Pratt Barndollar, a cattle dealer at Coffeyville, had some very interesting connections with the country and the people of Southern Kansas and of Old Indian Territory.
His father was the late J. J. Barndollar, who built up by energetic business methods a large estate consisting of mercantile, manufacturing, mining, banking and other business properties, and was one of the leading men of his time in Southern Kansas and Northern Oklahoma. J. J. Barndollar was born at Everett, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1842, and came west when a young man. He arrived at Humboldt, Kansas, in 1869, and in 1871 went into Osage country of Indian Territory around Pawhuska. He afterwards lived at Parker, Kansas, and at Coffeyville from the establishment of that town. He was a merchant and Indian trader, and for a number of years was connected with some of the principal trading stores in the northern part of old Indian Territory. He was a member of the firm of Barndollar, Bartles & Gibson at Pawhnska; of Barndollar, Bartles & Neilson at Claremore; and of J. J. Barndollar & Company at Nowata, Oklahoma. He was also president of the Coffeyville Furniture Company, president of the A. P. Boswell Hardware Company, and director in the Condon National Bank. He died October 23, 1904, in New Mexico, while traveling for his health in that state and in Texas.
The late J. J. Barndollar was a republican in politics, and was affiliated with Keystone Lodge No. 102, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Coffeyville, with Topeka Consistory of the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite and with Abdallah Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Leavenworth. He was a soldier throughout the Civil war, serving as a lieutenant in a company of Pennsylvania Infantry.
J. J. Barndollar married Nonie, Pratt, who is now living at Coffeyville and is executrix of the large estate left by her late husband. She was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, and is a quarter-blood Delaware Indian. She had a close relationship with some of the most prominent members of that tribe. Her grandfather Maj. J. G. Pratt was Indian agent at Piper, Wyandotte County, Kansas, for the Delaware Indians and of the Wyandotte tribes. She is also, a granddaughter of Rev. Charles Journeycake, the famous chief of the Delawares. She received her education in Leavenworth and Shepardson College of Granville, Ohio. Mrs. J. J. Barndollar’s mother is now Mrs. N. M. Bartles of Dewey, Oklahoma. Bartlesville, Oklahoma, was named for Mr. Bartles, and all these families, the Journeycakes, Bartles and Pratts were very prominent in both early and late history of Kansas and Northern Oklahoma. Mrs. Barndollar is now Mrs. A. H. Gibson, and lives at the old homestead at Coffeyville, and had a large estate to look after, including city property, oil lands, and farms. She is a daughter of the American Revolution.
Pratt Barndollar, only son and child of the late J. J. Barndollar, was born at Coffeyville April 23, 1891, and resided at 301 West Eighth Street, just east of the old homestead where he was born and reared.
He received his early education in the Coffeyville public schools, attending the high school, the Culver Military Academy in Indiana and the William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri, leaving school in 1909 to take up an active business life. Since then he had handled cattle and also oil interests, and had assisted his mother in the management of the estate.
He is an independent republican, is a member of the Baptist Church, and stands high in Masonry, being affiliated with Keystone Lodge No. 102, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Coffeyville, Coffeyville Chapter No. 89, Royal Arch Masons, Lochinvar Commandery No. 152, Knights Templar, Fort Scott Consistory of the Scottish Rite No. 4 at Fort Scott, and Mirzah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Pittsburg, Kansas. He is also a member of the Coffeyville Commercial Club, and had a life membership in the Kansas Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and is the lineal descendant of six revolutionary ancestors.