Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....Moll, A. E. "Ed" 1847 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 9, 2008, 12:03 am Author: Ed Blair A. E. Moll, proprietor of the Hotel Olathe at Olathe, Kan., has been a Johnson county resident for fifty-five years and is as familiar with the progress and development of Johnson county during that time as any man in the county today. When he came here he was about thirteen years of age, an age when a boy observes many things and remembers most of them, and after reaching manhood he became identified with business affairs, and has always taken an active part in politics and he is perhaps as well known as any other man in Johnson county, and for the last ten years he has been engaged in the hotel business, which has brought him into contact with the traveling element, and thus his acquaintance has been extended universally without regard to State or county limitation. A. E. or "Ed." Moll, as he is generally known, was born in Perry county, Missouri, April 4, 1847, and is a son of Joseph Francis Moll and Regina Kaiser. The father was a native of Baden. Germany, born in 1811, and came to America with his father in 1830, when nineteen years old. The family resided in New York about eight years and Joseph Francis Moll married Regina Kaiser in 1836, and the following children were born to them: Joseph, born in 1837, died at Gardner in 1903; George, born in 1838, died at Mascoutah, Ill., in 1900; William, born in 1840, died in Olathe in August, 1913; Mary, born in in 1842 resides at Eudora, Kan.; Louis, born in Perry county, Missouri, 1844, resides at Eudora, Kan.; A. E., the subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, born in 1849, died in Benton county, Arkansas, in 1909; Samuel and Emma, twins, born in St. Clair county, Illinois, in 1853, the former resides in Lexington township and the latter in Olathe, Johnson county, and Catherine, born in St. Clair county, Illinois, in 1855, and died in Johnson county at the age of nineteen. When "Ed." Moll was three years old, the family removed from Perry county, Missouri, to St. Clair county, Illinois, and remained there until i860, when they came to Kansas and in June of that year located in Lexington township, on a farm five miles west of Olathe, and the parents spent their lives there. "Ed" Moll remained on the farm with his parents until 1866, when he returned to Bellville, Ill., the former home of the family, and here served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, and in 1869 returned to Johnson county and built a blacksmith shop in Olathe. This shop was located on the northwest corner of the square and here he engaged in general blacksmithing. Pie was a mere boy and when he opened his shop, he did not resemble an old blacksmith in the least. He did not have the earmarks of the traditional "village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree" and many of his gratuitous advisers, who are always in abundance, especially around a blacksmith shop, had their misgivings about the boy blacksmith making good, and shook their heads in ominous silence, but it was not long until the public discovered that the boy was not only a blacksmith, but an expert blacksmith, and for thirty-two years the ring of his anvil was a part of the industrial music of Olathe. He also conducted a livery business in connection with his blacksmithing. In 1901 he was elected county treasurer and at the expiration of the first term was reelected to that office and served for five years in all. A change in the election laws added an additional year to his two terms. While serving as county treasurer he had purchased the Hotel Olathe, and at the expiration of his term of office, he engaged in the hotel business there, which has occupied his attention to the present time. The Hotel Olathe has been thoroughly remodeled with new furniture and fixtures installed since Mr. Moll took possession, and it is now up-to-date and modern in every particular. Most of the rooms have running hot and cold water and several have baths. The sleeping rooms are all large and airy and the office, writing room and parlor are spacious and comfortable, and a large well appointed dining room, capable of accommodating fifty, at least, and the beds and meals of the Hotel Olathe have a reputation for their excellency, enjoyed by few hotels. Mr. Moll was united in marriage in November, 1891, to Mrs. Jennie F. Brickel, of Olathe, Kan., and no children have been born to this union. By a former marriage, Mr. Moll had six children, all of whom were born in Olathe as follows: William Edward, born September 19, 1872, died May 24, 1873; Etta Irene, born April 3, 1874, died December 24, 1878; Andrew Egidious, born January 27, 1876, died July 28, 1899; Maudie May, born November 8, 1877, now the wife of B. H. Rogers, managing editor of the Olathe "Mirror"; Jennie O., born April 5, 1879, married William Hoisington, of Chicago, and Arch Garfield, born January 27, 1881, assistant postmaster at Olathe, served as deputy county treasurer of Johnson county for four years and was clerk in the congressional postoffice at Washington, D. C, for two years. A. E. Moll was elected mayor of Olathe in 1902 and served one term, and declined to accept the nomination for reelection. He served on the city council of Olathe for six years, and in 1912 when the commission form of government was adopted by Olathe he was elected one of 'the commissioners for the long term of three years, and refused to consider a re-election to that office. He served as under-sheriff of Johnson county for two years-and was also a member of the school board for four years. Mr. Moll has been a life-long Republican and while he is one of the most progressive citizens of Johnson county he is positively opposed to spelling the word progressive with a capital P on all occasions. In 1908 he was one of the presidential electors of Kansas, and at the meeting of the presidential electors at Topeka, in January, 1909, he was elected to carry the vote of the Kansas electorate to Washington, D. C., to be counted for William Howard Taft for President, and this was a very pleasant duty for Mr. Moll, because he has been a great admirer of Mr. Taft for a number of years. Mr. Moll has been identified with the Republican organization for years, and has figured conspicuously both in county and State politics and is well known to most of the prominent men of his party, in the State. 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 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/moll220nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/ File size: 7.2 Kb