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Henry W. Schumacher

Henry W. Schumacher, a prominent member of the Butler county bar, has practiced law in El Dorado for thirty-two years, and during that time he has established a well earned reputation as an able, conscientious and successful lawyer. Mr. Schumacher was born in New Richmond, Clermont county, Ohio, March 19, 1858, and is a son of Henry W. and Magdalena (Wetzel) Schumacher. The father was a native of Oldenberg, Germany; he was a sea faring man, and made his first voyage to America about 1825, and about 1840 settled permanently in Philadelphia, Pa. Magdalena Wetzel was a native of Wurtemburg, Germany, and immigrated to America with her parents who settled in Philadelphia when she was three years of age. She was reared in that city, where she was married to Mr. Schumacher, and in 1840 they removed to Ohio, settling at New Richmond, Clermont county, where they reared their family and spent the remainder of their lives. The mother died in 1883, and the father survived about one year, when he passed away.

Henry W. Schumacher, whose name introduces this sketch, was one of a family of eight children, three of whom are now living, as follows: Lena, unmarried, resides at New Richmond, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Yeager of Leavenworth, Kans., and Henry W. Mr. Schumacher spent his boyhood days in New Richmond, Ohio, and was graduated from the New Richmond high school, May 17, 1878. He then attended the Clermont Academy, Clermontville, Ohio, after which he taught school and read law at Batavia, Ohio. He was admitted to the bar, September 10, 1879, and engaged in the practice of his profession at New Richmond, Ohio, and while thus engaged he served one year as city attorney. In the fall of 1882 he came to Kansas and taught school that winter in Morris county; in 1883 he came to Butler county, and during the school year of 1883-84, he was principal of the Douglass schools, and in 1884, he located at El Dorado, where he has since been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession.

Mr. Schumacher is a close student of the law and is the possessor of a well balanced legal mind. He has gone on the theory laid down by eminent legal authorities, that, "The law is a jealous mistress," and has never taken on any side lines, but has devoted himself exclusively to the practice of law, and his career is an exemplification that his theory was correct. Mr. Schumacher has served two terms as county attorney of Butler county and has served several years as city alderman and is a member of the El Dorado city council at the present time. He is a Democrat, prominent in the councils of his party, and for years has taken an active part in local politics; he has served as chairman of the Democratic central committee, and has been a delegate to many county and State conventions. In 1913 he was his party's candidate for district judge of the Thirteenth judicial district, and made a remarkably good showing in that he reduced the normal Republican majority to about one-half.

Mr. Schumacher was united in marriage at El Dorado, Kans., to Miss Minnie L. Lafferty, a native of DeWitt county, Illinois, and a daughter of James and Julia (Feris) Lafferty. Mrs. Schumacher came to Butler county, Kansas, with her mother, who later returned to Illinois, her father having died when she was a small child in DeWitt, Ill. To Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher have been born two children: Allene, married R. W. Brown, an El Dorado merchant, and Julia, cashier and circulation manager of The El Dorado Daily "Republican." Mr. Schumacher has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for thirty-three years, and also holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of the Maccabees, Royal Neighbors, and the Kansas Fraternal Citizens. He is a member of the German Lutheran church.

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