Johnson-Cherokee County KS Archives Biographies.....Folmer, George W. 1863 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 19, 2009, 6:03 pm

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  George W. Folmer, steward of the State School for the Deaf at Olathe, Kan., is
a native of Iowa. He was born in Page county in 1863, and is a son of Henry and
Mary Ann (Speer) Folmer, the former a native of Germany. They were the parents
of eight children, two of whom died in infancy and the others are as follows: H.
M. resides at Ellinwood, Kan.; C. H., Ellinwood, Kan.; F. C. resides at Laprvai,
Idaho; George W., the subject of this sketch; Sarah Ann Brown, San Francisco,
Cal., and Lorena Tipton, Kansas City, Mo. Henry Folmer, the father, died in
1873, and his wife survived him a number of years, passing away in 1911. George
W. Folmer came to Kansas with his parents in 1870, and they located in Cherokee
county where they purchased forty acres of land in the lead district and eighty
acres of what was known as the Joy land. The father was unable to retain the
eighty acres but the forty proved a profitable investment and in 1879 the mother
sold it for $100 per acre. The family then removed to Johnson county where they
purchased 160 acres known as the W. J. Hollis farm. About the time that they
located in Johnson county, George W., who was then about eighteen years of age,
met with an accident which resulted in the loss of his left arm. After the loss
of his arm it occurred to him that with the physical handicap of having one arm
gone, it would be necessary for him to make an extra effort to obtain a good
education and from that moment he resolved to make every sacrifice to obtain an
education. He then entered the fourth grade of the Olathe public schools and
five and one-half years later graduated from the Olathe High School in the class
of 1887. He then engaged in teaching and for the next twenty years was one of
the successful school teachers of Johnson county. His first school was taught in
the Moonlight district, west of Olathe, and for a time he was principal of the
Lenexa and Shawnee schools. In 1903-4, Mr. Folmer served as trustee of Shawnee
township. In the fall of 1904 he received the nomination for the office of clerk
of the district court and was defeated by the small margin of twenty-two votes.
Two years later, however, he was a candidate for that office again and defeated
his former opponent by 260 votes, and at the expiration of that term he was
reelected by the increased majority of 650. Mr. Folmer was appointed city
assessor for the city of Olathe in 1911 and assessed the personal property of
Olathe, and the following year made the real estate assessment and made a very
satisfactory record in that capacity. In 1913 he was elected steward of the
State School for the Deaf and still holds that position. His careful and
painstaking methods of conducting- the business of the State, in looking after
every detail of the purchase for the school, saves many hundred dollars each
year for the State. He is a hard worker and gives his whole time to the duties
of his office and his record for the past two and one-half years is without
criticism. Mr. Folmer was united in marriage in 1890 to Miss Trudy Huggins at
Olathe, Kan. Her parents were pioneers of Johnson county. One child has been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Folmer: William Emmet, married Miss Neva Cooper, of Olathe,
and they now reside in Los Angeles, Cal. They have one child, George William.
Mr. and Mrs. Folmer reside in their pretty home at 567 West Park Street, Olathe,
Kan. While Mr Folmer is a "Hawkeye" by inheritance, he is a "Jayhawker" by
education and adoption, and is a loyal Kansan. He is a self-made man and by hard
work and determination has overcome great difficulties and made good. His slogan
is "to do right," and other minor matters of life will adjust themselves.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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