USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II > Part 23
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Augustus D. Allen, who for some years has been actively engaged in the real estate business in Wichita, has two fads. One is that of owning and driving good horses, and the other is that of selling Kansas farms. This latter, however, is a business, and selling Kansas farms nowadays puts a man in the class of the
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diamond broker or corn king. Mr. Allen is a native of Illinois, he having been born in Hancock county, that state, on March 21, 1865. The lad's parents died when he was small, and he had to make his own way in the world. His education was acquired in the public schools of Carthage, Ill., and in the Gem City Busi- ness College, of Quincy, Ill. After leaving school Mr. Allen obtained a position as clerk in a store at Tioga, Ill., and he remained there for seven years, leaving to engage in the mer- cantile business at Keokuk, Ia., where he remained seven years. He then engaged in the wholesale egg business, in which he remained three years, and then entered the real estate field, sell- ing land in Bureau county, Illinois, until 1900, when he came to Wichita, where for a time he was connected with the Kansas Bureau of Immigration and later with the B. D. Allen Realty Company. About three years ago Mr. Allen started in the real estate business for himself and has since conducted a large busi- ness. Mr. Allen is methodical in his affairs and keeps book rec- ords of all his business. In nine years of business he brought into Kansas from other states 3,700 people, over 50 per cent of whom remained permanently. Since he was fifteen years old Mr. Allen has owned every minute of that time some sort of a horse. One of his horses, Midnight Denmark, has been shown in the model class nine times and brought home seven blue rib- bons and two reds. Mr. Allen was married in 1905 to Miss Emma Shindler, of Wichita.
Bennett D. Allen, president of the B. D. Allen Realty Com- pany, has been a resident of Wichita, Kan., for thirty-four years, . possesses the unique distinction not only of never having sought public office, but of actually having declined it after it was offered him on a silver platter, so to speak. Mr. Allen was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, February 8, 1842. His parents were Noah and Abagil (DeWitt) Allen, and his early education was obtained in northwest Missouri. He served in the Civil War in the Union army, having enlisted in the Missouri state service two years and in the Eleventh Volunteer Cavalry, and after four years' service, partly bushwhacking in Missouri, partly in Arkansas, was mustered out at New Orleans in 1865. He landed in Allen county, Kansas, in 1868, but it was not until 1876 that he made the acquaintance of Wichita, and there was not much of the city then to make acquaintance with. It looked good to him, however, and he at once began to operate in real
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estate. In 1883 he, with Cal Graham, formed the Allen & Graham Company, dealers in real estate, in a shack where the Manhattan Hotel now stands. Mr. Allen is the oldest real estate dealer in the city in point of service, save only Mr. Healy. For a while he was in the implement business, but the rest of the time loans, insurance and farm lands have been his specialty. With Oscar Smith he formed the concern of Smith & Allen, and eleven years ago the present firm of the B. D. Allen Realty Company. He has seen the city go up, go down and go up again, but whatever the vicissitudes through which it has passed he never lost his faith in its ultimate future. Mr. Allen was married in May, 1867, to Miss Cliffie A. Howard, of Oxford, Ohio. Of this union there have been no children, but they have one adopted daughter, Mrs. C. A. Truex.
James Allison was born in Columbiana county, Ohio. He lived on the farm from the age of six to twenty-one, in Morrow county, Ohio. Received his education in the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. For four years after leaving college he superin- tended the public schools in Fredericktown, Ohio. Then on account of failing health he was compelled to give up his chosen profession. A few years later he engaged in the wholesale and retail lumber business at Mansfield, Ohio, and continued in this business twenty years. He located in Wichita March, 1886, twenty-four years ago. All these years he has been actively engaged in the real estate and loan business. He has always stood for "greater Wichita." An earnest worker in the Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce.
He has represented the Fifth ward in the City Council and in the Board of Education. He has always been a Republican. For many years he was a leader of his party in the Fifth ward. He was the United States commissioner from the State of Kansas to the World's Exposition held in Paris in 1900. He was dis- tinctly a champion of the West Side. He led the forces to pave West Douglas avenue, Seneca street and University avenue, the latter two being the first residence streets paved in Wichita. He helped in many ways to locate Friends University in what was formerly known as the Garfield University property.
He has been an active leader in building Trinity M. E. church, one of the finest and largest churches in the city, now having a membership of about 800 and over one thousand enrolled in
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her Sunday School. The best thought and energy of his life has been given to superintending Sunday Schools thirty-six years.
Samuel L. Anderson, physician and surgeon, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of Fairton, N. J., where he was born February 11, 1876. His parents were Rev. S. R. and Elinor (Sawyer) Ander- son, natives of Kingston, Canada, and Tuckerton, N. J., respec- tively. Samuel M. was educated at the public schools of Kansas, Emporia College, Kansas, where he received the degree of A. B. in the class of 1900, and received his medical education at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, University of Illinois, from which he was graduated in the class of 1903. After graduating he was an interne at the West Side Hospital in Chicago for one year, and in 1904 went to Wichita, where he has since success- fully continued his practice. Dr. Anderson is a member of the American, Kansas State and Wichita Medical Associations. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. In 1903 Dr. Anderson was married to Miss Maud B. McCully, daughter of Joseph E. McCully, of Eldorado, Kan. Of this union three children have been born, Eleanor O., Ernest S. and Esther M. Rev. S. R. Anderson and family came to Kansas in 1882, where he filled a pastorate at Caldwell for eight years, and was killed by a train in Wichita in 1902, at the age of sixty-one. His widow survives and lives in Wichita.
Henry Anthony, who is associated with J. F. Warren in the ownership of the Western Iron & Foundry Company, of Wichita, Kan., is a native of the Hawkeye state, having been born at Davenport, Ia., on October 2, 1873. His parents were John and Anna (Martin) Anthony, both natives of Germany, from which country they came to the United States in the latter part of the '50s, locating in Iowa, where they still reside. Henry Anthony received his education in the public schools of Davenport, and after leaving school learned the carpenter's trade with his father and later developed into a mastery of the pattern-making trade, working for the Eagle Manufacturing Company, of Davenport, Ia., and Williams, White & Co., of Moline, Ill. In 1893 he moved to Moline, Ill., where he continued to work as patternmaker and foreman until 1901. In the spring of that year he came to Wichita and with his present partner purchased the Globe Iron Works. They organized the Wichita Manufacturing Company, having as associate C. L. Grimes. Three months later Mr.
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Grimes withdrew, and the business was continued with Messrs. Anthony and Warren as proprietors. In September, 1902, the firm was again reorganized, with George H. Bradford as presi- dent, Ted Miles as secretary and Mr. Warren as vice-president. This firm continued business until 1904, when G. C. Christopher joined the firm, Messrs. Bradford and Miles withdrawing, the firm then being made up of Messrs. Christopher, Anthony and Warren. This arrangement continued until 1908, when the firm was again dissolved and Messrs. Anthony and Warren became sole owners and proprietors of the business, which is now known as the Western Iron & Foundry Company, one of the prosperous manufacturing plants of Wichita. The firm manufactures struc- tural and architectural iron, and the output of its establishment is distributed through many states. Among the fraternal orders Mr. Anthony is a member of the Red Men, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Sons of Herrmann. He is also a member of the National Asso- ciation of Engineers and the Fraternal Aid. Mr. Anthony was married October 26, 1898, to Miss Tinnie Lage, daughter of Her- man Lage, of Moline, Ill. From this union one child has been born, viz., Augusta C.
J. A. Armour, of Bentley, Kan., is a native of the Hoosier state, where he was born in Vermillion county on January 13, 1868. His parents were James and Jane (Stewart) Armour, the father being a native of Scotland, born in Girvan, July 11, 1830, and his mother, a native of Ireland, being born in Grayabby, November 12, 1830.
The mother's father, John Stewart, was the first white man to die in Ninnescah township, Sedgwick county, Kansas, who died in 1872, and her mother dying in the same township in 1901 at the age of 97 years. The father and mother of J. A. Armour are both living, at the age of eighty years .. They had a family of eight children, all of whom are living: John, Jane, Susan, Joseph, Robert, Samuel, James A. and Margaret. John is living in Harvey county, Kan., and has two children, J. C. Armour and Mrs. Mable Murdock, both of Wichita, Kan. Jane is married to Samuel Irons, and has one adopted daughter. Susan is married to A. Sautter, of Wichita, and has a family of two children : L. J. Sautter, of Clearwater, Kan., and Mrs. Dr. L. P. Warren, of Wichita. Joseph lives in Clearwater, Kan., and has a family of three daughters. Robert lives at Galena, Okla.,
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and has a family of one son and four daughters. Robert is county commissioner of Woods county, Oklahoma. Samuel lives at Sedgwick, Kan., having a family of eight children. Margaret is married to F. E. Cutting, of Clearwater, Kan., and has a family of three sons and one daughter.
J. A. Armour's early education was obtained in the district schools of Harvey county, Kan., and later at the Commercial College of Wichita. He remained under the paternal roof until twenty-nine years old, when he crossed the line into Sedgwick county, locating on a farm in Section 5, Eagle township, where he remained until January 29, 1908, when he moved to Bentley, Kan. He engaged in the grain business in January, 1903, in Bentley, Kan., and operates one of the largest elevators in that part of the country at the present time. Mr. Armour is a mem- ber of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, the Rebeccas and the Modern Woodmen of America. He was married on June 19, 1895, at Sedgwick, Kan., to Miss Sophia K. Redinger, a daughter of John and Margaret Redinger, of Hal- stead, Kan. Of this union have been born four children, viz .: Alexander R., born September 10, 1897. Mildred Esther, born February 16, 1904. Gernaine Margaret, born January 5, 1907, and Alline Josephine, born April 8, 1910.
Mrs. Armour was educated in the district schools of Harvey county, Kansas. Mr. Armour has held minor offices as follows: Trustee of Eagle township, four years, holding that office at the present time, 1910; served a term as clerk of the township and on the school board of Sedgwick county for two years. In poli- tics Mr. Armour is a Republican and is active in the interests of his party.
J. A. Armour is one of the old settlers of Kansas, having moved with his parents from Indiana in 1872, arriving in Harvey county March 13, 1872. He comes of a long-lived family, as all of his relatives on both father and mother's side lived to an old age. His father and mother are both over eighty years old. They have eight children, twenty-eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and have never had a death in the family.
Dr. Byron E. Artman, physician and surgeon, of Cheney, Kan., was born September 19, 1853, in Indianapolis, Ind. His parents were A. and Mary Artman, of Kansas. On the paternal side the ancestry of the family is traced back to the Puritan stock, the paternal great-grandmother of the doctor having come
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to this country from Holland with William Penn. The maternal ancestry is traced to Scotland. The parents of the doctor located in Westport, Mo., in 1851, but later moved to Olathe, Kan., where the elder Artman is now living, a successful carpenter and con- tractor, at the age of eighty. Byron E. Artman's education was acquired in the district schools of Kansas. He entered the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880, and grad- uated in the class of 1888 with the degree of M. D. He began practice first in Henry county, Missouri, where he remained one year, and then removed to the state of Oregon, where he remained six years and built up a successful practice. He then returned to Kansas and located in Garden Plain, Sedgwick county, in 1894, and practiced his profession there nearly ten years, and in December, 1904, located in Cheney, where he enjoys a large and lucrative practice, built up by the successful treatment of his patients. In Cheney he maintains a hospital where he has from one to five patients all the time, and since the hospital was estab- lished he has never lost a patient. Fraternally the doctor is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Eclectic Medical Association of Kansas and Oregon and the National Eclectic Association of the United States. He is entitled to practice in four different states by virtue of his diploma, viz., Kansas, Oregon, Missouri and Ohio.
John S. Ayers, retired farmer, of Cheney, Kan., is a native of Kentucky, where he was born on December 9, 1836, in Bourbon county. His parents were Samuel Hales Ayers and Lucinda (Bondurant) Ayers. Both were natives of Virginia, the father having been born and reared in Buckingham county. The parents at an early day removed from Virginia to Jackson county, Mis- souri, John S. Ayers at the time being twelve years old. From Jackson county the family removed to Shelby county, Missouri, where the father died in 1848. His widow died in 1868 in Illinois. John S. Ayers was one of a family of fifteen children, all of whom are dead except himself. John S. Ayers was educated in the subscription schools of Kentucky and Missouri, and at the age of nineteen left home and worked on a farm for a year, receiving from 25 cents up to $10 a month for his labor. He then went to Green county, Kentucky, to a friend of his father's, who paid his way to Missouri, and in 1848 he landed at Palmyra. An uncle knew of his coming and met him there. It was the intention of John S. Ayers to explore the West and visit Pike's Peak, but his
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uncle persuaded him not to go and to stay with him, which he did, working on a farm and cleaning it up in Scotland county, Missouri, to which place he accompanied his uncle. As compen- sation for his labor John S. was to get one-fourth of the proceeds of the farm, which amounted to $35 the first year, $25 and board and clothes the second year and $40 the third year. In 1860 he was married to Miss Margaret Piper, of Scotland, Mo. Of this union there were born three children, two of whom are now living viz .: Lewis Samuel Ayers and Mary E., now Mrs. Hogarth. Mrs. Ayers died early in 1865, and in the same year Mr. Ayers married Miss Lucinda Rogers, a cousin of his first wife, in Schuyler county, Missouri. Of this union there were born thirteen children, four of whom are living, viz .: George, Thomas, John and Margaret. George is living in Oklahoma and has a family of two children; Thomas is living in the state of Washington and has two children ; John lives in Portland, Ore., and has one child. After marrying his second wife, who was living in Illinois at the time, Mr. Ayers went back to Missouri, but returned to Illinois and located in Tazewell county, where he remained one year and then came to Kansas and located in Woodson county in 1868, where he home- steaded and lived nine years up to 1877. He then sold out his farm and moved to Reno county, Kan., where he built a comfort- able home and lived there up to 1906, when he removed to Cheney and built a fine residence, where he lives retired, enjoying the sunset of an upright career. Mr. Ayers owns other valuable property in Cheney. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. When the Civil War broke out he acknowledged allegiance to the Confederacy and in 1863 enlisted in a Missouri regiment and served for two years under General Price, Army of the Missouri. Mr. Ayers was taken prisoner at Little Rock, Ark., and sent to Fort Riley, Kan., where he took the oath of allegiance to the Union and returned again to his home in Missouri. Mr. Ayers' second wife died several years ago, and he is residing alone in Cheney.
C. L. Baird,* cashier of the State Bank of Bentley, Sedgwick county, Kan., was born July 5, 1861, in Perry county, Ohio. His parents were Robert H. and Isabella (Lyons) Baird, both natives of Ohio. On the maternal side the family traces its ancestors to Scotland. Robert H. Baird, the father, moved from Ohio to Kan- sas in 1884 and resided a short time in Wichita, and then in Sunnyside, Kan., until 1901. He had the advantage of a common-
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school and academic education, and taught school several years of his life. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church for sixty years, and during nearly all that time officiated as elder. Mr. Baird was an upright citizen, who aspired to give his children all the advantages he could. For the greater part of his life he was engaged in farming in a small way. He was born October 28, 1825, and died April 15, 1906. His wife was born April 15, 1831, and now resides in Pawnee, Okla. Mr. Baird and his wife were the parents of three children, viz .: Calvin L., Sidney E. and Mary H., all of whom are now living. Calvin L. Baird obtained his education in the common schools of Perry county, Ohio, the Madison Academy at Mt. Perry, Ohio, and a business education in a college at Wichita. He began his career as a school teacher and followed that occupation for twenty years, teaching three years in Ohio and seventeen in Kansas. He con- tinued as a teacher until 1902, when he bought the interest of Mr. Jorgenson, now cashier of the First National Bank of Mt. Hope, Kan., and accepted the position of cashier in the State Bank of Bentley, which position he now holds. Mr. Baird is a member of two banking associations. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Fraternal Mystic Circle at Wichita. He owns a valuable farm near Bentley. Mr. Baird was married on May 24, 1903, to Miss Avis Smith, a daughter of Thomas J. Smith, of Bentley. One child has been born of this union : Amzie, born March 11, 1904, and now attending school. Mrs. Baird is a highly educated woman, taught school for several years, and is prominent in the Rebekah Lodge and Maccabees. She and her husband are members of the United Brethren church in Bentley.
Sidney E. Baird, superintendent of Highland Cemetery, Wichita, Kan., is a native of Ohio, having been born at Perry, that state, on October 1, 1865. His parents were Robert H. and Isabelle (Lyons) Baird, natives of Ohio, who moved to Kansas in 1885, locating in Grant township, Sedgwick county, and there resided until 1887, when they moved to Wichita. Robert H. Baird died September 15, 1907, at the age of eighty-one. His widow survives and is now living at Pawnee, Okla., with her daughter, Mary H., who has been a teacher in the Indian school at that place for ten years. Sidney E. Baird was then second child of a family of three, the others being Calvin L. Baird, of Bentley, Sedgwick county, and Mary H. Baird, of Oklahoma. Mr. Baird was educated in the
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public schools and at Madison Academy, Mount Perry, Ohio, and afterward taught in the schools of Sedgwick county from 1884 to 1896. His first year at teaching was in Ohio. In 1896 Mr. Baird took up cemetery work under Willis L. Taylor, now superinten- dent of Maple Grove Cemetery. When the division of the ceme- tery was made and the Wichita Cemetery was reorganized and changed to Highland Cemetery, Mr. Baird was chosen as its super- intendent. This was in 1908. The first organization of the Wichita Cemetery was in 1870, and the two now known as High- land and Maple Grove Cemeteries were under one corporation or management from 1899 to 1908, when the division was made. Mr. Baird was married in 1889 to Miss Lorah E. Wright, daughter of Samuel and Permelia Wright, of Indiana. Of this union five children have been born, viz .: Elsworth E., Amzie P., Lorain E., Russell M. and Katherine E.
Charles A. Baker, proprietor of the plumbing, steam, hot water and gas fitting business which bears his name in Wichita, Kan., is a native of Wisconsin, where he was born in Rio, Columbia county. His parents were Thomas and Jennie Baker, who left Wisconsin when Charles A. was only three months old, and came to Kansas, locating at Arkansas City, September, 1870, and the early education of young Baker was obtained in the grade schools of Wichita. The first business venture of Charles A. Baker on his own resources was at Hutchinson, Kan., in 1900, where for two years he did a big business in the plumbing line under the firm name of Wilson & Baker. Eight years ago he formed the co-part- nership in Wichita of Baker & Isbell, and for the past four years has been alone as Charles A. Baker. He has swung some of the largest of the very big jobs in Wichita during that time, among them being the Eagle plant, plumbing and heating apparatus; the Innes Block, Boston Store, new Michigan Building, Riverside Club, Daisy Block, and in residences the Fred Stanley home, C. M. Beachy, V. L. Branch, C. W. Carey and many others. Mr. Baker has two fads-baseball and the National Guard. He has seen service in the state militia for seventeen years, having entered the service in 1893. He has remained in continuous service ever since, and is regimental quartermaster of the Second Regiment, Kansas National Guard. He rose to the office of first lieutenant of Company A, the Wichita company, and would have been cap- tain soon had he not been elevated to the higher regimental office
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he now holds with conspicuous credit to himself and the honor of the service.
He married Lillie E. Bennett, December 5, 1895, daughter of George W. Bennett, a pioneer plumber of Wichita. To this union one child, a daughter, Marcia Helen, born June 21, 1901. Mr. Baker is a member of Albert Pike Masonic Lodge, Wichita Con- sistory, No. 2; Midian Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .; Wichita Lodge, No. 427, B. P. O. E .; Knights of Pythias; Knights of the Macca- bees ; Riverside Club.
David Walker Basham, is a prominent physician and surgeon at Wichita, Kan. A native of Breckenridge county, Kentucky, he was born in 1854, and is a son of Nathan Claybourne and Helen Josephine (Haddock) Basham. His maternal grandfather was a physician, and his father a business man and farmer. He had good educational advantages and after finishing his preliminary studies, was graduated from the Kansas City Medical College in 1884. Going to Rich Hill, Mo., Dr. Bashan practiced his profession there one year, after which he pursued a course of study in the Univer- sity of New York, where he was graduated in 1890. He then spent some time in Philadelphia in practice and research and later con- tinued his studies in surgery in Paris, France. Dr. Basham returned hither in 1895 and made his home at Neal, Kan., till 1902, when he settled at Wichita, spending much of the interval in Philadelphia and New York. Dr. Basham is widely known as a learned and skillful surgeon and maintains a suite of offices at Nos. 205, 207 and 209 East Douglas avenue, Wichita, and is ong of the surgeons practicing in St. Francis Hospital. He is also active in fraternal and social organizations, being a Mason of high degree, and holding membership in the Country, the River- side and the Commercial Clubs, and belonging to the Chamber of Commerce of Wichita.
In 1902 Dr. Basham married Miss Katherine Genevieve, a daughter of Francis and Honora Dailey, formerly of Eureka, Kan., but at that time residents of Helena, Mont., and they have two children named, respectively, David Walker, Jr., aged four and one-half years, and Francis Claybourne, aged one year.
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