JOHN NORMAN EVANS
John Norman Evans cashier of the Peoples National Bank of Liberal, was born at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, England,
June 3, 1865, son of Nichol and Bertha (Oldershaw) Evans.
Mr. Evans who came to Kansas in February, 1893, taught public school and received a first grade county teacher's
certificate for Seward County. Prior thereto, he attended Merchant Taylors School in London.
From 1903 until 1914 Mr. Evans was postmaster at Liberal. The following eight years he was assistant cashier of
the Peoples State Bank, and since 1921, has been cashier. He has been a director of the Liberal Building and Loan
Association since its organization.
On December 25, 1893, Mr. Evans, was married to Bird B. Crothers at Liberal. She was born in Sherburne County,
Minnesota, November 18, 1874. To them were born the following children: Ernest Alleyn, January 20, 1895, who married
Helen Dot Hitch, Mabel Lena, June 18, 1897; Bertha Mildred, born June 18, 1897, who died October 17 of the same
year; Clara Bernice, October 8, 1898, who married Addison C. DePuy, Winifred, December 4, 1901; and Richard Norman,
November 4, 1915, who died June 2, 1931.
A Republican, Mr. Evans has been county surveyor two terms, and from 1922 until 1932 was chairman of the Seward
County central committee. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the First Methodist Church for twenty
years, has been treasurer of the Red Cross since 1920 was first president of the Rotary Club 1921-22, and since
its organization has been treasurer of the library board.
His fraternal organizations include the Odd Fellows and the Masons (past high priest Liberal Chapter No. 65; past
commander, Liberal Commandery No.5 5; and member of Wichita Consistory No. 2). Residence: Liberal (Illustriana
Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 375)
WILLIAM HENRY
FEATHER
William Henry feather, banker, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, September 5, 1865, son of James R. and Margaret (Hawk)
Feather. He died at his home near Liberal, August 2, 1932, having lived in the state since 1865. His father, who
was born in Ohio, September 20, 1841, died at Minneapolis, Kansas, March 20, 1932. He served with Company G, 10th
Pennsylvania Reserves during the Civil War, being severely wounded in the Battle of Bull Run, and being confined
in a hospital eleven months. Later he served as register of Ottawa County. His wife, Margaret, who was the daughter
of John and Polly (Crawford) Hawk, was born in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, June 30, 1843, and died in Ottawa County,
December 9, 1886.
William Henry Feather attended public school in Ohio and Kansas, and upon coming to Kansas engaged in cattle ranching
and farming. From 1901 until 1903 he was county treasurer of Seward County and held the same position from 1918
until 1922.
During the years 1906-17 he operated the only exclusive furniture store in Liberal, and afterward was called to
be acting president of the First National Bank. He ws serving as president of that bank at the time of his death.
On July 2, 1893, he was married to Edith Pearl Brown at Liberal. She was born at Altoona, Kansas, July 17, 1875,
and is of English and Scotch descent. There are two children living, one deceased; Mildred, born June 27, 1894,
died February 24, 1931; Marguerita, November 25, 1895, married Marion L. Hayes; and Evelyn an adopted daughter,
June 3, 1907, who married Kenneth Myers and lives in Dodge City.
Mr. Feather was a Republican. He was a member and active worker in the Christian Church and at the time of his
death held the office of trustee. He was a 32nd degree Mason, a member of the Red Cross and Chamber of Commerce.
He was president of his local school board most of the time from 1900 onward, during the period when teachers increased
from three to sixty, and was a leader in all building campaigns. His club was the Cimarron Hunting and Fishing
Club. Mr. Feather devoted much time to public welfare. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert
Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 385)
ARTHUR ALDEN
HEDGES
The Reverend Arthur Alden Hedges, clergyman, was born at Waterloo, Indiana, July 3, 1889, son of Thaddeus Arlington
and Mary Virginia (Atkinson) Hedges. His father, a clergyman and state evangelist of Ohio, Nebraska and Missouri,
was born in Grant County, Kentucky, August 22, 1857.
He is of English and French descent, the first member of the family in America. Sir Charles Hedges, came with General
Braddock. Mary Virginia, wife of Thaddeus, was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia on November 26, 1861.
Arthur Alden Hedges attended public school, was graduated from academy at LaGrange, Indiana, in 1908, and the following
four years attended Christian University. During 1912-13 he was a student at Friends University. He received his
Bachelor of Arts from Philips University in 1921, and his master's degree in 1922.
During 1912-13 he was pastor of the West Wichita Christian Church, and the following three years of the First Christian
Church of Conway Springs. He was pastor at Dighton 1916-17, athletic director, Great Lakes Naval training Station,
1918, pastor at Ellsberry, Missouri, 1919, at Peabody 1925-26, and at Dexter, Missouri, 1926-30. Since that time
he has served at Liberal.
Mr. Hedges' marriage to Irma Jean Hathaway was solemnized at Wellington, May 14, 1913 and to them two children
were born, Ruth Thadine, April 16, 1915; and Thane Alden, March 25, 1921. Mrs. Hedges was born at Wichita, January
18, 1895.
Mr. Hedges is a member of the Ministerial Alliance (president 1931-32), the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Masons
(chaplain 1914-16), the Kiwanis Club (secretary 1927-28; song leader 1929-30) and the Parent Teachers Association.
Residence: Liberal (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 501)
EUGENE F.
PELLETTE
Eugene F. Pellette, osteopathic physician and surgeon, was born at Larned, Kansas, February 14, 1884, son of Charles
N. and Ida M. (Barrett) Pellette. The father, a contractor and builder, was a native of Middletown, Connecticut,
whose ancestors came from England prior to 1700. His death occurred at Hartford, Connecticut, October 30, 1897.
Ida M. Barrett, who is living, was born in Middletown, New York, May 14, 1862.
Eugene F. Pellette attended Salt City Business College, and in June, 1909 was graduated from the American School
of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri, where he was a member of the Atlas Club. In 1915, Dr. Pellette was graduated
from the Needles Institute of Optometry at Kansas City, Missouri.
His marriage to Dorothy Louisa green was solemnized at Pratt, on September 7, 1907, and to them three children
were born, Ralph, July 9, 1908, Paul, October 30, 1910; and Ruth, December 5, 1912. Mrs. Pellette was born in Cairo,
Kansas, August 17, 1886, and is her husband's assistant.
While in school, Dr. Pellette was a newsboy at Hutchinson, and thereafter was stenographer for the Peoples Bank
at Pratt a year and a half. He was stenographer and bookkeeper for the Sam Graybille Livestock Commission Company
one year and since 1909, has been in active practice. He has served six years as national secretary for the American
Osteopathic Society of Proctology, and at the present time is president of the Southwest Kansas Society of Osteopathic
Physicians and Surgeons.
Dr. Pellette is the author of Some Differences Between Osteopathy and Chiropractic, in addition to numerous articles
in various professional magazines. He is a member of the Kansas Osteopathic Association, and the American Osteopathic
Association, in addition to those above named. His other memberships include the Methodist Episcopal Church, the
Red Cross, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, the Country Club and the Masons. (Knights Templar, Shrine).
Residence: Liberal. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 908)
EUGENE FRANK PILE
Eugene Frank Pile, farmer and legislator, was born at Liberal, Kansas, April 20, 1892, son of E. C. and Dora A.
(Yeager) Pile. His father was born in Chilicothe, Ohio, and died at Liberal, Kansas, January 26, 1924. The mother
was born in Bolivar, Missouri.
In 1916, Dr. Pile received the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Kansas State Agricultural College,
where he is a member of Alpha Psi. A Republican, he served as state representative in 1929 and was unsuccessful
candidate for the same office in 1930.
On August 7, 1929, he was married to Elsie W. Wettstein at Hugoton. She was born at Pratt, Kansas and before her
marriage was a teacher.
Dr. Pile held the rank of second lieutenant of Infantry from September 5, 1917 to April 21, 1918; the rank of first
lieutenant, April 20, 1918 to August 12,1918, and the rank of captain, from August 12, 1918 to October 31, 1919.
He is a member of the American Legion. Residence: Liberal (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert
Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 920)
DICKSON, ALBERT
S.
Albert S. Dickson. Coming in 1886 to that section
of neutral strip in Indian Territory that was at the time commonly known as No Man's Land, Mr. Dickson established
his residence at Neutral City, a true frontier town of period, where he remained until Oklahoma Territory was thrown
open to settlement and formally organized, its prescribed confines including the former No Man's Land, when he
removed to Beaver, which was made the judicial center of the county of the same name and which originally included
also the present counties of Texas and Cimarron. In this now thriving and important town of western Oklahoma he
has since continued in the active and successful practice of law, and he is junior member of the representative
law firm of Dickson & Dickson, in which his coadjutor is his brother, Robert E. The firm controls a specially
substantial and important practice in this section of the state and its high standing at the bar of Oklahoma determines
the distinctive professional ability of its members and their secure place in popular confidence and good will.
On the paternal homestead farm in Andrew County, Missouri, a log house of the pioneer type figured as the stately
domicile in which Albert S. Dickson was born, and the date of his nativity was February 1, 1867. He is a son of
Benjamin Franklin Dickson and Anna (Van Deventer) Dickson, whose marriage was solemnized in that state in the year
1860.
Benjamin F. Dickson was born in Boone County, Missouri, in 1826, his parents having been pioneers of that county,
where they established their home on their emigration from their native State of Kentucky. He was reared to adult
age in his home county and as a young man he removed to the northwestern part of Missouri, where he passed the
remainder of his life as an energetic, progressive and duly successful farmer. He died in Andrew County in 1892,
when about sixty-six years of age, and his wife survived him by a number of years. She was born in Missouri and
was a daughter of Granville and Ursula (Clark) Van Deventer, her father having been a scion of the historic old
Van Deventer family of Lee County, Virginia. Benjamin P. and Anna (Van Deventer) Dickson became the parents of
three sons and two daughters, concerning whom the following brief record is given: Alexander Jackson, born in 1861,
is now a prosperous agriculturist and stock-grower of Beaver County, Oklahoma. In 1886 he wedded Miss Belle Baker
and they have one child, Anna. Robert, who was born in 1864, was afforded the advantage of Avalon College, at Avalon,
Missouri, and is now senior member of the law firm of Dickson & Dickson, as previously noted. He was the first
regularly elected county attorney of Beaver County and since his retirement from that office he has been associated
with his brother Albert S. in the practice of law at Beaver. He whose name initiates this article, was the third
in order of birth of the five children. Lucy D., who was born in 1869, was educated in the Missouri State Normal
School at Strasburg and in 1896 became the wife of Godfrey Stegman, their home being in the City of St. Joseph,
Missouri, and their only child being a daughter, Elsie. Bell, who was born in 1872, is the youngest of the children.
In 1899 she became the wife of Hugh A. Ellingsworth and they now maintain their home at Helena, Missouri. They
have one child, Everetta.
Albert S. Dickson passed the period of his childhood and early youth on the old homestead farm and is indebted
to the public schools of Andrew County, Missouri, for his preliminary education, which was effectively supplemented
by a course of higher study in Avalon College, at Avalon, that state. In the meanwhile he had given much attention
to the reading of law, with the intention of eventually entering the legal profession.
In August, 1886, Mr. Dickson came to the Indian Territory and, as previously stated, established his residence
at Neutral City, in "No Man's Land," where he remained until 1890, when he removed to Beaver. In the
following year he was admitted to the bar of Oklahoma Territory and since that time he has continued in the practice
of his profession at Beaver, as one of the representative pioneer lawyers and a valued citizen of Beaver County.
Though he takes a deep and loyal interest in public affairs and is a staunch advocate of the principles of the
republican party, he has never sought or held political office, as he considers his profession worthy of his undivided
allegiance. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian
Church at Beaver.
At Liberal, Kansas, on the 29th of January, 1910, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dickson to Miss Edna Humphrey,
who was born near Trenton, Missouri, on the 27th of September, 1884, and who is a daughter of Clark and Emma Humphrey,
likewise natives of Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson have one child, Albert DeWitt, born September 24, 1913.[Source:
“A Standard History of Oklahoma” Volume V; by Joseph B. Thoburn; copyright 1916; Transcribed by Andaleen Whitney]
