William Henry Isely

Henry married Frances in 1893. Here is information about their family.

Here is more information about Henry compiled by John Mattox

William Henry was born to Christian H. Isely and Elise Dubach Isely in St. Joseph, Missouri in 1865. He migrated with his family to farm the Kansas Prairie near Fairview, Kansas.

His Mother, Elise reports the following turn of events in Sunbonnet Days.
One of our neighbor boys [Merrill Boomer] went away to college and Henry wanted to go with him. Christian favored college, but did not see how we could afford it. Yet when Henry proposed that he would earn his board and room if only he had enough money to pay his railroad fare and his tuition, Christian sold a steer and sent him.

He attended college at Ottawa University. Following graduation from Ottawa, he furthered his studies at Harvard and graduated with an M. A. majoring in history and economics. He then took a position as a teacher at the Fairmount Institute (which has subsequently become Wichita State University). He soon became the Dean.

William Henry died before his time - of appendicitis in 1907 - at the age 42. An operation was performed, but the appendix had already burst, and antibiotics had not yet been developed. It is interesting to think about how things in Kansas might have been different had he lived as long as his wife.

Here is the speech of the President of Wichita State University in 1973 when the campus street, Isely Lane was dedicated in memory of Dean Isely.

Here are photos of Henry.

Caption on back, "WH Isely . . . Ottawa . . . 1892" Studio is E.H. Corwin of Ottawa, Kansas.