Biographies Index

BUTLER COUNTY, KANSAS

BIOGRAPHIES

FRAZIER, NATHAN FRANK

Nathan Frank Frazier. To have accomplished so notable a work as did the late Nathan F. Frazier, in connection with Kansas banking would prove sufficient to give precedence and reputation to any man, were this to represent the sum total of his efforts; but Mr. Frazier was a man of broad mental ken, strong initiative, and distinct individuality, who left not only a lasting impression in the field of enterprise mentioned but also was a most potent factor in the commercial and agricultural development of southern Kansas, and his activities were of importance in Oklahoma and Missouri.

Nathan F. Frazier was a native of Iowa, born on his father's farm, in Henry county; near the town of Salem, Oct. 13, 1846, a son of Francis H. and Lydia (Fisher) Frazier. The father was a native of Indiana and a descendant of an old Quaker family, antedating the Revolutionary war. He removed from Indiana to Iowa prior to its organization as a territory, becoming one of its earliest pioneers. Of the children of Francis H. and his wife, four survive: Mrs. Caroline Campbell, Mrs. Charlotte Williams and Levi Frazier, residents of Salem, Iowa; and Seth Frazier, of Eldorado, Kan.

The childhood of Nathan F. Frazier was spent on his father's farm in Iowa, and his education was obtained in the district schools of his native county. Early in the '60s, while yet in his teens, he left home to become a wage earner, his equipment consisting of a pair of willing hands and a stout heart. In company with another boy from his home neighborhood, he journeyed to Kansas and secured employment as a driver for the Ben Halliday stage line, their route running from Hays, westward. Indians and numerous outlaws frequented the section and the occupation was one of hazard, so much so that the stages ran two together, one for passengers and the other carrying soldiers as guards. Later, Mr. Frazier and John Betts purchased a wagon train, and with oxen as motive power freighted to California. The direct result of his schooling among frontiersmen and all classes who broke the way for civilization was made manifest in his after life, by his firmness and coolness under all conditions, his quick and ready insight and unerring judgment, and his keen perception of human nature.

In 1868 Mr. Frazier and his associate, Mr. Betts, disposed of their freighting equipment and, with a combined capital of $3,000, located in Eldorado, where they engaged in the grocery business, Mr. Betts attending to the selling, while Mr. Frazier hauled the goods from Leavenworth, Lawrence and Emporia. The Osage Trust and the Diminished Reserve Lands had just been opened and settlers were flocking into the rich Walnut Valley; various industries were springing up in Eldorado, and their business was a profitable one. Mr. Frazier took up a homestead on Turkey creek and spent a portion of his time there in farming. Later, with C. M. Fouke, he engaged in the general merchandise business. His initial enterprise in the field of banking, in which he afterward realized more than state-wide prominence, was in 1880, when with Gen. A. W. Elle, he established the Bank of Eldorado, as a private concern, with a capital of $10,000. This business was disposed of, in 1885, to W. T. Clancy, and Mr. Frazier organized the Merchants' Bank of Eldorado, of which Gen. Alfred W. Ellet was president and he cashier. This later became the Merchants' National Bank and absorbed the Exchange National, the merged institutions becoming the Farmers' & Merchants' National Bank of Eldorado, with Mr. Frazier as president. In 1899 Mr. Frazier disposed of his holdings in this institution and organized the Citizens' State Bank of Eldorado, known as the Frazier Bank, in which he was the dominant executive until his death, in 1907, and which, during the nine years of his management, became the largest, as regards deposits, in Butler county. His record in the establishment, conduct and success of banks in Butler county is without parallel, and he was justly proud of his record as a banker. He had early in life acquired the habit of work, and the desire, the habit and the love of making money. His shrewd business judgment, keen insight in business affairs and his knowledge of men and things, coupled with his indomitable will and energy, enabled him to rank with the leading financiers of the West, and to win even a national reputation as such that was enviable. He held extensive commercial relations, aside from his banking interests, having mining interests in lead and zinc at Joplin, Mo., stocks in street railway and other corporations, and large bodies of valuable farming lands in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. He organized and was president for many years of the Okla-homa Mortgage & Trust Company of Guthrie, Okla., which did a large and exceedingly profitable business. In 1896 he purchased from the receiver, Maj. W. N. Ewing, the assets of the Wichita National Bank, comprising some of the most valuable improved business property in Wichita and paid all claims against the failed institution in full, realizing a handsome profit from the holdings. He also, for a number of years, had valuable hay contracts with the Kansas City Stock Yards Company, buying extensively in Kansas and adjoining states. He was an ambitious and tireless worker, conservative in his business methods, and his business integrity and honesty were unquestioned. He left at his death one of the largest estates in Kansas, an estate which represents the brain, pluck and energy of one man who, with his peculiar natural tact, ever saw the propitious moment and availed himself of it.

Though essentially a business man, Mr. Frazier was interested in public affairs, and during the course of his career served as city councilman of Eldorado, as postmaster, and as auditor of Butler county. In politics he was a Republican.

On Feb. 4, 1872, Mr. Frazier married Miss Emma, daughter of Squire John Crook of Eldorado, a pioneer of 1867. They were the parents of three children, Ray E., Nathan F., Jr., and Edna, the wife of Hon. J. B. Adams, who with the widow survive. (See sketches of Ray E. Frazier, Nathan F. Frazier and J. B. Adams.)

The tributes of respect and in many cases of affection called forth by the death of Mr. Frazier have seldom been equaled in the state in the passing away of a citizen. His own standard of life was high and it was seen in the development of what grew to be, under his direction, one of the most successful banking institutions in Kansas. In a large measure his life work was finished; it had met to a great extent the fullness of his ambition. But infinitely more precious and of personal consequence to him was the fact that he died rich in the possession of a well earned popularity, in thee esteem which comes from honorable living, and in the affection that slowly develops only from unselfish works. In his business life he was the embodiment of honor, as he was in his social and domestic life, the perfection of love and gentleness. (Kansas Biography, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 832-834, Transcribed by: Millie Mowry) (A picture of Mr. Frazier may be obtained by contacting the contributor at Rock2Plate@aol.com)

FRAZIER, NATHAN FRANK JR.

Nathan Frank Frazier, Jr., capitalist and banker, resides in Eldorado, the city of his birth, where he was born March 13, 1882. He is a son of the late Nathan Frank Frazier and wife, who, prior to her marriage, was Miss Emma Crook. He was reared in his native town and there received his preparatory education in the public schools, then entered Lake Forest Academy, Lake Forest, Ill., from which institution he was graduated in 1903. After graduation he was employed at Kansas City, Mo., for a short time, and then returned to Eldorado, where he became associated with his father, and assisted him in handling the tatter's extensive business interests. In 1905 he, with his father and brother, Ray E. Frazier acquired large oil properties in southeastern Kansas and Oklahoma, and organized several oil companies, with headquarters at Bartelsville, Okla. Our subject became an officer and director in these companies and still retains those interests, which have increased in value and have been very profitable. Mr. Frazier is a director and one of the largest stockholders in the Citizens' State Bank of Eldorado. He also has large holdings in farm and grazing lands in Kansas and Oklahoma, and owns and operates a farm comprising 1,000 acres, a few miles west of Eldorado, where he with Mr. Rainey are extensively breeding fine hogs, principally the registered Duroc stock.. This farm includes in its acreage some of the richest bottom land in the state, equipped with the most modern improvements and in fact is one of the model farms of the state.

On Sept. 28, 1905, Mr. Frazier was united in marriage to Zona, daughter of Harry T. Brown, of Eldorado, and to their union has been born one daughter, Sarah Margaret, born Jan. 19, 1909. Mrs. Frazier comes from one of the best families of the state and is a prominent and popular participant of the social life of Eldorado. Her pleasant home is often the scene of gracious hospitality. Mr. Frazier is a prominent member of the different Masonic organizations, being a member of Patmos Lodge No. 79, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Eldorado Chapter Royal Arch Masons; a Scottish Rite Mason of Wichita Consistory No. 2, and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, Midian temple, of Wichita. He is also a member of Wichita Lodge No. 427, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Frazier has inherited much of his father's business acumen and ability, which added to the excellent training received from the latter in the direction of his large and varied interests, has well fitted him to carry forward the prestige which the Frazier family has attained as financiers in the commercial world. (Kansas Biography, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 835-836, Transcribed by: Millie Mowry)

FRAZIER, RAY E.

Ray E. Frazier, president of the Citizens State Bank of Eldorado, Kan., was born in Eldorado, Sept. 15, 1876. He is the eldest son of the late Nathan Frank Frazier and Emma (Crook) Frazier. He received his education in the public schools of Eldorado and at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Mo., graduating at the latter school in 1895. He began his business training as an employee in a minor position in the Merchants National Bank, of which his father was president. There he evinced an aptitude for business life and applied himself so earnestly to his duties that upon the organization of the Citizens State Bank he was made assistant cashier, from which position he was successfully promoted to be cashier and then vice-president. On the death of his father in 1907 he succeeded him as president of the bank and has ably carried forward the extensive interests of that institution. He has inherited his father's keen business insight and is possessed of a pleasing personality and a faculty of making friends and holding them. He has extensive interests in oil and farm lands in Kansas and Oklahoma and owns valuable farm lands in Missouri. On June 17, 1903, Mr. Frazier married Miss Henrietta Ellet, daughter of Edward C. Ellet, the former banking associate of Mr. Frazier's father. Mr. Ellet was for many years a resident of Eldorado, but is now living in California. Mr. and Mrs. Frazier have one child--Henrietta, born Nov. 13, 1905. Notwithstanding the arduous duties attendant to his large business interests, Mr. Frazier finds time to participate in the social and fraternal life of Eldorado, and the love of athletics and outdoor sports gained in college days is still indulged, principally by hunting and fishing. In politics he is a Republican. He has attained to the Scottish Rite degrees in Masonry and is affiliated with Midian Temple Shrine, Wichita. Mrs. Frazier, a woman of culture and of rare personal qualities of friendship, is a recognized social leader in Eldorado and presides with charming grace and hospitality in a delightful home. (Kansas Biography, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 834-835, Transcribed by Millie Mowry)

FRAZIER, SETH

Seth Frazier, a prominent citizen and a substantial business man of Eldorado, Kan., was born near Salem, Henry county, Iowa, Nov. 1, 1851. He is a son of Francis H. Frazier, who was one of the earliest settlers in Iowa, having located there prior to its organization as a territory. He removed to Iowa from Indiana, in which state he was born and reared, the descendant of a Colonial Quaker family from the East, who settled in Indiana at an early day.

Seth Frazier was reared on the Iowa farm and there assisted his father in the duties incident to that vocation. In 1880 he established a lumber and livery business at Delta, Keokuk county, Iowa, and was there engaged in that line of endeavor until the spring of 1886, when he came to Eldorado, Kan., which city has since remained his home. He established a coal business in Eldorado in connection with which he conducted a transfer and hack line, which enterprise proved a very profitable one. In 1905 he engaged in the retail lumber business, handling all kinds of builders' supplies. This also has proved a profitable venture. In connection with the interests mentioned above Mr. Frazier has also engaged in the banking business, having been with his brother, the late Nathan Frank Frazier, one of the organizers of the Citizens' State Bank of Eldorado and a director of the same since its organization. He has also been an extensive owner and dealer in western Kansas lands. See sketch of Nathan F. Frazier, Sr.

Mr. Frazier has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Rebecca Riesicker of Salem, Iowa, to whom he was married Dec. 12, 1874. She died in March, 1896. His second marriage occurred on Jan. 11, 1899, when Miss Clara Kilpatrick became his wife. She is a daughter of Alex Kilpatrick, a resident of St. Louis, Mo. To Mr. and Mrs. Frazier have been born two children: James S., born Feb. 18, 1900; and Frances, born March 23, 1907. In his business career Mr. Frazier, like his brother, the late Nathan Frank Frazier, the well known financier, carved his way to success through the sheer force of his own industry and ambition. When he began to work independently his only capital was a good business head, a pair of industrious hands and the will to do. He has won a distinctive success and well deserves representation among the strong and influential men of Kansas. He is a Republican in his political views and is an active worker in behalf of his party. During the twenty-five years that he has been a resident of Eldorado he has entered into the public life of the city and has shown a commendable interest in all that touches the general welfare of the community. Both as a business man and as a progressive, public spirited citizen he ranks among the most prominent in Eldorado. Mrs. Frazier is a member of the Presbyterian church and prominently participates in the social life of the city, being an active member of the different clubs and social organizations inaugurated for the promotion of the general good. (Kansas Biography, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Transcribed by: Millie Mowry)

ROBISON, JAMES W.

James W. Robison. During her fifty years of statehood Kansas has offered opportunity to many men to exercise their talents, energy and capital in the development of her great natural resources. In the annals of her growth no one man, realized greater personal success, nor was more highly honored than he whose name initiates this review. The State of Illinois, in which he lived and labored for fifty-three years, acclaimed him one of her foremost agriculturists and gave him public office, in which he served with honor and distinction. In 1884 he came to Kansas, where previously he had purchased a large body of land. With ample capital, ripe experience and unimpaired energy, he became one of the most potent influences in the agricultural development of his adopted state, her most extensive farmer, a horse breeder of national reputation, and was honored with important public office. He was chairman of the board of railway commissioners and president of the state board of agriculture, and his incumbency of these offices offered scope for his great initiative, constructive and executive talents. His death in 1909 concluded twenty-five years of unceasing effort in promoting along scientific lines agricultural betterment within the borders of his adopted state.

James W. Robison was a native of Scotland and was born near Banff March 19, 1831, son of James and Isabella (Leslie) Robertson. James Robertson was a railroad contractor and in 1831 brought his family to America, where he engaged in railroad construction. He built the first railway in Michigan and other lines in Pennsylvania and Illinois. In the last named state he was given a considerable body of land in Tazewell county in part payment for services. There he located about 1835 and engaged in farming. The grants to these lands were made out in the name of James Robison and this style of spelling the family name was retained by him. Mr. Robison became one of the wealthy, influential and honored citizens of central Illinois, and his sons and grandsons have been prominently identified with the commercial, political and social life of that section.

James W. Robison secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of Tremont, Ill. He then matriculated in the Illinois College at Jacksonville and completed the prescribed literary course in that excellent institution. He was a lover of nature and his inclinations led to agricultural pursuits. Thirty years of his life were given to farming in Illinois and his ability in this field of endeavor resulted in his becoming known as one of the most progressive and successful farmers of the state. He was one of the first to give close attention to and avail himself of scientific information in the operation of his agri-cultural interests. His first fruit orchards were his pride and he was familiarly known throughout the state as "Apple Robison."

While on a visit to Kansas in 1879 Mr. Robison purchased a tract of land embracing 3,840 acres along the Whitewater river in Butler county. He brought his family to Eldorado in 1884 and located on his land at Whitewater Falls, four miles north of Towanda, where he erected a fine residence and modern farm buildings. He was the first to grow alfalfa in Kansas and was a persistent advocate of wheat as the staple and most profitable crop for his section of the state, his advocacy of the latter earning for him the title of "Wheat Robison." He added by purchase to his original holdings until he farmed, with the assistance of his sons, 17,000 acres. He gave to his farming interests the close attention to detail, broad progressiveness and untiring energy which mark the successful man, whatever his field of endeavor. His properties represented some of the choicest lands in Kansas; the improvements were the best that money could purchase; stocked with the best bred animals to be secured, and in all respects a farm enterprise which through comprehensive management reached the maximum in production and in quality. In 1884 Mr. Robison initiated his breeding of horses of pedigree, making his first purchase of imported Percheron animals and establishing the Whitewater Falls Stock Farm, now (1911) the largest, best equipped and most important breeding establishment devoted to registered Percheron stock in America. In this enterprise he had as an interested principal his son, James C. Robison, its present owner (see sketch, in which is included a brief history of the growth of this business).

A lifelong Republican, an active and influential member of his party, Mr. Robison was honored by public office both in Illinois and Kansas. He served as a member of the upper house of the Illinois legislature from 1874 to 1879, but was defeated in the election of 1878 through his stand in favor of high license and strict regulation of the liquor traffic. He was elected to the Kansas state senate from Butler county; in 1901 was elected a member of the railway commission of Kansas and served for two years as chairman of the board; was for several years a member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, in which he was a director at the time of his death and had served two terms as president. He was one of the most active factors in the organizing of the Kansas State Cattle Shippers' Association and served as president of that body. He was also for some four years a trustee of Washburn College at Topeka. He was a charter member of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, in which he served on the executive committee and one term as president. In his public service he received the, commendation of the public at large. His labor was of inestimable value to his adopted state and his course was marked by honesty, courage and fidelity. With the, late N. F. Frazier he was one of the founders of the Eldorado State Bank and served on its directorate as well as on the board of the Farmers' National Bank of Pekin, Ill.

On March, 28, 1860, Mr. Robison married Miss Sarah A., daughter of Maj. Hugh Woodrow, a native of Pennsylvania and a pioneer of Tazewell county, Illinois, who settled there in 1824. He was commissioned major of the Thirty-eighth Illinois militia and served with his regiment throughout the Black Hawk war. Mr. and Mrs. Robison were the parents of nine children: Leslie W. and James C. of Towanda; Frank L. and Fred G. of Eldorado; Elmer C., who died Sept. 10, 1905, and whose widow, nee Ida Fulton, resides with her two daughters in Eldorado; Edgar D., who died Dec. 24, 1903, and whose widow, nee Donna Fertich, resides in Towanda; and three boys died in early childhood. On July 2, 1909, Mr. Robison died in Eldorado, where he had resided since 1888, and his widow died Jan. 24, 1911, at Daytona, Fla. The year previous to his death Mr. Robison made an equable division of his estate among his children and the extensive interests which for several years had been practically under the management of his sons remained in capable hands. The tributes of respect called forth by the death of Mr. Robison have seldom been equaled in the state, in the passing away of a citizen. What may be termed his life work was finished. It had met the fullness of his ambition. He died rich in the possession of a well earned popularity and in the esteem which comes from honorable living. The following tribute is from his intimate friend, Hon. F. D. Coburn, secretary of the State Board of Agriculture:

"I knew J. W. Robison for a-long time and never encountered him without being more and more convinced that he was an unusual and remarkable man. While perhaps not highly educated, technically, he had at command a surprising fund of general knowledge and on any occasion or in any meeting he could talk not only interestingly but informingly upon whatever topic was forward for discussion. I regarded him as a man of the highest integrity and character and as a typical, progressive and successful farmer, stockman and horticulturist. He was a leader and a teacher in whatever he undertook. I am per-suaded that within the lines of his endeavor Kansas never had a more useful citizen."

His predominant characteristics were his fatherliness, his great foresight in caring for his own, and his tender sympathy with them was conspicuous in his life. He bought broad acres-not for himself, for he knew his span was short, but that his offspring might be cared for. All through his life his joys and expenditures were not for himself but for his family. He was a lover of nature, of the woods, the fields and the flowers. He was a home builder and believed in the family and the fireside, and in the sacredness of the hearth. (Kansas Biographical Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 848-850 Transcribed as written by: Millie Mowry) (A picture of , James W. Robison may be obtained by contacting the contributor.)

ROBISON, JAMES C.

James C. Robison. Throughout Kansas the name Robison is indissolubly linked with her great Percheron breeding establishment-Whitewater Falls stock farm, which from a small beginning in 1884 has grown to be the most important enterprise of its kind in America, and of which the subject of this review has been since 1895 an interested principal, for many years the managing executive, and since 1909 the sole owner. James C. Robison was born in Pekin, Ill., July 24, 1872, a son of the late Hon. J. W. Robison, a sketch of whose life precedes this article and his wife, Sarah A. (Woodrow) Robison. His early education was acquired in the public schools of Tazewell county, Illinois, and Butler county, Kansas. This was supplemented by a one-year course in the agricultural department of the University of Illinois, of Champaign, and later he attended the Wichita Business College at Wichita, Kan., receiving the first diploma issued by that institution on his graduation. On completion of his education he returned to Butler county and was in the employ of his father on his stock farm near Towanda. In 1895 he became the junior member of the firm of J. W. and J. C. Robison, a business partnership
which remained unbroken until a year previous to the death of the senior member, in 1909. The history of the growth and development of the business of this firm covers to a large extent the identification of Mr. Robison with the commercial affairs of this section of the state. In 1879, the late Hon. J. W. Robison secured the land now included in Whitewater Falls farm. In 1884 his first investments in Percherons were made. In 1895 James C. Robinson became a partner in the enterprise as above stated. The farm proper, consisting of 1,920 acres, devoted chiefly to Percherons, while still permitting of extensive feeding operations, lies along the Whitewater river. The hill slopes contain an abundance of limestone, which gives added strength to the native grasses, and the fertile bottom lands, are not surpassed elsewhere. Five hundred acres of bottom lands produce alfalfa, and doubtless much of the success in the development of the Percherons is due to the limestone grasses and the alfalfa. Five imported stallions have successfully headed the stud. The first, Norval, half brother to the famous Brilliant, was used for ten years, Social, a son of Sultan, was in service eight years; Laschine, a French gold medal winner, died after two years' service; Fantone was used a similar period; Casino, the greatest of them all and winner of 115 firsts, has been the head of the stud since 1902. Since 1884, when the first investments in Percheron were made, the business has been gradually and substantially extended and the character of the stock improved until at the present time, it is rated, by those who should know, as the leading Percheron breeding establishment of America. Robison Percherons have been awarded prizes at the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904, Inter-national, American Royal, at the state fairs of Illinois, Missouri, Virginia, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, and at Toronto, Canada. At the World's Fair at St. Louis the Robison exhibits won a greater number of prizes than any other Percheron breeder and their show entries were, all but two, foaled at Whitewater Falls farm. The famous six horse team of the Kansas State Experimental Station at Manhattan is from this farm and the experimental stations of Oklahoma, Washington, Arkansas, Colorado and Texas have drawn upon the farm for mares, a recognition of the superiority of this stud. The records of the eleven public sales of this farm furnish the most decisive evidence of the public's confidence in the stock offered. In 1902, twenty-three head brought an average price of $472.23; in 1903, thirty-five head, $463-00; in 1904, forty head, $495.00; in 1905, forty-four head, $468.98; in 1906, forty-two head, $638.70; in 1907, sixty-one head, $598.71; in 1908, fifty-four head, $661.11 ; in 1909, fifty-nine head, $684.10; in 1910, fifty-eight head, $671.00; and in 1911, fifty-six head, $674.50.

To the intelligent and persevering effort of "Jim" Robison this successful accomplishment is due. For more than a decade he has been the active force, and since 1909 the sole owner of the farm and stud. He has builded on a brood basis and his handiwork has more favorable recognition of the best informed in his line wherever Percherons are grown in numbers in America. Probably no establishment of its kind in this country represents as large an investment in lands and improvements, over $40,000 having been expended in suitable buildings for the proper carrying on of the enterprise, and in the essentials of sanitation, light, water and character of construction, nothing which money could procure has been overlooked. The Whitewater is a beautiful stream bordered by a generous growth of elm, walnut, hackberry and sycamore, Located within two hundred feet of the farm residence is a delightful waterfall that runs its course by day and by night as the years pass. It is from this beautiful fall that the farm takes its name. Within the home are numerous silver trophies which bear witness to victories won in many exhibitors' contests. On the library walls hangs a fine study in oil of a group of Percherons with Casino in the foreground. The farm has been the scene of many charming hospitalities and here the visitor ever receives a warm welcome. The dedication of the great central barn occurred on June 5, 1909. Two thousand invited guests were transported by special train from nearby towns and cities and made merry at the largest barn dance ever held in Kansas. Mr. Robison is a Republican in politics and, while essentially a man of business, is active and influential in party affairs. In 1909, he was appointed by Governor Stubbs a member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture to fill the unexpired term of his father, Hon. J. W. Robison. He was elected to membership on this board in January, 1911, and is a director. He is a member, has served one term as president and is a director in the Percheron Society of America; has also served as a director of the American Royal Live Stock Show; has gained the Scottish Rite degrees in Masonry, and is affiliated with Midian Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Wichita.

Mr. Robison married on Feb. 2, 1897, Miss Bertha Ellet, daughter of William H. Ellet, of Eldorado, and granddaughter of Gen. Alfred W. Ellet, one of the first settlers of Butler county. They are the parents of four children, viz: William Ellet, born Nov. 8, 1897; Ruth, born June 27, 1903; Alfred Ellet, born May 13, 1905; and Amy, born March 19, 1900, who died Aug. 3, 1900. Mr. Robison is a man of strong character and powerful individuality, gifted with keen intuition, has constructive and executive ability of high order and is admirably fortified in knowledge of the questions and issues of the hour. He has ever been a loyal and progressive citizen of Kansas and a firm believer in her future advancement, as in the past he has been an active worker in her development. Mrs. Robison is a woman of broad culture and extensive travel, a charming hostess and prominent in the social life of Butler county. (Kansas Biographical, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 850-852, Transcribed as written by: Millie Mowry)

ROBISON, FRANK WILSON

Frank Wilson Robison, a successful banker of Towanda, Kan., was born at Pekin, Ill., Feb. 14, 1885, and is a son of Archie Leslie and Lida (Richmond) Robison, who are still residents of Pekin. This branch of the Robison family was founded in America by one of that name from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who came to the United States in 1825 and located in Tazewell county, Illinois. He was a pioneer in that section and became a successful farmer and a prominent figure in the public affairs of Illinois in that day. His son, Frank Robison, was born in Scotland and was twelve years of age when the family emigrated to America. He married a Miss Mary Miars, who with her two brothers were pronounced and active abolitionists and conducted a portion of the famous "underground railroad," thereby assisting many slaves to freedom. Frank and Mary (Miars) Robison were the grandparents of our subject. Their son, Archie Leslie Robison, was born in Pekin, I11., and was educated in the public schools there and at Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Ill. He began his career as a farmer early in life and has acquired large financial interests. In 1890 he founded a breeding establishment for Percheron horses and in 1900 began the extensive importation of registered Percheron stock. He maintains a herd of 100 brood mares and fillies and is one of the largest breeders and dealers in the United States. Associated with him in that business is his son, Archie Leslie Robison, Jr., James W. Robison was an uncle of Archie L., Sr., and of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, became a pioneer settler in the White Water valley in Butler county, Kansas, and is one of the most successful and influential men in southwestern Kansas.

Frank Wilson Robison, of this review, was educated in the public schools at Pekin and the Tremont (Ill.) High School. His literary education was supplemented by a course at Brown's Business College, Peoria, Ill., where he was graduated in the spring of 1907. In August of that year he came to Towanda, Kan., where he purchased a block of stock in the Towanda State Bank. He was elected cashier of the bank and in 1909 purchased the holdings of R. H. Hazlett, its president, since when Mr. Robison has had practical control of the bank. His management has been very successful. Large dividends have been earned and his fitness for the business demonstrated to the satisfaction of the community. The bank has a capital of $10,000, an earned surplus of $7,000, and an average deposit of $85,000: Mr. Robison, by strict attention to business and integrity in all of his dealings, has gained the confidence and esteem of the people of Towanda and surrounding territory, and his future as a successful member of the banking world is assured.

On Oct. 28, 1908, occurred the marriage of Mr. Robison and Miss Leila Harris, the daughter of Hon. C. L. Harris, of Eldorado, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. She is a lady of refined and cultivated tastes and is well and favorably known in the social circles of Eldorado and Wichita. Mr. Robison's genial and pleasing personality is not only appreciated in business circles but in fraternal and social circles as well. He is a member of Towanda Lodge No. 30, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is a skilled tennis player and is fond of all outdoor and athletic sports, which give him the needed recreation and rest from business cares. (Kansas Biographical, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912, Pages 853-854, Transcribed as written by: Millie Mowry)