William E. Stich

WILLIAM E. STICH. The largest general insurance office in Independence is owned and managed by William E. Stich. Mr. Stich is a brother of the rate A. C. Stich, whose career as a business man and citizen of Montgomery County has been described on other pages, where many of the details of the family history will be found.

William E. Stich was born in Hanover, Germany, February 16, 1850. His parents came to this country in 1857 and located at Kalamazoo, Michigan. His early education was received in the schools there, and in the meantime he learned to be a cabinet maker under his father, who was a master of that trade: At the age of seventeen, on leaving school, he began working in an organ factory, and remained there about six years. He then became connected with the musical merchandise house of R. D. Bulloch of Jackson, Michigan, and was manager of their store at Saginaw for nine years. In 1883 Mr. Stich came to Kansas and bought his brother's interest in a store at Paola. This was a general merchandise store and as its proprietor he conducted it for twenty-one years. Then in 1904 he moved to Ottawa, Kansas, and for a year was in the ice business. After a year's intermission, he came to Independence in 1906, and has since been in the insurance business. His offices are at 204 1/2 North Penn Avenue. He is also a stockholder in the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Mr. Stich has a comfortable home at 508 Maple Street. He is a member and former trustee of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with Fortitude Lodge No. 107, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons; Keystone Chapter No. 22, Royal Arch Masons; St. Bernard Commandery No. 10, Knights Templar, and Wichita Consistory of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite. He is also a member of Elks Lodge No. 780 and the Country Club at Independence.

In January, 1876, at Kalamazoo, Michigan, Mr. Stich married Miss Augusta S. Lewis, daughter of Hiram and Candace Lewis. Her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Stich have one child, Blanche. She was graduated from the Paola High School and attended Washburn College at Topeka, but the illness of her mother called her home before she graduated. She is now the wife of E. W. Sinclair, president of the Exchange National Bank at Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they have their home.

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