History of Atchison County, Kansas

by Sheffield Ingalls

JOHN M. PRICE.

John M. Price, deputy county treasurer, farmer and stockman, of Mt. Pleasant township, Atchison county, is a native born Kansan, and son of John M. Price, deceased, who was one of the most distinguished members of the Kansas bar, and who practiced his profession in the city of Atchison for forty years.

John M. Price, the father, was born in Richmond, Madison county, Kentucky, in October, 1829, a son of Thomas S. and Sarah (Jarman) Price. His paternal grandfather was Moses M. Price, and his maternal grandfather was John Jarman. Moses M. married Catherine Broadus, and John Jarman married Elizabeth Broadus, the two women being distant relatives. Moses M. Price and wife were both natives of Virginia, and removed to Madison county, Kentucky, in the early part of the nineteenth century, with their respective parents. After his marriage in Kentucky, Moses M. made his home in Estill county, Kentucky. He was the father of ten children, the fourth of whom was Thomas M. Price, father of John M., the elder, and who married Sarah Jarman in 1828. Sarah (Jarman) Price was a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Broadus) Jarman. This marriage was blessed with three children: Thomas E., John M., and Mary W. The mother died in 1836, and in 1838 Thomas M. Price married Miss Elizabeth Combs, of Clark county, Kentucky, and the following fall removed to a home in Johnson county, Missouri. From Johnson county he removed to Pettis county, Missouri, and farmed there until 1845, after which he returned to Estill county, Kentucky. In 1853 Thomas S. and family started for Texas, where he resided until his demise at Mt. Pleasant, Titus county, in 1857.

John M. Price, father of the present deputy county treasurer, returned from Missouri to Kentucky with his father, and remained at the home of his uncle, Morgan M. Price, whom he assisted in his farm work, and also attended school at Irvine, the county seat of Estill county. In 1845 and 1846 he was employed in a drygoods store at Irvine, and in the fall of 1847 he accepted a home with Col. Walter Chiles, a prominent lawyer and politician of Mt. Sterling, Ky., who had married Jane Price, an aunt of John M. Price. After attending school in the fall and winter, Mr. Price became a clerk in the office of the county clerk of Montgomery county, Kentucky. While performing his duties in the county clerk’s office he read law in the office of Colonel Chiles and was admitted to the practice of his profession in March, 1848. He first opened a law office at Irvine, and in 1851 was elected county attorney of Estill county; reëlected in 1855, and continued to serve until July, 1858, when he resigned in order to remove to Kansas. He determined on Atchison as his future abiding place, and accordingly, located in this city September 1, 1858.

Kansas was then a territory, and for forty-one years of the development of the State, Mr. Price was an important factor in promoting its interests and welfare. He soon built up an extensive law practice in the growing city of the great bend on the Missouri, and took an active and influential part in political affairs, allying himself with the newly formed Republican party. He early identified himself with the controlling organization of his party, and for twenty years prior to his demise he was a delegate to every Republican county convention, and to many State conventions. In 1859, when Judge Otis resigned the office of county attorney, Mr. Price was appointed to fill the vacancy by the board of county commissioners, and served until Kansas was admitted into the Union, when he was nominated and elected to the office at the first general election under the State constitution. In 1861 he was elected police judge of the city and re-elected in 1862 and 1863. He was elected a member of the city council in 1864 and served for three years in succession as a member of that body. He was elected mayor of the city without opposition in 1867. In the fall of 1866 he was elected State senator from Atchison county for a two years’ term, and while serving as State senator he was appointed by Governor Crawford as one of the commissioners to revise the general laws of the State. Mr. Price was chairman of the commission, which was composed of himself, Samuel A. Riggs, of Lawrence, and James McCahon, of Leavenworth. The revision thus made was adopted by the legislature without much amendment, and the general statutes of 1868 were printed and published during that year under the supervision of this commission. In the same year Mr. Price was made chairman of the judiciary committee of the senate, to which body he was reëlected in 1870, and served during the sessions of 1871 and 1872, and on the organization of the senate, he was chosen president of the body. He was a candidate for governor of the State before the Republican convention in the fall of 1872, and was a leading candidate until the tenth and last ballot, when all the opposing candidates threw their support to Thomas A. Osborne. In the memorable contest for the United States senatorship in 1873, Mr. Price’s friends presented him as a candidate before the anti-Pomeroy caucus, and for the first nineteen ballots Mr. Price was the leading candidate, and then John J. Ingalls was chosen by the convention on a unanimous vote. In 1892 he was again elected to the State senate and served in the memorable sessions of 1893 and 1895.

On January 10, 1854, John M. Price was married in Irvine, Ky., to Eliza Jarman Park, the only daughter of Elihu and Mary Park. This marriage was blessed with the following children: Mollie F., born in Irvine, October 12, 1854, married Charles B. Singleton, of Atchison, for twenty-seven years assistant postmaster, and now bookkeeper for the Exchange National Bank; Nannie B., born in Irvine August 28, 1856, wife of F. L. Vandergrift, editor of the Santa Fe publications, Kansas City, Mo.; John M. died in January, 1875; John M., Jr., with whom this review is directly concerned, and Eliza P. The mother of these children was born in Irvine, Ky., August 22, 1832, and resides at present in Kansas City, Mo.

John M. Price, Sr., died October 19, 1898. He was one of the distinguished Masons of Kansas. He served as the grand high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Kansas, and was secretary of that body: he was president of the council of the Holy Order of High Priesthood; grand treasurer of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the State; also president of the Kansas Masons’ Protective Association; was a thirty-second degree Mason, and a member of Medina Temple, No. 31, of the Mystic Shrine, and was also a member of Shiloh Conclave, No. 1, Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine, Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, and Knights of St. John the Evangelist. He served one term as grand master of the most worthy grand lodge of the Odd Fellows, and was twice elected a grand representative to the grand lodge of the United States. He served one term as grand chancellor of the grand lodge, and of the Knights of Pythias was the supreme representative to the supreme lodge of the world for four years. He was the grand master workman of the grand lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Kansas; was a member of the grand lodge of the Knights of Honor, served as assistant director, and as president of the Atchison lodge of the Independent Order of Mutual Aid. For years a distinguished and able member of the legal profession, he was one of the most respected and useful citizens of Atchison and the State of Kansas.

John M. Price, whose career naturally follows that of his distinguished parent, was born March 27, 1876, in Atchison. He was educated in the public schools, and graduated from Midland College in 1894. After completing the course in Midland College, he entered Wittenberg University, at Springfield, Ohio, and was graduated from that institution in 1897, with the degree of Master of Arts. For some time he was engaged in the profession of teaching, and was assistant professor of chemistry and physics at Midland College from 1894 until 1895. For two years he filled the post of buyer at the Kansas State penitentiary, at Lansing, and then located on his farm in Mt. Pleasant township, near the city of Atchison. He followed farming and stock raising with success. He was appointed deputy county treasurer under U. B. Sharpless in the fall of 1915, and is now filling the duties of his office faithfully and conscientiously.

Mr. Price was married August 12, 1903, to Miss Fan Ballew, who has borne him one child, Jane Ballew Price, born June 2, 1911. Mrs. Price was born in Madison county, Kentucky, March 19, 1885, a daughter of George W. and Jennie (Francis) Ballew, both of whom were descended from old Kentucky families It is a matter of history that the grandfather of Mrs. Price, Francis, by name, owned the slaves which escaped from the Kentucky plantation across the Ohio river, and from whom the character, Eliza, in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was taken.

Undoubtedly, John M. Price is one of the rising young men of Atchison county, who is at the beginning of a career which is destined to reflect credit upon the memory of his illustrious father. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is the present exalted ruler of that body, and is a prominent member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Fraternal Aid Union.