Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 17 of 19)

William C. Doane, Jr., attended the public schools of Lone Oak township. Bates county, and Butler Academy. After leaving school, Mr. Doane, Jr., returned to his father's farm, where he was for several years engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He left the farm to engage in newspaper work at Joplin, Missouri, and for two years was with the Joplin "Daily American" and the "Daily /American," assisting in the founding of the latter paper. From Joplin, Mr. Doane, Jr.. went to Kansas City, Missouri, where for ten years he w^as associated in partnership in the law business with F. M. Knard. The former retired from the firm and returned to the farm in Bates county, Missouri, a place embracing forty-one acres of valuable land, where he now resides, located ten miles southeast of Butler. In connection with his farm work, Mr. Doane, Jr., conducts a general store and he calls the place, "Ada." His place is on Rural Route 5 from Rich Hill, Missouri.

W. C. Doane, Jr., was married March 16, 1918, to Anna V. Stanbury, a native of Missouri, reared near Stillwell. Johnson county, Kansas. By a former marriage to Maggie E. Shuster, of Lone Oak township. Bates county, Mr. Doane has three children: Charles McKinley, fireman with the "Frisco" railroad, Kansas City, Missouri ; William H., who enlisted in the Fourteenth United States Cavalry, April, 1915, and is now a corporal stationed at Valverde county, Texas; and Edgar D., a grocer, Kansas City, Missouri.

Thomas F. Cannon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mingo township, a former well-known hotel keeper of Urich, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cannon was born January 28, 1861, in Pike county, a son of Cornelius and Lydia Cannon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Alabama. The Cannons came to Missouri in 1878 and settled on a tract of land, comprising eighty acres now owned by the son, Thomas F., the subject of this review, a farm located in Mingo township which place they purchased for fourteen hundred dollars. Thomas F. Cannon is one of five living children born to his parents, the other children being, as follow: C. G., of Pomeroy, Washington; Mrs. Sarah Amanda Scranton, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Kizzie Billings, Urich, Missouri; and Mrs. Louisa Williamson, Nebo, Pike county, Illinois.

For nearly five years, Thomas F. Cannon was engaged in the hotel business at Urich, Missouri. He left this state and for two years was a resident of Oklahoma. On his return to Missouri, he settled on the Cannon home place in Mingo township and has spent the remainder of his life to the time of this writing in 1918 engaged in the pursuits of farming and stock raising in Mingo township. Bates county. Mr. Cannon has increased the original holdings of the Cannons and his farm now embraces one hundred twenty acres of valuable ^Jand, a splendid country place, neatly kept and most attractive in appearance. The residence and farm buildings are situated on an eminence overlooking the farm and Cove creek, which flows past the farm on the

October 31, 1884, Thomas F. Cannon was united in marriage with Jennie L. Carney, a daughter of J. and Margaret Carney, of Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Carney died in 1911 and her remains were laid to rest in White Oak cemetery. Mr. Carney resides at the present time in Henry county, Missouri.

Mr. Cannon states that he is related - politically - to Joseph G. Cannon. ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives. Thomas F. Cannon is one of the committeemen of the Republican party in Mingo township, at the time of this writing. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon are among the representative citizens of Bates county.

The following, relative to the early history of Mayesburg, Bates county. Missouri, has been contributed by Mr. Cannon and will undoubtedly be of interest to the older readers of this volume. He states that J. M. Mayes and L. O. Carlton were the first merchants at Mayesburg, beginning business at this place in 1879. Their establishment was known as Mayes & Carlton. Later, the firm dissolved partnership and L. O. Carlton erected a new store building and entered the mercantile business independently. Poage & West erected a drug store building and "Nick" Miller built a hardware store building at about the same time, the former establishment afterward burning to the ground. At the high tide of its prosperity, Mayesburg boasted two general stores, a hardware store, a confectionery, two blacksmith shops, a millinery store, and a postofiice. L. O. Carlton was the first postmaster. Residents of Mayesburg now receive mail on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri.

Clyde C. Owens, proprietor of a general store at Mayesburg, is one of Mingo township's progressive "hustlers." Mr. Owens is a native of Henry county, Missouri. He was born October 9, 1885, a son of Thomas and Allie (Showman) Owens, both of whom are natives of Ohio. Thomas Ow^ens is a member of one of the sturdy and sterling pioneer families of Missouri. He came to this state when he was a very small boy with his parents, who settled on a farm near Urich. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Owens still reside at Urich, Missouri, the former, now at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Owens is sixteen years the junior of her husband. They are the parents of four children, who are now living: Ada, the wife of Lon Ray, of Butler, Missouri; Kate, the wife of Arthur Scholl, of Wellsville, Kansas; Gladys, the wife of Fred Hillebrant, of Windsor, Missouri; and Clyde C, the subject of this review.

Clyde C. Owens attended school at Hickory Grove school house, at Lucas, and at Urich, Missouri. He w^as reared on a farm, but he began life for himself as a clerk in the employ of AV. B. Morlan, at Urich. Missouri. Mr. Owens was later employed by H. Harvey, at Urich, Missouri. In 1915. the former purchased the Walter Gilbert general store at Mayesburg and for the past three years has been conducting this mercantile establishment, continuing the business established and doubling the trade. He carries a general line of merchandise, hauling the goods from Urich, nine miles away. Mr. Owens' store is a widely-known market for country produce and as he pays as good prices as are paid at railroad points. He enjoys a most liberal patronage. He is located on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri. Besides the store, Mr. Owens is the owner of his residence.

February 15, 1912, Clyde C. Owens was married to Jessie Goodacre, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Goodacre, of Bolivar, IMissouri. Both parents of Mrs. Owens are now deceased. She is a native of the state of Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens has been born one child, a daughter, Eunice Elizabeth. The Owens family is widely known in Bates county and no citizens in Mingo township stand higher in the public estimation than do Mr. and Mrs. Clyde C. Owens. Mr. Owens is a young man of unimpeachable honesty and integrity and he takes a comprehensive view of local affairs and is quick to respond to the calls made for aid in promoting the welfare and prosperity of the community in which he lives.

George Gench, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Hudson township, is one of Bates county's best citizens. Mr. Gench was born in McLean county, Illinois, on January 9, 1860, a son of Frederick and Mary (Brauer) Gench, both of whom were born in Saxony, Germany. Frederick Gench located in the state of Illinois, when he was a young man, and there resided ten or twelve years when he came thence to Bates county, Missouri, and settled in Prairie township on a tract of land purchased from the Bradley brothers for ten dollars an acre, one hundred twenty acres of prairie land. He split the rails with which to fence his farm and built a rude house of tv^'o rooms constructed of roughly-hewed timber. Later, Mr. Gench built a comfortable frame residence on his place. Pleasant Hill was the nearest railroad center at that time. Frederick Gench was deeply interested in educational matters and for many years served as a member of the school board in his district. To Frederick and Mary Gench were born the following children: John, of the firm of Gench Brothers of Rich Hill, Missouri; Mary Ann, the wife of Edward Keller, of Appleton City, Missouri; George, the subject of this review; Lizzie, the wife of Henry Grob, of the state of Washington; Lon and Frank, twins, the former, in the hardware business at Butler, Missouri, and the latter, in the Peoples Bank at Butler, Missouri ;and Carl, wdio is engaged in fruit and truck growing in the state of Florida. The father died in 1884 and the mother joined him in death in 1907. In the early history of Bates county, the name Gench stood as it stands today, the synonym of honor and no citizens were held in higher regard than were Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Gench.

In the public schools, the "cipher" schools, and the mission schools of Bates county, Missouri, George Gench obtained his education. Upon leaving school, he engaged in farming on the home place until he was eighteen years of age. He then left Missouri and went to Kansas, where he located in Leavenworth county for two years. Returning to Bates county, Missouri, he again engaged in agricultural pursuits and in 1887 purchased his present country place, a farm comprising eighty acres of land partly improved at the time of his purchase. All the improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gench, including a residence, a house of eight rooms built in 1905 ; a barn, 48 X 60 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, used for stock and feed; a silo, having a capacity of one hundred ten tons; and other necessary farm buildings needed to facilitate the handling of stock and grain. Mr. Gench raises brown Swiss dairy cattle, the herd headed by a registered male, and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has twelve milch cows. He is also interested in Duroc Jersey hogs, but has only a few on the place at this time.

The marriage of George Gench and Caroline Hammer was solemnized November 27, 1884. Caroline (Hammer) Gench is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Hammer. Mrs. Gench's mother died when the former was an infant and the little girl was reared by her stepmother, Mary (Grob) Hammer. Anton Hammer first married a sister of Mrs. Gench's mother and to the first union was born a son, Fred, who resides in Pleasant Gap township. The other children of Anton Hammer are as follow: Emma, the wife of Gottlieb Hirschi. of Rockville. Missouri; Louisa, the wife of Fred Drawe, of Rockville. Missouri; Louis, of Olds, Alberta, Canada; Willie, a truck farmer in Florida; and John, of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. George Gench are the parents of eight children: Lewis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson township. Bates county, Missouri; Agnes, the wife of Eldo Hirni, of Visalia, California; Gertie, the wife of Albert Hirni, of -Rockville, Missouri; Martha, the wife of Carl Bartz, of Pleasant Gap .township. Bates county, Missouri; Frances, Edith, Eva, and Orville, at home with their parents.

Mr. Gench affiliates with the Republican party and for the pa.st eight years he has been the justice of peace of Hudson township. He is a quiet, unobtrusive citizen, yet a man long considered one of the substantial, progressive agriculturists of the county.

William E. Walton. - The high position in the citizenship" of Bates county which is held by William E. Walton, founder of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, has been honorably and honestly won. His long career extending over a period, of forty-seven years in Bates county has been marked by a regard for the well being of his fellowmen and a heartfelt desir'e to advance the interests of his adopted community, which has not been excelled by any individual in Bates county. Mr. Walton's success as a financier has been such as to place him in the front ranks of banking men of Missouri. His course in dealing with the people, who placed trust in him, has been of such an open nature and so honorable as to cause them to always have implicit confidence in his word. On the other hand, there are scores of citizens in Bates county, now prosperous, who have good and just reasons to be immeasurably thankful for his kindness in times of stress and his assistance in times of need. Mr. Walton, while amassing a competency by strictly honorable dealings, has endeared himself to the mass of Bates county citizens as no other one man has done. Coming to this county a young man of ambition, integrity, and industrious habits, when the development of the county was practically in its infancy, he has played a very prominent part in the great work of bringing Bates county to the very forefront of Missouri counties and no name enrolled in the citizenship of this county is held in greater esteem than his.

W^illiam E. Walton was born August 31, 1842, on a farm in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of William P. and Louisa (Turley) Walton. His father, a native of Virginia, came to Missouri from his native state in 1837. He was married in this state to Louisa Turlev, a daughter of Samuel Turley, a native of Kentucky, who moved from Madison county, Kentucky, to Cooper county, Missouri, in 1813. He was one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers and came here in a day when the country was wild and sparsely settled and the red men were still disputing the right of the invading white settlers to occupy what had for untold years been their camping and hunting grounds. Samuel Turley entered land from the government, improved it for his permanent habitation, and resided thereon for a period of fifty years. Jesse B. Turley, brother of Samuel Turley was, for over thirty years a Santa Fe trader and w^as well acquainted with many of the noted frontier characters of the early days. He wrote the "Life of Kit Carson" and was intimately acquainted with the famous hunter and scout who lived for a time with the Turley family. Benjamin T. Walton, an uncle of William E. Walton, served

Mr. Walton was reared and educated in Cooper county, attending the old-time "subscription schools," whereby each parent paid one dollar per pupil per month. There were eleven children in the Walton family, the following of whom are now living, all reared in a log cabin: William E., subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Marshall, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; James W., Salt Lake City. Utah; Mrs. Florence Hoops, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Virginia Chamberlin, Los Angeles, California ; Mrs. Lutie Williams, Los Angeles; and Mrs. Nellie Stoddard, Los Angeles, California.

William E. Walton came to Bates county, and located in Butler in 1870. His first work on coming here w^as to make or write up complete abstracts of title to all land and town lots in Bates county, making probably the first complete set of abstracts ever made in Bates county. Mr. Walton became the local representative of Eastern firms, who loaned large sums through him to Bates county land owners, and he has had more experience in loaning money on farm lands than any other person in this section of Missouri. In those days, money was an absolute necessity and an essential to the development of the county. The incoming settlers were mostly men from the older states and more settled communities, where land had advanced in price, and young men came here where lands were cheap in order to get a start. Through Mr. Walton, they obtained financial backing with which to carry on their farming operations and develop their land. Mr. Walton and the Walton Trust Company have loaned millions of dollars upon Missouri farm lands and afterward sold the farm mortgages to hundreds of Life Insurance Companies, Savings Banks, and individual investors throughout the country. It is a fact that they never allowed any mortgage buyer to lose a dollar of principal or pay any of the contingent expenses connected with the transactions. On the other hand, Mr. Walton always protected the land-owner who borrowed the money and gave assistance to the mortgagee to the limit of his ability and never allowed a mortgage to be foreclosed if it were within his power to prevent it by giving counsel, encouragement and further needed assistance to the struggling farmer. Many well-to-do farmers of this section have good reasons to bless his kindly interest and his encouragement to them to do their best.

was organized by him in 1880. For a period of thirty-seven years, he was connected with this bank in the capacity of cashier and president. In 1891, he organized the Walton Trust Company of Butler, one of the most important and strongest institutions of its kind in this part of Missouri. He served as president of this concern for twenty-one years. The Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company are vertiable monuments to his enterprise and financial ability and are of such rockribbed stability and built upon a standard policy of fair dealing and integrity that they bid fair to endure as long as the civic state exists. Mr. Walton is now a stockholder and a director of the Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company, but at his own request, he retired from the presidency on January 1, 1917.

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Walton and, in 1874, he was elected county clerk of the county and served for a period of four years. Aside from taking a good citizen's interest in local, state and national politics he has never aspired for prominence in political afTairs. For over forty years he has been a member of the Christian church of Butler and takes a great interest in church and religious matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Butler Lodge No. 180. Mr. Walton is deeply interested in history, especially if it relates to his home state and section, and he has served two terms as president of the Old Settlers' Society of Bates County.

Personally, Mr. W^alton is an approachable, genial, kindly and accommodating gentleman and is upon most friendly terms with the majority of Bates county citizens. His life work has been creative and productive and his aim in life has been to assist to the extent of his power in the right development of the resources of his home county. In this endeavor, he has succeeded and his name in this history of Bates county is one of the most honored - his rightful place in the history of his home community has been won and he is valued to such an extent a sto place him in the forefront of the Bates county citizenry.

J. Emmett Hook, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson township, president of the Bank of Rockville, is a member of one of the old, pioneer families of western Missouri. He is a native son of Bates county who has grown up and progressed with his home county, and has taken a prominent and active part in the development of this county since early young manhood. Mr. Hook was born at the Hook homestead March 23, 1869, and has lived all of his life on the farm which he now owns in Hudson township. He is a son of the late James S. Hook, one of the most prominent of the early pioneers of Bates county.

James S. Hook was born in Alleghany county, Virginia, May 31, 1814, and was a son of Stephen Hook, a native of Maryland, who fought in the War of the American Revolution. Stephen Hook moved with his parents to 'Virginia and there grew to manhood and married Miss Sally Hansberger, a native of Virginia. James S. Hook was reared to young manhood on the parental farm in Virginia and came West in the year 1840, first locating in Monroe county, Missouri. He raised but one crop in that county and in 1841 came to Bates county, where he entered land and improved the farm upon which his son now resides. Mr. Hook entered four hundred eighty acres of land but accumulated a total of nine hundred acres, which became one of the best-improved tracts in Bates county. The original papers granting James S. Hook title to the land and signed by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan are still in possession of J. Emmett Hook. When Mr. Hook first came to Bates county he earned his living by hewing logs near Johnstown for a wage of thirtyfive cents per day.

James S. Hook took an active part in building operations and assisted in the erection of four court houses in Bates county. An incident of Civil War times is recalled by the scrip paid by General Price to Mr. Hook for seventy head of cattle which the Confederate conimander commandeered when the troops were camping on the Hook farm. This scrip, of course, was never redeemed and is still held bv the son, J. Emmett. In 1891, the father turned over the active management of the farm to his son, and lived in quiet retirement for the remainder of his life, his death occurring on November 5, 1905. During his long life he took an active and influential part in political matters and was prominent in Masonic circles.

On December 28, 1846. he was married in Hudson township to Miss Rebecca Hornsinger, daughter of Jacob Hornsinger, one of the pioneers of Bates county. Mrs. Rebecca (Hornsinger) Hook was born in Boone county, but came to Bates county with her parents when but two years of age. Ten children were born to this marriage, of whom J. Emmett is the youngest.

received his primary education in the public schools of Bates county and his higher learning in the Northwestern Normal School at Stanberry, from which school he graduated. After finishing his normal course he returned home and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm. In 1891, his father laid aside the duties of the farm, and since that time the son has had entire charge of the place. He has followed in his father's footsteps as a successful tiller of the soil and stockman and has made a pronounced success in the oldest of honorable vocations. Mr. Hook is thorough in his methods of agriculture and has succeeded in becoming prosperous on his own account as well as assisting materially in the development of his section of the state of Missouri along advanced lines. He has other financial interests besides his farm lands and is president of the Bank of Rockville, Missouri.

On November 29, 1891, Mr. Hook was married to Miss Elizabeth Scott, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, June 20, 1869. She was a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Johnson) Scott. Mrs. Elizabeth Hook departed this life February 5, 1896. Mr. Hook was again married on January 1, 1905, to Miss Lena Argenbright, and to this marriage have been born two sons, Howard A. and Joseph Emmett. Mrs. Lena Hook was born in Bates county, June 17, 1874, a daughter of Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, who were parents of eight children. Preston Argenbright was born near Staunton, Virginia, October 16, 1838. Mrs. Rebecca Argenbright was born in Tennessee, November 23, 1841. During the Civil War times, Mr. Argenbright was a member of the Missouri State Militia and served as justice of the peace.

Mr. Hook has always been aligned with the Democratic party, and is usually interested in the welfare of his party. He has served the people in several minor offices and generally takes an active and influential interest in local civic affairs. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Order, in which he belongs to Rockville Lodge No. 341, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; the Appleton City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of Butler Lodge No. 958, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Maccabees of Rockville. Mr. Hook is known as a progressive and enterprising citizen who is ever ready to assist worthy local enterprises of a meritorious character. He is popular, well liked, and highly esteemed by all who know him.

Jerome T. Donnohue, a well-known and successful young agriculturist and stockman of Hudson township, is a member of one of the highly respected pioneer families of Bates county. He was born on the farm where he now resides, a son of Daniel and Anna (Wilson) Donnohue, the former, a native of Missouri and the latter, of Virginia. The Donnohues settled in Hudson township in the late sixties on a farm located one-half mile southwest of Hudson, which was then quite a village with a store, a postoffice, and a doctor. Daniel Donnohue owned one hundred eighty acres of land in Hudson township, a farm which he spent the greater part of his life in improving and where he died in 1909. Mrs. Donnohue, the widowed mother of Jerome T., the subject of this review, resides at Appleton City, Missouri.

In the public schools of Hudson township, Bates county, Missouri, Jerome T. Donnohue obtained his elementary .education. He is a graduate of Appleton City High School, Appleton City, in the class, of 1907. After completing the high school course, Mr. Donnohue returned to the home place, a part of which he now owns, and has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. For the past two years he has been handling graded sheep and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has a herd of forty-five on the farm. Mr. Donnohue raises high-grade Duroc Jersey hogs. Shorthorn, cattle, and good mares and mules. The past autumn, he planted thirty-five acres of the place in wheat. The Donnohue farm comprises one hundred sixty-eight acres of land, a large portion of wdiich is devoted to pasture.

In 1912, Jerome T. Donnohue and Minnie Deller, of Hudson township, a daughter of Henry and Agnes Deller, residents of St. Clair county, Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union have been born three sons: v'ern, Harry, and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Donnohue stand high in their community and are respected by all who know them as young citizens of genuine worth. Mr. Donnohue is a stanch believer in the efficacy of hard, continued labor and he has probably done more difficult manual work than any other man of his years in the township. He is a gentleman of much public spirit, progressive ideas, and enterprise and he is deeply interested in the. advancement of his township and county. He is numbered among the excellent citizens of Hudson township and Bates county, as was his father before him.

E. M. Capps, of the Capps Realty Company of Rich Hill, Missouri, is one of the leading and most successful citizens of Bates county. Mr. Capps is a native of Camden county, Missouri. He was born in (58)

1876, a son of John W. and Mary E. (Vance) Capps, who are now residents of Putnam county, Missouri. They are the parents of four sons and one daughter, who are now living, as follow: E. M., the subject of this review; S. E., of Kirksville, Missouri, the civil engineer of Adair county; G. H., of Worthington, Missouri, the foreman of the steel bridge construction "gang" of Burlington; A. B., a conductor employed on a street railway at Davenport, Iowa; and Minnie, the wife of G. E. Robbins, of Davenport, Iowa.

Mr. Capps, whose name introduces this sketch, received his elementary education in the public schools of Schuyler county, Missouri. He is a graduate of the Glenwood High School, Glenwood, Missouri. After completing the high school course, Mr. Capps entered the general mercantile business at Worthington, Missouri, and was thus engaged for five years. While at Worthington, he became interested in the real estate business, trading his property in this place for a farm near Parsons, Labette county, Kansas. He moved to Parsons, Kansas, but not on his farm, which he soon afterward traded for a grocery store at Webb City, Missouri, an establishment which he conducted for four months, when he traded it for property in Rich Hill, Missouri. E. M. Capps is still the owner of a mercantile establishment in this city. l\vo years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Capps established his real estate business at Rich Hill, a business for which he had from experience found himself well adapted, and he opened his present office in the Benedict building. The Capps Realty Company is one of the most aggressive and successful in this county and the amount of business done annually has far exceeded the expectations of E. M. Capps. He sells farm lands, city properties, stocks of goods, and, in addition, writes insurance policies and makes farm loans. He states that within the last eight months farm land has advanced fifteen per cent, in value. Mr. Capps also has the agency for the Chevrolet and the Grant Six cars in partnership with his brother-in-law, F. E. Berry, and the firm is enjoying an excellent business, having sold ten Grant Six cars in the six weeks of the opening season and at the present rate of sale Capps & Berry hope to sell seventy-five to eighty Chevrolets this year of 1918.

The marriage of E. M. Capps and Pearl N. Barnes, a daughter of E. T. and Mary (Dyer) Barnes, of Queen City, Missouri, iwas solemnized February 28, 1900. To this union have been born two daughters: Cleta and lone. Mr. and Mrs. Capps are well known and

J. P. Herrmann, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, a member of one of Bates county's pioneer families, and justice of the peace of Shawnee township, is a native of Monroe county, Illinois. Mr. Herrmann was born September 29, 1866, a son of John A. and Barbara Herrmann. The Herrmanns settled in this county on the farm in Shawnee township, where Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herrmann still reside and have lived for forty-nine years, in 1869. August Herrmann, the paternal grandfather of J. P. Herrmann, came to Bates county, Missouri, a few years later and in this county died. His remains are interred in a cemetery in Shawnee township, located near the Herrmann homestead. Mrs. Herrmann, wife of August Herrmann, died at Waterloo, Iowa, and interment was made at Burksville, Illinois. To John A. and Barbara Herrmann have been born seven children, who are now living: Anna, the wife of Theodore Marqueardt, of Independence, Kansas; August B., Jacksonville, Illinois; Elizabeth, the wife of John Deerwester, of Shawnee township; J. P., the subject of this review; Maggie A., the wife of William Hart, of Clinton, Missouri ; Lula, at home with her parents; and John A., Jr., a prominent merchant at Culver, Missouri. The Herrmann family has long been numbered among the best and most substantial families of western Missouri.

In the public schools of Shawnee township. District 48, in the first school house erected there in 1872, J. P. Herrmann obtained his education. His first instructor was Miss Sarah Reynolds, who is now Mrs. Sarah (Reynolds) Schantz. Mr. Herrmann remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-seven years of age and then moved to his present country place. He began with a tract of land, embracing eighty acres, cultivated but unimproved, and is now owner of two hundred forty acres of choice land in Shawnee township, a splendidly improved, abundantly, watered, well-located farm.

In 1895, J. P. Herrmann and Henrietta Filgus, a daughter of August and Henrietta (Erscamp) Filgus, were united in marriage. Mrs. Filgus died in Bates county in 1902 and interment was made in the cemetery at the Reformed church of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Filgus now makes his home at Prairie City. To J. P. and Henrietta (Filgus) Herrmann have been born the following children : Guy Anderson, Kansas City, Missouri; Carl Adam, Kansas City, Missouri; Lena May and Herbert Hadlev, both at home with their parents.

There are two sets of improvements on the Herrmann farm in Shawnee township, including a beautiful residence, a seven-room structure, 46 X 30 feet, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1910; a barn, 4+ x 56 feet, for cattle, with a silo, 14 x 32 feet of one hundred tons capacity; a second barn, 44 x 36 feet, for horses, having a concrete floor; a comfortable tenant residence; and a third barn, 32 x 36 feet. Mr. Herrmann has on his farm, at the time of this writing, in 1918, thirty head of high-grade cattle, in addition to large herds of horses and hogs.

Mr. Herrmann has been justice of the peace of Shawnee township and a member of the township board for many years. He was a candidate for county judge on the Republican ticket in the election of 1904 and made a very creditable race. Mr. Herrmann takes a broad view of life and keeps himself well-informed relative to public and political affairs and he has long been numbered among the public spirited citizens of Bates county.

Col. John Ewing Holcomb, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, came with his family to Butler, Missouri, in the fall of 1869. His sons, Phineas H. Holcomb, and Anselm T. Holcoml:), both attorneys of Bates county, had preceded him. He bought a small tract of land, on Pine street, on the knoll, this side of Oak Hill cemetery. He built a very handsome and comfortable home there and at once took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the county. His family, his wife, and his children : P. H., A. T., Eliza, Sarah H.. Charles, and Sumner, were most highly estimated. Mr. Holcomb lived in Butler until about 1886, when he temporarily moved with his sons, Charles and Sumner, to Greenwood county, Kansas, and bought there a small farm, which he owned at the time of his death. He bought lands in Hudson and Osage townships and built two or three houses in the east side of Butler. He was assistant postmaster in Butler from 1873 to 1876. He was a Master Mason, and, with Dr. Lyman Hall and Charles M. Peck, established the present chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Butler. In his latter years he was greatly afflicted with rheumatism and heart trouble. Mr. Holcomb was a man of wide and extensive information. He was a good story-teller and an engaging conversationalist and always a Republican in politics. AMiile Mr. Holcomb never affiliated with any church, his life was so pure, honorable, and stainless that he enjoyed the highest esteem of all his neighbors and acquaintances and the general public.

Colonel John Ewing Holcomb

"Colonel John E. Holcomb was born in Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio, on August 16, 1817, and died at his home in Butler, Bates county, Missouri, August 30, 1889, in the seventy-third year of his age. On September 12, 1838, he was married to Miss Mary Matthews, daughter of Captain Phineas Matthews, by whom he had eight children, five boys and three girls. One son and one daughter have passed on before him. An aged widow, four sons and two daughters survive him to mourn their irreparable loss, all of whom he saw happily situated in life. Mr. Holcomb resided in Vinton till the fall of 1869, when he moved with his family to Butler, Missouri. He was the third son of General Samuel R. Holcomb and brother of the late General A'. T. Holcomb, and Hon. E. T. Holcomb, of Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio.

"Colonel Holcomb held many positions of trust and honor while he resided in Gallia county, among which was that of United States marshal, during the war; justice of the peace for many years; postmaster; clerk in the house of representatives, etc. He was engaged in the mercantile business for many years, and was trusted and honored by all with whom he came in contact. He loved the just and true. With a willing hand, he gave alms and with an honest heart and faithful hand he discharged all and every public and private trust. * * * '^j^ honest man - the noblest work of God.' "

The "Gallia Tribune," Gallipolis, Ohio, says: "He was a son of the late General Samuel R. Holcomb; lived at Vinton, in this county, until about twenty years ago, when he removed to Missouri. He was provost marshal during the Rebellion and was a man fearless in the discharge of his duty. His convictions were of the strongest ; he was a man of the kindest of hearts ;

"No man ever lived in Gallia county, Ohio, whose word was more a synonvm for truth than his. No man had keener sense of personal honor; and no man can point to an action of his that was not of the truest and purest kind. His heart was as big as the world, and in it was a world of love and charity."

The "Bates County Democrat" says: "No citizen of Bates county was ever more highly esteemed than John E. Holcomb. He was straightforward, upright, honorable, and just in all his dealings with men. At home in the midst of his family he w^as kind, affectionate and consider- ate, ever solicitous of the welfare and happiness of his loved ones there. To his family he leaves the legacy of a noble and well-spent life, upon which they may look back with unconcealed pride. To the world, the example of a good man."

His wife, Mary Matthews Holcomb, after her husband's death, remained in Bates county until her death, December 15, 1894. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eliza S. Wilcox, of Passaic, this county, aged nearly seventy-seven years. She retained, in a marked degree, all her excellent faculties to the last moment. She was a member of a very prominent family in southern Ohio and was from youth distinguished for her kind, gentle, and amiable disposition. She was an Universalist in her religion.

The oldest son, Phineas H. Holcomb, came to Bates county in 1869 and died in Butler, January 27, 1917, at the age of seventy-six years. He was an excellent lawyer and a citizen of the highest type. His second son, Anselm T. Holcomb, was admitted to practice law in 1868, in Butler, and practiced in Bates county till the fall of 1878, when he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he still resides, and in his seventy-third year is still engaged in the practice of law. He has always been a taxpayer in Bates county and owns a farm of three hundred fourteen acres near Foster. He has been highly honored by official positions, and is regarded as a successful business man. His daughter. Eliza S., married Richard Wilcox, who lived at Passaic. Mrs. Wilcox, now a widow, owns a fine farm near that village. Sarah IT., his second daughter, married Captain John C. Bybee and lives with her husliand and daughter at Kansas City, Kansas. Charles M. Holcomb. so well known to the older citizens of Butler, moved to Kansas in 1885 and died at Buffalo, Wilson county, Kansas, in April, 1917, loved, honored, and respected. His wife. Belle Morgan, and six children survive him. Sumner C. Holcomb, born January 7, 1857, was admitted to the bar at Butler about 1881, engaged in the practice of law in Butler until 1886, when he removed to Woodson county, Kansas. He has been five times elected prosecuting attorney of Woodson county. Tic married Margaret Trueman, and has two children; Lydia Grace and Sumner C, Jr. He is a highly esteemed and prosperous citizen of Yates Center, Kansas.

In 1873, Amos J. Hughes moved from Pettis county to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a tract of land located in Spruce township one mile west of his present country place. Mr. Hughes purchased at that time forty acres of land for fifteen dollars an acre. He has since increased his holdings and is now owner of one hundred twenty-eight acres of land in Spruce township, a well-improved farm and nicely situated. The improvements on the Hughes place include a comfortable residence, a structure of one and a half stories ,and a good barn, 32 x 40 feet in dimensions. Mr. Hughes is interested in general farming. \\'hen he came to Bates county, in 1873, Mr. Hughes was owner of a team of horses and a cow. There was a small, rudely-built house on the forty-acre tract of land which he purchased from William Tyler, who now resides at Butler, and this was the Hughes home for many years until better, happier days dawned. In the autumn of the year of 1873, the blue-grass was so tall that a man on horseback might easily hide in it. Mr. Hughes remembers the drouth of the summer of 1874, when from June 11 until the spring of 1875 there was no rainfall, for he was obliged during that time to haul water from four miles away in order to keep his family and his stock alive. He relates an interesting incident in his life, which most strikingly illustrates the conditions under which traveling was done in Missouri in 1875. Mr. Hughes started on horseback from Clinton, Missouri, for his home in Spruce township. He traveled through two miles of water in Big creek, passed Old Urich in Henry county and Old Dayton in Cass county, crossed the Grand river, south of Dayton where the bridge now is, and was lost, utterly lost. Mr. Hughes traveled on and on and on, and in one instance was obliged to make an opening in a fence in order to get through, to get out of a field into which he had gone he never knew how, and at last gave his horse the rein and the animal found the way home. They were both completely worn out for they had gone from eighty to one hundred miles that day.

The marriage of Amos J. Hughes and Mary J. Moore was solemnized in 1869 in Pettis county, Missouri. To this union have been born four children, who are now living: Lillie R., the wife of Elijah Dark; Lulu Frances, the wife of John Greer, of Butler, Missouri; Daisy, the wife of Albert Swartz, of Adrian, Missouri ; and Mary A., the wife of Thomas

Powers, of Lanton, Howell comity, Missouri. Mr. Hughes has the following- brothers and sister living: Pleasant S., Amsterdam, Missouri; George \\ . ; and Mrs. Sallie Sharp, of Vcvnon county, Missouri.

Amos J. Hughes has been an eye-witness of the development and advancement of this great commonwealth and in his own quiet, unassuming way has been a potential factor in contributing to the prosperity and upbuilding of the community in which he resides.

George Hertz, proprietor of "Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Hertz is a native of Iowa. He was born November 21, 1867, in Johnson county, a son of Henry and Florentine Hertz. The father is now deceased and the mother still makes her home at the Hertz homestead in Iowa. Mrs. Florentine Hertz celebrated her eighty-fourth birthday on December 28, 1917. She is one of the beloved pioneer women of Johnson county, Iowa, where she and her husband settled in the earliest days and improved a splendid farm.

George Hertz, obtained his education in the public schools of Johnson county, Iowa, was engaged in raising Percheron and Belgian draft horses there prior to coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1904. About six years ago, Mr. Hertz began raising Hereford cattle and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has on the farm in Mount Pleasant township eighteen head of high-grade animals. Last year, 1917, Mr. Hertz also began the breeding of big-bone Spotted Poland China hogs. He is an enthusiastic advocate of pure-bred stock, for he states that it costs no more to raise a good animal than it does to raise a "scrub."

The marriage of George Hertz and Rose Leuenberger was solemnized September 28, 1898. To this union were born two children: Harold and Esther. Mrs. Hertz, the mother of the children, is deceased. Mr. Hertz remarried, November 22, 1916, his second wife being Myra Ethel Eaton, a daughter of Herbert and Marian Rosalie Eaton, of Johnson county, Iowa.

"Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township comprises one hundred forty acres of land, well watered by Mound l^ranch and cwo wells wdiich have never been known to have been dry. This farm lies one and three-fourths miles northeast of Butler and is one of the nicely improved country places of Bates county. The residence is a two-story structure of nine rooms and there are two well-constructed barns on the farm. Mrs. Flertz has complete charge of the poultry on ''Shady Brook Stock Farm" and she is making a name for herself as an exceptionally successful producer of pure-bred Plymouth Rock chickens and Toulouse geese and at the present time she has a Hock of one hundred twenty-five fine birds.

Mr. and Mrs. Hertz are comparatively newcomers in Bates county, but both possess to a marked degree the happy faculty of making and retaining friends and they have now countless warm personal friends in this part of the state. George Hertz is a man of industry and excellent judgment and one of Bates county's progressive citizens.

J. W. Moles, farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, September 17, 1868, the son of G. W. and Mary (Tabor) Moles, the former of whom was born in 1840 in Missouri, but returned to Kentucky with his parents and remained in that state until 1866. In that year G. W. Moles made his home in Jackson county, and after a residence of some years in that county he located in the northern part of Bates county. He now lives in Adrian. Mrs. Mary (Tal)or) Moles was born at Crescent Hill, Missouri, in 1841, and died in 1916. They were parents of children as follow: Mrs. John Allen, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. William Poindexter, deceased; A. N. Moles, Mound township, Bates county; J. W. Moles, of this review; A. D., Adrian; EfTie, at home with her father; Mrs. Marian Roberts, Adrian.

J. W. Moles received his schooling at Altona and Old Index in Bates and Cass counties. At the age of twenty years he began to make his ov\m way in the world. He began farming on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township near Butler. He purchased his first farm in 1895 of Frank Pickett, a tract consisting of eighty acres located seven miles southeast of Adrian in Shawnee township. Mr. Moles has improved this farm with good buildings, trees, a well and other improvements. Pie rebuilt the residence in 1902. The barn was erected in 1901. Mr. Moles raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. Forty acres of the farm are sown to wheat and forty acres are in grass at the present time.

On February 15, 1893, J. W. Moles and. Miss Mellie Sloan were united in marriage. Mrs. Moles was l)orn in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Z. B. and A. (Duesman) Sloan, the former of whom was born in 1845 and the latter in 1851. The Sloans came to Bates county, Missouri, in about 1883 and Mr. Sloan died at the Soldiers' Home, Leavenworth, Kansas, in August, 1915. Having been a veteran of the Civil War, he made his home at Leavenworth in his extreme old age under the care of the United States Government. Mrs. Sloan lives in Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Moles are parents of the following children: Otha C, born October 12, 1894; Neva M., born June 3, 1896; Claude V., born December 5, 1897; Harry D., born December 30, 1899, died April 25, 1900; Lena C, born April 16, 1901; Clyde O., born March 1, 1903; Alva D., born February 13, 1905; Gertie L., born March 3, 1907; Wilma R., born April 30, 1909, died October 16, 1910. Mr. Moles has been a member of the township board for seven years and has served as trustee of the township.

Hon. Lucien Baskerville, former representative of Bates county, is a progressive farmer and stockman of Deepwater township. He is the son of William Baskerville, late pioneer settler of Deepwater township, who was one of the best-known citizens of the county.

\^'illiam Baskerville was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, May 20, 1828, the son of \\'illiam B. and Mary (Ferguson) Baskerville, natives of Virginia. The family left Virginia in 1837 and moved to Cooper county, Missouri, residing in that county for twelve years. William B. Baskerville later located in Henry county, Missouri, and was engaged in the mercantile business and in agricultural pursuits in that county until his death in 1882 at the age of ninety-two years. AA'hen William Baskerville was twenty-three years of age he joined an overland freight train as teamster and made the long trip to New Mexico. After he had served as teamster for twelve months he was promoted to the post of wagonmaster, and in 1852 took a train through to California, arriving on the coast in the spring of 1853. He then returned to New Mexico and took a drove of 20,000 sheep through to California. He returned home in 1854, spent the winter at home, and in the spring of 1855, he made another trip to California but was taken sick and remained ill for nearly a year. In the fall of 1856 he made a trip to the West Indies, and from the Islands came home by way of New Orleans, arriving late in that year. He then engaged in the mercantile business w'ith his father in Henry county, Missouri, and continued in business until the breaking out of the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865 he was engaged in farming. He had previously purchased his home farm in Deepwater township. Bates county, in 1856, when land was cheap and plentiful. He improved the tract and made his permanent home thereon in section 25, of Deepwater township, in 1869. Mr. Baskerville became owner of over three hundred thirty-six acres of well-improved land,

William Baskerville was married October 31, 1870, to Miss Mary Caldwell, born in Kentucky, a daughter of James and Mary Caldwell. The following children were born to this marriage: Benoni R., farmer, Deepwater township; Virginia, Martha, Judith, at home and Lucien B., of this sketch. Mr. Baskerville died in June, 1914. Mrs. Baskerville departed this life in 1887.

Lucien M. Baskerville, youngest son of the family, was educated in the district school of his neighborhood, the Appleton City Academy, and the Missouri State University at Columbia, where he finished his studies in 1904. Not long afterward he was employed as foreman of the rolling mill department of the Acme Steel Goods Company, Chicago, Illinois, and remained with this concern for a period of five years. He began with the company as shipping clerk and was soon promoted to the post of foreman. Owing to his father's declining health by reason of advancing age he returned home and has since had charge of the home place of the family. Mr. Baskerville pursued a law course at Columbia and was admitted to the Bates county bar in 1904, and practiced for a short time in Butler previous to locating in Chicago. In the fall of 1912 his candidacy for the office of representative from Bates county was announced and he was nominated and elected. Mr. Baskerville and his sisters are living on the old home place which Mr. Baskerville is managing. This farm consists of three hundred and twenty acres of excellent farm land. His brother, Benoni, and he are farming in partnership and are making a great success of their farming and live-stock operations. They have about one hundred and fifty head of cattle on the place and have fifty head of Hereford cows for breeding purposes. Besides a good grade of Poland China hogs they have a herd of twentyfive head of sheep. The Baskerville farm is well improved and nicely located about five miles northwest of Appleton City and lies in the southeast corner of Deepwater township.

Benoni R. Baskerville was born in Deepwater township in 1872. He received his education in the district school and the Academy at Appleton City. He was married in October, 1903, to Jeannette Gait, a daughter of James and Mary (Brown) Gait, of Appleton City, the latter of whom died in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. ''Ben" R. Baskerville have a daughter, Pauline.

Hiram G. Cummings, the capable trustee of Shawnee township, Bates county, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, on February 20, 1884, a son of A. B. and EHza (Garten) Cummings, the former, a native of Jackson county, Missouri, and the hitter, of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Cummings reside at Grainfield, Kansas, to which city they moved in 1906. They are the parents of the following children: Stella May, the wife of Walter Bailey, of Topeka, Kansas; Leva, the wife of Troy Bartlett, of Martin City, Missouri; Hiram G., the subject of this review; Andrew, of Summit township, Bates county, Missouri ; Roy,- Grainfield, Kansas; Eric, who is now with the United States Expeditionary force in the trenches in France, enlisting on April 27, 1917, a Jasper county boy, twenty-seven years of age; Ruth, the wife of Marcellus Harrison, of Grainfield, Kansas; Marie, the wife of William Cline, of Grainfield, Kansas; and Goldie, who is a member of the teaching profession at Grainfield, Kansas.

In the public schools of Jackson county, Missouri, Hiram G. Cummings obtained his education. He was a resident of Cass county, Missouri, for three years prior to coming to Bates county, in 1903, with his parents. Air. Cummings purchased his present home from Charles Moore in 1908, a tract of land embracing originally eighty acres, to which he has in 1915 added another eighty-acre tract purchased from the Nuckols brothers. The Cummings place now comprises one hundred sixty acres of valuable land located three miles west of Culver, Missouri, and eight and a half miles northeast of Butler, Missouri. Mr. Cummings has placed all the improvements thereon, including a comfortable residence, a house of five rooms and two stories, built in 1908 and 1909; a barn, 30 x 46 feet in dimensions; a good crib and granary. Mr. Cummings raises high-grade hogs, cattle, and sheep. He has, at the time of this writing in 1918, nineteen head of Shropshires. Among the citizens of his township, Mr. Cummings is rated highly as a progressive, industrious, intelligent agriculturist and stockman.

February 12, 1907, Hiram G. Cummings and Gertie Moore were united in marriage, the ceremony being performed at tlie home of her uncle, C. H. Moore, in Shawnee township. Gertie (Moore) Cummings was born July 18, 1882, in Shawnee township, a daughter of Leander Lewis and Laura (Laux) Moore, the father, a native of Pettis county and the mother, of Scott county, Missouri. Mr. Moore came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1880 and purchased and improved the place in Shawnee township now owned by Percy Lee Moore. Leander Lewis and Laura (Laux) Moore were the parents of the following- children: Percy Lee, a prosperous farmer of Bates county, Missouri; Mrs. Hiram G. Cummings, the wife of the subject of this review^; and (3ra May, who died in infancy. Mr. Moore died February 5, 1885, and his wife was united with him in death two years later, on March 10, 1887. Both father and mother were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery in Bates county. To Hiram G. and Mrs. Cummings have been born four children, who are now living, and one deceased; Ann Eliza, who died at the age of sixteen months; Roger Lee; Hazel Verlinda; Clifford Hiram; and Allen Laux.

Mr. Cummings is serving his third term as a member of the school board of Shawnee township and in 1917 he was elected trustee of the same township and is the present .incumbent in that office. Mr. Cummings is a young man of strong character, practical mind, and the success he has now achieved is but the prediction of a larger measure of success to be won in the future. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have a host of friends in Bates county and in their community no family is held in higher esteem.

Lyman Hensley, a prominent citizen of Butler, Missouri, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Bates county. Mr. Hensley is a native of Homer township. Bates county. He was born at the Hensley homestead on January 22, 1874, a son of W. C. and Mary Jane (Halley) Hensley. W. C. Hensley was born in Kentucky in 1844 and Mrs. W. C. Hensley was born one year later in the same state. They came to Missouri from their native state in 1868 and settled near old Mulberry, where two years afterward Mr. Hensley purchased two hundred forty acres of land, now known as the Stevens farm. Mr. Hensley was a veteran of the Civil War. He served two years, a Union soldier, in Company B, Kentucky cavalry, as message bearer, and while in service was seriously injured, receiving a gunshot wound. After coming to Missouri, Mr. Hensley engaged extensively in farming and stock raising, in buying and shipping stock for the St. Louis and Kansas City markets. He was a well-to-do and highly respected citizen of his township, a kindly, courteous, companionable gentleman who made many friends in this state. W. C. Hensley died on the farm where he and his noble wife reared to maturity their family of twelve children : John, who is now deceased ; Sallie, the wife of Ben Biggs, of Hume. Missouri; Anna, who is now deceased: Charlie, a widely-known and successful auctioneer and shipper of livestock, Columbus, Kansas; Leora, deceased; Carrie, the wife of E. P. Nickell, of Kansas City, Missouri; Lyman, the subject of this review; Jessie, the wife of CHfford Jackson, Denver, Colorado; Bettie, the wife of J. W. Allen, Alma, Nebraska; Mary Lou, the wife of Hugh McGee, Rawlings, Wyoming; H. C, Neodesha, Kansas; and Lola, deceased. The widowed mother now makes her home at Hume, Missouri. The father was laid to rest in Mulberry cemetery in Bates county.

Mr. Hensley, wdiose name introduces this review, obtained his education at Hotwater school house in Homer township. The name of the school house recalls the amusing incident in commemoration of which the building was named. The early-day settlers in this particular district had decided by vote to move the school house two miles north of the original site. The vote was not unanimous, and Grandma Doddsworth was very much opposed to the proposition. She moved into the school house and made preparations to "stand pat" and when Jack Showers, who had the contract to move the building, came, she threw scalding-hot water upon him. The poor old lady was afterward forced to capitulate and the school house was moved, "ag'in' her voice and vote," as Will Carleton puts it in "The New Church Organ."

In his boyhood days, Lyman Hensley was want to ride to Butler behind his father on "Old Cooly," a mare which lived to be thirty-seven years of age, the idolized pet of the Hensley children, and the three often swam across the intervening streams in the days before bridges were known in Bates county. Mr. Hensley's prairie home was on the old Butler-La Cygne stage route and when he was seventeen years of age he was employed as mail carrier on this route for nearly a year. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He was thus employed for ten years prior to his coming to Butler to reside and to enter the stock business in this city. Mr. Hensley buys and sells cattle, hogs, horses, and mules. He formerly attended sales as auctioneer but in recent years he has abandoned this line of work. Mr. Hensley was a candidate for probate judge of Bates county in 1914 on the progressive ticket. , The marriage of Lyman Hensley and Carrie May Henderson, a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Margaret Henderson, was solemni/.cd Fel:»ruary 10, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson came to Homer township. Bates county, Missouri, in 1884, and located near Mulberry on the Leach place, which they had purchased and that is now owned by Angela Scully. They are both now deceased and their remains are interred in a cemetery at Columbus, Kansas. To Lyman and Mrs. Hensley have been born five children: Harvey, Marie, Goldie, Ruth, and Antoinette, all of whom are at home with their parents.

As a citizen, Lyman Hensley discharged his (duties wnth icommendable fidelity and few men in Bates county enjoy a larger share of public respect and confidence.

J. A. Beard, a well-known and successful farmer and stockman of Summit township, is one of the Bates county boys of yesterday who have "made good." Mr. Beard was born January 2, 1875, at the Beard homestead in Deepwater township, a son of Henry and Eliza (Kretzinger) Beard, one of the worthy and most prominent pioneer families of Bates county. Henry Beard was a native of Indiana. He came with his family to Missouri in 1867 and they settled in Bates county on a tract of land in Deepwater township. Mr. Beard died in 1897 and interment was made in Smith cemetery. His widow still survives her husband and now, at the age of seventy-two years, resides on the home place in Deepwater township. Henry and Eliza (Kretzinger) Beard w^ere the parents of the following children: Charles F., who was at one time sheriff of Bates county and now resides at Parsons, Kansas; Mrs. Emma Frost, of Deepwater township; Mrs. J. H. Baker, the wife of T- H. Baker, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; J. A., the subject of this review; I. E., who is engaged in farming on the home place in Deepwater township; Ava, of Lone Oak township; Mrs. Minnie Ferris, who resides in Canada; Mrs. Maud Parker, of Deepwater township; Mrs. Dora Thomas, of Pleasant Gap township; and Mrs. Nina McKinley, of Hudson township.

In Deepwater township, Bates county, J. A. Beard was reared and educated and, at the age of twenty years, began farming Independently. The first farm he ever owned was a part of the Allen place, a tract comprising sixty acres, which he sold within a short time after purchasing. Mr. Beard then bought one hundred acres of land in Pleasant Gap township, of which he disposed at the time he left Missouri and went to Colorado, in which state he resided two years, and Kansas, where he was a resident of Labette county for two years. After four years, Mr. Beard returned to Bates county. J. A. Beard was engaged in the mercantile business at Pleasant Gap for one year and for eight years was a leading auctioneer of the county, but in the future he intends to devote his entire time and attention to the pursuits of farming and stock raising.

February 17, 1897, J. A. Beard and Lizzie King, a daughter of Alfred and Minerva King, of Butler, Missouri, were united in marriage. The Kings came to Bates county from Ohio in 1886 and they located near Rockville, where they remained for five years, and then returned to their native state to reside for three years, when, they again came to Bates county and at this time located at Butler, where Mrs. King still makes her home. Mr. King died in 1906 and his remains were interred in Rogers cemetery in Bates county. To J. A. and Lizzie (King) Beard have been born eight children, all of whom are now living and are at home with their parents: Harley, Hershel, Buell, Ava, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, and Willie Kenneth.

J. A. Beard was left fatherless at the time he most needed a father's advice and assistance and financial support in getting started in life, and he was but one of a large family. Bates county is proud to number him among the most valued of the "self-made" men of Summit township.

John P. Connor, proprietor of the "Connor Stock Farm" in Summit township, one of the finest stock farms in Bates county, is one of the county's prominent farmers and stockmen. Mr. Connor is a native of Illinois. He w^as born March 17, 1867, in Ford county, Illinois, a son of John, Sr., and Bridget (McClellan) Connor, natives of Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. John Connor, Sr., had located in Pennsylvania upon landing in this country and from Pennsylvania had moved to Illinois, where they settled in Ford county, among the earliest pioneers in 1865. To John, Sr., and Bridget Connor were born the following children: Mary, the wife of Ed Finnegan, of Leonard. Colorado: ]ylrs. Helen Brophy, deceased; Alice, the wife of John Brophy. of ^^'hiteside county, Illinois; Mrs. Kate Gadsell, of Champaign county, Illinois; and John P., the subject of this review. The father is now deceased and the widowed mother resides at Pana. Illinois.

In Champaign county, Illinois, John P. Connor was reared and, in the district schools of the county, educated. He has followed farming and stock raising practically all his life with the exception of one year when he was engaged in railroading. The "Connor Stock Farm" in Summit township comprises six hundred forty acres of land, which were formerly a part of the Fry Ranch in Bates county. Mr. Connor purchased his place in 1910 and has since devoted his time and attention to raising high-grade stock, having eighty head of cattle and thirty head of horses and mules on the farm at the time of this writing in 1918. The farm, which is indisputably one of the best in the township and in Bates county, is situated eight miles southeast of Butler. The place is well equipped with all the latest facilities for handling stock and the improvements include a well-built stock barn; a cattle barn, 30 x 200 feet in dimensions; a huge crib for corn and grain, and, at the present time, filled; and hog houses. Two hundred forty acres of the "Connor Stock Farm" are annually planted in grain, the remainder being given to pasture and meadow. Mr. Connor raises Aberdeen Angus cattle and he is the owner of two registered males. He also has on the farm a horse eligible for registry.

The marriage of John P. Connor and Helen Brophy, a daughter of John and Mary (Ryan) Brophy, of Champaign county, Illinois, was solemnized in 1892. Both parents of Mrs. Connor are now deceased. To this union have been born seven children: Mary, the wife of James Gordon, of Summit township; Ellen, the wife of John Shautz, of Shawnee township; Charles, John, William, Leo Patrick, and Margaret, at home with their parents.

Although Mr. Connor is a very public-spirited gentleman, he is not an active partisan politically, being content to labor quietly among his fine stock at his beautiful country place in Summit township. He is well informed on the leading questions and issues of the day and is firm in his convictions of right and wrong. He has ever been industrious and he deserves the success which has attended his well-directed efforts.

James R. Gordon, a well-known young agriculturist of Bates county, was born August 5, 1884, on his father's plantation in Fleming county, Kentucky, located near Flemingsburg, a son of J. AA^ and Victoria Gordon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Virginia. J. W. Gordon was a son of James and Betsy ( Wallingford) Gordon. James Gordon, grandfather of James R., the subject of this review, was a native of Ireland. He had emigrated from his native land in early manhood and had come to the United States, where he settled in Kentucky and was united in marriage with Betsy Wallingford. a member of a prominent colonial family, of Wallingford, Kentucky. J. W. Gordon was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War and he served three years with John T. Morgan's regiment. Mr. Gordon died in 1915 and his remains were interred in the cemetery near his home in Fleming county. Kentucky. His widow still survives him and at present is making her home at Penfield in Champaign county, IlHnois. J. A\'. and Victoria Gordon were the parents of the following children: Mary Alice, deceased; John William, deceased; George W., Wallingford, Kentucky; James R., the subject of this review; Anna, the wife of Cleveland WycofT, of Champaign county, Illinois; Eugene, of Champaign county, Illinois; and Eunice, the wife of Claud Mart, of Wallingford, Kentucky, who are twins.

In the pulilic schools of Elcming county, Kentucky, James R. Gordon received his education. Prior to coming; to Missouri, Mr. Gordon was engaged in tobacco growing in Kentucky and since he came to Bates county in 1912 and purchased the lease to the land on which he now resides he has followed the pursuits of farming and stock raising. Mr. Gordon's farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of the Angela Scully lands.

James R. Gordon and Mary Connor, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Connor, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, were united in marriage in 1912 at Butler, Missouri. Mrs. Gordon was born November 11, 1892, in Champaign county, Illinois. To Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have been born three children: John William, Mary Agnes, and James Robert, Jr. The Gordons are highly respected in their community.

James M. McGovern, a valued member of the directorate of the Missouri State Bank of Butler, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Summit tow-nship, is a native of Macoupin county, Illinois. Mr. McGovern was born September 14, 1858, a son of William M. and Hester A. (McPherron) McGovern, natives of Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. W'illiam M. McGovern were the parents of the following children: John, deceased; William, Jr., who resides in Kansas; Ephraim, deceased; Eugene, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Eliza Edwards, Fort Smith, Arkansas; Frederick, Kansas City, Missouri; and Oscar, deceased. The father died in Macoupin county, Illinois, in November, 1858. Mrs. McGovern survived her husband many years, when in 1897 they were united in death. The mother died at Kansas City, Missouri.

In Macoupin county, Illinois, in the common schools, James M. McGovern obtained his education. iHe was reared to manhood in Illinois and for eleven years was employed in the coal mines located near his father's home. Mr. McGovern came to Kansas City, Missouri. in 1890 with his widowed mother and entered the employ of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. ITe worked for this company for three years and then moved from Kansas City to Bates county and settled on his present farm in Summit township, after residing for some time on a part of the Argenbright farm, which he purchased in 1893. The McGovern farm in Summit township comprises eighty acres of choice land, conveniently located within five miles of Butler, abundantly watered, and nicely improved. About half the place is in pasture land and grass. Mr. McGovern has built a barn since he acquired the ownership of the farm and has improved and remodeled all the other buildings on the place. He is engaged in raising cattle, horses, and hogs, and he has made a marked financial success with his stock.

The marriage of James M. McGovern and Clara J. Anderson was solemnized in 1907. Clara J. (Anderson) McGovern is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Anderson, honored pioneers of Macoupin count\ Illinois. Mrs. Anderson died when her daughter, Clara J., was a young girl, seventeen years of age. Mr. Anderson is still living and is now eighty-six years of age. Mr. and Mrs. McGovern have for many years made an annual visit to their relatives and friends in Macoupin county, Illinois. By a former marriage, James M. McGovern is the father of three children : Clarence M., the youngest child and only one now living, a w^ll-to-do farmer and stockman residing two miles southeast of Butler, Missouri, who married Cora Powell and to them have been born two children, Rosa Lee, and Annetta Ailene. The first wife, and the mother of Clarence M. McGovern, Cora (Overstreet) McGovern, departed this life in 1906. William M. McGovern, the father of James M., the subject of this review, and Sterling Overstreet, the father of Cora (Overstreet) McGovern were comrades in the Mexican War o' 1846. -i^^f''^^'^

Mr. McGovern is a man of strong character, practical mind, and rare business ability. He possesses to a marked degree the gift of foreseeing with remarkable accuracy the outcome of all transactions.

Fred Wolf, assessor of Mount Pleasant township, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Adams county and w^as tliere reared and educated. At the age of nineteen years, he came to Bates county, Missouri - "a-foot and alone" - and located at Pleasant Gap, where he was emploved at anv kind of work he could obtain in the summers and for two winters attended school.

In 1892. Mr. Wolf purchased his first land, a tract of seventy-three acres, which he sold in the autumn of the same year and then l)ought a farm comprising- eighty acres. Five years later. ]\Tr. Wolf disposed of his second country place and in 1896 moved to Butler. In April, 1898, he resigned his position as clerk in a mercantile establishment at Butler and enlisted in the service of the United States in the Spanish-

American War, enlisting at Bntler. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, then to Chickamauga Park and to Lexington, Kentucky, and thence to Albany, Georgia, where he was mustered out at the close of the conflict. At one time, Mr. Wolf was sent on a sick furlough to the City Hospital at St. Louis, and while he was recuperating in the soldier's ward it was being reported in PuUler that he was dying and later that he was dead. When he returned home, Mr. Wolf had the most unusual experience of reading his own obituar}- in the Butler newspapers. Prior to leaving Butler, he was employed at the Hill Cash Store as clerk. Afterward, he w^as with the American Clothing House in the shoe department for one and a half years and wdth the Levy Mercantile Company for one year. He purchased his present home place of eighty acres of choice land located two miles west of Butler in Mount Pleasant township in 1910 and moved to it.

In 1895 Fred W'olf and Stella Burch were united in marriage and to this union were born two children: Bernice Vivian, who is now a junior student in the Butler High School ; and Ronald Wayne, at home. Mrs. W^olf died in 1906. A sister of Fred AA'olf has charge of tlie household and is caring for the children.

Mrs. Wolf was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James K. Burch. a prominent pioneer family of Bates county. James K. Burch came to this part of Missouri in 1844 and located on land eight miles south of Butler.

While a resident of Pleasant Gap township, Fred Wolf was elected assessor and served capably two years. He is the present assessor of Mount Pleasant township. Mr. Wolf is a worker. His life has been one of untiring activity and has been crowned with the degree of success which is attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work that lies l)efore them. He is wddely recognized in Bates county as a man of intelligent views, excellent judgment, and sterling moral worth.

Judge Estes Smith, a late prominent citizen of Bates county, Missouri, was a native of Daviess county, Missouri. He was born February 6, 1856, a son of Stephen H. and Catherine (Plarsha) Smith, honored and respected pioneers of Daviess county. Stephen H. Smith was born June 6, 1819, and Mrs. Smith was born May 14, 1823. They were united in marriage in 1840 and to them were born thirteen children. Stephen H. Smith died May 25, 1896, at Marcelinc in Linn county, Missouri. His wife died in Idaho in Latah county, near Troy.

Judge Estes Smith

Mingo township. He was in business at Mayesburg for one year, after which he moved to the country place where his widow now resides, a farm comprising one hundred twenty-seven acres of choice land located seven miles southwest of Creighton. Judge Smith was one of the leading men of affairs in his township and during his lifetime filled many different township offices. He was a lifelong Democrat. He filled the office of judge from the northern district of Bates county, serving one term. He was appointed superintendent of Drainage District No. 1 while the drainage work was in progress and in 1914 he was re-elected judge of the county court. Judge Smith has served but six months of his second term in the capacity of judge when his death occurred on June 16, 1915. The marriage of Judge Estes Smith and Missouri E. Staley was solemnized May 15, 1883, at the Staley homestead in Mingo township. Missouri E. (Staley) Smith was born May 31, 1859, in Mingo township. Bates county, a daughter of Stephen M. and Elizabeth (Lefiar) Staley, the former, born in Virginia in 1820 and the latter, in Illinois in 1838. Mr. Staley came to Missouri prior to the outbreak of the Civil War and settled on the farm where .Thomas Staley now resides. The Staley estate comprised three hundred sixty acres of land at the time of the death of Mr. Staley in 1875. Mrs. Staley now makes her home with her children, in Bates and Cass counties, Missouri. To Judge Estes and Missouri E. (Staley) Smith were born the following children: Stephen E., principal of the Osceola, Missouri, schools; Robert, who is engaged in lumbering in Idaho; Marvin, who joined November 2, 1917, in Wyoming with the Army of the United States, a Mingo township boy, educated in the public schools of Bates county, born March 30, 1888, now thirty years of age, with Company M, One Hundred Sixty-first Infantry; Clyde B. and Clarence Estes, at home with their widowed mother; Lillie May, who died at the age of four years in 1889; and Mary Lee, who died at the age of four years in 1895. Clyde B. Smith, born May 26, 1896, and Clarence Estes Smith, born October 14, 1898, above named, are engaged in farming" and in raising Shropshire sheep and Shorthorn cattle. Judge Estes Smith died June 16, 1915, and interment was made in West cemetery. He was a highly valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Johnstown, Missouri, with whom he affiliated in 1880, and was past master of the Wadesburg Lodge No. 348 of Creighton. Judge Smith was a devout Christian gentleman, an earnest and conscientious member of the Aaron Methodist church.

and the family of which he was a most creditable representative was one of the best in western Missouri, of whom devotion to duty was a marked characteristic. He was long esteemed as one of Bates county's most honorable citizens, as one who had at heart the public good, who strived to do the right in every sphere to which he was called. The confidence which the people had in Judge Smith and in his ability was proven again and again by elevating him to responsible positions and the manner in which he invariably discharged all duties incumbent upon him demonstrated the wisdom of their choice, proved that their trust was in the keeping of a high-minded, efficient, and honest gentleman. Though his labors here are ended, the memory of his exemplary life will ever linger like a sweet incense to cheer the sorrowing hearts of those who loved him and the influence of his good deeds will encourage others to emulate his virtues and to trust the God whom he served and worshipped.

E. G. Grant, proprietor of the "Grant Stock Farm" in Summit township, is one of the enterprising farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Grant is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, born in 1887, the only son of Charles and Ann (Hazlett) Grant, the former, a native of England and the latter, of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grant have been l)orn two children : Nellie, w'ho makes her home with her father at Butler; and E. G., the subject of this review. Charles Grant purchased the farm, which is the home of his son, E. G., about 1890 from Thomas Bushear, who died at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1916, and the Grants resided at their country place until the autumn of 1909. Mr. Grant is now making his home at Butler, Missouri.

In the district schools of Bates county, E. G. Grant obtained his elementary education. lie later attended the Butler High School for two years. Mr. Grant has resided on the farm, which is now his home, practically all his life, as he was a little child, three vears of age, when his father brought the family to this county to make their home. The "Grant Stock farm" comprises one hundred ninety acres of land, most of which is "bottom land" drained by Willow branch, and was formerly known as the Glass farm. Major Glass used to be the owner of the place and the cemetery, which occu]:)ics one acre of the farm, was in the days gone by named in his honor. ETis wife and child were the first two persons interred in the burial ground. This is one of the fine stock farms of Summit township and Mr. Grant is successfully raising white-face cattle and Poland China hogs, keeping registered males at the head of each herd, and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. Since accjuiring the ownership of the farm, Mr. Grant has built a barn, 48 X 48 feet in dimensions, installed a Wind-mill and scales, put up hog-tight wire fencing in all the pastures, and remodeled the residence.

The marriage of E. G. Grant and Susan Tyler was solemnized in 1909. Susan (Tyler) Grant is a daughter of W. B. and Rachel (Moore) Tyler. W. B. Tyler, a Confederate veteran of the Civil War, was born in Kentucky. Mrs. Tyler is a native of Missouri, as is also her daughter, Mrs. Grant. Mr. Tyler enlisted in the Civil War when he was a very young man and served throughout the struggle. He is a descendant of Charles Tyler, an honored pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, who settled on a tract of land near old Johnstown, in the earliest days of the settlement of this part of Missouri. Grandfather Tyler and Grandfather Moore were both brave, old pioneers and wealthy slaveowners of Bates county in the days before the War. Mr. Moore died near Lamonte, Missouri, during the Civil War, when his clothing and bedding were taken from him by the Federals, his death coming as the result of exposure. To E. G. and Susan Grant have been born two children : A\'illiam and Charles.

William H. Brannock, one of the pioneers of Bates county, a successful farmer and stockman of Summit township, is widely known throughout the county as a breeder of high-grade Percherons. For more than fifty years, the Brannock name has l:»een a familiar and highly respected one in Butler and Bates county for the Brannocks settled here in 1866, when this part of the state was still in its primitive condition, having but one highway Across the prairie and abounding in wild deer and prairie chickens. Mr. Brannock is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Harrison county in 1841, a son of Darius and Catherine (Hall) Brannock, natives of Kentucky. Darius Brannock moved with his family from Kentucky to Indiana in 1848 and from Indiana to Missouri in 1866, settling on the farm now owned by William H: Brannock, a place comprising two hundred eighty acres of land formerly owned by Jeptha Hollingsworth, a wealthy slaveowner of Bates county in the days before the Civil War. Mr. Brannock was a stonemason bv trade and he followed his vocation previous to coming to Missouri and for several years afterward. He erected the Sheriff Atkinson building in Butler, a building which stood on the east side of the public square on the site of the one now occupied by the Levy Mercantile Company. He paid Mr. Hollingsworth ten dollars an acre for his farm and at the Brannock homestead, Darius Brannock departed this life a few years after he had come West. Mrs. Brannock survived her husband many years, when in 1903 they were united in death. Both father and mother were interred in Oak Hill cemetery.

Robert Brannock and William H. Brannock are the sole surviving members of their father's family. William H. Brannock was reared and educated in Indiana. He attended school at Greencastle, Indiana, and remained with his parents and assisted with the farm work until after the death of his father, about 1873, when he took charge of the home place and continued to carry out his father's plans. A small house, of two rooms, was built in 1867 and later rel)iiilt and made larger. Mr. Brannock built a new residence in 1913, a comfortable, pleasant home of seven rooms, and a good barn. His farm comprises fifty-three acres of land located four miles southeast of Butler. He is an expert horseman and naturally so, for all the Brannocks as far back as they are known have been interested in fine horses. Mr. Brannock raises Percherons of high grade.

In 1864, the marriage of William H. Brannock and Clara Nelson was solemnized. Mrs. Brannock is a daughter of William Nelson, a late resident of Greencastle, Indiana. To this union has been born one child, a daughter, Minnie, who is at home with her parents.

Measured by the true standard of manhood, Mr. Brannock's life has been a decided success. He is an excellent agriculturist and breeder, industrious and enterprising and though not lal:)oring on quite so extensive a scale as some of his neighbors, he has by capable management of his business affairs acquired a fair share of this world's goods. Personally, he is a very companionable gentleman, and a man of many friends.

R. J. Thomas, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is one of Bates county's successful citizens. Mr. Thomas is a native of Illinois, born in Schuyler county, in 1866, a son of Daniel and Sarah (Guinn) Thomas. Daniel Thomas was a native of Ohio. He came with his family to Missouri in 1869 and located at Butler. He drove through from Illinois. He was a well-digger by trade and after locating at Butler followed his vocation in this city and vicinity. Probably half the wells in Butler which were dug from 1869 until 1880 were dug by Daniel Thomas. He was a genial man of kindly disposition, industrious and capable and popular with the residents of this city. His death in 1887 was long lamented by all who knew him. Mrs. Thomas departed this life in February, 1917, at the age of eighty years. She was one of the noblest of the brave pioneer women who settled in Bates county. The remains of both father and mother were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. Daniel and Sarah Thomas were the parents of the following children: Fleetwood, Butler, Missouri; David, who died at the age of fifteen years; R. J., the subject of this review; Mrs. Phoebe Taylor, Butler, Missouri; Daniel, Jr., St. Louis, Missouri; and John, who died in youth.

R. J. Thomas attended the citv schools of Butler. Since he was twelve years of age, he has made his own living, working by the day, month, and job. When he was twenty-five years of age, he began farming for himself. Mr. Thomas first purchased the John Keeton place of forty acres of land, to which he later added one hundred twenty acres adjoining land and then sold the farm and returned to Butler. Two years afterward, Mr. Thomas purchased a tract of land comprising eighty acres and he had successively added tracts of forty acres each to his original holdings until he was the owner of two hundred acres of choice land in Bates county, a farm located three miles east of Butler. This place he sold seven years ago and purchased his present country home from Lott Warren, a farm embracing one hundred sixty acres of land situated one mile east of Butler. Mr. Thomas' place is a splendid stock farm and he has twenty acres of it in pasture, forty acres in hay, and the remainder under cultivation. He devotes much time and attention to raising Duroc hogs and to horses and mules. The Thomas farm is abundantly supplied with water from wells and a spring. The improvements are in excellent repair and include a comfortable residence, two barns, a hog shed, cribs, and numerous other farm buildings.

The marriage of R. J. Thomas and Luella Martin was solemnized in 1884. Mrs. Thomas is a daughter of R. F. Martin, of Butler. Mr. Martin was a Union veteran of the Civil W^ar. He died at Butler and his remains were interred in Oak Hill cemetery. To R. J. and Luella (Martin) Thomas have been born five children: Charles AV., at home with his parents: James Virgil, at home with his parents; Nellie, the wife of Clarence Bolin, Butler, Missouri; Ada May and Helen Louise, who are at home with their parents.

county, and for ncarl}' fifty years nicnihcrs (jf the family have Ijccn connected closely witli the development and growth of the county. He has invariably given his support cheerfully and his influence liberally to all worthy enterprises for the public good and b\' living a good life himself. R. J. ddiomas exerts a potent inllueiice upon all with whom he comes in contact.

J. P. Ellington, a progressive farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is the owner of one of the best stock farms in Bates county. Mr. I^llington is widely known as a successful horseman and breeder of mules, cattle, and hogs. He is a native of Bath county, Kentucky. He was born June 30, 1873, a son of Joseph G. and Alice (Wyatt) Ellington, both of wdiom were also natives of Kentucky. Joseph G. F>llington came to Missouri in 1882 and settled in Bates county on a farm in Pleasant Gap tcnvnship. He bought at the time of his settlement here a tract of eighty acres of land, to which he later added forty acres, a place located twelve miles from Butler, and for ten years was engaged in tobacco growing. Joseph G. and Alice iCllington were the parents of five children: Ed, Butler, Missouri; June, the wife of Robert Eondrum, of Gardner, Texas ; J. P., the subject of this review; Lee, who is now the owner of the Ellington homestead; and Eannie, the wife of Everett Morilla, deceased. The mother died November 13, 1901, and the father joined her in death August 12, 1917. I)Otli parents w-ere laid to rest in Myers cemetery in Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Ellington were well-known and respected throughout Pleasant Gap township and they have been sadly missed from the number of good citizens in Bates county.

At High Point, one of the district schools of Hudson township, J. P. Ellington obtained his education. When he was twenty-one years of age, he left home and moxcd to his own farm, which lies one mile south of his i)resent country place. Mr. Ellington purchased the latter farm, which comprises two hundred fifty acres of land, in 1910. a place formerly owned by Joe T. Smith, of Butler. In addition, Mr. Ellington owns a tract of forty acres of land in Summit township. The home farm is situated one and three-fourths miles east of Butler and lies parllx' in Mount Pleasant and partly in Summit townships. This is an excellent stock farm nicely located, well watered, and splendidly improved. The residence is a house of seven rooms, built on the highest point (/ the farm. There are three different sets of improvements on the Ellington place. \\'ith the residence is a large barn, which is used for stock.

On the south tract, there are two barns, and on the forty acres in Summit township there are also good improvements, including a residence and well-constructed barn. Mr. Ellington deals extensively in horses and mules, but he also gives some attention to raising cattle and hogs. He has about the average number of cattle and a herd of hogs. One hundred acres of the farm are in pasture and one hundred acres ar; rich "bottom land."

June 9, 1897, J. P. Ellington and Alice Morilla, a daughter of Charles and Emma (Thomas) Morilla, formerly of Lone Oak township and now of California, were united in marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Ellington have been born three children : Edna, who is now in her senior year at the Butler High School; Virgil, a student in the Butler High School; and Harold, a pupil in the grades.