USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 52
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"Who will be king, I do not know, But I'll be D'Arcy of Dunmow."
The subject of this sketch is one of twelve children, -eight sons and four daugh- ters, -of whom six are now living, namely: Rev. Sydney Neville, Clarence Douglas, M. D., Charles Edward, George Richard, Elizabeth Henrietta and Warwick Wellsley.
Dr. Ussher is one of Kansas City's well- known residents, and the honored name which he bears he wears worthily. When a child of five years he accompanied his par- ents on their removal from Aurora, Illinois, to Toronto, Canada, where his father entered upon a three-years pastorate, while the son began his education there, which was con- tinued in Montreal until he was graduated at the high school in that place. A short time afterward he went to Philadelphia, where he pursued a four-years course in the Re- formed Episcopal Theological Seminary, of that place.' He was ordained deacon by his
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father and Bishop Cheney, and presbyter by Bishop Fallows. Since then he has been in Kansas City, and while engaged in the practice of medicine, still devotes a portion of his time to ministerial work. He served as assistant pastor of Christ church of Kan- sas City, in the years 1893 and 1894, and has served since then as the pastor of the Fourth Congregational church, of Kansas City. From his youth up his was a conse- crated life, resting under the benediction of a mother's prayer.
Dr. Ussher studied medicine with the view of practicing as a medical missionary in India, pursuing his investigations in the University Medical College of Kansas City. While a student he conducted a large and successful practice under his preceptor, principally charity work. He is a member of the Æsculapian Society, a secret medical fraternity which originated in the University Medical College, but which has now spread to a number of cities of the west. The Doctor is a young man of strong mentality, of wide general information, of broad sym- pathy. Honored and respected by all, he has many warm friends, and the poor and needy of Kansas City regard him as their benefactor.
RANK M. DEARDORFF .- The name of Deardorff has been so in- timately and so closely connected with the business interests of Kan- sas City for the past forty years that the subject of this review needs no special in- troduction to the readers of this volume. That he wears worthily the honored name he bears is a well known fact throughout Jackson county, as is his high standing in
commercial circles. He was born in the city which is still his home, and at the age of eighteen left school to enter upon his business career in his father's office, becom- ing thus interested in the lumber trade, of which he has since been a representative. He manifested within a short time the quali- fications always necessary to a successful business career, being energetic and watch- ful, while his steady application and deter- mined purpose argued well for future suc- cess. On his father's death he took charge of the books and collections, continuing this work for three years under the admin- istrator, who gave little time to the business, the duties thereby devolving upon our sub- ject and the former foreman of the lumber- yard.
In 1884, when Mr. Deardorff had at- tained his majority, he assumed entire charge of the lumber business, which he has since continued. He remained at the old site for a year, and then upon that ground was erected the present Deardorff building, for store and office purposes. It is a four-story structure, with a ninety-six-foot front. On the 17th of January, 1892, however, this was destroyed by fire, but at once was re- placed, at a cost of little less than $100,000. The lumber business was then removed to the southeast corner of Eighteenth and Holmes streets, where it was conducted from 1885 until 1890. In 1886 Mr. Deardorff pur- chased the present property, which lies be- tween Twentieth and Vine streets, High- land avenue and the Belt Line railway. He afterward improved it, fitting it up for lum- ber-yard purposes, and on the Ist of Jan- uary established his yards at this location. He deals exclusively in lumber. He has demonstrated his superior business ability by his capable management of this enter-
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prise. He also has full charge of the entire realty interests of the Deardorff estate.
Mr. Deardorff is a man of high princi- ples, a worthy successor to his honored fa- ther. He is quick to decide a point and his every action and speech indicates the thoroughgoing, energetic temperament of the progressive business man of the nineteenth century. He is connected with the Kansas City Commercial Club, one of the leading organizations among business men in the west, and in his native city he is a popular gentleman, having a host of warm personal friends.
EORGE E. PEACE may well be classed with the intelligent, wide- awake and progressive farmers of western Missouri. His location is in Fort Osage township, Jackson county, where his whole life has been spent.
Isaac Peace, the father of this gentle- man, was born at Saratoga Springs, New York, October 14, 1803, and about 1840 was married to Miss Caroline Rice, a native of Saline county, Missouri, born in 1822. He had come west early in life, and after his marriage he settled in Fort Osage township, where he and his good wife lived till death. She passed away in January, 1869, and his death occurred October 22, 1878. Their family was composed of eight children, five sons and three daughters, George E: being the fifth in order of birth. It was in Fort Osage township, November 19, 1852, that he first saw the light of day, and on his father's farm he grew to manhood. His education was received in the common schools, the Independence high school, and the William Jewell College. He remained
on the home place while his parents lived, and after their death until 1882.
December 22, 1882, the subject of our sketch was united in marriage to Miss Emma Turley, a native of Gallatin county, Kentucky, born March 14, 1852, daughter of Joseph and America Turley, and one of a family of five children, she being the only daughter. Their marriage was consum- mated in her native county, and shortly afterward they established their home on the farm on which they have since lived in Fort Osage township, Jackson county, Mis- souri. In company with his brother, the Rev. W. S. Peace, Mr. Peace owns some 400 acres of fine land, to the cultivation of which his attention is directed.
Mr. and Mrs. Peace are the parents of five children, viz .: Joseph H., born Novem- ber 17, 1882; Jennie R., January 30, 1886; Anna C., October 14, 1888; Isaac, August 26, 1891; and Helen L., August 15, 1894.
In all local affairs which he deems for the public good, Mr. Peace takes an active interest and to their promotion gives his support. A believer in temperance and a worker in this movement, he exerts an in- fluence along the lines of reform. His political preferences are with the populist party. Fraternally, he is identified with the Masonic order, and both he and his estimable wife are earnest and active mem- bers of the Baptist church.
ILLIAM MULKEY is numbered among Missouri's pioneers. His life has been eventful in its varied experiences. The history of the west in that wild period before law and or- der had quelled confusion and lawlessness is familiar to him, but with the advancement
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of progress and improvement he has ever kept pace, lending his support to all matters that he believes would benefit the commu- nity. His life, if written in detail, would fur- nish many a thrilling chapter, and in its salient points is full of interest.
Mr. Mulkey is a native of North Caro- lina, his birth having occurred in Ashe county, September 22, 1824. His father died during the early childhood of our sub- ject and in 1828 his mother with. her family of four children emigrated to Missouri, ac- companying the family of her uncle, John Johnson, and driving across the country from North Carolina. There was also in the party Bob Mulkey, a brother of Mrs. Mulkey, who was killed four years later by lightning while cutting down a bee tree. Mr. Johnson located where the Bale family now resides, and his brother, Bob Johnson, had a cabin at Westport, where Mrs. Mulkey re- mained for a time. Soon afterward, how- ever, she entered land where the exposition now stands, adjoining the home of her uncle. His daughter Sallie became the wife of Judge Bales, and upon their marriage Mr. Johnson gave to them a tract of land. Here the families lived in true pioneer style and few other white settlers were in the neigh- borhood. For miles around stretched the uncut forests and unbroken prairies, inhab- ited only by the Indians. At this time, 1828, there was not a house on the present site of Kansas City, but the pioneers soon afterward came, and in 1836 Mr. McGee built the first brick house, it being located on the road between Westport and West- port landing. The Kaw Indians occupied all the flats, and our subject has remained with them for days at a time. After com- ing to the west his mother married William Poe. She afterward sold her lands, and
when the Platte purchase came into the market they removed to Buchanan county. Our subject and the other children remained in Jackson county.
In 1840 his eldest brother, Wesley Mul- key, went to Oregon with a missionary, and became an extensive farmer there. About eight years ago he returned to Kansas City, and while in the union depot, preparatory to taking the train to go to a farm in Wright county, he was killed, at the age of seventy years. His widow, who in her maidenhood was Mary Black, of Kansas City, still sur- vives, at the age of eighty-three years, and is now living with our subject. In 1850 Wesley Mulkey had come to Missouri and taken back to Oregon with him his mother and stepfather. Mr. Poe afterward went to California, and was killed there in an ex- citement over a claim. Mrs. Poe died in Portland, Oregon, at the age of seventy- eight. In the family were four children. The only sister died in Buchanan county, and the other brother, Henry, went to Ore- gon with the family, remaining on the Pacific slope until 1868, when he returned to Kansas City, his death occurring two weeks later. There was also a half brother, Judge James Poe, a noted lawyer of western Idaho.
Mr. Mulkey, of this review, remained with his mother until his marriage, and spent his time largely in hunting deer, tur- keys and 'coons, being often kept busy in driving these animals away from the planted fields in order to raise any crops. In his twelfth year, at the time of his mother's sec- ond marriage, he went to Westport, and there engaged in trading with the Indians on his own account to a considerable extent. He visited nearly all of the Indian camps and tribes, and has traded with the red men
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on the present site of Atchison, Kansas. This occupied his time until twenty-five years of age.
Mr. Mulkey then turned his attention to the breeding of horses. In 1849 he re- turned to North Carolina, but remained only a short period. For forty years he has been engaged in the breeding of race-horses and was the owner of a very fine stock farm south of Kansas City up to the time of the booin, when he sold it for $1,000 per acre. He still has a forty-acre tract, which is an extension of Troost. For forty-five years he has made his home at his present place of residence, owning a beautiful house on the bluff, while his grounds extend from Twelfth to Seventeenth street. The property had previously belonged to his wife's father.
On the 31st of January, 1852, Mr. Mul- key was united in marriage with Miss Cath- erine Dripps, daughter of Major Andrew J. Dripps, who for fifty years was a member of the American Fur Company and had charge of the company's western business, spending most of his time in the Rocky mountains, whither he went in 1818. His death occurred in Kansas City just after one of these western trips in the year 1860, and resulted from injuries sustained by a fall from a mule. He was married at the old Larpe trading-post in Nebraska, to an Otoe maiden, and their daughter, Mrs. Mulkey, was born in Pierre's Hole, then in Oregon, among the Black Feet Indians. At the age of seven years she was brought to Kansas City, and soon afterward was placed in a convent in St. Louis, where she was liberally educated. She spent her girlhood in that place and in Kansas City until her marriage to Mr. Mul- key, when they located on the land on the bluff, given her by her father. She had two brothers and a sister, the latter being Mrs.
Burner, who is living on the Otoe reserva- tion near Marysville, Nebraska. The two brothers are now deceased. One died from a tarantula bite, and the other, Captain Charles Dripps, died in Nebraska a few years ago. He was for many years an old Mis- souri river captain, owned a half interest in a steamboat on the river, and was well known in Kansas City and St. Louis.
Soon after his marriage Mr. Mulkey erected his present home, a substantial brick residence, where he has since resided. He has always engaged in horse dealing, and is a familiar figure at all the races. He has owned some very valuable thoroughbred running horses, making excellent records, and has at the present time from ten to twenty horses. He is the owner of a very fine horse in Jerome Park, New Jersey. In his business he has been very successful, and has sold some of his fine racing stock as high as $12,000. He has won purses of - $15,000 at races, and his horses have been justly noted for their speed and excellent qualities. Mr. Mulkey now has a fine farnı in Ray county, four miles from Richmond, comprising 200 acres of land. This is de- voted to the breeding of horses, and is in charge of a capable superintendent. He has there the best stock in the county. He formerly had a track on the home place, but this ground is all now covered with fine residences.
In politics Mr. Mulkey has always been a democrat up to the past year, and has been very zealous as such, but as he is not in sympathy with some of the practices of the party he now gives his support to the man whom he thinks best qualified for office, regardless of party affiliations. He heard the Hon. Thomas H. Benton over sixty years ago, who, in speaking in a log ware-
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house at the river landing, said: "I am standing within three miles of the center of the United States. Some day the boys who are listening to me will see railroads coming in here from every direction, the river bridged, and a big city will be here." Mr. Mulkey has lived to witness the fulfillment of this prediction, and but few men in Jackson county have been longer identified with its interests.
Mr. Mulkey is now the oldest living resi- dent in Kansas City. He is now seventy- one years of age, and is hale and hearty, and full of vigor. He was brought to this city when four years of age, and has since made this his home, thus witnessing the en- tire growth and development of this now prosperous city. He is the first man from the west who took horses to New York and Baltimore and won races. He has never taken any active part in politics, but paid strict attention to his own affairs, and has accumulated a vast amount of wealth, and is now living in comfort, from the fruits of his industry.
J OHN W. TYER .- This gentleman figures as one of the foremost farmers of Fort Osage township, Jackson county, Missouri, and as such is en- titled to personal mention in a work the ob- ject of which is to portray the lives of the representative men and women of his county.
Mr. Tyer is a native of Linn county, this state, born January 16, 1839. His father, Lewis Tyer, was born in North Carolina, March 10, 1814, and when three years of age was brought by his parents to Howard county, Missouri, where- he grew to man- hood and where he married, July 1, 1838,
Mrs. Mary White Wilson. The latter was a native of Virginia, born July 14, 1816. Soon after their marriage they removed to Linn county, being among the first settlers of that county, and remaining there until 1850, when they took up their abode in Jackson county, six miles south of Kansas City. About the close of the late war they came to Fort Osage township, settled in its northern part, and here they passed the residue of their lives and died. Nine chil- dren, five sons and four daughters, composed their family, namely: John W., whose name heads this sketch; Frisco Columbus; Congrave J., deceased; Mary V., who be- came the wife of James L. H. Franklin and is now deceased; Howard F., a farmer of Carroll county, Missouri; Sarah H., the wife of W. W. Twyman, of Cockrell, Jack- son county, Missouri; Amanda F., wife of Daniel Pardue, of Lees Summit; Congrave J. (2), a farmer of Jackson county ; and Mis- souri Bell, a teacher.
John W. Tyer came with his parents to Jackson county in 1850, and continued to make his home with them until his marriage, with the exception, however, of some time spent in Johnson county, Kansas, during the early settlement of that state. He owns a fine farm of 160 acres, upon which he resides, and the value of which he has greatly enhanced by the improvements he has placed thereon. Also he is a stock- holder in the Bank of Buckner.
Mr. Tyer was first married February 27, 1868, to Miss Amanda George, a native of Jackson county, Missouri, and a daughter of David C. George. To them were born four children, viz .: Francis N., who died at the age of one year; Mary E., wife of W. W. Ewing; one that died in infancy; and Luther W. The mother of these children died at
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her home in this township, March 16, 1879. November 13, 1879, Mr. Tyer married Miss Mary E. Tucker, better known as Bettie Tucker, daughter of Garrett and Jane Tucker. She is a native of Tennessee, the date of her birth being January 28, 1839.
While Mr. Tyer has never been an aspi- rant for office, he has ever taken an active interest in all political affairs, and is a stanch demoerat. Both he and his wife are members of and active workers in the Methodist church, south, she having been identified with the church since her tenth year.
J AMES R. BOWLIN, who carries on agricultural pursuits in Sniabar town- ship, Jackson county, was born in Sumner county, Tennessee, July 10, 1820, and is a son of George and Nancy (Kirby) Bowlin. During his early child- hood his parents removed to Simpson county, Kentucky, where he was reared until 1832, when the family came to Missouri, driving across the country with a company consist- ing of six or eight families. The father located on the banks of Blue creek, in Jack- son county. Eight children were born after the removal of the parents to this state and four previously. Of the total number of children eight are yet living. In 1833 the father took up his residence in Sniabar town- ship, and in 1834 removed to the Campbell farm, where he pre-empted four tracts of eighty acres each, making his home thereon until the time of the war. He died during the war, in Ray county, Missouri. In con- nection with farming he engaged extensively in stock dealing, and though he accumulated a handsome property, he lost the greater part of it through going security for friends.
At his parental home the subject of this review was reared. In 1846 he was mus- tered into the United States service for the Mexican war, and became a member of company A, in Colonel Doniphan's regiment. The company was organized at Independ- ence, Missouri, under Captain David Wal- don, and numbered one hundred and twelve men, only two of whom are now living, one of these being the subject of this review. Each soldier furnished his own outfit, in- cluding his horse, for there were no par- ticular uniforms in use. Mr. Bowlin went with his regiment to the front, and after continuing in the service for more than a year returned to his home in July, 1847.
In 1852 Mr. Bowlin went overland to California with a large wagon train and be- gan work in the mines, but did not continue that pursuit long. He remained on the Pacific coast until the fall of 1853, and then returned with the intention of taking his family to California, but his father preferred to go to Kansas instead, and removed to Linn county, where he took up a claim. The border troubles forced him to leave the territory, however, in 1856. He left his stock behind him, but our subject went to the Sunflower state and not only took pos- session of the old place but also located an- other, which was improved by his brother in 1861. He was in that region all through the memorable troubles brought on by the slavery question, but he discreetly kept out of public discussion and was unmolested. In 1861, after having made the required improvements upon his land in Kansas, he went west to Colorado, where he remained until the following year and then soon after went to Kentucky, where he remained dur- ing the war. His sympathies were with the people of the south, among whom he had
John QGrady.
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been reared and with whose interests he was identified, yet he did not approve of the policy of that section of the country and did not enter the army.
In 1873 Mr. Bowlin came to his present farm, where he has resided continuously since. He has sixty acres of land in Snia- bar township, which is under a high state of cultivation, greatly enhanced in value by the erection of good buildings.
His has been quite an eventful career. He traveled over the frontier of the south- west during his service in the Mexican war, became familiar with the experiences in the early mining days of California and with the troubles of settlement in Kansas.
In February, 1871, Mr. Bowlin was united in marriage with Miss Julia A. Princk- ard, daughter of Robert Princkard, of Vir- ginia, and a pioneer of Missouri, who came to Jackson county in an carly day. Their children are James William, who married Mollie Harrison and lives on an adjoining farın; and Claude Alexander, who wedded Maud Johnson, and also lives on a farm near by.
3 OHN O'GRADY, of the law firm of Harkless, O'Grady & Crysler, is one of the most successful and widely known lawyers in Kansas City. He is a native of county Wexford, Ireland, born October 14, 1850, a son of Thomas O'Grady, who was born in the Emerald Isle, and was an agriculturist by occupation. Of his six children our subject is the eldest. He was educated in the city of Wexford, where he subsequently studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1870 he emigrated to this country, landing in New York, where he spent a short time.
The west seemingly offered greater in- ducements to the ambitious, and hither he came, locating at Osage Mission, Kansas. Soon after his arrival he entered into a co- partnership with C. F. Hutchins for the practice of law, which was agreeably and successfully maintained till 1874. Soon af- ter his arrival at Osage Mission he was elected the first mayor of the town, being then only twenty years of age! Thus early recognition of his ability was a compliment to be proud of, and plainly showed the young barrister the possibilities of life in a land where perfect freedom reigned. From Osage Mission he went to St. Louis, where could be had a practice of greater scope and more commensurate with his abilities. Here he became associated in practice with Joseph Robinson, a prominent lawyer who is now operating a railroad in old Mexico, and subsequently with Rudolph Hirzel, now circuit judge of St. Louis. Here Mr. O'Grady built up a good practice and re- mained till January, 1888. Among his clients was John I. Blair, whom he repre- sented as counsel eight years.
Upon his arrival in Kansas City he be- came associated with R. B. Robinson and James H. Harkless, under firm name of Robinson, O'Grady & Harkless. Since re- siding in Kansas City he has been connected with many famous cases, having conducted the suit against the Atchison & Topeka Rail- road and Falks, Gould vs. Blair, and nu- merous other important cases, in all of which he secured verdicts for his clients. Endowed by nature with what has been termed "a legal mind," his mentality is such that the law alone seems to afford it the fullest intellectual scope. A dilligent student from the beginning of his career, he has acquired an unusually profound knowl-
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edge of the law, which a well disciplined memory places absolutely at his command. In the practice of law he is noted for the great care given to the preparation of his cases, the ability with which they are ar- gued and the ingenuity with which they are tried. .
From his first appearance at the Kansas City bar down to the present time he has maintained the reputation of being the equal of the best of his colleagues in the mastery of the law, and is regarded as a most formi- dable adversary in the practice of his pro- fession. There is an ease and method in his pleadings which give them wonderful effec- tiveness and has stamped him as an able and forcible advocate. It is this ready ap- plication of knowledge by his resourceful mind that makes him the virile factor he has proved to be.
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