USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
655
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
talent succeeded in solving some of the problems connected with the rebuilding of the Phelps Stone and Supply Company's plant, (which he superintended) that the engineers employed in the work were unable to decipher.
Mr. Nicholas is known far and wide as a man of upright principles, fair and square in his dealings. Ile is unmarried, and is living with his parents at No. 2708 Bell street.
SAMUEL H. SNYDER, Bethel, Wyandotte county, Kansas, conducts a thrifty farm on which he raises a variety of fruits, and chickens, and where he is proving the high value of a comparatively small acreage well utilized.
Mr. Snyder is a native of the "Keystone State." He was born August 25, 1864, son of Killian and Sarah (Hoch) Snyder, both like- wise natives of Pennsylvania, and in their family of thirteen children he was the fourth in order of birth and is one of the nine now living. In 1891 his father and family moved from Pennsylvania to Kansas and made settlement at Stony Point, Wyandotte county, where he was en- gaged in fruit raising and farming. He died in 1909 and his wife in 1906.
Samuel H. Snyder received his education in the distriet schools near his Pennsylvania home, and with his father was engaged in farm- ing there until the removal of the family to Kansas, as above indicated. He now owns fifty acres of fine land in Prairie township, Wyandotte county, where he raises fruit and chickens, berries of various kinds being a specialty with him. To the improvement and cultivation of this place Mr. Snyder has given his best efforts, with the result that no farmer in the community produces choicer fruits than are grown on his land.
In 1893 Mr. Snyder and Miss Anna Lohr of Illinois, were united in marriage, and to them have been given five children: Frank, Clara, Annie, Eddie and Nellie.
Mr. Snyder has membership in the Loyal Mystic League of America, and, politically, is a Republican, always giving this party his vote in national affairs. In local elections, however, he votes for the man rather than the party. Both he and his wife affiliate with the Lutheran ehureh.
D. J. LEAVENGOOD, 732 College avenue, Rosedale, Kansas, ranks as one of the leaders among the enterprising and public spirited citizens of the town, where for some years he has figured as a prosperous and up-to-date contractor and builder.
Mr. Leavengood is a native of Ohio, born in 1851, and there passed his childhood and youth. His father, a Pennsylvanian, and a black- smith by trade, left his anvil in Ohio when the Civil war was inaugurated between the north and the south, and joined the Union cause. He went to the front as a member of the Eightieth Ohio Infantry. That was in 1861, and he died the following year, leaving a widow and large family of children. Of their twelve children, nine are now living, namely : William H .. Phoebe, Benjamin, Daniel J., Sarah, John, Mary, Cathe- rine and Isaac. The last named is now a prominent attorney at Myrtle Creek, Oregon. The mother of this family was before her marriage Miss Mary Lower. She was a native of Ohio, born in 1825.
656
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
At the age of eighteen, D. J. Leavengood left his old home in the Buckeye state and came west as far as Iowa, where he engaged in con- traeting and building. Subsequently he came over into Kansas and at Logan embarked in the furniture business. From there he moved to Burlington Junction, and thence to Rosedale, where he has since been identified as a contractor and builder. Besides erecting many of the prominent buildings of Rosedale, he built the Smith baking plant, and the Estel flats in Kansas City.
Since becoming a resident of Rosedale Mr. Leavengood has been honored with various local offices, including those of city elerk, member of the council and president of the school board, having filled the last named position four years. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Odd Fellows and the Knights and Ladies of Security, and, politically, he is a Republican.
In 1872, Mr. Leavengood married Miss Harriet Carpenter of Knox- ville, Iowa, danghter of Julian A. Carpenter and wife, nee Sharpen- stein, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. Mr. Carpenter was a Methodist preacher in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Leaven- good have five children, as follows: Ora, wife of Dawson Daugherty of Holton, Kansas; Omar N .. a mail carrier of Rosedale, who married Miss Clare Luther: Clyde S., who married Miss Grace Espenlaub, is one of the leading druggists of Rosedale; Mrs. Ethel Messecar; and Miss Estella, at home.
DANIEL M. SMITH, M. D .- For nearly a score of years Daniel M. Smith, M. D., has been engaged in the practice of medicine at Argen- tine, Wyandotte county, during which time he has gained a large and lucrative patronage, his natural talents and industry classing him among the more successful physicians of the city. A son of James C. Smith, he was born March 29, 1859, in Warrington, Hancock county, Indiana, and there received his rudimentary education in the public schools.
James C. Smith was born in Hancock county, Indiana, a son of Isaae Monroe and Catherine (Crum) Smith. Succeeding to the ocen- pation of his ancestors, he was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1878. when he moved with his family to Anderson county, Kansas. Buying land at Kincaid, he continued there as a general farmer until his death. April 20, 1888. Ile married in Indiana Ellen A. MeMullin, who was born in Connersville, Indiana, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine McMullin, natives of Ireland. She survived him many years, passing away in Eldorado, Kansas, January 3, 1906. Five children were born of their marriage, as follows: Daniel M., the special subject of this brief biographical review ; John H., a railroad contrac- tor ; Mary C., who died at the age of sixteen years; W. T., of Eldorado, Kansas; and James R., of Arkansas City, Kansas.
Having a natural talent and liking for the study of medicine. Daniel M. Smith, at the age of twenty-four years, went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and for two years attended the Indiana Medical College. Re- turning then to Kansas, Dr. Smith began the practice of his profession at Westphalia, where he remained eight months. The following two years he was located at Kincaid. Kansas, where, in addition to attending his large practice, he operated a drug store for a year. Going from
657
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
there to Greeley, Kansas, the Doctor remained there four years, meeting with good success. Coming from there in February, 1892, to Argen- tine, Wyandotte county, he has built up a fine practice in this vicinity, his skill as a physician being widely recognized. He has the distinc- tion of being the longest established practitioner of the place, and is widely known. He is highly esteemed as a man and a citizen, and, although not active in politics, supports the principles of the Republi- can party.
Dr. Smith married first, in Kincaid, Kansas, Anna E. Priest, of Greeley, Kansas, and of their union two children were born, namely : Lloyd Monroe, of San Jose, California; and Blanche, wife of E. P. Parree, of Fort Madison, Iowa. The Doctor married again, April 22, 1903, Laura E. Moody, who was born in Wakarusa, Kansas.
GOTTLIEB FREDERICK ESPENLAUB .- An able representative of the horticultural interests of Wyandotte county, Gottlieb Frederick Espen- laub, living on the Shawnee road, in Shawnee township, is one of the most extensive and successful fruit growers in this part of the state, having some fine bearing orchards. A native of Germany, he was born, August 19, 1837, in Wurtemberg, coming from a highly respected family.
His father, William Espenlaub, spent his entire life in the father- land, dying in Wurtemberg at the age of forty-two years, in 1841. His wife whose maiden name was Elizabeth Meyer, was born in Germany in 1802. About twelve years after the death of her husband she immi- grated to the United States, bringing five of her six children with her, and joined her other child in Evansville, Indiana, where he had pre- viously settled. She lived but two years after coming to this country, her death occurring in Indiana in 1855.
Gottlieb F. Espenlaub was but four years old when his father died, and but sixteen when he came with his mother and her little family to America. He remained in Indiana until accustomed to the ways and manners of his new home, when, abont 1861, he came to Kansas in search of a favorable place in which to locate, and for six years resided in Doniphan county. Subsequently spending a year in Jackson coun- ty, Missonri, Mr. Espenlaub came, in 1868, to Wyandotte coun- ty, leased a piece of land on the Shawnee road, Kansas City, and started a nursery, making a specialty of fruit growing. In 1871 he bought twenty acres of his present property, and subsequently purchased forty acres more. He has since sold twenty aeres to his son, and now has title to forty acres, all of which is highly improved, and under culture, the entire place being devoted to the raising of fruits, of which he has every variety that will thrive in this climate. When he first assumed possession of his land it was in its original wildness, and his first im- provement was the building of a two room frame house for himself and family. In 1882 Mr. Espenlaub erected a mansion-like brick struc- ture just in front of his old home, and cemented it to the small frame building, making a commodious dwelling, which, with the spacious grounds ornamented with native grown trees, makes one of the most charming and attractive homes in this part of the county.
Mr. Espenlaub takes an active interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of town and county, and for upwards of a quarter of a
658
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
century was a member of the school board. He was for seven years a member of the township board, and from January, 1904, until Jan- nary, 1908, was county commissioner.
Mr. Espenlaub married, December 20, 1863, in Doniphan county, Kansas, Elvira Gromer, a daughter of William Gromer, who was en- ployed during the Civil war as a teamster between Leavenworth and New Mexico. Mr. Gromer married Elizabeth C. Raney, whose mother was a Cannon, and a near relative of ex-Speaker Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Espenlaub, namely : Elizabeth, who married J. E. Hughes, of Kansas City, Missouri, and passed to the higher life in January, 1911; William, of Kansas City, Kansas; Albert, living at home, and having practically the care of the place; Bertha, at home; David, living on a portion of the home farm; Helen, wife of George Morrison, lives at home with her parents ; and Grace, wife of Clyde Leavengood, a druggist in Rosedale.
GERVAS BELLAMY owns and occupies what was formerly known as the Buchan place, a picturesque country home and fine dairy farm near Bethel, in Wyandotte county, Kansas. Mr. Bellamy is an Englishman by birth and education and an American by adoption, he having been a resident of this country for the past nineteen years and during this time having identified himself with the interests of the community in which he lives, in such a way that it entitles him to a personal mention in this biographieal review of representative citizens.
Mr. Bellamy was born in Yorkshire, England, August 12, 1871, son of Algernon and Elizabeth (Moore) Bellamy, both natives of England, where the father, a elergyman in the Church of England, still lives ; the mother died there some twenty-two years ago. In the Bellamy family were nine children, whose names in order of birth are as follows: Arthur, Constance, Gervas, Winifred, Dollie, Harold, Ralph, Dora and Reginald, all now living exeept the eldest, and all in England except Constance, a missionary in Palestine, and Gervas Harold, engaged in farming in Wyandotte county, Kansas, and Ralph proprietor of a hotel in Kansas City, Kansas.
In 1891, the subject of this sketeh, then a young man just emerged from his "teens," left the old home in England and came to America, Kirksville, Missouri, being his objective point. After three months spent at Kirksville, he came over into Kansas. The next three years he lived in Leavenworth, and from there he came to his present location near Bethel in Wyandotte county, where he is extensively carrying on farming operations and condueting a large dairy. His farm, 310 acres in extent, is beautifully situated and is especially adapted for the pur- pose to which it is put.
On December 19, 1894, Mr. Bellamy married Miss Minnie Reeves, of Wyandotte county. She was born in that eounty May 9, 1874, and is a daughter of Ira and Amanda (Prater) Reeves, both now deceased. The parents were both Virginians and members of the Methodist Episco- pal eburch, and the father was a Republican. Mrs. Bellamy was edu- rated in the common schools. They have one child. Elsie, born May 9, 1896, who will enter the junior year of the high school in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1911.
Mr. Bellamy has membership in the fraternal order of the Modern
659
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Woodmen of America, Camp No. 6942 at Bethel, Kansas. Religiously, he maintains identity with the church in which he was reared, the Church of England. On coming to this county, he allied himself with the Republican party and has since adhered to the principles advocated by it. In local matters, however, he votes for the best man irrespective of party lines. As an up-to-date, progressive farmer and as a citizen of sterling worth, he is held in high esteem. The pretty homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy is known as "The Stellida Stock Farm" and is ten miles west of Kansas City, Kansas, and one and one-fourth miles from Bethel, Kansas.
ALEXANDER HOLMES, city clerk in Rosedale, Kansas, is a man who feels that learning is a man's best capital and he has worked hard to gain an education, that he might be prepared for the battles of life. Mr. Holmes realized this and made up his mind that he would have an education. Ile has read very extensively and having a very retentive mind, has profited by this reading, the studies he acquired at school being only a foundation for the knowledge he has acquired since. Today he is a thoroughly well informed man on almost every subject and is just at the beginning of his career.
Alexander C. Holmes was born in London, England, February 24, 1869. He was the son of Herbert J. and Caroline (Webb) Holmes. ITis parents came to America in 1872 and settled in Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1875 they moved to Rosedale, where they are still living in peace and contentment.
When Alexander was three and one half years old he came to America with his parents and spent nearly three years in Kansas City, Missouri. In the spring of 1875, when he was six years old, the family moved to Rosedale and there Alexander received his education. He attended the grammar school and then the high school, from which he was graduated in 1887. He had not as vet chosen his life vocation, as during his school carcer he had shown more decided inclination for atletics than for anything else. He was, however, good at mathematics and for a year after he left school he worked for Armour & Company in Kansas City. Then he made up his mind that a business course was necessary, so he attended the Spaulding Commercial College, graduat- ing nine months later, having become an expert bookkeeper. He also learned the barber trade and worked at it for some time, but it was not suited to his inclinations or abilities. He was in the cafe business at Eighth street and Grand in Kansas City and at 3101 Southwest boule- vard in Rosedale, but most of his life he has been engaged in clerical work of some kind. In 1911 he was appointed city clerk of Rosedale, which office he is now holding.
In December. 1904, he married Gertrude Corbly, the daughter of Frederick and Halley Corbly. . Her mother's name was Pattan before she was married. One daughter has been born to this union, Marie Thelma, a little maid of four years of age, having been born in Decem- ber, 1907.
Mr. Holmes is a prominent man in the fraternal orders to which he belongs. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and also of the Eagles. He was a charter member of the Eagles in Rosedale and its first vice president. He has passed the chairs and represented the
660
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
Eagles in the state lodge. Mr. Holmes is a very successful hunter and fisherman, indeed he is a professional shooter. He has taken part in a number of tournaments in different parts of the country. He won the pigeon wing trophy medal, giving him the championship of the United States. All the best shooters in the United States entered this tourna- ment and Mr. Holmes carried off the honors. Mr. Holmes seems to have found out the way to be happy in this life. When he works, he puts all his energy into his task and when he plays he is just as much in earnest. He is very popular in Rosedale and there is undoubtedly much more in store for him, if he cares to accept it.
ITARVEY L. STOVER .- Many of the ahlest men in America are ardent devotees of the basic industry of agriculture and it is well that this is so because the various learned professions are rapidly becoming so crowded with inefficient practitioners that in a few years it will be practically impossible for any but the exceptionally talented man to make good or even to gain a competent living therein. The independent farmer, who, in addition to tilling the soil, cultivates his mind and retains his health, is a man much to be envied in these days of strenuons bustle and nervous energy. TIe lives his life as he chooses and is always safe from financial ravages and other troubles of the so-called "cliff dwel- ler." An able and representative agriculturist, who has done much to advance progress and conserve prosperity in Wyandotte county, Kansas, is Harvey L. Stover, who owns and operates a finely improved farm of some one hundred and thirty-five aeres in Quindaro township. the same being located three-fourths of a mile distant from Bethel.
A native of Maryland, Harvey L. Stover was born on the 12th of May, 1860, and he is a son of Jacob II. and Elizabeth (Blair) Stover, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Pennsylvania. whence they removed to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1869, at which time that now thriving metropolis was a mere hamlet. In 1871 the Stover home was established on the farm now owned by the subject of this review, where the father was identified with farming operations during the greater portion of his active business career. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob H. Stover became the parents of ten children, concerning whom the following brief record is here inserted: Martin and John are both deceased; Susan is the wife of J. Landis and they reside in Illinois; Lizzie is de- ceased ; David is a retired farmer of Brown county: Ben is a farmer in the same county; Jake is a resident of Denver, Colorado; Anna is the wife of David Wolf, of Seattle, Washington : Lonis is living in Leaven- worth county, where he devotes his attention to the farm : and Harvey L. is the immediate subject of this review. The father was summoned to eternal rest in 1906 and his cherished and devoted wife, who preceded him to the great beyond, passed away in 1896.
Harvey L. Stover was a child of nine years of age at the time of his parents removal from the east to Kansas City, Missouri. In that city he attended school for the ensuing two years, at the expiration of which he accompanied his parents on their removal to Wyandotte conn- ty, Kansas. His youth was passed on the old homestead farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. He completed his preliminary educational training by further study in the neighboring district schools and by extensive reading. As a young
661
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
man he assumed the active management of his father's estate, which he finally inherited. Ile is now the owner of a farm of one hundred and thirty-five acres of some of the very best land in Wyandotte county, his farm being in a high state of cultivation and eligibly located on the electric line and on the Northwestern railroad. The beautiful brick mansion which represents the family home is situated on a high spot, from which can be seen almost every point in the county. Most of the land is devoted to the cultivation of wheat but at the present time a portion of the estate is rented out, Mr. Stover living in partial retire- ment. In politics Mr. Stover is independent in party polities and while he has never manifested aught of ambition for political preferment of any description, he is ever ready to give his support to all matters effect- ing the general welfare. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Modern Brotherhood of America.
On March 24, 1894, Mr. Stover was united in marriage to Miss Dora Graham, of Wyandotte county, Kansas. Mrs. Stover is a daugh- ter of James and Martha (Taggart) Graham, the former of whom was born in Kentucky and the latter of whom claimed Indiana as the place of her birth. Mr. and Mrs. Stover were the parents of three children, one of whom. Harvey L., Jr., died at the age of eighteen months. The other two children are Pansy Agnes May and Clyde Ansel, both of whom are attending school at the present time, in 1911.
IION. BYRON JUDD, who died at his home in Kansas City, Kansas, on the 27th of July, 1909, left a large and beneficent impress upon the history of the state of Kansas, within whose gracious borders he main- tained his residence for more than half a century. He came to the Sunflower commonwealth in the early pioneer days, and his influence in civic and material affairs permeated in many directions during the long years of his useful and active career in this state. He was called upon to serve in various positions of distinetive public trust, including that of member of the state senate, and in each of the offices of which he was incumbent he brought to bear the splendid forces of a strong and noble nature. Ile was a man of high intellectuality and his life was guided and governed by the most absolute integrity and honor, so that he held secure vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. Ile was a pioneer of Wyandotte county and did much to further its development and progress. so that there is all of consisteney in accord- ing in this volume a tribute to his memory.
Byron Judd was a scion of families founded in New England, that cradle of so much of our national history, in the Colonial epoch, and on both sides the lineage is traced baek to stanch English origin. He was born at Otis, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 13th of August. 1824, and was a son of Ardon and Sarah (Hubbard) Judd, both of whom passed their entire lives in the old Bay state. On the old homestead farm nestled among the beautiful Berkshire hills Byron Judd passed his boyhood and early youth, and his initial experience in connection with the practical duties and responsibilities of life was that gained in connection with the work of the home farm, where he waxed strong in mind and body. After availing himself of the advantages of the common schools of the locality he continued his studies in a well ordered academy at Southwick, Massachusetts, and supplemented this
A
662
HISTORY OF WYANDOTTE COUNTY
training by a course in the Massachusetts State Normal School, at Westfield. He thus proved himself eligible for the pedagogie profes- sion, and as a young man he was a successful teacher in the schools of his native state.
In the year 1855, at which time he was about thirty-one years of age, Mr. Judd came to the west and first located in Des Moines, Iowa, where he served one year as deputy county recorder. In November, 1857, he came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and established his home in the village of Wyandotte, which later grew to be a city of appreciable size and which is now an integral part of Kansas City. There he en- gaged in the land agency business and also the banking business, as one of the carly representatives of these important lines of enterprise in this county, and he soon gained prestige as one of the prominent and influential citizens of this section of the state. He served as president of the city council of Wyandotte and later as its mayor. For five consecutive years he held the office of justice of the peace, and he made the position justify its title. After his retirement from this office he served as trustee of Wyandotte township, and his next preferment was that of county treasurer, of which office he continued incumbent for four years. Further and characteristically efficient service was given by him in the office of United States land commissioner for the district of Kansas, and in 1872 there came still more distinctive mark of popular regard, as he was then elected to represent his district in the state senate. He proved a most efficient and valuable worker both on the floor of the senate and in the deliberations of the committee rooms, and his earnest efforts in the furthering of wise legislation led to his being chosen as his own successor in the election of 1874, so that he served four consecutive years as a member of the upper house of the state legislature. In politics he was a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. and in this, as in all other rela- tions, he was admirably fortified in his opinions and convictions. Upon the organization of the First National Bank of Wyandotte. now Kansas City, in 1871, Mr. Judd was elected president of the same, and he con- tinned as an active and valued executive of this institution for many years, his final retirement having been compassed only when his health became so impaired as to render it impracticable for him to continue in office.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.