USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 70
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Thomas E. Myers was a child of eighteen months at the time of the family removal from Illinois to Kansas and he was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in Lyon county. the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of its public schools. His first independent work was in the capacity of a farm hand, and thereafter he was em- ployed for about three years in a dry goods store at Hartford, Lyon county. In that village he then purchased a barber shop, in which he himself learned the trade, and to which he there continned to devote his attention until he came to Kansas City and engaged in the same line of business, at the corner of Osage avenue and Eighth street. Here he now has a fine shop, with the best modern equipment, and in the same he gives employment to four or five competent workmen. He owns the building in which his shop is located and also the building on the opposite corner. The latter he has improved with plate glass front and other accessories, and in the corner store of the same is located the drug store which he has owned and conducted since 1910. The
adjoining store is given over to the uses of a dry goods establishment. with attractive appointments and comprehensive stoek. This latter enterprise he established in 1905, and it may well be understood that in the supervision of his three flourishing business places he finds ample demand upon his time and attention.
Mr. Myers is essentially progressive and public spirited. as may well be inferred in the case of a man who has shown sueh energy and ability along business lines, and he has served sinee 1908 as a member of the board of directors of the Kansas Valley Drainage District, being seere- tary of the board and one of its most loyal and aggressive members.
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In a generic sense he gives allegiance to the Republican party, but in local affairs he holds himself independent of strict partisan lines. He is affiliated with Kansas Valley Lodge, No. 315, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and other civic organizations in his home city.
On the 10th of June, 1896, Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude M. Brown.
WILLIAM H. WINTERS .- The present incumbent of the office of finance clerk, or cashier of the Kansas City post office, has been a resident of the Sunflower state since his boyhood days and is one of the sterling citizens contributed to this commonwealth by the fine old Buckeye state. He was born at Warren, the judicial center of Trum- bull county, Ohio, in the historic old Western Reserve, and the date of his nativity was July 5, 1863. He is a son of John G. and Jane (Urmson) Winters, the former of whom was likewise born in Ohio, a representative of a pioneer family of German extraction, and the latter of whom was born near Sharon, Pennsylvania, of English lineage. They now maintain their home in Kansas City, Kansas, where the father is living virtually retired, after long years of earnest and effective en- deavor in connection with the productive activities of life. He is seventy-one years of age and his wife sixty-seven at the time of this writing, in 1911. The marriage of the parents was solemnized at Hubbard, Trumbull county, Ohio, and in that state the father contin- ued to follow his trade, as an expert blacksmith, until June, 1878, when he removed with his family to Kansas, having been promoted to this action on account of his impaired health. For the first two years he was engaged in farming in the vicinity of Solomon City, Dickinson county, and he then removed to Strong City, Chase county, where he established himself in the general merchandise business. He built up a prosperous enterprise and continued to be identified with the same for a period of about twenty years, after which he resided on a farm in that county about three years. By reason of his advanced age he finally disposed of his farm and in 1904 he established his home in Kansas City, where he has since lived retired, in the enjoyment of the rewards of former years of toil and endeavor. He is a man of sterling character and both he and his wife hold the unqualified esteem of all who know them. He is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has been identified with both the Masonic fraternity and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows for more than forty years. Of the ten children, seven sons and two daughters are now living.
William H. Winters is indebted to the public schools of his native state for his early educational training and he was fifteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Kansas, where he continued to attend school at intervals for a few years thereafter. He here assisted in the work of the home farm and later in the mercantile establishment conducted by his father at Strong City. In that village he thereafter served for three years as clerk in the depot of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and, coming to Kansas City, he was employed for three years as a street car conductor. He was then appointed deputy city clerk, and in this position he served efficiently for a term of three years. On the 1st of July, 1902, he was appointed to his present office.
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that of cashier or finance clerk in the Kansas City post office, and that he has ably handled the work assigned to him needs no further assur- ance than that afforded in his continued tenure of the position, which is one of distinctive trust and responsibility. Ile has gained a wide acquaintanceship in the metropolis of Wyandotte county, and here it may well be said that his circle of friends is limited only by that of those who know him.
In politics Mr. Winters gives an unqualified allegiance to the Re- publican party, and he has been affiliated with the time honored Masonic fraternity for more than a quarter of a century. He is identified with the various York Rite bodies in his home city and has also received eighteen degrees in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
The year 1886 gave record of the marriage of Mr. Winters to Miss Ella Henry, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who was a child at the time of the family removal to Kansas. At the time of her marriage she was a resident of Springhill, Johnson county. Mr. and Mrs. Win- ters have two daughters: Ada and Grace.
WILLIAM BARCLAY .- For nearly a quarter of a century Mr. Barclay has been engaged in the successful practice of his profession, that of civil engineering, in Kansas City, Kansas, and he is recognized as one of its able representatives in this state. He is now incumbent of the office of city engineer of the metropolis of Wyandotte county and is one of the progressive, alert and public spirited citizens of the county, to whose every interest he is loyal.
William Barclay, both in character and productive energies, well exemplifies the canny traits of the stanch race of which he is a scion, and he takes just pride in reverting to his Scottish ancestry, which is of sterling order. He was born on the homestead farm of his parents, in Will county, Illinois, on the 16th of December, 1861, and is a son of .James and Rachael (MeMicken) Barclay, both of whom were born and reared in Scotland, where their marriage was solemnized and where three of their six children were born. In 1856 they came to the United States and established their home in Will county, Illinois, where the father followed agricultural pursuits for several years. They then removed to Aurora, that state, where the mother died, and later the father came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he passed the residue of his life and where he died when well advanced in years. Ile was a stanch Republican in his political proelivities and both he and his wife were zealous and consistent members of the United Presbyterian church. They became the parents of four sons and two daughters.
The associations and influences of the farm compassed the child- hood and youth of William Barelay, and he continued to be identified with the great basic industry of agriculture until he had attained to his legal majority. His early educational discipline was gained in the public schools of his native state and after leaving the farm he taught for one term in a district school, after which he entered the University of Illinois, at Champaign, in which he completed a course in civil en- gineering and was graduated as a member of the class of 1887, with the well earned degree of Civil Engineer. 4 Soon after his graduation he came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession, in which he has gained high reputation
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and been identified with much important engineering work at various points in the state as well as in Wyandotte county. For a number of years he served as deputy county surveyor and he was then elected coun- ty surveyor, of which office he continued incumbent seven years, by three successive elections. He has also accomplished much effective work as city engineer of Argentine and Rosedale, this county, and he has
served as city engineer of Kansas City since June, 1909.
He has de-
vised and brought into effect many plans for the improvement of Kan- sas City in the matter of street grading, extending of the sewerage sys- tem and in making divers other public improvements for the general good of the community. His political allegiance is given to the Repub- lican party, and as a citizen he is assentially progressive, broad minded and publie spirited, a man well worthy of the unqualified popular esteem so uniformly accorded to him. In the year 1891 Mr. Barclay was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth L. Fraser, who was born and reared in the state of Illinois, and they have seven children. £
Both Mr. and Mrs. Barclay hold membership in the United Presbyterian church, whose faith has been that of his forebears for many generations.
DODE V. BEAGLE .- Among the valued and representative citizens of Wyandotte county, Kansas, is Dode V. Beagle, superintendent of the Memphis Elevator. He has been identified with this important con- cern since 1902 and has held his present position since 1908, and in the management of its affairs he has manifested the experience, execu- tive ability and tireless energy which has so materially contributed to the success of the business. Mr. Beagle is a native son of Wyandotte county and is very loyal to the section, for although familiar with other scenes he has elected to make this his permanent home. He is still to be counted among the younger generation, his birth having occurred in 1874. He is a son of Fred M. and Rebecca (Madison) Beagle, the father a native of Ohio and the mother of Iowa. They are people of genuine worth and their lives have counted for good in all relations. The father has engaged in farming all his life and he and his wife now reside in Miami county, Kansas. Fred M. Beagle is a veteran of the Civil war, and he still retains his interest in the comrades of other days. The subject is one of a family of eight children, five of whom are living, as follows : Dode V .; Ruth, Mrs. Rufus Shawhan; Leila, Mrs. W. E. Rompf; Claude, who is at home; and Shirley, a farmer residing at Norwood, Missouri. The father is interested in public matters and has ever given heart and hand to the men and measures of the Democratic party. The mother is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
When Dode V. Beagle was a mere baby he was taken by his parents to Cass county, Missouri, and there for a time they resided on a farm. When he was three years old they made another change of residence, this time to Cherokee county, Kansas, where they lived for several years. There he received his public school education, behind a desk in the district school room and at the same time, like most farmer's sons, had the opportunity of receiving a practical insight into the many mysteries of seed time and harvest. Ile left home at an early age and went to Oklahoma, where he was employed on various ranches for a number of years. He grew tired of that life and came back to his native county,
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where he secured employment in the smelter works and remained thus associated for six years. In 1902, as previously mentioned, he entered the employ of the Memphis Elevator, at Argentine, in the capacity of a laborer, and proving faithful and efficient in small things, he was given more and more to do and in 1908 was made superintendent, which office he has since filled in a most satisfactory fashion. The Memphis Elevator does business on a large scale, handling about thirty carloads of grain per day.
Mr. Beagle was happily married in 1899, when Miss Lizzie Bailey, a native of Wyandotte county, became his wife. They share their plea- sant home with a son and a daughter, Raymond Franklin and Grace Louise. Mr. Beagle is a member of the Modern Brotherhood of America.
JAMES T. RILEY .- At this point attention is directed to a brief his- tory of the career of James Thomas Riley, one of the pioneers of W.van- dotte county, where he is the owner of a fine tract of twenty acres of land, the same being located on the Rock road, near the eleetrie line. Mr. Riley devotes the greater portion of his time and attention to the raising of corn and potatoes and in this line of enterprise he has; achieved remarkable success. Though never a politician, he manifests a deep and sincere interest in all matters affecting the good of the general welfare and gives freely of his aid and influenee in support of good government.
James T. Riley was born in Clay county, Missouri, in 1849, and he is a son of Milton D. and Sarah (Malott) Riley, both of whom are deceased. The father was born in Tennessee, in 1820, and the mother elaimed Ken- tneky as the place of her birth. Mr. and Mrs. Milton D. Riley moved to Missouri and settled on a farm in Platte county, where the family home was maintained until 1868. Mr. Riley served with valorous distinetion as a soldier in the Civil war. He enlisted as a member of Company F, Sixteenth Kansas Infantry, in 1863, and continued as a gallant and faithful soldier until the elose of the war. He participated in a number of important engagements marking the progress of that sanguinary conflict and after the close of the war returned to his home in Platte county, Missouri, whence he removed to Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1868. Settling on a farm in Quindaro township, he engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1882. His cherished and devoted wife, who survived him thirteen years, passed to the Great Be- vond in 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Riley became the parents of six children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth : John, James T .. Martha (deceased), Mary (deceased), George and William.
To the public schools of Platte county, Missouri, James Thomas Riley is indebted for his rudimentary educational training, the same eon- sisting of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools of the locality and period. When his parents removed to Kansas, in 1868, he accompanied them and after being associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm for a few years he began to engage in farming operations on his own aceount. He is now the owner of twenty acres of finely improved land situated near Bethel, and on the same raises eorn and potatoes. He was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of road overseer, serving in
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that capacity with the utmost efficiency, for some three or four years. He is essentially loyal and publie spirited in his civic attitude and no project advanced for progress and improvement fails of his heartiest support.
In the year 1873 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Riley to Miss Emma Moon, who was likewise born in Missouri. To this union have been born four children, concerning whom the following brief data are here recorded : Myrtle, wife of Bert Reynolds; James Allen; Robert D .; and Cora, wife of Andrew Peck. In their religious faith the Riley family are devout members of the Primitive Baptist church, in the vari- ous departments of whose work they are most active and zealous factors.
JOSEPH H. SLOAN, connected with the commercial life of Wyandotte county for more than thirty years, was summoned to the life eternal on the 6th of June, 1911. It is no wonder that he was a man of marked personality, as he was connected in some form or other with five different nationalities. His father was a Scotchman, his mother was Irish, while he was born in Canada, passed most of his life in America and married a German wife. Every nation has its good and bad points, and it seems as if Mr. Sloan had derived something that was worth while from each of the above mentioned nations. Never possessed of very rugged health, for years it seemed as if Mr. Sloan's will was the only power that saved him from collapse; he lived, however, to the age of sixty-two years, and was prominent in Kansas City circles, both social and commercial.
Joseph HI. Sloan was born at Fort Hope, Canada, November, 23, 1849. Ilis father, Samuel Sloan, was born in Scotland, whence he emigrated to Canada, while Mrs. Samuel Sloan was a native of Ireland, Anna Fraffin in her maiden days, and had come to Canada as a young girl. Mr. Sloan died in Canada, while his widow died at Buffalo, New York in 1857. Their son Joseph, thus left an orphan at the age of eight years, lived with his different relatives until the time of his mar- riage, which occurred June 14, 1877. Ilis wife was Mary Geimer, born in Buffalo, New York, daughter of Adam and Barbara (Henness) Geimer, both natives of Germany. Joseph H. Sloan had received a varied education, obtained in a variety of schools, during his residence
with his different relatives. In the fall which succeeded his marriage he, his wife, his wife's father and mother came to Wyandotte county, and there settled in the township of Wyandotte, now a part of Kansas City. Mr. Geimer pursued his work as a cabinet maker, and died January 3, 1911, eleven months after his wife, whose demise had oc- rurred February 6, 1910. Mr. Sloan was possessed of wonderful exe- entive abilities, and was a born organizer. He had the faculty of get- ting the greatest amount of service from his subordinates, while at the same time he seenred their good will. Soon after his arrival in Kansas he was appointed to the position of manager of the lunch counter and dining room at the Union Depot at Kansas City, Missouri, and for eleven years he was conspicuous in the above named capacity, and that he remained in this position for so long a period is proof positive that his services were appreciated and eminently satisfactory. In 1888 he severed his connections with the Union Depot and successively managed various restaurants and eating houses of different elasses. For six months he was at College, New Mexico, in connection with an eating
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house there. In 1906 he felt the desire to have a fixed home and he returned to Kansas City, Kansas, where he became deputy sanitary sergeant, a position which he occupied for five years, and on May 15, 1911, he retired from active work. 3 For many years his health had been very poor, and no sooner did he give up his position above men- tioned than he began to fail. IIe died on the sixth of June, 1911, from the effects of a sunstroke. Of the six children who were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sloan, three survived their father, namely, Lawrence A. and Robert, the latter of whom is employed by Morris & Company, and both sons live with their mother and Mary, who married Harry Coverly, of Kansas City, Kansas. The other three children all lived to maturity : Frances married J. W. Stemmetz and died April 8, 1905; George B. died in New York city, January 25, 1906; while Ilarry J. died on the first of April, 1910, only a year before his father.
Mr. Sloan did not identify himself with any political party, but always voted independently, feeling that the fitness of the individual to fill the position in question was of more importance than the supre- macy of any political party. He was brought up in the Catholic faith, and both he and his wife were members of the church in Kansas City, and there Mrs. Sloan still attends, accompanied by her two boys, who surround her with all the tender care which her sweet and gracious nature requires.
FRED LARSON .- When we think of Fred Larson we immediately think of a clean, upright man, as not only is everything connected with his dairy life clean and wholesome, but he himself and his methods of doing business are irreproachable. Rosedale boasts of many business men of fine character, and Mr. Larson stands high in their esteem. He is possessed of good business abilities, and in the various lines of work in which he has been engaged he has gained some valuable experience, which stands him in good stead in the business he now owns.
Mr. Larson is of Swedish birth, where his nativity occurred October 1, 1865. He is the son of Lars Larson and Hannah (Eich) Larson, the latter of whom died in 1869. Lars Larson was a native of Sweden, where he spent the whole of his life, being reared, married and buried there, and during his life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Fred Larson's earliest recollections center around the farm where he was born and spent the first years of his life. He was a student in the public schools of his neighborhood, and after he had completed Ins course he assisted his father on the farm. When he was only four years old his mother died, so that the ties which bound him to the old home were not as elose as they would have been otherwise, and when he had reached the age of twenty-three years he bade farewell to his father and to his old friends and acquaintances and started for the new world, where he hoped to become more independent than he could ever expeet to be in Sweden, where a man cannot possibly arise above his surroundings. On his arrival in the United States, in 1888, he came direct to Chicago, Illinois, but only stayed there a short time. He next went to Leaven- worth, Kansas, where he was employed on the street commission force, and in 1891 he came to Rosedale, where he worked in the city as coach- man for Adam Long and Mr. Roads, at different times. In 1892, hav- ing saved every cent of his earnings that he could spare, he bought four
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cows, a horse and wagon, and started in the dairy business. His su(- cess was rapid, and he now owns twenty cows, and sells about one hundred and seventy quarts of milk daily, some of which he bottles, but most of it is sold in bulk. He put up a building sixty by thirty feet, with accommodations for twenty-eight cows, and the whole build- ing is in a elean, wholesome condition. Mr. Larson himself oversees all of the different operations, and he disposes of the milk himself. When he first started his business, he was located on Elys Hill, and there he remained five years, but he felt that he needed larger and better accomo- dations than that place afforded, and he moved to Southwest Boulevard, where he bought some property. The house is a good brick one, and the barn is also brick, and there he lives, at 331 Division street, and there he earries on his business.
In 1892, the year that Mr. Larson started in his dairy business, he made another radical change in his life, as he was united in marriage to Miss Tilda Sundoll, the daughter of Arwid Sundoll, and to this union five children, all boys, have been born. Their names are Harry, Victor, William, Clarence and Walter.
Mr. Larson is a member of the Joernan Lodge, in which he carries insurance. IIe has been called and has served on the grand jury in Wyandotte county. He is doing a good business in Rosedale, where he has many friends.
FRED SCHLEIFER .- During nearly all of the last forty-four years this widely and favorably known business man and promoter has been a resident of Kansas City, Kansas, and throughout the period has shown himself deeply and intelligently interested in its welfare and advance- ment. While he was in business here he contributed materially to its growth and development, and sinee his retirement from active pursuits his zeal for the improvement of the municipality and the enduring good of its people has not in any degree abated.
Mr. Schleifer was born in Prussia on October 8, 1838, where his parents passed the whole of their lives, as their ancestors had done for many generations before them. They died in that country and their remains were buried there, where the memory of their upright and ser- viceable lives lingers in the public mind of the community they made
brighter and better. Their son Fred obtained his education in the public or state schools of his native land and learned the baker's trade there. He remained in Prussia until 1864, when he was twenty-six vears old, then came to the United States, locating in St. Louis, Missouri. For one month after his arrival in that city he worked at his trade there, all the time looking for a suitable locality in which to go into business for himself. He found one aeross the Mississippi in Madison county, Illinois, and opened a bakery there, which he operated one year. Then a serious illness foreed him to sell his business, and as soon as he recov- ered sufficiently he went to work in a grist mill, remaining until 1867, when he became a resident of what was then Wyandotte but is now Kan- sas City, Kansas.
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