SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
BIOGRAPHIES
DEANE EMMETT ACKERS
Deane Emmett Ackers, public utilities executive, was born at Abilene, Kansas, September 22, 1893. He is the son
of Hiram and Maude (Murphy) Ackers, the former of whom is a retired merchant, born in Lancaster, Ohio. The mother
has been interested in club work in recent years.
Deane Emmett Ackers attended public and high schools, graduating from the latter at Abilene in 1912. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Kansas in 1917, where he was elected to membership in Theta tau, and where, in 1916, he was president of Beta Theta Pi. He was valedictorian of his high school class.
From 1919 until 19123, Mr. Ackers was engineer for the United Power and Light Company at Abilene. He became manager of the Kansas Power and Light Company in 1923 at Atchison, and in 1927 accepted the same position at Topeka. He is now vice president of the Kansas Power and Light Company at Topeka, and a director of the Kansas Power and Light Company the Kansas Power Company, and the United Power and Light Company. He is a Republican.
On October 7, 1923, he was married to Vinnie Drake at Junction City, Kansas. Mrs. Ackers was born at Edgerton, Kansas, April 12, 1899.
Mr. Ackers is a member of the Kansas Engineering Society, the Topeka Engineers Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Country Club. He is also vice president of the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce. His favorite sports are golf and horseback riding.
During the late war, Mr. Acker held the ranks of second lieutenant to captain in the first division of the American Expeditionary Forces, serving from may, 1917 until October 1919. He is a member of the American Legion. Residence: Topeka. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 8)
JOHN EDGAR ADDINGTON
John Edgar Addington, lawyer, was born in Ridgeway, Kansas, January 1, 1880, son of Amos Augustin and Alice (Patrick)
Addington. The father, a farmer, was born in Eden, Indiana, March 20, 1857, and is still living. Alice Patrick
was born in Eminence, Indiana, December 3, 1855, and died at Burlingame, June 26, 1931.
Mr. Addington attended public school and later was a stenographer. He studied law in the office of A. M. Harvey,
and was admitted to the bar on January 24, 1907.
On December 29, 1901 he was married to Maggie McGrath at Overbrook. She was born in Carbondale, Kansas, September
1, 1882. There are four children, Neil E., born February 18, 1903; Hayden M., September 18, 1905; Margaret M.,
July 21, 1910; and Jeane L., December 27, 1918.
Mr. Addington is a member of the American, Kansas State and Shawnee County Bar Associations. Residence: Topeka.
(Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 12)
CYRUS KURTZ HOLLIDAY
Cyrus Kurtz Holliday, of Shawnee county, was born near Carlisle, Pa. April 8.1826, and was educated at Allegheny College. A lawyer by profession, but a man of large business undertakings, he came to Lawrence in October. 1864. In November of that year he, with others, pushed westward to the ground whereon Topeka now stands, and organized the Topeka Town Company. In 1867 he was elected a member of the council of the free-state legislature. He afterward served as adjutant-general of Kansas from May 2, 1864. to March 81,1866. Perhaps Colonel Holliday's greatest accomplishment was the inception and building of the Santa Fe railroad, suggested to him by the great travel over the Santa Fe Trail. He was one of the earliest members of the State Historical Society and always active in its interest being president in 1890. He died at his home in Topeka, March 29.1900. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 208)
Harry R. Whittelsey, president and manager of the Whittelsey Mercantile Company, which operates a chain of grocery stores in Topeka, and is one of the largest retail grocery firms in the state.
A native of Redbank, New Jersey, Harry R. Whittelsey has been a resident of Topeka since November 1, 1881, at which time he was a boy of thirteen. He was born December 5, 1868, a son of William Chauncey and Grace M. (Hindes) Whittelsey. Of the six children, there were four sons, Louis, Burt, Harry, and William Jr. The Whittelsey family were very prominent in the East. Grandfather W. C. Whittelsey was the first senior surgeon general of the United States navy and held that office for a number of years. Harry Whittelsey's maternal grandfather Hindes was a prominent lawyer of Littletown, New Hampshire, was the first librarian of the city library there, and during the War of 1812 he gave the United States Government $60,000 in cash. In return he received a warrant for a tract of land in Virginia. His heirs lost this property, since the records were burned with the court house and being lost the heirs were not able to prove conclusively either the right to the land or its location.
W. C. Whittelsey, father of Harry R., was educated in the district schools and in a college in the South. During the Civil war he was a member of the Sanitary Commission of New Jersey, and he also acted as a messenger between Washington City and the Army of the Potomac. After the war he located in New York City, and for fourteen years was assistant superintendent of Central Park in Brooklyn. In 1881 he brought his family to Topeka, thinking the West offered better advantages for himself and sons.
On arriving in Topeka the senior Mr. Whittelsey embarked in the grocery business at Second and Madison streets. That was the beginning of the present large grocery house operated under the firm name of Whittelsey Mercantile Company. His older sons, with Louis at their head, had active charge of the store, and the business reasonably prospered. W. C. Whittelsey died at Topeka in 1904. His son Louis was head of the grocery house from 1882 to 1891.
With very little capital to begin on, all had to work hard to make the business give them a living. In 1892, after Louis retured from the firm, the Whittelsey Mercantile Company was organized with Harry R. Whittelsey as president and manager. It has been through his keen business judgment and untiring work that this company has developed its trade from one store to nine stores and a warehouse. Four of the store properties are owned by the Mutual Real Estate Company of which William Whittelsey is president and Harry vice president.
It is also due to the push and enterprise of Harry R. Whittelsey that the Retail Grocers Association of Topeka was formed. He conceived and engineered the organization of this association in 1887, renting the hall and sending the announcements of the meeting, and acting as temporary chairman until the regular election of officers. He was then made financial secretary of the body, and later became its president. Mr. Whittelsey is a republican, but is in no sense a politician. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the United Commercial Travelers and belongs to the Topeka Commerical Club. Religiously he is a Christian Scientist. (A Standard History of Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Volume III, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, New York 1918, page 1199 - Submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer)
DANIEL C. AULD
Daniel C. Auld was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, February 28, 1810 and died October 9, 1896. he
received a limited education and was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade. He went out to Ohio and in 1855 removed
to Kansas and settled on a claim in Marshall county which grew as years went by into a farm of over a thousand
acres. He was a member of the first state legislature, serving one term. At the beginning of the war he enlisted
and was made second lieutenant of company G, Thirteenth Kansas, resigning his commission April 2, 1863. Mr. Auld
was twice married; March 21, 1839 in Harrison county, Ohio to Jane Auld who died May 16, 1860; and at Topeka, June
5, 1865 to Mrs. Ellen Hyde. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo.
W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 243)
WILLIAM E. BOWKER
William E. Bowker, was born in Munson, Maine, April 5, 1829, and died at Los Angeles, Cal., March 5, 1874. He came
west, settling in Topeka township in 1855. He was a member of the railroad convention of 1860 and of the last territorial
legislature in 1861 and elected to the first state legislature. He was treasurer of Shawnee county in 1863 and
1868; was one of the original incorporators of Lincoln College, now Washburn and was trustee and treasurer of that
institution. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin,
Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 244)
HIRAM W.
FARNSWORTH
Hiram W. Farnsworth was born at Brattleboro, Vt., October 13, 1816, where he received his early education. He entered
Williams college in 1836, graduating with the class of 1840, after which he went to Alabama, where he taught school.
In 1842, he returned to New England and became principal of the Female Academy of New London, Conn.; this position
he held until 1855. The next year he came west arriving in Lawrence, May 9, 1856 and settling in Topeka a few days
later. He was elected to the first state senate, resigning in June 1861, to accept the appointment of agent for
the Kansas Indians, which he held until October, 1866. He was then appointed one of three special commissioners
to inspect all Kansas Indian tribes, taking deputations to Washington to effect treaties preparatory to their removal
from the state; this work being concluded in May 1867. In march 1869, he was appointed postmaster of Topeka, holding
the office four years. He served as clerk of the Topeka board of education from 1876 until his death. He married
in Boston, Mass., March 17, 1842, Della T. Lerow who died June 5, 1850 and December 3, 1855, he married Harriet
A. Stoddard of New London, Conn. Mr. Farnsworth died at Topeka, July 26, 1899. (Transactions of the Kansas State
Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908,
page 243)
Charles G. Blakely, whose attainments as a business man have made his name familiar not only in his home City of Topeka but in many parts of the state, has been a resident of Kansas since the fall of 1883, and his first experience here was as teacher in Brown County. His is the interesting story of a boy born and reared in the mountainous district of Eastern Kentucky, where people lived on the plane of the simplest existence but not always of the highest ideals. There, in his early youth, came a stimulus to his ambition and hope which raised him out of his circumstances, and by self-help he struggled upward on the road of aspiration and finally made himself a place among the world's influential workers. In the early days of Kentucky about the time Daniel Boone made history from the "dark and bloody ground," members of the Blakely and Brown families from North Carolina and Virginia respectively settled within the borders of that commonwealth, and aided in reclaiming it from the domain of the wilderness, fought wild beasts and wild Indians, and for several generations lived peacefully and contentedly in the mountainous districts of the state. Many years later John Chestnut Blakely, a native of the mountains of Laurel County and Sarah Brown of the Bluegrass region, met and married, and they were the- parents of Charles G. Blakely. The latter was born on a small mountain farm in Laurel County, Kentucky, September 4, 1853. Until his early manhood his knowledge extended only a short distance beyond the immediate neighborhood in which he was born. He worked spasmodically at the tasks to which most boys applied themselves but he grew up strong and vigorous in body, and for about three months each year attended the backwoods district school. There he learned little more than the rudiments of the literary art. When at the age of seventeen he found employment in East Tennessee at a salary of $10 per month, he thought he was on the way to comfortable prosperity. He was at that work for about a year, and fortunately through the kindness of his employer, was privileged to attend an academy about five months of the time. Here occurred the real awakening of his powers and his aspirations. With a widening mental and spiritual vision, he saw beyond the immediate horizon in which his attention had previously been concentrated, and he realized that there was a broader and better domain for those who could successfully struggle through the preliminary difficulties.
From East Tennessee he returned to Laurel County,
Kentucky, and a few months later determined to acquire an education. Once more he took his place as a student in
the district school, which in the meantime had increased its term to five months annually, and he was also a student
in a private school conducted at the county seat at London. By hard work he qualified to pass the examination and
secure a certificate as a teacher. He taught, and taught well, and from his earnings was able to enter the Agricultural
and Mechanical College, subsequently the University of Kentucky, at Lexington, where he was graduated with the
college degree in 1879. The story itself is briefly told. However, to the tall, gangling, and none too well clad
boy, the narrative had its tragical phases, with mingled heartaches and hopes.
Having completed his college course, he became principal of the Laurel Seminary one year. His next position was
as assistant engineer in the construction of the Knoxville branch of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. In
the meantime he had read and heard much of Kansas as a state of opportunities, . and decided that he would make
it his future home. He was thirty years of age when he came to Kansas, and in Brown County he taught one year in
the country school, two years at Merrill and one year . at Hiawatha. He left teaching to become a solicitor for.
life insurance, and with somewhat of a genius for mathematics he was promoted to actuary of his company and it
was in that capacity that he removed to Topeka in 1892. Since 1898 Mr. Blakely has had a successful real estate
and fire insurance business and is regarded as one of the prosperous men of Topeka.
In religious belief he is a Protestant, and is an independent republican. He served as a member of the Topeka City
Council for three years until 1910, when Topeka went under the commission form of government, and was a member
of the legislative session of 1913-14. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and is also
a member of the Royal Arch Chapter. Mr. Blakely has always endeavored to live according to the instructions of
the Divine Teacher and to so regulate his life that when the final summons comes it may be truthfully said of him
that the world is better for his having lived in it, and that itself is an ambition worthy of the best mettle in
any man.
On October 80, 1894, Mr. Blakely married Miss Mattie Victor Kenney Dodge, of Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, and
a daughter of David M. and Rebecca (Kenney) Dodge. She is of an old southern family on both sides. Her father was
a successful planter and a lover and breeder of standard bred trotting horses. Among horses he raised and owned
was Gail Hamilton, who took the three-year-old record of the Grand Circuit races of 1902. He is also owner of Lemonade,
the most famous brood mare of Kentucky of her time. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Blakely are Charles G.,
Victor Kenney and James Mills, the last being now deceased. considerable factor in the material prosperity of the
state, particularly in connection with the agricultural interests. As resident agent for a firm of foreign capitalists,
he has been instrumental during his time in handling and distributing over $25,000,000 cash to the land owners
and farmers of Kansas and adjoining states, and he is perhaps as well informed as any man in the state on the subject
of agricultural credit, land values and farming interests from the financial standpoint. A native of Herkimer County,
New York, where he was born June 3, 1855, Arthur W. Bronson is a son of O. W. and Elizabeth (Harter) Bronson. His
family have been Americans for many generations, and G.. W. Bronson was a carriage manufacturer, a trade which
he adopted from his father. O. W. Bronson also owned a farm in New York, and it was in the country that Arthur
W. Bronson spent the first twelve years of his life. He attended the public schools, and in 1877 graduated in the
civil engineering department of Willston Seminary in Massachusetts. Though prepared for a technical profession,
Mr. Brouson never practiced civil engineering, but instead engaged in merchandising at Herkimer, New York, and
not finding that business to his liking he came west in 1884, and for three years was inspector with the Lombard
Investment Company. He then became resident agent for Close Brothers & Company, who were English capitalists
representing the Mortgage and Debenture Company. For nine years Mr. Bronson lived in Sioux City, Iowa, then spent
two years at Kansas City, and since then has lived in Topeka. His business service is chiefly to extend credit
to farmers and through the medium of his agency has been distributed perhaps more actual cash for Kansas farming
operations than through any other one source. Mr. Bronson is a member of the Topeka Commercial Club, is a thirty-second
degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. In 1878 he married Miss Ida M. Bridenstein.
Their one son Olcott W. is employed in the scientific department of the State Historical Society as curator. (A
Standard History of Kansas & Kansans, William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society,
Topeka, Volume III, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, New York 1918, - Submitted by Barbara Ziegenmeyer)
George Washington Veale was born in Daviess county, Indiana, May 20, 1833. He was educated in the country schools, supplemented by two years at Wasbash College, when he began a business career. In the spring of 1857 he came to Kansas, locating first at Quindaro, and in a short time coming to Topeka, where he started a dry good business. He was part owner of the Otis Webb, a Kansas river boat, the plied for a short time between Leavenworth and Topeka during the year 1858. he was one of the signers of the call for the railroad convention of 1860, and an incorporator of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. In 1866 he was appointed commissioner for the sale of state lands, which position he held some years. He raised a company for the Fourth Kansas cavalry in 1861, and in 1862 was made major of the Sixth Kansas, serving until 1864. He was colonel of the Second Kansas militia, serving during the Price invasion. A member of the Senate of 1867-68 he was elected and re-elected to the house of representatives for the years 1871, 1873, 1883, 1887, 1889 and 1895 and was made speaker pro tem of the house of 1873. Colonel Veale was married, January 20, 1857 to Nannie Johnson of Evansville, Ind. He is now president of the State Historical Society. (Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1907-1908, Vol. X, edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary, State Printing Office, Topeka, 1908, page 268)
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