Frank R. Alden

FRANK R. ALDEN. - Prominent among the leading undertakers of Wyandotte county is Frank R. Alden, of Bonner Springs, who has made a thorough study of the art of embalming as now practised, and has a good understanding of the business in which he is engaged. Although he has been in this city but four years, he has won a fair share of patronage. A native of Kansas, he was born, in 1876, in Johnson county, and was there brought up on a farm.

William Alden, his father, was born in Vermont, of substantial New England ancestry, the name Alden being held in high honor in that section of the country, his birth having occurred in 1837. In 1856 he started westward with a band of emigrants, being wagon master and boss of a company of overland freighters bound for Salt Lake City, the journey across the country being made in wagons, the majority of which were drawn by cattle, although a few mules were employed. He subsequently located at Westport Landing, Kansas, and during the Civil war belonged to the Kansas State Militia. In 1862 he bought land in Johnson county, and on the farm which he improved was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits until retiring from business, relegating the management of his estate to his son, Dell M., with whom he and his good wife now live. He is a staunch Republican in politics, and a Methodist in religion. He married Agnes Low, a native of Iowa, and of their union five children have been born, namely: Fanny, wife of C. Avent, a ranchman in Burlington, Wyoming; Minnie, wife of A. M. Sparhawk, of Portland, Oregon; William, a farmer in Johnson county, Kansas; Frank R., the special subject of this sketch; and Dell M., living on the old homestead, as mentioned above.

Brought up on the home farm, Frank R. Alden attended the district schools until sixteen years of age, after which he continued his studies at Baker University, in Baldwin, Kansas, for a year. He subsequently assisted in the care of the home farm until 1905, when he entered the Barnes' School of Anatomy and Embalming, in Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1907. Coming immediately to Bonner Springs, Mr. Alden established himself as an undertaker, and has gained an extended reputation for efficiency throughout the community, his professional skill being recognized, while his kindly courtesy and broad sympathies have won him hosts of friends. He is a Republican in politics, but not an office seeker.

Mr. Alden married, in 1902, Laura Du Bois, of Leavenworth county, Kansas, and their only child, Irene, is now eight years old. Mrs. Alden, who is a very pleasant and agreeable woman, ably assists her husband in his work.