Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 3 of 19)

James Pendleton Tho.Mas

Nancy (Ellison) Thomas (born in 1812, died in 1887), both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Richard Thomas was a son of James Thomas of Virginia, a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Nancy (Ellison) Thomas was a daughter of Col. Jacob Ellison, a native of Kentucky who was a colonel of volunteers in the War of 1812 and commanded a regiment of Kentucky and Tennessee sharpshooters under Gen. Andrew Jackson at the famous battle of New Orleans, wherein the British invaders under Generals Packenham and Gibbs were defeated with great loss of life. Richard Henry Thomas was killed by a falling tree in 1842. He was the father of ten children, six of whom grew to maturity: Sarah, Betsy, and Martha, deceased; James Pendleton, subject of this review; Richard Hiter, Sheldon, Missouri ; Jacob E., Rich Hill, Missouri. In the autumn of 1854, Mrs. Nancy Thomas and her family came to Missouri from the old home in Kentucky and lived for two years in Johnson county. In 1856, Mr. Thomas came to Bates county and entered a tract of government land in New Home township. He erected a log house thereon and was soon joined by his mother and two brothers who came down from Johnson county. Their nearest neighbor was O. H. P. Miller. The new settlers got along nicely until the "jay-hawkers" began making raids from Kansas into Bates county during the latter part of 1861. In January, 1862, a party of marauders visited the Thomas home, drove the occupants from the house, looted it and burned it to the ground. After a week's stay with friends the family moved to Henry county, Missouri, and from there went to Pettis county and planted crops for the ensuing season. The Federal Militia came there and James P. left his mother in Pettis county and returned to Bates county. He then joined General Cockrell's company and in the spring of 1862 became a member of Gen. J. O. Shelby's command. He served with the Confederate forces until the surrender of his command at Shreveport, Louisiana, at the close of the war. His first battle was at Fort Smith, Arkansas; then Dartnell, below Fort Smith on the Arkansas river. He took part in General Shelby's raid in Arkansas and Missouri as far as the vicinity of Springfield, Missouri, where the projected attack on Springfield was abandoned. Shelby's army turned back here and the next raid was made as far as Cape Girardeau, where a stifif fight took place, and Shelby's command retreated to the St. Francis river and built a breastwork, and witlistood the attacks of the Unionists. They again retreated southward and were engaged in many skirmishes en route, fighting a battle in Saline county, Missouri, while on their way. They again returned to

Arkansas and fought a battle at Du Ball's Bluff on Grand Prairie. Later they captured a Union gunboat on White river in the spring of 1864. During the summer of 1864 his command operated along the Arkansas river and on one occasion were shelled by Union gunboats but succeeded in driving them off from the attack. Going up the river, the Unionists landed and came down the river to attack the Confederates. Several skirmishes took place, and Mr. Thomas says "We killed a good many niggers." His command started with General Price upon his great raid through Missouri to Kansas City, but Mr. Thomas was granted furlough to visit home folks in Pettis county in the fall. He with about eighty of his comrades with their captain started to White river, Arkansas, to rejoin Shelby's army but were attacked by the Federals east of Springfield, and for many miles they had a running fight of it. They rejoined Shelby on the Arkansas river and stayed there during the winter of 1864 and 1865. At one time when their army was chasing after General Steele, Mr. Thomas had his horse shot from under him. After the surrender at Shreveport he boarded a steamer named "Old Kentucky," which sank on Red river fourteen miles below Shreveport and many were drowned. Mr. Thomas climbed on top of the wheel house and in this manner saved his life. After the war he returned home to Pettis county and remained there until the fall of 1867, when he came to Bates county and rebuilt the home and commenced to mend the family fortunes. How well Mr. Thomas succeeded in his farming and stock raising enterprises is evidenced by the fact that he accumulated a total of twelve hundred acres of land. Of this large acreage he has given each of his children one hundred twenty acres and now owns a tract of one hundred fifty-five acres.

In November of 1867, J. P. Thomas and Mary Anne West were united in marriage. This marriage was blessed with the following children : Mrs. Vida Sw^arens, New Home township ; Robert died in infancy ; Edward Leslie, New Home township ; Mrs. Elizabeth Kate Swarens, New Home township; Mark Henry, Walnut township; Mrs. Martha Jane Clouse, Walnut township; Eveline died in infancy; James Arthur, living on the old home place of the family in New Home township.

The mother of the foregoing children was born in 1852 and departed this life in 1889. She was a daughter of Mark and Minerva (McHenry) West, natives of Tennessee, who settled in Bates county during the early thirties. Minerva (McHenry) West was a daughter of Capt. John

In politics, Mr. Thomas has always been a Democrat. He is a member of the Baptist church, having been associated wdth the first Baptist church organized in this section of the county and also assisted in the building of the Foster Baptist church. And now, in the eventide of life, this patriarch lives in peaceful retirement surrounded by the children whom he reared to upright manhood and womanhood and who have taken their places as useful members of society. James P. Thomas is one of the grand old men of Bates county who has lived to see this county develop into one of the richest and best in the great state of Missouri. It can be said truthfully of him that when he lays down the burdens which his sons and daughters have taken up, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant.'' Although well past four score years of age, Mr. Thomas or "Uncle Jimmy," as he is known to all the country side, is well preserved and hale and hearty, able yet to take a keen interest in affairs from day to day, and no doubt good for many more peaceful years of living.

James Arthur Thomas, proprietor of a splendid farm of one hundred fifty-seven acres in New Home township, known as the "Lone Elm Farm," was born September 10, 1887 on the farm which he now owns. He is a son of James P. Thomas, concerning whom an extended biography is given in this volume. Mr. Thomas was educated in the Virginia district school and attended the Foster high school. His farm is well improved with a handsome, comfortable residence, a substantial barn, and silo, with other buildings in a good state of repair. Mr. Thomas is a breeder of O. I. C. hogs all of which are registered stock to the number of forty head on the place. He is specializing as a breeder of thoroughbred stock of this famous variety and is making a success of the venture. Mrs. Thomas specializes in Barred Rock poultry and has about two hundred thirty head of fine chickens at this writing, January, 1918.

On July 31, 1906, James Arthur Thomas and Rose Cobb were united in marriage. Mrs. Rose (Cobb) Thomas was born July 30, 1889, in New Home township, a daughter of S. E. and Mary Jane (Hopkins) Cobb, the former of whom was a native of Harrison county, and the latter a native of IMorgan county, Missouri. They came to Bates county in 1870 and settled in New Home tow^nship, where the father, S. E. Cobb died in 1904. Mrs. Cobb departed this life in 1907. They were parents of the following children: Mrs. Emma Irvin, Bussey, Iowa; Charles C, New Home township; Jesse R., of Sheridan, \\'yoming, killed in a railroad wTeck December 30. 1917; Mrs. Rose Thomas; Samuel L., now living at the Thomas home ; the first two children born, Sterling Price, died at the age of 32 years, and John Thomas, killed by a mine explosion at the age of 23 years. Four children have been born to J. A. and Rose Thomas: Arthur Lee, born August 20, 1907; the second child died in infancy; Herschell Maxwell, born May 24, 1911; A\'oodrow Pendleton, born February 20, 1912. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Baptist church and Mr. Thomas is a Democrat in politics.

Samuel Peter Halfert. - The late Samuel Peter Halfert, better known as S. P. Halfert. of West Point township, was an industrious and successful citizen, whose loss to the community in which he resided for so many years has been deeply mourned. He was born in Portage county. Ohio, February 4, 1840, and departed this life at his home in Bates county, March 5, 1909. He was a son of George and Rachel (File) Halfert, both of whom were natives of Germany. George Halfert, his father, emigrated from Germany when twenty-one years of age and landed in New York City with but one dollar in his pocket. Rachel, his wife, came from Germany with her parents when she was a child nine years of age. George Halfert died in Ohio in 1861 and the widow with her family removed to ^Michigan.

S. P. Halfert did not, however, locate in Michigan with the rest of the family. Being of an inquiring and inventive turn of mind, he worked out a formula which proved to be efficacious in the art of tanning furs. This recipe he traded for a tract of eighty acres of land located near Dul3uque, Iowa. This tract was good prairie land and after working in the neighborhood of Dubuque for some time, Mr. Halfert disposed of the tract and located in Johnson county, Missouri, in 1866. In Johnson county, he bought eighty acres of land and there married Lina Kane, who died one and a half years after the marriage. Six months after the death of his first wife, Mr. Halfert came to Bates county and bought an "eighty" located near Cornland in the southern part of the county. He improved this tract and resided thereon for eighteen months, a bachelor. He then married and for a period of nine years cultivated this farm. Selling out the tract, he located, in the early eighties, in A\>st Point township, as he had traded his possessions for one hundred sixty acres of land there located, a tract which was unimproved. This land he traded for eighty acres which were improved with an old house, cribs, and buildings of mediocre character. With the assistance of his able, energetic wife he prospered and increased his holdings to a grand total of four hundred eighty acres. This land has been divided since his death and the widow now owns the homestead of one hundred sixty acres.

Politically, Mr. Halfert was a stanch Republican and always voted the Republican ticket. He took an active interest in political matters and was noted for his straightforwardness and plain manner of speaking. His honesty was proverbial and his rating as a citizen was high.

S. P. Halfert was united in marriage with Sarah Ellen Kelley on December 15, 1872. To this union were born the following children: John Charles Halfert, born October 18, 1874, and now residing on a farm in West Point township; George W'illiam Peter, born September 3, 1886, at home with his mother; John Charles Halfert married Anna Gifford and has three children: Ida Celeste, Virolee Ellen, and Clyde Marvin, who was named in honor of a preacher despite the wishes of his grandmother, who desired that he be named in honor of his grandfather.

Mrs. Sarah Ellen Halfert was born Deceml^er 13, 1854, in Pennsylvania, a daughter of John and Eliza (Johnson) Kelley, natives of the Keystone state who removed to Newton county, Indiana, in 1855 and resided there until 1867 when they came to Bates county. Mrs. Eliza Kelley died in Indiana in 1861, leaving six children, as follow: Mary Jane, died in Colorado ; Mrs. Ollie Kelley, Butler, Missouri ; John, died when a youth; Aaron, died November 5, 1908, on a farm near Cornland, Bates county; Sarah Ellen Halfert, of this review; and Charles T., died in infancy. John Kelley was again married in 1873 to Mrs. Sallie Carpenter, who bore him four children: Samuel W., deceased; Andrew, living in northern Minnesota; Mrs. Rena Dillon, who is living near Butler; May, residing in California. The second Mrs. Kelley died upon the birth of her last child. December 1, 1867, the Kelley family arrived in Bates county and settled upon a farm in the vicinity of Cornland, which farm Mr. Kelley cultivated until his death, Eebruary 18. 1881.

Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman who has accomplished wonders in the management and improvement of her fine farm since her late husband's death. She has remodeled and rebuilt practically every structure on the place and has all of them attractively painted in a dark red color, the residence and buildings making a handsome appearance from the roadway. She has had erected a thirty-barrel water tank for farm purposes which is kept filled by a pump operated by wind-mill power and everything is in first-class condition. A cyclone devastated the farm in 1909 and did considerable damage but it was quickly repaired. This energetic farm lady, despite her years, does a great part of the farm work and maintains a herd of ten dairy cows which yield one can of cream weekly from February to July, thus bringing her an income of seven dollars weekly. She has a total of eighteen head of cattle and nineteen head of Duroc Jersey hogs on the place. During the laying season, she disposes of two thirty-dozen cases of eggs each week from her poultry plant. Mrs. Halfert attends to her poultry and hogs, and does a great part of the milking herself. At this writing, December, 1917, she had four hundred bushels of oats in her granary and more than one thousand bushels of corn in crib. She owns a splendid team of horses and a brood mare. In the spring of 1917, she disposed of more than three hundred dollars worth of horses and mules. Mrs. Halfert is a woman who is highly capable of managing her own affairs. She believes in keeping up with the times and her success in conducting a large farm has demonstrated that at least one woman can manage a business successfully. She is emphatically in favor of woman suffrage and looks forward to the time wdien she will be able to vote equally with men. Altogether, Mrs. Halfert is a remarkable woman in more ways than one - kind hearted, obliging, and broad-minded - and she has a deep and abiding love for her home county and her country.

James W. Bobbitt. retired merchant and former postmaster of Sprague, Missouri, has, since the very beginning of the town of Sprague, been one of the leading citizens of this locality. He was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, January 18, 1850, a son of Joseph D. and Polly Ann (Barrow) Bobbitt, both of whom were born and reared in old Kentucky. The parents of Joseph D. Bobbitt were natives of Virginia, who made a settlement in Kentucky during the early years of the history of that state. Mr. Bobbitt migrated to Missouri and arrived in Pettis county on March 10, 1870. For a time he was engaged in the mercantile business in Pettis county until his removal to Wilson county, Kansas, where he again engaged in mercantile pursuits, remaining in Kansas until he came to Sprague, Bates county, Missouri, in 1900. He was engaged in business here until a short time before his death in 1910. Mrs. Polly Ann Bobbitt died in 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbitt were the parents of the following children: James W., subject of this review; William Per- kins, a resident of La Fontaine, Kansas; Mrs. Nannie Prigmore, a widow living at Pueblo, Colorado; and Perry Davis Bobbitt, Canon City, Colorado.

J. W. Bobbitt received his schooling in Kentucky, his commonschool education being followed by a course in the Davis Academy in Kentucky. He accompanied his parents to Missouri in 1870 and for two years after his arrival in Pettis county he and his brothers followed farming while the father conducted his store. He then engaged in business with his father. In 1878, he came to Bates county and settled on a farm four miles north of Sprague. In 1881 he located in Sprague and opened one of the first mercantile establishments in the village. He established the first harness business, and then opened a general mercantile store which he conducted until 1906 when he retired from active business pursuits. Mr. Bobbitt has an eighty-acre farm, located west of Sprague, which is cultivated by a tenant.

Mr. Bobbitt was married March 8, 1876, to Miss Hattie E. Winston, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of Drayton and Mary Winston, natives of North Carolina, who first made a settlement in Pettis county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county in 1882, settling on a farm located north of Sprague where both died in the same year, of 1887. To James W. and Hattie Bobbitt have been born children as follow: Mrs. Minnie McCray, Pueblo, Colorado, who has two .-children - Murle, and William W. ; Mrs. Cecil Gault, Buhl, Idaho, who has three daughters, Theo, Esther, and Genevieve; Clyde, at home with his parents ; and Mrs. Auda Lee, Pueblo, Colorado, who has an infant daughter, Johanna Elizabeth.

The Republican party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Bobbitt, who has been one of the leaders of his party for many years in Bates county. He has held many positions of trust during his long residence here and has acquitted himself creditably in every instance. For a period of twenty-three years, he served as postmaster of Sprague. In March, 1915, he was elected tax collector of Howard township and served for two years in this ofiice. He has always taken a great interest in school matters and at the present writing is president of the local school board. WHien Sprague w^as actively maintained as an incorporated town, he served as a member and clerk of the town council. Mr. Bobbitt is a member of the Christian church and is serving as clerk and treasurer of the Sprague Christian church. He is fraternally af^Hated with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

P. L. Shelton, superintendent of the Hickory Hill Mining Company, Foster, jMissouri, is a native son of Bates county who has achieved a striking success in the coal mining field of this county. At the present critical period of our nation's history (1918) when there is hardly a locality, industry, or city which is not crying for coal, and more coal, in order to ward off the chills of winter and keep the wheels of industry going, the individual who is doing his utmost to assist in supplying this demand is performing a public service of great value. The mines in Mr. Shelton's direct charge give employment to over fifty men at high wages and the only dit^culty experienced in conducting mine operations is in securing the necessary cars in which to ship the output. A strip mine is operated near Foster wdiich has a capacity of forty tons daily and employs fifteen men. The Hickory Hill Mine, one of Mr. Shelton's newest ventures, is a slope mine, located about one and one-fourth miles west of Foster upon a tract of two hundred ten acres underlaid \vith a splendid coal deposit and having an average output of one hundred tons. This mine is in the infancy of its development and was opened by Mr. Shelton in January, 1917. From twenty-five to fifty men are given employment at this mine, which is ecjuipped with modern hoisting machinery operated by gas engines at a cost of eight}^ dollars per month, making a distinct saving in the hoisting expense of the coal to the top of the mine tipple for screening and loading. A tramway one-fourth of a mile in length conveys the coal to the railway spur or independent switch on the Missouri Pacific railroad.

The birth of P. L. Shelton occurred on a farm in New Home township. May 25, 1871. His parents were James C. (born in 1847, died in 1895), and Susan (Fads) Shelton (born August 29, 1845), the latter of whom is now making her home in Kansas City. James C. Shelton w^as born on a pioneer farm in Deepwater township, a son of Robert Shelton, a native of Kentucky, wdio was among the very earliest pioneer settlers of Bates county, coming here in 1845 when this entire section was an unsettled wilderness of prairie and forest. In 1849, Robert Shelton drove a freight wagon to the Pacific Coast on the hunt for gold in the mining country. He made the entire distance wdiile driving a slow-moving ox-team. James C. Shelton was accidentally killed while employed in a strip mine ditch, his death being caused by the caving in of the sides of the ditch, so-called. Susan (Fads) Shelton, was likewise a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri, her birth occurring at California, Missouri. To James C. and Susan Shelton were born eight children, seven of whom are Hving: P. L.j eldest of the family; Edward A., Kansas City; Mrs. S. Cordelia Blackburn, Kansas City; Airs. Melissa Snuffer, Kansas City; Mrs. Mary Pierce, Kansas City; H. C, also living in Kansas City; and Mrs. Anna Stuart, Utah.

Not long after the birth of P. L. Shelton, his parents located in Walnut township, on a farm one-fourth of a mile east of Foster. He was educated in the A\'alnut township schools and assisted his parents in the. support of the family' until he was twenty-six years old. He began to make his own way in 1897 and has been employed in coal-mining on his own account since 1891. Mr. Shelton has been carrying on farming and mining operations for the past twenty years and is an enterprising, energetic citizen who is considered the busiest man in the town of Foster. During the greater part of this period he has been an operator and an employer of labor and knows every phase of the mining industry, having learned his business in the hard school of practical experience. He has a substantial interest in the Hickory Hill Mining venture and is the practical owner of the strip mines near Foster.

Mr. Shelton w^as married on March 31, 1897, to Jennie B. Webb, who was born in Ray county, Missouri, December 6, 1878, a daughter of H. H. and D. E. (Stevens) Webb, natives of Tennessee and Missouri, respectively. Her parents came to Bates county in 1885. Her father is deceased and her mother resides in Moberly, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Shelton have a fine family of five sons and three daughters, namely: Pleasant H., a student in the Kansas City Business College ; Myrtle, a student in Westport High School; DeWitt, Herbert, Paul, Arlo, Mildred, and Marie, at home. It is worthy of mention that Mr. Shelton's father operated the old Campbell's Crossing ferry boat located on the Marais des Cygnes on the route of the old overland trail to Fort Scott. An uncle of P. L. Shelton, Will Lee Shelton, served four years in the Confederate army during the Ci'vil War.

Mr. Shelton is a Democrat who takes a proper interest in political affairs but has little time for politics. He and Mrs. Shelton are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Shelton is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Mystic Workers, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Rebekahs. Mrs. Shelton is a member of the Daughters of Rebekah, and the Royal Neighbors Auxiliary lodges. Mr. and Mrs. Shelton have good apd just right to be proud of the fact that they are members of two of the oldest pioneer families of western Missouri. The Shelton home is a cheery and hospitable one, and Mr. Shelton is deservedly popular with his employes and the men with whom he is doing business. He is one of the most successful business men of Bates county and a hustler of the most energetic type.

David W. Thompson, postmaster, Hume, Missouri, is a native-born Missourian. He was born on a farm in Cass county, April 20, 1868, a son of J. L. and Nancy (Elliot) Thompson, natives of Ireland. Both J. L. Thompson and Nancy Elliot came to America from their native land when children with their respective parents, and were reared in Cass county, Illinois. They were there married and, in 1866, migrated to Missouri and made a settlement in Cass county. After a residence of fourteen years in Cass county, they removed to Bates county and settled on a farm located two miles south of Hume in Howard township, in 1880. Two years later, the father died in 1882. The widow finished rearing the fine family of eight sons and a daughter and now resides in Hume. The children of J. L. and Nancy Thompson are as follow: Mrs. Emma R. Hern, Hume, Missouri; William M., a farmer living at Hume; John M., prosperous farmer and live-stock buyer, Hume, Missouri; Joseph F., farmer, Hume; James B., farmer, Hume; Robert A., who lives on the old home place south of Hume; David W., subject of this review; Edward W., Kansas City, Missouri; Arthur A., window trimmer for the firm of Browning, King & Company, Kansas City, Missouri. All the eight sons of J. L. Thompson are Democrats of the tried and true variety.

David W. Thompson was twelve years of age when he came to Bates county with his parents. His common school education was completed in the district school of his home locality and he attended the Normal School at Ft. Scott, Kansas, for one year. His first employment, other than working on the home farm, was as clerk in a general store at Hume, prior to his marriage. For a period of two years, he was engaged in the mercantile business in Hume on his own account and, in 1894, disposing of his business in town, he purchased a farm of eighty acres in section sixteen of Howard township. This tract of land had been devastated by a tornado, which had swept through this section of Missouri, and Mr. Thompson erected practically all of the improvements on the place. Some time after making his initial purchase of eighty acres, he added a fortyacre tract, making one hundred twenty acres in all, which he owns. This farm is well improved and highly productive. Mr. Thompson cultivated his farm until his appointment as postmaster of Hume, at which time he removed to a residence in the town.

D. W. Thompson was married in 1892 to Miss Dana Ellis, of Vernon county, Missouri, a daughter of Robert Ellis, now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two chidlren : Ceran E., aged twenty-five years, who is employed in the offices of the Kansas City & Southern Railway at Kansas City, Missouri; and Mildred E., aged eighteen years, a student in the H.ume High School, class of 1918.

Mr. Thompson is a Democrat in his political allegiance and takes a good Democrat's interest in politics. He was appointed to the position of postmaster of Hume on January 21, 1915, and took up the duties of his office on February 1, 1915. His conduct of the affairs of the office during the past two years of his incumbency has been such as to please the most exacting of the patrons. He is a member of the Baptist church and is a member of the Fraternal Aid Society.

Thomas Henry Lewis, better known as "T. H. Lewis," owner of four hundred twenty-four acres of excellent farm land in West Point township, is a son of the Rev. A. H. Lewis, late of Bates county, and one of the most widely known, pioneer Baptist ministers of Missouri, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. Lewis has a splendidly improved farm upon which he has resided since April of 1890. Upon this farm he placed practically all of the improvements and fencing. During the past year of 1917, he harvested ninety-five acres of corn, which yielded a total of twenty-four hundred bushels of grain ; thirty acres of oats which yielded one thousand fifty bushels of oats; twenty-six acres of hay which cut thirty tons in all. He had planted a total of one hundred twenty-five acres in wheat for next year's harvesting in compliance with the calls of his government for a greater wheat acreage in order that America may feed herself and the allies in the great world war. He has, at the present writing, a fine herd of forty-eight head of Shorthorn cattle, forty-four head of Duroc Jersey hogs, forty-three sheep, and twenty-five head of horses and mules.

Mr. Lewis was born in Saline county, Missouri, in 1862. He was three years old when his parents moved to Ray County, Missouri. He was ten years of age when the family made a permanent home in Bates county in 1872. He was reared on the home place of the Lewis family and attended Willow Branch school. School was held in a small building 16 X 24 feet in size. His best teacher, as he recalls, was Prof. DeWitt Daniels, who was learned in the classics and taught his pupils the higher branches, thus giving the ambitious students the benefits of higher education and saving them the necessity of leaving home to attend a school of higher learning. Mr. Lewis began for himself when he became of age and farmed his father's place until 1890, when he began entirely on his own account. XMiile he received some assistance from his father, he has achieved the greater part of his success through his own endeavors. His first purchase of land was one hundred sixty acres, to which he added fifty-three and three-tenths acres, then fifty-one acres, then eighty acres, and to his enlarged tract was added still another eighty acres. His first home, built in 1890, was a small afi^air, 14 x 24 feet, which he rebuilt in 1903 and 1904, making a substantial farm residence of eight rooms which sits well back from the roadway to the south. Upon the Lewis farm are about twenty-five acres of timl)er, wdiich furnish fuel and lumber for building purposes for the farm.

Mr. Lewis was married in 1890 to Miss Fannie E. Covington, who was l^orn in Culpepper county, \^irginia. and who first came to jMissouri upon a visit to the Lewis family. She is a daughter of Robert C. and Frances (Brown) Covington, of Culpepper county, Virginia. To this marriage have been born the following children: Robert L., a farmer in Elkhart township; Abram H., a soldier in the National Army, now in training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma ; Virginia Frances, Percy Wallace, Dora Elizabeth, at home; Thomas Coleman, deceased; and Frank, at home.

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mv. Lewis, although he has never taken an active part in political matters. He and the members of his family are aftiliated with the Baptist church.

J. C. Biggs, cashier of the Commercial Bank of Hume, Missouri, was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1858, a son of Andrew E. and Sarah (Payton) Biggs, natives of McLean county. Illinois, and Ohio, respectivelv.

Andrew E. Biggs, his father, came to Bourbon county, Kansas, in 1857, and entered homestead land which now forms a part of the site of the thriving city of Ft. Scott. His purpose in coming to Kansas at that early period was to take part in the making of Kansas into a free state. Naturally, his presence in Bourbon county was not desired by the slavery men, wdio were at that time in the majority. He, with others of his persuasion, found it necessary in order to save their lives, to leave the territory. He returned to his old home in McLean county, Illinois, in 1859, and remained there until 1878. when he again came to the West and located in Miami county, Kansas. He followed farming in that county until 1880, at which time he removed to Custer county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead. Five years later, he returned eastward and made his final settlement in Bates countv, where he resided until his death in

1904 at the age of sixty-three years. He was the father of seven children, as follow: J. C, subject of this review; B. F., proprietor of a meat and grocery store in Hume; Mrs. Ella Palmer, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Phoebe McLean, deceased; Mrs. Lizzie Snell, Hume, Missouri; Harmon, a railroad man whose headquarters are at Wichita, Kansas; Charles, also a railroader living at Hume. The last four children mentioned in the preceding paragraph were born of a second marriage of Andrew E. Biggs with Jennie Settle. Mrs. Jennie Biggs now makes her home at Hume.

J. C. Biggs, subject of this review, received his education in the common schools and at Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois. For a period of seven years he taught school successfully in Illinois and Bates county, Missouri, his last year in the profession of teaching, 1883-1884, having been spent in Bates county. During the years of 1885 and 1886, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia in Bates county. Following which he came to Hume in 1887 and from 1887 to 1892 he was engaged in the drug business, the Biggs' Drug Store now being conducted by his son. From 1892 to 1896. he was connected with the old Hume Bank, after which he again re-entered the drug business and remained in this business until 1903, when he organized the Commercial Bank of Hume, a banking concern which has a well-merited and successful growth for the past fifteen years. His capabilities as banker have been recognized, and as its cashier he has been the guiding hand for this bank. In addition to his banking interests, Mr. Biggs is a successful farmer and prides himself upon the fact that he is as much a farmer as a banker. He is owner of four hundred acres of splendid farm land in Howard township, the cultivation of wdiich place receives his personal attention. The Biggs farm produces, upon an average, one hundred head of hogs and from forty to eighty head of cattle, annually.

Mr. Biggs was married in 1883 to Miss Cora B. Forsythe, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of Charles Forsythe, an early settler of Bates county, Missouri, who located in this county in the early sixties. Mr. and Mrs. Biggs have three children : George, a druggist, Hume, Missouri, a graduate pharmacist, married Miss Mary Sieg; Mrs. L. C. Williams, Tulsa, Oklahoma, has two sons, John Robert and Richard James; Kenneth, aged thirteen years, who is attending school.

Mr. Biggs is allied with the Republican party and is religiously affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and takes high rank as a public-

The Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri, was organized and began business May 4, 1903. This bank was organized by J. C. Biggs, its present cashier, with a capital of ten thousand dollars. Associated with Mr. Biggs in the organization were W. B. Waytes, who served as the first president of the bank; S. R. Humphrey, as vice-president; and H. C. Curtis, assistant cashier. W. C. Foster, with the preceding named gentlemen served as the board of directors. For the past fifteen years the bank has continued to do business at the original location in the brick building located on the northwest corner of the public square in Hume. Mr. Humphrey died in October, 1913, and he was succeeded by C. E. Horton. Mr. Waytes died in 1915 and his successor, W. C. Foster, became president of the bank. The present officers are : W. C. Foster, president; C. E. Horton, vice-president; J. C. Biggs, cashier; J. P. Adams, assistant cashier. The foregoing, with E. N. Martin, W. L. Thompson and R. W. McConnell, now constitute the board of directors. The latest statement of the financial condition of the Commercial Bank gives assets as follow: Capital stock, ten thousand dollars; surplus, five thousand dollars; deposits, one hundred sixty-five thousand dollars. The yearly statement of annual deposits given as taken from the bank records for the month of November show the steady and consistent growth of the Commercial Bank. The deposits were as follow for each current year beginning with November of 1903 and continuing for the same month in each succeeding year: 1903, $18,332.31; 1904, $22,785; 1905, $35,298; 1906, $84,785.60; 1907, $105,604.15; 1908, $77,991.55; 1909, $83,961 ; 1910, $102,611.29; 1912, $117,048.63; 1913, $80,540.78; 1914, $81,315.90; 1916, $81,080.59; and 1917, $165,000.

Harry L. Curtis, the efiicient and highly capable cashier of the State Bank of Hume, Missouri, is a hustler who received his business and financial training in the "school of hard knocks" and has made good. Air. Curtis was born Septeml)er 4, 1870, in Logan county, Illinois, a son of W. L. and Susannah (Landis) Curtis, both of whom are natives of Virginia, where they were born, reared, and married. W. L. Curtis migrated from Illinois to Kansas in 1876, and followed farming operations in the southwestern part of the state until 1895, when he came to Hume, Missouri, and is now engaged in the grain and elevator business.

sas and received his first banking experience in that locaHty. He first located in Hume in the year 1899 and became identified with the old Hume Bank which had been founded by Messrs. Standish and Horton. He served as bookkeeper of this concern until 1903 and then assisted in the organization of the Commercial Bank of Hume and remained with that concern until he organized the State Bank of Hume. He organized this bank in 1911 and under his management the concern is proving a financial success. This bank was opened for business in 1912 with a capital of ten thousand dollars. The organizers were Dr. Botts, R. M. Duncan, J. T. Lee, J. M. Thompson and H. L. Curtis. The company erected a fine brick building and fitted the interior with modern fixtures and a splendid vault. The bank has enjoyed a steady growth in strength and patronage since its organization and now has total resources of over one hundred thousand dollars. The present ofiicers are : R. M. Duncan, president; Dr. Botts, vice-president, and H. L. Curtis, cashier. The board of directors include the foregoing ofiticers and Messrs. Lee and Thompson.

In addition to his banking business, Mr. Curtis conducts an insurance and farm loan department, being the agent in tliis section of Missouri for the Walton Trust Company, of Butler. He is also a farmer and owns a splendid farm of one hundred sixty acres northwest of Hume. While this farm is operated by a tenant, it is one of the most productive in Bates county, having yielded its owner a net profit of fourteen dollars per acre on the wheat acreage during the past year and has yielded a profit of eighteen dollars per acre on the corn crop.

Mr. Curtis was married in July, 1915, to Miss Ada Montgomery, of Chicago, Illinois, and to this marriage has been born a daughter, Louise, born December 28, 1916 Mr. Curtis is a pronounced Democrat in his political allegiance. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, having taken all degrees of Masonry up to and including the Thirty-second Degree, being both a Scottish Rite and York Mason. Mr. Curtis, while among the younger financial men of Bates county, has achieved a success second to none in the county during the years he has been here a resident. He takes an active and influential interest in the affairs of his home town and of Bates county and is usually found in the forefront of all undertakings having for their object the betterment of conditions in the county and the advancement of the welfare of the people.

Edward Leslie Thomas or "E. L." Thomas, as he is more famiHarly known, owner of "Capital Hill Farm," a splendid farm place of two hundred forty acres in New Home township, is a native son of Missouri and was born on a farm in New Home township, Bates county, August 8, 1873. He is a son of James P. Thomas, one of the oldest of the living pioneer settlers of this county, concerning whom a biographical review is given elsewdiere in this volume. The Thomas place is a beautiful one, the well-kept residence being located upon an eminence which overlooks the surrounding country for miles in every direction. One hundred sixty acres of this farm comprise the original home place owned by Mr. Thomas in New Home township and eighty acres are located just across the highway in Walnut township. The residence and farm buildings are reached by a driveway coming from the west. Mr. Thomas carries on general farming operations and raises cattle and hogs. He was reared and educated in Bates county, attending the Virginia district school. At the age of nineteen years he began farming for himself upon his father's farm. His father made him a present of a team of horses and later, in 1896, gave him a deed to one hundred eighty acres of farm land, eighty acres of which his residence has been erected upon. Later he gave him another forty acres. Mr. Thomas placed all of the improvements upon his place and has added one hundred twenty acres to his original holdings.

Mr. Thomas has been twice married, his first marriage occurring in 1892 with Ella Woods, who died on September 7, 1898. On June 10, 1902, he was united in marriage with Miss Maude Woodfin, who was born in Walnut township, February 28, 1878, a daughter of Jason and Prudence (Miller) Woodfin, pioneer residents of Bates county, concerning whom an extended review is given in this work. Her father is deceased and her mother resides upon the old home place in Walnut township. Both the Miller and Woodfin families were among the first pioneer famihes in this section of Bates county and are among the most honored and respected. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have no children of their own, but are rearing a boy, Chan Calloway. In politics, Mr. Thomas has always been a Democrat. Mrs. Thomas is a member of the Christian church. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are popular in their home community, enjoying life to the utmost and are loyal citizens of Bates county, who count among their many friends the best and most substantial people of the county.

Edward Leslie Thomas And Wife

James Perry Adams, assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank, Hume, Missouri, was born in Pettis county, Missouri, January 9, 1874, a son of James D. and Martha A. (Siceloff) Adams, natives of Virginia and North Carohna, respectively. Both father and mother of J. P. Adams came with their respective parents to Pettis county directly after the close of the Civil War and were married in that county. James D. Adams was a son of John Adams, who became well known and prominent in the affairs of his adopted county. James D. Adams removed to Bates county in 1879 and located on a farm two miles south of Hume in Howard township. He spent the remainder of his days in the cultivation of his farm and died at his home January 25, 1895, at the age of fifty-three years. To James D. and Martha A. Adams were born ten children, as follow: H. v., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Callie McLean, of Tempe, Arizona ; Emmet, residing at Tempe, Arizona ; Eugene, Gentry, Arkansas ; James Perry, subject of this review; Mrs. Bettie Crews, Houstonia, Missouri; Jessie, at home with her mother; Mrs. Myrtle Wood, Hume, Missouri; John, at home; and Neville, Pueblo, Colorado. The mother of the large family was born in 1848 and now makes her home in Hume.

J. P. Adams was educated in the district schools and the Hume High School. Having been reared on a farm, he quite naturally made the pursuit of agriculture his vocation and began farming on his own account in 1895. He rented land until 1900 and then made a purchase of one hundred sixty acres located southeast of Hunie in Howard township. Success attended his efforts and with good business management he made a pronounced success of his farming operations. His farm is well improved and is one of the most productive tracts of land in Bates county. Mr. Adams remained in direct charge of his farm until 1910, after which he rented the place and has since made his home in Hume. On December 15, 1910, he became identified with the Commercial Bank of Hume as a director and assistant cashier. His success in banking circles is as pronounced as was his first venture as a farmer and landowner.

Mr. Adams was married on September 4, 1895, to Miss Minnie Ackerman, who was born in Johnson county, Missouri, a daughter of James T. Ackerman, now a substantial farmer and stockman of Howard township, concerning whom a biographical sketch is presented elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have a son, J. Walter, born December 5, 1898, now a student in the Hume High School. Mr, Adams is politi- cally allied with the Democratic party and he and Mrs. Adams are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to which religious denomination they are liberal contributors.

John G. Holland, living retired in his substantial country home near Hume, Missouri, one of the oldest residents of Howard township, is descended from an old American family of Moravian origin. Mr. Holland's career in Bates county, where he has resided for more than two score years in the capacity of an active agriculturist, has been marked with success of a high order. He was born at Salem, North Carolina, in 1849, a son of Eli and Lizzie (Mitchell) Holland, both natives of North Carolina. Eli Holland was a son of John Holland, a Moravian, who emigrated from England to America about the time of the American Revolution or shortly afterward.

Eli Holland, father of J. G. Holland, enlisted in the Confederate army in 1862 and served until the close of the Civil War. Directly after the ending of the struggle between the states he came to Missouri and for some time resided at Knob Noster, in Johnson county. He died in Johnson county in 1867. The mother of John G. Holland died in Johnson county a few years later, in 1871.

In the year 1875, J. G. Holland began his successful career in Bates county, when he joined his brother, O. T. Holland, in the purchase of four hundred acres of unimproved prairie land in Howard township. He came to this county in 1880 and associated himself with his brother in the development and cultivation of this large tract and the venture met with substantial and gratifying returns, the original purchase being increased to the large total of eight hundred eighty acres, which they together continued to farm until 1894. January 1, 1894, J. G. Holland bought the place which is now his home, consisting of three hundred twenty acres. This tract he improved and erected thereon a large residence. A division was made at this time of the holdings of the brothers and in addition to his home place, Mr. Holland owns a half interest in one hundred sixty acres more in Howard township and is half owner of two hundred forty acres of fine land located near Adrian in Bates county. Mr. Holland has always been an extensive livestock feeder and breeder, and has at the present time on his farms a total of one hundred head of cattle, one hundred head of hogs, and thirty head of horses and mules. During 1917, his two sons, John and Richard, who of late years have capably relieved him of the burden of the management of the large farm, harvested one hundred fifteen acres of corn which yielded forty bushels to the acre; thirty-five acres of wheat which gave an average yield of fifteen bushels to the acre; twenty acres of hay which cut over one ton to each acre. The Holland boys had planted last year of 1917 one hundred twenty-five acres in wheat in order to assist in meeting the demands of the entire world for a greater supply. There are no better nor more intelligent, progressive farmers in Bates county than John and Richard Holland.

Mr. Holland was married in 1887 to America Badgett, who was born in 1862 in Kentucky, a daughter of John R. Badgett, one of the early settlers of Howard township. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Holland resided in Hume for one year and then moved to their present home, which Mr. Holland had erected on his place, located just one-half mile northeast of Hume. Four children have been born to J. G. and America Holland: John and Richard, who are conducting the farm work; Mary, a student in college at St. Louis; and Irene, a pupil in the ninth grade of the Hume Consolidated Schools.

Mr. Holland has always been a Democrat and prides himself upon the fact that he has always voted the straight Democratic ticket. The only interest he has taken in politics has been to actively assist his friends who were seeking political preferment. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. South. For the past thirty years Mr. Holland has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is progressive in his tendencies and has always favored all measures and undertakings which have had the best interest of the people of his home community and county at heart. He and his sons, John and Richard, were active supporters of the movement which culminated in the establishment of the Consolidated Grade Schools at Hume and were of considerable influence in the struggle which resulted in the success of the movement.

Alphonso Freeman Weedin. - The name of Weedin is identified with the earliest period of Missouri history and goes back over a century to the troublesome days when the adventurous white settlers were striving to wrest the great domain, the vast wilderness which comprised the territory of Louisiana, from the wild red men. A. F. Weedin, prosperous farmer and stockman of Howard township. Bates county, is a worthy descendant of brave Missouri pioneers, who came to Missouri as early as the year 1811. He was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, September 12, 1848, a son of Rev. Caleb and Eliza (Moore) Weedin, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter a native of Kentuckv. Caleb

Weediii was born January 16, 1799, a son of Benjamin W'eedin, who emigrated from South Carolina to Tennesese in 1809 and two years later in 1811, came to Missouri and became a member of the colony which settled near old Fort Boone. The Indians were very troublesome in those early days and for a period of three years the white settlers and Indians were constantly at war, the settlers finding it necessary to build a stockade and therein keep their families in safety from marauding bands of savages. The younger members of the little band, with the women, frequently found it necessary to defend the fort while the older men were absent on expeditions which were necessary for their maintenance and comfort. On one occasion, while Benjamin Weedin with his older associates were absent at the Osage Mission on a search for cattle which the Indians had stolen from the settlers, young Caleb with the other boys and the women in the stockade beat off an Indian attack. At another time, two men were sent out from the fort to reconnoiter and were attacked by Indians. One man, a Mr. Savage, was killed, while the other reached the fort in safety. In 1814, the Indians having become peaceably inclined, Benjamin Weedin settled on a tract of land near Booneville, and remained in Missouri until his death.

Caleb Weedin returned to Kentucky and ]:>ecame a minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. For many years he preached the Gospel in Kentucky, principally in the vicinity. of Glasgow, Barren county, in southern Kentucky. He died in 1864, after a useful life of devout service in behalf of men's souls. He was married in Kentucky in 1826 to Elizabeth Swan Moore, who was born in Kentucky July 20, 1810, a daughter of Samuel Swan and Maiy Moore.

To Rev. Caleb and Elizabeth Weedin were born children, as follow: Samuel S., wdio was a professor in McGee College, Missouri, at the time of his death; B. D., who came to Missouri in 1857 and became very prominent in the alTairs of Lafayette county, Missouri, and served as a mem- ])er of the county court and is county surveyor for many years, dying at Lexington, Missouri; Mary Catharine, deceased wife of Dr. J. C. Provine, Nashville, Tennessee; Anna E., died in 1917; ^Vlargaret E., deceased wife of Prof. H. A. Scomb, of Boyle county, Kentucky; \\\ H., a teacher for many years in Kentucky and Tennessee ; Caleb C, a farmer in Kentuckv; Sarah, deceased; and Alphonso P>eeman. subject of this reviev/ and the only surviving member of the family.

A. F. Weedin, subject of this review, received his primary education in the public schools of his native state and then finished his education at Center College, Danville, Kentucky. He taught in the public schools of Kentucky for a period of three years, and in November of 1875 came to Missouri and taught during the following year in Lafayette county. In 1876, he journeyed to Utah and for some months was engaged in mining in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. After his mining venture, he returned to Lafayette county, Missouri and was married in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. Weedin resided in Lafayette county for a short time and then removed to Johnson county where they resided for a period of one and a half years. On Christmas Day of 1879 they arrived in Butler, Bates county and came to their farm in Howard township on the day following, taking up their abode in a small house which Mr. Weedin had previously erected on his farm. The small house or "shanty" was their home for three years and they then moved into more comfortable quarters which they built. This home was burned and was succeeded by a pretty farm cottage which is set attractively on a rise of ground north of the highway which goes past the Weedin home. The land which Mr. Weedin purchased in 1879 was unbroken prairie and unfenced but well watered with flowing water from natural springs and a creek. It is provided with good farm buildings and is one of the most productive farms in this section of Missouri. Mr. Weedin owns a total of two hundred eighty acres of valuable land.

A. F. Weedin was married in August, 1878, to Miss Mary Lankford, who was born on a farm near Lexington, Missouri, December 22, 1859, a daughter of Barnett and Euphemia (Catron) Lankford, early pioneer settlers and extensive land-owners of Lafayette county. To this marriage eight children have been born, as follow : Mrs. Anna Puryear, Rochester, Minnesota, who has four children ; John Daniel Weedin. a railroad fireman whose home is at Calwa City, California, and who is father of three children; Frances, wife of Clarence Finch, of Kansas City. ]\lissouri, has two children ; Abner G., who was in training at the Laiited States Naval School at Pensacola, Florida, and is now a member of the Aeronautic Contingent or in the aviation department with General Pershing's army in France; Samuel P., at home with his parents; Margaret Ellen, wife of Edwin Ferguson, a farmer in Howard township; Mary, a teacher in the public schools, who makes her home with her parents; Caleb Clay, a soldier in the Ofificers' Training Camp at San Antonio, Texas. For many years, Mr. Weedin has been one of the leaders of the Democratic party in his township. Because of his educational attainments and natural ability, he has been selected by his fellow townsmen to fill local offices, such as justice of the peace, township clerk, and assessor, and in the last named position he has served two terms of two years each. Having been reared in the faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, he has always adhered to the tenets of that denoimntaion. He is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Personally, Mr. Weedin is a courteous, well-educated gentleman of the old school, one who endeavors to keep abreast of the times and maintains a stout and unswerving loyalty to Bates county and Missouri. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Weedin are numbered among the best families of the county and he ranks as one of Bates county's successful and enterprising citizens.

Orren T. Holland, - \\'hen O. T. Holland came to Bates county in 1879 and selected the beautiful and commanding site whereon he built his permanent home in this county, the country roundabout in Howard township was a vast, unsettled prairie. The grass grew to the height of a stalwart man. and cattle ranged freely in large herds. Settlers were few in the neighborhood and the country was practically new. Both ^Ir. and Mrs. Holland are want to declare that their first years in Bates county were among the happiest in their lives and that neighbors were kind and sociable and ever ready to lend a helping hand in times of need. They visited each other's homes freely, and hospitality was the keynote of the spirit of the homes of that day. The site which Mr. Holland selected for his home is one of the most striking in the county, the Holland residence being located on a gently rising knoll which gives a view extending for miles over the surrounding 'countrv. It is possible, on clear days, to see the dome of the court house- and the church spires in Butler, the county seat. The home is a handsome one and surrounded by shade trees which have grown during the time of the owner. The Holland farm spreads in a vast level stretch from the foot of the hill and is one of the most fertile and productive tracts of land in this section of Missouri. This farm comprises four hundred eighty acres and is essentially a cattle and hog-producing plant. Mr. Holland handles about one hundred head of cattle annually. He was formerly engaged in the breeding of the Polled Angus cattle. More than one hundred head of Duroc Jersey hogs are produced and fattended yearly. During the past year. 1917. there were harvested on this place fifty-five acres of corn which yielded forty-five to sixty bushels of grain to the acre ; fifty-eight acres of oats, twelve acres of which yielded one hundred bushels to the acre: and the entire tract yielded twenty-eight hundred bushels. For the harvest of 1918, Mr. Holland and his sons have sown one hundred twenty-seven acres to wheat on the home farm and there is also sown one hundred twenty-five acres to wdieat on the Holland tracts by the sons of J. S. Holland.

O. T. Holland was born in 1850 at Salem, Forsythe county, North Carolina. He is a son of Eli and Lydia (Mitchell) Holland, both of whom were reared and married in North Carolina. In September of 1865, they removed to Johnson county, Missouri, and located near Knob Noster. The elder Holland was a paper manufacturer by trade but followed farming in Missouri. For further particulars concerning the parents of O. T. Holland, the reader is referred to the biography of J. G. Holland, a brother, which appears elsewhere in this volume. In 1868, the subject of this review located at Lamonte, Pettis county, where he farmed until his removal to Bates county. In Augiist of 1875, he came to this county and made his initial purchase of one hundred sixty acres of land, the site of his present home. For this tract, he paid fifteen dollars an acre. In 1876, he removed to the place and lived for a time in a small house while making the necessary improvements thereon. A well had been dug on the place and one hundred acres broken for cultivation. He was joined by his brother, J. G. Holland in 1879 and the Holland brothers farmed together in a successful partnership arrangement until the partnership was dissolved in 1887. They accumulated, during that period, more than eight hundred eighty acres of land, and since 1887 they have purchased in partnership two hundred forty acres in Elkhart township and another one hundred sixty acres, which they hold in common as equal owners.

Mr. Holland was married December 15, 1875, in Johnson county, to Miss Anna Shepherd, who was born March 11, 1855, in Wilmington, Fluvanna county, Virginia, a daughter of John and Eveline (George) Shepherd, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1867, five years later removing to Johnson county, Missouri. They located near Knob Noster and he resided there until death. The mother of Mrs. Holland died February 6, 1902. Mr. Shepherd died November 17, 1906. To JMr. and Mrs. O. T. Holland have been born children, as follow: Charles, born in 1877, deceased; J. Burl, born November 29, 1878, Rich Hill, Missouri; Adah B., born July 28, 1881, wife of R. W. Crawford, Nevada, Missouri; Eva Vern, born in 1884, the w^ife of F. L. Martin, Hume, Missouri; and Ralph, born November 1, 1886, Rich Hill, Missouri.

Mr. Holland has generally voted the Democratic ticket but has never aspired to political preferment, preferring to do his duty as a private citizen instead of bothering with political matters. He and Mrs. Holland attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Holland is a member of the Baptist church. The home life of the Hollands is a pleasant and hospitable one and they thoroughly enjoy their comfortable home which is open to their friends and the wayfarers at any and all times. They are among the excellent citizens who have done a considerable part in creating Bates county as it now is.

Charles B. Briscoe, pioneer farmer of Walnut township, owner of a half section of fertile land southwest of the town of Foster, is a native of Cooper county, born August 22, 1847, and a son of Samuel L. and Alpha Ann ( Corum ) Briscoe, wdio are among the earliest of the pioneer settlers who settled and developed Cooper county, Missouri. There are three sets of farm improvements on the Briscoe farms, the land being divided into three tracts by the public highways. Mr. Briscoe is wintering at this writing, fifty-five head of cattle in one herd, thirtyfour head in another and has a number of very fine Poland China hogs on the place.

Samuel L. Briscoe, his father, was born March 2. 1817, in Madison county, Kentucky, a son of Andrew Briscoe, wdio had seven brothers, wdio when grown, dispersed in various directions, some settling in Ohio, others locating in Illinois, and others of the family in Indiana. Andrew himself settled in Kentucky, and in June, 1817, moved to Howard county, Missouri. The following year he settled in Cooper county, Missouri, entering there a large tract of 640 acres of free government land. The old Briscoe homestead where Charles B. Briscoe was born and reared, recently sold at a high price of $137.50 an acre - so great has been the advance in value of Cooper county farm lands during the past century. Samuel L. Briscoe was reared to young manhood on the primitive farm in Cooper county and made his home there until 1877, when he came to Bates county and settled on a farm in Walnut township, south of Foster, dying here January 12, 1894. His children were as follow: Charles B., subject of this review; Susan T. Morris, born July 4, 1859, residing in El Dorado, Missouri; William T., born July 22, 1864, lives on a farm northwest of Foster; Andrew Eogan, resides on the old home i)lace of the family in Walnut township; Mrs. Mary Eugenie, born in 1850, wife of Eawrence Eads, living at Arrow Rock, Cooper county, Missouri. Mrs. Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, mother of the foregoing children, was born in Cooper county, near Palestine, February 3, 1828, and died in Bates county, in December, 1909. She was a daughter of Hiram Corum, a native of Georgia, who settled near Old Palestine, Cooper county, as early as 1815.

In the early pioneer days of the upbuilding of Cooper county, the schools were among the best in the country and, as a rule, were supported by private subscription on the part of the pioneers who were descended from some of the best families of the South. Well educated college men came from the East and the younger sons of the families received the benefit of learned instruction from them. Charles B. Briscoe attended school and received instruction in both common and higher branches from college men who came from the East and Kentucky. In his younger days Mr. Briscoe saw roving bands of Indians passing his home in Cooper county, and he remembers with glee that "Grandmother" Cole kept a pan of hot suds ready to pour upon prowling Indians who had a miserable and thieving habit of taking whatever they could lay their hands upon from the homes of the settlers. Mr. Briscoe came to Bates county in 1869 and during his first year's residence in this county he made his home on a place near the old village of New Home while looking after the erection of a shack on his eightyacre tract in Walnut township which he had purchased in 1868 at a cost of five dollars an acre. He moved to his present home place in 1870 and for the past forty-five years has been engaged in agricultural pursuits with considerable success.

On December 3, 1871, he was married to Miss Lucinda C. Miller, born November 29, 1852, on a farm in New Home township, located near the village of New Home. She was a daughter of Oliver H. P. and Charlotte (Bryants) Miller, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respectively. O. H. P. Miller was a soldier in the Confederate army and died in 1863 in Springfield prison, where he had been confined following his capture by the Federals during the Civil War. Mr. Miller was born in Miller county, Missouri, and came to Bates county when a young man. A brother of Mrs. Briscoe, Henry Clay Miller, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, while serving with the Confederate forces. Other children of the family were: Rev. William B. Miller, New Home, Missouri; Mrs. Emily Jane Perry, deceased ; Mrs. Prudence Elizabeth Woodfin, AValnut township; Mrs. Mahala Susan Comer, living near Nevada, Missouri; Mrs. Josephine Daniel, deceased; John, residing on the old home farm in New Home township; and Mrs. Martha Weadon. New Home township. To Charles B. and Lucinda C. Briscoe, have been born the following children : Alvin Jeter, lives in Florida ; Charles Barton, born April 7, 1874, married October 30, 1895, to Nellie Leona Jones and has nine children, Charles Bryan, Fannie Helen, Glenn Francis, Ruby Grace, Mabel Leora, Edith Marie, Ernest Hiram, Pauline Mildred, Louis Edward; Samuel Perry Briscoe, born January 5, 1876, killed August 22, 1917, his remains being interred in Foster cemetery; Clara Gertrude, wife of Ed Shelton, Kansas City, born October 2, 1877, has five children - Arthur Perry, Ernest, Luther, Lottie Marie, Charles James; Tattie Grace, wife of Rand Deaton, Foster, Missouri, born December 11, 1878, and has two children - Lulu Belle and Harvey; Henry Clay Briscoe, born August 30, 1880, lives on a farm four miles northwest of Foster, married Belle Caton, and has two sons, Horace Lee, and Hubert; Margaret C. Briscoe died at the age of fifteen years; Robert Ewing Lee Briscoe, farmer, Walnut township, born March 22, 1885, married Theresa Lake and has three children, Velma Lucille, Frances Laverna, and Katherine Marie; Nora Belle, born March 28, 1888, married John Burns, and lives at Bisbee, Arizona; Frank Stanley Briscoe, born September 18, 1890, lives in New Home township, married Belle Halley.

Mr. Briscoe is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Briscoe belongs to the Christian denomination. During his whole life since attaining voting age, Mr. Briscoe has been allied with the Democratic party and served for six years as assessor of Walnut township. He is widely and affectionately known throughout the countryside as Uncle Charley Briscoe and is highly esteemed as a good and industrious citizen of Bates county.

James S. Cline, proprietor of "Sunny Site Farm," one of the l)est improved farms in this section of Missouri, located in Howard township, Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cline has made an excellent record as a progressive farmer ajid stockman since locating- in this county. "Sunny Site Farm" comprises three hundred fifty acres of land devoted to stock raising on an extensive scale. Mr. Cline erected in 1911 a beautiful, modern bungalow, which has seven rooms and is equipped throughout for comfort and convenience. He has built a large barn, 32x40 feet in size, and eighteen feet to the eaves; erected a silo, 16x40 feet, with a capacity of one hundred eighty tons of silage. Mr. Cline feeds from forty to fifty head of cattle annually, about two car loads of hogs, and at this writing, December, 1917, was feeding several hundred head of sheep.

a son of George W. and America (Fishburn) Cline, natives of Illinois and Pennsylvania, respectively. George W. Cline w^as a son of German parents. He became a prosperous farmer in Illinois and was owner of a half section of valuable land. He died September 10, 1902. Mrs. America Cline, mother of the subject of this review, died January 21, 1916. Ten children survive them: Mary, died at the age of fourteen years; Charles and John, live in Iowa; Frank, lives in Indiana; George, Harry, and Eugene, reside in Illinois; Emma, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Ida Marlin, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Kate Kent, resides in Kalispel, Montana, and James S., of this review.

After attending the district schools of his native county, Mr. Cline began life for himself, when he attained his majority. He worked upon his father's home place until the year 1905. He then went to Indiana and for a period of five years cultivated a farm in White county. He became owner of two hundred acres of land in this county, which land he sold in 1909 and invested the proceeds in six hundred fifty acres in Howard township, Bates county, Missouri. He improved this place and erected a fine residence, and in 1911 resold the three hundred twenty acres containing the improvements to the former owner of the tract. He then erected improvements of a substantial character upon the remaining acreage, located on the south side of the public road. Mr. Cline has made good in Missouri and is a splendid farmer and manager.

Mr. Cline's marriage with Miss Willa M. Borland took place in 1905. Mrs. Willa M. (Borland) Cline was born in Essex, Iowa, a daughter of William and Mary (Mudgett) Borland, the former of whom is deceased and the latter now resides near Chatsworth, Illinois, having married Dwight Davis after Mr. Borland's death. Mr. Davis died in October, 1917.

During the year 1917, Mr. Cline harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded from thirtv to sixty bushels per acre; thirty acres of wheat which ^nelded an average of fifteen bushels to the acre ; and had sown sixty-five acres of wheat for the harvest of 1918. Mr. Cline had a field of sixty acres of oats which yielded fifty bushels to the acre. He believes thoroughly in the efficacy of fertilization as a means of growing larger crops and has put his belief into actual practice on his land with excellent results. He raises the Duroc Jersey hogs and Polled Angus cattle, his herd leader being a registered Polled Angus bull.

Politically, Mr. Cline is an independent Republican. He and Mrs. Cline are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Cline is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Isaiah L. Weirick. The A\'eirick stock farm in Howard township, Bates county, is a splendidly equipped place for the purpose; in fact, no better nor more modern place exists in the county or this section of Missouri. The farm buildings, in their color tone of white, resemble a small village when seen from a distance. Besides the home, Mr. Weirick has erected a tenant house on the place. A large barn, one of the largest of its kind in the county, was completed in 1917 at a cost of forty-live hundred dollars, and which is 40x120 feet in extent. The horse barn is 30x44 feet in size and the buildings are conveniently grouped. The engine house, garage, granary, 36x64 feet, with a fourteen foot shed, and other necessary buildings all fit into the business-like arrangement. Mr. Weirick has also erected a large silo, 16x36 feet with a capacity of one hundred fifty tons of silage. He maintains a dairy herd of grade cows, headed by a Polled x\ngus bull of the registered thoroughbred type. In December, 1917, he was feeding twenty-seven hundred head of sheep for the markets. For the past four years, Mr. A\'eirick has been a heavy sheepfeeder. He is planning feeding five hundred hogs during 1918 and has seven thousand bushels of corn purchased for this purpose. During 1917, he raised eightv acres of corn, into which the sheep were turned for the purpose of consuming grain and forag'e fodder without waste.

I. L. Weirick was born September 1. 1871, in Ohio, a son of William and Sarah (Beach) Weirick, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State. They removed to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1872 and resided there until 1900, when both Mr. I. L. \\'eirick's parents removed to Oklahoma, where they now reside. \\'illiam and Sarah \\'eirick are the parents of the following children : Mrs. Margaret Wamsley, resides in Oklahoma, her parents living with her; ]Mrs. Irene Ehrsman, of Nebraska: Minnie, lives in Oklahoma with her parents: James and Charles, live in Oklahoma; Mrs. Ora .Gay resides in Oklahoma; and Edna, lives in Oklahoma.

Reared on the home farm in Illinois, and after receiving" his education in the district schools, Mr. \\>irick began for himself upon attaining his majority. From 1892 until 1896, he worked upon his father's farm and in 1897 accompanied his parents to their new home in Oklahoma. However, he returned to Illinois in 1897 and engaged in farming for himself. His first farm in Illinois consisted of two hundred acres to which he later added eighty acres and also boug"ht twenty-five acres adjoining the town of Cowden whereon he made his home. During the summer of 1908 he disposed of his Illinois holdings, invested the proceeds in Bates county land, and in February, 1909, he moved his family to this county, where he soon attained a reputation as being a successful stockman and a man of decided business ability.

Mr. Weirick was married in August, 1899, to Miss Grace Fritts, born in Illinois, a daughter of T. J. and Mattie Fritts, the former, a native of Indiana and the latter, of Illinois. Two children have been born to this union, namely: Fritts Henry, born April 17, 1905, and Russell True, born April 23, 1908. In January, 1918, the Weiricks took up their residence in Rich Hill. Mr. Weirick is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience and good judgment dictate. He and Mrs. Weirick are members of the Church of Christ.

James J. Franklin, - The late James J. Franklin, leading citizen and early settler of Howard township. Bates county, Missouri, was a son of one of the earliest of Missouri's pioneers. Settling in Bates county in 1872, at a period when there were very few people living in the southern part of the county, he became one of the most prominent and active citizens of his section of the county. Mr. Franklin was born March 17, 1833, in Tennessee, a son of Fayette Smith Franklin, a native of Amherst county, Virginia, who was a son of John Franklin, who kept a tavern in Amherst county. His father was a brother of Benjamin Franklin, author of "Poor Richard's Almanac," statesman, and inventor, the value of whose services in behalf of his country while the struggle for freedom of the American Colonies was going on, can never be overestimated. Fayette Smith Franklin moved from Virginia to Tennessee after his marriage with Mary Ann Tyree, of Virginia. In 1839, he migrated to Greene county, Missouri. After a short residence there, he moved to Taney county, where he died in 1850. James J. Franklin moved to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early sixties and there enlisted in the Confederate army, serving throughout the Civil War under the Confederate banner until the surrender of Vicksburg by General Pemberton, when he was paroled and returned to his home. From Pettis countv, he moved to Bates county in 1872 and settled on a farm located north of the present Franklin home, later moving to the farm now owned by his widow and which was given to Mrs. Franklin's mother by her grandfather Ewing as a part of her inheritance from the Ewing estate. -Mrs. Franklin's mother deeded the farm. This farm was raw, unbroken land at the time Mr. and Mrs. Franklin began to make it their home. The Franklin farm consists of one hundred sixty acres and the resi- dence is located in a beautiful grove of maples and evergreen trees, presenting an attractive appearance to the traveler. Mr. Franklin died April 12, 1915, after a long life spent in useful and honest endeavor.

James J. Franklin was married December 17, 1867, to Miss Mary R. Field, a daughter of \\'illiam H. and Mary (Fwing) Field. I\Iary (Field) Franklin was born in 1841, in Henry county, Missouri. Her father was born in Virginia in 1814 and died in 1889. He migrated to Cooper county, Missouri, during the early thirties with his father and was there married to Mary Ewing, after which he made a settlement in Henry county, where he resided until 1841. when he returned to Cooper county. After the close of the Civil War, he settled in Pettis county, where he lived until 1872, when he moved to Bates county. Both parents of Mrs. Franklin died at her home. Five children were born to James J. and Mary Franklin, as follow: Marie Ewing, at home with her mother; Eugene, who lives on the home place with his mother; Arthur G. and Ernest, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Earl, who died at the age of nineteen years. Eugene Franklin, the eldest son, was born in 1871 and was married in 1905 to Harriet Shepherd, born in Pettis county, a daughter of J. L. Shepherd, a resident of Howard tovviiship. Eugene and Harriet Franklin have three children: Earl Bedford, Mary Mildred, and Eugene Lee. Eugene Franklin has served two terms as township tax-collector and has served one term of two years as township assessor, having been re-elected to the position in Alarch, 1917. The office came to him unsolicited and was bestowed upon him ])y his fellow-citizens as a token of the liigh esteem in ^vhich he is held. He is a Mason and prominent in Howard township.

In politics, the late James J. Franklin was a Democrat and for years was one of the capable leaders of his party in Bates county. He served as township assessor of How^ard township and performed the duties of the office in a capable manner. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. The death of Mr. Franklin marked the passing of one of the best-known pioneer settlers of this neighborhood and a man who was held in affectionate esteem l)y his neighbors and by those who knew him best. His death was sincerely and truly mourned by his family and the people of Bates county with whom he was widelyacquainted. Mrs. Mary R. Franklin is one of the oldest pioneer women of Bates county living at this time, and, in point of years of residence in this section of the county, she holds second place.

Robert J. Sproul, farmer and dairyman, New Home township, was born in 1879, in Vermilion county, Illinois, a son of William and Flora (Pribble) Sproul, who came to Bates county in 1880 and settled on a farm three miles south of the Sproul place in New Home township. William Sproul cultivated his farm in New Home township until 1914, when he went to Montana and filed upon a government homestead and has since proved up on the place. There were seven children in the Sproul family, four of whom are living.

Robert Sproul was educated in the pul)lic schools of Bates county and has resided on his present farm of two hundred ninety acres since 1904. This farm was formerly owned by his wife's father, and Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are gradually improving the place, one of the most recent of the improvements Ijeing the handsome bungalow. The Sproul homestead is located just north of Nyhart, which furnishes a convenient shipping point for the farm products. Mr. Sproul maintains a fine herd of Jersey milch cows, to the number of twenty, on the place and ships the product of his dairy to the creameries.

Mr. Sproul was married in 1904 to Miss Lettie Daniel and to this marriage have been born four children: Max. born June 16, 1905; Clare, born August 22, 1908; Zyx, born June 2, 1911; and Bill, l)orn December 27, 1914. Airs. Lettie (Daniel) Sproul was born in New Home township within a short distance from her present home. She is a daughter of AX'illiam and Sarah A. (Winston) Daniel, natives of North Carolina. \\'illiam Daniel was born in 1837 and died in November, 1895. A\4ien Mr. Daniel was a child his father died and the lad came to Missouri with his mother in 1848. The family first settled in Pettis county and W^illiam Daniel made a settlement in Bates county after completing his service in a Missouri Union regiment during the Civil War. He came to this county in 1865 and located in New Home township, first purchasing a tract of fifty acres which he improved and added gradually to his holdings until he became owner of five hundred twenty acres in one large tract. Airs. Sarah A. ( Winston ) Daniel was born in 1838 in North Carolina and accompanied lier parents to Lafayette county, Missouri, in the early forties, later settling in Pettis county where her marriage with William Daniel took place. She met her death under tragic circumstances while living on the Daniel home place with her brother, Jess. She was all alone at the home and was busily engaged in raking leaves and tidying up the lawn in the fall of 1906. As she piled up the leaves she built a fire in order to consume them and make a clean job. While plying her rake too near the fire of blazing leaves and brush, her clothing was ignited and she was burned to death while at the pump trying vainly to quench the fiames.

Mr. Sproul is a Socialist, politically. Mrs. Sproul is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are both intelligent, enterprising, hard-working citizens, who are making a pronounced success of their farm and dairy work and have many friends.

Thomas Henry Tilson, proprietor of "Blue Grass Valley Farm," consisting of four hundred fifty-five acres in New Home township, and owner of one hundred seventy-six acres of rice land in Liberty county, southeastern Texas, is one of the real "old timers" of Bates county, having been born on a pioneer farm situated just a half mile north of his present home. His sixty-six years in Bates county have been industriously and profitably spent in accumulating a substantial competence. Not content to sit down and rest upon his hard-won laurels and take life easy, Mr. Tilson has only recently begun the pioneer life all over again in a new and hitherto undeveloped country. On October 3, 1916, he entered a homestead in Campbell county, Wyoming, consisting of a half section of good farming land. He spent the summer season on this tract and has filed upon another half section.

T. H. Tilson was born December 20, 1851, in New Home township, a son of William Stewart Tilson (born in 1815, died January 28, 1858). William S. Tilson was a native of Washington county, now Unicoi county, Tennessee and came to Bates county in 1838. In September of that year he arrived at Balltown in Vernon county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county. Upon his pre-emption tract in New Home township he built a one-room log cabin with a chimney at the end built of sandstone. After Mr. Tilson's death, the roof of the cabin was enlarged and extended so as to make covered porches on two sides, one end of each porch being boxed in so as to make two additional rooms. This cabin stood until 1911. In those early days, deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens were plentiful and the Tilson larder was never empty of plenty of good meat. Wm. S. Tilson was married in this county to Judith Turner, born in old Virginia, September 30, 1826, a daughter of George W. Turner, who came to Bates county from his native state in the early thirties and here spent the remainder of his days in farming pursuits. Mrs. Tilson died in 1881. During the dark days of the Civil War, times were bad, and when Order No. 11 was issued the entire family went to Vernon county and resided near Balltown until 1866, when they returned to the home place in Bates county. All of the live stock owned by the family had been stolen or run off but one old mare. There were not boards enough about the place sufficient to build a pig pen. The floors, windows, and doors were gone from the cabin, and they were in poor circumstances for some time. There were seven children in this pioneer family, as follow : George W., died in October, 1911; Mary E., deceased; John F., died in 1864; Thomas H., subject of this sketch; William Stewart, died in infancy; James Edward and Marion Francis, deceased.

During Thomas H. Tilson's boyhood days, the only school house was located four miles distant, and he was enabled to attend but little during the winter term of three months, securing in all about thirty-two days' schooling in his boyhood. Being strong and willing, he assisted in the support of the family for a number of years before he attempted to make a start for himself. Before his mother's death he became owner of the old homestead by purchasing the several interests of the other heirs. His father pre-empted the forty-acre tract upon which his own residence is built and he settled upon this farm in 1875. This farm was the nucleus around which he has built up his splendid large estate. During former years, Mr. Tilson was an extensive feeder of cattle for the market, and dealt heavily in mules for a period of seven years. He has made considerable money through handling hogs and cattle.

Flis first marriage took place in 1881 with Mary Ann Floyd, who died in 1896, leaving two sons and a daughter, namely: John W., a ranchman near Gillette, Campbell county, Wyoming; Mrs. Audrey B. McCauley, Washington; Thomas Francis, now in France with General Pershing's National Army, a member of Headquarters Company, One Hundred Sixty-third United States Infantry Regiment, Forty-first Division, which had been stationed at Camp Merritt, New Jersey. Mr. Tilson's second marriage occurred on January 11, 1911, with Anna L. Thompson, born in Kansas, a daughter of T. C. Thompson, a Union veteran, who died in Bates county in 1915. Two children have blessed this marriage, Charles Burnett, aged five years, and Opal Lucille, aged three years.

The Democratic party has generally had the allegiance and support of Mr. Tilson and he has filled the office of constable of New Home township. He is a member of the Christian church and is affiliated with the Rich Hill Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. During the sixty-six years in which he has lived in Bates county he has seen wonder- fill changes and has done well his part in the development and upbuilding of this county, besides having the honor and distinction of being one of the few remaining pioneers who were among the first to brave the loneliness and hardships of the pioneer life on the frontier of civilization in this county in order to carve a home from the wilderness. Too much credit and encomiums can not be given the memory of the brave men and women, such as were the parents of Thomas H. Tilson. who w'ere in the vanguard of the people who settled and developed Bates county and made it habitable for mankind.

Jesse G. Doolittle, - For a period of over sixty years the name of Doolittle has been prominently identified with the agricultural and banking interests of Bates county. The family is one of the oldest in this section of Missouri and dates from the year 1857 when John Doolittle, father of the subject of this review, made a settlement in Walnut township. The first progenitor of the family in America came across the Atlantic from England in 1620 and settled in Massachusetts. J. G. Doolittle. cashier of the Farmers Bank of Foster, Missouri, w^as born May 18, 1887, on a farm in Walnut township. He is a son of John and Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, the former, a native of Vermont, and the latter, a native of Cass county, Missouri.

John Doolittle was born in Vermont in 1828, a son of Col. Joel Doolittle, a scion of an old New England family. John Doolittle was reared to young manhood in his native state and there received a good education. He accompanied his father to the Pacific Coast during the stirring days of the great gold rush of 1849. He and his father, accompanied by others, made the long trip overland by ox-team, which trip naturally consumed weeks and months. Time was no object to them, however, and they chose the most comfortable way to travel, transporting plenty of provisions and seeing the country as they made the long journey. On the outward-bound trip, the "Argonauts" went by way of St. Louis across Missouri, and then overland to Sacramento. This gave them a good opportunity^ to view the country and it is practically certain that John Doolittle passed through this part of Missouri and was so impressed by the agricultural possibilities lying dormant in the undeveloped country that he was influenced later to make a permanent settlement in Bates county. He and his father spent six years in the gold mines of California, accumulated comfortable fortunes, and then returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New York City. In 1857, he came to Bates county and settled upon a farm located three miles west of Foster in Walnut township. He developed the place into a fine property and increased his holdings as the years passed until he owned over eight hundred acres of valuable land. He resided on his place until his death in 1900 at the age of seventy-two years. Mr. Doolittle was one of the prominent and influential citizens of the county. He was widely and favorably known throughout this section of Missouri. John and Mary Doolittle were parents of the following children: Mrs. Elvira Smith, Cass county, Missouri; Mrs. Irene Moore, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Dora Smith, who died in Foster, Missouri; A. A., who is engaged in business in Kansas City; Jesse G., subject of this review; T. B., Kansas City, Missouri, Mrs. Mary (Campbell) Doolittle, mother of the above-named children, was born in 1842, in Cass county, Missouri, a daughter of James and Irene (Dickey) Campbell, natives of Virginia, who came to Missouri in 1840 and made a settlement in Cass county, residing there until 1849, when they removed to Bates county and were among the very earliest settlers of Walnut township. \¥. M. Campbell, one of the founders of the Farmers Bank of Foster, a man who was very prominent in Bates county affairs for many years, was a brother of Mrs. Doolittle. Mrs. j\Iary Doolittle now makes her home in Kansas City.

The early education of Jesse G. Doolittle, subject of this review, was obtained in the public schools of Foster and in the Chillicothe Normal College, Chillicothe, Missouri. Following his classical education, he pursued a business course in the college at Sedalia, Missouri. After completing a practical business education he engaged in farming in AA'alnut township until his acceptance of the position of cashier of the Farmers Bank at Foster. He became a director of this bank in 1905. In 1909, he became president of the bank and in 1911, he took charge of the bank, as cashier. Mr. Doolittle resided on his farm of three hundred twenty acres, located west of Foster, until 1912, at which time he took up his residence in Foster, from which point he still oversees the work on his farm. In addition to his duties as bank cashier, he is secretary and treasurer of the Bates County Bankers' Association.

The marriage of J. G. Doolittle and Bertha E. Bailey was solemnized in 1914. Mrs. Bertha Doolittle is a daughter of the late J. W. Bailey, of Walnut township, concerning whom an extended biographical review is given elsewdiere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Doolittle have one child, Louise, born March 25, 1915.

his party's success at the polls. He and Mrs. Doolittle are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, North. Mr. Doolittle is fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Foster Lodge No. 554. Mr. Doolittle is one of Bates county's hustling young citizens, one of the youngest successful bankers in the state. At the time he became president of the Farmers Bank, he was the youngest bank president in Missouri and he has given ample evidence of decided business judgment and financial ability of a high order.