Loren V. Miner

LOREN V. MINER, M. D. In that section of Western Kansas comprising old Garfield County, Finney, Gray and Haskell counties probably no one individual could tell more completely the story of the medical profession out of his personal experience and recollections than Doctor Miner, who in recent years has lived and followed his profession as a physician and surgeon at Sublette in Haskell County. Thirty years ago he came, fresh from his medical studies, to offer his services to the scattered population of this western district, and in the years that followed he traveled almost constantly, horseback and by buggy, before there were telephones, improved highways or automobiles. His hard and strenuous work has been followed by the easier conditions under which medical men now practice, and he is well content with a more restricted field in and around his home town.

Doctor Miner was born near Millfield, Athens County, Ohio, March 14, 1860. He grew up in the atmosphere of a rural home, being the son of a farmer, and acquired his advanced literary training in Ohio University at Athens, the oldest institution of higher learning in the Middle West. For a number of years he taught school, studying medicine privately in the intervals of his school work, and later read medicine under Doctor Johnson at Nelsonville, Ohio, and took lectures in the Columbus Medical College at Columbus, where he was graduated M. D. in the spring of 1886.

In search of a location he first came to Garfield County, Kansas, and established himself at Eminence in 1887. While practicing his profession there he was more or less of a participant in the county seat fights between Eminence and Ravanna. He was a leader in the organization of the democratic party, served as county physician and coroner of old Garfield County, and was a delegate to various state conventions. He assisted in naming Judge Dale as a candidate for the governorship, and was one of the active supporters of the famous Jerry Simpson for congressman from the seventh district. Doctor Miner continued to live at Eminence long after Garfield County had lost its identity and had been merged with Finney County. On leaving Eminence he moved to Gray County, establishing his home at Ingalls, and practiced medicine there two years, and then moved to Haskell County in 1904, opening his office, in the former county seat at Santa Fe.

His pioneer work as a physician was by no means ended after he came to Haskell County. He covered a region larger than some of the states and principalities of Europe, stretching almost from the Cimarron River on the south to the Smoky on the north. A team of good horses carried him over these stretches of prairie country prior to the advent of rapid transit by automobile. The bulk of Doctor Miner's practice has been looking after births, last illnesses and a miscellaneous assortment of fevers, rheumatism and minor afflictions. When Santa Fe lost the honors of the county seat Doctor Miner established himself at Sublette in the spring of 1913. Like many others he moved his residence from Santa Fe to the new town, and here he also opened a drug store and subsequently a grocery business. He has since sold his stock of groceries but still keeps up the drug business. Here also he has found time to participate in politics, has served as chairman of the county central committee, and has been county physician and county health officer ever since he came to Haskell County. He has also been quite prominent in Odd Fellowship, having become a member of that order at Ingalls. He is a past noble grand and former representative to the Grand Lodge.

Doctor Miner's grandfather was Nathan Miner, who came to the United States from Nova Scotia, settling in New York and subsequently in Ohio. For a time he lived near Maryetta and from there went into Athens County, where he died. He married Hanna King, and their children were: Mary, who married Amasa Hill and died in Athens County; Jane, who became the wife of Fred Casler and died in the same county; Lydia, who married Mahlon Casler and died in Athens County; Joseph, who spent his career in Athens County; and Nathan H.

Nathan H. Miner, father of Doctor Miner, was a native of Athens County and at an early age lost his father by death and grew up to become the chief support of his widowed mother. With only a common school education he possessed a good mind and retentive memory, and without much formal schooling he came to be regarded as the best educated man of his country community. He spent his entire active career as a practical farmer. He responded to the last call for troops from the governor of Ohio, and while on his way to the front at Maryetta on the Ohio River the war ended. He was a republican in politics and a member of the United Brethren Church. He married Julia Brown, whose father came to Ohio from Vermont and was a farmer. Nathan H. Miner died in November, 1892, at the age of sixty-two, while his widow survived until March, 1912, dying at the age of eighty-six. Their children were: Horace, who died unmarried; Irving, of Perry County, Ohio; Dr. Loren V.; and John C., of Barberton, Ohio.

While living at Eminence in old Garfield County Doctor Miner married, October 2, 1889, Miss Lorene Belle Smith. She was born in Kentucky, March 12, 1872, a daughter of Elijah F. and Sarah Jane (Boyd) Smith, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky. The Smith family came to Kansas about 1881, lived for a time in Crawford County, and in 1886 joined the pioneers of Garfield County. Elijah F. Smith has been a resident of the region ever since and is now living at Garden City. He and his wife had four sons and three daughters. Five children have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Miner: Leah, who died at Garden City at the age of seventeen; Oliver W., who is a member of the class of 1918 in the medical department of Kansas University; Eugene; Loren and Lorene, twins.