C. A. Aikman, of El Dorado, is probably the most extensive seed and grain dealer in Butler county. He is a native son of Butler county, born in Benton township, July 5, 1874, and belongs to one of the prominent pioneer families of this section. His parents, William Allison and Martha Angeline (Graves) Aikman were both natives of Kentucky. The father was born in Laurel county, and was a son of John Aikman, a native of Carlisle, Pa. John was a son of Alexander Aikman, a native of Scotland, who came to America with two of his brothers, before the Revolutionary war, and was killed at the battle of Brandywine while fighting for American independence. His son, John, grandfather of C. A. Aikman, located in Kentucky about 1795, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a devout Christian and lived an exemplary life.

William Allison Aikman grew to manhood in Laurel county, Kentucky, where he resided when the Civil war broke out. He remained loyal to the Union and entered the employ of the Government in a responsible civil capacity at Camp Dick Robison in charge of the blacksmith work there, and had the supervision of several men. At the close of the war he engaged in the drug business in Kentucky, and in 1871 came to Kansas with his wife and three children, locating in Benton township, Butler county, where he took up government land, and followed farming and stock raising until 1883, when he removed to

Towanda township, continuing in the same line of business until 1898, when he came to El Dorado, where he lived retired until his death, December 16, 1906. His wife, Martha Angeline Graves, was born in Madison county, Kentucky, and now resides in El Dorado, and is remarkably vigorous, both in mind and body, for a woman of her advanced age. Her father, William Graves, was a prominent Virginia planter before the Civil war, but like many other of that war-blighted district, saw his fortune vanish in that great conflict. Mrs. Aikman was the youngest of a family of nine children and is the only one now living.

C. A. Aikman is the youngest of four sons born to William Allison and Martha Angeline (Graves) Aikman. The others, all of whom were born in Kentucky, are as follows: G. P., attorney, El Dorado, Kans.; C. L., attorney, El Dorado, Kans., and J. S., a wholesale merchant at San Francisco, Cal. C. A. Aikman received a good common school education, which was supplemented by a business course in the Wichita Commercial College. He began life as a farmer, and in 1898 engaged in buying and shipping field seed and grain and at the same time continuing his farming operations, In 1903 his seed and grain business developed to such proportions that it required all of his attention. About that time he purchased the old Christian church on North Main street, El Dorado, and converted it into a warehouse and erected an office in connection, and added coal to his other business. His business continued to enlarge, and in 1910 he built an elevator on the line of the Missouri Pacific railroad in El Dorado.

Mr. Aikman was married September 20, 1905, to Miss Lucinda Green, a native of Sumner county, Kansas, and a daughter of D. M. Green, a Kentuckian, and early settler in Kansas, who now resides in El Dorado. To Mr. and Mrs. Aikman have been born two children: Conrad A., Jr., aged nine, and Daniel Robert John, aged four. Mr. Aikman is a Republican, but does not take an active part in political affairs. His genial manner and straightforward business methods have won him many friends in both the business and social sides of life. Mr. Aikman has a literary inclination and as a relaxation from the dull grind of every day business life, he frequently writes verse for his own entertainment, and many of his short poems are real gems of literature.

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