L. N. Blood, a well known and prosperous broker of St. Louis, Mo., was closely identified with the early day settlement of Butler county. In fact, Mr. Blood was here at the beginning. He was a pioneer school teacher and merchant, and while his business activities have taken him away from Butler county for a number of years, he is not only interested in Butler county, in a sentimental way, but has always maintained important financial interests here.

L. N. Blood is a native of Michigan. He was born in Lenawee county, September 25, 1844. His parents, Leonard P. and Lucinda Polly (Williams) Blood, were both born in New York, the former, April 5, 1823, and the latter in 1824. The mother died in Iola, Kans., in 1900, and the father now resides there, at the ripe old age of ninety-three. Twelve children were born to this pioneer couple, four of whom are living, as follows: L. N., the subject of this sketch; D. P., president of the Exchange State Bank, Douglass, Kans.: Mrs. Anna Victors Rogers, Iola, Kans. and Clarence P., Kansas City, Mo.

L. N. Blood received a good common school education in the public schools at Morenci, Mich., and in early manhood, he taught school, during the winters, and followed farming in the summers. In 1868, he left his Michigan home, and came to Kansas. He obtained employment on the Sante Fe railroad, which was then being constructed out of Topeka to the west. Mr. Blood had charge of the iron car, laying the track from Topeka to Carbondale, and remained in the employ of that company until August, 1869, when the road was completed as far west as Carbondale. He then came to Butler county, and located at Augusta, which was then a small village of only a few houses. Here, Mr. Blood was engaged to teach the first school in that town. The building where the school was held is still standing, and was the first store building in Augusta, a mercantile establishment being on the first floor, and the school on the second. The school room was furnished in the most primitive fashion. A slab with the smooth side upward, attached to the wall by wooden brackets, served as a desk for the pupils, and the seat consisted of long wooden benches, and thus when the pupils were at work, they faced the walls, with their backs to the center of the room. The same room, in which the school was held, also answered for the purpose of a church and lodge room. Mr. Blood had about forty pupils enrolled, and an average attendance of about thirty. The postoffice was kept in the storeroom below, and Mr. Blood was also assistant postmaster, and helped in the store in dealing out salt pork at fifteen cents per pound, corn at $2.50 per bushel, and salt at $10 a barrel, when he was not dispensing knowledge on the second

floor. In the broad range of its commodities, this institution equalled the modern department store, or a mail order house. During that time, the stage was scheduled to reach Augusta at 2 a. m. The stage driver would blow his horn at the bend of the river, as he approached the town, and Mr. Blood, as assistant postmaster, would have to hustle out and sort the mail, and turn over to the stage driver, the outgoing mail, and then return to dreamland.

In the spring of 1871, Mr. Blood engaged in the mercantile business for himself at Augusta. His store was located on State street, about opposite where the Edison store now stands. He was engaged in business here for twelve years, and in 1883, went to St. Louis, Mo., where he has since been engaged in the brokerage business, his operations being confined, principally, to municipal bonds. In 1874 Mr. Blood bought 480 acres of land in the Walnut river valley, near Gordon, which he still owns. This is very valuable land, the character of the soil in that locality being very rich and productive, and in addition to its agricultural value, it is in the recently developing Augusta oil and gas field, and is underlaid with rich deposits of oil and gas. At this writing there are six flowing oil wells, and eight more being drilled on Mr. Blood's place.

Mr. Blood was united in marriage, July 2, 1871, to Miss Leonora M. Bellamy, of Augusta, Kans. Mrs. Blood was a pioneer milliner of Augusta. She was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, in 1849, a daughter of James and Lucy P. (Judd) Bellamy, natives of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Blood have no children.

Mr. Blood was in Butler county and in the vicinity of Augusta during the most interesting pioneer period of Butler county, and saw much of this section of the country during these pioneer days. Since he removed from Butler county and located in St. Louis, scarcely a year has passed but what he has visited Butler county on one or more occasions. He will always have a tender spot in his heart for the memory of the early days here, and he takes a pride in the development of this county, and the rank that it holds among its sister counties of the State.

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