Oliver Q. Claflin

OLIVER Q. CLAFLIN. - As one of the representative younger members of the bar of Wyandotte county Mr. Claflin is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in Kansas City, where he is junior member of the firm of McFadden & Claflin. Further consistency is given to according him recognition in this publication by reason of the fact that he is a native son of the Sunflower state, with whose history the family name has been identified for more than two score years.

Oliver Q. Claflin was born at Chanute, Neosho county, Kansas, on the 4th of July, 1882, and is a son of Otis Quincy Claflin and Mary Jane (Blair) Claflin, the former of whom was born in the state of Massachusetts, a scion of one of the sterling old families of New England, and the latter of whom was born in the province of Ontario, Canada. The father served as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, as a member of a New York regiment, and soon after the close of the great conflict he came to Kansas and located at Dodge City, whence he later removed to Chanute, where he was a prominent business man and influential citizen for many years. About the year 1886 he removed with his family to Kansas City, this state, where he has since been successfully engaged in the drug business, save for an interim of about two years. He is one of the loyal and progressive citizens of the metropolis of Wyandotte county, is a stanch Republican in his political proclivities, and is affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and other civic organizations.

Oliver Quincy Claflin, the immediate subject of this review, was about four years of age at the time of the family's removal to Kansas City, and he was reared to maturity in the village of Armourdale, which is now an integral part of the city. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the excellent public schools and after attending the Armourdale high school for three years he entered the Central High School of Kansas City, Missouri, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891. His next step in educational work was to enter the department of pharmacy in the University of Kansas, at Lawrence, and he was graduated in this department. He had, however, formulated plans for following a different vocation than that in which his father was and is engaged, and accordingly he entered the law department of the university, in which he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated in 1905, with the well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was simultaneously admitted to the bar of his native state and in the same year he entered upon his practical novitiate in the practice of his profession, in Kansas City, Kansas, where he was associated with Thomas A. Pollock for one year, at the expiration of which he became similarly identified with the well known firm of McFadden & Morris. Upon the death of Mr. Morris, in 1908, he formed a partnership alliance with the elder McFadden the senior member of the original firm, and since that time he has continued in the successful work of his profession as junior member of the firm of McFadden & Claflin, which controls a substantial practice of representative order. Mr. Claflin has already fortified his professional reputation through a number of most important forensic victories and he has been identified with a large amount of litigation within the period of his active work as an attorney and counselor. A young man of vigor and industrious habits and one who is thoroughly en rapport with his chosen vocation, his success has been cumulative and represents the direct result of the application of his talents and energies. Mr. Claflin accords an unwavering allegiance to the Republican party and in the time honored Masonic fraternity he has advanced through the various orders until he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is also identified with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and both he and his wife are popular factors in connection with the social activities of their home city.

In the year 1909 Mr. Claflin wedded Miss Dora Monahan, daughter of Andrew J. Monahan, a well known citizen of Kansas City.