USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 47
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Near the Sanitarinm, Dr. Hays has one of the most beautiful and elegantly furnished homes in the county, and one of the largest and best libraries to be found in the state. Mrs. Hays, the presiding genius of the household, is a woman of rare culture and intellectuality, and is a most charming hostess in their pleasant home, which is a center of hospitality.
DEMPSEY ST. CLAIR HAINES .- One of the foremost citizens of Ed- wardsville and its leading general merchant, Dempsey St. Clair Haines is widely known not only as cashier of the Edwardsville State Bank, but as postmaster, a position which he has held for upwards of thirty years. A son of Joseph Haines, he was born March 31, 1847, in Guernsey coun- ty, Ohio.
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Joseph Ilaines was born in New Jersey in 1808, and as a boy moved with his parents to Ohio, and was there subsequently engaged in agrieul- tural pursuits until his death, in 1880. He was a staunch Republican in politics, and religiously was a Quaker. He married Mary George, and they became the parents of nine children, of whom two died in infancy and seven grew to years of maturity, as follows: Esther Ann, widow of Emerson Lowry, of Senecaville, Ohio, is now eighty years of age; Rachel died January 27, 1911; Simpson G., of Texas, served througout the Civil war as a member of Company E, Fifteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was wounded at the battle of Pittsburg Land- ing; Maria E., wife of George W. Wilkinson, of Belmont, Ohio : Selden T., a resident of Florida; Dempsey St. Clair; and Vilinda J., of Bel- mont, Ohio.
While living on the home farm in Ohio, Dempsey St. Clair Haines obtained a practical education when young, and from 1866 until 1872 taught in the district schools of Ohio and Illinois. Coming to Kansas in 1872, he taught one year in Johnson county, and the following year had charge of a school of Edwardsville. Embarking then in business, he opened a general store, which he has since conducted successfully, having an extensive and lucrative local trade. Enterprising and pro- gressive, he has ever been a supporter of projects calculated to advance the interests of Wyandotte county, and was one of the promoters of the Edwardsville State Bank, of which he is the cashier. Ile is a staunch Republiean in politics, and with the exception of six years has been postmaster since 1874. In 1895 Mr. Haines was elected to the State Legislature, in which he rendered good service to town, county and state.
Mr. Ilaines married, in 1874, Ella Kouns, of Edwardsville, Kansas, a daughter of William Kouns, the founder of Edwardsville, and a sister of C. W. Kouns, general manager of the Santa Fe Railroad. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. llaines, one of whom, Edna, died when but three years old, while four are living, namely : Alta M., a graduate of the State Normal University at Emporia, Kansas, and wife of Kay II. Beach, of Kansas City, Missouri; Metta Kouns, who as- sists her father in the post office and the bank; Dana Dee, a graduate of Baker University at Baldwin, Kansas, is living at home; and Ina St. Clair, a student at the University of Kansas. Religiously Mr. Ilaines is a birthright Quaker, but his family are Methodists.
Mr. Haines is closely associated with the fruit industry of Wyan- dotte county, and has been reasonably successful in this enterprise.
KIMBLE P. SNYDER .- Upon the long roll of names which have con- ferred honor upon the legal profession is that of Judge Kimble P. Snyder, a lawyer of Kansas City, Kansas, who has rendered efficient service in various official capacities, serving as city attorney and city counselor of Kansas City, Kansas, and as probate judge of Wyandotte county, Kansas. He was born on a farm in Richland county, Illinois, February 5, 1849, of German, Dutch and Scotch ancestry.
Henry Snyder, his father, was born in Kentucky, on January 26, 1826. Migrating to Illinois. he settled on a farm in Richland county and afterward laid out and established the city of Noble, Illinois. He first engaged in tilling the soil, and then became interested in the mer- eantile business, and was later postmaster and also was employed as
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station agent for the O. & M. Railway. He was a Whig in politics until the Republican party was organized and then became one of its staunchest adherents. He married Harriet Bell, who was born Jannary 23, 1829, in Ohio, and of their four children two died in infancy and two are living: Kimble Porter, the subject of this brief biographical sketch, and Morris Brady Snyder, a contractor of Kansas City, Kansas. The father died in 1856, and the mother married again, abont 1859, to John Fenis, and they became the parents of two children, Homer Fenis, of Summer, Illinois, a contractor, and Frank Fenis, a farmer who lives on the old farm on which the Judge was born. Mrs. (Snyder) Fenis died in 1901, at the age of seventy-two.
Judge Snyder gleaned his early education during the winter months in a log school house and at night by the fire light from an old fashioned log fire place, working in the summer on the farm. Hle was thus pre- pared for the hardships he afterwards had to pass through. When a lad of fourteen years of age he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in the war of the Rebel- lion, and went to the front as the youngest soldier in his regiment. He served in his company, performing all the duties imposed on him, until the expiration of his term of enlistment, October 22, 1864, and on the 4th of February, 1865, he again entered the army and served until the close of the war, being honorably discharged September 18, 1865.
Returning to the peaceful pursuits of farm life, he worked on the farm in summer, and in a broom factory in winter, for a time. He then took up telegraphy, and became an operator in Chicago; then took a course of study at the State Normal University at Normal, Illinois : taught school for three years in McLean county, Illinois. He then read law in the office of ex-Governor Fifer of Illinois, and took the law course in the law department of the Illinois Wesleyan University at Blooming- ton, that state, from which he was graduated in 1879. After an ex- haustive written examination in the supreme court of Illinois in the same year he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of his profession at Lawrenceville, Illinois, that same fall. In the following year. 1880, he was elected state's attorney for a term of four years on the Republican ticket in a Democratie county ; was re-elected in 1884. being the only Republican elected in Lawrence county, Illinois; but resigned on January 1, 1888, a year before the expiration of his tenure in office, so as to move west. On Jannary 3, 1888, he was united in marriage to Miss Jersie E. Halfaere, and they immediately came to Kansas City, Kansas, to make their future home. He has lived here ever since and up to eight years ago took an active and prominent part in the city, state and national politics. In 1893 he was made city attorney under mayor Nathaniel Barnes, and two years later was ap- pointed city counselor under mayor George .J. Twiss. He was elected probate judge of Wyandotte county, Kansas, and re-elected in 1900. and served two terms from January 9, 1899 to January 11, 1903.
He is affiliated with a number of fraternal organizations, in a num- ber of which he has held responsible offices. Ile is Past Commander of Burnsides Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of Kansas City, Kansas : was made a Master Mason in Arrowsmith, Illinois, in 1877, and is now a member of Wyandotte Lodge No. 3, Ancient. Free and Accepted Masons of Kansas City, Kansas; of Harmony Chapter, Royal Arch
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Masons, No. 35, Sumner, Illinois; in 1885 he was made a Knight Temp- lar of Gorin Commandery at Olney, Illinois, is now a member of Ivanhoe Commandery of Kansas City, Kansas, of which he is Past Eminent Com- mander; and is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and Triple Tie, two fraternal insurance societies of this city. He is one of the founders of the Bethany Hospital, one of the charitable institu- tions of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has served as its secretary, trustee, and is now its legal advisor. HIe has been a member of the Washington Avenue Methodist church for a long time, and for fifteen years one of its trustees. Mr. Snyder is recognized as one of our best citizens, and as a thoroughly reliable lawyer. He always has a smile, a handshake and kind word for every one with whom he comes in eon- taet, and his honesty and fair dealing have made him hosts of friends and brought him a large and luerative law practice. ITe has filled every position of trust to which he has been selected with careful, conseien- tions skill with credit to himself, and with the universal approval of his constituents.
As stated before, Judge Snyder married January 3, 1888. Miss Jersie E. Halfacre, a native of Lawrence county, Illinois, who was born on July 10, 1864. She received her preliminary education in the schools of her native state, and later graduated from Old Chantanqua, New York. She is a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Rowland) Halfacre, the father being a native of Pennsylvania, who came to Lawrence county, Illinois, and there became a farmer and extensive stock raiser. The father died in 1872. Mrs. Jacob Halfacre was born in New York state in 1836, and is still living, being a resident of Princeton, Indiana. Mrs. Snyder has one sister and two brothers, as follows : Mrs. Mary Kruekman of Wilmot, Wisconsin ; Wiley Halfacre, a farmer in Missouri; and Richard Halfacre, a mine operator of Carson City, Nevada.
Mrs. Snyder is a thorough Christian woman, being an untiring church and Sunday school worker, and is loved by all who know her. She is a devoted wife and helpmate to the Judge, and though they have no children of their own, they are bringing up a little girl who came to their home when she was four years old, whom they call Alma Frey Snyder. Their home is at 626 Everette avenue, Kan- sas City, Kansas, where their friends always receive a cordial welcome.
WILLIAM STARR TWIST .- One of the most prosperous and progres- sive business men of Bonner Springs, and one of the leading undertakers and funeral directors of Wyandotte county, William Starr Twist is a fine representative of the self-made men of our times, his success in life being entirely due to his own unaided efforts. Poor in pocket but rich in energy and ambition when beginning his active career, he indus- triously toiled onward and upward, rising by slow degrees to a position of affluence and influence. He was born, in 1859, at Yellow Springs, Ohio, a son of Russell Twist.
Born in New York state, Russell Twist migrated to Ohio in the late fifties and embarked in business as a manufacturer of churns. At the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in defense of his country, serving in many of its important engagements. He subsequently carried on general farming in Ohio until 1871, when he migrated with his family to Kansas, loeating in Wyandotte county. Ile married
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Nannie Foreman, of Ohio, and to them five children were born, as fol- lows; Fremont W., deceased ; Ella E., wife of Henry Kern, one of the editors of this biographieal work; Lilly, who married Dillon W. Paxton, died in 1911, in Bonner Springs, at the home of her brother, William S. Twist; William S., the special subject of this brief sketch; and Charles, who is engaged in railroading in Kansas, married Maud Chadwick.
Spending his boyhood days on an Ohio farm, William Starr Twist came with his parents to Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1871, and here completed his education in a school held in an old Indian cabin. He assisted his father on the farm until seventeen years old, when he began work at the carpenter's trade, and as a journeyman assisted in the erection of the shops at Armstrong, which is now a part of Kansas City, Kansas. In 1891 Mr. Twist embarked in mercantile pursuits il Bonner Springs, opening an implement house, one of the very first establishments of the kind in this part of the county. In addition to dealing in agricultural implements and machinery of all kinds, he sold wagons, buggies, carriages and vehicles of every description, meeting with such good success that he has now two places of business in Bonner Springs. Mr. Twist also embarked in the undertaking business, which has grown rapidly. assuming large proportions, his undertaking rooms on Oak street containing, a well selected stock of caskets, shrouds and everything needful to provide suitable arrangements for the burial of the dead, including a handsome funeral car. In 1900 Mr. Twist was graduated from the Champion School of Embalming, at Springfield, Ohio, and has sinee taken special courses in embalming in other sehools, his aim being to give to his patrons the highest and best possible ser- vice. Mr. Twist has gained an extended reputation for efficient and thoughtful service as a funeral director, and his services are in con- stant demand, his patronage being large. In 1903 he was elected president of the Kansas Funeral Directors' Association, and served one vear. He is officially connected with two valuable enterprises, being president and manager of the Kaw Valley Telephone and Electric Light Company, and secretary of the Wyandotte County Telephone Company.
Politically Mr. Twist is a Populist, although he is a good friend of the Democrats. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason, of Kansas City, Kansas, a member of the Order of the Eastern Star; of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the Fraternal Aid As- sociation ; of the Modern Woodmen of America: of the Ancient Order of United Workmen; and of the Central Protective Association.
Mr. Twist married Gertrude Montgomery, of Argentine, Kansas, and they became the parents of three children, namely: Evelyn, living at home; Russell, who died at the age of eighteen years; and Robert, living with his father. Mrs. Twist passed to the life beyond in 1904. and the following lines commemorating the sad event are excerpts from an article appearing in a Chicago publication.
"Laura Gertrude, wife of William S. Twist, president of the Kan- sas Funeral Directors' Association, passed away at her home in Bonner Springs, Kansas, at 7:30 p. m. Saturday, February 27, 1904, aged thirty- eight years, seven months and twenty-one days. She has been in fecble health for the past year. She leaves beside her husband, three children
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-Nannie Evelyn, William Russell and Robert Starr, aged respectively fifteen, thirteen and eleven years.
"Laura Gertrude Montgomery was born in Richmond county, July
6, 1865. Her parents moved to Kansas in 1869 and settled in Labette
county. Twenty-five years ago the family moved to Rosedale, Wyan- dotte county, Kansas. Miss Montgomery was teaching school near the Twist homestead when she met and married William Starr Twist. The wedding occurred on March 24, 1886. She was an able assistant to Mr. Twist in his many duties, and accompanied him to Omaha when the National Association met in that city, and also to Minneapolis last year. The pallbearers were: L. M. Penwell, Topeka, Kansas; R. Cadwallader, Tonganoxie, Kansas; II. W. Gates, Rosedale, Kansas; J. Johnson, Osa- watamie, Kansas; W. Samuels, Emporia, Kansas; and B. M. Whisner, Kansas City, Kansas, all of whom were members of the Kansas Funeral Directors' Association. W. B. Raymond, of Kansas City had charge of the services. In addition to the above there were present: Mrs. W. B. Raymond and Mrs. II. W. Gates, also II. A. Bumgardner and E. O. DeMoss, of Topeka, Kansas; J. M. Sexton, Leavenworth, and Clement Williams, Kansas City, Kansas."
ALBERT L. BERGER .- A representative member of the Kansas bar. Albert L. Berger, of Kansas City, Kansas, has here been actively en- gaged in the practice of his profession for a quarter of a century, and is held in high esteem as an attorney and citizen. He was born Febru- ary 2, 1865, in Lebanon, Illinois. Dr. Adolph Berger, his father, was born October 13, 1821, at Worms, a city of Rhein Hessen, of great historie interest.
Graduated from the Mannheim Lyceum in 1840, Adolph Berger subsequently entered the University of Heidelberg, where, in 1848, he was graduated with the degree of M. D. and in 1849 he began the prac- tiee of his profession in Lebanon, Illinois. Dr. Berger married, in 1851, Cecelia Adams, the eldest daughter of Captain Lyman Adams, proprietor of the old Mermaid Hotel at Lebanon. Mrs. Berger died in 1892 and Dr. Berger, November 10, 1910.
After his graduation from MeKendree College in 1884. Albert L. Berger entered the law department of Washington University, at St. Louis, Missouri, where he finished with the class of 1886. He immedi- ately began his practice at Kansas City, Kansas, and has ever since resided here. He is a Republican and has served three terms as county anditor.
On November 10, 1887, Mr. Berger was united in marriage with Estella Hecker, who was born in Saint Clair county, Illinois, a danghter of Arthur and Mary (Eisenmayer) Hecker, the former of whom was a native of Germany, while the latter was born in Saint Clair county, Illinois. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Berger, namely : Homer H., graduate of the University of Kansas, and now attending the law department of Harvard University; and Cecelia M .. who died at the age of sixteen years, on December 6, 1910.
JAMES TRANT .- One of the many enterprising and progressive inen extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits in Kansas, James Trant, of Edwardsville, is the proprietor of an estate which in regard to its
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improvements and appointments compares favorably with any in Wyan- dotte county. The neatness and orderly appearance of his property make manifest to the most casual observer the thrift and care of the proprietor, and show conclusively that he has a thorough understanding of his business and exercises good judgment in its management. A native of Illinois, he was born in 1862. in Peoria, but was brought up and educated in Kansas.
Garrett Trant, his father, was born in 1810. in county Kerry, Fre- land, where he lived for upwards of thirty years. Immigrating to the United States in 1842, he established himself in business in Peoria, Illinois, where for many years he was engaged in buying and selling grain and in pork packing. In 1868 he came with his family to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and having purchased a tract of land near Edwardsville was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, in 1889. He was a Democrat in politics, and for a while served as school director in Wyandotte county. He was a devont member of the Roman Catholic church, and belonged to the Knights of Father Mathew. llis wife, whose maiden name was Bridget Carroll, was born in county Louth, Ireland, in 1820, and died in Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1906. Of the seven children born of their union four died in Illinois and three are living, as follows: John, of Perry, Kansas; James, the subject of this sketch; and Catherine.
Growing to manhood on the home farm, James Trant acquired his indimentary education in the district schools, and afterward attended the Manhattan Agricultural College two years. Interested in farming from his youth up, he has made that his chief occupation through life, and now owns two hundred and seventy-five acres of rich and valnable land, which he devotes to general agriculture. making a specialty. however, of raising potatoes and chickens, two branches of industry in which he has become an expert. his annual income being large. He has diligently improved his property. continually adding not only to its attractiveness but to its value, his home being one of the most beautiful in the vicinity. Mr. Trant was one of the promoters of the Edwardsville Bank and is its vice-president.
Politically he is affiliated with the Democratic party. but he is also in sympathy in many ways with the Populists. He is now serving as school director, and has been treasurer of Delaware township. Re- ligiously he is true to the faith in which he was reared, and is a member of the Catholic church. He likewise belongs to the Central Protective Association.
Mr. Trant married, in 1896, Nettie Mussey, of Manhattan, Kansas. and they have two children, Sarah and Ruth.
HARRY A. MENDENHALL .- A man of good executive and financial ability, Harry A. Mendenhall is widely known throughout Wyandotte county in connection with the Home State Bank, of which he is the president, and as one of the progressive and enterprising citizens of Kansas City, Kansas. A native of Indiana. he was born JJanuary 11. 1865, in Richmond, which was his home for four years.
Cable. S. Mendenhall, his father, was born in Ohio in 1831, and as a young man settled in Richmond, Indiana. Moving with his family to Kansas in 1869, he located in Shawnee county, on the present site of Vol. II-23
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the city of Topeka, remaining there two years. Going from there to Osage City, Osage county, Kansas, in 1871, he was there extensively and profitably engaged in buying, selling and raising eattle and in general farming until 1885, when he removed to Kansas City, Kansas, where he lived retired until his death, in 1907. Ile married Rebecca Peoples. who was born in 1838 in Illinois, and died at Kansas City, Kansas, in 1904. Of their four children, three survive. as follows: Florence. Ora and Harry A.
Harry A. Mendenhall was educated in Kansas, attending first the public schools of Topeka, continuing his studies at Osage City. and completing his early education at the State Normal School in Emporia. After his graduation from that institution Mr. Mendenhall was asso- «iated with his father as a general farmer and stock raiser and dealer until 1886. Coming then to Kansas City. Kansas, he was associated with the transfer business of this locality for nearly a score of years, in that line of industry achieving success. In 1905 Mr. Mendenhall be- came a stockholder and a director of the llome State Bank, and in 1907 was elected to his present position as its president. He is an active member of the Republican party, and for five years served as sheriff of Wyandotte county.
Mr. Mendenhall is prominently identified with various leading fraternal organizations. being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, belonging to Wyandotte Lodge, No. 3, A. F. & A. M .; to Caswell Consistory, No. 5; to Abdallah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .. of Leaven- worth, Kansas; and to Wyandotte Lodge, No. 440, B. P. O. E.
Mr. Mendenhall married, September 17, 1892, Anna Fields, a native of Missouri, and they are the parents of four children. namely: IFal, Helen, Samuel and Clande.
A. B. C. DAGUE .- Conspicuously identified with the highest and best interests of his community, A. B. C. Dagne, mayor of Bonner Springs, is a man of strong individuality, possessing a hearty, cordial and upright nature that has made him widely honored and esteemed in the city in which he is best known. A son of John Dague, Jr .. he was born January 11, 1874, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and there grew to man's estate.
John Dagne, Jr., was a well educated man, and in early life was a school teacher. Hle subsequently engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died in 1901, aged sixty-two years. He was a Republican in polities, but was ever in sympathy with the Prohibition party. He married Jane MeCarthy, who was also a native of Washington county. Pennsylvania, where he spent his entire life, and where she is now living. Ten children were born of their union, as follows: Ida, Frank. Annie. Sara .1 .. A. B. C .. Lizzie M .. Otto F .. Henry E .. John W. and Metta N.
Brought up on the farm. A. B. C. Dague attended first the district schools, and was subsequently graduated from Duff's Business College in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Beginning life on his own account, he was engaged in the oil and gas business for fourteen years in both Ohio and West Virginia. Desiring a broader field of action. Mr. Dagne came to Kansas in 1903, locating at Bonner Springs, and he organized a company to develop natural gas and later installed a plant.
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of which he was manager for several years. He also embarked in mercantile pursuits, as a dealer in hardware and gas fixtures. building up a large and lucrative business. Mr. Dagne has made judicious in- vestments in land. being owner of a fine farm near the city, which he is devoting to stock raising.
In 1909 Mr. Dague was elected mayor of Bonner Springs, and served so ably in that eapaeity that he was persuaded to become a candi- date for re-election in the spring of 1911. Fraternally he is a thirty- second degree Mason, and was made a member of the Ancient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in West Virginia.
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