USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 1
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IWB (Wyandotte) Morgen
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2341 HISTORY
OF
WYANDOTTE COUNTY
KANSAS
AND ITS PEOPLE
EDITED AND COMPILED BY PERL W. MORGAN KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO I911
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 709036 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
1915 L
VINCENT J. LANE .- Not alone does this venerable citizen of Kansas City, Kansas, merit consideration in this work by reason of the fact that he is one of the honored pioneers of Wyandotte county, which has repre- sented his home for more than half a century, but he also has been a most prominent and influential factor in the civic and material develop- ment and npbuilding of this favored section of the state, where his in- terests have been wide and varied. Ile may well be designated as the. dean of the newspaper profession in Kansas, as he has figured as editor and publisher of one paper for a longer period than has any other man in the state. Though venerable in years, he retains his mental faculties unimpaired and is still actively in the harness in connection with the editorial supervision of the Wyandotte Herald, which he founded and which is published by the Lane Printing Company. No citizen of Wyandotte county is better known than Mr. Lane and none hold more secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem.
Mr. Lane claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity and he is a scion of one of its sterling pioneer fami- lies. He was born at West Middletown, Washington county, Penn- sylvania, on the 27th of January, 1828. and is a son of Joseph and Margaret (McKeever) Lane, the former of whom was born in Pennsyl- vania. of English lineage, and the latter of whom was born in Virginia. of Scotch-Irish ancestry. The parents continued to reside in Washing- to county. Pennsylvania. until the close of their long and useful lives, and there, in the early days, the father was a manufacturer of furniture, at a time when all the work was done by hand. He was a man of in- dustry and strong individuality, and both he and his wife ordered their lives according to the highest principles of integrity and honor, so that they were not denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and regard in the community that so long represented their home.
Vincent J. Lane was reared to adult age in his native town, where he duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools and thus laid the foundation for the broad fund of diversified knowledge which he has since accumulated in connection with the experiences of a long and active business career. He left the parental rooftree when sixteen years of age and set forth to make for himself a place in connee- tion with the economie activities of life. He applied his seholastic knowledge to good use by teaching in the schools of Virginia for a period of about two years, and in the early '50s he located in the southeastern part of Indiana, where he remained about four years.
In 1857 Mr. Lane came to Kansas and numbered himself among the pioneers of Wyandotte county. 6 He located at Quindaro and assisted in the laying ont of the town, in which he was one of the first settlers and where he was concerned with various lines of endeavor. In 1858
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
he was appointed postmaster of the village, and he retained this office until 1861, after which he was engaged in farming for about four years. In the meanwhile he had also engaged in newspaper editorial work, both in a local way and as a correspondent, and he eventually matured his powers in this line until he became known as one of the vigorous and resourceful writers of his adopted state. In the late '60s Mr. Lane went to Montana, where the gold excitement was then at its height, and there he continued in the quest of the precious metal, with varying success, for nearly two years. He returned to Kansas and located in Kansas City, where he has maintained his home during the long inter- vening years. For a few years he acted as local representative and reporter for the Kansas City Times, of Kansas City. Missouri, and he then assumed a contract for the construction of twenty miles of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. After the completion of this work he engaged in newspaper work on his own responsibility. by founding the Wyandotte IIcrald, a weekly paper. With this paper he has since been contin- uously identified, and it is mainly due to his ability and well directed efforts that the Herald has so long maintained precedence as one of the strong and valued exponents not only of local interests but also those of the state at large. The Lane Printing Company has a well equipped and essentially modern plant, with the best of facilities for the issuing of the Herald, which is still a weekly edition, and also for the execution of the best type of job work of all kinds.
In politics Mr. Lane has wielded much and benignant influence in Kansas, where he has been a leader in the councils of the Democratic party, of whose principles and policies he has been an effective exemplar. both in the columns of his paper and through personal influence. He served two terms as register of deeds of Wyandotte county and was twiee elected to represent the county in the lower house of the state legisla- ture, in which he made a record for admirable and effective service in the promotion of wise legislation and the general conservation of the best interests of the Sunflower commonwealth. He served as postmaster of Kansas City for four years, under the first presidential administration of Grover Cleveland. IIe has been instant in work for all worthy causes and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city and his civic loyalty and ideals are of the highest type. He was a member of the board of education for several years and has otherwise been influential in local affairs. Hle is affiliated with the lodge and chapter bodies of the Masonie fraternity and is identified with other civic organizations of representative character.
In the state of Indiana, in 1855, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lane to Miss Sarah Jane Robinson, who was there born and reared. She was summoned to the life eternal and is survived by three children, Bush R., who is one of the interested principals in the Lane Printing Company : Jessie R., who is the wife of Charles C. Ilall, a representative agricultorist of Johnson county, Kansas; and Mina, who is the wife of John E. E. Fanin, of Kansas City, Kansas.
JOHN T. SIMS .- Ambition is the mind's inspiration in the conquest of obstacles, and no other nation in the world gives such credit and honor to the man who, holding the needle of life true to the pole-star of hope and animated by worthy ambition, presses steadily forward to a place
1
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX TILGEM FOUNDAT, 'VE
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
of usefulness and to the goal of definite success. The present incum- bent of the office of judge of the probate court of Wyandotte county is one who has built the ladder on which he has risen, and he has accom- plished much as one of the world's great army of productive workers. the while he has merited and retained the inviolable confidence and esteem of those with whom he has come in contact in the various rela- tions of life. As one of the honored official and representative citizens of Wyandotte county Judge Sims is well entitled to consideration in this history.
John T. Sims was born in the village of Robinson, Crawford county, Illinois. on the 31st of December. 1864, and thus became a right welcome New Year's guest in the home of his parents, Thomas J. and Arminta MeComas (Elledge) Sims, the former of whom was born in Virginia and the latter in Kentucky. The father was a wagonmaker and black- smith by trade and followed this sturdy vocation for many years. He was a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Crawford county, Illinois, where his parents settled, at Robinson, when he was
but a boy. Ile was there reared to maturity and there secured such edneational advantages as were afforded in the pioneer schools. In addition to the work of his trade he also became the owner and operator of a grist mill in the village of Robinson and he was one of its repre- sentative business men and most honored citizens for many years prior to his death, which there occurred in 1878, at which time he was fifty years of age. He was fairly successful in his business affairs and his life was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor. His wife, a woman of ability and noble character, was sum- moned to the life eternal at the age of fifty-six years, and of their eleven children, of whom Judge Sims was the eighth in order of birth. three sons and five daughters are now living.
Judge Sims was reared to adult age in his native town, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was sufficiently adequate to enable him to become a successful and pop- ular teacher when a young man. In his native state he thus followed the pedagogie profession for three terms, and in March, 1884, when twenty years of age, and soon after the death of his loved and venerated mother, he came to Kansas and located at Parsons. Labette county, in whose public schools he was a successful teacher for three terms. In
1886 he removed to Pratt, the judicial center of the county of the same name, and there he was engaged in the real-estate business until 1888. Owing to protracted drouths he met with reverses in his business, and in the year last mentioned he removed to Joplin, Missouri, where he was identified with mining enterprises for a short interval. He then se- enred a position with the Swift Paeking Company, at its headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas, and after leaving Joplin, Missouri, he contin- ned to hold various positions with this and other of the large packing eoneerus until 1893, in the meanwhile maintaining his residence in Kansas City, Kansas. Here he was elected justice of the peace in 1893, and he continued incumbent of this office for six years. In the mean- while he carefully gave his attention to the study of law, and in 1895 he was admitted to the bar of his adopted state, when he came to Kansas City and engaged in the practice of his profession. He was finally elected police judge, and in this office he served three terms, with
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
marked efficiency. Ilis able efforts in this connection marked him as eligible for further official preferment, and in the autumn of 1909 he was elected probate judge of Wyandotte county. He has sinee retained this important office, has handled its affairs with marked discrimination and efficiency, and is one of the popular and valued officials of the county. Judge Sims is found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he has been an active and effective worker in its cause. Ile served for some time as secretary of the Republican committee of the second congressional district of the state and has otherwise shown his zeal in connection with party affairs. Hle is affiliated with the Masonie fra- ternity, in which he has received the chivalrie orders, being identified with the Kansas City commandery of Knights Templars, and he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and several other orders. He has been many times chairman of different conventions. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and are active in the various departments of religions work.
In the year 1894 .Indge Sims was united in marriage to Miss Cora A. Petri, who was born and reared in the state of Ohio and who was a resident of Parsons. Kansas, at the time of their marriage. They have one child, Elizabeth Arminta, now seventeen years of age.
LEWIS C. TRUE .- There are many salient points of interest in the history of the career of this honored and representative member of the Kansas bar, and no citizen of Wyandotte county holds more secure place in popular esteem than does Colenel True, to whom also belongs the title of judge. He was one of the valiant young patriots who went forth to render service in defense of the Union when its integrity was jeopardized by armed rebellion, and he served throughout the entire confliet, in connection with which he had the distinction of being the youngest officer of his rank, that of colonel, in the entire body of Federal forces. lle has been a member of the Kansas bar for forty years and since 1882 he has maintained his residence in Kansas City, this state, where he has been continuously and successfully engaged in the work of his profession, save for such time as he served in judicial offices. Colonel True is known and honored as one of the essentially strong and resourceful lawyers of Wyandotte eounty and as a citizen of the highest type of loyalty and progressiveness. His character and services eminently entitle him to recognition in this history of his home county.
Colonel Lewis Corbin True is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Illinois and was born on the paternal farmstead in Coles county, that state. on the 4th of April, 1842. He is a son of Frederick G. and Cynthiana (Wigginton) True, both of whom were born at Frank- fort, the capital city of Kentucky, and the former of whom was a son of John W. True, a native of Virginia and a representative of a family early founded in the historic Old Dominion. The mother of Colonel True died when he was a child and his father continued to reside in Illinois until his death, when well advaneed in years, his occupation having been that of farming and stock growing. He whose name ini- tiates this sketch was reared to maturity under the sturdy discipline of the farm and under the care of his father and his elder sisters, who
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IHISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
saw to it that he had his dne quota of sassafras tea and quinine in con- neetion with his frequent and agitated experiences with the prevail- ing "fever and agne." which at that period constituted one of the chief "occupations" of the people of that section of Illinois. He gained his early education in the common schools of his native state, where he continued to be identified with farm work until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, when he entered Illinois College, at Jacksonville, where he continued his studies for a period of about one year. He withdrew from college to respond to the call of higher duty, as he was among the first to tender his services in defense of the Union when the Civil war was precipitated.
In 1861 Colonel True enlisted as a private in Company E. Thirty- eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the au- tumn of 1862, when he was transferred to the Sixty-second Illinois In- fantry. With this gallant command he made a record of most distin- guished order and with it he participated in many of the important bat- tles marking the progress of the great fratracidal conflict. He served in turn as adjutant, lieutenant, captain, major and lieutenant colonel of this regiment, and when its members veteranized, at the expiration of the three years' term of enlistment, he was dnly commissioned colonel of the veteran regiment, with which he continued in active service for six months after the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston. After peace had been declared he was sent with his command to the western frontier, where he continued in the Indian service until Angust, 1866. when he received his honorable discharge. The most of this final ser-
viee was in the Indian Territory, in subdning uprisings of the Indians. As has already been stated, he was the youngest officer of his rank in the entire armies of the Union. He has ever retained a lively interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by his affiliation with Burnside Post, No. 28. Grand Army of the Republic, in Kansas City, in which he is an appreciative and valued member. During the war Colonel True frequently acted as judge advocate of conrt martials, and his experience in this connection had indubitable influence in leading him finally to adopt the legal profession.
At the close of his long and gallant military career Colonel True located in Franklin county, Kansas, where he became associated in the live stoek and ranch business with his brother, James F. True, and with Hon. F. D. Coburn, secretary of agriculture for the state. ITis ex- perienee was similar to that of many others of the sterling pioneers of the state, in that recurrent droughts and. grasshopper scourges com- pelled him to retire from this line of enterprise. IIe then removed to Chetopa, Labette county, and engaged in the study of law, under the able preceptorship of William P. Lamb, and in 1871 he was duly ad- mitted to the bar of the state, in Cherokee county. For the ensuing five years he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Chetopa and he was then elected county attorney of Labette county. IIe as- sumed this office at the time when the prohibition law was put into effect. and he was the first and only county attorney in the state to enforce rigidly the provisions of the new laws governing the liquor traffic. In so doing he naturally created the most bitter opposition and he paid the penalty of his righteons and fearless efforts in having his house destroyed by fire and in failing of re-election at the close
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
of his first term. At this election also was compassed the defeat of Governor St. John, who had been renominated on the Prohibition ticket.
In 1882 Colonel True removed to Kansas City, where he has since followed with vigor, ability and pronounced success the work of his profession, in which he has retained a large and representative elien- tage. The only intervals of direct inactivity in practice have been those during which he served in judicial office-one term on the beneh of the court of common pleas of Wyandotte county and one term as judge of the second division of the court of the Twenty-ninth judicial district. In polities the Colonel has ever given unqualified allegiance to the Republican party, and he is an effective exponent of its prin- riples and policies as well as a valued factor in its local councils. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
In the year 1866, soon after leaving the army, Colonel True was united in marriage to Miss Annie Keeler, of Pine Bluff's, Arkansas, in which state her father, the late George Keeler, was a representative planter and prominent eitizen. Mrs. True was born in the state of Arkansas. Colonel and Mrs. True have two sons-Frederiek G., who is a resident of the eity of Peoria, Illinois, where he is engaged in the railroad business; and George L., who is a resident of Clovis, New Mexico, where his vocation is that of a general merehant. It should be stated further that Colonel True had the distinction of being the first city attorney of Kansas City after its consolidation with Wyan- dotte. IIe has an attractive home at 563 Freeman avenue, in one of the best residence seetions of the city.
WILLIAM J. RICE .- One of the stanch institution contributing its quota to the financial prestige and stability of the metropolis of Wyan- dotte eounty is the Central Avenue State Bank, of which William J. Rice is president and which is eligibly located at 15 Central avenue, Kansas City. The chief executive of this bank is known as one of the progressive and reliable business men of this section of the state, and his various interests in Kansas City well denote his civic loyalty and public spirit.
Mr. Rice was born in Speneer county, Indiana, on the 4th of July, 1860, and his advent thus justified especial celebration of the anniver- sary of our national independence so far as it tonehed the home of his parents, Robert R. and Mary (Iden) Rice, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer epoeh of its history. Robert R. Rice was reared under the discipline of the basic industry of agriculture, to which he continued to devote his attention in the old Buckeye state until 1861, when he re- moved to Illinois and purchased a farm in Knox county, which eon- tinued to be his home until his death, at the age of abont forty-five years. Ilis widow lived to attain the venerable age of eighty-two years, and of the six children, two of whom are living, William J., of this review, was the fifth in order of birth.
The childhood and early youth of William J. Rice were passed in Knox and Warren counties, Illinois, to the former of which his parents moved the year following his birth, and after duly profiting by the instructions given in the public schools he further fortified himself for the practical affairs of life by the completion of a thorough
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
course of study in a business college at Quincy, Illinois. He carly gave evidence of distinctive business aenmen and he has been concerned with banking enterprises from the time he was a young man. He came to Kansas in 1886 and in the same year he assisted in the organization of the first bank in Cheyenne county, in the village of Wano, the new institution being established under the title of the Bank of Wano. The town later assumed the name of St. Francis and is now the judicial center of this county, which lies in the extreme northwestern corner of the state. Mr. Rice was made cashier of the bank, and he con- tinued to retain this position until the 1st of January, 1894, when he disposed of his interest in the same, and for the ensuing four years he held the office of treasurer of the county. The bank was reorganized under the title of the Citizens' State Bank of St. Francis several years after Mr. Rice severed his connection with the institution, and he was one of the most influential citizens of the connty until his removal to Kansas City, Kansas, in 1899. Here he was engaged in the real- estate business for five years, both as an owner and broker, and in 1904 he effected the organization of the Central Avenue State Bank, of which he became cashier at the time of incorporation, and under his able direction the institution has gained substantial standing and liberal support. He continued incumbent of the office of cashier until the 1st of January, 1910, when he was elected president, in which position he has since continued to direct the policies of the bank with marked discrimination and success. Mr. Rice is also interested in timber lands in the state of Oregon and is the owner of valuable land in various parts of Kansas, as well as of valuable real estate in his home city. All progressive measures advanced for the general good of the community receive his carnest support and he takes a lively interest in public affairs of a local order, the while he has also been an influential factor in the councils of the Republican party in Kansas. Ile has served as a member of the Republican State Central Committee, and in this connection has taken an active part in the manoeuvering of political forces in this favored commonwealth, to which his loyalty is of the most insistent type.
In 1889 Mr. Rice was united in marriage to Miss Jessie E. Ilart, daughter of John W. Ilart. a prominent citizen of Mifflin county, Penn- sylvania. He passed away when Mrs. Rice was a mere child. The five children of this union are Ewart R., Gladys, Alice, William Ivan and Joseph Iden.
JOHN MCCABE MOORE holds high prestige as one of the gifted and representative members of the bar of Wyandotte county to which he has lent distinction for some twenty years, having engaged in practice in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, for that period, with the exception of five years in which he served as judge of the dis- triet court of Wyandotte county, Kansas, his splendid standing as a lawyer being thus stamped with popular approval. He has a most excellent equipment, native and acquired, and his success has been the logical outcome of the same. The Moore family is one of the old and notable ones and a glance at the ancestral history of the subject dis- covers several names of great prominence.
The great-grandfather of the immediate subject of this biographi-
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HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
cal record was James Moore, known in history as the "Illinois Pioneer." He was born in Virginia in 1750, and in 1772 married Catherine Biggs, of Maryland, a sister of William Biggs, a noted In- dian fighter of that time. Both James Moore and his wife were of Scotch-Irish ancestry, their immigrant ancestors having come to these shores early in the eighteenth century. In Peek's "Annals of the West" appears this interesting reference to the Illinois Pioneer. "In the year 1777 Colonel George Rogers Clark, before capturing the British ports in the northwest. thinking that Kaskaskia was the most important stronghold of the enemy, sent James Moore and another man by the name of Dunn to reconnoiter the place. Acting upon the report of James Moore and Dunn, Colonel Clark, with a company of men, captured Fort Kaskaskia on the 5th of July, 1778. In 1781, James Moore with his family, led a party of emigrants from Maryland and Virginia to Kaskaskia where they spent the winter." The his- torian comments in this connection: "It is extraordinary that this small party of emigrants could have escaped all the dangers of the Revolution and Indian hostilities and reached their destination in safety. It would seem that Providence was fostering this infant set- tlement in Illinois." In the spring of 1782 James Moore and his family, made their permanent home at Belfontaine one-half mile from the present site of Waterloo in Monroe county, Illinois, this being the first farm opened in the so-called "Illinois country," which comprised all of the territory northwest of the Ohio river and east of the Missis- sippi, and was a county of Virginia after the capture of the north- west territory by George Rogers Clark.
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