USA > Kansas > Butler County > History of Butler County Kansas > Part 40
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moved to Ed Dorado, where he was engaged in active practice at the time of his death. Dr. Miller had a large practice and was one of Butler county's most able physicians. He was always a close student of the science of medicine, and in his professional work was very successful.
Dr. Miller was married December 24, 1872, to Miss Viola Waite, of Towanda. Mrs. Miller was reared and educated at Dwight, Ill., and came to Kansas with her parents, who settled in Butler county in 1871. To Dr. and Mrs. Miller were born the following children: Tessie, a graduate of the fine art school of the University of Kansas, married D. C. Porter, and is now deceased ; Pearl a graduate of Kansas University. now deputy register of deeds of Butler county, is an artist of unusual ability, was a teacher in the Douglass High School for two years and in the Ed Dorado High School for two years, and also served as a member of the county examining board while C. F. Smith was county superintendent ; Grace, a graduate of Kansas University, was a teacher in the Whitewater High School one year and the El Dorado High School two years, is now the wife of Robert Worline, a prominent attor- ney of Kansas City, Kans .; Bess, also a graduate of Kansas University, having made music a special study, resides at home; and two boys who died in childhood.
Mrs. Miller is a daughter of Simon and Maria (Denman) Waite, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. The Waite family came to Butler county in 1871, and the parents both spent their lives in this county. Mrs. Miller bears the distinction of having been one of Butler county's pioneer school teachers, being the third teacher to have charge of the Towanda schools. The first was Miss Pratt and the second, Mr. Litson, and Dr. Miller succeeded Mrs. Miller. Dr. and Mrs. Miller met and became acquainted while she was teach- ing at Towanda. Mrs. Miller is a talented musician and for a number of years taught music in Indiana and Butler county, Kansas. She is a very capable woman and has been prominent in church and club work for a number of years. She is a member of the Woman's Mutual Benefit Club and has been president of the local organization. She has also been vice-president and president of the Eighth district, chairman of the civil service committee of the State Federation of Woman's Clubs, and a member of the legislative committee of that organization. She attended the national federation at Boston as a State delegate and also the National Federation at San Francisco as the Eighth Kansas district delegate.
Mrs. Miller was president of the Woman's Mutual Benefit Club when the question of securing a Chautauqua for El Dorado was taken up by that organization, and it was largely through her efforts and un- tiring labor that the Chautauqua was brought to this county. When the Miller family lived in Towanda Mrs. Miller was active in church work and for a time was superintendent of the Sunday school and for several years was assistant superintendent. Her work among the boys was
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especially marked by success. She had charge of all the children's enter- tainments and devoted herself to her work in a way that spelled success for any occasion.
When the city took over the library, Mrs. Miller was the one to circulate the petition to get the required number of signers in order to bring the proposition to a vote. She was untiring in her efforts until it was carried through to a successful culmination and this was the first successful move to bring about the El Dorado Free Library.
Dr. Miller will be remembered as one of the best public officials that El Dorado ever had. He was elected mayor of El Dorado in 1909 and conducted the affairs of the city in such a capable and satisfactory manner that he was elected to a second term and served four years in all. The very first business letter which he wrote upon becoming mayor of El Dorado was to Andrew Carnegie concerning the establishment of a library at El Dorado. He was one of the active promoters of the library project and at the outset of his first administration appointed a live committee, who co-operated with him and made possible El Do- rado's Free Public Library, which is now one of the important institutions of this city and one of particular pride to the people of El Dorado.
Much municipal improvement was brought about by Dr. Miller's ef- forts during his two terms as mayor. The first paving in the city was done, which consisted of fourteen blocks, the first concrete crossings were laid and El Dorado's white way was also installed, as well as a great deal of other general improvements. His administration was conducted on a substantial business basis and the financial condition of the city was much improved during his two terms in office, and those who are fa- miliar with the conduct of the city's affairs for years agree that Dr. Miller was the most capable and efficient mayor that El Dorado ever had.
While Dr. Miller was mayor of El Dorado he missed but one meeting, and for seven years, while he was a member of the school board, of which he was president for a number of years, he never missed a single meeting, either special or regular. He was the first man to ad- vocate the erection of the Mckinley School building, as a separate and independent structure, which was carried out according to his plans. The original idea of other members of the board was to build an addition or an annex to the high school building, instead. He took a deep in- terest in educational matters and made an ideal public school officer. When he became a member of the El Dorado school board the financial condition of the El Dorado schools was bad. They had been taxing to the legal limit and at the same time creating a deficiency, and Dr. Miller devised a plan whereby it was possible to maintain the schools, although under this plan it was necessary to reduce the school term one month per year and also reduce the teachers' salaries, but this was the only alternative and was accepted cheerfully by those who understood the situation.
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Dr. Miller was also the first to advocate the purchase by the county of the entire square where the new court house now stands, in- stead of building that structure on the site of the old court house. The wisdom of that project is now clear to all, but at that time seemed im- possible to many. He also initiated the movement to erect the Murdock Memorial Fountain on the court house square. This work was done by popular subscription at a cost of $600 and Dr. Miller not only carried out the project, but was the largest contributor.
Dr. Miller was a member of the Fraternal Aid, the Knights and Ladies of Security. and the Modern Woodmen of America. His polit- ical affiliations were with the Republican party and he always sup- ported the polices and principles of that organization. Dr. Miller will long be remembered by the people of El Dorado and Butler county and his death is not only a great bereavement and loss to his immediate family and friends, but also a great loss to his many acquaintances and fellow citizens, who deeply appreciate his worth.
Alphius Lamont Hamilton, one of the leading attorneys of El Do- rado, is the nestor of the Butler county bar and one of the foremost legal practitioners in the State of Kansas. Mr. Hamilton was born in Harrisville, Butler county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1850, and is a son of William and Catherine (Logan) Hamilton. The Hamilton family has been prominent in America since Colonial times. The great, great grandfather of Judge Hamilton was James Hamilton, who came to New- ton township, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, with the Scotch-Irish migration of the first half of the eighteenth century. James Hamilton married Peggy Laughlin and died in 1777, leaving three sons all of whom served in the Pennsylvania militia during the Revolutionary war. His youngest son, Hugh, born near Carlisle, Pa., married Martha Moor- head and settled in Westmoreland county about the end of the eigh- teenth century. Among Hugh's sons was William Hamilton, Judge Hamilton's grandfather, who served in the War of 1812, and later be- came prominent in the State militia, rising to a brigadier-generalship. The wife of General Hamilton was Sarah Stewart. William Hamilton, the third son of Gen. William Hamilton, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, September 3, 1818, and married Catherine Logan. During the Civil war he served in the Third Pennsylvania heavy artillery, which performed a large amount of duty at the front, both by land and sea. After the war he removed to Floris, Davis county, Fowa, where he resumed his occupation of building contractor. One of the four chil- dren that accompanied the family to lowa in 1866 was A. L. Hamilton of this review. Judge Hamilton's grandfather on the maternal side, Robert Logan, also served in the Union army as a member of the famous "Roundhead" regiment, officially known as the One Hundredth regi- ment, Pennsylvania Infantry. He entered the service at the advanced age of sixty-four and died from exposure at Newport News, Va., before his three years' service was over. The maternal great grandmother of
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Judge Hamilton, Massie Dillon, when a girl of twelve years was captured. scalped and left for dead by the Indians in a raid at Phillipsburg, N. J., both of her parents being killed at the same time. She was afterwards found by white settlers and finally recovered. Her father, Isaac Dillon, of New Jersey, was a soldier in the Continental army in the War of the Revolution.
Judge Hamilton secured his preparatory education in the public schools and Harrisville Academy, in his native county, and at Iowa City, Iowa. He read law with Gen. James B. Weaver, who was a candidate for President of the United States in 1880 and again in 1892, at Bloom- field, Iowa, and later with Judge Williams, of Ottumwa, Iowa. Being thus prepared, he entered the law department of the University of Iowa, in which he completed the prescribed course and graduated as a mem- ber of the class of 1871, being admitted to the bar in June of the same year at Des Moines, Iowa. He forthwith began the practice of his pro- fession, removing to Emporia, Kans .. July 12, 1871, at which place he began the practice of law with Ed S. Waterbury as an associate. In the following April he located in El Dorado, Butler county, where he has since continued his work, devoting his attention to the general lines of practice. In 1886 he formed a partnership with J. K. Cubbison and this association continued until 1890, when the firm of Clogston. Hamil- ton, Fuller & Cubbison was organized with offices in El Dorado, Eureka and Kansas City. In 1892 this firm was dissolved, and Mr. Hamilton later formed a partnership with Bruce R. Leydig, under the firm name of Hamilton & Leydig, which association continued until March 1, 1916, when the partnership was dissolved. Recently Judge Hamilton has associated himself with James Blaine McKay, late of Olathe, Kans., under the firm name of Hamilton & McKay, for the general practice of law. Politically, Mr. Hamilton is a Republican, influential in the councils of his party and strong in the advocacy of its cause. He was elected county attorney of Butler county and served during the years 1877-1878. In 1887 he was elected judge of the Twenty- sixth Judicial District, but resigned the position after about one year's service, preferring the active practice of his profession 'to the bench. He is very successful in his practice, a large part of which is in the United States courts, and he is the attorney for the Citizens' State Bank of El Dorado and also for the Missouri Pacific railway and other im- portant corporations. He is a member of both the Kansas State and the American Bar Associations.
On August 12, 1873, Judge Hamilton was married to Jennie, daugh- ter of Joseph Carr, of Augusta, Kans., and who was a pioneer of Butler county, living to the advanced age of niney-six years and having cast his first presidential vote for Henry Clay in 1832. To Judge and Mrs. Hamilton have been born the following children: Dillon. a prominent dental surgeon, of El Dorado; Homer, a graduate of the Kansas City College of Law, class of 1899, and is now practicing his profession in
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Kansas City, Mo., and Hugh, a graduate of the Kansas City Dental Col- lege, and now a resident of Kansas City, Mo. The family is among the leading citizens of Butler county.
John Bunyan Adams .- To the citizens of the State of Kansas, Mr. Adams is favorably known, through his service in connection with the work of its Legislature, of which, for six years, he was a member; as a prominent and influential member of the Republican party, chairman of its State convention, in 1904, and acclaimed by many as of Congres- sional timber. The banking fraternity, he is known as one of the most progressive, capable, and successful men in the Kansas field of finance, and to the residents of Butler county, he is known as one of her native sons, who, through well directed effort, untiring energy, honesty and cleanliness in his business, political and social relations, has achieved well deserved honor and position as well as great personal popularity.
John Bunyan Adams was born on his father's farm, near Potwin, Butler county, Kansas, March 25, 1873, son of Amos and Nancy M. (Cain) Adams, members of old and honored American families. The Adams family was founded in America by Joshua Adams, who immi- grated to Massachusetts colony from England, in 1660, and settled in Braintree. The family has been representative of the best citizenship and its sons fought in the French and Indian, the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and have been active factors in the growth and develop- ment, from a pioneer standpoint, of Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Illinois and Kansas. William Adams, the grandfather of John B. Adams, was a native of Hagerstown, Md., who came as a pioneer to Ful- ton county, Illinois, in 1835, and there became a successful farmer and a citizen of influence. His brother, Joseph Adams, came to Kansas in 1859, and settled three miles north of Potwin,' Butler county, where he was a pioneer and achieved success in his pursuits.
Amos Adams, son of William Adams and father of John B., was born in Vermont, Fulton county, Illinois, February 25, 1843. He served as a soldier in the Civil War, being a member of Company D, One Hundred and Fifty-first Illinois infantry. This regiment was organized at Quincy, Illinois, and was mustered into the United States service February 23, 1865, for one year. It was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, February 8, 1866. Shortly after his discharge Mr. Adams came to Butler county, Kansas, where his uncle, Joseph Adams, had resided since 1859. He took up a homestead near Potwin, and engaged in farming. During a residence of forty years in Butler county, Mr. Adams was a potent foctor in many phases of her growth and develop- ment. He acquired extensive holdings in choice farm land, banking in- terests of value, improved business and residence property, both in Pot- win and El Dorado, was an influential Republican, but would never accept public office. He was actively identified with the Christian church and extended to it generous support. With the late N. F. Frazier, he was one of the organizers of the 'State Bank of El Dorado
1.3. Adam:
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
and was for several years its vice-president. Mr. Adams married, on April 18. 1866, Nancy M., daughter of Jesse Cain, M. D., of Fulton county, Illinois, one the prominent physicians of that section of Illinois. They were the parents of seven children. John Bunyan is the eldest ; Myrtle E. is the wife of Milo E. Ball, of Potwin, Kans .; Fern and Olive are deceased, and Rectina L. Johnson, of Potwin, Kans. Two girls died in early childhood. Olive died on November 30, 1911 ; Fern on February II, 1915. The father died April 26. 1904, and the mother on September 9, 1914.
John Bunyan Adams secured his early education in the schools of Butler county and subsequently entered the Salina Normal University, at Salina, where he was graduated with the class of 1893. He taught school in Butler county during the school years of 1890-94. In May, 1894, he founded the "Leon Press," at Leon, which he conducted there until January, 1895, and then removed his plant to Augusta, and changed the name of the paper to "Augusta Press." He sold this news- paper in September, 1896, and removed to El Dorado, where he accept- ed the position of teller in the Farmers & Merchants National Bank. In July, 1899, in company with the late Nathan F. Frazier, he found- ed the Citizens State Bank, of El Dorado, and was made cashier of the same. On the death of Mr. Frazier, in 1907, he became the active mana- ger of the bank and continued as such until 1909, when he disposed of his interest in the institution. He immediately organized the Butler County State Bank, with a capital of $25.000, which at this writing, 1916, has surplus and profits of $7.500.00, deposits of $325,000.00, and it has paid during its seven years of business life satisfactory dividends to its owner. Mr. Adams is the cashier, managing executive and its controlling stockholder. He is also a stockholder and vice-president of the State Bank of Douglass, Kans. In 1903 he served as vice-president, and in 1904 as president of the Kansas State Bankers' Association. These honors came to Mr. Adams in the first eight years of his banking career, an exceedingly high compliment to his value as a bank execu- tive and as an active and influential factor in the State organization.
As chairman and as a member of the Committee on Banks and Banking in the lower house of the State legislature, sessions of 1899. 1901, and 1903, he was successful in securing the passage of several amendments, of which he was the author, to the banking laws. A member of the Republican party, he was elected to the legislature. first in 1898, and reelected in 1900 and again in 1902, serving in all six years. During the session of 1901, he served as chairman of the Committee on Penal Institutions, and during the session of 1903 he was chairman of the Committee on Banks and Banking and a member of this committee during his three terms of service. He was also a member of the judiciary committee. In 1904 he was nominated for the office of State senator. but, with his party, was defeated at the ensuing election. In this year he served as chairman of the Republican State convention. In 1912 Mr.
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Adams was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress against Victor Murdock, but was unsuccessful on account of arraying himself against the Roosevelt sentiment of his district. In 1916, he was elected one of the two delegates from the 8th district to the Republican National convention held at Chicago when Hughes was nominated for President.
During his banking life he has found time to study law and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1899, but has never entered upon the practice of that profession, his object in qualifying himself for the bar being to as- sist him in his banking enterprises. Mr. Adams is the owner of several tracts of valuable farming land in Kansas and Oklahoma, and he man- ages for his wife a 1,000-acre farm situated twenty-five miles south of Kansas City, and which is one of the beautiful places of northwestern Missouri. Mr. Adams has attained to the Knights Templar and Scot- tish Rite degrees in Masonry and is affiliated with Midian Temple Shrine of Wichita.
On November 29, 1905, Mr. Adams wedded Miss Edna Frazier, on- ly daughter of the late Nathan F. Frazier, of El Dorado (see sketch), and they have two children : Frank Frazier, born October 10, 1907, and John Bunyan, Jr., born January 20, 1911. Mrs. Adams is a lady of cul- ture, a great favorite in social circles, of which she is a leader, and their home on Walnut Hill, El Dorado, is the scene of many gracious hos- pitalities.
Frederick E. Dillenbeck, M. D., of El Dorado, is one of Butler county's leading physicians and surgeons. Dr. Dillenbeck was born near Governour, St. Lawrence county, New York, April 4, 1867, and is a son of Charles B. and Helen (Visscher ) Dillenbeck ; a sketch of Charles B. Dillenbeck appears in this volume. Dr. Dillenbeck attended the public schools in his native State, and in 1882 came to Butler county. Kans., with his parents and the family settled five miles west of El Dorado, where the father bought a ranch of 640 acres, known as the Dillenbeck ranch. The family remained on the ranch during the summer seasons and lived in El Dorado during the winter months, and Dr. Dillenbeck worked on the farm and attended school in El Dorado in winter.
When he was about seventeen years of age, Dr. Dillenbeck went to work in Dr. Bassett's drug store at El Dorado and for eleven years was employed in that store, although it changed hands four different times. When Dr. Dillenbeck entered Dr. Bassett's employ he received six dollars per month and at the end of eleven years, when he resigned, he was receiving $150 per month. While he was employed here he studied pharmacy and passed the State board, thus becoming a full- fledged pharmacist. About the time Dr. Dillenbeck resigned his posi- tion at the drug store, he bought a pony, which he shipped to the terri- tory and took part in the race at the opening of the strip in 1893. After a wild and hazardous chase he was fortunate in getting a lot, one-half a block from the court house square at Perry, Okla. This was a valua-
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ble piece of property, even at that time, and he traded and bought and sold real estate in the new town of Perry for a time, and soon cleared $1,800. He took this money and entered the University Medical College at Kansas City, Kans., and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1896 with the degree of doctor of medicine. After grad- uating, Dr. Dillenbeck engaged in the practice of his profession at El Dorado. He had a large practice from the start and for twenty years he has been uniformly successful in the practice of his profes- sion. He specializes in X-ray, electro-therapeutics and diseases of women. Dr. Dillenbeck is a close student of the science of his pro- fession and has taken a great deal of post-graduate work in Chicago and Kansas City, and he is also a graduate of the College of Electro- Therapeutics of Indiananpolis, Ind.
During all these years that Dr. Dillenbeck has been engaged in practice in El Dorado, his offices have been located at the same place, 1071/2-1091/2 second floor, South Main Street, and here he has one of the largest and best equipped offices to be found in the State of Kan- sas. His suite consists of five rooms. He has a complete X-ray outfit, which is equipped with one of the largest coils made, which gives the machine the greatest possible efficiency, and he has a full electrical equipment. He also has one of the best private libraries in Butler county.
While Dr. Dillenbeck was employed in the drug store in El Dorado, he received the appointment of hospital steward in the Second regiment of the Kansas National Guard, under Major-Sur- geon Frank C. Armstrong, and held that position in the National Guard until he was graduated from medical college in 1896. At that time he was appointed lieutenant-surgeon of the Kansas National Guard by Governor Morrell, and in September, 1899, he was ap- pointed captain-surgeon of the Kansas National Guard by Governor W. E. Stanley, and in 1900 he was appointed major-surgeon of that organization by Governor Stanley and held that position until 1910. when he resigned, owing to the fact that he was unable to attend to the duties of that office and give his private practice the atten- tion which he felt that he owed to his patients.
Dr. Dillenbeck was united in marriage June 4, 1890, with Miss Grace Scott, a native of Keokuk, lowa. She is a daughter of James and Jennie M. (Best) Scott. The Scott family came to El Dorado when Mrs. Dillenbeck was a young girl and here she was reared and educated. The mother is now deceased and the father resides with Doctor and Mrs. Dillenbeck. To Dr. Dillenbeck and wife have been born two children: Robert, an automobile salesman, El Dorado, and Floyd, in the employ of the El Dorado Electric and Refrigerating Com- pany, El Dorado. Both of the boys reside at home with their par- ents.
Dr. Dillenbeck is prominent in lodge circles, being a thirty-
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second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He belongs to the Wichita Consistory, and he is a member of the Mystic Shrine, Midian Tem- ple. Wichita, and A. F. and A. M., No. 79, El Dorado. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and a num- ber of fraternal insurance companies. Dr. Dillenbeck is a medical ex- aminer for a number of old line life insurance companies, and is local surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and he is consulting surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Association, the Military Surgeons of the United States, the Clinical Congress of Sur- geons of North America and the American Association of Railway Surgeons. He is a director in the Kansas Central Indemnity Com- pany of Hutchinson, Kans., and is president of the El Dorado Oil and Gas Company. ?
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