Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 13 of 19)

Kentucky, and his pay at Davenport, Iowa. After the close of the Civil AVar, Mr. Wolfe returned to his home in Ohio, coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869, and locating on a farm in Charlotte township, in which township he has since owned several different country places. Later, he purchased a farm of one hundred forty-eight acres of land in Homer township and at the present time is the proprietor of a country place located near Old Virginia. Mr. Wolfe retired from the active pursuits of agriculture in 1910 and moved to his home in the city of Butler, a comfortable residence at 116 West Fort Scott street.

The marriage of Charles W. Wolfe and Mary Young, a native of Athens county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Higgins) Young, was solemnized in January, 1862. John Young was born in Ohio and Mrs. Young was born in West Virginia near Wheeling and both departed this life at the Young homestead in Athens county, Ohio. To Charles W. and Mary (Young) Wolfe have been born five children, four of whom are now living: James, a noted attorney of the state of Kansas, who practiced law with Senator Stone of Missouri and was admitted to the bar under him when located at Nevada, Missouri, a popular author whose book, "Why Is a Bachelor?" has been widely read throughout the country, a recently appointed member of advisory draft board of Kansas, receiving his appointment from Governor Capper, and a talented lecturer who has traveled extensively on chautauqua circuits; David C, who was a successful and prosperous farmer and stockman at the time of his death at the age of forty-nine years at Virginia, Missouri, and he has left a widow, Telia May (Parks) Wolfe, and several children; Julia Etta, the wife of W. F. McKibben, of Amsterdam, Missouri ; Reverend J. J., a graduate of the Butler High School and a former teacher in the Bates county public schools, a recently ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church at present serving at Garden City, Missouri ; and Bertha L., the widow of Andrew Simpson and the mother of two daughters: Mary Josephine, a graduate of the Butler High School in the class of 1915 and now a teacher in the pul^lic schools of Bates county, Missouri ; and Lee Etta, a student in the Butler High School, Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe have repeatedly opened their hearts and home and welcomed other little ones for whom they have cared with the same solicitude bestowed upon their own children and they have reared, in addition to their own, three children, nameh^: Robert Tye Wolfe, a grandson, who is now with his father, Reverend J. J. \\'olfe, at Garden City, Missouri, and is a student in Kansas City Business College ; Maud Hockett, now the wife of Reverend Edward Skidmore, of Sugar City, Idaho; and Ivy Cathey, now the wife of Claude Kenion, of Amoret, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe are lovers of children and they are very proud of their fifteen grandchildren and three great-gTandchildren. Mrs. Wolfe is a remarkable woman, a lady of boundless energy and deep and abiding human sympathy. Mr. Wolfe, at the age of seventy-six years, is still physically and mentally alert and as active as many men several years younger than he. He is a fluent and interesting conversationalist and justly proud of his splendid family of boys and girls.

Hermann A, W. Schapeler, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Prairie township, was one of Bates county's prosperous and successful citizens. Mr. Schapeler was born in Germany in 1847. He emigrated from his native land and located in Texas in the United States in 1870, going thence to Kentucky, where he remained but a short time, when he came to Missouri in 1873 and settled in Bates county on the farm now owned by his widow, Mrs. Minnie Schapeler. Hermann A. W., Ferdinand, and William Schapeler, three brothers, with their widowed mother, Mrs. Frederika Schapeler, settled on a tract of land in Prairie township, Bates county. Mrs. Schapeler donated the land which is the present site of the Reformed church and cemetery, a tract of three acres, and she was the second person to be laid to rest in the cemetery. "Johnny" Flick was the first to be interred in the cemetery of the Reformed church. Mrs. Schapeler died July 26, 1879.

The marriage of Hermann A. AA\ Schapeler and Minnie Drawe was solemnized May 30, 1879. Minnie (Drawe) Schapeler was born August 8, 1859, in Fayette county, Texas, and is a daughter of Louis and Katherina Drawe, who were residents of Texas at the time of the marriage of their daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Schapeler were born the following children : William L., of Hudson township. Bates county, Missouri; Hermann H., of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri: Louis F., of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri; Frederika, who died at the age of nine years; Henry J. and Edward E., who reside at home with their wndowed mother.

For many years, Hermann A. W. Schapeler fed cattle extensively and was one of the progressive men of his connnunity. Mr. Schapeler increased his holdings until he had at one time an estate of eight hundred acres of valuable land. He and his two brothers, Ferdinand and

William, were in partnership in farming- and stock raising until all three were married. To his sons Mr. Schapeler gave at the time of his death one hundred sixty acres of land each. Hermann A. AV. Schapeler died May 2, 1916. He was one of the most substantial and enterprising stockmen of Bates county and as a citizen, neigh1)or, and friend his record was an honorable one, his good name being far above reproach. Mr. Schapeler was a man of much public spirit and stanchly supported every laudable movement made in behalf of the general good of his township and county. He was a faithful and consistent adherent to the creed of the Reformed church and contributed freely of his means and influence in support of the Gospel and those who knew Mr. Schapeler best know that he fearlessly met his "Pilot, face to face," when he had crossed the bar. He has been sadly missed in his home and in the community.

The Schapeler farm lies two miles north and one mile west of Prairie City, Missouri. Henry J. and Edward E. Schapeler have charge of the place and their mother is their homemaker, housekeeper, and counselor. Mrs. Schapeler recalls many old settlers of Bates county, among whom were the following: Leonard Hegnauer, Samuel Kaiser, Tony Hammer,- Peter Grop, John Camp, William Burris, John Barrows, and George Malbley. She states that "Nick" Johannas was the merchant of Prairie City in the early seventies. Reverend Kinerem was the first minister of the Reformed church of Prairie township. He died in St. Clair county, Missouri, and was succeeded by Reverend Hinski. The church was organized shortly after the Schapelers came to Bates countv, and from the time of their coming here they have been active in promoting the moral and spiritual welfare of their township. Mrs. Schapeler's boys have gained recognition and prestige as capable and energetic agriculturists and public-spirited citizens. Mrs. Schapeler is a devoted member of her church and a lady of refinement and true culture.

H. Steiner, a successful and prosperous merchant of Prairie City, Missouri, was born June 30. 1880, a son of Rudolph. Sr., and Elizabeth (Wertz) Steiner, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Rudolph Steiner, Sr., located at Rockville, Missouri, on coming- to the United States and engaged in his trade of blacksmithing for several years. In later life, the senior Steiner moved with his family to Prairie City, Missouri. He died about 1915 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rockville. Rudol]:)h Steiner. Sr., is survived by his widow, who resides at

Nevada, jMissouri, and seven children, as follow: Rudolph, Jr., a wellknown hardware merchant of Rockville, Missouri ; John, Galveston, Texas; H. Steiner, the subject of this review; Emma, Nevada, Missouri; Walter, a highly respected grocer of Rockville, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Theno, Nevada, Missouri ; and Albert, who is one of our "Sammies" in the service of the United States in the present world war.

In the city schools of Prairie City, Missouri, H. Steiner obtained an excellent common-school education. After leaving school Mr. Steiner was engaged for nine years in blacksmithing. He opened his present general store in 1904, at Prairie City, Missouri, erecting a new building in 1912, a building 24 x 50 feet in dimensions. Mr. Steiner carries a general line of merchandise and since he entered the mercantile business fourteen years ago he has enjoyed a liberal patronage and at the time of this writing- in 1918 has a splendid and lucrative trade.

H. Steiner and Johanna Caroline Filgus were united in marriage in 1901. Mrs. Steiner is a daughter of August Filgus, a prominent citizen of Rockville, Missouri. To this union have been born three children : AA^ill)ert, Delmer, and Fern. Mr. and Mrs. Steiner are widely known in Bates county and they are held in the highest regard in Rockville, where the Steiners have long been respected as good neighbors, faithful friends, and honest, substantial citizens.

Politically. Mr. Steiner is a Republican of the orthodox stamp and he has always manifested a lively interest in public and political questions. Fraternally, he is aiTfiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is one of the progressive men of the county and is ever ready to give his support and influence to aid every enterprise calculated to promote the ^prosperity of the country and to elevate the standards of citizenship.

W. G. Sellon, owner of a splendid tract of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township, was born in Pike count}', Illinois, January 3, 1853, but has lived in Bates county, Missouri, since 1881. He was a son of Benjamin and Harriet (Grimshaw) Sellon. His father was born in England and accompanied his parents to America when h^ was two years of age. When he attained young manhood he located in Pike county, Illinois, during the early thirties. The mother of AV. G. Sellon was born in Ireland, a daughter of W^illiam Grimshaw who immigrated to America and settled in Harrisburg\ Pennsylvania. Benjamin Sellon was industriously engaged in tilling his farm in Illinois when the Civil War began. Like Cincinnatus of old, he left his plow in the furrow and organized a company of Unionists in his neighborhood and joined the Third Missouri Cavah-y Regiment, serving for four years in the United States army. Later, he was appointed to the captaincy of a colored company and was badly wounded at the battle of Blakely, Alabama. This was near the close of the war and hostilities had ceased by the time he had recovered from his wound. x\fter the war he received the appointment of deputy internal revenue collector at Ouincy, Illinois, and served for six years in this important official position. Prior to the war he had filled the post of census enumerator for Pike county, Illinois, in 1850. He died in July, 1881, and after his death the widow came to Missouri in the fall of 1883 and died in 1885, at the home of the subject of this review. There were five children in the Sellon family: John, deceased; Harriet, deceased; Sidney, deceased; Charlotte ]., deceased; and W. G., subject of this biography.

The early education of W. G. Sellon was obtained in the schools of Pike county, Illinois. When he attained young manhood, he came West in 1881, and in the spring of that year made a permanent settlement in Bates county. He and his brother, John, purchased a farm of two hundred forty acres and farmed it together in amicable and lucrative partnership until the latter's death in 1912, possession then passing to the survivor. Mr. Sellon raises Shorthorn cattle, and has one of the finest herds of pure-bred cattle in this section of Missouri. The Sellon herd numbers from sixty to eighty head at all times and are of the pure-bred, registered stock which bring high prices when placed upon the market for disposal. Mr. Sellon also maintains a drove of pure-bred Poland China swine and raises mules for the market. He is a stanch Republican who has been prominently identified with the party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as a member of the township board and filled the post of justice of the peace of his township for two terms. He is a member of the Episcopal church and is highly regarded as a substantial and desirable citizen of Bates county.

Jonathan Yost, an honored pioneer of Bates county. Missouri, was born October 9, 1833, in one of the cantons of Switzerland. He is a son of Christian Yost, a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguards. Mr. Yost came from his native land to America in 1851 and located first in the state of Wisconsin and was in Chicago when it was but a hamlet. Pie was very ill throughout the ocean voyage and was glad when the ship came to port. He spent some time in the city of

Philadelphia and thence went to the state of AVisconsin. Mr. Yost has during his lifetime traveled very extensively, both in Europe and in the United States, has visited the countries of Germany, France, England, Ireland, and Scotland and worked in seventeen different states in the United States. He is well acquainted with the territory of Alsace Lorraine, which has figured so prominently in the present world war. From Wisconsin, Mr. Yost went to Tennessee in 1860. He was employed in the navy yards at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1862, and from St. Louis he moved with his family to Illinois and there located on a farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Yost came to Bates county, Missouri, from Illinois in 1878 and settled on a farm in Prairie township, a tract of land comprising one hundred sixty acres of productive soil formerly owned by Mr. Billman, and followed general farming. The place was slightly improved at the time of Mr. Yost's purchase and he constantly labored bettering and adding to it. While in Tennessee, in the years prior to the Civil War, Jonathan Yost was employed as foreman of a large plantation by a wealthy slaveholder.

In Tennessee in 1860, Jonathan Yost and Agatha Gansner were united in marriage. Mrs. Yost was born January 10, 1842. To Jonathan and Agatha Yost have been born three children, two of whom are now living: "Nick," of Madison county, Illinois; Anna, who died at the age of seven years; and Mary, the wife of W^illiam Woods, of Papinsville, Missouri. There are four generations of the Yost family represented among the living members, namely: Jonathan, who makes his home wnth his grandson, George N.. a sketch of whom will be found elsewdiere in this volume ; "Nick," the son of Jonathan, now living in Illinois; George N., the son of "Nick," the subject of a biographical review to be found in this book; and Lloyd George, the only son and young'est child of George N.

Fraternally, Jonathan Yost is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with whom he affiliated in 1862 at Pocahontas, Illinois. He has long been one of the most conspicuous and familiar citizens of Bates county, one of the leading men of Prairie township, where he has been a resident for forty years. He has always manifested a deep and commendable interest in his county's development and prosperity and has nobly done his part in furthering both. Although he is now far past the allotted span of human life, being at the time of this writing in his eighty-fifth year, Mr. Yost retains to a remarkable degree his bodily and mental vigor.

George N. Yost, a successful farmer and stockman of Prairie township, proprietor of the "George N. Yost Stock Farm" one mile north of Prairie City, is a representative of a pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Yost is a son of "Nick" Yost, now a resident of Madison county, Illinois. "Nick" Yost is a son of Jonathan and Agatha (Gansner) Yost, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume.

In the public schools of Prairie City, Missouri, George N. Yost received his education. Practically all his life he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in Prairie township. Bates county. In 1906, he purchased his present country place, a farm comprising ninety acres of land, formerly owned by his grandfather, Jonathan Yost. The "George N. Yost Stock Farm" is nicely improved, the improvements including a good barn, erected ten years ago, 20 x 36 feet in dimensions, having a sixteen-foot shed attached; a silo, 14 x 28 feet in dimensions, built on a concrete base ; a crib, 25 x 32 feet in dimensions ; several sheds; and the residence, a well-constructed house of two stories and six rooms, built in 1910. Mr. Yost has eighteen head, of Holstein dairy cattle, of which two heifers are registered. He also owns a registered male Holstein. Mr. Yost sells the products from his dairy to the cheese factory at Prairie City.

In 1909, George N. Yost and Sophia Schapeler were united in marriage. Sophia (Schapeler) Yost is a daughter of Ferdinand and Katy (Kauffman) Schapeler, of Pleasant Gap township. Both parents of Mrs. Yost are now deceased. To George N. and Sophia Yost have been born three children : Vera, Helen, and Lloyd George.

Fraternally, George N. Yost is affiliated with the Papinsville Chapter No. 140, of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, joining in 1906. Mr. Yost is at present chairman of the Prairie township chapter of the Red Cross. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party.

William Frank Finklang, of Prairie township, secretary and treasurer of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman, was born November 9, 1878 at Hermann, Missouri, a son of Jacob and Minnie (Vogelsang) Finklang, natives of Germany. Jacob Finklang came to the United States in 1853 and located at Hermann, Missouri, wdiere he was married in 1861 and resided until 1882, when he moved with his family to Bates county and fohowed his trade of blacksmithing at Papinsville, then a flourishing town. Mr. Finklang enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at St. Louis and served under General Lyons, who fell in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The day before the engagement, the regiment in which Jacob h^inklang was serving was sent to Jefferson City to guard the capital and thus he was not in the battle. He served faithfully and well for twentynine months, when he was honorably discharged and he returned to his home at Hermann, Missouri, whence he came to Bates county. Mrs. Finklang, mother of William Frank, died at Hermann. Mr. Finklang was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Mary Bollweg, to whom he was wedded in 1890. He died March 4, 1918, and his widow resides at Rockville, Missouri. Interment was made for Jacob Finklang in the cemetery of the German Reformed Church in Prairie township, of which he was a highly respected member and earnest worker since 1890. Besides his widow, Jacob Finklang left the following children: Bertha, the wife of Briska Siedler, of Hermann, Missouri; Henry, who is in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway Company at Dodge City, Kansas; William Frank, the subject of this review; Ludwig, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, Missouri; Mary, the wife of Albert Kaepili, of Meridian, Mississippi; Lena, who is now taking a course in nursing at St. Joseph, Missouri ; and Anna, wdio resides at home with her mother at Rockville, Missouri.

In the public schools of Bates county, William Frank Finklang obtained his elementary education, which was later supplemented by two years' college work at Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Missouri. After leaving college, Mr. Finklang entered the employ of the Simmons Hardware Company at St. Louis, Missouri, and for two and a half years remained with this company, after which he was employed by the Rock Island Railway Company at Forsyth Junction, St. Louis, ]\Iissouri, for five and a half years. He then settled on his present farm of eighty acres, one and a half miles northwest of Prairie City. Mr. Finklang is the owner of a splendid farm and he is successfully engaged in raising cattle and hogs and in general farming.

December 27, 1903, William Frank Finklang and Frederika Schapeler were united in marriage. Mrs. Finklang is a daughter of Ferdinand and Jacobine ( Kauffman ) Schapeler, of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Finklang have been born five children, four of wdiom are now living: Calvin, Ella. ^Nleta, Pauline, and Paul, who died in infancy.

Mr. Finklang manifests a most commendable interest in civic and political affairs and he has capably filled the office of assessor of Prairie township for three terms, or six years. He is secretary and treasurer and one of the members of the directorate of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, Missouri, a company composed of ninety-eight stockholders organized February 1, 1915, proprietor of the Farmers Elevator at Rockville. The present capital stock of the Farmers' Equity Union is sixtyfive hundred dollars. The shares are valued at tv\^enty-live dollars each and no one may hold more than eight shares. This company is growing and prospering to a marked degree and is now one of the foremost grain firms in Bates county. Politically, Mr. Finklang is a stanch Republican.

William Frank Finklang is an enterprising American, of progressive spirit and stands for everything which promises the betterment of his county and community. Mr. Finklang has had a wide experience in business affairs and seldom engages in enterprises which do not eventually redound to his advantage, thus proving his judgment sound and discriminating, his knowledge of men keen, his endowment of good common sense plentiful.

E. H. Himi, of Prairie township, Bates county, was born at Papinsville in 1886, a son of Christian and Lena (Wirtz) Hirni, the father, a native of Switzerland and the mother, of Illinois. Christian Flirni came to Illinois with his father. Christian Hirni, who was a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguard when he, the son, was three years of age and later located at Papinsville, Missouri, in 1869, at which place he was engaged in conducting a butcher shop for a few years. Afterward, he and Jacob Hirni and Mart Bennett operated the old Papinsville mill, the only mill in this vicinity, none being nearer than Pleasanton, Linn county, Kansas. E. H. Hirni still has a part of the boiler, which is now used as a reservoir tank in the stock yards of his country place. It was originally twenty-eight feet in length, including the fire box and all fixtures. The burr-stone was quartz rock containing irregular cavities and made a good millstone. Christian Hirni was elected treasurer of Bates county in 1890 and he left a most honorable record of efficient management, being probably the most capable man who has ever held this offfce. Mr. Hirni gave special attention to collecting back taxes and he was instrumental in the accumulation of so large a fund obtained from this one source that Bates county was out of debt at the close of his term of ofiice. Mr. Hirni was a most valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville. He died in 1912, leaving a widow who resides at Rockville, Missouri, and fifteen children. He had been

E. H. Hirni, the subject of this review, was educated in the public schools of Papinsville, Missouri, and practically all his life he has been engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He is now cultivating a good farm, embracing one hundred sixty-four acres of land in Prairie township, located two miles north of Prairie City. All the improvements on the place are in excellent repair and with the exception of the residence all have been placed there by Mr. Hirni. The barn is well constructed, 32 X 60 feet in dimensions and thirty-three feet to cone. The farm is well supplied with good water from a drilled well, drilled in the autumn of 1917, three hundred four feet in depth, the water from wdiich is so abundantly supplied with natural salts that the stock require none additional. Mr. Hirni has sixty head of cattle, eight to ten horses, and fifty head of Duroc Jersey hogs constantly on his place and of his present herd of cattle twenty are registered Aberdeen Angus. Mr. Hirni is an enthusiastic "booster" of red clover as a soil builder, profitable crop, and stock conditioner.

January 7. 1909, E. H. Hirni and Alma Hirschi were united in marriage. Alma (Hirschi) Hirni is a daughter of Gottlieb and Emma (Hammer) Hirschi, formerly of Pleasant Gap township, now residents of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hirni are the parents of four children : Alma Adelaide, Ruby Gladiola, Leroy Hirschi, and Troy Edward.

In the spring of 1917, E. H. Hirni was elected trustee of Prairie township and he is now ser\'ing in this capacity. He is the treasurer of Consolidated School District No. 7. Mr. Hirni is vice-president of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville and a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Rockville. He is township committeeman of Prairie township and a stanch Republican in politics. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville, as was his father before him. E. H. Hirni is distinctively one of the leading men of his township, a citizen of much more than local repute, a respected son of one of Bates county's honored pioneers.

Mr. Hirni is prol)al)ly the only citizen of Bates county who has in his possession a piece of lumljer taken from the old wooden bridge which spanned the river at Papinsville. This piece of lumber is five by ten inches and is a part of Mr. Hirni's scales.

neer families of Warren county, Missouri, a son of F. A. Thurman, who came to Missouri from Franklin county, Kentucky, when two years of age, in 1831, with his parents. The Thurmans settled on land in Warren county and there F. A. Thurman was reared to maturity. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and located on the Highley place in Mingo township, purchasing later forty acres of prairie land from the widow of Doctor Tuttle, of Adrian. To F. A. and Armilda (Sherman) Thurman, the latter a native of Warren county, Missouri, were born the following children: Henry, who died at the age of fifteen vears; Mrs. Susan Robinson, deceased; Mrs. Mollie Laughlin, who died in Colorado; Mrs. Huldah Mickleberry, deceased; Mrs. Rebecca Jones, who died in Colorado; Albert B., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Maggie Crow, of Wenatchee, Washington; and five children died in infancy. The mother died in October, 1886, and interment was made in West cemetery. Mr. Thurman survived his wife five years, when in July, 1891, they were united in death and he, too, was laid to rest in West cemetery.

Albert B. Thurman attended school at Peter Creek school house in a district composed of the west half of Mingo township. This school house was erected before the Civil War and during the conflict was used as a dwelling. It was about 24 x 32 feet in dimensions, and for many years one of the land-marks in Bates county. John Witten, of Johnstown, Missouri, was Albert B. Thurman's first instructor. The following families sent children to Peter Creek school house to be educated : Thornburgs, Settles, Staleys, Gilberts, Wolfenbergers, Utleys, Cumptons, Graggs, Lakeys, and Mays and Judge Nicholas and Dr. Lee Bradley, of Warrensburg-, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Thurman engaged in farming and stock raising in Mingo township and with the exception of two years has been continuously employed in these vocations in this township to the date of this w'riting in 1918. Mr. Thurman purchased his present home in 1901 for seventeen and a half dollars an acre from Thomas J. Suttles and since acquiring the ownership of the farm has made it one of the splendid country places in Mingo township. He has followed sheep raising for the past twelve years and has had as many as two hundred head of Shropshires and Oxfords on the farm at one time, but he now has probably one hundred. He raises high-grade animals and finds the production of wool very profitable. Mr. Thurman sold the first wool produced for eleven cents a pound, which price compared with the present market quotations of ninety cents to one dollar presents a striking - and to the producer - very satisfactory difTference.

March 27, 1894, Albert B. Tburman and Eva Stayton, a daughter of J. W. and Nancy (Hendrickson) Stayton, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Stayton were both born in Adair county, Kentucky. The Staytons came to Bates county in 1881 and Mr. Stayton now resides on his farm near Aaron, Missouri. To Albert B. and Mrs. Tburman has been born one child, a daughter, Ruey, who is now the wife of George Wells, of Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the parents of two children: Eva and Lucille. Mr. Wells is the owner of a valuable farm comprising eighty acres of land located two and one-fourth miles northeast of Aaron, Missouri, a part of the old John Massey place.

Mr. Thurman takes a most commendable interest in public affairs and he has held the office of constable and of collector of Mingo township. He was a candidate for judge of the county court from this district in 1916.

Willie M. Hardinger. - The Hardinger family is one of the oldest and most prominent families in Bates county, and the subject of this review has been a resident of this county since 1867. His fine farm of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township is widely known as the "Cloverdale Stock Farm," one of finely improved places in the county, and noted for its crop production and livestock. Mr. Hardinger was born in Linn county, Iowa, September 21, 1866, and is a son of William Nathaniel and Mary E. (Berryhill) Hardinger, late prominent residents of Bates county.

William Nathaniel Hardinger was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1837, and was a son of George and Mary Hardinger. His parents removed to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, and in 1856 he removed to Linn county, Iowa, where he followed farming until his removal to Bates county in 1867. In 1865 he married Mary E. Berryhill, a native of Linn county, Iowa, and who was born in 1843, a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Butler) Berryhill, the former a native of Ohio and the latter a native of Michigan. When Mr. Hardinger came to Bates county he located on section 35 in Charlotte township and improved one hundred twenty acres of land. In 1880 he made a trip to California and remained there until 1881, when he returned and erected a store building at Virginia, conducted a store there for a little over a year and then disposed of the business to George Short. For his first forty acres bought in this county he paid ten dollars an acre. Mr. Hardinger continued to reside upon his farm until his deatli on September 23, 1917. His death marked the passing of one of the best known and best beloved citizens of the countv, whose honestv and

Christianity were proverbial. For many years he was identified with the Presbyterian church and was active in church work. He was prominently identified with the Democratic party and served for a time as justice of the peace of his township. His wife had preceded him in death eleven years, her death having occurred in March, 1906. Willie M. Hardinger, subject of this review, is the only child of his parents.

The education of Willie M. Hardinger was supplemented by a course in the Butler Academy and he then settled down to the life of a tiller of the soil. All of the days of his residence in Bates county have been spent on the Hardinger farm. He has increased the original acreage to two hundred forty acres, he and his wife owning one hundren twenty acres about three miles distant. "The Oloverdale Stock Farm" is located about one and a half miles south and five and a half miles west of Butler. Mr. Hardinger carries on general farming activities and raises ked Polled and Shorthorn cattle for the markets.

He was married, May 24, 1888, to Ida L. McElroy, who was born and reared in Charlotte township, a daughter of William A. McElroy, an early settler of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Hardinger have four living children: Lee M., who is married and resides upon one of his father's farms ; Elmer, Arthur, and Ruth, at home with their parents.

William A. McElroy, father of Mrs. Hardinger, was born September 27, 1839, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Humphrey) McElroy, both natives of the Buckeye -state. The family settled in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1844. The mother died in 1878 leaving five children. William A. McElroy was reared to young manhood in Illinois and during the Civil War, he served in the Seventysecond Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. On August 30, 1866 he married Miss Sarah J. Drum, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 23, 1844. In 1869 Mr. McElroy located on section 28, in Charlotte township and has resided in Bates county for nearly fifty years. The following children were born to them : Mary C. Drysdale, on the old home place; Minnie E. Hendrickson, Los Ang^eles, California; Nellie B. Burk, Charlotte township; Ida L., wife of the subject of this review; Frank W., Texas ; and Clarence J., Arizona.

Mr. Hardinger has been more or less active in political affairs since attaining his majority and has always been a supporter of the Democratic party. During Governor Folk's administration he received the appointment of county assessor of Bates county and ably performed the duties of this office. He has also served as justice of the peace and as township assessor. He is affiliated fraternally with the Butler Lodges,

Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and Mrs. Hardinger are members of the Presbyterian church and take an active interest in church works. Mr. Hardinger is a director of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and takes a prominent part in all county movements of a meritorious and beneficial character,

Willis Isaiah Yeates, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Mingo township, is one of Bates county's representative citizens. Mr. Yeates was born November 24, 1846, in Kentucky, a son of John D. and Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates. Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates was a great-niece of Daniel Boone, the most famous of American scouts, pioneers, and hunters. Mr. and Mrs. Yeates came to this state from Kentucky in 1851 and located in Franklin county on Labadie bottom land. They came to Bates county in 1883 and settled on a farm in Mingo township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. John D. Yeates purchased the country place, where his son, Willis Isaiah, now resides and at one time his estate embraced two hundred five acres of valua])le farm land in Mingo township. Mr. Yeates was engaged in farming and stock raising. To John D. and Anna E. Yeates were born the following children: Willis Isaiah, the subject of this sketch; John Thomas, who now resides in Texas; William Samuel, deceased; Mrs. Martha Mildred Shelton, New Haven, Franklin county, Missouri ; James E., Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Mary E. Doherty, of Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rose Ingham, of Henry county. Samuel Boone, a brother of Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates, erected the first building, a cabin, in Paola, Kansas, at a time when the Miami Indians still haunted that section of the country. The father and mother both died in Mingo township. Bates county, and they are buried in Cove Creek cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Yeates were held in the highest respect and esteem in their community and they were widely and favorably known throughout Bates county.

Willis I. Yeates received his education in the public schools of Franklin county, Missouri. On account of the necessarily primitive conditions of pioneer life and the hardships imposed by the Civil War, Mr. Yeates enjoyed but few educational advantages or opportunities of any sort. The school house which he attended was a rude log structure, having a dirt floor. He came to Bates county in 1883 and purchased eighty acres of land, which he still owns, and to his original holdings he has since added two tracts of land, one comprising eighty acres, the other twenty-two acres of timber land. Mr. Yeates built his present residence in 1909, situated on the Urich and Creighton road. The Yeates place is nicely improved and well kept. Mr. Yeates is not now actively engaged in farm work, but rents his land.

June 3, 1908 Willis I. Yeates and Kate L. Board were united in marriage. Kate L. (Board) Yeates is a daughter of John and Mary (Duvall) Board, who came to Bates county in 1875. Both parents of Mrs. Yeates are now deceased and their remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. John Board were the parents of the following children: Thomas Board, Rockville, Missouri; James W., Altona, Missouri ; -Mrs. Annie Stayton, Aaron, Missouri; Mrs. Eleanor Poage, Marshall, Missouri ; Mrs. Cora McRoberts, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ida Rexrode, Adrian, Missouri. Bv a former marriagre Mr. Yeates is the father of one child, a son, John Thomas, of Mingo township.

Fraternally, Mr. Yeates is affiliated with the Wadesburg lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Creighton, Missouri and was formerly a member of the Johnstown lodge. In earlier days, Judge Estes Smith and Mr. Yeates together attended the meetings of the Wadesburg lodge. Mr. Yeates has always taken an active interest in the pul)lic aftairs of his township and county and he is recognized as a public-spirited citizen in his community.

William Henry Charters, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, the one who pushed the big bone Poland China hogs to the front in western Missouri, was a native of New York City. He moved with his parents to the state of Ohio, when he was a child five years of age, and in that state was reared and educated.

In 1881. Mr. Charters came to Bates county, Missouri and purchased sixty acres of land. He later added to his original purchase a forty-acre tract of land, making a nice farm of one hundred acres located nine miles east of Butler. Mr. Charters brought with him, when he came to Missouri from Ohio, a big bone Poland China hog and he devoted his time, attention, and energies to introducing this breed of hogs in this section of the country. His son, William Henry, Jr., has continued the work begun by his father and is now one of the leading producers of big bone Poland Chinas in Bates and adjoining counties. The hogs shipped from Ohio are from the Clever herd, a celebrated herd of Poland China hogs in that state. Prior to his coming to Missouri, Mr. Charters was manager of the Greenwood herd of Shorthorn

The marriage of William Henry Charters and Margaret Carroll was solemnized at London, Ohio in 1880. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was born in Morgan county, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Margaret Carroll, the former, a native of Pennsylvania and the latter, of New York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carroll were reared and educated in the state of Ohio. The Carrolls came to Bates county, Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm in Deepwater township, a country place located nine miles east of Butler, where they still reside. Mr. Carroll is now at the advanced age of eighty-seven years and his wife is but three years his junior. To Philip and Margaret Carroll were born the following children: Mrs. Margaret (Carroll) Charters, the widow of the subject of this review; M. V., of Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. E. S. Onion, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Rose Clark, Chicago, Illinois; George, of Woodward, Oklahoma; Mrs. Celia Hubbard, Kincaid, Kansas; Frank, Spruce, Missouri; Clark, of Butler, .Missouri; and two sons, James and John, who are deceased. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was educated partly in a convent at London, Ohio and partly in the pul:)lic schools of Madison county, Ohio. William Henry and Margaret (Carroll) Charters were the parents of five children, who are now living: Mrs. Aline Herman, the wife of John A. Herman, Jr., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; William Henry, Jr., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Lola Young, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Mabel Smith, Spruce, Missouri; and L. J., an electrician and machinist, Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Charters, Sr. was accidentally killed in an automobile tragedy on July 5, 1916 when sixty-five years of age. His remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. Mrs. Charters resides in the city of Butler at 314 West Mill street.

W'illiam Henry Charters was a model stockman and a careful farmer, as the splendid condition of his place in Bates county attested, and as a business man he was noted for clear insight and sound judgment which rarely failed to redound to his advantage. He was an "allround man," earnest in his purpose, candid in his relations with his fellowmen, honorable and upright in all his transactions. He was held in the highest esteem by his neighbors.

John A. Herman, Jr., a successful agriculturist of Shawnee township, a capable and popular merchant of Culver, Missouri, is one of the county's prosperous and progressive, young citizens. Mr. Herman, Jr., was born January 3, 1880 at the Herman homestead in Shawnee township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of John A., Sr.. and Mrs. Herman, pioneers of Shawnee township. John A. Herman, Sr. came to this part of Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and settled on the farm where he now resides and which his son, John A., Jr., manages. Mr. Herman, Sr. has been one of the most successful and prominent farmers and stockmen of western Missouri and in former days a hard worker. He placed all the improvements now on his place, a tract of land embracing two hundred forty acres, including a handsome residence, two well-constructed barns, and a silo. Formerly, Mr. Herman, Sr. was a busy stockman, but he has now retired from active farm labor. He is eightytwo years of age. John A. Herman, Jr., manages his father's place in addition to his own, an eighty-acre tract of land, upon which his store is located.

In Shawnee township. Bates county, John A. Herman, Jr. was born, reared, and educated. He resided on the home place until about eight years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, at which time he purchased J. W. Cole's general store at Culver, Missouri and he moved to his farm, previously mentioned, and has since been engaged in the mercantile business in addition to farming and managing his father's country place. Mr. Herman, Jr. carries an excellent and complete line of general merchandise and from the time of his entering the business to date has had a splendid trade. He hauls his merchandise from Passaic and his store is a convenient market for the produce from the surrounding country. He is located on Rural Route 2 from Butler, Missouri. The Culvers of Butler, Missouri conducted the first mercantile establishment at this place, which was named in honor of them. Mr. Herman, Jr.'s farm and store are located eleven and one-fourth miles northeast of Butler, Missouri and eight miles east of Passaic.

John A. Herman, Jr., was united in marriage with Aline Charters, a daughter of William H. and Margaret (Carroll) Charters, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Charters is now deceased and his widow resides at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herman, Jr. are highly regarded in their community and popular with the young people of their township.

Alonzo Wilson Shay, a prosperous and successful farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Shay was born October 20, 1858, in Allen county, a son of Thomas and Nancy (Dobbs) Shay, the father, a native of Ireland and the mother, of Kenyj^ HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY tucky. Mrs. Shay died in Kentucky in 1859. Thomas Shay enlisted with the Federal army and served throughout the war of 1861 and died at the close of the conflict at Louisville, Kentucky.

Mr. Shay, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He came to this state in 1869 with his guardian, James Wygal, and with him resided for many years. Mr. Wygal went to California about thirty years ago and there his death occurred. He owned a farm in Lone Oak township, the place now owned by the Lyons brothers. Alonzo Wilson Shay w-as first employed in Bates county by Dr. Decatur Smith at a remuneration of ten dollars a month. Doctor Smith is still living at Butler, Missouri and a sketch of him appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Shay labored by the month until the time of his marriage in 1881. During the autumn and winter of 1869, Mr. Shay and twenty-six others from Illinois camped at Rocky Ford in Lone Oak township, all in one building having a fireplace fourteen feet in length. Dr. T. C. Boulware, of Butler, was the first physician whose services were needed that winter at Rocky^ Ford. When Alonzo Wilson Shay was a boy, eleven years of age, he assisted in hauling the lumber from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, fifty-five miles away, used in the construction of the residence of Laben Warren, which is across the road from Mr. Shay's present home. L. P. Carlton was the proprietor of the country place, now owned by Alonzo Wilson Shay, in 1869 and the latter recalls that in the autumn of that year Mr. Carlton was putting out an orchard on his farm. Mr. Shay purchased his first tract of land in New Home township. Bates county, in 1882 and at the present time is owner of one hundred thirteen acres of land in that township, a nicely improved farm, in addition to his sixty-eight acres of land in Lone Oak township, where he resides. Mr. Shay farms both places and is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising, keeping cattle, hogs, and horses. The Shay residence was built in 1911 and is one of the attractive, comfortable homes of the township. The Shays receive mail on Rural Route 6 from Butler, Missouri.

March 15, 1881 Alonzo Wilson Shay was united in marriage with Ella B. McClintock, a daughter of Dr. H. D. McClintock, an early pioneer physician from Virginia, who settled in Bates county in 1869. Mrs. Shay was born in Virginia. To Alonzo Wilson and Ella B. (McClintock) Shay were born the following children: Wilson, who died September 21, 1914; Clarence L., of El Paso, Texas; Lulu, the wife of Howard Hooper, of Midland, Texas; George Emmett, of El Paso, Texas;

Charles F., who died November 12, 1911. One son, Henry Arthur, died in infancy on February 14, 1885. The mother died November 20, 1893 and her remains were laid to rest in Morris cemetery. On March 9, 1397 the marriage of Alonzo Wilson Shay and Mrs. Emma (Spicer) Morgan, widow of Henry Morgan, was solemnized. Mrs. Shay's father, James Spicer, was a native of Delaware and her mother, Margaret (Reesor) Spicer, of Ohio. He died February 2, 1890 and his wife was united in death with him on July 29, 1899. Both parents died in Jewell county, Kansas. Mrs. Shay was first married to Henry Morgan and to them were born three children: Maud Ethel, who is employed as teacher in Black district in Bates county, Missouri; Odie, who died November 17, 1892; and Mrs. Stella M. Rowden, of Jamestown, Colorado. All the children were born in Jewell county, Kansas. Their father, FTenry Mor-. gan, was a native of Illinois. He had resided in Lone Oak township. Bates county but one year when his death occurred on December 12, 1893.

There is no man in Bates county more worthy of the title "a selfmade man" than is Mr. Shay. Left motherless in infancy and fatherless at the age of seven years, a poor orphan boy, Alonzo Wilson Shay has by industry, thrift, and perseverance proven his sterling worth and is now one of the most substantial citizens of Lone Oak township.

Jefferson Sells, father of C. J. Sells of Butler, came to Bates county in the early fifties and located in Walnut township. When the war broke out, being of Southern sympathies, he decided to go to Lawrence county, Missouri to escape the danger of the Kansas raiders. His father, John Sells, came with him to Bates county and he was leaving for the same destination. He had gone ahead with his wagon and Jefferson and John Sells, his sons, were driving the stock. As they came to the crossing at Walnut, bushwhackers supposedly Kansas jayhawkers, ambushed them and both brothers were killed. Of the seven or eight men in the party all escaped but the two brothers. The home on the John Sells farm in Walnut township was one of the few that escaped the ravages of the war.

C. J. Sells, now living in Butler, Missouri, was left an orphan when about three years of age and his grandmother reared him. He farmed for some years in Walnut township prior to coming to Butler. His wife was Bell Osburn of Pleasant Gap township whose father also was killed in the border warfare. He was called out from his residence on Double Branches and shot. Mr. and Mrs. Sells have five children: Charles Sells,

Horseshoe Bend, Idaho; Ethel, who married Jason Woodfin, now dead; Inez, now Mrs. Ira Rockhold of Butler; Cannie, a daughter, at home. Clyde L., the third of the children, is now in France. He attended Missouri University at Columbia, Missouri, and took military training there as well and enlisted with a Montana company with a lieutenant's commission.

Judge R. F. Harper, - The life story of Judge R. F. Harper, a leading citizen of Bates county, and highly successful agriculturist of Charlotte township, ex-presiding judge of the county court, and pioneer settler, takes one back over a half century of the development period of this county. The tale of his career in this county begins at a time when the entire territory which comprises this county was in an unsettled state and much of the land was open prairie over which herds of deer roamed and wild game was plentiful. There were few roads in the county, and such as the pioneers traveled on their way to market were but beaten trails which lead straight across country to the destination. The nearest trading and shipping- point was at Pleasant Hill, fifty miles away, and it was a two or three days' journey to carry produce to this market. The period of Judge Harper's life previous to locating in Bates county, borders on the romantic and savors of the old days of the boundless Western plains which he crossed on foot. It would reveal something of the life of the hardy adventurer in the mining camps of the Rocky mountains, and subsequent service under the Union flag in the wilds of Colorado and New Mexico and the stirring scenes of a campaign against hostile Indians in which he participated. R. F. Harper w^as born March 23, 1841 in Athens county, Ohio and was a son of Theron and Catherine (Allen) Harper. His father was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania and his mother was born in Gallia county, Ohio. The parents of Theron Harper were early settlers in Athens county, Ohio, and here the father of R. F. Harper w^as reared to manhood and married. Both of Judge Harper's parents lived all of their days in Athens county, Ohio, and died there, the father dying in January, 1851. They were parents of ten children.

After receiving such education as was afforded by the public schools of his neighborhood, R. F. Harper attended the old Albany Academy in Athens county. His father died when the son was ten years old and he then assisted in the support of his widowed mother and his brothers and sisters until the second marriage of his mother. He then made his home with an uncle who assisted him in acquiring an education. Thrilled with the news of the great gold discovery at Pike's Peak, early in 1860, he determined to make his way to the new gold fields. He got as far as St. Joseph, Missouri, and there persuaded a freighter to allow him to accompany his outfit. The freighter agreed to feed him the entire distance to Denver but it was necessary for him to make his way afoot. He paid the freighter twenty-five dollars for this privilege. There were seven men and one woman in the party which convoyed one wagon loaded with freight and drawn by ox-teams. The seven men took turns herding the oxen upon camping at night, Mr. Harper taking his turn regularly. Mr. Harper walked the entire distance of six hundred miles in thirty-two days and arrived in Denver, then a straggling frontier camp, with but five dollars in his pocket. This money was soon stolen from him by a man whom he thought was a friend and he obtained employment as a miner at a wage of one dollar per day and his board. He humorously recalls that he got the board all right but never received the dollar-per-day wages which were promised him.

On August 20, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, First Colorado Cavalry and served for four years, two months and ten days. Previously, he had made up his mind to go to Leavenworth, Kansas, and join the command of Col. Jim Lane, the famous Kansan who had taken such a prominent part in the struggle to make Kansas a free state. Mr. Harper saw active and continuous service of the hardest frontier character in Colorado and New Mexico. He took part in the battle of Apache Canyon, twenty miles from Santa Fe and fought from March 26 to March 28, 1862. His command met and engaged the Confederate forces and drove them back to Santa Fe. Later he participated in another engagement on the Rio Grande below Albuquerque. In 1864, the western Indians became hostile and a great uprising was threatened. His command was sent against them on the plains of Kansas and Colorado and they operated as far east as old Fort Dodge, Kansas. He was honorably discharged from the service on October 30, 1865, at Denver and started at once for home. The Indians were still troublesome and it was dangerous for white men to travel except in considerable bodies. In order to retain their side arms the discharged soldiers were required to pay for them. This he did, retaining both rifle and revolver. At Julesburg, Colorado, Mr. Harper and others organized into a formidable and well armed band of one hundred men and made the trip across the plains to civilization in safety. He then went to Johnson county, Missouri, arriving there in November, 1865, and rented a farm owned

Mr. Harper has a splendid farm of two hundred seventy-six acres in the southwestern part of Charlotte township with substantial and imposing improvements. His large, handsome residence is located on an elevation overlooking the river valley of the Marais des Cygnes and he has had the extreme satisfaction of creating his fine farm from unbroken land during the fifty and more years since he first came to this county. In the early days of his residence here, Mr. Harper saw plenty of deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens from the doorway of his home. He is a progressive farmer and maintains a fine herd of thoroughbred Red Polled cattle.

While on a furlough in 1864 to the old homestead in Athens county, Ohio, he was married to Miss Olive Young, a native of Athens county, Ohio, and daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. This marriage was solemnized on June 26, 1864, and has been a happy and prosperous one. Miss Young was a school mate and old sweetheart of his younger days, and it is probable that Mr. Harper had plighted his troth with her before he made the adventurous trip to the far West. Three children have blessed this marriage : Thaddeus S., well-to-do stockman and farmer owning a splendid farm in Charlotte township; Katherine, wife of Luther Judy, Charlotte township; and John T., the youngest, a successful farmer of Charlotte township, and residing on the old home place. John T. married Florence Bean, and has two children. Roderick David, born January 18, 1897, and Mary.

Judge Harper has long been a leader of the Republican party in Bates county and has filled various township offices such as assessor, trustee, and tax collector, serving several terms in office. He served as presiding judge of the county court January 1, 1907 to 1911 and acquitted himself acceptably in this important position. During his term of office the drainage project for the Marais des Cygnes flood area was inaugurated in 1906 and as presiding judge he signed the first issue of three hundred fifty-five thousand dollars worth of bonds to pay for the drainage ditch in 1907. He is inclined to be independent in his political views and votes independently in local affairs.

Mrs. Asenath C. Barrows, who died at Rich Hill, Missouri, January 28, 1908, was born at Union Mission, fifteen miles east of Ft. Gibson, Indian Territory, January 5, 1822. Her father, Rev. William F. Vaill, a graduate of Yale College, and later a pastor of the Presbyterian church at North Gilford, Connecticut, was sent in the year 1820, by the l^oard of the United Foreign Missionary Society in New York City, to establish the aforesaid mission. In less than two years after their arrival, the subject of this sketch was born, and at this mission was thoroughly taught, by her cultured parents and other instructors, in divine as well as literary matters.

Among some of the notable happenings was the visit at different occasions of Washington Irving and Gen. Sam Houston, who were guests of her father at the mission, while Irving was making his tour to the wild western prairies, and upon which is based his story of the "Capture of the Wild Horse," found in "McGuffey's Fourth Reader." The time arrived for placing Asenath in school to complete her education. In the summer of 1834, in company with her father and mother, she made an overland trip to Lexington, Missouri, where they took passage by steamboat for St. Louis, making the trip to Cincinnati, where three days were spent visiting the family of Rev. Lyman Beecher. On this occasion Mrs. Barrows made the acquaintance of Miss Harriet Beecher, a young lady then of eighteen years, who afterward became Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, being a sister of Henry Ward Beecher, and a woman who became celebrated as author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." From thence to New York City and on Long Island to Hadlyme, Connecticut, the original home of her parents, where in a short time her mother died.

Miss Vaill was soon after placed in the Munson Academy. While there she became a member of the Congregational church. From the Munson Academy she was sent to the Mount Holyoke Seminary at Holyoke, Massachusetts, where she received two years of thorough training. At this time Miss Vaill was nineteen years of age. She then returned to the West, arriving in December, 1841. Here she met Freeman Barrows, a young man from New Bedford, Massachusetts, a man of good business attainments and at that time the county and circuit clerk of Bates county, Missouri, to wdiom she was married August 23. 1842, soon afterward locating two miles east of the old town of Papinsville.

In April, 1861 Mr. Barrows died. Mrs. Barrows continued to reside here until 1892. having lived a half century on the estate where she and her hus1)and first located in 1842. The last four years of her life were spent at her home in Rich Hill.

Waller Washington Graves, member of the supreme court of Missouri since April, 1906, his term to continue until 1918, was born in Lafayette county, this state, December 17, 1860. His father, Abram L.

Graves, was a prosperous farmer of that county and subsequently became a resident of Bates county. He had been left an orphan at an early age and was reared by his grandfather, Abram Larsh, one of the earliest settlers of Lafayette county, the Larsh family having come from Maryland, where representatives of the name had resided from a period antedating the Revolution. The Graves family were mostly from North Carolina, where they owned and cultivated large cotton plantations prior to the Civil War. Abram L. Graves was born in Palmyra, Missouri, and has made farming his life work. He wedded Martha E. Pollard, a native of Kentucky, whose girlhood, however, was largely passed in this state. She came of an old Virginia family. Her mother was a Waller and her ancestors were nearly all people who were among the colonists of this country. Several of the family took part in the struggle for American independence. Mrs. Graves passed away in 1910.

At the usual age. Waller W. Graves became a public-school pupil in his native county and later had the advantage of training in the State University until 1881. He took up the profession of teaching, but regarded that merely as an initial step to other professional labor. He read law in the ofifice of Parkinson & Abernathy, two of the prominent attorneys in his section of the state, and was admitted to practice by the circuit court at Butler in 1885. That his former preceptor, Judge Parkinson, had entertained high regard for the young law student is indicated in the fact that he admitted him at once to a partnership that was maintained until 1893, when it was dissolved by reason of Judge Parkinson's removal to Kansas City. Mr. Graves was then joined by Harvey C. Clark under the style of Graves & Clark and they soon gained a place among the prominent representatives of the bar of southwestern Missouri.

Various positions of trust have been accorded Mr. Graves who through appointment of Governor Marmaduke became school commissioner of Bates county to fill a vacancy, and at the close of the term he was reelected by a handsome majority. He undertook many reform steps and largely improved the condition and raised the standard of the schools. Ever in sympathy wath the cause of higher education, his fine executive talent was brought to the discharge of his duties and his efforts were highly satisfactorily effective. He was also city attorney of Butler from 1890 until 1892. He there continued in the practice of law as a member of the firm of Graves & Clai'k until 1899, when he was elected circuit judge, serving upon the circuit bench for a term of six years. He then resumed law practice, but in April, 1906, was again called to a judicial position in his appointment to succeed Judge Marshall of the state supreme court, who had resigned. Later in the same year he was elected for a short term of two years and in 1908 was reelected for the full term of ten years.

On the 30th of June, 1892, Mr. Graves was married, in Butler, to Miss Alice M. Ludwick, a lady of innate culture and refinement, daughter of John L. and Mary (Fletcher) Ludwick, both of whom are now deceased. Her father was one of the first settlers of Bates county, and a splendid representative of the German American element. Mr. and Mrs. Graves have three children : Ludwick, attending the William Jewell College ; Waller W., a graduate of the Jefferson City High School; and John L., aged twelve, attending the public schools. Some years ago a contemporary biographer wrote :

"Mr. Graves is one of Butler's most patriotic and enterprising citizens. Seldom is any plan instituted for the benefit of his town with which he is not identified. His progressiveness follows a course of the widest civic patriotism, in which there is no alloy of special self-interest, as is too often true of enterprises intended to benefit the community. The same distinction applies to his connection with politics, in which he engages solely because of his interests in and desire of good government. Although a life-long and ardent Democrat, he lets it be known that he is not an ofiice seeker, and the only ambition cherished by him is that of ranking high as a lawyer. He is a leader of his party and is always willing to give his services to the cause on the stump or in the council.

"Those who know him do not wonder that he is so thoroughly en rapport with the work of his profession, for he has been eminently fitted therefor both by nature and training. Tall and large, handsome, of commanding presence, with a rich,' full and strong voice which has been highly cultivated, ready of speech and with an ample fund of words on which to draw, it is no exaggeration to state that he is one of the most pleasing, logical and convincing speakers among the lawyers of Missouri. In presenting a case to court or jury his arguments are always strong, forcible and clear, abounding in concise statements and logical reasoning. As a counsellor his judgment may always be depended upon and he is noted for his ready tact in the trial of a case. One of his strongest points is his thorough preparation in all cases that he undertakes and as a result he knows the strength and weakness of both' sides of the contention and thus he is always ready for any eventuaHty. In the trial of a case he never takes extensive notes, but is possessed of the rare faculty of remembering the evidence in detail of all witnesses, their bearing on the stand, etc., and months afterward can readily call it to mind. This alone makes him formidable, as always being ready to take advantage of any discrepancies of conflicting statements. He is an expert technician and abounds with ready references, precedents and decisions; in fact, he treats his profession as a technical science. The case that is so poor it has to depend upon the ability of the lawyer rather than evidence is fortunate if Mr. Graves appears in its behalf."

Judge Graves ranks today with the ablest jurists of Missouri and there are many who predict that still higher professional honors will come to him. In his conduct and relations he is a gentleman of the old school. In his profession he stands as a representative of that progress which has characterized the profession, being in close touch with the work of the courts in later years as well as the old time legal principles which constitute the foundation of the law.

Judge Graves was offered the appointment to the United States senate by Governor Gardner to succeed the late Senator Stone at the death of Senator Stone, but he declined to accept.

Chester A. Chambers has been of great value to the development of Bates county in various capacities. For a number of years he was a progressive farmer and thus contributed toward the development of agricultural interests. At the same time and subsequently he engaged in teaching school and at present is the popular postmaster of Butler, discharging his duties efificiently and with a courtesy toward the general public which has earned for him the general good-will.

Mr. Chambers was born in Bates county, July 10, 1871, and is a son of William Nelson and Martha Philena (Dobson) Chambers, the former born in Ohio, March 2, 1841, and the latter in North Carolina in 1844. William N. Chambers followed farming throughout life with the exception of three years which he spent as a soldier during the Civil War. He enlisted in the Forty-second Ohio Infantry, becoming a private in Company H. and he gallantly defended the Union for three years. Subsequent to the war, in the spring of 1866, he located in what is now Deepwater tow^nship, Bates county, on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. The land is still in the possession of the family. There Mr. Chambers continued until his death, transforming prairie land into one of the most valuable agricultural properties of his district. As his means increased he added to his holdings, owning at the time of his death, February 14, 1892. four hundred and fifty acres. Although Mr. Chambers, Sr., was a public-spirited man, he never aspired to office. Besides carrying on general farming he was extensively interested in the livestock business, deriving a gratifying addition to his income from this line of endeavor. He was a member of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Chambers died May 1, 1881, and he subsequently married again, his second wife also having passed away. Mr. Chambers was the father of eight children, of whom our subject is the third in order of birth.

Chester A. Chambers acquired his education in the rural schools in Deepwater township, the Appleton City Academy and the State Normal School at Warrensburg. He was twenty years of age when his father died and in that year gave up his school work and returned to the homestead. There he remained for three years, farming during the summer seasons and attending school during the winter. He then took up teaching in the neighborhood but continued to farm and also engaged in the livestock business on the old home place. For about; twelve years he carried on these various interests but then experienced a severe attack of illness which forced him to give up the arduous labor connected with the operation of a farm. Selling out, he removed to Butler and a few weeks later again turned to teaching, filling a vacancy caused by the sudden death of an instructor. For five years Mr. Chambers was principal of the Fraiiklin school of Butler. He has now been postmaster lor a number of years but still is a landowner, giving his attention to the management of a valuable property one mile west of Butler, wdiich he operates as a stock farm.

On February 13, 1894, Mr. Chambers married Miss Sue Helen Coleman, who was born in Bates county, Missouri, and is a daughter of Judge John Melender and Elizabeth (Bledsoe) Coleman, the former born in Kentucky, January 7, 1851, and the latter in Henry county, Missouri, December 26, 1854. The father came to Missouri with his family when quite young. He followed farming and also engaged in business as a contractor and carpenter and died July 22, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have three children: Vivian Maurine, attending high school; and Bonny Mignon and Alice Elizabeth.

postmaster under President Taft and at present serves in that capacity. He is an approachable, kindly and courteous gentleman and liked by all who know him. Mr. Chambers has held various township offices, among them that of assessor and is at present interested in the management of the city of Butler, representing the first ward in the city council, and is also an active member of the board of education. He stands high in the Masonic order, belonging to the chapter and council.

George Falloon, late prominent resident of Mound township. Bates county, was born in Toronto, Canada, April 3, 1852. He was the son of James and Mary Ann (Frazier) Falloon, both of whom were natives of Canada and of Irish and English descent, respectively. James Falloon received a good education in Canada and learned the trade of carpenter and builder. He began his successful career as a contractor and builder in his native country and was possessed of a considerable fortune when he moved from Toronto to Wheeling, West Virginia. He became a builder of bridges wath headquarters at AYheeling and had charge of the erection of the great bridge crossing the Ohio river at Wheeling. No task was too great for him to attempt, and he lost and made large sums of money in his various ventures. Some years later he located at Athens, Ohio and was engaged in the erection of public buildings and in railroad construction in that vicinity. He became one of the prominent citizens of Athens and was a stanch and firm friend of the Ohio University which was located at Athens. He was father of a family of ten children, eight sons and two daughters, three of whom are yet living. Six of the children of James Falloon died within two years past. A brother of George Falloon, who was a widely known lawyer in Nebraska, Hon. Edward Falloon, died at his home in Falls City, Nebraska, in April, 1917. At the time of his death he was the dean of the Richardson county, Nebraska bar and was admittedly one of the ablest attorneys in Nebraska. His son, Virgil Falloon, is now county judge of Richardson county.

George Falloon was educated in the public schools of Athens, Ohio, and received a classical and scientific education in the Ohio University, located in his home city. He educated himself for the profession of civil engineering and made it his life work. He served as county surveyor of Athens county and was associated with his father in his contracting business for some years. He took a prominent and active part in politics of his native state and served a term as a member of the Ohio State Senate, being a member of the Seventy-second Ohio General

Assembly, 1896-1897. Like his father before him, he was a strong friend of the Ohio University, and while a member of the Ohio Senate, he introduced and had passed a bill providing for the permanent endowment of the university. He had previously established a lumber business in Athens, and he conducted this business until 1898, at which time he sold out his holdings in his home city and moved to Charleston, West Virginia, and engaged in the lumber business in that city for a few years. Some time during the eighties he had invested in a tract of about one thousand acres of land in Bates county, part of which is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Miller, who owns six hundred fifty-seven acres of the original tract. In 1901 he came to Bates county and took charge of his large estate, maintaining a home and business in Kansas City, as well as a residence in Mound township, near Adrian. He conducted a loan business in Kansas City in addition to looking a'fter his farming interests.

Mr. Falloon was married on December 29, 1875 to Susan E. Brown, a native of Athens county, Ohio, and this union was blessed with one child, a daughter, Jessie Brown, wife of A. A. Miller of Mound township, concerning whom a sketch is given elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Miller was educated in the public schools of Athens, and at the Ohio University, following which she studied in the Cincinnati College of Music, and the National Park Seminary, specializing in vocal and instrumental music. For several years she was very niuch interested in church work and became widely and favorably known as a soloist of ability. She was first married to Charles W. Cooley and after the marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cooley removed to Grainfield, Kansas, and resided on a ranch. Mr. Cooley died at Grainfield, September 25, 1905 and Mrs. Cooley conducted the ranch for six years after his death. An account of her marriage with Mr. A. A. Miller and subsequent movements is given in connection with Mr. Miller's sketch. She is mother of one child by her first marriage, Susan Falloon Cooley, born January 29, 1900.

George Falloon died May 7, 1915. His wife had preceded him in death over twenty years, her death occurring August 16, 1894. George Falloon was a successful business man, intelligent, broadminded, and widely read, a citizen who took a keen interest in the public cpiestions of the day and was a writer of force and pronounced ability. He was opposed to the single tax theory and wrote a number of pamphlets and books giving his ideas upon the subject and setting forth valid reasons for not being in favor of the single tax idea. He also campaigned against the single tax and delivered many addresses in opposition to the plan. He was possessor of a mind which was unusually brilliant and was a close student of governmental affairs. While a resident of Athens he was constantly striving to advance the growth of his home city. He was a great reader of the standard authors and kept abreast of current literature. His diversion was in hunting and fishing and he enjoyed many fishing and hunting expeditions during his life. His favorite book was the Holy Bible of which he made a deep and thorough study, his researches only serving to confirm his belief in Christianity. Possessing a very retentive memory, when he became interested in any subject, he made a thorough and exhaustive study of its underlying principles and easily remembered his readings. George Falloon was a member of the Presbyterian church and was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. "Falloon Heights," the splendid country estate which he founded and built up, is located in the northern part of Mound township, near the town of Adrian. The beautiful residence is situated almost in the middle of the tract which is two miles in length and one-half mile wide.

A. A. Miller of Mound township, has one of the largest and best equipped country estates in Bates county, the residence being fitted up with every modern convenience to facilitate the farm and house work. The farming operations of his tract of over six hundred acres are carried on, on an extensive 'Scale and wherever possible, electric and gasoline power is made to do the work formerly done laboriously by hand. The Miller home, consisting of fourteen rooms, is one of the finest and most modern in Bates county to be found outside of the cities. There is little desire upon the part of the occupants to leave the farm for the comforts of the city when a modern automobile brings them to town in a few minutes, and when by simply pushing a button, the house is lighted by electricity generated by a private plant on the place. This modern home is also equipped with a water plant providing both hot and cold running water. Three tenant houses and commodious and well built barns and sheds adorn the Miller place. Mr. Miller was born on a farm near Oskaloosa, Iowa, Mahaska county, May 22, 1866, a son of George and Elizabeth (McDowell) Miller, the former of whom was a native of Zanesville, Ohio, and the latter a native of Piqua, Ohio.

George Miller was among the first settlers of Mahaska county, Iowa, and the father of Mrs. Miller erected one of the first flouring mills in that vicinity. In 1868, George Miller removed with his family to

Linn county, Kansas, near the town of Pleasanton where he resided for several years engaged in farming. He now resides at Perry, Kansas, and is eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller died on October 3, 1914, aged seventy-four years. The three children of the Miller family are: Charles Miller, a grain dealer and shipper at Perry, Kansas; A. A., subject of this sketch; and Miss Mattie Miller.

The early education of A. A. Miller was obtained in the district school located in the neighborhood of his father's farm in Linn county, Kansas, and he also attended the public schools of Pleasanton, Kansas. Pie took up the study of telegraphy and was in the employ of the Fort Scott & Memphis railroad as telegraph operator and station agent until 1888. In that year he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and was engaged in the livestock commission business until 1905. He then located at Grainfield, Kansas, where he became connected with a ranch and livestock raising proposition in which he is still interested. After his marriage in 1911, he took up his residence in Bates county, Missouri and is now managing the large farm of six hundred fifty-seven acres located in the northwestern part of Mound township. Besides the handsome residence of fourteen rooms occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Miller, the place has three sets of tenant houses and four large barns.

Mr. Miller was married in 191 1 to Jessie Cooley, a daughter of George Falloon, deceased, concerning whom an extended biography appears elsewhere in this volume. By a former marriage, Mr. Miller has three sons: Charles Porter, Harry, and George, all of whom are serving in the National Armv. Charles Porter has been in trainino- at Camp Lewis, Washington, Headquarters No. 362. By a former marriage, Mrs. Miller has a daughter, Susan Falloon Cooley. Mr. Miller has always been a stanch Democrat and is fraternally afifiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

Lucien Green, a son of Stephen W. and Lucy Green, was born in Athens county, Ohio, July 10, 1844. He was a private in Company A, One Hundred Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted in July, 1863 and was mustered out with the regiment at tlie expiration of his term of enlistment in March, 1864. He was married to Polly Smith in August, 1868. In January, 1874, he with wife and son, A. C. Green, came to Bates county, Missouri, and for a few years resided on a farm near Butler. In January, 1882, he with his family moved to Hudson township, where he now resides. Mr. Green is a Republican in politics and in 1894 was candidate for county recorder.

Meglasson Family. - Among those families who came to Bates county early after the Civil War and settled in that locality known as Harmony Mission, were Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson and two small sons, Benjamin, and Conn, who, together wnth three other children, Eliza, Flora, and Walter, who were born here, all grew up on the farm settled by their parents.

Mrs. Meglasson died early in life, leaving the husband and father to be both father and mother to their five little ones, which duty was sacredly lived up to until the day of his death. This worthy couple now rest side by side in Mount Hebron cemetery at Mayview, Missouri.

Of their five children, Ben, the eldest, preceded the father in death many years ago, and in his departure there went out a life that gave promise of being a beautiful and useful one. Conn and his family, together with Eliza, now Mrs. W. R. Green, now live at Kuna, Idaho. Flora is unmarried and lives in Chicago. Walter, the youngest is married and lives at St. Ignatius, Montana.

Eliza Meglasson, now Mrs. W. R. Green, was a teacher in Bates county and taught in the Butler schools several years. She then taught in Colorado and was recognized as a faithful, competent, successful teacher. Walter Meglasson was for a number of years in the government service in Washington and later held a responsible government position at Fort Peck. He was afterward transferred to the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and only recently cjuit public service and is now engaged in the mercantile business at St. Ignatius, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Meglasson were cultured people and their children are an honor to the memory of their parents. The passing of this family out of Bates county is only one of the many changes wrought in a little over half a century.

Judge Francis M. Steele, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, an ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, was one of the leading and most influential citizens of this county. Mr. Steele was born in Callaway county, Missouri, December 21, 1833. His father was Flardin Steele, a native of Kentucky, and his mother was Minnie Ann Howell before her marriage. Hardin Steele came to Missouri in 1827 and was one of the early pioneer settlers in Callaway county, where he resided until 1836 when he took up his residence in Jackson county. F. M. Steele was reared in Jackson county and learned the trade of carpenter and builder which he followed for some years in Kansas City. In 1857 he came to Bates county and was engaged in working at his trade until after the Civil War. In the fall of 1869 he located on a farm in Hudson township and 1)ecanie owner of three hundred sixty acres of excellent farm land which he developed and improved. In 1878 he was elected justice of the peace in Hudson township and in 1880 he was elected a judge of the county court, positions which he ably filled to the satisfaction of the people of the county. Mr. Steele resided on his farm until the year 1886 when he and Mrs. Steele took up their residence in Butler and Judge Steele served as deputy sheriff under Sheriff Colyer, for four years. He maintained his residence in Butler until his death.

December 12, i860, Francis M. Steele and Rebecca W. Myers were united in marriage, the Reverend Horn, of Johnstown, Missouri, officiating at the altar. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele was born July 2, 1841 at Evansville, Indiana, a daughter of John D. and Mary M. (Hall) Myers, both of whom were natives of Virginia. John D. Myers came with his family from Indiana to Missouri in 1845 and they located on a farm in Hudson township. Bates county, on a tract of land comprising three hundred sixty acres which Mr. Myers entered from the government for two dollars an acre. He built their cabin home and spent many years improving the place and in general farming and stock raising. John D. Myers was a gentleman of much intelligence and ability. He served as county judge of the Bates county court for many years and as registrar of deeds in the first years following the Civil War. Mr. Myers enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War and served under Captain Donnohue. After the war had ended, John D. Myers located at Butler, later removing to Appleton City, where he died in 1876. Interment was made in Pleasant Ridge cemetery. Mary M. (Hall) Myers had preceded her husband in death many years. She died in 1849 and her remains were laid to rest in Pleasant Ridge cemetery. Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele has one sister living, Mrs. Susan Snodgrass, Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Steele recalls her first teacher, "Uncle Peter" Stratton, a gentleman of strong southern sentiments employed in teaching the young people of the southeast corner of Hudson township in the days prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, who, in 1861, went south and never again returned to Missouri. Her last teacher was Miss Margaret Lutsenhizer, who is now deceased. Mrs. Steele states that she is a "graduate" of the old Willow Branch school in Hudson township. Henry Myers, the present United States senator from Montana, is a nephew of John D. Myers, the father of Mrs. Rebecca W. (Myers) Steele. To Francis M. and Rebecca' W.

Steele were born five sons : Emmett A., a prosperous hardware merchant of Parker, Linn county, Kansas; Robert E., of Piedmont, Oklahoma; Charles Bruce, of Lamar, Colorado; John H., of Kansas City, Missouri; and Arthur F., of Fort Laramie, Wyoming. All these sons are doing well in life and each is admirably maintaining the splendid reputation established by his father and the name Steele is the synonym of honesty, honor, and moral rectitude wherever it is known, whether it be in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, or Wyoming. The father died at Butler January 28, 1917, and interment was made in Oak Hill cemetery.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, on account of "Order Number 11," in 1863, Francis M. Steele moved with his family to Pettis coimty, Missouri and there remained until the conflict had closed. When they left their home, the Steeles put all their household possessions of value in a wagon drawn by oxen, leaving only the house and lot located in the southern part of Butler. When they returned, the lot only was left. Mrs. Steele is an eyewitness of the two burnings of Butler, one by the Union men and the other by the Confederates. Francis M. Steele took an active and interested part in public and political affairs and for several years was a judge of the county court and later the deputy sheriff during the administration of Sheriff Colyer. As an official, citizen, gentleman, Francis M. Steele established a record far above reproach and he was widely know^n in Bates county as a man of honorable dealings, upright conduct, and strict integrity, commanding the respect and esteem of his acquaintances and neighbors to an unlimited degree. Although he has passed from the scenes of his earthly labors into "that mysterious realm where each shall take his chamber," Francis M. Steele still lives in the memory and aft'ection of the people of Bates county. His widow, Mrs. Rebecca M. (Myers) Steele, one of Missouri's pioneer women, still survives her husband and now at the age of seventy-five years is as active physically and mentally as many women a score of years her junior, Mrs. Steele enjoys recalling the days gone by, the happy times of her girlhood and early womanhood spent on the prairies of Bates county and in the city of Butler, and she has attracted to herself a large circle of friends who admire and respect her for her sterling worth.

James K. Hodges, an honored pioneer of East Boone township. Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hodges was born in 1844, a son of Joseph and Eliza Hodges. Joseph Hodges was a son of Seth Hodges, a native of Tennessee. James K. Hodges is one of six children, born to his parents, fonr of whom are now living, namely; John, Drexel, Missouri; James, the subject of this review;. Joseph, Leavenworth, Kansas; and William, Lees Summit, Missouri.

The marriage of James K. Hodges and Jemima Walker, a daughter of George B. and Mary A. Walker, who settled in East Boone township, Bates county, Missouri in 1870, was solemnized in 1867. To this union have been born nine children, six of whom are now living: Charles M., deceased; James Ira, deceased; Mrs. Mary A. Lacy, Merwin, Missouri; Mrs. Georgia M. Miller, Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Pearl Frazier, Adrian, Missouri; John E., deceased; Thomas R., Weldon, California; C. R., who resides in Canada; and Mrs. Alberta Riley, Drexel, Missouri. Mrs. Hodges is a highly esteemed member of the Baptist church.

Nearly a half century ago, Mr. Hodges settled in Bates county, Missouri and he has a vivid recollection of the appearance and condition of the country at that time. He states that the land vvas practically all open prairie, that one might drive from his home to Butler, a distance of twenty-two miles, and not pass a lane, that pasture land was open and free, and prairie fires often lighted the night until it was as bright as day. In those early days, large herds of Texas cattle were brought to Missouri for pasturage. Wild game might be found in abundance and easily trapped or shot. James K. Hodges was an expert huntsman in his youth and has killed as many as seven prairie chickens at one shot. The first home of the Hodges family was a rude log-cabin, made from logs cut by Mr. Hodges himself and finished with lumber brought from Pleasant Hill. Mr. Hodges recalls that Green Valley school house was erected in 1870 and that Miss Park w^as employed as the first "school mistress" there. The children of James K. and Jemima Hodges later attended school at Green Valley school house. Reverend Evans and Reverend Smiley were pioneer preachers, to whom Mr. and Mrs. Hodges frequently listened, and in the early davs they conducted religious services in the homes of the settlers.

Mr. Hodges purchased a small tract of land, when he came to Bates county, and to his original holdings he has since added until he is now the owner of a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres of land. Until the past two years, he was engaged in raising high grade cattle and Poland China hogs, but Mr. and Mrs. Hodges now rent their farm and are spending the eventide of life in quiet retirement. They have both worked long and hard and well deserve the ample competence which they are now enjoying, and though it is no longer absolutely necessary that either toil, they find much pleasure in attending to their cows, pigs, and chickens.

Politically, Mr. Hodges is a member of the Democratic party. Mr. Hodges is a Democrat, but he served one and one-half years in the army under General Sherman and was with him on the march through Georgia and w^as in the battle of Allatoona Pass. In his prime, he w^as a man of great endurance, strong, vigorous, and alert in body and mind, a splendid type of symetrically developed manhood and by temperance in all things and healthful exercise out-of-doors, he has conserved his energies and prolonged his life past the allotted three score years and ten. His past record has been an honorable one and his honesty and integrity have always been far above reproach. James K. and Mrs. Hodges will bequeath to their descendants a good name, that which is "rather to be chosen than great riches."

R. H. Rush. - The present is an era of specialization in agriculture as well as in the industrial world. The intelligent farmer who pursues a definite course as a specialist and studies the science of animal husbandry, is practically certain of success and can avoid many of the pitfalls which await those who refuse to progress along the lines laid down by modern research. The farmstead of R. H. Rush, located in Mound township, on the Jefferson highway just one mile south of Adrian and nine miles north of Butler, is a model of its kind, and is noted for the fact that the cattle, hogs, and poultry produced on the place in large numbers are absolutely purebred, and the owner of this fine place intends to adhere to the definite policy of having none but purebred livestock on the Rush farm. R. H. Rush, owner of two hundred forty-three acres of splendid Bates county land, was born near Martintown, Greene county, Wisconsin, May 24, 1857, a son of Henry and Nancy Hannah (W^arren) Rush.