Ladd, William Martin

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

William Martin Ladd. Prominent among the younger Government officials of Montgomey County, Kansas, is William Martin Ladd, who is capably discharging the duties of postmaster of the thriving little City of Dearing. Mr. Ladd had as training for his official services an experience in banking, and having attained his position by virtue of successful participation in a civil service examination, is handling the affairs of the mail service in an entirely acceptable manner. He is a native son of Kansas and was born at Vernon, Woodson County. October 4, 1891, his parents being Ira W. and Mine L. (Martin) Ladd.

Mr. Ladd belongs to a family of Scotch-Irish descent, which, it is believed, was founded in this country during colonial times. His grandfather was Ira W. Ladd, who was born in Ohio, and who through a long and useful career practiced medicine and surgery in the Buckeye State. He died at Edgerton, Ohio, in 1866. Doctor Ladd married Alies Thornburg, who was born in 1841, in Ohio, and died at Dearing, Kansas, in November, 1914, and their only child was Ira W. Ira W. Ladd was born in 1868, in Butler County, Indiana, and was there reared and educated, remaining in that community until 1886, when he removed to Vernon, Kansas, where be was married. He was a pioneer farmer of Woodson County and continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits there for ten years, in 1896 removing to Fort Scott. In that community he continued as a tiller of the soil until 1905, then becoming a resident of Dearing, Montgomery County, where he continued as a farmer until 1913. Since that time he has been a resident of California, being the owner of farming land and orchards in the Golden State. Mr. Ladd is a republican in politics and an active member and supporter of the United Brethren Church. He married Mina L. Martin, who was born near Hyattsville, Bourbon County, Kansas, and William Martin is their only child.

William Martin Ladd attended the district schools of Montgomery County, Kansas, subsequently went to the public schools of Dearing, and completed his education at the Coffeyville Business College, from which he was duly graduated. In 1910, at the age of eighteen years, he entered the Dearing State Bank as bookkeeper, and continued with that institution for two years, following which he continued in the same capacity with other business and financial concerns. In 1915 he took the civil service examination, and October 5th of that year was appointed postmaster of Dearing under President Wilson's administration. He has already improved the mail service greatly here and has won the confidence of his fellow-citizens by his fidelity to duty and their friendship by his uniform courtesy and obliging nature. Mr. Ladd maintains an independent stand in regard to politics, is a member of the United Brethren Church, and is fraternally affiliated with Camp No. 618, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Camp No. 8141, of the Modern Woodmen of America, both of Dearing.

Mr. Ladd was married in 1911, at Coffeyville, Kansas, to Miss Ethel M. Johnson, daughter of W. C. and Cora J. Johnson, of Coffeyville, where Mr. Johnson is the proprietor of a wagonmaking establishment. Mr. and Mrs. Ladd have one son: Ira William, born July 27, 1912.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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