Dickinson Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and
Biographical Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and
Marion Counties-Otis L. Thisler
Portrait and Biographical
Album of Dickinson, Saline, McPherson and Marion
Counties
Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1893
OTIS L. THISLER, proprietor of the Riverside
Stock Farm, which is pleasantly situated
a mile and three-quarters west of Chapman,
is one of the most prominent citizens of Dickinson
County, and well deserves representation in
this volume. He was born in White Pigeon, Mich.,
October 8, 1848, and is a son of George and Cordelia
(Dimmick) Thisler. His mother died when
he was only two and a-half years old. When he
was a lad of eight years, the family removed to
Iroquois Country, Ill., where he resided until coming
to Kansas in 1872. He has one brother, M. D.
Thisler, who resides in Noble Township, six miles
southeast of Chapman. Another brother, Ed. J.,
came to this county in 1872, and made it his home
until within the past two years, since which time
he has been a resident of Kentucky. After the
death of his first wife, the father of our subject
married Eliza Warren, who died in Chapman in
1888, and since that time he has resided with his
son Otis.
Mr. Thisler of this sketch spent two years on a
farm north of Detroit, Kan., and in 1876 purchased
the farm on which he now resides, after
having rented it for a year. As his financial resources
have increased he has made additional purchases,
and now owns eight hundred acres of valuable
land. The improvements upon his place all
stand as monuments to his thrift and enterprise.
Buildings to the cost of 112,000 have been erected.
In 1880, he embarked in the stock business, and
now imports from twenty to fifty Percheron and
French Coach horses each years. He has a large
trade and makes extensive sales in the Northwest,
having established headquarters at Portland, Ore.,
and Spokane Falls, Wash. He owns about fifteen
full-blooded brood mares and about twenty stallions.
For twelve years he has engaged in breeding
Shorthorn cattle, and has about one hundred
head of registered cows, which he ships by the carload
to Oregon, Utah, Texas, etc. For two seasons
he has owned the "Duke of Fairview," a
Kentucky-bred bull. He has been an extensive
stock-shipper, usually selling about one hundred
and fifty head of cattle each year, and three hundred
head of Poland-China hogs. He is an excellent
judge of stock of all kinds and is a most successful
breeder and dealer. He is the owner of the
largest horse farm in the State. Fine stone barns
and other outbuildings afford ample accommodation
for his stock.
On the 1st of January, 1875, Mr. Thisler married
Flora A. Jackson, a native of Fulton County,
Ill., and a daughter of J. J. Jackson, now of Huntington,
Ind. She is an educated, refined lady and
very popular in this community. They have two
children: George Roy, aged twelve, who is attending
the Salina Military School; and Otis L. The
home of the family is one of the most elegant residences
in the county, commodious and substantial,
and tastefully and elegantly furnished. Its hospitable
doors are ever open to the reception of
their many friends.
Mr. Thisler is a member of the Knights of
Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
In politics, he is a stalwart Republican and
takes an active part in promoting the interests of
his party, doing all in his power to insure its success.
He is truly a self-made man and deserves
great credit for his well-spent life. He started
out for himself a poor boy, but has made the most
of his opportunities, improved every advantage
afforded him, and has worked his way upward by
perseverance and enterprise to a position of wealth
and affluence. His prosperity is justly the reward
of his own labors, and the result of his careful
management and close attention to business. He
is a pleasant gentleman, widely and favorably
known in this community, and Dickinson County numbers
him among its best citizens.
(c) 2009 Sheryl McClure for
Dickinson County KS AHGP