Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Case, Harry H. 1869 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 10, 2008, 2:52 pm

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  Harry H. Case, owner and manager of the Olathe Monument Company, is a native
of Johnson county. He was born two and one-half miles east of Olathe, October
21, 1869, and is a son of Fred W. and Elma R. (Gregg) Case, the former a native
of Oneida county, New York, and the latter of Zanesville, Ohio. Fred W. Case was
two years old when his parents removed from Oneida county, New York, to
Michigan, locating at Ypsilanti where he was reared and educated. During the
discovery of gold in California in 1849, left his Michigan home and proceeded to
the Pacific coast by way of New York City and the Panama route. He followed gold
mining in California about seven years, and was reasonably successful in this
venture. After remaining in the Golden State for seven years he returned to
Michigan in 1856 and two years later came to Kansas and located in Johnson
county. He bought a quarter section of Government land, and hired a man to
preempt another quarter section for him. He devoted himself to general farming
and stock raising, in which he was uniformly successful and bought more land
from time to time until he acquired 520 acres. Shortly after coming to Johnson
county, he decided to engage in the mercantile business and built the stone
store building which now occupies the southeast corner of West Park Street and
Kansas Avenue. This building is one of the old landmarks of Olathe, and one of
the most interesting buildings of the city from a historic standpoint. When Mr.
Case had completed the building and had it provided with shelves and store
fixtures, and was about ready to put in his supply of goods, a troop of United
States cavalry happened along and decided that the new store building was
admirably adapted for soldiers' quarters, and accordingly they took possession
in true military style. The shelving and counters were removed but were not
wasted nor destroyed, but made into feed boxes for the cavalry horses. The
soldiers occupied the building for about three months and in the meantime Mr.
Case decided that he would not embark in the mercantile business, but about that
time had an opportunity to sell the building to the county and it was converted
into a court house, and used for that purpose until 1891 when the new court
house was built and since that time the building has been used for commercial
purposes. Fred W. Case was successful in his undertaking and a man who took a
keen interest in the welfare of his community. He was public spirited. He was a
charter member of the Grange and one of the original stockholders in the Grange
store. He died August 16, 1898, being killed by lightning at his home, east of
Olathe. His wife came to Johnson county with her parents who were among the
early settlers of this county. They came in the fifties. She died in 1899, aged
sixty-five years. They were the parents of four children, as follows: Hattie
married John Streeper, agent for the Rock Island Railroad Company at Rock
Island, Ill.; Harry H., subject of this sketch; Sheldon E. resides on the home
place and Lena married William Lemon, Topeka, Kan. Harry H. Case was reared on
the home place and educated in the public schools, Paola Academy and Spaulding's
Business College, Kansas City, Mo. He remained at home until 1885 when he
engaged in the furniture business at Burlington, Kan. Two years later he went to
Oklahoma and engaged in general mercantile business and was there when the Sac
and Fox Indian reservation was opened up to settlement. After remaining there
two years he went to the opening of the Cherokee strip and drew some town lots.
He then returned to Olathe and was with Mr. Ryan in the undertaking business for
six years, and in 1904 became a partner with J. H. Fraser in the Olathe Monument
Company. This business is the only establishment of the kind in Johnson county
and was founded in 1882 by Mr. Hedrick, who later became sheriff of the county.
Mr. Fraser bought him out and conducted the business alone until Mr. Case-became
a partner in 1904, and in 1915 Mr. Case bought his partner's interest and is now
the sole owner. He does an extensive business in Johnson and adjoining counties
and has done some of the finest monument work in that section. They erected the
Santa Fe Trail marker which stands in the southeast corner of the public square
at Olathe, which Mr. Case designed. An illustration of the Santa Fe marker will
be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Case was united in marriage August 14,
1893, to Miss Mable Swank, a daughter of J. T. Swank, a sketch of whom appears
in this volume. Mr. Case is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Fraternal
Order of Eagles.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


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