Johnson County, Missouri - - Biographical, 1918 (part 10 of 19)

Mr. and Mrs. Sanders reside at the "Quarry City Stock Farm," located on East Grover street in Warrensburg. This place was purchased from Nicholas M. Bradley in 1898 and the abstract shows that at one time the seven acres where the house now stands were sold for three sheep. Mr. Sanders has lived in Jackson and Johnson counties, with the exception of one and a half years when Order No. 1 1 was in force, for sixty-seven years. Few, if any, residents of Johnson county know more about the early days than he. He was well acquainted with William Quantrill, Bill Anderson, the James boys, Youngers and many others who were members of Quantrill's famous organization. During the stirring days of the Civil War, he frequently gave aid to Quantrill's men and knew considerable of their whereabouts and operations which was not generally known to others. Mr. Sanders possesses a fine library and many valuable pictures and lioth reflect his keen interest in horses. Mrs. Sanders' father resided near Chapel Hill College when Senator Francis Al. Cockrell was a student there. Mr. Winfrey always manifested the deepest interest in the young man, loaning him books and helping him in every way he could. Senator Cockrell never forgot the friend of his youth and was always grateful for the help and encouragement received in the Winfrey home.

John Frank Wells, St., a prominent and well-respected farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a native of Ohio. He is a son of Timothy E. and Mary E. Wells, and was born September 10. 1849.

Timothy E. and Mary E. Wells were the parents of five children, as follow: Ellen, wife of Captain W. R. Thomas, of the One Hundred Fifth Illinois Volunteers, Company A, resides at Oakland City, California; Mary Eliabeth, wife of C. M. Chase, living at Linden, Vermont; Abigail Jane, wife of Andrew Kinney, East Orange, New Jersey; John Frank, subject of this review; and one child died in infancy. The Wells family is of ^^'elsh descent. 'J'imothy ^Vells served in the Civil War as quarter-master of the One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry. After the war had ended, he went to Kansas, in 1867 and homesteaded and purchased three hundred twenty acres of land in Cherokee county. Three hundred fifty tons of hay were burned in 1869 by a prairie fire and the large herd of cattle, which Mr. Wells had successfully cared for during the summer, starved to death. He had tried his best to sell them, but there was no demand for cattle in those days as now. Six thousand dollars worth of beans were destroyed by the same fire and discouraged and almost financially ruined, Mr. Wells moved with his family from Kansas to California, where he lived for several years, and lived later for many years with his son in Missouri. He returned to California and became an inmate of the Soldiers' Home at Santa Alonica, wliere he died. Mrs. Wells died September 21, 1879.

In 1877. T- F. ^^'ells came to Johnson county. Missouri, and took possession of a farm of three hundred thirty acres of land in Centerview township, given him by bis uncle. James S. ^^'aterman. which has been his home ever since. He had been engaged in the mercantile business in California but since he acquired the farm. Mr. Wells has devoted bis entire time to farming and stock raising, in which vocations he has met with well-merited success. He has employed al! the latest and most progressive methods of soil improvement and has raised fine grade Duroc Jersey hogs and good cattle on this place, but recently he has given the management of the farm to his three sons, Stanley, George, and Frank, and is spending the closing years of his life in quiet, carefree ease.

In 1879, J. F. Wells, Sr., was united in marriage with NeUie E. Baird, daughter of George W. and Elizabeth Baird, and to this union have been born six children: J. Stanley, on the home farm; Mrs. Florence Graham, Centerview, Missouri ; George Robert, Centerview, Missouri; Mrs. Alice E. Stevens, Bringhurst, Indiana; Nellie and John F., Jr., at home with their parents. The three sons are in partnership with their father in the business of farming and stock raising. Stanley and George are married their wives being sisters, daughters of F. M. Engel. Frank, as he is familiarly called, is unmarried and lives with his parents. Mrs. Wells' grandfather, James Baird, spent his life in Adams county, Ohio. His son, George W., came with his family to the West in 1860 and located in Leavenworth county, Kansas. He was a very intellectual and versatile man, a graduate of Ohio University, and owner of a line of steamboats working between St. Paul and New Orleans. He was captain of one of the steamboats, prior to coming \\'est. In Kansas, he started a nursery in connection with his farming" interests and later entered the mercantile business there, becoming very successful and prosperous as a farmer, horticulturist, and merchant. In 1867, Mr. Baird moved to Johnson county to enter the nursery business in this state, but after four brief years of struggle against failing health he died in 1871. Mrs. Wells attended school in Johnson county at Scroggs school house, where two of her daughters have since taught school. Her first teacher was Professor Rolie. Later, she completed her education in an academy in Kentucky. She recalls the days when the county was thinly settled and the land open prairie. One night, in her girlhood days, a spark from a switching engine on the railroad started a prairie fire which spread all over the surrounding country and did great damage. Mr. Wells remembers the first steam mill in this part of the country, which was located on Devil's branch and was the gathering point for the settlers for miles away. Many changes have taken place in Johnson county since the Wells family and the Baird family settled here. From open prairie, abounding in wild game, the land has been developed into splendid, fertile stock and grain farms and busy, flourishing villages, towns, and cities. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have nobly done all in their power to aid in this marvelous growth.

Jesse R. Ozias, a capable and industrious farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a member of one of Johnson county's fine pioneer famiHes. He was born in Johnson county, October 21, 1866, a son of Jacob A. and Lavina R. Ozias, who were among the first settlers of Centerview township. They came from Ohio and traded the buggy in which they came for a small tract of land and the father engaged in farming and stock raising. He prospered from the start and became a very wealthy landowner, having at one time a farm comprising one thousand acres of land in Johnson county. Jacob .\. Ozias dealt extensively in hogs and wheat. He died in 1911 and the widowed mother makes her home with J. R., the suliject of this review. A more comprehensive sketch of the family appears in connection with the biography of Mrs. Lavina R. Ozias, given elsewhere in this volume.

In the public schools of Centerview. J. R. Ozias obtained his primary education. He was afterward a student in Gem City Business College, Quincy, Illinois. After completing his school work, he bought a farm of one hundred eighty acres of land, which he sold within a short time and went to Colorado, where he remained several years. On his return to Johnson county, he was placed in charge of his father's farm and has ever since continued giving his time and attention to farming and stock raising on the homestead. He now owns and manages more than four hundred acres of land, one hundred twenty acres of which are in grass. This season, of 1917, he had fourteen hundred bushels of wheat, one thousand bushels of oats, and harvested eighty tons of hav. In addition, Mr. Ozias had one hundred acres of his farm in corn. The handsome residence on the farm was built in 1892 by the father, Tacob Ozias. It is a structure of twelve rooms and modern throughout. The farm is well supplied with farm buihlings and is splendidly equipped for handling stock and grain. In 1916, J. R. Ozias built a huge silo, having a capacity of three hundred eighty tons, constructed of solid, reinforced concrete, ninety feet high and with a water tank holding eight hundred barrels of water on top, thus giving an exceptional pressure. -A stairway, which is easily climbed, leads to the top of the silo, where one may get a splendid view of the surrounding country. This is one of the best silos in Johnson county.

Mr. Ozias is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Politically, he is a Democrat. He is well maintaining the Ozias reputation, established years ago by his father, and is highly respected among the good, substantial citizens of the county.

Mrs. Lavina R. Ozias, the widely-known and honored widow of the late Jacob A. Ozias, is one of Johnson county's bravest pioneer women. She and her husband came to Johnson county, Missouri, in November, 1857, in a buggy, which vehicle they traded on a tract of land here. At that time, the Hobson and Graham farms were the only fenced places in the county near their tract of land. They returned to Ohio and resided until 1866, when they came back to Missouri to make their permanent home in Centerview township, on the farm for which they had traded their buggy. Mr. Ozias built a one-room house and, as they could afford to do so, added to it later. Small as was their home, it became the center of the social life of the community and many happy times were spent within its four walls. Mr. Ozias was fond of company and enjoyed gatherings of all kinds, so the little cabin became the popular meeting place.

Jacob A. Ozias and Mrs. Ozias had made the trip from Cincinnati to St. Louis, Missouri, by boat and from St. Louis drove through to Johnson county. After making his first payment on the farm, fortune seemed to smile on all his undertakings and he became very prosperous and influential. He was the owner at one time of more than a thousand acres of land and all were acquired through industry, economy, and enterprise. Mr. Ozias raised stock extensively, specializing in hogs. He was widely known as a successful wheat producer also. In his native county. Preble, in the state of Ohio, Mr. Ozias had established a name for himself as being a young man of strict honesty and high ideals and this reputation he continued to maintain to the end of his life. He died in 1911. His widow is now making her home with her son, J. R., on the home place. Mr. Ozias was a gentleman of kindly, charitable, generous spirit and there are many men and women in the county today who recall with gratitude how he willingly and cheerfully came to their assistance, when they were in straightened circumstances and were about to lose their homes.

Mrs. Ozias was born June 16. 1837, in Maryland and is a daughter of Jesse Royer. who moved to Ohio in 1853. She is now past the eightieth milestone in life. It is a delight to hear her tell incidents and experiences of her pioneer days in Johnson county. She has witnessed many prairie fires and has seen trilies of Indians passing their home, but the red men were always friendly, ^^'arrensburg was then the only town and Holden has not been thought of. not to mention the towns and villages that now dot the map of Johnson countj'. Mrs. Ozias is a bright, alert, intelligent woman, possessing a wonderful memory for one of her advanced age. It is with great pleasure we pause to honor one who laboretl and did without much, that we deem so absolutely necessary, in the long ago, in order that the coming generation "might have life more al)undantly." She is a lady in all that the word implies, one worthy of the highest regartl and consideration.

Arthur W. Ozias, a prosperous and prominent farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a son of one of the best pioneer families of this part of Missouri. He was born in 1869, son of Jacob A. and Lavina Ozias, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume.

In the public schools of Centerview. Arthur W. Ozias received his early education. Later, he was a student in McPherson College in Kansas and in business college at Lebanon, Ohio. After leaving college, he engaged in farming on his father's place, of which he had charge until 1899. when he was given by his parents a farm of one hundred sixty acres of land, to which he added by purchase the Stoner farm of twenty-se\'en and a half acres, which was formerly owned by his uncle. Mr. Ozias has constantly increased his acreage and is now the owner of a splendid stock farm of three hundred fifty-four acres of valuable land in Johnson county. He is chiefly interested in stock raising, having at present one hundred fifty head of Poland China hogs and a large herd of Shorthorn cattle, Init he devotes some time to general farming and this past season harvested seventy tons of hay, twelve hundred bushels of oats, four hundred bushels of wdieat, and had one hundred fortv acres of his farm in corn. He is an enthusiastic advocate of crop rotation. He uses an adaption of the Norfolk system of rotation, corn, wheat, clover. His place is abundantly watered. There are plenty of farm buildings on the Ozias farm and all are kept in e.xcellent repair. The residence is a handsome, modern, brick structure of eight rooms conveniently arranged.

In 1904, Arthur W. Ozias and Blanche B. Seip, daughter of J, H. and Susan B. Seip, were united in marriage and to this union have been born two sons: Arthur \\\, Jr., and George W. Mrs. Ozias' father settled in Johnson county after the close of the Civil War and became an extensive landowner in Centerview township. He owned four hundred acres of valuable land, which he divided among his four children. Mrs. Arthur W. Ozias is a graduate of the Sisters of Charity Convent,

Holden, ^Missouri, and a very intelligent and energetic woman. She takes a keen interest and much pleasure in her part of the farm work, the poultry industry, and has annually several hundred Plymouth Rock chickens. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ozias are held in the highest esteem in their community and they are numbered among the county's best and most valued citizens.

William Truman Sprague, who has been a resident of Johnson county, Missouri for forty-one years, is a pioneer worthy of the greatest consideration and esteem. He was born in Macon county, Illinois, November 27, 1838, the son of Henry Harrison and Katharine (Kirkpatrick) Sprague, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Ohio. Henry Harrison and Katharine Sprague were the parents of the following children: Lewis M., Scotland county, Missouri; William T., the subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Martin, Clark county, Missouri ; Luther, who was a Civil War veteran, serving in Company A. Second Missouri Cavalry, a former resident of Warrensburg, Missouri, who died in Nebraska; Mrs. Celestia Freelove, Memphis, Missouri; Milton, Crawford, Nebraska; Augustus, who resides in Kansas; Mrs. Livona Watson, who resides in Nebraska ; and Henry, who resides in Nebraska.

William Truman Sprague was reared and educated in Scotland county, Missouri. When the Civil War began he went to Lewis county and at Memphis, Missouri enlisted under Captain Dawson with Company A, Second Missouri Cavalry, with whom he served one and a half years, re-enlisting at Athens, Missouri. In a skirmish near Lancaster, Missouri, Mr. Sprague was shot in the left foot, the bullets entering the instep, one of which bullets remained in his foot for fifty-three years. It was removed in 1915. Mr. Sprague was mustered out at St. Louis in 1865, having served faithfully throughout the war.

After the war, Mr. Sprague returned to Lewis county, Missouri, where he remained ten years. He then moved from Lewis county to Johnson county, locating on a farm comprising forty acres of land in JefYerson township, which land he purchased for ten dollars an acre. He afterward increased his holdings by purchasing one hundred sixty acres. Mr. Sprague sold this farm in 1910 and moved to Warrensburg. He had resided on the farm in Jefferson township thirty-four years.

born September 10, 1849, the daughter of William and Mary Sproai, of Williamstown, Missouri, were united in marriage. William Sproat died in 1906 and his remains were interred in New Church cemetery in Jefferson township. Mrs. Sproat now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. William Sprague. She was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania in 1828 and is still enjoying good health at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. To W'illiam Truman and Margaret (Sproat) Sprague have been born the following children; Mrs. Clara Kimzey, Warrensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Estell Greini, Warrensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Alma Saults, the wife of Dr. H. A. Saults, of Valley City, Missouri; Albert E., Springfield, ^lissouri; Mrs. Leota Corson, Windsor, Missouri. Estell Greim, the husband of the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sprague, went to Kansas in 1879 and homesteaded one hundred sixty acres of land near Wichita, nineteen miles south of Leoti, and when he had proven his claim, he returned to Johnson county. Mr. and Mrs. Sprague have been residents of this county since 1876.

When William Truman Sprague's father came to Scotland county, Missouri and settled near .Memphis, their nearest neighbor was an uncle, Luther Stevens, who lived two and a half miles away. Mr. Morgan lived ten miles from the Sprague home and the next nearest neighbor was Mr. Glascock, fifty miles away. The rtour of the Sprague's was exhausted and the father returned to Illinois for provisions. He became ill while away and for six weeks was unable to return. In the meantime the family were suffering from lack of food and were using bran for flour. Mrs. Sprague, a noble, brave, pioneer mother, walked to the home of Mr. ^lorgan, ten miles away, and informed him of their condition and he promptly responded to her appeal by sending to the Sprague home two bushels of meal and a side of bacon, which food lasted until the father's return.

Joe Simmerman, a leading merchant of (Treendoor, Missouri, for the past twenty-six vears, is a prominent citizen and successful farmer and stockman of Centerview township. 'Sir. Simmerman, wJiile a native of Illinois, is a member of a highly respected Johnson county pioneer family. He is a son of W. T. and Margaret Simmerman. W. T. Simmerman was born in Virginia, a son of Thomas Simmerman. who was born in Virginia in 1793. Thomas Simmerman came from \'irginia to Missouri in the earlv part of the nineteenth century and settled on a tract of land comprising one hundred twenty-four acres located in Colum- bus township. He prospered well in the new Western home and became widely known in Johnson county as an enterprising and successful farmer and stockman. Mr. Simmerman died in February, 1874 and his son, W. T., born in Missouri, remained on the home place for several years continuing the work his father had begun. W. T. Simmerman spent some time in Illinois and a part of one year in Johnson county, Kansas, after which he returned to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1866, and purchased eighty-six acres of land in Centerview township, to which he later added forty acres, thus forming a valuable stock and grain farm of one hundred twent3'-six acres, near Greendoor, Missouri. Mr. Simmerman w^as the popular and efficient postmaster of Greendoor for twelve years. He was e\'er active in politics, being an influential member of the Republican party, and at one time was elected justice of the peace of Centerview township, but refused to accept the office. W. T. Simmerman had a host of friends in Johnson county. He was known and admired for his honorable business dealings and strong moral character not only in this county but even beyond its confines. Mr. Simmerman died April 24, 1905. His widow still survives her husband and is now making her home with her son, Joe. the subject of this review, who was born March 20, 1865.

The first school Joe Simmerman attended was a prixate school taught by his cousin. Miss Isabel Renick. Mr. Simmerman was born just at the close of the Civil War. in 1865, and in his childhood there were as yet few public schools established in Johnson county. At a later time, John W. McGivens was employed as teacher of the public school of which Mr. Simmerman was a pupil. He personally knew Reverend Pitts, in whose honor Pittsville was named, and Reverend J. H. Houx, Peter and Thomas Cobb, and Finis King, effective pioneer preachers of Johnson county in the early seventies. When Mr. Simmerman was a youth, much of this county was open prairie and pasture land. Wild game abounded and he tells an interesting story of how he assisted in netting quail in those days of the long ago. He states that netters always obeyed an unwritten law of quail hunters, namely: to turn loose a male and female from every cox-ey they captured.

In 1890, Joe Simmerman and Mattie J. Hinkle, daughter of John Hinkle, a resident of Johnson county for many years, were united in marriage and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Beulah, who is now Mrs. Middleton of Rural Route 3, Warrensburg, Missouri.

In addition to his mercantile interests in Greendoor, Mr. Simmerman owns a farm of one luuulreil twenty-six acres of land and is engaged in raising stock extensively and in general farming. He is at present interested in Poland China hogs and Durham cattle. Mr. Sinmiernian keeps pure-hred animals and is the owner of a splenditl pure-hred Durham male. The farm is supplietl with plent\- of water and farm buildings. This past season of 1917, twenty acres of the place were in corn and four hundred sixty bushels of oats and sixty-four bushels of rye were harvested. Mr. Simmerman is a very intelligent and proficient farmer and stockman as well as a successful and prospeirous merchant.

S. F. Wamick, a well-known and respected citizen of Centerview township, is a son of a prominent pioneer family of Johnson county. Mr. \\'arnick is one of Johnson county's own boys. He was born here in 1856, son of R. N. and Amanda Warnick, well-remembered early settlers of Post Oak township. R. N. Warnick was a son of James Warnick, Sr., a native of Tennessee, who moved from that state to Missouri in 1836. Amanda (Oglesby) Warnick, the mother of S. F. W^arnick, was a daughter of Talton Oglesby, an honored pioneer of Johnson county. To R. N. and .A^manda (Oglesby) Warnick were born ten children, only three of whom are now living: S. F., the subject of this review; E. N., A\'arrensburg. Missouri: and Mrs. Delia Denton, Parsons, Ivansas. R. N. Warnick was a capable and prosperous farmer and stockman, a \er}- successful citizen. He was for many years an influential member of the Democratic party and for eight years was probate judge of Johnson county. For several years prior to his death, Mr. W^arnick filled the ofifice of justice of the peace of Post Oak township. He was an active worker in the Cumberland ' Presbyterian church and for many years a highly regarded and valued deacon. His death in 1896 has been long lamented in Johnson county. Mrs. Warnick preceded her husband in death four years. She died in 1892.

Mr. Warnick, whose name introduces this sketch, attended school at Warnick school house in Johnson county. He recalls among his teachers. Professor Matthews, B. G. ^^'oodford. and James Warren. Mr. Warnick was well acquainted with Reverends J. H. Houx and Finis King, two of the most widely-known of the pioneer preachers. Religion came first of all things with the early settlers of Johnson county and the minister was usually the leading man of affairs and he did much to form public opinion in political as well as religious matters. The log cabin churches were very plain within and without and often not heated, even in the coldest weather. Ijut everyone was expected to attend the services when held - and the entire community did attend, some coming a long distance in uncomfortable ox-wagons, others traveling on horseback. There was much open prairie and free pasture land in the old days and wild game of several different kinds abounded. Hunting and fishing were not wholly pastimes, sports to be indulged in on rare occasions, but occupations, often the sole means of obtaining meat for the family larder. Air. Warnick has seen thousands of prairie chickens near his home in his boyhood days.

In 1877, S. F. Warnick was united in marriage with Alollie B. Woodford, daughter of Julius Woodford, Sr., and to this union have been born two children: Mrs. Gertrude Shock, Warrensburg, Missouri; and O. D.. who is associated in partnership with Theodore Shock in the hardware business at Warrensburg. Mr. and Mrs. Warnick are worthy members of the Presbyterian church.

A small tract of land, comprising sixty acres, was given S. F. Warnick by his father and the year following his marriage the son built a house on it, a tiny structure scarcely large enough for two, and this was the Warnick home for several years, while Mr. W'arnick was engaged in farming and stock raising on this place. In 1885, the Warnicks moved to Warrensburg, where S. F. Warnick and his brother, E. N., were associated in partnership in the hardware business. The firm continued to conduct a mercantile establishment in this city until 1911, when the elder brother moved to his present country home four miles from Warrensburg. Mr. Warnick built a inodern, six-room residence on this farm, a place embracing sixty acres of land, and in their pleasant, comfortable, suburban home Mr. and Mrs. Warnick are spending the closing years of their lives, spent in useful labor, in quiet ease and contentment.

Sixty-one years ago, S. F. Warnick first saw the light of day in Johnson county. Countless changes have taken place in this section of the state during the past half century and all have been witnessed by Mr. Warnick. He has watched the growth of institutions, the development of woodland trails into splendid roads, and the building of cities, towns, and villages out on the wide, unfenced prairie land. As did his father before him, Air. Waniick has always taken a deep interest in the advancement of his township and connty and he lias nobly aided materially in their growth and in placin<,r them in the front rank with the best in the state. As was his father, he is an earnest snpporter of the Democratic party. Surely tlie father's "mantle has fallen on worthy shoulders.''

Nicholas Houx Fulkerson, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Johnson county, was one of the wealthiest land owners in this section of Missouri. He was a member of one of the oldest and best families in Johnson county, a representative of one of the leading colonial families of Virginia. Mr. Fulkerson was born .\pril 8, 1842, on his father's farm in Johnson county, a son of "Dr. J. M. and Fdizabetb C. (Houx) Fulkerson. Dr. James Monroe Fulkerson was l)orn in \'irginia. March 15, 1811. When he was still a babe in arms, his parents moved from Virginia to a plantation in Tennessee and then later to Missouri, locating in Lafayette county. Although born in \'irginia and reared in Tennessee, Dr. James Monroe Fulkerson was always regarded as one of Missouri's own sons, for the greatest part of his life was spent in this state. He was one of the beloved pioneer physicians of Johnson county and an active man of ci\'ic affairs. Doctor I'ulkerson began the practice of his profession in St. Charles county, Missouri. In 1834, he came to Johnson county and for se\"eral years made his home with Nicholas Houx, an honored pioneer of Johnson county, whose daughter he married. Dr. and Airs. Fulkerson settled on the Houx homestead and within a few years after his coming to this county. Mr. Fulkerson manifested his gift for leadership and for three consecutive terms represented his chosen county in the Missouri State Legislature, the first man in Johnson county to be honored with this important trust. Doctor Fulkerson had been a resident of the county but six vears. when his versatile abilities were so well known that he was chosen director of the Lexington Bank of Missouri and assignee of the bankrupts of Johnson county. During the ensuing years, he prospered to a remarkable degree and at the time of his death in 1886 was the owner of twenty-fnur hundred acres of choice land in this and adjoining counties.

Mr. Fulkerson, the subject of this re\-iew, had enjoyed the advantages of association with highly intellectual and talented parents and of higher education. He was a student at Chapel Hill College two years.

at Columbia University one year, and at St. Joe College one year. Nicholas Houx Fulkerson had pursued the medical course in college and was thoroughly fitted to begin the practice of medicine when financial losses, caused by the Civil War, caused him to change his plans and to engage in farming and stock raising. During the Civil War, Mr. Fulkerson enlisted with Company E, Fifth Missouri Infantry and served under General Price throughout the long struggle of four years. Twice, he was wounded in battle. After the conflict had closed, Mr. Fulkerson returned to the farm and for four years was engaged in general farming in Johnson county. Following this, he was successfully employed in the Texas cattle business for eight years and then he organized a stock company and operated a cattle ranch in Kansas, becoming later the manager of the same. When Mr. Fulkerson returned to Johnson county, he again engaged in general farming and was thus occupied until 1883, when he moved from the farm to Warrensburg in order that his children might have better educational advantages. He moved back to the farm in 1889, after the children had completed their work in the Warrensburg State Normal School, and one year afterward was again the leading man of his community. Apparently, Nicholas Houx Fulkerson had inherited a good share of his father's stock of brains and excellent business judgment, for he, too, became very prosperous and successful in a material way, owning at the time of his death in 1900 more than thirteen hundred acres of land. He was an influential Democrat and served as township assessor for many years.

December 25, 1866, Nicholas Houx Fulkerson and Martha A. F. Fulkerson, daughter of John and Henrietta (Ewing) Fulkerson. prominent pioneers of Lafayette county, were united in marriage and to them were born six children, five of whom are now living: Dr. F. M. Sedalia, Missouri; Dr. John H., Centerview, Missouri; Nicholas Houx, Jr., Warrensburg, Missouri; R. P., Tacoma, Washington; and Mrs. Elizabeth E. Greer, Centerview, Missouri. Henrietta O. Fulkerson died in 1884. Since the father's death in 1900. the widowed mother resides at the homestead with her two sons, John H. and Nicholas H., Jr., and her daughter, Mrs. Greer, who is the mother of one child, a daughter. Vivian Ewing.

of pleasant and kindly manners, of sterling integrity, a gentleman. Like his father, Mr. Fulkerson possessed a marked talent for leadership, which clearly appeared during the war when he was one of the most respected and admired officers in the Southern camp, and again in civil life when he assumed offices of trust and responsibility within the gift of the people. His constant practice of square dealing and gentle kindness won for him a multitude of friends in Johnst)n cminty.

The Fulkerson brothers ha\e charge of one thousand acres of valuable land and they are engaged in farming and stock raising on an extensive scale. The farm is well equipped with all needed conveniences for handling stock and it is well watered. Two hundred fifty acres of the place were planted in wheat last autumn, of 1917. This past season, John H. and Nicholas H.. Jr.. harvested seventy-five tons of hay and five thousand bushels of wheat, in addition to having thirtyfive acres of corn land. They are industrious and intelligent agriculturists and young men of high standing in the conuiuinity, well worthy of the unsullied name they bear.

At the time of this writing, in 1917, the Fulkersons were canning beans which were grown from the seed protluced by beans planted l)y the great-grandmother Fulkerson more than a century ago. In the Fulkerson home they are known as "grandma beans."

Z. B. Hunter, a successful and prominent farmer and stockman of Centerview township, is a native of West \'irginia. He was born in 1853, a son of J. C. and Ruth Hunter. J. C. Hunter was a son of Nathaniel Hunter, a prosperous miller and farmer of West Virginia. In the same year in which his son was l)orn, J. C. Hunter moved with his family to Ohio and in that state Z. B. Hunter was reared and educated. He remained in Ohio until 1878. when he moved to Missouri and settled in Johnson county. In 1884, he went to Kansas and remained three years. Mr. Hunter visited the old home in West Virginia about ten years ago and found the log cabin, in which he was born, still used as a residence and occupied.

For several years after he came to Johnson county, Mr. Hunter rented land and engaged in farming and stock raising. In 1882, he purchased two hundred acres of good farm land in Centerview township, which has been his home for the past thirty-five years, with the exception of three rears spent in Kansas. Mr. Hunter has been constantly at work improving this place and he now has one of the fine couiitrv homes in Johnson county. He built a splendid residence and good farm buildings and has rotated his crops and "plowed deep," until now there is no better farm in the community. Mr. Hunter is especially interested in farming and stock raising. He has, at the time of this writing in 1917, thirty-three head of high grade cattle and has harvested thirty tons of hay, seven hundred ninety bushels of wheat and rye, and was preparing to plant seventy-five acres of his farm in wheat last autumn.

In 1880, Z. B. Hunter and Sarah J. White, daughter of John White, of Ohio, were united in marriage and to this union have been born nine children: John, Centerview. Missouri; Forest, Warrensburg, Missouri; Roland, who is now in Wyoming: Lucian, Centerview, Missouri, a United States soldier stationed at Camp Funston ; Wilber, Centerview, Missouri; Mrs. Bernice Renick, Odessa, Missouri; Eula, Margaretta, and Mary, at home with their parents. jNIr. and Mrs. Hunter are excellent people, kind, hospitable, and enterprising and they are enrolled among the most valuable citizens of the county. Politically, Mr. Hunter is a Democrat.

William E. Caldwell, proprietor of the "Caldwell Valley Stock Farm," is a native of Illinois. He was born in Kendall county, July 28, 1863, and reared to maturity in Grundy county, Illinois. He is the son of Lewis and Julia Ann (Shepherd) Caldwell, the former, a native of West Virginia and the latter, of Ohio. They were the parents of the following children: Alex, who is a prosperous and well known farmer and stockman of Audubon, Iowa; Mary, the wife of Ara Dix, of Morris, Illinois; Frank, a prominent farmer and stockman of Morris, Illinois; Hortense Jane, who was the wife of John Woodward, and she is now deceased, her remains being laid to rest in the cemetery at Lisbon in Kendall county, Illinois; and William E., the subject of this review. Lewis Caldwell went from a farm near Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was born, to Kendall county, Illinois, and with his family, moved from Kendall county to Grundy county, where his death occurred in 1904. Mrs. Caldwell survived her husband thirteen years, when she joined him in death in February, 1917. Their remains were interred in the cemetery at Morris, Illinois.

In the public schools of Grundy county, Illinois, William E. Caldwell received his education. He remained at home until he was twentysix years of age and then he began life for himself, engaged in farming in Grundy county, Illinois. In 1907. Mr. Caldwell came to Johnson county, Missouri, where he purchased in partnership with Holderman Brothers the Smizer farm of two hundred ninety-five acres, paying fifty-three dollars an acre. In 1911, he increased his holdings by purchasing one hundred sixty acres from Charles Clark, for which he ])aid fifty-three dollars an acre. All told, Mr. Caldwell is farming four hundred fifty-five acres.

September 18. 1889, William E. Caldwell and Ettie M. Uix were united in marriage. She is the daughter of Oliver and Louisa S. (McKenzie) Dix, of Grundy county, Illinois. Oliver Dix was born in New York, January 5, 1822 and Louisa S. Dix was born April 5, 1838. They were the parents of the following children : Lydia B., who was born October 21, 1860; William O., who was born October 7. 1862; Ettie M., who was born February 13, 1868, the wife of the subject of this review: Susan, who was born October 3, 1872; and George R., who was born September 2, 1877. By a former marriage, Oliver Dix and Lydia (Wing) Dix were the parents of two sons: Ara W., who was born January 6, 1850; and Orville, who was born December 27. 1852. Lydia (Wing) Dix died in 1857. The death of Oliver Dix occurred February 16, 1900 and ten years later he was followed in death by his wife, Louisa S. Dix, whose death occurred August 30, 1910. Both father and mother were buried in the cemetery at Lisbon in Kendall county, Illinois. To William E. and Ettie M. (Dix) Caldwell have been born three children: William Earl, Jr., who was born March 19, 1892; George Dix, student in A\'arrensburg Normal and is now captain of the junior class in Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, IMissouri, and is assistant coach of the football and basket ball teams, who had charge of the Warrensburg Normal Training School and made a record as an athlete, who was born September 7, 1895 ; and Landy Lewis, who was born August 13, 1898.

The "Caldwell Valley Stock Farm" is pleasantly and conveniently situated. It is an ideal stock farm, well watered and improved. Mr. Caldwell handles Durham and Shorthorn cattle of good grade and at the present time, in 1917. has one hundred ten head on the farm. He has not fed for beef purposes for many years, but he is contemplating doing so within a short time. Mr. Caldwell also raises mules. There is no better w^atered farm in this section of the country. Devil's branch, a tributary of Blackwater, runs through the place and there are three splendid wells on the farm, one of which is three hundred forty-two feet deep and is pumped by an engine. An excellent pond is also on the "Caldwell Valley Stock Farm." Two hundred acres are in bluegrass, twenty acres in wheat, and thirty acres in corn. Mr. Caldwell is one of the best agriculturists in this part of the state and he and Mrs. Caldwell have made scores of friends in Johnson county, since their coming here but a few years ago. No family in the county is more highly esteemed and respected than the Caldwell fainily.

B. F. Mitchell, an enterprising and prosperous farmer and stockman of Centerview townsiiip, is a son of one of Johnson county's noble pioneers, T. H. Mitchell. The son was born in Kentucky in 1854 and when a child came to A\'arrenslnn-g, Missouri in 1869 with his parents. T. H. and Clementina Mitchell, who settled on a farm of three hundred t\\enty acres of virgin soil in Centerview township in 1870. The father built a small, rude, box-like structure, which was the Mitchell residence many years. Mr. Mitchell, Sr. engaged in stock raising extensively and in corn growing. Crops were good in those early days before the fertility of the soil was exhausted and for a few years after the Mitchells came West prices were high but in time there came the ine\'itable fall of prices and a period when it was extremely diiificult to get hold of any money at all. Then came the financial crash of 1873. brought on by rash speculations in Western railroads and followed by ruin of hundreds of business firms and want and suffering in thousands of homes - and the Mitchell family did not escape. B. F. Mitchell knows froin hard, bitter experience what real "hard times" are. At that time, ninetyfive per cent, of the land in Johnson county was open prairie.

In Kentucky, Mr. Mitchell received the beginning of his education and after the family came West he attended school at Warrensburg one year. B. F. Mitchell was born and reared on a farm and in choosing his vocation for life he followed in the footsteps of his father. The elder Mitchell prospered materiall\^ in the years following the panic of 1873 and at one time owned four hundred acres of choice land in Johnson county. He was a man of invincible spirit and possessed excellent business judgment, an inheritance from his father, Shedwick Mitchell, who was a prosperous hotel proprietor practically all his life.

B. F. Mitchell is one of five children born to T. H. and Clementina Mitchell, who were united in marriage in 1841. The children were, as follow: Mrs. Sarah Ann Banfield. deceased: Mrs. Georgia A. \\'hitsett.

Lamar, Missouri: Pleasant, who resides in Washington: Mrs. Lucy Ann Simes, Ogden, Utah : B. F., the subject of this review : and one deceased. The mother died in 1856 and in 1857 Mr. Mitchell remarried. His second wife was Georgia Ann Stallcup. a sister of his first wife, and to this union were born two children, who are now living: Henry F., Richmond, Colorado: and Charles B.. Kansas City. Missouri. T. H. Mitchell was gifted with the happy faculty of making true friends and no enemies and he was for years a leading man of his community.

B. F. Alitchell owns a splendid farm in Centerview township, a place comprising two hundred forty acres of land, which is well improved and nicely kept. In 1895. he built a pleasant and comfortable home, a residence of two stories. He has a good tenant house of six rooms on the farm, in which his son-in-law resides. There are six large, well-constructed liarns on the place, all in excellent repair. B. F. Mitchell harvested, this past season, nine hundred bushels of wheat, seven hundred bushels of oats, and twenty-five tons of hay. beside.' having seventy acres of his farm in corn. Fie had on the place, at the time of this writing, one hundred fifty head of hogs and si.\ty-fi\ c head of cattle, in addition to a large herd of horses and mules. Air. Mitchell planted forty-five acres of his farm in wheat last autumn, of 1917.

B. F. Mitchell and Rosella Fitch were united in marriage in October, 1884. Mrs. Mitchell is a daughter of Crawford Fitch, who settled in Johnson coimtv in 1874. She is one of ten children born to her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford Fitch, all of whom were reared to maturity and are now living: James M.. Centerview, Missouri: Mrs. Lavica A. Snyder. Deepwater, Missouri : George A., Eldorado Springs. Kansas; Mrs. Eliza McCord, Cincinnati. Ohio: Mrs. Nancy .\. Stout, Warrensburg, Missouri: Mrs. Marietta Plummer, Vanceburg. Kentucky; Mrs. Rachel D. Brown, Warrensburg. Missouri: Charles H.. who resides in Canada: Mrs. B. F. Mitchell, the wife of the subject of this review: and Mrs. Roberta Simmerman. Columbus township. To Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have been l)orn two children: Laura, who is engaged in teaching school: and Airs. Ida Spicer. Centerview township, the wife of V. E. Spicer, who has rented the Alitchell farm and resides there. He and Air. Alitchell are interested in stock raising and are associated in partnership in this business.

ing his farm, much of which is rich bottom land. From his own experience, lie states emphatically that tiling is a paying investment and he should know for he has used five carloads of tiles on his place and has, in all, one hundred thirty-seven acres of his place drained by this method. The creek, which flows through his farm, was becoming more and more crooked and filled with soil. Since he has tiled his land, Mr. Mitchell has not lost one crop by an overflow from the creek. He places the tile in trenches not more than eighteen inches in depth, for he does not wish to remove the underground water, just the superfluous surface water.

Nearly a half century ago, B. F. Mitchell came to Johnson county. He recalls the day when there were but two roads in the western part of the county, namely: the old State road and the Lexington-Clinton road. The early settlers traveled along trails and went from place to place more by their sense of direction. As has been previously stated in this sketch, most of the land was open prairie and Mr. Mitchell and his brother-in-law once split rails enough to fence three hundred twenty acres of land. Wild game abounded and this subject has often in the old days killed hundreds of prairie chickens, and many wild turkeys, besides a few deer. He remembers the kindly hospitality of the pioneers and the countless happy times they experienced at social gatherings. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell are excellent citizens and worthy people and they are numbered among the county's best families.

W. A. Robey, one of the foremost agriculturists of Johnson county and most successful citizens of Jackson township, is a Johnson county boy. He was born in this county in 1872. a son of B. F. and Ellen Robey, prominent pioneers of Johnson county who came to Missouri from Kentucky just after the close of the Civil War and settled on a farm of one hundred twenty acres in Jackson township. To B. F. and Ellen Robey were born seven children: W. A., the subject of this sketch; E. H., Holden, Missouri; Eunice, Los Angeles, California; R. E., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ; Victoria Katherine, Los Angeles, California; B. P., deceased; and Mrs. Imogene Murray, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. B. F. Robey was engaged in farming and stock raising for many years on his country place in Jackson township. In the latter part of his life, he retired from the active labors of the farm and moved to Warrensburg, but Mr. Robey was never contented with the life of an onlooker in the city and within a short time the family returned to their homestead, and it was there the father died in 1902. He was a citizen well known for his uprightness of character and business integrity. B. F. Robey was guided l)y the highest moral principles in all the affairs of life. He invariably followed the Golden Rule and as a result he received that wliich lie richly nieritetl - the respect and esteem of all who knew him.

D. T. Boisseau was the instructor of tlie school held at Douglass schoolhouse in Johnson county who helped W. .A. Robey make his first efforts in obtaining a good common scliool education. Mr. Boisseau W'arrensburg, was later followed by Mr. Cook, as teacher of the Douglass school. Mr. Robey recalls Reverend Frank Russell, who was one of the leading preachers when the subject of this review was a lad. He also remembers how proud he was of the first money he ever earned, for he had truly earned every cent of it, cutting cord wood for the use of the Douglass school. He invested the money in a calf and a pig and of them took exceptionally good care. Those two animals meant far more to the boy than a herd of one hundred registered Shorthorns or pure-bred Poland Chinas mean to the present-day stockman. They represented his total capital and there was probably not an hour in the days which followed that he was not thinking about them and planning. The calf and pig throve remarkably and in time were sold at a good profit. Henceforth, ^^^ A. Robey was an avowed stockman-to-be and not many years passed until he was one of the most enterprising stockdealers in Johnson countv. Thus was laid the foundation for his interests later in life, but Mr. Robey is of the opinion that his school work suffered thereby. When he was twenty-one years of age, his iirst tract of land was given him by his father. To the gift of forty acres Mr. Robey has added forty acres more land and on this place in Jackson township he is engaged in stock raising and general farming. He has at the present time, in 1917, sixty head of high grade cattle and fifty head of hogs, of the Poland China breed. He harvested, this past autumn, four hundred fifty bushels of wheat, nine hundred bushels of oats, and sixty tons of hay and he had forty-five acres of his farm in corn. Mr. Robey enlists all his energies in his work and with persistent concentration pushes to a successful issue everything he undertakes. He is a firm advocate of crop rotation and of the constant use of the manure spreader. In 1910. he built the residence, an attractive country home of eight large rooms. The Robey place is well improved and an

In November, 1901, W. A. Robey and Nellie Phillips, daughter of M. A. Phillips, were united in marriage. To this union have been born two sons, both of whom are now attending school: Frank and Waldo.

Millard Hobbs, proprietor of "Cloverdale Stock Farm" in Jackson township, is one of Johnson county's most successful and progressive farmers and stockmen. Mr. Hobbs was born in Pike county, Illinois in 1853, a son of a highly respected Mexican War veteran, D. K. Hobbs, who was a son of Solomon Hobbs, a native of Kentucky, who, in early pioneer days, moved to Illinois, where he became a very prominent farmer. The Hobbs family trace their descent back to three brothers, who came to America in the earliest colonial days and from whom the Hobbs family in this country have all descended. The three Hobbs brothers were nati\'es of Germany. Millard Hobbs' father was a leader in his community in Illinois and for many years filled the office of township assessor. Mr. Hobbs, Sr. enlisted in the Mexican War and he and a brother, David, left home together to answer the country's call. Mr. Hobbs came back alone. He had buried his brother out on the plains. He died before the troops reached Mexico, from exhaustion, due to the long march. Mr. Hobbs returned to his farm after the war ended and became prosperous and influential. He and Mrs. Hobbs were the parents of nine children four of whom are now living: Millard, the subject of this review: Mrs. Catherine Howard, Holden, Missouri; Edith, Holden. Missouri; and Frank, Kingsville, Missouri. The father died in 1893. Mrs. Hobbs had preceded her husband in death a few years, in March, 1887.

The Hobbs family came to Johnson county in 1868. At Raulston schoolhouse in Johnson county, Millard Hobbs attended school. R. T. Fryer was employed as teacher there when Mr. Hobbs was a schoolboy. He knew personally several of the pioneer preachers, among them: Reverend W. W. Sisk, Reverend Pitts, and the Cobb brothers. When Millard Hobbs was a youth, practically all of Johnson county was open prairie and wild game of many different kinds abounded. One year, the Hobbs family obtained all their meat from game and never left the doorstep to hunt for the animals, and wild prairie chickens. .\s a lad, he has often seen the virgin sod broken by men and liovs, who drove yokes of oxen wliile at this work. Crops were alnindaiit in llie early days, when the soil was new. :\lr. Hobbs made liis first money raising wheat, which he sold for one dollar and ten cents a bushel. He enjoys recalling the happy times of his youth, when the boys and girls would ride horseback across the prairie to attend dances and parties. Mr. Hobbs states that in those days of perfect freedom the moral conditions were apparently far better than today. In 1892, lie purchased one hundred sixty acres of land in Kansas and two years later sold this tract and bought one hundred thirty acres of land in Cass county, Missouri. Mr. Hobbs sold his Cass county farm six years ago and moved to Johnson county, where he purchased two hundred ninety acres of land in Jackson township. He is devoting his attention to raising cattle, hogs, and grain. He has at present a large herd of registered Herefords and more than fifty head of hogs. The fanu is well equipped for handling stock, having three large barns in good repair and the fencing well in order. Mr. Hol)bs harvested eight iuindred bushels of oats and fifty tons of hay this season, of 1917. He liad fifty acres in corn and is planting, at the time of this writing, tliirtyfive acres of his place in wheat.

In 1884, Millard Hobbs and Alberta Sutlief. of Kansas, were united in marriage. Mrs. Hobbs is a daughter of George Sutlief. To this union have been born ten children: Mrs. Mable Beasley, Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Cora Curran, Santiago, California; Mrs. Cula Grey. Mt. Grove, Missouri ; Mack, who is serving in the army of the United States; Mrs. Helen Carter, Holden, Missouri: Morrill, Holden. Missouri: Hazel, Kenneth, and Gilbert, all at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs are excellent citizens and they are rearing one of the best families in the county, lliey are well known and highly regarded among the most substantial and public-spirited people of the township.

James M. Shepherd, the assistant postmaster of Warrensburg, Missouri, was born December 12, 1865, in Simpson township, Johnson county. He is a son of Williain Morgan and ]\lary Arena (Herndon) Shepherd, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Johnson county.

Mr. Shepherd, with whom this review is concerned, learned the printer's trade in youth and began work on the "Warrenslnirg Standard" at the age of fourteen years, in 1881. This paper was edited by Major Roderick Baldwin, a pioneer newspaper man of Johnson county.

For twenty-seven years, Mr. Shepherd was an employe in the office and owner of the "Standard." He was an honest, fearless, aggressive editor, whose editorials were widely read and excited much comment. He was never afraid to boldly state that which he believed to be right and his opinion was ever favored with the greatest respect. Mr. Shepherd has been the assistant postmaster for the past eleven years, having been appointed assistant by Joe H. Smith, postmaster, in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd reside in ^^'arrensburg at 136 Grover street.

John L. Fickas, of Warrensburg township, was born in the home of his father on the farm which is now owned by the son in Warrensburg township, on July 17, 1859. He is the son of James and Nancy (Baker) Fickas. James Fickas was born in 1833 in Boone county, Missouri, and when four years of age came to Johnson county with his father and mother, Adam and Susan (McDonald) Fickas, who located first in Warrensburg township and then one year later, in 1838, settled on a farm one-fourth mile east of the present location of "Bowmansville," the store and shop of Mr. Bowman, and on this place both the mother and father died. Mrs. Adam Fickas died in 1875 and twenty years later, in 1895, she was joined in death by her husband. They were buried in the cemetery on the homestead. At the time of his death, Adam Fickas was the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land in Johnson county. Nancy (Baker) Fickas was born in Tennessee, the daughter of James Baker. She was married to James Fickas in Pettis county and to them were born si.x children: Jacob, deceased; Sarah, who is married and now Mrs. Raabe, residing in Iowa; John, the subject of this review; Laura Belle, the wife of W. M. Wallace, of Vernon county, Missouri ; Luvenia, the wife of J. C. Leary. of Warrensburg, Missouri; and Malinda Ellen, the wife of Hill Hunter, of Knob Noster, Missouri. A more comprehensive history of the Fickas family will be found in the sketch of Adam Fickas, which appears elsewhere in this volume. James Fickas died February 21, 1917. Nancy (Baker) Fickas died June 27, 1907. James Fickas was stricken with total blindness on March 30, 1864 and he was cared for to the end of his days by his son, John Fickas. He was an industrious and energetic man and even after he was blind he was able to cut wood and gather corn and do a man's work on the farm. There has never been in Johnson county a more remarkable exemplification of patient, courageous endurance, of strong will-power, of true fortitude. Mr. Fickas was truly a "man worth while."

In district school Number 55. Joiiu Fickas received his education. He has always lived on the farm where he ntnv resides and was never away over ten days in his life, remaining with his parents as long a~ they lived and on the homestead, which he inherited, ever since they have been gone. The farm, which comprises one hundred sixty acres of land that were partly entered i)y the father from the government and partly by the grandfather, the land costing one dollar and twentyfive cents an acre. John Fickas has in his possession the old land patents, signed by the President of the United States many years ago. On this place, Mr. Fickas is engaged in farming and stock raising, devoting much attention to raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules.

March 21, 1886, John Fickas and Mary E. Galyon were united in marriage. Mrs. Fickas is the daughter of George Galyon, who died when she was an infant. To John and Mary E. Fickas have been born five children: James A., who is city mail carrier of W'arrensburg: Lulu R.. the wife of Earl C. Joy and they reside in Idaho; W. C., who is unmarried and resides in Idaho: Ernest E.. who married Cecil Curtis and resides in Montana; and Ethel B., who lives at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Fickas are highly respected and esteemed in Johnson county, where the Fickas family has long been held in the highest regard. Mr. Fickas is a worthy member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America.

Holt Davis, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Jackson township, is one of Johnson county's own sons, a member of a prominent pioneer family of Jackson townsh.ip. Mr. Davis was born here November 28. 1847, a son Michael and Maria Davis, who came to this part of Missouri from Illinois in 1846 and settled on a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land, .\lthough Holt Davis has passed the allotted three score years and ten, he is still a young man, as active and alert both mentally and physically as many men of fifty, yet he is perhaps the oldest man in Jackson township who can claim this township as his birthplace. Michael Davis was a very successful farmer and stockman and a highly respected citizen of Johnson county. He died August 10, 1904.

Mr. Davis, the subject of this review, attended school at Miller and Baker school houses in Jackson township. His first teacher was Jasper Ferguson. Holt Davis was born on the farm and his boyhood was Spent much as the average boy on the farm spends his youth. His time was divided between attendance at the country school and assisting with the work on the farm. In 1881, he left the country and moved to Pittsville, where he entered the mercantile business in which he was engaged four years and then he returned to the farm to remain permanently. Mr. Davis owns an excellent stock farm, a place comprising two hundred seventy-three acres located near Pittsville. A portion of his place is rented and of the remainder the larger part is grazing land. He has extensive stock interests and is raising a large herd of Shorthorns on his place.

In 1873, Holt Davis and Julia A. Warford were united in marriage. Mrs. Davis is a daughter of William A. and Martha J. Warford, who came from Colorado to Missouri and settled in Johnson county in 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are worthy and valued members of the Baptist church. Politically, Mr. Davis is a Democrat.

The first money which Holt Davis earned was made raising wheat on a small tract of four acres of land. He received two dollars and ten cents a bushel for his grain and the next year increased his acreage to fourteen acres from which he reaped not one bushel of grain. Thoroughly disheartened, Mr. Davis gave up the production of wheat then and for all time. Having been a resident of this county seventy years, Holt Davis knows perhaps as much about the changes which have taken place in the county as any one now living. He remembers when the main highway was the only road in this part of the state. Houses were far apart and if one traveled any great distance he went by stagecoach. Oxen were used for farm work, especially in breaking sod. The one thing constantly feared and dreaded was the destructive prairie fire. Mr. Davis has many, many times helped fight this common foe of the pioneer. He and Mrs. Davis are numbered among the best citizens of Johnson county.

J. M. Williams and Cyrus Williams, prosperous farmers and stockmen of Jackson township, are worthy representatives of a sterling pioneer family of Johnson county. They are widely known even far beyond the confines of this county as the "Williams boys." J. M. Williams was born in Johnson county in 1850, a son of Jesse and Anne Williams, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Williams came to Missouri in 1837 and settled on a tract of land comprising two hundred forty-four acres located in Jackson townsln'p, a portion of which was purchased and the remainder entered from the government by the former. Those early days were the halcyon days of the stockman in Johnson county. Unlimited grazing land was at the disposal of the first settlers and it was duly appreciated and utilized. To Jesse and Anne Williams were l>orn nine children, six of whom are now living: J. P., Jolly. Clay county, Texas; [. M.. of this review; Mrs. Martha Wakeman. Odessa. Missouri; Mrs. .\nianda J. Boisscau, Warrensburg, Missouri; Cyrus, of whom further mention will be made in this sketch; and Dr. George, a leading physician of Odessa, Missouri. The father died in 1897 and the mother departed this life in 1908. When Jesse Williams came to Johnson county, Missouri, the tract of land which he purchased and entered was chiefly of swampy nature and overgrown with brush, and timber, but he diligently went to work to make the place habitable and almost entirely with his own hands wrought from the gloomy and rather forbidding forested land one of the best farms in Jackson tmvnship. In a great measure, he was "the architect of his own fortunes," and for many years the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Williams were closely interwoven with the rise and progress of Johnson county's industrial and financial interests. They reared and educated a large family, every member an industrious, successful, honorable citizen. In addition to work of his farm, Mr. Williams followed his trade, which was that of carpentering, in the new western home, and he was well known as a careful and skilful workman.

The Williams boys attended school which was held at Washington schoolhouse in Johnson county. J. M. Williams vividly recalls his first day at school and his first instructor, who was Mr. Roundtree. Miss Nannie Pitts afterward taught the Washington school during J. ]\I. Williams' schoolboy days. He remembers many of the pioneer preachers, among whom he was personally acquainted with Reverends Warren Pitts and Minton. The young people of the early days had many pleasures and enjoyed attending church, parties, country dances, and "bees" of \-arious kinds. The Williams brothers often drove yokes of oxen in the days gone by, especially when the}' were breaking sod. The first money earned by J. M. Williams was well earned. He received it for cutting corn and in\ested it in a calf, which he later sold realizing a good profit. From ,this humble beginning, his interest in stock has grown and developed and he is now recognized as one of the most progressive stockmen of the township.

Cyrus Williams was born in 1854 and has been afflicted with blindness for many years. For a long time, he and his older brother, J. M., have together resided at the old homestead in Jackson township, in the home built by their father long ago. On their farm is still standing the log cabin in which all the children of the Williams family were born. This past season, the Williams brothers harvested fifteen hundred bushels of oats and they had thirty acres of the place in corn. They have planted, this autumn, sixty acres in wheat. The Williams farm is one of the best cultivated and most valuable tracts of land in Johnson county, consisting of one hundred forty-seven and fortyfour hundredths acres. The Williams brothers gave personal attention to their place until recently, when they determined to rent the land and retire from the active labors of the farm. They still look after their agricultural and stock interests, but perform no manual labor, contented with managing their business affairs and unostentatiously enjoying the fruitage of their former activities.

J. N. Williams, a prominent lumberman of Johnson county, is one of the most enterprising and successful citizens of Jackson township. Mr. Williams is a native of North Carolina. He was born in 1866 in Surry county, a son of James D. and Nancy (Ridenhour) Williams, both of whom were natives of North Carolina, in which state they were reared, educated, and married. James D. W^illiams was a son of Williamson Williams, a native of North Carolina and of Welsh and Scotch descent. In 1869, the father of J. N. Williams came to Johnson county, Missouri from North Carolina with his wife and children and they settled on a farm in Jackson township. Two years later, the grandfather, Williamson Williams, joined them in the new Western home and spent the remainder of his life in Johnson county. To James D. and Nancy Williams were born seven children, four of whom are now living: J. H., Kingsville, Missouri; J. N.. the subject of this review; Mrs. Lydia Paul, Kingsville. Missouri: and Mrs. Minnie G. Majors, Lonejack, Missouri. The father died in 1883 at the Williams homestead in Jackson township.

George Sage was instructing the school held at Fairview schoolhouse in Jackson township, Johnson county, when J. N. Williams first attended school. In those schoolboy days, Mr. Williams often stood in the doorway of the schoolhouse and watched the deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens that often left the forest nearby and came within the view of the children. Wild game alKuiiuIed in Johnson county in the early days. Mr. Williams states that in his youth the settlers could travel in a straight line from the \\ illiams farm to llolden, a distance of thirteen miles, and to do so had to ford the numerous streams along the way. He recalls the time when llolden was a small village and when there was not one building in the town tliat was not a frame building. The first brick structure was a novelty.

After his father's death in 1883, J. N. Williams assumed the management of the home place. He was at that time a young man, seventeen years of age, and for many years remained at the homestead. Early in life, he became interested in the lumber business and engaged in buying logs and shipping them to different sawmills in the country. At first, he conducted the lumber business in connection with farming and stock raising, but after a few years of experience he de\'oted his entire attention to the lumber industry. He has operated in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Kansas, and Nebraska. Mr. Williams buys the logs on the grouiKl, cuts and ships them, and he is at present employed by the largest walnut-mills in the United States, furnishing walnut logs for the Penrod Mills of Kansas City. Missouri. There the logs are made into gun stocks for musket barrels and shipped to the Rock Island Arsenal.

On his farm of sixty acres of land in Jackson township. J. N. Williams is raising fine Poland China hogs and an excellent strain of Plymouth Rock chickens. In addition to the lumber business, stock raising, and poultry raising, Mr. Williams is intensely interested in horticulture, for which from boyhood he has had a decided liking. To him this department of husbandry has a peculiar fascination and tc gratify himself he is planting ten acres of his place in orchard, which he hopes in time will be one of the finest and most valuable of the small orchards in Johnson county.

In 1886, J. N. Williams was united in marriage with Nora C. W^agner and to this union were born seven children, four sons of whom are now living: Albert F.. Kingsville. Missouri; Otto W.. Kansas City, Missouri; Leslie M.. Kingsville, Missouri ;and J. D., Kingsville, Missouri. The mother and two children met with a tragic death by drowning in 1903. Four years afterward, in 1907, the marriage of J. N. Williams and Armelia Ellis, daughter of Frederic Ellis, of Priorlake. Minnesota, was solemnized and to them have been born four

Mr. Williams built one of the most beautiful homes in this part of the state on his farm in 1914. This residence is a structure of stucco and the interior woodwork is either walnut or oak veneer. The massive walnut door of the front entrance is three feet in width and made from a log obtained at Horton, Kansas. Mr. Williams aided in sawing down the tree and the log was shipped to the Penrod Mills of Kansas City. The living room is wainscoted with panels of walnut to a height of five feet and the natural grain of 'the wood is perfect. The dining room is so finished, but in oak. Some of the rooms are finished in walnut and others in oak veneer, and the doors are so finished that they correspond with the woodwork of the room. Mr. Williams has a handsome library table constructed from a walnut stump which was taken out of the ground. The workmanship, besides the material used displayed in its construction is far above the average.

Honorable Reuben B. Fulkerson, a late prominent and publicspirited citizen of Johnson count}", was a leading pioneer whose life story is full of historic interest, a man of far more than local repute an honored and respected patriarcli of the long ago. Mr. Fulkerson was a native of \"irginia. He was born October 21. 1812 near Albington, Virginia and when he was still a little child his parents moved from their plantation home to the hills of Tennessee and in that state Reuben B. Fulkerson grew to young manhood. His early years were spent on his father's farm in Tennessee. The advantages and opportunities of his youth were limited but he made the most of all he had. His chances for obtaining an education were restricted to a few months attendance at the log schoolhouse of the pioneer settlement but b\ firmness of purpose and energy of character, which were always strikingly his most predominant characteristics, he succeeded in acquiring sufficient knowledge of the common branches to ser\'e as the basis for further education olitained in later life by wide reading and close observation and practical experience.

In early manhood, Reuben B. Fulkerson came to Johnson county Missouri. He entered the mercantile liusiness and was the first merchant in Columbus township. A few years afterward he located at Eonejack, Missouri and for a long time was one of the leading merchants of that place. He took the lead in many public enterprises and became widely and {avorably known in Missouri. He was essentially a man of the people and the possessor of the happy faculty of winning and retaining countless friends. His honor and integrity were never impeached and the liest element in Johnson count v rallied to his suj)- port in the election of 1S50 and he was elected representative of Johnson county for the session of the state Legislature which met in 1S3() and 1851. Mr. Fulkerson rode horseback to Jctterson Cit\- to attend the meeting.

Honorable Reuben B, Fulkerson was united in marriage in 1838 with Polly Cockrell a sister of General Francis M. Cockrell. and to this union were born four children: Helen B., deceased, wife of Frank Bradley: Mar_\- Anne: Xanc\- Margaret: and Elizabeth. Mar\- .Anne Fulkerson and \\'. L. Robinson were unitetl in marriage and to them were born three children, all of whom are now deceased. A tlaughter of Mr. and Mrs. \\\ L. Robinson, Carrie Ellen, married James Boswell and they were the parents of five children, four of whom are now living: Samuel and \\'alker L.. both of Lonejack, Missouri: Mary D. and Shannon, of Lonejack, Missouri. Seven years after Mr. Robinson's death. Mrs. Robinson returned to the old homestead and is now residing with her two sisters, Nancy Margaret and Elizabeth. Reuben B. Fulkerson died .\ugust 22. 1902. His wife died in 1897.

The three sisters, Mrs. Robinson, Miss "Lizzie," and iMiss Nancy, are delightful con\ersationalists and they enjoy recalling incidents and friends of other da\s. They state that Basin Ixnoli school house was the first to be erected in this part of the country. "I'ncle Jube," an old colored man who was one of the slaves of the Fulkerson household. drove a team of oxen hitched to a huge log which was thus dragged over the tall prairie grass in order to make a trail so the Cockrell boys might find their way to school. The boys afterward became known throughout the country. They were General and Colonel Cockrell. Tames Cockrell was probably the first of the Cockrells to settle in Johnson countv. Relative to the Basin Knob school house, there are rocks from the old chimney of that building still to be seen near the home of the Fulkerson sisters. The story is related that at the time General Francis ]\L Cockrell was born one of the old "darky" slaves begged permission from his master and mistress to name the new arrival. The privilege was granted and as the old negro wrote the name of his choice in the family Bible he declared earnestly that the baby boy would some day be president of the United States. Time and history have proven that the African prophet was not far amiss, in his prediction. "Uncle Jube" carried Miss "Lizzie," then a tiny child, on horseback to witness the wedding of General Cockrell.

Horseback riding was the customary mode of traveling, when the Fulkerson sisters were girls, and they have in their girlhood been practically all over this part of the state, on horseback. They remember when the prairie was covered with many different kinds of flowers, which the young people delighted in gathering. They have witnessed the breaking of virgin sod and the burning of the tall prairie grass in order to prevent the ever feared prairie fires and they used to go in a wagon drawn by yokes of oxen to attend church.

The present solid prosperity enjoyed by the residents of Johnson county is attributed almost wholly to the pioneer settlers. In the early days of settlement, when there was little to welcome the stranger and much to discourage the sturdy, self-reliant men and women who came to make new homes in the "western wilderness," there came the Fulkersons and Cockrells to cast their lot in with hardy, intrepid pioneers, whose fearless, independent spirit has caused cities, towns, and villages to rise and fertile- farms to be where once the wild beast and still wilder man roamed in utter ignorance of that which was soon to supplant their forest home. Reuben B. Fulkerson was a typical pioneer, a' man of strong personality and. though deprived of educational advantages in his youth, his keen observation, range of reading, contact with the world, and intimate touch with nature, stored his mind with a fund of valuable knowledge. He did much to aid the growth and development of Johnson county.

Adam Fickas, one of the late honored and brave pioneers of Johnson county, Missouri, was born July 17, 1799 in Virginia. He was the son of Adam, Sr. and Eve F'ickas. both of whom were natives of York county, Pennsylvania. Adam and Eve Eickas were united in marriage in Pennsylvania and from that state mo\'ed to Virginia, thence to Henderson county, Kentucky, their little son, Adam. Jr., accompanying them to Kentucky. On their plantation there, both the father and mother died, the mother in 1814 and the father two years afterward.

In the autumn of 1818, Adam Fickas, Jr. and his sister came from Kentucky to Missouri, riding a pack-horse. They located in Boone countv, where thev remained nearlv six vears. In earlv manhood, he was united in marriage with Susan JNlcDonald, who was born in the state of New York, but reared in Kentucky. Susan (McDonald) Fickas was the daughter of Joseph McDonald, a prominent citizen of Kentucky in the early days. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Adam Fickas moved to Indiana, where they resided for one year, when they returned to Missouri and Adam Fickas entered a large tract of land from the government, upon which tiiey settletl. At the time of their marriage, all the possessions of Adam Fickas would not have been worth more than fifty dollars, consisting of a dog, ax, and gun. But he possessed some things of which no amount of money could measure the value - industry, courage, pluck, and endurance. For three years, all the meat that was consumed by the family, he obtained b\- hunting. Black bear, deer, wild turkeys, prairie chickens were to be found in abundance and Mr. Fickas was a hunter of established reputation. On his hunting expeditions, he often experienced many thrilling adventures. He never tired of relating of one encounter with a wounded bear. Mr. Fickas had wounded the animal, but not seriously, just enougii to enrage the beast, which turned upon one of his dogs and was hugging it to death. With all the cunning and quiet alertness of the man of the forest, Adam Fickas softly crept up behind the bear and with one blow from his knife, the dog's life was saved.

The land, which Mr. Fickas entered from the government, cost him from twelve and a half cents to twenty-five cents an acre for the greater portion of the tract, although a part cost three dollars an acre. The Fickas estate comprised thirteen hundred acres of land, most of whicli was improved, at the time of his death. He and Susan (McDonald) Fickas were the parents of thirteen children: Levi, Jacob, James, Martha, Mrs. Ann Prosser. Mrs. Sarah Sanders, .\dam, Jr., Mrs. Mary Beardsley, and Melinda, and four children died in infancy. The nine children above named were all lixing in 1882. but death has since broken the familv circle, of the meml)ers of which but few now remain. The mother died in 1875. October 31. 1873 .\(lam Fickas was again married, his second wife being Elizabeth Bowman, who was born in Indiana and reared in Johnson county, Missouri. In 1895, his death occurred at the age of ninety-five years. Elizabeth (Bowman) Fickas was a memlier of the Dunkard church. Adam Fickas always remained true tn his 1ielief as a member of the Primitive Baptist church, of which he was a valued and worthy memlier and liberal sup- porter. He built one church in Johnson county at .his own expense, the structure costing him- more than a thousand dollars, which for pioneer times was an enormous outlay. Mr. Fickas was ever held in the highest esteem in this county, for which he did so much.

Charles H. Beall, a late, well-known merchant, painter, and agriculturist of Elm, Missouri, was one of the honoretl and respected pioneers of Johnson county. Mr. Beall was a native of Missouri and a worthy representative of one of the state's first families. He was born in 1858 in Carroll county Missouri, a son of Brutus and Lucy A. Beall, who came to Carroll county before the outbreak of the Civil War. The Bealls came from Indiana to Missouri and they returned to the old home in Indiana before the Civil War and there remained until its close, when in 1874 they again came West and settled on a farm of two hundred acres of land in Johnson county. On this place, the father and mother spent the rest of their lives. There, the children were reared and at Lincoln school, held near the Beall home, they were educated in the common branches. Until he was twenty-three years of age, C. H. Beall, the subject of this review, remained at home with his parents assisting his father with the work on the home place in Johnson county.

In 1883, the marriage of C. H. Beall and Eliza Jones, daughter of Daniel S. Jones, a pioneer of Johnson county of 1858, was solemnized. Mrs. Beall is one of ten children born to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel S. Jones, six of whom are now living: Jonathan D., deceased; Hamilton C, Warrensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Rose, Holden, Missouri; Martha, Kingsville, Missouri; Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Susan, Kingsville, Missouri; Dan T., deceased; Samuel W., Kingsville. Missouri; Mrs. Eliza (Jones) Beall, the widow of the subject of this review and Charles W., deceased. To C. H. and Eliza (Jones) Beall were born four children, three of whom are living: Samuel W., Kingsville, Missouri; Mrs. Effie J. Morris, Salisbury, Missouri; and Bonnie B., the widowed mother's companion in the home at Elm. Missouri. Samuel W. Beall married Bertie Wagoner and they are the parents of one child, a daughter, Beatrice. He is the owner of a farm in Johnson county. Mr. C. H. Beall died .\ugust 30, 1916 and since his death Mrs. Beall has continued to conduct the mercantile business at Elm, Missouri and she has the farm rented. She and Miss Bonnie are comfortably residing at their pleasant home in Elm.

In addition to his farm lalwrs. C. H. Bcall was engaged in painting and conducting a general store at KIni. lie purcliased ninety-eiglit acres of land in Jackson township and all his life was interested in farming and stock raising. He was a clear-hrained, strong-willed, public-spirited citizen, who took great pride in the prosperity and growth of his township and county. Mr. Beall was one of the "boosters" whose spirit and determination secured the splenditl High School building at Elm and he assisted in its erection. He and Mrs. Beall opened their home to the teachers and students of Elm High School and did all in their power to make the school a success. The loss of Mr. Beall has been deeply felt and keenly lamented in Johnson county.

Mrs. Eliza (Jones) Beall obtained her education at Lincoln schoolhouse. Her first instructor was Milo Martin and later instruct.ors, Edward Evers. Dan Jones, Dr. Wallace, antl Dr. Williams. She recalls the pioneer preachers, who often visited at the Jones' home, among whom were Reverends Ziba Brown, Crowe, and Xewton Cobb. Mrs. Beall remembers that, in her girlhood, horseback riding was the principal mode of traveling and she used to go every place horse back. The socalled "literary societies" were the leading social events of her youth and she has had many happy times attending the meetings. Stock ran at large over the vast tracts of land then unfenced and wild game abounded. A brother of Mrs. Beall kept the family larder bountifully provisioned with meat obtained on hunting expeditions.

Everything that has life, all things that are, have stamped upon them an inevitable end. The rock-ribbed mountains of the ages had a beginning and in the course of centuries come to be level plains. The king of the forest, the majestic oak, was once a tiny acorn, then a delicate shoot, anon a tree capable of withstanding the fury of the tempests, but it soon will fall and moulder back to the elements from which it sprang. As with the hills and oaks, so with man. Human life is but a span, a few davs - and then it is no more. Born, lived a while, and died - thus in brief is told the life story of earth's children. C. H. Beall, the subject of this memoir, was once a potent factor in the world of acti\itv. For many years, he was one of Johnson county's busy, enterprising men. He performed his daily duties uncomplainingly and did the right as he saw and understood the right and he made the world better for his presence. Now he sleeps the sleep of a good, just and honest man.

James Simpson, in whose honor Simpson township was named, was a native of Virginia. In 1832, he came to Johnson county, Missouri with his widowed mother, his brothers and sisters, and a numerous company of slaves. They entered a large tract of land, comprising six hundred eighty acres of land, from the government and on this farm the mother and son resided all the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Simpson was a highly valued and worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church and the Simpson home was the favorite stoppingplace for the pioneer preachers. James Simpson always took an interested part in ci\'ic afTairs and his opinion on all matters pertaining to agriculture was greatly respected. He was one of the leaders in the movement for a county fair and in the Ijreeding of high grade stock. Long before the railroad had penetrated the prairie lands of Missouri, Mr. Simpson returned to Kentucky to purchase pure bred stock, both horses and cattle, which he brought to Johnson county. At one time, he served as justice of the peace and was ever afterward known as Squire Simpson. Squire Simpson was a typical country squire, keeping a pack of greyhounds and enjoying a deer chase with the utmost zest in those days when the forests abounded in wild game. Politically, Squire Simpson was a Democrat. He was a firm advocate of temperance and the Good Templars was the only order of which he was a member. He was never married.

In 1861, both mother and son died and the Simpson homestead was sold, part of the farm being purchased by Mrs. Hannah Lynn, who paid six thousand dollars for six hundred acres, and the remainder, eighty acres, was sold to John H. Davis. The following families are of Simpson extraction: Brown, Ramsey, Young, S'hepherd, Collins, Foster, Herndon, Roberts, Roach. Hamley, Cheatham, Offutt, Profit, Mulkey, and Colburn. But there is not one person now living to perpetuate the name of Simpson. William Simpson, the only brother, of James Simpson, was murdered in Kentucky by a thief, who was tr_\"ing to steal his money. James B. Simpson, the only nephew of James Simpson, Sr., was a captain in the Confederate army during the Civil War and when the war closed conducted a hotel in Warrensburg. His death occurred near Columbus a few years afterward.

John E. Stewart, a successful farmer and stockman of Hazel Hill township, was born March 28, 1858 in Hazel Hill township, Johnson county, a son of Benjamin M. and Jane (Barker) Stewart, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Benjamin M. Stewart was born in Logan county, and in the state of Kentucky was reared, educated, and married. He moved to Missouri, a few years after his marriage with Jane Barker, driving a team of tiiorouglil)red iiorses through from Kentucky. This team was one of the best ever brought to Missouri and, before the horses had been acchmated. winter came and they ahnost froze to death. There was no good barn for them and frequently the family's bed clothing was used to blanket them. Mr. Stewart purchased a farm of forty acres, located in Hazel Hill township, a place owned by James M. Devasher, and one mile northeast of Hazel Hill Mr. and Mrs Stewart spent the remainder of their lives. To Benjamin M. and Jane (Barker) Stewart were born four children, who are now living: Mrs. Margaret Ellen Gibson, Simpson township, Johnson county; George H., who is engaged in mining at Leadville, Colorado; John E., the subject of this review; and Mrs. Annie Austin, Fayetteville, Missouri. Both father and mother are now deceased. Mrs. Stewart died in 1901 and burial was made in Liberty cemetery.

In the public schools of Fayetteville. Missouri. John E. Stewart received his education. At the age of twenty years, he began life for himself, engaged in farming on the home place. Mr. Stewart has lived all his life in Hazel Hill township. In 1884, he purchased his present country home, a place comprising ninety-seven acres of land formerly owned by William Walters, and later increased his holdings by purchasing a tract of one hundred twenty acres. The Stewart farm now comprises two hundred seventeen acres of land one mile southwest of Fayetteville. At one time, this place was well timbered, but most of the timber has been removed. Judge Trapp originally owned the Stewart farm, which is practically all upland, well-watered, and nicely improved, and on it Mr. Stewart is raising fine cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. At the present time, he has twenty head of cattle, nearly fifty head of hogs, and one hundred head of Shropshire slieep. Annually, he sells the old sheep and keeps the ewe lambs. Fifty acres of his place are in pasture, thirty-five acres in hay, and the balance in oats and corn. The farm is well equipped for handling stock. The residence was built in 1887. It is an attractive, comfortable structure of two stories and six spacious rooms.

county, Missouri; and John Cleo, Kansas City, Missouri. Three years after marriage, the mother died. In 1898, Mr. Stewart was married to Adelia A. Rice, the daughter of J. E. and Huldah A. Rice, who are now residing in Camden county, Missouri, the former at the advanced age of eighty years. J. E. Rice was born in Morgan county, Missouri and Mrs. Rice is a native of Ohio. They are the parents of eleven children, all of whom are now living, the youngest being past thirty years of age: Mrs. Mamie Malcom, Benton county, Missouri Mrs. Bettie Overton, Benton county, Missouri; Charlie, Cass county. Missouri; David Samuel, Fox Valley, Oregon; Grace Beatrice, Climax Springs, Missouri; Mrs. John E. Stewart, the wife of the subject of this review; William Archibald, Camden county, Missouri; Mrs. Effie Allison Brown, Camden county, Missouri; Tressie Ola, Climax Springs, Missouri; Dr. James Wesley, who is serving with the Red Cross in France ; and Mrs. Julia Wood, Benton county, Missouri. To John E. and Adelia A. Stewart have been born seven children: Harley Overton, Glenn, Eva Jane, John Edward, Jr., Rice Allison, William Wilshure, and Eugene Andrew. Mrs. Stewart's father, J. E. Rice, is a veteran of the Confederate army, with which he served for three and a half years. Both the Stewart and Rice families have long been highly respected and widely known in this state and Mr. and Mrs. John E. Stewart are held in the highest esteem in Hazel Hill township, where Mr. Stewart has resided for nearly sixty years.

Samuel M. Dalhouse, one of Johnson county's most intelligen,t agriculturists and the owner of one of the beautiful country homes of Hazel Hill township, is a member of a well-known and respected pioneer family of Hazel Hill township. He was born in 1861 in Grundy county, Missouri,' a son of Samuel F. and Martha (Swetnam) Dalhouse, who settled in Johnson county in 1867 on a farm of eighty acres of land, in Hazel Hill township, a part of the Collins land. Samuel F. Dalhouse was born in Augusta county, Virginia, March 17, 182S and came to Missouri from Virginia and first located in Grundy county, coming later to this county. Mr. Dalhouse was widely known as a prominent and prosperous stockman and wheat grower in the early days. To Samuel F. and Martha Dalhouse were born six children, who were as follow: Samuel M., of this review; Mrs. Mary Virginia Burchfield, the wife of the popular salesman of autos and musical instruments, of Warrensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Anna E. Kemper, the wife of James A. Kemper, one of the le;uling- attorneys of Independence, Missouri: Charles E., who (Hed in infancy; Thomas J., a farmer and stockman of Lafayette county, who married Minnie Doljbs of Chattanooga, Tennessee: and .Mrs. Sojihia P.lanciie Russell, the wife of Winfrey B. Russell, one of the progressive merchants of Warrensburg. In 1899, Mr. and Mrs. Dalhouse moved from the farm to W'arrensburg and there the father's death occurred in March, 1903. He was at that time owner of nearly one thousand acres of land. At the age of seventy-five years, he was still active and alert. Mr. Dalhouse was a big-hearted, kind, forceful character, a man well esteemed for his thrift, economy, and steadfastness of purpose. The widowed mother, who is a native of Bath county, Kentucky, now makes her home in W'arrensburg, Missouri. She was liorn in 1841 and has just recently passed the seventy-sixth milestone in life. Mrs. Dalhouse is one of Johnson county's noblest and most estimable, elderly women, a lady worthy of the highest honor and respect.