uUiiiiiHU m w ■iiililliil iiilii«^ mm m iiiiiii^ illi^ -5- .^^ ■'■^. .^^ ''t: aV /• ,.^^^ .0^" f ,r: X - ,s^^' ^. ' x^;-^ "^•■s^ ^ ^\N t. ^ ' " vA' 2 0' S -7'/ > ':^ .N^^"^^. ''>- v^- .xi.^ '•^ A'-^ '"^^ , o V- w .,0 o„ .<^ "''■>. J^ HISTORY OF Bates County MISSOURI BY Wi'^O. ATKESON ILLUSTRATED HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, TOPEKA CLEVELAND I918 1, "i- PREFACE. This book is submitted in the behef that it will be found a readable book. Many historic incidents not mentioned in the general story will be found in detail in the biographies of men and women, now living, who witnessed the incidents they relate; many events are faithfully related by sons and daughters of parents who lived and passed through history-making epochs in this county. An earnest and sincere attempt has been made to present all subjects honestly and fairly, to give the early history of the county more fully, more comprehensively than has ever been attempted in the past. This is not a book of dry statistics or tabulations, designed to show the present status of the county as to wealth or its progress in diversified industry. It is not an advertisement, colored to suit the wishes of any line of business or any class of our citizens. It is a faithful effort to give permanency to the really valuable and supreme historic facts of the settlement and progress of Bates county. In the biographies of the county's leading families will be found a wealth of historic incident well worth preserving for future generations. The author has done his best to get the truth and to so write it that the reader may find it a pleasure and not a burden to read it. Mooted statements have been discussed without prejudice. Writers of history and the early records have been treated fairly and frankly. To the author, the wnde range of his reading has been intensely interesting and his investigations have been as thorough as possible. Conclusions are stated respectfully and without criticism of the old, and in some instances, long-accepted authorities, with which the author could not agree. It has been a laborious task, but he will be satisfied if the reader enjoys the pages of this volume by the fire-side as much as the author has the writing of them. Proper credit is given in the proper place to all who have con- tributed to the making of this book and we here express our apprecia- tion of the assistance received from a few men who have aided and encouraged us during the progress of our work. Respectfully, Butler, Missouri, Mav 7, 1918. W. O. ATKESON. INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS Academy, The Old Butler 212 Ackerman, James T. and Wife 492 Atkeson, W. O. Frontispiece Baie, William 804 Bassett Family, Three Generations of The 748 Bassett, George 748 Bassett, Mrs. George R. 748 Bassett, William C. 748 Batchelor, Bate and Wife 620 Bates County Pioneer Family, Four Generations of A 877 Beaman, David W. and Wife 580 Borland, George W. and Wife 636 Botkin, Isaac H. 484 Boulware, Theodrick C. 333 Briscoe, Charles B. 428 Brown, Mrs. William G. 885 Brown, William G. 885 Butler Boy, First to Make Supreme Sacrifice in World War 948 Caches or Wells, The Mysterious — 100 Charters, W. H., Jr. 660 Cope, Seth E, 940 Gotten, William H. 676 Court House, Bates County 33 Crabb, Edward 516 Cresap, Daniel, Sr. 532 Cummings, Hiram G. and Family — 924 Dickison, Thomas Humphrey 644 Earsom, Robert Roland 756 Eichler, Lewis C. 364 Evans, George H. and Family 708 Farmers Bank Building 231 Farm Scene in Bates County 122 Fischer, August and Family 852 Foster, Mrs. William C. 444 Foster, William C. 444 Franklin, Joseph S. and Family 468 Gepford, D. A. and Family 692 Golden Wedding Anniversary Group 860 Halley's Blufif, On the Summit of__ 100 Hanson, Andrew and Family 668 Hardinger, Willie M. and Family__ 772 Harper, Judge R. F. 780 Headquarters of Bates County Red Cross 150 Hedden, William C. 524 Hensley, J. T. 380 Hess, Edward C. and Family 812 Holcomb, Colonel John Ewing 916 Holland, Frank 540 Home, Bates County 261 Hoover, Andrew J. 828 Inn of Butler, Missouri, The 231 Julien, Barn of Reinhold A. 844 Julien, Residence of Reinhold A 844 Lampton, Dr. W. E. 564 Largent, William P. and Family 684 Laughlin, David William 460 Lawson, John and Family 596 Lewis, J. W. 508 Lewis, Rev. Abram H. 508 Littlefield, Mrs. Ellen 452 Littlefield, Warren 452 McKee, James J. and Wife 572 Mahan, William S. and Family 836 Map of Bates County 39 Map Showing Location of Harmony Mission 50 ILLUSTRATIONS. Methodist Church, South, Butler ___ 248 Moreland, Arthur C. 548 Newberry, Captain John B. 652 Nichols, William T. and Wife 868 Nickel, John 372 Ohio Street Methodist Church, But- ler 240 Owen, Horace Benton 396 Owen, Martin V. 348 Perry, W. W. 724 Philbrick, Harrison 700 Price, Milton H. 588 Price, Mrs. Milton H. 588 Raybourn, James H. and Wife 612 Residence of W. M. Hardinger 125 Rush, R. H. and Wife 796 Searfus, William A. and Family — 893 Sellon, John 764 Sellon, W. G. 764 Sharpless, Dr. B. F., Wife, Children, and Grandchildren 860 Shelby, General Joseph O. 356 Shelton, P. L. 412 Simpson, James R. — 7l6 Smith, A. J. 820 Smith, Dr. Decatur , Ti2 Smith, H. W. 877 Smith, Judge Estes 932 Smith. L. W. 877 Smith, Matthias L. 877 Smith, Wilber 877 Standish, Dr. Stephen Lafayette 340 Stone, John H. 556 Thomas, Edward Leslie and wife__ 420 Thomas, James Pendleton 404 Tilson, Thomas Henry 436 Trout, Willard and Family 500 Union and Confederate Veterans— 135 Vint, Dr. William D. 388 Walker, Elliott Pyle 948. Washington School, Butler 201 Webster School, Butler 248 Wix, Clark 604 Wix, Elder Lewis L. and Wife 628 Woodfin, Jason Sherl 476 Woodfin, Mrs. Prudence E. 476- CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PURPOSE — TRADITIONAL AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY — NOT CONFINED BY BOUN- DARIES—SCOPE—GEOGRAPHICAL—LACK OF APPRECIATION— ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT — MISSOURI, THE MOTHER OF THE WEST — MISSOURI OF THE FUTURE PAGES 33-3S CHAPTER II. EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. LIMITATIONS OF STORY — LEGAL AGE OF COUNTY— AREA — CLASSIFICATION — BEGINNING — OCCUPATION BY OSAGBS— THEIR CHARACTERISTICS— MAR- QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WRITERS— PREHISTORIC RACE— VOY- AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS — JOLIET AND MARQUETTE— DE SOTO AND DECORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEDITION — ADVENTURERS — FRENCH CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRST FRENCH EXPLORATIONS— GRANT TO FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT — NAMING OF OSAGE, LITTLE OSAGE, AND MARMITON— LOCATION OF THE OSAGES— THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY— RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY— "GET RICH QUICK" SCHEME- RENAULT'S MEN PAGES 39-49 CHAPTER III. HARMONY MISSION. GREAT HISTORIC FACT— MISSION FAMILY— RELIGION OF OSAGES— OBJECT OF SOCIETY— MISSIONARY ENTHUSIASM— SPIRIT— ORIGIN— GREAT OSAGE MIS- SION — COLONEL M'KENNEY — DR. MILLEDOLER — THE COVENANT — APPLICA- TIONS — FAMILY SELECTED — PERSONNEL — APPEALS AND RESULTS — FARE- WELL MEETING — DEPARTURE OF "ATLANTA" AND "PENNSYLVANIA" — COMMISSION— REPORT OF SECRETARY— DOWN THE OHIO— DIFFICULTIES- MISSIONARY STATION— JOURNAL— CEMETERY PAGES 50-73 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. THE GRAND OSAGE INDIANS. GRAND OSAGES AND HARMONY MISSION— HOME OP THE OSAGES — CHARACTER- ISTICS — FAILURE OF MISSION — PIKE'S EXPEDITION — LOCATION — RECENT OBSERVATIONS— THEIR RELIGION — FIRST MARRIAGE IN OSAGE COUNTRY — LAST OF HIS LINE PAGES 74-84 CHAPTER V. MARCHIONESS DEGNINON OF THE OSAGE. A ROMANCE OF HARMONY MISSION AND HALLEY'S BLUFF PAGES 85-103: CHAPTER VI. TOPOGRAPHY. TECHNICAL DISCUSSION UNCALLED FOR — SOIL SURVEY — HON. JAMES WILSON — HON. DAVID A. DE ARMOND — SURVEYORS — LOCATION, ELEVATION, AND EXTENT OF TERRACES— EROSION— RANGE IN ELEVATION- ALTITUDE— CHANNELS— STREAMS— UNDERSTANDING OF RIVERS OF IMPORTANCE — DRAINAGE PAGES 104-106 CHAPTER VII. SOILS. MEANING OF TERMS — NON-GLACIATED PORTION— RESIDUAL UPLAND SOIL— ROCKS — SHALE, LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE— HORIZONTAL STRATA — EROSION— TOPOG- RAPHY— SOIL SERIES— RESIDUAL SOILS— SOIL TYPES— OSWEGO SILT LOAM — SUMMIT SILT LOAM — BATES SILT LOAM— CRAWFORD SILT LOAM— BATES LOAM— BOONE FINE SANDY LOAM— OSAGE CLAY— OSAGE SILT LOAM. PAGES 107-11* CHAPTER VIII. RESOURCES OF BATES COUNTY. TIMBER— CHANGE OF OPINION — "THE PRAIRIE" — STRIP COAL MINING — UNCULTI- VATED LAND— BLUEGRASS— "SCRUB STOCK"— STOCK PRODUCTION— FERTIL- IZERS— HORTICULTURE— WILD FRUITS— NUTS— WATER — FISH — BUILDING MATERIALS— CLAYS— KAOLIN— COAL^ASPHALTUM, ROCK OIL, AND GAS- IRON ORE— PAINT BOULDERS— POULTRY— CORN PAGES 120-13(> CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. COUNTY ORGANIZATION. (By Judge Charles A. Deutou.) NATIONAL, Territorial, state, and county governments— French posses- sion— Spanish POSSESSION— PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA— ACT OF MARCH 26, 18(H— ACT OF MARCH 31, 1805— ACT OF JULY 4, 1812— MISSOURI ADMITTED —TREATY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1808— LEGISLATIVE ACTS PAGES 131-134 CHAPTER X. THE BORDER WARFARE. "KANSAS WAR"— PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN"— THE AGI- TATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND— FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND INAUGURATION— BORDER LAND INFLAMED — WAR REPORTS— OSAWATOMIE JOHN BROWN PAGES 135-186 CHAPTER XL RAILROADS. EARLY TRANSPORTATION — COLONEL BROWN— RAILWAY CONNECTIONS— FIRST SURVEY— RAILWAY PROJECTS— PLEASANT HILL, BUTLER & FORT SCOTT RAILROAD— LEBO & NEOSHO— RAILROAD MEETINGS— SPECIAL SESSION OF COUNTY COURT— LEAVENWORTH, LAWRENCE & GALVESTON— CONTRACTS LET— "BOB" STEVENS- PERSONAL BENEFIT SCHEMES— GENERAL PARSONS —LA BETTE CITY— COLONEL WILLIAMS— KANSAS CITY & MEMPHIS COM- PANY—MISSOURI, KANSAS & TOPEKA— GENERAL DISGUST— FAILURE OF SYNDICATE— MISSOURI PACIFIC— RICH HILL BRANCH— OTHER RAILROAD PROJECTS— COLONEL PACE AND COLONEL NICHOLS— SYNDICATE REPRE- SENTED—WALNUT CITY BOOM— DAMAGE SUIT— BOOMLET— J. D. SCOTT- SINCERE PROMOTERS— "IN THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN"__PAGES 187-200 CHAPTER XII. PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BATES COUNTY. (By Artliur C. Morelaud, County Superintendent.) EARLY SCHOOLS— FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES— FIRST TEACHERS— BEFORE, DURING. AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR— EARLY SETTLERS— OFFICE OF SCHOOL COM- MISSIONER CREATED— WILLIAM C. REQUA— NATHAN L. PERRY— FIRST COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID McGAUGHEY— L. B. ALLISON— FIRST TEACHERS' INSTITUTES— CHARLES WILSON— JAMBS HARPER— SCHOOL COM- MISSIONERS—HOWARD TOWNSHIP— FIRST READING CIRCLE— LAWS— MEET- INGS— SALARY— STATISTICS— ADRIAN— RICH HILL— BUTLER— BUTLER ACA- DEMY— HUME— AMORET— AMSTERDAM— ROCKVILLE — MERWIN — BUSINESS COLLEGES PAGES 201-218 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. THE PRESS. VALUE AND INFLUENCE — "BATES COUNTY STANDARD" — "WESTERN TIMES" — "WEST POINT BANNER" — "BATES COUNTY RECORD"— "THE BAT:£S COUNTY DEMOCRAT"— "THE BUTLER WEEKLY TIMES" — "REPUBLICAN"— 'ADRIAN ADVERTIZER"— "THE REGISTER"— "RICH HILL GAZETTE" — "NATION>i. GA- ZETTE" — "DAILY GAZETTE" — "HERALD" — "COMING NATION" — THE WEST- ERN ENTERPRISE" — "THE RICH HILL MINING REVIEW" — "DAILY REVIEW — "AMORET LEADER"— "AMSTERDAM ENTERPRISE" — "THE BORDER TELE- PHONE" — "THE HUME NEWS' — "HUME STAR" — "HUME CHRONICLE" — "THE HUME GLOBE"— "HUME SUN"— ROCKVILLE NEWSPAPERS— "THE ROCKVILLE NEWS" PAGES 219-226 CHAPTER XIV. FINANCE AND BANKING. A STORY OF SUCCESS — C. B. DUNBAUGH & COMPANY — BATES COUNTY BANK — BATES COUNTY SAVINGS BANK — BUTLER NATIONAL BANK — F. J. TYGARD AND W. F. TYGARD— RAILROADS AND BUILDING OF TOWNS — BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES — LOAN CENTER— THE MISSOURI STATE BANK — THE WAL- TON TRUST COMPANY — THE FARMERS & MANUFACTURERS BANK — ADRIAN BANKING COMPANY — THE FARMERS BANK — THE FARMERS BANK OF BATES COUNTY— BANK OF ROCKVILLE— BANK OF AMSTERDAM— BANK OF AMORET — THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF HUME — THE COMMERCIAL STATE BANK — STATE BANK OF HUME — FARMERS BANK OF ROCKVILLE PAGES 227-234 CHAPTER XV. THE BENCH AND BAR. INTRODUCTION— THE BENCH — THE BAR— THE HEGIRA OF OUR PUBLIC RECORDS (By James H. Raybourn) — CRIMES AND CRIMINALS PAGES 235-239 CHAPTER XVI. CHURCHES. RANKING IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS — GROWTH AND PROSPERITY— LIBERAL ATTI- TUDE—PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— LATTER DAY SAINTS — CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN PAGES 240-245 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. BUTLER. LOCATION— AD /ANT AGES— ORIGINAL TOWN— NAMING — WILLIAM ORLANDO BUT- LER — FIRST SURVEYS — JOHN C. KENNETT — MONTGOMERY — JOHN E. MOR- GAN—FIRST HOTEL — GENERAL STORE — McCOMB & ROBISON — LORING & BTjRNETT — FIRST PHYSICIAN — FIRST ATTORNEYS — FIRST TEACHER AND . SCHOOL HOUSE— WILLIAM HARMANN— VAN BUREN VAN DYKE— FIRST SAW AND GRIST MILL— FIRST CHURCH— FIRE— DURING CIVIL WAR— INCORPORA- TION — CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— FIRST MAYOR— FIRST CITY OFFICERS — CITY OF THIRD CLASS — EARLY ESTABLISHMENTS— OLD SURVEY— DEEDS. PAGES 246-252 CHAPTER XVIII. RICH HILL. POSTOFFICE — DEVELOPMENT — ORGANIZATION — THE "LEADVILLE OF MISSOURI" — "MINING REVIEW"— "TRADE JOURNAL"— CITY OF FOURTH CLASS — TOM IRISH— ORGANIZATION — FIRST MAYOR— CLINTON R. WOLFE — THIRD CLASS —WATERWORKS— PROSPECTING— GAS PLANT— WATER, LIGHT AND FUEL COMPANY — REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH— THE "REVIEW" — TOWN COMPANY — LOCATION PAGES 253-260 CHAPTER XIX. TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. INTRODUCTION — MINGO TOWNSHIP — SETTLE FORD — COVE CITY — MAYESBURG — GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP— ALTONA— DEER CREEK TOWNSHIP— ADRIAN- CRESCENT HILL — EAST BOONE TOWNSHIP— BURDETT—PARKERVILLE — WEST BOONE TOWNSHIP — ROSIER— WEST POINT TOWNSHIP — WEST POINT VILLAGE — VINTON— AMSTERDAM — ELKHART TOWNSHIP— ELKHART POST- OFFICE— MOUND TOWNSHIP— PASSAIC— SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP— CULVER. PAGES 261-269 CHAPTER XX. TOWNSHIPS. TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. SPRUCE TOWNSHIP— JOHNSTOWN— BALLARD POSTOFFICE— DEEPWATER TOWN- SHIP—SPRUCE VILLAGE — SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP— BUTLER— CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP— VIRGINIA POSTOFFICE— HOMER TOWN- SHIP— MULBERRY— AMORET— WALNUT TOWNSHIP— MARVEL— LOUISVILLE- WALNUT POSTOFFICE— WORLAND— FOSTER PAGES 270-277 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. NEW HOME TOWNSHIP — NEW HOME VILLAGE— SHOBETOWN AND RIVELY— CORNLAND— LONE OAK TOWNSHIP— PERU AND ATHOL— PLEASANT GAP TOWNSHIP— PLEASANT GAP VILLAGE— STUMPTOWN — HUDSON TOWNSHIP— HUDSON— LAHIA—ROCKVILLE TOWNSHIP— ROCKVILLE TOWN— j?RAIRIE TOWNSHIP — HARMONY MISSION — PAPINSVILLE— PRAIRIE CITY— O&^GE TOWNSHIP — HOWARD TOWNSHIP — SPRAGUE — HUME PAGES 278-281 CHAPTER XXII. THE MARAIS DES CYGNES AND OSAGE RIVERS AND VALLEYS. CONFUSION — DERIVATION AND MEANING — EARLY OFFICIAL MAPS — ERRORS — CONTROVERSY— MILTON WHITING— ERRONEOUS PLATBOOKS— EARLY WRIT- ERS—LOCATION OF OSAGES— THE MARAIS DES CYGNES A PART OF BOUND- ARY — A BEAUTIFUL SCENE— HAPPY HOME— BIG TREES— CROOKED STREAM — DESCRIPTION — FISH STORIES — RECLAMATION — CAPTAIN A. B. DICKEY— C. G. GREEN — DRAINAGE COMPANY— "VALLEY OF THE NILE"— EXTENSION. PAGES 287-293 CHAPTER XXIII. THE BIG DRAINAGE DITCH. THE EGYPT OF BATES COUNTY— "MARAIS DES CYGNES"— RECLAMATION — PRE- TENSE—NO FEASIBLE PLAN UNTIL 1906 — PETITION PRESENTED— VIEWERS AND APPRAISERS — PROPOSED PLAN— REMONSTRANCE — REPORTS — JUDGE McFADDEN — REPORT APPROVED — PERMANENT BOARD APPOINTED — DUTIES OF BOARD AND COST OF WORK — OBJECTIONS — CONTRACT — BONDS — CON- STRUCTION— LITIGATION— COMPLETED— RESULTS— J. F. KERN. PAGES 294-297 CHAPTER XXIV. THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE. (By Lucieu Green.) IN KANSAS— THE GRANGERS — POOR CROP YEARS — INVASION — J. C. TAYLOR — SMALL DAMAGE — THE "JUANITA OF THE WEST" — JOURNEY TO BATES COUNTY — DESTINATION — RECEPTION — JOHN McCONNELL — CAPTAIN JOHN W. HANNAH— THE ATTACK— LEAVE TAKING — GOOD FEELING — CROPS. PAGES 298-301 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXV. REMINISCENCES. OLD SETTLER '3 AND EARLY INCIDENTS— INTERESTING FACTS — RECOLLECTIONS OF HA'^iMONY MISSION — BATES COUNTY IN THE FIFTIES — SIXTY-EIGHT YEAB.S AGO— EVENTS OF LONG AGO— TALKS AND TALES OF OLDEN TIMES. PAGES 302-332 CHAPTER XXVI. BIOGRAPHICAL. BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX Ackerman, James T. 492 Adams, James Perry 421 Allen, C. A. 680 Alsbach, George F. 560 Anderson, J. W. 871 Anderson, M. W. 864 Argenbright, Albert 626 Armstrong, J. B. 841 Arnold, William M. 565 Atkeson, W. O. 697 Baie, William 804 Bailey, W. E. 887 Baker, J. H. 639 Baker, William A. 391 Barclay, Alexander M. 351 Barnett, Benjamin F. 854 Barrows, Mrs. Asenath C. 782 Bartlett, James E. 754 Bartlett, Roy 757 Baskerville, Hon. Lucien 922 Bassett, D. D. 748 Batchelor, Bate 620 Bates, Dr. S. L, 503 Baum, Jacob R. 603 Beaman, David W. 580 Beard, Henry 705 Beard, J. A. 927 Bedinger, J. F. 944 Bell, James S. 465 Bell, William M. 466 Bennett. E. A. 592 Berry, James Claude 488 Biggs, J. C. 416 Blangy, John 830 Blount, T. W. 800 Bobbitt, James W. 410 Bohlken, G. B. 818 Bolin, Thomas 739 Borland, George W. 636 Botkin, Isaac H. 484 Boulware, Theodrick C. 333 Bowman, Charles R. 536 Brannock, William H. 935 Briscoe, Charles B. 428 Briscoe, William T. 826 Brooks, Jesse L. 866 Brown, Ira M. 703 Brown, J. O. 966 Brown, J. S. 616 Brown, Troy F. 699 Brown, William G. 885 Buckles, William 759 Bullock, William J. 953 Burkhart, Owen M. 386 Burk, Monroe 376 Cannon, Thomas F. 904 Canterbury, B. B. 574 Capps, E. M. 913 Carpenter, Wilson C. 400 Carroll, M. M. 378 Carver, J. W. 685 Catterlin, John M. 740 Chambers, Chester A. 786 Charters, W. H., Jr. 660 Charters, William Henry 775 Cherry, E. A. 505 Choate, Dr. John W. 566 Chrisman, C. W. 969 Chrisman, G. E. 969 Christy, Dr. J. M. 569 Clay, Frank T. 583 Cline, James S. 430 Clouse, William D. 470 Cobb, William Penn 462 Cole, J. W. 670 Coleman, Charles 402 Coleman, John W. 549 Collier, Stephen Cole 823 Collins, Albert Clay 463 Commercial Bank of Hume, The 418- BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. Connell, W. P. 816 Connor, John P. 928 Conrad, William 704 Cook, H. G. 597 Cope, John Quincy Adams 942 Cope, Seth E. 940 Corbin, Gustavus A. 480 Gotten, William H. 676 Council, H. H. 945 C*ox, J. W. 806 Crabb, Edward 516 Crabb, Fred 489 Cresap, Daniel 532 Crooks, George 807 Crowell, Frank H. 566 Culver, A, H. 558 Cumpton, Clay S. 658 Cumpton, Dr. V. J. 393 Cummings, Hiram G. 924 Curtis, Harry L. 418 Daniel, G. W. 384 Darby, James William 687 Davis, Leonard 707 Dawson, Watt Burress 742 DeArmond, David Albaugh 693 DeArmond, James A. 659 Denton, Hon. Charles A. 688 Denton, J. C. 968 Denton, Wesley 552 Dever, John 363 Deweese, W. H. 624 Dickison, Thomas Humphrey 644 Diehl, F. H. 721 Dixon, Alonzo 843 Dixon, George W. 585 Doane, Charles W. 835 Doane, William C, Jr. 902 Donnohue, Jerome T. 913 Doolittle, Jesse G. 438 Douglass, John Henry 898 Douglas, William 890 Durand, J. B. 891 Duvall, William F. 526 Eads, William A. 856 Earsom, Robert Roland 756 Edwards, Elliott F. 950 Edwards, Horace Perry 960 Egglcson, J. W. 578 Eichler, Lewis C. 364 Ellington, J. P. 938 Embree, T. D. . 631 Engelhardt, Herman . 366 Evans, George H. 708 Falloon, George — 788 Finklang, William Frank 767 Fischer, August 852 Fisk, Charles L. 599 Fitz Gerald, E. D. 815 Flammang, Joseph A. 535 Fleming, Mrs. Lulu (Rand) 473 Fortune, Charles E. 531 Foster, William C. 444 Fox, Arthur Ray 681 Frank, George H. 845 Franklin, James J. 433 Franklin, Joseph S. 468 Fulkerson, John F. 360 Fuller, W. S. 847 Gench, George 906 Gepford, D. A. 692 Gilbreath, J. W. 710 Gilmore, A. L. 873 Gordon, James R. 929 Gragg, James F. . 371 Grant, E. G. 934 Graves, Waller Washington 783 Green, Lucien 791 Sutridge, George H. 662 Hall, Carl F. 399 Hall, E. R. 389 Halfert, Samuel Peter 408 Hamilton, R. R. 397 Hand, Oscar 965 Hanson, Andrew 668 Hardinger, Willie M. 772 Hardin, James 615 Harper, Judge R. F. 780 Harper, Thaddeus S. 375 Harrison, James A. 678 Harshaw, John W. 633 Hart, George W. 897 Hart, Otis P. 827 Hathaway, J. T. 947 Hays, R. C. 651 Hedden. William C. 524 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. Hegnaucr, Christian 719 Heinlein, O. A. 745 Henley, William T. J. 832 Henry, Charles 849 Henry, Walter 600 Hensley, J. T. 380 Hensley, Lyman 925 Herman, John A., Jr. ^ 776 Herndon, Jefferson 961 Herrmann, J. P. 915 Hertz, George 920 Hess, Edward C. 812 Hinson, J. M. 377 Hirni, E. H. 769 Hodges, James K. 794 Holcomb, Col. John Ewing 916 Holland, Frank 540 Holland, John G. 422 Holland, Orren T. 426 Holloway, W. H. 537 Hook, J. Emmett 910 Hoover, Andrew J. 828 Houtz, John J. 446 Hughes, Amos J. 918 Hull, Dr. John R. 520 Hurt, W. S. 667 Huston, F. A. 971 Hyatt, H. C, Jr. 758 Ireland, Benjamin 673 Ireland, Grover C. 851 Jackling, Daniel Cowan 683 Jenkins, J. R. 547 Johnson, O. C. 350 Julien, Reinhold A. 844 Kash, S. B. 637 Keirsey, Moses S. 664 Kern, J. F. 594 Kincaid, Eli F. 955 Kretzinger, I. M. 642 Lampton, Dr. W. E. 564 Lane, Clifford J. 395 Laney, William 883 Largent, William P. 684 Laughlin, David William 460 Laughlin, Elmer Elsworth 824 Laughlin, Fred 462 Lawson, John 596 Legg, Thomas Webster 584 Lewis, Hon. John W. 512 Lewis, Rev. Abram H. 508 Lewis, Thomas Henry 415 Lightfoot, T. W. 802 Lindsay, Anthony 728 Littletield, Warren 452 Lockwood, Dr. Thomas Franklin 544 Lotspeich, J. B. 545 Lutsenhizer, Del. 656 McComb, Charles A. 715 McComb, Rev. Lewis 734 McCulloch, James 957 McCune, Frank J. 361 McDavitt, J. N. 749 McGaughey, Judge David 839 McGovern, James M. 930 McKee, James J. 572 McKee, John 962 McKee, S. C. 809 McKissick, John F. 848 Mahan, W. S. 836 March, John J. 457 Marshall, Robert 966 Marsteller. Charles 939 Mathers, Frank U. 491 Miller, A. A. 790 Miller, Alfred A. 649 Mills, William Moore 834 Meglasson Family 792 Moles, J. W. 921 Moore, A. E. 963 Moreland, Arthur C. 548 Morilla, E. E. 859 Mudd, J. J. 959 Murray, R. A. 518 Nelson, Palmer E. 855 Newberry, Capt. John B. 652 Newlon, Dr. J. S. 579 Newlon, George K. 630 Nichols, William T. 868 Nickell, James E. T2>1 Nickel, John 372 Norbury, Alfred 958 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX. Xorflect, J. K. 602 Osborne, William Y. 646 Owen, Horace Benton 396 Owen, Judge A. B. 576 Owen, Martin V. 348 Owens, Clyde C. 905 Page, C. N. 875 Page, Herbert E. 726 Pahlman, George H. 810 Parish, W. W. 514 Park, Wilbur J. 353 Patchin, William H. 442 Perry, W. W. 724 Peterson, Niels 445 Pettys, Thomas L. 542 Pheasant, Thomas J. 711 Philbrick, Harrison 700 Poindexter. Luther 876 Pollard, T. C. 608 Popp, Fred E. 831 Porter, E. A. 440 Porter, George S. 862 Pratt, Harry T. 880 Price, Milton H. 588 Prier, A. A. 713 Priestly, Frank 590 Raybourn, James H. 612 Reinheimer, Henry 562 Reist, D. B. 495 Requa, Adelbert 382 Requa, Dr. William C. 702 Rice, J. B. 337 Ricketts, W. W. 497 Roberts, Alonzo Irving 888 Robinson, James W. 743 Robinson, Mrs. Icie L. 887 Rosier, A. C. ^ 338 Rush, R. H. 796 Schapeler, Henry William 752 Schapeler, Hermann A. W. 762 Schmidt, Christian 374 Searfus, William A. 893 Sellon, W. G. 764 Sells, C. J. 779 Shadburne, Dr. J. T. 539 Sharpless, Dr. Benjamin Franklin — 860 Shay, Alonzo Wilson 111 Shelby, General Joseph O. 356 Shelby, Webb 359 Shelton, P. L. 412 Silvers, John A. 554 Simon, Merle 621 Simpson, James R. 716 Simpson, Matthew S. 471 Smith, A. J. 820 Smith, Dr. Decatur 732 Smith, Jesse E. 648 Smith, Joseph T. 454 Smith, Judge Estes 932 Smith, Judge J. F. 586 Smith, L. W. 879 Smith, Matthias L. 877 Smith, W. H. 675 Speer, John 355 Sproul, Robert J. 435 Standish, Dr. Stephen Lafayette 340 Standish. William Roy 342 StanfiU, O. W. 803 Steiner, H. 763 Stone. John H. 556 Strien, James L. 474 Sturgeon, Robert 623 Sunderwirth, George W. 900 Swarens, Frank Ray 455 Swarens, Clarence C. 494 Teeter, Darius 671 Teeter, M. N. 665 Tilson, Thomas Henry 436 Tipton, Joseph 618 Thomas, Edward Leslie 420 Thomas, James Arthur 407 Thomas, James Pendleton 404 Thomas, Mark Henry 479 Thomas, R. J. 936 Thompson, David W. 414 Thompson, George W. 369 Thurman, Albert B. 770 Trent, J. R. 819 Trout, Willard 500 Tyler, William Benjamin 730 Vint, Dr. William D. 388 Walker. Daniel K. 948 Waller, Edgar D. 451 Walls, Sam 798 BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX, Walters, John Robert 368 Walton, William E. 908 Weadon, John R. 954 Weedin, Alphonso Freeman 423 Weirick, Isaiah L, 432 WeMott, A. W. 553 Wheatley, William 482 Wheeler, Francis Marion 487 Wilcox. E. D. ^ 609 Williams, Dr. William A 813 Williams, James E. 529 Wilson, E. C. ■_ 747 Witmore, Reverend Ira 498 Wix, Abner L. 392 Wix, B. M. 722 Wix. Clark 604 Wix, Elder Lewis L. 628 Wix, Joseph F. 870 Wolfe, Charles W. 760 Wolfe, David Clayton 448 Wolfe, Marshall Lee 343 Wolf, Fred 931 Woodfin, Jason Sherl 476 Wright, H. L. 346 Wright, John 943 Wyatt, Edward H. 522 Wyatt, George P. 551 Yeates. Willis Isaiah 774 Yoss, John T. 895 Yost, George N. 767 Yost, Jonathan 765 History of Bates County CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PURPOSE— TRADITIONAL AND AUTHENTIC HISTORY— NOT CONFINED BY BOUN- DARIES — SCOPE — GEOGRAPHICAL — LACK OF APPRECIATION — ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT— MISSOURI, THE MOTHER OF THE WEST — MISSOURI OF THE FUTURE. The story of the beginning, development and progress of a commun- ity is always interesting; and it appeals specially to the posterity and successors of those who have gone before. Every modern community iias had its "early days" of trials, struggles and successes, as well as its days of progress and achievements. Hence the story of a community like Bates county is an intensely interesting one to those who now live within her borders. The purpose of this book is to present her story as fully and completely as historical data and the recollections and memories of people now living can do it. It is a regretable fact that much of historical worth has perished with the death of leading actors in the early days of the county; and that much of the preserved data is meager in detail, uncertain in value, and much confused by the early writers. Much of the history peculiar to Bates county in the very beginnings of our story is so shrouded in uncertainty, and upon authority so indefi- nite and obscure, that it becomes difficult to separate authentic history from legend and tradition. The wonderful era of the French and Span- ish fur traders, antedating the coming of the American to our soil more than an hundred years ago, can never be adequately presented by the ■ conscientious historian ; for the voyageurs kept no records and left none. All that can be said of them is what may be gleaned from the data left by their employers, and even that is limited and confusing. When we come to what may be properly called the "Pioneer days" the story becomes easier and safer, as some records and folk lore have • come down to us upon which we may rely. It will be dif^cult to confine this story wholly to the confines of (3) 34 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Bates county as it exists now and has existed since its present boundaries were fixed in 1855; for much of the most interesting part of our early history occurred along the Osage, the little Osage, and the JMarais des Cygnes rivers, and part of which, of course, occurred in what is now Vernon county. It is true that in the real pioneer days Bates county included all of what is now Vernon; and hence a discussion of some things wdiich took place south of both the Osages could not be objec- tionable in a present-day history of Bates county. But our purpose is, as nearly as possible, to keep within the boundaries of this county, and anything of occurrences beyond will merely be excursions worth while to illumine our own history. Notwithstanding the difficulties and perplexities involved, the writing of the story of this community, the story of the lives and acomplish- ments of our people and their ancestors, is a pleasant one ; and we hope to do it so well that all who read these pages will thereby be pleased and profited. The scope of the work is sufficiently broad to take in everything in the life and labors of our people worth recording. The progress of this state and county is such that we need not refer to latitude and longitude, or appeal to the Gunter's chain, to locate Bates county as it is today. It has a place "on the map," and all that need be said to locate and identify it is this: Bates county, Missouri, is a border county, joining the state of Kansas on the west, the third county south from the Missouri river in the western or border tier of counties running south to x\rkansas. It joins Cass and Johnson on the north, Henry and St. Clair on the east and Vernon on the south. It lies about half way between the great Missouri river bottoms on the north, and the western foothills of the Ozarks on the south ; about half \\-ay between Kansas City, Missouri, on the north and Joplin on the south. With this description any school child in^ tlie Union can locate and point out Bates county on the map. It contains 866 square miles, or 554,240 acres — more than a half million, nearl}' all in a high state of cultivation, one of the very largest producers of corn, cattle, hogs, horses and mules in the state. Bates county is a little more than two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island. A circle drawn with Butler, the county seat of Bates county, as its center, and whose diameter is 200 miles and its radii 100, will inclose tlic richest and most producti\'e area to be found on the face of the glo1)e in similar area around any center; and this circle will touch only parts of Missouri and Kansas. It might well be called a magic circle, for its agricultural possibilities are wonderful and its mineral resources marvelous; and if the diameter and radii of HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 35 this circle should be doubled the same statements of its area would still be true. Such a circle would include the very heart of this country, and Bates county lies at its center. People who now live and own homes within 100 miles of Butler — of the center of Bates county — do not properly appreciate the great privi- leges and advantages which are theirs. A broader view of our relation to history requires that a brief account of the state, its origin and development be given. Prior to 1763 the territory of Bates county belonged to France and was a part of that vast western empire which, wherever settled or occupied, recog- nized Louis XV as its king and sovereign. This ownership was predi- cated upon "the right of discovery" made by the French Canadians who as explorers, voyageurs, and trappers and fur dealers, had pushed far west and southwest from Canada by way of the Great Lakes on the north to the waters of the Mississippi and thence down that river, and up its tributaries, to greater or less distance. Prior to 1763 the entire continent of North America belonged to France, England, Spain and Russia. France owned prior to 1760 all that portion west of the Mississippi river as well as all of Canada. The "French War in North America," as it is usually called, between the French and English began in 1752. and closed in 1-760. This war was waged between them for possession of this continent. The French were in possession of Canada and Louisiana. They entrenched their forces on the banks of the St. Lawrence river, and near the mouth of the Mississippi and attempted by the occupation of various points in the interior to confine the English colonies to a narrow strip on the Atlantic coast. The Lidians of the West became the allies of the French. The French and English both claimed the country drained by the Ohio, but it had been settled by neither. The governor of Virginia organ- ized a force to take possession of the spot where Pittsl^urgh now stands; but the French beat him to it, and established there Fort Duquesne and held it until 1758. A long struggle ensued to dispossess the French. Here in 1755 Braddock was defeated and General Washington won his first renown. Then followed the l)attles of Ticonderoga. Crown Point, and Niagara, in 1759, all taken by the English, and the war in America terminated in the capture of Quebec by General Wolfe; but the strug- gle for the possession in Europe continued until, on September 8> 1760. it was ceded to England. But France retained possession of Louisiana until 1762. when she ceded it to Spain, thus yielding her last foothold upon the American continent. At that time neither France nor any 36 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY one else had any adequate idea of the vast territory west of the Mis- sissippi river. It was practically an unexplored country which we know as the ''Louisiana Purchase." As long as the French held it, it was called the "Province of Louisiana" and it included what is now the state of Missouri, as well as all the states west of the Mississippi, except the territory afterward acquired from Mexico and Russia and the state of Texas. Then for thirty-seven or thirty-eight years what is now Mis- souri was under Spanish rule, and the wdiole cession was known as the "Illinois country." During that time free commerce on the Mississippi became a burning question. Spain controlled both banks of the river at New Orleans and the settlers in Kentucky, Tennessee and other parts of the Mississippi valley clamored for an open way for commerce to the sea, or at least to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The point was that Spain claimed the right to close the river to all but Spanish commerce. The controversy was serious. It is not necessary to go further into this vexed question. In 1802 the Spanish intendant at New Orleans withdrew the right of deposit, and that again inflamed conditions. But about that time it became known in this country that Spain had retroceded Louisiana to France by the secret treaty of San Ildefonso two years before 1800, in return for an Italian principality to be granted to the son-in-law of the King of Spain. The doings of Napoleon in this country led President Jefferson to send Monroe to France in 1803, with instructions to buy New Orleans and the Floridas, or at least secure a port of deposit or similar concession. When Mr. Monroe reached Paris, he discovered that Livingston, the resident minister, had completed the preliminaries of the purchase not only of New Orleans, but of the whole of Louisiana. At that time England and France were at peace, but Napoleon's continental policy, he knew, was certain to bring on war with England. On account of dan- gers threatening from that quarter and unexpected obstacles he was encountering in San Domingo, where the heroic resistance of Toussaint L'Ouverture was giving him much trouble and exhausting his resources, he suddenly abandoned his dreams of a colonial empire on this continent. Colonial expansion and war with England at the same time would prove too great a burden. "Napoleon, therefore, with the remorseless dis- regard for sentiment that made and ruined him. met Livingston's demands for concessions on the Mississippi with the proposal to sell all of Louisiana to the United States." Before Mr. Livingston HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 37 could recover from his astonishment Mr. Monroe arrived, and after talk- ing the matter over together they resolved to exceed their instructions and accept the bargain "tossed into their laps." For $15,000,000 the United States secured all the claims of France to New Orleans and the watershed of the Mississippi on the western bank. Thus began the colonial expansion of our own government. This purchase more than doubled our material domain, settled forever the Mississippi question and hastened the inevitable advance to the Pacific. From this it will be noticed that Missouri has twice been under the sovereignty of France and once under Spain. The history of Mis- souri, or the Province of Louisiana as it was known under French rule, and as the Illinois country under Spanish rule, would be interesting; but we need not go into that. At the time of the transfer from France to Spain in 1762 there was only one settlement within the bounds of the present state of Missouri, Ste. Genevieve, 1735, the oldest in the state. St. Charles was established the year of the cession, 1762. and St. Louis in 1764. Then came Carondelet in 1767, Florissant in 1776; and these seem to have been all the towns in existence at the time of the Louisiana Purchase. Missouri was admitted as a territory by James Madison, Tune 4, 1812. Missouri territory then embraced what is now Missouri state. Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and most of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. It was admitted as a state, conditionally, March 2, 1820, by James Monroe, President; but was not formally admitted until August 10, 1821. The story of Missouri's struggle for admittance as a state is an intensely interesting one, but too long for a work like this. It has been truly said that Missouri is the mother of all the great West. Her sons and daughters have followed the sun to the Pacific, and every state west of the mouth of the Kaw is indebted to Missouri for many of the brave pioneers wdio have blazed the way to statehood and greatness in the land of their adoption and settlement ; and not- withstanding the stream which has flowed out to the westward the "Mother State" has waxed great and strong and fat. Any extended eulogium upon our state would be manifestly out of place here; but it requires no great vision to see her fifty or an hundred vears hence, still leading all the boundless West in commerce and mate- 38 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY rial greatness, strong, prosperous and patriotic; the home of good folk then as now, and as beloved by her children of the generations to come. Her continued progress is assured. She has the love and devotion of her people; and her internal values and her external environments are guaranties of her future greatness. CHAPTER II. EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT. LIMITATIONS OF STORY— LEGAL AGE OF COUNTY— AREA— CLASSIFICATION- BEGINNING— OCCUPATION BY OSAGES— THEIR CHARACTERISTICS— MAR- QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WRITERS— PREHISTORIC RACE— VOY- AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS— JOLIET AND MARQUETTE— DE SOTO AND DE CORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEDITION — ADVENTURE.-^S — FRENCH CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRST FRENCH EXPLORATIONS— GRANT TO FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT— NAMING OF OSAGE. LITTLE OSAGE, AND MARMITON— LOCATION OF THE OSAGES— THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY— RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY— "GET RICH QUICK" SCHEME- RENAULT'S MEN. In telling the story of Bates county we refer to the county as it was finally organized by act of the General Assembly in 1855, and as it is now; for there has been no change in boundary since. Where reference to Cass, Van Buren, Vernon or other counties are made, care will be taken to explain the relation sustained by Bates to any other county. Roughly speaking Bates county is now sixty-three years old. That is a short period in history but there have been many changes in the world, in our nation and state, since Bates county was legally cre- ated and became one of the great counties of this great commonwealth. It might be a pleasant privilege to write down the solemn and momen- tous events which have occurred within the life of Bates county of national and world importance — the progress and decline of people, crumbling dynasties, wars, victories and defeats; the marvelous achieve- ments of science in every field of human speculation; the literary, philosophical and moral accomplishments of our own people as well as of the other civilized people of the world. But an excursion into such wide and limitless fields is beyond the scope of this work whose boun- daries are fixed, by law and the Gunter's chain. Bates contains within its boundaries a little more than half a million acres — a little more than 900 square miles. It is the fourth in area in the state. It belongs in the class described as rolling, prairie country. It has a history as important and interesting as any in the western part of the state. Its present MAP OF BATES COtWTT, MISSOUBI. CHAPTER EXPLORATION AND I LIMITATIONS OF STORV— LEGAL AGE OP BEGINNING — OCCUPATION BY OSAGES- QUETTE'S MAP— EARLY MAPS AND WI AGEURS AND COURIERS DU BOIS— JOLIE DE CORONADO — PENALOZA'S EXPEl CLAIMS TO TERRITORY— FIRaT FRE FRENCH KING — M. DE TISSENET'S VISIT- AND MARMITON— LOCATION OP THE OSA RENAULT— INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERl RENAULT'S MEN. ]n telliiin- tlic story of Bates county was linally organized by act of the Gem it is now; for there has been no ciiang reference to Cass, Van Biiren, Vernon or will lie taken to explain the relation sus county. Roug-hly si)ealU. General's Letter of 3d of July, 1S39. ar« Office. ^:Xi.^Z^^ north Of .he base Une, range 30 west of t.e^tbpr.nc.pa. ™er.dUaU,^^^^^^^^ ,orted to be the head ot navigation, down to the f?^' ,^°"°f^[r °' osltlon : miles 56.70 chains, were all surveyed In 'he < '^ Q"/"" °' account of the Surveyor General for that quarter-Voucher No. 19 WILLIAM MILBURN. Surveyor General Aggrexate Area. 23,019.01 .^ a ... *« rtf ihn Survey (hereof or Olo In this ofllco. which have nformable to the ««'"» °»'f? °' /g^j . „ ,,/. „„. yet t,«n paid for. The South bound, er contract of the 25th of M»':'^^|*J;„;|,.,, „, i,,„ (j„:.^-..f,.„M ih.- line beiw.o., «,T,lonH, 31 lines 59 miles •_-'^'2j^]'7h"J'imT,ro7emeBl of the Harmony Mission ostabllBhmont In order to 1 around the Improvement Aggregate Area. 23,019.01 acres. hlch have been boundary 6 ?.2 and show ;;;d."7hreas7h7unlary6-mlles was surveyed in .he _.j^,,uan^ rhro^.?XtVonT-down-tor°eL?f5go^S^^^^^^ P- - '» - - -«- «' -9 and ^^^^^^, ^, ^. ...,,„, Oe...! ^K^d^O,^.:^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^ I hereby certify that this la a. rut- copy of the plat of survey of the lands fo whU It relate, on (lie In.^hjs omce, so far as legible. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5 1 it the Great Spirit, and ascribed to it all those events and forces which they could not understand. At least they seem to have had no con- ception of the God of the Christian world, and their moral sense was limited indeed. It will become necessary, as we go on, to further discuss the Osages. It is sufficient here to say that the object of the United For- eign Missionary Society, by whom the Harmony Family was sent out, was to establish and carry on a work that would illuminate the dark- ness of heathendom and spread a light among these Indians that would forever bless that benighted race. Missions were to be schools where the children should be taught and trained in Christian knowledge. One hundred years ago there was a great religious enthusiasm in the churches of this and other countries on behalf of both home and foreign missionary work. Men and women qualified were dedicated to the work; and history contains no chapter fuller of splendid self- consecration and heroic self-sacrihce than that which chronicles the Tabors of the missionaries, both men and women. Devout men and women, fired by a holy zeal and upheld by a Divine hand, left every thing behind them and went forth to conquer darkness with light, as it is in Christ Jesus. Prompted by holy and unselfish motives and sus- tained by sublime faith in God's constant love and care they met the difficulties and responsibilities in their course as real Christian soldiers. The trials of an unexplored and unknown wilderness inhal^ited by heathen races and wild beasts, far from the supports of civilization, with sickness and death meeting them on the way and continuing with them at their point of destination, they met every obstacle, endured every sorrow and disappointment, suffered untold hardships of every kind, in the spirit of the Master whose Gospel they sought to preach and teach to a degraded and Godless people. They murmured not. They praised God for his mercies and constant care without ceasing. On the banks of the rivers they followed, amidst the great primeval 'forests, they rested every Sabbath nlorning during their long, tedious and difficult journey of about five months, and held divine worship at least twice each Sunday. There were usually two sermons and a "con- ference" each Sabbath ; and a daily hour of prayer and praise, morning and evening on their boats. Thus they toiled from Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, to Harmony beyond the head of the Osage river in the land of the Big and the Little Osages. The origin of this mission we gather from the fourth annual report 52 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of the United Foreign Missionary Society, held in the Presbyterian church in Cedar street, New York City, May 9, 1821, which meeting was held while this Mission Family was on its way to their destination in the Osage country, where they arrived on August 2, 1821 — not exactly at the site afterward chosen, but within a few miles of it. where they were obliged to stop on account of low water in the Osage river, about two miles east of the confluence of the Marais des Cygnes river. We quote from the American Missionary Register, 1821-22, the society report: Great Osage Mission, In the early part of July, 1820, a new field for missionary exertion was providentially opened to the board. An important communication, dated at the seat of government on the 5th of that month, was received from Col. M'Kenney, the superintendent of Indian trade. In this com- munication Col. M'Kenney thus remarks : — "I have had this moment a most interesting interview with the chief counsellor, and the principal warrior of the Osages of the Mis- souri. The object of their deputation is, to solicit the introduction of the school system among their people, and to pray for the means of civilization. I wish I could send you the old chief's talk; but, to do so, I should have to paint as well as write. He is a most eloquent and able man. "I felt authorized, considering the great anxiety under which I perceived them to labour, and relying on the benevolence of the society set on foot for this laudable work, to give assurance, that they might expect the same attention that had been shown to their brothers on the Arkansas (Union Mission, near Ft. Gipson, Oklahoma). I find that these Osages are jealous of their Arkansas brethren. They claim to have merited, by holding fast their promises to the government, the first care of this generous sort. 'Our hands,' said the old chief, 'are white, and their hands are bloody.' "I cannot but think that much good would result, could they be assured that an agency would be established amongst them immedi- ately." — "As you are under way with the Osages, it would be best for you to occupy that ground." "The tide is now at its flood; and if taken, you will be borne on to a realization of all your generous hopes." On receiving this communication, the board resolved to occupy the ground thus unexpectedly presented to their view. The Rev. Dr. Milledoler was appointed a commissioner, with full powers to proceed HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 53 to Washington, and to form a covenant with the Indian chiefs. He left this city on the 17th of July; and on his arrival at Washington, was introduced to the chiefs by the honorable Secretary of War and the Superintendent of Indian trade. In the course of the interview, a covenant was formed, binding the board to send out a missionary fam- ily in the ensuing spring, for the purposes of teaching to the nation the principles of Christianity, and the arts of civilized life, and of establish- ing a school for their children; and binding the chiefs to receive the family with kindness, to treat them with hospitality and friendship, to protect them from injury, and to mark out, and secure to them, land, sufficient for the missionary establishment. On signing the instrument, the old chief observed — "So soon as the family arrive at my nation I will go out to meet them at the head of my warriors, and will receive them as my friends. You want a piece of land. You may point it out,. and it shall be yours, wherever you choose. It shall be for your use. I will mark it out with my finger. It shall be as much as you want for the family. Come soon." The counsellor said — "I shall be at home when your family come out, I will help the chief to mark out the land, and will be your friend." The warrior also said — 'T am a warrior. It is my business to be about in the nation. I will defend your people when they come to us." The proceedings of the commissioner, on his return from Washing- ton, received the sanction of the board; and the committee of missions were instructed to look out for a mission family, and the committee of ways and means, to adopt measures for furnishing the necessary supplies. A statement of these transactions was immediately laid before the public and in the course of a few weeks, applications for appointment in the Great Osage Mission, were transmitted by more than one hun- dred individuals, including both sexes, and embracing various occupa- tions. Most of the persons furnished satisfactory testimonials of their character, and their qualifications for some kinds of service required in the mission. From this list of applicants a family was selected, con- sisting of ten adult males, fifteen adult females, and sixteen children — residents of the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey. Pennsylvania and Maryland. This- numerous and interesting family is composed of the following persons: — The Rev. Nathaniel B. Dodge, and wife and seven children, of Under- bill, Vermont; the Rev. Benton Pixley, and wife and one child, of East Williamstown, Vermont ; the Rev. William B. Montgomery, and wife,. 54 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of Danville, Pennsylvania; Doctor \\illiani N. B.elcher, and wife, of Greenwich, Connecticut; Mr. Daniel H. Austin, and wife and five chil- dren, of Waterbury, Vermont; Mr. Samuel Newton, and wife and two children, of Woodbridge, Connecticut; Mr. Samuel B. Bright, and wife and one child, of Bloomsburgh, Pennsylvania; Mr. Otis Sprague, and wife, of Leicester, Massachusetts; Mr. Amasa Jones, and wife, of Rindge, New Hampshire; Mr. John Seeley, and wife, of Rockaway, New Jersey; Miss Susan Comstock, of Wilton, Connecticut; Miss Har- riett W'oolley, of the city of New York; Miss Mary \\"eller, of Bloom- field, New Jersey; Miss Mary Etris, of the city of Philadelphia; Miss Eliza Howell, of the city of Baltimore. Besides the superintendent and assistant, there are, among the males of the family, a minister of the Gospel, who goes out as a teacher, with the privilege of preaching whenever his health will permit, and the circumstances of the mission require; a regular!}- educated phy- sician and surgeon; a person capable of manufacturing machinery, per- forming most kinds of blacksmith work, and teaching music; a car- penter and millwright; a shoemaker, a wagon-maker, and two farmers. The females, collectively, are qualified to teach all the branches of indus- try pursued by that sex in this country; most of them have had con- siderable experience in teaching common schools ; and two or three have taught in seminaries of a higher order. It is distinctly understood by the whole family, that each member is bound to perform, so far as practicable, any branch of duty which the general interests of the mis- sion may require. To the churches of the three denominations combined in this insti- tution an appeal was made for money, and for the various supplies neces- sary for the outfit of so numerous and important a mission. The appeal, agreeably to the expectation of the board, was received with cordiality and answered with efficiency and promptitude. By churches, auxiliary societies, individuals, and associations of ladies formed for the ])ur- pose, money was contril)uted to the amount of more than nine thousand dollars, and garments and goods of various descriptions, to the estimated value of eight thousand — an amount of both, which demands of the managers undisscnd)lcd thanks to tlie generous contributors, and unmingled gratitude to Him, who rules alike in the armies of Heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. The whole of the mission family, with the exception of the two females from Philadelphia and Baltimore, had arrived in this cit\- on Saturdav evening the 3d of March, 1821. On Monday evening, the 5lh. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 55 they were set apart to their missionary labours, and on Tuesday eve- ning, the 6th, a farewell meeting was held in the Reformed Dutch church on Nassau street. The exercises on both evenings were similar in kind to those preparatory to the departure of the Union Mission, which were detailed at length in the last annual report. On the present occa- sion, therefore, it is sufficient to remark that never were churches in this city more crowded, not any religious exercises more solemn, appro- priate, or impressive. At three o'clock on A\'ednesday, the 7th of March, the family and their friends met the board at the consistory room in Garden street, where the general commission, the general instructions, and talk to the Indian chiefs,' the whole enclosed in a box prepared for the occasion, were formally presented to the superintendent and assistants. Having then united in a parting hymn, and an appropriate and fervent prayer, the assembly moved, in procession, to the steam-boat "Atlanta," at the foot of the Battery. At four o'clock the steam-boat departed from the wharf, while the family on board were singing a farewell hymn, and receiving the last affectionate salutation of many thousands of citizens and strangers, who had crowded to the docks and the Battery to wit- ness their departure. On their way through the state of New Jersey, they were invited to attend missionary exercises in the churches of Elizal)ethtown, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton ; and to the lil)eralitv of our friends in those towns, and of the proprietors of the steam-boats "Atlanta" and "Pennsylvania," are we indebted, for the conveyance of the family, from this c'ty to Philadelphia, without expense to the ])oard. At Philadelphia tliey arrived on the 10th of March, and were received with attention and kindness. Public meetings were held, and collections taken up in several of the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch cliurches. Time would fail us to acknowledge the many tokens of respect to the family, and of regard to the missionary cause, with which they were favoured in Philadelphia, and on their journey westward. Suffice it to state, that they left that city on the 15th of March, and notwithstanding the l^ad state of the roads at that season of the year, arrived on the 10th, at Pittsl)urgh ; and were everywhere received with affection, and honoured ^^•ith benefactions important to the missions. \\"e cannot hc^wever, omit to mention, that, at Harrisburgh, thev found articles of value amounting in weight to more than a ton. much of wliicii had been sent in for their acceptance, from various congrega- 56 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tions in the county of Columbia and other parts of the surrounding country. At Pittsburgh, boats, for the conveyance of the family, were pre- viously purchased, by order of the board. Having experienced much of the hospitality of the friends of missions in that city, and having received, by mail, a number of important documents from the secretary of war, and the superintendent of Indian trade, they embarked on their long and hazardous voyage on the 19th of April, under circumstances the most pleasant and propitious. In descending the Ohio, they are, in relation to the season, about six weeks in advance of the Union Mission (which went out the year before — 1820) ; and when they enter the Missouri they will be borne, to the close of their journey, on waters which are generally navigated with safety in the severest heat of sum- mer. What will be the issue is known only to that God, under whose barmer they have enlisted. They have gone forth in this glorious enterprise, accompanied with the prayers and benedictions of their fel- low Christians throughout our country, and, thus far, under the smiles of an overruling Providence ; and whether they live to reach their destined station, or sink into an early grave — whether they be rendered the honoured instruments of converting a savage tribe, or doomed to labour in vain, and spend their strength for naught — yet, they have the consolation to know, that, if they are faithful unto death they shall receive a crown of glory in the kingdom of Immanuel. Commission to Washington. In this stage of their operations, the managers deemed it important to send a commissioner to the seat of government, with instructions to solicit of the secretary of war, and of the superintendent of Indian trade, the necessary letters and documents for the Great Osage Mission; to exhibit a view of the present and projected transactions of the board; to obtain, if practicable, immediate pecuniary assistance; to ascertain to what extent the managers may calculate on the aid of government in their future labours among the Indian tribes; and to adopt other measures to promote the views and subserve the interests of the insti- tution. The Rev. Dr. Milledoler was appointed to perform the duties of this commission. On his arrival at Washington, he procured, under the hand of the secretary of war and the seal of the war department, a talk to the chiefs and warriors of the Great Osage nation, and letters to Governor Clarke and other agents of sfovernment in the mission HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5;- territory. He was also furnished with similar papers, under the hand and seal of the superintendent of Indian trade. These documents were immediately transmitted by mail to Pittsburgh, and were received by the superintendent and assistant of the mission, before they left that city. Besides furnishing these documents, the government agreed to- make advances, to the Great Osage Mission, of one thousand dollars, on account of their buildings ; and to allow, for the support of the schools at the Tuscarora and Seneca stations, the annual sum of nine hundred dollars. For the former sum, the board were permitted to draw at pleasure, and for the latter, quarterly, from the first day of January last. Assurances were also given, that further assistance should be granted to the managers, whenever schools shall have been com- menced at Union and at Harmony. As tending to show the spirit of the times, the missionary enthus- iasm, and the consideration of this society to the great work — not alone at Harmony, but at other points in the wide Osage country, we quote the conclusion of the report: Conclusion. ''On a review of the facts now presented, your managers discover much to excite their gratitude, and to stimulate to further exertion. In every stage of their progress through the last year, they recognize the guidance of a superintending and omnipotent Hand. To no other cause can they ascribe the unexpected extension of their operations, of the correspondent augmentation of their resources. To no other source can they trace the circumstance, that a number of heathen chiefs should have wandered two thousand miles from the Western wilder- ness, to obtain for their tribe the benefits of religious instruction; or,, that when Christian teachers were thus required, more than one hun- dred should have promptly solicited the privilege of conveying 'the Message of Mercy' to those benighted and perishing pagans. "The heart of man is in the hand of the Lord; as the rivers of water^ He turneth it whithersoever He will. The silver and the gold are His;: and when His designs are to be accomplished, the instruments, and the means, are alike obedient to His control. " 'Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance^ and the uttermost ends of the earth for thy possession. — It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see 58 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY my glory. — From one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me. — The glory of the Lord shall' be revealed and all flesh shall see it ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.' The pledge shall be redeemed. The work is begun. The Lord hath' made bare His holy arms in the eyes of many nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Through the instrumentality of missionary efforts this delight- ful change in the moral condition of the world shall be achieved. Be it our ambition to bear a distinguished part in the glorious and heavenly enterprise. "For our exertion. Christian brethren, a wide field is spread before us. On this AA^estern continent, perhaps a hundred nations, sitting in the shadow of death, are yet to be raised to life, and gathered into the spiritual kingdom of our Redeemer. Let us. then, press forward to the work with renewed vigor; rejoicing, that our lot has been cast in an age so eventful as the present; cherishing the warmest feelings of gratitude, that we are permitted to be the humble instruments of redeeming power; and ascribing the success, and the glory, to Him who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever. "By order of the Board of Managers, "Z. LEAATS, "Secretary for Domestic Correspondence." This devoted band — dedicated and set apart l)y solemn church ceremonies — embarked at Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania, on April 19, 182L and the daily report kept by them and printed in the "Missionary Reg- ister" from month to month, shows that the trip down the Ohio river on a good tide was practically a picnic until sickness and death came to mar their happiness. They met with a most cordial and beneficent reception at all the principal towns and cities on either bank of the Ohio; and they received donations of goods and money as they pro- gressed. They preached and prayed and sang with the people who came to their Sabbath services. It is an interesting story, but too long for these pages. Soon after they had passed Louisville, Kentucky. Sunday, April 29, "a fine daughter" was ]x)rn to Mr. and Mrs. Newton. The next dav thev ran seventy miles on a swift current and Sister Newton "was remarkably comfortable." On May 3, John A\'. Patter- son fell over-board and was lost. Both the skiff^s were gone. He was a hired boatman and nothing further is said of him. Sister Newton was worse and the "babe was dedicated to God in baptism." May HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY eg 4, the babe died at three o'clock in the morning. The funeral was preached the next day by Rev. Dodge, and the infant buried at Mt. Vernon cemetery, Indiana. Sister Newton grew worse and died on May 6, at Shawneetown, where her body was buried. The daily record is sad and touching, but shows deep humiliation and unwaver- ing dependence on God. After leaving Shawneetown nothing of importance happened and the boats reached the Mississippi river at noon on May 9. An item of the chronicle of that day says: "We have now as we calculate, between six and seven hundred miles up-stream to perform, which will be laborious indeed, unless favored with wind." Their picnic was over. From now on they had hard work and many difficulties; but they never fainted nor faltered. But every Sabbath they rested and held religious services in a primeval grove. If there were any inhabitants about they were invited to the services; if not the services were conducted just the same, usually both Reverend Dodge and Reverend Pixley would preach, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The best they could do upstream was from seven to ten miles a day — sometimes only four or five — pulling by ropes along the banks. They complained much of the enormous Hood trees coming down on the rise — as thick as ice in winter. A short distance below St. Louis while tied to the shore at night "a tremendous raft of trees came driving in upon us. Some of the family were greatly affrighted, but we were mercifully preserved." They could not proceed. So Brothers Dodge and Pixley took the opportunity to "walk forward to St. Louis, about twelve miles, to make arrangements that the family might not be detained there." Here they met Governor Clarke, the younger and elder Chouteau. In discussing the location of the Missouri with the Chouteaus, the younger having just arrived from the Osage village, "in seven days," said, "It is their opinion that the junction of the Little with the Big Osage river, near the old village, will be the best place. They say there is there high prairie ground, plenty of wood, good millseats, excellent soil, and limestone for all the purposes of building." This statement will become important when we come to discuss the location of the village and of Harmony. The boats finally arrived at St. Louis, June 5. and on the 8th thev entered the mouth of the turl)id Missouri ri^'er, where they stopped at a small settlement "entirely destitute of the privileges of the Gospel" and at the earnest request of the people Brother Dodge preached. The 10th was Sunday and they held public worship on the 60 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY bank near their boats. Monday, June 11. — "The current this day very strong and with difficulty we make five miles." On the twelfth they arrived at St. Charles. "We here saw an Indian woman from the Osage nation." This was an interesting fact to them. The other people they saw were French to some of whom they gave Bibles. They had much hard luck and hard labor up the Missouri from St. Charles, but arrived at the mouth of the Gasconade river June 25. They met quite a lot of French people from time to time to whom they gave Bibles and tracts; and arrived at the mouth of the Osage on June 29. All were well. Sister Weller and others who had been sick had recovered and they were rejoicing with "gratitude to God for the blessings received at His hands." The next day they made about four- teen miles, and the second day was Sunday or Lord's day, as they put it. July 1. — "Spent this day in the wilderness. One house not far distant. Attended public worship under the shadow of a great rock. The rock for several rods projects over about ten feet, and is capable of sheltering from the storms as well as from the rays of the sun. Brother Dodge preached this morning and Brother Pixley in the after- noon, A conference was held in the evening." This rock was probably near Wardsville in Cole county, though the chronicle does not say on which side of the river it was — about fourteen miles from the mouth of the river. The record makes frequent mention of this beautiful river, and the next Lord's day, July 8, was spent on a gravel bar or island and Brother Montgomery preached under a large tent erected on poles, made of one of their sails. The river got low and increased their diffi- culties, but a big rain came and "raised the river about six inches. We passed on this day (July 13) to the Great Rapids, and ascended the first ripple." That night the waters rose about three feet so they were able to pass the Great Rapids, providentially, as they believed. July 15 was Sunday and the chronicler says : "We are now emphatically in the wilderness, but our God is here; Christian society is here; and the Sabbath of the Lord is here; and what privileges more can we ask for?" They preached and prayed and worshipped as usual. On Mon- day "our boys went out and cut a bee tree from which they brought a pail of honey." The water had fallen about two feet that day, but the next day "it was very high, insomuch that we find it very difficult to push our boats upstream." They had some difficulty with the hired men. "The whiskey which had been provided for their use, having all been drank, they demanded brandy, and threatened to leave us in HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6l the wilderness unless they were supplied." To the glory of God and the honor of His missionaries, it was refused and the hired men went ■on a strike all day. But they finally capitulated and consented to pull on. The river continued high and difficult of navigation, but by the twentieth they had arrived at the mouth of Grand river, now known as the Sac river. It continued to rain, and the 22nd, was Lord's day again and they "are now three week's journey from civilized society." All the next week they moved slowly, but safely — the water going down from ten to twelve feet in that time. Tuesday, July 21 — ''This evening we met for business, and resolved to pass on to the mouth of the Little Osage river; and at the nearest convenient place, to take our stand until we can hold a counsel with the Osage chief, and learn where we are to fix our permanent establishment. We are now drawing near our destination. Oh! may the God of Israel go with us; and may He assist us in the discharge of the duties devolving upon us, that we may instrumentally save the people now sitting in darkness." They had their first interview with Osage Indians on August 2. This is the chronicle for that day and it is worth remembering in con- nection with some disputed facts of history, to be discussed later: "This day moved on favorably. Passed the Little Osage river, and opened our eyes upon a most beautiful prairie. Came to Chouteau's establish- ment, where we found a number of families of the Osage Indians. We had an interview with them and made known the objects of our visit. They gathered around us in a friendly manner, and their countenances apparently brightened with gladness at our arrival. Having ascertained that most of the chiefs and warriors of the tribe were absent on a hunt, we moved on a little above Chouteau's settlement and landed for the present." The next day an Indian runner was dispatched after the chiefs to inform them of the arrival of the missionaries. "This day the brethren performed the task allotted to them last evening. No good situation was discovered on the Little Osage. Resolved to make a trial tomorrow to move our boats as near it as we can conveniently get." Saturday, August 4. — "We started our boats up the stream, and passed very pleasantly until just at night when we came to a ripple which had not water sufificient to carry us up. We were obliged to turn back a little to a place where our boats could lie in safety, and to land for the Sabbath." Lord's day, August 5. — "Attended public wor- ship as usual. Brother Pixley and Brother Montgomery preached. We enjoyed a very peaceful season, having none to disturb us." 62 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Place Settled for the Missionary Station. Monday, xA-Ugust 6. — "This day most of the brethren went up to the United States Factory to take another look for a situation for our' establishment, and found a place which we all think very suitable for the object. Here we met with Mr. Williams, who is appointed inter- preter at the factory. We conversed with him some time concerning this tribe of Indians, and then returned to the boats. Attended monthly concert in the evening." Tuesday, August 7. — "This morning we con- cluded to make a further trial to get our boats up the stream. Unloaded part of the goods on board the first boat, and worked half the day, but could not effect our object. This evening we met for business. As our boats are stopped for the present, and we know not how long they must remain here; as the chiefs of the nation are not yet assembled, and we know not the particular time when they will convene; and as we have been informed that it is the general wish of the Indians that we should establish on the very spot which we ourselves have selected; under these circumstances we resolved to convey our goods to the station in our skifT, and to build a warehouse without delay." Wednesday, August 8. — "This morning we set two men and a boy to the skiff, while a number of the l)rethren went up to our intended station, to cut timber and begin our establishment. On these, and on all our future exertions, may the Lord add his blessing."' It is proper to say here that the ripple mentioned over which they could not get their boats at the stage of water is what is known as the Rapid de Kaw, about a mile and a half east of Halley's Bluff on the Osage, and about three miles east of the junction of the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes rivers, whose confluence makes the head or beginning of the Osage river proper. One statement in the foregoing is inexplicable. It is stated they "passed the Little Osage." This is clearly error, as shown by their later statement about looking for and finding no suitable site on the Little Osage. The government survey, shown on the map of Prairie township, fixes the location of Chouteau's place, but the exact location of the United States Factory where Mr. Williams was stationed is not now known ; but everything points to its site about a mile down the Marais des Cygnes from Har- mony Station, or practically right where the village of Papinsville is now situate. The precise location of Harmony Station, which has been much confused by writers, is shown on the lithographic copy of the government survey furnished by the general land office at Washing- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 63 ton, found in this volume. There can be no error in this. The survey was made in 1838, only six years after the virtual abandonment of the mission. Journal of the Mission. The sad story of their affliction soon after their settlement is so accurately and graphically told in the "Jo^^^nal of the Mission" that we give it as there written. It is a story replete with human interest. "Thursday, August 9. — This morning Brothers Newton, and Bright took their departure for the Missouri to purchase horses, oxen, and cows. To-day we plant potatoes. Arrival of Indian Chiefs. "Saturday, August 11. — After labouring until towards night w^e returned to our boats, where we found the chiefs of the Osages assem- bled together with near seventy of their people, anxious to attend immediately to the business of our establishment. But as the night was coming on, and the Sabbath approaching, we gave them to understand that they must wait until Monday; for we professed to regard the Sab- bath as holy time, and we could not attend to any w^orldly business on that day. They then stated that they could stay until Monday; l3ut that they were destitute of provisions. We then turned them out pro- visions for their support. This was an interesting season for our fam- ily, to see these tawny sons of the forest approaching in their warlike attitude, and seating themselves at their tires within a few yards of our boats. "Lord's Day, August 12. — This morning the Indians thought of moving up the river a few miles near our proposed station, as we had to hold our council at that place; but we invited them to remain with us through the Sabbath, to which they very readily agreed. We went on shore, and held public worship among the Indians ; and although they could not understand our speech, yet they could form some idea of the propriety of our worship. Brother Pixley preached in the morn- ing, and Brother Dodge in the afternoon. "After our exercises were through, w^e brought our children out to attend to our Sabbath school lessons in the presence of the Indians. May a blessing attend the performance of this day. Had a talk this evening with the big soldier. He asked us how long we expected to remain with them. We replied, 'As long as we live.' He said, he now saw us we are men; and had the appearance of good men; but he 64 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY wanted to see us next year, and the year after, and in about three years he could judge better whether we were good men. He said that when he was off on his hunt after buffaloes, he heard that the mis- sionaries were coming to them, and on his return he met a man who told him that the missionaries had come, but, said he, they have bad hearts, but he was now convinced, as far as he had become acquainted, that what that man had told was false. We tried to turn his attention to the education of his children, but to this he had many objections, yet we thought it full likely he should be one of the first to send chil- dren to school when we are ready to receive them. Things seem to wear as favourable an aspect among this people as we could reasonably expect. May God direct us in the path of duty. Indian Council. "Monday, August 13. — After breakfast we assembled our family, old and young, on the deck of our boats, and the Indian chiefs came on board, and in token of friendship shook hands with the whole. We then immediately repaired to the spot in which we proposed to erect our establishment, in order to hold our council. Previously to entering on business, we invoked the gracious benediction of heaven to rest upon us in our deliberations. After reading all the papers necessary from the general government, and expressed something with regard to our site, the chiefs expressed perfect satisfaction, and pointed out the bounds of a certain tract of land for our accommodation. On this tract we have the best mill-seat without doubt in this part of the country; a large quantity of excellent timber; several creeks of water; quantities of limestone and coal, and a great abundance of as good prairie land as we could ask for. This site is bounded south by the main branch of the Osage river, immediately on the bank of which we have a most beautiful spot on which to erect our buildings. In this grant there is perhaps fifteen thousand acres of land. A deed of this is to be given when we can get time to survey it. "Tuesday, August 14. — We now engage in good earnest to pre- pare for business, having the spot for our establishment fixed. "We have a fine field before us for making hay. Some of the family employ themselves in that business, and others engage in fixing tents, tools, &c. "Thursday, August 1. — Our boats are seven or eight miles down the stream, and cannot at present be moved nearer. We keep three HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY " 65 hands constantly employed in running the skiff to fetch up such things as are immediately necessary, and to move up our females, and the feeble part of the family. "Lord's Day, August 19. — To-day we held public worship at our station under the shade of some oak-trees. Brother Dodge and Pixley preached here, and Brother Montgomery at the boats. Several men who are employed at the government buildings attended with us. Arrival of Messrs. Chapman and Fuller. "Monday, August 21. — This day several of the members of our family, and three of our hired men, are attacked with the ague and fever, and other disorders. We are in the hands of God, and whatever he does will be well. "Saturday, August 25. — This day we finish unloading our boats. It has been a heavy job, as we had to raise our goods up a very steep bank. We have them now secured under shelter. The family have all left the boats, and arrived at the station. We are now all dwelling in tents. May the God of Israel overshadow us, and cause that our tents may be the tents of Zion, where the Lord God Omnipotent may delight to dwell. "Lord's Day, August 26. — This morning we have the pleasure of hearing the word dispensed by Brother Chapman; and Brother Dodge preached in the afternoon. At the close of the exercises, we wevQ visited by a number of Indians. "Monday, August 27. — The chastisements of the Lord are upon us. A number of our family are in a state of debility; but, as yet, there is no case very alarming. Visit from Sans Nerf, "Friday, August 31. — To-day held a talk with Sans Nerf; in which he expressed a wish, that we would aid him in preparing a communi- cation for the government, requesting that all white men, who have not been suitably authorized, might be kept from trading with his peo- ple. Such irregular traders, he observed, are the cause of the young men being so bad. Government, he said, told him that there should be but one road to the Osage nation; but he found that there were two, — that is, one by the family here, and another on the Arkansas. In reply, he was told, that, although there were two roads, or families; (5) 66 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY yet they led in one direction. They were sent out by one society to accomplish one and the same object, which is to do them good as a nation. He was also informed, that, in respect to helping the chiefs by advice, or any other way, to guard against any depredations of bad traders, we would do all in our power. We held a long talk upon the concerns of his nation, and of our mission, in which he manifested many things which were very important. After this talk. Sans Nerf, while partaking of some roots and nuts, said, "You see the diet upon which we principally live." He was told to set his blacksmith to work in making ploughshares and hoes against next spring, then to plough and plant the ground, and he would soon have a better living. This evening received a visit from Major Graham, the principal agent among the Osage Indians. "Saturday, September 1. — Brothers Newton and Bright returned from the Missouri, with a pair of horses, four oxen, and seven cows, with their calves. They have brought with them a number of letters ; among which there is one from the secretary of the board, bearing date the 8th of July, which we received with gladness. Our whole family are now collected together at our station for the first time. Brothers Chapman and Fuller, from the Union Mission are still with us. Sister Howell is about to leave us; and altogether we have no church organized, yet we conclude to hold a communion season at the table of our Lord to-morrow. We held a season of prayer this evening. May God prepare us for the duties of the coming day. "Lord's Day, September 2. — This morning at eight o'clock, we meet for a preparatory conference, in view of attending the communion. Brother Pixley preached in the morning; and Brother Dodge admin- istered baptism to Brother Seeley's child. Brother Chapman preached in the afternoon; and the Lord's supper was then administered. This day six months ago, we held communion with our dear brethren in New York. This evening Brother Fuller and Sister Howell were married. "Monday, September 3. — This evening join in concert with the Christian world in supplicating mercy upon the perishing heathen. "Tuesday, September 4. — Our hired men are now debilitated, and there are but four of the brethren who are in sound health. What the Lord is about to do with us, we cannot tell. "We are now all in tents, and our kitchen and dining-tal)le in the open air. The winter is drawing on, and we have not begun to erect HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 67 our houses for want of a team. With what strength we have, we are now about to commence, as we have been furnished with a good team for the business. "Wednesday, September 5. — This day we commence hauHng tim- ber for our houses. May God grant to us strength to accomphsh our undertaking, or grace to be submissive to his will. A number of our family are this day taken down with our common complaint. "Friday, September 7. — Four men out of sixteen, are able this day to labour. May we rejoice that the Lord gives us as much strength as we still possess. Sickness Increasing. "Monday, September 10. — Our number for business is this day diminished one-half. Last week we had four, to-day two. Blessed be God that we have any. Had a very heavy thunder-shower to-day, which thoroughly tried our tents. Most of our people were drenched with the rain, but the Lord is our Protector, and will guard our health as far as is for His glory. May we be content with that. Departure of Messrs. Chapman and Fuller. "Tuesday, September 11. — We experienced a very powerful rain during the night. Brother Chapman and Brother Fuller and his wife, leave us to-day, to return to their station. May God go with them and bless them. Visited this evening by one of the chiefs, and num- ber of the people of the Little Osage village. This chief made a formal introduction, by showing some papers signed at the city of Washing- ton, in 1812, by some of the heads of department, signifying his good behavior, &c. After showing these, he informed me that he had a talk to deliver to-morrow. Talk with the Little Osage Chief. "Wednesday, September 12.— Held a talk with the Little Osage chief, in which he made inquiries as to our object in coming to this place — how long we expected to stay among them — and what we cal- culated to do. After receiving answers to these questions, he expressed satisfaction. We then inquired whether he and his people would be willing to send their children from their village to our school when we should be ready to receive them. He said he was going to a great council at St. Louis. The people there had always used him well, and 68 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY what they told him he would do. We gave him to understand, that we were sent by good men in the great city of New York, with the appro- bation of their Great Father, the President of the United States, to do them all the good in our power. He appeared much pleased, and said that if any of the people in his village should steal any thing from us, he would see that they were returned. "Saturday, September 15. — This day and evening we are again drenched with rain. Our situation is rather uncomfortable, l)ut we have reason to bless God that it is no worse. We are thronged with the Indians, and have been all the week. What a view we have of the human family in its native state! "Tuesday, September 18. — This evening met for business. Brothers Newton and Bright reported as follows with regard to the business transacted at the Missouri. The cost of two horses, four oxen, and seven cows with their calves, including their expenses, amounted to $295 96-100. Cash paid out by them at Franklin for postage, $9 79-100, making in the whole $305 75-100. "Wednesday, September 19. — This day Brother Dodge, who has been complaining for several days, is very ill, and but few in the family are able to labour. "Wednesday, October 10. — From the 20th of Septend)er to this day, such has been the state of the family, that no regular minutes have been kept. It has been with great difficulty, that we can find suffi- cient help to take care of the sick; l)ut so it has been the providence of God, that when one has been taken down, another has been raised up to assist in the kitchen, thus far. Our buildings have been for several days entirely suspended, and no business attended to, but taking care of the family. We have, however, got our warehouse in a situation to receive goods, and have secured the greater part of them in it. The Lord has seen fit, in His all-wise Providence, to make another breach upon us. On the 5th of October, He called Brother Seeley's child to Himself. Thus He is lopping off our tender branches. Oh, that the Providence of God, in relation to this family, may serve to humble us. and bring us near to Him. We have had much rain, which has rendered our situation uncomfortable. But the Lord has helped us through the whole, and we have abundant cause of gratitude. In this interval, our horses have broken away from us, and as yet, we have not heard from them. Brother Newton has now gone in search of them to Fort Osage. Three men came over from the Arkansas yesterday. They are on HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 69 their way to St. Louis, and they offered to assist in putting up a liouse or two. "Friday, October 12. — This day very pleasant, after the rain of yesterday. The men above mentioned, go to work to erect us a house. This is a Providence which we looked not for. "Saturday, October 13. — The missionary family continues very feeble. A number are very low. What the Lord is about to do with us, we cannot tell. Oh, may the afflictions which we are called to endure, serve to humble and to quicken us in the path of duty. "Monday, October 15. — To-day an Indian brought home our horses, which had been strayed a number of weeks. He found them near the mouth of the Osage river. "Tuesday, October 16. — This day, the men on their way to St. Louis leave us. We are left again feeble-handed, but little can be done besides taking care of the family. "Wednesday, October 17. — Our family are generally shaken with the fever and ague. How easy it is for the Lord to bring down the stoutest constitution to the borders of the grave; and it is equally true, that He is able to raise it up again. May we trust in Him. "Friday, October 19. — This day Brother Newton returned from the Missouri, with several hands to assist us in putting up our houses. He also agreed with a man to come soon, and put up four or five by the job. This begins to cheer our prospects. May we suitably notice the good hand of Providence in this event. "Saturday, October 20. — Our family still remains feeble, but we trust it will do us good to be afflicted. We need chastisement, to pre- pare us for our work. "Tuesday, October 23. — This evening, met for business. Brother Newton reported, in relation to his late jaunt, that he had purchased a horse for twenty-five dollars; that he had engaged a number of men to assist in erecting our buildings; that he was treated with great hos- pitality by the people below, and that his expenses during the ten days he was gone, were only seventy-five cents. "Wednesday, October 24. — This day one of our houses was fin- ished, and Dr. Belcher and wife. Sister Comstock. and Sister Weller, all very feeble in health, removed from their tents to the building. "Thursday, October 25. — Our family are yet feeble, and Sister Montgomery's case seems to be somewhat alarming. The Lord has brought us down in sickness, and lopped a tender bud; but in all these, yO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY His hand has been gentle. Perhaps we are verging on to more severe trials. Oh, may we hear the voice of God, and be humble. Death of Mrs. Montgomery and Her Child. "Saturday, October 27. — This evening Sister Montgomery was delivered of a living child, but it did not survive until morning. She appears to be as comfortable as can be expected. "Lord's Day, October 28. — Attended public worship as usual. Sister Montgomery appeared to be comfortable this morning, until about eleven o'clock when her countenance changed, and she fell into a swoon. in which she continued till evening, when she expired. Thus fled that immortal spirit, which from a youth has had a longing desire to spend her life in the missionary field. God. in His providence, suffered her to enter it, and took her to Himself. It may be said of her, as it was of David, that she did well that she had it in her heart to build God an house among the heathen. We have no doubt of her real piety and devotedness to God. We believe she has gone to reign witli Christ. Oh, that we may all be prepared to follow. "Monday. October 29. — This day we follow the remains of our dear Sister Montgomery to the grave. Solemn indeed is the reflection, that she must be cut down so soon; but it is the will of God, and we would not murmur. We rejoice in the consolation, that what is our loss, is her gain ; that while we grovel here in the dust a little longer, she is rejoicing in the Heavens, where neither sin nor sorrow can ever enter. "Tuesday, October 30. — This evening Sister Belcher is delivered of a living child. She has been in a low state of health for a long time. She is under as favourable circumstances as can reasonably be expected. The child is very feeble, and life of each is very precarious. What the event will be, time will determine. The doctor himself is very low with the fever and ague. Oh. may the Lord bless them, and soon raise them all to health, together with all the sick of the mission family. But submission is our duty. "Wednesday, October 3L — This day four hands arrived from the Missouri, to put up some of our cabins. Preservation of Their Goods. "Friday, November 2. — We have this day examined the principal part of our goods in our warehouse. Our provisions, such as hard bread, flour, and meat, have saved remarkably well ; and very little of our clothing has received any damage. When we open our packages, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7 1 and find the great abundance of the necessaries of Hfe, which have been collected for our use, our hearts are impressed with gratitude to our Divine Benefactor, and with thankfulness to our Christian friends for the great kindness they have manifested to us for Christ's sake. Oh, that we may remember that ours is the responsibility for the improvement of these tributes of Christian benevolence. This night Dr. Belcher's child expired. "Thursday, November 8. — This day another of our buildings is fin- ished, in which Brother Jones is accommodated. "Saturday, November 10. — Brother Dodge's youngest child, which has been sick a number of days, appeared to be extremely low through the day, and died in the evening. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away — bless be the name of the Lord. Brother Seeley is attacked with a violent pain in his side. "Tuesday, November 13. — Brother Seeley's case grows more alarm- ing. He has a violent pain in his side, and a severe cough. Dr. Belcher and his wife are very low. Brother Bright, and a number of others, are feeble. "Thursday, Noveml^er 15. — Brother Seeley continues to be very sick. He thinks he shall not recover. He stated that he had a note against a man in the place from which he came, the avails of which he would will to this mission. "Friday, November 16. — Brother Seeley's hou'se is finished; but his health is such, that it is very doubtful whether he ever enters it. The hand of God is upon us, and O, that we may profit by it. "Monday, November 19. — We moved Brother Seeley into his house. He is very weak, but we hope his symptoms are a little more favourable. "Tuesday, November 20. — A house is finished for the accommoda- tion of Brother Dodge. Brother Chapman and Brother Requa, from Union, arrived this evening at our establishment, and are calculating to continue here a few weeks, for the purpose of studying the Indian language with Mr. Williams. Brother Pixley joins with them. At a meeting for business this evening, it was agreed that we set apart the 25th day of December next, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer. Death of Mr. Seeley. "Thursday, November 22. — This morning Brother Seeley seemed to be as comfortable as could be expected. At 11 o'clock, he was taken out of his bed for the purpose of having it made. He was apparently J2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY refreshed by the change ; but in the after part of the day, his counte- nance suddenly altered. His eyes were set, and he became speechless, and in a short time, gave up his immortal spirit to the God who gave it. Thus death is making ravages among us, and lessening our numbers for the labours of the mission. '"Friday, November 23. — This day we attend the funeral of Brother Seeley. How solemn and instructive are the providences of God. Although He is afflicting us, yet His mercies are abundant, and entitled to our warmest gratitude. May we not be left to repine at the afflic- tions which are laid upon us, but may they, through Divine Grace, work within us the peaceable fruits of righteousness. ''Tuesday, November 27. — This evening met for business. Resolved that by the consent of Brother Jones, he take our children to his house, and school them. Considering the situation of our family, the present state of the health of our physician, and the liability that he may be sick, as well as others, we therefore Resolved, That Brother Mont- gomery turn his attention to the study of physics, as he can find leisure. "Wednesday, December 6. — Since the 28th of November, nothing material has taken place. Our sick generally are gaining very fast, and we hope the family will soon enjoy a comfortable state of health. The business of erecting our buildings has gone on very prosperously, and we are all comfortably situated in our log cabins." The Cemetery. Since the foregoing was written we have been enabled to locate and visit the Harmony Mission cemetery. It required considerable inquiry among the oldest inhal)itants of the vicinity to locate it, so completely has it been lost ; and it is known to the few wdio know anything al^out it as the "old Indian burying ground." The old Mission trail from Harmony north to Ft. Osage and other points on the Missouri river is still perfectly plain, and from the site of the cabins and school at Harmony it runs a little west of north for some distance. The cemetery is situate about fifty yards to the west of this trail and about a quarter from the site of Harmony, on a rather high, dry roll of the land, now timber land, many of the trees being nearly a foot in diameter. It is apparent that this cemetery was located on the open timberless prairie ; and that the timber has grown up since. Only one grave has any stone or monument at this time, though old settlers say there used to be more of them marked. The head stone HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 73 Stands about two feet out of the ground and the one at the foot only about a foot high. Both are just ordinary sand-stone slabs stuck in the ground; and on the face and smoother side of the head stone three letters, "D A P," are deeply cut, as if by a common chisel. The depression of graves was marked and plain, and they were in rows about six to eight feet apart, there being several rows north and south; and the gentleman with us on our recent visit counted thirty-eight depressions or graves. It should be recalled that the last entry in the Journal was on Decem- ber 6, 1821. It appears from the record that two adults and four chil- dren had died and been buried prior to the last Journal entry— Mrs. Montgomery and her infant, and the infant of Mrs. Seeley, in October, and in November Mr. Seeley, an infant of Mrs. Belcher, and the young- est son of Supermtendent Dodge. The initials "D. A. P." can not stand for any of these; but just who died of the Mission family during the succeecyng ten years the Mission remained is not recorded in any history available to us.' From all that we know it is fair to conclude that the missionaries and the Osage Indians made this place a common sepulcher, and that it was under the control of the missionaries; else why its system and regularity? The location of this cemetery tends to show that the bodv of the Great Osages lived at that time in that vicinity, else there would not have been so many graves: for it must be recalled that by the treaty of 1825 the Osages were removed from the boundaries of Missouri. It seems too bad that so much of historic worth should be permitted to perish within a century of the sad and heroic events of Harmony Mission. Even vet. it would seem, the story of these devout missionaries should appeal to the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch churches so strongly that benevolent members would take steps to erect suitable monuments to the heroic men and women who sacrificed so much for the Master at Harmony. The few acres actually occupied by the cabins and other buildings could be cheaply purchased and readily converted into a beautiful park, with appropriate memorials, and thus made a sacred place in the history of the work of the United Foreign Missionary Society. CHAPTER IV. THE GRAND OSAGE INDIANS. GRAND OSAGES AND HARMONY MISSION— HOME OF THE OSAGES — CHARACTER- ISTICS — FAILURE OF MISSION — PIKE'S EXPEDITION — LOCATION — RECENT OBSERVATIONS — THEIR RELIGION — FIRST MARRIAGE IN OSAGE COUNTRY — LAST OF HIS LINE. In connection with Harmony ]\tission, the location, character, and general conduct of the Grand Osages becomes interesting; and in a history of Bates county, something must be said of these original occu- pants of this fair country. A\'e have elsewhere shown that when history took note of them they occupied the vast territory between the ]\Iis- souri and the Arkansas -rivers north and south, and from the mouth of the Osage river as far west as the country was knowai to wdiite men. But not much was known of them in this section of Missouri until the expedition of Gen. Zebulon B. Pike, who visited this section in 1806, one hundred and twelve years ago. At that time this was an unexplored region except so far as it may have been known to the French-Cana- dians, and the half-breed voyageurs, hunters, and trappers. The Osages were a restless, vagrant, nomadic people. They lived in temporary villages easily moved, or easily rebuilt, after the abandonment of a village. They roamed the country over during the hunting season and lived in so-called villages in considerable numbers only in the winter season. Often when afflicted with contagious disease whole villages would suddenly remove to some other locality. From all accounts the Osages were among the most intelligent and best developed physically of any of the numerous tribes which inhabited this country. They were not a fierce and war-like tribe ; yet they were brave and strong in war when so engaged with other tribes. So far as white men were con- cerned they were not hostile, and always disposed peaceably towards the whites. Mentally and morally they never had risen much above the average Indian tribe. When the missionary came among them they treated them kindly and the chiefs and more elderly among them expressed great desire to learn the ways and life of the white people — HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 75 their methods of agriculture, the making of tools, and farm implements, and seemed disposed to adopt the white man's life. But their moral darkness was complete, from Our viewpoint, and the Missionaries at the numerous stations found it very difficult to make any progress with them in a religious or educational way. It cannot be said historically that the Mission schools were in any substantial sense successful, though they may have done some good. All the evidence obtainable of results at Harmony Mission school in this county go to show that the ten years' earnest effort that was put forth in their behalf was poorly rewarded. Indeed, it may be said that the school was a flat failure. When General Pike came up the Osage river in the fall of 1806 according to his report, he found one of the principal Osage villages near the junction of the Marmiton and the Little Osage river, which was five or six miles south and four or five miles west of Harmony. He never explored what he called the "north fork" of the Osage, or the Marais des Cygnes, and did not know whether an Osage village existed on the Marais des Cygnes river very near where Harmony station was established in 1821, about fifteen years after he passed that way on his expedition to the West. It does not seem reasonable that the intelli- gent Missionaries seeking to preach the gospel to them and to estab- lish a school for their children, would have located Harmony ten or twelve, or as some early writers have said, fifteen miles away from the principal Osage village. Our best investigation leads to the belief that the body of the Grand Osage lived in 1821, on the high lands very near the site of Harmony — the principal village being within a mile or two of the school. Nor does it seem reasonable that the chiefs, with full knowledge of the purposes of the Missionaries would have endorsed or acquiesced in the choice of a site made by the Missionaries before the arrival of the chiefs and warriors from the hunt, as it seems they did if it were twelve or fifteen miles from the principal village of the tribe. This view is confirmed by tradition and by the oldest and best informed citizens now living, who unite in saying that they always understood that the principal Osage village was on the high land just north of the present village of Papinsville, and only a mile or two to the east of Harmony site. This is fortified by a letter written by Mr. George Sibley from Fort Osage, old Ft. Clark, on the Missouri river, dated October 1, 1820. less than one year before Harmony was located, (page 203, Morse's "Report on Indian Affairs") the second paragraph of which reads, "The Great Osages, of the Osage river. They live in one village 76 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY on the Osage river seventy-eight miles (measured) due south from Fort Osage. I rate them at about one thousand two hundred souls, three hundred and fifty of whom are warriors and hunters, fifty or sixty super- annuated, and the rest are women and children." At that time he may well have referred to the Marais des Cygnes as the Osage, or a continuation of the Osage river, as the name Marais des Cygnes river had not appeared upon any explorer's or official map, and did not so appear for some years later. Mr. Sibley had been in charge of Ft. Osage prior to the War of 1812, when it was abandoned for a time, and he returned there when it was re-established. The government survey of the Osage nation boundary line, running south from Ft. Osage, to the Osage river, was made by a Mr. Brown in 1816, and George Sibley, a government officer, doubtless knew what he was talk- ing about when he wrote the letter on October 1, 1820, and said the Osage village was seventy-eight measured miles directly south from where he was then writing. Our investigation shows that seventy-eight miles meas- ured directly south from Ft. Osage (now the town of Sibley, in Jackson county, Missouri,) will not cross the Osage river at any point but will reach as far south as Harmony or possibly a little further; and Rand, McNally & Co., the map makers of Chicago, say: "Papinsville is seventy- seven and one-half miles from Sibley (old Ft. Osage) in a straight line and about two miles above the mouth of the IMarais des Cygnes river where it enters the Osage river." David W. Eaton, now with the United States Department, a man familiar with government surveys, in a letter to the author says that : "It is sixty miles from Sibley to the standard line just south of Butler," between Mt. Pleasant and Lone Oak townships; and by actual count of the sections south of that standard line it confirms the distance stated by Rand, McNally & Co. All which goes to prove that the "one Osage village" as stated by George Sibley was north of the Osage river in 1820-21, and within the present limits of Bates county; and this all cor- roborates the knowledge of our oldest inhabitants and the traditions coming down to us from reasonably trustworthy sources. This is historically important because of the prevalent view of historians who have written about the Osage. They have all taken their cue from Pike's report and map. Even Mr. Coues' notes on Pike are at fault in this particular. It is not disputed here that General Pike found a Great Osage village where he indicates it on his official HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 77 map, nor that Chief AMiite Hair resided at a vilhige in that vicinity, in 1806 and afterward. But the contention that in 1820-21, and there- after, until the Osage moved further west, under the treaty of 1825, the "one Osage village" and the body of the tribe, lived north of the Osage and northeast of the Marais des Cygnes river, is historically cor- rect and sound. Recent Observations. The author recently visited the site of Harmony Mission in com- pany with J. N. Barrows of Rich Hill, who was born within a mile and a half of Papinsville in 1847, and who as a boy drank from the great well digged by the Missionaries at Harmony, and ate apples from the trees they planted there, and w^e walked over the very sites of the log cabins and the great school building, all of which he remem- bers having seen before destroyed or removed. Nothing remains to mark the site except a large sink hole where the well once was, (doubt- less still is if cleaned out) and stumps of large black locust trees planted by those God-fearing men. Bits of crockery and glass, lie scattered about and a few brick-bats. The location is all that was described in the "Journal" and in the letters of the Missionaries. The soil is not so good about the imme- diate location as they thought it, and the stone coal referred to by some of them is a very thin stratum of poor coal outcropping at the very bottom of the river. The timber to the east and to the west is still there in limited quantities. We did not learn where the dead who died there lie buried, or whether any stone marks the resting place of the faithful who died in that consecrated work. Harmony was the first settlement in what is now Bates county. Forty-one made up the family that went aboard the keel boats at Pittsburg on April 19, 1821, thirty-nine of them arrived at Harmony Station August 25th of the same year. After about eleven years of habitation, and fruitless labor, the Mission was abandoned and the living scattered to the four quarters of the country. Dr. Amasa Jones established a home near old Germantown, Henry county, and died ther^ at a ripe old age, full of honors and usefulness. Dr. W. C. Requa came up from Union Mission and settled in Lone Oak township a few^ miles north of Harmony, reared his family and died there in 1886 at the ripe old age of ninety-one. But the story of these, and other worthies of the pioneer age of our county, will be found elsewhere in this volume. 78 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The Religion of the Osages. It seems to be generally agreed by the writers that the Osages universally believed in a God whom they called the Great Spirit. But it seems also that their conception of a God came from the manifestation of the forces of Nature as exemplified in the storm and lightning. That which they could not understand they attributed to the Great Spirit. But there is no evidence that they had any concept of a God of love and care. Hence, they feared the Great Spirit, because they recognized in it the power to injure and destroy. Their form of worship was mdefinite and variant with the customs or whims of the few old men who were intrusted with religious secrets. Only a few old men were custodians of the religion and traditions of the tribe; and they trans- mitted both to younger men only after they had accomplished some exploits which, in the opinion of the old men, entitled them to receive such instructions. It may be safely said that the Missionaries at their several stations, after long years of patient efforts, and faithful teach- ing, made little impress on young or old. They were simply incapable of comprehending intellectually the teachings of Jesus as presented by the Missionaries, and morally they could not be affected by teaching or preaching. In fact the Christian God w^as to them unthinkable, and the doctrines of the Christ so foreign to every instinct, intuition and tradition of the race that it was impossible to make any serious or last- ing impression upon the mind and heart of even the young. They believed, in a sense, in rewards and punishment beyond this life. It is clear they believed in immortality — in a life beyond death here. This is shown in the universal custom of burying with the deceased the things he owned and loved on earth, so that when he arrived at the ^'happy hunting ground" — which seemed to be their conception of Heaven beyond — he would have all the things necessary to continue the enjoy- ment of them over there. This is a very beautiful though child-like thought. Washington Irving relates a story of the death of a beautiful daughter of a warrior. She was devotedly attached to a pretty pony, and when she died the pony was killed and buried with her so that she should have her pretty pony over there. It is a touching story and it fairly presents their customs and beliefs in the Hereafter. Irving had an Indian guide, hunter, and interpreter, whose name was Beatte. and we cannot forbear quoting one paragraph from Irving's "Tour of the Prairie" : "The Osage, with whom Beatte had passed much of his life, retain HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 79 their superstitious fancies and rites in much of their original force. They all believe in the existence of the soul after its separation from the body, and that it carries with it all the mortal tastes and habitudes. At an Osage village in the neighborhood of Beatte, one of the chief w^arriors lost an only child, a beautiful girl, of a very tender age. All her playthings were buried with her. Her favorite little horse, also, was killed, and laid in the grave beside her, that she might have it to ride in the land of spirits." Thus we see that their religion was full of the human; that it was just what might be expected to prevail among the children of the forest and prairie. We have no reason to say they did not get comfort and hope from their beliefs, even as we are comforted and made hopeful by our beliefs. At least their view of the life of the soul beyond was so strong in the Osage that the devoted Missionaries could not shake them or get them to accept the Christian view. Hope leads to many beliefs, yea, to what we call convictions. The very soul of man hungers for a life beyond this. It is the most appealing thought in the world to the old — to those who approach the end in sadness and decreptitude. Knowing that he is going man rebels at the idea that he is to be blotted out. He naturally indulges the story that the boatman on the Styx must land him somewhere on the other shore ; and he hopes to continue life over there with friends under more pleasurable environment than was his lot on this side. And it has always appeared to me that the very poor, the lame, the halt, the blind, the unfortunate, on this side, must have, in the nature of the mind, a stronger hope and conviction and certainty about the matter than those more blessed in this world. Hence, the eternal appeal of the Christ doctrine and the Christ promises to the poor, the meek and the humble. So whatever we may think of the heathen Osages we cannot deny to ourselves a certain respect for their religious conceptions and cus- toms. They are beautiful, tender and sincere. Who among us is competent to say certainly how far or in what respect their customs, beliefs and philosophy were wrong? In conclusion of this subject we quote the following excerpt from a letter of Rev. E. Chapman to the domestic secretary, March 4, 1822 (from Union), discussing the difficulties of learning the Osage lan- guage: "There are no adequate interpreters, the most skillful are ignor- ant of it, except so far as relates to trade and common domestic business. Nothing, or very little, that relates to their devotion or superstitious 80 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY notions and practices is understood by the interpreters, or even by most of their chiefs, warriors and common people. This knowledge is con- fined to two or three old men in each village. These preserve and communicate part of their doctrines of religion and traditions from time to time to those who can pay sums proportioned to the importance of their lessons, after they have performed such a number of exploits as will entitle them to this privilege. The language which the interpreters have acquired is such as is used by women and the most degraded of the community with whom they have associated, and theirs is a different dialect from that which is used by the majority, and the most respectable part of the nation. I have never been able by the help of an interpreter to communicate divine instruction." The First Marriage in the Osage Country. Although the Missionaries came to Harmony a year after the Mis- sionary family was sent up the Arkansas river, to Union, Harmony in Bates county, Missouri, is entitled to the credit and honor of the first wedding solemnized in all that vast territory known as the Osage country, although the groom came from Union station. On the 21st of August, Reverend Chapman and Brother Fuller arrived from Union Station. This was before all the family had removed from the boats on the Osage river to Harmony Station on the Marais des Cygnes, and the family was living in tents at Harmony — those who had left the boats. On Lord's day, September 19th, the annals show that they "held public worship under the shade of some oak trees. Brothers Dodge and Prixley preached here, and Brother Montgomery at the boats." But on August 25, they had fin- ished unloading their boats and all the family had left the boats and were dwelling in tents at Harmony. This is the last mention of the boats and it is not recorded what disposition was made of them ; but the boats never ascended the Marais des Cygnes river to Harmony Station, and a reasonable presumption is that they were sold to traders and returned to St. Louis. On Lord's Day, August 26, 1821. Brother Chapman, of Union, preached at Harmony in the morning and Brother Dodge in the afternoon; and at the close of the exercises they were visited by a number of Lidians. Nearly everybody was down with the fever and ague; and the next day the annal reads; "The chastisement of the Lord is upon us." Three days later, on September 1st, the announcement of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8 1 engagement of Brother Fuller and Sister Howell was recorded in these words: "Brothers Chapman and Fuller from the Union Mission are still with us. Sister Howell is about to leave us." You will note that this is only five days after the removal from the boats, and only ten days after the arrival of Brother Fuller. So that it may be concluded that their w^ooing in the wild, primeval forests of the Marais des Cygnes must have been beautiful, rapid and satisfactory to the love lorn twain. And we can conceive of few situations better adapted to stir the heart and make its emotions more responsive to earnest words of love. The record indicates that the brave groom had come a long journey pony- back from Union across the virgin prairie to supply, if he could, the much-needed "female" help at Union; and the result shows that he lost little time in the pursuit of his object. Miss Howell of Baltimore, edu- cated, refined, dominated by the Mission spirit, of uncertain age — at least the record does not disclose it; new to her environment in the wilderness of the heathen Osage, possibly was touched by a natural loneliness born of the forests and became an easy prey to the earnest appeals of Brother Fuller for an actual as well as a soulmate, and accepted him on the spot — we do not mean the spot where Harmony was meas- ured off by the chiefs ; for it may have been at some other spot up or down the beautiful Marais des Cygnes or over on the Great Osage, miles away, in some sylvan retreat removed some hundreds of miles from the hearing of any curious white ears. It requires little imagination to see the devoted couple during the brief days of their wooing strolling in the forests or out upon the rolling prairies in those early autumn days, hand in hand, enjoying the surroundings just as God had made them and all unmarred by the trample of human feet, except such slight effect as the occasional passing of the stalking or sulking savage may have left behind. It must have been ideal for a serious courtship, and we indulge the pleasant thought that the cultured Miss Howell sur- rendered easily amidst such appealing, prompting scenes. "The groves were God's first temples, ere man learned to hew the shaft and lay the architrave," and hence Brother Fuller and Sister Howell must have spent sweet and tender hours in God's temple and as results seem to indicate, with God's approval. On the afternoon of September 2, the Lord's Day, Brother Fuller and Sister Howell were married. Brother Dodge of^ciating, presumably in the presence of the whole Missionary family able to be up on that (6) 82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY occasion; and on September 11, accompanied by Brother Chapman, they departed a-horseback on a honeymoon trip to their future home at Union, some hundred and fifty miles away, over a treeless and trackless prairie. It must have all been very romantic, and a little wild and weird for the accomplished bride so lately from the cultured circles of beautiful Baltimore. Her name was Eliza but it does not appear what was the Christian name of Brother Fuller. She w^as one of the five ''adult" Misses in this interesting family composed of "ten adult males, fifteen adult females, and sixteen children." Having left Bates county after so short a sojourn we cannot follow her and her mate to other fields of labor for the Lord; but it is assumed they lived "happily ever since." The historic fact of this first wedding of the then great and unex- plored West is important and worthy of record, if for no other reason, because it was solemnized and celebrated within the confines of Bates county, according to Christian customs, in this, the then heathen land; and Brother Dodge, superintendent of the Great Osage Mission, in a letter announcing the marriage of the brethren at Union, among other things says : "The circumstances of the connection formed between Brother Fuller and Sister Howell, may at the first moment surprise you, on account of their short acquaintance ; but on a second reflection you may view it as one of the features of Missionary enterprise which marks the present day. Under all circumstances we all consider it the plain dictate of Providence." The "Journal" of the Union Mission says: "We would view the hand of Providence in forming this connec- tion, and be thankful for some additional female assistance, not doubting that the board w^ill approve what has taken place," and we presume it did, as we did not find any investigation of the matter recorded in the minutes of the next annual meeting of the board. The Last of His Line. There was a tradition among the Great Osages of a long and ancient line of chiefs which was lost by an incident which occurred at Halley's BlufT in the remote past. Old Chief No-Horse was the reigning chief of all the Grand Osages, and the last of his line, which had come to be regarded as a sort of royalty, and the family No-Horse as a sort of ruling dynasty. He was a worthy son of his line of Great Chiefs, but was getting old and decrepit. He had an only child, a beautiful daughter ; many had wooed but none had won her heart. But at last there came a-wooing of her the bold and handsome son of a minor chief of the tribe. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 83 The line of succession must continue through No-wa-tah, this only daughter. The old men of the tribe urged her to wife with the hand- some He-ta-hah; but No-wa-tah resisted all his Indian blandishments for many moons. Finally old No-Horse sickened and was about to die. He called No-wa-tah and He-ta-hah into his lodge. He made them kneel side by side near him and then with his palsied hands put the hand of No-wa-tah in the strong right hand of He-ta-hah in token of his desire for their union. No-wa-tah resisted no more. She became the squaw of He-ta-hah, according to the customs and ceremonials of the tribe. In a few days old No-Horse died, and then she became, so to speak, queen of the Grand Osages until such time as an heir to the tribe's chiefship should be born unto her. She was happy with her handsome warrior-hunter, and they dwelt in .the lodge of her father which was situate in the midst of the big hickory and pecan timber belt lying on the opposite side of the Osage river, and a little northwest of Halley's Bluff. They fished and hunted together up the Marais des Cygnes and down the Osage, and out upon the beautiful prairies. By and by, in the course of nature, surrounded in their lodge by all the trappings of royalty an old aunt could command, one early spring morning a little pappoose came to snuggle at No-wa-tah's breast and bring joy to her heart, and to the heart of He-ta-hah; for it was a warrior pappoose, heir to the chiefship of all the Grand Osages. The event was duly celebrated accord- ing to the customs and traditions of the tribe and Little No-Horse took his rightful place in the life of the tribe as its future Big Chief. The time for the summer hunt was soon at hand, and when the warriors and hunters were ready, with such squaws and youngsters as desired to go, they were ofif to the prairies and streams of the limitless West, not to return till early autumn. A few days after He-ta-hah had gone with the rest of the hunters, No-wa-tah and her old aunt, in whose care she and the tiny pappoose were left, on a bright warm May morning, strolled down to the Osage to fish in the deep waters opposite the Bluff. Snugly wrapped in his royal furs they took Little No-horse along and laid him gently on the grass beneath a wide-spreading elm on the margin of the river directly west of the forbidding and frowning Bluff. It was only a few yards from the sleeping pappoose to the edge of the river, down a short but rather abrupt bank. Mother and aunt became interested in the fine sport. They did not notice that Little No-Horse, as the sun came over the Bluff and warmed him, had kicked off his furs and lay there cooing to the waving branches and twittering birds above 84 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY him. Nor had their attention been attracted by a large hole near the top of the sheer stone front of Halley's BlufT, where a golden eagle had her eyrie full of well-grown, hungry eaglets. Looking out from her lofty nest in the solid stone front of the Blufif, possibly annoyed and vexed by the cries of her hungry brood, she saw tiny Little No-Horse lying almost naked on the other shore. With a suddenness and swift- ness for which this wonderful conqueror of the air is famous, the mother eagle swooped down and struck her talons into the tender baby flesh of Little No-Horse and carried him to her eyrie as food for her hungry eaglets. The cries of the pappoose attracted the attention of No-wa-tah instantly; but she was helpless; and wild with fright, she saw him dis- appearing in the unapproachable hole in the outstanding stone wall in front of her. Realizing her powerlessness, and that the mother eagle was that very moment rending by hooked beak and tearing talons her baby's tender flesh from its bones for food for the eaglets, No-wa-tah plunged headlong into the deep waters in frantic agony. She was a good swimmer, but for some mysterious reason when the waters closed over her head she was lost forever. Her body was never seen after- ward. It was the pathetic and tragic ending of the dynasty of Old No- Horse, whose ancestors had so long reigned and ruled over the Grand Osages. The eyrie or hole is still there to be seen by all curious visitors to this remarkable Bluff; and it is just as unapproachable now, from above or from below, as it was in that remote day when tradition says the line of Old No-Horse became extinct on the day when Little No- Horse was immolated therein to feed hungry eaglets. A view of the cavity from the opposite or west side of the river can but stir the emotions of any one who has heard the sad story. It is so plausible and so in line with other stories we have all heard or read that we are almost ready to accept a mere tradition for an historical fact. CHAPTER V. MARCHIONESS DEGNINON OF THE OSAGE. A ROMANCE OF HARMONY MISSION AND HALLEY'S BLUFF. In the spring of 1821 a devoted band of men and women, and some children, assembled at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thence to take a long and perilous journey into the West — to the very limit of civilization at that time. They were missionaries from Boston, and the New England states going out under the auspices of the "American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions." Some time prior to this a delegate from the Osage Indians of western Missouri had visited Washington, D. C, and it was learned that his people desired the missionaries to come among them: and as the spirit of missionary work was intense at that time in the New England states volunteers were soon found ready to go; and under the direction of the "board" the little band had assembled at Pittsburgh. A more heroic, self-sacrificing and devoted congrega- tion of fathers, mothers and children than these devout Congregation- alists never met in communion. They prepared for a long, slow, and laborious journey. They pur- chased common keel-boats, stored them with provisions, and when all was ready shoved out into the beautiful Ohio river. Friends on shore waved them goodbye in tears, and more than one of the occupants of those queer old keel-boats wept at what they realized would be a long separation from friends and home if indeed, they should be spared to return. Down the Ohio, past the villages, towns and cities — to Cairo; pleasant enough in the main, but before they reached the mouth of the Ohio one of the party, a brave-souled mother, sickened and died; and her body was laid to rest on a pretty mound near the shore, there to sleep until the last great call. Thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri — the "Big Muddy," the flood way of the rivulets trick- ling down from the snow-capped Rockies on their way to the peaceful Gulf of Mexico; thence up to the mouth of the Osage river, the most tortuous stream known to the geograph}^ of the nation ; thence up the Osage, by slow and laborious man power, the keel-boats with their precious cargo of human life and provisions were pushed with long 86 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY poles day after day, and week after week. But it was a brave band. Not a heart grew faint. They had work to do; and not more resoUite than they, were the Pilgrim fathers from whose loins they had sprung. The journey occupied about six months, and on the 9th day of August, 1822, they lashed their boats, side by side, to an over-hanging water-birch a few yards from the village of the Osage tribe. This was about three miles up the Marais'des Cygnes river from its junction with the Osage in the extreme western part of Missouri. Here these devoted missionaries established "Harmony Mission," and began teaching and preaching; and here they patiently labored for the Master until the Mission was abandoned fifteen years later, when the Osages, Delawares and Kaws moved out into the limitless prairies of the further West. The teachers met with much apparent success and the little Indians learned English readily, and many of the older ones were converted by the simple preaching of the Word. About the time the missionaries left Pittsburgh a young French- man left France for New Orleans. United States of America. He was a scion of the old nobility — in the prime of life, vigorous, handsome, cultured and proud. His splendid physique was remarked by all who knew him. He was from southern France, with hair and beard intensely black, sharp, penetrating eyes which were a compromise between a lus- trous brown and a piercing gray. His father had been compelled to fide for his life during the Reign of Terror in 1793, when the young man above described was an infant in his mother's arms. He had no recollection of a father's face, or a father's smile ; nor had the faithful mother ever heard from the father. For years she had been persuaded that he was dead — perhaps upon the shores of France : else somewhere in the New AVorld. All she knew was that he had told her he would try to make his way to America, there to remain until the unhappy reign of blood should cease in his beloved France. Oh, how long that beautiful young wife and mother cherished the memory of his last fond embrace, and the tender caresses of the dimpled baby boy in her arms, their only child. There was no time for planning; flight, immediate escape, was the only course possible to avoid certain execution. The fury of the Revolution was at its height, and the soil of fair France was drinking up the noblest blood of the Kingdom. * * * The young Frenchman, whose name was Auguste Letier, had exhausted himself trying to get some trace of his father, and had almost HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/ come to the conclusion that he must be dead, as his patient mother long since had done. But one day while strolling along the wharf in an idle sort of way at Marseilles, he chanced to meet an old "tar," and soon learned that he had made repeated voyages to America and always touched at New Orleans. Upon inquiry the old tar said he knew one of their countrymen in New Orleans by the name of Letier, and that he was a fur dealer, and wealthy; but he could not recall his Christian name. This passing incident reawakened the young man's hopes of find- ing his father, and after relating the story of the old tar to his mother and getting her approval, he set sail at the first opportunity for America. On his arrival in New Orleans he found the establishment just as the old tar had told him, but no one answered to the description given him by his mother. The place was in charge of his countrymen, and without disclosing his own identity he learned that the proprietor, Igna- tius Letier, was in truth his father. He learned, also, that he had gone up the Mississippi only a few weeks before on one of his annual trips to the fur dealers at the settlements along the river, and that he was sometimes absent on these trips for months. He usually went as far north as St. Genevieve, Missouri, and sometimes as far as St. Louis. The method of transportation upon the Mississippi in those days was unpleasant ; but in autumn the weather is fine and Auguste set out at the earliest moment for St. Genevieve, and upon his arrival there learned that his father had gone on to St. Louis. So, after a day of rest and real enjoyment in the pretty French village, he started for St. Louis with a light heart and pleasing reflections. But at St. Louis, to his chagrin, he learned that his father had gone into the interior to visit some French fur dealers, and no one could tell just where. Auguste went to Jefferson City, and there learned that a man answering the description in his inquiries, in company with two others, had gone up the Osage river to buy furs at Harmony Mission. It was, by this time, late in the season; the Osage was swollen, and progress was slow, and on the evening of the first day of January, 1822 the boat was lashed to a convenient root for the night, and the party prepared to camp on shore. For days they had rowed against the rapid current through a rough and unbroken wilderness; not a human being visible in the endless forests along their solitary journey. As they were preparing supper to the great surprise and joy of Auguste Letier, a gentleman of his own country visited their camp. After the ordinary French civilities mutual inquiries were indulged, and Auguste 88 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY learned that his visitor's name was Mehcourt Papin, formerly of St. Louis, and a settler of several years of that vicinity. Further inquiry revealed the fact that Monsieur Ignatius Letier of New Orleans, a fur dealer, had arrived upon that very spot — known on the river as "Rapid de Kaw"— two weeks before a very sick man; that Monsieur Papin had taken him home with him, where he, his good wife, and the Mission doctor, had cared for him the best they could. But the fever raged without abatement, and on the 25th day of December — Christmas day — his spirit returned to Him who gave it. As TVIonsieur Papin paused in his sad recital Auguste, though brave hearted and strong burst into tears and wept like a child, for some moments no one disturbed him ; then he said, "Monsieur Letier was my father. He was compelled to fly front France when I was a babe in my mother's arms. I came here in search of him." Auguste spent a restless night. The blow was so sudden that it was a shock. It came at a moment when his brightest anticipations were about to be realized as he had dreamed and dreamed. Earl}^ the next morning he went to the little log cabin of Melicourt Papin, a rude hut in exterior, contrived from trees felled in the immediate forest, but within was comfort and happiness; for the deft hands of a cultured housewife made amends for the shortage of things usually found in the homes of the civilized parts of the country. It was an ideal pioneer home, in a forest so dense and magnificent that the Dryads might have envied a residence there. After a wholesome breakfast on corn-bread and wild meat, and rare rich milk, Melicourt and Auguste visited the grave of Ignatius Letier. It was situated on a beautiful knoll some dis- tance from the fretful Osage and above its wildest floods. Here in the solemn and voiceless woods, beside his father's grave, Auguste told Melicourt the story of his long and fruitless journey to recover a lost father; and somewhat of his history. The two men were ever after friends, and Auguste was an honored guest at the comfortable home of Monsieur Papin. The companions of Auguste returned in a few days to St. Louis. It was now mid-winter in that western country, and the hope and life had gone out of the young man. But he concluded to await the coming of spring to start on his return voyage to France, via New Orleans, and at the earnest solicitations of Monsieur Papin made his home with him. For days and weeks he sorrowed for his father, becoming more and more despondent. But one fine winter day Monsieur Papin prevailed upon him to go with him on some business with the good missionaries to Harmony Mission, only two or three miles up the Marais des Cygnes river, near the mouth of "Mission branch." The Marais des Cygnes HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 89 and Little Osage rivers form a junction about a mile from the home of Melicourt Papin and here is the head of the Osage river proper. From its junction with the Little Osage the Marais des Cygnes marks a tortuous route to the northw^est, and has its origin aw^ay out in the prairies of the then uncivilized Territory of Kansas. They spent a pleasant day with the missionaries and their families in and about their rude pioneer homes ; and on their way and while in the Osage village Auguste had his first introduction to the red men of the forests and of the plains; for while the Osage tribe had for ages made their homes in the forests along the rivers, there were in this village quite a number of Kaws and Pottawatomies who had come down from treeless and trackless Kansas. He, also, met here French fur traders who had trafficked with the Indians for years, making sev- eral trips up and down the Osage and Missouri to and from St. Louis, which was then, as now, the great metropolis of the Mississippi valley. Some of them had homes among the peaceful Osages, and history fails to tell just when the first French fur dealers settled among the Osage tribe. Game abounded in the splendid forests along the rivers. Deer, antelope, coons, squirrels, turkeys and prairie chickens were all within easy reach on the land, and on the waters wild geese and ducks of every variety known to the hunter. Monsieur Papin had two faithful, intelli- gent dogs, and was provided with guns and ammunition in abundance, a regular frontier outfit for that day and generation; and in order to divert Auguste's mind from his great sorrow they spent much of the pleasant winter weather hunting. Under this sort of wild and exhilerating sport Auguste soon l^ecame himself again and enjoyed life to its utmost ; but in the midst of his new experiences he never forgot his father, and that his solitary resting place might not be forgotten, nor obliterated, he found time to quarry, cut and erect, as best he could with the rude tools at his command, a stone monument at his grave. The inscriptions were few but they were cut so deep and plain they can be easily read today. On the front and smoother side of the stone, which stands about six feet high, may be read — "Ignatius Letier, Marquis. Born in Marseilles, France, 1770. Died on the head-waters of the Osage river, near Harmony Mission, State of Missouri, U. S. A. December 25, 182L Erected by his son, Auguste Letier." 90 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The winter passed. The early spring work of Melicourt Papin, who was engaged in a sort of agricultural life, demanded more and more of his time and attention: so that Auguste was left more and more on his own resources for amusement. Time began to hang a little heavy, and he began to talk of his departure; but the cheerful wife of Monsieur Papin urged him not to hurry, assuring him that the voyage would be much pleasanter later. The picturesque scenery on the journey down the Osage would then be really delightful; the full leafed forests, and the warm, soothing sun-rays in May or June this latitude would, she urged, make an otherwise forbidding voyage a real pleasure. No w^ord had reached him from his mother, nor could he tell whether any of his letters had reached her. That, when he thought of it, worried him a great deal. But he hesitated and lingered. The wild fowls had abandoned their haunts on the lakes and rivers and the sea- son for game was over. But he had learned from Monsieur Papin that the Osage and Marais des Cygnes abounded in game and fish. So on a beautiful warm day in May he took his gun and rod and strolled down to the river, thence up its shaded shore a mile or two to a point opposite some immense and picturesque cliffs which rose from the water's edge, nearly perpendicular, about two hundred feet. It was an inspiring scene and he wondered why Melicourt had never spoken of it, nor taken him to see it. The Osage at this point was and is very narrow and deep, apparently having cut its way into the very roots of this gigantic stone barricade on its short and fretful sweep around this unex- pected obstacle. Nothing but the chirping of birds and the solemn hush of the forest disturbed his meditations as he sat for some time on an old pecan log, waiting for some member of the finny tribe to excite his attention by a "nibble." He studied the scene before him in a pleased and lazy sort of manner, and became more and more anxious to cross the river and explore some of the cave-like places and recesses he could see from his position ; wdien suddenly, quietly, there appeared around the cliiT and beneath its awful over-hanging stones, a striking female figure — a young Osage "squaw," as he finally concluded; but at the moment he was distracted by an ugly pull on his rod, and by the time he had successfully landed a ten pound "Buffalo," and got his breath, the "squaw" had disappeared. Auguste returned to the Papin home, having enjoyed a pleasant day and with much talk for Madame Papin. The momentary glimpse HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9I of the beautiful "squaw" had photographed her face and figure on his mind and these would not be put away. That night he saw her in his dreams. He talked a great deal to Madame Papin about the Indians, recurring again and again to the "squaws" as they were called. He visited the village day after day for some time, and he liked to hear Madame Papin tell of the young "squaws," and dilate upon their brav- ery, strength, and social habits, if indeed they could, in a state of nature, be said to have any "social" quality. But Auguste never told Madame Papin of the fleeting vision up at "Halley's Bluffs," nor of the form and figure that haunted his slum- bers night after night. Auguste, Melicourt and Madame Papin often sat, in the warm spring evenings on rude benches contrived beneath the stately pecans and wide spreading elms, whose dense foliage was a real comfort in summer and a protection to their humble home when the rude blasts of winter swept down upon them from the treeless prairies of the North- west. These great kings of the primeval forests were from four to five feet in diameter, and stood more than one hundred feet high. They struck their roots deep into the richest soil to be found in the world. Plenty of moisture from below and rain and sun light from above, dur- ing years and ages past, had developed along these rivers a race of majestic pecans, elms, walnuts, sycamores, hickories, hackberries, and birches. All these varieties stood in stately grandeur about the home of the Papins. These trees spoke their own language to these children of France and they were loved and enjoyed by those who had made their home beneath their protecting branches. Here they enjoyed to the uttermost the undisturbed expression of Nature as she towered above them, reflecting the lights and shadows of the setting sun in May,- or as she lay spread out before them along the Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, and on the limitless prairies to the northwest. Here they talked of France — of the cruel days of '93, of Robespierre, Danton, Mirabeau, and the great Napoleon Bonaparte ; and here they talked of the missionaries and the children of the Osages, whom the good missionaries had left comfortable New England homes to rescue from ignorance and sin. Melicourt Papin was a student of the Indian char- acter and habits. From him, in these delightful evening chats, Auguste learned that chastity and social virtue were not among the striking and admirable characteristics of the females or "squaws." But the squaws of the Osage tribe were industrious, patient, heroic, of splendid 92 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY physique, and more regular featured than the other tribes in that sec- tion of the West. They were straight as an arrow and as graceful as the wild swans on the waters of the Marais des Cygnes, from which, by the way, the river takes its name, Marais des Cygnes, meaning in Span- ish, the river of swans or more literally a river of V\^hite swans. Unlike the Kaws and some of the other tribes who had dwelt upon the open, sun beat prairies for uncounted generations, their houses being in the dense forests along the rivers, the Osages were not so dark and swarthy in complexion, not so weather worn in appearance as the prairie tribe. And this characteristic of their appearance was much more marked in the "squaws" than in the "bucks" or male members of the tribe. From Madame Papin^ Auguste had learned that there were some half breeds among them, sons and daughters of French fur traders, and that half breed "squaws" were strangely beautiful, having inher- ited much of the complexion, character and sprightliness of their French fathers. For years past the young scions of old and respectable French families of St. Louis had visited the Osages to trade and buy furs. On one of these trips a handsome young Frenchman, with plenty of idle time, spent months at the Osage village hunting. This was in the autumn of 1805, soon after the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon, by which all the French and foreign settlements in that vast territory became a part of the United States of America. During his stay among the peaceful Osages he was attracted by a comely young squaw who had become the wife of an old "medicine man" of the Kaws only a short time before, and by the usages of the tribe she was accorded many liberties. The old medicine man had gone on a visit to his old tribe away out on the plains of Kansas, to arrest if he could some con- tagious disease that was decimating that tribe. In his absence his squaw or wife and the handsome young Frenchman had become great friends and often hunted and trapped together. The old medicine man did not return as soon as expected and it was learned in a few weeks thereafter from some young Kaw bucks camped near Rapid de Kaw on the Osage that the old medicine man had gone among the tribe, ministering unto the afflicted without fear, until at last he was stricken with the contagion, supposed to have been what we now know as small- pox, and he died and was buried according to the rites of his own people. The friendship between the medicine man's squaw, now his widow, and the handsome young French gallan.t soon grew into attachment. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 93 and the devotion and the evident admiration of the voting- widowed squaw was pleasing to the young hunter. He came to love her, not as he would have loved one of his own beautiful dark eyed country women in St. Louis, but as a child of the forest — a product of Nature, and the longer he remained at the village the more her presence and admirable devotion seemed necessary to his life and happiness. So, with the approval of the chief, in lieu of that of a father long since departed to the "happy hunting grounds" and according to the simple cere- monies of the tribe he took her "to be his squaw," and she promised "to work for him." For a few weeks' they lived much as the rest of the tribe, and the squaw-wife's care of "her hunter" was constant and beautiful. Life to the exuberant young Frenchman was like a day dream in a forest, or a play day amidst the wild flowers on the sunny prairies. Like all good Frenchmen he was an enthusiast, and he had about made up his mind never to return to St. Louis, or the white man's civilization, so rapturous was his life among the Osages; and he had become so fond of his patient, devoted squaw. But before his Indian "honeymoon" had passed, peremptory orders from his wealthy father, who had received an inkling of the young man's pranks among the Osages from a returned fur trader, caused him to suddenly change his mind. It awoke him from a long, sweet dream. It was a rude shock. He thought hard, and said nothing. It ripped up his charming life. To disobey meant disaster — of that he was sure. So the first opportunity he slipped away, promising- and hop- ing" to return, and was off down the Osage for St. Louis. He never returned. No pen can picture adequately the distress of the squaw wife when she realized that her "handsome hunter" had abandoned her. Not by outward signs and lamentations did she show her unspeakable grief; for it was one of the peculiarities of the squaws not to complain. Their philosophy, if they can be said to have had a philosophy of sorrow, was of the Stoic order. But the quiet smile, which she was want to bestow upon "her hunter" when she accompanied him on his hunts, or with which she greeted him on his return at night-fall was no longer a light on her countenance, and the piercing, sparkling black eyes were careless and sad. She went in and out among her people doing good to the sick and the helpless old, and tenderly assisting mother squaws in the care of their little "pappooses." She hoped against hope: she longed in silence for the return of her hunter for weeks and months. 94 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY She seemed specially kind to the little pappooses, and by and by, while fondling one new-born, the bright but quiet smile of other days would steal over her sorrowful face, and the gleam of an anticipated joy was visible in her eyes. The reason for all this became apparent a short time afterward when she lay upon a bed of skins beneath a covering of furs, in her solitary wigwam, and at her breast, so cozy and snug, she held a tiny squaw pappoose. She gazed into its wondrous eyes and fondled its little feet and hands; and the old light came back to her eyes, and a quiet, sweet smile played upon her face. Her long dream w^as over, but it was as if her handsome "hunter" had sent her a precious gift in memory of his promise, alas! never to be fulfilled. The little pappoose was named Degninon (pronounced Danino) from some fancy of its mother, and it grew into girlhood under her devoted care much like the other pappooses did. But Degninon became a great favorite in the village both with the Indians and the French fur traders. Her father's handsome face, his carriage and poise, were striking in the child: indeed, so far had his personal characteristics been transmitted to the little one that the Osage features and complexion were quite absent. There was that about her that suggested a Medi- terranean origin. She passed into womanhood strong, well developed, beautiful. She was fond of hunting, trapping and fishing. She and her mother provided for their wants by these methods; and when the French fur traders would come, Degninon was always ready with her furs to drive an advan- tageous bargam with the stranger ; and so by and by Degninon pos- sessed the rarest assortment of valuable jewelry, necklaces and other personal ornaments to be found in the village. She seemed to have inherited this characteristic of her tribe, but it was supplemented by an instinct that told her, of all the sundry offerings of the fur traders, which were really valuable. bne was an expert with the bow and arrow, and could handle an old-fashioned flintlock with skill and effect. But her chief delight was with the rod during the seasons for fishing on the Marais des Cygnes and the Osage. On pleasant days she would wander for miles up and down these rivers as fancy moved her, all alone, fearless of harm, exult- ing in the beauties of nature, and in the enjoyment of buoyant health. She had never known sickness ; care was a stranger; she loved her mother and the big forests and the rivers, and she learned music of the wild song-birds about her. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 95 There is something fascinating about a mere glimpse of a pleas- ing object when a second glance is impossible. The impression is made, but no opportunity is permitted to scrutinize the object, the picture or "vision" which has momentarily arrested attention. Auguste Letier had experienced the exasperating effects of this principle when fishing that pleasant day in May opposite Halley's BlufTs. But in the inter- vening weeks, in his rambles about the country and among the Indians of the village, or the missionaries at "Harmony" he had been unable to see any female face and form that answered to his impression of the face and form of her who had so suddenly stood before him on the jutting ledge of rock on the opposite shore, and as suddenly disap- peared while he struggled with the fish. One evening Madame Papin in a careless sort of way had spoken about a "most beautiful squaw at the village whose father was an early French fur trader;" but Auguste said nothing about his adventure at Halley's Bluffs; nor had he seen any squaw about the village that answered to Madame's description or to his impressions of the face and form that confronted him that May day. Unwilling to permit such a trifle to annoy, yet he could not put it entirely away from himself; and he felt himself urged from within to revisit the Bluffs. So one bright morning in June, shouldering his gun with which, perchance, to kill a mess of young squirrels for Madame Papin, and with rod in hand he started out, as he said, for a day of quiet sport. He concluded to cross the river and stroll up to the Bluffs along the opposite shore. It so happened, instinctively or by unconscious design, if that be not contradictory, that he followed a sort of natural path- way upon a ledge of stone near the water and beneath the over-hanging stones of the towering cliffs. He followed around the Bluffs some dis- tance before he came to a position from -which he could see the big pecan log upon which he sat and fished some weeks before. As he strolled quietly along he became interested in the striking evidences of man's handiwork on the face and in the sides of the massive rocks, which seemed builded by the Creator as a fortress against the mad waters of the Osage. While momentarily studying one of the many pre-historic caricatures deftly chiseled into the face of the solid stone his reverie was dispelled and his attention arrested by the sudden swish of a line and splashing of a five pound bass, snatched from its play- bouts in the swift running waters of the Osage by the dextrous hands of a young squaw. She had risen to her feet in her effort to land this beautiful game fish, and at the same moment, she became conscious of 96 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the presence of the stranger. There stood the "vision" of Auguste, only a few feet from him and a little nearer the water's edge, smiling at her success and the frantic struggling of this gamey fish. He hesi- tated a moment, and then addressing his "vision" as "Mademoiselle" he stepped forward and offered to release the fine bass and "string" it for her. With a good natured smile Degninon accepted his polite overture, and Auguste realized that she was the "vision" made mani- fest on the former occasion. They stood face to face with but the cliffs, the waters, and the forests to witness their mutual "first impres- sions." Dressed in the skins of animals from waist to the ankles, with a red and yellow striped, loosely fitted woolen blouse making up th< balance of her apparel — bare-footed and bare-headed, except a striking variety of wild flowers interwoven with her long, black, loosely flow- ing hair; features as regular as those of the best bred women of France; — flushed with native modesty, and her wondrous, speaking eyes look- ing him fairly and steadily in the face, is it any wonder that Auguste Letier, an enthusiastic child of southern France, the son and heir of a Marcjuis, should feel the spell of her presence and the enchantment of this "beautiful squaw" of Madame Papin's description, now stand- ing unembarrassed before him? In a perfectly natural manner Deg- ninon looked into his eyes, and then measured him from head to foot, as she would have done any ol:)ject of nature of sudden interest to her. She had no sense of fear and was less abashed than Auguste by this sudden meeting. They were both pleased by first impressions and Auguste, addressing her in his native tongue, was delighted to discover that she could understand and speak French readily. He told her of his fondness for fishing and explained that that was the object of his com- ing to that place. She confessed her delight in the sport. So their acquaintance began, without, conventionalities, and under rather roman- tic circumstances" and amidst pleasing scenes. It was plain from her manner that he was a welcome companion in the sport; and so he unwound his line, baited both hooks, and finding a comfortable seat near hers, they flung out their lines, and sat down to fish and chat. In the interims of disengaging the black bass from the hooks Degninon talked of her life and adventures along the rivers and in the forests. They had a great run of luck, and before the mid-day sun reached their position and made it uncomfortably warm on the bare and unshadp rocks, they had "strung" all the fish they cared to carry to the village some three miles distant. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 97 Aiignste, at the suggestion of Madame Papin, had taken with him a large hinch prepared according to French methods by the skilled hands of the good Madame.^ But as Degninon was used to fasting on her long jaunts from breakfast until supper she had nothing for a mid-day lunch ; and when Auguste insisted that she should share his she declined, but under his entreaties, and as she said, "to please Monsieur," she finally consented. It was a warm day and a drink of water with their lunch was desirable; but along the bluffs which extended up and down the river about a quarter of a mile in either direction from where they were there was no available water except the river. But Degninon was familiar with all the springs, as well as other interesting places for miles around, and she led the way to find water for their luncheon. Taking her course up the river they kept close to the water's edge until they had passed the base of the higher cliffs and there they came up into the timber on to a beautiful, level, moss-grown, flower-bedecked, park-like place. In the midst of this natural park a sparkling spring of refreshing mineral waters gurgled unceasingly; and here they found rude stone seats contrived by "bucks" and "squaws" who had visited this life-giving spring some time during the ages they had inhabited the surrounding forests and plains. Here they lunched, and here they rested during the heated hours of the day beneath the protecting foliage of an unbroken forest. They talked, like children, of themselves: and unrestrained by any sense of impropriety Degninon told Auguste the story of her life to that moment as she had it from her mother, and as it has been told in these pages. As the sun declined and the shadows lengthened a refreshing zephyr from off the prairies stirred the foliage, and made this real scene dream like and fairy. They retraced their steps for the "string" of fish, their rods and Auguste's gun. He was not sure of the interest he hoped he had awakened in Degninon's heart; and lest she might disappear forever on reaching the village he asked her to return the next day and show him the many curious sights and ancient heiroglyphics about the Bluffs, of which she had told him; and to make sure of her return, in a bantering way, he suggested that they hide their rods beneath some obscuring rocks as a pledge to meet there on the morrow. She hesitated, but his eager eyes won and she agreed to do so. With a light heart Auguste arranged the string of bass so they could be carried and Degninon (7) 98 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY shouldered his gun, like the experienced hunter she was, and they were soon drifting down the rapid Osage in her canoe. The sun was setting in a clear sky, and no sylvan scene was ever more beautiful, soothing and seductive than that about them. Lang- uage can not give it even a pardonable picture to the mind ; nor can any pen untouched by the divine spirit of love, peace and joy convey to the reader the tender emotions of their hearts, now thoroughly aflame with the restless passions of a holy first love. Soon they had reached the birch-bark canoe in which Auguste had crossed the river in the morning and rounding to he lightly leaped into it, loosened its mooring, and with a few deft strokes of the paddles he landed against the opposite shore where he could get it the next day; and by this time Degninon had come along side so that as soon as Auguste had secured his canoe he stepped into Degninon's and in an incredibly short time, by her strength and skill, against a vigorous current, she shot the canoe into a secluded haven a short distance below the "BlufYs," and having secured it to the shore, with fish and gun through a pathless forest, Degninon leading the way, they were ofT for the Osage village at "Harmony." It was a long, sweet walk in spite of the luxuriant grass, tangled vines and under-brush. A short distance from her mother's wigwam Degninon exchanged the gun for the string of bass, hesitated a moment, and was ofT without a word of parting. All that Auguste could say, as he watched her retreating form, was — "Tomorrow!" and either Degninon or the echo- ing trees replied — "Tomorrow !" It was now Late. The full moon was up, and Auguste was soon at home with Monsieur and Madame Papin. A kindly w^elcome greeted him; but so full was Auguste's mind and heart of other emotions that he scarcely replied to the motherly solicitude of good Madame Papin. He dreamed in sleep and slept in dreams that night ; and Madame Papin noted an indefinable change in his eyes, an uneasy, inexpressible some- thing in his manner the next morning at breakfast when he told lier that he had become interested in the scenes about Halley's Bluffs and so had forgotten his fishing rod and tackle, and that he must return and get them. But she said nothing about what she had noted to IVIonsieur Papin. So eager was Auguste to get off that he slipped away to the river before she could wrap him a mid-day lunch. The distance from Degninon's wigwam to the river opposite the Bluffs was double the distance from the home of Melicourt Papin to HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 99 the same point. But, Auguste was so eager and so fearful that Deg- ninon would not keep her promise that he was early at the haven in which they had left her canoe; there it rested just as they had left it, swaying to and fro upon the waters; but a dreadful hush pervaded the forest and seemed to rest even upon the waters; the sun was just ris- ing over the picturesque Bluffs; but, the scene did not appeal to Auguste as it once did. He could hear his heart throb. He had never experi- enced such emotions before; fear — that she would not come — hopeful expectancy, — alternated in his mind. In this condition of mental agony he stood motionless, peering through the forest in the direction he thought she must come, but oblivious to all about him, and mistaken in the "points of the compass," the sudden snap of a dry branch directly at his back so startled him that he felt for the moment a real terror. Turn- ing instantly, tremulous in every fiber of his being, he was face to face with Degninon, who smiled at his evident surprise. She suffered him to grasp her hands in both of his for the moments it required him to express in voluble French his extreme happiness and rapture. She had kept her pledge. He was in ecstacies. And she accepted his gal- lant care and assistance into the canoe with a graceful courtesy that w^as reassuring. It was a pleasant morning in the shadows of Halley's Bluffs and they at once began to look the curious old place over. They soon reached a height about one hundred feet above the water and above which the massive cliffs were perpendicular. At the point they had reached a great notch had been cut in the solid stone front as if by the ceaseless threshing of a fretful sea during prehistoric ages. This pas- sage way, some ten feet wide and easily traversible. ran the whole dis- tance around the Bluffs. Nature and the ancient waters, which had evidentl}^ spread out miles and miles beyond the confines of the river as it lay beneath them, and covered all the valley and low lands round about, had worn into the face of this stone fortress great rooms, some of them dark and uncanny. All this must have happened long before human foot had trodden or human eye explored the country. And Degninon said the traditions of her tribe described the natural conditions of the Bluffs much as they were then and are now. They went into all the beautiful and curious places wrought out by the forces of nature. Auguste was often startled by the unsightly, weird and meaningless signs and figures of men and beasts cut into the sides of the stone. Many of these Degninon said, according to the ancient traditions of the Osages, were cut there by the lOO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY servants of the ''Great Spirit" in the ages long past. She said the tra- ditions of her people taught that the figures of men in sitting posture were intended to teach obedience and subjection to the will and power of the Great Spirit. The caricatures of animals everywhere visible were intended, she explained, to remind the tribes of the good times to come in the "happy hunting grounds" beyond this life. This was the significance — this the philosophy of the prehistoric inhabitants of the country, and it had been handed down from genera- tion to generation and it was an accepted tradition of her people. So they talked as they passed on and on, examining every curious nook and cranny, every grotto and cataract, and overhanging flower; and suddenly, at the extreme point and bulge of the clifTs to the north- west where the "Bluff" stood out over them to its utmost, over the very river below, they came upon a series of wonderful pits or wells chiseled straight down into the solid stone. They were directly round, about five feet in diameter, and varied in depth from fifteen to thirty feet. They had evidently been cut with sharp tools of some kind, but tradi- tion failed, Degninon said, to tell how it was accomplished. These wells were only two or three feet apart, back so close to the clifTs and so far under the overhanging bluff that no drop of water ever found its way into them. They were blackened on the inside as if fires had some time been builded in them, and being pressed to account for these really wonderful achievements of a race apparently long since perished from the earth, Degninon said she had heard her mother say that the old people of the tribe believed that these wells were digged out, by those who did it, for the purpose of curing and preserving the meat of animals taken in the chase; that when the meat was dressed it was hung by stout thongs tied to heavy cross-poles down in these stone holes to prevent wolves, bear and other carnivorous wild animals from get- ting it. This, she said, explained why the wells were blackened, for it was often necessary to smoke and cure it for use when on a long jour- ney, or when fresh meat was unwholesome. This was all that tradition or story offered then, or has since offered, to account for these wonder- ful stone wells at Halley's Bluffs. A pardonable digression may be indulged at this point. The writer recently visited Halley's Bluffs and examined those marvelous prehis- toric wells and found eight or ten of them just as described in the fore- going. Nothing has ever developed to the writer's knowledge, to show when, by whom, how or for what purpose they were digged. No student ON THE SUMMIT OF HALLEY'S BLUFF. * H 4«'te|*. Is h' "^«iN*. -V jP*" . — V 4 THE MYSTERIOUS CACHES OR WELLS UNDER THE LEDGES AT HALLEY'S BLUFF. These wells have never been explained by scientist nor historian. The Indians had no knowledge of how or by whom these holes were dug in the solid rock. The author counted twenty-five, including some surface indications of where wells had been, but much of the rock had been worn away by erosion. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lOl oi ethnology has ever been able to advance a more plausible story than the tradition related by Degninon. By the time Auguste and Degninon had visited all the curious places, admired the mosses, ferns and delicate wild flowers clinging here and there, as lovers have done many times since, and the stalactite forma- tions hanging from the roofs of the caves and grottoes it was high noon; but as Auguste had no lunch he said nothing. He had noticed a flat- like willow basket, evidently the work of her own hands, hanging from Degninon's shoulder, but he did not suspect it was a lunch basket. Such, in truth, it was. And it was well filled with some of the black bass they had carried home the evening before, together with other equally tempting things to a hungry man. Degninon's offer to share her lunch with him met with instant acceptance. Such is the fraility of man! So they clambered around and up a sort of natural stairway until they reached the very summit of the Bluffs. Here beneath a century-old white oak near the edge of the perpendicular cliffs where they could look out upon a beautiful scene as far as human vision could reach Deg- ninon unpacked her willow basket and spread its contents. All through luncheon Auguste talked in a delightful, easy manner of his pleasant, sunny France and told Degninon of his good, heart- broken mother, mentioning here and there, as they occurred to him, many incidents of his own life. All this had the eager attention of Degninon. The passion that bounded in her simple, innocent heart, was thrill- ing the heart of Auguste. And before the fragments of the lunch had been gathered up, and really without premeditation, urged on by every hope in his soul, forgetful of the indescribably beautiful scene stretched out before him, oblivious to all else earthy, Auguste gave expression to the secrets of his heart and laid before Degninon the hope of his life — that she would become his wife and go with him to his mother in southern France and there be with him son and daughter to her in the disappointments and sorrows of her old age. No word escaped Degninon's lips. Her heart was throbbing. She felt for the first time the tumult of passion. Her simple, natural love had been awakened. She was radiant with the exaltation of the purest sentiments known to the human heart. And Auguste gazing into the depths of her speaking eyes knew the "beautiful squaw" of whom Madame Papin had spoken — his "vision" of Halley's Bluffs — was his forever. No cruel doubt, no disquieting fear came into Degninon's heart. I02 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The response of her soul was so complete that nothing could have con- vinced or persuaded her that her love was not in accord with the wishes of the Great Spirit of her mother's people. That night, in their wigwam, Degninon sat close beside her mother and frankly, innocently told her all. Her mother wept as she realized what it all meant to herself. The memory of Degninon's father was fresh in her soul. And her unfaltering love for the "handsome hunter" who had gone from her never to return was pleading in behalf of sweet Degninon then and there. She caressed and fondled Degninon as if she were indeed a little pappoose again in her arms. She gave a mother's blessing and Degninon dreamed that night in her mother's arms, in fact, as when a pappoose, and oh ! such sweet, peaceful sleep came to rest her surcharged soul. Underneath the stately trees near the dwelling of the Papins, with the flecking moonlight all about them. Auguste had a long son-like talk with Madame Papin, and the next day while on their way to visit a sick neighbor some distance down the Osage she told Melicourt the story of Auguste and Degninon. On their return he congratulated Auguste and offered his services in Iniilding the boat for his return voyage to France, now determined upon. For the next ten days Meli- court and Auguste were very busy men; but Auguste found time to spend his evenings with Degninon at her wigwam or at the hospitable home of the Papins. These delightful evenings are passed without comment. The reader is left to fill in the story at this point. It was merely the re-enactment of the old, old story. By and by the boat for their voyage down the Osage, the Mis- souri, out into the Mississippi, thence to New Orleans, was ready, good and stout. Auguste had secured the necessary proofs of the death of the Mar- quis, his father, and the day for the wedding and departure was settled. Melicourt had spoken to the Rev. William B. Montgomery, one of the good missionary preachers at the "Mission." At the appointed time Auguste and Degninon stood within the rude walls of the first school house erected by the missionaries at Har- mony, and there in the presence of the Papins, the mother of Degninon, a few Osage "squaws," and all that little band of devoted missionary workers the Rev. Montgomery repeated the simple words and took the responses that made them one forever in life and love and in the laws of God and man. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO3 It did more than that — it made Degninon a Marchioness of France : for upon the death of Ignatius Letier his only child, Auguste, succeeded to the father's estate and title. The marriage of a Marquis of France to beautiful Degninon, was a great event in the annals of Harmony Mission and it has its place in the history of one of the first efforts to Christianize and civilize the Indians on the western frontier. We shall not follow the Marquis and Marchioness Letier on their romantic bridal tour down the rivers to New Orleans, thence to the far-away sunny France. Our story is told. It may be said in passing that they reached their home in France in due time, where they were received by the good mother as lost, loved children returned, and where they lived to a ripe age, as devoted to each other as when their hearts were united on that day in June beneath the great white oak on the summit of picturesque and eternal Halley's Bluffs and that today there flows in the veins of some of the greatest and grandest men and women of Republican France the blood of Madame Papin's "beautiful squaw." CHAPTER VI. TOPOGRAPHY. TECHNICAL, DISCUSSION UNCALLED FOR— SOIL SURVEY — HON. JAMES WILSON — HON. DAVID A. DE ARMOND — SURVEYORS — LOCATION, ELEVATION, AND EXTENT OF TERRACES — EROSION — RANGE IN ELEVATION— ALTITUDE- CHANNELS — STREAMS — UNDERSTANDING OF RIVERS OF IMPORTANCE — DRAINAGE. An elaborate and technical discussion of the topography of Bates county is not called for in a work of this kind ; but a brief review of its principal features will not be out of place. In 1908, a soil survey of this county was made under authority of Congress by the Bureau of Soils, Department of Agriculture. Milton Whitney, chief of bureau, in his letter transmitting the manuscript report and map to Hon. James Wil- son, Secretary of Agriculture, says : "U. S. Department of Agriculture, "Bureau of Soils. "Washington, D. C, January 25, 1910. "Sir: Work in the state of Missouri was continued during the field season of 1908 by the survey of Bates county. The selection of this area was urged by the late Hon. D. A. De Armond. "Soil survey work in Missouri is being carried on in co-operation with the State Experiment Station, which concurred in the importance of selecting Bates county for survey at this time." This was among the first surveys made in Missouri, and we are indebted to Hon. David A. DeArmond, who represented us in Con- gress at the time the survey was made, for the selection of Bates county among the very first to be surveyed in Missouri, although the report was not made until some time after his unfortunate death in the fire which destroyed his home in Butler, November 23, 1909. This survey was made by Charley J. Mann, Allen L. Higgins. and Lawrence A. Kolbe, and it is the best and most complete authority available on the subject ; and we make free use of it so far as seems of general interest to the average citizen. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO5 "Topographically, Bates county consists of three terraces, each of which is more or less dissected by valleys. The lowest terrace is in the southeastern part of the county and the highest in the northwestern part. The average elevation of the low^est is about 650 to 700 feet, the middle one about 800 to 850 feet, and the upper one about 1,000 feet above sea level. The highest one has the smallest extent and the middle one the greatest. In fact, by far the larger part of the county is included in the latter. Its eastern boundary runs from Rich Hill nearly eastward to a point tw^o and a half miles south of Pleasant Gap, thence northeastward to the offset in the county line at the southwestern corner of Henry county. Its western boundary runs from the Kansas line near Amsterdam northward to Merwin, thence about eastward to near Adrian, thence northwestward to the northern boundary of the county, about six miles east of the northwest corner. At its eastern boundary this terrace drops rather abruptly about 150 feet to the lowest terrace, and its western boundary is the abrupt rise of about 150 feet to the highest terrace. The eastern border of this middle terrace is much dissected by deep valleys of streams that flow from it out into the lower terrace. The cut is much deeper into it than into the lower terrace, because it is so much higher than the latter. Westward and northwestward from the eastern boundary the valleys are more and more shallow, until along the northwestern border of the terrace there is a belt that is barely cut by valleys at all. In fact, there are consider- able areas along it that are not well drained. "Only the northwestern part of the lower terrace lies in Bates county, the rest of it lying to the eastward. The wdiole of this area is therefore smooth. Its valleys are very shallow, even that of the Marais des Cygnes river it is a gently undulating plain. Only the east- ern border of the third terrace lies in this county. The most of it is a high dissected plateau. It is like the eastern border of the middle terrace in roughness, but is higher. "As there has been no faulting or folding of the rocks, the surface features of Bates county are the direct result of erosion. This has acted in proportion to the relative resistance of the interbedded shales, sandstones, and limestones composing the region and has left low, well- marked terrace lines and mounds which form the only prominent topographic features of the area. Except for an occasional sandy knoll or low ridge, the numerous and extensive shale horizons are charac- terized by level or undulating topography, which gives way to more I06 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY rolling relief where the underlying limestone has been exposed. Along the streams, particularly in the limestone region, the land is usually quite broken and rough, though there are occasional long gentle slopes in which it is frequently difficult to determine the limit of overflowed land. "There is a total range in elevation of over 300 feet. The lowest point where the Marais des Cygnes river leaves the county at the south- east corner is less than 700 feet and the highest, which is in the north- west corner, is over 1,000 feet above sea level. "This western prairie region is noted for its many stream channels. The greater part of the drainage of the county is carried by Miami creek, wdiich rises in the northwest corner and flowing southeast empties into the Marais des Cygnes river in the south-central part of the county. This river enters the county three miles south of the middle of the west county line and receives nearly all the drainage of the south- western third of the county. Two and one-half miles south of Papins-. ville it is joined by the Little Osage river.". From the confluence of these two rivers eastward it is the Osage river, sometimes called the Big Osage to distinguish it from the Little Osage, and it is the line between Bates and Vernon counties from the junction of the east lines of said counties. The Marmiton branch flows into the Little Osage river some four or five miles above the conflux of the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, and nowhere touches Bates county. The Marmiton comes out of Kansas from the south- west, coming near Fort Scott in its course. The Little Osage comes out of Kansas, its general course being nearly straight east to its junc- tion with the Marais des Cygnes, which latter river comes down from north-central Kansas in a general southeast course. So it should be stated that the head of the Osage river is at that point on the south county line where the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes unite, and thus form it. There is no Osage river in Bates county, and never was, notwithstanding the statements of alleged history and the show- ing of both old and new map-makers. A proper understanding about these rivers will become vital in our chapter on early settlements of the county. Most of the northern part of the county is drained by Mormon Fork creek, a tributary of the Grand river which forms part of the north county line. The east-central part is drained by Deep- water, North Deepwater, and South Deepwater creeks and their many tributaries. CHAPTER VII. SOILS. MEANING OF TERMS — NON-GLACIATED PORTION— RESIDUAL yPLAND SOIL — ROCKS — SHALE, LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE— HORIZONTAL STRATA— EROSION— TOPOG- RAPHY— SOIL SERIES— RESIDUAL SOILS— SOIL TYPES— OSWEGO SILT LOAM — SUMMIT SILT LOAM— BATES SILT LOAM— CRAWFORD SILT LOAM— BATES LOAM — BOONE FINE SANDY LOAM — OSAGE CLAY — OSAGE SILT LOAM. The term soil as here used means the "top stratum of the earth's crust, whence plants derive their mineral food. It also contains a certain proportion of humus substances derived from the decayed organic matter of plants which have grown on it." There is no pur- pose to discuss the geology of the county in this chapter or under this subhead. But in order to understand somewhat about our soil it is necessary to keep the meaning of the word "soil" and the word "silt" clearly in mind. "Silt" means "a fine mixture or deposit of clay and sand from running or standing water; or fine soil deposited from water — mud, slime, sediment." With these definitions of soil and silt you may intelligently follow the experts on soil as they have found it in Bates county. The glacial forces which moved and deposited soils over wide territories to the north of us barely crossed the Missouri river, but did not reach this county. But that is the story of geology. Bates county lies within the non-glaciated part of the Western prai- rie region. Its upland soil is therefore residual, or derived from the imme- diately underlying rock. The rocks of this region belong to the Penn- sylvania division of the Carboniferous age and consist of interbedded shale, sandstone and limestone. Shale is the predominating rock and may vary from argillaceous to arenaceous in the different beds or even in the same stratum, while the layers of limestone and sandstone are com- paratively thin and uniform. Faulting or folding of these rocks is nowhere in evidence, the strata lying nearly horizontal, with only a slight dip to the northwest. It is apparent that were the present sur- face level the soil would be practically the same all over the county. Such a condition, however, has been prevented by erosion, the result being that with the differences in elevation the different strata of rock I08 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY have been exposed to the processes of weathering and soil formation. As the different kinds of rock give rise to widely varying soils, it is easily seen that topography is a very important factor in the location of any particular kind of soil. Soils of different texture — that is, composed of different propor- tions of sand, silt, clay, etc., but closely related through source of material, method of formation, coloration, and other characteristics — constitute a soil series. Some of the soils of the area are of rather local occurrence and of questionable relationship and are given local names. A distinction is made between the residual soils, according as they are derived from shales and sandstone or from limestone. The shale and sandstone have entered more largely into the soils of the county than the limestone and have given rise to soils of three series and to one miscellaneous type more or less closely related thereto. The Boone silt loam and the Boone fine sandy loam are characterized by very light gray surface soils, the Bates silt loam and Bates loam by gray surface soils, and the Summit silt loam and Summit clay by dark- gray or nearly black surface soils. The distinguishing feature of the Oswego silt loam is the presence of a so-called hard-pan in the subsoil. The limestone gives rise to the Crawford silt loam previously mapped in Kansas. The colluvial class of soils is represented by the Sedgwick black clay loam, which in its material is closely related to the Summit soils. The bottom land or alluvial soils are related to each other in the source of their material and the manner of their formation, but differ in respect to color, position, and elevation in the bottoms. The Osage silt loam occupies the creek bottoms and higher eleva- tions along the larger streams, while the Osage clay occupies the depres- sion in the wider bottoms and belongs tO a series characterized by the dark color of the soils. Very little sandy material or loam was found in these alluvial deposits and the loam type was not recognized, though certain phases of the Osage silt loam approximated a soil of lighter texture. There are along some of the streams areas locally called sec- ond bottom. There is every reason to believe, however, that the materials here are not of alluvial origin and the soils are therefore grouped with the upland types. Along some of the smaller streams there exist a few areas of true terrace deposits, but these were so limited that they could not be shown in the map of the scale used. The reader's attention is here called to the evident fact that the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY IO9 soil experts or surveyors referred to the river Marais des Cygnes and its bottoms rather than to the Osage river proper, which river forms only about ten miles of the south line of Bates county. What is said by them doubtless applies to the bottom soil on the north side of the Osage river in Bates county as well as to the bottoms of the Marais des Cygnes, which they apparently treated as the Osage, or the con- tinuation of it. With this explanation you can understand what is meant by ''Osage silt." The following table gives the name and extent of each of the types of soil found in Bates county: Soil Acres Per Cent. Oswego silt loam 200,192 36.1 Summit silt loam 152,512 27.5 Osage silt loam 71,808 12.9 Bates silt loam 50,880 9.3 Osage clay 23,232 4.2 Bates loam 21,888 3.9 Summit clay 14,976 2.7 Crawford silt loam 11,072 2.0 Sedgwick black clay loam 2,496 .5 Rough stony land 2,240 .4 Boone silt loam 1,984 .3 Boone fine sandy loam 960 .2 Total 554.240 Oswego silt loam. — The characteristics by which the Oswego silt loam is easily distinguished from the other types of the area are its prairie vegetation, gray color, ashy feel, level surface, and the sharp line of demarcation between soil and subsoil. The surface soil consists of eight to ten inches of dark-gray, rather loose structural silt loam, which when wet becomes a very dark gray or almost black but when dry is very much lighter colored. It is locally known as "white ashy land." The subsurface soil from ten to eighteen inches is always lighter colored, contains very much less organic matter, and has a slightly higher clay content than the surface soil and as a consequence tends to clod consider- ably. It also becomes quite compact and hard when dry. Immediately below this material lies the heavy, compact, somewhat tenacious silty clay subsoil which extends to a depth of thirty-six inches where it becomes no HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY friable and crumbly, decreasing in clay content. From eighteen to twenty- eight inches this material is usually much darker than the overlying soil, frequently being almost black, and rapidly changes to a grayish yellow with a faint greenish tinge. The soil type consists of tw^o distinct phases that are universally recognized not only by the student of soils but by the farmers who occupy it. The difference between the two phases is one of structure rather than texture, yet it is one of great importance in the agricultural utilization of the soil. One phase is the fiat-land phase and the other the rolling-land phase. In both the surface soil is a gray silt, and in both this is underlain by a darker, tougher, more clayey substance. In the flat-land phase, however, the boundary between the surface and sub- surface is a very sharp one; in the other it is more indefinite. In the former the subsurface is a hard, tough, dark brownish-clay with some red mottlings. In the latter it is a dark brownish-gray silty clay, usually without the red mottling and usually neither so hard nor so tough as the former. In the former the subsoil is a yellowish-gray to bluish-gray silty clay, with a yellowish to brownish mottling, but considerably less tough than the subsurface. In the latter the subsoil is a yellowish-gray silty clay much more nearly uniform in color than that of the former phase. The rolling-land phase has much better surface drainage than the other and its underground drainage is also better. Its color also is usually somewhat darker. The rolling-land phase constitutes much the larger area of this type in the county. Practically all of the type in the southwestern corner of the county belongs in it and all the eastern part of the great area of this soil that lies west and northwest of Butler. The main flat-land areas are in a belt running northeast and south- west through Adrian, along the foot of the third terrace, in the south- eastern corner of the county: The farmers will admit that the flat-land phase is "hard-pan" land, but they will not admit that the rolling-land phase can be correctly desig- nated by that term. The Oswego silt loam is the most extensive soil type in Bates county, occurring in every township. It is the predominating type in the north- western two-thirds, where it occupies many entire sections. It also occurs extensively in the southwestern and southeastern townships. The area, of its least development lies from Pleasant Gap northward to the county line. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY III The type is intimately associated with level or undulating topog- raphy and is always limited by a rolling surface whether that surface lies above or below the general level of a given area. It occupies the wider divides, gentle slopes, and the rather low-lying so-called "second bottoms" along the rivers. The last named position is the lowest level at which the type is developed and includes elevations in the uplands from below seven hundred fifty feet to something over eight hundred feet. Its highest elevation reaches more than one thousand feet in the northwest corner, and the remainder of the type from a little below eight hundred fifty feet to more than nine hundred feet above sea level. Though perfectly flat areas are not frequent and there is apparently fall enough to afford good surface drainage, the damage done to crops by excess of moisture is very great. The heavy subsoil is to some extent accountable for this, as it greatly retards the downward movement of drainage waters. This trouble can be largely relieved by tile drains, which, though results might not be immediate, would ultimately break up the close structure of this material naturally loose and crumbly when exposed to the air. Narrow, open ditches or even furrows would be effective in draining many of the small depressions in which corn is a failure in wet seasons. There is sufTficient fall in almost every case for the proper construction of drainage systems. In a few instances where tile drains have been installed they have given good results. The formation of the Oswego silt loam is not clearly understood in its details. It is evidently connected with shale formations, as it is underlain at greater depth by silt shale rock and it would seem that the subsoil at least was derived therefrom. But the formation of the eight- een inches of light soil can hardly be explained by residual processes alone, because of the great difference between it and the underlying sub- soil and the sharp line of demarcation between the two. The dark color in the upper portion of the subsoil suggests that it may be due to an accumulation of organic matter at a time when it was the surface soil and that the overlying material is a later deposit. But the differences in elevations at which the type is found would preclude the theory of water deposit and the material is somewhat different from that hereto- fore recognized as loess or windblown. It is possible to account for it by translocation or gradual movement of the finer particles from the surface to the subsoil, though the sudden change in material almost refutes that theory. That the subsoil is largely residue material from the underlying shale seems fairly certain but that there has been some 112 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Other process involved in the surface and subsurface soil is also plain, but what it is is still a matter of conjecture. The original vegetation of this type was prairie grass, which grew very rank. Timber growth was probably prevented by prairie fires. All the general crops of the area are grown extensively on this soil. Corn is the leading crop, and more white corn is grown than yellow, it being the general impression that white corn will yield better than yellow on the "thinner" soils. Besides drainage, two main factors controlling crop production on this soil are the maintenance of a supply of organic matter and the con- servation of moisture. When the prairie sod was first broken an abun- dance of organic matter had accumulated from the roots of the prairie grass. The soil was then loose and open, but through many years of constant cultivation the original supply of humus has been largely depleted, and, as a consequence, the soil particles have become more or less compact, thus indicating rapid capillarity and the loss of soil mois- ture at a time when it is most needed. The deficiency of humus is also largely responsible for the cold, soggy condition sometimes found in the type. In other ways, the loss of humus has been detrimental to crop production, and the addition of vegetable matter will do much toward improving this type. The humus content can best be increased by applying stable manure or by plowing under cowpeas, clover, manure or any green manuring crop. The deeper this can be incorporated in the white subsurface soil the better will be the results. Because of its effect upon the soil drainage, the heavy subsoil is usually regarded as a detriment, but it may really be advantageous in that it prevents leach- ing. An examination has been made of a field which had been fallowed and a dust mulch constantly maintained, and during the driest part of the summer, when the crops were suffering for moisture, it was found that the soil and subsoil were so moist that the change from subsurface to subsoil was scarcely discernable. In this connection it is strongly recommended that the cultivation of corn be continued with one-horse shallow cultivators beyond the time when it is usually "laid by" and well into the season, thereby conserving moisture for the crop at a time when it needs much and usually gets little. The Summit silt loam is one of the most important soil types of the area. The surface soil is uniformly very dark gray or black, rather heavy silt loam which may vary in depth from six to twenty inches, though averaging about ten inches deep. A distinguishing character- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II3 istic of this material is its constant tendency to granulate or break up into small aggregates, with the result that it does not run together, pack, bake, or crack. The subsoil is quite variable. Immediately below the surface soil, usually at about ten inches, the material becomes lighter colored and slightly heavier, though maintaining the granular structure to about twenty inches, at which point granulation usually disappears and the clay content increases rapidly with depth, the deeper portion being a yellowish or greenish tinged, gray silty clay, or clay loam very similar to the deep subsoil of the Oswego silt loam. An extensive phase of the subsoil occurs in which the material is not heavier than a clay loam and the color a yellowish-gray mottled with reddish brown or brownish red. The granular structure is maintained to some extent in this phase throughout the soil profile. Outcrops of limestone rock are frequently found and small, rounded chert gravel are locally dissemi- nated through the subsoil. Small iron concretions also frequently occur and are largely responsible for the mottled condition of the phase. Though there is no township in which some of this type does not occur, the most extensive areas lie to the south and east of Butler and in the northeast part of the county. The topography is generally rolling, the type occupying narrow ridges and slopes and higher mounds. It occasionally continues over rather fiat areas lying between ridges, and flat areas also occur on the type of the higher elevations. The prevailing topography insures fairly thorough natural drainage, but the character of the soil is such that water does not penetrate it as rapidly as is often desired, and in many places tile drainage would be very beneficial, not only in removing sur- plus water, but in aerating the soil. The greater part of the type occurs in the breaks of streams, where the elevations are from eight hundred fifty to nine hundred feet or below that of the greater part of the Oswego silt loam, though the areas in the northwest corner and around the mounds lie above the greater part of the latter type, the elevations there being from nine hundred fifty to one thousand feet. Locally, the Summit silt loam is known as "black limestone land" implying that it is derived from limestone rock, which, however, is not the case. It is a residual soil formed from strata of shale, above and below which occur thin strata of limestone which frequently outcrop and give the type its local name. The limestone has probably con- (8) 114 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tributed some material to the soil, but the proportion of such material is relatively small. The uniformly dark or black color of the soil is probably due more or less to the thin layer of black shale which imme- diately underlies the limestone. In low spots on some of the more level areas of this type a white crust was seen closely resembling alkali, but these areas were small and of little consequence. This is the best upland corn soil in the county and is usually so regarded. The mellow surface, good drainage, and heavy subsoil fit it especially for this crop. By many it is considered the best wheat soil of the area also, but if Oswego silt loam is properly handled it will prob- ably outrank this soil in the quality and yield of wheat. That portion of the type originally timbered produces good tobacco. Just what influence the timber has had is not understood, but the fact remains that where timber has stood the soil will produce good tobacco, while the prairie will not. Bates silt loam. — The soil of the Bates silt loam is a loose, mellow silt loam of a dark-gray color to a depth of eight to ten inches, at which depth it becomes a yellowish-gray, mellow silt loam. When wet this material has a peculiar mushy feel, but when puddled and allowed to dry it becomes very hard and compact. The deeper portion of the surface soil, which apparently contains less organic matter than the overlying material, has a tendency to run together. There is frequently a rapid graduation between the subsurface soil and the subsoil which is found at a depth of twenty to thirty-six inches. It is a yellow and red mottled clay which becomes slightly heavier with depth, and is seldom plastic or sticky though frequently somewhat tenacious. When dry it becomes quite hard and impenetrable. The heaviest phase approaches closely the mottled subsoil phase of the Summit silt loam and in places where a part of the surface soil has been removed by erosion the land is likely to be confused with the Boone silt loam. The largest area of Bates silt loam lies in the vicinity of Hudson, in the southeastern part of the county. It occurs, however, in all parts of the county associated with the Oswego silt loam. It lies both immediately above and below that type, particularly in its lowest lying areas, and is separated from it by rather distinct boundaries. It is also frequently associated with the Bates loam, areas too small to be shown on the map being quite com- monly developed in that type. Areas of this soil form hill slopes, narrow ridges, and low eleva- tions, along the breaks and streams, and in low places in the main body of the Oswego silt loam. While its topography for the most part favors HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II5 thorough drainage, along the boundaries with the Oswego silt loam it is very frequently wet and soggy, owing to the accumulation of seepage waters which flow out of the latter soil along the surface of the com- pacted subsoil. The same conditions are found where water is obstructed in its downward course by shale and sandstone strata in the subsoil of the Bates loam. So far but little effort has been made to tile drain these seepy areas, though this would be entirely feasible. The Bates silt loam is a residual soil formed by the disintegration of soft shale which immediately underlies it. The material is closely allied to the Oswego silt loam, but being modified by drainage condi- tions has developed its characteristic differences. Much of this soil was originally timbered, though some was also in prairie. Most of it has been cleared, but along the streams some hickory, sycamore, and oak still remain. The ease with which the soil can be cultivated, its rather heavy subsoil, and ability to hold fertilizers make it a popular and valuable soil for general farming. The Crawford silt loam, locally known as "red land," consists of about ten inches of dark brownish gray to dark-brown silt loam, under- lain by a rather dark brownish-red subsoil, which becomes heavier and more intense in color with depth until at thirty-six inches it is a nearly red, somewhat plastic and sticky clay. Except for the slight brownish cast the soil closely resembles that of Summit silt loam, being granular and mellow, which makes it easily tilled. It is usually well supplied with organic matter. The subsoil is underlain with limestone rock which is frequently struck in boring at from twenty-four to thirty-six inches. The type is frequently found in isolated areas within bodies of the Summit silt loam, particularly in the region north of Pleasant Gap and in the north- w^est part of the county. Stratigraphically the most of the type is developed immediately above the shale which gives rise to the Summit silt loam and belov/ the shale from which the Bates loam and the Oswego silt loam are derived. It is found on gentle slopes and narrow ridges and has a level to undulating topography and good natural drainage. The subsoil is no doubt true limestone material derived from the underlying rock, but the soil represents a mixture of shale material washed from, or the rem- nants of, the Summit silt loam or Oswego silt loam, with material of limestone origin. The type is now practically all under cultivation or in pasture or Il6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY mowing. It has all the essential characteristics of a corn soil and is considered by many as the best corn-producing soil of the area. The yields are about the same as on the Summit silt loam. Corn yields thirty-five to forty bushels, wheat twelve to eighteen bushels, oats fif- teen to twenty bushels, and hay one to one and one-half tons to the acre. The Bates loam is more or less variable in its texture and color as well as in depth. The typical soil consists of about eight inches of loose structured light loam, which is brown when moist, but becomes a light gray when thoroughly dry. though often the color is a very dark gray to almost black. The texture is often very fine, closely resembling the Bates silt loam and also the Boone fine sandy loam, and areas too small to map of both of these types occur within the boundaries of the Bates loam. The soil is usually mellow and easily tilled, but after heavy rains there is a tendency to form a surface crust which, however, is easily broken up. The subsoil is usually a solid buiTf color, though areas with mottled red and yellow occur. The texture is usually a fine sandy clay loam or clayey loam, quite gritty from its sand content and yet made sticky by clay. The percentage of silt is relatively low. Arenaceous shale reseml)ling in color the subsoil is encountered at depths ranging from eighteen to forty-eight inches. This material is soft and appears very sandy, but on crumbling and rolling l^etween the fingers becomes very fine. The largest areas of the Bates loam lie east of Butler, around Sprague and in the vicinity of Foster. It is also extensively developed in the northeast corner. It usually occupies ridges and knolls and in the rougher sections occurs as a distinct terrace. It is found to a slight extent on slopes and in fiat areas near the base of hills. Stratigraphically in the hilly regions it lies immediately above the limestone soil if. developed, otherwise, it is found above the Summit clay. It is usually the highest soil, though areas of Bates silt loam and Oswego silt loam sometimes lie at a higher level. Because of its topo- graphic position and texture the natural drainage is nearly everywhere good, and on this account it outyields the other types in wet years. The Bates loam is derived from the disintegration of arenaceous shale and sandstone strata in the main shale formation, and the varia- tions in the type are largely due to variations in the contributing material augmented by washing and drainage. Originally areas of this soil formed a part of the prairie. It is now HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY II7 devoted to general farm crops and market gardening. Corn yields from thirty to thirty-five bushels, wheat ten to fifteen bushels, flax six to eight bushels, and oats ten to twenty bushels per acre. Considerable trucking is done, and the soil is admirably adapted to that purpose. Watermelons are produced at considerable profit. The supply of organic matter over most of the type is deficient. The supply of humus and organic matter should be incorporated with the soil as rapidly as possible. This wilf increase crop production by con- serving moisture, an important matter, as the crops are likely to be injured by drought. The use of commercial fertilizers, especially in the growing of truck, has been found beneficial. The soil is usually regarded as acid, and quite a sharp reaction was obtained in both soil and subsoil with litmus paper, indicating that rather heavy applications of lime should be made. The Boone fine sandy loam consists of about eight inches of gray, loose structured, and rather incoherent fine sandy loam, underlain after a rapid gradation by a clayey loam or fine sandy clay loam the upper portion of which is mottled gray and bufif rapidly changing to red with depth. Sandstone or arenaceous shale rock underlies the subsoil at from ten to thirty inches. Mica flakes and some sandstone and shale fragments occur in both soil and subsoil, and the latter occasionally on the surface. Owing to its friable porous texture this soil can be worked under a wide range of moisture conditions. Only a limited area of this type of soil occurs in Bates county. The largest area is found south of Butler and west of Peru. A few areas too small to be indicated on the soil map are included with the Bates loam. The type occupies narrow ridges and rather abrupt slopes and con- sequently has very thorough drainage. It is derived from a micaceous, arenaceous shale and sandstone which are quite soft and easily crumbled. On the slopes, which are usually quite sandy, washing has probably removed some of the finer material and left the sand. The quantity of organic matter is even less in this soil than in the Bates loam and must be greatly increased to secure the best results. In order to grow clover it will be necessary to give the fields heavy applications of lime to correct acidity, as litmus-paper tests showed the soil to be decidedly acid. Our readers will understand that every reference in the following to the Osage river bottoms should be read Marais des Cygnes. The soil surveyors mapped it as the Osage river. And it should be remem- Il8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY bered that the survey from which we are quoting liberally was made in 1908, ten years ago. The Osage clay consists of about eighteen inches of black, heavy, silty clay or clay which grades into a bluish-drab clay subsoil. There is frequently but little change from the soil to the subsoil, both being very plastic, sticky and tenacious when wet. When dry the surface becomes quite granular and mellow. In the vicinity of old lake beds the sub- soil is slightly mottled with brown and is not quite so heavy as over the greater part of the type. This is a bottom-land soil found in the wide bottoms of the Osage river, in the narrow bottoms of the Grand river along the northeast boundary of the county, and in two small areas in the Miami creek bottoms. It occupies the lowest levels in the county and the topography is flat. The areas are usually lower near the bluffs and higher near the streams, from which they are separated by a narrow band of Osage silt loam. The soil has been formed by the deposition of the finer sedi- ments carried by the several streams along which it is found. Its black color is due to the accumulation of relatively large quantities of decay- ing vegetable remains, mostly the stems and roots of coarse grasses. The greater part of the Osage clay is now covered with a rank growth of prairie grass, which is usually cut. Some parts support for- ests of water-loving oaks and pecan. In the timbered areas the soil is somewhat looser in structure, and the surface is usually gullied. Such areas if cleared would be difficult to cultivate. Underdrainage, although expensive on account of the need of run- ning the drains at close intervals, is particularly advantageous in having the close structural characteristic of the Osage clay, as it tends to make the soil more open and friable. This is a typical corn soil. Though not much corn has yet been produced on it, with thorough drainage yields of seventy-five to one hundred bushels per acre may be expected. Unless it is found that wheat makes too rank a growth the land should also produce large yields of that grain. It will probably be difficult to make it suitable for alfalfa. Some broom corn is produced on the type but it is too coarse to be of first quality. The Osage silt loam is the most variable type of soil in the county. The surface soil is usually a light gray, slightly compact, silt loam rang- ing in depth from eight to twenty-four inches. This material in most instances grades into a heavy silt loam subsoil of somewhat darker HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 19 color, though it may be underlain by a drab clay loam or in some cases by a black clay. The areas of any one phase are so small that separa- tion seemed impossible, and characteristics other than being a light- colored silt loam on the surface were ignored in mapping. Some small spots of loam were found, but their total area was so small that a separation was not made. The type occurs in all the stream bottoms and is broken in the wider bottoms only by the Osage clay. Along the Grand and Osage rivers it occupies the slightly elevated land next to the stream channels. It is largely alluvial material deposited in times of overflow, but some areas adjoining the upland probably contain material which has been washed down over the Osage clay and now forms the subsoil. Alfalfa should do particularly well. Some of the type would be benefited by tile drainage and by incorporating vegetable matter in the soil. Twelve types of soil were mapped in the county. Most of these were residual, or derived from underlying rock formation. The others were alluvial soils, forming the bottoms along the streams. The Oswego silt loam, locally known as "white ashy clay" is the predominant type, and occupies level or undulating uplands. It is well adapted to wheat, oats and hay. The type is deficient in organic matter, and the drainage should be improved. The Summit silt loam, called "black limestone land," is not a lime- stone soil, but is derived from shale. It is a typical corn soil, and wheat also yields well. The Crawford silt loam is a reddish limestone soil with good drainage. It is an excellent corn soil. The Bates loam and the Boone fine sandy loam, locally called "sandy soils," are adapted to market gardening and are so used. The Summit clay is a heavy black soil of relative small extent and is mostly timbered. The Bates silt loam is a brownish-gray soil with a mottled sub- soil. It occurs along slopes near streams and is a- good grass and gen- eral farming soil. The Sedgwick black clay loam would be a corn soil if well drained. The Boone silt loam is of relatively small importance, occurring as timbered land along streams. CHAPTER VIII. RESOURCES OF BATES COUNTY. TIMBER— CHANGE OF OPINION — "THE PRAIRIE"— STRIP COAL MINING — UNCULTI- VATED LAND— BLUEGRASS— "SCRUB STOCK"— STOCK PRODUCTION — FERTIL- IZERS—HORTICULTURE—WILD FRUITS— NUTS— WATER — FISH — BUILDING MATERIALS— CLAYS — KAOLIN— COAL — ASPHALTUM, ROCK OIL, AND GAS- IRON ORE— PAINT BOULDERS— POULTRY— CORN. Many of the early pioneer settlers of Bates county probably crossed the Missouri river in their "prairie schooners" on the old ferry boat at Boonville, and began to feel quite joyful as they were nearing the "promised land," their future home, and we can imagine they started singing an improvised song; possibly one commencing like this: Old Missouri's muddy stream, We've just now crossed it o'er, To find a home beyond its banks. And gather friends of yore. Many of them came from V^irginia. Kentucky, Tennessee. Ohio, Indiana and other timbered states and naturally settled along the rivers and other timbered streams not only for the convenience of timber for building purposes and fuel, but because they believed the timbered lands had richer and deeper soil and would produce more bountiful crops, superior to the prairie lands. The county was classed as a prairie county, most of the timber lands lying along the streams; the occa- sional upland timber being mostly "scrub oak," growing less dense, hence more limbs than body and naturally was tabooed by the pioneer as being "shallow land," but is recognized today as the most valuable fruit land in the county. As the settlement of the county increased the prairie lands were reduced to farms, generally, with most satisfactory results. It is true, in some localities the soil was thin, thought not to contain sufTficient loam to produce bountiful harvests, and in fact did not respond to the crude cultivation then given to it. Yet these same lands, with modern farm machinery, subsoiling, rotation of crops, and other up-to-date HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 121 improvements in the science of agriculture, gained through our State Agricultural College, experimental farms and practical information regarding the chemical constituents of the soil and its special adapta- tion to certain cereals and grasses and the kinds of fertilizers to be used, have, under the management of thorough-going farmers, men who own these lands and are in Bates county to make their homes and farm- ing and stock raising a business and a success, become the most val- uable lands we have. The great change of opinion regarding the prairie lands and their .value for agricultural and horticultural purposes can be no better expressed than in the poetic language of Eastwood, on "The Prairie." "All its story who can tell? To the pioneer It was but a barren hell And a place to fear. Then a promise — and again Rippling round my feet Rise the zones of dancing grain, Fields of nodding wheat. "All its colors who can tell? Jasper fields of May Into gold of harvest swell On another day; Rose and gray and violet Blend in autumn glow, And in winter's coverlet Shifting, drifting snow. r • , "All its riches who can tell? On the purple haze ^ Which the sun and winds dispell Stand the ranks of maize ; Pastures broad their verdure yield For the well fed kine, And I reap from dark earth's field "^ Food for me and mine." 122 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY In the strip coal mining districts of southern Bates county where the earth has been turned topsy-turvey to the depth of from five to ten and fifteen feet, melon vines have been knowai to produce melons from ten to forty pounds in w^eight, volunteers at that, and no cultiva- tion. What might squashes and pumpkins, or any vegetable or cereal with cultivation produce on lands turned up to the frosts of winter and sun and rains of the spring and summer through deep plowing and subsoiling, and thereby allowing it to evaporate any deleterious chemical contents and at the same time gathering in the needed chemi- cal fertilizers that the atmosphere is known to have in store and ever ready to part with when conditions are made susceptible? Our thrifty farmers are rapidly taking advantage of the knowledge of these methods and means of knowledge gained through valuable farm journals and state and federal bulletins. "You can really have no notion of how successful they will be When the farmer digs up the earth, sows the seed, and plants the tree. Post up; get down to modern farming, do every thing you can To plant and reap in season and hustle the hired man." There is today but very little uncultivated land in the county; every square yard of which, under proper, modern intensive farming will produce an abundant return in any and all the ordinary crops of this latitude. Blue grass pastures of luxuriant growth, here and there in every section of the county the homes of the dairy farmers, and pure bred cattle breeders are found. In a drive over any portion of the county during the pasturing season fine herds of the various breeds of cattle, according to the peculiar fancy of the owners, can be seen grazing and lying in the shade of the forest trees. "Scrub stock" is really a thing of the past; so thoroughly has been the reformation that Bates county is making among the leading counties of the state in fine stock. Not only in cattle is the county taking first rank but in horses, mules, sheep and sw^ine. While for many past years, forty and fifty bushels of corn ; fifteen and thirty bushels of wheat; and fifty to sixty bushels of oats per acre, were considered good yields, today many farmers with better knowledge and more scientific farming are increasing this yield from twenty-five to fifty per cent, in some instances by the use of fertilizers. While for many years the early settlers failed to plant orchards, today HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 23 orchards abound throughout the county. The many varieties of apples, cherries, pears and plum trees make rapid growths and yield heavily; w^hile peaches and apricots bear fine fruits, the average yield, however, is only every other year. It is seldom a failure on account of the severe winters but rather the warm days of February starting the sap upwards, sw^elling the buds, and then later heavy frosts. There is no more certain success in the entire country for the production of small fruits; blackberries, red and black raspberries of all varieties, stand the win- ter and bear abundantly, also gooseberries, while strawberries are not made a specialty, as in the counties farther south yet those who have taken an interest in strawberry cultivation both in the clay and sandy loam soils have met with entire success. Grapes never fail. There are many gardens also where red and white currants are raised suc- cessfully but this fruit is really a more northern shrub, and requires in this latitude, some little protection from the summer sun and should be planted where partly protected by buildings, trees or other shrub- bery to insure success. Bates county has indeed taken the blue' ribbon at many pomologi- cal exhibitions and state fairs, and made most excellent showings in apples in size, beauty and varieties at several of the world's fairs, as part of the state's exhibit. With an ample market so close at hand, and a remunerative price insured, the fruit yield of the county in both large and small fruits should be rapidly increased. General farming and stock raising has been considered principally all that was required to be a successful farmer, while horticulture has had a "back seat" or viewed from the gallery, yet, as a matter of fact, it is one of the most congenial pur- suits and should form a part of farm life if for no other purpose than the pleasure and comfort and luxuries thereby secured. The study of horticulture has been neglected ; the general public has given to this very interesting feature of farm and town life but little study or attention. Fruit, fruit, and more fruit, is the crying call from the cities. It is no longer considered simply a luxury, but a neces- sity, healthful, appetizing and one of Nature's greatest boons to man, even if it did originally cause all the sin mankind has been heir to for six thousand years. But just give the boys of today a chance and they will do the same as Adam and Eve and enjoy it regardless of consequences. The acids of the various kinds of fruit assimilate with the blood and enrich it. To be successful in fruit production, either 124 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY large or small fruit, in this day of insect life of voracious appetites and pests of many kinds, one must give to horticulture the same study and consideration he is required to give successful general farming and stock raising. While we can gain much from books and farm and horticultural journals of how to handle the orchard and the fruit gar- den, how to meet and defeat the destructive insect life that prey upon the tree, plant and fruit alike, yet practical knowledge of our own and the experience of our neighbors is quite as requisite, and for this reason local horticultural societies should be encouraged. If one has but a few "back-lot" fruit trees or is raising small fruit for the family use, he should become a member of such an organization and thereby gain the necessary practical knowledge requisite to success in this particular locality. The large holdings of land, the increase in tenanted farms, and a prevailing idea that the production of fruit is a specialty not belong- ing to legitimate farming, has been detrimental to this industry. Instead of fruits and flowers that should adorn every dining table at least in season, it has been too much "corn bread and bacon" or "hog and hominy" as the saying is. Every home should be surrounded by groves of nut and fruit bearing trees. Every farmer should have his garden of small fruit; blackberries, red and black raspberries, gooseberries, currants and strawberries. Hillhouse has aptly expressed the idea . "I would not waste my spring of youth in idle dalliance; I would plant rich seeds to blossom in my manhood, and bear fruit when I am old." One often hears the older settlers remark, "I wish I had planted a grove of nut bearing trees, walnuts and pecans, twenty or thirty years ago. I would now be enjoying a rich harvest of nuts." Another says, "I made a serious mistake in not planting an orchard when I first started out farming." Why not begin now? There is no time like the present to plant a nut or fruit bearing tree. No greater Christian labor can be performed even if it be the last work of one's life than plant a tree that another may reap the fruit and bless the one who planted it. Civilization is gauged more perhaps, by horticulture than any other branch of industry in utilizing the land, and the luxuries enjoyed thereby can only be measured or appreciated by home culture. In some of the farming communities throughout the county can be seen thrifty, tidy homes surrounded by fruits, flowers and vines, and at once we realize these people are civilized, and know how to enjoy country life. The freshly painted house, the tasty garden fence. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 25 the white-washed fruit trees, cultivated garden, blooming roses and the fragrant honey-suckle — it is thus known the occupants own their own home, have "come to stay" and are devoted to Christian influ- ences. So it is, horticulture lies at the the foundation of home com- fort and family enjoyment and is a sure mark of progress and stability. "Man, through all ages of revolving time, Unchanging man, in every varying clime, Deems his own land of every land the pride Beloved by heaven o'er all the world beside: His home, the spot supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest." What one has accomplished, all can. What a contrast there is when one drives past these tenanted farms or one where the owner persists in not keeping up with the twentieth century civilization — the house and out-buildings unpainted, shingles curled up and ragged from age, porches falling down, rail fence in front and bars to let down to gain entrance, with thorns, and thistles growing broader and higher, and jimpson, bull-thistles and cockle burrs ready to cling to your clothes if you attempt to enter or to learn if the premises are inhabited or a coroner is wanted. It is a pleasure to know, however, that but few farms in the county outside the tenements, are lacking in thrift and not up-to-date in modern methods and improvements and even some of the landlords have not lost all their pride and supervision, for: "Order is heaven's first law: and this confessed. Some are, and must be, greater than the rest." As a voucher that Bates county is one of Nature's homes for the cultivation of fruit; one has only to observe the wild fruits of all the species known in this latitude abound throughout the county; wild plums, crab apples, persimmons, high bush huckleberry, grapes, black cherries, mulberries, paw paws, raspberries, blackberries, straw- berries, etc. Along the rivers and streams walnuts, pecans and hickory nuts abound and the most afford nutritious food for swine during the fall and early winter months. Grand river and the Marais des Cygnes, tributaries of the Osage, passing through the county from northwest to southeast, together with the Deepwater, Mormon Fork, Mulberry, Panther, Walnut, Miami, Muddy and streams of lesser note, with their numerous branches, furnish an abundant water supply for live stock. 126 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Many lakes and springs of limpid water of more or less medicinal value are found throughout the county, while water from wells can be had for the digging or drilling anywhere. The streams and lakes abound in excellent fish, perch, bass, buffalo and catfish being among the varie- ties of the finny tribe, while the Government-State Fish Commission of Missouri has been liberal in stocking these lakes and streams wath Qther kinds of food fish. Besides the evergrowing timber supply along the streams, aver- aging in width from one-quarter of a mile to three miles, sandstone and limestone for building material exist in all sections of the county; in fact, there is not a township but shows evidence of their existence, cropping out along the bluffs and by excavating a few feet can be quarried to advantage, being in stratas one on top of the other, varving in thickness from three to eighteen inches. The sandstone is of fine grain and texture and is said to be superior to the famous white rock of Carroll county, and more easily worked for building purposes. The front of the Rich Hill Bank building at Rich Hill, is faced with sand- stone quarried on the town site, while the quarries in the southeastern portion of the county have been worked remuneratively for many years. During Sedalia's boom, in the hope of securing the state capital, scores of cars of sandstone were shipped over the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad to Sedalia for sidewalks, street crossings, curbing, and build- ing purposes. Much of this sandstone north of Rockville is handsomely variegated, streaked with red. purple, and blue from the ochers and iron ore that permeates the soil or exists in the numerous boulders found in the vicinity. The front of the fine residence of Doctor Mun- ford, editor of the "Kansas City Times," built in the eighties, was con- structed with variegated sandstone from these quarries. Shale, sand and blue clay and fire clay for brick making, are found in inexhaustible quantities in various localities. . In some sections, espe- cially in excavations made for surface coal around Rich Hill and in New Home township, a very high grade of kaolin for fine crockery and delft ware is found above and below the coal stratas. Fire clay brick pressed in standard moulds and burned in the retorts of the Rich Hill Gas Works took the blue ribbon at the last state fair in Kansas City in competition with the brick from the celebrated fire-clay brick works at St. Louis, being heavier in weight, the bricks being of like dimensions. The wealth of coal existing in Osage, New Home, and \\'alnut HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 127 townships is too well known to need any extended remarks concern- ing the same ; millions of tons have been mined and shipped out over the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf branch to Rich Hill, and later over the Kansas City & Southern and the Empo- ria branch from Butler. While shipments in not so large a measure are still going on, both from shaft and surface mines, the coal supply from these localities, at least for all local purposes, w'ill be ample for many future generations, as new mines are constantly being developed and the older ones are still producing satisfactorily. The coal measures, however, in Hudson, Pleasant Gap, and Prairie townships, in the southeastern part of the county, have not been equally developed for the want of adequate railroad facilities for transportation, but quite sufficient to show that a vein of superior quality of soft coal from three and one-half to five feet in thickness covers a large area of these three townships, and mines are in operation continuously for local purposes and some shipmen.ts over the "Katy" are made. That a branch line of road from the M. K. & T. or an extension of the "Frisco" to these coal fields is only a question of time, is probable ; for this coal has good roofing and is susceptible to large mining for commercial purposes at a good profit. Writing of the development of the coal veins in Osage township, years ago. Professor Broadhead, state geologist, had this to say: "More general prospecting in southern Bates, in and through the lower tier of townships, reveals the fact that the coal area of this section is vastly greater than has been supposed and beyond even our present conception." It is hardly questionable but that future development of the countv on a scientific basis will reveal not only the wealth in coal as predicted by Professor Broadhead, but that there existed valuable deposits of asphaltum, rock oil, and natural gas in quantity to be of commercial value. Iron ore and paint boulders are known to exist near the border of Vernon county in the southeastern township. The sand- stone rock is so permeated with a sort of gummy oil that it burns like coal for a time leaving fine white sandstone. WHien the Craig brothers were making brick in Rich Hill years ago, by the old-fashioned method, when the fires had gotten under full headway under the kilns and the pressed raw bricks had become sufficiently heated, a blue blaze per- meated through the entire kilns and had all the appearance that the very brick was burning up, so saturated had been the clay, sand and shale with this oily substance and no further firing was necessary. 128 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Crude oil, or rock oil, as it is called, is known to rise out of the earth. It never is infused into the soil or sand rock from above. It must rise from an oil producing or oil holding sand far below^ the surface. This oil is found in considerable quantities at Mormon Fork in Boone town- ship and other numerous places in the western tjer of townships and in the southeastern portion of the county. Some day prospecting will be undertaken with sufficient capital and determination to use it in making a thorough test for oil and gas in this county and undoubtedly will meet with the same success as has been had* in the section of. country southwest in Kansas and Oklahoma. There never has been any deep borings in the county. In reaching the gas.^and oil sand strata in some of the fields in Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas, borings to the depth of three thousand feet and more are made and recjuired to rea«h, the best producing oil and gas stratas. There's no telling what a thorough investigation in those localities might reveal. "Attempt the end, and never stand to doubt ; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out." Bates county has a most successful poultry organization. This industry has had a most wonderful and successful growth within the last decade, not only generally among the farmers and town and vil- lage inhabitants, but has been made^'a specialty by those, -who thoroughly understand the poultry business and the profits arising, therefrom. No very great outlay of capital is'recjuired to start in this business and ■'' . ¥ no end to the demand at your very door, for the various products of the industry; whether it be turkevs, s^eese, ducks;* fancy ^chickens or the old-fashioned barn-yard fowls, great profits are assured. Fresh eggs are ever in demand and at prices cjuite sufficient to not* require the government to intervene. If you are short on business,or long* on inactivity, start a poultry farm. No landed estate is necessary. Any old acreage answers the purpose. Down inUhe Ozarks.. turkeys roost in the trees and get most of their ^rub in the fields and forests. Make a pond for the ducks and geese and watch thenig swim with all the grace of a mermaid, and listen to the squawking of the geese and the quacking of the ducks and 'keenjgjn mind they all lay the "golden ^%%.'' The present officers of the Bates Comity Poultry Association for 1918 are: Miss Elva Church, president; L. C. Culbertson, vice-president; George M. Hatrick, secretary. Directors: Mrs. Hardin, Mrs. J. H. Baker, Mrs. J. R. Baum, and Mrs. Maggie Poffenbarger. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I29 Corn In Missouri. (By Lucien Green, Hudson, Missouri, from 1915 "Year Book.") According to the forty-sixth annual report of the State Board of Agriculture of Missouri, corn raised in Bates county in 1913 was 1,144,469 bushels from 162,067 acres, an average of seven bushels an acre. Assuming that the acreage is the same this year and the average is a little less than twenty-five bushels an acre, the amount raised is about 4,000,000 bushels. Indian corn was the gift of the Indians to American civilization. They taught the Pilgrim fathers how to raise it. how to pound it into meal and how to bake it into bread. Corn meal was the basis of Whit- tier's "Samp and Milk" and mush and milk and hasty pudding of people living west of the Alleghanies. Corn meal is made into corn bread, corn pone, corndodgers, corn gems and a hundred other kinds of bread, "and all very good." Corn meal mixed with rye flour and baked on the hearth in a spider or bake kettle into loaves weighing fifteen or thirty pounds are appe- tizing and gives the rail splitter more energy than any other bread. Fried mush sweetened with maple molasses, accompanied by fresh pork sausage — the result of corn and hog — will keep the boy on the farm — as long as the molasses and sausage lasts, and perhaps longer! We are told that three-fifths of the world's production of corn is raised in the United States. Much corn is raised in the Argentine Republic and in the region near the Black sea. Corn is raised with more or less success in all countries that are free of frost for ninety days. Corn specialists have bred varieties of corn that do well in Minnesota and other Northern states. The average yield of corn in our county is about twenty-eight bushels per acre. The record yield on one acre is 256 bushels in North Carolina. One hundred twenty ears of average Missouri corn is called a bushel. Sixty ears of good seed corn weighs about one bushel. An average ear of seed corn consists of about 900 grains. The cobs from seventy pounds of good St. Charles white corn weigh about nine pounds. Corn cobs boiled in water and sweetened with brown sugar give the molasses a maple flavor and it is sold in the fall by wholesale merchants as fresh maple syrup. The early settlers of the West frequently sold corn for eight to ten cents a bushel. The farmers of the treeless regions of the West usually shell their corn and save the cobs for fuel. Corn is of (9) 130 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY many colors and varieties: white, red. yellow, black, blue, calico, bloody butcher and a mixture of all. A choice ear of sweet corn, well lubricated with butter and eaten from the cob — hog fashion — pleases the palate beyond the ability of words to explain. The science of corn breeding, selection of seed corn and making our soil richer and more resistant to drouth and insects is in its infancy, and no doubt will continue to be studied until the average yield in Missouri is forty or fifty or more bushels per acre. The wrong use of corn has brought millions of our people to poverty and broken up many homes. The right use of corn has paid oft more mortgages, built more happy homes, more schcHDl houses, churches and palaces for the rich than all of our minerals. Fortunate is the young farmer who takes pride in raising good corn and in improving the soil ! CHAPTER IX. COUNTY ORGANIZATION. (By Judge Charles A. Denton.) NATIONAL, TERRITORIAL, STATE, AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS— FRENCH POSSES- SION—SPANISH POSSESSION— PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA— ACT OF MARCH 26, 1804— ACT OF MARCH 31, 1805— ACT OF JULY 4, 1812— MISSOURI ADMITTED — TREATY OF NOVEMBER 10, 1808 — LEGISLATIVE ACTS. We deem a re-capitnlation of the different national, territorial, state and county governments, under which the territory now within the present boundary lines of Bates county has been, would be of interest and profit to those who are interested in the history of the government of the county. It was of the French possessions up to 1763, then of Spanish pos- session until 1800 when it again came under the control of the French government, and so continued up to April 30, 1803, when France ceded the Province of Louisiana to the United States of which it was a part. On March 26, 1804, by act of Congress it became a part of "Dis- trict of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction of what was then known as "Indian Territory." On March 3, 1805, it became a part of the "Territory of Louisiana." and so continued until July 4, 1812, when the Territory of Missouri was organized, Missouri being admitted as a state on August 10, 1821, it has therefore been under its jurisdiction since that time. November 10, 1808, at a place or fort called at that time Fort Clark which was located on the Missouri river, at or near what is now the town of Sibley in Jackson county, a treaty was entered into by the United States with the Great and Little Osage Indians, by which the said Indians relinquished to the United States all claim or right to the land lying east of a line commencing at said Fort Clark and running due south to the Arkansas river. From data and information gathered from the general land office at Washington, it appears that this boundary line so agreed upon as separating the lands to be thereafter claimed and used by the Osage Indians for their home and hunting ground, 132 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY entered this present territory at a point on the south bank of the Grand river at or near the center of section 14, of Grand River township and continuing south until the township of Pleasant Gap is reached, when its location would be about, or on the line between sections 3 and 4 of said township, and would therefore as it continued south pass on the east line of the town of Papinsville or about one-half mile east of the bank of the Marais des Cygnes river. All that part of the present terri- tory lying west of that line continued to be under the jurisdiction and control of the Osage Indians until the treaty of the United States with said Indians on June 22, 1825, by which treaty the Osage Indians relin- quished all their right or claim to lands lying within the State of Mis- souri. That part of the present territory of the county lying east of said Osage boundary line, or a strip about seven and one-half miles of the present territory, first came under the jurisdiction of county organiza- tion, by act of the Legislature, Laws of 1813 and 1814, in the organiz- ing of St. Louis county. By an act of the territorial Legislature of January 2Z, 1816, that part of now Bates county lying east of the Osage boundary line became a part of Howard county. This same territory was made a part of Cooper county, Territorial Laws 1818. act December 17, 1818. By act of the Legislature of November 16, 1820 all that part of now Bates county lying north of the middle of the main channel of the Osage river to the w^est boundary line of the state, was organized with other territory into a county named Lillard. From the fact that at that time what is now called the Marais des Cygnes, was then probably called the Osage river, that the said south- ern line of Lillard county was to west line of the state, understood and intended to be the main channel of the now Marais des Cygnes river. By act of Legislature February 16, 1825. all that part of the present territory of Bates county lying west of the middle line of Mingo, Spruce, Deepwater. Hudson, Rockville townships, and north of a line starting at a point where the above said line crosses the middle of the channel of the Osage river and thence west to the state line, was organized into a county named Jackson. This south boundary line was about three- fourths of a mile south of the present southern boundary line of Bates county. That part lying east of the middle line of Mingo township and the other townships south of it, was organized February 16, 1825, as a part of a county named Lafayette. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 33 That part of the present territory of the county lying north of a line starting at the northeast corner of Hudson township and running- west to the state line was by act of the Legislature of January 16, 1833. made a part of a county called Van Buren and that part lying south of this line with attached territory was organized into a county called Bates. It appears that the territory of both the said counties of Van Buren and Bates were attached to the county of Jackson, for all civil and .military purposes until they should be established and organized as separate counties by law. It appears that the southern boundary of said Jackson county was by this act fixed at about its present boundary line. On the 29th day of January, 1841, by act of the Legislature, Bates county w^as organized for civil and military purposes and included with other territory lying south of it, only that part of the present territory lying south of the line, commencing at the northeast corner of Hudson township and running thence west to the state line. By law March 28, 1845, the north boundary line of Bates county was moved six miles further north so that its northern boundary was a line commencing at the southeast corner of tow^iship 41, range 29, (Spruce township) thence west to the state line. By act of the Legislature, 1849, the name of Van Buren county was changed to Cass county, consequently all that part of what is now Bates county lying north of the line above described as being the north line of Bates county was from that time a part of Cass county. By act of the Legislature February 17, 1851, all that part of the present county from what is now its northern boundary line south to a line for a southern boundary, which commenced on the state line at the northwest corner of section 18, running thence east to the line now dividing Bates and St. Clair counties, was organized into a county named Vernon. It will be noted that this line, with reference to the following towns as now located, would pass through the town of Hume, just south of Rich Hill, through Prairie City and strike tlie northern boundary line of Rockville. It was about three-fourths of a mile north of Papinsville, which was at that time the county seat of Bates county. The said act organizing Vernon county provided, however that there should be an election held within its prescribed boundary line, on the first Monday of August. 1851, and if a majority of the voters in the said new county did not vote therefor then the act should be void and inoperative. The election was so held, and a majority of the votes cast was for the orsfanization. 134 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY One Samuel Scott was by the governor appointed sheriff, with other county officers, of the new county of Vernon. On October 8, 1851, in the circuit court, begun and held in the town of Papinsville, Samuel Sawyer, circuit attorney, filed an information in the nature of a quo warranto at the relation of George Douglass against the said Samuel Scott and other county officers, charging that the county of Vernon had not been legally organized and therefore the said Scott and others were unlawfully exercising authority as such officers. A change of venue was taken from the said court to Henry county circuit court, where it was tried before Hon. Waldo P. Johnson as judge of that circuit. At the November term, 1852, Judge Johnson held that the act 'establishing the said Vernon county was unconsti- tutional. An appeal was taken to the supreme court and the supreme court January term, 1853, affirmed the holding of Judge Johnson. This of course disorganized the said county of Vernon and that part of Cass and Bates counties that had l^een within the boundary of the pro- posed county of Vernon was again under the jurisdiction of the said counties respectively. By act of- the Legislature of February 22, 1855 the present northern boundary line of Bates county was established, thus making the two northern tiers of townships in Bates county as they are now. By act of the Legislature, February 27, 1855, the present county of Vernon was organized with its northern boundary line the same as it is at this time. This resulted in fixing the boundary lines of Bates county as they are now. It is novel, if not interesting, to note that had not the act of Febru- ary 17, 1851, organizing Vernon county been declared unconstitutional, Butler would have been the county seat of Vernon county, while Nevada would have been the countv seat of Bates countv. CHAPTER X. THE BORDER WARFARE. "KANSAS WAR"— PRO-SLAVERY SETTLERS VS. "FREE STATE MEN"— THE AGI- TATED, EXCITED PUBLIC MIND— FACTS BETWEEN LINCOLN'S ELECTION AND INAUGURATION — BORDER LAND INFLAMED — WAR REPORTS — OSAWATOMIE JOHN BROWN. The condition which prevailed on both sides of the line between Missouri and Kansas Territory, beginning in 1854 and lasting through 1858, or say about five years, is what is referred to when the "border troubles" are mentioned. It was sometimes spoken of as the "Kansas War." But later the expression "Border Warfare" came to mean not only that, but included the warfare carried on along the line after the Civil Wa.!' had broken out, for two or three years. The original trouble grew out of the slavery question almost wholly. The pro-slavery set- tlers in Kansas Territory were determined to make Kansas Territory into a slave state ; and in this they had the earnest support of the pro- slavery men in western Missouri; and substantially all Missourians in this part of the state were pro-slavery. But the vigilant "free state men" who had settled in the Territory were equally resolute to make Kansas free. The excitement grew and conditions became worse and worse until neither person nor property was safe anywhere along the border from Westport to Ft. Scott. Marauders, thieves and murderers developed ; outrages were perpetrated by both sides. There seemed to be no responsible government anywhere. Blood flow^ed freely. Crimes were avenged, retaliation indulged, and many harmless and innocent citizens injured and ruined, if not killed. During all this time the war spirit was growing all over the nation and the issues joined in Kansas over the slavery question intensified and inflamed the minds of the people everywhere. Secession, disunion, began to be discussed seriously in the halls of Congress, in the news- papers, and from every stump in every political campaign. The leaders of the South, in Congress and out, held and believed that the states had a right under the Constitution to peaceably secede from the Union and 136 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY organize a new nation. This was denied by the Unionists of the North, and so the public mind 1)ecame wonderfully agitated and excited. Lincoln was elected in November, 1860. South Carolina seceded December 20th; then followed Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, in January and February, 1862. The Southern Confederacy was formed at Montgomery, Alabama, February 4, 1862; and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1862, he found seven states already out of the Union so far as forms of civil procedure could put them out; on April 13th, Ft. Sumpter was surrendered by Major Ander- son; and on the 15th, Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. From that date the Civil War was on. On January 29. 1859, Kansas was admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. These were the outstanding facts which had occurred between Lincoln's election in November and his inauguration the following March. No part of the country had been more inflamed than this border land up and down the state line, of which section Bates county was near the center. The population of this county was overwhelmingly pro-slavery and for secession, disunion and the formation of the South- ern Confederacy. It l)ecame the rendezvous and hiding place of bush- wdiackers, marauders and irresponsible, lawless gangs who perpetrated all manner of outrages upon peaceable citizens and their property. Gangs, largely of the same general character, from Kansas, invaded this county either in retaliation or merely to plunder our citizens. The feeling was intense on both sides — the result of about six years of struggle over the Kansas free state question. Conditions were such that these bushwhackers and lawless bands could neither be controlled nor punished by the armies in the field; so after fruitless marchings to and fro by Union commands, in less or larger units, without being able to catch or kill or run out of the county this disloyal and treas- onable element, as a last resort and after mature consideration. General Thomas Ewing issued his celebrated "Order No. 11" in 1863, four days after Ouantrill's sack of Lawrence, and the brutal murder of unoffending and unarmed citizens. It used to be popular to refer to this only as "Ewing's infamous order." History has approved it as wise and proper, and salutary as a war measure. The necessity was urgent and the results beneficient. Not desiring to go into a discussion of details, possibly involving matters of opinion, it is deemed proper to give extended authentic war records from both sides touching this order, and showing conditions in Bates county during the Civil War. This generation, and the pres- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 37 ent citizenship of Bates county are free from the passions of that un- happy strife; and yet few have an opportunity to read this interesting- history of or touching our county, and in order to make the official "War Reports" available to the readers of this history, we have gath- ered together from the official reports printed by the government the following: Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 25. 1863. Brigadier-General Ewing, Commanding District of the Border, Kansas City, Missouri: General : I inclose a draught of an order which I propose to issue in due time. I send it to you in order that you may make the necessary preparations for it. Such a measure will, of course, produce retaliation upon such loyal people as may be exposed to it, and they should, as far as possible, be removed to places of safety before the execution of the order is commenced or the purpose to execute it is made public. Also, it is necessary to be quite certain that you have the power to put down the Rebel bands, and prevent retaliation like that recently inflicted upon Lawrence, if, indeed, that can 1)e regarded or was intended as an act of retaliation. My information relative to that distressing affair is too imperfect to enable me to judge accurately on this point. But it occurs to me as at least probable that the massacre and burning at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the inauguration of the policy of removing from the l)order counties the slaves of rebels and the families of J^ushwhackers. If this is true, it would seem a strong argument against the wisdom of such policy. You are in posi- tion to judge of all this better than I can. At all events. I am pretty much convinced that the mode of carrying on the war on the border during the past two years has produced such a state of feeling that noth- ing short of total devastation of the districts which are made the haunts of guerrillas will be sufficient to put a stop to the evil. Please consider the matter fully and carefully, and give me your views in regard to the necessity for the application of such severe remedy, and of the wisdom of the method proposed. I will be guided mainly by your judgment in regard to it. If you desire the order to be issued as I have written it, or with any modifications which you may suggest, please inform me when you are ready for it. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. 138 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY (Inclosure.) A band of robbers and murderers, under the notorious Ouantrill, has been for a long time harbored and fed by the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and have driven out or murdered nearly all the loyal people of those counties; and, finally on the of the present month these brigands, issuing suddenly from their hiding places, made a descent upon the town of Law^rence, in Kan- sas, and in the most inhuman manner sacked and burned the town, and murdered in cold blood a large number of loyal and unoffending citizens. It is manifest that all ordinary means have failed to subdue the rebellious spirit of the people of the counties named, and that they are determined to harbor and encourage a band of scoundrels whose every object is plunder and murder. This state of things cannot be permitted longer to exist, and nothing less than the most radical remedy will be sufficient to remove the evil. It is therefore ordered that the disloyal people of Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties will be given until the day of to remove from those counties, with such of their personal property as they may choose to carry away. At the end of the time named all houses, barns, provisions, and other property belonging to such disloyal persons, and which can be used to shelter, protect, or support the bands of robbers and murderers which infest those counties, will be destroyed or seized and appropriated to the use of the government. Property situated at or near military posts, and in or near towns which can be protected by troops so as not to be used by the bands of robbers will not be destroyed, but will be appropriated to the use of such loyal or innocent persons as may be made homeless by the acts of guerrillas or by the execution of this order. The com- manding general is aware that some innocent persons must suffer from these extreme measures, but such suffering is unavoidable, and will be made as light as possible. A district or county inhabited almost solely by Rebels cannot be permitted to l)e made a hiding place for robbers and murderers, from which to sally forth on their errands of rapine and death. It is sincely hoped that it will not be necessary to apply this remedy to any other portion of Missouri. But if the people of disloyal districts wish to avoid it, they must unite to prevent its neces- sity, which is clearly in their power to do. This order will be executed by Brigadier-General Ewing, com- manding District of the Border, and such officers as he may specially detail for the purpose. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I39 Headquarters District of the Border, Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, St. Louis, Mo. : Sir: I got in late yesterday afternoon. I send in inclosed paper General Orders No. 11, which I found it necessary to issue at once, or I would have first consulted you. The excitement in Kansas is great, and there is (or was before this order) great danger of a raid of citizens for the purpose of destroying the towns along the border. My political enemies are fanning the flames, and wish me for a burnt- ofifering to satisfy the just passion of the people. If you think it best, please consider me as applying for a court of inquiry. It should be appointed by the General-in-Chief, or the Secre- tary of War. General Deitzler, of Lawrence, is the only of^cer of rank I think in Kansas who would be regarded as perfectly impartial. He is at Lawrence now on sick furlough, but is well enough for such duty, and knows the district. I do not make unconditional application for the court, because 1 have seen no censure of any one act of mine, or omission even, except my absence from headquarters. It is all mere mob clamor, and all at Leavenworth. Besides. I do not, with my want of familiarit}' with the custom of the service in such matters and with the horrors of the massa- cre distressing me, feel confidence in my judgment as to the matter. I therefore ask your friendly advice and action, with the statement that if a full clearance of me, by the court, is worth anything to you, or me. or the service, I would like to have the court. I left my headquarters to go to Leavenworth the day before the massacre, on public business. I have never taken an hour of ease or rest with anything undone which I thought necessary for the protec- tion of the border. No man, woman, or child ever suggested the idea of stationing troops permanently at Lawrence. The whole border has been patrolled night and day for 90 miles, and all the troops under my command posted and employed as well as I know how to do it. I have not the slightest doubt tha-t any fair court would not only acquit me of all suspicion of negligence, but also give, me credit for great pre- caution and some skill in my adjustment of troops. I assure you. gen- eral, I would quit the service at once if I were accused, after candid J 140 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY investigation, of the slightest negligence or of a want of average skill in the comm-and of the forces you have given me. I ani, general, very respectfully, your obedient servent, THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. (Inclosure.) General Orders No. 11. Headquarters District of the Border. Kansas City, Mo., August 25, 1863. 1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Mills, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw township, Jackson county, north of Brush creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof. Those wdio, within that time, estab- lished their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such cer- tificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the state of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the state. All others shall remove out of this dis- trict. Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed. 2. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove \Vithin reach of mili- tary stations after the 9th day of September next will l)e taken to such stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next not convenient to such stations will be destroyed. 3. The provisions of General Orders No. 10, from these headquar- ters will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of the district and at all the stations not subject to the operation of paragraph 1 of this order, and especially in the towns of Independence, Westport, and Kansas City. 4. Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I4I have borne arms against the government in this district since the 21st day of August, 1863. By order of Brigadier-General Ewing. H. HANNAHS, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. Leavenworth, Kansas, August 26, 1863. His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States: The result of the massacre at Lawrence has excited feeling amongst our people which make a collision between them and the military prob- able. The imbecility and incapacity of Schofield is most deplorable. Our people unanimously demand the removal of Schofield, whose policy has opened Kansas to invasion and butchery.* A. C. WILDER, J. H. LANE. * See Lincoln to Schofield, August 27, p. 142, and reply. August 28, p. 144. Saint Louis, Mo., August 26, 1863. Brigadier-General Ewing, Kansas City: I wrote you yesterday about measures to be taken in the border counties of Missouri. Do not permit irresponsible parties to enter Mis- souri for retaliation; whatever of that is to be done must be by your troops, acting under your own orders. J. M. SCHOFIELD. Major-General. Kansas City, Mo., August 26. 1863. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo. : I shall not permit any unauthorized expedition into Missouri. No citizens are in now, and none went in except with my troops. I do not much apprehend any attempt of the kind, except, perhaps, secret efTorts of incendiaries to destroy Independence. Westpoft, or Kansas City, although the people of Kansas are mortified and exasperated, and those of the border considerably alarmed. I will have to clear out a good 142 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY many Rebels in Independence, Westport, and Kansas City. I need Lieutenant-Colonel Van Horn, Twenty-fifth Missouri, to command this post. Please detail him, if you can. He is now at Saint Louis. THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. Kansas City, Mo., August 26, 1863. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield. Commanding Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.: My troops are still in pursuit, Ouantrill's men are scattered, the worst having gone out of the border counties. At last reports we have killed from 50 to 60. I have ordered all families out of the border coun- ties of Missouri in fifteen days, allowing Union men to remain at or come to military stations or go to the interior of Kansas, and compelling all the rest to leave the district. I will destroy or take to stations all forage and substance left in those counties after date fixed for removal. I have written you the reason for issuing the order; I am sure you would approve if here. This raid has made it impossible to save any families in those counties away from the stations, for they are practically the servants and supporters of the guerrillas. I anticipate the collection on the border of a large part of the guerillas of southwestern Missouri to resist or revenge the execution of this measure. If you can send me more troops, please do so. I can use the Twenty-fifth Missouri or the Tenth Kansas to good advantage garrisoning the posts. There has been no failure to exert every possible effort to catch Ouantrill, except at Paola, Friday night, when a great occasion was lost. I will see that the censure for that falls where it belongs. The charges set afloat from Leavenworth are false and malignant, so far as they apply to me and Major Plumb, and are instigated and paid f*or by political Ouantrills. THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. General Schofield, Saint Louis: I have just received the dispatch which follows from two very influ- ential citizens of Kansas, whose names I omit.* The severe blow they have received naturally enough makes them intemperate even without HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I43 there being any just cause for blame. Please do your utmost to give them future security and to punish their invaders. A. LINCOLN. * See Wilder and Lane to Lincoln, August 26, p. 14L Washington, D. C, August 27, 1863, 8:30 a. m. Hon. A. C. W^ilder, Hon, J. H. Lane, Leavenworth, Kansas: Notice of your demand for the removal of General Schofield is hereby acknowledged. A. LINCOLN. Kansas City, Mo., August 27, 1863. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo. : Quantrill's men are scattered in their fastness throughout the border counties, and are still being hunted by all available troops from all parts of the district. Many of them have abandoned their worn-out horses and gone to the brush afoot. They were all remounted at Lawrence, with horses they captured there, and they led their own horses back, packing the plundered goods. The led horses and stolen goods were nearly all abandoned in the chase before they got far into Missouri ; 300 horses have already been taken by our troops, including some of those taken at Lawrence. Most of the goods and much of the money stolen have been retaken, and will, as far as possible be restored. Reports received since my dispatch of yesterday of 21 killed, making in all about 80. I think it will largely exceed 100 before any considerable part of our troops withdraw from the pursuit. No prisoners have been taken and none will be. All the houses in which Lawrence goods have been found have been destroyed, as well as all the houses of known guerrillas, wherever our troops have gone. I intend to destroy the houses of all persons in the border counties, outside of military stations, who do not remove, in obedience to my last general order, by the 9th day of Sep- tember next. THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. Kansas City, Missouri, August 27. 1863. Maj.-Gen. John M. Schofield: Reports reach me from Leavenworth that Major Anthony is endeav- oring to get up expedition into Missouri. Uncertain whether expedition 144 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY is to cross the Missouri river or enter southern borders, I have notified Governor Carney, whom, I have reason to know, has done nothing to quiet the excitement, warning him that I would resist such an invasion of Missouri. I have notified General Guitar and commanding ofificers at Liberty, and ordered provost-marshal at Leavenworth to keep com- manding officers at Westoji advised. I do not apprehend serious trouble. My dispatch this morningshould have read "150 horses." THOMAS EWING, JR., Brisradier-General. Headcjuarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 28, 1863. Abraham Lincoln, President of the LInited States, Washington, D. C. : Mr. President: In reply to your telegram of the 27th, transmitting copy of one received from two influential citizens of Kansas, I beg leave to state some of the facts connected with the horrible massacre at Law- rence, and also relative to the assaults made upon me by a certain class of influential politicians. Since the capture of Vicksburg a considerable portion of the Rebel army in the Mississippi valley has disbanded, and large numbers of men have come back to Missouri — many of them, doubtless, in the hope of being permitted to remain at their former homes in peace, while some have come under instructions to carry on a guerrilla warfare, and others, men of the worst character, become marauders on their own account, caring nothing for the Union nor for the Rebellion, except as the latter affords them a cloak for their brigandage. Under instructions from the Rebel authorities, as I am informed and believe, considerable bands, called "Border Guards," were organized in the counties of Missouri bordering on Kansas, for the ostensible pur- pose of protecting those counties from inroads from Kansas, and pre- venting slaves of Rebels from escaping from Missouri into Kansas. These bands were unquestionably encouraged, fed, and harbored by a very considerable portion of the people in those border counties. Many of those people were in fact the families of these bushwhackers, who are brigands of the worst type. Upon the representation of General Ewing and others familiar with the facts, I became satisfied there could be no cure for the evil short of the removal from those counties of all slaves entitled to their freedom, and of the families of all men known to belong HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I45 to these bands, and others who were known to sympathize with them. Accordingly I directed General Ewing to adopt and carry out the policy he had indicated, warning him, however, of the retaliation which might be attempted, and that he must be fully prepared to prevent it before commencing such severe measures. Almost immediately after it became known that such policy had been adopted, Quantrill secretly assembled from several of the border counties of Missouri about 300 of his men. They met at a preconcerted place of rendezvous, near the Kansas line, at about sunset, and imme- diately marched for LawTence, which place they reached at daylight the next morning. They sacked and burned the town and murdered the citizens in the most barbarous manner. It is easy to see that any unguarded town in a country where such a number of outlaws can be assembled is liable to a similar fate, if the villains are willing to risk retribution wdiich must follow. In this case 100 of them have already been slain, and the remainder are hotly pur- sued in all directions. If there was any fault on the part of General Ewing, it appears to have been in not guarding Lawrence. But of this it was not my purpose to speak. General Ewing and the governor of Kansas have asked for a court of inquiry, and I have sent to the War- Department a request that one may be appointed, and I do not wish to anticipate the result of a full investigation I believe, beyond doubt, that the terrible disaster at Lawrence was the immediate consequence of the "radical" measures to which I have alluded. Although these meas- ures are far behind what many, at least, of the radical leaders demand, they surely cannot attribute the sad result to "conservative policy." Had these measures been adopted last winter, when the state was easily controlled, because the absence of leaves from the brush rendered it impossible for the bushwhackers to hide from the troops, and there was a large force in the state lying idle, they might have been carried out without injury to the loyal people. The larger part of my troops having been called off for service in Arkansas and down the Mississippi, and the summer being favorable for guerrilla operations, it may have been unwise to adopt such measures at this time. If so, they have no right to complain who have been continually clamoring for such meas- ures, and who couple their denunciations of me with demands for more radical measures still, and hold up by w^ay of contrast, as their model, the general who did not see fit to adopt such measures when they could (lO) 146 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY have been carried out with perfect ease and security. You will, per- haps, remember that while in command of Missouri, in 1862, I adopted and enforced certain very severe and radical measures towards those in open rebellion and their sympathizers. I believed at the time, and still believe, that those measures were wise and necessary at the time they were adopted, and they seemed to meet with the hearty approval of at least the ultra-Union people of Missouri. After I was relieved by General Curtis, these measures were all abandoned. None of them were revised by him during his administration except that of banish- ment of Rebel sympathizers, and no other of like radical character adopted by him, except that, perhaps, of* granting "free papers" to slaves, and confiscation of property without any form of trial known to any law, either civil or military. The banishment of Rebels I have continued, and I have conformed to the laws as nearly as possible in reference to slaves and property subject to confiscation. I have revised my former severe mode of dealing with guerrillas, robbers, and murderers which General Curtis had abandoned, and have treated with some severity, though of a far milder form, those law- breakers who profess to be Union men. Among the latter were several^ provost marshals and members of commissions whom I have been com- pelled to arrest and punish for enormous frauds and extortions. They are, of course, loud-mouthed radicals. I have permitted those who have been in rebellion, and who volun- tarily surrender themselves and their arms, to take the oath of alle- giance and give bonds for their future good conduct, and release them upon condition that they reside in such portion of the State as I shall direct. For this I am most bitterly assailed by the radicals, who demand that every man who has been in rebellion or in any way aided shall be exterminated or driven from the state. There are thousands of such criminals, and no man can fail to see that such a course would light the flames of a war such as Missouri has never yet seen. Their leaders know it, but it is necessary to their ascendacy, and they scruple at noth- ing to accomplish that end. I am officially informed that a large meeting has been held at Leaven- worth, in which a resolution was adopted to the effect that the people would assemble at a certain place on the border, on the 8th of Sep- tember, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property. Efforts have been made by the mayor of Leavenworth to get possession of the ferry at that place for the purpose of crossing armed parties of citizens into northern Missouri. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I47 I have strong reasons for believing that the authors of the telegram to you are among those who introduced and obtained the adoption of the Leavenworth resolution, and who are endeavoring to organize a force for the purpose of general retaliation upon Missouri. Those who so deplore my "imbecility and incapacity" are the very men who are endeavoring to bring about a collision between the people of Kansas and the troops under General Ewing's command. I have not the "capa- city" to see the wisdom or justice of permitting an irresponsible mob to enter Missouri for the purpose of retaliation even for so grievous a wrong as that which Lawrence has suffered. I have increased the force upon the border as far as possible, and no effort has been or will be spared to punish the invaders of Kansas and to prevent such acts in future. The force there has been all the time far larger than in any other portion of my department except on the advanced line in Arkansas and the Indian Territory. I deem it proper to remark here that the allusions to my prede- cessor are in no wise intended as a reflection upon him or his official acts, but merely because those who so bitterly assail me hold him up as their model. Please accept my apologies, Mr. President, for the length of this letter. I could hardly, in justice to myself or to truth, make it shorter. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. Hon. Edward Bates, Saint Louis, August 28, 1863. Attorney-General United States: My Dear Sir: I regret extremely the necessity which compels me to write you at this time, but the sad condition of the western coun- ties of our state prompts me to do so, and I certainly know of no one to whom Missourians can appeal with a greater certainty of being favorably listened to. At the earnest request of many of our citizens, who fear that the recent outrages in Kansas would be visited upon our own section of the state. I came down to see General Schofield, and to ascertain, if possible, what policy he proposed to adopt. I find, on conversation with him, that he is greatly excited, and seems entirely disposed to offer no obstruction to the contemplated invasion of our state by the people of Kansas indeed, he expressed a wish that such might be the case. Now, sir, at the same time that no one would strive harder or risk 148 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY more to l:)ring those lawless murderers to justice than I would, I cannot see the propriety of adopting a policy wdiich is to involve the innocent and the guilty in common ruin, and General Schofield's duty, under the circumstances is rather to throw himself into the breach, and to withstand the wild popular excitement of the moment, than, yielding to its influence, to add a thousand-fold to the miseries under which the country is already suffering. I can well imagine how General Schofield. situated as he is, would be reluctant to pursue any course which would bring down upon him the increased displeasure of the radical party in Missouri but it is not less his duty, and as the military commander of the department he ought to discharge his duty regardless of consequences. It is a fact well known to me that hundreds of the people of Jackson and Casb counties are true and loyal men; they have already been robbed of their property, insulted, and in many instances murdered by these troops from Kansas. The policy pursued has caused hundreds of good men to leave their homes and fly to the l)ushes for protection, while others have actually joined the guerillas as a measure of safety, believing that they would be less liable to danger there than at their homes. These are generally men of little intelligence, who do not take consequences into consideration, and are not prompted by a very high order of patriotism ; they act from motives of present interest, and for the temporary safety of their persons have been induced to commit a great crime against their country. Others, I regret to say, who in the beginning were dis- loyal, have under the various proclamations of the President and the Governor, returned to their homes, and, after doing so, have been ruth- lessly shot and hung by the soldiery. The good faith of the Govern- ment has been broken in so many cases that the people have become reluctant to return, believing that it would be violated towards them. The Government is not to blame for this, Init the officers in command are, for failing to punish their soldiers for such acts of faithlessness and brutality. Our population, loyal as well as disloyal, are unarmed, by order of the military authorities of the state, and in that helpless condition, T understand General Schofield to say, that it will meet his approbation for them to be invaded by the people of Kansas — not by an organized force but an iwesponsible mob, already excited and enraged, and who, even before the commission of these outrages by Quantrill, were ready at all times to seize on any pretext which would justify the pillage of our state and the indiscriminate murder of our citizens. The absence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor is at HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I49 this time a misfortune ; they might successfully and with propriety appeal to General Schofielcl to act differently from what he proposes to do. Mr. Glover, in whose assistance and advice I have at all times relied witlr confidence, is also absent and sick in the northern part of the state. I have conversed with Colonel Broadhead, and find him fully coinciding with me in the policy which, in my opinion, should be adopted, and which I humbly beg to suggest. The great mistake was annexing a part of our state to the Military District of Kansas, and the next great error was in placing but a soldier, a man who has no purpose to subserve and no popularity to gain, by permitting one state to be robbed to enrich the people of another, and who would rigidly and fearlessly discharge his duties. A firm, just policy is what will give peace to the country, and nothing else will. I have no motive other than the good of our state and people. I desire to see the country at peace once more, and peace can and will follow a judicious administration upon the border. Inclosed is a memo- rial addressed to the President, which I have been requested to forward to you, begging that you will present it. Mr. Henderson is in Wash- ington, and would, I have no doubt, co-operate with you in any way you might wish. I am, sir, most faithfully, your friend, RICH'D C. VAUGHAN. (Inclosure) , His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States: Your memorialists would respectfully state that they are loyal citi- zens of the United States and of the State of Missouri, and, having been such at all times, they regard it as their right and di,ity to represent to Your Excellency the unhappy condition of aiTairs now existing along the western border of their state, and to pray Your Excellency's inter- position in behalf of a sufTering people. Your memorialists feel that justice and humanity demand at least this much at their hands. They therefore beg Your Excellency's attention to the facts hereinafter appearing. For more than two years past our western border has been the theater of strife and bloodshed, and has been overrun 1)y lawless bands of desperadoes, who. with a reckless and unrestrained soldierv. have rioted upon the substance of the people and have wantonly destroyed their property and trampled upon their most sacred rights. Theft, 150 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY robbery, house-burning, and other crimes have been perpetrated with impunity, and to such an extent has this system of plunder and vandal- ism prevailed that it has impoverished and almost depopulated one of the fairest and most wealthy and prosperous parts of our state, and, unless arrested, it will certainly involve in similar ruin many other sec- tions of the state that have hitherto, -in a measure, escaped its ravages. During the past month theft, robbery, arson, and murder have been of almost daily occurence, and the fearful threat that the border shall be made a desolation, it appears, is about to be executed. During the past fortnight these evils have existed in a most fearful and intensitied form, and but little has been done to arrest them. Why they should be allowed your memorialist cannot perceive. They had their origin as far back as the fall of 1861, in the burning of Osceola and other small villages along the border, and from that time to the present they have gradually increased, and the horrible barbarities that have uni- formly attended them have at last become as appalling as those which characterized savage warfare in the early history of this country. The lives of the people and the material wealth of the country have been wantonly and wickedly destroyed in a manner and to an extent that have been hitherto unknown and unheard of among a civilized people. That which cannot be carried away is committed to the flames, and thus helpless and defenseless women and children are left destitute of food, raiment, or shelter, and without the means of escape from suffering and ruin. These evils have produced a degree of consternation that language cannot describe, and which none can comprehend save those who have witnessed it ; yet it is the natural result of the retaliatory warfare and of the unrestrained lawlessness that have existed in western Missouri for the last two years, which, if not speedily checked, will involve in ruin by far the greater parts of this state and Kansas, and will be pro- ductive of other evils the magnitude of which no one can now estimate. Your memorialists greatly fear that the recent outrages perpetrated in both Missouri and Kansas but faintly foreshadowing the future his- tory of these states if some means cannot be adopted to allay the excite- ment and arrest the lawless violence now prevailing along the border. Whatever may have been the errors of many of our citizens in the beginning of this terrible rebellion, your memorialists entertain no kind of doubt that an overwhelming majority of the masses are now sin- cerely determined to support the Government of the United States HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I5I and the provisional government of Missouri, nor the least doubt that they, in good faith, accept the ordinance of emancipation adopted by the late convention as a final and complete settlement of the question of slavery in this state. There can be no question of these facts, nor have your memorialists a shadow of a doubt that a firm and just policy in the future conduct of the military affairs of this state will prove more conducive to her peace and to the interests of the Federal Government than any other that can possibly be adopted. It will do more in thirty days, if honestly carried out and rigidly enforced, to restore our state to her wonted condition of peace and prosperity than the system of pillage and burning, now enforced, will accomplish in as many years. Your memorialists further beg leave to say that one of the most fruitful sources of trouble in western Missouri is the attachment of a part of her territory to the District of the Border. This arrangement, however well intended, your memorialists fear will, while it is con- tinued, occasion incessant trouble, and will greatly hinder the restora- tion of law and order, no matter what policy may be adopted or who may be placed in command. Old animosities existing between the peo- ple of Missouri and Kansas, imbittered and intensified by the recent barbarous acts of a guerrilla band perpetrated upon the citizens of Lawrence, in the latter state, will develop themselves, and will seek gratification in retaliatory acts upon the citizens of the former, although they are, with rare exceptions, as sincerely opposed to those infamous outlaws as the people of Kansas ever have been. But this late and atrocious outrage has furnished a pretext for future and greater and infinitely more unjust acts of retaliation upon our people than any from which they have hitherto suffered. The following telegram, published in the "Missouri Democrat," of this city, speaks volumes on this point. The statement that there were citizens of Missouri engaged in the raid, except such as have nearly two years been regarded as outlaws, is not worthy of credit. It is made for effect and to palliate acts of retaliation. (Special dispatch to the "Missouri Democrat.") Leavenworth, August 2f General Lane has returned to Lawrence. A meeting was held on his return. Lane said the citizens had killed 41 of Ouantrill's men. Majors Clark and Plumb were denounced. The people of Baldwin dis- puted Ouantrill in passing a ford, and say if Plumb had done his duty 152 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY they could have whipped the Rebels. Lane is organizing forces, and says he will go into Missouri on the 9th of September. He left Gen- eral Ewing only on a pledge that Ewing would issue an order directing all the citizens of Jackson, Cass, Bates and part of Vernon counties, except those in Kansas City, Westport, Harrisonville, and Indepen- dence, to leave the county within fifteen days. Ewing has issued the order, and the people of Kansas are going into Missouri to see the order executed. The people have demanded the order issued by the general commanding, and the people will see it executed. They say they will have no more of the Scholield-Ewing orders. Ewing is fright- ened, and in the chase after Ouantrill was in a complete quandary. He is looked upon as being a general without a heart and brains. About 50 of the most noted secesh of Platte county have subscribed from $1 to $10 each for the Lawrence fund. By so doing they expect to escape the anticipated devastation of western Missouri. General Ewing has returned to Kansas City. Quantrill had with him Sam. Hays, brother of Up. Hays, Dick Yeager, Holt, George Todd, and Younger, with 150 men, on whom they could depend in a fight, with about 150 more of the citizens of Platte, Clay. La Fayette, Jack- son, Cass, and Bates counties, not over 300 in all. One thousand Kan- sas men will be in Missouri this week. LTp to this morning 183 bodies were buried in Lawrence. The remains of 7 more bodies are found. One hundred and eighty-two buildings were burned ; 80 of them were brick ; 65 of them were on Massachusetts street. There are 85 widows and 240 orphans made by Ouantrill's raid. Lane has commenced rebuilding his house. Three men have subscribed $100,000 to rebuild the Free State Hotel, known as the Eldridge Hotel. Several merchants have commenced rebuild- ing. All the laboring men in town will set to work to-morrow to clear off the ruins. In spite of the terrible calamity, the people are in good spirits. All the towns in the state have sent in large sums of money. Even the men burned out on Ouantrill's retreat have sent in loads of vegetables, and provisions. A man was to-day tried in Lawrence, and found guilty of being a spy for Ouantrill, and was hung. The chiefs of the civilized Indians of the Delawares and Sacs and Foxes offered their services to Lane. Reports just in say the buildings in Cass county, Missouri are on fire, and over 100 of the sympathizers are killed. A fearful retri1:)Ution no doubt awaits Missouri. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 53 In view of these facts, your memorialists respectfully, but most earnestly, pray Your Excellency to rescind the order by which a part of Missouri is attached to the District of the Border, and to order that it be reattached to the Central District of Missouri, or to any other district in our state. All that your memorialists desire in the premises, aside from the change above indicated, is that some tried and faithful ofificer may be placed in command over the soldiers and people in the counties of the border — some ofificer whose sense of duty and of love to his country rises far above his political aspirations and party ties and prejudices, and whose sole desire and efforts will be to guard and foster the inter- ests of the Government in that region, and to bring law and order out of the chaos that now prevails. This is all that the masses of the people desire, and for this your memorialists will ever pray, &c. A. A. KING. R. C. VAUGHAN. A. COMINGO. (Indorsement.) It is not improbable that retaliation for the recent great outrage at Lawrence, in Kansas, may extend to indiscriminate slaughter on the Missouri border, unless averted by very judicious action. I shall be obliged if the General-in-Chief can make any suggestions to General Schofield upon the subject. A. LINCOLN. August 31, 1863. Leavenworth. Kansas, August 24, 1863. Major-General Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo. : Sir: Disaster has again fallen on our state. Lawrence is in ashes. Millions of property have been destroyed, and, worse yet. nearly 200 lives of our best citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human shape could have acted with more savage barbarity than did Ouantrill and his band in their last successful raid. I must hold Missouri respon- sible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body of men large as that com- manded by Ouantrill could have gathered together without the people residing in western Missouri knowing everything about it. Such peo- ple cannot be considered loyal, and should not be treated as loyal citi- zens ; for, while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like Ouan- trill and his followers, they are in the worst sense of the word their aiders and abettors, and should be held equally guilty. 154 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY There is no way of reaching these armed ruffians while the civiHan is permitted to cloak him. There can be no peace in Missouri — there will be utter desolation in Kansas — unless both are made to feel promptly the rigor of military law. The peace of both states and the safety of the Republic demand alike this resolute course of action. I urge upon you, therefor, the adoption of this policy as the only policy which can save both western Missouri and Kansas, for if this policy be not imme- diately adopted, the people themselves, acting upon the common prin- ciple of self-defense, will take the matter in their own hands and avenge their own wrongs. You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or intend to use, any threats. I tell you only what our people, to a man almost, feel. The excitement over the success of Ouantrill is intense — intense all over the state — and I do not see how I can hesitate to demand, or how you can refuse to grant, a court of inquiry by which the cause of that fatal success may be fully investigated and all the facts laid before the public. I go even further: I demand that this court of inquiry shall have power to investigate all matters touching mili- tary wrong-doing in Kansas; and I do this most earnestly to guarantee alike our present and future safety. As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort and none in the state. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact, asking him to turn over to me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet our wants. He ordered it done, and replied further, that anything the Gov- ernment could do to aid Kansas should be done. This being so, will you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry sufficient to arm the regiments? I enclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of War to me,* that you may see its purport and understand its spirit. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS CARNEY. Governor. *See p. 170. • Kansas City. Missouri, August 28, \S63. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, Saint Louis, Mo.: At the meeting last night, in Leavenworth, Land had a resolution passed proposing a meeting of citizens of Kan.«;as at Paola, on the 8th of September, to search for their stolen property in Missouri. It was intended partly, I think, to scare the people in the border counties into a prompt compliance with my order, and partly for political capital. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 55 He telegraphed me this morning that they would place themselves under my orders. I have but little doubt I will be able to control mat- ters so as to prevent any considerable acts of retaliation. The provost-marshal at Leavenworth has been threatened by Anthony to make him (release) control of the ferry and tiat boats at Leavenworth for a raid into Platte county, but I do not think he will attempt to carry the threat into execution. Captain Joy will prevent (the crossing) I feel sure. You may rely on my doing everything to prevent a collision with citizens of Kansas; but if one must occur, my soldiers will do their duty. THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, August 29, 1863. His Excellency Thomas Carney, Governor of Kansas : Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court of inquiry, with full powers to investigate all matters touching military affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the court will be appointed, and that the responsibility of the sad calamity which has befallen Lawrence will be placed where it properly belongs. Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit just vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible crime, and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future. Mean- while let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just anger by your leaving it to the United States troops to execute the vengeance which they so justly demand. It needs no argument to convince you of the necessity of this course ; without it there would be no end of retaliation on either side, and utter desolation on both sides of the border would be the result. Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia and complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers shall be furnished at once. Liimediately upon the receipt of your letter I ordered three thousand stands of arms to be shipped to you' at once, and to-day have ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectly ser- viceable. 156 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organ- ized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is safe unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy them all you will perceive is utterly impossible with the force under my com- mand. To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate outlaws as that under Quantrill, in the summer season, is simply impos- sible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, wdiere everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist;, but when half or more of the people are disloyal, of all shades, as in west- ern Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate in any degree the crimes of those wdio are responsible for these inhuman acts; they shall sufTer the fullest penalty; but I simply state what at a moment's reflection will convince you are facts, to show the necessity for full preparation on your part to assist me in preventing the recur- rence of any calamity like that which befell Lawrence. I am informed that a meeting was held in Leavenworth a few days ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri, to recover their stolen property. If this was the only result of such expe- dition, or if their vengeance could be limited to those who are actually guilty, there would be no ol)jection to it ; but it is a simple matter of course that the action of such an irresponsil)le organization of enraged citizens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty alike. You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort; my pres- ent duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards and by all the means in my power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular leaders in Kansas the folly and wickedness of such retaliation, and cause them to be abandoned. I shall confidently rely upon your power- ful influence to prevent any such action on the part of the people of Kansas as will force me into the painful position of having to oppose tliem in any degree, particularly by force. P>e assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in my power HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY J 57 to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all times to know your views and wishes touching your state. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. May 3-11, 1863. — Scout in Cass and Bates Counties, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. Paola, May 11, 1863. Sir: I have the honor to report that, on the 3d instant, I left camp with small detachments from Companies A, D, E, F, and K, of this regiment, for a scout in Cass and Bates counties, Missouri. I scoured Cass county and found no enemy; then returned into Bates county, and when about 10 miles north of Butler received your letters of instruc- tions, dated Fort Leavenworth, , 1863; also your letter dated Fort Lea\'enworth, May 5, directing Company D, Captain (Charles F. ) Coleman, to move his company from Rockville to Butler, Mo., which was immediately complied with. I moved on to the Osage, intending to cross to Hog Island, l)ut found the rixer too high, and did not cross; then turned east, and on the morning of the 8th, on Double Branches, found a gang of Bushwhackers, under Jackman and Marchbanks, Quantrill having left on the night of the 6th instant for Henry county, Missouri, with 40 men. We found Jackman and March- banks with about 20 men, who fled l^y ones and twos, and then escaped, except 7, who were reported killed by my soldiers. I found county rapidly filling up 1)y l)ushwhackers" families, who are returning from the South under the impression that Price is coming up, and had again taken possession, with their stock. This stream, called the Double Branches, is their rendezvous, and has been since the outbreak of this rebellion; but four loyal families live on it, and they are doubtful. About fifty or sixty families inhabit that country bordering on that stream. I notified them to leave and go south of the Arkansas river. A great part of them positively refused. I burned eleven houses inhabited by bushwhackers' families, and drove off all the stock except that belong- ing to the reported loyal persons. We broke up four camps of bush whackers and pursued them to the eastern side of Bates county. I think for the present no danger need be apprehended from that quar- ter. I will keep a close watch, for I am satisfied they intend to organize 158 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a force somewhere in that country; I think in Henry county. About 24 persons were wounded. Since the fall of Vicksburg, and the breaking up of large parts of Price's and Marmaduke's armies, great numbers of Rebel soldiers, whose families live in western Missouri, have returned, and being unable or unwilling to live at home, have joined the bands of guerrillas infesting the border. Companies which before this summer mustered but 20 or 30 have now grown to 50 or 100. All the people of the country, through fear or favor, feed them, and rarely any give information about them, thus practically their friends, and being familiar with fastnesses of a country wonderfully adapted by nature to guerrilla warfare, they have been generally able to elude the most energetic pursuit. When assem- bled in a body of several hundred, they scattered before an inferior force; and when our troops scattered in pursuit, they reassembled to fall on an exposed squad, or a weakened post, or defenseless strip of the border. I have had seven stations on the line from which patrols have each day traversed every foot of the border for 90 miles. The troops you have been able to spare me out of the small forces withheld by you from the armies of Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, numbering less than 3,000 officers and men for duty, and having over twenty-five sep- arate stations or fields of operation throughout the district, have worked hard and (until this raid) successfully in hunting down the guerrilla and protecting the stations and the border. They have killed more than 100 of them in petty skirmishes and engagements between the 18th of June and the 20 instant. On the 25th instant I issued an order* requiring all residents of the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and that part of Vernon included in this district, except those within one mile of the limits of the military stations and the garrisoned towns, and those north of Brush creek and west of Big Blue, to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from that date; those who prove their loyalty to be allowed to move out of the district or to any military station in it, or to any part of Kansas west of the border counties; all others to move out of the district. When the war broke out. the district to which this order applies was peopled by a community three-fourths of whom were intensely disloyal. The avowed loyalists have been driven from their f^rms long since, and their houses and improvements generally de- stroyed. They are living in Kansas, and at military stations in Mis- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^59 soiiri, unable to return to their homes. None remain on their farms but Rebels and neutral families; and practically the conditions of their tenure is that they shall feed, clothe, and shelter the guerrillas, furnish them information, and deceive or withhold information from us. The exceptions are few, perhaps twenty families in those parts of the coun- ties to which the order applies. Two-thirds of those who left their families on the border and went to the Rebel armies have returned. They dared not stay at home, and no matter what terms of amnesty may be granted, they can never live in the country except as brigands ; and so long as their families and associates remain, they will stay until the last man is killed, to ravage every neighborhood of the border. With your approval, I was about adopting, before this raid, measures for the removal of the families of the guerrillas and of known Rebels, under which two-thirds of the families affected by this order would have been compelled to go. That order would have been most difficult of execution, and not half so effectual as this. Though this measure may seem too severe, I believe it will prove not inhuman, but merciful, to the noncombatants affected by it. Those who prove their loyalty will find houses enough at the stations and will not be allowed to suffer for want of food. Among them are but few dissatisfied with the order, notwithstanding the present hardship it imposes. Among the Union refugees it is regarded as the best assurance they have ever had of a return to their homes and permanent peace there. To obtain the full military advantages of this removal of the people. I have ordered the destruction of all grain and hay, in shed or in the field, not near enough to military stations for removal there. I have also ordered from the towns occupied as military stations a large number of persons, either openly or secretly disloyal, to prevent the guerrillas getting informa- tion of the townspeople, which they will no longer be able to get of the farmers. The execution of these orders will possibly lead to a still fiercer and more active struggle, requiring the best use of the addi- tional troops the general commanding has sent me. but will soon result, though with much unmerited loss and suffering, in putting an end to this savage border war. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS EWING, JR., Brigadier-General. * See Ewing to Schofield August 25, 1863, Part II. pp. 139, 140. l60 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY September 27-28, 1863 — Scout in Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. Headquarters Troops on the Border, Trading Post, Ivans., September 28, 1863 — 11 p. m. Sir: A dispatch is just in from Captain (G. F.) Earl, in command of scouts that left yesterday to scour Bates county, Missouri. The captain says he met a small party at the crossing of Marais des Cygnes, south of Butler; killed 4 of them, and had 2 men wounded; the colonel escaped. He afterward found the trail of about 40, and followed it on to the Miami, and there learned, by some women living on that stream, that Marchbanks, with 40 men, passed up on to Grand river yesterday. The captain also writes that quite a number of families still inhabit the houses in the timber, and that the town of Butler is entirely burned. I shall take measures to have all the families removed at once. I think by the last of the week I can give you a definite account of all this part of your district. Respectfully, your obedient servant, E. LYNDE, Colonel Ninth Kansas \^olunteer Cavalry, Commanding. Assistant Adjutant-General. District of the Border. Butler, Bates County. Mo., April 12, 1862. Capt. Lucien J. Barnes, Assistant Adjutant-General : The detachments under Captains Leffingwell and Caldwell returned with tlieir prisoners (34) this evening. One of the jayhawkers was killed by a rifle shot in attempting an escape, and one of our men was captured, but was retaken after being robbed of horse, saddle, arms, and clothing, except shirt and drawers. Most of these men are of the worst, and ought to be shot or hung. The whole wooded country of the Marais des Cygnes, Osage, and their tributaries is full of them. I shall move three columns early next week l)y different routes from this point and Clinton, making Montevallo, Vernon county, the point of junction. We shall not be able to get any fight out of them. We can only chase them down. Very few arms are captured. They imme- diately throw them away when close pressed. I have no instruction what to do with captured horses. I am obliged to use many to remount HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY l6l my men. The high speed and mud break down our own and make them for the time unserviceable. But there are many of no use for cavahy, if they were needed. I beg instructions what to do with them. I must also remind you again of our need of effective arms. It is important that we act now with energy. In a short time the foliage will place us at a great disadvantage. I only regret that the weather is so bad. Very truly, your obedient servant, FITZ HENRY WARREN, Colonel, Commanding Cavalry. September 22, 1861. — Skirmish at, and Destruction of, Osceola, Mo. Report of Brig. Gen. James H. Lane, Commanding Kansas Brigade. Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861. Sir: Your dispatch of September 18 is this moment received. My brigade is now marching to this point from Osceola, where I have been on a forced march, expecting to cut ofT the enemy's train of ammuni- tion. The enemy ambushed the approaches to the town, and after hav- ing been driven from them by the advance under Colonels Montgomery and W^eer, they took refuge in the buildings of the town to annoy us. We were compelled to shell them out, and in doing so the place was burned to ashes, with an immense amount of stores of all descriptions. There were 15 or 20 of them killed and wounded; we lost none. Full particulars will be furnished you hereafter.* * Further reports not found, but see Plumly to Scott, October 3, post. Remainder of above letter in the general correspondence, post. Headquarters Kansas Brigade, Camp Montgomery, West Point, Mo., September 14, 1861. Commandant of Post, Kansas City: We have moved this far with our limited force, clearing our front and rear as far as practicable, for the purpose of co-operating with the force under your command and the column under Colonel Peabody. W^e have been unable to hear anything from either column. Can you give us any information as to either column ? If Peabody has been driven back, Kansas City should be largely re-enforced, and a column (II) l62 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY moved down the border until we get into communication. The enemy yesterday were concentrating at Rose Hill, intending, I think, to pre- vent a junction of Peabody's command and my men and as a flank movement upon Kansas City, and should be met by a counter-move- ment, as I have suggested. I started a dispatch to Captain Prince last night, which he will get to-day, communicating the same information and making the same suggestion. I have a force actually engaged at Forts Scott and Lin- coln and Barnesville, and am now starting a small force at the Trading Post, and occupying this place with 700 cavalry, 700 infantry, and two pieces of artillery. Yesterday I cleared out Butler, and Parkville with my cavalry about 20 miles. You are now posted as to my command and of my movements; reciprocate by letting me hear from your column and Colonel Pea- body's at the earliest possible moment. J. H. LANE, Commanding Kansas Brigade. Headquarters Kansas Brigade, Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 17, 186L Capt. W. E. Prince, First U. S. Infantry, Commanding Fort Leavenworth : Sir: * * * I am here within 24 miles of Harrisonville, and there is .nothing in the way of forming a junction with any troops that may be moved upon that point. You will find enclosed Colonel Blunt's report of what he is doing south and Captain Hayes' and Lieutenant- Colonel Moore's reports of the forces at Fort Lincoln and Barnesville. I very much doubt the policy of forming a -junction which will require my moving farther north than Harrisonville. There is nothing in Jackson county in the way of a force moving from Kansas City on Harrisonville. If a column could move from there while I am moving upon it through Butler, we might catch some of the cowardly guerrillas between us and the border, while, if I move up the border and form a junction near Kansas City and then move on Harrisonville, the efYect would be to herd the enemy, as Sigel did at Carthage and Lyon did at Springfield. Can you not induce Captain Reno to send me down a 12 pounder? HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 163 I am told yoii have one. I have as brave and skillful artillery officers as there are in the world. J. H. LANE. Headquarters Kansas Brigade, Camp Montgomery, West Point, September 24, 1861. Major-General Fremont, Commanding Western Department, Saint Louis: Sir: * * * Although Lexington has fallen since your order of September 18, I propose to move on Kansas City, there to form a junction with General Sturgis. I will be able to move with about 700 cavalry, 500 infantry, 100 artillery, with a battery of two 6-pounder howitzers and two 12-pound mountain howitzers. I will leave here Fri- day morning, September 27, at 5 o'clock a. m., and will reach Kansas City, Sunday, 29th. I will leave at Fort Scott Major Judson's command of about 800 men, about 100 men at Fort Lincoln, and an irregular force which I have had organized and placed in forts all along the southern and east- ern border. Inclosed you will see all that has transpired at those points.* You will see by the reports I inclose that rumors are rife that there is a force moving on southern Kansas. If such is the case, God only knows what is to become of Kansas when we move on Kansas City. I hope, as you have now opened communication with me, to hear from you frequently. I trust you will approve the march on Osceola and its destruction. It- was the depot of the traitors for southern Mis- souri. The movement was intended, first, to destroy the ammunitions train; second, as a demonstration for the relief of Peabody ; third, hop- ing to hear of a force moving from Sedalia; and fourth, a covered movement I suppose we would have to make to the north. Our march east was through Papinsville, Prairie City, down the south side of the Osage, returning through Pleasant Gap and Butler to this point. I inclose you a printed copy of a proclamation * which I have issued, which it is hoped will meet your approbation. But for the misfortune at Lexington this part of Missouri w^as safe. J. H. LANE. * Not found. 164 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY * Portion of this letter omitted above appears as report of skir- mish, September 22 at Osceola, Mo., p. 161. May 18, 1863 — Affair at Hog Island. Bates County, Mo. Report of Col. Edward Lynde, Ninth Kansas Cavalry. Paola, Kansas, May 26, 1863. Sir: I have the honor to report that Captain (C. F.) Coleman, with a small detachment from Companies F and K, made a descent on Hog Island, in the southern part of Bates county, Missouri, last week, and found about 300 Rebels, who had erected light breastworks, and were preparing for defense. They were attacked by Captain Cole- man's detachment and routed, leaving 3 killed and 5 wounded, but no prisoners. Coleman had 1 man killed. The detachment also destroyed about 2,000 pounds of bacon, and a quantity of corn the Rebels had gathered on the island. The Rebels scattered and fled to Henry county. I have adopted the plan of hiding a few men in the bushes to watch for the Butternuts that infest our border, and have sent two small detachments back into the country to watch the route they seem to travel in going west. I hope in a few days to be able to give you an account of a good haul, but I have not enough troops at these head- quarters to do so well as I might, if another company was here. Captain (John F.) Stewart, of Company C, has not reported yet, and I have no knowledge of any troops at Olathe. If it would meet your approbation, I would change some of the companies, and station them a little different from what they are. I think they would be more eftective; but I shall not do so without your consent. Would it not l3e possible to send two companies of infantry down here, and let them be divided between these stations, and they can hold ihe place and take care of the Government stores, and then all the mounted troops can be in motion? It would help very much. I am, captain, respectfully, your obedient servant, E. LYNDE, Colonel Commanding. Report of Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, U. S. Army, Commanding De- partment of the Missouri. * Headquarters Department of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo., September 14, 1863. Colonel: I have the honor to forward herewith, for the informa- tion of the General-in-chief, Brigadier-General Ewing's report of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 65 burning of Lawrence, Kans., and massacre of its inhabitants, and of the operations of his troops in the pursuit and punishment of the Rebels and assassins who committed the atrocious deed. Immediately after his return from the pursuit of Ouantrill, on the 25th of August, General Ewing issued an order depopulating certain counties, and destroying all forage and subsistence therein. The rea- sons which led him to adopt this severe measure are given in his report. The people of Kansas were, very naturally, intensely excited over the destruction of ona of their fairest towns, and the murder of a larsfe number of its unarmed citizens, and many of them called loudly for vengeance, not only upon the perpetrators of the horrible crime, but also upon all the people residing in the western counties of Missouri, and who were assumed to be greatly unjust to the people of Kansas, in general, to say that they shared in this desire for indiscriminate vengeance; but there were not wanting unprincipled leaders to fan the flame of popular excitement and goad the people to madness, in the hope of thereby accomplishing their own selfish ends. On the 26th of August, a mass meeting was held in the city of Leavenworth at which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, armed and supplied for a campaign of fifteen days, for the purpose of entering Missouri to search for their stolen property and retaliate upon the people of Missouri for the out- rages committed in Kansas. This meeting was addressed by some of the leading men of Kansas in the most violent and inflammatory man- ner, and the temper of these leaders and of their followers was such there seemed to be great danger of an indiscriminate slaughter of the people in western Missouri, or of a collision with the troops, under General Ewing, in their efforts to prevent it. Under these circum- stances, I determined to visit Kansas and western Missouri, for the purpose of settling the difficulty, if possible, and also for the purpose of gaining more accurate information of the condition of the border counties of Missouri, and thus making myself able to judge of the wisdom and necessity of the severe measures which had been adopted by General Ewing. I arrived at Leavenworth City on the 2d of September, and obtained an interview with the Governor of the state and other promi- nent citizens. I found the Governor and his supporters opposed to all unauthorized movement on the part of the people of Kansas, and will- ing to co-operate with me in restoring quiet, and in providing for future l66 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY security. I then sought and obtained an interview with the Hon. J. H. Lane, United States senator, who was the recognized leader of those engaged in the Paola movement. Mr. Lane explained to me his views of the necessity, as he l)elieved, of making a large portion of western Missouri a desert waste, in order that Kansas might be secured against future invasion. He proposed to tender to the district commander the services of all the armed citizens of Kansas to aid in executing this policy. This, I informed him, was impossible; that what- ever measures of this kind it might be necessary to adopt must be executed by United States troops; that irresponsible citizens could not be intrusted with the discharge of such duties. He then insisted that the people who might assemble at Paola should be permitted to enter Missouri "in search of their stolen property," and desire to place them under my command he (General Lane) pledging himself that they should strictly confine themselves to such search, abstaining entirely from all unlawful acts. General Lane professed entire confidence in his ability to control, absolutely, the enraged citizens who might volun- teer in such enterprise. I assured Mr. Lane that nothing would afford me greater pleasure than to do all in my power to assist the outraged and despoiled people to recover their property as well as to punish their despoilers; but that the search proposed would be fruitless, because all the valuable property which had not already been recovered from those of the robbers who had been slain had been carried by the others far beyond the border counties, and that I had not the slightest faith in his ability to control a mass of people who might choose to assemble under a call which promised the finest possible opportunity for plun- der. General Lane desired me to consider the matter fully, and inform him, as soon as possible, of my decision, saying if I decided not to allow the people the "right" which they claimed, he would appeal to the President. It was not difficult to discover that so absurd a propo- sition as that of Mr. Lane could not have been made in good faith, nor had I much dif^culty in detecting the true object which was pro- posed to be accomplished ; which was to obtain, if possible, my consent to accept the services of all who might meet at Paola, and then take them into Missouri under my command, when I, of course, would be held responsible for the murder and robbery which must necessarily ensue. I soon became satisfied that, notwithstanding Mr. Lane's assertion to the contrary, he had no thought of trying to carry out his scheme HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 6/ in opposition to my orders, and that the vast majority of the people of Kansas were entirely opposed to any such movement. On the 4th of September I published an order, a copy of which is inclosed, pro- hibiting armed men, not in the military service, from passing from one state into the other, and sent a sufficient force along the state line to enforce the order against any who might be disposed to disobey it. The people quietly acquiesced. The Paola meeting, which had promised to be of gigantic proportions, dwindled down to a few hundred people, who spent a rainy day in listening to speeches and passing resolutions relative to the senator from Kansas and the commander of the Depart- ment of the Missouri. I inclose copies of correspondence with Governer Carney, show- ing the measures which have been adopted to place the state in a con- dition to protect itself against such raids as that made against Law- rence. These measures, together with those which are being carried out in western Missouri, will, I believe, place beyond possibility any such disaster in future. Not the least of the objects of my visit to the border was to see for myself the condition of the border counties, and determine what modification, if any, ought to be made in the policy which General Ewing had adopted. I spent several days in visiting various points in the counties alTected by General Ewing's order, and in conversation with the people of all shades of politics who are most deeply affected by the measures adopted. I became fully satisfied that the order depop- ulating certain counties, with the exception of specified districts, was wise and necessary. That portion of the order which directed the destruction of property I did not approve, and it was modified accord- ingly. The evil which exists upon the border of Kansas and Missouri is somewhat different in kind and far greater in degree than in other parts of Missouri. It is the old border hatred intensified by the rebel- lion and by the murders, robberies, and arson which have characterized the irregular warfare carried on during the early periods of the rebellion, not only by the Rebels, but by our own troops and people. The effect of this has been to render it impossible for any man who openly avowed and maintained his loyalty to the Government to live in the border counties of Missouri outside of military posts. A large majority of the people remaining were open Rebels, while the remainder were com- pelled to abstain from any word or acts in opposition to the rebellion l68 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY at the peril of their hves. All were practically enemies of the Gov- ernment and friends of the Rebel guerrillas. The latter found no difBculty in supplying their commissariat wherever they went, and, what was of vastly greater importance to them, they obtained prompt and accurate information of every movement of our troops, while no citizen was so bold as to give us information in regard to the guerrillas. In a country remarkably well adapted by nature for guerrilla warfare, with all the inhabitants practically the friends of the guerrillas, it has been found impossible to rid the country of such enemies. At no time during the war have these counties been free from them. No remedy short of destroying the source of their great advantage over our troops could cure the evil. I did not approve of the destruction of property, at first contem- plated by General Ewing, for two reasons, viz: I believe the end can be accomplished without it, and it cannot be done in a reasonable time so effectually as to very much embarrass the guerrillas. The country is full of hogs and cattle, running in the woods, and of potatoes in the ground and corn in the field, which cannot be destroyed or moved in a reasonable time. I hope the time is not far distant when the loyal people can return in safety to their homes, and when those vacated by Rebels will be pur- chased and settled by people who are willing to live in peace with their neighbors on both sides of the line. The measure which has been adopted seems a very harsh one ; but after the fullest examination and consideration of which I am capable, I am satisfied it is wise and humane. It was not adopted hastily, as a consequence of the Lawrence massacre. The sul^ject had long been discussed between General Ewing and myself, and its neces- sity recognized as at least probable. I had determined to adopt the milder policy of removing all families known to be connected with or in sympathy with the guerrillas, and had commenced its execution before the raid upon Lawrence. The utter impossibility of deciding who were guilty and who were innocent, and the great danger of retaliation by the guerrillas upon those who should remain, were the chief reasons for adopting the present policy. In executing it. a liberal test of loyalty is adopted. Persons who come to the military posts and claim protection as loyal citizens are not turned away without per- fectly satisfactory evidence of disloyalty. It is the first opportunity which those people have had since the war began of openly proclaiming their attachment to the Union without fear of Rebel vengeance. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 69 It is possible that General Ewing might have done more than he did do to guard against such a calamity as that at Lawrence ; but I believe he is entitled to great credit for the energy, wisdom, and zeal displayed while in command of that district. The force at his command was larger, it is true, than in other portions of the department, yet it was small for the service rec^uired — necessarily so, as will be readily understood when it is considered how much my troops have been increased by our advance into Arkansas and the Indian country. I am, colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. (Inclosure No. 2.) Leavenworth, Kans., August 24, 1863. Major-General Schofield, St. Louis, Mo.: Sir: Disaster has again fallen on our state. Lawrence is in ashes. Millions of property have been destroyed, and, worse yet, nearly 200 lives of our best citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human shape could have acted with more savage barbarity than did Quantrill and his band in their last successful raid. I must hold Missouri respon- sible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body of men large as that com- manded by Quantrill could have been gathered together without the people residing in western Missouri knowing everything about it. Such people cannot be considered loyal and should not be treated as loyal citizens ; for while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like Quantrill and his followers, they are, in the worst sense of the word, their aiders and abettors, and should be held ecjually guilty. There is no way of reaching these armed ruf^ans while the civilian is per- mitted to cloak him. There can be no peace in Missouri, there will be utter desolation in Kansas, unless both are made to feel promptly the rigor of military law. The peace of both states and the safety of the republic demand alike this resolute course of action. I urge upon you, therefore, the adoption of this policy, as the only policy which can save both western Missouri and Kansas; for if this policy be not immediately adopted, the people themselves, acting upon the common principle of self-defense, will take the: matter in their own hands and avenge their own wrongs. You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or intend to use. any threats. I tell you only what our people almost to a man feel. The excitement over the success of Ouantrill is intense — intense all over 170 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the State — and I do not see how I can hesitate to demand, or how you can refuse to grant, a court of inquiry by which the cause of that fatal success may be fully investigated, and all the facts laid before the pub- lic. I go even further. I demand that this court of inquiry shall have power to investigate all matters touching military wrong-doing in Kan- sas, and I do this most earnestly, to guarantee alike our present and future safety. As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort, and none in the state. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact, asking him to turn over to me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet our wants. He ordered it done, and replied, further, that anything the Government could do to aid Kansas should be done. This being so, will you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry sufficient to arm three regiments? I inclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of War to me, that you may see its purport and understand its spirit. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOS. CARNEY, Governor. (Inclosure No. 2.) Washington. August 24. 1863. Governor Carney : The order for arms and ammunition requested in your telegram of this morning has been given. They will be turned over on your requisition. Any other aid you require will be given if in the power of the Government. EDWIN M. STANTON. Secretary of W^ar. (Inclosure No. 4.) Headquarters Department of the Missouri. Saint Louis, August 29, 1863. His Excellency Thomas Carney, Governor of Kansas : Governor: I have forwarded a copy of your letter of the 24th to the War Department, and requested the President to appoint a court of inquiry, with tull powers to investigate all matters touching military affairs in Kansas, and have urged it strongly. I have no doubt the court will be appointed, and that the responsil:)ility of the sad calamity which has befallen Lawrence willbe placed where it properly belongs. Be assured that nothing in my power shall be omitted to visit HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I7I just vengeance upon all who are in any way guilty of the horrible crime, and to secure Kansas against anything of the kind in future; meanwhile let me urge upon you the importance of mollifying the just anger of your people, or rather of reconciling them to the necessity and propriety of leaving it to the United States troops to execute the vengeance which they so justly demand. It needs no argument to convince you of the necessity of this course. Without it there would be no end of retaliation on either side, and utter desolation on both sides of the border would be the result. Anything you may require in the way of arms for your militia, and complete outfit for your new regiment of volunteers, shall be fur- nished at once. Immediately upon the receipt of your letter. I ordered 3,000 stand of arms to be shipped to . you at once, and to-day have ordered some horses for the Fifteenth Regiment. The arms are not of the best class, but are the very best I have, and are perfectlv ser- viceable. Permit me to suggest that your militia should be thoroughly organ- ized throughout the state, and that every town should have arms in store, under a small guard, sufficient to arm the militia of the town. The arms can be easily supplied by the General Government. Without such organization, no town in Missouri or Kansas near the border is safe, unless it be occupied by United States troops, and to occupy them all, you will perceive, is utterly impossible with the force under my command. ' To entirely prevent the assemblage of such bands of desperate outlaws as that under Ouantrill in the summer season is simply impos- sible without five times my present force. In a state like Kansas, where everybody is loyal, such a state of things could not exist ; but when half or more of the people are disloyal of all shades, as in west- ern Missouri, and consequently cannot be permitted to carry arms, whether willingly or unwillingly, they are the servants of these brigands, and are entirely at their mercy. If they resist their demands or inform upon them, it is at the peril of their lives. I do not wish to extenuate in any degree the crimes of those who are responsible for these inhu- man acts; they shall suffer the fullest penalty: but I simply state what, at a moment's reflection, will convince you are facts, to show the neces- sity for full preparation on your part to assist me in -preventing the recurrence of anv calamitv like that which befell Lawrence. 172 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I am informed that a meeting" was held in Leavenworth a few days ago, in which it was resolved that the people should meet at Paola, on the 8th of September, for the purpose of entering Missouri to recover their stolen property. If this were the only result of such expedition, or if their vengeance could be limited to those wdio are actually guilty, there would be no objection to it; but it is a simple matter of course that the action of such an irresponsible organization of enraged citi- zens would be indiscriminate retaliation upon innocent and guilty alike. You cannot expect me to permit anything of this sort. My present duty requires me to prevent it at all hazards, and by all means in my power. But I hope a few days of reflection will show the popular leaders in Kansas the folly and w^ickedness of such retaliation, and cause them to be abandoned. I shall confidently rely upon your powerful influence to prevent any such action on the part of the people of Kansas as will force me into the painful position of having to oppose them in any degree, par- ticularly by force. Be assured, Governor, of my earnest desire to do all in ni}^ power to promote the peace and security of Kansas. I shall be glad at all times to know your views and wishes touching your state. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. (Inclosure No. 5.) Leavenworth, Kans., September 3, 1863. Maj. Gen. John M. Schofield, Commanding Department of the ^Missouri: Sir: The brutal outrages committed upon the unoffending and unarmed citizens of Lawrence by Ouantrill and his band have not only aroused every man in the state, but shocked the whole country. The wish of both is that the doers of these bloody deeds — their aiders and abettors — shall be steadily pursued and surely punished, for there can be no safety in the present or the future while these miscreants are permitted to live. The 9th day of this month, by order of your district commander, is the day fixed upon to begin this summary punishment. That this punishment may be swift and sure, I offer you any forces at my com- mand. You have promptly sent me a sufficient quantity of arms to meet the wants of the state. With these arms in their hands, and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 73 organized, our citizens can repel any raid which brutal marauders like Quantrill and his band may attempt, or punish, instantly and severely, those who shall aid or abet them. I have confidence only in organized action, and satisfy both of your ability to lead our forces and your resolve to punish the guilty, I shall be happy to place the military of the state at your disposal. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, THOMAS CARNEY, Governor. (Inclosure No. 6.) Kansas City, Mo., September 3, 1863. His Excellency Thomas Carney, Governor of Kansas : Governor: .1 am in receipt of your letter of this morning. I fully sympathize with your feeling of anxiety to give security to the Kan- sas border, and to avenge on the Rebels in Missouri the unparalleled atrocities of the Lawrence massacre. My forces in Missouri and Kan- sas having been greatly reduced by re-enforcements sent to Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt, I am glad to avail myself of your offer of a part of the Kansas militia to aid the United States forces in this district. AVith the chief towns on the eastern border of Kansas garrisoned by the militia of the state, and with two regiments of volunteers, wdiich I have lately ordered to re-enforce the troops already in the district, the military authorities will be able not only to execute the orders for the expulsion of disloyal persons, but also to pursue and destroy the guerrilla bands which have so long ravaged the border. For the purpose named, I will accept the services of so many com- panies of militia as may be deemed necessary by you and the district commander to protect the towns referred to. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant. J. M. SCHOFIELD, Major-General. Report of Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr., U. S. Army, Commanding District of the Border. Headquarters District of the Border, Kansas City, Mo.. August 31, 1863. Sir: Some commanders of detachments engaged in the pursuit 174 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of Quantrill are still out after his scattered forces. In advance of their return, I submit a report of the raid, which, in some respects, may be deficient, for want of official information from them. Three or four times this summer the guerrillas have assembled, to the number of several hundred, within 20 or 30 miles of the Kansas border. They have threatened, alternately, Lexington, Independence, W'arrensburg, and Harrisonville, and frequent reports have reached me from scouts and spies, that they meant to sack and destroy Shaw- nee, Olathe, Paola, Mound City, and other towns in Kansas near the eastern border. I placed garrisons in all these Kansas towns, and issued arms and rations to volunteer militia companies there. From reliable sources I learned toward the last of July, that they were threat- ening a raid on Lawrence, and soon after they commenced assembling on the Snibar, in the western part of La Fayette county. I at once ordered a company of infantry which was then coming down to Fort Riley, to stop at Lawrence, which they did for more than a week, and until after the guerrilla force had been dispersed by a force I sent against them. From this time, though constantly receiving information as to their movements and plans, I could learn nothing of a purpose to make a raid into Kansas. Their forces were again scattered in small preda- tory bands, and I had all available forces in like manner scattered throughout the Missouri portion of this district, and especially the border counties, besetting their haunts and paths. Ouantrill's whole force was about 300 men, composed of selected bands from this part of Missouri. About 250 were assembled on Black- water, near the eastern border of this district, at least 50 miles from the Kansas line, on the 17th and 18th instant, and I am informed by Major (J. T.) Ross, Missouri State Militia, who has been scouting in the southwest part of Saline county that the rendezvous was there. Lieutenant-Colonel (B. F.) Lazear, commanding two companies of the First Missouri, at Warrensburg, heard, on the morning of the 20t]i, that this force had passed the day before 12 miles north of him, going west, and moved promptly after them, sending orders to IMajor (A. W.) Mullins, commanding two companies, of the same regiment, at Pleasant Hill, to move on them from that point. On the night of the 19th, however, Quantrill passed through Chapel Hill to the head of the Middle Fork of Grand River, 8 miles northwest of Harrisonville and 15 miles southeast of Aubrev, the nearest station HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 175 in Kansas, passing 5 miles south of Aubrey at 6 p. m. going west. Aubrey is 35 miles south of Kansas City, and about 45 miles southeast of Lawrence. Kansas City is somewhat farther from Lawrence. Captain (J. A.) Pike, commanding two companies at Aubrey, received information of the presence of Quantrill on Grand river at 5 :30 p. m. of the 20th. He promptly forwarded the information up and down the line and to my headquarters, and called in his scouting parties to march upon them. One hour and a half later he received information that Quantrill had just passed into Kansas. Unhappily, however, instead of setting out at once in pursuit, he remained at the station, and merely sent information of Ouantrill's movement to my headquarters, and to Captain Coleman, commanding two companies at Little Santa Fe, 12 miles north of the line. Captain (C. F.) Cole- man, with near 100 men, marched at once to Aubrey, and the available force of the two stations numbering about 200 men, set out at mid- night in pursuit. But Quantrill's path was over the open prairie, and difficult to follow at night, so that our force gained but little on him. By Captain Pike's error of judgment in failing to follow promptly and closely, the surest means of arresting the terrible blow was thrown away, for Quantrill would never have gone as far as Lawrence, or attacked it, with 100 men close on his rear. The first dispatch of Captain Pike reached here at 11:30 p. m.; the second an hour later. Before 1 o'clock Major (P. B.) Plumb, my chief of staff, at the head of about 50 men (which was all that could be got here and at Westport), started southward, and at daylight heard at Olathe, 25 miles from here, that the enemy had passed at midnight through Gardner, 18 miles from Lawrence, going toward that town. Pushing on. Major Plumb overtook Captains Coleman and Pike, 6 miles southeast of Lawrence, at 10:30 o'clock Friday, the 21st instant, and by the light of the blazing farm houses saw that the enemy had got 6 miles south of Lawrence, on their way out of the state. The enemy were overtaken near Palmyra by Major Plumb's command, to which were there added from 50 to 100 citizens, who had been hastily assembled and led in pursuit by General Lane. By this time the horses of our detachments were almost exhausted. Nearly all were young horses, just issued to the companies, and had marched more than 65 miles without rest, and without food from the morning of the 20th. Quantrill had his men mounted on the best horses of the border and had collected fresh ones going to and at Lawrence, almost enough to 170 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY remount his command. He skillfully kept over 100 of his best mounted and best trained men in the rear, and often formed line of battle, to delay pursuit and give time and rest to the most wearied of his forces. By the time our scattered soldiers and citizens could get up and form line, the guerrillas' rear guard would, after a volley, break into column, and move off at a speed that defied pursuit. Thus the chase dragged through the afternoon, over the prairie, generally following no roads or paths, until night, when Quantrill's rear guard formed line of battle 3 miles north of Paola, and 20 miles from where they entered the state. A skirmish ensued, the guerrillas breaking and scattering, so that our forces, in the darkness, lost the trail, and went into Paola for food and rest, while search was being made for it. Lieutenant-Colonel (C. S.) Clark, Ninth Kansas Volunteers, with headcjuarters at Coldwater Grove (13 miles south of Aubrey), Rockville (13 miles south of Coldwater Grove), Chouteau's Trading Post (15 miles south of Rockville), and Harrisonville. There were two companies at each station, but the force out patrolling rarely left 50 men in camp at each post. He received Captain Pike's message as to the gathering of Quantrill's forces troops at Rockville and Trading Post to march up to Coldwater Grove. At 3 o'clock on the morning of the 21st, he received a dispatch from Cap- tain Coleman, at Aubrey, saying that Ouantrill had crossed into Kansas, and he set out with 30 men. following Quantrill's trail nearly to Gard- ner, and thence going south to Paola. reaching there at 5 p. m. \\'ith this command, and a force of perhaps 50 citizens, and a part of Cap- tain (N. L.) Benter's company of the Twelfth Kansas Infantry, which had been garrisoning Paola. he prepared to attack Quantrill at the ford of Bull creek, 3 miles south of Paola, toward which he was then retreat- ing. But Quantrill. on coming within 4 or 5 miles of that crossing, soon after dark, formed line of battle, as I stated above, broke trail, turned sharp to the north, and dodged and bewildered the force in waiting for him as well as that in pursuit. These troops at the ford returned to Paola about the time the command which had followed Quantrill reached there. One of the parties in search of the trail found it 5 miles north of Paola, and reported the fact to Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, who was the ranking officer there, at between 1 and 2 o'clock. He was slow in ordering pursuit, which was not renewed until day1)reak. He, at that time, sent Captain Cole- man forward, with 30 men of the Ninth Kansas, which he himself had brought to Paola, and 40 of the same regiment, which had got there HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lyj from the Trading Post at about 2 o'clock that morning, and about 70 militia, chiefly of Linn county. He marched soon after himself with the troops which had followed Ouantrill the day before. Half an hour before Major Plumb started from Kansas City on the night of the 21st, Captain Palmer, Eleventh Kansas, was sent by him from Westpoint w'ith 50 men of his company down the line to near Aubrey, where he met a messenger from Captain Coleman, directing re-enforcements to Spring Hill, at which point he struck Quantrill's trail, and followed it to within 7 miles of Lawrence. Thence, learning that Ouantrill had gone south, he turned southeast ; and at Lanesfield (Uniontown) was joined by a force about 80 strong, under Major Phillips, composed of detachments of Captain Smith's company. Enrolled Missouri Militia, Captain (T. P.) Killen's Ninth Kansas, and a squad of the Fifth Kansas. This latter force had been collected by Major (L. K.) Thacher, at Westport, and dispatched from there at noon on Friday, the 21 st, via Lexington, Kansas. The command of Major Phillips, thus increased to 130, pushed southeast from Lanesfield, and struck Quantrill's trail about sunrise, 5 miles north of Paola, and but a little behind the commands of Coleman and Clark. Major Thacher, commanding at A\'estport when news arrived that Quantrill was returning by way of the Osage valley, took the rest of the mounted troops on the upper border (Company A, Ninth, and Com- pany E, Eleventh Kansas, numbering 120 men) and moved down the line. He struck Quantrill's trail below Aubrey, immediately in the rear of Lieutenant-Colonel Clark's command. Quantrill, wdien, after dark, he had baflled his pursuers, stopped to rest 5 miles northeast of Paola, and there, after midnight, a scjuad of Linn county militia, under Captain Pardee, in search of the trail, alarmed the camp. He at once moved on, and between that point and the Kansas line his column came within gunshot of the advance of about 150 of the Fourth Missouri State under Lieutenant-Colonel (W.) King, which had been ordered from the country of the Little Blue, in Jack- son county, down the line, to intercept him. The advance apprised Lieutenant-Colonel King of the approach of another force. Skirmish- ers were thrown out, but Quantrill, aided by the darkness and broken character of the prairie, eluded the force, and passed on. Lieutenant- Colonel Kinsf was unable to find his trail that night. (12) 178 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ■ The pursuing forces thus thrown behind, Ouantrill passed out of Kansas and got to the timber of the Middle Fork of Grand river in Missouri, near his last rendezvous before starting, about noon of the 23rd, an hour in advance of the head of the pursuing column. There his forces scattered, many dismounted or, worn out through fatigue or wounds, sought concealment and safety in the fastnesses of the region. About 100 moved down Grand river, wdiile the chief part of the force passed northeast towards Chapel Hill. Our forces divided in like man- ner at that point, Major Plumb and Major Thacher following the main body. On the 20th of August, I went to Leavenworth on of^cial business. The dispatches of Captain Pike were not sent to Leavenworth until 8 a. m. on the morning of the 21st, because the telegraph ofTfices at Leavenworth City and Fort Leavenworth close at 11 p. m. for want of relief operators. I received those dispatches, and the one announcing that Quantrill had passed through Gardner going toward Lawrence, not until 10:45 a. m. on the 21st. There was no cavalry stationed at Fort Leavenworth, though five companies of the Eleventh Ohio were there outfitting for Fort Laramie, but without arms. There was one company at Leavenworth with nearly 300 men of these -companies. News reach- ing me at Leavenworth City of the burning of Lawrence, and of the avowed purpose of the Rebels to go thence to Topeka, I thought it best to eo to De Soto, and thence, after an unavoidable delav of live hours in crossing the Kansas river, to Lanesfield. Finding there, at daybreak, that Ouantrill had passed east, I left the command to follow as rapidly as possible, and pushed on, reaching, soon after dark, the point on Grand river where Ouantrill's force had scattered. Lieutenant-Colonel Lazear, with the detachment of the First Mis- souri, from Warrensburg and Pleasant Hill, numbering al)out 200 men, after failing to find Quantrill on Blackwater on the 20th. encountered him at noon on the 21st on Big creek, broke up his force, and has since had five very successful engagements with different parties of his band. The pursuit of Quantrill, after our forces had caught up with him at Brooklyn, was so close that he was unable to commit any further dam- age to property on his route, but was compelled to abandon almost all his horses and much of the plunder from the Lawrence stores; and since he reached Missouri a large part of his men have abandoned their horses and taken to the brush afoot. The number of equipments so HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 79 far captured exceeds one hundred, and the number of participants in the massacre ah-eady killed is fully as great. The most unremitting efforts are being made to hunt clown the remainder of the band before they recover from the pursuit. Familiar as many of Quantrill's men were with our prairie — unob- structed as to course by any roads or fords, with a rolling country to traverse, as open as the sea — to head off his well-mounted, compact, and well-disciplined force was extremely difficult. The troops which fol- lowed and overtook him south of Lawrence, without a co-operating force which did not follow, but undertook to head him, failed, thoug-h nearly all exerted themselves to the utmost to accomplish it. There were few of the troops which did not travel a hundred miles in the first twenty-four hours of the pursuit. Many horses were killed. Four men of the Eleventh Ohio were sun-stricken, amono^ them Lieutenant Dick, who fell dead on dismounting to rest. The citizens engaged in pursuit. Though they were able, generally, to keep close upon the enemy between Brooklyn and Paola, killing and wounding many stragglers and men in the rear guard, they were without the requisite arms, organi- zation, or numbers to successfully encounter the enemy. Although Quantrill was nearly eleven hours in Kansas before reach- ing Lawrence, no information of his approach was conveyed to the peo- ple of that town. Captain Pike, at Aubrey, sent no messenger either to Paola, Olathe, or Lawrence, one or the other of which towns, it was plain, was to be attacked. Captain Coleman, on getting the news at Little Santa Fe, at once dispatched a messenger to Olathe asking the commanding officers there to speed it westward. That officer, not knowing in wdiat direction the guerrillas were moving, sent a mes- senger out the Santa Fe road, who, when nearly at Gardner, hearing that Quantrill had just passed through there, returned to Olathe. With one exception, citizens along the route who could well have given the alarm did not even attempt it. One man excused himself for his neglect on the plea that his horses had been working hard the day before. A boy living 10 or 12 miles from Lawrence begged his father to let him mount his pony, and, going a by-road, alarm the town, but he was not allowed to go. Mr. J. Reed, living in the Heser neighborhood, near Fudora, started ahead of Quantrill from the place to carry the warning to Lawrence, but while riding at full speed, his horse fell and was killed, and he himself so injured that he died next day. l80 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Thus surprised, the people of Lawrence were powerless. They had never, except on the occasion I referred to above, thought an attack probable, and, feeling strong in their own preparation, never, even then, asked for troops to garrison the town. They had an abundance of arms in their city arsenal, and could have met Ouantrill, on half an hour's notice, with 500 men. The guerrillas, reaching the town at sunrise, caught most of the inhabitants asleep, and scattered to the various houses so promptly as to prevent the concentration of any considerable number of men. They robbed most of the stores and banks, and burned one hundred and eighty-five buildings, including one-fourth of the private residences and nearly all of the business houses of the town, and, with circumstances of the most fiendish atrocity, murdered 140 unarmed men, among them 14 recruits of the Fourteenth Regiment and 20 of the Sec- ond Kansas Colored Volunteers. Osawatomie John Brown. The proximity of the John Brown farm, and the John Brown Fort, so-called, to Bates county makes a brief sketch about him pertinent to this history. There is no record, so far as I know, that John Brown ever sought to do any one in Bates county harm, or to commit an unlawful act of any kind in this county. His name is connected with Spy Mound, but it appears that he used it, if at all, merely as an outlook into Missouri. There is some history of an invasion of Vernon county for the purpose of carrying off some negroes to send them to Canada and freedom. But no ante-bellum character looms larger upon the horizon of that excited period. The story of his career after going to Kansas Territory is inter- esting, and it depends largely upon the sympathies of the writer of the story whether he is pictured as saint or sinner, bandit or hero. In a sense he paid the price of his folly on the scaffold; in another sense, he paid the full measure of devotion of truth and the great principle of human freedom. History since his execution for what was regarded at the time as a great public crime by the law, and in the minds of the great body of the American people, suggests the thought of Bryant in "The Battle Field": "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again: The eternal years of God are hers; HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY l8l But Error, wounded, writhes in pain, And dies among his worshippers." And Charles Mackay says in his "Eternal Justice": "The sunshine age shall light the sky. As round and round we run ; And the truth shall ever come uppermost. And justice shall be done." From an editorial by the author printed in the "Bates County Rec- ord," April 5, 1918, after a personal visit to the Brown farm, the following excerpts are taken : "John Brown's mound lies about a mile and a half north and about a mile west of Amoret. just west of the state line road; and Spy mound a little to the southeast, just east of the state line road in Bates county, Missouri. This mound is quite large and has a large acreage almost level on top. Just south of the Brown mound in Kansas is the beautiful Taylor home mound, and just a short distance from that 'Toadhead' mound looms up. This mound looks exactly like an egg with the little end up and is a striking feature of a landscape otherwise broken and beautified by a number of mounds and lovely valleys between as far as the eye can see in every direction. From the top of Brown's mound there is nothing to break the view to the east and northeast within the limit of human vision, but to the southeast the vision is arrested by Spy mound. From this fact must come the story that 'Old Osawatomie John' frequently left his fort and and^led over on Spy mound whence he could get an unobstructed view to the eastward and all angles for forty or fifty miles with his trusty field glasses. His object was to spy out the pro-slavery men from Missouri and elsewhere who were ma'"^'' ing to Kansas to help make her a slave state. We can not go into the stories of his life in connection with the 'war in Kansas' from '54 to '58: our only purpose is to give a brief account of what we saw. To get to the Brown farm go west from Amoret, Missouri, to the State line road, turning north at the cemetery corner, thence about a mile and a half to a private road turning to the left into the state of Kansas. This is about a quarter from an old dilapidated, unoccupied house just on the rise of the mound, and when you are through the gate by this old house you will be fairly on Brown's mound, and it is about a quarter thence to the summit, over a fairly rough road. "Over the top, on the west side, in a deep, rock-embattled ravine l82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY you will come to the two-story farm house dwelling, abutting a solid stone formation, with a front two-story porch or veranda built of wood. The rock formations all about the place are wonderful, and no more obscure or defensible location could have been selected for 'military purposes' as old John Brown spoke of it. The original John Brown house or fort stood about fifty yards to the southwest of the present dwelling, but only a few of the huge logs used in its construction may now be seen. These logs with the score marks of the axe left by the hewer still plainly visible, and the 'dove-tail' cuts at the ends, were of curious interest. They seemed to be about 18 feet long, 6 inches thick and from 12 to 15 inches wide. They have recently been used as a part of an old barn or cattle coral. It seemed an ignoble use after the heroic association of history. The gulches or ravines run south by west, and as we followed a foot path up the ravine about half a quarter from the site of the fort to the big hawthorn tree, all scarred up, on trunk and branches, by the initials of visitors to that historic spot, we had a curious sense of treading upon sacred soil — where the blood of men 'whose only offense was that they were free-state men' was spilled by a gang of outlaws and rullfians. Here, by this great old hawthorn tree, a tragedy was enacted known in history as the 'Hamilton massacre,' which marked an epoch in the life of Kansas and which had much to do with blotting out the stain of African slavery in this nation. Eleven men were lined up and ruthlessly shot down to make a ruffian holiday. Five w^ere instantly killed, and the others were wounded, except one, who fell and feigned death and thus escaped unhurt. "In 1888 a splendid monument was erected in the Trading Post cemetery some four miles away from the spot of the bloody tragedy, which has carved upon it the names of the men shot, the date, two stanzas of Whittier's poem on the 'Marais du Cygnes Massacre,' all in memory of the 'martyrs.' "The Hamilton massacre occurred on May 19, 1858. "In just one year, six months and thirteen days from this foul massacre of innocent men old 'Osawatomie John Brown' was executed by hanging by the neck at Charlestown, Virginia, now West Virginia, for his insurrectionary move upon Harper's Ferry ; and in an old encyclo- pedia we read : 'After a trial of three days, in which Brown was unable on account of his wounds, to stand up, he was found guilty and sentenced to death on the scaffold within 48 hours. He died calmly on the 2nd day of December, 1859. It mav safely be assumed that his execution HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1 83 hastened the downfall of slavery in the United States. Brown was a man of stern and uncompromising moral principle; and though open to the charge of fanaticism, and regarded as justly and necessarily con- demned to death under the law, he seemed to be increasingly viewed as a martyr and a hero.' Brown was fifty-nine years of age wdien hung. The book quoted was published in 1880, thirty-eight years ago, and in that time 'Osawatomie Brown' has taken his place among the heroic and martyred dead of our country. "Strange is the mutation of time ! A felon and an outlaw yesterday ! Executed by his fellow human beings; today admired, honored and wor- shipped as an example of the w^orld's real heroes — the forerunner of a higher and more righteous civilization! "We are reminded of Lowell's line : 'Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.' In the light of the present era it is not pleasant to think of an old man so wounded in his fight for right that he could not stand up to be sentenced to die 'within 48 hours' an ignoble death on the scafTold. But this was only one of a multitude of similar things which has been enacted by society in the full conviction that society was only defending and preserving itself. But society has moved up somewhat since then, and few men are now hanged by the neck until dead." Supplementary to the foregoing I append the letter of William E. Connelley, secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, author of a "Life of John Brown," a "History of Kansas," and other historical works. He is an authority on all matters touching Kansas history and this letter is an important contribution: Mr. W. O. Atkeson, October 8, 1917. Butler. Missouri. Dear Sir: I have received your favor of the 1st inst., requesting me to write you a letter on the John Brown raid into Missouri in 1858. This raid was not made into Bates county, but into Vernon county. John La Rue lived at that time half a mile north of the Osage river, on Duncan's creek, and on the northwest ^ of the southeast H of section 8, township 37, range 33. He owned five slaves. Harvey G. Hicklin lived on the south ^ of the southeast 54 of section 5, township 37, range 33, on the estate of James Lawrence, deceased. Hicklin had married a daughter of Lawrence. Near the village of Hoover, on the south side of the Osage, David Cruise lived on the northeast ^ of the southeast % of section 21, township 37, range 33. 184 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY John Brown during the summer of 1858 had built his fort on the Snyder claim, in Linn county, Kansas, which was less than half a mile from the Missouri line, being the northwest J4 oi fractional section 26, township 20, range 25. Among the Lawrence negroes under the care of Mr. Hicklin, was a young man named Jim. On the night of Sunday, December 19, Jim rode into Kansas to see John Brown. It is said that Brown was at that time at Bain's fort. Jim told Brown that the slaves of his neighbor- hood were to be taken to Texas and sold in a few days and implored Brown to rescue them. This, Brown agreed to do. On Monday night Brown organized two parties to go into Missouri. He led one party himself. It was composed of about fifteen men. The other party numbered nine men and was led by John H. Kagi. Brown went to the Lawrence farm and to the house of La Rue. Kagi went to the house of David Cruise. Brown took from Hicklin on the Lawrence farm, five negroes, two men, one woman and two children. Kagi found the door to the residence of Mr. Cruise locked, and demanded that it be opened. Mr. Cruise attempted to fire on Kagi and his men but his weapon was not discharged. He was, however, shot and killed. Kagi took a slave woman from the premises of Mr. Cruise. He also took two yoke of oxen and a wagon laden with provisions and clothes. It is said that he also took eleven head of mules and two horses. Brown secured five additional slaves from John La Rue, although in the state- ment of Harvey G. Hicklin it is said that these slaves belonged to Isaac La Rue. These slaves and the other property taken by John Brown and his party, and by Kagi and his party, were carried into Kansas, and eventually found their way into Canada over the underground railroad. This raid, in connection with the Marais des Cygnes massacre by Hamilton, in the preceding May, gave rise to the famous "Parallels" written by John Brown, and wdiich are as follow: 'Trading Post, Kansas, Jany 1859. 'Gents: You will greatly oblige a humble friend by allowing mc the use of your columns while I briefly state two parallels in my poor way. Not One year ago Eleven quiet citizens of this neighborhood (Viz.) Wm. Robertson, Wm. Colpetzer, Amos Hall, Austin Hall, John Campbell, Asa Snyder, Thos. Stilwell, Wm. Hairgrove, Asa Hairgrove, Patrick Ross, and B. L. Reed, were gathered up from their work, & their homes by an armed force (under One Hamilton) & without trial; or opportunity to speak in their own defense, were formed into a line HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 185 & all but one shot. Five killed & five wounded. One fell unharmed, pretending to be dead. All were left for dead. Now I inquire what action has ever since (the occasion in May last) has been taken by either the President of the United States; the Governor of Missouri; the Governor of Kansas or any of their tools; or by any proslavery or admin- istration man ? 'Now for the other parallel. On Sunday, the 19th of December, a Negro man called Jim came over to the Osage settlement from Mis- souri & stated that he, together with his Wife, Two Children, & another Negro man* were to be sold within a day or Two & begged for help to get away. On Monday night of the following day Two small com- panies were made up to go to Missouri & forcibly liberate the Five slaves, together with other slaves. One of those companies I assume to direct. We proceeded to the place, surrounded the buildings, liber- ated the slaves; & also took certain other property supposed to belong to the Estate. W^e however learned before leaving that a portion of the articles we had taken belonged to a man living on the plantation as a tenant & who was supposed to have no interest in the Estate. We promptly restored to him all we had taken so far I believe. We then went to another where we freed Five more slaves, took some property , & Two white men. W^e moved all slowly away, into the territory for some distance & then sent the White men back, telling- them to follow us as soon as they chose to do so. The other company freed One female slave, took some property ; & as I am informed killed One White man (the master) who fought against liberation. 'Now for a comparison. Eleven persons are forcibly restored to their natural; & unalienable rights with but one man killed; & all 'Hell is stirred from beneath.' It is currently reported that the Governor of Missouri has made a requisition upon the Governor of Kansas for the delivery of all such as were concerned in the last named 'dreadful outrage ;' the Marshall of Kansas is said to be collecting a posse of Missouri (not Kansas men) at West Point in Missouri, a little town about Ten Miles distant, to 'enforce the laws,' & and all proslavery conservative Free State dough faced men & administration tools are filled with holy horror. Respectfully yours, 'John Brown.' The Marais des Cygnes massacre occurred on the 19th of May, 1858. The men who committed this massacre were commanded by Charles Hamelton, who came to Kansas from Cassville, Georgia. He l86 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was a notorious and rabid pro-slavery man. He had no particular griev- ance against any of the murdered men. His animosity w^as toward all free-state men. He regarded those massacred as the leading free-state men in the community. He was in command of 32 men. He made his first arrest at Trading Post. He went to the houses of the settlement north of Trading Post, and arrested men until he had eleven prisoners. These he took to the high land on the east half of the northeast 34 of section 27, township 20. range 25. He left them there in charge of his band, and went to Snyder's claim to arrest Snyder, the blacksmith. Snyder resisted and fought him off, severely wounding a man named Bell, who died a few days later. This repulse by Snyder angered Hamel- ton, who returned to his command having the prisoners. The men were driven into a ravine, ranged in line, and fired on by the Missourians. Five were killed, five wounded, and one was unhurt but feigned death. Trusting this will give you the information you desire. Sincerely yours, WILLIAM E. CONNELLEY, Topeka, Kansas, October 8, 1917. Secretary. CHAPTER XL RAILROADS. EARLY TRANSPORTATION — COLONEL BROWN — RAILWAY CONNECTIONS— FIRST SURVEY — RAILWAY PROJECTS — PLEASANT HILL, BUTLER & FORT SCOTT RAILROAD— LEBO & NEOSHO — RAILROAD MEETINGS— SPECIAL SESSION OF COUNTY COURT— LEAVENWORTH, LAWRENCE & GALVESTON— CONTRACTS LET — "BOB" STEVENS — PERSONAL BENEFIT SCHEMES— GENERAL PARSONS — LA BETTE CITY — COLONEL WILLIAMS— KANSAS CITY & MEMPHIS COM- PANY — MISSOURI, KANSAS & TOPEKA — GENERAL DISGUST— FAILURE OF SYNDICATE— MISSOURI PACIFIC— RICH HILL BRANCH— OTHER RAILROAD PROJECTS— COLONEL PACE AND COLONEL NICHOLS— SYNDICATE REPRE- SENTED — WALNUT CITY BOOM — DAMAGE SUIT — BOOMLET — J. D. SCOTT — SINCERE PROMOTERS— "IN THE LAND OF BEGINNING AGAIN." Except for about five miles of the line of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad constructed in 1870 cutting off about six sections of land in the extreme southeast corner of Rockville township, the south- east township of the county, Bates county was without the advantages of rail transportation until 1879 when the Lexington & Southern, a branch of the Missouri Pacific from Pleasant Hill to Joplin, was con- structed through Cass, Bates, Vernon, Barton and Jasper counties, touching all the county seat towns — Harrisonville, Butler, Nevada, Lamar and Carthage, respectively ; and a branch of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad from near Pleasanton, Kansas, east to and through Osage township to Carbon Center in the northern part of Vernon county. New towns sprang up on both these lines of railroad; Adrian and Rich Hill on the Missouri Pacific branch and Hume and Sprague on the Gulf branch. Previous to -the construction of these lines of railroad, Butler hauled most of her freight from Pleasant Hill on the main line of the Missouri Pacific. The discovery, or rather, the development, of valuable bituminous coal deposits in Osage town- ship was the cause of the construction of the branch road from Pleasan- ton ; and together with this coal development and the rapid increase of the zinc and lead mining industries in Jasper county, following the construction of the St. Louis & San Francisco railroad through Jasper 187 1 88 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY county, aided in securing capital to invest in the Pleasant Hill and Joplin branch. Col. E. H. Brown conceived the value and prospective business of a north and south road through this western tier of counties, connect- ing by a short line, Kansas City and Joplin, realizing that the passen- ger business of these county seat towns as well as the coal and zinc and lead ore trat^c, would result in rich dividends on the cost of con- struction and when properly presented, the necessary financial aid could readily be secured. Colonel Brown had the "pep," push and railroad construction experience to accomplish results that theretofore had only been a failure. Perhaps no community in the history of railroad build- ing in the \\'est had worked harder, and followed up every broached railroad enterprise, than the early citizens of Butler and Bates counties, even to the most visionary schemes and wildcat enterprises. The detailed account of all these prospective schemes would be too cum- bersome and at this time unnecessary in this condensed history of the county. Even before the Civil War when the county was but sparsely set- tled and much of the farm lands was held by non-residents, slave hold- ers and speculators, looking to the future development of the county for financial results, the business men of Butler realized the importance of railroad connection with the outer world, the great commercial cen- ters of the West and East. The first railroad survey was an east and west line through Clin- ton and Butler, to La Cygne, Kansas, with St. Louis the eastern terminus, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and the Pacific Coast the goal. The survey was all the glory of this enterprise. Immediately after the close of the Civil Wiw, however, was sprung upon the railroad enthusiasts of Butler, a line known as the Lebo & Fort Scott rail- road, the promoters asking $200,000 county bonds. This was in 1866; but no definite action was taken by county ofiicials. The following vear a company was organized somewhere under the high sounding name of the Osage \^alley & Southern Kansas Railroad Company, proposing to construct a railroad from Boonville on the Missouri river to Fort Scott and $100,000 in bonds was asked of Bates county with a donation of the right of way. Chicago was to be the northern termi- nus, an "air line" to "just where you like it." The county of^cials did not seem to catch onto this scheme and no action of the bond ques- tion was taken. This year, also, the Lebo & Neosho enterprise was HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY jSq revived and the county court was actually convened and the proposition ably presented to the court urging an election for the issuing of $200,000 in bonds. The court flatly refused. The year of 1867 seems to •have been pregnant with railroad schemes. The Sedalia & Fort Scott railroad was proposed through Butler, also a line from Chillicothe in north Missouri, crossing the Missouri river at Lexington, and through Johnson and Bates county to Fort Scott. This enterprise was enthusi- astically endorsed by all the business men of Butler, and a grand mass meeting was held on August 27, 1867, and resolutions passed endorsing the enterprise including a proposition to vote $300,000 in bonds — to organize a company and secure the aid of other counties through which the road was proposed to run. Closely following this meeting on September 2nd, the county court made an order submitting to a vote of the people a bond issue of SI 50.000, the proceeds to be invested in the capital stock of this Lebo & Neosho railroad, on condition that the road was to be constructed and cars running through the south- eastern part of the county. The record shows the proposition was defeated fifty-three for and two hundred thirty-one against. The following year, 1868, a more feasible proposition came from the Garrisons, St. Louis, who had built the Missouri Pacific from St. Louis to Kansas City, to build a branch line from Holden on the Mis- souri Pacific to Butler and on to Ft. Scott, if the counties would secure the right of way and grade the road ready for the ties. The proposi- tion was accepted by representative men covering the entire route and a survey was made and an issue of $200,000 of county bonds was projected to cover the expense of Bates county's share of the necessary outlay. In the meantime Cass county became interested in this enter- prise, and a bond issue of $250,000 was promised by the business men of Cass to have this road branch from Pleasant Hill, instead of Holden and run through Harrisonville to Butler. A survey to this end was made from Pleasant Hill to Nevada and while these surveys were acceptable to the Garrisons all excitement over the project appears to have subsided, the old Lebo & Neosho project bobbing up again, and November 28, 1868. a special election was held in Prairie City township to subscribe $50,000 to this road in pursuance of an order of the county court on petition of ninety-five tax payers of said township. This proposition was defeated by a small majority. Later in the same year. December 15. a proposition to construct a road from Emporia. Kansas, via Mound City and Butler to Clinton, to be called the Sedalia. Butler & Emporia railroad. Following closely 190 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY upon this proposition and to end the year's raih-oad projects, on Decem- ber 30, 1868, the president and secretary of the Jefferson City, Osage & Neosho Valley Railroad Company, were present at a large public gathering in Butler in the interest of this new project for an east and- west line and by their addresses quite enthused the crowded meeting in the old frame court house building on the corner of the court house square. Another railroad year was 1869, ushered in with the usual enthusi- asm as early as January 13, when the Pleasant Hill, Butler & Fort Scott Railroad Company was organized in St. Louis with John R. Walker as the first director from Bates county. In March, 1869, Prairie City township, by almost an unanimous vote, appropriated $25,000 to the Lebo & Neosho railroad, bonds to be issued when the cars were running through said township. Under this name a railroad was built through the extreme southeast corner of Rockville township. Litigation arose over the issue of these $25,000 bonds and a change of venue was taken to another county, and pending an appeal from the lower court's decision against Prairie township, the attorney for the railroad company proceeded to Butler and the county court for some reason, delivered to him these bonds, over which there were years of litigation. At the same time of the election in Prairie township a vote was had in Pleasant Gap and Lone Oak townships for the issuing of bonds for $20,000 and $15,000 respectively, for the same project but were defeated. Li the months of April, May and June, 1869, in Cass and Bates counties meetings were held organizing for the construction of the Pleasant Hill, Butler & Ft. Scott road. In June of this year a new project bobbed up for the Missouri Pacific branch to start out from Warrens- burg to Butler and Fort Scott, and meetings were had in Butler in the interest of this enterprise. On June 17, 1869, another meeting was held in Butler in the interest of the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf. Time was not allowed to lag — railroad construction on paper was in the air, the black smoke of the on-coming engines from all direc- tions could be snuffed in the ozone of the atmosphere, and on June 24, 1869, a railroad promoter from Paola, Kansas, was in Butler to interest her citizens in the construction of a branch road to Butler and on east, of the Fort Scott «& Gulf and stated the management of the main line was anxious to tap the coal fields in western Bates. There was hardly a week passed that railroad meetings were not held at Butler HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I9I ill the interest of some new or old project. July 10 and July 24, in the interest of the Holdeni branch of the Missouri Pacific and the Clinton branch of the Lebo & Neosho roads. At the latter meeting a reso- lution was adopted requesting the county court to subscribe $200,000 to the Butler branch of the Lebo & Neosho, and $100,000 to the main line. On August 17 a committee to interview Mr. Joy, the financial backer of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf, was appointed and on the 25th of August another enthusiastic meeting was held in the interest of the Holden route which at that time seemed to be the favorite, several of the prominent citizens of Butler having come from Holden. Sep- tember 25, 1869, the county court, then in session, was urged to order a special election on the proposition of subscribing $100,000 to the main line of the Lebo & Neosho, $100,000 to the Butler branch of the same, and $100,000 to the Lexington, Holden & Butler roads. One of the judges being absent, the court refused to make the order. On October 16th a meeting was held at the court house to promote the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis line, and delegates were sent to a meeting held in Kansas City on October 19, when A. H. Humphrey was elected director for Bates county of this railroad company. The arrival in Butler, October 29th of the engineer corps, under Major Mor- ris, surveying the Lexington, Holden & Butler route to Fort Scott, created quite a furor of handshaking, entertainment and general good feeling all around and v/ith a view to harmonize different views and interests a general meeting was held to harmonize all these railroad enterprises and at this meeting it was resolved that the county court be requested to subscribe $100,000 to the Lebo & Neosho, running seventeen miles through the southeastern corner of Bates county and the same amount to the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf, the proposition to be submitted to a vote. Afterwards the court made one order, giv- ing $75,000 to the former and $125,000 to the latter enterprise and election was called for the first Tuesday in January, 1870, but a week before the time for this election the order was rescinded and an elec- tion ordered in Mount Pleasant to vote $65,000 to the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf, and in Mingo township to vote v$40,000 to the same road, election to take place the last Tuesday in January, 1870. Both propositions were defeated. February 12, 1870, the county court ordered a special election in Hudson township to be held March 8, 1870 to vote for or against subscribing $20,000 to the Lebo & Neosho and was almost unanimously defeated. 192 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY So many enterprises and so many divergent views and interests, none of these schemes having any financial backing, were in fact, the dreams of promoters; "get-rich-quick" or bond-grabbing individuals, with blue prints and blue-sky oratory, knowing, however, the needs of the pub- lic-spirited citizens of these fastly growing towns and rapidly develop- ing rich farming lands and ever ready to scalp them, but notwithstand- ing the dire need of railroad transportation it was difificult for these grafters to "pull the wool" over the eyes of the shrewd business men who had the energy and experience common to all the pioneers in the set- tlement of this Western country ; yet so persistent were the promoters of some of these enterprises or schemes that the public were ever ready 'to give each and all a respectful hearing, hoping in the end to accom- plish results. To this end in March, 1870, several railroad meetings were held at Butler to affect a compromise of the many different rail- road interests and to bring concentration out of chaos. The result of these meetings was that petitions were circulated and signed asking the county court to subscri1)e $400,000 in bonds to this Memphis road, half to be issued when the road reached the northern line of the county, the other half when the engine tooted within the corporate limits of Butler; also the court was asked to call special elections in Mount Pleas- ant and Grand River townships, the former to appropriate $90,000 and the latter $40,000 to the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf. Both orders were made by the court complying w^ith the recjuest of the petitioners, notwithstanding the remonstrance of about one-third as many citizens as the petitioners, and $400,000 was ordered by the court to be appro- priated to the Memphis road, and the election held the first Tuesday in May, resulted in the adoption of the proposition by over the neces- sary two-thirds vote. The day before these tow^nship elections the court was petitioned by a very representative number of citizens to rescind the $400,000 order but no action theron is of record. With $530,000 in sight from the county and the two townships the Chillicothe. Lexington & Gulf was considered assured, and at the June session of the county court Mr. A. L, Betz, one of Butler's prominent citizens, was appointed, as the agent of the county, to subscribe the stock of the said two townships and a few days later a contract for the first twenty miles of this road was let. A special term of the county court was called and met June 25th following, to consider again the propriety of subscribing $50,000 to secure the Lebo & Neosho through the town of Pludson and Pleasant HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I93 Gap township, but the arguments of the promoters of this outlay were not sufficiently convincing and the court turned the proposition down. A\'hile the court was on this special session word came from Jeffer- son City that the Kansas City, Springfield & Memphis had no regular organization, and the order therefore made appropriating the $400,000 was promptly rescinded. It was learned afterwards that these repre- sentations were incorrect and were made in the interest of other rail- road schemes. It was bonds the promoters of all these lines of road were after — enough money from their sale to grade the roads and leave a large rake-ofT to the incorporators. So when several townships in Johnson county through which the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf road had been surveyed, refused to vote the necessary bonds, a proposition was sprung to consolidate the Chillicothe, Lexington & Gulf with the Pleasant Hill proposed line of road and a consolidation was effected under the name of Lexington, Lake & Gulf. (We have never been able to learn where the "lake" was located, or why the name.) It was suggested that the bonds voted in Mount Pleasant and Grand River townships, $130,000 be issued to this new consolidated company but the people refused to so instruct, creating distrust, confusion and opposition to changing the line from Holden to Pleasant Hill. However the directors of the Lex- ington, Lake & Gulf made application to the court for these bonds and they were issued. It was in October of this year that the five miles or so of railroad of the Lebo & Neosho — now the Missouri, Kansas & Texas — was constructed diagonally across the extreme southeast corner of the county. It was in this month, October, 1870, that a survey was made from Pleasant Hill to Butler by the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company, but nothing further was accomplished by this com- pany for over a year. In the meantime contracts were let for grading between Lexington and Butler by the Lexington, Lake & Gulf Com- pany by way of Pleasant Hill and during the very closing days of the year 1870 ground was broken on the farm then owned by D. S. Fair- child and all Butler had dreams of incoming trains, could actually see them silhouetted in the Aurora Borealis during the winter of 1870-71 — but the actual trains never in fact found any track to approach this county. It was during this winter that the Mound City, Kansas branch road, came up again but nothing was accomplished. (13) 194 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY In the spring of 1871, "Bob" Stevens, general manager of the con- struction of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas raih'oad that had been com- pleted via Ft. Scott, Parsons, and Chetopa into the Indian Territory, proposed to the citizens of Butler a branch of the M. K. & T. via Butler to Wichita, Kansas, from Montrose under the name of the St. Louis & New Mexico railroad. R. R. ("Bob") Stevens was the general manager of construction of the M., K. & T. from Sedalia southwest to a junction with the Neosho Valley road, from Neosho Falls, Kansas, to the Indian Territory, and he and Major Gunn, chief engineer of the M., K. & T., has been build- ing the line in a roundabout way, not only to make more track mileage, but also to get the usual graft from new townsites, free right of way and bonuses in the way of cash subscriptions and municipal bonds. Especially conspicuous was the selection of the junction point with the Neosho Valley road on the broad prairie in La Bette county, Kansas. At this proposed junction point a town company was organized, a sec- tion of land laid" off for townsite. Bob Stevens and Major Gunn holding one-half the company's stock. Getting wind of these personal benefit schemes, General Parsons, a Wall Street financier, who was putting up the money for construction of the road, came west to investigate the situation, and the result was that La Bette City wdiich had reached a population of about 1,500 in nine months with all lines of business represented including a newspaper and job office, and in a county-seat contest had received the majority vote of the county of La Bette, soon went dead, when it became known that General Parsons had selected the junction to be made about nine miles north of La Bette City near the Neosho river, laid out a large townsite named Parsons and made it known that it would be made a division point and the location of the machine shops and general headquarters of the system. The subsequent life of La Bette City was short and like Foster in Bates county, practically only a postofiice and railroad depot were left and the townsite reverted to farm lands. Being let out. Mr. Stevens turned up with his St. Louis & New Mexico enterprise and it was much talked of at Butler and several meetings were held in its interest but nothing of a definite understanding resulted and after the spring of 1871 the enthusiasm in regard to this scheme died out and the north and south road enterprises gained friends and while there was some interest taken in the new venture by one Col. J. D. Williams, who had severed his connection with the Kansas City & Memphis road, under HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I95 the name of the Kansas City, Galveston & Gulf, nothing came of it and all interest seemed centered in the Kansas City & Memphis Com- pany and on August 9th this company made formal application for the $400,000 subscription which had previously been ordered by the county court, and which they claimed was still valid and binding. This demand was taken up and considered by the court and proposed a compromise by subscribing $125,000, $65,000 to be issued when the cars were run- ning to Butler and to be accomplished before the first of August, 1872, and the balance, $60,000, when the road was completed through the county. On the opening of the new year, 1872, the Butler branch of the M., K. & T. was again sprung upon the people of the county along the proposed line and the county court at the January term subscribed $250,000 to secure the success of this enterprise and the people of the entire county were very much aroused at this action of the court. Excitement ran high and the court at a subsequent session rescinded the order. So many railroad schemes had gone glimmering that the general public of the county had become quite disgusted and had declared tx veto on any further talk of bond issues. The question of any more bond issues entered into campaigns for county olificers and several years passed by in comparative quietude so far as railroad projects w^ere concerned and the citi;^ens of Butler got back to checkers, cards and village gossip with an occasional railroad meeting as a diversion and in the endeavor to have utilized the old roadbeds that had been partially constructed to Harrisonville and on south to Bates county. To promote this enterprise a syndicate was organized in 1876 and an option on these roadbeds was secured and $75,000 in private subscriptions was pledged through the earnest endeavor of several of Butler's lead- ing citizens, but the necessary financial backing failed and this project failed as all previous ones had. Butler, a flourishing town, the county seat of one of the largest and l^est agricultural counties in the state, remained without rail connection until came Col. Ed H. Brown, a true representative of Western enterprise, with a past successful career in railroad construction, having made good in numerous construction con- tracts on the line of the Union Pacific railway, almost the entire distance from Omaha to Cheyenne. Those were days when men on the line greeted the stranger with the question: 196 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY "Hast ever been to Omaha, Where rolls the dark Missouri down, And four strong horses scarce can draw An empty wagon through the town?" FoHowing his Union Pacific experience. Colonel Brown projected the construction of a railroad from Memphis northwest through Carth- age, county seat of Jasper county. The panic of 1873 put a damper on this enterprise but he kept his indomitable sledge-hammer determi- nation to succeed on foot, never allowing it to lag, until 1875, when the St. Louis & San Francisco road purchased his franchise, right of way, etc., from Carthage on west, and changed the name for construc- tion purposes to the Missouri & Western railway, and he contracted to build the roadbed from Carthage to Oswego, Kansas. This accom- plished, he then organized a company to construct a road from Joplin to Girard, Kansas, which continued operations for three years, when the St. Louis & San Francisco purchased it as a branch of its main trunk line from St. Louis to Wichita. Thus let free, he was the genuine road builder with the necessary enterprise, experience and an intimate knowledge of what the agricultural demands, industrial enterprises and necessities of the citizens of the county seat towns in the border tier of counties between Kansas City and the Joplin lead and zinc mines; he was indeed the man Butler was reaching out for, and in the spring of 1869 he visited these county seats, made known his project, was met with open arms, ai\d $20,000 was easily raised to aid in the preliminary requirements of the company whicli was organized, chartered under the name of the Lexington & Southern. This accomplished, the Colonel turned up in New York City, presented his project to Jay Gould, who had previously purchased the line from Commodore Garrison of St. Louis, the builder thereof, and with all the necessary blue prints, sta- tistics, etc., including the rich deposits of coal in Osage township, and the northern part of Vernon county, the zinc and lead mining interests of Jasper county, he easily with his engaging manner, gentle- manly demeanor and fine and vigorous physique, and an intimate knowl- edge of the entire detail of the advantages that would accrue to the Missouri Pacific system to own this line of road, the great railroad wizard w\as easily convinced and when Colonel Brown had settled his bill at the WaldorfT and left New York for home he .carried with him the authority to go ahead and construct this road from Pleasant Hill to Joplin, with the necessary funds forthcoming to back him, and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^97 before the end of the year Missouri Pacific trains were running from the junction at Pleasant Hih to Butler and the road completed to Joplin the following year. In this year, 1880, was also constructed the Rich Hill branch from the main line of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Memphis through Howard and Osage townships to Carbon Center coal fields in Vernon county. Several other enterprises in the way of railroad projects from time to time were sprung upon the citizens of Bates county after this. In 1881, the Chicago, St. Louis & Ft. Scott Company was organized with the project of building a branch of the Chicago & Alton road from some point north to Butler, Rich Hill and Fort Scott and citizens of the county, Butler and Rich Hill had actually subscribed $60,000 for the branch line from Odessa. It proved a fake; the Chicago & Alton repudiated the claim that Col. B. J. Waters, of Ft. Scott, had repre- sented that the C. & A. was back of his enterprise. It was in 1883, however, that the citizens of Butler experienced a season of extreme happiness over a new railroad enterprise that had every evidence of success, only to be sadly disappointed in the out- come. Col. James L. Pace, in what interest he failed to make known at the time, took options on or contracts of purchase for several thousand acres of land in Walnut township and soon afterward Col. Tom Nichols, of Washington, D. C, put in an appearance in Butler and was introduced as a millionaire and represented a syndicate of prominent capitalists who proposed to construct a line of railroad from Chicago to El Paso, Texas, and on to Old Mexico via Butler and Fort Scott and developed the coal treasures of Walnut township, taking over the lands that Colonel Pace had optioned. The gentlemen backing Col. Nichols soon were made known, and they were so prominent in the political and financial world that there was hardly a question of doubt as to the suc- cess of their undertaking. This syndicate consisted, besides Colonel Nicholas, the general manager, and who, it appears, originated the enterprise, of Governor Foster of Ohio, Congressman Keifer, Speaker of the House of Representatives, New York; General Townsend, of Ohio; United States Senator Plum, of Kansas and of St. Louis. A large tract of the Pace land was surveyed into townlots in Wal- nut township, platted after the city of Washington, besides the regu- lar, square, forty-five-degree streets. The grading of a railroad was commenced through the town named Walnut, northeast and southwest, a system of waterworks started and a prospectus of the coming city was issued and otherwise extensively advertised in all the daily papers 198 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of the West with a day named when a public sale of lots would take place. In the meantime syndicates organized at Fort Scott, Sedalia, Butler and some other towns had purchased lots, and erected blocks of buildings and started business. In fact everything indicated great success and the first public sale of lots on the installment plan proved a great success. While everything was thus moving forward so smoothly and successfully, Col. Tom Irish, of the "Rich Hill Mining Review," probably with a spirit of jealousy as well as distrust from his general knowledge of the coal measures of southern Bates, began a thorough investigation of this Walnut City boom on account of its surrounding of black diamonds, its railroad project and also ''who was Col. Tom Nichols, the millionaire." He first interviewed General Nettleton, of Kansas City, president of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, and was allowed to examine the reports of expert mining engineers who had prospected all the coal measures of Bates county and learned while there was a large amount of coal underlying the farm lands of Walnut township, there was none susceptible of being mined profitably on any large scale, and any intention previously had of tapping these coal measures by the said railroad company had been abandoned. He learned also that Colonel Nichols had also several years previous, been a citi- zen of Ft. Scott, was a man of no means, had delivered lectures on the existence of the orthodox hell and located it beneath the crust of the earth to its center, denying Professor Sym's theory that the crust of the earth was like a shell and was inhabited by human beings far in advance of those of us on the surface — and further, that he had left Ft. Scott leaving many creditors. He also looked up the officers of the C. & A., the C. B. & Q., and the Wabash railroads and learned that neither road was interested or back of any such enterprise and that no sane financier would foster any such railroad proposition at that time. With this and other data, he published a leading article in the "Review" puncturing this full-bloom bubble while it was floating high in the air. This expose was copied in the dailies of Kansas City, St. Louis, Ft. Scott, Sedalia and in other papers. A suit for $100,000 dam- ages was immediately instituted in our circuit court against Colonel Irish and also action for criminal libel. The syndica-te of distinguished financiers, mostly politicians, soon put in an appearance in Bates county to investigate the situation and learn what had been done with the $10,000 each member had put up and the amount realized from the sale HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY I99 of lots. They had hardly crossed the Bates county line before Sherifif Hanks served all of them with notices to have their depositions taken in Rich Hill the next day in the above damage suit, and they all appeared in that city in the evening after a visit to Walnut, and were highly enter- tained at the Talmage House and speeches were made from the south balcony. No depositions were taken but the following day both suits were dismissed. The name of Foster was substituted for Walnut, and as was predicted in the "Review" article, the lumber and brick in the buildings at Walnut gradually were used in the constructing of sheep corrals and chimney flues on the surrounding farms and a year or two ago many of the lots, blocks and streets were sold to farmers for farm purposes. The following year Colonel Irish had a boomlet in his hands. The Emporia to St. Louis railroad project came to the front and a charter secured backed by wealthy men of Kansas. Mound City, Pleasanton, Rich Hill, Deepwater and Warsaw were points, on the line. Some of the roadbed was constructed in Kansas and J. D. Scott, of Rich Hill, an old railroad contractor of Union Pacific and Santa Fe experience, had a contract for grading the roadbed from the eastern limits of Rich Hill across the bottoms to the Marais des Cygnes river. He did some $8,000 or $10,000 worth of grading and no funds were forth- coming and the Avork was abandoned. The enterprise was a complete failure. Most of the gentlemen of Butler, bankers, lawyers, merchants, and business men of all the industries who were prominent and did "their bit" in all these railroad enterprises have taken passage to that station to which no tickets are required, no return passage ever is issued, no baggage accepted, no personal fare exacted and no railroad transporta- tion required for this final trip to the unknown Beyond; they are at rest, the shriek of the locomotive and the rumbling of the cars, that thev so earnestly longed to hear, disturbs not their peaceful sleep. They all acted their part in life in the interest of the communities in which they lived and passed over the river with the sublime conscious- ness that they had performed what seemed to them their individual duty in the interest of progress and of future generations who would so soon follow them. If any of them made mistakes or erred in judg- ment, there are none now to criticise. The acts and deeds of past generations is history, of them we are able from the record to familiar- ize ourselves and learn lessons of value, but of the future we can only 200 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY conjecture. To realize what life has in store for us we have to live that life. It is a personal individual conscious soul, controlled by that Spirit that carries safely through to the end, and there is no one but Self, the Ego, to shoulder the responsibility of the life lived. if we were to write in detail the local press reports of all these railroad meetings and of the amount of brain and nerve energy used and actual work accomplished, it w^ould fill this volume. If the men all were living and had it to do over again perhaps different methods would be pursued and less energy exhausted in "Beginning Again." To use the language of the poet, Tarkington: "It wouldn't be possible not to be kind In the land of Beginning Again ; And the ones we misjudged and the ones wdiom we grudged Their moments of victory here Would find in the grasp of our loving handclasp More than penitent lips could explain. "For what had been hardest we'd know had been best, And what had seemed loss would be gain; For there isn't a sting that will not take wing Wdien we've faced it and laughed it away ; And I think that the laughter is most wdiat we're after In the Land of Beginning Again. "So I wish there were some wonderful place Called the Land of Beeinnine Aeain." WASHINGTON SCHOOL, BUTLER, .MISSOL'RL CHAPTER Xll. PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BATES COUNTY. (By Arthur C. Moreland, County Superintendent.) EARLY SCHOOLS — FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES — FIRST TEACHERS — BEFORE, DURING. AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR — EARLY SETTLERS — OFFICE OF SCHOOL COM- MISSIONER CREATED — WILLIAM C. RE QUA — NATHAN L. PERRY — FIRST COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID McGAUGHEY— L. B. ALLISON— FIRST TEACHERS' INSTITUTES — CHARLES WILSON — JAMES HARPER — SCHOOL COM- MISSIONERS — HOW\\RD TOWNSHIP — FIRST READING CIRCLE— LAWS — MEET- INGS—SALARY — STATISTICS — ADRIAN— RICH HILL — BUTLER— BUTLER ACA- DEMY — HUME— AMORET— AMSTERDAM— ROCKVILLE— MERWIN — BUSINESS COLLEGES. There is very Httle recorded material regarding the puldic schools of Bates county up to and inchiding the Civil War period. The educa- tors of this period have passed away or have moved to other localities as is the case with other old settlers having a knowledge of school condi- tions. As soon as a settlement was formed, consisting of a few families, a log hut was built to be used for school and for religious purposes wlien school was not in session. The first school house erected in Bates county was at Harmony Mission. It was built by missionaries who were sent there to instruct the Indians. The school house was built in August. 1821. and was used for religious purposes as well as school purposes. The missionaries built a log house for the education of the Indian children. As soon as the school house was completed the missionaries began their efforts to educate the Indian children. The Indians did not take to their ideas and demanded that the missionaries should pay them for the privilege of using their children as pupils. From a practical standpoint the edu- cation of the Indian children was a failure for as soon as the children were released from school they would return to the tribes, and instead of teaching them the ideas they had received from the missionaries they would continue their old tribal customs, and remained as savage as ever. The county and the circuit court established at Harmony Mis- 202 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY sion used the school house to hold their sessions until the county seat was located at Papinsville. One of the first school houses erected in the north part of the county was built in 1843. It is well described by J. H. Laman, who immigrated from Tennessee to Bates county in 1841, and located in what is now Deer Creek township. His description of the school and school house is as follows : "The first school house in the north part of the county was built in a grove about a mile northwest of the old town of Cresent Hill. The house was built by donation of work. There was not a dollar in money paid out on it; everything was manufactured in the timber near the building site. The floor was of split logs, the seats were made of logs split open, and the flat side dressed with an ax, and holes bored in the end and legs stuck in. The legs and the seats were all nicely turned, that is, they were turned the otherside up after the legs had been driven in the auger holes. Then they were ready for the polishing; this was done by the scholars during school hours and it was a slow process. The scribe did his part of the polish- ing during the summer season for a number of years but did not get all of the splinters off. Our waiting desks were made the same way, only the pins were put in the wall, just below the window — one log out of the side of the house — and a broad slab split out and laid on these pins. "If we had to close the windows, which was frequently the case, in the spring time, all we had to do was to turn the slab on edge and it formed a shutter. The house was covered with boards split from large bur-oak trees, laid on poles and held in place by other poles on top of them. The house was not complete until there was a large fireplace and chim- ney in one end, built of sticks and plastered over with mud. A\dien the mud was dry the house was ready for use. "Schools in those days were difTerent from what they are now. The teacher was employed by the month, and had to teach from the first of one month until the first day of the next — putting in every day except Saturday and Sunday — and they would commence school as soon as there were enough pupils present to form a class, and hold until very late in the evening. The teacher generally boarded around with the patrons of the school. There- was no escape; every one had to keep him until he got around, then he would start in again." In the Session Acts of 1843 is found the following regarding a school in Van Buren county, township 42. range 31, which is at present Deer Creek township. Bates county: HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 2O3 "It shall be lawful for the county court of Van Buren county in this state, upon the petition of a majority of the inhabitants of con- gressional township 42 in range 31, in said county, to cause a contract to be made with Joseph J. McCrane of said township and county, to teach a school at some place in said township, as may be agreed upon, by a majority of the inhabitants thereof. "It shall be the duty of said court, in making said contract, to see that the interests of the inhalMtants of said township l)e sufficiently guarded ; and that the interest arising from the proceeds of such portion of the 16th section, as has been heretofore sold, shall be applied, as far as the same may extend, to the payment of the said Joseph J. McCrane for his services as teacher of said school." The first school house in Deepwater township was built of logs in 1845, and was taught by a man named Master Lindsey ; the first school in Hudson township was taught by Cynthia Tousley. This was in 1843, and was taught at the residence of Richard Stratton near the town of Hudson: the first school house in Pleasant Gap township was located near the Wix home. It was built of logs floored with puncheons. The school was supported by "rate bills." there being no public school fund. Neigh- boring townships furnished some of the pupils while others came from as great a distance as twenty miles and boarded that they might attend the school. The first teacher was S. D. Cockrell, son of the postmaster of Pleasant Gap. He was employed by the year, and for three years in succession. The school house was also used for religious purposes, the first preacher being Uncle Dicky, a good old negro from Balltown. He was a Presbyterian, and was later sent to Liberia, Africa, by the Colonization Society; the first school in Shawnee township was located near Elk Fork creek. It was a log cabin and was built in 1842; the first school house in Spruce township was located near the Captain Newberry blacksmith shop. The exact date of its erection is unknown. The school house was used for religious purposes by several denominations: the first school house in Walnut township was built in 1845. There were about twenty-five pupils in the district. The first teacher was a man named Linsey, who received $10 per month for his services as teacher; the first school in West Point township was built in West Point in 1852. It was erected by public subscription. The first teacher was a Mr. Kirkpatrick ; the first school house in Mt. Pleasant township was built in Butler in 1856. It was used for religious purposes. The first teacher was Mrs. Martha Morgan. 204 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY School conditions in Bates county were somewhat undeveloped up to and including the Civil War. Only four school houses w^ere left stand- ing at the close of the Civil War. The school houses were used as a place of refuge for bushwhackers during the war and upon their being abandoned were destroyed by fire. The four school houses that were left were at Pleasant Gap ; Johnstown, on South Deepwater, and Elk Fork. The first school house built at the close of the war was the Elswick school house and the second was in the Park neighborhood, both in Charlotte township. Only five teachers returned to the county after the war, they were A. E. Page, R. J. Reed, W'illiam Requa, Mrs. Sarah Requa, and Miss Josephine Bartlett. Soon after the close of the Civil War most of the county was organ- ized into school districts. As soon as a few families settled in a neigh- borhood, school houses were built, and school districts formed. This caused many small districts to be formed which later had to be reor- ganized and the school house site changed to accommodate the people after the district had become thickly populated. The condition of the school fund was good, and this resulted in good wages being paid the teachers. Many good teachers came to the county to take advantage of the salaries paid to teachers. The sale of school lands before the war amounted to $65,000 and had been increased to $100,000 at the close of the war. The capital school fund had bee^ well preserved during the war and had been loaned at interest which had accumulated for four or five years. Then the advance in the value of land in Bates county after the close of the war caused an increase in the amount of school money. The early settlers took great interest in the education of their children, and continued to build school houses at a rapid rate until there were 78 school houses in the county in 1870. The schools con- tinued from three to six months in the year, and where the funds were not sufficient, subscription schools were provided. These schools pro- vided a good practical, common-school education. This interest has continued to grow with those who came after the early settlers until at present the schools of Bates county rank favorably with any in the state. In 1853, the Legislattire of Missouri created the office of school commissioner. The first school commissioner of the county was \\^ill- iam C. Requa, who was appointed by the county court in May, 1856, and served until May, 1858, when Nathan L. Perry was appointed by HISTORY OF HATES COL'NTY 205 the court. Mr. Perry served until the beginning of the Civil War, when the office was discontinued, so far as the court records show, until May, 1866. A change in the school law of 1866, created the office of county superintendent. The first county superintendent of schools of Bates county was David McGaughey, who was appointed by the county court in May, 1866. He was elected in November, 1866, and served for a term of two years. The day following his appointment he granted certificates to teach to George Lamkin, who began teaching at Pleasant Gap, and Mrs. E. Burk- leo, his sister. Mr. McGaughey began the system of visiting the schools and delivering addresses upon educational subjects throughout the county. It was during his administration that between forty and fifty school districts were organized. At the first convention of the teach- ers of the state at St. Louis in June, 1866, Mr. McGaughey was the only representative from southwest Missouri. In November, 1868, L. B. Allison was elected county superintendent of schools, and served for a term of two years. He continued the prac- tice of his predecessor in visiting the schools, and delivering addresses upon educational subjects throughout the county. The number of school districts increased rapidly during his term of office, there being 78 school houses in the county at the close of his administration. Bates county stood first in 1869 in the amount of money spent for the erection of school houses, and second in the state in 1870, expending that year the sum of $14,170.71. The first teachers' institute ever organized in the county was in May, 1869. It was organized in Butler in the First Presbyterian church. There were fifty teachers present. The meeting was presided over by the county superintendent who had devoted considerable time to the study of institute work in the East. It was a very profitable meeting and the teachers present received much benefit from it. The following is from the record of the proceedings of this meeting: "Butler, Mis- souri. May 24. 1869. At 2 o'clock p. m. a number of teachers and citi- zens met at the First Presbyterian church, pursuant to a call of the Bates countv superintendent for the purpose of organizing a teachers' institute." The second session of the teachers' institute was held in the same place as the first on September 1st, 2nd and 3rd. State Superintendent T. A. Parker, and his assistants, Edwin Clark and Jasper A. Smith, were present at this meeting and rendered valuable service to the sue- 2o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY cess of the institute. Nearly every teacher in the county was present. Because of the interest manifested in these institutes, Prof. L. B. Allison called the third meeting of the teachers' institute in April, 1870, at Papinsville, then the second town in the county. About forty teach- ers were enrolled at this meeting, and a number of the citizens, took part in the discussions, making the session both interesting and profit- able. In November, 1870, Mr. Charles Wilson was elected county super- intendent of schools, and served until January, 1873. During his admin- istration a number of new school houses were erected. He continued holding teachers' institutes. Because of a change in the school law in 1870, making more liberal provisions in increasing the number of days for official work, Mr. Wilson was enabled to visit every school in the county and consult with school officers, wdiich resulted in more uniformity in the making of reports, and in school work. In January, 1873, Mr. James Harper succeeded Mr. Wilson as county superintendent of schools. Because of a change in the school law Mr. Harper was the last of the superintendents to visit the schools. Many good school buildings were built throughout the county and in most cases the schools were furnished with patent school furniture. He served until April, 1877. It was during Mr. Harper's term that a change in the school law required the school commissioner to be elected in April instead of November, and in 1875 the Legislature created the office of school commissioner. The school commissioner was to possess the qualifications of a competent teacher of the public schools ; be a cpiali- fied voter of the county; and to be of good moral character. The following citizens filled the office of school commissioner since April, 1877: C. L. Mills, April, 1877 to April, 1881 ; J. H. Hinton, April, 1881 to January, 1884; W^ W. Graves, January, 1884 to April. 1887; James Burke, April, 1887 to April, 1891; Frank Deerwester, April. 1891, to April, 1893; J. P. Thurman, April. 1893. to April. 1897; Arthur Borron, April, 1897 to April, 1899; Burr Raybourn, April, 1899 to April, 1901 ; H. O. Maxey, April, 1901 to April, 1904. During the latter part of Mr. Wilson's term as school commissioner, teachers' meetings were discontinued. It was not until the sunnner of 1878 that the move for re-organizing teachers' meetings was begun. Mr. T. C. Robinson makes the following statement concern- ing early education in Howard township: "In 1878, there were two HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 20/ school houses in Howard township. There were only twenty-six voters in the township. As most of the township was unsettled, the dwellings were few and far between. This caused most of the pupils to have a long distance to ride or walk to school. Nevertheless, there was shown a keen and intense interest, and desire on the part of the pupils to get an education, and on the part of the parents to keep the schools going. As an instance of the desire of the boys and girls of that period to get an education, I have but to mention one family, that of John Badgett whose two boys and two girls walked two and one-fourth miles to school every day for four terms without missing a day or being tardy. There were others just as attentive. "The two school houses referred to above were the Montrose and the Greenridge. They were located as follows: The Montrose school house was located in the southwest corner of section 13, township 38, range 33, and the Greenridge school house was located in the northeast corner of northwest fourth of section 20, township 38, range 33. The Montrose school house was later moved one mile north. "Some boys and girls rode as far as five miles to the Montrose school in the fall of 1878 and 1879, and I have counted as many as thirty horses and ponies tethered on the prairies around the school house. "With the coming of railroads in 1880, came population and in a short time more school houses were built, and schools were almost the first consideration of the people." The first Reading Circle in the county was organized in 1898. Only a few teachers took any interest in the work. Later a requirement was issued from the State Department of Education which in a short time became a law that teachers must do Reading Circle work to get their certificates renewed. This caused several Reading Circles to be organ- ized throughout the county. Interest in this work has grown, until at present most of the teachers in the county are doing the work. A Read- ing Circle chairman for each township in the county is appointed Iw the county superintendent. It is the duty of the chairman to call a meeting of the teachers in the township, and to assign a portion of each book for discussion at some future meeting, usually once or twice a month. In 1901, the school library law was enacted. It required local school boards to provide school libraries, and to spend annually not less 2o8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY than five cents per pnpil ennmerated in the district in supplying refer- ence and supplementary books. This law has had great influence in furnishing rural school pupils with good wholesome literature. A systematic course of study was adopted for rural and village schools in the county in 1902. It stressed the use of literature for use in the grades and thus made the school library a necessity. It provides for an alternation of work by grades and does away with the formal recitation hearing and provides the teacher with time to teach litera- ture and other subjects of interest to children. In 1903, a change was made in the school law, abolishing the old teachers' institute system and providing for a three days' teachers' asso- ciation to be held on the last three days of some week in September. October, November or December. At the last teachers' association held in Butler 98 per cent, of the teachers in the county were present. County school supervision was adopted in Bates county in April. 1904. This required the county superintendent to devote all of his time to supervision and of^ce duties. A law was passed in 1917 allowing the county superintendent one-fourth of his salary for clerical help and traveling expenses. This will permit more time to be ;devoted to supervision, and will make the w^ork of the county superintendent more efficient. The following have served as county superintendent since the adoption of county school supervision: H. O. Maxey, April, 1904, to April, 1905; Emma Cassity, April, 1905, to May, 1905; A. L. Ives, May, 1905, to April, 1909; P. M. Allison, April. 1909, to April, 1915; Arthur C. Moreland, April, 1915. In 1909, a system was adopted by the State Department of Educa- tion for approving rural schools. The following schools are at present approved schools: McKinley, Mingo, Hackler, Olive, Fairview (No. 32), Silverdale, Harmony, Tripp. Miller, Black, Summit Center, Hud- son City, Hazel Dell, Prairie City, North Muddy, Montgomery, Maple Grove, Herrell, and Virginia (69). The school board convention law of 1913, providing for a meeting of the school boards of the county once a year, and allowing them pay for attending the meeting has done much to make more efficient school board meml)ers. Considerable interest is being manifested in the free text-book law of 1913, which provides that each school district by a majority vote may provide free text books to the pupils of the district. Twelve rural school districts voted free text l)ooks this year and are now furnishing free books to the pupils of the district. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 209 In 1913, a law was passed providing for teachers' training courses in approved first class high schools as designated by the state superin- tendent of schools. This course provides special training in rural and in elementary school work. While the course does not prepare thoroughly trained leaders, it is a great advance over and produces more efficient teachers than the method of granting certificates through the county examinations to students from the regular high school course. Since the passage of the Buford consolidation law in 1913, the fol- lowing consolidated school districts have been formed: Amsterdam No. 1, in 1914; Merwin No. 2, in 1915; Crescent Hill No. 3, in "1916; Hume No. 4, in 1916; Montrose No. 5, in 1917; and Prairie No. 6, in 1917. Only three of the above consolidated school districts have provided high schools, Amsterdam, Merwin, and Hume. For the purpose of bettering rural social conditions throughout the county, a series of educational meetings were called for different parts of the county. This movement was started in the fall of 1916, and was taken up again in the fall of 1917 when eight local meetings were held. In October, 1915, thirty-six teachers in the vicinity of Butler met in the office of county superintendent and organized an Extension Course in Educational Psychology and in Educational Sociology under the instruction of Dean C. A. Phillips, of the Warrensburg Normal. In the fall of 1916 thirty teachers met in the same plaee and organized a course in English Constitutional History and in Missouri History under the instruction of Prof. C. H. McClure, head of the history department of the Warrensburg Normal. Again, in the fall of 1917 twenty-four teach- ers met in Butler and organized a course in Economics under the instruc- tion of Prof. W^alter Morrow of the Warrensburg Normal, and twenty teachers met in Rich Hill and organized a course in Hebrew History and American History under the instruction of Prof. C. H. McClure, of the Warrensburg Normal. In 1906 the average salary paid the rural teacher was $234. In 1917 the average'salary had increased to $400. The highest salary paid a rural teacher in the county at present is $70 per month or $560 per term. There are eighteen rural schools paying $60 or more per month. The following statistics will show the standing of the Bates county schools July 1, 1917: Enumeration— Male. 3.472; female. 3,240. Total, 6,712. Enrollment— Male. 2,902; female. 3.381. Total. 6.283. (1.4) 2IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Total number of days attendance, 738,070. Average daily attend- ance, 4,613. Average length of school term in days, 160. Number of school districts in county, 137. Number of districts having libraries, 136; volumes in libraries, 18740; number of volumes added this year, 4,430; value of libraries, $7,610; amount spent this year, $2,100. Number of teachers who have had high school training, 132; nor- mal training, 151. N-umber of teachers employed — Male, 44; female, 160. Total, 204. Number enrolled in high school — Male, 251; female, 339. Total, 590. Number of high school graduates — Male, 40; female, 63. Total, 103. Number of pupils graduating from common school course — Male, 93; female, 191. Total, 284. Average salary of teachers per month — Alale, $72; female, $54. Estimated value of school sites and buildings, $306,500; estimated value of school equipment, libraries, furniture, apparatus, $31,200. Assessed value of taxable property, $14,330,435.12; present indebted- ness, $96,540. Average levy per $100 for all school purposes, 59.64c. Grand total receipts, $188,923.36; grand total payments, $157,408.51 ; balance on hand, $31,514.85. Amount of school loans — Common school fund, $76,013.14; town- ship school fund, $43,489.57. Total, $119,502.71. Total amount of cash on hand, $6,857.47. Total loans and cash, $126,360.18. Adrian Public Schools. The first school house erected in Adrian was in August, 1882. It was a frame building, and contained four rooms, two above and two below. School opened October 1, 1882, with an enrollment of 96 pupils. L. W. Putnam was elected superintendent, and his wife, Mary Putnam, was elected assistant. Mr. Putnam is still living and is a resident of Adrian. He continued as superintendent of the schools for three years. The second year three teachers were employed and the third year four teachers were employed. The school continued with four teachers until 1895, when the present building was constructed. Mr. Covert was employed as the second principal of the school, and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 211 remained in the position for three years. Mr. Ben. Brouse was then elected for one year. He was succeeded by Mr. Frank Deerwester in 1889, who remained but one year. Mr. Stair was employed in 1890 but owing to ill health resigned in February, 1891. Mr. AV. E. Welch was elected to fill the vacancy, and he remained in the position until 1895. At the annual school meeting in 1895 bonds were voted to the amount of $5,000 for the erection of the present building. Mr. J. K. Failing was elected principal in 1895, and remained one year. Mr. M. A. Cleveland was then employed, and has been succeeded by the following principals and superintendents: Mr. A. L. Ives, Mr. McCorckle, Mr. W. T. Hoover, Mr. W. D. Miller, and Mr. B. E.' Parker, the present superintendent. The Adrian high school is ranked as a first class high school by the State Department of Education. There are five high school teach- ers, and all of them are normal, university, or college graduates. Each teacher has had special training in the subjects he or she is teaching. There are 107 pupils enrolled in the high school, and 55 of them are tuition pupils. There is not another high school in the state that has as large a number in the high school in proportion to the number in the grades. In addition to the regular four-year high school course, there is a commercial, domestic science, and teacher's training course. There are 134 pupils enrolled in the grades. Mr. B. E. Parker was elected superintendent in 1911 and has con- tinued in the same position. Miss Emma Hyatt was elected principal of the high school in 1913. Rich Hill Public Schools. In April, 1881, after the town was established in June previous, an election was called for the reorganization of the school district and for the election of school directors. Previous to June, 1881, there were only fifteen pupils within the district known as the Rich Hill School District. There was then a little school house, about 14 x 16. east of the city of Rich Hill. At this election the district was reorganized and Rich Hill was selected as the site for the school building of the district. A vote of three per cent, on the then taxable property of the district was carried and bonds to the amount of $4,000 were issued. In the meantime the board engaged the churches of the town in which to teach the winter of i88i and 1882. Rev. Mr. Henshaw was chosen principal for the school term of 1881. A corps of six teachers were 212 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY employed. There are now 1,177 pupils within the city limits, by actual listing. As occasion demanded the school board revised the course of study and added to it to accommodate the wants of the people. At present there is a four-year high school course. The high school is ranked as a first class school by the State Department of Education. There are 89 pupils enrolled in high school. Roy D. Brown is superintendent. Butler Public Schools. The- first school in Butler was taught in a building erected for both school and church purposes in 1856. The teacher was Mrs. Martha Morgan. This building was used by all religious denominations for their services, people coming from as far as twenty miles to attend church. The building was destroyed during the Civil War. A temporary building was erected in 1866 to be used as a school house. The first school in this school house was taught by Professor Cavendish, a graduate of Ashbury University, Kansas, in the fall and winter of 1866 and 1867. The first brick school building in the county was erected in Butler in the fall of 1870. It was located at the head of Ohio street in the west part of town. It was a two-story building and cost $8,000. Later it was torn down and replaced by the present two-story brick building. This building was used for high school purposes until the fall of 1911. It was one of the first buildings in the county to be furnished with the patent seat and desk. As the town grew it later became necessary to build two grade buildings, one in the east part of town and the other in the north part. In 1911 the citizens of Butler voted bonds to the amount of $35,000 for the erection of the present high school building. Butler has one of the best high schools in the state from the stand- point of faculty, building and equipment. The faculty is composed of ten teachers. Each teacher has had four years training in excess of a four-year high school course. The Butler Academy. The school was first organized in 1874. Judge David McGaughev was chosen president; Rev. E. V. Campbell, secretary, and M. S. Cowles, treasurer. Vice-presidents were chosen from various portions of the county with the view of awakening a general interest and founding an HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 213 institution of learning to meet the wants of a higher education than afforded by our common schools. Rev. E. V. Campbell, the then pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Butler, taught the first term in the upper story of a store building on the southwest corner of the public scpiare, beginning on the 14th day of September with an attendance of six pupils. He continued in charge of the school, which rapidly increased in numbers, till the close of the year 1875, when he resigned the charge of both pastorate and school. The following January, Rev. B. F. Powelson took charge of the academy, and with the aid of friends taught till the close of the spring term. In September. 1876, Prof. L. B. Allison was selected to aid him. In January, 1877, the school was removed to the northwest corner of the square in rooms over the store occupied by Colonel Wheeler. The winter term of this year opened with an attendance of fifty pupils, and the academy now began to assume a permanency of character which gave assurance of success. The friends of the school renewed their efforts in its behalf, and during the winter of 1877 circulated a subscrip- tion for the purpose of raising funds to secure a site and erect a build- ing thereon. The sum of $3,000 was soon pledged in shares of stock fixed at $25 each. Early in May following, a meeting of the stockholders was held and a new organization effected. A board of trustees was elected, com- prising the following named gentlemen: Messrs. M. S. Cowles, D. N. Thompson, Hiram C. Wyatt, Capt. E. P. Henry, and Judge David McGaughey. The question of a brick structure was decided at this meet- ing, also the selection of a site. Articles of association were immediately adopted, and work began on the building in June, and on the 26th day of July the corner stone was laid with appropriate exercises by the Masonic order. The building was completed in the latter part of Novem- ber, and the school took possession of the new building the same month. In the meantime the academy was placed under the fostering care of the Osage Presbytery, with the understanding that it should not be sectarian, but merely Christian in character. Professor Powelson con- tinued as principal till March, 1879. In September following. Prof. James M. Naylor, A. M., of Terre Haute, Indiana, was called to the principalship of the academy. Authority was granted by the state in April, 1881, for the confer- 214 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ing of academic degrees at the close of the spring term. The degrees of A. B. and poet laureate were granted to the first class of graduates of the Butler Academy, composed of the following students: Messrs. ^\'arren L. Durand, Francis Brittain, and Misses Maggie B. Newton. Florence I. Page, Hattie Henry, Clara Henry, and Lizzie B. Yathwell. This institution never received any endowment, but was supported entirely by public patronage. The above is the history of the Butler Academy from its beginning to 1897. The academy was destroyed by fire in 1900 and w^as never rebuilt because of the growth of the Butler public schools at that time. Hume Public Schools. Before Hume came into existence, what is now the Hume school district was formerly Greenridge school district. Hume was platted in the fall of 1880, but it was not until the winter of 1882 that Hume had a school, the children prior to that attending the Greenridge school, one mile south of Hume. In the winter of 1882, Miss Dora Bishop taught a subscription school upstairs on the northwest corner of the square. In the spring of 1883 the school district was divided with Noah Little, E. C. Maxwell, and one other as directors. Hume's first school house is still standing and is now the Catholic church. A. C. Corbin was employed as teacher, teaching six months in the spring and six months in the fall and winter. J. K. Dickinson took charge of the school in the fall of 1884. By this time the population had grown so rapidly that the school house was too small, and the children were taught in the old Buckles Hall, on the southwest corner of the square. Miss Mollie Blevans was teacher. At the annual school meeting in April, 1895, bonds were voted for the erection of a brick building. The building was completed by Sep- tember 1st. and school opened with S. P. Noel, principal and Miss Lizzie McCuen, assistant. Miss Alice Langston had charge of the primary room. On April 30, 1892, under the superintendency of Prof. C. M. Leedy, the first class was graduated. The members of the graduating class were : Rose Shepherd. Libl)ie and Edna Bacon. Nannie Cockerill. Delia Maxwell, Lillie Horton, and Howard Wood. On February 16, 1916, the Hume Consolidated School District was HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 215 formed. At the election voting consolidation, transportation of pupils was also voted. On April 5, 1916, bonds were voted to the amount of $20,000 for the erection of a modern school building. The Hume high school is ranked as a first class high school by the State Department of Education. Miss Ida Hawman was elected as a teacher in the high school in 1914. She held this position until the fall of 1916 when she was elected superintendent. She has two high school assistants. There are four grade teachers. Amoret Public Schools. In or about the year 1887, before many people had settled in Amoret, a small school house was built one mile north of town on the west side of the road leading from Amoret. The original name of the school was Spy Mound. About the year 1886, the Kansas City Southern was built through the county, and this caused more people to settle in Amoret. The Spy Mound school house was not large enough at that time to accommodate the people of the town so bonds were voted to the amount of $1,800 for the erection of a new school building within the town limits. The site was chosen wdiere the old building now stands. The buildinof was so constructed that in the future more room could be added to it. Only two rooms were completed at first. Two more rooms have been added. Mr. and Mrs. Kennet were the first teachers elected in the school of Amoret. Miss Clara Mager was elected principal in 1913, and it was through her efforts that the high school was set in working order. The district was not able to supply her with the necessary equipment, so she failed to get the high school approved. In 1914, Prof. J. A. Wilson was elected principal and remained in the position for two years. During his term as principal the high school was ranked as a third class high school. In 1916, Prof. G. W. Bliss was elected as principal of the high school. It was during his term as principal that the high school was ranked as a second class school. In the fall of 1916, Amoret voted bonds to the amount of $7,000 for the erection of a modern school building. The building was com- pleted in the spring of 1917. It is a two-story brick, containing eight class rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 300. The school 2l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY is ranked as a second class high school by the State Department of Edu- cation. There are three grade teachers. Mr. L. S. Wright was elected superintendent of the Amoret schools in 1917. Miss Emma Adair was elected as principal of the high school in 1917. Amsterdam Public Schools. The first school building in Amsterdam was erected in 1895. It was a two-room brick building. The first principal was H. O. Maxey, who took charge of the school at the beginning of the fall term in 1895. He continued in this position until the spring of 1904, when he moved to Butler to become county superintendent of schools. Mr. Maxey was succeeded by the following superintendents in order of service: W. M. Earsom, Ed Thornburgh, J. M. Gallatin, Miss Blanche Smith, and Miss Addie Hotsenpiller, the present superintendent. The school continued as a town school until 1914 when a con- solidated school district was formed including the school districts of Amsterdam, Liberty, Center and West Point. In the spring of 1915 bonds were voted to the amount of $6,000 for the erection of a modern school building. It is a two-story brick con- taining eight class rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 300. The school is ranked as a second class high school by the State Department of Education. There are two high school teachers and three grade teachers. Miss Addie Hotsenpiller was elected superintendent in the fall of 1917. Miss Eva DeAtley was elected principal in the fall of 1917. Rockville Public Schools. The first school building in Rockville was built of logs, and was erected by the patrons of the school. The first teacher was Prof. Clay- bourn Anderson. The log building was replaced in 1871 by a two-story building of native stone, 24 feet x 48 feet, at a cost of $4,047. Professor Clark was employed as principal and his wife was elected assistant principal. The school building was too small to accommodate all of the pupils so a building was rented to house the primary department, and Miss HISTORY OF BATE* COUNTY 217 Davis was elected teacher. There were 220 pupils enrolled. Later two rooms were added to the stone building. In 1898 the stone building was replaced by a two-story brick, con- taining six rooms, equipped with a modern heating plant. The building cost $10,000. The high school is ranked as a second class high school by the State Department of Education. There are two high school teachers, and four grade teachers. Mr. E. L. Jones was elected principal in 1917. Merwin Public Schools. In 1891, the patrons of Lone Elm school district voted to build a school building in Merwin. They built a two-story frame building at a cost of $1,200. This building was used until the fall of 1915. The first teachers were Elam Henderson and his sister, Cena Henderson. The school continued a two-room school until the fall of 1915. In May, 1915, the citizens of Merwin and community voted a consoli- dated school district. In June, 1915, bonds were voted to the amount of $3,000 for the purchase of the college building and its five-acre site. The building was remodeled until it contained five class rooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 300. In 1916, one acre of land was purchased and added to the school site, making a total of six acres. This is the largest and the best school site in Bates county. Mr. J. V. Hanna was elected as the first principal of the high school. He was the promoter of a consolidated school district with a high school in Merwin. Miss Edna Quick is the present principal of the Merwin schools. She is assisted in the grades by three teachers. Merwin Business College. The Merwin Business College was built in 1898 at a cost of $10,000. Luther S. Richardson was the promoter of the enterprise. He organ- ized a stock company to erect the building. The company leased the building to Professors Bunyard, Smith, and Reynolds, who carried on a successful school for several years, when it was closed for lack of patron- age. The building was then sold to a Mr. Proctor, who sold it to D. A. Charles and a Mr. Elvin. They carried on a commercial school for three years, until the spring of 1914, when the school was again closed. Later the building was sold to the Merwin Consolidated School District. 2l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Sprague College. About 1884, a man by the name of Bryant came to Sprague, and erected a college building. He conducted a good school for a number of years. Finally, dissensions arose among the members of the faculty and spread to the community which resulted in discontinuing the school. CHAPTER Xlil. THE PRESS. VALUE AND INFLUENCE — "BATES COUNTY STANDARD" — "WESTERN TIMES" — "WEST POINT BANNER"— "BATES COUNTY RECORD"— "THE BATES COUNTY DEMOCRAT" — "THE BUTLER WEEKLY TIMES" — "REPUBLICAN"— "ADRIAN ADVERTIZER"— "THE REGISTER"— "RICH HILL GAZETTE" — "NATIONAL GA- ZETTE" — "DAILY GAZETTE"— "HERALD"— "COMING NATION" — THE WEST- ERN ENTERPRISE" — "THE RICH HILL MINING REVIEW"— "DAILY REVIEW" — "AMORET LEADER"— "AMSTERDAM ENTERPRISE" — "THE BORDER TELE- PHONE" — "THE HUME NEWS" — "HUME STAR" — "HUME CHRONICLE" — "THE HUME GLOBE"— "HUME SUN" — ROCKVILLE NEWSPAPERS— "THE ROCKVILLE NEWS." The press of a county is always worthy of profound consideration; for nothing more nearly lives and breathes the life of a people than their newspapers. None are so small as to be insignificant or wdioUy unworthy of mention in a history of a great community. No other influence is so vital and potent. They not only reflect the public mind — they largely create and direct it. The local newspaper is the silent and speechless visitors at the firesides of the community, and its printed messages appeal to' the whole family and thus mold and make public opinion. They not only deliver the news of the day or week, but they point the way to higher and greater achie^'ements to all. Progress would halt without the local press ; history would grope, and spiritual life go dead without it. To write into these pages the origin of letters, and the accidental discovery of the art of printing would be in its nature pedantic. The history of the origin of the printed page is curious and interesting; but all that occurred long before Bates county had any history; and it were manifestly improper to take up a matter like that in these pages. The "Bates Countv Standard" was the first newspaper printed and published in Bates county. It was established in 1858, by a company of men, of whom Jacob D. Wright is the only one now known to his- torv. Its editor was N. L. Perry, and it lived until the fall of 1860, when it was succeeded bv the "Western Times," with W. Patrick Green, 220 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY as editor. It survived only till April, 1861, when it was discontinued. The "West Point Banner," established at West Point, Bates county, in September, 1860, in its mention of the decease of the "Western Times" says: "It is hardly necessary to mention here that no paper can keep up without its patrons meet their indebtedness promptly." Thus we see our early friends had their troubles, and that it took money then as it does now to make a newspaper go. It appears that both the the "Standard" and the "Times" were Democratic in politics, showing how early Democratic citizens began party labors in this county. In those days they were doubtless hotly pro-slavery, as at that time and for several years prior thereto what was called the Kansas ^^'ar was raging all through this section. The "West Point Banner" was the second oldest paper in Bates county, established, as stated above, by the West Point Newspaper Company, in May. 1861. Its editor was T. H. Starnes who resid-ed in Butler and at that time was a law partner of J. T. Smith. It was issued until the fall of 1861, when the press and type were destroyed when Union soldiers burned the town. So states the old history of Bates county. The editor of the old history says, "Through the kind- ness of a gentleman now residing in Kansas we were shown a copy ot the "Banner" dated May 15, 1861, and as the editorial in that paper reflects the sentiments of the people generally who sympathize with the South we here reproduce it : 'What is to be the result of the final disturbance in the United States is a solemn inquiry in the minds of millions of men and women, who are eagerly watching and noting events as they pass rapidly on. That our country is divided no sane man can for a moment doubt; that disunion is a reality and not a seeming or whimsical temporary division, as some would have us believe, is also a fact that all honest men must admit, all their wishing to the contrary notwithstanding. The causes which have led to this unhappy division, have been so much discussed, and so much has been said on the sub- ject, that people have become tired reading newspaper articles on that subject ; neither does it matter at the present time, in a practical sense, what the causes were which have acted so powerfully on the minds of the Southern people, as to justify them in their own minds, and induce them to take the step they have. " 'Our people are a jealous people, and when they find the seed of oppression sown and cultivated by the government under which they live, they feel it their duty to resist it by electing such men to ofifice HISTOP.Y OF BATES COUNTY 221 as will respect their rights. When a majority of the people become oppressive and totally disregard the rights and privileges of the minor- ity it becomes the duty of snch minority to withdraw, resist or secede from the majority. Whenever a majority pass such laws as will give themselves privileges and immunities they deny to the minority, their acts become oppressive and cannot be tolerated by an honorable minor- ity. Thus it was with the thirteen colonies at the commencement of the Revolution, when the government of Great Britain excluded the colonies from privileges which they retained to themselves. The colo- nies, after seeking redress in every legal and constitutional manner known to an honorable and free people without obtaining satisfaction, at last seceded from the government under which they had lived for so many years by passing that great and glorious ordinance, the Declara- tion of Independence, for which they were called 'rebels' by the loyal subjects of Great Britain in America as well as in England. The first effort of the King, from whose government they had seceded, was to send out 17,000 men to coerce them, the secession rebels, into subjection. Failing in his first attempt to awe them into subjection, he sent mes- sengers among the savages of the West and raised them against the colonies to wage a bloody and indiscriminate war against the rebels without distinction of age, sex of condition. " 'How very similar are the present disturbances in this country at this time. A party has taken possession of the government with princi- ples, as avowed by themselves, at war with the spirit and letter of the constitution, claiming to themselves privileges which they declare shall not be extended to the people of the South. They have set forth in their platform of principles that the South shall not enjoy any of the territory now belonging to the United States ; that property of a cer- tain kind, if escaping from its owner and getting into a Northern state, shall not be returned, etc., etc. , " 'Hence, the South, seeing by the course of the leaders of the North- ern states, a repetition of the old principles practiced by the govern- ment of Great Britain towards the colonies, and having, like the colonies, petitioned through their representatives in Congress, through the public press, and otherwise, for their constitutional rights, without receiving anything but 'insult added to injury,' and finding that they must sub- mit to degradation, insult and injury, or withdraw their connection from a people with whom they could not remain on terms of equality, they (nine of the Southern states) have withdrawn their connection from 222 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the government, wherein they could not obtain any assurance of redress for their grievances. Now that they have* withdrawn, we see Abraham Lincohi, hke old King George III, calHng out an army of 75,000 men in the first place, but fearing that not enough, it is reported that he now wants 200,000 to coerce and whip into subjection those states which have yet some of the blood of '76, and enough of the spirit of their fathers to throw off the yoke of oppression, let it come from what source it may. Not satisfied with all the help that can be obtained from the loyal states, we now hear threats that the negroes of the South are to be raised against their masters and mistresses, and it is calculated by the party in power in Washington, that by the help of the African race in the South that short work will be made and the disaffected states will be compelled to abandon their idea of inde- pendence, humble themselves at Abraham's feet, overwhelmed by degra- dation and disgrace, acknowledge their slaves their equals, abolition thieves their superiors, and accept peace on wdiatever terms it may be dictated them. So old King George thought our fathers would do; but O ! how sadly was he deceived and we venture to predict that old tyrant. Lincoln, will be as badly deceived.' " After reading that spiel, with every line loaded with treason, it is not wonderful that Union soldiers "destroyed the press and type" of the "Banner" ofiice, if, as a matter of fact, any Union soldiers were in that vicinity. It is a fair statement of the attitude and feeling which existed at that time in many parts of the country. And it will be recalled that at the time of this publication it was little more than a month after Fort Sumpter had been fired on, and on that date only nine Southern states had gone out — two more went out afterward; and such fellows as the editor of the "Banner" did everything they could to take loyal old Missouri out. In the same issue of the "Banner'' the historian says: "In speaking of a visit to Butler the editor says, 'We paid a visit to Butler, our neigh- boring town, last week. Our good friends of Butler are up to the true spirit of Missourians, for we see that the flag of the Confederate states waves proudly from a pole one hundred feet in height, in the. public square in front of the court house. Long may it wave !' " That sounds funny to this generation. It seems incredible that fifty-seven years after that disloyal editorial was published and that alien flag flung to the breeze, both in defiance of the law and the con- stitution, there could exist the spirit of unity and loyalty in which we HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 223 rejoice today. It argues that a large per cent, of the people may at any time go wrong, and it requires wisdom and patriotism at all times to keep the Good Ship of State sailing gloriously along upon unruffled seas. The first paper published in Bates county after the Civil War was established by D. K. Abell, who was editor and proprietor, "The Bates County Record," and its first issue was on July 9, 1866. In November, 1867 Abell sold the plant to Col. O. D. Austin, who continued to own and edit it until his death in March, 1915, or about forty-eight years. W. O. Atkeson purchased the plant from Mrs. Florence M. Austin, the widow of Col. Austin, April 12, 1915, and has continued its publication to this date. On December 27, 1916, the plant was destroyed by fire; but while many valuable things went up in smoke, the bound volumes, greatly injured, were all saved except two years. After the fire, Atkeson donated the mutilated and damaged files to the State Historical Society, which promised to restore and rebind them as far as it is possible. Thus one of the oldest pul^lications in southwest Missouri has been preserved to history intact, except for the years 1886-87. The "Record" has always been a faithful and consistent Republican paper, and it has come to be historic in the annals of newspaperdom in Missouri. "The Bates County Democrat" was established September 16, 1869. by a company of Democrats in Butler and was edited by Feeley and Rosser. On July 28, 1871, it passed by purchase into the hands of Wade and Scudder, with N. A. Wade as editor. January 27, 1882, Scudder sold his interest to N. A. Wade who continued to own and edit it until his death. In June, 1904. it was purchased by Jas. A. DeArmond, who edited it until the fall of 1909, when he sold to Charles H. Burgess. In 1915, Harry Henry became the owner, with Sam W. Davis editor, and both the "Bates County Democrat" and the "Dail}^ Democrat have continued to this time under their management. The Daily Democrat" was established in 1876. Both papers are Demo- cratic in politics. "The Butler Weekly Times," an eight-column folio, was started as the "Bates County Times" by D. G. Newsome and a printer named Law- horn in 1878. Lawhorn withdrew after a few months and Newsome continued its publication until April 21, 1879, when Charles T. McFar- land purchased an interest and the firm of Newsome and McFarland continued as owners and publishers until January 1. 1880. at which time Charles T. McFarland purchased the interest of Newsome and 224 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY became sole proprietor. In July, 1882, Charles T. McFarland retired on account of failing health, leaving the paper under the management of Capt. J. D. Allen. Mr. McFarland soon afterward died and in July, 1884, the "Butler Weekly Times" and the "Archie Herald" were purchased by J. D. Allen Company and later Captain Allen became the sole owner of the "Times," which he continued to own and edit till April, 1910, when he was elected clerk of the Missouri Supreme Court by the judges thereof, and moved to Jefferson City, where he now resides. The "Times" plant was then leased to his son, R. D. Allen, who has edited and published it to the present time. The "Times" has always been Democratic in politics. The "Republican" was born May 4. 1882, at Butler, the child of about eighty Republican stockholders. It was incorporated by J. M. Mays, A. B. Cline, E. Hand, F. R. Weaver, and J. M. Patty. John Brand was the editor, and was succeeded by Edgar R. Beach, when Brand died. June 17, 1882. This plant had a precarious career and was finally sold for debt and purchased by William E. W^alton, and afterwards sold and removed from the county. "The Adrian Advertiser" was established at Adrian. September 9, 1882, by E. T. Kirkpatrick, editor and proprietor, and it w^as Demo- cratic in politics. Kirkpatrick continued with the paper until 1887, when it was sold to M. H. Sly, who ran it until 1889, and he sold it to a company with M. O. Smith as editor. After a few months Hutchison and McBride succeeded to the management, and in 1890 the company sold to J. E. Dowell, who has continued its publication to the present time, having associated with him in recent years, his son, John, now in the service of his country. Just when the name was changed from the "Advertiser" to the "Adrian Journal" we do not know, but the "Journal" has always been an independent paper although its editor and proprietor is a Republican. "The Register" was started in 1887, by W\ H. Gibbons and con- tinued only about one year. The first number of the "Rich Hill Gazette" was issued August 5. 1880 by George P. Huckeby and Frank Eldridge. It was continued about a year as a Republican paper, when Eldridge and Dell Cobb became owners ; then Cobb bought out Eldridge and sold an interest to E. T. Kirkpatrick. These parties sold to W. H. Sperry and R. B. Parrack in August, 1882, and W. O. Atkeson became the editor until after the election in November, 1882, and the weekly was called the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ~-D "National Gazette" which advocated the Greenback policy, but the "Daily Gazette" was run as a local paper only. A man by the name of Parker succeeded to the editorship for a time, and the paper was discontinued some time in 1883 or 1884. Dell Cobb afterward started the "Daily Herald" which was contin- ued a year or two and discontinued. As we recall it, this plant finally got into the hands of the Warren Brothers — Fred and Ben, and was used in printing a Socialist paper called the "Coming Nation," which was later consolidated with the "Appeal to Reason" of Girard, Kansas, the boys going to that paper with their plant ; Ben as foreman and Fred as editor of the "Appeal to Reason." "The Western Enterprise" made its appearance in Rich Hill Sep- tember 16, 1881, with F. J. Wiseman and G. M. Magill as editors and proprietors. Later Magill sold to Wisen^an who continued the paper until he sold the plant to G. M. Devers, and he continued it until his recent death, since which time it has been continued by his widow, with Leon Mathews editor and manager. It is Democratic in politics. "The Rich Hill Mining Review" was established by Col. Thomas Lish, formerly of Norborne, Missouri, and its first appearance was October 29, 1880. "The Daily Review" was started later, and both papers have continued to the present time. Irish sold out to his partner, C. R. Walters and he continued both papers until his death, July 7, 1914, when the plant was operated for several months under the direction of George Templeton. administrator of the estate of C. R. Walters, and then sold to E. E. Bean, the present editor and proprietor. "Amoret Leader" was established in January, 1913, by the Pattees and was sold in December, 1915, to Charles W. Ellis, who is the present proprietor, and it has been published since the fall of 1916 by Howard A. Ellis, lessee. "Amsterdam Enterprise" was established by Dick Howard in De- cember. 1902, who retired in 1910. sold to Everet McNutt, who sold to Homer J. Thomas in 1912. Within the next year it was owned by several parties, and in 1915 the Pattees bought the list and put in a new plant, which was destroyed by fire February 3. 1917. A new steel garage 12 x 19 J/^ was reequipped. Later, a new Dicky tile build- ing 25 X 50 feet was built specially for a print shop. At present Frank E. Pattee enlisted for service in the Ordnance department and the office is continued by Elmer Apgar as lessee. (15) 226 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY "The Border Telephone" was founded March 8, 1889, by John P. Trussell, who sold the plant to S. Moore & Son, November 1, 1889. Lewis W. Moore, the son of the firm, has conducted its publication alone up to January 1, 1917, when he associated with his brother, C. E. Moore, in the business. In the winter of 1881, Dr. W. A. Williams started Hume's first newspaper, "The Hume News," which continued until the fall of 1884, wdien Thomas B. Harper began the ''Hume Star," which lasted until the fall of 1888. During the political campaign of 1888, Routzong Brothers started a Democratic organ, known as the "Hume Chronicle." It only survived the campaign. The "Hume Globe" was launched in the spring of 1894. by the Palmer Brothers, John and Edward. This publication lasted a little over a year. In 1901 Warren H. Clifford started the "Hume Sun," which has continued only a few weej^s. The following newspapers have been published at Rockville: "The Globe" by W. W. Graves and Charles Boyson ; "The Star" by Carpenter & Schaumloffel; "The Gimlet" by F. H. Lowry ; "Reflex" by Sanford Hardy; "Leader" by Miss Florence Duley; "Booster" by E. M. Bozard. "The Rockville News," published by C. A. Cummins, was estab- lished February 1, 1918. CHAPTER XIV. FINANCE AND BANKING. A STORY OF SUCCESS— C. B. DUNBAUGH & COMPANY— BATES COUNTY BANK — BATES COUNTY SAVINGS BANK — BUTLER NATIONAL BANK— F. J. TYGARD AND W. F. TYGARD— RAILROADS AND BUILDING OF TOWNS— BANKS AND TRUST COMPANIES — LOAN CENTER — THE MISSOURI STATE BANK — THE WAL- TON TRUST COMPANY — THE FARMERS & MANUFACTURERS BANK — ADRIAN BANKING COMPANY — THE FARMERS BANK — THE FARMERS BANK OF BATES COUNTY — BANK OF ROCKVILLE— ^BANK OF AMSTERDAM — BANK OF AMORET — THE COMMERCIAL BANK OF HUME — THE COMMERCIAL STATE BANK — STATE BANK OF HUME— FARMERS BANK OF ROCKVILLE. The financial history of Bates county is interesting. It is really a thrilling story of successes, blotted by only three tragic failures. It is usually thought that the progress and prosperity of the banking institu- tions of the country, or of a county, are certain indices of the growth, progress and prosperity of the commercial pursuits and industrial crea- tive forces of the adjacent sections; that successful banks mean suc- cessful clientele. At first view this seems to be true; but whether true or not, the thoughtless herd accept it, and for the purpose of this story the presumption is permitted to stand without argument or denial. Just fifty years ago the first banking institution was organized and opened for business in Bates county. It was the C. B. Dunbaugh & Co.'s private bank and was established in Butler in 1868. After a brief and checkered career it closed its doors in 1870. There are people still living who remember its sad ending. Money was lost, but no bloodshed resulted from its failure. The next banking institution was organized in Butler in 1870, with Lewis Cheney as president and F. J. Tygard as cashier, and it was called the Bates County Bank. Three years later it changed into the Bates County National Bank. The third bank was the Bates County Savings Bank, organized, also, in 1870, with E. P. Henry as president, William Page vice-presi- dent, and Josepli E. Wilson as cashier. This bank was purchased and absorbed by the Bates County National in 1873. There were no more 228 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY banks organized anywhere in the county until 1881 ; so that the Bates County National had the whole field to itself for nearly eleven years. Then the Butler National Bank was organized in August, 1881, with Booker Pow^ell as president, Thomas W. Childs as vice-president, and William E. Walton as cashier. Some years later it became the Mis- souri State Bank as we have it today. It ought to be stated here that some time in the nineties, the Bates County National reverted to the Bates County Bank under the state law but later once more became a National bank, and continued as such until its unexpected and tragic failure in September of 1906. F. J. Tygard had been its president for many years. Soon after the failure he was indicted in the Federal court, tried, convicted and sentenced to the Federal prison at Leaven- worth, where he served most of the term, was pardoned, returned to Butler, a broken old man, for a short time, and was admitted later to the Memorial Home in St. Louis where he was supported by the Grand Lodge and where he died soon afterward; his body was returned to Butler and laid to rest beside his wife who had preceded him some time before the bank failure. The failure of this bank carried down the Rich Hill Bank of which W. F. Tygard, a brother of F. J. Tygard, was president and he removed to Oklahoma and soon afterw^ard died a suddeji and mysterious death — some of his friends hinting at suicide ; however that may be we know not, and state it merely as "talk." With the coming of the railroads to the county and the establish- ment of villages and towns and the city of Rich Hill, banks — all of them state banks, with one exception, the First National of Adrian — multiplied rapidly until today there are fifteen banks in the county, and one more in process of organization. In addition to the banks proper there are two large and prosperous trust companies with banking powers. For a county like Bates, almost wholly devoted to farming and stock growing, this is a remarkable showing. Indeed, Butler has come to be the loan center of a wide territory of the best farming and stock growing country west of the Mississippi, our trust companies cover- ing all southwestern and northern Missouri, eastern Kansas and a large part of Oklahoma. It is impossible to enter into details touching all of our banking institutions; but in order to show their growth, progress and prosper- ous condition, the following statements which are made by the banking officers of the county, are submitted. The figures are well worth study- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 229 ing and they tell their own story. It is truly a marvelous showing for a county of about 25,000 people, mostly engaged in agriculture, or mixed farming, without large manufacturing industries, or mining operations on a large scale, ^^'e give them in the order, as nearly as may be, of their organization : The Missouri State Bank, Butler, Missouri, was opened for busi- ness December 20, 1880. The promoters of this bank were C. H. Dutcher, WHliam E. Walton, Luther Shobe, John Deerwester, Dr. T. C. Boulware, A. H. Humphrey, all of whom formed the first board of directors of the bank. The total capitalization of the bank upon its organization was $35,000, fully paid in. The first ofTficers of the bank were: Luther Shobe, president; C. H. Dutcher, vice-president; Will- iam E. AValton, cashier. The present capitalization of the Missouri State Bank is $50,000. The surplus and undivided profits are $38,000. The present officers are : J. B. Walton, president ; John Deerwester, vice-president ; Jesse E. Smith, cashier. The Walton Trust Company of Butler, Bates county, Missouri, commenced business August 19, 1896, with a capital of $55,000. Will- iam E. Walton, president; T. J. Wright, vice-president; Frank Allen, secretary. Directors: C. H. Dutcher, William E. Walton, T. J. Wright, H. H. Pigott, J. Everingham, J. R. Jenkins, John Deerwester, W. W. Trigg, T. C. Boulware. Booker Powell, C. R. Radford, F. M. Voris. Li 1918 the capital stock is $250,000 and surplus and undivided profits $185,000. Officers: J. B. Walton, president; G. M. Hargett, first vice-president; Frank Allen, second vice-president; W. J. Nix, secretary; Freeman Walton, treasurer. Directors: J. B. Walton, William E. Walton, Frank Allen, J. W. Choate, John Deerwester, C. H. Dutcher, G. M. Hargett. Paul Levy, C. A. McComb. The Farmers and Manufacturers Bank of Rich Hill was opened for business September 21, 1882. Capital stock paid in, $25,000. First officers: J. C. Ferguson, president; J. J. Francisco, vice-president; E. F. Swinney, cashier; and W. W. Ferguson, assistant cashier. Present officers: W. W. Ferguson, president; John D. Moore, vice-president; J. W. Jamison, cashier. Present directors: W. W. Ferguson, John D. Moore, J. W. Jamison, George Templeton and E. N. Hurst. Jan- uary 1, 1918, the capital stock paid in was $25,000; surplus, $25,000; undivided profits. $32,127.88; deposits, $404,885.58. E. F. Swinney, the first cashier of this bank, is now president of the First National Bank of Kansas Citv. W. W. Ferguson, E. F. Swinney and Geo. Templeton 230 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY are the only original organizers that are living. W. W. Ferguson has been in the banking business longer than any one in the county except William E. Walton. The Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized in 1883 with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and the following officers: H. Moudy, president; J. Scudder, cashier; and John Murphy, H. Moudy, A. J. Satterlee, J. Scudder, H. F. Wilhite, H. L. Fair, J. N. Bricker, and F. J. Taggard, stockholders, seven of whom were directors. Of the eight original stockholders, three are now living, namely: H. Moudy, H. L. Fair, and H. F. Wilhite. Mr. Moudy and Mr. Fair reside at Adrian and Mr. Wilhite is a resident of Lordsburg, Los Angeles county, California. This financial institution was first started in 1882 as a private bank and did not organize as the Adrian Banking Company until one year later. June 2, 1885 the capital stock was increased from ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars and since that time there has been a further increase to twenty-five thousand dollars, which in itself speaks well for the efficient manage- ment of the bank. The present officers of the Adrian Banking Com- pany are, as follow: M. V. Owen, president; D. F. Andes, vice-presi- dent; D. B. Reist, cashier; and W. W. Ricketts, assistant cashier; and M. V. Owen, D. F. Andes, J. M. Reeder, G. L. Argenbright, and D. B. Reist, directors. This bank is one of the strong, sound financial institutions of Bates county, of which all are proud, and its remarkable success from the very beginning is undoubtedly due to its wise manage- ment by gentlemen of superior business ability, whose integrity, as well as financial standing, is far above question. The following is a statement of this bank February 28, 1918: Resources, loans, $279,- 205.62; bonds, $6,209.04; real estate, $6,000; furniture and fixtures, $2,500; cash and due from banks, $156,063.66; total, $450,293.68; lia- bilities, capital, $25,000; surplus, $25,000; undivided profits, $2,462.12; deposits, $397,831.56; total, $450,293.68. The Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, was organized on Febru- ary 3, 1887, Charter No. 363, and is one of the oldest established finan- cial institutions in the county. This bank was organized by William E. Walton, president emeritus of the Walton Trust Company, of But- ler, Missouri. W. M. Campbell was the first president; R. M. Ewing, vice-president ; J. Everingham, now deceased. Dr. T. C. Bouhvare. J. P. Edwards, and L. W. Jones, now- deceased, directors. F. M. Allen served as assistant cashier under William E. Walton for the first vear. Uulge THE INN, BUTLER, MISSOURI. FARMERS BANK BUILDING, BUTLER, MISSOURL HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 23 1 John H. Sullens was the next cashier, followed by W. A. Ephland, who was succeeded by W. S. James, who served until J. D. Doolittle took charge of the bank in 1911. Prior to becoming cashier of the bank, Mr. Doolittle served as president, succeeding W. M. Campbell in 1909. The capital stock of the Farmers Bank is $15,000; surplus fund is $6,000; undivided profits, $2,518.69; with total resources of $102,500 at this writing, January, 1918. The present officers are as follow: H. A. Rhoades, president; J. G. Doolittle, cashier; H. A. Rhoades, J. G. Doo- little, H. G. Davis, E. E. Laughlin, Bertha E. Doolittle, directors. The Farmers Bank of Bates County, according to its name, was promoted by farmers, D. N. Thompson being the principal promoter and the principal owner of the stock a* the time the bank was organized. He had associated with him J. K. Rosier, Dr. J. Everingham, J. J. McKee and others. The bank opened for business in 1889 with the following board of directors: D. N. Thompson, J. K. Rosier, J. Ever- ingham, John Steele, T. W. Silvers, J. J. McKee, Dan McConnell, Charles Sprague and E. D. Ripp. This management continued until 1906, when the controlling interest of the bank passed into the hands of Duvall Brothers, of Butler, Missouri, when W. F. Duvall in January, 1906, was elected cashier. W. F. Duvall remained cashier until the following year, when he was elected president and Homer Duvall was elected cashier,' who -have continued in these respective offices down to the present time. The Farmers Bank was started with a capital stock of $20,000. In January, 1906, capital stock was $50,000, and surplus $10,000, and the deposits at this time about $200,000. The board of directors at the time of tlie change of management of the Farmers Bank in 1906, were as follow: E. A. Bennett, J. J. McKee, O. A. Heinlein, Clark Wix, J. W. Choate, Frank Holland. F. N. Drennon, W. F. Duvall and Joseph M. McKibben. During the following eight years, from 1906 to 1914, the bank added $40,000 to its surplus, and on December 1, 1914. was passed as a roll of honor bank, by reason of having its surplus equal to its capital. At the present time, January, 1918. W. F. Duvall is the president, O. A. Heinlein. vice-president; Homer Duvall, cashier; H. H. Lisle, assistant cashier; with the following additional directors: J. J. McKee, Frank Holland, T. S. Harper, J. B. Duvall and Dr. T. W. Foster. The present capital of the bank is $50,000, surplus $50,000, and undivided profits, $10,000. Its deposits are over one-half million dollars. 232 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Bank of Rockville, Rockville, Missouri, was opened for business October 30, 1890. Principal promoters: George AV. Burford, S. M. Doyle, J. C. Laughlin, Fred Fix, L. Hegnauer. First board of directors: J. C. Laughlin, Fred Fix, J. B. Durand, G. W. Robinson, S. ]\I. Doyle, S. Hoffman and G. W. Burford. Present officers and directors : J. E. Hook, president; Charles Fix, vice-president; W. E. Heyle, cashier; C. Heg- nauer, director; Lydia Sunderwirth, director. Capital, $10,000; surplus, $10,000; undivided profits, $15,000. Bank of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Missouri, was opened for busi- ness January 24, 1892. Principal promoters were: E. A. Emerson, H. P. Nickel, W. J. Bard, John McKee and John Morwood. First board of directors were : E. A. Emerson, H. P. Nickel, W. J. Bard and John McKee. Capital stock $10,000. President, H. P. Nickel; vice-president, W. J. Bard ; and cashier, E. A. Emerson. Present officers : John McKee, president; William Henderson, vice-president; G. H. Pahlman, cashier; M. Pahlman, assistant cashier. Capital $10,000. Surplus $10,000. Bank of Amoret opened for business at nine o'clock the morning of October 23, 1902 with the following officers: H. M. Gailey, presi- dent; Pierce Hackett, vice-president; and A. L. Duff, cashier. The board of directors composed of the following: H. M. Gailey, Leo Has- sig, C. F. Hall, John Lyle, W. R. Jones, E. A. Bennett and C. H. Hutchins. At the close of the first day's business their statement showed capital stock half paid up, $5,000: cash and exchange, $8,994.50; deposits, $3,994.50. The present board comprises James Rush, Leo Hassig, G. B. Bohlken, C. F. Hall, J. B. Hamilton, G. M. Garner, John Dykman, T. S. Grimsley and 'R. R. Hamilton, with the following offi- cers : James Rush, president; G. B. Bohlken, vice-president: R. R. Hamilton, cashier. Capital stock fully paid, $10,000; surplus, $5,000; deposits, $147,000. The stock is owned entirely by home people, twenty-three in number, and no one person holding over ten shares. This does awav completely with the possibility of a one-man bank. The Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri was organized and began business May 4, 1903. This bank was organized by J. C. Biggs, its present cashier, with a capital of $10,000. Associated with Mr. Biggs in the organization were W. B. Waytes, who served as the first presi- dent of the bank; S. R. Humphrey, as vice-president: and H. C. Curtis, W. C. Foster, who with the preceding named gentlemen served as the board of directors. For the past fifteen years the bank has continued to do business at the original location in the brick building located on HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 233 the northwest corner of the pubHc square in Hume. Mr. Humphrey (lied in October, 1913 and he was succeeded by C. E. Horton. Mr. Waytes died in 1915 and his successor was W. C. Foster, who became president of the bank. The present officers are : W. C. Foster, presi- dent ; C. E. Horton. vice-president; J. C. Biggs, cashier; J. P. Adams, assistant cashier. The foregoing with E. N. Martin, W. L. Thompson, and R. W. McConnell now constitute the board of directors. The latest statement of the financial condition of the Commercial Bank gives assets as follow: Capital stock, $10,000; surplus, $5,000; deposits, $130,000. The yearly statement of annual deposits given as taken from the bank's records for the month of November show the steady and consistent growth of the Commercial Bank. The deposits were as follow for each current year beginning with November of 1903 and continuing for the same month in each succeeding year; 1903, $18,- 332.31; 1904, $22,785; 1905, $35,298; 1906, $84,785.60; 1907, $105,- 604.15; 1908, $77,991.55; 1909, $83,961; 1910, $102,611.29; 1912, $117,- 048.63; 1913, $80,540.78; 1914, $81,315.90; 1916, $81,080.59; 1917, $130,000. The Commercial State Bank was organized and opened for busi- ness in March, 1907. The principal promoters were: A. M. Clark, Kan- sas City, Missouri ; John T. AVilson, W. C. Stonebraker, J. M. McKibben, C. A. Lane, and who were the first board of directors. Capital stock as organized was $25,000. Of^cers were: A. M. Clark, president; W. C. Stonebraker, vice-president; John T. Wilson, cashier. Present officers are: R. N. Montgomery, president; W. W. Cheverton. vice- president; Gus Kienberger, cashier; S. M. Davis, assistant cashier. State Bank of Hume. This bank was organized in 1911 and under the present management the concern is proving to be a financial success. This bank was opened for business in 1912 with a capital of $10,000. The organizers were : Dr. Botts, R. M. Duncan, J. T. Lee, J. M. Thomp- son, and H. L. Curtis. The company erected a fine brick building and fitted the interior with modern fixtures and a splendid vault. The bank has enjoyed a steady growth in strength and patronage since its organi- zation and now has total resources of over $90,000. The present offi- cers are: R. M. Duncan, president; Dr. Botts, vice-president; H. L. Curtis, cashier. The board of directors include the foregoing officers and Messrs. Lee and Thompson. Farmers Bank of Rockville, Rockville, Missouri, was opened for business July 10, 1913. The principal promoter was J. C. Wyatt, Car- 234 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY thage, Missouri. First board of directors: J. N. McDavitt, T. W. Gray, Leroy Wyatt, R. Steiner, G. Hirshi, W. W. Trail, W. A. Lyons, Theo. Marquardt. Capital stock, $10,000. First officers: J. N. McDavitt, president; R. Steiner, vice-president; Leroy Wyatt, cashier. The pres- ent officers are: J. N. McDavitt, president; August Fischer, vice-presi- dent; E. C. Wilson, cashier; M. G. W^ilson, assistant cashier. Capital stock, $10,000; surplus, $1,000; profits, $710. CHAPTER XV. THE BENCH AND BAR. INTRODUCTION — THE BENCH— THE BAR — THE HEGIRA OF OUR PUBLIC RECORDS (By James H. Raybourn) — CRIMES AND CRIMINALS. Only a brief discussion of the bench and bar of Bates county is called for in a work of this kind. In the biographical sketches may be found further interesting data touching the lives of members of our local bar. The Bench. Since the retirement of Judge J. B. Gantt, who was serving this circuit at the time the old "History of Bates County" was pul)lished in 1883, we have had the following circuit judges in this circuit, composed of Bates, Henry, Saint Clair and Benton counties, no change having been made in the circuit in all the years. Judge David A. DeArmond succeeded Judge J. B. Gantt by. election in 1886, and served about four years of his six-year term, resigning to take his sealt in the fifty-second Congress, to which he had been elected in 1890. His resignation caused a vacancy which was filled by the appointment of Judge James H. Lay, of Benton county, made by Governor David R. Francis. At the expira- tion of the DeArmond term James H. Lay was elected to a full term and served the circuit until 1898, when he was succeeded by Judge Waller W. Graves, of Bates county, who served one full term, and was succeeded by Judge Charles A. Denton of Bates county in 1905. Judge Denton served one term and was succeeded by Judge Charles A. Cal- vird of Henry county, served one term, and was re-elected in 1916; and is the judge of this circuit at the present time. All these judges were Democrats and elected by the Democratic party, except Judge Charles A. Denton. They were all fairly representative of the bar and the people, and on the whole the circuit has been faithfully and ably served by the distinguished men who have been our circuit judges. Judges Gantt and DeArmond are now dead. Judge Graves is chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court; Judge Lay has retired from active life and still lives at Warsaw; and Judge Denton has returned to the active practice of his profession in Butler, Missouri. 236 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The Bar. Many changes have taken place in the Bates county bar during the thirty-five years, and only a hasty sketch seems necessary and appropriate. We note that with the establishment of the county seat at Butler in 1856, the attorneys were at that time, or at least prior to the Civil War: Thomas H. Starnes and Freeman Barrows were members of the bar at Papinsville. Starnes moved to Butler and died here in 1866. Barrows never came to Butler to reside and died at his home near Papinsville. West and Stratton, Miles Brown, W'. Patrick Green, and Hollingsworth and Smith, were all practitioners at the Bates county bar before the war. W^illiam Page came to Butler in 1865 and now resides in Kansas City, Kansas, retired. Judge David A. McGaughey and W. H. H. Wagoner both came in 1865, both deceased many years. Stephen Horton came in 1866, and died in 1868. Alpheus M. Christian came in 1866, but left the county in 1875. Anthony Henry came in 1866 and died in Colorado while temporarily there in 1885, and his body was buried here. Samuel A. Riggs came in the sixties. Charles C. Bassett in 1866 and died at the Soldier's Home. He had moved to Kansas City in 1881. Calvin F. Boxley came in 1866, and died in Kan- sas City recently and his body was buried here. Phineas H. Holcomb came in 1868 and died here in 1917. His brother, Anselm T. Holcomb, came in 1868, and moved to Portsmouth, Ohio in 1877, where he still lives. Leander D. Condee came in 1869 and removed to Chicago in 1873, where he still resides and is in active practice. John L. Stanley came in the seventies and was killed l^y Marshal J. H. Morgan in a pistol duel in 1882. John H. Druitt came in 1872, and moved to Illinois later. J. J. Brumback also came in 1872 and afterward located in Adrian and later went elsewhere. H. C. Tutt came at an early date and died in 1882. Allen L. Betz came to Bates in 1865, and died in Texas some years ago. Charles L. Wilson came in 1869 and later removed to Texas. N. A. Wade came in 1869, and died here. S. B. Lashbrook came in 1872 and died here. John W. Abernathy came in 1875, and died here. T. W. Silvers came in 1873 and is still in active practice at the Bates county bar; Thomas J. Smith came in 1880, and is still in the active practice here. W. O. Jackson also came in 1880, and still is an active practitioner here. John T. Smith came in 1874, and after- ward moved to Livingston, Montana, where he is still practicing his profession. J. S. and S. P. Francisco came to Bates county in 1880. Both are now deceased. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 237 With the coming of the Missouri Pacific raih-oad in 1880. and the founding of Adrian and Rich Hill, other lawyers came to Bates county. A. J. Smith was one of the earliest to establish himself at Adrian, after having studied in the office of William Page in Butler and being admitted to the bar. He opened an office in Adrian and still resides and prac- tices his profession in that thrifty little city. Among the attorneys who came to Rich Hill in the early eighties were M. L. Brown, C. A. Clark, C. A. Denton, Irish & Templeton, W. O. Atkeson, T. Hiler Crockett, W^alter B. Reynolds, R. A. Holmes, J. F. Smith, William Marsh, and later, Silas W. Dooley, David A. DeArmond and J. R. Plales. A few years later all these attorneys found new locations, and only Templeton and Hales and C. A. Clark remain in that city. C. A. Denton, J. F. Smith, and W. O. Atkeson reside in Butler. Irish resides in Kansas City, Missouri; Dooley is in Guthrie, Oklahoma, DeArmond and Marsh are deceased and the whereabouts of the others are unknown to the author. In addition to those named. Attorney H. E. Shepherd resides in Rich Hill at this time. The younger members of the Butler bar are Silvers and Dawson, James A. DeArmond, DeWitt C. Chas- tain (now Somewhere in France), Probate Judge Carl J. Henry, Miles S. Horn, and H. O. Maxey. Gardner Smith, now in the army, and Elmer B. Silvers, now assistant United States district attorney for the West- ern District of Missouri. The Bates county bar has always been one of the strongest in the circuit. Many of the original members of the Bates county bar have passed to their reward. Litigation has greatly lessened and its char- acter greatly changed. Our present bar is probably as able and faith- ful as any membership in the past. We have probably overlooked some who ought to have a place in this brief account. The Hegira of Our Public Records. (By James H. Raybourn.) Before the Civil War and until 1870, one man or one official held and performed the duties of county clerk and probate clerk, as the county court had jurisdiction over probate business. The same official was also circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder of deeds. Robert L. Duncan held these offices at the beginning of the war. Owing to conditions in the countv in 1862, he removed the public records from Butler to the home of Oliver Lutsenhizer in Deepwater township. Some time after- ward thev were taken to Clinton. Henrv countv. as William Duncan. 238 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a brother of Robert L. Duncan, was an official of that county; and thence they were sent by John D. Myers to John B. Newberry at Jef- ferson City who was down there making settlement as county collector. The records remained in Jefferson City until an election was held at Johnstown in 1864, at which election John A. Devinny was elected to the Legislature, John Atkison sheriff, Van Buren Van Dyke assessor, and John D. Myers county clerk; C. I. Robards, H. H. Pipemeier and John Griggs as members of the county court. In the fall of 1865, the records which had been returned to John D. Myers at Dresden, Pettis county, Missouri, were taken by him to Pleasant Gap as a temporary place of public business, as Butler was almost entirely wiped out by one party or the other during the Civil War; and public business con- ducted at Pleasant Gap was afterward legalized and validated by act of the Legislature, and the village of Pleasant Gap recognized as the county seat of Bates county, during the time the courts were held there. The court house and clerk's office was a box structure of native lumber about 16 x 32 feet, of two rooms, and was situate in the west part of the village. The clerk's office was in the south room and the court house in the north. During the winter of 1865-66 the county court employed F. M. Steele to erect a frame building 16 x 20 feet on the northeast corner of the court house square in Butler for the use of the sheriff and the courts; and another one on the southeast corner of the square for the county records and the county clerk. As deputy circuit clerk and recorder, accompanied by Dr. N. L. Whipple, in March, 1866, I hauled the public records from Pleasant Gap in a farm wagon and placed them in said building. The county court and circuit court held two terms each at Pleasant Gap. There was an election held in Johnstown in 1862, at which Thomas Starnes was elected to the Legislature, John B. Newberry sheriff and collector, John D. Myers county clerk. Van Buren Van Dyke assessor, Jacob Wright, J. L. Porter, and Joshua N. Durand members of the county court. My understanding is, as stated in the old "History of Bates County," that the early court records beginning in 1841, at the house of Col. Robert Allen at Harmony Mission and covering the period down to 1852 of the county clerk and of the circuit clerk down to 1859, have been lost or destroyed; but so far as I know all the records which came into the hands of John D. Myers from Jefferson City, as above related, are still preserved and among the records in the proper office in the court house at Butler now. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY " 239 I also understand that all marriage records prior to 1860 are lost or destroyed. From 1852 to 1856 the courts were held in Papinsville. which was the county seat. A brick court house was erected there, completed in 1855. Crimes and Criminals. No good can come of chronicling the crimes in a community, and brief historical mention of some of the principal crimes and criminals is all that is attempted here. Bates county, comparatively speaking, has had few murders. Quite a number of homicides have been com- mitted and some suicides. But we use the term "crimes and criminals" in the limited sense of those convicted and executed for their crimes. There will be no more "hangings" to be chronicled by the historian in Bates county, as the recent Legislature abolished that ancient and brutal method of punishment in this state. The first man legally executed — hanged by the neck till he was dead — was Dr. Samuel Nottingham,; who was .hanged at Papinsville about 1851, for killing his wife down on Clear creek, in what is now Vernon county; but as all the circuit court records prior to 1859 were destroyed during the war, no very accurate information of the trial or the date of the hanging can now be had. In fact, the best informa- tion we have leaves the inference that he was convicted on circum- stantial evidence ; and as the crime was not committed within the pres- ent limits of Bates county, it calls for no further mention here. For nearly fifty years thereafter no one was legally executed in Bates county — not until Noah (Bunk) McGinnis was hanged at the jail in Butler on December 30, 1900, for murder for the purpose of rob- bery. He was hanged by Sheriff Shelt Mudd as his last official act before retiring from office. Dr. Gartrell was hanged by Sherifif Joe T. Smith at the jail in Butler for the murder of a traveling companion, near Amoret, Mis- souri. Bates county, as at present bounded, has been organized since 1855, or a period of sixty-three years, and in all that time only two legal executions have taken place in the county, McGinnis and Dr. Gartrell. During that period at least three men have been hanged by mobs, and many homicides have been connnitted, but the perpetrators thereof were only sentenced to the penitentiary or wholly escaped punishment for their acts upon regular trials according to law. These pages need not be encumbered with accounts of other harrowing deeds; and the sooner they are forgotten by people now living, the better. CHAPTER XVI. CHURCHES. RANKING IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS— GROWTH AND PROSPERITY— LIBERAL, ATTI- TUDE—PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH— LATTER DAY SAINTS— CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN. Bates county ranks high among her sister counties in rehgious matters. All religious denominations usually found anywhere in Mis- souri are well grounded in Bates county. The church and the Sunday school may be found nearly everywhere. The County Sunday School Association is one of the best and most earnest in the state. The pastors and preachers of all denominations will rank well up with the best to be found anywhere ; and they are supported by church organizations as active, earnest and progressive, as may be found any place. The morality of Bates county is of a high order. Saloons have been ban- ished, bawdy houses are unknown; crime is at a minimum. The people are religious and God-fearing; tolerant and liberal; just and chari- table. The spirit of brotherly love prevails to as great a degree as can be found in the most cultured and refined society. There is no con- troversy, no church strife, no bickerings over doctrines; and in our cities and towns the most delightful spirit of Christian fellowship between pastors and congregations is almost universal. The church and the Sunday school came with the pioneers, and they have grown and prospered as our people have multiplied and made the county move forward from the wild and reckless pioneer days to a well- ordered Christian society, the equal of the best. We had hoped to give in detail the date of establishment and organi- zation of the several denominations and had the promise of such infor- mation from representative members of the several church denominations in the county; but nearly all have failed us in this respect. Data sup- plied is used and so far as not supplied we are compelled to trust all others in a general way; which really may be amiss at this day so far removed from the struggles and triumphs of the early organizations, many of which have passed or been reformed into our present success- OHIO STREET METHODIST CHURCH, BUTLER, MISSOURI. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 24I full and prosperous congregations. Besides, nearly all of the preachers and people who raised the banner of the Cross in this county in the early days have long since gone to their reward; but the results of their sacrifices for the Master are here, our inheritance from the heroic men and women who builded wisely and well for the coming generations. The church and the Sunday school are coordinate institutions of which all our people are justly proud. The Presbyterian Church. (By J. H. Raybourn.) The Presbyterian church was here before Bates county was organ- ized. It was established and organized by Drs. W. C. Requa and Amasa Jones, pioneer missionaries identified with Harmony Mission. After the abandonment of Harmony Mission in about 1838, Dr. Requa settled near what is now known as Peru in Lone Oak township, and Dr. Jones settled near Germantown in Henry county. Dr. Requa in connection with other missionary work organized a church near his home, probably the oldest in the county, and he preached at other points in what is now western Bates and Vernon counties. The old dobe church built by Dr. Jones still stands near his old home just north of Germantown, Henry county, where he preached for almost a genera- tion. He often preached in eastern Bates county. I heard him preach at what was called the Gilbreath school house before the Civil War. On that occasion his text was: "As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the son of man be lifted up." I heard Dr. Requa once after the war in the first church built in Butler under the supervision of Rev. Seth Clark, who was a later and younger man. He preached in Pres- byterian missions. Rev. Clark also built a church house at old Hud- son, and preached and organized churches at other points in the county. About the year 1857, the Cumberland branch of the Presbyterian church of the Lexington Presbytery was organized and established in Bates county, by Rev. James A. Drennan and Rev. Jim Henry Houx, as he was called, two able, devout young men. They organized and established churches at different points in the county, mostly at school houses — at Butler, Mulberry, Pleasant Gap. Radford school houses. But like most everything else these congregations went to pieces and down under the ravages of the Civil War in this desolated county. When peace returned the congregation was organized at Butler (i6) 242 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY under the ministry of Rev. J. Cal Littrell and Rev. Riley, with J. M. Patty, Washington Holloway and F. V. Holloway as ruling elders, and a church building was erected. The congregation at Radford school house was reorganized September 28, 1867, under the ministry of Rev. James A. Drennan. In 1872 a church house was erected near Spruce, during the ministry of Rev. Riley, with William Crabtree, John L. Lud- wick and William B. Price as ruling elders, and Andrew J. Jarvis and J. L. Peck as deacons. The church at Pleasant Ridge was organized under the ministry of Rev. Provine McCluney, August 16, 1866, with G. W. Raybourn, and Clark Wix as ruling elders, and G. W. Pharis and J. H. Brummitt as deacons, with about thirty lay members. About the year 1888 a church edifice was erected on land donated by J. W. Brown (now owned by Clark Wix) on the road leading from Butler to Appleton City. In 1903 the question of uniting the churches having been agitated, for several years, action was taken at Spruce. Rev. S. B. Sullivan, then pastor of the Presbyterian church at Rich Hill, acted as moderator, and Rev. J. W. Mitchell as stated clerk, which action resulted in favor of the union. The question was carried throughout the United States and the united church is now known as the Presbyterian Church of America. Dr. Requa and Dr. Jone? above mentioned as pioneer ministers, were M. D.'s and D. D.'s and they doctored the l)odies as well as the souls of both red and white men ; administering herb decoctions for bodily ailments, and old-fashioned Presbyterianism, with a strong sprinkling of Calvinism mixed in, for spiritual ills. I can still see in memory a little, old, round-faced, pug-nosed man, with curly, grizzled hair, sitting before an old time fire-place with cups of brewing decoc- tions about him on the hearth — that was Dr. Amasa Jones while treat- ing and curing me of a spell of bilious fever when I was a mere boy. Latter Day Saints. (Supplied by W. A. Searfus.) In justice to the Latter Day Saints of Bates county, we copy a pre- liminary statement of the organization of the early church as pub- lished by the Bureau of the Census, Government printing office, Wash- ington, D. C. Religious bodies: 1906, part II, separate denominations: History, description and statistics. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 243 "The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith, a native of Vermont, in 1830, at Fayette, Seneca county, New York. About ten years previously when fifteen years of age, he had become deeply interested in the question of the salvation of his soul and in that of the true church of Christ, and was particularly dis- turbed by the variety of denominations and the varied interpretations put upon certain passages of the Scripture by different sects. While in the w^oods near his father's home, he says he "had a vision of a great light and two glorious personages appeared before him and commanded him to 'join none of the religious sects, for the Lord was about to restore the gospel, which was not represented by any of the existing churches.' " Three years later another vision instructed him as to the second coming of Christ and as to his own relation to the coming dispensa- tion. Other visions followed and in one he received directions enabling him to obtain "the sacred records," an abridgement of the history kept by the ancient inhabitants of America which "were engraved upon plates which had the appearance of gold." These records, constituting the "Book of Mormon" he translated, dictating the translation to Oliver Cowdery and others, who wrote it down, and who, with David Whit- mer and Martin Harris, after the completion of the work, gave to the world their testimony that they had actually seen the plates. Smith and Cowdery also testified that an angel appeared to them, conferring upon them authority and giving them instruction which resulted in the organization of the church at Fayette, Seneca county. New York, April 6, 1830. There are two bodies called Latter Day Saints, as follow: Church of Jesus Chiist of Latter Day Saints, with headquarters in Utah. Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa. It is the Reorganized Church with which our "Bates County History" deals. The following citation is taken from the "Snecial Reports on Religious Bodies by the United States Government," as referred to above : "The Reorganized Church repudiates the revelation on plural mar- riage and maintains 'that marriage is ordained of God, that the law provides for but one companion in wedlock for either man or woman, except in cases of death or where the contract is broken by transgres- 244 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY sion; consequently, that the doctrine of plurality and community of wives are heresies and are opposed to the law of God.' " Beginning with first preaching done by Daniel S. Crawley on the streets in Rich Hill in 1881, the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints has been very active in denouncing Utah Mormonism and appeal- ing to the public to make an impartial examination of the difference between the doctrine and practice of the Mormon church and the faith, doctrine and practice of the original church established through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith and others of which the Reorganized Church claims to be a legal continuance. The claims of the ministry of the Reorganized Church in Bates county are that Brigham Young's pretence when he led ten thousand of the saints to Utah after the martydom of Joseph Smith was an assumption of authority. The original church was known by the name "Church of Jesus Christ," the phrase "Latter Day Saints" being used to signify of what the church was composed. That offense of confusing them with the Mormons should be avoided by the public. The organization has by action of the body, as well as through committees and representatives favored wholesome legislation against the crimes of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation. Many of the most noteworthy articles against the crimes of so- called Mormonism, which have been published in some of our leading magazines together with an indefinite number of books and pamph- lets now obtainable have been written by members of the Reorganized Church and it appears that they ought to be recognized as active and well qualified opponents of LTtah or polygamus Mormonism. Church of the Brethren (Dunkards.) (Supplied by Irvin V. Enos.) ' This society was formed in Germany in 1708. Eight persons from different branches of the Protestant church formed the first congrega- tion under the leadership of Alexander Mack. In Germany they were called Tunkers or Tauffers because of their belief in immersion. In America this nickname was translated to Dunker or Dunkard. They believed that faith, repentance and baptism were the steps to salvation, baptism being administered by trine immersion. Feet washing as taught in John 13 was held to be a devine ordinance. Government was demo- cratic in the extreme. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 245 They avoided legal controversies and refused to take up arms in time of war. They opposed secret societies, and they held marriage as a divine ordinance that cannot be dissolved by courts of law. Aged and poor members were cared for by the brotherhood. These are some of the distinctive features of the church. In Germany they suffered all sorts of persecution from the state and state churches. They grew in numbers but because of persecution they separated and in 1715 there were three large congregations. In 1719 twenty families came to America. Their first congrega- tion was formed at Germantown, Pennsylvania. In 1727 fifty-nine fam- ilies came over. Others came later until the church in Germany ceased to exist. These people had met the same treatment in Germany that the Quakers met in England. In America they grew and worked together for a time, but were distinct in organization and doctrine. They held their first annual conference in 1742. In 1917 the total membership in America was about one hundred thousand. They own their printing presses, maintain nine colleges and seminaries, have seventy-six missionaries on foreign fields besides many home and city workers. The first members came to Bates county, and settled near Crescent Hill about 1865. Among them were John Kinsly and wife, T. P. Eye- man and wife, John Fansler and wife and others. Their first minister was W. G. McClintoch. An organization was effected about 1869. They had no church house but worshipped in private homes and school houses until November, 1890. when their new house in Adrian was completed. Mrs. John Thomason is the only charter member now living in the congregation, which now has a membership of seventy-seven, twenty- three of whom live in Pleasant Gap and Prairie township. They have their own house and will soon be organized into a separate congregation. The Mound (or Adrian) church has preaching and Sunday school each Sunday morning, besides the main school they have graded pri- mary work in a separate room, home department and cradle roll ; also Christian workers meeting each Sunday evening, which supports one orphan in China. The church contributes regularly to the support of one missionary in India, Sister Jennie Moliler. of Leeton, Missouri, besides making quarterly offerings to home missions and offerings to general mission work. CHAPTER XVII. BUTLER. LOCATION — ADVANTAGES— ORIGINAL TOWN— NAMING — WILLIAM ORLANDO BUT- LER — FIRST SURVEYS — JOHN C. KENNETT — MONTGOMERY — JOHN E. MOR- GAN—FIRST HOTEL — GENERAL STORE— McCOMB & ROBISON— LORING & BURNETT— FIRST PHYSICIAN— FIRST ATTORNEYS— FIRST TEACHER AND SCHOOL HOUSE — WILLIAM HARMANN — VAN BUREN VAN DYKE— FIRST SAW AND GRIST MILL — FIRST CHURCH— FIRE— DURING CIVIL WAR— INCORPORA- TION — CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— FIRST MAYOR — FIRST CITY OFFICERS — CITY OF THIRD CLASS — EARLY ESTABLISHMENTS— OLD SURVEY — DEEDS. Butler is located about the center of the central township of the county, and is about the center of the county. The location is sightly and healthful. It is surrounded by rolling prairies as far as the eye can see ; and a view of its environments from the top of the court house is inspiring. The panorama thus brought within the vision can not be surpassed anywhere. It is a picture for the landscape painter. It afTords you at one view the beauty and wealth of this great county. So situate and so environed it is natural that the inhabitants of Butler should love their little home city with a tenderness not often found. The population of Butler is a little less than three thousand at this time; but here we have everything desirable in society, churches, schools, telephones, municipal water and light, paved streets, opera houses, photo shows — everything calculated to afford real pleasure, and to build a strong moral and religious sentiment in the hearts of the people. Butler is famous for its three strong banks and its large trust com- panies, and our mercantile establishments would be a credit to a city of ten times our population. There is no more desirable place to live in the state. The people are progressive, generous, and mutually helpful. Butler is a good place to be. It is as free of vice as any city of its class in the state. It is "dry" — forever. The original town of Butler was laid out on April 19, 1852, not exactly where it is now, but very near it. At that time the Hon. Will- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 247 iam Orlando Butler of Kentucky was very popular with all Southern Democrats, and although he had been defeated for vice-president in 1848 — only six years before Butler was named for him, and which fact has kept his name secure in the annals of this era, he was so beloved by John E. Morgan, J. S. Wilkins and John W. Montgomery, and their associates that they called the surveyed bit of high, virgin prairie "Butler." In the "Americanized Chambers' Encyclopedia," printed in 1880 we find this brief mention of him: "William Orlando Butler, 1793-1880; born in Kentucky; served in the Indian battles of 1812, and under Jackson at New Orleans, and after the war practiced law in Kentucky. He was a member of Con- gress, 1839-43, and next year Democratic candidate for Governor; in 1848 the Democratic nominee for vice-president, but not successful. He served as major general of volunteers in the war with Mexico, and was wounded at Monterey. He was a member of the peace Congress of 1861." In 1848, Lewis Cass of Michigan and William O. Butler were the Democratic running mates ; and they were defeated after a spirited campaign by General Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore, the Whig running mates. This result was largely caused by ex-President Van Buren's defection, who had the support of the organized Free Soil party and the faction of the Democratic party known as "Barnburners," whose united strength was sufficient to take the state of New York out of the Democratic column, and give its electoral vote to Taylor and. Fillmore by a plurality and thereby assure their election. In the early days of Bates county many of its inhabitants came from Ken- tucky and this Kentucky personnel to say nothing of the prevailing party sentiment at the time doubtless explains why and how the county seat was named Butler. In what follows in our history — the rejection of the town plat and the return of the deeds made to lands as a dona- tion to the county of John E. Morgan and others, resulting in a new^ survey, no change was made in the name. Indeed it seems to have been officially recognized as Butler before what was finally determined to be the legal plat of Butler, as we have it today, was made. This involves a long story; and we must be content to state the facts, with- out side remarks, as briefly as may be in order that the reader may understand. The details are too technical. The first survey, made in 1852, had the public square almost directly in front of the present Logan-Moore Lumber Company's office. The- Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile building and the Farmers 248 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Bank, or at least a part of it, now occupy what was the pubhc square of the first survey. The second survey was made in 1856, as shown by plat herewith, and this survey put the public square where it is today. John C. Kennett was the original settler on the townsite. His log cabin was located on lots 1, 2, and 3, block 1, Montgomery's first addition to Butler, beginning with the lot now occupied by the city hall and the fire department, and occupying all that block except lot 4, on south side of the block next to Chestnut street. Montgomery bought Kennett out, and Kennett went to California. In 1854 John E. Morgan moved onto the townsite and erected a log house on the ground afterward occupied by the Christian church building, and now by the Logan-Moore Lumber Company. He kept his house as a sort of a tavern, and at the time he was the representative of Bates county in the General Assembly. His log house may be fairly said to be the first hotel in Butler. After Butler was laid out Couch & Smith built the first business house in 1856, and they ran a general merchandise store. Then came McComb & Robison, and they built the next business house on the corner where the restaurant (destroyed by fire since the above was written) was across Chestnut street north of Bennett-Wheeler Mer- cantile Company. Then Loring & Burnett opened a general store in 1858. Samuel Loring came from Papinsville and William Burnett from the southern part of the county. After 1858 others came in rapidly, and the town began to grow rapidly. Joseph S. Hansbrough was the first physician and surgeon. He was killed during the war by bush- whackers from Kansas. Among the first attorneys-at-law were Stearns, Hollingsworth and Barrows, all coming up from Papinsville after the county seat was located in Butler. Stearns died in Butler after the war. Mrs. Martha Morgan opened the first school in Butler in 1856. The school house which was also used for preaching, political meetings, and for holding the terms of county and circuit court before the court house was finished, was situate on Block 5, Montgomery's first addition, about where Dr. J. M. Christy now resides. William Harmann opened the first saloon in the fall of 1856, thus coming with the county seat, the courts and lawyers. His place was where the restaurant now is. or was until recently. Van Buren Van Dyke obtained the first merchant's license after the county court moved up from Papinsville. The first saw and grist mill was erected WEBSTER SCHOOL, BUTLER, MISSOURL METHODIST CHURCH. SOUTH, BUTLER, MISSOURL HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 249 in 1867 by M. S. Power, now owned and operated by the Cannon Brothers. The first church edifice for exclusive worship was erected by the Christian congregation in 1860. This church and all the business houses around the square were destroyed by fire in 1861. The court house was burned at the same time, an old history says: "By a squad oi cavalry sent from Kansas for that purpose by the order of Col. James Montgomery." The reason given for this incendiary burning was to "prevent Southern sympathizers from harboring Rebels." It is related that while the town was still burning Col. Sydney Jackman of the Rebel army came into town at the head of a cavalry company, and the Union soldiers retreated toward Kansas, were pursued by Jackman and his men as far as the Miami, and killed and wounded three or four of Montgomery's men. In April, 1862, Col. Fitz Henry Warren, with the First Iowa Cavalry occupied the town, and remained until August, when he returned with his command to Clinton, Missouri. About the time of his departure Colonel Jackman and Gen. J. S. Cockrell of the Rebel army were headed toward Butler: but they continued their march up through the eastern part of the county, on north into Jackson county, where they were engaged in the famous Lone Jack battle on August 16, 1862. Butler was incorporated June 19, 1872. First trustees: Henry McReynolds, chairman; George W. Evans, William E. Walton, Albert Harper, Wilson S. Boggs, J. L. Church, clerk; James K. Brugler, attorney. Butler was incorporated as a city of the fourth class April 7, 1879, and William Page, who now resides in Kansas City, Kansas, became the first mayor of Butler. The first aldermen were William E. Walton and Joseph L. Pace of the First ward; G. W. Patterson and John A. Deviney, of the Second ward ; marshal, John C. Bybee ; treasurer, F. J. Tygard ; collector. J. C. Clark; street commissioner, James Keep; attorney, John C. Hays ; clerk, Thomas W. Silvers. Of this first administration of Butler after getting out of the village class, only Mr. ^^'alton and Mr. Silvers and Mr. Page are still living. The former two still reside in Butler. In 1889 Butler was organized as a city of the third class. In 1877, M. S. Power sold his mill to his sons, E. R. and M. R. 250 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Power, who continued to improve and operate it until their recent deaths, and the mill was then sold to Cannon Brothers, who are now operating it in connection with their large elevator situate near the Missouri Pacific depot. The old Empire mill owned and operated by John F. Lifker has long since ceased to be and a residence now occu- pies its former site. The woolen mill and carding machine of McCun- tock & Son, which was established in 1868 and for many years fur- nished our people through M. S. Cowles & Company with yarns, blankets, jeans, flannels, cassimeres, etc.. has passed away under mod- ern improvements and economic conditions. The Diamond mill, better known as the Fairchild or later as the Fay mill, was burned some years ago, and has never been rebuilt. The Butler elevator erected in 1880, has been succeeded by the Cannon Brothers' elevator, and the Peoples elevator, both now in active operation, and among the largest in this section of the state. The planing mill of Wyatt & Boyd, erected in 1882, has long since been out of existence. The Butler Carriage Works, erected in 1882 by Catterlin & Legg, was only recently destroyed by fire; and the wagon shops of Robinson & Son, begun in 1873, has also passed away. In passing, reference is made to the fact that in 1881. a company was organized and put into operation here the first electric lighting plant, the first plant of the kind in Missouri outside of the city of St. Louis. Four powerful lights were put upon the cupola of the court house, which not only lighted the city, but were visible for fifteen or twenty miles around. This bit of enterprise gave Butler the name of the "Electric City." It was succeeded many years ago by a modern plant owned and operated by the city, and Butler continues to be the best lighted city of its class in the state. At the present time Butler is a well rounded-out and fully equipped little city of about three thousand people. A modern opera house, three large banks, two trust companies, three modern hotels, four garages, all sorts of mer'cantile stores, blacksmith and wood working shops — in fact, ever-ything that a city of ten thousand people usually have; and a Federal postoffice building now in course of erection will soon be completed. A new, modern brick depot affords comfort to travelers, and railroad employes of the Missouri Pacific, and the Inter- State, with its terminus here. Within the last year the Baptist congregation completed a thirty- thousand-dollar church edifice, the finest church house in this section of the state. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 251 Survey^ of the Town of Butler, Bates County, Missouri. "Survey number 80 made 22nd, 23rd. and 25th of October, 1856. "For James McCool, commissioner of county seat of Bates count\% Missouri. "Beginning at a' limestone standing corner to section 14 and 15; 22 and 23 running thence south on random variation 8 degrees east, 110.00 chains, set a temporary ^ section corner post 79.23 chains. A sand- stone standing corner between sections 22 and 23; 26 and 27 then con- nected for 34 section corner l^etween sections 22 and 23 ; reset a sand- stone ; thence north with the line dividing sections 22 and 23 ; 13.50 chains or 56 poles and plant a sandstone for N. E. corner to the tract of land upon which a portion of the town of Butler is located ; then from a point which is 30 feet south and 60 feet west from the last described corner, proceed to lay off the town of Butler for the number and size of the blocks and lots. "R. L. Duncan, County Surveyor. "Bates County, Mo. "G. I. Cummins, "William Able and William Mathes." "Survey number 93 made 20th and 23rd of February, 1857 for James McCool Commissioner of the county seat of Bates county, Mis- souri being a completion of the above survey, also in addition to the same, beginning at a limestone, which is thirty poles north of the Y\ section corner between sections 22 and 23, the same being N. W. corner to block number 47, thence from this point proceed to lay off that part of the town being east of the line dividing section 22 and 23. see plat above. "R. L. Duncan, County Surveyor. "Bates County, Missouri. "Riley Anderson. Vanburen Vandike, Stephan Thomas, and Mr. Doron; cjualified chainmen. Filed and duly recorded 26th day of Tnne. 1857. P. B. Stratton, Recorder." Deeds Conveying the Streets, Alleys, and Public Square in Said Town. "State of Missouri, County of Bates : "Know all men by these presents that we John E. Morgan and Martha W. Morgan, his wife, of the County of Bates and State afore- said have this day released and set apart all parts and parcels of land on the above plat, which are laid and marked out on said plat as streets, -0- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lanes, and alleys, and which, are on the part of said plat east of the sec- tion line, between sections twenty-tw'o and twenty-three, the said streets and alleys of the dimentions therein marked out, to be and remain public highway forever. Witness our hand and seal the 9th day of August A. D. 1853. ''John E. Morgan (Seal) Martha W. Morgan (Seal)" "Know all men by these presents that I, John C. Kennett propri- ator of all that portion of land constituting blocks No. 8, 9, 10, 11, 1, 2, 3, 4, and all that part of land included in the Public Square on the above plat have this day aleined, released, and set apart for public use all streets, alleys, and lanes as marked out on the above plat by the surveyor, to the public, and the same to remain common as for the public use, and open highways forever. Witness my hand and seal the 6th day of August, A. D. 1853. "John C. Kennett (Seal)" "State of Missouri, County of Bates : "This day appeared before me, Isaiah Ashley, J. P.. John C. Ken- nett and acknowledged the foregoing plat and deed to be his act and deed for the purpose therein set forth, and no other. The same John C. Kennett is personally know^n to me. Witness my hand and seal this 9th day of August, A. D. 1853. "Isaiah Ashley, (Seal) "Justice of Peace." CHAPTER XVIII. RICH HILL. POSTOFFICE— DEVELOPMENT— ORGANIZATION — THE "LEADVILLE OF MISSOURI"— "MINING REVIEW" — "TRADE JOURNAL"— CITY OF FOURTH CLASS— TOM IRISH— ORGANIZATION— FIRST MAYOR — CLINTON R. WOLFE — THIRD CLASS — WATERWORKS — PROSPECTING — GAS PLANT— WATER, LIGHT AND FUEL COMPANY — REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH— THE "REVIEW" — TOWN COMPANY — LOCATION. Rich Hill was the name given to a postoffice, established in 1868, about two miles northwesterly from the present city of the same name; and consisted of a few dwelling houses, general store, blacksmith shop, and postof^ce, and so continued until the new town was platted in May, 1880, when the postoffice, country doctor, merchant and black- smith moved to start the new city. Having been surveyed before the advent of railroads or the opening up of the local mines, the city- platting was considered to be on rather a commodious scale. The location in the rolling prairie, with a commanding view of the Marais des Cygnes river and surrounding country, was most suitable as a town- site. The construction of the Pleasant Hill and Joplin branch of the Missouri Pacific and the Rich Hill branch of the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroads, together with the opening up of the coal min- ing industries by the Rich Hill Mining Company, an organization in the interest of the Missouri Pacific railroad; the Keith & Parry Coal Mining Company in the interest of the Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, brought life and vigor and all kinds of jjusiness were soon represented. The shipments of coal grew to enormous quantities from both the surface diggings and shaft mines. The town grew and grew. The streets had been generously laid off — sixty, seventy, and eighty feet wide, and Park avenue, the main business street, one hundred feet. The alleys were twenty feet. New additions were required from time to time to meet the growth and demand for residence lots until the Town Company's first, second, third, fourth and fifth additions; Walton's first, second and third additions; \\'illiams' addition; Sperry's addition; Reif's 254 HISTORY OF BATES COUN'IY addition; Glasgow's addition and Connoly's addition, laid off in con- formity with the original townsite, had been added. Four blocks on either side east and west of the Missouri Pacific railroad had been reserved as parks which earl}^ were set in forest trees and otherwise improved, made play and picnic grounds — breathing places for the present and future generations. School sites and lots for churches w^ere reserved and generously donated for use when required. The original Town Company was incorporated with the following citizens as offi- cers: Ed H. Brown, president; Sam B. Lashbrooke, secretary; F. J. Tygard, treasurer; and large dividends from the sale of lots were fre- quently made to the stockholders. A village organization was soon had and Governor Marmaduke appointed Dr. W. H. Allen president and George Reif, Dr. W. L. Heymun, and Nat Powell the other trustee. George P. Huckleby, a Butler attorney, was first to start a newspaper — "The Rich Hill Gazette" — Republican in politics, with the promise of being made postmaster to secure a. living. It was not, however, until the "Mining Review" with a power press and a five-thousand-dollar plant started, that Rich Hill was placed "on the map" and became known as the "Leadville of Missouri." The "Review" was at first an eight column folio, home print. The first issue, October 21, 1880 of five thousand copies, with a second edition of the same issue of three thousand, was easily disposed of, and was follow^ed from week to week by large issues, containing the advantages and future prospects of Rich Hill and great resources of Bates county and the opportunities offered in farming, stock raising, horticulture, mining, milling, manufacturing, and indeed all lines of Imsiness as well as a good, healthy, temperate climate to live in. It is needless to relate that the town grew and grew apace, little imagined by the promoters, or the staid old settlers of the county. A correspondent of the "Chicago Industrial World," wdio visited the town a year after its birth, gave the following report to the "Trade Journal": "At a single bound the bantling sprang into vigorous life, defying all opposition, and transcending the hopes of its most ardent friends who looked and wondered, until the fair young city now looms up as the most remarkable and rapidly built movement of ^^'estern pluck and Western energy outside the mining regions of the Rocky Moun- tains. So rapidly had the town passed from its chrysalis period into a full fledged city that one is reminded, when viewing its astonishing proportions, of the creation and transformatory powers which oriental HISTORY OF BATES CQUNTY 255 Story ascribes to the lamp of Aladdin, and asks whether some ancient Eastern Magi has not here given to the world the most wonderful exhibition of his occult skill." Nine months after its original organization as a village, it was organized as a city of the fourth class, not, however, without some legal technicalities to overcome ; as the state law required before organ- izing as a city, there must be the requisite number of inhabitants "accord- ing to the last National census." Even the new village was not in existence when the 1880 census was taken. The growth of the town had caught the state napping, or lacking in statutory method to over- come such a progressive emergency. The village trustees and its officers, marshal, attorney, clerk and treasurer, were loth to step down and out of office and give place to elective officers under a city charter. So when "Tom" Irish, editor of the "Review," had created a sentiment for city organization, he met with decided opposition, but nevertheless persisted in his demand, as an aid to the development and to make the necessary public improvements requisite to meet the demands of the so rapidly increasing population and commercial growth. He contended that having the requisite bona fide number of citizens, a National census showing was unnecessary and arranged to go to JeiTerson City and get the opinion of Attorne}^- General Mclntyre. Hearing of this, the opposition employed Mr. Lashbrooke, a prominent attorney of Butler, to follow him to Jefferson City. There they met and Mr. Mclntyre being out of the city, they agreed to file their separate briefs and leave them for his examination, requesting his opinion to be forwarded upon his return. It was not long before authority came to go ahead and organize as a city. On February 21, 1881. Rich Hill, l)y almost a unanimous vote, was so organized with Dr. T. B. Hewit, formerly of Norborne, a close friend, and family physician of Colonel Irish, elected as first mayor to hold office until the following spring election when Clinton R. Wolfe who recently died in Wyoming, was elected mayor. Doctor Hewit, by the way, was the nephew of Abram S. Hewit, one time mayor of New York City. He now lives at Galena, Missouri. A little over three years had passed when the city was re-organized as a city of the third class, with a population of over five thousand souls. In 1883, completed in November of that year. Garrison Brothers of St. Louis constructed a system of waterworks with ample water mains throughout the city and fifty-five hydrants, at a cost of over 256 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ninety thousand dollars. The water was forced a distance of three miles from the Marais des Cygnes river, east of the city, after having been pumped into a large cemented settling basin on the western bank of the river. Not a great while after the water works a private electric light plant was installed and furnished the streets and business houses with arc lights and later on incandescent lights were added. The development and utilization of natural gas had been made a success, temporarily, at least, at Ft. Scott, and Colonel Irish con- ceived the idea of prospecting for natural gas in the interest of Rich Hill as it was known to exist in many of the deeper wells in Howard and New Home townships and had been troublesome in the entries in the different mining shafts west of the city: and he set about to secure a franchise for furnishing Rich Hill with natural gas and ultimately secured a very liberal franchise, with the privilege of putting in an artificial gas plant ; and failed to find, after prospecting, a sufficient amount and requisite pressure of the natural gas to be successfully utilized. He did the prospecting west of the city and penetrated the gas strata but the pressure was not sufficiently strong to be of use for the purposes required. Thereupon he installed an artificial gas plant, costing thirty thousand dollars and operated the same for several years, purchasing in the meantime the electric light plant. A few years later when on a business trip to St. Louis he met the Garrisons and learned they desired to sell their water plant at Rich Hill and figuring out that the three plants could be operated together to advan- tage and with economy, he negotiated for the purchase of the water works plant at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, and consolidated the three companies under the name of the Rich Hill ^^'ater, Light and Fuel Company and as president and general manager of the com- pany, operated them successfully for three or four years when he had a vision of Rich Hill's decline and sold and transferred all but a few shares of the stock to a St. Louis syndicate of capitalists and resigned as president and general manager. Several years after this the city of. Rich Hill acquired all the interests of the company. Throughout the "Great West'' where instances of the rapid growth of civilizing influences and development of nature's great wealth are of common occurrence, both in the rapid transformation of the wild prairie into well cultivated farms and comfortable homes, and the almost miraculous building of cities, towns and villages there is perhaps not a single illustration, at least upon the wild prairies, more HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 257 Striking than the founding of the city of Rich Hill, and its consequent effect in the founding and growth of other towns and villages and in the growth and development of the county seat, Bates county and the surrounding country, generally revolutionizing, as it were, and putting new life into the older citizenship and bringing in new families from the eastern, southern and northern states to engage in the vari- ous industries of life and make permanent homes among us. The author has often heard it remarked that "Tom Irish and his paper made Rich Hill" and it would be like acting the play, of Shake- speare's "Hamlet" with Hamlet left out to write anything like a com- plete history of Rich Hill and Bates county and the influence his news- paper had in the development and political influence in the county and state and leave Colonel Irish out. The independent character and broad view of its usefulness, taken by the "Review," brought about and instilled new life into the entire local press of the state, taking them out of the rut of only local interests and the advocating of mere party politics, or boosting professional politicians to places of honor and trust. The liberal spirit and high minded character exemplified in its editorials and general makeup was something to aspire to, and its wide circulation, caused it to be more quoted from by the metropolitan press and the trade journals of the entire country than, perhaps, all the other local papers of the state. The "Mining Review's" "dead head" and exchange list was for several years equal to the entire edition of many local publications. Every leading paper in all the towns of the state, including all the dailies at the time published in Missouri and Kansas, also the "New York Sun" and "Tribune," "Chicago Inter-Ocean" and "Tribune," "Toledo Blade," "Cleveland Plain Dealer," "Oil City Der- rick," and "Boston Transcript"; also all the trade journals and railroad journals and most of the magazines of the day were received regularly at the "Review" office. It w^as a pleasure as well as instructive to drop into Irish's sanctum sanctorium and look over these exchanges, which the author often did. The "Review" was also found, each week, on the desk of all the leading hotels of the towns and cities of the state and of many in other states and in the libraries and reading rooms, and it was largely by this means that Rich Hill was "placed on the map" and brought together in so short a time a cosmopolitan citizenship of six thousand people: unequaled outside the mining towns of the gold, silver, and copper bearing states of the Rocky Mountain country.* (17) 258 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY As an illustration of the "power of the press" will relate a joke on one of our citizens, told at the time only to close friends. Crit Fulkerson, lately a prominent and wealthy citizen of Butler; who, by the way, was somewhat jealous of the "Infant Wonder," usually spent a few weeks every summer at the fashionable resorts in Colorado and as is the custom when strangers meet at these Western resorts, the first greeting is: "Well, stranger, where do you hail from?" Crit said for many times he answered as he registered: "Butler, Missouri.' "Where is Butler?" "The county seat of Bates county." "Oh! It's near that miraculous Missouri town, Rich Hill, eh? I've heard all about that burg and its wonderful growth and mining industry." This happened so often that it got on Mr. Fulkerson's nerves; so he decided when questioned in the future, to save embarrassment, to reply: "I'm from Rich Hill, Missouri." "I soon discovered," he related, "how it was that Rich Hill so suddenly had become so well known by appar- ently everyone everywhere: I found the 'Mining Review' in the hotels, reading rooms and club rooms, wherever I went." Colonel Irish once related to the author his first visit to Butler before locating at Rich Hill, and his calling upon his brother editor. Col. N. A. Wade, of the "Democrat," whom he had previously met, as a delegate from Carroll county and Wade a delegate from Bates, at a railroad convention at Lexington. Colonel Wade had been receiving Irish's "Norborne Independent" as an exchange and probably did not fancy having his kind of modern democracy preached to the good people of Bates county and so when asked as to the feasibility of starting a Democratic new^spaper at Rich Hill, Wade was very free to give him to understand that Rich Hill had been started by a lot of Republicans and never would be more than a mere mining camp ; that Mr. George B. Huckeby, a Butler lawyer, had already started a Republican paper there, the "Gazette," with a patronage of the Town Company and a guarantee of being appointed postmaster to insure a living, et cetera. Irish, how- ever, investigated further and once the "Review" was in running order Wade sure got dose after dose of Tom's kind of democracy but "took his medicine" with remarkable equanimity. Colonel Irish was well eciuipped for the making of a successful journalist. The son of a country doctor; raised on a farm of 240 acres fronting on Lake Ontario, Canada; educated at the Brighton Grammar School and Victoria University, Cobourg, Ontario; two years clerk in a village store near his birthplace; one year salesman in a wholesale HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 259 and retail store, I. N. Hatch & Co., Boston, Massachusetts; teacher of a country school one term in Kane county, Illinois ; one year salesman in charge of the carpet and rug department with Duncan & Christman, wholesale and retail merchants, Dubuque, Iowa; two years reading law in Joliet, Illinois, in the ofBce of Judge Sherman W. Bowen, attor- ney of the Chicago & Alton railroad ; followed by two years reading law clerk with Hon. Kenneth McKenzie, Q. C. (Queen's Counsel), Toronto, Canada ; admitted a member of the Law Society of Ontario at Osgood Hall, Toronto, upon examination at Hilary (February) term of the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, 1868; admit- ted to the Illinois bar in May, 1869, by the Supreme Court upon exami- nation; admitted to the Kansas bar; improved two quarter sections of raw prairie land in Labette county, Kansas, while a partner in the law practice with J. S. Waters, prosecuting attorney of that county; secretary of the Labette City Town Company and editor for a year of the "Labette County Sentinel," Kansas; admitted to the Carroll county bar March term, 1877, practiced law at Norborne while living upon and cultivating his 120-acre farm half a mile out of town and editing and publishing the "Norborne Independent" three years, 1877-1880, when in October of that year he located in Rich Hill and for many years while attending to his other business looked after a farm of 145 acres which he owned adjoining the city. He was an amateur horticulturist, an active member of the Bates County Horticultural Societv: for years an active member of the State Press Association ; the organizer of the Souths west Missouri Press Association and in 1900 wrote the call for the organization of the Missouri Democratic Press Association, while spend- ing a few days at Warrensburg, the call being pu1)lished in the "Demo- crat" of that city and he attended the first meeting at Pertle Springs though at that time he had quit the newspaper business. Colonel Irish was also one of the Missouri Press Association's delegates to the National Press Association when it was organized at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1881 and was a charter member thereof. For many years he was local reporter for the American Press Association and correspondent of sev- eral trade journals and occasionally of the metropolitan press, and is now, at the age of seventy-six years, practicing law in Kansas City, chiefly in equity cases and consulting counsel for the younger men of the pro- fession, and yet still interested in horticulture "Hooverizing," cultivat- ing a "back-lot" garden, raising enough fresh vegetables and small fruit for family use and has pears, quinces, crabapples, cherries, plums and 26o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY peaches from trees of his own planting quite sufficient for his family use the year around. One session he reported to the "Kansas City Star" of his picking 455 quart boxes of strawberries from a plat of ground 25 X 30 feet, "intensive gardening" to be sure, but anyone in Bates county could do quite as well by proper effort. Through the kindness of Colonel Irish the author has had the privilege of the bound volumes of the "Review" for perusal, but should an attempt be made to go into detail regarding the business growth of this remarkable tow^n, or quote to any extent from the many generous "write-ups" of Rich Hill, from many trade journals, magazines and the metropolitan press, copied in the "Review" with due credit, this volume would be doubled in size. The city of Rich Hill was surveyed by Civil Engineer B. B. Sing- leton for the Rich Hill Town Company in June, 1880. The corporation was composed of the following: President, E. H. Brown; secretary, S. B. Lashbrooke; assistant secretary, J. N. Hardin; treasurer, F. J- Tygard ; trustees, W. H. Allen, president ; George Reif, W. L. Huylman and N. R. Powell. The city is located in the south-central part of the township, and the Missouri Pacific railway divides it nearly in the center running north and south; and the "Frisco" railway comes in from the west. The city developed rapidly and at one time had nearly 5,00C people. Its marvelous growth was largely the result of the great coal industry developed; and besides it is located in the midst of a fine farming and stock country. The large mining population has gone elsewhere and the city is more stable and prosperous now with a dimin- ished population than it was a few years back. Further data will be found in our chapter on cities and towns. •4 ■■-. -jS«r*.'^*>r^^-.-,-s:' --'■T:' -sA'fT--. ^A BATES COUNTY HOME. CHAPTER XIX. TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES. INTRODUCTION — MINGO TOWNSHIP — SETTLE FORD — COVE CITY — MAYESBURG — GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP — ALTONA— DEER CREEK TOWNSHIP— ADRIAN- CRESCENT HILL — EAST BOONE TOWNSHIP — BURDETT — PARKERVILLE — WEST BOONE TOWNSHIP — ROSIER— WEST POINT TOWNSHIP — WEST POINT VIlvLAGE — VINTON — AMSTERDAM — ELKHART TOWNSHIP — ELKHART POST- OFFICE — MOUND TOWNSHIP— PASSAIC— SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — CULVER. In this chapter we give briefly such data as seems to be of historical value touching the early settlement pi the several townships, beginning with Mingo township in the northeast corner of the county, and fol- lowing west and east back and forth, ending with Howard township in the southwest corner of the county. This seems preferable to an alphabetical basis, as the townships are more familiar in that order. Mingo Township. Bounded on the north by Grand river, which separates it from Cass county, on the east by Henry county, on the south by Spruce township, and on the west by Grand River township. It is not quite a full congressional township of thirty-six sections, all of sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 lying north of Grand river in Cass county, and also parts of sections 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, all in township 42, range 29 west. The land is rich and rolling, and more or less rugged, and is drained by Grand river on the north, and by Cove and Peter creeks, with Elk Fork touching the northwest corner of the township. H. M. White came from Wayne county, Kentucky and settled on Elk Fork creek in this township in 1844, and died there in 1872. His son, J. M. White, was born there in 1846. Austin and Joseph Reeder settled between Elk Fork and Peter creeks in 1832. Alexander Earhart a native of W^est Virginia, opened a farm on Elk Fork in 1851, and his brother, Stronger, came at the same time. Among other early set- tlers were Robert Davis, Jefferson Lake, Morgan Settle, Nicholas Poage, Martin Hackler, Hamilton Burris, Joel Sparks, Jonathan Starks, Reece 262 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Hackler, Fred Hackler, James Settle, John C. Gragg, George Earhart, A. M. Gragg, Stephen Williams, the Ashcrafts, Shatleys, and Chad- wells. The first mill was erected at Settle Ford by Nicholas Poage. Cove City, in the north-central part of the township, back in the seventies, was a business point, but has practically taken its place with the forgotten cities. Mayesburg in the southeastern part of the township was founded in 1878, and Mayes & Carlton, merchants, built the first house and con- ducted a mercantile business there for many years. L. O. Carlton was the first postmaster. R. D. Gerdon the first blacksmith, and Dr. M. Duttler the first physician. G. A. Poage and G. W. West conducted a drug store there in the early days. The building of the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield railroad through Urich a few miles distant in Henry county affected the development of Mayesburg, and the establishment of the rural mail delivery eliminated the post office at that village. It is still a trading point, but little more. Grand River Township. This township lies directly west of Mingo, and is also bounded on the north by Grand river, which is the line at this point between Bates and Cass. It is a rolling prairie, broken more or less by the following principal streams which flow in a general northerly direction into Grand river: Elk Fork, Mingo and Little Deer creek. Among the early settlers may be mentioned Louis C. Haggard, Joseph Hilly, George Sears, Richard Dejarnett, John Sigler, Jake Lef- ler, Kimsey Coats, \\"illiam Crawford, A\ illiam Edwards, John and Joseph Pardee, Hiram and D. C. Edwards, Martin Ow^ens, Martin Owens, Jr., Crayton Owens, Sarah A\ hite, M. M. Tucker, James \\'ill- iams, Hardway Harrison, James and S. E. Harrison, and William France. Many of these names are still familiar in the township, being children or grandchildren of the pioneers. The village of Altona is situate in the south-central part, and it was laid out in January, 1860, by William Crawford, the owner of the land. A man by the name of Scoggin erected the first bu'siness house in the village. In 1868, Harrison and Shoube erected a grist and saw- mill, which was afterward removed to Cass county. In 1878, the Mis- sionary Baptists built a church edifice there. J. D. Wright and wife, George Moles and wife, August Warford and Mitchell Warford and family were among its early members. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 263 Deer Creek Township. Deer Creek township... lies directly west of Grand River township. The Missouri Pacific railroad runs nearly directly through the township, north and south. This township is principally an undulating prairie, wnth very little rough or waste land, and is principally drained by Mormon Fork into Grand river, which forms for a short distance the northern boundary, and Deer creek, after which the township takes its name. Among the prominent and know^n pioneers of this township may be mentioned the following: Joseph J. McCraw, a native of Halifax county. Virginia, came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled in Deer Creek township in 1849. There were eight children in the family. He died in 1853. Other than the McCraws in 1850 may be mentioned: Richard Barker. Moses Barker, Matt Hill. William Mitchell. Bhuford. Stephen and Alfred Haynes, Brown C. Seagraves and a Mr. Adams; John Moudy came in 1856; Henry and John Rogers came the same year: John P. AA^ells came in 1855; John Murphy came in 1856; John Blunt, in 1861; James Howerton, in 1855; W. S. Hughes, in 1854. Other old settlers, the exact date of whose coming is not known by the writer, are: Oliver Mitchell, Eli T. Sullins, M. C. Hiser, Emanuel Lemon, L. F. Kiser, L. C. Oder. Henry Hughes. Samuel Sligar, Isaiah Prebbel, Daniel Goodin, Jonathan Adams and Allen. Ingle. Adrian is situate in the extreme south-central part of Deer Creek township on the Missouri Pacific railroad, and is a town of such con- siderable importance that it should be treated separately in another part of this book. Crescent Hill was located near the center of the township, and before the coming of the Missouri Pacific railroad in 1880, was a thrifty village but the railroad did not come through the village and when Adrian was surveyed and platted the business formerly doiie at Crescent Hill naturally drifted to the new and rapidly developing town; and Crescent Hill may fairly be said to have taken its place among other extinct and almost forgotten cities. East Boone Township. This township is situate in the north tier and its northern boundary is the county line between Bates and Cass. The land is generally prairie of good quality, but high and somewhat broken up by Mormon 264 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Fork and its tributaries. Mormon Fork runs in an easterl}^ direction nearly through the center of the township. There are timber and build- ing stone and water. William R. Marshall, who came from Kentuck}^ settled on Mor- mon Fork in an early day. Mormon Fork gets its name from the fact that some Mormons driven out of Jackson county in 1833 made a set- tlement on the creek in this township. Barton Holderman was a pioneer, coming from Illinois. Gaugh L. Smith, Enoch Boiling, John M. Gal- loway, Joseph Cook, Samuel Stewart, David Hufft, John PufTer and Elias Baldwin wxre early settlers. About the close of the Civil War population increased rapidly, and among others came Joseph Mudd, Isaiah Brown, Morris and James Roach, James and William Bagby, J. D. Masterson, Wilson Swank, A. D. Robbins, J. W. Hurdman, Peter Black, P. G. Lightfoot, Rich- ard Richardson, John Fenton and R. F. Canterbury. The village of Burdett is situate in the western central part of the township on Mormon Fork. It was founded in 1870 by Daniel Cauthrien and Oliver B. Heath. The first business house was built by Tumbleson & Shorb. The first postmaster was F. M. Tumbleson. A mill was erected the year the town was laid out, but destroyed by fire in 1874. This first mill was built by A. D. Basore, and a second one by Lewis Adams, which was moved to Archie, Cass county, in 1881. Burdett is a community center and considerable business is still carried on, but it is an inland village. Parkerville was one of the oldest towns in Bates county founded in June, 1857, by Wiley Parker, after whom it took its name. It was situ- ated about one and a half miles directly south of where Burdett stands, but not a vestige remains to mark its grave. It is totally extinct yet history records the facts that John Frazier was the proprietor of a gro- cery store in its early and ambitious days; that John T. Peck was a pioneer; that Wilson & Feely were merchants, and Doctor Thomas F. Atherton was the first physician, and W. H. Atherton the first black- smith. "The town was destroyed during the war of 1861" but it is not recorded how. There is absolutely nothing left to tell of its life or death. West Boone Township. West Boone is the northwest township of the county. It is gen- erally a high, rolling prairie, little broken by streams, and is practically the watershed of both the Mormon Fork and Miami creeks; the one HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 265 running northeasterly into Grand river, and the other southeasterly into the Marais des Cygnes river. It is distinguished for being the highest elevation in Bates county, about 1,000 feet above sea level, or about 400 feet higher than the lowest levels in the county. The first settlers in this township were Alexander, Wilson and Norris Feely, brothers, the former two coming in 1842 and Norris ni 1849. It is recorded that "Alexander Feely served in 1861 as one of the county court judges, his associates being Edmund Bartlette and Samuel M. Pyle. He died August 27, 1877." Frank R. Berry, a Ken- tuckian, came from Jackson county, Missouri, and settled on the head waters of Mormon Fork creek in an early day, and soon after a rela- tive by the name of.T. E. Strode came and settled near by. Then came Joseph Clyner, Joseph and J. P. Taylor, all early settlers, but the exact date is not known. Soon after the close of the Civil War, John S. Stewart, James A. Stewart. Jacob and William Groves, G. L. Sayles, J. N. White, A. Rosier, J. H. Boswell, R. M. Feely, W. B. Akin. Jesse Nave, John Riley, Luke Gage, O. W. Stitt, J. C. Berry, and George Karter, came and settled in this township. The only mill erected in the township was erected at the village of Rosier, now extinct, in the older days. Rosier was founded in 1881. and Bryant Brothers & McDaniel conducted a general merchandise store, and L. R. Robinson established a drug store about the same time. West Point Township. This township joins the state of Kansas on the west, and like West Boone, is one of the border tier of townships. It lies directly south of W^est Boone, north of Hgmer, and west of Elkhart townships. It is a part of the most elevated portion of Bates county; an undulating prairie, cut by many streams of fine water, among which the principal are the Miami. Mulberry, Plum and Willow branches. West Point is among the oldest settled parts of the county. Israel Brown was one of the earliest settlers, and he sold his farm to Vincent Johnson, a Kentuckian. in 1851. Covington Cooper was an early-day settler and died there in 1851. Coming in the late forties, were Benja- min Sharp. Henry Schuster, who later settled near Double Branches, in south Bates; John Green was an old settler who died during the Civil War; then, entitled to a place in the list, there were William Scott, Edgar C. Kirkpatrick. William Lamar, Jackson Clark, Nathan and Thomas Sears, James McHenry, J. E. Mooney, Samuel and James Forbes, 26C> HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Emberson Keaton, George Walley, William and Wiley Reed and Will- iam Adams.- The village of West Point is now extinct, with scarcely a land mark to indicate where this western post of civilization once stood, while the traffic of the savage and the adventurous pioneer poured through its marts and made its streets hum with real trade and commerce. Back in the fifties, it had a population of about 700 people, and it was the center of a large and growing trade. It was the last "outfitting" place after West Port Landing on the Missouri river and hither came .that numerous line of adventurers and settlers going south and west into the Territory of Kansas. It was located on one of the highest points in the township, if not, in fact, the highest elevation in Bates county, and the vast view in every direction was unobstructed, limited only by the horizon. The point is about 1.000 feet above sea level, and overlooks a beautiful country in all directions. It was situate less than a mile from the Kansas line in the extreme northwest corner of the township. The land on which it was located was entered by Thomas B. Arnett and Sydney Adams and the con- veyance of the first lot was signed by Arnett and his wife in 1850. Arnett was the first clerk of Cass county. Adams sold out to Arnett prior to the sale of lots. J. A. Fox was among the first purchasers. West Point was the commercial and trading capital of a wide terri- tory. Harrisonville and Papinsville were its closest and only rivals. It was on the Texas cattle trail. The Kansas Indian tribes visited it and traded there. Among its early merchants and business men may be mentionel Curd & Barrett, druggists; a dry goods merchant; Judge Alexander Feely; William Scott; James McHenry; Chil. Love- lace; Thos. Sears and Dr. T. J. B. Rockwell, who were all in business some years before the war broke out. William and Joseph Potts, and Slater & Stribbens were blacksmiths. John Martin ran a saloon, then called a grocery. William R. Simpson and John Roundtree were also business men. Henry Schuster erected a mill to grind corn only and ran it by ox-power on an inclined plane, or a "tread mill." John Green also had a mill at an early day. Wyatt Sanford was postmaster in 1856, and afterward James McHenry and Irvine Walley. The first hotel was kept by Mr. Hedges, who later sold to Judge Alexander Feely. This hotel was a two-story frame, and was the largest hotel in all the western country, having no less than forty rooms; which fact HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 267 indicates somewhat the great travel and business of the town. Besides, there were three other hotels, and sixteen business- houses. General Clark came to West Point in the fall of 1856, during the border troubles betw^een the pro-slavery and anti-slavery men, with about five hundred men, and remained in town about ten days. Dur- ing the war the town was burned and scarcely a stone was left to tell where it had been. After the war a small business house and a postofftce were established there and with a few scattered residences the village had a precarious existence until the Kansas City Southern railroad crept stealthily by under the hill to the east, and the new town of Amsterdam was established a couple of miles south. Then the historic town of West Point gave up the ghost, and only debris remain to speak its former glory. It is a pitiful story, but one not uncommon in this western country. But here was really the westernmost post of civilization for a number of years, and if the real history of men and women who resided there in the fifties, were known it would doubtless be one of tragedy and sorrow. And they had a big school and a weekly newspaper. The village of Vinton was founded in 1867, in the eastern part of the township by a Mr. Swink, who built a corn-grinding mill there which was run by steam. Swink sold it to William Morrison in 1872 and he took the mill to Sugar Creek, Kansas. A. J. Christler- established a mercantile business there. Then followed Felix Cox, and later J. P. Willis. The first postmaster was A. J. Christler and the first black- smith was Thomas Hackett. The village now is only a memory but it doubtless had its aspirations. The town of Amsterdam was laid out by John L. Rankin. September 30, 1891, in the western central part of the township, on the Kansas City & Southern railroad, and is one of the leading business points on that railroad in Bates county. It has a bank, a newspaper, and all the indus- tries and commercial establishments to be found in towns of its class. It has been rebuilt since a disastrous fire about a year ago. It is a prosperous village. Elkhart Township. Elkhart lies east of West Point and may be said to be an interior township. It is watered by the Miami, Knabb's creek, and Lime-branch, tributaries of the Miami. Elkhart had few settlers prior to the war, and remained very sparsely settled until about 1866. It is more nearly level than any 268 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY township in the county, and is little broken. Among those who are recalled as pioneers we mention Jesse Lovelace, Vinson Martin, Elias Barnett, Robert Clinging, Torraine Browning, John Ferguson, Rich- ard Westover, A. J. Satterlee, Hugh Mills, Robert Evans, John Baker, and his sons, Griswold and James, and a man by the name of Montgom- ery who settled on the Raybourn place. Among the first permanent settlers were the Keatons. Wiles Keaton, of North Carolina, is said to have settled in what is now Elkhart in 1845, and Mrs. Keaton died there in 1847, leaving a numerous famil}^ some descendants still resid- ing in that vicinity. After the war and between 1866 and 1869, the following located in different parts of the township: F. A. Cox, P. A. Allen, I. N. Ray- bourn, Frank Evans, F. M. Neafus, Chas. Lee, W. B. Whetstone, Will- iam Tarr, Thadius Cowdry, John Nuble, and George Pubels. The first saw-mill was built by Merrit Zinn & Co. about 1870. W^iat is known as Elkhart Postoffice, is about the center of the township, and is the community center of the township. Mound Township. Mound lies directly east of Elkhart, south of Deer Creek, north of Mt. Pleasant and west of Shawnee, township 41, range 31. It is a typical prairie country, undulating, and not much broken. Bones creek in the southwest portion, an affiuent of the Miami, is the only stream worth mentioning, but the township is abundantly watered by wells, ponds, and small streams. Being practically a woodless prairie in the early days, settlement was slow. It was pre-eminently a cattle and grazing territory. His- tory records the fact that Boston H. Bowman and family settled on Bones creek in the south part of the township in 1855, and remained there till he died. He reared a family and left a widow who told the historian that when water was not plentiful in Bones creek, they often had to go to Balltown, then on the Little Osage in Vernon county to mill, and wait a long time for their grist. She recollected that at one time it took a w^eek for her husband to go to mill and return. The family went to Illinois the latter part of the war, but returned to their home in Mound afterward, and he died in 1868. Passaic was laid out July 14, 1891, by Chas. S. Conklin, situate on the Missouri Pacific railway, about half way between Butler and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 269 Adrian. It is a good shipping point. It has a store, elevator and hotel, and it is the community center of south-central Mound township. Shawnee Township, Shawnee lies east of Mound. It is almost wholly a rich prairie, broken by no considerable streams. It is drained by Elk Fork and Little Deer creeks, which run north to Grand river, and Mound branch, which runs south to the Miami. There was little or no timl^er in the early days and like Mound, Shawnee was regarded as grazing land. The story of the early settlers of Shawnee is shrouded in doubt and uncertainty as to date and the permanent settlers, but it appears that about 1828 a hunter named Raupe from Lexington had occasion to be on Mound, and seven Indians captured him, and after robbing him of his gun and equipment, set him free. Then it appears that a Mr. Evans was on top of the same mound in the fall of 1835, counting the deer within his vision, and viewing the beautiful landscape in all directions from that favorable elevation. It is claimed that he came to what is now Shawnee in 1832 or 1833 and took up a claim. Will- iam Charles settled on Elk Fork in 1837. A man named John Wes- chusen, directly from Germany, came and settled on the headwaters of Elk Fork. There are others mentioned in a general way, but nearly all, after a year or two, w^ent elsewhere. Along in the forties James B. Sears, a native of Kentucky, came and settled. The historian alleges that the first apple orchard planted in Shawnee was planted by Elisha Evans, and that he raised the first wheat crop in that township, "and possibly the first crop in the county, outside of the Harmony Mission settlement." Upon these meager data and unsatisfactory details hangs the claim that the second settlement in the county was in Shawnee town- ship, the first being Harmony Mission in Prairie township in 1821. Culver has one store, and is a community center and trading point. It is located in section 25. or near the southeast corner of the town- ship. CHAPTER XX. TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. SPRUCE TOWNSHIP — JOHNSTOWN — BALLARD POSTOFFICE — DEEPWATER TOWN- SHIP — SPRUCE VILLAGE — SUMMIT TOWNSHIP — MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP — BUTLER — CHARLOTTE TOWNSHIP — VIRGINIA POSTOFFICE — HOMER TOWN- SHIP— MULBERRY— AMORET— WALNUT TOWNSHIP— MARVEL— LOUISVILLE- WALNUT POSTOFFICE — WORLAND — FOSTER. Spruce Township. Spruce lies east of Shawnee, and its eastern hne is the county hue between Bates and Henry. The lands are rolling, but it is one of the richest corn-producing townships in the county. There is abundant tim- ber. It is drained by Peter and Cove creeks, flowing north, and Stew- art's creek, flowing southeast, and its tributaries. James Stewart was the first settler in 1832. He located where Johnstown now is, and Stewart's creek took its name from him. He was a blacksmith, came from Lafayette county, remained a few years and then went to Johnson county. John Pyle came from Kentucky in 1834. He bought the Stewart claim, had the usual pioneer expe- riences, remained eight years, and died in 1842. while his neighbors were still few and far between. Samuel Pyle, a brother, came to Spruce on his bridal tour in a one-horse wagon in 1836. He was a Union man and lived in Butler the forepart of the war and was the last to leave in obedience to Order No. 11, and looking back, he could see the smoke of their burning home when five miles away. James McCool and wife came from Ohio, had sickness on the road in Illinois, they sold their team and came to Boonville by water, thence to Bates county in a hired wagon. They settled one mile north of Johnstown. This was in 1840. \Adien the war came on he and his sons, except Peter V., adhered to the Union. The family moved over into Henry county under Order No. 11 and Mr. McCool died there in 1865. Mrs. McCool and her chil- dren returned to Spruce township and they lived in and around Johns- town many years. The first store in Johnstown was established bv Jim and Dan HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 271 Johnson in 1845. They were followed by Dick McClure and John Har- bert & Son. John Hull was the first blacksmith. Harmony Mission, West Point, Harrisonville and Clinton were the nearest towns. The first postoffice was in 1848 or 1849. Prior to that time the Spruce settlers got their mail in Deepwater, Henry county. Johnstown was an important business center before the war, and had five stores, two saloons, three blacksmith shops, a good mill, a cabinet shop, shoe and harness shops. It is said to have enjoyed a larger volume of business than any other town in this section prior to the Civil War. Among those who dwelt in Johnstown and in that vicinity before that date may be mentioned William B. and Nicholas Page, who came in 1842; then George Cooper, Nicholas Payne, R. L., B. J., and D. B. Pettus, and George Ludwick, but the date of their settlement is not known, except that George Ludwick, wife and two of her brothers, Henry and Jacob Lutsenhizer, arrived overland from Boonville, after a river trip from Licking county, Ohio, in October, 1839, at the home of William Lutsenhizer, who had arrived s,ome time before and settled on the farm now owned and occupied by Hon. John B. Newberry. John E. Morgan and A. M. Odneal were among the pioneers. In obedience to Order No. 11, all the people left Bates county, and most of those in and near Johnstown went to Henry or Pettis county. It does not appear that any great depredations occurred in their absence in that vicinity and after the war they generally returned to their homes and business; but Johnstown never regained its thrift and importance; and it is now a small inland town, a scattering village, with little to indi-' cate its former greatness. Ballard Postoffice is located in the northwest corner of section 16, and is a community center for that part of the township. It has one or two stores. Deepwater Township, Deepwater township is much broken by Deepwater creek and its tributaries, and hence it has considerable rough, timbered land ; but the soil is generally good, and corn, grass and the cereals flourish. It is not known, at least it is not written, when the first settler made his home in this township, but Hiram Snodgrass came into and settled in Deepwater township, south side of Deepv/ater creek, near Henry county line, in section 24, in 1839. He died there in 1881. The land had just been sectionized and he entered 300 acres. Others who lived there as early as 1839 were C. Schmedting, two Morrisses, Means, 272 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Arbuckle, Moore, Ballow, and Beatty. Isaac, a son of Hiram Snod- grass, married Susan B. Myers, a daughter of Judge John D. Myers, in 1853. Samuel Scott settled on the north side of Deepwater creek in 1834, and was appointed sheriff of the new county of Vernon when it was established in 1852, but the organization of Vernon county being after- ward declared invalid, he lost his ofifice. He went to Linn county, Kan- sas, in 1854, was elected by the pro-slavery party to the Territorial Legislature, and was killed by a band of guerillas in 1859. Others who came between 1834 and 1845 may be mentioned: Oliver and George Drake, James Cummins, Peyton Gutridge, Rev. Milton Morris, James Morris, Sam and Matt Arbuckle, and Mrs. Elizabeth McGowen. The list of those who came and settled prior to the war is too long for the purpose of this chapter, but it includes such distinguished citizens as Ex-State Senator John B. Newberry, and Ex-Sheriff and Recorder James M. Simpson, many of whom will be adequately men- tioned elsewhere in this book. Jacob Lutsenhizer was the pioneer miller and erected his mill which ground corn only, on Straight branch in 1841. There is no record of how it was operated or how long it existed, except a statement that Oliver Drake began the erection of a niill on the same spot in 1854, but died without completing it. The village of Spruce is located near the center of the township on section 16, has two stores, a blacksmith shop, two church edifices and an Odd Fellows' hall, and two rural mail routes. It is the business center of the township, and a prosperous village. Summit Township, This township is well watered by Mound branch and Deepwater creek and their tributaries. The land is rolling, dark and fertile — one of the best corn townships in the county. Reuben Herrell settled in Summit in 1842. On his arrival he had only two neighbors in the township, John McClain and Major Glass, who settled there in 1840. Nathan Horn settled in the western part in an early day. Arthur and Madison Canady and their father came in 1861. John Walker was an early settler. He was a member of the Missouri General Assembly. Abram P. Wilson, A. Brixner, G. W. Cassity, James L. Kirtley, C. T. Hokanson and A. Black may fairly be classed as pioneer settlers of Summit but the dates of their settlement HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 273 have not been recorded by history. There is no village in this town- ship. Mt. Pleasant Township. Mt. Pleasant is the center tow^nship of the county and is bounded on the north by Mound, on the west by Charlotte, on the south by Lone Oak and New Home, and on the east by Summit — it is township 40, range 31 west. It is largely prairie, broken more or less by the Miami and Mound branches and their tributaries. Some rock and timber. The soil is good mulatto prairie, with rich bottoms along the larger streams. Generally speaking it is a beautiful undulating prairie country. We gather from an old history of Bates county that all the fol- lowing were early settlers and made their settlements prior to 1861 : George W. and Alexander Patterson, William Hurt in 1858, George W. Pierce, Alfred Miller, Jacob D. and Joel B. Wright, Henry Mills, Lewis Dixon, in 1861, several families of the Robinsons, Ham Case, Nathaniel and D. Porter, Reverend Phoenix of the Christian church, John Morris, in 1843, Dr. Giles B. Davis in 1843, Thomas and William McCord sometime prior to 1843, Wilds, a Mormon, settled on section 19 in 1838. Butler is the county seat, and is about the center of the township, and near the center of the county. Its location is sightly and well drained, and sanitary conditions by nature are good. Mound branch, a short distance east, is the only considerable stream near it. For further data about Butler, her people and business, see chap- ter on Butler. Charlotte Township. Charlotte is z rolling prairie land, fertile and productive. It is watered and drained principally by the Miami and Pecan branches of the Marais des Cygnes river, which for a short distance in the south- east corner of the township, form the township line. Samuel Dobbins settled in northeast Charlotte prior to 1843. James Ramey settled on section 24, in 1840. James Browning settled near Ramey about the same date. James McCool settled in the northeast portion at the time he was one of the county seat commissioners for Bates county. He moved to Texas in 1861. Clark Vermillion settled on section 10 before the war. William Conley, Oliver Elswick, Samuel (i8) 274 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Martin, J. C. Toothman, J. B. Moody, Samuel Park, Hamilton Case, Joseph Caze, and M. A. Morris were all early settlers some time prior to the Civil War, but the dates of their settlement have not been handed down. Virginia became a trading point upon the establishment of a post- office there in 1871, and hence it has always been known as the Virginia Postoffice. Thomas Steaver was the first postmaster, and his office was a half mile east of the present village store or center. James Orear built and started the first store in 1874, and was postmaster. In 1875, S. P. Nestlerode purchased the stock and became postmaster. In 1877, Arbogart & Armstrong became the merchants and in 1879 H. H. Fleisher opened a drug store. About the same date Roberts & Presley bought out Arbogart & Armstrong and soon moved the stock of goods away. Fleisher became postmaster. James S. Pierce was his partner at this time. In February, 1882, Pierce sold out to W. N. Hardinger. February, 1879, J. W. Manahan opened a stock of furniture and in 1880 sold out to B. F. Jenkins, who added hardware. He sold in 1881 to Drysdale & Son; and the same year Fleisher & Pierce sold their drug stock to Williams & Drysdale. For a number of years Judge John McFadden ran the only general store, and the days of its business and mercantile importance, at this time, seem to have departed. It is a community center and the center of a fine rural district. Good roads and automobiles have ruined it as a natural trading point. A number of the early settlers in and about the village were Virginians and hence its name. Homer Township. Homer is bounded on the west by the state of Kansas. It is an undulating prairie country, of fair up-land, and rich bottoms, along Mulberry creek and the Marais des Cygnes river. It is well watered and has abundant timber and coal. Among the pioneers of Homer in the ante-bellum days may be mentioned Jeremiah and Thomas Jackson, and another Thomas Jack- son, called "Yankee Jackson" to distinguish him, H. B. Frances, Thomas Francis, William Braden, Pierce Hackett, J. M. Rogers, Bluford Merch- ant, Chesley Hart, and D. R. Braden. The Francis brothers were from Illinois, the Bradens from Ohio and Hackett from England. Among others who came near the close of the war, and wdio helped shape the progress of the township were, Robert Leech, Judge Lyman Hall, James W. ancl J. T. Whinnery, R. M. Brown, Dr. J. M. and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 275 Hugh Gailey, Jeremiah Rankin, Wilham and Judge D. V. Brown, James Pilgrim, William Rodgers, David Braden, and Judge John A. Lefker, who erected a saw mill on the Marais des Cygnes river in 1870, at what is now known as Hawkins' Ferry, and in 1875 he made it a grist-mill as well. About the year 1867 the government established a postoffice at Mulberry, on Mulberry creek, at the home of Robert Leech, and soon became and continued for some years to be, quite a trading post, store, blacksmith shop, school, etc., but as to the village it may now be said to have taken its place among other promising villages and towns of the early days, which are now .extinct. Amoret is situate on the Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad, and was laid out in 1890 by the Missouri Coal & Construction Com- pany. It has a bank, several stores, other shops, an elevator and warehouses. It is just one mile from the state line in the south-central part of the township. The great Darby orchard of 800 acres comes right up to the city limits and the fruit industry affords employment for many laborers. It ranks among the best business towns on what is called the Kansas City Southern railroad in this county. Walnut Township. Walnut is a border township, with Kansas on its west. Homer and Charlotte townships on the north, New Home on the east and Howard on the south. With the Marais des Cygnes river forming the division line most of the distance between it and the two townships to the north. Wal- nut has much valuable timber and large rich bottom lands. The land not timbered is rolling prairie and splendid agricultural land. Mine creek comes out of Kansas and waters the extreme northwest part, and Walnut creek enters the township in the southwestern corner and flows in a northeasterly direction entirely through the township and enters the Marais des Cygnes river in the northwest part, of New Home; with its tributary streams it waters and drains almost the whole town- ship. The township and creek derive their names from the enormous black walnut trees that grew in the bottoms and valleys. In 1880, before there was any railroad in Bates county, except the Missouri, Kansas & Texas at Rockville, D. W. Laughlin, an old citizen of Walnut township, sold six great walnut trees for fifty dollars each to be cut and floated down Walnut creek, thence down the river to the Osage, 276 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY thence to the Missouri river. Our informant says he counted 384 annular rings on one of the stumps, which would make the tree sprout in A. D. 1496, or just after Columbus discovered America. A Mr. Cox, on Walnut creek, made a record in the early days by splitting 1,250 ten-foot rails out of the big walnut trees. There were numerous fords across the river: the government ford and ferry in section 33; Gritton ford, north of where Foster now is; Whitewash ford across Walnut in the center of section 11. The Government road from Lex- ington. Missouri, crossed here on its way to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Goods were brought up the Missouri river to Lexington and then freighted along this road to supply the country which could not be reached from the White river in Arkansas. Marvel bridge was the first bridge built across the river, in 1879, in section 1. Since then a number of sub- stantial bridges have been built across the main streams and the river in the township. Abundant coal exists in this township, and coal mining is one of the chief industries. One of the earliest settlers was Hon. John McHenry. He was a Kentuckian and a Democrat. He came to Missouri in 1840, and was elected the first representative to the General Assembly in 1842. A year later, November 15, 1841, his son, James McHenry, came to Walnut township. James Goodrich, a nephew of the elder McHenry, came about the same date, but went to California in 1844. William Cooper came from Pettis county in 1840. One of the pioneers of the county was Lewis Gilliland, who settled in \\'alnut some time prior to 1840. He went, with others, to California in 1850. Mark West, the father of Gentry, was an early settler, and died in 1851. Thomas Woodfin and his sons came from North Carolina to Johnson county, Missouri, and thence to Bates in 1839 and 1840. Shelton and Gilliland were the only settlers who preceded the Woodfins. Cooper, McCall and Hedges catiie soon afterward. Judge Edward Bartlett came to Walnut township in 1844. Under Order No. 11, Bartlett went to Kan- sas but returned in 1866. Marvel was first located on the Marais des Cygnes river in section 1, but was moved to section 2, and later abandoned or discontinued. The first postmaster was in 1846. A small stock of goods was opened at Marvel in 1868 at the residence of James Campbell by Kincaid & Park. The first store in the township was established in section 1. by a Mr. Jewell before the Civil War. James McDaniel also sold goods before the war at a little place called Louisville in section 5, near the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 277 mouth of Mine creek. Both Marvel and Louisville belong in the extinct village class. . Walnut Postoffice, located on section 16, came into existence in 1872. Berry kept a drug store there in 1879. Lee Peak sold dry goods in 1878. A. H. Lloyd and John Craig were the blacksmiths and Dr. Splawn the physician. When Foster, or W'alnut, grew up in a night, just two miles away, \\'alnut Postoffice went out and took its place in the extinct class. Worland was laid out September 4, 1888, by Arch L. Sims and James M. Tucker, and took its name from Harry W^orland, a druggist, who did a flourishing business there. It has at this time, about 100 population, and is situate about a mile from the Kansas-Missouri state line in section 7, on the St. Louis & Eastern railroad, often called the Madison branch of the Missouri Pacific railway and near the cross- ing of the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf railroad. Foster was born in 1884. It was a typical western boom town, and within a few months had a population of 2,000 people, and was a hustling driving place. It went up like a rocket and came down like a stick. We cannot go into its wonderful history at this place, designed for mere mention of the upstanding facts of each township. The Wal- nut Land & Coal Company, with a million dollars capital, was indirectly behind the boom, and the town was first called Walnut, but when the people asked for a postoffice they had to change the name, as there was already a postoffice of W^alnut about two miles away. In due time, the town — it was really a small city by this time — was re-christened Foster, after Governor Foster, then everywhere known as "Calico Char- ley" of Ohio who was secretary of the W^alnut Land & Coal Company. Two years after it was founded what is now known as the Inter-State, or Madison branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad, was builded to and through the town. After a sensational and precarious career it soon settled down into the village class and its glory departed. At this time it has a population of about 400, has a bank, lumber yard, depot, express office, two blacksmith shops, and seven stores, and does a healthy country business, the surrounding territory being a fine grain and stock growing country. Much coal has been mined all about the town, and the vast coal deposits yet await the call of labor and capital. The town of Walnut (Foster) was laid out by E. A. Henry as trustee for Thomas M. Nichols, Phil L. Spooner, Jr., Charles Foster, Amos Town- send, J. Warren Kiefer, Warner Miller, B. J. Waters, J. L. Pace, and John Scullin, on July 3, 1883. CHAPTER XXI. TOWNSHIPS, TOWNS AND VILLAGES— CONTINUED. NEW HOME TOWNSHIP — NEW HOME VILLAGE — SHOBETOWN AND RIVELY — CORNLAND— LONE OAK TOWNSHIP — PERU AND ATHOL— PLEASANT GAP TOWNSHIP— PLEASANT GAP VILLAGE— STUMPTOWN — HUDSON TOWNSHIP- HUDSON— LAHIA—ROCKVILLE TOWNSHIP— ROCKVILLE TOWN— PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP— HARMONY MISSION — PAPINSVILLE — PRAIRIE CITY— OSAGE TOW^NSHIP- HOWARD TOWNSHIP— SPRAGUE — HUME New Home Township. The Marais des Cygnes river finds its tortuous way entirely through this township in a general southeasterly direction. Its bottoms are wide, rich and largely covered with valuable timber — oak, hickory, pecan, elm, sycamore, cottonwood, etc. The only tributaries worth mention- ing are Burnett's branch, Island slough, and Cottonwood branch. For- merly there were numerovis lakes in the bottoms, but many have been drained and are no more. Mark West appears to be the oldest settler. He came in 1834, and bought a claim in section 6, from Daniel Woodfin. Mrs. West was a daughter of Col. James Atten. who came to Harmony Mission in 1834. She died in 1842 while struggling with her husband to establish a pio- neer home in an unsettled country. Mrs. Charlotte Miller was among the pioneers, settling in New Home in 1841. Jackson ^^^all came into this township some time prior to 1843, and located near the center of the township on a high mound, and died there in 1849 or 1850. George W. Turner, of Virginia, came in 1843, and died before 1860. Jere- miah Burnett came in 1849. Daniel settled here before 1843. went west to California in 1849, ?.nd died there. Lewis and Levi Deweese came from North Carolina and settled in the township about 1841. The brothers both died and their widows returned to North Carolina. James Poag opened a claim prior to 1843 and O. H. P. Miller and Will- iam Powers were early settlers. A man named Haymaker built a mill — saw and grist — on the Marais des Cygnes river about 1870, in section 6. It washed away in 1880 and nothing is left to mark the spot. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 279 The village of New Home was founded in 1869, on the southwest quarter of section 20, township 39, range 32. Colonel, afterward Judge, Samuel F. Hawkins owned the town site, and built the first house in the town in 1870. J. E. Thomas built the first business house in the town in 1870. Hiram Slater was the blacksmith. Dr. P. E. Calmes was the first doctor. Dr. R. F. Hulett, now living at Galena, Mis- souri, came and opened an ofitice in 1875. Edmond Cope was the first postmaster in 1873. Other merchants were Morlan Brothers, Fisher & Givens, and Fisher & Thomas. Shobetown and Rively, once active mining towns, have passed away and are now enjoying the obscurity of all extinct villages. Cornland, once an important trading point, on the Marais des Cygnes at the iron bridge on the road to Rich Hill, has ceased to be of commercial importance since Athol, a short distance away, became a stopping place for trains on the Missouri Pacific railroad. Lone Oak Township. Lone Oak township is irregular in shape and is bounded by its sister townships as follows: On the north by Summit and Mt. Pleas- ant, on the west by New Home, on the south by the Marais des Cygnes river and on the east by Prairie and Pleasant Gap. Lone Oak has abundant water and timber, and a variety of soil from low bottoms to blufTs, from bluffs to high prairie land, all good grass, grain and stock lands. The principal tributaries of the Marais des Cygnes in this township are Miami, Mound branch. Double Branches creek and Willow creek, with smaller streams tributary to these. For- merly some large lakes were along the river, but with the recent drainage projects they are nearly all dry land now. Among the pioneer settlers of Lone Oak was Dr. William C. Requa, who bought out a Mormon fugitive from Jackson by the name of Daniel Francis, in 1837, just before that part of the county had been surveyed and sectionized by the government and he continued to reside there with his family until he died, about 1886 at the ripe age of ninety-one. The story of Doctor Requa will be found elsewhere in this book. William R. Thomas located in section 11, township 39, range 31, in 1844, and died there. Abraham Towner and Daniel Francis, Mormons, who had been driven out of Jackson county, came in 1835. Francis died here before the Civil War and Towner moved to California some time in the fifties. Philip Stanford lived north of Doctor Requa. He went to 280 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Texas. George Requa settled in the township in 1834. He was one of the Union missionaries in 1820. He died here before 1860. He' left the following children and his widow: William, Austin, James, George, Cyrus J., Martha ]., and Lucy E., several of whom, and possibly all, are now dead. James H. Requa opened a farm in 1840, and he was probably the first school teacher in the township. Enoch Humphreys, A. G. Ellidge, Lindsey Wine, John H. Thomas, Joseph Jones, John and C. Columbus Blankenbaker, John O. Starr and John Daniel were all pioneers and good men and farmers. The first apple orchard in the township was set out by Dr. W. C. Requa and it was probably the first one in the county after the one set by the missionaries at Harmony, a few miles south of Prairie township. W. R. Thomas erected a windmill in 1856 which ground corn and wheat. He operated it until the war came on and it was destroyed. Lone Oak has never had a town or village, but Peru is the com- munity center of the township. Athol is a railroad coal station, and while several families and a club house are near the stopping— not a station — of the trains, it has never been laid out into lots or become a village. Pleasant Gap Township. The topography of Pleasant Gap township is broken, mostly what is called locally, high prairie ; but it is good agricultural land. It is watered principally by Double Branches and A\'illow creeks. Some timber is along the creeks. History has written that those who settled in this township prior to 1839 were: the Osbornes, a large family from Illinois; two families of Requas in the southwest ; Daniel Francis and two sons-in-law, Arthur and Constable; and Abram Towner, these latter being refugees from Mormon settlements in Jackson county, Missouri. Two families named Harris and Collins lived near the center of the township. Jimmy Ridge, the Walker family, and a family named Beatty. AVilliam Harvey came in 1842 from Texas and left for California in 1849. \\'illiam Hagan located two miles north of the village of Pleasant Gap and went to California in '49. His brother who came at the same time, and at one time county surveyor, left for California in 1852. Joseph ^Vix located, where his son now lives, in 1843. James Cockrell came some time prior to 1843, also James Cockrell. Jr. and also Larkin Cockrell and James, Jr. All went to California in '49. Henry Beaver came from Kentucky and w^ent with the others, William Deweese and his sons, Jesse, Evan HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 28 1 and Eliph, came from Illinois in 1844. Evan was killed in the battle of Lone Jack. For further mention of Joseph Wix see chapter on Biographies. Among other old settlers entitled to mention were : Dr. John H. and R. W. McNeil from New York, Peter Trimble, Horace Milton, Cor- nelius Nafus, S. S. Burch, George M. Requa, John Dillon, W. H. Pitts, J. M. Rogers, William Campbell, Jesse Rinehart, W. B. Young, John Haskins, Philip Standford, James Coe, W. L. Campbell, and John Sis- son. The old settlers were generally from Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. The first postoffice in the east part of the county was established in 1840, near where Pleasant Gap village now is and an old man named Anderson Cockrell was the first postmaster. A mail route was estab- lished from Boonville, Clinton, Pleasant Gap to Balltown, on the Little Osage river near where Horton now is. The first store in Pleasant Gap village was opened by Joseph Smith about 1850. It became quite a business center before the war, and when the county was re-organized after the war Pleasant Gap was the temporary seat of government until it was finally moved to Butler. Pleasant Gap continued to be a good business point for many years and is still a community center. Stumptown. formerly called Lone Oak Postoffice, was established in 1854 in the central western part of the township near the confluence of the north and south branches of Double Branches creek. W. B. Young was the father of this village and opened the first business house in 1854. History records that he carried a stock of general merchan- dise, the predominating articles, however, being tobacco and whiskey ; the latter being almost universally used as the matutinal drink of the old pioneer. Young was noted for his bonhomie and was the recognized fiddler of that vicinity. In addition to being the life of every rural gathering, day or night, he was the sole editor and proprietor of the "Stumptown Clipper," which appeared at regular intervals in manuscript form. The happenings, the doings, the sayings of the neighborhood were all faithfully gathered by this original chronicler, who read his "Clipper" aloud to his own admirers in his own inimitable style. So the historian has set it down, and it is to be regretted that nothing fur- ther is known of the "Clipper." It seems it had no circulation except vive voce, and no files were ever put up or preserved, so it is lost to the world. 282 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Hudson Township. Hudson township is fairly watered and drained by Panther creek and Camp branch and their tributary streams. Timber is along the creeks. It is a fine agricultural township. Rev. Israel Robords, a Missionary Baptist, came in the spring of 1843 and settled near the then town of Hudson. He was a New Yorker, from Saratoga county. Col. George Douglas came to America from Scotland, and settled in the northwest part of the township in 1837. Before the war he owned eight thousand acres of land in one body, and was one of the largest stock raisers in the state. He was one of the first judges of the county court. \\'hen the war came on he went to Texas and took w4th him forty-five slaves. He died there in 1869. George Rains was an early settler, but we have been unable to learn the date. John D. Myers came to Hudson township in 1842, and he became one of the forceful men of the early building days of the county. Hence larger mention of Judge Myers will be made elsewhere. The Gilbreaths, William, Simeon and Stephen came and settled in Hudson in 1840. John Gilbreath, the father of the three sons, died in 1865. aged eighty years. The town of Hudson was located April 10, 1867 by Judge Charles I. Robards who purchased the land for a company of twenty-one men. The first building was a general store, erected by Smith Brothers of Clinton, and William E. Brinkerhoff and Y. A. Wallace put in charge. The second house was a residence erected by Judge Robards. Then a business house owned and operated by James Hodkins and E. M. King. The first blacksmith was Alexander Gordon. Joel Pratt was the first postmaster. The ambitious little village had visions of greatness, but when the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad went by and Appleton City was started three and one-half miles east its dreams faded, and the village has for years been only a memory. Its fate was only typical of many others — predicted too much upon what never occurred, and hence death. In 1877 a postoffice was established called Labia which was discontinued after four years. John W. Brown was the first post- master and Clark Wix the second and last.. Rockville Township. Rockville township is in the southeast corner of Bates county. It is mostly rolling to level, and is watered and drained by Panther, Camp and Shaw branches, flowing into Osage on the south line. Plenty of timber and fine soil. It is. according to the government soil survevors HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 283 elsewhere quoted in this work, the lowest area of the county, being about four hundred feet lower than West Boone township in the extreme northwest part of the county. Robert Belcher settled in Rockville township in section 11, in 1838 and he died in 1856. A man by the name of Bridges, a blacksmith by trade, settled on the Osage river south of the town of Rockville about this time. William Anderson settled two and a half miles west of Rockville in 1837. and died in 1858. Berry Hunt, the first shoemaker, came in the fall of 1838, and settled on the river in the southeast corner of the county and township. Matt Millering and John N. Belcher came respectively in 1856 and 1855. William and Wiseman Hollingsworth were early settlers before the war, in the eastern part. David O. Deever, and his father and family; Frank Logan, John H. Walker, Thomas Belcher and William Shaw were all old settlers, and all came before the war. The town of Rockville was laid out July 29, 1868 by William L. Hardesty on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad, and it has always enjoyed a good trade. It is the shipping point for a wide territory. The township and town seem to have derived their name from a great sandstone quarry which was largely worked in an early day not far from the town. It is excellent building stone and formerly was shipped all over the country; but in recent years seems to have been neglected. The town was incorporated in 1878, the first board of trustees being J. M. Boreing. chairman; A. C. AVood, W. F. Fiquet, L. Johannes, and W. A. Cooper. It now has two banks, a high school, churches, a mill and elevators, and is a thrifty little town, largely surrounded by a good class of good American German farmers. Prairie Township. In Prairie township the Osage and Marais des Cygnes rivers, with their tributaries afford abundant water and also, the means of drain- age. Abundant and valuable timber along the rivers and smaller streams Large, fertile bottoms — somewhat subject to overflow — and rich, rolling uplands. Excluding the settlement of Harmony Mission from the discus- sion of this place and in this connection — because any adequate story of this township's historical worth requires a separate chapter — we endeavor at this place to treat Prairie as other townships are treated. Among the early settlers outside of Harmony Mission, was John 284 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY B. Chorette, a Frenchman, who built a mill about two miles up the jMarais des Cygnes river from Harmony Mission in 1833 or 1834. The precise date of his settlement is not known. He operated the mill for several years and sold it to another pioneer by the name of John M. Parks and while he owned it, sometime during the Civil A\'ar, it was destroyed. This was doubtless the first mill in the county, other than the one at the Mission. Freeman Barrows settled near the Mission in 1838, coming from Middleboro, Massachusetts. He came about the time Harmony Mis- sion was discontinued, and worked in the store of Capt. William Waldo at the Mission until he was appointed county clerk upon the organiza- tion of the county. Freeman Barrows was so connected with the early history of the county that he will receive further mention in the proper chapter. Mr. Barrows settled about a mile and a half southeast of what is now the village of Papinsville, or about two and a half miles southeast of Harmony Mission. About a mile further in the same gen- eral direction was his nearest neighbor. Peter Colin (said to be pro- nounced Colee), a Frenchman; and still about two miles further south- east Melicourt Papin and Alichael Geraud, two Frenchmen, had settled, on the bank of the Osage river at a place known as Rapid de Kaw, because the Kaw Indians were in the habit of crossing the Osage at that point on their hunting trips. The place is now known as Colin's Ford. Papin and Geraud came from St. Louis and were connected with the American Fur Company and were Indian traders. It is certain they settled there as early as 1834, and probably earlier. Other settlers were R. A. Baughan, G. R. Garrison, John Zimmerman. Thomas Scroghern, George W. Hopkins, Daniel Johnson, A. Goodin, John Hart- man, A. B. Bradley, Phillip Zeal. James INIcCool. ]\Iai. J. X. Bradley, H. A. Thurman. D. A. A\'. Moorehouse. Thurman & ]\Ioorehouse were attorneys-at-law. Alexander Waddle was another old settler and set- tled in the northeast part of the township. The history of Harmony Mission requires a separate chapter, and hence we merely mention here that it was the first American settle- ment in all this section of Missouri, and occurred the year that Mis- souri became a state of the Union. The village of Papinsville was laid out in April. 1847. and was named after Melicourt Papin. a French Indian trader. The owner of the land was George Pierce who settled, or "squatted"' there about 1844, and was a farmer. Dr. Samuel Hogan was among the early settlers in the new town. . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 285 The first drug store was opened by Dr. Zachariah Anderson in 1854. Augustine Deville, a Frenchman, was the first blacksmith. Benjamin Richardson operated the first mill in 1853. It was a portable ten-horse power, but afterward located on the bank of the Marais des Cygnes and improved by substituting steam for horse power. It was destroyed by fire in 1861. Thomas Burnside was the pioneer attorney-at-law. S. H. Loring opened the first merchandise store ; F. F. Eddy, the sec- ond. Each of these men moved their stock of goods from Harmony Mission in 1848, when the county seat was located at Papinsville. The first postmaster was Dr. Z. Anderson. F. F. Eddy kept the first house of entertainment. Wiseman Hollingsworth, Preston Denton and Jonathan Kemper, a Baptist minister, were early residents. From 1852 to 1855 Papinsville was the center of much business and was a flourish- ing town. In the early days small steamboats came up the Missouri and the Osage to Papinsville and brought merchandise. During the years mentioned Papinsville had five general stores, and other business and trades in proportion. It was the center of a large circle, and men came many miles to mill and to trade in the most important town in the country at the time. Prairie City was laid out by Joshua N. Durand May 2, 1858. It is nicely located in the center of a fine farming country; but it has never been anything more than a country village and a pleasant com- munity center — a school house and one or two stores. The proud Osage Indians lived about Harmony Mission and where Papinsville was located after their removal to the West, and this township is peculiarly rich from an historical viewpoint, and it will be found adequately treated in tkJs volume. Osage Township. Out away from the river, Osage township is a rolling rich prairie land, with a little broken land along the streams, and wide, low, flat bottoms along the river. Timber is in abundance on the river and its tributaries, the principal being the Big Muddy. Large sections of the township are underlain by fine bituminous coal. Osage had few settlers before the Civil War. It was an open grazing country. But among the earliest settlers we may mention Hardin Summers, Prudence Smith, Widow Powers, L. Culbertson, M. V. Berry and William W^ear. Settlers soon after the war, we may mention George Reif, John D. Moore, J. A. Barron, Rufus Ross, James Kelly, John S. Craig, Isaac Neat, Ed Crabb, S. G. Rhodes. Allen 286 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Haworth, W. C. Hedden, J. P. Moreland, W. B. March. F. M. Dejar- nett, Allen Johnson, E. C. Miller, Alfred Miller, Robert Hamilton, William Barnhill, and Benjamin Vance. Howard Township. Howard is the extreme southwestern township of the county. It is a high, rolling, fertile prairie, very little broken by streams, and scarcely any waste land or timber of importance. It is one of the best grain townships in the county. A. B. Willoughby was one of the first settlers and came from Jack- son county, Missouri, and settled in the southeast part in 1857. Guy Smith came and settled in the same vicinity before the war. Rev. Will- iam Rider settled in this township before the war. John Patton, a brother-in-law, lived near him before the war; and James Hardin, a son-in-law of Guy Patton settled on the headwaters of Reed's creek in an early day. Among those who came and settled in the township immediately after the war are: A. B. Wilkins, Richard Miller, John Badgett, J. J. Franklin. John Rush, J. Frank, J. J. Bearden, R. N. Covert, U. McConnell, C. W. Hollenback and E. C. Maxwell. Sprague was laid out in the fall of 1880 by A. Blaker of Pleasanton, Kansas, and was surveyed by Edwin Butts. The first house in town was moved from New Home by Charles \\^ilson, who was a farmer residing in Howard. He occupied it as a residence and store. The next business house was occupied by J. W. Maker as a general mer- chandise store. The first board of trustees were : J. R. McDonald, chairman; B. H. Smith, clerk; J. W. Bobbitt; W. A. Williams; Alex- ander Willoughby; and Dr. R. F. Hulett. Sprague is on the "Frisco" branch which comes in from Miami to Rich Hill. Hume was laid out in 1880 by Noah Little. In 1882, S. L. Standish laid out an addition north of the "Frisco" right of way. Hume has a public square in the center of business. D. H. Hill built the first business house and put the first stock of goods in. He came from Walnut Post- office in Walnut township. Messenger, Fisher & Kell erected a grist mill in 1882. Hume is situate on the "Frisco" at or near the crossing of the Kansas City Southern as it is now called ; and is a thriving, business-like town. It is claimed that it is the "best town on the Kan- sas City & Southern in Bates county." Through the influence of its only newspaper, the "Border Telephone," every house in town was painted white, and hence it is known as the White Citv on the border. CHAPTER XXII. THE MARAIS DES CYGNES AND OSAGE RIVERS AND VALLEYS. CONFUSION— DERIVATION AND MEANING— EARLY OFFICIAL MAPS — ERRORS- CONTROVERSY — MILTON WHITING — ERRONEOUS PLATBOOKS— EARLY WRIT- ERS — LOCATION OF OSAGES — THE MARAIS DEiS CYGNES A PART OF BOUND- ARY — A BEAUTIFUL SCENE— HAPPY HOME — BIG TREES — CROOKED STREAM — DESCRIPTION — FISH STORIES — RECLAMATION — CAPTAIN A. B. DICKEY— C. G. GREEN — DRAINAGE COMPANY — "VALLEY OF THE NILE"— EXTENSION. As many erroneous notions have arisen from the confusion by early writers of the Osage, the Little Osage gnd the Marais des Cygnes rivers some comment seems proper, and really important to a right understanding of history as it is written. The words "Marais des Cygnes" are French, and everything indicates that the river was so named by French couriers, hunters or traders long before Capt. Zebulon B. Pike's expedition came up the Osage and pitched camp above its mouth on the Little Osage near the confluence of the Marmiton, in 1806. The name literally means "the marshes of the swans." both being in the plural. For an authoritative and technical explanation of its origin and meaning reference is here made to the letter to the author, to be found elsewhere in the Appendix, from Judge Walter B. Douglas, president of the Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis. He is most competent authority on early Missouri history and a scholar and linguist. We accept his statements, and regard them as important and conclusive so far as they touch this matter. Livestigation of all the early official maps to be found in the State Historical Society at Columbia disclosed the fact that the words "Mar- ais des Cygnes" did not appear on any of them in connection with this river until 1838;"aTrd yet the journal of the Harmony missionaHes and some of their letters written in 1821 and 1822 designate what Pike called the "North Fork" as the "Marais de cien." So we mav reason- 288 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ably infer, from a date prior to the settlement of the missionary family at Harmony on its bank, that from its junction with the Little Osage, north and northwest it was known as the Marais des Cygnes river by all who were familiar with it, notwithstanding the fact that the early map makers of this region continued to mark it for many years as the Osage river; and some very recent maps of Missouri do so. A strik- ing instance is the official soil survey map of Bates county published by the Government in 1908, which shows this river as the Osage entirely through this county. In response to a letter from the author an explan- ation will be found in the Appendix in this book from Milton Whiting, chief of Bureau of Soils Survey, United States Agricultural Depart- ment, Washington, D. C, February 2, 1918. Touching the controversy as to whether it is the union of the Little Osage with the Marais des Cygnes, or the union of the Marmiton (formerly designated as Manitou creek) and the Marais des Cygnes, which forms the Osage river, the reader is referred again to a former letter of date January 17, 1918, by Milton Whiting in the Appendix of this book which is exhaustive, and seems historically conclusive. It sustains our contention that the cur- rent platbooks of both Vernon and Bates counties are erroneous in show- ing that the Marmiton unites with the Marais des Cygnes to form the Osage river. The fact is the Marmiton flows into the Little Osage river some miles southwest of the confluence of the Little Osasre with the Marais des Cygnes, and it ought to be so shown on our platbook, at least, if shown at all, as the Marais des Cygnes for some distance down to its junction with the Little Osage is the line between Bates and Vernon. All this has to do with the confusion found in the early writers, even some of the Harmony missionary writers being in error. One of the missionaries states that Harmony is "situated on the north bank of the Marais de Cien, a branch of the Osage river, about six miles above its mouth, one mile from the United States Factory, which was built during the last summer and fifteen or twenty miles from the largest of the Great Osage villages." This statement apparently has had more to do in misleading other writers than any other one statement eman- ating from an apparently authoritative source ; but it is impossible to say who is the author of the statement. We infer it was made by the secretary of domestic correspondence of the United Foreign Mission- ary Board, as it is found in the proceedings of the board at the meet- ing held in New York City, May 8, 1822, only about eight months after , HISTORY OF BATES COUMTY 289 the mission family had become located at Harmony; and it must be remembered that in those days mails were few and early communica- tions from the family possibly were inaccurate and so misled the secre- tary making the report. As tending- to show this the statement is made that Harmony is about "six miles above the mouth of the Marais de Cein" whereas the plat herewith certified by the land office at Wash- ington shows Harmony not to be over three and a half miles from the mouth of the river. The country was wild, and the missionaries may be pardoned for not knowing everything about the country about them in so short a time after their location; and so may the secretary mak- ing this report be reasonably excused for saying that Harmony was "fifteen or twenty miles from the largest of the great Osage villages." The fact that the United States Factory was erected the same year, just before the arrival of the missionary family, and just one mile from Harmony, as the secretary states, indicates that the body of the great Osages resided at that time in that vicinity, wherever they may have resided when De Tissenet, the French-Canadian, came up the Osage in 1719, and visited some Indian villages in that section; or when Capt. Z. B. Pike visited the village near the mouth of the Marmiton on the Little Osage river in 1806. It will be noted that De Tissenet's visit was more than a century before the coming of the mission family — more than two hundred years ago now. The great Osages doubtless moved their chief village many times during the century prior to 1821, and from all the evidence and all reasonable inferences we believe it to be historically true and correct to say that in 1821 the main body of the great Osages resided in what is now Bates county, Missouri, and that at least one of their principal villages was the "one village" men- tioned by Sibley as "seventy-eight measured miles directly south" of Ft. Osage, on the Osage river, or within a mile or two of the site of Harmony Mission. To assume that the Osages resided fifteen or twenty miles away in a low, flat, marshy, swampy section of country where neither they nor their children could, only under great difficulties, get to Harmony negatives all the purposes in view by the mission family. Besides the records of the missionaries show that they considered well the choosing of a site, and with the purpose to establish a great school among the great Osages it is unreasonable to suppose that they did not consider the residence of the people whose children they had come to educate. Every fact and everv reasonable inference from the facts (19) 290 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY leads to the conclusion that they settled as nearly as they could in the midst of the homes of the children of the great Osage tribe. No ques- tion can arise here about the location of the Little Osage tribe; for these missionaries were sent to the Great or Grand Osage tribe, and very little mention is anywhere made of the Little Osage tribe whose principal dwelling place at that time seems to have been near what was known afterward as Little Osage or Bulltown on the Little Osage river above the mouth of the Marmiton a short distance. Reminiscences of the Marais des Cygnes. (By Lucien Green.) The Marais des Cygnes river flows across the southwest corner of Bates county, and unites with the Little Osage near Papinsville, thus forming the big Osage river which, together with the Marais des Cygnes, forms part of the boundary between Vernon and Bates coun- ties. My first sight of the beautiful valley of the Marais des Cygnes ^as in the fall of 1874, and from the height of land eight or ten miles north of the river, the vision extended twenty or more miles to the south and fully two hundred feet above the bed of the river, and about one hundred feet above the top of the big timber adjacent. Li the spring of 1875 I visited the river and the valley and was charmed with what I saw. The adage, "Distance lends enchantment to the view" did not appeal to me. To one reared among the hills of southern Ohio where the forests confined the landscape to two or three miles and where fifteen or twenty acres of level bottom land were large fields, the sight of several hundred — perhaps one thousand acres — in one meadow level as a floor, was a revelation. After seeing these big meadows hundreds of times they have always been beautiful and charm- ing to me. Here where the Osage Lidians lived one luindretl or two hundred years ago, was a paradise for civilized beings, and it would be almost impossible for a tribe of wild Indians to find a pleasanter or happier home. Here was rich pasture for their ponies, little lakes dec- orated with beautiful lilies, the waters on their surface carrying flocks of wild fowl, and in their depths schools of choice fish. The forests between the river and the meadows supplied the Lidians with bear, deer, coon, opossum, squirrels and other four-footed game for their meat; the groves of pecans, hickory-nuts, hazel nuts and walnuts, with nuts to crack and eat. The Christmas and Thanksgiving turkeys awaited the swift arrows to make them ready for the dusky squaws and maidens to pick and roast over the coals for the feast. Yes, indeed, 1^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 29I the wild Indians had "the great Spirit" and why shouldn't they have the fruits of the spirit — trust, hope and thankfulness. I looked at the big trees. Here was a giant elm and there a great oak, fit emblems of the Washington Elm and Charter Oak. We tried to girdle some of the trees to estimate their diameter, but like the young man, our arms were too short, and we had no chalk. I found pecans and hickories almost three feet in diameter, burr oaks, cotton- woods and maples four or more feet in diameter. Many large yellow Cottonwood trees grew near the water, where getting them up the bank was a difficult task. I was informed that the river and the land to the top of its banks belonged to the government ; also that many of those big cottonwoods had suddenly parted from their stumps and when their tops became detached, floated down to a convenient saw-mill. The Marais des Cygnes is a very crooked stream, the water flow- ing to every point of the compass except due west. I visited the river when conditions were different. The low lands were covered with yellow water, the meadows were hidden from view\ Armed with a long handled pitchfork, I walked out on a dry point in search of a mess of fish. A chunk, of rotten wood floated by carrying a water snake as a passenger. A big mudcat showed his periscope in search of a frog or young mud hen but quickly submerged when he saw my harpoon poised for a strike. I saw the fan of a big buffalo as it stood on its head and used its tail as a fan to preserve its equilibrium while nosing in the mud for a succulent grass-root. Yes, buffalo fish eat grass, sweet roots, corn and all kinds of bread when they can get it. Right now I cannot refrain from telling a few fish stories, and they are true ones. Matt Adams, my near neighbor, a good farmer and an expert fisherman and hunter, studied the habits of the buffalo fish. He told me that they went in schools of about the same age and weight ; also that during the floods they swam in the same channels that other schools used perhaps hundreds of years ago. It was during the big flood about 1877 or 1878 that Matt set his long trammel net nearly a mile north of Cornland. The next morning the net yielded him sixty- nine buffalo each weighing eight or ten pounds. Another one. Capt. E. P. Henry and P. L. Wyatt. both old Ohio neighbors and friends, went to the river fishing. They used bull-head catfish for bait and they set their trot-lines in what was known as "the big blue hole" a half- mile up the river from Bell's Mill. The next morning when they went to run their lines they took a shotgun in the boat to use in case of emergencies. They took off a fine lot of catfish, some large ones. One very large one refused to be tired out, but after much effort they got 292 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY it to the top of the water, when one of the fishermen said, '"Let's shoot it." "Oh! no," said his companion, "let's take it alive to show our folks at home." While devising plans to get the fish into the boat, it gave a great flop and lunge and broke the hook. Reader, what would you or I have said, thought or done? Henry and Wyatt were different; they didn't say it, think it, nor do it. Another. A few years ago Kan- sas City fishermen speared a one hundred-twenty-six pound mud- cat in the flood waters north of Rich Hill. One more, and many fisher- men will vouch for the truth of it. I spent two nights and one day fishing in the river and caught enough little fish — to give the skillet a delicious odor. It had long been a problem how to reclaim these Ijottom lands and add them to the farming area of Bates county. Perhaps to Capt. A. B. Dickey of Athens county, Ohio, belongs the honor of being the pio- neer in efforts to reclaim the swamp and overflow lands of the Marals des Cygnes valley and enable it to produce farm crops worth a million or more dollars annually. It was about 1872 that Mr. Dickey came to Bates county to invest in land. Being an ardent sportsman with rod and gun he soon saw the big Goose lake of four hundred acres lying near Cornland, which he purchased along with several hundred other acres, part dry, adjacent. Ditches were cut which removed the sur- face water but did not fit the land for crops. Levees were built and a large stone gate was erected to keep the water from the Miami from flowing into the lake. But the flood waters were not yet ready to give up their own. Finally G. G. Green, the millionaire patent medicine man of Woodbury, New Jersey, who was a cousin, by marriage, came to the aid of Mr. Dickey. Much money was spent and large levees were built but to no purpose. The big waves from thousands of acres of flood waters washed the levees away. Mr. Dickey traded his equity in the land for a hardware store in Chillicothe. Ohio. Owners of the overflow lands formed a Drainage Company under a law enacted by the Missouri Legislature for the reclamation of the swamp and overflow lands of the state. A large ditch, with many small ones, was cut which it is believed will add twenty thou- sand or more acres of land, as rich as the valley of the Nile where Joseph's brothers went to buy corn, to the farming area of Bates county. An extension of this drainage system is in contemplation, along the Osage about ten miles in length to the southeast corner of Bates county, which when completed will add five thousand or more acres to the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 293 present crop area. Along- the Marais des Cygnes, big farms of hun- dreds of acres each produce forty bushels of wheat per acre, and three to four tons of alfalfa per acre and the reclaimed land is found to be adapted to the grains, grasses, vegetables and fruits of the most fav- ored sections of the West. With four million, seven hundred fourteen thousand, two hundred forty-eight bushels of corn raised in Bates county in 1917, a dry year, these reclaimed lands with the addition of several thousand acres on the hills and along the many small streams that eventually will be put under cultivation will easily place Bates county to the front among the one hundred fourteen counties of the state in the production of corn, tame hay, and other agricultural productions. CHAPTER XXIII. THE BIG DRAINAGE DITCH. THE EGYPT OF BATES COUNTY — "MARAIS DES CYGNES" — RECLAMATION — PRE- TENSE — NO FEASIBLE PLAN UNTIL 1906 — PETITION PRESENTED — VIEWERS AND APPRAISERS — PROPOSED PLAN— REMONSTRANCE — REPORTS — JUDGE McFADDEN — REPORT APPROVED — PERMANENT BOARD APPOINTED — DUTIES OF BOARD AND COST OF WORK — OBJECTIONS — CONTRACT— BONDS; — CON- STRUCTION — LITIGATION— COMPLETED — RESULTS — J. F. KERN. In the south half of Bates county Hes its Egypt. Along the Marais des Cygnes and Osage rivers is a wide extended valley of rich black soil, formed from the silt deposits of frequent floods of these streams for ages. Their courses are so tortuous that it is out of the question for their channels to carry the rains off from their water sheds. "Marais des Cygnes" is a French phrase meaning "River of Swans," the curves and bends resembling the curves in the swan's neck, making the name suggestive. These rich valley lands have been recognized since the first settlement of the county as very valuable, if reclaimed. The state gave the land to the county with the understanding they should be reclaimed from the proceeds of their sale. Some pretense of reclama- tion was done, but the larger part of the proceeds from the sale of these lands was passed to the county school fund. Various plans of controlling the flood waters of these streams were agitated in a mild way for years, but not until 1906 was there any feasible plan ofl^ered. The state had passed laws enabling owners of such lands to form drain- age districts and assess the lands therein for such improvements as was decided upon by engineers and approved by the court. In that year a petition was presented to the land owners with a view of forming such a district, and was signed by the owners of a large per cent, of the land. This petition was addressed to the county court, consisting at that time, of J. W. McFadden presiding judge, P. A. Bruce and John Armstrong associate judges. The court appointed A. H. Bell of Bloomington, Illinois, an experi- enced drainage engineer, Cyrus Requa, Charles Van Benthusen, and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 295 Robert Johnson as a preliminary board of viewers to go over the route of the proposed plan and report on their practicability. The proposed plan was to dig a new straight channel for the river, commencing near what is known as the Marvel bridge and outletting in the Osage river about a mile below old Belvoir Ferry. This channel, cut as straight as possible, would be about twenty-five miles long, wdiile the river the same distance flowed seventy-three miles. After spend- ing a few days going over the proposed route the viewers brought in their report or tried to. The owners of about twenty-five per cent, of the land, but representing a large majority of owners, had gotten busy with a remonstrance and had tried to inject politics into the matter and succeeded in getting Robert Johnson to bring in a minority adverse report. The other three made a favorable report to the court. This remonstrance was signed by some two hundred thirty owners and some who were not owners while the petitioners had only about seventy-five. These remonstrators, encouraged by Johnson's adverse report, got very much in earnest and held meetings largely attended, to try to influence the court to deny the petition. The history of Bates county will not be justly written that does not give Judge McFadden and his court everlasting credit for being far-sighted enough and broad-minded enough, and having back bone enough to decide in favor of this improve- ment over such a large opposition. The court approved the majority report of the preliminary viewers and then appointed a permanent board of viewers and an engineer. The court appointed A. H. Bell as engineer, J. J. March, J. W. Bard and Estes Smith as permanent viewers. The duty of this board was to go over the land, locate the improvements, classify each tract of land for benefits and estimate the entire cost of the work and assess each tract of land a sufificient sum to pay for the cost of the work in proportion to the classification. This work took about five months to complete. The entire cost of the work was estimated at three hundred eighty-six thou- sand dollars, and lands receiving one hundred per cent, benefits were assessed ten dollars and ninety-three cents per acre. When this report was made the court advertised a day to hear any objections to the classifications. It took the court about eight days to go over the objections to the classifications, but the changes thev made were only slight and reduced the total assessment only about eight thousand dollars. The court then approved the report of the perma- nent viewers and advertised a day for letting the work. At the letting 2g6 HISTORY OF BATES COL'NTY there was a large attendance of contractors from many states. The bid of Timothy Faahey & Sons to take the entire work at the estimated cost of eight cents per cubic yard was accepted. Bids were all made subject to the money being available from the sale of the bonds issued against the assessments. The sale of three hundred seventy thousand dollars of the bonds of the district was then advertised and the sale was attended by bond houses from many cities. The bid of fifteen thousand dollars premium made by McDonald-McCoy & Company of Chicago was accepted. The bonds were sold subject to the approval of the proceedings by Wood & Oakley, attorneys of Chicago, Illinois. Judge Wood required consent of the Missouri Pacific railroad to cross its tracks before he would approve the proceedings. This required tedious negotiations. The viewers had assessed the railroad company fifteen thousand dollars for benefits and could not comply with Judge Wood's requirements until the assessment against the railroad company had been cancelled by a court decree. This done, the contractors at once commenced moving in their machinery. The work was all done by floating dredges. There were live at work at one time, two of them machines with two and one-half cubic yard buckets. The construction work was completed in 1909, except some rock work in the lower end which the contractor had sublet to A. V. Wills & Sons. Litigation over this matter is still pending in the Federal Court. The county court relet the rock work and it was removed. Some long continued rainy spells had demonstrated to the land owners after the ditch was completed that its capacity was not suf- ficient to carry all floods and a second proceeding was taken through the county court and an additional sum of one hundred seventy-one thousand dollars was raised to dig the ditch ten feet deeper and to cut off four big bends in the old channel. This was done and the second work was completed in 1911. This work has so reduced the flood hazard that large acreages of this rich land are producing heavy crops of wheat and corn. The wheat crop of the valley in 1917 alone would pay for the last assessment against the land to deepen the ditch. There is not a doubt but this work and supplementary work that will follow by individuals will ultimately entirely reclaim all these lands, and the "History of Bates County" would not be complete without the history of this, the biggest and most important work ever done in and for Bates county. There are forty-orte thousand acres in this drainage district and when producing the added wealth to the county together with HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 297 added conveniences and improved health conditions will make this dis- trict a real Bates county Egypt. Many of the land owners did much to help put this great work through to completion, but to the untiring push, energy and stick-to- itiveness of J. F. Kern, the chief promoter and originator, belongs the credit of its completion. CHAPTER XXIV. THE GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE. (By Liicien Green.) IN KANSAS— THE GRANGERS— POOR CROP YEARS— INVASION— J. C. TAYLOR- SMALL DAMAGE — THE "JUANITA OF THE WEST" — JOURNEY TO BATES COUNTY — D'ESTINATiON^RECEPTION— JOHN McCONNELL— CAPTAIN JOHN W. HANNAH — THE ATTACK— LEAVE TAKING — GOOD FEELING — CROPS. Our recollections of the invasion of the grasshoppers began in Cofi'ey county, Kansas where we located in 1873. Lest the inquisitive inquire w^hy any one should leave Ohio for Kansas will explain : We were looking for health and more acres of land. We did not find health and acres grew less. Was a charter member of Hampden Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. No more intelligent, helpful and sociable peo- ple can be found anywhere than were those grangers of the community. The years 1873 and 1874 were poor years for crops except on the Neosho bottoms where wheat was very good. The invasion of the grasshoppers in August, 1874, together with the great financial panic added to our discontent. When the hoppers came farmers hurried to put their nub- biny corn in shock, and the hoppers hurried to crawl into the shocks and eat the green blades and shucks. Other hoppers ate the green blades and shucks from the standing corn. The hoppers did not observe usual rules of travel; when a house or barn was in their path they climbed over. They ate all green and succulent vegetation except milk weed. They tried their teeth on hoe, pitch-fork, axe and shovel handles and left them rough as files or rasps. Muskmelons were their choicest food. When a ripe melon was covered several deep they tried to pull each other aside to get a place at the feast. In the spring of 1873. J. C. Taylor, now of Adrian, Bates county, became a member of our family. Esquire Taylor, Jim's father, was an early Bates county pio- neer and died on the farm later owned by Fred Cobb who was here before the Civil War. Jim's mother died early in 1873. His step- father was not good to him and Jim had no place to call home. We * HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 299 met and stayed together. Jim had staked buffalo hides and fried buf- falo steaks over a fire of buffalo chips, on the plains of central Kansas. He could break a bronc and milk a wild Texas cow and was the most helpful and dependable sixteen-year-old boy we have met in the West. We can't follow the grasshoppers without using Jim, so "more anon." The hoppers did not do much damage in Coffey county. The long- drouth with hot winds had made prairie grass too dry and tough to be palatable and most garden vegetation had perished. Early in January, 1875, we sold our surplus effects — except two large fat hogs, which Jacob Menzie, the big jolly Burlington butcher, would not buy at a fair price ; so we butchered them and put meat, lard and sausage in a box for future use. Before leaving Kansas we wish to commend the people of Coffey county, the rich soil, the beautiful Neosho river — the Juanita of the West — :to all homeseekers. On our journey to Bates county we saw piles of ice at most farm houses. The summer and fall of 1874 had been very dry and early winter very cold, with but little snow, and small branches and creeks were dry and larger ones frozen with ice a foot thick. Our first stop in Bates county was at the home of C. W\ Wolf east of Trading Post. Mr. Wolf was raised in Athens county, Ohio, and was and is yet the prince of good fellows. Don't know v/here Mrs. W^olf was raised but evidently in a Christian community vvhere good housekeeping and entertaining sociability were the rule. As we neared our new home Jim frequently hopped out of the wagon for pieces of dry wood with the remark, "We'll need that pretty soon." After crossing the Miami Jim frequently said, "My, but ain't that dirt black. Guess it will raise corn if the hopper's don't eat it up." We finally got to the place we called home for seven years on what was later known as the Hartwell farm. Wagons unloaded, stove set up and fire started, we went to the Miami for a load of ice, and then to the woods for a load of seasoned, knotty double and twisted w^ater oak tops at forty cents. Wire was not much used for fencing and farmers were saving of their timber. The soil about our home was black and in places when disturbed revealed many little white eggs, glistening in the sun like little drops of sleet. Our neighbors were kind and communicative but none of them could tell us where we could get work, or buy feed for our team. The hoppers were discussed from every angle. "When will they hatch? How long will they stay and will they destroy the corn, gardens, etc?" John McConnell, from Illinois, who owned the Judge B. F. Thorn- ton farm south of the Tripp school house, went to Illinois and returned 300 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY with fifty bushels of corn, a part of which he divided among his neigh- bors. Mr. McConneh was a splendid citizen, intelligent, a good farmer, and sympatjietic to the unfortunate. His son, Lemuel, has been an honored and influential citizen of Hume for more than forty years and he and his wife with the presence of many friends celebrated their golden wedding some time last year, so we were informed. Capt. John W. Hannah got a lot of corn from somewhere which he divided among the farmers wdio were not able to buy corn for seed. Notes were given but never presented for payment. Some corn was brought to Butler from Cass county and sold at one dollar a bushel straight, or one and a quarter sorted for seed. We divided our land and Jim prepared twenty acres for corn and planted early, a rule he always followed as long as he was on a farm. After corn and potatoes were planted and gardens made farmers were in the condition of an army of soldiers who "lay on their arms" expecting an attack by the enemy — the hoppers — at any time. Finally after a spell of warm weather early in May the word went over the neighborhood, "The hoppers are hatching!" We went to our garden but could not see either onions or lettuce, but a lot of little wingless hoppers who had eaten the onions off below the surface. Jim returned from his corn- field and exclaimed, "The hoppers have eaten off every blade of corn and I am going to look for a job." Many farmers replanted their corn while others waited. East of Butler the corn was not badly damaged. Early in June the hoppers first hatched were almost full-grown and a few of the largest seemed to be uneasy; they would hop about with wings stretched as though learning to fly or teaching the young to fly. About the middle of June the hoppers, at what seemed to be a precon- certed signal like a wireless message, arose like a cloud as big as a county and drifted to the northwest. Gloom gave way to joy and an era of good feeling prevailed among the people. Men and boys who had not puckered their lips for months, wdiistled and sang as they fol- lowed the cultivators through the rank corn. Neighbors who had been estranged met, shook hands, and said, "Do come and see us." They put off the frown and put on the smile. The corn crop of 1875 broke all previous records. Theo. Shaw and Captain Hannah built large cribs in town and filled them with corn at sixteen to twenty-five cents per bushel to feed their big herd of steers on Mound branch. The seasoii was just right for corn and rains came wdien needed. Many of the best showers came Saturday night or on Sunday allowing the farmers HISTORY 01- BATES COUNTY 301 to work six days in the week. How about that box of meat and lard and sausage? We sold sixty dollars worth and by eating many meat- less meals had enough for home use. We took two forty-pound hams to Butler to trade for flour and groceries. The merchants were sus- picious. Mr. Rafter looked at us with an eye and countenance of a detective and inquired "Where did you get those hams?" We pointed to the pile of thin bacon on the counter and replied, "You know they were not made in Bates county, and we assure you they were not stolen." We sold them on the west side at thirteen cents a pound. The year 1875 will be remembered as the year of the big corn crop; also for the great immigration to Bates county and western Missouri. And what became of Jim? He worked by the month for John H. Williams, Sherman Humphrey, and others for several years. He had a good time, dressed well and was respected and trusted by all who knew him. He finally met a fine girl. Miss Laura Rosamond, a sister to Frank, the painter, and they married. After about twenty years of hard work, economy and good management they sold their one hun- dred-acre farm, made a sale and with seven thousand dollars went to Adrian, and are respected and influential citizens of that little city. Their son. jimmv, was assistant postmaster under our old friend War- ren Parrish. Mattic, their daughter, married a good man and all are happy and contented. We think it was Professor Wiley who twenty or twenty-five years ago ate a dinner of grasshoppers at Lawrence, Kansas and found them palatable. CHAPTER XXV. REMINISCENCES. OLD SETTLERS AND EARLY INCIDENTS— INTERESTING FACTS — RECOLLECTIONS OF HARMONY MISSION — BATES COUNTY IN THE FIFTIES— SIXTY-EIGHT YEARS AGO — EVENTS OF LONG AGO— TALKS AND TALES OF OLDEN TIMES. Old Settlers and Early Incidents, The recollection of a conversation with Mr. AA'illiam Harkins on the porch at his home near old Rich Hill in the summer of 1887 leads the writer to think that possibly others may be interested in simple incidents and folk lore of former days. Mr. Harkins had been a soldier of the War of 1812 his home at that time being in the wilds of western New York state. A typical pioneer he soon found that the environ- ments of that vicinity were changing too fast for him and he gradually drifted with the tide of emigration west until he reached his last abid- ing place near Rich Hill when Bates county was still in the wilds. He loved to tell of the incidents of the early settlements of the country from New York state west to Bates county, Missouri. He died near Rich Hill about 1886, one of the last survivors of the War of 1812. He was a type of the first settlers, honest because it was natural to be so, he wore his rough side out. and what would have appeared to the refinement of the present day, as bruskness was simply the influence of surroundings that called for positive actions and resolutions to meet conditions; and under the hardened exterior there glowed a kindly dis- position that had none of the cultivated exuberance bred by hope of gain. He was neither rich nor poor as we term it today. When the conversation turned to acquiring property he would say, "I have always been careful and have succeeded in keeping enough property to be independent." That sentiment prevailed largely with the early settlers. To him "independent" meant the having of enough to eat and wear and be comfortable in his home and sufficient land and stock to rea- sonably assure the continuance of that condition. I use him as a type because he was one of the most typical of the type that formed the better element of the first settlers. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O3 Mr. James Rand, another old settler, typified another class of old settlers in that he occupied a position between the real pioneer class and the modern settler. Mr. Rand and Mr. H. P. Robinson entered land early, in the vicinity of where Rich Hill now stands, and soon after the war settled on this land. Mr. Rand took. great interest iii the development of the country and had much to do with the making of the present west road between Rich Hill and Butler and superin- tended the making of a dirt grade across the bottom, much of the work yet remaining after more than forty years of use. W. H. Ratekin, another pioneer, should be mentioned in this article as he was the mov- ing spirit in securing the establishment of the postoffice of Rich Hill. Mr. Ratekin was a carpenter and farmer and not only built many of the first houses built in the neighborhood but also made many of the cofTfins in which the dead were buried. He had traveled quite exten- sively and being a great reader, being one of the very few who regularly took metropolitan papers, he was a man much sought in the country postoffice gatherings because of his knowledge of events. To disabuse the mind of any who have it in mind that "carpenter" did not sig- nify a workman as applied to pioneers I will just add that just prior to his settling at Rich Hill, Mr. Ratekin had personally fitted and superin- tended the fitting of every door and window in the finest hotel then building that St. Louis had at that time. I mention this because it is a fact that younger people too frequently form an idea that everything • pioneer was on crude or ignorant lines while the facts are that many of the men whom we now call pioneers were familiar with college curriculum or were skillful in their lines. It may sound strange to many when I say that I took lessons in vocal music in a country school house from the same teacher who taught Ira D. Sankey in a musical con- servatory, but such is the fact. Many men of experience and standing in their lines in older settled countries tired of the confinement or limited opportunities in their country and came West for greater oppor- tunities. Such a one was the late H. Philbrick who settled near Rich Hill soon after the war. He was a college-bred engineer and a man of afifairs. Few men had a larger acquaintance in Bates county and none knew the county better than he. He was county surveyor for many years. In about the year 1867 or 1868 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas rail- road was projected and it being generally assumed that it would follow near the old Booneville-Fort Scott road by way of Papinsville, W. A. 304 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Newton thought he saw that it would be necessary for shippers of stock to have a feeding station between Denison and Hannibal and he determined in his mind that this station could well be located near where the road would come out of the Marais des Cygnes river bottom onto the high land. Following this conclusion to the practical point he purchased several thousand acres of land southeast of where Rich Hill now stands and proceeded to get ready to carry out his well laid plans, but he did not reckon with Nevada's money and influence and the railroad missed him in its route. He then set about making a stock farm of his land which later came to be known as the "McGinnis Ranch." Mr. Newton being disappointed in his first plans did not show the white feather and give up but on the other hand he pushed on and became one of the most influential men in Bates county and wJien the railroads were built into Rich Hill he sold his holdings to good advan- tage and died at the ripe old age of nearly ninety-one years one of the wealthiest men in the county. O. Spencer was another old settler that requires more than pass- ing mention. He was a well educated man and a minister by profes- sion. He settled near Rich Hill in an early day and divided his time between farming and preaching. Later in life he was largely engaged in coal business and breeding fine horses, many of his horses taking high rank on the great tracks of the country. Mr. Spencer engaged in the horse business purely from his love of fine horses. He was largely instrumental in the establishing of the Rich Hill track which became one of the best known tracks in the state. Mr. Spencer died at his home adjoining the city of Rich Hill in 1916. Among the old settlers, few were better or more favorably known than William Wears, in whose home the postoffice of Rich Hill came into actual working condition under the administration of Mr. Rate- kin, the first postmaster. It was at the home of Mr. W^ears that most of the railroad promoters and coal prospectors made their headquar- ters. Here the engineers stopped when in 1887 a road was proposed from a point near LaCygne to Springfield, the proposed route being between Brushy Mound and the lake of the same name, thence south- easterly along the first high land along the river past where old Rich Hill was located. Mr. Wears kept abreast of the times in those days and was wide awake to the opportunities that the building of a rail- road would give to the people here. While the road proposed at that time did not get further than a paper road Mr. W^ears lived to enter- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 305 tain the road builders when both the present roads were projected and built. For many years after realizing the ambition he had of living near a live town, he lived in peace and plenty. Considering the high standing of the class of people who early settled here it is not difficult to see why Rich Hill school was one of the best in Bates county. While the three R's were the basis of the rudiments taught, it is still a question which is best. Here the pupils learned to spell and the higher classes would soon put down the best high school team of today. They also learned to ''figger" and sought, rather than evaded difficult "sums." And write, yes, they learned to write a neat, smooth hand, writing that would pass anywhere. It would not be correct to say that all who went to school did these things but the per centage of those who left school prepared for future schools or for actual life, would compare favorably with our most enlightened com- munities of the present day. The very surroundings bred an inde- pendence of action and thought that produced results. The annual school "exhibition" was the great event of the year in the neighborhood. It would be too much to assume that there were not many ludi- crous situations, many arising from ignorance and others bred by the independent happy-go-lucky surroundings of new countries. While as a rule people "got along" with each other amicably there were excep- tions to the rule and one of the principal methods of expressing one's dissatisfaction or contempt of another was "not to speak" to the offender. The custom of the country being to speak to every one you met, it was a sure sign of enmity when one person would meet another and not speak. Speaking of ludicrous situations this story, a fact, will illustrate one such case. Names omitted. T. and W. lived on adjoining farms. T. raised corn in summer and taught school in winter. W. raised hogs and had somewhat of contempt for his neighbors. W.'s hogs got into T.'s corn too often to keep up good feeling of friendship. With the aid of dogs and clubs T. was making it unpleasant for W.'s hogs when W. took a shot at long range with bird shot into mixture of hogs, dogs and Mr. T. Mr. T. proceeded at once to get out a "state war- rant" for W. W. H. Gotten, who still lives near Rich Hill, then a young man, held the exalted position of constable. The warrant being delivered to him he forthwith arrested Mr. W. and brought him before the "squire," who instructed the officer to take the prisoner to Butler (20) 306 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY jail. Mr. Gotten seeing the humorous side of the question protested that the offense was a bailable one and stated that the prisoner was ready to give bond, whereupon Mr. T. rose and addressed the court in this manner: "May it please your honor this is not a bailable case, it is murder in the first degree and I object to prisoner being released on bond." At this the "squire" said he did not know what was best to do and told the constable to take the prisoner. Mr. Gotten took the prisoner and laughingly told him to go home till he was called for. Goming now to the city of Rich Hill, proper, Gol. Ed Brown has been, and properly, too, called the "Father of Rich Hill." A graduate of an Eastern college, an officer in the army in the Givil War, a promoter of rare ability, he it was who succeeded in enlisting capital to build the Missouri Pacific railway from Pleasant Hill to Joplin. It is said that he went to New York and called on Jay Gould and informed him that he was going to build a railroad through the Rich Hill coal fields and after showing the advantages of such a route to Mr. Gould he told him that if he would furnish the money to build the road it could be made a part of the Missouri Pacific system, but if he did not care to consider it, then it would be an independent line. The result was that the road was built. The Kansas Gity, Ft. Scott & Gulf Railway Gompany had long had an eye on the coal fields here and as soon as it was known that another road would be built they set to work to build in from Miami, now Linton, Kansas, hence both roads came in the same year. As stated above, Golonel Brown was a high-class man in his line. He planned well, possessing the energy of a dynamo he inspired those around him with the same spirit and everything went with a rush under his guiding hand. Having secured the financial aid to build the railroad, he proceeded to secure coal lands and organized a coal company and the land for a town site and laid out the town, so that while the rail- road was building the coal fields were being opened up and the town was building up all in the Golonel's own way, with a rush that sur- prised everyone. It was said of him that he seldom slept, and then with one eye open. He would work all day in his office in Rich Hill and then drive forty or fifty miles to other work during the night so as to be on the job at the other place when business started for the day. Like so many other men of ability, he did not possess that equili- brium that make men permanently successful for it was not long before the quarter of a million dollars made in the venture had faded and a few years ago he died in comfortable poverty. ^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O7 Before the railroads were built John Greenhalge and J. S. Craig were farming and stock raising just east of Rich Hill. Soon after the town was laid out they started a brickyard in the southeast part of the city, which soon. grew into a large manufacturing enterprise under the name of Craig & Greenhalge, and for many years they manufactured large cjuantities of brick which were not only used in buildings in Rich Hill but were shipped in large numbers to Kansas City, Wichita and other places and through their effort Rich Hill came to be known as one of the large brick manufacturing centers. This enterprise had a large pay roll and in many ways contributed to the upbuilding of the city. Mr. Greenhalge died a few years ago on his farm on the Rich Hill-Butler road. Mr. Craig still lives in Rich Hill. About the year 1890 Maj. D. H. Wilson, T. B. Farmer and Ben. Evans, all pioneers of Rich Hill, started manufacturing paving brick and drain tile on a limited scale. While the product of the plant proved to be of fine quality it was, from lack of finance, closed down and finally sold to Mr. H. M. Booth, who interested Mr. James Hedges, of Spring- field, in the enterprise and after operating the plant for some time they sold to W. S. Dickey at Kansas City and the plant is now being extensively operated by the Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company of Rich Hill. Interesting Facts. (By John H. Thomas.) The founders of Harmony Mission came from New York in 1861, as missionaries to the Indians. There are none of them now living. The Mission was abandoned in 1837 when the Indians were moved AVest. The government paid $8,000 for the property and the money went to the society which had sent out the missionaries. The first postof^ce established in the county was at the Mission, but was called Bates- ville. It was afterwards moved to Papinsville. Harmony Mission was also the first county seat, so established in 1841, but moved to Papins- ville, in 1848. The first court house was at Papinsville, completed in 1855. When the county seat was moved in 1856, the court house was sold to Philip Ceal. It was burned in 1862. The first bridge across the river was built at Papinsville in 1853 or 1854, and was burned in 1861 by General Price's men. A commission appointed by the General Assembly located the county seat at Butler, in 1856, and a court house was built there in 1857. This was burned during the war, and a frame 308 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY house was built in 1866. This was in turn replaced by the court house built in 1870 and that one was torn down and replaced by the present one, built in 1900. The first voting precinct in the county was at Harmony Mission, and the first election held there was in 1841. The first grist mill I remember was the Charrett mill, built in 1833. He also ran a saw-mill and was succeeded by John Parks. William and Aaron Thomas had a grist mill in 1848; the first mill in the county was run by a treadwheel. They worked oxen on the wheel. George Thomas had a carding machine, run by the same kind of power, and worked horses on it. It was erected in 1848. He also bought a threshing machine at West Point in 1859, which was the only one I knew of before the war. Coal was dug out of the ground in several places as far back as I can remember, for use mostly in blacksmithing, but was not mined to any extent before the war." In addition to the foregoing borrowed from the "Old Settlers' His- tory" we give the following interesting facts gathered from a biographical sketch of John H. Thomas, written by this author and approved by him at the time and published in the "Butler Free Press," September 24, 1897: "In the spring or summer of 1839 my parents, George and Mary Thomas, came to Lone Oak township and settled in section 11 and built the first frame house on the prairie. Everybody told father he could not build a house strong enough to stand the prairie winds, but he thought he could. There was a famous spring on the place and he wished to build near it. Nearly everybody since has hauled water from the spring in a dry time. The timbers in the house were all hewn; the sills were 10 x 11 inches; the plates 8 x 10; the studding faced six inches, the joists eight inches and the braces 6x6 inches. It had a large chimney built inside the house. In a few years the early settlers began to build little houses on the prairie. They braved many hardships to get homes for. their families and they shared all dangers in sympathy with one another, and were always ready to lend a helping hand. Most of them were God-fearing men. They did not try to see who could acquire the most wealth, but were willing their neighbors should share with them. Oh ! for the spirit of the olden time ! "My father owned and operated a carding machine on the farm now owned by A. M. Thomas (since dead), and when a boy I knew many of the old settlers who came there with their wool. Among others I remember Mark West, father of Gent. West ; John AVoodfin, father of A. H. and Jason Woodfin; Melvin Dickey, who lived near "Dickey ^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3O9 Ford" on the Marais des Cygnes river. We lived and worked in peace until the war broke out in 1861. On August 9, 1861, my brother and myself were ordered to report at the Confederate camp somewhere near Butler; but instead of obeying we left for Mound City, Kansas, and in August, 1863, I enlisted in the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry Volun- teers, and served throughout the rest of the war. Our father was taken from home in December, 1861, and killed somewhere near 'Dickey Lake' on the river, as near as we could learn. His body was never found, nor do any of us know to this day the place of his burial, if buried at all. I returned to Bates county in 1869, and have seen it grow from small beginnings to wealth and power. The past is past; and the bitterness of the war and the separation and estrangement of neigh- bors are ended." Recollections of Harmony Mission. (By J. N. Barrows, of Rich Hill.) I was born within three miles of Harmony Mission site in 1847, and have lived all my life in Bates county, and in the vicinity of Papins- ville and Harmony. As a boy, youth and young man, I was familiar with the site of the Mission and the habitations of the Grand Osages. I played about the apple trees planted by the missionaries, drank out of the well they digged, and remember the Mission house well. It was a large two-story building, weatherboarded with walnut which had been sawed out by a whip-saw, dressed, but never painted. The sills and other dimension lumber were all hewn out or whip-sawed. It was all builded from trees cut right at their door from the tract of land ceded to them by the Grand Osages. I can recall that there were other smaller houses, built on the log cabin order, scattered about the premises when I was a bo}'. Harmony Mission was situate about one and a quarter miles up the Marais des Cygnes river northwest from where Papinsville was afterward laid out and now is. In 1852, a Mr. Scroggins bought the main Mission dwelling, in which he lived until 1856. at which time he moved the building to Papinsville, where it. with two other buildings, was burned by unknown parties in the winter of 1863 and 1864, some months after General Ewing's "Order No. 11" became effective and everyone had left Bates county. The town of Papinsville had been principally burned by a battalion of a Kansas regiment under Major 3IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV Anderson on December 20, 1861, — I think that is the correct date — about that date at least. I can remember back to 1854-5 and I know that there were some Indians, mostly half-breeds, scattered along up the Marais des Cygnes river, where they fished and hunted unmolested. They were peace- able and harmless. This was not Indian country after the treaty of 1825 ; but I have always understood that the main body of the Grand Osages did not move beyond the borders of this state for several years after the treaty — in fact, somewhere about 1836 or 1837; and they returned and temporarily dwelt and hunted along the Marais des Cygnes and Little Osage as late as the latter fifties — a sort of nomadic life, living in tepees and few together. A good many would come out of their own country in Kansas Territory, spending the summer and autumn along these rivers, and return to their principal village for the winter. The missionaries arrived in August, 1821, got their cession from old White Hair and the lesser chiefs, and settled on the margin of the Marais des Cygnes river at the point stated above. I ought to state that Harmony Mission was about three miles from the junction of the Marais des Cygnes with the Marmiton river almost directly south of the village of Papinsville; thence east from this confluence it is the Osage river proper, which finds its way to the Alissouri river at Osage City about eight miles east of JefTerson City. The missionaries continued their labors at Harmony Mission until the body of the Grand Osages had gone West into their own country, and did not abandon the mission until 1837 or 1838. I know there has been some confusion among wa^iters as to the exact location of the principal village of the Grand Osages at the time the missionaries settled at Harmony in 1821 and thereafter until they went further W^est. On this point I can give only my best information and the reader will take it for what it is w^orth. WHiile many of the incidents making history for southern Bates county come directly under my own observation, much has been obtained from my father and mother, my father having come to Harmony Mission in April, 1838, where for two years he assisted Captain W^illiam Waldo in the sale of goods. In 1840. Bates county was first organized into a county. My father. Freeman Barrows, was elected the first county clerk and by vir- tue of this offirs became ex-officio recorder and circuit clerk, which , HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3II office he held for twelve years. During this period father bought and improved a farm two miles east of Papinsville, where I was born, Decem- ber 17, 1847. He continued to occupy this place until his death, April 26, 1861. My mother was a Miss Asenath A. Vaill, daughter of a Presbyterian minister, a graduate of Yale College, who under the auspi- ces of the Board of Foreign Missions, established in 1819 the Union Mission fifteen miles east of what is now Ft. Gibson in the state of Oklahoma, where mother was born, January 5, 1822. After her edu- cation was completed at Munson and Mount Holyoke seminaries in Massachusetts she returned to western Missouri to visit her sister, wife of Capt. William Waldo. There she became acquainted with and mar- ried Freeman Barrows, August 23, 1842. Hence the early arrival of my parents to this country put them in a position in after years to give me an account of incidents occurring before my time and recol- lection. The main town of the Grand Osages was one-quarter mile north of Papinsville, w'hich would fix the village about three-quarters of a mile a little southeast of Harmony Mission, on the high land there, in the edge of the timber, some of which is still there ; and as a boy and young man, living within tw^o miles of the spot, I often visited it. It was perfectly plain then where the principal village had been. They had killed out the timber in a considerable tract where their houses had been and where their ponies had been kept. In 1853, the contractor who built the first brick court house in Papinsville discovered suital:)le soil right where the Grand Osage village had been, for brick-making and erected his kilns there, and made the brick there that went into the walls of the first brick court house in Bates county. The Indians always built their principal villages on high land, above overflow, and mostly in the timber, but close to the edge of the open prairie. This was that kind of a location. Of course, the Indians were doubtless scattered about, as was their custom, but I always understood, and so did all the early settlers, that here was the principal Grand Osage village when the missionaries settled at Harmony and builded their school house and opened their school for Indian children in 1822. There may have been other villages south of the Osage and on the Little Osage river in what is now Vernon countv, at an earlier date. The fact that the missionaries selected, in conference with the chiefs, the place they did select, is strong presump- tive argument that the principal village was not far away, or where I sav it w^as. For, if the main body of the Grand Osages lived near the 312 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY junction of the Marmiton creek with the Little Osage river where Gen. Z. B. Pike's crude map locates them in 1806, a distance of about eight miles as the crow flies from Harmony, and ten or twelve miles around by rivers, by land it would have been necessary for parents and chil- dren to come through a heavily timbered swampy bottom covered with tall grass, full of surface lakes and lagoons, and to cross the Little Osage, Muddy creek and the Marais des Cygnes river to get to the Mission school. It is not reasonable that a school and a religious estab- lishment, bottomed upon the purpose and hope to reach these Indians, men, women and children, would have been located so far from the main village of the tribe. So, whatever may be thought of Pike's map, or wherever the principal village may have been in 1806, it is certain that the main body of the Grand Osage dwelt about a quarter mile north of the present village of Papinsville and about three-quarters of a mile from the Mission school and other buildings, on the Marais des Cygnes river, at least three miles north of the head of the Osage river, in Bates county, in 1821, and thereafter until they moved to their new country further west. I have read what some of the missionaries and travelers have said about a ''solid bed of stone coal" existing in the bed of the river, but I never saw, or heard of any such thing; and I am sure I would have known about it, if true, during the half century that I lived in the immediate vicinity. There was, and I presume there is yet, a thin out- cropping in the bank of the Marais des Cygnes river just in front of the Mission buildings : and this may have been the basis of the story. There was quite a settlement in an early day at Rapid de Kaw, or Colin's (Kolee's) Ford on the north bank of the Osage river about a mile from where I was born, about three miles southeast from Papins- ville, and when a boy I frequently picked up arrow heads and the con- choidal chips of flint thrown off in the making or manufacturing of arrow heads. I have also picked up similar relics across the river about the base of Halley's Bluff. Among the earlv events or occurrences of southeast Butler county was the enterprise of Captain William Waldo in bringing two steamboats up the Osage loaded with merchandise from St. Louis to Harmony Mission — the "Wave" in 1844, and the "Maid of the Osage" in 1845. Captain Waldo was in the mercantile business at Harmony from 1837 to 1846. It was through his enterprise and foresight that the naviga- tion of the Osage was greatly improved by the construction of "wing dam" which threw the volume of water that spread over a broad shoals HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 313 into a narrow channel. This was done in removing by a primitive dredg- ing system the gravel and other stony formation from this artificial channel for the formation of the wing dam. To carry out this plan Captain Waldo secured an appropriation by the state of the sum of $25,000 to complete the work. This improvement proved to be of very material aid to navigation in times of low water. At the time of these events, which occurred between 1840 and 1848, the county seat of Bates county was at Harmony Mission and might have remained there indefi- nitely; but on account of the narrow channel of the Marais des Cygnes (the river on which Harmony Mission was located), it was thought best to lay out a town for the county seat at some suitable place on or near the banks of the main Osage river, which was a convenient stream and navi- gable for boats most of the time. This plan was conceived by three men of this portion of Bates county, William Waldo, George Douglass, and Freeman Barrows. Accordingly, a site was selected on the north half of the northeast ^4 of section 23, township 38, range 30. two miles east of Papinsville, and one-half mile north of the banks of the Osage river at Rapid de Kaw. This place was agreed to, there being no apparent opposition. This was in 1842. The town was laid ofif in lots, blocks and streets, and named Selden ; and settlement of the townsite commenced; but when it came to moving the county seat from Harmony Mission, there arose an opposing faction, which was headed by John McHenry, Bates county's representative in the Legislature, and the leader of the Democratic party of the county. The opposition claimed it should be more centrally located in the county ; and another argument was intro- duced against the establishing of the county seat at the new town of Selden was the fact that its three projectors were all "old line Whigs." The matter of the locating of the county seat was very hotly con- tested. In one of McHenry's speeches he called it the "town of Sel- dom," and said it was appropriately named, as it was very "Seldom" that anyone ever went to the place. The factions however finally com- promised the matter by placing it at Papinsville, Mr. Papin, of St. Louis, one of the American Fur Company, donating forty acres of land for the townsite, this point being once famous in Indian history as one of the most celebrated Indian towns and the home of the most noted Indian chiefs. All that had been done for the laying out of the town of Selden was promptly revoked. Freeman Barrows, one of the pro- moters, bought the land and much of that adjoining it. upon which he built a house. . The steamer "United States Mail" came up from St. Louis to Har- 314 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY mony Mission in 1858, stopping at Papinsville on its way up and down. Harmony was only about a mile or two by water up the Marais des Cygnes river. Then the Civil War came on and no more steamboats arrived until 1867, when the large steamer, "The Osage," came as far as Rapid de Kaw and there unloaded, not being able to get up over the rapids to Papinsville. She made, two trips up, and the "Tom Stephens" made three that year, and being a lighter boat was enabled to reach and land at Papinsville. In 1869 the "Tom Stephens" made six trips from St. Louis to Papinsville and that was the end of merchant marine service on the Osage and the Marais des Cygnes. But about 1905 or '06, Congressman David A. DeArmond and a party of friends chartered a little steamer at Monegaw Springs and came up the Osage, thence up the Marais des Cygnes to a point near Cornland or Athol, where they disembarked and the congressman took the Missouri Pacific railroad train for his home in Butler, about six miles north, and the party of friends returned on the steamer to Monegaw Springs, stopping at the towns and villages along the way. Since then no attempt has been made to navigate the Osage above Osceola, and for some years not above Warsaw, the county seat of Benton, and in fact nothing like reg- ular transportation by water above Tuscumbia 'in Miller county is maintained on the beautiful Osage. Railroads reaching Bugnell, A\"ar- saw, and Osceola, put river service out of business. Bates County in the Fifties. (By Hon. J. B. Newberry.) To the Reader. — The following personal recollections have been written wholly from memory, and as I have not attempted to write anything like a history of Bates county, many incidents of interest have been left out which are matters of record. The effort to recall and record some of the incidents connected with my early residence in Bates county has awakened many pleasant memories of the past, for truly I can look back to those early times with the very pleasant con- viction that they were among the most happy of my life and, if I have succeeded in writing anything which will interest or amuse the reader of the history of Bates county, I shall feel amply repaid for the effort. I think I can safely claim the indulgence of the reader to overlook the faults and shortcomings of the writer in his efforts to contribute, however slightly, to the history of Bates county previous to the war of 1861 to 1865. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 315 Bates County As I Saw It in 1853. — I came to Bates county in the spring of 1853, and located at Papinsville. There were seven fami- lies living there at that time: S. H. Loring, F. F. Eddy, F. H. Eddins, Geo. L. Duke, S. S. Duke, D. B. McDonald and James McCool. S. H. Loring was engaged in merchandising, as was the firm of Eddy & Eddins. James McCool kept a dram shop. Geo. L. Duke operated a wool carding machine, the motive power of which was an inclined wheel. S. S. Duke worked at the carpenter's trade. D. B. McDonald was clerk in Eddy & Eddin's store. There were several others employed at work of various kinds about town. Papinsville was at that time the county seat of Bates county, which at that time comprised the territory out of which Vernon county was erected. I shall not attempt to give a history of the changes in the county lines of the causes which led up to the same. An old log building was serving as a court house at this time. In 1854 a new brick court house was erected, which enlivened and greatly added to the business of the town. Newcomers began to arrive, new buildings were erected and the population continued to increase until the county seat was removed in 1856. During the year 1853 Richardson & Onay brought in and operated a saw-mill, for which eight or ten horses furnished the motive power. Onay was accidentally thrown against the saw in the summer of 1854, receiving injuries from which he died in a few days. Richardson, assisted by Eddy & Eddins, soon changed the motive power to steam and operated it until his death, when it was taken charge of by others. In the season of 1854 or 1855 a bridge was built across the river, which was a great convenience to the traveling public as well as to the community. In 1852-3-4 and 1855 there was considerable immigration to Cali- fornia and thousands of cattle were brought to be driven across the plains, leaving thousands of dollars of gold coin in the hands of the people, which made prosperous times for the country. In fact, it was sometimes boastingly said that the people all had their pockets full of twenty dollar gold pieces. The immediate vicinity of Papinsville was sparcely settled at this time. Freeman Barrows lived about one and one-half or two miles southeast of town; Peter Colin (pronounced Collee), lived about one mile south of him ; J. N. Durand lived about three miles due east from town. There were quite a number of settlers living along Panther creek and its tributaries, among whom I remember W. PI. Anderson. o 1 6 HISTORY OF i?ATES COUNTY James S. Hook, who still lives at the same place, Jacob Housinger and several members of his family who had families of their own, Robert Bilcher and family, William Milton, John Gilbreath and sons, William, Simeon and Stephen, were living in what was called Round Prairie, as did Richard Stratton, Peter B. Stratton, who was afterward elected circuit and county clerk, lived farther west and on the north side of the creek and William Hedrick, who is still living and has passed the ninety-fifth mile-stone on life's journey, and is hale and hearty. John D. Myres, also afterward elected circuit and county clerk. Col. George Douglass, George Rains, Widow Blevins and family, mother of Judge C. I. Robards ; hers was the first house I saw the inside of in Bates county, and I have greatly held in remembrance her kindness, and also the cup of cold coffee she gave me, for I was very thirsty as well as weary, and was greatly refreshed by it. The next settlement north of Panther creek was on Deepwater. Among the settlers I might mention Hiram Snodgrass and his sons, Isaac, Richard, William and James V., the latter of whom and two sisters, Mrs. \\'hite and Mrs. Jennings, are still living in Bates, widow Lutsenhizer's family, two of whom, T. B. Lutsenhizer and Mrs. Simpson, wife of J. R. Simpson, are still living here, George Ludwick and family of whom John L. and Mrs. Vanhoy are living in this county, and William is temporarily staying in Colorado, Oliver Drake, Peter Gutridge. W. B. Price, Samuel Scott and Joseph Beatty. On north Deepwater at Johnstown and vicinity, were living John Plarbert and family; John Hull lived in the town; R. L. Pettus, J. B. Pettus, Samuel Pyle, James McCool and others. In the north part of the county on Peter creek. Elk Fork and Grand river there were settlements, among others whom I remember, Martin Hackler, J. Leakey, Alexander Erhart, Austin Reeder, Joseph Reeder, J. C. Gragg, Joseph Highly, George Sears, William Crawford, Martin Owens, Hiram Edwards, William France, R. Dejarnett, Lewis C. Flag- gard, John Pardee, John Evans, John S. McCraw, the last two of whom are still living at the same place they were then, Enoch Rolling, George L. Smith, Barton Holderman, Alexander Feely, Frank R. Berry, Joseph Clymer, Vincent Johnson and John Green. On the Miami. Mulberry and Marais des Cygnes there were a num- ber of settlers, among whom were Samuel Dobbins, Clark Vermillion, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 317 Oliver Elswick, H. B. Francis, Bktford Merchant, Messrs. Ramsy, Jack- son and J. Rogers. On Mound Branch Hved Major Glass and widow Hersell and family and probably others. About Pleasant Gap and Double Branches the following names are remembered: James Ridge, Joseph Wix, William Deweese and sons, Jesse, Evan and Elijah; Livy Bethol. Peter Trimble, Doctor McNeil, Cornelius Nafus, Hugh Campbell, John Dillon, Dr. William Requa, William, George and Aaron Thomas, John, Lindsey and Thomas Wine, James Coe, Enoch Humphrey, George Requa and family including Aus- tin, James, George and Cyrus, Jesse Rinehart, J. O. Starr and John Hartman. On Mission branch and Sycamore I remember George Weddle, Abraham Goodwin, Widow Zimmerman and family, Mrs. Charette and family, also an Osage Indian half-breed named Gesso Chouteau, who had been educated at Harmony Mission, but who still retained the Indian characteristics of shiftlessness and laziness and was fond of whiskey, and wdiile possessing a fairly good education, gave little evidence of it except when his tongue got limbered up with liquor. Of those who were living on the south side of the Marais des Cygnes river I remember M. Parks, Jeremiah Burnett, William. Thomas and B. F. Jennings, O. H. P. Miller, Widow West and family, Edmund Bartlett, Jason and A. H. Woodfin. In the foregoing list of names I have intended to include only those who were living in the county at the time of my coming to the county, but as it is written from memory it is possible it may contain names of some few who came to the county after 1853. There are many left off for the reason that their names have escaped my memory at the time of writing, but whom I formerly was well acquainted with. From this time (1853) on, the county settled up very fast. Many immigrants came from other states every year, aside from those who came from other countries within the state. New farms were opened up, new houses built and improvements of all kinds were added. New settlements were made out on the prairie, miles away from timber, which was a surprise to some of the old settlers most of whom came from sections of countrv heavilv timbered, and I have heard more than one 3l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of them sagely assert that the wide open prairies of Bates county would always remain so, as people could not settle them up and live upon them so far away from timber; and furthermore, there was not enough to support more than a small area near the streams. How greatly those first settlers were mistaken in the capability of the county for the support and maintenance of a large population we can now realize when we see some of the finest and best improved farms miles away from timber and the owners not caring to possess any timber land. It has been abundantly demonstrated that much less timber is needed than the early settlers supposed was the case. Hedges and barbed wire sup- ply the place of rails for fences, and the rail roads bring in building material for other improvements, thereby lessening the demand for native timber. From 1853 to 1861 the county continued to increase rapidly in popu- lation and wealth. By the end of 1857 practically all government land had been entered, and mostly by actual settlers. The border troubles between Missouri and Kansas wdiich com- menced in 1856 over the question of slavery in Kansas, retarded the growth of the country somewhat but probably not to a great extent, but when the war commenced in 1861, the people began to move away from the border on the west, some going south and some north, while others further away from Kansas into the interior of the state; the movement gaining impetus as the war progressed, until the promulga- tion of General Thomas Ewing's celebrated "Order No. 11," which was on August 25, 1863, then all went, and stood not on the order of their going. Such property as they were not able to take with them was left behind, and the amount so left was neither small in bulk or insignifi- cant in value and most of which was an utter loss to the owners, it afterward being either stolen or destroyed. In the fall of 1863 there was not a single family left within the confines of Bates county which three short years before contained thousands of contented, prosperous and happy people. As a proof of the number of citizens in the county at that time, I will mention that more than 1,200 votes w^ere cast at the general election in 1860. I shall not attempt to write about the return to and resettlement of the county after the war was over, by those who had been compelled to leave their homes by reason of the war, to find in a majority of cases HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY .319 that their houses were burned or destroyed together with the other improvements on their places, finding a waste and desolation in place of any of the comforts or conveniences of the home they had left behind them when they were compelled to abandon the county. The early settlers were generally honest, industrious, frugal and contented. They were also very free hearted, charitable and always willing and ready to assist their neighbors or others needing assistance such as they were able to give. There were very few of great wealth but nearly all in circumstances to live comfortably according to the cus- toms of the country. Nearly all had some education, there being some highly educated, while there were others whose educational advantages barely enabled them to read and write. Newspapers were not so plentiful or cheap as at present. Neither were mail facilities equal to those we now enjoy. The mails were car- ried on horseback and once each week only, but quite a number of papers were taken, and those who received none got the news from their neighbors, and the people were generally well informed about the world's doings. Generally a goodly number of people went to town on Saturday, for the purpose of trading at the stores, to get their mail, have their plows sharpened or work done, hear the news, meet their neighbors and some went on general principles and to have a good time. As there were no means of transporting farm products to market there was no inducement to open up large farms and raise large crops as there is at present, in consequence of which, the people had more leisure for visiting and hunting; and game, such as deer, turkey and waterfowl, was abundant, and fish were plentiful in the streams and lakes. Visiting was indulged in as if it were a duty as well as a pleasure. Neighbors living ten or fifteen miles apart would often exchange visits, while those who lived from three to five miles from each other would go still more often, frequently spending a day and night or a longer time with their neighbor. House raising, corn-shucking and such like occasions called out the neighbors for miles around, and after the work was done, usually a dance would follow, when all both young and old, participated if they chose to do so, and usually kept it up all night. Shooting matches were frequently arranged when the people for miles around would meet and contest for the championship, sometimes 3-0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a beef would be contested for, with first, second, third, fourth and fifth choice, the hide being fifth. Occasionally, one person would win all five parts and could drive his animal home if he chose to do so. Education for their children seems to have been early looked after and provided for by the early settlers. Schools were established in each district, where from three to six months school was held each year. Subscription schools were frequently provided for when the public funds were inadequate. While the public schools of that day were probably not up to the high standard of the present, yet they were sufii- cient to furnish a really good and useful common school education, quite as helpful and practical as that obtained in our more modern schools; and very few children were permitted to grow up without hav- ing at least the rudiments of an education. The interest taken by the early settlers in education has con- tinued to grow and increase with those who came after them until at the present time I think it no exaggeration to say that no county in the state has better public schools, or where the people more liberally and earnestly support them, materially and otherwise, than in Bates county, and her citizens all feel proud of them and the excellent public school S3^stem of the state, and no fears need be felt but that they will be kept at their present high standard. Sixty-eight Years Ago. (By Judge C. I. Robards.) No man will ever be able to imitate the beauty of landscape and variety of scenery of the natural prairies of the great West, because of their vastness and their variety of products, many of which are extinct. Flowers that grew spontaneously and occupied every season, from earliest spring to latest fall, excelled any collection man could gather in a life-time. Lilies, roses, phloxes, violets, wild chrysanthemums, single petunias, crimson asclepias, snow drops — brilliant and gorgeous flowers for every season — were here to be enjoyed for their beauty as landscape decorations, or to be plucked at will. The air was redolent with their perfume ; their sweets were free for the honey-makers. The grass that grew everywhere was more nutritious than any meadow of modern days. Fruits in great variety grew in the wooded districts along the water courses and ripened in succession — an abundant HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 32 1 supply for the wants of all. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, wild apples, blackhaws, grapes of large size and excellent flavor, persimmons, pawpaws, pecan nuts, black walnuts so plentiful that they could be scooped up with a shovel. Bees stored their honey in hollow trees so abundantly that it could be gathered by the barrel-full. Everywhere nature provided so abund- antly for man's wants that no one could doubt the Bible representation of "The land that flowed with milk and honey." Apple and peach orchards planted in those primitive days knew no insect pests and no failure of crops. Watermelons and muskmelons planted in freshly turned prairie sod covered the ground with the luxu- riance of their vines, and without cultivation produced monstrous melons so abundantly there were more than could be consumed. Water, pure and fresh, stood in the open prairie in sunken basins or pools that seemed to have neither inlet or outlet. Fish occupied these natural ponds. Wild animals and fowls found food, water and shelter in these great natural fields. Wooded streams afforded protection and water for fish and fowls. Along the margins of these water courses grew wild climb- ing roses ; in the ponds and lakes grew water lilies, and beavers and otters had their homes here. When this immense growth of vegetation was killed by frosts in the fall, grand and w^onderful sights were presented in the burning prairies, for the wild grass grew in some seasons' to the height of eight or ten feet. Then these furious fires would create destruction to the lives of stock and occasionally a human life would be sacrificed by the intense heat. But as the prairies became more densely inhabited, bet- ter regulations were established for protection, and whole neighborhoods would form lines of men armed with different weapons of defense against these dangers. In the highest fury of these fires the flames would leap over creeks and rivers, destroying houses, fences and trees. Then the only means of defence was to build counter fires to advance and meet the oncoming flames until the two lines united and there was nothing more to destroy. But man's progress and civilization have destroyed that which can never be reproduced. The plow and the railroad have developed a different order of things and whether better or worse, it remains for (21) 322 HISTORY OF BATES v^OUXTY those who loved the beautiful prairie to know them only in memory. A Model Log House. — In the eastern part of Bates county, in Hud- son township, there stands a log house in a good w^ay of preservation, now owned and occupied by Thomas J. Pheasant, that was built on my father's farm almost fifty-five years ago. All the logs in this building are of wdiite oak or black walnut hewn wath smooth surfaces by the broad ax and adz, leveled at top and bottom, dove-tailed and matched at the end. As the logs were laid in place each one was bedded in mortar, and to add to the security of their position, holes were bored through every log from top to bottom of the whole wall on each side of every door and window, on each side of every corner and held in place by an inch iron bolt the full height of the wall. This log house has been re-roofed four or five times, first with black walnut rived boards, then with best sawed shingles and now" wuth pine. The flooring w^as all cut with a whipsaw, the log being placed on a strong frame and one man standing above the log to pull the saw up while another stood beneath the log to pull it down. The upper floor was cut from large pecan logs, the lower floor large black walnut timber. The reason my father had for having this house built so substantially was to resist high winds. I do not remember that we feared cyclones in the early settlement of this country, but w'e could often see the tracks of terrific tornadoes and hurricanes in the timber districts. Our house was built and stands on a high limestone table-land at the head of Panther creek. From this eminence we could view a beautiful landscape five miles in extent in nearly every direction. Game of nearly every kind was abundant and from our hill we could see deer every fair day in the year. Indians from different tribes came to visit us every spring and fall to ask permission to hunt game, until we became so accustomed to seeing them that we did not fear them. My father settled in Bates county wdien I was ten years of age. I had four sisters. When the Indians came to see us, sometimes a dozen or more at the same time, we would go out and meet them and exchange pork or corn or some article that they wanted, for their veni- son. They invariably had one interpreter or spokesman, all other mem- bers of the party giving us to understand that they could not speak HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^2^ our language. When they returned the next season some other mem- ber of the party would act as interpreter and the speaker of the former season would be silent, pretending not to understand. But they were jovial among themselves and much given to laughter. During our early acquaintance with the frontier tribes of Indians we never heard of more than one act of hostility. About the year of 1840 a band of Osage Indians obtained permission from their agent, located in what is now Kansas, to come over the border into Missouri to hunt. While hunting game in the woods they killed some hogs belonging to white settlers. In haste, and angered at the depredations of the Indians, an armed band of whites suddenly appeared at the Indians' camp to bring them to account for their conduct. The first unfortunate impulse of the Indians was to fly to their arms and resist what they supposed to be a determination to butcher them. The Indians opened fire on the white men and killed a Mr. Dodge, one of the most useful and influential pioneers of the county. Finally the Indians were induced to surrender, and after being informed that they must not return, the locks were removed from their guns and they were sent back to their agency in disgrace. The Indians' visits were not so frequent for sev- eral years after this event, but finally under promise of good behavior they began to return in small bands and always asked permission when they came to hunt. One day a wounded deer came bounding into my father's corn- field. My dog gave chase and soon caught it. Just then a large Indian with a gun in his hand ran to me and gave me to understand that it was his deer, and pointing to its hind foot showed me it had been shot ofif; of course I could but submit. He proceeded to dress the deer in a hasty but neat way, and after it was all ready to pack he cut ofT one of the hind quarters and gave it to me as my portion for the service my dog had rendered. I thought then, as I now think, he proved him- self to be better than most white men in manliness and gratitude. My Watermelon Patch. — I planted a little watermelon patch in the center of the cornfield where from the hill-top at the house I could look down into. it. As I looked into my melon patch one day I discovered that a number of deer and wild turkeys had taken possession of it and that after they had dined on melons at my expense were engaged in a little innocent dance among the vines. The turkeys would flap tlieir 324 HISTORY OF BATFS COMNTY wings and strike and jump against the deer, while the latter danced and jumped around the turkeys like lambs at play. They were so intent on their amusement that they did not notice me as I quietly crept down among the corn to within a few feet of the little open square. Here I lay quiet a few moments, then raising my head discovered that a turkey was my nearest game. Leveling my gun I pulled the trigger, but to my disappointment the gun had been loaded so long that it failed to discharge and I feared the explo- sion of the percussion cap would scare the game away. I remained very quiet for a little while until assured that there would be no gen- eral alarm, then placed a fresh cap on the tube. By this time a deer stood, broad-side, within a few feet of where I lay. I took ste'ady aim, but to my increased aggravation my gun again failed to do service. I now felt sure I should lose all opportunity to capture any of the game, although within reach of it. The turkeys began to be suspicious and I knew by their notes of alarm that they were warning each other to be on the lookout for danger. I determined, however, that as long as the game remained within reach of a shot I would continue to try the obstinate gun. The third time I took more care to prepare my gun for service. Having come prepared with powder-horn and shot, I opened the tube wdth a pin, poured in fresh powder and primed it to the top, then placed on a new cap and raising my head cautiously, saw a fat, half-grown deer less than twenty feet away. This time my gun did full execution and there immediately occurred a rush- ing flight and stampede of all the game except the animal at which I had aimed, and that one I dragged proudly home. Shooting Wild Turkey. — We kept a flock of tame turkeys. One fall a wild turkey came from the woods and, although it always seemed a little shy, stayed all winter with the tame ones. In the spring he became discontented and began to evince a disposition to return to his haunts in the woods. He would make frequent attempts to lead our whole flock of tame ones away to the place of the home of his wild companions. I then determined that if he was so ungrateful as to desert us after all our kindness and after having shared our hos- pitality a whole winter I would rather have his dead body than to have his living memory. I carefully loaded my rifle, but to my great chagrin, found that my cap box was empty. In those days it was not HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 325 easy to obtain supplies when they were exhausted, as it was six miles to the nearest store. I had determined to shoot that turkey, however. By this time the turkey had perched himself on a fence within twenty feet of the house. Having raised the window quietly, I told my mother to take the tongs and bring a coal of fire from the fireplace and when I raised the hammer of the gun as I took aim at him, to touch the live coal to the tube of the gun. The discharge, of course, was simultaneous with the application of the coal. My mother was greatly frightened; but we shot the turkey and ate him for dinner. Language of Birds. — I noticed a remarkable proof of the com- munication of the wishes of birds. As I stood on our hill one day at noon I noticed a large hawk slowly and laboriously approaching the limestone bluf¥ to the west of the house. The direction the bird was flying was bringing it nearly over my head. The hawk was evidently carrying a heavy prey for its young and as it came nearer I discovered that its burden was a rabbit hanging down from its talons. At this moment I noticed the hawk's mate dart rapidly away from the cliffs and fly directly under its mate at a distance of fifteen feet or more below, then suddenly the upper hawk dropped its burden, I supposed acci- dentally, but it was caught by the mother hawk, as I believed the lower bird to be, who turned herself feet up in the air and received the rabbit as dexterously as ever baseball catcher caught a ball, then turned and hurried back to feed her brood, while the tired master hawk flew slowly after. Events of Long Ago. (By William E. Walton.) You ask me to write about Bates county as it appeared twenty-seven years ago. I came here in July, 1870, and began the making of a set of title abstract books. Butler was a small village, and Bates county one big prairie with timber along the streams. Where Rich Hill, Adrian, Hume, Foster, Merwin and Amsterdam now stand was then wild prairie land. Our court house was being built by John B. Tinklepaugh, a contractor, but he failed, and it was completed by his bondsmen. None of the streams were bridged, unless there was 326 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY one bridge at Papinsville. After big rains we had three ways of crossing, viz. ; wade, swim, or wait for low water. Times were good and everybody making money. Non-residents owned the big prairies and paid taxes while our farmers and stock raisers grazed thousands of cattle on the land and grew rich on "free range." Immigrants with money were coming from everywhere, but principally from the north, buying the rich, low priced land, plowing up the sod, building houses and making farms. In fact, we were at the high tide of prosperity in 1870. The war lasted four years and had closed five years prior to that time. During its continuance it brought sorrow and death to a million homes, and reduced the South from a condition of affluence to that of poverty. On account of the war the government had paid out hundreds of millions of dollars, and this vast sum was in the hands of the people. True, the government had borrowed this money by selling to Europe interest-bearing bonds, but we had the money and they had the bonds and pay day was a long ways ofT. It was an era of speculation and money making. The mints were open to the free coinage of both gold and silver, but neither metal was in circulation. Gold was at a premium, and had been for years. This was before the crime of 1873. Our money was all paper. We were getting rich and getting in debt both. In 1873 the Jay Cooke bank failed. This startled the country and was the beginning of a panic that covered the United States and ruined thousands that were in debt. Although money was plenty and business good, in 1870 interest rates ruled high. Money was active and in great demand, for everybody speculated. From 15 to 18 per cent, was the rate for short-time loans, and on five-year farm loans from 12 to 15 per cent. I frequently borrowed money then, and was considered fortunate when I could get it at 15 per cent. The first bank in Butler was owned by the "Dunbaugh Brothers." It failed in October, 1870, owing its depositors $70,000. Immediately after this failure, Mr. Cheney, F. J. Tygard and P. A. Burgess came from Holden, Missouri, and opened the Bates County Bank, which was for several years the only bank here. There are now (1918) fifteen banks in Bates county, and two trust companies. Courts were held upstairs in the room now occupied by Sam Levy Mercantile Company. Church services were frequently held in the same HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 327 room. Politically, times were hot in 1870. Our congressman was S. S. Burdett, a lawyer living at Osceola. He was a Republican, and had defeated for Congress John F. Phillips, late federal judge at Kansas City. During the Bryan-McKinley campaign he visited Butler after an absence of twenty-five years and spoke in our opera house. Our circuit judge was David McGaughey. The writer was clerk of election in Clinton, Missouri, in 1868, and counted the votes when he defeated Judge Foster P. Wright. Both are now dead. John D. Myers was county clerk, circuit clerk and recorder of deeds. He was the father of Mrs. Judge Steele of Butler. Judge Myers was "Southern raised," but was a "Union man." He had troubles during the war and sincerely believed he had been badly treated. He was positive and outspoken. Such men always have enemies. He was an honest man, always true to a friend. Our county judges were B. H. Thornton, who owned and lived on the Badgley farm two miles southwest of Butler, L. E. Hall of Homer township, and J. N. Crigler, of near Johnstown. Wesley T. Smith was sheriff and tax collector. He was a defaulter for $18,000, but $10,000 was paid by his bondsmen. H. C. Donnahue, who recently ran for Congress on the Popu- list ticket, was county treasurer. C. C. Bassett, A. M. Christian, C. F. Boxley, A. Henry, William. Page, P. H. Holcomb, Sam Riggs, L. D. Condee, T. J. Callaway, C. H. Wilson, N. A. Wade, A. T. Holcomb, J. K. Hansburg, J. K. Brugler and J. J. Brumback were our lawyers. Bassett was a candidate for cir- cuit judge in 1872, but was defeated by Foster P. Wright. Henry and Bassett were each candidates for Congress several times, but neither secured the Democratic nomination. Doctors Boulware, Pyle, Frizell, Carnal, Martin, Patten and Heath were the physicians. All are yet living except Frizell and Carnal. A. H. Lamb was postmaster and kept the office in a one-story frame that stood on the lot now covered by the wxst half of the Palace Hotel, now Ameri- can Clothing House. The Republicans held all the offices. They had passed a law^ in 1865 that "Confederates" and "Southern Sympathizers" were disfranchised. This law was not repealed until 1870. In that year the Republican party of Missouri "split" on the question of enfranchisement. B. Gratz Brown and Carl Scliurz, both original old line Republicans, bolted the conven- tion and became leaders in favor of restoring the ballot to all Southern- 328 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ers. They were called "Liberal Republicans" to distinguish them from the "Regular Republican party" that opposed enfranchisement. The Democrats of Missouri made no nominations but voted the liberal ticket. The result was B. Gratz Brown was elected Governor and Carl Schurz elected to the United States Senate. The Republicans lost control in Missouri and the ballot was. restored to all Confederates and Southern sympathizers. In Bates county the ticket elected was a combination of "Liberal Republicans" and Democrats, viz.: John B. Newberry, sheriff; F. V. Holloway, treasurer; John R. Walker, representative; S. H. Geisel, circuit clerk; William Smith, county clerk. All were Democrats except Geisel and Smith. John R. Walker was then a young, wealthy farmer living eight miles, northeast of Butler. He is now United States district attorney at Kansas City. O. D. Austin was then editor of the "Record." W. A. Feely had recently begun the publication of the "Democrat." The writer in Octo- ber, 1870, assisted John R. Walker, N. A. Wade and others in carrying the type and material of the "Democrat" up-stairs in a frame building that stood where the Missouri State Bank now is, and from that room was published the "Bates County Democrat." Feely died several years later and is buried in the old cemetery. There was much of bitterness in politics then. The Republicans called the Southerners "Rebels." The Southerners called the Republicans "Radicals," neither side showing much liberality. We had not then learned this truth — that each man's peculiar views are the natural outgrowth of his environment — that education and surroundings in youth largely mould and shape opin- ions. Had Jef¥ Davis been born and raised in Maine he would doubtless have been an abolitionist, and John Brown if born and brought up in South Carolina would in all probability have been a secessionist. We had no railroads but our people were anxious to secure one. Under the law. bonds could be voted by the tax-payers to aid in building railroads. In a year or two almost every county in Missouri had issued two or three hundred thousand dollars in bonds, sold them in the market for cash and afterward paid the money to wild cat compa- nies that had nothing to build railroads with outside of this money. The roads were half finished when the money gave out. Litigation followed for years. The courts generally held the bonds legal. , HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 329 In September, 1874, grasshoppers came. Being late in the season but httle damage was done crops. They deposited their eggs in the ground and early in the following spring hatched out by the million and proceeded at once with voracious appetites to devour everything green. The whole country was covered with them. They were as thick on the ground as bees sometimes get on the outside of a hive. Our people were much discouraged for it looked as if nothing could be raised. But to our great joy one day late in the spring the "hoppers" took flight, and we have never seen them since. Talks and Tales of Olden Times. (By Clark Wix, of Deepwater Township.) My father, Joseph Wix, came from Fulton county, Illinois, and set- tled in Bates county (being then only nineteen years old), in October, 1839, two miles northeast of Pleasant Gap, where I was born February 5, 1850, on the farm where my youngest brother, Seth Wix, now lives. My father boiight a claim and continued to live on the same farm until his death in February, 1895, except three years during the Civil W^ar we lived in JefTerson county, Kansas. We returned to the old home, the well and land still there, April 10, 1866; and by hard work and close application soon had several hundred acres fenced with eight-foot rails hauled with ox-teams two and three miles; and I had some of the honor of the rail-hauling and splitting, too. Deer and wild turkey were plenti- ful ; also prairie chickens by the thousands. I have seen my father many times shoot wild turkeys of¥ the oat stacks with a trusty old rifle, as they were among our tame ones on the stacks. On one occa- sion we had hauled shock corn out to our cattle. There was a big snow on the ground. I saw my father kill two big deer feeding among the cattle at one shot with a rifle — got them in range. Among the first settlers that I can remember in and around Pleas- ant Gap in my childhood days were Uncle Joe Smith, the merchant at Pleasant Gap; James S. Ridge; Horace Melton; Jesse, Ivan and Elijah Deweese ; Levi Bechtal ; Peter Trimble ; George and Boly Rains ; Richard Andrew; Jonathan and Riley and Daniel Blevens; Jacob Freeman and three sons, Jonathan, Jake and William ; Judge John D. Myers, his son, John, and foiir step-sons, James H., Elihu, W. B., and George Ray- 330 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY bourn; John M., W. G., Ben and Alvis Cumpton; Hillery Pitts; the Doyles; John Dillon; Doctor McNeal; John Wix, R. B. Wix's father and a brother to my father. He settled on the farm that his son, Robert, now owns in the year 1840, and died in 1862. Corneal Nafus and Daniel Smith and my uncle, Joseph Beatty; Uncle Martin White and his three sons, James M., Wesley and Griffis; Uncle Billy Campbell, Judge Camp- bell's father; and a Mr. Beckelhammer — all were among the very early settlers that I can remember. Uncle Martin White was an "old school" Baptist preacher, and a good man. I can remember on one occasion he came to preach at the Wix school house. He preached for about two hours, while I sat in the line on a puncheon seat. Uncle Martin went home with us for dinner; and before dinner was announced my father, knowing the hard work of a two hours' effort, got the old five-gallon demijohn from under the bed, and Uncle Martin took a glass tumbler full and remarked that it was a good article. Most every man kept it in those days to ward off chills and fever and to cure snake bites, and very poisonous snakes were plentiful. So were the chills, also, in those days. We would butcher eighteen to twenty-five big hogs for our meat and what we could not use would trade the bacon to some fellow for his work making rails or hoeing corn. There was no market for hogs on foot as there is now. All the neighbors were good, honest people and would go for miles to help each other butcher or build a log cabin. I remember going to mill, with a sack of corn, eight miles north. Went to a little tread mill owned and operated by Thomas and Jesse Fowler — Thomas being Isaac Fowler's father; on the farm where Willis Walbridge now lives. It was a very industrious little mill, as fast as it ground one grain it jumped on another one at once and ground it. I have waited all day for my grist. I told the miller one day I could eat it all as fast as it ground it out and he said, "How long would you live and eat all that?" I told him until I starved to death. In going to this mill on an old sorrel mare I went as the crow flies and only passed two houses in the eight miles, all open prairie and tall prairie grass. Saw lots of deer, wolves and prairie chickens on the way. Land was then worth three dollars to five dollars an acre ; now all fenced and fine houses and barns on it and selling for sixty-five to one hundred dollars an acre and more ; and it is owned by a prosperous and up-to-date class of people. Many of them are the descendants of the very early settlers, who came mostly from Tennessee via Kentucky, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 33 1 North and South Carolina, and a few from Ilhnois and Indiana. As a boy I have been in old Pleasant Gap on Saturday afternoons, and have seen a dozen drunks and soon some fellow would announce that he was the best man in town and it was sure to be disputed ; and from one to a half a dozen fights would follow as a result of a lot of bad booze ; but all this has changed and Pleasant Gap is surrounded by a good, law-abiding, Christian people, who frown on such things; and all are prosperous, good citizens and all believe in good roads, good churches and school houses, and neat, well-improved farms. I well remember when I was about seventeen years old I fell in love with a little golden-haired girl over in Lone Oak township and I learned, by note of course, that she would be at my aunt's. Bob Wix's mother, on a certain Saturday night. So I greased my shoes with sheep's tallow, put some bear's oil on my raven locks and walked over there to meet her, only a five-mile walk, and I made good time. She had to milk the cows; so I went along to mind the calves away while she pailed the cows. She said there was to be a "singing" at Major Hancock's just north over the creek, and said: "Hadn't we better go?" and I bit my finger and said, "I 'spect so." So after supper several young people came by my aunt's on their way to the singing — Bob Walters, Bob Wix, and others — so we all started. The girls ahead of us caught the boys in the elbow; then I was scared and walked apart from my girl but she did look sweet to me. There was a big foot-log to walk across the creek on, and water w^as high. I lived on high, dry land and had never walked a foot-log — nor had hold of a girl's hand; but I saw the other boys take hold of their girls' hands and lead them over. So I tremblingly took a firm hold on my girl's hand and got as far as mid-stream. My head began to swim and I went off that foot-log and forgot to let loose of her hand. But while all the boys and girls laughed we waded ashore and got to the singing and dried our duds by the big fireplace by standing in front of it; but my raven locks never appeared to appeal to her after that. The first mowing machine I ever saw in this country was an old John P. Mannie, one big wheel, bought by my father, and hauled from Boonville, Missouri, in 1857. It took four horses to pull it to cut prairie grass. People came for ten miles to see it cut grass, it beat a scythe so bad. We made a wooden rake. 33^ HISTORY OF DATES COUNTY The first railroad engine I saw at Otterville, in 1862, after night. I was scared and looked closely to see if that train was coming end-ways or side-ways, for I knew if it did come up side-ways it w^ould kill us all. I have threshed wheat and oats with a hickory flail and rode one horse and led another to tramp out wheat and oats when a boy. We had no saddle and some days I would make the horse's back very sore. Those were trying times for the early settler, but after all, w^e look back to those days with a degree of pleasure. If a neighbor needed $50 or $500 no chattel mortgage was needed or given, nor bankable note required. They all did what they agreed to do with each other; but this was in the days before the wooden nut-meg was put on the market. At this date almost all of the early settlers I have mentioned above have long since been called home. I will mention a few more early settlers that I have overlooked": William, Simeon, and Stephen Gilbreath; Ava E. Page; Uncle Jim Hook, father of Emmett and Ed; Henry Myer; John Klostermier; Capt. John B. Newberry; Davis and Charles Rad- ford; James M. Simpson; T. H. Dickison. Most of these men came to Bates in the early forties. ^"- ^lZ/^^Cc^ Biographical History of Bates County CHAPTER XXVI. BIOGRAPHICAL. Theodrick C. Boulware, physician, a native of Missouri and leader of the medical profession of Bates county, was born in Callaway county, son of Stephen G. and Mary (Ratekin) Boulware, the former, a native of Kentucky and a son of Theodrick Boulware, Sr., who was born in Essex county, Virginia in 1780. Early in the life of Theodrick Boul- ware, Sr., and in the year 1784, his parents removed from Virginia to Kentucky. At that time, he was a mere child but, wdth the rest of the family, walked the entire distance, the packhorses being employed to carry the necessary household goods. The records of that state show that they were numbered among the founders of the commonwealth. They were constantly surrounded by dangers incident to life in the wilderness at that period, and it is related of them that when they went to church the head of the family always carried his musket on his shoulder in order to protect his family in event of an attack by Indians, who were then numerous and warlike in that region. The Boulware family is of Scotch descent, though the date of the original ancestor's coming to America is not known. Several representatives of the family have risen to prominence. An uncle of the subject of this sketch was for many years a resident of Albany, New York and was known as one of the most prominent physicians and surgeons of the Empire State. Stephen G. Boulware, the father of Dr. Boulware, accompanied his parents from Kentucky to Missouri in 1826, in the pioneer days of this state. His father finally settled in Callaway county, near Fulton, where he developed a fine farm and also preached in Fulton and the vicinity for many years. He died in 1868 on his daughter's plantation near Georgetown, Kentucky. As indicating his character and the prin- ciples which governed him, we transcribe the following rules which he adopted soon after his marriage, wdien quite young, and to which he 334 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY adhered throughout life : "First. Read the Scriptures and worship God in the family. Second. Use regular industry and prudent econ- omy. Third. Never deal on credit or go in debt, except through unavoidable necessity. Fourth. Make expenses less than your regular profits. Fifth. Keep a regular book both of profits and expenses." Reverend Boulware was not a voluminous writer, but he published an autobiography, two or three volumes on doctrinal subjects, and a considerable number of sermons. Stephen G. Boulware grew to man- hood on his father's farm, married, and reared a large family. His son. Dr. Theodrick C. Boulware, was reared at the old homestead and began his education in the common schools of the neighborhood. After completing his preparatory course, Dr. Boulware entered Westminster College, a Presbyterian institution at Fulton, where he pursued the scientific course. Upon leaving this school, he became a student in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1868. In the same year, he located for practice in Walnut township. Bates county, but one year later moved to Butler, becoming one of the pioneers of that city, where he has remained ever since. At the time he located at Butler, there were but eight or ten small houses in the town. Deer and other game were abundant in the neighborhood and he could ride a distance of ten miles on the prairie without seeing a single house, for, by Order Number 11, issued by General Ewing on August 21, 1863, all houses in the surrounding country had been burned for the purpose of depriving the Confederate forces places of refuge. The court house of Bates county was a small frame building and the town had no rail- road facilities. At that time, Butler was the principal station on the stage route between Pleasant Hill and Fort Scott, this route having been established in 1865. No roads had been laid out and no bridges spanned any of the streams in this vicinity. Horses were not thought to be capable of breaking sod on the raw prairie and oxen were employed in the work. The doctor relates that he has seen as many as one thousand prairie chickens at one time, while herds containing a dozen or fifteen deer were not uncommon. In the fall of 1874, he witnessed the memorable plague of grasshoppers. In the middle of the day, the hoppers began to descend like snowflakes, literally covering the ground. Everything growing, in the line of vegetation, was completely destroyed in a few hours. Even the bark of trees was eaten. The insects deposited billions of eggs in the ground and, with the amount of warm weather HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 335 in 1875, the new generation created even greater havoc than the origi- nal pests. So general and complete was the devastation resulting from iheir ravages, that the inhabitants of western Missouri were compelled to apply to the outside world for food to keep them from starvation. Even the common weeds were destroyed. But the marvelous part of the story is that the destructive visit of these pests was followed by the greatest yield of farm products that this section of the country has ever known. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Doctor Boulware, then a lad of sixteen and a student in Westminster College, was seized with the martial fever, so common with boys at that time, and enlisted in the Confederate service. Though his expectations were that the demand for his services would cease at the end of two or three weeks, his ser- vices covered a period of four years, or until the close of the war. He at once became a member of the personal escort of Gen. Sterling Price, remaining with that noted commander until the close of the conflict and witnessing all the campaigns in which he participated. He was never seriously injured, though he had more than one narrow escape from injury or capture. Dr. Boulware has always exhibited a deep interest in matters per- taining to the advancement of his profession. For many years, he has been a member of the American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Society, of which he has been vice-president, the Inter- national Association of Railway Surgeons, and the Hodgen Medical Society, of which he has served as president. During the second admin- istration of President Cleveland, he was chairman of the local board of pension examiners, and for thirty years Dr. Boulware was the local surgeon for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. Though a lifelong Democrat, Dr. Boulware has never sought or consented to fill public ofifice. Fraternally, he is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one of the incorporators and still a director of the Missouri State Bank and he is identified with other interests calculated to promote the welfare of the city, of which he has been a prominent and influential citizen for nearly fifty years. Dr. Boulware's first marriage occurred June 21, 1877. He was married to Nettie Humphrey, a native of Iowa and a daughter of A. H. Humphrey, who was for many years a resident of Bates county, Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Boulware had one child, who died in infancy, and Mrs. Boulware died in 1882. October 25, 1887, Doctor Boulware 336 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY married Miss Dixie Ostrom, of St. Louis, Missouri. She \vas formerly a resident of Butler. She died April 26, 1896, leaving one son, John B., now a citizen of Butler. Doctor Boulware is a man of the highest moral character, and his professional career has been without spot or blemish. Of great liber- ality of heart, deeply interested in all matters pertaining to the well being of the community in which he has resided so long, he has assisted in the promotion of numerous measures calculated to advance the material welfare of Butler. His record is that of a liberal, broad-minded, upright, and useful member of society. Doctor Boulware has been practicing medicine longer than any doctor in the county and he is still an active practitioner, thoroughly alive to the new things that come up in the medical profession. The long experience under the trying conditions of the early days has given him a fund of anecdotes, which, when related by him in his inimitable, humorous art, delight his hearers. At the meetings of the medical associations in the state, a talk from Doctor Boulware will receive the closest attention and the point he desires to make is so well placed, with his original humor interspersed, that the audience never fails to get the full benefit of the lesson he intends to convey. Doctor Boulware states that a Mr. McFarland, a pioneer of the early seventies, was the first man to introduce barbed-wire fencing in this vicinity. He fenced his farm with wire and one night a party of men, residing in the neighborhood, destroyed the fence, claiming that it was dangerous to stock. In time, this prejudice was overcome and a few years later all the farms in the county had more or less wire fencing on them. Farm land in 1869 sold here for from two to four dollars an acre and when land rose in value to six dollars an acre there were many who thought it too high and the same land today is worth more than a hundred dollars an acre. Doctor Boulware says that if steamboats then had been selling for five dollars, he couldn't have bought a skiff. In the early days in Bates county, in the days when the rivers and streams were unbridged and at times of high water were practically impassable. Dr. Boulware conceived the idea of building a vehicle which should be so high that any swollen creek or stream in the county might be forded in safety and comfort by the occupant. Accordingly, a buggy was specially made to order for the doctor, a buggy having unusually large, high wheels, high springs, and seat, the running gear costing HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 337 one hundred ten dollars, and when complete two steps had to be added so that one could climb into it. Doctor Boulware then could travel on the worst roads and in the worst weather and no swollen stream might delay him on any journey for his horses would swim across and the doctor, "high and dry," would land in safety on the opposite bank. Doctor Boulware's buggy became as famous in its day as Doctor Holmes' "Wonderful One-Hoss Shay" and throughout the countryside was known as Doctor Boulware's "Two-Story Buggy." J. B. Rice, farmer and dairyman, Mound township, was born in Nicholas county, Kentucky, near the town of Carlisle, September 20, 1856. He is a son of Morgan and Courtney (Dayton) Rice, both of whom w^ere born and reared in Kentucky, where they spent their lives in the honorable pursuits of agriculture. They were parents of seven children, as follow: William, Indianapolis, Indiana; Lynn B., Lexing- ton, Kentucky; Mary, deceased; Alice, deceased; Courtney, wife of Marion Buchanan, now deceased; Mrs. Sally Martin, Paris, Kentucky; and J. B., subject of this review, who was reared and educated in his native state where he resided until he attained the age of twenty-eight years. Mr. Rice came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1884 and here purchased a tract of one hundred six acres of land, upon which he has been suc- cessfully following farming, stock raising, and dairying. He keeps a herd of ten milch cows and hauls the cream from his dairy to the nearest shipping point. He also raises and feeds a large number of hogs each year and has become fairly well-to-do and is prominently identified with Bates county interests. J. B. Rice was first married in 1881 with Emma Barnett, of Ken- tucky, who died in 1907, leaving three children: Walter M. and Dayton E., who are conducting a general store at Passaic, Missouri, under the firm name of Rice Brothers; and Vesta L., wife of C. A. Falk, of Pas- saic, Wyoming. Mr. Rice was married, on May 10, 1911, to May Craw- ford, a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. Mrs. Rice accompanied her parents to Bates county in 1879. She is a daughter of William Crawford, who settled in West Point township, near Amsterdam, in 1879. Mr. Rice is a leader of the Democratic party in this county and has served two terms as township assessor. His conduct of the duties of his office was such as to give satisfaction to all concerned. He has (22) 338 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY been closely identified with party affairs and has served as a member of the county central committee for six years. He has several times served as delegate to county and state conventions and wields much influence in political affairs. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Mrs. Rice is a member of the Baptist church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rice have many friends in Bates county and they tai^e an active part in social affairs in their neighborhood. . A. C. Rosier. — The individual who enlarges his sphere of usefulness and extends his activities beyond the immediate confines of his own personal needs is conferring a benefit upon his home community and doing some good in the world other than reaping the profits of his own enterprise. Endowed with ability of a high order, equipped with a broad education, which fitted him for the role which he has played in the social life of Bates county, A. C. Rosier, successful farmer and stock- man of Mound township, has devoted his life to the cause of Christian- ity and has spent his spare time in religious and Sunday school work, thereby preparing the youth of his neighborhood to lead more upright lives. Mr. Rosier was born in Fayette county, Iowa, in 1864, a son of J. K. and Susan Ann (Chambers) Rosier, both of whom were born and reared in Logan county, Ohio. J. K. Rosier was married in his native state, and, doubtless, being of pioneer stock, he and his devoted wife, located in the territory of Iowa, in Fayette county, at a period when settlers were few and far between. Their home w^as situated forty miles from the nearest rail- road. Here they built a rude house and began the work of founding a homestead on the rich soil of Iowa. They endured the hardships of frontier life and withstood the rigors of the severe winters of their adopted state, until prosperity was their inevitable reward. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rosier were cultured, refined people of excellent education. Both were great readers and it was the custom of the mother to gather her children about her in front of the wide, open fireplace of the living room of the Rosier home and read to them nightly, tales of other lands and entertaining books which broadened their minds and made them ambitious to be able to thus read as they grew older. In those days, in the Iowa wilderness, schools were few and were held but a ie\y months of the year. The early education of the Rosier children thus devolved upon their devoted parents. J. K. Rosier was a close student and an authority upon the Holy Bible which he read completely no less than HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 339 twelve times. His was a religious nature and he set an example which has been followed by his children to this day. When the family drove through to Iowa, the present site of the great city of Chicago, at that time was but a cluster of huts around the fort. The elder Rosier was offered two hundred acres of land, now a part of the site of the Chicago stock yards, in exchange for his team and two hundred dollars in money. The outlook for the building of the great city, which has since grown on the marsh lands bordering Lake Michigan, was not then promising and the land seemed undesirable, so Mr. Rosier declined and set his face to the westward and took up the journey to Iowa. For thirty years, they remained on their Iowa farm and again moved west- ward, this time to Bates county, Missouri, arriving here in time to be classed as early settlors of this county. The family settled on a farm, in Mound township in 1882, where the parents lived until death called them, the father dying in 1909. The mother had departed this life in 1894. Both were devout members of the Brethren church, but Mr. Rosier afifiliated with the Methodist church. South, upon coming to Missouri. He was a man of marked liberality in his donations to religious and educational institutions and no call upon him for financial contri- butions to a religious cause was ever refused. He assisted with his means in the building of Drury College in Iowa. Withal, he was a successful business man, one who looked well after his own financial affairs and was a good provider for his family, not alone in material sense but he saw to it that each member of his large family was well equipped with a good education. J. K. and Susan Ann Rosier were parents of ten children as follow: Lawrence, a merchant, Muskogee, Oklahoma; Elizabeth, widow of Lafayette Ash, who died at Tomb- stone, Arizona, and she is now making her home in Kansas City; Absa- lom, a retired merchant, Kansas City; William, a merchant at Belton, Missouri; Ella, wife of Burney Chandler, of West Union, Iowa; Albert S., a farmer, Fredonia, Kansas; A. C, subject of this review; Enoch H., Mt. Pleasant township. Bates county; Matthew, Butler, Missouri; and Dr. Lewis Rosier, a dentist, Independence, Iowa. Each of the foregoing children received the advantages of a good education. The daughters were educated in music. • Following his primary education in the district school of his neigh- borhood, A. C. Rosier studied in the Old Butler Academy, and then pursued his classical studies in the University of Kansas for a time, after which he entered the United Brethren College at Avalon, Mis- 340 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY souri, where he studied for three years, graduating in 1893 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For a period of about seven years, he taught school and served one year as principal of the Belton High School, Belton, Missouri. After his teaching career, he and his brothers, Will- iam and Enoch, purchased a store at Belton and for a period of five years conducted a profitable mercantile business under the firm name of Rosier Brothers. Mr. Rosier then disposed of his interest in the busi- ness and returned to Bates county, where he engaged in farming with his father on the old home place. He has continued in agricultural pur- suits with considerable success and has one of the finest herds of Here- ford cattle in Bates county. For the past twenty years, Mr. Rosier has been engaged in the breeding of this fine variety of cattle and markets a considerable number each year. He is cultivating a total of three hundred twenty acres of good land, being owner of one hundred sixty acres, which are well improved. In November of 1895, A. C. Rosier and Lulu May Funk, of Clay county, were united in marriage and to this union have been born four sons, as follow: Richard, Russell, David, and Vincent. Lulu May (Funk) Rosier is a daughter of John Funk, a deceased pioneer of Clay county, Missouri, a native of Kentucky, as was also Mrs. Funk. Mr. Rosier is politically allied with the Democratic party. He and Mrs. Rosier are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. Mr. Rosier has been active in church and Sunday school affairs for many years. For several years past, he has served capably as superin- tendent of the Passaic Sunday School. He is one of the leaders in the Bates county and State Sunday School Associations. Mr. Rosier is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Dr. Stephen Lafayette Standish. — The truly heroic and self-sacri- ficing figure in the early redemption of any unsettled country from a wilderness state is the "country doctor." It is his duty to administer to the sick and dying who all too frequently are not blessed with much of this world's goods and the remuneration of the country physician is small compared to what his brothers in the city are accustomed to earn. The early doctors in Bates county rode horseback across coun- try following the trails wherever possible and no call, no matter how distant nor how difficult to make, and no matter what the condition of the weather would stop the doctor from performing his duty. He was the counselor and friend of the settler and always became a leader in the community where he made his residence. The late Dr. Stephen L. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 34I Standish was one of the early physicians in Bates county, who did not win a fortune by the practice of medicine, but wisely supplemented his active practice with tilling the soil and raising cattle upon his home- stead in Walnut township. Doctor Standish was one of the most suc- cessful of physicians and enjoyed the respect and esteem of the people of the country side. He was a veteran of the Civil War and used to hardships. Combining farming activities with the practice of his pro- fession he would ride all night long to minister to ailing patients and then spend the daylight hours in looking after his farming interests and livestock. Such energy and enterprise met with due reward and he became one of the wealthy citizens of Bates county. Stephen L. Standish was born in DuPage county, Illinois, Sep- tember 6, 1843, the son of Hiram and Polly (Bronson) Standish, both natives of New York. Hiram Standish was a descendant from the famous Standish family of Plymouth, Massachusetts, which was founded by Miles Standish, whose exploits were immortalized in the poet Long- fellow's "The Courtship of Miles Standish." The warrior spirit oi Miles Standish was evidently bequeathed to his descendants, inasmuch as Stephen L. Standish enlisted in Company C, Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in 1862 and had three years of arduous service during the Civil War, serving until the close of the war. He was second lieutenant of his company. He was never wounded while in the service but suffered spells of illness which would incapacitate him for a time. After the close of this war service he studied medicine for two years at Rush Medical College in Chicago, graduating from Rush College in 1868. He came to Bates county in that year and began the practice of his profession. At the same time he settled on a farm located on Walnut creek in the township of the same name. At this period the prairie was unfenced and there was much open range. Doctor Standish took advantage of this condition and engaged in cattle rais- ing on an extensive scale. His home place was located in section 28, of Walnut township and he bought and shipped cattle, driving them to Pleasanton, Kansas, where they were loaded on the train for the city markets. He followed his profession and engaged in cattle raising until his removal to Hume, Missouri, in 1885. He then engaged in bankine and established the Hume Bank of which he was cashier and virtual head until the bank was merged with its successor, the Com- mercial Bank of Hume. Doctor Standish was a large stockholder of this bank. For a number of years he was a breeder of thoroughbred 342 HISTORY OF BATES COUiNTTY Hereford cattle and owned one of the first herds of these fine animals ever brought to this section of the county. He frecjuently exhibited his fine stock at the Royal Stock Shows held in Kansas City, and local fairs, winning many premiums. Doctor Standish became a large land owner, accumulating nearly one thousand acres of Bates county land, and prior to the building of the north part of the town of Hume he owned the land which is now known as the Standish addition to Hume. Doctor Standish was married May 19, 1869 to Miss Serepta Stan- dish, who was born September 25, 1852, in Livingston county, Illinois, a daughter of Chauncey and Mary (Truman) Standish, natives of Ken- tucky. Her parents moved to Missouri in 1867 and settled on Walnut creek in Bates county. Both of Mrs. Standish's parents died in this county, her father dying at the age of sixty-four years. The children of Doctor and Serepta Standish are as follow: Orra, at home with his widowed mother; T. Lyle, deceased; Chauncey, at home; Nellie, deceased; William Roy, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Roscoe, deceased. Politically, Doctor Standish was allied with the Republican party, and, while interested in the success of his party at the polls, he was never a seeker after political preferment. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, attaining the Royal Arch degree in that order. Doctor Standish accomplished a great work in Bates county and his name will always be honored as that of one wdio did much to assist in the building and the development of his adopted county. His death occurred May 5, 1911 at his home in Hume, Missouri, and his remains were laid away in the everlasting sleep from which the godly are destined to awaken to the higher and better life. He endeavored to live a Christian life according to the precepts of the Methodist denomi- nation of which he was a member and liberal supporter. His was a useful life, and his hundreds of friends mourned with his widow and family their great loss when he was called to the bosom of his Maker. William Roy Standish, progressive young farmer of Walnut town- ship, is a native son of Bates county wdiose father, Dr. Stephen L. Standish, was one of the best known and most successful physicians of Bates county. A sketch of the life of Dr. S. L. Standish appears in this volume. William Roy Standish is proprietor of the old home place of the family on Walnut creek, which is one of the most attractive and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 343 best improved farmsteads in his township. The Standish home farm consists of a fertile tract of three hundred twenty acres which is well watered by the never failing water supply furnished by Walnut creek. Mr. Standish has remodeled the old home, adding concrete verandas and otherwise beautifying and modernizing the residence until it presents a likable sight from the roadway. The house is flanked on the east by a natural grove of forest trees bordering the stream. Mr. Standish is a heavy feeder of livestock and has thirty-five head of cattle on his place at the present time. During 1917 he harvested one hundred fifteen acres of corn, forty acres of which made the great yield of fifty-seven and a half bushels of grain to the acre, the rest of the tract averaging a little over forty bushels to the acre. He follows the latest methods of farming and generally gets good yields of crops from his well tilled land. W. R. Standish was born April 23, 1884, on the farm which he now owns but was reared to young manhood in the town of Hume, where he attended the public schools. Following the completion of his public school course he completed a commercial course in business college at Kansas City and Sedalia, Missouri. Since that time he has followed farming and it is evident that he has chosen wisely and well his life vocation. Mr. Standish was married on May 11, 1903 to Miss Grace Mabel Shellenburger, of Metz, Missouri. To this marriage have been born two children: Edra Beryl, born December 13, 1907; and Wynston Vere, born July 23, 1914. Mr. Standish is a Republican. in politics, belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is fraternally afifiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers and the Knights of Pythias. Marshall Lee Wolfe. — The career of Marshall Lee Wolfe of Passaic, Bates county, has been a remarkable one, characterized by industry and professional usefulness in the active development of Bates county in a material sense, such as has not been surpassed by any one citizen in a decade and more. As a pioneer, farmer, surveyor, land-owner, and citizen, he has won a high place in the citizenship of this county and no individual is more widely nor more favorably known than Mr. Wolfe. He was born on a plantation on the banks of the Potomac river, in Frederick county, Maryland, December 8, 1843, a son of Josiah and Anne Lee (Bell) Wolfe. 344 HISTORY OF liATES COUNTY Josiah Wolfe was a native of Pennsylvania. His wife was a native of Maryland, a daughter of an officer of the United States navy who served under the intrepid Commodore Decatur in his famous and vic- torious naval campaign against the pirates of the Barbary Coast States. Josiah Wolfe died when Marshall Lee Wolfe was but an infant and his mother married Levi Hiatt, who brought the family to Missouri in 1859, making a settlement first in Lafayette county. Finding land in that county too high priced for his purse, Mr. Hiatt located in Johnson county, Missouri, near Warrensburg. Here the mother died in 1913, at the age of ninety years. There were five children in the Wolfe family, only two of whom survive: Marshall Lee, subject of this review; and John B., editor of the "California Democrat," California, Missouri. Mr. Wolfe was educated in the public schools of Warrensburg, Missouri. When seventeen years of age, he enlisted in the Fifth Pro- visional Regiment of State Troops for service in the Civil War. For a great part of his time of enlistment he, with his command, was stationed at Old Germantown on the Deepwater river and was also stationed at various places in Missouri. At the close of the war he was married and then came to Bates county, first locating on a farm near Rich Hill, where he lived for fourteen years. After a few years' residence in Butler he settled on a farm northeast of the city. Of late years his residence has been at Passaic. x\bout 1893, he went to Wyoming and bought several ranches in the Powder River valley, where he engaged in horse raising on an extensive scale, having as many as six hundred head of fine horses on his ranch as well as hundreds of sheep and cattle. Mr. Wolfe spent much of his time in Wyoming in the hunting of big game, and has killed buffalo, elk and bear in considerable numbers, having killed several ''grizzlies" in the Rocky Mountain country. Mr. Wolfe was an excellent rifle shot and enjoyed hunting and he has hunted in all of the Rocky Mountain states. He recalls that hunting was good during the early days of his residence in Missouri when herds of deer and wild turkeys were to be seen in almost any direction. During past years he has spent his time in Missouri, Arkansas, and Wyoming. In Wyoming, he still has a large ranch, besides large tracts of land in Arkansas, totaling four thousand acres. At one time he owned over eleven hundred acres of Missouri land, but of late years he has been investing his capital in government land in the above-named states. During his long career he has been interested in the coal mining indus- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 345 try of Bates county and assisted in the development of the coal fields of this county. November 17, 1866, Mr. Wolfe was united in marriage with Kitty Dawson, of Knob Noster, Johnson county, Missouri, who bore him two children : Carby. deceased ; and Dawson, residing in Arkansas on the Wolfe lands. The wife, and mother of these children, died December 21, 1880. His second marriage was in 1882 to Pattie Henderson, and to this marriage were born children as follow: Mrs. John Crim, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bird Cook, Wyoming; Frank, living in Canada; and Mrs. Emma Jennings, living in Wyoming. During his entire life since attaining his majority, Mr. Wolfe has been allied with the Democratic party. He was elected county surveyor of Bates county in 1880 and was re-elected to this important ofiice in 1884, by a majority of one thousand one votes, which is unquestionably the largest majority ever given any candidate for ofHcial preferment in Bates county. His career in the surveyor's office was a notable one, which has never been surpassed. During the course of his adminis- tration many of the large bridges of the county were built under his supervision and planning. The feat of joining Rogues' Island in the Marais des Cygnes river to the mainland was a notable undertaking in engineering and one which the county judges declared could not be done. Mr. Wolfe had made an exhaustive study of the Eads' plan of controlling the Mississippi in the delta country and applied his knowledge to conditions in this county. He joined the island to the mainland by deepening the other channel opposite by building levees or by bunches of willows together and weighting them down with stones, compelling the water to cut its own channel within the borders of the willow bat- tices. Mr. Wolfe surveyed thousands of acres of Bates county lands and "old timers" of the county well remember his careful and conscien- tious work. He laid out hundreds of miles of roadways and surveyed more miles of road than any other surveyor in the county. During his first term of ofifice, a state law was passed which created an addi- tional duty on his part as county mine inspector. Later the law was passed creating a board or a commission consisting of five members whose duty it was to examine and select a state mine inspector in competitive examination. With nineteen other applicants for this posi- tion he underwent the examination before this commission and was successful, receiving his appointment as state mine inspector from Gov. 3-10 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY John S. Marmadnke. He served in this important state office for five years and then resigned. While fihing tliis position, the practical mining knowledge which he had gained while interested in coal mining was of considerable benefit to him in his work. Mr. Wolfe is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd I'^llows and the Ancient I^'ree and Accepted Masons. He is a mem- ber of the Christian church. Although he is well past the allotted three score years and ten, his activity has been little diminished with the passing of time, his mind is still vigorous, and his interest in things mundane continues to be as great as ever. He is one of the fine, old characters of this county and the state of Missouri and one of the few remaining pioneers of this important division in the upbuilding of which he has assisted so materially. His accomplishments in the engineering field in this county will long endure as a monument to his ability and genius. Marshall Lee Wolfe ranks among the historic characters of a great county. H. L. Wright. — Nearly fifty years have elapsed since H. L. Wright, of Mound township, was born in Bates county. The Wright family came to this county and made a settlement in Elkhart township in 1868 during a period when the county was practically in its infancy and was just making its second start along the path of progress and development. Mr. Wright has grown up with his native county and has progressed with his fellow citizens, and although he has endured many vicissitudes during his life time, has experienced the cyclones, has known hardships imposed by drouths and the various disappointments which fall to the lot of the tiller of the soil, he has prospered and is owner of one of the best farms and one of the finest country residences in this part of Mis- souri. H. L. Wright was born in Elkhart township. Bates county, December 22, 1869, a son of Francis Marion and Philara (Holland) Wright, the former, a native of Brown county, Ohio, and the latter, of Tazewell county, Illinois. When but a boy, Francis Marion Wright accompanied his parents to Illinois and there he grew to manhood. He was married in Illinois and in 1868 came to Bates county to make a permanent home for his family, locating in Elkhart township. He purchased unimproved land, from a Mr. Danielson. and followed farming during the remainder of his active life. Mr. Wright was a Republican in his political views. He departed this life in 1890 and one year later his wife followed him to HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 347 the grave. They were parents of nine cliihh-cn, four of whcjin are hving: Mrs. M. L. Burnett, Mound township; P. K., living on the old home- stead in Elkhart township; James A., Cottonwood, Idaho; and H. L., subject of this review. During his entire life, Mr. Wright has lived in Bates county and has followed the traditional vocation of his fathers, becoming a success- ful agriculturist. He improved his present splendid farm in 1910. After he had placed the finishing touches upon the buildings and was looking forward to years of undisturbed prosperity in his newly completed home, there came the cyclone of June 15, 1912, and in the twinkling (jf an eye, the results of his handiwork and preparation for comfortable living were wiped out of existence and dispersed to the four points of the compass by the pcnver of the strong wind wdiich tore down fences, razed buildings, and scattered the lumber far and near. All the family heirlooms, which had been gathered during a lifetime, were gone forever. .Mr. Wright later, found the covers of the old family photograph album at some distance from the site of the home. A fine orchard of fifty trees was utterly destroyed. The first warning which the family had of the approaching tornado was the appearance of a black, angry-looking, twist- ing cloud, which was sweeping down upon them from the west, leaving death and destruction in its w^ake and destroying everything in its path. The Wrights took immediate warning and Mr. and Mrs. Wright hurried to the storm cave, as they heard the roaring and crashing which accom- panied the cyclone. Within five minutes' time the storm had passed and had done its fearful work. Livestock were carried some distance away, the tornado wiping out every vestige of a once comfortable hf;me. Mr. W^right has since rebuilt and replaced the farm buildings at consid- eralile expense. Mr. Wright was married in 1910 to Adelia L. Addleman, who was born in northern Missouri, but was reared in Bates county, a daughter of J. M. Addleman, now residing in Mound township. Mr. Wright specializes in the breeding of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China and Chester White hogs. He is engaged in general farming and stock rais- ing. He is af^liated with the Central Protective Association and both he and Mrs. Wright are members of the Adrian Christian church. They are upright, worthy people who have a host of friends in Bates county and are numbered among the best citizens of this section of the state. 348 HISTORY OF KATES COUNTY Martin V. Owen, an honored and highly valued citizen of Bates county, Missouri, a veteran of the Confederate army in the Civil War, president of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, a .prominent stockman of this section of the state, is a native of Ken- tucky. Mr. Owen was born February 17, 1840 in Daviess county, a son of M. B. and Jane (Haggard) Owen. M. B. Owen was a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Owen, a well-to-do farmer of Henry county, Ken- tucky prior to his marriage with Jane Haggard, a daughter of John Haggard, a native of Kentucky. The Owens came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1853 and located on a tract of land in Cass county, as the boundaries were at that time. At a later date, the county was divided and that part which belonged to the Owen family became a part of Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Owen, with their children, took a boat at Owensboro in Daviess county, Kentucky and landed at Westport Landing, Missouri, which was all that then existed of the present metropolis, Kansas City, and made the remainder of the journey in a wagon drawn by oxen. The father entered a vast tract of land in this part of Missouri and engaged in farming and stock raising. Martin V. Owen was a bright, observing lad, thirteen years of age, when he came with his parents to Missouri and he has a most vivid recollection of the appearance and primitive condition of the country at that time, more than a half century ago. Roving bands of Indians frequently visited their settlement and of the dusky savages the young white boy was much afraid. In the fifties, there were few settlements in western Missouri except along the rivers and streams, practically none out on the open prairie. Mr. Owen has seen more than one destructive prairie fire. In his youth, supplies were obtained from Lex- ington, to which city the pioneers would go with a wagon drawn by oxen. It required four to five days to make the trip. Roads were simply beaten trails across the prairie and were frequently impassable. Wild game of many different kinds abounded and there was no need for the early settlers to be hungry as wild turkeys, ducks, geese, prairie chickens, and deer might be easily obtained. Martin V. Owen recalls one particular night in his youth, when the moon was shining brightly, that he in a few moments killed five wild turkeys. Wolves, too, made their unwelcome presence known and felt in the early days and count- less times did young Martin V. Owen hear them as they howled around his wagon loaded with supplies, when he camped along, the road from Lexington. Mr. Owen received his education in the "subscription n. / 4) ^L t/f^-^/-^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 349 schools" of what is now Grand River township, Bates county, Missouri. The marriage of Martin V. Owen and Emma D. Porter, a daugh- ter of David Porter, a highly respected pioneer of Bates county, Mis- souri, who settled in this part of the state about the time of the Civil War, was solemnized in 1882. To this union have been born three children : Mrs. Orpha Lee Robinson, Adrian, Missouri ; Mrs. Ruby McCullough, Adrian, Missouri; and H. B., Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Owen are worthy and consistent members of the Baptist church. For nearly three score years and ten, the Owen family has been known and respected in Bates county, Missouri and the name has become the synonym of all that is good and true and upright. During the Civil War, Martin V. Owen enlisted with the Con- federates and served throughout the four-year-strife, being most of the time with "Fighting Joe" Shelby. After the conflict had ended, Mr. Owen returned to Bates county, Missouri and again engaged in the peaceful pursuits of farming and stock raising. He became the owner of extensive stock interests in western Missouri and at one time was the proprietor of a stock farm comprising one thousand six hun- dred acres of valuable land in Bates county. In 1888, Mr. Owen was elected president of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri and two years afterward, in 1890, he moved with his family from the farm to this city, where he purchased a tract of land embracing eighty acres lying adjacent to the city limits. He has rebuilt the residence and now has one of the attractive, comfortable homes of Deer Creek township, a two-story structure of eight well-arranged rooms, sur- rounded by a beautiful lawn. Mr. Owen has spent the past thirty years in the study of the intricate problem of finance, but at present is not so active in business as in former years and he is planning to retire in the near future and to spend the closing years of his long life of usefulness, filled with thousands of days of long, hard toil, in well-earned restful peace and quiet. No calling in life brings out and develops stronger, nobler quali- ties of manhood or insures a better success and more ample competence than does the ancient and honorable vocation of farming. To the early pioneer, the hardships and privations incident to spending the best years of life in transforming dense forests and trackless prairies and dismal swamps into rich, cultivated fields, orchards, and gardens, thriving villages, towns, and cities, were but stronger stimuli to build with his own toil-worn, weary hands a comfortable home which should be a place 2,S0 HISTORY OF 3ATES COUNTY of rest and happiness in his clecHning years. The retired farmer can bring to mind many satisfying thoughts of the difficulties encountered and overcome, of the long, hard, upward struggle of the days agone recompensed by the sure reward, of the old scenes, and of the old, tried and true friends. Thus is the heart of him made glad, who labors long and diligently with an honorable purpose. Mr. Owen has passed the seventy-eighth milestone in life and we hope he may remain with us for many more years, that another score Of years will be added to his now noble age, ere he hears the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." O. C. Johnson, farmer and stockman. Mound township. Bates county, was born in Vinton county, Ohio, September 21, 1872. He is a son of Hiram and Mary (Bailey) Johnson, the former of whom was born in Virginia in 1849. The mother of O. C. Johnson w^as born in Ohio and is descended from an old family of Ohio. The Johnsons are descended from Virginia colonial stock. The family came to Missouri in 1881, arriving here on November 30, of that year and they settled in Elkhart township. The Fairview church and school house is located on the old Johnson homestead in Elkhart township. During his entire life, Hiram Johnson followed the vocations of farmer and stockman, dying at his home in 1905. He was a life-long Democrat and took a keen interest in political matters. He was a member of the Central Protective Asso- ciation and was accounted a leading and substantial Bates county citi- zen. He was a hard worker and never knew a sick day until he was afflicted with his mortal illness. The widowed mother still resides at the homestead. Six children of the seven born to Hiram and Mary Johnson are living, namely: Etta J., wife of James Webb, Vinita, Okla- homa; Ida M., wife of George Black, East Boone township, Bates county; O. C, subject of this review; Enson L., living in East Boone township; Mary R., wife of B. F. Wall, Passaic, Missouri; and Harley B., living on the homestead in Elkhart township. O. C. Johnson first attended the public schools of Vinton county, Ohio, and after coming to Bates county he attended the district school in his home locality. He began his own career soon after his marriage in 1898 on the place which he now owns, consisting of eighty acres of good land. In addition to farming his own acreage, Mr. Johnson farms a considerable tract of rented land. He keeps good grades of horses, hogs and cattle and is making a success of his life work. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 35 1 Mr. Johnson was married in 1898 to Miss Emily M. Black, a daugh- ter of Perry Black, now making his home in Adrian, this county. Mr. Johnson is a Democrat and has served two years as trustee of Mound township. Both he and Mrs. Johnson are members of the Presbyterian church and contribute of their means to the support of this denomina- tion. Alexander M. Barclay. — The late Alexander M. Barclay was a pio- neer settler of Bates county, whose forty years of residence in Bates county were devoted to good deed^ in the constant endeavor to do to the utmost of his ability and strength his part in the upbuilding of Bates county. When Mr. Barclay came to Bates county forty years ago, all of the visible property which he possessed consisted of a team of horses. His first investment in land was made on his promise to pay. During all these years he made good in his adopted county and became one of the most progressive and best-loved citizens of the county. Mr. Bar- clay was born in Smith county, West Virginia, September 4, 1847, a son of Joseph and Mary (Call) Barclay. Joseph Barclay, his father, was born and reared in Kentucky, a son of parents who came to Kentucky from North Carolina, of English descent. He married a lady who was of Virginia parentage, and removed to Kentucky from Virginia when Alexander M. was but one year old, and made a settlement in Pulaski county, that state. In 1867, Joseph Barclay settled in Kansas, where the wife and mother died in 1905. Later, Mr. Barclay went to Oregon and died there. Two children of Joseph and Mary Barclay are yet living: Felis, residing at Vale, Oregon; and John, living at Cambridge, Idaho. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Alexander M. Barclay enlisted when fifteen years of age in the First Kentucky Cavalry and served thirty- one months to the day in continuous and active service of the most hazardous character, much of which was hand-to-hand fighting between the opposing forces. He participated in the battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky, and was present at the capture of the famous Rebel raider. General John Morgan, whose forces were surrounded in a natural pocket in Columbiana county, Ohio, and forced to surrender to the Union forces under General Hildebrandt, He fought in the Battle of Resaca, Georgia, and was in many sharp skirmishes and minor engagements, being among the first troops to enter the captured city of Dalton. Geor- gia. During the course of his military service, he received a few slight 35- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY wounds and at one time was struck on the head by a Confederate sol- dier who wielded a pistol in an effort to compel his surrender. He had many narrow escapes from death and capture, but survived to receive his honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, and now enjoys the honor of being one of the very few survivors of the grand "Old Guard," bearing the distinction of having been one of the youngest soldiers to fight in the Civil War. After the close of his war service, he returned to Kentucky and fol- lowed the peaceful pursuits of farming until his removal to Missouri in 1878. Three years after coming to this county, he purchased his present home place on time, but with good management and diligence he was not long in paying for the land. The years that have passed brought prosperity to this aged veteran and besides his fine farm he was well-to-do and was a stockholder in the Walton Trust Company of Butler. On December 9, 1869, Mr. Barclay was united in marriage with Miss Louisa F. James, and to this union there have been born two chil- dren: Mary, wife of William G. Dillon, of Mound township; and Susan, who married Charles Jenkins, of Mound township, and died in 1896. Mrs. Louisa F. (James) Barclay was born in Virginia and reared in Kentucky and is an aunt of Senator Ollie James, the famous Democratic leader and statesman of Kentucky. Until the disbanding of the Adrian Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, Mr. Barclay was affiliated with the organization. He had always been a Republican and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was progressive in his views and tendencies and had always endeavored to keep pace with the march of progress. Mr. Barclay loved to contrast the easy times of the present with the hard times and vicissitudes through which he was compelled to make his way during his young manhood, and recalled that in the days of long ago, he husked corn in Missouri for a wage of sixty-five cents a day during cold winter days when the weather was very similar to that which we have endured during the past winter of 1917-18 and that "it was cold enough to freeze a man to death." Happily the days of low wages and low prices for farm products are passed and the farmer "has come into his own," and is enjoying his share of the widespread prosperity which has enveloped the whole country. Mr. Barclay departed this life on February 8, 1918, and his remains were interred in Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the Sunday HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 353 following his death. His loss has been a sad one to the community and Bates county is bereft of a splendid and noble citizen whose life was well spent and whose sonl rests in peace in the ''Bourne from whicli no man returneth." His spirit is still with us and his example of right living was a noble one. Wilbur J. Park. — The Park family is one of the oldest, most hon- orable families in Bates county, members of this family having settled here sixty years ago when the greater part of Bates county was in an unoccupied state. W. J. Park, a sterling representative of this old and respected family, residing on his splendid farm in Elkhart township, was born in Hampshire county, Virginia, July 11, 1856, and has lived in Bates county since he was two years of age. His father was Jefferson Park and his mother, prior to her marriage, was Barbara Davis, both of whom were born and reared in Hampshire county, Virginia, of old Virginia stock. Jefferson Park immigrated to Bates county, Missouri, in 1858, accompanied by his brothers, Washington, Samuel, and Wesley Park, all of whom settled in the same vicinity excepting Wesley, who went further westward and located in Pottawatomie county, Kansas, remaining in Kansas until after the close of the Civil War, when he returned to Missouri and here made his permanent home. Jefferson Park settled on a farm located just one mile south of the farm owned by the subject of this sketch, in Charlotte township. He and his brother, Washington, purchased four hundred acres of land from Russell B. Fisher and the former made his home on this place until the outbreak of the Civil War. Being a man of pronounced Union sympathies and loyal to the government he could not abide the views and actions of the pro-slavery advocates, and accordingly removed to Linn county, Kansas, to remain there during the years of warfare. He was pro- nounced in his views and intensely loyal to the Union, outspoken to to such an extent in expressing himself that he had many clashes with those whose views and opinions were just the opposite. He lost con- siderable property through the depredations of "bushwhackers" and at the time of his departure from Kansas, he and his family were forced to travel by ox-team motive power because of the fact that all his horses had been driven away by marauders. He returned to Missouri in the fall of 1865 and proceeded to repair the damages which his farm had suffered, it being practicallv necessary for him to begin all over again and replace (23) 354 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the buildings and fences. The Park farm, eventually, became one of the best improved tracts in the county and Jefferson Park made his home thereon until his death on February 1, 1897, at the age of seventy-six years. He was born February 1, 1899. To Jefferson and Barbara (Davis) Park were born the following children: Rhoda Ann, born November 1, 1849, married Dr. R. A. Rising, and died in August, 1916, at her home in Cowley county, Kansas; Phoebe ]., born January 23, 1852, in Virginia, and died in childhood, December 28, 1865; Luther D. C, born June 1, 1854, resides in Nevada, Missouri; Wilbur J., born July 11, 1856, subject of this review; Ezra B., born November 6, 1865, in Missouri, died April 28, 1895; Ulysses G., born March, 1864, in Linn county, Kansas, now living in Clark county, Kansas; Lydia S., born May 25, 1867, married Fletcher Orear, she died at Butler, Missouri, September 29, 1908; and Laura J., born April 2, 1869, and died September 9, 1870. The mother of this fine family of children was born January 30, 1829, and died De- cember 29, 1915. Jefferson Park was a follower of Abraham Lincoln and a stanch Re- publican during his whole life after attaining his majority. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and were liberal supporters of religious and charitable works. Wilbur J. Park, subject of this review, spent his boyhood days in Bates county and received his education in the public schools. He has followed farming pursuits continuously from his youth and has made a pronounced success of his life work, owning an eighty-acre farm which comprises his home place and also eighty acres which were formerly part of the Park homestead in Charlotte township. He carries on general farming and stock raising. Mr. Park was married April 16, 1882, to Miss Mary Chandler, and to this marriage have been born the following chil- dren: Floyd, who married Vera Angel, of Bates county, and resides at Adair, Oklahoma; Leroy J., married Minnie Largent, of Bates county, and lives on the old home place in Charlotte township ; Odessa, resides at Ogden, Utah ; and Leonard, married Vesta Leitch, a native of this county, and they reside on the Leitch farm in Bates county. Mrs. Mary (Chandler) Park was born in Tennessee, a daughter of L. L. and Mar- garet (Belcher) Chandler, both natives of Tennessee, the former dying when Mrs. Park was four years old. The family moved to Illinois when she was a small child and her mother now resides at Longton, Kansas. Mrs. Park is one of three children born to her parents, the others being Amanda and John S., who live with their mother at Longton, Kansas. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 355 The allegiance of Mr. Park to the tenets and principles of the Repub- lican party has generally been constant, although he is inclined to much independent thinking and voting in local and state matters, rather than yielding a blind obedience to any political fetich or organization. If a can- didate for office is well qualified, according to his idea, he willingly sup- ports that individual for the office sought regardless of his political affil- iations, and he pursues the same course with measures which are intended to make changes in the government, be it local, state or national. He is the present justice of the peace of Elkhart township and he had served one term in this capacity prior to the beginning of his present term of office. John Speer, proprietor of the "Round Barn Farm," located in Mound township, on the Jefferson Highway, two and a half miles south of Adrian, was born in Summit township, Bates county, on a farm located nine miles southeast of Butler, July 1, 1871. He was a son of Henry and Emma (Boyd) Speer, the former of whom was a native of Shelby county, Ohio, and the latter, of Illinois. Henry Speer was a soldier in the Union army and served throughout the Civil War. He is now deceased and the widow now resides in Butler. Three children were born to Henry and Emma Speer, as follow : John Speer, subject of this review; Minnie, wife of Louis Defifenbaugh, Butler, Missouri; and William Percy, of Independence, Kansas. The early education of John Speer was obtained in the public schools of Bates county, after which he graduated from the old Butler Academy. He remained on the farm until he was eighteen years of age and tlien removed to Butler, where he became associated with his father in the nursery business under the firm name of Speer & Son, succeeding Hal- loway & Speer. He was engaged in the nursery business for seven years, and was then employed by the Logan Moore Lumber Company for four years, following. In 1890, he took possession of his present farm of one hundred sixty acres and has established a reputation as a dairyman and breeder of registered Jersey cattle. Mr. Speer maintains an aver- age of thirty head of purebred Jersey cows upon his place, which is fitted with modern conveniences for the economical conducting of the business with the least possible labor. Mr. Speer is a member of the Southwest Jersey Cattle Breeders' Association. The circular barn which he has had erected, has a circumference of one hundred ninety- two feet, is fifty feet in height, and equipped with a silo, in the exact center, which is forty feet high and eleven feet in diameter. This barn 356 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was erected in 1908 and is one of the most convenient in this section of the state for dairying purposes. The interior is so arranged that the stock are placed in stalls facing the center of the building, thus enabling the stock tenders to feed from the filled silo very conveniently and quickly with little or no waste. The Speer place is equipped with gasoline power which is used for many purposes, such as running the cream separators, churning, and doing the family washing each week, besides cutting wood and crushing the silage for filling the silo. Mr. Speer was married on December 19. 1900, to Miss Maud Gar- rison, who was born and reared in Bates county, a daughter of j\lr. and Mrs. J. C. Garrison, natives of Wisconsin. Mrs. Garrison died in the spring of 1917 at the age of eighty-six years. J. C. Garrison was a millwright by trade and he built the original Powers" mill in this country, and is accounted one of the earliest of the Bates county pioneer settlers. The Republican party claims the support of Mr. Speer and he has served as justice of the peace of Mound township and has been a member of the township board. He is affiliated with the Modern "\\^oodmen of America and the Presl)yterian church of Butler. General Joseph O. Shelby, a dashing and beloved commander of Confederate forces during the Civil War and a resident of Bates county during the latter years of his eventful life, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1831. At the age of nineteen years he removed from Kentucky to Lafayette county, Missouri, and established a rope fac- tory. His manufacturing venture flourished with able management and he was in a fair way to amass riches when the border warfare began. He espoused the cause of the South and went to Kentucky and raised a company of cavalry and took the field in Kansas with Clark, Atchi- son, and Reid. The border troubles over, he returned to Waverly, Missouri, and his company was disbanded at St. Joseph. Missouri. With the firing of the first gun upon Fort Sumter in 1861, young Shelby was one of the first in the field. He organized a compan}^ of cavalry and marched to Independence, Missouri, which was then threat- ened with attack by the Federal forces stationed at Kansas City. This was his first actual entrance into the war in 1861 at the age of thirty years. He joined General Price's forces in western Missouri. His first battle was fought at Boonville, where the Confederate army was defeated by the Federals imder General Lyon. The history of Shelby's military career would be a minute history of the entire war fought west of the Mississippi river. He was a participant in every hard-fought GENERAL JOSEPH 0. SHELBY. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 357 battle fought in this section of the country and he was always the first to charge the enemy and the last to retreat. He had charge of the most important raids made by Price's army and >had command of a splendid fighting force of ten thousand men, of whom four to five thousand were constantly under arms and always on duty. General Shelby knew the name of every man enrolled in his command and knew where to call him when needed for service. In 1862. he was commissioned a colonel of cavalry; in January, 1863, he was created a colonel in command of a brigade; and in May, 1864, he was commis- sioned a general of brigade or brigadier general. He distinguished himself by exceptional bravery at the battle of Pea Ridge, March 4, 1862, where he was exposed to a heavy fire and by a brilliant maneuver he saved one of Price's battalions from cap- ture or annihilation. After the battle of Cane Hill, General Shelby's command was the last to evacuate Corinth when it was abandoned by the Confederate forces. He was severely wounded during the attack on Helena, July 4. 1863, but he recaptured his battery from the Fed- erals after receiving his wound. He then made a raid through Mis- souri to Boonville, during which many farms and homes were destroyed. From Boonville, he marched to Marshall and then retreated with his command into Arkansas, going into winter quarters at Camden, Arkxin- sas. His activities were resumed in the spring of 1864 and he fought numerous minor battles in northern Arkansas. When the last raid into Missouri was decided upon in 1864, General Shelby was found to be the youngest general in the list west of the Mississippi river. The Confederates had planned to attack St. Louis, but this was given up upon learning of the strength of the St. Louis defenses. They advanced upon Jefferson City, and this city was also found to be too strongl}^ fortified for attack, and the plan to attack the capital was abandoned. The army then moved M^estward and was engaged with the Federals in several sharp encounters. On Octoljer 20, 1864, General Price's army reached Lidependence and Blue river and in the movement which followed, both Generals Marmaduke and Shelby were engaged and drove the Federals back to Westport. On October 22, Shelby received orders to capture Westport and a desperate battle ensued during which Shelby lost eight hundred of his men, but so great was his strategy and so quick were his movements that Price's army was saved from capture by the Federals although the battle was lost and the retreat through Missouri was begun. He was placed in command of the rear guard of 35^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Price's retreating army and fought his way foot by foot to Newtonia, Arkansas. The last battle of the war west of the Mississippi was waged there. When it came to a question of final surrender, Shelby advo- cated further resistance to the Union forces. Kirby Smith, then in command, was unpopular and was in favor of surrender. At Shelby's request he withdrew from the command, turned over his power to General Buckner, who in turn surrendered to the United States. The cause of the Confederacy being lost. General Shelby con- ceived the idea of doing further fighting in Mexico which at that time was under the rule of Emperor Maximilian who had been placed upon the throne by the French forces. He organized a force of six hundred men who armed themselves in Texas and marched through the state toward Mexico. At Houston, Texas, were vast supplies which w^ere in danger of being despoiled by a force of one thousand renegades. Shelby w^anted the suffering women and children to be nourished from these supplies. In line with this desire he sent one hundred picked men into the city to accomplish his purpose. So great was the terror of his name that the evil-doers agreed to desist from the proposed attack and the city was quieted. When near the city of Austin, he was called upon by the citizens to assist them in preventing the looting of the state treasury and vaults which contained besides the entire monetary wealth of the state government, much valuable wealth placed there by business firms and citizens for safe keeping. The citizens had knowledge of a plot to loot the capital. Shelby very willingly gave his services to this cause and the Texas treasury was saved from spoliation. At the first station in Mexico he left it to a vote of his men as to which side they should join in the Southern country. They decided that, inasmuch as the French were supporting the Emperor Maximilian and had promised to furnish money and supplies to still uphold the Confederacy, they would offer their help to the Emperor. Maximilian refused Shelby's proffer of the services of his men and the adventure was ended. General Shelby returned to Lafayette county and remained there until his removal to Bates county in 1885. He purchased a farm of seven hundred acres in Elkhart township and was engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and stock raising until his death, February 21, 1897. His funeral was attended by a vast con- course of people and he was interred with military and civic honors at Forest Hill cemetery, Kansas City. The final ol)sequies over the burial HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 359 of this famous soldier were made the occasion of a public demonstra- tion of the great esteem and love which was borne his memory by the thousands of Missourians who had known him in civil and military life. During Grover Cleveland's administration, General Shelby served as United States marshal for the Western District. He has never inclined to seek political preferment but accepted the appointment of recorder under Governor David R. Francis, however, his magnanimity and sense of honor being so great that he turned over the salary he received to the widow of the former deceased incumbent. This was like General Shelby and similar acts of kindness characterized his whole life. He held his personal honor inviolate and always extended mercy and kindness to the captured foe whom he respected for playing the game of war according to his code of honor. He was married to Elizabeth Shelby who bore him seven children: Orville, living in Montana; Joe, Kansas City, a police captain; Ben, living in Texas ; Webb. Bates county, Missouri ; Samuel, residing in Kansas City; John, living at La Cygne, Kansas; Annie, wife of F. W. Jersig. Texas, with whom the widowed mother is now residing. Webb Shelby, a leading farmer of Elkhart township, was born in Lafayette county, Missouri, a son of General Joseph O. Shelby, whose biography immediately precedes this sketch. Mr. Shelby was reared partly in Lafayette county where he was born December 6, 1870. When fifteen years old he accompanied his parents to Bates county and has since lived in Mound township. Since coming to Bates county with his father in 1885, A\'ebb Shelby has made farming and stock raising his chief occupations. He began life for himself at the age of twenty- two years and is self-made. What he has accomplished and accumu- lated has been with his own hands and brain. Mr. Shelby purchased his present home farm in Mound township in 1905. This place com- prises one hundred sixty acres, and to look at the well-kept appear- ance of this farm and the neatness of the buildings and farm arrange- ments thereon is to conclude emphatically that Mr. Shelby is a thoroughly good farmer, somewhat better than the average. He raises good crops of grain on his acreage and feeds the product to cattle for the market. Mr. Shelby was married in 1902 to Miss Cassie Johnson, of Bel- ton, Cass county, Missouri. They have one child, John. Mr. Shelby, like his illustrious father before him, is a Democrat of the old school and takes a prominent and leading part in Democratic politics in Bates 360 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY county. At present he is serving" as Democratic committeeman for Mound township. He is genial, industrious, well-Hked, prominent in his own right, and recognized as a worthy son of a great father. John F. Fulkerson, one of the old settlers of Alound township, and a Union veteran, was born February 15, 1842, at Danville, Montgomery county, Missouri. He has lived in Bates county for over forty-five years. He was a son of Robert Craig and Malvina (Dickerson) Fulkerson, natives of Lee county, Virginia. Robert C. Fulkerson was descended from an old Virginia family which dates back to colonial times in American history. Robert Fulkerson was one of the early Missouri pioneers and was a large land-owner and slave-holder in Montgomery county during the ante-bellum days. He was a man of prominence in the communities in which he resided and served as sheriff of Lee county, Virginia, prior to his removal to Missouri. L^pon locating in Montgomery county, he soon became one of the leaders of the new county and served several terms as county treasurer. He died at the age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Malvina Fulkerson died at the age of sixty years. John and Malvina Fulkerson were parents of seven children, two sons and hve daughters, of wdiom the subject of this review is the only survivor. After receiving such education as was afforded by the early dav pub- lic schools in his native county, John F. Fulkerson studied at the Macon Normal College. Upon the outbreak of the Civil A\'ar, he enlisted in Company Iv, Thirty-third Missouri Lifantry, and saw a great amount of active service during the course of the war. His command took part in the Red river expedition, in the battles of Yellow Bayou. Fort Rus- sell, and in the engagements at Cannelton, Old River Lake. Pleasant Hill, Lexington, etc. His military service extended over Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi. Alabama, and Florida and he took part in numerous skirmishes in addition to the principal engagements mentioned. Mr. Fulkerson lay sick for some time in the Military Hospital at Baton Rouge, but was never wounded in battle. He received his final discharge from the service at St. Louis after an honoral)le and brave service extend- ing over three years during which time he participated in some of the hardest and most exacting campaigns of the war. After the close of the Civil A\^ar, he returned to the old home in Montgomery county and remained there engaged in agricultural pur- suits until 1872. when he came to Bates county, and purchased his pres- ent farm of eighty acres in IMound township for six dollars and fifty HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 361 cents an acre. Since coming to this county, Mr. Fulkerson has followed farming and stock raising constantly. John F. Fulkerson was married on August 31, 1873. to Anna Painter, who was born near Warrenton, Warren county, Missouri, February 14, 1845, a daughter of Adam and Nancy (Burns) Painter, both of whom were born in Page county, Virginia, where they were reared and married, coming to Missouri soon after their marriage in the early thirties. Mr. Painter became owner of three hundred sixty-five acres of land, and while owning slaves in his native state he disposed of them prior to his removal to Missouri. He was a farmer, stock raiser, and a good Demo- crat of the old school. Both parents of Mrs. Fulkerson died in AVarren county, the father dying in 1871 and the mother departing this life in 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Painter were parents of twelve chiklren, five of whom are yet living. Four sons of this family served in the Confederate army and the older brother of Mrs. Fulkerson was wounded in the battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi. To Mr. and Mrs. John F. Fulkerson have been born two children: Robert, who resides in Rul)y, Alaska, where he went in 1898, and is engaged in the mining lousiness at which hazardous occu- pation he has made and lost several fortunes; Fletcher, an extensive farmer located near Paul, Idaho. ]\Ir. Fulkerson is allied with the Repul)lican party but is inclined to vote independently, and does his own thinking as to men and meas- ures during political camj^aigns. Fie cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 while wearing the uniform of the Federal government. Mr. and Mrs. Fulkerson are counted among the most valued and esteemed citizens of Bates county and are proud of the fact that they are Missouri- ans born and l^red. Frank J. McCune. — Bates county abounds in picturesque spots for home places in the country side and many line farms are named for some striking feature of the tract of land to wdiich the name applies. It is a matter of record that "]\Iound Slope Farm" located in Flkhart township and owned by F. J. McCune, was the third farm in Bates county which was legally registered under its present title. The beauti- ful McCune home is situated upon the slope of the mound from which Mound township takes its name and is one of the richest farmsteads in this section of Missouri, the soil being of the black gumbo which has such high value, rich in the materials which nourish successive crops. 362 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and is not easily worn out. Its owner takes a just pride in maintaining the beauty, and well-kept appearance of his place and a remarkable view of the surrounding country can be obtained from the veranda of the McCune residence, the town of Adrian, five miles away being plainly visible. F. J. McCune was born December 10, 1853, in Athens county, Ohio, a son of Nelson and Lucy ( Blakely) McCune, both of whom were natives of Ohio and practically spent their lives in Athens county. They reared a fine family of children, three of whom are living: Blakely, the eldest son, a member of Company B, Thirty-sixth Ohio Infantry, died on the battlefield of Antietam while serving in the Union forces during the Civil War, his remains being interred at Sharpsburg, Maryland; A. H., died at San Diego, California; George, died in childhood; Lue, married Loren Hill, of Amesville, Athens county, Ohio; Ella, married J. F. Lacy, of Hull, Illinois; and F. J., the youngest son of the family, subject of this review. Reared to manhood in his native county, Mr. ]\IcCune decided that the West offered better opportunities for advancement than his native state, and he accordingly left his home county in 1882 and came to Bates county. He at once located in Elkhart township and purchased the northern part of his present farm, located in east Elkhart township. The McCune farm consists of four hundred eighty acres, which are kept in a thorough state of cultivation and produce excellent crops. INIr. McCune follows general farming and stock raising in a progressive manner and is accounted one of Bates county's most intelligent and indus- trious farmers. October 15, 1879, Frank J. McCune was united in marriage with Cora Wyatt, of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt, both of whom were born, reared and spent their lives in Athens county, Ohio. Five children have blessed this marriage: Charles Nelson, proprietor of one hundred twenty acres of land in Elk- hart township, which he is farming, and he resides at home with his parents; Ella, the wife of AV. W. McReynolds, Elkhart township, and has two sons, Kelver and Billy; Clarence AVyatt married Lola Carroll and has two daughters, AA'ilma and Helen, is farming an irrigated tract at Kuna. Idaho; Grace, at home: and Edward Henry, a teacher in the public schools of this county. Mr. McCune is a Republican in politics and he, with the other mem- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 363 hers of his family, is a member of the Presbyterian church. The McCune place is not only noted for the fine appearance and view from the slope of the mound from which the farm gets its name, which view enables one to see Butler, eleven miles away, and the town of Adrian, five miles distant, but the farm is underlaid wath gas which was found at a depth of two hundred fifteen feet by the boring of a test well, although no attempt has ever been made to make commercial or local use of the output. The McCune family have a permanent and respected place in the civic and, social structure of Bates county and the members of this enterprising family are always found in the forefront of all movements to advance the interests of their home county. John Dever, progressive, enterprising farmer and stockman. Mound township, was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, July 8, 1860 and was a son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Wise) Dever, the former, a native of Ire- land, and the latter, a native of Ohio. The family moved westward to Hancock county, Illinois, in 1868 and in that county the parents spent the remainder of their lives engaged in agricultural activities. Their remains are interred in Oakwood cemetery, Hamilton, Illinois. John Dever is one of five children born to his parents who grew to maturity, as follow: R. W., Macon county, Missouri; Thomas, Marshall county, Kansas; Mary C, wife of Robert Wise, Shelby county, Illinois; Gash- ium G., Shelby county, Illinois; and John, subject of this review. Mr. Dever was reared in Hancock county, Illinois, and remained in his native state until 1899, when he came west to Linn county, Kansas, residing there on a farm for ten years. In 1909, he came to Bates county and invested in farm land in Mound township, and has since become prominently identified with the agricultural activities of this county. He is owner of two hundred acres of land and is engaged in general farming and stock raising. On December 28, 1882, the marriage of John Dever and Frances Anna Gayley was solemnized. Mrs. Dever was born in AYoodford county, Illinois, July 4, 1859. No children of this marriage are living, but Mr. and Mrs. Dever have an adopted son, Elmer W., who is cultivating one of the Dever farms in Mound township. The Republican party has ahvays had the stanch support and alle- giance of Mr. Dever but he is inclined to independence in local political affairs. He is affiliated fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 13, Adrian, Missouri. He was identified with the 364 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Grange movement and was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Club of the Adrian neighborhood, a movement which is the natural outcome and successor of the Grange. He is a member of the United Brethren church at Deer Creek, and is considered one of the leading and most progressive citizens of his neighborhood, always seeking to advance any movement which is intended for the betterment of conditions in the agricultural sections in which he has spent his life. Lewis C. Eichler, farmer and stockman of ]\Iound township, is one of the oldest and best-known pioneer citizens of Bates county. Mr. Eichler owns one of the best farms in the county upon which he has recently erected one of the handsomest residences to be seen on the countryside. His career in Bates county and Missouri extends over a long period of over fifty years, and his record has been a most hon- orable one. Mr. Eichler was born in St. Charles City, St. Charles county, Missouri, in 1836, a son of George and Mary (Weems) Eichler. George Eichler, his father, was born in Germany, and when a young man, immigrated to America and settled in Baltimore. ]\Iary- land, where he followed his trade of skilled cabinet maker. After resid- ing in Baltimore for several years, he removed to St. Charles county, Missouri. Soon after the territory of Kansas was thrown open to settlement he made the trip to that state in order to appease his hunger for a tract of land, and made a settlement near the city of Lawrence. Border warfare and the trouble between the slavery and anti-slavery advocates caused him to leave Kansas and settle in Bates county where he pre-empted a quarter section of government land which cost him one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War it became unsafe for Southern families to reside in this county and when Order Number Eleven was issued in 1863 he removed with his family to Lafayette county, where his death occurred in 1864. The border trou])les and the Civil AVar both combined to cause him to lose all of his possessions and he was left in destitute circumstances during his later years. He was father of twelve children, three sons and nine daughters. His wife died upon the homestead in Bates county in 1858 and is buried in the family burial place. In the spring of 1861, Lewis C. Eichler enlisted in the Confederate Army in Colonel Rains' Regiment and served during the war in Generals Parsons and Price's Divisions. His first battle was at Lone Jack. ]\Iis- souri, wdiere he received a wound in the hand. He participated in the battles of Drywood, Oak Hill, and Helena, Arkansas. He took an active LEWIS C. EICHLER. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 3'^5 part in many minor engagements and skirmishes. The most important and greatest battle in which Mr. Eichler fought was at Prairie Grove and his period of service extended throughout the war in the states of Missouri. Louisiana, and Texas. After the war ended he remained in Arkansas in gainful employment until the fall of 1868. In 1868, Mr. Eichler returned to the homestead which had been the home of the family prior to the war and set to work to rebuild what had l)een destroyed during the war time. Times were hard, money was scarce, but e\'eryone was in the same plight and he managed some- how to get ahead and has these many years been engaged successfully in farming and stockraising. He is owner of two hundred acres of very fine land which is well improved, forty acres of which are located in Elkhart township. Mr. Eichler has specialized in the breeding of Durham cattle and has one of the finest herds of this l^reed in the county. Only recently he has finished the building of a splendid, new, modern residence, where he proposes to spend the remaining years of his long and fruitful life in comfort. The marriage of Lewis C. Eichler and Sallie J. Early occurred May 18, 1876. and to this union were born four children: Lucie Lee, who resides at home with her parents; Harry, died at the age of two years; Charles, died at the age of four years; and John, cultivates the family acres. The mother of these children was born in Lafayette county, July 24, 1846, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Dean) Early, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentuckv. John Early was a wealthy slave holder and had a large estate at the outbreak of the Civil War but was ruined financially during the course of the conflict. He was a cousin of General Jubal A. Early, the noted Confed- erate commander of Civil War fame. The life of this aged citizen has been spent usefully and productively in active pursuits. Li addition to his farming activities he has followed the trade of carpenter more or less for many years and is skilled in this useful art, having learned liis trade under the tutelage of his father. Mr. Eichler has always heen allied with the Democratic party and served as justice of the peace for Mound township for four years. He and the members of his family are religiously associated with the Methodist church. South. Mr. Eichler recalls vividly the troublesome days of the i)or(ler warfare and remembers many of the jay-hawkers who made raids into Missouri over the border. He remembers Colonel Johnson's raid through Bates county, and states that Johnson's men 366 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY even cut down or destroyed the fruit trees which had been planted and carefully nurtured by the settlers. Johnson had nearly five hundred men in his command and this party left terror and desolation in their wake. When the Eichler family located in Bates county, the first post- ofBce was located at the old and historic town of Papinsville, which at that time was a government post. Mr. Eichler likewise remembers that some excellent apples grew on the Mission grounds at Papinsville and he always ate of the fruit in season when going to Papinsville to trade. He states that a Frenchman named Francis Lorain was the first actual settler at Papinsville, and this man kept a store and trading post. Mr. Eichler always kept on good terms with the nomadic Indians and found them harmless, but badly given to petty thieving, necessitating con- stant watchfulness on the part of the housewives, being likewise ever- lasting beggars. The milling of the settlers was done at Papinsville and also at Balltown, the first settler at that place being a Scotchman named McNeal who conducted a trading post. For a number of years he pre- served a copy of the first newspaper published in Bates county, called the "Bates County Standard," but this paper was destroyed when the Eichler residence was burned some time ago. When Lewis C. Eichler came to Bates county the country was largely an unpeopled wilderness in which wild game abounded. There were herds of deer, great flocks of prairie chickens and wild turkeys. There were no roads and the settler followed trails across the prairie and blazed tracks through the woods. He has witnessed the growth of this county and taken an active and influential part in its upbuilding. There are few of the real old pioneers left to tell the tales of the early days, and of these. Mr. Eichler is one of the most honored. Herman Engelhardt. — The Engelhardt farm, widely known as "Pleasant View Farm" located in Charlotte township, is one of the finest and most productive agricultural plants in this section of Missouri. It consists of three hundred twenty acres of land, every square yard of which serves some useful purpose. The residence on the place was erected by the proprietor in 1905 and consists of seven good-sized rooms. Eight years later, in 1913, Mr. Engelhardt built one of the finest barn structures in Bates county, a building 48 x 58 feet and forty-eight feet in height, with a gambrel-roof, the loft underneath this roof having a storage capacity of ninety tons of hay and forage. This building with the cow barn and silos cost Mr. Engelhardt something over two thousand two hundred dollars to build. He is extensively engaged in raising Red HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ;67 Polled cattle and Poland China hogs and does considerable grain farming, " most of the grain produced by his fertile acres being fed to livestock on the place. This farm produced the champion yield of seventy bushels of oats to the acre in 1917 and also produced nearly three thousand bushels of corn. The wheat crop averaged twenty bushels to the acre, one of the best, if not the best, yields in Bates county. One hundred tons of hay were cut from the meadows last year. Mr. Engelhardt employs plenty of help to operate his large acreage and believes in spending money unstintedly on his land in order to make money. His methods of cultivation are such as to increase rather than diminish soil fertility and each year has seen his prosperity increase as a result of such wise measures. Mr. Engelhardt was born in 1858 in Saxony, Germany, a son of Frederick and Collene Engelhardt who lived all of their days in the land of their birth. Herman Engelhardt served for a time in the German army and in his youth learned the trade of nail-maker. This was in the days when nails were laboriously made by hand and Herman became skilled in the art of nail making, being able by a few strokes of the ham- mer to turn out quickly and efficiently a nail of any size. He immigrated to America in 1882 and obtained employment in the Rolling Mills at Rose- dale, a suburb of Kansas City, where he remained for a time and then located in Douglas county, Missouri. In this county, he homesteaded a tract of government land and by the hardest kind of labor cleared and placed in cultivation one hundred twenty acres. He started his career as a farmer with little or no means at his disposal and in less than eighteen years created a salable property in Douglas county from what had before been a wilderness. He spent his winters in chopping down the trees and preparing his ground for cultivation and in order to provide for his family he did railroad work during the summer seasons. In 1901, he traded his Douglas county farm for a tract of one hundred acres in Charlotte township to wdiich he has since added other acreage until he now owns three hundred twenty acres. Mr. Engelhardt gives great credit to his faithful wife and the members of his family for assistance in achieving his marked success. While living in Kansas City, he was married in 1883, to Pertha Glass, wdio was also born in Saxony, Germany, and to this marriage have been born five living children: Paul H., a farmer living in Char- lotte township; Lena, wife of Francis Gasch, a native of Austria, Mar- shall county, Kansas; Ida, who married Fred Nowatna, Piatt county, 368 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Kansas; William, at home; and Elsie, also at home with her parents. Politically, Mr. Engelhardt is independent and votes as his conscience and judgment dictate. He is a member of the Christian church, and Mrs. Engelhardt and the children are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church. Mr. Engelhardt is one of the most progressive and enter- prising citizens of Bates county, one who has good and just right to be proud of his fine farm and the success which has come to him through his own efforts and with no other assistance than that cheerfully given by the members of his family who have all worked together harmoniously for the common good of the family. Bates county is likewise proud of such citizens as he, men who have demonstrated that successful tillage of her soil depends to the greatest extent upon the individual himself. John Robert Walters, of Eone Oak township, is one of the oldest and most honored of the Bates county pioneers. Besides being one of the oldest of the citizens of his township, not only in age but in years of residence in the county, he has reared one of the largest families in the county. This is not all, however, for he spent some of the best years of his life in defense of the Union during the Civil War. He was born October 3, 1844, in a primitive home on Camp Branch creek, in Cass county, between Pleasant Hill and Harrisonville. His early recol- lections of conditions during his boyhood days, in Cass and Bates coun- ties, are vivid. He has seen his father shoot deer to the number of two and three before breakfast. Deer, as well as other wild game, were plentiful on the prairies and years ago he has shot deer himself and hunted the wild prairie chicken and turkeys. Having lived in Bates county since 1849, he is entitled to honorable mention as one of the oldest of the real pioneers of the county. Joseph Walters, his father, a Kentuckian by birth, was taken by his parents to Indiana and thence to Illinois, where he spent the days of his youth under primitive conditions. He was married near Terre Haute. Indiana, to Margaret Burkhart, who was born in Indiana. In the early forties, Joseph Walters came to Missouri and first made a settlement in the southern part of the state, but, conditions not being to his liking, he settled in Cass county, where he lived until 1849 and then came to Bates county, settling in Pleasant Gap township, where his death occurred at the age of eighty-five years. Mrs. Walters attained the great age of ninety-six years and at the time of her death was the oldest pioneer woman of Bates county. They w^ere parents of sixteen HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 369 children, nine sons and seven daughters, six of whom are yet living: Nelson, on the old homestead in Pleasant Gap township; John Robert, subject of this review; Mrs. Mollie Brownfield, state of Washington; Solomon, living near Harrisonville ; Mrs. Malinda Thomas, at the old family homestead in Pleasant Gap township; James, who makes his home in California: and Joseph, lives in Colorado. J. R. Walters made his home with his parents until the outbreak of the Civil War. Inasmuch as it appeared necessary for him to serve on one side of the conflict, he chose to side with the Union and accordingly went to Paoli, Kansas, and enlisted in Company E, Ninth Kansas Cav- alry, in the year 1863. This regiment operated along the border and in Arkansas, being on continuous scouting duty and engaging in battle with roving bands of Confederates and the dreaded guerrillas who infested the border states. They had several "mixups" with Ouantrill's gang of freebooters and he was engaged in the battle of Buell Bayou. He received his honorable discharge from the service at DuBall's Bluffs, Arkansas, and made his way homeward by boat to St. Louis, where he and his comrades were paid of¥, discharged, and mustered out of service at Leavenworth. Kansas. He returned directly to Bates county and set about repairing the ravages made during the war, the AValters home having been destroyed and the livestock dispersed during his absence. In 1891, he bought his present home place and is owner of sixty-six acres of well-improved land. Mr. Walters has one of the finest Short- horn herds in the county and takes considerable pride in his fine live- stock. His marriage with Belle Veda Walker, a native of Illinois, took place in 1874 and they have reared a large family of thirteen children of fourteen born to them. The children are as follow: Plenry C, living on his father's place ; William, Butler, Missouri : Lucy, Mrs. Homer Jenkins, Lone Oak township; Edward, living in Colorado; Mary, wife of Frank Nafus, Lone Oak township; Charles, a farmer in Vernon county, Missouri ; Joseph, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Lizzie, wife of Aleck Cameron, Kansas; Harry, living in Idaho; Nellie, wife of Clifford Nafus, Pleasant Gap township; Jennie, wife of Ward Carpenter, living near Appleton, Missouri ; Annie, resides at home ; and Elijah, at home. Mr. Walters is a Republican in politics as was his father before him. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. George W. Thompson, of Elkhart township, a well-known horseman and stockman, was born in Calhoun county, Illinois, in 1850, a son of (24) 3/0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Charles W. and Julia (Anderson) Thompson. Charles W. I'hompson was a native of New York who removed to Calhoun connty, Illinois and there married Julia Anderson, a native of Kentucky. He departed this life in 1853. His widow later married Dr. G. A\ . Christopher. To Charles W. and Julia Thompson were born three children: James, who died in Illi- nois; Charles, who was drowned in Calhoun county at the age of twenty^- five years; and George W., subject of this review. Elizal^eth, an adopted daughter, makes her home with the subject of this sketch. After the mother's marriage with Dr. Christopher, the family returned to Indiana and resided there for a nundjer of years and then came again to Illinois, where the mother died in 1872. In 1876, Dr. G. \\'. Christopher and his family came to Bates county, and located in Elkhart township on the farm now owned by G. AW Thompson. For some time after coming here. Doctor Christopher practiced his profession while developing his farm. He became widely known as a successful physician. He resided here until his death in 1890. To Dr. and Mrs. Christopher were born two children, Nancy Ann, the oldest, deceased ; and Francis Marion, of Elkhart township. At the time G. W. Thompson came to Bates county, much of the land was open prairie and the countryside was thinlv settled. Good land could be purchased for as low as six and seven dollars an acre and it was practically necessary for Mr. Thompson to place all the needed improvements on his place. The Thompson farm consists of one hun- dred forty acres of land with splendid improvements thereon. The farm is noted for its fine livestock. Mr. Thompson is the owner of a very valuable stallion of the American Shire breed which is considered to be one of the finest animals of its kind in the county. He raises Duroc Jersey and Poland China hogs and high-grade Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Thompson keeps a considerable part of his land in pasture and produces much grain and hay. No better nor more productive farm of its size is to be found anywhere in this section of Missouri than the Thompson place. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in his political affiliations and takes an active part in the affairs of his party, being accounted one of the Republican leaders of the county. He has filled the post of road fore- man several times and is a member of the Farmers' Union and of the Methodist Episcopal church. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 37I James F. Gragg, owner of a splendid tract of three hundred twenty acres of highly productive land in Mound township, located four miles south of Adrian, was born July 16, 1850, in Macoupin county, Illinois, on a farm located three miles south of the town of Bunker Hill. He is a son of John and Mary (King) Gragg, the former born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1810, and the latter, born in England and came to this country with her parents when she was nine years of age. John Gragg lived in Illinois and there the wife and mother died in 1872. Mr. Gragg came later to Bates county, Missouri and died here in January, 1893, at the age of eighty-three years, at the home of James F. He was father of twelve children, nine of whom are living: Carrie, widow of Thomas Elliman, Butler, Illinois; George, Nokomis, Illinois; Frank, Lovell, Oklahoma ; Charles, Crescent, Oklahoma ; Ella, wife of Hiram Ellis, Guthrie, Oklahoma; Jane, wife of William DeWitt, Lovell, Okla- homa; Laura, wife of Edward CafTee, of Lovell, Oklahoma; Samuel Taylor, Crescent City, Oklahoma; and James, F., the subject of this review. The early boyhood days of James F. Gragg were spent in a little log cabin 12 x 14 feet in dimensions, built of logs hewn from forest trees which originally covered his father's farm in Illinois. He grew up in the environment of these primitive surroundings and lived in Illi- nois until 1883. at which time he went to Clay county, Nebraska. He remained but one year in Nebraska and in the fall of that same vear he came to Bates county, Missouri. For a period of thirteen years, he rented his present place of three hundred twenty acres and then pur- chased his farm. Upon this large tract, he carries on successful general farming- operations and stock raising and has become one of the most substantial and enterprising farmers of Bates county. Mr. Gragg was married in 1874 to Melissa Evans, who was also born in Macoupin county, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Gragg have had eight children: Charles, deceased; Lawrence Clayton, Rockville, Bates county; Clarence Edward, Kansas City, Missouri; Benjamin, deceased; Archie L., on the home place; Mae, wife of Cleave Chambers, Elkhart township; Bessie, at home ; and Eva B., wife of Carl Laycox, Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Gragg has always ])een a consistent Democrat and is a member of the Central Protective Association and the Farmers' Club which is com- posed of the progressive farmers of his neighborhood. He and Mrs. Gragg are members of the Baptist church. 372 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY John Nickel, one of the few surviving old settlers of West Point township, Union veteran, is a native of Missouri, having been born in Dade county, March 8, 1839. For the past fifty years this aged citizen has resided on his farm in Bates county and has witnessed tremendous and far-reaching changes during that long period. He has reared a family of sons and daughters and has accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to give each child a farm and yet leave enough to sup- port 'himself comfortably in his declining years. His career has been an honorable and useful one which is well worth recording in this his- tory of Bates county. Mr. Nickel is a son of Samuel and Helen (Clark) Nickel, both natives of Pennsylvania. Samuel Nickel was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and migrated to Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Helen Clark and then came further westward to become one of the vanguard of Missouri pioneers who settled in Dade county in 1836. From Dade county he removed to Cedar county, Missouri, in 1849. When the Kansas territory was thrown open to settlement in 1854 he was among the first to locate in Linn county in that year. He was an ardent free state man who was opposed to slavery and took an active part in the border war- fare, doing all within his power to make Kansas a free state. Samuel Nickel was a friend of the noted John Brown of Osawatomie and his son. John Nickel, knew Brown well. Samuel Nickel served two years in the Sixth Kansas Cavalry Regiment of the Union army during the Civil War and six of his sons enlisted and served in 1)ehalf of the Union, as follow: William, Benjamin, Jasper, Newton, John, and Robert. Samuel Nickel had ten sons and a daughter, five of whom are yet living, as follow: John, subject of this review; Newton, a Union veteran, Oklahoma; George, residing in Texas; J. J., living in Denver; Mrs. Emma E. Eagan, residing in San Francisco, California. Samuel Nickel died at the age of seventy-one years and his wife departed this life at the age of fifty-six years. John Nickel has an enviable and noteworthy war record. He enlisted on August 17, 1861, in Company "D," of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry and served until the close of the conflict. He was honorably discharged from the Union service in December, 1864. Mr. Nickel saw active and continuous service in Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Terri- tory and Kansas. The principal battles in which his regiment took an active part were: Drywood, September 1, 1861; Sny Hills, 1862; Cow- skin Prairie, June, 1862; attack on Clarkson, July 4, 1862; Stan Watea JOHN NICKEL. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 373 Mills, July, 1862; Coon Creek, August 24, 1862; Newtonia, September 30, to October 9, 1862; Old Fort Wayne, October 22, 1862; Cane Hill, November 29, 1862; Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862; attack on train, Fort Gibson, May 25, 1863; Honey Spring, July 17, 1863; Prairie De Ann, April 10 and 12, 1864; Poison Spring, April 18, 1864; Ouchita River, April 29, 1864; Roseville, April 3, 1864; Muzzard Prairie, July 27, 1864; Cabin Creek, September 19. 1864. At the battle of Cabin Creek, Oklahoma, he was wounded in the right shoulder and again suffered a wound in the right hand at the battle of Roseville, Arkansas. After receiving his discharge, Mr. Nickel returned to his home in Linn county, Kansas, and lived there until 1868, when he crossed the line into Missouri and bought a tract of unfenced and unbroken land in West Point township. This tract was crossed by a stream which afforded a plentiful supply of timber growing along its banks. Mr. Nickel cut logs from the timber and erected a rude log cabin which served as his home in Missouri for a number of years. Game was plentiful in those days and the young soldier and his wife had few wants which were not easily supplied although they enjoyed but few luxuries such as the present generation have in their homes. In the course of time Mr. Nickel pros- pered and built himself a comfortable and imposing farm house. Life was not always easy but he prospered through the lean and good years and eventually became owner of six hundred forty acres of land which he has divided among his children. He deemed it ]:»est to give to each child a tract of land or its equivalent wdiile he was vet living and as each attained his majority he received a fair start in the world. Mr. Nickel was married on Feljrnary 15, 1865, to Mary L. Francis, who was born in Illinois in 1845 and departed this life in 1895. She was a daughter of Thomas and Hannah Francis, of Illinois, who were pioneer settlers in Bates county, Missouri, coming here from Illinois in 1856. To John and Mary L. Nickel were born the following chil- dren: Elmer T., living in California; Hannah T., v.ife of E. J. Francis, residing in Oregon; Anna L.. wife of William Speeks, now deceased; John L., living on the home place, married Miss Ollie Dennv and has three children, Arthur, Floyd, and Paul Denny. Mr. Nickel has four- teen grandchildren in all. Mr. Nickel has always been allied with the Republican partv and has filled practically all local township offices. He is religiously asso- ciated with the Methodist Episcopal church and served as deacon of his church. Mr. Nickel is a meml^ier of the Grand Armv Post at La Cvo-ne, 374 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Kansas. Mr. Nickel loves to talk of the old times and especially grows reminiscent when he speaks of the war times and his strenuous career in the Civil War when his father and six stalwart and patriotic sons went forth to fight in behalf of the Union. He bequeathes a heritage of right living and right doing which wall be an inspiration to the present and succeeding generations. His fifty years of endeavor in Bates county have been blessed with excellent results and he has done as much as' any other pioneer settler in the upbuilding of this county. Christian Schmidt. — When Christian Schmidt of Mound township came to Bates county thirty-six years ago, he was a poor man with neither money nor friends to assist him in getting a start in this county. By industry, close application to the work at hand, and the exercise of good financial ability he has become one of the substantial farmers of this county and one of the county's most highly respected citizens. Mr. Schmidt was born in Baden, Germany, in 1860. a son of Mr. and Mrs. Christian Schmidt, the former of whom never left his native land but died in the place of his birth in 1871. Mrs. Schmidt came to America, in 1880, with her two daughters, Catherine, now Mrs. William Mueller, and Sophia, now Mrs. William Jenney. Mrs. Schmidt died January 20, 1916. When Christian was twenty years of age, he immigrated to America in search of a permanent home and wealth. For the first two or three years, he worked as farm laborer in Illinois and then came westward to Bates county where it seemed to him that on account of land being cheaper in price he would stand a better chance of eventually becoming a land-owner. He first located in Deer Creek township and was engaged in farming in that township until 1898, when he located in Mound township and purchased eighty acres of land which formed the nucleus around which he has built up a splendid and rich farm of two hundred forty acres, adding tracts from time to time as he was able financially. He maintains a fine herd of Durham cattle and raises Poland China hogs. Most of the grain and fodder produced on the Schmidt farm is fed to livestock on the place, thereby insuring the con- tinued fertility of the soil. Mr. Schmidt was first married to Elizabeth Jenney, who bore him one son. Christian, at home with his father. After the death of his first wife he was married in November, 1894, to Ida Hess, of Bates county, and to this marriage have been born five children: Lena, at home; Albert, who assisted his father on the home place; Herman, a student in Adrian HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 375 High School ; \\'alter and Christine, attenchng the pubHc school. Mr. Schmidt is a Lutheran in his religious beHef. Mrs. Ida (Hess) Schmidt was born January 25, 1872, in LaSalle county, Illinois, daughter of Gotthard and Catherine Hess, natives of Baden, Germany, who came from Illinois to Bates county, in 1879. and located on a farm two miles west of Adrian. Both are deceased. Gotthard Hess died in 1896 and Catherine (Kern) Hess died in 1907. A sketch of Mr. and Mrs. Gotthard Hess appears elsewhere in this volume in con- nection with the review of Edward C. Hess. Thaddeus S. Harper, prosperous and well-known farmer of Charlotte township, has lived nearly all his life in Bates county, having been brought to this county by his parents, when he was an infant in arms, fifty years ago. He has practically "grown up with the county" and he has become an important and valued member of the great body of citi- zens who are continuously pushing Bates county to the front and making it one of the truly great counties of Missouri. Mr. Harper was born on a farm in Johnson county, Missouri, near the city of Warrensburg, August 24, 1867, a son of Judge R. F. Harper, concerning whom an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Harper was reared and educated in Bates county, completing his education at the Butler Academy. He then taught school in this county, teaching for eight winters in the home district. No. 70, better known as Grandview school. During the summer season, he diligently farmed upon his father's place. He taught school for fourteen winters, in all, and was considered a very successful teacher. He eventually purchased the farm where he is now located and which he has greatly improved until it now contains one of the most handsome farm residences in western Missouri, fitted with every convenience, containing many modern improvements, among them being an electric light plant which furnishes electric light and power for the home and farm buildings. There are two hundred acres in Mr. Harper's home farm and he owns another place of one hundred fifty acres. His first investment in land was made in 1891 and he has continued to prosper by intelligently cultivating his acreage and by raising high-bred livestock, such as the Red Polled cat- tle. Mr. Harper was married on April 7, 1897, to Miss Lillian Edna Hill, wdio was born in Missouri, a daughter of Pleasant Hill, who made a settlement in Missouri as early as 1867, coming to this state 376 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY from Iowa. Six children have been born to T. S. and Lillian Edna Harper, as follow: Ralph E., a gradnate of Butler High School; Carrie Margaret, who graduated from the Butler High School and is engaged in teaching at Mulberry; Rollin H., a student in Butler High School; Dorothy D.. Thaddeus S., Jr., and Theodore Roosevelt, or "Teddy," all of whom are at home. The Republican party has always had the active and influential support of Mr. Harper and he served as chairman of the county central committee during the last campaign made by former President Roose- velt for the Presidency. He has ably filled the offices of township assessor and clerk and as delegate to the various conventions of his party held in the old days prior to the inauguration of the party pri- maries. Mr. Harper is a stockholder and director of the Farmers State Bank of Butler. Monroe Burk, well-known farmer of Charlotte township, was l)orn in Union county, Indiana, June 2, 1846, a son of Lemuel and ALary Isabel (Girard) Burk, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, a native of Virginia. The family came to Missouri and settled in Lafay- ette county in 1866. In 1884, they moved to Johnson county, Mis- souri, and afterward located in Bates county. After a long and useful life, the father died at Lees Summit. Z^Iissouri, and the mother died near Rich Hill in this county. Lemuel and ^lary Isal)el Burk were parents of ten children, eight of whom are living; John D., Washing- ton; Angeline, wife of William Scudder, Kokomo, Indiana; ]\Irs. Sina Boland, Kansas City, Missouri; Monroe Burk, subject of this sketcli ; Conaway, Lexington, Missouri; Elliot, Amoret, ]\Iissouri; ]\Irs. Ida Culp, Kansas City; and Mrs. Belle Atherton, Holden, Johnson county. The 1)Ovhood days of Monroe Burk were spent in Indiana, where he attended the district scliools. He accompanied his parents to ?^lis- souri in 1866 and in 1881 began his own career in Bates county, locating on a farm in Charlotte township, three-fourths of a mile east of his present homestead. Air. Burk has accumulated a large farm of two hundred eighty acres of good land and is engaged extensively in rais- ing and feeding livestock for the markets. He handles Shorthorn cat- tle and Poland China hogs and each year adds to the number of splendid mules produced in this county. November 11, 1874, Mr. Burk was united in marriage with Nannie Belle Evans of Platte county, Missouri, who has borne him nine chil- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^yj dren: Emmet, a farmer of Charlotte township; Rose, wife of Morton Jackson, Linn county, Kansas ; John, residing in Washington ; Luki, wife of Herbert Steele, of Bntler, Missouri; Lloyd, of College Station, Texas; Ray, at home; Edna, wife of Edlin Allison; Perry, at home; and Maud, at home. The mother of this fine family is a daughter of John Wesley and Jennie (Flagler) Evans, natives of Ohio, wdio located in Missouri in the early fifties. They later homesteaded in Kansas, remaining in that state for a few years and then lived for about ten years near Kicka- poo, Leavenworth county, Kansas, after which they went to Newton county, Missouri. Following a short residence in Newton countv, they lived for two years in Jackson county and then removed to Lafavette county, later residing for a time in Kansas City. Airs. Burk's father died in Lafayette and her mother died in Kansas City. Mr. Burk has been a life-long Democrat, one who has served his political party faithfully and well and served as a township collector of Charlotte township one term. Mr. and Mrs. Burk are well and favor- ably known in their neighborhood and are among Bates county's most sdl^stantial citizens. J. M. Hinson, a leading farmer and stockman of Charlotte township, was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, November 22, 1848. Pie is a son of J. G. and Lucy (Gigsby) Hinson, ])oth of whom were born and reared in old Virginia and were of Irish descent. Thev spent their lives in their native state and they were parents of five children, tlie subject of this review being the only member of this family who came west to Missouri. J. G. Hinson served with the Confederate armv and was present with his command at the surrender of General Lee at Appomat- tox Court House, Virginia. For three years following tlie final sur- render, Mr. Hinson was not allowed to cast a vote at election time in his native state during tlie period of reconstruction. He followed farm- ing during his whole life and was also engaged in merchandising. In 1872, J. M. Hinson left his native state and came westward in search of a home and fortune. He first located at Waverlv, Favette county, Missouri, and there engaged in farming until 1882, during wifich year he came to Bates county and after a year's residence in A\'est Boone township, he locatest Point township, as he had traded his posses- sions for one hundred sixty acres of land there located, a tract which HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4O9 was unimproved. This land he traded for eighty acres which were improved with an old house, cribs, and buildings of mediocre character. With the assistance of his able, energetic wife he prospered and increased his holdings to a grand total of four hundred eighty acres. This land has been divided since his death and the widow now owns the home- stead of one hundred sixty acres. Politically, Mr. Halfert was a stanch Republican and always voted the Republican ticket. He took an active interest in political matters and was noted for his straightforwardness and plain manner of speak- ing. His honesty was proverbial and his rating as a citizen was high. S. P. Halfert was united in marriage with Sarah Ellen Kelley on December 15, 1872. To this union were born the following children: John Charles Halfert, born October 18, 1874, and now residing on a farm in West Point township; George W'illiam Peter, born September 3, 1886, at home with his mother; John Charles Halfert married Anna Gifford and has three children: Ida Celeste, Virolee Ellen, and Clyde Marvin, who was named in honor of a preacher despite the wishes of his grand- mother, who desired that he be named in honor of his grandfather. Mrs. Sarah Ellen Halfert was born Deceml^er 13, 1854, in Pennsyl- vania, a daughter of John and Eliza (Johnson) Kelley, natives of the Keystone state who removed to Newton county, Indiana, in 1855 and resided there until 1867 when they came to Bates county. Mrs. Eliza Kelley died in Indiana in 1861, leaving six children, as follow: Mary Jane, died in Colorado ; Mrs. Ollie Kelley, Butler, Missouri ; John, died when a youth; Aaron, died November 5, 1908, on a farm near Corn- land, Bates county; Sarah Ellen Halfert, of this review; and Charles T., died in infancy. John Kelley was again married in 1873 to Mrs. Sallie Carpenter, who bore him four children: Samuel W., deceased; Andrew, living in northern Minnesota; Mrs. Rena Dillon, who is living near Butler; May, residing in California. The second Mrs. Kelley died upon the birth of her last child. December 1, 1867, the Kelley family arrived in Bates county and settled upon a farm in the vicinity of Cornland, which farm Mr. Kelley cultivated until his death, Eebruary 18. 1881. Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman who has accomplished wonders in the management and improvement of her fine farm since her late husband's death. She has remodeled and rebuilt practically every struc- ture on the place and has all of them attractively painted in a dark red color, the residence and buildings making a handsome appearance from the roadway. She has had erected a thirty-barrel water tank for farm 4IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY purposes which is kept filled by a pump operated by wind-mill power and everything is in first-class condition. A cyclone devastated the farm in 1909 and did considerable damage but it was quickly repaired. This energetic farm lady, despite her years, does a great part of the farm work and maintains a herd of ten dairy cows which yield one can of cream weekly from February to July, thus bringing her an income of seven dollars weekly. She has a total of eighteen head of cattle and nineteen head of Duroc Jersey hogs on the place. During the laying season, she disposes of two thirty-dozen cases of eggs each week from her poultry plant. Mrs. Halfert attends to her poultry and hogs, and does a great part of the milking herself. At this writing, December, 1917, she had four hundred bushels of oats in her granary and more than one thousand bushels of corn in crib. She owns a splendid team of horses and a brood mare. In the spring of 1917, she disposed of more than three hundred dollars worth of horses and mules. Mrs. Halfert is a woman who is highly capable of managing her own affairs. She believes in keeping up with the times and her success in conducting a large farm has demonstrated that at least one woman can manage a business successfully. She is emphatically in favor of woman suffrage and looks forward to the time wdien she will be able to vote equally with men. Altogether, Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman in more ways than one — kind hearted, obliging, and broad-minded — and she has a deep and abid- ing love for her home county and her country. James W. Bobbitt. retired merchant and former postmaster of Sprague, Missouri, has, since the very beginning of the town of Sprague, been one of the leading citizens of this locality. He was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, January 18, 1850, a son of Joseph D. and Polly Ann (Barrow) Bobbitt, both of whom were born and reared in old Kentucky. The parents of Joseph D. Bobbitt were natives of Virginia, who made a settlement in Kentucky during the early years of the history of that state. Mr. Bobbitt migrated to Missouri and arrived in Pettis county on March 10, 1870. For a time he was engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Pettis county until his removal to Wilson county, Kansas, where he again engaged in mercantile pursuits, remaining in Kansas until he came to Sprague, Bates county, Missouri, in 1900. He was engaged in business here until a short time before his death in 1910. Mrs. Polly Ann Bobbitt died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbitt were the parents of the following children: James W., subject of this review; William Per- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4II kins, a resident of La Fontaine, Kansas; Mrs. Nannie Prigmore, a widow living at Pueblo, Colorado; and Perry Davis Bobbitt, Canon City, Colo- rado. J. W. Bobbitt received his schooling in Kentucky, his common- school education being followed by a course in the Davis Academy in Kentucky. He accompanied his parents to Missouri in 1870 and for two years after his arrival in Pettis county he and his brothers followed farm- ing while the father conducted his store. He then engaged in business with his father. In 1878, he came to Bates county and settled on a farm four miles north of Sprague. In 1881 he located in Sprague and opened one of the first mercantile establishments in the village. He established the first harness business, and then opened a general mer- cantile store which he conducted until 1906 when he retired from active business pursuits. Mr. Bobbitt has an eighty-acre farm, located west of Sprague, which is cultivated by a tenant. Mr. Bobbitt was married March 8, 1876, to Miss Hattie E. Winston, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of Drayton and Mary Winston, natives of North Carolina, who first made a settlement in Pettis county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county in 1882, set- tling on a farm located north of Sprague where both died in the same year, of 1887. To James W. and Hattie Bobbitt have been born children as follow: Mrs. Minnie McCray, Pueblo, Colorado, who has two .-chil- dren — Murle, and William W. ; Mrs. Cecil Gault, Buhl, Idaho, who has three daughters, Theo, Esther, and Genevieve; Clyde, at home with his parents ; and Mrs. Auda Lee, Pueblo, Colorado, who has an infant daugh- ter, Johanna Elizabeth. The Republican party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Bobbitt, who has been one of the leaders of his party for many years in Bates county. He has held many positions of trust during his long resi- dence here and has acquitted himself creditably in every instance. For a period of twenty-three years, he served as postmaster of Sprague. In March, 1915, he was elected tax collector of Howard township and served for two years in this ofiice. He has always taken a great interest in school matters and at the present writing is president of the local school board. WHien Sprague w^as actively maintained as an incorporated town, he served as a member and clerk of the town council. Mr. Bobbitt is a member of the Christian church and is serving as clerk and treasurer of the Sprague Christian church. He is fraternally af^Hated with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 412 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY P. L. Shelton, superintendent of the Hickory Hill Mining Company, Foster, jMissouri, is a native son of Bates county who has achieved a striking success in the coal mining field of this county. At the present critical period of our nation's history (1918) when there is hardly a locality, industry, or city which is not crying for coal, and more coal, in order to ward off the chills of winter and keep the wheels of industry going, the individual who is doing his utmost to assist in supplying this demand is performing a public service of great value. The mines in Mr. Shelton's direct charge give employment to over fifty men at high wages and the only dit^culty experienced in conducting mine operations is in securing the necessary cars in which to ship the output. A strip mine is operated near Foster wdiich has a capacity of forty tons daily and employs fifteen men. The Hickory Hill Mine, one of Mr. Shel- ton's newest ventures, is a slope mine, located about one and one-fourth miles west of Foster upon a tract of two hundred ten acres underlaid \vith a splendid coal deposit and having an average output of one hun- dred tons. This mine is in the infancy of its development and was opened by Mr. Shelton in January, 1917. From twenty-five to fifty men are given employment at this mine, which is ecjuipped with modern hoisting machinery operated by gas engines at a cost of eight}^ dollars per month, making a distinct saving in the hoisting expense of the coal to the top of the mine tipple for screening and loading. A tramway one-fourth of a mile in length conveys the coal to the railway spur or independent switch on the Missouri Pacific railroad. The birth of P. L. Shelton occurred on a farm in New Home town- ship. May 25, 1871. His parents were James C. (born in 1847, died in 1895), and Susan (Fads) Shelton (born August 29, 1845), the latter of whom is now making her home in Kansas City. James C. Shelton w^as born on a pioneer farm in Deepwater township, a son of Robert Shelton, a native of Kentucky, wdio was among the very earliest pio- neer settlers of Bates county, coming here in 1845 when this entire sec- tion was an unsettled wilderness of prairie and forest. In 1849, Robert Shelton drove a freight wagon to the Pacific Coast on the hunt for gold in the mining country. He made the entire distance wdiile driving a slow-moving ox-team. James C. Shelton was accidentally killed while employed in a strip mine ditch, his death being caused by the caving in of the sides of the ditch, so-called. Susan (Fads) Shelton, was likewise a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri, her birth occurring at California, Missouri. To James C. and Susan Shelton were p. L. SHELTON. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 4I3 born eight children, seven of whom are Hving: P. L.j eldest of the family; Edward A., Kansas City; Mrs. S. Cordelia Blackburn, Kansas City; Airs. Melissa Snuffer, Kansas City; Mrs. Mary Pierce, Kansas City; H. C, also living in Kansas City; and Mrs. Anna Stuart, Utah. Not long after the birth of P. L. Shelton, his parents located in Walnut township, on a farm one-fourth of a mile east of Foster. He was educated in the A\'alnut township schools and assisted his parents in the. support of the family' until he was twenty-six years old. He began to make his own way in 1897 and has been employed in coal-mining on his own account since 1891. Mr. Shelton has been carrying on farming and mining operations for the past twenty years and is an enterprising, energetic citizen who is considered the busiest man in the town of Foster. During the greater part of this period he has been an operator and an employer of labor and knows every phase of the mining industry, having learned his business in the hard school of practical experience. He has a substantial interest in the Hickory Hill Mining venture and is the prac- tical owner of the strip mines near Foster. Mr. Shelton w^as married on March 31, 1897, to Jennie B. Webb, who was born in Ray county, Missouri, December 6, 1878, a daughter of H. H. and D. E. (Stevens) Webb, natives of Tennessee and Missouri, respectively. Her parents came to Bates county in 1885. Her father is deceased and her mother resides in Moberly, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Shelton have a fine family of five sons and three daughters, namely: Pleasant H., a student in the Kansas City Business College ; Myrtle, a student in Westport High School; DeWitt, Herbert, Paul, Arlo, Mildred, and Marie, at home. It is worthy of mention that Mr. Shelton's father operated the old Campbell's Crossing ferry boat located on the Marais des Cygnes on the route of the old overland trail to Fort Scott. An uncle of P. L. Shelton, Will Lee Shelton, served four years in the Con- federate army during the Ci'vil War. Mr. Shelton is a Democrat who takes a proper interest in political affairs but has little time for politics. He and Mrs. Shelton are mem- bers of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Shelton is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Rebekahs. Mrs. Shelton is a mem- ber of the Daughters of Rebekah, and the Royal Neighbors Auxiliary lodges. Mr. and Mrs. Shelton have good apd just right to be proud of the fact that they are members of two of the oldest pioneer families 414 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of western Missouri. The Shelton home is a cheery and hospitable one, and Mr. Shelton is deservedly popular with his employes and the men with whom he is doing business. He is one of the most successful busi- ness men of Bates county and a hustler of the most energetic type. David W. Thompson, postmaster, Hume, Missouri, is a native-born Missourian. He was born on a farm in Cass county, April 20, 1868, a son of J. L. and Nancy (Elliot) Thompson, natives of Ireland. Both J. L. Thompson and Nancy Elliot came to America from their native land when children with their respective parents, and were reared in Cass county, Illinois. They were there married and, in 1866, migrated to Mis- souri and made a settlement in Cass county. After a residence of four- teen years in Cass county, they removed to Bates county and settled on a farm located two miles south of Hume in Howard township, in 1880. Two years later, the father died in 1882. The widow finished rearing the fine family of eight sons and a daughter and now resides in Hume. The children of J. L. and Nancy Thompson are as follow: Mrs. Emma R. Hern, Hume, Missouri; William M., a farmer living at Hume; John M., prosperous farmer and live-stock buyer, Hume, Missouri; Joseph F., farmer, Hume; James B., farmer, Hume; Robert A., who lives on the old home place south of Hume; David W., subject of this review; Ed- ward W., Kansas City, Missouri; Arthur A., window trimmer for the firm of Browning, King & Company, Kansas City, Missouri. All the eight sons of J. L. Thompson are Democrats of the tried and true variety. David W. Thompson was twelve years of age when he came to Bates county with his parents. His common school education was completed in the district school of his home locality and he attended the Normal School at Ft. Scott, Kansas, for one year. His first employment, other than working on the home farm, was as clerk in a general store at Hume, prior to his marriage. For a period of two years, he was engaged in the mercantile business in Hume on his own account and, in 1894, dispos- ing of his business in town, he purchased a farm of eighty acres in section sixteen of Howard township. This tract of land had been devastated by a tornado, which had swept through this section of Missouri, and Mr. Thompson erected practically all of the improvements on the place. Some time after making his initial purchase of eighty acres, he added a forty- acre tract, making one hundred twenty acres in all, which he owns. This farm is well improved and highly productive. Mr. Thompson cul- tivated his farm until his appointment as postmaster of Hume, at which time he removed to a residence in the town. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 415 D. W. Thompson was married in 1892 to Miss Dana Ellis, of Vernon county, Missouri, a daughter of Robert Ellis, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two chidlren : Ceran E., aged twenty-five years, who is employed in the offices of the Kansas City & Southern Railway at Kansas City, Missouri; and Mildred E., aged eighteen years, a student in the H.ume High School, class of 1918. Mr. Thompson is a Democrat in his political allegiance and takes a good Democrat's interest in politics. He was appointed to the position of postmaster of Hume on January 21, 1915, and took up the duties of his office on February 1, 1915. His conduct of the affairs of the office during the past two years of his incumbency has been such as to please the most exacting of the patrons. He is a member of the Baptist church and is a member of the Fraternal Aid Society. Thomas Henry Lewis, better known as "T. H. Lewis," owner of four hundred twenty-four acres of excellent farm land in West Point township, is a son of the Rev. A. H. Lewis, late of Bates county, and one of the most widely known, pioneer Baptist ministers of Missouri, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Lewis has a splendidly improved farm upon which he has resided since April of 1890. Upon this farm he placed practically all of the improvements and fencing. During the past year of 1917, he harvested ninety-five acres of corn, which yielded a total of twenty-four hundred bushels of grain ; thirty acres of oats which yielded one thousand fifty bushels of oats; twenty-six acres of hay which cut thirty tons in all. He had planted a total of one hundred twenty-five acres in wheat for next year's harvesting in compliance with the calls of his government for a greater wheat acreage in order that America may feed herself and the allies in the great world war. He has, at the present writing, a fine herd of forty-eight head of Shorthorn cattle, forty-four head of Duroc Jersey hogs, forty-three sheep, and twenty-five head of horses and mules. Mr. Lewis was born in Saline county, Missouri, in 1862. He was three years old when his parents moved to Ray County, Missouri. He was ten years of age when the family made a permanent home in Bates county in 1872. He was reared on the home place of the Lewis family and attended Willow Branch school. School was held in a small building 16 X 24 feet in size. His best teacher, as he recalls, was Prof. DeWitt Daniels, who was learned in the classics and taught his pupils the higher branches, thus giving the ambitious students the benefits of higher edu- cation and saving them the necessity of leaving home to attend a school 4l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of higher learning. Mr. Lewis began for himself when he became of age and farmed his father's place until 1890, when he began entirely on his own account. XMiile he received some assistance from his father, he has achieved the greater part of his success through his own endeavors. His first purchase of land was one hundred sixty acres, to which he added fifty-three and three-tenths acres, then fifty-one acres, then eighty acres, and to his enlarged tract was added still another eighty acres. His first home, built in 1890, was a small afi^air, 14 x 24 feet, which he rebuilt in 1903 and 1904, making a substantial farm residence of eight rooms which sits well back from the roadway to the south. Upon the Lewis farm are about twenty-five acres of timl)er, wdiich furnish fuel and lumber for building purposes for the farm. Mr. Lewis was married in 1890 to Miss Fannie E. Covington, who was l^orn in Culpepper county, \^irginia. and who first came to jMissouri upon a visit to the Lewis family. She is a daughter of Robert C. and Frances (Brown) Covington, of Culpepper county, Virginia. To this mar- riage have been born the following children: Robert L., a farmer in Elkhart township; Abram H., a soldier in the National Army, now in training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma ; Virginia Frances, Percy Wallace, Dora Elizabeth, at home; Thomas Coleman, deceased; and Frank, at home. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mv. Lewis, although he has never taken an active part in political matters. He and the members of his family are aftiliated with the Baptist church. J. C. Biggs, cashier of the Commercial Bank of Hume, Missouri, was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1858, a son of Andrew E. and Sarah (Pay- ton) Biggs, natives of McLean county. Illinois, and Ohio, respectivelv. Andrew E. Biggs, his father, came to Bourbon county, Kansas, in 1857, and entered homestead land which now forms a part of the site of the thriving city of Ft. Scott. His purpose in coming to Kansas at that early period was to take part in the making of Kansas into a free state. Naturally, his presence in Bourbon county was not desired by the slavery men, wdio were at that time in the majority. He, with others of his per- suasion, found it necessary in order to save their lives, to leave the terri- tory. He returned to his old home in McLean county, Illinois, in 1859, and remained there until 1878. when he again came to the West and located in Miami county, Kansas. He followed farming in that county until 1880, at which time he removed to Custer county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead. Five years later, he returned eastward and made his final settlement in Bates countv, where he resided until his death in HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 417 1904 at the age of sixty-three years. He was the father of seven children, as follow: J. C, subject of this review; B. F., proprietor of a meat and grocery store in Hume; Mrs. Ella Palmer, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Phoebe McLean, deceased; Mrs. Lizzie Snell, Hume, Missouri; Harmon, a railroad man whose headquarters are at Wichita, Kansas; Charles, also a railroader living at Hume. The last four children mentioned in the preceding paragraph were born of a second marriage of Andrew E. Biggs with Jennie Settle. Mrs. Jennie Biggs now makes her home at Hume. J. C. Biggs, subject of this review, received his education in the com- mon schools and at Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois. For a period of seven years he taught school successfully in Illinois and Bates county, Missouri, his last year in the profession of teaching, 1883-1884, having been spent in Bates county. During the years of 1885 and 1886, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia in Bates county. Following which he came to Hume in 1887 and from 1887 to 1892 he was engaged in the drug business, the Biggs' Drug Store now being conducted by his son. From 1892 to 1896. he was connected with the old Hume Bank, after which he again re-entered the drug business and remained in this business until 1903, when he organized the Commercial Bank of Hume, a banking concern which has a well-merited and successful growth for the past fifteen years. His capabilities as banker have been recog- nized, and as its cashier he has been the guiding hand for this bank. In addition to his banking interests, Mr. Biggs is a successful farmer and prides himself upon the fact that he is as much a farmer as a banker. He is owner of four hundred acres of splendid farm land in Howard town- ship, the cultivation of wdiich place receives his personal attention. The Biggs farm produces, upon an average, one hundred head of hogs and from forty to eighty head of cattle, annually. Mr. Biggs was married in 1883 to Miss Cora B. Forsythe, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Charles Forsythe, an early settler of Bates county, Missouri, who located in this county in the early sixties. Mr. and Mrs. Biggs have three children : George, a druggist, Hume, Mis- souri, a graduate pharmacist, married Miss Mary Sieg; Mrs. L. C. Wil- liams, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has two sons, John Robert and Richard James; Kenneth, aged thirteen years, who is attending school. Mr. Biggs is allied with the Republican party and is religiously affil- iated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and takes high rank as a public- (27) 4l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY spirited, influential citizen, who has the best interests of his home city and county at heart. The Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri, was organized and began business May 4, 1903. This bank was organized by J. C. Biggs, its pres- ent cashier, with a capital of ten thousand dollars. Associated with Mr. Biggs in the organization were W. B. Waytes, who served as the first president of the bank; S. R. Humphrey, as vice-president; and H. C. Cur- tis, assistant cashier. W. C. Foster, with the preceding named gen- tlemen served as the board of directors. For the past fifteen years the bank has continued to do business at the original location in the brick building located on the northwest corner of the public square in Hume. Mr. Humphrey died in October, 1913, and he was succeeded by C. E. Horton. Mr. Waytes died in 1915 and his successor, W. C. Foster, be- came president of the bank. The present officers are : W. C. Foster, president; C. E. Horton, vice-president; J. C. Biggs, cashier; J. P. Adams, assistant cashier. The foregoing, with E. N. Martin, W. L. Thompson and R. W. McConnell, now constitute the board of directors. The latest statement of the financial condition of the Commercial Bank gives assets as follow: Capital stock, ten thousand dollars; surplus, five thousand dollars; deposits, one hundred sixty-five thousand dollars. The yearly statement of annual deposits given as taken from the bank records for the month of November show the steady and consistent growth of the Commercial Bank. The deposits were as follow for each current year beginning with November of 1903 and continuing for the same month in each succeeding year: 1903, $18,332.31; 1904, $22,785; 1905, $35,298; 1906, $84,785.60; 1907, $105,604.15; 1908, $77,991.55; 1909, $83,961 ; 1910, $102,611.29; 1912, $117,048.63; 1913, $80,540.78; 1914, $81,315.90; 1916, $81,080.59; and 1917, $165,000. Harry L. Curtis, the efiicient and highly capable cashier of the State Bank of Hume, Missouri, is a hustler who received his business and financial training in the "school of hard knocks" and has made good. Air. Curtis was born Septeml)er 4, 1870, in Logan county, Illinois, a son of W. L. and Susannah (Landis) Curtis, both of whom are natives of Virginia, where they were born, reared, and married. W. L. Curtis mi- grated from Illinois to Kansas in 1876, and followed farming operations in the southwestern part of the state until 1895, when he came to Hume, Missouri, and is now engaged in the grain and elevator business. Harry L. Curtis was reared to young manhood in southwestern Kan- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 419 sas and received his first banking experience in that locaHty. He first located in Hume in the year 1899 and became identified with the old Hume Bank which had been founded by Messrs. Standish and Horton. He served as bookkeeper of this concern until 1903 and then assisted in the organization of the Commercial Bank of Hume and remained with that concern until he organized the State Bank of Hume. He organized this bank in 1911 and under his management the concern is proving a financial success. This bank was opened for business in 1912 with a cap- ital of ten thousand dollars. The organizers were Dr. Botts, R. M. Dun- can, J. T. Lee, J. M. Thompson and H. L. Curtis. The company erected a fine brick building and fitted the interior with modern fixtures and a splendid vault. The bank has enjoyed a steady growth in strength and patronage since its organization and now has total resources of over one hundred thousand dollars. The present ofiicers are : R. M. Duncan, president; Dr. Botts, vice-president, and H. L. Curtis, cashier. The board of directors include the foregoing ofiticers and Messrs. Lee and Thomp- son. In addition to his banking business, Mr. Curtis conducts an insur- ance and farm loan department, being the agent in tliis section of Mis- souri for the Walton Trust Company, of Butler. He is also a farmer and owns a splendid farm of one hundred sixty acres northwest of Hume. While this farm is operated by a tenant, it is one of the most productive in Bates county, having yielded its owner a net profit of fourteen dollars per acre on the wheat acreage during the past year and has yielded a profit of eighteen dollars per acre on the corn crop. Mr. Curtis was married in July, 1915, to Miss Ada Montgomery, of Chicago, Illinois, and to this marriage has been born a daughter, Louise, born December 28, 1916 Mr. Curtis is a pronounced Democrat in his political allegiance. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having taken all degrees of Masonry up to and including the Thirty-second Degree, being both a Scottish Rite and York Mason. Mr. Curtis, while among the younger financial men of Bates county, has achieved a success second to none in the county during the years he has been here a resident. He takes an active and influential interest in the affairs of his home town and of Bates county and is usually found in the forefront of all undertakings having for their object the betterment of conditions in the county and the advancement of the welfare of the people. 420 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Edward Leslie Thomas or "E. L." Thomas, as he is more famiHarly known, owner of "Capital Hill Farm," a splendid farm place of two hun- dred forty acres in New Home township, is a native son of Missouri and was born on a farm in New Home township, Bates county, August 8, 1873. He is a son of James P. Thomas, one of the oldest of the living pio- neer settlers of this county, concerning whom a biographical review is given elsewdiere in this volume. The Thomas place is a beautiful one, the well-kept residence being located upon an eminence which overlooks the surrounding country for miles in every direction. One hundred sixty acres of this farm comprise the original home place owned by Mr. Thomas in New Home township and eighty acres are located just across the highway in Walnut township. The residence and farm buildings are reached by a driveway coming from the west. Mr. Thomas carries on general farming operations and raises cattle and hogs. He was reared and educated in Bates county, attending the Virginia district school. At the age of nineteen years he began farming for himself upon his father's farm. His father made him a present of a team of horses and later, in 1896, gave him a deed to one hundred eighty acres of farm land, eighty acres of which his residence has been erected upon. Later he gave him another forty acres. Mr. Thomas placed all of the improvements upon his place and has added one hundred twenty acres to his original holdings. Mr. Thomas has been twice married, his first marriage occurring in 1892 with Ella Woods, who died on September 7, 1898. On June 10, 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Maude Woodfin, who was born in Walnut township, February 28, 1878, a daughter of Jason and Prudence (Miller) Woodfin, pioneer residents of Bates county, concern- ing whom an extended review is given in this work. Her father is deceased and her mother resides upon the old home place in Walnut township. Both the Miller and Woodfin families were among the first pioneer famihes in this section of Bates county and are among the most honored and respected. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children of their own, but are rearing a boy, Chan Calloway. In politics, Mr. Thomas has always been a Democrat. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are popular in their home community, enjoying life to the utmost and are loyal citizens of Bates county, who count among their many friends the best and most substantial people of the county. EDWARD LESLIE THOMAS AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 421 James Perry Adams, assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri, was born in Pettis county, Missouri, January 9, 1874, a son of James D. and Martha A. (Siceloff) Adams, natives of Virginia and North Carohna, respectively. Both father and mother of J. P. Adams came with their respective parents to Pettis county directly after the close of the Civil War and were married in that county. James D. Adams was a son of John Adams, who became well known and prominent in the affairs of his adopted county. James D. Adams removed to Bates county in 1879 and located on a farm two miles south of Hume in How- ard township. He spent the remainder of his days in the cultivation of his farm and died at his home January 25, 1895, at the age of fifty-three years. To James D. and Martha A. Adams were born ten children, as follow: H. v., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Callie McLean, of Tempe, Ari- zona ; Emmet, residing at Tempe, Arizona ; Eugene, Gentry, Arkansas ; James Perry, subject of this review; Mrs. Bettie Crews, Houstonia, Mis- souri; Jessie, at home with her mother; Mrs. Myrtle Wood, Hume, Mis- souri; John, at home; and Neville, Pueblo, Colorado. The mother of the large family was born in 1848 and now makes her home in Hume. J. P. Adams was educated in the district schools and the Hume High School. Having been reared on a farm, he quite naturally made the pursuit of agriculture his vocation and began farming on his own ac- count in 1895. He rented land until 1900 and then made a purchase of one hundred sixty acres located southeast of Hunie in Howard township. Success attended his efforts and with good business management he made a pronounced success of his farming operations. His farm is well improved and is one of the most productive tracts of land in Bates county. Mr. Adams remained in direct charge of his farm until 1910, after which he rented the place and has since made his home in Hume. On December 15, 1910, he became identified with the Commercial Bank of Hume as a director and assistant cashier. His success in banking circles is as pronounced as was his first venture as a farmer and land- owner. Mr. Adams was married on September 4, 1895, to Miss Minnie Ack- erman, who was born in Johnson county, Missouri, a daughter of James T. Ackerman, now a substantial farmer and stockman of Howard town- ship, concerning whom a biographical sketch is presented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have a son, J. Walter, born December 5, 1898, now a student in the Hume High School. Mr, Adams is politi- 422 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY cally allied with the Democratic party and he and Mrs. Adams are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to which religious de- nomination they are liberal contributors. John G. Holland, living retired in his substantial country home near Hume, Missouri, one of the oldest residents of Howard township, is de- scended from an old American family of Moravian origin. Mr. Holland's career in Bates county, where he has resided for more than two score years in the capacity of an active agriculturist, has been marked with success of a high order. He was born at Salem, North Carolina, in 1849, a son of Eli and Lizzie (Mitchell) Holland, both natives of North Carolina. Eli Holland was a son of John Holland, a Moravian, who emi- grated from England to America about the time of the American Revo- lution or shortly afterward. Eli Holland, father of J. G. Holland, enlisted in the Confederate army in 1862 and served until the close of the Civil War. Directly after the ending of the struggle between the states he came to Missouri and for some time resided at Knob Noster, in Johnson county. He died in Johnson county in 1867. The mother of John G. Holland died in Johnson county a few years later, in 1871. In the year 1875, J. G. Holland began his successful career in Bates county, when he joined his brother, O. T. Holland, in the purchase of four hundred acres of unimproved prairie land in Howard township. He came to this county in 1880 and associated himself with his brother in the development and cultivation of this large tract and the venture met with substantial and gratifying returns, the original purchase being in- creased to the large total of eight hundred eighty acres, which they to- gether continued to farm until 1894. January 1, 1894, J. G. Holland bought the place which is now his home, consisting of three hundred twenty acres. This tract he improved and erected thereon a large resi- dence. A division was made at this time of the holdings of the brothers and in addition to his home place, Mr. Holland owns a half interest in one hundred sixty acres more in Howard township and is half owner of two hundred forty acres of fine land located near Adrian in Bates county. Mr. Holland has always been an extensive livestock feeder and breeder, and has at the present time on his farms a total of one hundred head of cattle, one hundred head of hogs, and thirty head of horses and mules. During 1917, his two sons, John and Richard, who of late years have capably relieved him of the burden of the management of the large farm, harvested one hundred fifteen acres of corn which yielded forty HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 423 bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat which gave an average yield of fifteen bushels to the acre; twenty acres of hay which cut over one ton to each acre. The Holland boys had planted last year of 1917 one hundred twenty-five acres in wheat in order to assist in meeting the demands of the entire world for a greater supply. There are no better nor more intelligent, progressive farmers in Bates county than John and Richard Holland. Mr. Holland was married in 1887 to America Badgett, who was born in 1862 in Kentucky, a daughter of John R. Badgett, one of the early settlers of Howard township. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Hol- land resided in Hume for one year and then moved to their present home, which Mr. Holland had erected on his place, located just one-half mile northeast of Hume. Four children have been born to J. G. and America Holland: John and Richard, who are conducting the farm work; Mary, a student in college at St. Louis; and Irene, a pupil in the ninth grade of the Hume Consolidated Schools. Mr. Holland has always been a Democrat and prides himself upon the fact that he has always voted the straight Democratic ticket. The only interest he has taken in politics has been to actively assist his friends who were seeking political preferment. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. For the past thirty years Mr. Holland has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is progressive in his tendencies and has always favored all measures and undertakings which have had the best interest of the peo- ple of his home community and county at heart. He and his sons, John and Richard, were active supporters of the movement which culminated in the establishment of the Consolidated Grade Schools at Hume and were of considerable influence in the struggle which resulted in the suc- cess of the movement. Alphonso Freeman Weedin. — The name of Weedin is identified with the earliest period of Missouri history and goes back over a century to the troublesome days when the adventurous white settlers were striving to wrest the great domain, the vast wilderness which comprised the ter- ritory of Louisiana, from the wild red men. A. F. Weedin, prosperous farmer and stockman of Howard township. Bates county, is a worthy descendant of brave Missouri pioneers, who came to Missouri as early as the year 1811. He was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, September 12, 1848, a son of Rev. Caleb and Eliza (Moore) Weedin, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter a native of Kentuckv. Caleb 424 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Weediii was born January 16, 1799, a son of Benjamin W'eedin, who emigrated from South Carolina to Tennesese in 1809 and two years later in 1811, came to Missouri and became a member of the colony which set- tled near old Fort Boone. The Indians were very troublesome in those early days and for a period of three years the white settlers and Indians were constantly at war, the settlers finding it necessary to build a stock- ade and therein keep their families in safety from marauding bands of savages. The younger members of the little band, with the women, fre- quently found it necessary to defend the fort while the older men were absent on expeditions which were necessary for their maintenance and comfort. On one occasion, while Benjamin Weedin with his older asso- ciates were absent at the Osage Mission on a search for cattle which the Indians had stolen from the settlers, young Caleb with the other boys and the women in the stockade beat off an Indian attack. At another time, two men were sent out from the fort to reconnoiter and were at- tacked by Indians. One man, a Mr. Savage, was killed, while the other reached the fort in safety. In 1814, the Indians having become peace- ably inclined, Benjamin Weedin settled on a tract of land near Boone- ville, and remained in Missouri until his death. Caleb Weedin returned to Kentucky and ]:>ecame a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. For many years he preached the Gos- pel in Kentucky, principally in the vicinity. of Glasgow, Barren county, in southern Kentucky. He died in 1864, after a useful life of devout ser- vice in behalf of men's souls. He was married in Kentucky in 1826 to Elizabeth Swan Moore, who was born in Kentucky July 20, 1810, a daughter of Samuel Swan and Maiy Moore. To Rev. Caleb and Elizabeth Weedin were born children, as follow: Samuel S., wdio was a professor in McGee College, Missouri, at the time of his death; B. D., who came to Missouri in 1857 and became very prom- inent in the alTairs of Lafayette county, Missouri, and served as a mem- ])er of the county court and is county surveyor for many years, dying at Lexington, Missouri; Mary Catharine, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Provine, Nashville, Tennessee; Anna E., died in 1917; ^Vlargaret E., de- ceased wife of Prof. H. A. Scomb, of Boyle county, Kentucky; \\\ H., a teacher for many years in Kentucky and Tennessee ; Caleb C, a farmer in Kentuckv; Sarah, deceased; and Alphonso P>eeman. subject of this reviev/ and the only surviving member of the family. A. F. Weedin, subject of this review, received his primary education in the public schools of his native state and then finished his education HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY . 425 at Center College, Danville, Kentucky. He taught in the public schools of Kentucky for a period of three years, and in November of 1875 came to Missouri and taught during the following year in Lafayette county. In 1876, he journeyed to Utah and for some months was engaged in mining in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. After his mining venture, he returned to Lafayette county, Missouri and was married in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Weedin resided in Lafayette county for a short time and then removed to Johnson county where they resided for a period of one and a half years. On Christmas Day of 1879 they arrived in Butler, Bates county and came to their farm in Howard township on the day follow- ing, taking up their abode in a small house which Mr. Weedin had pre- viously erected on his farm. The small house or "shanty" was their home for three years and they then moved into more comfortable quar- ters which they built. This home was burned and was succeeded by a pretty farm cottage which is set attractively on a rise of ground north of the highway which goes past the Weedin home. The land which Mr. Weedin purchased in 1879 was unbroken prairie and unfenced but well watered with flowing water from natural springs and a creek. It is pro- vided with good farm buildings and is one of the most productive farms in this section of Missouri. Mr. Weedin owns a total of two hundred eighty acres of valuable land. A. F. Weedin was married in August, 1878, to Miss Mary Lankford, who was born on a farm near Lexington, Missouri, December 22, 1859, a daughter of Barnett and Euphemia (Catron) Lankford, early pioneer settlers and extensive land-owners of Lafayette county. To this mar- riage eight children have been born, as follow : Mrs. Anna Puryear, Ro- chester, Minnesota, who has four children ; John Daniel Weedin. a rail- road fireman whose home is at Calwa City, California, and who is father of three children; Frances, wife of Clarence Finch, of Kansas City. ]\lis- souri, has two children ; Abner G., who was in training at the Laiited States Naval School at Pensacola, Florida, and is now a member of the Aeronautic Contingent or in the aviation department with General Persh- ing's army in France; Samuel P., at home with his parents; Margaret Ellen, wife of Edwin Ferguson, a farmer in Howard township; Mary, a teacher in the public schools, who makes her home with her parents; Caleb Clay, a soldier in the Ofificers' Training Camp at San Antonio, Texas. For many years, Mr. Weedin has been one of the leaders of the Democratic party in his township. Because of his educational attain- ments and natural ability, he has been selected by his fellow townsmen 426 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY to fill local offices, such as justice of the peace, township clerk, and as- sessor, and in the last named position he has served two terms of two years each. Having been reared in the faith of the Cumberland Presby- terian church, he has always adhered to the tenets of that denoimntaion. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Personally, Mr. Weedin is a courteous, well-educated gentleman of the old school, one who endeavors to keep abreast of the times and main- tains a stout and unswerving loyalty to Bates county and Missouri. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Weedin are numbered among the best families of the county and he ranks as one of Bates county's successful and enterprising citi- zens. Orren T. Holland, — \\'hen O. T. Holland came to Bates county in 1879 and selected the beautiful and commanding site whereon he built his permanent home in this county, the country roundabout in Howard township was a vast, unsettled prairie. The grass grew to the height of a stalwart man. and cattle ranged freely in large herds. Settlers were few in the neighborhood and the country was practically new. Both ^Ir. and Mrs. Holland are want to declare that their first years in Bates county were among the happiest in their lives and that neighbors were kind and sociable and ever ready to lend a helping hand in times of need. They visited each other's homes freely, and hospitality was the keynote of the spirit of the homes of that day. The site which Mr. Holland selected for his home is one of the most striking in the county, the Holland residence being located on a gently rising knoll which gives a view extending for miles over the surrounding 'coun- trv. It is possible, on clear days, to see the dome of the court house- and the church spires in Butler, the county seat. The home is a handsome one and surrounded by shade trees which have grown during the time of the owner. The Holland farm spreads in a vast level stretch from the foot of the hill and is one of the most fertile and productive tracts of land in this section of Missouri. This farm comprises four hundred eighty acres and is essentially a cattle and hog-producing plant. Mr. Holland handles about one hundred head of cattle annually. He was formerly engaged in the breeding of the Polled Angus cattle. More than one hundred head of Duroc Jersey hogs are produced and fat- tended yearly. During the past year. 1917. there were harvested on this place fifty-five acres of corn which yielded forty-five to sixty bushels of grain to the acre ; fifty-eight acres of oats, twelve acres of which yielded one hundred bushels to the acre: and the entire tract yielded HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 42/ twenty-eight hundred bushels. For the harvest of 1918, Mr. Holland and his sons have sown one hundred twenty-seven acres to wheat on the home farm and there is also sown one hundred twenty-five acres to wdieat on the Holland tracts by the sons of J. S. Holland. O. T. Holland was born in 1850 at Salem, Forsythe county, North Carolina. He is a son of Eli and Lydia (Mitchell) Holland, both of whom were reared and married in North Carolina. In September of 1865, they removed to Johnson county, Missouri, and located near Knob Noster. The elder Holland was a paper manufacturer by trade but followed farming in Missouri. For further particulars concerning the parents of O. T. Holland, the reader is referred to the biography of J. G. Holland, a brother, which appears elsewhere in this volume. In 1868, the subject of this review located at Lamonte, Pettis county, where he farmed until his removal to Bates county. In Augiist of 1875, he came to this county and made his initial purchase of one hundred sixty acres of land, the site of his present home. For this tract, he paid fifteen dollars an acre. In 1876, he removed to the place and lived for a time in a small house while making the necessary improvements thereon. A well had been dug on the place and one hundred acres broken for cultivation. He was joined by his brother, J. G. Holland in 1879 and the Holland brothers farmed together in a successful part- nership arrangement until the partnership was dissolved in 1887. They accumulated, during that period, more than eight hundred eighty acres of land, and since 1887 they have purchased in partnership two hundred forty acres in Elkhart township and another one hundred sixty acres, which they hold in common as equal owners. Mr. Holland was married December 15, 1875, in Johnson county, to Miss Anna Shepherd, who was born March 11, 1855, in Wilmington, Fluvanna county, Virginia, a daughter of John and Eveline (George) Shepherd, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Shelby county, Ken- tucky, in 1867, five years later removing to Johnson county, Missouri. They located near Knob Noster and he resided there until death. The mother of Mrs. Holland died February 6, 1902. Mr. Shepherd died November 17, 1906. To JMr. and Mrs. O. T. Holland have been born children, as follow: Charles, born in 1877, deceased; J. Burl, born November 29, 1878, Rich Hill, Missouri; Adah B., born July 28, 1881, wife of R. W. Crawford, Nevada, Missouri; Eva Vern, born in 1884, the w^ife of F. L. Martin, Hume, Missouri; and Ralph, born November 1, 1886, Rich Hill, Missouri. _|28 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mr. Holland has generally voted the Democratic ticket but has never aspired to political preferment, preferring to do his duty as a private citizen instead of bothering with political matters. He and Mrs. Holland attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Holland is a member of the Baptist church. The home life of the Hollands is a pleasant and hospitable one and they thoroughly enjoy their comfort- able home which is open to their friends and the wayfarers at any and all times. They are among the excellent citizens who have done a con- siderable part in creating Bates county as it now is. Charles B. Briscoe, pioneer farmer of Walnut township, owner of a half section of fertile land southwest of the town of Foster, is a native of Cooper county, born August 22, 1847, and a son of Samuel L. and Alpha Ann ( Corum ) Briscoe, wdio are among the earliest of the pioneer settlers who settled and developed Cooper county, Missouri. There are three sets of farm improvements on the Briscoe farms, the land being divided into three tracts by the public highways. Mr. Bris- coe is wintering at this writing, fifty-five head of cattle in one herd, thirty- four head in another and has a number of very fine Poland China hogs on the place. Samuel L. Briscoe, his father, was born March 2. 1817, in Madison county, Kentucky, a son of Andrew Briscoe, wdio had seven brothers, wdio when grown, dispersed in various directions, some settling in Ohio, others locating in Illinois, and others of the family in Indiana. Andrew himself settled in Kentucky, and in June, 1817, moved to Howard county, Missouri. The following year he settled in Cooper county, Missouri, entering there a large tract of 640 acres of free government land. The old Briscoe homestead where Charles B. Briscoe was born and reared, recently sold at a high price of $137.50 an acre — so great has been the advance in value of Cooper county farm lands during the past century. Samuel L. Briscoe was reared to young manhood on the primitive farm in Cooper county and made his home there until 1877, when he came to Bates county and settled on a farm in Walnut township, south of Foster, dying here January 12, 1894. His children were as follow: Charles B., subject of this review; Susan T. Morris, born July 4, 1859, residing in El Dorado, Missouri; William T., born July 22, 1864, lives on a farm northwest of Foster; Andrew Eogan, resides on the old home i)lace of the family in Walnut township; Mrs. Mary Eugenie, born in 1850, wife of Eawrence Eads, living at Arrow Rock, Cooper county, Missouri. Mrs. Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, mother of the foregoing children, was born CHARLES B. BRISCOE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 429 in Cooper county, near Palestine, February 3, 1828, and died in Bates county, in December, 1909. She was a daughter of Hiram Corum, a native of Georgia, who settled near Old Palestine, Cooper county, as early as 1815. In the early pioneer days of the upbuilding of Cooper county, the schools were among the best in the country and, as a rule, were sup- ported by private subscription on the part of the pioneers who were descended from some of the best families of the South. Well educated college men came from the East and the younger sons of the families received the benefit of learned instruction from them. Charles B. Briscoe attended school and received instruction in both common and higher branches from college men who came from the East and Kentucky. In his younger days Mr. Briscoe saw roving bands of Indians passing his home in Cooper county, and he remembers with glee that "Grand- mother" Cole kept a pan of hot suds ready to pour upon prowling Indians who had a miserable and thieving habit of taking whatever they could lay their hands upon from the homes of the settlers. Mr. Briscoe came to Bates county in 1869 and during his first year's resi- dence in this county he made his home on a place near the old village of New Home while looking after the erection of a shack on his eighty- acre tract in Walnut township which he had purchased in 1868 at a cost of five dollars an acre. He moved to his present home place in 1870 and for the past forty-five years has been engaged in agricultural pur- suits with considerable success. On December 3, 1871, he was married to Miss Lucinda C. Miller, born November 29, 1852, on a farm in New Home township, located near the village of New Home. She was a daughter of Oliver H. P. and Charlotte (Bryants) Miller, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respec- tively. O. H. P. Miller was a soldier in the Confederate army and died in 1863 in Springfield prison, where he had been confined following his capture by the Federals during the Civil War. Mr. Miller was born in Miller county, Missouri, and came to Bates county when a young man. A brother of Mrs. Briscoe, Henry Clay Miller, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, while serving with the Confederate forces. Other chil- dren of the family were: Rev. William B. Miller, New Home, Missouri; Mrs. Emily Jane Perry, deceased ; Mrs. Prudence Elizabeth Woodfin, AValnut township; Mrs. Mahala Susan Comer, living near Nevada, Mis- souri; Mrs. Josephine Daniel, deceased; John, residing on the old home farm in New Home township; and Mrs. Martha Weadon. New Home 430 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY township. To Charles B. and Lucinda C. Briscoe, have been born the following children : Alvin Jeter, lives in Florida ; Charles Barton, born April 7, 1874, married October 30, 1895, to Nellie Leona Jones and has nine children, Charles Bryan, Fannie Helen, Glenn Francis, Ruby Grace, Mabel Leora, Edith Marie, Ernest Hiram, Pauline Mildred, Louis Edward; Samuel Perry Briscoe, born January 5, 1876, killed August 22, 1917, his remains being interred in Foster cemetery; Clara Gertrude, wife of Ed Shelton, Kansas City, born October 2, 1877, has five children — Arthur Perry, Ernest, Luther, Lottie Marie, Charles James; Tattie Grace, wife of Rand Deaton, Foster, Missouri, born December 11, 1878, and has two children — Lulu Belle and Harvey; Henry Clay Briscoe, born August 30, 1880, lives on a farm four miles northwest of Foster, mar- ried Belle Caton, and has two sons, Horace Lee, and Hubert; Margaret C. Briscoe died at the age of fifteen years; Robert Ewing Lee Briscoe, farmer, Walnut township, born March 22, 1885, married Theresa Lake and has three children, Velma Lucille, Frances Laverna, and Katherine Marie; Nora Belle, born March 28, 1888, married John Burns, and lives at Bisbee, Arizona; Frank Stanley Briscoe, born September 18, 1890, lives in New Home township, married Belle Halley. Mr. Briscoe is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Briscoe belongs to the Christian denomination. During his whole life since attain- ing voting age, Mr. Briscoe has been allied with the Democratic party and served for six years as assessor of Walnut township. He is widely and affectionately known throughout the countryside as Uncle Charley Briscoe and is highly esteemed as a good and industrious citizen of Bates county. James S. Cline, proprietor of "Sunny Site Farm," one of the l)est improved farms in this section of Missouri, located in Howard township, Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cline has made an excellent rec- ord as a progressive farmer ajid stockman since locating- in this county. "Sunny Site Farm" comprises three hundred fifty acres of land devoted to stock raising on an extensive scale. Mr. Cline erected in 1911 a beauti- ful, modern bungalow, which has seven rooms and is equipped throughout for comfort and convenience. He has built a large barn, 32x40 feet in size, and eighteen feet to the eaves; erected a silo, 16x40 feet, with a capacity of one hundred eighty tons of silage. Mr. Cline feeds from forty to fifty head of cattle annually, about two car loads of hogs, and at this writing, December, 1917, was feeding several hundred head of sheep. J. S. Cline was born in Livingston county, Illinois, April 21, 1874, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 43 1 a son of George W. and America (Fishburn) Cline, natives of Illinois and Pennsylvania, respectively. George W. Cline w^as a son of German par- ents. He became a prosperous farmer in Illinois and was owner of a half section of valuable land. He died September 10, 1902. Mrs. America Cline, mother of the subject of this review, died January 21, 1916. Ten children survive them: Mary, died at the age of fourteen years; Charles and John, live in Iowa; Frank, lives in Indiana; George, Harry, and Eugene, reside in Illinois; Emma, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Ida Marlin, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Kate Kent, resides in Kalispel, Montana, and James S., of this review. After attending the district schools of his native county, Mr. Cline began life for himself, when he attained his majority. He worked upon his father's home place until the year 1905. He then went to Indiana and for a period of five years cultivated a farm in White county. He became owner of two hundred acres of land in this county, which land he sold in 1909 and invested the proceeds in six hundred fifty acres in Howard town- ship, Bates county, Missouri. He improved this place and erected a fine residence, and in 1911 resold the three hundred twenty acres containing the improvements to the former owner of the tract. He then erected improvements of a substantial character upon the remaining acreage, lo- cated on the south side of the public road. Mr. Cline has made good in Missouri and is a splendid farmer and manager. Mr. Cline's marriage with Miss Willa M. Borland took place in 1905. Mrs. Willa M. (Borland) Cline was born in Essex, Iowa, a daughter of William and Mary (Mudgett) Borland, the former of whom is deceased and the latter now resides near Chatsworth, Illinois, having married Dwight Davis after Mr. Borland's death. Mr. Davis died in October, 1917. During the year 1917, Mr. Cline harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded from thirtv to sixty bushels per acre; thirty acres of wheat which ^nelded an average of fifteen bushels to the acre ; and had sown sixty-five acres of wheat for the harvest of 1918. Mr. Cline had a field of sixty acres of oats which yielded fifty bushels to the acre. He believes thoroughly in the efficacy of fertilization as a means of growing larger crops and has put his belief into actual practice on his land with excellent results. He raises the Duroc Jersey hogs and Polled Angus cattle, his herd leader being a registered Polled Angus bull. Politically, Mr. Cline is an independent Republican. He and Mrs. Cline are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Cline is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 43- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Isaiah L. Weirick. The A\'eirick stock farm in Howard township, Bates county, is a splendidly equipped place for the purpose; in fact, no better nor more modern place exists in the county or this section of Mis- souri. The farm buildings, in their color tone of white, resemble a small village when seen from a distance. Besides the home, Mr. Weirick has erected a tenant house on the place. A large barn, one of the largest of its kind in the county, was completed in 1917 at a cost of forty-live hun- dred dollars, and which is 40x120 feet in extent. The horse barn is 30x44 feet in size and the buildings are conveniently grouped. The engine house, garage, granary, 36x64 feet, with a fourteen foot shed, and other necessary buildings all fit into the business-like arrangement. Mr. Weir- ick has also erected a large silo, 16x36 feet with a capacity of one hun- dred fifty tons of silage. He maintains a dairy herd of grade cows, head- ed by a Polled x\ngus bull of the registered thoroughbred type. In De- cember, 1917, he was feeding twenty-seven hundred head of sheep for the markets. For the past four years, Mr. A\'eirick has been a heavy sheep- feeder. He is planning feeding five hundred hogs during 1918 and has seven thousand bushels of corn purchased for this purpose. During 1917, he raised eightv acres of corn, into which the sheep were turned for the purpose of consuming grain and forag'e fodder without waste. I. L. Weirick was born September 1. 1871, in Ohio, a son of William and Sarah (Beach) Weirick, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State. They removed to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1872 and resided there until 1900, when both Mr. I. L. \\'eirick's parents removed to Oklahoma, where they now reside. \\'illiam and Sarah \\'eirick are the parents of the following children : Mrs. Margaret Wamsley, resides in Oklahoma, her parents living with her; ]Mrs. Irene Ehrsman, of Nebraska: Minnie, lives in Oklahoma with her parents: James and Charles, live in Oklahoma; Mrs. Ora .Gay resides in Oklahoma; and Edna, lives in Oklahoma. Reared on the home farm in Illinois, and after receiving" his educa- tion in the district schools, Mr. \\>irick began for himself upon attaining his majority. From 1892 until 1896, he worked upon his father's farm and in 1897 accompanied his parents to their new home in Oklahoma. However, he returned to Illinois in 1897 and engaged in farming for himself. His first farm in Illinois consisted of two hundred acres to which he later added eighty acres and also boug"ht twenty-five acres adjoining the town of Cowden whereon he made his home. During the summer of 1908 he disposed of his Illinois holdings, invested the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 433 proceeds in Bates county land, and in February, 1909, he moved his family to this county, where he soon attained a reputation as being a successful stockman and a man of decided business ability. Mr. Weirick was married in August, 1899, to Miss Grace Fritts, born in Illinois, a daughter of T. J. and Mattie Fritts, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Two children have been born to this union, namely: Fritts Henry, born April 17, 1905, and Russell True, born April 23, 1908. In January, 1918, the Weiricks took up their residence in Rich Hill. Mr. Weirick is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience and good judgment dictate. He and Mrs. Weirick are members of the Church of Christ. James J. Franklin, — The late James J. Franklin, leading citizen and early settler of Howard township. Bates county, Missouri, was a son of one of the earliest of Missouri's pioneers. Settling in Bates county in 1872, at a period when there were very few people living in the south- ern part of the county, he became one of the most prominent and active citizens of his section of the county. Mr. Franklin was born March 17, 1833, in Tennessee, a son of Fayette Smith Franklin, a native of Amherst county, Virginia, who was a son of John Franklin, who kept a tavern in Amherst county. His father was a brother of Benjamin Franklin, author of "Poor Richard's Almanac," statesman, and inventor, the value of whose services in behalf of his country while the struggle for freedom of the American Colonies was going on, can never be overestimated. Fayette Smith Franklin moved from Virginia to Ten- nessee after his marriage with Mary Ann Tyree, of Virginia. In 1839, he migrated to Greene county, Missouri. After a short residence there, he moved to Taney county, where he died in 1850. James J. Franklin moved to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early sixties and there enlisted in the Confederate army, serving throughout the Civil War under the Confederate banner until the surrender of Vicksburg by General Pem- berton, when he was paroled and returned to his home. From Pettis countv, he moved to Bates county in 1872 and settled on a farm located north of the present Franklin home, later moving to the farm now owned by his widow and which was given to Mrs. Franklin's mother by her grandfather Ewing as a part of her inheritance from the Ewing estate. •Mrs. Franklin's mother deeded the farm. This farm was raw, unbroken land at the time Mr. and Mrs. Franklin began to make it their home. The Franklin farm consists of one hundred sixty acres and the resi- (28) 434 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY dence is located in a beautiful grove of maples and evergreen trees, presenting an attractive appearance to the traveler. Mr. Franklin died April 12, 1915, after a long life spent in useful and honest endeavor. James J. Franklin was married December 17, 1867, to Miss Mary R. Field, a daughter of \\'illiam H. and Mary (Fwing) Field. I\Iary (Field) Franklin was born in 1841, in Henry county, Missouri. Her father was born in Virginia in 1814 and died in 1889. He migrated to Cooper county, Missouri, during the early thirties with his father and was there married to Mary Ewing, after which he made a settle- ment in Henry county, where he resided until 1841. when he returned to Cooper county. After the close of the Civil War, he settled in Pettis county, where he lived until 1872, when he moved to Bates county. Both parents of Mrs. Franklin died at her home. Five children were born to James J. and Mary Franklin, as follow: Marie Ewing, at home with her mother; Eugene, who lives on the home place with his mother; Arthur G. and Ernest, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Earl, who died at the age of nineteen years. Eugene Franklin, the eldest son, was born in 1871 and was married in 1905 to Harriet Shepherd, born in Pettis county, a daughter of J. L. Shepherd, a resident of How- ard tovviiship. Eugene and Harriet Franklin have three children: Earl Bedford, Mary Mildred, and Eugene Lee. Eugene Franklin has served two terms as township tax-collector and has served one term of two years as township assessor, having been re-elected to the position in Alarch, 1917. The office came to him unsolicited and was bestowed upon him ])y his fellow-citizens as a token of the liigh esteem in ^vhich he is held. He is a Mason and prominent in Howard township. In politics, the late James J. Franklin was a Democrat and for years was one of the capable leaders of his party in Bates county. He served as township assessor of How^ard township and performed the duties of the office in a capable manner. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. The death of Mr. Franklin marked the passing of one of the best-known pioneer settlers of this neighborhood and a man who was held in affectionate esteem l)y his neighbors and by those who knew him best. His death was sincerely and truly mourned by his family and the people of Bates county with whom he was widely- acquainted. Mrs. Mary R. Franklin is one of the oldest pioneer women of Bates county living at this time, and, in point of years of residence in this section of the county, she holds second place. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 435 Robert J. Sproul, farmer and dairyman, New Home township, was born in 1879, in Vermilion county, Illinois, a son of William and Flora (Pribble) Sproul, who came to Bates county in 1880 and settled on a farm three miles south of the Sproul place in New Home township. William Sproul cultivated his farm in New Home township until 1914, when he went to Montana and filed upon a government homestead and has since proved up on the place. There were seven children in the Sproul family, four of whom are living. Robert Sproul was educated in the pul)lic schools of Bates county and has resided on his present farm of two hundred ninety acres since 1904. This farm was formerly owned by his wife's father, and Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are gradually improving the place, one of the most recent of the improvements Ijeing the handsome bungalow. The Sproul homestead is located just north of Nyhart, which furnishes a convenient shipping point for the farm products. Mr. Sproul maintains a fine herd of Jersey milch cows, to the number of twenty, on the place and ships the product of his dairy to the creameries. Mr. Sproul was married in 1904 to Miss Lettie Daniel and to this marriage have been born four children: Max. born June 16, 1905; Clare, born August 22, 1908; Zyx, born June 2, 1911; and Bill, l)orn December 27, 1914. Airs. Lettie (Daniel) Sproul was born in New Home township within a short distance from her present home. She is a daughter of AX'illiam and Sarah A. (Winston) Daniel, natives of North Carolina. \\'illiam Daniel was born in 1837 and died in Novem- ber, 1895. A\4ien Mr. Daniel was a child his father died and the lad came to Missouri with his mother in 1848. The family first settled in Pettis county and W^illiam Daniel made a settlement in Bates county after completing his service in a Missouri Union regiment during the Civil War. He came to this county in 1865 and located in New Home township, first purchasing a tract of fifty acres which he improved and added gradually to his holdings until he became owner of five hundred twenty acres in one large tract. Airs. Sarah A. ( Winston ) Daniel was born in 1838 in North Carolina and accompanied lier parents to Lafay- ette county, Missouri, in the early forties, later settling in Pettis coun- ty where her marriage with William Daniel took place. She met her death under tragic circumstances while living on the Daniel home place with her brother, Jess. She was all alone at the home and was busily engaged in raking leaves and tidying up the lawn in the fall of 1906. As she piled up the leaves she built a fire in order to consume them and 436 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY make a clean job. While plying her rake too near the fire of blazing leaves and brush, her clothing was ignited and she was burned to death while at the pump trying vainly to quench the fiames. Mr. Sproul is a Socialist, politically. Mrs. Sproul is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are both intelligent, enter- prising, hard-working citizens, who are making a pronounced success of their farm and dairy work and have many friends. Thomas Henry Tilson, proprietor of "Blue Grass Valley Farm," consisting of four hundred fifty-five acres in New Home township, and owner of one hundred seventy-six acres of rice land in Liberty county, southeastern Texas, is one of the real "old timers" of Bates county, having been born on a pioneer farm situated just a half mile north of his present home. His sixty-six years in Bates county have been indus- triously and profitably spent in accumulating a substantial competence. Not content to sit down and rest upon his hard-won laurels and take life easy, Mr. Tilson has only recently begun the pioneer life all over again in a new and hitherto undeveloped country. On October 3, 1916, he entered a homestead in Campbell county, Wyoming, consisting of a half section of good farming land. He spent the summer season on this tract and has filed upon another half section. T. H. Tilson was born December 20, 1851, in New Home township, a son of William Stewart Tilson (born in 1815, died January 28, 1858). William S. Tilson was a native of Washington county, now Unicoi county, Tennessee and came to Bates county in 1838. In September of that year he arrived at Balltown in Vernon county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county. Upon his pre-emption tract in New Home town- ship he built a one-room log cabin with a chimney at the end built of sandstone. After Mr. Tilson's death, the roof of the cabin was enlarged and extended so as to make covered porches on two sides, one end of each porch being boxed in so as to make two additional rooms. This cabin stood until 1911. In those early days, deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens were plentiful and the Tilson larder was never empty of plenty of good meat. Wm. S. Tilson was married in this county to Judith Turner, born in old Virginia, September 30, 1826, a daughter of George W. Turner, who came to Bates county from his native state in the early thirties and here spent the remainder of his days in farm- ing pursuits. Mrs. Tilson died in 1881. During the dark days of the Civil War, times were bad, and when Order No. 11 was issued the entire family went to Vernon county and resided near Balltown until 1866, THOMAS HENRY TILSON. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 437 when they returned to the home place in Bates county. All of the live stock owned by the family had been stolen or run off but one old mare. There were not boards enough about the place sufficient to build a pig pen. The floors, windows, and doors were gone from the cabin, and they were in poor circumstances for some time. There were seven children in this pioneer family, as follow : George W., died in October, 1911; Mary E., deceased; John F., died in 1864; Thomas H., subject of this sketch; William Stewart, died in infancy; James Edward and Marion Francis, deceased. During Thomas H. Tilson's boyhood days, the only school house was located four miles distant, and he was enabled to attend but little during the winter term of three months, securing in all about thirty-two days' schooling in his boyhood. Being strong and willing, he assisted in the support of the family for a number of years before he attempted to make a start for himself. Before his mother's death he became owner of the old homestead by purchasing the several interests of the other heirs. His father pre-empted the forty-acre tract upon which his own residence is built and he settled upon this farm in 1875. This farm was the nucleus around which he has built up his splendid large estate. During former years, Mr. Tilson was an extensive feeder of cattle for the market, and dealt heavily in mules for a period of seven years. He has made considerable money through handling hogs and cattle. Flis first marriage took place in 1881 with Mary Ann Floyd, who died in 1896, leaving two sons and a daughter, namely: John W., a ranchman near Gillette, Campbell county, Wyoming; Mrs. Audrey B. McCauley, Washington; Thomas Francis, now in France with General Pershing's National Army, a member of Headquarters Company, One Hundred Sixty-third United States Infantry Regiment, Forty-first Division, which had been stationed at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. Mr. Tilson's second marriage occurred on January 11, 1911, with Anna L. Thompson, born in Kansas, a daughter of T. C. Thompson, a Union veteran, who died in Bates county in 1915. Two children have blessed this marriage, Charles Burnett, aged five years, and Opal Lucille, aged three years. The Democratic party has generally had the allegiance and support of Mr. Tilson and he has filled the office of constable of New Home town- ship. He is a member of the Christian church and is affiliated with the Rich Hill Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. During the sixty-six years in which he has lived in Bates county he has seen wonder- 438 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY fill changes and has done well his part in the development and upbuild- ing of this county, besides having the honor and distinction of being one of the few remaining pioneers who were among the first to brave the loneliness and hardships of the pioneer life on the frontier of civili- zation in this county in order to carve a home from the wilderness. Too much credit and encomiums can not be given the memory of the brave men and women, such as were the parents of Thomas H. Tilson. who w'ere in the vanguard of the people who settled and developed Bates county and made it habitable for mankind. Jesse G. Doolittle, — For a period of over sixty years the name of Doolittle has been prominently identified with the agricultural and banking interests of Bates county. The family is one of the oldest in this section of Missouri and dates from the year 1857 when John Doolittle, father of the subject of this review, made a settlement in Walnut township. The first progenitor of the family in America came across the Atlantic from England in 1620 and settled in Massachu- setts. J. G. Doolittle. cashier of the Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, w^as born May 18, 1887, on a farm in Walnut township. He is a son of John and Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, the former, a native of Vermont, and the latter, a native of Cass county, Missouri. John Doolittle was born in Vermont in 1828, a son of Col. Joel Doolittle, a scion of an old New England family. John Doolittle was reared to young manhood in his native state and there received a good education. He accompanied his father to the Pacific Coast during the stirring days of the great gold rush of 1849. He and his father, accompanied by others, made the long trip overland by ox-team, which trip naturally consumed weeks and months. Time was no object to them, however, and they chose the most comfortable way to travel, transporting plenty of provisions and seeing the country as they made the long journey. On the outward-bound trip, the "Argonauts" went by way of St. Louis across Missouri, and then overland to Sacramento. This gave them a good opportunity^ to view the country and it is practi- cally certain that John Doolittle passed through this part of Missouri and was so impressed by the agricultural possibilities lying dormant in the undeveloped country that he was influenced later to make a permanent settlement in Bates county. He and his father spent six years in the gold mines of California, accumulated comfortable for- tunes, and then returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York City. In 1857, he came to Bates county and settled upon a farm located three miles west of Foster in Walnut township. He HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 439 developed the place into a fine property and increased his holdings as the years passed until he owned over eight hundred acres of valuable land. He resided on his place until his death in 1900 at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Doolittle was one of the prominent and influen- tial citizens of the county. He was widely and favorably known through- out this section of Missouri. John and Mary Doolittle were parents of the following children: Mrs. Elvira Smith, Cass county, Missouri; Mrs. Irene Moore, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Dora Smith, who died in Foster, Missouri; A. A., who is engaged in business in Kansas City; Jesse G., subject of this review; T. B., Kansas City, Missouri, Mrs. Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, mother of the above-named children, was born in 1842, in Cass county, Missouri, a daughter of James and Irene (Dickey) Campbell, natives of Virginia, who came to Missouri in 1840 and made a settlement in Cass county, residing there until 1849, when they removed to Bates county and were among the very earliest set- tlers of Walnut township. \¥. M. Campbell, one of the founders of the Farmers Bank of Foster, a man who was very prominent in Bates county affairs for many years, was a brother of Mrs. Doolittle. Mrs. j\Iary Doolittle now makes her home in Kansas City. The early education of Jesse G. Doolittle, subject of this review, was obtained in the public schools of Foster and in the Chillicothe Normal College, Chillicothe, Missouri. Following his classical education, he pursued a business course in the college at Sedalia, Missouri. After completing a practical business education he engaged in farming in AA'al- nut township until his acceptance of the position of cashier of the Farmers Bank at Foster. He became a director of this bank in 1905. In 1909, he became president of the bank and in 1911, he took charge of the bank, as cashier. Mr. Doolittle resided on his farm of three hundred twenty acres, located west of Foster, until 1912, at which time he took up his residence in Foster, from which point he still oversees the work on his farm. In addition to his duties as bank cashier, he is secretary and treas- urer of the Bates County Bankers' Association. The marriage of J. G. Doolittle and Bertha E. Bailey was solemnized in 1914. Mrs. Bertha Doolittle is a daughter of the late J. W. Bailey, of Walnut township, concerning whom an extended biographical review is given elsewdiere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Doolittle have one child, Louise, born March 25, 1915. Mr. Doolittle is allied with the Republican party and takes an interest in local and county politics, doing all that he can to assist 440 ^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY his party's success at the polls. He and Mrs. Doolittle are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, North. Mr. Doolittle is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Foster Lodge No. 554. Mr. Doolittle is one of Bates county's hustling young citi- zens, one of the youngest successful bankers in the state. At the time he became president of the Farmers Bank, he was the youngest bank president in Missouri and he has given ample evidence of decided busi- ness judgment and financial ability of a high order. The Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, was organized in 1877 and is one of the oldest established financial institutions in the county. This bank was organized by William E. Walton, president emeritus of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri; W'. M. Campbell, the first president ; J. Everingham, now deceased ; Dr. T. C. Boulware ; J. P. Edwards; and L. W. Jones, now deceased. F. M. Allen served as assistant cashier under William E. Walton for the first year. Judge John H. Sullens was the next cashier, followed by W. A. Ephland, who was succeeded by W. S. James, who served until J. G. Doolittle took charge in 1911. Prior to becoming cashier of the bank, Mr. Doolittle served as president, succeeding W. M. Campbell in 1909. The capital stock of the Farmers Bank is fifteen thousand dollars; surplus fund is six thousand dollars; with total resources of one hun- dred twenty thousand dollars at this writing, December, 1917. The present officers are as follow: H. A. Rhoades, president; J. G. Doolittle, cashier; and H. A. Rhoades, J. G. Doolittle, H. G. Davis, E. E. Laugh- lin. Bertha E. Doolittle, directors. E. A. Porter. — The one hundred sixty acres of land owned by E. A. Porter and located one mite west of Adrian, in Deer Creek township, is one of the best improved and finest agricultural plants in this section of Bates county or in Missouri. Everything about the place denotes thrift and good farm management on the part of the proprietor. When Mr. Porter purchased this place, in 1907, it was practically devoid of improvements. During his tenure, he has erected a thoroughly modern eight-room residence of handsome appearance. He has built a large, white barn 50 x 60 feet in size; a hog and cattle barn, 36 x 40 feet in dimensions ; a concrete-floored feeding shed for hogs ; and a silo, having a capacity of one hundred tons. Mr. Porter feeds generally about one hundred head of Poland China hogs and keeps a herd of Red Polled and Durham milch cows. Altogether he has spent in excess of eight thou- sand dollars upon farm improvements and the unanimous judgment HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 44I of persons who observe the Porter farm is that he is thoroughly pro- gressive, energetic, intelligent agriculturist. E. A. Porter was born in September, 1869, on a farm in Bates county, a son of R. I. and Catherine (Pulliam) Porter, the former, born in Jefferson county, Missouri, in 1838, and the latter, born in Cass county in Februai-y, 1849. The father of R. I. Porter was a Alis- souri pioneer who came to this state from Illinois. Catherine (Pulliam) Porter was a daughter of Augustus Pulliam, who came to Missouri from Kentucky in the early fifties. R. I. Porter was reared to young manhood in Jefferson county and during the early sixties he journeyed to Montana, where he followed mining in the Western mountains for a period of live years or thereabout. In 1866, he located in Bates county and settled on a farm eight miles northeast of Adrian in Grand River township, where there were both timber and water in abundance. He developed this tract into one of the finest farms in Bates county and recently sold it for a good price. Mr. and Mrs. R. I. Porter now reside in Nevada, Missouri. They have three children: Edward A., subject of this review; Dr. E. M., of Great Falls, Montana, one of the most famous surgeons of the Western country; and Miss Eva, who lives with her parents at Nevada. Edward A. Porter was educated in the district school near his father's home and afterward attended Butler Academy, following which he studied at the ^^'arrensburg Normal College. He cultivated the home place until he was tw^enty-one years old and, after his marriage, he settled on a farm one mile southwest of Altona. He first pur- chased eighty acres of land which he improved and to which he suc- cessively added two "eighties." He ultimately owned two hundred forty acres of land, wdiich is rated among the best farms in the county. Mr. Porter sold this farm at a considerable profit in 1907 and invested the proceeds in his present home farm. Mr. Porter was married in February, 1890, to Miss Mary Cantrell, who was born in Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Stephen and Lillian (McClure) Cantrell, natives of Georgia, who came to Bates county in 1868 and resided here until death claimed them. Three children have been born to Edward A. and Mary Porter, as follow: Cora, wife of Virgil S. Proctor, living in Montana ; Lola, wife of Frank Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Adrian; and Alma, at home with her parents. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Porter 442 HISTORY OF RATES COUNTY and he lias al\\a\s ])ocn more or less interested in the alTairs of his partN'. h'or a period of ten }ears he tilled the olViee of assessor of Grand River township. He and Mrs. Porter are niend)ers of the Metho- dist ['Episcopal chureh. Mr. Porter is fraternally alViliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd h'ellows, and the l*-ncam[)ment. William H. Patchin. — Durinj;- the forty years in which William H. Patchin, snhstantial farmer and stockman of West l')Ot)ne townshi[). has resided in Pates count}-, he has won a place for himself as a success- ful farmer and business man excelled by no citizen of the county, who has sta\ed close to the mother earth in the elTort to secure a lixelihood and competence. h'rom a modest hes^innino- in his youns;" manhocKl. durins;- the strenuous days of the i;reat rush for free homesteads in Oklahoma in 18 o 5 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 477 hundred acres of land. During the winter of 1861, John Woodfin, on account of threats having been made against his life by the anti-slavery adherents and Kansas "jayhawkers," went to Johnson county. He left his home sorely against his own inclinations and only yielded to the importunities of his relatives and friends in the end. Becoming anxious about his family he returned to his home during the winter and a band of "jayhawkers" came to the home wnth the intention of killing him. Snow lay deep upon the ground and the cold was intense. Mr. Woodfin escaped through a window and made his way to the nearby wood where he remained all night until his enemies had left. The exposure resulted in a severe cold which caused his death soon afterward. By his first mar- riage wnth Hannah Hyatt, he had four sons and two daughters. His second wife was Mrs. Emily (Bryant) Granthem, wadow of a "forty- niner'' who died on his way home by sea from the gold fields of Cali- fornia. A daughter born of his first marriage is yet living — Mrs. Miller, wife of Rev. William Miller of New Home. J. S. Woodfin's first wife was Ruth Turner, who died during the Civil AVar leaving three daughters : Mary, wife of James H. Sacre, Charlotte township; Mrs. Alice Warman, died in Colorado; Mrs. Lucy Williams, widow living at Wellsville, Kansas. During the Civil War, Jason S. Woodfin served for a time in the state militia in Capt. John Newberry's company and then spent the remainder of the time on the western plains and in Colorado. He served as a government teamster until 1865. He then returned to Bates county and engaged in farming on his Walnut township land. He was married then to Miss Prudence E. Miller, who bore him the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Char- lotte McHenry, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie May Clouse, deceased; Frances J., wife of W^illiam Hyatt, Grant county, Oregon; Mrs. Emily C. Lester, Aberdeen. Washington; Mrs. Prudence Olive Farrell, Colo- rado; Mrs. Ethel Goodenough, Foster, Bates county; Maude A., wife of E. L. Thomas, New Home township; Jason S., living in Idaho, married in April, 1900 to Cannie Sells, of Butler, who died August 4, 1915, leav- ing three children, Ree Jefferson, Prudence B.. and Lillie May; Willie Cleveland, deceased ; Mrs. Minnie Ellen Blevin. AA^alnut township. Mrs. Prudence (Miller) Woodfin was born November 5, 1848 on a pioneer farm located four miles east of Foster, Bates county. She is a daughter of Oliver Hazard Perry Miller, a native of Missouri, and Charlotte (Vryans) Miller. O. H. P. Miller was born in Franklin county, Missouri in 1815 and died in the Federal prison at Springfield, Missouri, 4/8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY April 30, 1863. He was a son of Samuel Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, who was among the first pioneers of Franklin county, Missouri, settling at Miller's Landing on the Missouri river. At the age of seventeen years, O. H. P. Miller left home and located in Bates county in 1832. His first settlement was made north of the Marais des Cygnes river and in 1845 he came to New Home township and settled on a farm one-half mile east of old New Home. When the Civil War broke out he lost every- thing, the home and buildings being burned and his live stock stolen or killed. In the fall of 1861 the family removed to Henry county and remained there until the spring of 1866. O. H. P. Miller and his oldest son left home for the war and served with the Confederate forces. Henry Miller, the son, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, August 8, 1862. O. H. P. was quartermaster and served with Captain John McCombs' company. He was taken prisoner in Arkansas and interred in the Fed- eral prison at Springfield, where his death occurred. His eight children were as follow: Henry Clay, deceased; Rev. William Barton Miller, New Home, Missouri; Emily Jane, deceased; Mrs. Prudence E. Wood- fin, Walnut township; Susan Mahala, wife of W. A. Comer, living near Nevada, Missouri; Lucinda, wife of Charles B. Briscoe, Walnut town- ship; Josephine, deceased; John, residing near New Home; and Martha, wife of John Weadon, New Home township. After the war the family settled on the old place and rebuilt the home and. made another start. Time healed the wounds and sorrows caused by the misfortunes of war and they prospered. The mother died March 12, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Woodfin started housekeeping in a little log house of one room to which he added other rooms as the family increased and they were able. They owned an eighty-acre tract which had been given to Mr. Woodfin by his father. He entered land and purchased other tracts as he was financially able and at the time of his death, he was owner of five hundred twenty acres. All that the family had left at the close of the Civil War was an old log- cabin, with both doors and windows gone and all the fences on the place were burned and the orchard uprooted and reset in Kansas. During his later years, Mr. Woodfin was ill for a good part of the time and Mrs. Woodfin courageously shouldered the burden of caring for her husband and looking after their extensive farm interests. Mr. Woodfin died September 9, 1899, aged sixty-five years. Mr. Woodfin was a life-long Democrat who was ever loval to his HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 479 party. He was a member of the Christian church and was a good Chris- tian citizen who loved his home and fireside and was devoted to his wife and family. For over fifty-one years, his widow, Mrs. Prudence Wood- fin, has resided in the home which she and her husband made lonsf aeo, and has never left home except for visits to Idaho 4nd among her chil- dren. She recalls the old pioneer days and remembers how happy the people were even in their rude surroundings. Her father, O. H. P. Miller taught the first school in New Home township, which was held in one room for a term of three months, of the double log cabin which was the Miller home in New Home township. Her father was a well educated man who was skilled in languages and familiar with the classics. Previous to the outbreak of the war he had built a fine mansion on his farm, native woods such as walnut being used in its construction, one room of which was lined with book shelves. When the family went to Henry county and located near Clinton for safety during the war the house was first looted of its contents and then burned to the ground by marauders on Christmas night. The father of John Woodfin was Thomas Woodfin who came with his family to Johnson county, Missouri, Vvdien he was an old man and mainly spent his time in fishing and hunt- ing while his sons all engaged in farming. He accompanied his family to Bates county and died here. Mrs. Woodfin is energetic and capable and well preserved, despite her age, and still looks after her farm. She prefers to reside in the home which has served her for so many years rather than move to the town or city. She is a member of the Christian church and is a devout Christian who is always ready to assist in worthy undertakings. She is one of the most honored and most highly respected of the Bates county pioneer women. Mark Henry Thomas, better known as "Mark" Thomas, proprietor of the "White Rock Farm" in Walnut township, consisting of one hun- dred thirty acres of excellent land, is a native of Bates county, a mem- ber of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of western Missouri. The Thomas home is a pretty cottage situated upon a rise of ground, overlooking Walnut township to the westward, located just a short distance from the town of Foster. The improvements on the place were all built under Mr. Thomas' direction and the farm is equipped with a large white barn, 36 x 40 feet in size with a height of sixteen feet to square, and a sixty-ton silo. Mr. Thomas is engaged in general farming and raises cattle and hogs for the markets. He was born September 11, 1878, in New Home township and is a son of James 480 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Pendleton Thomas, familiarly known as "Uncle Jim," one of the oldest of the Bates county pioneers and a patriarch in his own right because of his great age and his long residence in New Home township. (See biography.) M. H. Thomas attended the school in the Virginia district near his home and also studied in the Foster public schools. When twenty years of age, he began farming on his own account on rented land. Some time later, his father, in making a division of his estate among his chil- dren, gave him a tract of eighty acres of land which he improved in December of 1900, and January of 1901. In 1910, he received another gift of forty acres, and to this has added ten acres, making one hundred thirty acres in all, which he owns. On December 21, 1898, M. H. Thomas and Emma Jane Clouse were united in marriage. Mrs. Emma Thomas was born October 25, 1881, in Walnut township. Bates county, a daughter of William Henry and Lavina (Shroyer) Clouse, natives of Ohio and Illinois, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Clouse came to Missouri in the early seventies and later made a settlement in Walnut township. Mr. Clouse is now making his home in Oklahoma. The reader is referred to the sketch of W. D. Clouse, a brother of Mrs. Thomas, for further and more detailed in- formation regarding the history of the Clouse family. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas: Glenard, born May 6, 1902, a student in Butler High School ; and Lelia Orlena, born October 19, 1899, wife of Lawrence Galvin, a farmer living in New Home township. While Mr. Thomas is a professed Democrat, he is inclined to vote in- dependently in local political elections. He and Mrs. Thomas are mem- bers of the Christian church and Mr. Thomas belongs to the Modern W^oodmen of America. Gustavus A. Corbin, old settler of Howard township, proprietor of a splendid farm of two hundred thirty-four acres, has the distinction of having taught the first public school ever organized in the town of Hume, Missouri. Mr. Corbin came to Missouri in 1871 and has resided on his present home farm for twenty-nine years. This farm was origi- nally a gift from his father, a Virginian, wdio had traded for a tract of land in Bates county without seeing the land and offered the quarter section to his son, Gustavus, while stipulating that the son should come to Missouri and improve the tract, after trying vainly to induce his father to deed the land to him without the necessity of coming out here and improving it, young Corbin decided that he had better make HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 481 a trip to Missouri and see about his legacy. He has never regretted coming and has prospered with his neighbors who have taken part in the development of Bates county as a great agricultural center. G. A. Corbin was born July 22, 1846, in Harrison county. West Virginia, a son of Oliver P. and Nancy Ann (Taylor) Corbin, natives of Virginia. Oliver P. Corbin was a son of John Corbin, of Culpepper county, Virginia, a soldier in the War of 1812, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, for some time during the war. The direct progenitor of the Corbin family is reputed to have been a British soldier, a Scotch-Irish- man, who came to America with the British forces during the American Revolution, and for some reason or other, probably because he was impressed with the right of the colonial cause, he deserted the British and allied with the American side, fought for the Independence of the Colonies against his former comrades. Oliver P. Corbin lived all his days in West Virginia and died there. He was twice married and was father of seventeen children. G. A. Corbin's mother died in 1856. G. A. Corbin received a good education in his native county in West Virginia and began teaching school when still a very young man. He taught in his native state until his removal to Missouri in 1871. He continued teaching school after his arrival in this state and taught, in all for ten years. To him belongs the honor of having taught the first free public school held at Hume, Missouri, in 1882, this first school being held for a period of nine months. In 1872, Mr. Corbin located at old Papinvile. In 1881, he located in Howard township, this county, and has since remained here. He engaged in teaching until his removal to his farm in February, 1889. Mr. Corbin erected the residence and all buildings situated upon the place and set out all the shade trees which serve to beautify the place. He has been engaged in general farming and stock raising until of late years his son has relieved him of the burden of the hard tasks of cultivating his land. Mr. Corbin was first married in 1871 to Harriet McDonald, of West Virginia. She died in 1873. His second marriage occurred September 6, 1882, with Margaret L. Shockley, of Illinois, born April 30, 1860, a daughter of John Shockley, a native of Pennsylvania, and Catherine (Beck) Shockley, a native of Ohio. John and Catherine Shockley were married in Illinois, where both had removed wnth their respective parents. John Shockley served as captain of Company "I", One Hundred Sixth Illinois Infantry throughout the Civil War. He came to Bates county, (30 482 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Missouri, and settled on a farm three miles north of Papinsville. His wife died in 1914 at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Shockley was born February 21, 1831, and is still strong and active, despite his advanced age. He reared a family of nine children : John B., died in April, 1914; Louisa, wife of D. O. Bradley, Rich Hill; Ada, wife of Frank Seelinger, Greeley, Colorado; Mrs. Margaret L. Corbin; Emma, died as the result of injuries received in an auto wreck, which occurred on the road between Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Ringgold, in 1915, her death taking place in the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in September of 1915, her father receiving painful injuries at the same time, they both returning from a visit to the Gettysburg battlefield; Mrs. Nora Maupin, and Mrs. Cora Kelly, twins, reside at Waurika, Oklahoma; Nathaniel, on part of the old home place in Prairie township, near Papinsville; and James C, also on a part of the home place in the same neighborhood, in Prairie township. To G. A. and Margaret L. Corbin have been born children, as follow: Mrs. Catherine Smith, born July 11, 1883, lives at Santa Barbara, California, and has one child, Earl Dillon, born May 26, 1907; Oliver G., born April 1, 1889, now a private in the National Army, was formerly engaged in the gas engine and vulcanizing business at Bottineau, North Dakota; Ivan, born April 19, 1891, an instructor in bookkeeping and commercial law in Spalding's Commercial College at Kansas City, member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; John Byron, born December 23, 1893, at home with his parents, manager of the Corbin farm, a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Blue Lodge of Hume, Missouri, and of the Chapter at Rich Hill. Politically, Mr. Corbin has generally been allied with the Demo- cratic party, as are his sons. Mrs. Corbin is a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church. William Wheatley, substantial farmer and stockman of New Home township, proprietor of two farms, aggregating three hundred sixty acres located in New Home township, is one of the old settlers of Bates county. Perhaps the greatest thing to Mr. Wheatley's credit, during his long and successful career in this county, has been his ambition and determination to give each member of his family of children the benefit of a thorough education in preparation for their own careers. He has done this, at personal sacrifices on several occasions, but has never regretted putting into effect his well-defined plans of educating his children. His reward is, and will be, the satisfaction of knowing HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 483 that each and every member of his family will be better citizens and better equipped to take their places in the world than if he had allowed them to grow up without the necessary training and opportunities for acquiring knowledge which he has bestowed upon them. William Wheatley was born in Lucas county, North Carolina, in 184S, son of James and Elizabeth (Shumate) Wheatley, children of Vir- ginia parents. In 1857, James Wheatley made a trip to the state of Missouri for the purpose of looking over the country and finding a location for a new home. This decided upon, he returned home and moved his family by wagons to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1859. There was a considerable party of North Carolina people in the com- pany which came to Missouri and misfortune befell the company. For some reason or other, twenty-five members of the company contracted disease and died, either on the journey northward or after they had arrived in Johnson county. The trouble is thought to have been due to the bad water which they were obliged, of necessity, to drink. James Wheatley and his daughter, Jane, were two of the band who succumbed to disease and died on the same day in 1860, not long after their arrival in Johnson county. The family settled on a farm near Warrensburg, Missouri, and there William Wheatley remained until 1874. In that year he came to New Home township. Bates county, and bought twenty acres of land upon which he built a small, box house. He had no money when he came to this county and became a land-owner by trading a team and wagon for a half interest in the twenty acres. Mr. Wheatley had met with serious financial reverses in Johnson county and his object in coming to Bates county was to get a new start. He has never regretted coming and prosperity has smiled upon him during the many years of his residence in New Home township. He has built up a splendid estate. During his first four years in this county, Mr. Wheat- ley suffered greatly from chills and fever, and, in order to get rid of the affliction, made a trip to Texas, and the change of climate proved beneficial to him. The little twenty-acre tract grew to a fine farm of two hundred eighty acres through additions, and, in 1910, Mr. Wheat- ley purchased the "eighty" where his present home is located. His son-in-law is operating his former home place. The Wheatley farm has a never-failing spring which supplies water for the stock and the residence. Mr. Wheatley was married in 1872 to Elizabeth Grier of Johnson county, who died in 1890, leaving two children: Carlos, a railroad man 484 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY in Oklahoma; and Mrs. Lillian Bowan, Visalia, California. His second marriage, in 1892, was with Mrs. Margaret (Moore) Graves, widow of George Graves, and daughter of Macklin Moore. By her first mar- riage with George Graves, Mrs. Wheatley had three children, namely : WiUiam, living in Kansas; Roy, deceased; and George Graves, deceased. To William and Margaret (Graves) Wheatley have been born seven children: Mrs. Julia Ayer, Rich Hill, Missouri; Dr. James Wheatley, a practicing dentist, Seneca, Kansas; Mrs. Goldie Caton, New Home township; Ivy and Ira, twins, the former a teacher in the public schools, and the latter, at home; Mary, a student in Rich Hill High School; and Mildred. Mr. Wheatley has generally been a follower and supporter of Repub- lican principles but has never taken an active part in political affairs. He belongs to no lodge or organization which would have a tendency to take him from the bosom of his family. He is an exemplary citi- zen whose course in life has been marked by a steadfast devotion to his wife and children, and everything which he accomplishes is with the end in view that the different members can be comfortable and happy. Isaac H. Botkin, retired farmer. Union veteran, and Bates county pioneer, is one of the grand old men of Bates county. He is now living comfortably retired in Foster and his long life has been an eventful and very useful one. Mr. Botkin was born in Belmont county, Ohio, March 10, 1834. His parents were R. C. and Rachel (Vernon) Botkin, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. His mother was born on the banks of the historic Brandywine in the Keystone state. Both his father and mother lived all of their days in Belmont county, Ohio. The Botkin family is one of the oldest and best known of the old American families and its members are prominent in various sections of the United States. Secretary of State Thomas H. Botkin of Kansas is a relative of Isaac H. Botkin, subject of this biographical review. There were ten children in the Botkin family, all of whom are deceased except two. The children were as follow: Maria, born January 27, 1819; Arlotto, born August 21, 1820; Benjamin V., born July 15, 1822; Sarah, born April 7, 1825; Elma N., born July 25, 1827; John Y., born April 5, 1829; Susan Y., born March 21, 1832; Isaac Harry, born March 10, 1834; Catherine E., born July 4, 1836; Caroline, born July 12, 1839. The only member of this family living besides Isaac Harry Botkin, is Mrs. Susan Y. Chap- man, of Claysville, Washington county, Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1858, Isaac H. Botkin went westward to Iowa and ISAAC H. BOTKIN. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 485 settled in Adams county, where he purchased one hundred sixty- acres of land. He erected a small cabin, and broke up the land for his first crops with a breaking plow pulled by ox teams. Civil War breaking out between the Union and the Southern states, he enlisted in Company C, Fourth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry on November 15, 1861 and served until his honorable discharge at Atlanta, Georgia, August 17, 1865. He was sixth sergeant of his company, and after his term of enlistment expired he re-enlisted as a veteran December 12, 1863, and was promoted to the post of first lieutenant of Company I on February 18, 1865, under General Winslow. His first battle in the war was at Pea Ridge, after which he was placed in charge of two thousand prisoners who were to be escorted from Rolla, Missouri to Springfield. His command then went to Batesville, down the White river to Helena. He was then detached from his command and sent back to southwestern Iowa on recruiting duty. This work being performed he returned to Camp McConnell at Davenport, Iowa, and a short time later was ordered to report to his regiment which was to take part in the siege of Vicksburg under Gen- eral Grant. After the fall of Vicksburg they were ordered to destroy the Central Mississippi railroad as far as the environs of Memphis, thus severing one of the arteries of communication held by the Confederates. This task partly accomplished, they went to Yazoo City where they awaited supplies. Their provision ship being grounded in the river, the men of the regiment elected to go on without their supplies and finish the task of tearing up the railroad. From Memphis they were then ordered back to Vicksburg. Other engagements in which this valiant soldier participated were Gunntown, Mississippi; Tupelo, Mis- sissippi; Jackson, Mississippi; Champion Hills; battles which were fought before the siege and capture of Vicksburg. His next encampment was at Louisville, Kentucky, where his regiment remained until the spring of 1865, and then proceeded to Gravelly Springs, Tennessee, under Gen- erals Wilson and Upton who moved out and struck the forces of General Forrest at Selby, Alabama, capturing the Confederate forces and blow- ing up the munition supplies. They then crossed the river and took Fort Montgomery and after a night attack, captured Columbus, Georgia. They met a flag of truce at Macon, Georgia and learned that General Lee had surrendered. After receiving his discharge at Atlanta, he with the regiment Was sent to Davenport, Iowa, and mustered out. Mr. Botkin returned to his farm and remained in Iowa for two and a half years, then traded his Iowa farm for land in New Home town- 486 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ship, Bates county, taking possession of his new tract in the fall of 1869. The Botkin farm is unquestionably one of the best and richest four-hundred-acre tracts in western Missouri, with splendid improve- ments and known as "Maple Grove Farm." The Botkin farm residence is an imposing place of eleven rooms almost completely encircled with wide verandas and sitting in a beautiful grove of large maple trees planted by Mr. Botkin. For some years this fine farm has been in the capable hands of Mr. E. D. Waller, a son-in-law of Mr. Botkin. On December 5, 1869, the marriage of Isaac Harry Botkin and Miss Emma F. Jones took place and the marriage has been a very happy and prosperous one, blessed with children as follow: Robert Edward, de- ceased, and his remains lie in Foster cemetery; Benjamin V., born in 1875, lives in Spokane, Washington; Mrs. Ina Waller, wife of E. D. Waller, Rich Hill, Missouri. The mother of this family was born Janu- ary 7, 1838, in Culpepper county, Virginia, a daughter of William Edward and Lucretia (Barrack) Jones, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and the latter was a native of Virginia. William E. Jones located in De Kalb county, Missouri, in 1866 and there bought a four- hundred-acre farm which he sold in 1869 and then came to Bates county where he died. Mr. Botkin has been a Democrat in politics and during his younger days, he took a keen interest in political matters, serving his township as trustee. He and Mrs. Botkin are members of the Foster Baptist church, and Mr. Botkin is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. They retired to a home in Foster, by reason of advancing age on April 4, 1905. When Mr. Botkin moved to Foster the town was infested with saloons. During all of his life he has been a strong temper- ance advocate and he promptly led the fight for the abolition of the saloon from the village and eventually succeeded. Despite threats from the saloon advocates who sent him word to "leave town or be killed" he stayed by his guns and won out in behalf of morality and order. He is still overseeing the cultivation of one hundred thirty-five acres adjoin- ing the city all of which are sown to wheat for the next harvest. For twenty-five years, this aged citizen fed hundreds of cattle and has bought and sold live stock in this section of Missouri for many years. Despite his great age and the fact that he gave four of the best years of his life to the defense of the Union, during which time he never experienced a sick call and was never wounded, he is still able to manage his own business affairs and his intellect is keen, and his patriotism is HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 487 undimmed — his love of the old flag under which he marched and fought being as great as when in the flower of his young manhood he freely offered his life that the Union might be saved, and would now be on the firing line in Europe fighting in defesne of democracy were he still a young man. Francis Marion Wheeler, of Howard township, is a "self-made," very successful agriculturist, owner of a quarter section of highly pro- ductive land which has served as his home place since April 8, 1888. Mr. Wheeler was born May 1, 1851, in Schuyler county, Illinois, son of Austin King and Adeline C. (Chipman) Wheeler, natives of Guilford county. North Carolina, members of old Southern families. Austin H. Wheeler was born May 23, 1813, and died in 1901. He was married in North Carolina on May 31, 1838. He was the son of John and Keziah Wheeler. His wife was a daughter of Obadiah H. and Keziah Chip- man. She was born October 22, 1816. Austin Wheeler migrated to Pettis county, Missouri, in 1856, and purchased an improved farm which he later sold and opened a blacksmith's shop. Civil War breaking out, he lost his business and then engaged in farming. When his health failed him in 1878, he came to Bates county, making his home in Sprague, after living at the home of his son, F. M. Wheeler. He died in 1882. He was father of six children : Rensselaer Harris, deceased ; Keziah Ann Larue, living in New Mexico; John Henry, deceased; Harriet, died in infancy; F. M., subject of this review and his twin sister, Mrs. Mary Frances Winston, Rich Hill. The early life of Fr?ncis Marion WHieeler was replete with hard- ships and he obtained but little education. From boyhood he has been self-supporting. When he came to Bates county on March 20, 1878, all that he owned in the world was a good span of mules, a plow, a wagon, a cultivator, and one hundred dollars in money, which money he had carefully saved. The first thing he did upon coming here was to purchase eighty acres of land in Howard township at a cost of five dollars an acre. He broke up thirty acres of this tract and sowed it to wheat, the crop yielding only ten bushels to the acre. He planted a good corn crop which was ruined in August of that year by a hail- storm. His beginning in this county was not auspicious and the out- come of his first year in farming here was not encouraging. But, Mr. WHieeler was made of true pioneer material and he kept at the task of improving his farm and the second year was a better one. Con- tinual good crops, in spite of the ordinary set-backs, of course, have 488 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY made him a well-to-do citizen. His first home, which is still standing on the premises, was a small two-room house, which has been sup- planted by a pretty cottage, erected in 1910. In addition to his fine farm in Bates county, Mr. Wheeler owns a tract of timber land comprising fifty-three acres in Howell county, Missouri. November 28, 1877, he was married to Miss Phoebe Ferguson Bright, wdio was born in Saline county, Missouri, September 8, 1854, a daughter of John and Margaret (Grissom) Bright, natives of Vir- ginia and Kentucky, respectively. John Bright made a settlement in Missouri in the early thirties and entered government land. He died in July, 1890, and his wife followed him in death three years later, her death occurring in July, 1893. The following children have been born to Francis Marion and Phoebe Wheeler: Charley, born February 6, 1879, is employed in the Rich Hill lumber yard; Aubrey Blaine, born October 14, 1880, lives in Arkansas; Mrs. Rose Thomas, born Novem- ber 20, 1882, lives at Pittsburg, Kansas; Arthur W., born December 18, 1884, a farmer in Howard township; Burch F., born January 24, 1887, lives in Kansas City; Austin K., born December 22, 1888, makes his home at Rich Hill; Lydia Ann, born February 23, 1891, at home; Francis Marion, Jr., born September 26, 1893, a private in the National Army, stationed at the training camp at Fort Pike, Little Rock, Arkan- sas; Joseph F., born October 4, 1898, at home. Mr. Wheeler votes the Republican ticket but is not greatly inter- ested in matters which would have a tendency to divert him from his fireside and home interests. He is essentially a home man, one whose family and farm are his first consideration at all times, James Claude Berry, or "J- C." Berry, extensive farmer, tax col- lector of New Home township, Bates county, was born November 22, 1870, in Saline county, Missouri, a member of an old pioneer family of Missouri. His father was A. M. Berry, a native of Bates county, and his mother was Mary E. (Prewitt) Berry, a native of Jackson county, Missouri. A. M. Berry was born in 1843 and died January 3, 1917, in Oregon, at the time of his death being probably the oldest living pioneer of Bates county. Mary E. Berry was born in 1838 and departed this life in June, 1915. A. M. Berry was born in New Home township, a son of John Berry, a native of Kentucky who settled in Bates county in the early thirties. During the Civil War period, the Berry family left the county and did not return until the war closed. A. M. Berry served in the Confederate army under General Price and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 489 saw much hard service in Missouri, Arkansas, and the South. After the war, he returned to Sahne county and made his home there until his removal in 1883 to Bates county and to Charlotte township, where he lived until 1895, when he removed to Oklahoma. Ten years later, he moved to Oregon and there died. His children were as follow: W. H., Oregon; N. A., living in Kansas; S. A., living in Washington; James Claude, subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Bessie L. Wallace, Oregon. J. C. Berry was educated in the schools of Saline county and of Bates county. He began doing for himself when nineteen years old and first farmed on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township. He purchased his first farm in New Home township in 1896. He improved the tract and sold it shortly afterward. He then bought a place consisting of one hundred twenty acres, located just north of his present home. He sold forty acres of this tract and the remaining eighty acres are included within his present holdings of two hundred forty acres. His present home place is well improved with a good home, barns, and silo. Mr. Berry is farming and pasturing a total of six hundred acres, in all, and raises and feeds over seventy-five head of cattle yearly. J. C. Berry was married in 1893 to Lillie Pickett, a daughter of John E. and Maria J. (Lindley) Pickett, who came to Bates county in 1883. That is, the widow and family located in this county at that time, Mr. Pickett having died in Illinois. Mrs. Pickett now makes her home among her children. Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Berry have children, as fol- low: Ruby, Ralph, Grace, Frank, Sina, Lena, Emmet, and Mabel, all at home with their parents. Mr. Berry is prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party in Bates county and is now serving his second term as tax collector of New Home township. He was first elected to this office in 1915 and re-elected in March, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Berry and the three oldest children are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Berry is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Butler. Fred Crabb, proprietor of a splendid farm of two hundred acres of Osage township, was born in 1867 in Mason county, Illinois, a son of Willis and Mary (Forsythe) Crabb. former residents of Bates county, who have the unique distinction of holding the record for long marriages in Missouri and probably the United States. Willis Crabb was born January 7, 1823, in Greene county, Illinois, son of Edward and Eliza- beth Crabb, pioneer settlers of Greene county, Illinois. Willis Crabb 490 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was reared in his native state and brought up on a pioneer farm. He made a settlement in Bates county, Missouri, in 1884. Prior to this year, in 1879, he came to this county and purchased a tract of land. Land was cheap and plentiful in those days in Bates county and there were not many permanent farmers in the southern part of Bates county. Much of the land was open prairie but the deep rich soil was awaiting the touch of the husbandman to transform its appearance and furnish a place upon which to build homes. Willis Crabb was very fortunate in his first venture in this county. He had broken up sixty acres of his land and had it sown to wheat which yielded a fine crop and brought the large sum of two dollars twenty-five cents per bushel. He sold his wheat crop, or rather his share of it, for enough to pay for his land. He made a permanent settlement in Osage township in 1884 and erected excel- lent improvements upon his farm. He resided on the home place until 1900 and then moved to Rich Hill. He resided in Rich Hill until the fall of 1917 and then removed to Springfield, Missouri, where he is now living and enjoying life at the great age of ninety-five years. The marriage of Willis Crabb and Mary Forsythe, born in Illinois in 1829, occurred in 1848, and was blessed with children as follow: Mrs. Fannie Cunningham, living in Chicago; John, a resident of Los Angeles; Lott, a railroad man who was killed in California, while engaged in his regular occupation; William, connected with the Farmers Bank of Rich Hill ; Edith, wife of Charles Faylor, residing in Howard township ; Rachel and Ida, residing in Springfield, Missouri; Fred Crabb, subject of this review; Florence, wife of C. C. McGinness, Howard township; and Mrs. Gussie Noble, Springfield, Missouri. February 14, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Crabb celebrated their Seventieth W^edding Anniversary at their home in Springfield. The event attracted widespread attention because of the fact that the anniversary was a unique one in point of years of continuous married life, which the aged couple have enjoyed. Both are well past the allotted span of life, are well, hearty, and in full possession of their faculties. Seventy years seems a long, long time as years come and go and Mr. and Mrs. Crabb probably hold the record for Missouri in having attained to such great longevity and having been married for such a length of time. Many wonderful changes have taken place in their life-time and it is given to but few people to reside on earth for such a period. They enjoy the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr. Crabb was one of Bates countv's best citizens. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 49 1 PVed Crabb was a sturdy youth of seventeen years, when the family settled in Bates county and he was well able and willing to perform a man's work. He received his public school education in Illinois and also attended the Rich Hill High School, after coming to Bates county. He has resided constantly in Bates county since 1884 with the exception of three years in Illinois, from 1896 to 1898, inclusive. He then returned to this county and in 1899 purchased the Crabb home place and is owner of two hundred acres of land at the present time. Mr. Crabb is engaged in general farming and stock raising and is one of the successful agri- culturists of Bates county. He was married in 1895 to Rachel Stickle, of Rich Hill, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Stickle, who were born in Austria apd immigrated to this country and settled in Rich Hill. Eleven children have been born to Fred and Rachel Crabb, as follow: Mary, a teacher in the Howard township public schools; Joseph Daniel, an enlisted man in the United States Navy; Willis, deceased; Frances, a teacher in the public schools of Osage township; Edith and Florence, students in the Rich Hill High School; Charles, Virgil, and Gussie, attending the district school; Margaret, aged four years; and Alma, aged one year. Politically, Mr. Crabb is aligned with the Democratic party and has filled the office of township trustee. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Crabb is a genial, whole-souled citizen, who is well liked by his neighbors and friends and is looked upon as a progressive Bates county citizen. Frank U. Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, is one of the young citizens of Bates county who are widely and favorably known as industrious, enterprising, successful men. Mr. Mathers is one of Bates county's own sons. He was born in 1890, a son of J. W. and Anna Mathers, who came to Missouri from Indiana in 188v3 and located at Adrian, where J. W. Mathers was engaged in the mercantile business for more than twenty-five years. He died in 1917 and the widowed mother makes her home at Adrian and with her reside her son, Frank U., and his wife. J. W. Mathers was a well- known and well-to-do merchant and at the time of his death was the owner of considerable property in Adrian, including his residence and his business establishment. Mr. Mathers, whose name introduces this review, is a graduate the Adrian High School and a former student of the Warrensburg State Normal School, which latter institution he attended two years. He 492 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY also completed a course of study at the Central Business College, Kansas City, Missouri, after which he was employed for six years by the VYarnken Dry Goods Company. Mr. Mathers resigned his posi- tion with this company to accept the assistant cashiership of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, which place he is capably filling at the time of this writing in 1918. He graduated from the Adrian High School in the class of 1906. November 20, 1916, Frank U. Mathers and Lola Porter were united in marriage. Lola (Porter) Mathers is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Porter, of Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mathers reside at Adrian with Mr. Mathers' mother. He is a stockholder as well as an official of the First National Bank of Adrian. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mathers richly merit and possess the warm regard of a host of friends in Adrian and in Bates county. James T. Ackerman. — Hard work and rigid economy was the pro- gram for the early life of James T. Ackerman, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Howard township. The Ackerman farm was purchased by its proprietor during the winter of 1871. Mr. Ackerman made his first investment in Bates county land when the ground was covered with snow to a depth of nearly two feet but has never regretted his purchase. His first quarter section cost him ten dollars an acre — unbroken prairie land which he fenced and improved. The farm now consists of four hundred acres of rich, valuable soil which produces bountiful crops each year. His handsome home stands on a commanding knoll which affords a view of the surrounding country for miles in every direction, the rich bottom land lying about the farm buildings on all sides. During his residence of forty-seven years in Bates county, Mr. Ackerman has never purchased any fiour, the farm producing his needs each year. He has sown one hundred acres to wheat for next year's harvest. During the past year he harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre; forty acres of oats which produced forty bushels to the acre. At the present time (December, 1917) he is feed- ing seventy-five head of cattle and thirty hogs and keeps ten horses and mules to do the farm work. Mr. Ackerman has expended over fifteen thousand dollars for improvements on his farm and it is his proud boast that he "owes no man a dollar." The farm is equipped with nat- ural gas obtained from a well drilled in 1912 to a depth of two hundred eighty-six feet. James T. Ackerman was born at Salem, Forsythe county, North \ JAMES T. ACKERMAN AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 493 Carolina, January 13, 1850, a son of William and Jeanette (Spock) Ackerman. William Ackerman was a son of John Ackerman who emi- grated from Germany to America when a young man and settled in North Carolina. The Ackerman family came to Missouri in 1868 and resided at Montserrat, in Johnson county for a period of fifteen years, then removed to Warrensburg. When James T. Ackerman came to Bates county in 1881 the father accompanied him and he cared for him until the end of his days, the father dying in 1911 at the age of eighty- three years. The mother departed this life in 1858. WHiile a resident of Montserrat, James T. Ackerman worked as a section hand on the rail- road and drove a team for the coal mines for a period of eleven years at a wage of one dollar and fifty cents per day. During this time he carried the burden of supporting and rearing his father's family but managed to save money each year. He was never averse to earning an honest dollar aside from his regular employment and managed to earn a good many extra dollars which he carefully saved. Opportunities for loaning money at 10 per cent, interest were plentiful in those days and he increased his hoard by doing this. It was and has always been his contention, that it matters not what a man earns, "it is what he saves that counts in the end." When he had accumulated a total of one thou- sand six hundred dollars, he said one day to his wife, 'T guess I'll go and buy me a home." This he did in Bates county where he now ranks as one of the oldest of the pioneer settlers and one of the most substan- tial and best respected of his section. The marriage of James T. Ackerman and Lesta Stultz took place on October 18, 1874 and has been blessed with the following children: Minnie, wife of J. P. Adams, assistant cashier of the Bank of Hume, Hume, Missouri; Arthur, born in 1877, resides on one of his father's farms, married Lola Liggett, and has four children: Vivita, Oscar, Golden and A. J.; Alfred, born in 1879, lives at El Dorado, Kansas; Cleveland, born 1885, United States railway mail clerk since 1905, and resides at Kansas City, Missouri. The mother of these children was born in 1853 in North Carolina, first came to Indiana in 1865 and came to Montserrat, Johnson county, Missouri with her parents, Elisha and Matilda Stultz, in 1866. The Democratic party has always had the steadfast allegiance of Mr. Ackerman and he has generally voted the straight Democratic ticket. He has never had any time for political matters and has never cared for nor ever sought political office. He and Mrs. Ackerman are 494 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY members of the Presbyterian church. He is a genial, kindly, shrewd, and capable citizen whose word is considered as good as his bond, one who has found Bates county a profitable and a good place in which to live and rear a family. Mr. Ackerman's unswerving loyalty to Bates county is inspiring and he is certain that there is no better plat of ground in America than this county. Clarence C. Swarens, a leading citizen of New Home township, pro- prietor of a splendid farm of one hundred thirty acres, candidate for the nomination for the office of clerk of the circuit court of Bates county, is one of the best-known of the second generation of Bates county's citizens. Mr. Swarens was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, Aug'ust 9, 1867, a son of John and Ann (Ray) Swarens, who migrated from Illinois to Bates county, Missouri, in 1882 and made a permanent settle- ment in New Home township, where they reared a fine family. For further information regarding the parents of C. C. Swarens, the reader is referred to the biography of Frank R. Swarens, brother of the sub- ject of this review. Mr. Swarens attended the public schools of Springfield, Illinois, and completed the prescribed course in the Springfield public schools at the early age of twelve years. After studying for one year in the Springfield High School, he spent one year in Business College. He accompanied his parents to Bates county and assisted his father in the operation of the home farm during his boyhood days. As early as 1892. he engaged in the profession of teaching and successfully taught in the public schools in Bates county and Texas for twenty or more terms. During 1892 and 1893 he pursued the study of law at the Uni- versity of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and graduated from the law^ depart- ment of the university. Following his graduation, being admitted to the bar, he went to Houston, Texas, and practiced law for one year in that city. He then taught school near Houston for some time. Following his teaching experience in Texas, he was employed as chief night clerk in the Houston postoffice for a period of three years. He then returned to Bates county in 1898 and has since resided here, with the exception of one year (1915) spent as clerk in the mailing clepartmeni of the Kansas City postoffice. Mr. Swarens, having been born and brought up on a farm, is an excellent farmer, progressive in his agricultural methods. The Swarens place in New Home town- ship is one of the most attractive in Bates county and is well equipped wnth a handsome farm residence and good buildings. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 495 Mr. Swarens was married on February 3, 1895, to Miss Lizzie Thomas, born in New Home township, March 6, 1876, a claugliter ot James P. Thomas, the patriarch of New Home township, one of the oldest of the Bates county pioneers, concerning whose career an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. Two children have been born to Clarence C. and Lizzie Swarens: Goldie, born August 14, 1897; and Lewis, born April 5, 1901. Goldie Swarens was married February 5, 1916, to Lugene Casebolt, of Warrensburg, Missouri. The Democratic party has had the unswerving allegiance of Mr. Swarens at all times and he has been prominent in the affairs of his party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as central committeeman for his township and has generally been active in the support of his party's activities and policies. He is one of the best- known of the leaders of the Democracy in Bates county and at the present writing (March, 1918) is a candidate for the nomination for clerk of the circuit court at the August primaries. The candidacy of Mr. Sv^arens for this oftice has met with considerable encouragement and it is universally conceded that he is equipped educationally and mentally, and possesses ability above the average to enable him to perform the duties of the office sought. He is popular with all classes and is deserving of the support of his fellow citizens for the office. Mr. Swarens is a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens take an active part in the social life of their neighborhood and are well esteemed in their home neighborhood. D. B. Reist, the capable and highly respected cashier of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, formerly local manager of the Hurley Lumbe" Company of Adrian, an ex-councilman of this city, is a native of Indiana. Mr. Reist was born in 1876 at Flora in Carroll county, Indiana, a son of J W. and Mrs. Reist. His mother died when he was an mfant ten months of age and he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Switzer, natives of Indiana, who reared and educated him. Thev moved from Indiana to Missouri in 1880 and located at Rich Hill, where they resided two years, and in 1882 purchased a small tract of land located three miles east of Adrian, to which they moved. Mr. Reist, whose name introduces this review, obtained his educa- tion in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He was a small lad, four years of age, when he came with his foster parents to this part of the country and while the Switzers resided at Rich Hill he attended school at that place, school being held in the old Presbyterian 496 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY church building. When they moved to 'their farm, D. B. Reist attended school at Little Deercreek school house. Mrs. W. B. Switzer was employed as teacher of Little Deercreek school the first session which Mr. Reist attended. After he had completed the prescribed course of study, he continued to reside with Mr. and Mrs. Switzer and to assist with the work on their farm. In 1900, Mr. Reist located at Adrian, where he accepted a position with the Hurley Lumber Company of of Adrian and for four years was local manager of the lumber yards in this city and for two years at Archie. In 1906, Mr. Reist resigned his position with the Hurley Lumber Company of Archie, returned to Adrian, and accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Adrian Bank- ing Company and the ensuing year he was elected assistant cashier. Since August 1, 1911. Mr. Reist has been faithfully and competently filling the position of cashier of the Adrian Banking Company. The marriage of D. B. Reist and Minnie M. Stilwell, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Stilwell, was solemnized in 1899 and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Nadine B., who is at home with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Reist are worthy and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Reist has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School for nine years and, at the time of this writing in 1918, is president of the Deercreek Township Sun- day School Association. They own their home in Adrian in addition to a farm in Grand River township and Mr. Reist is a stockholder and director of the Adrian Banking Company. The Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, was organized in 1883 with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and the follow- ing oflficers: H. Moudy, president; J. Scudder, cashier; and John Murphy, H. Moudy, A. J. Satterlee, J. Scudder, H. F. Wilhite, H. L. Fair, J. N. Bricker, and F. J. Taggard, stockholders, seven of whom were directors. Of the eight original stockholders, three are now 'living, namely: H. Moudy, H. L. Fair, and H. F. Wilhite. Mr. Moudy and Mr. Fair reside at Adrian and Mr. Wilhite is a resident of Lordsburg, Los Angeles county, California. This financial institution was first started in 1882 as a private bank and did not organize as the Adrian Banking Company until one year later. June 2, 1885, the capital stock was increased from ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars and since that time there has been a further increase to twenty-five thousand dollars, which in itself speaks well for the efificient manage- ment of the bank. The present officers of the Adrian Banking Com- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 497 pany are as follow: M. V. Owen, president; D. F. Andes, vice-president; D. B. Reist, cashier; and W. W. Ricketts, assistant cashier; and M. V. Owen, D. F. Andes, J. M. Reeder, G. L. Argenbright, and D. B. Reist, directors. This bank is one of the strong, sound financial institutions of Bates county, of which all are proud, and its remarkable success from the very beginning is undoubtedly due to its wise management by gentlemen of supjerdor business ability, wjiose integrity, as well as financial standing, is far above question. Politically, D. B. Reist is a member of the Republican party. He has held different offices of public trust, he has served as a member of the city council of Adrian, and he has been secretary of the Adrian school board He takes a deep interest in lodge work and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows at Adrian. Mr. Reist was a representative from the Adrian chapter to the Grand Lodge for two years and he is a nominee for the position of grand warden. He was for two years district deputy grand warden of Bates county. Mr. Reist is not only an able financier, but an honorable, courteous gentleman, one of the county's valuable, substantial, public-spirited citizens. W. W. Ricketts, the well-know^n and competent assistant cashier of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, is one of Bates county's native sons whom all are proud to claim, a son of R. R. and Sarah Ricketts, the eldest of seven children born to his parents, who are, as follow: W. W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Grace Black- man. Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ruby Blackman, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Phillis Hooper, Gillespie, Illinois; J. C, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Rosa Hardman, Drexel, Missouri; and Blanche, Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Ricketts have an adopted son, Zolas. R. R. Ricketts came to Missouri from California in 1880 and settled on a tract of land, embracing one hundred acres located in Grand River township, where he has ever since been and now^ is engaged in farming and stock raising. He and his second son, J. C, are associated in partnership and they rent two hundred acres of land, in addition to their own farm, and are successfully conducting a very profitable business, both being intelligent, progressive, and industrious agriculturis4;s, and they are widely and favorably known in Bates county. Miss Edith White was employed as teacher of the Craw^ford school in Grand River township. Bates county, when W. W. Ricketts began his school work about tw^enty-five years ago. He was later taught by Curtis Smith and Mr. Gregg, while a pupil in the same school as men- (32) 498 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tioned above. Mr. Ricketts completed the public school course at War- rensburg in 1905 and immediately accepted a position at Kansas City, Missouri, with the National Bank of Commerce, which place he held for three years and then resigned to accept a position with the New England National Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Ricketts was with the latter institution three years when he came to Adrian, Missouri, in 1911, to assume the duties of assistant cashier of the Adrian Banking Com- pany, a position he is filling with satisfaction to all concerned, at the time of this writing in 1918. The marriage of W. W. Ricketts and Stella Smith, a daughter of W. H. and Anna Smith, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in 1910. To this union has been born one child, a son, Gordon. Mrs. Ricketts is a member of the Christian church and Mr. Ricketts of the Methodist Episcopal church. They reside in Adrian, in which city they own an attractive residence and, in addition, two building lots. Mr. Ricketts is a stockholder of the Adrian Banking Company, a sketch of w^hich institution will be found in connection with the biography of D. B. Reist, wdiich appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Ricketts is affiliated with the Democratic party and although he is a conscientious upholder of his political principles, he is by no means narrow or bigoted in his views. He has now for many years maintained an enviable standing in his home county, has filled with marked credit to himself several important positions of trust, and he possesses to an unusually large degree the confidence and respect of tfic people with whom he has so long been associated. W. W. Ricketts has attained his present high standing in this community not because of wealth, inheritance, or aid of influential friends but because of his own inherent worth and Adrian is proud to number him among the city's most representative citizens. Reverend Ira Witmore, the well-known and competent manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri, an honored bishop of the Church of the Brethren, One of Bates county's most progressive and prosperous citizens, is a native of Ohio. Reverend ^^'itmore was born in 1868, a son of Jacob and Amanda Witmore. For three genera- tions, the Witmores have been ministers in the Church of the Brethren, Jonathan, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Ira, and Ira \\'it- more, who traces his lineage back to a prominent and highly respected colonial family of Pennsylvania. In the state of Ohio, Reverend Ira Witmore was reared and edu- cated. He came to Missouri in 1881 and settled in Bates county in 1893 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 499 on a splendid farm, of eighty acres of land, located one mile from Adrian, for which place he paid twenty-five dollars an acre. Reverend Witmore was recently offered one hundred dollars an acre for his farm, which is not for sale. His home is one of the most beautiful country places in this part of the state. He but lately disposed of his stock interests, in order that he might give his entire attention to the work of the Farmers Lumber Company, of which he is manager. As a minister of the Gospel, Reverend Witmore is many times called upon to perform marriage cere- monies and funeral rites. The marriage of Reverend Ira Witmore and Hannah Blocher, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Blocher, who came to Illinois from Pennsylvania, in the early days of the settlement of that state, and thence to Missouri, was solemnized in 1892. To this union have been born four children: Merle, Irma, Gertrude, and Naomi, all of whom reside at home with their parents. Reverend and Mrs. Witmore are highly esteemed in Adrian, where the Witmore family is numbered among the best families. The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized in 1903 at Adrian, Missouri with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, consisting of four hundred shares. The company has long been self- sustaining and has prospered from the very beginning. The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian has annually paid a dividend of from five to ten per cent, and stock in the company is at the present time selling for sixty dollars a share, which sold originally for twenty-five dollars. The officers of the company, at the time of this writing in 1918, are, as follow: E. H. Wyatt, president; W. H. Wagner, vice-president; L. R. Allen, secretary; Ira Witmore, manager; E. H. Wyatt, L. R. Allen, D. F. Andes, W. H. Wagner, H. Baie, directors; D. W. Six and J. P. Reeder, clerks. This company financed the building of the Adrian Cheese Factory, which is proving to be a most profitable investment. Reverend Witmore was elected manager of the company in 1908 and for three years prior to that he had been a clerk of the companv. The Farmers Lumber Company handle all kinds of building material, includ- ing lumber, doors, cement, paint, and builders' hardware, all of which have greatly advanced in price during the past ten years. The com- parativ-e values of the material in 1908 and 1918 are not only interesting in themselves but are of historical value, and are given below. 1908 1918 Cement, per sack $ .35 $ .65 500 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Lumber, per hundred feet --■ 2.25 3.75 " Flooring 2.50 4.50 Shingles. 3.75 ' 5.00 Galvanized iron, per square 4.25 12.00 Paint, per gallon 1.65 3.00 The company had, at the time of this writing in 1918, a carload of yellow pine coming from Louisiana, which is costing eleven hundred fifty-two dollars and twenty-four cents. S. H. Ray was the first busi- ness manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian and under his capable management a surplus fund of two thousand eight hundred eighty-four dollars and eighty-two cents was accumulated. Since Mr. Witmore has assumed the management, this fund has been increased to ten thousand one hundred dollars, an increase which certainly reflects great credit upon the efiticient business management of the company. Reverend Witmore has also increased the capacity of the company's building and it now owns two large plants. He relates many interest- ing and amusing experiences which he has had as manager of a new company beginning to make itself felt in competition with older firms. The prosperity of the Farmers Lumber Company is sufficient proof of its phenomenal success. Willard Trout. — Thirty-four years ago, Willard Trout, leading farmer and stockman, of Howard township, Bates county, came to Bates county without a dollar to his name. He began his career in this county as a farm hand and is now one of the wealthy and influential citizens of the county. Mr. Trout owes his continued success to the fact that, when he had determined upon a certain method of procedure, to follow it, whatever the result, and in almost every instance, his judgment has resulted to his profit. For many years he has been an extensive feeder of livestock, and continues year in and year out to feed stock for the markets, regardless of conditions. This unvarying method of trusting nothing to chance, but in pursuing an undeviating and decided policy as regards his farming operations, has resulted in one of the remarkable successes in this section of Missouri. The "Trout Stock Farm" is one of the most complete and best equipped in Bates county, comprising four hundred acres of land, three sets of farm buildings, a recently completed feeding shed eighty by eighty feet in extent with concrete floors, a large granary, and two concrete silos, sixteen by forty feet in dimensions, with a capacity of two hundred tons of silage each. At the present writ- ing, December of 1917, Mr. Trout is feeding forty head of hogs and one '/>».: fat- %%.. s HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5OI hundred twenty-five head of cattle. He and his sons have harvested one hundred fifty acres of corn which made the great yield of forty to sixty bushels per acre, eighty acres of which actually yielded sixty bushels to the acre. They harvested one hundred ten acres of wheat which yielded a total of eighteen hundred bushels; and have sown two fields to wheat for the 1918 harvest, one field of one hundred fifteen acres and another of fifty acres. They also har- vested eighty acres of oats which made a substantial yield of forty bushels to the acre. The foregoing figures are direct and irrefutable evidence that the Trout farm is one of the most productive and best managed agricultural plants in this part of Missouri. Willard Trout was born April 7, 1864 in Pendleton, Indiana, a son of Isaac and Amelia (Wanbaugh) Trout, natives of Pennsylvania, who located in Henry county, town of Greensboro, Indiana, in 1865. Isaac Trout was a miller by trade and operated a flouring and grist mill at Greensboro until 1870 when he took charge of the Stone Quarry Mill in Henry county and operated this mill up to within a few years of his death which occurred in October, 1898 at the age of seventy-six years. He was widely and favorably known throughout that section of Indiana. He was owner of a farm "near the mill" which he cultivated and upon which his family of eleven children were reared. Twelve children were born to Isaac and Amelia Trout, eleven of whom were grown to matur- ity and nine of whom are yet living: Willard, subject of this review; Robert, in Colorado; Frank, a resident of Indiana; Joseph, Pittsburg, Kansas; Burt, New Castle, Indiana; Mrs. Jennie Duncan, Knightstown, Indiana; Mrs. Ida Whitely, Pittsburg, Kansas; Mrs. Dora McNew, How- ard township, Bates county; Mrs. Adonis Rogers, New Castle, Indiana. The mother of this large family was born in 1841 and died in March, 1913. Opportunities were poor for securing an education in his native county, and Willard Trout found it necessary to begin work at an early age in order to assist in providing for his father's large family. He worked in the mill during his boyhood days and until 1884 was employed in the cultivation of his father's farm. He then decided to come to Mis- souri in search of a home and fortune if possible. Arriving here during the harvest season, he secured employment as a farm hand, and his first work consisted in shucking twenty-five hundred bushels of corn at three cents per bushel. This was the first real money he earned in Missouri and was paid him by S. P. Wilson for his first winter's work. For the next two years he was employed at a wage of seventeen dollars per 502 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY month. He then rented land nntil 1893, at which time he bought an "eighty" at a cost of one thousand eight hundred dollars. This farm was raw land which he improved first with a small shanty and after- ward built a frame dwelling. This farm was located west of his present home place and formed the nucleus around which he has gathered his present acreage, buying his present home "eighty" in 1900 ; another eighty-acre tract in 1903; a c|uarter section in 1915 at a cost of nine thousand dollars. Mr. Trout was married March 11, 1888 to Miss Delia Brown, and to this marriage have been born six children : Francis Wayne, farmer, Howard township, married Cecil Wilson ; Howard Collier, farmer, on the home place; Isaac Harrison, at home; Mary Amelia, Minnie, Maude, and Adeline Marie, at home with their parents. Mrs. Delia (Brown) Trout was born in Vernon county, Missouri, January 31, 1869 a daughter of Harrison and Marie (Miller) Brown, the former of whom was born in Anderson county, Kentucky in 1842, and the latter having been born in Fulton county, Illinois in 1851. Harrison Brown went to Illinois in 1864, removed to Texas in 1867, married in 1868 and located in Vernon county, Missouri in the fall of 1868, dying at the age of seventy-four years in 1916. In 1906 he retired to a home in Hume, Missouri, where his death occurred in July, 1916. There were seven children in the Brown family: Mrs. Willard Trout, wife of the subject of this review; Mrs. Nova Per- rine, deceased ; Mrs. Lillie Rhodes, Kansas City, Missouri ; Miles Alonzo, living near Fulton, Kansas; Mrs. Maude Criss, Bates county, Missouri; Charles, a dairyman at Rich Hill, Missouri; Neville, a druggist at Spring- field, Missouri. Mrs. Delia Trout had a painful and terrifying experience during the cyclone or tornado which devastated this section of Bates county on April 21, 1887. She was visiting at the home of her uncle, Miles Miller, located just northeast of the Trout place. The time was six o'clock in the evening and the family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Miller and children were in the house, she making preparations for the evening meal. The sky was overcast and a storm was brewing. A roaring noise was heard, and Mr. Miller, looking out of the door, observed a twisting, funnel shaped cloud bearing directly down upon the buildings. All of them in- cluding Mr. Miller, his wife and babe, a son. Weaver Miller, three years old, and Mrs. Trout fled toward the outside storm cellar for safety. Just as Mr. Miller had opened the cellar door the tornado reached them in all its fury and Mrs. Trout knew nothing more until she found herself caught HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5O3 in the hedge some distance from the home and badly bruised about the body. The bodies of Mr. Miller and his wife and the two-months-old infant were found dead in the well where some freak of the "twister" had thrown them. The little three-year-old boy was found uninjured and was afterward reared by Mrs. Brown to manhood and is now a druggist in Nevada. The Miller homestead was one of the finest in Bates county, but every building was totally demolished by the fury of the tornado and the boards and parts of the buildings scattered to the four points of the compass as a result of the twisting power of the wind. Mr. Trout takes a good citizen's part in matters political and is one of the influential members of the Democratic party in Bates county. He served for six years as township treasurer, and is fraternally afifiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. The Trout home is a very hospitable one and the several members of the Trout family are held in high esteem in Bates county. S. L. Bates, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of Bates county, ex-mayor of Adrian, vice-president of the First National Bank of Adrian, and the city physician, is a native of Indiana. Doctor Bates was born in 1850 at Castleton in Marion county, Indiana, a son of Ozro and Mary M. Bates, and a descendant of one of the leading colonial families, whose ancestors came to America from Scotland among the one hundred two Pilgrims on board the "Mayflower" which set sail from Plymouth, England, September 6, 1620. Ozro Bates was born at Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1813. When he was a child, five years of age, his parents moved from Brattleboro to Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1818 both father and mother died from cholera, an epidemic of which dreaded disease swept the city at that time. The orphan boy was apprenticed to a Quaker family residing near Cincinnati, Ohio. In his youth, Ozro Bates mowed hay on the land which is the present site of Chicago, Illi- nois. He was greatly afflicted with the desire for change in his early maturity and he traveled extensively, always on horseback. Later in life, he purchased a tract of land, embracing one hundred twenty acres, located near Indianapolis, where he spent the remainder of his life engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. Ozro and Mary M. Bates were the parents of seven children, four of whom are now living, as follow: Nathaniel S., Rensselaer, Indiana; David H., Henrietta, Texas; William M., Delphi, Indiana; and Dr. S. L., the subject of this review. On his father's farm near Indianapolis, Indiana, Dr. S. L. Bates was reared and his boyhood days were spent much as are spent the days 504 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of the average lad on the farm. The doctor attended a Httle country school, which was held at Vertland school house near his home and which was taught by Professor Phipps at the time S. L. Bates began his educational career. He vividly recalls an occasion indelibly impressed upon his mind because of his keen disappointment in the results. One day, when the doctor was a schoolboy, the janitor of the school house built a booming fire of "poplar'' wood and the young Bates lad naturally thought that that day they would have a "popping" fire and impatiently watched through the entire session to hear the "pops." In 1878, Dr. S. L. Bates graduated from Ohio Medical College, the oldest medical school in the West, and immediately afterward opened his office at Colburn in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for several years. Dr. S. L. Bates completed the graduate course in medicine at the Ohio Medical College in 1886 and in February, 1887, he came West and located at Adrian in Bates county, where he has ever since been actively engaged in the medical practice. At the time of his coming, Adrian was a new town and pre- sented a very primitive appearance. The country was mostly unfenced and there were no bridges or roads. Dr. Bates has responded to calls fifteen miles from Adrian and in the early days always traveled on horseback. The marriage of Dr. S. L. Bates and Efiie M. Chapman, a daughter of Jacob H. and Mrs. Chapman, natives of Indiana, was solemnized in 1880. To this union have been born seven children, four of whom are now living: Dr. Carl, who is engaged in the medical practice in Colorado; Dr. Gerald C, Adrian, Missouri; ^^'ilma A., Kansas City, Missouri; and Gertrude, at home with her parents. Each of the doc- tor's children is interested in the medical profession and all his sons have entered it. Miss W^ilma E., the elder daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Bates, is at present a student in the Christian Church Hospital at Kansas City, Missouri, preparing for medical work, and Miss Gertrude, a stu- dent in the Adrian High School, is planning to be a physician and nurse. With the accession of the youngest child in the profession, the doctor's entire family will have become physicians. Dr. Gerald C. Bates is com- missioned as first lieutenant and will soon be called to France. The little city of Adrian is still grieving over the loss of Dr. Floyd Bates, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Bates, who was commissioned as first lieutenant, who was one of the first "to go to the colors" when the call to arms came. He w^as a voung man of great abilitv with a bright and most HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 505 promising career opening before him. Doctor Floyd had graduated from the Kansas City Medical College in the class of 1910 and was engaged in the practice of medicine at Adrian, associated with his father, and he had long since made scores of friends in this city and cotmty. He was in camp at Fort Riley, when on the night of August 6, 1917, he was killed by lightning. His remains were brought to Adrian for interment. Doctor Bates is a most public-spirited and patriotic citizen and he is always interested in all that concerns the welfare of his city and county. He has been honored with several offices of public trust, hav- ing served as mayor of Adrian, as a member of the school board, and is now serving as city physician of Adrian. Doctor Bates is vice-presi- dent and a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Adrian. He has succeeded admirably and has prospered since his com- ing to Bates county, Missouri, thirty-one years ago and is now the owner of a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres of land in this county, which country place he rents, and of his beautiful modern resi- dence in Adrian, a two-story structure of ten pleasant and spacious rooms. In all his relations with his fellowman, professional, business, or social, the conduct of Dr. S. L. Bates has been open and straightforward, his integrity unassailable, his courtesy that of a gentleman of the old school. His professional career has from the beginning been charac- terized by close and diligent attention to duty and an unusual skill and proficiency in all branches of general practice and he is now justly enjoying a most lucrative practice. He and Mrs. Bates are highly respected and valued in Adrian. E. A. Cherry, the well-known postmaster of Adrian, Missouri, one of the leading horsemen of Bates county, the organizer of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, a potent factor in the organization of the Adrian Cheese Factory, is one of the county's most influential and public-spirited citizens. Mr. Cherry is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1866 at Carthage in Hancock county, Illinois, a son of John W. and Purlina (Pyle) Cherry, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. The two families, the Cherrys and Pyles, settled in Illi- nois among the first pioneers of that state in 1843. John W. Cherry was an early-day freighter, working between Springfield, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. He drove three yokes of oxen and it required from two to three weeks to make the trip. He would camp nights and 506 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY in order to keep off the howling wolves would keep fires burning around his wagon. In later years, John W. Cherry homesteaded land in Han- cock county, Illinois, and became an honored pioneer of that county and a prosperous farmer and stockman, the owner of one thousand two hundred eighty acres of land located near Carthage, a wealthy grain merchant and stock buyer. As there was no bank at Carthage, Illinois, in those days, Mr. Cherry frequently went to Warsaw, a distance of eighteen miles, on horseback, and drew from the bank at that place as much as twenty thousand dollars at one time and in safety return home. John W. Cherry always paid cash for stock and grain imme- diately upon delivery. He resided at Carthage, Illinois, several years and while a resident of that city was one of the leading financiers. His friends would deposit with him their money, for which he would give a receipt, and thus it may truthfully be said that he was the first and most trusted banker of Carthage. Because of his sterling integ- rity and unquestioned honesty, John W. Cherry was many times appointed administrator of estates in Illinois. He was dissatisfied in the city and after a few years returned to his farm, where he spent the closing years of his life in happiness and contentment. Mr. Cherry was a model gentleman, a truly Christian character, and if he had any faults or bad habits no one ever knew of them. He never in his life drank intoxicating liquor, never smoked, never chewed tobacco, and not one of his twelve children ever heard him swear. He died in 1891 and twelve years later, in 1903, he was joined in death by his wife. Of the twelve children born to John W. and Purlina Cherry, but five are now living: E. C, a successful clothier of Milan, Missouri; W. P., president of the Cherry-Tilden Live Stock Commission Company of Kansas City, Missouri; H. G., president of the Cherry Brothers' Invest- ment Company and president of the Mine Creek Oil Company of Kansas City, Missouri; E. A., the subject of this review; Dora, the wife of E. C. Barber, of the Home Telephone Company of Kansas City, Missouri. E. A. Cherry attended the public schools of Carthage, Illinois, and, later, business college at Quincy, Illinois. After completing a business course at the latter institution, Mr. Cherry returned to his father's farm and, as the elder Cherry was disabled for many years prior to his death, the son assumed charge of all business affairs and managed the father's estate uatil he died in 1891. The following year, 1892, Mr. Cherry, the subject of this review, located at Carthage, Illinois, where he owned a large stock barn. Closing his business in the autumn of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 507 same year, Mr. Cherry came to Kansas City, Missouri, and for several months was employed in the real estate department of the Lombard- Investment Company of Kansas City. He then returned to Carthage, Illi- nois, and again took up his residence on the farm near that city and dur- ing the years immediately following became -one of the most prominent horsemen of the state of Illinois. Mr. Cherry dealt extensively in imported stallions and shipped them to many different parts of the country. He brought the first imported draft horse to Bates county, Missouri. For eleven years, he was engaged in training race horses. When Mr. Cherry came to Adrian in 1898, he had back of him years of experience in the stock business and at that time he brought a num- ber of fine stallions to Missouri and has ever since been interested in the breeding of high-grade horses. Mr. Cherry has made one hundred sixty-two different exhibits of his animals in Bates and Cass counties and has received one hundred fifty-four first and nine second premiums, being defeated but once. In his stables at Adrian, Mr. Cherry has capacity for one hundred head of horses. In addition to raising horses, he also keeps a number of jacks and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has seven dairy cows. He sells the milk from his dairy to the Adrian Cheese Factory. The Cherry stables and the residence together occupy a half block in the city of Adrian. The residence is a handsome, modern structure of nine rooms. E. A. Cherry and Lula Fair, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Fair, of Adrian, Missouri, were united in marriage February 25, 1892, and to this union were born two children, one of whom is now living. Wesley, who was his father's assistant in the postoffice. Lula (Fair) Cherry died in 1899. Mr. Cherry remarried, his second wife being Pearl M. Leffler, a daughter of Alexander and Nancy Leffler, and to them have been born four children : Crystal I., Emmett A., Lydia Ann, and Dorothy Pearl, all of whom are at home with their parents. In civic affairs, no one in this part of the state takes a keener inter- est than E. A. Cherry. He has at all times evidenced his willingness to sacrifice self-interest for the good of the community and has been very active in aiding the development of the business interests of Bates county. In 1900, Mr. Cherry assisted in organizing the Farmers Lum- ber Company of Adrian, Missouri, and he, himself solicited six thousand six hundred seventy-five dollars of the ten thousand dollars capital stock. He was the first secretary of the company. Sixteen years later, he was instrumental in the organization of the Adrian Cheese Factory, 508 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY which is situated cii a tract of land formerly owned by Mr. Cherry. •He was appointed postmaster of Adrian in 1913, which position he still occupies and is efficiently and satisfactorily filling at the time of this writing in 1918. On January 24, 1918, he received his reappointment for another four-year period. Rev. Abram H. Lewis. — Few names figuring in the history of Bates county are more favorably or more lovingly remembered than that of the late Rev. Abram H. Lewis who for a period extending nearly two score years preached the gospel according to the precepts of the Baptist faith in this section of Missouri. It was he who practically founded the Baptist churches in this section. His lovable and kindly character which was tempered by a force which w^on its way to the hearts of the people will make him long remembered in hundreds of Bates county homes. Through long months and years he would visit his various charges, mak- ing long and tiresome trips by horseback to hold services among his people. He was the really successful Baptist missionary in this section of the state, and his work will endure many years to come. Rev. A. H. Lewis was born September 9, 1826, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and was a son of John Lewis, born in Culpepper county, Vir- ginia, on May 1, 1783, the eldest son of William and Mary Lewis who had twelve sons and two daughters, all of whom wxre reared to maturity excepting one son who died at the age of two years. John Lewis mar- ried Ann Merry Wallis, a daughter of William and Mildred Wallis and she was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, January 1, 1793, but was left an orphan at a tender age and was reared by her grandmother W^alker. Until her nineteenth year she was kept in a boarding school and in 1811 was married to John Lewis. They then moved to Madison county, Virginia to a place located near the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains, where all of their eight children were born, six sons and two daughters as follow: William W., Ethelbert W., Alfred B., Mary M., Ann E., John M., Abram H., and Robert S. Lewis. In March of 1831. John Lewis moved to Culpepper county, Virginia to the farm which had been the home of his father-in-law, and they resided there until their deaths, the mother dying in August, 1859. Reverend Lewis was educated in the schools of his native county when not assisting in the work upon his father's farm, closing his school days in 1846. For three years following he taught three terms of school of ten months each in the neighborhood of his father's home. In June, 1843 he was baptized in the Baptist faith. In October, 1849 he pur- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 509 chased the farm owned by his brother-in-law, Robert S. Jeffries, which adjoined that of his father and decided to marry and go to housekeeping. On January 15, 1850, he was married to Geraldine L. Covington, a daughter of John S. and Elizabeth W. Covington, and he then moved to his farm. In March of 1850, Mr. Lewis was ordained a deacon of the New Salem Baptist church, and it was at this time that he began to take an active part in the work of his church. During the seven years following his marriage, he resided in Virginia and most of the time he was superintendent of the Sunday school of his church and did a great amount of good work in converting his Sunday school pupils to become Christians. In November, 1856, Mr. Lewis made a visit to Missouri in order to view out the country with a view to making it his future home. He in company with others went by railroad to St. Louis, and then by boat to Hannibal on the Mississippi river, and then by hack to the home of his uncle, Peyton Botts, with whom he spent a week. He then went to Miami, Saline county, where his brothers, Alfred's and Ethelbert's fam- ilies lived (Ethelbert Lewis had died of cholera in May, 1855 leaving a widow and seven children). Mr. Lewis was much pleased with the country and he soon decided upon a place for his new home. One week later he went to Ray county and visited with Thomas A. Duvall who had married Lucy Covington, a sister of his wife. Both Mr. Duvall and Mr. Covington were very anxious that he locate in Ray county, but he returned to Miami and left a bid with his brother Alfred for one hun- dred sixty acres of land adjoining his farm, for which a deal was made with Alfred Stephenson in February, 1857. This land cost him twenty-two dollars and fifty cents an acre. After returning home and selling out his farm and settling up his affairs in Virginia, Mr. Lewis started on the return trip to Missouri on September 14, 1857. For the ensuing year he lived in the house on his brother's farm, working his farm and Alfred's together by the aid of Alfred's hands until his own home was completed and into which he moved in September, 1858. When the Civil War broke out he espoused the cause of secession and enlisted in the Missouri state troops under Gen. Sterling Price in December, 1861. Six hundred fifty volunteers started to go to General Price's headquarters at Osceola, with only a few of them in possession of arms. All of the volunteers were on foot and accompanied by a number of loaded provision wagons. While in camp on Blackwater they were attacked by a. large force of Federals and were captured. The 5IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY prisoners were taken to St. Louis and incarcerated in the Gratiot street prison on December 25, 1861. They were kept in this prison for about six weeks and were then removed to Alton, Illinois. About the first of April, 1862 an offer of their release was made those who were only sworn in for state service, provided they would each give bond and security to remain quietly at home. A large proportion of the men accepted this offer of release and Mr. Lewis was among this number who gave their bonds and were permitted to go to their homes. When in August an order was issued for all to enroll in the militia in behalf of the Federal Government, contrary to their given parole, a large num- ber of his comrades enlisted in the Southern army, but ill health pre- vented Mr. Lewis from going to the front with them. Li December of 1863 he sold his farm and personal property in order to protect his brother, John M. Lewis, who had loaned him money with which to buy his farm. Li March, 1864, Mr. Lewis removed with his family to a farm in Ray county, three miles north of Richmond. Ten days later, Mr. Duvall died and he located on the Duvall fairm, living there for eight years and renting the farm from Mrs. Duvall. During the ensuing years of the war he was not much troubled except by soldiers hunting food, and whom he always fed. But, in the spring of 1865, times became so bad that he determined to leave the country for Nebraska in order to save his life. While en route to Omaha in April, 1865 he learned of Lee's surrender and the assassination of President Lincoln. He and his brother Alfred, who accompanied him on the trip then returned to their homes. A brother, John M. Lewis, was killed in the trenches before Petersburg. April 2, 1865. His brother-in-law, Robert S. JefYries, was captured there and taken to Point Lookout where he remained until near the close of the war when his wife got permission from President Johnson to take him home. He died in Alexandria on his way home. In March, 1871, Mr. Lewis made another trip to Virginia on busi- ness and received from his father's estate the sum of one thousand dol- lars. In February of 1870, his brother Alfred and he took a prospecting trip to Bates county in search of a future home site. Mr. Lewis con- tracted for one hundred sixty acres for which he agreed to pay eight hundred forty dollars, when the deed was furnished. In May, 1870 he came to Bates county with a team and plough and broke up forty acres, went home, then came back in August and erected a house and meat house, expecting to move in that fall, but decided to wait for a time. In March, 1872, he moved to Bates county and settled on the farm HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 5II in West Point township which is known as the old Lewis homestead. Reverend Lewis made this farm his home until his death, November 9, 1913. To Abram H. and Geraldine Lewis wxre born the following chil- dren: Mrs. Mary Wade Chanler, residing on a farm five miles south- east of Butler; John W. Lewis, subject of this review; Mrs. Lucy Kate Smith, Wellington, Kansas; Mrs. Elizabeth M. Rosier, Mountain View, Howell county, Missouri; Mrs. Geraldine Trice, Oklahoma; Thomas H. Lewis, who lives on an adjoining farm in West Point township; William E., St. Marys, Idaho; Mrs. Irene Crawford, Liberty, Missouri; Strother Covington Lewis, living on the Lewis home place. The mother of the foregoing children, Mrs. Geraldine L. (Coving- ton) Lewis was born October 24, 1824, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and was the fourth of a family of ten children born to John S. and Elizabeth W. Covington, as follow: Salina S., Lucy F., Robert G., Geraldine L., William Wallis, John L., Thomas H., Margaret I., Mary W., and Susan O. Mary Wade was burned to death when a little girl. William W. died in November, 1850. Mrs. Geraldine Lewis died April 12, 1883. Although Reverend Lewis had been importuned many times to enter the ministry and preach the gospel according to the Baptist faith, he had refrained until such a time as he felt that he was able and could conscientiously give his services with a whole heart and soul to his Creator. It was not until he had settled in Bates county that his noted ministerial career began and met with such signal success. For over a period of forty years he preached in this county and made hundreds of converts to the cause of Christianity. His name became a byword in the county for earnest endeavor and right living. He assisted materially in the building of many Baptist churches and in the organization of many congregations of that faith in the county. His work also extended into Cass county where he was equally well known as a devout and conscientious man in whom the people reposed the highest confidence. Frequently, this reverend gentleman would travel a distance of twenty- five miles twice at the week end to his ministerial charge and make the return trip in order to be at home by nightfall so that he could care for his invalid wife. There are many Bates county citizens who will remember for long years the great work done by this Christian gentle- man who left an indelible imprint upon the religious life of this section which will endure forever. 512 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Hon. John W, Lewis, farmer and stockman of West Point town- ship and former member of the Missouri State Legislature, has a splen- did farm of two hundred fifty acres located northeast of the town of Amsterdam in Bates county. Air. Lewis has resided upon his farm for the past thirty-seven years and first burned off the prairie grass from the virgin soil preparatory to beginning its cultivation in 1880. He has an attractive appearing farm residence of thirteen rooms which stands on an eminence north of the highway and is reached by a driveway. This home was begun in 1880 when Mr. Lewis erected a small habita- tion and it was finally remodeled and enlarged in 1894, making one of the most imposing and comfortable homes in this section of Bates county. The barn on this farm is forty by fifty-four feet in size, and the cow barn is seventy feet in length. Other ecjuipment is the tool shed, and a shedded crib twenty-six by thirty-two feet. Formerly the Lewis tract had considerable timber but Mr. Lewis during past years has cleared away about one hundred acres and now has fifteen acres covered with woods. The Miami river runs through the land and always furnishes" plenty of water for all purposes. During 1917, ninety-two acres of the place were planted to corn which yielded a total of four thousand bushels. The farm is partly operated on shares by Mr. Lewis' son-in-law, and produces hogs, cattle and horses. Over one hundred head of hogs are annually sold. The Shorthorn breed of registered cattle are kept on the farm and from twelve to twenty cows are milked. John W. Lewis w^as born in Culpepper county, Virginia, March 14, 1853, a son of Rev. A. H. and Geraldine L. (Covington) Lewis, con- cerning whom an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. The history of the Lewis family goes back three hundred years in America and members of the family have fought in every war in which the Nation has been engaged. Rev. A. H. Lewis came to Missouri in 1857 and settled near Marshall, Saline county. In the spring of 1864 he removed to Ray county where the family resided until they came to Bates county in 1872. John W. Lewis assisted his father in developing the parental farm and when married he purchased a part of the home place of two hundred forty acres. Mr. Lewis was educated in Rich- mond College, Ray county where he studied for four years after the Civil War and was taught by Professor Gibson, a graduate of Wash- ington University, Virginia, and by Prof. Fayette W. Graves, a graduate of Yale and who taught languages and science at Richmond College. S. J. HufTaker was president of the college during Mr. Lewis' student days. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 513 Mr. Lewis was married October 13, 1878 to Miss Dora C. Berry, who was born April 21, 1857 in West Boone township, Bates county, a daughter of Franklin R. and Armilda O. Berry, natives of Mason county, Kentucky, and who came to Westport, Missouri as early as 1849. Mr. Berry was a wagon maker and blacksmith by trade and did work for the freighting outfits which passed through old Westport. He made a per- manent location in Bates county in 1854. Franklin R. Berry died in 1897. Mrs. Berry was born in January, 1834 and died in March, 1917. They were parents of the following children : Mrs. Belle Taylor, who died in 1887, leaving a son, Frank Taylor, living at Merwin; Mrs. Dora C. Lewis, deceased; Benjamin F. died at Topeka, Kansas in 1911; Anna, Topeka, Kansas; George, living in Oregon; J. B. lives in Stafford county, Kansas; Mrs. Susie Berry, Burlingame, Kansas; W. C. Berry, Mt. Pleasant township. Eight children have been born to John W. and Dora C. Lewis, seven of whom are living: Leila, at home as her father's housekeeper; Claude W., a farmer, West Point township, served as a private in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines, and is father of three chil- dren, Nina, Marvel, and Leona; Mrs. Eula White, Stafford county, Kan- sas, has two children, Harold, and Louise ; Mrs. Kate Wright, Reno county, Kansas, has four children, Bernardine, Dorothy, Walter, Mar- jorie; Mrs. Pearl Dye, Amsterdam, Missouri, has two children, Harry and Madge; Mrs. Opal Megnin, Kiowa county, Oklahoma; Mrs. Elpha Kauffman, living on the home place, has a son, Raymond, born October 6, 1915. The mother of the foregoing children departed this life on January 22, 1901. She was a good and faithful wife, and a kind and wise mother to her children. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Lewis and he has generally taken an active and influential part in matters political in Bates county. He was elected as representative from Bates county in 1910 and served as a member of the Missouri State Legisla- ture during the ensuing session. He served in the sessions of 1910 and 1911. Prior to holding this office he served as township clerk, assessor and tax collector for over sixteen years. While a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Lewis served .on the committees having charge of legislation affecting' the railroads, agriculture, mines, mining and militia and made a splendid and com- mendable record as a legislator. He introduced and had passed the bill providing for "free transportation of rural district school children." This bill which was considered a radical and far reaching innovation in (33) 514 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Missouri aroused ^vide comment and its author received hundreds of commendatory letters from prominent educators and people who are interested in the cause of higher education and better school facilities for the children of the rural districts. This bill was the forerunner of later legislation which provided for the establishment of consolidated and central township high schools and had a far reaching influence in advancing the cause of education in Missouri. He became a member of the Baptist church in Richmond, Ray county in 1867 and in 1872 united with the old ^^'est Point Baptist church and has remained a member for forty-six years. The old A\'est Point church is now the Amsterdam Baptist church. Mr. Lewis was ordained a dea- con of the Amsterdam Baptist church when twenty-three years of age. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of the Amsterdam Blue Lodge and the chapter and council at Butler. W. W. Parish, ex-postmaster of Adrian. Missouri, a prominent real estate agent of Bates county, is one of the county's most successful and substantial citizens and a worthy representative of a good. old. pio- neer family of Missouri. Mr. Parish was born in ]^liami county, Kan- sas in 1867, a son of A\'. D. and Salina Parish. ^^^ D. Parish came to Cass county, Missouri in 1857 from Morgan county. Indiana and for four years was engaged in farming and stock raising in this part of the state. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. ^Ir. Parish enlisted with the Union forces and served throughout the war with the Four- teenth Kansas Infantry, receiving the commission of lieutenant. When the war had ended, he purchased a farm in Kansas, a tract of land com- prising one hundred sixty acres located in Miami county, which he sold in 1867 to the authorities of Miami county to be used for the county infirmary. In 1868. ^Mr. Parish purchased a farm in Cass county, Mis- souri, as the boundaries were at that time, land now a part of Bates coimty in East Boone township. He engaged extensively in stock rais- ing, keeping both graded and pure bred stock, and succeeded well, being the owner at one time of three hundred twenty acres of choice land in Bates cotmty. W. D. Parish was considered a wealthy man in his day and he was highlv respected and esteemed in his community as an hon- est, upright, honorable citizen. He died August 26. 1907 and the widowed mother is now making her home at Galena in Chariton county, Kansas. W. D. and Salina Parish were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Laura Bower. Colorado Springs. Colorado; Mrs. Dora Cook, deceased; and W. \\'.. the subject of this review. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 515 In Kansas, W. W. Parish acquired his elementary education and at SedaHa, Missouri, he finished his school work with a most thorough business course. After completing his education, Mr. Parish accepted a position with the Altman-Miller Manufacturing Company as travel- ing salesman, which position he ably filled for five years. In 1892, he moved on a farm, which he had purchased, in Bates county and for eight years was engaged in farming and stock raising. Mr. Parish sold his country place in 1900 and moved to Adrian, where he entered the real estate business, in which he was employed at the time of his appoint- ment as postmaster of Adrian, on January 15, 1905. He served faithfully and well nearly nine years as postmaster until August, 1913, at the time the rural routes were being adjusted, examinations were being held for carriers, and the Postal Savings System was being installed, all of which meant an enormous amount of careful, detailed, tedious work. After his term of office had expired, Mr. Parish again turned his attention to the real estate business and in his line of work has been remarkably successful. His business methods, which are very efficient, require that he should do a large amount of traveling, as he handles vast tracts of land and his transactions extend far beyond the confines of Bates county into many dififerent states. W. W. Parish and Mary A. Hopwood were united in marriage on February 28, 1893. Mrs. Parish is a daughter of Charles and Ruth Hop- wood, early settlers of Cass county, Missouri. Charles Hopwood was a native of England. He was educated in the schools of London and was a master mechanic and skilled architect. To Mr. and Mrs. Hopwood were born five children: Mrs. Emma Bouse, Westphalia, Kansas; Mrs. W. W. Parish, the wife of the subject of this review; John P., of Lane, Kansas; Charles W., Harrisonville, Missouri; and Mrs. Sadie Stephens, Harrisonville, Missouri. Mrs. Parish possesses a remarkably tenacious memory and talks most interestingly of the early days in Bates county. She remembers well the time, when she was a little child, that the settlers would drive across the open prairie when the grass was as high as the horses' backs. In those days, no one thought of raising hay, for anyone was privileged to cut as much as he desired out on the prairie. Vividly she recalls the day the first train on the railroad came into Adrian, as the tracks passed through her mother's garden. Mrs. Parish states that the two places, Adrian and Archie, were named in honor of two sons of the railroad contractor. She obtained her education in the district schools of Bates county. To W. W. and Mary A. (Hopwood) Parish have been born three children: Lyman T., who has answered the coun- 5l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY try's call and is now in service in the United States army ; Mrs. Hazel Newton, Kansas City, Missouri; and Mary Frances, deceased. Politically, Mr. Parish is a life-long Republican in his belief and he has been an active worker in the ranks of his party for many years, having many different times been sent as delegate to the congressional conventions and taking a keen interest in local politics. Mr. Parish is fraternally affiliated with the Royal Arch Masons and derives much benefit and pleasure from lodge work. He is a most creditable descend- ant of one of the old colonial families of North Carolina, a grandson of Larkin Parish, an honored pioneer of Indiana, who died in Bates county, Missouri many years ago. Personally, W. W. Parish enjoys great popularity in this part of Missouri and his conduct in all relations of life has been that of the true gentleman. He discharges the duties of a good citizen with commendable fidelity and his influence in the community has always been exerted in behalf of all that is best and noble in life. The people of Bates county consider Mr. and Mrs. Parish one of their best families and Adrian is proud to claim them as its own representative citizens. Edward Crabb, late esteemed resident of Osage township, was a man of pronounced individuality and industry who achieved a splendid success in Bates county as a farmer, pioneer breeder of thoroughbred livestock, and citizen. He was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, De- cember 24, 1846, and died at his home in Osage township, this county, May 18, 1910. He was a son of Daniel and Margaret (Bailey) Crabb, natives of Ohio who were pioneers of Tazewell county, Illinois, being the third family to settle in that county. Edward Crabb was reared and educated in his native county in Illinois, and in December of 1869, came to Cass county, Missouri, where he remained until the spring of 1876. He disposed of his farm in Cass county in that year and made a purchase of land in Osage township which he developed into one of the finest and richest tracts in Bates county. He improved his place with an imposing farm residence, set out trees and otherwise beautified the place. Mr. Crabb accumulated a section of land in this township and was accounted one of the well-to-do farmers of his locality. Bates county owes much to him as having been one of the pioneers in the introduction of purebred livestock into the community. He was a great lover of horses and for a number of years was engaged in breed- ing standard bred and trotting and pacing animals, as well as Percheron draft horses, a vocation in which he achieved a pronounced success and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 517 which won him a wide and enviable reputation. The Crabb stables produced some very fine animals, and the "Redwood Redman" breed of racers originated by W. H. Gotten of Osage township, whose progeny became famous throughout the country, were bred from a dam raised by Mr. Crabb and sold to Mr. Gotten. The history of the track achieve- ments of the descendants of this dam and of "Redwood Redman," her son, form an epoch in the history of track racing which has rarely been surpassed for record breaking and fast time. Mr. Grabb brought to his farm the first imported English Shire horses ever seen in Bates county. For many years he was an extensive breeder of thoroughbred Short- horn cattle and handled several hundred head of cattle yearly. When Mr. Grabb came to Bates county, he was comparatively a poor man. He bought his first quarter section of land with the assistance of his father but it was not many years until he had made good in his own right and by his own endeavors. Mr. Grabb was an exhibitor of his fine live stock at the county fairs and won many premiums upon the excel- lence of his stock at fairs in western Missouri and Kansas. Edward Grabb was married January 30, 1870, to Miss Maria Thomas, born in Wayne county, Indiana, May 15, 1846, a djiughter of Edward S. and Lorena (Kidwell) Thomas, natives, respectively of Ohio and Indiana. Edward and Maria Grabb were married at Pleasant Hill, Mis- souri, where the future Mrs. Grabb was visiting her sister. The chil- dren born of this union are: Mrs. Lillian Riley, Kansas Gity, has four children — Lillian, Edward E., Alice, and Edith; J. Rolla, sheriff of Phil- lips county, Montana, married Jessie Wilson of Bates county, and has one daughter, Rollive; Daniel, owner of the old home place in Osage township; and Mrs. Margaret Gibson, Nevada, Missouri, has a son, Edward; and Edward, deceased. Mrs. Edward Grabb resides on the old home place with her son, Daniel. She is a member of the Ghurch of Ghrist, Scientist. The late Edward Grabb was a Democrat in politics but his home was first in his heart and mind and he was a devoted hus- band and kind father to his family. He was also a member of the Ghurch of Ghrist, Scientist, and was possessed of a kindly, generous nature, hos- pitable to the core, honorable and upright in all of his dealings, enter- prising and ever ready to lend his assistance to worthy projects for the good of his adopted county. "Lest we forget," this memoir is intended to perpetuate his name among those of his fellows and forever give Edward Grabb a foremost place among the builders of Bates county. Daniel Grabb, a worthy son of his able father, was born August 3, 5l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1876 on the Crabb homestead in Osage township and has lived all of his life on the home place. He was educated in the district and Rich Hill public schools and is farming a large tract of three hundred fourteen acres which he owns. He is an extensive feeder of live stock and handles from one hundred to two hundred head of cattle annually besides raising about one hundred fifty hogs each year. He was associated with his father in his breeding enterprises for a number of years and learned to be a thorough livestock man. Mr. Crabb is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Modern Woodmen lodges of Rich Hill and is a genial, approachable citizen who is highly popular among his many friends and associates. R. A. Murray, proprietor of the Adrian Cheese Factory of Adrian, Missouri, is one of the most prominent and successful dairy men in this section of Missouri. Mr. Murray was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, a son of William and Elizabeth Murray. The birthplace of R. A. Murray, Oxford, Canada, is the center of the great dairy industry in Ontario. His grandfather, Alexander Murray, was a native of Scot- land. Mr. Murray, whose name introduces this review, attended school at Oxford until he was sixteen years of age, when he entered the dairy business in the employ of the Strathallen Butter & Cheese Company, serving as an apprentice for three years. At that time the Strathallen Butter & Cheese Company received sixty thousand pounds of milk daily. Mr. Murray then entered Guelph Agricultural College and Dairy School, from which institution he graduated in the class of 1895. After com- pleting college, he assumed charge of a cheese and butter factory owned by an English company in Liverpool, England, and at the same time attended the Strathroy Dairy School, from which he graduated in 1898. In the spring of the same year, he resigned his position as manager of the factory owned by the English company and located in Richland county, Wisconsin, at Richland City. He well recalls his first experience in and impressions of Richland City. He arrived a total stranger in the city and was at once sighted and accosted by two tenacious cabmen, who represented the two leading hotels of the city — the Park Hotel and the Mitchell House — and as he saw no method of escape but to choose one of the two cabs he climbed into the one driven by the more respectful of the drivers, and he was taken to the Mitchell House. After the clerk of the hotel had extracted an outrageous amount of Mr. Murray's hard- earned cash, a room was assigned the newcomer in the third story of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 519 building, a back room having no ventilation, no sunlight, and no heat. Here R. A. Murray uncomfortably and unhappily spent his first night in Richland City — the longest night probably he has ever experienced. He was up and out with the first beams of the morning light and on reaching the city streets the first sight which attracted his attention was a team of mules hitched to a wagon heavily loaded with furniture which were foundered and were floundering in mud. Mr. Murray's first day in Richland City was haunted by his first cheerless impressions and the day was "cold and dark and dreary." He is not the type of man to be easily daunted, but the rare kind that "sticks," and in spite of a very discouraging welcome, Mr. Murray succeeded well at Richland City. At the time he located there, there was but one cheese factory in the entire county and he opened the second one. At the present time, in 1918, there are seventy-two cheese factories, fifty-four creameries, and three condenseries in Richland county, Wisconsin, making this county one of the foremost in the dairy industry. It is Mr. Murray's firm belief that Bates county, Missouri, will in the near future develop like interests. In 1901, R. A. Murray graduated from the Madison Dairy School, at Madison, Wisconsin. He won, shortly afterward, the gold medal at the Cheese Makers' Convention in Wisconsin for the best cheese, scor- ing ninety-nine and one-fourth points. Mr. Murray later operated the Boaz Cheese Factory at Boaz, Wisconsin. In 1902, he purchased a factory at Yuba, Wisconsin, where he remained four and a half years. When he assumed control of the establishment, the factory was taking in four thousand gallons of milk daily and after he had owned it for several months, the factory was handling thirty thousand gallons of milk daily. Mr. Murray purchased another plant in 1908, a factory located in Michigan, of which he disposed in 1912, when he and his wife began an extended trip covering two years. December 28, 1914, Mr. Murray assumed charge of the Prairie City plant in Bates county and on November 1, 1916 located at xA.drian and has since been engaged in the manufacture of cheese in this city. He is now owner of the Adrian Cheese Factory at Adrian. The marriage of R. A. Murray and Maude Finch was solemnized in 1902. Mrs. Murray is a daughter of Andrew and Louise Finch, of Dorchester Station, Ontario, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Murray are highly respected and very popular in the best social circles of Adrian and of Bates county and they have a large number of friends and a wide acquain- tanceship throughout the country. The Adrian Cheese Factory was established January 1, 1917. The 520 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri erected the building and sold it to R. A. Murray for four thousand dollars. The factory has prospered from the beginning and is now receiving the hearty sup- port of the dairymen of the community. During the month of August, 1917, forty-seven cents v^as paid a pound for butterfat to all w^ho delivered their milk at the factory, while those farmers who shipped their milk elsewhere received but thirty-seven cents. Mr. Murray's methods of work are extremely interesting and instructive. He places the milk in a huge vat, having a capacity of seven hundred gallons, and provided with steam heat, and this milk is kept at a temperature of one hundred four degrees for an hour and a half, at which time the curd is tested. In testing the curd, Mr. Murray presses a handful of it together until it resembles a tile in shape and putty in consistency and, after heating an iron rod, touches the hot iron to the curd and closely observes how the tiny threads were formed, when the curd was pulled away from the hot iron to which it was sticking, and also the odor which resulted from the burning. It smells then very much like burnt hair, which means that it requires twenty more minutes of cooking before it gives forth an odor like that of toasted cheese. The building is painted white throughout the interior and all the floors are of concrete. Purity and cleanliness reign everywhere within and all the openings of the building are well screened. The whey, that which remains after the curd has been extracted, which George Eliot describes in "Adam Bede" as possessing "a flavor so delicate that one can hardly distinguish it from an odor, and with that soft, gliding warmth that fills one's imagination with a still, happy dreaminess," valued highly in Eng- land as a beverage, has considerable food value and from it large cheese factories make what is known as "Premost" cheese. The Adrian Cheese Factory pumps the whey into a large tank and it is taken back home by the farmer, who feeds it to his hogs. Eighty-five per cent, of the weight of the milk, wdiich the farmer brings to the factory, is returned to him in whey. At the time of this writing in 1918, the dairy farmer is receiving two dollars per hundred pounds for his milk and the whey returned to him. There is no doubt that the Adrian Cheese Factory is destined in the very near future to be one of the largest and most important industries in western Missouri. Dr. John R. Hull, a successful dentist of Adrian, Missouri, is one of the prominent citizens of Bates county. Dr. Hull was born July 19, 1878 near Knob Noster, Missouri, a son of Frank and Louisa Hull. His HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 521 parents died when he was a very small child and he was reared by his sister, Mrs. B. F. Summers. In 1894, Dr. John R. Hull entered Butler Academy and for four years was a student at this institution. After completing the academic course. Doctor Hull went to Los Angeles, California, where he entered the mercantile business and for eighteen months conducted a grocery store. He then returned to Butler, Missouri and in 1900 matriculated at Western Dental College, Kansas City, Missouri, from which college he graduated with the class of 1903. Dr. John R. Hull began the prac- tice of dentistry associated with his brother, Dr. J. T. Hull, of Butler, and for one year was engaged in the practice of his profession at Butler. In 1904, Dr. John R. Hull opened his office in the First National Bank building at Adrian and in this city has since been successfully employed in dental work. His office is one of the best and most completely equipped dental offices in Bates county and Doctor Hull possesses great natural ability, excellent training, and a world of patience. He is a member of the Western District Dental Society, of which he has served as secretary, of the executive council of the Missouri State Dental Asso- ciation, and of the National Dental Association. He does not permit himself to fall behind the times in his profession, but by close study and careful, thoughtful research keeps well abreast of this most pro- gressive age in all matters relating to the dental science, perusing thoughtfully the best professional literature of the day. The marriage of Dr. John R. Hull and Josephine Walter, a daugh- ter of Henry W. and Mary E. Walter, one of the leading pioneer families of Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized November 29, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Walter came to Bates county in 1867 among the first settlers and experienced all the countless privations and hardships of pioneer life. They obtained their supplies, in the early days, from Pleasant Hill. Mr. Walter died in 1897 and the widowed mother makes her home at Adrian, Missouri. Dr. and Mrs. Hull reside in Adrian, where they have a beautiful home, an attractive, modern bungalow. Doctor Hull is also owner of a farm, comprising eighty acres of land, located on the Adrian and Butler road. He takes much pleasure in overseeing the work of his country place and is interested in both general farming and stock raising. His farm is one of the splendid stock farms of Mound town- ship, conveniently located, abundantly watered, and productive. Dr. and Mrs. Hull are worthy and valued members of the Methodist church. 522 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of which the doctor is steward and in the Sunday school a teacher of the boys' class. Fraternally, Doctor Hull is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights Templair, the Eastern Star, the Iviiights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen of America. He takes an active part and deep interest in lodge work and is past Master Mason, past Patron of the Eastern Star, past Chancellor and Commander of the Knights of Pythias, and ex-secretary of the Modern Woodmen of America. In his relations with his fellowmen, professional, business, or social, Doctor Hull's conduct has been open and straightforward, his integ- rity unassailable, his actions those of a true gentleman, possessing to a marked degree sincerity and purity of motive. The nature of his pro- fessional duties and business enterprises affords him little time to devote to r-ocial affairs, but he is personally one of the most amiable and genial of men. Both the doctor and Mrs. Hull are held in the highest respect and esteem in Adrian. Edward H. Wyatt, a retired farmer and stockman of Adrian, Mis- souri, is one of Bates county's prosperous and most highly respected citizens. Mr. Wyatt is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1855, a son of Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt, natives and life-long residents of Ohio. Charles W^yatt was a son of John Wyatt, of Ohio, and Har- riet (Henry) Wyatt was a daughter of Matthew Henry, of Ohio. CharlCv- Wyatt was a member of the teaching profession in his native state, being employed in teaching in the public schools and also in teaching music. He was ruling elder of the Presbyterian church and superintendent of the Amesville Presbyterian Sunday School for many years and choir leader for at least a score of years. He was the owner of a splendid farm, a tract of land comprising five hundred acres, in Athens county, Ohio and was engaged extensively in stock raising. Charles Wyatt was considered a wealthy man in his day and a very successful citizen. To Charles and Harriet (Henry) Wyatt were born ten children, eight of whom are now living: Edward H., the subject of this review; C. E., Lawton, Oklahoma; W. P., Athens, Ohio; Mrs. Cora M. McCune, on a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Charles, Amesville, Ohio; Mrs. Mary McDaniel, Amesville, Ohio; Emma, Amesville, Ohio; and Mrs. Lucy Stires, Guysville, Ohio. The marriage of E H. W^yatt and Hattie Brown was solemnized in 1877. Hattie (Brown) Wyatt is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John D. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 523 Brown, of Athens county, Ohio. To this union has been born one child, a son, who is now hving: George B., who is general manager of the Farmers Elevator Company of Adrian, Missouri, married Lulu Steele of Warrensburg and they have two sons: George Steele Wyatt and Dugald Edward Wyatt. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt are consistent members and workers of the Presbyterian church and Mr. Wyatt has been ruling elder of the Fairview Presbyterian church for many years. They reside in Adrian, where they have a most pleasant and comfortable home. E. H. Wyatt and his brother, A. T. Wyatt, came from Ohio to Mis- souri in 1881 and purchased a herd of one thousand sheep and engaged in the sheep raising industry in Bates county. Open prairie furnished an abundance of grazing territory in those days, for one might drive for miles and miles in this section of the state and not encounter a single bit of fencing. The WVatt brothers purchased tracts of land at different times and constantly added to their holdings until they owned a vast tract comprising one thousand acres. After some time, they disposed of their herd of sheep and devoted their time and energies to general farming and stock raising. They had bought their land in some instances for as little as five dollars an acre. A. T. Wyatt finally decided to leave Missouri and settle in Kansas and E. H. Wyatt was left to continue the work alone. He is now owner of a farm in Bates county, a place embrac- ing four hundred eighty acres of land, which he rents. He is a stock- holder in the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, in the Farmers Elevator Supply & Manufacturing Company, and in the Farmers Lum- ber Company of Adrian, Missouri. The life-story of E. H. Wyatt has been the story of a worker, of a busy man of afifairs, of a Christian gentleman, whose ideal in life has been to worthily discharge his duty toward the Master and his fellowmen as he sees and understands it. There are few better types of the enter- prising, "self-made" business men in Bates county than Mr. Wyatt. From small beginnings, by prudence, industry, and perseverance, and the ability of the pioneer to conquer all discouraging obstacles, he has succeeded in carving a name that shall endure as long as the history of Bates county is written and achieving a success in life that should be an inspiration to the young men of the rising generation. And now, in the eventide, surrounded by everything calculated to make the remainder of his earthly sojourn agreeable and pleasant, E. H. Wyatt can enjoy the consciousness that all that he has and all that he is he has justly, honestly, honorably earned by his own personal exertions. 524 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY William C. Hedden. — For over fifty-two years, William C. Hedden has resided in the Fairview neighborhood of Osage township. He is one of the best known of the Bates county "old timers," and has become wealthy as a tiller of the soil in this county. Mr. Hedden is a large land-owner, his home place comprising two hundred twenty acres of splendid, rich prairie soil which is one of the finest improved places in Bates county. The first home of Mr. Hedden in Osage township, was a story and a half affair of two rooms, to which various additions and improvements have been added until he has an imposing nine-room house which sits on a rise of land west of the roadway and which is reached by a driveway bordered by magnificent maple trees which have grown from seed planted years ago by Mr. Hedden. When Mr. Hedden made his first purchase of land in March of 1871, a tract of two hundred acres at a cost of five dollars an acre, the country round about was a vast prairie with but few trees in sight. Now, his home is situated in a beautiful setting of giant trees which he has caused to grow where not a tree stood before. Mr. Hedden also owns a farm of one hundred forty acres across the line in Vernon county. The view from the front door of the Hedden home is a very attractive one, the fertile prairie stetching as far as the eye can reach and dotted here and there with beautiful farmsteads and the cities of Rich Hill and Nevada can be seen in the distance. As advancing age has compelled his relinquish- ment of the arduous duties of the farm, Mr. Hedden has turned over its management to others younger and more able to till the large acreage and he is now living in comfortable retirement in his pleasant home, his interesting diversion being the weekly letters which he writes to the "Rich Hill Mining Review," a pleasant occupation which has been his enjoyment under the pseudonym of "Gabe" for over thirty years. W. C. Hedden was born February 22, 1844, in Shelby county, Ken- tucky, the son of Lee and Susan (Moreland) Hedden, who were natives of Kentucky. When eighteen years of age young Hedden enlisted (1862) in Company D, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, and served with the Union forces on provost duty in the Kentucky mountain region for one year. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1863. In 1866 the entire family came to Bates county, and Lee Hedden settled in the southwest part of Osage township, dying on his home place in 1878. The Moreland family came to this county and settled in Osage town- ship in 1867. Mrs. Hedden, mother of the subject of this review, departed this life in 1876. There were three children in the family of which WILLIAM C. HEDDEN. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 525 William C. was the eldest, the others being Mary, wife of J. A. Borron, former well-known residents of Osage township, both of whom are now deceased; Florence, wife of D. E. Jarnette, Sheridan, Wyoming. W. C. Hedden was married October 5, 1865 in old Kentucky, to Mary E. Yates, who was born May 3, 1847, in Kentucky, a daughter of Enoch and Matilda (Watts) Yates, who accompanied the Hedden family to Missouri in 1866 and made a settlement just over the southern boundary line in Vernon county. For the first five years of his residence in Mis- souri, Mr. Hedden and his wife made their home with the Yates family. The children born to W. C. and Mary E. Hedden are as follow: W. E. Hedden, born December 24, 1866, lives at Moscow, Idaho; J. W. Hedden, was born November 7, 1868, lives at Sedalia, Missouri, where he follows the business of cement contractor; E. L., a farmer in Vernon county, born April 20, 1873; Susan M., born January 21, 1875, died July 16, 1887; C. A., now managing the Hedden home place, born September 29, 1879; one child died in infancy; C. R. Hedden, Sheridan, Wyoming, born April 17, 1884. C. A. Hedden married Loma Griggs, and has two children: Ruth, and Harold. W. E. Hedden married Jennie Welch and has seven children: Lois, Raymond, Susie, Fred, Forrest, George, and Catherine. J. W. Hedden married Lillis Estes and has three children : Juanita, Lawrence, and Minor. E. L. Hedden married Hattie Hanley, and has two children: Carl, and Clyde. The mother of the foregoing children of W. C. Hedden died September 11, 1913. She was a good and faith- ful wife and kind mother to her children. She and Mr. Hedden became •Christians at the same time and Mrs. Hedden was a devout member of the Baptist church. Mr. Hedden has been a life-long Democrat and has taken considerable interest in the affairs of his party during his long residence in Bates county. He is widely known and universally respected by all who know him. As the Fairview correspondent of the "Rich Hill Mining Review" he has achieved more than a local reputa- tion as an able writer who employs the vernacular in presenting the doings of the folks of the Fairview neighborhood in a more or less philosophic and humorous vein. In fact his fame has spread over Mis- souri to a large extent and the familiar title of "Gabe" which is always appended to his articles appearing each week in the "Mining Review" is known to thousands of interested readers who are always entertained by the quaint sayings and productions from the pen of the Fairview correspondent. 526 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY William F. Duvall, president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany of Butler, Missouri, president of the Farmers Bank, is one of the prominent and influential citizens of Bates county. He was born May 1, 1868, a son of William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall, both of whom were natives of Highland county, Ohio, the former a descendant of Marquis Duvall, a native of France, who settled in Maryland in the early colonial days. William Penn Duvall came to Missouri in 1868 with his family and they located on a tract of land two miles south of Virginia, a farm which the father purchased and improved and where he resided for twenty years. Mr. Duvall, Sr. moved from the farm near Virginia to a country place adjoining Butler on the west, where he lived until 1895 and then retired from active participation in farm work and moved to Butler, in which city he was an honored and highly respected resident at the time of his death in 1917 at the age of nearly eighty years. Mrs. Duvall, widow of William Penn Duvall, still resides at Butler, one of the most esteemed of Bates county's pioneer women. To William Penn and Sarah J. (Whisler) Duvall were born the following children: Laura B., an instructor of voice culture at Chicago, Illinois; the second daughter died in infancy; William F., the subject of this review; Mrs. J. A. Nicholas, of Pomona, Los Angeles county, Cali- fornia; J. B., vice-president of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company of Butler, Missouri ; Arthur, treasurer of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany of Butler, Missouri; and Homer, cashier of the Farmers Bank of Butler. Missouri. In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, William F. Duvall- received his elementary education, which was supplemented by a thor- ough course at Butler Academy, from which he graduated, after which he completed a business course at Butler Commercial College. When he left the last named institution. Mr. Duvall accepted a position as bookkeeper at Sherman, Texas, which place in the business world he resigned after one year and returned to Bates county to enter the teach- ing profession and for one year was employed as teacher in the public schools of this county. Mr. Duvall then entered the real estate and abstract business at Butler and had been thus engaged for two years when, in 1891, he associated himself with H. E. Percival, of Burling- ton, Vermont, in the organization of the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany, which is now one of the largest, best, and most aggressive finan- cial institutions in this part of the state. In December, 1890, William F, Duvall and Jessie S. Childs were HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 527 united in marriage. Mrs. Duvall was a daughter of T. W. and Sarah J. Childs, of Butler, Missouri. To William F. and Jessie S. (Childs) Duvall were born two sons : Thomas Warren, who is a lieutenant in the army of the United States and is located, at the time of this writing in 1918, at Camp Funston, Kansas; and William Leslie, a stu- dent in the Butler High School. The mother died in June, 1899. The marriage of William F. Duvall and Regina Rosser was solemnized in December, 1900. Regina (Rosser) Duvall is a daughter of W. F. and Marian Rosser, of Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Duvall's mother is now deceased and her father is a well-known resident of Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Duvall reside at Butler, their home being located on the corner of Fort Scott and High streets. William F. Duvall has capably served as mayor of the city of But- ler. He was elected in 1900 on the Republican ticket, overcoming a Democratic majority of one hundred fifty votes by one hundred fifty votes. He was elected president of the Bates County Drainage Board in 1914 and has been twice reelected and is still a member of the board at the time of this writing. Mr. Duvall is the owner of the Duvall ranch, a farm comprising sixteen hundred acres of land, an unimproved, uncultivated, timber-covered tract at the time of his purchase in 1911. The larger part of the ranch has been cleared, leveled, tiled, placed under cultivation, and there are now six sets of improvements on the place. A lateral ditch of the large main drainage ditch touches the ranch on the east. Mr. Duvall has been interested in growing alfalfa on his place and, finding the crop a very valuable and profitable one, he has been instrumental in getting other men interested in alfalfa growing. He is one of the most intelligent and progressive agriculturists in the state as well as a successful efficient business man and financier. The Duvall-Percival Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, was estab- lished December 1, 1891 by the association of William F. Duvall of Butler, Missouri and H. E. Percival of Burlington, Vermont under the firm name of Duvall & Percival. They paid in as capital one thousand dollars each, making the capital two thousand dollars, and their first book, containing a record of their business, is a little brown book, still in existence, about eight by twelve inches and less than one inch thick. The business w^as continued under this management for three years when J. B. Duvall, a brother of W. F. Duvall, associated himself with the firm and the business was continued under the same name, Duvall & Percival. The capital was gradually increased as their business demanded it 528 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and the business was carried on under the same management until the capital had increased to fifty thousand dollars, and on March 1, 1907, the Duvall-Percival Trust Company was incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The ofificers were : Will- iam F. Duvall, president; J. B. Duvall. vice-president; Arthur Duvall, treasurer; and with Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates as additional members of the board of directors. This management continued from March 1, 1907, constantly adding to their business and building up their surplus, until June 1, 1912, being five years from the time of incorpora- tion, when the surplus had increased to fifty thousand dollars, the same amount of the capital. During this time, the Duvall-Percival Trust Com- pany had paid ten per cent, dividend. The business of the company had gradually increased until it was found necessary, on June 1, 1915, to increase the capital stock. The reports showed at that time fifty thou- sand dollars capital; fifty thousand dollars, surplus; and forty thousand dollars, undivided profits. The capital stock was then, on June 1, 1915, increased to two hundred thousand dollars, leaving a surplus fund of fifty thousand dollars and at the present time, in 1918, the capital stock of the Duvall-Percival Trust Company is two hundred thousand dollars; surplus, fifty thousand dollars ; and undivided profits, twenty-five thousand dollars and the company has continued under the same management ever since its incorporation, the present board of directors being, as follow: W. F. Duvall, president; J. B. Duvall, vice-president; Arthur Duvall, treasurer; and Homer Duvall and W. D. Yates. The trust com- pany has now outstanding some ten million dollars in farm loans in Mis- souri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The annual business in new loans amounts to one and a half million to two million dollars, aside from the renewals on one and a half million dollars of maturing loans each year. In January 1907, Mr. Duvall was elected president of the Farmers Bank of Bates county, one of the most important financial institutions of western Missouri which has had a wonderful growth since its inception in 1889. This bank was first organized in that year by Bates county farmers and was promoted by D. N. Thompson who had associated with him : J. K. Rosier, Dr. J. Everingham, J. J. McKee. and others. The bank was continued under the original management until 1906 when the controlling interest iii the bank passed to the Duvall brothers of Butler, Missouri. Under their capable and ambitious management it has pros- piered as never before and has taken high rank among the banks of Bates HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 529 county and western Missouri. In January, 1906, W. F. Duvall was elected cashier and held this position until the following year when he was elected president of the bank. Homer Duvall was then elected to the post of cashier. The Farmers Bank was started with a capital of twenty thousand dollars. In January, 1906 the capital was fifty thousand dollars and sur- plus of ten thousand dollars, and the deposits were around two hundred thousand dollars. Since that time both capital and deposits have in- creased with leaps and bounds until at the present time, the capital is fifty thousand dollars, surplus fifty thousand dollars and undivided profits ten thousand dollars. Its deposits are over one-half million dollars. During eight years time from 1906 to 1914 the bank added forty thou- sand dollars to its surplus and on December 1, 1914, was passed as a roll of honor bank by reason of its surplus being equal to its capital. The present of^cers, January, 1918 are: W. F. Duvall, president; O. A. Heinlein, vice-president; Homer Duvall, cashier; H. H. Lesee, assistant cashier; the directors being as follow: E. A. Bennett, J". J. McKee, O. A. Heinlein, Clark Wix, J. W. Choate, Frank Holland, F. N. Drennen, W. F. Duvall, Joseph M. McKibben, T. S. Harper, J.. B. Duvall, and Dr. T. W. Foster. James E. Williams, postmaster of Butler, ex-city treasurer, ex-coun- cilman, and ex-mayor of Butler and the present proprietor of the Will- iams' Grocery in this city, is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a mem- ber of a well-known and prominent pioneer family of this section of the state. Mr. Williams was born in 1866 near Altona, son of James T. and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams, the former, a native of Ken- tucky and the latter, of Sedalia, Missouri. James T. W^illiams'came to Missouri, when he was a boy twelve years of age, with his parents and the Williams family settled on a farm in Pettis county. In 1854, the son, James T., came to Bates county and located on a tract of land near Altona. He went to Sedalia at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and for two years served with the Confederates in the regi- ment commanded by Generals Price and Shelby. After the conflict had ended, Mr. Williams returned to Bates county in 1865 and resumed his interest in agricultural pursuits. He took an active and prominent part in public and political affairs and for a long time was one of the leading and most influential men in his township, filling with much credit to himself and universal satisfaction to his constituents a num- ber of offices within the gift of the voters of the township. To James (34) 530 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY T, and Elizabeth (Quisenberry) Williams were born six children: Mrs. Mary Wright, of Kansas City, Missouri, the widow of Dr. L. M. Wright, a late prominent physician of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Harrison, Adrian, Missouri; Z. J., who was for many years one of the leading businessmen of Butler, whose death occurred in Texas in January, 1916 and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler; Mrs. Jennie Bow- den, Sherman, Texas; James E., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Ella Ewing, who is deceased and whose remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. The mother died in 1911 and the father in 1914 and both parents were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. James E. Williams attended school in Altona- and Butler. He is a graduate of the Butler Academy and of Weaver & Dever Business College at Butler. Since he was twenty years of age, Mr. Williams has made his own way in the world. He began his mercantile career in the employ of his brother, Z. J., who for several years conducted a grocery establishment in Butler. After a few years, the two brothers formed a partnership and added hardware and implements to their stock of mer- chandise and this firm continued in business fof twenty years, when James E. purchased Z. J.'s interest in the store and the latter moved to Texas. James E. Williams has continued the business here since that time. He is not only prominent in business circles in Bates county but he has been a dominant factor in the political life of Butler and has filled several important positions in the city government. Mr. Williams served eight years as chairman of the Democratic committee, one term as city treasurer, ten years as city councilman, and two terms as mayor of Butler. During his term in the mayor's office, the first paving in this city was laid around the public square and a walk made to the cemetery. In April, 1914, James E. Williams was appointed post- master of Butler and, at the time of this writing in 1917, he is now serv- ing his city in that capacity. In 1895, James E. Williams was united in marriage with Susie Steele, daughter of John and Martha (Baker) Steele, both of whom are now deceased. John Steele died at Butler, Missouri in April, 1917. He was a Union veteran of the Civil War and an active participant in the work of the Grand Army of the Republic at Butler in late years. Mr. Steele was a worthy and consistent member of the Baptist church and he ever remained loyal and true to the beautiful faith, the teachings of which were so nobly exemplified in his life. To James E. and Susie (Steele) Williams have been born three children: James S., who is now a student HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 53 1 at the State University at Columbia, Missouri; Walter E., a senior in the Butler High School and a member of the class which graduates in 1918; and Martha, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler. The Williams home is in the city of Butler at 206 Havanna street. For many years, Mr. Williams has been closely connected with the business interests of Butler and with important municipal enterprises: He is a practical man of affairs, possessing superior executive ability, and as a citizen he stands far above reproach. Charles E. Fortune, the well known county recorder of Bates county, is one of the county's most capable officials. Mr. Fortune is a native of Illinois. He was born in Cass county in 1875, the oldest of three children born to his parents, Michael and Elizabeth (Kirscher) For- tune, the former, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio and the latter, of Germany. Their children are, as follow: Oliver C, Kansas City, Missouri; Julia, the wife of Glenn Earl, Kansas City, Missouri ; and Charles E., the sub- ject of this review. Michael Fortune was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1838. He came to Missouri from Illinois in 1880 and located at Free- man in Cass county, where he entered the mercantile business. One year later, Mr. Fortune moved to Rich Hill and engaged in the grain business in addition to following his trade as barber. For the past twenty-two years, he has been employed by the government as tax col- lector in Rich Hill. Michael Fortune is now seventy-nine years of age, but he is still as alert and active physically and mentally as many men twenty years his junior. In the public schools of Rich Hill, Missouri, Charles E. Fortune received his education. He assisted his father in the feed and grain busi- ness and did a man's work when still a mere lad. Mr. Fortune studied and mastered telegraphy and became an expert operator and for eight years was employed in this capacity by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, being located for a few months at Panama, Missouri and then at Rich Hill. In the election of November, 1914, Charles E. Fortune was elected county recorder of Bates county and he is the present incumbent in this office, at the time of this writing in 1917. Mr. Fortune has fully justified the choice of the people of the county, proving himself to be a thoroughly trustworthy and efficient official. July 22, 1909, Charles E. Fortune and Elmira Fry, daughter of Cor- bin Fry, a late prominent citizen of Rich Hill, were united in marriage and to this union has been born one child; a daughter, Carolyn E., who is now seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Fortune reside in Butler at 210 532 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY North Havanna street. They are socially very popular and number their friends by the score both in the city and in the county. As a citizen and public official, Charles E. Fortune stands high in his community. As a business man, he maintains an honorable record and he deserves much credit for the rapid strides he has made from an humble position in his father's feed and grain store to one of influence and affluence in the community. His career has been marked by fidelity to duty and upright, straightforward business methods. Daniel Cresap. — The career of Daniel Cresap and his devoted wiie, residing on their large estate in Osage township in the evening of their long and eventful lives, is an interesting one and involves an account of hardships undergone and difficulties overcome, the mere confronting of which would have daunted souls less brave than Mr. and Mrs. Cresap. Through all of his career Mr. Cresap has been handicapped by the early loss of a limb, but his indomitable courage and will, and restless energy combined with the assistance of his noble wife have carried him onward and upward until he is now one of the largest land-owners in Bates county. The Cresap estate comprises seven hundred sixty acres in a single body in Osage township, all of which is in cultivation but two hundred forty acres which are used for pasture land. A resume of the output of crops from this large tract in 1917 gives the reader an idea of the magnitude of the farming operations carried on from year to year on the Cresap place. In that year there were one hundred forty acres of corn harvested which produced an average of forty bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat were sown which pro- duced fifteen bushels to the acre; one hundred acres of oats yielded thirty-live bushels per acre ; one hundred twenty acres of hay were cut which yielded over a ton to the acre. Mr. Cresap now rents out the greater part of his land. He formerly handled hundreds of cattle yearly. He is a real pioneer of Bates county and has lived here since July, 1866, and has resided on his home place since March, 1878. Mr. Cresap bought his home place of one hundred sixty acres in 1878, at a cost of five dollars per acre and has been continually investing in land since that time, paying all the way to twelve dollars and fifty cents an acre. Daniel Cresap is descended from one of the oldest and most promi- nent of the American families. He was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, February 20, 1835. He is the son of Daniel (IV) and Margaret (Humes) Cresap, the former of whom was a native of .Virginia and the latter of DANIEL CRESAP, SR. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 533 Pennsylvania. Daniel, Sr., was a son of Robert Cresap, a native of Vir- ginia. The genealogical record of the Cresap family compiled some years ago states that the founder of the family in America was Thomas Cresap (I), who was born at Shipton, Yorkshire, England, in 1702 and died at Oldtown, Maryland, in 1789. He was a colonel of American soldiers in the Indian wars and probably served in the French and Indian War. His son, Daniel (II) was born in 1727 and died in 1798. Robert (III) was the son of Daniel (II) and was born in 1765. Members of this family have occupied prominent places in American history. Michael Cresap, a son of the original ancestor, Thomas Cresap, was an associate of George Washington in his surveying expeditions and was accused by Logan the Indian chief, with having brought about the killing of Chief Logan's family. In 1854, the parents of Daniel Cresap moved to Piatt county, Illinois, and lived on rented land. At this period the elder Cresap was an old man and his sons tilled his farm. The children of the family were: Hamilton, deceased; Benjamin Franklin, a captain of a company in the One Hundred Seventh Regiment of Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, now deceased; Mary, deceased; Daniel, subject of this review; and Wesley, deceased. At the early age of thirteen years, Daniel Cresap met with an acci- dent which caused the loss of his right limb, and thus seriously handi- capped through life he has managed to achieve success. He was a young man when the family located in Illinois in 1854. Two years later, in 1856, he made the trip to Texas, and was engaged in the cattle business in that state when the Civil War broke out. He lost all of his possessions and narrowly escaped with his life in making his way out of the South back to the old home in Illinois. He boarded a steamboat at Jefferson, on the bayou on Red river and made his way up the Mis- sissippi as far as Memphis when the boat was stopped by the Confederate authorities and not allowed to proceed further. He made his way by train through Tennessee and Kentucky to Cairo, Illinois. The train was loaded with northern refugees like himself and he landed at Cairo practically penniless, and was forced to borrow a dollar to pay his fare home. During the war he managed his brother's farm near Cham- paign, Illinois and saved money to the extent of two thousand dollars. This fund, he brought with him to Bates county, Missouri, in 1866, placed one thousand five hundred dollars in the bank at Butler and lost it all in five days by the failure of the bank. He first settled in New Home township at the head of the island on the shores of the Marais 534 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY des Cygnes where he paid thirteen doUars an acre for land. He built a home on the hill overlooking his land and lived there for fifteen years, and then sold the farm which he had improved at thirteen dollars an acre. All of his fifteen years of hard work had gone for naught. Floods washed away his crops so often that he gave up the hopeless task of trying to even make a living in the flood lands of the river. He came to his present location in 1878, "dead broke." He broke up his first ground with a yoke of oxen and a horse abreast, and he and his faithful wife were hard put to it in order to make ends meet during the first few years in Osage township. Mrs. Cresap worked like a hired hand, sold butter at seven cents a pound, and she and one hired man milked thirteen cows daily. She eked out their slender resources by taking in sewing, doing washing for the neighbors and keeping boarders. Soon the clouds began to lift and prosperity smiled upon them ; the memory of their hard struggles became dimmer and the Cresap farm grew larger and larger and the days of plenty were at hand for this deserving couple who were so ambitious that a little would not content them. Their ambitions have been realized and the splendid farm stretching away from the home which they built on the first quarter section is actual testimony of their achievements. Mr. Cresap was married on February 25, 1873 to Mary Elizabeth Frazee, who was born September 23, 1843, in Cumberland county, Mary- land, a daughter of William and Susan (Kirkpatrick) Frazee, both of whom were members of old American families. In 1847, William Frazee moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where he resided until 1868, and then came to Bates county, Missouri, settling in New Home township. A former ancestor of the Frazees owned a tract of land on Manhattan Island, New York which was leased for a period of ninety-nine years and is still claimed by the descendants of the lessee. William Frazee died in this county, October 3, 1870, aged forty-seven years, eleven months, and fourteen days. Susan Frazee died June 25, 1880. aged fifty-nine years. The Frazee children were: Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Cresap of this review; Mrs. Barbara Ellen Black, died in Osage township ; Mrs. Frances Ann De Armond, a widow, residing with her daughter in Pleasanton, Kan- sas; William Harrison, New Home township, and Mrs. Eliza Jane John- son, Butler, twins ; Edmond Austin, Bristow, Oklahoma. The children born to Daniel and Mary Elizabeth Cresap are as follow: Susan, wife of V. A. Brundage, Sheridan, Wyoming; Uda, proving up on a home- stead near Sheridan, AVyoming; Sara, on a homestead near Arvada, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 535 Wyoming; Daniel, also a homesteader near Arvada, Wyoming; and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Schultz, Champaign, Illinois. The nearest trading post for the Cresaps forty years ago was at Fort Scott, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Cresap hauled their wheat and pro- duce to this point. Mrs. Cresap marketed her turkeys, chickens and sweet potatoes at Fort Scott, also. In politics, Mr. Cresap has been a life-long Republican but was identified with the Populist movement when it was at the height of its strength in this section. Mrs. Cresap is a Presbyterian and Mr. Cresap has endeavored all of his long life to live according to the Golden Rule. His creed of living is best expressed by the words, "Do what you know to be right, and don't do what you know to be wrong." Joseph A. Flammang, the efficient highway engineer and county surveyor of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the widely and favorably known, young citizens of Butler. Mr. Flammang is a native of Henry county. He was born in 1887 at Montrose, a son of N. and Margaret Flammang, who were the parents of six children, as follow: Mrs. Charles Ingram, Franklin, Kansas; N. Flammang, Jr., deceased; Nora, Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. M. J. Sturdevant, Herington, Kansas; Joseph A., the subject of this review; and Mary, who died in childhood at the age of four years. N. Flammang, Sr. is a native of Luxemburg and in the old country had mastered the stonemason's trade. He emigrated from his native land about 1873 and came to America, locating first in Minnesota, from which state he moved to Texas, whence he came to Missouri and located at Montrose in 1887. In 1889, the senior Flam- mang settled in Rich Hill, where he is now residing. During the active years of his long life, which has spanned three score and sixteen years, N. Flammang, Sr. followed his trade as stonemason in connection with farming in his early manhood, but for many years prior to his retire- ment he was engaged in coal mining. He has never sought or desired official distinction, but has been content to pursue the even tenor of his way in life as a stonemason, farmer, or coal miner, doing good in a quiet, unostentatious manner whenever opportunity presented itself and meas- uring up to the highest ideals of American citizenship. Joseph A. Flammang obtained his elementary education in the public schools of Rich Hill, Missouri. He is a graduate of Missouri University in the class of 1910, completing the four years' course in civil engineering and graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Upon leaving the university, Mr. Flammang accepted a position with the Great North- 536 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ern Railway Company at Wellington, Washington, which place he held one year, when he was appointed highway engineer of Bates county, Missouri in February, 1911 and was thus obliged to resign his former position. In the election of 1912, Joseph. A. Flammang was elected county surveyor of Bates county and in the election of 1916 was re- elected, continuing to satisfactorily fill both positions, that of highway engineer and county surveyor, and, in addition to his ofificial duties, he was employed as chief engineer of the Marais des Cygnes River Drain- age project, a ditch which was completed in 1914. The main ditch is twenty-three miles in length and there are seven or eight miles of laterals. Mr. Flammang himself planned the Athol and Lone Oak systems. Mr. Flammang is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Butler. The true w^estern spirit of progress and enterprise is strikingly exemplified in the busy life of Joseph A. Flammang, a young citizen whose energetic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to conquer and subdue countless adverse conditions and to advance steadily and rapidly until at the early age of thirty years he has won and still retains one of the most important positions within the gift of the people of Bates county. Charles R. Bowman, a member of the Bowman & Company Real Estate firm of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's most enterpris- ing citizen. Mr. Bowman is a native of Ohio. He was born January 22, 1873 in Pickaway county, the youngest of ten children born to his parents, Conrad and Ruth (Ritter) Bowman. The father, Conrad Bow- man, was born in Germany and at the age of nine years emigrated from the fatherland with his parents and came to America. The Bowmans first located in Virginia and thence Conrad Bowman later went to Pick- away county, Ohio. Ruth (Ritter) Bowman was a native of Winchester, Virginia. The children born to Conrad and Ruth Bowman were, as follow: James, Williamsport, Ohio; John, Mount Sterling, Ohio; David, Pendleton, Oregon; Rachel, the wife of William Hulett, New Hol- land, Ohio; George, Mount Sterling, Ohio; Frank, Hillsboro, Ohio; Elizabeth, the wife of Caleb Taylor, Mount Sterling, Ohio; Matthias, Mount Sterling, Ohio; Thomas, Cathlamet, Washington; and Charles R., the subject of this review. The mother died in Ohio in 1884 and interment was made in the cemetery at Hebron church. Eleven years after the death of his wife, Conrad Bowman left Ohio and came West, locating on a farm two miles east of Amoret in Bates county, Missouri in 1895. He resided on his Missouri farm for five or six years and then HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 537 returned to the old home in Ohio, where he died in April, 1916. His remains were laid beside his wife's in the cemetery at Hebron church. Charles R. Bowman obtained his education in the public schools of Ohio. When a young man, twenty-four years of age, Mr. Bowman came to Missouri from Ohio and settled in Bates county. He first engaged in farming, in 1897, and for fourteen years followed agricultural pur- suits near Amoret. In recent years, he has been interested in the real estate business, in which he was engaged for five years at Amoret. In April, 1914, Mr. Bowman moved to Butler and opened his present office in the American building on the north side of the public square. Charles R. Bowman is a gentleman, a man of pleasing personality and courteous manners, and a "hustler." During the dull season of 1916, he sold forty-three Bates county farms and at the time of this writing, in 1917, he has this year sold thirty-three country places. Mr. Bowman is intensely interested in his work and firmly believes that Bates county farms, at the present prices, comprise the cheapest yet most valuable body of land on this earth today. He handles only Bates county real estate, both farm and city property, but puts his trust and hopes in farm land. In 1899, Charles R. Bowman w^as united in marriage with Anna Payne, daughter of William and Harriet Payne, at Butler, Missouri. William Payne is now deceased and his widow resides on a farm near Amoret. To Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have been born four children: Mona, w^ho is at present a student in the Butler High School; Pearl, who is a student in the Butler High School; Clyde and Pierce, who are pupils in the graded schools of Butler. The Bowman home is in Butler on North Fulton street. Though Mr. and Mrs. Bowman have been residents of Butler but a very short time, they have made a vast number of friends in this city and have an enviable standing in the city's best social circles. Mr. Bowman is well known in Bates county as a substantial citizen. He is a man of liberal views and a worker, a member of the large and valu- able class who, by deeds rather than words, do so much to build up the country and promote its material and moral interest. W. H. Holloway, Union veteran, an honored and highly respected pioneer citizen of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Tennessee. Mr. Hol- loway was born in Monroe county, October 31, 1840, a son of William and Mary H. A. (Peck) Holloway, who were the parents of four chil- dren, three of w^hom are now living: Mrs. Sarah M. Clemments, Har- risonville,. Missouri ; Mrs. Cordelia A. Warren, Harrisonville, Missouri; 538 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mrs. Martha M. Olds, deceased; and W. H., the subject of this review. The mother, Mary H. A. Hohoway, was a daughter of Col. Nicholas S. Peck, of Monroe county, Tennessee. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. Mr. and Mrs. William Holloway came to Missouri from Ten- nessee among the first settlers and on May 3, 1843 settled near Har- risonville, Cass county. Nine years later, the former died October 2, 1852 and interment was made in the cemetery near Lonetree. Mrs. Holloway departed this life in 1887 and her remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Harrisonville. W. H. Holloway attended school in Harrisonville, Missouri and for two terms, 1850 and 1851, was a pupil of William Jones. Mr. Hol- loway was a young man, twenty-one years of age, at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and he served as a member of the state militia at Harrisonville during the conflict from September, 1863 to July, 1865. He and his widowed mother were residing at Harrison- ville when General Ewing's famous Order Number 11 was put into effect in 1863. After the war had ended, Mr. Holloway engaged in farming in Cass county until 1868, when he moved to Bates county and entered the nursery business, selling trees and shrubbery for Blair Brothers of Lees Summit for several years and then opened a nursery, about 1873, and until 1895 was engaged in conducting this business. Since that time, he has been employed in buying and selling fruit and in gardening. Mr. Holloway is the owner of two acres of land located within the city limits of Butler at 213 South Broadway street, where he has a pleasant and comfortable home. He purchased this place in 1869. It soon will be a half century since W. H. Holloway came to Butler, Missouri and he has moved his place of residence but twice during all those years. He states that there were not to exceed two dozen people living in Butler, at the time of this writing in 1917, who were residents of this city when he came here, and that estimate in- cludes infants and children as well as adults. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway are the only married couple surviving of those living in Butler in 1868. March 18, 1868, W. H. Holloway and Nannie A. Woolery were united in marriage. Mrs. Holloway was born in Cooper county, Mis- souri in 1845, a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Wadley) Woolery, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Woolery came to Missouri from Kentucky immediately after their marriage and located in Cooper county. Both parents are now deceased and their remains are interred in the cemetery at Dayton in Cass county, Missouri. Mrs. JllSTORY OF BATES COUNTY 539 Holloway has two sisters now living: Mrs. Martha Eddy, Hickory, Mis- souri; and Mrs. CorneHa Randall, Paonia, Colorado. To W. H. and Nannie A. Holloway have been born three children: Jessie C, the wife of Elmer D. Fuller, Spokane, Washington; Edgar O., who died at the age of fourteen years ; and Harry H., who is a well-known and prominent merchant of Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Holloway celebrated their Golden Wedding A.nniversary, March 18, 1918. Mrs. Hol- loway has been a noble and worthy helpmeet and deserves much praise and credit for her constant faithfulness and sympathy as a wife and mother and for her prudent and careful management of the manifold duties and responsibilities of the Holloway household. Still in the prime of his mental powers, W. H. Holloway has before him the prospect of many future years of usefulness. He has been a potent and prominent factor in the industrial and general business activity of Butler and of Bates county. Mr. HoUoway's career has been one of continued advancement and unabating industry. Strict integrity, sound judgment, and honorable business methods have won for him permanent success and the unfailing regard and esteem of his fellow- men. No family in Bates county stands higher in the respect of the community than the Holloways. Mr. Holloway has always been an inveterate enemy of the whiskey traffic and has fought on the side of temperance and prohibition during his entire life. Dr. J. T. Shadburne, a well-known and successful dentist of Butler, is one of the capable young professional men in Bates county. Dr. Shad- burne is a native of Missouri, born at Windsor in 1889, a son of Dr. R. L. and Mary Garnet' (Fowler) Shadburne, the former, a native of Henry county and the latter, of Benton county, Missouri. Dr. R. L. Shadburne is a son of Dr. T. P. Shadburne, a prominent pioneer physician of Troy, Missouri, who located at that place prior to the time of the Civil War and later moved to Windsor. The senior Dr. Shadburne is now deceased and his son. Dr. R. L., is still one of the leading men of his profession at Windsor. To Dr. R. L. and Mary Garnet Shadburne have been born three children, all of whom are now living: Mrs. R. E. Ball, Windsor, Missouri; Lieutenant L. W., National Army, who was one of the first boys in attendance at Fort Riley Of^cers' Training School; and Dr. J. T., the subject of this review. Dr. J. T. Shadburne is a graduate of Windsor High School and of Kansas City Dental College. He completed the dental course at the latter institution, graduating with the class of 1916. After leaving col- 540 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lege, Dr. Shaclburne located at Dexter, ^Missouri for a short time, coming to Butler in March, 1917 and opening his present office. July 28, 191 7, Dr. J. T. Shadburne and Marjorie Scott, daughter of L. H. Scott, of Steelville, Missouri, were united in marriage. ^Irs. Shad- burne was left motherless when she was a child, live years of age. Dr. and Mrs. Shadburne reside in Butler at 404 Delaware street. Frank Holland, the well-known and efficient county clerk of Bates county and an ex-trustee of Summit township, proprietor of the "Hol- land Farm" in Summit township, is one of the county's most prominent and successful citizens. ]Mr. Holland was born January 27, 1868 on his father's farm in McLean county, Illinois, a son of G. W. and Edmonia (Johnson) Holland, who were the parents of three children, all of whom are now living: Frank, the subject of this review; Mrs. Gertrude ^^'il- liams, Appleton City, Missouri ; and IMiles, Appleton City, Missouri. G. W. Holland was born in Logan County, Kentucky in 1840, one of seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Joel Holland, their children being as follow: John, who resides in Logan county, Kentucky; \A'. A., who was born in Kentucky and died in May, 1914 near Appleton City, Missouri; G. W., the father of Frank Holland, the subject of this re- view; J. ]M., of Logan county, Kentucky; Mrs. Mary McKenzie, of Logan county, Kentucky; Mrs. Angelina Lawler, of Logan county, Kentucky ; and Mrs. Jane Browning, deceased. Joel Holland was a na- tive of Maryland. He came to Missouri among the earliest pioneers and located in Henry county, where he entered a section of land in 1856. In the latter part of his life, he divided his vast holdings among his chil- dren, giving to each son one hundred sixty acres of choice land in Henry county and he then returned to the old home in Kentucky, where he died. G. W. Holland came to Henry county, Misouri in October, 1871 and located on the farm which was given him by his father and upon which he resided for forty-one years, devoting the best years of his life to farming and stock raising and improving his land. In 1912, Mr. Hol- land retired from the active pursuits of agriculture and moved to Apple- ton City in St. Clair county, where he died July 31, 1914. Interment was made in the cemetery at Appleton City. The widowed mother, who is a native of Virginia, still resides at Appleton City. Frank Holland obtained his education at Appleton City Academy and Missouri University at Columbia. Until he was twenty-four years of age, he remained at home with his parents. At that time, he pur- chased a farm adjoining his, father's place in Henry County, a tract of land he afterward sold to his brother. Miles, and then moved to Bates FRANK HOLLAND. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 54I county, purchasing two hundred forty acres of vahiable land in Summit township, to which tract he later added eighty acres. This farm, now comprising three hundred twenty acres, is one of the best in the county and is widely known as the "Holland Farm." Mr. Holland has built two barns and remodeled the residence since he acquired the ownership of the farm. The Holland home is a handsome, modern, country place. The residence and barns are lighted by electricity from a plant in- stalled by Mr. Holland. For eight years, Frank Holland was trustee of Summit township and for six years was chairman of the Democratic township committee. Mr. Holland is primarily a man of the people and his genial manners and pleasing- social qualities win and retain for him countless friends. The capable manner in which he administered the multitudinous affairs com- ing within the sphere of his duty as trustee and as township committee- man inspired in his behalf the utmost confidence and trust of the voters of Bates county and in the autumn of 1914 Frank Holland was elected county clerk of Bates County and at the time of this writing he is the present incumbent in that office. Careful and methodical in the man- agement of the office, Mr. Holland has won the respect and good will of the people in Bates county, regardless of party affiliations. The draft law has recently added an immense amount of extra labor as a part of the county clerk's duties, hard work for which no additional pay is allowed, but Mr. Holland is only glad that in this way he can "do his bit." January 27, 1892, Frank Holland and Alma E. Adamson were united in marriage. Mrs. Holland is a daughter of W. W. Adamson, of Montrose, Henry county, Missouri. To this union has been born one child, a son, Roy D., who is employed as deputy clerk of Bates county. The marriage of Roy D. Holland and Fay Harper, of Butler, Missouri, was recently solemnized. The Hollands have a wide circle of close personal friends and no family in this section of the state stands higher in the respect and esteem of the community than the Holland family. In Frank Holland are combined the two most marked characteris- tics of the South and the West, the careful, conservative caution of the Southern planter and the enthusiastic enterprise, that overleaps all ob- stacles and makes possible almost any undertaking, of the Western pioneer. Mr. Holland is still a young man and the future awaits him with much that is full of promise. He is a man of unquestioned integ- rity and high moral principles. 542 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Thomas L. Pettys, merchant and the treasurer of the Old Settlers' Annual Reunion Association of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the leading citizens of Butler and at the age of sixty-nine years an active and prominent business man of this city. Mr. Pettys is a native of Ohio. He v^as born in 1848 at Republic in Seneca county, son of Jobe and Augusta (Bishop) Pettys. The mother died w^hen her son, Thomas L., was an infant and the father died in northern Michigan a few years later. Thomas L. Pettys has one sister living, Mrs. Susanna Augusta Cowan, of Bend, Crook county, Oregon. The mother is interred in the cemetery at Republic in Seneca county, Ohio. Thomas L, Pettys acquired a good common school education in the public schools of Republic in Seneca county, Ohio and completed the pre- scribed course of study in the Republic High School. He came to Mis- souri with his uncle, Dr. Lyman E. Hall, who at one time was county judge of Bates county. Judge Hall died on his farm in Homer township and his remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Mulberry. Mr. Pettys made his home with his uncle. Dr. Hall, until the death of the doctor. He then left the farm and accepted a position with William Robinson, a general merchant and honored pioneer of Mulberry, and for two years young Pettys worked as clerk in Mr. Robinson's mercan- tile establishment. Mr. Pettys thought that Colorado offered superior advantages to the ambitious, young man and he resigned his position as clerk and went to that state, where he remained four months and returned to Missouri to enter the employ of Mr. Levy at Butler and for six years was thus engaged in the same building in which the Levy Mercantile Company now is located. At the close of that period of time, Mr. Pettys again left Missouri and took a claim of land in western Kan- sas in Gray county and, after having proven it, he sold this tract and came back to Butler, investing his money in a grocery store owned for- merly by Charles Denny, Butler's pioneer groceryman, and taking into partnership with him his son-in-law, Dell Welton. This firm continued in business two years and then Thomas L. Pettys disposed of his interest in the store, selling the same to Mr. Welton. The former purchased the grocery store located on the southeast corner of the public square. After conducting business for two years at the old stand Mr. Pettys moved his establishment to the John Steele building, and at this place has con- tinuously been in business ever since. For thirty-three years, Mr. Pettys has been prominent in the business and financial circles of Butler. He states that when he first came to this city there was a little frame building HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 543 on the northeast corner of the square, which structure was dignified by the name of the Bates county court house. December 25, 1889, Thomas L. Pettys and Mrs. Mary E. (Porch) Glass were united in marriage. Mrs. Pettys is a native of Cole county, Missouri, a daughter of Henry H. and Lucinda (McLean) Porch, the former, a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Porch were honored and widely known pioneers of Cole county. They were the parents of the following children: Andrew J., deceased; William N., Berlin, Oklahoma; J. W., who has been a resi- dent of Butler, Missouri since 1865; and Mrs. Thomas L. Pettys, the wife of the subject of this review. Of the early days in Bates county, Mr. Pettys can tell much and in his own delightful, inimitable rrianner relates stories of pioneer times in this section of the state. He has done much toward making the Old Settlers' Reunion an annual success. The association was organized in 1896 and the reunion is one of the biggest and most important events of the year in Bates county. The last meeting was held October 10, 1917 on the public square in Butler. Mr. Pettys was personally acquainted with many of the leading and influential men of the days gone by and he recalls that William Robinson was the first merchant at Mulberry. Mr. Robinson opened a store at that place about 1870. Dr. Lyman E. Hall was one of the most prominent citizens of western Bates county, a highly respected and intellectual pioneer physician whose practice was very extensive in the early days. He frequently made calls far beyond the confines of this county and at that time there were no fences to obstruct travel over the prairie and no roads to guide the traveler. Dr. Hall and William Robinson were the benefactors of the orphan boy, Thomas Pettys, friends whom he has always held in grate- ful remembrance and the highest esteem. Like the majority of young men, Thomas L. Pettys had to win recognition by merit alone. A multitude of obstacles in the pathway to success had to be overcome before the future looked very bright or promising. Left an orphan when but a small child, he w^as dependent for many years upon the mercies of an unmerciful world. A close observer, keen thinker, and diligent worker, Mr. Pettys seized every opportunity to profit by the knowledge of those older than he in years and experience and exceptional success has crowned his efforts. W^hile attenditig primarily to his own business affairs, Mr. Pettys is not unmind- ful of the claims every community has upon its citizens and public-spir- 544 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ited in an unobtrusive way he takes a deep interest in all movements which have for their object the betterment and uplift of the community. Thomas Franklin Lockwood, M. D., a prominent physician of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Dr. Lockwood was born January 11, 1865 in Sangamon county, a son of Isaac S. and Sarah (Dunbar) Lock- wood, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac S. Lockwood were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary Jane Bartley, Denver, Colorado; Francis Marion, a success- ful farmer of Kay county, Oklahoma ; George Harrison, of LaClede county, Missouri; Dr. Thomas Franklin, the subject of this sketch; Dr. William Albert, Ponca City, Oklahoma; Isaac Otis and Ira Elmer, twins, the former of whom was drowned at the age of twenty-one years in a vain attempt to save the life of a friend who also drowned in Osage Fork in LaClede county and the latter is now residing on a farm in LaClede county; and two children died in infancy. Isaac S. Lockwood was of Scotch descent. He was a widely known and highly respected pioneer of Barton county and was a resident of that part of the state of Missouri when the Civil War broke out and at that time he returned to Illinois. The Lockwoods had come to Missouri in the early fifties. Mr. Lockwood was a carpenter and millwright and built and operated several mills in the Ozark region and rebuilt many more. In the later years of his life, he devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits in LaClede county, to which he came after the Civil War had ended. Isaac S. Lock- wood died in 1903 at the age of sixty-six years and Mrs. Lockwood joined him in death in 1913. Both father and mother w^ere interred in the cemetery at New Hope. Dr. Lockwood's childhood and youth were spent in Illinois and Mis- souri and the public schools of both states afforded him the means of a good elementary education. He early determined to devote himself to medical work and entered Northwestern Medical College, from which institution he graduated in 1887. Dr. Lockwood completed his work at Northwestern Medical College, St. Joseph, Missouri, with a highly creditable record and then entered the Medical College of Nashville, Tennessee, from which he obtained his degree in 1895. Dr. Lock- wood began the practice of his profession at Conway, Missouri, in LaClede county and was there located for six years, coming to Butler in the autumn of 1895. He moved to his present office, on the north side of the public square in this city, about 1900. June 20, 1886, Dr. Thomas Franklin Lockwood and Ellen J. Barr HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 545 were united in marriage. Mrs. Lockwood is a daughter of Dr. S. B. F. C. Barr, who before his coming to Missouri, was a leader of the medical profession in Lebanon, Tennessee. Dr. Barr was a native of Tennessee as is also his daughter, Mrs. Lockwood. Dr. Barr was a graduate of the old Vanderbilt Medical College, of Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Barr died about the year 1881 in LaClede county, Missouri, where he had retired on a farm. To Dr. and Mrs. Lockwood have been born two children: Eda Ethel, the wife of Talmage D. Crawford, of Nevada, Missouri, and the mother of two children, Mary Carmen and Franklin DeWitt ; and Oscar Harris Lockwood, who is at home with his parents. Dr. Lockwood is a valued and worthy member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World and the Yoe- men. He is also affiliated with both the Bates County and Missouri State Medical Associations. He has served as secretarv of the Bates County Medical Society and was vice-president of the State Medical Association in 1913. At the 1914 session of the latter association, Dr. Lockwood was the orator on medicine and he delivered an address on professional reminiscences, a plea for unity in the medical profession, a scholarly talk which displayed profound erudition and elicited much praise from the different members of the society. Dr. Lockwood is the local surgeon for the Missouri Pacofic Railway Company and secretary of the Board of United States Examining Surgeons. Dr. Lockwood does not belong to the class of professional men who are content with past achievements, but he is a constant student, keeping in touch with the latest discoveries and researches of medical science. In various ways, the doctor has been and is identified with the material prosperity of his city and his name is almost invariably found in connection with all enterprises for the public welfare. J. B. Lotspeich, an honored pioneer citizen. Confederate veteran, and prosperous agriculturist, is a native of this state. Mr. Lotspeich was born October 16, 1841, at Springfield, Missouri, son of Ralph and Nancy (Gilliland) Lotspeich. Ralph Lotspeich was a native of Georgia. He came to Missouri among the earliest settlers, about 1841, and located near Springfield, later settling on a farm in Cooper county, where he died in 1895. Nancy (Gilliland) Lotspeich was a native of Tennessee. She died in 1899 and her remains were laid to rest in Pilot Grove ceme- tery in Cooper county, beside those of her husband. Ralph and Nancy (35) 546 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Lotspeich were the parents of the following children : J. B., the sub- ject of this sketch; Robert, a Confederate soldier of the Civil War, who served under General Price and was killed in the battle of Pearidge, Arkansas; James, a veteran of the Confederacy, who served under Gen- erals Price and Shelby and was shot through the hips in a skirmish in Arkansas, whose death occurred in 1898; Sarah, the widow of Marion Burney, who was killed while serving in the Confederate army in a skir- mish in Arkansas; Ossin, Yelton, Oklahoma; William, Pettis county, Missouri; Ollie, the wife of R. S. Nelson, Springfield, Missouri; and Charles, who died in Cooper county, Missouri about 1907. When J. B. Lotspeich was a youth, there were no public schools in Missouri and he was instructed at home and in private schools in Cooper county. He was a young man, twenty years of age, when the Civil War broke out and he enlisted with the Confederates and served until the close of the long struggle of four years. Mr. Lotspeich actively participated in battles fought in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee and at the time of General Lee's surrender was in Mississippi. About 1870, he located on a farm in Saline county and there remained ten years, coming to Bates county in 1880 to reside on a rented farm, which was situated where the townsite of Adrian now is, for one year. He then purchased eighty acres of land, lying near the present site of Amsterdam, and four years later traded it for a tract of one hundred sixty acres of land five miles north of Butler, paying the difference in the value of the two farms, and the latter country place is still in Mr. Lotspeich's possession and it has been his home for the past twenty years. He has been very success- ful in farming, stockraising, and feeding and in addition to his home farm has bought and now owns one hundred ten acres of land in sec- tion 21 and one hundred forty-five acres of land in section 33 in Mound township, a portion of which is the townsite of Passaic in Bates county. Mr. Lotspeich was residing on the rented farm, the townsite of Adrian, when the railroad was built through in 1880. He recalls how the town "boomed" from the very beginning, and, contrary to the general rule of places of mushroom growth, Adrian is today still one of the best towns in the county. Prior to the building of Adrian, the principal trading point for the people of that vicinity was Crescent Hill, where Henry Fair and Nelson and Henry Moudy were the leading merch- ants. Mr. Lotspeich well remembers how the whole town of Crescent Hill literally moved to Adrian, when the railroad came. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 547 In 1874. J. B. Lotspeich and Nannie Jester, daughter of Stephen and Bettie (Saunders) Jester, of Marshall, Saline county, Missouri, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Jester were natives of Ken- tucky. To J. B. and Nannie Lotspeich have been born eight children, seven of whom are now living: Luolla, the wife of C. A. Campbell, Butler, Missouri; Jester, who died in 1885 at the age of seven years; Hugh, who resides in Wyoming but receives mail from the postofihce at Decker, Montana; Ernest, who resides in Wyoming; Percy, Mecaha, Montana; Johnny, the wife of Orval Ray, Butler, Missouri; Ralph, Decker, Montana; and Frank, who was, at the time of this writing in 1917, with the United States Navy Training Camp at Mare Island, Cali- fornia studying wireless telegraphy, having enlisted at Denver, Colorado on June 18, 1917 and is now aboard the battleship "Connecticut." Mrs. Lotspeich was a member of the Christian church for several years prior to her marriage and in Saline county in 1876 Mr. Lotspeich joined the same church. Distinctively one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Bates county, J. B. Lotspeich is exceptionally worthy of mention in a work of this character, pre-eminently entitled to be classed with the enterprising, representative, "self-made" men of Missouri. The firstborn of a large family of eight children, Mr. Lotspeich enjoyed but few advantages in his youth and experienced all the privations and straits of pioneer life and war. Early in life he mastered the lessons of industry, thrift, and self-reliance, lessons few college graduates grasp, and beginning life with but limited financial resources, with innumerable difficulties to overcome, he has acquired a sufficiency of this world's goods to make the remainder of his long life of usefulness comfortable and free from care. J. R. Jenkins, president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, is one of the conspicuous figures in the history of Bates county. Mr. Jenkins had twenty-one years of experience in the banking business before he became connected with the Peoples Bank of Butler. Mr. Jenkins was born in Virginia and came to Missouri, in 1858, locating first in Henry county, and for the past forty years has been a resident of Bates county. For two terms, each of four years, Mr. Jenkins served as circuit clerk of Bates county. Since the organization of the Peoples Bank of Butler in 1908, he has been at his desk regularly every day, attending business with the same careful exactness and keen interest which charac- terized his habits when he first started in business. Mr. Jenkins is a 548 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY member of the Mother Church of Christian Science and he was one of the organizers of this church in Butler. He has taken the lead in many public enterprises, encouraging the moral as well as the material advance- ment of the community. Arthur C. Moreland, county superintendent of public instruction of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the most prominent and influential citi- zens of this county. Mr. Moreland is a native of Bates county. He was born December 1, 1883, in Osage townsrip, a son of James H. and Lucinda J. (Dejarnette) Moreland, who were the parents of five chil- dren, all of whom are now living: Arthur C, the subject of this review; Dr. George H., a prominent physician now serving as a first lieutenant in the National army; Fannie, the wife of AVilliam Papalisky, of Buffalo, New York; Grace M., the wife of Archie Thomas, of Butler, Missouri; and Miss Jessie, a well-known and popular teacher in the rural schools of Bates county, Missouri. All the children of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Moreland have been engaged in the teaching profession and each has at some time during his or her career been employed as an instructor in the schools of Bates county. James H. Moreland was born in 1853 in Shelby county, Kentucky, a son of Porter Moreland, a native of Shelby county. Porter Moreland was one of the honored pioneers of Bates county, to which he came in 1868. He settled on a small tract of land, located in Osage township, a farm originally comprising sixty-three acres, to which he later added thirty-seven adjoining acres of land. On this farm in Bates county, Missouri, Porter Moreland died in 1884 and since his death the Moreland homestead has been sold. W. L. Rider now owns the original farm of sixty-three acres and J. H. Brown owns the tract of thirty-seven acres. James H. Moreland was a youth fifteen years of age, when he came to Missouri with his parents and his mature life was all spent on the Moreland farm in Bates county, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising. Lucinda J. (Dejarnette) More- land was born in Kansas, January 31, 1860, a daughter of Joseph Dejar- nette, of French Huguenot descent. The Dejarnettes settled in Bates county as early as 1869. Mrs. Moreland died at the Moreland homestead on June 4, 1895. Eleven years later, in 1906, she was joined in death by her husband. Interment was made in Rider cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Moreland were highly respected in this county. In the early history of Bates county, the Moreland name was as it is today, the synonym of honorable and noble manhood and womanhood and no family has been more closely' identified with the growth and development of this part of Missouri than the Moreland family. ARTHUR C. MORELAND. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 549 Arthur C. Moreland is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1917. He was a student at this institution for six years and prior to entering the Normal School, he taught school in Bates county for twelve years. In April, 1915, Mr. Moreland was elected superintendent of the Bates county public schools, which position he still occupies at the time of this writing in 1917. At the present time, there are one hundred thirty-two district schools in Bates county and one hun- dred thirty of these are under the supervision of Mr. Moreland, the exceptions being the Butler and Rich Hill public schools. In his official station, Mr. Moreland has given new impetus to the cause of educa- tion in Bates county by inaugurating a number of splendid reforms and advancing the standards of proficiency for both pupils and instructors. As an educator, Arthur C. Moreland is well and .favorably known through- out the state and he takes an active interest in the various educational associations. He is himself a scholar, a man of open mind, and he has made his influence felt as a potential factor in the noble work to which he is devoting his life and energies. August 12, 1914, Arthur C. Moreland and Loe Reese were united in marriage. Mrs. Moreland takes a keen interest in school work. She was a teacher in the Butler schools at the time of her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Moreland has been born one child, a daughter, Doris. They reside in Butler at 408 West Pine street. John W, Coleman, secretary and manager of the Denton-Coleman Loan & Title Company of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's most progressive "hustlers." Mr. Coleman was born October 24, 1889 near Johnstown in Bates county, Missouri, the only son of Samuel L., Jr. and Martha A. (Eads) Coleman. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. was born in Bates county, Missouri and has lived all his life in this county. He is a son of Samuel L., Sr. and Nancy (Witt) Coleman, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. The former was born in Todd county and in early manhood came to Missouri, locating in Bates county at Johns- town in 1854 and one year later Samuel L. Coleman, Jr., the father of John W., was born in the new western home. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, the Colemans moved from Bates county to Lincoln, Missouri and there the father, Samuel L. Coleman, Sr., died in 1864. The widowed mother survived her husband many years and departed this life at Butler in 1912. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. was born at Johnstown in 1855 and he has been a resident of that place ever since. He is wel) known and highly respected in this county and 550 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY has been prominent politically, serving the county four years .as treas- urer. Martha A. (Eads) Coleman was a native of Sangamon county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel L. Coleman, Jr. were born two chil- dren: Nannie A., the wife of J. M. Kash, a prosperous agriculturist of Bates county, Butler, Missouri; and John W., the subject of this sketch. The mother died in 1916 at Butler and her remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Johnstown, Missouri. John W. Coleman attended Butler High School and Central Busi- ness College, the latter institution at Sedalia, Missouri. Mr. Coleman left school in 1908 and for four years served as deputy county treasurer of Bates county, under his father. When his term of office had expired, John W. Coleman entered the employ of Holloway & Choate and for one and a half years was engaged in insurance work with their agency. In 1915, Mr. Coleman organized the Denton-Coleman Loan & Title Company of Butler, Missouri and is the present efficient and enter- prising secretary and manager of this company. October 12, 1911, John W. Coleman and Bessie Cussins, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Cussins, of Decatur, Illinois, were united in mar- riage and to this union has been born one child, a son, Samuel T., who was born October 24, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Coleman reside in Butler on North High street. The Denton-Coleman Loan & Title Company of Butler, Missouri was organized in March, 1915, with a capital stock amounting to twenty thousand dollars and with the following officers: C. A. Denton, presi- dent; Wesley Denton, second vice-president; Samuel L. Coleman, first vice-president; John W. Coleman, secretary and manager; and J. E. Thompson, treasurer. At the time of this writing in 1917, the officers are still the same. This company paid their stockholders eight per cent, per annum until May 31, 1917, at which time they had an accumulated fund of four thousand dollars, undivided profits, that they returned to the stockholders and increased the capital stock to sixty thousand dol- lars, the officers remaining the same. The Denton-Coleman Loan & Title Company has at the present time loans in force amounting to nearly one million dollars. They have two branch offices, one at Ben- tonville, Arkansas and the other at Harrisonville, Missouri. Their loans are chiefly confined to farm land in southwestern Missouri and north- western Arkansas. The company has a complete set of abstract books- for Bates county, Missouri. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 55I Mr. Coleman is essentially a business man and a firm believer in the efficacy of honesty. He possesses keen, deliberate judgment and is seldom mistaken in his estimate of men and affairs. He is the type of man, now so rarely found, who will allow no difficulty deter him from a* purpose to which he has once addressed himself. With the busi- ness men of Butler and with the public generally, Mr. Coleman has always maintained an enviable reputation, George P. Wyatt, a lumberman of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Athens county in 1869, one of three children born to his parents, H. C. and Mary F, (Pratt) Wyatt, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The children of H. C. and Mary F. Wyatt were, as follow: Mrs. Anna Jewett, deceased; George P., the subject of this sketch ; and Edward, who died in infancy. H. C. Wyatt was born in Athens county, Ohio in 1830 and in that state was reared to maturity. At the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a young man, thirty-one years of age. He enlisted with the Thirty-sixth Ohio Infan- try and served until dangerously wounded at the battle of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863, when the Federal list of casualties totally amounted to fifty-five hundred men, after which time Mr. Wyatt was stationed as guard near Washington, D. C. until the close of the conflict. In 1871, H. C. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri and engaged in farming for several years, when he abandoned agricultural pursuits and estab- lished the lumber business on Ohio street, now known as the H. S. Wyatt Lumber Company. Mr. Wyatt purchased the Warner Lumber Company at that time and he and his son, George P., continued the busi- ness until November 19, 1915, when they were succeeded by H. S. Wyatt, son of George P., of whom further mention will be made in this review. Mary F. (Pratt) Wyatt, mother of George P., died in 1907 and H. C. Wyatt has been making his home with his son since her death. George P. Wyatt came to Butler, Missouri, with his parents when he was not yet three years of age. He attended Butler Academy and when sixteen years of age, succeeded H. C. Wyatt in the lumber busi- ness and continued in this business until 1915, when his son. H. S. Wyatt, succeeded him. In 1891, George P. Wyatt and Nettie Steele were united in marriage. Mrs. Wyatt is a daughter of John Steele, of Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt have been born five children, four of whom are now living: H. S., owner of the H. S. Wyatt Lumber Company, a progressive, ambitious, 552 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY young man and unmarried; Doris, a student at Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Illinois; Ruth, who is attending Butler High School; Esther, who is a pupil in the graded schools of Butler; and Mary, deceased. When local option was voted in at Butler, Missouri, George P. Wyatt served the city as street commissioner and marshall for four years for one dollar annually. He was afterwards elected city alderman. At the close of this term he was nominated for the office of mayor without opposition, but his health prevented his acceptance. Mr. Wyatt is now one of the directors of the Butler School Board. Wesley Denton, the capable and obliging president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, is one of Bates county's most enterprising citizens. Mr. Denton is a native of Illinois. He was born August 21, 1879, in Hamilton, son of Judge C. A. and Emma (Baldwin) Denton, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The Dentons came from Illinois to Bates county, Missouri, in 1880, locating at Rich Hill, and eight years later in October, 1888, moved to Butler. Mr. Denton, whose name introduces this review, obtained his ele- mentary education in the public schools of Butler, Missouri. He is a graduate of the Butler High School in the class of 1898. After complet- ing his high school course, Mr. Denton was employed as clerk in the postoffice at Butler, working under Postmaster A. O. Welton for seven months. On account of ill health, he was obliged to resign his position as clerk and later accepted a position, in the law office of Francesco & Clark, as stenographer, which he filled for six months and then left Butler to accept a position in Kansas City, Missouri, with the A. J. Gillispie Live Stock Commission Company in 1900. Returning to Butler, three years afterward, Mr. Denton entered the Farmers Bank of Bates County as bookkeeper. In August of the same year, 1903, he resigned his position with the Farmers Bank and entered the employ of the Missouri State Bank, as bookkeeper, and in a short time was promoted to the assistant cashiership of the bank. In 1908, J. R. Jenkins and he organized the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, and Mr. Denton was elected cashier of the institution, serving in that capacity until Jan- uary, 1918, when he was elected president. A sketch of the Peoples Bank of Butler, Missouri, is given in connection with the review of J. R. Jenkins, which will be found elsewhere in this volume. This finan- cial institution, with which Mr. Denton is connected, has proven to be one of the solid enterprises of the community and has been an important , factor in maintaining the financial credit and stability of Bates county. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 553 No small amount of the success of the enterprise is due to the indefat- igable efforts and wise discrimination of Mr. Denton, whose capabilities have been demonstrated to a marked degree. His energy and tact have done much toward pushing the bank to the front in the banking circles of this section of the state. November 25, 1911, Wesley Denton and Edith Lindsay were united in marriage. Mrs. Denton is a daughter of A. Lindsay and Alice (Wyatt) Lindsay, prominent residents of Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Denton have been born two children: Alice and Ruth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Denton are members of the Presbyterian church of Butler and Mr. Denton is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Butler Lodge No. 254. He has also served as director of the Butler Commercial Club for several years.. The greater part of Mr. Denton's life has been spent in Bates county, and he has the interests of his community as well as his own in mind. His career has been one of great activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves tire- lessly to their work. Mr. Denton is a man of earnest purpose and high ideals. A. W. WeMott, the senior member of the widely and favorably known firm of WeMott & Major, harness dealers and manufacturers, is a native of Texas. Mr. WeMott was born at Bryan, Texas, in 1861. He is of French descent, a son of T. T. and Ellen S. WeMott. His father was a native of New York and his mother of Massachusetts. T. T. WeMott was a carpenter by trade, but he also engaged in farming extensively and successfully. He came to Missouri with his fafnily in May, 1868, and settled at Butler in Bates county. The elder WeMott was well known in this city as a gentleman of exceptionally fine character, loyal to his home and friends. Wlien he was nearing the "Valley of the Shadow," at Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. WeMott requested on his death bed that he be taken back to Butler for burial, back to the old home where his friends, who had known and esteemed him for so many years, still lived. His remains rest in Butler cemetery. T. T. and Ellen S. WeMott were the parents of the following children: Herbert, deceased; Mrs. Ada Powell, Kansas City, Missouri; Alice, Kansas Citv, Missouri; Mrs. Stella Corder. Kansas City, Missouri ; Claudia and Maude, both of Denver, Colorado: and A. W., the subject of this sketch. In the city schools of Butler, Missouri, A. W. WeMott received his education. He has been employed in the harness shop, now owned by 554 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY himself and Claude Major, since 1882, working first for McFarland & Son, former owners of the establishment. Mr. WeMott had charge of the manufacturing department for twenty-five years. In April, 1916, Claude Major, who had been with the firm for eighteen years, and A. W. WeMott purchased the stock and have continued the business. This is the pioneer harness shop of Butler and is still today one of the flour- ishing business establishments in Bates county. WeMott & Major usually employ three or four assistants and they are enjoying an extensive patron- age. Both owners are skilled workmen and possess excellent business judgment. In 1889, A. W. WeMott and Flora Denny, daughter of Charles Denny, a well-remembered grocer of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. The Dennys came to Bates county among the earliest set- tlers, many years prior to the time of th-e Civil War. They were resi- dents of Butler during the troublous times of the civil conflict and did much to assist the needy, dependent people, who were reduced to penury by the long struggle. To A. W. and Flora (Denny) W^eMott have been born four sons: Theodore Charles, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; Herbert H., who is in the employ of the Levy Mercantile Com- pany of Butler, Missouri ; \\'alter, a stenographer, who is now at Fort Riley, Kansas; and Samuel, who is at home with his parents. The WelMott home is in Butler on East Dakota street. For nine years, during which period the paving of the city streets of Butler was laid, Mr. WeMott was a member of the city council. He is affiliated with the Modern W^oodmen of America at Butler. A. W. WeMott is a gentleman, whose fidelity to the duties of good citizenship, whose honor in business and industry have attracted the attention of his fellowmen and made his example worthy of emulation. John A. Silvers, attorney-at-law of Butler, Missouri is a native of Iowa and a worthy representative of an old and honored, pioneer family of Decatur county. The Silvers family were originally from Kentucky, but in the early days before Iowa was admitted as a state to the Union they moved to the territory of Iowa in 1840, having first located in Missouri about 1836. From Iowa, in 1873, "they came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a farm one and a half miles west of Butler, where the father died in 1889. Thomas Silvers was a successful farmer and stockman, a citizen who throughout life maintained an unimpeach- able record and in Bates county no one has ever been more highly regarded than was he. Elizabeth (King) Silvers was a native of Ten- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 555 nessee. She died recently at Parsons, Kansas and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri, John A. Silvers was born in Decatur, Iowa, in 1864, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (King) Silvers. When John A. Silvers was a child, nine years of age, he came with his parents to Bates county, Missouri, and was here reared and edu- cated. He attended the public schools of Bates county and Butler Academy and later studied law, reading with his brother, T. W. Silvers, and in December, 1889, was admitted to the bar. Mr. Silvers has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Bates county ever since that date. He first opened a law of^ce with W. O. Atkeson, on January 1, 1890, at Butler and afterward dissolved partnership and opened an office where he labored at law independently for many years. In 1907, Sil- vers & Dawson formed a law firm, which partnership still continues. Mr. Dawson is the present county attorney of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Silvers resided at Rich Hill, Missouri, for six years and was living in that city at the time he was elected probate judge of Bates county, taking office January 1, 1903, and serving two terms, until January 1, 1911. He was associated with Judge C. A. Denton in 1895 and 1896. Mr. Silvers well recalls the "boom days" of Rich Hill, when the streets were crowded with miners and men from the smelteries and when "booze" was plentiful and easily obtained, eight saloons doing a flourishing and prosperous business. While in Rich Hill, Mr. Silvers was appointed city attorney during the administration of William W. Ferguson, the mayor of the city, and in one year cleaned out the houses of prostitu- tion and gamblers that had infested the city, but refused a second appointment as city attorney. In 1888, John A. Silvers and Emma Hixon, daughter of Amos Hixon and Barbara (Weaver) Hixon, of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, were united in marriage. Mr. Hixon died in Pennsylvania in the late sixties and Mrs. Hixon joined him in death in 1907. Mrs. Hixon died at Butler, Missouri, To Mr. and Mrs. Silvers have been born six children: Guy E., a graduate of Butler High School and of Columbia University, who was admitted to the bar in 1916 and is now deputy clerk in the Supreme Court of Missouri; Ada, who died in the sixteenth year of her life; Elsie B., a graduate of the Wafrensburg State Normal School and a teacher of the fifth and sixth grades of the W^ebster school in Butler, Missouri; Bertie J., who has taught two terms of school in the Franklin school of Butler, Missouri, and is now in his senior year at the Warrensburg State Normal School; Anna L., an undergraduate of the Warrensburg 556 HISTORY OF BATES COUXTY State Normal School, who is now employed as teacher of the fifth and sixth grades at the ^^'ashington school in Butler, Missouri; and Mildred, who is a sophomore in the Butler High School. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Silvers reside in Butler on South Mechanic street. Both have always mani- fested a deep interest in education and Mr. Silvers has been a member of the Butler school board for twelve years. They are justly proud of their fine family of boys and girls, upon whom they have lavished all the advantages obtainable. Missouri has long been noted for the high rank of her bench and bar. Probably not one of the newer states can boast of abler jurists or attorneys. Some of them have been men of national fame, many who were distinguished in the days gone by have long since laid down their briefs, still there is scarcely a city in the state but that can produce a lawyer capable of crossing swords in forensic combat with the best and most noted legal lights in the country. In John A. Silvers we find many of the rare qualities which make the successful lawyer and jurist. Perhaps he possesses few of those dazzling, brilliant, meteoric qualities, w^hich have at times flashed along the legal horizon, riveting the gaze of the multitudes and blinding the vision for a moment, then disap- pearing, but rather the more substantial qualities which shine with a constant luster. In all that goes to make up sturdy and upright man- hood, John A. Sihers has stood pre-eminent and he has always com- manded public confidence and universal esteem. John H. Stone, the widely and favorably known treasurer of Bates county, ^Missouri, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Stone was born Decem- ber 17 , 1861, a son of \\'illiam and Agnes (Raney) Stone, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. A\'illiam Stone was a son of Joseph Stone, a veteran of the Revolutionary ^^'ar, who lived to be almost a centena- rian. Joseph Stone died at the Stone homestead in Harrison county, Kentucky. Agnes (Raney) Stone was a daughter of James Raney, who settled in E!ast Boone township. Bates county in 1876. He lived but a few brief years to enjoy the new \\'estern home. Mr. Raney died in 1886. To William antl Agnes (Raney) Stone were born two sons: J. W., a farmer residing near Adrian, Missouri; and John H.. the sub- ject of this review. In 1876, \\'illiam Stone moved with his family from Kentucky to Missouri and located on a farm, of two hundred forty acres located in East Boone township, which place was originally owned by Henry Tamer. This farm, when purchased by Mr. Stone, was a raw prairie and at that time farm land in Missouri was JOHN H. STONE. HISTORY OF liATES C(JUNTY 557 valued at five and eight dollars an acre. Mrs. Stone lived but a few months after the family came West. She died July 4, 1878, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Everett, in Cass county. For twenty years, Mr. Stone resided on his farm in East Boone township, engaged in farming and improving the land. He then retired from the active labor of the farm and moved to Butler to spend the closing years of his life quietly at the home of his son, John H. William Stone died in 1913 and his remains were laid beside those of his wife in the cemetery at Everett. Mr. Stone occupied a high place in the ranks of Bates county's most enterprising and successful agriculturists. He believed in progress and spared no trouble or labor in making his country place one of the best farms in the county. He was a public-spirited citizen and for more than a score of years was one of the dominant factors in the growth and devel- opment of East Boone township. John H. Stone attended school in Kentucky and in Bates county, Missouri. His early life was the same as the boyhood days of the average lad in the rural districts. He is a "self-made" man. for almost since childhood he has made his o"w^n way in the world. He began farming for himself on the home place in 1880 and there resided until 1896, when he moved to Adrian to engage in the work of carpentering and contracting. Mr. Stone was thus employed when, in the election" of November, 1912, he was elected treasurer of Bates county and April 1, 1913, assumed the duties of his of^ce. In the following election of November, 1916, he was re-elected county treasurer and he is the present incumbent in that ofifice. While always interested in public and political affairs, Mr. Stone has not been an active partisan and, until the time of his nomination for treasurer, he had not been known as a politician or party • -^vorker. For a number of years, his well- defined business policy and sterling honesty had been noted, and duly recognized, by his countless friends throughout the county, and it was by reason of these, and other qualifications, that his name was placed on the county ticket in the autumn of 1912. When he first entered upon the discharge of his official duties, the people, irrespective of party affiliations, predicted that Mr. Stone's career as a servant of the public would fully justify the wisdom of their choice and so far he has measured up to all expectations and has proven himself worthy, capable, and obliging, in every way deserving of the esteem and con- fidence in which he is held. December 24, 1884, the marriage of John H. Stone and Mattie 558 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Webb, daughter of T. B. and Sarah (Sharpe) Webb, was solemnized. Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Webb were both natives of Jackson county and they are now deceased. To John H. and Mattie (Webb) Stone have been born four children, three of whom are now living: Ethel, wife of H. D. Chaney, of Kansas City, Kansas; John Webb, who was accidentally killed at the age of nineteen years; Dr. W. H., a prominent dentist of liiawatha, Kansas ; and Winifred, who is serving as deputy treas- urer of Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Stone and their younger daugh- ter, Miss Winifred, reside at 204 North High street in Butler. Mr. Stone is a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Butler, and of the Blue Flag Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Butler. As a skilled mechanic, Mr. Stone enjoys more than local repute and as a business man, he is careful and methodical, possess- ing executive ability of a high order, sound judgment, keen discern- ment and foresight. John H. Stone is a man of scrupulous integrity. His word is as good as a Liberty Bond and for many years he has enjoyed the distinction of being one of the broad-minded, representa- tive citizens of Bates county. A. H. Culver, the senior member of the A. H. Culver Furniture Company of Butler, undertakers, and manufacturers of special work in store fixtures and office furniture, is a worthy descendant of a long line of furniture manufacturers. His grandfather, William Culver, was the pioneer furniture manufacturer of Shelby county, Illinois, and John L. Culver, son of William Culver, was engaged in the furniture business in Edinburg, Illinois, until the time of his death in 1873. John L. Culver was a skilled manufacturer of coffins, and in addition an expert con- tractor and architect. His factory in Edinburg, Illinois, occupied a large two-story building. Both William and John L. Culver are now deceased and they were buried in Oak Grove cemetery in Christian county, Illi- nois. A. H. Culver was born in 1853 in Sangamon county, Illinois, and in that state was reared and educated. At the early age of eighteen years, Mr. Culver began life for himself. For two years, he was employed in selling tombstones for a cousin and then he returned to his father's home and entered his employ. He soon mastered the art of coffin- making and after the death of his father continued the business estab- lished by him, remaining at home with his widowed mother for many years. Later, Mr. Culver traveled for one year as salesman for a coffin factory. He came to Butler, Missouri, in 1878, via Fort Scott and' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 559 Appleton City, overland on the stage coach from the latter city, to visit a friend and as he found Butler an inviting field, he opened a furniture and undertaking establishment afterward in partnership v^ith Mr. Young. This firm did well and prospered for three years, when the store was burned and the entire stock was a total loss, there being no insurance. This calamity broke up the business at that time and the owners were obliged to sell to P. J. Jewett, in wdiose employ Mr. Culver remained for six and a half years. For nine years, Mr. Culver clerked for the American Clothing House Company and again was one year on the road as traveling salesman. Twenty years ago, in 1897, he purchased an interest in a new and second-hand furniture store, having in addition an undertaking business, which establishment was conducted and owned by Mr. Campbell. About twelve years ago, A. H. Culver organized the A. H. Culver Furniture Company of Butler, Missouri, as a stock com- pany and shortly afterward Mr. Culver bought out the others and he and a son, C. E., and daughter, Nina L., are now conducting the business, well prepared and equipped to attend to all demands coming within their line. Mr. Culver has advanced steadily, overcoming many obstacles and forging to the front until he now ranks among the most successful business men of Bates county. Industrious and energetic, he took advan- tage of every opportunity that came his way and his honorable dealings, unquestioned integrity, and keen discernment have borne legitimate fruitage in the comfortable competence of which he is now possessor. In 1875, A. H. Culver and Julia Greenwood were united in mar- riage. Mrs. Culver is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. B. G. Greenwood, of Edinburg, Illinois. She is a native of Sangamon county. Both par- ents of Mrs. Culver are now deceased. To A. H. and Julia (Green- wood) Culver have been born three children: B. G., of Leavenworth, Kansas, who is now superintendent of the Abernathy Furniture Fac- tory of Leavenworth, Kansas; C. E., who is associated in business with his father; and Nina, who is an assistant in her father's oliice. B. G. Culver married Emma Whitsett, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the parents of two children, Ladine and Catherine. C. E. Culver married Hattie Newell, of Butler, Missouri, and they are the parents of one child, Hilda. Mr. Culver has ably filled a number of ofifices of public trust and he has always done his part to "boost" for his home town. For the past five and a half years, he has been secretary of the Butler Commer- cial Club. He was a member of the city council for one term, during 560 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY which period the municipal lights were installed in Butler, the lirst city in the state to have them. He was also a member of the first fire company of Butler. Mr. Culver has been, for the past five years, secre- tary and treasurer of the board of employment and public welfare and he was recently appointed county chairman of the County Council of Defense. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and for the past twelve years has been secretary of the Butler Lodge. Pre-eminently a man of his word, A. H. Culver long ago won the respect and confidence of ^11 with whom he came in contact and from the beginning of his career to the present time he has maintained a reputation untarnished by a single unworthy act. Such is, in brief, the record of a "self-made" man, whose life, measured by the usual stand- ards of success, presents much that is worthy of emulation. George F. Alsbach, of Butler, proprietor of one of the best restau- rants in Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Alsbach was born March 10, 1869, in Monroe county, the first-born of three children, who are now living, born to his parents, George and Mary (Powderly) x\ls- bach, a prominent pioneer family of Shawnee township, Bates county. George Alsbach was born in Germany and in his youth emigrated from the old country and came to America. He first located in Illinois, where he was married and his son, George F., was born. In 1869, the Alsbachs moved from Illinois to Missouri and settled on a farm in Shawnee township in Bates county, where the father and mother spent the remainder of their lives. Mary (Powderly) Alsbach was a cousin of T. V. Powderly, who was an influential leader in Knights of Labor circles and in the latter part of his life was labor commissioner at the port of New York and the head of the immigration department there. Mrs. Alsbach was a native of Ireland. To George and Mary Alsbach were born the following children: George F., the subject of this review; William H., of Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Annie E. Yates, Kansas City, Kansas. The father died on the farm in Shawnee township, September 23, 1900, and three years afterward his wife joined him in death. Both parents are interred in the cemetery at Butler. George F. Alsbach attended the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He well recalls the early days in School District Number 3, Shawnee township, when "spelling schools" were the attractions of the long winter evenings and contests held at the different schools in the township furnished entertainment for the neighborhoods and "literary societies" and "debating societies" met regularly. Mr. Alsbach enjoys HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 561 recalling those old days of "Town Ball" and "Whip Cracker" and delights in relating an amusing incident in his school-boy life. He was to be whipped at school the next day for some infringement of the strict school laws. Mr. Alsbach has always 'been an ardent advocate of "preparedness," and that morning went to school with his back well padded with hay, tucked in securely under his vest. Of course, he let the big girls in on his secret preparation and when the "master" com- manded him to remove his coat and proceeded to lay on the switch with much force and determination, they laughed heartily — behind their books. And George F. enjoyed it, too ! Until about ten years ago, George F. Alsbach was engaged in farming, and in raising, buying, feeding, and shipping cattle. He then resided on a farm in Shawnee township in Bates county. He left the farm in 1907 and came to Butler, where he opened a restaurant on the southeast side of the public square in this city. Three years ago, he moved his place of business to his present location, on the west side of the public square. Mr. Alsbach has an exceptionally fine restaurant and he enjoys a splendid trade. The Alsbach Restaurant opens at 5 a. m. and closes at 12 p. m. He has the following motto hanging in a conspicuous place in the restaurant: "Don't Get a Divorce. If your Wife can't Cook, Eat Here and Keep Her for a Pet." In 1899, George F. Alsbach and Nettie Jenkins, daughter of S. M. Jenkins, of Mound township. Bates county, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are now living, and the grandparents of thirty-eight children. Mrs. Alsbach's parents still reside on the home farm in Mound township. To George F. and Nettie (Jenkins) Alsbach have been born four children: George C. and Viola, who are students in the Butler High School; and Mary Catherine and Annie Rose, who are pupils in the graded schools of Butler. The Alsbach residence is in Butler on East Dakota street. Mr. Alsbach is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Fraternal Aid. He has always pursued an industrious, honorable course in life, constantly adhering to the upright principles in which he was reared, and he is highly respected and valued as a citizen. At the present price of food stufTs, only an exceptionally capable and cautious business man could possibly make (36) 562 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a success of the restaurant business, and Mr. Alsbach has been and still is making a marked success, and he is destined to continue in the future as in the past one of the enterprising, substantial, influential men of the city in which he labors and lives. Henry Reinheimer, a late prominent and influential citizen of Butler, Missouri, the founder of the Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange, was a native of Australia. Mr. Reinheimer was born March 15, 1862 at Castlemaine in the province of Victoria, a son of Peter and Catherine Reinheimer. When Henry Reinheimer was a child, six years of age, his parents emigrated from Australia and came to America, locating first in Canada, where they remained for one year and then moved to the United States, coming to Missouri in 1869 and settling in Shelby county, where the son was reared and educated. Mr. Reinheimer, the subject of this review, attended the public schools of Shelby county, Missouri. In early youth, he engaged in farm- ing, but about 1882 he had mastered the photographer's art and for several years he traveled over Shelby county engaged in the work of photography. He located at Shelbyville in 1888, where he opened a general mercantile establishment and until 1891 was one of the suc- cessful and leading merchants of that place. In 1891, Mr. Reinheimer disposed of his business in Shelbyville and moved to Butler, Missouri, where he installed a system of telephones which has developed into the Butler & Rich Hill Telephone Exchange. At that time, the Rich Hill Bank and the Bates County National Bank had a private telephone system connecting them, but so far as is known no one had as yet conceived the commercial possibilities of the telephone until the coming of Henry Reinheimer With less than one hundred telephones all told in the city of Butler, Henry Reinheimer started to put his idea into concrete working form. The charge for a telephone at that time was one dollar and twenty-five cents for residence purposes and one dollar and seventy-five cents for business purposes, payable quarterly. The people of Butler called him the "crazy Dutchman," when Mr. Reinheimer started business, but undaunted he proceeded to carry out his conception, for his own expe- rience at Shelbina and Shelbyville before coming to Butler had con- vinced him that he could make a success of the commercial telephone, and time has proven his judgment sound and correct. The telephone busi- ness grew so rapidly that within a very short time the farmers took up the proposition of connecting with the lines installed by Mr. Reinheimer HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 563 and they ran lines to the city limits of Butler, where he connected with them. At the time of his death, in 1912, Mr. Reinheimer had about eleven hundred telephones in operation in Bates county, with exchanges at Butler, Rich Hill, and Spruce. After his death, his widow continued to control the business for three years, when she sold to H. W. Neusch- afer, a nephew of the deceased owner, who sold the business after a few months to F. M. Campbell, the present owner. In 1905, Henry Reinheimer and Maudelle Wood, daughter of Dr and Mrs. A. G. Wood, of Lentner, Missouri, were united in marriage. Dr. A. G. Wood was a native of Santiago, Cuba, and Mrs. Wood was born in Kentucky, Doctor Wood was a nephew of Fernando Wood, at one time mayor of New York City and a noted politician of that state. The doctor came to Missouri when he was a child, five years of age, coming with his parents, who settled in Shelby county. Dr. A. G. and Mrs. Wood were the parents of nine children, all of whom are now living: Fernando, of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Maudelle (Wood) Reinheimer, the widow of the subject of this review; Miss Bunton, of Butler, Mis- souri; Mrs R. J. Smith, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. A. E. Smith, Shelbina, Missouri; Lamar, Monroe City, Missouri; and Clunette, Gertrude, and Dr. A. N. Wood, all of whom resided at home with their widowed mother in Lentner, Missouri. Dr. A. N. Wood is now a first lieutenant, Medi- cal Department, United States Aviation Corps, Waco, Texas. Doctor Wood, Sr., died in 1914 at the age of eighty-three years. To Henry and Maudelle Reinheimer were born two children, Mary Catherine and Martin Wood. Mr. Reinheimer's untimely death occurred at San Antonio, Texas, January 22, 1912. Mrs. Reinheimer and her two chil- dren reside in Butler at 403 North Delaware street. Mr. Reinheimer was affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a worthy and consistent member of the German Lutheran church. He was still a young man, but fifty years of age, when cut down by the Grim Reaper, yet those fifty years were crowded with great activity and endeavor and were not lived in vain. The life of man is much like the waves of the sea. They flash for a few brief moments, reflecting the sun's golden beams, then are dashed upon the shore and disappear forever. The babe toddling from its crib is the man of tomorrow and with the lapse of a few short years is tottering toward the grave. Many in the innocence and beauty of childhood are taken to that "mysterious bourne whence no traveler ever returns," thousands like Henry Reinheimer in manhood's vigor and 564 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY prime answer the last summons, while a few, like aged pilgrims going home from a long journey, lay down their staffs after three-quarters of a century of ceaseless toil and endeavor, yet at its greatest length how very short life is ! It is for us, the living, to catch the inspiration from lives like Mr. Reinheimer's and emulate their virtues so that, when the "summons comes to join the innumerable caravan which moves to that mysterious realm, w^e may, like him, approach the grave, "Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." Dr. W. E. Lampton, a prominent and successful osteopathic physi- cian of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Cooper county. He was born in 1858, a son of Benjamin C. and Anne (Wear) Lampton. Benjamin C. Lampton was a native of Cooper county, Missouri, and a veteran of the Mexican War. He moved with his family from Cooper county to Bates county and in 1881 located at Butler, where for several months he conducted a hotel. One year later, the Lamptons moved from Butler to Altona, where Mr. Lampton purchased a general store and for several years was postmaster. The mother died about the year 1868. Benjamin C. Lampton departed this life at Butler in 1904. Doc- tor Lampton has one brother living: Reverend T. A. Lampton, who is engaged in ministerial work in Oklahoma. In the public schools of Cooper county. Doctor Lampton obtained his elementary education, which was later supplemented by a thorough medical education, received at Kirksville, Missouri. He graduated with the class of 1904 from the medical school and, immediately upon com- pleting the course, opened his of^ce in the Farmers Bank building at Butler, where he has been located for the past fourteen years and now has a splendid and lucrative practice. Doctor Lampton was inter- ested in osteopathy for many years prior to attending school, due to the fact that his wife had been cured of a chronic disease by a physi- cian of this school when others had failed. Many people confound osteo- pathy with faith cure and massage treatments and are ignorant of the basic principles of this method of treatment. The underlying idea of osteopathy is the adjustment of structure, aiding the nerve and blood supply, and all schools of osteopathy now have a four-year course of medical training, at which time the structure of the human system is carefully studied. ?,. In 1884, Dr. W. E. Lampton and Nannie Covington were united DR. W. E. LAMPTON. "^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 565. in marriage. Mrs. Lampton was born in 1862 at Bolivar, Missouri, daughter of the pioneer harness maker of that place, who came to Bolivar from Kentucky. Doctor and Mrs. Lampton are the parents of one child, a daughter, Mrs. Samuel Armstrong, of Oklahoma City, Okla- homa. The Lampton home is in Butler on North Main street. Doctor and Mrs. Lampton are well known in the best society circles of Butler and they are numbered among the most highly respected families of Bates county. William M. Arnold, of Butler, is a native of Lafayette county, Mis- souri. He is a son of John E. and Maggie C. (Allen) Arnold. John E. Arnold was born near Leesburg, Virginia, and in childhood came with his father. Reverend Mosby Arnold, to Missouri. Reverend Arnold was a leading pioneer preacher, a gifted Methodist minister, who entered government land near Lexington, Missouri, paying one dollar and twenty- five cents for each acre of his large tract, and on his farm built the home of walnut logs, even the shingles being of walnut. He died on the Mis- souri farm at the age of eighty-six years. John E. Arnold and his family resided eleven miles west of Lexington until 1882, when they left the farm and moved to Butler. Mr. and Mrs. John E. Arnold were the parents of eleven children, as follow: Allen R., Kansas City, Missouri; Henry B., Big Spring, Howard county, Texas; Walter S., Kansas City, Missouri; Dr. T. W., a well-known and successful dentist of Butler, Missouri; Mrs. T. A. Black, deceased; Mrs. G. W. Logan, formerly of Cairo, Illinois, and now deceased; Mrs. Jesse E. Smith, Butler, Missouri; Agnes, Butler, Missouri; William M., the subject of this sketch; and two children died in infancy. The father died in 1913 and interment was made in the ceme- tery at Butler. Mrs. Maggie C. Arnold, the widowed mother, still resides at Butler and she is now eighty-two years of age. William M. Arnold was reared and educated in Lafayette county, Missouri. He recalls how, in the sixties, the James and Younger boys were want to call at his grandfather's home and demand food — which never failed to be forthcoming immediately. On the occasion of one of their visits, one of the intruders promised to bring him a revolver, such as he himself carried, when he came again, but much to the boy's dis- appointment the promise was never fulfilled. As William M. Arnold was then but a very small lad, it was perhaps best that it was not. He remem- 'j?rs, too, the throngs of settlers, who camped for many weeks near a large spring on his grandfather's pasture, when Order Number 11 com- pelled Jackson county people to leave their farms and find sustenance 566 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY elsewhere. Amid the scenes of pioneer life and war, Mr. Arnold grew to manhood. He has made his own way in life since he was eighteen years of age. For several years, he was engaged in farming in Lafayette county. After coming to Butler he entered the employ of the Charles Sprague Grocery Company and later the Ed Steele Grocery Company. Mr. Arnold served as constable of Mt. Pleasant township for six years. He has been employed for the past twenty-two years by Mrs. E. Angela Scully, owner of the Scully lands in Bates county, as clerk at Butler, Missouri. In 1886, William M. Arnold was married the first time to Lillie Patton, at Foster, Missouri. She died in 1899, leaving three children: Mabel, now the wife of W. L. Hodge, a prosperous merchant of Petty in Lamar county, Texas; Kate, the wife of J. H. McBee, manager of a large cotton plantation near Petty, Texas; and W. D., of Salt Lake City, Utah, who is a printer by trade. The mother was interred in the cemetery at Butler. Mr. Arnold was married a second time in 1900. Mrs. Arnold was formerly Mrs. Annie E. Smith, of Butler, Missouri. To William M. and Annie E. Arnold have been born two children: Marion F. and Asenith E. Mrs. Arnold, by her former marriage, is the mother of one son, Walker T. Smith, who enlisted with Company A, Twelfth Missouri Infantry, soon after the declaration of war by the United States and is at the present time located at San Francisco, Cali- fornia. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold reside in Butler at 501 West Fort Scott street. Frank H. Crowell, the well-known agent for the forty thousand acres of farm land in Bates county, Missouri, owned by Mrs. E. Angela Scully, of Washington, D. C, is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Crowell is a son of Joseph D. and Hulda S. (Lewis) Crowell. The lands, for which Mr. Crowell is agent, were purchased in 1894 by Mrs. Scully. He says, "If I were writing my biography, I would simply state, T am alive and glad of it!' " Dr. John W. Choate, retired physician and ex-representative of Bates county, Missouri, formerly United States pension examiner for this district, is a native of Bates county. Doctor Choate was born in 1858 in Deepwater township, a son of Nicholas and Pernelia Isabel (Wilson) Choate. Nicholas Choate was born in 1817 in Baltimore, Mary- land, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Elias Choate. In his early childhood, Nicholas Choate moved with his parents to Kentucky and in that state, in Logan and Simpson counties where they settled, spent his youth and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 567 was educated. When he was nineteen years of age, he left Kentucky and came on horseback to Missouri, locating first at St. Louis in 1836. For several years, Mr. Clioate was employed as a farm laborer in St. Louis and Lincoln counties, Missouri. He was married in 1846 in Lincoln county, Missouri, to Lucinda Uptegrove and to this union were born two sons, who died in early manhood. The mother also died early in life and in 1854 Mr. Choate came to Bates county and entered a tract of land in Deepwater township, a farm comprising four hundred forty acres which he entered from the government at seventy-five cents an acre. Four years later he settled on this tract. In 1858, Nicholas Choate and Pernelia Isabel Wilson, daughter of Isaac and Rebecca Wilson, highly respected and prominent pioneers of Deepwater township, natives of Caldwell county, Kentucky, were united in marriage and to them were born five children, two of whom are now living: John W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Sarah J. Nickell, of Deepwater township, who is the present owner of one-half the farm entered from the government by her father, which land has never been transferred except from the gov- ernment to Nicholas Choate and from Doctor Choate deeded to Mrs. Nickell; and Mrs. Martha Keziah Lewis, who died at the age of twenty years, leaving one child, a daughter, Emma Lewis, who is now deceased. The mother died at the age of fifty years in 1878 and her remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Johnstown, Missouri. During the troublous times of the Civil War, Nicholas Choate remained on his Bates county farm, engaged in agricultural pursuits, with the exception of fourteen days, when he was just across the line in Henry county. All his horses and cattle were stolen during his absence, but he was able to obtain the return of his cattle and by using oxen in place of horses in his farm work succeeded in raising four good crops during the war without the aid of horses. Nicholas Choate was an honest, honorable, upright citi- zen and he lived to a venerable age, his death occurring in 1898 at the age of eighty-two years. He was buried beside his wife in the cemetery at Johnstown. Mrs. J. R. Simpson, nee Margaret Lutsenhizer, who is yet living at the advanced age of seventy-five years, was the first instructor of Doctor Choate. She was at that time a young girl and she took much pleasure in teaching the embryo physician his ''a-b-c's." Doctor Choate later attended the public schools of Bates county and Butler x\cademy. He is a graduate of the medical department of Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri, in the class of 1886, and at that institution was 568 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY one of two students receiving honorable mention and he also received the second prize for commendable work done in chemistry. Dr. John W. Choate opened his office and began the practice of medicine at Creighton, Missouri immediately after obtaining his medical degree. After six months, he left Creighton and moved his ofifice to Johnstown, where he purchased the practice of Dr. Matchett in the medical profession and and in the drug business for thirteen years, when he came to Butler, in 1899, and since that time has not practiced medicine. Upon coming to Butler, Doctor Choate engaged in the real estate and loan business and for several years was thus employed. He has been, for the past four years, the farm and loan inspector for the Walton Trust Com- pany, a position he resigned recently upon the occasion of his son, Leslie R. Choate, joining the National Army. He purchased the interest of M. E. Fulbright in the Choate & Fulbright Real Estate Loans & Insur- ance and the firm is now Choate & Son. Doctor Choate is one of the directors of the Walton Trust Company of Butler. He was elected representative from Bates county to the Missouri State Legislature in 1892 and served two terms and in 1896 was re-elected for two years, under the administrations of Gov. William J. Stone. Prior to that time, the doctor had been brought prominently into public notice, when he was appointed under Cleveland's first presidential administration, 1885- 1889, United States pension examiner for his district, a position which he most ably filled. In 1889, Dr. John W. Choate and Lulu L. Jackson, daughter of Judge John L. and Mattie E. Jackson, of Cass county, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this union have been born two children, a son, Leslie R., who is a graduate of the Butler High School, of Sedalia Business CoUege, Sedalia, Missouri, who for the past two years has been with the firm of Choate & Fulbright Real Estate, Loans & Insurance, and at the present time is associated with his father in business, though expecting to be called by the government into service. Leslie R. Choate was with General Clark on the border in the recent trouble between our country and Mexico, serving as the general's secretary. Young Choate was recently transferred to the department of sergeant of ordnance and is stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He is an intelligent, alert, young man of excellent capabilities and will "make good" in any line of en- deavor he chooses. The youngest child died in infancy. Doctor and Mrs. Choate reside in Butler at 405 North Main street. They are well and favorably known in the best society circles of the city and county HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 569 and they number their friends by the score in this section of Missouri. Doctor Choate recalls that in the early days of the history of Bates county, people living in the vicinity of Johnstown firmly believed that the prairies between that place and Butler would never be fenced. Mr. Borland, now residing near Johnstown, made .the remark one day in the presence of Nicholas Choate, while looking across Deepwater val- ley, "Surely this will be fenced sometime, but I will never live to see it." Mr. Borland is still living there on his farm near Johnstown, amid the splendidly improved country places of the county and the fences of hedge and wire suggest the marvelous changes which have come within the lifetime of a single individual. Doctor Choate has always taken a deep interest in everything pertaining to the early his- tory of Bates county. A pile of stone and brick and a clearing of perhaps one acre, overgrown with brush and trees, which evidently had been made long before the earliest known settlers came, was discovered by the doctor, when he was a young man, at the line between Bates and Henry counties. Wondering if this small patch of once cleared ground and the pile of brick and stone might be a clue to the name of one who had once lived there. Doctor Choate searched the records of the original government survey, made in 1837, and found among the notes that the line between the two counties at this particular point ran through "Christopher Greenup's garden" and again in the report mention was made that farther north another Greenup, probably a brother, lived just across the line in Henry county. The latter pioneer resided on land later owned by Isaac Wilson, the maternal grandfather of Doctor Choate. These old pioneers were evidently hunters and trappers, who went farther west when the incoming settlers ten and fifteen miles away crowded them out. Doctor Choate is an excellent citizen, belonging to that large and eminently respectable class of business men who have done so much to develop the resources of our country and give stability to the body politic. He is highly esteemed by his neighbors and friends and stands "four square to every wind that blows," a man in whom the citizens of Bates county repose universal confidence and trust and who has proven himself worthy of this mark of favor. J. M. Christy, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. Doctor Christy was born at the Christy homestead in Kentucky a son of Ambrose B. and Eliza J. (Logan) Christy, both of whom were natives of Ken- 570 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tucky. The Christys came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1865 and settled at Fayetteville, where the father died twelve years later, in 1877. Eliza J. (Logan) Christy was a cousin of John A. Logan, the illustrious states- man and general, of Jackson county, Illinois, who was nominated for the vice-presidency of the United States in 1884 on the ticket with James G. Blaine. To Ambrose and Eliza' J. Christy were born four children, as follow; Mrs. W. E. Seamands, Warrensburg, Missouri; W. A., Mansfield, Missouri; Dr. J. M., the subject of this review; and Mrs. Lula E. Rowe, formerly of Butler, Missouri, now of Boise, Idaho. Doctor Christy attended the first term of school held at the War- rensburg State Normal School and afterward taught school for four terms in Linn district in Johnson county, Missouri. The doctor is a graduate of the Kentucky State University, Lexington, Kentucky in the class of 1877 and of the New York Homeopathic Medical College in the class of 1882. In 1916, Doctor Christy attended the annual meeting of the alumni associations of both institutions, of which he is an alumnus, and also visited both colleges, finding a few of his former classmates and in each school but one professor who was one of the faculty at the time of the doctor's graduation. Doctor Christy also attended the meeting of the alumni of Missouri State University at Columbia upon his return from Lexington, Kentucky. Dr. J. M. Christy began the practice of medicine at Fayetteville in Johnson county and in December, 1880 located at Butler, where he has ever since remained. In 1876, Dr. J. M. Christy was united in marriage with T. Fanny Ellis, daughter of James M. Ellis, a highly respected and well-known citizen of Warrensburg, Missouri. To this union have been born three children, two died in infancy and a daughter, Stella A., who is now the wife of George G. Gilkeson, formerly of Warrensburg, Missouri, now of Chicago, Illinois, The doctor and Mrs. Christy reside in Butler on North Main street. Doctor Christy is a public-spirited citizen, a man of widely varied business interests, and in countless ways he has been and still is promi- nently identified with the material prosperity of Butler and his name is invariably found in connection with all enterprises for the public welfare of Bates county. He was one of the organizers of the Peoples Bank of Butler, and he is still one of the directors of this financial institution, and prior to that was a director of the Missouri State Bank for twenty years. Doctor Christy is a stockholder in the Walton Trust Company, the Missouri State Bank, the Peoples Bank, the American Trust Com- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY C5;:i pany of Warrensburg, Missouri, and the International Life Insurance Company of St. Louis, Missouri. The Christy farm, one mile south of Butler, is one of the beautiful country places of Missouri. There are two ditTerent and complete sets of improvements upon the place, two comfortable residences and five barns. Doctor Christy is interested in breeding registered Poland China hogs and he is now the owner of the first herd of Holstein cattle brought to Bates county, Missouri, a herd comprising fourteen cows which were brought to Missouri from Iowa and formerly belonged to different par- ties, Mr. Douglass, a well-known dairyman, owning a part of the num- ber. A lake on his farm, of four hundred twenty-three acres of valuable land, covers four and a half acres of the place and the doctor has this stocked with fish and has bathing and swimming facilities, including a bathhouse near the shore of the lake. Any spot along the water is a delightful place to rest on summer evenings. Doctor Christy says that his farm is his "side line" and looking after it, his recreation and he believes that it wall add ten years to his life time. Wesley Denton, cashier of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with Dr. J. M. Christy organized the Bates County Calf Club and in October, 1917 brought to this county and distributed within a few miles of Butler one hundred nine head of high grade Holstein calves among the chil- dren of Bates county. In case the youngsters were unable to pay cash, a note was taken granting the privilege of paying for the calf one year later. At the end of the year, in October, 1918, the calves were to be brought to Butler and sold at auction. One of the wise provisions, for the benefit of the children, is that in case of the death of the calf three- fourths of the cost price will be paid to the loser by the other parties who purchased calves. In 1918, the profitableness of raising good grade cattle will be thoroughly demonstrated and proven. The basic idea of this most unusual departure of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with which Doctor Christy is connected, is to encourage the handling of the best grade dairy cattle, to interest the boys and girls in the most profitable side of stockraising, and at the same time to build up the farms so long devoted to grain. And in the years to come, the one hundred nine firm friends of the Peoples Bank of Butler this business venture will assuredly make may prove to be a valuable asset. Doctor Christy has also prom- ised Bates county a cheese factory, provided that sufficient support is guaranteed, his unselfish motive being to encourage the dairy business in this section of the state. 572 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The reader has undoubtedly concluded, and correctly, from the fore- going brief synopsis of Doctor Christy's career that his has been a very busy life, into which a multitude of interests have been crowded. The lessons mastered in his youth taught him industry, enterprise, and human- ity. The medical profession in Bates county is honored by having such as he a worker among and with them. Dr. J. M. Christy is widely recog- nized as one of the best posted and most intellectual gentlemen in the city of Butler. James J. McKee, an honored pioneer of Bates county, is one of the highly valued citizens of Mount Pleasant towmship. The McKee home- stead is located on the Butler and Appleton City road and a portion of the residence has been standing since 1869, when Mr. McKee settled in Bates county. Mr. McKee is a native of Richland county, Ohio. He was born September 14, 1837, a son of J. W. and Isabella (Fulton) McKee, both of whom were natives of Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania. The McKees moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, where the son, James J., was born, and thence to California in the spring of 1850. Mr. McKee was outfitted for the journey across the plains from Mis- souri to California at Independence, Missouri. He crossed the plains and mountains with oxen and upon reaching California obtained employ- ment in the mines and in November of the same year he contracted chotera and died. It will be recalled that this was the period of the excited rush for the newly discovered gold region in California, that from 1848 until 1861 the mines there yielded more than five hundred million dollars for which thousands of good men gave their lives. J. W. and Isabella McKee were the parents of eight children: Alexander, deceased; William F., deceased; James J., the subject of this review; J. P., who resides in McDonald county, Missouri; Mary, the wife of George McCully, deceased; Sarah, the wife of Houston Culbertson, deceased; Isabelle, Butler, Missouri; and Anna K., the wife of D. N. Thompson, Butler, Missouri. In 1869, James J. McKee and D. N. Thompson came to Bates county, Missouri, from Henry county, Iowa, and purchased one hun- dred sixty acres of land, the present home place of Mr. McKee, and later added to their holdings two hundred forty acres of land located one mile north of Butler. Mr. Thompson bought and sold stock, driv- ing to Appleton City to make shipments. He afterward purchased Mr. McKee's interest in the farm one mile north of Butler. The McKee residence, a part of which was built in 1869 and rebuilt in the eighties, ^^^^^Bfc. *^fe'''^'>- _™_2^^H^B ■ H ^Bw«*l ^1 I^H CPi H ^^^^^^^^^^^H 1 L 1 JAMES J. McKEE AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 573 is an eight-room structure. The farm owned by James J. McKee is considered one of the best in the township. The land slopes to the south and is well improved and located, the improvements including a barn, constructed of native lumber, 24 x 51 feet in dimensions, another one, 44 x 60 feet in dimensions, and numerous sheds. Mr. McKee put up the first barn in 1877. He has at present on the farm fifteen head of Hereford cattle, all registered cows, which breed he began raising in 1899 when he purchased three head of registered Herefords from James McKittrick, of' Greenwood, Jackson county, Missouri, and he has had as many as fifty registered Herefords on his place at one time since he became interested in raising them. Previous to 1899, Mr. McKee handled Jersey cattle extensively, but he learned at that time that dairy cattle were not in the same demand as beef cattle and he sold his herd, having no dif^culty to find a ready market in the vicinity of his farm. In addition to stock raising, Mr. McKee takes much pleas- ure in horticulture and he keeps his ten-acre orchard in splendid condi- tion and finds apple growing a very profitable business. His favorite apples for commercial purposes are : Mammoth Black Twig, Ben Davis, Gano, Jonathan, and Winesap. Of the early maturing varieties, he prefers the Early Harvest, Bellflower, Maiden Blush, and Rome Beauty. In 1872, the marriage of James J. McKee and Sarah Ann Hoffman, of Mount Pleasant township, was solemnized. Mrs. McKee is a native of Virginia, born on January 29, 1849. She came to Bates county in 1868 with her uncle. James Hoffman. To James J. and Sarah Ann McKee have been born three children: Newton W., who w^as killed at the age of twenty-one years by lightning while assisting with the work on the home farm; Mary B., the wife of John C. Lane, son of J. C. Lane, Butler, Missouri; and James F., at home with his parents. In former years, James J. McKee follow^ed freighting from the end of the Union Pacific railroad as it was built west. He made a trip to California in 1864, starting from Iowa. His second long journey was from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the latter trip, he was caught in a blinding snowstorm when about fifty-five miles from his destination and all his cattle were lost in the storm. Mr. McKee hired Mexicans to take the two wagons on into Santa Fe, for which he was obliged to pay them two hundred dol- lars, at the rate of about four dollars a mile — and that was in the sixties. Men of Mr. McKee's caliber are not to be found in everv commun- 574 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ity, but wherever such a one is found the impress of his personality will be seen indelibly stamped upon the community. In this brief life history is exemplified the truth that success is the result of labor — well-directed, untiring labor. Beginning life with few advantages and handicapped by many discouraging circumstances, left fatherless at the age of thirteen years when he needed most a father's advice and counsel, Mr. McKee has triumphed over every obstacle and has steadily worked himself upward from penury to affluence and he is now num- bered among the most substantial citizens of Mount Pleasant township, where for many years he has enjoyed precedence as one of the most intelligent and enterprising men of Bates county. He has himself lived a good, clean, moral life and both he and Mrs. McKee are deeply inter- ested in whatever tends to benefit the public and exert a wholesome influence upon the community. We are proud to be able to still num- ber Mr. and Mrs. McKee among the best citizens of Bates county. The ranks of the brave and noble pioneers are all too rapidly thinning. B. B. Canterbury, ex-deputy county clerk and secretary of the Bates County Old Settlers' Association, owner and manager of Real Estate & Loans at Butler, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Canterbury was born December 7, 1857 at Little Louisa, Kentucky. He is a son of R. F. and Fannie E. (Hereford) Canterbury, who were the parents of six children, as follow: Elizabeth, who married Mr. Erwin and she is now deceased; Ben B.. the subject of this review; Eudora, the wife of Mr. Daniels, Den- ver, Colorado; Susan Ann, the wife of Dr. J. T. Walls, Portland, Oregon; George M., Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Samuel S., who died in 1912 and is buried at Kansas City, Missouri. R. F. Canterbury, a native of Ken- tucky, came to Missouri in June, 1858 with his family and they located in Sullivan county, moving thence to Saline county and in 1872 to Bates county. The father purchased the Tomlinson & Shorb mercantile estab- lishment at Burdett and conducted that store from 1872 until 1881 and then moved the stock of goods to Archie, Missouri, where he continued in business for two years. From Archie, Mr. Canterbury came to Butler and resided until 1888, when he went west. He returned to Kansas City, Missouri in 1903 and at that place his death occurred two years later. Mr. Canterbury's remains were interred in the Mount Washington ceme- tery at Kansas City. Mrs. Canterbury, mother of B. B., the subject of this sketch, departed this life in 1901 and she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Kansas City. The Canterburys were well known and highly respected in Bates county, where they were numbered among the best families and most progressive and valued citizens. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 575 B. B. Canterbury obtained his education in the public schools of Mis- souri and at the Warrensburg State Normal School, which institution he attended one term. Mr. Canterbury has made his own way in the world since he was a youth nineteen years of age. He served as deputy county clerk for one year, serving under W. E. Walton. Following this, he engaged in the real estate and abstract business for several years. In 1888, he moved to Howell county, Missouri, and there resided for four- teen years. While a resident of Howell county, Missouri, Mr. Canter- bury served four years as probate judge. He returned to Bates county, Missouri in 1902 and opened an office at Butler, where he has continued the real estate and loan business ever since. He is pushing the amortized or rural credit plan of farm loans, of which an example is given : Twenty years ago, a farmer borrowed one thousand dollars at six per cent., straight interest on the old-fashioned plan. He has renewed the loan at intervals with constant expense of renewals, commissions, abstract charges, and recorder's fees, and he still owes the principal, one thousand dollars. He has paid sixty dollars interest every year for twenty years or a total of twelve hundred dollars. The old-fashioned loan of one thou- sand dollars has cost the farmer, not including commissions, abstract charges, and recorder's fees, twenty-two hundred dollars. Under the amortized plan, he would have paid, as follows: First eleven payments, of eighty-five dollars and sixty-eight cents each, a total of nine hundred seventy-five dollars and forty-eight cents. Last nine payments, of eighty-three dollars and sixty-three cents each, a total of seven hundred fifty-three dollars and twelve cents. The sum total of all payments would be one thousand seven hundred twenty-eight dollars and sixty cents, leaving a balance of four hundred seventy-one dollars and forty cents in favor of the amortized plan. Loans are made up to one-half the cash value of the land and loans from five hundred to ten thousand dollars can be made by Mr. Canter- bury, The payments may be made at any time designated and at any bank the borrower may choose. In June, 1880, B. B. Canterbury and Frances M. Pentzer were united in marriage. Mrs. Canterbury was born at Alexandersville, Ohio, a daughter of H. V. Pentzer, who came to Butler about 1870. Mr. Pentzer died in 1905. To Mr. and Mrs. Canterbury have been born two chil- dren: Katie L., the wife of O. A. Heinlein, manager of the Bennett- Wheeler Mercantile Company and mayor of Butler; and Deane B., who is with the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler. In 1910, B. B. Canterbury was elected secretary of the Bates County 576 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Old Settlers' Association, which position he still holds. At the last meet- ing of the association, the oldest settler was Judge Clark Wix, the oldest man present was Samuel Mellon, aged ninety-three years, and the oldest woman was Mrs. Catherine Patty, aged ninety-two years. Mr. Canterbury takes an unusual interest in governmental affairs. He reads widely and extensively and is well known as a clear thinker and in conversation expresses himself concisely, fearlessly, and in a con- vincing manner. As was his father before him, Mr. Canterbury is highly esteemed among the enterprising, clear-headed, upright citizens and his family is widely known among the best in Bates county. Judge A. B. Owen, one of Bates county's leading citizens, ex-collec- tor of taxes in Grand River township and in Bates county, ex-treasurer of Bates county, and ex-mayor of Butler, is a native of this county. Mr. Owen was born in Grand River township, September 18, 1856. He is a worthy representative of a sterling pioneer family of this part of Mis- souri, a son of Crayton and Elizabeth (Haggard) Owen, both of whom were natives of Kentucky and among the earliest settlers of this state. Crayton Owen was born in Clark county, Kentucky in 1834. He came to Missouri with his father, Martin B. Owen, in 1842. The Owens set- tled on Elk Fork creek, where the father entered several hundred acres of land. Their trading was done at Lexington, Missouri, and the father would go with a yoke of oxen and a large w^agon once a year and at that time would lay in a supply of provisions sufficient to last the twelve months. During the Civil War, when Order Number 11 was in force, Martin B. Owen moved wnth his family to Pettis county, Missouri, return- ing after the war had ended to the homestead, where he died and is buried. Crayton Owen was employed by the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, when they were building the road through Pettis and John- son counties. After the Civil War closed, he returned to the farm and engaged in cattle buying and shipping. Mr. Owen was widely known as a successful stockman in Bates county, as a large shipper of stock. His shipping point was Holden, forty miles away. Elizabeth (Haggard) Owen was a daughter of Andrew Haggard, a native of Kentucky and a highly respected pioneer of Pettis county. In that county, Mrs. Owen was reared, educated, and married. At her father's home near Sedalia, Crayton Owen and Elizabeth Haggard were united in marriage in 1854 and soon afterward they settled on a farm in Grand River township. Mr. and Mrs. Crayton Owen were the parents of the following children: A. B., the subject of this review; Mrs. M. E. Powell, deceased; James, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 577 a civil engineer, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Anna Reeder, Adrian, Mis- souri; Mrs, May Taylor, Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Dottie Mitchell, Kansas City, Missouri; and Crayton, Jr., a prominent lumberman of Idaho. The father died in 1890 and his remains were buried in the family burial ground on the home place. Mrs. Owen died in 1916 at the age of seventy- five years and she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Kansas City, Missouri. In the district schools of Bates and Pettis counties, Missouri, A. B. Owen obtained a good common school education. Until he was twenty- five years of age, he remained at home with his parents and then at that time began farming independently in Grand River township and engag- ing in stock raising. Mr. Owen served as collector of taxes in his town- ship for nearly fifteen years prior to his election as county treasurer of Bates county in 1896 and re-election in 1898. He moved from the farm to Butler in the autumn of 1896 and at that time purchased his present home, a pleasant and comfortable residence located at 513 West Ohio street. Following the expiration of his four-year term in the treasurer's office, A. B. Owen was appointed by Governor Folk to the position of county collector of taxes to complete an unexpired term. When Estes Smith, judge from the northern district, died, Mr. Owen was appointed by Governor Majors to fill the unexpired term of eighteen months. A. B. Owen has served two terms as mayor of Butler and while an incum- bent in that office, there were more sidewalks built than at any other time in the history of the city. Though he is not now an official in public service, Mr. Owen has still plenty of work to do in managing and attend- ing to his financial interests, being the owner of property in Butler and Bates county and in Kansas City and a director of the Missouri State Bank and a director and stockholder of the Walton Trust Company. December 23, 1879, A. B. Owen and Edna F. Reeder were united in' marriage. Mrs. Owen is a daughter of Joseph Reeder, of Mingo town- ship. Mr. Reeder was a native of Virginia. He settled in Mingo town- ship prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. To A. B. and Edna F. Owen has been born one child, a daughter, Jennie, who is now the wife of Dr. J. S. Newlon, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Doctor and Mrs. Newlon are the parents of one child, a son, Robert Owen. Mr. and Mrs. Owen are active and valued members of the Chris- tian church, of which Mr. Owen has been a member since he was twenty- one years of age and a deacon for almost that entire period. Mr. Owen is a man of sound, practical sense, unflinching integrity, (37) 5/8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and scrupulous honor. He is a progressive business man in all that the term implies. He has always taken an active interest in the growth and development of his township and county. J. W. Eggleson, a prominent citizen of Bates county and a well- known, progressive business man of Butler, Missouri, is a native of Illi- nois. Mr. Eggleson was born January 4, 1859 in Adams county, Illinois, the eldest of four children born to his parents, Asa W. and Amy (Eddy) Eggleson, both of whom were natives of Jefferson county. New York. Asa W. Eggleson was born in 1813. He came from Illinois to Vernon county, Missouri in 1866 and located on land lying on the line between Bates and Vernon counties. Mr. Eggleson owned the land which is now the site of the town of Panama. At the time of the coming of the Egglesons to Missouri, this was all open prairie and Mr. Eggleson and Lucius Horr built the first two houses there. One could then drive through to Paola, Kansas and not see one fence. At one time in the late sixties, when the farmers on the prairies had to go to mill driving to Pleasant Hill, Missouri or to Pleasanton, Kansas, Addie Robinson, a pioneer, made the trip for the neighborhood. Due to the slow methods of grinding, he was often detained several days waiting for the grist. J. W. Eggleson vividly recalls how the Egglesons existed on a ration of potatoes for three days or until Mr. Robinson's return from the mill. He also remembers the days of chills and fever, when at times there would not be a family on the prairie but was afflicted with this malady of pioneer times. In 1881, Asa W. Eggleson moved to Cedar county, Missouri and there he died at Jericho Springs in 1885. Interment was made in the cemetery in Balltown in Vernon county. Airs. Eggleson, mother of J. W., departed this life in 1861 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Loraine, Illinois. J. W. Eggleson was left motherless when he was a child two years of age. The following children were born to Asa W. and Amy Eggleson : J. W., the subject of this review; E. E., who is engaged in farming in Bates county, residing on Rural Route 6, Butler, Missouri; Maria A., the widow of F. W. Riddle, Kaw City, Oklahoma; and Amy, who died at the age of seventeen years. J. W. Eggleson obtained his education in the public schools of Vernon county, Missouri. Until he was twenty-one years of age. Mr. Eggleson remained at home with his father. At that time he began farming on rented land, raising corn enough the first year to pay for his team of mules. Asa W. Eggleson gave to his two sons, J. W. and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 579 E, E., one hundred sixty acres of land, which were later found to be underlaid with coal. This land the Eggleson brothers sold to Charles Faler and then purchased eighty acres of land in Charlotte township, Bates county, which farm E. E. Eggleson now owns, and one hundred sixty acres, which they afterward divided. J. W. Eggleson at present owns the homestead in Charlotte township and a farm comprising one hundred acres in West Point township. He was for many years engaged in farming and stock raising, when he moved from the farm to Butler in 1914 and entered the garage business, purchasing the McFarland garage located on South Main street. He sold his place of business to the Newman brothers in the autumn of 1915 and in July, 1917 the garage was burned. In 1885, J. W. Eggleson and Anna Corlett were united in marriage. Mrs. Eggleson is a native of Leavenworth county, Kansas, a daughter of Christopher and Laura (Walker) Corlett. Mrs. Eggleson's father was born on the Isle of Man in 1835 and in 1854 he emigrated from his native land and came to America. Mr. Corlett settled in Illinois and in that state was united in marriage with Miss Walker. Both father and mother died in Charlotte township. Bates county, to which they came in 1880, and their remains are buried in the cemetery known as the Morris ceme- tery in this county. J. W. and Anna Eggleson are the parents of five children: Willa, the wife of Bird Barr, whose death occurred in August, 1915; Pearl, the wife of Clarence Porter, of Charlotte township. Bates county ; Orland, who married Sallie Simpson, of Butler, and to them has been born one child, a daughter, Anna Laurie ; Bert and Frank, who are at home with their parents. The Eggleson home is in Butler at 211 West Eort Scott street. J. S. Newlon, M. D,, a well-known and successful practitioner of Butler, Missouri, a specialist in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat, is a native of Nebraska. Doctor Newlon was born in Kearney county, Nebraska in 1883, a son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevers) Newlon, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter of Iowa. Samuel J. Newlon was a well-to-do and enterprising agriculturist. He was reared and edu- cated in his native state and in 1854 left Ohio to make his home in Iowa, whence he moved with his wife and two children to Nebraska, where Dr. J. S. Newlon was born. Later, the Newlons returned to Iowa and in that state remained until 1903, when they came to Bates county, Missouri, locating near Butler on a farm. There the father died in 1912 and the mother still resides. To Samuel J. and Ellen Newlon were born the 580 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY following children: D. W., a prominent farmer and stockman, Culver, Missouri; Lorraine, who is at home with the widowed mother on the home place; Dr. J. S., the subject of this review; Mrs. H. O. Welton, Butler, Missouri; George, who is engaged in farming on the home place ; Thomas D., a widely known automobile salesman, Kansas City, Missouri; Selina, who is a student in the Warrensburg State Normal School ; and Alfred, a motor machinist, Kansas City, Missouri. Dr. J. S. Newlon is a graduate of Winterset High School in Iowa. After completing the high school course. Doctor Newlon entered Haynes Academy at Excelsior Springs, Missouri, matriculating later in the University Medical College at Kansas City, Missouri. He is a graduate of the latter institution in the class of May 8, 1908. Doctor Newlon has also attended the New York Polyclinic Institute. He began the practice of his profession at Ballard, Missouri, in 1908 and five years afterward located at Butler. He gives special attention to the diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. Doctor Newlon is secretary of the Bates County Medical Society and also of the Missouri State Medical Association. He is a member of the Southeastern Medical Associa- tion, also. September 15, 1915, Dr. J. S. Newlon and Jennie Mae Owen, tlie only daughter of Judge and Mrs. A. B. Owen, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. A biography of Judge A. B. Owen will be found elsewhere in this volume. To Doctor and Mrs. Newlon has been born one child, a son, Robert Owen, who was born May 8, 1917, just nine years to the day from the time his father graduated from the Uni- versity Medical College. David W. Beaman, an honored pioneer of Bates county, is a mem- ber of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Beaman was born March 20, 1848, in Pettis county, Missouri, a son of William and Jane (Stanford) Beaman, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Tennessee. William Beaman came to Missouri in 1826 and located in Pettis county, on a tract of land near the Cooper county line. In April, 1866, the Beaman family moved to Bates county and settled on a farm in Summit township, where Mr. and Mrs. Bea- man spent the remainder of their lives. To William and Jane Beaman were born six children: Mrs. Margaret Jones, deceased; Franklin, a vete- ran of the Civil War, who served with Company C, Forty-fifth Mis- souri Infantry, and whose last known address is Soldiers' Home, Leavenworth, Kansas; Mrs. Jemima Frances Walker, Sedalia, Mis- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 581 souri; Mrs. Missouri Ann Stelman, Beaman, Missouri; Carlton Jobe, a veteran of the Civil War, who died August 12, 1917, at Fort Dodge, Kansas; and David W., the subject of this review^. By a former mar- riage, William Beaman was the father of five children : Lucinda, John, Martha, Sarah Ann, and Thomas, all of whom are now deceased. John Beaman was also a veteran of the Civil War. He was born in North Carolina. The father died July 8, 1874, on the farm in Bates county and three years later, in March, 1877, he was joined in death by his wife. The father was interred in Glass cemetery. The mother was buried in Mt. Olivet cemetery. February 11, 1867, David W. Beaman came to Bates county and settled on his present farm in Summit township in the same year. His father and mother with his brothers, John and Carlton Jobe, and his three sisters, Margaret, Jemima Frances, and Missouri Ann, had pre- ceded him and were already comfortably situated in Summit township in a small box house, which they had built on the farm. Their trading point was Butler, where Doctor Hill conducted a general store, dealing chiefly in dry goods and hardware, and Doctor Pyle kept a drug store. David Beaman is now owner of two hundred fifty acres of valuable land in Summit township, about half of which is devoted to pasture. Mr. Beaman has for years been engaged in stock raising and in former times was want to feed a large number of cattle annually for the market. He has, at the time of this writing, in 1918, forty head of stock on the farm. A good barn was built by Mr. Beaman about fifteen years ago and he is at the present time remodeling the residence. The marriage of David W. Beaman and Missouri Delitha Ellitt, a native of Arkansas, was solemnized on January 17, 1866. Mrs. Beaman's father died in Arkansas when she was a little child and, when she was three years of age, she came to Missouri with her mother and they settled in Pettis county, where Mrs. Beaman was reared and educated. She has one brother living, Willi'am H. Ellitt, of Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. Ellitt died in Pettis county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman were mar- ried in Pettis county and soon afterward settled in Bates county on the farm which is still their home. To David W. and Missouri D. Beaman have been born eight children: William, Tola, Kansas; Jane Elizabeth, the wife of C. B. New, of Cromwell, Iowa ; John, who is engaged in farming on the home place; Robert Luther, Tipton, Kansas; Minnie Luetta, the wife of George Kersey, of Butler, Missouri ; James Nila, Adrian, Missouri; Leora Viola, the wife of H. C. Hyatt, of Adrian, c82 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Missouri; and Effie Lillian, the wife of Charles Aman, of Independence, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman celebrated their Golden Wedding Anni- versary on January 17, 1916. They are still enjoying fairly good health and are as active, physically and mentally, as many a score of years younger. Mr. Beaman would have been sixty-seven years of age within two days when he was obliged to call for the assistance of a physician for himself for the first time in his life. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman have twenty-five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. William married Mary Brooks and has five chil- dren: Ina, Roe, Emmet, Amos, Archie; Mrs. Mary E. New has four children: Boyd, Claude, Walter, Hugh. John married Myrtle Dent and has six children: Oliver, Mabel, Clarence, Howard, Wendell, Ruth. Luther married Alta Smith and has three children: Roberta, Robert, Norman. Mrs. George Iversey has two children, Kendall and Chris- tine. Mrs. Leora Hyatt has two children, Henry Clay, Sr. and Elsie. Mrs. Efifie Aman has three children, Orville, Ellitt, Loran. Mrs. Ina Dixon, daughter of William Beaman, has one child. Boyd New is father of one child, Ruby. Claude New is father of one child, Eugene. Mr. Beaman was a resident of Bates county, Missouri, during the grasshopper visitation in 1874 and 1875 and he recalls their coming and how they ate everything green in sight, from peelings of sumac bushes to the growing plants in the fields. But, there is no cloud so black but has its silver lining, and the next season he raised the largest crops he has ever raised. Mr. Beaman was a resident of Deepw^ater township for a few months previous to his coming to Summit township. When he came to Bates county, he was the ow^ier of one horse, three calves, and seven pigs. A kindly neighbor hauled the pigs from Pettis county to Bates county for him. If any man in Bates county has earned the right to be called "self-made," that man is David W. Beaman. He began hfe with little of this world's goods but w^ith the most valuable capital with which any young man could possibly be endowed — good sense, a clear brain, discriminating judgment, a strong arm, and determi- nation to succeed. Mr. Beaman is not a theorist but a man of sound, practical ideas. He has undoubtedly earned the distinction of being numbered among Bates county's best citizens and most representative pioneer agriculturists. Mr. Beaman loves the country, the freedom of the great out-of-doors, to watch and study the mysteries of Nature in growing plants and animals, and when people have querulously HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 583 inquired of him why he doesn't move to town and escape the hard work of the farm he has always wisely replied that he is happier where he is and would rather be on the old home place where he and his noble wife reared their children and where they have together enjoyed the passing of the seasons for more than fifty years. Frank T. Clay, a successful and prominent pharmacist of Butler, Missouri, is one of the enterprising and leading business men of Bates county. Mr. Clay is pre-eminently a self-made man. He is a native of Texas. He was born in 1878 in Tarrant county, a son of Mark S. and Rachel A. (McGuire) Clay. Mark S. Clay was born in Virginia in 1825. He died June 3, 1915 at Butler, Missouri, where he had been living a quiet, retired life since 1886. At the time of his death, Mr. Clay was ninety years and three months of age. Mrs. Clay, a native of Indiana, survives her husband and is now residing in Butler at 211 North High street. Mark S. and Rachel A. Clay were the parents of four children, who are now living: W. H., a prosperous farmer and grain dealer. South St. Joseph, Missouri; George, a well-known laun- dryman of St. Joseph, Missouri; Frank T.., the subject of this review; and James, a well-to-do druggist, Caldwell, Idaho. Mark S. Clay enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at Springfield, Illinois and for many months served with the Twenty-second Illinois Infantry. He later enlisted with the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry at Madison, Wisconsin. After the Civil War had ended, Mr. Clay returned to his home in Illi- nois. Later, he came from Illinois to Missouri and thence went -to Texas, returning from that state to Missouri in 1881, where he spent the remainder of his long life of usefulness. Mark S. Clay was an honored and highly valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Frank T. Clay obtained his elementary education in the public schools of Bates county. He has since added to his store of knowledge by wide reading and by practical experience gained in the best, most thorough, but hardest of all schools. He began studying the drug business in the drug store of H. L. Tucker in 1894. Ten years later, when Mr. Tucker died, Mr. Clay was able to purchase the stock of drugs and merchandise and to successfully continue the business. Clay's Drug Store is one of the best business establishments in the city, Mr. Clay is a registered pharmacist, having obtained his certificate in 1902. His stock of goods is complete, fresh, and neatly kept. He occupies a building 22 x 70 feet in dimensions, a structure comprising two stories. Mr. Clay has, in addition, won for himself distinction as a curio collector 584 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and he is justly proud of his collection of Indian arrow heads and fifty- .three rattlesnake rattles, to which he is constantly adding. Mr. Clay has his specimens nicely displayed at his store. Mr. Clay is afTfiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which fraternal order he has been a member since 1904, the Scottish Rite Masons, the York Rite Masons, the Shriners since 1910, the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Thomas Webster Legg, a late worthy and widely known citizen of Butler, Missouri, a noble and upright gentleman whose life for many years was closely interwoven with the local history of Bates county, was a native of Piqua, Miami county, Ohio. He was born November 20, 1854. He was a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Webster) Legg. Joseph Legg was a skilled cabinet maker of Piqua, Ohio and at the age of eighteen years his son, Thomas W., had mastered the carriage maker's trade. He was reared and educated at Piqua. December 26, 1876, T. W. Legg and Mary C. Catterlin were united in marriage at Piqua, Ohio. Mrs. Legg is a daughter of S. B. and Louisa (Jones) Catterlin, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Kentucky. Both father and mother of Mrs. Legg died at Butler, Missouri, to which city they had come from Ohio to make their future home. Mr. Catterlin departed this life one year after their coming West and Mrs. Catterlin joined him in death a few years later. To T. W. and Mary C. (Catterlin) Legg were born three children, two of whom died in infancy, one child, a daughter, now living: Mrs. A. C. Coberly, who resides with her widowed mother, the wife of A. C. Cob- erly, a prominent business man, who is in the employ of the Logan Moore Lumber Company, manager of the Butler lumber yard and manager of advertising for the thirty branch yards controlled by the company. Mrs. Legg and the Coberlys reside in Butler at 506 West Ohio street. In 1879, Mr. and Mrs. T. W. Legg came from Piqua, Ohio to Butler, Missouri. Mr. Legg, within a short time afterward, began the erection of a carriage shop. His first shop was a large, two-story structure, a frame building, and a few years after Mr. Legg had completed it the shop was destroyed by fire. He rebuilt immediately and continued the business of iron working and carriage making until his death on April 22, 1914, after which his widow managed the factory until in November, 1917 the shop was again destroyed by fire. Mr. Legg built carriages, buggies, and spring wagons and in addition did a large amount of repair work. There are scores of people in Bates county who still own vehicles made by T. W. Legg in his shop at Butler. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 585 At one time, Mr. Legg was a member of the city council of Butler. He was a director of the Butler Building & Loan Association and a director and stockholder in the Peoples Bank of Butler, one of the charter members of the latter financial institution. Mr. Legg was deeply interested in church and Sunday school work. He was a devout member of the Butler Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was chorister, organist, and superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Legg had held the same positions in Ohio. He was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school for more than thirty years. Mrs. Legg still treasures gifts and remembrances given Mr. Legg by the church and school in appreciation of his long years of faithful service. He was at one time and for many years president of the Bates County Sunday School Asso- ciation and had visited the different schools in all parts of the county. Since early manhood, Mr. Legg was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He died April 22, 1914 and interment was made in the Oak Hill cemetery at Butler. Incomplete would be a biographical compendium of Bates county without mention of T. W. Legg. His name has been inseparably linked with the history of the business interests in Bates county. He was a model citizen, a gentleman, one who had justly earned an enviable repu- tation as a successful manufacturer, an enterprising citizen, a true Chris- tian. He was widely and favorably known throughout the county as a man of extraordinary good sense, skill, judgment, and force of charac- ter. His death was long deeply deplored in Bates county and the memory of the "good fight" he made remains a priceless heritage. His influence in behalf of all that was noble and uplifting will be felt for scores of years to come, a monument to his memory more enduring than obelisk. George W. Dixon, one of Bates county's successful merchants, a grocer, hardware and music dealer of Butler, is a native of Kansas. Mr. Dixon was born October 16, 1864 in Miami county, Kansas, a son of J. W. and Martha E. (Tharp) Dixon, both of whom -were born in Vir- ginia. J. W. Dixon was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted with the Federal troops at Miami county, Kansas, and for many months served with Company I, Ninth Kansas Infantry, and later with the Cass county home guards. In the second year of the Civil War, in 1862, J. W. Dixon and Martha E. Tharp w^ere united in marriage in July and to this union were born nine children,- all of whom are now living and the youngest child is, at the time of this writing, thirty-seven years of 586 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY age: Etta, the wife of Houston Gillogly, of western Kansas; George W., the subject of this review; Emma, the wife of A. C. Stewart, Miami, Oklahoma; Elmer, Dodge City, Kansas; Anna, the wife of O. D. Kuhu, Miami county, Kansas; Ella, the wife of Mr. Dunham, of lola, Kansas; J. W., B. O., and Jud P., who are engaged in the junk business at Rich Hill, Missouri. Years before the war, J. W. Dixon came to Kansas and settled within two and a half miles of the state line, in Miami county, Kansas in 1857. With him came J. W. White and Archie Trammel. A son of Archie Trammel, William Trammel, is now residing on a farm near Rich Hill, Missouri. Mr. Dixon returned to the farm after the close of the war and continued to reside there the remainder of his life. He died in 1885. The widowed mother is now living at Butler, Missouri. George W. Dixon received his elementary education in the public schools of Miami county, Kansas, and later, he was a student for one and a half years at Kansas Normal College, Fort Scott, Kansas. Mr. Dixon began life for himself in 1889, alternately teaching school and farming in the winter and summer seasons in Miami county for a period of seven years. In 1899, Mr. Dixon purchased the G. B. Hockman furni- ture stock in Butler, Missouri and since acquiring the store he has added hardware, musical instruments, and groceries and has moved to his pres- ent location in 1907. Mr. Dixon owns the store building, a two-story brick structure 45 x 80 feet in dimensions, which fronts on Main street. He carries a complete line of groceries, furniture, hardware, and stoves, which are on the ground floor of the store, and linoleums, rugs, furni- ture, and musical instruments, on the second floor. In 1903, George W. Dixon and Dora Collins were united in mar- riage. Mrs. Dixon is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Collins, of Chap- man, Nebraska. The Dixon home is in Butler, located on Havanna street, an attractive, modern residence built in 1917. In addition to his home, and his store, Mr. Dixon is owner of a good farm comprising one hundred twenty acres in Vernon county, Missouri and he is one of the organizers and stockholders of the Peoples Bank of Butler, with which financial institution he has always maintained a close connection. Mr. Dixon has taken a keen interest in civic affairs and he was at one time a member of the city council of Butler. Mr. Dixon is one of the leading dealers in Bates county and has deservedly earned the lib- eral patronage accorded him by the public. Judge J. F. Smith, a prominent attorney of Butler, Missouri, the efflcient city clerk and city attorney of Butler, ex-judge of the probate HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 587 court, is a native of Franklin county, Missouri. Judge Smith was born March 31, 1859, a son of Nathan L. and Martha Ann (Adams) Smith. Nathan L. Smith was born in 1815 in Virginia. He was reared to maturity and educated near Richmond of that state. About 1835, Mr. Smith, then a young man, heard the call of the West and he left Vir- ginia and came to Missouri, walking all the way. He was a blacksmith by trade and he followed his line of work at Old Port William for a number of years. He followed farming during his later life. Martha Ann (Adams) Smith was a native of Warren county, Missouri. She was born in 1826. To Nathan L. and Martha Ann Smith were born eleven children: David L., a retired farmer residing at Gray's Sum- mit in Franklin county, Missouri; William P., deceased; Alphonso Theodore, deceased; Theopholis, deceased; Charles Wesley, who resides in Texas; Thomas D., Sedalia, Missouri; James Fletcher, Butler. Mis- souri; Mary Elizabeth, Martha Ann, Nathan L., Jr., and Daniel, who died in infancy. The mother died in 1889 at the age of sixty-three years and the father died February 7, 1908 at the age of ninety-three years. Both parents were laid to rest in the family burial ground at the old homestead in Franklin county, Missouri. Judge Smith attended the common schools of Franklin county, Mis- souri. On leaving school, he alternately taught school and engaged in farming in Franklin county. He began the study and reading of law in the office of Crews & Booth in Union, Franklin county and in that county was admitted to the bar. He then came directly to Bates county and began the practice of his profession. Judge Smith came to Butler in 1882 and shortly afterward located at Rich Hill, where he remained for fifteen years in active legal practice. During this period, he served as mayor of Rich Hill for several years. In 1897, he removed to Butler. One year afterward, a vacancy in the probate court occurred due to the death of Judge Dalton and Mr. Smith was appointed to fill the vacancy. He served two years as judge of the probate court and since that time has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Butler. At the time of this writing, in 1918, Judge Smith is satisfactorily filling the positions of city clerk and city attorney, which ofiices he has occupied eight years. In 1899, Judge J. F. Smith and Miss Hattie Scott were united in marriage. Mrs. Smith is a native of Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Ben F. and Elizabeth Ann Scott, honored pioneers of this county. Ben F. Scott was widely and favorably known and universally respected. 588 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY He formerly resided on a farm north of Butler and he held several different offices of public trust in his township. Afterward, the Scotts moved from the farm to Butler and resided here until death called them. He died in 1914 and Mrs. Scott joined him in death three years later, in 1917. Mrs. Smith was reared in Butler and educated in the city schools. She is deeply interested in church w^ork and takes an active and prominent part in the work of the Butler Christian church, of which she is a valued member. Mr. Smith is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Yeomen and the Masonic order, all fraternal orders of Butler. The Smith home is located in Butler on Ohio street. Milton H. Price, a prominent farmer and stockman of Summit town- ship, is one of Bates county's successful citizens and a member of a well-known pioneer family of Henry county, Iowa. Mr. Price is a native of Baltimore county, Maryland. He was born on December 12, 1839, a son of Jehu and Susan M. (Matthew^s) Price, natives of Maryland, who settled in Henry county, Iowa, in 1859 and resided in that state the remainder of their^lives. The mother died February 27, 1873, and the father joined her in death on March 6, 1873. The remains of both par- ents w^ere interred in Prairie Grove cemetery in Henry county, Iowa. In October, 1859, M. H. Price and his brother, S. T. Price, left home to try their fortunes in Iowa, driving across country from Maryland. It will be recalled that 1859 was a momentous year in the history of our country and that for many months before the outbreak of the Civil War many events of tremendous import occurred. This was the year John Brown's raid upon the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. On October 16, 1859, he with about twenty followers sur- prised and captured the arsenal, the supplies, and arms and the next day he was captured. One week later, the two Price boys appeared at Newmarket in Shenandoah county, Virginia — strangers coming upon the scene at a very inopportune time — and they were naturally looked upon as suspicious characters, the federal officers being convinced that they were two of Brown's men. To escape arrest and conviction, the young men had no little difficulty in establishing their identity and inno- cence. M. H. Price was a student at Milton Academy, Baltimore, Mary- land at the same time that John Wilkes and Edwin Booth were students at the same institution. There were probably one hundred students enrolled at Milton' Academy at that time and Mr. Price recalls seeing HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 589 the brothers frequently in the amateur theatricals staged at the school. Edwin Booth, the peerless actor of the American stage, was but six years older than Mr. Price. The father of the Booth brothers, Junius Brutus Booth, was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedians that ever lived and he gave to the world three sons of note : Junius Brutus, Jr., John Wilkes, the author of the greatest tragedy in the life of our nation, and Edwin, the greatest actor of America in his day. Strange stories were current in Baltimore of the elder Booth's peculiarities and eccentricities, of how he forbade the use of animal food on his place, "Belair," near Baltimore, the taking of animal life, and even the cutting down of trees. He could often be seen bringing his butter and eggs .to the Baltimore markets in person. For thirty-four years, M. H. Price resided in Henry county, Iowa, on the home place, where his parents had settled in 1859 and which he had inherited from his father's estate. Mr. Price sold the farm in Iowa and came to Bates county, Missouri on February 1, 1894, locating on a farm, which he purchased in Mound township. This place com- prised eighty acres of land and on it Mr. Price lived for four years. He then purchased a farm of one hundred sixty acres in Summit town- ship and since has increased his original holdings until his place now embraces two hundred forty acres of valuable land, eighty acres lying on the north side of the Summit road and one hundred sixty acres on the south side. There is an excellent orchard, covering three acres of land, on the farm and sixty acres of the place are devoted to pasture. Mr. Price made the remark, at the time he first saw his present country home, "If I owned that farm, there are just two things that would make me leave it — the sheriff or the undertaker." He bought the farm one year afterward and he hasn't changed his mind yet. He is profitably engaged in raising registered Percheron horses and he is the owner of a registered Kentucky jack. Mr. Price gained some prestige among the horsemen of Bates county, when he presented at the Bates county fair, "Brilliant," a colt wdiich he had raised. "Brilliant" weighed eight hundred pounds when seven months of age and won three premiums at the diiTerent county fairs in Bates county, when a colt, when one year old, and again when two years old. The picture of "Brilliant," the colt, may be seen at the Farmers Bank in Butler, Missouri, and he, himself, is still on the farm, a valued possession of M. H. Price, who is a lover of fine horses. M. H. Price and Laura Blackstone were united in marriage, January 590 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 26, 1878. Laura (Blackstone) Price, born at Middleburn, Guernsey county, Ohio, September 28, 1845, is a daughter of William Presley and Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone, of Illinois. William Presley Blackstone was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1818, a son of William Blackstone, who came to America when he was twelve years of age with his father, Ebenezer Blackstone, a native of Scotland, a veteran of the War of 1812. Hugh Benjamin and Nathan Blackstone, sons of Ebenezer Blackstone, were veterans of the War of 1812. The Blackstones are relatives of William Blackstone, ^an eminent English jurist, who was born in Lon- don. July 10, 1723, and died in a railway carriage while traveling between Rouen and Caen, May 1, 1850. Cecelia C. (Hayes) Blackstone was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1822. She was a distant relative of Rutherford B. Hayes, the nineteenth President of the United States. The Blackstone family in America trace tlieir lineage back to a Scot- tish chieftain, who fought side by side with Baliol, William Wallace, and Robert Bruce. Mrs. Price has in her possession an old land warrant signed by James Madison, President of the United States, and dated October 21, 1816, which is made to Daniel McPeek, of Guernsey county, Ohio, who entered land which her father purchased. This paper came with the abstract to the land. To Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Price have been born three children: Presley B., at home; Tacy C, who married Harry Ray- bourn and she died in 1910, leaving two daughters, Marie Elizabeth and Laura; and Blanche S., who married Del Lutsenhizer, a prosper- ous farmer of Deepwater township, and to them have been born two children, Hazel and Howard Benton. Mrs. Price's parents moved to Geneseo, Illinois, in 1857 and Mr. Blackstone became very wealthy. Politically, Mr. Price is affiliated with the Republican party and he has served the public ten years as township committeeman, being chairman of the committee. He is a gentleman of strong conviction and pronounced views and a fearless upholder of principles which he believes to be right. Mr. and Mrs. Price are numbered among the county's most valued citizens. Frank Priestly, proprietor of the Peoples Feed Yard at Butler, Mis- souri, is one of Bates county's successful business men. Mr. Priestly is a native of Linn county, Kansas, He was born July 5, 1868, a son of Joseph and Melinda (Taylor) Priestly. Joseph Priestly was born in England in 1830. He emigrated from his native land when he was a young man, twenty-one years of age, and came to America. Mr. Priestly located first in Illinois and later settled in Kansas in 1858. Melinda HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 591 (Taylor) Priestly is a native of Illinois. Her father died when she was but an infant and her mother remarried, her second husband being Levi Ward. The Wards and Melinda Taylor settled in Linn county, Kansas in 1854. To Joseph and Melinda Priestly have been born six children, who are now living : Mary, the wife of William Gould, of Oregon ; Emma, the wife of John Donnelly, of Oklahoma; Frank, the subject of this review; Hattie, the wife of Jack Williams, Spokane, W^ashington; Will- iam, Anadarko, Oklahoma; and Clara, who is at home with her par- ents at Pleasanton, Kansas. Edward, William, and Joseph Priestly, three brothers, located on a vast tract of land near Trading Post, Kan- sas in 1858, purchasing "squatter's" rights there. Joseph Priestly and his wife, the parents of Frank Priestly, resided on this land until Feb- ruary, 1904 when they moved to Pleasanton, Kansas, where they now reside. Mr. Priestly is now eighty-seven years of age and his wife is seventy-seven years of age. A biographical sketch of Mr. and Mrs. Priestly appears elsewhere in this volume. Frank Priestly received a good common school education at the Priestly school near Trading Post, Kansas. The Priestly school was named in honor of the Priestly brothers, Edward, William, and Joseph, upon whose land the school building was located. In 1890, Frank Priestly purchased the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn county, Kansas and there resided for five years, going thence to Pueblo, Colorado, where he remained five years. When he returned to Kansas, Mr. Priestly purchased a farm located two miles south of Pleasanton, where he lived until his coming to Butler, Missouri. He purchased a feed yard at Butler, which he later traded for a farm he formerly owned, the place south of Pleasanton, Kansas. He was residing on the farm two years, when he repurchased the Peoples Feed Yard, the yard he had previously owned and which he still owns and manages. Mr. Priestly handles coal, feed, wood, and grain and in connection operates a feed stable. November 27, 1889, Frank Priestly and Minnie M. Cottrell were united in marriage at the Cottrell homestead in Valley township, Linn county, Kansas. Mrs. Priestly is a daughter of Moses L. and Ruth A. (Whitaker) Cottrell, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Cottrell was born in Darke county, Ohio in 1827 and Mrs. Cottrell was born in Indiana in 1839. To Moses L. and Ruth A. Cottrell were born the following children: John H., of Colorado; Mrs. Rosa J. Black, Green- wood county, Kansas; Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, deceased; and 592 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV Mrs. Frank Priestly, the wife of the subject of this review. The father died in 1883 in Linn county, Kansas and he was joined in death by the mother on June 21, 1892. Both parents were laid to rest in East Mount Zion cemetery in Lincoln township. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly are the parents of three children: Winnie, who is teaching her fourth term of school in the Taggart district in Bates county; Ray, who is on the home farm at Pleasanton, Kansas ; and Marion, at home with his par- ents. Mr. and Mrs. Priestly have in addition reared and educated a nephew, George Nuckols, son of Mrs. Josie (Cottrell) Nuckols, a sister of Mrs. Priestly. The Priestly home is in Butler at 204 West Dakota street. As a citizen, Frank Priestly stands high above reproach, being noted for his honesty and honorable dealings and from the beginning of his career to the present time he has commanded the unqualified respect and esteem of his many friends and neighbors and business associates. E. A. Bennett, one of the organizers of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercan- tile Company of Butler, a skilled mechanic, a successful business man of Bates county, was born May 14, 1849 at Springfield, Ohio. Mr. Bennett is a son of B. G. and Anna (White) Bennett, the former, a native of Chester, Pennsylvania and the latter, of Hagerstow^n, Maryland. B. G. Bennett was born in 1818. He came to Missouri in 1872 and settled in Holt county, where he resided until his death. Mr. Bennett died at Oregon, Missouri, about 1897. He was an expert mechanic and a citizen universally respected and esteemed. Mrs. Bennett died in 1911 while visiting her son in Oklahoma. Both father and mother were interred in the cemetery at Oregon, Missouri. In the public schools of Clark county, Ohio, E. A. Bennett received an excellent common school education. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, E. A. Bennett was but a child twelve years of age. Nevertheless he felt the call of his country much more keenly than many of his elders and from 1862 until 1865 served in the Clark county, Ohio militia. He was then a growing boy, from thirteen to sixteen years of age. Mr. Bennett came to Missouri in 1869 and located in Holt county. His first mercantile experience was at Whig Valley in that county, in a crossroad store near the site of Mariland, where he was employed until 1878 when he accepted a position as traveling salesman for the Deere-Mansur & Company of Kansas City, Missouri, later the John Deere Plow Company. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 59: Mr. Bennett was on the road for this company for five years, when, in 1882, he came to Butler. Mr. Bennett mastered the mechanic's trade when he was a youth. He was for many years with John A. Pitts, of Dayton, whose father invented the Pitts separator. B. G. Bennett was foreman of the wood- working department of the factory owned by John A. Pitts and there E. A. Bennett learned to make every piece of a threshing machine except the iron parts. His part of the work was to assemble the different por- tions of the machines. Mr. Bennett also learned thoroughly the car- penter's trade, which knowledge later proved to be of inestimable benefit in the implement business that he followed in after years. He was one of the three organizers of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler in 1890, from which organization he resigned probably in 1900. Since that time, Mr. Bennett has been engaged in the loan business at Butler, with the exception of six years spent in Colorado. In 1878, E. A. Bennett and Hannah J. Roberts, of Holt county, were united in marriage. To this union were born four children: Mrs. Doctor Zey, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Charles McFarland, Butler, Missouri ; Charles R., who is employed as civil engineer, by the United States Government, in the city of Manila, Philippine Islands; and Gordon, a successful farmer and stockman, Holt county, Missouri. In November, 1910. E. A. Bennett and Minnie Chandler were united in marriage. Hannah J. (Roberts) Ben- nett had died in May, 1909. The Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, of which O. A. Heinlein is now manager, was organized in 1890 by E. A. Bennett, C. S. Wheeler, and J. B. Armstrong with a capital stock of thirty-five thousand dollars. This firm succeeded Bennett-Wheeler & Company, organized in 1882 with a capital stock of five thousand dollars, successors of B. G. Wheeler, who occupied a small frame building, 25 x 50 feet in dimensions, located on the present site of the Missouri State Bank build- ing. There B. G. Wheeler had started in business in partnership with Mr. Harwi, under the firm name of WHieeler & Harwi. The latter retired from the firm later and went to Atchison, Kansas, where he established a wholesale and retail hardware and implement business and became wealthy. Mr. Harwi died about 1912. B. G. W^heeler left Butler after selling his interest in the store in 1882 and went to Boston. Massachusetts and in that city he died, probably in 1908. C. S. Wheeler (38) 594 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was engaged in the real estate business at Westplains, Missouri at the time his death occurred. He died at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri in 1909. J. B. Armstrong is still with the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company. Mr. Bennett retired from the company after eighteen years service, E. A. Bennett was one of the original stockholders of the Farmers Bank and for many years was a member of the directorate. He later became vice-president of this bank and also served as president of the Farmers Bank until January 1, 1911. He has been a member of the city council two terms, during which time the city ownership of the waterworks was being agitated. Honored and respected by all who know him, there is no man in Butler or Bates county, who occupies a more enviable position in commercial and financial circles than does Mr. Bennett, not alone on account of the marked success he has achieved, but also because of the honest, straightforward policy he has ever pursued. J. F. Kern, the well-known promoter of Drainage District Number 1 in Bates county, Missouri, is one of the most progressive and ener- getic citizens of Bates county. Mr. Kern is a native of Indiana. He was born in 1859 in Boone county, Indiana, a son of William Perry and Caroline (Potts) Kern, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Kern were the parents of four children, who are now living: •Charles P., San Francisco, California; Mrs. Josie K. Pease, St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Hutchison, Boise City, Idaho; and J. F., the sub- ject of this review. The father died many years ago in Indiana. Mrs. Kern was making her home with her daughter at Kansas City, Missouri, when she died. Both parents were interred in the cemetery near the Kern homestead in Boone county, Indiana. In the public schools of Indiana, J. F. Kern obtained a good com- mon school education. His boyhood days and early manhood were spent in that state. He came to Missouri in 1898 and located at Kansas City. Four years later, in 1902, Mr. Kern settled at Butler. Prior to his coming, he had purchased six hundred fifty-eight acres of land now included in Drainage District, Number 1 and since he has added to his holdings twelve hundred acres. Mr. Kern is the present owner of eighteen hundred fifty-eight acres of land in the above named district, some of the very best farm land in Bates county, on which vast tract he has five sets of improvements. Eight hundred acres of his farm are, at the time of this writing in 1918, under a high state of cultivation. Mr. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 595 Kern is constructing a large levy along the ditch which passes through his land as an additional protection. In 1895, J. F. Kern and Fannie Beatty, daughter of Joseph and Ruth Beatty, of West Virginia, were united in marriage. Mrs. Kern's parents are both now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Kern have been born two children : Ruth, who is a student in the Butler High School ; and Frances, who is in the grade school. Although the Kerns are com- paratively newcomers in Bates county, they have made countless friends in the county and in Butler, where they are numbered among the best families. As has been above mentioned, J. F. Kern was the chief promoter of Drainage District, Number 1 in this county. The preliminary work on the ditch, twenty-three and a half miles in length, was begun in 1906. The labor of digging was begun in the autumn of 1907. This ditch drains forty-one thousand three hundred acres of land. There are eleven miles of lateral ditches cut and the entire work, as originally planned, was com- pleted in 1909. The assessment on the land was ten dollars and ninety- three cents an acre for the original labor, but in 1911 it was decided to cut the ditch ten feet deeper and an additional assessment of four dollars and ninety-eight cents was made. The statutes of Missouri provided for the organization of drainage districts where a majority of the acreage in the district petitioned the court for such organiza- tion. The statutes also provided for bonding the assessments. Drain- age District, Number 1 issued bonds at six per cent, for twenty years, which bonds were sold for a premium of fifteen thousand dollars. Mr. Kern states that the crops grown in this particular valley, where none ever grew before the ditch was dug, last year, of 1917, would pay the indebtedness created at the last assessment, namely one hundred sev- enty-one thousand dollars. The land is being gradually put under the plow and ultimately all will be under cultivation, one of the richest agricultural sections in Missouri. Naturally, at the beginning of the stupendous undertaking, as does every man who introduces an inno- vation, J. F. Kern met with much opposition but time and experience have proven conclusively the wisdom of the splendid improvement. Mr. Kern is a clear, logical thinker and the type of man who does big things. He plans and then studies practical means of carrying out his plans, keeping persistently at one attempt until he has accomplished his pur- pose and success comes. At the present time, Mr. Kern is "boosting" the Torrens system of land transfer. He was instrumental in getting 596 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a bill introduced at the last session of the Missouri State Legislature for the adoption of the system in Missouri. The bill passed the House but failed in the Senate. Mr. Kern has not given up the fight and some day the bill will undoubtedly become a law of the state, for it has much to recommend its adoption. The Torrens system of land transfer is practical and would save thousands of dollars to land owners of Missouri. Interested in everything that tends to benefit the public J. F. Kern is no idle spectator of current local events, but in a large degree he has directed and controlled them. Firm in his individuality, Mr. Kern never lacks the courage of his convictions. He is a gentleman of lively sym- pathy, abiding charity, and sterling integrity, one of the strong, note- worthy citizens of Bates county, and in the years to come he is destined to be an important factor in the history of public affairs in this section of Missouri. John Lawson, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit town- ship, is one of the favorably known citizens of Bates county. Mr. Lawson is a native of Sweden. He returned to his native land in 1903 to visit his brother and four sisters still residents of that country and to again see the old home at Orklejunga, near Helsinborg, which is located on The Sound between Denmark and Sweden in the southern part of Sweden near the Cattegat in Malmohus Ian or province. There he was reared and, in the schools of Sweden, educated. After coming to America, Mr. Lawson mastered the English language, learn- ing to both sp'eak and read it. He was born in Sweden in 1846 and emigrated from his home land in 1869. On coming to the United States, Mr. Lawson located at Kansas City, Missouri, where he was employed in bridge work, laboring on the first bridge that ever spanned the Missouri river. Later, he worked on the first street railway line in Kansas City, Missouri, and he recalls that when the old depot was built, there were but three or four houses in the bottoms. He left Kansas City to accept a position on the St. Louis & St. Joe railroad, after which he was employed on a farm in Clinton county, Missouri, for three years, on a farm in Nebraska for eight years, and again on a farm in Clinton county for four years. Thirty-two years ago, Mr. Lawson came to Bates county, Missouri. He purchased his present country place in 1890 from Mr. Davis, of Indi- ana, and since he acquired the ownership of the farm he has improved it, -^dding all the well-constructed buildings, putting up all the fencing, and planting all the trees and shrubbery. The residence is a pleasant, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 597 comfortable house of seven rooms and there are two large barns on the farm for the use of stock and hay. The Lawson place is one of the excellent stock farms of Summit township, conveniently located and six and a half miles east of Butler. When Mr. Lawson was in Nebraska eight years, having gone there in 1874, a plague of grasshoppers descended upon them like hail stones and for three years their crops were entirely destroyed by the pestiferous pests, but — in spite of the ravages of the insects — he proved his claim and sold the farm one year after leaving the state. The last year in Nebraska, 1882, eight feet of snow embanked the house and Mr. Lawson knows that he scooped more snow that winter than all the people in Bates county combined ever saw. Two of the children were born in a "dug-out" on their claim in Nebraska. The marriage of John Lawson and Sarah Miller was solemnized in 1892. Sarah (Miller) Lawson was born in 1850, in Clinton county, Missouri, a daughter of William and Margaret Miller, honored pio- neers of Clinton county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Miller entered land in Clinton county for twelve and a half cents an acre. Both parents are now deceased. To John and Sarah Lawson have been born five children: George, Adrian, Missouri; Vina, the wife of Charlie Williams, of Kiowa, Oklahoma; Myrtle, who resides in Nevada; Oliver, who resides in Montana; and John, Jr., who is engaged in the real estate business at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson are justly proud of their only grandson, John David, the son of John, Jr., of Kansas City, Mis- souri. John Lawson is a striking example of what an immigrant, beginning life in America with no capital and no knowledge of the spoken tongue, can by constant industry, pluck, and perseverance accomplish. Begin- ning at the very bottom round of the ladder, without one dollar, he has steadily ascended until he has gained the top. directed and con- trolled throughout his career by honorable and upright principles. Mr. Lawson long ago won the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact and his life, measured by the usual standards of success, presents much that is worthy of emulation. H. G. Cook, the widely and favorably known manager of the Ameri- can Clothing House, is a native of Iowa. Mr. Cook is a son of Capt. N. W. and Mary E. (Green) Cook, the former, a native of New York and the latter, of Indiana. Capt. N. W. Cook was engaged in the mer- cantile business practically all his life. He served in the Union armv dur- 598 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ing the rebellion as captain of Company D, Third Iowa Volunteer Cavalry and came to Missouri in 1882 and was in the real estate busi- ness at Rich Hill for several years. N. W. and Mary E. Cook were the parents of nine children, who are now living: William H., Los Angeles, California; E. G., Tacoma, Washington; N. G., Springfield, South Dakota; G. B. M., Chicago, Illinois; H. L., Ottumwa, Iowa; Mrs. J. D. Wiseman, Centerville, Iowa; Mrs. W. R. Heylmun, lola, Kansas; Mrs. C. C. Cain, Tacoma, Washington; and H. G., the subject of this review. The father died in 1889 at Rich Hill, Missouri and the mother joined him in death in 1907. Mrs. Cook died at Centerville, Iowa. H. G. Cook attended the public schools of Red Oak, low^a, and in that state was reared to manhood. He came to Bates county, Mis- souri in 1883. The American Clothing House was incorporated by Mr. Cook and others in 1901. Since locating at Butler, H. G. Cook has been a member of the city council four years and mayor of Butler two years. During his administration as mayor, the water works system was purchased by the city, a seventy-five-thousand-dollar bond issue voted, the old water works system taken over for thirty-two thousand five hundred dollars, a pumping station built on the railroad and a transmission line to the old plant at the river installed which station pumps water by electrical power for city purposes. By this means the water and light plants were consolidated at a great saving of labor and expense. The opposition, naturally, was exceedingly strong at the beginning of the undertaking as there always is at the proposal of any improvement, but Mr. Cook, with a progressive council backing him, pushed through these innovations to a successful termination and the experience of the years which have followed have proven their wisdom and excellence. He was one of the organizers of the Butler Commercial Club and served as its first president two years. During his adminis- tration the bond issue for the new high school was carried, the Com- mercial Club having charge of the campaign. In 1891, H. G. Cook and Sallie Easley, of Rich Hill, Missouri, were united in marriage. Mrs. Cook is a native of Pleasant Hill, Cass county, Missouri. Her father was a prominent merchant in the pioneer days. To H. G. and Sallie Cook have been born three children : Pauline, St. Louis, Missouri; Helen, who is a student at the Missouri State L^niversity, Columbia, Missouri; and Josephine, wdio is attending St. Terresa Acad- emy, Kansas City, Missouri. The American Clothing House was established by Coy Carrithers HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 599 & Company in 1885 and was incorporated by H. G. Cook and others in 1901. The store was originally located in the middle of the north block and the stock of merchandise was moved to the present store building in 1892. The establishment has fifty feet frontage and occu- pies two floors of the building. Originally the stock of goods consisted of clothing and men's shoes exclusively. In 1912, ladies' shoes, dry goods, and ready-to-wear garments were added. The American Cloth- ing House now carries a mammoth stock of merchandise and enjoys a liberal patronage in Butler and Bates county. Much of the company's marked success has undoubtedly been due to the efficient management of the store. Mr. Cook is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Cook is essentially a business man, a firm believer in the efficacy of honest and honorable labor. He possesses excellent judgment and taste and is seldom mistaken in his judgment of men and affairs. He conducts all business operations fairly and justly and has financially met with success commensurate with the ability and energy displayed. Charles L. Fisk, the head of the amusement business in Butler, owner and manager of the Butler Opera House, an active member of the Butler Commercial Club, is one of Bates county's most progressive citizens, one who is known far bjeyond the confines of this part of the state. Mr. Fisk was born in Carrollton, Missouri in 1875, a son of Tilford Lewis and Caroline (Albert) Fisk, natives of Kentucky. His mother died when he was a babe three weeks of age and the boy was chiefly reared by his grandmother, Mrs. Martha (Medcalf) Fisk. At the age of fourteen years, Charles L. Fisk came to Bates county to make his home with his father, who resided on a farm four miles east of Butler and with whom he remained two years. The young man was then apprenticed to a merchant at Carrollton and later was employed on the section of the Santa Fe railway. Afterward, Mr. Fisk had the opportunity he had always longed for to acquire a knowl- edge of music and started on a career which has taken him to every capital and leading city in the United States. For two and a half years, Charles L. Fisk was in the emplov of the Dain Mower Manufacturing Company at Ottumwa, Iowa. With this company, he received his start in music, with the Dain Mower Manufacturing Company's band, and Mr. Fisk has kept up his work 600 HISTORY OF BATES • CCUNTV in music for the past fifteen years. He is the present capable leader of the Butler band, one of the best in Missouri, a band that has never missed a contest, the winner of six first prizes in competition with such bands as the Colorado Midland, the Marshall, the Topeka, Kan- sas, and the Gownley's bands, the last named of Ottawa, Kansas. In 1890, Mr. Fisk located at Butler. For the past five years, he has had charge of the Butler Opera House and for the last twelve months has been the owner and manager. He has followed the amuscr ment and music business practically all his life and has been in all the capital cities and principal business centers of the country in pursuit of his vocation. Mr. Fisk is at the head of the Lyceum Course of Butler, which puts on an eleven-hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar course of entertainments annually, bringing to the city the best talent to be found in the United States. On November 5, 1917, Mr. Fisk gave a band contest, in which all the bands, except the Butler band, of Bates county were eligible to compete and had as guest at the Opera House that night Ex-President William H. Taft. In the Spanish American War, Charles L. Fisk was in charge of the Sixth Infantry band of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's command. Mr. Fisk was commissioned by Gov. Lon V. Stevens as captain and aid-de-camp to serve on the staff of Brigadier-General H. C. Clark and he holds an honorable discharge from the United States Government. November 17, 1896, Charles L. Fisk and Mabel Jenkins, a daugh- ter of J. R. Jenkins, president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, w^ere united in marriage. Mrs. Fisk died November 26, 1899. Mr. Fisk was united in marriage with Leta Van Doren, of Pontiac, Illinois, on December 6, 1906 and they reside in Butler at the Opera House block. Mr. and Mrs. Fisk are widely known and universally respected. Walter Henry, the pioneer garage man of Butler, Missouri, the well-known agent for the Dodge Brothers' automobiles, is a member of a highly respected and prominent pioneer family of Butler. Mr. Henry is a native of Bates county. He was born in 1880 on his father's farm which is located due east of the townsite of Butler, a son of E. P. and Gertrude (Garrison) Henry. E. P. Henry, better known as Captain Henry, was a native of Ohio. He was born at Marietta in Washington county. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having been in service with Company B, Thirty-sixth Ohio .Infantry, commissioned as lieu- tenant. Captain Henry came to Bates county, Missouri in 1869, at about the same time the Garrisons settled here. He was united in HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6oi marriage with Gertrude Garrison and to them were born the follow- ing children: Alice, the wife of Dr. J. T. Hull, Butler, Missouri; Bertha, the widow of Judge J. S. Francesco, a late ex-judge of the probate court of Butler, Missouri; Charles E., who is engaged in farming on the home place northeast of Butler, adjoining the city; Walter, the subject of this review; and one child, a daughter, died in infancy. Captain Henry was for several years engaged in the real estate business at Butler, Mis- souri, associated in partnership with Mr. Hartwell under the firm name of Henry & Hartwell. His name has been inseparably connected with the early history of the development of Butler. Captain Henry was one of the promoters of Butler Academy, one of the organizers of the Butler Presbyterian church, and one of the first interested in the old Bates County Bank at Butler. He took a keen interest in horticulture and an active part in the horticultural society, the members of which used to meet at the farms of the members, and he did much to promote orchard growing in Bates county. To encourage clover raising. Captain Henry purchased a clover huller and hired a man to operate it in order that clover growers might without incurring this expense thresh and save their seed. Captain Henry was an excellent citizen, public spirited, enterprising, and industrious. He did all in his power to help his fellow- men and how well he succeeded in his most laudable desire was attested by the universal esteem and respect in which he was held by his neigh- bors and friends. E. P. Henry died and was taken to his last resting place in the cemetery at Butler in 1889. Walter Henry attended the public schools of Butler and Butler Academy. He resided on the home place with his mother and his brother, Charles, until 1907. Mr. Henry is the pioneer garage man of Butler. He opened his present place of business on North Main street in Febru- ary, 1911 and for the past three years has had the agency for the Dodge Brothers' automobiles. Mr. Henry has been very successful as a sales- man and is selling cars as fast as he can obtain shipments. In addition to holding the agency for the Dodge cars, general repair work of a high order is done at the Henry garage. In April, 1907, Walter Henry and Hope Stubblefield were united in marriage. Mrs. Henry is a native of Bates county, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. N. Stubblefield, of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Stubblefield is a native of Missouri and for many years was actively and successfully engaged in farming in this county. To Walter and Hope Henry have been born three children: Robert E., Walter F., and an infant son. Mr. 602 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and Mrs. Henry number their friends in Butler and Bates county by the score and they are very popular with the young people of their com- munity, moving in the best social circles of the city, J. K. Norfleet, a prominent merchant of Butler, Missouri, the senior member of the firm, Norfleet & Ream, is one of Bates county's best business men. Mr. Norfleet was born in Kentucky in 1846, a son of Larkin and Frances (Gann) Norfleet, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet were the parents of ten children: Mrs. L. M. Phillips, Higginsville, Missouri; Mrs. J. J. Bell, Little River, Texas; Mrs. Rosaline Blevins, who resides in Arkansas; Rev. L. P., Sedalia, Missouri; A. L., a prosperous banker of Oklahoma City, Okla- homa; J. K., the subject of this review; Mrs. E. E. Wheatley, deceased; Mrs. Fannie Dickson, deceased; T. I., deceased; and one child died in infancy. The mother died about 1890 and the father followed her in death in 1909. Larkin Norfleet died at Mayview in Lafayette county. Both parents are buried in Marvin Chapel cemetery in Lafayette county. When J. K. Norfleet was a child six years of age, he came to Mis- souri with his parents and they located in Miller county. He attended school at Knob Noster, Missouri, whenever the opportunity presented itself and though Mr. Norfleet is the only member of his father's family who was not given many educational advantages, who received but little schooling, he is probably as successful as any in the business world. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Norfleet enlisted with the Confed- erates and served four years under General Price in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri. Mr. Norfleet was at Baton Rouge, Louisiana when the war ended. He returned to Miller county, Missouri, and remained there two nights, going thence to Saline county, where he resided for a short time. From Saline county, J. K. Norfleet went to Knob Noster, Mis- souri, where he made his home with his parents for four years, and then with them to Lafayette county near Mayview, where both mother and father died. Mr. Norfleet was engaged in the hardware business at Inde- pendence, prior to coming to Butler in 1901 and entering his present business which he has so admirably organized. In 1869 J. K. Norfleet and Laura McClellan, daughter of Doctor McClellan, of Versailles, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this union have been born nine children, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. C. M. Brosins, Kansas City, Missouri; Clyde K., a traveling salesman. Independence, Missouri; C. V., Sanford, Florida; J. D., Carl, and Roy, who are associated in business with their father in the firm of Norfleet HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 603 & Ream; and Mrs. Birdie Pauline Ream, Butler, Missouri. Those deceased are : Mrs. Leona Monroe and Ella Ruby, who died at the age of five years. Mr. and Mrs. Norfleet reside in Butler. Norfleet & Ream, dealers in groceries, hardware, automobiles, and Case threshing machines, began business in the city of Butler in 1901. They first rented a store room, 14 x 60 feet in dimensions, located on the west side of the public square and began in the mercantile business as a Racket store. At the time of this writing in 1918, the site of the establishment is two doors north of the former location, the present build- ing having a frontage of fifty-seven feet and a depth of one hundred feet. The Norfleet & Ream garage is located on Ohio street, the room being 50 X 100 feet in dimensions. The north room of the building on the public square, a building two stories in height, is used for the offices on the second floor and for salesrooms on the first floor. Norfleet & Ream own all the buildings in wdiich they transact business. They purchased the building on the public square ten years ago and the garage building three years ago, dating from 1917. The members of the firm of Norfleet & Ream are, as follow: J. K. Norfleet, F. C. Ream, J. D., Carl M., and Roy J. Norfleet, sons of J. K. Norfleet. This is the largest business con- cern in Butler and the annual budget of business amounts to two hun- dred fifty thousand dollars. J. K. Norfleet is one of the most enterprising and progressive citi- zens of Bates counuty. His soundness of judgment and clearness of fore- sight have won for him the highest regard of the leading business inter- ests of this part of Missouri. Jacob R. Baum, proprietor of "The Baum Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the progressive "hustlers" among the suc- cessful agriculturists and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Baum is a native of Ross county, Ohio. He was born in 1867 near Chillicothe and in Ross county was reared and educated. Practically all his life has been spent in agricultural pursuits. "The Baum Stock Farm" produces high-grade Percheron horses and white-face Hereford cattle, which Mr. Baum began breeding about eight years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918. This stock farm is located three miles northwest of Butler, in Mount Pleasant town- ship, and comprises one hundred sixty acres of valuable farm land. originally known as the "McFarland Farm." John Baum, father of Jacob R., purchased "The Baum Stock Farm" in 1886, but never came to Bates county, and spent all of his life in Ohio, dying in 1898. Jacob 6C4 HISTORY OF BATl'.S COUNTY R. Baum came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1889 and assumed control of the stock farm and has been profitably managing it ever since. His father would never leave Ohio to come West, and the son states that if a man once "drinks from the ]\Iiami river he either never leaves or always returns." Mr. Bauiii has at the present time on the farm thir- teen head of registered Percherons, the largest herd perhaps in Bates countv. eleven head of registered Herefords and good grade cows, and ten head of good grade horses. "Jonas," an imported registered stallion formerly owned by W. H. Bayliss, of Bluemound, Kansas, heads the Percherons and "Subject, the Forty-first," registered steer purchased in Iowa and owned by Mr. Baum for eighteen months, heads the Herefords. He does not ship his products but finds a ready market at home for all he is able to produce. "The Baum Stock Farm" is equipped with a large stock barn, 36 x 71 feet in dimensions, having a shed attached for stock, hav, and strain, a hav barn, 36 x 48 feet in dimensions, tool shed, corn- cribs, hog houses, and all modern facilities for handling stock. Mrs. Baum has charge of the poultry industry and is making a name for her- self as a successful fancier, raising pure-bred \\'hite Leghorn chickens and Toulouse geese. Jacob R. Baum was first united in marriage with Maggie Carr, of Ross county, Ohio. To Jacob R. and Maggie (Carr) Baum was born one child, a daughter, Nettie. Mrs. Baum died in 1905. Mr. Baum and May McCann, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage in 1906 and Miss Nettie makes her home with them at "The Baum Stock Farm." Fraternally, Mr. Baum is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accep- ted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Baum is devoting his life to the ancient and honorable pursuit of agriculture and the farming and stock interests of Bates countv are represented in this volume by no more worthy man. Clark Wix, the widely-known justice of the peace of Deepwater township, ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, Missouri, ex-deputy internal revenue collector of Missouri, and ex-postmaster of Butler, Missouri, proprietor of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" in Hudson and Deepwater townships, is an honorable representative of one of the prominent pioneer families of w^estern Missouri. Mr. Wix was born February 5, 1850, on his father's farm in Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. Joseph Wix was born in Overton county, Tennessee, on June 15, 1820. In 1835. the Wix CLARK WIX. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 605 family left Tennessee and settled on a tract of land in Fulton county, Illinois, a farm located near Fulton. One year later, Joseph Wix left the homestead in Illinois to try his fortune in the West, as Horace Greeley aptly said, "to grow up with the country," and in 1836 came to Bates county, Missouri, with a cattleman, who brought stock to Polk county in this state, helping him drive the cattle. At Bolivar, Missouri, they encountered the surveyors returning from old Papinsville, who told Mr. Wix that the country from which they came was as fine land as they had ever carried a chain over and for him that was suffi- cient recommendation. Joseph Wix parted with his friend, the cattle- man from Illinois, and set out for Papinsville. On his arrival in Bates county, he found that the Indians of this part of the state were cele- brating with a drunken jubilee, and — knowing from experience the sav- age characteristics of an intoxicated red man — Mr. Wix became alarmed about his own safety and started to go on farther north, when, a few miles out from the site of Papinsville and just north of the site of Pleas- ant Gap, he saw a horse coming which he recog'nized as belonging to an old friend and neighbor, an Illinois man, and he inquired of the boy- driver to whom the animal belonged. The lad replied that the horse was owned by "Dick" Elliott, a settler from Illinois. Mr. Wix's sur- mise was proven correct. Mr. Elliott assisted the newcomer in locating and he settled on the farm, where he made his home the remainder of his life, in Bates county, on the place now owned by his son, Seth Wix. Joseph Wix was one of the first settlers of this county and of the town- ship, in which his farm lay, one of the first merchants. There was a small store at Pleasant Gap at the time of his settling in Missouri and he opened one at his country home and for it hauled his merchandise from Boonville, Cooper county, Missouri, employing yokes of oxen, traveling by way of Dayton and Boonville. Mr. Wix was one of the leading men of affairs in western Missouri, a man of much intelligence and skill, an exceptionally capable workman in those days before the cry for specialization and in 1841 and 1842 his abilities were recognized as far as Fort Scott, Kansas, where he was called to assist in roofing the fort. He served his township, Pleasant Gap, for twenty years as justice of the peace, he was judge of the Bates county court from 1861 until 1863 and again from 1866 until 1869, and he was a member of the Missouri State Militia in Capt. John B. Newberry's company. For three years, during the Civil War, Squire Wix and his family resided in Jefferson county, Kansas. They returned to their home in April, 6o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1865, to find all the buildings on the farm had been burned, the fences destroyed, and their stock gone. It was not a pleasant scene or a happy outlook for the future, but Joseph Wix was a true, brave, undaunted pioneer and he nobly set to work to begin life anew. To Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix were born the following children: Sarah Elizabeth, deceased ; John D., who was accidentally killed while serving with the Missouri State Militia during the Civil War ; Perry, who died about 1855; Clark, the subject of this review; Thomas H., Yates Center, Woodson county, Kansas; A. L., Butler, Missouri; and Rev. Lewis L., a well-known minister and successful farmer of Deep- water township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The mother died May 8, 1857, when her youngest born w^as a babe three days old. Interment was made in Deweese cemetery in Bates county. Sarah (Beatty) Wix was a daughter of Robert Beatty, a native of Kentucky, who located in Saline county, Missouri, in the earliest days of the history of Missouri and from Saline county came to Bates county. Mr. Beatty died in 1853 and his remains were laid to rest in Smith cemetery in Bates county. Mrs. Wix was one of the bravest of Bates county's pioneer women. Joseph W^ix remarried, his second wife being Mrs. Eliza A. Cox, and to this union were born two children: Joseph P., who resides on the home place in Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Fannie A. Pherrington, of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. By a third mar- riage, Joseph Wix and Rosanna Deweese were the parents of four children, who are now living: Benjamin F., who is engaged in the teaching profession and at present is employed in teaching the Cumpton school; B. M., the merchant and postmaster of Pleasant Gap, Missouri; Seth, who is engaged in farming on the home place in Pleas- ant Gap township; and Mrs. Minnie Ballweg, of Pleasant Gap township. Joseph Wix died February 26, 1895, at the Wix homestead. He was seventy-five years of age and, with the exception of three years resi- dence in Kansas during the Civil War, the greater part of his life after attaining maturity was spent within the geographic limits of Bates county, Missouri. His career was a busy and useful one and a striking example of honorable dealings, steadfastness of purpose, and invincible courage that is well worthy of emulation by the young man oblig-ed to rely upon his own resources for a start upon the rugged highway which leads to success. Interment was made in Myers cemetery in Hudson township, Bates county. Clark Wix obtained his elementary education in the "subscription HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 607 schools" and the pubHc schools of Bates county. When he was twenty- one years of age, he began life independently engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. He farmed on the home place for three years and then purchased a part of his present farm in Deep- water township. C. E. Sharp entered from the government that part of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" upon which the Wix residence is located and 240 acres of the farm were entered by B. Reed, a speculator from Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Ninety acres were entered by Mr. Dinsmore, of Ohio. "Walnut Grove Stock Farm," so-called from the grove of walnut trees planted on the place by Mr. Wix, comprises seven hundred sixty-five acres of choice land in Deepwater and Hudson town- ships. Mr. Wix has himself improved the farm, adding a handsome resi- dence, a house of eight rooms, in 1887; a new barn, 60 x 60 feet in dimensions, constructed of native timber sawed on the farm, which is probably the largest, best-built, most substantial barn in Bates county; a second barn, 24 x 30 feet in dimensions, with two twelve-foot sheds attached; a stock barn, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions; and numerous other farm buildings needed in the efficient handling of large herds of stock. There are three different sets of improvements on "Walnut Grove Stock Farm." Mr. Wix has on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, from twenty-five to thirty head of horses and mules, perhaps seventy-five head of cattle, and twenty-five head of sheep. He raises only high grade Hereford cattle, the head of the herd being registered, and Duroc Jersey hogs. He is the owner of a splendid registered jack, also. Three hun- dred acres of "Walnut Grove Stock Farm" are in bluegrass and pasture land. The marriage of Clark Wix and Caroline E. Brown was solemnized February 26, 1871. Caroline E. (Brown) Wix is a daughter of John W. and Elizabeth (White) Brown and a native of Champaign county, Ohio. Mrs. Wix's parents came to Missouri in 1866 and settled in Bates county on a farm in Hudson township and they are both now deceased. John W. Brown was an elder of the Methodist church for forty years and the leader of the movement which resulted in the building of Brown's Chapel in Hudson township, a church named in honor of the founder. He was the father of nine children, two daughters being the sole survivors of the entire family, namely: Mrs. Clark Wix, the wife of the subject of this review; and Mrs. George W. Pharis, of Hudson township. Mr. Browm died in 1900 at the age of eighty-six years. The remains of both the mother and father lie interred in Myers cemetery in Bates county. 6c8 lllSTlM^V or IIATI-o CDl'NTV To C'lark ami L'arolinc \-.. {\U-o\\\\) W i\ ha\o boon horn niiio chiKlron: Ida May. docoascd ; Nellie V., the wife of Charles lUiij^e. of l-onj;- P.eaeh. California; Bessie, ileeeased : Le\ i. deeeased ; Sarah !■!.. the wife of Cdiarles R. 1 lollowa}-. a i)rofessor in the Portland hij^h school, Port- land. Oregon; .Mrs. Albert (.'ox. l.oni;- I'eaeh. (."alifornia ; lohn \\.. Sail Lake City, Utah; Joseph Hilton, recently married and living- on the home farm; and one child die^l in infancy. 1"\m' many years. Clark Wix has been a citizen of distincti\e i)restiL;e in [>ates connty. lie has held sexeral clitTerent otVices of pnblic honor and trnst and he has inxariably pro\ en himself io be a capable anil trnst- northy ofticial. He has tilled the ot'lice oi jnstice of the peace in Deep- water township for man\- years, tints following- in the fi>otsteps of his honored father, has serxed as jndge of the connty conn from I880 nntil 188^\ was depnt\- internal re\enne collector oi Missonri for fne vears. dnring the adniinistraticMis of McKinley and Roosevelt, and for fonr }"ears was the efficient postmaster oi Bntler. Missonri. Mr. \\ ix is one of Pates comity's most prominent and intlnential citizens, a man of many excellent ipnilities. a citizen of marked abilitx. a wortlu' son of c^ne of Missouri's noblest pioneers, jiulge Wix is a stockholder and director of the Missonri State I'ank anil the Walton Trust Companx . T. C. Pollard, the well-known anil energetic i>\\ ner. manager, and "li\e wire ' oi Ihe Pollard Agenc\' oi I'ntler. the largest insurance agencx' in southwestern Missouri, is a native of West \'irginia. Mr. Pollard was born in 1874 near Powhatan, \\ est \'irginia, a son of Thomas T. and Phoebe (Ball) Pollard, who were the parents of the following chil- dren; Mrs. Mary llamm. Hopkins, Missouri; Mrs. Ida M. Haird, Pan- croft, Iowa; Mrs. Luella M. Baird, Pawpaw. Illinois; Mrs. litiie J. Barnes, Hopkins, Missouri; and T. C, the subject of this review. The father died about 1874 and in 1880 Mrs. Pollard came to Hopkins. Mis- somi with her children and at that place her death occurred in PM4. W hen T. C. Pollard was a babe, six months of age, his father died and. thus, the boy was early in life placed upon his own resources. Since he was a lad. elexen \ears old, ]\lr. Pollard has made his own way in the world. Seventeen years ago. he began his insurance work w'ith L. C. Gray, the present state agent for the Springtield Fire Insur- ance Company of Springfield, Massachusetts for Missouri and Kansas, at Kansas City. Missouri. Mr. Pollard has been writing- insurance con- stantly since that time. He left Kansas Citv in PHVi and went ti^ inSTOKV OK BATES COUNTY C)Or) Greeley, Colcjrado, where he (;|)ene(l an ai[^ency, or rather organized an insurance company, the ("olony Investment Company, which is still doing a thriving business in that state. Seven years later, Mr. Pollard left Greeley and went to Rolla, Missouri, where he followed the insur- ance business for two years, in charge of the Livingston Clino jjland Insurance agency. In June, 1916, he came to lUitler, Missouri, when he purchased his present agency. He attends personally to every policy written, keeping close account of the policy and date of expiration. Mr. Pollard has traveling men looking after new business as well as the ohl, when losses occur, he is just as desirous to adjust and pay the insurance as to write a new policy. All losses are adjusted at Mr. Pollard's own office and his maxim of business is, "Do it now." In April, 1900, T. C. Pollard was united in marriage with Nora L. Lancaster at Ada, Kansas. Mrs. Pollard is a daughter of John G. and Alpha Lancaster, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Lancaster died at Boulder, Colorado on October 17, 1912 and five years later, to the day, he was joined in death by his wife. Mrs. Lancaster died October 17, 1917. To T. C. and Nora L. Pollard have been born four chilrlren: Charles L., Naomi B., Harold C, and Donald N. Mr. and Mrs. Pollard reside in Butler at 112 West Fort Scott street. The Pollard Agency was first established by Thomas Evelsizer about 1890 anrl was then known as the Continental Insurance Agency. Mr. Evelsizer sold the agency after several years. Later it was acquired by Ben Canterbury. Mr. Canterbury and Mr. Travis conducted the business in partnership for many years under the firm name of Canter- bury & Travis. The latter ])artncr sold liis interest back to Mr. Canter- bury, from whom T. C. Pollard purchased the agency in June, 1916. The Pollard Agency has now thirteen companies and is doing the largest insurance business in this part of the country, covering the counties of P>ates, Cass, St. Clair, and Vernon for two fire insurance com])anies, one life insurance compjany, and r)ne casualty insurance company. Although T. C. Pollard is a very recent addition to the good citi- zenship of Butler, he has in the brief period of his residence in this city won a conspicuous place in the respect and esteem of the business men of Bates county and is now classed with the most valued, substantial, and intelligent citizens. ^ E. D. Wilcox, a successful farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant (39) 6lO HISTORY OF JIATES COUNTY township, is one of the excellent citizens of Bates county who are widely and favorably known beyond the confines of their immediate community. Mr. Wilcox is a native of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie county, Iowa. He was born in 1865, an only surviving child of Milo W. and Mary (Weldon) Wilcox. Milo Wilcox was a native of Ohio and Mrs. Wilcox was born in Kentucky and in youth came from her native state with her parents to Ohio. Milo Wilcox and Mary Weldon were united in marriage at Springfield, Illinois, and immediately afterward located in Iowa, where their son, E. D., was born. They moved from Iowa to Bates county, Missouri, in 1866 and in September of that year settled on a tract of land in Mount Pleasant township, the northwest quarter of section 8, for which Mr. Wilcox paid five dollars an acre. Mrs. Wilcox did not live long to enjoy the new home. Two years after their coming West, in 1868, she died, leaving her son a babe then but three years of age. In 1869 Milo Wilcox was united in marriage with Mary Ashley, a native of Bates county, and to them were born five children: Mrs. Lillie Silvers, Springfield, Missouri ; Roy, Butler, Missouri ; Manning, But- ler, Missouri; Newton, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Nellie Huffmain, Springfield, Missouri. Mary (Ashley) AVilcox died in 1895. Mr. AVilcox continued to reside on the 'farm, \vhere ilie had settled in 1866, until his death in 1906. He was highly respected in his township, where he was numbered among the leading citizens. Mr. Wilcox was public-spirited and enterprising and deeply interested in educational work, serving faithfully and well on the district school board for many years in his community. He and Isaac Conklin built the school house, located near the Wilcox home, which was named in honor of Mr. Wilcox. The school was organized about 1866 and there all the Wilcox children attended school. In all that constitutes genuine manhood and good citizenship, Milo Wilcox occupied a conspicuous place among his fel- lowmen. Honest and upright in all his dealings, with integrity unques- tioned and a record untinged by the breath of suspicion or calumny, Mr. Wilcox fully merited the esteem and confidence in which he was held by the people of his township and county. The old Butler and West Point trail ran due west of the Wilcox homestead, in the early days. The land was practically all open prairie when the Wilcox family settled in Bates county and the traces of the old trail may still be seen in the pasture at the Wilcox home. Milo Wilcox drove a span of mules to Missouri from Iowa and the year fol- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6l I lowing his coming west he disposed of his team for five hundred dollars. E. D. Wilcox recalls the many deer he saw in the county in the days of his boyhood. He remembers hearing his father relate how he hauled the lumber for the two rooms of the Wilcox residence from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. In a pioneer home, amid pioneer surroundings. E. D. Wilcox was reared to manhood and was educated. He obtained his education at the Wilcox school house, attending no other school. Milo Wilcox made it a rule that when his sons had attained the age of eighteen years they were to begin life for themselves and thus, at the age of eighteen years, E. D. Wilcox began to make his own way in the world. He rented land and engaged in farming and then after several years was enabled to purchase a farm in Sheridan county, Kan- sas, to which he moved in 1902. After three years, Mr. Wilcox returned to Bates county and purchased one hundred twenty acres of land lying direct- ly north of his old home place, forty acres of which he afterward sold. He then purchased additional land on the east side of his farm, complet- ing an eighty-acre tract, forty acres of which were inherited by Mr. Wilcox from his father's estate. Seventy acres of this east eighty-acre tract were formerly a part of the home farm. Mr. AVilcox is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising. He keeps on the place an excellent grade of Poland China hogs, which have proven in recent years to be a profitable investment. In 1890, E. D. Wilcox and Mary Walton were united in marriage. Mary (Walton) Wilcox is a daughter of T. J. and Allie Walton, of Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Walton died in 1894 and Mr. Walton still resides at Butler. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have been born two children : Irene, the wife of Carl Thompson, of Passaic, Missouri; and Walton, who resides at home with his parents. With the energy characteristic of a Wilcox, E. D. Wilcox has improved his farm and put the place in splendid condition, constantly adding to the beauty and attractiveness of his country home until now the Wilcox place is one of the most comfortable, desirable rural resi- dences within the boundaries of the township. Mr. Wilcox is a quiet, plain man of tlie people, one noted for good sense and broad, intelli- gent views of men and affairs. Honorable and upright in all his deal- ings, aiming to do right as he sees and understands the right, his life has been far above criticism. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox are well-known and highly valued by the best families of Bates county. 6l2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY James H. Rayboum, ex-deputy clerk of Bates county, Missouri, ex-assessor of Deepwater township, ex-secretary and a present member of the board of directors of the Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company of Bates county, is one of the brave clan of noble pioneers of this county and a representative of one of the oldest families of western Missouri. Mr. Raybourn is a native of Missouri. He was born in Henry county on his father's farm near Calhoun in 1843, a son of John C. and Sarah P. (Pinkston) Raybourn, natives of Madison county, Kentucky. John C. Raybourn came to Missouri among the earliest set- tlers and located on a tract of land in Henry county near Calhoun, where his son, J. H., the subject of this review, was born. The Raybourns set- tled in Missouri about 1840 and Mr. Raybourn lived but a few brief years to enjoy the new Western home. He died in Kentucky, while on a visit to the old homestead, in 1845 and interment was made in that state. John C. Raybourn w^as one of the leading business men of Henry county in his day and although he was a resident of the county but 'a short time before his death his future career appeared bright and promis- ing, when in early, vigorous manhood he w^as cut down by the Grim Reaper, leaving a wndow and five little ones, J. H., then a babe two years of age, in a strange country and with little financial support. J. C. and Sarah Raybourn were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth M. Myers, Everett, Washington; Elihu G., who died at Apple- ton City, Missouri, in 1911, at the age of seventy-four years; W^illiam B., who is engaged in farming in Hudson township on land entered from the government by their stepfather, John D. Myers; J. H., the sub- ject of this review; and George W., of Sedan, Kansas. John C. Ray- bourn was a member of the jury in Henry county that sentenced the first man to be hanged in that county. The cabin home built by him in the early forties on his land two or three miles northeast of Calhoun is still standing. There is the birthplace of J. H. Raybourn. Mrs. Sarah P. Raybourn remarried, her second husband being John D. Myers. Mr. Myers and Mrs. Raybourn were united in marriage in 1847 and to them were born four children, all of wdiom are now deceased: Clay F., who died at Appleton City in the eighties; Dewitt Clinton, who died about 1879; Oscar E., deceased; and Sarah, who died in infancy during the Civil War and is buried in a cemetery near Dresden, in Pettis county. Mis- souri. John D. Myers was a native of Pennsylvania, but he was reared to maturity in Virginia. He came to Missouri in the early days and set- tled in Bates countv, where he was for years one of the leading citizens JAMES H. RAYBOURN AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 613 and a prominent man of affairs. He served two or more terms as mem- ber of the county court and was presiding judge at the time of the out- break of the Civil War. In the years immediately following the Civil War, Mr. Myers served as county clerk of Bates county. Mrs. Sarah P. Raybourn Myers died at Appleton City, Missouri, in July 1890. When J. H. Raybourn was a small lad, he recalls being taken on horseback with his stepfather, Mr. Myers, to Butler to attend the county court in the days before the prairies were taken up by the early settlers and that they would not pass a dwelling on the way. Mr. Raybourn came to Bates county, Missouri with his mother and stepfather, about 1847, and they settled on land, section 6, in Hudson township, which is now occupied by William B. Raybourn, This land was entered by Mr. Myers, who died in the seventies and was buried in High Point ceme- tery in Hudson township. J. H. Raybourn obtained his education in the "subscription schools" of Bates county, in the "log college" of Hud- son township, as he himself states. His stepsister, Catherine Myers, was his first instructor. Mr. Raybourn afterward attended school at Dresden and Knob Noster. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Raybourn left Bates county and took up his residence with his uncle in Henry county for three months and then joined his parents at Smith- ton in Pettis county. They returned to their home in Bates county in 1862 and in August of the same year Mr. Raybourn returned to this county. The First Iowa Cavalry were stationed at Butler and he joined the Missouri State Militia, enrolled under Captain Newberry, and served with his company until it was disorganized. Mr. Raybourn then joined the Fifth Provisional Regiment and, later, the Forty-fifth Missouri In- fantry, and with the latter remained until the close of the war in 1865. After the war, John D. Myers assumed his official duties as county clerk, circuit clerk and ex-ofificio recorder and J. H. Raybourn was appointed his deputy. They were in office at the time the Bates County Court was held at Pleasant Gap, in 1865, and in the spring of 1866 Mr. Ray- bourn hauled the records to Butler and placed them in the temporary office of the Bates county clerk, located on the southeast corner of the public square. He served faithfully and well for six years in the county clerk's office and. after vacating his official position, was employed as assistant in mercantile establishment in Butler for many years. Early in the seventies, he purchased his present stock farm in Deepwater town- ship, a place comprising one hundred fifty acres of land, and moved to it and there resided until 1912, when he moved to the country place 6l4 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY located one mile south, where he has since resided. Mr. Raybourn still owns his original holdings, however. J. H. Raybourn's first wife was Ada V. Holloway, of Cass county, a daughter of Thomas Holloway, an early settler on Tennessee branch, which took its name from the fact that Air. Holloway came from Ten- nessee. Mr. Holloway planted one of the iirst orchards in Cass county of apple trees grown from the seed taken from apples he had brought from Tennessee; but no two trees bore fruit alike or like the original apples. Ada V. Raybourn was a good, devoted wife. The marriage of J. H. Raybourn and Telitha V. Van Hoy was solemnized January 1, 1879. Mrs. Raybourn was born in 1851 in Henry county, Missouri, a daug-hter of Capt. John M. and Mary (Ludwig) Van Hoy, the former, a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Pennsylvania, both of whom are now deceased. The Van Hoys were honored pioneers of Henry county. Capt. John M. Van Hoy was an officer in the Federal army in the Civil War and he served as sheriff of Henry county for many years prior to the war. He was a prominent and influential politician of Henry county. His death occurred in Pettis county and his wife died in Bates county. To J. H. and Telitha Raybourn have been born the following children: Paul D., who died January 24, 1903 at the age of twenty-three years, while a student at Missouri State University, a graduate of Appleton City Academy; ■\Iabel. who died in infancy; Stella D., the wife of Payton R. Davis, of St. Clair county, Missouri ; Arthur, who died in infancy; Mary Alice, the wife of Lon Varus, Appleton City, Missouri; J. T., who is engaged in farming on the home place; C. \\, a well-known farmer of Deepwater township, and L. T., deceased, who were twins. By the former marriage, Mr. Raybourn is the father of three children, who are, namely: Mattie P., the wife of Henry Smizer, deceased about eight years, her death occurring at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Professor C. B., who has been superintendent of the Littleton Public Schools, Littleton, Colorado for the past fifteen years, in charge of the city and county schools; and D. C, Mountainburg, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Raybourn are worthy and consistent members of the Pres- byterian church, and regular attendants of the Pleasant Ridge Presby- terian church. Mr. Ravbourn has for many years been a prominent citizen of his township. He has served the people of Deepwater township as assessor and as a member of the township school board. He was formerly sec- retary of the Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance Company of Bates HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 615 county and for the past eighteen years has been a member of the direc- torate of the company. He is numbered among the representative and substantial farmers and stockmen of Deepvvater township, in which township he owns two hundred twenty acres of valuable land. The hos- pitality and geniality of Mr. and Mrs. Raybourn are proverbial and there is no more highly respected and esteemed family in Bates county, Missouri. In point of years of residence in Bates county (seventy-one years) Mr. Raybourn is the oldest pioneer. He has continuously resided in this county for seventy-one years. James Hardin, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is one of the honored and respected pioneers of Bates county. Mr. Hardin is a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky. He was born October 16, 1845, a son of Wesley Hardin, a native of Virginia. Wesley Hardin had, in early manhood, moved with his parents to Kentucky and in that state was married. From Kentucky, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Hardin went to Illinois and settled in Menard county in 1854 and there reared and educated their son, James, the subject of this review. In February, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, James Hardin enlisted in the Civil War and served until the close of the conflict in Company A, One Hundred Fifty-second Illinois Regiment of Infantry. Mr. Hardin was sent to Tullahoma, Tennessee and from there to Memphis, Ten- nessee, where he remained until mustered out at the end of the war. He had done guard duty in the war, principally. After the war had ended, Mr. Hardin returned to Springfield, Illinois, and from there went back home. In 1868, he came to Bates county, Missouri, and purchased his present home place in September of that year and in September, 1870, moved to it. He paid seven and a half dollars an acre for eighty acres of land and ten dollars an acre for ten acres of timberland at that time. The Hardin place was raw prairie at the time of the purchase. Mr. Hardin built a post and rail fence enclosing his land, the rails being nailed on the posts with old iron nails. This improvement was made the first year of his residence. A house, 14 x 22 feet in dimensions, was built of pine timber, the lumber for its construction hauled from La- Cygne, Linn county, Kansas. It required two days to make the trip. The first year, Mr. Hardin raised -twenty-five bushels of sod corn per acre and he has continued to improve his land and bring it up to a high state of cultivation through all the succeeding years. In the early days, a stage line operated from Butler to LaCygne, Kansas. October 17, 1867, James Hardin and Mary A Stone were united in 6l6 HISTORY OF TJATES COUNTY marriage at Lincoln, Illinois. To this union have been born five chil- dren: Fred L., at home; Edwin, Butler, Missouri; Katie Frances, at home; Frank S., at home; and Hugh, Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary on October 17, 1917. Mr. Hardin rebuilt the residence in 1907 and the Hardin home is now a comfortable, convenient house of seven large, well-lighted rooms.. A silo was erected in 1917. The farm is w^ell supplied with barns, hav- ing a commodious horse barn, cattle barn, and implement and crib barn, in addition to numerous sheds to facilitate the handling of stock, Mr. Hardin keeps registered Poland China hogs, which stock he has found to be the most profitable investment on the place. He milks ten head of Red Polled cows and ships the milk to St. Joseph, Missouri. Although Mr. Hardin personally oversees the work of the farm, he is not now actively engaged in agricultural pursuits but is quietly spending the clos- ing years of his life on the home place, leaving the immediate supervision of the farm work to his sons, Fred L. and Frank S. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin have w^orked hard in the days gone by and no people in Missouri more deserving of the comfort and ease with which they are surrounded can be found. The worthy pioneers of Mount Pleasant township are represented by no more enterprising and successful farmer and highly esteemed citizen than James Hardin. Belonging to the large and honorable class of good yeomen, who by deeds not words have done so much to develop the resources of our great commonwealth and advertise its advantages to the world, he has long been a forceful factor in Bates county and by a life singularly free from fault he has wielded a wholesome influence for good upon all with whom he has had business or social relations. J. S. Brown, widely-known as the "Watermelon Man," of Butler, Missouri, propagator of the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, is the most noted plant breeder in this part of Missouri. Mr. Brown was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1851, a son of Shelby and Mary Brown, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The Browns came to Missouri in 1869 and settled near Appleton City, where Mr. Brown engaged in general farming. To Shelby and Mary Brown were born the following children : Jacob, deceased; Abraham, a successful farmer of Pleasant Gap township; Dallas, whose address is unknown ; William, deceased ; J. S., the sub- ject of this review; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Armantha Neal, Montrose, Missouri; Ellen, deceased; Almona, deceased. The mother died at the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 617 age of seventy-eight years at Appleton City, Missouri, on November 9, 1895. Shelby Brown joined his wife in death in November of the ensuing year, 1896. In VermiHon county, Illinois, J. S. Brown obtained his education. He came West with his parents in 1869 and with them settled in Hud- son township at a time when practically all Missouri was an open prairie. Shelby Brown purchased a farm comprising one hundred sixty acres of land, where the Browns resided until about 1890. The Brown home- stead is still in the possession of a Brown, I. M. Brown, who, is, how- ever, no relation to the family with whom we are now concerned. J. S. Brown came to Butler, Missouri, in 1891, at which time he purchased his present country place from J. P. Edwards, a farm compris- ing one hundred acres of choice land, at that time but very poorly improved. The Brown farm lies two miles south of the Bates county court house and is now one of the nicely improved places in Mount Pleasant township. For several years, Mr. Brown has been engaged in stock raising and feeding, although he has always been interested in plant breeding and has raised watermelons in greater and lesser quanti- ties since he came to Bates county. About 1905, Mr. Brown began privately investigating and experimenting and he has secured a remark- able result in crossing watermelon plants in the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, a fine, long, dark-green melon having a delicious, juicy, red core, a melon now very famous in this vicinity. Mr. Brown began the improve- ment of the ''Elsie Lee" nearly eight years ago and he is still at work. The melon was named in honor of his only daughter, Elsie Lee. He had planted four acres of his farm in melons in 1917 and finds the grow- ing of them a very pleasant and profitable business, though involving much labor. He states that constant cultivation and care are the princi- pal things to observe in melon production. Mr. Brown plants twelve feet apart and thins the plants to one in a hill. He thinks the reason why so many successful agriculturists fail in producing a paying crop of melons is that they neglect the melon plants for a few days when other plants need attention and those few hours in a hot. dry summer may mean the loss of the entire melon crop. Eive of Mr. Brown's melons brought one dollar and twenty-five cents each on the Butler market last year, of 1917. January 22, 1880, the marriage of J- S. Brown and Annie Nettie Merryfield was solemnized at Appleton City, Missouri. Mrs. Brown is a daughter of Abraham and Mary J. (Moore) Merryfield. of Utica, New 6l8 HISTORY or BATES COUNTY York. Mr. and Mrs. Merryfield came from New York to Rockford, Illi- nois, and to Missouri in 1868 and settled at Appleton City, where both later died. To J. S. and Annie Nettie Brown have been born four children: Alva O., Spokane, Washington; Elsie Lee, the wife of Thomas Stout, a well-to-do merchant of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Lena, deceased; and Omer E., who recently married Marie Council a daughter of H. H. Council, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Brown reside on rural route 7. Actively interested in all that pertains to the public good and ready and willing at all times to put forth his best efforts to benefit his fellow- man and make the community wiser and better, Mr. Brown is a com- mendable example of the "self-made" man. He is the Luther Burbank of Bates county. Joseph Tipton, a highly respected farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Tipton is a grandson of James Tipton, an honored pio- neer of Benton county, Missouri. James Tipton came from Tennessee to Missouri in a "prairie schooner," having four fine Kentucky horses for motor power. As far back as they are known, the Tiptons have been lovers of good horses and these particular ones were draft horses of the type used in the forties, strawberry roan in color, with proudly arched necks, they created quite an impression upon the early settlers of Benton county. Joseph Tipton was born in 1848 in Benton county, Missouri, a son of Thomas, Sr., and Nancy E. (Henderson) Tipton, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. Thomas Tipton, Sr., came to Mis- souri with his father, James Tipton, about 1840. James Tipton died many years ago in Hickory county, Missouri. To Thomas, Sr., and Nancy E. Tipton were born five children, three of whom are living: Thomas, Jr., Benton county, Missouri ; William, who resides at the Tip- ton homestead in Benton county, Missouri; and Joseph, the subject of this review. The father did not live long amid the pioneer surround- ings of their new western home. He died in Benton county. Mrs. Tipton remarried, her second husband being W^illiam Wright. To Mr. and Mrs. William Wright were born two sons and two daughters : John, who has been baggage master at Sedalia, Missouri, for the past twenty-five years; George, who is engaged in farming in Hickory county, Missouri ; Martha, deceased ; and Lucinda, deceased. Mrs. Nancy E. Tipton Wright departed this life in Benton county. Prior to the Civil War, there were no public schools in Missouri HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 619 and Joseph Tipton was educated in the "subscription schools" of the early days in Benton county. In his boyhood days, the Indians of the vicinity frequently visited the Tipton home and traded their hand-woven baskets for articles which they wanted. Mr. Tipton remained at home with his parents until he was thirty-two years of age. He left home at that time and traveled in the West, staying six months in Oregon and two years in California. In the autumn of 1882, he returned to Mis- souri and located in Bates county near Appleton City. He rented land for a time and then purchased a farm, which he afterward sold and then went back to California. On his second coming to Bates county, Mis- souri, Mr. Tipton bought a farm located eight miles east of Butler. He again disposed of his land and left Missouri for California. In 1905, he returned to Bates county for the third time and at this time bought his present country home, a farm comprising forty acres located two and a half miles south of Butler on the Butler and x\ppleton City road. Mr. Tipton has himself improved the place, building and planting. He has a pleasant and comfortable residence of eight rooms, a large barn, and a smoke-house, now on the farm. The marriage of Joseph Tipton and Cynthia J. Taylor was solemnized in 1880. Cynthia J. (Taylor) Tipton is a daughter of James Wesley and Sarah (Rice) Taylor, of Benton county, Missouri, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James Wesley Taylor was a cousin of Zach- ary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, the soldier- statesman, who was born in Virginia in 1784 and died July 9, 1881, and he was a veteran of the War of 1812 and of the Civil War. In the War of 1812, Mr. Taylor and a comrade were so weak from prolonged march- ing that they were left behind by the troops to die. An acorn, which they divided, partially restored their strength and wnth a mighty effort they managed to regain their company the next day. In the Civil A\'ar, Mr. Taylor made up a company of men. Company I, Missouri State Mili- tia, and of it was chosen captain. In times of peace, he was engaged in the profession of teaching. Mr. Taylor was intensely interested in horticulture and planted the first orchard ever planted out south of the Osage river at Warsaw. He carried the trees on the back of his horse from Jefferson City to his home. Mrs. Tipton still has a variety of rose- bushes, which came from the Taylor homestead and were planted by her father there. Mrs. Taylor was always proud of the distinction of having been present to see the first steamboat sail up the Missouri river to Jefferson City, which was in her day as much of an event as the passing 620 HISTORY OF BaTE.S COaNTY of the first aeroplane across our city would be to us. Mr. and Mrs. Tip- ton have no children of their own, but they have reared and educated as their own two girls : Jessie Miller, a niece of Mrs. Tipton, the wife of Fred Nickly, of Butler, Missouri; and Cecil Nickly, the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Nickly, who is employed as teacher in the Apple- ton City High School and will graduate from the Warrensburg Normal School in the class of 1918. Joseph Tipton is a man of strong character, practical mind, and of enterprise and thrift. As citizens, both he and Mrs. Tipton are all, and more, that any community could desire, lending their support liberally and cheerfully to all good enterprises for the social, moral, and intellec- tual improvement of the township and county in which they reside. Bate Batchelor, a late prominent and influential farmer and stock- man of Deepwater township, was one of the substantial and leading citi- zens of Bates county. Mr. Batchelor was a native of Kentucky, born December 18, 1868, a son of John and Sarah J. (Allen) Batchelor, who came to Missouri and settled in Bates county on a farm located near Appleton City, when their son. Bate, was a child five years of age. Mr. Batchelor, whose name introduces this review, was reared on the farm near Appleton City and his youth was spent much as the aver- age lad on the farm spends his boyhood days. He assisted his father with the work on the home place and attended Oak Grove district school, applying himself assiduously to his farm duties and to his studies, grow- ing strong and vigorous mentally and physically. Mr. Batchelor was always interested in agricultural pursuits and in early manhood began farming and stock raising, which he followed the remainder of his life. In 1900, he and his wife located on the farm, which is the present home of his widow, located four and a half miles south of Spruce in Deep- water township and, as the place is well adapted to the production of both stock and grain, Mr. Batchelor became very successful in both general farming and stock raising. He was very prominently identified with the stock interests of Bates county, especially, and his stock farm became noted for the high grade Poland China hogs and white face cattle bred and raised there on. In matters of business. Bate Batchelor was careful and methodical, and all his dealings were marked by dis- criminating judgment and a high sense of fairness and honor. The marriage of Bate Batchelor and Clara Cumpton was solemnized June 1. 1898. Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor is a native of Deepwater township, born March 18. 1871. a daughter of W. G. and M. L. Cumpton. BATE BATCHELOR AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 62 1 Mrs. Batchelor's father is a member of an honored pioneer family of Johnson county, Missouri, in which county he was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Cumpton are now living, he at the age of seventy-five and his wife is one year his junior. Mrs. Batchelor attended school in Cump- ton school district in Deepwater township, Bates county, Missouri. To Bate and Clara Batchelor was born one child, a daughter, Nina E., who was born May 13, 1900. Mr. Batchelor died December 22, 1910 and interment was made in Union cemetery. "Fairview Stock Farm" in Deepwater township, now owned by Mrs. Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor, widow of Bate Batchelor, is one of the pretty, rural homes of Bates county. The place is nicely located and well watered and the residence is situated at the highest point of the farm, affording a splendid view of the surrounding country, and thus the farm came by its name, "Fairview Stock Farm," which is registered. Mr. Batchelor purchased the land from Mr. Van Meter, of Butler, Mis- souri. The farm embraces two hundred acres of land, twenty acres of which are timber land. A barn, 32 x 42 feet in dimensions, having a capacity of sixty tons of hay, unbaled, has been added recently to the improvements of the place, the frame of which structure is of native timber, walnut lumber sawed for this purpose on the farm. All the pastures are enclosed with hog-tight fencing of wire. D. M. Cumpton, a brother of Mrs. Batchelor, has charge of the farm work. The citizen, to a brief review of whose life and achievements the reader's attention has been herewith directed, was for many years one of the progressive stockmen of Deepwater township, who by his tireless endeavors and up-to-date methods contributed in a material w^ay to the agricultural advancement of this section of Bates county and in the course of an honorable career did as much as any one man to improve the grade of livestock in Bates county. Mr. Batchelor was a gentleman of wide perspective, of intelligence, of countless praiseworthy qualities. A Democrat in his party affiliations and a firm believer in the principles he espoused, he was by no means an office-seeker. Mr. Batchelor was essentially a stockman and a business man and his life, though in many respects uneventful, was fraught with much good to his community and Bates county was proud to number him among the successful and substantial citizens, grieved to enroll him among those who have gone on before. Merle Simon, a prosperous, young agriculturist of Mount Pleasant township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens, a progressive farmer t22 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and stockman, and a comparatively new man in this part of the country. Mr. Simon is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1881 at Des Moines, a son of Martin and Margaret (Brown) Simon, both of whom were natives of Ohio. The mother died about 1890 and Mr. Simon resides in Oklahoma. When Merle Simon was a small child, his parents moved from Iowa to Kansas and in that state in the schools of Fort Scott, Bourbon county, and of Wichita, Sedgwick county, he received his education. Mr. Simon has followed stock raising for tw^enty years in the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, and New Mexico. He slept for twelve years out in the open, while a "cowboy" on the plains. He came to Bates county, Missouri, on December 5, 1915, after pur- chasing his present country home in Mount Pleasant township in August of the previous year, a place formerly known as the Carpenter & Shafer farm, a dairy farm. This place is well supplied with water from a well, thirty-six feet in depth and eight feet in width, in which the water always stands within a few feet of the top, thus affording a bountiful supply in every pasture. Mr. Simon has placed a concrete cover on the well, the cover having an opening in which to insert the hose when filling, and this with an iron pump facilitates the handling of the tank prob- lem. Since coming to Bates county, Mr. Simon has given much atten- tion to sheep raising. He is a lover of fine horses and has on the farm an imported Percheron horse, weight two thousand pounds, a good grade Percheron, and a registered jack in addition to a herd of twenty- five good grade cattle. The stock barn is 50 x 64 feet in dimensions and has a concrete floor in the feeding stall. The marriage of Merle Simon and Addie Hawkins was solemnized March 14, 1906. Addie (Hawkins) Simon is a daughter of G. A. and Sarah Hawkins, both of whom were born in Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins were formerly residents of Texas county, Oklahoma, and they are now residing at Tyrone, Oklahoma. Mrs. Simon was educated in private schools in Pendleton county, Kentucky, and in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was reared in Kentucky and she and Mr. Simon were married in Stephens county, Oklahoma. To Merle and Addie Simon have been born two children: Luther and Benjamin. Mrs. Simon is doing all in her power to make the farm pay, in addition to making the home attrac- tive, and she is capably managing the poultry industry, raising fine, large flocks of Buff Orpington chickens. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 623 Bates county, Missouri, is noted for the many excellent stock and dairy farms within its boundaries and for the enterprise and progressive- ness of the county's husbandmen. Merle Simon is "doing his bit" to sustain this reputation. He is the owner of one of the prettiest country places in Mount Pleasant township and he will find that in the years to come his well-directed efforts have not been in vain but were amply repaid in the increased value of his property and in the respect and esteem in which he is held. Mr. and Mrs. Simon have made many friends in Bates county since taking up their residence among us and Mr. Simon is even now rated as a broad-minded, industrious, and honorable gentleman and he has won the confidence and good will of all who know him. Robert Sturgeon, a highly respected farmer and stockman of Sum- mit township, is a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of Carroll county, Missouri. Mr. Sturgeon is a native of Henry county, Ohio, a son of Rowland and Elizabeth (Barton) Sturgeon, natives of Starke county, Ohio. The Sturgeons came to Missouri in 1869 in an emigrant wagon and settled on the farm afterward known as the Sturgeon place in Carroll county. Rowland Sturgeon died at the Sturgeon home- stead in 1901. Mrs. Sturgeon makes her home at Hale, Missouri, and she is now eighty-four years of age, one of the most valued of the brave pioneer women of Carroll county. Mr. Sturgeon was a Union veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted in Henry county, Ohio, and served with Company D, One Hundred Eleventh Infantry. His son, Robert, was born April 1, 1853. Robert Sturgeon is the only son and oldest living child now of the five children born to his parents, Rowland and Elizabeth Sturgeon, the children being, as follow: John, deceased; Robert, the subject of this review; Mrs. Lillian Dailey, Hale, Missouri; Alice, who died at the age of sixteen years ; and Maggie, who died at the age of five years. Mr. Sturgeon attended the public schools of Ohio. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age and then he traveled in the West, spending two years in Colorado, 1878 and 1879. He returned to Carroll county from Colorado in 1880 and engaged in agri- cultural pursuits there until 1909, when he came to Bates county. While a resident of the former county, Mr. Sturgeon filled the position of township collector for two terms in 1883 and 1884. Mr. Sturgeon purchased the R. J. Thomas farm, comprising two hundred acres origi- nally, which is located about two and a half miles east of Butler on 624 HISTORY OF BATES COirNTV the Butler and Summit road. Mr. Sturgeon has since disposed of eighty acres of his farm and has now a tract of one hundred twenty acres, which he has improved. He has built a handsome residence, a structure of eight rooms, since he acquired the ownership of the farm. He is engaged in general farming and stock raising. Robert Sturgeon and Melcena Elledge, of Carroll county, Missouri, were united in marriage in 1883. Melcena (Elledge) Sturgeon is a daughter of G. M. and Mary J. (Parish) Elledge, natives of Illinois. Mary J. (Parish) Elledge was a daughter of Abednego Parish, a promi- nent citizen of Illinois. James Simms, a great-grandfather of Mrs. Sturgeon, was an emigrant from Scotland and he settled in Illinois in the earliest pioneer days of that state. Mrs. Elledge died in January, 1900, and interment was made in the cemetery at Tina, Carroll county, Missouri. Mr. Elledge now resides at Halfway, Baker county, Oregon. Two brothers of Mrs. Sturgeon are still living: D. M., Bird City, Kansas; and Wesley, Powell, Wyoming. To Robert and Melcena (Elledge) Sturgeon have been born five children: Nellie, the wife of Fred Jeffries, Havelock, Nebraska; Elmer, Sterling, Colorado; Ray, Butler, Missouri; Jessie, the wife of G. G. Wirt, Harrisonville, Missouri; and Eulalie, who is a sophomore student in the Butler High School. Although Mr. Sturgeon keeps himself well-informed upon the important issues of the day and upon current events in general, his quiet, unobtrusive, domestic tastes have kept him from entering the arena of public affairs in Bates county. He defends his opinions intelli- gently, votes his sentiments fearlessly, and leaves public distinction and the emoluments of ofifice to others. The Sturgeons are numbered among the best families of Summit township. Robert Sturgeon is an excel- lent neighbor and true friend, esteemed by all who know him. In his mental and moral makeup are combined the intelligence, industry, sterling worth, and courtesy of the pioneer and gentleman. W. H. Deweese, a widely and favorably-known farmer and stock- man of Summit township, is a member of one of the worthy and pioneer families of Bates county. Mr. Deweese is one of the boys of yesterday of Bates county, an own product of Summit township. He was born March 19, 1859, at the Deweese homestead in Summit township, a son of William and Mary (Bruner) Deweese, natives of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Deweese came to Missouri in 1856 from Illinois, in which state they had first located when they moved from Kentucky, and settled HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 62^ on a tract of land, comprising four hundred acres, which Mr. Deweese entered from the government. During the Civil War, when Order Num- ber 11 was issued, the Deweese family moved to Morgan and Moniteau counties, where they remained until the conflict had ended and then returned to Bates county to again take up their residence at their home place. They found only a portion of the homestead still standing. Mr. •Deweese contracted a heavy cold, which developed into pneumonia, while moving back home and from this he died in 1866. Interment was made in Glass cemetery in Summit township. Mrs. Deweese survived her husband until 1906, when she joined him in death. She died at the home of her son, W. H., and her remains were laid to rest in Elliott cemetery. William and Mary (Bruner) Deweese were the parents of the following children: David, of Lawrence county, Kansas; Catherine, the wife of James Rogers, Rockyford, Colorado; W. H., the subject of this review; Sallie, the wife of John Bristow, Pawnee county, Kansas; Isaac, a twin brother of Mrs. John Bristow, of Rockyford, Colorado. An uncle of the Deweese children, George W. Swink, donated the land on which Rockyford, Colorado is built. In the district schools of Summit township, Bates county, Missouri, W. H. Deweese obtained a good common-school education. When he was seventeen years of age, he assumed charge of the home place, which he now owns. The forty acres of land on which the house stood where he was born have never been mortgaged. Mr. Deweese now owns two hundred acres of land, located on the Butler and Appleton City road, five miles from Butler. He has himself improved the place, building the residence in 1880 and two good barns. The Deweese stock farm is one of the best in Bates county, the land slopes to the south, is well watered and supplied with all facilities for handling stock efficiently. Mr. Deweese has given special attention to raising registered Shorthorn Durham steers, Poland China hogs, mules, and horses and he has on the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, thirty head of cattle and nearly one hundred head of hogs. The marriage of W. H. Deweese and Emma Copeland w^as sol- emnized in August, 1880. Emma (Copeland) Deweese is a daughter of Davis and Eliza Copeland, formerly residents of Ohio and then of Kansas. The Copeland family moved to the northern part of Missouri from Ohio and located in Scotland county, where the father died. Mrs. Copeland departed this life in Greenwood county, Kansas. To W. H. (40) 626 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and Emma Deweese have been born five children : Glenn, who is engaged in farming in Summit township, Butler, Missouri; Florence, the wife of Boone Smithson, Lone Oak township; Ada, the wife of Rome Daniels, of Hardy, Montana; Everett, now in the National Army service w^ith the Medical Reserve Corps of Cornell University from Ithaca, New York; and ]\Iarie, a graduate of the Butler High School and a former student of the Warrensburg State Normal School, who is at home with her parents, now teaching in Bates county. Whatever success W. H. Deweese has achieved in life is due almost entirely to his industry, energy, and well-directed efforts. In early man- hood, he began to make his own way in the w^orld with little aid and a limited allowance, and by resolute purpose, indefatigable thrift, and sound judgment he has acquired a comfortable competence and has worked himself up to a position of afifluence. Albert Argenbright, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit township, is one of the successful citizens of Bates county, a member of a sterling pioneer family of this section of Missouri. Mr. Argenbright was born in Morgan county, Missouri, in 1861, a son of Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Tennessee. ]\Irs. Argenbright was reared and educated in Missouri. Preston Argenbright came with his family to Bates county in 1865 and they settled on a farm near Altona in Grand River township, twenty miles northeast of Butler. Their trading point was Austin in Cass county. Mr. Argenbright purchased a tract of eighty acres of land, when he first came, and to this he constantly added until at his death in 1904 he was the owner of four hundred acres of valuable farm land in Bates county. To Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright were born eight children: Albert, the subject of this review, who was born November 20. 1861; John A., Little Rock, Arkansas; J. E., Adrian, Missouri; C. H., Butler, ]\[issouri; Anna Steele, deceased; Lena May, the wife of J. E. Hook, Rockville, Missouri; Daisy, the wife of Joe Gardner, Little Rock, Arkansas; and Mrs. Bertha Hardin, deceased. Mr. and i^Irs. Argenbright moved from the farm to Butler in 1899 and in this city Mr. Argenbright died April 19, 1904. Mrs. Argenbright did not long survive her husband. She departed this life February 1, 1908. The father and mother were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. Albert Argenbright received an excellent conlmon-school education HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY (^2^ in the public schools of Grand River township, attending at Mingo school house. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age and then began farming in Grand River township, where he was a resident for eighteen years. Mr. Argenbright purchased and improved a ninety-five-acre farm in that township, made it one of the best stock farms in the county, and then sold it. He purchased his present country home in 1905 and since he acquired the ownership of this place, he has been tirelessly at work improving it until he now has one of the finest rural homes in this part of the state, the well-planned arrange- ment of the buildings, the nicely-kept, high-grade stock, the general neat appearance of the surroundings silently bespeaking the industry, thrift, and care of the owner. February 9, 1885, the marriage of Albert Argenbright and Katie Gloyd, daughter of Daniel and Katie Gloyd, of Cass county, was solem- nized. Mr. and Mrs. Gloyd entered land from the government in the days prior to the Civil War. They are both now deceased and their remains are interred in old Dayton cemetery in Cass county. To Albert and Katie Argenbright have been born seven children : Cleo, the wife of W. A. Eichhorn, of Pilot Grove, Cooper county, Missouri; Grover C, who enlisted in the service of the United States in August, 1917, and is at present with Company One Hundred Twenty-eight, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma; O. R., a successful farmer of Summit township; Lyle, Walter, Celeste, and Glenn, all at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Argenbright have been married thirty-three years and in that time they have changed their place of residence but twice, which is an unusual record in this age of restlessness and discontent. The Argenbright farm in Summit township embraces two hundred acres of land, conveniently located, well watered and drained, and splen- didly improved. Mr. Argenbright has himself placed all the buildings on the farm, including a beautiful residence, a ten-room structure, modern throughout, a barn, 56 x 54 feet in dimensions, used for stock and grain and with a silo attached, 16 x 32 feet in dimensions, a barn 38 x 54 feet in dimensions, with a silo 14 x 30 feet in dimensions and covered with sheet iron, in addition to numerous other buildings needed in the hand- ling of stock. The place is well stocked with seventy head of cattle, (of which Mr. Argenbright is at present milking six Jersey cows) sixty 628 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY head of Poland China hogs, eighteen head of high-grade horses, and one- hundred turkeys. The Argenbright place is situated on the Summit road on the way from Butler to Clinton and was formerly owned by Mr. Smith. The highest point on the farm is in the center and there are more than four hundred rods of tile used on the place. Mr. Argen- bright pumps the water to the stock yards by means of a gasoline engine. Albert Argenbright is a gentleman of remarkable industry and energy. He has improved and developed considerable land in Bates county and incidentally has accumulated a goodly competence. A pro- gressive husbandman, an upright, public-spirited citizen, a courteous gentleman, Mr. Argenbright has made an enviable reputation in Bates county. Elder Lewis L. Wix, proprietor of "Lone Elm Farm" in Deepwater township, a well-known and highly respected minister of the Church of Christ of Bates county, is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Wix is a native of Bates county. He was born May 5, 1857 at the Wix homestead in Pleasant Gap township, the youngest son of Joseph and Sarah (Beatty) Wix, a sketch of whom appears in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, which will be ■found elsewhere in this volume. When Lewis L. Wix was a babe, three days of age, he was left motherless and dependent upon the care of his uncle and aunt, Joseph and Fannie Beatty, who reared him to maturity. Joseph Beatty came to Bates county in his boyhood days with his father, Robert Beatty, who had moved from Kentucky to Saline county, Missouri and thence to Bates county in the early thirties. Robert Beatty died in Bates county in 1853 and interment was made in Smith cemetery on the Beatty home place. Joseph Beatty entered a tract of land in Bates county, a farm comprising three hundred twenty acres, of which two hundred forty acres now form the country place owned by Rev. Lewis L. Wix. On this farm in Deepwater township he was reared, here were spent his happy childhood days, this is the only home he has ever known and around it are woven myriads of fond recollections. There are four hills on "Lone Elm Farm" and Reverend Wix has at different times resided on each one of them. Joseph Beatty died December 9, 1876 and inter- ment was made in White cemetery in Deepwater township. Fannie Beatty was a native of Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and Julietta (Corbin) Beaver, and she came to Bates county when she was a girl, nine years ELDER LEWIS L. WIX AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 629 of age. Joseph Beaver was an early-day pioneer preacher of the Chris- tian church. He died in Texas in 1875, to which state he had gone on missionary work, Mrs. Joseph Beatty died April 4, 1913. She was one of the noblest pioneer women, who ever came to this part of Missouri. Lewis L. Wix attended the country schools of Bates county and, by applying himself assiduously to his studies in his youth and by close observation, extensive reading, and concentration in his mature years, he has acquired a fund of knowledge the average college graduate might well strive to attain. The pioneer homes of Missouri were not supplied with the multitude of conveniences now found in even the humblest rural home in Bates county. Such a thing as electric lights were unheard of by the wildest dreamer, lamps had not yet come into use, and few homes were supplied with candles, although they were used extensively in some parts of the United States. The light from the large, open fireplace was usually all the light needed, but when it was necessary a sort of lamp was made by saturating a twisted rag in melted lard and placing it in a dish. Many and many a night, young Lewis L. Wix mastered his lessons for school the next day studying by such a lamp. Reverend Wix was ordained a minister of the Church of Christ thirty years ago and he has been engaged in ministerial work in this state and in Texas ever since. In the early days, he traveled on horseback or in a "prairie schooner" on his evangelical tours throughout the country. Reverend W^ix has made two trips across the plains. He made the first trip on a mule in 1874 and the second at a later date in a "prairie schooner." The marriage of Elder Lewis L. Wix and Emma Hall was solem- nized in August, 1876. Emma (Hall) Wix is a daughter of William and Martha Hall, who came to Bates county from Moniteau county in the days prior to the Civil W^ar. AA'illiam Hall was a veteran of the Union army in the Civil War, having served four years. Both he and Mrs. Hall died in Washington county, Arkansas many years ago. To Rev. Lewis L. and Emma (Hall) Wix have been born eight children: Lillie, the wife of Richard Johnson, of Great Falls, Cascade county, Montana; Rosa, the wife of Lewis G. Wix, a well-to-do farmer of Hudson town- ship. Bates county; Joseph W., who resides in Montana; Salley E., the wife of D. G. Smith, of Lone Oak township. Bates county; Mary V., the wife of William F. Graves, and she is now deceased: Maud L., the 630 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY wife of O. E. Job, of Sisters, Crook county, Oregon; Martha Stella, the wife of Howard W. Smith, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; and Lewis A., at home with his parents. Politically, Reverend Wix is affiliated with the Democratic party. He has never aspired to hold political office but has been content to confine his energ"ies to the manifold duties of an evangelist and minister of the Church of Christ and the only office he has ever held has been an office in the church. He is successfully engaged in general farming and stock raising at "Lone Elm Farm," a beautiful country place located on Deepwater creek nine miles east of Butler, and among the progres- sive agriculturalists of the county takes high rank. Reverend Wix is a gentleman of exceptional oratorical ability, remarkable memory, and countless excellent qualities. As a citizen, he is a man of honor, upright- ness, and stern morality, a true leader of men. George K. Newlon, one of the most progressive and successful young- citizens of Summit township, is a native of Winterset, Iowa. He is a son of Samuel J. and Ellen (Seevers) Newlon, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Newlon were born eight children, who are now living: Daniel, Ballard, Missouri; Dr. J. S., a prominent physician of Butler, Missouri, a sketch of whom appears else- where in this volume; Lorraine, who resides at home with her widowed mother; Edith, the wife of H. O. Welton, Butler, Missouri; George K., the subject of this review; Thomas D., a salesman for the Motor Machin- ists Supply Company, of Kansas City, Missouri; Selina, who is a stu- dent at the Warrensburg State Normal School; and Alfred, a motor machinist, of Kansas City, Missouri. S. J. Newlon left his native county in Ohio, Marion county, in early manhood and went to Madison county, Iowa, and from there moved with his family to Nebraska. The New- Ions resided in Nebraska but a short time, when they returned to Iowa, in which state they made their home until 1902, at which time they came to Bates county, Missouri, and the father purchased the farm in Summit township, which is now the property of Mrs. S. J. Newlon and is known as the "Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm," a place comprising two hundred twenty acres of valuable land, lying four and a half miles northeast of Butler, formerly the Mitchell farm. S. J. Newlon died at his country home in Summit township in 1912 and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery. His widow still resides at the home place with her son, George K., and her daughter, Lorraine. Thomas D. Newlon was until recently associated with his brother, George K., in farming HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 63 1 and stock raising, but he retired from the farm and accepted a position as salesman in Kansas City, Missouri. George K. Newlon attended the city schools of Winterset, Iowa, and the Butler High School. Since leaving school, he and his brother have been engaged in the stock business at the home place in Summit township. This farm is otie of the excellent stock farms of Bates county, well equipped with modern facilities for handling stock and abundantly watered. Mr. Newlon has high-grade cattle and hogs on the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, in addition to twenty head of yearling mules. He is giving special time and attention to the last-named stock, the product which has made Missouri famous in this country. The "Newlon Brothers' Stock Farm" is nicely improved and the neatness and well-kept appearance of the general surroundings bespeak the care of an expert agriculturist. The residence, a house of ten rooms, was new when the Newlons came to the farm and since their coming Mr. Newlon has built two stock barns, one 48 x 50 feet in dimensions, the other 50 x 60 feet in dimensions. Although George K. Newlon is a comparatively newcomer in Bates county, few men of twice his age and years of residence in Summit township have as excellent standing as has he. His record for fair dealings has been far above criticism and in every relation of life his upright conduct has commended him to his fellowmen as a young gentle- man of intelligence, industry, and irreproachable character. T. D. Embree, ex-clerk of the circuit court of Bates county, Mis- souri, was born December 27, 1867, in Bates county, a son of M. L. and Alice (Hulse) Embree, one of the pioneer families of this part of Mis- souri. M. L. Embree was born in 1841 in Pettis county, Missouri, at the Embree homestead located twelve miles west of Sedalia, a son of Thomas and Elvira (Butler) Embree. Thomas Embree came with his family to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early forties and in 1849 they settled in Bates county on a tract of land in Spruce township, which had been entered from the government by Samuel Pyle, to which was added eighty acres of prairie land entered by his wife. Thomas and Elvira (Butler) Embree were the parents of the following children: M. L., the father of T. D., the subject of this review; M. J., who died in Canada in 1903; and Mrs. Lucy A. Alexander, who resides in the state ot Washington. M. L. Embree was reared amid the stirring scenes of the pioneer period in Bates county, experiencing in his youth all the privations and 632 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY hardships of life in a new country. He walked three miles to attend school, which was held in a little log school house, the only one in the township. John Reeder, from near Pleasant Gap, was the "master" and in the rude cabin M. L. Embree attended one term. There was a puncheon floor and puncheon benches and a large open fire-place in the room — the sum total of equipment and comforts. Mr. Embree attended school a few months during the winter seasons, the remainder of the time being devoted to hard labor on his mother's farm. He grew to man- hood strong of body and with a clear mind, he proved to be a most valuable assistant to his mother on the home place. He recalls the grief of the family upon receiving the news that his grandfather, Martillus Embree, had died on the way to California in 1850, his death being due to cholera. This was the time of the wild rush to the gold fields of that state and more than one household was grief-stricken in those days, for thousands died on the way there and the bones of human beings, horses, and oxen marked the pathway of the goldseekers. His father, Thomas Embree, died in 1852. Mrs. Embree survived her husband forty-three years, when in 1895 she died in the state of Washington. In 1861, M. L. Embree enlisted with the Confederates at Johns- town, Missouri, and he served throughout the Civil War in Parsons' Brigade, Sixteenth Missouri Infantry, under General Price. Mr. Embree took an active and important part in the battle of Carthage on July 5, 1861, and in the engagements of his company in Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. He was in Louisiana when General Lee surrendered in 1865. When the war had ended, Mr. Embree returned to Bates county, Missouri, and again took up his residence at the home place in Spruce township, where he resided until 1893, at which time he left Missouri to make his future home in Garfield county, Oklahoma, and in that state he has ever since resided. The marriage of M. L. Embree and Alice Hulse was solemnized in 1866. Alice (Hulse) Embree is a daughter of Daniel and Catherine (Cloud) Hulse, pioneers from Kentucky, who settled in Spruce town- ship in the early days. Mr. Hulse was a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, having served two years in the Southern army. To M. L. and Alice Embree have been born eight children, seven of whom are now living: T. D., the subject of this review; R. L., who died in Oklahoma, December 31, 1916; Mrs. Lizzie A. Barton, Grapevine, Texas; Mrs. Laura B. Cole, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Anna Fleming, Comanche county, Oklahoma; Mrs. Viola Woodson, Hunter, Oklahoma; Mrs. Ida HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 633 Weger, Comanche county, Oklahoma; and George, Garfield county, Oklahoma. In 1849, in the boyhood days of M. L. Embree, he remembers that there were far more Indians than white settlers in Bates county, that deer and wild game of all kinds abounded, and that hunting was an occu- pation more than a pastime of the pioneers. He states that Major Glass, the Kennedys, and the Herrells were the only settlers on the prairie between Spruce township and Butler, though the city was not yet founded, the court house being located at Harrisonville. Mr. Embree has lived to see the removal of the county seat from Harrisonville to Papinsville and thence to Butler and the building of the three court houses in Butler. He was a witness of the first legal hanging in Bates county at Papinsville. Doctor Nottingham was hanged at the county seat for the murder of his wife. M. L. Embree is now seventy-six years of age and still enjoys fairly good health and possesses a remarkably retentive memory of early-day names, characters, and events. T. D. Embree is the only member of his father's family now resid- ing in Bates county, Missouri. He is the oldest of the eight children born to his parents and now the only one left in Summit township. He served four years as circuit clerk of Bates county, his term of office beginning January 1, 1907, and after retiring from this position he bought his present country home, a farm comprising eighty acres of land, known as the Orear farm, located six miles east of Butler in Summit township. In 1894, T. D. Embree and Cora Teeter were united in marriage. Mrs. Embree is a daughter of Darius and Emma (Abbott) Teeter, of Spruce township. Mrs. Teeter died in 1901 and her remains were laid to rest in Cloud cemetery. Mr. Teeter still makes his home on the farm in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Embree are the parents of two children; one child died in infancy; and Alice Catherine, who was born in 1908, at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Embree are widely and favorably known in this section of the state and they are numbered among the best and most valued families of Bates county. John W. Harshaw, a pioneer of Bates county and one of the honored citizens of Deepwater township, is a native of Tennessee. He was born January 6, 1844. When he was a lad, fourteen years of age, he and his brother, Richard, or "Dick," as he was familiarly called, drove through from Tennessee to Missouri and they located first in Spruce, now Deep- water, township, moving shortly afterward across the Bates county line 634 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY into Henry county, where they took up their residence with the Cald- wells. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Mr. Harshaw was but seventeen years of age. He enlisted with the Confederates in General Parson's Brigade in August of the ensuing year and served from that time until the close of the conflict in 1865. Mr. Harshaw took part in the battle of Lonejack, which occurred three days after his enlistment, serving under Captain Martin. During the remainder of the war, he was with General Price and saw active service in numerous important engagements, in the battles of Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Wilson Creek, Jenkins' Ferry, Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863; and Mansfield, Louisi- ana. Mr. Harshaw was with Price at the time of the surrender at Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1865. After the Civil War had ended, John W. Harshaw was employed at St. Louis, Missouri, for a short time and thence came to Bates county, where he leased the Samuel Coleman farm for five years, and with the exception of three years he has been a resident of this county e^er since. He purchased his present home in 1907, a farm comprising eighty acres of land, from Frank Winn, a place which had been entered by one of the Colemans and improved by Elvin Wilson, an excellent stock farm in numerous respects. The Harshaw place has the triple advan- tages of productive soil, convenient location from the county seat, and an abundance of water and fine shade. The farm buildings are all situ- ated upon an eminence, from which one can look upon the surrounding country and there distinguish the dome of the court house at Butler, fourteen miles aw^ay. The residence is a beautiful rural home, a house of seven rooms, having verandas upon three sides and surrounded with handsome, old shade trees. This is one of the best, most neatly-kept country places in the township. The Harshaws spent three years in Yakima county, Washington state, and prior to that time Mr. Harshaw had at different times owned three farms in Bates county, namely, the McCork place; the Cutsinger farm; and the Hyatt farm, lying three miles east of Butler, which place he purchased from George Holland. The first farm he owned was located just east of Spruce now the W. A. Fads farm, and bought from William Price in 1878. The marriage of J. W. Harshaw and Eliza McGlothlen was solemnized February 28, 1872. Eliza (McGlothlen) Harshaw is a daugh- ter of George and Elizabeth (Cain) McGlothlen, born on June 2, 1854, in Monroe county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. McGlothlen were HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 635 reared in Indiana and from that state moved to Monroe county, Iowa, thence to Lucas county, Iowa, coming thence to Bates county, Missouri, in 1870 and locating in Spruce township near the town of Spruce. They later returned to their old home in Iowa and from that state went to Washington, where Mr. McGlothlen died in Yakima county. To J. W. and Eliza Harshaw have been born seven children, five of whorh are now living: Laura Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Harlan H., in the West, married Dora Slayback, and has two children; Mattie L., the wife of C. T. Norton, of Deepwater township; John, who died in infancy; Mary, the wife of D. W^ Newlon, of Spruce township; Stella C, the wife of Claude Hoover, of Hanford, Washing- ton; and Nita R., at home with her parents. The three eldest daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harshaw were, prior to marriage, school teachers and Miss Nita R. was for two years the postmistress at Spruce. All the girls attended the Warrensburg State Normal School and the youngest daughter took in addition a business course, studying stenography and typewriting. Miss Nita R. Harshaw was a student at Draughton's Practical Business College, Fort Scott, Kansas, and of the North Yakima Business College in Washington. Among the old settlers along the line between Bates and Henry counties were, in 1860 and in the years prior to that, Hiram Snodgrass, William Baskerville, Barney Fereck, David Clark, Barber Price, James White, Mr. Treman, Mr. Tyree, Mr. Ludwick, and several different families of the Colemans, all of whom Mr. Harshaw vividly recalls. He did his trading at Johnstown in 1858, when there was but one good town in western Henry and Bates counties and that was Johnstown. There were several flourishing mercantile establishments at Johnstown in those days : Messrs. Warrens, Cummins, and Harbert, each had a prosperous store; old Mr. Chard conducted a drug store; Mr. Sayers owned a tin shop ; Howard 8z Willard had a carriage shop ; John How- ard was the village blacksmith; and James H. Calloway was the genial and popular innkeeper. Ann (Ludwick) Howard, the widow of John Howard, still resides at Johnstown. The town was burned during the Civil War and has never been rebuilt. Mr. Harshaw will be seventy-five years of age in January, 1919, and he still reads with comfort without the aid of glasses. He is a typical pioneer, one of the prominent men of Bates county who have done so much to advance the agricultural interests of this section of the state. 636 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY George W. Borland, a highly honored and valued Union veteran of the Civil War, an enterprising farmer and stockman of Deepwater township, is a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Borland was born October 22, 1841 in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, a son of James and Mar- garet (Barr) Borland, who were natives of Allegheny county and Jef- ferson county, Pennsylvania, respectively. James Borland was born in 1818 and died in January, 1891. Margaret (Barr) Borland was born in 1821 and died in 1904. Both parents died in their native state. Mrs. Borland was laid to rest in a burial ground in Ross township, Allegheny county, located near Pittsburg. In the public schools of Pennsylvania, George W. Borland received a good common school education. He enlisted in the Civil War in 1863 and served with Company K, Sixty-first Pennsylvania Infantry, taking part in about twenty-five engagements. Mr. Borland was in the battles of the Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864; Spottsylvania Court House, May 8 to 21, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864; and with Sheridan in the Shen- andoah valley. From the Rapidan to the James river. Grant's list of casualties in the campaign of The Wilderness was fifty-four thousand nine hundred twenty-nine men. Lee lost probably nineteen thousand. Mr. Borland was mustered out and honorably discharged at Braddock Barracks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1865. In April, 1866, George W. Borland left Pennsylvania and came to Missouri, where he located on a farm in St. Louis county. He was a resident of that county for thirteen years before coming to Bates county, Missouri in February, 1879. At that time, Mr. Borland purchased the Slayback farm, which comprised two hundred acres of land located one mile west of Spruce in Deepwater township. Since, he has added to his holdings and now the Borland place embraces two hundred seventy- one acres of choice land in Bates county, forty acres of which are ''bot- tom land" and the remainder upland. Mr. Borland has himself placed upon the farm every tree and building now there. The improvements, which are of the very best, include a nice residence, a house of seven rooms, two and a half stories, built in 1879 and remodeled in 1890; a barn, 32 x 60 feet in dimensions, constructed of a native timber, a general- purpose building, built in 1891; a feeder; a tenant house; and four splendid wells and an excellent cistern. The Borland place is one of the most attractive rural homes in the township and one of the finest stock farms in the county. Mr. Borland had more than one hundred acres of land in corn this past season of 1917. He recalls that when GEORGE W. BORLAND AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 637 he and his family came to Bates county in 1879 they were obliged to travel a distance of ten miles across the prairie weekly to Butler to obtain their mail. Now, their mail is delivered daily at their door. In 1879, there was no store at Spruce. Within a few years after the Bor- lands settled in Bates county, Mr. Smith opened the first mercantile establishment at that place. The marriage of George W. Borland and Doretta Puellman was solemnized October 21, 1869 in St. Louis county, Missouri. Mrs. Bor- land is a native of St. Louis county, a daughter of Lewis and Doretta Puellman, who emigrated from Germany to the United States and set- tled in St. Louis county, Missouri, about 1837. One sister of Doretta (Puellman) Borland is now living, Johanna, the wife of James Collins, of St. Louis county, Missouri. Mr. Collins was born in Ohio near Ravenna. To George W. and Doretta Borland have been born four children: Joseph A., who married Mary E. Cumpton and they reside on a farm in Deepwater township; George W., Jr., who died December 8, 1906 and is buried in White cemetery in Bates county; Margaret Jane, deceased, the wife of W^ E. Dickison, of Deepwater township; and Cora Belle, who is at home with her parents, the sunshine and comfort of her father's household and her mother's invaluable helper. Throughout his long life of three score years and seventeen George W. Borland has discharged the duties of citizenship with the same loyalty and zeal which characterized him on Southern battlefields when he followed the Stars and Stripes to victory. He has endeavored to live up to the highest ideals of manhood, to discharge with fidelity and honor all obligations incumbent upon him and he is well worthy of the universal respect and confidence accorded him by his fellowmen. S. B. Kash, a prominent farmer and stockman of Deepwater town- ship, is one of the prosperous citizens of Bates county. Mr. Kash is a native of Wolfe county, Kentucky. He was born in 1860, a son of W. L. and Debby Jane (Swango) Kash, both of whom were natives of Wolfe county, Kentucky. W^ L. Kash came to Bates county, Mis- souri, with his family in 1872 from their plantation home near Hazel- green, Kentucky, and located on the Redmond farm, which Mr. Kash rented. He afterward purchased a tract of land, embracing one hundred twenty acres, located one and a half miles from old Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Kash were the parents of the following children: S. B., the subject of this review; Mrs. Ora Ann Gutridge, deceased; David, who resides in California; James E., Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Mrs. 638 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mary E. Simpson, who resides in California; Mrs. Lillie Moore, Mont- rose, Missouri; and Joseph M., Johnstown, Missouri. W. L. Kash was a well-to-do and influential citizen of Bates county, one who always took an active and keen interest in the public welfare and in political matters. He served several years as member of the township board and invariably gave his support to all worthy enterprises. He was one of the leading stockmen of the county in his day and at the time of his death was owner of two hundred acres of valuable land in this county. Mr. Kash died July 9, 1916, at the Kash homestead near Johnstown. His wadow still survives him and she is now eighty years of age. Mrs. Kash makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Lillie Moore, in Henry county. When S. B. Kash was a lad twelve years of age, his parents moved from Kentucky to Missouri, so he had received the beginning of his education in the schools of Wolfe county, Kentucky and after coming to Bates county, Missouri, attended Elm Grove school. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age and then he began farming independently on the S. W. Gutridge farm, the owner giving Mr. Kash one-fourth the produce and his board. Later, Mr. Kash rented land for several years and for two years operated a threshing machine in the county. He moved to his present country place in 1883 and farmed thereon for ten years before he purchased it. The original pur- chase included five hundred eighty acres of land, to wdiich Mr. Kash has since added a tract of two hundred twenty acres, and his place now comprises eight hundred acres of choice land in Deepwater township and Spruce township. For many years, Mr. Kash has been widely recognized as a most progressive and energetic stockman and his stock interests in recent years have been very extensive. He considers that the breeding and raising of hogs has been his best and most profitable line and he now has on his place a large herd of big-bone Poland China hogs, which are of good grade. Mr. Kash began with pure-bred stock and he has kept up the grade to a high standard. H«=' raises horses and mules, also. The marriage of S. B. Kash and Susan E. Coleman was solemnized in 1883. Susan E. (Coleman) Kash is a daughter of Bonaparte and Elizabeth (McCombs) Coleman, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Missouri. The Colemans came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1855, and settled on the farm which is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Kash. Mrs. Coleman died in 1860 and the father died in 1891. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 639 Both parents are interred in Coleman cemetery. Mrs. Kash is the only living child born to her parents and she was born on the farm where she now resides. To S. B. and Susan E. Kash have been born four children: R. A., who is engaged in farming on the home place and who married Lela Stevens and to them have been born two sons, William Carl and Roy Donald; two sons died in infancy; and O. N., who is at home with his parents. The Kash family settled in Bates county, Missouri, when the farm, which S. B. Kash has so well improved and cultivated, was prairie land upon which herds of Texas cattle grazed in the summer time and the ffrst home between the present Kash place and Butler was the home of old Mr. Barr, one of the earliest settlers of the county . The Kash family were residing on the Redmond farm in the memorable year of 1874, when the grasshoppers dispensed with all difficulties and perplexities as to the disposition and transportation of crops for that year and in the spring of 1875. The uninvited and most unwelcome pests took their departure in June, 1875, and an excellent crop of corn was raised that summer by the elder Mr. Kash, who sold twelve hundred bushels of corn at twelve and fifteen cents a bushel in the autumn of 1875. In speaking of the early days, S. B. Kash recalled a most striking example of the irony of fate and of how mistaken the judgment of the best of men may at times be. In the fifties, John Beaman was the owner of a tract of land in Bates county, a part of which is now the townsite of Butler. H-e traded his farm for another, near old Johnstown, which was at that time the big town of the county. John Beaman died at Johnstown when he was ninety-three years of age. He lived to see Butler growing into a city and Johnstown dwindling into a deserted village. Although his father was a prominent Democrat of his township, S. B. Kash has never taken much interest in politics except to perform his duty as a public-spirited citizen and cast his vote. Mr. Kash long ago made it his policy to meet all business obligations when due and in no manner has any confidence or trust in him been betrayed. He has long ranked with the best and most enterprising men of this part of Missouri. J. H. Baker, proprietor of "Gold Medal Stock Farm" in Deepwater township, is one of twelve worthy descendants of a good, old, sterling pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Baker is widely known in this part of the state as a successful and prosperous agriculturist 640 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and stockman. He was born May 8, 1870, in Pleasant Gap township, a son and seventh child of Zephaniah and Martha Ellen (Hale) Baker, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Iowa. Zephaniah Baker brought his family to Missouri in the early fifties and they settled on a tract of land located near the present townsite of Butler. When the Civil War broke out in 1860, on account of the terrible drought of that year, the Bakers moved back to Iowa, where they remained dur- ing the four years of the conflict. They returned to Bates county, Mis- souri, in 1866 and Mr. Baker sold his farm, which was near Butler, and located one mile north of Pleasant Gap and about two years afterward, on a farm lying three and a half miles southwest of Pleasant Gap in March, 1872. To Zephaniah and Martha Ellen Baker were born twelve children, all of whom were reared to maturity and are now living, the youngest child being thirty-eight years of age at the time of this writing in 1918: J. W., the capable sheriff of Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie Ferrell, Rich Hill, Missouri; John T., a well-to-do merchant of Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Grififin, of Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Anna Olan, who resides in Oklahoma; W. A., a well-known farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township; J. H., the subject of this review; Mrs. Parthena Beard, Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Ella Dillon, Southmound, Kansas; Charlie Z., of Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Ida Davis, Enid, Oklahoma; and George W., of Summit township. Mr. Baker, father of the children, was a highly respected, industrious citizen. He was for many years employed in hauling merchandise for Brooks & Mains, merchants of Pleasant Gap, from Pleasant Hill to Pleasant Gap and he was known to practically everyone in his township. Zephaniah Baker died at his country home in February, 1907. A few years prior to his death he moved to Butler but became dissatisfied and bought a farm of forty acres near his son, W\ A., where he died. The widowed mother survived her husband but a short time, wdien they were united in death. Mrs. Baker, one of Bates county's noblest and bravest pioneer women, died in 1910. Both father and mother are interred in Rogers cemetery in Bates county. J. H. Baker received a good common-school education in the public schools of Pleasant Gap township in Bates county. His boyhood days were spent in assisting with the work on his father's farm and in attend- ing the country school near their home. Mr. Baker remained with his parents until he was nearly twenty-one years of age and then he began farming independently on the home place, a part of which he rented HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 64I for some time and then purchased a tract of one hundred twenty acres of land formerly belonging to his father. Mr. Baker, in early manhood, left Missouri and went to Oklahoma, where he took up a claim in Gar- field county. After relinquishing his claim in Oklahoma, he returned to Bates county, Missouri, and in 1900 again located on a farm near the Double Branches church in Pleasant Gap township, where he resided for six years. He then disposed of that place to his brother, W. A. Baker, and purchased his present country home in Deepwater township, about ten years ago. The marriage of J. H. Baker and Alma Edith Beard was solemnized December 17, 1890. Alma Edith (Beard) Baker is a daughter of Henry and Eliza (Kretzinger) Beard, a highly valued and worthy pioneer family of Deepwater township. The Beard family came to Missouri from Ohio, of which state Henry Beard was a native. He was a mem- ber of a family that had settled in Ohio among the first pioneers of the Northwest Territory and in that state was reared and educated. The Beards later moved to Indiana and there the father and mother of Henry Beard died. He then came West and located in Kansas, where he was united in marriage with Eliza Kretzinger and in the years imme- diately following the Civil AVar they settled in Bates county, Missouri, on a farm in Deepwater township, a place comprising one hundred eighty acres of land. To Henry and Eliza Beard were born ten chil- dren: Charles F., Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Frost, of Deepwater township; Mrs. J. H. Baker, the wife of the subject of this review; J. A., of Summit township; L E., of Deepwater township; Ava M., Lone Oak township; Mrs. Minnie Ferris, who resides (in Canada; Mrs. Maud Parker, of Deepwater township; Mrs. Dora Thomas, of Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Nina McKinley, of Hudson township. The father died in 1895 and the mother remained on the farm and alone reared and educated their children. Mrs. Beard still resides at the old home- stead in Deepwater township and she is now sixty-seven years of age, one of the most honored residents of Bates county. Mr. Beard was interred in Smith cemetery in Bates county. To J. H. and x\lma Edith Baker have been born nine children : Roy Castle, who married Stella Ritchey and resides on a farm in Summit township; Ethel Viola, wife of Omer B. Randall, of Shawnee township; Ira Henry, of Summit town- ship; Oscar Leland; James Lloyd; Z. Z. ; Vera Laverne; Arlie, deceased; and an infant son. deceased. Four of the children are at home with their parents. (41) 642 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY "Gold Medal Stock Farm" in Deepwater township was purchased by J. H. Baker in the autumn of 1907 from C. F. Beard, who had bought it from Joseph W. Webb. Mr. Webb had obtained the place from Mr. Matchett and he, in turn, had secured it from the one who entered the land from the government. This farm comprises two hun- dred twenty acres of choice farming land in Bates county, one hundred acres of the tract lying north of the Butler, Spruce, and Johnstown road and one hundred twenty acres lying south of the road and nine miles east of Butler. In point of location, no better could be desired and the land is chiefly prairie and well drained and watered. The soil is very productive, but Mr. Baker is as much interested in stock raising as in farming and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has on the place from eighteen to twenty head of Percheron horses, one of which is a registered animal, and jacks, and jennets, also registered; twenty-five head of cattle ; and fifty head of pure-bred Poland China hogs. Mr. Baker has built a new stock barn in recent years and the residence, which was originally built by Mr. Matchett forty-five years ago out of lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, has been remodeled and all the other buildings on the farm put in good repair and all are now neatly kept. I. M. Kretzinger, ex-trustee of Deepwater township, and a well- to-do farmer and stockman of Bates county, is a native of Warren county, Iowa. Mr. Kretzinger was born March 24, 1865, a son of Nicholas and Margaret (Kingery) Kretzinger, a prominent pioneer family of Bates county. Nicholas Kretzinger came to Missouri with his family in 1867 and they located on a farm one mile north and one mile east of Spruce, on the place known as the Payne farm, which comprised forty-six acres of land. Mr. Kretzinger sold this place after a short time and purchased a tract of land embracing one hundred forty acres, a farm lying on the south side of Deepwater creek, and before he had had an opportunity to carry out his plans in improving the land death came in 1872. This latter farm owned by Nicholas Kretzinger was known as the "Dick" Choate farm. Mr. Kretzinger was laid to rest in Dickison cemetery in Bates county. Nicholas and Margaret (Kingery) Kretzinger were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Eliza Beard, the widow of Henry Beard, a resident of Deepwater town- ship. Bates county, further mention of whom will be found in connec- tion with the biography of her son, J. A. Beard, which appears elsewhere in this volume; Van, who resides in Oklahoma; John, who is engaged in farming in Deepwater township; George, Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 643 Emma Cunningham; I. M., the subject of this review; and William, of Vernon county, Missouri. The mother, one of the county's most estemed pioneer women, died in 1911 and her remains lie beside those of her husband in Dickison cemetery. I. M. Kretzinger attended school in Deepwater township, Bates county. His educational advantages were not great, for he was obliged to assist with the work on the farm at a very early age and could attend school only occasionally during the winter seasons. His father died, when I. M. Kretzinger was a child live years of age and there were seven children left for the widowed mother to rear and educate. Mr. Kretzinger remained with her on the home farm until he was twenty- six years of age and then rented a tract of thirty acres from his mother, where he resided for a short time. He then moved to the Newberry farm and resided thereon for nearly eight years, when he purchased his present country home, a place comprising one hundred ninety-three acres of land located one and a fourth miles east of Spruce, Missouri. Mr. Kretzinger has improved the farm, rebuilding the residence, now a pretty cottage of eight rooms, and building three barns. This farm lies on the north side of Deepwater creek on the Butler-Clinton State highway. Mr. Kretzinger is interested in both general farming and stock raising and usually cultivates about fifty acres of the farm, leav- ing the remainder in bluegrass and pasture land. He has on his place, at the time of this writing in 1918, twenty head of Shorthorn cattle, eight head of horses, and a large herd of Poland China hogs, each herd headed by a registered male. April 24, 1891, I. M. Kretzinger and Susie Newberry, a daughter of Capt. John B. and Elizabeth Newberry, were united in marriage. Mrs. Kretzinger died in 1900 and interment was made in the cemetery at Butler. Mr. Kretzinger remarried, his second wife being Ona Stark, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Stark, of Warrensburg, Missouri. Mr. Stark is now deceased. Ona (Stark) Kretzinger is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1900. To Mr. and Mrs. Kretzinger has been born one child, a daughter, Madge, born December 20, 1910. In the public affairs of his township and county, I. M. Kretzinger takes a most commendable interest and he has served as township trus- tee of Deepwater township. He and Mrs. Kretzinger are valued citi- zens of Bates county. 644 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Thomas Humphrey Dickison, an honored pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, a member of one of the oldest and best famihes of the state, ex-trustee of Deepwater township, is a native of Bates county, Mis- souri as its boundaries were at the time of his birth, December 23, 1846, or of what is now Little Osage township, Vernon county. Mr. Dicki- son is a son of Humphrey and Elvira Goff (Perkins) Dodge Dickison. Humphrey Dickison was a native of Licking county, Ohio. He came to Missouri in 1839 and settled on a tract of land, comprising one hun- dred sixty acres, in what was then Bates county. Mr. Dickison's wife, Myra (Goff) Dickison, whom he married December 6, 1821, died the year after their coming West on August 27, 1840 and her remains were interred in the Dickison cemetery on their farm, the first burial made there. To Humphrey and Myra (Goff) Dickison were born the following children: Ruth Anne, born October 16, 1822; Caroline, born December 22, 1824; William GofT, born March 11, 1827; Sarah Ann, born September 16, 1829; Anson, born March 4, 1832; Louisa, born June 1, 1836; Albert, born August 15, 1840. Mr. Dickison remarried, his second wife being Mrs. Elvira Goff (Perkins) Dodge, and to this union were born two sons: Thomas H., the subject of this review; and Edwin James, born November 17, 1852, who died in 1891 at Cats- kill, New Mexico and was buried at Trinidad, Colorado ; and a daueh- ter, Myra H., born in 1844, died in infancy. Mrs. Dickison, the mother of Thomas H. and Edwin James, was a native of Vermont, a highly intellectual and well-educated woman, who came to Missouri in 1833 and was employed as teacher at the old Harmony Mission school as long as the mission was maintained. She was a widow at the time of her marriage with Mr. Dickison. Her first husband, Nathaniel B. Dodge, was killed in 1838 in a battle with the Indians on the island of the Marais des Cygnes. The savages of the forest had been killing the cattle and hogs of the early settlers of that vicinity for some time until the annoyance had become unendurable. The hardy, fearless frontiers- men mustered a small band of thirteen men to teach the Indians a lesson in the only terms which they seemed to understand. The for- mer demanded of the red men that they give over the marauders to be punished and this the Indians refused to do. In the battle which ensued, two Indians w^ere killed and others seriouslv wounded. Nathaniel B. Dodge was the only settler killed, but three others were wounded, among them two brothers of Mr. Dodge: Newell and Edward, both of whom recovered. The first burial made in the Balltown cemeterv, nine THOMAS HUMPHREY DICKISON. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 645 miles north and east of Nevada, Missouri, was made for the remains of Nathaniel B. Dodge, the first husband of Thomas H. Dickison's mother. Mrs. Dickison died in October, 1862. Humphrey Dickison died Novem- ber 7, 1867. There is a strange fascination about the horrible in life v^diich draws both young and old to witness the most revolting sights of our civiliza- tion and it is not all queer that young, ten-year-old Thomas H. Dicki- son should have been heartbroken and have wept bitterly for one whole day when his father firmly and sternly refused to allow him to attend the hanging of Dr. Nottingham at Papinsville in the autumn of 1856. It is not possible to put old heads on young shoulders and judgment and control of one's natural impulses come only with years of experience — and there is no doubt that there were hundreds of wise, old heads pres- ent at Papinsville that day to see the doctor's swing from the gallows, a sad but true comment \ipon curious human nature. A downpour of rain can't change it. Thomas H. Dickison obtained his education in the "subscription schools" of Vernon county. The hard, primitive life of the early pio- neers afforded but little opportunity for schooling and with the out- break of the Civil War in 1861 the majority of the few poor schools were obliged to close their doors. Mr. Dickison was reared on the farm and his youth was chiefly spent in assisting with the work on the home place and as most of his young life was spent out-of-doors he grew rapidly into a strong, vigorous, normal manhood. He resided in Ver- non county until 1867, when he came to Bates county. Humphrey Dickison had entered a vast tract of land in this county and his son, Thomas H., was given one hundred acres. Mr. Dickison is now the owner of one hundred ninety-one acres of land in Bates county, a farm lying one and three-fourths miles east of Spruce, Missouri. He left this state in 1870 and took up his residence in Texas, where he remained for six years and then returning to his present home in 1876 he has rebuilt the residence, a house of two stories, and placed all the improve- ments on the farm. The marriage of Thomas H. Dickison and Emma Caroline Snod- grass was solemnized in 1873 in Fannin county. Texas. Mrs. Dickison was a daughter of Isaac and Martha (Stubblefield) Snodgrass. To this union were born nine children, five of whom are now living: Walter Edwin, farmer near Spruce, Missouri ; Isaac Humphrey, a well-known merchant of Spruce, Missouri; Ennis Pearl, the wife of C. A\\ S^ephe-")- 646 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY son, of Deepwater township; Ethel C, the wife of Arthur Strode, and they reside with Mr. Dickison on the home farm; and Cyrus B., who resides on a Scully lease in Bates county. Mr. Dickison has seven grandchildren, of whom he is very fond: Ophelia Fay and Omeda May Dickison, children of Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Dickison; George Hum- phrey, Hazel Pearl Dickison, children of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Humphrey Dickison; and Lois Alene Stephenson, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Stephenson; Walter Lee and Velnia Ruth are children of Cyrus B. For three generations of the Dickisons, there has been a Humphrey Dickison in the family, a noble, old name wdiich the bearer should be proud to bear and ashamed to tarnish by a single unworthy act. The saddest event in the life of Thomas H. Dickison occurred October 27, 1917, when death entered the Dickison home once more and again broke the family circle. Mrs. Dickison, her husband's faith- ful and brave helpmeet and beloved companion for forty-three years, the loving mother of their children, answered the last summons last autumn. Mr. Dickison has always taken a deep interest in the general growth and development of his county and state and has manifested a most commendable interest in the public and political affairs of his township. He has served one term in the ofifice of township trustee of Deepwater township. He has watched Bates county steadily emerge from an unsettled wilderness and prairie and become one of the best and most prosperous sections of Missouri and during all these years he has contributed his full share toward bringing about this marvelous development. Thomas H. Dickison is one of the county's most excel- lent citizens, a noble son of a noble father. William Y. Osborne, a prominent citizen of Butler, a retired farmer and stockman of Charlotte township, is a native of West Virginia, a descendant of one of the leading colonial families of the South. Mr. Osborne was born July 19, 1847 at Franklin in Pendleton county, AVest Virginia, a son of J. AV. and Rachel Griggsby (Hamilton) Osborne. J. W. Osborne was one of the beloved Methodist ministers of the South, one who was engaged in ministerial work for fifty years. His son, W. Y., treasures among his priceless possessions the Bible which Reverend Osborne had when he entered the ministry at the age of twenty-five years. J. AA'". Osborne was a son of Joseph Osborne, a veteran of the War of 1812, who took an important part in the battle of Baltimore, who was a son of an English of^cer that had been in the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 647 siege of Yorktown, the turning point in the Revolutionary War of 1776, when Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781 with his eight thou- sand men. Rachel Griggsby (Hamilton) Osborne was a daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and slaveholder, John Hamilton. W. Y. Osborne has been given a book by his mother's sister, Mrs. Henrietta (Hamilton) McCormick, which volume contains the genealogy of the Hamilton family, tracing the lineage of Mr. Osborne back to ancestors of prominence in the Civil War, in the War of 1812, in the Revolutionary War, and in Scotland. Two brothers of Mrs. J. W. Osborne, the mother of W. Y. Osborne, were active participants in the War of 1812. The Griggsbys, Hamiltons, and McCormicks were of the "F. F. V.'s." Mrs. Henrietta McCormick has in her possession the powder horn carried by Alexander McNutt in the battle of the Cowpens, fought January 17, 1781, one of the most important engagements of the Revolutionary War. Rev. J. W. Osborne departed this life in April, 1881 at Baltimore, Mary- land. He was seventy-five years of age. To Rev. J. W. and Mrs. Osborne were born the following children, who are now living: W. Y., the subject of this review; Dr. Oliver, a well-known attorney of St. Paul, Missouri; John H., a prosperous capitalist of Elk Falls, Kansas; and Virginia Elizabeth, of Chicago, Illinois. W. Y. Osborne attended the city schools of Chicago, Illinois and Bryant & Stratton Commercial College of Chicago. He was employed in commission houses in Chicago for six years and then retired from business and began farming in Illinois near Chicago and in other parts of the state. Mr. Osborne left Illinois in March, 1875 and went to Texas, in which state he was for six years employed in the sheep rais- ing business on a large ranch, having at one time a herd of seven thousand sheep on the range. He has in his early manhood traveled extensively, visiting and residing in many different states, and since June, 1881 he has been the owner of a valuable farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land in Charlotte township. Bates county, Missouri. To his original holdings in this county, Mr. Osborne has since added a tract of forty acres of land and on this farm of one hun- dred sixty acres his son, William E.. now lives. W. Y. Osborne was for many years one of the successful and influential farmers and stock- men of his township. He moved from his country place to Butler in December, 1914 and now resides at 310 Fort Scott street in this city. He and Mrs. Osborne are spending the closing years of their lives, which have been spent in hard but honorable labor, in quiet comfort 648 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and ease. Their home in Butler is a beautiful, modern residence and Mr. Osborne enjoys working in his garden and in reading when he can no longer be employed out-of-doors. He has traveled over all the plains of the Southwest and wdiile in the business of sheep growing was located at Colfax county, New Mexico. He is a most interesting conversa- tionalist and the relation of his travels and experiences on the plains would make a remarkably valuable, instructive, and delightful book. The marriage of W. Y. Osborne and Eliza E. Cowgill was solem- nized December 21, 1881. Eliza (Cowgill) Osborne is a daughter of James and Anna Barbara (Schaub) Cowgill, of Mount Carmel, Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Cowgill died in New Mexico in 1895 and Mrs. Cowgill joined him in death in July, 1898. The remains of each parent were brought back to Bates county, Missouri for burial and they are interred in Morris cemetery. To W. Y. and Eliza E. Osborne have been born six children: Mary M.. the wife of Jesse Lynds, deputy United States marshal, Muskogee, Oklahoma; Perry H., of Mount Pleasant township; William E., of Charlotte township, on the home place ; Grace M., the wife of Logan Cope, New Home township ; Robert George, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who has been called for service in the army of the United States; and Lillian, who is at home with her parents. The Osbornes are widely and favorably known in this part of the state and in Bates county there is no family of higher standing. Jesse E. Smith, cashier of the Missouri State Bank of Butler, Mis- souri, is one of Bates county's most enterprising, young "hustlers." Mr. Smith is a member of a highly respected and prominent family of Butler, a native of Saline county, Missouri, a son of John W. and Susan P. (James) Smith, who came from Kentucky to Missouri in 1870 and located in Saline county, coming thence to Bates county in January, 1888, settling at Butler, where Mr. Smith followed the livery business and blacksmithing and later the stock business, buying and selling horses and mules. John W. and Susan P. Smith were the parents of the fol- lowing children: James H., Arkansas City, Kansas; John R., Arkansas City, Kansas; Jesse E., the subject of this review; Mrs. J. A. Carey, Pittsburg, Kansas; Dr. G. R., a successful dentist of Duncan, Okla- homa; and Mrs. C. W. Knipple. Wichita, Kansas. The father died at Butler in May, 1916 and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery. The widowed mother now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. C. W. Knipple, at Wichita, Kansas. Jesse E. Smith received the first part of his elementary education HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 649 in the public schools of Saline county, Missouri. He later attended the city schools of Butler for four years. Mr. Smith began his business career in the employ of W. G. Womack, a grocer of Butler, Missouri, about 1892. He was for six years employed by Deacon Brothers and ten years by F. H. Crowell, agent for the Scully lands in Bates county. In 1908, Mr. Smith accepted a position with the Missouri State Bank of Butler as assistant cashier and five years later, in 1913, was appointed cashier of the institution, which position he is capably filling at the time of this writing in 1918, one of the most responsible positions in Bates county. Since Mr. Smith entered the field of business at Butler several years ago, he has never had to ask for a position. The other man has always done the asking — a mute tribute to the intrinsic worth of this promising, alert gentleman, a tireless worker. Jesse E. Smith and Sallie L. Arnold, a daughter of John E. and Margaret (Allen) Arnold, a native of Lafayette county, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this union have been born two children: Arnold and Agnes. Mr. Arnold is deceased and Mrs. John E. Arnold is a resident of Butler, Missouri. The Smith residence is located at 514 West Fort Scott street in Butler. The Missouri State Bank of Butler, Missouri was organized in 1880 by William E. Walton, who was for thirty-seven years its well- known president and cashier. Mr. Walton also organized the Walton Trust Company, the latter financial institution in 1896, and was presi- dent of the same for twenty-one years, when at his rec[uest he was suc- ceeded by his nephew, J. B. Walton, on January 1, 1917. The capital stock and surplus funds of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and the Walton Trust Company exceed a half million dollars. The present capital stock of the former bank is fifty-five thousand dollars and the deposits at the time of the last official report published on March 4, 1918 amounted to one million, eighty-seven thousand, four hundred seventy-three dollars and twelve cents. Alfred A. Miller, one of Butler's respected citizens and a repre- sentative of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri, is one of the native sons of Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Miller was born June 23, 1860 at the Miller homestead, a son of Alpheus and Rachel Ann (Wright) Miller, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of W^est Virginia. Alpheus Miller was born in 1817 at Gallipolis, Ohio and Mrs. Miller was born at Wheeling. West Virginia. They were the parents of the following children: G. C, who was born November 16. 650 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1846 and is now deceased; J. T., who was born January 3, 1848 and now resides at Altoona, Kansas; Sarah E., the wife of J. E. Thompson, who was born September 16, 1850 and now resides at Washington, Iowa; Martha E., who was born July 22, 1852; Emma M., the wife of WilHam R. Huffman, who was born June 16, 1854 and was the mother of two children. Lulu B. and Anna E., and the mother and younger daughter are both now deceased; John R., who was born April 7, 1856 and died January 31, 1918; W. W., who was born March 23, 1858; and Alfred A., the subject of this review. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were united in marriage October 16, 1845 and for ten years following they were residents of Gallipolis, Ohio, coming to Bates county in 1855. Mr. Miller entered from the government a large tract of land located in the center of the county in Mount Pleasant, Summit, and Lone Oak town- ships. During the Civil War. the Millers moved from their farm to Calhoun in Henry county, Missouri, returning to this county in 1865. Alpheus Miller was an industrious and prosperous farmer and stock- man in the early days and at the time of his death w^as owner of three hundred fifty acres of choice land in Bates county, a farm now in the possession of his children and grandchildren. He died in September, 1892 and interment was made in Fairview cemetery in Lone Oak town- ship. Bates county. The widowed mother, one of the most beloved and bravest of Mount Pleasant township's pioneer women, survived her husband twenty-one years, when in 1913 they were united in death and she was laid to rest beside him in Eairview cemetery. Alfred A. Miller attended the district schools of Mount Pleasant township in Bates county and acquired a good common school educa- tion. In early manhood, he began farming and stock raising. Mr. Miller recalls the days in Bates county when deer could be seen fre- quently from the doorway of his old home and when cattle roamed at large over the wide, unfenced prairie. The Miller children all attended school at Miller school house located in the vicinity of their home. This school building was the first to be erected in the neighborhood and it was built in 1870. The lumber and seats were hauled from Pleasant Hill, Missouri and Alfred A. Miller recalls how he was taken along on the three-day journey to herd the oxen when they were turned loose at the noontimes. Jefferson Aldridge, a cripple, was employed at Miller school house to "keep school" for the first two terms and he was in turn succeeded bv M. A. Stewart. The old school house was torn HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 65 1 down in 1916 and a modern building erected on the site of the old one, the new school house being known as Prairie Rose. In 1886, Alfred A. Miller went to Leadville, Colorado and for six and a half years was employed in the mines there. Mr. Miller suc- ceeded well in Colorado and was prospering when the word came to him that his father was dead. He then returned home to care for his widowed mother and together they resided at Butler from 1897 until 1913, when death entered their home again and she was taken from him. Mr. Miller disposed of his farm two years ago, selling the place to his brother, and he is now living in quiet retirement in Butler. He is the owner of his home in this city, a residence of six rooms, modern throughout, which he purchased in 1897. Mr. Miller has been a most devoted son and he is a man highly honored in Butler because of his unselfish devotion to duty, a citizen who occupies a large place in the respect and esteem of his fellowmen. Mr. Miller has never married. R. C. Hays, manager of "Maple Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce town- ship, a well-known and successful breeder of registered Hereford cattle, is one of Bates county's enterprising, young agriculturists and stock- men. Mr. Hays is a son of J. B. and Ruth E. Hays, the father, a native of Saline county, Missouri and the mother, a native of Lafayette county, Missouri. The maternal grandparents of R. C. Hays were among the first settlers of Lafayette county and J. B. Hays is a son of William Hays, who was one of the leading pioneers of Saline county. J. B. Hays settled in Bates county, Missouri in 1874 on the farm in Spruce town- ship, now operated by his son, R. C, the subject of this review, when the land for nearly eight miles north to Grand river was all open prairie. He began the breeding and raising of registered Hereford cattle in 1897 and for many years was wddely known in the county as an exten- sive feeder. His son, R. C, has continued the work begun by his father and they have on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, thirty head of fine registered Herefords, twenty-two of the herd being cows, and he and his father but recently sold twenty-seven head of cattle. "Maple Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce township comprises two hundred fifty-two acres of valuable land. T. B. Hays has retired from the active pursuits of farming and stock raising and since October, 1916 has been a resident of Adrian, Missouri. Mr. Hays, Sr. is now at the advanced age of seventy-four years, but a fairly well-preserved gentleman for one of his age, and he is numbered among the honored and invaluable citi- 65- HISTORY OF BATES COUXTY zens of Bates countv. His name has long been connected with all worthy enterprises, having for their object the upbuilding of the material and spiritual interests of his community and no man in Spruce township is more deserving of commendation in a work of this character than is he. J. B. Hays will long be remembered for the gift of one acre of land upon which the Fairview Baptist church was erected in 1882. He was for many years clerk of the church and his son, R. C. now holds the same position. Apparently, the father's mantle has fallen upon worthy shoulders. The marriage of R. C. Hays and Miss Iva Evans, a daughter of George H. Evans, of Shawnee township, a sketch of whom appears else- where in this volume, was solemnized March 1, 1914. ^Ir. and Mrs. Hays are highly respected and esteemed in their community and they number their friends by the score in Bates county. As a citizen. R. C. Hays has always been a stanch advocate of progress and improvement. Capt. John B. Newberry, the oldest living pioneer citizen of Bates county, ^lissouri. ex-sheritt of Bates county, ex-senator and ex-repre- sentative of the Missouri State Legislature, proprietor of "'Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" in Bates county, is a native of Orange county. Xew York. Captain Xewberry was born May 25, 1829, a son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Stevins) Newberry, both of whom were natives of Xew York. Mr. and Mrs. Joshua X'ewberry moved with their family to Broome county. Xew York and there the parents died and are buried. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Captain X'ewberry is the sole survivor. In the public schools of Orange and Broome counties. X'ew York. Captain X'ewberry obtained his education in the elementary' branches of learning. He later entered Harfard Academy, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania and was a student at that institution for one session. In his youth, he mastered the trade of blacksmithing and when he came to Missouri in 1853 he located at Papinsville, at that time the flourish- ing county seat of Bates county, and for four years followed his trade at that place. In 1857, Captain X'ewberry purchased his present coun- try place in Bates county, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres located two and a half miles southeast of Spruce. He recalls among the heads of families, that were residents of Papinsville in 1853, when he — a young man twenty-four years of age — came to this county, the following men: F. F. Eddy. F. H. Eddins. S. H. Loring, James McCool, George L. Duke. Stephen S. Duke, and D. B. McDonald. Captain Xew- CAPTAIN JOHN B. NEWBERRY. PIISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 653 berry can not recall one family, or one single member of any family, keeping house in Papinsville in 1853 who is now living. "Uncle James" Hook hewed the timbers for the residence built on Captain Newberry's farm in 1844, a building which has been since remodeled by Captain Newberry. The frame of this building was built of hewed lumber, the lath and weatherboarding all hand-rived, the floors made of pecan lumber hauled from Ball's Mill on the Osage in Vernon county, the woodwork of the interior made from pine hauled by oxen from Boonville, Missouri. The road from Papinsville to Boon- ville passed Captain Newberry's farm and the primitive log cabin on the place was known far and wide as "The House with the Glass Win- dow." It stood just a few feet northeast of the site of the present residence and Captain Newberry describes it as having a puncheon floor, and a ceiling of hickory bark, and a roof covering made of rived clap- boards. The cabin was eighteen feet square. In 1873, the captain planted two Norway spruce evergreen trees on the lawn of his home and he has carefully and painstakingly trained them and one is so shaped as to present a marvelous resemblance to the famous Liberty Bell. It is a strangely beautiful tree and immediately attracts the atten- tion of the passerby. Captain Newberry has the eye of an artist in matters pertaining to landscape gardening and the lawn of "Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" is the most delightful feature of the place. At Butler, Missouri, in 1862 Capt. John B. Newberry enrolled in Company F, Sixtieth Enrolled Missouri Militia in the Civil War and of this company was elected captain, and served as captain until the company was mustered out of the service. When Bates county was ordered evacuated in 1863, on account of Order Number 11, Captain Newberry's company was stationed in Henry county, in which county he remained after the war had ended until the autumn of 1865. During the summer of 1865, he worked at his trade of Ijlacksmithing in Clinton. When he returned home, he found his house still standing, Init found it with much difficulty as it was completely hidden by a rank growth of weeds. In the election of 1870, Captain Newberry was elected on the Demo- cratic ticket sheriff and collector of Bates county. He served faithfully and efficiently two years and did not ask for re-election. At that time he and his family resided at Butler. In the autumn of 1874, Captain Newberry was elected senator of the Missouri State Legislature to rep- resent the district composed at that time of the counties of Bates, Cass, 654 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and Jackson. He served one term of four years during Governor Wood- son's administration and again did not ask for re-election. In 1888, Captain Newberry was elected representative of the Missouri State Legislature and after serving one term in this official capacity he for the third time refused to ask for re-election. While a member of the House of Representatives in the Missouri State Legislature, Captain Newberry introduced a bill providing for the inspection of coal mines and the bill became a state law and it has countless times since proven to be a most valuable one, resulting in the saving of hundreds of lives. On December 10, 1854, the marriage of John B. Newberry and Eliza- beth Drake was solemnized. Mrs. Newberry was a native of Ohio, born July 12, 1833, a daughter of George Drake, who located in Bates county in the days before the Civil War. He returned to Ohio at the time of the outbreak of the war and in that state remained until the conflict had ended, when he came back to Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Drake died at Johnstown in Bates county. Elizabeth (Drake) Newberry was residing at the time of her marriage with her widowed aunt, Sarah Drake, in the same homestead in which she died. To Capt. John B. and Elizabeth Newberry have been born live children, two of whom are now living: Mrs. Charles Ewin, Butler, Missouri; and George W., a graduate of the Butler high school, a former student of a business college of Sedalia, Missouri, now with the Houchin Loan & Collection Agency, Chicago, Illinois. Those deceased are: Susie, the wife of I. M. Kret- zinger ; Jessie, the wife of Arthur L. Gilmore ; and one, who died in infancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Newberry died February 22, 1893. The second marriage of Captain Newberry occurred on October 8, 1902, with Mary Van Hoy, of Deepwater township, a daughter of John M. and Mary (Ludwick) Van Hoy, deceased pioneer settlers of Bates county. John M. Van Hoy resided in Henry county at the time of his marriage. He was captain of a company of Union soldiers during the Civil War. He died during the Civil War. After the war Mrs. Van Hoy located in Bates county and died at the age of ninety-four years. Mary (Van Hoy) Newberry was born May 4, 1856. There is no better authority in Missouri on the conditions of pioneer life in Bates county than Captain Newberry. He retains a vivid remem- brance of the early days — of the dense and gloomy shade of the primeval forest along the streams of water ere the clearings had been made and of the opportunities afforded one to conceal himself in the shelter of the tall prairie grass while awai-ting a shot at a deer, wild turkeys, or prairie HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 655 chickens, for which the family were waiting to make an appetizing and savory breakfast. He has many times brought home three wild turkeys before the morning meal.' Captain Newberry states that meat was plentiful in those days, that even the hogs ran at large through the winter, though each hog had an earmark to designate its owner. He recalls the days of the well-developed mosquito, when a smudge fire at night and a mosquito net over the bed were the only measures to take if one wished for comfort and sleep. Horseflies, "greenheads," were so annoying in the summers that it was impossible to travel across the prairie with horses and so people obliged to travel went at night in order to escape the pests. Captain Newberry used to own an Indian pony named "Tom," wihich he used in all his travels over the country, and when leaving Butler all that was necessary was to give the pony the rein and he would bring his master safely home, a distance of twelve miles, crossing intervening streams cautiously, even on the darkest nights arriving at "Evergreen Liberty Bell Farm" in safety. "Tom" was pur- chased from Thomas Goulding. In the daytime, a traveler would be able to locate himself by marks upon trees along the way and would always "cut across" the prairie the nearest way. Captain Newberry is eighty-eight years of age at the time of this writing and in a very few months will have lived four score years and ten. He has during his long life of usefulness experienced the toil, the sacrifices, the hardships, and the many happy hours of pioneer life in Missouri and he has seen Bates county in embryo, then gradually emerge from a most primitive condition to one of the most advanced in the country. He has done his part nobly and well in bringing about the marvelous development and is spending the closing years of his career enjoying the comforts and luxuries of our present-day civilization. It is a wonderfully fine thing to have had the privilege to have a life which has spanned more than man's allotted three score years and ten, to have lived in two different centuries, and that in itself is sufficient evi- dence of a good, pure life well lived. Although Captain Newberry's eyesight is poor, preventing reading, he is otherwise in perfect possession of all his physical and mental powers, as active and alert as many who are a score of years younger than he. Rising above the heads of the masses are a few men of sterling worth and value, who by sheer perseverance and pluck, have conquered fortune and by their own unaided efforts have risen from the ranks of the commonplace to positions, of eminence in a business world and state, 656 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and at the same time have commanded the universal respect and trust of all with whom they have come in contact. Among those earnest men of Bates county, whose strength of character and strict adherence to honorable principles, whose upright morality excite the admiration of their fellowmen. Captain Newberry is prominent and no biographical compendium of Bates county, Missouri, would be complete without his life-story. Del Lutsenhizer, a prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, is a member of an honored pioneer family of this section of the state. Mr. Lutsenhizer was born September 17, 1878 on the farm where his grandfather, Jacob Lutsenhizer, had settled in 1839. He is a son of Thomas and Sallie (Ewin) Lutsenhizer. Thomas Benton Lutsenhizer was born in Bates county, March 29, 1842, a son of Jacob Lutsenhizer, a son of Henry and Judith (Marchand) Lutsenhizer, and who came to Missouri from Ohio with his family and settled on a tract of land located three miles southeast of the present townsite of Spruce, Missouri, which land he entered from the government in 1839. The forerunner of the Lutsenhizers in Bates county, Missouri was Henry Lutsenhizer and with him came William Lutsenhizer, brother of Jacob and they settled on land entered from the government in 1837, a tract located in Deepwater township two miles southeast of the present townsite of Spruce. Henry Lutsenhizer laid out the road from Johns- town to Pleasant Gap, and near the latter place his brother, William, died. Jacob Lutsenhizer came two years later than did Henry and William and soon became one of the leaders of the settlement. He served as the first county judge of Bates county. He lived but five years after- coming West, his death occurring in 1844. Henry Lutsen- hizer went to California in 1848, at the time of the excitement over the discovery of gold in that state, and when he left this country his home was situated in Vernon county, as the boundaries were in those days. Mr. Lutsenhizer returned to Missouri after fifty years and, much like Rip Van Winkle and not having been in touch with the progress of the county, he sought in vain for his old home. During his absence, the natural changes of a half century of progress had taken place. Bates county had been formed. His relatives at Butler, learning of his return, located him at Nevada, where he, an old man of ninety years, was patiently searching for some trace of his old home- stead and his friends. He came to Butler and visited his people for many weeks and spent the rest of his days with Thomas Benton Lut- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 657 senhizer and died in 1902. His farm is now owned by Del Lutsenhizer. Jndith (Marchand) Lutsenhizer was a daughter of David March- and, of French-Huguenot descent, and who served in the Revolutionary War. He was a native of Pennsylvania. The Lutsenhizers were Penn- sylvanians also. David Marchand was a surgeon with rank of captain. He was a son of Dr. David Marchand, whose ancestry goes back to 1700. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Lutsenhizer were the parents of five daugh- ters, all of whom were early-day school teachers of Bates county, namely: Mrs. Sarah Durand, deceased; Margaret, deceased; Esther, deceased; Susan, deceased; and Abiah, the wife of J. R. Simpson, and the only one now living. Mrs. Lutsenhizer and her children were obliged to move from their home place near Spruce to Henry county, Missouri, on account of Order Number 11 and she died in Flenry county two months after they had moved. In 1875, Thomas Benton Lutsenhizer and Sallie Ewin, a daughter of William Ewin, were united in marriage. Sallie (Ewin) Lutsenhizer is a descendant of one of the first families of Missouri. Her father was born April 13, 1819, in Howard county, Missouri, a son of Watts Ewin, who came with his wife to this country when it was still a terri- tory and they settled near Fort Homestead in 1817. Mr. and Mrs. Watts Ewin brought with them from Kentucky a setting of eggs which they hatched in a chimney corner by keeping them warm as they had no hen to sit upon them. This was probably the first incubator, and the finest in its day, in use in Missouri. To Thomas B. and Sallie (Ewin) Lutsenhizer were born the following children, who are now living: May, Kansas City, Missouri; Del, the subject of this review; and Jessie B., the wife of Walter B. Kelly, of Kansas City, Missouri. Thomas B. Lutsenhizer was a veteran of the Confederate army in the Civil War. He was taken prisoner from his own home by the Union forces and placed in prison at St. Louis, where he was confined for three or four months before he was exchanged and thus given his lib- erty. He then enlisted with the Confederates and served until the close of the war, serving with General Parson's brigade, the Sixteenth Missouri Infantry, and he was at Shreveport, Louisiana, at the time of the surrender in 1865. Thomas Benton Lutsenhizer died June 21, 1900. The widowed mother makes her home at Kansas City, Mis- souri, with her daughter, Mrs. Walter B. Kelly. Del Lutsenhizer received his education in the district schools of (42) 658 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Deepwater townshjp, Bates county. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-one years of age. Mr. Lutsenhizer's farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of land, formerly owned by his great uncle, Henry Lutsenhizer, and formerly known as the William Ludwick place. He is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, sheep, and mules and is prominently identified with the agricultural interests of Bates county. "The marriage of Del Lutsenhizer and Blanche Price, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. H. Price, of Summit township, a sketch of whom appears elsewdiere in this volume, was solemnized June 22, 1904, and to this union have been born two children: Hazel Fern, who was born September 19, 1905; and Howard Benton, who was born August 18, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Lutsenhizer are highly respected in their com- munity and they are numbered among the valued citizens of Bates county. Clay S. Cumpton, a progressive agriculturist and stockman of Bates county, was born in 1879 on the farm which was entered from the gov- ernment by his grandfather, Thomas S. Cumpton, in 1853, a son of John M. and Angelina E. (Hedrick) Cumpton, the former, a native of Howard county, Missouri, and the latter, of Law^rence county, Indiana. John M. Cumpton was born in 1833 and until he was ten years of age resided with his parents in Howard county, Missouri, and then moved with them to Johnson county, whence they came to Bates county, Mis- souri, in 1853 and the father, Thomas S. Cumpton. entered the land above mentioned. The elder Cumpton died on his farm in Bates county in 1862 and interment was made in Dickison cemetery. The marriage of Thomas S. Cumpton's son, John M., and Angelina E. Hedrick, daughter of William and Elizabeth Hedrick, was solem- nized in 1860. Angelina E. (Hedrick) Cumpton came to Morgan county, Missouri, with her parents when she was a child two years of age and thence to Bates county, Missouri, in 1846. The Hedricks settled at Round Prairie in Hudson township. Mrs. Hedrick died in 1874 and interment was made in Myers cemetery in Hudson township. She was survived by her husband twenty-nine years, Vk^hen in 1903 he joined her in death at the noble age of ninety-nine years, one month, and sixteen days. Mr. Hedrick was laid beside his wife in Myers cemetery. To John M. and Angelina E. Cumpton were born ten children, five of whom are now liv- ing: Orvil W., Spruce, Missouri; Dr. Victor J.. Pleasant Gap, Missouri; W^illiam E., Spruce, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth, the wife of J. A. Borland, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 659 of Spruce, Missouri; and Clay S., the subject of this review, on the home place of the Cumptons, the homestead of his grandfather, the birth- place of his father and of himself. John M. Cumpton has long since answered the last summons and the widowed mother, now at the advanced age of eighty years, makes her home with her son, Clay S., at the Cumpton homestead. Mrs. Angelina E. Cumpton is one of the most honored and beloved of Bates county's pioneer women and she talks entertainingly of the days of her youth in Bates county, of the hard but not unhappy times of the long ago, when there was always plenty food but little money, more than enough work for all but few pleasures or recreations. She recalls how they were obliged to travel across the prairie to Papinsville once a week to obtain their mail. Mrs. Cumpton is the proud grandmother of seventeen grandchildren, all of whom reside in Bates county. Clay S. Cumpton received his education at Cumpton school house in Bates county, Missouri. The Cumpton school house was named in honor of the Cumpton family. Practically all his life, Mr. Cumpton has been interested in farming and stock raising and since attaining maturity he has established a splendid reputation for himself in this part of the state as an exceptionally successful, careful breeder and pro- ducer of high grade hogs, cattle, and horses. He has on the farm, at the time of this writing in 1918, seventeen head of good Shorthorn cattle. Twenty acres of the Cumpton place are in timber and the past season, of 1917, Mr. Cumpton had twenty acres of the farm in wheat and had planted some oats and corn. June 5, 1912, Clay S. Cumpton and Ada Silvers, a daughter of Clint and Martha Silvers, of Rich Hill, Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union have been b'orn two children : Mary Belle and Lloyd Lawrence. Clay S. Cumpton occupies no small place in the public esteem, being an active and earnest supporter of all worthy enterprises which have for their object the material and spiritual advancement of the community. James A. De Armond. — Born at Greenfield, Missouri, November 28, 1873, oldest son of Judge David A. De Armond. Educated in com- mon schools and Butler High School; Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri ; Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Vir- ginia ; Missouri State University, Columbia, Missouri. Admitted to the bar at Butler in 1901. Practiced law in Butler until 1904, when he purchased the "Bates County Democrat," daily and weekly, and owned 660 HISTORY OP' BATES COUNTY and conducted the same until 1910. In 1912 resumed the practice of law and is now located at Butler. Held the office of city attorney of Butler by appointment and election in 1903 and 1904. Was tendered the appointment of adjutant-general of Missouri by Governor Folk in 1905 although not a candidate for that or any other appointment from the governor of whom he had been an active supporter. Held the office until expiration of his term in 1909. Elected mayor of Butler in 1918 without opposition. Active in military affairs from the age of seven- teen when he joined the National Guard as a private. Retired as brigadier-general in 1909. Served in the Spanish-American .War as first lieutenant and captain in Company B, Second Missouri Infantry. Married in 1901 to Nancy Lee Bell of Liberty, Missouri. Five children born to marriage: David A., Jr., who lost his life in a fire in 1909 together with his grandfather, Congressman David A. De Armond; Alice Irene; Ann Landis; James A., Jr.; and Helen. Member of Masonic and Odd Fellow lodges. W. H. Charters, Jr., proprietor of "Charteroak Stock Farm" in Bates county, is one of the successful and most prominent stockmen of this part of Missouri. Mr. Charters is a native of Bates county. He was born October 26, 1885, in Deepwater township, a son of W. H., Sr., and Margaret (Carroll) Charters. \\\ H. Charters, Sr., was born in Ireland in 1856. When he was an infant, he came with his parents to America and they located in New York, later in Ohio, and finally W^ H. Charters, Sr., settled in Bates county, Missouri, about 1880 on a farm of one hun- dred acres in Deepwater township, where he engaged in farming and stock raising. Margaret (Carroll) Charters is a native of Champaign county, Ohio. To W. H., Sr., and Margaret Charters were born the following children: L. J., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. J. A. Hermann, Culver, Missouri; Mrs. W. B. Young, who resides on the home farm in Deepwater township; Mrs. Grady Smith, Spruce, Missouri; and W. H., Jr., the sub- ject of this review. The father died in 1916 and the widowed mother makes her home at Butler, Missouri. W. H. Charters, Jr., attended the country schools of Bates county. His boyhood days were spent much as are the days of the average boy on the farm. Since he was twelve years of age, Mr. Charters has been self-supporting. He remained at home with his parents and assisted in the management of the home place until he was twenty-four years of age. In 1904 he went to Salt Lake City and spent one year in that city and Denver Colorado. About thirteen years ago, "Charteroak Stock W. H. CHARTERS, JR. HlSTORy OI" IJATKS COUNTY 66l Farm" was established by Mr. Charters and he has since been constantly occupied in the management of the same. April 3, 1910, VV. II. Charters, jr., and May iiliz/.ard were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Charters have two children: Margaret JJernece, born March 19, 1911 ; Mildred Irene, born May 15, 1917. May (Blizzard J Charters is a daughter of Wesley and Mary (iiaunke) Blizzard. Mr. l>lizzard is now deceased and his widf^w resides at Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Charters reside at "Charteroak Stock Farm," which is located northwest of the city limits of Butler. The Charters' residence is situ- ated on an eminence overlooking the city of Butler. Though in the country, this lu^me is supplied with all the conveniences of the most up-to-date city residence, "Charteroak Stock Farm" comprises one hundred twenty acres of land lying just northwest of the city limits of Butler. This stock farm has been established thirteen years, dating from the time of this writing in 1918. Thirteen years ago, Mr. Charters leased three brood sows, big bone Poland Chinas, under contract for two years and at the end of that time his half interest in the herd of one hundred fifty head of hogs was sufficient to enable him to labor independently in the future. The first sale was held in 1908. W. H. Charters, Jr., is the first man in Bates county to use the single or double vaccine treatment for cholera and since he first tested the treatment he has constantly kept it up and now offers for sale only immune hogs. On February 7, 1918, Mr. Char- ters held a sale which was a world record sale in two respects. It was the largest pure-bred sow sale ever held in America, and in addition to this the greatest number was sold within a given time, eighteen head being sold in two hours and eighteen minutes. The total amount of the sale was eleven thousand two hundred flollars, an average of one hundred seventeen dollars each. Eight states were represented among the buyers at this sale. The Charters' herd is the oldest and largest herd of Big Bone Poland Chinas in Missouri. Mr. Charters has kept his hogs graded as to age and size anrl he has followed the rule of never crowding his stock in pasture. He always feeds some corn supplemented with tankage and shorts. "Charteroak Stock Farm" is well equipped to care for a large herd of hogs, being supplied with two stock barns, two hay barns, one sale pavilion, and ten other necessary buildings. Mr. Charters has exported hogs to Havana, Cuba, one shipment of three head, the only shipment of the kind ever made by a Missouri breeder. Mr. Charters is also interested in breeding registered Shorthorn cattle. 662 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY He has a small herd of high-class stock headed by "Premier Marshall" No. 519833, a pure-bred white Scotch bull which was purchased from J. M. Patterson, Liberty, Missouri. Mrs. Charters is interested in poultry raising and about six years ago began raising pure-bred Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. This branch of the farm work at ''Charteroak Stock Farm" has grown and developed until it has proven as successful and remunerative as hog rais- ing. Mrs. Charters has, at the time of this writing, about two hundred head of chickens on the place. The fowls are sold at "Charteroak," for prospective purchasers, knowing the quality of the Charters' Rocks, are only glad to go to the farm for them. Mrs. Charters is a lady of much energy and intelligence and she is as thoroughly alive to the possibili- ties of this profitable industry as Mr. Charters is to the raising of pure- bred Poland Chinas. Mr. and Mrs. Charters are typical Americans and worthy representa- tives of eminently honorable Bates county families. Mr. Charters deserves all the success which has attended his efforts in the past and will continue to attend in the future for it is almost entirely due to his industry, energy, resolute purpose, and indefatigable persistence. He and Mrs. Charters are highly respected and valued in their community. George H. Gutridge of Deepwater township, was born in a log cabin, on the farm which he now owns, April 27. 1863, and has the dis- tinction of being the only "old settler" living in Bates county who was born nearest the time of the issuance of Order Number 11 by Gen. Thomas Ewing in 1863. He is the son of Peter Gutridge, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, who was born in 1822 and made a settlement in Deepwater township as early as 1845. He was married in Henry county, Missouri, in 1849, to Angelina Dickison, who was born in Lick- ing county, Ohio. During the Civil War period, Peter Gutridge re- turned to Ohio and was in that state when Order Number Eleven was issued. Mrs. Gutridge took her children and returned to her old home in Henry county, remaining there until after the close of the war. When the family returned to the cabin, the live stock had disappeared and the house had been looted of its contents and it was necessary for them to make a new start. Peter Gutridge died on his homestead in 1877. Mrs. Gutridge died in 1898, and the remains of both are interred in Dickison cemetery. They were parents of children as follow: Joanna, wife of Samuel S. Stapleton, deceased; Minerva, wife of Jonathan Jack- son, Deepwater township; Samuel W., living at Bliss, Idaho; Susan HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 663 A., wife of William Fletcher, Oregon; Lewis, deceased; George H., subject of this review; Mary M., wife of Grant Thornberg, Oregon; John and JefTerson, died in infancy. George H. Gntridge was educated in the district schools and But- ler Academy and also pursued a course of study in Bucks County College located in Muskingum county, Ohio. Mr. Gutridge has spent twenty-four years of his life in Oregon. He first went to that state in 1887 and remained for seven years employed in placer mining. In 1893, he washed out six thousand, two hundred thirty-six dollars in gold dust from his mines. He returned home and lived on the home place and engaged in mercantile business in Spruce until 1899 and again went to Oregon, this time remaining in the mining country of that state for eight years. On his first trip he became owner of or part owner of a gold mine and operated it on his own account. After a return trip home he journeyed a third time to the mining region and remained for only one year in Baker county on a ranch. His first home was located two and one- fourth miles from Spruce, a farm which he owned for some years, and he eventually became owner of the Gutridge home place consisting of one hundred and nine acres, partly through inheritance and partly by purchase of the interests of the other heirs. Mr. Gutridge remodeled his residence in 1909 and has done considerable improving about his property. He keeps good grades of cattle, hogs and horses, and is thrifty, and industrious. Mr. Gutridge was married in 1893 to Miss Lydia M. Durrett, of Bates county, a daughter of Henry M. and Susan Caroline Durrett, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter a native of Kentucky. The Durretts came to Missouri and first located in Cass county. After a residence of some years in that county they came to Bates county, and are now residing near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. Gutridge have an adopted daughter. Ermine, born July 9, 1911. During the Civil War a company of soldiers who were a part of the command of General Price were passing through the country, camp- ing in the Spruce neighborhood, and stopped to gather apples from the Gutridge orchard. As they were stripping the trees, Peter Gut- ridge objected and warned them to desist as he did not want his fruit crop ruined. The soldiers continued to damage and strip the trees of their fruit, and seizing his gun, he fired over their heads with the inten- tion of showing that he meant to defend his property. A small shot happened to hit a soldier in the heel. Whereupon, Mr. Gutridge's 664 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY arrest was ordered and he was taken to Balltown, Vernon county, but shortly afterwards turned loose and returned to his home. The first trading post of the Gutridges was at Johnstown and later at old Papins- ville, the first county seat. The elder Gutridge broke the prairie sod with ox-teams and the early life of the family in the rude log cabin which he erected upon his farm w^as lived amid primitive surround- ings and the accompanying hardships of the pioneer era of settlement. In the autumn of 1916, George H. Gutridge was awarded a lap robe as a prize, being the winner of a contest promoted in Butler to ascertain which old settler in the county was born here on the date nearest to the time when Order Number Eleven was issued. Moses S. Keirsey, a late prominent agriculturist and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, a leading man of his community in Spruce township, one of the honored and respected citizens of the county who have gone on before, was a native of Tennessee. Mr. Keirsey was born in 1851, a son of Drury and Agnes Keirsey, who came to Missouri in the days before the Civil War and settled on a farm in Polk county. M. S.. Keirsey was reared to manhood amid the scenes of pioneer life in Polk county, Missouri. He came to Bates county in 1871 and set- tled on the farm, which is the present home of his widow, in Spruce township, a place comprising one hundred seventy-one acres of choice land, now nicely improved. The marriage of M. S. Keirsey and Mary M. Williams, a daugh- ter of William and Susan (Hopkins) Williams, was solemnized in Polk county, Missouri in 1867. Mr. Williams died about the time of the marriage of his daughter, in 1867, and Mrs. Williams resides at Fair- play in Polk county, Missouri with her daughter, Addie. To M. S. and Mary M. Keirsey were born seven children, all of whom are now living: William D., *a well-to-do farmer and stockman, Butler, Mis- souri; George, Ballard, Missouri; O. Williams, who is engaged in farm- ing in Spruce township; Fred, a prosperous farmer of Summit town- ship; Ollie, the wife of Melford Richardson, Chico, Butte county, Cali- fornia; Addie, the wife of C. M. Decker, of Shawnee township; and Josephine, who resides at home with her widowed mother. The father died January 7, 1917. The Keirsey country place is one of the attractive rural homes of Spruce township. It is one of the prairie farms of Bates county and well improved with a comfortable residence, a structure of eight rooms, a stock barn used for horses, a feed barn, a cattle barn, and other HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 665 needed farm buildings. Mr. Keirsey was a man of great energy and a progressive, industrious stockman, whose name was a familiar one to all the stockmen of Bates county for he had established a splendid reputation as a successful breeder of cattle and hogs and mules. He purchased the grain which he fed his stock from the farmers of the vicinity and was thus a boon to his neighbors, who would have other- wise had to haul their produce a long distance in order to ship it. Since he has been gone, Mrs. Keirsey and her daughter. Miss Josephine, have remained on the farm and have attended to the stock interests although they rent the land. Mrs. Keirsey is a highly respected lady of much intelligence and she deserves great commendation for the admirable way in which she is continuing the work of Mr. Keirsey. Like the majority of pioneers, M. S. Keirsey was a quiet, unobtru- sive gentleman, somewhat reserved in manner, but a larger-hearted, more kindly, more courteous man one could not find in this part of the state. His youthful experiences, his early life spent mostly out-of- doors, toughened and strengthened his physical and mental fiber and fitted him for the active pursuits of farming and stock raising which he followed in later years. He grew to maturity with a splendid, almost perfect, physique and in early manhood scarcely knew what fatigue or illness meant. Mr. Keirsey did not care for public honors or the emoluments of office but found happiness in his home in the associa- tions with his family, whom he loved with a deep devotion. He was an honorable, honest, upright citizen and the loss inflicted by the Grim Reaper has been and still is deeply felt in his community and in his home, but were he with us today he would no doubt counsel us, as did the poet many years ago counsel himself when he, too, was heart- broken with grief over the loss of a dear one : "Be still, sad heart, and cease repining; Behind the clouds the sun's still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all : Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary." M. N. Teeter, an influential agriculturist of Shawnee township, is one of the successful sons of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Teeter was born December 9, 1878 at the Teeter homestead in Shawnee township, a son of C. N. and Eliza (Hill) Teeter, the father, a native of New York and the mother, of Pennsvlvania. The Teeters 666 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY came to Missouri in 1865 and settled on a prairie farm in Bates county, after a few months residence in Butler. C. N. Teeter built their resi- dence in Butler from lumber which he hauled from Pleasanton, Linn county, Kansas and the old house still stands in this city, located about three blocks from the public square on the north side of the city. Mr. Teeter was an enterprising and capable farmer and stockman and suc- ceeded well in raising and feeding large herds of horses, cattle, and hogs. At the time of his death, in 1907, he was the owner of a valuable farm in Bates county, a place embracing three hundred twenty-three acres of land. The remains of C. N. Teeter were laid to rest in Cloud cemetery in this county. The widowed mother still resides at the old home place in Shawnee township. At Griggs school house in Shawnee township, a building named in honor of William Griggs on whose farm the school house was located, M. N. Teeter obtained his education. School was held in the same school house in the days before the Civil War, and Mr. Teeter attended school at the old school house. When he was thirteen years of age, he had mastered the trade of blacksmithing and for seven years was engaged in following his trade in Bates county. When he had attained maturity, Mr. Teeter moved on the farm which had formerly been his father's and entered the stock business, in which he has ever since been engaged. He raises, buys, and sells cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and is the owner of one of the nice country places in his township, a farm embracing one hundred twenty acres of valuable land located ten miles east of Adrian and two and a half miles northwest of Ballard. The Teeter farm is well improved and equipped for handling stock. The marriage of M. N. Teeter and Millie Gilbert, a daughter of J. F. and Jane (Hammond) Gilbert, of Grand River township, was solemnized December 24, 1899. Both the father and the mother of Mrs. Teeter are now deceased and their remains are interred in Hart cemetery in Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Gilbert were the parents of thirteen children, all of whom have been reared to maturity and are now living, the oldest being fifty-five years of age and the eleventh is Mrs. M. N. Teeter: William, John, Howard, Charles, Victor, William, Mrs. Florence Hammond, Mrs. Grace Russell, Mrs. Dora Witterman, Mrs. Ruth Burk, Mrs. Blanche Embree, Mrs. Hilda Shield, and Mrs. Millie Teeter. Mr. Teeter has only one sister living, Mrs. Ella Mosher, who resides in Shawnee township. To M. N. and Mrs. Teeter have been born the following children: Madge, a student in the Adrian HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 667 High School; Gladys, Orpha, Don, and Hurley, all at home with their parents. The history of every community is but the aggregation of the biog- raphies of its citizens and the record of the relations which they have sustained one to another. Some may be of little interest to the casual reader, still they occupy important places in the record, and many lives that attract but slight attention from the world at large are often the most indispensable, being in many cases the lives of men and women who are moulding public sentiment and directing the destiny of their particular community. Mr. and Mrs. Teeter are widely and favorably known in the county and they are justly enrolled among its best and most representative citizens. W. S. Hurt, proprietor of "Valley Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Hurt was born in 1854 at Colum- bia in Adair county and thirty-six years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, he came to Missouri and settled on a farm in Spruce township. He had twelve hundred dollars to invest at that time, the proceeds from the sale of his Kentucky land, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres, and now, after nearly two score years in the West, he is the owner of one of the best and most attractive country places in Spruce township. Bates county. The sign of the "Valley Grove Stock Farm" is a pretty picture of two ears of Boone county white corn at the gate at the entrance of the driveway, a representation of the corn raised by Air. Hurt on this farm and of his artistic ability, for he painted the picture. When W. S. Hurt came to Bates county, Missouri in 1882, he pur- chased a tract of land in Spruce township, a small farm embracing forty acres, which he improved and then sold. He invested the proceeds of the sale in another forty-acre tract, which he afterward sold for eighty dollars an acre. Mr. Hurt retired from improving land, farming, and stock raising at this time and entered the mercantile business, in which he was engaged for nine years after buying the J. C. Noble stock of merchandise. Mr. Hurt was successful as a merchant, but he prefers the independence of the farm to the confinement of a store and in 1912 moved to his present country home in Spruce township, where he has since been contentedly at work, clearing the timber land for pasture, improving the land and the soil, raising horses, cattle, mules, and hogs. "Valley Grove Stock Farm" lies four miles northwest of Johnstown and two and a half miles southeast of Ballard. It comprises one hundred 668 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY twenty acres of land, forty acres of which are underlaid with a vein of coal from twelve to eighteen inches in depth. There are two ponds, four wells, and one cistern on the place, making it one of the most abundantly watered farms in Bates county. The improvements include a nice residence, a ten-room structure, well built with conveniently arranged rooms which are neatly kept, and a splendid barn, 40 x 60 feet in dimensions. Mr. Hurt is devoting his attention chiefly to raising roan Durham cattle and O. I. C. Poland China hogs, having about fort\- head of the latter on the farm at the present time, in 1918. In 1876, W. S. Hurt and Corinna Snow were united in marriage in Kentucky. To this union have been born eight children, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. Mertie Corwine, of Spruce township, Bates county; Montie, the well-known collector of Mingo township, Bates county; Otis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township ; Pearl, de- ceased; Mrs. Laura Hill, who resides in Colorado; Loren, a successful farmer and stockman of Spruce towmship ; Ivy and Bryan, both at home with their parents. Kindly, hospitable, and generous, the Hurt family's popularity is as extensive as their acquaintance, and their southern courtesy has become proverbial. Among the progressive men of Bates county, who have assisted materially in developing the agricultural interests of this section of the state, W. S. Hurt takes high rank. Andrew Hanson, an industrious and thrifty farmer of Shawnee town- ship, was born near Eureka, Kansas, January 6, 1862, the son of Chris- topher and Mary Hanson, the former of whom was a native of Norway and was one of the first settlers near Eureka. He later located in St. Clair county, Missouri, where the mother of Andrew Hanson died in 1868. Christopher Hanson departed this life in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1876. The other children born to Christopher and Mary Hanson besides Andrew, are: Mrs. Sophia Evans, St. Clair county, Missouri; Mrs. Martha Silvers, Rich Hill, Missouri. By a second marriage the following children were born to Christopher Hanson and wife: Frank, Rich Hill, Missouri; Lonnie Cox, an adopted son; Mrs. Alice Jackson, St. Louis, Missouri. Andrew Hanson was reared in St. Clair county and there took up the vocation of farming. When seventeen years of age he came to Bates county and began working at farm labor on the farm of Adolphus Stuckey and remained on this farm for some time, eventually becoming the owner of the very place where he began his own career. On September HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 669 17, 1885, he was married at the Stuckey homestead by Rev. A. H. Lewis to Mary E. Stuckey, the daughter of his employer, and for some time remained on the Stuckey farm. During his first year before marriage he raised a big crop of wheat on this farm, the yield averaging twenty- seven bushels to the acre. Prior to the advent of the railroad to Butler he raised a large crop of flax on land west of Butler. He hauled this crop to Rockville for shipment, the trip taking him two days for each load. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson have resided in Missouri, Kansas, and Okla- homa, and again came to the old Stuckey farm for a permanent stay in 1903. They took a pre-emption claim in Meade county, Kansas, in 1887, and proved up on it and for some time Mr. Hanson followed stock rais- ing in Meade county and Clark county, Kansas. They lived in "No Man's Land," now Beaver county, Oklahoma, for a few years prior to returning to Bates county where they homesteaded land in 1888. Mr. Hanson owns a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres, which is a part of the Stuckey farm of three hundred twenty acres. Eight children have been born to Andrew and Mary E. Hanson, six of whom are living: Bertha, wife of Charles Stover, Shawnee town- ship; Alva, was killed by a stroke of lightning on June 25, 1910; Walter, married Maggie McGuire, and resides in Shawnee township; Lonnie, was killed by lightning on June 25, 1910 and Fonnie, twins; Hattie, Lloyd, and Edna at home. Mrs. Mary E. (Stuckey) Hanson was born February 1, 1867, near Fairbury, Illinois, and is a daughter of Adolphus Stuckey, a native of England, who came to America when but a lad and later made a settlement in Bates county as early as 1873. Before coming to Bates county he had his home in Illinois and during the Civil War he served his country in an Illinois regiment of volunteers throughout the war. Mr. Stuckey began in a small way in Bates county and erected a box house on his prairie farm, improved the place and became well to do as the years passed. He returned to Illinois and after living there for twenty-two years, he came back to his farm and died there in March, 1915. His wife was Nancy Cunningham before her marriage. She was born in Illinois, January 14, 1838, and died August 31, 1893. The Stuckey children were as follow: Mrs. Ida Shook, Fairbury, Illinois; Mrs. Hattie Vint, Walla Walla, Washington ; and Mrs. Mary E. Hanson. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanson it is interesting to note that Alva, Walter, Lonnie, and Fonnie were born in Beaver county Oklahoma. Hattie, Lloyd, and Edna, were born in Clark county, Kansas. The fine cedar trees growing in the yard of the Hanson farm and which 670 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY add to the attractiveness of the place, were obtained by Mr. Hanson, who assisted in setting them out, when he was working for Mr. Stuckey in about 1880. The Hansons are industrious and honest people who have the good will and esteem of their neighbors and have many friends in their neighborhood. Nancy (Cunningham) Stuckey was the daughter of Mr. Cunning- ham, who was one of the early pioneers of Bates county and was one of the first settlers of Butler. J. W. Cole, merchant of Ballard, Missouri, is one of the successful business men of Bates county. Mr. Cole is the best authority on the history of the mercantile interests of Ballard and he states that the first store at Ballard w^as opened by Mr. Moreland in partnership with his two sons. It was he, who succeeded in having a postofiice estab- lished at this place, but which was discontinued several years ago when the rural routes were designated in Bates county. Mr. Moreland dis- posed of his mercantile interests after some time, selling to Dr. McFar- land, who in turn sold the establishment to Robert Beatty. Mr. More- land returned to Ballard from Urich, Henry county, where he had been for a short time, and purchased the store from Mr. Beatty. After- ward, he again sold out, this time Mr. Price being the purchaser, and he sold to Mr. Keirsey and Mr. Keirsey to "Mack" Greer and Mr. Greer to "Jake" Kedigh and Mr. Kedigh to J. W. Cole, the present owner, who bought the place of business in March, 1917. Mr. Cole is an experienced man in the mercantile business, having conducted a store at Culver for thirteen years prior to purchasing the business establishment at Ballard. Thus, the following men have consecutively been the leading merchant and mo?t prominent business man of Ballard; Moreland, McFarland, Beatty, Moreland, Price, Keirsey, Greer, Kedigh, and Cole. Mr. Cole has a nice, clean stock of merchandise and of suf- ficient quantity for the demands and he is enjoying an excellent patron- age, drawing trade from the entire surrounding country, and the satis- faction of his customers is sufficient evidence of his marked success. Mr. Cole is a native of Lafayette county, Missouri. His father, Henry Cole, was one of the first pioneers of that county and of Mis- souri. Henry Cole settled on a tract of land in Lafayette county in 1818, two years before Missouri became a state. He came to Bates county, Missouri in 1876 and located on a farm in Spruce township, where he spent the closing years of a long life of usefulness, althoug'h his death occurred at Clinton in Henry county, to which place he had HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 67 1 moved but a very short time prior to answering the death summons. Henry Cole died in 1892 at the noble age of eighty-four years and his remains were interred in Dover cemetery in Lafayette county beside those of his wife, Sarah Cole, who had preceded him in death thirty- two years before. Mrs. Cole died in 1860. Henry and Sarah Cole were the parents of five children, who are now living: Judge W. T., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Rebecca Chirs, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Robert, Santa Rosa, California; J. \y., the subject of this review; and Sallie, Sweetsprings, Missouri. J. W. Cole was born in 1857 and was reared on the farm in Lafay- ette county and educated in the district schools there. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits prior to entering the mercantile business at Culver in 1896, at which time he purchased the Charles Greer store and, as has been mentioned above, was engaged in conducting this general store at Culver for thirteen years. After disposing of his stock of merchandise at Culver, Mr. Cole entered the employ of "Mat" Rosier at Butler and was with him for two years, then spent two and a half years in California. On his return to Missouri, J. W. Cole located on a farm in Shawnee township. Bates county and for two years was again engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, interested in both general farming and stock raising. He traded his farm interests for the mer- chandise at Ballard in 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 1918, is profitably employed in conducting the general store at that place. In 1897, J. W. Cole and Julia Douglass, a daughter of Sydney and Melinda Douglass, were united in marriage. Sydney Douglass was one of the county's leading citizens and was at one time county recorder of Bates county. He is now deceased and Mrs. Cole's mother resides at Warrensburg, Missouri. To J. W. and Julia (Douglass) Cole has been born one child, a daughter, Lillian, who is at home with her parents. The Cole family stands high among the best families of Bates county. Darius Teeter, a late honored pioneer of Bates county, was a native of New York. Mr. Teeter was born in 1834 in Cayuga county, a son of Conrad and Mary (Hall) Teeter, the father, a native of New Jersey and the mother, of Cayuga county, New York. In the common schools of Wisconsin, Darius Teeter received his education. His parents moved to Wisconsin five years before it became a state, in 1843, and there the mother died when the son. Darius, was still very young. When he was twenty-one years of age, his father sold the homestead and Darius and his brother bought a tract of government land in the northern part of 672 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the State of Wisconsin and engaged in farming. From there, Darius Teeter and a friend, Thomas Springsteen, started for Pike's Peak, Colo- rado in the spring of 1860 driving ox-teams. They arrived at Denver on July 4, 1860 and for tvs'^o years engaged in mining and freighting in Colorado. Mr. Teeter left Colorado once, going thence to Omaha, Nebraska and returning the following spring to Colorado with freight. In the summer of 1862, he went to Oregon with his oxen and was there outfitted for a prospecting tour in Idaho and in that state, then a terri- tory, he prospered, making enough money with which to get a "good start" in life. Mr. Teeter filed a claim to the land which is the present townsite of Boise, Idaho in Ada county and the log cabin built by Darius Teeter and William Richie, partners, is preserved by the Historical Society of Boise. A large influx of people from different sections of the United States soon settled the country. Charles Teeter, a brother of Darius Teeter, came to Boise, Idaho in 1863 and after the latter dis- posed of his land interests the two brothers engaged in the mercantile business at that place until Darius Teeter returned to Wisconsin in 1866. His first partner never returned to the old home, the one with whom he left Wisconsin, Thomas Springsteen. Mr. Teeter remained in that state until 1870, wdien he came to Missouri and settled on land in Bates county, section 7 in Spruce township, a tract comprising one hundred six and two-thirds acres, which he purchased from James Arm- strong for eight dollars an acre. To his original holdings, Mr. Teeter added until he owned one hundred ninety-two acres of choice land in this county. He had been a resident of Bates county for forty-eight years and had been constantly at work all these years improving and bettering the condition of his farm. The improvements, which have all been placed on the land by Mr. Teeter, include a nice residence, a two- story structure built in 1894, two well-constructed barns, a granary, a tool shed, and a splendid windmill, which pumps the water, from a well that is never dry, into the feed lots for the stock. Mr. Teeter's first residence in Bates county was a house, 16 x 24 feet in dimensions, built by himself from lumber which he hauled from Holden, Missouri, forty miles away. One pleasing feature of the Teeter farm is the orchard, covering four acres of land, planted when he first came to this part of the country. In 1866, Darius Teeter and Emma Abbott, of Wisconsin, were united in marriage. Mrs. Teeter was born in Indiana. To this union were born three children, who are now living: Mrs. Cora Embree, of Butler, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 673 Missouri; George D., who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business at Apache, Caddo county, Oklahoma; and Clarence A., who is at home with his father and manages the farm in Spruce township. The faithful wife and loving mother, one of the bravest, noblest pioneer women who ever came to Missouri, died in 1901 in California, while she and Mr. Teeter were there on a visit. Her remains were brought back to Bates county, Missouri for burial and interment was made in Cloud cemetery. Mr. Teeter died in February, 1918. Few men in Spruce township were as well and favorably known as Darius Teeter. A gentleman, a representative of one of the old colonial families of New York, of a sterling pioneer family of the old Northwest Territory, a man, who by sheer pluck, industry, and will-power subdued adversity and concjuered fortune and won success, a pioneer, himself, of western Missouri surely deserves more than pass- ing notice in a work of this character. He was a life-long Republican. Mr. Teeter was in many ways one of the most remarkable men to be found in our county. He possessed many admirable traits of character, a high sense of honor, honesty, justice, and integrity, and he was always interested in the development and prosperity of his township and county and did his full share in laying broad and deep the foundations of the county's progress. Although Mr. Teeter w^as far past the allotted span of human life, he retained much of his youthful vigor, both physically and mentally, to the time of his last fatal illness. He lived his life in such an upright and exemplary manner that his soul was quietly gath- ered to the bosom of his Maker upon "sunset and evening star and one clear call." Benjamin Ireland, an honored and respected pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, one of the proprietors of "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" in Spruce township, is one of the successful stockmen of western Missouri. Mr. Ireland was born September 13, 1848 in Kentucky, a son of Samuel and Ann (Tyler) Ireland. The father died in Henry countv, Kentucky in 1866. Mrs. Ireland came to Bates county, Missouri in 1870 to make her home with her sons, Benjamin and Charles, who had come ^^'est the preceding year. The mother died at the Ireland homestead in Spruce township in 1885 and her remains were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery. In the public schools of Pleasureville, Henry county, Kentucky, Benjamin Ireland received a good common school education. He was a young man, twenty-one years of age, when he left his native state and came to Missouri with his brother, Charles, born in 1842, and set- (43) 674 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tied on the farm in Spruce township, where the two brothers have ever since resided with the exception of one year spent in Vernon county, Missouri. They purchased an eighty-acre tract of land in Vernon county and resided on it just one year and then returned to Spruce township and for five years were engaged in farming on the John Winegardner place, when they purchased one hundred sixty acres of their present home place for eleven dollars an acre. This tract of land had a ten-rail fence enclosing twenty acres of it. The Ireland brothers now own two hundred forty-five acres of land in Spruce township and eighty acres of land in Shawnee township, one of Bates county's prairie farms. Their neighbors in the days of the long ago were Mr. Loggins, the Shrews- burys, the Pogues, the Webbs, the Greers, the Johnsons, the Sheltons, the Pettis family, and the Andrews family, all of whom resided along the creek. In the year 1874, the Ireland boys were obliged to drive their cattle to Barton county, Missouri to winter them on account of the devastation wrought in Bates county by drouth and the grasshoppers. The two brothers, Benjamin and Charles Ireland, came together to this country and have remained together throughout all these years. The older brother, Charles, has never married and is now seventy-six years of age. They have been partners all their lives and have together resided on a farm in Bates county for nearly a half century. It would be difficult to find a similar case or two brothers like the Ireland brothers in the state of Missouri. The 'Treland Brothers' Stock Farm" lies twelve miles northwest of Montrose, twenty miles northeast of Butler, and three miles southeast of Ballard. The marriage of Benjamin Ireland and Callie Harmon, a daughter of Adam and Nancy Harmon, of Spruce township. Bates county, was solemnized in July, 1884. Both the father and mother of Mrs. Ireland are now deceased, their deaths occurring in old Indian Territory. To this union have been born seven children, all of whom have been rearc to maturity and are now living: Charles, a successful farmer of Spruce township; H. C, who is engaged in farming on the home place; Grover, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township; Emzey Vest, a prosperous stockman of Spruce township; Carrie, the wife of Henry Jones, of Henry county, Missouri; James F., a well-known farmer and stockman of Spruce township ; and Sudie, at home with her parents. Emzey Vest and H. C. Ireland are prominent stockmen of Bates county and are widely known in western Missouri as successful breeders of big bone Poland China hogs. H. C. Ireland has a fine herd of eood sfrade HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 6/5 cattle on the home farm in Sprnce township, in the raising of which he has been interested for several years. James F. Ireland has an estab- lished reputation for producing high grade Hereford cattle, having at the present time in 1918, twenty-five head of white face cows, four red Polled Herefords, and a pure bred Hereford steer, in addition to a splendid Percheron horse, "Komar," weight two thousand pounds, and two fine jacks, "Sam" and "Monte Cristo," each fifteen and a half hands high, a saddle stallion, and a herd of big bone Poland China hogs. James F. Ireland resides on the Catterlin place adjoining the "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" on the east. (The Irelands have sown two hundred acres of wheat in 1918.) He is one of the most enterprising stockmen in the township and enjoys his work. He purchased three jennets last season, of 1917. Each of the Ireland children is doing well in life, all are assum- ing honorable places of influence in their respective communities, sons and daughters of whom their parents may well be proud. The Ireland family has long been regarded highly and valued among the best fami- lies of this section of the state. W. H. Smith, proprietor of the Red Ball Garage in Butler, is one of the enterprising business men of Bates county. Mr. Smith is a native son of Butler. He was born August 13, 1879, a son of Frank and Eliza- beth Smith, the former, a native of Michigan and the latter, of Indiana. Frank Smith came to Montrose, Missouri, in 1866 and thence to Butler and for thirty-five years was engaged in the hardware business in this ciiy. a merchant widely and favorably known throughout the county. He now resides in the city of Butler at 312 Adams street, where he is liv- ing in quiet retirement after nearly two score years of active labor in the strenuous fields of merchandising. To Frank and Elizabeth Smith were born four children wdio are now living: W. H., the subject of this review; Pearl, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. P. A. Delameter, Winter- haven, Florida ; and Frank, Jr., w^ho is with his brother, W. H., in the garage business at Butler. Mr. Smith, whose name introduces this review, attended the city schools of Butler, Missouri, and later Butler Academy. Since 1908, Mr. Smith has been engaged in the garage business at Butler, Mis- souri. The marriage of W. H. Smith and Louise Endres, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Endres, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized in 1901. John Endres was for many years one of the leading bakers of Bates county, conducting a bakery at Butler, and after his death 676 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mrs. Endres conducted a restaurant in this city for several years. To Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Smith has been born one chikl, a son, "Billy," who is now eight years of age. The Smith residence is in Butler at 19 South Main street. Both the Smith and Endres families are widely known and highly respected in Bates county. The Red Ball Garage was opened January 15, 1908, and is located at 17 and 19 South Main street. The building has a frontage of ninety- five feet and a depth of one hundred fifteen feet, and is constructed of reinforced concrete, with an iron roof, and not a post in the entire struc- ture. This building was erected in 1917 and is a strictly modern garage in every respect. The north apartment, a room 65 x 115 feet in dimen- sions, is used for storage and display and the south room, 30 x 115 feet in dimensions, is used for shop purposes. Mr. Smith has a general repair shop in which all kinds of machine work is done, batteries recharged, cars put in first-class condition. He has installed a complete vulcanizing plant for casings and inner tubes and in addition carries a general stock of automobile accessories. The Red Ball Garage has tlie agency for the Buick automobiles. W. H. Smith is a wide-awake salesman, an expert mechanician, and a "hustler." He is making a deserving success in his line of work. William H. Gotten, a pioneer of Bates county, widely known and noted horseman, large land-owner of Osage township, is an individual who was not afraid to venture his capital in the early days of the develop- ment of southern Bates county. He had faith in the ultimate growth of population in this section of Missouri, and foresaw tlie time when land values would rise to undreamed of heights. Accordingly, he began accumulating land just as soon as he was financially aljle and for years was one of the shrewdest of Missouri traders. When he came to Bates county in 1870, he drove across country from Cooper county with an old and balky team of horses attached to a wagon of equal vintage fitted with wooden axles, and in debt to Abe Waite, of Cooper county, in the sum of $300. During the forty-seven years of his residence in this county, he has been successively school teacher, trader, farmer. Jive stock man, and won a fame for himself as a breeder of race horses which reached far beyond the borders of Missouri. The Gotten homestead is one of the finest in this part of Missouri. It is a beautiful residence situated upon a hill which overlooks a great stretch of country and gives a close view of Rich Hill, only one and one-fourth miles to the east- ward. This place consists of one hundred fifty acres of rich land. WILLIAM H. GOTTEN. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 677 Mr. Gotten owns in all eight farms totalling eleven hundred acres, nearly- all of which are located in Osage township. Four farms are equipped with good buildings, and Mr. Gotten oversees the farming operations upon five hundred acres of this land directly, and handles and feeds over seventy-five head of cattle annually. W. H. Gotten was born in Miller county, Missouri, October 25, 1840, the son of Gabriel and Margaret (Guy) Gotten, both of whom were born in this state, the children of pioneer parents. Gabriel Gotten was born in 1807 and died in 1875. He was the son of Benjamin Gotten, of Kentucky, who settled in Gooper county early in the nineteenth century, his first home being in the neighborhood of old Fort Boone, He ran away from home when still a very young man and thus became a pioneer of a great state. He later made a permanent settlement in Miller county, where William H. was reared to young manhood and later taught school in Gooper county. During the Givil War period William H. removed to Ganada, where he had the advantage of good school facilities and applied himself accordingly. After his return home he taught school in Gooper county. For two years after coming to Bates county in 1870 he also taught school at Old Rich Hill. Mr. Got- ten's first investment in Bates county was in forty acres in Osage town- ship, located near Old Rich Hill, at a cost of $15 per acre. He went in debt for this farm and sold it not long afterward at a profit of $200. He then began trading and dealing in livestock and made a success of this business. He made a good friend in Martin Perr}^, who had capital and usually financed young Gotten in his earlier ventures. Dur- ing 1872, when the grasshoppers ate most of his crops, Mr. Gotten paid as high as twenty per cent, interest for the use of borrowed money. He had a good crop in the following year and began to prosper. For two years he resided on his first farm and then leased a farm near that of H. P. Robinson for four years. For two years following he was engaged in the saw mill business. In the spring of 1880, land began to rise in value and he deemed it advisable to get possession of all the land which his capital would permit. In the spring of 1881, he bought two hundred forty acres in addition to a tract of two hundred forty acres which he had purchased in 1880. During the winter of 1880 and 1881. he fed a large herd of cattle on the "Mound" and sold them at a considerable profit in the spring. He invested the proceeds in land and has continued to follow out a definite and well-defined course in land investments, and for land has paid all the w^ay from $15 to $60 678 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY per acre. His home farm was purchased in 1903 and is worth at a fair valuation, over $100 an acre. Mr. Cotten's greatest accomplishment, however, was in the producing of a famous breed of race horses. From a dam purchased of the late Edward Crabb, of Osage township, he bred "Redwood Redman" in 1884 and thus created the famous breed known by this name. The dam which foaled the noted race stallion was obtained from Mr. Crabb by a trade which involved but $80 in money values. Mr. Gotten produced from Redwood Redman, the following noted track winners: "Blondy Redwood," 2:08M; "Dewey Redwood," 2:16; "Woodshine," 2:08, a three-year-old which he sold for $1,000 and which had never been started in a race prior to the sale. Mr. Gotten also received $1,000 for "King Redman," 2:16. He made a number of track campaigns with "Redwood Redman" in Iowa, St. Louis and raced him at Terre Haute, Indiana. He sent "Blondy Redwood" to Dallas, Texas, for the races and the famous mare won three purses on the Dallas track. On February 8, 1871, Mr. Gotten was united in marriage with Amanda H. Ratekin, who was born in Gallaway county, Missouri, a daughter of Edward Ratekin, who came to Bates county in 1869 and spent the remainder of his days in this county. Mr. Gotten has one child, a daughter, Mrs. Ida Davis, residing at Rich Hill, mother of four chil- dren; Sydney Gotten, Lowell, Wiley, and Marcella Davis. Politically, Mr. Gotten is aligned with the Democratic party and has generally been a supporter of Democratic principles. He is a member of the Christian church. Notwithstanding his age, he is one of the most vigorous of men and leads an active, outdoor life, and takes a keen interest in every- day matters. He is a member of the Christian church. James A. Harrison, of Shawnee township, is one of Bates county's most successful agriculturists. Mr. Harrison was born in 1878 in Grand- River township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of Edmund S. and Sarah E. (Williams) Harrison, the former, a native of Morgan county, Mis- souri and the latter, of Pettis county, both members of sterling pioneer families of Missouri. The Harrisons came to Bates county in 1866 and located in Grand River township, moving thence to Shawnee township in March, 1879. In his later years E. S. Harrison was an honored resi- dent of Adrian, Missouri, where he died February 4, 1918 at the age of seventy-two years and two months. To E. S. and Sarah E. Harrison were born two children, who are now living: Mrs. J. W. McCombs and J. A., the subject of this review. Mrs. Sarah E. Harrison was born in September, 1855 and resides in Adrian. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 679 J. A. Harrison was reared and educated in Shawnee township in Bates county. He attended school at Griggs school house in Shawnee township and acquired an excellent common school education. After leaving school, he became associated with his father in the business of farming and stock raising on the home place, which the son pur- chased in 1906. The Harrison farm, at that time, comprised one hun- dred ninety-one acres of land. It now embraces eight hundred eighty acres of valuable land, three hundred forty-one acres of which are located in Shawnee township and the remainder in Spruce township. Mr. Har- rison is engaged extensively in stock raising and his place is admirably suited to this purpose and well equipped with all the most modern con- veniences for handling large herds of stock. The marriage of J. A. Harrison and Stella Reeder, a daughter of R. D. and Emma Reeder, formerly of Mingo township but now residents of Adrian, Missouri, was solemnized in 1902. Mrs. Harrison was born in Mingo township. Bates county, Missouri and was educated at Edwards school house in the aforesaid township. There are four different sets of improvements on the Harrison farm. Mr. Harrison's home place has a beautiful, modern residence of eight rooms; three barns, 40 x 60, 60 x 72, and 54 x 60 feet in dimen- sions, respectively; two silos; a machine shop; a garage; a wood house; and an excellent hog house, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions, constructed with a concrete floor and supplied with water. The farm in Spruce town- ship has a comfortable, attractive residence, a house of six rooms, and a barn, 60 x 100 feet in dimensions, having a silo attached. All the feed lots on both farms are furnished with concrete watering tanks and all the buildings are painted white, kept in splendid repair, are neatly arranged, and present a striking appearance attracting the attention of all passersby. The thrift and care evidenced by the general surround- ings of the Harrison farm bespeak the intelligent, industrious, progres- sive husbandman. Mr. Harrison has on the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, one hundred and sixty- five head of two-year-old steers and four hundred head of Poland China hogs, in addition to a large herd of mules. During the harvesting season, he keeps eight mule-teams busy going from sunrise until sunset. Mr. Harrison employs three assistants all the time and all find plenty of work to do. The true western spirit of enterprise and progress is most strikingly exemplified in the busy life of J. A. Harrison, a gentleman whose ener- getic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to subdue many adverse circumstances and advance steadilv until he has won and now 68o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY retains a conspicuous position in the business world. Mr. Harrison has never desired or sought pu1)hc honors or the emohinients of office, as, to use his own terse phrase, he has "been too busy to hold office." C. A. Allen, abstracter of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, proprietor of "Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the able financiers and progressive agriculturists of Bates county. Mr. Allen is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1870 in Warren county, a son of F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen, who settled in Bates county, Missouri in 1876. F. M. Allen was one of the leading merchants of Butler, Missouri for twenty years, conducting a music store in this city from the time of his coming to Missouri until his death in 1895. Mrs. Allen joined her husband in death a few days after he died and inter- ment was made for both father and mother in the cemetery at Butler. F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen were the parents of four children, who are now living: Mrs. W. E. Walton, Mrs. E. A. Bennett, Frank, and C. A., all of whom reside at Butler, Missouri. In the city schools of Butler, C. A. Allen received his elementary education. Later, he attended Butler Academy and was there instructed by Professors Naylor and Allison, and the Butler Commercial College. After completing a business course at the latter institution, Mr. Allen began life for himself employed as bookkeeper by the Butler National Bank and with that financial institution remained until it was merged into the present Missouri State Bank. For many years, he was treasurer of the Walton Trust Company of Butler and, at the time of this writ- ing in 1918, is the company's abstracter and is residing at "Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township. C. A. Allen and Maud A. Porter, a daughter of Dr. H. P. and Mar- garet S. (Blakeslee) Porter, were united in marriage in 1891. Dr. Porter was one of the most prominent citizens of Butler, a late surgeon- general of the National Grand Army of the Republic at Butler. He died in 1912 and burial was made in Oak Hill cemetery. Mrs. Porter resides at Kansas City, Missouri. To C. A. and Maud A. Allen have been born two children : Horace, who is now a junior in the Butler High School ; and Mildred. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are widely and favor- ably known in the county and they are numbered among the best fami- lies of Mount Pleasant township and Butler. "Flighland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township lies one mile north of Butler and is one of the best equipped dairy farms in the state of Missouri. Mr. Allen is the owner of probably the finest herd of Hoi- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 68 1 steins in western Missouri. He l^ecame interested in keeping only reg- istered cattle in the autumn of 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has ten head of remarkably good, registered dairy cows. The improvements on "Highland Stock Farm" are well worthy of notice and they include a handsome, modern, two-story residence, substantially built upon a stone foundation and having a roomy basement ; a dairy barn, having concrete floors and stanchions for sixteen cattle; a garage and machine shed; the best chicken house in Bates county, constructed of doubled matched lumber, with concrete floors ; a granary, a coal house, and a comfortable tenant house. "Highland Stock Farm" comprises one hundred sixty acres of land located on the JefTerson highway and is one of the beautiful country places of Bates county. Mr. Allen is an enterprising farmer and stockman, and his methods combined with his interest, industry, and thorough understanding of business prin- ciples have been rewarded by a large measure of well-deserved success. Arthur Ray Fox, the well-known proprietor of the Fox Studio at Butler, is one of the citizens of prominence in Bates county. He was born November 14, 1890 in Cass county, Missouri on his father's farm near Austin, a son of A. F. and Maggie (Black) Fox, both of whom are now honored residents of Butler, Missouri. A. F. Fox is a native of Woodford, Illinois. He came to Missouri in 1880 and in this state was united in marriage with Maggie Black, a native of Cooper county, Missouri, and after a few years residence in Cass county they came to Butler, where they now make their home, numbered among the most highly respected and best families of Bates county, Missouri. Arthur Ray Fox has one brother. Earl Fox, claim agent for the Nave McCord Wholesale Grocery Company of St. Joseph, Missouri and a resident of St. Joseph. In the city schools of Adrian and Butler, Arthur Ray Fox received his elementary education. Early in his career, he was interested in newspaper work, employed first on the "Republican Press" and later on the "Democrat" at Butler. Later, he entered the Southern School of Photography at McMinnville, Tennessee and at this institution com- pleted a course in the art of photography. After working at his pro- fession for several months at different places, Mr. Fox purchased the Earl A. Steward Studio at Butler, Missouri in 1913 and has since been engaged in business in this city. The marriage of Arthur Ray Fox and Birdie May Vantrees, a daugh- ter of C. and Emma (Thayer) Vantrees, of Butler, Missouri, was solem- 682 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY nized August 6, 1911. Mr. Vantrees was born in Coles county, Illinois in 1860, a son of Hezekiah Vantrees, who came with his family to Mis- souri in 1868 and located in Vernon county. The elder Vantrees was a blacksmith by trade and he followed this line of work, blacksmithing, at Deerfield until 1895, when he moved to Bates county. Fourteen years later, in 1909, he died at Butler. The son, C. V^antrees, the father of Mrs. Fox, located at Butler, Missouri in the autumn of 1886, coming thence from Clinton, Missouri. He had mastered the blacksmith's trade in the early seventies and for many years worked beside the forge with his father at Deerfield. In 1881, he entered a carriage factory and servei as an apprentice until he had become proficient in the work of carriage making, when he came to Butler, in 1886, and is now engaged in black- smithing and in general repair work in this city. Mr. Vantrees has now been at the forge for forty-five years and he is widely recognized as one of the best, most skilled workmen in the county. Emma (Thayer) Vantrees is a native of Ohio. She and Mr. Vantrees reside at Butler and they are numbered among the citizens of Bates county of the high- est standing. Mrs. Fox attended the city schools of Butler and she is a graduate of the Butler High School. She is very talented in music and has been the organist of the Methodist Episcopal church of Butler ever since her girlhood days. The Fox Studio was opened March 1, 1913. Arthur Ray Fox pur- chased the interests of Earl A. Steward, a photographer located in the Williams building on the north side of the public square in Butler, the present location of the Fox Studio. The rooms occupied by the studio extend the full length of the building and are lighted from the front and from overhead. Since Mr. Fox has acquired the ownership of the gal- lery, new and expensive equipment have been installed, including an electric enlarger, an electric print machine, a cement sink, and a wash- ing system of his own devise, making the studio up-to-date in every particular and thus increasing the volume of work and the number of patrons in addition to improving the quality of work. The Fox Studio enjoys an immense patronage, the trade extending far beyond the con- fines of Bates county. Mr. Fox has always made it a point to secure photos of interesting gatherings and distinguished visitors of Butler and among his most recent ones are a photo of President Taft, when he was here November 5, 1917, and several different photos of Company B, taken when they were leaving for Camp Clark at Nevada, Missouri. Mrs. Fox was employed in the Fox Studio prior to her marriage, when HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 683 it was owned by Mr. Steward, and she has won recognition as an artist of unusual abihty. Her work is distinguished for its delicate grace and simple charm in dealing with child life and, in fact, the popularity of the Fox Studio has come in a large measure because of its success with child photos. The display of these on the walls of the studio is one of the most attractive features of the gallery and the pictures clearly show the touch of a master hand, the appeal of the artist. An art critic once said, on looking at a wonderful little etching Rembrandt had made of his mother, that he had to close his eyes for a moment because of the tears wdiich rose unbidden at- the sight of it, every line of her face ex- pressing kindness, sweetness, thoughtfulness. Nothing could have been omitted; the etching is complete. So it is with the photos of the Fox Studio. Mr. and Mrs. Fox keep well abreast of the times in the work of photography, always adding to their store of knowledge by reading the best literature on photo work and their art has justly won popular appreciation, impressing all critics with its truth, interesting treatment, and high cjuality. Mr. Fox is a member of the Photographers' Associa- tion of America and Mrs. Fox is a member of the National Women's Federation of the P. A. of A. On March 11, 1918, Mr. Fox enlisted for service in the military aeronautics branch of the Signal Corps and immediately left for Cornell University to pursue a course of study in preparation for his work at the front in France. Daniel Cowan Jackling, son of Daniel and Lydia (Dunn) Jackling, was ])orn at Old Hudson, Bates county, Missouri, August 14, 1869. His father was in the general mercantile business at that place until his death, December 19, 1869, a few months after the birth of the boy. Soon after the death of his father, his mother moved to Knol) Noster, Johnson county, Missouri, at which place she lived but a short time, meeting with an accident by the explosion of a coal oil lamp, which resulted in her death, June 12, 1871, leaving the young Jackling, by the request of his mother, in the care of her sister, Abbie L. Dunn. The following November, Miss Dunn was married to J. T. Cowan, of Knob Noster, and the boy became the mutual charge of his new guar- dians. Mr. Jackling was reared partly in the country and later was taken to Sedalia, Missouri, where he completed the work in the grade school. When he was nineteen years of age he entered the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, but at the end of his first year he decided to take mining engineering; so in the fall of 1889 he entered the School 684 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of Mines at Rolla, Missouri, and graduated from that school in the sum- mer of 1894. Owing to the financial stress at that time he failed to secure a posi- tion; so in January, 1895, he went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, where he began his career in mining and mining interests, which gradually developed until he attained his phenominal success. At the present time he is superintendent of the building of the munition plants at Nash- ville, Tennessee, and Charleston, West Virginia, under the appointment of Secretary of War Baker. He is doing this work without remunera- tion. William P. Largent. — Three things will always stand to the credit of William P. Largent, of Shawnee township, in summing up his accom- plishments during a long career of over thirty-five years in Bates county. As an "old settler" and a determined citizen he has triumphed over adver- sity and created an excellent farmstead; he and Mrs. Largent have reared one of the largest and best families in Bates county; Mr. Largent has assisted in the science of stock raising by improving the blood of the livestock raised on his farm and likewise been influenced in the raising of better stock in the county. He is rightly of the opinion that it pays better to have fewer livestock on the place of the pure-bred variety than to have a lot of "scrubs" or stock of an indifferent breed. This idea is strictly in keeping with the latest intelligence known of the science of livestock raising. Mr. Largent has a fine herd of Here- ford or white face cattle, pure-bred Poland China hogs, and Shropshire sheep, not a great many of any variety but the kind of stock that he raises is of the best and many are registered purebreds. "Prince Albert," a fine horse raised by Mr. Largent, was sired by a registered saddle horse, the dam being a trotting mare. The weight of this splendid ani- mal is 1400 pounds and his action is fine, such as to make him an excel- lent sire. Nearly all of his best horses were sired by "Redwood," the famous pacer bred by W. H. Cotten. Mr. Largent also raises some splendid mules from thoroughbred stock. He has just completed a con- crete crib which can be used as a granary and is in keeping with the rest of the farm appointments. William P. Largent was born in West Virginia, May 3, 1856. and is a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Harman) Largent, both of whom were born and reared in Virginia. In 1858, the Largent family left the old home in West Virginia and moved to Peoria county, Illinois, where Jacob Largent settled upon a farm, dying at his home in Peoria county > ;> o > HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 685 in 1871. After his death, Mrs. Largent returned to Virginia, but later came to Missouri in 1881, with WiUiam P. Largent. After a year's residence in Henry county, they located in Bates county in 1882. The first home of the Largents was in Grand River township, where William P. Largent lived until 1887. He then purchased his pres- ent home place in Shawnee township and here his mrjther died, her remains being interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mr. Largent bought his farm of C. H. Moore, who had previously bought it of J. W. Rankin. The improvements on the place at the time of Mr. Largent's purchase were of a negligible character and he has placed practically every build- ing on the place and through the course of years has beautified it in many ways. On December 29, 1899, the Largent residence burned to the ground and they were left homeless in the dead of winter. Their neighbors were very kind to them, however, and assisted them in many ways, Mr. R. L. Cantrell throwing open his home to them and gave them the use of his house while they were rebuilding. The present Largent residence was finished in 1902, the fine barn having been built in 1899. On November 15, 1877, Mr. Largent did the 1)est thing of his entire life. On that date he took to wifehood, Miss Nancy E. Lough, a native of Pendleton county. West Virginia, and daughter of George Amos and Mary Elizabeth (Hizer) Lough, who lived all their days in Pendle- ton county and died there. Twelve children have been born of this mar- riage, eleven of whom are living: Mary Etta, wife of William A. Shealey, Kinsley, Kansas; George E., Adrian, Missouri; Clara Susan, now Mrs. W. C. Davidson, Hoxie, Kansas; William E., Belpre, Kansas; Bertie Opal, wife of H. M. Erwin, La Grande, Oregon; Ola May, wife of W. A. Scheurich, Schell City, Missouri ; Winnie Pleasant, wife of Leroy Park, Butler, Missouri; Ada Precious, wife of L. R. Kemper, Rockville, Mis- souri; Roxie Odessa, wnfe of John Morrow\ Butler, Missouri; Arle Everett and Lulu Pearl, at home with their parents; Beatrice Daisy died in infancy. The rearing of the members of this splendid large family to lives of usefulness in their respective communities where they are living honest and worthy lives is a great accomplishment, and this one thing alone entitles Mr. and Mrs. Largent to an honored place in history. J. W. Carver, of Shawnee township, a member of one of the honored pioneer families of Bates county, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Carver was born December 13, 1859 in Licking county, a son of E. and Samantha 686 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY (Green) Carver, who came to Missouri in 1868 and located first in Benton county, coming thence to Bates county in 1870 and settling on a farm comprising eighty acres of land located near Culver. The father spent the remainder of his life on the Bates county farm and there his death occurred on June 14, 1898. Mrs. Carver, the widowed mother, sold the homestead and made her home with her son, J. W., until two weeks before she died. Her death occurred at her daughter's home at Ballard, Missouri in July, 1902. E. and Samantha (Green) Carver were the parents of seven children, three of whom are now living: David, deceased; Amanda, deceased; J. \\'., the subject of this review; Elmer, deceased; Ida. the wife of T. H. Lynch, of Ballard, Missouri; Mollie, deceased; and Jefferson, of Henry county, Missouri. In the public schools of Harmony district in Shawnee township. Bates county, Missouri. J. A\'. Carver received a good common school education. He remained at home with his parents until he was thirty- four years of age and then was engaged in farming and stock raising in Pleasant Gap township for twelve years and in Kansas for one year. Mr. Carver purchased his present country place in 1909 and has for the past eight years resided on this farm, a beautiful rural home two miles west of Culver, Missouri. He has. during his career, been the owner of several different farms in Shawnee township, tracts of land which he has purchased, improved, and then sold. The place he now owns embraces eighty acres of land. March 23. 1893, J. \\\ Carver and Cynthia Thomas were united in marriage. Cynthia (Thomas) Carver was born October 1, 1858 in Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of J. W. and Mary (Diverse) Thomas, brave pioneers of the early forties, wdio settled in Pettis county. J. W. Thomas was born in Virginia and reared in North Carolina, whence he came to Missouri about 1837 and they settled on a farm in the above mentioned county. Mr. Thomas lived sixty-one years on one place and he died at the noble age of ninety years. Interment was made for him in Hopewell cemetery. Mrs. Thomas had preceded her husband in death many years before. She died in 1873 at the age of forty-nine years. Mrs. Carver has three brothers living: Henry, of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county; Joel G.. of Pettis county; and Grant, of Pettis county. By a former marriage, Mr. Carver is the father of one child, a daugh- ter, Lillie E., who resides at home with Mr. and Mrs. Carver. To them have been born no children, but they have taken into their home an or])han boy. Frank Meyer, who is now eleven years of age and he has HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 687 been with the Carvers since he was a little child, seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Carver deserve much credit and commendation for the admirable manner in which they are rearing the lad. He is being given all the care, attention, and opportunities their own son would have been given and every parent in Bates county knows full well just what that means. Mr. and Mrs. Carver have done no small deed of kindness. Last year, Frank Meyer attended school making a perfect record in atten- dance. When Mr. Carver was eighteen years of age, he opened his first bank account with the William E. W^alton Bank of Butler, Mis- souri, putting in as much as five dollars ! For forty years, he has con- tinued to transact his banking business with this financial institution. Master Frank is following in his foster father's footsteps and now at the age of eleven years has started a bank account. When Mrs. Carver's father came to Missouri in 1837, he came in a wagon drawn by yokes of oxen. A few years later, he returned to North Carolina to transact some business and he w^ent back to his old home, riding hors-eback, to North Carolina and from his old homestead back to Missouri. Mr. Carver recalls how the people of this vicinity used to drive their stock to East Lynne for shipment, when he was a youth, and he has often assisted in driving hogs to market. Both he and Mrs. Carver have borne their parts well in life and are destined to be long remembered as citizens who aided materially in the upbuild- ing of their community, township, and county. James William Darby, of Butler, a retired agriculturist of Walnut township. Bates county, ex-justice of the peace of Walnut township, a former prosperous grain merchant of Foster, Missouri, is one of Missouri's native sons. Mr. Darby was born in 1853 in St. Louis county. Missouri, a son of Andrew and Nancy (King) Darby. Andrew W. Darby was born in North Carolina, March 21, 1814, a member of one of the leading colonial families of the South. He came to Missouri with his father in 1820. The senior Darby died and is buried in St. Louis county, Missouri. Andrew W. Darby and Mrs. Darby, a native of St. Louis county, Missouri, and a member of one of the oldest fami- lies of this state, moved from St. Louis county to Henry county in 1877 and there resided on a farm adjoining Brownington the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of the following children: Lavenia, who died in Bates county, Missouri, in 1909 and is buried in the ceme- tery at Brownington; J. T.. who died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, about 1912 and his remains were interred in a cemetery at that place; 688 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mary A., tlie wife of Mr. Duvall, of Clinton, Missouri; James W., the subject of tiiis review; Miss Pinkey King, of Clinton, Missouri; and Mrs. Sallie E. Stevens, Clinton, Missouri. The mother died in 1890 and four years later she was joined in death by her husband, in 1894. Tile remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Brownington, Missouri. James William Darby obtained his education in private schools in St. Louis county, Missouri, and later attended the Manchester Paro- chial School. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty- seven years of age and then began farming independently in Bates county, Missouri, to which county he came in 1880. Mr. Darby pur- chased at that time one hundred twenty acres of land and resided on it for sixteen years, when he retired from the active pursuits of agri- culture, rented his country place, and moved to Foster, Missouri, where he entered the grain business in connection with the Cannon Elevator Company. While a resident of Foster, Mr. Darby was elected justice of the peace of W^alnut township, a position which he capably filled for seventeen years. In March, 1915, he removed to Butler and has since been one of the valued residents of this city. In 1892, he opened a coal mine on his farm in Walnut township, a vein three feet in thickness which is still being operated. The marriage of James William Darby and Jennie Jennings, of Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized in 1880. Mrs. Darby died in 1909. January 24, 1916, Mr. Darby and Mattie Newkirk, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Oliver and Eliza Newkirk, of Tazewell county, Illinois, were united in marriage. The Newkirks came to Missouri from Illinois in 1882 and settled in Walnut township, where both the father and mother later died and their remains are now buried. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Newkirk were the parents of twelve children, four of wdiom are now living: John, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Rosa Gardner, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Mrs. Sadie Izatt, Pittsburg, Kansas; and Mrs. James William Darby, the wife of the subject of this review; and those deceased are Allie and Dema and six children who died in infancy. Hon. Charles A. Denton. — A citizen's value to the state is usually measured by the accomplishment of a task which time alone proves to- have been of value to his fellow-men. An individual who has originated and placed in practice a real reform, and has done something worth while which stands out as having proven to be of inestimable benefit to his fellow-men, is a man worthy of commendation and his place in HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 689 history is secure for all time to come. To Judge Charles A. Denton, able attorney, jurist, former judge of the circuit court, and political leader of his party in Bates county, belongs the credit for the instiga- tion of the present pardon board for the penal institutions of Missouri, a great and meritorious work which was inaugurated by him during his term of office as pardon attorney under the administration of Gov- ernor Herbert S. Hadley. In this great work, Judge Denton, while placing in actual practice his ideas of handling the problem of pardon- ing and paroling delinquents who had been condemned to punishment for transgressing the state laws, performed a service to mankind which years have proven to be of incalculable value and which gives him a place of honor as the doer of a public service. Charles A. Denton was born on a farm in Adams county, near Quincy, Illinois, September 25, 1854. He is a son of Edmund and Jemima (Whitney) Denton, natives of Fleming county, Kentucky. Edmund P. Denton was born on April 1, 1832, and took up farming as his life vocation upon attaining young manhood. He removed to Illinois, where after residing for one year in Adams county, he made a permanent settlement in Hancock county. He became successful as 'a farmer and stockman, and was extensively engaged in breeding and dealing in fine livestock for a number of years. He became prominently identi- fied with political and public affairs in Hancock county and served for fourteen years as postmaster of Hamilton, Illinois. He also filled the office of member of the l)oard of county supervisors in Hancock county. His life was a long and useful one and he died, highly respected through- out Hancock county, in May, 1911. His wife, Jemima, was born Decem- ber 24, 1832, and departed this life in June, 1889. Edmund and Jemima Denton were parents of eight children, of whom Charles A. is the eldest. The early education of Judge C. A. Denton was obtained in the public schools of Hancock county, Illinois, following which he pursued a course in the Lutheran College at Carthage, Illinois, and the Uni- versity of Illinois at Champaign. He entered the State University when twenty years of age and was self-supporting while obtaining his collegiate training. Illness, however, prevented the completion of his university course and in 1874, he went to Kentucky in the hope of regaining his health, \\hile a resident of Kentucky he continued his studies under private instructors, and upon returning to his home state he took up the study of law in the law offices of George McCreary, James Hagerman, and Frank Hagerman, the former of whom became (44) 690 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY secretary of war under President Hayes. This firm was located in Keokuk, Iowa, and young Denton pursued his law studies in that city while teaching school in Hamilton, Illinois. Mr. Denton was admitted to the bar in 1880 and began the practice of his profession in Keokuk, Iowa, but his health again failing him he returned to the teaching pro- fession for about two years. He came to Bates county in 1882 and practiced at Rich Hill, this county, for a period of six years. He then located in Butler, where for the past thirty years he has been a leader of the bar and prominent in business and financial circles. In 1886, he was a candidate for the ofiice of prosecuting attorne)^ of Bates county, and ran more than four hundred votes ahead of his ticket in the face of a normal Democratic majority of over one thousand votes. In 1892, he was again a candidate for the same office and was defeated by a very small margin. He served one term as city attorney of Butler and ably represented the interests of the city during his term. He was a candidate for the office of circuit judge in 1898 but was defeated. At the next election he was again a candidate for circuit judge and was successful, not withstanding the fact that the Democratic majority that year was over one thousand votes. While serving on the bench. Judge Denton rendered many important decisions. In May, 1911, he was appointed by Governor Hadley to the posi- tion of pardon attorney at JefTerson City. While filling this important position, Judge Denton performed the hardest and greatest task of his life. Prior to his appointment, the state of Missouri had followed no definite system of paroling and pardoning prisoners and wrongdoers. The work had been done in a haphazard and indifferent manner with indifferent results. Judge Denton was possessed of vision which enabled him to look far ahead and he mapped out a plan of handling the parol- ing and pardoning of the unfortunates whose .cases would be called to his attention. With characteristic energy and far-seeing vision which enabled him to look ahead and foresee the need of a constructive sys- tem of handling the problem of granting paroles and pardons, he began at once to place his advanced ideas into actual practice. He inaugu- rated a system which was destined to become the forerunner of the present benevolent plan of reforming rather than further degrading those whose environments and the influence of the truly vicious ele- ment had caused to transgress the rules of society. The plan which he evolved and placed in actual operation during his term of oflice has resulted in the improvement of prison conditions and the bringing HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 69I back to society, hundreds of men who had fallen from their places in the civic body and come under the ban of the state laws. During his term as pardon attorney, but thirty-two out of more than four hundred prisoners paroled were returned to prison. Judge Denton inaugurated the plan of public hearings of prisoners on their applications for execu- tive clemency. An extract from a commendatory letter written by former Governor Hadley to Governor F. D. Gardner on February 27, 1917, urging the appointment of Judge Denton to a membership on the board of prison management is appropriate at this point and shows conclusively the opinion which Governor Hadley held and still holds concerning Judge Denton's record: ** * * * You could not make a better appoint- ment than Judge Denton. During the two and one-half years he served in the position of pardon attorney he established a most excellent sys- tem for the investigation and consideration of application for pardons and he showed a degree of common sense and justice in passing upon these applications. He is a man of fine personality and unquestioned integrity. He is that type of man who never has to establish his entire integrity in any ofhcial matter with which he may deal. That is unhesi- tatingly conceded by all who know him. In short, if I were asked to serve as governor again and considered accepting, I would insist as a condition that Judge Denton pass on all applications for pardon or parole. Very truly yours, H. S. Hadley." Judge Denton served as a delegate to the Chicago convention in 1912 and was a supporter of Theodore Roosevelt in that convention. He was the candidate of the Republican party for supreme judge in 1912, having been placed upon the state ticket before the split had occurred in the ranks of the party. He has always been a firm adherent of Republican principles and no sacrifice has been too great for him to make when called upon by the members of his party. The marriage of Judge C. A. Denton and Miss Emma Baldwin was consummated on October 2, 1879. Mrs. Denton is a daughter of C. W. and Mary (McPherson) Baldwin, the former of whom died in Butler in 1909, the latter having preceded him in death in the nineties. Four chil- dren were born to this marriage: Wesley, president of the People's Bank of Butler; Meda J., wife of R. F. Lisle; Doris B. ; and Waldo, who died at the age of two and a half years. Judge Denton has always been a firm and consistent supporter of all measures and undertakings in- 692 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tended to advance the interests of his home city and Bates county along material, social, intellectual, and moral lines. Fraternally, he is affi- liated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen lodges. D. A. Gepford, progressive farmer of Shawnee township, evidently believes thoroughly in the use of modern labor-saving devices on his splen- did farm of two hundred forty acres, as the place is well equipped with every device and the latest agricultural machinery to enable him to perform the farm work quickly and inexpensively. In these times of scarcity of farm labor it would seem that a farmer as well equipped as Mr. Gepford would not need to worry a great deal about securing farm labor. The Gepford place is located six and a half miles east of Adrian and it boasts two sets of improvements. The farm has a nice six-room residence, two barns, a scale house, and sheds to facilitate the care of livestock and protection of the harvested crops. The oldest barn on the place was built in 1897, and the splendid, new barn was recently erected in 1917. The main buildings are erected on section 9, while the west "eighty" which is the home of R. H. Gepford, son of D. A. Gep- ford, is also well equipped, the barn and feed shed being 32 x 40 feet in dimensions. Mr. Gepford has built an implement shed and a black- smith shop since coming to this place. The scale house is enclosed as is the corn sheller, fanning mill, and the pumping machinery, all of which are operated by an upright engine. Mr. Gepford does custom work, such as grinding, etc., for his neighbors and has all the work which he cares to do. This farm has an International tractor, a twenty by thirty-six Case separator, which has a capacity for 2,000 bushels of oats or 1,000 bushels of wheat per day's run. Mr. Gepford can plow seven to ten acres per day with his tractor plow outfit which is fitted with three fourteen-inch plows. He is thus enabled to plow as deeply as is desired. Only recently he has purchased a two-row cultivator with motor attachment. D. A. Gepford was born in Macon county, Illinois, near the city of Decatur, in 1859. He is the son of George and Fetitia (Shepherd) Gep- ford, both of whom are deceased, the former dying in 1888 and the latter in 1911. Mr. Gepford's parents lived practically all of their days' in Illi- nois and were honest, hard-working, industrious citizens who taught their children the value of industry and honesty. D. A. Gepford was reared and educated in Macon county, Illinois, and lived in his native county until 1894. In that year he moved to Andrew county, Missouri, and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 693 resided there until 1900 and then came to Bates county. He purchased his farm in Shawnee township from Zib White, who had bought it from Wilham Lee and the Reeder heirs. In 1883, Mr. Gepford was united in marriage with Josephine Stick- ler, a native of Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Stickler, of Macon county, Illinois. To this marriage have been born children as follow: Ettie L., at home with her parents; Irvin, deceased; R. H., operates his father's farm in section 9 and also assists in cultivating the home farm; J. A., at home with his parents. While the Gepfords are not "old settlers" of Bates county, they have taken their place among the representative families of this county who are doing things for the good of the county and are ably demonstrat- ing what can be accomplished on Bates county soil. They have a host of good and warm friends in their neighborhood and Mr. Gepford ranks high among the truly progressive and successful farmers of this county. David Albaugh De Armond was born in Blair county, Pennsyl- vania, on the 18th day of March, 1844. He was the oldest of a family of six children. His grandfather, Michael De Armond, was of Irish stock and a soldier in the Revolutionary War, serving under Wash- ington at Valley Forge. His father, James De Armond, was a man of limited education, but good natural ability, with an intense desire for his sons to receive a good education and while he was unable to help them greatly, the four who grew to manhood were all of the learned professions, two lawyers, one doctor and one educator. His father was born in 1790 but did not marry until past the age of fifty when he mar- ried Catherine Albaugh, the youngest of a family of thirteen children. She was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. James De Armond settled upon a farm in Blair county. Pa., where his children were born, and engaged in farming, being also an engineer upon the present Pennsylvania rail- road system in its early days. Both James and Catherine De Armond lived to a great age, he dying at Greenfield, Missouri, at ninety-five and she at Butler, Missouri, at ninety. David De Armond spent his childhood and early manhood on a hilly, rocky farm at the foot of the Alleghany mountains, attending the local schools and afterwards attending Dickinson Seminary. He secured the means to complete his education by teaching a part of each year. Plis parents moved to Davenport, Iowa, in 1866, where David De. Armond studied law in the ofifice of Lane & Day, being admitted to th^ practice in 1867. Seeking a place to locate for the practice of his 694 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY profession he was advised to change his poHtics and go to western Iowa. His party principles with him were not a matter of convenience, his family having been Democrats from the organization of the party, and he turned his eyes toward Missouri, a state then not yet recovered from the effects of the Civil War. He finally settled upon Greenfield in Dade county, where he located in 1869. He soon began to Iniild up a law practice. He was there married to Alice M. Long, daughter of Arch M. Long, one of the early families in that section, and continued to live in Greenfield until 1883. In 1878, he was nominated for the state senate and although the district was normally Republican he was elected and served for four years, declining a renomination. In the state senate he quickly took high rank and gained the first of that state-wide reputation he afterward enjoyed. In 1883, he moved to Rich Hill, then enjoying great prosperity as a min- ing center and practiced law with W. T. Marsh under the firm name of De Armond & Marsh. In 1884, he moved to Butler, where he made his home and met his tragic death. He formed a law part- nership with Thomas J. Smith, under the firm name of De Armond & Smith. In 1884, he was Democratic elector and voted for Grover Cleve- land. In 1885 he was elected a member of the supreme court commis- sion, which had been provided by the Legislature to clear up the docket of the court. The manner of his election was a high testimonial to his legal ability. The court had been balloting for some time to fill the place of a member of the commission who had died, without being able to agree upon a commissioner. Mr. De Armond was not a candi- date but appearing before the court to argue a case in which he was an attorney his presentation of his case so impressed the members of the court that he was elected to the vacancy that evening. The com- mission expired by limitation soon after. Mr. De Armond was also one of the three attorneys employed by the state who successfully prosecuted the claim of the state against the Hannibal & St. Joe rail- road for several millions of dollars of state aid in building that road. In 1886, he was elected to the circuit bench in this judicial district, having no opposition for the nomination. His inclinations especially fitted him for the bench and he filled the position with marked abil- ity. His love of the law and his temperament of mind were best suited to a judicial position and during his service in Congress he sometimes regretted having left the bench. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 695 In 1890, with the announcement of Congressman Stone that he would not be a candidate for renomination to Congress, one of the greatest contests in the history of Missouri Democratic politics arose. Charles H. Morgan, Grantley of St. Clair, Joshua Ladue of Henry, Hill of Jasper, Judge Givens of Cass and De Armond of Bates all entered the race, the announcement of Judge De Armond being made only a few weeks before the convention which met in Butler. At the end of three days Judge De Armond was nominated over Morgan and entered upon his career in Congress, to which he was re-elected for nine terms without opposition for nomination in his party. In Congress, Judge De Armond gradually forged to the front until at his death he was a member of the Rules Committee of the House of Representatives and the senior Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee. As a debater he had few equals during his service and his clear reasoning and unswerving honesty of purpose won him a fore- most place in the national assembly. While he was a Democrat from principle he did not hesitate to vote with the opposite party upon a number of cjuestions which arose in Congress nor was his action in so doing ever criticised by the people of his district. On two occasions, at least, an effort was made by leaders in state politics to induce him to enter the race for governor, which he declined to do. In public life Judge De Armond was a man of greatest modesty, making no effort to advertise himself or his doings and having none of the traditional arts and tricks of the politician. His standing in the district he served so long was due to the fact that his supporters knew he had but one desire and that was to faithfully and honestly serve their interests. But while modest as to himself, in course of conduct and in debate he was fearless and outspoken and as a judge avoided no part of his duty and in debate had a gift of irony and satire that made few opponents willing to meet him. His family consisted of four children all of whom are still living. James A. De Armond, married to Nancy Lee Bell of Liberty, Missouri, formerly adjutant-general of Missouri, and at present mayor of Butler. Mrs. Orville D. Standsbury of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Col. Edward H. De Armond, married Miss Toots Hannah, and at present is in France as chief of staff of the Thirty-second Division of the National Army. Major George W. De Armond, married Miss Marguerite De Armond, and at present is in France with the Aviation Section of the Signal 696 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Corps. Both Edward and George, the younger sons, are gra(Uiates of \\'est Point. Judge De Armond in his family hfe was a man of the greatest afifection and generosity. His children were given every advantage possible and in his grandchildren he found his greatest pleasure during the recesses of Congress. David A. De Armond, Jr., his oldest grand- son, aged seven, was with him almost constantly during the last summer of his life and with him occupied a sleeping porch at night at Judge De Armond's residence in Butler. On the night of November 22, 1909, just a few days before he was to return to his duties in Washington, after spending the evening with his family. Judge De Armond and this little grandson retired to their cots upon the sleeping porch. Some hours after midnight the house was discovered on fire, the flames eating down through the roof and inside of the house just back of the door which opened onto the sleeping porch. Mrs. De Armond and their daughter, who were sleep- ing inside the house, barely escaped. His daughter, who slept near a window opening toward the porch heard the frightened child's cry, "Get me out of here, granddaddy; get me out of here," and the answer of her father, calmly, as he always quieted the childrens' fears, "Don't be scared, little son; granddaddy will get you out." When the door was opened it is supposed that they inhaled the flames and died instantly, for there was no other sound. The remains of grandson and grandfather were recovered from the ruins and interred in Oak Hill cemetery. Friends from all parts of the district, state, and nation, were present at the funeral services held in the Methodist church, while the Masonic service at the grave was conducted by Ex-Governor Dockery. One of the most touching features of the sad occasion was the pall-bearers, who were composed of gray-headed men from among Judge De Armond's friends and asso- ciates of many years, by the side of each of whom walked a little boy, the seven-year-old playmates and school-fellows of his little grand- son. The author of this book knew Judge De Armond from the time he came to Rich Hill in 1883, down to the date of his death as above described. He practiced law with him at the bar and before him when he was elevated to the circuit bench. He was a good lawyer and a just judge. No man at the Bates county bar was more adroit and effec- tive before a jury. No man with business in his court ever had reason HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 697 to complain of unfair treatment; and it may be truthfully said he looked beyond the attorney to the client in the administration of justice. There was no favoritism from the bench. The rich and the poor looked alike to him, and only the issues involved were tried in his court. Courteous to the bar, he was firm in discipline, and sought only justice between litigants. Later, when he became the representative in Congress of and for the Sixth Miss-ouri District by long and faithful service, he gave the district a standing in Washington it never enjoyed before ; and while not the leader of the minority in the Lower House, he was for years recog- nized by the Democratic party and the country as the actual leader of his party in that body of distinguished Democrats. Clean and fear- less, honest and faithful, no one even among the Republicans in Con- gress or in his home district ever hinted at graft in his public service. Personally, Judge De Armond was a quiet, unassuming gentleman, companionable and cordial among his friends and his neighbors gen- erally; but he was not a good "mixer." Many people thought him too reserved and cold in his demeanor; but this feeling prevailed only among those who did not know him at home and well. He held his place in the respect and confidence of our people largely by force of his intellectual power. As a public speaker he did not resort to tricks or devices to stir the crowds; but he commanded attention by his clear, logical, decisive periods; and at times he reached the heights of real elo- quence. He was a wonderful master of the English language; and no man in all the country could make an extempore speech which needed less editing in the newspaper ofilice. We often listened to him in won- der that a man could so phrase his speech while on his feet before an audience that not the dotting of an "i" nor the crossing of a "t" would be required if it went to the printer. He never repeated, never hesi- tated for the right word, and never stumbled. In this accomplishment he was without a peer among the public speakers in the country. His service in Congress was an honor to the Sixth district, and when he perished untimely in the fiames of his own home he left many friends and no personal enemies. Judge De Armond was one of the really great men of his era in public life. W. O. Atkeson, the author and editor of this book, was born in Putnam county, West Virginia, in the valley of the Great Kanawha river, and was reared to manhood there. He is the son of a farmer and had the usual experiences and passed through the ordinary vicissi- 698 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tildes of farm life in that country. He attended the country schools and quit the public schools a pupil of the Buffalo Academy. At the beginning of the college year of 1873-74 he entered the Kentucky University at Lexington, matriculating in the Agricultural and Mechani- cal College and pursued a special course in mathematics, literature, his- tory, book keeping and military training with recitations in chemistry. He remained in the university only about seven months, and on account of sickness returned home, and went to work on the farm. The follow- ing winter he taught school in Mason county. West Virginia, and with the money so earned he matriculated in the West Virginia State Normal School at Fairmount, and graduated from the same in June, 1875. The following winter he was principal of the New Haven graded schools, and in the spring of 1876 he became one of the editors and proprietors of the "West Virginia Monitor," published at Point Pleasant, West Vir- ginia. After a few months he disposed of his interest in the paper and returned to the farm and began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in W^infield, West Virginia, in 1877. In 1878, he removed to Council Grove, Kansas, where he resided and practiced his profession until he came to Rich Hill in 1882. Pie was elected justice of the peace In Council Grove, Kansas, and served out a term of two years. In October, 1889, he removed with his family to Butler, where he has since resided. He was elected prosecuting attorney of Bates county in 1890 and served a term of two years successfully. In 1892, he was a candi- date for circuit judge on the People's Party ticket and was also nomi- nated by electors, and carried three counties out of the four composing the 29th judicial circuit, but was defeated. The election of his opponent was contested, the opinion of the supreme court being recorded in 115 Missouri Reports. He became the editor of the "Butler Free Press" in 1894 and has been with the paper ever since, and is regarded by friends and foe as a clear, decisive writer, a fair and honorable editor, and a good citizen. He lives in a comfortable cottage home with a family of five children, having recently lost his wife, who was a daughter of George G. and Mary A. Warnick and whom he married in Barton county, Missouri, in 1884. In 1894, the Kentucky Central Normal School conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. He is a man of varied culture, firm convictions and great tenacity of purpose; and his home has always been an open door to all who wish to come and share its modest and cordial hospitality. (The foregoing is from the "Old Set- tlers History of Butler County," published in 1902.) HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 699 In 1902, Mr. Atkeson sold the "Butler Free Press" and returned to the practice of law. After the dissolution of the People's Party he became a Republican, and in 1906 he was unanimously nominated for Congress by the Republican convention of the Sixth Missouri district held in Rich Hill. His Democratic opponent was Plon. David A. De Armond, the sitting- member; and after an earnest canvass he was defeated. In 1908, he was renominated for Congress by the Republicans at the pri- mary election, and again made an earnest canvass of the district, but was again defeated by De Armond. In January, 1910, he was appointed a deputy hotel inspector under the Hadley administration and served about sixteen months, retiring from that position to accept an appoint- ment as deputy state labor commissioner, in which capacity he served two years. His elder daughter. Miss Virginia Wheat Atkeson, died March 10, 1912; and in September, 1914, the other children removed to Columbia, Missouri, where Miss Gladys C. had a position as ste- nographer to Dean J. C. Jones, of the State University. Floyd VV. continued his studies in the College of Agriculture ; Ralph W., entered the College of Arts and Sciences; and Clarence E., entered the city high school, sophomore year. In December following, the subject of this sketch followed and remained in Columbia until March 1, 1915, when he returned to Butler and on April 12 purchased the "Bates County Record" from the widow of Col. O. D. Austin, who had recently died. For the last three years he has edited and published the "Record." The plant was destroyed by fire December 27, 1916. but the paper was continued by contract until April 26, 1918, at which time it was sold and discontinued at the end of its fifty-second volume. At this time. May 1, 1918, Gladys C. Atkeson, now Mrs. J. W. McCreery, resides in Colum- bia and has .one child, Robert A.; Floyd W., will graduate from the College of Agriculture of the University in June; Ralph W. is second lieutenant, "A" Company, One Hundred Twenty-ninth Machine Gun Battalion, Thirty-fifth Division, United States Army, at Camp Mills, Long Island, on his way to France; Clarence E. is in Kansas City, Missouri, attending a business college. Troy F. Brown, merchant, founder and proprietor of the Fair Oaks Mercantile Establishment, Hudson township, is a Bates county citizen to whom opportunity beckoned — he heeded, and established a business where there was none before. Mr. Brown conceived the idea that a general store and trading establishment would do well in a certain location far from a town or village. In fact, he had a "hunch" that ;700 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY he could make good in tlie general mercantile field, and on May 1, 1917, he built his store and began business at a point in the heart of Round Prairie, eight and one-half miles southwest of Appleton City, and seven and a half miles northwest of Rockville, on section 21, just north of Round Prairie Baptist church. The store has made good and he is caring for a patronage that has ever been increasing. The store building is 20 x 40 feet in dimensions with a basement under the main floor and well stocked with a general line of goods. Mr. Brown pur- chases the produce of the surrounding farms at fair prices, hauls the pro- duce to Appleton City by motor truck and on the return trip brings the commodities in demand for his patrons. His business is conducted systematically, the McCaskey System of accounting having been installed and the store is kept up to the minute in many particulars. Troy F. Brown, himself, was born in Hudson township, January 1, 1882, the son of W. G. and Mary E. Brown, an account of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Brown was educated in the pub- lic schools of Appleton City and worked on the home farm after com- pleting his schooling. He went to New Mexico in 1908 and remained in that state until 1911, at which time he returned home and engaged in the hardware and furniture business at Bolivar and Appleton City, Missouri, until establishing his own business in 1917. Mr. 'Brown is a born business man and enjoys his latest venture inasmuch as he is making a pronounced success of the enterprise. A look at Mr. Brown's latest calendar issued to his patrons will give a fair indication of his live-wire methods. He has adopted the following phrase as the slogan of his store: "If it comes from Fair Oaks, you will know it's good — the Newest Town in Bates." The marriage of Troy F. Brovv'n and Miss Bertha Hegnauer was solemnized in 1905. They have two children, namely: Ramona Arlene; and Wilma Elaine. Mrs. Bertha Brown is a daughter of Martin Hegnauer, of Rockville, Missouri, and was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Harrison Philbrick, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, one of the wealthiest landowners of the county, sur- veyor of Bates county from 1868 until 1880, was a native of New Hamp- shire. Mr. Philbrick was born in 1840 at Rye in Rockingham county, a son of Daniel and Sarah Ann Philbrick, both of whom were natives of New Hampshire. Sarah Ann Philbrick was a relative of Daniel Webster, New Hampshire's most famous son, the most prominent figure in the history of our country in the interval between 1815 and 1861, a world- renowned statesman, diplomat, and orator. HARRISON PHILBRICK. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7OI Harrison Philbrick was a graduate of the New Hampton Theo- logical Seminary. He was a civil engineer in the early days in New York and in Ohio. Mr. Philbrick came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1867 and located temporarily in Hudson township. He moved to Butler in 1868 and seven years later moved to his country place now managed and occupied by his son, George Craig Philbrick. At the time the Phil- bricks settled in Bates county, the country was open prairie and to their home Papinsville was the nearest town and postoffice. Harrison Phil- brick was elected surveyor of Bates county in 1868 and for twelve years capably served in this county office. He became interested in stock raising after he had moved to his farm in 1875 and was in recent years one of the leading stockmen in western Missouri, raising cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. At the time of his death in 1916, the Philbrick estate embraced nearly one thousand acres of land, which is still in the Philbrick name. The residence, a handsome structure of eleven rooms and two stories, was built in 1875 and remodeled and rebuilt in 1884, is one of the most conspicuous rural homes in the county. The farm, which was the original purchase of Mr. Philbrick, is supplied with all modern conveniences for facilitating the handling of stock and grain and the land is abundantly watered. George Craig Philbrick now has charge of the home place, the farm where he was born, and farms three hundred fifty acres of land which he owns. His sister, Lillie Haven, is his housekeeper. Miss Lillie Philbrick was educated in the city schools of Butler, Missouri, and is well known in Bates county. The Philbrick homestead is located four miles southeast of Rich Hill, Missouri, one of the valuable prairie farms of this vicinity, just above the overflow of the Marais des Cygnes. The marriage of Harrison Philbrick and Jane Eastman, of Meredith, New Hampshire, was solemnized in 1868. To this union were born the following children : Lillie Haven, of whom previous mention has been made in this sketch ; Ira Perley, who is engaged in farming and stock raising on a part of the home place ; Daniel Eastman, a farmer and stock- man on a part of the home place; George Craig, wdio resides on the original home farm; and Nellie, the wife of Willie Wills, of Neosho. Missouri. The mother died in 1885 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. Harrison Philbrick was united in marriage wnth Emma Lane in 1887. Emma (Lane) Philbrick was a native of Ohio. She died in 1915 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Rich Hill. Mr. Philbrick died December 8, 1916, and he. too, was laid to rest in the Rich Hill cemetery. 702 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Harrison Philbrick was a gentleman of unusual intellectuality, broad perspective, and clearly defined principles. Honor and integrity were synonymous with his name and he enjoyed the unlimited respect, con- fidence, and regard of the people of Bates county. As a neighbor, there was none better, as a friend, there could be none truer, and on the roll of Bates county's best citizens the name of Harrison Philbrick will always be accorded an honorable place. Dr. William C. Requa was one of the ablest men sent out by the United Foreign Missionary Board. The impression generally prevails here that he was connected with Harmony; but this is error. He was sent to Union Mission near Ft. Gibson. Oklahoma, in 1820, a year previous, to the settlement at Harmony and that was the field of his labors for about twelve years, but he frequently visited Harmony for the purpose of studying the Osage language under the tutorship of a Mr. Williams, agent and interpreter at the United States factory only one mile down the river from Harmony station ; and he translated parts of the New Testament into the Osage language. On October 2, 1822, following the earlier example of Brother Fuller, also of Union station, he wooed and won Miss Susan Comstock, of the Harmony station, formerly of Wilton, Connecticut, and carried her ofif in triumph to Union, where there seems to have been great dirth of "females and mechanics," as one of the writers states it. She came with him to Bates county, after Union station was abandoned, and died here in 1833. Two sons and a daughter of Doctor Requa by a subsequent marriage still reside on the old homestead in Lone Oak township; and they have preserved a bunch of rare letters, wdiich we have been permitted to read, and which ought to be preserved by some historical society. In a letter from Miss Susan Comstock, dated at Harmony station, May 20, 1822, addressed to her "Dear Mother, Brothers and Sisters," among other curious and interesting things, she says : "My friends said I was com- ing to marry an Indian chief. I can inform them that I have had several solicitations of that kind from the head men in the nation, and one from old Sans Nerf, but I think I shall not grace the family with royalty at present. (The words above — "and one from old Sans Nerf" — are stricken out, but easily read.) A\d'ien I tell them that I can not plant and hoe corn and carry wood on my back they do not urge the matter further." Now, old Sans Nerf was a chief of importance, and a proposal of marriage from him .was a distinct honor; but just why Miss Com- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7O3 Stock took the trouble to try to scratch out this interesting fact is a matter of conjecture. Possibly she was thinking then, May 20th, of the scholarly Dr. W. C. Recjua, of Union station; or possibly she was afraid if she let the statement go it might in some way get back to "Old Sans Nerf" and hurt his gallant heart. Like Sister Fuller, who married Brother Fuller, in about seven days after the family all got settled at Harmony, she did not have to wait long to become the honored wife of one of the most remarkable men ever sent out by the United Foreign Missionary Board. After her death in 1833, Doctor Requa married Jane Montgomery, "who lived only one year," in 1837; in 1840 he married Sarah A. Nut- ting, by whom he had nine children. He died in 1886, in his ninety- second year, honored and beloved by all who .knew him. The author recalls having niet him at his home in 1884, a vigorous-looking old gentleman at that time. Ira M. Brown, owner of the "Vivo Vista Stock Farm" in Hudson township, is a native-born resident of Bates county and a member of a splendid pioneer family whose members stand high in the citizenship of this county. He was born January 26, 1870, and is a son of William G. and Mary E. (Wells) Brown, old and highly-respected residents of Hudson township, concerning whom an extended biography is given elsewhere in this volume. "Vivo Vista Stock Farm" is a splendid tract of three hundred and twenty acres of well tilled and highly productive land located eight and a half miles southwest of Appleton City and exactly the same dis- tance northwest of Rockville. This farm is well stocked with high-grade Shorthorn cattle, registered Duroc Jersey hogs, and some fine horses and mules. Mr. Brown is a large feeder of livestock and his farm is arranged for handling large numbers of cattle and hogs. The farm equipment includes in the way of buildings, a metal-covered cow barn, a large horse barn, and a commodious hog house. In addition, there is a silo 14 x 30 feet in dimensions with a four-foot concrete base- ment. Mr. Brown purchased the land in 1895 from Shelby Browm and placed all of the improvements thereon. He built his residence in 1896. There are two wells on the place, 87 and 120 feet in depth, respec- tively, which show traces of an oil deposit on the land. A vein of coal twenty-six inches in thickness underlies part of the land. Mrs. Brown is a well-known breeder of Barred Plymouth Rock poultry, as well as the pure-bred Buff Orpington breed — a vocation which she has followed y04 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY for the past twenty years with pronounced success. She is also a breeder and raiser of White China and Bourbon Red turkeys. She was one of the organizers of the National Bourbon Retl Turkey Club and is now the secretary and treasurer of this organization, which has a member- ship covering many states of the Union. A\'hen the national exhibits are held her turkeys placed on exhibition invariably win premiums and ribbons. She carried away every premium offered at the World's Fair held at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1S93. The National Club was organ- ized in 1907. The following are the national officers: Mrs. G. W. Price, Belmont, Ohio, president; Mrs. Clyde H. Meyers, Fredonia, Kan- sas, vice-president; Mrs. ]\linnie M. Brown, secretary and treasurer. Ira ]M. Brown received his education in the public schools of his native county and the Appleton City Academy. In 1891 he went to Oklahoma and for a time followed farming in that state. He also taught two terms of school during the winter of 1891 and 1892. In 1893 he became connected with the Overstreet Mercantile Company as book- keeper and remained with this concern for some time. In 1895 he returned to Bates county and engaged permanently in farming and stock raising. Success has attended his efforts. Mr. Brown was married in 1892 to Miss Minnie Maud Browning, a daughter of F. P. and Louisa Browning, of Hudson township. Her father died in October, 1900, and her mother resides upon the Brown- ing home farm in Hudson township. Mr. and Airs. Brown have two children: George Francis Ouincy Brown, and Trucy Warren Brown. Mr. Brown is president of the Bates County Mutual Fire and Light- ning Insurance Company and served as director of this company prior to his election as president in 1913. He has l)een a member of the company since 1896 and it is one of the strongest insurance concerns in this section of Missouri. This company has nearly $2,000,000 worth of insurance policies in force. Gottlieb Hirshi is secretary and August Fischer is treasurer. William Conrad, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson town- ship, is a native of Germany, was born in 1854, the son of Frederick and Dora Conrad, who immigrated to America from their native coun- try in search of a home and substance in 1869. The Conrad family first resided in Henry county, Illinois, where they were engaged in farm- ing for three years. In 1872, they located in Nebraska and home- steaded land in that state and practically every member of the family became prosperous and became owners of farms in the then new \\'est- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 705 ern country. This was the homestead era in Nebraska and thousands of homeseekers poured into the state from the eastern part of the United States and from the crowded countries of the Old World. The Conrads settled in York county, Nebraska and after a few years of hardships were well satisfied with their new environments. Frederick Conrad died in Nebraska and his widow came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on the farm now owned by her son William. She died on the farm in 1906 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Apple- ton City. The Conrad children are as follow : Frederick, who formerly lived in Hudson township, and now resides in Nebraska. Marie and Dora^ died in Nebraska; and William. Since coming to Bates county in 1894, William Conrad has been engaged in farming and stock raising in Hudson township. Of late years he has turned over the greater part of the task of managing his farm to his son. The Conrad farm consists of two hundred thirty acres and is located five miles northwest of Rockville and five miles southwest of Appleton City. The farm is well watered and especially adapted for stock raising, a branch of Panther creek flowing through the tract, and furnishing an ample water supply at all seasons of the year. Mr. Conrad purchased his farm from James M. Gwinn in 1894 and has since rebuilt the farm residence, it now being a comfortable structure of nine rooms. The large barn which is 42 x 48 feet in size, and sixteen feet to the square, is built of native lumber. Mr. Conrad keeps both Shorthorn and Jersey cattle and raises hogs, horses and mules. William Conrad was married in 1873 to Albertina Reetz, of York county, Nebraska, a daughter of Martin and Mary Reetz, the former of whom is deceased, the latter is living in York county. j\Ir. and Mrs. Conrad have eight children: Clara, wife of Henry Heine, Merrill, ^^'is- consin; Lillie, wife of John Lambenstein, Hudson township; Otto, Bene- dict, Nebraska: John, Hudson township; Rosa, wife of Otto Renken ; Walter, is farming the home place; Albert, conducts a music store and insurance business at Appleton City; Oscar, Appleton City. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are members of the German Lutheran church at Appleton City. For a period of four years, Mr. Conrad served as trustee of Hudson township and v/as a member of the township board for the same length of time. Henry Beard, late of Deepwater township, was one of the early (45) 7o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY settlers of Bates county who was noted for industry, intelligence and his progressive spirit. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1838 and departed this life at his home in the southwestern part of Deep- water township in 1894. He was one of the Kansas pioneers and came from that state to Missouri in 1866 and first located on a farm north- east of Johnstown, where he lived for one year, then rented land in Deepwater township until 1875, at which time he purchased the Beard home place and made his home there until his death. He purchased one hundred acres of land of a Mr. Johnathan in that year and pro- ceeded to develop his property. He later bought eighty acres more from a Mr. Reed and some time later bought another "eighty," at the time of his death owning two hundred sixty acres of land which was well improved and kept in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Beard erected all of the buildings on the place, set out practically all of the beautiful shade trees and was continually adding to the attractiveness of the home- stead when not engaged in his farming activities. He was one of the most successful stockmen in this section of Bates county and occupied a substantial place in the citizenship of the township and county. His death in 1894 was the occasion for much sorrow among relatives and friends. His life was so lived that a deep impress was left upon the community where he was for many years a valued and worthy member. On April 21, 1866, Henry Beard and Miss Eliza Kretzinger were united in marriage in Coffey county, Kansas. Mrs. Eliza Kret- zinger Beard was born in Paulding county, Ohio, June 22, 1848, and is a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret (Kingery) Kretzinger, the former of whom was born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, and the latter having been a native of Marion county, Ohio. The Kretzingers came west from the old Buckeye state in 1865, and after a short residence in Henry county, they located in Deepwater township, Bates county. In the spring of 1866, Mr. Kretzinger went to Kansas and remained there but a short time, finally returning to Deepwater township, where he lived until his death in 1870. Mrs. Kretzinger died in Bates county in 1910 and her remains were interred in the Dickison cemetery. The children of the I\retzinger family were: Van, living in Okla- homa; John, Spruce, Missouri: George, Rich Hill, Missouri; William, El Dorado, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Cunningham, Oklahoma; I. M. Kret- zinger, Deepwater township. Mrs. Eliza Kretzinger Beard was reared and educated in Ohio, and her marriage with Henry Beard was a most happy one and pros- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 707 perous. Henry and Eliza Beard were parents of the following chil- dren: Charles, Parsons, Kansas; Emma, wife of James Frost, Deep- water township; Edith, wife of James Baker, Deepwater township; John, Summit township; Israel, who is cultivating the old home place; Ava, lives in Lone Oak township; Minnie, wife of John Pharis, living in Canada; Maude, wife of Thomas Parker, Deepwater township; Dora, wife of Claude Thomas, Pleasant Gap township; Nina, wife of Clay McKinley, Hudson township; two sons, Atlee, and Delany, died in youth, the latter dying at the age of thirteen years. Mrs. Beard has forty-nine grandchildren, as follow: Francis, Alta, Ora, Myrtle, Henry, Burley, Leslie, and Albert Beard; Thomas, Leo, and Francis Frost; Roy, Ethel, Ira, Oscar, Lloyd, Zephaniah, and Vera Baker; Harley, Her- schell, Buell, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, Kenneth Beard; Fremont, Rue, Don- ald, Dean, Clyde Beard; Clarice, Wilma and Thurman Beard; Opal, Miles, Rita, Kate, and Bernice Pharis; Gilbert, Warren, Mina, and Josephine Parker; Willis, Norma, and Welton Thomas; Chester, Cecil, Beulah, and Hazel McKinley. Mrs. Beard makes her home upon the old place which she and her husband created and where her children were reared to maturity. Although nearing the allotted three score and ten years in age, she is active, mentally alert, and does her own housework and many other duties which fall to woman's lot in and about a farm home. She is an intelligent and sprightly lady who has good and just right to be proud of the fact that she and her late husband reared one of the largest and finest families in Bates county. Leonard Davis, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born in Hudson township in 1879. He is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Ford) Davis, the former of whom was born in Bates county and resided here all of his days. Elizabeth (Ford) Davis was a native of Boone county, Missouri. Both of Leonard Davis' parents are deceased, his father having died February 20, 1918, at the age of seventy-three years. Rob- ert Davis was a veteran of the Civil War, Union Army, and reared a family of seven children as follow: Mrs. Sarah Neff, Dodge City, Kansas; Mrs. Charles Zwahlen, Passaic, Missouri; Leonard, subject of this review; Mrs. Emma Gregg, Hudson township; Mrs. William Earsom, Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Nora Davis, Rio Frio, Texas; Peter Davis, a farmer of Hudson township. The early education of Leonard Davis was obtained in the Rich Valley school. He lived with his parents and farmed on the home place 708 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of the family until 1910, when he purchased his present farm of 120 acres from the family of Bernard Brown, a Bates county pioneer. Mr. Davis has thirteen and a third acres of timber land in addition. The Davis farm is nicely located seven miles southwest of Appleton City and eight miles northwest of Rockville. This farm is a fertile and pro- ductive tract and Mr. Davis is engaged in general farming and the rais- ing of cattle and hogs for the market. On December 22, 1915, Mr. Davis was united in marriage at Clin- ton, Missouri, with Miss Maude Gabriel, a daughter of Earl and Jennie (Andrews) Gabriel, natives of Moniteau county. Missouri, who were parents of the following children: Mrs. Maude Davis, of this review; Dean, now at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago; Ernest, Hudson township; Mrs. Ruth, wife of Fayette Keene, Spruce, Missouri ; Ora, King, Carroll, Lena, Pauline, LeRoy, Rita, at home with their parents on the home place in Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have a son, Robert Dean Davis, born Septem- ber 14, 1916. Mr. Davis is independent in his political views and votes accordingly. He is afifiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Rockville, Missouri, as was his father before him. George H. Evans, pioneer, and prosperous farmer of Shawnee town- ship, was born March 20, 1857, on the old Evans homestead now owned by Henry Baunke, and which was entered by his grandfather, Elisha Evans, during the early pioneer days of the thirties of the settle- ment period of Bates county. Elisha Evans was a native of Virginia and made a settlement in Missouri, in the early twenties, residing in Lafayette county prior to making his location in Bates county. The father of George H. Evans was John Evans, born in Lafayette county, Missouri, in 1820 and practically reared in Bates county on the pioneer homestead of the Evans family. After his marriage with Louisiana Glass he continued to reside on the Evans place and made his home here until his death in 1897. He was widely and favorably known throughout Bates county and ably managed his fine farm of ninety acres in this county. Mr. Evans was of the true pioneer type, hos- pitable to the core, and always willing to give the stranger a bed and a place at his table. Whatever he possessed he was willing to share with his fellows, kindly disposed toward his fellow-men and a good, law-abiding citizen. During the Civil War period he removed with his family to Pettis county and made his home there near Sedalia until the war closed. Lie then returned to his home in Bates county. John HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7O9 and Louisiana Evans were parents of the following children: Will- iam A., Sheridan, Kansas; Joel, deceased; Mrs. Parnesia Jane Wainscott, Barber county, Kansas; George H., subject of this review; Nancy and Verilla and Sarah Ellen, deceased; S. P., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Mis- souri Greer; and Mrs. Lovina Greer. John Evans was a veteran of the Mexican War. The mother of the foregoing children was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of George W. Glass, a pioneer of Bates county who purchased a homestead in Summit township and also entered govern- ment land. Before the outbreak of the Civil War he owned a large tract of land in this county, but later in life he removed to St. Clair county, Missouri, where he died. The early education of George H. Evans was received in school district Number 1 of Shawnee township, which was located on the Evans farm and located within two hundred yards of the home. This school house was built of logs and was very primitive in its furnishings. Mr. Evans remained at home and assisted his parents until he was twenty-five years of age. He farmed on his own account and in 1883 he bought his present home farm. At the time of the purchase there was but a small house upon the place. During the years that Mr. Evans has resided on his farm he has added to his holdings until he is owner of two hundred acres of the best improved farm land in his section of the county. He has enlarged the residence and practically built his home in 1895. The barn upon his home place was built in 1893. Mr. Evans is engaged in general farming and stock raising. In 1881, Mr. Evans was married to Mary V. Ferguson, a daughter of Morris and Rebecca Ferguson, of Johnson county, Missouri. Five children have been born to this marriage: Jesse Ora, Kansas City, Mis- souri; Mrs. Pearl M. Moore, Shawnee township; Mrs. Minnie M. Crook, Johnstown, Missouri; Mrs. Iva B. Hays, Spruce township; John C, at home with his parents. The old Evans homestead in Shawnee township was erected in 1859 and was built of lumber hauled by John Evans from Westport, Missouri. It is the oldest pioneer home in this section of Bates county still standing in a good state of preservation. In the days of Mr. Evans' boyhood there were many deer on the plains and he recalls seeing herds of fifteen grazing along the streams. A favorite greyhound of his ran down and caught a deer on Fishing creek in 1868. Wild turkeys were plentiful and fishing was excellent, especially in Fishing creek, which yiO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was so named because of the fine sport it afforded for the disciples of Isaac Walton. At that period there were no systems of roads and high- ways and when a boy, Mr. Evans could ride straight across country to Butler without passing a house or fence on the way. Among the "old timers" whom he remembers were Uncle Johnny Green, Uncle Mose Johnson, Joseph Reeder, Austin Reeder, and Henry France. The near- est neighbors were three miles away and visiting was an occasion long to be remembered, for the pioneers were hospitable and always pleased to entertain their friends, neighbors or strangers who were made welcome and treated to the best the home afforded. J. W. Gilbreath, of Hudson township, is one of the oldest native- born pioneer settlers of Bates county. Seventy years have passed since he first saw the light of day in his father's cabin on the prairies of Hudson township. His boyhood days were spent amid surroundings most primitive and his home was a log cabin built on the banks of Panther creek, the said cabin later becoming the first school house in Hudson township. The nearest trading posts and the only trading points in those days were at old Papinsville and Johnstown, to which centers the goods needed by the settlers had to be hauled from long distances in the forties and fifties from the nearest landing places on the Missouri river. There were many Indians in the vicinity of the Gilbreath home in those days, the Indians of the plains making a cus- tom of coming in from the western plains to spend the winter in their village near Papinsville. When here they spent their time in hunting and were never bothersome to the settlers if treated rightly. The old Har- mony Mission was Indian headquarters for a number of years. J. W. Gilbreath was born in Hudson township, December 19, 1847, and is a son of William and Rilla (Evans) Gilbreath who came to Bates county from Illinois as early as 1844 and were among the earliest of the Bates county pioneers. William Gilbreath was born in Washing- ton county, Illinois, and was a son of John Gilbreath, a native- of Bun- combe county. North Carolina. When a young man, John Gilbreath moved to Illinois in 1804. William Gilbreath entered several hundred acres of free government land in Hudson township, and built his first home three miles west and a mile south of the present site of Appleton City. After the war he removed to the home now owned by his son, J. W. Gilbreath, and for a period of twenty-five years was an extensive dealer in mules and livestock. J. W. Gilbreath, subject of this review, was the only son of his parents. He attended school in a log school HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 711 house on Panther creek, which was the only school in Hudson town- ship for a number of years. He has followed farming during his entire life and has fed cattle for the past thirty-five years with considerable success. His fine farm consisting of four hundred thirty acres is located seven miles southwest of Appleton City and seven miles northwest of Rockville. This farm has been created from wild prairie land and the whole of it is under cultivation, there not being an acre of waste land in the entire tract. Two sets of farm improvements are located thereon and the farm residence consists of eight rooms and other buildings of a substantial nature. December 24, 1876, J. W. Gilbreath was married to Miss Anna E. Nearhofif, who was born February 8, 1841 and departed this life on March 21, 1898. Two children were born to this marriage: Nellie May, wife of William Zimmerman ; and William Edward Gilbreath. Mr. Zimmerman is deceased and Mrs. Zimmerman resides with her father. She has three children : Verree, Cleo, and Leota. Verree mar- ried Orveil Young and has one child: Orveil, Jr., born January 28, 1918. William Edward Gilbreath was born March 31, 1879 and was reared and educated in Hudson township. On November 20, 1915 he was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Frances Schott, a daughter of George H. and Mary Louise Schott of Calhoun, Missouri. To this marriage has been born a son, William Warren Gilbreath. E. W. Gil- breath is owner of one hundred sixty acres of good land and is actively engaged in farming and stock raising. He has a fine herd of Hereford cattle to the number of forty-seven head. He is a well educated citi- zen, having attended the schools of Appleton City, and the Central Business College at Sedalia, Missouri. Mrs. Gilbreath also studied at Hill's Business College in Sedalia. Mr. Gilbreath's farm is well equipped with good buildings, including a seven room residence, a large barn 36 X 48 feet, sixteen feet to the square, another barn 20 x 60 feet with a sixteen foot shed, a granary 20 x 14 feet with a concrete floor and foundation of the same material, a hen house 10 x 30 feet in size. Mr. Gilbreath was elected assessor of Hudson township in April of 1917 and is now filling the duties of this office satisfactorily to the people of the township. Thomas J. Pheasant. — The late Thomas J. Pheasant of Hudson township, was an industrious and enterprising citizen who did well his part in the development and up-building of Bates county. He was born in JefiTerson county, Indiana, September 3, 1856, son of Charles Pheas- 712 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ant. He was reared and educated in his native state and migrated to Bates county, Missouri in 1882. Not long after his arrival in this county he made a permanent location on the farm now owned by his widow. He purchased this land from Judge Robards. This farm consists of one hundred fifteen acres and is kept in a high state of cultivation and is finely improved with a good residence, barns and other buildings and during his life time in this county, Mr. Pheasant kept in a good state of repair. He followed farming and stock raising and dealt rather extensively in livestock, buying and shipping large number of cattle and hogs each year prior to coming to Missouri. He took a good citi- zen's part in local civic affairs and served as constable of Hudson town- ship and also served as a member of the township board. Mr. Pheas- ant died March 22, 1915. On December 9, 1886, Thomas J. Pheasant and Miss Elizabeth Wilson were united in marriage. This marriage was a happy and pros- perous one and the young couple worked in perfect harmony in the rearing of their fine family and the building up of their fine farm. Their first home was in a little, old log cabin which was built in pioneer days by the father of Judge Robards and which was situated on the hill one mile north of the present home of the Pheasant family. The logs used in the building of this cabin were cut in the Osage river bottoms and hauled to the site of the cabin, the cutting and hewing of the logs being accomplished with incredible labor, long, long ago. This cabin con- sisted of two rooms with a loft above. Iron rods at each corner held the logs together. The logs were so joined in order that prowling Indians would be unable to pry up the corners of the cabin in case of an attack. In later years the old cabin, after it had served its purpose as a habitation for man, was torn down and the material used in the construction of a barn on the Pheasant place. The present home of the family was the former home of Judge Robards. This residence was remodeled by Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant in 1902 and is a comfortable and attractive farm home. Six children were born to Thomas J. and Elizabeth Pheasant, as follow : Mrs. Clay Mauck, living in Hudson township, a former teacher in St. Clair, Bates and Henry counties; Bruce, serving his country as a private soldier in the encampment at Fort Logan, Colorado, having enlisted in the National Army, while homesteading a tract of land in Wyoming; Mrs. O. E. Reid, living in Cass county, Harrisonville, also a former teacher who taught school in Bates and Cass counties prior HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 713 to her marriage; Charles E., a sturdy, industrious young citizen, twenty- two years of age, who is operating the home place; Elizabeth, a student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1919; and Thomas De Witt, a student in the first year class of the Appleton City High School. The Pheasant home place is located three and a half miles west of Appleton City and is w^ell equipped w^ith two good barns, a silo having a capacity of one hundred tons and is well stocked with cattle and hogs and sheep, there being one hundred and ninety-five head of the latter animals on the place at the present writing. Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilson) Pheasant was born December 1, 1862 in Virginia, and is a daughter of Edward and Sarah (Powell) Wilson, natives of Cumberland county, Virginia. Edward Wilson came to Bates county in early pioneer days and entered government land in Hudson township. Mrs. Pheasant's brothers and sisters are as follow: Good- rich Wilson, Elk City, Oklahoma; Edward C, Calumet, Oklahoma; G. T. W^ilson, Calumet, Oklahoma; Mrs. Daniel Donahue, Appleton City, Missouri; Mrs. George G. Shoup, Appleton City, Missouri. Mr. Pheasant was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and so lived his life that it was as nearly in keeping with the teachings of the Savior as was possible for mortal man. He was honest and straightforward in his business dealings and won a name for himself as a reliable and trustworthy citizen among his fellow-men. His death was a time of sorrow for his family and many warm friends and asso- ciates who had grown to love him and respect him for his many excel- lent qualities. He was a good provider for his family, a kind husband, and a loving parent to his children for whose welfare and correct up- bringing he was very ambitious and lived his industrious life solely for their benefit. Mr. and Mrs. Pheasant were always in complete accord with the advanced ideas of caring for their children and in giving them every educational advantage of which they were capable. Mrs. Pheas- ant and the members of her family are all earnestly afiiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. A. A. Prier, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born on a farm in Henry county, Missouri, January 20, 1873, and is a son of one of the old Missouri pioneers who owned the farm which ])ecame the townsite of the flourishing town of Appleton City in Henry county. He is a son of William M. Prier, one of the real old settlers of this section of Missouri. William M. Prier was born in Edgar county, Illinois, June 9, 1830 714 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and received his schooling- in a httle log school house in that county at a period when the pupils used quill pens with which they did their writing. He has had many experiences well worth the telling. When a boy fifteen years old he was bitten by a rattlesnake while industriously cradling oats. While in New Orleans he was stricken with the cholera in the year 1851. While a member of the United States secret service he was shot in the leg. He was then serving as deputy United States marshal — and landed his man even though he received a wound while doing it. In 1851 his father moved to Iowa, and in 1852, W^illiam M. Prier went there to make his own home and resided there for the next sixteen years. In 1868 he came to Missouri and located on the site of Appleton City in St. Clair county, buying the land which later became the townsite, at a cost of two dollars and ten cents an acre. In 1870, he sold this land to the Appleton City Townsite Company for twenty- five dollars an acre. For the ensuing six years he was marshal of the new town. In 1883 he came to Bates county and bought his farm in Hudson township, a place which is now owned by Jasper Varnes. In 1893 he bought the adjoining farm of one hundred sixty-three acres from James Cherry and has since made his home thereon. Mr. Prier possesses a remarkable memory concerning the old times and loves to contrast the past with the present. In speaking of the price of calves in the old days as compared with the present. Mr. Prier says that in 1844 he bought a calf for one dollar and seventy-five cents and it was a much better calf than one which his son sold for forty dollars in October, 1917. Sheep in those days of seventy-eight years ago were sold for fifty cents a head, and now, they are worth fifty dollars a head. Mr. Prier has in his pos- session the first compass used in St. Clair county, Missouri, and he assisted the surveyor in making the survey of the town plat of Appleton City in that county. For a period of six years he served as chairman of the township board of Hudson township and helped to survey the highways of his home township. He also surveyed a part of Deep- water township and achieved a reputation as an exact and accurate surveyor while engaged in this work. He has served as justice of the peace of Hudson township for two terms and has never missed voting at but one election since 1852. at the time he moved from Illinois to Iowa. When he settled at Appleton City in 1868 there were but four houses in sight on the landscape and in driving to Harrisonville from his home he would not see a house until he struck the mound region northeast of Butler. For twelve years this aged and versatile pioneer HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 715 was engaged in the United States secret service — from 1864 to 1876. In 1852, William M. Prier was married to Artemesia Brown of Edgar county, Illinois. Mrs. Prier died in 1906 and her remains are interred in Myers cemetery. The following children were born to this marriage: Marion C, deceased; Cynthia A., deceased; Charles E., died at Moline, Kansas; Benjamin L., superintendent of the water works at Osawatomie, Kansas; C. W., Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in the State Normal School; Alva A., who is farming the home place. Alva A. Prier was born June 25, 1873 in St. Clair county, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools of Appleton City and has always been engaged in farming. , Since 1906, he has been managing the home place on his own account and has been making a pronounced success of his farming operations. For the past eleven years he has been en- gaged in raising sheep and has forty-four head of the animals on the place in addition to cattle and hogs. On May 6, 1897, Alva A. Prier was married to Carrie Belle Hall, of Hudson township. She died in 1908 leaving two children: Cora Alice, and Anna Belle. On November 3, 1909, Mr. Prier was united in marriage with Lela T. Padgett of Hudson township and two chil- dren have blessed this marriage: Lela May, deceased, and Margaret Marie. Mrs. Lela Prier is a daughter of J. W. and Sarah Padgett, well known residents of Hudson township. Mr. Prier has served as a member of the township ]:)oard and is one of the most enterprising of the younger citizens of Hudson township. AV. M. Prier became a Mason in 1856. He has killed one hundred wolves in Bates county, is active and strong for his age, works daily and walks miles each day, is the second oldest pioneer in Bates county. Charles A. McComb, director and farm inspector of the Walton Trust Company, Butler, Missouri, was born on a farm in Spruce town- ship. Bates county, April 9, 1870, a son of Rev. Lewis and Mary J. (Radford) McComb. He was reared and educated in Bates county and has carved out a niche for himself in the commercial life of the county by his own honest endeavors and the exercise of natural ability of a high order. In 1897 he w^ent to Wagoner, Indian Territoryand engaged in the mercantile business until importuned by his father to return home and purchase the old home place and care for his aged father during his declining years. He did so and remained engaged in farming pur- suits until after his father's death. He remained on the farm until 1910 and then removed to Butler, wdiere he became associated with I. W. yi6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Choate and J. ^^^ Coleman in the real estate and insurance business. After building- up a large and lucrative business in Butler he disposed of his interest in the real estate and insurance ofifice six years later and in January, 1916, he associated himself with the Walton Trust Company as one of the directors and land examiner of this important financial concern. Mr. McComb was married on April 10, 1892, to Miss Edith O'Rear, of Butler, Missouri. To this marriage have been born five children : Levi, deceased; Lloyd, deceased; Claude A., aged eighteen years, a stu- dent in Butler High School; Nina Vesta, fifteen years old, also a student in Butler High School; and Walter, deceased. Since attaining his majority, Mr. McComb has been active in civic affairs and taken a prominent and influential part in all public enter- prises which have been intended for the betterment of conditions in Bates county. He has held several positions of trust and always discharged the duties intrusted to him with singular fidelity and faithfulness to the public. He is much interested in church work and has served as super- intendent of the Sunday school in his home neighborhood for many years, and has also served 'as superintendent of the Sunday school of the First Baptist church of Butler for some years. He was one of the lead- ing laymen having charge of the erection of the new Baptist church at Butler. His work in connection with his duties with the Walton Trust Company is of a broadening character and requires constant travel over Missouri and Kansas and he has acquired a wide and thorough business training which is invaluable to a successful man. Mr. McComb is one of the leading and enterprising citizens of Bates county who is fast forging to the front rank, and while still a young man as years go, he is uestined to achieve greater success as the years come and go. His standing in the community of his birth is high and his friends are legion. Mr. McComb enjoys the universal respect and esteem of all who know him ; possessing the graceful and happy faculty of making friends of those with whom he is brought into daily contact, his popularity is unbounded. James R. Simpson, Bates county pioneer, ex-sheriff, and ex-recorder of this county, is likewise a son of one of the oldest of the pioneer fami- lies of Missouri. The life time of James R. Simpson extends over a long, long period of seventy-five years in Missouri, during which he has wit- nessed a great state in the making, took part in a great war, and been an influential figure in the settlement and development of Bates county. JA:MES R. SIMPSON. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 717 where over sixty years of his long hfe have been spent to his own advantage and decidedly to the well being of Bates county. Mr. Simp- son was born at Old Westport, Missouri, June 24, 1843, and is a son of James M. and Frances E. (Cummins) Simpson. His father, James M. Simpson, was born in old Kentucky in 1808 and was a son of Richard Simpson, who was one of the early pioneers of Westport, and who died there, his remains being interred in the cemetery at Kansas City. He came to Missouri in 1826 and first settled in Cooper county, later moving to Westport. Frances E. (Cummins) Simpson was born in Tennessee in 1816 and was a daughter of Richard W. Cummins, who was an early pioneer of Cooper county, and served in the first legislative assembly ever held in Missouri, representing Howard and Cooper coun- ties in 1820. He, Richard W. Cummins, came to Bates county in about 1853, and located in Deepwater township, where his death occurred in 1860, his remains being interred in Stratton cemetery. James M. Simpson was eighteen years old when he came with his father to Missouri. He moved from Westpoint to Cass county and had a farm in Peculiar township which he cultivated for some years previous to .locating in Harrisonville, where he engaged in business in partnership with Hugh Glenn, father of Judge Allen Glenn, of Harri- sonville. He moved to Bates county in 1856 and brought a number of slaves with him. When the Civil War broke out he went to Texas, where he died in 1863. James M. and Frances E. Simpson were parents of the following children: Henrietta W., deceased wife of William Lud- wick; Alzira, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Maxwell; John K., deceased; Charles William, deceased; James R., subject of this review; Mary Eliza- beth, deceased wife of J. H. Fletcher; Duke W^illiams, Ardmore, Okla- homa; Roberta Pauline, wife of Dr. Milton Godbey, both of whom are deceased ; Frank Simpson, Ardmore, Oklahoma. James R. Simpson attended the primitive schools of Peculiar town- ship, Cass county, and also the public schools at Harrisonville in the same county, his last schooling- being obtained in Bates county. In March, 1861, he enlisted at Harrisonville, under Capt. W. H. Erwin for service in the Confederate army and served for four years, the greater part of his service being under the command of General Joe Shelby. For details concerning the campaigns and battles in which Mr. Simpson took an active part the reader is referred to the biography and military history of General Shelby, which is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Simpson fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Helena, 7IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Arkansas, and at Little Rock, Arkansas. His service extended over Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, being in the latter state when the war closed. After the war was over, he returned to Bates county and has since been profitably engaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture. Mr. Simpson purchased his present farm of one hundred sixty acres in 1880. This farm is located in Deepwater towaiship. In addition to his home farm, Mr. Simpson owns another tract of forty-eight acres not far away. . The Simpson farm was entered from the government by J. L. Ludwick, who came to Bates county in 1839. On March 24, 1870, James R. Simpson and Abiah Lutsenhizer were married and to this marriage have been born the following children : Olive L., wife of W. E. Dickison, Spruce, Missouri; Stella May, wife of C. V. Peacock, Spruce, Missouri ; Clyde, deceased. Mrs. Abiah Simp- son was born in Deepwater towmship, October 30, 1844, and is a daugh- ter of Jacob and Katherine Lutsenhizer, who came to Bates county in 1839 and settled in Deepwater township within four miles of the Simp- son place, the former dying here in 1844 and the latter dying in 1863. Mr. and Mrs. Lutsenhizer were parents of nine children, all of whom grew to maturity and are now deceased excepting Mrs. Simpson. The names of these children were: Mrs. Sarah Durand, Henry, Oliver, Margaret, Esther, Susan, William W., Thomas B., and Mrs. Abiah Simpson. Jacob Lutsenhizer was a son of Henry Lutsenhizer, who lived and died in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The wife of Henry Lut- senhizer was Judith Marchand, of Pennsylvania, a daughter of Dr. David Marchand (II), of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, who served as a surgeon in the Continental army during the ^^'ar of the American Revoluti'on with rank of captain and who was a son of Dr. David March- and (I), descended from French-Huguenots who came from France to America in 1700. For many years Mr. Simpson was a breeder of Red Polled cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs and was the pioneer breeder of these varieties of livestock in his section of Bates county, bringing the first of these fine breeds here in 1880. It was only natural that a citizen of his pro- nounced abilities would take an active part in politics and he became prominently identified with the Democratic party in Bates county. He was elected sheriff of the county in 1878 and re-elected to this office in 1880, serving in all for four years, during this time giving- entire satis- faction to the people of the county. In 1882 he was elected recorder of HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 719 deeds and so well did he perform the duties of this important office that he was again elected to the office in 1884, serving in all four years. It has probably been given to no living pioneer citizen of Bates county to have seen so much of the development of the great state of Missouri as has Mr. Simpson. It can truly be said that he is one of the oldest of the widely-known pioneers of the state of Missouri and Bates county. No man living has been more closely identified with the upbuilding of the county than he. He has seen this county emerge from an unsettled wilderness state to become one of the thickly settled garden spots of the west and has seen Bates county take her place among the great counties of the state through the united efforts of her citizens". When the story of the county is completely written, one of the most honored places in this history belongs rightly to him and his family. Christian Hegnauer of Pleasant Gap township, has lived nearly all of his life in Bates county, the Hegnauer family coming to this county in 1869 when the country was sparsely settled and the nearest railroad station was at Pleasant Hill, fifty miles away. He began his own career with a team of horses, and, by dint of hard, unremitting labor, year in and year out he has made good and accumulated a splendid farm in Pleasant Gap township. Mr. Hegnauer was born in Madison county, Illinois, May 3, 1868, the son of Leonard Hegnauer, a native of Switzerland and a Union veteran. Leonard Hegnauer was born in Switzerland, April 25, 1843. His parents were Lucius and Margaret (Bernet) Hegnauer, who were also natives of Switzerland, and immigrated to America in 1856, making a permanent settlement in Madison county, Illinois, wdiere Leonard Llegnauer was reared and educated, ^^d^en the Civil War began, he enlisted in 1861 for three months service in the Union armies, and in October of the same year he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry and served for eighteen months, receiving' his hon- orable discharge in February, 1863. He then returned to his home in Illinois. Lie was married in Madison county. Tidy 4, 1866, to Miss Susan K. Hirschi, who was born in Switzerland, Mav 15, 1846. and was a daughter of Christian Hirschi. In 1869, Mr. Hegnauer immigrated to Bates county, Missouri and purchased a farm of one hundred sixty acres in Pleasant Gap township. He became owner of four hundred five acres and was one of the pioneers in the dairy business in this county. Mr. Hegnauer kept a fine herd of Holstein cows and Shorthorn cattle and became a prosperous and highly respected citizen. In 1911 he 720 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY retired from active farm labor and moved to a home in Appleton City, where his death occurred October 31, 1916. His remains were buried in the church yard of the German Reformed church. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Hegnauer were parents of the following children : Mrs. Mary C. Hammer, Pleasant Gap township; Christian, subject of this review; Leonard, Washington state; Mrs. Katie S. Link, Pleasant Gap town- ship; Margaret M., deceased; and Robert L., Minnesota. Mrs. Susan K. Hegnauer made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Mary C. Ham- mer and Christian Hegnauer until her death February 12, 1918. Christian Hegnauer was educated in the schools of Bates county and began the work of tilling the soil in his boyhood days. He has fol- lowed the oldest of respectable vocations during his entire life and has made a pronounced success as an agriculturist. He moved to his pres- ent home place in 1887 and after renting it for a few years he purchased the place. He is now owner of eighty acres in Pleasant Gap township and has one hundred sixty-three acres in Rockville township. Since 1886, he has followed the dairy business and has thus increased the fer- tility of the soil on his farm from year to year. He is a firm believer in the universal adaptation of this country to the dairying industry, and thinks, rightly, that it is the only possible way of maintaining soil fertil- ity with the least expense. Mr. Hegnauer milks from twenty-five to thirty cows of the Brown Swiss grade. There are two sets of improve- ments on the Hegnauer farms. The home residence is a nice, seven- room house kept in a good state of repair and nicely painted. The barn is 38 X 64 feet in dimensions and equipped with a silo placed in the inter- ior so as to afford convenience in feeding the cows. The corn crib and machine sheds are each 28 x 32 feet in size and are covered with metal roofing. The second set of improvements are also good and comprise a six-room residence, a large barn 48 x 48 feet in size which is also equipped with a silo built on the inside of the building. Mr. Hegnauer was married in 1886 to Miss Anna Wirtz of Rock- ville township, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wirtz, wdio came to Bates county in 1881, and are both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Chris- tian Hegnauer have seven children: Lena, wife of Fred Stevener, Prairie township; Clara, wife of Walter Swezy, Pleasant Gap township; Leonard, a farmer living in Rockville township; Rosa, wife of Louis Steiner, Pleasant Gap township; Lizzie, Christian, and Marie, at home with their parents. When the Hegnauer family came to Bates county, they made the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 7^^ trip across the state from Illinois with all of their worldly possessions loaded on wagons hauled by ox-teams. The trip required three weeks in the making and it was like traveling through a virgin country. Bates county was then only thinly settled and all of the family had a taste of pioneer life, with the nearest market fifty miles away at Pleasant Hill, and wild game abounded in the woods and on the open prairies. Mr. and Mrs. Hegnauer are members of the Reformed Church and are industrious and worthy citizens. F. H. Diehl, of Hudson township, successful farmer and stockman, was born in Tipton, Missouri, in 1868, and is the son of F. H. Diehl, a native of Germany who was a veteran of the war between Germany and France in 1847-1848. He was a member of a company of soldiers who had taken part in the conquest of Alsace, the northern province of France over which the contending armies are now struggling in the great world war. During the advance of the German armies into French territory he was taken prisoner by the French but later made his escape. He was born in 1829 and immigrated to America at the age of nine- teen years, in 1848. Having learned the trade of miller he followed it in this country and became owner of a mill at Tipton, Missouri, which he operated for a number of years. He was conducting this mill at the outbreak of the Civil War, when, imbued with a love of his adopted country, and filled with the old time martial fervor, he enlisted in the regular army as a private with the intention of giving his life, if necessary, to his adopted country. However, when the military authorities learned that he was a capable miller they declined to let him serve and he was honorably discharged from the Union service in order that he might continue the operation of his mill. The Tipton Mill was later burned down and he came 'to Bates county in 1870. He purchased an interest in the flouring mill then being operated by a Mr. Schafer at Papinsville and took charge of this mill, and also operated a carding factory for a period of ten years. In 1880, he bought the John Sisson farm and improved the place which was his residence until his death in 1906. His remains were interred in Willow Branch cemetery. He married Philippine Remeley, a native of Germany, who bore him children as follow: F. H., subject of this review: George H., Rich Hill Missouri: Annie, wife of Ira M. Brown, Hudson township; Rosa, wife of W. E. Cumpton, Deepwater township; John, a farmer in Pleasant Gap township; Bertha, wife of Joseph Wix, Pleasant Gap township; Fritz H., a farmer in Pleasant Gap township. (46) /— IllSrom 0\- HATES COUNl\ l'\ 11. !)iclil was imIiumIoiI in tlio r.-ipiiisxilic school niul llic district school of his homo iu'i<;hluMhoo(l. lie has practicalh ^rowii u\) willi l>ntcs coin'il\ and has prospcrcil as tho ooniil\' has i;ainod in wealth and popniation. lie is owner of a splendid farm ol three hnndri."d fort \ -two acres, which are in a line state (»l cnltixation anil boast i^ootl i)nprt)\onients. There aie three sets of farm hniKlin^s on his lari;c farm, his home place ha\ini; a heantifnl settim;- npon a rise of j^ronnd o\ erlookin;;' the rich bottoms which comprise the greater part of his farni land. ( ^ne hundred twent\-six acres of this farm are a part of the old home place in llndson township. 11 is resilience is a i^'ootl strnctnro of six roi-)nis fi'om which nearly all of the tarm can he o\'erliH'»ked. ( )ne of the best assets to the Piehl place is a drilled well, two hnndred twentx two feet in depth which is lilled with water constantly to within twentx feet of the top. Idle marriage of h". 11. Piehl and .\nnie Tontins took place in IS^'4 and has been blessed with a lar<;e family of ele\en chiKlren: llenrv William, Walter Albert, l.ncy hdla. Cdiarles P., Katie .\nna, l\dly rhilippine. Ctto h'rank, hAerett Robert. Jnbus Arthur. Laura (ler- truile, and (irace Mildred, all li\ iu^" i>u the home place o\ the family. Mrs. .Vnna Piehl was born in IS.^J, and is a daughter of .\mos P. rontius. w lu> came to T.ates Ciuiuty from Shelbyville. Illinois, in 1S69 and settled in Tleasaut (lap township. Mr. l\>ntius was biM'u in IVunaa conutN, Illinois, was reared to NOun;;" maidiood in that state and serxed for three \ears in an Illinois rei^iment during- the C"i\il War. lie is now li\in!;- retired at Rich Mill. Missiiuri. Mrs. PiMitins dicil ou July 20. LM5. and her remains w ei"e interred in Rich Ilill cemetery. Purim;- Mr. Piehl's Innluunl the country around about was in an unsettled state and there were practically no fences between his lather's farm and the town of rapinsxille. Much o\ the land was open prairie and tra\elers went directlx across country following" the trails. l'\ir a gi>od niau\- \ears their only trading- point was Paj'tinsx ille. Mrs. Diehl, during her girlhood days, attended the hdmer, now the I'eaxer school lumse, where church serxices were also heUI. Her tirst teacher was William Uonnefiold and the schot>l sti>oil on the John Sisson farm. Mr. and Mrs. Diehl .are industrious, thrifty people who have [o their credit the rearing (^f one of the large families of the county. B. M. Wix, the pri\gressive merchant .and postmaster of rie;vsant Gap. was born in 1880, in the state of Washington, the son of the late Joseph and Rosa (Deweese") Wix. who were pioneer settlers of Rates HISTORY OF liATKS COUNTY 723 county, the former coming to this connly in 1839, and becoming- promi- nently identified with tlie early and creative period of the county's history. ;\ l)i()jj;ra|)hical sketch of Joseph VVix a])pears elsewhere in this \ohnne in connection with the hioj^rajdiy oi (dark VVix. li. .Vl. Wix was practically reared in Dates county, his father and niother returninj^- frtjni Washington t(j this county in 1881. lie attended the district schools and the Appleton City Academy, and taught school for a periofl of six years, f;ne year (A which was s])ent in Washington, where he went in 1912. lie was the first city mail carrier appointed for the city of Butler. In May of 1913 he purchased the stock of goods and hnilding owned l)y Judge R. B. Camp, who had been engaged in the mercantile business in I'leasant Gap since 1883. dhe store build- ing owned by Mr. Wix was erected by the contractors, lUirk iv Tal- niage and the lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. 'I'lie busi- ness growth of the Wix establishment has been so great during the past five years that Mr. Wix has found it necessary to find larger cpiar- ters. In consequence he has set about the erecting of a large concrete store building, 30 x 60 feet in size, of two stories, the lower fioor of which will be used for store purposes and the upper lloor whirli will be a hall room, will serve as the headquarters of the I'leasant Cap Boosters' Club. Mr. VVix hauls his goods retailed from his store from yXppleton City, a distance of nine and a half miles. The Wix store carries a general stock of groceries, dry goods, and clothing, hardware, etc. and a trading flepot for the cr)nvenience of the farmers of this section ^s conducted whereby Mr. W^ix handles the j)roduce produced u])on the farms in the vicinity of Pleasant Gap. He does a large annual business in this manner, and his wagons which haul the store goods from Apj)leton City, usually go loaded with farm jjrrxluce for ship- ment from A])pleton City. Mr. Wix was married- in 1905 to Lillian G. Casperson, a daughter of James and Alice Casperson. They have no children. Mr. Wix was reared on a farm anrl he has never lost his love for the soil. He is owner of a fine one hundred forty acre farm located <')ne and_ a half nnles north of Pleasant Gap which he oversees. Pie is postmaster of I'leasant Gap and is one of the live wires of this hustling comtnunity whose farmers around about are banded together in a Pleasant Tiap boosters' Club which is organizerl on lines similar to a city commercial did). The region around Pleasant Gap is one of the richest and most jjrogressive sections of western Missouri and the building of the large 724 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY hall in connection with the Wix store is the work of the Boosters' Club, which will dedicate the building for use as a community hall for the entire neighborhood. It is such movements as these which band the farmers together and make for better homes and more progress and prosperity in the agricultural districts. The .Pleasant Gap Boosters' Club was organized in 1915 and the club has held three successful fairs or agricultural and livestock exhibits since its organization and done more to create a spirit of co-operation and emulation and make for better farming than any one agency ever introduced into this section. W. W, Perry, the well-known owner of the "Prairie Home Herd" of big bone Poland China hogs, one of Bates county's most intelligent, progressive, young stockmen and leading citizens, is a native son of Shaw- nee township, Bates county, one of the boys of yesterday who have "made good." Mr. Perry became interested in raising Poland China hogs in February, 1915, when he purchased five brood sows at the Charters sale and at the present time, in 1918, he has one hundred head of splendid animals in the "Prairie Home Herd" and is having no diffi- culty whatever to find a ready market for his stock in the vicinity of his home in Shawnee township and abroad, a farm located fourteen miles northeast of Butler and seven miles northwest of Spruce. Mr. Perry recently built on the farm a modern hog house, sexangle style in imitation of the sale barn of W. B. Wallace at Bunceton in Cooper county, Missouri, with breeding pens around all sides, concrete floor, the light furnished from overhead and by fourteen windows around the sides of the building, a model house of its kind. W. W. Perry completed a course in animal husbandry at the Missouri State University, Colum- bia, Missouri, and has mastered the art of judging stock. At the uni- versity, he was obliged to judge stock six days in the week and after keeping that up for several months one soon learns something about good stock and forms some conception of what a fine specimen is and how to produce it and care for it after it has been produced. Mr. Perry has in his herd two exceptionally fine pigs, one of them a prize winner, namely: "Chief" and "Royal Cross Third." The latter won first prize for the best pig under two and over one year of age at the Butler Fair in 1916. The prize was a silver set of twenty-six pieces, which Mr. Perry prizes highly. He has the following extraordinarily good 1)oars registered: "Prairie Home Bob," out of "Jumbo Bob," dam, "Charters' Giantess," dam "Long Giantess," which is the largest dam ever shown W. W. PERRY. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 725 at the Missouri State Fair, shown at Sedaha in 1917, purchased by Mr. Perry for two hundred sixty dollars ; and "Perry's King Joe," out of "King Joe," that sold for one thousand two hundred fifty dollars, a record- breaking prize at the time, dam, "Maid Wonder," which cost two hundred forty dollars. These two boars are Mr. Perry's head animals and are well worth the attention of all breeders interested in raising better hogs. Another sow, "Wonder Maid," won first prize at the Missouri State Fair in 1915 as the best junior yearling brood sow on exhibition. W. W. Perry is a member of the Farm Club of Bates County and has an established reputation in western Missouri as one of the most successful stockmen and breeders of high-grade animals in the state and his work is being more and more appreciated by the prominent stockmen of his home county. W. W. Perry was born in 1881 at the Perry homestead in Shawnee township. Bates county, and was reared on the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, purchased by his father in 1879, one of the excel- lent stock farms of Shawnee township. Mr. Perry is a son of M. F. and Mary O. (Waldo) Perry. M. F. Perry was born in Henry county, Mis- souri, in 1847, a son of William T. and Mary (Cooper) Perry, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. William T. Perry came to Missouri in 1836 and settled on a tract of land, which he entered from the government, in Henry county, and on his farm in that county spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1888 and interment was made in the cemetery near his home place. M. F. Perry obtained his education in the "subscription schools" of Henry county, as there were no public schools in this state until after the Civil War. He was reared on his father's farm in Henry county and practically all his life has been interested in agricultural pursuits. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and purchased his present country home in Shawnee towmship, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of valuable land, nicely improved and conveniently located, fourteen miles from Butler and seven miles from Spruce. Mr. Perry is very much interested in horticulture and had a splendid little orchard on his place until the cyclone of 1916 destroyed it. He has since planted another orchard and hopes to be one of those who will enjoy the fruit from it in the days to come. The marriage of M. F. Perry and Mary O. Waldo was solemnized in 1876. Mrs. Perry is a daughter of Col. Calvin and Mrs. Matilda (Odineal) Waldo, of St. Clair county, Missouri. To this union have ^26 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY been born three children: Mrs. C. A. Webb, at home with her parents; Mrs. Robert Powers, Butler, Missouri; and W. W., of whom mention has been made in this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Perry are highly respected in Shawnee township, where their family has long been enrolled among the most valued and best families and Mr. Perry has at many different times been honored with offices of public trust in his township. He has served as justice of the peace in Shawnee township, as clerk, as assessor, and has just completed a very satisfactory term in the office of deputy collector. He is public-spirited and takes a deep and abiding interest in all matters relative to the upbuilding and betterment of his commun- ity. M. F. Perry is a most worthy representative of a noble, old, pio- neer family of Henry county and Bates county, one of the first families of Missouri. Herbert E. Page, proprietor of a fine farm of four hundred twenty acres in Hudson township, is a native son of Bates county who has "made good" in the county of his birth. The farm which he owns has been in possession of the Page family for over fifty years, Mr. Page first buying one hundred sixty acres of the old home place wdien he began his career in this county on his own account twenty-two years ag'O. Since that time he has accumulated one of the large and highly productive farms in this section of Missouri and has fitted up the place with splendid improvements. Mr. Page has a splendid barn 40 X 50 feet in dimensions, and a silo having a capacity of one hundred fifty tons of silage — a modern adjunct to the proper feeding of live stock which Mr. Page considers one of the best assets of his farm. He has eighty head of cattle and at the present writing (January, 1918) is feeding a carload for the markets. He usually keeps from seventy- live to one hundred head of good hogs on the place, and adds to the income of his farm by feeding and raising a good variety of porkers. One of the best things on the place in Mr. Page's opinion is a drilled well, two hundred feet in depth, which supplies soft water for any and all purposes. The water from this well is piped to his modern eight- room residence and supplies an infallible flow for the livestock on the farm. H. E. Page was born in Hudson township, April 9, 1869, and is the son of Ava and Mary (Robords) Page, pioneer settlers of Hudson township. Ava E. Page, his father, was born in Livingston county. New York, January 5, 1834. His parents were Albert and Jerusha (Tyler) Page, both of wdiom were natives of Connecticut. Albert Page HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 727 was born March 31, 1800, and moved to New York with his parents when a youth and grew to manhood there and married. He was promi- nent in the affairs of Livingston county, and filled several county offices during his residence there. He died in August, 1876. When Ava E. Page was seventeen years old he taught a term of school and in the fall of 1850 he went to Tennessee, where he taught for two years. In January, 1857, he removed to Wisconsin and located at Milwaukee, where he served for two years as deputy sheriff of Milwaukee county. He came to Missouri in May, 1859, and made settlement in Bates county, buying land in Hudson township which he improved from raw, un- broken prairie land and created a fine farm. He bought the home place which is now owned by his son, Herbert E., in 1866, and became owner of two hundred seventy acres. He set out an orchard of over five hundred trees of all kinds of fruit, and created one of the best country estates in the county. Mr. Page was also heavily engaged in the live stock business. He resided on his farm until 1896 and then moved to Roswell, New Mexico and resided there until 1909, when he went to California, and died at Pomona on July 4, 1910. Mr. Page was mar- ried in Henry county, August 1, 1861, to Miss Mary E. Robords, of New York City, a daughter of Rev. Israel Robords of Scotch descent. Mrs. Page moved to Missouri with her parents when eight years of age, but was educated at Rochester, New York. The following chil- dren were born to Ava E. and Mary Page: Florence I., wife of J. B. Baker, Upper Lake, California; Clifford, Arcadia, Florida; Herbert E., subject of this review; and Minnie, wife of William Wilson, Roswell, New Mexico. During the Civil War, Ava E. Page enlisted in the Sixth Missouri Cavalry and served as lieutenant of Company C in his regiment. He participated in many engagements and was in the battle of Marshall in Saline county. In 1864 he was appointed one of the county judge in Bates county, and served as presiding judge of the county co for two years. He was prominently identified with the Republican party and served as delegate to the state conventions of his party at various times. He was one of the leaders in the Grange movement and in every way was a leading citizen of the county, for some years serving as state lecturer of the Grange in Missouri. Herbert E. Page was educated in the common schools of Bates county and studied in the State Normal at Warrensburg for one year. He then spent three years in the W^est and then returned to the home 728 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY farm where he has since followed farming. He first purchased one hundred sixty acres of the home place and by thrift, good management and hard work — as he says — on the eight-hour system, which calls for "eight-hour forenoon" and "eight-hour afternoon," he has made good and is owner of four hundred twenty acres of farm lands which are among the most valuable in Bates county. On October 24, 1895, Herbert E. Page and Miss Elfie Brown were united in marriage. This marriage has been blessed with children as follow : Harley H., one of his father's assistants on the farm, a grad- uate of the Appleton City High School; George Ava, a student in the district school. Mrs. Elfie (Brown) Page is a daughter of W. G. and Mary Brown of Hudson township. Her father is well known in Hud- son township and her mother is deceased. See biography of William G. Brown. Anthony Lindsay, pioneer and retired mail route manager, who after an eventful and busy life is living in comfortable retirement at his pleasant home, 509 West Fort Scott street, Butler, Missouri, was born in Nova Scotia, Dominion of Canada, September 23, 1849. He was a son of James and Mary (Stewart) Lindsay, the former of whom was a native of Nova Scotia and the latter a native of Scotland. James Lindsay removed from Nova Scotia to Canada in 1854 and to Illinois in 1857, and in the fall of 1868 he located on a farm in Linn county, Kansas, near the present site of the town of Prescott. He died there in 1873. Mrs. Mary Lindsay died at Prescott in April, 1901, and both are buried in the Prescott cemetery. They were parents of eight chil- dren, of whom three survive, namely: John, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Mima Bowers, Pasadena, California; Anthony Lindsay, subject of this sketch. Mr. Lindsay was educated in the common schools of Canada and Illinois and accompanied his parents to Linn county, Kansas in 1868. Two years later, in 1870, he located in Bates county, and took charge of the contract for carrying the mails from Butler, Missouri, to La Cygne, Kansas. This route provided for a daily mail delivery with a stage coach in connection, the routes leading from Butler to Appleton City and thence to Osceola, and Butler to La Cygne and return. The trip involved a distance of sixty miles from Butler to La Cygne and return and was made daily. Mr. Lindsay operated three routes. In 1876 he and his brother, Albert S., built a stable at Appleton City, and did a livery business in addition to carrying the mails. The stage route HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 729 stations where the horses were changed were located at Mulberry, east of La Cygne, then another station at Butler and on the Appleton City route there was a station at Lahi, on the farm now owned by Clark Wix and at that time known as the John Brown farm. The next station was located at Appleton City, and the last one was situated at Osceola. Mr. Lindsay recalls that Messrs. Barlow, Sanderson and Com- pany had the contract for carrying the mails from Pleasant Hill, Mis- souri to Fort Scott, Kansas, and at the time Mr. Lindsay came here this firm was running a big stage coach via Harrisonville and Butler in 1870. Mr. Lindsay disposed of his mail routes in 1880 and a few years later they were discontinued as star routes. He also operated a tri-weekly route to Pleasant Gap, and another route to West Point which was tri-weekly. After leaving the mail carrying business, Mr. Lindsay and his brother engaged in livestock buying and his brother moved on the family farm in Linn county. He died in 1901 in Indian- .apolis, Indiana. Mr. Lindsay then settled up their business affairs and moved to Fort Scott where he resided until 1906. In that year he came to Butler, where he has a fine residence property in connection with a tract of four acres within the city limits. Mr. Lindsay was married on January 21, 1880 to Alice Wyatt, a daughter of F. M. and Emeline (Sever) Wyatt, of Butler, Missouri. The Wyatts located in Butler in April of 1870, where Mrs. Wyatt died February 8, 1886, Mr. Wyatt dying on October 7, 1917 at the age of eighty-four years. In October, 1902, Mr. Wyatt was stricken with paralysis and for fifteen years he was helpless and neither spoke nor walked. Two other children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt besides Mrs. Lindsay are living: James O. Wyatt, Maroa, Illinois; and Mrs. Anna T. Johnson, Portland, Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. A. Lindsay the fol- lowing children have been born : Harry W., and Edith. • Harry W. Lindsay is now engaged in the loan business at Kenton, Ohio. Prior to locating in Kenton, he was in the employ of a bank at Pasadena, California, for seven years and was also cashier of a bank at Central Point, Oregon before his removal to Kenton, Ohio. He married Ruth Andrews, a daughter of J. F. Andrews, a well known capitalist of Ken- ton. Edith is the wife of Wesley Denton, president of the Peoples Bank of Butler, to whose biography the reader is referred in another part of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay have a beautiful, modern home on West Fort Scott street, all buildings being kept in a good state of repair and painted. He is well informed concerning every 730 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY (lay matters and recalls the pioneer times in Bates county when he carried the mails for the government, his memory of the conditions of things in those early days being excellent. William Benjamin Tyler, retired farmer, Butler, Missouri, was born on September 7, 1844 in Kentucky, the son of Charles (born March 10, 1818, died September 2, 1912) and Susan (Brown) Tyler (born 1825), died September 3, 1879). Charles and Susan Tyler were both natives of Kentucky, Henry county. They came to Missouri in 1853 and set- tled in Johnson county, near Knob Noster, where Mr. Tyler entered government land, his first quarter section costing him twelve and one- half cents per acre and he also secured another tract of one hundred and sixty acres southeast of Knob Noster at a cost of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. He sold his Johnson county land in 1860 and bought land in Pettis county, where he resided until the close of the Civil War. He then came to Bates county on March 1, 1866 and settled in Spruce township, south of Ballard. He bought a farm here and sold it after some years, and then bought a farm in Deepwater township which he* later sold. He died at West Plains, Howell county, Missouri. In 1864, W. B. Tyler enlisted in Johnson county, Missouri for ser- vice with the Confederate forces under Capt. Palm Smith and his com- pany was attached to Fighting Joe Shelby's brigade. He served for one year and was with General Price's army when the general made his last raid into Kansas. Mr. Tyler was stationed at Corsicana, Texas when the war closed. He went to Shreveport and there sur- rendered with Shelby's forces on June 14, 1865. He returned home and on March 1, 1866 he came to Bates county. He rented land for ten years in Spruce and Deepwater townships and resided in Spruce township until 1892. He then moved to Summit township and bought the Winsett farm which he sold to the Scully interests in 1894. He next bought the farm now owned by B. P. Powell and later sold it to Mr. Powell. His next venture was the improvement of a forty-acre farm located three miles east of Butler which he sold in the fall of 1915. Mr. Tyler now resides in a modern bungalow in North W^ater street just outside of the city limits of Butler and one of the most attrac- tive suburban places in the vicinity of Butler. During his residence in Summit township he served four years as township trustee and treasurer. On December 31. 1868. W. B. Tyler was married to Rachel Moore of Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of Jefferson and Elizabeth HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 73 1 (Coates) Moore. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler have the following children: Fannie, wife of W. R. Hall, Nevada, Missouri; Mrs. Alice Iloskins, wdio has a daughter, Mildred; Jessie, wife of Ouintus Kaune, Everett, Washington; Susan, married Everett Grant, and lives near Butler, Mis- souri; Percy E., Parsons, Kansas, in the employ of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway, married Mary Frye and has one son, William Benjamin; three children died in infancy. Mr. Tyler has been a director of the Missouri State Bank for the past ten years. When W. B. Tyler first came to Spruce township he leased a farm of forty acres and made his home in a little cabin on the place. He was pocrr but industrious, and his neighbors were all in like condition. In 1870, a stranger came along accompanied by his wife and inquired if there were any vacant houses in the country. He desired shelter for the winter. Mr. Tyler did not know of any house that was vacant at the time, as there were very few houses of any kind on the prairie at that time. They talked further about the matter and the stranger then asked Mr. Tyler if he did not wish to sell his place. Upon learn- ing that Mr. Tyler had only a lease on the farm he offered to buy it and a deal was made. The stranger referred to was Thomas Cudde- back, who became well known among the early settlers of the county. Cuddeback eventually bought the forty acres of land and added one hundred twenty acres a few years later. He created one of the l)est farms in Spruce township which he later sold and removed to Johnson cc>unty, Kansas, where he died in 1914. He sold his Spruce to\vnship larm for the high price of thirty-five dollars an acre. He and Mr. Tyler were very close friends for many years and had a brotherly affection for each other. During the hard times of the seventies when dollars were scarce and seemed to be as big as cart wheels, wdth farm products very low in price, they frequently assisted one another, by going on each other's notes at the banks and wdien buying goods at public sales. When they had to pay their taxes each followed the custom of 'TIenry Clay and Daniel W'ebster," who frequently indorsed the other's notes wdien in need of money. Thomas Cuddeback was vice-president of the Spring Hill, Kansas, Banking Company for many years and stood high as a citizen. His brother, Frank Cuddeback, bought a farm in Spruce township in 1873 and later sold it and made his home in John- son county, Kansas, where he died in 1917. During the winter of '66 and '67, W\ B. Tyler hauled corn from Spruce township to Butler wnth two yoke of oxen and sold the corn 732 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTV for one dollar and one dollar and twenty-tive cents per bushel to a Cap- tain W'ally. a liveryman, who charged seventy-five cents for a feed of hay or corn to one horse. One -evening, after he had unloaded his corn, a storm of snow and sleet came on and Mr. Tyler decided it would be impossible to drive home, a distance of sixteen miles at night as he had no lantern and the roads were not good. A squatter lived on the land now occupied by the Butler cemetery. Mr. Tyler drove out there and ask for lodging for the night. The man told him that he was sh}' of bed covers and could not accommodate him. Tyler told him he would be willing to put up with any inconvenience rather than to brave the storm, and the man told him to come in and stay. He sat up in a chair all night long and left his oxen tied to the wheels of his lynch-pin wagon. The lynch-pin wagon of that day would be a curi- osity now. The tongue of the wagon was morticed solidly to the front axle and the wheels with their long hubs were held in place by lynch- pins which were droptped through slots cut in the hubs and axles. Mr. 'J'yler talks interestingly of the old times, and is well satisfied with conditions as they are at the present day, when he and his wife can enjoy the many comforts of modern civilization. Decatur Smith, M. D., a retired pioneer physician of Bates county, Missouri, is one of Butler's most honored and valued citizens. Doctor Smith is a native son of Missouri. He was born June 29, 1841, in St. Louis county, a son of Henry and Mary J. (Watson) Smith. Henry Smith was one of the earliest settlers of St. Louis county, Missouri, a resident of that section of the state when the red men of the forest still claimed the land and resided there on their hunting grounds. Doctor Smith received his higher education at IMcDowell College at St. Louis, Missouri. He was a young college student at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and in February, 1862 he enlisted as a private and served as assistant surgeon in Company D, Sixth Missouri Cavalry, three years and two months, receiving- his honorable discharge at Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1865. After the war had closed. Doctor Smith returned to his home in St. Louis county. INIissouri, and remained there one year, coming thence to Bates county in May, 1866. He intended at that time to locate at lUitler, but the war had so de\astated the town and the prairie surrounding the townsite was not yet settled and there were so few people left in the little village that the young physician changed his mind and decided to open his office at Pleasant Gap. a larger, more populous and prosperous town at that time. Doctor Smith ^'' -^ .L. : I_ 1 ■ V -'^ A fl^. TV •• 'an k f ^ m • *? DR. DECATUR SMITH. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^ 733 was offered eighty acres of land located near Prairie City, Missouri, for two dollars an acre and he had the money in his possession with which he might have purchased the land, but he refused the offer. In September of the same year, the eighty acres of land were sold for twenty dollars an acre. Doctor Smith opened a drug store at Pleasant Gap in con- nection with his office, but this proved to be an unsatisfactory venture, as his practice interfered with the proper care of his business interests and it was impossible to obtain competent assistants. Doctor Smith disposed of his store after a short time. He relates how he was want to travel in the early days on horseback across the prairies and how he would sometimes be gone four days and nights before he could return to his office. The settlers would follow after him and he would answer a call direct from one sickbed to another, oftentimes traveling seventy- five miles on horseback in a single day. He made it a rule to carry medicines and all things needed in an emergency case in his old-style saddlebags. The doctor closed his offfce at Pleasant Gap in 1870 and moved to Rockville, where he was engaged in the practice of his pro- fession until the spring of 1871, but as Mrs. Smith was unhappy and dissatisfied in the new home they moved on a farm lying four miles south of the city and then Doctor Smith retired from the active prac- tice of medicine. The Smiths moved from their farm to Butler in 1876 and have since been residents of this city, where he practiced medi- cine for seven years and freighted goods from Kansas City, Pleasanton and AppJeton City for some years. Their home is located at 200 South Mechanic street in Butler. October 18, 1866, Dr. Decatur Smith and Mary Jane Atkison were united in marriage at Pleasant Gap, Missouri. To this union were born two children: Alice Elizabeth, who died at the age of fourteen years; and Edgar D., who has been a mail carrier on a rural route out of Butler for the past fifteen years. Their mother, and the doctor's faithful companion and helpmeet for fifty years, died August 1. 1916. Doctor Smith recalls Doctor Tousey. who was located on Round Prairie near Hudson in the early days. Doctor Tousey had been engaged in the medical practice in this vicinity before the Civil War and was quite an aged man at the time yoimg Doctor Smith located in Bates county, a man of probably eighty years of age. He and his young col- league frequently held consultations. Doctor Patten located at Butler at about the same time as did Doctor Smith at Pleasant Gap and he is now deceased. Dr. William Requa, who was located at Harmony 734 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mission, was well known by Doctor Smith and he has often heard him relate how he journeyed up the river and established the Mission. Endowed by nature with a remarkable sturdy physique and a splen- did intellect. Doctor Smith has been able to withstand the wear and tear of time and fatiguing labor remarkably well and is now well past the three score years and ten allotted to man. He is a gentleman of such traits of character that in all his years of practice and activity in Bates county, he could not but leave the impress of his personality wherever he was known. While Bates county has to its credit many men of prominence in all spheres of endeavor, and while its historical annals teem with the records of hundreds of unselfish lives and deeds, the name of Dr. Decatur Smith will always occupy a high place among the county's respected and representative citizens, not alone because of his useful career as physician but also on account of his broad human sympa- thies and sterling honor. Rev. Lewis McComb. — The late Rev. Lewis McComb, of Bates county, will long be remembered as the pioneer Baptist minister of this county, who was universally loved and esteemed by all who knew him. He was born in Knox county, Tennessee, May 27, 1821, and was a son of William McComb, who removed from Tennessee to Sangamon county, Illinois in 1827. William McComb was father of ten childrM. He died in Illinois in 1835. Two years later, his widow removed with her family of children to Miller county, Missouri. Lewis McComb was there married to Sarah Vann in 1840. In 1845 he located in John- son county and in 1848 made a settlement in Van Buren (now Bates county). Soon after his arrival in this county in August, 1848, he entered government land and also bought adjoining land which he developed and became owner of several hundred acres. As a farmer and stockman he was quite successful. He resided in Spruce town- ship for many years and became well-to-do. His dwelling house was erected upon land which practically stood in three counties, but was never moved. When the McComl) residence was built, tlie land was located in Van Buren county. After the territory was re-districted, it was called Cass and Vernon counties, and later, Bates county was formed and thus remained through the Civil W^ar period. The McComb residence was built in 1853 and it was occupied by its builders and the members of his family until 1905, with the exception of two years of the Civil War when Order Number Eleven was issued. In 1905 a new dwelling was erected upon the McComb farm. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 735 When Lewis McComb settled in Spruce township, his nearest neighbor was Mr. Enibree on Elk Fork, almost five miles away. Deer and wild turkey w^ere plentiful and he killed them in large numbers in his own dooryard when in need of fresh meat for the family larder. Reverend McComb lived to see a wilderness developed into a thickly populated and prosperous country and took a very active part in its up-building. Soon after Lewis McComb came to Bates county, he was joined by his three brothers, Jacob, John, and James, and a sister, Elizabeth. Jacob McComb bought a farm adjoining that of his brother Lewis and lived thereon until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Confederate army and was wounded at the battle of Wilson's Creek, dying three days later from the effect of his wounds. John McComb opened a store at Papinsville, and afterward moved to Butler, where he opened the first store in the town, in 1855, the store being operated under the firm name of McComb & Robinson. This store was conducted until the outbreak of the Civil War, when John McComb joined the Southern army and was elected captain of a company of men recruited in Bates county. Capt. John McComb led the charge upon the Federal stronghold at Lone Jack. Wdiile making the charge at the head of his men, just as he had climbed atop the fence sur- rounding the Federal stronghold, he was shot in the left breast, the bullet passing through the lung and body. He fell into the arms of one of his own men and told him to lay him down and to go on with the charge. When the battle was over his brother, Lewis, was noti- fied and immediately went to his brother's assistance at the risk of his own life, remaining with the wounded soldier until his death on the following Sunday night. The wounded captain was taken to a room occupied by nineteen other sufferers and his brother, Lewis, was the only attendant. The room was poorly lighted by a grease lamp and about all that could be done for the wounded men, was to change their uncomfortable positions occasionally and give them water to drink, while all the time one was compelled to listen to their shrieks of pain and dying moans. Three men died on that night. The battle of Lone Jack was fought on Friday morning and John McComb died the Sun- dav following his mortal wound. His brother Lewis remained with him until he died and was buried and then made his way home, suc- cessfully evading several Union scouting parties on his homeward wa3^ James McComb came to Bates county in 1853. and taught two 736 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY terms of school. In the spring of 1854 he farmed with Lewis McComb, and taught school in Henry county. In 1855 he and his brother, John, opened a store in Butler, and in November of 1856, he left Butler to become a student at the State University in Columbia. In the fall of 1857 he entered the St. Louis Medical College, and in 1858, he began the practice of medicine near Lebanon in La Clede county. Dr. McComb graduated from the Jefiferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then located permanently in Lebanon, where he has ever since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He is the only surviving member of his father's family at this date. Elizabeth McComb became the wife of Bowen Coleman, a mem- ber of a prominent pioneer family of Bates county. She died soon after her marriage, leaving one child, Ella, now the wife of S. B. Kash of Deepwater township. The marriage of Rev. Lewis McComb and Sarah Vann was con- summated in 1845. Five children were born to this marriage, namely: J. D., Porum, Oklahoma; Dr. Lewis L., Norman, Oklahoma; William, died at the age of twenty-four, Lawrence, Kansas; Mary J.; and one other, deceased. Mrs. Mary (Vann) McComb died in 1855. Some time after the death of his first wife he married in 1857 Annie E. Cooper, who died six months later. In 1859. he married Mary J. Radford, who bore him children as follow: John L., Norman, Oklahoma; Mrs. Amy E. Malsbee, deceased; Mrs. Sarah L. Rogers, Spruce, Missouri; Finis, deceased; Charles A. McComb, Butler, Missouri; Walter O., Spruce, Missouri ; Mrs. Mary J. McElwain, Nevada, Missouri. Mrs. Mary J. McComb died October 6, 1882. At the age of thirty-five years, Lewis McComb entered the Baptist ministry and from that time on his life was unselfishly given to otiiers as a servant of Christ. He became pastor of many churches in Bates and adjoining counties and served as pastor of the home church located on his farm for seventeen consecutive years. He resigned his position and the congregation then passed resolutions asking him to continue his pastorate. After a lapse of two years he again became the pastor of the church and continued to preach the gospel until advancing age compelled him to relinquish his duties as pastor. He preached the Gospel until he attained the age of eighty-six years and even after attain- ing that great age he would respond to calls. Until his later years he remained active and in possession of his mental powers. al)le to hitch his horse to the carriage and journey anywhere he was called to minster HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 737 to an ailing body or soul. Reverend McComb possessed a fair knowl- edge of the healing art and frequently took care of the sick and ailing on the country side. In this, he was the typical pioneer minister who combined the two professions in caring for the members of his flock. He was widely known as the "Marrying Parson," the "St. Louis Republic" at one time referring to him in this sense, and stating that he had married more couples than any man in the state of Missouri during the course of his ministerial career. Rev. Lewis McComb sold his farm to his son, Charles A. McComb, in 1897 but continued to make his home on the place until his death, February 26, 1907. His death marked the passing of one of the best loved and most useful personages of the pioneer era of Bates county. He endured many hardships in the pioneer days of the settlement and development of western Missouri, but maintained a cheerful disposi- tion through adversity and sorrow and lived to see peace and plenty mingled with happiness and contentment take the place of the old, trou- blesome days on the plains of Bates and adjoining counties. He spent the major part of his long life as a pioneer Baptist missionary in western Missouri and eastern Kansas and assisted in establishing many Baptist churches in this section. He resided upon his farm in Bates county continually until his death with the exception of two years spent in Morgan and Miller counties from 1863 to the close of the Civil War in accordance with the requirements of General Ewing's Order Number Eleven. Reverend McComb donated the land for the church and ceme- tery located in Spruce township upon his farm and was a large factor in the building of the church edifice thereon. Both he and his wife are sleeping the long sleep of the just and godly in the plat of ground which he set aside for the community burial place many years ago. Alongside with them are sleeping children and relatives who have departed from this earthly realm. History will give Rev. Lewis McComb an enviable place in the annals of Bates county and western Missouri for the great work which he accomplished and the unselfish and whole hearted devo- tion with which he ministered to the souls and bodies of the people of Bates county. No task was ever too great for him if by doing it he could benefit some one of his fellow men ; no sacrifice was too great for him to make if he could save a soul and win a convert to Christianity and his converts numbered into the hundreds and thousands during his long and devoted ministerial career. James E. Nickell, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and (47) 73^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNT/ eighty acres in Deepwater township, was born in Tazewell county, Vir- ginia, August 20, 1855, a son of Thomas (born 1827 — died February 18, 1911) and Sarah (Harman) Nickell, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter a native of Virginia. Thomas Nickell was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Confederate army in Virginia. During the war in 1863 he located in Omaha, where he became one of the originators of the Omaha Stock Yards. Mrs. Sarah Nickell died in 1863. Thomas and Sarah Nickell were parents of the following children: James E. ; Howard; and Rosa, who died at the age of thirteen years. James E. Nickell came to Bates county in 1868 with an uncle, James H. Harman, wdio located on a farm in the northeast part of Deepwater township which he improved and later sold and bought a farm situated five miles northeast of Butler. After some years of residence on this place, Mr. Harman sold it and moved to Warrens- burg, where he died. Mr. Nickell made his home with his uncle during his boyhood days and attended the Elm Grove school. He took up farming as a life vocation and has prospered from a small beginning, now owning a large place of two hundred and eighty acres, one quarter section of which is the old Nicholas Choate farm. He has a handsome farm residence and a splendid barn erected in 1897. The Nickell farm presents a well kept appearance and its productive capacity is kept at the maximum. On June 14, 1880, James E. Nickell and Miss Sarah J. Choate were united in marriage. Mrs. Sarah J. (Choate) Nickell was born April 26, 1863 and is a daughter of Nicholas and Pernelia (Wilson) Choate, a sketch of wdiom appears in this volume in connection with the biography of Dr. J. W. Choate of Butler, a brother of Mrs. Nickell. Mrs. Nickell was educated in the AA'illow Tree and Elm Grove district schools. Her first teacher was Phineas Holcoml), who taught in 1868-1869, the next being Henry Jarvis, now a practicing physician of Schell City, who taught in Elm Grove district, 1869-1870. The Willow Tree district was organ- ized in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Nickell have two sons: Erie W., a jeweler at Clinton, Missouri; Charles L., who is farming on the home place and was born May 31, 1883. C. L., after attending the district school in his neighborhood, attended the Butler public schools for one year and then spent two years at the ^^^arrensburg Normal College. Mr. C. L. Nickell has a modern residence of eight rooms erected in 1909 and a large barn 38 x 42 feet, built in 1912. He is conducting g^eneral farm- ing operations on the Nickell home place and raising cattle and hogs HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 739 for the markets. Charles L. Nickell was married in 1907 to Miss Rozella Barackman, a daughter of Benjamin and Rozella Barackman, of Spruce township, Bates county. To Charles and Rozella Nickell have been born three children: Helen, Wilbur, and Cecil. James E. Nickell has always taken a good citizen's part in local affairs and has served his township capably as collector and trustee. Thomas Bolin, Union veteran and farmer of Shawnee township, was born January 8, 1843 in Montgomery county, Kentucky, a son of Hiram Bolin, who was born in Culpepper county, V^irginia. Hiram was a son of John Bolin, who was a pioneer in Kentucky. Hiram Bolin married Emily Hall of Kentucky, a daughter of Green Hall. Her grand- father, William Hall, was a soldier of the Revolution and served under General Greene as captain. Thomas Bolin was reared and edu- cated in Kentucky and he enlisted at the beginning of the Civil W^ar, at Camp Dick Robinson, in Boyle county, Kentucky, in 1861, under Captain Gist. He served in Colonel Erye's brigade, and under General Thomas in the Eourteenth Army Corps. He fought in the first hard battle at Mill Springs, Kentucky. Other notable engagements in which he participated were Stone River, Tennessee ; Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and many skirmishes and minor engagements, fighting from Dal- ton, Georgia to Atlanta. He was with Sherman at the capture of Atlanta and took part in Sherman's famous march from Atlanta to the sea and the capture of Savannah. He served over four years in the Union army and received his final discharge in September of 1865 at Wilmington, North Carolina. Mr. Bolin was captured by the Confederates in the rear at Atlanta- and interned in Andersonville prison, where he remained for eleven months and then he managed to escape. After the close of his war service he returned to Iventucky and resided in his native state until 1880, and then came to Henry county, Missouri, residing there until the early nineties when he made a settle- ment in Shawnee township. Bates county. Mr. Bolin has prospered in Bates county and owns a splendid farm of two hundred and forty acres, well improved. Wliile a resident of Kentucky he took a prominent part in civic affairs and filled the offices of constable and magistrate. Mr. Bolin was married February 12, 1868 to Ansel D. Hoskins of Estill county, Kentucky, who died January 10. 1914 and her remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. She was a good and faithful wife and a kind mother to her children. To Thomas and Ansel Bolin were born children as follow: Albert, living in Arizona; Laura, at home with y^O HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY her father; Green H., state mine inspector of Arizona; Sterling, Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Johnson, Platte county, Missouri; D. S., farming near Phoenix, Arizona; and Clara, at home with her father. Although this aged veteran has passed the allotted span of three score years and ten and spent over four of the best years of his life in the service of his country, he is active and w^ell preserved and is still able to do work about his farm. John M. Catterlin, a retired agriculturist, formerly in the loan busi- ness at Butler, Missouri, one of Butler's most substantial citizens, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Catterlin was born April 20, 1845, in Miami couiity, a son of Solomon B. and Eliza (Jones) Catterlin. Solomon B. Catterlin was a native of Ohio, born on his father's farm in Hamilton county near Cincinnati. Solomon B. Catterlin was a son of Joseph .Catterlin, also born near Cincinnati, Ohio, who was a son of Joseph Catterlin, a native of New Jersey, who married a half-sister of King James VII of England. The Catterlins are among the oldest American families. Eliza (Jones) Catterlin was a native of Kentucky. The Catterlins came to Missouri from Ohio in June, 1881, and located temporarily at Butler, intending to purchase a farm in Bates county, but the father died in November, soon after their coming West, and the mother died in 1889, just eight years afterward. The remains of both parents are interred in Oak Hill cemetery in Bates county. Solomon B. and Eliza (Jones) Catterlin were the parents of five children: John M., the subject of this review; Mrs. Amanda Jane Reisner, who died at Butler in 1891 ; Mrs. Emma Hickman, a former resident of Butler, now of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary C. Legg, the widow of T. W. Legg, a sketch of, whom appears in this volume, and Clifford C, with the Standard Oil Company, of Butler. John M. Catterlin received his education in the public schools of Piqua, Ohio, and at Oxford College, in Ohio. He was a youth, sixteen years of age, at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and applied three times for admission to the Union army, but because he was at that time engaged in the pursuits of agriculture and being then the onlv son of that family he was refused admission, the country needing him on the farm. Mr. Catterlin came to Bates county, in 1869, and for eleven years after coming West was engaged in farming and stock raising. He retired from these pursuits in 1880 and moved to Butler, where he entered the farm loan business, in which he was employed until 1914, when he disposed of his business and has since been living in quiet HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 74I retirement in this city. Mr. Catterlin built his present residence, still one of the most beautiful homes in the city, in 1881. It is a handsome, modern home, constructed of white pine at a cost of eleven thousand dollars and worth much more now. Mr. Catterlin recalls that, in the autumn of 1881, he bought coal at the Rich Hill coal banks, loaded into the wagon, for one cent a bushel. The marriage of John M. Catterlin and Lucy A. Atkison was solem- nized in 1874. Lucy A. (Atkison) Catterlin was born in Cooper county in 1847, is a daughter of John and Hannah (Catterlin) Atkison, who came to Missouri in the early forties and located in Cooper county, whence they came to Bates county in 1860 and settled on a farm in Pleasant Gap township, which Mr. Atkison had purchased. Mrs. J. M. Catterlin was born and reared in Cooper county, Missouri, and she came with her parents to Bates county in 1860. Pleasant Gap, at that time, boasted three mercantile establishments, two of the merch- ants being Mr. Bryant and Joseph Smith. John Atkison conducted the Ohio House for two years following the Civil War. He was appointed sheriff during the Civil War and served out the term and was twice elected sheriff of Bates county after the war. When Order No. 11 w^as issued, the Atkison family moved first to Clinton and then to Old Germantown, Missouri, and resided on a farm. AVhile there, on account of the depredations inflicted by the opposing armies, the Atkisons kept most of their clothing and all their bedding hidden in a box under the floor, for in the raids frequently made on the settlers by plunderers, all the good clothing and bedding were invariably stolen. To John and Hannah Atkison were born the following children: Mrs. Mary Jane Smith, deceased; Mrs. John M. Catterlin, the w^ife of the subject of this review; Robert Alexander, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Sarah E. Catter- lin, deceased; Mrs. Susan E. Rogers, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Dora Risley, Santiago, California. John Atkison died April 24, 1900, at Butler, Missouri, and on June 29 of the same year he was united in death with his wnfe. Both Mr. and Mrs. Atkison were interred in Oak Hill ceme- tery. The Atkisons were one of the pioneer families of western Mis- souri, and their descendants have long been held in the highest esteem in Bates countv. J. M. and Lucy A. (Atkison) Catterlin were the parents of three children, all of whom are now deceased; Hannah, died at the age of eight years; Solomon, died at the age of two years; and Grace, died at the age of fourteen years. John Atkison served four years in the Union army during the Civil 74- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY War. He left Bates county and enlisted, in 1861. in Company H, Seventh Missouri Cavalry Regiment, at Sedalia, and attained the post of captain of his company. The Catterlin name has been closely interwoven in the record of the growth and development of Bates county, and no biographical com- pendium would be complete which omitted mention of John M. Catter- lin, who has for nearly fifty years been interested in promoting its material prosperity. In politics, Mr. Catterlin is a Democrat. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, is a Mystic Shriner, and has attained all degrees up to and including the Thirty-second Degree. Watt Burress Dawson, prosecuting attorney of Bates county, was born in Wayne county, Ohio. March 18, 1874. He is a son of Eugene B. and Sarah (Moses) Dawson, the former of whom was a native of the Western Reserve section of Ohio and the latter a native of jNIassa- chusetts. Both parents of Watt B. Dawson were of old New England stock. Eugene B. Dawson was reared to manhood in his native state and in 1879 went to Trego county in western Kansas and homesteaded a tract of land. He is said to have sown the first wheat in that section of Kansas, taking the wheat with him from Ohio. After some years of residence there he went to Rich Hill, Missouri and rented land in that neighborhood for the first season. In the spring of 1883 he drove a herd of cattle to Linn and Anderson counties, Kansas, and in 1889 settled on a quarter section of land in Bates county, near Hume, in Howard township. He developed his farm and Vvhen old age came upon him he retired to a home in Hume where his death occurred in 1904. His remains are interred in the Hume cemetery. Mrs. Dawson resides at Hume and is aged eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene B. Daw- son were parents of nine children, as follow: Dr. N. B. Dawson, Ster- ling, Ohio; Lydia E., at home with her mother; AVatt B., su])ject of this review; Mrs. Mima C. Hofses, Parsons, Kansas; G. P. Dawson, died at Pleasanton, Kansas; Edward Marion, died at Rich Hill, aged twenty- one years; Wallace W., died at Hume, aged thirty-one years; Thomas, died in Ohio when eight years old; and Mary, died in Ohio at the age of four years. After graduating from the Hume, Missouri. High School in 1894, Watt B. Dawson taught school in Bates county for five years from 1894 to 1899, inclusive. He then entered the Missouri State Universitv at Columbia and pursued a literary and law course, graduating therefrom HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 743 ill the class of 1901. Following his graduation from law school he taught for another year and began the practice of his profession at Rich Hill. In the fall election of 1905 he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Bates county, being the first attorney outside of the county seat to be elected to that county office. It had been the custom or habit to elect a county seat attorney to the office previous to the election of Mr. Dawson, a precedent thus being established. He carried every township in the county at the primaries excepting West Point. Mr. Dawson served three terms as prosecuting attorney and established a reputation as a fearless and able prosecutor. He was re-elected to the office in the fall of 1916 and is the present incumbent of the office. Since his election to the prosecutor's office he has made his residence in Butler and is associated in the practice of law with Mr. J. A. Silvers. Mr. Dawson was married July 1, 1902 to Miss Emma N. White, a daughter of Mrs. Aramintha White of Rich Hill. Mrs. Dawson's father died when she was an infant. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson have two children: Mildred, and Donald. A legal practitioner of excellent judgment, scholarly attainments, and profound knowledge of the law, and an official of known integrity, Mr. Dawson has achieved a place for himself as one of the most suc- cessful practicing attorneys in the county. He has always been a strong advocate of temperance and has always stood for strict law enforce- ment, having at various times used the powers of his office to compel the enforcement of the temperance and prohibition laws which govern the community. Mr. Dawson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the AVoodmen of the W^orld, and the Knights of Pythias. He has served as a member of the board of trustees of the Baptist church for some time and both he and Mrs. Dawson take an active interest in church work. James W. Robinson, farmer and stockman, Shawnee township, is cultivating one of the best improved farms in Bates county, known as the Robinson homestead, and upon which his father settled over a half century ago. This farm comprises a total of two hundred and eighty acres, all of which lies in Shawnee township, excepting twenty acres in Mt. Pleasant township. The improvements on this farm are splendid. A large eight-room house which was erected by the father of James W. Robinson makes a fine appearance. A large barn 36 x 50 feet in dimensions, with a twenty foot shed was erected in 1910. The place is principally devoted to stock raising and Mr. Robinson maintains 744 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a herd of from seventy-five to one luindrecl head of cattle, besides a considerable number of hogs, sheep and mules and horses. It is usually well stocked with good grades of livestock. James W. Robinson was born on the homestead in Shawnee township, in 1886, a son of James A. and Charlotte (Johnson) Robinson, natives of Indiana. The late James A. Robinson was born in Ripley county, Indiana, February 24, 1846, and was a son of Joseph Jefferson Robinson who located in Pettis county, Missouri, and there spent the remainder of his days engaged in farming pursuits. At the outbreak of the Civil War, James A. Robinson enlisted in Company E, Seventh Indiana Cavalry regiment and served until his honorable discharge in 1864. He re-enlisted as a veteran in Company M, Thirteenth Indiana regiment and served in behalf of the Union until January, 1866. Following his honorable discharge from the service he came west to Pettis county, Missouri, and thence to Bates county in that same year. He located in Shawnee township and developed a splendid farm from the prairie land which at that time was thinly settled. Mr. Robinson became a well respected and prosperous citizen of Bates county and reared a fine fam- ily of children. He was married to Charlotte Johnson of Indiana and the following children were born to this marriage: Elizabeth, at home; Mrs. Ella Flescher, wife of J. H. Flescher, Jolly, Texas; L. F., Pawnee, Okla- homa; Jefferson J., Grainfield, Kansas; Adelia, wife of Marion Penny- cuff, Kansas City, Kansas; Harvey M., Ida Grove, Iowa, married Stella Warner, who died in November, 1915, who was a daughter of C. A. Warner, of Foster, Missouri, and left two children — Harvey and Ralph; Dr. John A. Robinson, a graduate of the St. Louis Medical College, and now located in St. Louis; Dr. Edward Robinson, Adrian, Missouri; Maggie, died in infancy; Myrtle, at home; Mattie, Kansas City, Kansas; J. W., subject of this review. James A. Robinson died at his home place in Shawnee township, in June, 1915. Mrs. Robinson departed this life August 14, 1908. They were a worthy and industrious couple who nobly did their part in developing Bates county, and contributed to the com- monwealth a splendid family of eleven children, all of whom occupy positions of standing in the various communities in which they have made their homes. James W. Robinson, manager of the Robinson home place, was educated in the district schools and has chosen to become a farmer, thus following in his father's footsteps. For several years he was the mainstay of his parents in their old age and was a devoted son to them. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 745 He is an excellent farmer and raises considerable live stock on the place. Mr. Robinson is an industrious and loyal citizen of his native county and keeps the homestead in splendid condition as a matter of duty and pride. O. A. Heinlein. — The most satisfactory thing that can be said of the career of a successful citizen, in recording the story of his accomplish- ments in the realms of business, industrial, or other fields, is — that "He is a self-made man," and is justly entitled to all that he possesses and has accumulated, because of the fact that his success has been due to his ow^n honest endeavors. The title of "self-made man" can be w^ell applied to Mr. O. A. Heinlein, mayor of Butler, Missouri and president of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri, and vice- president of the Farmers Bank. During thirty-five years of endeavor in Bates county, Mr. Heinlein has achieved a success which is creditable and due to the following of a fixed plan and energetic application to the duties at hand, a policy which has placed him at the head of one of the most important commercial concerns of western Missouri, and his recognition by the citizens of Butler as a man capable of filling the post of city executive. Mr. Heinlein began his career as a clerk at small wages in the mercantile establishment of which he is now president, and steadily forged his way to the front. During the years that have passed, he has become a leader in the business world of this county. O. A. Heinlein was born in Christian county, Illinois, December 16, 1864, a son of Lawa'ence and Elizabeth (Johnson) Heinlein. Lawrence Hein- lein, his father, was born April 28, 1828 in Ohio, Guernsey county, a son of Asa Heinlein, a native of Ohio reared in Guernsey county. He mar- ried Elizabeth Johnson, born October 14, 1830 in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. To this marriage were born children as follow: Samuel E., employed with the Emerson-Brantingham Company, Kansas City, Missouri; F. M., a retired farmer living at Blue Mound, Illinois; Mrs. J. A. Wear, Butler, Missouri; O. A., subject of this review; H. W., traveling salesman for the Hall Lithograph Company, Kansas City, Mis- souri ; two children died in infancy. During his entire life, Lawrence Heinlein followed agricultural pursuits. Mr. Heinlein moved to Illinois in 1848 and settled near Springfield. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1883, driving fronl Illinois overland in a covered wagon, and located on a farm in Spruce township. He resided upon a farm until his retire- ment to a home in Butler, in 1896. His death occurred in this city in 1901. Eight years later his wife followed him to the grave, dying in ^,^6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1909. Both parents are buried in Oak Hill cemetery. They were sub- stantial and well respected citizens of Bates county, who added mate- rially to the citizenship of the county. O. A. Heinlein was educated in the pul)lic schools and in Butler Academy. After leaving school he entered the Bennett-Wheeler Mer- cantile Company establishment as a clerk at twenty dollars per month. So diligently did he apply himself and so careful was he with his earnings that he was enabled to purchase a small interest in the con- cern on January 1, 1891. He continued to invest his savings in the business and to apply himself assiduously to attain familiarity with every phase of the conduct of the business, and he was elected president of the company on January 1, 1898. Since this time he has been the active head of the business which has grown constantly in importance and size. The Bennett-Wheeler store was originally located on the site of the Missouri State Bank. It was moved to the site of the Farm- ers Bank, and in 1890 the store was located in its present cjuarters at the northeast corner of the public scjuare. The brick store building is two stories in height, and is 50 by 100 feet in dimensions, with an additional main floor space of 50 by 145 feet. The store covers an entire block. The concern also occupies two floors on the opposite side of the street measuring 50 by 100 feet and 25 by 75 feet in dimensions. The stock of hardware goods and implements carried by the Bennett- Wheeler Mercantile Company is the largest in Bates county. Mr. Hein- lein is owner of one thousand acres of land in Bates county. He is vice-president of the Farmers Bank of Butler. In 1910, the marriage of O. A. Heinlein with Miss Katie Lambert Canterbury occurred. Mrs. Heinlein is a daughter of Ben and Frances Tillie (Pentzer) Canterbury, well-known residents of Butler, concern- ing whom a biographical review is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Heinlein have four children: Oscar Allen, Jr.; Frances Elizabeth; Ben Canterbury; and Katherine Ann. The Heinlein resi- dence is located at 200 North Delaware street and is one of the many beautiful, modern homes of Butler. Along with his business activities, Mr. Heinlein has ever been cog- nizant of his obligations as a citizen of Butler and Bates county. Every movement having for its purpose the advancement of the material wel- fare of the county and its people have found him in the very forefront from its inception. He served a term as city councilman and was elected mayor of the city, in April, 1916. Since taking over the duties of his HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 747 office he has applied to the conduct of city and municipal affairs the same business methods which have made his own business such a pro- nounced success, the result being that Butler is practically out of debt. The indebtedness of the city amounted to $8,000 at the beginning of his term of office, all of which has been paid, and the city now owns its own water and electric light plants which are ably managed at a profit to the city treasury. For the past twenty-eight years, Mr. Hein- lein has been secretary and treasurer of the Presbyterian Sunday School of Butler. E. C. Wilson, the well-known cashier of the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, is one of Bates county's prominent financiers. Mr. Wilson was born July 31, 1891, at Clinton in Henry county, Missouri, a son of Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Wilson, who settled in Henry county forty years ago and are now residents of Clinton, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Wilson have been born the following children: Frank, of Clin- ton, Missouri; C. D., of Clinton, Missouri; W. A., of Parsons, Kansas; Jessie, an only daughter at home with her parents; and E. C, the subject of this review. Tn the city schools of Clinton, Missouri, E. C. \\ ilson received his elementary education, which was afterward supplemented by a thorough business course at Colt's Business College. After completing his school work, Mr. Wilson was engaged in railroad work until he entered the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, as cashier in 1916, succeeding J. R. Wyatt, who has succeeded L. Wyatt, the cashier at the time of the organization of the institution. The Farmers Bank has doubled its business during the past year and much of its marked and splendid success has been and now is undoubtedly due to the energetic efforts of its capable cashier, who has mastered w^ell the intricate problem of finance. The marriage of E. C. Wilson and Mayme L. Griffith, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W^esley Griffith, of Clinton, Missouri, was solemnized May 19, 1916. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are very popular with the young people of Rockville and they move in the best social circles of Bates county. Mr. Wilson is held in the highest respect by the leading busi- ness men of the county, who know him to be a young man of ability and exceptionally keen discernment and business judgment. The Farmers Bank of Rockville, Missouri, was organized July 10, 1913, with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars. The present capital stock of the bank is ten thousand dollars, the surplus fund and undi- 748 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY vided profits fifteen hundred dollars, and the deposits, at the time of this writing in 1918, more than sixty-six thousand dollars. The offi- cials of the Farmers Bank of Rockville are, as follow: J. N. McDavitt, president; August Fischer, vice-president; E. C. Wilson, cashier; and John T. Mock, Gates Merryfield, M. G. Wilson, C. L. Roberts, and T. W. Gray, directors. This bank is one of the sound financial insti- tutions of Bates county, Missouri. D. D. Bassett, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, is a native of Michigan. He was born in Branch county, April 18, 1870, a son of George and Rebecca (McCool) Bassett, George Bassett was born in Billows Falls, Vermont, April 8, 1828. He was a son of George R. Bassett, who was also a native of Vermont, He went to Utica, New York, with his family in 1842, when George, the father of D. D., was about fourteen years old. Six years later, or in 1848, he went farther W'est, this time locating in LaGrange county, Indiana. Here, George R. Bassett spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1899, lacking only six days of being one hundred years old. His wife lacked only three days of being one hundred years old at her death. The Bassett family is of Engdish descent and trace their ances- try back to the House of Kent in England. The Bassett family was founded in America by Francis Livingston Bassett, who settled in New England in colonial times. Richard Bassett, ancestor of D. D. Bas- sett, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Rebecca McCool, mother of D. D. Bassett, was a Pennsylvanian, born near Philadelphia. She was a daughter of Aaron and Margaret (Montgomery) McCool. Her father was a native of Ireland and her mother was a daughter of Robert R. Montgomery and of Scotch descent. George Bassett was about twenty years of age when he came West with his parents. He was employed on the first railroad to reach Chi- cago from the East, at that time making his home at Elkhart, Indiana. Later, he went to Michigan and was engaged in the lumber business for a time when he returned to Elkhart, Indiana. In the fall of 1874 he went to Iowa with his family, remaining there until 1877, when he went to Kansas and settled in Dickinson county. Three years later, or in 1880, he came to Bates county, Missouri, locating in Pleasant Gap township on the place where D. D. Bassett, the subject of this sketch, now resides. He was successfully engaged in farming and stockraising here during the remainder of his life. He died on September 27, 1911. THREE GENERATIONS OF THE BASSETT FAMILY. Reading left to right: Mrs. George R. Bassett, William C. Bassett, George Bassett. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 749 He was a progressive citizen and a man whose career may be well said to have been a successful one. He was reared a Democrat but in later life became a Republican. George Bassett was twice married, his first wife being Martha Lee, a direct descendant of "Light Horse Harry Lee." To this first mar- riage were born four children as follow: William, with the Postum Cereal Company, Battle Creek, Michigan; James, locomotive engineer on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, resides at Elkhart, Indiana; Charles, resides near Elkhart, Indiana; and Evving, Pleasant Gap, Missouri. To George Bassett and Rebecca McCool, his second wife, whom he married in 1867, was born only one child, D. D. Bassett, the subject of this sketch. Rebecca McCool was a widow when she married Mr. Bassett, her first husband being Timothy W. Adams. Two children were born to that union: Timothy W. Adams, Jr., whose whereabouts is unknown; and Cassius Adams, deceased. Rebecca (McCool) Bassett died in 1897. D. D. Bassett was about ten years old when he came to Bates county with his parents. He received his education in the public schools and has made farming and stockraising his occupation. He specializes in high-grade Shorthorn cattle and has his place well stocked. Mr. Bassett's farm is one of the valuable places of Pleasant Gap township. It is well improved, well kept and has all the earmarks of a progressive and thrifty owner. The home place consists of one hundred forty-five acres. Mr. Bassett was united in marriage in 1900 with Miss Eva Willey, a native of Pleasant Gap township, born in August, 1872. She is a daughter of Gideon Willey, a native of Delaware, born in 1829. He came to Missouri in 1870 and died here in 1882. To Mr. and Mrs. Bassett have been born three children, as follow: Helen, born in 1900 and died in infancy; Dexter Dillard, born Febru- ary 6, 1902; and Lloyd L., born November 8, 1903, both attending school. Mr. Bassett is a Republican and takes an active interest in the local political organization, having served as township committeeman for a number of years. J. N. McDavitt, a well-known merchant of Rockville, ^Missouri and former justice of the peace, clerk, assessor, trustee, and treasurer of Hudson township, a notary public of Rockville, filling his second term in ofBce at the time of this writing in 1918, is a worthy representative 750 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. McDavitt was born in Edgar county, Illinois, in 1854 and when a child thirteen years of age came to Bates county,* Missouri, with his parents, J. P. and Eliza J. McDavitt. J. P. McDavitt was a native of \'irginia. He was born in 1828 and ]\Irs. McDavitt was born in Virginia in 1833. Mr, McDavitt purchased a farm in this section of the state before he came thence to make his permanent home, a tract of land embracing two hundred forty acres, which he improved and cultivated, engaging in general farming and stock raising and feeding. J. P. McDavitt was a leader in his community and one of the most prominent and iniiuen- tial men of his day in his district. He was instrumental in bringing about the organization of District Number 6 and in the building of the school house, erected in 1869, a small frame building constructed after the style of the sixties, Mr. McDavitt took a leading and important part. He was for many years the school director in his district. He built the residence on his farm in 1867, hauling the lumber for its con- struction from Pleasant Hill. J. P. McDavitt had purchased a yoke of oxen from James Hook for one hundred fifty dollars, a team which weighed four thousand one hundred sixty pounds, and with the oxen it required one week to make the trip to Pleasant Hill. There was a stage route from Sedalia to Fort Scott and the route passed through the McDavitt farm. One day, J. P. McDavitt sent a young man, named Lindsay, who was employed by him, to Prairie City for the mail. Prairie City was six or seven miles distant, and at that time was little more than a village in embryo as there was but one store and two resi- dences in the place. Johannas was then the leading merchant of Prai- rie City. Young' Lindsay had traveled the distance that had been designated and as he was a city man accustomed to large towns he became alarmed thinking that he had missed the w^ay, so he rode to the little country store and inquired of the owner the way and the distance to Prairie City. Johannas. replied, "This is Prairie City." The first house built on the McDavitt place was a cal:)in having a stick chimney, which was put up in the autumn of 1866 prior to the coming of the McDavitts. J. N. McDavitt well recalls seeing deer, a herd of five, which frequently came near his father's home. The father owned a long, old-fashioned rifle and though young J. N. McDavitt longed for an opportunity to try his skill at killing deer with it his father was fearful lest harm come to his son and refused hin; permission to shoot with the old rifle. A neighbor, Vanderpool, kept a pack of HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 75 1 hounds and was constantly on the hunt and the chase. Once, when J. N. McDavitt heard the baying- of the hounds and knew that they were chasing a deer, he located himself behind a tree near the path the prey must necessarily come and with his father's old rifle waited impa- tiently, became too anxious to shoot and fired at the buck before taking aim. When Vanderpool came up, he asked of the lad if he had hit any- thing and young McDavitt replied that the big buck ran out of the path and acted very much as if it were hit. But when Vanderpool returned from the chase emptyhanded, J. N. McDavitt was informed in a few terse words as to the value of his unasked assistance in the' hunt. In the same year and in the autumn, Mr. McDavitt had an exceptional opportunity to kill a deer. He ran for the trusty old rifle and, thinking it a pity to shoot the animal in the heart, he decided to shoot it in the head. The bullet barely grazed the animal's head and the deer seemed to be unable to decide just what had happened before the boy hunter had reloaded the rifle from his vantage point behind a tree and shot again, this time at the deer's heart. It ran about thirty feet and fell. Young McDavitt reloaded, approached the dying animal and the second shot in the head had an immediate effect. An old hunter passed the lad and his first prey and explained to him how to carry the deer, but it was too much of a load for him. He called his father, proudly telling him of his good fortune and the two carried it home. Henceforth, the senior McDavitt granted his son the free use of the trusty old rifle. To J. P. and Eliza J. McDavitt were born the following children: J. M., the subject of this review; J. F., who died at Anadarko, Okla- homa; Mrs. Mary S. Peeler, of Hudson township. Bates county, Mis- souri; Mrs. Rosa Peeler, Guthrie, Oklahoma; and Mrs. Dollie Nichols, of Vernon county, Missouri. The father died on his farm, where he had settled in 1867, in 1906 and five years later, in 1911. he was joined in death by the mother. Both parents are interred in the Baptist ceme- tery in Bates county. J. N. McDavitt received his education in the public schools of District Number 6, Bates county, Missouri. He afterward taught school for one term in the same district, while at the same time he was engaged in farming on his eighty-acre tract of land. In December, 1909, J. N. McDavitt moved from the farm to Rockville, having received the appointment of postmaster, and for three years he served efficiently in this capacity. Mr. McDavitt was one of the organizers of the Farm- ers Bank of Rockville and he has been the first and only president of ^^2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ■ this financial institution, still holding this position at the time of this writing in 1918. A brief sketch of the Farmers Bank of Rockville, Mis- souri, appears in connection with the biography of E. C. Wilson, which will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. McDavitt opened a gen- eral store at his present location in Rockville in December, 1914, and is now the owner of one of the prosperous mercantile establishments of Bates county. He conducts a variety store, carrying a complete line of dry goods, gents' furnishings, and notions, and enjoys a large patron- age. The marriage of J. N. McDavitt and Alice M. Nearhoof, a daughter of Mrs, Catherine Nearhoof, of Round Prairie, was solemnized in 1878. The father of Mrs. McDavitt died when she was a little child. Mrs. Catherine Nearhoof died in 1910. To J. N. and Alice M. McDavitt have been born four children, who are now living, two who are deceased, as follow: Pearl, the wife of William Carter, of Horace, Kansas; Gertie, the wife of R. L. Piepmeier, CofTeyville, Kansas; Jessie, the wife of Vernie Rains; Grace, the wife of L. V. Brown, of Round Prai- rie; Hallie, who died at the age of seenteen years; and Joseph P., who died in infancy. Mr. McDavitt is a skilful accountant, one familiar with all the intri- cacies of banking, and his judgment in matters of finance" is seldom at fault. He has been an active participant in the public affairs of his town and township and has filled satisfactorily many public offices. In every station of life, official or otherwise, Mr. McDavitt has displayed superior ability and not a breath of suspicion has ever darkened his record. Plain and unassuming in manner, frank and genial, he has won and retains the good will, respect, and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact. Mr. and Mrs. McDavitt are numbered among the best citizens of Rockville. Henry William Schapeler, a late leading farmer and stockman of Prairie township, was a native of Germany. Mr. Schapeler was born in 1851 and came to the United States when he was a youth, sixteen years of age. He located first in the state of Texas, where he remained more than two years, going thence to Kentucky and from that state coming to Bates county, Missouri, where he, his mother, and his two brothers, Ferdinand and Hermann, located on a tract of land east of Prairie City, Missouri, for a few months, when they moved to a coun- try place south of the Redford church. Mrs. Schapeler and her three sons made their home together for several years, until each of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 753 boys married, Ferdinand being united in marriage with Mrs. Catherine Link and Hermann with jMinnie Drawe. The Schapeler brothers were associated in business and together purchased a large tract of land in Bates county. For many years, the three boys had but one pocket- book. They made the brick for the construction of their first resi- dences in Bates county, Missouri, building a small house for each one in the early seventies. These houses are still standing and are in use, but additions have since been made to the original structures. The Schapeler brothers during the early days, drove large herds of cattle from Texas and fattened them in Bates county. In the early days, Henry William Schapeler experienced a never- to-be-forgotten attack from a large rattlesnake. Mr. Schapeler was bitten on the foot, while barefoot plowing corn. He killed the reptile and then drank one and a half quarts of whiskey. The men who were with him in the field started with him to Papinsville, JDUt before they arrived the whiskey had taken effect and that saved his life. Mr. Schapeler had never before been or afterward became intoxicated. The marriage of Henry \\'illiam Schapeler and All^ertina Steffan was solemnized in 1883. Albertina (Steffan) Schapeler is a daughter of Tobias and Catherine Steffan. Mrs. Schapeler came to this country alone in 1880. To Henry William and Mrs. Schapeler were born three children, who are now living: Frederika Catherine, who is at home with her widowed mother; Hermann Tol^ias W'illiam, at home; and Carl Ferdinand Henry, at home. Mr. Schapeler died May 25, 1916. He was a devout Christian gentleman, an earnest and conscientious member of the German Reformed church and one of its most faithful workers and willing supporters. The Schapelers materially assisted in the found- ing of the Reformed church of Prairie township, the mother of Henry AVilliam Schapeler donating a tract of land embracing three acres for the site of the present church building and cemetery. The Henry William Schapeler estate comprises nine hundred twenty- three acres of valuable land in Bates county, Missouri, of which four hundred forty-three acres are in the home place. Mr. Schapeler was engaged in cattle raising and general farming. He was all his life a busy man, strong, active, energetic. His splendid estate is but a monu- ment to his industry and thrift. His two sons, Hermann Tobias AA'illiam and Carl Ferdinand Henry, are now in charge of the home place. They are successful and progressive, young agriculturists and stockmen, fol- lowing the vocations of dairying and stock raising and general farming. (48) 754 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY They have a large herd of Shorthorn Durham cattle, usually keeping a registered male at the head of the herd, and they keep on the place from sixty to one hundred head of pure-bred Duroc Jersey hogs. For the past eight years, the Schapeler boys have been raising a few sheep Politically, they are affiliated with the Republican party. In 1870, Henry William Schapeler settled in Prairie township, Bates county, and for nearly fifty years he w^as one of the honored and respected builders of western Missouri. He was a gentleman of pleasing personality and his record in business is well worthy of emu- lation for he made it his policy to meet all obligations and no conii- dence reposed in him or trust confided to his keeping was ever betrayed. He and his most estimable wife always worked hard and as a result of their persistent efTorts, sound judgment, and wise economy they were in later years enabled to live in the ease and comfort, both so richly merited. Mr. Schapeler's influence was ever thrown to the side of morality and his manly, upright, God-fearing life won the respect and esteem of all who knew him. James E. Bartlett, a prominent citizen of Butler, is a representative of one of the first pioneer families of Bates county. He was born at the Bartlett homestead in Walnut township May 25, 1857, a son of Edmund and Maria L. (Cook) Bartlett. The Bartletts came to Mis- souri from Kentucky in 1844 and located temporarily in Morgan county. Two years later, Edmund Bartlett came to Bates county and located on the land wdiich is the present townsite of Spruce, whence he after- ward moved to a farm in Walnut township in 1849, where his son, James E., the subject of this review, was born. The Bartletts continued to reside on the farm in Walnut township until "Order Number 11" was issued in 1863, when they moved to Baldwin, Douglas county, Kansas, and there remained until the close of the war. They returned to their country home in Walnut township after the Civil War had ended and there resided until 1883. Edmund Bartlett was a member of the Bates county court in the early fifties during the time Judge Myers was a member. At one time. Judge Bartlett was the ownier of five hundred acres of land located in Walnut township. Bates county, a portion of which he entered from the government. He had succeeded in accumu- lating a handsome competence in spite of the hardships of pioneer life and the disasters of war. Before the outbreak of the Civil W^ar, much of his property was stolen and during the war all his farm buildings were burned and his stock taken. The Bartletts hauled their heavy HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 755 merchandise from Boonville and from Pleasant Hill, using oxen. The senior Bartlett used to haul loads of pecans and hickory nuts to Boon- ville in Cooper county and trade the nuts for groceries and other neces- sities. Judge Bartlett died in January, 1898, and his remains are interred in the cemetery at Foster, Missouri. He was a splendid example of the brave, early pioneer, a strong, virile man, who nobly did his part and cheerfully discharged his duties in wresting the country from its primitive state and laying strong and deep the foundations upon which rests its present prosperity, a representative citizen and public-spirited gentleman of Bates county. Miss Josephine Bartlett, a sister of James E. Bartlett, was employed as teacher at Greenview school house when James E. began school work there. He recalls his second teacher, Miss Bradshaw. After leaving school, Mr. Bartlett began farming for himself on the home place and was thus engaged until 1883, when he located near La Cygne, Kansas. One year later, he returned to Bates county, Missouri, and for a year was located at Passaic, after which he located on a farm in the spring of 1885 of one hundred thirty-four acres of land, in Lone Oak township, wdiich he purchased for twenty-five dollars an acre. Mr. Bartlett improved his farm in Lone Oak township, adding a com- fortable residence and a good barn and all necessary farm conven- iences. While a resident of this township, James E. Bartlett was a leader in his community and filled many offices of public trust, serving as collector of taxes, township clerk, township assessor, and school director in his district for many years. The marriage of James E. Bartlett and Florence Phillips was solemnized in 1881. Mrs. Bartlett is a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Phillips, who settled near La Cygne, Kansas, in 1858. Mr. Phillips died in the autumn of 1883 and is buried in the cemetery located south- east of La Cygne. The widowed mother survived her husband until 1906, when she joined him in death. Mrs. Phillips died in Lone Oak township. Bates county, and her remains were taken to the cemetery at La Cygne for burial beside those of her husband. To James E. and Florence (Phillips) Bartlett have been born two sons: Homer C, who is engaged in farming in Lone Oak township on the home place; and- Roy C, a well-known, progressive real-estate man of Butler, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett moved to Butler March 1, 1918. As a good citizen, James E. Bartlett occupies no small place in the 756 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY public esteem, being active in all that concerns the public good and liberal in his support of all worthy enterprises, which have for their object the material or moral advancement of the community. Robert Roland Earsom, a substantial citizen of Pleasant Gap town- ship, belongs to a prominent pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in Audrain county, Missouri, January 18, 1850, a son of James Madison and Mary Nowlan (Mahan) Earsom. The father was a native of Vir- ginia and the mother, of Kentucky. James Madison Earsom grew to manhood in Virginia, where his father was a large planter and an extensive slave holder, owning at one time nine hundred acres of land in the Shenandoah valley. In 1836, James Madison Earsom came to Missouri, settling in Audrain county, where he proved up on two hundred eighty-six acres of land where he spent the balance of his life. His wife and the mother of R. R. Earsom was also a very early settler in Missouri. She came to this state with her parents from Kentucky when St. Louis was little more than a trad- ing post, at most a small village. R. R. Earsom was one of a family of ten children born to his parents and he is the only one of the family now living. His oldest brother, John, served in the Union army during the Civil War, and his second oldest brother, Peyton, served in the Confederate army. These two brothers fought on opposite sides at the battle of Marshall, but did not know it until afterward. Peyton died at DuBall's Bluff, Arkansas. Mr. Earsom was reared in Audrain county, Missouri, and received the greater part of his education in the old log school house of that day and age. He came to Bates county in 1871 and settled in Pleasant Gap township which has since been his home. He at first bought eighty acres of land for which he paid $17.50 an acre, and later he accjuired more land, but within the last few years he has sold some and now owns a valuable farm of one hundred forty-five acres. Mr. Earsom has practically retired and rents his farm. On January 22, 1871, Mr. Earsom was united in marriage with Miss Celia J. Hukel, a native of Boone county, Missouri, where her parents settled at a very early date. To Mr. and Mrs. Earsom were born eight children, seven of whom are living, as follow: Isaac New- ton, Pleasant Gap township; Letta^ married Walter T. Little and tliey reside on the home place, they have two children, Robert Virgil and Leota; William M., Pleasant Gap; Anthony Marion, Butler; Minnie Bell, married Mark Spain, Pleasant Gap township; Rev. Charles Albertus, ROBERT ROLAND EARSOM AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY * 757 Golden City, Missouri; and Earnest Earl, Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Ear- soni departed this life Fel^ruary 7, 1915, aged sixty-nine years. She was a Christian woman and lived an exemplary life. She had been a con- sistent member of the Christian church for forty years, she and Mr. Ear- som having- joined the old Macedonian church in Audrain county in 1S67, of which they were charter members. Mr. Earsom saw many of the hardships of the pioneer days and like many others had a hard struggle to get a start in life, but he finally overcame difificulties and succeeded. AAdien he was a young man he worked one year for a man in the northern part of the state and received SI 75 for the year's work. During that year he split five thousand rails. Bates county was wild and unsettled when Mr. Earsom came here, compared with its present state. At that time there was not a barn between his place and Butler. He often saw deer, and other wild game was plentiful. Roy Bartlett, of the firm of Sleeth & Bartlett, abstract, loans and real estate, is one of the enterprising young citizens of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Bartlett was born May 10, 1885, a son of James E. and Florence (Phillips) Bartlett, a highly respected family of Butler, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Roy Bartlett has an older brother, Homer C, who is a prosperous farmer of Lone Oak township. Mr. Bartlett, whose name introduces this review, received his edu- cation in 'the city schools of Butler, Missouri. After completing his school work, he engaged in agricultural pursuits until the autumn of 1913, when he, in partnership with C. A. Sleeth, opened an office on Ohio street in the city of Butler and entered the abstract, real estate, and loan business, in which he has been profitably engaged for the past live years at the time of this writing in 1918. When Mr. Bartlett was but twenty-one years of age, he was elected a member of the tov.nship board of Lone Oak township and although he is still a young man thirty-three years of age, he has been twice honored w4th the office of justice of the peace, which he satisfactorily and capably filled for two terms. In 1909, the marriage of Roy Bartlett and Daisy Seelinger, a daugh- ter of John Seelinger, a well-to-do, intelligent farmer and stockman of Summit towmship. Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized. Mrs. Bartlett is a native of Summit township, a granddaughter of one of the honored pioneers of Prairie township. Bates county. To Rov and Daisy Bartlett have been born three children: Agnes Magdalene, 758 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Helen, and Ruth Esther. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett and their daughters reside in Butler at 502 West Adams street. Fraternally, Roy Bartlett is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security and the Yeomen, Politically, he is a stanch member of the Democratic party. Like his father before him, Mr. Bartlett is a man of prominence in his community and one of the substantial citizens of Butler and Bates county. H. C, Hyatt, Jr., manager of "Fairview Stock Farm" of four hun- dred acres of land located two miles east of Adrian in Deer Creek township, one of the finest stock farms in this section of the state, is one of the progressive, young agriculturists and stockmen of Bates county. "Fairview Stock Farm" was improved by Edward Argen- bright and purchased by H. C. Hyatt, Sr., in 1908. , The splendid im- provements on the place include a handsome residence, a house of two stories and nine rooms; a barn, 64 x 74 feet in dimensions, for horses; a barn, 40 x 80 feet in dimensions, for cattle and hay; and several good wells. One well on the place is only ten feet in depth, but with a wind- mill attached furnishes a sufficient amount of water to supply all the stock. There are three windmills on "Fairview Stock Farm." H. C. Hyatt, Sr., sold the farm in 1916 and H. C. Hyatt, Jr., is the present lessee. He has at the time of this writing in 1918 one hundred head of cattle and usually keeps on the farm at least one hundred head of hogs and at the present time has twenty head of horses and mules. One year ago, H. C. Hyatt, Jr., had two hundred fifty head of cattle and four hundred head of hogs at "Fairview Stock Farm." He is one of the most extensive feeders in Bates county and he states that he was reared in the stock business and knows no other, H. C. Hyatt, Jr., was born near Schell City in St. Clair county, Missouri, on March 11, 1889, a son of H. C. and Eliza (Lucas) Hyatt, residents of Clinton, Missouri. The junior Hyatt was reared and edu- cated in St. Clair county, Missouri. He came with his parents to Bates county in 1905 and with them located first in Mound township, coming thence to his present farm in 1908. The son was in partnership with the father until the latter sold the farm in 1916 and since that time H. C. Hyatt, Jr., has been employed as manager of "Fairview Stock Farm." He is an exceptionally capable and intelligent stockman and is making a marked success and a name for himself in the stock business. In 1907, H. C. Hyatt and Leora V. Beaman, a daughter of David W. and Missouri Ella Beaman. honored and respected pioneers of Sum- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 759 mit township, Bates county, were united in marriage. To H. C. and Mrs. Hyatt have been born two children: H. C, "The Third," who was born February 7, 1912; and Elsie Marie. Mr. and Mrs. Hyatt are widely and favorably known in Deer Creek township and they have an enviable standing in the county, socially and financially. Reared in the country and from his boyhood days accustomed to toil in the field, meadow, and wood, the life of H. C. Hyatt, [r., has thus far been practically devoid of striking incidents, but has been the career of a dutiful son assisting his father in industriously discharging the obligations of a prosperous and successful husbandman and later of the independent, energetic farmer and stockman. William Buckles, of William Buckles & Son, merchant of Altona, Missouri, is one of the successful business men of Bates county. Mr. Buckles and his son, H. F., purchased the Tabler Brothers' stock of merchandise at Altona on March 1, 1917, and are engaged in conducting a general store at this place, carrying a splendid line of groceries, boots, shoes, rubber goods of all kinds, tanks, and oil, gas, and water pumps. The mercantile establishment owned by William Buckles & Son is located in their own two-story building in Altona, a building 24 x 60 feet in dimensions, the second story of which is used as a dwelling. Altona is a little city situated seven miles east of Adrian, Missouri, having three churches, the Baptist, the Christian, and the Methodist, a postoffice of which H. F. Buckles is the efficient and popular post- master and Fred Cowgill the well-known carrier on Rural Route 1, a circulating library of two hundred volumes which is much appreci- ated by the citizens of the town who may have the privilege of read- ing all the volumes for the payment of two dollars membership fee used to obtain new books, a blacksmith shop, and the general store owned by William Buckles & Son. Altona is in the midst of the richest farming district of Bates county. W'illiam Buckles is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1859 in Van Buren county, a son of A. J. and Julia (Abbott) Buckles, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Both parents of Mr. Buckles died in Van Buren county, Iowa. He was reared and educated in Iowa and in early manhood came to Missouri, locating near Chilli- cothe in 1883, then in Benton county, whence he came to Bates county in 1893 and located on a farm in Grand River township, which place he rented for nearly thirteen years before purchasing the tract of land which he traded for the stock of merchandise previously mentioned. 760 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY In 1881, AA'illiam Buckles and Ella Patterson, a daughter of Robert R. and Catherine Patterson, of Van Bnren county, Iowa, were united in marriage. Mr. Patterson is now deceased and the v\ndovved mother resides at Bolivar, Missouri. To William and Ella (Patterson) Buckles have been born seven children: Pearly G., superintendent of the Odessa High School, Odessa, Missouri; Robert Ernest, who is with the Kansas City Milling Company, Kansas City, Missouri; Harley E. and Charley E., twins, the former, the assistant postmaster of Altona from March until November, 1917, and the postmaster since November, 1917, a teacher emplo3xd at Altona for two years prior to entering business with his father and now his father's willing, able, and energetic assistant, and the latter, an industrious and successful agriculturist and stock- man of Grand River township. Bates county, Missouri; Nora, the teacher at Smoky Row in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri, who resides at home with her parents; and Howard and Homer, twins, both of whom are now sophomore students in the Adrian High School, Adrian, Missouri. The life of William Buckles has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. Mr. and Mrs. Buckles and their family are highly respected and valued in Altona and they have scores of friends in Bates county. Charles W. Wolfe, a retired farmer and stockman of Butler, Mis- souri, one of the honored Union veterans of the Civil W^ar, is one of the leading citizens of Bates county. Mr. Wolfe is a native of Athens county, Ohio. He was born October 9, 1842, a son of Jacob and Sallie (Bryson) Wolfe, the father, a native of Ohio and the mother, of Bed- ford county, Pennsylvania. Jacob Wolfe was a son of George \\'olfe, a native of W^estmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Both parents of Charles W. W^olfe are now deceased and their remains lie interred in. a cemetery in Athens county, Ohio. In the common schools of Athens county, Ohio, Charles A\\ AA'olfe received his education. At the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in the Union army on April 22, 1861, and for five months served with Company A, Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, when taken ill with measles and honorably discharged. Mr. AVolfe re-enlisted with the Eifteenth Iowa Infantrv on September 26, 1864, and he was with Sherman on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. Charles AA^ AA^olfe was mustered out and received his final honoral)lc discharge at Louis\-ille, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 761 Kentucky, and his pay at Davenport, Iowa. After the close of the Civil AVar, Mr. Wolfe returned to his home in Ohio, coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869, and locating on a farm in Charlotte town- ship, in which township he has since owned several different country places. Later, he purchased a farm of one hundred forty-eight acres of land in Homer township and at the present time is the proprietor of a country place located near Old Virginia. Mr. Wolfe retired from the active pursuits of agriculture in 1910 and moved to his home in the city of Butler, a comfortable residence at 116 West Fort Scott street. The marriage of Charles W. Wolfe and Mary Young, a native of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Higgins) Young, was solemnized in January, 1862. John Young was born in Ohio and Mrs. Young was born in West Virginia near Wheeling and both departed this life at the Young homestead in Athens county, Ohio. To Charles W. and Mary (Young) Wolfe have been born five children, four of whom are now living: James, a noted attorney of the state of Kansas, who practiced law with Senator Stone of Mis- souri and was admitted to the bar under him when located at Nevada, Missouri, a popular author whose book, "Why Is a Bachelor?" has been widely read throughout the country, a recently appointed mem- ber of advisory draft board of Kansas, receiving his appointment from Governor Capper, and a talented lecturer who has traveled extensively on chautauqua circuits; David C, who was a successful and prosperous farmer and stockman at the time of his death at the age of forty-nine years at Virginia, Missouri, and he has left a widow, Telia May (Parks) Wolfe, and several children; Julia Etta, the wife of W. F. McKibben, of Amsterdam, Missouri ; Reverend J. J., a graduate of the Butler High School and a former teacher in the Bates county public schools, a recently ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church at present serving at Garden City, Missouri ; and Bertha L., the widow of Andrew Simpson and the mother of two daughters: Mary Josephine, a graduate of the Butler High School in the class of 1915 and now a teacher in the pul^lic schools of Bates county, Missouri ; and Lee Etta, a student in the Butler High School, Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe have repeatedly opened their hearts and home and welcomed other lit- tle ones for whom they have cared with the same solicitude bestowed upon their own children and they have reared, in addition to their own, three children, nameh^: Robert Tye Wolfe, a grandson, who is now 762 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY with his father, Reverend J. J. \\'olfe, at Garden City, Missouri, and is a student in Kansas City Business College ; Maud Hockett, now the wife of Reverend Edward Skidmore, of Sugar City, Idaho; and Ivy Cathey, now the wife of Claude Kenion, of Amoret, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe are lovers of children and they are very proud of their fifteen grandchildren and three great-gTandchildren. Mrs. Wolfe is a remarkable woman, a lady of boundless energy and deep and abiding human sympathy. Mr. Wolfe, at the age of seventy-six years, is still physically and mentally alert and as active as many men several years younger than he. He is a fluent and interesting conversationalist and justly proud of his splendid family of boys and girls. Hermann A, W. Schapeler, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Prairie township, was one of Bates county's prosperous and success- ful citizens. Mr. Schapeler was born in Germany in 1847. He emi- grated from his native land and located in Texas in the United States in 1870, going thence to Kentucky, where he remained but a short time, when he came to Missouri in 1873 and settled in Bates county on the farm now owned by his widow, Mrs. Minnie Schapeler. Hermann A. W., Ferdinand, and William Schapeler, three brothers, with their widowed mother, Mrs. Frederika Schapeler, settled on a tract of land in Prairie township, Bates county. Mrs. Schapeler donated the land which is the present site of the Reformed church and cemetery, a tract of three acres, and she was the second person to be laid to rest in the cemetery. "Johnny" Flick was the first to be interred in the cemetery of the Reformed church. Mrs. Schapeler died July 26, 1879. The marriage of Hermann A. AA\ Schapeler and Minnie Drawe was solemnized May 30, 1879. Minnie (Drawe) Schapeler was born August 8, 1859, in Fayette county, Texas, and is a daughter of Louis and Katherina Drawe, who were residents of Texas at the time of the marriage of their daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Schapeler were born the following children : William L., of Hudson township. Bates county, Missouri; Hermann H., of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri: Louis F., of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri; Frederika, who died at the age of nine years; Henry J. and Edward E., who reside at home with their wndowed mother. For many years, Hermann A. W. Schapeler fed cattle extensively and was one of the progressive men of his connnunity. Mr. Schapeler increased his holdings until he had at one time an estate of eight hun- dred acres of valuable land. He and his two brothers, Ferdinand and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^763 William, were in partnership in farming- and stock raising until all three were married. To his sons Mr. Schapeler gave at the time of his death one hundred sixty acres of land each. Hermann A. AV. Schapeler died May 2, 1916. He was one of the most substantial and enterpris- ing stockmen of Bates county and as a citizen, neigh1)or, and friend his record was an honorable one, his good name being far above re- proach. Mr. Schapeler was a man of much public spirit and stanchly supported every laudable movement made in behalf of the general good of his township and county. He was a faithful and consistent adherent to the creed of the Reformed church and contributed freely of his means and influence in support of the Gospel and those who knew Mr. Schapeler best know that he fearlessly met his "Pilot, face to face," when he had crossed the bar. He has been sadly missed in his home and in the community. The Schapeler farm lies two miles north and one mile west of Prairie City, Missouri. Henry J. and Edward E. Schapeler have charge of the place and their mother is their homemaker, housekeeper, and counselor. Mrs. Schapeler recalls many old settlers of Bates county, among whom were the following: Leonard Hegnauer, Samuel Kaiser, Tony Hammer,- Peter Grop, John Camp, William Burris, John Barrows, and George Malbley. She states that "Nick" Johannas was the merch- ant of Prairie City in the early seventies. Reverend Kinerem was the first minister of the Reformed church of Prairie township. He died in St. Clair county, Missouri, and was succeeded by Reverend Hinski. The church was organized shortly after the Schapelers came to Bates countv, and from the time of their coming here they have been active in promoting the moral and spiritual welfare of their township. Mrs. Schapeler's boys have gained recognition and prestige as capable and energetic agriculturists and public-spirited citizens. Mrs. Schapeler is a devoted member of her church and a lady of refinement and true culture. H. Steiner, a successful and prosperous merchant of Prairie City, Missouri, was born June 30. 1880, a son of Rudolph. Sr., and Elizabeth (Wertz) Steiner, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Rudolph Steiner, Sr., located at Rockville, Missouri, on coming- to the United States and engaged in his trade of blacksmithing for several years. In later life, the senior Steiner moved with his family to Prairie City, Missouri. He died about 1915 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rock- ville. Rudol]:)h Steiner. Sr., is survived by his widow, who resides at 764 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Nevada, jMissouri, and seven children, as follow: Rudolph, Jr., a well- known hardware merchant of Rockville, Missouri ; John, Galveston, Texas; H. Steiner, the subject of this review; Emma, Nevada, Mis- souri; Walter, a highly respected grocer of Rockville, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Theno, Nevada, Missouri ; and Albert, who is one of our "Sam- mies" in the service of the United States in the present world war. In the city schools of Prairie City, Missouri, H. Steiner obtained an excellent common-school education. After leaving school Mr. Steiner was engaged for nine years in blacksmithing. He opened his present general store in 1904, at Prairie City, Missouri, erecting a new building in 1912, a building 24 x 50 feet in dimensions. Mr. Steiner carries a general line of merchandise and since he entered the mercantile busi- ness fourteen years ago he has enjoyed a liberal patronage and at the time of this writing- in 1918 has a splendid and lucrative trade. H. Steiner and Johanna Caroline Filgus were united in marriage in 1901. Mrs. Steiner is a daughter of August Filgus, a prominent citizen of Rockville, Missouri. To this union have been born three children : AA^ill)ert, Delmer, and Fern. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are widely known in Bates county and they are held in the highest regard in Rockville, where the Steiners have long been respected as good neigh- bors, faithful friends, and honest, substantial citizens. Politically. Mr. Steiner is a Republican of the orthodox stamp and he has always manifested a lively interest in public and political ques- tions. Fraternally, he is aiTfiliated with the Modern Woodmen of Ameri- ca. He is one of the progressive men of the county and is ever ready to give his support and influence to aid every enterprise calculated to promote the ^prosperity of the country and to elevate the standards of citizenship. W. G. Sellon, owner of a splendid tract of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township, was born in Pike count}', Illinois, January 3, 1853, but has lived in Bates county, Missouri, since 1881. He was a son of Benjamin and Harriet (Grimshaw) Sellon. His father was born in England and accompanied his parents to America when h^ was two years of age. When he attained young manhood he located in Pike county, Illinois, during the early thirties. The mother of AV. G. Sel- lon was born in Ireland, a daughter of W^illiam Grimshaw who immi- grated to America and settled in Harrisburg\ Pennsylvania. Benjamin Sellon was industriously engaged in tilling his farm in Illinois when the Civil War began. Like Cincinnatus of old, he left his plow in the furrow HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 765 and organized a company of Unionists in his neighborhood and joined the Third Missouri Cavah-y Regiment, serving for four years in the United States army. Later, he was appointed to the captaincy of a col- ored company and was badly wounded at the battle of Blakely, Ala- bama. This was near the close of the war and hostilities had ceased by the time he had recovered from his wound. x\fter the war he received the appointment of deputy internal revenue collector at Ouincy, Illi- nois, and served for six years in this important official position. Prior to the war he had filled the post of census enumerator for Pike county, Illinois, in 1850. He died in July, 1881, and after his death the widow came to Missouri in the fall of 1883 and died in 1885, at the home of the subject of this review. There were five children in the Sellon family: John, deceased; Harriet, deceased; Sidney, deceased; Charlotte ]., deceased; and W. G., subject of this biography. The early education of W. G. Sellon was obtained in the schools of Pike county, Illinois. When he attained young manhood, he came West in 1881, and in the spring of that year made a permanent settle- ment in Bates county. He and his brother, John, purchased a farm of two hundred forty acres and farmed it together in amicable and lucrative partnership until the latter's death in 1912, possession then passing to the survivor. Mr. Sellon raises Shorthorn cattle, and has one of the finest herds of pure-bred cattle in this section of Missouri. The Sellon herd numbers from sixty to eighty head at all times and are of the pure-bred, registered stock which bring high prices when placed upon the market for disposal. Mr. Sellon also maintains a drove of pure-bred Poland China swine and raises mules for the market. He is a stanch Republican who has been prominently identified with the party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as a mem- ber of the township board and filled the post of justice of the peace of his township for two terms. He is a member of the Episcopal church and is highly regarded as a substantial and desirable citizen of Bates county. Jonathan Yost, an honored pioneer of Bates county. Missouri, was born October 9, 1833, in one of the cantons of Switzerland. He is a son of Christian Yost, a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguards. Mr. Yost came from his native land to America in 1851 and located first in the state of Wisconsin and was in Chicago when it was but a hamlet. Pie was very ill throughout the ocean voyage and was glad when the ship came to port. He spent some time in the city of 766 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Philadelphia and thence went to the state of AVisconsin. Mr. Yost has during his lifetime traveled very extensively, both in Europe and in the United States, has visited the countries of Germany, France, Eng- land, Ireland, and Scotland and worked in seventeen different states in the United States. He is well acquainted with the territory of Alsace Lorraine, which has figured so prominently in the present world war. From Wisconsin, Mr. Yost went to Tennessee in 1860. He was employed in the navy yards at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862, and from St. Louis he moved with his family to Illinois and there located on a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Yost came to Bates county, Missouri, from Illinois in 1878 and settled on a farm in Prairie township, a tract of land comprising one hundred sixty acres of produc- tive soil formerly owned by Mr. Billman, and followed general farming. The place was slightly improved at the time of Mr. Yost's purchase and he constantly labored bettering and adding to it. While in Ten- nessee, in the years prior to the Civil War, Jonathan Yost was employed as foreman of a large plantation by a wealthy slaveholder. In Tennessee in 1860, Jonathan Yost and Agatha Gansner were united in marriage. Mrs. Yost was born January 10, 1842. To Jonathan and Agatha Yost have been born three children, two of whom are now living: "Nick," of Madison county, Illinois; Anna, who died at the age of seven years; and Mary, the wife of W^illiam Woods, of Papinsville, Missouri. There are four generations of the Yost family represented among the living members, namely: Jonathan, who makes his home wnth his grandson, George N.. a sketch of whom will be found else- wdiere in this volume ; "Nick," the son of Jonathan, now living in Illi- nois; George N., the son of "Nick," the subject of a biographical review to be found in this book; and Lloyd George, the only son and young'est child of George N. Fraternally, Jonathan Yost is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with whom he affiliated in 1862 at Pocahontas, Illi- nois. He has long been one of the most conspicuous and familiar citizens of Bates county, one of the leading men of Prairie township, where he has been a resident for forty years. He has always manifested a deep and commendable interest in his county's development and prosperity and has nobly done his part in furthering both. Although he is now far past the allotted span of human life, being at the time of this writing in his eighty-fifth year, Mr. Yost retains to a remarkable degree his bodily and mental vigor. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 76/ George N. Yost, a successful farmer and stockman of Prairie town- ship, proprietor of the "George N. Yost Stock Farm" one mile north of Prairie City, is a representative of a pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Yost is a son of "Nick" Yost, now a resident of Madison county, Illinois. "Nick" Yost is a son of Jonathan and Agatha (Gansner) Yost, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. In the public schools of Prairie City, Missouri, George N. Yost received his education. Practically all his life he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in Prairie township. Bates county. In 1906, he purchased his present country place, a farm comprising ninety acres of land, formerly owned by his grandfather, Jonathan Yost. The "George N. Yost Stock Farm" is nicely improved, the improvements including a good barn, erected ten years ago, 20 x 36 feet in dimensions, having a sixteen-foot shed attached; a silo, 14 x 28 feet in dimensions, built on a concrete base ; a crib, 25 x 32 feet in dimensions ; several sheds; and the residence, a well-constructed house of two stories and six rooms, built in 1910. Mr. Yost has eighteen head, of Holstein dairy cattle, of which two heifers are registered. He also owns a registered male Holstein. Mr. Yost sells the products from his dairy to the cheese factory at Prairie City. In 1909, George N. Yost and Sophia Schapeler were united in marriage. Sophia (Schapeler) Yost is a daughter of Ferdinand and Katy (Kauffman) Schapeler, of Pleasant Gap township. Both parents of Mrs. Yost are now deceased. To George N. and Sophia Yost have been born three children : Vera, Helen, and Lloyd George. Fraternally, George N. Yost is affiliated with the Papinsville Chap- ter No. 140, of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, joining in 1906. Mr. Yost is at present chairman of the Prairie township chap- ter of the Red Cross. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party. William Frank Finklang, of Prairie township, secretary and treas- urer of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman, was born November 9, 1878 at Her- mann, Missouri, a son of Jacob and Minnie (Vogelsang) Finklang, natives of Germany. Jacob Finklang came to the United States in 1853 and located at Hermann, Missouri, wdiere he was married in 1861 and resided until 1882, when he moved with his family to Bates county and fohowed his trade of blacksmithing at Papinsville, then a flourishing town. Mr. Finklang enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at St. Louis and 768 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY served under General Lyons, who fell in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The day before the engagement, the regiment in which Jacob h^inklang was serving was sent to Jefferson City to guard the capital and thus he was not in the battle. He served faithfully and well for twenty- nine months, when he was honorably discharged and he returned to his home at Hermann, Missouri, whence he came to Bates county. Mrs. Finklang, mother of William Frank, died at Hermann. Mr. Finklang was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Mary Bollweg, to whom he was wedded in 1890. He died March 4, 1918, and his widow resides at Rockville, Missouri. Interment was made for Jacob Finklang in the cemetery of the German Reformed Church in Prairie township, of which he was a highly respected member and earnest worker since 1890. Besides his widow, Jacob Finklang left the following children: Bertha, the wife of Briska Siedler, of Hermann, Missouri; Henry, who is in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway Company at Dodge City, Kan- sas; William Frank, the subject of this review; Ludwig, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Mis- souri; Mary, the wife of Albert Kaepili, of Meridian, Mississippi; Lena, who is now taking a course in nursing at St. Joseph, Missouri ; and Anna, wdio resides at home with her mother at Rockville, Missouri. In the public schools of Bates county, William Frank Finklang obtained his elementary education, which was later supplemented by two years' college work at Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mis- souri. After leaving college, Mr. Finklang entered the employ of the Simmons Hardware Company at St. Louis, Missouri, and for two and a half years remained with this company, after which he was employed by the Rock Island Railway Company at Forsyth Junction, St. Louis, ]\Iis- souri, for five and a half years. He then settled on his present farm of eighty acres, one and a half miles northwest of Prairie City. Mr. Finklang is the owner of a splendid farm and he is successfully engaged in raising cattle and hogs and in general farming. December 27, 1903, William Frank Finklang and Frederika Schape- ler were united in marriage. Mrs. Finklang is a daughter of Ferdi- nand and Jacobine ( Kauffman ) Schapeler, of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Finklang have been born five chil- dren, four of wdiom are now living: Calvin, Ella. ^Nleta, Pauline, and Paul, who died in infancy. Mr. Finklang manifests a most commendable interest in civic and political affairs and he has capably filled the office of assessor of Prairie JJIS'IORY OF BATES COUNTY 769 township for three terms, or six years. He is secretary and treasurer and one of the members of the directorate of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, Missouri, a company composed of ninety-eight stockholders organized February 1, 1915, proprietor of the Farmers Elevator at Rock- ville. The present capital stock of the Farmers' Equity Union is sixty- five hundred dollars. The shares are valued at tv\^enty-live dollars each and no one may hold more than eight shares. This company is grow- ing and prospering to a marked degree and is now one of the foremost grain firms in Bates county. Politically, Mr. Finklang is a stanch Repub- lican. William Frank Finklang is an enterprising American, of progressive spirit and stands for everything which promises the betterment of his county and community. Mr. Finklang has had a wide experience in business affairs and seldom engages in enterprises which do not even- tually redound to his advantage, thus proving his judgment sound and discriminating, his knowledge of men keen, his endowment of good com- mon sense plentiful. E. H. Himi, of Prairie township, Bates county, was born at Pap- insville in 1886, a son of Christian and Lena (Wirtz) Hirni, the father, a native of Switzerland and the mother, of Illinois. Christian Flirni came to Illinois with his father. Christian Hirni, who was a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguard when he, the son, was three years of age and later located at Papinsville, Missouri, in 1869, at which place he was engaged in conducting a butcher shop for a few years. After- ward, he and Jacob Hirni and Mart Bennett operated the old Papinsville mill, the only mill in this vicinity, none being nearer than Pleasanton, Linn county, Kansas. E. H. Hirni still has a part of the boiler, which is now used as a reservoir tank in the stock yards of his country place. It was originally twenty-eight feet in length, including the fire box and all fixtures. The burr-stone was quartz rock containing irregular cavi- ties and made a good millstone. Christian Hirni was elected treasurer of Bates county in 1890 and he left a most honorable record of efficient management, being probably the most capable man who has ever held this offfce. Mr. Hirni gave special attention to collecting back taxes and he was instrumental in the accumulation of so large a fund obtained from this one source that Bates county was out of debt at the close of his term of ofiice. Mr. Hirni was a most valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville. He died in 1912, leaving a widow who resides at Rockville, Missouri, and fifteen children. He had been (49) //' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY married three times, his second wife being a cousin of his first wife and the third wife was a Miss Lena Wirtz. E. H. Hirni, the subject of this review, was educated in the public schools of Papinsville, Missouri, and practically all his life he has been engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He is now cultivating a good farm, embracing one hundred sixty-four acres of land in Prairie town- ship, located two miles north of Prairie City. All the improvements on the place are in excellent repair and with the exception of the residence all have been placed there by Mr. Hirni. The barn is well constructed, 32 X 60 feet in dimensions and thirty-three feet to cone. The farm is well supplied with good water from a drilled well, drilled in the autumn of 1917, three hundred four feet in depth, the water from wdiich is so abundantly supplied with natural salts that the stock require none addi- tional. Mr. Hirni has sixty head of cattle, eight to ten horses, and fifty head of Duroc Jersey hogs constantly on his place and of his present herd of cattle twenty are registered Aberdeen Angus. Mr. Hirni is an enthusiastic "booster" of red clover as a soil builder, profitable crop, and stock conditioner. January 7. 1909, E. H. Hirni and Alma Hirschi were united in mar- riage. Alma (Hirschi) Hirni is a daughter of Gottlieb and Emma (Ham- mer) Hirschi, formerly of Pleasant Gap township, now residents of Rock- ville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hirni are the parents of four children : Alma Adelaide, Ruby Gladiola, Leroy Hirschi, and Troy Edward. In the spring of 1917, E. H. Hirni was elected trustee of Prairie township and he is now ser\'ing in this capacity. He is the treasurer of Consolidated School District No. 7. Mr. Hirni is vice-president of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville and a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Rockville. He is township committeeman of Prairie township and a stanch Republican in politics. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville, as was his father before him. E. H. Hirni is distinctively one of the leading men of his township, a citizen of much more than local repute, a respected son of one of Bates county's honored pioneers. Mr. Hirni is prol)al)ly the only citizen of Bates county who has in his possession a piece of lumljer taken from the old wooden bridge which spanned the river at Papinsville. This piece of lumber is five by ten inches and is a part of Mr. Hirni's scales. Albert B. Thurman, a successful and prominent agriculturist and sheep raiser of Mingo township, is a representative of one of the pio- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 77I neer families of Warren county, Missouri, a son of F. A. Thurman, who came to Missouri from Franklin county, Kentucky, when two years of age, in 1831, with his parents. The Thurmans settled on land in War- ren county and there F. A. Thurman was reared to maturity. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and located on the Highley place in Mingo township, purchasing later forty acres of prairie land from the widow of Doctor Tuttle, of Adrian. To F. A. and Armilda (Sher- man) Thurman, the latter a native of Warren county, Missouri, were born the following children: Henry, who died at the age of fifteen vears; Mrs. Susan Robinson, deceased; Mrs. Mollie Laughlin, who died in Colo- rado; Mrs. Huldah Mickleberry, deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Jones, who died in Colorado; Albert B., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Maggie Crow, of Wenatchee, Washington; and five children died in infancy. The mother died in October, 1886, and interment was made in West ceme- tery. Mr. Thurman survived his wife five years, when in July, 1891, they were united in death and he, too, was laid to rest in West cemetery. Albert B. Thurman attended school at Peter Creek school house in a district composed of the west half of Mingo township. This school house was erected before the Civil War and during the conflict was used as a dwelling. It was about 24 x 32 feet in dimensions, and for many years one of the land-marks in Bates county. John Witten, of Johnstown, Missouri, was Albert B. Thurman's first instructor. The following families sent children to Peter Creek school house to be edu- cated : Thornburgs, Settles, Staleys, Gilberts, Wolfenbergers, Utleys, Cumptons, Graggs, Lakeys, and Mays and Judge Nicholas and Dr. Lee Bradley, of Warrensburg-, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Thur- man engaged in farming and stock raising in Mingo township and with the exception of two years has been continuously employed in these vocations in this township to the date of this w'riting in 1918. Mr. Thurman purchased his present home in 1901 for seventeen and a half dollars an acre from Thomas J. Suttles and since acquiring the owner- ship of the farm has made it one of the splendid country places in Mingo township. He has followed sheep raising for the past twelve years and has had as many as two hundred head of Shropshires and Oxfords on the farm at one time, but he now has probably one hundred. He raises high-grade animals and finds the production of wool very profitable. Mr. Thurman sold the first wool produced for eleven cents a pound, which price compared with the present market quotations of ninety cents to one dollar presents a striking — and to the producer — very satis- factory difTference. 77-2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY March 27, 1894, Albert B. Tburman and Eva Stayton, a daughter of J. W. and Nancy (Hendrickson) Stayton, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Stayton were both born in Adair county, Kentucky. The Staytons came to Bates county in 1881 and Mr. Stayton now resides on his farm near Aaron, Missouri. To Albert B. and Mrs. Tburman has been born one child, a daughter, Ruey, who is now the wife of George Wells, of Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the parents of two children: Eva and Lucille. Mr. Wells is the owner of a valuable farm comprising eighty acres of land located two and one-fourth miles north- east of Aaron, Missouri, a part of the old John Massey place. Mr. Thurman takes a most commendable interest in public affairs and he has held the office of constable and of collector of Mingo town- ship. He was a candidate for judge of the county court from this dis- trict in 1916. Willie M. Hardinger. — The Hardinger family is one of the oldest and most prominent families in Bates county, and the subject of this review has been a resident of this county since 1867. His fine farm of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township is widely known as the "Cloverdale Stock Farm," one of finely improved places in the county, and noted for its crop production and livestock. Mr. Hardinger was born in Linn county, Iowa, September 21, 1866, and is a son of William Nathaniel and Mary E. (Berryhill) Hardinger, late prominent residents of Bates county. William Nathaniel Hardinger was born in Bedford county, Penn- sylvania, in the year 1837, and was a son of George and Mary Hardinger. His parents removed to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, and in 1856 he removed to Linn county, Iowa, where he followed farming until his removal to Bates county in 1867. In 1865 he married Mary E. Berry- hill, a native of Linn county, Iowa, and who was born in 1843, a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Butler) Berryhill, the former a native of Ohio and the latter a native of Michigan. When Mr. Hardinger came to Bates county he located on section 35 in Charlotte township and improved one hundred twenty acres of land. In 1880 he made a trip to California and remained there until 1881, when he returned and erected a store building at Virginia, conducted a store there for a little over a year and then disposed of the business to George Short. For his first forty acres bought in this county he paid ten dollars an acre. Mr. Hardinger continued to reside upon his farm until his deatli on Sep- tember 23, 1917. His death marked the passing of one of the best known and best beloved citizens of the countv, whose honestv and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 773 Christianity were proverbial. For many years he was identified with the Presbyterian church and was active in church work. He was promi- nently identified with the Democratic party and served for a time as justice of the peace of his township. His wife had preceded him in death eleven years, her death having occurred in March, 1906. Willie M. Hardinger, subject of this review, is the only child of his parents. The education of Willie M. Hardinger was supplemented by a course in the Butler Academy and he then settled down to the life of a tiller of the soil. All of the days of his residence in Bates county have been spent on the Hardinger farm. He has increased the original acre- age to two hundred forty acres, he and his wife owning one hun- dren twenty acres about three miles distant. "The Oloverdale Stock Farm" is located about one and a half miles south and five and a half miles west of Butler. Mr. Hardinger carries on general farming activities and raises ked Polled and Shorthorn cattle for the markets. He was married, May 24, 1888, to Ida L. McElroy, who was born and reared in Charlotte township, a daughter of William A. McElroy, an early settler of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Hardinger have four living children: Lee M., who is married and resides upon one of his father's farms ; Elmer, Arthur, and Ruth, at home with their parents. William A. McElroy, father of Mrs. Hardinger, was born Septem- ber 27, 1839, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Humphrey) McElroy, both natives of the Buckeye -state. The family settled in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1844. The mother died in 1878 leaving five children. William A. McElroy was reared to young manhood in Illinois and during the Civil War, he served in the Seventy- second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. On August 30, 1866 he married Miss Sarah J. Drum, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 23, 1844. In 1869 Mr. McElroy located on section 28, in Charlotte township and has resided in Bates county for nearly fifty years. The following children were born to them : Mary C. Drysdale, on the old home place; Minnie E. Hendrickson, Los Ang^eles, California; Nellie B. Burk, Charlotte township; Ida L., wife of the subject of this review; Frank W., Texas ; and Clarence J., Arizona. Mr. Hardinger has been more or less active in political affairs since attaining his majority and has always been a supporter of the Demo- cratic party. During Governor Folk's administration he received the appointment of county assessor of Bates county and ably performed the duties of this office. He has also served as justice of the peace and as township assessor. He is affiliated fraternally with the Butler Lodges, 774 [TISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and Mrs. Hardinger are members of the Presby- terian church and take an active interest in church works. Mr. Har- dinger is a director of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and takes a prominent part in all county movements of a meritorious and beneficial character, Willis Isaiah Yeates, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Mingo township, is one of Bates county's representative citizens. Mr. Yeates was born November 24, 1846, in Kentucky, a son of John D. and Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates. Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates was a great-niece of Daniel Boone, the most famous of American scouts, pio- neers, and hunters. Mr. and Mrs. Yeates came to this state from Ken- tucky in 1851 and located in Franklin county on Labadie bottom land. They came to Bates county in 1883 and settled on a farm in Mingo township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. John D. Yeates purchased the country place, where his son, Willis Isaiah, now resides and at one time his estate embraced two hundred five acres of valua])le farm land in Mingo township. Mr. Yeates was engaged in farming and stock raising. To John D. and Anna E. Yeates were born the following children: Willis Isaiah, the subject of this sketch; John Thomas, who now resides in Texas; William Samuel, deceased; Mrs. Martha Mildred Shelton, New Haven, Franklin county, Missouri ; James E., Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Mary E. Doherty, of Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rose Ingham, of Henry county. Sam- uel Boone, a brother of Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates, erected the first building, a cabin, in Paola, Kansas, at a time when the Miami Indians still haunted that section of the country. The father and mother both died in Mingo township. Bates county, and they are buried in Cove Creek cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Yeates were held in the highest respect and esteem in their community and they were widely and favorably known throughout Bates county. Willis I. Yeates received his education in the public schools of Franklin county, Missouri. On account of the necessarily primitive conditions of pioneer life and the hardships imposed by the Civil War, Mr. Yeates enjoyed but few educational advantages or opportunities of any sort. The school house which he attended was a rude log struc- ture, having a dirt floor. He came to Bates county in 1883 and pur- chased eighty acres of land, which he still owns, and to his original holdings he has since added two tracts of land, one comprising eighty HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 775 acres, the other twenty-two acres of timber land. Mr. Yeates built his present residence in 1909, situated on the Urich and Creighton road. The Yeates place is nicely improved and well kept. Mr. Yeates is not now actively engaged in farm work, but rents his land. June 3, 1908 Willis I. Yeates and Kate L. Board were united in marriage. Kate L. (Board) Yeates is a daughter of John and Mary (Duvall) Board, who came to Bates county in 1875. Both parents of Mrs. Yeates are now deceased and their remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. John Board were the parents of the following children: Thomas Board, Rockville, Missouri; James W., Altona, Missouri ; -Mrs. Annie Stayton, Aaron, Missouri; Mrs. Eleanor Poage, Marshall, Missouri ; Mrs. Cora McRoberts, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ida Rexrode, Adrian, Missouri. Bv a former marriagre Mr. Yeates is the father of one child, a son, John Thomas, of Mingo township. Fraternally, Mr. Yeates is affiliated with the Wadesburg lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Creighton, Missouri and was formerly a member of the Johnstown lodge. In earlier days, Judge Estes Smith and Mr. Yeates together attended the meetings of the Wadesburg lodge. Mr. Yeates has always taken an active interest in the pul)lic aftairs of his township and county and he is recognized as a public-spirited citizen in his community. William Henry Charters, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, the one who pushed the big bone Poland China hogs to the front in western Missouri, was a native of New York City. He moved with his parents to the state of Ohio, when he was a child five years of age, and in that state was reared and educated. In 1881. Mr. Charters came to Bates county, Missouri and pur- chased sixty acres of land. He later added to his original purchase a forty-acre tract of land, making a nice farm of one hundred acres located nine miles east of Butler. Mr. Charters brought with him, when he came to Missouri from Ohio, a big bone Poland China hog and he devoted his time, attention, and energies to introducing this breed of hogs in this section of the country. His son, William Henry, Jr., has continued the work begun by his father and is now one of the leading producers of big bone Poland Chinas in Bates and adjoining counties. The hogs shipped from Ohio are from the Clever herd, a celebrated herd of Poland China hogs in that state. Prior to his coming to Mis- souri, Mr. Charters was manager of the Greenwood herd of Shorthorn jy6 , HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Durham cattle, the most famous herd of Durhams in the United States, for twelve years on the farm located ten miles west of London, Ohio. The marriage of William Henry Charters and Margaret Carroll was solemnized at London, Ohio in 1880. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was born in Morgan county, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Margaret Carroll, the former, a native of Pennsylvania and the latter, of New York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carroll were reared and educated in the state of Ohio. The Carrolls came to Bates county, Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm in Deepwater township, a country place located nine miles east of Butler, where they still reside. Mr. Carroll is now at the advanced age of eighty-seven years and his wife is but three years his junior. To Philip and Margaret Carroll were born the following children: Mrs. Margaret (Carroll) Charters, the widow of the subject of this review; M. V., of Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. E. S. Onion, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Rose Clark, Chicago, Illinois; George, of Woodward, Oklahoma; Mrs. Celia Hubbard, Kincaid, Kan- sas; Frank, Spruce, Missouri; Clark, of Butler, .Missouri; and two sons, James and John, who are deceased. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was educated partly in a convent at London, Ohio and partly in the pul:)lic schools of Madison county, Ohio. William Henry and Margaret (Car- roll) Charters were the parents of five children, who are now living: Mrs. Aline Herman, the wife of John A. Herman, Jr., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; William Henry, Jr., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Lola Young, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Mabel Smith, Spruce, Mis- souri; and L. J., an electrician and machinist, Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Charters, Sr. was accidentally killed in an automobile tragedy on July 5, 1916 when sixty-five years of age. His remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. Mrs. Charters resides in the city of Butler at 314 West Mill street. W'illiam Henry Charters was a model stockman and a careful farmer, as the splendid condition of his place in Bates county attested, and as a business man he was noted for clear insight and sound judg- ment which rarely failed to redound to his advantage. He was an "all- round man," earnest in his purpose, candid in his relations with his fellowmen, honorable and upright in all his transactions. He was held in the highest esteem by his neighbors. John A. Herman, Jr., a successful agriculturist of Shawnee town- ship, a capable and popular merchant of Culver, Missouri, is one of the county's prosperous and progressive, young citizens. Mr. Herman, Jr., HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY jyj was born January 3, 1880 at the Herman homestead in Shawnee town- ship, Bates county, Missouri, a son of John A., Sr.. and Mrs. Herman, pioneers of Shawnee township. John A. Herman, Sr. came to this part of Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and settled on the farm where he now resides and which his son, John A., Jr., manages. Mr. Herman, Sr. has been one of the most successful and prominent farmers and stock- men of western Missouri and in former days a hard worker. He placed all the improvements now on his place, a tract of land embracing two hundred forty acres, including a handsome residence, two well-con- structed barns, and a silo. Formerly, Mr. Herman, Sr. was a busy stockman, but he has now retired from active farm labor. He is eighty- two years of age. John A. Herman, Jr., manages his father's place in addition to his own, an eighty-acre tract of land, upon which his store is located. In Shawnee township. Bates county, John A. Herman, Jr. was born, reared, and educated. He resided on the home place until about eight years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, at which time he purchased J. W. Cole's general store at Culver, Missouri and he moved to his farm, previously mentioned, and has since been engaged in the mercantile business in addition to farming and managing his father's country place. Mr. Herman, Jr. carries an excellent and com- plete line of general merchandise and from the time of his entering the business to date has had a splendid trade. He hauls his merchandise from Passaic and his store is a convenient market for the produce from the surrounding country. He is located on Rural Route 2 from Butler, Missouri. The Culvers of Butler, Missouri conducted the first mercan- tile establishment at this place, which was named in honor of them. Mr. Herman, Jr.'s farm and store are located eleven and one-fourth miles northeast of Butler, Missouri and eight miles east of Passaic. John A. Herman, Jr., was united in marriage with Aline Charters, a daughter of William H. and Margaret (Carroll) Charters, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Charters is now deceased and his widow resides at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herman, Jr. are highly regarded in their community and popular with the young people of their township. Alonzo Wilson Shay, a prosperous and successful farmer and stock- man of Lone Oak township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Shay was born October 20, 1858, in Allen county, a son of Thomas and Nancy (Dobbs) Shay, the father, a native of Ireland and the mother, of Ken- yj^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tucky. Mrs. Shay died in Kentucky in 1859. Thomas Shay enlisted with the Federal army and served throughout the war of 1861 and died at the close of the conflict at Louisville, Kentucky. Mr. Shay, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He came to this state in 1869 with his guardian, James Wygal, and with him resided for many years. Mr. Wygal went to California about thirty years ago and there his death occurred. He owned a farm in Lone Oak township, the place now owned by the Lyons brothers. Alonzo Wilson Shay w-as first employed in Bates county by Dr. Decatur Smith at a remuneration of ten dollars a month. Doctor Smith is still living at Butler, Missouri and a sketch of him appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Shay labored by the month until the time of his marriage in 1881. During the autumn and winter of 1869, Mr. Shay and twenty-six others from Illinois camped at Rocky Ford in Lone Oak township, all in one building having a fire- place fourteen feet in length. Dr. T. C. Boulware, of Butler, was the first physician whose services were needed that winter at Rocky^ Ford. When Alonzo Wilson Shay was a boy, eleven years of age, he assisted in hauling the lumber from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, fifty-five miles away, used in the construction of the residence of Laben Warren, which is across the road from Mr. Shay's present home. L. P. Carlton was the proprie- tor of the country place, now owned by Alonzo Wilson Shay, in 1869 and the latter recalls that in the autumn of that year Mr. Carlton was putting out an orchard on his farm. Mr. Shay purchased his first tract of land in New Home township. Bates county, in 1882 and at the present time is owner of one hundred thirteen acres of land in that township, a nicely improved farm, in addition to his sixty-eight acres of land in Lone Oak township, where he resides. Mr. Shay farms both places and is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising, keeping cattle, hogs, and horses. The Shay residence was built in 1911 and is one of the attractive, comfortable homes of the township. The Shays receive mail on Rural Route 6 from Butler, Missouri. March 15, 1881 Alonzo Wilson Shay was united in marriage with Ella B. McClintock, a daughter of Dr. H. D. McClintock, an early pio- neer physician from Virginia, who settled in Bates county in 1869. Mrs. Shay was born in Virginia. To Alonzo Wilson and Ella B. (McClin- tock) Shay were born the following children: Wilson, who died Sep- tember 21, 1914; Clarence L., of El Paso, Texas; Lulu, the wife of How- ard Hooper, of Midland, Texas; George Emmett, of El Paso, Texas; HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 779 Charles F., who died November 12, 1911. One son, Henry Arthur, died in infancy on February 14, 1885. The mother died November 20, 1893 and her remains were laid to rest in Morris cemetery. On March 9, 1397 the marriage of Alonzo Wilson Shay and Mrs. Emma (Spicer) Morgan, widow of Henry Morgan, was solemnized. Mrs. Shay's father, James Spicer, was a native of Delaware and her mother, Margaret (Reesor) Spicer, of Ohio. He died February 2, 1890 and his wife was united in death with him on July 29, 1899. Both parents died in Jewell county, Kansas. Mrs. Shay was first married to Henry Morgan and to them were born three children: Maud Ethel, who is employed as teacher in Black district in Bates county, Missouri; Odie, who died November 17, 1892; and Mrs. Stella M. Rowden, of Jamestown, Colorado. All the children were born in Jewell county, Kansas. Their father, FTenry Mor-. gan, was a native of Illinois. He had resided in Lone Oak township. Bates county but one year when his death occurred on December 12, 1893. There is no man in Bates county more worthy of the title "a self- made man" than is Mr. Shay. Left motherless in infancy and father- less at the age of seven years, a poor orphan boy, Alonzo Wilson Shay has by industry, thrift, and perseverance proven his sterling worth and is now one of the most substantial citizens of Lone Oak township. Jefferson Sells, father of C. J. Sells of Butler, came to Bates county in the early fifties and located in Walnut township. When the war broke out, being of Southern sympathies, he decided to go to Lawrence county, Missouri to escape the danger of the Kansas raiders. His father, John Sells, came with him to Bates county and he was leaving for the same destination. He had gone ahead with his wagon and Jefferson and John Sells, his sons, were driving the stock. As they came to the crossing at Walnut, bushwhackers supposedly Kansas jayhawkers, ambushed them and both brothers were killed. Of the seven or eight men in the party all escaped but the two brothers. The home on the John Sells farm in Walnut township was one of the few that escaped the ravages of the war. C. J. Sells, now living in Butler, Missouri, was left an orphan when about three years of age and his grandmother reared him. He farmed for some years in Walnut township prior to coming to Butler. His wife was Bell Osburn of Pleasant Gap township whose father also was killed in the border warfare. He was called out from his residence on Double Branches and shot. Mr. and Mrs. Sells have five children: Charles Sells, 780 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Horseshoe Bend, Idaho; Ethel, who married Jason Woodfin, now dead; Inez, now Mrs. Ira Rockhold of Butler; Cannie, a daughter, at home. Clyde L., the third of the children, is now in France. He attended Mis- souri University at Columbia, Missouri, and took military training there as well and enlisted with a Montana company with a lieutenant's com- mission. Judge R. F. Harper, — The life story of Judge R. F. Harper, a lead- ing citizen of Bates county, and highly successful agriculturist of Char- lotte township, ex-presiding judge of the county court, and pioneer set- tler, takes one back over a half century of the development period of this county. The tale of his career in this county begins at a time when the entire territory which comprises this county was in an unsettled state and much of the land was open prairie over which herds of deer roamed and wild game was plentiful. There were few roads in the county, and such as the pioneers traveled on their way to market were but beaten trails which lead straight across country to the destination. The nearest trading and shipping- point was at Pleasant Hill, fifty miles away, and it was a two or three days' journey to carry produce to this market. The period of Judge Harper's life previous to locating in Bates county, borders on the romantic and savors of the old days of the bound- less Western plains which he crossed on foot. It would reveal something of the life of the hardy adventurer in the mining camps of the Rocky mountains, and subsequent service under the Union flag in the wilds of Colorado and New Mexico and the stirring scenes of a campaign against hostile Indians in which he participated. R. F. Harper w^as born March 23, 1841 in Athens county, Ohio and was a son of Theron and Catherine (Allen) Harper. His father was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania and his mother was born in Gallia county, Ohio. The par- ents of Theron Harper were early settlers in Athens county, Ohio, and here the father of R. F. Harper w^as reared to manhood and married. Both of Judge Harper's parents lived all of their days in Athens county, Ohio, and died there, the father dying in January, 1851. They were parents of ten children. After receiving such education as was afforded by the public schools of his neighborhood, R. F. Harper attended the old Albany Academy in Athens county. His father died when the son was ten years old and he then assisted in the support of his widowed mother and his brothers and sisters until the second marriage of his mother. He then made his home with an uncle who assisted him in acquiring an education. Thrilled JUDGE R. F. HARPER. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 781 with the news of the great gold discovery at Pike's Peak, early in 1860, he determined to make his way to the new gold fields. He got as far as St. Joseph, Missouri, and there persuaded a freighter to allow him to accompany his outfit. The freighter agreed to feed him the entire dis- tance to Denver but it was necessary for him to make his way afoot. He paid the freighter twenty-five dollars for this privilege. There were seven men and one woman in the party which convoyed one wagon loaded with freight and drawn by ox-teams. The seven men took turns herding the oxen upon camping at night, Mr. Harper taking his turn regularly. Mr. Harper walked the entire distance of six hundred miles in thirty-two days and arrived in Denver, then a straggling frontier camp, with but five dollars in his pocket. This money was soon stolen from him by a man whom he thought was a friend and he obtained employment as a miner at a wage of one dollar per day and his board. He humorously recalls that he got the board all right but never received the dollar-per-day wages which were promised him. On August 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, First Colorado Cavalry and served for four years, two months and ten days. Pre- viously, he had made up his mind to go to Leavenworth, Kansas, and join the command of Col. Jim Lane, the famous Kansan who had taken such a prominent part in the struggle to make Kansas a free state. Mr. Harper saw active and continuous service of the hardest frontier char- acter in Colorado and New Mexico. He took part in the battle of Apache Canyon, twenty miles from Santa Fe and fought from March 26 to March 28, 1862. His command met and engaged the Confederate forces and drove them back to Santa Fe. Later he participated in another engagement on the Rio Grande below Albuquerque. In 1864, the west- ern Indians became hostile and a great uprising was threatened. His command was sent against them on the plains of Kansas and Colorado and they operated as far east as old Fort Dodge, Kansas. He was hon- orably discharged from the service on October 30, 1865, at Denver and started at once for home. The Indians were still troublesome and it was dangerous for white men to travel except in considerable bodies. In order to retain their side arms the discharged soldiers were required to pay for them. This he did, retaining both rifle and revolver. At Julesburg, Colorado, Mr. Harper and others organized into a formidable and well armed band of one hundred men and made the trip across the plains to civilization in safety. He then went to Johnson county, Missouri, arriving there in November, 1865, and rented a farm owned 782 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY by an uncle until March 19, 1868, at which time he came to Bates county and made a permanent settlement in Charlotte township. Mr. Harper has a splendid farm of two hundred seventy-six acres in the southwestern part of Charlotte township with substantial and imposing improvements. His large, handsome residence is located on an elevation overlooking the river valley of the Marais des Cygnes and he has had the extreme satisfaction of creating his fine farm from unbroken land during the fifty and more years since he first came to this county. In the early days of his residence here, Mr. Harper saw plenty of deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens from the doorway of his home. He is a progressive farmer and maintains a fine herd of thor- oughbred Red Polled cattle. While on a furlough in 1864 to the old homestead in Athens county, Ohio, he was married to Miss Olive Young, a native of Athens county, Ohio, and daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. This mar- riage was solemnized on June 26, 1864, and has been a happy and prosperous one. Miss Young was a school mate and old sweetheart of his younger days, and it is probable that Mr. Harper had plighted his troth with her before he made the adventurous trip to the far West. Three children have blessed this marriage : Thaddeus S., well-to-do stockman and farmer owning a splendid farm in Charlotte township; Katherine, wife of Luther Judy, Charlotte township; and John T., the youngest, a successful farmer of Charlotte township, and residing on the old home place. John T. married Florence Bean, and has two chil- dren. Roderick David, born January 18, 1897, and Mary. Judge Harper has long been a leader of the Republican party in Bates county and has filled various township offices such as assessor, trustee, and tax collector, serving several terms in office. He served as presiding judge of the county court January 1, 1907 to 1911 and acquitted himself acceptably in this important position. During his term of office the drainage project for the Marais des Cygnes flood area was inaugur- ated in 1906 and as presiding judge he signed the first issue of three hundred fifty-five thousand dollars worth of bonds to pay for the drain- age ditch in 1907. He is inclined to be independent in his political views and votes independently in local affairs. Mrs. Asenath C. Barrows, who died at Rich Hill, Missouri, January 28, 1908, was born at Union Mission, fifteen miles east of Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, January 5, 1822. Her father, Rev. William F. Vaill, a graduate of Yale College, and later a pastor of the Presbyterian church HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 783 at North Gilford, Connecticut, was sent in the year 1820, by the l^oard of the United Foreign Missionary Society in New York City, to establish the aforesaid mission. In less than two years after their arrival, the sub- ject of this sketch was born, and at this mission was thoroughly taught, by her cultured parents and other instructors, in divine as well as literary matters. Among some of the notable happenings was the visit at different occasions of Washington Irving and Gen. Sam Houston, who were guests of her father at the mission, while Irving was making his tour to the wild western prairies, and upon which is based his story of the "Capture of the Wild Horse," found in "McGuffey's Fourth Reader." The time arrived for placing Asenath in school to complete her education. In the summer of 1834, in company with her father and mother, she made an overland trip to Lexington, Missouri, where they took passage by steamboat for St. Louis, making the trip to Cincinnati, where three days were spent visiting the family of Rev. Lyman Beecher. On this occasion Mrs. Bar- rows made the acquaintance of Miss Harriet Beecher, a young lady then of eighteen years, who afterward became Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, being a sister of Henry Ward Beecher, and a woman who became cele- brated as author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." From thence to New York City and on Long Island to Hadlyme, Connecticut, the original home of her parents, where in a short time her mother died. Miss Vaill was soon after placed in the Munson Academy. While there she became a member of the Congregational church. From the Munson Academy she was sent to the Mount Holyoke Seminary at Holy- oke, Massachusetts, where she received two years of thorough training. At this time Miss Vaill was nineteen years of age. She then returned to the West, arriving in December, 1841. Here she met Freeman Barrows, a young man from New Bedford, Massachusetts, a man of good business attainments and at that time the county and circuit clerk of Bates county, Missouri, to wdiom she was married August 23. 1842, soon afterward locating two miles east of the old town of Papinsville. In April, 1861 Mr. Barrows died. Mrs. Barrows continued to reside here until 1892. having lived a half century on the estate where she and her hus1)and first located in 1842. The last four years of her life were spent at her home in Rich Hill. Waller Washington Graves, member of the supreme court of Mis- souri since April, 1906, his term to continue until 1918, was born in Lafayette county, this state, December 17, 1860. His father, Abram L. 784 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Graves, was a prosperous farmer of that county and subsequently became a resident of Bates county. He had been left an orphan at an early age and was reared by his grandfather, Abram Larsh, one of the earliest set- tlers of Lafayette county, the Larsh family having come from Maryland, where representatives of the name had resided from a period antedating the Revolution. The Graves family were mostly from North Carolina, where they owned and cultivated large cotton plantations prior to the Civil War. Abram L. Graves was born in Palmyra, Missouri, and has made farming his life work. He wedded Martha E. Pollard, a native of Kentucky, whose girlhood, however, was largely passed in this state. She came of an old Virginia family. Her mother was a Waller and her ancestors were nearly all people who were among the colonists of this country. Several of the family took part in the struggle for American independence. Mrs. Graves passed away in 1910. At the usual age. Waller W. Graves became a public-school pupil in his native county and later had the advantage of training in the State University until 1881. He took up the profession of teaching, but regarded that merely as an initial step to other professional labor. He read law in the ofifice of Parkinson & Abernathy, two of the prominent attorneys in his section of the state, and was admitted to practice by the circuit court at Butler in 1885. That his former preceptor, Judge Parkinson, had entertained high regard for the young law student is indicated in the fact that he admitted him at once to a partnership that was maintained until 1893, when it was dissolved by reason of Judge Parkinson's removal to Kansas City. Mr. Graves was then joined by Harvey C. Clark under the style of Graves & Clark and they soon gained a place among the prominent representatives of the bar of southwestern Missouri. Various positions of trust have been accorded Mr. Graves who through appointment of Governor Marmaduke became school com- missioner of Bates county to fill a vacancy, and at the close of the term he was reelected by a handsome majority. He undertook many reform steps and largely improved the condition and raised the stand- ard of the schools. Ever in sympathy wath the cause of higher educa- tion, his fine executive talent was brought to the discharge of his duties and his efforts were highly satisfactorily effective. He was also city attorney of Butler from 1890 until 1892. He there continued in the practice of law as a member of the firm of Graves & Clai'k until 1899, when he was elected circuit judge, serving upon the circuit bench for HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 785 a term of six years. He then resumed law practice, but in April, 1906, was again called to a judicial position in his appointment to succeed Judge Marshall of the state supreme court, who had resigned. Later in the same year he was elected for a short term of two years and in 1908 was reelected for the full term of ten years. On the 30th of June, 1892, Mr. Graves was married, in Butler, to Miss Alice M. Ludwick, a lady of innate culture and refinement, daugh- ter of John L. and Mary (Fletcher) Ludwick, both of whom are now deceased. Her father was one of the first settlers of Bates county, and a splendid representative of the German American element. Mr. and Mrs. Graves have three children : Ludwick, attending the Will- iam Jewell College ; Waller W., a graduate of the Jefferson City High School; and John L., aged twelve, attending the public schools. Some years ago a contemporary biographer wrote : "Mr. Graves is one of Butler's most patriotic and enterprising citi- zens. Seldom is any plan instituted for the benefit of his town with which he is not identified. His progressiveness follows a course of the widest civic patriotism, in which there is no alloy of special self-interest, as is too often true of enterprises intended to benefit the community. The same distinction applies to his connection with politics, in which he engages solely because of his interests in and desire of good gov- ernment. Although a life-long and ardent Democrat, he lets it be known that he is not an ofiice seeker, and the only ambition cherished by him is that of ranking high as a lawyer. He is a leader of his party and is always willing to give his services to the cause on the stump or in the council. "Those who know him do not wonder that he is so thoroughly en rapport with the work of his profession, for he has been eminently fitted therefor both by nature and training. Tall and large, handsome, of commanding presence, with a rich,' full and strong voice which has been highly cultivated, ready of speech and with an ample fund of words on which to draw, it is no exaggeration to state that he is one of the most pleasing, logical and convincing speakers among the lawyers of Missouri. In presenting a case to court or jury his arguments are always strong, forcible and clear, abounding in concise statements and logical reasoning. As a counsellor his judgment may always be de- pended upon and he is noted for his ready tact in the trial of a case. One of his strongest points is his thorough preparation in all cases that he undertakes and as a result he knows the strength and weakness (50) 786 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of both' sides of the contention and thus he is always ready for any eventuaHty. In the trial of a case he never takes extensive notes, but is possessed of the rare faculty of remembering the evidence in detail of all witnesses, their bearing on the stand, etc., and months afterward can readily call it to mind. This alone makes him formidable, as always being ready to take advantage of any discrepancies of conflicting state- ments. He is an expert technician and abounds with ready references, precedents and decisions; in fact, he treats his profession as a technical science. The case that is so poor it has to depend upon the ability of the lawyer rather than evidence is fortunate if Mr. Graves appears in its behalf." Judge Graves ranks today with the ablest jurists of Missouri and there are many who predict that still higher professional honors will come to him. In his conduct and relations he is a gentleman of the old school. In his profession he stands as a representative of that progress which has characterized the profession, being in close touch with the work of the courts in later years as well as the old time legal principles which constitute the foundation of the law. Judge Graves was offered the appointment to the United States senate by Governor Gardner to succeed the late Senator Stone at the death of Senator Stone, but he declined to accept. Chester A. Chambers has been of great value to the development of Bates county in various capacities. For a number of years he was a progressive farmer and thus contributed toward the development of agricultural interests. At the same time and subsequently he engaged in teaching school and at present is the popular postmaster of But- ler, discharging his duties efificiently and with a courtesy toward the general public which has earned for him the general good-will. Mr. Chambers was born in Bates county, July 10, 1871, and is a son of William Nelson and Martha Philena (Dobson) Chambers, the for- mer born in Ohio, March 2, 1841, and the latter in North Carolina in 1844. William N. Chambers followed farming throughout life with the exception of three years which he spent as a soldier during the Civil War. He enlisted in the Forty-second Ohio Infantry, becoming a private in Company H. and he gallantly defended the Union for three years. Subsequent to the war, in the spring of 1866, he located in what is now Deepwater tow^nship, Bates county, on a farm of one hun- dred and sixty acres. The land is still in the possession of the family. There Mr. Chambers continued until his death, transforming prairie HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 787 land into one of the most valuable agricultural properties of his dis- trict. As his means increased he added to his holdings, owning at the time of his death, February 14, 1892. four hundred and fifty acres. Al- though Mr. Chambers, Sr., was a public-spirited man, he never aspired to office. Besides carrying on general farming he was extensively interested in the livestock business, deriving a gratifying addition to his income from this line of endeavor. He was a member of the Pres- byterian church. Mrs. Chambers died May 1, 1881, and he subsequently married again, his second wife also having passed away. Mr. Cham- bers was the father of eight children, of whom our subject is the third in order of birth. Chester A. Chambers acquired his education in the rural schools in Deepwater township, the Appleton City Academy and the State Normal School at Warrensburg. He was twenty years of age when his father died and in that year gave up his school work and returned to the homestead. There he remained for three years, farming during the summer seasons and attending school during the winter. He then took up teaching in the neighborhood but continued to farm and also engaged in the livestock business on the old home place. For about; twelve years he carried on these various interests but then experienced a severe attack of illness which forced him to give up the arduous labor connected with the operation of a farm. Selling out, he removed to Butler and a few weeks later again turned to teaching, filling a vacancy caused by the sudden death of an instructor. For five years Mr. Cham- bers was principal of the Fraiiklin school of Butler. He has now been postmaster lor a number of years but still is a landowner, giving his attention to the management of a valuable property one mile west of Butler, wdiich he operates as a stock farm. On February 13, 1894, Mr. Chambers married Miss Sue Helen Coleman, who was born in Bates county, Missouri, and is a daughter of Judge John Melender and Elizabeth (Bledsoe) Coleman, the former born in Kentucky, January 7, 1851, and the latter in Henry county, Mis- souri, December 26, 1854. The father came to Missouri with his family when quite young. He followed farming and also engaged in business as a contractor and carpenter and died July 22, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have three children: Vivian Maurine, attending high school; and Bonny Mignon and Alice Elizabeth. Mr. Chambers is a Republican and has always taken a most help- ful part in promoting the interests of his party. He was appointed 788 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY postmaster under President Taft and at present serves in that capacity. He is an approachable, kindly and courteous gentleman and liked by all who know him. Mr. Chambers has held various township offices, among them that of assessor and is at present interested in the manage- ment of the city of Butler, representing the first ward in the city council, and is also an active member of the board of education. He stands high in the Masonic order, belonging to the chapter and council. George Falloon, late prominent resident of Mound township. Bates county, was born in Toronto, Canada, April 3, 1852. He was the son of James and Mary Ann (Frazier) Falloon, both of whom were natives of Canada and of Irish and English descent, respectively. James Falloon received a good education in Canada and learned the trade of carpenter and builder. He began his successful career as a contractor and builder in his native country and was possessed of a considerable fortune when he moved from Toronto to Wheeling, West Virginia. He became a builder of bridges wath headquarters at AYheeling and had charge of the erection of the great bridge crossing the Ohio river at Wheeling. No task was too great for him to attempt, and he lost and made large sums of money in his various ventures. Some years later he located at Athens, Ohio and was engaged in the erection of public buildings and in rail- road construction in that vicinity. He became one of the prominent citizens of Athens and was a stanch and firm friend of the Ohio Uni- versity which was located at Athens. He was father of a family of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, three of whom are yet living. Six of the children of James Falloon died within two years past. A brother of George Falloon, who was a widely known lawyer in Nebraska, Hon. Edward Falloon, died at his home in Falls City, Nebraska, in April, 1917. At the time of his death he was the dean of the Richardson county, Nebraska bar and was admittedly one of the ablest attorneys in Nebraska. His son, Virgil Falloon, is now county judge of Richardson county. George Falloon was educated in the public schools of Athens, Ohio, and received a classical and scientific education in the Ohio University, located in his home city. He educated himself for the profession of civil engineering and made it his life work. He served as county sur- veyor of Athens county and was associated with his father in his con- tracting business for some years. He took a prominent and active part in politics of his native state and served a term as a member of the Ohio State Senate, being a member of the Seventy-second Ohio General HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 789 Assembly, 1896-1897. Like his father before him, he was a strong friend of the Ohio University, and while a member of the Ohio Senate, he introduced and had passed a bill providing for the permanent endow- ment of the university. He had previously established a lumber busi- ness in Athens, and he conducted this business until 1898, at which time he sold out his holdings in his home city and moved to Charleston, West Virginia, and engaged in the lumber business in that city for a few years. Some time during the eighties he had invested in a tract of about one thousand acres of land in Bates county, part of which is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Miller, who owns six hundred fifty-seven acres of the original tract. In 1901 he came to Bates county and took charge of his large estate, maintaining a home and business in Kansas City, as well as a residence in Mound township, near Adrian. He conducted a loan business in Kansas City in addition to looking a'fter his farming interests. Mr. Falloon was married on December 29, 1875 to Susan E. Brown, a native of Athens county, Ohio, and this union was blessed with one child, a daughter, Jessie Brown, wife of A. A. Miller of Mound town- ship, concerning whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Miller was educated in the public schools of Athens, and at the Ohio University, following which she studied in the Cincinnati College of Music, and the National Park Seminary, specializing in vocal and instru- mental music. For several years she was very niuch interested in church work and became widely and favorably known as a soloist of ability. She was first married to Charles W. Cooley and after the marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cooley removed to Grainfield, Kansas, and resided on a ranch. Mr. Cooley died at Grainfield, September 25, 1905 and Mrs. Cooley conducted the ranch for six years after his death. An account of her marriage with Mr. A. A. Miller and subsequent movements is given in connection with Mr. Miller's sketch. She is mother of one child by her first marriage, Susan Falloon Cooley, born January 29, 1900. George Falloon died May 7, 1915. His wife had preceded him in death over twenty years, her death occurring August 16, 1894. George Falloon was a successful business man, intelligent, broadminded, and widely read, a citizen who took a keen interest in the public cpiestions of the day and was a writer of force and pronounced ability. He was opposed to the single tax theory and wrote a number of pamphlets and books giving his ideas upon the subject and setting forth valid reasons for not being in favor of the single tax idea. He also campaigned against 790 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the single tax and delivered many addresses in opposition to the plan. He was possessor of a mind which was unusually brilliant and was a close student of governmental affairs. While a resident of Athens he was constantly striving to advance the growth of his home city. He was a great reader of the standard authors and kept abreast of current literature. His diversion was in hunting and fishing and he enjoyed many fishing and hunting expeditions during his life. His favorite book was the Holy Bible of which he made a deep and thorough study, his researches only serving to confirm his belief in Christianity. Possessing a very retentive memory, when he became interested in any subject, he made a thorough and exhaustive study of its underlying principles and easily remembered his readings. George Falloon was a member of the Presbyterian church and was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons. "Falloon Heights," the splendid country estate which he founded and built up, is located in the northern part of Mound town- ship, near the town of Adrian. The beautiful residence is situated almost in the middle of the tract which is two miles in length and one-half mile wide. A. A. Miller of Mound township, has one of the largest and best equipped country estates in Bates county, the residence being fitted up with every modern convenience to facilitate the farm and house work. The farming operations of his tract of over six hundred acres are car- ried on, on an extensive 'Scale and wherever possible, electric and gasoline power is made to do the work formerly done laboriously by hand. The Miller home, consisting of fourteen rooms, is one of the finest and most modern in Bates county to be found outside of the cities. There is little desire upon the part of the occupants to leave the farm for the comforts of the city when a modern automobile brings them to town in a few minutes, and when by simply pushing a button, the house is lighted by electricity generated by a private plant on the place. This modern home is also equipped with a water plant providing both hot and cold running water. Three tenant houses and commodious and well built barns and sheds adorn the Miller place. Mr. Miller was born on a farm near Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mahaska county, May 22, 1866, a son of George and Elizabeth (McDowell) Miller, the former of whom was a native of Zanesville, Ohio, and the latter a native of Piqua, Ohio. George Miller was among the first settlers of Mahaska county, Iowa, and the father of Mrs. Miller erected one of the first flouring mills in that vicinity. In 1868, George Miller removed with his family to HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 79I Linn county, Kansas, near the town of Pleasanton where he resided for several years engaged in farming. He now resides at Perry, Kansas, and is eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller died on October 3, 1914, aged seventy-four years. The three children of the Miller family are: Charles Miller, a grain dealer and shipper at Perry, Kansas; A. A., subject of this sketch; and Miss Mattie Miller. The early education of A. A. Miller was obtained in the district school located in the neighborhood of his father's farm in Linn county, Kansas, and he also attended the public schools of Pleasanton, Kansas. Pie took up the study of telegraphy and was in the employ of the Fort Scott & Memphis railroad as telegraph operator and station agent until 1888. In that year he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and was engaged in the livestock commission business until 1905. He then located at Grainfield, Kansas, where he became connected with a ranch and livestock raising proposition in which he is still interested. After his marriage in 1911, he took up his residence in Bates county, Missouri and is now managing the large farm of six hundred fifty-seven acres located in the northwestern part of Mound township. Besides the hand- some residence of fourteen rooms occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Miller, the place has three sets of tenant houses and four large barns. Mr. Miller was married in 191 1 to Jessie Cooley, a daughter of George Falloon, deceased, concerning whom an extended biography appears elsewhere in this volume. By a former marriage, Mr. Miller has three sons: Charles Porter, Harry, and George, all of whom are serving in the National Armv. Charles Porter has been in trainino- at Camp Lewis, Washington, Headquarters No. 362. By a former mar- riage, Mrs. Miller has a daughter, Susan Falloon Cooley. Mr. Miller has always been a stanch Democrat and is fraternally afifiliated with the Knights of Pythias. Lucien Green, a son of Stephen W. and Lucy Green, was born in Athens county, Ohio, July 10, 1844. He was a private in Company A, One Hundred Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted in July, 1863 and was mustered out with the regiment at tlie expiration of his term of enlistment in March, 1864. He was married to Polly Smith in August, 1868. In January, 1874, he with wife and son, A. C. Green, came to Bates county, Missouri, and for a few years resided on a farm near Butler. In January, 1882, he with his family moved to Hudson township, where he now resides. Mr. Green is a Republican in politics and in 1894 was candidate for county recorder. 792 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Meglasson Family. — Among those families who came to Bates county early after the Civil War and settled in that locality known as Harmony Mission, were Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson and two small sons, Benjamin, and Conn, who, together wnth three other children, Eliza, Flora, and Walter, who were born here, all grew up on the farm settled by their parents. Mrs. Meglasson died early in life, leaving the husband and father to be both father and mother to their five little ones, which duty was sacredly lived up to until the day of his death. This worthy couple now rest side by side in Mount Hebron cemetery at Mayview, Missouri. Of their five children, Ben, the eldest, preceded the father in death many years ago, and in his departure there went out a life that gave promise of being a beautiful and useful one. Conn and his family, together with Eliza, now Mrs. W. R. Green, now live at Kuna, Idaho. Flora is unmarried and lives in Chicago. Walter, the youngest is married and lives at St. Ignatius, Montana. Eliza Meglasson, now Mrs. W. R. Green, was a teacher in Bates county and taught in the Butler schools several years. She then taught in Colorado and was recognized as a faithful, competent, successful teacher. Walter Meglasson was for a number of years in the govern- ment service in Washington and later held a responsible government position at Fort Peck. He was afterward transferred to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and only recently cjuit public service and is now engaged in the mercantile business at St. Ignatius, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson were cultured people and their children are an honor to the memory of their parents. The passing of this family out of Bates county is only one of the many changes wrought in a little over half a century. Judge Francis M. Steele, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, an ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, was one of the lead- ing and most influential citizens of this county. Mr. Steele was born in Callaway county, Missouri, December 21, 1833. His father was Flardin Steele, a native of Kentucky, and his mother was Minnie Ann Howell before her marriage. Hardin Steele came to Missouri in 1827 and was one of the early pioneer settlers in Callaway county, where he resided until 1836 when he took up his residence in Jackson county. F. M. Steele was reared in Jackson county and learned the trade of carpenter and builder which he followed for some years in Kansas City. In 1857 he came to Bates county and was engaged in working at his trade until after the Civil War. In the fall of 1869 he located HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 793 on a farm in Hudson township and 1)ecanie owner of three hundred sixty acres of excellent farm land which he developed and improved. In 1878 he was elected justice of the peace in Hudson township and in 1880 he was elected a judge of the county court, positions which he ably filled to the satisfaction of the people of the county. Mr. Steele resided on his farm until the year 1886 when he and Mrs. Steele took up their residence in Butler and Judge Steele served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Colyer, for four years. He maintained his residence in Butler until his death. December 12, i860, Francis M. Steele and Rebecca W. Myers were united in marriage, the Reverend Horn, of Johnstown, Missouri, offi- ciating at the altar. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele was born July 2, 1841 at Evansville, Indiana, a daughter of John D. and Mary M. (Hall) Myers, both of whom were natives of Virginia. John D. Myers came with his family from Indiana to Missouri in 1845 and they located on a farm in Hudson township. Bates county, on a tract of land compris- ing three hundred sixty acres which Mr. Myers entered from the government for two dollars an acre. He built their cabin home and spent many years improving the place and in general farming and stock raising. John D. Myers was a gentleman of much intelligence and ability. He served as county judge of the Bates county court for many years and as registrar of deeds in the first years following the Civil War. Mr. Myers enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and served under Captain Donnohue. After the war had ended, John D. Myers located at Butler, later removing to Appleton City, where he died in 1876. Interment was made in Pleasant Ridge ceme- tery. Mary M. (Hall) Myers had preceded her husband in death many years. She died in 1849 and her remains were laid to rest in Pleasant Ridge cemetery. Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele has one sister liv- ing, Mrs. Susan Snodgrass, Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Steele recalls her first teacher, "Uncle Peter" Stratton, a gentleman of strong south- ern sentiments employed in teaching the young people of the southeast corner of Hudson township in the days prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, who, in 1861, went south and never again returned to Mis- souri. Her last teacher was Miss Margaret Lutsenhizer, who is now deceased. Mrs. Steele states that she is a "graduate" of the old Willow Branch school in Hudson township. Henry Myers, the present United States senator from Montana, is a nephew of John D. Myers, the father of Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele. To Francis M. and Rebecca' W. 794 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Steele were born five sons : Emmett A., a prosperous hardware merch- ant of Parker, Linn county, Kansas; Robert E., of Piedmont, Okla- homa; Charles Bruce, of Lamar, Colorado; John H., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Arthur F., of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. All these sons are doing well in life and each is admirably maintaining the splendid reputation established by his father and the name Steele is the synonym of honesty, honor, and moral rectitude wherever it is known, whether it be in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, or Wyoming. The father died at Butler January 28, 1917, and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, on account of "Order Number 11," in 1863, Francis M. Steele moved with his family to Pettis coimty, Missouri and there remained until the conflict had closed. When they left their home, the Steeles put all their household possessions of value in a wagon drawn by oxen, leaving only the house and lot located in the southern part of Butler. When they returned, the lot only was left. Mrs. Steele is an eyewitness of the two burnings of Butler, one by the Union men and the other by the Confederates. Francis M. Steele took an active and interested part in public and political affairs and for several years was a judge of the county court and later the deputy sheriff during the administration of Sheriff Colyer. As an official, citizen, gentleman, Francis M. Steele established a record far above reproach and he was widely know^n in Bates county as a man of honorable dealings, upright conduct, and strict integrity, command- ing the respect and esteem of his acquaintances and neighbors to an unlimited degree. Although he has passed from the scenes of his earthly labors into "that mysterious realm where each shall take his chamber," Francis M. Steele still lives in the memory and aft'ection of the people of Bates county. His widow, Mrs. Rebecca M. (Myers) Steele, one of Missouri's pioneer women, still survives her husband and now at the age of seventy-five years is as active physically and mentally as many women a score of years her junior, Mrs. Steele enjoys recalling the days gone by, the happy times of her girlhood and early womanhood spent on the prairies of Bates county and in the city of Butler, and she has attracted to herself a large circle of friends who admire and respect her for her sterling worth. James K. Hodges, an honored pioneer of East Boone township. Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hodges was born in 1844, a son of Joseph and Eliza Hodges. Joseph Hodges was a son HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 795 of Seth Hodges, a native of Tennessee. James K. Hodges is one of six children, born to his parents, fonr of whom are now living, namely; John, Drexel, Missouri; James, the subject of this review;. Joseph, Leavenworth, Kansas; and William, Lees Summit, Missouri. The marriage of James K. Hodges and Jemima Walker, a daugh- ter of George B. and Mary A. Walker, who settled in East Boone town- ship, Bates county, Missouri in 1870, was solemnized in 1867. To this union have been born nine children, six of whom are now living: Charles M., deceased; James Ira, deceased; Mrs. Mary A. Lacy, Merwin, Mis- souri; Mrs. Georgia M. Miller, Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Pearl Frazier, Adrian, Missouri; John E., deceased; Thomas R., Weldon, California; C. R., who resides in Canada; and Mrs. Alberta Riley, Drexel, Missouri. Mrs. Hodges is a highly esteemed member of the Baptist church. Nearly a half century ago, Mr. Hodges settled in Bates county, Missouri and he has a vivid recollection of the appearance and condi- tion of the country at that time. He states that the land vvas prac- tically all open prairie, that one might drive from his home to Butler, a distance of twenty-two miles, and not pass a lane, that pasture land was open and free, and prairie fires often lighted the night until it was as bright as day. In those early days, large herds of Texas cattle were brought to Missouri for pasturage. Wild game might be found in abundance and easily trapped or shot. James K. Hodges was an expert huntsman in his youth and has killed as many as seven prairie chickens at one shot. The first home of the Hodges family was a rude log-cabin, made from logs cut by Mr. Hodges himself and finished with lumber brought from Pleasant Hill. Mr. Hodges recalls that Green Valley school house was erected in 1870 and that Miss Park w^as employed as the first "school mistress" there. The children of James K. and Jemima Hodges later attended school at Green Valley school house. Reverend Evans and Reverend Smiley were pioneer preachers, to whom Mr. and Mrs. Hodges frequently listened, and in the early davs they conducted religious services in the homes of the settlers. Mr. Hodges purchased a small tract of land, when he came to Bates county, and to his original holdings he has since added until he is now the owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land. Until the past two years, he was engaged in raising high grade cattle and Poland China hogs, but Mr. and Mrs. Hodges now rent their farm and are spending the eventide of life in quiet retirement. They have 796 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY both worked long and hard and well deserve the ample competence which they are now enjoying, and though it is no longer absolutely necessary that either toil, they find much pleasure in attending to their cows, pigs, and chickens. Politically, Mr. Hodges is a member of the Democratic party. Mr. Hodges is a Democrat, but he served one and one-half years in the army under General Sherman and was with him on the march through Georgia and w^as in the battle of Allatoona Pass. In his prime, he w^as a man of great endurance, strong, vigorous, and alert in body and mind, a splendid type of symetrically developed manhood and by temperance in all things and healthful exercise out-of-doors, he has conserved his energies and prolonged his life past the allotted three score years and ten. His past record has been an honorable one and his honesty and integrity have always been far above reproach. James K. and Mrs. Hodges will bequeath to their descendants a good name, that which is "rather to be chosen than great riches." R. H. Rush. — The present is an era of specialization in agriculture as well as in the industrial world. The intelligent farmer who pursues a definite course as a specialist and studies the science of animal hus- bandry, is practically certain of success and can avoid many of the pit- falls which await those who refuse to progress along the lines laid down by modern research. The farmstead of R. H. Rush, located in Mound township, on the Jefferson highway just one mile south of Adrian and nine miles north of Butler, is a model of its kind, and is noted for the fact that the cattle, hogs, and poultry produced on the place in large numbers are absolutely purebred, and the owner of this fine place intends to adhere to the definite policy of having none but purebred livestock on the Rush farm. R. H. Rush, owner of two hundred forty-three acres of splendid Bates county land, was born near Martin- town, Greene county, Wisconsin, May 24, 1857, a son of Henry and Nancy Hannah (W^arren) Rush. Henry Rush, his father, was born in Bavaria, German Empire, in 1823 and was brought to America by his parents in 1827. During the long passage across the Atlantic by sailing vessel, his mother died, and one year after the arrival of the father and children in this country, the father died. Henry Rush was thus left an orphan at the tender age of five years and was reared to young manhood 1)y kind strangers in Seneca county, Ohio. During the Mexican War he served his country on the battlefields of the Southern republic from 1846 to 1848. In reward R. H. RUSH AND WIFE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 797 for his services he received a grant of government land in Wisconsin, located in Greene county, the original land plat patent for which hav- ing been signed by President Franklin Pierce. He cleared a splendid farm from the Wisconsin wilderness and became well-to-do, being owner of five hundred acres of well improved farm lands prior to his death. He died in 1913 at the great age of ninety-three years. His wife died in 1858 when the subject of this review was aged but one year. There were three children born to Henry and Nancy Ann Rush, namely; Lucetta, who married Willis Breon, and lives in Juneau county, Wiscon- sin; Nancy Jane, wife of J J. Parker, lives on part of the old home place in W^isconsin. Nancy Hannah (Warren) Rush was born in Seneca county, Ohio and was a descendant of the W^arren family of Revolution- ary fame, of which General Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill, was a member. The Warren family is one of the oldest and most distinguished in the annals of American history, an extensive genealogy of whom is in existence and is kept up to date by the members of this noted family. R. H. Rush was reared and educated in Greene county, W'iscon- sin and followed farming pursuits in his native state until 1900, when he went to Iowa, purchased a farm and lived on it three years, or until 1903, when he came to Bates county, Missouri, having in 1902 invested in his farm of two hundred forty-three acres of land in Mound township which is considered to be one of the finest and most produc- tive country places in this section of Missouri. Mr. Rush is engaged in the breeding of Hereford cattle of the thoroughbred variety, and raises purebred Poland China hogs. He has a fine drove of purebred Shropshire sheep and Mrs. Rush has charge of the pens of thorough- bred Barred Rock chickens which are the pride of the farm. On January 1, 1881, Mr. Rush was united in marriage with Bessie Anne Robinson, a native of Greene county, W^isconsin, who at the time of her marriage was living in Independence, Iowa. Her parents, Charles and Mary (Wright) Robinson, were born and reared in England, and upon immigrating to America, first settled in Wisconsin on May 24, 1857, later moving to Iowa, where both parents died. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush have been born five children: Charles, farmer and stockman, living near Passaic, Bates county ; Cora May, at home with her parents ; Dora B., wife of J. W. Moore, a farmer of Bates county; Ruth, wife of Mack Hawkins, Bates county; Fay Ralph, who is operating the home farm in partnership with his father. 798 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Politically, Mr. Rush is a Democrat. He became a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Wisconsin several years ago and has attained the Royal Arch degree of Masonry. Mr. and Mrs. Rush are well known and highly esteemed in their section of Bates county and are looked upon as valuable additions to the citizenry of this county, being progressive and enterprising and ever ready to do their part in bettering conditions in their adopted county and state. Sam Walls, one of Adrian's leading and most prominent citizens, chairman of the city council of Adrian, a member of the Jefferson High- way Commission, one of the organizers and a present member of the directorates of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri and of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler, Missouri, formerly a popu- lar manager of a Butler hotel, now a successful pharmacist of Adrian, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Walls was born in 1861 in Carlisle, Ken- tucky, a son of Thomas and Sarah W^alls. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Sam \\'alls were prosperous plantation owners in Nicholas county, Kentucky. When Sam Walls was a child, six years of age, his parents moved from Nicholas county, Kentucky to Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois. He attended school in Illinois until 1877, when he came with his parents to Bates county, Missouri and they settled on a farm located one and a half miles northwest of Butler. Sam Walls then attended the city schools of Butler until he had attained maturity. At that time, there was not a railroad in Bates county and he and his father engaged in freighting, working between Butler and Kansas City, Missouri. It required five days to make the trip and in the summers father and son would camp nights along the road, which was merely a miserable, uncared-for trail, frecjuently impassable. They could see far over the open prairie and often killed wild turkeys and prairie chickens. Thomas Walls died in 1903 and eight years later he was united in death with his wife. Mrs. Walls died in 1911. Thomas and Sarah Walls were the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. Lydia Bagby, Kansas City, Missouri; Sam, the subject of this review; Mrs. Lizzie Grimm, Kansas City, Missouri; Thomas, Kansas City, Mis- souri; Mrs. Vertie Dudley, Fort Scott, Kansas; and Mrs. Stella Ham- mer, Kansas City, Missouri. For several years, Sam Walls was engaged in farming and stock raising on his father's farm in Bates county. In 1884, he entered the mercantile business at Butler and until 1890 successfully and profitably HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 799 conducted a grocery store in this city, at which time he returned to agricultural pursuits and again resided at the old homestead for several years. Later, he returned to Butler and became associated with Dr. Lansdown in the hotel business at Butler, the two conducting the Arlington Hotel until 1897, when Mr. Walls purchased the Lansdown Drug Store at Adrian, where for the past twenty-one years he has been engaged in the drug business, carrying a splendid and complete line of drugs, paints, and sundries. Dr. Walls was not an inexperi- enced druggist at the time of his purchase of this store, for he had at one time owned a large pharmacy at Amsterdam, Missouri. The marriage of Sam Walls and Mary L. Lansdown was solem- nized in June, 1887. Mary L. (Lansdown) Walls is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Lansdown, who settled at Butler, Missouri in 1876. Mrs. Walls is a native of Camden county, Missouri. The Walls resi- dence is located in Adrian and is one of the beautiful, modern homes of the city, an imposing structure of ten rooms surrounded by a nice, well-kept law^n. Both Mr. and Mrs. Walls are members and earnest supporters of the Methodist church. Fraternally, Mr. Walls is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Elks, the Mystic W^orkers of the World, and the Eastern Star lodges. He has been a life-long Democrat and always takes a keen and commendable interest in political matters and in elections. Since he has been a member of the city council of Adrian, forty miles of concrete walks have been laid in this city. He is an aggressive worker for internal improvements and, as a member of the Jefferson Highway Commission, is an enthusiastic "booster" of good roads. Sam Walls assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri in 1913 and he is now a member of the board of directors and a stockholder of the bank. He also was one of the organizers of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler. Missouri, and is one of the present directors of that company. Mr. W^alls remembers well his first teacher in Bates county. Pro- fessor Schaffer. and a minister, to whom he often listened in his boy- hood days, Reverend Burgess. He knows full well the hardships and difficulties which beset the way of the young man who must make his own wav, unaided, in the world. He has labored many ten-hour days for the mere pittance of fifty cents. Mr. Walls invested his first sav- ings in a calf, which investment proved to be a safe and profitable one. 800 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Now, honored and respected by all his friends and acquaintances, Sam Walls occupies a conspicuous place and high standing among the best and most substantial citizens of Bates county, and none is more worthy of mention and commendation in a work of this character. Mr. Walls is one of the representative, public-spirited, "self-made" men of this part of Missouri. T. W. Blount, a successful agriculturist of Deer Creek township, is one of the highly respected and valued citizens of Bates county, a member of one of the first and best pioneer families of this section of the state. Mr. Blount was born in Bates county in 1873, a son of Allen and Eliza J. Blount. Allen Blount settled in Bates county, Missouri in the days before the Civil W^ar and the remainder of his life was spent in the arduous toil necessary in the making of a home in a new and unsettled country, and toil it was in the fullest sense of the word, a never-ceasing round ot work from early dawn until sundown. He cleared much land and devoted his life to farming and stock raising. Mr. Blount was the type of brave pioneer that took his life and future in his own hands and introduced civilization into the great West, exposing himself to hard- ships and perils of which the people of the present day can form no adequate conception, yet completing his life work like a hero, although his memory may never be commemorated in song or story. He was called upon to suffer more of the tragedies of pioneer life than fell to the lot of the ordinary pioneer and had more than one close call and narrow escape from a tragic death, yet he cheerfully endured all his heavy burdens and lived to a noble old age. Allen Blount was a skill- ful woodsman and hunter and he had abundant opportunities for the exercise of his prowess in life on the frontier. He used often to relate how he once stood in his wagon and from that vantage-point killed a fine specimen of deer. He used yokes of oxen in the work of breaking the virgin sod on his farm and in hauling supplies from Pleasant Hill. In an old "day-book," kept in the early days by one of the pioneer merchants of old Crescent Hill, are many entries made of articles sold to Allen Blount. His son, T. W., the subject of this review, has in his possession an old-fashioned staple taken from an ox-yoke which his father used to own. To Allen and Eliza J- Blount were born seven children, four of whom are now living: J- W., CofTeyville, Kansas; E. M., Simmons, Arizona; T. W., the subject of this review; and Mable, who resides HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8oi with her brother, T. W., at the Blount homestead near Adrian. The mother died in 1892. She was survived by her husband twenty-three years, when in 1915 they were united in death. Allen Blount was a man of wide acquaintance in Bates county, a gentleman of the old school, courteous, kindly, and charitable, whom to know was to esteem and honor. He was considered more conservative than progressive, still he was one of the first settlers to purchase a farm in Bates county, Missouri. In many respects, Allen Blount was worthy of the respect universally accorded him and of mention and commendation in a work of this character. T. W. Blount attended school at Liberty school house in Deer Creek tov/nship. Bates county. His first instructor was A. J. Smith and he was succeeded by William Duncan and he, in turn, by Miss Amanda McGraw. Rev. Aaron Showalter had charge of the moral and religious welfare of the community, when T. W. Blount was a lad, and to the teachings of this pioneer preacher he has often listened. Mr. Blount recalls how, in his boyhood days, he was want to ride an old-style corn planter and drop the seed in the designated marks, for his father and their neighbors. His father told him how he used to ride a still more primitive machine made of wood, in his youth, and drop corn. Mr. Blount, Jr. has spent his entire life on the farm in Deer Creek town- ship, on the place which he now owns. The Blount homestead was given T. W. Blount by his father, who desired that his son should remain on the home place and care for his sister, Mable. Mr. Blount is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising and this past season, of 1917, harvested three hundred bushels of oats and had twenty- five acres of the farm planted in corn. In every community, there are always a few rare men who are unmistakably identified with the material growth and prosperity of the country, who are invariably stanch supporters of every worthy enter- prise which has for its object the advancement and betterment of their fellowmen, wdio are always alert and ready when called upon for assist- ance in enhancing the importance of their locality, yet who are so unobtrusive that the people in general hardly realize their importance, as their presence and value are not thrust upon them, the public only unconsciously feel their impress. Yet just as surely do they exert a wholesome influence in their respective communities. Such a one is T. W. Blount, who in a quiet, but forcible, way- has done and is still doing much to advance the interests of his home township and countv. (51) ' 802 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY He is numbered among the citizens of highest standing in Bates county and is a worthy son of a most worthy father. T. W. Lightfoot, a prosperous and influential agriculturist and stockman of East Boone township, is a member of one of the early, leading families of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Lightfoot is a native of Indiana. He w^as born in 1858 in Wells county, the only child of P. G. and Rebecca (Hunt) Lightfoot. P. G. Lightfoot was a son of William Lightfoot, a native of Kentucky and of Welsh and Irish descent. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot, the parents of T. W., the subject of this review, was solemnized in Wayne county, Indi- ana and from Indiana the Lightfoot family came to Missouri in 1868 and settled on a farm in East Boone township. Mr. Lightfoot, Sr. pur- chased a tract of land embracing eighty acres, at the time of his com- ing West, and to his original holdings constantly added until he was the owner of a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land. He engaged in general farming to a certain extent, but devoted most of his time and attention to stock raising, specializing in Shorthorn cattle, buying large herds and feeding for the market. P. G. Lightfoot was a man of high moral principles, a devout member of the Baptist church, an inde- fatigable Christian worker. He organized a Baptist congregation, which met at his own home, and which afterward founded the Burdett Baptist church. He w^as many times honored by his church, being sent as messenger to various Baptist associations. Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot are now deceased. At Mudd school house in Bates county, T. W. Lightfoot attended school after his parents had moved here from Indiana. He began his educational career in Indiana and later attended school at McNeil school house. In addition to the teaching of "the three r's," preaching was frequently done at the school houses and among the pioneer preachers, whom Mr. Lightfoot knew well, were Reverends Lacy, J. W. Sage, Gwinn. Wright, Lewis, and Swift. The settlers from miles around came to church services in the early days. T. W. Lightfoot began life for himself engaged in farming and stock raising as he had always been interested in these pursuits and was reared on a farm. He remained on the home place with his parents as long as they lived. The first money he ever earned was made driving cattle and hogs to Pleasant Hill, Missouri for James Bufford. His first investment was a young colt, which proved, after much worry and many hours of anxi- ety, to be a very profitable one. Mr. Lightfoot is now owner of two HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 803 hundred acres of land and is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising, having, at the time of this writing in 1917, forty-three head of Shorthorns, seventy-five head of Poland Chinas, tw^o thousand bushels of corn, and six hundred bushels af oats. This past season of 1917, Mr. Lightfoot not only harvested the aforementioned grain, but had twenty-one acres of the place in wheat. He built a handsome resi- dence in 1904 and also one of the best barns in this part of the state. The Lightfoot place is one of the fine stock farms of East Boone town- ship, being well watered and conveniently located. The marriage of T. W. Lightfoot and Annie Mudd, a daughter of Austin Mudd, one of Bates county's first, brave pioneers, was solem- nized in Bates county, Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot had long ago united with the Baptist church and she was one of the most beloved members of the church. Mrs. Lightfoot took a deep interest in church work and faithfully served for many years as organjst and president of the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Lightfoot has been the trusted treasurer and trustee of his church for a long time. He has always remained true to the beautiful faith in which he was reared. Mrs. Lightfoot was ever her husband's most sympathetic counsellor, faith- ful companion, and tried and true friend and Mr. Lightfoot has never recovered from the blow which the Grim Reaper inflicted in taking her from him. Politically, T. W. Lightfoot is af^liated with the Democratic party. In business. Mr. Lightfoot is a very practical man, possessing much force of character and excellent judgment and his career has been very satisfactory. As a citizen, he stands high above reproach, being widely known for his honest and honorable dealings, and he commands the unqualified respect and esteem of all his friends, neighbors, and accjuaintances. O. W. Stanfill, of Elkhart township, like a great number of succes.s- ful Bates county citizens, began his career in this countv without a dollar which he could call his own. He has, by tireless industry and decided ability coupled with good financial management during the thirty-two years of his residence on his farm in this county, accumu- lated a fine farm of two hundred acres with good improvements thereon. He was born in Bath county. Kentucky, February 14, 1857 and was a son of John and Jane (Rice) Stanfill, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. The family came to Missouri in 1858 and settled in Jackson county. The Stanfill farm in that county was destined to 804 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY become a historic spot inasmuch as the famous battle of W'estport was fought on the very ground where the subject of this review^ was want to roam as a boy. After the Civil War, the Stanfills moved to Cass county, later locating in Bates county, ]\Iissouri where they made a permanent home. Mr. Stanfill resided in Bates county from 1S75 until his death in 1888. The wife and mother died in 1891. Eight children were born to John and Jane Stanfill, three of whom are living: ]\Irs. Jackson Bennett, of Joplin; Letcher Stanfill, living in Pittsburg, Kan- sas ; and O. W. Stanfill, subject of this review. The boyhood days of O. \\'. Stanfill were spent in Jackson and Cass counties and his early young manhood was spent in Elkhart township. He has always followed farming as a life vocation and has resided at his present home since 1885. Upon his splendid farm of two hundred acres he carries on general farming and stock raising, producing average native cattle and hogs for the markets. Mr. Stan- fill was married on November 20, 1883 to Miss Virginia McGuire, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William INIcGuire. of Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Stanfill have three children : May, wife of James Wilson, Amsterdam, Missouri ; Annie, wife of Milton Reeves, of New Home township; Albert Freeman, residing in Elkhart township. Mr. Stanfill has generally been allied with the Democratic party, though at one time he embraced the doctrines of the Peoples party and supported the principles of that party, for a time. He is one of the sterling, upright citizens of this county, one who has won a firm and substantial place among the great body of well-to-do citizens of the county. William Bale, a prosperous and influential farmer and stockman of Deer Creek township, near Adrian, is one of the highly respected, "self- made" men of Bates county. Mr. Baie is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1860 in DeKalb county, a son of Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie. Christian Baie, Jr. was a son of Christian Baie, Sr., who was born in Germany and came to America when he was a young man, eighteen years of age, and settled in Kane county, Illinois. The father of Will- iam Baie, Christian Baie, Jr., was a successful and well-to-do agricul- turist of DeKalb county, Illinois, owner of more than six hundred acres of land in DeKalb county. He died in 1907 and the widowed mother still makes her home in Illinois. To Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie were born eleven children, all of whom have been reared to maturitv and WILLIAM BAIE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 805 are now living: Henry, Adrian, Missouri; William, the subject of this review; Herman, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Lena Marsh, Hinckley, Illi- nois; August, Waterman, Illinois; Mrs. Amelia Troeger, Hinckley, Illinois; Louis, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Minnie Remsneider, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Ida Walgrin, who resides in Pierce township, DeKalb county, Illinois; Carl, Waterman, Illinois; and Mrs. Ada Remsneider, Hinckley, Illinois. 'Mrs. Minnie Bale died February 15, 1918. In 1887, William Baie came from Illinois to Missouri and settled on a tract of land located near Adrian, a farm comprising two hundred acres, to which he has constantly added until at one time he was owner of three hundred seventy-three acres of choice land in Bates county, but he has recently sold eighty-three acres of his place to his son, Roy. Mr. Baie began life in Missouri under very discouraging conditions, being in debt and having ill-fortune in raising crops for the first few years. He had a very hard time to get a start in the new Western home, but by unflagging industry, perseverance, and tenacious endeavor, Mr. Baie has prospered and is now the owner of one of the attractive country places in his township. He has remodeled the residence, has built a large barn and several smaller barns, and has added implement sheds and other necessary farm buildings on his place and is now well equipped to handle large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay. Mr. Baie keeps a nice herd of Shorthorn cattle and forty head of Poland China hogs. This past season, of 1917, he harvested two thousand bushels of oats and more than one hundred tons of hay and in addition had fifty- seven acres of the farm in corn, which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre. He is a most progressive farmer and is an advocate of crop rotation and the constant use of the manure spreader. In former years, William Baie operated a steam thresher and corn sheller for many years in this vicinity and was very successful in this line of work. William Baie and Carrie Ridelspeger, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ridelspeger, were united in marriage in 1884 in Illinois. To this union were born five children: Mrs. Jennie Troeger, Hinckley, Illinois; Frank, San Simon, Arizona; Mrs. Cora Temme, deceased; Mrs. Ida Black, Kansas City, Missouri; and Roy, Adrian, Missouri. The mother died in 1894. Mr. Baie remarried, his second wife being Ida George, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William George, of DeKalb county, Illinois. William Baie and Ida George w^ere united in marriage in 1899 and to them were born two children : Elizabeth and Sadie, both of whom reside at home with their father. Their mother, Ida (George) Baie 8o6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY died September 23, 1915 and Mr. Bale and his two daughters reside alone at the old homestead. Politically, William Baie is affiliated with the Democratic party. He takes a keen interest in public and political affairs and has held several offices of honor and trust in his township. Mr. Baie has served his township as school director ever since he came to Bates county thirty- one years ago and he has been president of the school board and of the township board. He has been a member of the town board of Adrian for five years and was justice -of the peace of Deer Creek township for five years. He is a worthy and highly valued member of the German Lutheran church and has been a deacon and the church treasurer for many years. William Baie is numbered among the enterprising and public-spirited citizens of Bates county. J. W. Cox. — To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Cox of Elkhart township belong the proud distinction of having one of the largest families in Bates county, or this section of Missouri. If they have accomplished during a life time of endeavor, no more than the rearing of their fourteen children to become good and worthy men and women they will have done something well worth while. Mr. Cox is one of the native born old settlers of this county while still comparatively young as age goes in this part of Missouri. He was born in a log cabin built by his father in Homer township, on July 15, 1867, a son of Felix and Mary (Hardi- nian) Maloney Cox, the former born in Clay countv, Missouri, and the latter was born in Ireland. The parents of Felix Cox were among the earliest pioneers of Clay county. The Cox home in Clay county was near that of the James boys and J. W. Cox remembers them very well and recalled that the James brothers frequently came to the Cox store to purchase provisions and trinkets. When the Civil War began, Felix Cox was eighteen years of age. He soon enlisted in the Tenth Kansas regiment and served with this organization until the close of the conflict as second lieutenant of his company. He fought in the battle of Westport and Mine Run and at one time was taken prisoner by the enemy. After the close of the war he came to Bates county in 1865 and made a settlement in Homer township, resid- ing there until August, 1867 when he came into possession of the farm where his son, J. W. Cox, now resides in Elkhart township. He spent the remainder of his life on this place with the exception of a few }/ears when he resided in Butler for the purpose of giving his children better educational advantages than that afforded by the district school. He HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 807 was engaged in mercantile business at Vinton for a time. He was a Republican in politics and always took a keen interest in political affairs. Felix Cox died in March, 1895, aged fifty-two years, the wife and mother dying in 1906 at the age of sixty-five years. After receiving a fair education in the district school of his neigh- borhood and the Butler public schools, J. W. Cox took up farming for his life work and has since been diligently engaged in farming and stock raising upon his eighty-acre tract in Elkhart township. Mr. Cox was married in 1888 to Anna Peel)les who has borne him fourteen chil- dren, as follow: Gertrude, married Albert Ferguson and lives in Elk- hart township; Florence, wife of Louis Wilkerson, resides at Road House, Illinois; Joseph, lives in Elkhart township; Lewis, resides at home; Laura, wife of \A'ill McMein, living near Amsterdam, Missouri; Clay, a farmer in Elkhart township; Ethel, Lucille. Floyd and Lloyd (twins), John and James (twins), Darrell, and Murrel. at home with their parents. The mother of this large family of children was born in Illinois, a daughter of Abraham Peebles who came to this county and bought a half section of land whereon he resided until his death a few years later. After his death the other members of the Peebles family returned to Illinois. Mr. Cox is an independent voter and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. His memory of the early days in this county is vivid and at the time of his father's settlement in Homer township, much of the territory now dotted with farm homes was a vast unfenced prairie over which herds of deer and cattle roamed at will. He recalls the building of the first wire fence in his neighborhood and remem- bers when parties cut the strands of wire of one fence which had been built across the highway. He remembers that Jesse and Frank James and two others of their band called at his father's store for the pur- pose of purchasing provisions and trinkets and tobacco. His father split rails and fenced his eighty-acre farm before the days of wire fence. He has seen herds of deer grazing on the prairie numbering eight and ten head and witnessed the killing of a deer by a bull dog, also saw several bands of Indians. Wolves were likewise numerous but he thinks that nothing has been more v/onderful than the great changes that have taken place in the appearance of the country since the days of his childhood. George Crooks of Charlotte township has lived in Bates county for over half a century and can readily be classed as one of the real 8o8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY "old settlers" of the county. He was born in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1860 and is a son of Peter and Caroline (Owens) Crooks. His father was a native of Scotland and during his younger days was a deep sea sailor and ship carpenter who was promoted to become a mate of sailing vessels. For several years he sailed the high seas and finally immigrated to America, where he was married to the wife of his choice who was born in Illinois state. He settled down to farming in Grundy county, Illinois, and resided there until his removal to Bates county. He was one of the early settlers in Grundy county, where the father of Mrs. Owens was one of the pioneers. Mr. Owens frequently recalled that at one time he was offered a quarter section of land within the city limits of Chicago in exchange for a pair of boots but did not think that he would get the worth of the boots. The site of Chicago in those early days was not an enticing place for settlers and Mr. Owens was not the only pioneer who declined an opportunity to own a piece of swamp land. The Crooks family located in Charlotte township when they came to Bates county in 1866 and Mr. Crooks resided upon his farm for the remainder of his life. He was a Republican and wielded quite an influence in local politics but always declined political prefer- ment. There were five children in the Crooks family, as follow: Laura, wife of John Cope, New Home township, Bates county; James, Santa Cruz, California; Agnes, married James H. Park, living near Virginia, this county; George, subject of this biography; and Peter, deceased. George Crooks has practically grown up with Bates county, and was educated in the old Butler Academy after his course in the local school. He has always followed farming and stock raising and ably cultivates his fine farm of one hundred sixty acres. He is a Republi- can in politics and has served as a member of the local school board. Mr. Crooks is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Vir- ginia. He has a good recollection of conditions in this county during his boyhood days and remembers seeing herds of deer, wild turkeys and game of all kinds. The family came to this county at a time when the greater part of the county was unfenced prairie land, and the trails ran straight across country, taking the shortest distance between two points. This was the condition until the coming of the wire fencing which required that regular roadways be laid out throughout the county. All those changes, Mr. Crooks has witnessed, and has seen the unset- tled country transformed into a productive and fertile land dotted with handsome farm homes and towns and villages. He has witnessed HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 809 the days of the ox-team give way to the horse-drawn vehicles and that in turn give way to the automobile as a more rapid method of trans- portation. S. C. McKee, of Elkhart township, is a native son of Missouri, having been born on a pioneer farm near Austin in Cass county, in 1852. He is a son of James and Louisa Jane (Best) McKee. His father was born in Tennessee and accompanied his brother, John McKee, to Cass county where they made a settlement near Austin. James McKee was the first blacksmith to open a shop in iVustin, and he died there wdien S. C. McKee was but six months old. His wife, Louisa Jane (Best) McKee, was born in Dayton township, Cass county, and after the death of James McKee, she married John Tate. When Order Number 11 was issued, the family located in Harrisonville, Missouri, where they resided until the fall of 1864 then they went to Illinois and lived in McLean county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tate spent the remainder of their days in Illinois. To James and Mary McKee were born three children : William, was killed while serving in the Union army dur- ing the Civil War; Mrs. Louisa Jane Tate, lives in Illinois; S. C, sub- ject of this sketch. To the second marriage of Mrs. Louisa Jane McKee with John Tate, was born a son, Thomas Tate. In 1873, S . C. McKee returned to Missouri and took charge of the old home place of his father in Cass county. Ten years later he came to Bates county and purchased his present home place of one hundred forty acres in Elkhart township. He has since been engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising and raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. He w^as married in 1874 to Catherine Stambaugh, a native of Cass county, wdio has borne him twelve children: Magdalene, wife of John James, Windsor, Colorado; Charles W., Los Angeles, Cali- fornia; Ida Ethel, married Lester Anderson, Omaha, Nebraska; Maude Estelle, wife of Oscar AVarnick, Warrensburg, Missouri; Oscar Law- rence, Great Falls, Montana; Dora Juanita, wife of Jack Bigler, Kansas City, Missouri; Tempest Alice, living in New York City; Trixie Annetta, Doyleston, Massachusetts ; Samuel Sullivan, Red Oak, Iowa ; George Washington, farming in Bates county; Olive Annie, a pul)lic school teacher, Centerview, Missouri ; Stanley Carrollton, at home. Two children have died : Bertha and Hallie. Bertha died in infancy, and Hallie Maye, wife of Joe Earnest Duvall, of Amsterdam, is deceased. Her death occurred at Joplin, Missouri. The mother of this large family of children was born in Cass county, a daughter of George AA^ash- 8lO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ington and Jennie L. (Huff) Stambaugh. Her mother was a daughter of L. B. Huff and was born in Indiana near Terre Haute, and came to Missouri with her parents in 1855. She is now living in Kansas City. George W. Stambaugh was a native of Kentucky, born of Virginia parents. He became prominent in the affairs of Cass county where he settled in about 1854. He lost his life at the hands of "bushwhackers" at the beginning of the Civil War. After his death, his widow married J. E. Sawyer and to this marriage were born three children: Josephine, wife of James Owens, Kansas City; K. B., a Christian Science reader and practitioner, Kansas City; Dr. J. F., a practicing physician at Kan- sas City. Had Mr. and Mrs. McKee accomplished no more than the rearing of their splendid family of twelve children they would be entitled to more than honorable mention in this history of Bates county. Better than wealth, fame, or honors, is the credit of having contributed to the Nation a fine family of sons and daughters who have taken their places in the world and are living useful lives according to the precepts laid down by their parents. Mr. McKee is a Democrat who has found time while rearing his family, to fill the offices of tax collector and constable in his township. He was a member of the Farmers Alliance years ago and is now connected with the Farmers Union, its natural successor. George H. Pahlman, cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the youngest bankers in Missouri and is one of the most effi- cient and capable in Bates county today. He is a native of Bates county, having been born on a farm in Charlotte township, March 28, 1889, a son of G. C. and Anna J. (Dutton) Pahlman, natives of Illinois. G. C. Pahlman was born in Illinois in 1861 and was reared to young manhood in his native state. He migrated to Missouri in 1885 and made a settlement in Charlotte township. Bates county soon after his marriage with Anna J. Dutton who was born in Illinois in 1865 and came to Bates county with her father, Samuel Dutton, in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Pahlman still reside on their farm in Charlotte township. They are parents of the following children : James T., Carmen, Okla- homa; G. H., subject of this review; Glenn W., Nashua, Montana; Holly F., a farmer of Charlotte township; Emma E., a student in But- ler High School. G. H. Pahlman was educated in the public schools of Bates county and the State Normal College at Warrensburg, Missouri. For a period HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8ll of three years he taught school in this county and then entered the Bank of Amoret as assistant cashier. In the year 1916 he took charge of the Bank of Amsterdam as cashier. This bank was first organized in 1892 by W. J. Bard, John McKee, C. A. Emerson and H. P. Nickel with a capital of ten thousand dollars. The first cashier was C. A. Emerson and the first president was H. P. Nickel. Mr. Emerson was succeeded as cashier by W. W. Badgeley, who was followed by W. W. Rubel, who was succeeded by Clyde Bailey. Mr. Pahlman followed Mr. Bailey as cashier of the bank. The bank was burned out in the fire which occurred on February 3, 1916 and practically swept away the business district of Amsterdam. The bank being well insured the loss was slight, being but about $750 all told. A new bank building was erected and opened for business in the spring of 1917. This building is built of Ijrick with a tiled floor and fitted up with handsome modern fixtures at a total cost of $4,100, the building costing $2,600 and the new fixtures costing $1,500. The bank's capital and surplus in Decem- ber of 1917 is $15,000. The undivided profits are over $5,000. The deposits will exceed $125,000. The present officers are: John McKee, president ; William Henderson, vice-president ; cashier, G. H. Pahlman and the assistant cashier is Mrs. M. Pahlman. The directors are : John McKee, John Morewood, Alex Morewood, W. A. McBurney, and G. H. Pahlman. In addition to his duties as cashier, Mr. Pahlman conducts a fire insurance and farm loan department on his own account. In politics Mr. Pahlman is allied with the Democratic party. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married Octo- ber 28, 1912, to Miss Mayme E. McKibl)en, who was born in Charlotte township a daughter of William F. and Julia E. (Wolfe) McKibben, natives of Illinois. William F. McKibben, who is now living in Amster- dam, was born November 8, 1855, in Stephenson county, Illinois, a son of David T. and Eliza J. (Tompkins) McKibben, natives of Pennsylvania and Canada, respectively. The McKibben family came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869 and located at Butler, where the parents lived a retired life -until death. AVilliam McKibben engaged in farming on liis own account in Charlotte township in 1885. After renting land for three years he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he improved, added eighty acres thereto and sold out in January, 1917. He was married in 1884 to Julia E. Wolfe, a daughter of C .W. \\'olfe, who came to Bates county from Iowa in 1869. The following children were born to this marriage : Bertha Gertrude, wife of O. W. A\^alker, 8l2 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Kansas City, Missouri; Mary E., wife of the subject of this review and who is assistant cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam. Edward C. Hess^ a well-known and prosperous farmer and stock- man of Deer Creek township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hess was born in LaSalle county in 1875, a son of Gotthard and Catherine (Kern) Hess, who settled on a farm in Deer Creek township, Bates county, Missouri in 1879. When the Hess family settled in this part of the state, there were very few settlements, wild game might be found in abundance, and even the cattle, horses, and hogs ran at large over the open prairie. Before Adrian was founded, the trading point of the Hess family was Harrisonville. .Gotthard Hess was born in Germany, in 1844, and died in 1896. He came to America when a young man and first located in LaSalle county, Illinois, and there married Catherine Kern, also born in Germany in 1834, and died January 17, 1906. They were parents of four children: Henry, Madison, Kansas; Mrs. Ida Schmidt, Mound township. Bates county; Mrs. Emma Eeraris, Mound township. Bates county; Edward C, subject of this review. By a former marriage with Mr. Haas, Catherine Kern Hess was mother of four children, two of whom were reared: Mrs. Louise Rogers, died in January, 1917; Fred, Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Hess, whose name introduces this review, attended school at Hess school house in Deer Creek township. Will Duncan was his first instructor and, later, he was taught by Professor Putnam and then by the professor's wife, Mrs. Putnam. He remembers one of the pioneer preachers of Bates county, to whom he often listened in his boyhood days, Reverend Showalter. Mr. Hess states that Reverend McClintock was the chief carpenter of those who built his father's residence in 1881. Revival meetings were frequently held in the brush arbors, in the early eighties, and attracted immense crowds of settlers from all parts of the country, the young people coming long distances to attend, riding on horseback. "Spelling bees" and "debating societies" afforded oppor- tunities for instruction, entertainment, and recreation for the pioneers^ opportunities which were universally seized. E. C. Hess has spent his entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, on the farm and he has always been interested in agricultural pursuits. The first money he ever earned was made by hauling a load of wood to town and his first investment was a young pig, which he watched and cared for with all the solicitude and caution of one who has all his earthly possessions at stake. Mr. Hess is now owner of a splendid farm in Deer Creek 'K \> ,0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 813 • township, a place comprising two hundred forty acres of valuable land. He, in addition, rents a tract of land embracing three hundred three acres and is engaged in raising stock extensively, having at the present time, in 1918, three hundred head of stock on the farm. He devotes some time to general farming and this past season, of 1917, harvested one thousand five hundred sixty-three bushels of wheat, one thousand nine hundred bushels of oats, and fifty tons of fine hay and one hundred thirty acres of the farm were planted in corn, which averaged forty bushels to the acre. Mr. Hess planted seventy-five acres of his land in wheat last autumn. His farm is well equipped with all needed conveniences for handling large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay. The marriage of E. C. Hess and Anna Feraris, a daughter of Peter Fera' IS, a prominent citizen of Bates county, was solemnized in 1901. To this union have been born six living children: Louis, Marie, Earl, Rolla, Hadley, and Pauline, all of whom are at home with their parents. Aubrey was born August 4, 1904, and died September 30, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Hess are members of the German Lutheran church. In the social circles of Deer Creek township, there is no family more highly respected and valued than that of which E. C. Hess is head. E. C. Hess is one of the best class of citizens, a gentleman who, because of his sterling per- sonal qualities, is today occupying a prominent position among the lead- ing, successful farmers and stockmen of this section of Missouri. Dr. William A. Williams, — For the past thirty-seven years Dr. W. A. Williams has been ministering to the sick and ailing in the section contiguous to Hume, Missouri. He is one of the best-known pro- fessional men of the county and for many years has been an active and prominent figure in the political history of Bates county. He is one of the real leaders of the Missouri Democracy, and Doctor Williams enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the people of this sec- tion of his native state, for he was born in Missouri, a son of one of the early pioneers of Missouri. John H. Williams, his father, was born in North Carolina, April 1, 1820, a son of Absalom Williams, who emigrated to Missouri in the fall of 1845 and settled in Pettis county, where he resided until his death in April, 1867. John H. Williams was reared to young man- hood in Pettis county and was married in Johnson county to Miss x-\ra- bella C. Gilliam on June 6, 1851. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, four living, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest, the others being: Joseph P., residing in Hume, Missouri; Mrs. S. H. Thomp- 8 14 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY son, Kansas City; Mrs. R. F. Collins, Enid, Oklahoma. The mother of these children was born at Boone's Lick, Howard county, Missouri. January 25. 1832, a daughter of A\'illiam Gilliam, who located in Howard county in 1831, and moved to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1840. Mrs. Williams is now living in Hume. John H. Williams started for Illi- nois during the Civil War time but abandoned his intention of locating in that state. When peace was declared, he located at Dresden, Pet- tis county, where he became a merchant and live-stock dealer. During his younger years he taught school and followed the profession of civil engineer. Afterward, he moved to a farm on the Blackwater in Pettis county. For sixty-seven years he was a constant sufferer from asthma, an affliction which prevented him from attaining the maximum of suc- cess which was his just due. He removed to Hume, Missouri, in 1881 and resided there until his untimely death on May 5, 1889, his demise being caused by a fall which resulted in a fractured hip, death resulting soon afterward. Doctor Williams was reared and educated in Pettis county, receiv- ing his classical education at Lake Forest Academy, after which he studied medicine for one year at the University of Missouri. Following his course at the Missouri University he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and graduated from this institution on February 14, 1877. He began the practice of his profes- sion at Logwood, Pettis county, where he remained for two years. He then practiced for tw^o years at Lamonte, Missouri, and in August, 1880, went to Silver Cliff, Colorado, remaining there for one year. In Sep- tember, 1881, he made a permanent location in Hume, Bates county, and for the past thirty-seven years has successfully practiced his pro- fession. Doctor Williams has kept abreast of the advances made in the science of his profession and rarely a month passes which does not find him in the hospitals of Kansas City, frequently visiting the city twice each month in the interest of his professional practice. Doctor Williams was married in 1905 to Miss Edna Z. Bacon, wdio was born in Vernon county, Missouri, and is proprietor of the Fashion Store at Hume. He is a member of the Bates County, Tri-County. and the Missouri State Medical Societies. Doctor Williams is affiliated fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 1026, Rich Hill, Missom^i, and is prominently identified with the Knights of Pythias Lodge. He has served as Chancellor Commander of the Hume Lodge of Pythians since its organization with the exception of but a few HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ' 815 years and has been a member of the Grand Lodge and representative from the Hume Lodge since 1893. He has attended the sessions of the Grand Lodge of Pythians in the state of Missouri for the past twenty- four years. For fourteen years he was supreme representative of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is past master for the state of Missouri in this order, having filled practically every executive office in the order. He is also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Degree of Honor. Politically, Doctor Williams is one of the most influential Demo- crats in this section of Missouri. For many years he has been active in the councils of his party and has assisted many of his friends to political preferment. For thirty years he has been identified with the party organization in Missouri and has never missed a county or state convention where he has been one of the guiding spirits. Having no desire for political or civic honors himself he has been interested in politics for pure love of the game and the excitement of taking part in a political contest. E. D. Fitz Gerald. — The career of him whose name forms the caption of this review is that of a self-made man who in the course of a few years has accomplished as much and more than the average individual does in a life time of endeavor. He is one of those excellent citizens of Bates county who came here from an adjoining state and has taken his position as an important member of the civic body of the county. E. D. Fitz Gerald, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and forty .acres in section 21, Howard township, was born at Chetopa, Kansas, in 1871, and was a son of William G. and Martha (Robinson) Fitz Gerald. William Fitz Gerald, his father, was a native of Ireland of Scotch- Irish parentage who married Martha Robinson, a native of London, England, and soon after the marriage immigrated to America in 1868. They w^ere early settlers in the state of Kansas where Mr. Fitz Gerald was engaged in banking. For a numl)er of years he was cashier of a bank at Chetopa, in Miami county, Kansas. He died in 1873. To AA^ill- iam and Martha Fitz Gerald were horn the following children: Edward D. Fitz Gerald and Geraldine E. Fitz Gerald. E. D. Fitz Gerald was reared and educated in Kansas and early in life took up the vocation of agriculturist. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1899 and for some years worked at farm labor. He was industrious and saving of his earnings and after his marriage in 1901 he began renting land. He leased the farm which he now owns, for 8l6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a period of seven years and then purchased it. Since coming into possession of the property he has added several substantial improve- ments, a house, a barn, and a large silo. During the past year he has harvested sixty acres of corn which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre and has sown fifty acres to wheat. He sells from his place an average of seventy head of hogs annually and other products which yield him a good income. Mr. Fitz Gerald was married December 24, 1901, to Miss Rose Ann White, who was born in Vernon county, Missouri, a daughter of Cass and Eva (Benham) White, natives of New York, who immigrated to Missouri in 1872 and made a settlement in Vernon county, where Mr. White became a successful farmer and stockman. Mr. W^iite died in 1912 and his widow makes her home in Vernon county. Seven children have been born to E. D. and Rose Ann Eitz Gerald, as follow^: Beulah Anna, aged fifteen years; Wayne Miles, aged thirteen; UUis James, eleven years of age; Charles Bronson, ten years old; David Arnold, aged five years; Hattie May, who died January 16, 1911, at the age of one year and two months; Edith Pauline, four years of age. Mr. Eitz Gerald is a Democrat in politics and takes a keen interest in civic and educational matters, having been a strong advocate of the inauguration of the consolidated school system, he being one of the school directors, which has provided transportation and graded school facilities for the children of Howard township at Hume, Missouri. He and Mrs. Fitz Gerald are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and contribute of their time and means to the furtherance of relig- ious works. Mr. Fitz Gerald is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Domestic W^orkers, and Mrs. Fitz Gerald is affiliated with the Domestic Workers (Royal Neighbors). Both are popular and highly esteemed in their home community where they are valued and useful citizens. W. P. Connell. — The name of Connell is a historic one in Kansas and Bates county, jMissouri, and recalls recollections to the old timers of both Kansas and Missouri of the days when the state of Kansas was in the making and that Jesse Connell, father of W. P. Connell, was a member of the first state constitutional convention held in Kan- sas and played a very prominent part in the making of a new state. History also records that he later came to Bates county and became prominently identified with the People's Party movement in this county and at the time of his death in 1892. he was the presiding judge of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 817 county court in this county. W. P. Connell, an intelligent and highly respected old resident of West Boone township, owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, was born January 9, 1845, in Trimble county, Kentucky, a son of Jesse and Nancy (Johnson) Connell, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. The late Judge Jesse Connell was born in Kentucky in Trimble county and reared and educated in his native state. He was an intelli- gent, versatile citizen of excellent educational attainments, a natural- born leader of men, so it is not strange that after locating in Leaven- worth county, Kansas, in 1854, he soon became identified with the his- toric making of a great state. He soon became identified with political movements in his section of Kansas and was elected to represent Leav- enworth county as a member of the first state constitutional conven- tion held in 1857. He played a prominent and effective part in the making of the first set of laws under which Kansas was governed and resided in that state until 1875, when he came to Missouri and located on a farm in Clay county. He resided in Clay county until 1880 and then came to Bates county. His powers of leadership soon evidenced themselves in this county and he became identified v/ith the People's Party movement which was then sweeping the Western states and gaining in strength and power each continued year of its existence. He was a candidate for judge of the county court of Bates county in the election of 1892 when the People's or Populist Party swept the county and elected practically all the county officials. He was made presiding judge of the county court as a result of this decisive election but died during the year, in Butler. His remains are interred in Oak Hill ceme- tery. The death of judge Connell marked the passing- of one of the truly historic characters of the border days. He was the father of ten children, five of whom are yet living as follow : Robert, living in Clay county, Missouri; Mrs. Nannie Watkins, Liberty, Missouri; May, also living in Liberty, Missouri; Jack, a resident of Centerview, Mis- souri ; Mrs. Kate Wright, Long Beach. California ; William P., subject of this review^ W. P. Connell received his early education in the common schools of Leavenworth county. Kansas, and pursued a course at St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kansas. He removed with his father to Clay county, Missouri, in 1875, and came to Bates county with him in 1880. For a period of twenty-seven years, Mr. Connell cultivated a farm located one mile south of his present home place and in 1907 purchased eighty (52) 8l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY acres, which in connection with a farm of eighty acres, forty acres owned by his brother-in-law, makes a good farm of one hnndred and sixty acres which they cultivate in common. Mr. Connell w-as married in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1866, to Sarah Viola Cox, born in Hancock county, Illinois, in 1844, a daughter of Luke and Elizabeth (Daws) Cox, natives of Virginia. Luke Cox her father, died in Illinois in 1857. The widow, born in 1829, was mar- ried, second time, to Robert Perry Higdon, of Alabama, and moved to Leavenworth county, Kansas, in 1864. Her second husband died at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, during the Civil AVar period. She was married, third time, to John Freeland, who died in Leavenworth county, Kan- sas. Mrs. Freeland is now living at the Connell home. The following children have been born to W. P. and Sarah Viola Connell: Mrs. Minnie Scott Black, living on a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Wright, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Johanna Clapp, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Connell have eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In 1916 this worthy couple celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and a considerable gathering of friends and relatives were present to wish them many returns of the day and to partake of their hospitality and cheer. Mr. and Mrs. Connell are members of the Quaker faith and are good, worthy citizens of Bates county who are respected and admired by all wdio know them. He is a Democrat in politics and has served his town- ship for eight years as trustee and was justice of the peace for eight years. W. P. Connell is a worthy son of an honored and revered par- ent whose name will live long in history as one of the makers of a great state. G. B. Bohlken, prosperous farmer and stockman of Homer town- ship, vice-president of the Bank of Amoret, Missouri, is a Bates county citizen of German birth wdio has made a splendid record in his adopted land. He began life in this country as a farm hand, followed by a period of homesteading on the plains of Nebraska, where his home was a sod house, and later by a successful career in Bates county as farmer and stockman. Mr. Bohlken w^as born in Germany in 1845, a son of C. H. and M. Bohlken, who lived and died in their native land. Mr. Bohlken received a good education in the schools of his native country and in 1869 he immigrated to America. He was endowed with very little of this world's goods when he arrived in Illinois and his work was as farm hand for six months at a wage of twenty-fiA'e dollars per month. He HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 819 then rented a farm and cultivated rented land in Illinois until 1886, when he went to Cheyenne county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded a half section of land whereon he grazed cattle for a number of years. His home on the prairie was a sod house, which followed the dugout whexein he and his family first lived. He ranged cattle on the plains and im- proved his land, and it can be said that Mr. Bohlken has no complaint to make of any hardships endured while on his ranch, life being easy, and no hard work connected with herding cattle. He disposed of his Nebraska land in 1895 and came to Bates county, where for the follow- ing twelve years he operated a tract of Scully land on a lease. In 1907 he bought his present splendid farm of two hundred and eighty acres in Homer township. Mr. Bohlken was married in Germany in 1869 to Catherine Hemen and came directly after his marriage to America, accompanied by his bride. Mrs. Bohlken was a faithful helpmeet to her husband until her death in 1897. Children were born to this marriage as follow; Mrs. Margaret Emanuelson ; Mrs. Mary Fitz; Mrs. Annie Wilkerson; Mrs. Helen Alberts; William, Sina, and George, at home with their father; Henry, deceased. Mr. Bohlken is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience dictates. He is a member of the Lutheran denominational faith and is highly esteemed as one of Bates county's most substantial citizens. J. R. Trent, foreman of the A. H. Warren Cattle Ranch in Bates county, was born at Humansville, Cedar county, Missouri, in 1890. He is the son of T. S. and Jennie (Knapp) Trent, the former of whom was a native of McDonald county, Missouri. Mrs. Jennie Trent was born in New -York state and came to Missouri with her parents in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Trent came to Bates county in 1913 and are now living in Sum- mit township. J. R. Trent was reared and educated in Cedar county, Missouri, and took up the vocation of farming and stock raising. He came to Bates county in 1909 and managed the Frank Robinson farm until he took charge of the A. H. Warren ranch in 1913. This ranch comprises a total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-one acres in Summit, Shawnee, and Mound towaiships and has been in operation for the past ten years. It w^as first placed in operation by Messrs. Huffing- ton and Warren, of Kansas City, but upon Mr. Hufiington's death, Mr. A. H. Warren became sole proprietor of the ranch. There are now two hundred sixty-two head of cattle on the ranch, sixty-three of which are on full feed. This number is somewhat below the usual number of 820 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY cattle kept on the place and there is usually a carload of hogs in feeding" for the markets. The land comprising the ranch is all in lease and is part of the Scully lands in this county, all being owned by the Scully estate excepting ninety-three acres, which is owned by Mr. AVarren. The residence on the place was built by Green AA'alton. and is situated four miles north and three and three-fourths miles east of Butler, Missouri. Four men are employed to assist in the operations of the ranch. J. R. Trent was married on October 18, 1908. to Miss Freda Nel- son, a daughter of N. Y. and Mary Nelson, of Cedar county, Missouri. Mrs. Trent was born in Princeton, Illinois, Bureau county, and came to Missouri in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are parents of four children besides Mrs. Freda Trent, as follow: Palmer E. ; Mrs. Selma Mitten; Mrs. Jennie E. McDonald, Kansas City. IMissouri ; and Mrs. E. G. Ward, Butler, IMissouri. A brother of Mr. Trent, named Loren Trent, resides on a farm at Manzanola, Colorado. Mr. Trent is one of the best stockmen in this section of ^Missouri and has learned thoroughly how to care for livestock by being asso- ciated with stockmen, applying himself, and being by nature possessed with a natural liking for his profession. His employer says of him that he is one of the best stockmen he ever employed. The Warren Com- pany ships from eight to ten cars of livestock to the markets each year and modern methods of feeding are used on this large ranch. It is equipped with the largest silo in Bates county having a capacity of two hundred and fifty tons of silage, and erected in 1914. Mrs. Trent attends to the poultry department on her own account and has at the present writing over one hundred and fifty Barred Rock chickens on the place. Mr. and Mrs. Trent are energetic, industrious and ambitious people who are determined to make a success of their lives and will without doubt meet with the greatest success in their chosen vocation. A. J. Smith, a leading attorney of Bates county, Missouri, one of Adrian's most prominent and influential citizens, president of the Old Settlers Association, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith was born in 1855, a son of J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith, of Delaware county, Ohio. Deborah (Blue) Smith was a daughter of Michael Blue, a native of Ohio and of Irish descent. J. J. Smith moved from Delaware county, Ohio to Columbus in Franklin county and in 1866 came to Bates county, Mis- souri and purchased a tract of land, comprising one thousand eighty acres, for three dollars and sixty cents an acre. Two years afterward, in 1868, Mr. Smith returned to this part of the state with his family A. J. SMITH. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 82 1 and they located temporarily at Butler. In the spring of 1869, the Smiths settled on the farm, in Alound township, a part of which the son, A. J., now owns. Their residence was a small box house, scarcely large enough for their family. J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith were the par- ents of six children, three of whom are now living: Dr. Norman P., deceased; Mrs. Mary E. Walter, Adrian, Missouri; Dr. Harvey B., de- ceased; John C, Adrian, Missouri; A. J., the subject of this sketch; and Deborah, deceased. The mother died in Ohio, when her youngest son, A. J., was a little child, three years of age. Several years after the death of Mrs. Smith, J. J. Smith remarried, his second wife being Mar- tha Livingston, a daughter of Judge Livingston, of Ohio. Mr. Smith was a highly intellectual man and well educated. He was engaged in teaching school for many years in Ohio but after coming West and settling in Bates county he devoted his entire time and energies to the pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. During his career, he suffered many financial reverses, but he was the type of man who knows no failure and his perseverance and invincible spirit in the end brought him a fair measure of success. J. J. Smith was one of Bates county's most highly respected and valued citizens and his death on May 18, 1895 was universally lamented in this part of the state by all who knew him. In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, A. J. Smith received his elementary education. He later entered Butler Academy and after completing the academic course was engaged in teaching school for several years until he had saved from his earnings a sum of money sufficient to enable him to pursue a course in law at the Missouri State University. Mr. Smith graduated from the Missouri Law School at the State University in 1881 and after completing his work at the university he returned to his father's home on the farm to obtain a much needed rest. Prior to opening his law office at Adrian, Mr. Smith again entered the teaching profession and taught school for one term. For twenty years, he was engaged in the regular practice of law, since which time he has been doing office practice only. In 1898, A. J. Smith purchased the interests of the other heirs to the old home place and is the present owner of two hundred fifty acres of land in Mound township, a farm of one hundred sixty acres upon which he has built a very nice, comfort- able cottage of six rooms, and a farm of ninety acres also well improved with a pleasant residence, a cyclone cellar, a sufficient number of barns, and supplied with an abundance of good water. Mr. Smith rents both places and from them derives a very satisfactory income. He is also 822 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the owner of a large lot in Adrian, 140 x 200 feet, upon which he has built two residences. The older house was his first home in Adrian and the new one is his present home, a handsome, modern structure of thirteen rooms supplied with both hot and cold water and finished with hardwood floors, built in 1911. The marriage of A. J. Smith and Laura M. Hunter, a daughter of W. M. and Elizabeth Hunter, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized Sep- tember 29, 1885 and to this union were born three children: Alvin C, deceased; Mrs. Martha E. Wallace, Altamont, Missouri; and Leon H., Adrian, Missouri. The mother died in 1900, leaving the three small children, the youngest but five years of age. Mr. Smith remarried, his second wife being Mary L. Nichols, a daughter of Stephen Nichols, and to them has been born one child, a daughter, Mary Lucile, who is at home with her parents. Politically, A. J. Smith is affiliated with the Republican party. He takes a keen and commendable interest in public and political affairs and has served as city attorney of Adrian for many years. He is in close connection with the financial interests of Bates county and is at present a stockholder and the attorney of the Adrian Banking Com- pany, of which institution he was vice-president and director for thirty years. Mr. Smith readily recalls the time in Bates county, when one might travel a distance of many miles and not pass a settlement, when he from the doorway of his father's home has killed countless wild ducks and prairie chickens, and when the old stagecoach used to travel from Grand River to Butler by way of the Mound. Later, the route of the stagecoach was changed, after a trail had been beaten, so that it passed the Smith homestead. Mr. Smith relates in his own inimitable way many delightful stories of his youth, many incidents, too, of hardship and privation which he experienced in his boyhood days and in his early manhood, and many interesting cases which he has had in his later years since entering the practice of his profession. Mr. Smith is president of the Bates County Old Settlers' Association. The record of A. J. Smith is the record of a man of talent, who began life under the embarrassing circumstances which poverty entails and who, by his own unaided efforts, has worked himself up from a lowly position to one of the highest standing in Bates county, Missouri. From the first, Mr. Smith's life has been one of industry and persever- ance and the honorable course he has undeviatingly followed, the admir- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 823 able methods he has invariably adopted, have won for him the support and confidence of all with whom he has had business or social relations. It is to such strong-minded men that our country's prosperity is chiefly indebted, for in the building of communities and in laying the broad, deep foundations of future progress they are potential factors and must be considered as true benefactors of the race. A. J. Smith deserves great credit for the rapid strides he has made from a most humble sta- tion in life to one of influence and affluence in his community. Bates county is proud to enroll such gentlemen as he among the county's best and most intellectual, substantial citizens. Stephen Cole Collier, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stock- man of Walnut township, is a member of one of the oldest of the Mis- souri pioneer families who is keeping up the reputation of his ancestors as able and intelligent tillers of the soil. In his own right he is owner of a splendid tract of two hundred and forty acres of prairie land in Walnut township, located south of Foster — a beautiful, level tract of land which is kept in a high state of cultivation by the proprietor. During 1917, Mr. Collier harvested 3,500 bushels of corn from a tract of sixty acres with other crops in proportion. He has fifty acres planted to wheat for the next harvest and has thirty-three head of cattle on his place at the present time, aiming to feed from fifteen to twenty-five head of cattle each year for the markets. S. C. Collier was born August 11, 1867, in Saline county, Missburi. He is a son of James S. Collier, born in 1832 and departed this life October 27, 1913. His mother was Margaret Elizabeth Cole, prior to her marriage, and was born in 1838 and died in 1885. James S. Collier wa^ born in Virginia and made a settlement in Saline county, Mis- souri, during the fifties. In 1872 he made a trip to Montana, where he was engaged in ranching and cattle raising with his brother-in- law, Frank Cole, the men driving a herd of five hundred heifers across the plains to the free ranges of Montana. He returned to Missouri in July, 1879, and made a visit to Bates county. Taking a liking to the country he purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres south of Foster in Walnut township and proceeded to improve the place. He resided here engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. He was the father of two children, now living: Stephen Cole, subject of this review; and Mrs. Anna Smiley, Barton county, Missouri. Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth (Cole) Collier was born in Missouri in 1838 and died in 1885. She was a daughter of Holbert Cole, a native of Kentuckv, 624 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY who settled at the site of Old Fort Boone on the Missouri river, and assisted in the building of this fort early in the nineteenth century, thus becoming- one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers who had to brave the hardships of the frontier and live in continual fear of attacks by the savage Indians who roamed over the wild and unsettled country which was then the Missouri territory. James S. Collier served in the Confederate army, enlisting from Cooper county, Missouri, under the famous Confederate commander. Gen. J. O. Shelby, who spent the latter years of his life in Bates county. Elsewhere in this volume is written a history of the life of General Shelby, together with an account of his military operations, which will give a fair account of the cam- paign in which James S. Collier participated under Shelby. S. C. Collier was educated in the district school and the old Butler Academy. He has always lived upon the home place, receiving as his share of the estate, one hundred and sixty acres, to which he has added an "eighty," making two hundred and forty acres in all. Mr. Collier was married on May 12, 1896, to Livona Wilson, born in Bates county, in 1874, a daughter of T. J. and Mary Elizabeth (Gilliland) Wilson, natives of Missouri. T. J. W^ilson, her father, was born on a pioneer farm in Henry county, near the townsite of Leeton, Missouri. He was a son of Tennessee parents who were early pioneers in Missouri. In early maturity, he settled in Bates county and farmed for a number of years until his removal to Seattle, Washington, in 1907. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Gilliland, was born in 1848 and died in August, 1896. She was a daughter of Lewis Gilliland, a native of Tennessee, who came to Bates county in the thirties and took up a claim on Wal- nut creek, where he remained until 1850, when he, with others, started for California but died there. One of the mementoes of his trip was a gold necklace wdiich was made from gold which he sent from Cali- fornia to his wife, Lucy Gilliland. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Collier : Mrs. Mary Margaret Moore, Nevada, Missouri ; Alice Irene, at home with her parents; and Stephen Dow, aged fifteen years. Mr. Collier is aligned with the Democratic party and is a member of the Metho- dist church. South. He belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has been a member of this order for the past twenty-five years. For twelve years he has been af-filiated with the Knights of Pythias lodge. Elmer Elsworth Laughlin was born and named August 22, 1865, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 825 in Tama county, Iowa. His father and mother came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869. E. E. LaughHn's registered farm No. 35, consists of about one thousand five hundred acres, containing- some of the best land in W^ahiut township, and is now ahnost all in grass and pasture, carrying at present three hundred head of cattle, twenty mules, some horses, a flock of registered Shropshire sheep wdiich supplies rams not only for Bates county but over in Kansas. Besides his Hereford cows, hog'S, jennets, and pure-bred Plymouth Rock fowls are not only known at home but abroad. In 1887. E. E. Laughlin's father gave him one hundred sixty acres of land, the cream of Walnut township. This was not improved until 1893, when he married Miss Nellie Green, of Blue Mound, Kansas, a. daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Mary Green, natives of Saybrook. Illinois. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin's father and mother are both buried at Blue Mound, Kansas. Miss Nellie Green was a most successful school teacher. Commencing at the age of seventeen, she taught school, went to school, thus preparing herself for a most successful busy life. Like her father before her, she never was out of the harness- in church work, wherever she was located, and was always consulted at every church meeting. Her mother remembered the preaching of the power- ful Peter Cartwright, which made her a stronger Methodist wdiich was handed to her daughter Nellie, who likewise never thought of deserting the teachings of the home of John M. Green. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin always superintends all the fruit sales and the labor connected with it. which was no small item in the success of the farm. The same is true of the poultry yard. Her home is nine rooms, modern, with accomo- dations for the family and her friends which w^as designed for her own special wants. E. E. Laughlin got a degree of B. S. from the Kansas Normal Col- lege, took two years in the Northwestern University. Chicago, Illinois. The one hundred sixty acres was a stalk field in 1893, so the planning was from the "stump." One of the delights is the absence of nursery trees and the setting of the lawn with forest trees, each having a history of itself. The entrance to the farm through the cement posts was published in agricultural papers, and Mr. Laughlin claims to be the father of this particular design of gate posts. Mr. Laughlin w^as the first president of the Missouri Corn Growers' Association, lectured on agriculture for four years, but "gabbing" took his mind of¥ business which paid better than "preaching agriculture." A casual look over 826 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the farmstead one has the impression of a well-planned, make-as-you-go, permanent country home and the historian ventures the guess the only way he will leave this farm is by main strength of the last day". Look him up in one hundred years. E. E. Laughlin and wife have three boys. Paul V. Laughlin, born in 1895, is equipped with the best business education he could get both at the State Normal and Agricultural College at Columbia, Missouri, has held some very important positions of trust, but has now cast his lot with his father in the active management of the farm which he hopes to net him more than good salaries. But just now his number is in the selective draft and he looks for the call to arms. David W. Laugh- lin, named after his grandfather, born in 1900, is in the high school work, thinks and enjoys farm work, and his father thinks he will make his mark worthy of the name he carries. Rutherford J. Laughlin, born in 1901, he too, of splendid parentage, goes into high school work with a relish, strictly modern in all his ideas, and bids fair to more than carry a good name. Genealogy — from Century Dictionary — "Laugh," Irish for lake; "Lin," Irish for spring. "Justine McCarty's History of the Irish Peo- ple, 1270 A. D.": Laughlin was an Irish Lord in the north of Ireland, warring with the south faction of Ireland. Robert Laughlin of Revolu- tionary period was a weaver ; James Laughlin of 1812 with William Henry Harrison, a blacksmith; David Laughlin, W. Laughlin, 1861-65, a farmer; Elmer E. Laughlin, a farmer. The blood lines of the grand- parents of E. E. Laughlin are: Laughlin, Irish; Lee, Scotch; Blangy, French ; Scott, Scotch. Genealogy of Mrs. E. E. Laughlin — all English. William T. Briscoe, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres in Walnut township, was born July 22, 1864. in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of Samuel Logan and Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, early Missouri pioneers, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in con- nection with the biography of Charles B. Briscoe, brother of the sub- ject of this review, who accompanied his parents to Bates county in 1877 at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Briscoe had little opportunity to attend school in Bates county. He assisted his father on the home place until 1886 and then began farming on his own account. He first rented part of the parental homestead and after his marriage in 1887 he moved to a farm south of Foster, where he resided for three years. In 1890 he moved to southern Missouri and purchased a farm near Mountain View and for thirteen years w^as engaged in producing fruit HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 827 and raising livestock. He sold out there in 1904 and rented a farm located southwest of Foster near Independence church for two years. In 1906, he bought his present home farm and he and his family have since made their home thereon. Mr. Briscoe was married September 15, 1887, to Alice May Steele, born in Cooper county, Missouri, May 1, 1860, a daughter of James H. and Alice Maria (Bartlett) Steele, the former of whom was born in Cooper county, and the latter in Cooper county, Missouri also. James H. was a son of William Steele, a Missouri pioneer. Mrs. Alice Maria Steele died in Cooper county and her father removed to Bates county in 1881, dying here in August, 1895. Three of the children of William T. and Alice May Briscoe died in infancy. The others are : Alonzo Otis, born February 29, 1892, a graduate of the Normal School at War- rensburg, studied at Columbia University, Columbia, Missouri, and now filling the position of superintendent of the Orrick, Ray county, High School; Charles Logan, born April 9, 1894, and died September 24, 1894; Alpha Dale, born November 21, 1896, a teacher in the Foster public schools; Lottie Opal, born February 20, 1899, attending school at Orrick, Missouri; John Gabriel, born December 23, 1900, also attend- ing school at Orrick. The Democratic party has always had- the support of William T. Briscoe, but he has never at any time in his life, been a seeker after political honor. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America lodge. The Briscoe homestead is an historic place from the standpoint of early associa- tions and being one of the first farmsteads improved in Walnut town- ship. The residence was formerly a stopping place on the old stage line which ran from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, to Fort Scott, Kansas, and the Marvel postoffice was conducted in the house for some time in the early days. Otis P. Hart, a successful and enterprising, young agriculturist and stockman of Mingo township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born December 15, 1879, a son of George AV. and Mary Eliza- beth (Sims) Hart, both of whom were born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hart are the parents of two sons : Oren Kenton, of Bartles- ville, Oklahoma; and Otis P., the subject of this review. A more com- prehensive sketch of the Hart family will be found in the biography of George W. Hart, which appears elsewhere in this volume. In the public schools of Mingo township. Bates county, Missouri, 828 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Otis P. Hart received his elementary education, which was later sup- plemented by a four years' course in Appleton City Academy, Appleton City, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Hart was engaged in the piano business in Illinois for fifteen years. For the past three years, he has been engaged in farming and stock raising on the Hart home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri and is making a suc- cess of handling cattle, horses, and hogs. He is a progressive, intelli- gent, willing worker and has a high standing among the good citizens of his community. The marriage of Otis P. Hart and Mrs. Jennie V. Nordin, of Rock- ford, Illinois, was solemnized in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are well known in Mingo township and they move in the best social circles of their township and county. They possess pleasing personalities and the happy faculty of retaining close personal friendships and among the younger people of the county they are very popular. Mr. Hart keeps abreast of the times in everything pertaining to his vocations and his up-to-date methods combined with economy, industry, and his thorough understanding of the principles underlying all business must in time be inevitably attended by a large measure of success. Andrew J. Hoover, an honored veteran of the Civil War. a former merchant of Adrian, Missouri, now a retired stockman, is a native of Indiana. Mr. Hoover was born April 9, 1838, a son of Adam and Rebecca (Thomas) Hoover. The paternal grandfather of A. J. Hoover was a gifted and beloved Dunkard minister in Maryland, Rev. Adam Hoover. In AA'hite county, Indiana, A. J. Hoover attended the public schools of the state. In winter he went to school and assisted with the chores at home; in summer he attended to the various duties incumbent upon a boy on the farm in the early days and did any other work wdiich would earn an honest cent. Life was a hard treadmill, but it did not prove that "all work and no play" made A. J. "a dull boy." The school which he attended was like most of the country schools of his day — barren and uncomfortable. There were no bright, pleasant schoolrooms, airy in summer and warm in winter, no comfortable seats, fitted to the indi- vidual, no convenient desks, no pictures, no blackboards, no books of reference. Children in those days had little to make school pleasant or interesting. School life, like home life, was stern and full of drudgery. AVhen the Civil War broke out, A. J- Hoover enlisted with the Union forces. He served for three months under Colonel Milrov and then enlisted in the Seventy-second Indiana Regiment, serving three ANDREW J. HOOVER. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 829 years until the battle of Stone River and was then transferred to Wiley's brigade of mounted riflemen. Mr. Hoover fought in thirty-two hard- fought battles, among them being: Perrysville, Stone River, Peach Tree creek, Chickamauga, Rock Springs, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, on Sherman's march to the sea, capture of Savan- nah, and he marched through the Carolinas to AVashington and took part m the Grand Review. After the war had ended and he received his dis- charge in July, 1865, Mr. Hoover returned to his home in Indiana and the ensuing year, 1866, came west to Missouri and located at Lonejack in Jackson county, where he engaged in farming for one year. In 1867, he moved to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township, where he at one time owned five hundred acres of land. Mr. Hoover bought cattle extensively, fed and wintered them and sold the herd the following autumn, when he would again buy more cattle to feed and winter. He once herded five hundred twenty cattle on the present townsite of Adrian, for at that time there were vast tracts of open prairie in Bates county. He recalls how farmers and stockmen would cut native hay and make great ricks, around which they would herd their cattle. Mr. Hoover erected a large. sul)stantial brick building in Adrian in 1883 and entered the mercantile business at this place and for seventeen years was thus employed. He has in recent years divided his holdings among his children and he and his wife are residing at Adrian in quiet, con- tented retirement. Mr. Hoover has still in his possession sufficient property insuring a comfortable income, owning among other build- ings the one in which the postof^ce at Adrian is located. The marriage of A. J. Hoover and Rachel Denton was solemnized on March 15, 1866 and to this union have been born four children, who are now living: Professor W. T., of Adrian, Missouri, who married Miss Lulu Owens and to them have been born two children : Halbert and H. A. ; India, of Adrian, Missouri ; Mrs. Mary Black, Adrian, Mis- souri, mother of two children, Mrs. Goldie Schantz and Mrs. Lenna Ware; and Mrs. Ida Haas, Adrian, Missouri, mother of two children: India Mae and Charles Hoover. Mr. Hoover has four great-grandchil- dren: Mrs. Goldie Schantz has three children: Frederick, Dorothy, and Emery; Mrs. Lenna Ware has one child, Wilnia; Mrs. Rachel (Denton) Hoover was born June 12, 1849 in Indiana, Benton county, a daughter of Dr. W^illiam and Elizabeth (Bodkin) Denton. Since the day of the expulsion of two beings from the Garden of Eden, history has again and again demonstrated the truth of the old 830 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY adage that, "There is no excellence without labor." Mr. Hoover's career has but furnished further proof of its truth. His life was early consecrated to honest, patient, unremitting toil. He in youth joined the army of workers to whom the great state of Missouri is indebted for its wonderful prosperity. He has a vivid recollection of Bates county as it was when he came here more than fifty years ago. There were no bridges and the roads were but beaten trails. He has many times hauled wheat to Pleasant Hill before the railroad had reached Harri- sonville. He states that deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens were to be found in abundance and could be had for the hunting. A. J. Hoover has been a busy worker, he has done his work wisely and well, and he and his noble wife are now enjoying the just recompense of their labors. Mr. Hoover's life story is a notable example of the success which surely attends and crowns all worthy efforts based upon honor- able, upright, manly principles. Mr. Hoover is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has for years attended the national encamp- ments of the Union veterans and he and Mrs. Hoover have traveled extensively over the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. He is well-informed, broad-minded, hearty and strong, able to take long automobile trips each season. John Blangy, one of the old settlers of Bates county, living retired upon his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Walnut township, was born in 1852 in Starke county, Illinois. He was a son of James W. and Sarah (Scott) Blang}% the former of wdiom was a native of New Jersey, and the latter, of Ohio. The Blangy family came West in 1869 and set- tled on Walnut creek, purchasing a farm now owned by Fred t.aughlin and comprising one hundred and forty acres. After Mrs. Blangy died, James C. moved to the neighboring state of Kansas and settled on a farm eight miles west of Pleasanton, where he resided for some years, eventually disposing of his farm to a coal mining- company and retiring to a home in Pleasanton, where he died in September, 1902. At the age of eighteen years, John Blangy began farming on his own account but made his home with his parents until his marriage in 1876. On January 2, of that year he was united in marriage with Emma Schwechheimer, born in 1857, at Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, a daughter of George Philip and Annie Marie (Leofifler) Schwech- heimer, the former of whom was born in Baden, and the latter in Schlait- dorf, Wurtemburg, Germany. At the age of twenty years, George Schwechheimer came to America. His wife was eighteen years of age HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 83 1 when she immigrated to this country. They resided in Ohio until after the close of the Civil War, in which George Schwechheimer served as a soldier in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry. George P. Schwech- heimer served as a private, then was promoted as orderly sergeant in Company K, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served four years and was honorably discharged from the service on the 11th of January, 1864, at Huntsville, Alabama. In 1871 they came to Missouri and settled on what is now the Swarens place in New Home township, where Mr. Schwechheimer died in 1883. To George and Annie Marie Schwechheimer were born seven children: Mrs. Enmia Barbara Blangy; Willie George, deceased; Philip, a railroad man at Sedalia, Missouri; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Lydia McGehee, Vernon county, Missouri; Mary Magdalene, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1870. By a second marriage with Julia Engel he was the father of seven children: Charley, deceased; Mrs. Matilda Haley, Lost Spring, Wyoming; Mrs. Flora Hicklin, Hume, Missouri; Albert, living near Sprague, Missouri; Edward, a resident of Fort Scott, Kansas ; Walter, resident of Kansas City, Missouri ; John, living in Wyoming. Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blangy settled on their home place on Walnut creek and have lived there continuously with the exception of two years spent in Colorado. Mr. Blangy is a Republican, and both Mr. and Mrs. Blangy belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children are as follow: Mary Alta, born in 1877, wife of Clarence Click, living near Worland, Missouri ; Sarah Pearl, born 1878, wife of Denny Bright, resides in Bates county; Ira John, born in 1880, resides on a farm near Hume in this county; Effie Mabel, born in 1884, wife of Frank Smith, W^alnut township; Ada Theresa, born in 1885, wife of William Lee, residing on a farm northwest of Foster. Fred E, Popp, who is farming the Popp estate of three hundred acres in the southwestern part of New Home township, was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1866. He is a son of the late Michael and Barbara Popp, natives of Prussia, Germany. Michael Popp was born in 1829 and died in Bates county in 1897. He immigrated to America in 1845 and first settled at St. Louis, where he was employed as laborer for two years. He went from St. Louis to Madison county, Illinois, and after a period of employment as farm laborer he invested his savings in sixty acres of farm land which he cultivated until 1871. In that year he sold his Illinois farm and came to Bates county and made a first 832 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY settlement at Prairie City, eight miles east of Rich Hill, where he lived for eleven years. He then bought the farm of three hundred acres wliich his son, Fred E., is now managing. He built a handsome farm residence and a large barn and prospered as the years went on, living on the place until his death. A six-foot vein of excellent coal under- lies the Popp land. Mrs. Popp departed this life on the old home place, June 5, 1917. The other children of the faniily are as follow: Mrs. Mary Schmidt, deceased; Mrs. Pardcha Cattelson, Creighton, Missouri; Mrs. Barbara Yeager, deceased; George, living in Oklahoma; Conrad, a farmer in Bates county. Mr. Popp is an independent Republican voter and is a member of the Lutheran church. William T. J, Henley. — The late William T. J. Henley, a widely and favorably known farmer of Howard township, was one of the real "old settlers" of Bates county. He was born on June 14, 1846, in Clark county, Indiana, the son of Noah and Louisiana (Monday) Henley, the former of whom was a native of England and the latter of wdiom was born in Kentucky. Noah Henley was reared in Randolph county. North Carolina, and made a settlement in Kentucky, where he was married, and afterward removed to Clark county, Indiana, where he reared a family and spent the remainder of his days engaged in agricultural pursuits. W. T. J. Henley was reared and educated in his native state and was married in Clark county on June 21, 1866, to Miss Margaret E. Bower, who bore him children as follow; Noah Edgar, born November 25, 1867, resides near Ft. Scott, Kansas; John William, born March 2, 1869, died in infancy; Jacob T., born March 3, 1870, lives on a farm near Hume, Missouri; Dennie B., born May 15, 1871, resides in Washington; Jefferson M., born April 10, 1873, died at the age of three years; the next child died in infancy, unnamed; James C, born June 14, 1875; Robert T., born December 16, 1876, is living on the home place ; Katie A., born August 31, 1878, married Leonard Daniels and resides on a farm in Osage township; Rolla I., born June 18, 1880, lives in Butler, Mis- souri; Okra P., born May 17, 1882, lives at Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie M. Cook, born July 7, 1883. married James Cook, died January 29, 1908; Cleveland B., born December 22, 1884, resides on a farm near Butler, Missouri; Maggie E., born Octo1:)er 3, 1887, married Burk Ander- son, resides in Rich Hill; Albert, born February 8, 1893. died in infancy. The Henley family is one of the largest in Bates county. The mother of this large family of children was born May 14. 1847, in Clark county, Indiana, the daughter of John and Angelina (Robbinett) Bower, natives HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 833 of North Carolina. Mrs. Henley is well preserved for her age, despite the fact that she endured the hardships of pioneer life and has brought up so many children who are all living useful and industrious lives. Mr. and Mrs. Henley came to Carroll county, Missouri, in 1868 and resided in that county until their removal to Bates county in the autumn of 1875. John Bower, father of Mrs. Henley, had purchased a tract of forty acres in Howard township, which he gave to his son- in-law. This land was raw prairie land, unbroken and unimproved. During their first season the Henleys lived in a little shack on their nearby farm while their own residence was being built. They erected what in those days was considered a mansion and which is still the Hen- ley home place, an attractive farmstead surrounded by great trees and shrubbery which were planted by Mr. and Mrs. Henley when they first settled here. The Henley home place consists of one hundred and sixty acres located just northwest of Sprague on the highway between Rich Hill and Hume. Mr. Henley died May 12, 1904. Mrs. Henley has the following living grandchildren: Robert E. Hen- ley married Muzy Gates and has five children, as follow: Emma, Frances, Thelmo, Roy, and Virgie. Noah Edgar Henley married Annie New- som and has four children: Ora, Lela, Alice, and Claude. Jacob T Henley married Lizzie McNamer, and has one child, Charles. Dennie Henley married May Jones, and is father of two children. Pansy and Bryan. Mrs. Katie Daniels has four children, Parker, Elarry, Pansy, and Dorothy. Rolla I. Henley married Belle Potter, has the following chil- dren; Ernest and Stella, twins, and Pauline. Okra O. Henley mar- ried Nellie Martin, and is father of six children, Lorene, Ethel, Elsie, William, and Mary and Mabel, twins. Cleveland B. Henley married Lizzie Bottoms, and has two children, Harold and Herman. Mrs. Mag- gie Anderson is mother of six children, Marium, Everett, Ernest, Nell, Ruth, and Clyde. Mr. Henley was a lifelong Democrat and was a member of the Christian church, of which religious denomination Mrs. Henley is a devout member. The late Mr. Henley's life was so lived that he left an example of industry and right conduct which will for all time serve as a rule of conduct for his children and descendants. He was a kind parent and a good provider for his family and no task was too great for him to attempt in order to insure comforts and proper maintenance for his own family. He was well liked in his community and will long be remembered as a sterling pioneer citizen of Bates county in whom all (53) 834 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY had confidence and for whom every one who knew him had high esteem. William Moore Mills, successful merchant at Foster, Missouri, where he has been engaged as a merchant since 1884, is a pioneer citi- zen of Bates county and a native Missourian. Mr. Mills was born in Clinton county, Missouri, March 31, 1856, a son of Evan P. Mills, who was born in Kentucky in 1818, and was a son of Evan P. Mills, a Vir- ginian, who was a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Evan P. Mills, father of William Moore Mills, of this review, migrated to Clay county, Mis- souri, as early as 1839, and ten years later, in 1849, married Mary S. Morris, and then located in Lexington, Missouri, for a short time prior to settling in Clinton county. From the early fifties until 1863 Evan P. Mills lived in Clinton county and he then moved to Clay county, and resided in that county and Liberty, the county seat, until 1876, when he located in Butler. For awhile he was engaged in teaming but advancing age compelled his retirement from active labor and he resided in Butler until his death in 1904, one of the honored and aged residents of the count}^ seat. To Evan P. and Mary S. (Morris) Mills were born the following children: Thomas died in infancy; Bettie L., deceased; William Moore, subject of this sketch; Jasper S., deceased; Mrs. Maggie McFarland, Butler, Missouri; Lida died in 1866. The mother of the foregoing children died in 1900 at the age of seventy-five years. She was a daughter of Jasper Shotwell Morris, who was the first white child born in Mason county, Kentucky, or Maysville, which in those early pioneer days was the meeting and stopping place of all the settlers from Virginia who were coming westward down the Ohio river to people the wilderness of Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. Jasper S. Morris later served as a scout and lieutenant in the War of 1812, in the Indian campaign of that period, and became widely known along the frontier. He was personally acquainted with many of the famous border and wilderness characters of that day anc'i was a friend of such famous scouts and Indian fighters as Daniel Boone, Louis AVetzel, Simon Kenton and others. The three historic charac- ters previously mentioned often made the Morris home their head- quarters, and one can imagine the tal-es that were told around the Morris fireside of their exploits, in the dense forests of the ''Dark and Bloody Ground" and the land of the Ohio. William Moore Mills received such education as was afi^orded b}^ the primitive school of his boyhood days and accompanied his parents to Bates county in 1876. During his first vear's residence in Butler HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 835 he worked in the McClintock woolen mills, having previonsly learned the trade of weaver and wool worker in Clay county, Missouri. He was then employed in various stores for about six years. For a period of three years he served as clerk in the Morris drug store, and for two years following, 1880-1882, he was employed as a traveling salesman. Six months of 1882 were spent as clerk in the drug store owned by Doctor Pyle. He was then employed in the F. M. Crumly drug store until his removal to Foster. He first came to Foster in 1884, and on January 1, 1885, opened a drug store, which he conducted for sixteen years. He then established his present business and carries a general stock of merchandise in a good-sized room located on the main street of Foster. Mr. Mills has been continuously engaged in business in Fos- ter longer than any other merchant in the town. On January 1, 1889, the marriage of William Moore Mills and Miss Mollie N. Trimble was consummated. This marriage has been blessed with children as follow: William N., superintendent of the shoe department of the Besse-Avery Company, Kansas City, Missouri ; Ella Nora, at home with her parents; Ralph, auditor and bookkeeper for S. A. Gerrard & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a commission firm doing business in southern California and handling fruits, vegetables, etc. Mrs. Mollie N. (Trimble) Mills was born in Bates county in 1870, and is a daughter of F. M. Trimble, a former treasurer of Bates county, a native of Kentucky who made an early settlement in Bates county and died here. Mr. Mills has been a life-long Democrat and has taken a keen inter- est in the affairs of his party during his forty-two years of residence in Bates county. He is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Butler, and has many warm and steadfast friends in the county. His standing as a merchant and citizen is high and he is one of the leading citizens of his home city and county. Charles W. Doane, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, is of a pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Doane was born on the farm in Lone Oak township, where he now resides, on January 1, 1872, one of three living children born to his parents, William C, Sr., and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane, who are as follow: William C, Jr., farmer and merchant at "Ada," a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Charles AV., the sul)ject of this review; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, Lewiston, Idaho. The parents are now deceased and their remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. A more comprehensive sketch of Mr. and STf6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mrs. Doane is given in connection with the biography of WiUiam C. Doane, Jr. In the pubHc schools of Lone Oak township and of Butler, Charles W. Doane obtained his education. He returned to Lone Oak town- ship, after leaving school, to the farm where he was born, and has lived there since. The Doane farm is nine miles southeast of Butler and is a tract of valley land in Pleasant Valley school district, a district organized prior to the time of the Civil War by Doctor Recjua when the Indian school at Harmony Mission was being conducted. It is a nicely improved and well watered country place. Mr. Doane raises good draft horses and mules and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has from fifteen to tw^enty-five head of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle. The improvements on the place include a new% six-room cottage, built in 1917 and a barn, 36 x 48 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, built in 1917. Mr. Doane is an industrious farmer and stock- man and his efforts have been attended with success. The marriage of Charles W. Doane and Lizzie E. Hancock was solemnized March 5, 1895. Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane is a native of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of David and Sarah (Willy) Hancock. Mr. Hancock died in 1900 and burial w^as made in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. The widowed mother now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Doane. To Charles AV. and Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane have been born three children: Elmer Lee, of Butler, Missouri ; Mary Catherine, the wife of Roy Walker, of Lone Oak township. Bates county; and Buford Lloyd, who is at home with his parents. As a farmer and stockman, Charles W. Doane has won a conspicuous place among the leading men of the township. Personally, he is highly respected by his neighbors and friends and Lone Oak township is proud to designate him as one of her native sons w-ho have "made good." W. S, Mahan, an honored veteran of the Civil War, ex-mayor of Adrian, the highly respected justice of the peace of Deer Creek township. Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Iowa. Squire Mahan was born in Taylor county, Iowa, in 1846, a son of Thomas and Mary (Mavity) Mahan, who later returned to Orange county, Indiana, the place of their nativity. Thomas Mahan was a son of Peter Mahan, a native of Virginia and a son of an Irish immigrant. Mary (Mavity) Mahan was a daugh- ter of Michael Mavity, a native of Kentucky and of Norman French descent. W. S. MAHAN AND FAMILY. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 837 In Indiana, W. S. Mahan was reared to manhood and in that state revived his elementary education and later entered college. After leaving college, Mr. Mahan was employed in teaching school in Indiana for thirteen years. During the Civil War, he abandoned his profession and enlisted with the Union forces, serving with the Twenty-fourth Indi- ana Infantry throughout the conflict. He took an active and important part in many decisive engagements, fighting bravely at Shiloh on April 6, 1862, when the list of casualties for the Union side alone was thirteen thousand men, the Confederates losing ten thousand seven hundred valiant fighters, and later taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, one strong position left the Confederates after Memphis and New Orleans had fallen, which resulted in Pemberton signing the articles of sur- render on July 4, 1863, after King Hunger had allied himself with Grant and had done his worst for several weeks, and lastly being present at the capture of Mobile in the spring of 1865. After the Civil War had ended, W. S. Mahan returned to his home in Indiana and there resided until 1880, when he came to Bates county, Missouri, and purchased two hundred acres of land near Adrian. At that time, Mr. Mahan bought a team of mules and assisted in the build- ing of the Missouri Pacific railway in this county. Afterward, he entered the teaching profession and for three years was thus engaged, when he again abandoned it and this time entered the mercantile business at Adrian. Until 1893, Mr. Mahan conducted a grocery store in this city and he was one of the successful merchants of Adrian when he was com- missioned notary public of Bates county and appointed an insurance agent. Prior to coming to Missouri, Mr. Mahan had served as justice of the peace in Indiana and in 1910 he was elected to the same office in Bates county and for the past eight years has ably filled the position of justice of the peace in Deer Creek township. He disposed of his insurance work, in 1911, selling to C. W. Mahan, who is now conducting the business at Adrian. The marriage of W. S. Mahan and Sarah J. GifTord, a daughter of Josephus and Elizabeth Gifford, was solemnised October 22, 1871, in Orange county, Indiana. To this union have been born two children: Mrs. Lula D. Haven. Kansas City, Missouri ; and Clyde G., of Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are valued w^orkers in the Chris- tian church and Mr. Mahan is one of the worthy elders of the church and a teacher in the Christian Bible School. They reside in Adrian, where they own a beautiful home, a comfortable residence of seven 838 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY rooms. Mr. Mahan sold his farm in 1889 and invested the proceeds in stock of the Adrian Banking Company. Squire Mahan was one of the very first residents of Adrian, Mis- souri, and no one in Bates county is better authority on the early history of this flourishing little city than is he. Mr. Mahan states that Adrian was planned and founded by the Adrian Town Company in June, 1880. An agreement had been made with the Missouri Pacific Railway Com- pany whereby the Bates County Town Company was to have the privi- lege of locating towns and stations in return for the grant of right-of- way through Bates county. The particular depot of Butler was to be located not less than one mile from the court house and the Adrian Town Company purchased land in this vicinity and platted it and the Missouri Pacific railroad and the town of /\drian, ten miles away, were being built simultaneously in Bates county. Squire Mahan recalls that the first train came into Adrian on August 1, 1880. Adrian was organ- ized as a village with M. V. Meisner as justice of the peace. S. P. Cox opened the first mercantile establishment in Adrian, a small grocery store in a box house, and he was obliged to borrow Mr. Mahan's team of mules in order to secure his first load of groceries from Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Cox erected the first brick building in the town, in 1883, which building is now occupied by Howard Smith, the clothier, who is conducting a business establishment. Garfield Moudy bears the dis- tinction of having been the first child born in Adrian and the Methodist Episcopal church as the oldest church of the five now in existence, namely: Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, United Brethren, Christian, and The Brethren. After Adrian was incorporated as a city, J. N. Bricker was elected the first mayor of the city. Squire Mahan has been and still is one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Adrian and during the past thirty-eight years he has held many ofiices of public honor and trust in the village and in the city. He has served as alder- man, as mayor of the city, as city collector, and as a member of the township board, holding the last-named position for six years. Politi- cally, Squire Mahan is aifiliated with the Republican party and is a most active party worker. Squire Mahan was appointed agent of the Adrian Town Company to sell the lots from the original plat of eighty acres. Squire Mahan has already passed the allotted three score years and ten and is still alert and active, bidding fair to consume many years in going down the shady side of life's mountain to the "twilight and evening bell and after that — the dark" and he has erected for himself HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 839 a monument in the respect and affection of his associates and friends that will prove more lasting than an epitaph carved in marble or chiseled in granite. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are not only zealous workers in the church but in their daily lives demean themselves as true, sincere fol- lowers of the holy Nazarene. Judge David McGaughey, a late prominent citizen and leading public official of Bates county, Missouri, was one of the best known and most highly respected men in this section of the state. Judge McGaughey was a native of Indiana. He was born August 26, 1826, at Mount Carmel in Franklin county, Indiana, a son of Robert and Mary (Clark) McGaughey. Robert McGaughey was born at Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, of Scotch and Irish descent, a descendant of David McGaughey, a native of Ireland, who emigrated from his home land because of the political troubles there and came to America in 1772. David McGaughey was one of the first to volunteer in the Revolutionary War and he served as General Washington's aid until the end of the struggle. He first saw his future wife when he was on the battlefield of Monmouth, the battle taking place on her father's farm. She was Mary Lytle. David McGaughey and Mary Lytle were united in mar- riage soon after the war had ended and they located at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mary (Clark) McGaughey, the mother of Judge David McGaughey, w^as born at Indian Hill in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1810. In his youth, David McGaughey attended the public schools of Indiana and in 1845 matriculated at Miami University in Ohio, at which institution he was a student for three years. On leaving college, Mr. McGaughey engaged in teaching school in different localities in the W^est and South. In June, 1854, he entered the law office of Gen. Lew Wallace and with him read law for one year. In the suinmer of 1855, Mr. McGaughey went to De Moines, Iowa, from Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Iowa was employed in locating land warrants for eastern parties and in surveying. He was elected a member of the first city council of Des Moines. Iowa. In 1858, Mr. McGaughey left this city and located at Hackbury Ridge in Andrew county, Missouri, where he was engaged in teaching school for one year. The following year, Mr. McGaughey began practicing law at Albany in Gentry county and in 1860 was elec- ted county superintendent of schools in Gentry county. During the Civil War, he was for a time a resident of Falls City, Nebraska and wdiile there was elected prosecuting attorney of Falls City and appointed 840 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY superintendent of schools by the county court. Mr. McGaughey came to Bates county, Missouri, in August, 1865, and was for several years county superintendent of schools and director of Butler Academy. He was appointed by the Bates county court in 18G6 county seat commissioner. While serving in that capacity, the old Bates county court house and jail were built. He cleared up the sale of the old county court house at Papinsville, the former county seat, and sold the building to Philip Zeal. When the twenty-second judicial district was organized in 1869, David McGaughey was elected the first circuit judge. When serving as judge, the four-hundred-thousand-dollar bond swindle, involving the Kansas City & Memphis railway, came up in the form of an injunction, as did also the two-hundred-thousand-dollar swindle, involving the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, and both were defeated by Judge McGaughey's decision in favor of the people of Bates county. Due to that decision, the tax-payers of this county are not burdened with a heavy bonded debt. For six years, Judge McGaughey was presiding judge of his district. He was appointed by the governor of Missouri to complete an unexpired term and was after- ward elected to fill a term of four years. He was one of the three organ- izers of the Butler Presbyterian church, founded in this city in 1867, the first church in Butler. The church building was erected in 1868 and Judge McGaughey was made ruling elder. Politically, Judge McGaughey was a stanch Republican. He was an officer in the first Republican club organized west of the Mississippi in Iowa. October 26, 1875, Judge David McGaughey and Dorcas Tuttle were united in marriage. Mrs. McGaughey is a native of Clark county, Ohio, a daughter of David and Rebecca (Buckles) Tuttle. To Judge David and Dorcas McGaughey were born four children : John Edwin, who is in the employ of the Wabash Railway Company and the Wells Fargo Express Company, located at St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary Rebecca, who is employed by the Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company at Butler, Missouri ; Katherine L., who is employed as bookkeeper for the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company at Butler, Missouri and David Earl, a successful druggist at Kansas City, Missouri. Mrs. McGaughey has five grandchildren, Helen, Frank S., Josephine, Laura Katherine Martha Jane. Judge McGaughey died January 12, 1892, and Mrs. McGaughey has reared their children and reared them well. Her home is in Butler at 308 Harrison street. Judge David McGaughey was a careful, conscientious official. He HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 84 1 transacted all business coming within his sphere of duties with prompt- ness and cautious discernment and the wisdom of his decisions met with the unqualified approval of all. His career was distinctively marked by progress onward and upward and at last he stood the peer of his fellowmen in all that constitutes true citizenship. He was decidedly a man of action, an intelligent, energetic, resourceful Western man. in the highest esteem by the public and an influential factor for good in his community, at the very zenith of a vigorous manhood and men- tality, there still remained much to be accomplished, the children he loved so well to be reared and educated, when he was called to lay down the burdens of life. Judge McGaughey lived not in vain. He has bequeathed to his descendants a name they may well be proud to bear and to all the inspiration of a life of tireless endeavor, a record upon which not a single blot can be found. Judge McGaughey was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. J. B. Armstrong, secretary of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri, is one of Butler's most widely and favor- ably-known citizens. Mr. Armstrong is a worthy representative of a splendid, old, pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in 1861, at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a son of Samuel and Sallie Emily (Hon) Arm- strong, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. Samuel Armstrong was a son of John M. and Elizabeth (Gibbons) Armstrong. John M. Armstrong was also a native of Virginia. He came to Missouri with his family in the earliest days and was a pioneer merchant at Pleasant Hill prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Eliza- beth (Gibbons) Armstrong was an aunt of the Gibbons, twin brothers, John and Hank, who at the time of the death of John Gibbons were the oldest twins in Missouri. The land which is now the site of the Missouri Pacific railway station was formerly owned by John M. Arm- strong and he often related how he was want to kill deer, when he first came to Missouri, on the land which is the present townsite of Pleas- ant Hill. Both he and his wife died at Pleasant Hill and their remains are interred in the cemetery at that place. Samuel Armstrong was a lover of fine horses and was recognized as an exceptional judge of high- class horses. He won a silver loving cup at a Bates county fair in the days before the Civil War for the best saddle horse entered. This cup is stih treasured by his son, J. B. Armstrong. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Samuel Armstrong enlisted with the Confederate army at Pleasant Hill. He died while in service one year after he had enlisted, 842 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY his death occurring in Indian Territory. The widowed mother died at Butler, Missouri, in 1890, where her home was at that time, and she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Pleasant Hill. To Samuel and Sallie Emily Armstrong were born two children, who are now living : Fannie Bertha, Tulsa, Oklahoma; and J. B., the subject of this review. J. B. Armstrong attended the city schools of Pleasant Hill. He has made his own way in life since his early boyhood days. He began his first mercantile work in the business establishment of E. D. Harper, his stepfather, w^orking nights and Saturdays. At a later time, Mr. Armstrong was employed by Russell & Gustin, of Pleasant Hill, for nearly one year. Prior to that, he was in the employ of Myers & Cooley. Mr. Armstrong came to Butler on Feliruary 4, 1882, and accepted a position with C. S. Wheeler & Company. In the autumn of the same year, the firm changed to Bennett & Wheeler, E. A. Bennett becoming a member. Mr. Armstrong purchased an interest in the busi- ness establishment in January. 1884, and the name was changed to Bennett, Wheeler & Company. The firm was incorporated as the Ben- nett-Wheeler Mercantile Company in 1890. At the present time, Mr. Armstrong's two sons, Edward H. and Samuel M., have interests in the company. When he began working in the employ of the C. S. \Mieeler & Company, J. B. Armstrong was bookkeeper and he held this position for many years. He now calls himself "the general roust- about," as he knows every department thoroughly. The present capi- tal stock is thirty-five thousand dollars and the officers of the company are, as follow: O. A. Heinlein, president and business manager; S. E. Heinlein, vice-president; J. B. Armstrong, secretary; and Edward H. Armstrong, treasurer. October 9, 1884, J. B. Armstrong and Mary Maud Harriman were united in marriage. Mrs. Armstrong was a daughter of J. R. and Helen (Morrell) Harriman, of Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Harriman are now deceased. To J. B. and ]Mary Maud Armstrong have been born five children; Helen, who is now Mrs. Day, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Edward H., treasurer of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company, Butler, Missouri; Samuel M., who has been engaged in the banking business for the past seven years at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is soon to be called into service in France ; John, who died in childhood at the age of four years; and Dorothy, a graduate of the Butler High School, who is now at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong purchased their present residence in 1904, which home was formerly the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 843 Doctor Everingham property, comprising nearly three acres of land in the grounds surrounding the house, located within the city limits at 500 North Main street. The Armstrong home is one of the beautiful, modern residences of Butler. Mr. Armstrong started in life empty-handed, but he surmounted all obstacles and has pushed aside all barriers that would have obstructed the pathway to success of the ordinary man. He was endowed with both ambition and ability, and with an indomitable will and courage he has pushed steadfastly forward overcoming difficulties and accumulating a handsome competence. Honest and honorable, upright in all rela- tions of life, true to family and friends and to the best interests of his city and county, J. B. Armstrong is justly enrolled among the most respected and valued citizens of Butler. Alonzo Dixon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleas- ant township, is one of the most highly respected citizens of Bates county. Mr. Dixon came to Bates county in 1857 with his parents, Lewis and Elizabeth (Silvey) Dixon, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Lewis Dixon first came to Bates county in 1856, at which time he made arrangements with Ex-Sheriff Clem, afterward Judge Clem, to enter one hundred sixtv acres of land, the Dixon homestead. Mr. Dixon returned with his family the following year, in 1857, and located at Butler. He and Judge Clem, in partnership, operated a saw-mill located south of Butler on the James Brown farm. They made posts, rails, and fencing materials and Lewis Dixon fenced his farm of one hundred sixty acres with lumber sawed at his mill. During the Civil War, because of Order No. 11, Mr. Dixon was taken prisoner, placed in the guardhouse at Butler, taken to the guardhouse at St. Louis, Missouri, and thence to Alton, Illinois, and JefTerson City, Missouri. He remained in prison until the close of the war. When Lewis Dixon again took up the fight of making an honest and honorable living, after he was released in 1865, he was penniless. He resumed farming and stock raising, pur- suits which he followed the remainder of his life. Mr. Dixon died Janu- ary 5, 1886. and five years afterward he was joined in death by his wife. Mrs. Dixon departed this life in June, 1891. Both father and mother were laid to rest in the family burial ground on the home place, the farm Mr. Dixon had entered from the government in 1856. The Dixon homestead is located one mile south of Butler. Alonzo Dixon attended the district schools of Bates county. He has spent his entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, in Bates 844 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY county. About twenty-seven years ago, he moved to his present farm, formerly known as the old Porter place, located three and a half miles southwest of Butler. All the splendid improvements on the place, Mr. Dixon has himself added. He is successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. The Dixon farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of land. In 1910, the marriage of Alonzo Dixon and Ora Jones was solemnized. Ora (Jones) Dixon is a daughter of Andrew^ and Sarah E. Jones, of Mount Pleasant township. Mrs. Dixon is a native of Bates county. Andrew Jones died in 1902 and his widow' makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo Dixon. To Alonzo and Ora Dixon has been born one child, a son, Alonzo Lee. ]\Ir. Dixon has one son by a former wife, Lewis Dixon, now bookkeeper with the American Express Company at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon are excellent citizens, good, quiet, and unobtrusive people, and they are held in the highest esteem in their community. Reinhold A. Julien, of West Point township, during his thirteen years of residence in Bates county, has made a remarkable success as an agriculturist. However, he comes of a race of people who are noted for their aptitude in tilling the most stubborn of soils and it is a fact that wherever you find a settlement of American farmers of Swedish birth or descent, there you find prosperity and success attending their efforts. \Mien Mv. Julien came to Bates county from Nebraska he was told that "he would starve to death in Missouri." He was in search of cheaper land than could be purchased in Nebraska. His first quarter section purchased in 1904 has since been increased to a total of two hun- dred eighty acres. Mr. and Mrs. Julien have a splendid farm resi- dence which is furnished and equipped in keeping with refined tastes. His large barn, which has l^een erected recently, is forty-eight by fifty- four feet in dimensions and he has also built a silo having a capacity of one hundred tons of silage. Mr. Julien has a herd of fifty-three head of cattle of the Sliorthorn breed, including eight milch cows. Each vear he raises from one to two carloads of hogs for the market. Mr. Julien was born in Sweden in 1868 and is a son of Anderson and Louisa (Engborn) Julien, who lived all their days in their native land. In 1888, Mr. Julien immigrated to America, a poor lad, in search of employment and joined his brother, John Julien, who was located in Iowa. He was so poor on his arrival that he had to repay his borrowed passage money across the ocean by the fruits of his first month's labor RESIDEN'CE OF REINIIOLD A. JULIEN. BARN OF REINHOLD A. JULIEN. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 845 in America. In 1890, he went to Nebraska and worked for some time among fellow countrymen in Saunders county, Nebraska. For a period of eleven years he tilled rented land in Saunders county, Nebraska with a view to the ultimate purchase of a farm. Meanwhile land had been constantly advancing in price in Nebraska and he believed that the price was entirely too high. He cast about for a suitable location where land was not too high in price and within his power of purchase. Deciding upon Bates county against the advice of friends and advisers he came here in February, 1904, and made his first purchase of one hundred sixty acres of land in West Point township at a cost of forty-five dol- lars an acre. In 1906 he bought forty acres at a cost of thirty-five dollars an acre and later bought an "eighty" at a cost of forty dollars an acre. His record since coming to Bates county shows what industry, perseverance, and careful methods of farming can accomplish on Bates county soil. Mr.- Julien was married in February, 1898, in Saunders county, Nebraska, to Miss Amanda Frostrom, who was born at Weston, Nebraska, February 13, 1877, a daughter of C. J. and Christina Fros- trom, natives of Sweden, who immigrated to America and settled in Nebraska and became prosperous and well-to-do in the land of their adoption. C. J. Frostrom came to this country in 1869 and his wife, Christina, migrated to America in 1873. They were married in Sweden, have reared a fine family of children and are now living in comfortable circumstances at Weston, Saunders county, Nebraska. To Reinhold and Amanda Julien have been born two children as follow: Ethel, born May 15, 1899; Ernest, born February 24, 1902. Mr. Julien attrilnites much of his success to the assistance of his intelligent and capable help- meet. Mr. Julien is a Democrat in politics but is content to leave the management of political matters to others who have more time and the inclination to devote to such matters. He and his family are members of the Baptist church. WMiile he is not a member of any secret society he carries fraternal insurance as a safeguard against disaster, thus pro- viding for the future of his family. Mr. and Mrs. Julien have made many friends during their residence in Bates count}=' and have the respect and esteem of their many accjuaintances. The record which they have made in Bates county place them in the front rank of Bates county citizens of the better and more successful class. George H. Frank, one of the best-known citizens of Bates county. 846 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Missouri, a former hotel man of Butler, is a prosperous and influential farmer and stockman of Alount Pleasant township. Mr. Frank is a native of Carlinville, Illinois. He was born in 1852, a son of A. J. and Mary Eliza Frank, the former, a native of South Carolina and the latter, of Kentucky. A. J. Frank was a blacksmith by trade and he followed his vocation at Carlinville for many years. Later in life, Mr. Frank became interested in horse racing and track meets and attended all the races held in his state of Illinois with his own horses. He always kept from ten to fifteen racing horses in his stables and many of them made records known throughout the country. George H. Frank, when a small boy, was drummerboy at the barracks at Carlinville, his principal duties being to call the soldiers in the mornings and sound "taps" in the evenings. Mr. Frank was edu- cated at Blackburn Seminary in Illinois. He was a mere child, thirteen years of age, when he was first employed by his father as jockey. Since he was seventeen years of age, Mr. Frank has been self-supporting. He rode "Prairie Boy" at Springfield, Illinois, at the time he won the world record in 1 :44. Although Mr. Frank was an experienced jockey and is an exceptional judge and lover of fine horses, he never bets on a race. In 1880, Mr. Frank came to Bates county, Missouri, and located at Butler, where he followed painting for two years and then operated a bus line for twelve years. Following this, George H. Frank conducted the Ross Hotel in Butler, which house was situated in the building now occupied by the American Clothing House. He enjoyed the hotel busi- ness, worked hard, and made a success of it. When 'Sir. Frank was a genial host, it was in the days before the quitting of the saloon. Butler was "booming" at the time he came here. Traveling men, who were on the road fifteen and twenty-five years ago, recall with pleasure the Ross Hotel of Butler and the kindly keeper, George H. Frank, who made their stay as pleasant and home-like as possible. AA'hen the house was sold, Air. Frank purchased his present country home, a farm comprising sixty acres of valuable land located four miles southwest of Butler, which place was formerly owned by "Bob" Hurt. Mr. Frank is enjoying his rural home and is "making good" on his little farm, finding as much pleasure in agricultural pursuits perhaps as he did in the hotel business in Butler. October 27, 1875, George H. Frank and Miss Belle Conipton, of Brighton, Illinois, were united in marriage. Mrs. Frank is a daughter HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 847 of Richard and Emily Compton, both of whom are now deceased. To George H. and Belle Frank have been born three children: Emma, the wife of John W. McKinick, Kansas City, Missouri; Charles, a prosperous farmer of Mount Pleasant township; and Richard, a well-to-do clothing merchant of Chicago, Illinois. Since becoming a resident of Bates county, Mr. Frank has willingly and cheerfully borne his part in all public improvements and enterprises and his high standing as one of Mount Pleasant township's intelligent, progressive and representative citizens is unanimously conceded. He has an extensive acquaintance throughout the country and the number of his warm personal friends is legion. W. S. Fuller, a successful and industrious agriculturist of Mount Pleasant township, is a native of Jasper county, Missouri. Mr. Fuller was born in 1880 at the Fuller homestead in Jasper county, thirty-four years after the birth of his father at the homestead. He is a son of S. W. and Laura J. (Allen) Fuller. S. W. Fuller was born in 1846, a son of John L. Fuller, a native of Webster county, Missouri. John L. Fuller was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, as was also his son, S. W., and he was killed in a battle in Arkansas. S. W. Fuller served in the Confederate army two years. Louisa J. (Allen) Fuller was born in South Carolina. She came to Bates county with Mr. Fuller in 1903 and they purchased the farm now owned by Mr. Hartrick. Mr. Fuller died at Eldorado Springs in 1906 and interment was made at Carthage, Jasper county, Missouri. His widow now resides at Carthage, Missouri. S. AV. and Laura J. Fuller were the parents of ten children, six of whom are now living: AV. S.. the subject of this review; Sinia, the wife of H. G. Mallet, Lamar, Missouri; Blanche E., Carthage, Missouri; Tvlrs. Mabel Lowry, Lamar, Missouri; Mrs. Ethel Cox, Butler, Missouri; and Mrs. Sammie Shay, Fort Bliss, Texas. W. S. Fuller attended school in Jasper county, Missouri, at Carth- age. He has made his own way in life since he was eighteen years of age, engaging first in mining in Jasper county and later in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Fuller came to Bates county with his father and labored on the farm with him. In 1910, he purchased his present country home, a farm located two miles southwest of Butler on the Jefferson Highway and comprising one hundred forty acres of land, well watered, drained, and fertile. The residence is a neat, well-built structure of seven rooms and there are two large l:>arns on the place, which afford ample room for stock, hay. and grain. 848 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY The marriage of A\\ S. Fuller and Mrs. Edith (Dickhout) Flynn was solemnized in October, 1909, at Bntler, Missouri. Mrs. Fuller is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Dickhout, of Jackson county, Missouri. To W. S. and Edith Fuller have been born two children, Samuel and Garland. Fraternally, Mr. Fuller is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He has pursued an undeviating course of industry thus far in life and has sternly adhered to the upright principles which governed the life of his father before him. A\\ S. and Mrs. Fuller are highly respected and esteemed as neighbors and citizens in their community. Constant and faithful in all his relations with his fellowmen, Mr. Fuller is destined to continue in the future, as he has been in the past, one of the substantial, enter- prising men of the township in which he lives. John F. McKissick, a well-known and respected farmer and stock- man of Mount Pleasant township, is a worthy representative of a promi- nent and sterling pioneer family of Missouri. Mr. ^McKissick was born at the McKissick homestead, five miles southwest of Butler, Missouri, a son of George M. and Mary E. (Benson) McKissick. George M. McKissick was born in 1838 in Clay county, Missouri, a son of John McKissick, who moved to Bates county from Clay county before the Civil War. John McKissick purchased the farm upon which his son, George M., settled after the war had ended. The latter built a small brick house, 14 x 16 feet in dimensions, which was the McKissick home for many years and is still standing on the place. To George M. and Mary E. McKissick were born seven children : Mrs. Elizabeth J. Blount, Butler, Missouri; Jonathan L., and Charles A., who died in infancy; one child died at birth; Mrs. Martha Pickett, Platteville, Colo- rado; George, Bowler, Montana; and John F., the subject of this review. Jonathan McKissick, brother of George M., came from Clay county to Butler, Missouri, in 1887 and was engaged in the mercantile business in this city for several years. There are hundreds of men and women who will recall Jonathan McKissick, who knew him personally and well, who patronized him at his general store, where he sold groceries, hardware, and feed. He was a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Butler. Mrs. Jonathan McKissick was an active worker and devout member of the Christian church. Interment was made for Mr. McKissick, merchant and enterprising citizen, in the cemetery at But- ler. George M. McKissick was also affiliated with the Ancient Free HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 849 and Accepted Masons of Butler, Missouri. He was for several years the Grand Master of the Butler lodge. Mr. McKissick was a member of the Presbyterian church and Mrs. McKissick was a member of the Baptist church. She was a native of Tennessee. George M. McKis- sick was a man of excellent repute and much influence in his community, taking a deep interest in public and political affairs. He served several years as justice of the peace in his township. He died in 1913 and two years later, in March, 1915, he was joined in death by his wife. Both father and mother were laid to rest in Morris cemetery. John F. McKissick received his education in the city schools of Butler, Missouri. At the age of twenty-one years, he began farming and stock raising on the home place and these pursuits he has since con- stantly followed. Mr. McKissick is the present owner of one hundred twenty acres of land in section 32, Mount Pleasant township, which is considered one of the best "bottom farms" in Bates county. The McKis- sick residence is a pleasant cottage of five rooms. A commodious barn, 44 X 38 feet in dimensions, affords ample provision for the care of both stock and grain. The buildings are all situated on upland. The marriage of John F. McKissick and Lutie May Leonard, daugh- ter of John E. and Mary (Tucker) Leonard, formerly of Charlotte township but now residents of Mt. Pleasant, was solemnized in August, 1910. To this union have been born four children: John Howard, Mary Katherine, Robert L., and Edward L. Mr. and Mrs. McKissick are sincere and highly respected members of the New Hope Baptist church. Incomplete would be a biographical compendium of Bates county, Missouri, were no mention made of the McKissicks, whose lives for so many years have been interwoven with' the local history of Butler and vicinity. For many long years, George M. McKissick was an important and forceful factor in the development of Mount Pleasant township and he always took a leading part in the affairs of his community. Jonathan McKissick, a business man of strong and vigorous personality, devoted his time and energies to the upbuilding of the commercial interests of Butler. Although John F. McKissick is still a young man. he is ably maintaining the reputation of the family and his career has so far been marked by well-directed energy, strong determination to suc- ceed, and honest, honorable endeavor. A public-spirited citizen, an intelligent, capable agriculturist, a kind neighbor and friend, Mr. McKissick is undoubtedly a true son of a noble pioneer. Charles Henry, proprietor of the Butler Dairy, is a representative (54) 850 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of one of the oldest and best pioneer families of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Henry is a Bates county boy. He was born in this section of Mis- souri in 1878, a son of E. P. and Gertrude (Garrison) Henry, the former, a native of Ohio and the latter, of Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Henry were the parents of the following children: Alice, the wife of Dr. J. T. Hull, Butler, Missouri; Bertha, the widow of Judge J. S. Francesco, Butler, Missouri; Charles, the subject of this review; Walter, who is engaged in the garage business at Butler, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume ; and Emma Dell, who died at the age of five years. The Henrys came to Bates county, Missouri, about 1868 or 1869 and settled on the farm now owned by the son, Charles. E. P. Henry died in 1889 and Mrs. Henry joined him in death in 1914. Both parents are interred in Oak Hill cemetery near Butler. A more detailed account of E. P. Henry, familiarly known as Captain Henry, one of the late leading citizens of Bates county, appears in connection with the biographical review of Walter, a brother of Charles Henry. Mr. Henry, whose name introduces this sketch, attended the city schools of Butler and. later, Detroit Business University. A few years after he had completed his commercial education, the Spanish Ameri- can War broke out and Mr. Henry enlisted at Butler in the service of the U^nited States. He served one year and was mustered out and honorably discharged. Pie returned home and began farming, in which pursuit he was engaged until he enlered the dairy business in 1914. The Butler Dairy was established by James Wells. He sold to C. S. Douglass, from whom Charles Henry obtained the dairy in 1917. Mr. Henry had, however, been engaged in the dairy business for three years previous to purchasing this business establishment, at his present location adjoining the townsite of Butler. Two hundred thirteen acres of land comprise the Henry dairy farm, the old E. P. Henry homestead. Mr. Henry raises all the feed he needs for his herd of forty-five dairy cows and besides leaves eighty acres of the farm in pasture. He has two silos, each having a capacity of two hundred fifty tons. The Butler Dairy is one of the best, most sanitary, and splendidly equipped in the country. In addition to a washer, sterilizer, and milk cooler, all operated by steam, Mr. Henry is installing a bottling machine, which fills four bottles at a time and having a capacity of five hundred liottles an hour. Thus practically all the work of the dairy is done speedily, efficiently, and in the most approved and sanitary manner. The water used in connection with the dairy comes from a well of great depth and is pure. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 85 1 Mr. Henry caters to the family and hotel trade and he is doing an excel- lent and profitable business. The dairy barn on the farm was rebuilt and improved in 1917 and now contains forty-seven stanchions and concrete floors and is kept scrupulously clean. The marriage of Charles Henry and Gertrude Guyant, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized in 1910. Mrs. Henry is a daughter gf J. M. and Mary (Young) Guyant. Mrs. Guyant is now deceased and Mr. Guyant resides at Butler. To Charles and Gertrude Henry have been born two sons: Charles E., Jr., and Fred. Mr. Guyant resides with Mr. and Mrs. Henry. Aside from his business interests, Charles Henry takes a deep inter- est in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community. He is one of the energetic, progressive men, who are doing so much to keep Bates county in the front rank with the most prosperous counties of Missouri. AVillingly and cheerfully. Mr. Henry lends his support to every worthy enterprise wdiich has for its object the promotion of the interests of Butler and Bates county and the elevation of the standards of citizenship. He is a w^orthy son of a good father, an excellent repre- sentative of a long line of eminently honorable ancestors. Grover C. Ireland, a progressive and energetic young farmer and stockman, is one of Bates county's worthy citizens. Mr. Ireland was born at the Ireland homestead in Spruce township. Bates county, Sep- tember 9, 1887, a son of Benjamin and Callie (Harmon) Ireland, pio- neers of Spruce township, a sketch of wdiom appears in this volume. In the district schools of Spruce township, Bates county, Grover C. Ireland ob.tained a good common-school education. At the age of twenty-one years, Mr. Ireland with a mule-team began farming on land five miles northeast of Butler. He purchased eighty acres in January, 1918, and forty acres additional in March. 1918, now owning one hundred twenty acres of valuable land. He has leased two hundred forty acres of the Scully land, one mile east of Ballard, Missouri. At the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Ireland has on his farm twenty head of Shropshire sheep ; thirty-two head of high-grade white-face cattle, all cows, with the exception of a registered male at the head of the herd; thirty head of Duroc Jersey hogs, two being registered sows, one costing ninety-one dollars, the other eighty-six dollars; twelve head of horses, one a registered stallion, "Tam O'Shanter," two years old, from Jacob Baum's herd, and six brood mares ; and three head of mules. Mr. Ireland has some verv excellent views on stock 852 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY raising and it is his opinion that "keeping poor-grade stock on any farm doesn't pay and he is giving a practical demonstration of the truth of the converse. In February, 1909, Grover C. Ireland and Lillian Nina Speers, of Spruce tow^nship, a daughter of William and Dolly Speers and a' grand- daughter of "Uncle James" Speers, a widely-known resident of Johns- town, Missouri, who came to Bates county in 1859 and located at Johns- town and is still living there, were united in marriage. To this union have been born three children: Harland, Letha, and Donald. Mr. and Mrs. Ireland reside one and a half miles northeast of Ballard, Missouri, and they receive their mail on Rural Route 26 from Urich, Missouri. They are highly respected and esteemed in Spruce township and in Bates county, and the number of their friends is myriad. Mr. Ireland is carving a name for himself and has now established a reputation which might well be emulated by many citizens much older than he. He is one of the successful Bates county boys of whom all are justly proud. August Fischer. — The "Fischer Farm," located two and a half miles south of the village of Pleasant Gap in the township of the same name, is one of the best and most productive in Bates county. The house and buildings are well located upon a sloping hillside from which every acre of the farm can be overlooked — an ideal setting for a farm home. This fine farm comprises two hundred forty acres of valuable land, the cultivation of which yields its owner a good income. All the buildings are the handiwork of the proprietor, August Fischer, who has profitably combined the trade of carpenter and builder with the vocation of farm- ing. Unlike the shoemaker and the painter, whose children are unshod and whose house is left unpainted, Mr. Fischer used his skill and genius in erecting as his own domicile one of the best farm residences in Bates county and the other buildings grouped around about are also kept in a good state of repair. His big barn, built in 1900, measures 32 x 60 feet with a height of sixteen feet to the square. He has a substantial corn crib, hog house, granary and a machine shed, chicken house and hog houses — the buildings on the place forming a little village all in them- selves. Probably the most valuable adjunct to the farming operations is a never failing well which was drilled to a depth of two hundred forty-six feet, the water being raised by wind-mill power, and the under- ground stream having a steady flow of over one gallon each minute. Mr. Fischer carries on general farming and stock raising. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 853 August Fischer was born May 17, 1863, in Germany, the son of Louis and Johanna (Niedenmeier) Fischer, natives of Germany, who came to America in 1880 and made a settlement in Pleasant Gap town- ship, where Louis Fischer died on January 29, 1893. Louis and Johanna Fischer were parents of nine children: Louis, Fred, and Augusta Steiner, deceased; Charles, August, Mrs. Caroline Wittee, Henry, William, Mrs. Geyeta Halwig. August Fischer came to America in 1879. August Fischer came to Bates county in the spring of 1879 and ten years later he made his first purchase of land, investing his savings in eighty acres of land, known as the "Louis Fischer Farm," Prosperity has smiled upon him, and by means of hard work, good management and thrift he has added another quarter section to the original home place. Mr. Fischer learned the trade of carpenter and builder when a young man and he plied his trade in many parts of Bates county, his mechanical ability enabling him to turn many hundreds of dollars into his purse, and was of great help to him in making a good start in Bates county. In addi- tion to his home farm of two hundred forty acres, Mr. Fischer is owner of a tract of sixty-two and a half acres in Rockville township. On September 25, 1887, August Fischer and Miss Mary Kern, of Rockville, born Octol)er 2, 1863, near Humboldt, Kansas, were united in marriage. She is a daughter of Martin Kern, who died in 1899 and is buried in Prairie City cemetery. Her mother resides at Rockville. The Kerns located in Bates county in 1869. Mr. and Mrs. August Fischer have children as follow: Herman, a farmer in Mt. Pleasant township; Caroline, wife of R. F. Davis, Hudson township ; Willie died at the age of eleven years; Yetta, wife of Joseph Bowers, Rockville township; Augusta, at home with her parents; Sophia, at home. Since coming to Bates county thirty-eight years ago, Mr. Fischer has risen to become one of the leading and most substantial citizens of this county. His first purchase of eighty acres was made on time — his beginning as a farmer having been practically made without capital. Diligence, careful management, good judgment, and unfailing optimism in hard times have enabled him to forge ahead and become well to do. He is one of the leaders in his township and is president of the Pleasant Gap Boosters Club, an organization formed among the best people of his neighborhood by Mr. Fischer and others for the purpose of advancing the social and business welfare of the neighborhood in general. This club is a very popular and busy concern and is behind the project for the erection of the Community Hall at Pleasant Gap. 854 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Benjamin F. Bamett, ex-collector of taxes in Summit township, one of Bates county's progressive and successful, young agriculturists and stockmen, was born in Carroll county, Kentucky, May 13, 1886. Mr. Barnett is a son of J. W. and Frances (Todd) Barnett, natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of four children, who are now living: Gordon, Butler, Missouri ; Nannie, the wife of Roy Argenbright, of Summit township; May and Lillie, at home with their father. Mrs. Barnett, the mother, died at the Barnett home place in Summit town- ship in 1916. Mr. Barnett is engaged in farming and stock raising in this township. Mr. Barnett, whose name introduces this sketch, received his ele- mentary education in the public schools of Carroll county, Kentucky. He was a student at Clay City High School, Clay City, Kentucky, for two years. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1903 and located on a farm one mile south of Butler, where he remained two years, and then he moved to a country place in Summit township located seven miles east of Butler. Mr. Barnett bought a tract of land, embracing one hundred ten acres, in 1909 from Doctor Foster. The land was practically unimproved, having only a small house and barn. Benjamin F. Barnett has rebuilt the residence and the barn and erected a silo, 14 X 35 feet in dimensions, and a dairy barn, equipped with twenty-four stanchions, and a chicken house, 12 x 38 feet in dimensions. He has increased his holdings and his farm now comprises two hundred ten acres of excellent prairie land, well watered and nicely improved, which he is constantly building up and making better. Mr. Barnett has at present a herd of twenty-four dairy cows and sixteen heifer calves of both Holstein and Jersey breeds. He is the owner of one cow which gives forty pounds of milk daily and the milk tests four per cent, butter fat. Mr. Barnett is enthusiastic in his defence of the dairy cow as a money-making investment. It has frequently been said by other stock- men of Bates county, whose words are quoted in this volume, that beef cattle are a better paying proposition in this part of the state than dairy cattle, but Mr. Barnett states that the dairy cow beats everything else on the farm, being a source of income constantly while at the same time increasing the fertility of the soil and he is planning to handle a larger herd of registered dairy cattle in the future. He has a mechanical milker, which milks twenty-five cows in an hour, the one of two such milkers in Bates county, the other one being owned by Sunderwirth Brothers of Prairie City. Mrs. Barnett is raising Brown Leghorn HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 855 chickens .and has at present a flock of three liundred fowls, which are proving to be a very profitable feature of the farm. In 1910. the marriage of Benjamin F. Barnett and Jessie Cantrell, a daughter of Starlin and Hattie (Gloyd) Cantrell, was solemnized and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Elizabeth. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett are widely known and universally respected in Butler and Bates county. Mr. Barnett has an extensive acquaintance throughout his township, having served four years as collector of taxes in Summit township. He is a young man of exceptional business ability and judgment and his standing, financially, commercially, and socially is second to none in the county. Palmer E. Nelson, the well-known manager of the "Allen View Stock Farm," is one of Bates county's progressive and energetic young agriculturists and stockmen. Mr. Nelson is a native of Bureau county, Illinois. He was born in 1885, a son of N. Y. and Mary Nelson, natives of Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, with their son, Palmer E., came to Missouri in 1905 and they are now residents of Cedar county, Mis- souri. Mr. Nelson, whose name introduces this review, attended school at Princeton, Illinois. Seven years ago, dating from this writing in 1918, he was employed on the Green Walton place for one year and then on the farm, of which he is now manager, for one year, when he left Bates county and accepted a position with the Steam Shovel & Elevator Company of Kansas City. Mr. Nelson was employed with this company for eighteen months and then resigned his position and returned to his father's home in Cedar county, Missouri. Three years ago, in August, 1914, he assumed charge of the "Allen View Stock Farm" in Deepwater township. The marriage of Palmer E. Nelson and Nellie Miller was solemnized in 1907 and to this union have been born two children: Miller and Mary Jeannette. ]\Irs. Nelson is a daughter of Warren and Awra Miller and a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson have made scores of friends since their coming to Bates county and they are held in the highest esteem and respect by all with whom they have come in con- tact. "Allen View Stock Farm" is one of the excellent stock farms of Deep- water township, lying eight miles east of Butler, comprising four hun- dred ten acres of land partly in Deepwater and in Summit townships, owned by Frank Allen, of Butler, Missouri. The land is rolling and is 856 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY a part of the old \A'hite place. "Allen View Stock Farm" is '"T-he Home of Shorthorn Cattle and Duroc Jersey Hogs" in Bates county and is widely known in the stock markets of Missouri. Mr. Nelson shipped a carload of Duroc Jersey ' hogs, a herd of seventy-eight, farrowed in April and May of 1917, and they averaged two hundred forty-two pounds each December 1st, and "topping the market" at seventeen dol- lars and seventy-five cents each per hundred pounds in Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Nelson keeps on the farm usually from eighteen to twenty brood sows and a herd of fifty to seventy-five Shorthorn cattle, mostly cows. "Hallen," one of the best males in the entire country, from the E. M. Hall herd, of Carthage, Missouri, twenty-nine months of age and weighing sixteen hundred pounds, heads the Allen herd. He was purchased in February, 1916, and could easily and cjuickly be made to weigh a ton, if it w^ere so desired. ''Allen View Stock Farm" is nicely improved and well equipped with all modern facilities for the efficient handling of stock. The improvements include a comfortable residence, hog barn, horse barn, hog houses, breeding pens, feeding rooms, implement shed, hog-tight fencing, and a splendid well. The well is 10 X 40 feet in dimensions and the w'ater stands within twelve feet of the top and it would be impossible to pump it dry. The feeding- rooms are supplied with a feed grinder, which grinds and mixes the feed, and Mr. Nelson employs all the methods of scientific feeding which have been proven profitable and practical by agricultural insti- tutions. He reads and studies agricultural journals and bulletins and puts into practical use the knowledge he gains thereby, realizing that the main object in raising stock on the farm is to make money and that the farmer and stockman should find out just how much and what is profitable to feed and how to conserve the energy of the animal after it is profitably fed. Palmer E. Nelson is one of the most enterprising, up-to-date, intelligent stockmen of Bates county. William A. Eads, a highly respected and progressive farmer and stockman of Deepwater township, is a worthy representative of a prominent pioneer family of Missouri. Mr. Eads is a native of Iowa, a son of Strowther and Martha A. (Dodds) Eads, the former, a native of Gasconade county, Missouri, and the latter, of Illinois, and he was born in 1855. Strowther Eads was born March 3, 1825, at the Eads homestead in Gasconade county, Missouri, a son of William and Rebecca (Robison) Eads. AVilliam Eads was a native of Kentucky, born in 1780, a member of a leading colonial family of the South. He was HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 857 united in marriage with Rebecca Robison, a native of South Caro- hna, who was ten years his junior, in 1820 and to this union were born live children : Polly, Cyrena, and Strowther, all of whom were born in Gasconade county, Missouri; and Alcy and Louisa, who were born in Sangamon county, Illinois. William Eads and his family resided in Gasconade county, Missouri, during the first years of the statehood and settlement of Missouri, from 1820 until 1835, moving thence to Sanga- mon county, Illinois, and then to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1846. At Des Moines, Iowa, William Eads died. Strowther Eads, father of William A. Eads, the subject of this review, was reared in Sangamon county, Illinois, and was there united in marriage with Martha A. Dodds, a daughter of Joseph and Martha Dodds and a native of Illinois, born in 1827. Joseph Dodds was born May 18, 1785, and his wife was born May 18, 1793. To Strowther and Martha A. (Dodds) Eads were born the following children: Nancy E., who was born February 28, 1847, married William White and now resides at Appleton City, Missouri ; Mary E., who was born December 9. 1848, married William Purcell and now resides at Kansas City, Missouri ; Rebecca J., who was born March 6, 1851, married Frank Peacock and now resides at Schell City, Mis- souri; William A., the subject of this review; Finis E., who was born April 15, 1858, a well-to-do farmer residing one and a half miles north of Spruce, Missouri; and Martha A., the wife of Samuel Coleman, of Butler, Missouri. After their marriage on April 16, 1846, Mr. and Mrs. Strowther Eads resided for some time in Sangamon county, Illinois, whence they moved to Iowa, in which state their son, William A., was born. In 1866, they came to Missouri and located near Carrollton, but were dissatisfied and in one year returned to their old home in Sangamon county, Illinois. However, the Eads family could not resist the call of the West and in 1870 returned to Missouri to purchase a tract of land in Bates county in Deepwater township, which was their home until 1881, at which time Strowther Eads moved to Vernon county, pur- chasing a farm of one hundred sixty acres in .sections 3 and 4, located south of Schell City, Missouri. The father died in Vernon county in 1903 and interment was made in the cemetery at Johnstown. The widowed mother survived Mr. Eads ten years, when in 1913 they were united in death and she was laid to rest beside him in the burial ground at Johnstown. For almost a full century, the name of Eads has been a familiar and honored name in Missouri and the family has long been ranked with the sterling first families of the State. 858 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ^^"illiam A. Eads attended school in Bates county, Missouri, and in the district school of Deepwater township obtained an excellent com- mon-school education. Educational advantages in this part of the country were necessarily very limited in the pioneer and war times, but with limited opportunities Mr. Eads made the best progress pos- sible and became thoroughly familiar with the elementary branches and in later life, by eagerly reading and closely observing, has become a remarkably well-informed gentleman. He remained at home with his father as long as the latter lived, the two being associated in partner- ship in farming and stock raising. Mr. Eads, Jr., was the proprietor of a good farm in Vernon county, Missouri, prior to 1902, when he dis- posed of it and purchased a country place in Bates count}', the Hall farm one-fourth mile east of Spruce, Missouri, a tract of land compris- ing one hundred four acres, a part of which place was entered from the government by Barbary Price in the early thirties and improved by ]\Ir. Price's son, Mr. \\'illiam Price. The Eads farm lies twelve miles east of Butler, Missouri. The marriage of A\'illiam A. Eads and Dora Cooper was solemnized February 26, 1880, in Lone Oak township. Mrs. Eads is a daughter of J. M. and Kate (Gentry) Cooper. The Gentry family came from Ken- tucky to Missouri in the early days and Mrs. Eads was born at Harri- sonville, to which city her father had moved from Lees Summit, where he had originally located. He and his brother conducted a mercantile estal)lishment, owning a carriage and wagon factory, at Harrisonville in the fifties. The old building in which the factory was located is still standing. The Coopers moved to Harrisonville when Order No. 11 was issued by General Ewing- during the Civil War. The resi- dences of J. M. and Jackson Cooper, the two brothers, were the only two houses in the vicinity which were not searched. IMrs. Eads knew the Youngers personally, for when her parents resided at Lees Sum- mit her brothers, sisters, and she attended the same school as they. To William A. and Dora (Cooper) Eads have been born three children: Maude Ethel, the wife of Carl Ludwick, of Los Angeles, California: Ira, who married Mrs. Epsie Murphy, who is engaged in the mercantile business at Spruce, Missouri ; and Charles, who married Bessie Barrick- man, and they reside on a farm one-half mile east of Spruce. Mr. and Mrs. Eads are very proud of their five grandchildren: George William and Martha Ruth Ludwick, children of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ludwick; Mildred and Richard Eads, children of Mr. and Mrs. L-a Eads ; and Charles Kenneth Eads, the onlv son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Eads. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 859 William A. Eads is a Republican of prominence in his township. He made the race for judge of the county court from his district in 1910 and for county treasurer in 1912. Mr. Eads has always taken an active and interested part in politics and during his residence in Vernon county served for several years on the township board in Clear Creek township and as assessor. Deepwater township is proud to numljer him among its best, most enterprising, public-spirited citizens. Bates county owes its present supremacy to the class of clear-headed, strong- armed, energetic yeomen of which William A. Eads is a creditable rep- resentative. E. E. Morilla, one of the younger generation of farmers who have been born and reared in Bates county, has achieved one of the most striking successes in his vocation ever accomplished in this section of Missouri. Mr. Morilla was born on a farm in Lone Oak township, January 7, 1878, and is the son of Charles and Emma (Thomas) Morilla, both of whom are living. Emma (Thomas) Morilla is a daughter of William R. Thomas, of Lone Oak township. Charles and Emma Morilla are parents of the following children: E. E., subject of this review; Mrs. Alice Ellington, Butler, Missouri; C. W. Morilla, Abilene, Kansas; Mrs. Christina Moore, Huntington Beach, California; Ernest, a soldier in the National Army, Three Hundred Forty-first Field Artil- lery, Camp Funston, Kansas. The education of E. E. Morilla was obtained in the public schools of Butler and the Butler Academy. He was a student of the academy when Professor Richardson was the principal in charge. He began his farming career in Mt. Pleasant township, and bought his first farm in 1898, in Pleasant Gap township. He later traded this farm for a tract of land in Greenwood county, Kansas, where he resided for six years. He then returned to Bates county and lived upon the Joe G. Ellington farm in Pleasant Gap township for five years. He purchased his present home farm of two hundred fifty-five acres in 1906. He bought eighty acres March 15, 1918, making a total of three hundred thirty-five acres. The farm was formerly owned by the Hufi'mans. Mr. Morilla has placed practically all of the improvements upon his place, the residence being erected in 1908. and is a modern structure, one and a half stories, of seven rooms. He built his fine barn in 1910. This barn is 64 x 80 feet in dimensions. Mr. Morilla is a believer in the use of the silo to store green food away for cattle feeding in the 860 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY winter season and he has three of these modern adjuncts to farming on the place, the sizes of his silos are 16 x 30 feet. 14 x 32 feet, and 14 X 34 feet. Air. Morilla is an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs and has about one hundred and thirty-five head of cattle on the place which he will have fed out for the markets by spring. He has fifty head of hogs and is feeding over two hundred head of Shropshire sheep. ■ Mr. ]\Iorilla has been twice married, his first marriage occurring on April 14. 1897, with ]\liss Fannie Ellington, who died Julv 4, 1907, leaving two children: Leo, and Joseph. His second marriage was with Miss Fannie A\'ix, on November 17, 1909. Two children have blessed this union: Clarence, and Vivian Bernice. Mrs. Fannie ]\lor- illa is a daughter of Joseph F. W'ix, of Pleasant Gap township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. The ]Morilla family is one of the most prominent in their neighborhood and Mr. and Airs. jMorilla are universally esteemed and respected by the people of their section of Bates county. For a number of years, Mr. Morilla has been prominent in the aft'airs of his township and has served two terms as trustee of Pleasant Gap. He is looked upon as a "live wire" and a progressive and enterprising citizen who has made good in the county of his birth. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless. M. D., retired physician, ex-justice of the peace of Rockville, Missouri, formerly a leading agriculturist and stockman of Bates county, a successful business man, is one of the promi- nent pioneers of Rockville. Doctor Sharpless came to Bates county, Mis- souri, in 1869 from his native state, Pennsylvania, to evade the persistent calls upon him in the practice of medicine and to recuperate from a breakdown due to overwork. He was born December 4, 1837, near Philadelphia in Chester county, Pennsylvania, a son of W^illiam and Abi- gail (Garrett) Sharpless. Doctor Sharpless was reared and educated in his native state. He is a graduate of the American Eclectic College of Philadelphia. Doctor Sharpless came to Rockville, ^Missouri, from Sedalia, driv- ing three yoke of oxen, and he purchased a tract of land comprising four hundred acres located in Rockville township, section four, for ten dollars an acre. He resided on this farm and improved the land, building a nice, comfortable residence, two barns, sheds, cribs, and other necessary farm conveniences and engaged in general farm and stock raising. When Doctor Sharpless located in Bates county in 1869, the Tohannas. the Belchers, the Hooks, the Houslevs, the Bowdens, the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 86l Stodclards, and the Murphys resided in the vicinity of Rockville. The raih-oad has been built since that time and the httle village has grown to be a small but flourishing city, having a population of seven hundred inhabitants. The doctor broke the prairie sod of his farm with the assistance of oxen and built a rude cabin home, 18 x 20 feet in dimen- sions, of unfinished lumber shipped up the Osage to Papinsville and hauled from there to the farm. Doctor Sharpless recalls that there were a large number of emigrants passing through this particular corner of Bates county during the years of 1869 and 1870 and frecjuently the doc- tor and his friends would recommend, to undesirables, Kansas as a Paradise on earth and urge them to go on. The doctor was instru- mental in establishing School District No. 2 in 1871 and while on the farm was a member of the school board. Doctor Sharpless has the dis- tinction of being the first teacher employed in District No. 2, Rockville township. December 14, 1864, Dr. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless was united in marriage with Harriet Wollerton. a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Wollerton, of Westchester, Chester county, Pennsylvania. The A\'oller- tons were highly respected and valued members of the Friends church and both Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Harvey Wollerton spent their lives in Pennsylvania, where their remains now lie interred. To Doctor and Mrs. Sharpless have been born five children, all of whom are now liv- ing: Elberta, the wife of Oscar Housley. of Kansas City, Missouri; Carrie E., the wife of Dr. E. J. Viedt, of St. Louis, Missouri; William W., who married Kate Rees and they reside at Stonewall, Oklahoma; Harry C, who married Bessie Greeson and they reside at Amarillo, Texas; and Samuel Lewis, who married Miss Amy Bluett, of St. Louis, Missouri, and they reside at Los Angeles, California. Dr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anni- versary on December 14, 1914. They are justly proud of their ten grandchildren, one of whom, a grandson, Gilbert O. Housley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Housley, of Kansas City, Missouri, is a corporal at Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, at the time of this writing, in 1918. Among several priceless possessions owned by Doctor and ]\Irs. Sharpless is a grandfather's clock which is more than a full century old and is still a correct timekeeper. On the inside of the clock is the fol- lowing inscription: "Cleaned October 13, 1812. W. Putman. Again October 17, 1823." This remarkable heirloom is eight feet high and 862 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY has two weights, requiring winding once every eight days. The hands designate the day of the month, the hour, minute, second, and the changes of the moon. Doctor Sharpless inherited the clock from his uncle, John Sharpless, and the name "Goshen" is on its face. The doctor also owns an old-fashioned secretary, which is nearly one hundred years of age, and a table constructed without the use of nails, being held together with wooden pins. Dr. Sharpless has a valuable record of the Sharpless family, a book of one thousand three hundred thirty-three pages con- taining the genealogy of the family from 1682 to 1882. P. M. Sharp- less, manufacturer of the Sharpless separator, is a cousin of William Sharpless, father of Dr. Benjamin Franklin Sharpless. In 1903, Doctor and Mrs. Sharpless moved from their farm to Rock- ville, where they purchased their present residence from Philip Bartz. The life of Doctor Sharpless has been in the main quiet and always unas- suming and although he is now the possessor of an ample competence he and his noble wife continue to live in the simple manner which was their custom in the earlier days. Both the doctor and Mrs. Sharpless are still active and are enjoying life and they are highly esteemed in Bates county for their genuine worth. George S. Porter, well and favorably known farmer and stockman of Deepwater township, was born on the farm which he is now man- aging. May 14, 1877. He is the son of Jefferson L. and Catherine (Schere) Porter, natives of Virginia. Jefferson L. Porter was born in Virginia in 1826 and departed this life on his farm in Bates county in 1912. He was a scion of an old American family of prominence. He came to Missouri from Virginia in 1858 and made an early settle- ment in Deepwater tow^nship, wdiere he became one of the most influential citizens of the count}/. Mr. Porter first purchased a homestead of two hundred and forty acres from Jerrard Witt who had entered the land. He was industrious, a good farmer, and financier and became owner of nine hundred and twenty-six acres of land in this county previous to his death. When Order No. 11 was issued by General Ewing calling for the residents of Bates county who were in sympathy with the South to evacuate their homes, Mr. Porter was the only man in his neighborhood to remain. During the troublesome times in the border country when marauding bands would sweep over western Missouri, burning homes and killing livestock and settlers, J. L. Porter was living on the old home place. When ordered away, he left it for one night only, he and his family returning next day. A party of marauders attempted to assassinate him, and his horse was killed HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 863 during- the affray. The attack and attempt upon his life occurred near Johnstown. A party was organized to avenge the assault, com- posed of Mr. Porter, A. E. Page, John Sisson, George and William War- ner, Lafayette Griggs, and Valincourt Griggs. The party came upon a part of the band which had attempted the killing and a battle ensued which lasted for some time on April 14, 1861. Lafayette Griggs fell dead at the first return fire from the jay-hawkers and a running fight ensued, the marauders making a stand for their lives near a small lake. Eight of the invaders were killed and the captain wounded, he being killed later by members of the posse who became the victors in the engagement. Jefferson L. Porter was appointed associate judge of the Bates county court in 1864 wdien the court held its sessions at Johnstown. He was prominent in the affairs of Bates county for many years and became widely known as a breeder of Hereford cattle and Duroc Jersey liogs. In 1901 he started the practice of holding private sales of his fine stock at his place and made a success of the undertaking. To Jeffer- son L. and Catherine Porter were born children as follow: Stewart F., Jonesboro, Arkansas ; Damaris, wife of Lee W^itt. she died in Sep- tember, 1917, at Troy, Missouri; Bettie, wife of Alvin Hart, Henry county, Missouri; Jennie, wife of Jasper Talbot. Miami, Oklahoma; Edith Murray, widow, Longmont, Colorado; Mollie M., wife of Jordan Cottle, Chicago. Illinois; George S., subject of this sketch; A. L. died at the age of thirty-five years in 1892, killed at Lexing- ton Junction in a railway accident; Nora died in 1912, aged forty years; three children died in infancy. Mrs. Catherine (Schere) Porter was born in Virginia and died in 1892. Mrs. Porter was a daughter of John Jacob Schere. born in Guilford county. North Carolina, February 7, 1785, married Elizabeth Grierson. John Jacob Schere was the son of Frederick Schere, born in Guilford, North Carolina, in 1763. married Barbara Smith, and served in the Patriot Army during the War of the American Revolution, losing an ear in battle. He was the son of Jacob Daniel Schere, a native of Oberbelbock, Germany, married Hannah Sophie Dick, and immigrated to Berks county. Pennsylvania, in Septem- ber, 1748. His son probably migrated to North Carolina and there founded another branch of the family from wdiich George S. Porter is a direct decendant. George S. Porter was educated in school district No. 53, and studied in the Appleton City Academy for two years. After leaving school he 864 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY took up farming and was his father's partner until Judge Porter died. He is managing a large farm of five hundred acres in all which is one of the best equipped stock farms in Bates county. All of this land is located in Deepwater township, excepting eighty acres which lies in Spruce township. All of the land excepting sixty acres is in hay, pas- ture and timber. The place is well watered, a deep well drilled three hundred and twenty feet furnishes an abundant supply of water for all purposes. Mr. Porter keeps one hundred head of cattle and al)out twenty head of horses and mules on the place. On December 11, 1900, George S. Porter was united in marriage with Sarah Bessie Alexander, of Deepwater township, a daughter of T. J. and Maud (Colegrove) Alexander. Her father was a native of Indiana, born in Jay county, May 18, 1854, and accompanied his father. Andrew Calvin Alexander, to Bates county in 1867. Andrew Calvin Alexander died in Bates county in 1893. T. J. Alexander, farmer, died August 21, 1899. His wife, Mrs. Maude x\lexander, was born in Lebanon, Indiana, November 12, 1860, and is now making her home near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. George S. Porter have three children: Ruby \^iolet, Ralph Alexander, and Ruth Catherine. Mrs. Sarah Bessie Porter was born July 20, 1882, and reared in Bates county. Her grandfather, Andrew C. Alexander, a prosperous farmer, was a native of Ohio, and married Sarah H. Callahan, who was born April 9, 1834, in Jackson county, Ohio, and died Fberuary 10, 1895. They were mar- ried June 2, 1853, moved from Indiana to Iowa in 1857, and from Iowa to Missouri in 1867 and located near Johnstown. While Mr. Porter is a Republican in politics he attends strictly to his own business affairs and leaves political matters for those who have more time for politics. He votes as a good citizen should but the man- agement of his large stock farm and his home affairs keep him occupied. M. W. Anderson, a prominent and prosperous farmer and stockman of Spruce township, is one of the successful, "self-made" men of Bates county. Mr. Anderson was born October 10, 1860, in Lafayette county, Missouri, a son of Jesse and Marinda Anderson, who came from Vir- ginia in the early days and settled on a farm in Lafayette county. Jesse Anderson died when his son, M. W., the subject of this review, was a small lad, ten years of age. Mrs. Anderson moved to Arkansas, where she died, and the son, M. W., was left to the protection and care of a neighbor, J. H. Hobbs, and he was reared by Mr. Hobbs in Johnson county. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 865 Mr. Anderson, whose name introduces this review, obtained his education in the pubHc schools of Johnson county, Missouri. At the age of twenty-one years, he came to Bates county. He had just fifteen cents in his pocket and that amount meant the sum total of his financial resources. Mr. Anderson obtained employment at once and for his services received an overcoat and a pair of overshoes, which he was needing badly, and then served as apprentice with I. N. Paulline, a promi- nent contractor of Butler, Missouri, until he had mastered the carpenter's trade, which he followed in connection with farming in Bates county for thirty years. The first work which Mr. Anderson did in Bates county was husking corn in the snow for which he received the munificent sum of twenty-five cents a day — and it was real work, at that. By 1889, he had saved a sum of money sufificient to purchase a farm and he bought his first land in Mingo township, a place he later sold. Mr. Anderson then moved from this county to Urich in Henry county and was there engaged in buying and selling town lots and improving city property. He disposed of his interests in 1894 and purchased his present country place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land originally, from A. J. Allen and to his first holdings later added forty acres more, a tract purchased from John Winegardner. On this place in Spruce township, Mr. Anderson is profitably employed in raising horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, and purebred Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. The marriage of M. W. Anderson and Mary F. Kenney, a daugh- ter of Rev. William and Martha A. (Drennan) Kenney, honored and revered pioneers of Sangamon county, Illinois, was solemnized Decem- ber 7, 1910. Reverend and Mrs. Kenney came to Bates county, Alis- souri in the autumn of 1868 and located in Spruce township, where they both died. The remains of both father and mother were interred in Bethel cemetery in Bates county, Missouri. Mrs. Anderson had the following brothers and sister, two living: C. E., Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia; B. F., of Spruce township; Mrs. Efiie M. Sparkman. who died at Portland, Oregon ; and Arthur E., who died at the age of sixteen years at the old homestead in Spruce township, Bates county. Mr. Anderson's brothers and sisters were, as follow: John, deceased; Al- fred, Osceola, Missouri; Isaac, deceased; Mrs. Jennie Gregory; ]\Irs. Lizzie Paul, of Johnson county, Missouri ; Mrs. Mattie Forney, Enid, Oklahoma; Mrs. Huldah Allen, Gypsum, Kansas; Mrs. Belle Rich, of Deepwater township, Bates county; and Mollie. To M. W. and Mary F. (Kenney) Anderson have been born two children: Nina May and (55) 866 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Benjamin A\'esley. By a former marriage, Air. Anderson is the father of four sons: Arthur P., a well-to-do merchant of Los Angeles, Cali- fornia; Robert E.. a successful farmer and ranchman of Great Falls, Montana; Archie B.. a well-known farmer and stockman of ]\Iingo township. Bates county; and William R., a prosperous farmer of Henry county. The Anderson name is widely and favorably known in west- ern Alissouri. The Anderson farm lies ten miles southwest of Creighton, twenty miles northeast of Butler, and sixteen miles east of Adrian. ]Mr. Ander- son has himself improved the place, adding all the buildings except the old ones erected by Mr. Mingus in the fifties. The improvements, which M. W. Anderson has placed on the farm, include a handsome residence, a ten-room structure, two stories and with a basement, built in 1905; a barn, 46 x 50 feet in dimensions, constructed of native lum- ber; a cattle and hog shed, 18 x 60 feet in dimensions; a sheep shed, 16 X 60 feet in dimensions; a ninety-ton silo, erected in 1911. Air. Anderson feeds silage to his herds of horses, cattle, and sheep and is an enthusiastic advocate of it, but insists that it should be fed properly. He raises fine Percheron horses and is the owner of a Kentucky Ham- bletonian mare, a splendid saddle horse and trotter, seven years of age. Mr. Anderson has raised Shropshire sheep for twenty-five years and at the present time has a number of registered animals in his herd. In the election of 1917, M. W. Anderson was elected trustee of Spruce township, the first Republican to be so honored. He is now serving his first term in oiflce and is attending to all his ofificial duties with the skill and excellence of an experienced man. In all the affairs of life. Mr. Anderson has manifested the same zeal, enterprise, business tact, and excellent judgment, wdiich now characterize him as a public ofiticial. His unflagging industry and perseverance have enabled him to carry to a successful issue every undertaking to which he devotes his time and attention. He is in sympathy with all movements which tend to promote the public welfare and his public-spiritedness, his candor, and his integrity have won for him the respect of all with whom he has come in contact. Mr. and Airs. Anderson are worthy and valued members of the AA^alnut Grove Presbvterian church. Jesse L. Brooks, wide-awake and progressive farmer of Pleasant Gap township, is a native of Alichigan. ha^■ing been born in that state, in 1876. He is the son of Samuel Jay Brooks, who was also born in Michigan. November 30. 1845. He disposed of his farm holdings in Branch county, Michigan in 1883 and came to Bates county, Missouri, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 86/ his first purchase of land being a tract of one hundred acres formerly owned by David Walker and located three-fourths of a mile north of the village of Pleasant Gap. The improvements on the place at the time of the purchase were a small house and poor outbuildings. Mr. Brooks erected a barn, dug a cellar, and built a hay-shed and added to his possessions until he became owner of two hundred forty-five acres. He died December 8, 1893. His wife was Amanda Evelyn Sweezey prior to her marriage. She was a native of New York, and now makes her home in California. The children of Samuel Jay and Amanda E. Brooks are: Jesse L., subject of this review; Fannie Effie, wife of Perry Rogers, Porterville, California. After attending the common schools, Jesse L. Brooks studied for one year at Butler Academy. He then returned to the farm in Pleas- ant Gap township and worked with his father until his death. Mr. Brooks has added twenty acres to the original Brooks home farm and now owns tw^o hundred sixty-five acres in one connected body — splen- did farm land — all of which is in intensive cultivation and producing good crops excepting seventy acres of timber and pasture. Mr. Brooks has erected a fine barn 20 x 32 feet in dimensions. His barn number two is larger and measures 45 x 60 feet in size. He has also erected a silo. 12 X 36 feet, and has a smaller barn for hay and fodder. At the present writing (January. 1918) ^Ir. Brooks has twenty head of cattle, thirty head of fine hogs, and ten horses and mules — all good stock. On January 31, 1903, Jesse L. Brooks and }^larv Alice Swezv. of Pleasant Gap township, were united in marriage. ]\[rs. Brooks is a daughter of David B. and Ida (Brandenburg) Swezy, well-known resi- dents of Pleasant Gap township, the former of whom died on Novem- ber 5. 1916. and the latter is still living on the farm three miles south of Pleasant Gap. The Swezys came to ^Missouri in 1871 and located in Bates county in 1873. The remains of ]\Ir. Swezy are buried at Round Prairie cemetery. Mr. and [Mrs. Brooks have two children: Ida Evelyn, and ]\Iary Arleen. The Brooks home is a very pleasant one and ]\Ir. and Airs. Brooks take an active part in social affairs in their neighborhood. Mr. Brooks is a member of the Pleasant Gap Booster Club, which is working for the establishment of a community house at Pleasant Gap, an undertaking which is worthy of success and will prove of great benefit to the people of this vicinity in many ways. 868 - HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY William T. Nichols, a successful farmer and stockman of Grand River township, is one of Bates county's most highly regarded and vahied citizens. Mr. Nichols is a native of Indiana. He was born in Warren county, Indiana, in 1847 and in childhood moved with his parents to Warren county, Illinois, in 1854, thence to Coffey county, Kansas, in 1857, where they took up government land and settled on a farm located between Burlington and Leroy and where both father and mother died. The mother died in the spring of the year 1859 and the father died in the ensuing autumn. W. T. Nichols was an orphan at the age of twelve years, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Nichols. He returned to Illinois after the death of his father and remained in that state until 1867, when he returned to Kansas and two years later came thence to Bates county, Missouri, which county has been his home for nearly fifty con- tinuous years. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, W. T. Nichols was an orphan lad fourteen years of age. He was imbued with patriotic fervor and endeavored zealously to get into the ranks of the Union army, but he was entirely too short. The examining officials demanded of him that he remove his boots and then measured him and, as he was an unde- veloped boy, he fell far short of the standard height. Mr. Nichols attended school in IlHnois and Kansas. In his youth, he was employed in work on the Lexington Lake & Gulf railroad bed and it was neces- sary for him to follow the officials in order to obtain his last pay. He received two dollars a day and a man with a team received from three to three and a half dollars a day. After locating in Kansas, Mr. Nichols' brothers hauled provisions from Westport, Missouri. In 1869, he pur- chased with his hard-earned savings a small tract of land in Grand River township. Bates county, thirty acres of his present home place, from his uncle, Hiram Nichols, who had settled in Bates county, Missouri, in 1862 and died here in March, 1893. To his original holdings Mr, Nichols has constantly added until he now owns a valuable farm com- prising one hundred ten acres of choice land in Grand River township, located five miles northeast of Adrian in one of the best farming districts of this section of the state. Hiram Nichols, the former owmer of the farm, was one of the first settlers in this township, a brave, sturdy pio- neer w^ho spent the greater part of his life in Bates county. His residence was a rude, one-room log cabin. W^. T. Nichols was obliged to use the water from the branch nearby for drinking purposes, when he first set- tled on his farm in Bates county, and in 1874 he carried maple saplings WILLIAM T. :;iCHOLS AND Win HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 869 and two box-alcler trees from the creek banks and transplanted them in his yard and they are still growing nicely, one being three feet in diame- ter. He recalls how, in the spring of 1875, the devastating grasshoppers destroyed his crops and all growing plants on his farm, but undauntedly he replanted and in spite of the pests raised a good crop of corn. Mr. Nichols well remembers the days in Bates county when hogs sold for one dollar and eighty cents a cut, corn for fifteen cents a bushel, eggs for three cents a dozen, large hens for one dollar and fifty cents a dozen, and small hens for one dollar and twenty-five cents a dozen. He has himself sold his produce at the above given prices. In discussing mat- ters relative to early-day facilities for obtaining an education, Mr. Nichols states that Mingo school district was organized before the Civil War and that the one school house in the district, a frame building con- structed of native lumber, stood the havoc of war and remained stand- ing for many years afterward. The marriage of W. T. Nichols and Hattie Simpson, a daughter of Benjamin and Mildred (Covington) Simpson, natives of Kentucky, was solemnized September 4, 1877. Benjamin Simpson was killed near Dayton in Cass county, Missouri, in 1861, mention of which is made in Judge Glenn's "History of Cass County." Mildred (Covington) Simp- son was a member of the family of Covingtons in whose honor the city of Covington, Kentucky, was named. Hattie (Simpson) Nichols was born in 1861, in the same year in which her father w^as killed, in Grand River township. Bates county, Missouri, and two years later her mother moved with her children to the old home place in Kentucky and there remained until 1871, when she returned to the Bates county home to find everything on the farm destroyed, the house, the barn, and even the stone chimney. Mrs. Simpson was the heroic type of pioneer woman who knew not what discouragement or failure meant. She rebuilt the residence, improved the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, and unaided, reared and educated and provided for eleven chilren. Mrs. Simpson was one of the most noble of the brave pioneer mothers, a woman of remarkable energy and ability who was held in the highest esteem and respect by all who knew her and she was widely known. Her death, December 15, 1902, was deeply lamented in Bates county. Mrs. Simpson's remains are interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mrs. W. T. Nichols recalls her first school teacher, Miss Sarah Severs, at Deer Creek school house, and she was in turn succeeded by Dr. E. E. Gilmore. To W. T. and Hattie (Simpson) Nichols have been born five 8/0 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY children, all of whom are now living: Etta May, who is at home with her parents; Addie Elizabeth, the wife of John Revis, of Severy, Kan- sas; William Dallas, at home; Zora, the wife of Edwin Dryden, of Ham- burg, Iowa; and Benjamin Franklin, Adrian, Missouri. The success which has attended the efforts of W. T. Nichols has been constant. He has encountered more than the usual dif^culties that beset the pathway of every "self-made" man. He began life with more than the ordinary handicaps, an orphan, without educational advantages and without financial resources, but with a will which no obstacle could weaken and a high purpose born of determination to succeed, he has overcome them all and won for himself a prominent place among the leading farmers and substantial citizens of his township and county. Joseph F. Wix, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates county and a mem- ber of one of the oldest and most prominent of the pioneer families of this section of Missouri. His father was Joseph Wix, who settled in Bates county as early as 1839. His mother was Eliza Malcomb Wix, also of Missouri pioneer lineage. A complete biography of Joseph Wix, pioneer, appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, brother of Joseph F. Wix. Joseph F. Wix was born in Pleasant Gap township in 1862 and has lived all of his life in Bates county, having practically grown up with Bates county, and progressed with the county from a wilderness of prairie and forest to the present time when the county ranks among the first among Mis- souri's greatest agricultural counties. His mother was the second wife of Joseph Wix, and he has a sister residing in Arkansas. Mr. Wix re- ceived his education in the Pleasant Gap public school, now called the Pleasant Ridge school. Mr. Wix went to Washington county with his parents and also lived for three years in Cedar county, Missouri. He resides upon a part of his father's old homestead, having become the owner of this place by the purchase of the various interests of the other heirs. His farm embraces two hundred and ten acres of rich land, which includes thirty acres of timber. All of the existing improvements on the place were erected under the supervision of Mr, Wix, his resi- dence having been built in 1902, a good building of two stories and six rooms. His large barn measures 44 x 50 feet in dimensions, and he has a smaller barn 26 x 30 feet in size. The Wix farm is located two miles north and one-half mile east of the village of Pleasant Gap and is considered one of the best farms in a locality noted for its pro- Sfressive farmers and excellent farmsteads. He raises Shorthorn cattle HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/1 and handles mostly good grades of livestock, such as Poland China hogs and Rhode Island Red poultry. On December 19, 1886, Joseph F. Wix and Miss Louise E. W'ielms were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born children as follow: Grace, wife of H. L. Padley, Pleasant Gap township; Fan- nie, wife of E. E. Morilla, Pleasant Gap township; Cora, Tillie, and Emma J., at home with their parents, the latter attending the Butler High School. Mrs. Louise E. Wix is a daughter of John and Barbara Wielms, the former of whom emigrated from his native land of Bel- pfium in 1855. Mrs. Wielms was born in Switzerland and left her native land and came to America with her parents in about 1855. John and Barbara W^ielms were married in Texas and came to .Vernon county, Missouri in 1866. Mr. Wielms died in Vernon county, and Mrs. Wielms now resides at Virgil City, Missouri. Mr. Wix is one of the leaders in the civic life of Pleasant Gap and has served as a member of the township board. The Wix family are prominent in their home township and are progressively inclined, taking an active part in social activities and ever ready to do their part in advancing the interests of their home community and county. J. W. Anderson, the pioneer druggist of Rockville, Missouri, is a member of one of the most prominent pioneer families of the state. Mr. Anderson was born in Henry county, Missouri in 1852, a son of Dr. Z. and Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson. Dr. Z. Anderson located with his family at Papinsville, Missouri in 1856. He was a native of Ten- nessee, born in 1826, and a graduate of the McDowell Medical College, of St. Louis, Missouri. Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson was a daughter of William Gilkeson, an honored pioneer of Johnson county, Missouri. At about the time the Andersons came to Papinsville, Missouri, Doc- tor Bedinger located at Papinsville. Fie was a native of Germany and is still remembered by many citizens of Bates county, who may recall his tragic death. The canoe upset and the doctor was thrown into the icy cold water and when found several hours later by a negro it was too late to revive him and Doctor Bedinger chilled to death in the canoe while being taken to Papinsville. Dr. Z. Anderson conducted a drug store and practiced medicine at Papinsville until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He enlisted with the Confederates and served two years. In 1863, he returned to Missouri and located for a short time at St. Louis, whence he went to Illinois to remain until the war had ended. Doctor Anderson again came back to Missouri 872 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY in 1866, returning this time to his old home at Papinsville, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in October, 1868. Mrs. Anderson survived her husband for nineteen years. She departed this life in 1887 and was laid to rest beside her mother in Rock- ville cemetery. The father's remains rest in the cemetery at Papinsville. The following children were born to Dr. Z. and Mrs. Anderson: Mrs. Rilla Anderson, Rockville, Missouri; Ella, the wife of Clyde Murphy, of Springfield, Missouri; Mrs. Jennie Evans, of Glasgow, Ken- tucky; M. L., deceased; and J. W., the subject of this review. In the public schools of Papinsville, J. W. Anderson received his education. The first teacher, whom Mr. Anderson recalls, was a gentleman from New York, whom the school boys called a "Blue-bellied Yankee" and "Yank" in its shortened form. Following the New Yorker came Mr. Burnsides, from Ohio and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Johnson, from Virginia. The school house was built of logs and among all the boys who attended- school there in the early days J. W. Anderson knows of but three who are now living, namely: D. O. Bradley, Rich Hill, Missouri; J. L. Richardson, Nevada, Missouri; and J. W. Ander- son. The merchants of Papinsville, in the days before the Civil War, were Mr. Eddy, Mr. Duke, and Phillip Zeal. The Indians were want to come to Papinsville each autumn for their winter supplies and well J. W. Anderson remembers seeing bands of red men in the little village.' He states that in religious matters the Presbyterians were in those days in the ascendancy at Papinsville, they having the only church in the place. The brick court house was destroyed during the Civil War and the bridge near the town was burned by a division of Price's army. In 1874, J. AV. Anderson entered the drug business at Papinsville and remained there until 1884, when in September of that year he moved to Rockville and has since continued in business at this place. Mr. Anderson has been engaged in the drug business continuously for forty-four years. He carries an exceptionally fine line of drugs, sta- tionery, cigars, and toilet articles and his thorough knowledge of phar- macy, in conjunction with his courteous manner and evident desire to please his customers, has brought him a flattering patronage. J. W. Anderson and Arabella Barrows, a daughter of Freeman Barrows, the first county clerk of Bates county, Missouri, were united in marriage in 1880. Freeman Barrows died about 1860 and his remains were interred in the cemetery on the Barrows home place and after- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 873 ward removed to the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. To J. W. and Mrs. Anderson have been born three children, all of whom are now living: Mrs. Medora Corbin, of Sterling, Colorado; L. W., who is a graduate of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, Missouri and is now a successful pharmacist at Joplin, Missouri; and Clyde Murphy, a graduate of the Rockville High School, Springfield Academy, Randolph- Macon Academy, and of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, Missouri, who has been stationed at Camp Doniphan since August 5, 1917 in the service of the United States. Mr. Anderson began life a poor boy, with no special preparation in the way of educational training, and all that he has and all that he is has come as the inevitable result of honest, earnest effort and consecutive and persistent endeavor. Among the people with whom he has lived for so many years he occupies a high standing and possesses countless warm personal friends. The Andersons have for more than fifty years been respected and honored among the best families of Bates county, Missouri. A. L. Gilmore, proprietor of the "A. L. Gilmore Stock Farm" of Deepwater township, was born in Portage county, Ohio on December 31, 1864. He is a son of Henry W. and Cornelia C. (Loomis) Gilmore, natives of Portage county, Ohio. Henry W. Gilmore came to Bates county, Missouri in 1873, locating in Old Hudson. He bought forty acres of the Newkirk farm, where he resided until his death in 1894. His wife died in December, 1910 and both parents are buried in Myers cemetery in Bates county. Two brothers of Henry W. Gilmore, Sam- uel and Charles, were veterans of the Civil War, and Samuel Gilmore for a few years conducted a shoe shop at Butler. Henry W. Gilmore and Mrs. Gilmore were the parents of six children: Mrs. Laura E. Graham, Falls City, Oregon; Mrs. Mary A. Mabry, St. Clair county, Missouri; Mrs. Mittie Keene, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Rilla Radford, Butler, Missouri ; Mrs. Lulu Keene, Lidianapolis, Indiana ; and A. L., the subject of this review. A. L. Gilmore attended school in Oak Grove district and later was a student at Butler Academy. After leaving school, he went to western Kansas and proved a government claim. A short time after- ward, he landed in the state of California and at that time had just thirty cents in his pocket. He made the trip in two days from Marys- ville, California to Laporte, a distance of eighty-seven miles. He went to work for the Sierra Lumber Company and was sent out with surveying 8/4 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY parties up in the mountains. He was out on the trip three and one- half months. Food and supplies were taken to them on pack mules. He killed several deer on the trip and brought some of the deer horns back to Missouri, and has them yet. They were snowbound on their way home and had to crawl over the summit for a short distance on their hands and knees. They were at the foot of Lassen peak at one time on their trip. Mr. Gilmore entered the employ of the Sierra Lumber Company in California and remained with them for four years, the company offering him an increase in wages to remain with them longer, but Mr. Gilmore still dreamed of Bates county and l)elieved that opportunities were still here and he was soon back again among his old friends. He located on a portion of the Captain Newberry farm, one mile southeast of Spruce, and built his present residence, a house of seven rooms, in 1912 and a commodious barn, 48 x 60 feet in dimensions, in 1908. All the improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gilmore and the clearing of the brush for farming operations on the soil has also been done by him. The "A. L. Gilmore Stock Farm" comprises two hundred forty acres of land and Mr. Gilmore is making an excellent success with both cattle and hogs. Mr. Gilmore was first married January 14, 1892 to Jessie E. New- berry, a daughter of Captain Newberry, a sketch of whom appears else- where in this volume. Jessie E. (Newberry) Gilmore died in August, 1893. A. L. Gilmore and Edna E. Lawson were united in marriage on March 6, 1902. Edna E. (Lawson) Gilmore is a native of Deep- water township, Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Isaac M. and Cordelia M. Lawson, honored and respected pioneers of Deepwater township. Mr. Lawson died in 1911 and his widow still resides at the Lawson homestead. Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Gilmore have four children : Edna L, Arthur L., Homer H., and Paul L. Fraternally, A. L. Gilmore is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Royal Neighbors of America, and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Gilmore takes a most commendable interest in public and political affairs and he was elected assessor of Bates county in 1906 and was deputy assessor prior to that time. He has filled satis- factorily the offices of assessor and clerk of Deepwater township and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he is filling his second term in the office of township trustee, having been elected in April, 1915 and re- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 875 elected in April, 1917. A. L. Gilmore is a good, honest, conscientious official, attending as carefully to the interests of his township and county as to his own. He is a thorough, intelligent, and progressive agri- culturist and stockman. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore stand high among the estimable and valuable citizens of Bates county. C. N. Page, a prominent citizen of Mingo township, Bates county, an honored Union veteran of the Civil War, is a representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Page was born in 1846 in Moniteau county, Missouri, a son of William and Mary Page, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. William Page came to Moniteau county in the early thirties and thence moved with his family to Henry county, Missouri, where he died about 1859. His wife, the mother of C. N. Page, died in Moniteau county. To William and Mary Page were born the following sons : John E., deceased ; Kemp, deceased ; Franklin, living in Henry county; Francis Marion, of St. Clair county, Missouri; and C. N., the subject of this review. In the old fashioned "subscription schools" of Henry county, Mis- souri, C. N. Page obtained his education. Educational advantages were few in the pioneer days of Missouri and young Page was obliged to walk four and five miles to attend school held in a rudely constructed log cabin. Mr. Page enlisted in the Union army in 1861, when he was a lad scarcely sixteen years of age, and with him in the same com- pany at the same time were his brothers, John E. Kemp, Franklin, and Francis Marion, all of whom were of the political faith of the Democrats but of Northern sentiments in regard to the war. C. N. Page re-enlisted with the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalrv and served throughout the war, receiving his honorable discharge at Fort Leav- enworth. Kansas. Mr. Page was with General Kearney on the Powder River expedition in Wyoming in the campaign against the Indians. After leaving Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr. Page came to Missouri and located near Creighton, whence he came to Bates county in 1896 and first established himself on a farm near Mayesburg, moving to his present country place in 1901, a farm comprising forty acres of land. In Mr. Page's own words, we may truthfully say of him that he is "a thoroughbred Missourian." The marriage of C. N. Page and Mrs. Sarah M. Crosby was solem- nized in 1901. Mrs. Page was born and reared at Coshocton, Ohio. She came with her parents from her native state as far West as Illi- nois and there slie was united in marriage with C. N. Crosby. Mrs. Page came to Bates county, Missouri from Illinois in 1867 or 1868 and was a resident of Mingo township at the time of her marriage 876 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY with Mr. Page. C. N. Page has also been twice married. His first wife was Eliza ]\Iaupin, now deceased, and to this union were born two children: William, of Mingo township; and Mrs. Viola Bryant, of Chelsea, Oklahoma. Mr. Page is a man of firm convictions and principles and what- ever he has undertaken in life has been with the object of benefiting not only himself but his neighbors and fellowcitizens as well. In the Civil War, he freely and cheerfully offered himself a sacrifice on the altar of freedom and duty and since the war has ended he has just as conscientiously discharged all duties encumbent upon him. He is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his genial manners and fond- ness for companionship have attracted to him scores of warm personal friendships. His reputation is such that no one calls in question the rectitude of his intentions and his character is an open book the pages of which are remarkably free from blot or stain. Luther Poindexter, a successful and influential farmer and stock- man of Spruce township. Bates county, is a native of Boone county, Mis- souri. Mr. Poindexter was born in 1879, son of Mr. Poindexter and Mary Elizabeth (Salsman) Poindexter, the father, a native of North Caro- lina and the mother, of Camden county, Missouri. The Poindexters settled in Spruce township. Bates county in 1881 and the father rented land in the township until his death in 1903. Interment was made for him in the cemetery at Johnstown. The widowed mother now makes her home on her farm near Johnstown, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Poin- dexter were the parents of the following children: Frances, the wife of James Chitty, of Altona, Missouri; Melvin, who died in infancy; AVilliam, who went to the state of Idaho in 1916 and now resides there; Lark, a well-to-do farmer and stockman residing near Ballard, Mis- souri; Mollie, the wife of William Judd, residing near Ballard, Missouri; Luther, the subject of this review; Brush, a well-known farmer and stockman residing near Johnstown, Missouri; OlHe, who is now deceased and he left a widow. Mrs. Mintie (Crump) Poindexter; Roy, who is engaged in farming and stock raising- near Johnstown, Missouri; Hattie, deceased; Attie, the wife of Nilie Beaman, of Adrian, Missouri; Walter and Lucy, who reside with their widowed mother on the farm near Johnstown, Missouri. When Luther Poindexter was a child, two years of age, his par- ents moved with their family to Bates county, Missouri and in this countv Mr. Poindexter was reared and educated. He attended the dis- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/7 trict schools of Spruce township and after acquiring a good common school education began farming and stock raising, in which pursuits he has since been engaged. Mr. Poindexter began life for himself at the age of twenty years. In 1916, he purchased his present country place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-five acres of land located one mile south and one-fourth mile west of Ballard, Missouri, one of the most attractive rural homes in Spruce township. A branch of Soap creek flows through the farm and the land is well watered, for in addi- tion to the creek there are five good wells on the farm. The improve- ments include a comfortable, well-built residence, a house of five rooms; a barn, 50 x 60 feet in dimensions; a second barn, 40 x 50 feet in dimen- sions; an implement shed; and several hog sheds. The buildings are situated on an elevation and the drainage around them is the best. W. D. Howard formerly owned the Poindexter place. Mr. Poindexter is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and in addition is an extensive feeder of hogs. He is one of the enterprising, intelligent agriculturists of his township and his tireless efforts, unflag- ging industry, and good business judgment well merit a goodly share of success. Politically, Mr. Poindexter is a stanch Democrat. In 1906 Luther Poindexter was married to Ada Zeiler, a daugh- ter of John and Sallie Zeiler, living pioneers of Osceola, Missouri. To this union have been born two children: John Melvin and Dimple. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter are highly regarded and valued among the best and most prominent citizens of Spruce township, where for nearly forty years the Poindexter name has been respected as the synonym of honorable and upright manhood and womanhood. Matthias L. Smith, a retired farmer and stockman of Rich Hill, Missouri, one of the brave clan of noble pioneers of Bates county, a prominent, public-spirited, and influential citizen, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith was born February 4, 1840, in Fayette county, Ohio, a son of Jacob and Abbie (Bloomer) Smith. The father died when his son, Matthias L., was a child three years of ag-e and the boy was reared to the age of twelve years by his uncle, Elijah Bloomer, when his mother remarried and young Matthias L. went with her to the new home in Noble county, Indiana. He rode horseback all the way from Ohio to Noble county, Indiana, accompanied by his step-father, John Baker, and his nephew. The mother of Matthias L. Smith died in Noble county, Indiana, about 1907. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Matthias L. Smith enlisted 8^8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY in the Union army, serving with Company C, Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, for three years, being mustered out and honorably discharged at Indian- apoHs, Indiana. The regiment with which Mr. Smith served look an active and important part in the battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862, where General Johnston, one of the Confederates' most able commanders, bled to death on the field of battle before medical aid could be sum- moned, as the general had courageously and chivalrously ordered his surgeon to attend to the wounded elsewhere, when the total Union loss was thirteen thousand killed, wounded, and captured and the Con- federate loss ten thousand seven hundred; in the battle of Stone's River or Murfreesboro on December 26, 1862, when the casualties were a Union loss of thirteen thousand out of a total force of forty-three thou- sand, and a Confederate loss of ten thousand out of thirty-eight thousand and in this engagement Matthias L. Smith was in the very thick of the fray and although comrades all around him fell he seemed to have a charmed life and escaped without injury; in the battle of Chickamauga on September 19 and 20, 1863, which resulted in the loss of nineteen thousand five hundred killed, wounded, and captured on the Confederate side and sixteen thousand on the Union side, where General Thomas' heroic fight, when surrounded on three sides, saved the Union army from a complete rout and won for him the title of "The Rock of Chickamauga"; and in the battle of Lookout Mountain, "the battle above the clouds," on November 25, 1863. After the Civil War had ended, Mr. Smith returned to Indiana and thence came to Bates county, Missouri, in October, 1868, and located in Lone Oak township on the John Atkison farm of one hundred sixty acres, which he purchased and later sold. Mr. Smith then bought a farm in the drainage district, disposed of it after having it nicely improved, and moved to Rich Hill, where he is now living in quiet and contented retirement. It is generally conceded that Matthias L. Smith has cleared and improved more land than any other one man in Bates county, Missouri. He has ever been an earnest advocate and enthusiastic "booster" of public improvements and he was one of the first to agitate the digging of the large drainage ditch in this county, one of the first to foresee its possibilities, and with Messrs. Bagby and Pitchford came to Butler to find out what might be done about it and at the same time the Linn county, Kansas, people were at work here agitating the work. Judge Harper was in the Legislature at the time and secured the pass- age of the bill legalizing the formation of the district. Mr. Smith states HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 8/9 that J. F. Kern is really the "Daddy of the Ditch." Mr. Kern is deaf in one ear and Mr. Smith says that the former "always turned his deaf ear to the kickers." The marriage of Matthias L. Smith and Annie Gallatin, a native of Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, was solemnized in 1865 in Noble county, Indiana. To this union were born the following children : Lewis, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; Daniel, of Lone Oak township. Bates county; William, of Summit township, Bates county; Abbie, who resides in Garden City, Kansas; and four children died in infancy or in childhood. The mother died about 1893 and her remains wxre laid to rest in Elliott cemetery in Lone Oak township. Matthias L. Smith and Mrs. Amanda Hudson were united in marriage in 1908. By her former marriage, Mrs. Smith has five children living: Harvey and William, of Vernon county, Missouri; James, of Kansas City, Mis- souri ; Mrs. Sada Gilbert, of Vernon county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rosa Seward, of Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a host of friends in . Bates county and they are highly regarded among the best and most substantial citizens of the city of their residence. The Smith home is in Rich Hill on East Maple street. Bates county can boast no more noble-minded, better citizen than Matthias L. Smith and all who know him bear witness to his many excellencies and give unstinted praise to him who has labored so long and earnestly in assisting to bring about the large measure of prosperity which the county now enjoys. His has indeed been an active and full life and the work he has accomplished and the good he has done will remain for an untold number of years a monument to his memory. Surrounded by a host of friends, now at the age of seventy-eight years, Mr. Smith is passing the eventide of life in peaceful quiet and ease, enjoying in a marked degree the respect and love of all the citizens of his community, living in retrospect the days when Bates county was new, and contemplating with satisfaction the countless remarkable changes in which he has been a potent factor, through which Bates has won a distinguished place among its sister counties of the state. L. W. Smith, enterprising and substantial farmer and stockman. Lone Oak township, was born in Ligonier, Noble county, Indiana, June 25. 1868, but has been a resident of Bates county since he was one year old. He is thus justly entitled to be classed among the old settlers of this county. He is a son of M. L. and Johannah (Gallatin) Smith, his father having been born in Indiana and his mother in Ohio. A\'hen 88o HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY M. L. Smith attained young manhood, he enlisted in the Thirtieth Indi- ana Regiment of Infantry and served during the Civil War. Four years after the close of his war service he came West and located in Bates county on a farm situated about one-half mile from that of his son in Lone Oak township. His farm was in section 15 of this township. He followed farming and stock raising until his retirement to a home in Rich Hill, Missouri. L. W. Smith is one of four children born to his parents; and is the eldest of the family, the others being: Abbie, who is married and resides in Garden City, Kansas; D, G., a farmer of Lone Oak town- ship; W. H., lives in Summit township. The education received in the public school by L. W. Smith was supplemented by instruction from his mother at home, she having been a competent school teacher prior to her marriage. Throughout his entire life he has followed farming and has been successful to the extent of becoming owner of four hundred five acres of rich land, well improved and stocked with high-grade cattle of the Shorthorn and Polled Angus breeds. He is one of the prosperous hog raisers of this section of the state, having disposed of over two thousand dollars worth of fat porkers during the year 1917. During the past year he also harvested nearly two thousand bushels of wheat and has sown a considerable acreage for the present year's harvest. Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Dora Harcourt, a native of Bates county, and daughter of Frank Harcourt, an early settler of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a family of seven children, as follow: Howard, living in Lone Oak township; Goldie, at home with her parents ; Sylvia, married Juan Warren, of Garden City, Kansas ; Lulu, wife of Albert Rhodes, Lone Oak township; Mabel, Frank, and Fern, all at home. For several years Mr. Smith has taken a prominent and influential part in Republican politics and has frequently represented the Bates county organization at state conventions, having also served as dele- gate to several county conventions where his influence was felt in the selection of candidates for office and the forming of party policies. He has held practically every office within the gift of the people of his township excepting that of assessor and constable. He is a member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Harry T, Pratt, well and favorably known citizen of Hudson town- ship, has resided in Bates county for the past fifty years, and is one of the best known men of his section of the countv. Mr. Pratt was HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 88 1 born in New York, May 5, 1864, and is a son of Joel and Mary (Tay- lor) Pratt, both of whom were natives of New York. The Pratt family came to Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and made a settlement in Hudson township, locating on a farm just north of the townsite of Hudson. This is one of the Bates county towns that has disappeared from the map after a brief heyday of growth and prosperity. In the year 1868, Hudson boasted a number of store buildings, a church, school and several residences and was a place of some importance. It flour- ished until the coming of the railroad and the founding of the town of Appleton City in the adjoining county of St. Clair. Hudson there- upon took the very best course — the inland town was moved bodily to the vicinity of the railroad and thus passed out of existence. Mr. Jackling kept store in Hudson in 1868. His son. Daniel Jackling, is now a copper mining millionaire residing in San Francisco. The main street of Hudson as it was fifty years ago now forms the road between the Pheasant and Pratt farms. The present school house is located in a grove which had been set out by the townsite company and designated as a public park. One tree in this grove is over fifty years old. When Appleton City was started, over thirty houses were moved from Hud- son to the new city in the early seventies. Among this number was the Hudson Presbyterian church which was sawed in two parts and hauled by oxen and horses to the new site. The first half of the build- ing was burned while being transported to its destination. The other half was taken on to Appleton City and the burned part replaced, but the entire building has since been replaced by a new church edifice more in keeping with the progress of the times. Joel Pratt purchased a tract of one hundred and eighty acres on the north line of the township or town and increased his holdings to a total of two hundred fifty acres which are under the care and manage- ment of his son, Harry T. Pratt. He was the first postmaster of Hud- son, serving in this capacity during 1868 and 1869. Joel Pratt and wife were parents of the following children: Harry T. and Garry, are twins, the latter of whom is a merchant doing business in Apple- ton City; Mrs. Alice A. Alexander, Appleton City. Joel Pratt was born in Washington county. New York, August 2, 1835, a son of Garrison Pratt, who was born in Connecticut in 1806, married Miss Elmira Smith, of Vermont, and moved to New York when a young man. Joel Pratt was reared to young manhood in W^ashington county. New York and was educated in the public schools. He was married in Alle- (56) 002 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY gheny county, New York, February 10, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Tay- lor, a daughter of Francis F. Taylor, of Allegheny county. In 1864, Mr. Pratt engaged in the mercantile business at Black Creek and con- tinued in this business for four years. In 1868 he came to Bates county, where he has pursued a long and interesting career. He was prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and served several years as township collector. Harry T. Pratt received his education in the schools of his home township and the old Butler Academy. After ending his school days he was engaged in farming until 1902 and was then engaged in the mercantile business at Appleton City in partnership with his father and brother, Garry. In 1911 he returned to the farm and is success- fully engaged in tilling his well-improved place of two hundred thirty- five acres. The Pratt place is one of the best w^atered stock farms in the county and is equipped with tw^o sets of improvements including three barns. Mr. Pratt's present home is a building remodeled from wdiat was formerly the postofifice and hotel building of the tow^n of Hudson and consists of nine rooms. Since 1917, Mr. Pratt has engaged in the breeding of registered Aberdeen Angus cattle and has a herd of twenty-five cows and a registered male of this fine breed of cattle. He has recently disposed of a carload of fine cattle and has about seventy-five head of grade stock on his place. He has sixty head of Shropshire sheep and a fine drove of Poland China hogs. He has been active in the civic affairs of Hudson township for the past thirty years and has filled the office of member of the township board, justice of the peace and is now serving as constable and tax collector. Mr. Pratt is an elder of the Presbyterian church of Appleton City. He is a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and he and Mrs. Pratt are members of the Presby- terian church. Mr. Pratt was married in 1895 to Lulia E. Chapin, of Hudson township, and to this marriage have been born two sons: Louis C, a student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1918; J. Lawrence, at home. Mrs. Lulia E. (Chapin) Pratt is a daughter of E. S. and Sarah Chapin. E. S. Chapin, her father, was born in Medina county, Ohio, October 16, 1838. His father, Calvin Chapin, was born in 1805 in connection, married Miss Susannah Cole Stiles, a native of Massa- chusetts. Calvin Chapin moved to Ohio when a young man and E. S. Chapin was there reared to young manhood. In the fall of 1861 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 883 he enlisted in Company G, Forty-second Ohio Infantry Regiment, under Col. James A. Garfield, and served three years in the Civil War. He was wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. He also took part in the engagements at Prestonsburg, Cumberland Gap, Chickasaw Bayou, and Arkansas Post, and many other battles. In the fall of 1864, fol- lowing his discharge from the service, he was married, December 29, 1864 to Miss Sarah Field, a native of Medina county, Ohio. In the spring of 1867 he came to Missouri and bought land in Hudson town- ship. Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin were parents of seven chil- dren; Clyde F., Leroy S., Lulia E., Myrta M., Roland T., Gracie, and Pearl. William Laney, proprietor of one of the best farms in Bates county, is an enterprising and progressive citizen of Hudson township. He was born in Washington county, Illinois, July 23, 1849, a son of James R. and Mary (Young) Hill Laney, the former of whom was born in Alabama in 1819 and the latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1820. Mr. Laney's mother died in 1858 and his father was again married to Mary Ann Walker. By this second marriage James R. Laney was father of three children: A. T. Laney, an employe of the "Frisco" Rail- road Company, Clinton, Missouri; Mrs. Charles Anthony, Kansas City, Missouri; one child died in infancy. James R. Laney died in Hudson township in 1891 and his remains are interred in Round Prairie cemetery. The early education of William Laney was obtained in the public schools of his native county and he pursued a higher course of study at the Illinois State Agricultural College, Irvington, in the school year 1868 and 1869. He followed farming in his native state until 1881 when he came to Appleton City, Missouri and resided there until March of 1883. At this time he bought his present home farm of one hundred twenty acres in Hudson township, of John Stucker, who had purchased it from Fritz Gilbreath who in turn inherited the land from his father, Stephen Gilbreath. This fine farm is located two and a half miles from Appleton City and is considered to be one of the best kept and most productive tracts in this section of Missouri. The first home of the Laneys when they purchased their farm, was a log cabin which served as their place of habitation for the first ten years of their residence in Bates county. In 1893 they erected a new home, having previously built two barns, one having been built in 1885 and the other being erected in 1895, two years after the new home was erected. Twelve 884 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY acres of the Laney farm were first broken for cultivation in 1866 and this land has continued to yield crops for the past fifty-one years. Every deciduous and evergreen shade tree on the Laney place was planted by the owner and there is now a fine grove shading the premises. Mr. Laney had two uncles and four cousins who saw active service in the Union army during the Civil War. They were as follow: John and Samuel Hill, uncles. The cousins were Robert and John Laney, Andrew Crane, and Daniel Laney. Mr. Laney was married in 1869 to Miss Jane Milne, who was born in Scotland, and is a daughter of Peter and Allison ( Polick) Milne, who immigrated to America from their native land in 1863. A son of the family, Harry Milne, enlisted in the Union army at the age of nineteen years not long after his arrival in America. Mrs. Laney has four sisters living: Mrs. Allison Perkins, Oswego, Kansas; Mrs. Eu- phemia Laney, Osweg'O, Kansas ; Mrs. Anna Boggs, Hallowed, Kan- sas; Mrs. Mary Nes])itt, Sparta, Illinois. To A\'illiam and Jane Laney have been born children as follow: Mary, wife of Walter A. Bundy, a jeweler of Miami, Oklahoma, and who taught school for a number of years ; Ada, wdio is diligently engaged in Red Cross work and is especially employed in the making of the Hudson township community flag; Clarence, supervisor of the Federal income tax for northeast South Dakota, located at z\berdeen. South Dakota ; Lyman Lee, born 1879, died in 1917, at Watertown, South Dakota, leaving a widow and a son, Roy C. Laney, aged five years; Gertrude, wife of Clyde Piepmeier, Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Laney have five grandchildren: Will- iam Lee Laney, Roy Clarence Laney, Ruby Dell Piepmeier, Pearl Louise Piepmeier, and J. D. Piepmeier. For a number of years Mr. Laney has served as school director of Hazel Hill district and has always taken a great interest in educa- tional matters. He and Mrs. Laney have co-operated in the matter of giving each one of their children an excellent education, being actu- ated in this laudable undertaking by the well founded i^elief that they would make better men and women if equipped with an education. For a number of years he was a member of the township board. Mr. Laney has been prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and has been a member of the county central committee. For four years he served as justice of the peace of his township and has ever been found in the forefront of all worthy movements intended to advance the welfare of the citizenship of his county and township. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 885 William G. Brown, Union veteran and pioneer settler of Hudson township, is a native of the old Buckeye state, who for over a half cen- tury has been engaged in farming and stock raising in Bates county, becoming widely and favorably known throughout his section of this county as a fine citizen and a successful tiller of the soil. Mr. Brown was born in Hocking county, Ohio, September 16, 1842. He is a son of John Brown, a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother was Mary Amelia Fanegan, a daughter of Alexander Fanegan, a native of Ireland. The Brown family of which William G. Brown is a worthy descendant is a good, old, American family whose members were of the fighting stock which have ever been ready to defend the liberties of their country. The grandfather of William G. Brown, was John Brown, a soldier of the War of 1812. The youth of William G. Brown was spent on the home farm in his native county, he attended the common schools, and upon the out- break of the Civil War he was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops with which to quell the rebellion of the Southern states. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry Regiment, and served for three years and one month, being mustered out of the service at Jonesboro, Georgia, September 1, 1864. He took part in many hard-fought engagements and fought at the second battle of Bull Run. He participated with his command in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, battle of Antietam, South Mountain, Jackson. Mississippi, Missionary Ridge, and the many battles incident to the siege and capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and fought at Dallas, Geor- gia and at Kenesaw Mountain. He never received a wound and had good health all through his arduous war service. His first captain was named Warner. Like many other Union veterans who returned home after their war service and found all the good places and opportunities taken by the "stay-at-homes" and no place to go but to the far West, and being filled with the spirit of adventure and the restlessness peculiar to the returned soldier, he made up his mind to come to the AVest and make a start for fortune and a life-time home. Accompanied by his brother, John, he left the old home in Ohio on January 3, 1866, and came to Bates county, driving overland, the trip requiring three months' time. They first located on land in Kansas, but finding that there seemed to be a cloud on the title they abandoned the idea of making a home in Kansas and retracing their steps, made a permanent location in Hudson town- 886 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ship, this county. Mr. Brown bought eighty acres of the Meyers land for five dollars an acre. John Brown bought one hundred twenty acres for five dollars an acre. John prospered, reared a fine family and departed to his reward a few years ago, and is quietly sleeping the sleep of the just in the Baptist cemetery in Hudson township. His sons, L. V. and Albert Brown, own the old home place. William G. Brown has added to his acreage as the years have passed and now owns a total or 460 acres of splendid land, which is now being tilled by his children. Mr. Brown has followed general farming and stock raising and has fed hundreds and even thousands of cattle during his sojourn in this county. At the time he located in Bates county, he recalls that rattlesnakes were plentiful in the neighborhood and it behooved the settlers to be wary of the reptile when abroad. His first home was a little cabin 14 x 16 feet in size, and this cabin served as his home until he was able to erect a larger residence. He erected his present fine home of ten rooms in 1883. The old cabin is still standing and is now used for a tool house. Mr. Brown cut all of the logs used for lumber in its construction in 1868, did the hauling for one-half of the logs he cut, and then gave another half of his share for having them sawed ready for building. He thus gave two days' work for one on his own account. The Brown farm is well equipped with a large barn and other out buildings which are maintained in good condition. On December 20, 1868, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Mary Wells, who was born in Jefi^erson county, Indiana, May 15, 1852, a daughter of Henry M. and Lovicy Wells, who came to Missouri from Indiana and settled in Hudson township. Bates county. Mrs. Brown departed this life on January 26, 1899. She was a member of the Cumber- land Presbyterian church. The children of William G. and Mary Brown are as follow: Ira Merton, born January 26, 1870, farming in Hudson township; Mrs. Ora Elfie Page, born September 10, 1872, living in Hudson township; Garry Liston, died at the age of five years; Troy Foster, successful merchant at Fair Oaks, Hudson township ; Harry Blaine, died in 1916, had married Nellie Seelinger; Mrs. Icie Lodema Robinson, widow of Millard Robinson, resides with her father and owns the home place. Mr. Brown's second marriage occurred October 10, 1912, to Mrs. Clementine Reat, widow of G. W. Reat. Mrs. Brown's maiden name was Clementine Thomas, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Rice) Thomas, of Hocking county, Ohio. In the days of long ago when they were children growing up amid the hills and valleys of their native HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 88/ county, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were schoolmates. Mrs. Brown has three sisters and two brothers living: Mrs. James Patterson, Macon, Illi- nois; Isaiah G. Thomas, Tarlton, Ohio; Otis W. Thomas, Circleville, Ohio; Mrs. J. H. Lutz, Circleville, Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth Pitman, Amanda, Ohio. Mr. Brown is a member of Stedman Post, Grand Army of the Republic No. 172, Appleton City. In the eventide of his long, eventful, and energetic life, this aged veteran is living in peaceful and comfortable enjoyment of the fruits of his long years of labor. Well past the allotted three score and ten years which are the Scriptural span of life given to man, he is still active, mentally and physically, and has a zest for living equalled by but few men of his years. Mr. Brown and his family are among the best respected in Bates county and have many warm friends who wish them well and esteem them highly for their excellent qualities. Only recently, Mr. Brown divided his land among his children and gave each son and daughter a nice farm. Icie L. Robinson, who is now caring for her father at the old home place of which she is the owner, is the widow of the late Millard D. Robinson, who was a prominent merchant of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. Robinson was born January 23, 1878, in Rockville, a son of Wesley and Tweed Robinson, old residents of Bates county. Pie was reared and educated in his native county and attended the public schools of Rock- ville, graduating from the Rockville High School in 1896. He then pur- sued a course in the Clinton Business College, graduating therefrom in 1899. That same year he engaged in business in Rockville in part- nership with his uncle, J. Meredith, and the store was conducted under the firm name of Meredith and Robinson until 1909, when Mr. Robin- son purchased his partner's interest and conducted the business suc- cessfully until his death on February 3, 1916. On September 5, 1911, the marriage of Millard D. Robinson and Icie L. Brown was solemnized and the marriage was a happy and prosperous one. Mr. Robinson's death was a distinct loss to the com- munity which lost a valued and worthy member. He was a good man, kind and thoughtful of the welfare of others, honest to the core in all of his business transactions and made and retained friends easily. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was a progressive citizen in every way. W. E. Bailey. — Nothing in the way of a history of Hudson town- ship would be in the least complete without prominent mention of the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Bailey family, pioneers and prominent citizens of this part of the coun- ty. W. E. Bailey, subject of the above caption, is a son of Wright Bailey, now living in Appleton City and widely known as one of the most successful stockmen in southwest Missouri. The Bailey farm consists of five hundred fifty-four acres in high state of improvement and showing on every hand evidence of modern and successful man- agement. The father, Wright Bailey, was born in Howard county, Missouri, in 1854 and is a son of Moses Bailey, who came to southwest Missouri from that section of the state and settled in Bates county in 1865. Wright Bailey married Miss Fannie Stephenson, a daughter of the late Judge Stephenson, who was for many years one of Appleton City's official and most prominent citizens. To them five children were born : C. H. Bailey, Rockville, Missouri; Pearl, now wife of O. E. Piepmeier, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson; Lottie Gladys Bailey, teacher in Appleton City High School ; Miss Myra, at home ; W. E. Bailey, the subject of this sketch, who was born on the farm where he now lives and is already one of the best known and successful young stockmen of this part of the state, showing that he is a "chip off the old block" and following in the footsteps of his father. He was educated in the public schools at home and in the Appleton City Academy. For the past seven years he and his father have been engaged in the stock business under the firm name of Bailey & Son and feed on an average of one hundred fifty to two hundred head of cattle and as many hogs each year. In addition to other stock they are handling one hundred fifty goats. At the present time they are drilling a deep well in order to furnish l)etter water supply. W. E. Bailey was married in 1904 to Miss Amelia Fox, a daugh- ter of John and Marguerette Fox, former residents of Hudson town- ship. Mrs. Fox is deceased and Mr. Fox lives at Appleton City. The Fox family came to America from Switzerland in 1869 and first located in Prairie township. The children of the Fox family are as follow: Anna, widow of John Yoss, Prairie City; Elizabeth, wife of John Mock. Hudson township; Christian, living on the home place in Hudson town- ship; Peter, whereabouts unknown; Lena, wife of Jared Griggs, Hud- son township; May, wife of William Smith, St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. W. E. Bailey. Alonzo Irving Roberts. — For a period of forty-eight years Alonzo Irving Roberts has been a resident of Rockville township — a long span HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 889 in which many things can happen. Mr. Roberts has seen the unbroken prairie transformed by the hand of man. He has witnessed the coming of the railway into his neighborhood and seen towns and villages spring up and grow apace. He, himself, has taken an active part in the development of this county and has created one of the finest farms in Bates county from what was unbroken prairie land. He purchased his present home place on April 6, 1870, and has lived thereon since that time. The Roberts farm is located one and three-fourths miles northeast of Rockville and consists of three hundred twenty acres. The original homestead consisted of but one hundred and twenty acres. The fine residence which domiciles the Roberts family was erected in 1903 and is a beautiful modern home of ten rooms — considered to rank among the finest homes in Bates county. The cyclone in April of 1916 did considerable damage to the home and buildings. The roof was torn off the house and carried some distance. Windows were blown out and carried away. It was necessary to rebuild his large barn and another structure w^as blown entirely away, as were a silo, two poultry houses and a smoke house and ice house. The shop and implement sheds were torn down and destroyed. The big trees which had been the pride of their owner were destroyed as were a fine grow- ing plum and peach orchard. Over four thousand dollars' worth of damage was done to the property — all of which has since been replaced even better than before. Mr. Roberts is an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs and at this writing. February, 1918, he is wintering fifty- five head of cattle and one hundred head of porkers. Besides feeding all of the grain raised on his own land each season he buys grain in large quantities for the purpose of feeding his livestock. Alonzo I. Roberts w-as born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1849. and is a son of William and Mary Roberts, who lived all of their days in Illinois and died there. Mr. Roberts received his education in his native state and in 1868 he came West and invested in one hundred twenty acres of land which he subsecjuently improved. He has prac- tically grown up with Bates county and prospered as the county has gained in wealth. Mr. Roberts was married on February 23, 1881 to Ulrika Larson, a daughter of Lars Poulson and Johanna, his wife, natives of Sweden who immigrated to America in 1879 and located in Rockville. Mr. Poulson died here in 1917 at the age of ninety-six years. For the last twenty years of his long life he was totally blind. Mrs. Poulson died 890 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY in 1885, aged sixty-nine years. To Alonzo Irving and Ulrika Roberts have been born children as follow: Ira W., in charge of the home place, was educated in the Rockville schools and has remained on the home place excepting one year spent at Piano, Illinois, with the Inde- pendent Harvester Company's Works, married Rose Hays, of Tabor- ville, March 29, 1914, and is father of a daughter, Evelyn; Oscar B., who volunteered for service with the National army on July 24, 1917 and is now stationed at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan; Clara E., at home ; Chester L., Rockville, Missouri, manager of the Farmers Co-operative Elevator Company, married Ida M. Rapp, November 29, 1916; Cora M., wife of Thomas D. Neale, St. Clair county; Bessie, died in 1885. For the past twelve years, Mr. Roberts has been a member of the local school board and has always endeavored to take a good citi- zen's part in local enterprises. He is progressive and keeps well abreast of the times and is recognized as a leading citizen of his locality. He is a member of and an elder of the Re-organized church of the Latter Day Saints. William Douglas is a highly respected citizen of Rockville township, where he was born in 1870. He is a son of Harvey and Eliza (Camp- bell) Douglas, who came to Bates county in 1865 from Iowa and rented the Simeon Gilbreath farm in Hudson township. Soon afterward, Har- vey Douglas located in Rockville township and bought a forty-acre farm adjoining the townsite of Rockville. Later, he sold this farm and bought one hundred twenty acres located one mile east of the town and there spent the remainder of his life, dying there in 1870 at the age of fifty-one years. He was highly respected and valued through- out the community and was one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Bates county. One brother, Alonzo Douglas, saw service in the Civil War, Alonzo having fought on the Union side at the battle of Lonejack. The Douglas children are: John, deceased; Mrs. Emma Ward, deceased; Ollie Bennifield, Lees Summit, Missouri ; William, subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Maggie Greene, Hudson township; two sons. General and Luma, died in infancy. William Douglas was educated in the Rockville public schools and has always followed farming pursuits. After his father's 'death he cared for his mother until her death. He became owner of fifty acres of the home place to which he has added seventy acres, making one hundred twenty acres in all comprising his farm. Mr. Douglas had a HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 89 1 well improved place until along came a cyclone on April 19, 1916 and practically wiped everything out of existence. The house, cattle barn, and hen house were destroyed and a fine grove of maples in the yard were razed to the ground. The wind mill was torn down, a flock of one hundred eighty chickens were killed, and the farm machinery was smashed. All of this devastation has since been replaced with better buildings and new machinery, etc. Mr. Douglas escaped unhurt because he sought refuge in the cellar. Mr. Douglas was married on November 14, 1917 to Marie Jacobs, of Hudson township. At the present writing, February, 1918, Mr. Douglas is feeding thirty head of Hereford cattle and thirty-five head of hogs. For the past ten years he has made a practice of feeding livestock for the markets. He is a Republican in politics. J. B. Durand, the oldest resident of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri in point of years of residence, was born in Pennsylvania in October, 1843, a son of J. N. and Betsey Durand. the father, a native of New York and the mother, of Pennsylvania. J. N. Durand was born in 1816 and Mrs. Durand was born in the same year. The Durands moved from the state of New York to Pennsylvania when J. N. Durand was very young. He came with his family to Missouri in 1850 and the first year they were located on a farm which is the present townsite of Pleasant Gap, settling in Prairie towaiship on a tract of land com- prising forty acres adjoining the site of Prairie City, which city was planned, platted, and named by J. N. Durand in 1858. Provisions and merchandise were hauled in wagons drawn by oxen from Osceola and Boonville, from one to two weeks being required for the trip. Osceola was the head of navigation at that time and Bates county was prac- tically all open prairie. J. N. Durand was the first and only postmaster of Prairie City prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Prairie City, in the days before the Civil War, boasted two stores which were con- ducted by Mr. Nickerson and Mr. Lee. The little village was burned during the conflict, and it then was composed of probably a dozen or more homes. T- N. Durand w^as a member of the Missouri state militia and served under Captain New^berry, a cousin of Mr. Durand. J. B. Durand recalls the time when Captain New^berry came to Bates county in 1853, walking across the prairie coming from the north, for he made his home with the Durands for some time. J. N. Durand was killed in April. 1863 by "bushwhackers," when he was on his way from his home to Butler, where he had been stationed. Interment was 892 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY made in the cemetery at Prairie City, Alissouri. Betsey Durancl had preceded her husband in death many years. She died May 9, 1853. To J. N. and Betsey Durand were born four children: J. B., the subject of this review; Mary J., deceased; Eugene, deceased; and Alphonso, who died in infancy. Mr. Durand was married a second time and to him and Sarah Lutsenhizer were born two children : Emily, of Little- ton, Colorado; and Warren, of Littleton, Colorado. J. B. Durand was educated in the public schools of Prairie town- ship and the University of Missouri. After leaving the State Univer- sity, he returned to his home in Prairie township, where he has spent the remainder of his life to the time of this writing, in 1918. Mr. Durand is the owner of a valuable farm, comprising seventy acres of land adjoining the townsite of Prairie City, where he is engaged in general farming and dairying. The Durand place is well improved, the improvements including a handsome residence, a house of eight rooms, modern throughout, built in 1880; a barn, 32 x 51 feet in dimen- sions ; a second barn. 32 x 44 feet in dimensions ; and several sheds. Mr. Durand planted an apple orchard covering many acres of land in 1874. A few of the trees of the original orchard remain and for sev- eral years his efforts along the line of horticulture appeared to be wise and promised great returns. His last large crop was in the year of 1895, when a terrific storm in September blew them all off the trees. He dried eighty thousand pounds of apples and made four hundred barrels of cider and vinegar that year, but due to the low prices they were hauled at a loss. Mr. Durand is now devoting his attention to dairying. The marriage of J- B. Durand and Sarah Anna Short was solem- nized December 11, 1877. Mrs. Durand is a daughter of David and Sarah Short, the former, a native of Washington county, Indiana and the latter, of Louisville, Kentucky. The Shorts located in St. Clair countv. ^Missouri in the days before the Civil AA^ar and in this county their daughter, Sarah Anna, was born. Mr. and Mrs. Short moved to Baldwin, Kansas to educate a granddaughter and thefe Mr. Short died. Mrs. Short's death occurred at Rockville, Missouri and both father and mother were laid to rest in the cemetery at Rockville. Mrs. J. B. Durand has the following brothers and sisters, now five living: Mrs. Susan Shoemaker, Rockville. Missouri ; Owen. Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Amanda Pingree, deceased; Mrs. Ella Lewellen, of St. Clair county, Missouri ; Eddie P., of St. Clair county, Missouri ; and Charlie, whose HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 893 address is unknown. To J. B. and Sarah Anna (Short) Durand have been born four children, all of whom were born in Prairie township, Bates county, Missotiri, have been reared to maturity, and are now living: Walter, a prosperous farmer of Powell, Wyoming; Jessie, who is a trained nurse at St. Joseph, Missouri; Oscar, who is successfully operating a dairy farm at Sumner, Washington ; and Eugenia, the widow of John A. Kinman, of St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1867, Mr. Durand states, the boat named "Thomas Stevens" made one trip up the river to Papinsville and two trips to Belvoir, four miles below Papinsville, with lumber and salt. The "Osage" also made one trip. Mr. Durand was deputy sheriff under Captain Newberry and has filled several different township offices and has served as a mem- ber of the school board. He has long been numbered among the sub- stantial and influential farmers and stockmen of Bates county and as a gentleman and citizen his record is one well worthy of- emulation. Mr. Durand in his prime was a man of great endurance, strong and vigorous of body, equally strong and vigorous of mind, a splendid specimen of symetrically developed manhood. Temperance in all things, correct habits of living, and healthful outdoor exercise have conserved his energies and prolonged his life past the three score years and ten allotted to man and he now in Prairie township stands like a lone forest tree, the companions of youth long since cut down and many sleeping in forgotten graves. Although now on the shady side of the mountain of life and proceeding onward toward the "twilight and evening bell" and the journey's end he still retains to a remarkable degree many of his faculties and his memory is as keen as in his more vigorous days. On the roll of Bates county's most honored pioneer citizens, the name of J. B. Durand is found among the first. William A. Searfus, farmer and stockman. Lone Oak township, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, June 19, 1866. He is a son of Reuben A\\ and Amanda (Darety) Searfus, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. Reuben Searfus was reared in Ohio and served in the Union army during the Civil War as a mem- ber of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted at Camp Denison, Ohio, in 1861 and served for four years in the Federal service. His active career as a soldier in the ranks ended at the battle of Shiloh, where he was severely wounded, and after his wound was healed at the army hospital he was detailed for duty in the commissary department during the remainder of his four years of 894 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY service. In 1869, he came to Bates county and made a permanent loca- tion in Lone Oak township. He purchased a farm of eighty acres from Felix Bonnett and at the time of his death in 1892 he owned one hun- dred twenty acres. Both he and his wife are buried in Butler ceme- tery. Reuben Searfus was prominent in the affairs of Lone Oak town- ship and served as a justice of the peace and member of the town- ship board. He helped to organize School District No. 4 in 1871. The first teacher of this school was William Glatfelter, who was also W. A. Searfus' first teacher. Nellie Norton, of Butler, was the second teacher of this school. After attending the district school in Lone Oak township, William A. Searfus spent three years in St. Louis applying himself to the science of electrical engineering and for a time had charge of the Citizens Elec- tric Light and Power Company. When his father died he returned to the home farm and took charge of the property. Mr. Searfus not only owns the old home place of the family, but has added two hun- dred acres to his holdings, making three hundred twenty acres in all, which is known as the "Star Stock Farm." Star school house is located on this farm. For the past twelve years he has been a breeder of registered Red Polled cattle and is also a breeder of Chester White hogs, having begun the breeding of the O. L C. hogs three years ago. In 1891, William A. Searfus and Mattie Frances Adams were united in the bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Mattie Searfus is a daughter of Charles and Martha (Woody) Adams. Her father was a pioneer in Bates county and one of the citizens who selected the site for the court house at Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Searfus have six children : Ethel, wife of J. F. Rogers, living on a farm near Butler, Missouri; Mary, wife of J. G. Burch, Butler, Missouri; Elizabeth, wife of John Deems, Butler, Missouri; Ella, at home with her parents; Sager, and William A., Jr., at home. Mr. and Mrs. Searfus are members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Butler, of which religious denomination Mr. Searfus was ordained a minister in 1914. This church was organized in 1894 and has sixty members at the present time. For many years, he has been prominent in the afTairs of the Republican party and was his party's candidate for representative in 1916. In 1908 he was a candi- date for the office of county surveyor and ran ahead of his ticket during the election. He has filled the office of justice of the peace two terms, and has been a member of the township board. For the past HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 895 twenty years, Mr. Searfus has served as a member of the school board. He served as township committeeman for several years, and was secre- tary of the Republican central committee in 1910. Mr. Searfus was a candidate for county surveyor in 1912. He is considered to be one of Bates county's ablest and best citizens and is keenly alive to every movement for the betterment of conditions in his home township and county. John T. Yoss. proprietor of "Shaw Branch Stock Farm" in Rock- ville township, Bates county, is one of the progressive and prosperous agriculturists and stockmen of western Missouri. Mr. Yoss was born in Rockville township at the Yoss homestead located one and a half miles east of Prairie City, Missouri, a son of John and Susanna (Stutz- man) Yoss, the former, a native of Switzerland, born in 1840 and the latter, a native of Switzerland, also. John Yoss came to the United States in 1871 and located in Bates county, Missouri where he settled on a farm in Rockville township. He purchased twenty acres of land at ,the time of his coming to Missouri and constantly added to his original holdings until he had acquired an estate of two hundred sev- enty-five acres of land. Mr. Yoss was a carpenter by trade and in addi- tion to his farm work followed his trade in order to make his way in the new country. As a paying proposition, farming was in the early days not an alluring vocation and Mr. Yoss at one time sold his hogs for as little as three cents a pound, corn for fifteen cents a bushel. His son, John T., has in his possession the books kept by his father in the early days, books showing his income and expenses which are an inter- esting record, carefully kept and complete in every detail. Mr. Yoss, Sr. built the first silo in Bates county and it is still standing on the home place, a building made of native lumber and covered with cor- rugated iron. He was one of the leaders of his community and as such assisted in promoting many public utilities and enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the Prairie City Cheese Company and of the Bates County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company and of the Lutheran church of Prairie City. John Yoss was secretary of the church for forty years and his son. Fred E., has succeeded him in this oliice of the church. John and Susanna (Stutzman) Yoss were the parents of the following children: John T.. the subject of this review; Chris- tian J., a skilled carpenter and shoemaker, who is employed in Appleton City, Missouri; Mary S., the wife of Christian Fuchs, of Bates county, Missouri; Fred E., Prairie Citv, Missouri; Albert H., of Rockville. Mis- 896 PIISTORY OF BATES COUNTY souri, now owning eighty acres of home place ; Lena, the wife of August Yorick, of Horton, Missouri ; and Anna K., the wife of Leonard S. Hegnauer. The mother died in 1892. John Yoss was married a sec- ond time and to him and Annie (Fuchs) Yoss were born two sons: Reinhold, deceased; and Otto R., of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Yoss died January 10, 1916 and interment was made in the Lutheran cem*e- tery at Prairie City, where Susanna Yoss, the mother of John T., the subject of this review, was laid to rest. John T. Yoss attended a parochial school at Prairie City, Mis- souri first and later was a pupil in the district schools of his home town- ship and educated at home. Mr. Yoss has been interested in agricul- tural pursuits practically all his life, was born and reared on the farm and has spent his entire life up to the time of this writing engaged in farm work. He is now the owner of a fine farm, comprising two hun- dred thirty acres of land in Rockville township, a beautiful country place located four miles west of Rockville. The improvements on "Shaw Branch Stock Farm" include a barn, 48 x 66 feet in dimensions, built in 1904, frame of native lumber, having a silo inside of barn. 14 X 30 feet in dimensions, one of the best in Rockville township ; a large stock barn; cribs; and an attractive residence, a house of five rooms rebuilt in 1908. The farm is well watered by two never-failing wells and Shaw branch, which flows through the place. Mr. Yoss is a suc- cessful breeder of purebred and high grade Red Polled cattle and at the present time, in 1918, he has twenty head of cattle on the farm in addition to a large herd of mules, Poland China hogs, and a nice flock of Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. He has fourteen dairy cows and has followed the dairy business for eighteen years. December 21, 1899, John T. Yoss was married to Louise Fischer, a daughter of John and Louise Fischer, of Pleasant Gap township. John and Louise Fischer were both born in Germany, he on March 5, 1840 and she on February 24, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Fischer came from Germany to the United States in 1867 and they located at Collinsville, Illinois, thence to Kansas City, Missouri and in 1873 to Atchison, Kan- sas, coming thence to Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, about 1877. Mr. Fischer died January 14. 1908 and his widow now makes her home at Prairie City. Mrs. John T. Yoss has the following brothers and sisters living: Carl G., a carpenter of St. Louis, Missouri; John J., a farmer of Rockville, Missouri; Amelia, the wife of Carl L. Bracher; Albert W., of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri; Lizzie, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 897 the wife of Joe Fleisher, of Rockville township, Bates county, Missouri; Anna, the wife of Henry Kehnhoff, of Wathena, Kansas; and Emma, the wife of John W. Marquardt, a well-to-do farmer of Prairie township. Bates county, Missouri. To John T. and Louise (Fischer) Yoss have been born five children: Reinhold R., Lydia L., Walter W., John J., and Agnes A. Mr. Yoss has always manifested a most commendable interest in political and educational matters and has taken an active part in public affairs. He is the present competent and highly respected assessor of Rockville township and has filled the ofhce of constable in a most capable manner. He has been a school director for many years and is one of the deacons of the Lutheran church of Prairie City. In financial matters, Mr. Yoss has been very successful and he is personally esteemed by his neighbors and a host of friends for his countless sterling characteristics and noble qualities of manhood. Rockville township points with pride to families such as the Yoss family and Bates county owes its present supremacy to the class of clear-headed, strong-armed yoemen, of which John T. Yoss is a most creditable representative. George W. Hart, one of the honored and respected citizens of Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born in Morgan county, Illinois on June 12, 1843, a son of Anderson and Nancy (Spiers) Hart, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Anderson Hart was born in Kentucky but was reared and educated in Tennessee. He was born in 1806 and when nineteen years of age, in 1825, left Tennessee and went to Illinois. He was a veteran of the Black Hawk War of 1832, when the Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk were driven into Wis- consin and captured after a severe battle at Bad Axe. The Black Hawk War was the last Indian struggle on the northwestern frontier until the gold hunters began to invade the Rocky Mountain region more than thirty years afterward. Mr. Hart died in Illinois and his widow departed this life in Bates county, Missouri. The remains of the mother were interred in Cove Creek cemetery, one of the first burial grounds of the county. In the state of Illinois, George W. Hart was reared and educated and there resided until 1881, when he came to Bates county and pur- chased a part of his present country place in Mingo township, a farm now comprising two hundred five acres of choice land lying seven miles from Creighton in the northeastern part of the township. Cove creek flows through the place, which is an ideal stock farm. Mr. Hart has, (57) 898 HISTORY OP' BATES COUNTY in his more vigorous days, raised much stock, but his son, Otis P., now has charge of his place. The Hart farm is located in Smoky Row School District Number 1. When Mr. Hart came to Bates county thirty-seven years ago, there were three school districts in Mingo town- ship and at the present time there are four. The improvements on the Hart place are in good repair and are neatly kept. The marriage of George W. Hart and Mary E. Sims, a daughter of Silas and Elizabeth (Russell) Sims, of Illinois, was solemnized in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Sims came to Bates county, Missouri in the eighties and both father and mother are now deceased. Their remains lie interred in Cove Creek cemetery. To George W. and Mary E. (Sims) Hart have been born two children: Oren Kenton, of Bartlesville, Okla- homa; and Otis P., who is in charge of the Hart home place, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Hart have a host of friends in Bates county and they are numbered among the most valued and esteemed citizens of Mingo township. John Henry Douglass, an honored and respected member of the noble clan of brave pioneers of Bates county, Missouri of 1848, one of the best known and most prominent citizens of Mingo township, is a native of Clay county, Missouri. Mr. Douglass was born July 25, 1839, a son of Jesse and Sarah A. (McOuiddy) Douglass, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. John Henry Douglass was left fatherless when he was a small boy. His father died at the Douglass homestead near Windsor, Missouri and interment was made in the cemetery at Windsor. The widowed mother remarried, her second husband being Martin Hackler, of Van Buren (now Bates) county and Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Hackler moved to Bates county with their family in 1848 and settled on the farm now owned by J. W\ Middleton, a place located one and one-fourth miles west of Mayesburg. John Henry Douglass has a half-brother. Perry Hackler, whose address is unknown. In the Civil War, John Henry Douglass was a member of the Paw Paw militia, or Home Guards, of Clinton, Missouri, on the Federal side. He was with Price after the battle at Lexington. After the con- flict had ended, Air. Douglass resided for some time at Butler, Mis- souri, at Clinton, Missouri, and then in Illinois. His stepfather, Martin Hackler, willed to him his present country place, a farm comprising sixty acres of land in Mingo township, and since 1868 he has been engaged in the vocation of farming and stock raising in the vicinity of Mayesburg. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 899 March 9, 1865, John Henry Douglass and Eliza C. Hutchinson were united in marriage. Eliza C. (Hutchinson) Douglass, of Henry county, Missouri, was born in Callaway county, Missouri, a daughter of John R. Hutchinson, one of Missouri's first brave pioneers. To John Henry and Mrs. Douglass were born the following children, who are now liv- ing: Mrs. Anna B. Cannon, the wife of C. G. Cannon, of Pomeroy, Washington, who is a brother of Thomas F. Cannon, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Jesse R., Riverside, California; Thomas E., Pomeroy, Washington; William, who resides with his father on the home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri; and James W., of Grandview, W^ashington. The mother died in 1906 and her remains were laid to rest in Mullins cemetery. Mrs. Douglass was one of Bates county's beloved pioneer women, a faithful wife and lov- ing mother, whose presence has been sadly missed from the broken home circle at the Douglass home in Mingo township. When the Hacklers came to Mingo township. Bates county in 1848, John Henry Douglass was a lad nine years of age, a bright, keen-eyed, impressionable boy, and he recalls much in regard to the conditions of this section of the country in the late forties and early fifties. Johns- town and Dayton, Cass county, were the two nearest trading points. Mr. Hackler and his wife frequently went on horseback to Harrison- ville, Missouri to trade. Mr. Douglass remembers the night of the arrival of the family at the new home. A heavy sleet fell during the night and the next morning many limbs of the trees along the creek banks were broken off and the prairies, as far as one could see, looked as if covered with a sheet of glass. Among the early settlers, who lived here prior to the Civil AVar, were Mr. Ashcraft, on Peter creek; Thomas Burris, on Peter creek; Alfred Carnutt, who lived one-half mile west of the Hackler home ; Mr. Cathey, whose residence was north of the Hackler home on Cove creek; and "Uncle Oscar" and Joe Reeder, on Peter creek. Wild game abounded, deer and wild turkeys being found in large numljers. and the red men of the forest frequently passed through this part of the country* especially during the hunting season. There were no public schools in Bates county prior to the Civil War, but "subscription schools" were held and Powell Williams was one of the early day teachers, or "schoolmasters." The school house in Mineo township was a rudely constructed log cabin, located two miles from Hackler's, and half of one end of the log building was a huge fire- place. In the earliest days, preaching was held in the cabin homes of 900 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the settlers. Alfred Carnutt had built a two-room log house and as he had a much larger residence than the majority of the pioneers the religious services were most frequently held at his home. Reverend Shoemake, from north of Harrisonville, Missouri, w^as a pioneer "cir- cuit rider" who often preached at Carnutt's and other homes in this vicinity. Thus, in brief, were the primitive institutions in Bates county, Missouri and such were the conditions of the country during the boy- hood and early manhood of John Henry Douglass. Nearly eighty years have dissolved in the mists of the past since John Henry Douglass first saw the light of day, years fraught with momentous consequences, with some of the most stirring events of history, with the greatest and most important progress, perhaps, known to humanity. Mr. Douglass has witnessed the growth and develop- ment of Bates county from a wilderness abounding in wild animals and Indians to one of the most progressive sections of the great state of Missouri and he has heartily co-operated with every movement hav- ing this object in view. Mr. Douglass' life has been well spent and though far past the allotted span of life he is still active and alert, physically and mentally, and surrounded by a host of friends is spend- ing his declining years in quiet enjoyment of happiness and peace well deserved, looking hopefully into the future which has nothing for him to fear and reminiscently into the past which has much for him to muse upon, loved ones to recall. George W. Sunderwirth, president of the Prairie City Cheese Com- pany, was born in Gasconade county, at Hermann, Missouri, in 1854, a son of Henry William and Charlotte Sunderwirth, one of the first families of Missouri. Henry William Sunderwirth located in Gasconade county, Missouri, in 1817, coming thence from St. Louis', Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. William Sunderwirth died in Gasconade county. The father died in 1865, and his son, George W., was then but a child eleven years of age. George W. Sunderwirth attended the Methodist College at Warren- ton, Missouri, for three years and then was employed as teacher in the public schools of the state for fifteen years. Mr. Sunderwirth came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1882, and has resided at Prairie City for the past thirty-six years. He has been interested in the manufacture of cheese at Prairie City for more than a quarter century and is now successfully demonstrated the fact that Bates county, Missouri, can produce as good cheese as any county in the state or in the United States. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9OI April 9, 1885, George W. Sunderwirth and Ida Schneiter were united in marriage. Ida (Schneiter) Sunderwirth is a native of Switzerland. She was born in the canton of Berne, town Briens, and when an infant came to America with her parents, Melchior and Elizabeth Schneiter, who located at Prairie City, Missouri, in 1870. Mr. Schneiter resided on a farm located east of Prairie City and was engaged in general farming until his death in 1901, at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Schneiter died in 1902, at the age of sixty years, and both father and mother were laid to rest in the German Reformed cemetery. The former assisted in organizing the first German Reformed church at this place. The cyclone of 1886 blew away the first church building, but another was erected soon afterward. To George W. and Ida Sunderwirth have been born four children : Clara C, who is a graduate of Tarkio College, receiv- ing degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and is now prin- cipal of the Winchester High School, Winchester, Kansas ; George A., who is a graduate of Tarkio College in the class of 1916 and is now the well-to-do proprietor of a valuable dairy farm in Bates county, Missouri; Clarence H., who is a graduate of the Butler High School and is now sec- retary and manager of the Prairie City Cheese Company; and Wil1)ert W., a junior student in the Butler High School. The Prairie City Cheese Company was organized March 22, 1890, a stock company having a capital stock of eight hundred dollars. The first officers were Judge Fred Fix, president; and George W. Sunder- wirth, secretary and treasurer. The company was incorporated March 3, 1904, with a capital stock of two thousand dollars, forty shares of fifty dollars each. Two years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Sunderwirth purchased the interests of the different stock- holders and since acquiring the ownership of the factory has installed a refrigerator valued at actual cost three thousand dollars and has placed his son, Clarence H., in charge of the cheese-making depart- ment, an experienced cheese-maker, who learned the art under R. A. Murray, who is now located at Adrian, Missouri. This cheese factor}'- did not always have smooth sailing. At one time, the owners paid their cheese-maker thirty dollars when the amount of milk received was valued at twenty-eight dollars. In December, 1917, a DeLaval whey separator was installed at a cost of five hundred dollars and the value of the plant is now approximately ten thousand dollars. Ninety thousand three hundred ninety-nine pounds of cheese v.-ere made in 1917 and sold for twentv-two thousand five hundred dollars. The cheese is made in g02 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY two styles: the round print, called the "Daisy Cheese," twenty pounds to a cheese; and the square print, ten pounds to a cheese. Orders are daily received by mail from wholesale grocers and packing houses and the demand for the cheese far exceeds the supply. An interesting part of the plant's fixtures is the vats, two in number, having a capacity of seven hundred gallons of milk. One hundred pounds of milk make ten pounds of cheese and the whey is returned to the farmer, who finds it excellent food for his hogs. The refrigerator, previously mentioned, has been a most profitable investment, having made a great saving. The factory is sanitary throughout and kept scrupulously clean and the products have proven their equality by selling at higher prices than do those from the Wisconsin factories. The present officers of the Prairie City Cheese Company are : George W. Sunderwnrth, president ; Ida Sunderwirth, treasurer; and Clarence H. Sunderwirth, secretary and manager. The Sunderwirths deserve much praise and respect for the splendid success which they are making of their most valuable factory. Mr. Sunderwirth has advanced steadily, overcoming a myriad of obstacles and discouraging circumstances, has forged to the front in the business M^orld and now ranks with the most successful and prominent manufacturers of western Missouri. Industrious and energetic, he took advantage of every oppor- tunity that came, his dealings have been honorable, his integrity unques- tioned, and his good business judgment and keen discernment have borne legitimate fruitage in the comfortable competence which is now his. The career of George W. Sunderwirth is only additional proof of the old adage that "Fortune is a fickle goddess to be wooed before w^on," and his example may well be emulated by the ambitious young man just beginning life for himself. Mr. Sunderwirth is a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica. He and Mrs. Sunderwirth are highly respected and consistent members of the Presbyterian church. William C. Doane, Jr., a former newspaper man, one of the founders of the Joplin "Daily American," a retired attorney-at-law, one of the well-known farmers of Lone Oak township and a successful merchant of "Ada," was born in Lone Oak township, Bates county, Missouri on July 7, 1866, a son of W^illiam C, Sr. and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane. William C. Doane, Sr. was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1844. He emigrated from his native land an came to the United States in 1860, making the journey thence on a sailing vessel which was six months on the way. Mr. Doane, Sr. landed at New Orleans, Louisi- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9O3 ana and from that city went to St. Louis, Missouri and from St. Louis to the state of Illinois, where he located temporarily at Quincy. He came to Bates county, Missouri from Quincy, Illinois on January 1, 1866 and purchased the tract of land, comprising one hundred twenty acres, upon which his son, Charles W., now resides. Later, Mr. Doane, Sr. increased his holdings by the addition of a forty-acre tract of land. In addition to farming and cattle raising, he made coffins for the need of the pioneers of this part of the country and also followed the trade of gunsmithing, both of which trades he had mastered in England in his youth. To William C, Sr., and Mary E. Doane were born three children, who are now living: William C, Jr., the subject of this re- view; Charles W^, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, Bates county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume ; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, of Lewiston, Idaho. The mother died at the Doane homestead in Lone Oak town- ship in 1891 and seven years afterward she was united in death with her husband, who died March 19, 1898. The remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. William C. Doane, Sr., were honored and respected among the best families of pioneers who settled in Bates county. William C. Doane, Jr., attended the public schools of Lone Oak township. Bates county, and Butler Academy. After leaving school, Mr. Doane, Jr., returned to his father's farm, where he was for several years engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He left the farm to engage in newspaper work at Joplin, Missouri, and for two years was with the Joplin "Daily American" and the "Daily /American," assisting in the founding of the latter paper. From Joplin, Mr. Doane, Jr.. went to Kansas City, Missouri, where for ten years he w^as associated in part- nership in the law business with F. M. Knard. The former retired from the firm and returned to the farm in Bates county, Missouri, a place embracing forty-one acres of valuable land, where he now resides, located ten miles southeast of Butler. In connection with his farm work, Mr. Doane, Jr., conducts a general store and he calls the place, "Ada." His place is on Rural Route 5 from Rich Hill, Missouri. W. C. Doane, Jr., was married March 16, 1918, to Anna V. Stan- bury, a native of Missouri, reared near Stillwell. Johnson county, Kan- sas. By a former marriage to Maggie E. Shuster, of Lone Oak town- ship. Bates county, Mr. Doane has three children: Charles McKinley, fireman with the "Frisco" railroad, Kansas City, Missouri ; William H., 904 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY who enlisted in the Fourteenth United States Cavalry, April, 1915, and is now a corporal stationed at Valverde county, Texas; and Edgar D., a grocer, Kansas City, Missouri. Thomas F. Cannon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mingo township, a former well-known hotel keeper of Urich, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cannon was born January 28, 1861, in Pike county, a son of Cornelius and Lydia Cannon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Alabama. The Cannons came to Missouri in 1878 and settled on a tract of land, comprising eighty acres now owned by the son, Thomas F., the subject of this review, a farm located in Mingo township which place they purchased for fourteen hundred dollars. Thomas F. Cannon is one of five living children born to his parents, the other children being, as follow: C. G., of Pomeroy, Wash- ington; Mrs. Sarah Amanda Scranton, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Kizzie Billings, Urich, Missouri; and Mrs. Louisa Williamson, Nebo, Pike county, Illinois. For nearly five years, Thomas F. Cannon was engaged in the hotel business at Urich, Missouri. He left this state and for two years was a resident of Oklahoma. On his return to Missouri, he settled on the Cannon home place in Mingo township and has spent the remainder of his life to the time of this writing in 1918 engaged in the pursuits of farming and stock raising in Mingo township. Bates county. Mr. Cannon has increased the original holdings of the Cannons and his farm now embraces one hundred twenty acres of valuable ^Jand, a splendid country place, neatly kept and most attractive in appearance. The residence and farm buildings are situated on an eminence over- looking the farm and Cove creek, which flows past the farm on the west. October 31, 1884, Thomas F. Cannon was united in marriage with Jennie L. Carney, a daughter of J. and Margaret Carney, of Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Carney died in 1911 and her remains were laid to rest in White Oak cemetery. Mr. Carney resides at the present time in Henry county, Missouri. Mr. Cannon states that he is related— politically— to Joseph G. Cannon. ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives. Thomas F. Cannon is one of the committeemen of the Republican party in Mingo township, at the time of this writing. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon are among the representative citizens of Bates county. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 905 The following, relative to the early history of Mayesburg, Bates county. Missouri, has been contributed by Mr. Cannon and will undoubt- edly be of interest to the older readers of this volume. He states that J. M. Mayes and L. O. Carlton were the first merchants at Mayes- burg, beginning business at this place in 1879. Their establishment was known as Mayes & Carlton. Later, the firm dissolved partner- ship and L. O. Carlton erected a new store building and entered the mercantile business independently. Poage & West erected a drug store building and "Nick" Miller built a hardware store building at about the same time, the former establishment afterward burning to the ground. At the high tide of its prosperity, Mayesburg boasted two general stores, a hardware store, a confectionery, two blacksmith shops, a millinery store, and a postofiice. L. O. Carlton was the first postmaster. Resi- dents of Mayesburg now receive mail on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri. Clyde C. Owens, proprietor of a general store at Mayesburg, is one of Mingo township's progressive "hustlers." Mr. Owens is a native of Henry county, Missouri. He was born October 9, 1885, a son of Thomas and Allie (Showman) Owens, both of whom are natives of Ohio. Thomas Ow^ens is a member of one of the sturdy and sterling pioneer families of Missouri. He came to this state when he was a very small boy with his parents, who settled on a farm near Urich. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Owens still reside at Urich, Missouri, the former, now at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Owens is sixteen years the junior of her husband. They are the parents of four children, who are now living: Ada, the wife of Lon Ray, of Butler, Missouri; Kate, the wife of Arthur Scholl, of Wellsville, Kansas; Gladys, the wife of Fred Hillebrant, of Windsor, Missouri; and Clyde C, the sub- ject of this review. Clyde C. Owens attended school at Hickory Grove school house, at Lucas, and at Urich, Missouri. He w^as reared on a farm, but he began life for himself as a clerk in the employ of AV. B. Morlan, at Urich. Missouri. Mr. Owens was later employed by H. Harvey, at Urich, Missouri. In 1915. the former purchased the Walter Gilbert general store at Mayesburg and for the past three years has been con- ducting this mercantile establishment, continuing the business estab- lished and doubling the trade. He carries a general line of merchan- dise, hauling the goods from Urich, nine miles away. Mr. Owens' store is a widely-known market for country produce and as he pays as good 906 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY prices as are paid at railroad points. He enjoys a most liberal patronage. He is located on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri. Besides the store, Mr. Owens is the owner of his residence. February 15, 1912, Clyde C. Owens was married to Jessie Goodacre, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Goodacre, of Bolivar, IMissouri. Both parents of Mrs. Owens are now deceased. She is a native of the state of Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens has been born one child, a daugh- ter, Eunice Elizabeth. The Owens family is widely known in Bates county and no citizens in Mingo township stand higher in the public estimation than do Mr. and Mrs. Clyde C. Owens. Mr. Owens is a young man of unimpeachable honesty and integrity and he takes a comprehensive view of local affairs and is quick to respond to the calls made for aid in promoting the welfare and prosperity of the com- munity in which he lives. George Gench, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Hudson town- ship, is one of Bates county's best citizens. Mr. Gench was born in McLean county, Illinois, on January 9, 1860, a son of Frederick and Mary (Brauer) Gench, both of whom were born in Saxony, Germany. Frederick Gench located in the state of Illinois, when he was a young man, and there resided ten or twelve years when he came thence to Bates county, Missouri, and settled in Prairie township on a tract of land purchased from the Bradley brothers for ten dollars an acre, one hundred twenty acres of prairie land. He split the rails with which to fence his farm and built a rude house of tv^'o rooms constructed of roughly-hewed timber. Later, Mr. Gench built a comfortable frame residence on his place. Pleasant Hill was the nearest railroad center at that time. Frederick Gench was deeply interested in educational matters and for many years served as a member of the school board in his district. To Frederick and Mary Gench were born the following children: John, of the firm of Gench Brothers of Rich Hill, Missouri; Mary Ann, the wife of Edward Keller, of Appleton City, Missouri; George, the subject of this review; Lizzie, the wife of Henry Grob, of the state of Washington; Lon and Frank, twins, the former, in the hardware business at Butler, Missouri, and the latter, in the Peoples Bank at Butler, Missouri ;and Carl, wdio is engaged in fruit and truck growing in the state of Florida. The father died in 1884 and the mother joined him in death in 1907. In the early history of Bates county, the name Gench stood as it stands today, the synonym of honor and no citizens were held in higher regard than were Mr. and Mrs. Fred- erick Gench. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 907 In the public schools, the "cipher" schools, and the mission schools of Bates county, Missouri, George Gench obtained his education. Upon leaving school, he engaged in farming on the home place until he was eighteen years of age. He then left Missouri and went to Kansas, where he located in Leavenworth county for two years. Returning to Bates county, Missouri, he again engaged in agricultural pursuits and in 1887 purchased his present country place, a farm comprising eighty acres of land partly improved at the time of his purchase. All the improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gench, including a residence, a house of eight rooms built in 1905 ; a barn, 48 X 60 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, used for stock and feed; a silo, having a capacity of one hundred ten tons; and other necessary farm buildings needed to facilitate the handling of stock and grain. Mr. Gench raises brown Swiss dairy cattle, the herd headed by a registered male, and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has twelve milch cows. He is also interested in Duroc Jersey hogs, but has only a few on the place at this time. The marriage of George Gench and Caroline Hammer was sol- emnized November 27, 1884. Caroline (Hammer) Gench is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Hammer. Mrs. Gench's mother died when the former was an infant and the little girl was reared by her step- mother, Mary (Grob) Hammer. Anton Hammer first married a sister of Mrs. Gench's mother and to the first union was born a son, Fred, who resides in Pleasant Gap township. The other children of Anton Hammer are as follow: Emma, the wife of Gottlieb Hirschi. of Rock- ville. Missouri; Louisa, the wife of Fred Drawe, of Rockville. Missouri; Louis, of Olds, Alberta, Canada; Willie, a truck farmer in Florida; and John, of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. George Gench are the par- ents of eight children: Lewis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson township. Bates county, Missouri; Agnes, the wife of Eldo Hirni, of Visalia, California; Gertie, the wife of Albert Hirni, of -Rock- ville, Missouri; Martha, the wife of Carl Bartz, of Pleasant Gap .town- ship. Bates county, Missouri; Frances, Edith, Eva, and Orville, at home with their parents. Mr. Gench affiliates with the Republican party and for the pa.st eight years he has been the justice of peace of Hudson township. He is a quiet, unobtrusive citizen, yet a man long considered one of the substantial, progressive agriculturists of the county. 908 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY William E. Walton. — The high position in the citizenship" of Bates county which is held by William E. Walton, founder of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, has been honorably and honestly won. His long career extending over a period, of forty-seven years in Bates county has been marked by a regard for the well being of his fellow- men and a heartfelt desir'e to advance the interests of his adopted com- munity, which has not been excelled by any individual in Bates county. Mr. Walton's success as a financier has been such as to place him in the front ranks of banking men of Missouri. His course in dealing with the people, who placed trust in him, has been of such an open nature and so honorable as to cause them to always have implicit confidence in his word. On the other hand, there are scores of citizens in Bates county, now prosperous, who have good and just reasons to be immeasur- ably thankful for his kindness in times of stress and his assistance in times of need. Mr. Walton, while amassing a competency by strictly honorable dealings, has endeared himself to the mass of Bates county citizens as no other one man has done. Coming to this county a young man of ambition, integrity, and industrious habits, when the develop- ment of the county was practically in its infancy, he has played a very prominent part in the great work of bringing Bates county to the very forefront of Missouri counties and no name enrolled in the citizenship of this county is held in greater esteem than his. W^illiam E. Walton was born August 31, 1842, on a farm in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of William P. and Louisa (Turley) Walton. His father, a native of Virginia, came to Missouri from his native state in 1837. He was married in this state to Louisa Turlev, a daughter of Samuel Turley, a native of Kentucky, who moved from Madison county, Kentucky, to Cooper county, Missouri, in 1813. He was one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers and came here in a day when the coun- try was wild and sparsely settled and the red men were still disputing the right of the invading white settlers to occupy what had for untold years been their camping and hunting grounds. Samuel Turley entered land from the government, improved it for his permanent habitation, and resided thereon for a period of fifty years. Jesse B. Turley, brother of Samuel Turley was, for over thirty years a Santa Fe trader and w^as well acquainted with many of the noted frontier characters of the early days. He wrote the "Life of Kit Carson" and was intimately acquainted with the famous hunter and scout who lived for a time with the Turley family. Benjamin T. Walton, an uncle of William E. Walton, served HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 909 as a captain in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, Confederate army, during the Civil War and was killed at the l^attle of Port Republic. Mr. Walton was reared and educated in Cooper county, attending the old-time "subscription schools," whereby each parent paid one dol- lar per pupil per month. There were eleven children in the Walton family, the following of whom are now living, all reared in a log cabin: William E., subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Marshall, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; James W., Salt Lake City. Utah; Mrs. Florence Hoops, Kan- sas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Virginia Chamberlin, Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Lutie Williams, Los Angeles; and Mrs. Nellie Stoddard, Los Angeles, California. William E. Walton came to Bates county, and located in Butler in 1870. His first work on coming here w^as to make or write up com- plete abstracts of title to all land and town lots in Bates county, making probably the first complete set of abstracts ever made in Bates county. Mr. Walton became the local representative of Eastern firms, who loaned large sums through him to Bates county land owners, and he has had more experience in loaning money on farm lands than any other person in this section of Missouri. In those days, money was an absolute necessity and an essential to the development of the county. The incoming settlers were mostly men from the older states and more settled communities, where land had advanced in price, and young men came here where lands were cheap in order to get a start. Through Mr. Walton, they obtained financial backing with which to carry on their farming operations and develop their land. Mr. Walton and the Walton Trust Company have loaned millions of dollars upon Missouri farm lands and afterward sold the farm mortgages to hundreds of Life Insurance Companies, Savings Banks, and individual investors through- out the country. It is a fact that they never allowed any mortgage buyer to lose a dollar of principal or pay any of the contingent expenses connected with the transactions. On the other hand, Mr. Walton always protected the land-owner who borrowed the money and gave assistance to the mortgagee to the limit of his ability and never allowed a mortgage to be foreclosed if it were within his power to prevent it by giving counsel, encouragement and further needed assistance to the struggling farmer. Many well-to-do farmers of this section have good reasons to bless his kindly interest and his encouragement to them to do their best. The Missouri State Bank of Butler is his creation and this bank 9IO HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY was organized by him in 1880. For a period of thirty-seven years, he was connected with this bank in the capacity of cashier and president. In 1891, he organized the Walton Trust Company of Butler, one of the most important and strongest institutions of its kind in this part of Mis- souri. He served as president of this concern for twenty-one years. The Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company are vertiable monuments to his enterprise and financial ability and are of such rock- ribbed stability and built upon a standard policy of fair dealing and integrity that they bid fair to endure as long as the civic state exists. Mr. Walton is now a stockholder and a director of the Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company, but at his own request, he retired from the presidency on January 1, 1917. The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Wal- ton and, in 1874, he was elected county clerk of the county and served for a period of four years. Aside from taking a good citizen's interest in local, state and national politics he has never aspired for prominence in political afTairs. For over forty years he has been a member of the Christian church of Butler and takes a great interest in church and religious matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Butler Lodge No. 180. Mr. Walton is deeply inter- ested in history, especially if it relates to his home state and section, and he has served two terms as president of the Old Settlers' Society of Bates County. Mr. \\'alton w^as married in March, 1878, to Miss Cora Allen, of Butler, Missouri, a daughter of F. M. Allen, of Butler. Personally, Mr. W^alton is an approachable, genial, kindly and accommodating gentleman and is upon most friendly terms with the majority of Bates county citizens. His life work has been creative and productive and his aim in life has been to assist to the extent of his power in the right development of the resources of his home county. In this endeavor, he has succeeded and his name in this history of Bates county is one of the most honored — his rightful place in the history of his home community has been won and he is valued to such an extent a sto place him in the forefront of the Bates county citizenry. J. Emmett Hook, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson township, president of the Bank of Rockville, is a member of one of the old, pioneer families of western Missouri. He is a native son of Bates county who has grown up and progressed with his home county, and has taken a prominent and active part in the development of this HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 9II county since early young manhood. Mr. Hook was born at the Hook homestead March 23, 1869, and has lived all of his life on the farm which he now owns in Hudson township. He is a son of the late James S. Hook, one of the most prominent of the early pioneers of Bates county. James S. Hook was born in Alleghany county, Virginia, May 31, 1814, and was a son of Stephen Hook, a native of Maryland, who fought in the War of the American Revolution. Stephen Hook moved with his parents to 'Virginia and there grew to manhood and married Miss Sally Hansberger, a native of Virginia. James S. Hook was reared to young manhood on the parental farm in Virginia and came West in the year 1840, first locating in Monroe county, Missouri. He raised but one crop in that county and in 1841 came to Bates county, where he entered land and improved the farm upon which his son now resides. Mr. Hook entered four hundred eighty acres of land but accumulated a total of nine hundred acres, which became one of the best-improved tracts in Bates county. The original papers granting James S. Hook title to the land and signed by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan are still in possession of J. Emmett Hook. When Mr. Hook first came to Bates county he earned his living by hewing logs near Johnstown for a wage of thirty- five cents per day. James S. Hook took an active part in building operations and assisted in the erection of four court houses in Bates county. An inci- dent of Civil War times is recalled by the scrip paid by General Price to Mr. Hook for seventy head of cattle which the Confederate coni- mander commandeered when the troops were camping on the Hook farm. This scrip, of course, was never redeemed and is still held bv the son, J. Emmett. In 1891, the father turned over the active man- agement of the farm to his son, and lived in quiet retirement for the remainder of his life, his death occurring on November 5, 1905. Dur- ing his long life he took an active and influential part in political mat- ters and was prominent in Masonic circles. On December 28, 1846. he was married in Hudson township to Miss Rebecca Hornsinger, daughter of Jacob Hornsinger, one of the pioneers of Bates county. Mrs. Rebecca (Hornsinger) Hook was born in Boone county, but came to Bates county with her parents when but two years of age. Ten children were born to this marriage, of whom J. Emmett is the youngest. J. Emmett Hook, with whom this review is directly concerned. 912 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY « received his primary education in the public schools of Bates county and his higher learning in the Northwestern Normal School at Stan- berry, from which school he graduated. After finishing his normal course he returned home and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm. In 1891, his father laid aside the duties of the farm, and since that time the son has had entire charge of the place. He has followed in his father's footsteps as a successful tiller of the soil and stockman and has made a pronounced success in the oldest of honor- able vocations. Mr. Hook is thorough in his methods of agriculture and has succeeded in becoming prosperous on his own account as well as assisting materially in the development of his section of the state of Missouri along advanced lines. He has other financial interests besides his farm lands and is president of the Bank of Rockville, Mis- souri. On November 29, 1891, Mr. Hook was married to Miss Elizabeth Scott, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, June 20, 1869. She was a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Johnson) Scott. Mrs. Eliza- beth Hook departed this life February 5, 1896. Mr. Hook was again married on January 1, 1905, to Miss Lena Argenbright, and to this marriage have been born two sons, Howard A. and Joseph Emmett. Mrs. Lena Hook was born in Bates county, June 17, 1874, a daughter of Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, who were parents of eight children. Preston Argenbright was born near Staunton, Vir- ginia, October 16, 1838. Mrs. Rebecca Argenbright was born in Ten- nessee, November 23, 1841. During the Civil War times, Mr. Argen- bright was a member of the Missouri State Militia and served as justice of the peace. Mr. Hook has always been aligned with the Democratic party, and is usually interested in the welfare of his party. He has served the people in several minor offices and generally takes an active and influen- tial interest in local civic affairs. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Order, in which he belongs to Rockville Lodge No. 341, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Appleton City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of Butler Lodge No. 958, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Maccabees of Rockville. Mr. Hook is known as a progressive and enterprising citizen who is ever ready to assist worthy local enterprises of a meritorious character. He is popular, well liked, and highly esteemed by all who know him. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 913 Jerome T. Donnohue, a well-known and successful young agricul- turist and stockman of Hudson township, is a member of one of the highly respected pioneer families of Bates county. He was born on the farm where he now resides, a son of Daniel and Anna (Wilson) Donnohue, the former, a native of Missouri and the latter, of Virginia. The Donnohues settled in Hudson township in the late sixties on a farm located one-half mile southwest of Hudson, which was then quite a village with a store, a postoffice, and a doctor. Daniel Donnohue owned one hundred eighty acres of land in Hudson township, a farm which he spent the greater part of his life in improving and where he died in 1909. Mrs. Donnohue, the widowed mother of Jerome T., the subject of this review, resides at Appleton City, Missouri. In the public schools of Hudson township, Bates county, Missouri, Jerome T. Donnohue obtained his elementary .education. He is a graduate of Appleton City High School, Appleton City, in the class, of 1907. After completing the high school course, Mr. Donnohue returned to the home place, a part of which he now owns, and has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. For the past two years he has been handling graded sheep and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has a herd of forty-five on the farm. Mr. Donnohue raises high-grade Duroc Jersey hogs. Shorthorn, cattle, and good mares and mules. The past autumn, he planted thirty-five acres of the place in wheat. The Donnohue farm comprises one hundred sixty-eight acres of land, a large portion of wdiich is devoted to pasture. In 1912, Jerome T. Donnohue and Minnie Deller, of Hudson town- ship, a daughter of Henry and Agnes Deller, residents of St. Clair county, Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union have been born three sons: v'ern, Harry, and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Donnohue stand high in their community and are respected by all who know them as young citizens of genuine worth. Mr. Donnohue is a stanch believer in the efficacy of hard, continued labor and he has probably done more diffi- cult manual work than any other man of his years in the township. He is a gentleman of much public spirit, progressive ideas, and enter- prise and he is deeply interested in the. advancement of his township and county. He is numbered among the excellent citizens of Hud- son township and Bates county, as was his father before him. E. M. Capps, of the Capps Realty Company of Rich Hill, Missouri, is one of the leading and most successful citizens of Bates county. Mr. Capps is a native of Camden county, Missouri. He was born in (58) 914 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1876, a son of John W. and Mary E. (Vance) Capps, who are now residents of Putnam county, Missouri. They are the parents of four sons and one daughter, who are now living, as follow: E. M., the sub- ject of this review; S. E., of Kirksville, Missouri, the civil engineer of Adair county; G. H., of Worthington, Missouri, the foreman of the steel bridge construction "gang" of Burlington; A. B., a conductor employed on a street railway at Davenport, Iowa; and Minnie, the wife of G. E. Robbins, of Davenport, Iowa. Mr. Capps, whose name introduces this sketch, received his ele- mentary education in the public schools of Schuyler county, Missouri. He is a graduate of the Glenwood High School, Glenwood, Missouri. After completing the high school course, Mr. Capps entered the gen- eral mercantile business at Worthington, Missouri, and was thus engaged for five years. While at Worthington, he became interested in the real estate business, trading his property in this place for a farm near Parsons, Labette county, Kansas. He moved to Parsons, Kansas, but not on his farm, which he soon afterward traded for a grocery store at Webb City, Missouri, an establishment which he conducted for four months, when he traded it for property in Rich Hill, Missouri. E. M. Capps is still the owner of a mercantile establishment in this city. l\vo years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Capps established his real estate business at Rich Hill, a business for which he had from experience found himself well adapted, and he opened his present office in the Benedict building. The Capps Realty Company is one of the most aggressive and successful in this county and the amount of business done annually has far exceeded the expectations of E. M. Capps. He sells farm lands, city properties, stocks of goods, and, in addition, writes insurance policies and makes farm loans. He states that within the last eight months farm land has advanced fifteen per cent, in value. Mr. Capps also has the agency for the Chevrolet and the Grant Six cars in partnership with his brother-in-law, F. E. Berry, and the firm is enjoying an excellent business, having sold ten Grant Six cars in the six weeks of the opening season and at the present rate of sale Capps & Berry hope to sell seventy-five to eighty Chev- rolets this year of 1918. The marriage of E. M. Capps and Pearl N. Barnes, a daughter of E. T. and Mary (Dyer) Barnes, of Queen City, Missouri, iwas solemnized February 28, 1900. To this union have been born two daughters: Cleta and lone. Mr. and Mrs. Capps are well known and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 915 respected in Bates county and they are numbered among the best families of Rich Hill, where they number their friends by the score. J. P. Herrmann, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, a member of one of Bates county's pioneer families, and justice of the peace of Shawnee township, is a native of Monroe county, Illinois. Mr. Herrmann was born September 29, 1866, a son of John A. and Barbara Herrmann. The Herrmanns settled in this county on the farm in Shawnee township, where Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herrmann still reside and have lived for forty-nine years, in 1869. August Herr- mann, the paternal grandfather of J. P. Herrmann, came to Bates county, Missouri, a few years later and in this county died. His remains are interred in a cemetery in Shawnee township, located near the Herr- mann homestead. Mrs. Herrmann, wife of August Herrmann, died at Waterloo, Iowa, and interment was made at Burksville, Illinois. To John A. and Barbara Herrmann have been born seven children, who are now living: Anna, the wife of Theodore Marqueardt, of Independence, Kansas; August B., Jacksonville, Illinois; Elizabeth, the wife of John Deerwester, of Shawnee township; J. P., the subject of this review; Maggie A., the wife of William Hart, of Clinton, Missouri ; Lula, at home with her parents; and John A., Jr., a prominent merchant at Culver, Missouri. The Herrmann family has long been numbered among the best and most substantial families of western Missouri. In the public schools of Shawnee township. District 48, in the first school house erected there in 1872, J. P. Herrmann obtained his edu- cation. His first instructor was Miss Sarah Reynolds, who is now Mrs. Sarah (Reynolds) Schantz. Mr. Herrmann remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-seven years of age and then moved to his present country place. He began with a tract of land, embracing eighty acres, cultivated but unimproved, and is now owner of two hun- dred forty acres of choice land in Shawnee township, a splendidly improved, abundantly, watered, well-located farm. In 1895, J. P. Herrmann and Henrietta Filgus, a daughter of August and Henrietta (Erscamp) Filgus, were united in marriage. Mrs. Filgus died in Bates county in 1902 and interment was made in the cemetery at the Reformed church of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Filgus now makes his home at Prairie City. To J. P. and Henrietta (Filgus) Herrmann have been born the following children : Guy Anderson, Kan- sas City, Missouri; Carl Adam, Kansas City, Missouri; Lena May and Herbert Hadlev, both at home with their parents. 91 6 ' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY There are two sets of improvements on the Herrmann farm in Shawnee township, including a beautiful residence, a seven-room struc- ture, 46 X 30 feet, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1910; a barn, 4+ x 56 feet, for cattle, with a silo, 14 x 32 feet of one hundred tons capacity; a second barn, 44 x 36 feet, for horses, having a concrete floor; a com- fortable tenant residence; and a third barn, 32 x 36 feet. Mr. Herrmann has on his farm, at the time of this writing, in 1918, thirty head of high-grade cattle, in addition to large herds of horses and hogs. Mr. Herrmann has been justice of the peace of Shawnee township and a member of the township board for many years. He was a candi- date for county judge on the Republican ticket in the election of 1904 and made a very creditable race. Mr. Herrmann takes a broad view of life and keeps himself well-informed relative to public and political affairs and he has long been numbered among the public spirited citi- zens of Bates county. Col. John Ewing Holcomb, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, came with his family to Butler, Missouri, in the fall of 1869. His sons, Phineas H. Holcomb, and Anselm T. Holcoml:), both attorneys of Bates county, had preceded him. He bought a small tract of land, on Pine street, on the knoll, this side of Oak Hill cemetery. He built a very handsome and comfortable home there and at once took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the county. His family, his wife, and his children : P. H., A. T., Eliza, Sarah H.. Charles, and Sumner, were most highly estimated. Mr. Holcomb lived in Butler until about 1886, when he temporarily moved with his sons, Charles and Sumner, to Greenwood county, Kansas, and bought there a small farm, which he owned at the time of his death. He bought lands in Hudson and Osage townships and built two or three houses in the east side of Butler. He was assistant postmaster in Butler from 1873 to 1876. He was a Master Mason, and, with Dr. Lyman Hall and Charles M. Peck, established the present chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Butler. In his latter years he was greatly afflicted with rheumatism and heart trouble. Mr. Holcomb was a man of wide and extensive information. He was a good story-teller and an engaging conversationalist and always a Republican in politics. AMiile Mr. Hol- comb never affiliated with any church, his life was so pure, honorable, and stainless that he enjoyed the highest esteem of all his neighbors and acquaintances and the general public. The following, from a boy-hood friend, Hon. William Synuues, gives an impartial history of his life in Ohio: r X \- ,. ^m \ V 9m m^ 5 I -^'- % f 9^^"' '^^ ^VhIIm> ft> ""'^^S [ w < ir ^^m •^-'S^^.^Ik ^m ^■llHiiiiiHQ^^^I^^^^^^H^^^j^(k__jHfi Jl^ COLONEL JOHN EWING HOLCOMB. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 917 "Colonel John E. Holcomb was born in Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio, on August 16, 1817, and died at his home in Butler, Bates county, Missouri, August 30, 1889, in the seventy-third year of his age. On September 12, 1838, he was married to Miss Mary Matthews, daughter of Captain Phineas Matthews, by whom he had eight children, five boys and three girls. One son and one daughter have passed on before him. An aged widow, four sons and two daughters survive him to mourn their irreparable loss, all of whom he saw happily situated in life. Mr. Holcomb resided in Vinton till the fall of 1869, when he moved with his family to Butler, Missouri. He was the third son of General Samuel R. Holcomb and brother of the late General A'. T. Holcomb, and Hon. E. T. Holcomb, of Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio. "Colonel Holcomb held many positions of trust and honor while he resided in Gallia county, among which was that of United States mar- shal, during the war; justice of the peace for many years; postmaster; clerk in the house of representatives, etc. He was engaged in the mer- cantile business for many years, and was trusted and honored by all with whom he came in contact. He loved the just and true. With a willing hand, he gave alms and with an honest heart and faithful hand he discharged all and every public and private trust. * * * '^j^ honest man — the noblest work of God.' " The "Gallia Tribune," Gallipolis, Ohio, says: "He was a son of the late General Samuel R. Holcomb; lived at Vinton, in this county, until about twenty years ago, when he removed to Missouri. He was provost marshal during the Rebellion and was a man fearless in the dis- charge of his duty. His convictions were of the strongest ; he was a man of the kindest of hearts ; " 'And where he met the individual man. He showed himself as kind as mortal can.' "No man ever lived in Gallia county, Ohio, whose word was more a synonvm for truth than his. No man had keener sense of personal honor; and no man can point to an action of his that was not of the truest and purest kind. His heart was as big as the world, and in it was a world of love and charity." The "Bates County Democrat" says: "No citizen of Bates county was ever more highly esteemed than John E. Holcomb. He was straight- forward, upright, honorable, and just in all his dealings with men. At home in the midst of his family he w^as kind, affectionate and consider- 9l8 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY ate, ever solicitous of the welfare and happiness of his loved ones there. To his family he leaves the legacy of a noble and well-spent life, upon which they may look back with unconcealed pride. To the world, the example of a good man." His wife, Mary Matthews Holcomb, after her husband's death, remained in Bates county until her death, December 15, 1894. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eliza S. Wilcox, of Passaic, this county, aged nearly seventy-seven years. She retained, in a marked degree, all her excellent faculties to the last moment. She was a mem- ber of a very prominent family in southern Ohio and was from youth distinguished for her kind, gentle, and amiable disposition. She was an Universalist in her religion. The oldest son, Phineas H. Holcomb, came to Bates county in 1869 and died in Butler, January 27, 1917, at the age of seventy-six years. He was an excellent lawyer and a citizen of the highest type. His second son, Anselm T. Holcomb, was admitted to practice law in 1868, in Butler, and practiced in Bates county till the fall of 1878, when he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he still resides, and in his sev- enty-third year is still engaged in the practice of law. He has always been a taxpayer in Bates county and owns a farm of three hundred fourteen acres near Foster. He has been highly honored by official positions, and is regarded as a successful business man. His daughter. Eliza S., married Richard Wilcox, who lived at Passaic. Mrs. Wilcox, now a widow, owns a fine farm near that village. Sarah IT., his second daughter, married Captain John C. Bybee and lives with her husliand and daughter at Kansas City, Kansas. Charles M. Holcomb. so well known to the older citizens of Butler, moved to Kansas in 1885 and died at Buffalo, Wilson county, Kansas, in April, 1917, loved, honored, and respected. His wife. Belle Morgan, and six children survive him. Sumner C. Holcomb, born January 7, 1857, was admitted to the bar at Butler about 1881, engaged in the practice of law in Butler until 1886, when he removed to Woodson county, Kansas. He has been five times elected prosecuting attorney of Woodson county. Tic married Margaret Trueman, and has two children; Lydia Grace and Sumner C, Jr. He is a highly esteemed and prosperous citizen of Yates Center, Kansas. Amos J. Hughes, an honored pioneer of Bates county, a member of one of the oldest families of the state, is a native of Pettis countv. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 919 Mr. Hughes was born June 11, 1848, a son of James A. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Hughes, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. In 1873, Amos J. Hughes moved from Pettis county to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a tract of land located in Spruce town- ship one mile west of his present country place. Mr. Hughes purchased at that time forty acres of land for fifteen dollars an acre. He has since increased his holdings and is now owner of one hundred twenty-eight acres of land in Spruce township, a well-improved farm and nicely situ- ated. The improvements on the Hughes place include a comfortable residence, a structure of one and a half stories ,and a good barn, 32 x 40 feet in dimensions. Mr. Hughes is interested in general farming. \\'hen he came to Bates county, in 1873, Mr. Hughes was owner of a team of horses and a cow. There was a small, rudely-built house on the forty-acre tract of land which he purchased from William Tyler, who now resides at Butler, and this was the Hughes home for many years until better, happier days dawned. In the autumn of the year of 1873, the blue-grass was so tall that a man on horseback might easily hide in it. Mr. Hughes remembers the drouth of the summer of 1874, when from June 11 until the spring of 1875 there was no rainfall, for he was obliged during that time to haul water from four miles away in order to keep his family and his stock alive. He relates an interesting incident in his life, which most strikingly illustrates the conditions under which traveling was done in Missouri in 1875. Mr. Hughes started on horseback from Clinton, Missouri, for his home in Spruce township. He traveled through two miles of water in Big creek, passed Old Urich in Henry county and Old Dayton in Cass county, crossed the Grand river, south of Dayton where the bridge now is, and was lost, utterly lost. Mr. Hughes traveled on and on and on, and in one instance was obliged to make an opening in a fence in order to get through, to get out of a field into which he had gone he never knew how, and at last gave his horse the rein and the animal found the way home. They were both completely worn out for they had gone from eighty to one hundred miles that day. The marriage of Amos J. Hughes and Mary J. Moore was solemnized in 1869 in Pettis county, Missouri. To this union have been born four children, who are now living: Lillie R., the wife of Elijah Dark; Lulu Frances, the wife of John Greer, of Butler, Missouri; Daisy, the wife of Albert Swartz, of Adrian, Missouri ; and Mary A., the wife of Thomas 920 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Powers, of Lanton, Howell comity, Missouri. Mr. Hughes has the following- brothers and sister living: Pleasant S., Amsterdam, Missouri; George \\ . ; and Mrs. Sallie Sharp, of Vcvnon county, Missouri. Amos J. Hughes has been an eye-witness of the development and advancement of this great commonwealth and in his own quiet, unas- suming way has been a potential factor in contributing to the pros- perity and upbuilding of the community in which he resides. George Hertz, proprietor of "Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Hertz is a native of Iowa. He was born Novem- ber 21, 1867, in Johnson county, a son of Henry and Florentine Hertz. The father is now deceased and the mother still makes her home at the Hertz homestead in Iowa. Mrs. Florentine Hertz celebrated her eighty-fourth birthday on December 28, 1917. She is one of the beloved pioneer women of Johnson county, Iowa, where she and her husband settled in the earliest days and improved a splendid farm. George Hertz, obtained his education in the public schools of John- son county, Iowa, was engaged in raising Percheron and Belgian draft horses there prior to coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1904. About six years ago, Mr. Hertz began raising Hereford cattle and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has on the farm in Mount Pleasant township eighteen head of high-grade animals. Last year, 1917, Mr. Hertz also began the breeding of big-bone Spotted Poland China hogs. He is an enthusiastic advocate of pure-bred stock, for he states that it costs no more to raise a good animal than it does to raise a "scrub." The marriage of George Hertz and Rose Leuenberger was solemnized September 28, 1898. To this union were born two children: Harold and Esther. Mrs. Hertz, the mother of the children, is deceased. Mr. Hertz remarried, November 22, 1916, his second wife being Myra Ethel Eaton, a daughter of Herbert and Marian Rosalie Eaton, of John- son county, Iowa. "Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township comprises one hundred forty acres of land, well watered by Mound l^ranch and cwo wells wdiich have never been known to have been dry. This farm lies one and three-fourths miles northeast of Butler and is one of the nicely improved country places of Bates county. The residence is a two-story structure of nine rooms and there are two well-constructed barns on the farm. Mrs. Flertz has complete charge of the poultry on ''Shady Brook Stock Farm" and she is making a name for herself as HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 92 1 an exceptionally successful producer of pure-bred Plymouth Rock chickens and Toulouse geese and at the present time she has a Hock of one hundred twenty-five fine birds. Mr. and Mrs. Hertz are comparatively newcomers in Bates county, but both possess to a marked degree the happy faculty of making and retaining friends and they have now countless warm personal friends in this part of the state. George Hertz is a man of industry and excel- lent judgment and one of Bates county's progressive citizens. J. W. Moles, farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, September 17, 1868, the son of G. W. and Mary (Tabor) Moles, the former of whom was born in 1840 in Missouri, but returned to Kentucky with his parents and remained in that state until 1866. In that year G. W. Moles made his home in Jackson county, and after a residence of some years in that county he located in the northern part of Bates county. He now lives in Adrian. Mrs. Mary (Tal)or) Moles was born at Crescent Hill, Missouri, in 1841, and died in 1916. They were parents of children as follow: Mrs. John Allen, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. William Poindexter, deceased; A. N. Moles, Mound township, Bates county; J. W. Moles, of this review; A. D., Adrian; EfTie, at home with her father; Mrs. Marian Roberts, Adrian. J. W. Moles received his schooling at Altona and Old Index in Bates and Cass counties. At the age of twenty years he began to make his ov\m way in the world. He began farming on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township near Butler. He purchased his first farm in 1895 of Frank Pickett, a tract consisting of eighty acres located seven miles southeast of Adrian in Shawnee township. Mr. Moles has improved this farm with good buildings, trees, a well and other improvements. Pie rebuilt the residence in 1902. The barn was erected in 1901. Mr. Moles raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. Forty acres of the farm are sown to wheat and forty acres are in grass at the present time. On February 15, 1893, J. W. Moles and. Miss Mellie Sloan were united in marriage. Mrs. Moles was l)orn in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Z. B. and A. (Duesman) Sloan, the former of whom was born in 1845 and the latter in 1851. The Sloans came to Bates county, Mis- souri, in about 1883 and Mr. Sloan died at the Soldiers' Home, Leaven- worth, Kansas, in August, 1915. Having been a veteran of the Civil War, he made his home at Leavenworth in his extreme old age under 922 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the care of the United States Government. Mrs. Sloan lives in Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Moles are parents of the following children: Otha C, born October 12, 1894; Neva M., born June 3, 1896; Claude V., born December 5, 1897; Harry D., born December 30, 1899, died April 25, 1900; Lena C, born April 16, 1901; Clyde O., born March 1, 1903; Alva D., born February 13, 1905; Gertie L., born March 3, 1907; Wilma R., born April 30, 1909, died October 16, 1910. Mr. Moles has been a member of the township board for seven years and has served as trustee of the township. Hon. Lucien Baskerville, former representative of Bates county, is a progressive farmer and stockman of Deepwater township. He is the son of William Baskerville, late pioneer settler of Deepwater township, who was one of the best-known citizens of the county. \^'illiam Baskerville was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, May 20, 1828, the son of \\'illiam B. and Mary (Ferguson) Baskerville, natives of Virginia. The family left Virginia in 1837 and moved to Cooper county, Missouri, residing in that county for twelve years. Will- iam B. Baskerville later located in Henry county, Missouri, and was engaged in the mercantile business and in agricultural pursuits in that county until his death in 1882 at the age of ninety-two years. AA'hen William Baskerville was twenty-three years of age he joined an over- land freight train as teamster and made the long trip to New Mexico. After he had served as teamster for twelve months he was promoted to the post of wagonmaster, and in 1852 took a train through to Cali- fornia, arriving on the coast in the spring of 1853. He then returned to New Mexico and took a drove of 20,000 sheep through to California. He returned home in 1854, spent the winter at home, and in the spring of 1855, he made another trip to California but was taken sick and remained ill for nearly a year. In the fall of 1856 he made a trip to the West Indies, and from the Islands came home by way of New Orleans, arriving late in that year. He then engaged in the mercantile business w'ith his father in Henry county, Missouri, and continued in business until the breaking out of the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865 he was engaged in farming. He had previously purchased his home farm in Deepwater township. Bates county, in 1856, when land was cheap and plentiful. He improved the tract and made his permanent home thereon in section 25, of Deepwater township, in 1869. Mr. Baskerville became owner of over three hundred thirty-six acres of well-improved land, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 923 which is now owned by the children of the family and managed by his son, Lncien. William Baskerville was married October 31, 1870, to Miss Mary Caldwell, born in Kentucky, a daughter of James and Mary Caldwell. The following children were born to this marriage: Benoni R., farmer, Deepwater township; Virginia, Martha, Judith, at home and Lucien B., of this sketch. Mr. Baskerville died in June, 1914. Mrs. Baskerville departed this life in 1887. Lucien M. Baskerville, youngest son of the family, was educated in the district school of his neighborhood, the Appleton City Academy, and the Missouri State University at Columbia, where he finished his studies in 1904. Not long afterward he was employed as foreman of the rolling mill department of the Acme Steel Goods Company, Chicago, Illinois, and remained with this concern for a period of five years. He began with the company as shipping clerk and was soon promoted to the post of foreman. Owing to his father's declining health by reason of advancing age he returned home and has since had charge of the home place of the family. Mr. Baskerville pursued a law course at Columbia and was admitted to the Bates county bar in 1904, and prac- ticed for a short time in Butler previous to locating in Chicago. In the fall of 1912 his candidacy for the office of representative from Bates county was announced and he was nominated and elected. Mr. Basker- ville and his sisters are living on the old home place which Mr. Basker- ville is managing. This farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres of excellent farm land. His brother, Benoni, and he are farming in part- nership and are making a great success of their farming and live-stock operations. They have about one hundred and fifty head of cattle on the place and have fifty head of Hereford cows for breeding purposes. Besides a good grade of Poland China hogs they have a herd of twenty- five head of sheep. The Baskerville farm is well improved and nicely located about five miles northwest of Appleton City and lies in the southeast corner of Deepwater township. Benoni R. Baskerville was born in Deepwater township in 1872. He received his education in the district school and the Academy at Appleton City. He was married in October, 1903, to Jeannette Gait, a daughter of James and Mary (Brown) Gait, of Appleton City, the latter of whom died in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. ''Ben" R. Baskerville have a daugh- ter, Pauline. 924 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Hiram G. Cummings, the capable trustee of Shawnee township, Bates county, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, on February 20, 1884, a son of A. B. and EHza (Garten) Cummings, the former, a native of Jackson county, Missouri, and the hitter, of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Cummings reside at Grainfield, Kansas, to which city they moved in 1906. They are the parents of the following children: Stella May, the wife of Walter Bailey, of Topeka, Kansas; Leva, the wife of Troy Bartlett, of Martin City, Missouri; Hiram G., the subject of this review; Andrew, of Summit township, Bates county, Missouri ; Roy,- Grainfield, Kansas; Eric, who is now with the United States Expeditionary force in the trenches in France, enlisting on April 27, 1917, a Jasper county boy, twenty-seven years of age; Ruth, the wife of Marcellus Harrison, of Grainfield, Kansas; Marie, the wife of William Cline, of Grainfield, Kan- sas; and Goldie, who is a member of the teaching profession at Grain- field, Kansas. In the public schools of Jackson county, Missouri, Hiram G. Cum- mings obtained his education. He was a resident of Cass county, Mis- souri, for three years prior to coming to Bates county, in 1903, with his parents. Air. Cummings purchased his present home from Charles Moore in 1908, a tract of land embracing originally eighty acres, to which he has in 1915 added another eighty-acre tract purchased from the Nuckols brothers. The Cummings place now comprises one hundred sixty acres of valuable land located three miles west of Culver, Missouri, and eight and a half miles northeast of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Cummings has placed all the improvements thereon, including a comfortable resi- dence, a house of five rooms and two stories, built in 1908 and 1909; a barn, 30 x 46 feet in dimensions; a good crib and granary. Mr. Cum- mings raises high-grade hogs, cattle, and sheep. He has, at the time of this writing in 1918, nineteen head of Shropshires. Among the citi- zens of his township, Mr. Cummings is rated highly as a progressive, industrious, intelligent agriculturist and stockman. February 12, 1907, Hiram G. Cummings and Gertie Moore were united in marriage, the ceremony being performed at tlie home of her uncle, C. H. Moore, in Shawnee township. Gertie (Moore) Cummings was born July 18, 1882, in Shawnee township, a daughter of Leander Lewis and Laura (Laux) Moore, the father, a native of Pettis county and the mother, of Scott county, Missouri. Mr. Moore came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1880 and purchased and improved the place in Shawnee township now owned by Percy Lee Moore. Leander Lewis HIRAM G. CUMMINGS AND FAMILY. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 925 and Laura (Laux) Moore were the parents of the following- children: Percy Lee, a prosperous farmer of Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. Hiram G. Cummings, the wife of the subject of this review^; and (3ra May, who died in infancy. Mr. Moore died February 5, 1885, and his wife was united with him in death two years later, on March 10, 1887. Both father and mother were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery in Bates county. To Hiram G. and Mrs. Cummings have been born four children, who are now living, and one deceased; Ann Eliza, who died at the age of sixteen months; Roger Lee; Hazel Verlinda; Clifford Hiram; and Allen Laux. Mr. Cummings is serving his third term as a member of the school board of Shawnee township and in 1917 he was elected trustee of the same township and is the present .incumbent in that office. Mr. Cum- mings is a young man of strong character, practical mind, and the success he has now achieved is but the prediction of a larger measure of success to be won in the future. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have a host of friends in Bates county and in their community no family is held in higher esteem. Lyman Hensley, a prominent citizen of Butler, Missouri, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Bates county. Mr. Hensley is a native of Homer township. Bates county. He was born at the Hensley homestead on January 22, 1874, a son of W. C. and Mary Jane (Halley) Hensley. W. C. Hensley was born in Kentucky in 1844 and Mrs. W. C. Hensley was born one year later in the same state. They came to Missouri from their native state in 1868 and settled near old Mulberry, where two years afterward Mr. Hensley purchased two hundred forty acres of land, now known as the Stevens farm. Mr. Hensley was a veteran of the Civil War. He served two years, a Union soldier, in Company B, Kentucky cavalry, as message bearer, and while in service was seriously injured, receiving a gunshot wound. After coming to Missouri, Mr. Hensley engaged extensively in farming and stock raising, in buying and shipping stock for the St. Louis and Kansas City markets. He was a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of his township, a kindly, courteous, companionable gentleman who made many friends in this state. W. C. Hensley died on the farm where he and his noble wife reared to maturity their family of twelve children : John, who is now deceased ; Sallie, the wife of Ben Biggs, of Hume. Missouri; Anna, who is now deceased: Charlie, a widely-known and successful auctioneer and shipper of livestock, Columbus, Kansas; Leora, 926 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY deceased; Carrie, the wife of E. P. Nickell, of Kansas City, Missouri; Lyman, the subject of this review; Jessie, the wife of CHfford Jackson, Denver, Colorado; Bettie, the wife of J. W. Allen, Alma, Nebraska; Mary Lou, the wife of Hugh McGee, Rawlings, Wyoming; H. C, Neodesha, Kansas; and Lola, deceased. The widowed mother now makes her home at Hume, Missouri. The father was laid to rest in Mulberry cemetery in Bates county. Mr. Hensley, wdiose name introduces this review, obtained his edu- cation at Hotwater school house in Homer township. The name of the school house recalls the amusing incident in commemoration of which the building was named. The early-day settlers in this particu- lar district had decided by vote to move the school house two miles north of the original site. The vote was not unanimous, and Grandma Doddsworth was very much opposed to the proposition. She moved into the school house and made preparations to "stand pat" and when Jack Showers, who had the contract to move the building, came, she threw scalding-hot water upon him. The poor old lady was afterward forced to capitulate and the school house was moved, "ag'in' her voice and vote," as Will Carleton puts it in "The New Church Organ." In his boyhood days, Lyman Hensley was want to ride to Butler behind his father on "Old Cooly," a mare which lived to be thirty-seven years of age, the idolized pet of the Hensley children, and the three often swam across the intervening streams in the days before bridges were known in Bates county. Mr. Hensley's prairie home was on the old Butler-La Cygne stage route and when he was seventeen years of age he was employed as mail carrier on this route for nearly a year. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He was thus employed for ten years prior to his coming to Butler to reside and to enter the stock business in this city. Mr. Hensley buys and sells cattle, hogs, horses, and mules. He formerly attended sales as auctioneer but in recent years he has abandoned this line of work. Mr. Hensley was a candidate for probate judge of Bates county in 1914 on the progressive ticket. , The marriage of Lyman Hensley and Carrie May Henderson, a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Margaret Henderson, was solemni/.cd Fel:»ruary 10, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Hender- son came to Homer township. Bates county, Missouri, in 1884, and located near Mulberry on the Leach place, which they had purchased and that is now owned by Angela Scully. They are both now deceased HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 927 and their remains are interred in a cemetery at Columbus, Kansas. To Lyman and Mrs. Hensley have been born five children: Harvey, Marie, Goldie, Ruth, and Antoinette, all of whom are at home with their parents. As a citizen, Lyman Hensley discharged his (duties wnth icom- mendable fidelity and few men in Bates county enjoy a larger share of public respect and confidence. J. A. Beard, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman of Summit township, is one of the Bates county boys of yesterday who have "made good." Mr. Beard was born January 2, 1875, at the Beard homestead in Deepwater township, a son of Henry and Eliza (Kret- zinger) Beard, one of the worthy and most prominent pioneer fami- lies of Bates county. Henry Beard was a native of Indiana. He came with his family to Missouri in 1867 and they settled in Bates county on a tract of land in Deepwater township. Mr. Beard died in 1897 and interment was made in Smith cemetery. His widow still survives her husband and now, at the age of seventy-two years, resides on the home place in Deepwater township. Henry and Eliza (Kretzinger) Beard w^ere the parents of the following children: Charles F., who was at one time sheriff of Bates county and now resides at Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Frost, of Deepwater township; Mrs. J. H. Baker, the wife of T- H. Baker, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; J. A., the subject of this review; I. E., who is engaged in farming on the home place in Deepwater township; Ava, of Lone Oak township; Mrs. Minnie Ferris, who resides in Canada; Mrs. Maud Parker, of Deepwater township; Mrs. Dora Thomas, of Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Nina McKinley, of Hudson township. In Deepwater township, Bates county, J. A. Beard was reared and educated and, at the age of twenty years, began farming Independently. The first farm he ever owned was a part of the Allen place, a tract com- prising sixty acres, which he sold within a short time after purchasing. Mr. Beard then bought one hundred acres of land in Pleasant Gap town- ship, of which he disposed at the time he left Missouri and went to Colorado, in which state he resided two years, and Kansas, where he was a resident of Labette county for two years. After four years, Mr. Beard returned to Bates county. J. A. Beard was engaged in the mer- cantile business at Pleasant Gap for one year and for eight years was a leading auctioneer of the county, but in the future he intends to devote his entire time and attention to the pursuits of farming and stock raising. 928 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY lie has, at the present time, on the farm three head of Shorthorn cattle, thirty head of Duroc Jersey hogs, and seven horses of good grade. February 17, 1897, J. A. Beard and Lizzie King, a daughter of Alfred and Minerva King, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. The Kings came to Bates county from Ohio in 1886 and they located near Rockville, where they remained for five years, and then returned to their native state to reside for three years, when, they again came to Bates county and at this time located at Butler, where Mrs. King still makes her home. Mr. King died in 1906 and his remains were interred in Rogers cemetery in Bates county. To J. A. and Lizzie (King) Beard have been born eight children, all of whom are now living and are at home with their parents: Harley, Hershel, Buell, Ava, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, and Willie Kenneth. J. A. Beard was left fatherless at the time he most needed a father's advice and assistance and financial support in getting started in life, and he was but one of a large family. Bates county is proud to number him among the most valued of the "self-made" men of Summit township. John P. Connor, proprietor of the "Connor Stock Farm" in Sum- mit township, one of the finest stock farms in Bates county, is one of the county's prominent farmers and stockmen. Mr. Connor is a native of Illinois. He w^as born March 17, 1867, in Ford county, Illinois, a son of John, Sr., and Bridget (McClellan) Connor, natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. John Connor, Sr., had located in Pennsylvania upon land- ing in this country and from Pennsylvania had moved to Illinois, where they settled in Ford county, among the earliest pioneers in 1865. To John, Sr., and Bridget Connor were born the following children: Mary, the wife of Ed Finnegan, of Leonard. Colorado: ]ylrs. Helen Brophy, deceased; Alice, the wife of John Brophy. of ^^'hiteside county, Illi- nois; Mrs. Kate Gadsell, of Champaign county, Illinois; and John P., the subject of this review. The father is now deceased and the widowed mother resides at Pana. Illinois. In Champaign county, Illinois, John P. Connor was reared and, in the district schools of the county, educated. He has followed farm- ing and stock raising practically all his life with the exception of one year when he was engaged in railroading. The "Connor Stock Farm" in Summit township comprises six hundred forty acres of land, which were formerly a part of the Fry Ranch in Bates county. Mr. Connor purchased his place in 1910 and has since devoted his time and attention to raising high-grade stock, having eighty head of cattle and HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 929 thirty head of horses and mules on the farm at the time of this writing in 1918. The farm, which is indisputably one of the best in the township and in Bates county, is situated eight miles southeast of Butler. The place is well equipped with all the latest facilities for handling stock and the improvements include a well-built stock barn; a cattle barn, 30 x 200 feet in dimensions; a huge crib for corn and grain, and, at the present time, filled; and hog houses. Two hundred forty acres of the "Connor Stock Farm" are annually planted in grain, the remainder being given to pasture and meadow. Mr. Connor raises Aberdeen Angus cattle and he is the owner of two registered males. He also has on the farm a horse eligible for registry. The marriage of John P. Connor and Helen Brophy, a daughter of John and Mary (Ryan) Brophy, of Champaign county, Illinois, was solemnized in 1892. Both parents of Mrs. Connor are now deceased. To this union have been born seven children: Mary, the wife of James Gordon, of Summit township; Ellen, the wife of John Shautz, of Shaw- nee township; Charles, John, William, Leo Patrick, and Margaret, at home with their parents. Although Mr. Connor is a very public-spirited gentleman, he is not an active partisan politically, being content to labor quietly among his fine stock at his beautiful country place in Summit township. He is well informed on the leading questions and issues of the day and is firm in his convictions of right and wrong. He has ever been indus- trious and he deserves the success which has attended his well-directed efforts. James R. Gordon, a well-known young agriculturist of Bates county, was born August 5, 1884, on his father's plantation in Fleming county, Kentucky, located near Flemingsburg, a son of J. AA^ and Victoria Gordon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Virginia. J. W. Gordon was a son of James and Betsy ( Wallingford) Gordon. James Gordon, grandfather of James R., the subject of this review, was a native of Ireland. He had emigrated from his native land in early manhood and had come to the United States, where he settled in Ken- tucky and was united in marriage with Betsy Wallingford. a member of a prominent colonial family, of Wallingford, Kentucky. J. W. Gordon was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and he served three years with John T. Morgan's regiment. Mr. Gordon died in 1915 and his remains were interred in the cemetery near his home in Fleming county. Kentucky. His widow still survives him and at present is making her (59) 930 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY home at Penfield in Champaign county, IlHnois. J. A\'. and Victoria Gordon were the parents of the following children: Mary Alice, deceased; John William, deceased; George W., Wallingford, Kentucky; James R., the subject of this review; Anna, the wife of Cleveland WycofT, of Champaign county, Illinois; Eugene, of Champaign county, Illinois; and Eunice, the wife of Claud Mart, of Wallingford, Kentucky, who are twins. In the pulilic schools of Elcming county, Kentucky, James R. Gordon received his education. Prior to coming; to Missouri, Mr. Gordon was engaged in tobacco growing in Kentucky and since he came to Bates county in 1912 and purchased the lease to the land on which he now resides he has followed the pursuits of farming and stock raising. Mr. Gordon's farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of the Angela Scully lands. James R. Gordon and Mary Connor, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Connor, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, were united in marriage in 1912 at Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Gordon was born Novem- ber 11, 1892, in Champaign county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have been born three children: John William, Mary Agnes, and James Robert, Jr. The Gordons are highly respected in their community. James M. McGovern, a valued member of the directorate of the Missouri State Bank of Butler, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit tow-nship, is a native of Macoupin county, Illinois. Mr. McGov- ern was born September 14, 1858, a son of William M. and Hester A. (McPherron) McGovern, natives of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. W'illiam M. McGovern were the parents of the following children: John, deceased; William, Jr., who resides in Kansas; Ephraim, deceased; Eugene, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Eliza Edwards, Fort Smith, Arkansas; Frederick, Kansas City, Missouri; and Oscar, deceased. The father died in Macoupin county, Illinois, in November, 1858. Mrs. McGovern survived her husband many years, when in 1897 they were united in death. The mother died at Kansas City, Missouri. In Macoupin county, Illinois, in the common schools, James M. McGovern obtained his education. iHe was reared to manhood in Illinois and for eleven years was employed in the coal mines located near his father's home. Mr. McGovern came to Kansas City, Missouri. in 1890 with his widowed mother and entered the employ of the Metro- politan Street Railway Company. ITe worked for this company for three years and then moved from Kansas City to Bates county and settled on his present farm in Summit township, after residing for some time on HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 93 1 a part of the Argenbright farm, which he purchased in 1893. The McGovern farm in Summit township comprises eighty acres of choice land, conveniently located within five miles of Butler, abundantly watered, and nicely improved. About half the place is in pasture land and grass. Mr. McGovern has built a barn since he acquired the owner- ship of the farm and has improved and remodeled all the other build- ings on the place. He is engaged in raising cattle, horses, and hogs, and he has made a marked financial success with his stock. The marriage of James M. McGovern and Clara J. Anderson was solemnized in 1907. Clara J. (Anderson) McGovern is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Anderson, honored pioneers of Macoupin count\ Illinois. Mrs. Anderson died when her daughter, Clara J., was a young girl, seventeen years of age. Mr. Anderson is still living and is now eighty-six years of age. Mr. and Mrs. McGovern have for many years made an annual visit to their relatives and friends in Macoupin county, Illinois. By a former marriage, James M. McGovern is the father of three children : Clarence M., the youngest child and only one now living, a w^ll-to-do farmer and stockman residing two miles southeast of But- ler, Missouri, who married Cora Powell and to them have been born two children, Rosa Lee, and Annetta Ailene. The first wife, and the mother of Clarence M. McGovern, Cora (Overstreet) McGovern, departed this life in 1906. William M. McGovern, the father of James M., the subject of this review, and Sterling Overstreet, the father of Cora (Overstreet) McGovern were comrades in the Mexican War o' 1846. -i^^f''^^'^ Mr. McGovern is a man of strong character, practical mind, and rare business ability. He possesses to a marked degree the gift of foreseeing with remarkable accuracy the outcome of all transactions. Fred Wolf, assessor of Mount Pleasant township, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Adams county and w^as tliere reared and edu- cated. At the age of nineteen years, he came to Bates county, Missouri — "a-foot and alone" — and located at Pleasant Gap, where he was emploved at anv kind of work he could obtain in the summers and for two winters attended school. In 1892. Mr. Wolf purchased his first land, a tract of seventy-three acres, which he sold in the autumn of the same year and then l)ought a farm comprising- eighty acres. Five years later. ]\Tr. Wolf disposed of his second country place and in 1896 moved to Butler. In April, 1898, he resigned his position as clerk in a mercantile establishment at Butler and enlisted in the service of the United States in the Spanish- 932 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY American War, enlisting at Bntler. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, then to Chickamauga Park and to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence to Albany, Georgia, where he was mustered out at the close of the conflict. At one time, Mr. Wolf was sent on a sick furlough to the City Hospital at St. Louis, and while he was recuperating in the soldier's ward it was being reported in PuUler that he was dying and later that he was dead. When he returned home, Mr. Wolf had the most unusual experience of reading his own obituar}- in the Butler newspa- pers. Prior to leaving Butler, he was employed at the Hill Cash Store as clerk. Afterward, he w^as with the American Clothing House in the shoe department for one and a half years and wdth the Levy Mercantile Company for one year. He purchased his present home place of eighty acres of choice land located two miles west of Butler in Mount Pleasant township in 1910 and moved to it. In 1895 Fred W'olf and Stella Burch were united in marriage and to this union were born two children: Bernice Vivian, who is now a junior student in the Butler High School ; and Ronald Wayne, at home. Mrs. W^olf died in 1906. A sister of Fred AA'olf has charge of tlie house- hold and is caring for the children. Mrs. Wolf was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Burch. a promi- nent pioneer family of Bates county. James K. Burch came to this part of Missouri in 1844 and located on land eight miles south of Butler. While a resident of Pleasant Gap township, Fred Wolf was elected assessor and served capably two years. He is the present assessor of Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Wolf is a worker. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with the degree of success which is attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work that lies l)efore them. He is wddely recognized in Bates county as a man of intelligent views, excellent judgment, and sterling moral worth. Judge Estes Smith, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, Mis- souri, was a native of Daviess county, Missouri. He was born February 6, 1856, a son of Stephen H. and Catherine (Plarsha) Smith, honored and respected pioneers of Daviess county. Stephen H. Smith was born June 6, 1819, and Mrs. Smith was born May 14, 1823. They were united in marriage in 1840 and to them were born thirteen children. Stephen H. Smith died May 25, 1896, at Marcelinc in Linn county, Missouri. His wife died in Idaho in Latah county, near Troy. Judge Smith came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1878 and located in JUDGE ESTES SMITH. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 933 Mingo township. He was in business at Mayesburg for one year, after which he moved to the country place where his widow now resides, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-seven acres of choice land located seven miles southwest of Creighton. Judge Smith was one of the lead- ing men of affairs in his township and during his lifetime filled many different township offices. He was a lifelong Democrat. He filled the office of judge from the northern district of Bates county, serving one term. He was appointed superintendent of Drainage District No. 1 while the drainage work was in progress and in 1914 he was re-elected judge of the county court. Judge Smith has served but six months of his second term in the capacity of judge when his death occurred on June 16, 1915. The marriage of Judge Estes Smith and Missouri E. Staley was solemnized May 15, 1883, at the Staley homestead in Mingo township. Missouri E. (Staley) Smith was born May 31, 1859, in Mingo township. Bates county, a daughter of Stephen M. and Elizabeth (Lefiar) Staley, the former, born in Virginia in 1820 and the latter, in Illinois in 1838. Mr. Staley came to Missouri prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and settled on the farm where .Thomas Staley now resides. The Staley estate comprised three hundred sixty acres of land at the time of the death of Mr. Staley in 1875. Mrs. Staley now makes her home with her children, in Bates and Cass counties, Missouri. To Judge Estes and Missouri E. (Staley) Smith were born the following children: Stephen E., principal of the Osceola, Missouri, schools; Robert, who is engaged in lumbering in Idaho; Marvin, who joined November 2, 1917, in Wyo- ming with the Army of the United States, a Mingo township boy, edu- cated in the public schools of Bates county, born March 30, 1888, now thirty years of age, with Company M, One Hundred Sixty-first Infantry; Clyde B. and Clarence Estes, at home with their widowed mother; Lil- lie May, who died at the age of four years in 1889; and Mary Lee, who died at the age of four years in 1895. Clyde B. Smith, born May 26, 1896, and Clarence Estes Smith, born October 14, 1898, above named, are engaged in farming" and in raising Shropshire sheep and Shorthorn cattle. Judge Estes Smith died June 16, 1915, and interment was made in West cemetery. He was a highly valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Johnstown, Missouri, with whom he affili- ated in 1880, and was past master of the Wadesburg Lodge No. 348 of Creighton. Judge Smith was a devout Christian gentleman, an earnest and conscientious member of the Aaron Methodist church. Erom sterling pioneer ancestry Judge Estes Smith was descended, 934 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and the family of which he was a most creditable representative was one of the best in western Missouri, of whom devotion to duty was a marked characteristic. He was long esteemed as one of Bates county's most honorable citizens, as one who had at heart the public good, who strived to do the right in every sphere to which he was called. The confidence which the people had in Judge Smith and in his ability was proven again and again by elevating him to responsible positions and the manner in which he invariably discharged all duties incumbent upon him demonstrated the wisdom of their choice, proved that their trust was in the keeping of a high-minded, efficient, and honest gentleman. Though his labors here are ended, the memory of his exemplary life will ever linger like a sweet incense to cheer the sorrowing hearts of those who loved him and the influence of his good deeds will encourage others to emulate his virtues and to trust the God whom he served and wor- shipped. E. G. Grant, proprietor of the "Grant Stock Farm" in Summit township, is one of the enterprising farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Grant is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, born in 1887, the only son of Charles and Ann (Hazlett) Grant, the former, a native of England and the latter, of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grant have been l)orn two children : Nellie, w'ho makes her home with her father at Butler; and E. G., the subject of this review. Charles Grant purchased the farm, which is the home of his son, E. G., about 1890 from Thomas Bushear, who died at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1916, and the Grants resided at their country place until the autumn of 1909. Mr. Grant is now making his home at Butler, Missouri. In the district schools of Bates county, E. G. Grant obtained his elementary education. lie later attended the Butler High School for two years. Mr. Grant has resided on the farm, which is now his home, practically all his life, as he was a little child, three vears of age, when his father brought the family to this county to make their home. The "Grant Stock farm" comprises one hundred ninety acres of land, most of which is "bottom land" drained by Willow branch, and was formerly known as the Glass farm. Major Glass used to be the owner of the place and the cemetery, which occu]:)ics one acre of the farm, was in the days gone by named in his honor. ETis wife and child were the first two persons interred in the burial ground. This is one of the fine stock farms of Summit township and Mr. Grant is successfully raising white-face cattle and Poland China hogs, keeping registered HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 935 males at the head of each herd, and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. Since accjuiring the ownership of the farm, Mr. Grant has built a barn, 48 X 48 feet in dimensions, installed a Wind-mill and scales, put up hog-tight wire fencing in all the pastures, and remodeled the residence. The marriage of E. G. Grant and Susan Tyler was solemnized in 1909. Susan (Tyler) Grant is a daughter of W. B. and Rachel (Moore) Tyler. W. B. Tyler, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, was born in Kentucky. Mrs. Tyler is a native of Missouri, as is also her daughter, Mrs. Grant. Mr. Tyler enlisted in the Civil War when he was a very young man and served throughout the struggle. He is a descendant of Charles Tyler, an honored pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, who set- tled on a tract of land near old Johnstown, in the earliest days of the settlement of this part of Missouri. Grandfather Tyler and Grand- father Moore were both brave, old pioneers and wealthy slaveowners of Bates county in the days before the War. Mr. Moore died near Lamonte, Missouri, during the Civil War, when his clothing and bed- ding were taken from him by the Federals, his death coming as the result of exposure. To E. G. and Susan Grant have been born two children : A\'illiam and Charles. As a public-spirited, progressive citizen, there is no more highly valued man in Bates county than Mr. Grant. William H. Brannock, one of the pioneers of Bates county, a suc- cessful farmer and stockman of Summit township, is widely known throughout the county as a breeder of high-grade Percherons. For more than fifty years, the Brannock name has l:»een a familiar and highly respected one in Butler and Bates county for the Brannocks settled here in 1866, when this part of the state was still in its primitive condition, having but one highway Across the prairie and abounding in wild deer and prairie chickens. Mr. Brannock is a native of Ken- tucky. He was born in Harrison county in 1841, a son of Darius and Catherine (Hall) Brannock, natives of Kentucky. Darius Brannock moved with his family from Kentucky to Indiana in 1848 and from Indiana to Missouri in 1866, settling on the farm now owned by Will- iam H: Brannock, a place comprising two hundred eighty acres of land formerly owned by Jeptha Hollingsworth, a wealthy slaveowner of Bates county in the days before the Civil War. Mr. Brannock was a stonemason bv trade and he followed his vocation previous to coming to Missouri and for several years afterward. He erected the Sheriff Atkinson building in Butler, a building which stood on the east side 936 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of the public square on the site of the one now occupied by the Levy Mercantile Company. He paid Mr. Hollingsworth ten dollars an acre for his farm and at the Brannock homestead, Darius Brannock departed this life a few years after he had come West. Mrs. Brannock survived her husband many years, when in 1903 they were united in death. Both father and mother were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. Robert Brannock and William H. Brannock are the sole surviving members of their father's family. William H. Brannock was reared and educated in Indiana. He attended school at Greencastle, Indiana, and remained with his parents and assisted with the farm work until after the death of his father, about 1873, when he took charge of the home place and continued to carry out his father's plans. A small house, of two rooms, was built in 1867 and later rel)iiilt and made larger. Mr. Brannock built a new residence in 1913, a comfortable, pleasant home of seven rooms, and a good barn. His farm comprises fifty-three acres of land located four miles southeast of Butler. He is an expert horse- man and naturally so, for all the Brannocks as far back as they are known have been interested in fine horses. Mr. Brannock raises Percherons of high grade. In 1864, the marriage of William H. Brannock and Clara Nelson was solemnized. Mrs. Brannock is a daughter of William Nelson, a late resident of Greencastle, Indiana. To this union has been born one child, a daughter, Minnie, who is at home with her parents. Measured by the true standard of manhood, Mr. Brannock's life has been a decided success. He is an excellent agriculturist and breeder, industrious and enterprising and though not lal:)oring on quite so exten- sive a scale as some of his neighbors, he has by capable management of his business affairs acquired a fair share of this world's goods. Per- sonally, he is a very companionable gentleman, and a man of many friends. R. J. Thomas, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Mount Pleas- ant township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens. Mr. Thomas is a native of Illinois, born in Schuyler county, in 1866, a son of Daniel and Sarah (Guinn) Thomas. Daniel Thomas was a native of Ohio. He came with his family to Missouri in 1869 and located at Butler. He drove through from Illinois. He was a well-digger by trade and after locating at Butler followed his vocation in this city and vicinity. Prob- ably half the wells in Butler which were dug from 1869 until 1880 were dug by Daniel Thomas. He was a genial man of kindly disposition, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 937 industrious and capable and popular with the residents of this city. His death in 1887 was long lamented by all who knew him. Mrs. Thomas departed this life in February, 1917, at the age of eighty years. She was one of the noblest of the brave pioneer women who settled in Bates county. The remains of both father and mother were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. Daniel and Sarah Thomas were the parents of the following children: Fleetwood, Butler, Missouri; David, who died at the age of fifteen years; R. J., the subject of this review; Mrs. Phoebe Taylor, Butler, Missouri; Daniel, Jr., St. Louis, Missouri; and John, who died in youth. R. J. Thomas attended the citv schools of Butler. Since he was twelve years of age, he has made his own living, working by the day, month, and job. When he was twenty-five years of age, he began farm- ing for himself. Mr. Thomas first purchased the John Keeton place of forty acres of land, to which he later added one hundred twenty acres adjoining land and then sold the farm and returned to Butler. Two years afterward, Mr. Thomas purchased a tract of land compris- ing eighty acres and he had successively added tracts of forty acres each to his original holdings until he was the owner of two hundred acres of choice land in Bates county, a farm located three miles east of Butler. This place he sold seven years ago and purchased his present country home from Lott Warren, a farm embracing one hundred sixty acres of land situated one mile east of Butler. Mr. Thomas' place is a splendid stock farm and he has twenty acres of it in pasture, forty acres in hay, and the remainder under cultivation. He devotes much time and attention to raising Duroc hogs and to horses and mules. The Thomas farm is abundantly supplied with water from wells and a spring. The improvements are in excellent repair and include a comfortable residence, two barns, a hog shed, cribs, and numerous other farm buildings. The marriage of R. J. Thomas and Luella Martin was solemnized in 1884. Mrs. Thomas is a daughter of R. F. Martin, of Butler. Mr. Martin was a Union veteran of the Civil W^ar. He died at Butler and his remains were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. To R. J. and Luella (Martin) Thomas have been born five children: Charles AV., at home with his parents: James Virgil, at home with his parents; Nellie, the wife of Clarence Bolin, Butler, Missouri; Ada May and Helen Louise, who are at home with their parents. Nearly a half century ago, the Thomas family settled in Bates .938 J[IST()RY OF BATES COUNTY county, and for ncarl}' fifty years nicnihcrs (jf the family have Ijccn connected closely witli the development and growth of the county. He has invariably given his support cheerfully and his influence liberally to all worthy enterprises for the public good and b\' living a good life him- self. R. J. ddiomas exerts a potent inllueiice upon all with whom he comes in contact. J. P. Ellington, a progressive farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is the owner of one of the best stock farms in Bates county. Mr. I^llington is widely known as a successful horseman and breeder of mules, cattle, and hogs. He is a native of Bath county, Kentucky. He was born June 30, 1873, a son of Joseph G. and Alice (Wyatt) Ellington, both of wdiom were also natives of Ken- tucky. Joseph G. F>llington came to Missouri in 1882 and settled in Bates county on a farm in Pleasant Gap tcnvnship. He bought at the time of his settlement here a tract of eighty acres of land, to which he later added forty acres, a place located twelve miles from Butler, and for ten years was engaged in tobacco growing. Joseph G. and Alice iCllington were the parents of five children: Ed, Butler, Missouri; June, the wife of Robert Eondrum, of Gardner, Texas ; J. P., the sub- ject of this review; Lee, who is now the owner of the Ellington home- stead; and Eannie, the wife of Everett Morilla, deceased. The mother died November 13, 1901, and the father joined her in death August 12, 1917. I)Otli parents w-ere laid to rest in Myers cemetery in Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Ellington were well-known and respected throughout Pleasant Gap township and they have been sadly missed from the number of good citizens in Bates county. At High Point, one of the district schools of Hudson township, J. P. Ellington obtained his education. When he was twenty-one years of age, he left home and moxcd to his own farm, which lies one mile south of his i)resent country place. Mr. Ellington purchased the latter farm, which comprises two hundred fifty acres of land, in 1910. a place formerly owned by Joe T. Smith, of Butler. In addition, Mr. Elling- ton owns a tract of forty acres of land in Summit township. The home farm is situated one and three-fourths miles east of Butler and lies parllx' in Mount Pleasant and partly in Summit townships. This is an excel- lent stock farm nicely located, well watered, and splendidly improved. The residence is a house of seven rooms, built on the highest point (/ the farm. There are three different sets of improvements on the Elling- ton place. \\'ith the residence is a large barn, which is used for stock. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 939 On the south tract, there are two barns, and on the forty acres in Sum- mit township there are also good improvements, including a residence and well-constructed barn. Mr. Ellington deals extensively in horses and mules, but he also gives some attention to raising cattle and hogs. He has about the average number of cattle and a herd of hogs. One hundred acres of the farm are in pasture and one hundred acres ar; rich "bottom land." June 9, 1897, J. P. Ellington and Alice Morilla, a daughter of Charles and Emma (Thomas) Morilla, formerly of Lone Oak township and now of California, were united in marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Ellington have been born three children : Edna, who is now in her senior year at the Butler High School; Virgil, a student in the But- ler High School; and Harold, a pupil in the grades. Mr. Ellington is a man of untiring industry, which is equaled only by his capacity to accomplish the vast amount of work he undertakes. Charles Marsteller, one of the prominent agriculturists of Mount Pleasant and Lone Oak townships, is a member of a pioneer family of Bates county. When the Marstellers settled here there was no court house at Butler, but one was erected soon after they came, which build- ing was destroyed during the Civil War and a second constructed. In the lifetime of the Marstellers in Bates county, there have been three different court houses erected at Butler. Mr. Marsteller was born at Butler, Missouri, in 1862, in the home which is now Judge Silvers', a son of Randolph and Mary A. Marsteller. Randolph Marsteller was a native of Licking county. Ohio. He came to Bates county, Missouri in 1857 and purchased the farm now owned by his son, Charles. Dur- ing the Civil War. when Order Number 11 was issued, the Marstellers moved to Henry and Pettis counties and remained there until the con- flict had ended. When Mr. Marsteller came back to his home in Bates county, he was obliged to begin life anew for all the buildings he owned, including five houses, practically all his stock, the fencing, and from five to eight hundred bushels of corn were destroyed. In the war, he served with the Home Guards under Captain Newberry. The Marstel- lers returned to the farm to live, a place formerly owned by Lucinda Seal and comprising five hundred acres of splendid, productive land, of which Charles Marsteller owns one hundred forty-five acres located two and a half miles south of Butler. To Randolph and Mary A. Mar- steller were born six children: Harriet, the wife of Mr. Daniels, of Lone Oak township; James A., Lone Oak township; Mollie, the wife 940 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of Mr. Pierce, Battleground, Tippecanoe county, Indiana; Florence, deceased; Tena, deceased; and Charles, the subject of this review. Mr. Marsteller was actively identified with the farming and stock interests of Bates county for many years. He was a man of industrious habits, an excellent, public-spirited citizen, who served his township many years as justice of the peace. He died about 1883. Mrs. Marsteller departed this life April 10, 1914. Both father and mother were laid to rest in the cemetery known as Oak Hill. Mr. Marsteller was an enterprising and energetic .farmer, a gentleman of native abilities of a high order. He was honest himself and not only expected but thought everyone else to be so. Generous and obliging, he assisted to the limit of his ability all worthy enterprises. His death and that of Mrs. Marss- teller, a brave pioneer woman, were sadly lamented in Bates county. Charles Marsteller attended the city schools of Butler. He remained at home with his father and his mother until both were taken from him and he still makes his home on a part of the old home place, a farm of one hundred forty-five acres. The Marsteller farm lies partly in Mount Pleasant and partly in Lone Oak townships. Mr. Marsteller is numbered among the best citizens of his community and he is widely and favorably known throughout the county. He is unmarried. Seth E. Cope, a well-known and highly respected citizen of Bates county, Missouri, an honored pioneer of New Home township, veteran of the Civil War, was born May 21, 1845, in Monroe county, Ohio. Mr. Cope is a son of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Maryland. They were the parents of four children : Samuel B., deceased ; John O. Adams, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Maria A., the wife of Leonard Tripp, of Mountain View, Wyoming; and Seth E., the subject of this review. A more elaborate genealogy of the Cope family is given in connec- tion with the biography of John O. Adams Cope. In Clark county, Missouri, Seth E. Cope received his education. The Copes had moved from Ohio to Iowa in 1847 and thence to Mis- souri in 1851, locating in Clark county, where they resided for several years when they moved to Kansas in 1862. In 1864 Seth E. Cope enlisted with Company E and was later transferred to Company F, Eleventh Kan- sas Cavalry, and was in active service in Kansas, Arkansas, and in the land of the Cherokee Nation. Capt. Evan G. Ross, Company E.. who later became United States Senator and whose vote acquitted President John- son from impeachment, was later appointed governor of New Mexico by ■.^ r ^^H^^HI^^h^^-.^^^Ik r ^^^^^^^^^^S^Ss^-'wl^ ^^^^HBPfi^' J^^I^^Hil^iBfer~' J ^^V'"' ^''^fH^'V^ ■ ^^^^^^^K "-^^^sp*^ mPHV^' JK ^^«^^_^ :^ W.---f:F^ 91 f- ■ /^t '^^^^^^^^^^^B ■ 1 ^I^^^^^^Ty^l^^^^^^g SETH E. COPE. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 94 1 President Cleveland, was a brave officer. Mr. Cope says William Gil- breath was the largest slave-holder in the county and was a strong Union man. Mr. Cope had a special pension bill passed for a blind girl, a soldier's daughter. Mr. Cope was an important participant in the battle of Mine Creek and in the engagements accompanying Price's famous raid from Lexington to Weber Falls, Arkansas. The regiment, of which he was a member, made the Indian campaign in Wyoming and on the plains in 1865. Mr. Cope states that Quantrill, returning from the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21, 1863, disbanded in New Home town- ship. Bates county, Missouri, just north of the river, a part of his men going down the north side and a part down the south side of the Marais des Cygnes. Mr. Cope was discharged from the Union service August 31, 1865, at Fort Leavenworth and took a one-hundred-dollar bond in pay- ment for services. In the fall of 1866, he came to Bates county and selected his land and at Butler, heard Colonel McClurg speak. In the spring of 1867, Seth E. Cope came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a farm in New Home township, where he has lived continuously since. Mr. Cope now makes his home with his brother, John Q. Adams Cope, of whom further mention is made in this volume. The former has resided in Bates county for fifty-one years and has known personally and still knows probably every individual of prominence in the county. In January, 1885, Seth E. Cope and Gussie Littlefield, a daughter of Warren Littlefield, of New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union were born two children, who are !iow living: John Logan, of New Home township, Bates county; and Etta, who is now married and resides at Hoskins, Iowa. Mr. Cope is widely and favorably known in western Missouri and among the most valued men of Bates county he occupies a conspicuous place. He is a gentleman of the old school, possessing countless sterling qualities of mind and heart, and he has a host of friends in this section of the state. PYaternally, Seth E. Cope is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a Royal Arch Mason, Miami Chapter No. 76. John Logan Cope married Grace Osborne, of Bates county, and has a daughter, Ruth, born July 1, 1917, for whom Mr. Cope has bought a government bond. Mr. Cope is promoting the plan of every grand- father buying a bond for every grand-child born since 1917. Etta married Edward Wolverton and has two sons : Clay Reese, aged six years and six months; and Howard Logan, aged four years. 942 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY In the seventies Mr. Cope had introduced and passed tlirough Colonel Burdette, a bill by the general government establishing a mail route from Osceola to Garnett, passing through Chalk Land, Papinsville and Rich Hill, New Home, Walnut, Pleasanton and Mound City, etc. John Quincy Adams Cope, pioneer of New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, proprietor of two hundred forty acres of land in New Home township, where he has resided for fifty years, an honored veteran of the Civil War, notary public in Bates county for thirty years, is one of the county's best known and most prominent citizens. Mr. Cope is a native of Ohio. He was born December 5, 1835, in Columbiana county near Lisbon, a son of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope. Edmund Cope was born May 2, 1807, a son of John and Mary (McCabe) Cope, who were united in marriage in 1803 in Frederick county, Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. John Cope removed with their family to Fairfield town- ship, Columbiana county, Ohio, where they settled in 1810. John Cope was a son of Oliver Cope, who emigrated from Wiltshire, England and came to the colony of Pennsylvania among the earliest settlers from his native land, in 1687. Oliver Cope was the father of the following chil- dren: William, Elizabeth, Ruth, and John. Edmund Cope, a son of John Cope, was united in marriage with Mary Blackburn in 1832 and to this union were born the following children: Samuel B., who was born October 6, 1833, and died at Enid, Oklahoma, in 1913; John Quincy Adams, the subject of this review; Maria A., who was born April 20, 1838, is now the wife of Leonard Tripp; and Seth E., who was born May 21, 1845, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Edmund and Mary (Blackl)urn) Cope moved with their family to Van Buren county, Iowa, in 1847, thence to Clark county, Missouri, in 1851, and to Kansas in 1862. In the state of Kansas, the Copes resided at differ- ent times in Jefferson, Shawnee, and Jackson counties. In 1867, they came to Bates county, Missouri. Mary (Blackburn) Cope was born in 1800 in Maryland. The father died in 1884 and the mother joined him in death four years later, in 1888. All three sons of Edmund and Mary (Blackburn) Cope enlisted and served in the Civil ^^'ar, Samuel B., with the Seventh ]\lissouri Cavalry; John Quincy Adams, witli the Second Kansas State Militia in the Topeka Regiment; and Seth E., with the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry. John Quincv Adams Cope fought in the battle of ^^'estport and assisted in driving Price southward. After the l)attle mentioned, he returned to his home, receiving his honorable discharge. Seth E. Cope took part in the HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 943 Indian conflicts on the plains in 1865. In the autumn of 1866, John Quincy Adams and Seth E. Cope came to New Home township and purchased one hundred sixty acres of land. Their father, Edmund Cope, took up a homestead claim of forty acres of land; Samuel B., forty acres; John Quincy Adams, forty acres ; and Seth E., forty acres. Afterward, John Quincy Adams Cope bought an additional tract of one hundred twenty acres for ten dollars an acre. He cared for his father and mother as long as they lived. Politically, Mr. Cope is afifiliated with the Republican party. He twice cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln, the first time in Clark county, Missouri, and again, in 1864, at Indianola, Kansas. In religious mat- ters, Mr. Cope is a Deist, believing in Nature, in a Hereafter, and in the doctrines of Christianity. He has been a member of the Ancient Eree and Accepted Masons since 1865 and in point of membership is the oldest Mason now living in Bates county. Mr. Cope is a member of the Foster Blue Lodge, of the Butler Chapter and Commandery. John Wright, a well-known citizen in Bates county, is a native of Kentucky . Mr. Wright was born in 1853, a son of James and Eliza- beth (Dean) Wright, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James Wright came to Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm of eighty acres of land in Mount Pleasant township, a place formerly owned by Henry Medcalf, of Kentucky, and now owned by Lewis Deffenborgh. Mr. Wright resided on this farm until his death in 1887. Mrs. Wright departed this life in 1905 and both father and mother were interred in the cemetery at Oak Hill. James and Elizabeth (Dean) Wright were the parents of the following children: Jackson, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; Mary C, the widow of John McCann, Butler, Missouri; Angelina, the wife of G. W. George. Carlisle, Kentucky; John, the subject of this review; R. M., who died about 1897 and whose remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery; Dorcas, who died in 1886; Sallie J., the wife of C. O. Blake, Mount Pleasant township, Bates county, Missouri; and Bettie, who first married John Walls, now deceased, and then Thomas Gibson, of Kansas. City, Missouri. John Wright came to Mount Pleasant township. Bates county in 1878. He rented land for one year and then purchased forty acres of land, on which tract liis present country home is located. At different times later, M. Wright added to his holdings tracts of forty acres each and he is now owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acrc-^ of valuable land. All that is now on the Wright farm in the way of 944 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY improvements, John Wright has himself placed there. In addition to his country place, Mr. Wright owns the old John Karris homestead in Butler, a handsome residence of eight rooms with a barn and an abun- dance of shade and fruit trees situated on a tract of two and a half acres of land in Burton's addition. At Aberdeen, Ohio, the marriage of John Wright and Mary A. McCann was solemnized on November 11, 1875. Mary A. (McCann) Wright is a daughter of James and Susan (Barr) McCann, both of whom were natives of Nicholas county, Kentucky. The Wrights and the McCanns were neighbors in Kentucky and John and Mary were friends and playmates in their school days. Mrs. McCann died in 1891 and Mr. McCann joined her in death in April, 1907. Their remains are resting in Concord cemetery in Nicholas county, Kentucky. To John and Mary A. Wright have been born two children: Carrie E., the wife of Charles AV. Dickerson, of Butler, Missouri ; and Anna Maud, the wife of Harry French, of Charlotte township. Bates county, Mis- souri. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are very proud of their five grandchil- dren, the sons and daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Harry French : Kenneth Wright, Dorothy Belle, Doris Louise, Mary Mildred, and John \\illie. Mr. Wright moved to Butler from his farm several years ago and while a resident of Butler he was twice elected assessor and served capa- bly and well for two terms. After six years in the city, he returned to the farm and in Mount Pleasant township he was again elected assessor and he served one term. When Mr. Wright again took up his residence in Butler, about tw^o years ago dating from the time of this writing in 1918, the voters of this city knew where to find an honest, conscien- tious of^cial and he was for the fourth time elected assessor and served another term in office, making a record of eight years of efficient, satis- factory service. Mr. Wright has steadily climbed upward in life, overcoming count- less obstacles and forging to the front until he now ranks high with the successful citizens of Butler and Bates county. J. F. Bedinger, of Mount Pleasant township, is one of the success- ful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Bedinger is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1885 at Normal, a son of AA^illiam H. and Mary E. (Bishop) Bedinger, both of whom were born in Kentucky and died in Illinois. William H. Bedinger was a prosperous farmer and stockman of Illinois. J. F. Bedinger is a descendant of colonial ancestors. George Mich- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 945 ael, his great-grandfather, came to America from Germany with his parents and they settled in Pennsylvania. He was at Philadelphia at the time the Declaration of Independence was signed and later fought at Valley Forge, serving under General Washington. J. F. Bedinger obtained his elementary education at Normal, Illinois and afterward attended the State University of Illinois. In early maturity, he came to Missouri from Bloomington, Illinois, and located at Kansas City, where he conducted a hat store for several years. He came from Kan- sas City to his present country home in Bates county. The Bedinger farm comprises two hundred forty acres of land located three miles southwest of Butler. This farm is one of the attrac- tive country places in Bates county. There are two sets of improvements. The Bedinger residence is a comfortable house of seven rooms and with it is a barn, 34 x 60 feet, and a garage. On the east one hundred sixty acres are a cottage of four rooms and a barn, 80 x 50 feet. A well, twenty feet in depth, was dug on the farm in 1917 and from it water is piped to the barn. The water runs over the top of the well and into the pipes at the rate of about thirty barrels a day, thus an abundance of good water is supplied the stock. He is just beginning the raising and breed- ing of registered Hereford cattle. He has at the present time twenty- six head of Hereford heifers eligible to be registered, heifers from the Jacob Varren herd at Appleton. Missouri. "Vincent." 481148, a regis- tered steer from the Judge E. Hurt herd, heads the Bedinger herd. In. February, 1915, J. F. Bedinger and Maud Florence Snyder, daugh- ter of George Snyder, of Kansas City, Missouri, were united in mar- riage. To this union has been born one child, a son, George AVesley, who was born July 23, 1917. Mr. Bedinger is keenly alive to everything pertaining to the growth, development, and betterment of his township and county and he has always been a stanch advocate of progress. Mr. and Mrs. Bedinger have countless friends in Bates county. H. H. Council, proprietor of the Butler Steam Laundry, is a native of Indiana. He was born in 1870, a son of Thomas and Mary Council, both of whom are now deceased. His father died when the son, H. PL, was a child nine years of age. Mrs. Council departed this life seven years ago, in 1910. To Thomas and Mary Council were born three sons, who are now living: Harry, Lansing, Michigan; Charles, a successful rancher at Mondak, Montana: and H. H., the subject of this review. H. H. Council attended the public schools of Indiana until the death (6o) 946 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of his father, when he was obliged to make his own way in life and labored as a farm "hand" for his board and clothing, attendance at school being of secondary importance. Mr. Council was given the opportunity to acquire an education at intervals, which were brief, few, and far apart. He drove a riding cultivator for his cousin, when he, H. H. Council, was too small to hold the plow handles. Mr. Council came West as far as Des Moines, Iowa, when he was eighteen years of age and entered the laundry business there, which business he has followed for thirty years. He remained in Iowa several years and from that state moved to Missouri, locating first at St. Louis, then at Kansas City, and at last at Butler. In 1891, H. H. Council and Ida A. Seamen, of Des Moines, Iowa, were united in marriage and to this union were born six children : Thomas, who has been in the service of the United States Government for the past four years, enlisting at Kansas City, Missouri, serving in the Philip- pine Islands three years, and when war was declared by the United States on April 6, 1917 he w^as sent by the Government to Leavenworth, Kansas and is now with the Coast Artillery at Galveston. Texas; Marie, the wife of Omer E. Brown, of Butler, Missouri ; Edward, who enlisted in February, 1917 in the United States navy and is now on the battle- ship U. S. A. "New York;" Clyde, who is twelve years of age and is at home with his father; Nina, who is nine years of age and is at home; Donald, who is six years of age and is at home. The mother died at Butler, Missouri in December, 1915. Interment was made in the ceme- tery at Butler. Mr. Council has kept his little ones together and has gi\-en them as good home and training as he could, though sadly handi- capped by the loss of his life partner. Mr. Council came to Butler in December. 1913, at which time he bought out Kienberger & Macomb, owners and managers of the steam laundrv, which they liad ol)tained from C. Sells. Since H. H. Council acquired the ownership of the laundry, he has installed a new boiler, at an expense of one thousand dollars, two washing machines, and a shirt ironer, making the establishment thoroughly up-to-date. The build- ing occupied by the laundry, a structure 100 x 26 feet in dimensions, located on Dakota street was purchased by Mr. Council in October, 1917. Eight people are employed at the laundry in order to handle the immense amount of work as family washings as well as the washings of individuals are taken care of here. ]\Ir. Council was connected with the Silver Laundry of Kansas City, Missouri jirior to coming to Butler. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 947 He had scores of years of experience in the laundry business when he began business at Butler and but little else except an invincible ambition to succeed. Practically without one dollar, Mr. Council has made a marked success in his line of work, for by honesty and straightforward business methods he has won the confidence of his patrons and has built up a splendid establishment from nothing in less than five years. H. H. Council is an up-to-date laundryman, thoroughly familiar with every detail of the laundry work, and he knows full well how to take advantage of opportunities and to create opportunities when none exist. Joining the great army of wage earners in America at the age of nine years, Mr. Council has had a world of~ experience and after a lapse of years of hard toil he is now the possessor of a competence which in the dreamiest days of his youth he never hoped to realize. J. T. Hathaway, a veteran of the Civil War, one of the oldest resi- dent farmers of Bates county, now living in comfortable retirement at his country place in West Boone township a few miles south of Drexel, was born in Shelby county, Ohio, December 31, 1834. He was a son of Eleazer and Sallie (Henry) Hathaway, natives of Miami county, Ohio. Eleazer Hathaway was the son of John Hathaway, a son of John Hathaway (I), a native of Wales, who accompanied by two of his brothers made a settlement on the Atlantic seaboard before the American Revolu- tion. John Hathaway, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, fought in the Army of Independence during the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, John Hathaway (H), fought in the War of 1812. John Hathaway, the first in line, was a scout for the American forces during the War for Independence of the colonies. Eleazer Hathaway settled in Illinois in 1867, two years after J. T. Hathaway had settled in Chris- tian county. Father and son resided on adjoining farms. The father died there in 1871. The mother of J. T. Hathaway died in 1874. y. T. Hathaway enlisted in November of 1861 in Company F, Twen- tieth Ohio Regiment of Volunteer Infantry and served for nearly four years, receiving his honoral:)le discharge in July, 1865. He took an active part in many battles and skirmishes, among them being the attack on Fort Donelson ; the campaign around Vicksburg, Mississippi ; Pittsburg Landing; Pea Ridge; siege and capture of Atlanta; Sherman's famous march to the sea and the subsequent capture of Savannah. From Savan- nah he was sent to Washington and participated in the Grand Review. He received his final discharge and was mustered out of the service at Cincinnati. Ohio. He then returned home to Shelbv countv, Ohio. 948 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY After a short stay he went to Christian county, Illinois and engaged in farming until his return to Illinois in 1866 and married the sweetheart of his boyhood days, Hattie Blake, a native of Ohio, who died in 1871, leaving one daughter, Mrs. Clara New, living in Bates county, on a farm adjoining that of her father. ]\Ir. Hathaway lived in Illinois until 1901 and then came to Bates county, where he invested his capital in two hundred thirty-three acres of land, part of which he has given to his daughter and now has one luindred fift\-five acres in the home place. Incidentally, it is worthy of mention that Mr. Hathaway went to Clay county, Kansas, in 1859, homesteaded a claim, proved up on it and then returned to Illinois. His second marriage took place in 1881 with Margaret Ellen Wil- son, who was born in 1843 in Pike county, Illinois, a daughter of James Wilson. One son has been born of this marriage: Mark Wilson Hatha- way, born in .1882, an intelligent and industrious young farmer who has relieved his father from the burden of managing and cultivating the home place in ^^'est Boone township. Mr-. Hathaway is a pronounced Prohil)itionist and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Daniel K, Walker, one of the most progressive and up-to-date merch- ants in this section of the state, the senior member of the business firm widely known as the W^alker-McKibben Mercantile Company, was born in 1870 near Otterville in Moniteau county, Missouri. Mr. W' alker is a son of Rev. Alexander and Agnes (Hannah) Walker, who were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are now living, as follow: D. v., a successful merchant of Wichita, Kansas ; A. B., a prominent real estate dealer of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Annie C. Pyle, Butler, Missouri; Mary S., Butler, Missouri; D. K., the subject of this sketch; C. M., who is engaged in the loan business at Kansas City, Missouri; Harry, a prosperous merchant of Enid, Oklahoma; and John S.. who is engaged in the life insurance business at Butler, Missouri. Rev. Alexander ^^^llker was born in Scotland. He and Mrs. Walker, who was of Scottish descent, came to Moniteau county, Missouri, in 1868, and located at Tipton in that county in 1870. Twelve years later, Reverend Walker moved with his family to Bates county, wdiere the remainder of his life was spent in ministerial work. He was a gifted minister of the Presbyterian church and was well known and highly esteemed in Butler, in which city he was pastor of the Butler Presbyterian cluircli iov man\- vears. In his latter years, he was appointed state synodical missionary of the Presbyterian church, which position he was most ably filling at the time ELLIOTT PYLE WALKER. The first Butler boy to give up his life in the world war. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 949 of his death, which occurred at Butler. Reverend Walker was interred in the cemetery at Butler. In the public schools of Tipton, Missouri and in Butler Academy, Daniel K. Walker obtained his education. He received his first busi- ness experience at the age of fifteen years at Wichita, Kansas, where he was employed for one year by Larimer & Stinson. Mr. Walker then returned to Butler, Missouri, and entered the employ of James McKib- ben, who conducted a dry goods and clothing store where the Palace Hotel was once located on the northeast corner of the public square, and later became associated in business with James and Joseph McKib- ben, organizers of the McKibben Mercantile Company of Butler, Mis- souri. James McKibben now resides in Kansas and Joseph McKibben is living at Pasadena, California. Further mention of both McKibbens will be made in this sketch in connection with the history of the Walker- McKibben Mercantile Company. In 1895, Daniel K. Walker was united in marriage with Ruby Pyle, daughter of Dr. Elliott Pyle, a prominent pioneer physician of Butler, Missouri, a surgeon of the Union army, who settled in this city a short time after the close of the Civil War. To Daniel K. and Ruby (Pyle) Walker have been born three children : Elliott Pyle, the eldest, gradu- ated from Butler High School and was attending the University of Illinois when, in the spring of 1917, he enlisted with a University ambulance unit for service in Erance, afterward transferring with his unit to the United States Army Ambulance Corps, which was immediatelv sent to the training camp at Allentown, Pennsylvania. He earned promotion to first sergeant of Casualty Company Number 9, but March 30, 1918, just at the time his company was to sail for France, he died of pneumonia. Fie was the first Butler boy to die in the service. He was buried at Butler, Missouri, April 4, 1918, with military honors. Kirkbv A., a gradu- ate of the Butler High School, wdio is now studying at the Missouri University; and Agnes, wdio is a student in the Butler High School. The W^alker family has long been prominent in Bates county and is still num- bered among the best families of this part of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Walker reside at 512 West Pine street in Butler. The Walker-McKibben Mercantile Company, of Butler, was organ- ized in 1892 by James McKibben, Joseph McKibben, and D. K. Walker as the McKibben Mercantile Company, succeeding James M. McKib- ben, who had succeeded M. S. Cowles & Company. M. S. Cowles opened a general store at Rich Hill about 1881 or 1882, after selling the general 950 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY store in Butler to James McKibl)en. The M. S. Cowles & Company's general store in Butler was opened about 1867 and was located where the Farmers Bank is now, on the northeast side of the public square. The stock of merchandise was moved by James McKibben to the former location of the old Palace Hotel, on the northeast corner of the square. Tater, Joseph McKibben, who had been with M. S. Cowles & Company at Rich Hill, with James McKibben and D. K. Walker organized the McKibben Mercantile Company and the stock was again moved, this time to the north half of the Bennett-Wheeler block and afterward to one door east of the present location of the Walker-McKibben Mer- cantile Company's establishment. Daniel K. Walker first entered the employ of James McKibben in 1886 and he was associated in business with the McKibbens at the time of the organization of the McKibben Mercantile Company. After a few years, James M. McKibben sold his interest in the store to Joseph McKibben and Mr. Walker and about eleven years ago Joseph McKibben retired from the business. In 1906, Daniel K. Walker purchased all the interests of the McKibbens in the company, which has since been known as the Walker-McKil)ben Mer- cantile Company, and the stock of goods moved to the present location on the north side of the public square. The building now occupied is a large, well-lighted, two-story structure, 30 x 100 feet in dimensions. That Daniel K. Walker is exceptionally well qualified as a business man and merchant and that he has prospered is evidenced Ijy the fact that he carries a stock of merchandise valued at many thousand dollars and employs a corps of assistants. The stock is clean, neatly arranged, and up to date, including a general line of dry goods, notions, ladies' ready-to-wear clothing, shoes, men's furnishings, ladies', misses', and children's furnishings, rugs and lace curtains. The clerks employed are unusually attentive to customers and lend their hearty and cheerful support in the pull for success. This store is undoubtedly one of the finest to be seen in any city, in places even twice the size of Butler. Mr. Walker is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his earnest pur- pose, humanitarian principles, and upright life richly merit the splendid success, which has attended his efforts, and his present high commercial and social standing. Elliott F. Edwards, an enterprising business man of Butler, is a representative of a pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in 1886 in Bates county on his father's farm near Butler, a son of James P. and Leanna (Hines) Edwards. James P. Edwards was born June 12. 1838 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 95 1 in Nashville, Tennessee. He came West and located at Brunswick, Mis- souri in 1864. Mr. Edwards was a teamster by trade and a man of excep- tional intelligence and initiative. He crossed the plains from Atchison, Kansas in 1865, and, in the same year, built the fourth residence, in Pueblo, Colorado, hauled the first bell to Denver, Colorado, and one year later sold the first merchandise ever sold in Trinidad, Colorado. At Fort Garland, Colorado, Mr. Edwards was engaged in selling mer- chandise to the Indians, with the permission of Kit Carson. When James P. Edwards started in business at Fort Garland, he had but eighty dollars of his own and was in debt five thousand dollars. He had bor- rowed the latter sum of money in order to get a start in business and was paying five per cent, interest monthly. Most men would have fallen beneath the weight of the burden and have given up the fight in despair, but it was not characteristic of James P. Edwards to shirk heavy respon- sibilities, to give up the fight. He worked hard. In four months time, he had earned thirty-tv/o hundred dollars — and that was during the "hard times" of 1865. He hauled the boiler and set it up, which furnished the steam to run the mill where the lumber was sawed which was used to build Fort Lyon, Colorado. He received thirty-five hundred dollars freight at that time. Provisions were exceedingly high-priced at Fort Garland. Four pounds of bacon were worth five dollars, butter sold for one dollar and fifty cents a pound, and coiTee commanded a price of one dollar and fifty cents. After a short sojourn in Brunswick, Mis- souri, Mr. Edwards came to Butler in February, 1870. He hauled the first rock used in foundation w^ork in Salisbury, Missouri. He engaged in farming and stock raising in Bates county and became closely identi- fied with the business interests of Butler. Mr. Edwards erected a num- ber of the business buildings in Bates county. He was one of the direc- tors of the Bates County National Bank and was 'connected with the Light. W^ater & Power Company. James P. Edwards was progressive and public-spirited and a "booster" for alb enterprises having for their object the betterment and development of Butler and Bates county. His death on July 16. 1913 was universally lamented and mourned in this part of the state. Interment was made in the cemetery at Butler. Leanna (Hines) Edwards is a native of Brunswick, Missouri, a daugh- ter of John S. and Nannie (Pollard) Hines. John S. Hines was a native of Keyesville, Virginia and of English descent. His father was a wealthy plantation owner, the proprietor of a vast tract of land in Prince Edward and Charlotte counties. He was the master of a large number 952 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY of slaves. Nannie (Pollard) Hines was a native of Marysville, Virginia. To John S. and Nannie Hines were born six children: Edward, deceased; Richard, deceased; Thomas ]., deceased; Sue, who was educated in an academy at Goldsboro, North Carolina, now resid- ing at Butler, Missouri; Emily F., the wife of J. C. Congor, Macon, Georgia; Leanna, the widow of James P. Edwards, Butler, Missouri, the three daughters being the sole survivors of the family. The Pollards, as well as the Hines family, were wealthy plantation owners of Virginia. James P. and Leanna (Hines) Edwards were the parents of seven chil- dren: Lola, deceased; Lela, the wife of C. H. Conger, Washington, D. C. ; Lula, the wife of M. S. Horn, Butler, Missouri; Lon L., a prosperous farmer, Butler, Missouri; Claude, a successful merchant, Oakland, Cali- fornia; Elmer, deceased; and Elliott F., the subject of this review. Mrs. Edwards, the widowed mother, resides at the present time in Butler. Elliott F. Edwards obtained his education in the city schools of Butler. He began life for himself when he was twenty-one years of age, at first following the pursuits of agriculture. In 1914, Mr. Edwards entered the coal and transfer business at Butler, his office being located due north of the Missouri Pacific railway station, and from the beginning he has prospered. Mr. Edwards is as honest as the light and when he sells a ton of coal his customers know that they are receiving a ton of coal. He owns a nice farm of eighty acres of good land located north- west of Butler. January 14, 1908, Elliott F. Edwards and Cleo Moore were united in marriage and to this union have been l)orn two children: Elliott F., Jr. and Leomi. Mrs. Edwards is a daughter of J. M. and Naomi (Brown- ing) Moore. J. M. Moore is a native of Pettis county and Mrs. Moore was born near Humboldt in Woodson county, Kansas. The Moores came to Bates county about thirteen years ago. J. M. and Naomi Moore are the parents of six children: Clara L., the wife of Clarence Harrison, Altona, Missouri ; Cleo, the wnfe of Elliott F. Edwards, the subject of this review; Juanita, deceased; Ethel, deceased; John L, Butler, Alis- souri ; and Roy V., Butler, Missouri. A strange affinity in dates occurs in the Moore and Edwards families, January 14, 1918, was the ajiniversary of the marriages of Mr. and Mrs. James P. Edwards, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Moore, and Mr. and Mrs. Elliott F. Edwards. The oldest child in 1)oth the Moore and Edwards families was a daughter and both girls were born on the same day of the same month. In all his business transactions, as well as in his social relations, HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 953 Elliott F. Edwards manifests unquestioned integrity and the pleasing demeanor of a gentleman, gaining by his unassuming, quiet manners and kindly personal bearing countless friends in Butler and Bates county. William J. Bullock, an ex-sheriff of Bates county, is a native of Cass county, Missouri. He was born near Old Index, Alarch 1, 18G0, a son of H. N. and Margaret M. (Hereford) Bullock, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Mason county. West Virginia. H. N. Bul- lock was born September 24, 1832 and, when a child three years of age, came to Missouri with his father, William Bullock, who located first in Johnson county in 1835 and shortly afterward settled in Cass county. H. N. Bullock has been a resident of Cass county for eighty-two years a-nd is now living, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, at Archie, Missouri. His father, William Bullock, died many years ago and his remains are interred in the cemetery at Index. H. N. Bullock is a Con- federate veteran and he was in active service throughout the Civil War, serving under Gen. Francis M. Cockrell. When Mr. Bullock enlisted, he left his wife in charge of their farm in Cass county and to care for their little ones. Order Number 11 was enforced jfnd Mrs. Bullock moved with her children to Clinton in Henry county, Missouri, where her brother, Capt. W. JP. Hereford, resided. During their absence, all the improvements on the Bullock farm were destroyed. The home was burned to the ground in 1862. Mr. and Mrs. H. N. Bul- lock were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Dora Adair, Archie, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie Keyes, Wellington, Kansas; Mrs. Nora Lee, Appleton City, Missouri; James Emmet, deceased, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, who died at Bronson, Kansas in 1894 wdiile engaged in ministerial work and his remains were interred in Crescent Hill cemetery; and AVilliam J., the subject of this sketch. The pul)lic schools of Index in Cass county and of Burdett in Bates county afforded William J. Bullock the means of obtaining an excellent common school education. At the age of twenty-one years, he began life for himself, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture in Cass county. Mr. Bullock moved to Bates county in 1878 and located in East Boone township, returning later to Cass county for two years, when he came back to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township. Mr. Bullock always took an important part in the public affairs of his township and in the autumn of 1908 was elected sheriff of Bates county and served from 1909 until 1913. Since that time, he has resided in Butler, where 954 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY he has a handsome home at 201 Dchiware street. Mr. Bullock is at the present time in the employ of the Red Arrow Oil & Gas Company of Oklahoma, having their main office in Kansas City, Missouri. June 22, 1884, William J. Bullock and Mary A. Dejarnette were united in marriage. Mrs. Bullock was born in Boone township in Bates county, a daughter of W. H. and Mary A. Dejarnette. Mr. Dejarnette is now deceased and the widowed mother resides in Archie, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. William J. Bullock were born seven children, all of wdiom are now living: Georgia, the wife of Charles Hall, Floweree, Montana; A\'illa, the wife of Clarence Buillman, Oakgrove, Missouri; Aumer, at home with her father; Minnie, at home with her father; Julia, who is with her sister, Mrs. Charles Hall, at Floweree, Montana; Emmet H., a student in the Butler High School; and \\^allace, at home with his father. Mrs. Bullock died July 23, 1908 and her remains were laid to rest in the cemetery near Adrian, known as Crescent Hill cemetery. Nearly six years afterward, Mr. Bullock's mother died at Archie, Mis- souri and she, too, was taken to Crescent Hill cemetery for Inirial. Mrs. H. N. Bullock died April 15, 1914. Both women were beautiful and exemplary moral characters, mothers whom to know was to admire and love, and they have been sadly missed, not only in their home circles, but by a vast number of close personal friends. In all the relations of life, William J. Bullock has manifested uncjues- tioned integrity. John R. Weadon, prosperous farmer of New Home township, town- ship trustee, has resided in Bates county since 1878 and is justly classed among the old settlers of this county. He has created his fine farm from unbroken prairie land and has placed every stick and shrub thereon and erected every l)uil(ling on the place during the many vears in which he has resided here. In 188v3 Mr. \\'eadon made his first purchase of land in Bates county and is now the owner of one hundred forty-two and a half acres of well improved and productive land, located in the southwest corner of New Home township. Mr. Weadon was born in Loudoun county. Virginia, Octol)er 17, 1857, a son of Samuel K. and Almira (Wines) \\'eadon. both of whom were born in Virginia. They removed to Missouri in December of 1870 and first settled in Greene county, where thev resided until 1874 when they located in Lawrence county. Six years later Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Weadon made a settlement in the southwest part of New Home township in Bates county and resided here until death called them. HISTORY. OF BATES COUNTY 955 Samuel Weadon was born in 1835 and died on June 1, 1887. Mrs. Almira Weadon died in March, 1890 at the age of fifty-five years. They were parents of the following children : Francis, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; John R., subject of this review; Samuel, living in Kan- sas City; Turner, a citizen of Oregon. John R. Weadon received his schooling in Virginia and in Mis- souri. He was reared to the life of a farmer. He came to Bates county from Lawrence county, Missouri in 1878. When Mr. Weadon came to this county, a young man twenty-one years of age, he had little or practically nothing in the way of capital or property. He began work- ing on the farms of the county with a willing heart and strong hands and was imbued with an ambition to some day own a farm of his own. Five years later in 1883 he was enabled to make his first purchase of land and is now ranked with the well-to-do and forehanded farmers of this prosperous county. He has created a farm of his own upon which he has reared his family with the assistance of a capable wife. Mr. W^eadon was very fortunate in his selection of his helpmeet and took to wife a daughter of one of the first and most proniinent of the Bates county pioneers. He was united in marriage with Miss Mattie C. Miller, who was born in New Home township, March 13, 1861. a daughter of O. H. P. Miller, one of the earliest of the Bates county pio- neers concerning whom extended mention is given in the history of the Miller family which will be found in connection with the biography of the late Jason Woodfin elsewdiere in this volume. This marriage was con- summated on November 18, 1883, and has been a happy and prosperous one. Mr. and Mrs. John R. Weadon have one child, Mrs. Edna R. Birks. of Howard township. Bates county. Mr. Weadon has been a life-long Democrat and is prominent in the councils of his party in the county. He is a1)ly filling the office of trustee of his township and has filled many positions of trust and respon- sibility during his residence in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Weadon are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, and are worthy and respected citizens of Bates county. Eli F. Kincaid, proprietor of a fertile farm of two hundred sixty- five acres in the northwest part of Howard township adjoining the Kansas-Missouri border, was born June 9, 1850 in Preble county. Ohio. He is the son of John and Sarah (Fair) Kincaid, both natives of Ohio. John Kincaid was the son of Samuel, a native of Kentucky, who moved to Ohio and resided with his familv until 1866 in Preble countv. In 956 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY the fall of that year he came to the West and made a settlement near Lonejack in Jackson county, Missouri. Some years later he moved to Cass county, Missouri and there died in July, 1896. Eli F. Kincaid was one of eight children born to his parents, as follow: William, Cass county, Missouri; Eli F., subject of this review, and Ervin, living in Kansas, twins; Mrs. Rachel Grifhth, Cass county, Missouri; Leander, living in Washington; Wesley, deceased; Joseph, living in Missouri; and Mrs. Mattie Akers, Cass county, Missouri. Eli F. Kincaid received his schooling in Ohio, and accompanied his parents to Missouri when sixteen years old. He stayed at home and assisted his father on the farm until 1873, when he began his own career. He went first to Henry county, Missouri and during the first year in that county, he was employed at farm labor. He then rented land for several years and eventually made a purchase of eighty acres in Henry county to which he added forty acres. He sold this tract and bought a farm of one hundred twenty-seven acres which he cultivated for four years. He sold this tract and invested the proceeds in another farm of one hundred forty-eight acres at Montrose, Missouri, which he later sold at a profit and then bought a farm of one hundred forty acres located ten miles east of Butler in Bates county. He again sold out in 1907 and bought one hundred twenty acres south of Hume in Vernon county, which he retained until the spring of 1911 when he sold out and bought a farm in Cass county which he soon traded for his present place in Howard township. Mr. Kincaid has one of the best farms in Bates county, twenty-five acres of which are heavily timbered. Mr. Kincaid was married on December 20, 1890 in Bates county, to Miss Eva Fowler, who was born April 29, 1869 in Illinois, a daughter of Isaac and Martha (Breedlove) Fowler, natives of North Carolina, who moved to Illinois after the Civil W^v period. Isaac Fowler served in the Confederate army with a North Carolina regiment throughout the Civil War. He left Illinois and came to Henry county, Missouri in 1871, and made a permanent location in that ccumty, dying there in 1893. His widow (lied in 1914 at the age of seventy-three years. Of the eight children born to Isaac and Martha Fowler. scNcn arc living, as follow: Harvey, Schell City, Missouri; Herman, died in infancy; ^Irs. Delia Ford, lives near Butler; Cora, resides at Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Mrs. Eva Kincaid and Ira Fowler, of Ea Ilarpe, Kansas, are twins; Ezra, lives at Dallas, Texas; Carrie, makes her home at Eldorado Springs. The followinc: children have been born to Eli F. and Eva Kincaid: Earl. inSTORY OF BATES COUNTY 957 died in infancy; Roy, died at the age of seventeen years; Emmons, a student in Missouri University, Colundoia, Missouri; Marl, Herbert, and Nore, are at home with their parents. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are substantial and w^orthy citizens of Bates county. Mr. Kincaid is a Democrat politically and his fraternal affiliations are with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. James McCulloch, member of one of the old pioneer families in Bates county, farmer of New Home township, was born in Cooper county, Missouri, August 20, 1866. He is a son of Joseph Richardson and Isabella America (Brown) McCulloch, natives of Virginia. His father was born in old Virginia and his mother was born in what is now West Virginia. The Brown family of which Mrs. J. R. McCulloch was a mem- ber was one of the early pioneer families of Missouri. W. O. Atkeson, author of this "History of Bates County" is related to the McCullochs through the mother's family. Joseph R. McCulloch was born in March, 1826 and died in September, 1893. He was a son of Robert McCulloch, who settled in Cooper county, Missouri in 1834. Isalxdla A. McCulloch was born in October, 1836 and died in July, 1915. She was a daughter of Matthew Brown, who emigrated from Virginia to Missouri in 1850 and was married in Saline county. J. R. McCulloch came to Bates county on October 11, 1866, and settled in New Home township. Prior to this time he had served for three years with the Confederate forces under Generals Price and Mar- maduke. Upon taking up his residence in Bates county, he built a one- room log cabin and in this cabin reared a family of live children: Robert M., a farmer in New Home township; Mrs. Adeline Brown Caton, How- ard township ; James, subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Mattie Clark, Rich Hill; Joseph, Rich Hill, Missouri. J. R. McCulloch became owner of one hundred acres of land in New Home township, and the home place of the familv is now owned by James McCulloch, the tract having been deeded to him by his mother. Mr. and Mrs. J. R. McCulloch were mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and were sturdy, God fearing, industrious people who courageously withstood the poverty and hard- ships of their earlier days in this county and their names are honored ones in the history of Bates county. Tames McCulloch was reared to young manhood upon the McCul- loch home farm and has always lived in this vicinity. He received eighty acres of land from his mother upon which he is now making his home. 958 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Mr. McCulloch was married on June 15, 1893 to Florence Salina Ben- son, who was born October 5, 1875 in Illinois, a daughter of Thomas and Florence Benson, who died in St. Clair county, Illinois when Mrs. McCulloch was an infant. She and her brother, Louis, were adopted by William Allenson, an Eng-lishman, who came to Missouri and settled in New Home township, Bates county, in 1883. Mr. Allenson was an old friend of Mr. Benson and accompanied the Bensons to x\merica from their native England. During his last years, Mr. Allenson made his home with Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch. Four children have been born to James and Florence McCulloch: Mrs. Salina Donaldson, New Home township, mother of two children — ^Joseph Elmer, and Lucille ; Lois Ada, living in Tulsa, Oklahoma; James B., aged nineteen, and Benjamin Lee, aged fifteen years, at home with their parents. Mr. McCulloch is a Democrat. Alfred Norbury, successful farmer and stockman, Walnut township, owner of four hundred twenty-five acres of rich, prairie farm lands in the western part of Bates county, is a native of England, born in Ramshire, August 7. 1849. He was a son of John and Tabitha (Besant) Norbury, who lived all of their lives on an English farmstead in Ram- shire. Alfred Norbury was reared and educated in his native England and immigrated to America in 1871. W^ien he landed at New York he had his savings wnth him, and traveled to Olathe, Kansas, where he was employed at market gardening, during his first year. He farmed land in Johnson county during his second year and in 1873 he located in Bourbon county, Kansas, moving to a farm located five miles south of Fort Scott. Some time later he removed to Crawford county, Kan- sas and purchased one hundred twenty acres of farm land which he occupied until 1901, and then traded the tract for tw^o hundred twenty acres in Bates county. He moved to his farm in ^^^'llnut township dur- ing the fall of the "dry year" as it will always be known in the history of Missouri and Kansas. He prospered thereafter and added to his acre- age until he owned six hundred ten acres, a portion of which he has deeded to his sons. Mr. Nor])ury was married in England, in the year 1871, to Sarah Rowe, born in Essex county, England, in 1852. To them have been born children as follow: Daniel, a farmer in Walnut township, married and has seven children — Emma, Grace, Sarah, Agnes, Margaret, Alpha, and Fred; Edward, a farmer, \\\alnut township, has six children — Edna, Marv, Lanita, Anna Mav, Edith, Edward, and Leonard; Sydney, is mar- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 959 ried and has six children — Alfred, Naomi, Leroy, Vint, Ellis, and Lillie; Walter, is a farmer and has two children — Freda, and Harold. Mr. Nor- bury is fortunate in having all of his sons residing in the neighborhood of the home place and all are doing well as tillers of the soil. In politics, Mr. Nor1)nry is a Socialist, and belongs to the Episcopal church. J. J. Mudd is one of the young, hustling and progressive young farmers of East Boone township. Mr. Mudd was born in 1882 in Bates county, a son of Joseph D. and Nancy Jane Mudd, who are among tiie oldest residents of the township. Joseph David Mudd was born in April, 1842, in Bullitt county, Ken- tucky, and was a son of Joseph and Nancy (Brown) Mudd, natives of Kentucky who immigrated to Missouri in 1866, and settled upon the farm where Joseph D. now resides. Joseph Mudd was father of thir- teen children, of whom four are yet living: J. D. ; Mrs. Jane Hall, Pasco, Kansas; Henry, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Julia Bunton, Nelson county, Kentucky. Joseph D. Mudd came to Bates county with his parents and has lived for over fifty years in the vicinity of his present home. He was married in 1868 and began his career with twejnty acres of ground upon which he built a log cabin which was the first home of Mr. and Mrs. Mudd when they began housekeeping, but the years that have passed since that time have been prosperous ones, Mr. Mudd now being owner of four hundred fifty-five acres of well improved farm land in the western part of East Boone township. Mr. Mudd was married to Nancy Jane Deacon, born in Nelson county, Kentucky, a daugh- ter of Andrid and Eliza (Shockame) Deacon, who lived and died in Kentucky. To this union have been born children as follow: Joseph E., deceased; Mrs. Eliza Ann Ormsbee, Cass county, Missouri; Mrs. Sidonia McDaniels, Canon City, Colorado; RufTee, Stephen, Nancy Lee, and Edgar, deceased; Mrs. Fannie Louise Hughes, deceased; J. J., .subject of this review; Ernest Arnold, who is managing- the home farm; Honest Arthur, farmer near Adrian, Missouri ; Sarah Margaret, deceased ; Ruth v., deceased. For the past thirty years, Mr. Mudd has been a member of the Adrian lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He has always been a Democrat in politics. J. J. Mudd was educated in the Liberty High School, and began farming on his own account on the farm owned by his cousin, E. C. Mudd, in February, 1912. This farm is a splendid property, well improved and highly productive and Mr. Mudd is keeping up the farm to its fullest productive capacity. 960 ' HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY He was married in 1908 to Miss Ethel Buchanan, of Burdett, Mis- souri. The have one child, Gleeta, aged four months. Mr. Mudd is an independent Democrat who votes for the man regardless of his party label if by so doing he can assist the cause of good government. He is a member of the Baptist church and is fraternally afifiliated with the Fraternal Aid Union and the Ancient Free and yVccepted Masons of Adrian. Horace Perry Edwards. — The life story of H. P. Edwards, of East Boone township, is that of a self-made man, who when he had achieved a sufficient competence, invested in land whereon he could always be certain of a comfortable and independent living and be free from want in his later years. Mr. Edwards has one of the most attractive and well kept farm plants in Bates county upon which he has resided since 1907. Since coming into possession of this farm of one hundred and sixty acres he has remodeled the home, adding substantial verandas, etc., and has built a modern barn, thirty-six feet square and ten feet to the square in addition to a barn which had been previously erected by other owners. He has expended five hundred dollars for wire fencing and generally enhanced the appearance and value of the place during the past ten years. During 1917 there were harvested on the place thirty-live acres of corn which yielded thirty bushels to the acre. Part of the Edwards land is rented out because his crippled condition will not permit of active, heavy farm labor on his part. At the present time he has fifteen head of cattle, six horses and a fine drove of forty-six head of sheep which are considered the best flock of Shropshire sheep in Bates county. His success in sheep breeding has been such as to determine him to engage in the l^reeding of thoroughbred Shropshires for the discerning trade. H. P. Edwards was born in the city of Indianapolis in 1860 and is a son of Nathan and Cynthia (Swcaringen) Edwards, natives of North Carolina. Nathan Edwards removed with his family to Indiana in 1833 and engaged in the contracting and 1)uil(ling l)usiness whicli he followed for several years with signal success. It was he who erected the first union railroad depot in Indianapolis, and the building of this structure was followed by the erection of many other public buildings throughout the state under his supervision. Natlian Edwards em])loyed upward of three hundred men in his building operations and had the reputation of being an honest, reliable and painstaking contractor who could be trusted to meet his obligations and perform his duties to the letter of his contracts. For a period of about f^^•e years he was engaged HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY . 961 in the mercantile business. In 1862 he removed with his family to a small farm in Morgan county, Indiana which he purchased for a home. Nathan Edwards was born in 1812 and died in 1881. His wife was born in 1818 and died in 1885. They were the parents of three daughters and two sons, of whom but two are now living: Horace Perry, sub- ject of this review; and Henry Tyson Edwards, born in 1856 and now residing in Harrisonville, Missouri. H. P. Edwards came to Missouri with his mother in 1882 and the family located on a farm in Cass county. For the first two years he rented land in Cass county and in 1884 he came to Adrian, Bates county. From July, 1885 until the spring of 1887 he followed laboring in Adrian, and then entered the employ of Bryant & McDaniel as grain buyer, remaining in the employ of this firm for seven years. In 1892 he estab- lished a draying and transfer business in Adrian which was very suc- cessful. He conducted this business until 1898 and then bought a small farm of sixty-four acres adjoining Adrian on the south and turned over the draying business to his sons. He cultivated his Adrian farm until 1907 and then traded for a farm in East Boone township. Mr. Edwards was married in 1881 to Anna E. Whitlem, who was born in Iowa and came to Cass county, Missouri, when a child with her parents, Robert and Sarah Whitlem, both of whom died in Bates county at the Edwards home. Both parents of Mrs. Edwards were born in England. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have four children: Fred Richard, El Paso, Texas, a railroad conductor, who has had some exciting experi- ences in operating trains in Old Mexico during late years, and who was arrested by the Mexicans and held in jail for twelve hours on a trivial charge at one time: Arthur R., owner of two newspaper delivery routes in Kansas City, Missouri ; Claude B., a rancher near Steamboat Springs. Colorado; Clarence AV., attending the Adrian public schools. Mr. Edwards is a Republican in politics and while a resident of Adrian held office as city councilman. He is a member of the Christian church, as is Mrs. Edwards. He is fraternally affiliated with the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the session of the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Odd Fellows in 1911, Mr. Edwards was an interested visitor and took great pleasure in going over old home scenes of his boyhood days. Mr. and Mrs. Ed- wards are among Bates county's best and most patriotic citizens. Jefferson Hemdon, better known as *'Jeff" Flerndon, owner of a fine farm of two hundred and thirtv-one acres in Howard township where (6i) 962 . HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY he is widely and favorably known, was born May 19, 1861, in Tazewell county, Illinois. He is a son of James Walker and Frances (Wilson) Herndon, the former of whom was born in Tennessee, in 1827, and the latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1831. James W. Herndon accom- panied his parents to Illinois in boyhood in the early pioneer days of the settlement of that state and was there reared to young manhood and married. He died in Tazewell county in 1887. The widowed mother of Jeff Herndon resides in Illinois. There were five children in the family of James W. and Frances Herndon, namely: Mrs. Kittie Beck- man, Arkansas City. Kansas; Nannie, deceased; Jefferson, subject of this review; Benjamin, who is farming the old home place in Tazewell county, Illinois. Jeff Herndon was reared on the old home place of the family in Illinois and attended the common schools of his native county. He remained on the home place until twenty-eight years old and began for himself in 1879. Upon his father's death he inherited eighty acres from the estate which he cultivated until 1893, when he sold out and came to Missouri, arriving here on March 8. He purchased two hun- dred forty acres of land in Howard township, through which the rail- road has run taking off nine acres. For the past twenty-four years Mr. Herndon has lived continuously upon his farm and has made a success in raising livestock and producing good crops. Mr. Herndon was married in 1887 to Miss Lenna Miller, who was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1860, and daughter of Moses and Lucia Miller, of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Herndon have five children: Harlan, Montana; Mrs. Frances Hoffman, living in Kansas; William Lester. Frank, and James, at home with their parents. Mr. Herndon is a Democrat in politics and is one of the substantial and well-thought- of citizens of his section of Bates county. John McKee, well-to-do farmer of West Point township and presi- dent of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the most substantial and influential citizens of his neighborhood. Mr. McKee was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1857, a son of John and Elizabeth (Peddon) McKee, of Scotch-Irish origin and wdio lived all of their days in Ireland. Four of their cliildren came to America to find Iionies in this country. John McKee left his native land in 1869 and upon landing at New York Citv. had barely sufficient funds to enable him to reach his destination, which was Peoria, Illinois. He soon got a job as farm hand during the harvest season at a wage of thirty dollars per month, later working for twenty HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 963 dollars per month. His object in coming to America was to get a "bit of land" which would be his own home. Land rose to such a high price in the vicinity of Peoria, Illinois, that he decided to come further west. He saved his money and came to Bates county, where he rented for a time and invested his savings in stock for the farm which he intended to buy. After casting about for a suitable location he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres at a cost of sixteen dollars an acre. This was raw land and unfenced at the time of purchase. When Mr. McKee first came to Bates county there vvas much free range for cattle and he took advantage of this condition and invested a good part of his savings in cattle which ranged the prairies. He erected all the buildings on his place, built the fences and in 1887 added eighty acres more to his hold- ings at a cost of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents an acre — a tract which had been broken up and fenced. Mr. McKee has always handled livestock and for a number of years was a successful sheep raiser. By careful management and hard work he has become practically inde- pendent and is rated as one of the best farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. McKee was married in 1878 to Bessie McKee, who was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1849 and departed this life on July, 28, 1894. To this union children were born as follow: Mrs. Lizzie Crawford, living in West Point township; Eleanor G.. who is at home with her father. Mr. McKee was formerly allied with the Democratic party but has long been ah advocate of temperance and prohibition. So pro- nounced has his views upon prohilntion become that of late years he has definitely allied himself with the Prohibition party and now stead- fastly supports his party's candidates at election time. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church. A, E. Moore, a prominent farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, was born in Bates county January 17, 1875. He is a son of William and Nancy (Gragg) Moore, the former a native of Luliana, and the latter of Henry county, Missouri. The family came to Bates county in 1868 . In 1876 they moved to Barton county, and the father died shortly afterwards. The mother married for her second husband, A. H. ^^'ood- fin. They are now deceased. A. E. Moore was one of a family of three children born to his parents, two of whom are living: A. H., Pleasant Gap township and A. E.. the subject of this sketch. A. E. Moore spent his boyhood days mostly in Bates county. He was educated in the public schools of this county, 964 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and the high school at Springfield. Missouri. He has made farming and stock raising his principal occupations, and has been successful in his line of endeavor. Mr. Moore was united in marriage March 14, 1901, with Miss Car- rie Rogers, wdio is also a native of Bates county, and was born on the place where she now resides. She is a daughter of Judge James Madi- son and Lucy (Wilson) Rogers. Judge James Madison Rogers was born near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. He came to Bates county in 1851, coming from Platte county to Bates. He first settled near Mulberry, where he remained until about the time the Civil War broke out, when he left the county. In 1865, he returned and settled in Pleasant Gap township, where he engaged in farming and stock raising and spent the remainder of his life. He was prominent in the alYairs of Bates county for a number of years. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party and he generally took an active part in politics. He served as judge of Bates county and held other minor offices. He died in 1902, aged eighty-seven years. He was widely known in Bates county and held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. Judge Rogers was married three times. His first wife was Sarah Moon. Four children were born to that union, one of wdiom, Mrs. Angeline Gassoway, is now living. After the death of his first wife, Judge Rogers married Levena Sittles and four children were born to that union, one of whom is now living, John, who resides at Harwood, Vernon county, Missouri. After the death of his second wife. Judge Rogers married Miss Lucy Wilson, a native of Callaway county, Mis- souri. To this union seven children were born, five of whom are living as follow: Sterling, Los Angeles, California: Mrs. Emma Settle, Harri- sonville. Mo.: W. D., JefTerson City, Missouri; P. V., Porterville, Cali- fornia: and Mrs. A. E. Moore, the wife of the subject of this sketch. To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born three children as fol- low: Willis, Lucile Fern, and Nannie Irene. Mr. Moore is a Democrat and takes an active interest in local political afifairs. He has served two terms as constable of Pleasant Gap township. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge. Ancient Eree and Accepted Masons No. 140, Butler, and he holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have an extensive ac([uaintance in Bates county, and have manv friends. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 965 Oscar Hand, of Elkhart township, former township assessor and central committeeman of the Republican party, belongs to one of the old families of Bates county, his parents with their children and worldly possessions, having driven overland from their former home in Illinois to Bates county in 1871. Mr. Hand was born in Knox county, Illi- nois, in 1857, and is a son of Ellis and Jane (Kennedy) Hand, the former having been born in Indiana in 1832 and still resides in Bates county. The wife and mother was also born in Indiana and is now eighty-one years old. Both Ellis and Jane Hand were children when they accompanied their respective parents to Knox county, Illinois. They grew up in that county and were there married. Two weeks trav- eling were required to bring the family to Bates county and the trip was a distinct novelty to the younger children, who rather enjoyed the outing. They made their home here at a time when there was no town of La Cygne, and Butler was but a settlement. Their nearest market was at Harrisonville, where they drove their stock and hauled their grain to be sold and shipped. Ellis Hand followed the vocation of farming all of his life and became cjuite prominent in the civic and political affairs of Elkhart township and the county. He served several terms as a member of the tow^nship board and was actively identified with political matters as regards the Republican party with which he was always identified, serving as Repub- lican committeeman. Six children born to Ellis and Jane Knox were reared to maturity: Oscar, subject of this review and the eldest son of the family; Lizzie, wife of Charles Evans, residing near Scott Citv. Kansas ; Albert, Kansas City, Missouri ; George, a farmer in Elkhart township; Minnie, who married William Allen, who is now deceased; Rebecca, wife of Buell Mudd, living near Burdett, in Bates county. The early education of Oscar Hand was obtained in the public schools of Illinois and Bates county. He applied himself diligently to his studies and has become well informed through constant reading. From his youth he has been engaged in farming and with the exception of nine years spent in Kansas City in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company and the stock yards, has lived in Bates county since coming here in 1871. He removed to Kansas City in 1880 and returned to the farm in 1889. Mr. Hand was married to Mary J. Peebles, a native of Illinois and daughter of Abraham Peebles, who came to Bates county and located in Elkhart township as early as 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Hand have three 966 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY children: Ethel, wife of William Spencer, Adrian, Missouri; Elsie, and Roy, residing in Claudell, Kansas. Mr. Hand is prominently identified with the Republican party and is one of the leaders of his party in Bates county. He has filled the oftice of township assessor and is the present central Republican committeeman for Elkhart township. He is secretary of the local Cen- tral Protective Association and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Robert Marshall, of Elkhart township, is a son of one of the early pioneer families of Missouri, the family having made its first settlement in north Missouri as early as 1856. He was born in Brown county, Indiana, in 1845, and is a son of James and Artemesia (Fallowell) Mar- shall, the former a native of l>nnessee, but was reared in Indiana, and the latter was born and reared in Indiana. They came west and located in north Missouri in 1856, but remained only two years, going to Macou- pin county, Illinois, in 1858. The family made their home in Illinois until 1880 and then came to Bates county and located in Elkhart town- ship, one mile west of the village of Elkhart. They both died at the age of seventy years and within one month, the father dying in Febru- ary 20, 1881, and the mother March 20, of that same year. James and Artemesia Marshall were parents of the following children: William, died in Bates county in 1907; Louisa, married J. M. Scott, now deceased; Lucinda, wife of James Patterson; Robert, the subject of this sketch; and two children died in infancy. Robert Marshall was educated in the public schools of Indiana and Illinois and followed in his father's footsteps as a tiller of the soil, beginning his own career upon the place of one hundred acres which he owms in Elkhart township. His farm is well kept and highly pro- ductive and he carries on general farming and stock raising. Mr. Marsliall w^as married in 1873 to Sarah Jane McCoy, who was born in Caney county, Missouri, and to this marriage have been born two children: James P.. who is assisting his father \vith the farming operations; and Maude, also at home with her parents. Mr. Marsliall is affiliated fraternally with Elkhart Lodge, Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and is a Republican. J. O. Brown, well-known citizen of Passaic, Mound township, was born in London, Madison county, Oliio, in 1849, and is a son of James P. and Mary A. (Black) Brown, tlie former a native of Hamp- shire county, Virginia, of English descent, and llic latter a native of HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 967 Pickaway county, Ohio. James P. Brown was a drover who was engaged in the arduous business of driving herds of cattle across the country from western Ohio to the Pittsburg and across the Alleghany Mountains to other Eastern markets for a number of years. When Bates county was largely in an unsettled state and the land was still owned to a con- siderable extent by the United States Government, he with three other men, came to this section and entered one and three-quarters sections of government land at a cost of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Of this original tract, J. O. Brown, subject of this review, owns one hundred and seventy-six acres. James P. Brown never took up his residence in this county, but returned to Ohio and engaged in farming for the remainder of his days, dying at his home in Madison county, Ohio. He became identified with the Whig party when it was formed and when the Whigs were succeeded by the Repubicans as a political organization, he espoused the principles of that party. The three chil- dren reared by James P. and Mary A. Brown are : J. O., subject of this sketch; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Frye. wealthy land owner of Circle- ville, Ohio; Annie, wife of David Campbell living at Dayton, Ohio. Another son, Charles Wesley, is deceased. The boyhood and school days of J. O. Brown were spent in his native county of Madison and Ross county. Ohio. He migrated to Bates county, Missouri, in 1877 and has since been engaged in farming operations. His first employer in this county was Levi Steele, and he later handled cattle in his brother's interest for some time. He was engaged in herding cattle on the plains for four years and was then engaged in pasturing cattle for fifteen years in all. Finally when the wire fence came into vogue, and the entire country was crossed and criss-crossed with fences of barbed or woven wire, thus cutting up all the free ranges which had marked the surface of Bates county for a long period of time, he fenced his land and then engaged in farming like other settlers. He has two hundred and thirty-six acres of very fine land in Mound township and makes his home in the pretty little village of Passaic. Mr. Brown is an excellent farmer and keeps only the best grades of livestock, his special fancy being Shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. Mr. Brown was married to Alice Troutman, of Ohio. They have three children, namely: James Arthur, a student in the Adrian High School; Gladys, also in high school: and Harry, who is attending the Passaic public school. Mr. Brown has always been a stanch Republican 968 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY and is a nienil)er of Crescent Hill Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Butler. When Mr. Brown came to Bates county there was no railroad in the county and no Passaic. Butler was a little village consisting of a cluster of houses around the puhlic square. There were no highways, and one followed the trails which crossed the open prairie and took the shortest route to any given destination. Wild animals, such as wolves and deer, were plentiful. Prairie chickens and wild turkeys were here in alnindance. For fifteen years, Mr. Brown kept bachelor's hall and then decided that he needed a helpmeet. When he came to this county, he, like others, had little expectation of ever seeing the country so thickly populated as it is at this day, and had no idea that land values would climb as they have been doing of late years. He was content to herd his cattle upon the i)lains and did not undertake actual cultivation of his land until he saw that intensive farming w^as inevitable and that the old days of the free range were gone, never to return. J. C. Denton, who has a fine farm located in Mound township on the Jefferson Highway, seven miles north of Butler, and three miles south of Adrian, was born in Monroe county, Tennessee, in 1857. He is a son of \\'illiam H. and Fathie Ann (Stephens) Denton, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter a native of North Caro- lina. The Dentons came to Missouri in 1857 when the subject of this sketch was but six months old. They first located in Saline county, where they remained for one year and then removed to Johnson county, where they made a permanent location. The family lived in Johnson county during the dark days of the Civil \\'ar. and J. C. Denton remem- bers some of the sadness and hardships of that period. \\'illiam H. Denton made his home on a farm eight miles south of \\'arrensburg and there spent the remainder of his life. He followed farming until 1885, when he engaged in the grocery business in ^^'arrensburg■ until his retirement, and attained the great age of eighty-eight years before death called him. Three children of William H. Denton are living: John Denton. Columbia, Missouri; J. C, subjec4; of this sketch; Rich- ard, Parsons, Kansas. J. C. Denton was reared in Johnson county and educated in the public schools. He followed farming in that county until 1886. He then came to Bates county and purchased his present homestead of eighty acres, which is well impro\'ed and yields him a comfortable li\ing. Mr. Denton was married in 1882 to Florence Glazebrook. a daucliter HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 969 of James Glazebrook, an early settler in Missouri. As a good citizen, Mr. Denton takes an active and influential inter- est in township and county affairs. He has held the office of school director of his district on several occasions and is allied with the Repub- lican party in whose activities he takes a keen interest, being prominent in party councils. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the \\'orld and is a member of the Baptist church. C. W. Chrisman and G. E. Chrisman, widely known in Bates county as the "Chrisman boys," are representatives of a pioneer family of Bates county and they are still residing at the Chrisman homestead in East Boone township. C. W. Chrisman was born in 1855 in Jackson county, Missouri, and G. E. Chrisman was born in 1860 in the same county, both sons of Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman. The Chrisman trace their lineage back to a prominent colonial family of Virginia. Ewin Chris- man was a son of John Chrisman, who came to Missouri in 1832 and set- tled on a vast tract of land in Jackson county, as the boundaries were later defined. Ewin Chrisman came to Bates county, Missouri, from Jackson county in 1877 and purchased a farm comprising ninety-two and a half acres of land in East Boone township. To Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman were born eight children, seven of whom are now living: J. L., who resides in Oklahoma; J. T., Arm- strong, Missouri ; C. W., one of the "Chrisman boys," a subject of this review; E. F., Adrian, Missouri; G. E., the younger of the "Chrisman boys," a subject of this review; Mary E., deceased; Mrs. Anna F. Corbin, Kansas City, Missouri ; and Mrs. Ida L. Haley, Slater, Missouri. Mrs. Chrisman, the mother, one of the most highly respected and esteemed of Missouri's noble pioneer women, died in Bates county at the Chrisman homestead in 1904. Eleven years later, she and her husband were united in death. Ewin Chrisman died in 1915. He was one of the best citizens of East Boone township, a gentleman who easily made many friends, and wherever he was known his name was honored as the synonym of honesty, integrity, and uprightness. He was an honored veteran of the Confederate army, having fought bravely in many battles, serving faithfully for two years with Company K. Missouri Infantry, under "Fighting Joe" Shelby. The "Chrisman boys" have spent more than forty years in Bates county on the home place in East Boone township and they well recall the pioneer conditions and primitive appearance of Bates county, for amid the scenes of the early days they spent their young manhood. (62) 970 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY There were very few settlements in Missouri in the middle of the nine- teenth century and practically all the land was open prairie at the time the Chrismans settled in this part of the state in 1877. There were no roads, just mere beaten trails across the unfenced prairie, and the set- tlers traveled by their sense of direction. Wild game abounded and one day, in the late seventies, C. W. Chrisman killed a deer near Pleasant Gap. The Chrismans did their trading either at Harrisonville, Mis- souri, or at La Cygne, Linn county, Kansas, selling their corn for twelve and a half cents a bushel, their meat for two and a half cents a pound. The two brothers once took a load of meat on their sled to Freeman, Cass county, Missouri, and sold it for one dollar and ninety cents per hundred pounds, and that was the highest market price. The hardness of life in the new country and the universality of suffering from the pri\-ations and hardships inspired a more neighborly spirit in the old days than now exists. The early settlers necessarily depended upon their neighbors for assistance in times of sickness and distress and assis- tance was more freely given then than now. Physicians were few and difficult to secure. Dr. G. W. Chrisman was the nearest one to be had in this vicinity and he probably traveled thousands of miles, all told, during his career and watched beside the bedsides all night long of hundreds of different sufferers in this part of the state. The McNeil school house was the first school building to be erected in this district and William Kirk was the first "school master." Reverend Pitts and Reverend John Sage were pioneer preachers, whom the Chrisman broth- ers personally knew. They state that the old-fashioned revivals always attracted large crowds of people and they are of the opinion that the early settlers attended church better than do the people of today. G. E Chrisman tells of an old trail which led past the old Chrisman home place, along which he has seen hundreds of covered immigrant wagons going southwest. The inmates of the wagons would frequently encamp near the home of the Chrismans. The old home was built of lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, the weatherboarding of walnut, and it was probably erected long before the Civil War. When the Chrisman broth- ers would take their produce to market in the old days, it required two entire days to make the trip. G. E. Chrisman describes a very destruc- tive prairie fire which he witnessed one autumn and he states that for many years the grass out on the prairie grew higher than an ordinary man. He relates how he used to participate in "wolf drives" and has seen many captured and four years ago took part in a "drive" which HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 97 ^ resulted in the capture of three wolves. From this brief account, the reader may be able to form a fairly clear concept of the early institutions and conditions. C. W. Chrisman has been in charge of the Chrisman place for many years. He and his brother are engaged in raising good grade cattle and Poland China hogs. Both C. W. and G. E. Chrisman are stanch Democrats and highly respected and valued in East Boone township. The "Chrisman boys" have neither married, but have been content to spend their lives together at the old homestead, which has become a landmark in Bates county. F. A. Huston, a well-known auctioneer of Bates county, is one of the prominent citizens of Deer Creek township. Mr. Huston was born in Illinois in 1860, a son of John and Catherine Huston. The Hustons came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1876 and settled on a farm in Walnut township. John Huston purchased a tract of land in this township, which tract comprised one hundred ninety-five acres, and engaged in general farming. To John and Catherine Huston were born ten chil- dren, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. x\ddie Cox, Miami, Okla- homa; F. A., the subject of this review; Mrs. Mattie Harris, Kiowa, Kansas ; Perry, who resides in Kansas ; Mrs. Acenith N. Moudy, Creede, Colorado ; Melvin S. ; and Elbert, Walnut, Kansas. The father died in 1892 and the widowed mother makes her home with her eldest daugh- ter in Oklahoma. John Huston was one of the most unostentatious of men. open hearted and candid in manner, yet retaining in his demeanor much of the courtesy of the old-time gentleman. When F. A. Huston was a youth, sixteen years of age. he came to Bates county with his parents and he recalls clearly the open condi- tion of the country at that time. He attended school at Garrison school house after coming to Bates county and was taught by Miss Duncan and John McPeak. About thirty years ago, F. A. Huston attended a sale in this county and, when the auctioneer failed to make his appearance, Mr. Huston was asked to "cry the sale." An enthusiastic, eager, young man, who never knew what timidity means, he did as requested and was at once pronounced by those in attendance as a "star performer." Henceforth, F. A. Huston was many times called upon for his services and became a successful, popular auctioneer in this part of the country. The marriage of F. A. Huston and Mary J. Field, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Field, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in 972 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1883. To this union was born one child, a daughter, Mrs. Grace Lee, of San Bernardino, California. Mrs. Huston died seventeen years ago, in 1901. Mr. Huston has never remarried. There have been many sorrows and tragedies interwoven in the career of F. A. Huston and more than once have the depths of his moral fiber, the strength of his character been sounded — and still he is an opti- mist. He enjoys a good joke and a hearty laugh as much as any man in Bates county, probably more than many men for he has known from hard, bitter experience what a sob is. Mr. Huston recalls among the pioneer preachers, whom he per- sonally knew, Reverend "Billy" Miller, Reverend Gans, and Reverend Nicholson. The last mentioned, Reverend Nicholson, was a lover of sports, especially games of baseball. He had during the week attended a game and had participated in a fight, but the following Sunday he filled his regular appointment. Both his eyes had been most thor- oughly blacked, but he said that he never let anything interfere with his serving the Lord. John Huston, the father of F. A. Huston, was a Methodist minis- ter, llie son describes an early-day wedding, which he witnessed, when he was a curious, fun-loving lad. F. A. Huston states that young people often came from Kansas to Missouri to be married, in order to avoid the extra expense of obtaining a marriage license and his father was frequently called upon to perform the marriage ceremonv. On one occasion. Reverend Huston was away from home and a crowd of young people from Kansas, riding in a wagon, came to the Huston home and announced that two of their number wished to be married. As his father was not at home, young F. A. directed them to the resi- dence of the justice of the peace of the township, and then followed them there. The justice, Levi Gritten, was down along the creek fish- ing. When informed that there was a young couple at his home want- ing to be married, Judge Gritten sent word on to the house that he would be there in a short time, and in the meantime practiced the cere- mony upon his two sons, who were with him. When ready to begin the performance, the justice could find no pencil and no paper, except the fly-leaf of an old, worn. l)etlmnibc(l law book, that the young people might sign their names. Tlie matrimonial prospects stood up on the wrong side of one another, wliicli furnished much amusement to a "red-headed girl" in the crowd, wlio seemed to know more of the ethics of marriage ceremonies tlian the rest. After tlie ceremonv, Judge Grit- HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 973 ten kissed the bride, which furnished more amusement to the "red- headed girl," and she screamed in mirth. Justice Levi, barefoot and his scanty raiment held together by one suspender, returned to his fish- ing, from which he had most reluctantly parted, saying gleefully to young Huston that he should take the word to his father that the justice would have to "set them up" to him for being away, as he had extracted two dollars and fifty cents for his services! As a public-spirited citizen and useful member of society, F. A. Huston ranks with the substantial and enterprising citizens of this county and the high esteem in which he is held bears mute testimony to the sterling qualities of his head and heart. APPENDIX 439 Federal Building, Denver, Colo., December 21, 1917. Hon. W. O. Atkcson, Butler, Mo. My Dear Sir : Yours of Dec. 13 rec'd and in reply will try to give you my recollection of some of the things you ask about. To explain my present situation I will say that I have just arrived at the Denver office after a field season and have not had the use even of my own notes in matters of Mo. history, so any statements I may now make should be accepted onh^ after verification. As to the precise date when "Marais des Cygnes" as the name of this main upper fork of the Osage was used can only be fixed in a general way. So far as I know now j-our finding in treaty of 1825 is first official use of name. But the name is much older than that. The French Canadian voyageucr, coureitrs dcs hois, or trapper, who overran this whole country that borders the Missouri, Osage and tributaries as early as 1700, trapping and trading with the Indians, gave the beautiful names to the streams which they now bear. Of course this fork is also known as the "Osage" and the other fork coming in just below Papinsville as the "Little Osage," and I believe that the Presbyterian Mission at Harmony when reports were made referred to this stream as the Osage, and no doubt you will find the people living along this stream today often refer to it as the Osage and that the names are used interchangeably. (Is this true?) (No. 'Ehe Author.) ,' ',. The "Marais des Cygnes," means in English, ^^ive/* of the Swans, and no doubt was so named by the early trappers because of the gr^wr numbers of "Swans," or Sand Hill Cranes and Brants, (Branta Canadensis) and birds of this kind that frequented its reedy sloughs and ponds. As you state the earliest official mention of this name is in the treaty of 1825 with the Osages, but I truly believe the name to have been in use for 125 years prior to this time. It has been my great pleasure to have spent some time among the remnants of the voyageuer, that trapper tribe that may now be found in the Northland, along the Mackenzie. Porcupine, Yukon and tributary waters, living much as did their prototype on the Osage, running their trap lines in the winter months. Around his camp- fire at night I have listened to his tales of adventure, have employed him as guide, have had him draw maps for me of the country ahead of my party, and I know the way he does this from memory, and these maps are useful to the explorer, altho as "maps" they are mis- nomers. He has a peculiar way all his own. He will lay down his main stream probably as a straight line, but on that line he will give each tributary its relative position, with the name by which it is known to him, and as he is still a French Canadian his name will likely be in French. No doubt Pike carried such a map with him as he passed your way.* For proof of this I will cite the very appropriate name he gave to "Gravois" creek in Mor- gan Co. Mo. Now the Gravois at its mouth is as placid a stream with well defined banks and as far as Pike or any of his party on that August day would have time to examine, was just like many other streams coming into the Osage. But several miles up stream its true character is apparent and the name is very appropriate. Pike was the first to bring this name into notice, but the map that Pike carries of the Osage and its tributaries had this information on it from previous explorers. No doubt his party was hired, or many of them because of their familiarity with the upper Osage. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 975 As a boy I lived on the Harmony Mission trail in Morgan Co. Mo. I have often wanted to map this trail from Jefferson City, or from the mouth of the Osage, where the old Indian trace commenced, to the Mission, but have never had the opportunity. Much of its entire length is now in use, and traces can be followed through the cultivated fields to this day. The Grand Osage village in Pike's time was probably where he said it was on the prairie near the Little Osage, and in Vernon Co., but I do not now remember what details he gives. There were other villages. The Osages deserted their villages after a few years' use or when a pestilence broke out, going to a new place, as the wild tribes of the Northland do today. There is not a flat place of land near the forks of a stream or near a spring of good water in your county which does not contain a village site at some time. By looking the ground over one may find the site of the arrowmakers 'wickyup' by the conchoidal chips covering the ground, together with discarded broken arrow and spear points. So soon as I have the opportunity to get into the main office I will take great pleasure in looking up the notes in this matter of Osage village, but the villages likely to have been noted on the land surveys, you will readily see, may not be the original of Pike's village. Just at present I can be of very little use to you, but will go you 50-50 in exchanging ideas on any part of this subject. I would like to write you an article on the history of the survey of the State line that forms a part of the boundary of your Co. and also of the men who made the subdivision in your county and anything that you may want in that line, if you care for it. You may use anything I write as you see fit and in any way that will be useful to you. I would like to possess a copy of the Harmony Notes if not too much trouble, and as I have time I will send you whatever I think will interest you. Very respectfully, David W. Eaton. *I meant to state in this connection that could we find Pike's sketches of the country that he had it would be interesting to note the names thev bore. War Department, The Adjustant General's Office, Washington, December 20, 191 7. Hon. W. O. Atkeson, Butler. Mo. Dear Sir : In response to your letter of the 7th instant, in which you state that you are engaged in writing the history of Bates county and desire to locate as definitely as possible the site of Fort Clark or Fort Osage from the records on file in the War Depart- ment, I have the honor to inclose a copy of date relative to Fort Osage, Missouri, as shown by the records on file in the War Department. In addition to the data referred to, an old paper on file in this office furnishes the following description of the Fort : Fort Osage stands on an elevated bluff, commanding a beautiful view of the river, both above and below. The works are a stockade of an irregular pentagonal form, with strong log pickets perforated with loop holes ; two block houses are placed at opposite angles, one of them, however, flanks one of its curtains too obliquely to be of much service in defending it. There is also a small bastion at a third angle. Within are two series of buildings for quarters, storehouses, etc. The position of the fort is not a secure one, on account of numerous ravines and declivities that would cover an enemy within a short distance; but is such that boats ascend- ing or descending the river must be exposed to its fire. The stream in the middle of the 9/6 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY river, and on the opposite side is so remarkably rapid that it is in vain to contend against it with the oar or paddle. It is therefore, usually necessary for ascending boats to enter the eddy, which brings them within musket shot of the fort. No record has been found showing location of the Grand Osage village referred to in your letter. Very respectfully, H. T. McCain, The Adjutant General. D.\TA RELATIVE TO FORT OSAGE, MISSOURI, AS SHOWN BY THE RECORDS ON FILE IN THE WAR DEPARTMENT. Fort Osage was situated on the right bank of the Missouri river at the junction of the Osage river in Jackson county, Missouri, latitude 38° 40' N., near the site of the town of Sibley, ]\Iissouri. May 17. 1808, the Secretary of War wrote to Thomas Hunt at St. Louis: "The government having concluded to establish a trading house on the Osage river, & * * *^ tj^js jg ^^^ request you to establish a military post as a guard to each of those trading houses. * * * Each post ought to consist of 30 men * * *. A stockade work with a block house ought to be erected with barracks, &c. * * * I shall request * * * Genl. Clark to go with Mr. Sibley the other agent up the Osage River to aid him to fix on a suitable site for the house and post. You will please to send with him a party of 30 men, under a suitable officer with instructions to erect the necessary buildings and a blockade (?) work as soon as possible." (War Department Alilitary Book No. 3.) June 25, 1808, letter from General William Clark to Secretary of War. acknowledges receipt of letter from Secretary of War dated May 17, requesting him to accompany Mr. Sibley with the party of troops up the Osage river to fix a site for a store and post. He states that the Osage is only navigable for a short distance, and suggests that "some situa- tion on the bank of the Missouri above that river would be more (word illegible) to the Osage tribes." (War Department, Letters Received.) August 18. 1808, General William Clark to Secretary of War, states that Mr. Sibley has started up the Missouri with Captain Clemson and his company and that he (Clark) will soon follow and prol)ably reach Fire Prairie on the Missouri by the time Captain Clem- son and party arrive there. (War Department, Letters Received.) September 4, 1808, Captain Clemson reported the arrival of his party and General Clark's at camp on the Missouri four miles above Fire Prairie and that "The Spot of ground for an establishment General Clark is authorized by the Secretary of War to select, which I doubt will not go on rapidly." (War Department Letters Received.) September 6, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War— Letter dated from Fire Prairie relative to establishing a fort, &c. (War Department Letters Received Book. Letter charged to Indian Bureau.) September 23, 1808, General Clark to Secretary of War— tells of selecting site for fort near Fire Prairie and of progress made in erecting buildings, &c. (War Department Letters Received.) Letter of William Clark to Secretary of War dated St. Louis, December 2, 1808, states "A few days ago I rec'd a letter from Capt. Clemson & the gentlemen at the establishment on the Mo., near Fire Prairie, by which 1 am informed that the fort at that place is nearly completed, strong & well built." (Letter on file in War Department.) In a joint letter dated Fort Osage near Fire Prairie, on the Missouri, July 16, 1812, Captain Clemson and other officers of the ist Regiment recommend the abandonment of HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 977 Fort Osage and set forth the reasons on which their recommendation is based. (Letter on file in War Department.) In letter dated Ma}- 14, 1813, Colonel D. Bissell, ist Infantry, stated that he has "ordered the evacuation of the garrison of Fort Osage." (Copy of letter on file in War Department.) Note : The Captain Clemson referred to in the foregoing memorandum was Eli B. Clemson, Captain of the ist Infantry, United States Army. Smithsonian Institute, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. C, December 21, 1917. Dear Sir : Your inquiry of November 21 was referred to Mr. La Flesche of this Bureau and a copy of his reply is enclosed herewith. Very respectfully yours, F. W. Hodge, Ethnologist in Charge. Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Proprietor, The Bates County Record, Butler, Mo. (Inclosure.) Washington, D. C, December 18, 1917. Mr. F. W. Hodge, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. Hodge: The letter of Mr. W. O. Atkeson of Butler Mo., which you referred to me Nov. 24, 1917, is received. In this letter Mr. Atkeson asks information as to the location of the Great Osage Indian village and of the Harmony Mission, and their nearness to or remote- ness from each other. Maj. Zebulon M. Pike who spent about fifteen days (August and September 1806) with the Osage Indians, when on his expedition to the Rockies, places the Great Osage village on the east side of the Little Osage river, near the mouth of the stream now known as the Marmiton river. The recent atlases show that the Little Osage river runs through the northwestern part of Vernon County, Mo. ; therefore, there can be no doubt that the Great Osage village was situated in the land now known as Vernon County and not in Bates County. At the time of Maj. Pike's voyage up the Osage river upon his visit to the Osage Indians, the two branches of the Osage river upon which were situated the Great Osage village and later the Harmony Mission, seem not to have been known to the Europeans by any particular names, for Pike, the earliest traveler to mention these rivers, refers to the one upon which was established the mission, as the "right hand fork" and the one on which was the Great Osage village as the "left". (See page 386 of The Expeditions of Zebulon M. Pike, Coues' edition.) For a detailed description of these forts I would refer Mr. Atkeson to note 42 of the editor. (Mr. Coues, pages 385-386.) The Harmony Mission was established in the summer of 1821 and its buildings were located on the north bank of the "right hand fork" of the Osage river. At some time between 1821 and the visit of Maj. Pike to the Osages in 1806 this "right hand fork" of the Osage river became known as the Marais des Cygnes river. Rev. Jedidiah Morse in his report to the Secretary of War on Indian affairs quotes a letter addressed to General Steele by a Mr. Newton, one of the missionaries, that was dated from Harmony, Mo., Sept. 27, 97^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 1821, in which he (Newton) states that: "Harmony is situated on the margin of the Marais de Cein river, about six miles above its junction with the Osage. This place was granted to us by the Indians in council, on the 13th of August." (1821). Mr. Morse also quotes a letter written about the same time by a Mr. Sprague, another of the missionaries, to his brother, in which he says: "We are within fifteen miles of the Great Osage Village." (See pp. 222-223 of Jedidiah Morse's Report.) In 1831 was published "Letters on the Chickasaw and Osage Missions," by Sarah Tuttle. On page 69 of this little book she says, "The station is situated upon the north bank of a branch of the Osage river, called Marais des Cygnes, one mile from the United States' factory, or trading house, and about fifteen or twenty miles from the place where the Osage villages then were." In another place she says that the missionaries arrived at Choteau's post on August 2. 1821. Reference is made to the Harmony Mission by Mr. Houck in his history of the state of Missouri, as follows: "In this delightful land, in 1821, the United Foreign Missionary Society established a school for the education of the Osages, on the margin of the Marais des Cj'gnes rivefr about six miles from the junction of this stream with the Osage, on land granted the Society by the Indians in council, the school being situated about seventy-five miles from Fort Osage and about fifteen miles from the Great Osage village. This place was named "Harmony" and was situated within the limits of the present Bates County." Thus it would appear from these records and from the examination of certain maps of the state of Missouri, that the Harmony Mission was situated on the Marais des Cygnes river, in Bates County, northwest of the Great Osage village which was on the Little Osage river, in Vernon County, and that the distance between the two places, on a straight line, is aI)out eight or nine miles. The writers who speak of the distance as being about fifteen miles must have taken into account the necessary detours of the path leading from one place to the other. Having examined all the accessible records I have failed to find any explanation as to "when and how the Marais des Cygnes river got its name." There may be some hint as to the origin of this name in Mr. R. I. Holcomb's History of Vernon County, published in 1887, a book mentioned in a note by Mr. Coues in Pike's Expedition, but the book is not carried either by the Library of the Bureau or by the Congressional Library. Mr. Atkeson also asks "if it is not true that the Osage river begins at the confluence of the Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage on the line or boundary of Bates and Vernon counties." Referring to these two branches, the Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes, Mr. Coues says, in a note on page 385 of Pike's Expeditions: "The present confluence is at the point where Bates and Vernon cos. begin or cease to be separated by the meanders of the Osage, for the Little Osage runs in Vernon Co. and the main Osage, above the confluence, runs in Bates" Both forks head beyond (W. of) the Missouri State line, in Kansas, in which state the main Osage river bears the name of Marais des Cygnes." I trust that this information may be of use to Mr. Atkeson and indicate to him the records from which he may gather further details, should he need them. Very truly yours, Frances La Flesche. (This letter is submitted to show the errors and confusion which exists among the alleged authorities. The courtesy due the writer of this letter forbids comment here. Our views are stated elsewhere in this volume touching the errors in the authorities cited, after examining all of them, except the little book by Sarah Tuttle which we have not read ; hence further comment here is unnecessary. The Editor.) HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 979 United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C, January ly, 1918. Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Butler, Mo. Dear Sir : In compliance with the request contained in your letter of the 2nd inst., I have taken some pains to look up the matter of the Osage and Marais des Cygnes Rivers. In going back over the various maps of the state that have been published from time to time, I find there is no map of the Osage River- that gives evidence of anything more accurate than mere Indian legends earlier than the one contained in Maj. Z. M. Pike's narrative of his expedition to the Rocky Mountains, which was published in 1810. In this map the lower Osage is laid down in such a way as to indicate that it had been actually surveyed even then. The name of the river is not shown on the map above the mouth of the Sac. This latter stream is called the Grand River. The map shows a forking of the stream some distance above the mouth of the Sac and close to the location of the Osage Indian village, one stream coming in from the south and the other from the northwest. It seems evident that these two branches are what are now known as the ^larais des Cygnes and Little Osage Rivers, although no name is given to either of them on this map. On the map published by one Carey in 1822 the name Osage is applied to the river even out in Kansas. There is no such term as Marais des Cygnes on any of the branches though the map would indicate that the term Osage applies to the Little Osage while the stream now called the Marais des Cygnes is shown as a small stream without any name. A map published by E. Browne and E. Bancroft in 1827 shows the same branch of the stream as was shown on the last map and the term South Fork of the Osage is applied to the southern branch while no name is given to the northern one. Exactly the same nomenclature and relationship is shown on H. S. Tanner's map pub- lished in 1831. The fact that the stream called South Fork of the Osage on this map is really what is now called Little Osage is indicated by the location of Harmony Mission on the unnamed branch a few miles north of the junction of the two. On Hinton's map, published in 1832 the same nomenclature is applied to what seems to be the Little Osage. A small stream is shown which seems to be intended for what was later named the Marais des Cygnes, although the Harmony Mission is not shown. Exactly the same thing is shown on Tanner's map of 1836 except that on this map Harmony Mission is shown in the same position that it occupied on the Tanner map of 1831. On the map published by Bradford in 1838 the term Marais des Cygnes first appears. It is applied to the small stream that on all the maps published heretofore had been without a name although the Harmony Mission is not located on the map, yet there can be no doubt but that the stream called Marais des Cygnes is the one on which the ^Mission is located. The stream Little Osage is called Neosho Creek on this map. On Mitchell's map of 1840 the Little Osage and the Marmiton are shown in just about their true position and the Marmiton is called the Manitou Creek. The stream on which Harmony Mission is located is called Marais des Cygnes. From this date onward all the maps show the Marais des Cygnes. In none of the maps, so far referred to does the name Osage appear in such a position as to give any indication where it was intended that the river should begin. On the map published by Morse and Breese in 1844, however, the name Osage appears immediately below the junction of the two streams designated as Marais des Cygnes and the Little Osage Rivers. The one designated as Marais des C\'gnes shows the town of Batesville, which seems to be a new name for Harmony ^Mission, just above its mouth. There seems to be good historical ground, therefore, for applying the term Marais des 980 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Cygnes to the stream which joins the Little Osage a short distance below Harmony Mission and to apply the term Osage to the combined Little Osage and the Marais des Cygnes. I have found nothing to indicate who first applied the name Marais des Cygnes to the ■stream which is designated by it. The term signifies "swan marshes" and was given undoubtedly because of the broad, swampy lowlands lying along its valley. Hoping this information will be of some use to you, I am, Very truly yours, Milton Whiting, Chief of Bureau. Chicago, February 26, 1918. ]\Ir. \V. O. Atkeson, Prop., Butler, Mo. Dear Sir : Answering your letter of the 15th will say Papinsville is '77y-2 miles from Sibley in a straight line and about two miles above the mouth of the Marais des Cygnes River where it enters the Osage River. Papinsville is located on the Marais des Cygnes River. Very truly yours, Rand McNally & Company. United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils, Washington, D. C, February 2, 1918. Mr. W. O. Atkeson, Butler, Mo. Dear Sir : Replying to your letter of January 22, I desire to say that the expression Marais des Cygnes in French and, as stated in my former letter, signifies "swan marshes." The stream was named Osage on our soil survey map of Bates County because the Geological Survey had used the same term on its Butler topographic sheet, which had been published some time before our soil survey report was published. We, as a rule, accept the nomenclature of the Geological Survey in areas which they have mapped previous to our work. In looking up the reason for their use of the term Osage rather than Marais des Cygnes, I find the United States Geographic Board adopted the term Osage for the Kansas portion of the river in 1897 and for the Missouri portion the following year. They did this without reference to the historical evidence in favor of the use of the expression Marais des C3-gnes. In consulting with the Chairman of the Board on the matter he states that the decision was based on the fact that the river as a whole is the Osage river, that the branch in question is the larger part of the two forks and that the term Osage should therefore be extended to that larger branch while the smaller one should be designated in some other way, such designation, you 'know, would be the Little Osage. You will see, therefore, that the reason for their decision was purely one of convenience and had nothing to do with the historical evidence. In my last letter the historical evidence was given to you- Very truly yours, Milton Whiting, Chief of Bureau. Rich Hill., Mo., January 22, 1918. Friend Atkeson : Did you ever get the facts of how Rich Hill came to be so named? As I got it direct from the founders I will give to you for what it is worth. About 1868 Osage Township HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 98 1 having quite a population with no post office nearer than Papinsville, held a meeting to peti- tion for a post office. In the meeting the question of a name was among the important matters discussed. Mr. E. W. Ratekin, who became the first postmaster suggested that as the post office was to be situated on the hill overlooking the Marais des Cygnes River which hill was known to be underlaid with from five to seven feet of coal, it would be one of the richest hills in the country, therefore he suggested that "Rich Hill" would be an appropriate name and his suggestion prevailed. The post office was secured and the first post office was in William Wears's farm dwelling, one and three-quarters miles north of present city. At that same meeting Mr. Ratekin made the prophecy that it would only be a question of time until 100 cars of coal would be moved from that place in a day. This prophecy was considered extravagant at the time but nine years later three hundred cars of coal passed over the switches at the foot of that hill, from the mines there, in thirty-six hours. Did j'ou know further that the banner mine of the State of Mo. was No. 15 one mile South of Rich Hill? It is a fact. Hoisting an average of over three tons every minute for seven hours from a depth of 106 feet. It means this, a pit car run on the cage 106 down, raised to the surface, weighed and emptied into railway car every 20 seconds. I may call to mind some other matters that may be of use to you. Yours truly, Jno. D. Moore. Rich Hill, Mo., January 28, 1918. Mr. Atkeson: Replying to your inquiry, I will state that many years ago a railroad man, who was familiar with the matter in regard to the building of the road through here, told me that Mr. Talmage, who was general manager at the time, had four sons : Archie, Adrian, Arthur and Sheldon, and that the several towns of same name along the railway were named in rotation after these boys. I give you my information which I have no reason to doubt is correct. Yours truly, Jno. D. Moore. NOTES ON THE SURVEY OF THE OSAGE BOUNDARY LINE BY DAVID \V. EATON. The survey of the Osage Indian Boundary was charged to the Commission to treat with the Indians, &c., and they made a request that Wm. Rector, Surveyor General of the Territory of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, cause the same to be made. Here is Rector's reply : "St. Louis, July 10, 1816. "Gentlemen: I have received a note from Robert Walsh, Esq. (your secretary), in- forming me that it is your wish that I cause the survey of the Osage Boundary line from the Missouri River to the Arkansas to be commenced about the ist of August. I have engaged a surveyor who is now in readiness to commence making the necessar}- arrange- ments preparatory to surveying that line ; and who will be at Fort Clark prepared to com- mence the survey on the ist day of August next or soon thereafter provided he is furnished with sufficient sum of money to purchase supplies to enable him to do that work. "As I have not yet received instructions on the subject or authority to draw money to pay for surveyors, it rests with you to furnish the necessary sum. One Thousand Dollars, I presume, will be sufficient for that object. "I am, gentlemen, with much respect, your obedient servant, (Signed) "Wm. Rector." 982 HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY Jul}- 13, 1816, Joseph C. Brown was appointed Principal Surveyor and Archibald Gamble as Assistant Surveyor to survey Indian Boundary. They were furnished with $1,000 with which they were instructed to purchase pack animals and the necessary outfit and to hire packers, hunters, chaincarriers, markers, &c., to whom they were to pay $1.00 per day. A strict account was to be kept and on return from work were to sell for cash the property in their hands. They were instructed to ascertain the variation of the compass and were to run a true meridian, and if weather permitted were to make frequent observations for the variation of the needle. They were instructed to mark the end of every mile, and mark bearing trees where there was timber, and raise mounds on the prairies. They were to note objects of interest and were to return two plats thereof. Brown and Gamble were to do the work and receive such pay as was deemed just on completion of the work. The surveyors were also asked to collect specimens of minerals found and wrap them and properly mark them and note in a book where they were found and the appearance of the place, &c. St. Louis, Mo., 28 January, 1918. Dear Sir : Miss Drumm sent me your letter of the 23d, and it reminded me that I promised to send you a copy of an extract from Victor Tixier's book. Voyage Aux Prairies Osages — Louis- iane et Missouri, 1839-40. Tixier was in your part of the State in 1840. He says : "Nous Vouliens partier le lendemains de bonne heure, pour nous vendre chez un Francais nomme' Colin, etable depuis plusieurs annees sur la riviere Osage, a trois milles au dessus d'Har- mony Mission." That is : We wished to leave the next day at an early hour to go to the house of a Frenchman named Colin, who has been living for many years on the Osage River, three miles below Harmony Mission. In another place he says: "The farm of Colin, situated on the Osage River, three miles below^ Harmony Mission." Tixier visited the site of Harmony Mission, and says that the buildings were in ruins, and that an old farmer named Halley, who lived there, gave him a tolerably good dinner. Now, as to the name of the river, "Le Marais des Cygnes", or as I have usually seen it, "Le Marais du Cygne", there can be no question but that it is French. Le Marais des Cygnes means the Marsh of the Swans. The singular form, "Le Marais du Cygne", means the Marsh of the Swan. It is in that form that Whittier uses it in his poem — "Le Marais du Cygne" : "From the hearths of their cabins The fields of their corn Unwarned and unweaponed, The victims were torn, — By the whirlwind of murder, Swooped up and swept on To the low, reedy fen-lands, The Marsh of the Swan," Etc. Whittier in a note says: "The massacre of unarmed and unoffending men, in Southern Kansas, took place near the Marais du Cygne of the French voyagcurs." I do not quote Whittier as an authority on the form of the name, any more than I believe that the Kansas Jayhawkers and Red-legs were "unarmed and unoffending," but he is right about it being named by the French. In St. Louis there was in French times, a Marais Castor, or Beaver Marsh. In St. Charles County they still have the Marais Temps Clair (Fair weather Marsh or Swamp) and the Marias Croche or Crooked Marsh. HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY 983 In Spanish there are two words that mean marsh, pantano and tremedal ; so that the name in Spanish would be El Pantano (or El Tremedal) del Cisne, for the singular — the Marsh of the Swan, and El Pantano (or El Tremedal) delos Cisnes, for the Marsh of the Swans. Both the French Cygne and the Spanish Cisne come from the Latin Cygnus, as does our English word Cygnet. Tixier speaks of the river as the Osage but says that down to some miles below Harmony Mission it bears the name Marais des C3'gnes. If I can be of help to you in any way I am at your service. Yours truly, (Signed) Walter B. Douglas. W. O. Atkeson, Esq. -/- ^ .^ - ,-^" '-r^ .V \.^' V~ ■,^- '^. 'f > o- .x^^'% '^,. C^^' o 0~ -oO^ % ,^^' \^ ^/■y A^^' '^■r. ■"-a 0^- - -y .^ \ .#■ - - s -Cc. '/- = •\^ -^, ^"^ . V ' s ' » , .V. * V\ .v^' 'S' -\N ..N -7-. '^V /X"^- /V'' o 0' '''y- V' 0-- V ^, v-^' %. .-^^" vV- .s -/;, liliiii liillii LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 57? Of>1 V,