Thomas E. Myers

THOMAS E. MYERS. - Energy, close application and good judgment have been the elements that have brought Mr. Myers definite success and gained to him a secure place as one of the representative business men of the metropolis of Wyandotte county, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances, and where he is known as a loyal and public spirited citizen.

Thomas Edward Myers was born in the city of Bloomington, Illinois, on the 1st of February, 1869, and is a son of Jacob J. and Nancy (Collyer) Myers, both of whom were natives of the state of Indiana and both of whom passed the closing years of their lives in Kansas, where the former died at the age of sixty-seven years, and the latter in 1879, when her son Thomas E., the fifth in order of birth of nine children, was a lad of eleven years. As a young man Jacob J. Myers went from his native state to Illinois, but he returned to Indiana and there engaged in agricultural pursuits until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he subordinated all other considerations to go forth as a soldier of the Union. He enlisted in the Thirty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in the military service of his country for four years, covering practically the entire period of the great conflict through which the integrity of the nation was perpetuated. He participated in many of the hard fought battles of the war and for nine months was held as a captive in old Libby prison, of odious memory. After the war he remained for a few years in Indiana and then removed to McLean county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1871, when he came to Kansas and located at Emporia, the judicial center of Lyon county, where he remained about one year. He then located on a homestead farm near that city and there he passed the residue of his life, which was marked by consecutive industry and by uprightness in all its relations. He was a stalwart Republican in politics, was a valued and appreciative member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife were consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Thomas E. Myers was a child of eighteen months at the time of the family removal from Illinois to Kansas and he was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in Lyon county, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of its public schools. His first independent work was in the capacity of a farm hand, and thereafter he was employed for about three years in a dry goods store at Hartford, Lyon county. In that village he then purchased a barber shop, in which he himself learned the trade, and to which he there continued to devote his attention until he came to Kansas City and engaged in the same line of business, at the corner of Osage avenue and Eighth street. Here he now has a fine shop, with the best modern equipment, and in the same he gives employment to four or five competent workmen. He owns the building in which his shop is located and also the building on the opposite corner. The latter he has improved with plate glass front and other accessories, and in the corner store of the same is located the drug store which he has owned and conducted since 1910. The adjoining store is given over to the uses of a dry goods establishment, with attractive appointments and comprehensive stock. This latter enterprise he established in 1905, and it may well be understood that in the supervision of his three flourishing business places he finds ample demand upon his time and attention.

Mr. Myers is essentially progressive and public spirited, as may well be inferred in the case of a man who has shown such energy and ability along business lines, and he has served since 1908 as a member of the board of directors of the Kansas Valley Drainage District, being secretary of the board and one of its most loyal and aggressive members. In a generic sense he gives allegiance to the Republican party, but in local affairs he holds himself independent of strict partisan lines. He is affiliated with Kansas Valley Lodge, No. 315, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and other civic organizations in his home city.

On the 10th of June, 1896, Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude M. Brown.