USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 78
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Joseph Folliard Perdue, attorney at law, Kansas City, is one of those men, too few in number, who fully recognize the truth so often urged by the sages of the law, that, of all men, the reading and thought of a lawyer should be the most extended. Systematic reading gives a more comprehensive grasp to the mind, variety and richness to thought, and a clearer perception of the motive of men and the principles of things, indeed, of the very spirit of laws. This he has found most essential in the prosecution of his professional practice. Mr. Perdue was born in Chester County, Penn., on November 2, 1846, and is a son of William Folliard and Emily (Pyle) Perdue. The Perdue fam- ily were originally French Huguenots, and intermarried with Hoop- ers and Pines of England. On both the father's and mother's side the ancestors came to America with William Penn, and settled in Chester County, Penn. The first of the name (as far back as can be traced), was one Dr. William Perdue, a French Huguenot, who, be- ing obliged to leave France, went to the North of Ireland, and there joined the Friends or Quakers. He emigrated to America about 1735, and brought his certificate of membership to Chester Valley, where that branch of the family still reside. He was the great-great-grand- father of our subject. The Great-grandfather Perdue was born in Chester Valley, Penn., and during the Revolution was engaged in ship-building for the colonists. A letter from him at Cape May is still
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in the family. He had two children, one of whom (William Perdue), was our subject's grandfather, and was a farmer of Chester County, the greater part of his life. He was born in 1774 and died in 1856, and his wife was born in 1772 and died in 1858. The grandmother remembered the battle of Brandywine and saw the British soldiers pick up the geese from the ponds with swords as they passed through the town. The maternal grandmother lived to be ninety-nine years of age. Our subject saw both his great-grandfather and grandmothers. William Folliard Perdue, father of subject, was born September 7, 1811, and was the third in order of birth of seven children, all but one of whom lived to mature years. He was engaged in manufactur- ing iron the early part of his life, and in the latter part was a stock- dealer and farmer. He was a Quaker, and died on September 29, 1880. The mother was born in Chester County, Penn., on July 15, 1834, and is still residing in Chester County with her daughter, Anna Perdue, who, with our subject, are the only children. Joseph F. Perdue secured his education in the public schools and in the acad- emy at Coatesville, Penn., was in the latter three years, and then en- tered a bank at that place as book-keeper. While holding that posi- tion he continued his studies under a private tutor, and remained in the bank until over twenty-one years of age. On April 25, 1868, he entered the office of Wayne McVeagh, attorney general in President Garfield's Cabinet, and was admitted to the bar in West Chester, where Mr. McVeagh then lived, and later was admitted to the Chester County bar on motion of Mr. McVeagh, on February 18, 1870. The latter then offered Mr. Perdue a partnership with him, and it was accepted. But on June 15 of the same year Mr. McVeagh's health failed, and he accepted the appointment of United States minister to Constantinople. Mr. Perdue practiced his profession in West Chester until October 2, 1886, and then came to Kansas City, Mo., where he has since practiced. He purchased his present property where he lives in Kansas City, Kas,, in 1880, and moved to it in August of the same year. On January 2 of the following year he purchased a newspaper, Coatesville Times, and edited this for two years in connection with his law practice. He took the paper when it was all run down and succeeded well with it. In politics he is a Republican, and when the Republican Club was organized in Kansas City, Mo., beld the position of president, this club being the most important west of Chi- cago. In his practice Mr. Perdue does chiefly corporation and real estate practice, and makes a special study of corporation law. He occupies
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Rooms 45 and 46 Bunker Building, and besides his law library has a large private library. He was married in Roger's Ford, Montgomery County, Penn., on April 11, 1883, to Miss J. L. Buckwater, a native of Chester County, Penn., and the daughter of H. L. Buckwater, a native of the same county, Pennsylvania. They have the following children: Joseph Folliard (born October 19, 1885), Henry Buckwater (born November 2, 1886), and Emily Mary (born December 24, 1888). Mr. Perdue is a K. T. in the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Episcopal Church. He has practiced his profession in all the courts of the State and otherwise in Kansas and Missouri, he has been counsel for the Inter-State Trust Company, Lombard Trust Com- pany, Midland Investment Company, West Side Land & Park Company, Boulevard, Land & Park Company, and a large number of others, including the Inter-State Water & Electric Power Com- pany.
E. R. Purdy, foreman of the lard and oil house of Armour's Pack- ing Company, Kansas City, Kas., is a wide awake and thoroughly reliable man of business. He first saw the light of day in New York City in 1845, and is the son of Robert and Sarah (Hobby) Purdy, both natives of the Empire State also, the father born in the village of Chappaqua. From the age of seventeen, except the time he spent in learning, and the three years he followed the trade of machinist, E. R. Purdy has been engaged in the lard business. He worked in the lard refineries in New York City for about twenty years, and had charge of A. W. McFarland's Lard Refinery in that city for three years. After this he was with Rhoe Bros., of that city, two years; Chamberlain, Roe & Co., for two years; John Sackett & Co., two years; George C. Naphey, of Philadelphia, Penn., for two years, and was with Fowler Bros., Chicago, for two years and a half. He then worked for Fowler for one year in Kansas City, and has now been with Armour two and a half years. He also was with A. G. Knapp of New York City in 1864 and 1865. He is thoroughly experienced, having been in the lard refining business for twenty-eight years, and is a valuable man for the position. He is non partisan in politics, and is a man who attends strictly to his businsss affairs. He resides in Kansas City.
W. A. Pyle, dry goods and clothing, Armourdale, Kas. A strong and representative house in this line in Armonrdale is that of Mr. Pyle, who for several years has been carrying a live business as a dealer in general dry goods, etc. He was born in Adair County, Ky.,
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on April 5, 1844, and is a son of Oliver A. and Frances (Turner) Pyle, natives also of Adair County, Ky. The parents emigrated to Platte County, Mo., in 1852, and the father died in Cass County, of that State. The mother is yet living. The father was a carpenter and joiner. They had two children, of whom our subject is the only sur- vivor. He passed his youth and boyhood in Parkville, Mo., where he was educated in the common schools, and later entered a store as clerk. He has followed merchandising ever since. In December, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Eighteenth Missouri Infantry, and served three months. He was in the battle of Shiloh, where he was taken sick and sent home on account of disability. He remained at Park- ville until 1867, and then came to Cottonwood Falls, Kas., where he was in the dry goods business for some time. From there he went to Cass County, Mo., thence to the Joplin Lead Mines, where he carried on business until 1883, and then came to Kansas City, Kas., where he is yet engaged in merchandising, carrying a large stock of dry- goods, etc. He is vice-president of the Board of Trade and a mem- ber of the council for the Sixth Ward. He is also vice-president of the Wyandotte County Coal & Mining Company. Socially he is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, having had bestowed upon him the thirty second degree. He was married in 1873 to Miss Mollie Hughes.
Mr. W. B. Raymond, undertaker, Kansas City. Kas. The busi- ness of the undertaker is certainly not of pleasant association, yet it is a necessary one. There must be some one to perform the last sad offices, and it is necessary then that they should be men of sympa- thetic dispositions, with tact and deep knowledge of human nature, and with a perfect knowledge of their important calling. Mr. Ray- mond has been in this business for many years, and is thoroughly familiar with it in all its different bearings. He was born in Kentucky in 1848, and when thirteen years of age was obliged to make his own way in life. He first commenced working in a brick-yard at Cairo, Ill., and later went to Chicago with Prof. Hamilton, the celebrated horse-trainer. Later yet he was with Dan Rice, the great clown and showman, and then was with Van Amburg's celebrated show. He went to Baltimore, Md., New York City, and then shipped on the United States war vessel "Brooklyn," with which he remained two years and eight months. During that time he was on one of the war ships that escorted the remains of Admiral Farragut from Fortress Monroe to New York, at which place he was buried. Later Mr. Raymond went to Europe and visited many of the ports bordering on the Baltic, Medit-
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erranean and North Seas, and visited Northern Africa. After this he visited Germany, was at Copenhagen, Denmark, and then returned to New York. He and a companion signed articles agreeing to go to Egypt, but on account of cruel treatment, quit the ship at Sonth Hamp- ton, England. They went to and remained in London two months without employment or money, visited Bristol, Gloucester, and other cities, and then shipped out of Wales on a sailing vessel, the Idaho, of Bath, Me., to New Orleans, and was fifty five days in making the trip. Our subject was then employed in a sugar camp in Louisiana, was afterward in Tennessee, and then went to St. Louis, where he worked on the street railroad for three and one half years. From there he went to Detroit, Mich., and engaged in the undertaking business with George W. Latimer, continuing at this business four years. From there he came to Kansas City, worked for J. N. Ball, and in 1881 suc- ceeded that gentleman in business, first with H. H. Sawyer as a part- ner, and was then with C. L. Freeman, but later was by himself in business. He has been very successful in this, and has the leading trade in the city. His stock is complete in every detail, and he has buried 2,700 people since 1885. Mr. Raymond was married in Kan- sas City, Kas., to Miss Bertha Crafke, who was born in Hanover, Germany. She is a member of the German Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Raymond is a member of the I. O. O. F., K. of P., Foresters, Iron Hall, A. O. U. W., and he has been an officer in these various lodges.
George M. Rehm, grocer. Well-directed energy always tells, and no better proof of it can be found than in the case of Mr. Rehm, who in July, 1881, opened a meat market in Kansas City, Kas., on North Third Street. His early life was spent in the city of Louisville, Ky., where he was born June 8, 1853, and in the public schools of his na- tive city he received his knowledge of the ordinary branches of learn- ing, and later completed his studies in a business college. When not in school he assisted his father, and thus became familiar with the butcher's trade. February 11, 1880, he was married in Fort Wayne, Ind., to Miss Bertha D. Taylor, of that city, and on the eve of their marriage they proceeded to Louisville, and there made their home until the following year, coming in February to Kansas City, Mo., and a month later to Kansas City, Kas. April 16, 1881, he entered the em- ploy of Henry Hafner of this city, for whom he started a meat-market on North Third Street, but at the end of about three months he bought the establishment, and embarked in business for himself. A month
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later he took in as a partner a young man by the name of John L. Franck, an old friend and chum of his from Louisville. Shortly after this connection the firm began gradually to embark in the grocery bus- iness, and being successful in this venture, with their profits they grad- nally increased their stock until they became possessed of a first-class grocery establishment, which they conducted jointly with their meat market. Finally, in 1884, Mr. Rehm purchased Mr. Franck's inter- est and has owned and conducted both establishments up to the pres- ent time. He possesses a genial nature, and this, together with his courteous manner, has enabled him to build up a good patronage. Aside from his regular pursuits, Mr. Rehm has also been identified with some other business ventures. In 1883 he and his partner, Mr. Franck, established a canning factory, which they operated one year. In 1887 he established the Wyandotte Commission Store, which he conducted suc- cessfully alone two years, and in which he still has a half interest. He is a young man of excellent habits and his circle of friends is large. He and his wife are among the city's best citizens, and while he is a member of the German Lutheran Church, she belongs to the Presby- terian Church. His marriage has resulted in the birth of six children, the first being a daughter that died unnamed. Those living are Roy Stewart, Ella Fern, Louis Paul, Harry Newton and Robert Ray. Mr. Rehm's parents, Louis and Teresa (Yeager) Rehm, were both born in Germany, but were married in Louisville, Ky., about 1840, the father having come to America some four years earlier. Of a family of ten children born to them, five are now living. Four of the children died in infancy, and a daughter, named Louisa, died at the age of eight years. Those living are Louis, Ulrich, Mary, Elizabeth, George Mat- thias, Anna Augusta Frederica and Clara Fanny. The father, who was a butcher by trade, resided in Louisville from the time of his marriage until his death, in 1888. He carried on an extensive meat business in that city for about fifty years, and was one of that city's most substan- tial citizens. His wife still resides there.
Wilson S. Reitz, grocer. Some of the most enterprising and ener- getic merchants of the go ahead town of Kansas City, Kas., are identi- fied with the grocery trade, and prominent among those engaged in this calling is Mr. Reitz. This gentleman was born in Northumber- land County, Penn., July 9, 1859, to the union of Joseph Reitz and Catherine Siders, both of whom were also born in Northumberland County, the former's birth occurring about 1823. He and his wife had a family of eleven children, of whom the subject of this sketch
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was the tenth. Mr. Reitz spent his entire life in his native county and although his attention in early years was devoted to farming, he spent his last sixteen years in Treverton, where he was engaged in business. He owned an excellent farm of 109 acres and was a very successful farmer, but he was also a successful general merchant, and was the owner of the largest and most valuable business blocks in the town. He was an influential man in that community and a worthy citizen. He died in May, 1870, after which his wife returned to the home farm but still later removed to Shamokin, Penn., where she now makes her home. Wilson S. Reitz was nine years of age when his parents removed from their farm to town, and was, therefore, only eleven years of age when his father died. He then accompanied his mother back to the farm and finally to Shamokin and there made his home with her until he attained his nineteenth year. He was mar- lied there at that age April 25, 1878, to Miss Lenora Newberry, a native of Perry County, Penn., born May 11, 1860. For two years after his marriage Mr. Reitz was engaged in the cattle business at Shamokin, but becoming dissatisfied with his location, he, in Septem- ber, 1880, came to Kansas City, Kas., and here opened a meat-market, continuing successfully until January, 1881, when, on account of the ill health of his wife, he returned to Shamokin, Penn., and resumed the cattle business. He once more returned to this city in May, 1883, and this has since been his home. From May until November. 1883, he devoted his attention to buying and shipping of cattle, but at the last-named date he became the proprietor of a meat-market and has successfully conducted an establishment of that kind nearly ever since. He had only been in the meat business a few months when he added a stock of groceries, and barring a few intervals necessitated by business changes, he has conducted a grocery store and meat market jointly ever since. He now occupies the three business rooms at Nos. 909, 911 and 913 Minnesota Avenue, one of which contains a fine stock of gro- ceries, another a well-kept meat-market, and in the third is carried a stock of hardware. The marriage of Mr. Reitz has resulted in the birth of eight children: Sarah C., Harvey S., Bertha M., Ella, Ida and Walter (twins), Pearl, and an infant daughter, Cora. Mr. and Mrs. Reitz are members of the Evangelical Methodist Church, and since opening up at his present stand he has built up a large and flourish- ing trade, a credit alike to his energy and ability, and to the town. His entire stock is of a superior quality and being purchased on the most favorable terms, the advantages derived therefrom by Mr. Reitz
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are extended to the consumer, hence the large and flourishing trade carried on. Although a young man he has been eminently successful, and he is considered one of the substantial business men of the place. He owns nine residence lots, three of which are improved with good houses, and besides his real estate he has a large amount of capital invested in other ways, all of which is well secured, and from which he realizes a good income. He is full of push and energy, and possesses to a marked degree all the attributes which are necessary to success.
N. B. Richards, M. D. In giving a sketch of the life of this gen- tleman it will be well to give a brief review of the lives of his ances- tors who have taken a prominent part in the history of the country. John and Lydia (Haver) Richards were the paternal grandparents and John and Jane (Ingle) Victor were the maternal grandparents of the subject of this sketch. They came to the colonies at an early period, the former from England and the latter from Germany, and in New Jersey they settled with their parents, where they were reared among the sorrows and sufferings of the colonial and Revolutionary times, the men being active participants in those sanguinary scenes illus- trated by the red man, the tomahawk and scalping knife, of hopes deferred, of marches and counter-marches, gloomy defeats and bril- liant victories, culminating at length in the independence of the col- oties. In course of time, after peace had been declared, these two families, in company with other parties, struck out upon the old mili- tary trail of Gen. Braddock, leading from Fort Cumberland to Fort Du Quesne, and which passed through the eastern part of Fayette County, Penn. When they came to this section, which embraced a large portion of the beautiful valley of the Monongahela, they there pitched their tents and rested, the families growing up together and engaging in the limited avocations afforded by a new country. Here, near the close of the eighteenth century, were born the parents of the subject of this sketch, George Richards and Jane Victor, who were eventually married in the year 1811. A few months after their mar- riage the War of 1812 opened, and at the call of his country Richards and many of his neighbors enlisted, marched gallantly to the front and stood in the deadly breach, until at New Orleans the gallant Jackson defeated the British general, Packenham, and thus brought peace to the country and the war worn veterans to their homes and kindred once more. In 1821 and 1822 two sons were born to bless Mr. Richards' union, John V. and N. B., the former being now a resi- dent of Illinois and the latter, the subject of this biography. At the
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early ages of six and five years, the death of their father left then orphans and their inother a widow. She seems to have been a mother of Spartan vigor of will and strength of convictions, for she immedi- ately set about the sacred duty of rearing her two boys in the habits of honesty, frugality, sobriety, diligence and a worthy ambition. In 1829 she was again united in matrimony to John Gadd, of Fayette County, Penn., who proved a loving husband to her and a kind step- father to her sons. This marriage was blessed by the birth of five children-two sons and three daughters- four of whom are still liv- ing: Joe H. (of Kansas City, Kas.), Jinnie W. (wife of Dr. J. C. Martin), Emma (of Kansas City, Kas.), and Mariamna (wife of Dr. M. Dunn, of Minneapolis, Kas.). When the subject of this sketch arrived at the age of sixteen years, at his own solicitation, he was ap- prenticed out to hard toil for five years in learning a useful trade, but long before he had reached his majority the aspirations of a restless mind prompted him to higher aims upon the theater of human action. Resolving to prepare himself for a higher field of usefulness, as well as responsibility, he laid his plans accordingly and promptly set to work to carry them out. He selected the profession of school-teach - ing as a financial stepping-stone to a medical education, and for years toiled on, hoping against hope, teaching for $18 per month, from six to nine months in the year, and by dint of hard labor and unremit- ting assiduity he finally reached the highest salary paid in the coun- try, $35 per month. Alternately teaching and attending, as a student, the academies of Belle Vernon, Monongahela City and Uniontown, Penn., all of which were within the precincts of his native county, he toiled on till he reached the coveted goal, spending eight years of his life in this manner. Having mastered the prescribed course of medical reading, under his preceptor, Dr. R. M. Walker, of Uniontown, Penn., in the fall and winter sessions of 1852-53, he entered as a matriculant the Western Reserve Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio. He was always a close student, whether in or out of college, and at the close of the session he began the practice of medicine at Wilmore, Cambria County, Penn., where he at once took a prominent position as a successful practitioner among the medical fraternity of that county. In 1856 he moved West and located in Bethalto, Madison County, Ill. Into this new field he brought his untiring energy and ma- tured judgment, where he labored for years, winning success and a com- petence as a reward for his toils and sleepless vigils among the afflicted. In the fall and winter of 1864-65 he completed the prescribed course
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of lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and re- ceived the degree of M. D., with diploma conferring the same, in March, 1865. Returning to his old field he renewed the practice of medicine, and on December 8, 1868, he entered the marriage relation with Mrs. Beff C. Stewart, formerly of Uniontown, Penn., but at the date of the nuptials a resident of Syracuse, Mo., and the relict of O. Stewart. She is still living, a devoted companion of her husband and a kind and loving mother of three children, the sacred pledges of this union: George R., Blanche S. and Millie May, all living and grown to manhood and womanhood. December 10, 1879, Dr. Rich- ards' mother passed to her long home, having been an earnest Chris- tian for many years. She was almost a centenarian in age, and more than that in the varied experiences of this fitful life. She had been a firm disciplinarian, tempered with prudential mercy and justice, and through all her life never relinquished her authority to admonish and command her children, even though men and women grown, and they never once thought of challenging her right so to do. To her life- long counsels and pious admonitions her children acknowledge, in a great measure, whatever of life's successes and honors they have at- tained to. In 1885, while following his profession in Illinois, the Doctor received a call from Dr. J. C. Martin, of Kansas City, Kas., to asso- ciate himself with him in the practice of medicine and surgery. He moved out with his family and entered into the copartnership in Oc- tober of the same year, which relation still exists between them mutu- ally and pleasantly. The Doctor and family are members of the First Presbyterian Church, and whatever influence he may have is always cast (so far as he has opportunity) upon the side of religion, sobriety and obedience to law and order. He has had a long and eventful life, has lived under the administration of nineteen out of the twenty- three presidents of the Republic. He claims to be living in the gold- en age of the world's history; and when the events of the nineteenth century pass in review before him, the achievements in letters, in the sciences, in the arts (ornamental and useful), in the spread of intelli- gence, of missions, the new life infused into the noble and heaven- born profession of the healing art, the annihilation of time and space in the transmission of thought, with thousands of other inventions and devices for the ennobling and ameliorating the environments of the souls and bodies of the human family, he thinks that one year of the nineteenth century is of far greater value as an educator than the same period of time taken from any one of all the past centuries.
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