Harry Pray Study, A. B., A. M. Among the learned callings there is none, perhaps, that demands a greater degree of patience, tact, specialized knowledge, judgment and natural executive ability than that of the educator, and the individual who enters into this important field, selecting it as a calling, is called upon to make many personal sacrifices and to give many of the best years of his life unreservedly to its demands, often without the emoluments that would be attached to an equal amount of labor expended in another direction. However, there are many satisfying rewards which come to the successful teacher, and some of the best of these have come to Prof. Harry Pray Study, superintendent of schools of Neodesha, Kansas, and an educator of high talents, broad knowledge and extensive experience.
Professor Study was born at Fountain City, Indiana, January 7, 1879, and is a son of William H. and Louisa (Cranor) Study. The family originated in Baden, Baden, Germany, and it is thought that the great-grandfather, who was a homesteader into Indiana, was the original emigrant to America, his first residence being in Maryland. In one of these two states, in 1817, was born Isaac Study, the grandfather of Professor Study. He engaged in farming during the greater part of his life, in Indiana, and died at Williamsburg, that state, in 1861. William H. Study was born at or near Williamsburg, Indiana, in 1841, and was there reared and educated. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil war, he enlisted for service in the Union army, joining the Eighth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, with which organization he served throughout the struggle, participating in all the engagements of his regiment, including Cedar Creek and Pea Ridge, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and being wounded in one of the engagements that took place in front of Vicksburg during the siege of that city. On his return from the war, with an honorable record for courage and fidelity, he was made deputy sheriff of Wayne County, Indiana, and after acting in that capacity for two years was elected sheriff and held that office four years. On his retirement from the shrievalty he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and for a number of years was a merchant at Fountain City, Indiana, but in 1884 came to Kansas and secured a ranch 4½ miles southeast of Cedarvale, in Chautauqua County. He lived on that property and in the vicinity for fourteen years, when, upon his election to the office of probate judge of Chantauqua County he took up his residence at Sedan, Kansas, and when his four-year term was completed remained in the office and assisted in the duties of his successor. Judge Study then retired from active life, but was recalled to public affairs as police judge of Scdan, and was acting in that capacity at the time of his death, which occurred July 7, 1911. He was a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In all the relations of life he was a man who conducted his dealings in a strictly honorable manner, and in each community in which he resided gained and retained the confidence, respect and friendship of his fellow-men. Judge Study married Miss Louisa Cranor, who was born November 6, 1843, in Indiana, and died January 1, 1916, at Sedan, Kansas, and they became the parents of five children: Bert C., who was a traveling salesman and died at Denver, Colorado, in 1914; Clarence M., who is a scaler in lumber camps and resided at Fullerton, Louisiana; Lorena, who died at the age of five years; Kizzie, who died when four years of age; and Harry Pray.
Harry P. Study received his early education in the rural schools of Chautauqua County, Kansas, and was graduated from the Cedar Vale High School in 1897. Following this he entered Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas, from which he was graduated with the class of 1903, and the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and while attending that institution joined the exclusive Delta Tau Delta fraternity, of which he is still a member. On leaving the university Professor Study became principal of the Eureka (Kansas) High School, a position which he filled during the school year of 1903-4, and then went, in the same capacity, to Ottawa, Kansas, where he remained during the school years of 1904-5 and 1905-6. In order to further his studies he then attended Boston University, following which he took a European trip, visiting England, Germany and France, in 1907-8, and attending lectures in all these countries. In 1911 he received the degree of Master of Art from Boston University. In 1908, on his return to the United States, Professor Study became head of the history department of Tome School for Boys, at Port Deposit, Maryland, where he also discharged the duties of dormitory master, and remained for two years. In the year 1910-11 he was head of the history department of the Horace Mann School, New York City, and then returned to Sedan to look after his father, who had had an attack of illness. There Professor Study was superintendent of schools for the year 1911-12, and in the latter year came to Neodesha to act in a like capacity, now having under his superintendency four schools, forty teachers and 1,250 scholars. From the start Professor Study had sought to better conditions in every way and to advance the educational standard, and in both these directions had been successful. A thorough student of the science of education and possessed of a natural instinct for child psychology, he had made his schools living, growing organisms responsive to the best in teacher and pupil. Professor Study is a member of the Kansas State Teachers’ Association and the Schoolmasters’ Club. As a fraternalist he holds membership in Little Boar Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Neodesha Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and Ab-Del-Kader Commandery, Knights Templar, of Fredonia. His residence is at No. 806 Iowa Street.
In 1911 Professor Study was married, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Miss Clara Louise Lord, daughter of L. L. and Mary (Welch) Lord, who live at No. 730 North Main Street, Meadville, Mr. Lord being engaged in the plumbing contracting business. Professor and Mrs. Study have one child, Mary Lord, born November 2, 1916.