John Leeford Brady, editor, was born on a farm in Johnson county, Kansas, Aug. 18, 1866, and is the eleventh child of John and Catherine (Lee) Brady. He attended the district school in the winter and worked on the farm in summer. When fifteen years old he entered the preparatory department of Baker University, and at the close of his sophomore year he took up newspaper work, becoming the editor of the "Baldwin Ledger." After six months he disposed of his interests in the "Ledger," and went to Jetmore, where he edited the "Advance" for one year, and taught a term of district school. From 1887 to 1890 Mr. Brady was editor of the "Salina Republican." His next work was as city editor of the "Hutchinson News." In 1891 he came to Lawrence and with W. C. Simons, in March, 1892, started the "World," of which he remained editor for fourteen years, when he disposed of his interests to Mr. Simons, and purchased the "Lawrence Journal," editing that paper for five years. In February, 1911, the plant of the "Lawrence Journal" was destroyed by fire, after which the two Lawrence papers combined under the name of the "Journal-World," with Mr. Brady as editor.

In politics Mr. Brady has always been an active Republican, he was a member of the Republican county central commitee for four years chairman of the Republican city central committee for six years; for four years deputy oil inspector, and then served one term as a member of the lower house of the Kansas legislature, after which he was elected the state senate for a four-years term, expiring Jan. 9, 1913. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Lawrence Free Public Library, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Brady married and has one daughter—Vera C., a member of the faculty in the Cosmopolitan School of Music and Dramatic Art, of Chicago.