Albert S. Foulks

JUDGE ALBERT S. FOULKS. In Ness County, where he has lived since early boyhood, Judge Foulks has performed the bulk of his practice as an able lawyer, and was called from his large private practice in 1911 by appointment as presiding judge of the Thirty-third judicial district. He succeeded Judge C. E. Lobdell on the bench. In 1912 and again in 1914 Judge Foulks was elected to that office, and both the bar and the public have come to regard his administrations as a safeguard to justice and an impartial source of equity in every litigation coming before him. He was re-elected in 1918 without opposition in the primary and the election.

Judge Foulks was born in Logan County, Kentucky July 9, 1866, and was brought to Ness County in 1878. In the meantime he had attended school in Russellville, Kentucky, and after the age of twelve he continued his education in Ness County, going from his father's farm in Ohio Township to the nearby schools. From the public schools he entered the University of Kansas at Lawrence, where he spent two years in the Liberal Arts Department and then took the law course, graduating with the class of 1898. On his return to Ness City he began to practice, and his first lawsuit in the county was to represent a client in a replevin action. Somewhat later he formed a partnership with A. W. Wilson, as Foulks & Wilson, and they remained together seven years. The firm handled the important school land litigation, which was eventually settled by the Supreme Court. For many years Judge Foulks was city attorney of Ness City. After the dissolution of the firm of Foulks & Wilson he practiced alone until he was called to the bench.

In a business way Judge Foulks and another associate installed the electric light plant of Ness City. He is a lawyer farmer of Kansas, and raises some of the generous wheat crops of Ness County. As a republican he attended many state conventions, and was in the Congressional Convention which named Victor Murdock the first time for Congress.

Judge Foulks has an interesting ancestry. His great-grandfather, Jacob Foulks, came to the United States from Wales, and was the founder of the Star Tobacco Factory in St. Louis. His last years were passed in Illinois, east of the City of St. Louis.

Rev. Joseph William Foulks, the grandfather of Judge Foulks, was born in Monmouth County, New Jersey, was a farmer during his active career, and married Sallie Marshall, a daughter of Samuel Marshall and of the noted Marshall Family of Virginia.

Judge Foulks' father was also named Joseph William Foulks. He was born in St. Clair County, Illinois, in 1832, and finished his education in the Russellville College of Kentucky. His parents had removed to that city when he was a small child. Though a staunch Union man, he saw no active service in the army. He was a member of the Christian Church, and all of the family of Judge Foulks have been members of that denomination, though he is not affiliated with any church. Judge Foulks is a Mason. Joseph W. Foulks brought his family out to Ness County in 1878 and entered a tract of land in Ohio Township. He came direct from Logan County, Kentucky. While living in Kentucky he was a member of the jury which tried Jack Shepherd, one of the bank robbing James gang. After coming to Kansas he spent his active years in Ness County, partly as a farmer and partly as a hotel man at Utica, and he died at Hoisington in January, 1914, at the age of eighty-two. He married Marian Elizabeth Smith. Her father was a Virginian, a school teacher, civil engineer and farmer, and before the war owned slaves. Mrs. Joseph W. Foulks lives in Hoisington, Kansas, at the age of seventy-six. Her children are: Arthur H., in the real estate and loan business at Enid, Oklahoma; William L., a farmer near Butler, Missouri; Nannie V., widow of Mr. Moran, of Hoisington, Kansas; Judge Foulks; Nellie, wife of Harry Mitchell, of Roselle, Kansas; Sallie, wife of P. M. O'Donnell, of Hoisington; Josephine, wife of Thomas C. Straw, who is Rock Island secretary of the Y. M. C. A. at Haileyville, Oklahoma.

In Ness County, December 25, 1907, Judge Foulks married Miss Elizabeth Pausch, a daughter of John and Mary (Malrich) Pausch. Her father settled in Ness County in 1886, and was a native of St. Clair County, Illinois. Mrs. Foulks is the oldest of five daughters, the others being Mrs. Alice Snodgrass, of Hoisington, Kansas; Mrs. Wella Sapp, of Miami, Oklahoma; the Misses Fern and Frances, of Ness City. Judge and Mrs. Foulks have one son, John C., now seven years of age.