John Nevon Herr, a successful merchant at Kiowa, Kan., and the able representative of Barber county in the state legislature during the session of 1911, is a comparatively young man, but has already won a high standing in his community as a worthy and energetic citizen. Mr. Herr comes of Swiss and German ancestry, that branch of the Herr family to which he belongs having been established in America by Rev. Hans Herr, who was born in Canton Zurich, in the north of Switzerland, Sept. 17, 1639. Rev. Hans Herr was an early immigrant to the American colonies and settled in what is now Pennsylvania, where his son Abraham was born at the town of Manor, in what is now Lancaster county, in 1660. Abraham, son of the Abraham just mentioned, was born June 25, 1700, and died Sept. 5, 1785. Christian, son of Abraham Herr II, was born at Manor, Pa., Dec. 30, 1746, and died in 1822; his son Abraham, born at Millersville, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, Oct. 18, 1771, had a son Rudolph, who was born at Elizabethtown, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1801, and died March 23, 1888. Rudolph's son, Abraham, grandfather of John N. Herr, born at Elizabethtown, Pa., Jan. 1, 1824, is still living; the latter's son, Abraham R. Herr, born Feb. 23, 1848, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, is the father of John N. It will thus be seen that this family has had a remarkable record, in that eight generations of the family have been born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and that the Herr family has been represented among the residents of that county for more than 250 years. Abraham R. Herr married Elizabeth Shenk, May 16, 1868, and to them were born six children: Allen E. is a stockman residing at Medicine Lodge, Kan.; Abraham L. is a lawyer at Chickasha, Okla.; Uriah Clayton (see sketch); J. Nevon is the next in order of birth; Ada M. is a graduate of Southwestern College, at Winfield, Kan., and of the University of Michigan, and is a teacher in the Wellington (Kan.) High School; and Mercy M. is deceased.

John Nevon Herr was born March 3, 1875, in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and accompanied his parents to Kansas in March, 1886. His father purchased a farm near Kiowa, but died there June 12, 1886, within three months after his arrival in Barber county. John Nevon Herr received his education in the public schools of Kansas and was graduated in the Franklin High School in 1895. He labored on the farm until twenty-two years of age, when, in 1897, he began clerking in a store. Later he engaged independently in the mercantile business at Kiowa, and has since been very successful, being now numbered among the most prosperous business men of that city.

On May 9, 1901, Mr. Herr married Miss Edith J., daughter of Orman J. Potter and his wife, nee Miss Elvira Button. Mr. and Mrs. Herr have two children—Eleanor Lucile, born March 4, 1903, and Harold Kingsley, born Feb. 13, 1908. Mr. Herr not only possesses sterling business qualities, but is also a man of active public spirit who lends his energies and influence to the furtherance of every project which promises the advancement of his city and state. He was elected mayor of Kiowa in April, 1907, and served two terms, or four years. During his service as mayor the prohibitory and other laws were strictly enforced and a fine municipal water and light plant was installed. During that period, also, Kiowa doubled in population. Mr. Herr was elected in 1910 on the Democratic ticket to represent Barber county in the State legislature, where his service proved a credit to himself and to his constituency.