Wyandotte County Biographies
"Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas--Historical and Biographical"
Goodspeed Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890
Theodore Teepen, grocer. Among those prominently identified
with the retail grocery trade at Kansas City, Kas., is Mr. Teepen, who
opened his establishment some five years ago, and during the period
that has since elapsed, a large trade has been built up which is constantly increasing. He was born in Lingen, Prussia, April 2, 1844, to
Theodore and Sene Teepen who spent their entire lives in Prussia.
The father was a blacksmith by trade and this calling he followed all
his life with the exception of seven years which were spent in the
German military service. The father of these children died in 1858
and the mother in 1875, their children being as follows: Jacob, Gerhard, Hermann, Barney, Sene and Theodore. Hermann, Barney and
Theodore are the only ones now living, the first named being a resident
of his native land, and the two latter of Kansas City, Kas. Theodore
Teepen attended school in bis native land until he was fourteen years
of age, and as soon as he became old enough, when not in school, he
assisted his father in the blacksmith shop. After the father's death,
which occurred about the time Theodore left school, he began working
as a journeyman at blacksmithing, and this occupation continued to
follow until he reached the age of twenty-one. In 1866 he went to
Holland, where he followed his trade for nearly a year, but in the
spring of 1867 he started for America, crossing the English Channel to
Hull, England, and there boarding a train for Liverpool, at which place
he embarked for the United States. In due season he landed at New
York City, and at once started for the West, but stopped when he
reached Cincinnati, Ohio, where, for three years, he was employed as
a car inspector. In the spring of 1870 he came to Kansas and located
in Wyandotte, which place has been his home ever since. He continued
in the capacity of car inspector for about fifteen years, being in the
employ of the Kansas Pacific road seven years, and the Union Pacific
eight years. In June, 1885, he established a grocery store and meat-market at Nos. 813 and 813 Minnesota Avenue, and his entire attention has since been given to their management. By reason of his long
residence and wide acquaintance here before be engaged in business,
it took him only a short time to build up a good trade, and it has
steadily increased until he now has a first-class patronage. His place
of business embraces two departments, one of which contains a first-class stock of groceries and the other a clean and well conducted meat-market. Mr. Teepen's well established good citizenship, and his
desire to satisfy the public have made his place of business a popular
one. He is honorable in every worthy particular, a substantial citizen,
and he, his wife and family are among the most highly respected of
the German citizens of this place. Mary Puening who was born in
Prussia, January 25, 1850, became his wife on February 2, 1871.
She came, to America in 186S, and her union with Mr. Teepen has resulted in the birth of six children: Henry, Josephine, Theodore, Mary,
Aloysius and Anna. Josephine and Anna, only are living. Mr. and
Mrs. Teepen and daughters are members of the Catholic Church.
Mrs. Teepen's parents, William and Mary Elizabeth (Beckman) Puening, were native Germans, the former dying on February 1, 1863.
The latter is still living, as are also five of the six children she bore her
husband: Louisa, Mary, Caroline, Josephine and Anna. Frank died
in his fourteenth year. The father of Mrs. Teepen was a tailor by
trade, but during the early part of his life spent several years in the
military service. Mrs. Teepen is the only one of her father's family
that came to the United States, this being in 1868. After spending a
year and a half in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she and Mr. Teepen became
acquainted, they were married and came West. Josephine, their eldest
daughter is a graduate of Mount St. Mary's Convent, near Leavenworth, Kas., her birth having occurred on October 25, 1873. Henry
was born on December 17, 1872, and died December 18, 1872. Theodore
was born December 4, 1875, and died of spinal meningitis, after an
illness of twenty-four hours, September 12, 1886. Mary was born
March 10, 1878, and died April 30, 1879. Aloysius was born April 2,
1880, and died April 3, 1880, Anna was born March 9, 1881.
William Telker, farmer, Bethel, Kas. Mr. Telker is only one
of the many prominent citizens of foreign birth now residing in Wyandotte County, who by their industry and perseverance have become
successful in their different callings. He was born in Hanover on
July 13, 1850, and is the son of Henry Telker, who was a mechanic
and farmer in the old country. The father reared four sons: George,
Henry, Herman, and William, our subject, being the youngest of the
family, and of these Herman is living in Cincinnati, engaged in the
commission business. The other two, George and Henry, still remain
in the old country. The father died about eighteen years ago. William Telker grew to manhood in Germany, attended the schools of that
country for about eight years, and after his school days were over he
worked for two years for his father. At the age of nineteen years he
came to America to escape the military duties imposed upon him,
and landing in Baltimore, he went on to Cincinnati. Making his
home there, he worked at the furniture business, working at one place
five years, and at another six years. On February 27, 1878, he came
to Wyandotte, bought a farm of forty-six acres, and afterward bought
ten acres more. This he improved, then sold out and bought seventy
acres, where he now resides, to which he added forty acres more, which
makes him a nice little farm of 110 acres. He bought the farm owned
by old man Ketchum and son, a Delaware Indian. Mr. Telker does a
general farming business, but is gradually converting it into a fruit
farm. He was married in Cincinnati on September 29, 1874, to Miss
Minnie Striehtmann, a native of Cincinnati, and of the five children
born to them three of them are sons and two daughters: Alma (fifteen),
Herman (thirteen), Otto (eleven), John (nine), and Ida (five years of
age). Mr. Telker and wife are members of the German Lutheran
Church. In politics he leans toward the Republican party, but in
local politics he votes for the man coming to this State a poor man.
Mr. Telker has made all he has by industry and good management.
Dr. Asa Peaslee Tenney is one of the ablest physicians of Wyandotte County, Kas., and possesses a full share of the public patronage,
having the full confidence of his patrons. He was born in Concord,
N. H., September 21, 1833, and was a son of Rev. Asa Peaslee Tenney, a Congregational minister, who, for thirty-four years was pastor
of a church at that place. He was a native of Newbury, Vt., a son
of Jonathan Tenney, the first members of the family coming from
England. Dr. Asa Peaslee Tenney was the second of six children -
three sons and three daughters � one son and two daughters being
now deceased. His advantages for acquiring a good education were
excellent, and after reaching his twenty-third year he took up the
study of medicine, and in the fall of that year went to Boston, where
he studied two years under the preceptorship of Dr. John F. Jarvis,
afterward taking three courses of lectures in the Harvard Medical College, graduating March 3, 1859. Meanwhile, in 1858, he was appointed assistant physician of the Boston Lunatic Hospital, which
position he held for about a year and a half, continuing his medical
studies under the direction of Dr. Clement A. Walker, of Boston. In
the fall of 1859 he was appointed assistant physician of the Illinois
State Hospital for the insane of Jacksonville, Ill., but after filling this
position very acceptably for five years, he returned to Concord, N. H.,
and there practiced his profession for three years, but at the end of
that time returned to Illinois, and settled at Bloomington, where he
eventually built up a large practice. In 1877 he was appointed
superintendent of the Insane Hospital, at Osawatomie, Kas., but at
the end of one year he settled in Atchison, remaining there until he
received the appointment of superintendent of the Insane Hospital, at
Topeka, and held this position two years. In 1885 he located in Kansas City, Kas., where he has become widely and favorably known. The
Doctor was married on September 21, 1863, to Miss Minerva Tenney,
of Binghamton, N. Y., by whom he has had four children: Only two of
whom, Emily and Edwin Roy, are living. Edward, the first-born, died
in infancy; Walter H., the second died in Atchison, Kas., aged twelve
years. The Doctor and his wife are consistent members of the
Congregational Church, and he is a Mason, and has attained to the
Knight Templar's degree in that order, and has also reached the fourteenth degree in the Scottish Rite. He is also an Odd Fellow, and a
K. of P. He belongs to the examining board for pensions, and is at
present surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He belongs to the
Eastern District Medical Society and the Kansas State Medical
Society.
Rev. Augustus H. Tevis, A. M., M. D., D. D. The scholarly
subject of this sketch is a native of Rush County, Ind., born on his
father's farm May 13, 1841, and was the ninth child of a family of
three sons and seven daughters, five of whom are now dead. His parents were Dr. Daniel H. and Phoeba (Scott) Tevis, the former having
been a large and lucrative practice. He (Dr. Daniel H.) was born in
Bracken County, Ky., and was quite a scholar as a linguist, being
proficient in both Latin and Greek. The elder Dr. Tevis died in
1858, and his widow in 1862, both of whom are buried in Rush County,
Ind. After his father's death, the management of the extensive farming operations, embracing several large farms, left by him, all devolved on Augustus H., then only seventeen years old. In 1860 he
entered Asbury University, at Greencastle, Ind., then under the control of Bishop Bowman. Early in the beginning of the civil troubles,
however, young Tevis left college, to volunteer like a true patriot, and
aid in suppressing the Rebellion. He enlisted in September, 1861,
and became second lieutenant in Company H, Thirty-seventh Indiana
Volunteers. He was in active service for over three years, participating in many hard battles, fights and skirmishes, including Stone River,
New Hope Church, Resaca, before Atlanta, and numerous others. At
Stone River he was slightly wounded, and soon after was promoted
to a first lieutenancy. He was mustered out in November, 1864, and
soon re-entered the same institution he had left to join the army. In
the close of 1868 he was graduated therefrom, and in due course was
honored with the degree of A. M. On August 6, following, he married
Sallie A. Webster, daughter of Dr. E. Webster, of Connersville, Ind.
Two daughters have been born to this union. Dr. Tevis' first charge
as pastor was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Liberty,
Union County, Ind., he having received the degree of D. D., it having
been conferred upon him by the celebrated McKendree College at
Lebanon, Ill. Following this he was stationed at Wooster and Taylorville, and was nest elected as superintendent of city schools at
Madison, Ind., where he served one year. His conference then sent
him to Palestine; thence again to Peru, from which latter charge he
was transferred, by Bishop Peck, to Carson City, Nev., where he remained two years, and was chaplain both of the Legislature and of
the State prison. It was while there he went into print as an author,
and wrote his "Jesuitism, the Bible and the Schools," and also his
"Beyond the Sierras," published by Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia.
He also corresponded for various newspapers and literary journals.
Santa Barbara, Cal., was his next charge, and from thence he went to
San Diego. The ill health of his family necessitated his return to
Indiana in 1879, and he having already read medicine studiously, entered the medical college at Indianapolis, from which he soon after
graduated as M. D. He was then sent by Bishop Wiley to Springfield, Mo., where he was pastor of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church
till the spring of 1883, when he retired therefrom. He was placed in
charge of the Summit Street Methodist Episcopal Church at Kansas
City, Mo., occupying the pulpit of this church one year, when, in 1886,
he made a change from the St. Louis to the Kansas Conference, where
he accepted the pastorate of the Kansas Avenue Methodist Episcopal
Church at Atchison, Kas., remaining in charge of this church for three
years, accepting, in October, 1889, the charge of the Washington
Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Kas., where he is
still pastor. Besides his more solid literary attainments, Dr. Tevis has
paid considerable attention to art, and is quite proficient in music and
painting, and has his home decorated with a number of paintings, indicative of true art, produced by himself and wife. He has had many
of his sermons published, which rank him high as a theologian. He
has published a book of considerable merit on infidelity, considered in
relation to its evil effects, as contrasted with Christianity. Had it not
been for the assassination of President Garfield Dr. Tevis would doubtless have received the appointment to the Jerusalem consulate, for
which he had received the recommendation of most public men of
Washington. Zealous in his ministerial work, fully imbued with a
love for mankind and a hearty desire for their spiritual and mental
elevation, always a student, and given to habits of indefatigable research. Dr. Trevis is one of those rare men who constitute a valuable
requisition to any community, while the high social qualities of himself
and wife render their companionship in the keenest sense enjoyable,
and win them hosts of friends wherever they are known. The Doctor
is an active Prohibitionist in principle, and a Republican in politics.
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