Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 10 of 19)

On December 10, 1854, the marriage of John B. Newberry and Elizabeth 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. Kretzinger ; 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 remembrance 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 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 purchased 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 evidence 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, 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 Johnstown 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 Lutsenhizer 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 homestead 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-

Jndith (Marchand) Lutsenhizer was a daughter of David Marchand, of French-Huguenot descent, and who served in the Revolutionary War. He was a native of Pennsylvania. The Lutsenhizers were Pennsylvanians 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 daughters, 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 territory 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 liberty. 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, Missouri, with her daughter, Mrs. Walter B. Kelly.

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 community 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 government 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, Missouri, 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 solemnized 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 living: Orvil W., Spruce, Missouri; Dr. Victor J.. Pleasant Gap, Missouri; W^illiam E., Spruce, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth, the wife of J. A. Borland, of Spruce, Missouri; and Clay S., the subject of this review, on the home place of the Cumptons, the homestead of his grandfather, the birthplace 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 producer 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 common schools and Butler High School; Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Missouri ; Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia; 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 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 seventeen 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 hundred 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 subject 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

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 situated 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. Charters 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.

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 raising. 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 possibilities of this profitable industry as Mr. Charters is to the raising of purebred Poland Chinas.

Mr. and Mrs. Charters are typical Americans and worthy representatives 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 distinction 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 Licking county, Ohio. During the Civil War period, Peter Gutridge returned 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 Jackson, Deepwater township; Samuel W., living at Bliss, Idaho; Susan

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 Butler 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 onefourth 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, camping in the Spruce neighborhood, and stopped to gather apples from the Gutridge orchard. As they were stripping the trees, Peter Gutridge 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 intention of showing that he meant to defend his property. A small shot happened to hit a soldier in the heel. Whereupon, Mr. Gutridge's 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 Papinsville, 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 surroundings 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 settled 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 daughter 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 Fairplay 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, Missouri; George, Ballard, Missouri; O. Williams, who is engaged in farming in Spruce township; Fred, a prosperous farmer of Summit township; Ollie, the wife of Melford Richardson, Chico, Butte county, California; 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 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 otherwise 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, unobtrusive 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-ofdoors, 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 associations 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 heartbroken 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 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 residence 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 succeeded 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

The history of every community is but the aggregation of the biographies 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 Columbia 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 purchased 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 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, deceased; 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 township, was born near Eureka, Kansas, January 6, 1862, the son of Christopher 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

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 twentyseven 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 Oklahoma, 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 raising 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 township; 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 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. Cunningham, 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 established at this place, but which was discontinued several years ago when the rural routes were designated in Bates county. Mr. Moreland disposed of his mercantile interests after some time, selling to Dr. McFarland, who in turn sold the establishment to Robert Beatty. Mr. Moreland returned to Ballard from Urich, Henry county, where he had been for a short time, and purchased the store from Mr. Beatty. Afterward, 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 sufficient quantity for the demands and he is enjoying an excellent patronage, drawing trade from the entire surrounding country, and the satisfaction 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 Missouri. 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 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 thirtytwo 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 Lafayette 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 merchandise 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 the State of Wisconsin and engaged in farming. From there, Darius Teeter and a friend, Thomas Springsteen, started for Pike's Peak, Colorado 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 territory, 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 disposed 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 Armstrong 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 twostory 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,

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 passing 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 gathered 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- 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 Shrewsburys, 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 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 established 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 assuming 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 families 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 Elizabeth 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 living 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, Winterhaven, 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, Missouri.

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

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 ninetyfive 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 structure. 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 dimensions, 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 development 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 eastward. This place consists of one hundred fifty acres of rich land.

William H. Gotten

Mr. Gotten owns in all eight farms totalling eleven hundred acres, nearlyall 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. Gotten's first investment in Bates county was in forty acres in Osage township, 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. During 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

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 children; 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 everyday 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, Missouri 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 resident 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.

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 purchased in 1906. The Harrison farm, at that time, comprised one hundred 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. Harrison is engaged extensively in stock raising and his place is admirably suited to this purpose and well equipped with all the most modern conveniences 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 dimensions, 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 township 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 surroundings of the Harrison farm bespeak the intelligent, industrious, progressive 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 energetic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to subdue many adverse circumstances and advance steadilv until he has won and now 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 interment 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 writing 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 Margaret S. (Blakeslee) Porter, were united in marriage in 1891. Dr. Porter was one of the most prominent citizens of Butler, a late surgeongeneral 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 favorably known in the county and they are numbered among the best families 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- steins in western Missouri. He l^ecame interested in keeping only registered 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 principles 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 completed a course in the art of photography. After working at his profession 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.

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 Missouri 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 blacksmithing 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 highest 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 purchased 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 gallery, new and expensive equipment have been installed, including an electric enlarger, an electric print machine, a cement sink, and a washing 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 confines 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 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 expressing 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' Association 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 guardians.

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

Owing to the financial stress at that time he failed to secure a position; 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 Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, West Virginia, under the appointment of Secretary of War Baker. He is doing this work without remuneration.

William P. Largent. - Three things will always stand to the credit of William P. Largent, of Shawnee township, in summing up his accomplishments during a long career of over thirty-five years in Bates county. As an "old settler" and a determined citizen he has triumphed over adversity 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 Hereford 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 animal is 1400 pounds and his action is fine, such as to make him an excellent 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 concrete 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 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 present 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 building 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 Pendleton county and died there. Twelve children have been born of this marriage, 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, Missouri; 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

(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 thirtyfour 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 daughter, 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 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 attendance. When Mr. Carver was eighteen years of age, he opened his first bank account with the William E. W^alton Bank of Butler, Missouri, putting in as much as five dollars ! For forty years, he has continued 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 upbuilding 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 families 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 cemetery at Brownington; J. T.. who died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, about 1912 and his remains were interred in a cemetery at that place;

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 Parochial School. He remained at home with his parents until he was twentyseven years of age and then began farming independently in Bates county, Missouri, to which county he came in 1880. Mr. Darby purchased at that time one hundred twenty acres of land and resided on it for sixteen years, when he retired from the active pursuits of agriculture, 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 tohave 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 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 instigation 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 Governor Herbert S. Hadley. In this great work, Judge Denton, while placing in actual practice his ideas of handling the problem of pardoning 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 identified 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 throughout Hancock county, in May, 1911. His wife, Jemima, was born December 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.