Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 14 of 19)

Henry Rush, his father, was born in Bavaria, German Empire, in 1823 and was brought to America by his parents in 1827. During the long passage across the Atlantic by sailing vessel, his mother died, and one year after the arrival of the father and children in this country, the father died. Henry Rush was thus left an orphan at the tender age of five years and was reared to young manhood 1)y kind strangers in Seneca county, Ohio. During the Mexican War he served his country on the battlefields of the Southern republic from 1846 to 1848. In reward for his services he received a grant of government land in Wisconsin, located in Greene county, the original land plat patent for which having been signed by President Franklin Pierce. He cleared a splendid farm from the Wisconsin wilderness and became well-to-do, being owner of five hundred acres of well improved farm lands prior to his death. He died in 1913 at the great age of ninety-three years. His wife died in 1858 when the subject of this review was aged but one year. There were three children born to Henry and Nancy Ann Rush, namely; Lucetta, who married Willis Breon, and lives in Juneau county, Wisconsin; Nancy Jane, wife of J J. Parker, lives on part of the old home place in W^isconsin. Nancy Hannah (Warren) Rush was born in Seneca county, Ohio and was a descendant of the W^arren family of Revolutionary fame, of which General Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill, was a member. The Warren family is one of the oldest and most distinguished in the annals of American history, an extensive genealogy of whom is in existence and is kept up to date by the members of this noted family.

R. H. Rush was reared and educated in Greene county, W'isconsin and followed farming pursuits in his native state until 1900, when he went to Iowa, purchased a farm and lived on it three years, or until 1903, when he came to Bates county, Missouri, having in 1902 invested in his farm of two hundred forty-three acres of land in Mound township which is considered to be one of the finest and most productive country places in this section of Missouri. Mr. Rush is engaged in the breeding of Hereford cattle of the thoroughbred variety, and raises purebred Poland China hogs. He has a fine drove of purebred Shropshire sheep and Mrs. Rush has charge of the pens of thoroughbred Barred Rock chickens which are the pride of the farm.

On January 1, 1881, Mr. Rush was united in marriage with Bessie Anne Robinson, a native of Greene county, W^isconsin, who at the time of her marriage was living in Independence, Iowa. Her parents, Charles and Mary (Wright) Robinson, were born and reared in England, and upon immigrating to America, first settled in Wisconsin on May 24, 1857, later moving to Iowa, where both parents died. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush have been born five children: Charles, farmer and stockman, living near Passaic, Bates county ; Cora May, at home with her parents ; Dora B., wife of J. W. Moore, a farmer of Bates county; Ruth, wife of Mack Hawkins, Bates county; Fay Ralph, who is operating the home farm in partnership with his father.

Politically, Mr. Rush is a Democrat. He became a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Wisconsin several years ago and has attained the Royal Arch degree of Masonry. Mr. and Mrs. Rush are well known and highly esteemed in their section of Bates county and are looked upon as valuable additions to the citizenry of this county, being progressive and enterprising and ever ready to do their part in bettering conditions in their adopted county and state.

Sam Walls, one of Adrian's leading and most prominent citizens, chairman of the city council of Adrian, a member of the Jefferson Highway Commission, one of the organizers and a present member of the directorates of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri and of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler, Missouri, formerly a popular manager of a Butler hotel, now a successful pharmacist of Adrian, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Walls was born in 1861 in Carlisle, Kentucky, a son of Thomas and Sarah W^alls. Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Sam \\'alls were prosperous plantation owners in Nicholas county, Kentucky.

When Sam Walls was a child, six years of age, his parents moved from Nicholas county, Kentucky to Georgetown, Vermilion county, Illinois. He attended school in Illinois until 1877, when he came with his parents to Bates county, Missouri and they settled on a farm located one and a half miles northwest of Butler. Sam Walls then attended the city schools of Butler until he had attained maturity. At that time, there was not a railroad in Bates county and he and his father engaged in freighting, working between Butler and Kansas City, Missouri. It required five days to make the trip and in the summers father and son would camp nights along the road, which was merely a miserable, uncared-for trail, frecjuently impassable. They could see far over the open prairie and often killed wild turkeys and prairie chickens. Thomas Walls died in 1903 and eight years later he was united in death with his wife. Mrs. Walls died in 1911. Thomas and Sarah Walls were the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living, namely: Mrs. Lydia Bagby, Kansas City, Missouri; Sam, the subject of this review; Mrs. Lizzie Grimm, Kansas City, Missouri; Thomas, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Vertie Dudley, Fort Scott, Kansas; and Mrs. Stella Hammer, Kansas City, Missouri.

For several years, Sam Walls was engaged in farming and stock raising on his father's farm in Bates county. In 1884, he entered the mercantile business at Butler and until 1890 successfully and profitably conducted a grocery store in this city, at which time he returned to agricultural pursuits and again resided at the old homestead for several years. Later, he returned to Butler and became associated with Dr. Lansdown in the hotel business at Butler, the two conducting the Arlington Hotel until 1897, when Mr. Walls purchased the Lansdown Drug Store at Adrian, where for the past twenty-one years he has been engaged in the drug business, carrying a splendid and complete line of drugs, paints, and sundries. Dr. Walls was not an inexperienced druggist at the time of his purchase of this store, for he had at one time owned a large pharmacy at Amsterdam, Missouri.

The marriage of Sam Walls and Mary L. Lansdown was solemnized in June, 1887. Mary L. (Lansdown) Walls is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. W. J. Lansdown, who settled at Butler, Missouri in 1876. Mrs. Walls is a native of Camden county, Missouri. The Walls residence is located in Adrian and is one of the beautiful, modern homes of the city, an imposing structure of ten rooms surrounded by a nice, well-kept law^n. Both Mr. and Mrs. Walls are members and earnest supporters of the Methodist church.

Fraternally, Mr. Walls is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Elks, the Mystic W^orkers of the World, and the Eastern Star lodges. He has been a life-long Democrat and always takes a keen and commendable interest in political matters and in elections. Since he has been a member of the city council of Adrian, forty miles of concrete walks have been laid in this city. He is an aggressive worker for internal improvements and, as a member of the Jefferson Highway Commission, is an enthusiastic "booster" of good roads. Sam Walls assisted in the organization of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri in 1913 and he is now a member of the board of directors and a stockholder of the bank. He also was one of the organizers of the Denton-Coleman Loan Company of Butler. Missouri, and is one of the present directors of that company.

Mr. W^alls remembers well his first teacher in Bates county. Professor Schaffer. and a minister, to whom he often listened in his boyhood days, Reverend Burgess. He knows full well the hardships and difficulties which beset the way of the young man who must make his own wav, unaided, in the world. He has labored many ten-hour days for the mere pittance of fifty cents. Mr. Walls invested his first savings in a calf, which investment proved to be a safe and profitable one.

Now, honored and respected by all his friends and acquaintances, Sam Walls occupies a conspicuous place and high standing among the best and most substantial citizens of Bates county, and none is more worthy of mention and commendation in a work of this character. Mr. Walls is one of the representative, public-spirited, "self-made" men of this part of Missouri.

T. W. Blount, a successful agriculturist of Deer Creek township, is one of the highly respected and valued citizens of Bates county, a member of one of the first and best pioneer families of this section of the state. Mr. Blount was born in Bates county in 1873, a son of Allen and Eliza J. Blount.

Allen Blount settled in Bates county, Missouri in the days before the Civil W^ar and the remainder of his life was spent in the arduous toil necessary in the making of a home in a new and unsettled country, and toil it was in the fullest sense of the word, a never-ceasing round ot work from early dawn until sundown. He cleared much land and devoted his life to farming and stock raising. Mr. Blount was the type of brave pioneer that took his life and future in his own hands and introduced civilization into the great West, exposing himself to hardships and perils of which the people of the present day can form no adequate conception, yet completing his life work like a hero, although his memory may never be commemorated in song or story. He was called upon to suffer more of the tragedies of pioneer life than fell to the lot of the ordinary pioneer and had more than one close call and narrow escape from a tragic death, yet he cheerfully endured all his heavy burdens and lived to a noble old age. Allen Blount was a skillful woodsman and hunter and he had abundant opportunities for the exercise of his prowess in life on the frontier. He used often to relate how he once stood in his wagon and from that vantage-point killed a fine specimen of deer. He used yokes of oxen in the work of breaking the virgin sod on his farm and in hauling supplies from Pleasant Hill. In an old "day-book," kept in the early days by one of the pioneer merchants of old Crescent Hill, are many entries made of articles sold to Allen Blount. His son, T. W., the subject of this review, has in his possession an old-fashioned staple taken from an ox-yoke which his father used to own.

To Allen and Eliza J- Blount were born seven children, four of whom are now living: J- W., CofTeyville, Kansas; E. M., Simmons, Arizona; T. W., the subject of this review; and Mable, who resides with her brother, T. W., at the Blount homestead near Adrian. The mother died in 1892. She was survived by her husband twenty-three years, when in 1915 they were united in death. Allen Blount was a man of wide acquaintance in Bates county, a gentleman of the old school, courteous, kindly, and charitable, whom to know was to esteem and honor. He was considered more conservative than progressive, still he was one of the first settlers to purchase a farm in Bates county, Missouri. In many respects, Allen Blount was worthy of the respect universally accorded him and of mention and commendation in a work of this character.

T. W. Blount attended school at Liberty school house in Deer Creek tov/nship. Bates county. His first instructor was A. J. Smith and he was succeeded by William Duncan and he, in turn, by Miss Amanda McGraw. Rev. Aaron Showalter had charge of the moral and religious welfare of the community, when T. W. Blount was a lad, and to the teachings of this pioneer preacher he has often listened. Mr. Blount recalls how, in his boyhood days, he was want to ride an old-style corn planter and drop the seed in the designated marks, for his father and their neighbors. His father told him how he used to ride a still more primitive machine made of wood, in his youth, and drop corn. Mr. Blount, Jr. has spent his entire life on the farm in Deer Creek township, on the place which he now owns. The Blount homestead was given T. W. Blount by his father, who desired that his son should remain on the home place and care for his sister, Mable. Mr. Blount is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising and this past season, of 1917, harvested three hundred bushels of oats and had twentyfive acres of the farm planted in corn.

In every community, there are always a few rare men who are unmistakably identified with the material growth and prosperity of the country, who are invariably stanch supporters of every worthy enterprise which has for its object the advancement and betterment of their fellowmen, wdio are always alert and ready when called upon for assistance in enhancing the importance of their locality, yet who are so unobtrusive that the people in general hardly realize their importance, as their presence and value are not thrust upon them, the public only unconsciously feel their impress. Yet just as surely do they exert a wholesome influence in their respective communities. Such a one is T. W. Blount, who in a quiet, but forcible, way- has done and is still doing much to advance the interests of his home township and countv.

T. W. Lightfoot, a prosperous and influential agriculturist and stockman of East Boone township, is a member of one of the early, leading families of Bates county, Missouri. Mr. Lightfoot is a native of Indiana. He w^as born in 1858 in Wells county, the only child of P. G. and Rebecca (Hunt) Lightfoot. P. G. Lightfoot was a son of William Lightfoot, a native of Kentucky and of Welsh and Irish descent. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot, the parents of T. W., the subject of this review, was solemnized in Wayne county, Indiana and from Indiana the Lightfoot family came to Missouri in 1868 and settled on a farm in East Boone township. Mr. Lightfoot, Sr. purchased a tract of land embracing eighty acres, at the time of his coming West, and to his original holdings constantly added until he was the owner of a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land. He engaged in general farming to a certain extent, but devoted most of his time and attention to stock raising, specializing in Shorthorn cattle, buying large herds and feeding for the market. P. G. Lightfoot was a man of high moral principles, a devout member of the Baptist church, an indefatigable Christian worker. He organized a Baptist congregation, which met at his own home, and which afterward founded the Burdett Baptist church. He w^as many times honored by his church, being sent as messenger to various Baptist associations. Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot are now deceased.

At Mudd school house in Bates county, T. W. Lightfoot attended school after his parents had moved here from Indiana. He began his educational career in Indiana and later attended school at McNeil school house. In addition to the teaching of "the three r's," preaching was frequently done at the school houses and among the pioneer preachers, whom Mr. Lightfoot knew well, were Reverends Lacy, J. W. Sage, Gwinn. Wright, Lewis, and Swift. The settlers from miles around came to church services in the early days. T. W. Lightfoot began life for himself engaged in farming and stock raising as he had always been interested in these pursuits and was reared on a farm. He remained on the home place with his parents as long as they lived. The first money he ever earned was made driving cattle and hogs to Pleasant Hill, Missouri for James Bufford. His first investment was a young colt, which proved, after much worry and many hours of anxiety, to be a very profitable one. Mr. Lightfoot is now owner of two hundred acres of land and is profitably engaged in general farming and stock raising, having, at the time of this writing in 1917, forty-three head of Shorthorns, seventy-five head of Poland Chinas, tw^o thousand bushels of corn, and six hundred bushels af oats. This past season of 1917, Mr. Lightfoot not only harvested the aforementioned grain, but had twenty-one acres of the place in wheat. He built a handsome residence in 1904 and also one of the best barns in this part of the state. The Lightfoot place is one of the fine stock farms of East Boone township, being well watered and conveniently located.

The marriage of T. W. Lightfoot and Annie Mudd, a daughter of Austin Mudd, one of Bates county's first, brave pioneers, was solemnized in Bates county, Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lightfoot had long ago united with the Baptist church and she was one of the most beloved members of the church. Mrs. Lightfoot took a deep interest in church work and faithfully served for many years as organjst and president of the Ladies' Aid Society. Mr. Lightfoot has been the trusted treasurer and trustee of his church for a long time. He has always remained true to the beautiful faith in which he was reared. Mrs. Lightfoot was ever her husband's most sympathetic counsellor, faithful companion, and tried and true friend and Mr. Lightfoot has never recovered from the blow which the Grim Reaper inflicted in taking her from him.

Politically, T. W. Lightfoot is af^liated with the Democratic party. In business. Mr. Lightfoot is a very practical man, possessing much force of character and excellent judgment and his career has been very satisfactory. As a citizen, he stands high above reproach, being widely known for his honest and honorable dealings, and he commands the unqualified respect and esteem of all his friends, neighbors, and accjuaintances.

O. W. Stanfill, of Elkhart township, like a great number of succes.sful Bates county citizens, began his career in this countv without a dollar which he could call his own. He has, by tireless industry and decided ability coupled with good financial management during the thirty-two years of his residence on his farm in this county, accumulated a fine farm of two hundred acres with good improvements thereon. He was born in Bath county. Kentucky, February 14, 1857 and was a son of John and Jane (Rice) Stanfill, both of whom were born and reared in Kentucky. The family came to Missouri in 1858 and settled in Jackson county. The Stanfill farm in that county was destined to become a historic spot inasmuch as the famous battle of W'estport was fought on the very ground where the subject of this review^ was want to roam as a boy. After the Civil War, the Stanfills moved to Cass county, later locating in Bates county, ]\Iissouri where they made a permanent home. Mr. Stanfill resided in Bates county from 1S75 until his death in 1888. The wife and mother died in 1891. Eight children were born to John and Jane Stanfill, three of whom are living: ]\Irs. Jackson Bennett, of Joplin; Letcher Stanfill, living in Pittsburg, Kansas ; and O. W. Stanfill, subject of this review.

The boyhood days of O. \\'. Stanfill were spent in Jackson and Cass counties and his early young manhood was spent in Elkhart township. He has always followed farming as a life vocation and has resided at his present home since 1885. Upon his splendid farm of two hundred acres he carries on general farming and stock raising, producing average native cattle and hogs for the markets. Mr. Stanfill was married on November 20, 1883 to Miss Virginia McGuire, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William INIcGuire. of Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Stanfill have three children : May, wife of James Wilson, Amsterdam, Missouri ; Annie, wife of Milton Reeves, of New Home township; Albert Freeman, residing in Elkhart township.

Mr. Stanfill has generally been allied with the Democratic party, though at one time he embraced the doctrines of the Peoples party and supported the principles of that party, for a time. He is one of the sterling, upright citizens of this county, one who has won a firm and substantial place among the great body of well-to-do citizens of the county.

William Bale, a prosperous and influential farmer and stockman of Deer Creek township, near Adrian, is one of the highly respected, "selfmade" men of Bates county. Mr. Baie is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1860 in DeKalb county, a son of Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie. Christian Baie, Jr. was a son of Christian Baie, Sr., who was born in Germany and came to America when he was a young man, eighteen years of age, and settled in Kane county, Illinois. The father of William Baie, Christian Baie, Jr., was a successful and well-to-do agriculturist of DeKalb county, Illinois, owner of more than six hundred acres of land in DeKalb county. He died in 1907 and the widowed mother still makes her home in Illinois. To Christian, Jr. and Minnie Baie were born eleven children, all of whom have been reared to maturitv and are now living: Henry, Adrian, Missouri; William, the subject of this review; Herman, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Lena Marsh, Hinckley, Illinois; August, Waterman, Illinois; Mrs. Amelia Troeger, Hinckley, Illinois; Louis, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Minnie Remsneider, Hinckley, Illinois; Mrs. Ida Walgrin, who resides in Pierce township, DeKalb county, Illinois; Carl, Waterman, Illinois; and Mrs. Ada Remsneider, Hinckley, Illinois. 'Mrs. Minnie Bale died February 15, 1918.

In 1887, William Baie came from Illinois to Missouri and settled on a tract of land located near Adrian, a farm comprising two hundred acres, to which he has constantly added until at one time he was owner of three hundred seventy-three acres of choice land in Bates county, but he has recently sold eighty-three acres of his place to his son, Roy. Mr. Baie began life in Missouri under very discouraging conditions, being in debt and having ill-fortune in raising crops for the first few years. He had a very hard time to get a start in the new Western home, but by unflagging industry, perseverance, and tenacious endeavor, Mr. Baie has prospered and is now the owner of one of the attractive country places in his township. He has remodeled the residence, has built a large barn and several smaller barns, and has added implement sheds and other necessary farm buildings on his place and is now well equipped to handle large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay. Mr. Baie keeps a nice herd of Shorthorn cattle and forty head of Poland China hogs. This past season, of 1917, he harvested two thousand bushels of oats and more than one hundred tons of hay and in addition had fiftyseven acres of the farm in corn, which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre. He is a most progressive farmer and is an advocate of crop rotation and the constant use of the manure spreader. In former years, William Baie operated a steam thresher and corn sheller for many years in this vicinity and was very successful in this line of work.

William Baie and Carrie Ridelspeger, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ridelspeger, were united in marriage in 1884 in Illinois. To this union were born five children: Mrs. Jennie Troeger, Hinckley, Illinois; Frank, San Simon, Arizona; Mrs. Cora Temme, deceased; Mrs. Ida Black, Kansas City, Missouri; and Roy, Adrian, Missouri. The mother died in 1894. Mr. Baie remarried, his second wife being Ida George, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William George, of DeKalb county, Illinois. William Baie and Ida George w^ere united in marriage in 1899 and to them were born two children : Elizabeth and Sadie, both of whom reside at home with their father. Their mother, Ida (George) Baie

Politically, William Baie is affiliated with the Democratic party. He takes a keen interest in public and political affairs and has held several offices of honor and trust in his township. Mr. Baie has served his township as school director ever since he came to Bates county thirtyone years ago and he has been president of the school board and of the township board. He has been a member of the town board of Adrian for five years and was justice -of the peace of Deer Creek township for five years. He is a worthy and highly valued member of the German Lutheran church and has been a deacon and the church treasurer for many years. William Baie is numbered among the enterprising and public-spirited citizens of Bates county.

J. W. Cox. - To Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Cox of Elkhart township belong the proud distinction of having one of the largest families in Bates county, or this section of Missouri. If they have accomplished during a life time of endeavor, no more than the rearing of their fourteen children to become good and worthy men and women they will have done something well worth while. Mr. Cox is one of the native born old settlers of this county while still comparatively young as age goes in this part of Missouri. He was born in a log cabin built by his father in Homer township, on July 15, 1867, a son of Felix and Mary (Hardinian) Maloney Cox, the former born in Clay countv, Missouri, and the latter was born in Ireland. The parents of Felix Cox were among the earliest pioneers of Clay county. The Cox home in Clay county was near that of the James boys and J. W. Cox remembers them very well and recalled that the James brothers frequently came to the Cox store to purchase provisions and trinkets. When the Civil War began, Felix Cox was eighteen years of age. He soon enlisted in the Tenth Kansas regiment and served with this organization until the close of the conflict as second lieutenant of his company. He fought in the battle of Westport and Mine Run and at one time was taken prisoner by the enemy. After the close of the war he came to Bates county in 1865 and made a settlement in Homer township, residing there until August, 1867 when he came into possession of the farm where his son, J. W. Cox, now resides in Elkhart township. He spent the remainder of his life on this place with the exception of a few }/ears when he resided in Butler for the purpose of giving his children better educational advantages than that afforded by the district school. He was engaged in mercantile business at Vinton for a time. He was a Republican in politics and always took a keen interest in political affairs. Felix Cox died in March, 1895, aged fifty-two years, the wife and mother dying in 1906 at the age of sixty-five years.

After receiving a fair education in the district school of his neighborhood and the Butler public schools, J. W. Cox took up farming for his life work and has since been diligently engaged in farming and stock raising upon his eighty-acre tract in Elkhart township. Mr. Cox was married in 1888 to Anna Peel)les who has borne him fourteen children, as follow: Gertrude, married Albert Ferguson and lives in Elkhart township; Florence, wife of Louis Wilkerson, resides at Road House, Illinois; Joseph, lives in Elkhart township; Lewis, resides at home; Laura, wife of \A'ill McMein, living near Amsterdam, Missouri; Clay, a farmer in Elkhart township; Ethel, Lucille. Floyd and Lloyd (twins), John and James (twins), Darrell, and Murrel. at home with their parents. The mother of this large family of children was born in Illinois, a daughter of Abraham Peebles who came to this county and bought a half section of land whereon he resided until his death a few years later. After his death the other members of the Peebles family returned to Illinois.

Mr. Cox is an independent voter and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. His memory of the early days in this county is vivid and at the time of his father's settlement in Homer township, much of the territory now dotted with farm homes was a vast unfenced prairie over which herds of deer and cattle roamed at will. He recalls the building of the first wire fence in his neighborhood and remembers when parties cut the strands of wire of one fence which had been built across the highway. He remembers that Jesse and Frank James and two others of their band called at his father's store for the purpose of purchasing provisions and trinkets and tobacco. His father split rails and fenced his eighty-acre farm before the days of wire fence. He has seen herds of deer grazing on the prairie numbering eight and ten head and witnessed the killing of a deer by a bull dog, also saw several bands of Indians. Wolves were likewise numerous but he thinks that nothing has been more v/onderful than the great changes that have taken place in the appearance of the country since the days of his childhood.

"old settlers" of the county. He was born in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1860 and is a son of Peter and Caroline (Owens) Crooks. His father was a native of Scotland and during his younger days was a deep sea sailor and ship carpenter who was promoted to become a mate of sailing vessels. For several years he sailed the high seas and finally immigrated to America, where he was married to the wife of his choice who was born in Illinois state. He settled down to farming in Grundy county, Illinois, and resided there until his removal to Bates county. He was one of the early settlers in Grundy county, where the father of Mrs. Owens was one of the pioneers. Mr. Owens frequently recalled that at one time he was offered a quarter section of land within the city limits of Chicago in exchange for a pair of boots but did not think that he would get the worth of the boots. The site of Chicago in those early days was not an enticing place for settlers and Mr. Owens was not the only pioneer who declined an opportunity to own a piece of swamp land. The Crooks family located in Charlotte township when they came to Bates county in 1866 and Mr. Crooks resided upon his farm for the remainder of his life. He was a Republican and wielded quite an influence in local politics but always declined political preferment. There were five children in the Crooks family, as follow: Laura, wife of John Cope, New Home township, Bates county; James, Santa Cruz, California; Agnes, married James H. Park, living near Virginia, this county; George, subject of this biography; and Peter, deceased.

George Crooks has practically grown up with Bates county, and was educated in the old Butler Academy after his course in the local school. He has always followed farming and stock raising and ably cultivates his fine farm of one hundred sixty acres. He is a Republican in politics and has served as a member of the local school board. Mr. Crooks is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Virginia. He has a good recollection of conditions in this county during his boyhood days and remembers seeing herds of deer, wild turkeys and game of all kinds. The family came to this county at a time when the greater part of the county was unfenced prairie land, and the trails ran straight across country, taking the shortest distance between two points. This was the condition until the coming of the wire fencing which required that regular roadways be laid out throughout the county. All those changes, Mr. Crooks has witnessed, and has seen the unsettled country transformed into a productive and fertile land dotted with handsome farm homes and towns and villages. He has witnessed the days of the ox-team give way to the horse-drawn vehicles and that in turn give way to the automobile as a more rapid method of transportation.

S. C. McKee, of Elkhart township, is a native son of Missouri, having been born on a pioneer farm near Austin in Cass county, in 1852. He is a son of James and Louisa Jane (Best) McKee. His father was born in Tennessee and accompanied his brother, John McKee, to Cass county where they made a settlement near Austin. James McKee was the first blacksmith to open a shop in iVustin, and he died there wdien S. C. McKee was but six months old. His wife, Louisa Jane (Best) McKee, was born in Dayton township, Cass county, and after the death of James McKee, she married John Tate. When Order Number 11 was issued, the family located in Harrisonville, Missouri, where they resided until the fall of 1864 then they went to Illinois and lived in McLean county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Tate spent the remainder of their days in Illinois. To James and Mary McKee were born three children : William, was killed while serving in the Union army during the Civil War; Mrs. Louisa Jane Tate, lives in Illinois; S. C, subject of this sketch. To the second marriage of Mrs. Louisa Jane McKee with John Tate, was born a son, Thomas Tate.

In 1873, S . C. McKee returned to Missouri and took charge of the old home place of his father in Cass county. Ten years later he came to Bates county and purchased his present home place of one hundred forty acres in Elkhart township. He has since been engaged in general farming and stock raising and raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. He w^as married in 1874 to Catherine Stambaugh, a native of Cass county, wdio has borne him twelve children: Magdalene, wife of John James, Windsor, Colorado; Charles W., Los Angeles, California; Ida Ethel, married Lester Anderson, Omaha, Nebraska; Maude Estelle, wife of Oscar AVarnick, Warrensburg, Missouri; Oscar Lawrence, Great Falls, Montana; Dora Juanita, wife of Jack Bigler, Kansas City, Missouri; Tempest Alice, living in New York City; Trixie Annetta, Doyleston, Massachusetts ; Samuel Sullivan, Red Oak, Iowa ; George Washington, farming in Bates county; Olive Annie, a pul)lic school teacher, Centerview, Missouri ; Stanley Carrollton, at home. Two children have died : Bertha and Hallie. Bertha died in infancy, and Hallie Maye, wife of Joe Earnest Duvall, of Amsterdam, is deceased. Her death occurred at Joplin, Missouri. The mother of this large family of children was born in Cass county, a daughter of George AA^ash- ington and Jennie L. (Huff) Stambaugh. Her mother was a daughter of L. B. Huff and was born in Indiana near Terre Haute, and came to Missouri with her parents in 1855. She is now living in Kansas City. George W. Stambaugh was a native of Kentucky, born of Virginia parents. He became prominent in the affairs of Cass county where he settled in about 1854. He lost his life at the hands of "bushwhackers" at the beginning of the Civil War. After his death, his widow married J. E. Sawyer and to this marriage were born three children: Josephine, wife of James Owens, Kansas City; K. B., a Christian Science reader and practitioner, Kansas City; Dr. J. F., a practicing physician at Kansas City.

Had Mr. and Mrs. McKee accomplished no more than the rearing of their splendid family of twelve children they would be entitled to more than honorable mention in this history of Bates county. Better than wealth, fame, or honors, is the credit of having contributed to the Nation a fine family of sons and daughters who have taken their places in the world and are living useful lives according to the precepts laid down by their parents. Mr. McKee is a Democrat who has found time while rearing his family, to fill the offices of tax collector and constable in his township. He was a member of the Farmers Alliance years ago and is now connected with the Farmers Union, its natural successor.

George H. Pahlman, cashier of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the youngest bankers in Missouri and is one of the most efficient and capable in Bates county today. He is a native of Bates county, having been born on a farm in Charlotte township, March 28, 1889, a son of G. C. and Anna J. (Dutton) Pahlman, natives of Illinois.

G. C. Pahlman was born in Illinois in 1861 and was reared to young manhood in his native state. He migrated to Missouri in 1885 and made a settlement in Charlotte township. Bates county soon after his marriage with Anna J. Dutton who was born in Illinois in 1865 and came to Bates county with her father, Samuel Dutton, in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Pahlman still reside on their farm in Charlotte township. They are parents of the following children : James T., Carmen, Oklahoma; G. H., subject of this review; Glenn W., Nashua, Montana; Holly F., a farmer of Charlotte township; Emma E., a student in Butler High School.

of three years he taught school in this county and then entered the Bank of Amoret as assistant cashier. In the year 1916 he took charge of the Bank of Amsterdam as cashier. This bank was first organized in 1892 by W. J. Bard, John McKee, C. A. Emerson and H. P. Nickel with a capital of ten thousand dollars. The first cashier was C. A. Emerson and the first president was H. P. Nickel. Mr. Emerson was succeeded as cashier by W. W. Badgeley, who was followed by W. W. Rubel, who was succeeded by Clyde Bailey. Mr. Pahlman followed Mr. Bailey as cashier of the bank. The bank was burned out in the fire which occurred on February 3, 1916 and practically swept away the business district of Amsterdam. The bank being well insured the loss was slight, being but about $750 all told. A new bank building was erected and opened for business in the spring of 1917. This building is built of Ijrick with a tiled floor and fitted up with handsome modern fixtures at a total cost of $4,100, the building costing $2,600 and the new fixtures costing $1,500. The bank's capital and surplus in December of 1917 is $15,000. The undivided profits are over $5,000. The deposits will exceed $125,000. The present officers are: John McKee, president ; William Henderson, vice-president ; cashier, G. H. Pahlman and the assistant cashier is Mrs. M. Pahlman. The directors are : John McKee, John Morewood, Alex Morewood, W. A. McBurney, and G. H. Pahlman. In addition to his duties as cashier, Mr. Pahlman conducts a fire insurance and farm loan department on his own account.

In politics Mr. Pahlman is allied with the Democratic party. He is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was married October 28, 1912, to Miss Mayme E. McKibl)en, who was born in Charlotte township a daughter of William F. and Julia E. (Wolfe) McKibben, natives of Illinois. William F. McKibben, who is now living in Amsterdam, was born November 8, 1855, in Stephenson county, Illinois, a son of David T. and Eliza J. (Tompkins) McKibben, natives of Pennsylvania and Canada, respectively. The McKibben family came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869 and located at Butler, where the parents lived a retired life -until death. AVilliam McKibben engaged in farming on liis own account in Charlotte township in 1885. After renting land for three years he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres which he improved, added eighty acres thereto and sold out in January, 1917. He was married in 1884 to Julia E. Wolfe, a daughter of C .W. \\'olfe, who came to Bates county from Iowa in 1869. The following children were born to this marriage : Bertha Gertrude, wife of O. W. A\^alker,

Edward C. Hess^ a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Deer Creek township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hess was born in LaSalle county in 1875, a son of Gotthard and Catherine (Kern) Hess, who settled on a farm in Deer Creek township, Bates county, Missouri in 1879. When the Hess family settled in this part of the state, there were very few settlements, wild game might be found in abundance, and even the cattle, horses, and hogs ran at large over the open prairie. Before Adrian was founded, the trading point of the Hess family was Harrisonville. .Gotthard Hess was born in Germany, in 1844, and died in 1896. He came to America when a young man and first located in LaSalle county, Illinois, and there married Catherine Kern, also born in Germany in 1834, and died January 17, 1906. They were parents of four children: Henry, Madison, Kansas; Mrs. Ida Schmidt, Mound township. Bates county; Mrs. Emma Eeraris, Mound township. Bates county; Edward C, subject of this review. By a former marriage with Mr. Haas, Catherine Kern Hess was mother of four children, two of whom were reared: Mrs. Louise Rogers, died in January, 1917; Fred, Kansas City, Missouri.

Mr. Hess, whose name introduces this review, attended school at Hess school house in Deer Creek township. Will Duncan was his first instructor and, later, he was taught by Professor Putnam and then by the professor's wife, Mrs. Putnam. He remembers one of the pioneer preachers of Bates county, to whom he often listened in his boyhood days, Reverend Showalter. Mr. Hess states that Reverend McClintock was the chief carpenter of those who built his father's residence in 1881. Revival meetings were frequently held in the brush arbors, in the early eighties, and attracted immense crowds of settlers from all parts of the country, the young people coming long distances to attend, riding on horseback. "Spelling bees" and "debating societies" afforded opportunities for instruction, entertainment, and recreation for the pioneers^ opportunities which were universally seized. E. C. Hess has spent his entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, on the farm and he has always been interested in agricultural pursuits. The first money he ever earned was made by hauling a load of wood to town and his first investment was a young pig, which he watched and cared for with all the solicitude and caution of one who has all his earthly possessions at stake. Mr. Hess is now owner of a splendid farm in Deer Creek township, a place comprising two hundred forty acres of valuable land. He, in addition, rents a tract of land embracing three hundred three acres and is engaged in raising stock extensively, having at the present time, in 1918, three hundred head of stock on the farm. He devotes some time to general farming and this past season, of 1917, harvested one thousand five hundred sixty-three bushels of wheat, one thousand nine hundred bushels of oats, and fifty tons of fine hay and one hundred thirty acres of the farm were planted in corn, which averaged forty bushels to the acre. Mr. Hess planted seventy-five acres of his land in wheat last autumn. His farm is well equipped with all needed conveniences for handling large herds of stock and amounts of grain and hay.

The marriage of E. C. Hess and Anna Feraris, a daughter of Peter Fera' IS, a prominent citizen of Bates county, was solemnized in 1901. To this union have been born six living children: Louis, Marie, Earl, Rolla, Hadley, and Pauline, all of whom are at home with their parents. Aubrey was born August 4, 1904, and died September 30, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Hess are members of the German Lutheran church. In the social circles of Deer Creek township, there is no family more highly respected and valued than that of which E. C. Hess is head. E. C. Hess is one of the best class of citizens, a gentleman who, because of his sterling personal qualities, is today occupying a prominent position among the leading, successful farmers and stockmen of this section of Missouri.

Dr. William A. Williams, - For the past thirty-seven years Dr. W. A. Williams has been ministering to the sick and ailing in the section contiguous to Hume, Missouri. He is one of the best-known professional men of the county and for many years has been an active and prominent figure in the political history of Bates county. He is one of the real leaders of the Missouri Democracy, and Doctor Williams enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance among the people of this section of his native state, for he was born in Missouri, a son of one of the early pioneers of Missouri.

John H. Williams, his father, was born in North Carolina, April 1, 1820, a son of Absalom Williams, who emigrated to Missouri in the fall of 1845 and settled in Pettis county, where he resided until his death in April, 1867. John H. Williams was reared to young manhood in Pettis county and was married in Johnson county to Miss x-\rabella C. Gilliam on June 6, 1851. They were the parents of nine children, four living, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest, the others being: Joseph P., residing in Hume, Missouri; Mrs. S. H. Thomp- son, Kansas City; Mrs. R. F. Collins, Enid, Oklahoma. The mother of these children was born at Boone's Lick, Howard county, Missouri. January 25. 1832, a daughter of A\'illiam Gilliam, who located in Howard county in 1831, and moved to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1840. Mrs. Williams is now living in Hume. John H. Williams started for Illinois during the Civil War time but abandoned his intention of locating in that state. When peace was declared, he located at Dresden, Pettis county, where he became a merchant and live-stock dealer. During his younger years he taught school and followed the profession of civil engineer. Afterward, he moved to a farm on the Blackwater in Pettis county. For sixty-seven years he was a constant sufferer from asthma, an affliction which prevented him from attaining the maximum of success which was his just due. He removed to Hume, Missouri, in 1881 and resided there until his untimely death on May 5, 1889, his demise being caused by a fall which resulted in a fractured hip, death resulting soon afterward.

Doctor Williams was reared and educated in Pettis county, receiving his classical education at Lake Forest Academy, after which he studied medicine for one year at the University of Missouri. Following his course at the Missouri University he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, and graduated from this institution on February 14, 1877. He began the practice of his profession at Logwood, Pettis county, where he remained for two years. He then practiced for tw^o years at Lamonte, Missouri, and in August, 1880, went to Silver Cliff, Colorado, remaining there for one year. In September, 1881, he made a permanent location in Hume, Bates county, and for the past thirty-seven years has successfully practiced his profession. Doctor Williams has kept abreast of the advances made in the science of his profession and rarely a month passes which does not find him in the hospitals of Kansas City, frequently visiting the city twice each month in the interest of his professional practice.

Doctor Williams was married in 1905 to Miss Edna Z. Bacon, wdio was born in Vernon county, Missouri, and is proprietor of the Fashion Store at Hume. He is a member of the Bates County, Tri-County. and the Missouri State Medical Societies. Doctor Williams is affiliated fraternally with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 1026, Rich Hill, Missom^i, and is prominently identified with the Knights of Pythias Lodge. He has served as Chancellor Commander of the Hume Lodge of Pythians since its organization with the exception of but a few years and has been a member of the Grand Lodge and representative from the Hume Lodge since 1893. He has attended the sessions of the Grand Lodge of Pythians in the state of Missouri for the past twentyfour years. For fourteen years he was supreme representative of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and is past master for the state of Missouri in this order, having filled practically every executive office in the order. He is also affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and the Degree of Honor.

Politically, Doctor Williams is one of the most influential Democrats in this section of Missouri. For many years he has been active in the councils of his party and has assisted many of his friends to political preferment. For thirty years he has been identified with the party organization in Missouri and has never missed a county or state convention where he has been one of the guiding spirits. Having no desire for political or civic honors himself he has been interested in politics for pure love of the game and the excitement of taking part in a political contest.

E. D. Fitz Gerald. - The career of him whose name forms the caption of this review is that of a self-made man who in the course of a few years has accomplished as much and more than the average individual does in a life time of endeavor. He is one of those excellent citizens of Bates county who came here from an adjoining state and has taken his position as an important member of the civic body of the county. E. D. Fitz Gerald, owner of a splendid farm of two hundred and forty .acres in section 21, Howard township, was born at Chetopa, Kansas, in 1871, and was a son of William G. and Martha (Robinson) Fitz Gerald.

William Fitz Gerald, his father, was a native of Ireland of Scotch- Irish parentage who married Martha Robinson, a native of London, England, and soon after the marriage immigrated to America in 1868. They w^ere early settlers in the state of Kansas where Mr. Fitz Gerald was engaged in banking. For a numl)er of years he was cashier of a bank at Chetopa, in Miami county, Kansas. He died in 1873. To AA^illiam and Martha Fitz Gerald were horn the following children: Edward D. Fitz Gerald and Geraldine E. Fitz Gerald.

E. D. Fitz Gerald was reared and educated in Kansas and early in life took up the vocation of agriculturist. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1899 and for some years worked at farm labor. He was industrious and saving of his earnings and after his marriage in 1901 he began renting land. He leased the farm which he now owns, for a period of seven years and then purchased it. Since coming into possession of the property he has added several substantial improvements, a house, a barn, and a large silo. During the past year he has harvested sixty acres of corn which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre and has sown fifty acres to wheat. He sells from his place an average of seventy head of hogs annually and other products which yield him a good income.

Mr. Fitz Gerald was married December 24, 1901, to Miss Rose Ann White, who was born in Vernon county, Missouri, a daughter of Cass and Eva (Benham) White, natives of New York, who immigrated to Missouri in 1872 and made a settlement in Vernon county, where Mr. White became a successful farmer and stockman. Mr. W^iite died in 1912 and his widow makes her home in Vernon county. Seven children have been born to E. D. and Rose Ann Eitz Gerald, as follow^: Beulah Anna, aged fifteen years; Wayne Miles, aged thirteen; UUis James, eleven years of age; Charles Bronson, ten years old; David Arnold, aged five years; Hattie May, who died January 16, 1911, at the age of one year and two months; Edith Pauline, four years of age.

Mr. Eitz Gerald is a Democrat in politics and takes a keen interest in civic and educational matters, having been a strong advocate of the inauguration of the consolidated school system, he being one of the school directors, which has provided transportation and graded school facilities for the children of Howard township at Hume, Missouri. He and Mrs. Fitz Gerald are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and contribute of their time and means to the furtherance of religious works. Mr. Fitz Gerald is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and Domestic W^orkers, and Mrs. Fitz Gerald is affiliated with the Domestic Workers (Royal Neighbors). Both are popular and highly esteemed in their home community where they are valued and useful citizens.

W. P. Connell. - The name of Connell is a historic one in Kansas and Bates county, jMissouri, and recalls recollections to the old timers of both Kansas and Missouri of the days when the state of Kansas was in the making and that Jesse Connell, father of W. P. Connell, was a member of the first state constitutional convention held in Kansas and played a very prominent part in the making of a new state. History also records that he later came to Bates county and became prominently identified with the People's Party movement in this county and at the time of his death in 1892. he was the presiding judge of the county court in this county. W. P. Connell, an intelligent and highly respected old resident of West Boone township, owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land, was born January 9, 1845, in Trimble county, Kentucky, a son of Jesse and Nancy (Johnson) Connell, both of whom were natives of Kentucky.

The late Judge Jesse Connell was born in Kentucky in Trimble county and reared and educated in his native state. He was an intelligent, versatile citizen of excellent educational attainments, a naturalborn leader of men, so it is not strange that after locating in Leavenworth county, Kansas, in 1854, he soon became identified with the historic making of a great state. He soon became identified with political movements in his section of Kansas and was elected to represent Leavenworth county as a member of the first state constitutional convention held in 1857. He played a prominent and effective part in the making of the first set of laws under which Kansas was governed and resided in that state until 1875, when he came to Missouri and located on a farm in Clay county. He resided in Clay county until 1880 and then came to Bates county. His powers of leadership soon evidenced themselves in this county and he became identified v/ith the People's Party movement which was then sweeping the Western states and gaining in strength and power each continued year of its existence. He was a candidate for judge of the county court of Bates county in the election of 1892 when the People's or Populist Party swept the county and elected practically all the county officials. He was made presiding judge of the county court as a result of this decisive election but died during the year, in Butler. His remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery. The death of judge Connell marked the passing- of one of the truly historic characters of the border days. He was the father of ten children, five of whom are yet living as follow : Robert, living in Clay county, Missouri; Mrs. Nannie Watkins, Liberty, Missouri; May, also living in Liberty, Missouri; Jack, a resident of Centerview, Missouri ; Mrs. Kate Wright, Long Beach. California ; William P., subject of this review^

W. P. Connell received his early education in the common schools of Leavenworth county. Kansas, and pursued a course at St. Benedict's College, Atchison, Kansas. He removed with his father to Clay county, Missouri, in 1875, and came to Bates county with him in 1880. For a period of twenty-seven years, Mr. Connell cultivated a farm located one mile south of his present home place and in 1907 purchased eighty acres, which in connection with a farm of eighty acres, forty acres owned by his brother-in-law, makes a good farm of one hnndred and sixty acres which they cultivate in common.

Mr. Connell w-as married in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1866, to Sarah Viola Cox, born in Hancock county, Illinois, in 1844, a daughter of Luke and Elizabeth (Daws) Cox, natives of Virginia. Luke Cox her father, died in Illinois in 1857. The widow, born in 1829, was married, second time, to Robert Perry Higdon, of Alabama, and moved to Leavenworth county, Kansas, in 1864. Her second husband died at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, during the Civil AVar period. She was married, third time, to John Freeland, who died in Leavenworth county, Kansas. Mrs. Freeland is now living at the Connell home. The following children have been born to W. P. and Sarah Viola Connell: Mrs. Minnie Scott Black, living on a farm near Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Bettie Wright, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Johanna Clapp, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Connell have eleven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. In 1916 this worthy couple celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and a considerable gathering of friends and relatives were present to wish them many returns of the day and to partake of their hospitality and cheer.

Mr. and Mrs. Connell are members of the Quaker faith and are good, worthy citizens of Bates county who are respected and admired by all wdio know them. He is a Democrat in politics and has served his township for eight years as trustee and was justice of the peace for eight years. W. P. Connell is a worthy son of an honored and revered parent whose name will live long in history as one of the makers of a great state.

G. B. Bohlken, prosperous farmer and stockman of Homer township, vice-president of the Bank of Amoret, Missouri, is a Bates county citizen of German birth wdio has made a splendid record in his adopted land. He began life in this country as a farm hand, followed by a period of homesteading on the plains of Nebraska, where his home was a sod house, and later by a successful career in Bates county as farmer and stockman. Mr. Bohlken w^as born in Germany in 1845, a son of C. H. and M. Bohlken, who lived and died in their native land. Mr. Bohlken received a good education in the schools of his native country and in 1869 he immigrated to America. He was endowed with very little of this world's goods when he arrived in Illinois and his work was as farm hand for six months at a wage of twenty-fiA'e dollars per month. He then rented a farm and cultivated rented land in Illinois until 1886, when he went to Cheyenne county, Nebraska, where he homesteaded a half section of land whereon he grazed cattle for a number of years. His home on the prairie was a sod house, which followed the dugout whexein he and his family first lived. He ranged cattle on the plains and improved his land, and it can be said that Mr. Bohlken has no complaint to make of any hardships endured while on his ranch, life being easy, and no hard work connected with herding cattle. He disposed of his Nebraska land in 1895 and came to Bates county, where for the following twelve years he operated a tract of Scully land on a lease. In 1907 he bought his present splendid farm of two hundred and eighty acres in Homer township.

Mr. Bohlken was married in Germany in 1869 to Catherine Hemen and came directly after his marriage to America, accompanied by his bride. Mrs. Bohlken was a faithful helpmeet to her husband until her death in 1897. Children were born to this marriage as follow; Mrs. Margaret Emanuelson ; Mrs. Mary Fitz; Mrs. Annie Wilkerson; Mrs. Helen Alberts; William, Sina, and George, at home with their father; Henry, deceased. Mr. Bohlken is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience dictates. He is a member of the Lutheran denominational faith and is highly esteemed as one of Bates county's most substantial citizens.

J. R. Trent, foreman of the A. H. Warren Cattle Ranch in Bates county, was born at Humansville, Cedar county, Missouri, in 1890. He is the son of T. S. and Jennie (Knapp) Trent, the former of whom was a native of McDonald county, Missouri. Mrs. Jennie Trent was born in New -York state and came to Missouri with her parents in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Trent came to Bates county in 1913 and are now living in Summit township. J. R. Trent was reared and educated in Cedar county, Missouri, and took up the vocation of farming and stock raising. He came to Bates county in 1909 and managed the Frank Robinson farm until he took charge of the A. H. Warren ranch in 1913. This ranch comprises a total of two thousand one hundred and thirty-one acres in Summit, Shawnee, and Mound towaiships and has been in operation for the past ten years. It w^as first placed in operation by Messrs. Huffington and Warren, of Kansas City, but upon Mr. Hufiington's death, Mr. A. H. Warren became sole proprietor of the ranch. There are now two hundred sixty-two head of cattle on the ranch, sixty-three of which are on full feed. This number is somewhat below the usual number of cattle kept on the place and there is usually a carload of hogs in feeding" for the markets. The land comprising the ranch is all in lease and is part of the Scully lands in this county, all being owned by the Scully estate excepting ninety-three acres, which is owned by Mr. AVarren. The residence on the place was built by Green AA'alton. and is situated four miles north and three and three-fourths miles east of Butler, Missouri. Four men are employed to assist in the operations of the ranch.

J. R. Trent was married on October 18, 1908. to Miss Freda Nelson, a daughter of N. Y. and Mary Nelson, of Cedar county, Missouri. Mrs. Trent was born in Princeton, Illinois, Bureau county, and came to Missouri in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson are parents of four children besides Mrs. Freda Trent, as follow: Palmer E. ; Mrs. Selma Mitten; Mrs. Jennie E. McDonald, Kansas City. IMissouri ; and Mrs. E. G. Ward, Butler, IMissouri. A brother of Mr. Trent, named Loren Trent, resides on a farm at Manzanola, Colorado.

Mr. Trent is one of the best stockmen in this section of ^Missouri and has learned thoroughly how to care for livestock by being associated with stockmen, applying himself, and being by nature possessed with a natural liking for his profession. His employer says of him that he is one of the best stockmen he ever employed. The Warren Company ships from eight to ten cars of livestock to the markets each year and modern methods of feeding are used on this large ranch. It is equipped with the largest silo in Bates county having a capacity of two hundred and fifty tons of silage, and erected in 1914. Mrs. Trent attends to the poultry department on her own account and has at the present writing over one hundred and fifty Barred Rock chickens on the place. Mr. and Mrs. Trent are energetic, industrious and ambitious people who are determined to make a success of their lives and will without doubt meet with the greatest success in their chosen vocation.

A. J. Smith, a leading attorney of Bates county, Missouri, one of Adrian's most prominent and influential citizens, president of the Old Settlers Association, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith was born in 1855, a son of J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith, of Delaware county, Ohio. Deborah (Blue) Smith was a daughter of Michael Blue, a native of Ohio and of Irish descent. J. J. Smith moved from Delaware county, Ohio to Columbus in Franklin county and in 1866 came to Bates county, Missouri and purchased a tract of land, comprising one thousand eighty acres, for three dollars and sixty cents an acre. Two years afterward, in 1868, Mr. Smith returned to this part of the state with his family and they located temporarily at Butler. In the spring of 1869, the Smiths settled on the farm, in Alound township, a part of which the son, A. J., now owns. Their residence was a small box house, scarcely large enough for their family. J. J. and Deborah (Blue) Smith were the parents of six children, three of whom are now living: Dr. Norman P., deceased; Mrs. Mary E. Walter, Adrian, Missouri; Dr. Harvey B., deceased; John C, Adrian, Missouri; A. J., the subject of this sketch; and Deborah, deceased. The mother died in Ohio, when her youngest son, A. J., was a little child, three years of age. Several years after the death of Mrs. Smith, J. J. Smith remarried, his second wife being Martha Livingston, a daughter of Judge Livingston, of Ohio. Mr. Smith was a highly intellectual man and well educated. He was engaged in teaching school for many years in Ohio but after coming West and settling in Bates county he devoted his entire time and energies to the pursuits of agriculture and stock raising. During his career, he suffered many financial reverses, but he was the type of man who knows no failure and his perseverance and invincible spirit in the end brought him a fair measure of success. J. J. Smith was one of Bates county's most highly respected and valued citizens and his death on May 18, 1895 was universally lamented in this part of the state by all who knew him. In the public schools of Bates county, Missouri, A. J. Smith received his elementary education. He later entered Butler Academy and after completing the academic course was engaged in teaching school for several years until he had saved from his earnings a sum of money sufficient to enable him to pursue a course in law at the Missouri State University. Mr. Smith graduated from the Missouri Law School at the State University in 1881 and after completing his work at the university he returned to his father's home on the farm to obtain a much needed rest. Prior to opening his law office at Adrian, Mr. Smith again entered the teaching profession and taught school for one term. For twenty years, he was engaged in the regular practice of law, since which time he has been doing office practice only. In 1898, A. J. Smith purchased the interests of the other heirs to the old home place and is the present owner of two hundred fifty acres of land in Mound township, a farm of one hundred sixty acres upon which he has built a very nice, comfortable cottage of six rooms, and a farm of ninety acres also well improved with a pleasant residence, a cyclone cellar, a sufficient number of barns, and supplied with an abundance of good water. Mr. Smith rents both places and from them derives a very satisfactory income. He is also the owner of a large lot in Adrian, 140 x 200 feet, upon which he has built two residences. The older house was his first home in Adrian and the new one is his present home, a handsome, modern structure of thirteen rooms supplied with both hot and cold water and finished with hardwood floors, built in 1911.

The marriage of A. J. Smith and Laura M. Hunter, a daughter of W. M. and Elizabeth Hunter, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized September 29, 1885 and to this union were born three children: Alvin C, deceased; Mrs. Martha E. Wallace, Altamont, Missouri; and Leon H., Adrian, Missouri. The mother died in 1900, leaving the three small children, the youngest but five years of age. Mr. Smith remarried, his second wife being Mary L. Nichols, a daughter of Stephen Nichols, and to them has been born one child, a daughter, Mary Lucile, who is at home with her parents.

Politically, A. J. Smith is affiliated with the Republican party. He takes a keen and commendable interest in public and political affairs and has served as city attorney of Adrian for many years. He is in close connection with the financial interests of Bates county and is at present a stockholder and the attorney of the Adrian Banking Company, of which institution he was vice-president and director for thirty years.

Mr. Smith readily recalls the time in Bates county, when one might travel a distance of many miles and not pass a settlement, when he from the doorway of his father's home has killed countless wild ducks and prairie chickens, and when the old stagecoach used to travel from Grand River to Butler by way of the Mound. Later, the route of the stagecoach was changed, after a trail had been beaten, so that it passed the Smith homestead. Mr. Smith relates in his own inimitable way many delightful stories of his youth, many incidents, too, of hardship and privation which he experienced in his boyhood days and in his early manhood, and many interesting cases which he has had in his later years since entering the practice of his profession. Mr. Smith is president of the Bates County Old Settlers' Association.

The record of A. J. Smith is the record of a man of talent, who began life under the embarrassing circumstances which poverty entails and who, by his own unaided efforts, has worked himself up from a lowly position to one of the highest standing in Bates county, Missouri. From the first, Mr. Smith's life has been one of industry and perseverance and the honorable course he has undeviatingly followed, the admir- able methods he has invariably adopted, have won for him the support and confidence of all with whom he has had business or social relations. It is to such strong-minded men that our country's prosperity is chiefly indebted, for in the building of communities and in laying the broad, deep foundations of future progress they are potential factors and must be considered as true benefactors of the race. A. J. Smith deserves great credit for the rapid strides he has made from a most humble station in life to one of influence and affluence in his community. Bates county is proud to enroll such gentlemen as he among the county's best and most intellectual, substantial citizens.

Stephen Cole Collier, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman of Walnut township, is a member of one of the oldest of the Missouri pioneer families who is keeping up the reputation of his ancestors as able and intelligent tillers of the soil. In his own right he is owner of a splendid tract of two hundred and forty acres of prairie land in Walnut township, located south of Foster - a beautiful, level tract of land which is kept in a high state of cultivation by the proprietor. During 1917, Mr. Collier harvested 3,500 bushels of corn from a tract of sixty acres with other crops in proportion. He has fifty acres planted to wheat for the next harvest and has thirty-three head of cattle on his place at the present time, aiming to feed from fifteen to twenty-five head of cattle each year for the markets.

S. C. Collier was born August 11, 1867, in Saline county, Missburi. He is a son of James S. Collier, born in 1832 and departed this life October 27, 1913. His mother was Margaret Elizabeth Cole, prior to her marriage, and was born in 1838 and died in 1885. James S. Collier wa^ born in Virginia and made a settlement in Saline county, Missouri, during the fifties. In 1872 he made a trip to Montana, where he was engaged in ranching and cattle raising with his brother-inlaw, Frank Cole, the men driving a herd of five hundred heifers across the plains to the free ranges of Montana. He returned to Missouri in July, 1879, and made a visit to Bates county. Taking a liking to the country he purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres south of Foster in Walnut township and proceeded to improve the place. He resided here engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. He was the father of two children, now living: Stephen Cole, subject of this review; and Mrs. Anna Smiley, Barton county, Missouri. Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth (Cole) Collier was born in Missouri in 1838 and died in 1885. She was a daughter of Holbert Cole, a native of Kentuckv, who settled at the site of Old Fort Boone on the Missouri river, and assisted in the building of this fort early in the nineteenth century, thus becoming- one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers who had to brave the hardships of the frontier and live in continual fear of attacks by the savage Indians who roamed over the wild and unsettled country which was then the Missouri territory. James S. Collier served in the Confederate army, enlisting from Cooper county, Missouri, under the famous Confederate commander. Gen. J. O. Shelby, who spent the latter years of his life in Bates county. Elsewhere in this volume is written a history of the life of General Shelby, together with an account of his military operations, which will give a fair account of the campaign in which James S. Collier participated under Shelby.

S. C. Collier was educated in the district school and the old Butler Academy. He has always lived upon the home place, receiving as his share of the estate, one hundred and sixty acres, to which he has added an "eighty," making two hundred and forty acres in all. Mr. Collier was married on May 12, 1896, to Livona Wilson, born in Bates county, in 1874, a daughter of T. J. and Mary Elizabeth (Gilliland) Wilson, natives of Missouri. T. J. W^ilson, her father, was born on a pioneer farm in Henry county, near the townsite of Leeton, Missouri. He was a son of Tennessee parents who were early pioneers in Missouri. In early maturity, he settled in Bates county and farmed for a number of years until his removal to Seattle, Washington, in 1907. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Gilliland, was born in 1848 and died in August, 1896. She was a daughter of Lewis Gilliland, a native of Tennessee, who came to Bates county in the thirties and took up a claim on Walnut creek, where he remained until 1850, when he, with others, started for California but died there. One of the mementoes of his trip was a gold necklace wdiich was made from gold which he sent from California to his wife, Lucy Gilliland.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Collier : Mrs. Mary Margaret Moore, Nevada, Missouri ; Alice Irene, at home with her parents; and Stephen Dow, aged fifteen years. Mr. Collier is aligned with the Democratic party and is a member of the Methodist church. South. He belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has been a member of this order for the past twenty-five years. For twelve years he has been af-filiated with the Knights of Pythias lodge.

in Tama county, Iowa. His father and mother came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869. E. E. LaughHn's registered farm No. 35, consists of about one thousand five hundred acres, containing- some of the best land in W^ahiut township, and is now ahnost all in grass and pasture, carrying at present three hundred head of cattle, twenty mules, some horses, a flock of registered Shropshire sheep wdiich supplies rams not only for Bates county but over in Kansas. Besides his Hereford cows, hog'S, jennets, and pure-bred Plymouth Rock fowls are not only known at home but abroad.

In 1887. E. E. Laughlin's father gave him one hundred sixty acres of land, the cream of Walnut township. This was not improved until 1893, when he married Miss Nellie Green, of Blue Mound, Kansas, a. daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Mary Green, natives of Saybrook. Illinois. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin's father and mother are both buried at Blue Mound, Kansas. Miss Nellie Green was a most successful school teacher. Commencing at the age of seventeen, she taught school, went to school, thus preparing herself for a most successful busy life. Like her father before her, she never was out of the harness- in church work, wherever she was located, and was always consulted at every church meeting. Her mother remembered the preaching of the powerful Peter Cartwright, which made her a stronger Methodist wdiich was handed to her daughter Nellie, who likewise never thought of deserting the teachings of the home of John M. Green. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin always superintends all the fruit sales and the labor connected with it. which was no small item in the success of the farm. The same is true of the poultry yard. Her home is nine rooms, modern, with accomodations for the family and her friends which w^as designed for her own special wants.

E. E. Laughlin got a degree of B. S. from the Kansas Normal College, took two years in the Northwestern University. Chicago, Illinois. The one hundred sixty acres was a stalk field in 1893, so the planning was from the "stump." One of the delights is the absence of nursery trees and the setting of the lawn with forest trees, each having a history of itself. The entrance to the farm through the cement posts was published in agricultural papers, and Mr. Laughlin claims to be the father of this particular design of gate posts. Mr. Laughlin w^as the first president of the Missouri Corn Growers' Association, lectured on agriculture for four years, but "gabbing" took his mind of¥ business which paid better than "preaching agriculture." A casual look over the farmstead one has the impression of a well-planned, make-as-you-go, permanent country home and the historian ventures the guess the only way he will leave this farm is by main strength of the last day". Look him up in one hundred years.

E. E. Laughlin and wife have three boys. Paul V. Laughlin, born in 1895, is equipped with the best business education he could get both at the State Normal and Agricultural College at Columbia, Missouri, has held some very important positions of trust, but has now cast his lot with his father in the active management of the farm which he hopes to net him more than good salaries. But just now his number is in the selective draft and he looks for the call to arms. David W. Laughlin, named after his grandfather, born in 1900, is in the high school work, thinks and enjoys farm work, and his father thinks he will make his mark worthy of the name he carries. Rutherford J. Laughlin, born in 1901, he too, of splendid parentage, goes into high school work with a relish, strictly modern in all his ideas, and bids fair to more than carry a good name.

Genealogy - from Century Dictionary - "Laugh," Irish for lake; "Lin," Irish for spring. "Justine McCarty's History of the Irish People, 1270 A. D.": Laughlin was an Irish Lord in the north of Ireland, warring with the south faction of Ireland. Robert Laughlin of Revolutionary period was a weaver ; James Laughlin of 1812 with William Henry Harrison, a blacksmith; David Laughlin, W. Laughlin, 1861-65, a farmer; Elmer E. Laughlin, a farmer. The blood lines of the grandparents of E. E. Laughlin are: Laughlin, Irish; Lee, Scotch; Blangy, French ; Scott, Scotch. Genealogy of Mrs. E. E. Laughlin - all English.

William T. Briscoe, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres in Walnut township, was born July 22, 1864. in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of Samuel Logan and Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, early Missouri pioneers, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in connection with the biography of Charles B. Briscoe, brother of the subject of this review, who accompanied his parents to Bates county in 1877 at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Briscoe had little opportunity to attend school in Bates county. He assisted his father on the home place until 1886 and then began farming on his own account. He first rented part of the parental homestead and after his marriage in 1887 he moved to a farm south of Foster, where he resided for three years. In 1890 he moved to southern Missouri and purchased a farm near Mountain View and for thirteen years w^as engaged in producing fruit and raising livestock. He sold out there in 1904 and rented a farm located southwest of Foster near Independence church for two years. In 1906, he bought his present home farm and he and his family have since made their home thereon.

Mr. Briscoe was married September 15, 1887, to Alice May Steele, born in Cooper county, Missouri, May 1, 1860, a daughter of James H. and Alice Maria (Bartlett) Steele, the former of whom was born in Cooper county, and the latter in Cooper county, Missouri also. James H. was a son of William Steele, a Missouri pioneer. Mrs. Alice Maria Steele died in Cooper county and her father removed to Bates county in 1881, dying here in August, 1895. Three of the children of William T. and Alice May Briscoe died in infancy. The others are : Alonzo Otis, born February 29, 1892, a graduate of the Normal School at Warrensburg, studied at Columbia University, Columbia, Missouri, and now filling the position of superintendent of the Orrick, Ray county, High School; Charles Logan, born April 9, 1894, and died September 24, 1894; Alpha Dale, born November 21, 1896, a teacher in the Foster public schools; Lottie Opal, born February 20, 1899, attending school at Orrick, Missouri; John Gabriel, born December 23, 1900, also attending school at Orrick.

The Democratic party has always had- the support of William T. Briscoe, but he has never at any time in his life, been a seeker after political honor. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America lodge. The Briscoe homestead is an historic place from the standpoint of early associations and being one of the first farmsteads improved in Walnut township. The residence was formerly a stopping place on the old stage line which ran from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, to Fort Scott, Kansas, and the Marvel postoffice was conducted in the house for some time in the early days.

Otis P. Hart, a successful and enterprising, young agriculturist and stockman of Mingo township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born December 15, 1879, a son of George AV. and Mary Elizabeth (Sims) Hart, both of whom were born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hart are the parents of two sons : Oren Kenton, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Otis P., the subject of this review. A more comprehensive sketch of the Hart family will be found in the biography of George W. Hart, which appears elsewhere in this volume.

Otis P. Hart received his elementary education, which was later supplemented by a four years' course in Appleton City Academy, Appleton City, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Hart was engaged in the piano business in Illinois for fifteen years. For the past three years, he has been engaged in farming and stock raising on the Hart home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri and is making a success of handling cattle, horses, and hogs. He is a progressive, intelligent, willing worker and has a high standing among the good citizens of his community.

The marriage of Otis P. Hart and Mrs. Jennie V. Nordin, of Rockford, Illinois, was solemnized in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are well known in Mingo township and they move in the best social circles of their township and county. They possess pleasing personalities and the happy faculty of retaining close personal friendships and among the younger people of the county they are very popular. Mr. Hart keeps abreast of the times in everything pertaining to his vocations and his up-to-date methods combined with economy, industry, and his thorough understanding of the principles underlying all business must in time be inevitably attended by a large measure of success.

Andrew J. Hoover, an honored veteran of the Civil War. a former merchant of Adrian, Missouri, now a retired stockman, is a native of Indiana. Mr. Hoover was born April 9, 1838, a son of Adam and Rebecca (Thomas) Hoover. The paternal grandfather of A. J. Hoover was a gifted and beloved Dunkard minister in Maryland, Rev. Adam Hoover.

In AA'hite county, Indiana, A. J. Hoover attended the public schools of the state. In winter he went to school and assisted with the chores at home; in summer he attended to the various duties incumbent upon a boy on the farm in the early days and did any other work wdiich would earn an honest cent. Life was a hard treadmill, but it did not prove that "all work and no play" made A. J. "a dull boy." The school which he attended was like most of the country schools of his day - barren and uncomfortable. There were no bright, pleasant schoolrooms, airy in summer and warm in winter, no comfortable seats, fitted to the individual, no convenient desks, no pictures, no blackboards, no books of reference. Children in those days had little to make school pleasant or interesting. School life, like home life, was stern and full of drudgery.

AVhen the Civil War broke out, A. J- Hoover enlisted with the Union forces. He served for three months under Colonel Milrov and then enlisted in the Seventy-second Indiana Regiment, serving three years until the battle of Stone River and was then transferred to Wiley's brigade of mounted riflemen. Mr. Hoover fought in thirty-two hardfought battles, among them being: Perrysville, Stone River, Peach Tree creek, Chickamauga, Rock Springs, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, on Sherman's march to the sea, capture of Savannah, and he marched through the Carolinas to AVashington and took part m the Grand Review. After the war had ended and he received his discharge in July, 1865, Mr. Hoover returned to his home in Indiana and the ensuing year, 1866, came west to Missouri and located at Lonejack in Jackson county, where he engaged in farming for one year. In 1867, he moved to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township, where he at one time owned five hundred acres of land. Mr. Hoover bought cattle extensively, fed and wintered them and sold the herd the following autumn, when he would again buy more cattle to feed and winter. He once herded five hundred twenty cattle on the present townsite of Adrian, for at that time there were vast tracts of open prairie in Bates county. He recalls how farmers and stockmen would cut native hay and make great ricks, around which they would herd their cattle. Mr. Hoover erected a large. sul)stantial brick building in Adrian in 1883 and entered the mercantile business at this place and for seventeen years was thus employed. He has in recent years divided his holdings among his children and he and his wife are residing at Adrian in quiet, contented retirement. Mr. Hoover has still in his possession sufficient property insuring a comfortable income, owning among other buildings the one in which the postof^ce at Adrian is located.

The marriage of A. J. Hoover and Rachel Denton was solemnized on March 15, 1866 and to this union have been born four children, who are now living: Professor W. T., of Adrian, Missouri, who married Miss Lulu Owens and to them have been born two children : Halbert and H. A. ; India, of Adrian, Missouri ; Mrs. Mary Black, Adrian, Missouri, mother of two children, Mrs. Goldie Schantz and Mrs. Lenna Ware; and Mrs. Ida Haas, Adrian, Missouri, mother of two children: India Mae and Charles Hoover. Mr. Hoover has four great-grandchildren: Mrs. Goldie Schantz has three children: Frederick, Dorothy, and Emery; Mrs. Lenna Ware has one child, Wilnia; Mrs. Rachel (Denton) Hoover was born June 12, 1849 in Indiana, Benton county, a daughter of Dr. W^illiam and Elizabeth (Bodkin) Denton.

adage that, "There is no excellence without labor." Mr. Hoover's career has but furnished further proof of its truth. His life was early consecrated to honest, patient, unremitting toil. He in youth joined the army of workers to whom the great state of Missouri is indebted for its wonderful prosperity. He has a vivid recollection of Bates county as it was when he came here more than fifty years ago. There were no bridges and the roads were but beaten trails. He has many times hauled wheat to Pleasant Hill before the railroad had reached Harrisonville. He states that deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens were to be found in abundance and could be had for the hunting. A. J. Hoover has been a busy worker, he has done his work wisely and well, and he and his noble wife are now enjoying the just recompense of their labors. Mr. Hoover's life story is a notable example of the success which surely attends and crowns all worthy efforts based upon honorable, upright, manly principles. Mr. Hoover is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has for years attended the national encampments of the Union veterans and he and Mrs. Hoover have traveled extensively over the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. He is well-informed, broad-minded, hearty and strong, able to take long automobile trips each season.

John Blangy, one of the old settlers of Bates county, living retired upon his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Walnut township, was born in 1852 in Starke county, Illinois. He was a son of James W. and Sarah (Scott) Blang}% the former of wdiom was a native of New Jersey, and the latter, of Ohio. The Blangy family came West in 1869 and settled on Walnut creek, purchasing a farm now owned by Fred t.aughlin and comprising one hundred and forty acres. After Mrs. Blangy died, James C. moved to the neighboring state of Kansas and settled on a farm eight miles west of Pleasanton, where he resided for some years, eventually disposing of his farm to a coal mining- company and retiring to a home in Pleasanton, where he died in September, 1902.

At the age of eighteen years, John Blangy began farming on his own account but made his home with his parents until his marriage in 1876. On January 2, of that year he was united in marriage with Emma Schwechheimer, born in 1857, at Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, a daughter of George Philip and Annie Marie (Leofifler) Schwechheimer, the former of whom was born in Baden, and the latter in Schlaitdorf, Wurtemburg, Germany. At the age of twenty years, George Schwechheimer came to America. His wife was eighteen years of age when she immigrated to this country. They resided in Ohio until after the close of the Civil War, in which George Schwechheimer served as a soldier in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry. George P. Schwechheimer served as a private, then was promoted as orderly sergeant in Company K, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served four years and was honorably discharged from the service on the 11th of January, 1864, at Huntsville, Alabama. In 1871 they came to Missouri and settled on what is now the Swarens place in New Home township, where Mr. Schwechheimer died in 1883. To George and Annie Marie Schwechheimer were born seven children: Mrs. Enmia Barbara Blangy; Willie George, deceased; Philip, a railroad man at Sedalia, Missouri; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Lydia McGehee, Vernon county, Missouri; Mary Magdalene, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1870. By a second marriage with Julia Engel he was the father of seven children: Charley, deceased; Mrs. Matilda Haley, Lost Spring, Wyoming; Mrs. Flora Hicklin, Hume, Missouri; Albert, living near Sprague, Missouri; Edward, a resident of Fort Scott, Kansas ; Walter, resident of Kansas City, Missouri ; John, living in Wyoming.

Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blangy settled on their home place on Walnut creek and have lived there continuously with the exception of two years spent in Colorado. Mr. Blangy is a Republican, and both Mr. and Mrs. Blangy belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children are as follow: Mary Alta, born in 1877, wife of Clarence Click, living near Worland, Missouri ; Sarah Pearl, born 1878, wife of Denny Bright, resides in Bates county; Ira John, born in 1880, resides on a farm near Hume in this county; Effie Mabel, born in 1884, wife of Frank Smith, W^alnut township; Ada Theresa, born in 1885, wife of William Lee, residing on a farm northwest of Foster.

Fred E, Popp, who is farming the Popp estate of three hundred acres in the southwestern part of New Home township, was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1866. He is a son of the late Michael and Barbara Popp, natives of Prussia, Germany. Michael Popp was born in 1829 and died in Bates county in 1897. He immigrated to America in 1845 and first settled at St. Louis, where he was employed as laborer for two years. He went from St. Louis to Madison county, Illinois, and after a period of employment as farm laborer he invested his savings in sixty acres of farm land which he cultivated until 1871. In that year he sold his Illinois farm and came to Bates county and made a first settlement at Prairie City, eight miles east of Rich Hill, where he lived for eleven years. He then bought the farm of three hundred acres wliich his son, Fred E., is now managing. He built a handsome farm residence and a large barn and prospered as the years went on, living on the place until his death. A six-foot vein of excellent coal underlies the Popp land. Mrs. Popp departed this life on the old home place, June 5, 1917. The other children of the faniily are as follow: Mrs. Mary Schmidt, deceased; Mrs. Pardcha Cattelson, Creighton, Missouri; Mrs. Barbara Yeager, deceased; George, living in Oklahoma; Conrad, a farmer in Bates county. Mr. Popp is an independent Republican voter and is a member of the Lutheran church.