| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 477 cont'd |
L. D. MENDENHAFT.
L. D. MENDENHAFT is the owner of one of the best farms in Cottage Grove township. He has here one hundred and sixty acres of splendid land pleasantly located six miles southeast of Humboldt. His residence is surrounded by large forest trees which throw their grateful shade on the house and lawn. The soil is rich and productive, and he never fails to raise a crop, annually securing good harvests of wheat, corn, oats and flax.
Mr. Mendenhaft was born in Columbia, county, Pennsylvania, on the 17th of October, 1827. His father, Eli Mendenhaft, was also a native of that county, there spent his entire life, and when death claimed him his remains were interred in one of its cemeteries. He passed away in 1888 at
| 478 | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
the advanced age of eighty-four years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Davis, was also a native of the Keystone State, and died in 1874, at the age of seventy-nine years, seven months and thirteen days. They had four children: Canton, now of Brooklyn, New York; Arminta M. and Elizabeth, both of Pennsylvania and L. D., of this review.
Mr. Mendenhaft, whose name forms the caption of this article, was the eldest. In his youth he became familiar with the milling trade, mastering the business in all its departments, and he also learned the tanner's trade, which he followed for some years. He was married to Miss Sarah J. Lemon, of Rhorsburg, Pennsylvania, January 1, 1857 and for some years they resided in New York city during the period of the Civil war, he having charge of a large rice mill there, cleaning rice for the United States army. He then returned to Pennsylvania, and was made manager of the extensive mills of A. Pardee & Company, continuing their operation for nine years. On the expiration of that period he removed to South Bend, Indiana, where he engaged in milling for two years, and traveling for years, his attention being given to the dressing of millstones. In 1880 he removed with his family to Humboldt, Kansas, and tiring of the milling business, which he had so long followed, he purchased a farm in Cottage Grove township. He had had no experience as an agriculturist, but he soon mastered farm work and is today one of the most successful and enterprising representatives of farming interests in Allen county.
Unto Mr. and Mrs Mendenhaft have been born two children: Ario, C. M., is now living at Chanute, Kansas; Estella, became the wife of Edward Rush (who was killed in a balloon ascension at Grenola, Kansas, October 8, 1898), and has since married Burt Lackey, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Mendenhaft is in politics a Republican, and has labored earnestly to elect his friends, but has never sought official preferment for himself. He is now seventy-three years of age, but possesses the vigor and energy of a much younger man and is still concerned with the active affairs of business life.
Pages 477-478, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
