L. L. Kiser, well known in the affairs of Butler county, is a native of Tippecanoe county, Indiana. He was born November 2, 1855, and is a son of Levi and Elizabeth (Chester) Kiser, the farmer a native of Ohio and the latter of New Jersey. Levi Kiser came to Indiana with his parents when he was a child. He grew to manhood in that State, and in 1856 went to Iowa with his wife and family, settling in Johnson county, near Iowa City. He was one of the pioneers of that section and remained there until 1878, when he removed with his family to Kansas, settling in Little Walnut township, Butler county. He was one of the of the[sic] incorporators of the town of Leon, a member of the townsite company, and served as mayor of the town for two or three terms. He was engaged in the mercantile business at Leon for a number of years, but retired from active business a few years before his death. He died at Leon in 1908, aged eighty-four years. His wife died in Iowa in 1872.

L. L. Kiser was one of a family of seven children who grew to maturity. He was about a year old when his parents removed from Indiana to Iowa where he was reared and educated in the public schools and in 1878 came to Butler county, Kansas, and for fifteen years, he and two of his brothers were engaged in contracting and building. He then entered the real estate, loan and insurance business at El Dorado, and in 1915, moved to his farm three miles south of El Dorado, where he has 280 acres of land and is engaged quite extensively in general farming and stock raising.

Mr. Kiser was first married in 1882, to Miss Grace A. Gard, a native of Illinois, and two children were born to this union: Louis, Bristol, Col., and Clara, married Jesse L. Biggs, Potwin, Kans. The wife and mother died in 1887, and in 1889, Mr. Kiser married Miss

Mary L. Applegate, a native of Wintersett, Iowa, who came to Kansas in 1882. She was a successful Butler county teacher for a number of years prior to her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Kiser have been born three children, as follows: Glen E., a reporter on the Wichita "Beacon;" Ruth, a stenographer in El Dorado, and Celest E., residing at home.

Mr. Kiser has taken an active part in public affairs since coming to Butler county and since coming to El Dorado has been active in the development and betterment of the city. He has served as chairman of the Commercial Club, and was active in promoting the oil development in this section as well as taking an active part in the furthering of municipal improvements such as pavement and other progressive and substantial city improvements. He is independent in politics and for twenty years has been an opponent of partisan politics in city government, and has had the satisfaction of seeing his principles in that particular finally win in El Dorado. He is a member of the Fraternal Aid and the Modern Woodmen of America and belongs to the Christian church of which he has been an elder for a number of years. He was active in the work of giving the congregation in El Dorado a new church and served as a member of the building committee. Mr. Kiser is one of the foremost and public spirited citizens of Butler county.

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