After attending the country school near his Illinois home, Drennan attended Hedding College at Abingdon and later went to business college at Chicago. But he was a natural born stockman and could not resist the lure. So he went back to his father and joined him in the livestock business and became associated with his father in the breeding of Shorthorn cattle under the firm name of J. W. Dawdy & Son. In the latter part of 1889 he and Walter Latimer purchased the entire herd of cattle known as the Shannon Hill herd owned by the late Ex-Governor George W. Glick, of Atchison, Kan. This herd was the largest collection of pure Bates cattle in America at that time, and were dispersed by D. L. Dawdy & Co., at auction in Kansas City, Mo., April 11–12, 1900, the ninety-one head bringing a total of $20,460, which was considered a remarkable sale for an entire herd, which included a number of aged cows, the general average of the sale being $225 per head with a top price of $800 for the “Second Dutchess” of Atchison, the buyer of whom was the late W. R. Nelson, of the Kansas City Star. Mr. Nelson bought fifteen head of cattle at this sale at an average price of $415 per head. In June of the same year this firm bought the entire herd of Scotch and Scotch topped Shorthorns of J. T. Kinmouth & Son, Columbus Junction, Iowa, paying $11,000 cash for the 100 head. This was one of the most notable private deals in registered cattle of recent years. In 1901 they bought sixty-five head of registered cattle in one lot. D. L. Dawdy & Co. have made many successful sales both private and public. In 1899 Mr. Dawdy came to Atchison county, Kansas, and took charge of the George W. Glick farms, near Atchison, Kan. This position gave him charge of a herd of registered Shorthorns. In 1901 he bought the farm which he now owns, consisting of 405 acres, lying one-half mile north of Arrington, Kan. On this place he has devoted himself to the breeding of fine cattle and has made that his principal work. His exhibits have taken high honors at the stock shows in Kansas City and Chicago. A number of years ago he bought “Sunshine,” a fine cow in the herd owned by Senator W. A. Harris, paying $225 for her. Four of her calves have brought him $1,365. He has owned three cows which sold for $800 each, and in 1902 he sold thirty head of cattle at $266.66 each.
On May 15, 1901, Mr. Dawdy married Nellie B. Prim, who was born on a farm near Atchison, Kan., April 3, 1881. Her father, Charles S. Prim, was a native of Tennessee, while the mother, Sophia (Christian) Prim, came from the Isle of Man. Both parents are now dead. Mr. and Mrs. Dawdy have four children, all of whom are living at home: Ruth, John, Helen and Glenn. Two died in infancy. Mrs. Dawdy carries her husband’s hobbies into the domestic end of the farm. She makes a specialty of raising fine turkeys, raising the bronze variety. She sells eggs from her turkeys for fifty cents apiece, and often gets as high as $7.50 for a turkey. She saved $150 from the sale of eggs and bought a Shorthorn calf which is worth $300 today. Mr. Dawdy is working to make his home an ideal country place. His house is on one of the finest locations in the county. By installing 15,000 feet of drainage, at a cost of $1,200, he has reclaimed fifty-two acres of soil, which previous owners of the place had thought to be too wet to cultivate, but since installing the drainage system Mr. Dawdy has raised annually fine crops of corn and wheat on it. The Delaware has a habit of overflowing and Mr. Dawdy was one of the first farmers to suggest the organization of County Drainage District, Number One, comprising 8,300 acres, and is nine miles in length as the crow flies, while the Delaware river course is at present nineteen and one-half miles, and the drainage system shortens the run seven and one-half miles, doubles the velocity of the stream and increases its carrying capacity four and one-half times. The expense or total cost of the ditch will be $100,000 and will increase land values tremendously. Mr. Dawdy is one of the directors of the enterprise. Mr. Dawdy owns 405½ acres of land which has a fine large residence on it. The location is one of the most beautiful in Atchison county. On a clear day Horton, fifteen miles north, can be plainly seen; Holton looms up twelve miles west, Muscotah, seven miles north, Valley Falls, twelve miles southeast, Larkin, two and a half miles west, and Arrington, one-half mile south. Mr. Dawdy has a complete set of volumes of American herd books, and knows the pedigree of every animal on his place. He is a member of the American Shorthorn Breeders’ Association of Chicago, and knows the latest facts about the cattle business. His home is highly improved with silos and drainage facilities. He is a Democrat in politics and a member of the district school board and the drainage district No. 1, of Atchison county, Kansas. He belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Muscotah.
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.