Bates County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1918 (part 5 of 19)

Mrs. Sarah J. (Berry) Strien was born August 19, 1851, in Pettis county, a daughter of John and Polly Ann (Adams) Berry. Her father v/as born in Cooper county, Missouri, in 1823 and died in 1898. Her mother was born in Kentucky in 1829 and died on May 14, 1892. John Berry was the son of Tyree H. Berry, who came to jMissouri from the South and lived at old Fort Boone as early as 1870. \Mien John Berry was reared to young manhood, he located in Pettis county and there married. He resided there until 1854 and then made a settlement in Bates county, settling near the site of Nyhart. During the Civil War, both the Strien and Berry families returned to Pettis county, where they remained until the end of the war.

No honor is too great to bestow upon the memory of hardy pioneers like James L. Strien, his father and John Berry, for the great work accomplished in assisting to open up this country for settlement and to prove to others that Bates county soil was capable of sustaining a considerable population. Since the old days, when these men plied their axes in the woods and broke the first furrows in the virgin soil, a wonderful transformation has taken place - the forests, prairies which stretched in unbroken lines as far as the eye could reach, with but here and there the smoke from a settler's lonely cabin or from the campfires of the nomadic Indians rising in the clear air, have given way to the march of civilization. Now a prosperous and contented community of intelligent people reside in amity where once was such a wilderness.

Jason Shed Woodfin. - The late Jason Sherl or J. S. Woodfin, who was a prominent citizen of Walnut township, was a son of one of the first pioneer settlers of Bates county. He was born March 8, 1833 in North Carolina, a son of John Woodfin, who emigrated from North Carolina in 1837 and made a settlement in Johnson county, Missouri. He resided there for four years and in 1841 made a permanent settlement in Walnut township. Bates county. He made a settlement on a tract located one and a half miles north of the Woodfin place in ^^^alnut township and built up one of the finest country estates in this section of Missouri. John Woodfin prospered and accumulated a total of eleven hundred acres of land. During the winter of 1861, John Woodfin, on account of threats having been made against his life by the anti-slavery adherents and Kansas "jayhawkers," went to Johnson county. He left his home sorely against his own inclinations and only yielded to the importunities of his relatives and friends in the end. Becoming anxious about his family he returned to his home during the winter and a band of "jayhawkers" came to the home wnth the intention of killing him. Snow lay deep upon the ground and the cold was intense. Mr. Woodfin escaped through a window and made his way to the nearby wood where he remained all night until his enemies had left. The exposure resulted in a severe cold which caused his death soon afterward. By his first marriage wnth Hannah Hyatt, he had four sons and two daughters. His second wife was Mrs. Emily (Bryant) Granthem, wadow of a "fortyniner'' who died on his way home by sea from the gold fields of California. A daughter born of his first marriage is yet living - Mrs. Miller, wife of Rev. William Miller of New Home.

J. S. Woodfin's first wife was Ruth Turner, who died during the Civil AVar leaving three daughters : Mary, wife of James H. Sacre, Charlotte township; Mrs. Alice Warman, died in Colorado; Mrs. Lucy Williams, widow living at Wellsville, Kansas. During the Civil War, Jason S. Woodfin served for a time in the state militia in Capt. John Newberry's company and then spent the remainder of the time on the western plains and in Colorado. He served as a government teamster until 1865. He then returned to Bates county and engaged in farming on his Walnut township land. He was married then to Miss Prudence E. Miller, who bore him the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Charlotte McHenry, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Lillie May Clouse, deceased; Frances J., wife of W^illiam Hyatt, Grant county, Oregon; Mrs. Emily C. Lester, Aberdeen. Washington; Mrs. Prudence Olive Farrell, Colorado; Mrs. Ethel Goodenough, Foster, Bates county; Maude A., wife of E. L. Thomas, New Home township; Jason S., living in Idaho, married in April, 1900 to Cannie Sells, of Butler, who died August 4, 1915, leaving three children, Ree Jefferson, Prudence B.. and Lillie May; Willie Cleveland, deceased ; Mrs. Minnie Ellen Blevin. AA^alnut township.

Mrs. Prudence (Miller) Woodfin was born November 5, 1848 on a pioneer farm located four miles east of Foster, Bates county. She is a daughter of Oliver Hazard Perry Miller, a native of Missouri, and Charlotte (Vryans) Miller. O. H. P. Miller was born in Franklin county, Missouri in 1815 and died in the Federal prison at Springfield, Missouri,

April 30, 1863. He was a son of Samuel Miller, a native of Pennsylvania, who was among the first pioneers of Franklin county, Missouri, settling at Miller's Landing on the Missouri river. At the age of seventeen years, O. H. P. Miller left home and located in Bates county in 1832. His first settlement was made north of the Marais des Cygnes river and in 1845 he came to New Home township and settled on a farm one-half mile east of old New Home. When the Civil War broke out he lost everything, the home and buildings being burned and his live stock stolen or killed. In the fall of 1861 the family removed to Henry county and remained there until the spring of 1866. O. H. P. Miller and his oldest son left home for the war and served with the Confederate forces. Henry Miller, the son, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, August 8, 1862. O. H. P. was quartermaster and served with Captain John McCombs' company. He was taken prisoner in Arkansas and interred in the Federal prison at Springfield, where his death occurred. His eight children were as follow: Henry Clay, deceased; Rev. William Barton Miller, New Home, Missouri; Emily Jane, deceased; Mrs. Prudence E. Woodfin, Walnut township; Susan Mahala, wife of W. A. Comer, living near Nevada, Missouri; Lucinda, wife of Charles B. Briscoe, Walnut township; Josephine, deceased; John, residing near New Home; and Martha, wife of John Weadon, New Home township. After the war the family settled on the old place and rebuilt the home and. made another start. Time healed the wounds and sorrows caused by the misfortunes of war and they prospered. The mother died March 12, 1890, at the age of seventy-six years.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Woodfin started housekeeping in a little log house of one room to which he added other rooms as the family increased and they were able. They owned an eighty-acre tract which had been given to Mr. Woodfin by his father. He entered land and purchased other tracts as he was financially able and at the time of his death, he was owner of five hundred twenty acres. All that the family had left at the close of the Civil War was an old logcabin, with both doors and windows gone and all the fences on the place were burned and the orchard uprooted and reset in Kansas. During his later years, Mr. Woodfin was ill for a good part of the time and Mrs. Woodfin courageously shouldered the burden of caring for her husband and looking after their extensive farm interests. Mr. Woodfin died September 9, 1899, aged sixty-five years.

party. He was a member of the Christian church and was a good Christian citizen who loved his home and fireside and was devoted to his wife and family. For over fifty-one years, his widow, Mrs. Prudence Woodfin, has resided in the home which she and her husband made lonsf aeo, and has never left home except for visits to Idaho 4nd among her children. She recalls the old pioneer days and remembers how happy the people were even in their rude surroundings. Her father, O. H. P. Miller taught the first school in New Home township, which was held in one room for a term of three months, of the double log cabin which was the Miller home in New Home township. Her father was a well educated man who was skilled in languages and familiar with the classics. Previous to the outbreak of the war he had built a fine mansion on his farm, native woods such as walnut being used in its construction, one room of which was lined with book shelves. When the family went to Henry county and located near Clinton for safety during the war the house was first looted of its contents and then burned to the ground by marauders on Christmas night. The father of John Woodfin was Thomas Woodfin who came with his family to Johnson county, Missouri, Vvdien he was an old man and mainly spent his time in fishing and hunting while his sons all engaged in farming. He accompanied his family to Bates county and died here. Mrs. Woodfin is energetic and capable and well preserved, despite her age, and still looks after her farm. She prefers to reside in the home which has served her for so many years rather than move to the town or city. She is a member of the Christian church and is a devout Christian who is always ready to assist in worthy undertakings. She is one of the most honored and most highly respected of the Bates county pioneer women.

Mark Henry Thomas, better known as "Mark" Thomas, proprietor of the "White Rock Farm" in Walnut township, consisting of one hundred thirty acres of excellent land, is a native of Bates county, a member of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of western Missouri. The Thomas home is a pretty cottage situated upon a rise of ground, overlooking Walnut township to the westward, located just a short distance from the town of Foster. The improvements on the place were all built under Mr. Thomas' direction and the farm is equipped with a large white barn, 36 x 40 feet in size with a height of sixteen feet to square, and a sixty-ton silo. Mr. Thomas is engaged in general farming and raises cattle and hogs for the markets. He was born September 11, 1878, in New Home township and is a son of James

Pendleton Thomas, familiarly known as "Uncle Jim," one of the oldest of the Bates county pioneers and a patriarch in his own right because of his great age and his long residence in New Home township. (See biography.)

M. H. Thomas attended the school in the Virginia district near his home and also studied in the Foster public schools. When twenty years of age, he began farming on his own account on rented land. Some time later, his father, in making a division of his estate among his children, gave him a tract of eighty acres of land which he improved in December of 1900, and January of 1901. In 1910, he received another gift of forty acres, and to this has added ten acres, making one hundred thirty acres in all, which he owns.

On December 21, 1898, M. H. Thomas and Emma Jane Clouse were united in marriage. Mrs. Emma Thomas was born October 25, 1881, in Walnut township. Bates county, a daughter of William Henry and Lavina (Shroyer) Clouse, natives of Ohio and Illinois, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Clouse came to Missouri in the early seventies and later made a settlement in Walnut township. Mr. Clouse is now making his home in Oklahoma. The reader is referred to the sketch of W. D. Clouse, a brother of Mrs. Thomas, for further and more detailed information regarding the history of the Clouse family. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas: Glenard, born May 6, 1902, a student in Butler High School ; and Lelia Orlena, born October 19, 1899, wife of Lawrence Galvin, a farmer living in New Home township. While Mr. Thomas is a professed Democrat, he is inclined to vote independently in local political elections. He and Mrs. Thomas are members of the Christian church and Mr. Thomas belongs to the Modern W^oodmen of America.

Gustavus A. Corbin, old settler of Howard township, proprietor of a splendid farm of two hundred thirty-four acres, has the distinction of having taught the first public school ever organized in the town of Hume, Missouri. Mr. Corbin came to Missouri in 1871 and has resided on his present home farm for twenty-nine years. This farm was originally a gift from his father, a Virginian, wdio had traded for a tract of land in Bates county without seeing the land and offered the quarter section to his son, Gustavus, while stipulating that the son should come to Missouri and improve the tract, after trying vainly to induce his father to deed the land to him without the necessity of coming out here and improving it, young Corbin decided that he had better make a trip to Missouri and see about his legacy. He has never regretted coming and has prospered with his neighbors who have taken part in the development of Bates county as a great agricultural center.

G. A. Corbin was born July 22, 1846, in Harrison county. West Virginia, a son of Oliver P. and Nancy Ann (Taylor) Corbin, natives of Virginia. Oliver P. Corbin was a son of John Corbin, of Culpepper county, Virginia, a soldier in the War of 1812, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia, for some time during the war. The direct progenitor of the Corbin family is reputed to have been a British soldier, a Scotch-Irishman, who came to America with the British forces during the American Revolution, and for some reason or other, probably because he was impressed with the right of the colonial cause, he deserted the British and allied with the American side, fought for the Independence of the Colonies against his former comrades. Oliver P. Corbin lived all his days in West Virginia and died there. He was twice married and was father of seventeen children. G. A. Corbin's mother died in 1856.

G. A. Corbin received a good education in his native county in West Virginia and began teaching school when still a very young man. He taught in his native state until his removal to Missouri in 1871. He continued teaching school after his arrival in this state and taught, in all for ten years. To him belongs the honor of having taught the first free public school held at Hume, Missouri, in 1882, this first school being held for a period of nine months. In 1872, Mr. Corbin located at old Papinvile. In 1881, he located in Howard township, this county, and has since remained here. He engaged in teaching until his removal to his farm in February, 1889. Mr. Corbin erected the residence and all buildings situated upon the place and set out all the shade trees which serve to beautify the place. He has been engaged in general farming and stock raising until of late years his son has relieved him of the burden of the hard tasks of cultivating his land.

Mr. Corbin was first married in 1871 to Harriet McDonald, of West Virginia. She died in 1873. His second marriage occurred September 6, 1882, with Margaret L. Shockley, of Illinois, born April 30, 1860, a daughter of John Shockley, a native of Pennsylvania, and Catherine (Beck) Shockley, a native of Ohio. John and Catherine Shockley were married in Illinois, where both had removed wnth their respective parents. John Shockley served as captain of Company "I", One Hundred Sixth Illinois Infantry throughout the Civil War. He came to Bates county,

Missouri, and settled on a farm three miles north of Papinsville. His wife died in 1914 at the age of seventy-nine years. Mr. Shockley was born February 21, 1831, and is still strong and active, despite his advanced age. He reared a family of nine children : John B., died in April, 1914; Louisa, wife of D. O. Bradley, Rich Hill; Ada, wife of Frank Seelinger, Greeley, Colorado; Mrs. Margaret L. Corbin; Emma, died as the result of injuries received in an auto wreck, which occurred on the road between Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Ringgold, in 1915, her death taking place in the town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in September of 1915, her father receiving painful injuries at the same time, they both returning from a visit to the Gettysburg battlefield; Mrs. Nora Maupin, and Mrs. Cora Kelly, twins, reside at Waurika, Oklahoma; Nathaniel, on part of the old home place in Prairie township, near Papinsville; and James C, also on a part of the home place in the same neighborhood, in Prairie township. To G. A. and Margaret L. Corbin have been born children, as follow: Mrs. Catherine Smith, born July 11, 1883, lives at Santa Barbara, California, and has one child, Earl Dillon, born May 26, 1907; Oliver G., born April 1, 1889, now a private in the National Army, was formerly engaged in the gas engine and vulcanizing business at Bottineau, North Dakota; Ivan, born April 19, 1891, an instructor in bookkeeping and commercial law in Spalding's Commercial College at Kansas City, member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; John Byron, born December 23, 1893, at home with his parents, manager of the Corbin farm, a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Blue Lodge of Hume, Missouri, and of the Chapter at Rich Hill.

Politically, Mr. Corbin has generally been allied with the Democratic party, as are his sons. Mrs. Corbin is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

William Wheatley, substantial farmer and stockman of New Home township, proprietor of two farms, aggregating three hundred sixty acres located in New Home township, is one of the old settlers of Bates county. Perhaps the greatest thing to Mr. Wheatley's credit, during his long and successful career in this county, has been his ambition and determination to give each member of his family of children the benefit of a thorough education in preparation for their own careers. He has done this, at personal sacrifices on several occasions, but has never regretted putting into effect his well-defined plans of educating his children. His reward is, and will be, the satisfaction of knowing that each and every member of his family will be better citizens and better equipped to take their places in the world than if he had allowed them to grow up without the necessary training and opportunities for acquiring knowledge which he has bestowed upon them.

William Wheatley was born in Lucas county, North Carolina, in 184S, son of James and Elizabeth (Shumate) Wheatley, children of Virginia parents. In 1857, James Wheatley made a trip to the state of Missouri for the purpose of looking over the country and finding a location for a new home. This decided upon, he returned home and moved his family by wagons to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1859. There was a considerable party of North Carolina people in the company which came to Missouri and misfortune befell the company. For some reason or other, twenty-five members of the company contracted disease and died, either on the journey northward or after they had arrived in Johnson county. The trouble is thought to have been due to the bad water which they were obliged, of necessity, to drink. James Wheatley and his daughter, Jane, were two of the band who succumbed to disease and died on the same day in 1860, not long after their arrival in Johnson county. The family settled on a farm near Warrensburg, Missouri, and there William Wheatley remained until 1874. In that year he came to New Home township. Bates county, and bought twenty acres of land upon which he built a small, box house. He had no money when he came to this county and became a land-owner by trading a team and wagon for a half interest in the twenty acres. Mr. Wheatley had met with serious financial reverses in Johnson county and his object in coming to Bates county was to get a new start. He has never regretted coming and prosperity has smiled upon him during the many years of his residence in New Home township. He has built up a splendid estate. During his first four years in this county, Mr. Wheatley suffered greatly from chills and fever, and, in order to get rid of the affliction, made a trip to Texas, and the change of climate proved beneficial to him. The little twenty-acre tract grew to a fine farm of two hundred eighty acres through additions, and, in 1910, Mr. Wheatley purchased the "eighty" where his present home is located. His son-in-law is operating his former home place. The Wheatley farm has a never-failing spring which supplies water for the stock and the residence.

in Oklahoma; and Mrs. Lillian Bowan, Visalia, California. His second marriage, in 1892, was with Mrs. Margaret (Moore) Graves, widow of George Graves, and daughter of Macklin Moore. By her first marriage with George Graves, Mrs. Wheatley had three children, namely : WiUiam, living in Kansas; Roy, deceased; and George Graves, deceased. To William and Margaret (Graves) Wheatley have been born seven children: Mrs. Julia Ayer, Rich Hill, Missouri; Dr. James Wheatley, a practicing dentist, Seneca, Kansas; Mrs. Goldie Caton, New Home township; Ivy and Ira, twins, the former a teacher in the public schools, and the latter, at home; Mary, a student in Rich Hill High School; and Mildred.

Mr. Wheatley has generally been a follower and supporter of Republican principles but has never taken an active part in political affairs. He belongs to no lodge or organization which would have a tendency to take him from the bosom of his family. He is an exemplary citizen whose course in life has been marked by a steadfast devotion to his wife and children, and everything which he accomplishes is with the end in view that the different members can be comfortable and happy.

Isaac H. Botkin, retired farmer. Union veteran, and Bates county pioneer, is one of the grand old men of Bates county. He is now living comfortably retired in Foster and his long life has been an eventful and very useful one. Mr. Botkin was born in Belmont county, Ohio, March 10, 1834. His parents were R. C. and Rachel (Vernon) Botkin, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. His mother was born on the banks of the historic Brandywine in the Keystone state. Both his father and mother lived all of their days in Belmont county, Ohio. The Botkin family is one of the oldest and best known of the old American families and its members are prominent in various sections of the United States. Secretary of State Thomas H. Botkin of Kansas is a relative of Isaac H. Botkin, subject of this biographical review. There were ten children in the Botkin family, all of whom are deceased except two. The children were as follow: Maria, born January 27, 1819; Arlotto, born August 21, 1820; Benjamin V., born July 15, 1822; Sarah, born April 7, 1825; Elma N., born July 25, 1827; John Y., born April 5, 1829; Susan Y., born March 21, 1832; Isaac Harry, born March 10, 1834; Catherine E., born July 4, 1836; Caroline, born July 12, 1839. The only member of this family living besides Isaac Harry Botkin, is Mrs. Susan Y. Chapman, of Claysville, Washington county, Pennsylvania.

Isaac H. Botkin

settled in Adams county, where he purchased one hundred sixtyacres of land. He erected a small cabin, and broke up the land for his first crops with a breaking plow pulled by ox teams. Civil War breaking out between the Union and the Southern states, he enlisted in Company C, Fourth Regiment of Iowa Cavalry on November 15, 1861 and served until his honorable discharge at Atlanta, Georgia, August 17, 1865. He was sixth sergeant of his company, and after his term of enlistment expired he re-enlisted as a veteran December 12, 1863, and was promoted to the post of first lieutenant of Company I on February 18, 1865, under General Winslow. His first battle in the war was at Pea Ridge, after which he was placed in charge of two thousand prisoners who were to be escorted from Rolla, Missouri to Springfield. His command then went to Batesville, down the White river to Helena. He was then detached from his command and sent back to southwestern Iowa on recruiting duty. This work being performed he returned to Camp McConnell at Davenport, Iowa, and a short time later was ordered to report to his regiment which was to take part in the siege of Vicksburg under General Grant. After the fall of Vicksburg they were ordered to destroy the Central Mississippi railroad as far as the environs of Memphis, thus severing one of the arteries of communication held by the Confederates. This task partly accomplished, they went to Yazoo City where they awaited supplies. Their provision ship being grounded in the river, the men of the regiment elected to go on without their supplies and finish the task of tearing up the railroad. From Memphis they were then ordered back to Vicksburg. Other engagements in which this valiant soldier participated were Gunntown, Mississippi; Tupelo, Mississippi; Jackson, Mississippi; Champion Hills; battles which were fought before the siege and capture of Vicksburg. His next encampment was at Louisville, Kentucky, where his regiment remained until the spring of 1865, and then proceeded to Gravelly Springs, Tennessee, under Generals Wilson and Upton who moved out and struck the forces of General Forrest at Selby, Alabama, capturing the Confederate forces and blowing up the munition supplies. They then crossed the river and took Fort Montgomery and after a night attack, captured Columbus, Georgia. They met a flag of truce at Macon, Georgia and learned that General Lee had surrendered. After receiving his discharge at Atlanta, he with the regiment Was sent to Davenport, Iowa, and mustered out.

ship, Bates county, taking possession of his new tract in the fall of 1869. The Botkin farm is unquestionably one of the best and richest four-hundred-acre tracts in western Missouri, with splendid improvements and known as "Maple Grove Farm." The Botkin farm residence is an imposing place of eleven rooms almost completely encircled with wide verandas and sitting in a beautiful grove of large maple trees planted by Mr. Botkin. For some years this fine farm has been in the capable hands of Mr. E. D. Waller, a son-in-law of Mr. Botkin.

On December 5, 1869, the marriage of Isaac Harry Botkin and Miss Emma F. Jones took place and the marriage has been a very happy and prosperous one, blessed with children as follow: Robert Edward, deceased, and his remains lie in Foster cemetery; Benjamin V., born in 1875, lives in Spokane, Washington; Mrs. Ina Waller, wife of E. D. Waller, Rich Hill, Missouri. The mother of this family was born January 7, 1838, in Culpepper county, Virginia, a daughter of William Edward and Lucretia (Barrack) Jones, the former of whom was born in North Carolina and the latter was a native of Virginia. William E. Jones located in De Kalb county, Missouri, in 1866 and there bought a fourhundred-acre farm which he sold in 1869 and then came to Bates county where he died.

Mr. Botkin has been a Democrat in politics and during his younger days, he took a keen interest in political matters, serving his township as trustee. He and Mrs. Botkin are members of the Foster Baptist church, and Mr. Botkin is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. They retired to a home in Foster, by reason of advancing age on April 4, 1905. When Mr. Botkin moved to Foster the town was infested with saloons. During all of his life he has been a strong temperance advocate and he promptly led the fight for the abolition of the saloon from the village and eventually succeeded. Despite threats from the saloon advocates who sent him word to "leave town or be killed" he stayed by his guns and won out in behalf of morality and order. He is still overseeing the cultivation of one hundred thirty-five acres adjoining the city all of which are sown to wheat for the next harvest. For twenty-five years, this aged citizen fed hundreds of cattle and has bought and sold live stock in this section of Missouri for many years.

Despite his great age and the fact that he gave four of the best years of his life to the defense of the Union, during which time he never experienced a sick call and was never wounded, he is still able to manage his own business affairs and his intellect is keen, and his patriotism is undimmed - his love of the old flag under which he marched and fought being as great as when in the flower of his young manhood he freely offered his life that the Union might be saved, and would now be on the firing line in Europe fighting in defesne of democracy were he still a young man.

Francis Marion Wheeler, of Howard township, is a "self-made," very successful agriculturist, owner of a quarter section of highly productive land which has served as his home place since April 8, 1888. Mr. Wheeler was born May 1, 1851, in Schuyler county, Illinois, son of Austin King and Adeline C. (Chipman) Wheeler, natives of Guilford county. North Carolina, members of old Southern families. Austin H. Wheeler was born May 23, 1813, and died in 1901. He was married in North Carolina on May 31, 1838. He was the son of John and Keziah Wheeler. His wife was a daughter of Obadiah H. and Keziah Chipman. She was born October 22, 1816. Austin Wheeler migrated to Pettis county, Missouri, in 1856, and purchased an improved farm which he later sold and opened a blacksmith's shop. Civil War breaking out, he lost his business and then engaged in farming. When his health failed him in 1878, he came to Bates county, making his home in Sprague, after living at the home of his son, F. M. Wheeler. He died in 1882. He was father of six children : Rensselaer Harris, deceased ; Keziah Ann Larue, living in New Mexico; John Henry, deceased; Harriet, died in infancy; F. M., subject of this review and his twin sister, Mrs. Mary Frances Winston, Rich Hill.

The early life of Fr?ncis Marion WHieeler was replete with hardships and he obtained but little education. From boyhood he has been self-supporting. When he came to Bates county on March 20, 1878, all that he owned in the world was a good span of mules, a plow, a wagon, a cultivator, and one hundred dollars in money, which money he had carefully saved. The first thing he did upon coming here was to purchase eighty acres of land in Howard township at a cost of five dollars an acre. He broke up thirty acres of this tract and sowed it to wheat, the crop yielding only ten bushels to the acre. He planted a good corn crop which was ruined in August of that year by a hailstorm. His beginning in this county was not auspicious and the outcome of his first year in farming here was not encouraging. But, Mr. WHieeler was made of true pioneer material and he kept at the task of improving his farm and the second year was a better one. Continual good crops, in spite of the ordinary set-backs, of course, have made him a well-to-do citizen. His first home, which is still standing on the premises, was a small two-room house, which has been supplanted by a pretty cottage, erected in 1910. In addition to his fine farm in Bates county, Mr. Wheeler owns a tract of timber land comprising fifty-three acres in Howell county, Missouri.

November 28, 1877, he was married to Miss Phoebe Ferguson Bright, wdio was born in Saline county, Missouri, September 8, 1854, a daughter of John and Margaret (Grissom) Bright, natives of Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. John Bright made a settlement in Missouri in the early thirties and entered government land. He died in July, 1890, and his wife followed him in death three years later, her death occurring in July, 1893. The following children have been born to Francis Marion and Phoebe Wheeler: Charley, born February 6, 1879, is employed in the Rich Hill lumber yard; Aubrey Blaine, born October 14, 1880, lives in Arkansas; Mrs. Rose Thomas, born November 20, 1882, lives at Pittsburg, Kansas; Arthur W., born December 18, 1884, a farmer in Howard township; Burch F., born January 24, 1887, lives in Kansas City; Austin K., born December 22, 1888, makes his home at Rich Hill; Lydia Ann, born February 23, 1891, at home; Francis Marion, Jr., born September 26, 1893, a private in the National Army, stationed at the training camp at Fort Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas; Joseph F., born October 4, 1898, at home.

Mr. Wheeler votes the Republican ticket but is not greatly interested in matters which would have a tendency to divert him from his fireside and home interests. He is essentially a home man, one whose family and farm are his first consideration at all times,

James Claude Berry, or "J- C." Berry, extensive farmer, tax collector of New Home township, Bates county, was born November 22, 1870, in Saline county, Missouri, a member of an old pioneer family of Missouri. His father was A. M. Berry, a native of Bates county, and his mother was Mary E. (Prewitt) Berry, a native of Jackson county, Missouri. A. M. Berry was born in 1843 and died January 3, 1917, in Oregon, at the time of his death being probably the oldest living pioneer of Bates county. Mary E. Berry was born in 1838 and departed this life in June, 1915. A. M. Berry was born in New Home township, a son of John Berry, a native of Kentucky who settled in Bates county in the early thirties. During the Civil War period, the Berry family left the county and did not return until the war closed. A. M. Berry served in the Confederate army under General Price and saw much hard service in Missouri, Arkansas, and the South. After the war, he returned to Sahne county and made his home there until his removal in 1883 to Bates county and to Charlotte township, where he lived until 1895, when he removed to Oklahoma. Ten years later, he moved to Oregon and there died. His children were as follow: W. H., Oregon; N. A., living in Kansas; S. A., living in Washington; James Claude, subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Bessie L. Wallace, Oregon.

J. C. Berry was educated in the schools of Saline county and of Bates county. He began doing for himself when nineteen years old and first farmed on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township. He purchased his first farm in New Home township in 1896. He improved the tract and sold it shortly afterward. He then bought a place consisting of one hundred twenty acres, located just north of his present home. He sold forty acres of this tract and the remaining eighty acres are included within his present holdings of two hundred forty acres. His present home place is well improved with a good home, barns, and silo. Mr. Berry is farming and pasturing a total of six hundred acres, in all, and raises and feeds over seventy-five head of cattle yearly.

J. C. Berry was married in 1893 to Lillie Pickett, a daughter of John E. and Maria J. (Lindley) Pickett, who came to Bates county in 1883. That is, the widow and family located in this county at that time, Mr. Pickett having died in Illinois. Mrs. Pickett now makes her home among her children. Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Berry have children, as follow: Ruby, Ralph, Grace, Frank, Sina, Lena, Emmet, and Mabel, all at home with their parents.

Mr. Berry is prominent in the affairs of the Democratic party in Bates county and is now serving his second term as tax collector of New Home township. He was first elected to this office in 1915 and re-elected in March, 1917. Mr. and Mrs. Berry and the three oldest children are members of the Baptist church. Mr. Berry is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America at Butler.

Fred Crabb, proprietor of a splendid farm of two hundred acres of Osage township, was born in 1867 in Mason county, Illinois, a son of Willis and Mary (Forsythe) Crabb. former residents of Bates county, who have the unique distinction of holding the record for long marriages in Missouri and probably the United States. Willis Crabb was born January 7, 1823, in Greene county, Illinois, son of Edward and Elizabeth Crabb, pioneer settlers of Greene county, Illinois. Willis Crabb was reared in his native state and brought up on a pioneer farm. He made a settlement in Bates county, Missouri, in 1884. Prior to this year, in 1879, he came to this county and purchased a tract of land. Land was cheap and plentiful in those days in Bates county and there were not many permanent farmers in the southern part of Bates county. Much of the land was open prairie but the deep rich soil was awaiting the touch of the husbandman to transform its appearance and furnish a place upon which to build homes. Willis Crabb was very fortunate in his first venture in this county. He had broken up sixty acres of his land and had it sown to wheat which yielded a fine crop and brought the large sum of two dollars twenty-five cents per bushel. He sold his wheat crop, or rather his share of it, for enough to pay for his land. He made a permanent settlement in Osage township in 1884 and erected excellent improvements upon his farm. He resided on the home place until 1900 and then moved to Rich Hill. He resided in Rich Hill until the fall of 1917 and then removed to Springfield, Missouri, where he is now living and enjoying life at the great age of ninety-five years.

The marriage of Willis Crabb and Mary Forsythe, born in Illinois in 1829, occurred in 1848, and was blessed with children as follow: Mrs. Fannie Cunningham, living in Chicago; John, a resident of Los Angeles; Lott, a railroad man who was killed in California, while engaged in his regular occupation; William, connected with the Farmers Bank of Rich Hill ; Edith, wife of Charles Faylor, residing in Howard township ; Rachel and Ida, residing in Springfield, Missouri; Fred Crabb, subject of this review; Florence, wife of C. C. McGinness, Howard township; and Mrs. Gussie Noble, Springfield, Missouri.

February 14, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Crabb celebrated their Seventieth W^edding Anniversary at their home in Springfield. The event attracted widespread attention because of the fact that the anniversary was a unique one in point of years of continuous married life, which the aged couple have enjoyed. Both are well past the allotted span of life, are well, hearty, and in full possession of their faculties. Seventy years seems a long, long time as years come and go and Mr. and Mrs. Crabb probably hold the record for Missouri in having attained to such great longevity and having been married for such a length of time. Many wonderful changes have taken place in their life-time and it is given to but few people to reside on earth for such a period. They enjoy the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr. Crabb was one of Bates countv's best citizens.

PVed Crabb was a sturdy youth of seventeen years, when the family settled in Bates county and he was well able and willing to perform a man's work. He received his public school education in Illinois and also attended the Rich Hill High School, after coming to Bates county. He has resided constantly in Bates county since 1884 with the exception of three years in Illinois, from 1896 to 1898, inclusive. He then returned to this county and in 1899 purchased the Crabb home place and is owner of two hundred acres of land at the present time. Mr. Crabb is engaged in general farming and stock raising and is one of the successful agriculturists of Bates county. He was married in 1895 to Rachel Stickle, of Rich Hill, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Stickle, who were born in Austria apd immigrated to this country and settled in Rich Hill. Eleven children have been born to Fred and Rachel Crabb, as follow: Mary, a teacher in the Howard township public schools; Joseph Daniel, an enlisted man in the United States Navy; Willis, deceased; Frances, a teacher in the public schools of Osage township; Edith and Florence, students in the Rich Hill High School; Charles, Virgil, and Gussie, attending the district school; Margaret, aged four years; and Alma, aged one year.

Politically, Mr. Crabb is aligned with the Democratic party and has filled the office of township trustee. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Crabb is a genial, whole-souled citizen, who is well liked by his neighbors and friends and is looked upon as a progressive Bates county citizen.

Frank U. Mathers, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, is one of the young citizens of Bates county who are widely and favorably known as industrious, enterprising, successful men. Mr. Mathers is one of Bates county's own sons. He was born in 1890, a son of J. W. and Anna Mathers, who came to Missouri from Indiana in 188v3 and located at Adrian, where J. W. Mathers was engaged in the mercantile business for more than twenty-five years. He died in 1917 and the widowed mother makes her home at Adrian and with her reside her son, Frank U., and his wife. J. W. Mathers was a wellknown and well-to-do merchant and at the time of his death was the owner of considerable property in Adrian, including his residence and his business establishment.

Mr. Mathers, whose name introduces this review, is a graduate the Adrian High School and a former student of the Warrensburg State Normal School, which latter institution he attended two years. He also completed a course of study at the Central Business College, Kansas City, Missouri, after which he was employed for six years by the VYarnken Dry Goods Company. Mr. Mathers resigned his position with this company to accept the assistant cashiership of the First National Bank of Adrian, Missouri, which place he is capably filling at the time of this writing in 1918. He graduated from the Adrian High School in the class of 1906.

November 20, 1916, Frank U. Mathers and Lola Porter were united in marriage. Lola (Porter) Mathers is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Porter, of Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mathers reside at Adrian with Mr. Mathers' mother. He is a stockholder as well as an official of the First National Bank of Adrian. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mathers richly merit and possess the warm regard of a host of friends in Adrian and in Bates county.

James T. Ackerman. - Hard work and rigid economy was the program for the early life of James T. Ackerman, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Howard township. The Ackerman farm was purchased by its proprietor during the winter of 1871. Mr. Ackerman made his first investment in Bates county land when the ground was covered with snow to a depth of nearly two feet but has never regretted his purchase. His first quarter section cost him ten dollars an acre - unbroken prairie land which he fenced and improved. The farm now consists of four hundred acres of rich, valuable soil which produces bountiful crops each year. His handsome home stands on a commanding knoll which affords a view of the surrounding country for miles in every direction, the rich bottom land lying about the farm buildings on all sides. During his residence of forty-seven years in Bates county, Mr. Ackerman has never purchased any fiour, the farm producing his needs each year. He has sown one hundred acres to wheat for next year's harvest. During the past year he harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded an average of forty bushels to the acre; forty acres of oats which produced forty bushels to the acre. At the present time (December, 1917) he is feeding seventy-five head of cattle and thirty hogs and keeps ten horses and mules to do the farm work. Mr. Ackerman has expended over fifteen thousand dollars for improvements on his farm and it is his proud boast that he "owes no man a dollar." The farm is equipped with natural gas obtained from a well drilled in 1912 to a depth of two hundred eighty-six feet.

James T. Ackerman And Wife

Carolina, January 13, 1850, a son of William and Jeanette (Spock) Ackerman. William Ackerman was a son of John Ackerman who emigrated from Germany to America when a young man and settled in North Carolina. The Ackerman family came to Missouri in 1868 and resided at Montserrat, in Johnson county for a period of fifteen years, then removed to Warrensburg. When James T. Ackerman came to Bates county in 1881 the father accompanied him and he cared for him until the end of his days, the father dying in 1911 at the age of eightythree years. The mother departed this life in 1858. WHiile a resident of Montserrat, James T. Ackerman worked as a section hand on the railroad and drove a team for the coal mines for a period of eleven years at a wage of one dollar and fifty cents per day. During this time he carried the burden of supporting and rearing his father's family but managed to save money each year. He was never averse to earning an honest dollar aside from his regular employment and managed to earn a good many extra dollars which he carefully saved. Opportunities for loaning money at 10 per cent, interest were plentiful in those days and he increased his hoard by doing this. It was and has always been his contention, that it matters not what a man earns, "it is what he saves that counts in the end." When he had accumulated a total of one thousand six hundred dollars, he said one day to his wife, 'T guess I'll go and buy me a home." This he did in Bates county where he now ranks as one of the oldest of the pioneer settlers and one of the most substantial and best respected of his section.

The marriage of James T. Ackerman and Lesta Stultz took place on October 18, 1874 and has been blessed with the following children: Minnie, wife of J. P. Adams, assistant cashier of the Bank of Hume, Hume, Missouri; Arthur, born in 1877, resides on one of his father's farms, married Lola Liggett, and has four children: Vivita, Oscar, Golden and A. J.; Alfred, born in 1879, lives at El Dorado, Kansas; Cleveland, born 1885, United States railway mail clerk since 1905, and resides at Kansas City, Missouri. The mother of these children was born in 1853 in North Carolina, first came to Indiana in 1865 and came to Montserrat, Johnson county, Missouri with her parents, Elisha and Matilda Stultz, in 1866.

The Democratic party has always had the steadfast allegiance of Mr. Ackerman and he has generally voted the straight Democratic ticket. He has never had any time for political matters and has never cared for nor ever sought political office. He and Mrs. Ackerman are members of the Presbyterian church. He is a genial, kindly, shrewd, and capable citizen whose word is considered as good as his bond, one who has found Bates county a profitable and a good place in which to live and rear a family. Mr. Ackerman's unswerving loyalty to Bates county is inspiring and he is certain that there is no better plat of ground in America than this county.

Clarence C. Swarens, a leading citizen of New Home township, proprietor of a splendid farm of one hundred thirty acres, candidate for the nomination for the office of clerk of the circuit court of Bates county, is one of the best-known of the second generation of Bates county's citizens. Mr. Swarens was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, Aug'ust 9, 1867, a son of John and Ann (Ray) Swarens, who migrated from Illinois to Bates county, Missouri, in 1882 and made a permanent settlement in New Home township, where they reared a fine family. For further information regarding the parents of C. C. Swarens, the reader is referred to the biography of Frank R. Swarens, brother of the subject of this review.

Mr. Swarens attended the public schools of Springfield, Illinois, and completed the prescribed course in the Springfield public schools at the early age of twelve years. After studying for one year in the Springfield High School, he spent one year in Business College. He accompanied his parents to Bates county and assisted his father in the operation of the home farm during his boyhood days. As early as 1892. he engaged in the profession of teaching and successfully taught in the public schools in Bates county and Texas for twenty or more terms. During 1892 and 1893 he pursued the study of law at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and graduated from the law^ department of the university. Following his graduation, being admitted to the bar, he went to Houston, Texas, and practiced law for one year in that city. He then taught school near Houston for some time.

Following his teaching experience in Texas, he was employed as chief night clerk in the Houston postoffice for a period of three years. He then returned to Bates county in 1898 and has since resided here, with the exception of one year (1915) spent as clerk in the mailing clepartmeni of the Kansas City postoffice. Mr. Swarens, having been born and brought up on a farm, is an excellent farmer, progressive in his agricultural methods. The Swarens place in New Home township is one of the most attractive in Bates county and is well equipped wnth a handsome farm residence and good buildings.

Mr. Swarens was married on February 3, 1895, to Miss Lizzie Thomas, born in New Home township, March 6, 1876, a claugliter ot James P. Thomas, the patriarch of New Home township, one of the oldest of the Bates county pioneers, concerning whose career an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. Two children have been born to Clarence C. and Lizzie Swarens: Goldie, born August 14, 1897; and Lewis, born April 5, 1901. Goldie Swarens was married February 5, 1916, to Lugene Casebolt, of Warrensburg, Missouri.

The Democratic party has had the unswerving allegiance of Mr. Swarens at all times and he has been prominent in the affairs of his party in Bates county for a number of years. He has served as central committeeman for his township and has generally been active in the support of his party's activities and policies. He is one of the bestknown of the leaders of the Democracy in Bates county and at the present writing (March, 1918) is a candidate for the nomination for clerk of the circuit court at the August primaries. The candidacy of Mr. Sv^arens for this oftice has met with considerable encouragement and it is universally conceded that he is equipped educationally and mentally, and possesses ability above the average to enable him to perform the duties of the office sought. He is popular with all classes and is deserving of the support of his fellow citizens for the office. Mr. Swarens is a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens take an active part in the social life of their neighborhood and are well esteemed in their home neighborhood.

D. B. Reist, the capable and highly respected cashier of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, formerly local manager of the Hurley Lumbe" Company of Adrian, an ex-councilman of this city, is a native of Indiana. Mr. Reist was born in 1876 at Flora in Carroll county, Indiana, a son of J W. and Mrs. Reist. His mother died when he was an mfant ten months of age and he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Switzer, natives of Indiana, who reared and educated him. Thev moved from Indiana to Missouri in 1880 and located at Rich Hill, where they resided two years, and in 1882 purchased a small tract of land located three miles east of Adrian, to which they moved.

Mr. Reist, whose name introduces this review, obtained his education in the public schools of Bates county, Missouri. He was a small lad, four years of age, when he came with his foster parents to this part of the country and while the Switzers resided at Rich Hill he attended school at that place, school being held in the old Presbyterian church building. When they moved to 'their farm, D. B. Reist attended school at Little Deercreek school house. Mrs. W. B. Switzer was employed as teacher of Little Deercreek school the first session which Mr. Reist attended. After he had completed the prescribed course of study, he continued to reside with Mr. and Mrs. Switzer and to assist with the work on their farm. In 1900, Mr. Reist located at Adrian, where he accepted a position with the Hurley Lumber Company of of Adrian and for four years was local manager of the lumber yards in this city and for two years at Archie. In 1906, Mr. Reist resigned his position with the Hurley Lumber Company of Archie, returned to Adrian, and accepted a position as bookkeeper with the Adrian Banking Company and the ensuing year he was elected assistant cashier. Since August 1, 1911. Mr. Reist has been faithfully and competently filling the position of cashier of the Adrian Banking Company.

The marriage of D. B. Reist and Minnie M. Stilwell, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Stilwell, was solemnized in 1899 and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Nadine B., who is at home with her parents Mr. and Mrs. Reist are worthy and consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Reist has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School for nine years and, at the time of this writing in 1918, is president of the Deercreek Township Sunday School Association. They own their home in Adrian in addition to a farm in Grand River township and Mr. Reist is a stockholder and director of the Adrian Banking Company.

The Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, was organized in 1883 with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars and the following oflficers: H. Moudy, president; J. Scudder, cashier; and John Murphy, H. Moudy, A. J. Satterlee, J. Scudder, H. F. Wilhite, H. L. Fair, J. N. Bricker, and F. J. Taggard, stockholders, seven of whom were directors. Of the eight original stockholders, three are now 'living, namely: H. Moudy, H. L. Fair, and H. F. Wilhite. Mr. Moudy and Mr. Fair reside at Adrian and Mr. Wilhite is a resident of Lordsburg, Los Angeles county, California. This financial institution was first started in 1882 as a private bank and did not organize as the Adrian Banking Company until one year later. June 2, 1885, the capital stock was increased from ten thousand dollars to fifteen thousand dollars and since that time there has been a further increase to twenty-five thousand dollars, which in itself speaks well for the efificient management of the bank. The present officers of the Adrian Banking Com- pany are as follow: M. V. Owen, president; D. F. Andes, vice-president; D. B. Reist, cashier; and W. W. Ricketts, assistant cashier; and M. V. Owen, D. F. Andes, J. M. Reeder, G. L. Argenbright, and D. B. Reist, directors. This bank is one of the strong, sound financial institutions of Bates county, of which all are proud, and its remarkable success from the very beginning is undoubtedly due to its wise management by gentlemen of supjerdor business ability, wjiose integrity, as well as financial standing, is far above question.

Politically, D. B. Reist is a member of the Republican party. He has held different offices of public trust, he has served as a member of the city council of Adrian, and he has been secretary of the Adrian school board He takes a deep interest in lodge work and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows at Adrian. Mr. Reist was a representative from the Adrian chapter to the Grand Lodge for two years and he is a nominee for the position of grand warden. He was for two years district deputy grand warden of Bates county. Mr. Reist is not only an able financier, but an honorable, courteous gentleman, one of the county's valuable, substantial, public-spirited citizens.

W. W. Ricketts, the well-know^n and competent assistant cashier of the Adrian Banking Company of Adrian, Missouri, is one of Bates county's native sons whom all are proud to claim, a son of R. R. and Sarah Ricketts, the eldest of seven children born to his parents, who are, as follow: W. W., the subject of this review; Mrs. Grace Blackman. Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ruby Blackman, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Phillis Hooper, Gillespie, Illinois; J. C, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Rosa Hardman, Drexel, Missouri; and Blanche, Adrian, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Ricketts have an adopted son, Zolas. R. R. Ricketts came to Missouri from California in 1880 and settled on a tract of land, embracing one hundred acres located in Grand River township, where he has ever since been and now^ is engaged in farming and stock raising. He and his second son, J. C, are associated in partnership and they rent two hundred acres of land, in addition to their own farm, and are successfully conducting a very profitable business, both being intelligent, progressive, and industrious agriculturis4;s, and they are widely and favorably known in Bates county.

Miss Edith White was employed as teacher of the Craw^ford school in Grand River township. Bates county, when W. W. Ricketts began his school work about tw^enty-five years ago. He was later taught by Curtis Smith and Mr. Gregg, while a pupil in the same school as men- tioned above. Mr. Ricketts completed the public school course at Warrensburg in 1905 and immediately accepted a position at Kansas City, Missouri, with the National Bank of Commerce, which place he held for three years and then resigned to accept a position with the New England National Bank of Kansas City. Mr. Ricketts was with the latter institution three years when he came to Adrian, Missouri, in 1911, to assume the duties of assistant cashier of the Adrian Banking Company, a position he is filling with satisfaction to all concerned, at the time of this writing in 1918.

The marriage of W. W. Ricketts and Stella Smith, a daughter of W. H. and Anna Smith, of Cass county, Missouri, was solemnized in 1910. To this union has been born one child, a son, Gordon. Mrs. Ricketts is a member of the Christian church and Mr. Ricketts of the Methodist Episcopal church. They reside in Adrian, in which city they own an attractive residence and, in addition, two building lots. Mr. Ricketts is a stockholder of the Adrian Banking Company, a sketch of w^hich institution will be found in connection with the biography of D. B. Reist, wdiich appears elsewhere in this volume.

Mr. Ricketts is affiliated with the Democratic party and although he is a conscientious upholder of his political principles, he is by no means narrow or bigoted in his views. He has now for many years maintained an enviable standing in his home county, has filled with marked credit to himself several important positions of trust, and he possesses to an unusually large degree the confidence and respect of tfic people with whom he has so long been associated. W. W. Ricketts has attained his present high standing in this community not because of wealth, inheritance, or aid of influential friends but because of his own inherent worth and Adrian is proud to number him among the city's most representative citizens.

Reverend Ira Witmore, the well-known and competent manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri, an honored bishop of the Church of the Brethren, One of Bates county's most progressive and prosperous citizens, is a native of Ohio. Reverend ^^'itmore was born in 1868, a son of Jacob and Amanda Witmore. For three generations, the Witmores have been ministers in the Church of the Brethren, Jonathan, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Ira, and Ira \\'itmore, who traces his lineage back to a prominent and highly respected colonial family of Pennsylvania.

on a splendid farm, of eighty acres of land, located one mile from Adrian, for which place he paid twenty-five dollars an acre. Reverend Witmore was recently offered one hundred dollars an acre for his farm, which is not for sale. His home is one of the most beautiful country places in this part of the state. He but lately disposed of his stock interests, in order that he might give his entire attention to the work of the Farmers Lumber Company, of which he is manager. As a minister of the Gospel, Reverend Witmore is many times called upon to perform marriage ceremonies and funeral rites.

The marriage of Reverend Ira Witmore and Hannah Blocher, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Blocher, who came to Illinois from Pennsylvania, in the early days of the settlement of that state, and thence to Missouri, was solemnized in 1892. To this union have been born four children: Merle, Irma, Gertrude, and Naomi, all of whom reside at home with their parents. Reverend and Mrs. Witmore are highly esteemed in Adrian, where the Witmore family is numbered among the best families.

The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri was organized in 1903 at Adrian, Missouri with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, consisting of four hundred shares. The company has long been selfsustaining and has prospered from the very beginning. The Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian has annually paid a dividend of from five to ten per cent, and stock in the company is at the present time selling for sixty dollars a share, which sold originally for twenty-five dollars. The officers of the company, at the time of this writing in 1918, are, as follow: E. H. Wyatt, president; W. H. Wagner, vice-president; L. R. Allen, secretary; Ira Witmore, manager; E. H. Wyatt, L. R. Allen, D. F. Andes, W. H. Wagner, H. Baie, directors; D. W. Six and J. P. Reeder, clerks. This company financed the building of the Adrian Cheese Factory, which is proving to be a most profitable investment. Reverend Witmore was elected manager of the company in 1908 and for three years prior to that he had been a clerk of the companv. The Farmers Lumber Company handle all kinds of building material, including lumber, doors, cement, paint, and builders' hardware, all of which have greatly advanced in price during the past ten years. The comparativ-e values of the material in 1908 and 1918 are not only interesting in themselves but are of historical value, and are given below.

The company had, at the time of this writing in 1918, a carload of yellow pine coming from Louisiana, which is costing eleven hundred fifty-two dollars and twenty-four cents. S. H. Ray was the first business manager of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian and under his capable management a surplus fund of two thousand eight hundred eighty-four dollars and eighty-two cents was accumulated. Since Mr. Witmore has assumed the management, this fund has been increased to ten thousand one hundred dollars, an increase which certainly reflects great credit upon the efiticient business management of the company. Reverend Witmore has also increased the capacity of the company's building and it now owns two large plants. He relates many interesting and amusing experiences which he has had as manager of a new company beginning to make itself felt in competition with older firms. The prosperity of the Farmers Lumber Company is sufficient proof of its phenomenal success.

Willard Trout. - Thirty-four years ago, Willard Trout, leading farmer and stockman, of Howard township, Bates county, came to Bates county without a dollar to his name. He began his career in this county as a farm hand and is now one of the wealthy and influential citizens of the county. Mr. Trout owes his continued success to the fact that, when he had determined upon a certain method of procedure, to follow it, whatever the result, and in almost every instance, his judgment has resulted to his profit. For many years he has been an extensive feeder of livestock, and continues year in and year out to feed stock for the markets, regardless of conditions. This unvarying method of trusting nothing to chance, but in pursuing an undeviating and decided policy as regards his farming operations, has resulted in one of the remarkable successes in this section of Missouri. The "Trout Stock Farm" is one of the most complete and best equipped in Bates county, comprising four hundred acres of land, three sets of farm buildings, a recently completed feeding shed eighty by eighty feet in extent with concrete floors, a large granary, and two concrete silos, sixteen by forty feet in dimensions, with a capacity of two hundred tons of silage each. At the present writing, December of 1917, Mr. Trout is feeding forty head of hogs and one hundred twenty-five head of cattle. He and his sons have harvested one hundred fifty acres of corn which made the great yield of forty to sixty bushels per acre, eighty acres of which actually yielded sixty bushels to the acre. They harvested one hundred ten acres of wheat which yielded a total of eighteen hundred bushels; and have sown two fields to wheat for the 1918 harvest, one field of one hundred fifteen acres and another of fifty acres. They also harvested eighty acres of oats which made a substantial yield of forty bushels to the acre. The foregoing figures are direct and irrefutable evidence that the Trout farm is one of the most productive and best managed agricultural plants in this part of Missouri.

Willard Trout was born April 7, 1864 in Pendleton, Indiana, a son of Isaac and Amelia (Wanbaugh) Trout, natives of Pennsylvania, who located in Henry county, town of Greensboro, Indiana, in 1865. Isaac Trout was a miller by trade and operated a flouring and grist mill at Greensboro until 1870 when he took charge of the Stone Quarry Mill in Henry county and operated this mill up to within a few years of his death which occurred in October, 1898 at the age of seventy-six years. He was widely and favorably known throughout that section of Indiana. He was owner of a farm "near the mill" which he cultivated and upon which his family of eleven children were reared. Twelve children were born to Isaac and Amelia Trout, eleven of whom were grown to maturity and nine of whom are yet living: Willard, subject of this review; Robert, in Colorado; Frank, a resident of Indiana; Joseph, Pittsburg, Kansas; Burt, New Castle, Indiana; Mrs. Jennie Duncan, Knightstown, Indiana; Mrs. Ida Whitely, Pittsburg, Kansas; Mrs. Dora McNew, Howard township, Bates county; Mrs. Adonis Rogers, New Castle, Indiana. The mother of this large family was born in 1841 and died in March, 1913.

Opportunities were poor for securing an education in his native county, and Willard Trout found it necessary to begin work at an early age in order to assist in providing for his father's large family. He worked in the mill during his boyhood days and until 1884 was employed in the cultivation of his father's farm. He then decided to come to Missouri in search of a home and fortune if possible. Arriving here during the harvest season, he secured employment as a farm hand, and his first work consisted in shucking twenty-five hundred bushels of corn at three cents per bushel. This was the first real money he earned in Missouri and was paid him by S. P. Wilson for his first winter's work. For the next two years he was employed at a wage of seventeen dollars per month. He then rented land nntil 1893, at which time he bought an "eighty" at a cost of one thousand eight hundred dollars. This farm was raw land which he improved first with a small shanty and afterward built a frame dwelling. This farm was located west of his present home place and formed the nucleus around which he has gathered his present acreage, buying his present home "eighty" in 1900 ; another eighty-acre tract in 1903; a c|uarter section in 1915 at a cost of nine thousand dollars.

Mr. Trout was married March 11, 1888 to Miss Delia Brown, and to this marriage have been born six children : Francis Wayne, farmer, Howard township, married Cecil Wilson ; Howard Collier, farmer, on the home place; Isaac Harrison, at home; Mary Amelia, Minnie, Maude, and Adeline Marie, at home with their parents. Mrs. Delia (Brown) Trout was born in Vernon county, Missouri, January 31, 1869 a daughter of Harrison and Marie (Miller) Brown, the former of whom was born in Anderson county, Kentucky in 1842, and the latter having been born in Fulton county, Illinois in 1851. Harrison Brown went to Illinois in 1864, removed to Texas in 1867, married in 1868 and located in Vernon county, Missouri in the fall of 1868, dying at the age of seventy-four years in 1916. In 1906 he retired to a home in Hume, Missouri, where his death occurred in July, 1916. There were seven children in the Brown family: Mrs. Willard Trout, wife of the subject of this review; Mrs. Nova Perrine, deceased ; Mrs. Lillie Rhodes, Kansas City, Missouri ; Miles Alonzo, living near Fulton, Kansas; Mrs. Maude Criss, Bates county, Missouri; Charles, a dairyman at Rich Hill, Missouri; Neville, a druggist at Springfield, Missouri.

Mrs. Delia Trout had a painful and terrifying experience during the cyclone or tornado which devastated this section of Bates county on April 21, 1887. She was visiting at the home of her uncle, Miles Miller, located just northeast of the Trout place. The time was six o'clock in the evening and the family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Miller and children were in the house, she making preparations for the evening meal. The sky was overcast and a storm was brewing. A roaring noise was heard, and Mr. Miller, looking out of the door, observed a twisting, funnel shaped cloud bearing directly down upon the buildings. All of them including Mr. Miller, his wife and babe, a son. Weaver Miller, three years old, and Mrs. Trout fled toward the outside storm cellar for safety. Just as Mr. Miller had opened the cellar door the tornado reached them in all its fury and Mrs. Trout knew nothing more until she found herself caught in the hedge some distance from the home and badly bruised about the body. The bodies of Mr. Miller and his wife and the two-months-old infant were found dead in the well where some freak of the "twister" had thrown them. The little three-year-old boy was found uninjured and was afterward reared by Mrs. Brown to manhood and is now a druggist in Nevada. The Miller homestead was one of the finest in Bates county, but every building was totally demolished by the fury of the tornado and the boards and parts of the buildings scattered to the four points of the compass as a result of the twisting power of the wind.

Mr. Trout takes a good citizen's part in matters political and is one of the influential members of the Democratic party in Bates county. He served for six years as township treasurer, and is fraternally afifiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. The Trout home is a very hospitable one and the several members of the Trout family are held in high esteem in Bates county.

S. L. Bates, M. D., one of the most prominent physicians of Bates county, ex-mayor of Adrian, vice-president of the First National Bank of Adrian, and the city physician, is a native of Indiana. Doctor Bates was born in 1850 at Castleton in Marion county, Indiana, a son of Ozro and Mary M. Bates, and a descendant of one of the leading colonial families, whose ancestors came to America from Scotland among the one hundred two Pilgrims on board the "Mayflower" which set sail from Plymouth, England, September 6, 1620. Ozro Bates was born at Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1813. When he was a child, five years of age, his parents moved from Brattleboro to Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1818 both father and mother died from cholera, an epidemic of which dreaded disease swept the city at that time. The orphan boy was apprenticed to a Quaker family residing near Cincinnati, Ohio. In his youth, Ozro Bates mowed hay on the land which is the present site of Chicago, Illinois. He was greatly afflicted with the desire for change in his early maturity and he traveled extensively, always on horseback. Later in life, he purchased a tract of land, embracing one hundred twenty acres, located near Indianapolis, where he spent the remainder of his life engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. Ozro and Mary M. Bates were the parents of seven children, four of whom are now living, as follow: Nathaniel S., Rensselaer, Indiana; David H., Henrietta, Texas; William M., Delphi, Indiana; and Dr. S. L., the subject of this review.

of the average lad on the farm. The doctor attended a Httle country school, which was held at Vertland school house near his home and which was taught by Professor Phipps at the time S. L. Bates began his educational career. He vividly recalls an occasion indelibly impressed upon his mind because of his keen disappointment in the results. One day, when the doctor was a schoolboy, the janitor of the school house built a booming fire of "poplar'' wood and the young Bates lad naturally thought that that day they would have a "popping" fire and impatiently watched through the entire session to hear the "pops." In 1878, Dr. S. L. Bates graduated from Ohio Medical College, the oldest medical school in the West, and immediately afterward opened his office at Colburn in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for several years. Dr. S. L. Bates completed the graduate course in medicine at the Ohio Medical College in 1886 and in February, 1887, he came West and located at Adrian in Bates county, where he has ever since been actively engaged in the medical practice. At the time of his coming, Adrian was a new town and presented a very primitive appearance. The country was mostly unfenced and there were no bridges or roads. Dr. Bates has responded to calls fifteen miles from Adrian and in the early days always traveled on horseback.

The marriage of Dr. S. L. Bates and Efiie M. Chapman, a daughter of Jacob H. and Mrs. Chapman, natives of Indiana, was solemnized in 1880. To this union have been born seven children, four of whom are now living: Dr. Carl, who is engaged in the medical practice in Colorado; Dr. Gerald C, Adrian, Missouri; ^^'ilma A., Kansas City, Missouri; and Gertrude, at home with her parents. Each of the doctor's children is interested in the medical profession and all his sons have entered it. Miss W^ilma E., the elder daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Bates, is at present a student in the Christian Church Hospital at Kansas City, Missouri, preparing for medical work, and Miss Gertrude, a student in the Adrian High School, is planning to be a physician and nurse. With the accession of the youngest child in the profession, the doctor's entire family will have become physicians. Dr. Gerald C. Bates is commissioned as first lieutenant and will soon be called to France. The little city of Adrian is still grieving over the loss of Dr. Floyd Bates, a son of Dr. and Mrs. Bates, who was commissioned as first lieutenant, who was one of the first "to go to the colors" when the call to arms came. He w^as a voung man of great abilitv with a bright and most promising career opening before him. Doctor Floyd had graduated from the Kansas City Medical College in the class of 1910 and was engaged in the practice of medicine at Adrian, associated with his father, and he had long since made scores of friends in this city and cotmty. He was in camp at Fort Riley, when on the night of August 6, 1917, he was killed by lightning. His remains were brought to Adrian for interment.

Doctor Bates is a most public-spirited and patriotic citizen and he is always interested in all that concerns the welfare of his city and county. He has been honored with several offices of public trust, having served as mayor of Adrian, as a member of the school board, and is now serving as city physician of Adrian. Doctor Bates is vice-president and a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Adrian. He has succeeded admirably and has prospered since his coming to Bates county, Missouri, thirty-one years ago and is now the owner of a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres of land in this county, which country place he rents, and of his beautiful modern residence in Adrian, a two-story structure of ten pleasant and spacious rooms.

In all his relations with his fellowman, professional, business, or social, the conduct of Dr. S. L. Bates has been open and straightforward, his integrity unassailable, his courtesy that of a gentleman of the old school. His professional career has from the beginning been characterized by close and diligent attention to duty and an unusual skill and proficiency in all branches of general practice and he is now justly enjoying a most lucrative practice. He and Mrs. Bates are highly respected and valued in Adrian.

E. A. Cherry, the well-known postmaster of Adrian, Missouri, one of the leading horsemen of Bates county, the organizer of the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, a potent factor in the organization of the Adrian Cheese Factory, is one of the county's most influential and public-spirited citizens. Mr. Cherry is a native of Illinois. He was born in 1866 at Carthage in Hancock county, Illinois, a son of John W. and Purlina (Pyle) Cherry, the former, a native of Tennessee and the latter, of Kentucky. The two families, the Cherrys and Pyles, settled in Illinois among the first pioneers of that state in 1843. John W. Cherry was an early-day freighter, working between Springfield, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri. He drove three yokes of oxen and it required from two to three weeks to make the trip. He would camp nights and in order to keep off the howling wolves would keep fires burning around his wagon. In later years, John W. Cherry homesteaded land in Hancock county, Illinois, and became an honored pioneer of that county and a prosperous farmer and stockman, the owner of one thousand two hundred eighty acres of land located near Carthage, a wealthy grain merchant and stock buyer. As there was no bank at Carthage, Illinois, in those days, Mr. Cherry frequently went to Warsaw, a distance of eighteen miles, on horseback, and drew from the bank at that place as much as twenty thousand dollars at one time and in safety return home. John W. Cherry always paid cash for stock and grain immediately upon delivery. He resided at Carthage, Illinois, several years and while a resident of that city was one of the leading financiers. His friends would deposit with him their money, for which he would give a receipt, and thus it may truthfully be said that he was the first and most trusted banker of Carthage. Because of his sterling integrity and unquestioned honesty, John W. Cherry was many times appointed administrator of estates in Illinois. He was dissatisfied in the city and after a few years returned to his farm, where he spent the closing years of his life in happiness and contentment. Mr. Cherry was a model gentleman, a truly Christian character, and if he had any faults or bad habits no one ever knew of them. He never in his life drank intoxicating liquor, never smoked, never chewed tobacco, and not one of his twelve children ever heard him swear. He died in 1891 and twelve years later, in 1903, he was joined in death by his wife. Of the twelve children born to John W. and Purlina Cherry, but five are now living: E. C, a successful clothier of Milan, Missouri; W. P., president of the Cherry-Tilden Live Stock Commission Company of Kansas City, Missouri; H. G., president of the Cherry Brothers' Investment Company and president of the Mine Creek Oil Company of Kansas City, Missouri; E. A., the subject of this review; Dora, the wife of E. C. Barber, of the Home Telephone Company of Kansas City, Missouri.

E. A. Cherry attended the public schools of Carthage, Illinois, and, later, business college at Quincy, Illinois. After completing a business course at the latter institution, Mr. Cherry returned to his father's farm and, as the elder Cherry was disabled for many years prior to his death, the son assumed charge of all business affairs and managed the father's estate uatil he died in 1891. The following year, 1892, Mr. Cherry, the subject of this review, located at Carthage, Illinois, where he owned a large stock barn. Closing his business in the autumn of the same year, Mr. Cherry came to Kansas City, Missouri, and for several months was employed in the real estate department of the Lombard- Investment Company of Kansas City. He then returned to Carthage, Illinois, and again took up his residence on the farm near that city and during the years immediately following became -one of the most prominent horsemen of the state of Illinois. Mr. Cherry dealt extensively in imported stallions and shipped them to many different parts of the country. He brought the first imported draft horse to Bates county, Missouri. For eleven years, he was engaged in training race horses. When Mr. Cherry came to Adrian in 1898, he had back of him years of experience in the stock business and at that time he brought a number of fine stallions to Missouri and has ever since been interested in the breeding of high-grade horses. Mr. Cherry has made one hundred sixty-two different exhibits of his animals in Bates and Cass counties and has received one hundred fifty-four first and nine second premiums, being defeated but once. In his stables at Adrian, Mr. Cherry has capacity for one hundred head of horses. In addition to raising horses, he also keeps a number of jacks and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has seven dairy cows. He sells the milk from his dairy to the Adrian Cheese Factory. The Cherry stables and the residence together occupy a half block in the city of Adrian. The residence is a handsome, modern structure of nine rooms.

E. A. Cherry and Lula Fair, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Fair, of Adrian, Missouri, were united in marriage February 25, 1892, and to this union were born two children, one of whom is now living. Wesley, who was his father's assistant in the postoffice. Lula (Fair) Cherry died in 1899. Mr. Cherry remarried, his second wife being Pearl M. Leffler, a daughter of Alexander and Nancy Leffler, and to them have been born four children : Crystal I., Emmett A., Lydia Ann, and Dorothy Pearl, all of whom are at home with their parents.

In civic affairs, no one in this part of the state takes a keener interest than E. A. Cherry. He has at all times evidenced his willingness to sacrifice self-interest for the good of the community and has been very active in aiding the development of the business interests of Bates county. In 1900, Mr. Cherry assisted in organizing the Farmers Lumber Company of Adrian, Missouri, and he, himself solicited six thousand six hundred seventy-five dollars of the ten thousand dollars capital stock. He was the first secretary of the company. Sixteen years later, he was instrumental in the organization of the Adrian Cheese Factory, which is situated cii a tract of land formerly owned by Mr. Cherry. -He was appointed postmaster of Adrian in 1913, which position he still occupies and is efficiently and satisfactorily filling at the time of this writing in 1918. On January 24, 1918, he received his reappointment for another four-year period.

Rev. Abram H. Lewis. - Few names figuring in the history of Bates county are more favorably or more lovingly remembered than that of the late Rev. Abram H. Lewis who for a period extending nearly two score years preached the gospel according to the precepts of the Baptist faith in this section of Missouri. It was he who practically founded the Baptist churches in this section. His lovable and kindly character which was tempered by a force which w^on its way to the hearts of the people will make him long remembered in hundreds of Bates county homes. Through long months and years he would visit his various charges, making long and tiresome trips by horseback to hold services among his people. He was the really successful Baptist missionary in this section of the state, and his work will endure many years to come.

Rev. A. H. Lewis was born September 9, 1826, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and was a son of John Lewis, born in Culpepper county, Virginia, on May 1, 1783, the eldest son of William and Mary Lewis who had twelve sons and two daughters, all of whom wxre reared to maturity excepting one son who died at the age of two years. John Lewis married Ann Merry Wallis, a daughter of William and Mildred Wallis and she was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, January 1, 1793, but was left an orphan at a tender age and was reared by her grandmother W^alker. Until her nineteenth year she was kept in a boarding school and in 1811 was married to John Lewis. They then moved to Madison county, Virginia to a place located near the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains, where all of their eight children were born, six sons and two daughters as follow: William W., Ethelbert W., Alfred B., Mary M., Ann E., John M., Abram H., and Robert S. Lewis. In March of 1831. John Lewis moved to Culpepper county, Virginia to the farm which had been the home of his father-in-law, and they resided there until their deaths, the mother dying in August, 1859.

Reverend Lewis was educated in the schools of his native county when not assisting in the work upon his father's farm, closing his school days in 1846. For three years following he taught three terms of school of ten months each in the neighborhood of his father's home. In June, 1843 he was baptized in the Baptist faith. In October, 1849 he pur- chased the farm owned by his brother-in-law, Robert S. Jeffries, which adjoined that of his father and decided to marry and go to housekeeping. On January 15, 1850, he was married to Geraldine L. Covington, a daughter of John S. and Elizabeth W. Covington, and he then moved to his farm. In March of 1850, Mr. Lewis was ordained a deacon of the New Salem Baptist church, and it was at this time that he began to take an active part in the work of his church. During the seven years following his marriage, he resided in Virginia and most of the time he was superintendent of the Sunday school of his church and did a great amount of good work in converting his Sunday school pupils to become Christians.

In November, 1856, Mr. Lewis made a visit to Missouri in order to view out the country with a view to making it his future home. He in company with others went by railroad to St. Louis, and then by boat to Hannibal on the Mississippi river, and then by hack to the home of his uncle, Peyton Botts, with whom he spent a week. He then went to Miami, Saline county, where his brothers, Alfred's and Ethelbert's families lived (Ethelbert Lewis had died of cholera in May, 1855 leaving a widow and seven children). Mr. Lewis was much pleased with the country and he soon decided upon a place for his new home. One week later he went to Ray county and visited with Thomas A. Duvall who had married Lucy Covington, a sister of his wife. Both Mr. Duvall and Mr. Covington were very anxious that he locate in Ray county, but he returned to Miami and left a bid with his brother Alfred for one hundred sixty acres of land adjoining his farm, for which a deal was made with Alfred Stephenson in February, 1857. This land cost him twenty-two dollars and fifty cents an acre. After returning home and selling out his farm and settling up his affairs in Virginia, Mr. Lewis started on the return trip to Missouri on September 14, 1857. For the ensuing year he lived in the house on his brother's farm, working his farm and Alfred's together by the aid of Alfred's hands until his own home was completed and into which he moved in September, 1858.

When the Civil War broke out he espoused the cause of secession and enlisted in the Missouri state troops under Gen. Sterling Price in December, 1861. Six hundred fifty volunteers started to go to General Price's headquarters at Osceola, with only a few of them in possession of arms. All of the volunteers were on foot and accompanied by a number of loaded provision wagons. While in camp on Blackwater they were attacked by a. large force of Federals and were captured. The prisoners were taken to St. Louis and incarcerated in the Gratiot street prison on December 25, 1861. They were kept in this prison for about six weeks and were then removed to Alton, Illinois. About the first of April, 1862 an offer of their release was made those who were only sworn in for state service, provided they would each give bond and security to remain quietly at home. A large proportion of the men accepted this offer of release and Mr. Lewis was among this number who gave their bonds and were permitted to go to their homes. When in August an order was issued for all to enroll in the militia in behalf of the Federal Government, contrary to their given parole, a large number of his comrades enlisted in the Southern army, but ill health prevented Mr. Lewis from going to the front with them. Li December of 1863 he sold his farm and personal property in order to protect his brother, John M. Lewis, who had loaned him money with which to buy his farm. Li March, 1864, Mr. Lewis removed with his family to a farm in Ray county, three miles north of Richmond. Ten days later, Mr. Duvall died and he located on the Duvall fairm, living there for eight years and renting the farm from Mrs. Duvall. During the ensuing years of the war he was not much troubled except by soldiers hunting food, and whom he always fed. But, in the spring of 1865, times became so bad that he determined to leave the country for Nebraska in order to save his life. While en route to Omaha in April, 1865 he learned of Lee's surrender and the assassination of President Lincoln. He and his brother Alfred, who accompanied him on the trip then returned to their homes. A brother, John M. Lewis, was killed in the trenches before Petersburg. April 2, 1865. His brother-in-law, Robert S. JefYries, was captured there and taken to Point Lookout where he remained until near the close of the war when his wife got permission from President Johnson to take him home. He died in Alexandria on his way home.

In March, 1871, Mr. Lewis made another trip to Virginia on business and received from his father's estate the sum of one thousand dollars. In February of 1870, his brother Alfred and he took a prospecting trip to Bates county in search of a future home site. Mr. Lewis contracted for one hundred sixty acres for which he agreed to pay eight hundred forty dollars, when the deed was furnished. In May, 1870 he came to Bates county with a team and plough and broke up forty acres, went home, then came back in August and erected a house and meat house, expecting to move in that fall, but decided to wait for a time. In March, 1872, he moved to Bates county and settled on the farm

To Abram H. and Geraldine Lewis wxre born the following children: Mrs. Mary Wade Chanler, residing on a farm five miles southeast of Butler; John W. Lewis, subject of this review; Mrs. Lucy Kate Smith, Wellington, Kansas; Mrs. Elizabeth M. Rosier, Mountain View, Howell county, Missouri; Mrs. Geraldine Trice, Oklahoma; Thomas H. Lewis, who lives on an adjoining farm in West Point township; William E., St. Marys, Idaho; Mrs. Irene Crawford, Liberty, Missouri; Strother Covington Lewis, living on the Lewis home place.

The mother of the foregoing children, Mrs. Geraldine L. (Covington) Lewis was born October 24, 1824, in Culpepper county, Virginia, and was the fourth of a family of ten children born to John S. and Elizabeth W. Covington, as follow: Salina S., Lucy F., Robert G., Geraldine L., William Wallis, John L., Thomas H., Margaret I., Mary W., and Susan O. Mary Wade was burned to death when a little girl. William W. died in November, 1850. Mrs. Geraldine Lewis died April 12, 1883.