Starry, Clark Nicholas, M. D.

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

Clark Nicholas Starry, M. D. Representing the first class ability and skill of his profession and enjoying a large general practice, Clark Starry has devoted all his active lifetime to medicine as a profession, and began his career with an excellent equipment, the test of real practice finding him well qualified for important service. For the past fifteen years he has practiced at Coffeyville.

He represents a family that came originally from England and settled in Virginia during colonial days. Clark Nicholas Starry, M. D., was born in Marshfield, Indiana, February 28, 1871, and his parents soon afterward came to Kansas and were early settlers in Miami County of this state. His grandfather Nicholas Harvey Starry was born in Virginia in 1800, was reared in that state, but early in life went to Indiana, where he followed farming, and then when quite well advanced in years, about 1870, came out to Kansas and bought 160 acres of land in Miami County, where he lived until his death in 1879. He was independent in politics, a very active member of the Christian Church, which he served as elder, and lived his many years usefully and well. He married Margaret Cashman, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1800 and died on the old farm in Miami County, Kansas, in 1876. None of their children are now living.

Nicholas Harvey Starry, Jr., father of Doctor Starry, was born in Warren County, Indiana, in 1842. He grew up and married in his native state and became a Warren County farmer. In November, 1871, a few months after the birth of Doctor Starry, he came to Miami County, Kansas, settling on a farm of 160 acres, and afterwards increasing his holdings by the purchase of another quarter section. He was one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of that county for many years. He had a family of four daughters and two sons, and to the girls he deeded all his real estate, while his personal property was divided between the two boys. Not all his life was devoted to farming and money getting, and he should be remembered as one of the sterling and upright citizens who impressed their influence for good upon one of the early communities of this state. He was especially active as a member and elder in the Christian Church, and he and his wife were among the thirteen charter members who organized a church of that denomination in Miami County in 1873, and he was the last of the thirteen to die. Politically he was independent. Nicholas H. Starry enlisted in 1862 in the Eighty-sixth Indiana Infantry, and after nine months with his regiment was transferred to the signal service, and continued in that corps until the close of the war. He had a long and honorable participation in the campaigns for the preservation of the Union. He fought in the battles of Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, in the many battles leading up to Atlanta, and then was on Sherman's march to the sea. He married Sarah G. Bonebrake, a relative of the noted old time citizen of that name of Topeka. She was born in Ohio, August 2, 1845, and died on the home farm in Miami County, Kansas, September 6, 1909. Their children were: Mande, who married Isaac Wise, and she died on their farm in Miami County, where Mr. Wise still lives; Leona is unmarried and lives at Louisburg, Kansas; the third in age is Doctor Starry; Beverly C. is in the grocery business at Louisburg; Alta is the wife of Jacob Ring, and they live on a farm adjoining the old homestead in Miami County; Effie is unmarried and lives at Louisburg with her sister Leons.

Doctor Starry grew up in Miami County, had the familiar environment of a Kansas country boy, and beginning in the districts schools graduated from the Louisburg High School in 1888. Among his early experiences was teaching a term of school in Miami County for three months. In 1893 he graduated with a life teacher's certificate from the Emporia State Normal School, and thereafter for one year was principal of the schools at Bueyrus, Kansas.

All this work was preliminary to his preparation for the career of his choice. Entering the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College, Doctor Starry was graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1897. For the first two years he practiced at his old home town, Louisburg, then spent a year in Ossawatomie, and on June 2, 1900, located in Coffeyville. He is one of the leading representatives of the Homeopathic School of Medicine in Southern Kansas, and has always enjoyed a fine practice both in medicine and surgery. His offices are in the Columbia Building. Doctor Starry is a member of the County and State Medical societies, the Southeastern Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He has never aspired to political honors, and is merely a voter of the democratic ticket. He is affiliated with Coffeyville Lodge, No. 775, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and other lodge societies.

Doctor Starry and family reside at 617 West Eighth Street. On May 8, 1906, he was married at Astoria, Oregon, to Miss Alice May Morgan, daughter of David and Mary (Walsh) Morgan. Her father was a very prosperous business man, now deceased, and her mother still lives in Astoria, Oregon. Doctor and Mrs. Starry have three children: Sara, who was born July 17, 1909, and is now a student in the Coffeyville public schools; Nicholas, born November 14, 1912, and Alice Clark, born November 4, 1916.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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