Theodore Spencer Case (1832-1900) Collection (KC295)

Native Sons Archives (NSA)

Theodore Spencer Case was born in Jackson, Georgia, and his family later moved to the Columbus, Ohio area. After graduating from Marietta College, he taught mathematics for several years and studied at Starling Medical College, graduating in 1853. He arrived in Kansas City in 1857, where he practiced medicine until 1861. At the start of the Civil War, Case enlisted in the Union army as a private. After the war, in 1866, he resigned as Quartermaster General of Missouri, ranked as a colonel. In 1869, Theodore Case and his brother, Oliver, established a wagon and implement manufacturing business at First and Wyandotte Streets. Case married Julia McCoy Lykins in 1858, and they had six children, only three of whom survived childhood. Julia Case died in 1872, and in 1874, Theodore Case married Fidelia O. Wright, who survived him until 1910. Case was a prominent, influential citizen, active in a variety of civic affairs and a member of the First Baptist Church of Kansas City.

The collection contains background about Case Family materials donated to the Native Sons in 1952 and a handwritten manuscript of an early reminiscence of Kansas City. The folders have not been microfilmed. The first scrapbook volume was begun by Colonel Case and contains travel photographs from 1880-1894. The remainder of the scrapbook was added to after his death until 1940. It contains Case's obituaries and those of other family members and clippings about the 1903 flood. This first volume was microfilmed as it existed, after which the photographs were removed and placed in Folder 4. The second microfilmed volume contains oversize diplomas and certificates awarded to Colonel Case and Ermine C. Case. 1857-1940

4 folders; 2 volumes (MICROFORM)

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