USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 6
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
favor of county subscriptions to its stock. He has witnessed a great transformation in the transportation lines of the country, and the public recognize the important part he has played in bringing this about.
In 1865 Mr. Payne was appointed one of the delegates to represent Kansas City at a conference held by the United States government with the southern Indians at Fort Smith, Arkansas, the purpose of which was to procure a clause in a proposed treaty for the restoration of governmental relations with those tribes and thus obtain the right of way through the Indian territory for the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Kailway.
Other business enterprises which have largely promoted the upbuilding of the city and its material welfare, have received the support of Mr. Payne. On the organization of the Kansas City Gas Light & Coke Com- pany in 1867, of which he was a promoter, and which supplied a want much felt by the progressive city, he became its president, and continued to serve in that capacity un- til the expiration of its charter in 1895. The Kansas City Gas Company then suc- ceeded to its business and he is president of the latter. He occupies a similar position with the Union Cemetery Association. As his financial resources increased, he has made judicious investments in real estate, and now owns considerable valuable prop- erty. All has been acquired through his . own efforts. Perseverance, honorable deal- ing, sound judgment and enterprise are the qualities which have entered into his success.
In 1852 Mr. Payne was united in mar- riage with Mary Adeline Prudhomme, the youngest child of Gabriel Prudhomme, who entered from the government the original site of Kansas City. Of their marriage were born six children, four yet living.
Mrs. Payne, a very charitable lady, modest in manner, but possessed of very attractive qualities, died November 10, 1867. In February, 1892, our subject was again mar- ried, this union being with Mrs. Jeannie Chamberlin, widow of John C. Chamberlin, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who for many years was a prominent railroad man. The lady is a native of the sunny south, her father having been an extensive sugar planter of Louisiana. She was educated in one of the leading academies of that state, and is a most estimable, accomplished and lovable lady of fine literary attainments, who for some years has been a contributor to literary pub- lications. She has a wide circle of friends through the south and in Kansas City, and presides with graceful dignity over the hos- pitable family mansion. She is liberal both in mind and purse, and her many works of charity have been a source of gratitude to numerous humble families of this city. Mr. Payne has also the faculty of readily win- ning friends, as he is an interesting and en- tertaining converationalist, a fluent and forci- ble talker. Holding an honored place in the ranks of Kansas City's, prominent resi- dents and upbuilders, this volume would be incomplete without the record of his life.
EWIS DEARDORFF was for many years one of the most prominent and honored business men of Kan- sas City. His life history most happily illustrates what may be attained by faithful and continued effort in carrying out an honest purpose. It is the story of a life whose success is measured by its useful- ness, -- a life that has made the world better and brighter. There was no man who did more for the upbuilding of the city and the
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promotion of its commercial interests; and the welfare of every community depends al- most entirely upon its commercial activity. There is no task which falls to the lot of the historian more difficult than that of the portrayal of character, the reasoning back from effect to cause, the analyzation of the principles and motives which enter into action and result either in success or failure; but in the life of such men as Mr. Deardorff there are some traits that stand forth with startling clearness. Among these were an unfaltering perseverance, a laudable ambi- tion, determined energy and above these an honesty of purpose that was never questioned.
In the history of Kansas City no one is more deserving of prominent mention than the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He was born February 14, 1830, near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, and there spent the days of his childhood. He learned the trade of carpentering in Philadelphia, serving a regular apprenticeship, and when about twenty years of age removed to Spring- field, Ohio, where he followed that vocation in connection with an elder brother, a con- tractor there. After he had accumulated some capital he emigrated to Tipton, Iowa, where he purchased land and engaged in the manufacture of brick. In 1856 he came to Kansas City, where he engaged in the gen- eral contracting business until 1860.
In that year began his connection with the lumber trade. He entered into part- nership with Mr. Smith, of Leavenworth, Kansas, where they established a large lum- ber-yard and built up a good business. Mr. Deardorff, however, continued his residence in Kansas City and at the outbreak of the war disposed of his interest, once more turn- ing his attention to contracting and build- ing in this place. In 1865, however, he re-
sumed the lumber business, in connection with his brother, John Deardorff, with whom he had entered upon his business career in Springfield, Ohio, and who invested capital in the new enterprise, while Lewis assumed the active management. The firm of Dear- dorff Brothers continued until 1866, when our subject bought out his partner. He had established a yard at the corner of Eleventh and Main streets, and his con- stantly increasing trade caused him to fre- quently enlarge his facilities. There were two other small yards in the city at the time he established business. He was one of the most important factors in the establishment of this line of endeavor, his own business growing rapidly until he was at the head of the largest enterprise of the kind in Kansas City, and one of the largest west of the Mis- sissippi. His trade assumed very extensive proportions, and the boundaries of the yard were continually enlarged and the stock in- creased. At the time of his death he was also the oldest lumber merchant of this place. Through his well directed efforts, his capable management, sound judgment and honorable dealing, he won a high de- gree of prosperity, and as success came to him he also made judicious investments in other lines. He became the owner of a large cattle ranch near Dodge City, Kansas, where he had a numerous herd, retaining his ownership of that property until his death. He was also to some extent a cattle shipper.
Mr. Deardorff became interested in the banking business as one of the stockholders in the old Mechanics' Bank, one of the first institutions of the kind in Kansas City. It was succeeded by the Bank of Kansas City, and he served as one of its directors. His real-estate holdings were quite large. Be- sides his ranch in Kansas he owned 212
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
acres of valuable farming land just outside the corporation limits of this city, together with a large, double brick five-story business block which he erected at Nos. 1216 and 1218 Union avenue.
Mr. Deardorff was married in Kansas City to Miss Carrie W. Shouse, daughter of Judge William O. and Harriet (Bryan) Shouse, natives of Shelby county, Kentucky. They were numbered among the pioneers of Jackson county, where they located in 1837. The judge became the owner of two farms, the old homestead lying just outside the present city limits on the east. This was sold in 1883, at a good price. He con- tinued to live on that farm until 1863, when on account of the border troubles during the war he removed to the city, where he made his home from that time, and for several years was engaged in the grocery business. His death occurred in August, 1892, at the age of eighty years, and his wife passed away the following year. In politics he was a democrat, and at an early day accept- ably served as county judge. He was a fair representative of the old Kentucky stock, dignified, decided and courteous. The members of the Shouse family yet surviving are Mattie V., wife of J. C. Morgan, of Kansas City; J. A., of Dade county, Mis- souri; and Mrs. Deardorff.
The last named was born on the old farm in the suburbs of Kansas City, here spent her maidenhood days, and acquired her education in Liberty, Missouri. She still survives her husband. Her children are Martha S .; Lewis J .; Harvey L .; Frank M .; and Myrtle L., now the wife of Thomas J. Brodnax, of Kansas City.
In the early days of his residence here Mr. Deardorff served as a member of the city council, but had no desire for political
preferment. His support was given the democratic party. He attended the First Baptist church, of which his wife is a mem- ber and inade liberal contributions to the cause. He was a man whose integrity and honor were above question, and whose well spent life commanded the confidence and gained him the esteem of all with whom he was brought in contact. His life's labors were suddenly ended by an attack of erysip- elas, and he was laid to rest in Grand Avenue cemetery. Thus one by one the pioneers are passing away, but the memory of such a man will remain green in the hearts of all who knew him for years to come. The old family homestead still stands at the corner of Twelfth and Central streets, but Mrs. Deardorff has removed to Troost avenue. She has also erected a three story double brick dwelling at the southwest corner of Eleventh and Pennsyl- vania streets, and the family still holds the' realty of the estate, nearly all of which is of an improved character.
LFRED BAXTER SLOAN, M. D., has not only been prominently connected with professional inter- ests in Kansas City, but is also numbered among the honored pioneers of Jackson county. He has seen much of the wild land transformed into beautiful homes and farms, has watched the growth and de- velopment of this place, and has ever given a hearty support to those interests calcu- lated to promote the county's welfare. Here he attained an enviable reputation as a med- ical practitioner, and now, after a useful business career is living retired, enjoying a rest which he richly merits.
Dr. Sloan is numbered among the native
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sons of Missouri, his birth having occurred at Cole Neck, Cooper county, September 24, 1827. The family comes from the Em- erald Isle, his grandfather, Alexander Sloan, having been a native of Belfast, Ireland, whence he came to America at the age of fifteen and settled in the colony of Pennsyl- vania, for it was before the days of Ameri- can independence. When the colonies, no longer able to withstand the oppressive measures heaped upon them, sought to ob- tain independence in the long and bloody war of the Revolution, he loyally joined the army of his adopted country. When suc- cess had crowned the American arms and the British troops had returned to their na- tive land, he located in Virginia, where he was married. Near the close of the century he became one of the pioneers of Tennessee, sharing in the hardships of frontier life, and later removed to Christian county, Ken- tucky. In 1819 he brought his family to Missouri, and after, residing in Howard county for a time, went to Cooper county. His last days were spent in La Fayette county, where he died, at the age of eighty- · four.
Rev. Robert Sloan, father of our subject, was born in Tennessee in 1801, and accom- panied his parents on their various removals. He entered the ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian church when a young man, and for forty years devoted his life to that calling. His death occurred in Cass county, Missouri, in 1869. In 1826 he had married Margaret Davidson Ewing, a native of Todd county, Kentucky, born in 1807. They be- came the parents of twelve children, nine of whom reached adult age, namely: Alfred B .; Mrs. Fannie K. Jones, of Kansas City, wife of Greenup J. Jones; E. MacGready, of St. Louis, grand secretary of the Grand
Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Missouri; Alexander Thompson, a farmer of Cass county, Missouri; and Hon. Charles William, of Harrisonville, who has served as judge of the circuit court of Cass and Johnson counties; the others have passed away.
On the maternal side also has the Doc- tor descended from honored ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. Finis Ewing, was a Vir- ginian and a distinguished minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, which he helped to found. For many years he re- sided in Missouri, and was noted for his con- spicuous talents and abilities, and became active and influential in the public affairs of his adopted state. Several of his children became prominent in political and profes- sional circles, and the name is one that is honored throughout the south.
When the Doctor was a child of six years his parents removed to La Fayette county, and in 1845 located near Lees Sum- mit, Jackson county. In these counties his childhood days were passed, the family living on a farm. He began his education in the dis- trict schools, and wlien twenty years of age continued his studies under the direction of Dr. Boggs, of Independence. He afterward pursued a course in the medical department of the Transylvania University, of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, at which institution he was graduated in 1849. He began practice in Bates county, in 1848. It was then a fron- tier region, but slightly improved, and there were but three physicians in the entire coun- ty. A year later he came to Jackson coun- ty, and in 1850 started overland to Cali- fornia, attracted by the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope. He remained there for two years engaged in farming and mining, and in 1852 he located in Harrisonville,
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
Cass county, where his father had settled in 1851, and he practiced there until the out- break of the war.
In 1862 Dr. Sloan joined the army of General Price at Osceola as a surgeon, and served with the sixteenth Missouri infantry in Missouri and Arkansas. Later he became quartermaster for that section of the army stationed along the Arkansas river. He thus served until the close of the war, when, at Shreveport, Louisiana, he surrendered.
Immediately afterward the Doctor re- turned to Missouri, and in 1865 came to Kansas City, where he was actively engaged in the prosecution of his chosen profession until failing health caused him to abandon this work. Dr. I. M. Ridge is the only physician now in Kansas City who was practicing here at the time of Dr. Sloan's arrival. He has not only been a pioneer in the work here, but while in active practice occupied a foremost position in the ranks of the medical fraternity. He has been an honored member of the local, State and na- tional medical associations, was one of the founders of the Kansas City Medical Society, and for twelve years its president. He was treasurer and vice-president of the State Medical Society, for six years one of the judicial council of the American Medical As- sociation, and was a member of the Inter- national Medical Congress of 1887 held in Washington. To the medical literature of the country he has made many valuable con- tributions, and his articles have appeared in many of the standard magazines of the country.
On the 20th of December, 1855, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Sloan and Miss Mary A. Raly, of Harrisonville, Mis- souri. She was born in Kentucky, and died in Cass county, Missouri, April 9, 1887, at
the age of forty-nine years. Her life was a noble one, characterized by deeds of kind- ness and mercy, by devotion to her family, and to the cause of right. To the Doctor and his wife were born six children, namely: Charles, a farmer of Knox county, Tennes- see; Sallie, wife of William Hoggsitt, of Kansas City; Robert T., who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Kansas City; Roland, a fruit-farmer of Howell county, Missouri; Alfred, also a fruit-grower of Howell county; and Alice, at home.
In his social relations the Doctor is a Mason. He joined that order in Harrison- ville in 1855, and has since been active in the work of the lodge and cliapter of Kan- sas City. His life has been marked by con- scientious fidelity to duty, by devotion to what he believed to be right, and both in so- cial and professional circles he occupies a most enviable position.
A LOUIS MICHAELS, A. M., M. D., a physician and surgeon of fifteen years' successful practice in Kansas City, was born in La Salle county, Illinois, August 25, 1854. His parents, Newton and Evaline (Mathis) Michaels, were born in Ohio, of German ancestry. The father was a stock dealer and farmer who was very successful in busi- ness and a prominent man of his county. He was a pioneer in Illinois, settling in La Salle county in 1830, previous to the Indian troubles that broke out soon after and led by the noted chieftain, Black Hawk. Sub- sequently he removed to Kansas, where he died in 1881. Of his family of eight chil- dren, our subject is the eldest.
He was reared in his native county till fourteen years of age, receiving elementary
Henry Topping
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instruction in the common schools and later in a private school at home. He subse- quently attended the normal school at Val- paraiso, Indiana, where he graduated in 1872, becoming at once an adjunct pro- fessor of natural sciences, which position he filled for two years. He then entered med- ical college at Louisville, Kentucky, where he took a course of study; and subsequently he entered the Starling Medical College, at Columbus, Ohio, at which he graduated in ISSI. Proceeding to Kansas City, he be- gan practicing, and became police surgeon -a position he filled three years. In 1894 he was appointed professor of diseases of women and electro-therapeutics in the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, of Kansas City, Kansas, being also a trustee of said college. He enjoys a large general practice and has an acknowledged standing in the profession. He is a surgeon of company A, Veterans, and examiner for the Provident Bankers' association.
In Masonry he has reached the thirty- second degree. His reading has been wide of scope and great thoroughness, not alto- gether in the line of his profession but em- bracing a careful research into the various sciences, literature, etc. In mineralogy he is practically interested, and among his treasures is a large cabinet of carefully se- lected ore specimens, which he has been years in collecting.
His marriage to Miss Z. L. Grayson, a native of Alabama, was consummated in 1882. They have two children: Emma E. and A. Louis, Jr. He and his estimable wife are members of the Episcopal church, and take a prominent part in the social and charitable work of the church.
Doctor Michaels ably represents what may be accomplished in getting on in the
world with no other aid than one's own efforts. At the age of fourteen years he became dependent upon his own resources, and without the assistance of a dollar he persistently worked his way through school and college, defraying his expenses with money earned by performing odd jobs at intervals. Courage and a willingness to do with all his might whatever his hand found to do has carried him to success and fortune. He is a gentleman of perfect physical de- velopment and sound health, is of cour- teous manner and address and of a pleasing, striking personality.
ENRY TOPPING, a retired attor- ney and civil engineer, who is numbered among Kansas City's leading residents, was born in Rochester, New York, October 30, 1835. His childhood and youth, however, were passed in Ohio, his early boyhood being spent in Ravenna, while later he lived in Cleveland. His father, Alexander Topping, was reared on a farm in Dutchess county, New York, but, being possessed of natural mechanical ability, upon his removal to Rochester he took up the carpenter's trade and afterward that of gunsmith. He mar- ried Lucy Cleveland Ward, a native of Poultney, Vermont. Henry attended the common schools for a time, but afterward entered a private school and took a course in civil engineering in Cleveland. Subse- quently he engaged in railroad work-except the summer of 1855 spent in mining engin- eering in the copper mines on Lake Superior -from 1853 until 1858. He assisted in the original survey and in the construction of the river division of the Cleveland & Pitts-
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A MEMORIAL RECORD OF KANSAS CITY
burg railroad, having charge of a portion of this line.
Mr. Topping started out in this line of business when a boy of seventeen in the humble position of rodman, but his ability won him rapid promotion until he was ad- vanced to the position of assistant engineer, and as such he had superintendence of the construction of fourteen miles of road. He had at this time not yet passed his twentieth birthday. He was a close student and lover of mathematics and the sciences, and was especially proficient along those lines. This naturally led him to engage in the work of civil engineering. After his marriage in 1857, and partly owing to the panic of that year and the consequent stoppage of public works, he took up the study of law in St. Clairsville, Ohio. His thorough research and steady application fitted him for admis- sion to the bar in 1859, and he at once en- tered into practice, in connection with his former preceptor, with whom he remained for two years, or until the outbreak of the war, which changed the current of his life like that of many others.
In October, 1861, Mr. Topping was ap- pointed by Governor Dennison, of Ohio, as adjutant of the third battalion, first Ohio cavalry. Later he was made regimental adjutant, and served with General Buell's army in Kentucky and Tennessee, and was in General Thomas' division, which acted as reserve for General Buell's army at Shiloh. He remained with his command until after the occupation of Corinth, when General Halleck, who was in command, ordered all staff officers to the cavalry and artillery not company lieutenants, -holding such ap- pointments unauthorized by the army regu- lations, -to be mustered out. This order included Lieutenant Topping, and in June,
1862, at Paducah, Kentucky, he was honor- ably discharged. He was at once, however, attached to the engineers' corps as a civilian assistant engineer on topographical work. He was at first connected with General Rosecrans' command, and later was sent to the Shenandoah valley, in Virginia, where he was mainly engaged in making surveys for military maps. In the summer and fall of 1862 he was with Rosecrans at the battles of Iuka and Corinth, and in the winter of 1862-3 was with Grant's army in Mississippi and Tennessee. He accompanied Colonel Dickey, Grant's chief of cavalry, in the raid on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, and after- ward served in West Virginia, participating in Crook's and Averell's raids and engage- ments in that state, receiving special men- tion for valuable service at the battles of Droop mountain, Moorfield and on Averell's raid on the Virginia & Tennessee railroad in the winter of 1863-4. When the war closed he was in the Kanawha valley, in West Virginia.
During the year succeeding Mr. Topping was employed as engineer by the Averell Coal & Oil Company of New York, opening coal mines, building railroads, etc., in the Kanawha valley. In the spring of 1866 he came to Kansas City, and has since been prominently identified with its interests. Here he embarked in the grocery trade, which he carried on for two years, when he removed to his present farm, a mile and a quarter east of the corporation limits. Since 1869 he has been extensively and success- fully engaged in fruit-growing. In connec- tion with his brother-in-law, W. H. Tall- man, of Wheeling, Virginia, he purchased the farm of Judge Boarman, who had largely planted it with fruit. It comprised eighty acres and was bounded on the north by
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Twelfth street and south by Eighteenth street. After cultivating the entire amount for seventeen years, in 1886, Mr. Topping sold a portion of the place, and has platted the remainder, calling it "Belmont Heights." He has opened streets and made other im- provements, and this is now a desirable building site.
In his political views, Mr. Topping is a stalwart republican, who maintains a deep interest in all public affairs, and is thoroughly well informed on all questions of the day. He has made a special study of one of the most engrossing questions of the present,- the money question,-and an open letter from his pen, published in the New York Tribune, sets forth the question in a some- what new light, and ably demonstrates the result of his careful investigation. Mr. Topping wrote:
"I have just read Mr. Horr's article en- titled 'Honest Dollars' in the Tribune. Like everything from his pen, it is earnest, honest, clear, concise and convincing, and I agree with every word except those para- graphs conceding the quality of honesty to the ‘greenback dollar.'
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