IN JSriiMOKIAM, K. J. xMENDENlIALL. IIJ 



iieapolis, died at 8 a. in.. Oct. 19, 1906, at his home, 1714 Stevens 

 avenue, aged 78 years. 



Mr. Mendenhall came to MinneapoHs fifty years ago last April, 

 and since that time had been prominently identified vv^ith nearly 

 every important movement for the benefit of the city, especially in 

 its early history. 



The ancestors of the Mendenhall family emigrated from Eng- 

 land with William Penn and lived for many years in Philadelphia. 

 Richard Mendenhall, Mr. Mendenhall's father, was an extensive 

 tanner at Jamestown, N. C, and his mother was a descendant of an 

 old Welsh family which settled in America at an early period. 



Richard J. Mendenhall was born in Jamestown, N. C. Nov. 25th, 

 1828. While a boy he acquired a familiarity with farm life and took 

 special delight in the culture of flowers and fruit. The greenhouses 

 with which Mr. Mendenhall afterwards built up such an extensive 

 business were first erected to gratify his love for flowers. 



After leaving school Mr. Mendenhall engaged in railroad work 

 in Ohio and North Carolina, and his experience in this profession 

 led him to come west. After a year of surveying in Iowa, he came 

 to Minneapolis, when twenty-eight years old. A New England 

 friend, Cyrus Beede, followed a year later, and they became as- 

 sociated in the land, loaning and banking business, under the firm 

 name of Beede & Mendenhall. 



In November, 1862, Mr. Mendenhall became president of the 

 State Bank of Minnesota. This was afterwards merged into the 

 State National Bank of Minnesota, of which Mr. Mendenhall also 

 became president, continuing in this position until 1871. He was 

 also president of the State Savings Association, which was forced 

 to suspend in the panic of 1873. At much personal sacrifice Mr. 

 Aiendenhall satisfied nearly all the claims growing out of this fail- 

 ure. 



In 1862 he was town treasurer and for several years secretary 

 and treasurer of the board of education. 



Mr. Mendenhall was married in 1858 to Miss Abby G. Swift, a 

 daughter of Captain Silas Swift, of West Falmouth, Mass. Mrs. 

 Mendenhall died six years ago. 



True to his bringing up, Mr. Mendenhall had always been a 

 regular attendant of the Friends' Church and Sunday School, and 

 was one of the founders of the First Friends' Church, which was 

 organized in the city in the early sixties. During the early days 

 of the Friends' mission work among the Indians, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Mendenhall established a mission and supported it for several years. 



