James Elric Humbert

HUMBERT

Posted By: Leslie J. Pyatt (email)
Date: 11/4/2001 at 08:01:27

This is a biography of James Elric Humbert who was born in Milton Iowa March 09, 1870, son of Peter and grandson of Isaiah Humbert.

He attended high school and then became a teacher. He quit as he did not make enough money to buy clothing, he always said. He traveled on the road for Putnam Guide Company. The Putnam guides were named for Putnam County Missiouri. When he returned to Unionville (Putnam Co) he would have interesting stories to tell to Claiborne Smith and his daughter Kitty Belle. He fell in love with Kittye and they were married in October just before she became 16 in December.

Jim and Kittye Belle moved to Pollock Missouri where he went into business with an older man who was in the undertaking business. The older man ran up a lot of dishonest debts and forced a bankruptcy. Jim did not participate in that action so he spent the rest of his life paying off debts caused by the older man. He said if he had it to do over again, he would never suggest to a young man to ruin his entire life paying off debts instead of taking bankruptcy.

After they closed the Pollock business, he went on the road selling monument stones for his mother's brother Alf who was located in Hutchinson Kansas. The stones sold for a great deal of profit and he did quite well. Jim Humbert lived in Hutchinson Kansas at the beginning of the 20th Century (1901). He was manager of the Hutchinson electric street railway company until it closed down. He moved to Liberal KS where he was a bookkeeper for the Hudson dealership (automobile). Jim felt the owner was dishonest so he quit that job and went to work for the Blakemore family who owned the Ideal Food chain. He managed the bakery for the Ideal Food store chain. In 1936, he moved to Haven Kansas where he owned & operated the Haven Bakery until his retirement in 1944. He retired to Sylvia Kansas.

During WWI, he was the Chief of the American Protective League in Hutchinson KS. This was the fore-runner of the FBI and was used to conduct background investigations for government security checks on personnel who had access to government secrets during the War. His area included Pratt, Great Bend, Larned, Kingman, Wichita, Newton, Salina, Lyons, McPherson, and other towns. There were many incidents of effective cooperation between the APL in Hutchinson and the officers of the regular government intelligence and espionage agencies. During WWII, Jim Humbert was contacted several times by the FBI for information for security clearances of personnel who were known to him in the Hutchinson, Haven Kansas areas.
One agent told him the FBI kept track of the old APL chiefs and used them as reliable sources for background checks.

He died in 1959 and is buried in Memorial Park, Hutchinson, Kansas.

References:
Newspaper articles in Hutchinson News-Herald, Hutchinson, KS.
Taped interview of his daughter in 1970s.
Death Certificate number: 59-004557, filed 2 Apr 1959, with
Kansas Bureau of Vital Statistics.