THOMAS C. TREAT.
Thomas C. Treat, who is engaged in the investment brokerage business in Atchison, is one of the extensive land owners of Atchison county. Mr. Treat is a native of Atchison county, born March 26, 1865, and is a son of Levi S. and Mary D. (Cooper) Treat, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of England. Mary D. Cooper was born in Exeter, Devonshire, England, and was a daughter of Thomas and Mary A. Cooper. The Cooper family immigrated to America when Mary D. was a child. The family consisted of the parents and three children. They made the trip across the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, the voyage taking six weeks. They located at Covington, Ky., where the parents spent their lives. Mary D. Cooper had friends living in Atchison, and came here in 1857, where she later met and married Levi S. Treat. Levi S. Treat was born in Connecticut in 1814, and was a son of Amos Treat, who removed with his family to the Western Reserve, which comprised twelve counties in northeastern Ohio. The Treat family located in that section in 1828, when Levi S. was fourteen years old, and there the parents spent the remainder of their lives.
When a young man, Levi S. Treat was in the employ of the Government, prospecting for copper in the Lake Superior region. He was thus engaged for eight or ten years, and in 1856 came to Atchison county, Kansas. Shortly after arriving here, he preëmpted 160 acres of land, part of which is now included within the city limits of Atchison. Here he followed farming and fruit growing in the early days and prospered and acquired considerable land. He dealt quite extensively in real estate and was one of the early promoters of Atchison, and built the first brick business house in that city. This building was located two doors east of the Byrum Hotel. Levi S. Treat was a successful business man and one of the substantial citizens of Atchison county. During the Civil war he was a colonel of the Twelfth regiment, Kansas militia. He died April 13, 1881, and his wife survived him for several years, passing away March 29, 1913. They were the parents of six children, as follows: Kate married Samuel K. Woodworth, and they reside in California; Frank resides in Arizona; Thomas C., the subject of this sketch; Alice married George Guerrier, of Atchison, Kan.; Grace married William Berry, of Atchison, Kan., and Ethel married Harry McDuff, of Omaha, Neb.
Thomas C. Treat was reared in Atchison and educated in the public schools, and later attended St. Benedict’s College. He then was engaged in fruit growing for a number of years, and in 1889 engaged in the investment and brokerage business in Atchison, and has continued in that business to the present time. Mr. Treat owns over 1,100 acres of land besides various other interests and investments. He is one of the pioneer fruit growers of Atchison county, and owns a fifty-acre fruit farm, which has few equals, if any, in the State of Kansas. The trees on this place are about fifteen years old, and, under normal conditions, are very productive. Mr. Treat has made an extensive study of the fruit business and has developed a scientific system of treating his trees. He was the first fruit man in Atchison county to use the spray method, and he has been very successful in the fruit business.
Mr. Treat was one of the organizers of the Union Trust Company, which was later merged into the Exchange State Bank, and has been a director, or other officer, in that institution since its organization. He is also a stockholder in the Exchange State Bank. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is one of the progressive and public spirited citizens of Atchison county.