Biographies for Reno County, Kansas

CAREY, HON. EMERSON

The natural limitations of a review of this character prevent anything like an exhaustive or complete record of the various enterprises with which the Hon. Emerson Carey of Hutchinson, this county, is connected; neither can there be set out here in detail the history of the present status of these industries or a detailed account of the very considerable improvement and extensive new works that have been brought into operation within the past few years. The Carey industries really comprise four distinct industries, each one being magnitudinal in its individual capacity and scope. The salt plants have a capacity of two thousand barrels a day and are the only plants of the kind in the world equipped with a quadruple-effect vacuum system for the manufacture of salt. The ice plant has a capacity of eighty-five tones a day, and there is a cold-storage space of over half a million cubic feet. The cold-storage plant is equipped with triplicate machinery throughout the whole system, as a sure safeguard in case of a breakdown. By a new process the salt is manufactured in enclosed vessels, which are absolutely dust proof, and no chemicals whatever are used to whiten or purify it. The grain is absolutely uniform and during no part of the process of manufacture is it touched by hand. The hundreds of barrels of salt that roll out of the city of Hutchinson daily on long freight trains, tell a tale of industry that no rhetoric can match. The history of the Carey industries is a record of development and expansion, one of the most interesting in the industrial annals of Kansas. As it is commonly said in Hutchinson that Emerson Carey is the Carey industries personified, it will be interesting to the reader to note at this point some of the salient points in the career of that energetic captain of industry.

Emerson Carey was born on a farm in Grant county, Indiana, on January 22, 1863, son of Samuel and Nancy J. (Bundy) Carey, both natives of that same county, the former of whom was born on July 28, 1839, and the latter, April 15, 1842. Samuel Carey was the son of Robert and Susan Carey, pioneer residents of Grant County, who with their children and the various members of the latters' families emigrated in 1868 to Shelby county, Illinois, where the remainder of their lives were spent. Nancy J. Bundy was the daughter of Talbot and Jane Bundy, also pioneer residents of Grant county, who about the year 1865, emigrated to Champaign county, Illinois, where they also resided the rest of their lives.

Samuel Carey was reared amid pioneer conditions in his early Indiana home and was married before he and the other members of the family moved over into Illinois. He was possessed of the true instinct of the frontiersman and after reaching Illinois, kept moving farther westward as advancing settlements encroached on his pioneer locations, it having been his custom to get a farm under cultivation, sell it and move on. Before coming to Kansas he had thus made his home, successively, in Shelby, Douglas and Vermilion counties, in Illinois, clearing up farms, his son, Emerson, sharing in all the vicissitudes of these numerous advances toward the continually receding frontier. In 1878, Samuel Carey came to this state and took up a tract of government land in the Sterling neighborhood of Rice county, from which he presently moved to McPherson county and thence, in 1880, came to Reno county and rented a considerable tract of land on the edge of the flourishing village of Hutchinson, at that time virgin priaire, in what is now known as the Sunflower addition to the city of Hutchinson and for a time engaged in farming there. He then became associated with his son, Emerson, in the coal and building-supply business and later assisted in the organization of the Carey Salt Company and in other ways became a prominent factor in the development of the industrial life of Hutchinson. Samuel Carey was by birthright a Quaker, but after his marriage he joined the Methodist Church, in conformance with his wife's faith their children were reared. There were fourteen of these children, as follow: Almeda, who married P. M. Gratton and lives at Kenton, Kansas, Marrietta, who married Charles Nelson and lives in Hutchinson, this county; Emerson, the immediate subject of this biographical review; Susan (deceased), who married Ethan Thomas; Arthur, who lives in Hutchinson; Elizabeth, who married Isaac Palmer and lives at Halstead, Kansas; Emma, who married Burrett Hanks and lives near Sterling, Kansas, Bertha, who married Harvey Crawford and lives at Stafford, Kansas; Rosa, who married James Kirk, and lives in Texas; Edith, who married S. Allen Winchester and lives in Hutchinson, Eva, who married Waverly S. Albright and lives in Hutchinson, Maud, who married Dr. J. J. Brownlee of Hutchinson; Claude, who lives in California, and Albert who died in infancy. Samuel Carey died at Hutchinson on Mach 9, 1905. His wife had preceded him to the grave about ten years, her death having occurred on July 2, 1896.

Emerson Carey was five years of age when his parents left Indiana and was fifteen years of age when they entered Kansas in 1878. He had acquired some schooling in Illinois and upon coming to Kansas attended school at Sterling one winter. The next winter he attended a district school in McPherson county and the next winter he entered the schools at Hutchinson, he being then seventeen years of age. For the first three years after coming to this county he assisted his father on the farm and then for two years he worked in Hutchinson for Mr. Hale, who was engaged in the retail coal business. In 1885 he started in the retail coal and building supplies business on his own account, under the firm style of Conn & Carey. A short time later the firm became Carey, Beers & Lee and thus continued until 1890, in which year Mr. Carey took over the business alone and so continued until 1910, in which year he closed it out. In the meantime, in 1896, Mr. Carey had organized the Hutchinson Ice Company, which company is still doing business and supplies most of the ice for that city. In 1900, in connection with the operation of his ice plant, Mr. Carey started the Carey Salt Company, which began operations in a small way but which has gradually grown to its present enormous proportions with a producing capacity of two thousand barrels a day, one of the most important industries in central Kansas. A man of indefatigable industry and boundless energy, Mr. Carey became interested in various other enterprises as the time passed and has become one of the most important factors in the industrial development of this section of the state. He was one of the chief organizers, chief owner and first president of the Hutchinson Interurban Railway Company; helped organize and was president of the Kansas Chemical Manufacturing Company of Hutchinson and is also president of the Grand Saline salt Company of Texas.

On September 26, 1888, Emerson Carey was united in marriage to Anna M. Puterbaugh, who was born near Mackinaw, Illinois, daughter of John and Olive Puterbaugh, who were among the earliest pioneers to settle in Harvey County, Kansas. They located at Newton in 1873, where for years Mr. Puterbaugh was engaged in the real-estate business. In 1885 they moved to Hutchinson where Mr. and Mrs. Puterbaugh spent their last days, the death of the former occurring in 1888 and that of the latter in 1911.

To Emerson and Anna M. (Puterbaugh) Carey four children have been born, namely; Horbard J., born in 1892, a graduate of Cornell University, who assists his father in the management of the Carey Salt Company, married Louise Banks of Ithaca, New York, and lives on North Main street in Hutchinson, Charles E., 1894, for three years a student at Cornell, married Alice Degnan, of Jersey City, New Jersey, and assists his father in superintending the Carey industries; William, 1902, and Emerson, Jr., 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Carey are members of the Christian church and are active in all good works in and about Hutchinson. After his marriage in 1888 Mr. Carey built a home in the eleven hundred block on Main street and in 1898 located at his present beautiful home at 821 North Main street, a home widely known for its cordial hospitality.

Mr. Carey is a Republican and in 1908 was elected to represent this district in the state Senate and was re-elected in 1912. He has never been a candidate for any other public office. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the blue lodge and the commandery at Hutchinson and the consistory at Wichita. He also is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. (Pages 33-36)

BRANINE, JUDGE CHARLES E.

Few names in the long list of judges and lawyers who have so notably served the people of Kansas during the past generation are better known or held in higher regard by the people generally throughout this section of the state than is that of the Hon. Charles E. Branine, a prominent attorney of Hutchinson this county and former judge of the ninth Kansas judicial district, who has been a resident of Hutchinson since the year 1910, following his election to the district judgeship and who before that time had attained wide distinction as a practitioner at Newton, this state, and who, since resuming his practice, at the close of his honorable judicial tenure, has added so conspicuously to his well-earned success that his many friends confidently predict that the future holds for him still higher honors in the service of the public.

Charles E. Branine was born on a farm on the old grade road near St. Elmo, Fayette county, Illinois, on March 7, 1864, a son of Joshua and Margaret J. (Dewese) Branine, the former of whome was born in Decatur county, Indiana, March 7, 1834, and the latter in Ohio in 1835, the Branines being of Irish ancestry and the Deweses of French stock. Joshua Branine was reared in Decatur county, Indiana, a member of one of the pioneer families in that historic section of the Hoosier state, and in 1860, not long after his marriage, emigrated to Illinois, where he bought government land in Fayette county, which he improved and on which he and his family lived until the spring of 1874, at which time he brought his family to Kansas and settled on a quarter section of land, which he purchased near the growing town of Newton and there he lived until 1893, when he and his wife retired from the farm and moved into Newton, where their last days were spent, Joshua Branine dying in November 1898 and his widow in November, 1912. Joshua Branine was a most ardent Republican and almost worshipped the memory of Abraham Lincoln. He was more or less active in local politics and for years served his township most acceptably as township trustee. He and his wife were devoted members of the Methodist church in which he long was a class leader and office bearer, and their children were faithfully reared in that faith. These children, ten in number, were as follows: Mary C., who married S. B. Holdeman and lives on the home farm in Harvey county, Kansas, Ira, who died in infancy; George W., a prosperous farmer of Kingman county, Kansas, Elmer L., also a farmer living near Blackwell, Oklahoma, Charles E., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; Sarah E., who married Everett Anderson of Newton, this state, for twenty-five years past a telegraph operator in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company; John K., also a prosperous Kansas farmer; Ezra C., a prominent attorney, member of the firm of Branine & Hart; Newton, Kansas, who studied law in the office of his brother, Charles E., and for seventeen years and until the time of the latter's election to the district judgeship was a partner of his brother, Jeanette who married the Rev. William J. Shull, a minister of the Methodist Church now located in McPherson County, this state and Anna J., who married Charles Joseph stock dealer and farmer living at Potwin, Kansas.

Charles E. Branine was ten years of age when his parents came to Kansas in 1874 and his elementary education therefore was continued in the district schools of Harvey County. He later attended the public schools in Newton and supplemented this course by a course of one year at Baker University and one year at the University of Kansas. He then taught school in his home district for one year after which he entered upon a rigid course of reading in the law office of that sterling old lawyer, J. W. Ady of Newton, former United States District Attorney; and an orator of rare power. In November, 1889, Charles E. Branine rented an office in Newton, took the bar examination one night, was admitted to the bar and the next day in a barren little office without a dollar started in the practice of the profession in which he was destined to achieve large note. In this same office room, which, however, was not long as bleak and barren as at first, he remained nineteen years until 1908 the year of his election to the district judgeship by which he had become a lawyer of note and power throughout this section of the state. In 1892 Judge Branine's brother, Ezra C. Branine, a lad of twenty, right off the farm, entered his brother's law office and entered seriously the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and in the next year became his brother's partner, a mutually agreeable connection which continued until Judge Branine assumed his judicial functions.

While studying law in 1888, Judge Branine was elected justice of the peace of Newton township and occupied that office for two years. In 1889 he was appointed United States Commissioner for his district and in 1892 was elected county attorney for Harvey county. It was during his four years tenure in this office that the famous Rogers record-burning case was brought to trial, a trial that continued for three years, being tried twice in the district court and twice in the supreme court, and in which Judge Branine figured quite prominently his management of the prosecution gaining for him a wide reputation as a brilliant and talented lawyer.

Judge Branine ever has been an ardent Republican as was his father before him and in 1898 served his party as county chairman. In 1900 he was elected to the state Senate from the thirteenth Kansas senatorial district, comprising Harvey and McPherson counties, and served with distinguished ability in the upper house of the Legislature from 1901 to 1905. In November, 1908, Senator Branine was elected judge of the ninth Kansas judicial district, comprising the three counties of Reno, Harvey and McPherson, and in January, 1909, ascended the bench, serving as a just and impartial judge until January 1913 at which time he opened an office for the practice of law in the city of Hutchinson and has been located there ever since, never having been out of the harness a single day. Judge Branine enjoys the unique record of having gone directly from the practice to the bench and from the bench back to the practice without missing any time. In July, 1910, he had moved his family from Newton to Hutchinson, in which latter city he had built a handsome residence at 114 Twelfth street, west, and where he still resides, the Branine home being widely known for the fine character of its hospitality.

On October 8, 1891, Charles E. Branine was united in marriage to Mary E. Rigby, who was born in Doniphan County, Kansas, daughter of Jonathan A. Rigby and Jane A. (Ferguson) Rigby, the former of whom, now deceased, was for many years a building contractor at Concordia, this state, and the latter of whom, a native of Ireland, of Scotch parentage is still living. Mary E. Rigby was a school teacher at Concordia and later at Newton and it was there that she and Judge Branine formed the mutual attachment which led to their happy union. To this union two children have been born, Harold R., born on October 10, 1892, graduated from the Newton high school in 1910 and from Kansas University in 1914 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and elected to the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity and wearing the coveted key with becoming dignity, and now completing the law course at Kansas University and Hazel E., born on Mach 10, 1895, graduated from the Hutchinson High School in 1913, from which she was admitted to Wellesley and now attending Wisconsin University at Madison, Wisconsin. (Pages 36-39)

MEYER, EUGENE L.

Eugene L. Meyer, pioneer banker of Hutchinson, this county, president of the First National Bank of that city and prominently connected with numerous important enterprises, hereabout, though a native Parisian, is a vigorous, loyal and devoted American, having been a resident of this country since he was four years old and during all of the active years of his life he has given of the best there is in him to the cause of progress in his adopted land. Mr. Meyer is the pioneer of all the bankers now residing in Reno county and has been connected with all the enterprises which the position of president of the oldest and largest bank in the county would naturally lead him into, being, therefore, a man of commanding influence in this community.

The First National Bank of Hutchinson for years has been known as "the oldest and largest bank in the Arkansas valley." It has grown as Kansas has grown, and when in the early years there were times of adversity the First National Bank of Hutchinson was the synonym for strength and character among the banking institutions of the state. It was founded in 1876. Its business increased as the city and community grew and then it went beyond the local confines and embraced on its books a great part of the banking business, either as banker or correspondent for the local man behind the "gun" since the founding of the bank, and during all of this time his hand has been the guiding one and his conservative and yet aggressive banking methods have done much to establish the reputation of the First National bank. Its capital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and its surplus of fifty thousand dollars give it ample means with which to transact its extensive business, and its thorough acquaintance with methods, conditions and securities insures its success along all lines of activity. The First National Bank has made a special feature of its savings department and through that agency has encouraged many a young person in habits of thrift which have brought success in after years. Associated with Mr. Meyer in the conduct of the bank are: Directors, George E. Gano, N. B. Sawyer, Pet Nation; Fred C. French, cashier and E. W. Meyer assistant cashier. The directors are all strong men financially and each gives his earnest attention to the affairs of the bank. Mr. French and the younger Mr. Meyer both are trained bankers and are most efficient officers of the bank, which is always to be depended on by its depositors and is a source of just pride to every citizen of Hutchinson.

Eugene L. Meyer was born in Paris, the capital of France, on April 15, 1849. In 1853, he then being four years of age, his parents emigrated to the United States, landing at the port of New Orleans on November 6 of that year. Thence they proceeded up the Mississippi river, stopping at Rock Island, Illinois, where they remained until June 1857 when they started by steamboat, for Kansas, arriving at Leavenworth on the 10th of that month. Thence they moved to Atchison.

Eugene L. Meyer was eleven years old when his family located at Atchison. Upon completing his schooling, Mr. Meyer began the study of the drug business at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he remained until 1867. Later he went East and was engaged as a traveling salesman for three years with a wholesale chemical house of New York City. It was in Mach 1872 that he located in Hutchinson. He erected a modern building on lot No. 9, North Main street and was engaged in the drug business here for twelve years. When the Reno County State Bank was organized in May 1876, he was one of the original incorporators of this bank and became its vice-president. In May, 1884, the bank was changed from a state bank to a national bank and Mr. Meyer became cashier of the First National Bank of Hutchinson. Later, he was elected president of the bank and has ever since served in that important executive capacity.

On April 7, 1874, Eugene L. Meyer was united in marriage to Mary Emma Moore, daughter of Rev. D. M. Moore, father of Presbyterianism in this section of Kansas, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hutchinson and the first formally installed minister of the gospel in that city. In a biographical sketch relating to Rev. D. M. Moore, presented elsewhere in this volume, there is set out in detail further particulars of the history of that devoted pioneer minister. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer five children have been born, Anna Marie, Edward W., Margaret E., Daniel E. and Louis F. (Pages 39-41)

SIDLINGER, SAMUEL H. M. D.

During the height of the distress caused throughout this section of Kansas by the grasshopper visitation in 1874 one of the most sympathetic contributors to the vast relief fund raised by the good people of the United States was Dr. Samuel H. Sidlinger an earnest young physician of Napoleon, Ohio. A year later that young physician visited this county and was so deeply impressed by the promising conditions hereabout that he located at Hutchinson and has lived there ever since. During all these intervening years, Doctor Sidlinger has done well his part as a good citizen and kindly benefactor. As a pioneer practitioner he was called to homes far remote from his home, often being required to drive as far west as Larned and down into the "panhandle" of Texas, his practice covering a radius of one hundred and fifty miles out of Hutchinson. As mayor of Hutchinson, Doctor Sidlinger rendered a distinctive civic service, the period of his term of office in the executive's chair covering a very important period in the city's growth and development and in all other ways he has performed equally well every duty required of him in either a professional or civic capacity.

During the early years of his extensive practice throughout this region Doctor Sidlinger's faithful companion on his long and lonely drives was his good old horse, "Prince," a rarely intelligently animal known all over the country for miles about. The Doctor and his friends used to declare that "Prince" possessed more than human intelligence and on "Prince's" unerring sense of direction the Doctor relied implicitly while driving through blizzards or in the black hours of the night over the trackless and unfenced plains. Faithful old "Prince" lived to be twenty-two years old and died full or honors. "Prince" was an animal of fine mettle and in his younger days had won honors on the race track and blue ribbons at the horse shows, but his enduring claim to distinction was based upon the faithful service he for years rendered in behalf of suffering humanity hereabout in the service of his gentle master, the conscientious pioneer physician. In those days Doctor Sidlinger was kept constantly "on the go," as the narration of the following incident will show: For weeks the Doctor had not been able to take a Sunday dinner at home. One Sunday morning, by rare chance, he was at home and the indications were fair that he should be permitted to have a day of relaxation. His wife promised to prepare for him a dinner that should include all the "fixin's" he liked best and happily set about getting up a meal that should reward him for the many he had missed. Just as he was about to sit down to the bounteously laden table the Doctor was called to the bedside of a patient across the river. Hitching up "Prince" he dashed off on his mission of mercy, assuring Mrs. Sidlinger that he would be back within the hour. Before he had concluded that first call a call came to him from another bedside and thus, one after another, until eight days had elapsed before the Doctor reached home again, he and "Prince" having been kept going night and day meanwhile.

Samuel H. Sidlinger was born at Massillon in Stark County, Ohio, June 23, 1845, son of John and Orsilla (Weible) Sidlinger, the former of whom was born in the kingdom of Bavaria and the latter near the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. John Sidlinger had been well trained in his native country to the trade of carriage maker and at the age of eighteen came to the United States. He had little difficulty in finding remunerative employment in this country and presently found himself at Massillon, Ohio, where for nine years he was engaged as foreman in the machine shop of the Partridge & Russell Threshing Machine Company. He then went to Napoleon, Ohio, where he established a wagon and carriage making shop, in his later years, however, retiring to a farm at Liberty Center six miles from Napoleon, where his last days were spent. John Sidlinger was a fine baritone singer and an expert musician and during the Civil War served as a member of the regimental band of the Fourteenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He and his wife were the parents of six children, namely; Edward now deceased, who for years was a well-known druggist at Hutchinson, this county; John, also deceased, who for years was a clerk in his brother's store at Hutchinson; Samuel H., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch; George, now deceased, who was foreman in a factory at Napoleon, Ohio; William, a wealthy retired farmer and large landowner of Napoleon, Ohio and Ida who married Amos S. Hess of the Hutchinson News.

Samuel H. Sidlinger was nine years of age when his parents moved from Massillon to Napoleon and his schooling was thus divided between the schools of those two towns. At the age of ten he entered upon the study of music and became a proficient performer upon the clarinet, cornet and the violin. When sixteen years old after two unsuccessful attempts to enlist for service during the Civil War, being rejected on account of his youth, he succeeded in getting in as a musician and for eighteen months served as a member of the regimental band of the Fourteenth Ohio Infantry. He then enlisted in the hospital corps of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, being mustered out on June 30, 1865. Upon the conclusion of his military service this young soldier returned to his home at Napoleon and for nearly nine years was engaged there as a clerk in a drug store, meanwhile giving his serious attention to the reading of medical literature. He then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was graduated from that institution in the spring of 1874, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thus admirably equipped for the practice of his profession, Doctor Sidlinger returned home and opened an office at Napoleon and was engaged in practice there for six months. It was during this time that the great grasshopper scourge turned the attention of the whole country to the sufferings of the victims of that visitation in Kansas, and there was no more sympathetic contributor to the relief of those sufferers than Doctor Sidlinger. That fall Doctor Sidlinger decided to locate in the West. At Hutchinson he found what seemed to him the very spot he was seeking and in 1875 he settled in the struggling little village on the plain and established a permanent office an exercise of judgment he never has regretted. Two years later, in 1877, the Doctor's brother, Edward Sidlinger, joined him at Hutchinson to take charge of the E. L. Meyer drug store and in 1882 engaged in the drug business in that city on his own account, establishing his store in a one-story brick building on the site of the present Sidlinger drug store. The Doctor from the first was a silent partner in the business and later erected the two-story building in which the store long has been located.

From the very beginning of his residence in Hutchinson, Doctor Sidlinger gave his most earnest attention to local political affairs. In those days he was what was called an "Abe Lincoln black Republican" and he never has departed from the faith. He was one of the most energetic promoters of civic pride in the new town and for four terms rendered valuable service as a member of the city council. He then was elected mayor and during his two terms of service in that capacity Hutchinson's streets were graded and the sidewalks brought to a level, the mayor in other ways also striving to arouse a higher degree of civic consciousness in the minds of the settlers. Of course, it was as a physician that his great service was rendered and a record of that service is written on the hearts of all survivors of that fine generation of pioneers who made possible the present high stage of development of this favored section of the state. In 1875, shortly after locating at Hutchinson Doctor Sidlinger was appointed local physician for the Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company and has ever since been retained in that position. He also has been physician for the Missouri Pacific Railroad company ever since that road reached Hutchinson. In 1913 he practically retired from his private practice, but continues to maintain the liveliest interest in local affairs.

On June 30, 1858, Dr. Samuel H. Sidlinger was united in marriage to Lucinda Welty, who was born at New Philadelphia, Ohio, daughter of John and Sarah Welty, the former of whom was a farmer who later moved to Newton, Jasper County, Iowa, where he and his wife spent their last days. To this union one child was born, a daughter, Lila who married Fred A. Innes and lives in Oklahoma. In 1875, the year he located in Hutchinson, Doctor Sidlinger built a comfortable brick house at the corner of First and Poplar streets and there he and his wife still make their home, being very pleasantly situated. The Doctor is a Knight Templar, a past eminent commander of the commandery at Hutchinson; a past worshipful master of the Masonic blue lodge and past high priest of the local chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and thrice illustrious master of his council. He also is a charter member of the Hutchinson lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and in the affairs of these several organizations takes a warm interest. (Pages 41-44)

NEELEY, GEORGE A. HON.

The life of former Congressman George A. Neeley, president of the Farmers National Bank of. Hutchinson, this county and a prominent lawyer of that city, has been a busy one. Though still a comparatively young man, he has accomplished much and his friends confidently predict for him even greater accomplishments. His defeat for election, to the United States Senate in 1914 was accomplished by so close a .margin that there are not a few persons, even among those who were politically opposed to his candidacy, who insist that had certain allegations of election frauds been fully investigated it would have been found that he had been triumphantly elected to a seat in the greatest deliberative body in the world.

George A. Neeley was born in the hamlet, of Detroit, Pike county, Illinois, on August 1, 1879, son of George M. and Mary Elizabeth (Stephens Neeley, the former of whom was born within one hundred yards of that spot on.March 1, 1839, and the latter in Iowa, August. 15, 1851, both of whom are still, living. George M. Neeley is the son of Henry and Margaret Neeley, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter of Illinois. Henry Neeley was an early, settler in Pike county, Illinois, and bought a large tract of land on which he later laid out the town of Detroit. He was one of the most influential men in that section of the state of Illinois and became quite well-to-do. He was an active member of the Methodist church and was prominent in all good works thereabout. Upon the death of his wife, in 1846, he married again and lived to a ripe old age. One of his brothers was a soldier during the Mexican War. Mary Elizabeth (Stephens) Neeley is the daughter of Elijah M. and Catherine Stephens, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Iowa, Elijah Stephens left Kentucky during the days of his early manhood and went to Missouri, where he became a pioneer physician. Upon the breaking out of the Civil War, He enlisted in the Union army and. during the later part of the war was made surgeon of his regiment. At the battle of Wilson's Creek he was seriously wounded, but recovered and lived many; years of usefulness, his death occurring in 1904, he then having been eighty-three, years of age. His widow, whom all the family lovingly call "Kittie," is still living at Carl Junction, Missouri.

George M. Neeley, father of the subject of this biographical review, was bereft of his mother by death when he was seven years of age and he was taken into the home of the Defontaine family and grew to manhood on an Illinois farm. He then went to Texas, where he spent eighteen years as a cotton planter and broker, at the end of which time he returned to Detroit, Illinois, where he engaged in merchandising until 1884, in which year he went to Joplin, Missouri where he remained until 1893, after which he went to Oklahoma, where he homesteaded a considerable tract and is now living, very comfortably situated at Wellston, Oklahoma. During the Civil War, George M. Neeley served as a soldier in the Confederate Army, a member of Company D, Third Arizona Regiment, which was recruited in northwestern Texas. He served three years and nine months among the notable engagements in which he participated having been the battle of Red River, and he was wounded twice. At the close of the war, under the mistaken apprehension that Confederate soldiers were to be shot by the Fedearl government, he departed for Mexico and remained over the border for two years before learning that it would be perfectly safe for him to return.

Upon returning to Texas, he took the oath of allegiance and presently was appointed county judge. Upon the expiration of that term of office he was appointed United States marshal for the eastern district of Texas. Upon his return to his boyhood home in Illinois, he entered actively into the political life of that community, as a Democrat, and served as a justice of the peace much of the time during his later residence there. George M. Neeley was twice married. By his first wife, who was a McKeever, he had two children, Albert Marion, who died in Texas in 1883, at the age of twenty years, and Emma, who married John D. Howard, a merchant of Joplin, Missouri, where she is still living. To his union with Mary Elizabeth Stephens, four children were born, namely: Lillie, who is living with her parents at Wellston, Oklahoma; George A., the immediate subject of this sketch; Elva, who married John Dunham and lives at Wellston, Oklahoma, and Lola, who married James A. Dunham and lives in the same city.

George A. Neeley was but five years of age when his parents moved to Joplin and was thirteen years of age when they moved from that city to Oklahoma, his elementary education therefore having been gained in the common schools of both Missouri and Oklahoma. This he supplemented by a course in the Southwestern Baptist University at Jackson, Tennessee, after which he entered the law school of the University of Kansas,- from which he was graduated in 1904. Prior to that time he had taught school for four years in the schools of Oklahoma and had likewise been sedulously engaged in the private study of law at home. Following his graduation, in 1904, Mr. Neeley opened an office for the practice of his profession at Wellston and remained there one year. He then married and moved to Chandler, county seat of his home county, where he entered the law office, of Malcolm D. Owen, as junior partner, a mutually agreeable connection which continued for three years and six months, or until the time of his decision to locate in Hutchinson. Upon going to Hutchinson, Mr. Neeley entered the law office of Carr W. Taylor with whom he was engaged in practice for two years and six months, at the end of which time he opened an office of his own.

At a special election held on January 1, 1912, George A. Neeley was elected to represent this district in Congress, to fill the unexpired term of Congressman Edmund H. Madison, and in November following was elected for the full succeeding term, at that election receiving the greatest plurality ever given a candidate for Congress in the state of Kansas. Congressman Neeley arrived at Washington to fill out Mr. Madison's unexpired term on January 29, 1912, the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of Kansas to the Union of states. Upon being presented by one of his colleagues to receive the oath of office in the House, he was pleasantly greeted by Speaker Clark, who, gravely addressing the House, said that he had two important events to announce: "The taking of the oath of office by the second Democratic congressman ever elected from the state of Kansas; and that on the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of his state," which announcement was received with much applause on the part of the assembled representatives. Representative Neeley took a very active part in the deliberations of the Congress and for a new member, received some very important committee appointments, a mark of distinction which his friends in his home district properly appreciated. As a member of the celebrated Pujo "money trust" investigation committee, he assisted materially in that extensive inquiry and helped write the exhaustive report of the committee. He also was a member of the important committee on banking and currency, which framed the federal reserve act, and it was he who led the fight both in the committee and in the majority caucus for the inclusion of the "agricultural credits" clause in that act. In 1914 Representative Neeley received the nomination in the state-wide primaries as the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in this state, and in the memorable election of that fall, in which more than five hundred and twenty-six thousand votes were cast, he failed of election by the narrow margin of three thousand eight hundred and ninety-four votes, a circumstance which caused even some of those who had most earnestly opposed his candidacy to admit that if certain alleged election frauds had been cleared up he would have been found to have been elected. In January, 1912, Mr. Neeley formed a partnership, for the practice of law with A. Clare Mallory, which partnership still exists. In 1915 he was made president of the Farmers National Bank of Huchinson, which was organized in that year and is now serving in that capacity, and is also vice-president of the Farmers Hail Insurance Company, having its principal office at Hutchinson.

On Monday, October 31, 1904, George A. Neeley was united in marriage to Eva M. Hostetler, who was born in Bedford, Indiana, daughter of Jonathan and Martha Hostetter. Jonathan Hostetter, whose wife died on December 26, 1912, is a veteran of the Civil War and for many years was a prominent merchant in Indiana. He is now living at Mulvane, this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Neeley two children have been born, George Newland, born on August 5, 1905, who died on December 21, 1907 and Eva Margaret, born on February 17, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Neeley are members of the First Christian church at Hutchinson and Mr. Neeley is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen. Pages 44-48)

MITCHELL, WILLIAM H. HON.

The Hon. William H. Mitchell, former member of the Kansas state Legislature, a prominent retired stock farmer of Huntsville township, this county, now living at 411 Seventh avenue, east, in the city of Hutchinson, is a native-born Hoosier, a fact of which he never has ceased to be proud, though for many years he has been a stanch and loyal Kansan. He was born on a farm near the city of Bedford, in Lawrence county, Indiana, March 8, 1844, son of William C and Mary J. (Francis) Mitchell, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana, whose last days were spent on their Indiana farm.

William C. Mitchell was the son of James and Nancy (Campbell) Mitchell, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania on October 14, 1767, and died in Monroe county, Indiana, June 9, 1846. James Campbell and wife reared six sons and three daughters, all of whom save one daughter married and. reared families of their own. One son, Joseph, removed to Iowa about 1850 and there reared a large family, one of his sons, James, being a veteran of the Civil War. Another son, George, also removed to Iowa in an early day and two of his sons, Thomas and William Oscar, were veterans of the Civil War. The latter became a state senator in Iowa and was twice elected to the Legislature. Another grandson of James Mitchell became one of the leading lawyers of Ottumwa, Iowa, and was elected to the bench. William C. Mitchell was born in Kentucky in 1807 and died in Indiana on July 30, 1885. He married in Indiana, Elizabeth Francis, and to that union six children were born, namely: Elizabeth M., who married I. H. Waynick and reared a large family; Mrs. Martha A. Norris, who lived at Charlton, Iowa; David T., who became a lieutenant-colonel during the Civil War, later moving to Kansas, where he became one of the organizers of Neosha county in 1865; later moving to Columbia, Missouri; Mrs. Nancy A. Douglas, a resident of Charlton, Iowa; William H., the subject of this review, and James F., who remained in Indiana, a dealer in lumber. The mother of these children died in 1848 and William C. Mitchell married, secondly, Mary J. Erwin and to that union were born four sons and one daughter. Two of these sons, Samuel E. and Lewis, remained in Indiana; George settled near Augusta, Oklahoma; Bennett, the first born, died when he was three years old, and Katie, the only daughter, died at the age of five years. Mrs. Mary J. Mitchell survived her husband about one year.

William H. Mitchell was reared on the paternal farm in Indiana and grew up with very little schoolings the whole number of his days in school aggregating less than a year. On July 9, 1861, he then being but seventeen years of age, he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War in Company A, Twenty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years with the Army of the West, being. mustered out at the end of his term of enlistment, July 31, 1864, at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His health being somewhat broken, Mr. Mitchell did not re-enlist. He returned to his home in Indiana and in 1865 went to Iowa, where he entered school, but soon withdrew, on account of defective vision, and returned in the spring of 1866 to Indiana and the same year came to Kansas, where he joined his brother, Col. David T. Mitchell, in Neosha county.

In August, 1867, Mr. Mitchell again returned to Indiana, where he was married and in the following month he and his bride, together with his brother, James F., a brother-in-law, H. C. Mallott, and John Stone and wife, drove through with four "prairie schooners" to Kansas and pre-empted claims twenty miles south of Humboldt In the fall of 1869 Mr. Mitchell's wife died and he took his two small children to Indiana, where he remained for a couple of years farming. In the fall of 1871 he married another Indiana girl and returned to his Neosha county homestead. In 1873, on account of his wife's failing health, he returned again to Indiana, where he remained until 1884, in which year he returned to Kansas and settled in Reno county. He bought of John Puterbaugh the old Wampler timber claim of a quarter of a section in Huntsville township and later one hundred and twenty acres south of that, and went in quite extensively for raising cattle. Later he engaged extensively in the breeding of purebred Poland China hogs and became quite successful as a stockman. In 1906 he retired from the active labors of the ranch and moved to Hutchinson, where he still lives, though retaining the ownership of his valuable farms.

Mr. Mitchell; has taken an active interest in civic affairs ever since coming to Kansas and has been conspicuously prominent in the various movements designed to better the conditions of farm life and promote the interests of farmers generally. For twelve successive years he was president of the school board of Huntsvllle township and served for two terms as justice of the peace there. During his residence in Neosha county he served as town-ship trustee. Mr. Mitchell was secretary of the first Greenback party county organization effected in Lawrence county, Indiana, and attended numerous district and state conventions of that historic party. He joined the Grange in Indiana and was secretary of his local organization1. He also was lecturer for the Patrons of Husbandry until he left Indiana in 1884. When the Farmers Alliance was formed in Kansas Mr. Mitchell took an active part m the affairs of that organization and was engaged as county lecturer for the same, in that capacity attending all the national conventions of the alliance. When the Farmers Alliance was merged with the Populist party, Mr. Mitchell took an active part in the affairs of the latter party and was chairman of the first Populist convention held in Reno county and was later nominated by that party as its nominee for representative in the state Legislature from the seventy-third representative district. In the fall of 1890 he was elected representative and served during the ensuing session of the Kansas General Assembly. In 1892 he was re-elected, but his opponent, W. J. Dix, contested the election on the ground of a controversy over boundary of the district. Mr. Mitchell took his seat in the House, but a decision of the Supreme Court on the issue of the disputed boundary automatically unseated him. During his service in the Legislature Mr. Mitchell was one of the members of the committee appointed to act in the matter of charges in the impeachment of Theodosius Bodkin, a matter of much political moment in that day; which charges Mr. Bodkin successfully resisted, Mr. Mitchell was one of the committee of investigation that investigated the Bodkin matter and was also one of the impeachment board that tried him. After the subsidence of the Populist movement Mr. Mitchell remained absolutely independent in his political views, but since 1912 has regarded himself as a progressive Democrat.

When the American Society of Equity was organized in the early part of the past decade for the purpose of securing to the farmers of the country a more equitable share in the profits of their products, Mr. Mitchell took a prominent part in the promotion of the movement and was made president of the local branch of the society and a delegate to the state and national meetings of the same. He was a delegate to the national convention of the society in Indianapolis in 1907, when the Everett faction was so vehemently resisted. Mr. Mitchell was made the spokesman of the opposing faction and when the minority delegates finally withdrew he was made chairman of the "rump" convention and was elected president of the National Farmers
Society of Equity, organized to give new life to the demands of the real farmers composing the same. He served as president of the new society for one year and was then elected vice-president and director of the organ-ization, a position he held until 1914, when, at the national convention held at Omaha, he declined to serve any longer, on account of his increasing years and the state of his health, though he still retains active membership in the society. In 1914 Mr. Mitchell was elected vice-president of the American Farmers Federation (a federation of all the societies founded for a like purpose) and is still serving in that capacity. In 1913, Mr. Mitchell was appointed administrator of the Samuel Adamson estate and much of his time since then has been occupied in administering the estate. Mr. Mitchell is a past commander of Joe Hooker Post No. 17, Grand Army of the Republic, at Hutchinson, and for some time has been agent, by appointment of county commissioners, in a movement to secure the placing of proper headstones at the graves of all deceased soldiers of the Civil War, the government having signified a willingness to furnish the stones if the various counties will provide for the erection of the same. Mr. Mitchell was at one time President of the Indiana Old Settlers Society of Kansas and served for three years and has been associated with it since its organization.

In September, 1867, in Indiana, William H. Mitchell was united in mar-riage to Amanda Wood, who died on September 29, 1869, leaving three children, Olla E., born on June 22, 1868, now a farmer living at Carmen, Oklahoma, and Willie and Jesse W., twins, the former of whom died when three months old and the latter of whom is now living in Lawrence county, Indiana. On September 26, 1871, Mr. Mitchell married, secondly, Nancy L. Stipp, who was born in Lawrence county, Indiana, and to this union ten children have been born, as follow: Cadda A., who married J. W. Spilman and lives at Valley Falls, Kansas; Virgil W. and Edward (twins), the former of whom is a farmer living near Abbeyville, this county, and the latter of whom died when four months old; Michael F. and David B. (twins), the former a farmer living twelve miles west of Hutchinson on the Griffin farm, and the latter manager of the White Lumber Company at Fowler, this state; Hattie M., a graduate nurse at Los Angeles, California; Mattie E., who married J. Frank Rush, a fireman in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, with headquarters at Newton, this state; Lottie P., who married Joseph Vazis, a mechanic, living at St. Louis, Missouri; James L., who operates his father's farm in Huntsville township, and Grace P., who married Elliot H. Chappel and lives in Hutchinson. (Pages 48-51)

COOK, FRED W. D. V. S.

Dr. Fred W. Cook, who, since April 15, 1914, has been mayor of Hutchinson, and for many years has been actively engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery in Hutchinson is one of the most talented members of his profession in the state, and has done as much, perhaps, to elevate its standard of excellence as any other man in the profession.

Fred W. Cook was born in Worcestershire, England, May 1, 1858. His parents were Joseph and Martha Cook, who were also natives of that country. His father was a landed proprietor. In connection with his agri-cultural pursuits he also followed the profession of a veterinary surgeon at Bredori, England, where his death occurred in 1876. Two daughters of the family came to America with Fred W. They are: Annie, the wife of J. O. Shuler, a farmer of Reno county, and Laura, the wife of J. C. Baddeley, assistant manager of the Morton Salt Company, and a member of the Hutchinson school board. Later three other sons of the family came to America, namely: Walter, a building contractor of Hutchinson; Arthur, a farmer of Reno county, and Frank, a blacksmith of Hutchinson. George, another member of the family, still makes his home in Bredon, England, where he follows the occupation of a building contractor.

The subject of this sketch received a liberal education in the public schools of the neighborhood in which he spent his early years. He graduated in the Blue school of his native town, after a five-year course, at the age of seventeen years. He then entered an apprenticeship in scientific horse-shoeing, and three years later, after thoroughly mastering the art, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and stock raising on a farm of two hundred acres. He continued to devote his time and attention to this business until 1881. In that year he left the land of his birth and turned his face toward the New World. The older settled states did not appeal to him as a desirable place in which to locate and he did not tarry long there. His arrival in America was at a period when there was a great migration towards the western states where lands were cheap and the opportunities of industry and enterprise to win success in their development. Kansas was one of the states in which these opportunities were afforded and to this state Mr. Cook directed his steps. He found a desirable location in Grant township, Reno county, where he purchased a quarter section of land and at once began its cultivation. He gave special' attention to the raising of fine stock principally, Hereford and Shorthorn cattle, and Cleveland Bay and Hamiltonian horses. He followed this line of industry for three years with good success. In the fall of 1885 he entered the Ontario Veterinary College, of Toronto, Canada, where he completed a three-year course, graduating on March 30, 1888, with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery.

After his graduation Doctor Cook returned to Hutchinson and began the practice of his chosen profession, in which he has met with exceptional and merited success. His increasing practice soon demonstrated the need of a suitable place for the treatment of subjects and, in 1891, he erected his present infirmary which is equipped with all modern appliances and conveniences known to the profession, for the treatment of all classes of disease, and for performing various operations required in the profession. This, without doubt, is the best equipped institution of the kind in the state, and in his chosen profession Doctor Cook stands second to none in the West. During the past twenty years he has also dealt extensively in high grade horses, buying and selling locally, or shipping to outside points, and in this business he is meeting with an equal degree of success; his well known reliability in ail trade transactions having gained for him the confidence of the entire public.

In June, 1883, Fred W. Cook was married at Astoria, Illinois, to Minnie Oviatt, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Jones) Oviatt. The father was a native of New York, and, during the War of the Rebellion, served as a brave and faithful soldier in defense of the flag. One daughter and one son have brightened and blessed this union. Mary Pauline, born in Hutchinson, July 10, 1894, graduate of Hutchinson high school, attended Redlands University, in California, one year, studying vocal and instrumental music, and is now at the State Normal School, at Emporia, Kansas, studying music and domestic science. William Lawrence, born in Hutchinson, February 29, 1908, named for the eminent Baptist divine, Doctor Lawrence, of Chicago.
For many years Doctor Cook served as president of the Kansas State Veterinary Association, and is a member of the Missouri Valley Veterinary Association. In 1888 he was state veterinary surgeon of western Kansas. The cause of education has also found in him a stanch and abiding friend. For ten or twelve years he served as a member of the board of the Reno high school, at Nickerson, and for eighteen years as a member of the school board of Hutchinson. For two years he was president of the school board, and for many years was chairman of the building committee in charge of the construction of new buildings.

Doctor Cook devoted his best efforts to secure the establishment of the First Baptist church in Hutchinson, and during his entire residence here has served as a member of the official board; for twenty-three years he has served as superintendent of the Sunday school and a teacher of a Bible class in the school.

In March, 1914, Doctor Cook was nominated as a candidate for mayor of Hutchinson, on the law enforcement, or reform ticket, and was elected in April of that year, defeating Lincoln S. Davis, the opposing candidate. He was re-elected in April, 1915, with James P. Harsha as the opposing candidate. In the administration of this office he has followed the same ideals that have characterized his professional and business dealings. As a public official, as well as a private citizen, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of the community. He has a beautiful home at 215 Second avenue, east, where he and his family have resided for many years. (Pages 51-54)

THE CITIZENS BANK OF HUTCHINSON

Among the substantial and well-established financial institutions of this part of the state of Kansas few, if any, have a wider connection or a solider foundation than has the Citizens Bank of Hutchinson. Organized in 1892, the Citizens Bank was the natural outgrowth of conditions existing at that time in Hutchinson and vicinity and from its very inception has been a suc-cess, filling, as it did then, and still does, a very vital necessity in the commercial and general business life of this community. Founded by men of high purpose, keen business sagacity and of unquestioned financial solidity and responsibility, its stockholders and directorate including the names of some of the best-known men in the local business world, the Citizens Bank of Hutchinson inspired the confidence of the community from the very moment it opened its doors, and that confidence has never been abused in any fashion by the directing heads of the sound old institution.

Previous to the time of the organization of the bank, in 1892, James B. Mackay, a banker who had moved to Hutchinson from Illinois during the later eighties, he having had a bank in a small town near Galesburg, had been engaged in the banking business at Hutchinson and when the need of a new bank became apparent to him he associated with himself James Dukelow, T. F. Leidigh, Dr. Fred W. Cook and Frank P. Hettinger and organized the Citizens Bank. They bought the building at Second and Main, which is still occupied by the bank, from the old Bank of Commerce, paying about ten thousand dollars for the building and site. The bank started small. There was probably not more than twelve thousand dollars capital stock to start with. It is characteristic of Mr. Mackay that when the new bank showed a loss the first year or two, not making expenses, he paid from his own pocket to cover the deficiency, telling his colleagues that he was responsible for getting them into it and that he would stand the loss. But the bank soon got onto its feet and was going good. It prospered from year to year and is now one of the strongest financial institutions in central Kansas. Mr. Mackay remained in active charge of the bank as president and cashier for many years, his fine conservatism and sound judgment, together with his wide knowledge of financial conditions hereabout, undeniably adding much to the solid success achieved by the institution which he thus served. A few years ago, when the business became so heavy as to require it, Charles M. Branch was called from the First National Bank to become cashier of the Citizens Bank, and in 1915, when Mr. Mackay was forced to leave the bank and take a season of rest in California, Mr. Branch stepped into his place as acting president. In the middle of January, 1916, Mr. Mackay definitely retired from the presidency of the bank and at his suggestion and request Mr. Branch was elected president to succeed him.

James B. Mackay is a native of Scotland, having been born in the city of Edinburgh. Some time after coming to this country he located in Iowa, where he was engaged in the banking business for some time, later going to Illinois, where he continued his banking business until his removal to Hutchinson, as above noted. Mr. Mackay has long occupied a high position in the business life of this Community. He and his wife have a charming home at 725 Washington street, north, in Hutchinson. The veteran banker continues his interest in the bank and will remain on the official staff as vice-president.

Charles M. Branch, president of the Citizens Bank of Hutchinson, may properly be regarded as a pioneer of Reno county, he having been fourteen years of age when he came to this county with his parents in 1873. He has been a witness of the wonderful development of this section of the state from the very earliest days of its settlement and has ever done his full part in the promotion of that development, long having been regarded as one of the most active factors in the business life of the community. Charles M. Branch is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town, of Vinton, in Benton county, that state, September 27, 1859, son of Phineas C. and Sarah (Chapin) Branch, the former of whom was born at Middleton, near Rutland, Vermont, in 1824, and the latter in 1826 in Massachusetts, who later became pioneers of this county and both of whom died in Hutchinson, to which city they had retired from, the farm in their declining days.

Phineas C Branch was fourteen years old when his parents emigrated from Vermont to Illinois, the family settling on a homestead farm in that state, where the parents spent the remainder of their lives. Phineas C Branch became a dentist in Illinois and in 1855 moved to Vinton-, Iowa where he engaged in the practice of his profession and was thus engaged until he came with his family to Reno county in 1873. During the Civil War, Mr. Branch enlisted as a private in Company G, Thirteenth Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which regiment he served for three years. In the fall of 1873 he gave up his practice as a dentist, desiring a change to outdoor life, and having been attracted by the glowing reports then proceeding from this section of Kansas, came to Reno county. He entered a soldier's homestead and a timber claim in Medford township and there established his home. He enlarged his original holdings by the purchase of two hundred and forty acres additional in Medford township and when he retired from the farm and moved to Hutchinson, in 1901, was regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of his part of the county. He was a stanch Republican in earlier life, but later became an ardent Prohibitionist and was an earnest laborer in the cause during the height of the anti-saloon campaign in this state. He and his wife were devout members of the Baptist church and were counted among the leaders in all good works in their neighborhood. But two children were born to them, sons both, Charles M. and Andrew C, the latter of whom is living at Sterling, Kansas. Mrs. Branch died in 1902, the year following her removal to Hutchinson, and Mr. Branch survived her about ten years, his death occurring in 1912.

Charles M. Branch was about fourteen years old when he came to Reno county with his parents and his schooling, which was interrupted by his removal from Vinton, was resumed in the district school in the neighborhood of his pioneer home in Medford township, which he supplemented by one year of attendance in the high school at Sterling. In 1886 he was engaged as a teacher in the schools at Sterling and was thus engaged for three years, at the end of which time he entered the service of the Rice County Bank at Sterling as a bookkeeper, a position which he occupied for nearly two years. His services then were engaged by the First National Bank of Hutchinson and for fourteen years he served in the capacity of bookkeeper in that institution, after which he was made assistant cashier, a position which he occupied until January 1, 1902, on which date he assumed the position of cashier of the Citizens Bank and was so engaged until his elevation to the presidency of that institution, in January, 1916.

On January 5, 1910, Charles M. Branch was united in marriage to Lenora Scott, who was born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Branch have a very pleasant home in Hutchinson and take a proper-part in the general social activities of the city. (Pages 51-57)