he may become the owner of a good farm and spend his declining years as he spent his boyhood, amid flocks and herds, breathing the pure air of the country, surrounded by rural environments and enjoying genuine freedom amidst his books and friends.

Van Eman, John Howard, physician and vice president of the board of directors of Kansas City Medical College, was born February 11, 1840, at Washington, Washington County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Andrew and Eliza (Taylor) Van Eman. The ancestral Van Emans were Hollanders, who immigrated to America from the Palatinate in the seventeenth century, and were among the pioneer settlers of Pennsylvania. Andrew Van Eman, an ancestor of Dr. Van Eman, who was a farmer, saw service during the French and Indian Wars as an officer in a regiment of Pennsylvania troops commanded by Colonel Crawford. The mother of Dr. Van Eman was also descended from a pioneer family of the same State, and her grandfather was the first justice of the peace in western Pennsylvania. Of seven children born to Andrew and Eliza Van Eman, John Howard is the eldest. His early education was acquired in the common schools of western Pennsylvania and Ohio, and all beyond that was secured through his own effort. At the age of seventeen years he entered upon an academic course under a private tutor, and in 1858 he became a student in South Salem College. Up to this time he was obliged to intermit his studies in order to provide himself with means by teaching country schools, and in 1861 the Civil War brought his literary studies to a close. July 4th of that year he enlisted in Company I of the Thirty-ninth Regiment of Ohio Infantry, commanded by Colonel John Groesbeck, and served with it in the Army of the Tennessee under Generals Pope, Rosecrans, Thomas and Grant, participating in the operations at New Madrid and Island No. 10, the siege of Corinth, the battle of Iuka and the second battle of Corinth. Early in 1863, when disability incident to the service incapacitated him for field duty, he was placed on detached service as a non-commissioned officer, and was honorably mustered out in August, 1864, at the expiration of his three years' term of enlistment. Upon being discharged he became a civilian employe of the government,

and occupied responsible positions in charge of river transportation at Paducah, Kentucky, from September, 1864, to March, 1865, and in charge of railroad transportation at Meridian, Mississippi, from the latter date until September of the same year. On returning to Ohio he resumed teaching, at the same time engaging in the study of medicine, and was graduated from Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, March 4, 1868. For one year he practiced medicine at Decatur, Ohio, in association with his former preceptor, Dr. W. A. Dixon, and then removed to Kansas, locating at Tonganoxie, where he was busied in his profession for seven years, until November 15, 1877, when he took up his residence in Kansas City, Missouri, and entered upon a practice which has been eminently successful and remunerative. During these later years he has contributed largely to the history of medical science in the Missouri River Valley. Upon his coming to the place it was a matter of common belief that disease of the typhoid type did not exist in that region for climatic reasons, and the larger number of the medical fraternity stoutly combatted his views to the contrary. He paid little attention to denial or criticism, but pursued investigation quietly, thoroughly and with persistence, finally demonstrating beyond all question the existence of the disease, and indicating the means for its arrest and treatment. He also became conspicuous as the performer of the first operation in Kansas City, and the third operation west of the Mississippi River, in oophorectomy, being entirely successful. His professional attainments have found recognition in his appointment to various important positions. was for eleven years one of the attending physicians of St. Joseph's Hospital, Kansas City, professor of clinical medicine from 1881 to 1891, and since the latter year professor of diseases of women in the Kansas City Medical College, and vice president of its board of directors. He is an esteemed member of the District Medical Association, of the Missouri State Medical Association, of the Western Gynecological and Surgical Association, and of the American Medical Association, and the journals and proceedings of various of these bodies contain his papers and references to his observations and notable cases. In his youth he was in sympathy with the Democratic party, but begin

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ning with the attack on Fort Sumter, and particularly from the second candidacy of Lincoln for the presidency, he has been an ardent supporter of the Republican party and its principles. He was for many years a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has served as surgeon of his post, and also holds membership with the United Workmen. He was married, July 15, 1868, to Miss Laura A. Osborn, daughter of the Rev. Henry Osborn, of Elmira, New York. Of this union have been born five children, Dr. Frederick T., a graduate of the Kansas City Medical College, class of 1896; Hattie C., Gertrude M., Ida L. and John Howard Van Eman, the last named a student in the Kansas City high school. Dr. Van Eman is in the prime of his physical and mental powers, and, with his wealth of medical knowledge and experience, is recognized as one of the leaders of his profession in western Missouri.

Van Frank, Philip Riley, civil engineer, was born January 10, 1829, in Cortland County, New York, son of Gerrit and Emily (Garrett) Van Frank. Gerrit Van Frank was born March 6, 1801, at Deerfield, New York. His ancestors came from Holland at an early date and settled near Albany, New York. The original name, Van Vranken, was changed by some of the descendants to Van Frank. Emily (Garrett) Van Frank was born February 9, 1801, near Utica, New York. Her parents were Samuel and Irene (Russell) Garrett, both of English descent, whose ancestors settled near Branford, Connecticut, at an early date. The Russells were of the distinguished English family of which Lord John Russell was a member. In the spring of 1835, Gerrit Van Frank and his family moved from Cortland County, New York, to Lorain County, Ohio, and in the spring of 1837 moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, and settled near Bristol, where he died November 4, 1854. His wife died in Dodge County, Minnesota, May 15, 1888, at the home of her eldest son, James G. Van Frank, and was buried at Bristol, Indiana. They were both members of the Presbyterian Church, and carefully instilled the principles of Christianity, strict honesty and rectitude of conduct into the minds of their children. In the family were eight children, six sons and two daughters, all of

whom lived to years of maturity. Philip Riley Van Frank, the third child of Gerrit and Emily Van Frank, received his early education in the common schools, supplemented by teaching at home by his mother, who was a woman of education and refinement, and made home a place of continuous instruction and study for her children, thus firmly fixing in them the love of knowledge and habits of industrious self-application in the acquirement of it. In the spring of 1847 he went to Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and made his home in the family of his uncle, Russell F. Lord, who was chief engineer and general superintendent of the Delaware & Hudson Canal, where he received from a private teacher instruction in the higher branches of mathematics, mechanics, philosophy, astronomy and engineering. Natural desire for the acquisition of knowledge and studious habits acquired in youth have gone with him through life, and he has always been a great reader and close student. In the spring of 1848 he commenced the practice of his profession in the engineer corps of the Delaware & Hudson Canal, and was employed two and a half years on the enlargement and improvement of the canal then made, which more than doubled its capacity. In September, 1851, he went to western Virginia and assisted in making a survey and estimate for making Coal River navigable by slack water navigation. In February, 1852, he took a position in the engineer corps of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad, first as levelman, and later as assistant engineer, between Cincinnati and the west line of Lawrence County, Indiana. In September, 1853, he went with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, and as assistant engineer took charge of a division extending from Nolin Creek to a mile south of Green River, at Munfordville. Work being suspended on the road for lack of funds in May, 1854, he went to southeast. Tennessee and made a survey and estimate for a railroad from Cleveland to the Ducktown Copper Mines, after which he was employed for a short time on the East Tennessee & Georgia Railroad. In March, 1855, he came to Missouri, and as assistant engineer on the construction of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad had charge of a division in Washington County, having his office at Hopewell. After the completion of the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad to Pilot