Biographical Sketch of Casper W. Shreve, Doniphan County, KSGenWeb Digital Library

KSGenWeb - The Primary Source for Kansas Genealogy

KSGenWeb Digital Library

Biographical Sketch
of
Casper W. Shreve
Doniphan County, Kansas

Page Design, HTML Coding and Layout - Copyright©1998- by Kenneth Thomas, All Rights Reserved.
The KSGenWeb Project logo Copyright©1996- by Tom & Carolyn Ward, All Rights Reserved.
For the limited use of the KSGenWeb Project. Permission is granted for use only on an Official KSGenWeb Project page.
The Official USGenWeb Project logo designed by Linda Cole.

The following transcription is from a 750 page book titled "Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas, dated 1900. These have been diligently transcribed and generously contributed by Penny R. Harrell, please give her a very big Thank You for her hard work!

Casper W. Shreve

The period of Mr. Shreve's connection with White Cloud covers its entire history, and during that time he has aided so largely in its growth and upbuilding that he is regarded as one of its most prominent and influential citizens. He is now devoting his energies to the drug business in White Cloud, where his enterprise, keen discrimination and determined purpose have enabled him a secure a liberal patronage.

Mr. Shreve was born in Deerfield, Portage county, Ohio, January 31, 1833, and is a son of Thomas C. and Anna G. (Coates) Shreve, both of whom are natives of Pennsylvania. The great grand-father, Colonel Israel Shreve, of New Jersey, won his title in the war for independence. He was one of Washington's favorite officers during the New Jersey campaign and commanded a regiment under General Charles Lee when he made the retreat at Monmouth, for which Washington so strongly censured him and which led to Lee's retirement from the army.

Colonel Shreve assisted in rallying the retreating troops and in retrieving the fortunes of the day. John Shreve, the grandfather of our subject, was also a native of New Jersey and loyally served in the Revolutionary War. The family is Holland lineage. Thomas C. Shreve became a physician and practiced medicine for fifty-five years. From Portage county, Ohio, he removed to Stark county, locating in Massillon, where he remained until 1856, when he came to Doniphan county, taking up his residence in White Cloud.

Here he engaged in the active practice of his profession until a short time before his death, which occurred September 2, 1878, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His wife, who was born in 1802, survived him for a number of years and passed away in White Cloud, in April, 1897. She was a daughter of Isaac C. and Mary (Gilbert) Coates.

Casper W. Shreve spent his boyhood days in Massillon, Ohio, where he attended the public schools, completing his literary course in the high school at that place. After putting aside his text books he became a civil engineer and a member of the corps employed in making a preliminary survey on the Cleveland, Zanesville & Cincinnati Railroad, remaining on the road during its construction to Millersburg, Holmes county.

Later he was associated with John Waddle on the preliminary survey of what was then called the Ohio & Atlantic Railroad, of which company William Neil, of Columbus, was the president. He was also with General De Hass on the preliminary survey of the Cleveland & Mahoning Valley Railroad. In the spring of 1855 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, in the employment of the government to survey lands and assist in running the third, fourth and fifth parallels, the sixth principal meridian and guide meridian north from the third parallel, taking up the survey on that parallel and at a point where Colonel Manners and his party had been driven off by the Pawnee Indians.

The village of the tribe was then located south of the Platte river and almost south of where the town of Fremont now stands. The Pawnees were at that time quite savage, but Mr. Shreve and his party sustained no injury at their hands and held several love feasts with them. While in Omaha Mr. Shreve was one of five persons who met in General Larimer's parlor in that city for the purpose of organizing the Republican party in Nebraska.

In the spring of 1858 our subject came to White Cloud for the purpose of surveying a town site for which he and the late Henry F. Marcy had a contract. Previous to that time but a small portion of the town site had been surveyed and platted, and with the development and improvement of the place Mr. Shreve has been actively identified.

Soon after his arrival here he embarked in the drug trade and now carries an excellent stock of drugs and medicines, together with everything found in a first-class establishment of this kind. He has built up a good trade and his success is a logical result of his earnest efforts. In connection with his drug business he now owns 100 acres of land, of which fifteen acres lie within the corporate limits of White Cloud.

On the 20th of September, 1883, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Shreve and Miss Dora Utt, of White Cloud, Kansas, and to them have been born four children, two sons and two daughters, namely: Anna, Priscilla, Charles W. and John Donald. Mr. Shreve has frequently been called to public office, and no trust reposed in him has ever been betrayed in the slightest degree.

For the past twenty-five years he has served as a member of the School Board of White Cloud, and his labors have been most effective in promoting the cause of education here. He was also appointed United States commissioner and held the position for twenty years. He was a delegate to the first Republican convention in Doniphan county and has ever been a stanch advocate of the grand old party that went to the defense of the Union in the Civil War and has ever sustained American institutions and industries and now advocates colonial extension.

Socially he is connected with White Cloud Lodge, No. 78, F. & A. M., and also belongs to the Odd Fellows Society. For forty-two years he has been a resident here and at all times has commanded the public respect and confidence, for the record of his life is an open book, inviting closest scrutiny.

Last update: Friday, August 02, 2024 18:22:22

The Digital Library of the KSGenWeb is a non-commercial entity dedicated to free access to records of genealogical value. All documents contained herein may be freely copied for personal and library use, as long as the KSGenWeb Statement of Use remains attached. These records may not be published in any format, including electronic (web pages or CD's) and print, without prior written consent of the contributor. In order to insure continued free access, violators of this policy will be vigorously pursued.

We invite all contributions of transcribed records with genealogical value. This could range from wills and letters from your personal family records to indexes of your county's marriage records. There are many, many more examples, of course. Anything you have that you are willing to contribute will be gratefully accepted. .

We also accept any non-copyrighted printed materials that you have access to and would like to see transcribed and placed on-line. If the material is copyrighted and you are the copyright holder, please include written permission for use by The KSGenWeb Digital Library.

KSGENWEB DIGITAL LIBRARY PAGE
KSGENWEB HOME PAGE