John Lloyd

JOHN LLOYD has been in the dairy business for almost a quarter of a century, and it is only natural that he should be regarded as an authority on all matters pertaining to the business which he has followed for so many years. He is known throughout Wyandotte county as an industrious, upright man, and that he has succeeded is due entirely to his own efforts, for he was thrown on his own resources at a very early age.

John Lloyd is a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was born in 1856. His father, John Lloyd, is of English birth, but of Welsh descent. He was educated in his native country, where he married and the couple immigrated to America soon after their marriage, Mr. Lloyd being engaged at the machinist trade. In 1864 he moved to Steubenville, Ohio, and in 1884 he came to Jackson county, Missouri, and the following year he rented a farm in Wyandotte county, John Lloyd, Sr., devoted most of his time to fruit farming, and was very successful in that line of agriculture. He remained in that business until he died, in 1900. Of the five children who were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Lloyd, Sr., only two are living now, John, Jr., and his sister, Rebecca, who is married to Mr. John Ashbach and lives at Coffeeville, Kansas. Mr. Lloyd was married a second time to Caroline Young, and they had no children of their own, but they took a boy into their home when he was but two weeks old, naming him Robert Lloyd, and have treated him as an own son.

John Lloyd, Jr., spent the first eight years of his life in Wheeling, West Virginia, and there he attended the public school, but his education was only just started when the family moved to Steubenville, Ohio, and it was deemed necessary for the lad to go to work, and assist in the support of the family, inasmuch as he, like many boys, did not want to go to school. He gained employment in a nail factory, before the child labor law had been passed, and from that time until the present day he had no more regular schooling, but he has picked up a great deal of useful information as he has journeyed through life. He had the misfortune to be deprived of a mother's care at the age of twelve, but he has nevertheless lived a good, wholesome life, although for many years it was a hard one. From the time he was eight years old until he had attained his thirty-second year he went from one employment to another, until he felt that the one thing he wanted was to live close to nature and engage in agricultural pursuits. His father had recently secured a farm in Wyandotte county, and there the young man went and started a dairy business, beginning in a very modest way. He now has ten to fifteen cows, which are all high grade animals, and he keeps them in perfect condition. His sheds are absolutely sanitary and up-to-date, and he sells all of his milk in Kansas City, Missouri, so that it has no chance to become sour during its shipment. He lives on a farm near where his father raised so much fruit, but he himself expends all of his energies on his dairy and the feeding of his cows.

Mr. Lloyd married Miss Mary Ann Watson, who was born in New York state, the daughter of Alexander and Mary (Hodgkins) Watson. Mr. Watson cannot claim any state as his birthplace, as he was born on a ship near Maine, while his wife was born in Massachusetts. The couple are now living a retired life in Rosedale, where they can see their daughter and her two children, Anna Elizabeth and Richard, both of whom are on the farm with their parents. Mr. Lloyd has never cared to subscribe to the platform of any political party, but he votes for the man he considers the best fitted for the office in question. He is greatly respected in the community, where he has resided for so long.