W. A. Sherar, a successful Union township farmer and stockman, is a native of Kansas. He was born at Paola, Miami county, December 15, 1867, and is a son of George and Anna C. Sherar, being one of the following children born to them: M. D., Anthony, Kans.; W. A., Latham, Kans.; Mrs. Minnie Sipe, Denver, Colo.; Mrs. Dottie Hoskins, Lamar, Colo., and W. A., the subject of this sketch. After the death of the mother of these children, the father was married to Mary Prosser, and two children were born to that union: W. B. Sherar and Mrs. Maude Kelsey, Winfield, Kans.

George Sherar, the father, served in the Union army, during the Civil war, and shortly after the close of that great conflict, like many of the other soldier boys, he came to Kansas, first locating in Miami county. In 1871 he came to Butler county and homesteaded a quarter section of land in Union township. This was an early day in the settlement of that section of the county. Upon coming here, Mr. Sherar proceeded to build a home, hauling the lumber for the same from Humboldt, and some from Wichita. The father was quite a hunter, and frequently went farther west on buffalo hunts. The family was well provided with buffalo meat and other wild game.

W. A. Sherar, as a boy, saw much of the early life of Butler county. He remembers when Milo Nance, then a young man, came from Douglass in haste, spreading the news of an Indian uprising, and all the set-

tlers hid their supplies in the fields; the men proceeded to mold an extra supply of bullets, and the women and children hid in the fields, and they prepared to meet the attack, when it developed that it was a false alarm. This was one of the many incidents of the false report of a would-be Paul Revere of the plains. One of the greatest hardships of the early settlers was the long distance to medical aid and the time required to get a doctor. El Dorado was the nearest point where a physician could be found in the early days in Union township.

W. A. Sherar has always followed farming and stock raising. He got his start in life, when a young man, by breaking prairie for neighbors. He is of the thrifty and industrious type of men, who not only accumulate a competence for themselves, but build up communities. He owns 360 acres of land, about ninety acres of which are under cultivation, and the balance is used for grazing purposes. His place is well improved, with a modern residence, good barns and well fenced, and he has a never-failing spring, which is an asset of inestimable value, particularly to a stockman.

Mr. Sherar was married, in 1898, to Miss Mable Ellis, a daughter of S. C. and Mary Ellis of Latham, Kans. Mr. Sherar is a progressive and public spirited citizen, and has an extensive acquaintance, and he and his wife have many friends.

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