O. M. BABCOCK.
O. M. Babcock, of the Babcock-Avensberg Shoe Company, is one of the most progressive merchants of Atchison. He is a native of the Empire State, and was born at Adams Center, Jefferson county, New York, in November, 1872, and is a son of M. S. and Amy (Green) Babcock, both natives of New York and of English descent.
The Babcock family was founded in America by Capt. James Babcock, who settled in Rhode Island during the seventeenth century. M. S. Babcock came to Kansas with his family in 1883 and settled on a farm in Benton township, one mile north of Nortonville in Atchison county. Here he bought 160 acres of unimproved land, which he developed to a high state of cultivation and followed farming there successfully until he and his wife removed to Battle Creek, Mich., where they now reside. O. M. Babcock, the subject of this sketch, was eleven years old when he came to Atchison county with his parents. He was educated in the district schools and the Atchison County High School at Effingham. After completing school he taught in Atchison county about two years when he accepted a position in a general merchandise store at Nortonville and later at Effingham. He remained at Effingham one year and then came to Atchison and entered the shoe department of D. C. Newcomb’s general store, where he remained about three years. He then accepted a position as traveling salesman for a wholesale shoe house, and for three years was a successful knight of the grip with St. Joseph, Mo., as his headquarters. He then came to Atchison as general sales manager for a retail shoe establishment, and four years later, in 1902, organized the Babcock Shoe Company, which he still conducts. This is Atchison’s leading shoe store.
Mr. Babcock was united in marriage in 1903 to Miss Edith L. Hooper, a daughter of George R. Hooper, of Atchison, a personal sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Babcock takes a keen interest and an active part in the welfare and development of Atchison and is one of its booster citizens. He is a member of the Masonic lodge and active in the work of that organization. He is also a member of the Elks and belongs to the Commercial Club. He is president of the Kansas Retail Shoe Dealers’ Association, and politically, is a supporter of the policies and principles of the Republican party.