admitted to the bar in Shelby County, MO.

Early in 1871 he located at Independence, Kans., which place has continued to be his home. Here he became a founder and publisher of the South Kansas Tribune from March 1871, to June 1872. Selling his interest in this newspaper he engaged in the practice of law in partnership with Col. A.M. YORK, with whom he was associated in the practice of law up to Jan 1,1884, when Governor HUMPHREY became the President of the Commercial Bank of Independence, Ks., a bank which he, George T. Guernsey, P.V. Hockett and others had organized in the preceding month of December. In 1891, the bank became the Commercial National Bank. Mr. HUMPHREY resigned as president of the bank to assume the duties of Governor, to which office he was elected in 1888.

Gov. HUMPHREY married Miss Amanda Leonard, Dec.25th, 1872. Mrs. HUMPHREY was the daughter of the late James C. LEONARD, who came to Independence, Kan., from Beardstown, Illinois, in which latter place he was a prominent banker. Four sons were born to the union, two dying in infancy, the living are Lyman L. HUMPHREY, born July 3, 1876, and A. Lincoln HUMPHREY, born May 22, 1878. Both these sons were born in Independence, Kan. Lyman L., attended the University of Kansas for two years, and became associated with his father as above mentioned. He married Miss Elsie ANDERSON, daughter of J.M. ANDERSON, a retired merchant of Independence, Kan. Lyman L. is the father of one child, Martha Isabel. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a highly esteemed citizen. A. Lincoln HUMPHREY is a prominent farmer and stockman of Montgomery County, Kansas. Governor HUMPHREY is and has been for years prominent as a Mason, as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Loyal Legion.

Source: Kansas, Vol 3, Part 1. 1912, Standard Publishing Co., Chicago.
Contributed Nov 1999 by Jeannie Josephson

ROSS, Edmund G.

Edmund G. Ross, one of the leaders in favor of a free Kansas, a pioneer editor of Topeka, afterward United States senator to succeed Gen. James H. Lane. He was born at Ashland, Ohio, December 7, 1826; mastered the printer's trade, spent several years as a journeyman, and was engaged in newspaper work at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when Lawrence was sacked in 1856. He started overland in charge of a party of free-state men, who upon their arrival at Topeka, took the field with the anti-slavery forces. After the invaders had been driven out, Mr. Ross entered into partnership with his brother in the publication of the Kansas Tribune. He took an active interest in politics, was a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention in 1859, and at its close began the publication of the Kansas State Record at Topeka, which became a very influential republican organ. In 1860 his paper aided in calling a territorial convention to plan a scheme for securing a practical railroad system for the anticipated State of Kansas. He assisted in raising the Eleventh Kansas Infantry in 1862, and at the organization of the regiment was elected captain of a company. Subsequently Governor Carney appointed him major of the regiment, when it was changed from infantry to cavalry, and he was present with his command in all the battles in which it was engaged. In 1865 Governor Crawford appointed him aide-de-camp with the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the close of the war he became editor of the Kansas Tribune at Lawrence, and on July 25, 1866, Governor Crawford appointed him United States senator to succeed James H. Lane, deceased. During the session he incurred widespread enmity by casting the deciding vote against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. In 1872 he was one of the liberal republican leaders of Kansas who supported Horace Greeley as against Grant. On his retirement from the United States Senate, he began to publish a paper at Coffeyville, but a cyclone destroyed his office and he became associated with the Spirit of Kansas and the Standard of Lawrence. In 1882 he went to New Mexico and for a time edited a paper at Albuquerque. He was appointed governor of the territory by President Cleveland in 1885, which position he held for four years. Mr. Ross continued to live in Albuquerque until his death on May 9, 1907.

STICH, Adolph Carl

Adolph Carl Stich, who died at his home in Independence October 8, 1915, was identified with Independence more than forty years, and for many years was one of the foremost citizens of Kansas. Only one estimate could be placed on his career--it was constructive, efficient, positive, and redounded not so much to his own advantage as to the community in which he lived. He was a true type of the business and city builder. No other individual contributed so much to the material and civic advancement of Independence. The record of his life is one that can be read to advantage not only for its relations with one of the best cities of Kansas, but also because it represents the unfolding and development of a great and strong man.

He was intensely an American, though of foreign birth and parentage and representing the sturdy virtues of the German fatherland. He was born in the little Town of Stade, Hanover, Germany, October 13, 1846, a son of Carl and Eleanor (Hilbers) Stich. There were three other children: John, William and Doretta, all of whom are still living. In 1857, when A. C. Stich was eleven years old, the family came to the United States and located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where his parents spent the rest of their lives.

He attended school in Germany and also in Kalamazoo, and while he had no college training he became a man of wide information and cultured taste, largely through his experience with business affairs and the opportunities brought to him by much travel and wide reading. Like many successful men he had the wholesome environment of a farm during his youth, and for a time he worked as a farm hand at wages of eight dollars a month. From such work he saved the small capital which enabled him to embark in the agricultural implement business in Kalamazoo. He also learned the trade of cabinet maker. Before reaching his majority he invented a bed spring, patented it, and handled the invention with such prudence as to bring him his first real capital for business.

Mr. Stich and his brother John came to Independence, Kansas, in September, 1872, about three years after that town was started. They opened a stock of merchandise under the name Stich Brothers. For eleven years this firm prospered, and in the meantime the young merchants had become recognized as a force in the community and with all the subsequent development of the city and surrounding country Mr. Stich readily maintained his position as a dominant factor in business and civic affairs.

For thirty years or more Mr. Stich was perhaps most widely known in business as a banker. In 1883 he and Henry Foster bought the old established Hull's Banking House, which was one of the few financial institutions in that part of Kansas that had passed unscathed through the financial panic of the early '70s. They reorganized the bank as the Citizens Bank, and in 1891 took out a national charter and it has since been the Citizens National Bank, with Mr. Stich as president from 1891 until his death.

A complete review of his varied enterprises during the last thirty years of his life would reflect much of the progress of Montgomery County. One of his early undertakings which had much to do with fortifying the position of Independence as a city of great commercial prospects was his association with Henry Foster in promoting and building the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western Railway. They took charge of this in 1885 and completed it from Leroy to the south line of Independence Township, and in 1886 sold it to the Gould interests and it was made a part of the Missouri Pacific system, being united with the D. M. and A. line from Coffeyville to the West. Mr. Stich also organized and headed the first brick company built at Independence; was instrumental in having the first paving done; was one of the backers and part owners of the old Independence Gas Company; was one of the organizers and officers of the Western States Cement Company; helped to bring the Petroleum Products and allied organizations to Independence; built the Carl-Leon Hotel, which at the time was one of the best equipped and finest hotel structures in the state; brought the Prairie Oil and Gas Company to Independence; headed the company that built the Beldorf Theater; donated a part of the ground for the Carnegie Public Library; was one of the chief contributors to the building fund of the Presbyterian Church; assisted Washburn College, Topeka, for many years and at his death gave $100,000, and was one of the trustees of that institution; was one of the organizers of the Electric Power Company, the predecessor of the present Kansas Gas and Electric Company at Independence, and among his last acts he subscribed to the fund for paving the South Tenth Street road, and building the handsome mausoleum in Mount Hope Cemetery, where his body now rests.

It was in 1902 that Mr. Stich and his partner, G. M. Carpenter, of Elgin, Kansas, undertook the erection of the Carl-Leon Hotel, the name of which is a memorial to Mr. Stich's deceased son and also a deceased son of Mr. Carpenter. It was entirely a public spirited enterprise, and many believed that the erection of such a building was premature and inconsistent with the prospects of Independence. It had no sooner been completed than as a result of the oil boom the hotel was crowded by patronage in all its four stories, and an annex was soon completed the lower stories of which, as a result of Mr. Stich's persistent efforts, were occupied by the Prairie Oil and Gas Company.

During the early '90s, after it was demonstrated that gas and oil were to be found in Montgomery County, Mr. Stich furnished the means necessary to develop the field, and here again his confidence was more than justified, since he realized a fortune out of his investment in oil and gas properties. At the time of his death he was treasurer and one of the directors of the Western States Cement Plant, one of the most substantial industries of the city.

Mr. Stich was in politics largely for the sake of good local government He was a strong republican, served as delegate to state and national conventions, and at one time was proposed as a candidate for governor. At his death the mayor of Independence requested the closing of business houses and referred especially to his service as a former mayor and as being entitled to credit as father of the clean town idea in Independence.

It is especially appropriate that a quotation should be made from an article which appeared in one of the local papers regarding his service as mayor: "At an important time in the affairs of the city he was elected mayor in 1907 by an overwhelming majority. In five years there had been an increase in population of one hundred and forty-seven per cent and an increase in the assessed valuation of property of two hundred and thirty per cent. Extensive municipal improvements became essential and nothing gave the people more confidence in the city's future than the fact that its foremost citizen, a man of large affairs, was willing to assume the responsibilities, cares and trials of the highest municipal office. It was a time that called for a clear headed, determined man, and even those who found some delight in criticizing the administration of the time were afterwards willing to admit that as mayor Mr. Stich performed a great service to the community. He introduced thorough business methods into the city affairs and inaugurated an effective means of law enforcement. For several years there had prevailed in the city the seditious habit of alley drinking. While intoxicants could be sold under forms of law the liquor could not be consumed on the premises where the sale was made. Men of convivial habits would gather in the alleys and after drinking the liquor would leave the bottles to be gathered up by industrious boys who found a ready market for them. It was the practice of small boys to drain the bottles. This alley drink business was at its height when Mr. Stich became mayor. He at once took steps to eradicate the evil. He did not stop to ask whether men had the legal or constitutional right to gratify what he considered a debased appetite in this way; he believed they had no moral right to place within the reach of the young boys of the city the means of laying the foundation of an appetite for strong drink. The police were instructed to arrest any man found drinking in the alleys. This order was obeyed and it required but a very few prosecutions in the police courts to convince the most skeptical that a continuance of the practice was utterly impossible. The suppression of this obnoxious alley drinking was one of the most important steps ever taken in the enforcement of the prohibitory law in this city. Many men who were theoretically opposed to the principle of sumptuary laws and had come to regard the prohibitory law as one of the farces of the age, became satisfied that the great weakness of the temperance laws was the lax manner in which they were enforced, and Mayor Stich's positive and rigid enforcement gave strength to the temperance cause in making the laws accomplish their purposes and intent.

"During Mr. Stich's administration a great financial panic swept over the country. Everywhere the wheels of industry stopped, banks closed their doors in the large cities and all over the country the banks as a means of self protection were forced to issue cashiers checks. This city had been pushing rapidly forward. When men began to clamor for work Mr. Stich took the position that it would be far better for the city and for the men who needed help to keep the work of the municipal improvement in progress, thus affording the opportunity for employment and at the same time provide the city with those things so necessary to insure its continued advancement. The majority of his associates on the council accepted his views and the results was that one of the worst panics this country has seen was hardly felt in this community and had it not been for the cashiers checks issued for a short time the people of the city would have known of the panic only through the newspapers."

One of the most successful men of Kansas, Mr. Stich was as democratic in manner after attaining wealth as he had been when a poor struggling youth His positive nature of course made him enemies, but even his opponents in business or in politics gave him credit for his high mindedness and his conscientious devotion to the best ideals of life. He expressed his thoughts clearly and never attempted to conceal his real sentiments. In speech and act he was direct. It was not difficult to find where he stood on any public question. He was also loyal to the principles of the republican party, and had little sympathy with the progressive faction which arose in 1912. While his time and energies were taken up with large affairs, he never neglected that host of small things which constitute the sum of real life. He was active in the Presbyterian church, contributed generously to its causes, and was for three years president of the most widely known men's Bible classes in the state. He built a magnificent home for the comfort of his family and always kept it open to his host of friends.

The estimate of his career which appeared in an editorial in the Independence Daily Reporter at the time of his death should be quoted:

"In the death of A. C. Stich there passes from the stage of Kansas affairs one of the most interesting figures that have taken part in making the state what it is today. For while Mr. Stich's part was played mostly in this section of the state, by his connection with various benevolences in other parts of Kansas he reached out and indirectly exerted his good influence elsewhere. In his home, where he was best known, he was well beloved for his kindliness, his generosity, his fairness and his upright, clean, moral and religious life. In every sense it can truly be said of him 'he was a good man.' To know him well was to enjoy the radiance of a nature that always saw the bright and beneficent side of life. He was warm hearted, open-minded and always kindly. He always thought first of what was right; after that, of what was expedient. He clung tightly to high ideals and always followed them and the influence of his unswerving loyalty to the right had a lasting effect upon those who knew him best. As a citizen he always believed in the upbuilding of his city and county and he gave generously of his large fortune for this purpose.

"A man of deep religious experience, he approached the end with a full and comforting confidence of this life hereafter in which one meets again the loved ones who have gone before to the other side. It was this confidence that made his last days calm and peaceful and which enabled him to approach the grave in the spirit of one who 'wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.' Surely there is much in such a life as he lived to inspire and encourage and to treasure in memory."

Mr. Stich was first married at Hillsdale, Michigan, to Miss Anna Winsor, who died at Independence in 1882. She was the mother of his three children: Eleanor, Adelaide and Carl, all of whom are now deceased. In 1888 Mr. Stich married Mrs. Kathleen E. (Stoy) Raisor, and she has since presided over their stately home in Independence and is one of the notable Kansas women. Mr. Stich lost his two children Carl and Adelaide within a few days of each other in August, 1898. His son Carl was then about twenty-five years of age, and the daughter Adelaide was three years younger and had spent a number of years in completing a thorough musical education in Europe.

During the last few years of his life Mr. Stich gave much of his time to travel. In 1914 he and his wife and a party of friends visited the Holy Land and that long journey proved a severe test to his failing physical strength.

Mrs. A C. Stich by her inheritance of some of the best of old American stock and as head of the home over which she presided for so many years, is a Kansas woman of whom some special note should be made.

Her great-grandfather William Henry Stoy was the founder of the family in America, having emigrated from Germany. He was a minister of the Episcopal Church, and spent many years in preaching in Pennsylvania, where he died. Her paternal grandfather Henry William Stoy was born in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in 1782 and died in West Virginia in 1858. He was one of two sons, his brother being Gustavus Stoy. Henry William Stoy was a physician and surgeon and practiced for many years at Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and in the latter part of his life in West Virginia Mrs. Stich's father was Capt. William Stoy, who was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 1815 and died in Waynesburg of that state in 1898. A man of great talent as a musician, he was both a teacher and composer of music. At the beginning of the Civil war in 1861 he enlisted and was at the head of a regimental band of one hundred members. He was wounded while in the service and was honorably discharged after eighteen months. He was a democrat, a member of the Masonic fraternity, and belonged to the Presbyterian Church. Captain Stoy married Margaret Biggs, who was born in Ohio in 1826 and died in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1896. Her grandfather, and the great-grandfather of Mrs. Stich, was Gen. Benjamin Biggs, who served all through the Revolutionary war, going through the different grades until he became a general, and after the war the State of Ohio gave him a large tract of land for his services.

Mrs. A. C. Stich was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and finished her education in Waynesburg College. She was soon married to Thomas Raisor, who brought his young wife West to share in his courageous and unselfish pioneer experiences. To this union were born two children, Lyman, deceased, and Jessie, now Mrs. W. E. Ziegler of Coffeyville, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Stich were married in Independence, Kansas, in 1888.

Mrs. Stich entered loyally and enthusiastically into the various philanthropic plans of her late husband. For nine years she was president of the Ladies Library Association of Independence, and it was during that time that the Carnegie Library was built. Elsewhere in this work will be found an account of the Carnegie Library of Independence. The Ladies Library Association turned over all its books to the new Carnegie Library, and as the primary purpose for the existence of the association was thus fulfilled, the association was continued in a new direction, namely, for the establishment of an art gallery. Mr. and Mrs. Stich donated the first two oil paintings, one of which is by Warren Shepard, one of the foremost American artists. The art room is located on the second floor of the Carnegie Library Building. Mrs. Stich has assisted in every way both with time and money to make the art room the home of one of the best collections of art in Kansas. She is now president of the association.

Her activities of a social and philanthropic nature have extended to various parts of the state, and she has expended her time and means freely on behalf of her home city. She has done and is doing more than anyone knows and more than can be told for the betterment of the City of Independence. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is president of the City Federation of Clubs, is chairman of the Child's Welfare Committee, is a member of the City Library Board, of which she was president for several years, and for two years served as treasurer of the State Federation of Women's Clubs. She is an officer of the Kansas Day Club, which meets every year at Topeka. An active member of the First Presbyterian Church, she is president of the Woman's Missionary Society, member of the building committee which has just dedicated a $65,000 church building to which she gave largely, and altogether there is hardly a phase of philanthropic and institutional life in Independence which her energy and liberality do not touch. She also belongs to Independence Chapter of the Order of Eastern Star.

Mrs. Stich has plans drawn and will soon have under course of construction a shelter house in Riverside Park, Independence. This will be erected as a memorial to her husband and will cost $15,000.

Mrs Stich at the present writing is very active in many enterprises, manages her own aftairs, retains the enthusiasm of youth, and gives promise of many more years of usefulness.

WAGSTAFF, Thomas E.

Thomas E. Wagstaff. An attorney of long and successful experience in Montgomery County, both in Coffeyville and Independence, Thomas E. Wagstaff has been and is a leader in republican politics in the state, and a few years ago his name became known all over Kansas as a candidate for nomination to the office of governor. He lost the nomination by only a few votes. This was in 1910, when W. R. Stubbs was nominated and afterwards elected.

His family have been identified with Kansas for forty years. Thomas E. Wagstaff was born at Galesburg, Illinois, July 23, 1875, and was still an infant when brought to this state. His father, Richard T. Wagstaff, who died at Lawrenec[sic] in 1901, is said to have been the best known traveling salesman in Kansas, and was known among retail merchants, the traveling fraternity in general, and a great host of other citizens by the affectionate title of "Uncle Dick." For years he represented a hardware house of St. Louis, and traveled over all the State of Kansas. He was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1842, a son of Robert Wagstaff, a native of the same place. The Wagstaff family in Ireland were of the gentry, and back in the times of the protectorate Oliver Cromwell gave them grants of land which are still owned by their descendants. Robert Wagstaff came to America at the close of the Civil war and lived in Monmouth, Illinois, until his death. Richard T. Wagstaff came to this country in 1859 and lived in Monmouth, Illinois, until the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted in Company A of the Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, and was in service until the close of the war. At Fort Donelson he was wounded and it was these injuries sustained while fighting for his adopted country that ultimately brought about his death. After the war he returned to Monmouth, but in 1877 moved to Lawrence, Kansas. His popularity as a traveling man is further indicated by the fact that he was first grand councillor of the United Commercial Travelers. He was an active member of the Episcopal Church, and in Ireland had been educated for the ministry. He married Mary E. Jarrell, who was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, in 1849 and died at Lawrence, Kansas, in 1894. Their children, eight in number, were: Henry S., a traveling salesman living at Grand Island, Nebraska; Minnie, who died in 1891, was the wife of Dr. A. J. Anderson, a physician and surgeon at Lawrence; Robert B., a grocer at Lawrence; Richard, who died at the age of ten years; Thomas E.; Mary Belle is the wife of Meritt Jeffries, who is assistant cashier in the Reserve National Bank at Kansas City, Missouri; Charles A., who died at the age of twenty-three; and Bessie, who also died at the age of twenty-three.

Thomas E. Wagstaff had a very fine scholastic training as a preparation for his profession and public career. He attended the public school at Lawrence, graduated from high school there in 1894, and in 1897 graduated LL. B. from the law department of the Kansas State University. He then went East and pursued post-graduate work in the New York University, from which he received the degree LL. M. in 1898.

Admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Kansas June 8,1897, he did his first work as a lawyer in Lawrence, beginning in the fall of 1898 with the firm of Poehler & Mason. In 1899 he moved to Coffeyville, and was in active practice in that city until January 1, 1905. Having been elected county attorney of Montgomery County in the previous fall he moved to Independence, and gave all his zeal and energy to his public duties for the term of two years. Since then he has carried on a large civil and criminal practice at Independence, his offices being at 204 1/2 North Penn Avenue. While living at Coffeyville he also served as city attorney and Governor Stanley appointed him to fill out the unexpired term of W. E. Ziegler, who had resigned the office of judge of court at Coffeyville. This was in 1902. In a business way Mr. Wagstaff is connected with several oil companies.

He is a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, the Kansas State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, and in politics is a republican. He also belongs to the Kansas State Historical Society, has served as president of the Independent Commercial Club, is vice president of the Independent Rotary Club, and is a member of the Episcopal Church, in which he has served as vestryman. He believes in the essential principles of fraternalism, and is affiliated with Keystone Lodge No. 102, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; at Coffeyville; Keystone Chapter No. 22, Royal Arch Masons; St. Bernard Commandery No. 10, Knights Templar; Mirzah Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, was a charter member of Coffeyville Lodge No. 775, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and now belongs to Independent Lodge No. 778, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In Coffeyville in 1903 Mr. Wagstaff married Miss Jane Morna Wilson, daughter of Capt. E. E. and Morna Wilson. Her father was one of the founders of the City of Independence, was a merchant and banker, very prominent in early affairs, served as second mayor of the town in 1871, and was also county treasurer of Montgomery County. Mr and Mrs. Wagstaff have two children: Morna Bell, born December 23, 1905, and now a student in the public schools; and Robert W., born November 16, 1909.