Louis Kloepper, farmer and stockman of Lancaster township, Atchison county, was born January 18, 1888, on the farm where he now lives. He is a son of William and Fredericka (Von Derahe) Kloepper, who were the parents of four children as follows: Louis, subject of this sketch; Emma, deceased; William, deceased; Pauline, living at home. The father was born in Germany, December 14, 1853. He left there in 1883 and came directly to Atchison county, Kansas, where he bought eighty acres of land in section 27, Lancaster township. He farmed this one year, and in 1885 returned to Germany to be married. In 1886 he returned to his farm and began to improve it, building a large eight-room house in 1899 in place of the little three-room affair which stood on the place. In 1903 he built a fine 32×40 feet granary, and in 1904 he erected a large barn, 40×48 feet. The following year he bought more land and put up additional buildings, building in 1908 another barn, 32×40 feet. At the time of his death, February 7, 1913, he owned 240 acres of well improved land under cultivation, and thirteen acres of fine timber land. This achievement is the more remarkable in view of the fact that he landed with only $1,200. But he was industrious, and worked faithfully to improve his farm. He was a member, trustee and steward of the German Lutheran church. His wife was born in Germany, February 15, 1858, and is a daughter of Henry and Fredericka (Von Behren) Von Derahe, natives of Germany. The mother is now living with her son, Louis.
Louis Kloepper attended the old Huron school of Lancaster township, and grew to manhood on the farm which he now operates. Since the death of his father he has had charge of the farm and has worked to the extent of his ability in installing modern improvements on his place. He owns 160 acres in section 27, Lancaster township, in addition to the home place, and has three acres of orchard and grove. He also has a vineyard which was the feature of the place which Louis, and his father before him, always loved most. Special attention has been given to the vineyard when other things had to be neglected, perhaps. It is the pride of Mr. Kloepper’s place. He keeps graded stock and is a practical farmer. He now is operating 400 acres of land, 114 acres of which are in corn, and ninety-three acres are in cloves, the latter having been unusually successful. He owns a threshing outfit and two clover hullers, a corn shredder, and three gas engines. He utilizes these engines in numerous ways, including pumping and threshing and plowing. Mr. Kloepper has a modern farm in every way and has all up-to-date improvements of a labor and time saving kind, as well as an automobile. He is a stockholder in the Farmers’ Mercantile Association of Effingham, Kan. He is a practical farmer, of the progressive type.
In 1911 he married Marie Meier, a native of Germany, born July 3, 1888. She is a daughter of Henry and Fredericka (Finke) Meier, and was educated in Germany and left her native land at the age of seventeen. Mr. and Mrs. Kloepper have two children, Fredia, born November 13, 1911, and Emma, born April 21, 1913. Mr. Kloepper is an independent voter. He belongs to the German Lutheran church.
CHARLES W. FERGUSON.
Charles W. Ferguson, vice-president of the Atchison Savings Bank, is one of the best known men in financial circles of northeastern Kansas, and he is equally as well known over a large section of western Missouri. Mr. Ferguson was born at Plattsburg, Mo., December 29, 1862, and is a son of William L. and Fannie A. (Carpenter) Ferguson, both natives of Kentucky, whose parents were Virginians and very early settlers of the Blue Grass State. The Ferguson family removed from Kentucky to Missouri about 1851. They came up the Missouri river by boat as far as Liberty Landing, and later located in Clinton county, Missouri. The father was a merchant and also engaged in the grain business, and was an all around progressive business man. He was a Republican, and in 1862 was elected sheriff of Clinton county, being the first Republican elected to office in that county within a period of twenty-five years. During the Civil war he was captain of the Home Guards. He died in 1893, age 64 years. Charles W. Ferguson is one of a family of six children, as follows: John L., assistant general passenger agent of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, Chicago, Ill.; Mary F., widow of M. B. Riley, and resides in St. Joseph, Mo.; Adelia M., Plattsburg, Mo.; Katherine, Plattsburg, Mo.; Charles W., the subject of this sketch, and Louis, a conductor on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, resides at Highland Park, Ill. Charles W. Ferguson attended the public schools in Plattsburg until he was thirteen years old, and at that early age went to work in the express office at Plattsburg, where he remained about five years. He then entered the employ of Stonum Brothers, remaining with that company two years. He then accepted a position in the Plattsburg Bank, as bookkeeper and assistant cashier, remaining with that institution for seven years. He then went with the Schuster-Hax National Bank, St. Joseph, Mo., as receiving teller, and served in that capacity for four years. He resigned that position in June, 1894, to become bookkeeper of the Exchange National Bank of Atchison. He served with that institution in the capacity of paying teller, assistant cashier and cashier, resigning the latter position February 1, 1914. In November, 1914, he accepted a position with the Federal Reserve Bank, of Kansas City, Mo., and was with that institution for eight months, and in July, 1915, became vice-president of the Atchison Savings Bank. Mr. Ferguson has had a vast experience in the field of banking, and is well posted on the intricate problems of finance, and possesses the keen discriminating qualities of the successful banker. Mr. Ferguson was married April 28, 1892, to Miss Sallie Clay, of Plattsburg, Mo. She is a daughter of James M. Clay, a member of the Kentucky branch of the Clay family. Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Masonic lodge, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America.
EARL V. JONES.
Signal success in any one field of endeavor is worthy of recognition by the public, whether it be professional, inventive, mercantile or of an industrial nature. Some men are naturally gifted with the ability to become successful in the industrial and manufacturing field, and are mentally equipped with a certain amount of mechanical genius, along with decided business ability to take hold of a proposition, and makes it succeed, despite difficulties. E. V. Jones, treasurer and manager of the Bailor Plow Company, of Atchison, is one of the latter type who is fast climbing to a place of eminence in his chosen field of endeavor, and holds a high place among the manufacturing and mercantile interests of Atchison and the Middle West.
Mr. Jones was born in Livingston county, Missouri, January 21, 1878, a son of Charles Jones, a building contractor, who was a native of Kentucky and a son of William Jones, owner of a large plantation in Kentucky, which was lost as one of the misfortunes which befell the family as a result of the Civil war’s ravages in Kentucky. Desirous of making a new start in a land further removed from internecine strife, and where opportunities for success seemed greater, William Jones removed to Missouri, and here Charles, the father of E. V., was reared and became successful in agricultural pursuits, the son, Earl V., being reared on the family estate in Livingston county, Missouri. The Jones family is originally of Scotch-Irish stock, the founder of the family emigrating from the north of Ireland to this country several generations ago. Charles Jones married Miss Jennie Wills, a daughter of John Wills, native of the east coast of England, and who immigrated to this country with his brother, George, and followed his trade of wagon maker successfully. John Wills owned and operated an extensive blacksmith and wagon maker’s shop at Chillicothe, Mo., which did a large business and made moderate wealth for its proprietor.
Earl V. Jones, with whom this review is directly concerned, was educated in the common and high schools of his native county, and attended the military school at Palmyra, Mo., supplementing his academic education with one year’s study in business college at Atchison, Kan. For some years before the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he had been a member of the Missouri State militia, Company H, Fourth infantry regiment. When the war broke out and troops were called for to fight the Spaniards in Cuba and the Philippines, he responded with his company and regiment, and went to the front immediately, serving at Camp Alger, near Washington, D. C., on the Potomac river, and Camp Meade, at Harrisburg, Pa., and at Greenville, S. C. After the close of the war, and receiving his honorable discharge at Greenville, S. C., and being mustered out of the service, he returned to his home city, Chillicothe, and entered the employ of the Jackson Woodenware Company as a workman in 1899. His capacity for work and an inherent genius for detail and management here asserted itself and his rise in this concern was rapid and substantial. It was not long until his faithfulness and decided ability was recognized by his employers and he was promoted to the post of superintendent of the factory. When the Jackson Woodenware Company was removed to Atchison in 1902, Mr. Jones came along in the capacity of shipping clerk, and later served as superintendent of the company until its dissolution in 1910. During this time Mr. Jones had made a reputation as a manufacturer and organizer, which had become generally recognized throughout this section of the country, and, although many flattering offers came to him to accept executive positions of importance, he decided to cast his lot with the Bailor Plow Company as treasurer and manager in 1910, when a company was organized for the purpose of locating the factory in Atchison. His judgment in this respect was essentially sound, inasmuch as the Bailor Plow Company, under his management, is one of the flourishing manufacturing concerns of the city. The company and Mr. Jones, the manager, have made good, the large payroll, and the constantly increasing output of the plant having fully justified the decision of the Atchison men who were instrumental in locating the plant in this city. A great future is decidedly in store for the Bailor Plow Company and its manager.
Mr. Jones was united in marriage with Katherine Barton, of Livingston county, in 1901. To this union have been born two sons: Raymond and Earl. Mrs. Jones is a daughter of Prof. John W. Barton, widely known educator of Missouri, who formerly served as city superintendent of various schools, and was formerly a member of the faculty of the University of Missouri.