Andrew Jackson Hoisington

Andrew J.  Hoisington was born July 12, 1848, in Adams County, Illinois.  His paternal great grandfather emigrated from England about the middle of the 18th century, and settled in Vermont.  He served as a soldier in the Revolutionary and also in the War of 1812. 

A.J.  Hoisington, who was the second in a family of eight children, was born near Quincy, Illinois.  He was educated in the common schools of Greene and Madison Counties, Iowa, and at the age of 17, entered Winterset Academy which he attended two years.  He then began to read law in the office of McPherson & Murray in Winterset, Iowa.  After six months, he suspended his studies to teach school for one year.

He then entered the office of the Iowa State Register, and was employed in printing.  After one year he purchased a half interest in the Winterset Sun but sold his interest after six months due to ill health.

A.J.  Hoisington came to Kansas in 1874 and first located in Newton where he taught school.  He then moved to Great Bend and taught school northeast of town for only a few weeks when he was asked to take charge of the Great Bend Register which had just been established and was the official paper of Barton County.

He quickly made a reputation for his writing and vigorous work as editor.  He was postmaster for Great Bend in 1876 and 1877 and became owner of 1,000 acres of cultivated farm land.

In 1883, he was appointed receiver of the U.S.  land office at Garden City, at which time he sold the Great Bend Register to E.L.  Chapman.  Shortly after entering the land office, he organized and became president of the Finney County Bank.  During the next few years he organized a string of banks throughout southwestern Kansas.

In 1890 A.J.  Hoisington sold his interests in Garden City and moved to Kansas City where he organized the Hoisington Loan & Trust Company and the Hoisington Publishing Company, which he managed for several years.

On December 31, 1874, A.J.  Hoisington married Mary Smith, daughter of Jackson and Mary (Kimball) Smith of Madison County, Iowa.  They were the parents of three children: Morris Earl, Roy Albert and Arthur Frank.

Mary Hoisington died in Kansas City on November 1, 1890.  A.J.  Hoisington died February, 1896, at Winterset, Iowa.