Charles Clyde Myers
CHARLES CLYDE MYERS. A young lawyer of pronounced character, whether considered from the viewpoint of his professional attainments or from the standpoint of progressive citizenship, Charles Clyde Myers has been engaged in practice at Mankato since November, 1913, and is now serving his second term as attorney of Jewell County. Like many of the members of his profession he began his career as a school teacher, and his training has been thorough and comprehensive, so that while he has been in active practice for only comparatively a short period, he has already been able to take a leading place in the ranks of his vocation.
Mr. Myers is one of the native sons of Jewell County who has "made good" in his home community. He was born on a farm in the Esbon community August 28, 1885, his parents being Frederick J. and Nannie A. (Pennington) Myers, the former of whom was born at Centerburg, Ohio, April 11, 1855, and a member of a family which, originating in Germany, immigrated to America during colonial times and located in Pennsylvania. Frederick J. Myers was reared in his native state, where he received his education in the public schools, and was still a young man when he came to Kansas, locating in Jewell County in 1880. Here he took up land, cleared and cultivated it, and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during the remainder of his life, his death occurring on his farm December 4, 1916. Mr. Myers was a sturdy and industrious man who won his fellow-citizens' confidence by his integrity and straightforward business methods, and who was a good citizen of his community, serving with fidelity and efficiency as school director and as a member of the board of trustees of White Mound Township. He was a democrat in his political adherence and took an interest in the success of his party, which he helped in campaigns as an influential member of his community. His farm, situated eight miles northwest of Esbon, and now a part of his estate, consists of 320 acres, all under a high state of cultivation and including many fine improvements which greatly enhance its value. Mr. Myers was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and on the official board thereof for many years. Fraternally he was identified with the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America. He married Nannie A. Pennington, who was born May 6, 1863, in Jefferson County, Missouri, and died on the homestead farm near Esbon June 28, 1916. They became the parents of six children, as follows: C. Clyde; Mattie, who is the wife of L. E. Pixler, engaged in farming on a property three miles south of Mankato; Bay W., who is an agriculturist with a farm near Lebanon, Kansas; Ethel L., unmarried and a resident of Jewell County, who has been a school teacher for six years in Jewell and Smith counties and is widely and favorably known as an educator; Mada B., also popular as a teacher, and now in charge of schools in Jewell County; and Fred B., engaged in farming on the homestead near Esbon.
C. Clyde Myers was educated in the public schools of Jewell County, first attending the old Salem school and later the high school at Lebanon, and then returned to the home farm, where he spent several years in assisting his father in the cultivation of the home tract. In 1907 he secured a position as a teacher in the country districts, and during something under three years had charges in the rural communities, at the end of that time coming to the decision that he needed further preparation himself. He accordingly, in 1909, attended the State Normal School at Emporia during the summer term, and was thus prepared to enter upon his studies for a broader field of effort. Since young manhood he had been anxious to follow a learned profession, and as that of educator did not satisfy his ambitions he decided upon law. In 1910 he entered the Washburn School of Law, from which he was duly graduated with the class of 1913 and the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and in September of that same year was admitted to the bar. He at once began practice at Lebanon, but remained in that community only a short time, coming on November 5, 1913, to Mankato, where he has since been engaged in a general civil and criminal practice. Both in his private practice and his official position Mr. Myers is winning a position at the bar which is a full justification of his faithful and careful preparations for his professional career. A democrat in his political views, he has been active in the ranks of his party since attaining his majority and has won the confidence and support of its leaders here. His fellow citizens saw in him a thoroughly capable, skilled and astute lawyer, and recognized him as being good official timber, so that in 1914 he was made the candidate of his party for the office of county attorney. He was duly elected thereto November 3d by a majority of 700 votes, and so capably did he discharge his duties that when he became a candidate for re-election on November 7, 1916, he received 1,300 more votes than his opponent and raised his former plurality by nearly double, an indication of the satisfaction which his fellow citizens felt in the work of his first term. Mr. Myers is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a director of the church board, a member of the Sunday school board, and secretary of the Sunday school. Fraternally he is affiliated with Mankato Lodge No. 186, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Mankato Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has various business interests, is a stockholder in the Montrose State Bank, and owns his own residence on West Main Street. Mr. Myers' clientage has already become extensive and the legal interests entrusted to him of an important character. He maintains offices in the courthouse.
On August 25, 1915, at Mankato, Mr. Myers was united in marriage with Miss Blanche Owens, daughter of the late Doctor Owens, a physician of Argonia, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Myers have no children.
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 1997.