Shawnee County KS Archives Biographies.....Dudley, Guilford 1835 - 1905
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Author: James L. King (1905)

GUILFORD DUDLEY

    GUILFORD DUDLEY, formerly adjutant general of Kansas, and for the past half
century a resident of Topeka, died at his home No. 719 Harrison street, April
14, 1905, at the age of 70 years. Mr. Dudley was born at Bath, Steuben County,
New York, in 1835.

    In many ways the life of the late Mr. Dudley was typical of Western energy
although his rearing had been along the quiet, conservative lines of
agricultural environment. From the district schools he entered Oberlin College,
Ohio, and soon after graduation from that liberal institution he started
Westward, seeking his fortune. In 1855 he settled for a few months at Lawrence,
Kansas, but Topeka attracted him on account of more favorable business
conditions and he located here in a real estate business and also opened a
hotel. In those stirring days it was almost impossible for a man of spirit to
avoid taking part in the momentous events that were here transpiring and Mr.
Dudley found himself enrolled with James H. Lane, whose career belongs to the
history of the State. Personal admiration for the courage of this leader as well
as sympathy with his aims, led Mr. Dudley into serving as one of his guards.

    Mr. Dudley had, in the meantime, come into such prominence that in 1862 he
was appointed adjutant general of Kansas, an office for which he was eminently
qualified, but which he resigned after an incumbency of 18 months. During his
long and active career, Mr. Dudley accepted but two other public positions, that
of clerk of the Territorial Legislature, in 1859, and that of city clerk of
Topeka, in 1861.

    While Mr. Dudley's commercial prominence came largely through his extensive
banking interests, he was concerned in many other lines, all of which were made
to contribute to his success. Prior to starting his first banking business at
Topeka, he traveled through Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Kansas, as
collecting agent for the wholesale grocery firm of Carney & Stephens, of
Leavenworth. In 1869 he started the bank which for more than 30 years continued
one of the solid financial institutions of the city, one old and trusted like
its founder.

    Mr. Dudley was also a farmer and probably took more pleasure in his
agricultural operations than in all the social life and political concerns of
Topeka. With him the raising of fine stock was not a fad, for he piade it one of
the serious questions of his life, studied the subject from every point of view,
read literature from every authority and during the time he was regent of the
State Agricultural College gave lectures to the students of such a practical
nature that they were of the greatest permanent value. Possessing the ample
means which such investigations demand, Mr. Dudley experimented on food values
relating to horses and cattle and invented what is now generally used by
stock-raisers as a most satisfactory combination,— the "balanced ration food."
He was also one of the very first to recognize the value of alfalfa. He was a
frequent contributor to agricultural journals and his suggestions were welcomed
on account of their practical nature, his results having been reached through
scientific research instead of through chance. Mr. Dudley did not confine his
reading to works pertaining to this subject in which he was so much interested,
but covered a wide range, feeding a naturally searching mind.

    Mr. Dudley was a large property owner, his possessions including much real
property of value on Kansas avenue, his beautiful home on Harrison street, a
number of fine farms and the tract which is partly used as Association Park by
the Topeka Baseball Company. He was president of the great Crosby Roller Milling
Company, in which he owned a large amount of stock.

    Mr. Dudley was married at Topeka, June 5, 1867, to Samantha V. Otis, who was
born at Rutland, Vermont. She still survives with a son and daughter, the former
bearing his father's honored name, and the latter being the wife of Dr. William
Walker, of Philadelphia.

    Although Mr. Dudley was a man of quiet tastes he enjoyed sociability and the
companionship of congenial friends. He was a member of the Topeka Club, and was
one of the 50 charter members of the Saint Ananias Club, of Topeka, and shortly
before his fatal illness he had succeeded in organizing what was to be known as
the Farmers' Club, its membership to be made up of old residents who had been
farmers. He was a man who made his influence felt wherever he was, not through
any ostentation, but quietly and wisely.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
AND
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

EDITED AND COMPILED BY
JAMES L. KING
TOPEKA, KANSAS 

"History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples"

PUBLISHED BY
RICHMOND & ARNOLD,
GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
1905.

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