From: KyArchives [Archives@genrecords.org] Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 1:29 PM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Dickey.Prior.1861.Barren.BIOS Prior Dickey March 9, 1861 - unknown Barren County KyArchives Biography Author: History of Atchison County, Kansas by Sheffield Ingalls - 1916. Prior Dickey was born in Barren County, Kentucky, March 9, 1861, a son of Jackson and Edith Dickey, the father a native of West Virginia and the mother of Kentucky. The first eighteen years of his life were spent in Kentucky and in 1879 he came to Kansas, and his first employment was in a rock quarry at Millbrook, Graham County. He possessed $3.75 when he landed in this town. He helped build sod houses and in fact turned his hand at anything that offered for his board and lodging. During the spring of 1880 he walked from Millbrook to Concordia, a distance of 200 miles, in search of work. He was accompanied by a friend, Calvin TROTTER, and their joint capital was $1.25. After reaching Concordia, and also having gone without food for two days, he secured work with a railroad construction crew, and was sent from Concordia to Atchison and thence to Rich Hill, Mo., and later to Texas, where he worked on the extension of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway. When this work was finished he started for Kansas, and wishing to save his money stowed himself in a box car. While the train was at a standstill in a Texas town, a white man knocked on the door, demanding admittance. Prior was scared, and stealing out of the opposite door started to run. The white man called out, "Stop, neighbor," and Prior stopped. They became friends and came north together in the box car. On arriving at Ft. Scott, Prior gave his white friend $1, fed him at a restaurant, and sent him on his way. From Ft. Scott he came to Atchison, and later was employed in railroad construction work of various kinds in and later was employed in railroad construction work of various kinds in Nebraska, on the Central Branch railroad in Kansas, the Wabash in Missouri, and elsewhere. In 1883 he secured his first employment on a farm, a field of endeavor in which he has since made a signal success. From ten dollars a month to twenty-one dollars, with board and lodging, was his wage. Prior possessed a spirit of thrift and saved his wages. In 1885, while working for Medad HARVEY, in Grasshopper township, Atchison County, he bought his first forty acres. On this place he put his father and mother, bringing them from Kentucky. They lived here until their deaths, that of the father in 1895 and the mother in 1911. Prior's example in caring for his aged parents, even refusing to marry on account of attendance on his mother, is worthy of emulation., Three years after his first purchase of land he bought his second forty, a year lager a third forty, then an eighty and later from John J. INGALLS, he bought a 160 acre tract. He is also the owner of a 160 acre farm in Oklahoma, and his various holdings total over 500 acres. He is a capable and industrious agriculturist, employs modern methods, is in close touch with the advancement in scientific farming, and is a successful breeder of high grade cattle and hogs. His herd of grade Herefords is the equal of any in the county and numbers over fifty head. His property is well improved and well kept. He is a stockholder in the State Bank of Potter and conceded to be no mean financier. He is a stanch Republican and states "not a black man in the United States can conscientiously be anything but a Republican." He cast his first vote in Graham county in the first election held in that county after its organization. He is a Mason and a Baptist. A sister and her children comprise his household. Possessed of ambition to succeed and gain an assured position in his adopted state, of untiring energy, intelligence and quality of thrift, Prior Dickey has developed into a citizen who is worth while. Submitted by: Sandi Gorin http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00002.html#0000404 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/kyfiles/