Hyder H. Fair

HYDER H. FAIR The business record of Hyder H. Fair in the community around Sharon has been continuous for practically thirty years. While Mr. Fair has been interested in the basic activities of agriculture as a farm owner, his chief business has been merchandising and banking. During the past ten years as president he has done much to insure the prosperity and broaden the splendid service rendered by the Sharon Valley State Bank.

Mr. Fair is of Scotch ancestry. His people came from Scotland to Virginia in colonial times. His grandfather was Sheridan Fair, a native of Tennessee, and for many years a substantial farmer of that state. He died at Elizabethton, Tennessee, in 1875.

J. D. Fair, father of the Sharon banker, was born at Elizabethton, Tennessee, in 1836, lived there for a number of years, was married in Kentucky, and soon afterward moved to Evansville, Indiana, where he followed the business of contractor and builder. In 1872 he made another move, to Southern Illinois, and in 1887 arrived at Sharon, Kansas, where he established a pioneer store. He continued in business there for many years and died at Sharon a highly respected citizen in 1909. He was a republican and a member of the Masonic fraternity. J. D. Fair married Diana Smith, who was born at Elizabethton, Tennessee, in 1842 and died at Sharon, Kansas, in 1899. They had five children: C. C. Fair, a farmer at Sharon; Julia F., wife of T. H. Trice, a merchant at Medicine Lodge; J. R. Fair, whose record is taken up in more detail in following paragraphs; Hyder H.; and H. D. Fair, a banker and rancher at Medicine Lodge.

Hyder H. Fair was born at Evansville, Indiana, July 29, 1870, and spent most of his youth in Southern Illinois. He attended public schools there and also Ewing College at Ewing, Illinois. He was seventeen when his parents came to Kansas, and he continued his education with a business course at Wichita. Then, in 1889, he entered the merchandise business at Sharon and continued active in it until 1908, until he sold out. In the meantime, in 1903, he assisted in organizing the Sharon Valley State Bank, and has been president of the institution since that time. The other officers are: H. D. Fair, his brother, vice president, and G. W. Lindley, cashier. The bank is capitalized at $10,000 and has a surplus of $6,000. Mr. Fair owns one of the finest farms in the Sharon Valley, comprising 230 acres and located near Sharon. He owns other real estate in the town, including the most modern home there, and is a director in the Johnston & Larimer wholesale dry goods company of Wichita.

Mr. Fair is a respublican[sic] in politics and a member of the Christian Church. He is affiliated with Delta Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Cypress Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Anthony Commandery, Knights Templar, Wichita Consistory No. 2 of the Scottish Rite, Midian Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita, and Sharon Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is also a member of the Kansas Bankers' Association.

In 1895, at East St. Louis, Illinois, Mr. Fair married Miss Rosalie Moyers. Her father, Judge W. J. N. Moyers, who was born in Kentucky in 1848, became a prominent lawyer in Southern Illinois, practicing for many years at Beaton, and for the last ten years lived at East St. Louis, where he died in 1914. He was judge of the City Courts of East St. Louis and at one time represented Franklin County in the State Legislature. He also had an army record as a Union soldier in the Civil war. Mrs. Fair's mother bore the maiden name of Delia Kirkpatrick. She was born in Illinois and is now living at Citronelle, Alabama.

Mr. and Mrs. Fair have two children: Geraldine, a student in Fairmount College at Wichita, and La Von, attending the high school at Sharon.

J. R. Fair, brother of H. H. Fair, was born at Hamilton County, Illinois, in 1863, and came to Kansas in the fall of 1882. He was one of the first settlers around Sharon, where he pre-empted 160 acres and lived on it as a practical farmer for fifteen years. He now owns 320 acres of grain land northwest of Sharon in the Sharon Valley, and has much other local business and residence property. He has served as a member of the Sharon School Board for ten years and is now its president. He is a republican and a member of the Christian Church and is a director in the Farmers Elevator and president of the Sharon Hardware Company. In 1882 he married Miss Etta Hale, daughter of T. J. Hale. Mr. and Mrs. Fair have two children, Blanche, a graduate of the Deaf and Dumb School at Olathe, Kansas; and Blondell, a graduate of the Sharon High School and now the wife of H. K. McKeever, a farmer at Sharon.

Pages 2345-2346.