My Genealogy Hound

A. W. Stearns, editor of the Tribune at El Dorado Springs, was born in Fulton County, Ill., in 1845, and is the son of Jefferson G. and Mary (Wilson) Stearns, natives of New York. The parents were married in Illinois, and in 1867 removed to Butler County, Kan., where they are residing at the present time. The father is a farmer by occupation, and has been quite successful in this industry. The Stearns family first made settlements in America in the sixteenth century. A. W. Stearns received a common school education, and started out for himself at the age of sixteen years. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in Company G, Eleventh Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, Col. Robert Ingersoll’s regiment, and served three years and four months in the Army of the Tennessee. He was discharged in August, 1865, at Springfield, Ill. In 1868 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Geyer, a native of Illinois, and the daughter of Joseph Geyer, who was born in Germany. Mr. Stearns and family removed to Kansas in 1869, and there his wife died in February, 1887. To their marriage were born two children. Mr. Stearns followed agricultural pursuits the principal part of the time until 1886, when he removed to Wichita, Kan., and was there connected with various newspapers until his health failed, when he removed to El Dorado, Mo., in 1888. In March, 1889, he purchased the Tribune, which he has since edited and published, and which is a spicy sheet, well filled with news and useful information. Mr. Stearns is Independent in politics and religion, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and, although a late resident of El Dorado, he is already one of its prominent and influential citizens. He was married in October, 1888, to Mrs. Fannie Jett, nee Parker, a native of Henry County, Mo.