D. W. Ow, one of the leading merchants of El Dorado, has conducted a grocery store here for over thirty-three years, and Mr. Ow's store is not only one of the old established mercantile institutions of the city, but is strictly in keeping with all modern improvements and methods, and he, perhaps, carries the largest exclusive grocery stock in Butler county.

Mr. Ow was born in Lancaster, Mo., in 1858, and is a son of John and Nancy (Grimes) Ow, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Missouri. They were the parents of five children, as follows: Mrs. Anne Phares, deceased; Mrs. Temperance Parsons, resides at Los Angeles; Edward, Los Angeles; Ray, Los Angeles; and D. W., the subject of this sketch.

D. W. Ow came to Kansas with his father and other members of the family in 1875. They settled in Benton township, Butler county, about a mile east of the town of Benton. Here the father bought 160 acres of land from Jesse Parsons, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1882, when the father removed to California. About this time D. W., the subject of this sketch, came to El Dorado, and engaged in the grocery business in partnership with Al Conley, under the firm name of Conley & Ow. Their store was located at 116 West Central avenue, two doors west of where Mr. Ow's place of business is now located. In 1894, Mr. Ow purchased his partner's interest in the business, and moved to his present location, and since that time, has been the sole owner and proprietor of the business, which has developed from a humble beginning to its present proportions.

Mr. Ow was married in 1881, to Miss Lou McCune, of Benton, Kans. She is a daughter of W. H. McCune, who was a prominent farmer of Benton township, and was accidently killed in an automobile accident in El Dorado, at the age of seventy-six. His wife died in Murdock township. To Mr. and Mrs. Ow have been born the following children: Mrs. O. M. Burkholder, St. Louis, Mo.; Frankie, resides at home; Elsie,

bookkeeper in her father's store, resides at home; Lee, bookkeeper in the bank of Oklahoma, at Beaver, Okla.; Charles, died at the age of twenty-one, in El Dorado, Kans.; Birdine and Mildred, students in the El Dorado High School. The Ow family is well known and prominent in Butler county, and Mr. Ow is one of El Dorado's most substantial, as well as most progressive business men.

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