Born: Lucien Bonaparte Price born 10 May 1856 in Altoona, Pennsylvania
Parents: Eugene Price & Ruth Weaver
Married: 8 Sept 1879 to Harriett O'Cain
1886 to widow Rose Snider Robinson
3 July 1907 to widow Katherine Flinn Fallis
Children: Josephine Price (adopted surname: Alexander)
Grandchildren: Elwood Kerr, Kingdon Kerr
Known Addresses:
Farm in Iowa
Oak Cliff, Shawnee Rd, Kansas City, Kansas
Estate on Dublin Road in Greenwich, Connecticut
Died: 4 Feb 1926
Remains placed in receiving vault in Putnam Cemetery, GreenwichOne of five sons of a Welsh immigrant, Lucien worked on his father's farm in Iowa until the age of 26, when he started working in Des Moines for a mercantile owner. In 1889, he moved to Topeka, Kansas and started his own mercantile business. The L.B. Price Mercantile Company, incorporated 1898, became a major midwestern retail firm, uniquely selling household goods on payment plans through traveling salesmen. Lucien became a millionaire and a philanthropist, deeply involved in the Rotary Club and co-founding the Boys' Club of America. He was a Methodist and loved flowers, which were abundant on his Greenwich Estate. His personal life was less illustrious. After his first wife died, he gave their only child to his sister and provided no support through her childhood. He divorced his second wife after starting an affair with Katherine Fallis, who became his third wife. After his death at age 70, Katherine gave most of his money to the Catholic Church.
The following account was written by Josephine Price Ramsey, stepdaughter of Katherine Price, date and purpose unknown. Sometime after 1952, she possibly wrote this to engage legal help or, at least, to set the record straight. A photocopy of the typed original was in the possession of Josephine's granddaughter, Judy Graven, who retyped the copy presented here. Judy was captivated by this story and recounted to her own children how her father's inheritance was given to the Catholic Church by Grandma Goodie - the family's cheeky name for the Countess.