John Doane

JOHN DOANE. The position of John Doane in the citizenship of Osborne County is best attested by the fact that he is now serving his fifth consecutive term as county clerk. Mr. Doane has spent most of his life in this county, has been a farmer, teacher and at all times has enjoyed the full confidence of his fellow citizens.

He was born in Lee County, Iowa, February 1, 1873. The Doanes, Scotch-Irish, came to the United States in early times and his grandfather, Robert Doane, was a native of Indiana, moving from that state to Iowa, where he was a farmer in Lee County, and died there in 1889. Capt. E. B. Doane, father of John Doane, was born in Indiana in 1840, and spent his early life in Indiana and Iowa. In 1861, at the age of twenty-one, he enlisted in the Union army, served three years and then re-enlisted until the close of the war, and was commissioned captain of his company. After the war he was a farmer and teacher in Iowa, married in Lee County, that state, and in 1874 brought his family to Osborne County, Kansas. He took up a homestead and also a timber claim, but later sold the homestead and lived on the timber claim from 1881 until his death October 6, 1886. Though his residence was in Osborne County, at the time, his death occurred in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. He was prospered in his business affairs and owned 600 acres at the time of his death. Captain Doane was a republican and a member of the Quaker Church. He was also a Mason and an Independent Order of Odd Fellow. He married Amelia C. Cahill, who was born in Ohio in 1844 and died at Lucas, Kansas, October 4, 1917. This worthy pioneer couple of Osborne County had a large family of children, briefly noted as fellows: F. I., a stockman living at Douglas, Arizona; Eva J., wife of A. E. Stark, their home being on the old home farm; R. B., a farmer living at Arlington, Colorado; John; Lizzie A., wife of A. B. Prather, a farmer near Luray, Osborne County; Walter S., proprietor of a laundry at Beloit, Kansas; Victor B., a farmer at Lucas in Osborne County; R. G., a physician and surgeon at Lucas; Ira B., a farmer in Sherman County, Kansas; and Otis E., a farmer and stockman in Sherman County.

Mr. John Doane was too young to remember when the family came to Kansas. He attended the rural schools of Osborne County and was in the Osborne High School through the sophomore year. Up to the age of twenty he lived on his father's farm. For ten years he taught country school and farmed in the summer, and in 1902 gave his entire attention to farming and stock dealing. On January 1, 1910, he began his duties as a public official in the capacity of deputy county clerk. In November of the same year he was elected county clerk, and by re-election in 1912, 1914, 1916 and 1918 has been retained the incumbent of that office ever since. Mr. Doane also has large interests as a farmer, owning 480 acres adjoining the old homestead in Osborne County. He also has an attractive home in Osborne. He is secretary of the Delhi Oil Company and while in Delhi Township served as trustee and as clerk and treasurer of the township. He is a republican, and a member of Osborne Lodge of Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America at Osborne and the Kansas Fraternal Citizen.

May 3, 1893, at Osborne, Mr. Doane married Miss Alice M. Standby, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Standley, both now deceased. Her father was an Osborne County farmer. Florence E., the oldest of Mr. Doane's children, is a graduate of the Osborne High School and a teacher in that county. Roy M. graduated from the Osborne High School in 1918 and under the new draft was the first in Osborne County to receive induction papers into the service of the Students Army Training Corps at Manhattan. He died in service, of influenza-pneumonia, October 22, 1918. Vera V. is a senior in high school, and Vernon W. and Beryl A. are the younger children.

Pages 2149-2150.