Henry County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1919 (part 3 of 17)

Mrs. Louise (Cecil) Brown was descended from one of the oldest pioneer families of Henry County. She was born February 25, 1847, on a pioneer farm near old Leesville, in eastern Henry County, and was the daughter of Wilson and Henry Cecil, pioneer settlers of Henry County. Mrs. Brown died April 10, 1909. She was a good and faithful wife to her husband and the married life of this devoted couple was a most happy and congenial one. She was a true helpmeet and was a deeply religious woman, being active in the aflfairs of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which she was long a valued member.

Mr. Brown has generally voted the Democratic ticket and is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Now living a comfortable retired life upon his place he varies the days with trips to the nearby town of Montrose, where he enjoys hob-nobbing with his old friends of many years standing. He recalls the days of old, when people were happy and hospitable and kind - when the neighbors would take turns in going to mill, their nearest grinding place being the Xenia mills, thirty-five miles away on a tributary emptying into the Osage River. They would take a very heavy load of grain and the trip to Xenia and return would require two days. Mr. Brown enjoyed hunting and fishing in the early days and his boon companion on many hunting trips was the late Bill Salmon of Germantovni. He has killed many deer and prairie chickens. No man is more highly regarded in his section of Henry County nor more universally respected than John D. Brown, who is intelligent, well read and companionable.

Charles H. Snyder, a Union veteran of the Civil War, is one of the substantial pioneer residents of Henry Country. Mr. Snyder was born in Dresden, Saxony, October 31, 1839, a son of Ernest and Emelia A. (Laonhardt) Snyder. The Snyder family came to America in 1849, landing in New York November 3. Ernest Snyder, the father, was a prominent civil engineer and held a high station in that profession in his native land. He took a prominent part in politics and was a political associate of Carl Shurtz, of whom it will be recalled was prominent in a political revolution that took place in Germany about the middle of the last century. On account of his political activity in opposition to the government, Ernest Snyder left his native land with his family and came to America, and thus escaped prosecution for opposing the same Prussianism with which the world is contending today.

in Company F, Second Regiment, East Tennessee Volunteers. He participated in the battle of Mill Springs, which was fought January 19, 1862, and after that he served on detached duty until 1863. Mr. Snyder then entered the employ of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company as assistant auditor with headquarters at Louisville, Kentucky. He remained in that capacity until 1865, when he came to Henry County, Missouri.

Upon coming to Henry County Mr. Snyder engaged in the lumber business. He opened the first lumber yard in Clinton. This was before there were any railroads here and all his lumber was hauled from Warrensburg, which was the nearest railroad point. After being in the lumber business for about one and one-half years, Mr. Snyder was appointed deputy county clerk. In 1870 he was elected county clerk and served two terms. Mr. Snyder, perhaps, has held a commission as notary public longer than any other man in Henry County, receiving his first commission in 1875, and has served as notary public ever since that time, and so far as known he bears the distinction of being the oldest ex-county official of Henry County. Mr. Snyder has been in the real estate loan and fire insui'ance business for nearly forty years, and during that time he has loaned a great deal of eastern money to the farmers of Henry County.

Mr. Snyder was united in marriage March 26, 1861, to Miss Mattie Boyes, a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, but at the time of her marriage a resident of Tennessee. To Mr. and Mrs. Snyder were born three children: Meta, married H. H. Williams, Clinton, Missouri; Charles W., who served in the Eleventh United States Infantry during the Spanish- American War. He made a good military record but his health failed while he was in the service and he died May 27, 1900; Margaret C, is unmarried and resides with her father in Clinton. Mrs. Mattie Snyder died May 25, 1912, at the age of seventy-one years.

Mr. Snyder has always been identified with the Republican party although in a political sense he is inclined to be independent. As he expresses it, he proposes to do his own thinking. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Herman Millard Hull, a "real old settler" of Davis township, was born September 8, 1859, in De Kalb County, Illinois, a son of Silas C. and Angeline Hull, pioneer settlers of Henry County, a sketch of whose lives appears in this volume in connection with the sketch of J. M. Hull, brother of Herman Millard Hull. Mr. Hull accompanied his parents to Henry County in 1866 and was here reared to young manhood and educated in the Willow Branch district school, of which his father was one of the founders. Mr. Hull is owner of a fine farm of eighty acres located in section 23, Davis township, and also owns a timber tract of five acres in section 33. For the past thirty years Mr. Hull has been engaged in carpenter work and farming. He has done a great amount of foundation building in Henry County and has erected more dwelling houses from the ground up than any other carpenter and builder in his section of Henry County. Mr. Hull has always taken a just pride in the thoroughness and reliability of his work, which compares favorably with the best. From 1911 to 1912 he resided in Los Angeles, California, and was there engaged in carpenter work.

Mr. Hull was married on April 30, 1884, to Ida May Fahnestock, and to this marriage have been born children as follow: Gary Millard, born February 15, 1885, now managing the La Due Lumber Yard, married Stella Ferry and has one child, Walter G. ; Irvin Milton, born October 22, 1888, resides in La Due, married Nellie Maddox and has two children, Richard Henry and Vivian Marie. Mrs. Ida May Hull was born July 26, 1866, in Darke County, Ohio, and is a daughter of Ephraim L. and Sarah (Gessamen) Fahnestock, the latter of whom died in her native State. The Fahnestocks migrated to Henry County, Missouri, in 1871 and Ephraim L. Fahnestock died in this county.

H. M. Hull has always been allied with the Democratic party and has held many positions of trust and responsibility in Davis township. He served for some years as township treasurer and for the past twelve years he has filled the office of justice of the peace. Mrs. Hull and the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hull is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, La Due Lodge No. 772.

B. F. McKeaigg, president of the Bank of La Due, and a prosperous farmer of Davis tovmship, was born in LavsTence County, Indiana, April 30, 1868. He is the son of Robert C. (bom 1833, died 1893) and Alferna (Swindler) McKeaigg. Robert C. McKeaigg was a native of Indiana and a son of Harrison McKeaigg, of Kentucky, who was an early settler of Lawrence County, Indiana. In 1884 Robert C. McKeaigg came to Henry County, Missouri, and after residing here for a short time he went to Oklahoma, where he homesteaded a tract of Government land and died in that State. Mr. and Mrs. Robert McKeaigg were parents of nine children, seven of whom survive : William H., resides in Pasadena, California ; B. F., subject of this review; (twins), Jasper N. and Oscar C, of Thomas, Oklahoma ; Thomas, lives at Newkirk, Oklahoma ; Louis, La Due, Missouri ; Mrs. Carrie Massey, living near La Due.

Mr. McKeaigg accompanied his parents to Henry County in 1884 and was iirst employed as farm hand by Mr. Hinkle. He married and resided upon the Hinkle place as tenant for a period of seven years. In 1891 he purchased forty acres near Independence school house. Three years later he sold this tract and then purchased his present farm, located in Davis township, west of La Due. This farm consists of seventy acres and is nicely improved. For the past twelve years Mr. McKeaigg has successfully farmed this tract and has splendid improvements thereon consisting of a handsome white cottage, modern in its appointments, good barns and fencing kept in excellent repair.

Mr. McKeaigg was married November 24, 1893, to Mrs. Mary Reed, a widow, who was born in Illinois and is a daughter of J. B. and Caroline (Fellahauer) Sherbourne, who came to Henry County from Illinois in 1880. By a former marriage with Edward Reed, deceased, Mrs. McKeaigg has two children : Mrs. Allie Hemperley, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Harry E. Reed, of Clinton, Missouri. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. McKeaigg, Everett Ray, who died at the age of two years.

The Democratic party has generally had the support and allegiance of Mr. McKeaigg, and he and Mrs. McKeaigg are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 772 of La Due.

R. H. Maddox, cashier of the Bank of La Due, was born in Callaway County, Missouri, March 17, 1866. He is the son of Dr. R. J. and Mary (Keithler) Maddox. R. J. Maddox was bom in 1837, a son of Stephen Maddox, a native of Virginia who was a pioneer settler in Callaway County. He was educated for the medical profession and became a successful practicing physician, residing on the farm while ministering to the sick folks of the country neighborhood in which he made his home. Doctor Maddox was married in Callaway County to Mary M. Keithler, who was bom in St. Louis. In 1882 Doctor Maddox removed to Bates County, Missouri, and practiced medicine in that county in the rural sections until his death in 1887. Dr. R. J. and Mary Maddox were parents of six children: W. J., a resident of Callaway County; Mrs. Minta P. Farmer and Mrs. Fannie E. Davis, both residents of Callaway County; S. J., liv-

There were no public schools in the Big Survey region of Callaway County where R. H. Maddox received his early upbringing and he had little opportunity to secure an education. His father had settled in this section of the county in order to practice his profession and the son grew to yoQng manhood without the opportunity to even attain the rudiments of an education. His boyhood days were spent in tilling the soil of the family farm and cutting firewood until he was twenty years of age. He then went to Colorado and homesteaded a tract of Government land. During a twenty months' sojourn in that State he proved up on a claim in Bent County and then returned to Missouri, locating in Bates County. He took charge of a star mail route which extended from Rockville to Papinville, Missouri, and operated it for two years. When he attained young manhood he realized the need of an education and he began a practice of self study which he has maintained to this day, and at the present time is a well informed, pi'ogressive citizen. After two years on the mail route he sold the route and then went to Cedar County and engaged in the mercantile business at Pleasant View in 1890. In 1906 he disposed of his mercatile business and came to La Due, in this county, where he established a mercantile business which he conducted until engaging in the banking business. Besides his banking business Mr. Maddox is interested in farm land.

On April 11, 1889, R. H. Maddox and Florence S. Bradley were united in marriage. Mrs. Maddox is a daughter of the late Judge Burton Bradley and a niece of Senator Bradley of Bates County. Mr. and Mrs. Maddox have children as follow: James N., manager of a grain elevator, at home with his parents ; Mrs. Nellie Pearl Hull, Davis township ; Edith, assistant cashier of the Bank of La Due ; Claranett, deceased ; Grace G. and Codie C, at home.

Mr. Maddox is aligned with the Democratic party and for the past six years has served as treasurer of Davis township. He is a member of the Baptist Church and is fraternally affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modem Woodmen of America. It can truly be said of Mr. Maddox that he has made a success of his life work and is self made from every standpoint.

000. The past year has been the most prosperous that this bank has ever known as the statement of the increase of bank deposits will show. On March 17, 1917, the bank deposits were $24,612.15 ; on June 20, 1917, the total deposits were $28,451.91; on November 20, 1917, they were $58,487.12 ; on March 4, 1918, the deposits had reached the figure of $76,- 050.26. This substantial condition is evidence of the growing prosperity of the neighborhood served by the bank. The bank has a surplus of $1,- 279.30 and undivided profits of $600. The present officers are: B. F. McKeaigg, president; Robert D. Ming, vice-president; R. H. Maddox, cashier; H. B. Hollopeter and E. Maddox, assistant cashiers. The bank's directors are J. A. Vansant, R. D. Ming, H. B. Hollopeter, B. F. McKeaigg and R. H. Maddox. The stock of this bank is all held by thirty-one individuals who are engaged in farming. The institution is housed on its own new brick building erected in 1912 and fitted up with modern banking fixtures.

Otto Volkmann, manager and treasurer of the La Due Grain and Supply Company, La Due, Missouri, is a native son of Henry County, and was born on a farm in Clinton township, January 22, 1884. He is the son of C. H. and Catherine Volkmann, natives of Germany, who immigrated to America in 1862, first locating in Indiana. C. H. Volkmann later came to St. Louis and thence to Henry County in 1875, where he purchased a tract of prairie land and improved it, residing on his farm until his death in November of 1906 at the age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Catherine Volkmann died in August of 1906 at the age of sixty-nine years. They were parents of eight children: Louis and William, living at Wallace, Idaho; Henry, Lincoln, Missouri; Otto, subject of this sketch; Mrs. Louise Beckmeyer, Fayette County, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Seifried, Clinton; Mrs. Mary Quest, deceased; and Bertha, living in Lafayette County.

Otto Volkmann attended the Independence district school and resided on the home place of his parents until the farm was sold in 1906. He was then employed as a farm hand until 1910 at which time he began farming on his own account. He followed farming pursuits until February 10, 1916, when he took charge of the La Due Grain and Supply Company as its manager and treasurer. Mr. Volkmann is a Democrat in politics and a member of the Lutheran Church. He is affiliated with the Travelers' Protective Association and the Modem Business Brotherhood of America.

The La Due Grain and Supply Company, of which Mr. Volkmann is manager and treasurer, was organized in the spring of 1915 and is a co-operative concern, the stock of which is held by the farmers of the surrounding country tributary to La Due. The capital stock was $6,000 at the time of organization. The company erected all of the buildings, the elevator having a capacity of 12,000 bushels of grain. During 1917 there was handled by this elevator 24,000 bushels of corn, 30,300 bushels of oats and 16,500 bushels of wheat. In addition to handling grain the concern retails seeds, flour, feeds, cement and building material, the volume of business transacted during 1917 exceeding $100,000. The officers of the company are as follow : President, Claud Cordry ; secretary, Clyde A. Rice; treasurer and manager. Otto Volkmann. The directors are as follow: William Lobaugh, F. K. Miller, George Mayes, Frank White, M. A. Harrison, C. H. Hartsock, George N. Angle, John Layman, John Wolfert, J. W. Brown, C. A. Rice, Claud Cordry, C. C. Collins, T. D. Vansant and William Mida.

Albert Dunning. - The oldest pioneer in Fairview township and probably the oldest settler in the southern part of Henry County is Albert Dunning, one of the largest land owners in Henry County, who began his career as a plain farmer after his war service ended, with just three dollars in money. He made his first purchase of land in 1883 when he bought one hundred twenty acres. Mr. Dunning formerly owned 2,100 acres of rich farm land but has been giving land to his children until his ownership now claims but 1,700 acres. Almost in the exact center of his large tract (the home place) he erected a splendid country home of imposing appearance to which he added two rooms in 1893 and again remodeled in 1916. Mr. Dunning leases some of his land, but the greater part of it is cultivated by his sons.

Albert Dunning was born in Trigg County, Kentucky, January 15, 1838, and is the son of Shadrach and Ada (Morris) Dunning, the former of whom was a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. Shadrach and Ada Dunning were married in Kentucky and made their home in the Blue Grass State until 1840, when they left Kentucky and moved to Missouri. Leaving his family at Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, Shadrach Dunning came to Henry County, entered land and then returned for his family, who came here the following year. He died at his home in this county at the age of fifty years. The following children were born to Shadrach and Ada Dunning: Freeman, deceased; Mrs. Martha

Glass and Mrs. Eliza Nichols, deceased; Mrs. Malinda Arnold, aged eighty-eight years, lives in Texas; Mrs. Amanda Reed, aged eighty-six years, lives in North Dakota; John Henry, aged eighty-four years, lives near Carthage, Missouri; Albert, subject of this review; Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth McFarland, lives at Porterville, California, aged seventy-six years.

The original Dunning home was located in Fairview township, just four miles east of Albert Dunning's home place. Shadrach Dunning built a double log cabin, southern style, with two rooms below divided by a passage way, and a sleeping loft above. A big fireplace at the end of each room cheered and comforted the family in the winter time. Shadrach Dunning brought his slaves with him from Kentucky, and one old darkey, "Uncle Ben," was especially favored each Christmas. It was a custom in the family to give the old darkey a holiday as long as the Christmas back log would burn. The old fellow would range the timber and cut the biggest and toughest log he could possibly handle and would be resting easy for days as a consequence of the log burning for a long time. Deer were plentiful in those faraway days and fish swarmed in the streams. When a boy Albert Dunning had no difficulty in catching one hundred pounds of fish in a day's fishing with hook and line. He has shot deer and wolves without number and frequently caught young wolves and deer and trained them. He recalls that a panther was killed down on the Osage after the brute had terrorized the neighborhood for days. Indians were numerous and they frequently came to the Dunning home on begging expeditions but gave little trouble to the white folks.

When the Southern States rebelled against the Federal Government Albert Dunning enlisted in the Southern Army and fought for the cause which he believed with all of his soul to be just and right. He enlisted in 1861 in Company K, 16th Regiment Missouri Infantry and fought at the battles of Lone Jack, Carthage, Oak Hill, near Springfield, Missouri, where he was dismounted. He served in General Price's army and was in the engagements of Cane Hill, Arkansas, and took part in the defeat of General Banks on the Red River. His service extended in all parts of the Southern States and he was severely wounded in the upper left cheek by a shell at the battle of Helena, Arkansas. He was laid up in a hospital for several weeks and during the period of his illness Uncle Joe Davis came to the camp and took him home, where he could get better treatment. After the close of the war he came to St. Louis and thence home by railroad to Sedalia, Missouri, walking to his home in Henry

After returning from the war Mr. Dunning lived on the home place of the family until he began for himself. He saved his first money by buying calves, growing them and selling them for good money. In this way he managed to save enough to buy a piece of land. Since his first purchase he has continued to buy land and more land and has always been an extensive feeder of live stock.

Mr. Dunning was married October 10, 1880, to Miss Ellen Ann Fudge, who was born July 22, 1863, in Illinois, the daughter of Adam and Martha Fudge, who came to Henry County not many years after the close of the Civil War. The children born to Albert and Ellen Ann Dunning are as follows: Mrs. Martha Strickland, Fairview township, has two children, Albert, aged thirteen years, and Donald, aged five years; John, Fairview township; Albert, a farmer in Fairview township; Shadrach, at home with his father; Lillian, a high school teacher at Areola, Missouri, who was educated in the Warrensburg Normal School; Robert L., Earl and Archie, eleven years, all at home. Robert L. was born January 26, 1895, and is now a private in the National Army, drafted July 22, 1918.

This section of the State was called Rives County during the younger days of Albert Dunning, and it was very thinly settled. Cattle had free range and few people had any idea that the land would ever be valuable and that the country would become so thickly settled. Between the Dunning home and Clinton the only house was one built by Colonel Tutt, a noted old pioneer. Albert Dunning has seen this entire section of Missouri settled up and where once the deer, wild turkey and other wild game ranged at will there are now fertile farms and prosperous cities and towns. On the State line of Kansas and Missouri there were herds of buffalo and elk, and each season some of the settlers would journey to Kansas and kill a winter's supply of meat. Albert Dunning is a Democrat and is a member of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church.

Kindly disposed, at peace with the world and satisfied with his accomplishments as a pioneer of Henry County and the great state of Missouri he is spending his declining years in comfort and east with the knowledge that his work on this earth is done. The verdict of the Recording Angel will undoubtedly be: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

R. C. Grigsby. - The La Due Hardware Company, operated by R. C. Grigsby, La Due, Missouri, and owned by Mr. Grigsby and H. Welling, is one of the flourishing business concerns of Henry County. The store was established February 17, 1912, when Mr. Grigsby took active charge of it. During the past six years the business has increased and broadened. A general stock of hardware, oils, paints, agricultural implements, harness, buggies, wagons, etc., is carried and sold to the people of the surrounding country. The firm has the agency of the Buick automobiles. The business is housed in a large business room and two implement rooms which are filled with high grade stock of the best makes.

R. C. Grigsby was bom in Licking County, Ohio, November 24, 1869, and is the son of Alfred and Sarah (White) Grigsby, both of whom were natives of Licking County, Ohio. Alfred Grigsby was a son of Harry Grigsby, a native of England. Sarah Grigsby was the daughter of -John White, also a native of England. The Grigsby family migrated from Ohio to Missouri in 1870 and located on a farm situated three miles southwest of La Due, in Henry County. Mr. Grigsby hauled the first ties used in the building of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway in the neighborhood of La Due. His farm was located in Bear Creek township. He successfully tilled his acreage until old age came upon him and he then removed to California in 1911. His death occurred at the home of his son in that State in 1913. Mrs. Grigsby died in Henry County in 1908. They were parents of the following children: Mrs. Ella Strieker, deceased; Henry, living in California; Mrs. Lizzie Strieker, residing in California; George, deceased; Nelson, living in California; Mattie, deceased, and R. C, the subject of this sketch.

R. C. Grigsby was ten months old when he came with his parents to Henry County and here he was reared and educated. He attended the Willow Branch school and the Franklin school in his youthful days and received his higher education in the academy at Warsaw, Missouri. Mr. Grigsby qualified for the teaching profession, but took up farming and followed this vocation until 1910. For a period of two and a half years he was located in California, going to that State in 1906, and being employed in the orchard district as manager and also was engaged in the real estate business for a time. After returning to Henry County he farmed for one year and then took charge of the hardware business in La Due. Mr. Grigsby disposed of his farm in 1915.

Creek township were united in marriage. Mrs. Grigsby is the daughter of Mrs. Marian (Hunt) Reavis, widow of Edwin Reavis, a pioneer of Bear Creek township. Mr. and Mrs. Grigsby have a son, Cecil, bom December 12, 1902.

Mr. Grigsby is aligned with the Democratic party and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is affiliated, fraternally, Avith the Woodmen of the World.

Samuel A. Vansant. - For fifty years Samuel A. Vansant has resided upon his splendid form of 160 acres in Davis township and has prospered as the years have passed. He has reared a fine family of children and he and his faithful wife have lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary surrounded by their children and grandchildren. No man is more universally respected and admired for his sterling qualities than this old settler whose first home, when he came to Henry County in September of 1868, was a tent in which he lived until his modest frame house, 16x24 feet in dimension, could be erected. In the year 1883 he erected a nice home of six rooms which is surrounded by cedar and deciduous trees, which have grown during the time of his residence on the place.

Samuel A. Vansant was bom in Madison County, Illinois, April 8, 1841. He is a son of Abner B. and Susan (Christ) Vansant, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. Abner B. Vansant was bom in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, removed to Zanesville, or Muskingum County, Ohio, and was there married to Susan Christ, who was bom in that county. During the early thirties he removed to Madison County, Illinois, and purchased a farm near Collinsville, which he developed into a fine property. He died in 1856. There were four sons and two daughters in the Vansant family, as follow: Mary Ellen and Elizabeth Ann, deceased; Samuel A, subject of this review; George, deceased; Joel, Cedar County, Missouri; William, Pittsbui-g, Kansas.

Samuel A. Vansant was reared to young manhood in Madison County, Illinois, and was there married to Elizabeth Boyles on October 16, 1862. Mrs. Elizabeth (Boyles) Vansant was bom on July 11, 1842, "and is a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Funderburg) Boyles, who were early settlers of Madison County, Illinois. Mr. Vansant was engaged in farming in Illinois until 1868, and during that year he disposed of his Illinois farm with the intention of coming to Missouri, where land was much cheaper and just as productive as the high priced land of his native county.

When he came to Henry County he was possessed of the snug sum of $3,000, quite a fortune in those days. This amount enabled him to pay half cash for his quarter section at a cost of $8.50 an acre, and erect a comfortable residence on his prairie land. One year later he succeeded in paying the balance of the money due on the land, and as the years have passed he has grown prosperous and well contented with his lot in Henry County.

To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel A. Vansant have been born nine children, all of whom have been reared to maturity and useful citizenship : George Franklin, a farmer on Bear Creek township ; Mrs. Emma Isabel Barr, died in 1884, leaving two children, one of whom, Howard, is living ; Joel Henry, a carpenter and contractor in La Due, Missouri; James A., born August 11, 1869, is operating the home farm and is a director of the Bank of La Due, and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Mrs. Bertie Gale Grider, living at Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois; Thomas, a fanner in Davis township; Arthur, a farmer living in Bear Creek township; Mrs. Mattie Fellhauer, La Due, Missouri; Mrs. Ida Lawsoh, Clinton, Missouri.

Politically Mr. Vansant is aligned with the Democratic party. He and his family are members of the Christian Church. Fifty-five years have passed since Samuel A. and Sarah Vansant were united in marriage and time has served to mold them into comfortable and respected old age, admired and valued as friends by all who know them. Hospitable to the core, they are ever ready to share with their friends and acquaintances that which they have. This splendid Henry County pioneer couple have twenty-six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who were gathered at the old home on the occasion of the golden wedding anniversary. May the years to come deal kindly with them and bring them continued prosperity and well being.

Judge James M. Harrison, of Davis township, has resided in Henry County for over sixty-two years and is probably the oldest pioneer in the western part of the county, not only in age but in years of residence in the county. Few people who settled in his vicinity sixty years ago are now living, and practically none of the old pioneers are now living in this neighborhood. Judge Harrison has outlived them all and has resided on his farm since he first entered the land from the Government in 1857. Times have changed greatly in that long period and Judge Harrison has lived to see the vast unbroken prairies thickly populated with a thriving population. His first home on the prairie was a pole cabin roofed with boards, the spaces between the poles being filled with mud. A stick and clay chimney, leading upward from an old fashioned fireplace, sufficed for heat and cooking purposes. The cooking and baking for the family were all done over the open fire. Judge Harrison recalls that he had a very happy time in the old days and there was always plenty to eat. Game was easily killed and he shot many wild turkeys and praiiie chickens for the table. Local hunters made a business of killing deer for the settlers and the larder was always supplied with wild deer meat. Fishing was excellent and altogether everybody enjoyed life. This primitive and carefree condition of living was common among the pioneers until the border troubles and the ensuing Civil War engulfed the neighborliood. Mr. Harrison enlisted in the Confederate forces under General Price in 1861 and served for about eight months, taking part in the battles of Drywood and Lexington and was at Sedalia when the city was invested by the Federal forces. Sickness incapacitated him for continued duty and he was discharged from the service. During the course of years spent in farming activities and stock raising. Judge Harrison became prosperous and accumulated several hundred acres of land, all of which he has given outright to his children excepting 160 acres. Judge Harrison now makes his home, in his old age, with his son, Mordecai A. Harrison.

James M. Harrison was born in Mason County, West Virginia, May 24, 1832, and is the son of William Henry Harrison, a native of Rockingham County, Virginia (born August 22, 1809, died March, 1897). His mother was Esther Allen, a native of Mason County, West Virginia (born December, 1809, died 1862). William H. Harrison hved all of his days in Mason County, West Virginia, although he made trips to visit his children in Missouri, but the climate not being agreeable to him he did not remain for long at a time. He was father of eleven children, only two of whom are living : Josiah, a resident of Jackson County, West Virginia; and James M., subject of this review. Another son, Jeremiah, fought as a Union soldier during the Civil War and died at Salt Lake City in 1915. William H. Harrison, the youngest son, died in September, 1917. He served in the Confederate army.

Judge Harrison came to Missouri in 1856 and during the first year lived at the home of his brother-in-law, Leonard Fisher, who had located in Henry County in 1855. He entered his home place of 160 acres in

1857 and made his home thereon as herein stated. On January 10, 1851, the marriage of James M. Harrison and Esther Fisher was consummated in Jackson County, West Virginia. This marriage was blessed with the following children : The first child born died in infancy ; Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Wagner, deceased, left one child. May Wagner; John W., deceased, married Anna Rutledge and left three children, James G., Mrs. R. B. Gates and Ray H., now serving in National Army in France, Company B, 18th Regiment Railway Engineers ; James Henry, living in Oklahoma, married Mattie Birge and has two children, Mrs. Odessa Harris and Charles Wesley, and Mordecai M. Mordecai M. Harrison was born in 1865 and is the owner of a fine farm of 160 acres. He married Linnie Suttles and had five children, two of whom are living, Esther and Mamie. Mrs. Esther Harrison died December 5, 1877, aged fifty-two years. On January 2, 1881, Judge Harrison was married to Margaret P. Greer, who bore him one child, Clement J., now deceased.

During his entire life, since attaining his majority. Judge Harrison has been a stanch Democi-at and has been one of the leaders of his party in Henry County. He served eight years as a judge of the County Court, his first term having been in the early eighties and his second term from 1894 to 1898, during which time the present court house at Clinton was erected. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

William Lincoln Gilkeson. - The late William L. Gilkeson, whose widow and family are now residing in Davis township, Henry County, was born on August 6, 1864, and departed this life April 7, 1895. He was bom in Indiana, and was a son of George Nelson Gilkeson, who settled in Cass County, Missouri, in 1868. William L. Gilkeson was reared to young manhood in Cass County and was there married and engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. After his death, Mrs. Gilkeson removed to Garden City, Missouri, where she resided until 1915, and then came to her native county of Henry and purchased a farm of eightytwo acres in Davis township.

Mr. Gilkeson was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was an excellent citizen, industrious, energetic, and stood high in the community in which he resided. He was fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Knights of Pythias, the Modem Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

home place in Henry County July 22, 1866, and is the daughter of Thomas Sidney and Lucinda (Fletcher) Rogers, who were among the earliest pioneer settlers of Henry County and were prominent in the affairs of this county during the early days.

The children bom to William and Mary Gilkeson are as f ollov/ ; Mary Louise, wife of Martin E. Dunham, Sweet Springs, Missouri, mother of one child, Eugene Milton; Ella Florence, at home with her mother; William Lawrence, operating the home farm. All of the children were educated in the Garden City public and high school. Ella Florence attended the Howard Payne College for Girls at Forsythe, Missouri, and Louise taught school for two years prior to her marriage. Mrs. Gilkeson still owns her former home at Garden City in addition to her fme farm, which she is constantly improving. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

William Rusk. - The oldest settler in the southwestern part of Fairview township is William Rusk, who for over fifty years has resided upon his quarter section farm. He was the first settler in his neighborhood who located upon the prairie. William Rusk was born at McConnellsville, Ohio, January 10, 1834, on the Muskingum River. He is the son of Humphrey and Margaret (McDonald) Rusk, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. Until he was twenty-two years of age, William Rusk resided in his native county. In the fall of 1855 he went to Illinois, and after a residence of ten years in De Witt County, that State, he went to Iowa. Two years later, in November of 1868, he located on a tract of prairie land in Fairview township. He improved this farm and has mined coal on the place since 1884. The entire tract is underlaid with coal. Mr. Rusk sold eighty acres of the farm to his son, who has erected improvements thereon, and is farming the entire tract.

April 13, 1878, William Rusk and Mrs. Mary S. Sweazy were united in marriage. Mrs. Rusk was the widow of James Sweazy. Two sons were bom of this marriage : Ira T., living in Kansas City, Missouri ; James M., Harris, Kansas. Mrs. Mary S. (Harnett) Rusk was born in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on September 9, 1846, and is the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Walker (Corey) Harnett, natives of Pennsylvania. The mother of Samuel Harnett was Barbara Lutzenheizer prior to her marriage. The great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Rusk was James Harnett, who served in the American Revolution and whose wife was a girlhood friend of Martha Washington, nee Custis, and it is a matter of family tradition that one time when the women were doing a washing down by the sea coast they covered their heads with a large kettle and a clothes basket and ran from hostile Indians on the banks of the Potomac. The Harnett historical kettle is still preserved as an interesting relic by members of the Harnett family. Samuel Harnett, father of Mrs. Rusk, located in Ohio in 1855, and in 1866 removed to Illinois, where a brother of Mrs. Rusk, named Joseph M. Harnett, became very prominent in Champaign County, was a soldier of the Union and served as special pension examiner for the United States Government, with offices in Washington. He was high in Masonic circles. Mary S. Harnett was first married in Illinois to James Sweazy, who died. Later William Rusk came on from his new home in Missouri and wooed and won her for a wife. The town of Enon Valley was built upon the farm owned by Samuel Harnett in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and upon his farm is located the famous spring which furnished water for the Pittsburg and Fort Wayne railroad for many years. The first train which Mrs. Rusk saw passed over this road and it was the first train to go over the road. The Harnett children were all well educated. Mrs. Elizabeth Frederick, Mrs. Rusk's oldest sister, who lived in Henry County, was a classmate of Mrs. James A. Garfield, nee Rudolph, at Hiram College, Ohio. John and Ezra, her two oldest brothers, were classmates of James A. Garfield and completed their classical education at Bethany College, West Virginia. They taught in the South for a number of years.

The children of William and Mary S. Rusk are as follow: William Harnett Garfield Rusk, born March 4, 1881, married Daisy Barker, and has three children, Gladys Dimple, aged fourteen, William Wilson, twelve years old, and Ethel Gertrude, aged ten years; Sarah Corey, born October 7, 1885, married Robert Arthur Faris and lives at Cimmarron, New Mexico, mother of four children, William Theodore, eight years old, Barbara Evelyn, aged seven, Harry Arthur, four years of age, Robert Leonard, an infant of four months. Robert Arthur Faris volunteered for service in the National Army for overseas service, enlisting in the 115th Regiment Regular United States Army, the Engineering Corps, and is located at Camp Kearney, California.

William Rusk's first marriage was with Rebecca A. Farhner in Illinois and took place in 1862. The first Mrs. Rusk died in 1876, leaving five children: Jacob Humphrey, accidentally killed at the age of fourteen years ; Horatio Seymour, Norwood, Colorado ; Margaret Elizabeth, wife of

Since 1880 William Rusk has been allied heart and soul with the Prohibition party and has devoted many years of his life to the cause of prohibition. For years he stood alone as the only Prohibitionist in his township but has lived to see actual prohibition in Henry County became an accomplished fact. If he is spared for a few more months or years longer he will see his heartfelt wish realized - national prohibition. He was one of the charter members of the Westfield Presbyterian Church at its organization in 1870 and has been a ruling elder of this church for nearly fifty years, a record of which any citizen can well be proud. Mr. and Mrs. Rusk are kindly, intelligent and hospitable people who are highly regarded in Henry County.

Charles H. Mertel, who for forty-five years has been a citizen of Henry County, a useful and successful citizen, whose geniality and public spiritedness is marked, is one of the best known of the "real old settlers" of the county. Mr. Mertel was bom in Saxony, Germany, October 25, 1852, the son of Frederick and Natalia (Witchell) Mertel, natives of Saxony. The parents of Charles H. Mertel immigrated to America in 1856, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, which required seven weeks to make the voyage to New Orleans. The family journeyed up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis, arriving there on New Years day just when navigation on the Mississippi closed for the winter. After a year's residence in St. Louis they removed to Iowa and lived there for two years, then, after a six months' stay in St. Louis, they located in St. Charles County, Missouri, and resided on a farm there during the Civil War period. In 1871 they located in Johnson County on Clear Fork. Two years later they came to Henry County and settled on section 14, Davis township. Mertel, Sr., was a great hunter and was constantly engaged in hunting expeditions during the deer season. In 1878 while he was absent on a deer hunt near Warsaw, Missouri, with others, he was shot and killed by natives who objected to the hunters being in the neighborhood. He was father of four children: The first bom died in Saxony; Frederick W., is deceased; Edward L., deceased, and Charles, the subject of this review.

When Charles H. Mertel attained the age of twenty-five years, he began his own career. After tilling his father's farm for one year, he obtained possession of the tract and built up the farm to a splendidly improved tract of 200 acres, rated as one of the finest improved farms in western Missouri. In the meantime, he purchased his present home farm in the northern part of Davis township and in 1902 he sold the old home place and located on the farm of 170 acres where he is now making his home. He has lived in this county for forty-five years, with the exception of three years, from 1911 to 1913, inclusive, which time he spent in Oklahoma. He was the prime promoter in the building of the town of Wynona on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad, situated between Parsons and Oklahoma City, and was town manager, filling the offices of mayor, justice of the peace and editor of the "Wynona Enterprise."

Mr. Mertel is a Republican in politics. He is a member of Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church and is one of the best citizens of Henry County. He was married in 1876 to Miss Kate Cook, born at Cook's Mill, on Grand River in Henry County, a daughter of Jacob and Amelia Cook, the former of whom erected and operated the mill which bore his name. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mertel as follow : Annie Florence, wife of L. J. Hendricks, Davis township; Fred C, a banker at Minneapolis, Minnesota; Edna May, wife of W. F. Landrum, Monett, Missouri; Ella Augusta, wife of Newton Price, Walters, Oklahoma; Edward, manager of the Farmers Elevator at Plaza, North Dakota ; Walter 0., a farmer living near Quincy, Illinois; Ruth C, a teacher in the Monett, Missouri, schools. Mr. and Mrs. Mertel have nine grandchildren. Best of all they have the extreme satisfaction of having educated each of their children and have given them a good start in life so that they are all well-to-do, and prosperous and occupy important places in the various communities in which they reside. When a wedded pair such as Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Mertel can look back over the long years spent in doing good, and are satisfied that they have done their best and have given to the Nation such a splendid family of sons and daughters, they can well be content, and their later years can be lived peacefully and without regret.

Judge William M. Wilson has been a resident of Henry County for over fifty years and is one of the best knovim horsem.en in the western part of Missouri. While Judge Wilson's vocation has been that of farmer and stockman, his hobby has been that of a horseman. For many years Judge Wilson has been training fast horses and has been a breeder of track animals. He is the present owner of "El Casco," trial 2:15, a five year old. He has some very fine road horses in his stables, among them being "Hummingbird," a blue ribbon winner who has won ribbons and prizes at the various fine stock shows and fairs held in this section of the State. "El Casco" was bred at the Walnut Hall Farm, Donnerail, near Lexington, Kentucky, and is a beautiful and intelligent animal.

Mr. Wilson was bom on a farm in Tennessee and is the son of Samuel and Martha (Weaver) Wilson, natives of Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively. Martha Weaver Wilson was a daughter of Benjamin Weaver, a soldier of the War of 1812. In 1854 the parents of William M. Wilson removed to Iowa and after a residence there of a few months they came westward and located in Macon County, Missouri. In 1865 Samuel Wilson came to Henry County and settled in Walker township, where he became a large land owner and was widely known throughout the county as a successful farmer and stockman. He died in 1886 at the age of sixty-nine years. His father was Samuel Wilson, a native of Tennessee who was descended from ancestors who came to America from the North Ireland country.

Samuel and Martha Wilson were parents of ten children, seven of v/hom were reared to maturity: Gerald, deceased; Benjamin, Marceline, Missouri; Philander, deceased; Mrs. Cordelia Hibler, Walker township; Mrs. Sarah Ann Short, Barton County, Missouri; William M., subject of this review; John M., a farmer of Walker township. The mother of these children was born in 1818 and departed this life in 1885.

William M. Wilson was reared to manhood in Henry County and has resided on his farm in Davis township for the past forty years. He is owner of 235 acres of good land in this township.

William M. Wilson and Janie Smith, a daughter of the late J. P. Smith of Henry County, were united in marriage in 1872. They have had four children: Mrs. Willie Young, living in Walker township; Mrs. Lulu Warner, Davis township; Samuel and Benjamin, who are tilling the home place.

The Democratic party has always had the support and allegiance of Judge Wilson. He has served two terms as a member of the County Court for the second district of Henry County. He is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is highly esteemed by all who know him.

J. L. Ferry, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Davis township and owner of 200 acres of splendid farm land near the town of La Due, was born in Keokuk County, Iowa, July 14, 1861. He is the son of Chester

Chester Ferry was born in Ohio in 1832 and died in 1914. He was a son of Harvey Ferry, who was an early pioneer settler in Keokuk County, Iowa. Elizabeth (Stokesberry) Ferry was bom in Indiana in 1839 and is the daughter of John Stokesberry, who entered Government land in Keokuk County as early as 1843, at a period when the northeastern part of Iowa was largely in a wild unsettled state. She is now residing in Sigouniey, Iowa. There were five daughters and two sons born to Chester and Elizabeth Ferry, as follow: Mrs. Martha Lockridge, Corvallis, Oregon; J. L. Ferry, subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Bowker, Rock Island, Illinois ; Mrs. Lillie Wood, Atlanta, Macon County, Missouri ; John, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Mrs. Lizette Price, Walla Walla, Washington; Mrs. Leona Slacks, wife of Prof. John Slacks, Sac City, Iowa, county superintendent of schools in Sac County, Iowa.

J. L. Ferry had little opportunity to secure an education in his youthful days and at an early age began working on his father's farm. He resided at home until his marriage with Miss Lucy Lockridge on October IG, 1883. Mrs. Lucy (Lockridge) Ferry was born near Sigourney, Iowa, a daughter of William and Hannah (Gray) Lockridge, the former of whom was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, and the latter was a native of Pennsylvania. William Lockridge located in Iowa as early as 1844, settling in Keokuk County. Prior to this he had farmed for a time in Washington County, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1820 and died in 1903. Mrs. Hannah Lockridge was born in 1822 and departed this life in 1883. They were parents of eight children: Mrs. Mary Demarce, Delta, Iowa; Mrs. Sarah Chesney, died at Keota, Iowa; Mrs. Margaretta Overturf, died at Sigourney, Iowa; Jesse, Corvallis, Oregon; Mrs. Jane Hahn, Sigourney, Iowa; Mrs. J. L. Ferry; James, Delta, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferry began their married life on the Ferry farm in Iowa and resided there for one year. They then purchased forty acres of land and resided upon it for three years. This farm they sold and then moved to a farm near Fairfield, which they rented for two years. For the following ten years they lived upon a farm situated between Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, which they eventually sold. They came to Missouri after selling this farm and bought a place located six miles east of Memphis in Scotland County, Missouri, upon which they lived for one year, selling out the place at an advance over the purchase price.

Mr. Ferry's next investment was in a farm located between Gorin and Wyaconda, Missouri, where they resided for two years, disposing of this farm at a profit of $10 an acre above the purchase price. For the following three years they resided upon a farm of 160 acres located in Shelby County, Missouri, near the town of Letner. This farm was sold at an advance of $25 an acre after Mr. Ferry had improved it and made the tract more valuable. In 1907 the Ferry s came to Henry County, where Mr. Ferry owns 200 acres of excellent land just north of La Due, in Davis township. Eighty acres of this land lies in section 14, and 120 acres is located in section 23. The farm is well improved and during the past ten years Mr. Ferry has encircled the land with a hog tight wire fence and has been engaged in raising pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs for the market as well as producing cattle.

Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Ferry are parents of the following children: Estella, wife of Garry Hull, La Due, Missouri; Mary, deceased; Cressie, wife of Julius Kiefer, Wyconda, Missouri; Elsie, wife of Clyde Louderman, a soldier in the National Army; Ralph, deceased; Raymond, born May 5, 1896, a private in the National Army, trained at Camp Travis, San Antonio, Texas, and saw service on the firing line in France; Ruth, deceased; Wilson and Paul, at home.

Mr. Ferry is a Republican in politics and is looked upon as one of the best and progressive citizens of his township and county. The Ferry family have taken their places among the citizens of Henry County and have made many warm friends during the eleven years of their residence in this county.

Jacob Schneider. - If any individual can correctly be called a "jack of all trades" it is the average agriculturist. Often remote from centers of population ft is impossible for him to obtain the advantages of skilled labor in building or repairing so necessary on the fann. The farmer's stronghold must, of necessity, be a complete plant in itself, and the farmer is very often a mechanic, able to do many things besides intelligently cultivating the soil. Jacob Schneider and his sons, successful farmers of Davis township, are striking examples of "all round" capability in the management of this large estate of 381 acres. When Mr. Schneider located upon his place in 1898 there were many things to be done to create a first class agricultural plant. One hundred seventy acres of his farm were Grand River bottom lands, subject to overflow. To protect the land from periodical inundations and render it productive, he built two miles of levy which successfully stopped the overflowing of his land. This bottom land produces fifty bushels of corn to the acre. There were seventy-five acres of wheat on the place which averaged twenty-seven and one-half bushels to the acre this year, a total of 1,775 bushels. Mrs. Schneider and the Schneider girls have one of the largest gardens in Henry County, the cultivation of which adds materially to the family income. Mr. Schneider raises from forty to sixty head of pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs annually. The Schneider home is an attractive one, which sets far back from the highway and was practically erected and improved from time to time by Mr. Schneider and the members of his family. The success of Mr. Schneider is due to the excellent co-operation and assistance he has always received from his wife and the various members of his family. Some men are prone to take all credit to themselves for their accomplishments, but not so with Mr. Schneider, who says that his success is due to the help given him at all times by his wife and children.

Jacob Schneider was born in St. Charles County, Missouri, in 1855 and is the son of Jacob and Annie Catherine (Gerlach) Schneider, natives of Baden, Germany. His parents were born near the city of Heidelberg, there were reared and married and in 1854 set out for America with their three children to found a home in this great country. Jacob, the elder, was concerned with the uprising of the German people in 1849 and was forced to flee from the land of his birth in order to save his life. He found a haven in this country and made a home near Cottleville, St. Charles County, and resided there until his death in 1870 at the age of fifty years. The wife and mother died in 1897, at the age of seventy-two J ears. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Schneider, seven of whom were reared to maturity: George Henry, deceased; Mrs. Anna Maria Vierling, St. Charles County ; Catharine, deceased ; Jacob, the subject of this review; Michale, deceased; John, died in October, 1917.

Mr. Schneider came to Henry County in 1883 and first located on a farm three miles north of La Due. This was the old Birch place and consisted of eighty acres which Mr. Schneider purchased. One year later he traded this farm for a tract of 160 acres which he sold after cultivating it for a period of fourteen years. He then bought his present farm, which he has improved into one of the finest farms in western Missouri.

Schleusburg, St. Charles County, and is the daughter of Henry Kohler, a native of Germany. The following children have been bom of this marriage: Louis, at home and assisting with the farm work; George, deceased; Jacob, Kansas City, Missouri; Catherine, wife of John Hildebrandt, a farmer of Davis township; Benjamin, at home; John, living in Washington, where he is engaged in lumbering ; Charles, Mary, Bertha, Ruth and Philip, at home with their parents.

For over forty years Mr. Schneider voted the Democratic ticket but is now inclined to Socialism. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge.

James E. Teays. - The Teays family is one of the oldest pioneer families of Henry County and western Missouri. Since 1840 when the elder Teays, father of James E. and Edward Teays, of whom this sketch is written, first entered a large tract of land in the southeast corner of Bear Creek township, this land has remained in possession of the family. James T. Teays, the elder, in his dying words to his sons, said: "Take care of the place." Ever since that time the sons have been improving this splendid tract of seven hundred seventy acres, one of the largest individual farms in Henry County. There are two sets of splendid improvements on this farm. The homestead is one of the largest and best built structures in the county;

James E. Teays was born March 20, 1844, in a log cabin which was the first structure erected by his father upon his land in 1841. He is the son of James T. Teays (born 1807, died April 1, 1875). James T. Teays was a native of Kanawha County, West Virginia, and he migrated to Missouri in 1840. The following year he brought his family to the new home in Henry County and resided here until his death. He was accompanied by his father-in-law, John Everett. Until the log cabin could be erected in 1841 the family lived under a large tree which stood upon a high point of the Teays land. Mr. Teays entered Government land and also purchased land at $1.25 an acre until he accumulated a large tract of nearly 800 acres. In West Virginia James T. Teays married Eliza Ann Everett, born in Cabell County, Virginia, in 1810 and departed this life in 1880. The children born to James T. and Eliza Ann Teays were: Stephen, Francis Asbury, William Carroll, and Mary Elizabeth, deceased; James E., of this review; Edward, also of this review; Virginia and Henry deceased.

Church, South. The brothers, James E. and Edward Teays, erected the Teays Chapel on a beautifully wooded and grassy plot of ground between the two residences on the place, because of the expressed wish of their parents. James T. Teays and his wife had planned, eventually, to build the church and had selected the place for its erection. Not long before her death the mother accompanied her son, James E., to the site she preferred and said to him : "Father and I often talked of building a church on this spot, and if you build it, build it right here." He did so and the church is a handsome, substantially built structure, situated on a grassy sward shaded by giant forest trees, making it one of the most beautiful country churches in this section of Missouri. The Teays brothers built this chapel in 1881, and consecrated the edifice to the memory of their parents. What better memorial could devoted children erect than a religious edifice? The deed showed nobility of character and a reverence for the memory of godly parents seldom surpassed or equaled.

The mother of Joseph H. Wilson, the sage of Deepwater township, and James T. Teays' mother were sisters, of Revolutionary ancestry, the particulars of which can be found in the biography of Mr. Wilson, elsewhere in this volume. The great-grandfather of James T. Teays was once captured by savage Indians and kept captive for seven years in Virginia. James T. Teays was the son of Stephen Teays, who man-ied a Miss Carroll of the Carrolls of Carrollton, Virginia, and of Carrollton, Ohio. Thomas Teays, father of Stephen Teays, married Catherine Lee and was an officer in the Colonial Army which served in the French and Indian Wars. He was captured by the Indians and condemned to death at the stake, but his life was saved by the intercession of a squaw. He was held a prisoner for seven years. The family is of French Huguenot origin and the direct ancestors in France fled to Germany to escape religious persecution.

James E. Teays has lived all of his life upon the land where his birth occurred. He has never married but has devoted his life to the care of tiis brother's family. He is one of the best citizens of Henry County, who is universally respected and stands among the leaders of his county.

Edward Teays was born on the Teays homestead June 5, 1850, and was married April 15, 1875, to Miss Elizabeth Dickason, who has borne him seven children, six of whom are living: Rev. William Com.bes Teays, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Papinville, Missouri; Mary Everett, wife of F. W. Drake, Glenwood Springs, Colorado;

James Dickison, residing on the old home place; Sarah Virginia, wife of F. L. House, Appleton City, Missouri; Edna Eliza, wife of W. B. Wooldridge, Trinidad, Colorado; Betsy Eleanor, wife of W. F. Henry, Walsenburg, Colorado.

Mrs. Elizabeth (Dickison) Teays was born in Bear Creek township, Henry County, January 23, 1854, and is the daughter of Samuel (born May 25, 1807, died 1862) and Mrs. Sarah Ann (Combes) Dickison (born July 23, 1816, died March 5, 1876), natives of Virginia. Samuel Dickison moved to Ohio from his native State with his parents in" 1819 and was there reared to young manhood. He came to Henry County and entered a tract of Government land in Bear Creek township in 1836. Mrs. Elizabeth Teays was the only child of this second marriage of her father. There were three children born of a former marriage, one of whom is living: Artemus Jefferson Dickison, Sumpter, Oregon. Sarah Ann (Combes) Dickison was the daughter of Col. John Combes, who was born September 11, 1777, and was a pioneer in Johnson County, Missouri. He served as commissioned officer in the War of 1812 and received a tract of land in Kentucky for his services.

Wiley H. Alexander. - The Alexander farm in Davis township is one of the finest tracts of productive land in this section of Missouri. The tract, which consists of 180 acres, is one mile and one-eighth in length and one-fourth of a mile wide and has been the home of the Alexanders since 1896. All of the improvements were placed on the land by the present owner. The residence, a pretty white cottage, is located on one of the highest spots in Henry County and from this place one can see in every direction for many miles. Five towns can be seen from the Alexander residence, Clinton, eight miles away ; Montrose and Deepwater, twelve miles distant; Urich, twelve miles to the northwest, and Hartwell, while La Due, four miles to the southeast, can be plainly seen. This farm is well improved and Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are continuously adding to the attractiveness of the place. Mr. Alexander is engaged in general farming and stock raising and has fifteen horses and mules on the place, including seven brood mares.

Wiley H. Alexander was bom December 19, 1859, in Kentucky, the son of John B. (bom 1819, died 1887) and Julia (Rowland) Alexander (born 1826, died 1871), to whom were bom children as follows: R. C, living in California; L. G., deceased; John F., California; Mrs. Nannie S. McMurdray, Kentucky; and Wiley H., subject of this review. John

B. Alexandef was the son of Philip Alexander, who left Kentucky en route to Missouri in 1831 and was killed by Indians while crossing southern Illinois. His widow later made her home in Illinois, but the parents of Wiley Alexander lived all of their lives in Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Wiley H. Alexander resided in his native State until 1882, when he came to Missouri, and after a residence of six months in Sedalia he located in Henry County on a farm situated about four miles from his present home place. He rented land for a time and then bought his farm which he improved and sold when he purchased his present place in 1896.

On May 12, 1892, there occurred the marriage of Wiley H. Alexander and Miss Lillie Gragg and to this union were born children as follow: Naomi Elizabeth, a graduate of the Warrensburg Normal School and who is now teaching the Carterville High School ; Mary May, who studied at the Warrensburg Normal and Oklahoma City High School and is a teacher in the Deepwater schools; Herbert Henry, who spent two years in the Clinton High School and became a student in the Quincy, Illinois, Business College, where he contracted a fatal sickness, dying on February 28, 1917, at the age of twenty years ; Nina, graduated from Clinton High School, class of 1918; Ralph Lee, a student in the Clinton High School; Margaret Maurine, attending the district school. By a former marriage in 1884 with Jennie Gilmer, Mr. Alexander has two children: Mrs. Julia Gates, a former teacher of Henry County, and Georgia, principal of one of the ward schools at Carthage, Missouri, and a graduate of the Warrensburg Normal School. Mrs. Jennie (Gilmer) Alexander died in 1889. Mrs. Lillie Alexander taught school for nine years, beginning at the age of eighteen years. She studied for one year in the Pilot Grove Collegiate Institute and graduated from this institute in 1889.

Mrs. Lillie (Gragg) Alexander was born in Henry County, January 27, 1865, and is the daughter of Henry H. (born 1820, died 1893) and Elizabeth (Sevier) Gragg (bom 1835, died 1912), natives of Missouri and Tennessee, respectively.

Elizabeth (Sevier) Gragg was a daughter of Abraham Sevier, a descendant of the famous Sevier family of Tennessee, who were of French descent and included Governor Sevier. Abraham Sevier came to Henry County and settled on Camp Branch as early as 1851. Henry H. Gragg was a son of Malcolm Gragg, a pioneer settler of Howard County, Missouri, who entered Government land in that county nearly a century ago. During the early forties, three sons of Malcolm Gragg came to Henry County and entered land in this county. Their parents also located in this county. Henry H. Gragg was twice married, being the father of seven children by his first marriage. He was married to Elizabeth Sevier in 1864 and this marriage was blessed vdth four children: Mrs. Lillie Alexander; George W., Rockville, Missouri; Mrs. C. O. Swift, Springfield, Illinois; Amos E., Hutchinson, Kansas. Prior to coming to Missouri, the Graggs resided in Illinois.

The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Alexander. Both he and Mrs. Alexander are members of the Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modem Woodmen of America Lodges at Clinton, Missouri.

Ernie C. Brown. - The pretty farm residence of Ernest C. Brown, located in Walker township on a beautiful stretch of well kept State highway, is in the midst of one of the most fertile sections of Missouri. Mr. Brown is owner of 300 acres of land, but is farming a total of 400 acres in the vicinity of his home farm of 240 acres. Mr. Brown was born August 17, 1874, in Deepwater township, and is a son of M. V. (born March 4, 1837) and Helen M. Cecil (bom August 7, 1847') Brown. His mother was bom in Leesville township, a daughter of Judge Wilson M. Cecil, a pioneer of Henry County who came to this county from Kentucky and was one of the first county judges of the county. M. V. Brown is a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, and is the son of R. D. Brown, a native of Pennsylvania. M. V. Brown came to Henry County in 1872. His father came to Missouri at a later date and died at Appleton City. Mr. Brown, Sr., is still residing at his home place in Deepwater township. The old Brown homestead is a splendid Colonial style house, built of hardwood lumber as early as 1857 and was used as a hospital and a fort during the Civil War when the residents of Bates County were ordered from the county as a result of General Ewing's Order No. 11. For further particulars regarding M. V. Brown the reader is referred to his biography given elsewhere in this volume.

Ernie C. Brown was educated in the district schools and the Appleton City Academy. He has always followed the vocation of farmer. In the spring of 1896 he settled on the farm nearby where his brother Charles now lives and cultivated this large tract until 1904, when he went to Benton County, Missouri, and remained in that county for two years,

Mr. Brown was married on November 28, 1900, to Miss Mable C. Hackler, who was born in Benton County, Missouri, a daughter of J. R. and Nannie E. Hackler, the latter of whom died when Mrs. Brown was a child. J. R. Hackler was a native of Virginia who ran away from home at the age of fourteen years and enlisted in the Confederate Army. During one of the battles in which his regiment took an active part he was shot through the leg and ever afterward was a cripple. For a year after leaving the service he was forced to live on com bread and milk. In 1866 he went to the mining region and remained for four years, during which time he accumulated a competence which he invested in land in Benton County. He also bought land in Henry County upon which he resided until 1898 and then returned to Benton County, where his death occurred on October 23, 1896. He was father of two children: Mrs. Mabel C. Brovra and James E. Hackler, who is owner of the home place in Benton County.

Mr. Brown is an independent Democrat who votes the National Democratic ticket as a rule but is inclined to independence of thought and action in local, county and township affairs. He has filled the office of treasurer of Walker township and is one of the best known of the younger generation of farmers in Henry County.

Albert L. Steele. - For nearly fifty years Albert L. Steele has resided upon the farm where his birth occurred December 10, 1869. He is the son of Albert Han-ison Steele (bom 1827, died December 18, 1893) and Elizabeth (Woodson) Steele (born December, 1842). Albert H. Steele was a native of Kentucky and was a pioneer settler of Henry County. He was one of the original "forty-niners" and crossed the plains with the gold seekers and returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Panama after mining for some time on the Pacific slope. He first settled in Deepwater township and later made a permanent settlement in Walker township on the place now owned by his son, Arthur L. Steele. He was married in 1864 to Elizabeth Woodson, who was born in a log cabin located near the "old adobe" church in Walker tovraship in 1842. She was a daughter of Shadrich Woodson, who was one of the earliest pioneers of Henry County. For further particulars concerning the Woodson family the reader is referred to the biography of Chesley G. Woodson in this volume. The elder Steele became a large land owner in Henry County and was widely and favorably known. He was father of children as follow: Mrs. Mollie Belt, deceased; Albert L., subject of this review;

Nannie, died in infancy; William J., Walker township; Frank H., Kansas City, Missouri ; Ida, died in infancy ; Mrs. Pearl Walker, Walker to'wnship.

Albert L. Steele attended the home district and received such education as the schools of his day afforded and has always resided on the home place of the Steele family with the exception of a few years spent in Kansas City. He is owner of 112 acres of excellent farm land.

Mr. Steele was married on October 24, 1900, to Miss Ella Markie Simpson, who was born in Texas, May 24, 1877, a daughter of Duke and Alice (Lutzenheizer) Simpson, the latter of whom died in 1881. Duke Simpson later went to California and remained in that State until 1913, when he returned to Missouri, visiting among relatives and friends for some time and is now making his home in Oklahoma. He was twice married. After her mother's death Mrs. Ella Markie Simpson Steele was reared in Bates County by Judge Francis M. Steele. Mr. and Mrs. Albert L. Steele have four children : Earl, born November 29, 1901 ; Paul, born June 13, 1904; Alice Elizabeth, born October 16, 1906; Francis A., born November 7, 1909.

Mr. Steele is a pronounced Democrat. He and the members of his family are associated with the Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian Church and frequently attend Stone's Chapel for divine sei-vices. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World Lodge of Piper, Missouri.

John F. Focht. - Although John F. Focht, well-to-do farmer of Walker township, during a career as an agriculturist, has earned the right to retire from active labor, he willingly gave up his mode of living which provided for a round of travel and sight-seeing throughout the country, to return to Henry County and take active charge of his farm in order that the food supply of the nation might be enhanced. Mr. Focht is owner of 246.67 acres of fann lands in the northwest corner of Walker township, four acres of which lies in Bates County. Mr. Focht has had an interesting career and is one of the best posted and intelligent citizens of Henry County.

Born on an Ohio farm, near the city of Wapokaneta, Ohio, August 15, 1863, he enjoys the distinction of being a son of the first white child born within the confines of his native county. He is the son of Daniel and Maria (Justus) Focht, the former of whom was a direct descendant of one of Baron Steuben's soldiers who came to America and assisted in the fight for the independence of the American colonies. Daniel Focht was bom near Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in May, 1813, and was a son of Adam Focht who settled in the wilderness of western Ohio as early as 1836, cleared a home from the forest and swamp land and reared a family of sons as follows: Louis, Adam, John, Samuel, William, Daniel, and Jacob. His father established a home in Pennsylvania, the western part not many years after the Revolutionary period upon a grant of land which had been given to the family by a grateful Government.

Tradition says that the original Focht ancestor paid his passage across the Atlantic with Steuben's expedition by fighting with the American forces. Daniel Focht was reared to young manhood in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and in 1836 located in western Ohio. He was there married and reared a family of twelve children, nine of whom are living: Mrs. Jane Hulbert, living in Ohio; Jacob, a citizen of Ohio; Mrs. Hannah Abbot, Bates County, Missouri; John F., subject of this review; William, living in Ohio; Mrs. Dora Cummins, Indiana; Mrs. Susan Winegardner, Ohio; and Mrs. Leora Butler, living in Southern Idaho.

John F. Focht was reared in Auglaize County, Ohio, and was there married in 1890 to Miss Vona Brackney, who was also bom in Auglaize County, a daughter of Riley and Matilda Brackney, well-known residents of that county. One son has been bom of this marriage: Russell C, born in March, 1893, a successful farmer of Walker township, who married Mazie Hughes.

Leaving his native State in November 2, 1882, John F. Focht went to Iowa and was employed at farm labor in that State for a period of ten months. He was then employed in Nebraska for seven months ; Kansas, eight months ; New Orleans and the Southland, three months. After this sight-seeing trip over the country, he returned to Ohio and after a short visit with the home folks of four months he made a trip through Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, stopping for a time in Kansas City and Omaha, where he was employed at gainful labor. After his marriage in 1890 he settled down on an Ohio farm for six years. In 1896 he sold out and traveled a distance of three thousand miles to Chehalis, Washington, toured Idaho, attended the Portland, Oregon Exposition and then located near Chehalis, where he was engaged in farming for eleven months. He and Mrs. Focht then toured California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado and ended their trip at Creighton, Missouri. Since that time he has ovraed three farms and is now located on one of the good fanns in Henry County. His last trip was a tour of Idaho in 1917.

Mr. Focht is a Democrat in politics and is one of those widely traveled men who are well posted upon the events of the day and knows his native land and loves it for its vastness and beauty.

John Bernard Schmedding. - Eighty-four years ago the four Schmedding brothers, John, Theodore, Garrett and Bernard, came to Henry County and founded the Germantown settlement. They erected the first Catholic Church on Schmedding land in 1834 and also assisted in the building of the present church prior to the Civil War. Theodore Schmedding later went to the Osage Mission at St. Thomas in Kansas and died there. The others remained in Henry County and reared families and assisted materially in the development of the county. As the years passed, others came from Germany and a large settlement has grown up and prospered in the neighborhood of Germantown, extending over three adjoining townships and reaching over the line into Bates County to the westward. The Schmedding family originated in Westphalia, Germany, and the Schmedding brothers crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel in 1831. They walked to their destination from Lexington, Missouri, to Henry County.

John Bernard Schmedding, Montrose, Missouri, is owner of 400 acres of land, consisting of three farms and with three sets of improvements, 320 acres of which is located northwest of Germantown and eighty acres just west of Montrose is a worthy descendant of pioneer stock. He was born near Germantown, Henry County, August 12, 1850, and is the son of John Bernard (born 1800, died 1865) and Elizabeth (Walbert) Schmedding (born 1807, died 1872). His mother was born in Westphalia, Germany, and came to America when a young lady and was married to John B. Schmedding in Osage ounty. To John Bernard and Elizabeth Schmedding were born five children: Bertha, died in infancy; Annie, wife of Anton Mucke, died in Henry County; Henry, died in 1862; John Bernard, subject of this review; Joseph H., a resident of Germantown.

There were no free schools in this section of Henry County during the boyhood days of John Bernard or "Barney" Schmedding. He and his brother, Joseph, managed the home place of the family until Barney was married. He then settled upon his own land and made a division of 880 acres of land which he and Joseph H. owned together and farmed in common after the death of their mother. John Bernard received 400 acres and the brothers gave a sister a tract of 160 acres, which they improved for her. For three years after his marriage, Mr. Schmedding lived in a log house and then erected a handsome house, which was his place of residence until the fall of 1911, when he and Mrs. Schmedding moved to a pretty cottage home in Montrose.

born in Canada December 14, 1863, the daughter of Michael and Helen (Quilligan) Buckley, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The Buckleys immigrated to Canada and from Canada came to the United States in 1868. They resided at Jacksonville, Illinois, for two years and then came to Henry County, settling upon a farm nine miles north of Montrose. Michael Buckley died April 22, 1907, aged sixty-seven years. Helen Buckley died February 22, 1911, aged seventy-seven years. They were parents of four children : Mrs. Nora Schmedding ; Mrs. Catherine Carver, Walker township; Mrs. Mary Matheny, Montrose, Missouri; Ella, is deceased.

The children born to John Bernard and Nora Schmedding are: John, Joseph H., Lee, Lawrence, Nina Viola and William Edwin. John is a farmer in Deepwater township, married Lena Cook and has five children : Edith, Geneva, Marcellus, Mildred and Edwin. Joseph H. lives on the home place, married first time to Edith Cook, who died, leaving two children: Josephine and Bernard. His second wife was Minnie Towns. Lee Schmedding is deceased. Lawrence lives on the home place, married Hilda Licher, and has three children: Harry, Amanda Fredericka, Erschell Justin. Nina Viola is deceased. William Edwin, bom November 16, 1891, is now a member of the National Army and after undergoing training at Camp Funston is now in France fighting on behalf of world freedom. He is a member of the 355th Supply Company, 89th Division, National Army. He went to France June 2, 1918.

The Republican party has always had the support of Mr. Schmedding and he has served as justice of the peace of Deepwater township. He and all of his family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Schmedding is the oldest native born citizen of the southern part of Henry County.

Earl R. Caldwell, one of the progressive young farmers of Walker township, who is farming 120 acres of the Caldwell home place, was born in 1890 and is a son of John Caldwell, who was bom in Ohio in 1844, and who first located in Pettis County when he came from his native State to Missouri. In the spring of 1875, he came to Henry County and settled on a tract of prairie land which he improved with a splendid farm residence which is a mansion in size and became very successful as an agriculturist. John Caldwell became owner of 320 acres of well improved land, and he tilled his acreage until his removal to Urich on April 1, 1911, where he engaged in the milling and feed business. Mr. Caldwell married Abigail Neptune, who was born in Ohio in 1844 and died in March, 1914. Of the children bom to John Caldwell and wife, six are

Earl R. Caldwell was educated in the district school and took charge of the home farm when his father removed to Urich. He was married in 1911 to Miss Nelia Allison, daughter of A. H. Allison of Walker township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. They have two children : Vestal Harvey, aged four years; and Frances Willard, aged three years.

Mr. Calwell is a Republican and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John Caldwell operated the first threshing outfit ever used in Henry County and for a number of years after coming to Henry County, he operated a sawmill and threshing outfit operated by steam.

George Gretzinger. - The home place of Mr. and Mrs. George Gretzinger in Walker township is one of the truly attractive farmsteads in Henry county, and its owners can truthfully say that they have placed every tree, shrub, building and all improvements upon the tract upon which they settled in February of 1889. The nucleus of the Gretzinger fai-ms was a tract of ninety-six acres which came to Mrs. Gretzinger from the Lebold estate upon the death of her mother, Mrs. John Earth. Mr. Earth gave them enough additional land to eke out 160 acres, which they built up and created into a splendid prairie farm. In addition to this home place they own 200 acres in White Oak township which Mr. Gretznger and his sons are cultivating and raising large crops upon.

George Gretzinger was born December 4, 1859, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, a son of Jacob and Magdalena Gretzinger who died in Ohio. George Gretzinger came to Henry County in 1889 and on February 24th of that year was married to Miss Dora Earth, who was born June 21, 1867, in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. She was six months of age when her parents, John and Mary (Lebold) Earth came to Henry County and settled in this vicinity. For further particulars regarding the biography of John Earth, who was one of the most successful and enterprising of Henry County's departed old settlers, the reader is referred to various sketches in this volume. Mr. Earth not only accumulated a fine estate, but he reared a splendid family of sons and daughters who have attained to positions of honor and affluence in their community. All have excellent homes and are prosperous, as well as being leaders in their home county. The following children have been bom to George and Dora (Earth) Gretzinger: Earl, died at the age of three years; Arthur Lee, born Decem- ber 9, 1893, at home with his parents; John Ross, born November 8, 1895, lives at home, married on September 2, 1917, to Mildred, daughter of Ellis Greenhalge, of Walker township.

Mr. Gretzinger is a Republican in politics. Mr. and Mrs. Gretzinger and the children of the family are members of the Lucas Methodist Episcopal Church, excepting Arthur, who belongs to the White KDak Methodist Episcopal Church. The Gretzinger's are an industrious family, progressive, intelligent, and endeavor to keep abreast of the times in all things.

Joseph H. Harness. - Along a stretch of well-kept highway in the Southeastern part of Walker township are a number of very attractive farm homes. The surroundings are ideal for a progressive farming community, with a flowing stream and beautiful timber tracts in the vicinity. This corner of the township is undoubtedly one of the most fertile and progressive in Henry County. The home of Joseph H. Harness and wife is one of the pretty places of the county, and shows in its appearance that the dwellers therein have a taste for the better things of life and believe in beautifying their surroundings. The Harness residence is a very pretty cottage, standing on a rise of ground on the west side of the highway and the other buildings and fencing are in keeping with the house.

J. H. Harness was born October 6, 1871, on the Harness homestead within one-half mile of his present home. He is the son of William Harness (born April 30, 1844; died July 3, 1914), a native of West Virginia and a son of Adam Harness, who was one of the first pioneers to make a settlement in what is now Walker township. Mr. Harness preempted or entered Government land at a time when there was but one house between his cabin and the old settlement of Germantown in the early forties. There were no homes on the way to Clinton which was then but a frontier settlement. William Harness enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and served for one year with the Confederate forces during the Civil War. He became very ill with measles and it was necessary for his father to make the long journey to St. Louis and bring him home in order that he might receive proper care. Adam Hai'- ness made the long trip to St. Louis and returned by ox-team, the only available method of transportation in those days.

William Harness received a tract of land from his father and married Mary Ann Mullen, who was born in Henry County, a daughter of William Mullen, a pioneer from Kentucky who gave the land for what is now known as the Mullen Cemetery. Mary Ann Harness was born in 1848 and died November 15, 1896. To William and Mary Ann Harness were born fourteen children, twelve of whom were reared to maturity: William A., a farmer in Bear Creek township; A. L., Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Hackney, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Martha Long, White Oak township; Sterling V. and Mrs. Stella McCoy, twins, the former of whom resides in Bates County, Missouri, and the latter is deceased; Harvey, White Oak township; John S., deceased; Edgar died at the age of nineteen years; Mrs. Sarah Wort, living in Kansas; Mrs. Frances Jennings, Maxville, Kansas.

J. H. Harness was educated in the common schools and has spent his whole life in the vicinity of his birthplace with the exception of one and a half years' residence in Eldorado Springs, Missouri.

Mr. Harness was married, October 18, 1893, to Miss Gertrude Colson, who was born in Walker township, the daughter of Archibald and Hannah (Sevier) Colson ,the former of whom came to Henry County and made a settlement in the early fifties, dying here in 1906. He was a Union veteran, one of the best-known of the old settlers of Henry County, and reared a splendid family. His widow now resides in Urich. She is a direct descendant of the famous Sevier family of Tennessee, one of the members of which family was Governor Sevier of Tennessee. She was born in Osage County, Missouri, in September, 1846 and is the mother of seven children: Dr. J. R. Colson, Schell City, Missouri; Mattie, wife of Richard Angle, Clinton, Missouri; Mrs. Laura Chrisman, Bonham, Texas; Mrs. Mollie Clyzer, a widow living at Montrose; Mrs. Gertrude Harness ; B. S. Colson, Appleton City, Mo ; R. P. a live stock buyer, Montrose, Missouri.

To J. H. and Gertrude Harness have been born two children: Glen W., and Richard P. C, both of whom are at home with their parents. Politically, Mr. Harness is a Democrat. He and Mrs. Harness are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They are intelligent, well informed, sociable people, who while industrious and enterprising, believe in enjoying the good things of life while they may.

ditions of William Penn to the colony of Pennsylvania in search of a home and religious freedom. He settled later in Virginia. A descendant of this Peter Michael Harness was Capt. Jack Harness, who served as a captain of a company in Gen. George Washington's Army, during the War of the American Revolution. He is mentioned in the History of the Valley of Virginia as one of the noted characters in the Revolutionary epoch of American history. He was an inveterate Indian fighter and killed many Indians during his eventful career; three of his brothers lost their lives at the hands of hostile Indians. His son, Lee Adam Harness, was the father of Adam Harness, who was married to Nancy Ellen Murdock and came to St. Louis County, Missouri, as early as 1830. In 1855 he came to Henry County, and settled on Granddaddy Creek, near Stone's Chapel. His son, William Harness, enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1863 and fought at the battle of Wilson's Creek. He served under General Price and was in Price's Raid through Missouri and Kansas, his commander being Captain Spangler of the cavalry. At St. Louis, he became ill with measles and his father made the long trip to bring him home, as before stated.

John Layman. - After a number of years spent as a successful contractor and builder in Kansas City, John Layman listened to the call of his country and the land and returned to the farm in Bear Creek township in order to do his part in swelling the vast amount of food stuffs needed to feed the people and armies of America's allies in the Old World who are battling for the rights and freedom of mankind. John Layman and Georgiana Layman are owners of 320 acres of farm land in Bear Creek township which they are improving and fixing up so as to make a good counti-y home in time to come. Mr. Layman was born in Clark County, Missouri, in 1860 and is the son of George and Eliza (Combs) Layman, natives of West Virginia and Missouri, respectively. Mrs. Eliza Layman was a daughter of Kentucky parents who were Missouri pioneers. George Layman came to Missouri with his parents when but a boy. He was bom in 1817 and died in 1901. In 1865, he moved to Henry County from Clark County and lived for three years upon a farm east of Clinton, and in 1868 he located near Montrose. There are ten children of the Layman family : Mrs. Renie Skelton, Topeka, Kansas ; Mrs. Emma Fair, deceased; Mrs. Belle Triplett, Topeka, Kansas; William; Henry, Kansas City; Mrs. Florence Durnell, Joplin, Missouri; Mrs.

In early manhood, Mr. Layman learned the trade of bricklayer and builder and many of the brick houses in his section of Henry county were built by him, among them being the old Nick Erhart mansion which in days gone by was one of the show places of the county. He and Mrs. Layman and the family spent eight years in Kansas City where Mr. Layman was employed as foreman of brick construction on many of the largest public buildings of the city. On account of his health and the fact that the farm needed their personal attention they returned to Bear Creek township and resumed cultivation of their large acreage in 1914.

John Layman and Georgiana Erhart were united in marriage in 1886 and to them have been born five children: Iva, wife of Fred Roberst, Muscogee, Oklahoma; Joseph, living on the home place, married Nannie Lober and has two children, Aubertine and Burnell ; J. Nick, resides in Bear Creek township, married Pearl Minnich, and has one child, Margaret; Ida, at home with her parents; Frankie, the youngest of the family. Mrs. Georgian Layman was born in Bear Creek township, in 1868 and is the daughter of the late Nicholas Erhart.