A rediscovered century-old memoir by Carl F. Mingenback—the Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance's board secretary for 30 years, founding mayor of Greensburg, Kansas and a former president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC)—offers modern readers a vivid look at settlement hardships and the values that shaped the enduring mutual insurance profession.
MCPHERSON, Kan., Sept. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A rediscovered memoir by Carl F. Mingenback—Farmers Alliance board secretary for three decades, NAMIC president in 1914, and a Kansas settler who became Greensburg's first mayor—has been published for the first time, revealing how frontier hardships helped shape the cooperative values that continue to guide mutual insurance today.
Titled The Mingenback Chronicles: The Romance and Tragedy of Winning a Home in the West, the memoir offers a rare firsthand look at life on the Kansas frontier and the founding values of the modern mutual insurance movement.
Written in 1928 and rediscovered by his granddaughter, author and communications expert Marla Mingenback Sheiner, the first edition of The Mingenback Chronicles illuminates the values of service, trust, and cooperative enterprise that continue to shape Kansas and the broader insurance industry. Carl Mingenback served as president of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), chaired the Mutual Reinsurance Bureau and authored the seminal 1906 Mutual Insurance Manual, considered the profession's first national playbook.
The Mingenback Chronicles captures both the physical hardship of settling Greensburg, Kansas, and the moral imperative Carl Mingenback would ultimately foster in his profession to protect homes, farms, and families through cooperative insurance. From battling blizzards in the 1800s to crossing high-water fordes on horseback, readers learn how the imprint of those experiences helped shape the man and pioneer spirit of C.F. Mingenback—who would later become a national and regional leader helping organize cooperative insurance standards in the early 1900s.
Through his memoir, Carl Mingenback's voice speaks across time to current professionals in an industry facing the headwinds of regulatory pressure, climate risk, and corporate consolidation.
"His story is not just history—it's a blueprint showing the founding values of the mutual insurance profession," said Sheiner. "This memoir will resonate with anyone in insurance, agriculture, or rural development who believes in building things that last."
Sheiner's prologue, foreword, introduction, and afterword frame the memoir for modern readers, showing how Carl Mingenback's frontier experiences still resonate today. His trials on horseback across the Kansas plains—and the leadership he displayed in building towns, businesses, and institutions—left a legacy that extended beyond his region. Those same qualities of resilience, cooperation, and stewardship helped shape both the growth of the Central Plains and the guiding values of today's cooperative insurers.
The memoir is now available via Amazon in paperback. Readers can search for the title or author on Amazon.com or visit http://www.marlasheiner.com for details.
BOOK DETAILS
Title: The Mingenback Chronicles: The Romance and Tragedy of Winning a Home in the West
Authors: Marla Mingenback Sheiner & Carl F. Mingenback
Prologue, Introduction and Afterword by Marla Mingenback Sheiner
ISBN: 979-8-285-45987-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2025911209
Available on Amazon.com (Paperback)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marla Mingenback Sheiner is a retired mass communications professional and the granddaughter of Carl F. Mingenback. She grew up in Great Bend, Kansas, is a former press secretary to the late Arizona Senator and presidential candidate, John McCain, and has held leadership roles with Hensley Beverage, University of Phoenix, and Vertex Education. She lives in Phoenix where she continues to write and consult on branding, publishing, and leadership communications. Sheiner is also the author of McCain's Navy: A Leadership Field Guide
Learn more at www.marlasheiner.com or
www.linkedin.com/in/marlasheiner/
Media Contact
Marla Mingenback Sheiner, Sheiner Enterprises LLC, 1 6023990007, [email protected], marlasheiner.com
SOURCE Sheiner Enterprises LLC
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