F. M. Duvall

F. M. DUVALL. If there is one man who knows the history and the people of Norton county as a result of long residence and association with both, it is F. M. Duvall, proprietor and editor of the Norton Courier, a former representative in the Legislature, and a citizen of that community more than forty years.

Mr. Duvall is a physician by profession, but never practiced medicine after coming to Kansas. He was born at Meadville, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1850. His Duvall ancestors came from France to Pennsylvania in colonial times. His father, William P. Duvall, was born in Pennsylvania in 1824, grew up and married in that state, and was a physician and surgeon of the Eclectic School. He began the practice of medicine at Newark, New Jersey, but about 1853 moved to Chicago, where he spent the rest of his life. He was a physician and surgeon with much skill and a wide practice, and died while on a visit to Astoria, Oregon, in 1908.

During his early years in Chicago Dr. Duvall became an admirer and supporter of Stephen A. Douglas as a political leader, but he later joined the republican party. He was first a Methodist, but finally became identified with the Christian church.

Dr. William P. Duvall married Henrietta Meyers, a native of Pennsylvania, who died at Meadville in that state. Their children were: J. R., a retired woolen merchant of Portland, Oregon; F. M., of Norton, Kansas; Henrietta, wife of Wesley Henry, connected with Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company, wholesale hardware house of Chicago; and William, a farmer at Frederick, Oklahoma.

F. M. Duvall was three years old when his father moved to Chicago. He attended the public schools there and next the preparatory department of Douglas University, from which he graduated A. B. in 1867. Douglas University was the original school of which the present University of Chicago is the successor. He studied medicine in the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, graduated and was in practice in that city until he came to Kansas.

He visited first at Topeka and Leavenworth on coming west, and in 1877 reached Norton, where several months later he entered the hardware business with his brother-in-law, Wesley Henry. In the destructive fire in Norton in 1886 the store was burned, and since then Mr. Duvall has given most of his time to the newspaper business. He bought the Norton Courier, which was established in 1878. This is the official paper of Norton County, is republican in politics and has a large circulation in Norton County. The splendidly equipped plant at the corner of Kansas Avenue and Lincoln Street issues its publication weekly and Mr. Duvall as sole proprietor and editor has capably directed this journal for over thirty years.

Mr. Duvall represented his county in the State Legislature in 1888, as a republican. For fifteen years he was a member of the Norton School Board, and is affiliated with Norton Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1878 he married Miss Alice Newell, daughter of John and Mahulda Newell, who were among the very earliest settlers of Norton County, in 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Duvall have five children. J. E. Duvall is a graduate of the Norton County High School and is in the newspaper business at Craig, Colorado; Clara, also a graduate of the high school, married Dr. R. D. Wesley, a dentist at Norton; Reginald is a graduate of a Commercial School at Lincoln, Nebraska, and is now a farmer at Norcatur, Kansas; Henrietta and Alma are both graduates of the Norton County High School.

Pages 2173-2174.