H. B. WALTER.
H. B. Walter, of Benton township, Atchison county, Kansas, is one of the most widely known and successful live stock breeders in Kansas, and has made a signal success as a breeder of Poland China hogs during the past ten years. He first began the breeding of fine live stock in Republic county, Kansas, and while he has been a resident of Atchison county only since 1909, he has become known the length and breadth of the county for his fine live stock production. Mr. Walter did not venture in the breeding department of specialized agriculture for the purpose of producing show animals, but began his work purely as a commercial venture, and has succeeded even beyond his most sanguine expectations. He is the owner of 160 acres of fine farm land, located three and one-half miles northwest of Effingham, on which are excellent improvements. His farm is headquarters for supplying breeders with registered stock in all parts of the country, and he has the distinction of having developed the world beater of big type litters, and has produced and sold a world’s record type of Poland China swine of the big variety. For the past four years he has made the sales record for the State of Kansas in the numbers produced and the prices obtained. His farm produces 200 head of registered Big Type Poland China swine annually, and he holds two sales each year, in the months of October and February. In February of 1915, Mr. Walter sold fifty head of hogs, at an average price of sixty dollars per head, to buyers who attended the sale from all parts of the West. In February of the preceding year he sold at his regular sale fifty head, which brought an average price of seventy dollars each. The output of his breeding pens is shipped to points as far west as Oregon, and to places ranging from Minnesota to the Gulf States. In July of 1915 he filled an order for three high priced hogs sent in from Connecticut. He has done no exhibiting except at the local stock shows.
H. B. Walter was born on a farm in Jay county, Indiana, July 31, 1871, a son of Thomas S. and Sarah (Sherman), the former a native of Indiana, and the latter a native of Ohio. The family migrated from Indiana to Republic county, Kansas, in 1892, and settled on a farm in that county, where Thomas S. still resides. H. B. received his education in the public schools of his native county and State, and studied at Ridgeville College, Indiana. He prepared himself for the teaching profession, and taught school in Indiana for one year, and taught for nine years in Republic county, after moving to Kansas. He held the highest average grade possible to obtain in his teacher’s certificate, and met with considerable success in his profession, but abandoned teaching to engage in farming, in which avocation he began with the same determination to succeed as he had been imbued with when he began to teach. He purchased a farm in Republic county, which he cultivated, later buying a place in Brown county, Kansas, which he sold in 1909, and made the purchase of his present farm.
He was married in 1895 to Fanny Kunkel, a daughter of Noah and Caroline Kunkel, who were residents of Republic county, Kansas, from 1867 until their death. Mrs. Walter was also a teacher for eight years, and lived in Republic county over forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Walter have two living children: Frank, born in 1898, and Ruth, born in October, 1902.
Mr. and Mrs. Walter are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically, Mr. Walter is an independent voter, who is not tied to the principles of any political party or leader. He is a member of the Central Protective Association.