Augustus Morton Webb ("Gus"), son of William and Addie Paya Webb, was
     bron in a sod shanry on the high plains of Land County, near Dighton,
     Kansas, during a blizzard, November 14, 1886.
       The following year the family moved to a soddy on a farm northwest of
     Pratt, near Naaron Post Office (now Byers, Kansas). Soon the family
     moved to a frame house on a nearby farm. In 1893 his father and two
     half-brothers made the Cherokee Run and homesteaded 3 1/4 miles south
     of Capron, Oklahoma.
       To eke out a living for his family was a primary concern. William's
     next priority was a school, for which he gave two acres of land. Augustus
     attended this school, District 12, through eighth grade. There were no
     high schools. Northwestern Normal School, Alva, added a two year high
     school course to its four year college. After high school, Augustus
     graduated from Normal School in 1909.
       His work experience began as school superintendent at Capron, Oklahoma.
     In 1911 he changed vocations, serving as Assistant Cashier of First
     National Bank, Waynoka, Oklahoma, until 1918, when he became a state bank
     examiner.
       He with four other business men, applied for and received the charter
     for Farmers State Bank of Hardtner, Kansas; the bank opened in the fall
     of 1919. Gus was its first Vice President; later he advanced to President
     and is now Chariman of the Board.
       In 1991 Gus married Juanita Gronemyer, a school teacher of Capron
     community. Their two children are Russell W. Webb, a Kansas State
     University graduate, who with his wife lives in Las Vegas, Nevada; he has 
     been employed with Hughes Tool Company about 40 years. Vella Mae Lewis, a
     Kansas University student, who married Edwin A. Lewis and lives in Springfield,
     Massachusetts; Edwin is Director of Agencies for Massachussetts Mutual
     Insurance Company. Mr. Webb has four grandchildren and eight great-grand
     children.
       His wife Juanita died in 1962, soon after their golden wedding anniversary.
     In 1965 he married Bessie Allen of Hardtner; she died in 1970.
       Gus has been interested and active in community activities. He served on
     the school boards of Waynoka and Hardtner; helped organize Barber County
     Fair and served on its board for 46 years, was Mayor of Hardtner 8 years
     and a city councilman the next 17 years, was an officer of the Elwood
     Township for 50 years (unitl 1970); served on the Board of Trustees of 
     United Methodist Church; worked in the Boy Scout organization; is a Master
     Mason and Odd Fellow; was an officer of the Barber County chapter of March
     of Dimes from its organization.
       Regarding his retirement from active bank duty in 1965, Gus said, "It
     chafes like a poorly fitted harness. The hardest thing is seeing all the
     unfinished work and feel I should still be in there pitching." His interests
     are in the past, present, and future. He has authored an autobiographical
     record with personal reminiscences and compiled a complete history of
     Hardtner's Elwood Township from 1879 to the present.
       At age 93 his concern is for today and its frustrations; his enthusiasm
     is for tomorrow's potentials.
                
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas, pg. 476