Noftzger, Thomas Azro

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Thomas Azro Noftzger had long been successfully identified with the legal profession in Kansas, and is now senior member of the firm of Noftzger & Gardner, with offices in the Beacon Building at Wichita. His partner is Mr. George Gardner.

Mr. Noftzger was born November 15, 1861, in Jackson Township of Kosciusko County, Indiana. His father, Levi J. Noftzger, was born September 3, 1836, and is still living at the age of four score. The mother, Mary C. Noftzger, also living, was born September 2, 1840.

Party through the liberality of his parents and partly through his own ambitious determination Thomas A. Noftzger gained a liberal education. In 1883, at the age of twenty-two, he completed the course in the department of litsrature, science and the arts at the University of Michigan, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. He soon afterward took up the study of law at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the office of Robertson and Harper, and after his admission to the bar began active practice, and in 1884 came to Kansas and located at Anthony, where he continued to reside until 1912. He had practiced in this state steadily and had won a high reputation by the excellent ability in handling many cases of importance.

In the way of public service he had served as city attorney of Anthony, as county attorney of Harper County, Kansas, and from 1901 to 1909 was senator, representing the Twenty-seventh Senatorial district. He is an active republican, a Mason, a Knights of Pythias and Elk.

At Wabash, Indiana, November 15, 1886, he married Lelia K. Kidd. Her father, Merideth H. Kidd, served with the rank of colonel in the Civil war, and afterward became a major in the regular army. He was a very prominent man, and specially distinguished as a member of the First Dawee Commission, which treated with the five tribes of Indian Territory and practically concluded those negotiations and arrangements by which the tribes surrendered their lands long held in common and accepted the role of American citizenship. Mr. and Mrs. Noftzger have two children: Millicent Noftzger and Lee J. Noftzger.

Mr. Noftzger is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of Kansas. And he is known for strong convictions–also his courage in standing by them and maintaining them. He possesses all the solid and substantial qualities of that citizenship which places Kansas at the front in this stirring and progressive age.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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