Charles T. Gundy, county attorney of Atchison County and a well known and prominent lawyer of the city, is of old Holland Dutch lineage. His greatgrandfather, William Gundy, came from Holland and was a Colonial settler in Pennsylvania. He went with the Pennsylvania troops to help win independence during the Revolutionary war. Mr. Gundy’s grandfather, Jacob Gundy, was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, and was a pioneer settler in Scotland County, Missouri, where he followed farming until his death in 1892. He was cnrolled for service during the Black Hawk Indian war.
Charles T. Gundy was born in Scotland County, Missouri, February 10, 1878, and his early life was spent in the county where his grandfather had been a pioneer. His father, George Gundy was born in Scotland County in 1845, grew up and married there, and had made farming his regular occupation. He is now living at Memphis, Missouri, at the age of seventy-two. In 1863 he enlisted in the Second Missouri Cavalry for service in the Union Army, and when General Price made his raid through Missouri toward the close of the war he assisted in repelling that invasion. In that campaign he was wounded in the arm. He is a republican, a member of the Baptist Church, and of the Masonic fraternity. George Gundy married Margaret Needham, who was born in Scotland County, Missouri, in 1858. Of their children Charles T. is the oldest. Lewis W. is a farmer in Scotland County. Jacob C. is also a Scotland County farmer. Corda is the wife of Grover Crawford, a farmer in Scotland County. Pearl and Merle, twins, are still at home.
Charles T. Gundy had a rural environment as a boy, attended the country schools of Scotland County, and remained at home on his father’s place until he was nineteen years of age. For four years he was a teacher in the rural schools. While teaching he took up the study of law, and was first admitted to the bar at Memphis, Missouri. He practiced two years at Memphis, from 1905 to 1907, and while there served as city attorney. Mr. Gundy left Memphis to accept a government position at Washington, D. C., and while in that city he availed himself of the exceptional opportunities to further perfect himself in the law. He attended the night school of the National University of Law, and in 1908 received the degrees of LL. B. and LL. M. and was admitted to the District of Columbia bar. In 1908 Mr. Gundy went to Keokuk, Iowa, and for two years had charge of the farm Ioan department of the State Central Savings Bank of that city.
He had been a resident of Atchison since 1910, and in the past seven years had built up a large general practice as a lawyer. His offices are in the Blair Building, and his home is at 937 Santa Fe Street. Mr. Gundy served as judge of the City Court of Atchison five years, and in the fall of 1916 was elected county attorney. He is a republican, a member of the Baptist Church and of the Kansas Bar Association, and is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Domestic Workers. Mr. Gundy married in New York City in 1909 Miss Eleanor McCormick, whose home was in Washington, D. C. Her parents were John and Margaret (Broslon) McCormick, both now deceased, her father for many years conducting a mercantile establishment at Washington.