Samuel R. Clifford has long been an active factor in business affairs in Butler County and retains this connection through his present post as assistant cashier of the El Dorado National Bank, El Dorado, Kansas.
Mr. Clifford was born in Will County, Illinois, April 12, 1857. His ancestry in the paternal line originated in England and was founded in America during colonial days. His grandfather was also named Samuel R. Clifford and was a native of New York State. He was one of the pioneers in the Village of Chicago, and Mr. Clifford of El Dorado had in his possession the original copy of a demit from a Royal Arch Chapter of Masons in New York to Chicago, dated 1827. Grandfather Clifford was a contractor, and during the construction of the old Illinois and Lake Michigan Canal from Chicago south during the ’40s he was a sub-contractor, but he did not live to see the work completed, since he died during a cholera epidemic in Chicago in 1846. He married Lydia Fitch, who was born in New York State and afterward returned there, where she died.
John A. Clifford, father of the Butler County business man, was born at Leroy in Genesee County, New York, in 1832. He spent much of his early life in Chicago, from there removing to Will County, Illinois, was a pioneer farmer in that locality, and in the early days came to Butler County, Kansas. He located in Plum Grove Township, and when the upper or northern half of that township was erected into a separate township it was given his name, Clifford Township. He spent the rest of his life there as a farmer and died in July, 1883. He was a successful farmer and owned 360 acres of land. In politics he was a republican and was a member of the Masonic fraternity. John A. Clifford married for his first wife in Will County, Illinois, Sophronia Sheppard. She was born in New England in 1833, and died in Will County in 1866. Her children were: Samuel R.; Harriet S., who is now living at Wellington, Kansas, widow of W. A. Anderson, who was an employe of the Standard Oil Company; Olive L., wife of C. H. Pattison, who had charge of the cold storage and ice plant and is proprietor of that business at Winfield, Kansas. For his second wife John A. Clifford married Mary R. Munson. She is now living in Oklahoma, and is the mother of one daughter, Ora, who is married and a resident of Oklahoma.
Samuel R. Clifford had his education partly in the rural schools of Will County, Illinois, and partly in Butler County, Kansas. He was reared on his father’s farm, and after his father’s death bought the interests of the other heirs and still owned that fine homestead of 360 acres. He increased it by subsequent purchases until it now contains 480 acres. It is one of the best farms of Butler County and lies eight miles southwest of Burns and seven miles east of Elbing.
Mr. Clifford was a practical farmer until he left the farm to enter upon his duties as county treasurer, an office he filled four years, from October, 1894, until 1898. On retiring from that office he became connected with the Farmers and Merchants Bank at El Dorado, was teller until 1909, and since June of that year had held the post of assistant cashier of the El Dorado National Bank.
Mr. Clifford owned a fine modern home at 119 Oscaloosa Street in El Dorado. He is a republican and is affiliated with Patmos Lodge No. 97, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons: El Dorado Chapter No. 35, Royal Arch Masons; El Dorado Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the Commercial Club.
In May, 1883, in Clifford Township of Butler County, he married Miss Lucinda Shriver, a native of Pennsylvania and daughter of I. A. and Violinda (Guthrie) Shriver. Both parents are now deceased, and her father was for many years a successful farmer and stock raiser and also live stock agent for the Rock Island Railway Company. Mr. and Mrs. Clifford have had two children: Olive, a graduate of the El Dorado High School, is the wife of Wilbur E. Stone, who was cashier of the Inman State Bank at Inman, Kansas, and is now assistant cashier of the El Dorado National Bank. John A., the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Clifford, died when four months of age.
