FRED W. KAUFMAN.
Fred W. Kaufman, merchant, Cummings, Kan., was born in Nortonville, Kan., February 18, 1879. He is a son of Frank and Louise (Baker) Kaufman, who were the parents of thirteen children. Frank Kaufman was born in Servia, Germany, in 1833. When a youth, in his native land he learned the shoemaker’s trade which he followed there until eighteen years of age, and he then emigrated from Germany to America in 1851. He came to Atchison, Kan., and worked as a cobbler. When the town of Pardee, Kan., was founded, Mr. Kaufman opened a shoe shop in that town and conducted it for about four years, after which he located in Nortonville and worked at his trade until his demise in 1911. The children of Frank and Louise Kaufman were as follows: Charles, deceased, merchant of Nortonville, born 1866, died 1908; Edward, a merchant, Nortonville; Fred, a merchant of Cummings, Kan., the subject of this review; Mrs. Anna Coon, of Rock Creek, Kan.; Mrs. Flora Hilderbrand, Independence, Kan.; Walter, a farmer, living near Cleveland, Okla.; Grace, residing at Nortonville. The mother of these children was born near the city of Atchison, and is now living in Nortonville.
Fred Kaufman was reared in Nortonville and attended the public schools of his native city after which he studied in the Atchison Business College. At the age of fifteen years he was employed as clerk in a general merchandise store in his home city. In 1900 he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was employed in the wholesale department of the Wheeler & Motter Mercantile Company for a period of nine years, and served in the capacity of mail order clerk in this establishment. He was then given a traveling position as salesman with his firm and for three years sold goods in the surrounding territory with considerable success. His ambitions led him to undertake things in his own behalf, however, and in 1912 Mr. Kaufman located in Colorado, where he was engaged in ranching for three years. Three years’ hard work enabled him to develop his Colorado farm into a good piece of salable property and he then disposed of his holdings and came to Cummings where he invested his cash capital in a general merchandise store which he is conducting with considerable success. His previous commercial experience has proven to be invaluable to him since entering the mercantile field in his own behalf, and he has developed a splendid business in Cummings. Besides his large store in Cummings, Mr. Kaufman has invested in 210 acres of land in Colorado and Oklahoma.
Mr. Kaufman was married September 6, 1905, to Carrie E. Hackney, and this marriage has been blessed with two children: Fred, Jr., and Maxine C., both of whom are at home with their parents. Mrs. Kaufman was born October 27, 1884, at Agency, Buchanan county, Missouri, and is a daughter of Alfred and Pauline (Slover) Hackney, natives of Wisconsin and Missouri, respectively. Alfred Hackney was a son of Thomas and Mary (Saxton) Hackney, the former a native of England. Thomas was an early pioneer settler in Doniphan county, Kansas, coming there about 1852, and also operated a drug store at Wathena, Doniphan county. Mrs. Thomas Hackney is still living at the age of eighty-eight years, born August, 1827. Alfred is now living in retirement at St. Joseph, Mo., and has attained the age of sixty-five years. Mrs. Kaufman’s mother died in 1904, at the age of forty years.
Mr. Kaufman is a Republican in politics and is affiliated with the United Commercial Travelers’ lodge at Hastings, Neb. He and Mrs. Kaufman attend religious worship at the Baptist church, of which Mrs. Kaufman is a member. Mr. Kaufman is a splendid type of self-made man whose success in the mercantile field is certain to continue in the years to come. His business methods are such as to commend him favorably to the many patrons of his store; he is likewise a good citizen who has the best interest of his town and county at heart.