MINCHER CONDRAY. This gentleman is the owner and occupant of 400 acres in Grant Township, Riley County, where he devotes himself to general farming and to the raising of cattle and hogs for the market, being also a breeder of Shorthorn cattle. A part of his present fine estate was secured under the Preemption Act, in April, 1885, and he has been a continuous resident thereon from that time until the present day. His handsome stone residence is in the southern edge of Stockdale, the site of which town was laid out by him. He is a quiet. unobtrusive and intelligent gentleman, carefullv weighing matters which are brought to his observation, and showing great decision of character when once he has come to a conclusion on any subject. As a citizen, he belongs to what mny be well considered the solid class in the community, and particularly in educational matters is warmly interested in the progress of the county.

Mr. Condray is a son of Henry and Deborah (Littler) Condray, who were natives of Tennessee and North Carolina respectively, the father being a blacksmith and farmer. Henry Condray left his native State with his parents when quite small, and after some years spent in Kentucky, moved to Indiana about the year 1820, being an early settler in the section where he located. He served for a number of years as a Justice of the Peace in the Hoosier State.

In the spring of 1855, Mr. Condray and his family set their faces toward the West, and in April of that year arrived in this county at the mouth of Mill Creek, having made their journey overland in wagons. The father took up a claim of 160 acres at the mouth of Mill Creek, where he erected a blacksmith's shop and mill. The father is now living at Randolph, and was eighty-one years of age in August, 1889. The mother of our subject died in Indiana in the year 1835, when he was less than three years old. She had borne her husband two children—our subject and a sister, Catherine. The latter was born in 1834, and died in Oregon, Kan., in 1879. In 1856 she was united m marriage with William Frakes, theirs being the first marriage ceremony in Grant Township. She left two children.

Henry Condray was married a second time, in Jackson County, Ind., the bride being Miss Jane Stanfield, who bore him three children—William, John and Tamar—her two sons being, with their father, the first settlers in Grant Township, as it is at present constituted. William is now living in Manhattan, where he runs the engine in the Higginbotham mill. He married Miss Caroline Ellis, and they have two children. John resides in Randolph. He was born in Jackson County Ind., Aug. 11, 1843. He served in the 5th Kansas Regiment from April 13, 1862, to April 3, 1865. He was the Clerk of Jackson Township from 1872 to 1875; was Constable in 1874-75; Trustee from 1876 to 1880; County Commissioner from 1880 to 1886, and is at present Township Clerk. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha Parson, left two children, and his second wife was Mrs. Caroline Anders. Tamar is the widow of John Whitson, is the mother of five children, and lives in Arkansas. The third wife of Henry Condray is still living. and prior to her marriage with him was the widow of Mr. James Stevens.

Mincher Condray. the subject of this sketch, was born in Jackson County, Ind., Dec. 13, 1832, and lived until twenty-two years of age in his native State. He received but limited common-school privileges, the facilities for obtaining an education not being extensive at that time in the section where he lived. He improved the opportunities afforded him, and in the intervals worked upon a farm. Having accompanied liis father's family to Kansas, as before stated, he has become the possessor of a valuable tract of land, and has risen to a prominent position among the citizens of the county and township. He was married Aug. 26. 1860, to Miss May. daughter of Franklin and Lydia Tatlock, of Indiana, he has a large and interesting family, ten children having been born to himself and wife, and they are furnished with excellent educational advantages, it being the aim of their parents to give them thorough culture and instill into their minds the best principles. Cora Effie, the first-born, is now the wife of Isaac Vernon. a farmer in Gary (Geary?) County, and they have two children. Anna Beatrice, Unity B., Henry Franklin, Edna Erastus, William O., Guy S., Mincher, Ruth and Roy make up the group around the family fireside.

During the late war, Mr. Condray served as Second Lieutenant of Company C. 17th Kansas Infantry. He was County Commissioner during the years of 1864-65-66 and-67; was Justice of the Peace two years; also served as Road Overseer several years, and is now a member of the School Board. In politics he is a Republican, and has been a delegate to County and Congressional conventions. He belongs to the social order of the A. F. & A. M.. and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

William, our subject's brother, served in the 6th Kansas Regiment three years, then veteranized in the same regiment and served one year, and at the close of the war received his discharge.