Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 16 of 19)

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, W. T. Nichols was an orphan lad fourteen years of age. He was imbued with patriotic fervor and endeavored zealously to get into the ranks of the Union army, but he was entirely too short. The examining officials demanded of him that he remove his boots and then measured him and, as he was an undeveloped boy, he fell far short of the standard height. Mr. Nichols attended school in IlHnois and Kansas. In his youth, he was employed in work on the Lexington Lake & Gulf railroad bed and it was necessary for him to follow the officials in order to obtain his last pay. He received two dollars a day and a man with a team received from three to three and a half dollars a day. After locating in Kansas, Mr. Nichols' brothers hauled provisions from Westport, Missouri. In 1869, he purchased with his hard-earned savings a small tract of land in Grand River township. Bates county, thirty acres of his present home place, from his uncle, Hiram Nichols, who had settled in Bates county, Missouri, in 1862 and died here in March, 1893. To his original holdings Mr, Nichols has constantly added until he now owns a valuable farm comprising one hundred ten acres of choice land in Grand River township, located five miles northeast of Adrian in one of the best farming districts of this section of the state. Hiram Nichols, the former owmer of the farm, was one of the first settlers in this township, a brave, sturdy pioneer w^ho spent the greater part of his life in Bates county. His residence was a rude, one-room log cabin. W^. T. Nichols was obliged to use the water from the branch nearby for drinking purposes, when he first settled on his farm in Bates county, and in 1874 he carried maple saplings and two box-alcler trees from the creek banks and transplanted them in his yard and they are still growing nicely, one being three feet in diameter. He recalls how, in the spring of 1875, the devastating grasshoppers destroyed his crops and all growing plants on his farm, but undauntedly he replanted and in spite of the pests raised a good crop of corn. Mr. Nichols well remembers the days in Bates county when hogs sold for one dollar and eighty cents a cut, corn for fifteen cents a bushel, eggs for three cents a dozen, large hens for one dollar and fifty cents a dozen, and small hens for one dollar and twenty-five cents a dozen. He has himself sold his produce at the above given prices. In discussing matters relative to early-day facilities for obtaining an education, Mr. Nichols states that Mingo school district was organized before the Civil War and that the one school house in the district, a frame building constructed of native lumber, stood the havoc of war and remained standing for many years afterward.

The marriage of W. T. Nichols and Hattie Simpson, a daughter of Benjamin and Mildred (Covington) Simpson, natives of Kentucky, was solemnized September 4, 1877. Benjamin Simpson was killed near Dayton in Cass county, Missouri, in 1861, mention of which is made in Judge Glenn's "History of Cass County." Mildred (Covington) Simpson was a member of the family of Covingtons in whose honor the city of Covington, Kentucky, was named. Hattie (Simpson) Nichols was born in 1861, in the same year in which her father w^as killed, in Grand River township. Bates county, Missouri, and two years later her mother moved with her children to the old home place in Kentucky and there remained until 1871, when she returned to the Bates county home to find everything on the farm destroyed, the house, the barn, and even the stone chimney. Mrs. Simpson was the heroic type of pioneer woman who knew not what discouragement or failure meant. She rebuilt the residence, improved the farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, and unaided, reared and educated and provided for eleven chilren. Mrs. Simpson was one of the most noble of the brave pioneer mothers, a woman of remarkable energy and ability who was held in the highest esteem and respect by all who knew her and she was widely known. Her death, December 15, 1902, was deeply lamented in Bates county. Mrs. Simpson's remains are interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mrs. W. T. Nichols recalls her first school teacher, Miss Sarah Severs, at Deer Creek school house, and she was in turn succeeded by Dr. E. E. Gilmore. To W. T. and Hattie (Simpson) Nichols have been born five children, all of whom are now living: Etta May, who is at home with her parents; Addie Elizabeth, the wife of John Revis, of Severy, Kansas; William Dallas, at home; Zora, the wife of Edwin Dryden, of Hamburg, Iowa; and Benjamin Franklin, Adrian, Missouri.

The success which has attended the efforts of W. T. Nichols has been constant. He has encountered more than the usual dif^culties that beset the pathway of every "self-made" man. He began life with more than the ordinary handicaps, an orphan, without educational advantages and without financial resources, but with a will which no obstacle could weaken and a high purpose born of determination to succeed, he has overcome them all and won for himself a prominent place among the leading farmers and substantial citizens of his township and county.

Joseph F. Wix, prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, is a native son of Bates county and a member of one of the oldest and most prominent of the pioneer families of this section of Missouri. His father was Joseph Wix, who settled in Bates county as early as 1839. His mother was Eliza Malcomb Wix, also of Missouri pioneer lineage. A complete biography of Joseph Wix, pioneer, appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of Clark Wix, brother of Joseph F. Wix. Joseph F. Wix was born in Pleasant Gap township in 1862 and has lived all of his life in Bates county, having practically grown up with Bates county, and progressed with the county from a wilderness of prairie and forest to the present time when the county ranks among the first among Missouri's greatest agricultural counties. His mother was the second wife of Joseph Wix, and he has a sister residing in Arkansas. Mr. Wix received his education in the Pleasant Gap public school, now called the Pleasant Ridge school. Mr. Wix went to Washington county with his parents and also lived for three years in Cedar county, Missouri. He resides upon a part of his father's old homestead, having become the owner of this place by the purchase of the various interests of the other heirs. His farm embraces two hundred and ten acres of rich land, which includes thirty acres of timber. All of the existing improvements on the place were erected under the supervision of Mr, Wix, his residence having been built in 1902, a good building of two stories and six rooms. His large barn measures 44 x 50 feet in dimensions, and he has a smaller barn 26 x 30 feet in size. The Wix farm is located two miles north and one-half mile east of the village of Pleasant Gap and is considered one of the best farms in a locality noted for its pro- Sfressive farmers and excellent farmsteads. He raises Shorthorn cattle

On December 19, 1886, Joseph F. Wix and Miss Louise E. W'ielms were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born children as follow: Grace, wife of H. L. Padley, Pleasant Gap township; Fannie, wife of E. E. Morilla, Pleasant Gap township; Cora, Tillie, and Emma J., at home with their parents, the latter attending the Butler High School. Mrs. Louise E. Wix is a daughter of John and Barbara Wielms, the former of whom emigrated from his native land of Belpfium in 1855. Mrs. Wielms was born in Switzerland and left her native land and came to America with her parents in about 1855. John and Barbara W^ielms were married in Texas and came to .Vernon county, Missouri in 1866. Mr. Wielms died in Vernon county, and Mrs. Wielms now resides at Virgil City, Missouri. Mr. Wix is one of the leaders in the civic life of Pleasant Gap and has served as a member of the township board. The Wix family are prominent in their home township and are progressively inclined, taking an active part in social activities and ever ready to do their part in advancing the interests of their home community and county.

J. W. Anderson, the pioneer druggist of Rockville, Missouri, is a member of one of the most prominent pioneer families of the state. Mr. Anderson was born in Henry county, Missouri in 1852, a son of Dr. Z. and Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson. Dr. Z. Anderson located with his family at Papinsville, Missouri in 1856. He was a native of Tennessee, born in 1826, and a graduate of the McDowell Medical College, of St. Louis, Missouri. Susan (Gilkeson) Anderson was a daughter of William Gilkeson, an honored pioneer of Johnson county, Missouri. At about the time the Andersons came to Papinsville, Missouri, Doctor Bedinger located at Papinsville. Fie was a native of Germany and is still remembered by many citizens of Bates county, who may recall his tragic death. The canoe upset and the doctor was thrown into the icy cold water and when found several hours later by a negro it was too late to revive him and Doctor Bedinger chilled to death in the canoe while being taken to Papinsville. Dr. Z. Anderson conducted a drug store and practiced medicine at Papinsville until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He enlisted with the Confederates and served two years. In 1863, he returned to Missouri and located for a short time at St. Louis, whence he went to Illinois to remain until the war had ended. Doctor Anderson again came back to Missouri in 1866, returning this time to his old home at Papinsville, where he was engaged in the practice of medicine until his death in October, 1868. Mrs. Anderson survived her husband for nineteen years. She departed this life in 1887 and was laid to rest beside her mother in Rockville cemetery. The father's remains rest in the cemetery at Papinsville.

The following children were born to Dr. Z. and Mrs. Anderson: Mrs. Rilla Anderson, Rockville, Missouri; Ella, the wife of Clyde Murphy, of Springfield, Missouri; Mrs. Jennie Evans, of Glasgow, Kentucky; M. L., deceased; and J. W., the subject of this review. In the public schools of Papinsville, J. W. Anderson received his education. The first teacher, whom Mr. Anderson recalls, was a gentleman from New York, whom the school boys called a "Blue-bellied Yankee" and "Yank" in its shortened form. Following the New Yorker came Mr. Burnsides, from Ohio and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Johnson, from Virginia. The school house was built of logs and among all the boys who attended- school there in the early days J. W. Anderson knows of but three who are now living, namely: D. O. Bradley, Rich Hill, Missouri; J. L. Richardson, Nevada, Missouri; and J. W. Anderson. The merchants of Papinsville, in the days before the Civil War, were Mr. Eddy, Mr. Duke, and Phillip Zeal. The Indians were want to come to Papinsville each autumn for their winter supplies and well J. W. Anderson remembers seeing bands of red men in the little village.' He states that in religious matters the Presbyterians were in those days in the ascendancy at Papinsville, they having the only church in the place. The brick court house was destroyed during the Civil War and the bridge near the town was burned by a division of Price's army.

In 1874, J. AV. Anderson entered the drug business at Papinsville and remained there until 1884, when in September of that year he moved to Rockville and has since continued in business at this place. Mr. Anderson has been engaged in the drug business continuously for forty-four years. He carries an exceptionally fine line of drugs, stationery, cigars, and toilet articles and his thorough knowledge of pharmacy, in conjunction with his courteous manner and evident desire to please his customers, has brought him a flattering patronage.

J. W. Anderson and Arabella Barrows, a daughter of Freeman Barrows, the first county clerk of Bates county, Missouri, were united in marriage in 1880. Freeman Barrows died about 1860 and his remains were interred in the cemetery on the Barrows home place and after- ward removed to the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. To J. W. and Mrs. Anderson have been born three children, all of whom are now living: Mrs. Medora Corbin, of Sterling, Colorado; L. W., who is a graduate of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, Missouri and is now a successful pharmacist at Joplin, Missouri; and Clyde Murphy, a graduate of the Rockville High School, Springfield Academy, Randolph- Macon Academy, and of the St. Louis Pharmacy School, St. Louis, Missouri, who has been stationed at Camp Doniphan since August 5, 1917 in the service of the United States.

Mr. Anderson began life a poor boy, with no special preparation in the way of educational training, and all that he has and all that he is has come as the inevitable result of honest, earnest effort and consecutive and persistent endeavor. Among the people with whom he has lived for so many years he occupies a high standing and possesses countless warm personal friends. The Andersons have for more than fifty years been respected and honored among the best families of Bates county, Missouri.

A. L. Gilmore, proprietor of the "A. L. Gilmore Stock Farm" of Deepwater township, was born in Portage county, Ohio on December 31, 1864. He is a son of Henry W. and Cornelia C. (Loomis) Gilmore, natives of Portage county, Ohio. Henry W. Gilmore came to Bates county, Missouri in 1873, locating in Old Hudson. He bought forty acres of the Newkirk farm, where he resided until his death in 1894. His wife died in December, 1910 and both parents are buried in Myers cemetery in Bates county. Two brothers of Henry W. Gilmore, Samuel and Charles, were veterans of the Civil War, and Samuel Gilmore for a few years conducted a shoe shop at Butler. Henry W. Gilmore and Mrs. Gilmore were the parents of six children: Mrs. Laura E. Graham, Falls City, Oregon; Mrs. Mary A. Mabry, St. Clair county, Missouri; Mrs. Mittie Keene, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Rilla Radford, Butler, Missouri ; Mrs. Lulu Keene, Lidianapolis, Indiana ; and A. L., the subject of this review.

A. L. Gilmore attended school in Oak Grove district and later was a student at Butler Academy. After leaving school, he went to western Kansas and proved a government claim. A short time afterward, he landed in the state of California and at that time had just thirty cents in his pocket. He made the trip in two days from Marysville, California to Laporte, a distance of eighty-seven miles. He went to work for the Sierra Lumber Company and was sent out with surveying parties up in the mountains. He was out on the trip three and onehalf months. Food and supplies were taken to them on pack mules. He killed several deer on the trip and brought some of the deer horns back to Missouri, and has them yet. They were snowbound on their way home and had to crawl over the summit for a short distance on their hands and knees. They were at the foot of Lassen peak at one time on their trip. Mr. Gilmore entered the employ of the Sierra Lumber Company in California and remained with them for four years, the company offering him an increase in wages to remain with them longer, but Mr. Gilmore still dreamed of Bates county and l)elieved that opportunities were still here and he was soon back again among his old friends. He located on a portion of the Captain Newberry farm, one mile southeast of Spruce, and built his present residence, a house of seven rooms, in 1912 and a commodious barn, 48 x 60 feet in dimensions, in 1908. All the improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gilmore and the clearing of the brush for farming operations on the soil has also been done by him. The "A. L. Gilmore Stock Farm" comprises two hundred forty acres of land and Mr. Gilmore is making an excellent success with both cattle and hogs.

Mr. Gilmore was first married January 14, 1892 to Jessie E. Newberry, a daughter of Captain Newberry, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Jessie E. (Newberry) Gilmore died in August, 1893. A. L. Gilmore and Edna E. Lawson were united in marriage on March 6, 1902. Edna E. (Lawson) Gilmore is a native of Deepwater township, Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of Isaac M. and Cordelia M. Lawson, honored and respected pioneers of Deepwater township. Mr. Lawson died in 1911 and his widow still resides at the Lawson homestead. Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Gilmore have four children : Edna L, Arthur L., Homer H., and Paul L.

Fraternally, A. L. Gilmore is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Royal Neighbors of America, and the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Gilmore takes a most commendable interest in public and political affairs and he was elected assessor of Bates county in 1906 and was deputy assessor prior to that time. He has filled satisfactorily the offices of assessor and clerk of Deepwater township and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he is filling his second term in the office of township trustee, having been elected in April, 1915 and re- elected in April, 1917. A. L. Gilmore is a good, honest, conscientious official, attending as carefully to the interests of his township and county as to his own. He is a thorough, intelligent, and progressive agriculturist and stockman. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore stand high among the estimable and valuable citizens of Bates county.

C. N. Page, a prominent citizen of Mingo township, Bates county, an honored Union veteran of the Civil War, is a representative of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Page was born in 1846 in Moniteau county, Missouri, a son of William and Mary Page, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. William Page came to Moniteau county in the early thirties and thence moved with his family to Henry county, Missouri, where he died about 1859. His wife, the mother of C. N. Page, died in Moniteau county. To William and Mary Page were born the following sons : John E., deceased ; Kemp, deceased ; Franklin, living in Henry county; Francis Marion, of St. Clair county, Missouri; and C. N., the subject of this review.

In the old fashioned "subscription schools" of Henry county, Missouri, C. N. Page obtained his education. Educational advantages were few in the pioneer days of Missouri and young Page was obliged to walk four and five miles to attend school held in a rudely constructed log cabin. Mr. Page enlisted in the Union army in 1861, when he was a lad scarcely sixteen years of age, and with him in the same company at the same time were his brothers, John E. Kemp, Franklin, and Francis Marion, all of whom were of the political faith of the Democrats but of Northern sentiments in regard to the war. C. N. Page re-enlisted with the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalrv and served throughout the war, receiving his honorable discharge at Fort Leavenworth. Kansas. Mr. Page was with General Kearney on the Powder River expedition in Wyoming in the campaign against the Indians. After leaving Leavenworth, Kansas, Mr. Page came to Missouri and located near Creighton, whence he came to Bates county in 1896 and first established himself on a farm near Mayesburg, moving to his present country place in 1901, a farm comprising forty acres of land. In Mr. Page's own words, we may truthfully say of him that he is "a thoroughbred Missourian."

The marriage of C. N. Page and Mrs. Sarah M. Crosby was solemnized in 1901. Mrs. Page was born and reared at Coshocton, Ohio. She came with her parents from her native state as far West as Illinois and there slie was united in marriage with C. N. Crosby. Mrs. Page came to Bates county, Missouri from Illinois in 1867 or 1868 and was a resident of Mingo township at the time of her marriage with Mr. Page. C. N. Page has also been twice married. His first wife was Eliza ]\Iaupin, now deceased, and to this union were born two children: William, of Mingo township; and Mrs. Viola Bryant, of Chelsea, Oklahoma.

Mr. Page is a man of firm convictions and principles and whatever he has undertaken in life has been with the object of benefiting not only himself but his neighbors and fellowcitizens as well. In the Civil War, he freely and cheerfully offered himself a sacrifice on the altar of freedom and duty and since the war has ended he has just as conscientiously discharged all duties encumbent upon him. He is a gentleman of pleasing personality and his genial manners and fondness for companionship have attracted to him scores of warm personal friendships. His reputation is such that no one calls in question the rectitude of his intentions and his character is an open book the pages of which are remarkably free from blot or stain.

Luther Poindexter, a successful and influential farmer and stockman of Spruce township. Bates county, is a native of Boone county, Missouri. Mr. Poindexter was born in 1879, son of Mr. Poindexter and Mary Elizabeth (Salsman) Poindexter, the father, a native of North Carolina and the mother, of Camden county, Missouri. The Poindexters settled in Spruce township. Bates county in 1881 and the father rented land in the township until his death in 1903. Interment was made for him in the cemetery at Johnstown. The widowed mother now makes her home on her farm near Johnstown, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter were the parents of the following children: Frances, the wife of James Chitty, of Altona, Missouri; Melvin, who died in infancy; AVilliam, who went to the state of Idaho in 1916 and now resides there; Lark, a well-to-do farmer and stockman residing near Ballard, Missouri; Mollie, the wife of William Judd, residing near Ballard, Missouri; Luther, the subject of this review; Brush, a well-known farmer and stockman residing near Johnstown, Missouri; OlHe, who is now deceased and he left a widow. Mrs. Mintie (Crump) Poindexter; Roy, who is engaged in farming and stock raising- near Johnstown, Missouri; Hattie, deceased; Attie, the wife of Nilie Beaman, of Adrian, Missouri; Walter and Lucy, who reside with their widowed mother on the farm near Johnstown, Missouri.

When Luther Poindexter was a child, two years of age, his parents moved with their family to Bates county, Missouri and in this countv Mr. Poindexter was reared and educated. He attended the dis- trict schools of Spruce township and after acquiring a good common school education began farming and stock raising, in which pursuits he has since been engaged. Mr. Poindexter began life for himself at the age of twenty years. In 1916, he purchased his present country place, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-five acres of land located one mile south and one-fourth mile west of Ballard, Missouri, one of the most attractive rural homes in Spruce township. A branch of Soap creek flows through the farm and the land is well watered, for in addition to the creek there are five good wells on the farm. The improvements include a comfortable, well-built residence, a house of five rooms; a barn, 50 x 60 feet in dimensions; a second barn, 40 x 50 feet in dimensions; an implement shed; and several hog sheds. The buildings are situated on an elevation and the drainage around them is the best. W. D. Howard formerly owned the Poindexter place. Mr. Poindexter is profitably engaged in raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and in addition is an extensive feeder of hogs. He is one of the enterprising, intelligent agriculturists of his township and his tireless efforts, unflagging industry, and good business judgment well merit a goodly share of success. Politically, Mr. Poindexter is a stanch Democrat.

In 1906 Luther Poindexter was married to Ada Zeiler, a daughter of John and Sallie Zeiler, living pioneers of Osceola, Missouri. To this union have been born two children: John Melvin and Dimple. Mr. and Mrs. Poindexter are highly regarded and valued among the best and most prominent citizens of Spruce township, where for nearly forty years the Poindexter name has been respected as the synonym of honorable and upright manhood and womanhood.

Matthias L. Smith, a retired farmer and stockman of Rich Hill, Missouri, one of the brave clan of noble pioneers of Bates county, a prominent, public-spirited, and influential citizen, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Smith was born February 4, 1840, in Fayette county, Ohio, a son of Jacob and Abbie (Bloomer) Smith. The father died when his son, Matthias L., was a child three years of ag-e and the boy was reared to the age of twelve years by his uncle, Elijah Bloomer, when his mother remarried and young Matthias L. went with her to the new home in Noble county, Indiana. He rode horseback all the way from Ohio to Noble county, Indiana, accompanied by his step-father, John Baker, and his nephew. The mother of Matthias L. Smith died in Noble county, Indiana, about 1907.

in the Union army, serving with Company C, Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, for three years, being mustered out and honorably discharged at IndianapoHs, Indiana. The regiment with which Mr. Smith served look an active and important part in the battle of Shiloh on April 6 and 7, 1862, where General Johnston, one of the Confederates' most able commanders, bled to death on the field of battle before medical aid could be summoned, as the general had courageously and chivalrously ordered his surgeon to attend to the wounded elsewhere, when the total Union loss was thirteen thousand killed, wounded, and captured and the Confederate loss ten thousand seven hundred; in the battle of Stone's River or Murfreesboro on December 26, 1862, when the casualties were a Union loss of thirteen thousand out of a total force of forty-three thousand, and a Confederate loss of ten thousand out of thirty-eight thousand and in this engagement Matthias L. Smith was in the very thick of the fray and although comrades all around him fell he seemed to have a charmed life and escaped without injury; in the battle of Chickamauga on September 19 and 20, 1863, which resulted in the loss of nineteen thousand five hundred killed, wounded, and captured on the Confederate side and sixteen thousand on the Union side, where General Thomas' heroic fight, when surrounded on three sides, saved the Union army from a complete rout and won for him the title of "The Rock of Chickamauga"; and in the battle of Lookout Mountain, "the battle above the clouds," on November 25, 1863.

After the Civil War had ended, Mr. Smith returned to Indiana and thence came to Bates county, Missouri, in October, 1868, and located in Lone Oak township on the John Atkison farm of one hundred sixty acres, which he purchased and later sold. Mr. Smith then bought a farm in the drainage district, disposed of it after having it nicely improved, and moved to Rich Hill, where he is now living in quiet and contented retirement. It is generally conceded that Matthias L. Smith has cleared and improved more land than any other one man in Bates county, Missouri. He has ever been an earnest advocate and enthusiastic "booster" of public improvements and he was one of the first to agitate the digging of the large drainage ditch in this county, one of the first to foresee its possibilities, and with Messrs. Bagby and Pitchford came to Butler to find out what might be done about it and at the same time the Linn county, Kansas, people were at work here agitating the work. Judge Harper was in the Legislature at the time and secured the passage of the bill legalizing the formation of the district. Mr. Smith states that J. F. Kern is really the "Daddy of the Ditch." Mr. Kern is deaf in one ear and Mr. Smith says that the former "always turned his deaf ear to the kickers."

The marriage of Matthias L. Smith and Annie Gallatin, a native of Massillon, Stark county, Ohio, was solemnized in 1865 in Noble county, Indiana. To this union were born the following children : Lewis, of Lone Oak township, Bates county; Daniel, of Lone Oak township. Bates county; William, of Summit township, Bates county; Abbie, who resides in Garden City, Kansas; and four children died in infancy or in childhood. The mother died about 1893 and her remains wxre laid to rest in Elliott cemetery in Lone Oak township. Matthias L. Smith and Mrs. Amanda Hudson were united in marriage in 1908. By her former marriage, Mrs. Smith has five children living: Harvey and William, of Vernon county, Missouri; James, of Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Sada Gilbert, of Vernon county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rosa Seward, of Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a host of friends in . Bates county and they are highly regarded among the best and most substantial citizens of the city of their residence. The Smith home is in Rich Hill on East Maple street.

Bates county can boast no more noble-minded, better citizen than Matthias L. Smith and all who know him bear witness to his many excellencies and give unstinted praise to him who has labored so long and earnestly in assisting to bring about the large measure of prosperity which the county now enjoys. His has indeed been an active and full life and the work he has accomplished and the good he has done will remain for an untold number of years a monument to his memory. Surrounded by a host of friends, now at the age of seventy-eight years, Mr. Smith is passing the eventide of life in peaceful quiet and ease, enjoying in a marked degree the respect and love of all the citizens of his community, living in retrospect the days when Bates county was new, and contemplating with satisfaction the countless remarkable changes in which he has been a potent factor, through which Bates has won a distinguished place among its sister counties of the state.

L. W. Smith, enterprising and substantial farmer and stockman. Lone Oak township, was born in Ligonier, Noble county, Indiana, June 25. 1868, but has been a resident of Bates county since he was one year old. He is thus justly entitled to be classed among the old settlers of this county. He is a son of M. L. and Johannah (Gallatin) Smith, his father having been born in Indiana and his mother in Ohio. A\'hen

M. L. Smith attained young manhood, he enlisted in the Thirtieth Indiana Regiment of Infantry and served during the Civil War. Four years after the close of his war service he came West and located in Bates county on a farm situated about one-half mile from that of his son in Lone Oak township. His farm was in section 15 of this township. He followed farming and stock raising until his retirement to a home in Rich Hill, Missouri. L. W. Smith is one of four children born to his parents; and is the eldest of the family, the others being: Abbie, who is married and resides in Garden City, Kansas; D, G., a farmer of Lone Oak township; W. H., lives in Summit township.

The education received in the public school by L. W. Smith was supplemented by instruction from his mother at home, she having been a competent school teacher prior to her marriage. Throughout his entire life he has followed farming and has been successful to the extent of becoming owner of four hundred five acres of rich land, well improved and stocked with high-grade cattle of the Shorthorn and Polled Angus breeds. He is one of the prosperous hog raisers of this section of the state, having disposed of over two thousand dollars worth of fat porkers during the year 1917. During the past year he also harvested nearly two thousand bushels of wheat and has sown a considerable acreage for the present year's harvest.

Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Dora Harcourt, a native of Bates county, and daughter of Frank Harcourt, an early settler of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a family of seven children, as follow: Howard, living in Lone Oak township; Goldie, at home with her parents ; Sylvia, married Juan Warren, of Garden City, Kansas ; Lulu, wife of Albert Rhodes, Lone Oak township; Mabel, Frank, and Fern, all at home.

For several years Mr. Smith has taken a prominent and influential part in Republican politics and has frequently represented the Bates county organization at state conventions, having also served as delegate to several county conventions where his influence was felt in the selection of candidates for office and the forming of party policies. He has held practically every office within the gift of the people of his township excepting that of assessor and constable. He is a member of the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

Harry T, Pratt, well and favorably known citizen of Hudson township, has resided in Bates county for the past fifty years, and is one of the best known men of his section of the countv. Mr. Pratt was born in New York, May 5, 1864, and is a son of Joel and Mary (Taylor) Pratt, both of whom were natives of New York. The Pratt family came to Bates county, Missouri in 1868 and made a settlement in Hudson township, locating on a farm just north of the townsite of Hudson. This is one of the Bates county towns that has disappeared from the map after a brief heyday of growth and prosperity. In the year 1868, Hudson boasted a number of store buildings, a church, school and several residences and was a place of some importance. It flourished until the coming of the railroad and the founding of the town of Appleton City in the adjoining county of St. Clair. Hudson thereupon took the very best course - the inland town was moved bodily to the vicinity of the railroad and thus passed out of existence. Mr. Jackling kept store in Hudson in 1868. His son. Daniel Jackling, is now a copper mining millionaire residing in San Francisco. The main street of Hudson as it was fifty years ago now forms the road between the Pheasant and Pratt farms. The present school house is located in a grove which had been set out by the townsite company and designated as a public park. One tree in this grove is over fifty years old. When Appleton City was started, over thirty houses were moved from Hudson to the new city in the early seventies. Among this number was the Hudson Presbyterian church which was sawed in two parts and hauled by oxen and horses to the new site. The first half of the building was burned while being transported to its destination. The other half was taken on to Appleton City and the burned part replaced, but the entire building has since been replaced by a new church edifice more in keeping with the progress of the times.

Joel Pratt purchased a tract of one hundred and eighty acres on the north line of the township or town and increased his holdings to a total of two hundred fifty acres which are under the care and management of his son, Harry T. Pratt. He was the first postmaster of Hudson, serving in this capacity during 1868 and 1869. Joel Pratt and wife were parents of the following children: Harry T. and Garry, are twins, the latter of whom is a merchant doing business in Appleton City; Mrs. Alice A. Alexander, Appleton City. Joel Pratt was born in Washington county. New York, August 2, 1835, a son of Garrison Pratt, who was born in Connecticut in 1806, married Miss Elmira Smith, of Vermont, and moved to New York when a young man. Joel Pratt was reared to young manhood in W^ashington county. New York and was educated in the public schools. He was married in Alle- gheny county, New York, February 10, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Taylor, a daughter of Francis F. Taylor, of Allegheny county. In 1864, Mr. Pratt engaged in the mercantile business at Black Creek and continued in this business for four years. In 1868 he came to Bates county, where he has pursued a long and interesting career. He was prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and served several years as township collector.

Harry T. Pratt received his education in the schools of his home township and the old Butler Academy. After ending his school days he was engaged in farming until 1902 and was then engaged in the mercantile business at Appleton City in partnership with his father and brother, Garry. In 1911 he returned to the farm and is successfully engaged in tilling his well-improved place of two hundred thirtyfive acres. The Pratt place is one of the best w^atered stock farms in the county and is equipped with tw^o sets of improvements including three barns. Mr. Pratt's present home is a building remodeled from wdiat was formerly the postofifice and hotel building of the tow^n of Hudson and consists of nine rooms. Since 1917, Mr. Pratt has engaged in the breeding of registered Aberdeen Angus cattle and has a herd of twenty-five cows and a registered male of this fine breed of cattle. He has recently disposed of a carload of fine cattle and has about seventy-five head of grade stock on his place. He has sixty head of Shropshire sheep and a fine drove of Poland China hogs. He has been active in the civic affairs of Hudson township for the past thirty years and has filled the office of member of the township board, justice of the peace and is now serving as constable and tax collector. Mr. Pratt is an elder of the Presbyterian church of Appleton City. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and he and Mrs. Pratt are members of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. Pratt was married in 1895 to Lulia E. Chapin, of Hudson township, and to this marriage have been born two sons: Louis C, a student in the Appleton City High School, class of 1918; J. Lawrence, at home. Mrs. Lulia E. (Chapin) Pratt is a daughter of E. S. and Sarah Chapin. E. S. Chapin, her father, was born in Medina county, Ohio, October 16, 1838. His father, Calvin Chapin, was born in 1805 in connection, married Miss Susannah Cole Stiles, a native of Massachusetts. Calvin Chapin moved to Ohio when a young man and E. S. Chapin was there reared to young manhood. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company G, Forty-second Ohio Infantry Regiment, under Col. James A. Garfield, and served three years in the Civil War. He was wounded during the siege of Vicksburg. He also took part in the engagements at Prestonsburg, Cumberland Gap, Chickasaw Bayou, and Arkansas Post, and many other battles. In the fall of 1864, following his discharge from the service, he was married, December 29, 1864 to Miss Sarah Field, a native of Medina county, Ohio. In the spring of 1867 he came to Missouri and bought land in Hudson township. Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. Chapin were parents of seven children; Clyde F., Leroy S., Lulia E., Myrta M., Roland T., Gracie, and Pearl.

William Laney, proprietor of one of the best farms in Bates county, is an enterprising and progressive citizen of Hudson township. He was born in Washington county, Illinois, July 23, 1849, a son of James R. and Mary (Young) Hill Laney, the former of whom was born in Alabama in 1819 and the latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1820. Mr. Laney's mother died in 1858 and his father was again married to Mary Ann Walker. By this second marriage James R. Laney was father of three children: A. T. Laney, an employe of the "Frisco" Railroad Company, Clinton, Missouri; Mrs. Charles Anthony, Kansas City, Missouri; one child died in infancy. James R. Laney died in Hudson township in 1891 and his remains are interred in Round Prairie

The early education of William Laney was obtained in the public schools of his native county and he pursued a higher course of study at the Illinois State Agricultural College, Irvington, in the school year 1868 and 1869. He followed farming in his native state until 1881 when he came to Appleton City, Missouri and resided there until March of 1883. At this time he bought his present home farm of one hundred twenty acres in Hudson township, of John Stucker, who had purchased it from Fritz Gilbreath who in turn inherited the land from his father, Stephen Gilbreath. This fine farm is located two and a half miles from Appleton City and is considered to be one of the best kept and most productive tracts in this section of Missouri. The first home of the Laneys when they purchased their farm, was a log cabin which served as their place of habitation for the first ten years of their residence in Bates county. In 1893 they erected a new home, having previously built two barns, one having been built in 1885 and the other being erected in 1895, two years after the new home was erected. Twelve acres of the Laney farm were first broken for cultivation in 1866 and this land has continued to yield crops for the past fifty-one years. Every deciduous and evergreen shade tree on the Laney place was planted by the owner and there is now a fine grove shading the premises.

Mr. Laney had two uncles and four cousins who saw active service in the Union army during the Civil War. They were as follow: John and Samuel Hill, uncles. The cousins were Robert and John Laney, Andrew Crane, and Daniel Laney.

Mr. Laney was married in 1869 to Miss Jane Milne, who was born in Scotland, and is a daughter of Peter and Allison ( Polick) Milne, who immigrated to America from their native land in 1863. A son of the family, Harry Milne, enlisted in the Union army at the age of nineteen years not long after his arrival in America. Mrs. Laney has four sisters living: Mrs. Allison Perkins, Oswego, Kansas; Mrs. Euphemia Laney, Osweg'O, Kansas ; Mrs. Anna Boggs, Hallowed, Kansas; Mrs. Mary Nes])itt, Sparta, Illinois. To A\'illiam and Jane Laney have been born children as follow: Mary, wife of Walter A. Bundy, a jeweler of Miami, Oklahoma, and who taught school for a number of years ; Ada, wdio is diligently engaged in Red Cross work and is especially employed in the making of the Hudson township community flag; Clarence, supervisor of the Federal income tax for northeast South Dakota, located at z\berdeen. South Dakota ; Lyman Lee, born 1879, died in 1917, at Watertown, South Dakota, leaving a widow and a son, Roy C. Laney, aged five years; Gertrude, wife of Clyde Piepmeier, Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Laney have five grandchildren: William Lee Laney, Roy Clarence Laney, Ruby Dell Piepmeier, Pearl Louise Piepmeier, and J. D. Piepmeier.

For a number of years Mr. Laney has served as school director of Hazel Hill district and has always taken a great interest in educational matters. He and Mrs. Laney have co-operated in the matter of giving each one of their children an excellent education, being actuated in this laudable undertaking by the well founded i^elief that they would make better men and women if equipped with an education. For a number of years he was a member of the township board. Mr. Laney has been prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party and has been a member of the county central committee. For four years he served as justice of the peace of his township and has ever been found in the forefront of all worthy movements intended to advance the welfare of the citizenship of his county and township.

William G. Brown, Union veteran and pioneer settler of Hudson township, is a native of the old Buckeye state, who for over a half century has been engaged in farming and stock raising in Bates county, becoming widely and favorably known throughout his section of this county as a fine citizen and a successful tiller of the soil. Mr. Brown was born in Hocking county, Ohio, September 16, 1842. He is a son of John Brown, a native of Pennsylvania, and his mother was Mary Amelia Fanegan, a daughter of Alexander Fanegan, a native of Ireland. The Brown family of which William G. Brown is a worthy descendant is a good, old, American family whose members were of the fighting stock which have ever been ready to defend the liberties of their country. The grandfather of William G. Brown, was John Brown, a soldier of the War of 1812.

The youth of William G. Brown was spent on the home farm in his native county, he attended the common schools, and upon the outbreak of the Civil War he was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops with which to quell the rebellion of the Southern states. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and served for three years and one month, being mustered out of the service at Jonesboro, Georgia, September 1, 1864. He took part in many hard-fought engagements and fought at the second battle of Bull Run. He participated with his command in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, battle of Antietam, South Mountain, Jackson. Mississippi, Missionary Ridge, and the many battles incident to the siege and capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and fought at Dallas, Georgia and at Kenesaw Mountain. He never received a wound and had good health all through his arduous war service. His first captain was named Warner.

Like many other Union veterans who returned home after their war service and found all the good places and opportunities taken by the "stay-at-homes" and no place to go but to the far West, and being filled with the spirit of adventure and the restlessness peculiar to the returned soldier, he made up his mind to come to the AVest and make a start for fortune and a life-time home. Accompanied by his brother, John, he left the old home in Ohio on January 3, 1866, and came to Bates county, driving overland, the trip requiring three months' time. They first located on land in Kansas, but finding that there seemed to be a cloud on the title they abandoned the idea of making a home in Kansas and retracing their steps, made a permanent location in Hudson town- ship, this county. Mr. Brown bought eighty acres of the Meyers land for five dollars an acre. John Brown bought one hundred twenty acres for five dollars an acre. John prospered, reared a fine family and departed to his reward a few years ago, and is quietly sleeping the sleep of the just in the Baptist cemetery in Hudson township. His sons, L. V. and Albert Brown, own the old home place. William G. Brown has added to his acreage as the years have passed and now owns a total or 460 acres of splendid land, which is now being tilled by his children. Mr. Brown has followed general farming and stock raising and has fed hundreds and even thousands of cattle during his sojourn in this county. At the time he located in Bates county, he recalls that rattlesnakes were plentiful in the neighborhood and it behooved the settlers to be wary of the reptile when abroad. His first home was a little cabin 14 x 16 feet in size, and this cabin served as his home until he was able to erect a larger residence. He erected his present fine home of ten rooms in 1883. The old cabin is still standing and is now used for a tool house. Mr. Brown cut all of the logs used for lumber in its construction in 1868, did the hauling for one-half of the logs he cut, and then gave another half of his share for having them sawed ready for building. He thus gave two days' work for one on his own account. The Brown farm is well equipped with a large barn and other out buildings which are maintained in good condition.

On December 20, 1868, Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Mary Wells, who was born in Jefi^erson county, Indiana, May 15, 1852, a daughter of Henry M. and Lovicy Wells, who came to Missouri from Indiana and settled in Hudson township. Bates county. Mrs. Brown departed this life on January 26, 1899. She was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The children of William G. and Mary Brown are as follow: Ira Merton, born January 26, 1870, farming in Hudson township; Mrs. Ora Elfie Page, born September 10, 1872, living in Hudson township; Garry Liston, died at the age of five years; Troy Foster, successful merchant at Fair Oaks, Hudson township ; Harry Blaine, died in 1916, had married Nellie Seelinger; Mrs. Icie Lodema Robinson, widow of Millard Robinson, resides with her father and owns the home place. Mr. Brown's second marriage occurred October 10, 1912, to Mrs. Clementine Reat, widow of G. W. Reat. Mrs. Brown's maiden name was Clementine Thomas, a daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Rice) Thomas, of Hocking county, Ohio. In the days of long ago when they were children growing up amid the hills and valleys of their native county, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were schoolmates. Mrs. Brown has three sisters and two brothers living: Mrs. James Patterson, Macon, Illinois; Isaiah G. Thomas, Tarlton, Ohio; Otis W. Thomas, Circleville, Ohio; Mrs. J. H. Lutz, Circleville, Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth Pitman, Amanda, Ohio. Mr. Brown is a member of Stedman Post, Grand Army of the Republic No. 172, Appleton City.

In the eventide of his long, eventful, and energetic life, this aged veteran is living in peaceful and comfortable enjoyment of the fruits of his long years of labor. Well past the allotted three score and ten years which are the Scriptural span of life given to man, he is still active, mentally and physically, and has a zest for living equalled by but few men of his years. Mr. Brown and his family are among the best respected in Bates county and have many warm friends who wish them well and esteem them highly for their excellent qualities. Only recently, Mr. Brown divided his land among his children and gave each son and daughter a nice farm.

Icie L. Robinson, who is now caring for her father at the old home place of which she is the owner, is the widow of the late Millard D. Robinson, who was a prominent merchant of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. Robinson was born January 23, 1878, in Rockville, a son of Wesley and Tweed Robinson, old residents of Bates county. Pie was reared and educated in his native county and attended the public schools of Rockville, graduating from the Rockville High School in 1896. He then pursued a course in the Clinton Business College, graduating therefrom in 1899. That same year he engaged in business in Rockville in partnership with his uncle, J. Meredith, and the store was conducted under the firm name of Meredith and Robinson until 1909, when Mr. Robinson purchased his partner's interest and conducted the business successfully until his death on February 3, 1916.

On September 5, 1911, the marriage of Millard D. Robinson and Icie L. Brown was solemnized and the marriage was a happy and prosperous one. Mr. Robinson's death was a distinct loss to the community which lost a valued and worthy member. He was a good man, kind and thoughtful of the welfare of others, honest to the core in all of his business transactions and made and retained friends easily. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and was a progressive citizen in every way.

Bailey family, pioneers and prominent citizens of this part of the county. W. E. Bailey, subject of the above caption, is a son of Wright Bailey, now living in Appleton City and widely known as one of the most successful stockmen in southwest Missouri. The Bailey farm consists of five hundred fifty-four acres in high state of improvement and showing on every hand evidence of modern and successful management.

The father, Wright Bailey, was born in Howard county, Missouri, in 1854 and is a son of Moses Bailey, who came to southwest Missouri from that section of the state and settled in Bates county in 1865. Wright Bailey married Miss Fannie Stephenson, a daughter of the late Judge Stephenson, who was for many years one of Appleton City's official and most prominent citizens. To them five children were born : C. H. Bailey, Rockville, Missouri; Pearl, now wife of O. E. Piepmeier, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson; Lottie Gladys Bailey, teacher in Appleton City High School ; Miss Myra, at home ; W. E. Bailey, the subject of this sketch, who was born on the farm where he now lives and is already one of the best known and successful young stockmen of this part of the state, showing that he is a "chip off the old block" and following in the footsteps of his father. He was educated in the public schools at home and in the Appleton City Academy. For the past seven years he and his father have been engaged in the stock business under the firm name of Bailey & Son and feed on an average of one hundred fifty to two hundred head of cattle and as many hogs each year. In addition to other stock they are handling one hundred fifty goats. At the present time they are drilling a deep well in order to furnish l)etter water supply.

W. E. Bailey was married in 1904 to Miss Amelia Fox, a daughter of John and Marguerette Fox, former residents of Hudson township. Mrs. Fox is deceased and Mr. Fox lives at Appleton City. The Fox family came to America from Switzerland in 1869 and first located in Prairie township. The children of the Fox family are as follow: Anna, widow of John Yoss, Prairie City; Elizabeth, wife of John Mock. Hudson township; Christian, living on the home place in Hudson township; Peter, whereabouts unknown; Lena, wife of Jared Griggs, Hudson township; May, wife of William Smith, St. Louis, Missouri; Mrs. W. E. Bailey.

in which many things can happen. Mr. Roberts has seen the unbroken prairie transformed by the hand of man. He has witnessed the coming of the railway into his neighborhood and seen towns and villages spring up and grow apace. He, himself, has taken an active part in the development of this county and has created one of the finest farms in Bates county from what was unbroken prairie land. He purchased his present home place on April 6, 1870, and has lived thereon since that time. The Roberts farm is located one and three-fourths miles northeast of Rockville and consists of three hundred twenty acres. The original homestead consisted of but one hundred and twenty acres. The fine residence which domiciles the Roberts family was erected in 1903 and is a beautiful modern home of ten rooms - considered to rank among the finest homes in Bates county. The cyclone in April of 1916 did considerable damage to the home and buildings. The roof was torn off the house and carried some distance. Windows were blown out and carried away. It was necessary to rebuild his large barn and another structure w^as blown entirely away, as were a silo, two poultry houses and a smoke house and ice house. The shop and implement sheds were torn down and destroyed. The big trees which had been the pride of their owner were destroyed as were a fine growing plum and peach orchard. Over four thousand dollars' worth of damage was done to the property - all of which has since been replaced even better than before. Mr. Roberts is an extensive feeder of cattle and hogs and at this writing. February, 1918, he is wintering fiftyfive head of cattle and one hundred head of porkers. Besides feeding all of the grain raised on his own land each season he buys grain in large quantities for the purpose of feeding his livestock.

Alonzo I. Roberts w-as born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1849. and is a son of William and Mary Roberts, who lived all of their days in Illinois and died there. Mr. Roberts received his education in his native state and in 1868 he came West and invested in one hundred twenty acres of land which he subsecjuently improved. He has practically grown up with Bates county and prospered as the county has gained in wealth.

Mr. Roberts was married on February 23, 1881 to Ulrika Larson, a daughter of Lars Poulson and Johanna, his wife, natives of Sweden who immigrated to America in 1879 and located in Rockville. Mr. Poulson died here in 1917 at the age of ninety-six years. For the last twenty years of his long life he was totally blind. Mrs. Poulson died in 1885, aged sixty-nine years. To Alonzo Irving and Ulrika Roberts have been born children as follow: Ira W., in charge of the home place, was educated in the Rockville schools and has remained on the home place excepting one year spent at Piano, Illinois, with the Independent Harvester Company's Works, married Rose Hays, of Taborville, March 29, 1914, and is father of a daughter, Evelyn; Oscar B., who volunteered for service with the National army on July 24, 1917 and is now stationed at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan; Clara E., at home ; Chester L., Rockville, Missouri, manager of the Farmers Co-operative Elevator Company, married Ida M. Rapp, November 29, 1916; Cora M., wife of Thomas D. Neale, St. Clair county; Bessie, died in 1885.

For the past twelve years, Mr. Roberts has been a member of the local school board and has always endeavored to take a good citizen's part in local enterprises. He is progressive and keeps well abreast of the times and is recognized as a leading citizen of his locality. He is a member of and an elder of the Re-organized church of the Latter Day Saints.

William Douglas is a highly respected citizen of Rockville township, where he was born in 1870. He is a son of Harvey and Eliza (Campbell) Douglas, who came to Bates county in 1865 from Iowa and rented the Simeon Gilbreath farm in Hudson township. Soon afterward, Harvey Douglas located in Rockville township and bought a forty-acre farm adjoining the townsite of Rockville. Later, he sold this farm and bought one hundred twenty acres located one mile east of the town and there spent the remainder of his life, dying there in 1870 at the age of fifty-one years. He was highly respected and valued throughout the community and was one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Bates county. One brother, Alonzo Douglas, saw service in the Civil War, Alonzo having fought on the Union side at the battle of Lonejack. The Douglas children are: John, deceased; Mrs. Emma Ward, deceased; Ollie Bennifield, Lees Summit, Missouri ; William, subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Maggie Greene, Hudson township; two sons. General and Luma, died in infancy.

William Douglas was educated in the Rockville public schools and has always followed farming pursuits. After his father's 'death he cared for his mother until her death. He became owner of fifty acres of the home place to which he has added seventy acres, making one hundred twenty acres in all comprising his farm. Mr. Douglas had a well improved place until along came a cyclone on April 19, 1916 and practically wiped everything out of existence. The house, cattle barn, and hen house were destroyed and a fine grove of maples in the yard were razed to the ground. The wind mill was torn down, a flock of one hundred eighty chickens were killed, and the farm machinery was smashed. All of this devastation has since been replaced with better buildings and new machinery, etc. Mr. Douglas escaped unhurt because he sought refuge in the cellar.

Mr. Douglas was married on November 14, 1917 to Marie Jacobs, of Hudson township. At the present writing, February, 1918, Mr. Douglas is feeding thirty head of Hereford cattle and thirty-five head of hogs. For the past ten years he has made a practice of feeding livestock for the markets. He is a Republican in politics.

J. B. Durand, the oldest resident of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri in point of years of residence, was born in Pennsylvania in October, 1843, a son of J. N. and Betsey Durand. the father, a native of New York and the mother, of Pennsylvania. J. N. Durand was born in 1816 and Mrs. Durand was born in the same year. The Durands moved from the state of New York to Pennsylvania when J. N. Durand was very young. He came with his family to Missouri in 1850 and the first year they were located on a farm which is the present townsite of Pleasant Gap, settling in Prairie towaiship on a tract of land comprising forty acres adjoining the site of Prairie City, which city was planned, platted, and named by J. N. Durand in 1858. Provisions and merchandise were hauled in wagons drawn by oxen from Osceola and Boonville, from one to two weeks being required for the trip. Osceola was the head of navigation at that time and Bates county was practically all open prairie. J. N. Durand was the first and only postmaster of Prairie City prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Prairie City, in the days before the Civil War, boasted two stores which were conducted by Mr. Nickerson and Mr. Lee. The little village was burned during the conflict, and it then was composed of probably a dozen or more homes. T- N. Durand w^as a member of the Missouri state militia and served under Captain New^berry, a cousin of Mr. Durand. J. B. Durand recalls the time when Captain New^berry came to Bates county in 1853, walking across the prairie coming from the north, for he made his home with the Durands for some time. J. N. Durand was killed in April. 1863 by "bushwhackers," when he was on his way from his home to Butler, where he had been stationed. Interment was made in the cemetery at Prairie City, Alissouri. Betsey Durancl had preceded her husband in death many years. She died May 9, 1853. To J. N. and Betsey Durand were born four children: J. B., the subject of this review; Mary J., deceased; Eugene, deceased; and Alphonso, who died in infancy. Mr. Durand was married a second time and to him and Sarah Lutsenhizer were born two children : Emily, of Littleton, Colorado; and Warren, of Littleton, Colorado.

J. B. Durand was educated in the public schools of Prairie township and the University of Missouri. After leaving the State University, he returned to his home in Prairie township, where he has spent the remainder of his life to the time of this writing, in 1918. Mr. Durand is the owner of a valuable farm, comprising seventy acres of land adjoining the townsite of Prairie City, where he is engaged in general farming and dairying. The Durand place is well improved, the improvements including a handsome residence, a house of eight rooms, modern throughout, built in 1880; a barn, 32 x 51 feet in dimensions ; a second barn. 32 x 44 feet in dimensions ; and several sheds. Mr. Durand planted an apple orchard covering many acres of land in 1874. A few of the trees of the original orchard remain and for several years his efforts along the line of horticulture appeared to be wise and promised great returns. His last large crop was in the year of 1895, when a terrific storm in September blew them all off the trees. He dried eighty thousand pounds of apples and made four hundred barrels of cider and vinegar that year, but due to the low prices they were hauled at a loss. Mr. Durand is now devoting his attention to dairying.

The marriage of J- B. Durand and Sarah Anna Short was solemnized December 11, 1877. Mrs. Durand is a daughter of David and Sarah Short, the former, a native of Washington county, Indiana and the latter, of Louisville, Kentucky. The Shorts located in St. Clair countv. ^Missouri in the days before the Civil AA^ar and in this county their daughter, Sarah Anna, was born. Mr. and Mrs. Short moved to Baldwin, Kansas to educate a granddaughter and thefe Mr. Short died. Mrs. Short's death occurred at Rockville, Missouri and both father and mother were laid to rest in the cemetery at Rockville. Mrs. J. B. Durand has the following brothers and sisters, now five living: Mrs. Susan Shoemaker, Rockville. Missouri ; Owen. Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Amanda Pingree, deceased; Mrs. Ella Lewellen, of St. Clair county, Missouri ; Eddie P., of St. Clair county, Missouri ; and Charlie, whose address is unknown. To J. B. and Sarah Anna (Short) Durand have been born four children, all of whom were born in Prairie township, Bates county, Missotiri, have been reared to maturity, and are now living: Walter, a prosperous farmer of Powell, Wyoming; Jessie, who is a trained nurse at St. Joseph, Missouri; Oscar, who is successfully operating a dairy farm at Sumner, Washington ; and Eugenia, the widow of John A. Kinman, of St. Joseph, Missouri.

In 1867, Mr. Durand states, the boat named "Thomas Stevens" made one trip up the river to Papinsville and two trips to Belvoir, four miles below Papinsville, with lumber and salt. The "Osage" also made one trip. Mr. Durand was deputy sheriff under Captain Newberry and has filled several different township offices and has served as a member of the school board. He has long been numbered among the substantial and influential farmers and stockmen of Bates county and as a gentleman and citizen his record is one well worthy of- emulation. Mr. Durand in his prime was a man of great endurance, strong and vigorous of body, equally strong and vigorous of mind, a splendid specimen of symetrically developed manhood. Temperance in all things, correct habits of living, and healthful outdoor exercise have conserved his energies and prolonged his life past the three score years and ten allotted to man and he now in Prairie township stands like a lone forest tree, the companions of youth long since cut down and many sleeping in forgotten graves. Although now on the shady side of the mountain of life and proceeding onward toward the "twilight and evening bell" and the journey's end he still retains to a remarkable degree many of his faculties and his memory is as keen as in his more vigorous days. On the roll of Bates county's most honored pioneer citizens, the name of J. B. Durand is found among the first.

William A. Searfus, farmer and stockman. Lone Oak township, was born in Vermilion county, Illinois, June 19, 1866. He is a son of Reuben A\\ and Amanda (Darety) Searfus, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Ohio. Reuben Searfus was reared in Ohio and served in the Union army during the Civil War as a member of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted at Camp Denison, Ohio, in 1861 and served for four years in the Federal service. His active career as a soldier in the ranks ended at the battle of Shiloh, where he was severely wounded, and after his wound was healed at the army hospital he was detailed for duty in the commissary department during the remainder of his four years of service. In 1869, he came to Bates county and made a permanent location in Lone Oak township. He purchased a farm of eighty acres from Felix Bonnett and at the time of his death in 1892 he owned one hundred twenty acres. Both he and his wife are buried in Butler cemetery. Reuben Searfus was prominent in the affairs of Lone Oak township and served as a justice of the peace and member of the township board. He helped to organize School District No. 4 in 1871. The first teacher of this school was William Glatfelter, who was also W. A. Searfus' first teacher. Nellie Norton, of Butler, was the second teacher of this school.

After attending the district school in Lone Oak township, William A. Searfus spent three years in St. Louis applying himself to the science of electrical engineering and for a time had charge of the Citizens Electric Light and Power Company. When his father died he returned to the home farm and took charge of the property. Mr. Searfus not only owns the old home place of the family, but has added two hundred acres to his holdings, making three hundred twenty acres in all, which is known as the "Star Stock Farm." Star school house is located on this farm. For the past twelve years he has been a breeder of registered Red Polled cattle and is also a breeder of Chester White hogs, having begun the breeding of the O. L C. hogs three years ago.

In 1891, William A. Searfus and Mattie Frances Adams were united in the bonds of matrimony. Mrs. Mattie Searfus is a daughter of Charles and Martha (Woody) Adams. Her father was a pioneer in Bates county and one of the citizens who selected the site for the court house at Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Searfus have six children : Ethel, wife of J. F. Rogers, living on a farm near Butler, Missouri; Mary, wife of J. G. Burch, Butler, Missouri; Elizabeth, wife of John Deems, Butler, Missouri; Ella, at home with her parents; Sager, and William A., Jr., at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Searfus are members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints of Butler, of which religious denomination Mr. Searfus was ordained a minister in 1914. This church was organized in 1894 and has sixty members at the present time. For many years, he has been prominent in the afTairs of the Republican party and was his party's candidate for representative in 1916. In 1908 he was a candidate for the office of county surveyor and ran ahead of his ticket during the election. He has filled the office of justice of the peace two terms, and has been a member of the township board. For the past twenty years, Mr. Searfus has served as a member of the school board. He served as township committeeman for several years, and was secretary of the Republican central committee in 1910. Mr. Searfus was a candidate for county surveyor in 1912. He is considered to be one of Bates county's ablest and best citizens and is keenly alive to every movement for the betterment of conditions in his home township and county.

John T. Yoss. proprietor of "Shaw Branch Stock Farm" in Rockville township, Bates county, is one of the progressive and prosperous agriculturists and stockmen of western Missouri. Mr. Yoss was born in Rockville township at the Yoss homestead located one and a half miles east of Prairie City, Missouri, a son of John and Susanna (Stutzman) Yoss, the former, a native of Switzerland, born in 1840 and the latter, a native of Switzerland, also. John Yoss came to the United States in 1871 and located in Bates county, Missouri where he settled on a farm in Rockville township. He purchased twenty acres of land at ,the time of his coming to Missouri and constantly added to his original holdings until he had acquired an estate of two hundred seventy-five acres of land. Mr. Yoss was a carpenter by trade and in addition to his farm work followed his trade in order to make his way in the new country. As a paying proposition, farming was in the early days not an alluring vocation and Mr. Yoss at one time sold his hogs for as little as three cents a pound, corn for fifteen cents a bushel. His son, John T., has in his possession the books kept by his father in the early days, books showing his income and expenses which are an interesting record, carefully kept and complete in every detail. Mr. Yoss, Sr. built the first silo in Bates county and it is still standing on the home place, a building made of native lumber and covered with corrugated iron. He was one of the leaders of his community and as such assisted in promoting many public utilities and enterprises. He was one of the organizers of the Prairie City Cheese Company and of the Bates County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company and of the Lutheran church of Prairie City. John Yoss was secretary of the church for forty years and his son. Fred E., has succeeded him in this oliice of the church. John and Susanna (Stutzman) Yoss were the parents of the following children: John T.. the subject of this review; Christian J., a skilled carpenter and shoemaker, who is employed in Appleton City, Missouri; Mary S., the wife of Christian Fuchs, of Bates county, Missouri; Fred E., Prairie Citv, Missouri; Albert H., of Rockville. Mis- souri, now owning eighty acres of home place ; Lena, the wife of August Yorick, of Horton, Missouri ; and Anna K., the wife of Leonard S. Hegnauer. The mother died in 1892. John Yoss was married a second time and to him and Annie (Fuchs) Yoss were born two sons: Reinhold, deceased; and Otto R., of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Yoss died January 10, 1916 and interment was made in the Lutheran cem*etery at Prairie City, where Susanna Yoss, the mother of John T., the subject of this review, was laid to rest.

John T. Yoss attended a parochial school at Prairie City, Missouri first and later was a pupil in the district schools of his home township and educated at home. Mr. Yoss has been interested in agricultural pursuits practically all his life, was born and reared on the farm and has spent his entire life up to the time of this writing engaged in farm work. He is now the owner of a fine farm, comprising two hundred thirty acres of land in Rockville township, a beautiful country place located four miles west of Rockville. The improvements on "Shaw Branch Stock Farm" include a barn, 48 x 66 feet in dimensions, built in 1904, frame of native lumber, having a silo inside of barn. 14 X 30 feet in dimensions, one of the best in Rockville township ; a large stock barn; cribs; and an attractive residence, a house of five rooms rebuilt in 1908. The farm is well watered by two never-failing wells and Shaw branch, which flows through the place. Mr. Yoss is a successful breeder of purebred and high grade Red Polled cattle and at the present time, in 1918, he has twenty head of cattle on the farm in addition to a large herd of mules, Poland China hogs, and a nice flock of Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. He has fourteen dairy cows and has followed the dairy business for eighteen years.

December 21, 1899, John T. Yoss was married to Louise Fischer, a daughter of John and Louise Fischer, of Pleasant Gap township. John and Louise Fischer were both born in Germany, he on March 5, 1840 and she on February 24, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Fischer came from Germany to the United States in 1867 and they located at Collinsville, Illinois, thence to Kansas City, Missouri and in 1873 to Atchison, Kansas, coming thence to Pleasant Gap township. Bates county, about 1877. Mr. Fischer died January 14. 1908 and his widow now makes her home at Prairie City. Mrs. John T. Yoss has the following brothers and sisters living: Carl G., a carpenter of St. Louis, Missouri; John J., a farmer of Rockville, Missouri; Amelia, the wife of Carl L. Bracher; Albert W., of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri; Lizzie, the wife of Joe Fleisher, of Rockville township, Bates county, Missouri; Anna, the wife of Henry Kehnhoff, of Wathena, Kansas; and Emma, the wife of John W. Marquardt, a well-to-do farmer of Prairie township. Bates county, Missouri. To John T. and Louise (Fischer) Yoss have been born five children: Reinhold R., Lydia L., Walter W., John J., and Agnes A.

Mr. Yoss has always manifested a most commendable interest in political and educational matters and has taken an active part in public affairs. He is the present competent and highly respected assessor of Rockville township and has filled the ofhce of constable in a most capable manner. He has been a school director for many years and is one of the deacons of the Lutheran church of Prairie City. In financial matters, Mr. Yoss has been very successful and he is personally esteemed by his neighbors and a host of friends for his countless sterling characteristics and noble qualities of manhood. Rockville township points with pride to families such as the Yoss family and Bates county owes its present supremacy to the class of clear-headed, strong-armed yoemen, of which John T. Yoss is a most creditable representative.

George W. Hart, one of the honored and respected citizens of Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born in Morgan county, Illinois on June 12, 1843, a son of Anderson and Nancy (Spiers) Hart, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Anderson Hart was born in Kentucky but was reared and educated in Tennessee. He was born in 1806 and when nineteen years of age, in 1825, left Tennessee and went to Illinois. He was a veteran of the Black Hawk War of 1832, when the Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk were driven into Wisconsin and captured after a severe battle at Bad Axe. The Black Hawk War was the last Indian struggle on the northwestern frontier until the gold hunters began to invade the Rocky Mountain region more than thirty years afterward. Mr. Hart died in Illinois and his widow departed this life in Bates county, Missouri. The remains of the mother were interred in Cove Creek cemetery, one of the first burial grounds of the county.

In the state of Illinois, George W. Hart was reared and educated and there resided until 1881, when he came to Bates county and purchased a part of his present country place in Mingo township, a farm now comprising two hundred five acres of choice land lying seven miles from Creighton in the northeastern part of the township. Cove creek flows through the place, which is an ideal stock farm. Mr. Hart has, (57) in his more vigorous days, raised much stock, but his son, Otis P., now has charge of his place. The Hart farm is located in Smoky Row School District Number 1. When Mr. Hart came to Bates county thirty-seven years ago, there were three school districts in Mingo township and at the present time there are four. The improvements on the Hart place are in good repair and are neatly kept.

The marriage of George W. Hart and Mary E. Sims, a daughter of Silas and Elizabeth (Russell) Sims, of Illinois, was solemnized in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Sims came to Bates county, Missouri in the eighties and both father and mother are now deceased. Their remains lie interred in Cove Creek cemetery. To George W. and Mary E. (Sims) Hart have been born two children: Oren Kenton, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Otis P., who is in charge of the Hart home place, a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Hart have a host of friends in Bates county and they are numbered among the most valued and esteemed citizens of Mingo township.

John Henry Douglass, an honored and respected member of the noble clan of brave pioneers of Bates county, Missouri of 1848, one of the best known and most prominent citizens of Mingo township, is a native of Clay county, Missouri. Mr. Douglass was born July 25, 1839, a son of Jesse and Sarah A. (McOuiddy) Douglass, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. John Henry Douglass was left fatherless when he was a small boy. His father died at the Douglass homestead near Windsor, Missouri and interment was made in the cemetery at Windsor. The widowed mother remarried, her second husband being Martin Hackler, of Van Buren (now Bates) county and Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Hackler moved to Bates county with their family in 1848 and settled on the farm now owned by J. W\ Middleton, a place located one and one-fourth miles west of Mayesburg. John Henry Douglass has a half-brother. Perry Hackler, whose address is unknown.

In the Civil War, John Henry Douglass was a member of the Paw Paw militia, or Home Guards, of Clinton, Missouri, on the Federal side. He was with Price after the battle at Lexington. After the conflict had ended, Air. Douglass resided for some time at Butler, Missouri, at Clinton, Missouri, and then in Illinois. His stepfather, Martin Hackler, willed to him his present country place, a farm comprising sixty acres of land in Mingo township, and since 1868 he has been engaged in the vocation of farming and stock raising in the vicinity of Mayesburg.

March 9, 1865, John Henry Douglass and Eliza C. Hutchinson were united in marriage. Eliza C. (Hutchinson) Douglass, of Henry county, Missouri, was born in Callaway county, Missouri, a daughter of John R. Hutchinson, one of Missouri's first brave pioneers. To John Henry and Mrs. Douglass were born the following children, who are now living: Mrs. Anna B. Cannon, the wife of C. G. Cannon, of Pomeroy, Washington, who is a brother of Thomas F. Cannon, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Jesse R., Riverside, California; Thomas E., Pomeroy, Washington; William, who resides with his father on the home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri; and James W., of Grandview, W^ashington. The mother died in 1906 and her remains were laid to rest in Mullins cemetery. Mrs. Douglass was one of Bates county's beloved pioneer women, a faithful wife and loving mother, whose presence has been sadly missed from the broken home circle at the Douglass home in Mingo township.

When the Hacklers came to Mingo township. Bates county in 1848, John Henry Douglass was a lad nine years of age, a bright, keen-eyed, impressionable boy, and he recalls much in regard to the conditions of this section of the country in the late forties and early fifties. Johnstown and Dayton, Cass county, were the two nearest trading points. Mr. Hackler and his wife frequently went on horseback to Harrisonville, Missouri to trade. Mr. Douglass remembers the night of the arrival of the family at the new home. A heavy sleet fell during the night and the next morning many limbs of the trees along the creek banks were broken off and the prairies, as far as one could see, looked as if covered with a sheet of glass. Among the early settlers, who lived here prior to the Civil AVar, were Mr. Ashcraft, on Peter creek; Thomas Burris, on Peter creek; Alfred Carnutt, who lived one-half mile west of the Hackler home ; Mr. Cathey, whose residence was north of the Hackler home on Cove creek; and "Uncle Oscar" and Joe Reeder, on Peter creek. Wild game abounded, deer and wild turkeys being found in large numljers. and the red men of the forest frequently passed through this part of the country* especially during the hunting season. There were no public schools in Bates county prior to the Civil War, but "subscription schools" were held and Powell Williams was one of the early day teachers, or "schoolmasters." The school house in Mineo township was a rudely constructed log cabin, located two miles from Hackler's, and half of one end of the log building was a huge fireplace. In the earliest days, preaching was held in the cabin homes of the settlers. Alfred Carnutt had built a two-room log house and as he had a much larger residence than the majority of the pioneers the religious services were most frequently held at his home. Reverend Shoemake, from north of Harrisonville, Missouri, w^as a pioneer "circuit rider" who often preached at Carnutt's and other homes in this vicinity. Thus, in brief, were the primitive institutions in Bates county, Missouri and such were the conditions of the country during the boyhood and early manhood of John Henry Douglass.

Nearly eighty years have dissolved in the mists of the past since John Henry Douglass first saw the light of day, years fraught with momentous consequences, with some of the most stirring events of history, with the greatest and most important progress, perhaps, known to humanity. Mr. Douglass has witnessed the growth and development of Bates county from a wilderness abounding in wild animals and Indians to one of the most progressive sections of the great state of Missouri and he has heartily co-operated with every movement having this object in view. Mr. Douglass' life has been well spent and though far past the allotted span of life he is still active and alert, physically and mentally, and surrounded by a host of friends is spending his declining years in quiet enjoyment of happiness and peace well deserved, looking hopefully into the future which has nothing for him to fear and reminiscently into the past which has much for him to muse upon, loved ones to recall.

George W. Sunderwirth, president of the Prairie City Cheese Company, was born in Gasconade county, at Hermann, Missouri, in 1854, a son of Henry William and Charlotte Sunderwirth, one of the first families of Missouri. Henry William Sunderwirth located in Gasconade county, Missouri, in 1817, coming thence from St. Louis', Missouri. Both Mr. and Mrs. William Sunderwirth died in Gasconade county. The father died in 1865, and his son, George W., was then but a child eleven years of age.

George W. Sunderwirth attended the Methodist College at Warrenton, Missouri, for three years and then was employed as teacher in the public schools of the state for fifteen years. Mr. Sunderwirth came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1882, and has resided at Prairie City for the past thirty-six years. He has been interested in the manufacture of cheese at Prairie City for more than a quarter century and is now successfully demonstrated the fact that Bates county, Missouri, can produce as good cheese as any county in the state or in the United States.

April 9, 1885, George W. Sunderwirth and Ida Schneiter were united in marriage. Ida (Schneiter) Sunderwirth is a native of Switzerland. She was born in the canton of Berne, town Briens, and when an infant came to America with her parents, Melchior and Elizabeth Schneiter, who located at Prairie City, Missouri, in 1870. Mr. Schneiter resided on a farm located east of Prairie City and was engaged in general farming until his death in 1901, at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. Schneiter died in 1902, at the age of sixty years, and both father and mother were laid to rest in the German Reformed cemetery. The former assisted in organizing the first German Reformed church at this place. The cyclone of 1886 blew away the first church building, but another was erected soon afterward. To George W. and Ida Sunderwirth have been born four children : Clara C, who is a graduate of Tarkio College, receiving degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and is now principal of the Winchester High School, Winchester, Kansas ; George A., who is a graduate of Tarkio College in the class of 1916 and is now the well-to-do proprietor of a valuable dairy farm in Bates county, Missouri; Clarence H., who is a graduate of the Butler High School and is now secretary and manager of the Prairie City Cheese Company; and Wil1)ert W., a junior student in the Butler High School.

The Prairie City Cheese Company was organized March 22, 1890, a stock company having a capital stock of eight hundred dollars. The first officers were Judge Fred Fix, president; and George W. Sunderwirth, secretary and treasurer. The company was incorporated March 3, 1904, with a capital stock of two thousand dollars, forty shares of fifty dollars each. Two years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Sunderwirth purchased the interests of the different stockholders and since acquiring the ownership of the factory has installed a refrigerator valued at actual cost three thousand dollars and has placed his son, Clarence H., in charge of the cheese-making department, an experienced cheese-maker, who learned the art under R. A. Murray, who is now located at Adrian, Missouri. This cheese factor}'- did not always have smooth sailing. At one time, the owners paid their cheese-maker thirty dollars when the amount of milk received was valued at twenty-eight dollars. In December, 1917, a DeLaval whey separator was installed at a cost of five hundred dollars and the value of the plant is now approximately ten thousand dollars. Ninety thousand three hundred ninety-nine pounds of cheese v.-ere made in 1917 and sold for twentv-two thousand five hundred dollars. The cheese is made in two styles: the round print, called the "Daisy Cheese," twenty pounds to a cheese; and the square print, ten pounds to a cheese. Orders are daily received by mail from wholesale grocers and packing houses and the demand for the cheese far exceeds the supply. An interesting part of the plant's fixtures is the vats, two in number, having a capacity of seven hundred gallons of milk. One hundred pounds of milk make ten pounds of cheese and the whey is returned to the farmer, who finds it excellent food for his hogs. The refrigerator, previously mentioned, has been a most profitable investment, having made a great saving. The factory is sanitary throughout and kept scrupulously clean and the products have proven their equality by selling at higher prices than do those from the Wisconsin factories. The present officers of the Prairie City Cheese Company are : George W. Sunderwnrth, president ; Ida Sunderwirth, treasurer; and Clarence H. Sunderwirth, secretary and manager. The Sunderwirths deserve much praise and respect for the splendid success which they are making of their most valuable factory. Mr. Sunderwirth has advanced steadily, overcoming a myriad of obstacles and discouraging circumstances, has forged to the front in the business M^orld and now ranks with the most successful and prominent manufacturers of western Missouri. Industrious and energetic, he took advantage of every opportunity that came, his dealings have been honorable, his integrity unquestioned, and his good business judgment and keen discernment have borne legitimate fruitage in the comfortable competence which is now his. The career of George W. Sunderwirth is only additional proof of the old adage that "Fortune is a fickle goddess to be wooed before w^on," and his example may well be emulated by the ambitious young man just beginning life for himself. Mr. Sunderwirth is a valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and Mrs. Sunderwirth are highly respected and consistent members of the Presbyterian church.

William C. Doane, Jr., a former newspaper man, one of the founders of the Joplin "Daily American," a retired attorney-at-law, one of the well-known farmers of Lone Oak township and a successful merchant of "Ada," was born in Lone Oak township, Bates county, Missouri on July 7, 1866, a son of W^illiam C, Sr. and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane. William C. Doane, Sr. was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1844. He emigrated from his native land an came to the United States in 1860, making the journey thence on a sailing vessel which was six months on the way. Mr. Doane, Sr. landed at New Orleans, Louisi- ana and from that city went to St. Louis, Missouri and from St. Louis to the state of Illinois, where he located temporarily at Quincy. He came to Bates county, Missouri from Quincy, Illinois on January 1, 1866 and purchased the tract of land, comprising one hundred twenty acres, upon which his son, Charles W., now resides. Later, Mr. Doane, Sr. increased his holdings by the addition of a forty-acre tract of land. In addition to farming and cattle raising, he made coffins for the need of the pioneers of this part of the country and also followed the trade of gunsmithing, both of which trades he had mastered in England in his youth. To William C, Sr., and Mary E. Doane were born three children, who are now living: William C, Jr., the subject of this review; Charles W^, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, Bates county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume ; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, of Lewiston, Idaho. The mother died at the Doane homestead in Lone Oak township in 1891 and seven years afterward she was united in death with her husband, who died March 19, 1898. The remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. William C. Doane, Sr., were honored and respected among the best families of pioneers who settled in Bates county.