Lewis M. Badger

LEWIS M. BADGER. - An education is the most permanent capital that a man can have. It is something that he can share with others and yet his own supply is not diminished. It is useful to him in any walk of life. It not only helps him to earn dollars and cents, but the satisfaction that he derives from its mere possession is incalculable. There are men who are ignorant and do not know it; they have a contempt of people of education. Fortunately there are not many such people nowadays, for they are hopeless; it is no use trying to do anything with them. There are others who know little and are ashamed of it, but they have not enough get-up about them to change affairs. There are others, like Mr. Badger, who realize that knowledge is a desirable acquisition and will make every effort to obtain it. Mr. Badger possesses many natural abilities and he has cultivated each one most carefully, so that today there is no man in the county who is more universally respected. He has done much for the county and in particular for his own township.

Lewis M. Badger was born in Marion county, Ohio, in 1848, and his father, John Badger, was also a native of Ohio and farmed there. In 1852 he moved to Indiana with his wife and children, and farmed in that state. When the Civil war broke out in 1861 he enlisted in the Union army, and was wounded at the end of six months, fighting and was honorably dismissed. He went back to his farm in Indiana and lived there until the time of his death, in 1881. He married Sarah Camp and she is still living on the old farm where she and her husband spent so many years together. They had six children, of whom Lewis M. was the eldest.

When he was only four years old his parents moved from Ohio to Indiana. He went to the district school and later to the high school in Angola, Indiana. After he left high school he worked on the farm in the summer time and taught school in the winter. In 1881 he came to Kansas locating in Wyandotte county, the year that his father died. He bought a farm at Argentine and has been a very successful farmer. He is a Republican in politics and the party has a very stanch ally in him. He has served on the township board and has been on the school board for eighteen years, and there is not a member of the board who has done more efficient work than Mr. Badger. Having taught school himself he knows the requirements of the children and knows how to appreciate the difficulties of the teacher. For the past four years he has been justice of the peace in Shawnee township.

He married Virginia Stalnaker, a native of Indiana, who died at her home in 1893, leaving seven children. The eldest is Asher B. who is at present employed in the office of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad in Kansas City, Missouri. The second, Louis R., enlisted in the army during the Spanish-American war and died in the Philippine Islands, in the performance of his duty. He was buried in the national cemetery at San Francisco, California; Sarah Grace, the third, is married to J. H. Hammond, who is a veterinary surgeon for the government. The fourth, Ada, is the wife of Jack Watson and they live in Nebraska. Mildred is the wife of William Easterwood of Sheffield, Missouri. Clyde H. is employed by the C. M. Stebbins Company, in Kansas City, Missouri. The youngest, Florence, is the wife of Wendell Holt who is a salesman for Swift & Company.

Mr. Badger is a member of the Disciples church and is a very earnest Christian worker. He has lived to raise a large family and to see them grow up and prosper. He is known all over the county as Judge Badger and he is a judge who stands for the right and yet his justice is tempered with mercy. His desire is to protect the community, but also to try and make good citizens out of the offenders. He is interested in children and in people in general. His influence in the state is very far-reaching and is most helpful.