WILLIAM D. GREASON

WILLIAM DICKSON GREASON, editor, publisher and proprietor of the Miami Republican, Paola, Kan., was born in Plainfield, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1859, the son of Thomas and Mary J. Greason. He came of Scotch-Irish stock on the paternal side, and of Pennsylvania Dutch on the maternal side. His father was a pronounced abolitionist and was active in the operation of what was known as the "Underground Railroad," the business of which was to assist escaping slaves from the South to reach Canada. The father was too old for service during the War of the Rebellion, but his two eldest sons, John H. and James D., served in Pennsylvania regiments, and the Cumberland valley of Pennsylvania, where the Greason’s lived, was the center of many rebel raids. In April, 1870, Thomas Greason and family came to Kansas, locating in Paola, where he died in the fall of 1872, leaving a large family and the heritage of a good name and the golden opportunities which residence in Kansas has always presented, whether in her pioneer days or in the opulence of her mature years. William D. acquired what little schooling he had in the Paola schools, and in June, 1875, became an apprentice in the Miami Republican office, then owned by two of his brothers, Owen H. and Thomas O. Greason, and General John H. Rice. Four of his brothers were printers, James D., late of the Atwood Citizen, and Charles T. being the other two, besides those above mentioned. In 1878 William D. bought a one-third interest in the Western Spirit office in Paola, which he sold in 1881, and in 1882 bought a half interest in the Miami Republican, the other half then being owned by Leslie J. Perry, one of the most widely known and capable newspaper men of the Kansas of that period, and one of the most forceful and original writers the state has ever had. August 14, 1885, Mr. Perry sold his interest to Mr. Greason, who has since been the sole owner, editor and publisher. Mr. Greason served two terms as postmaster of Paola, from November, 1889, to April, 1894, and from July, 1898, to April, 1903. His newspaper is one of the oldest in Kansas, having been founded in 1866.

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