Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 1116 - 1117

 EDGAR J. DRAKE, one of the moneyed men of Sedgwick County, is a forcible illustration of the results of industry and perseverance. His property schedules probably over $300,000, and he is one of the extensive breeders of cattle and hogs in Wichita Township. His farm comprises 310 acres, finely located on section 4, and is valued at $1,000 per acre.

             Mr. Drake landed in the State of Kansas on the 9th of April, 1879, with his family and $26 in cash. He paid a month's rent in advance and then had left $2.70. His next business was to secure employment, and he accepted a position as clerk in the dry-goods store of George Myers, at Wichita, for the munificent salary of $40 per month. He remained with his first employer eight months, and then changed to the firm of Inness & Ross, with whom he remained six months. He was next with G. Y. Smith, of Kansas City, and remained in Wichita Township and secured possession of the land which he now owns: he also owned at one time the ground where the Citizen's Bank and the Elephant Livery Stable stand.

            Our subject, a native of the Empire State, was born in Ontario County, July 4, 1853. His parents, Carlton N. and Julia A. (Freer) Drake, were natives also of New York State. The father, born on the 26th of March, 1809, is still living, and a resident of Caledonia, N. Y., where he continues to carry on his business of carriage manufacturer. He is the possessor of a good property, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Masonic fraternity. The mother was born in Peoria, Ill., Oct. 23, 1833, and died in New York State in 1867.

             The maternal grandparents of our subject, John and Mary Freer, were early settlers of Peoria County, where the former is still living. He was born May 16, 1807, and his wife July 31, 1810. They were married March 27, 1826. Grandmother Freer died in 1876, at her home in East Bloomfield. N. Y., when sixty-six years of age. They were the parents of three children, one of whom, a son, was burned to death when five years of age, (luring one of the prairie fires of the early times. The other two were William A., living in New York State, and Julia A., who is deceased.

             Mr. Drake was one of the two sons born to his parents, and which completed the household circle. His brother, Clarence B., is a resident of Wichita. Our subject spent his boyhood and youth in his native county, and in 1878 migrated to Richmond, Ind., where, on the 24th of October, 1878, he was united in marriage with Miss Olivia S., daughter of Stephen C. and Rachel A. (Johnson) Mendenhall, who were natives respectively of Wayne County, Ind., and Paintersville, Greene Co., Ohio. Mrs. Drake was also born in Wayne County, Ind., at the town of Richmond, June 6, 1859, and was educated at the Friends' Boarding-School, at Providence, R. I., the school her mother attended. Of her union with our subject there were five children, namely: Carlton S., who died in childhood: Reuben, Edgar J., Jr.: Daisy, who died in infancy, and Lee W. Mrs. Drake was reared in the Society of Friends, to the faith of which she still loyally adheres. Mr. Drake is not connected with any religious denomination, but politically, affiliates with the Democratic party.

 Stephen C. Mendenhall, the father of Mrs. Drake, was born at Washington, Ind., Nov. 25, 1828, and departed this life Nov. 3, 1887, in a private ward of a Cincinnati hospital, where he was provided with the most skillful surgeons and attendants which money could procure. He was the eldest child of James and Milicent Mendenhall, who for more than sixty years traveled together the journey of life, and whose pure and simple character gained for them the deepest respect of all who knew them. They survive their gifted son, and are still residents of Richmond, Ind.

             Mr. Mendenhall was the eldest of eight children, two brothers and five sisters, all of whom survive with the exception of one sister, Mrs. Susan Howell, who passed to her reward in August, 1879. Stephen C. at an early age was recognized as an unusually bright and thoughtful boy, and was one of the first students of Earlham College. In order to enter this institution of learning he followed the tanner's trade, and also cut wood on the ground in front of the college to assist in paying his expenses. He developed as a teacher subsequently and also as an inventor, and engaged in the business of making and selling articles of various kinds upon which he had secured a patent. Of these it is probable that he took out more than 100. In this direction lay most of his success in life, as when he attempted other things the results were far less satisfactory.

             Mr. Mendenhall was first married in 1854, to Miss Rachel Johnson, the mother of Mrs. Drake, and to them were born two sons and three daughters, all surviving with the exception of one son who died in early childhood. Mrs. Rachel Mendenhall departed this life Feb. 17, 1876, after a lingering illness, in the triumphs of a Christian faith. Mr. Mendenhall, in the year 1878, was married o Miss Alice A. Vining, of LaPorte, Ind. In the varied experiences of a changeful life, Mr. Mendenhall nobly maintained the character of a rue Christian, and was a devoted adherent of the Church of his fathers—the Society of Friends. He, however, always manifested a spirit of liberality to other denominations, and took a very active part in the erection of the South Eighth Street Friends' Church, and in the revival of 1869 was an active worker. He was charitable and generous, and in time of misfortune exhibited the true Christian spirit of patience and resignation. By the people who knew him best he was held in the warmest regard, and in his death the community lost one of its most valued and useful members.

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