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1890 - 1891 Directory, Kansas City, Missouri
BECK, George Dobson, near younger brother, BECK, John R. 
Scroll down to view the Directory image.
Source:
Hoye's City Directory, |
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In the early 1890s, the Beck and Wagner families had likely not yet
encountered each other. However, once drawn to Kansas City, for many
decades they remained cemented in the same old neighborhoods near the state
line, sometimes living in Missouri, sometimes in Kansas, but eventually
staying on the Kansas side.
This is because George Dobson ("Pony") Beck and his younger brother, John R., were in the cattle-shipping business, while the Wagners were "collar-makers" — not collars in the garment trade, but collars or harnesses for HORSES. (The generic term would be "leather-workers.") |
So, both families worked in fields closely linked to the then-enormous
Kansas City Stockyards
— and the railroads serving them, which spread along both sides of the
Kansas River.
Living that close to "the jungle" (to use Upton Sinclair's famous phrase describing Chicago's horrific stockyards) must have been something of a nightmare. John R. Beck died in October 1891 of a "stricture of the trachea" — in short, he choked to death at age 37. His obituary described him as "the well-known Chicago shipper," so he may have recently returned to Kansas City due to illness. (The old phrase "stricture of trachea" was described as due to injury, tumor, or advanced syphillis.) |
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