Henry M. Blue, a Kansas pioneer who has led an active and successful career, is now living retired at South Haven. He is a native of Virginia, and was born in Hampshire county, May 11, 1848, a son of John and Delilah (Pownell) Blue, also natives of Virginia. The father was a blacksmith and followed that vocation throughout life. The family removed to Cumberland, Md., prior to the Civil war, where the father died in 1856, and the mother returned to Virginia, where she passed away in 1859. They were the parents of eleven children, only three of whom are now living, as follows: Ruth, born in 1851, now the wife of R. N. Cantrell, South Haven, Kan.; Martha E., born in 1842, married Aaron Boyer, Horatio, Ohio, and Henry M., the subject of this sketch. Mr. Blue received his education in the public schools of Ohio and Illinois, and has followed farming most of his life. He has been twice married, first in 1872, to Miss Aveline Nichol, who died April 21, 1877, leaving two children: Nathan, born November 25, 1875, and died August 6, 1886, and Joseph C., born December 15, 1876. On July 3, 1878, Mr. Blue married Mrs. Emily Lalicker, nee Holmes, a native of Brown county, Indiana, born November 5, 1847. Her first husband was John Lalicker, who died July 10, 1876, leaving three children: Elmer, Charles S. and Clarence. To Mr. and Mrs. Blue have been born four children: John Quincy, born June 20, 1879, now cashier of the Ashton State Bank at Ashton, Kan.; Frank A., born September 4, 1881; Claud E., born January 9, 1888, banker, Wichita, Kan., and Earl M., station agent at South Haven for the Kansas Southwestern railroad. Mr. Blue came to Kansas in 1879, and settled in Norton county, locating on Government land. He remained here three years, and lived in a dug-out, experiencing all the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life on the plains, with little hope or encouragement. In 1882 he came to Sumner county, without capital, and, bought a farm near South Haven, which he mortgaged for the purchase price and began life over again. He succeeded from the start, and has bought and sold several farms, and followed farming extensively, and made money, becoming one of the substantial men of the county. He is interested in several enterprises besides farming, being a stockholder in the State Bank of Ashton, and the Union State Bank of Hunnewell. Politically, Mr. Blue is a Republican, and has served three years as trustee of South Haven township. He and the family are members of the United Brethren church. Since retiring from active business Mr. Blue has spent some time in travel, and in 1913 took a trip back to his old Virginia home for the first time in half a century.