James R. Mead, one of the founders of Wichita and one of the noted pioneers of Kansas, was a Vermonter, born May 3, 1836, and at an early age showed his love for out-of-doors life. During his school days he read and dreamed of the Great American Desert, and in the fall of 1859 started for the plains. For four years he traded with the various Indian tribes in the present State of Kansas, hunted buffaloes and finally established a post on the Salina River, about twenty miles from its mouth. In 1861 he contracted his first marriage, and two years afterward the couple moved from the trading post to the settlement at Salina, then growing into a village. Later, he established a trading post at Towanda, farther west on the Whitewater River, and while residing there organized a great buffalo hunt which first made him acquainted with the charming country at the mouth of the Little Arkansas. There he established a branch trading post. During the Civil war the Confederates drove away the Wichita Indians who had occupied that locality, but Mr. Mead, as a Union agent, kept them in hand and loyal to the Federal cause. In 1864 he was elected to represent Butler County and the lower house, and in 1868 was sent to the State Senate by the district comprising the four counties of Morris, Chase, Marion and Butler, together with all the territory west of the state line which has since been organized into thirty-five counties.

After the death of his wife in 1869 Mr. Mead sold his trading post at Towanda and moved to a claim he had previously taken adjoining Wichita, which is now a valuable part of the city. In 1871 he organized a company to construct the Wichita & Southwestern Railroad, the first line to give Wichita railway connections, and within six months had it in operation. For several years after locating in Wichita, Mr. Mead conducted an extensive trade with the Indians through his trading post, located near the mouth of the Little Arkansas. The panic of 1873 found his business unduly expanded and through the failure of the First National Bank which had extended him a large credit, he was much embarrassed, but to secure the depositors of that institution turned over to them substantially all his property. During the later years of his life he was virtually retired from business, although at the time of his death, March 31, 1910, he was vice president of the Mead Cycle Company of Chicago, which he and his son, James L. Mead, had organized in 1895. The deceased was not only a president and leading member of the State Historical Society, contributing many articles to its archives, but was an ardent student of biology and ethnology, and for thirty years prior to his death an active member of the Kansas Academy of Science. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Vol. 3, Chicago, Ill, USA, Lewis Publishing Company, 1918)

CAPTAIN WILLIAM E. PAYTON

Capt. William E. Payton, editor and owner of the Colony Free Press, has been a live factor in Kansas journalism for a number of years. He is also prominent in Kansas military circles, having seen service in actual warfare during the Philippine insurrection, and is now Captain of Machine Gun Company of the Third Kansas Infantry.

Captain Payton is a native of Kansas, having been born on a farm in Butler County, December 15, 1879. His parents were Benjamin F. and Sarah C. Payton, both natives of Indiana. His father served as a soldier in the Civil War. The family came to Kansas in the early '70s and his father died in 1915. They were the parents of nine children, eight sons and one daughter, William E. being the seventh in age.

Captain Payton was educated in the public schools of Butler County and grew up on his father's farm. Before he attained his majority he enlisted in Company A of the Thirty-second Regiment, United States Volunteer Infantry, and spent two years as a soldier in the Philippines. He made a good record in the army and his interest in military affairs has been unabated to the present time.

In 1905 Mr. Payton bought the Burns Citizen at Burns in Marion County, edited and published it three years, and selling out acquired the Bulletin at Florence, Kansas, having charge of that paper also three years. Mr. Payton bought the Free Press at Colony in 1912. This is a republican paper the only one published at Colony, and was established in 1882 by C. T. Richardson and J. J. Burke.

Captain Payton while living at Burns was largely instrumental as an individual citizen and through his newspaper in giving that town its splendid consolidated high school. His interest in higher education has made him a factor in the different communities where he has lived. Captain Payton is affiliated with the Independent Chapter Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. In 1917, when America began its active preparations for war, Captain Payton organized the Machine Gun Company of the Third Kansas Infantry at Iola, Kansas, and was commissioned Captain June 7, 1917. In addition to his newspaper at Colony Captain Payton for two years has been city editor of the Iola Daily Register. His wife is a talented woman and in his absence has taken his place as editor of the Colony Free Press. Captain Payton is an active republican.

May 23, 1907, at Burns, Kansas, he married Miss Clara Godding. She was born on a farm in Butler County, Kansas, June 1, 1878, daughter of C. W. and Rebecca L. Godding, both of whom were natives of Maine. Her parents came to Kansas in 1872 and Mrs. Payton was one of six children, four sons and two daughters. She was educated in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia and before her marriage taught school in Butler County seven years. She is also active in club circles and was one of the founders of the Colony Federation of Clubs, which established the public library at that town. Captain and Mrs. Payton have three sons: William Anthony, born October 21, 1909; Paul Winston, born November 1, 1911; and Frederick Dwight, born December 5, 1912. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Vol. 3, Chicago, Ill, USA, Lewis Publishing Company, 1918)

FRED W. MARTIN

A well known Wichita manufacturer and business man, Fred W. Martin possessed the qualities which enabled him to grow and adapt himself in proportion to his opportunities. As a youth he learned the tin trade and also clerked in a hardware store. It was on that narrow footing that he began to build himself into the larger affairs of business. He is now treasurer and manager of the Martin Metal Manufacturing Company, one of the growing and flourishing industries of Wichita.

Besides the interest that attaches to his own successful career, it is also a matter of note that Mr. Martin represents a pioneer family of Kansas. His grandfather, Henry Martin, came from Hull, England, in 1856, and located at El Dorado, Kansas, when this was still a territory. He had the distinction of conducting the first store at El Dorado.

Was in Butler County, Kansas, that Fred W. Martin was born October 19, 1874. He learned his lessons in the public schools there and in the meantime gained his first qualifications and experience for business as clerk in his father's hardware store at Leon in Butler County. He also mastered the tin trade while there.

From Leon he went to a clerkship in a hardware store at Coldwater, Kansas, and subsequently identified himself with the City of El Reno, Oklahoma, where he remained six years.

In 1899 Mr. Martin returned to Kansas and at Wichita helped establish the Holckady Wholesale Hardware Company, of which he became assistant manager and buyer. In 1906 that company sold out to the Simmons Hardware Company, and he remained as secretary of the new concern two years.

In 1907 Mr. Martin perfected the organization of the Martin Metal Manufacturing Company, which began business March 1, 1908, with a capital stock of $25,000. The capital and surplus now exceed $200,000. This company manufactures metal stack covers, which they ship to all parts of the country, and also a general line of metal grain bins, tanks, corrugated culverts, eave troughs, metal roofing of all kinds, automobile fenders, and sheet metal parts for automobiles.

The company recently added a jobbing line of pumps, pipes, plumbers' supplies and heating material. Their new factory just completed is one of the most perfect in its appointment and equipment in the United States. In the office section of the building they have a large sample room for displaying plumbers' enamelware, and that is without doubt the finest in Kansas. Their first factory, at 140 North Moseley Avenue, was soon found to be inadequate for the growing business. The company then purchased its present site at the corner of Second Street and Moseley Avenue, and there erected a handsome two-story brick structure, the present home of one of the newer but most flourishing companies of Kansas. The company employs fifty hands.

While a resident of El Reno, Oklahoma, Mr. Martin was married December 17, 1894, to Miss Irene M. Sullivan. They are the parents of three children. Lillian May is a stenographer in the office of the Martin Metal Manufacturing Company, Hazel C, is the wife of Theodore Chapman and they live in Wichita. Fred W. Jr., is now a student in the Wichita public schools. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Vol. 3, Chicago, Ill, USA, Lewis Publishing Company, 1918)

JUDGE WILLIAM POTTER CAMPBELL

Judge William Potter Campbell, a scion of staunch Scotch-Irish ancestry, was born at Stanford, the judicial center of Lincoln County, Kentucky, on the 18th of February, 1843, and as a youth he received the advantages of the old Presbyterian Academy at Stanford. As the year of his nativity indicates, he was a youth of eighteen years at the time when the Civil war was precipitated on the divided nation, and he promptly manifested his intrinsic loyalty and patriotism by tendering his aid in defense of the Union. He first enlisted as a member of the First Kentucky Cavalry, and after the expiration of his original term he re-enlisted, as a private in the Sixth Kentucky Cavalry. History effectually records the gallant service of these two vital and dashing Kentucky commands, and with the latter Judge Campbell continued in active service until the close of the war, during the last two years his official post having been that of sergeant-major. In August 1863, while scouting along the Tennessee River, he was captured by a company of Confederate soldiers, and thereafter he was held as a prisoner of war at the historic old Belle Isle Prison until March, 1864, when his exchange was affected.

After the close of his military career this youthful veteran who had done well his part in the preservation of the nation's integrity, found less valorous but equally honorable employment, by becoming concerned in the operation of a sawmill on Rock Castle River, amid the mountains or hills of Southeastern Kentucky. In 1860 he had started the study of law under the proctorship of one of his uncles who had a small collection of standard law books. While engaged in the strenuous work of the sawmill he continued to devote as much of his leisure time as possible to the continuation of his law studies, and he so fortified himself in his knowledge of jurisprudence that in 1866. At Somerset, the county seat of Pulaski County, Kentucky, he was granted his license to practice law in his native state. He engaged in the practice of his profession at Somerset, where he remained until 1869. In that year was solemnized his marriage to Miss Kate Barnes, a daughter of Col. Sidney M. Barnes, who had been an officer of the Eighth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry in the Union service during the Civil war. Immediately after his marriage Judge Campbell set forth with his gracious young wife to establish a home in the West. After arriving at Topeka, Kansas, Mrs. Campbell there remained while her husband went forth on foot to look for a suitable location for their home. He arrived at El Dorado, Butler County, in July 1869, and there he opened an office and engaged in the practice of his profession. There he and his wife maintained their home until March 1872, when Governor Harvey conferred upon Judge Campbell appointment to the bench of the newly established District Court of the Thirteenth Judicial District, which at that time comprised the counties of Sedgwick, Sumner, Butler, Cowley, Howard and Greenwood. Later in the same year Judge Campbell was duly elected to this office by the popular vote, and in 1876 he was re-elected, his zealous and effective service on the bench having continued until 1881, when he retired. While on the bench he was called upon to render decision in many very important cases, among the number being the celebrated Winner and McNutt trial. His judicial opinions were marked by wisdom and by broad and accurate knowledge of the law, so that few of his decisions met with reversal by courts of higher jurisdiction. The judge was known for the inviolable honesty of purpose which marked his administration and which gained and retained to him the confidence and respect of all, even the malefactors against whom he found it necessary to render verdicts. Upon assuming his judicial office he removed to Wichita, where he has since maintained his home. He served for several years as city attorney and within his regime in this office he had the supervision of the organization of Wichita as a city of the first class. He has been an influential and honored figure in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic in Kansas and in 1894-95 he had the distinction of serving as commander of the Kansas Department of this great patriotic organization.

Judge Campbell has never wavered in his allegiance to the basic principles of the Republican party and he has been one of the recognized leaders in its councils in Kansas. He has, however, been one of the stalwart workers in behalf of prohibition of the liquor traffic.

From the time of assuming a position on the district bench Judge Campbell has continued to wield influence in connection with the civic and material interests of Wichita, and especially potent has been the moral influence which his earnest, determined and honorable judicial and personal opinions have exerted in this community. At the time when he became district judge Wichita was a virtual headquarters for cattle thieves, and with utmost courage and vigor he brought to bear his judicial prerogatives in ridding the community of such malefactors and other outlaws and undesirable citizens. He is still active and vital in the work of his profession and is now one of the oldest practicing lawyers to be found in the state. The great loss and bereavement of his life came when his wife was called to the life eternal, in December 1915, at the age of sixty-six years, and her memory is revered in the community that represented her home for many years and felt the impress of her gentle and gracious personality. (A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Vol. 3, Chicago, Ill, USA, Lewis Publishing Company, 1918)