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.