Harry F. Sinclair, a prominent oil operator and producer and a leading financier of Independence, Kan., who has been prominently identified with the development of oil and natural gas in Kansas and Oklahoma, was born in Benwood, now a part of Wheeling, W. Va., July 6, 1876, the son of John and Phoebe (Simmons) Sinclair. His father was born in Monroe county, Ohio, and his mother in Wheeling, W. Va. They came West and located at Independence, in 1882, where Mr. Sinclair opened a drug store, which he conducted until his death in 1893. He is survived by his wife, who still resides in Independence.

Harry F. Sinclair spent his boyhood in Kansas, attended the public schools of independence and after graduating from the high school entered the pharmacy department of the University of Kansas, at Lawrence. Upon receiving his degree at that institution, he entered the drug business, but he was a natural financier, and with keen foresight, realized that oil and gas were to become important commercial commodities. He gradually invested in such properties in Oklahoma and has achieved gratifying success in their development. Everything he takes control of turns out well, and though still a young man, Mr. Sinclair is on the high road to fortune. He was one of the organizers the State Bank of Commerce, at Independence, which was later absorbed by the First National Bank of Independence, of which Mr. Sinclair is a director. This first banking institution proved so successful that Mr. Sinclair has become interested in several other banking houses and is the efficient vice-president of the First State Bank of Caney, Kan., and of the Exchange National Bank of Tulsa, Okla. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a Republican in politics, but has never cared to hold public office, as his business interests take all of his time. On July 21, 1904, Mr. Sinclair married Miss Elizabeth Farrell, of Independence, Kan.