Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 11 of 19)

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 University 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 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 profession 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 position 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 paroling 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 system of handling the problem of granting paroles and pardons, he began at once to place his advanced ideas into actual practice. He inaugurated 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 element 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 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 executive 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 appointment than Judge Denton. During the two and one-half years he served in the position of pardon attorney he established a most excellent system 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 unhesitatingly 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 children 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- tended to advance the interests of his home city and Bates county along material, social, intellectual, and moral lines. Fraternally, he is affiliated 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 splendid 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. Gepford, 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 blacksmith 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) Gepford, 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 Illinois 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 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 Stickler, 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 demonstrating 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, Pennsylvania, 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 Washington 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 married 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 railroad 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 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 mining 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 partnership with Thomas J. Smith, under the firm name of De Armond & Smith.

In 1884, he was Democratic elector and voted for Grover Cleveland. In 1885 he was elected a member of the supreme court commission, 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 candidate 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 commission 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 railroad 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 ability. 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.

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 foremost 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

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 grandson, 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 sleeping 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 associates 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 grandson.

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 effective before a jury. No man with business in his court ever had reason 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 recognized by the Democratic party and the country as the actual leader of his party in that body of distinguished Democrats. Clean and fearless, honest and faithful, no one even among the Republicans in Congress 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 generally; 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 eloquence. 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 wonder 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 hesitated 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- 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 Mechanical College and pursued a special course in mathematics, literature, history, 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 following 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 Virginia. 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 candidate for circuit judge on the People's Party ticket and was also nominated 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 Settlers History of Butler County," published in 1902.)

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 primary 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 appointment 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 stenographer 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 Columbia 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 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 purchases the produce of the surrounding farms at fair prices, hauls the produce 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 public schools of Appleton City and worked on the home farm after completing 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, surveyor of Bates county from 1868 until 1880, was a native of New Hampshire. 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 worldrenowned statesman, diplomat, and orator.

Harrison Philbrick

Harrison Philbrick was a graduate of the New Hampton Theological 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 Philbricks settled in Bates county, the country was open prairie and to their home Papinsville was the nearest town and postoffice. Harrison Philbrick 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 stockman 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.

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, confidence, 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 coming 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."

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. Nutting, by whom he had nine children. He died in 1886, in his ninetysecond 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 distance 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 basement. 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, respectively, 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 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 membership 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 organized in 1907. The following are the national officers: Mrs. G. W. Price, Belmont, Ohio, president; Mrs. Clyde H. Meyers, Fredonia, Kansas, 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 bookkeeper 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 Browning 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 Lightning 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 township, is a native of Germany, was born in 1854, the son of Frederick and Dora Conrad, who immigrated to America from their native country in search of a home and substance in 1869. The Conrad family first resided in Henry county, Illinois, where they were engaged in farming for three years. In 1872, they located in Nebraska and homesteaded land in that state and practically every member of the family became prosperous and became owners of farms in the then new \\'est- 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 Appleton 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, ^^'isconsin; Lillie, wife of John Lambenstein, Hudson township; Otto, Benedict, 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.

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 Deepwater 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 northeast 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 proceeded 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 homestead 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 Kretzinger 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 Oklahoma; John, Spruce, Missouri: George, Rich Hill, Missouri; William, El Dorado, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Cunningham, Oklahoma; I. M. Kretzinger, Deepwater township.

perous. Henry and Eliza Beard were parents of the following children: Charles, Parsons, Kansas; Emma, wife of James Frost, Deepwater 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, Herschell, Buell, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, Kenneth Beard; Fremont, Rue, Donald, 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. Robert 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.

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 productive tract and Mr. Davis is engaged in general farming and the raising of cattle and hogs for the market.

On December 22, 1915, Mr. Davis was united in marriage at Clinton, 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 September 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 township, 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 settlement 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, hospitable 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 and Louisiana Evans were parents of the following children: William 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. Missouri 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 government 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, Missouri; 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 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 highways 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 nearest 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 nativeborn 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 custom 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 Harmony 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 Washington county, Illinois, and was a son of John Gilbreath, a native- of Buncombe 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 house on Panther creek, which was the only school in Hudson township 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 married 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. Gilbreath 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 citizen, 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- 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 citizen's part in local civic affairs and served as constable of Hudson township and also served as a member of the township board. Mr. Pheasant 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 prosperous 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 consisted 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 to her marriage; Charles E., a sturdy, industrious young citizen, twentytwo 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: Goodrich 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 associates who had grown to love him and respect him for his many excellent qualities. He was a good provider for his family, a kind husband, and a loving parent to his children for whose welfare and correct upbringing 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. Pheasant 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.

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 twentyfive 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 possession 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 Deepwater 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

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 engaged 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 children 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 township. 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 pursuits 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.

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 student 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 enterprises 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 superintendent 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 leading 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 families 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 witnessed 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.

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. Simpson 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 counties 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 Harrisonville. 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 Ludwick; Alzira, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Maxwell; John K., deceased; Charles William, deceased; James R., subject of this review; Mary Elizabeth, deceased wife of J. H. Fletcher; Duke W^illiams, Ardmore, Oklahoma; 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 township, 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,

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 Simpson was born in Deepwater towmship, October 30, 1844, and is a daughter of Jacob and Katherine Lutsenhizer, who came to Bates county in 1839 and settled in Deepwater township within four miles of the Simpson 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 Lutsenhizer 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 Marchand (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 pronounced 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 satisfaction to the people of the county. In 1882 he was elected recorder of 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 honorable 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 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 township; Margaret M., deceased; and Robert L., Minnesota. Mrs. Susan K. Hegnauer made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Mary C. Hammer 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 followed the oldest of respectable vocations during his entire life and has made a pronounced success as an agriculturist. He moved to his present 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 fertility 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 fertility with the least expense. Mr. Hegnauer milks from twenty-five to thirty cows of the Brown Swiss grade. There are two sets of improvements on the Hegnauer farms. The home residence is a nice, sevenroom 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 interior 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 Rockville township, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wirtz, wdio came to Bates county in 1881, and are both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Christian 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.

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 nineteen 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) 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 (lertruile, 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 county, the former coming to this connly in 1839, and becoming- prominently 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 building owned by Mr. Wix was erected by the contractors, lUirk iv Talniage and the lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, Missouri. 'I'lie business growth of the Wix establishment has been so great during the past five years that Mr. Wix has found it necessary to find larger cpiarters. 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 shipment 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 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 Shawnee 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 difficulty 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, Columbia, Missouri, and has mastered the art of judging stock. At the university, 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 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 recordbreaking 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.