Jared C. Richcreek

JARED C. RICHCREEK, formerly probate judge of Labette county, Kansas, is now a lumber dealer of Oswego, and is well and favorably known throughout the county. He was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in 1845, and is a son of George W. and Eliza (Mansfield) Richcreek.

George W. Richcreek was born in Virginia, in 1812, and was a child of six years when he moved with his parents to Ohio, where he was reared and schooled. He took to the occupation of a farmer, and after a time moved to the vicinity of Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming until his death, in 1896, at the age of eighty-four years. His wife was Eliza Mansfield, who was born in 1822, and died in 1882. They were the parents of 11 children, as follows: Absalom; Mahala J.; Emily A. (Roller); Jared C., the subject of this sketch; Edward A.; Benjamin F.; Seth M.; Anna L. (Moore); Jesse; and Hiram and Howard, twins. Politically, George W. Richcreek was originally a Whig, and afterward a Republican. Religiously, he was a member of the Methodist church.

Jared C. Richcreek received his intellectual, training in the public schools of his native town, and afterward taught a few terms in Illinois. From 1869 until 1875 he was one of the superintendents of a farm of 45,000 acres. After this he moved to Strawn, Illinois, where he was engaged in the grain and lumber business for a period of five years. He sold out his interests there and settled in Labette county, Kansas, where he bought a farm in Montana township, and conducted it successfully for fourteen years. He followed general farming, and raised stock on an extensive scale. In 1894 he moved to Oswego, but still owns his original farm of 160 acres, and an additional tract of 80 acres. In the fall of 1894 he was elected, on the Republican ticket, judge of the probate court of Labette county, and served in a most creditable manner until the expiration of his term, January 2, 1897. He afterward purchased the Thompson Gunter lumber yard, and has since operated it successfully. He is a prosperous business man, and an enterprising and progressive citizen.

Judge Richcreek was united in marriage, in 1874, to Wilhelmina Kantauk, by whom he has five children: Emory H.; Alice; Jenavieve; Tecumseh S.; and Orville K. The subject of this sketch is a Republican, in politics, and served as justice of the peace while in Illinois.