Seymour Rogers Found

An amateur historian has solved the old mystery of what happened to the founder of the southwest Kansas town of Liberal.

The High Plains Daily Leader reports that Lidia Hook-Gray was researching on an online genealogy website when she discovered that Seymour S. Rogers, and his wife, Addie, were buried in a cemetery in Joplin, Missouri.

Rogers made his way to southwest Kansas after a failed first marriage and a stint in the Union Army in the Civil War.

He established a homestead with a sod house that doubled as a general store. He allowed travelers free use of his hand-dug well, earning the title of "that liberal fella." Word got out, and the well became a popular stop.

The town picked the name Liberal because of Rogers’ generosity.