He was born at Longton, Elk County, Kansas, March 24, 1890, son of Dr. William Frank and Sarah (Brown) Flack. The Flacks were German colonists in Pennsylvania before the Revolution. His great-grandfather, James Flack, was born in Pennsylvania, and was a pioneer into Ohio, where he built the first water power mill in Wayne County, Ohio. John Flack was born in Pennsylvania, was a farmer in Ohio until 1862, then lived for nearly twenty years in Greene County, Indiana, and in 1881 came to Kansas and settled on a farm near Independence, where he died in 1883. John Flack married Nancy Russell, of Colonial Revolutionary ancestry, and a native of Ohio. They were the parents among other children of Dr. William F. Flack of Longton, Kansas.

William F. Flack was born at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, April 18, 1857, but spent his youth and early manhood in Greene Countv, Indiana. After coming to Kansas in 1881 he worked at the carpenter's trade for a time at Independence. In 1885 he graduated from the Eclectic Medical College at Cincinnati, and for over thirty years has been practicing at Longton, He did post-graduate work in 1892-93 at Chicago, and a large part of his practice in subsequent years has been in treatment of the diseases of the eye. He is a member of the Eclectic Medical Society of Kansas, the Elk County, Kansas State and American Medical Associations, at one time was a member of the Board of Medical Examination and Registration in Kansas, served fourteen years as health officer at Longton and seven years as a member of the school board. He is a Republican, a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner. Doctor Flack married at Kansas City, in 1886, Mrs. Sarah (Brown) Switzer, daughter of W. A. Brown, Doctor and Mrs. Flack have two sons: Frank L., who is practicing medicine at Coffeyville, Kansas, and Russell W.

Russell W. Flack grew up at Longton, graduated from high school at Independence, and up to the age of twenty-one busied himself on the farm of 440 acres owned by his father and located a mile and a half northeast of Longton. The first oil well was drilled on this farm in August, 1903, and several others produced oil for a number of years. Mr. Flack on leaving the farm entered the oil industry, and for several years was employed on oil leases in Kansas and Oklahoma. His service with the Prairie Oil & Gas Company lasted from June, 1917, to February, 1924. By this corporation he was transferred from Oklahoma to Eldorado, Kansas, in 1923. In 1924 he engaged in business as an oil operator and producer, both in partnership and as an individual. He was one of the original men to open the Keighley Pool in Butler County in August, 1925, and is now employing some of his capital and resources in the sinking of individual wells over prospective territory.

Mr. Flack is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner, member of the B.P.O.Elks and the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Longton. His chief diversion is travel and outdoor sports.

He married, July 23, 1913, Miss E. A. Marshall, a native of Elk County, Kansas, daughter of Hugh B. Marshall, a pioneer Kansan. They have one son, Frank E., born April 21, 1923.