Emery L. Wickizer

EMERY L. WICKIZER is president of the Kansas State Bankers Association, an honor which indicates his high standing among Kansas financiers generally. He comes from that Kansas stronghold of agriculture and livestock industry, the northwestern corner of the state, is interested in farming and stock raising and is president of the Farmers State Bank of Quinter.

Mr. Wickizer has lived in Kansas since childhood. He was born at Gilman, Illinois, September 15, 1877. His grandfather, Asa B. Wickizer, was born in Ohio in 1814 and after his marriage moved to Indiana and was a farmer at Argus in that state until his death in 1884. Asa M. Wickizer, father of the Quinter banker, was born in Ohio in 1851 and when a young man went to Gilman, Illinois, was married there and took up farming. He came out to Kansas in 1884, first locating in Phillips County, and in 1885 homesteading a quarter section near Quinter in Gove County. He was one of the pioneers of the county, which was not organized until after his settlement. In 1908 he moved to the Town of Quinter, owned and conducted a hotel, for some years, but is now practically retired. He has served as justice of the peace, constable and supervisor of schools, and is a republican in politics. Asa M. Wickizer married Jennie Wright, who was born in Ohio in 1856 and died at Gilman, Illinois, in 1882. Their children wore: Florence, who lives at Bird City, Kansas, widow of A. C. Kepple; Orville, who died when seven years old; Emery L., the third of his mother's children; and Gardus, who died in infancy. For his second wife Asa M. Wickizer married Catherine Wright, a cousin of his first wife. She was born in Ohio in 1865 and died at Quinter, Kansas, in March, 1917. She was the mother of five children: Ida, wife of E. S. McKain, telegraph operator and station agent at Sarels, North Dakota; Mabel, wife of R. A. Haddock, a traveling salesman living at Blackfoot, Idaho; Daie, who died at Quinter at the age of sixteen years; Verna, a stenographer at Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Knight C., a lieutenant in the army at Camp Pike, Arkansas.

Emery L. Wickizer was eight years old when his father established his home in Gove County. He attended public school at Quinter and completed a normal course in the Gove County Normal. His early career was identified with teaching, and he was one of the prominent men in educational affairs in Gove County for a number of years. For three years he taught in rural schools, one year was principal at Gove City, and was then elected and served two years, 1901-03, as county superintendent of schools. Following that he took up the insurance and real estate business at Quinter.

In 1908 he organized the Farmers State Bank of Quinter, was its cashier, and in 1916 became its president. The other officers are J. H. Long, vice president, and M. K. Matthew, cashier. It is one of the strong and progressive banking institutions of Gove County, with a capital of $25,000 and surplus and profits of $6,500. The modern bank building was erected at the corner of Main and Third streets in 1908. Among other business interests Mr. Wickizer is to stockholder and director in the Farmers Implement Company of Quinter, and his interests as a farmer include the ownership of 480 acres in Gove County.

Mr. Wickizer is a member of the Kansas Bankers Association and the American Bankers Association. He is a republican, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with Quinter Lodge No. 410, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with Topeka Consistory No. 1 of the Scottish Rite, with Quinter Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America and Quinter Lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

September 15, 1906, in Gove County, he married Miss Elizabeth E. Sutcliffe, daughter of James M. and Isabella H. (Smith) Sutcliffe. Her father, now deceased, was a rancher in Gove County and her mother still lives on the Sutcliffe home ranch. Mr. and Mrs. Wickizer have a family of five children: Waldo E., born May 30, 1908; Gladys Daie, born October 10, 1910; Ida Marie, born July 26, 1912; James Asa, born September 1, 1914; and Major Emery, born April 20, 1918.

Pages 2150-2151.