William Bell Sutton.—A publication of this nature exercises its most important function when it takes cognizance of the life and labors of those citizens who have risen to prominence and prosperity through their own well directed efforts and who have been of material value in furthering the advancement of the commonwealth. Judge Sutton is best known to the citizens of Wyandotte county and the State of Kansas at large as a distinguished member of the bar to which he was admitted in April, 1870. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Indiana, the county seat of Indiana county, Feb. 12, 1849, the son of James and Sarah (Stanborough) Sutton. His ancestors, paternal and maternal, were among the early settlers of America and numbered among them are men who achieved distinction in the frontier life of those early days, in the commercial era which followed, in the French and Indian wars and later in the war of the Revolution. William Sutton, the founder of the family in America, was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1641, came to the Massachusetts colony about 1660 and settled in Eastham. He was descended from Sir John Sutton, one of the rebellious barons who forced the granting by King John of the Magna Charta in 1215; Oliver Sutton, bishop of Lincoln, who died in 1299, and who officiated at the burial of Queen Elinor, consort of Edward I.; Thomas Sutton (1532-1611), founder of the Charter House of London, the world's greatest charity; and Sir Richard Sutton, one of the founders of Brasenore College, Oxford, were of this family. Judge Sutton is descended from William Sutton as follows: Daniel Sutton, son of William (1681-1761), resided at Woodbridge, N. J.; Zebulon, son of Daniel, born 1707, resided at North Branch, N. J.; Peter, son of Zebulon (1743-1829), enlisted in October, 1775, in the First New Jersey militia, afterward serving in Captain Nixon's company of New Jersey horse and the light dragoons, mustered out Dec. 15, 1782, and in 1798 removed to Pennsylvania, becoming one of the founders of Indiana; Thomas, son of Peter, was born in New Jersey, March 5, 1784, and died in Indiana, Pa., in 1833; James Sutton, son of Thomas and father of Judge Sutton, born in Indiana, Pa., April 23, 1812, and died in that city on Sept. 10, 1870. In his early life he was a merchant, but later became a banker and was president of the First National Bank of Indiana at the time of his death. First a Democrat, he afterward became a warm supporter of Abraham Lincoln and his policies. He was a gentleman of the old school and it is said of him that during his lifetime he never addressed a man by his first name, other than members of his family.

The Stanborough family, from which Judge Sutton is descended on the maternal side, is of Welsh origin and was founded in America early in the Seventeenth Century by Josiah Stanborough, who came from England and settled at Southampton, Long Island, where he died in 1661. Judge Sutton is the eighth in descent from Josiah Stanborough, to-wit: Josiah, the son of Josiah, established the family in Elizabeth, N. J.; Recompense, son of Josiah, Jr., born in Elizabeth, Aug. 22, 1672, married Ann Higginson, a daughter of the Rev. Francis Higginson, the first minister of the Massachusetts colony, who reached Salem on the ship Talbot on June 29, 1629; Josiah, son of Recompense, born in 1716, resided in Elizabeth; Adonizah, son of Josiah, born in Elizabeth in 1746, removed to Wilkes Barre, Pa., in 1774, was associated with Robert Morris in business and in financing the war of the Revolution, and died in Milton, N. J., on May 16, 1823; Rhoads S., son of Adonizah, born in Broadkill Hundred, Del., in 1792, graduated from Lewiston Academy in Delaware, studied medicine and served as surgeon of the Fifth battalion, Pennsylvania militia, in the war of 1812, and later resided at Marietta, Ohio, where he died of yellow fever in June, 1820; Sarah Cook Stanborough, the mother of Judge Sutton, was born on May 27, 1816, and died on Feb. 28, 1899.

William Bell Sutton secured his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native town, Tuscarora Academy, Academia, Pa., and Elders' Ridge Academy in Pennsylvania, and was then matriculated in Washington and Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Pa., where he completed the prescribed literary course and was graduated with the class of 1868. Subsequently he read law and was admitted to the bar at Utica, N. Y., in April, 1870. In that city he initiated his legal career and during the years 1870-1880 was successively a member of the firms of Gazzam & Sutton, Sutton & Gray and Sutton & Moorehouse. In 1880 he was elected county judge of Oneida county for a term of six years and completed his service Dec. 31, 1886. The following February he came to Kansas and located at Russell, the county seat of Russell county, where he resumed the practice of law as senior member of the firm of Sutton, Russell & Dollison. In October, 1897, he came to Wyandotte county and has since been a resident of Kansas City. In 1901 he formed with his son, William B. Sutton, Jr., the firm of Sutton & Sutton, recognized as one of the most prominent and influential legal firms in the state. During his practice, which has covered a span of more than forty years, Judge Sutton has appeared in connection with important litigations in both the state and Federal courts. He is especially fortified in his wide and comprehensive knowledge of the law, a man of strong character and distinct individuality, in argument logical and convincing, and of unswerving integrity. He has been successful and his methods have been clean, capable and honest. He has been a life-long Republican; was elected a member of the legislature from Russell county in 1894, and was appointed by Governor Morrill a member of the Kansas State Board of Irrigation, serving during 1895-97. He is a member of Wyandotte Lodge No. 3, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

On June 8, 1868, Judge Sutton married Miss Agnes Munroe Black, daughter of John E. Black, a banker of Cannonsburg, Pa., and treasurer of Washington and Jefferson College. They are the parents of five sons: Charles E. Sutton of Lawrence, Kan., a member of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, of which he has served two terms as president, and a well known breeder of pedigreed stock; James Sutton of the Anawalt-Campbell Mercantile Company of Harper, Kan., was educated at the State Agricultural College at Manhattan; William B. Sutton, Jr., of Sutton & Sutton, attorneys, Kansas City, Kan., who graduated from Kansas University with the class of 1899, is president of the Presbyterian Brotherhood and vice president of the Mercantile Club of Kansas City, Kan.; Walter Stanborough Sutton, M. D., the fourth son, is a graduate of Kansas University, class of 1900, a fellow of Columbia University, department of zoölogy and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York with the class of 1907, subsequently, interne and house surgeon in Roosevelt Hospital, New York City, located for practice in Kansas City, Kan., September, 1909, appointed associate professor of surgery in the medical department of Kansas University the same year and professor of surgery in 1911; Everett B. Sutton, the youngest son, was educated in the engineering department of Kansas University. Mrs. Sutton is a woman of broad culture and refinement and popular in the social circles of her home city in which she is a leader. She is president of the Slavic Mission Board, supported by the Presbyterian churches of both Kansas Cities, and is active and influential in the work of various organizations of the First Presbyterian Church, in which she holds membership.