Perhaps no individual of the Solomon valley is better known than G.B. VanLandingham. He is a public spirited, enterprising man and has done his full share toward the improvement of his section of the country, and is ranked among its most trustworthy citizens.

The place of his nativity is Palmyra, one of the most beautiful little cities in the state of Missouri. He was born September 30, 1845, and lived in his native state until coming to Kansas in 1871. Mr. VanLandingham received his earlier education in the common schools of his county and afterward took a course in the Palmyra College. In 1863 he was enrolled in the state militia under Federal authorities and again in 1864, but was each time rejected for active military service by the examining surgeon on account of a crippled ankle.

Since coming to Kansas he has been engaged in various enterprises - agricultural and mercantile. He homesteaded a claim in the Solomon valley, farmed successfully for many years and was associated with his brother-in-law, Owen Day, in the hardware business at Glasco, for a period of about ten years. He is also a stock auctioneer and has conducted many sales, extending over this and adjoining counties and is acknowledged as one of the best in the country.

Throughout his life Mr. VanLandingham has been, a devoted worker in the interests of the Democratic party, and in 1887 received from his constituents the nomination for sheriff of Cloud county against Edward Marshall, and made a formidable foe, but was on the wrong side to be elected in this county. The vote stood one thousand five hundred and forty-three for Marshall and one thousand four hundred and forty-one for VanLandingham. Although he has a "will of his own" he is not aggressive. He is a philanthropic, honorable, high minded man, full of generous impulses and his career is marked by many kind deeds. He is extensively known over Cloud county and none of her citizens possesses the general good will of the people to a greater extent than he, and he is one of the old-timers who witnessed the marvelous growth of this fair state, and is pretty well satisfied with the world as it is revealed in Kansas.