Wyandotte County Biographies
"Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas--Historical and Biographical"
Goodspeed Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890
Oscar A. Weiss is an old and trusted employee of Swift & Co., of
Kansas City, Kas., who are in the fertilizing business, and he is foreman of their tank house and fertilizing department. He is a native
German, his birth occurring on September 18, 1853, he being the
second of three children born to A. O. and Amelia (Hildebrandt)
Weiss, natives of Germany, where the former died in 1858, the latter
being a resident of Chicago. Oscar A. Weiss learned the trade of a
miller in his native land, an occupation which he continued to follow
until his removal to the United States, in 1879. He first settled in
the city of Chicago, where he entered the employ of Wall Bros., who
were in the fertilizing business, and later entered the employ of the
North-Western Fertilizing Company, and subsequently became associated with Darling & Co., and then with Swift & Co. In the month
of February, 1888, he came to Kansas City, Kas., continuing his work
for Swift & Co., and for the past four years has been their foreman at
this place, and has had control of about forty men, being very successful in their management. He is highly trusted by the company
for which he works, for he has proven himself honorable and upright
n every respect, and thoroughly competent to successfully discharge
every duty incumbent upon his position. He was married in 1876 to
Miss Matilda Dehn, a native German, and their union has been blessed
by the birth of five children: John, Paul, Frank, William and Anna.
Alfred Weston, superintendent of the canning department of
Armour's Packing House, at Kansas City, Kas., was born in Carroll
County, N. H., on June 4, 1844, being the son of William and Anna
L. (Kennison) Weston. Mr. Weston passed the first years of his life
in a manner similar to that of other boys, in the meantime learning
the butcher's trade. At the early age of sixteen he commenced the
struggle of life in a most energetic manner, going to Boston, where
he engaged in the meat and provision business, up to September of
the year 1862, at which time he enlisted in the army. He was in the
Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Infantry, under Capt. James H. Woods,
serving in the Nineteenth Army Corps during the term of service, and
engaging in the battles of Berryville, Louisiana and Fisher Hill. The
siege of Port Hudson commenced on May 22, lasting until July 8,
and on June 14 Mr. Weston was wounded during a charge, being
shot in the thigh and left hand, and forced to remain in the hospital
for six months. After his recovery he returned to his regiment in
Shenandoah Valley, engaging in the battles of Cedar Creek and Winchester, and the regiment then joined Gen. Sherman, following his
march through Georgia. They were mustered out of service and returned to the State of Massachusetts. In 1871 the subject of this sketch
came West, settling in Chicago, where he was superintendent of the
canning department in the firm of Libby, McNeil & Libby. At a
later date he occupied the same position with the St. Louis Beef
Canning Company for four years, and since 1882, has held his present
position with Armour. He is, without doubt, one of the most experienced men in the West, and is highly esteemed in business circles.
He is a public-spirited man, willing at all times to contribute to the
advancement of the community in which he resides. He is a member
of the A. O. U. W. On December 24, 1867, Mr. Weston was married to Miss Abbie J. Littlefield, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth
Littlefield, natives of Maine. Miss Littlefield's birth occurred in Boston in 1847. To this union have been born four children, viz.: Wilbur, Anna L. (married), Arthur F. and Fred. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Weston are members of the Third Baptist Church, and the former is
superintendent of the Sunday-school, and deacon in this church. In
politics he is a strong Republican, serving as chairman of the Republican Central Committee.
O. B. White, senior member of the firm of White & Bros., proprietors of the Cedar Creek Dairy Farm, at Olathe, Johnson County, was
born in La Fayette County, Mo., on January 21, 1849, and is the son
of William and Nancy (Bounds) White, natives of Tennessee, and La
Fayette County, Mo., respectively. The mother is still living, is seventy-three years of age, and is a resident of Kansas City, Kas. The
father died in Boulder County, Colo., in 1883. When a young man he
came from Tennessee. O. B. White passed the days of his youth in
Westport, Mo., Jackson County, and when sixteen years of age he
commenced farming in Johnson County, Kas., continuing at this until
1881. The three years following this he was in Kingman County,
Kas., and after this he commenced the dairy business in Kansas City,
Kas. He had limited means to commence with - six head of stock - but
since then he has bent all his energies to the business, and is today
one of the most extensive dealers in the city. He ships twice per day
in Kansas City, Kas., and Kansas City, Mo., runs three milk wagons,
and has a large retail and wholesale business. He resides at 208
James Street. Mr. White was married on May 20, 1876, to Miss
Mary Robinson, daughter of E. W. Robinson, and a native of La Salle
County, Ill., where her birth occurred in 1857. To Mr. and Mrs.
White have been born three living children: Nettie, Berton and Joseph.
They have two children deceased, one who died at the age of four years
and an infant. In his political views Mr. White affiliates with the
Democratic party. Mrs. White is a member of the Congregational,
Church.
Joseph M. White, dairyman, Kansas City, Kas. Mr. White resides at Ohio and Thirteenth Streets, and has been in the dairy business in this city for seven years. He is the owner of sixty head of
cows, and has built up an extensive trade, both wholesale and retail.
He was born in Jackson County, Mo., at Westport, on February 8,
1855, and is the son of William and Nancy (Bounds) White, the
father a native of Greene County, Tenn., born in 1818, and the mother
of Lexington, Mo., born also about 1818. When twenty-one years of
age the father went from Tennessee to La Fayette County, Mo., thence
to Lexington, and in 1850 to Westport. He was one of the first to
locate there, and assisted in building up the place, being a carpenter
by trade. In 1858 he and family moved to Johnson County, Kas.,
bought 500 acres of land from the Indians, and resided in that county
until 1878. They then moved to Kingman County, Kas., and in 1882
from there to Boulder County, Colo., where he died on November 8,
1883. In later years he had farmed extensively, and had accumulated
considerable wealth. He had moved to Colorado from Kansas on
account of the grasshoppers, and had lost some money by that and from
going security. The mother is still living in Kansas City, Kas., and
is now seventy-two years of age. She is a member of the Missionary
Baptist Church as was also her husband. He was a stanch Democrat
in politics, but never aspired to political positions, although he made
a race for Representative of Kingman County, in 1878, and was elected,
but was fraudulently counted out. He was the son of Joseph White,
who was a native of Tennessee and a Missionary Baptist minister.
The latter died at Odessa, La Fayette County, Mo., at the age of eighty-five or eighty-six years. He came to Missouri at the same time, and
with our subject's father, who at one time owned the entire site of
Odessa. The White family originally came from Scotland. Our subject was one of six sons, all but one living, and they are named as
follows: James B. (is a farmer in Boulder County, Colo.), David S.
(is mining and farming in Colorado), W. L. (dairyman of Kansas
City, Kas.), O. B. (is extensively engaged in the dairy business in
Kansas City, Kas.), and Jesse B. (died in Johnson County, Kas., at
the age of twenty-five years). Joseph M. White spent his school-boy
days in Johnson County, Kas., and when twenty years of age started
out for himself as a farmer in Sedgwick County, Kas., near Wichita;
there he remained until 1880, and then went to Colorado, where he
was in the gold and silver mines of Magnolia until 1884. He then
came to Kansas City, embarked in the dairy business with his brother,
O. B. White, with whom he was connected until March, 1888, at
which time he branched off by himself as a dairyman. He started
with 147 as a capital, bat had the energy and push to succeed, and is
now one of the largest dealers in Kansas City. Socially he is a member of the K. of P. Lodge No. 2, and in politics he is strictly Democratic.
H. C. Whitlock, a popular educator and farmer, Bonner Springs,
Kas. Mr. Whitlock was born in Platte County, Mo., in 1844, was
reared and educated in his native State, and supplemented a common-school education by a course at Mount Gilead. After this he
taught for several years, and later attended the normal at Leavenworth, Kas. He commenced teaching in the common public schools,
and during 1874 and 1875 he was principal of Wyandotte public
schools. Then, in 1878, he was elected superintendent of county
schools, served one term, was then re-elected in the fall of 1884, and
served one more term. He has not taught since that, on account
of his health, but has been on his farm in the western part of the
county. He spent one year on the Pacific coast, one year in Florida and Cuba, and is now enjoying the best of health. He is the
owner of 100 acres of land close to Bonner Springs, but rents this.
He was elected superintendent on the Democratic ticket, and had
1,200 more votes in the county than President Cleveland. He was
defeated for this position in 1880, when everybody thought him certain of election. He is a very popular educator, and a man of acknowledged ability. He is pleasant and sociable in his demeanor, and his
happiest moments are in educational work, to which he expects to
give the best years of his life. His parents, Preston and Lavina
Whitlock, were natives of Kentucky, and the father was a farmer by
occupation.
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