Dr. Byron E. Artman, physician and surgeon, of Cheney, Kan., was born September 19, 1853, in Indianapolis, Ind. His parents were A. and Mary Artman, of Kansas. On the paternal side the ancestry of the family is traced back to the Puritan stock, the paternal great-grandmother of the doctor having come to this country from Holland with William Penn. The maternal ancestry is traced to Scotland. The parents of the doctor located in Westport, Mo., in 1851, but later moved to Olathe, Kan., where the elder Artman is now living, a successful carpenter and contractor, at the age of eighty. Bryon E. Artman’s education was acquired in the district schools of Kansas. He entered the Eclectic Medical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880, and graduated in the class of 1888 with the degree of M. D. He began practice first in Henry county, Missouri, where he remained one year, and then removed to the state of Oregon, where he remained six years and built up a successful practice. He then returned to Kansas and located in Garden Plain, Sedgwick county in 1894, and practiced his profession there nearly ten years, and in December, 1904, located in Cheney, where he enjoys a large and lucrative practice, built up by the successful treatment of his patients. In Cheney he maintains a hospital where he has from one to five patients all the time, and since the hospital was established he has never lost a patient. Fraternally the doctor is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Eclectic Medical Association of Kansas and Oregon and the National Eclectic Association of the United States. He is entitled to practice in four different states by virtue of his diploma, viz., Kansas, Oregon, Missouri and Ohio.(History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 710 and 711)
John S. Ayers, retired farmer, of Cheney, Kan., is a native of Kentucky, where he was born on December 9, 1836 in Bourbon county. His parents were Samuel Hales Ayers and Lucinda (Bondurant) Ayers. Both were natives of Virginia, the father having been born and reared in Buckingham county. The parents at an early day removed from Virginia to Jackson county, Missouri, John S. Ayers at the time being twelve years old. From Jackson county, the family removed to Shelby county, Missouri, where the father died in 1848. His widow died in 1868 in Illinois. John S. Ayers was one of a family of fifteen children, all of whom are dead except himself. John S. Ayers was educated in the subscription schools of Kentucky and Missouri, and at the age of nineteen left home and worked on a farm for a year, receiving from 25 cents up to $10 a month for his labor. He then went to Green county, Kentucky, to a friend of his father’s, who paid his way to Missouri, and in 1848 he landed at Palmyra. An uncle knew of his coming and met him there. It was the intention of John S. Ayers, to explore the West and visit Pike’s Peak, but his uncle persuaded him not to go and to stay with him, which he did, working on a farm and cleaning it up in Scotland county, Missouri, to which place he accompanied his uncle. As compensation for his labor John S. was to get one-fourth of the proceeds of the farm, which amounted to $35 the first year, $25 and board and clothes the second year and $40 the third year. In 1860 he was married to Miss Margaret Piper, of Scotland, Mo. Of this union there were born three children, two of whom are now living viz.: Lewis Samuel Ayers, and Mary E., now Mrs. Hogarth. Mrs. Ayers died early in 1865, and in the same year Mr. Ayers married Miss Lucinda Rogers, a cousin of his first wife, in Schuyler county, Missouri. Of this union there were born thirteen children, four of whom are living, viz.: George, Thomas, John and Margaret. George is now living in the state of Washington and has two children; Thomas is living in the state of Washington and has two children; John lives in Portland, ore., and has one child. After marrying his second wife, who was living in Illinois at the time, Mr. Ayers went back to Missouri, but returned to Illinois and located in Tazewell county, where he remained one year and then came to Kansas and located in Woodson County in 1868, where he homesteaded and lived nine years up to 1877. He then sold out his farm and moved to Reno county, Kan., where he built a comfortable home and lived there up to 1906, when he removed to Cheney and built a fine residence, where he lives retired, enjoying the sunset of an upright career. Mr. Ayers owns other valuable property in Cheney. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. When the Civil War broke out he acknowledged allegiance to the Confederacy and in 1863 enlisted in a Missouri regiment and served for two years under General Price, Army of the Missouri. Mr. Ayers was taken prisoner at Little Rock, Ark., and sent to Fort Riley, Kan., where he took the oath of allegiance to the Union and returned again to his home in Missouri. Mr. Ayers’ second wife died several years ago, and he is residing alone in Cheney. (History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 711 & 712)
C. L. Baird, cashier of the State bank of Bentley, Sedgwick county, Kan., was born July 5, 1861, in Perry county, Ohio. His parents were Robert H. and Isabella (Lyons) Baird, both natives of Ohio. On the maternal side the family traces its ancestors to Scotland. Robert H. Baird, the father, moved from Ohio to Kansas in 1884 and resided a short time in Wichita, and then in Sunnyside, Kan., until 1901. He had the advantage of a common school and academic education, and taught school several years of his life. He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian church for sixty years, and during nearly all that time officiated as elder. Mr. Baird was an upright citizen, who aspired to give his children all the advantages he could. For the greater part of his life he was engaged in farming in a small way. He was born October 28, 1825, and died April 15, 1906. His wife was born April 15, 1831, and now resides in Pawnee, Okla. Mr. Baird and his wife were the parents of three children, viz.: Calvin L., Sidney E., and Mary H., all of whom are now living. Calvin L. Baird obtained his education in the common schools of Perry County, Ohio, the Madison Academy at Mt. Perry, Ohio, and a business education in a college at Wichita. He began his career as a school teacher and followed that occupation for twenty years, teaching three years in Ohio and seventeen in Kansas. He continued as a teacher until 1902, when he bought the interest of Mr. Jorgenson, now cashier of the First National Bank of Mt. Hope, Kan., and accepted the position of cashier in the State Bank of Bentley, which position he now holds. Mr. Baird is a member of two banking associations. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Mystic Circle at Wichita. He owns a valuable farm near Bentley. Mr. Baird was married on May 24, 1903, to Miss Avis Smith, a daughter of Thomas J. Smith of Bentley. One child has been born of this union; Amzie, born March 11, 1904, and now attending school. Mrs. Baird is a highly educated woman, taught school for several years, and is prominent in the Rebekah Lodge and Maccabees. She and her husband are members of the United Brethren church in Bentley. (History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 712, 713)
Sidney E. Baird, superintendent of Highland Cemetery, Wichita, Kan., is a native of Ohio, having been born at Perry, that state on October 1, 1865. His parents were Robert H. and Isabelle (Lyons) Baird, natives of Ohio, who moved to Kansas in 1885, locating in Grant township, Sedgwick county, and there resided until 1887, when they moved to Wichita. Robert H. Baird died September 15, 1907 at the age of eighty-one. His widow survives and is now living at Pawnee, Okla., with her daughter, Mary H., who has been a teacher in the Indian school at that place for ten years. Sidney E. Baird was then second child of a family of three, the others being Calvin L. Baird, of Bentley, Sedgwick county, and Mary H. Baird, of Oklahoma. Mr. Baird was educated in the public schools and at Madison Academy, Mount Perry, Ohio, and afterward taught in the schools of Sedgwick county from 1884 to 1896. His first year at teaching was in Ohio. In 1896 Mr. Baird took up cemetery work under Willis L. Taylor, now superintendent of Maple Grove Cemetery. When the division of the cemetery was made and the Wichita cemetery was reorganized and changed to Highland Cemetery, Mr. Baird was chosen as its superintendent. This was in 1908. The first organization of the Wichita cemetery was in 1870, and the two now known as Highland and Maple Grove cemeteries were under one corporation or management from 1899 to 1908, when the division was made. Mr. Baird was married in 1889 to Miss Lorah E. Wright, daughter of Samuel and Permelia Wright, of Indiana. Of this union five children have been born, viz.: Elsworth E., Amzie, P., Lorain E., Russell M., and Katherine E. (History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 713 & 714)
Charles A. Baker, proprietor of the plumbing, steam, hot water and gas fitting business which bears his name in Wichita, Kan., is a native of Wisconsin, where he was born in Rio, Columbia county. His parents were Thomas and Jennie Baker, who left Wisconsin when Charles A. was only three months old, and came to Kansas, locating at Arkansas City, September, 1870, and the early education of young Baker was obtained in the grade schools of Wichita. The first business venture of Charles A. Baker on his own resources was a Hutchinson, Kan., in 1900, where for two years he did a big business in the plubming line under the firm name of Wilson & Baker. Eight years ago he formed the co-partnership in Wichita of Baker & Isbell, and for the past four years has been alone as Charles A. Baker. He has swung some of the largest of the very big jobs in Wichita during that time, among them being the Eagle plant, plumbing and heating apparatus; the Innes Block, Boston store, new Michigan Building, Riverside Club, Daisy Block and in residences the Fred Stanley home, C., M. Beachy, V. L. Branch, C. W. Carey and many others. Mr. Baker has two fads – baseball and the National Guard. He has seen service in the state militia for seventeen years, having entered the service in 1893. He has remained in continuous service ever since, and is regimental quartermaster of the Second Regiment, Kansas National guard. He rose to the office of first lieutenant of Company A, the Wichita company and would have been captain soon had he not been elevated to the higher regimental office he now holds with conspicuous credit to himself and the honor of the service.
He married Lillie e. Bennett, December 5,1895, daughter of George W. Bennett, a pioneer plumber of Wichita. To this union one child, a daughter, Marcia Helen, born June 21, 1901. Mr. Baker is a member of Albert Pike Masonic Lodge, Wichita Consistory, No. 2; Midian Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; Wichita Lodge, No. 427, B. P. O. E.; Knights of Pythias, Knights of the Maccabees, Riverside Club. (History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas: past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county; Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co., 1910, Pages 714 & 715)
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