Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Little, John T. 1841 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 8, 2008, 4:06 pm

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  John T. Little, of Olathe, a prominent member of the legal profession in
Kansas and an ex-attorney-general of the State, was born in Circleville,
Pickaway county, Ohio, November 18, 1841, and is of German descent on the
paternal side. The Little family was established in America several generations
prior to the birth of John T.'s father, having been of German origin. His
father, Rev. Nathan B. Little, a native of Hagerstown, Md., was a minister in
the Lutheran church. He removed from Maryland to Ohio prior to the birth of John
T., and there engaged in educational work in connection with his ministerial
duties. He was a man of excellent educational attainments and for several years
was connected with Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio. He was a prominent
member of the Masonic order in Ohio. He was married in Maryland to Mary A. Fouk,
also a native of Hagerstown. To their union were born eight children, two of
whom survive: George B., of Spokane, Wash., and John T. These children were the
recipients of a splendid classical education under the able tutorage of their
father. Both parents are deceased, the father's death having occurred near
Mechanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio, in 1876, when he was seventy-five years
of age. The mother's death occurred in 1856. One brother, Luther Little, who
died in Olathe a few years ago, served in the Civil war, as a member of the
Twenty-sixth regiment, Ohio infantry, until he was wounded and captured at the
battle of Chickamauga. He was then confined thirteen months in Libby and
Andersonville prisons, where he suffered untold horrors. Rev. Little removed
from Circleville to Oakland, Ohio, when John T. was ten years of age, and still
later removed to a farm which he had purchased in Champaign county, Ohio, and
there resided until his death. John T. Little, besides the private tutoring
received from his father, attended the public school and also the academy at
McConnelsville, Ohio, where he was graduated in i860. In 1863, under the call of
President Lincoln for an organization of militia in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
of 85,000 troops, he assisted in raising a company in Champaign county, of which
he was elected second lieutenant. While guarding prisoners at Columbus, Ohio, he
enlisted in Company E, One Hundred Thirty-fourth regiment, Ohio infantry, and
was immediately sent to the Army of the Potomac, then encamped at Cumberland,
Md. He was taken sick shortly after reaching camp and was sent to the field
hospital near Cumberland, where he was discharged in September, 1864. After
being mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, he returned to his home in Champaign
county and in the following spring, of 1865, began reading law at Urbana, Ohio,
with Gen. John H. Young, one of the leading lawyers of the State. He was
admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Ohio in June, 1868, and in the
following month of August came to Olathe, Kan., where he began the practice of
his profession and where he has in the intervening years steadily risen into
prominence and is recognized as one of the strongest members of the Kansas bar.
Shortly after locating at Olathe he became a partner of Hon. John T. Burris, who
was for several years prominent in both legal and political circles throughout
the State, and is now a resident of California. Mr. Little was elected city
attorney of Olathe in 1873 and later served two terms as prosecuting attorney of
Johnson county. At the State People's Convention, held in Wichita, in 1892, he
was nominated attorney-general of the State, was endorsed by the Democratic
convention at Topeka, and was elected the following November to the office, in
which he served one term. In 1904 he received the Democratic nomination for
associate justice of the supreme court of Kansas. Since then he has served one
term as mayor of Olathe and during his administration of the city's affairs more
improvements were made in the way of street pavement than had been made before
or has been made since his incumbency. He also served as president of the Olathe
board of education four years. Mr. Little has been twice married. His first
marriage was in 1870, when Miss Hannah Gregg, of Olathe, became his wife. She
died in 1872. In 1875 Mr. Little married Miss Mary W. Bundy, of Olathe, who died
July 15, 1913. To this union were born two children, C. B. and John T., Jr. C.
B. Little served five years as city attorney of Olathe, and in 1908 was elected
county attorney of Johnson county, and in 1910 was re-elected without
opposition, and in 1912 and 1914 was the Democratic candidate for
attorney-general of Kansas. He is a graduate of the University of Kansas and was
prepared for the law under the careful guidance of his father. John T. Little,
Jr., is a hardware merchant at Spokane, Wash. He is a graduate of the Olathe
High School, also the University of Kansas where he completed a course in
mechanical engineering. Fraternally, Mr. Little is a member of the Fraternal
Order of Eagles. As a lawyer he ranks among the best in the State, and his
extensive practice has included many of the important cases of Missouri, as well
as of Kansas, where the supreme court records show Mr. Little to have been one
of the attorneys in a very large percentage of the cases. His success did not
come without effort. It is but the just reward of years of indefatigable labor
and painstaking care. He is numbered among the most worthy and respected of
Olathe citizens. Mr. Little is actively engaged in the practice of law and is
the senior member of Little & Little, the junior member being his son, C. B.
Little, and the firm is one of the best known in Kansas.

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


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/little190nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/

File size: 6.4 Kb