Robert Bruce Spilman
ROBERT BRUCE SPILMAN. The only son of the late Judge R. B. Spilman still living in Manhattan is Robert Bruce Spilman, Jr. He was born in Manhattan September 7, 1875, and that city has always been his home. He attended the public schools, and in 1894 entered the halls of his father's Alma Mater, old Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He continued his studies at Wabash until 1896. Returning home he occupied himself with various lines of employment until 1900, and in that year was elected clerk of the District Court for Riley County. Since beginning his duties as clerk of the District Court in January, 1901, Mr. Spilman has been continued in that office by repeated elections and now has given the office the benefit of his efficient service for fifteen years. For seven years he was also a partner in a hardware firm in Manhattan, and since selling that interest he has acquired an abstract business and still operates that.
He is a republican in politics and has long been a ruling elder in the First Presbyterian Church and is superintendent of its Sunday school. In 1903 he married Willa Wood of Angola, Indiana. They have one son, Raymond Spilman.
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 by Carolyn Ward, instructor from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, September 1997.