Bigler B. Basore

BIGLER B. BASORE. When he first came to Kansas a number of years ago Mr. Basore was in the role of teacher, and he did some successful school work as teacher and principal in several communities. He has been a farmer, traveling salesman, and is now a leading banker at Lyons, being cashier of the People's State Bank of that city.

Mr. Basore was born at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in September, 1873, a son of Peter and Rosa (Bigler) Basore. His grandfather, Peter Basore, was born at Marseilles, France, in 1807, came to America in early life, and for many years followed farming in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1875. He married Mary Curtis, who was born at Frankfort, Germany, in 1809, and died in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in 1889.

Peter Basore, father of the Lyons banker, was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, in 1851 and spent his active career there as a farmer. He died in Franklin County in 1900, at the age of forty-nine. He was a republican and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, Rosa Bigler, was born in Franklin County in 1853, and was an infant when her father, William Bigler, died. William Bigler was a native of Pennsylvania, of German descent, and was one of Pennsylvania's distinguished sons, having been honored with the office of governor. He died at Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Rosa Bigler Basore died in Franklin County in 1915. Bigler B. was the oldest of her three children, and the only son. Annie E. is the wife of Harry Dougherty, a farmer in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, while Bessie, the youngest of the family, married John Rotz, also a farmer in Franklin County.

Bigler B. Basore grew up in his native county, where he had the advantages of the common schools, and in 1894 graduated from the Chambersburg Academy. In the meantime, at the age of sixteen, he taught his first term of school in Franklin County, and altogether he taught school there for seven years. On going west he was principal of the schools at Longmont, Colorado, one year, and in 1903 came to Kansas and was principal of schools at Hudson three years.

In 1906 Mr. Basore went on the road as traveling salesman for the Stafford County Flour Mills. For three years he sold the product of these mills to the jobbing trade, covering territory from the Mississippi River to the State of Maine, 35,000 miles every year. He gave up his position in this line in 1909 to enter banking at Galva, Kansas, where he organized the Farmers State Bank. He filled the post of cashier with the bank until December, 1916, when he removed to Lyons and organized the Peoples State Bank. This bank has capital and surplus of $27,500, and in less than a year has become securely established among the financial institutions of Rice County. The officers of the bank are: Harvey Wiggins, president; H. C. Taylor, vice president; B. B. Basore, cashier. The bank is located on Main Street in a new building erected in 1917.

In 1917 Mr. Basore erected a fine residence on Douglas Avenue in Lyons, his being one of the two best homes in the city. He formerly owned a farm at Galva and is a stockholder in the Kansas Reserve State Bank at Topeka and the Farmers State Bank at Mitchell, Kansas. Mr. Basore is a republican and a member of the Christian Church. He is a man of wide experience and culture. In 1900 he visited Europe and toured France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium and England, and visited the birthplaces of his grandparents in France and Germany.

Mr. Basore married at Meriden, Kansas, in 1904, Miss Bertha Peebler. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Peebler, live at Meriden, where the father is a retired farmer. William Peebler is one of the survivors of the old plains days. When the buffalo still covered the western plains before the railroad era he was a government team master from Leavenworth to Denver, and went with many caravans made up of wagons drawn by ox teams over this vast stretch of intervening country. He also served through the Civil war as a soldier. Mr. and Mrs. Basore have two children: Britton, born December 23, 1909, and Isabel, born July 10, 1911.

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