William H. Daniels

WILLIAM H. DANIELS. - Wyandotte county, Kansas, figures as one of the most attractive, progressive and prosperous divisions of the state, justly claiming a high order of citizenship and a spirit of enterprise which is certain to conserve consecutive development and marked advancement in the material upbuilding of this section. The county has been and is signally favored in the class of men who have contributed to its development along commercial and business lines, and in the latter connection the subject of this review demands recognition, as he has long been identified with business interests of broad scope and importance in Kansas City, Kansas. He is engaged in the livery and undertaking business and his methods demonstrate the power of activity and honesty in the business world.

William H. Daniels was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on the 23d of October, 1864, and he is a son of Richard and Bridget (Comfort) Daniels, both of whom were natives of Ireland, the former having been born in county Tipperary and the latter in county Kilkenny. The father was summoned to the life eternal in 1903, at seventy-five years of age, and the mother passed into the Great Beyond on the 13th of May, 1910, when past her eightieth year. Richard Daniels immigrated to America from his native land in the early '40s, and after arriving in the United States he located in the state of Indiana, whence he later removed to Kansas City, Missouri. Subsequently he settled in Johnson county, Kansas, where he was identified with the great basic industry of agriculture during the remainder of his active career. He passed the closing years of his life in Kansas City, Kansas. He was a stanch adherent of the principles and policies promulgated by the Democratic party in his political affiliations and religiously he was a devout communicant of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels were the parents of eleven children, eight of whom are living at the present time (1911) and of whom the subject of this review was the fifth in order of birth.

Reared to the invigorating discipline of his father's farm in Johnson county, Kansas, Mr. Daniels waxed strong in connection with the work and management thereof and his early educational training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools. Later he attended school in Kansas City, Kansas, and in 1886 he engaged in the livery and undertaking business in this place. He has continued to be identified with those lines of enterprise during the intervening years to the present time and his well conducted establishments cater to the best trade in the city. For a period of three and a half years Mr. Daniels served with all of efficiency on the police and fire commission of Kansas City and in 1905 he was elected one of the commissioners on the Kaw Valley Drainage district of Wyandotte county. In 1908 he was honored by his fellow servitors with election to the office of president of the board of directors of the above commission and in that connection he acquitted himself with all of honor and distinction. In his political convictions he is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and while he has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of political office of any description, he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare. He is decidedly loyal and public-spirited as a citizen and he ranks as one of the most prominent business men in Kansas City, where he is everywhere accorded the highest confidence and esteem by all with whom he has come in contact.

Mr. Daniels stands high in fraternal orders in this section of the state and he is a valued and appreciative member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he is connected with Wyandotte Lodge, No. 440; Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Fraternal Aid Association; Royal Order of Moose; and Wyandotte Aerie, No. 87, Fraternal Order of Eagles. His religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Catholic church, to whose charities and benevolences he has ever been a most liberal contributor. He is a man of fine mentality and broad human sympathy. His life has been exemplary in all respects and he has ever supported those interests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, while his own high moral worth is deserving of the highest commendation. Mr. Daniels is unmarried.