Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas James William Greenbank Bio

BUTLER COUNTY'S EIGHTY YEARS BIOS

JAMES WILLIAM GREENBANK

(Transcribed by Peggy Luce)

James William Greenbank, owner and publisher of The Butler County News, was born July 24, 1902, at Little River, Kansas, the son of William grant and Hester (Crawford) Greenbank. He was graduated from the public schools at Little River and in 1924 was graduated with an A. B. degree from Southwestern College at Winfield, Kansas. In college he was elected a member of Campus Players, exclusive dramatics club, was on the college debate team three years and a member of Phi Kappa Delta, honorary forensic fraternity.

In June, 1924, Mr. Greenbank came to El Dorado and leased “The Community Announcer,” a weekly oil field news magazine, from Rev. Paul F. Holmes, then pastor of the community church at Midian, and formerly at Oil Hill. He installed a printing plant at Oil Hill, later purchasing the paper from Rev. Holmes. He moved the plant to El Dorado in 1927, enlarged the paper and changed its name to the Butler County News. The newspaper and printing business has expanded and additional equipment has been added as needed. The paper was published as a weekly until December 18, 1934, when it was changed to a semi-weekly and now is published on Tuesdays and Fridays. The News has been the official city paper the past four years and has a large circulation in El Dorado and Butler County. Mr. Greenbank is a member of the First Methodist Church, the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

William Grant Greenbank, father of James W. Greenbank, is a pioneer editor of Kansas, having owned and published The Little River Monitor since 1889. He is Little River’s pioneer business man in that he has been engaged in business in that town longer than any other person now in business there. He is of English descent, and was born in Ohio May 10, 1866. Left an orphan when an infant he was taken into his uncle’s home until he was old enough to make his own way. He came to Kansas in 1885 with the Dunham family for whom he had worked on a farm in Ohio. A little later he started working in the printing office at Little River, leased The Monitor in 1888 and bought it in 1889. he is one of Rice County’s well known and highly respected citizens. On October 5, 1890, he was married to Hester Crawford, daughter of James William and Sarah Malissa Crawford. They have reared four daughters and two sons, all of whom are living. A son, Lester Paul Greenbank, is owner and publisher of The Valley Center Index at Valley Center, Kansas. The James W. Crawford family came to Kansas from Illinois in a covered wagon in 1870, before Hester was a year old. Mr. Crawford was postmaster at Lodiana from 1876 until 1880 when the office was discontinued and one established at Little River. He was Littler River’s first postmaster, holding that office twenty-four years. He served in the Civil war, having enlisted April 25, 1861, for the first three months call, in Company D, 13th Illinois Infantry. His next enlistment was with Captain graham’s Independent Cavalry, then the 71st Illinois Infantry, later the second Illinois Cavalry with which he served until the close of the war. William Greenbank, father of William Grant Greenbank and grandfather of James William Greenbank, served in the Union army in Company D, 51st Ohio Infantry. His grandfather, Nathaniel Barton, served in the Revolutionary War.

On June 12, 1925, James W. Greenbank was married to Nadine Essie-May Wallace, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Wallace at Winfield. Since their marriage they have lived in El Dorado, they have three children; Marilyn Lucille, born November 22, 1926; Doris Elaine, born February 1, 1929; and William Grant, born June 9,1930. Nadine Wallace was born at Winfield, May 1, 1905, attended the public schools there and was graduated with an A. B. degree from Southwestern College in 1925, completing the course in three years. She also was a graduate of the Expression Department of the college, a member of Campus Players and was elected to the Order of the Mound, honorary scholastic organization. She is a member of Queen City Chapter Order of the Eastern Star, Winfield, a charter member of En Avant Club and a member of the El Dorado Story League, as well as an active worker in the Methodist church and the Parent-Teachers Association.

Mrs. Greenbank’s father, Charles M. Wallace, the son of Josiah and America (Ross) Wallace, was born in Windsor, Illinois, February 9, 1870, and came to Cowley County, Kansas, with his parents when a child. Josiah Wallace was a native of Kentucky and a pioneer farmer of Cowley County. He died in 1883, leaving his wife and eight children. America was the daughter of Rev. Thomas B. Ross who homesteaded in Cowley County in 1868. He was reared in Kentucky and ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He was a pioneer circuit rider preacher in several counties of Illinois and his picture hangs in the Illinois state house. He was the first preacher and the first probate judge in Cowley County and helped Colonel Manning lay out the original townsite of Winfield. He was the only judge of all laws for a few years and signed all deeds to lots issued by the government. He was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War. Charles M. Wallace, father of Mrs. Greenbank, engaged in the milling business at Winfield and in 1908 was elected mayor of that city, serving two terms and refusing a third. He served on the library board, the board of education, as president of the Chamber of Commerce and first president of Winfield’s Rotary Club. He is a 32nd degree Mason and Shriner.