James Trant

JAMES TRANT. - One of the many enterprising and progressive men extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits in Kansas, James Trant, of Edwardsville, is the proprietor of an estate which in regard to its improvements and appointments compares favorably with any in Wyandotte county. The neatness and orderly appearance of his property make manifest to the most casual observer the thrift and care of the proprietor, and show conclusively that he has a thorough understanding of his business and exercises good judgment in its management. A native of Illinois, he was born in 1862, in Peoria, but was brought up and educated in Kansas.

Garrett Trant, his father, was born in 1810, in county Kerry, Ireland, where he lived for upwards of thirty years. Immigrating to the United States in 1842, he established himself in business in Peoria, Illinois, where for many years he was engaged in buying and selling grain and in pork packing. In 1868 he came with his family to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and having purchased a tract of land near Edwardsville was there employed in tilling the soil until his death, in 1889. He was a Democrat in politics, and for a while served as school director in Wyandotte county. He was a devout member of the Roman Catholic church, and belonged to the Knights of Father Mathew. His wife, whose maiden name was Bridget Carroll, was born in county Louth, Ireland, in 1820, and died in Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1906. Of the seven children born of their union four died in Illinois and three are living, as follows: John, of Perry, Kansas; James, the subject of this sketch; and Catherine.

Growing to manhood on the home farm, James Trant acquired his rudimentary education in the district schools, and afterward attended the Manhattan Agricultural College two years. Interested in farming from his youth up, he has made that his chief occupation through life, and now owns two hundred and seventy-five acres of rich and valuable land, which he devotes to general agriculture, making a specialty, however, of raising potatoes and chickens, two branches of industry in which he has become an expert, his annual income being large. He has diligently improved his property, continually adding not only to its attractiveness but to its value, his home being one of the most beautiful in the vicinity. Mr. Trant was one of the promoters of the Edwardsville Bank and is its vice-president.

Politically he is affiliated with the Democratic party, but he is also in sympathy in many ways with the Populists. He is now serving as school director, and has been treasurer of Delaware township. Religiously he is true to the faith in which he was reared, and is a member of the Catholic church. He likewise belongs to the Central Protective Association.

Mr. Trant married, in 1896, Nettie Mussey, of Manhattan, Kansas, and they have two children, Sarah and Ruth.