USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 40
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veyor many years, being a civil engineer, and died at an advanced age.
Dr. Bedford was eleven years old when his parents settled in Missouri. He was reared on a farm, having attained his carly education in Kentucky before the departure of the family from the state. In 1877 he began studying medicine, and in two years was prepared to enter Bellvue Hospital Col- lege, New York, and he graduated with the class of 1882, receiving a diploma. Immedi- ately thereafter he located in Independ- ence, Missouri, opened an office and started out in the practice, remaining there eleven years, and filling the office of county phy- sician three terms, when he removed to Kansas City, in 1893. In November of the following year he was elected to the office of county coroner, of which office he is the present incumbent. He has been pension examiner for the county since 1893; is a member of Kansas City Academy of Medi- cine, Jackson County Medical Society and the Independence Medical Association; is a member of the Knights of Pythias, subord- inate and uniform lodges, and is surgeon of the first regiment, uniform rank, of Mis- souri. Politically the doctor is a democrat, and religiously a member of the Christian church.
0 R. ERNEST VON QUAST, a physician of acknowledged ability . now in successful practice in Kan- sas City, is of German birth, hav- ing been born in Garz, fifty miles from Ber- lin, August 21, 1853. He is a son of Herman and Louise (Knoblauch) von Quast, natives of the Fatherland. Three children were born to them,-Ernest, Otto and Al-
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brecht. Mr. von Quast bore the king's commission as captain in the regular army. He possessed large real-estate interests and was a gentleman of great intelligence and culture. Louise von Knoblauch, the mother of our subject, was his second wife, and she departed this life in 1860.
By his first wife, nec Natalie von Laffert, he had three sons, two of whom are now liv- ing: Adolph, in possession of the old home- stead; and Erich, a lieutenant and colonel in the regular German army. Curt, the third son, also a soldier in his majesty's service, fell in one of the terrific charges on the French stronghold of Gravelotte, in August, 1870. Captain von Quast's third wife's maiden name was Anna von der Hagen, who is living without issue. He lived to the ripe old age of seventy-six years and seven months, dying in December, 1888.
The paternal grandfather of our subject, Christopher Leopold von Quast, was a dis- tinguished citizen of the Fatherland, once secretary of the interior and a gentleman of large means. To him were born six chil- dren, two sons and four daughters. He died in his native land, at about the age of seventy-three years. Heinrich von Knob- lauch, father of the mother of our subject, was a prosperous farmer. He had four children, two sons and two daughters. His death occurred in 1890, when he had at- tained the age of about ninety years.
Doctor von Quast was reared in Pots- dam and Berlin, receiving his education in the military government school from the age of ten years, having taken a previous course in a private school. In 1870 he entered the German army in time to participate in the glory and honor won by the German arms in the brief but desperate conflict with France, where sank never to rise again the
star of the Napoleonic dynasty, and which resulted so grandly in cementing into an in- dissoluble union the federated states of the German empire. In 1873 he resigned his commission as lieutenant in the army, and the same year he emigrated to America and located at St. Louis. Immediately there- after he began the study of medicine in the Missouri Medical College, at which he grad- uated in March, 1877. Previous to this, however, he attended the College of Phar- macy, where also he had graduated. Fol- lowing his medical graduation he located in East St. Louis, where he practiced for a year, then went to Malden, Missouri, where he practiced till late in the summer of 1883. On the 4th of August of that year he started on a visit to Berlin and London, the object largely being to attend clinics. Upon his return in November of the same year he lo- cated at Kansas City, where he has practiced ever since, and making a notable reputation as a general practitioner and surgeon.
He was united in marriage with Miss Cora Alice Riffle, June 18, 1879, who is the daughter of Matthias and Sarah (Simmons) Riffle. They have three children: Clara Louisa, Herman Otto, Bismarck and Her- tha Riffle. The Doctor and his estimable wife are Christians, being meinbers of the Lutheran and Presbyterian churches re- spectively.
He is connected with all the principal medical societies: the American National Medical Association; the State Medical As- sociation of Missouri; the District Medical Society and the Jackson County Medical Society. He is professor of orthopedic and clinical surgery in the Woman's College of Kansas City, and one of the staff of surgeons of the German Hospital. The honor was conferred upon him by being selected a del-
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egate to the International Congress of Physicians and Surgeons held at Berlin in 1890.
NDREW W. LOWE, Blue Springs, Mo .- One of the wealthiest and most influential citizens of Snia- bar township, Jackson county, Missouri, is Andrew W. Lowe, a farmer. He was born in Monroe county, Virginia (now West Virginia), August 29, 1828. His parents were John and Margaret (Sum- mers) Lowe, natives of the same county. The former was born in 1801, and the lat- ter died soon after the close of the civil war. Our subject's paternal grandfather was a Revolutionary patriot. In 1844 the par- ents of our subject came to Missouri by the way of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers. They located in what was then known as Blue Mills Landing, near Inde- pendence, Jackson county. Previous to their removal here, Mr. Lowe had visited this locality and staked off the land he intended to purchase. It contained 120 acres in section 14, township 49, range 31, in Snia- bar township, which is three miles north of Blue Springs. Here he resided until his death. At various times he added to his possessions until they covered 400 acres. He was a hard-working man and good man- ager. When the war broke out he was en- gaged in the cultivation of hemp. The market for such at Independence was excel- lent, and, being the owner of a number of slaves, he realized a handsome profit on his crops. By order No. 1I he went out in 1863, remaining in Pike county for two years, or until the war closed, then returned to his home. In his absence his property was nearly all destroyed; his home was set
on fire by a squad of soldiers, but at the earnest solicitation of a kind neighbor the fire was extinguished and the homestead was saved. Mr. Lowe was a sincere Christian and a charter member of the first church society organized in Independence. He also assisted most liberally with time and money in the erection of the first church edifice.
He was the father of eleven children, all of whom lived to maturity, although five now survive. To each of his sons he gave $500, and assisted them to buy land and settle near by. As long as he lived he held a family reunion each year, at which time he collected all of his children, grand- children and great-grandchildren, number- ing forty-two in all, at the old homestead. He was eighty years old at the time of his death, and up to the last gave a personal supervision to his business.
Andrew W. Lowe, our subject, was the eldest son, and consequently shared much of his father's toil when first coming to this new country. He was then sixteen years of age, a strong, robust lad, willing and eager to assist in constructing a home for the fam- ily. There was little time or opportunity for schooling in those days, especially for the older sons; so Mr. Lowe was obliged to be content with very little instruction. He was endowed with an observing mind and a good memory, however, and these served in good stead. His business aptitude devel- oped rapidly, and when still a lad displayed an ability to drive a good bargain. He spent three years at Santa Fe as wagonmaster, freighting government supplies for Majors Medill and Russell and going to Forts Lar- amie, Riley, Union, etc.
In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in the state cavalry service and took part of the freight to Lexington, dismounting then to
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support the artillery, after which he re- mained in the cavalry service six months. He then took two of his father's slaves and went to Dallas, Texas. He was then at- tached to a commissary department, han- dling cattle, etc., for the regular Confederate army in Texas. Remaining there until the close of hostilities, he surrendered at Fort Smith and returned at once to his old home in Missouri, and has since continued to cul- - tivate his farm. It consisted of 263 acres, and is situated on section II, township 49, range 31, Sniabar township.
Mr. Lowe is a director and stockholder in the Blue Springs Bank and owns more property than any man in the township. His farm is in the highest state of cultiva- tion. He is a breeder of shorthorn cattle and other pure-bred animals. His barns and outbuildings are in good condition, although he still occupies the rough house which stood on the place during his father's lifetime.
April 2, 1871, Mr. Lowe was married to Miss Mary Eliza Dillingham, daughter of William Dillingham, of LaFayette county, Missouri, where she was born August 6, 1847. She died at Blue Springs, on the 16th of April, 1882, after bearing a family of four children, two of whom are still living. Ira died in 1889, when but seventeen months old, and Henry R. died in infancy. Harley A. was born February 4, 1876, and Isaac N. born November 27, 1878. The two latter are school-boys and live at home.
Mr. Lowe united with the Cumberland Presbyterian church at the age of twenty years, and is now a deacon in that church, near his home.
Simple, unpretentious, tender-hearted and benevolent, his kindly man is ever ready to help the unfortunate; but, realizing
by actual experience that property is seldom accumulated without patience and much hard labor, he wastes little sympathy upon the shiftless. "God helps those who help themselves " is his motto, and to those who make an effort to work and manage for themselves he is ever ready to lend a help- ing hand.
L. McDONALD, manager Mis- souri Lime & Cement Company, Kansas City, is a native of Earl- ville, Illinois, born June 8, 1860, son of William and Marcia (Wallace) Mc- Donald, the former a native of Brantfield, Canada, the latter of Illinois. His father was a carpenter and contractor, which trade and business he successfully plied in Illinois for eighteen years. At present he is living a retired life at David City, Nebraska. He and his estimable wife were parents of five children, of whom our subject is fourth in order of birth.
In his youth he attended the public schools, acquiring good educational disci- pline in the elementary branches. It was his design to take a collegiate course, upon which he did start, but his health breaking down he returned to Earlville and attended high school, at which he graduated in 1880. Previous to this time he had a strong pre- dilection for law, but study had made seri- ous inroads upon his health. The follow- ing winter he taught a country school. In 1882, while seeking employment, he called upon the superintendent of the Plano Man- ufacturing Company, at Plano, Illinois, for work. He was informed that there were no vacancies at the time, but young McDonald was not to be put off in a manner so sum-
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mary, still insisting, agreeing to do anything, however hard and disagreeable.
The superintendent, taking himn at his word, placed him in the machinery depart- ment of the works to perform the hardest work, thinking that a day or two of soiled and worn-out hands would take the "starch." out of his persistent applicant. But the superintendent reckoned without his host, not knowing the sound material out of which he was made. His pluck was equal to the occasion. He remained in that posi- tion, learned the trade, and eventually be- came foreman of his department. Subse- quently he was tendered a position by the Sandwich Manufacturing Company, at an increased salary, as traveling salesman, which he accepted. Six months later he was promoted to a general agent's position, in charge of the company's business in Ne- braska, headquarters at Lincoln, where he remained until December, 1886, when he resigned his position.
Immediately thereafter he came to Kan- sas City, and soon after conceived the idea of erecting a builders' and traders' ex- change. He effected the organization, and after the adoption of plans work was begun and the building completed in 1889. In July of the following year it was formally dedicated, upon which interesting occasion Mr. McDonald was the principal speaker, delivering an address that received the plaud- its of his hearers and was published in all the city papers. He became the first sec- retary of the organization, a position he efficiently and creditably filled till November Ist, 1894, when he resigned, greatly against the wishes of the organization.
The Builders' and Traders' Exchange is a magnificent five-story building, of pressed brick, with stone and terra-cotta trimmings,
costing, exclusive of the ground, over $100, - 000. The building was erected for the exclu- sive use of the Exchange and the permanent exhibit of building materials and improve- ments, and to afford offices for contractors, architects and all others directly interested in the building trade, thereby concentrating this vast interest under one roof. Upon severing his connection with the exchange Mr. McDonald was tendered the inanage- ment of the Missouri Lime and Cement Company, which he accepted, in which re- sponsible position he is giving excellent sat- isfaction. He is one of the self-made young men of the southwest, having un- . aided worked his way from penniless ob- scurity to lucrative positions of trust, wherein were required for successful man- agement the highest order of busines judg- ment and acumen.
Socially he is a member of the Conca- tenated Order of Hoo Hoo and Hoo Hoo Club No. 1, Knights of Pythias, and Hepta- sophs. In political sentiment he is strongly republican and warmly espouses the princi- ples of government contended for by his party.
Q H. KIRSHNER, one of the lead- ing younger members of the Kansas City bar, was born in Fostoria, Ohio, June 25, 1863, the son of Henry and Rebecca (Bucher) Kirshner. His father was born in Oswego, New York, of German parents, and received his education and learned the trade of a machinist there. He removed to northern Ohio in the fifties and devoted himself to the trade of machin- ist and mechanical engineer for about thirty- five years, being interested in bringing out several new mechanical devices. His mar-
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riage to Rebecca Bucher, daughter of a prosperous farmer of Seneca county, Ohio, took place in 1860. Of this marriage four children were born, -Ida, Charles H., Dora and Mamie.
Our subject's boyhood was passed in Fremont and Fostoria, two pleasant Ohio towns, the former the home of President Hayes, the latter of Governor Foster. His preliminary education was received in the common school and academy of Fostoria. These were the days when something over five hundred amateur newspapers were pub- lished the country over, and Fostoria, with a population of only 3,000, had three of them -one published by A. E. Mergenthaler, a banker in Fostoria, prominent in the counsels of the L. A. W., a second by W. C. Brown, of Fostoria, associated with Congressman Harter in the Harter Milling Company and colonel on the staff of Major Mckinley; and the third by the subject of our sketch. Mr. Kirshner continued the publication of his paper for seven years, from his twelfth to his nineteenth year, and was also corre- spondent for several Ohio dailies.
In 1883 he entered the sophomore class in Oberlin college, and graduated ·with the degree of A. B. in 1886. He then entered the Cincinnati Law School, where he gradu- ated second in a class of fifty-seven. He also held the position of librarian in the law school library during his course there, by appointment of ex-Governor J. D. Cox, the dean of the institution.
In 1888 he left Ohio because of ill health and settled in Salina, Kansas, where he entered the law office of Garver & Bond, the former of whom is now on the northern division of the Kansas appellate court, and one of the most prominent and able law- yers in that state.
In December of 1889 he was married to Agnes Fairchild, daughter of President George T. Fairchild, of the Kansas State Agricultural college, and they have one child, Robert F.
In the fall of 1890 he removed to Kansas City, persuaded that central Kansas did not offer any large inducements to a young man beginning the practice of law. His offices are in the New York Life building.
In politics Mr. Kirshner is a republican; in religion a Congregationalist. He is a member of Sicilian lodge, K. of P.
I J. WOLF, M. D., physician and surgeon of Kansas City, was born in Stuttgart, Germany, October 26, 1864, and is a son of Charles J. and Caroline (Richenburg) Wolf, who came to America in 1882. They located in Kansas City, where the father is now employed as bookkeeper in a wholesale house. The fam- ily numbered five children.
The Doctor was reared and educated in Germany, and was graduated at the gym- nasium at Stuttgart. He then took up the study of medicine at Heidelberg, where he remained for two years, and in 1887 was graduated at the Munich University on the completion of the medical course. For six months he served as a soldier in the Ger- man army, and for a similar period as a physician. He then crossed the Atlantic to America, landing at New York in 1888, whence he came direct to Kansas City, where his parents had previously located. In the fall of that year he took a course in the Chicago Polyclinic, and thus thorough preparation has well fitted him for his life work.
The Doctor has built up a fine practice,
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and is now doing a successful business as a general practitioner. He was made pro- fessor of histology and microscopy in the Kansas City Veterinary College in 1893. and has since held that position. He was appointed to the chair of bacteriology in the University Medical College in 1895, and is still serving in that capacity. During this year also the Doctor went to New York, where he visited the hospitals and labora- tories, and devoted himself for two months to special branches, especially bacteriology, pathology and surgery. Although a young inan, the Doctor is well up in his profession, and has succeeded in building up a very lucrative business. He is a member of the Jackson County Medical Society, and was for a time lecturer on artistic anatomy for the Kansas City Art School. He is physi- cian to the German Hospital, and is exam- iner for the Security Mutual Insurance Com- pany, of Bingham, New Jersey, and the Germania Life Insurance Company, of New York. In politics he is a democrat, but is not active in political affairs.
ASHINGTON ADAMS, attorney at law, Kansas City, was born at Booneville, Missouri, April 16, 1849, and is a son of Andrew and Sarah (Flournoy) Adams, natives respect- ively of Christian county, Kentucky, and In- dependence, Missouri.
After his settlement in Missouri, Andrew Adams became known as a Santa Fe trader, a business in that day which embodied many elements of danger and risk. For many years he freighted merchandise across the plains by ox teams. Penetrating old Mex- ico at Chihuahua, he once carried on a mer- cantile business for several years. In all his
enterprises he was usually successful, and before reaching old age he had accumulated a handsome competency, with which he re- tired to enjoy it when the weight of years be- gan to enfeeble his once powerful frame.
To him and his estimable wife, who was in every way calculated for the companion and helpmeet of her husband, were born nine children, seven of whom are now liv- ing, of whom our subject was the first born.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams lived to ad- vanced age, he dying in 1886 and she in 1889. Washington Adams, a brother of Andrew, became a man of prominence in Missouri, was a sound lawyer and for many years was judge of the supreme court of the state. He possessed fine scholarly attain- tainments and was popular in social and professional circles.
Washington Adams, the subject of this review, received his early education at Kemper's school at Booneville, where he was well qualified to enter upon a collegiate course, which he took at the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville. After graduat- ing in a portion of the literary course of this institution, he immediately entered its law department, taking the junior course only. Immediately . thereafter he returned to Booneville, where for a year he read law in the office of his uncle, Judge Adams, and was admitted to the bar. In July, 1870, he came to Kansas City and established him- self in the practice of his profession.
In 1874 he was elected city attorney on the democratic ticket, becoming his own successor in 1875. In 1880 he was ap- pointed city counselor by Mayor C. A. Chace; in 1884 he was reappointed by Mayor L. J. Talbott; and in January, 1891, he was appointed county counselor by the county court of Jackson county, and by the
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same tribunal was reappointed in January, 1893.
His marriage to Miss Ella, daughter of John K. Lincoln, a prominent farmer near Plattsburg, Missouri, was consummated in 1877, by whom he has one child, John W., a promising young man, now in school.
J OSEPH B. KESHLEAR is the ef- ficient county marshal of Jackson county, Missouri, and so faithful is he in the performance of his duty that his name brings a sense of security to the law-abiding citizen while striking terror to the heart of the evil-doer. He has always lived in Jackson county, and has many warm friends who appreciate his sterling worth and excellencies of character.
Mr. Keshlear was born July 12, 1855, and is a son of Jacob and Sarah B. (Riggs) Keshlear, early settlers of Jackson county. The father was a farmer and stock-raiser, who in pioneer days entered a tract of land that he continued to cultivate and improve until his death, which occurred in 1860. His widow still survives him, and has now reached the advanced age of eighty years. Their family numbered eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, of whom five are now living.
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch was reared on the old home farm, early becoming familiar with the work of caring for the stock and cultivating the fields. He obtained his education in the public schools and continued on the old homestead until twenty-two years of age, when like many another young man he left the farm in order to seek a living out in the wide world. He took a contract for carry-
ing the mail from Independence to Lexing- ton, Missouri, and also from Buckner to Pleasant Hill, same state. He sometimes made the journey on horseback, sometimes with a buggy, and the routes were about forty and fifty miles in extent. It was often an arduous task, but his work was always faithfully accomplished. In 1879 Mr. Kesh- lear went to Grain Valley, where he engaged in keeping hotel, and also carried on a liv- ery stable. After continuing in that line of endeavor for a few years, he embarked in the grocery business, in the same place. Purchasing a stock of goods he opened his doors to the public, and in short time was doing a good business. In 1886 he sold out and came to Kansas City, where he secured a position in the marshal's office, as deputy under Hugh McGowan, with whom he served for four years. He was then deputy for a similar period under Henry P. Stewart, filling that position for eight con- secutive years in a most creditable way, and becoming so familiar with the duties of the office that in 1895 he was made a candi- date for the position by the democratic party, of which he is a stanch advocate, and soon after entered upon his duties. His fitness he had previously demonstrated, and the hopes that his constituents had of him he has fully realized.
Mr. Keshlear was married in 1877 to Miss Lizzie Carr, and they had one daugh- ter, Lulu. He was again married in Octo- ber, 1891, his second union being with Jo- sephine O'Flaherty, by whom he has one child, Zulman I. Mrs. Keshlear is a mem- ber of the Catholic church.
Our subject is a pleasant, genial gentle- man and among his best friends are those who have known him from boyhood, -a fact which indicates a well spent life.
,
n.A. Forster
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