Whitaker, J. B. (James Barnes), 1832-1899.

J. B. (James Barnes) Whitaker was born February 21, 1832 at Boston, Massachusetts to Edgar Kimball Whitaker and Catharine Cravath (Holland) Whitaker. By 1857, J. B. Whitaker had emigrated to Kansas Territory, where he was a surveyor and pioneered in the development of Shawnee County and the city of Topeka, serving at various times as county surveyor, sheriff, deputy U.S. marshal, councilman, city engineer, and street commissioner. As a Topeka attorney, partnering with Alfred L. Winans in Winans & Whitaker during the 1860s, Whitaker processed real estate transactions, probated estates, and was a claims agent for Civil War veterans and war widows seeking military bounties and pensions. In the 1870s, he also operated Whitaker's Tea and Spice Store in downtown Topeka. In 1858, Whitaker married Jane (Jennie) Close. He died on April 2, 1899 at Topeka.

From the guide to the J. B. Whitaker collection, 1857-1894, 1953, (University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library Kansas Collection)