Linn County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 10 of 15)

While taking an earnest interest in public affairs and believing firmly in the principles of the Republican party, Mr. Anderson is not an active partisan, although he gives his party good service in a quiet way. He has served as township trustee for twelve years, and in many other ways has shown his zeal in behalf of the locality of his home. He is one of Linn county's sturdiest, most sterling and most representative citizens, and the people esteem him in accordance with tliis estimate. Mrs. Anderson is a devout and serviceable member of the Methodist Episcopal church, which her husband also attends and aids in supporting.

John H. Sensenich

Having been a resident of Linn county continuously for thirty-four years, and an occu]3ant of the farm in Parsons creek township which he now owns and cultivates with such vigor and success, John H. Sensenich knows all the requirements of the locality in which he lives and is zealous in his efforts to aid in providing for them. He has given the people dwelling in his neighborhood a good example in his enterprising and progressive farming, and has also been of service in stimulating others to active efforts in behalf of public improvements in addition to what he has done himself in this direction, and that has been a great deal and

Mr. Sensenich is a native of the great county of Lancaster, in the great state of Pennsylvania, where he was born on March 1, 1835. His parents. Christian and Katie (Hestand) Sensenich, were also natives of that state and passed tlie whole of their lives there. They belonged to the race known as Pennsylvania Dutch, and had all the excellent traits of that thrifty and frugal people. The mother died in her native state in 1891, aged ninety years, and the father at the same place in 1845. They were the parents of four children, three of them sons, the only ones now living being John H. and his sister, Mrs. "Weaver, who resides on the old family homestead. The father was a school teacher and also a tinsmith and marble cutter, being of a mechanical turn and able to do good work in several crafts.

The grandfather, Avhose name was also John Sensenich, was also a native of Pennsylvania, and passed his life in that state. He was a farmer, and according to the range and conditions of his time a successful and prosperous one. The first representatives of the family in this country came over from Switzerland before the Revolutionary "War, and some of its early American members took part in that great and arduous struggle for liberty and independence. They were imbued with the spirit of "William Tell, and ready at the first call to fight for freedom from a galling foreign yoke.

John H. Sensenich was reared in his native county and educated in its district schools. After ^completing his education he served two years apprentice shi^D to a carpenter and cabinet maker. But this trade was not to his taste and he abandoned it. In 1860 he turned his attention to making binding boards to be used in bookbinding. H^ followed that business fifteen years, and then gave it up. In 1878 he came to this county with the determination to become a farmer, and with that end in view rented land which he farmed for two years. He found the occupation agreeable and has adhered to it ever since with jDrofit to himself and benefit to the country around him.

In 1880 he bought a tract of forty acres of land for which he paid the sum of $14.40 per acre. To this he has added by subsequent purchases until he now owns 181 acres. He has been industrious all the time, thrifty in his management of his work and business in general, studious and progressive in his methods of farming, and up to date in his ideas of improvement, and he has transformed his once uncultivated expanse into a model farm and a very comfortable and attractive country home.

Mr. Sensenicli was married in Pennsylvania in 1859 to Miss Harriet Diller, who was also a Pennsylvania by birth. They have had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy and two, Adam and Ulysses G., further advanced in life. The seven who are living are: Clara, who is the wife of Charles E. Bobbins; David, who is residing in Wheeling, Missouri; Catherine, whose home is now in Pennsylvania; John J.; Elizabeth, who is the wife of M. B. Harter, of Linn county; Susan, who is the wife of Henry Ganger, of Oklahoma, and Charles S. Their mother died on January 22, 1912, respected and loved by all that came within the circle of her acquaintance.

At all periods of his life from youth Mr. Sensenich has been deeply interested in the welfare of his country. Dui'ing the Civil War he was particularly anxious over the fate of the Union and ardently desirous of its preservation. Family ties and other conditions prevented him from enlisting in the army himself, but he sent a substitute, and thus did what he could for the issue he had so mu,ch at heart. He also supported the Union in every other way available to him during the great conflict.

Mr. Sensenich 's farming has always been of a general nature, and has been wisely and skillfully conducted. In political faith and allegiance he is a Republican and firm in his loyalty to his party. Fraternally he is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal church. In church work he is very active, serving as steward, class leader and Sunday school superintendent in the .congregation to which he belongs, and having been also district steward in his territory. He is widely and favorably known throughout the county, and in all parts of it is one of the most highly respected of its citizens.

Edward R. Coates

With his childhood and youth darkened by the terrible shadow of the Civil War, and all opportunities for education in the schools put beyond his reach by that maelstrom of disaster; with the prospects in life to which he was born also swept away by the sectional strife that almost rent our severely tried country asunder, whereby he was compelled to begin life for himself at the very bottom of the ladder instead of well up on its rungs in a worldly way, as he would othei'wise have been able to do; and with the care of his father's household thrust upon him in his young manhood by the father's death, Edward R. Coates has had a large element of tragedy in Ms career. But he is of a resolute and resourceful nature, and has met all the requirements of his situation, whatever it has been, with manly courage, stern endurance and a reliance on himself that has brought him steady advancement.

Mr. Coates was born in Caroline county, Virginia, on December 18, 1855, and is a son of John B. and Elizabeth J. (Rouzie) Coates, also natives of Virginia, the former born in Carolina and the latter in Hanover county. The father's life began in 1829. He was a son of William Coates, also a Virginian by birth and lifelong residence, and died in that state. William's offspring numbered three, two sons and one daughter. The daughter is still living in Virginia, Caroline county, and is the widow of Joseph H. Flippo. Her father was a soldier under Washington from the beginning to the end of the Revolutionary War and took part in most of its important battles in which that great patriot was in command.

John B. Coates grew to manhood in his native state and was an extensive planter and slave owner there. He was educated in private schools and thoroughly indoctrinated in the political theories of his state. Soon after the Civil War began he enlisted in Company E, Thirtieth Virginia Volunteer Infantry, and in that regiment he fought from the beginning to the end of the conflict, taking part in the tirst battle of Manassas and surrendering with Leet at Appomattox.

When the war ended he found all his estate gone and himself obliged to begin life's struggle for advancement all over again. He lingered in his native state until 1877, then brought his family to Missouri and rented a farm in Linn county on Locust creek, and on this farm he died in 1880. He was married in Virginia in October, 1852, to Miss Elizabeth J. Rouzie, a daughter of Dr. Edward A. and Maria L. (Pleasants) Rouzie, also natives of the Old Dominion. The father was a physician and in constant practice until his death, which occurred in Virginia in about 1883.

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Coates were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living: William F., who resides in Virginia; Edward R., the immediate sketch of this review; Mark G. and Arthur K., sketches of whom will be found in this volume; Helen Virginia, who is the wife of E. R. Stevens and has her home in Oklahoma; Judson T. L., who is a resident of North Dakota; and Thomas B., who is in business in St. Louis. Edward R., Mark G. and Arthur K. are residents of Linn county.

it deprived him of all opportunity to attend school in his earlier years. He saw a great deal of the momentous conflict and the scenes he witnessed are burned into his memory, for he was one of its heavy sufferers. In 1877 he came with his parents to this county and remained with them here for a number of years. During the remaining years of his father's life he assisted him on the farm, and after his death the son took charge of the family, being the oldest son at home, and conducted the operations of the farm for the benefit of the household until 1884.

In that year he bought the farm he now owns and cultivates, and since then he has devoted his time and energies mainly to that. It comprises 140 acres of good land and is well improved with commodious and substantial buildings. He has brought it to a high state of productiveness and made it one of the most desirable rural homes in Parsons ,creek township. Throughout Linn county he is well known as a progressive and enterprising citizen, warmly interested in the improvement of this part of the state and at all times willing to do his full part toward promoting its advancement. He belongs to the Democratic party in political relations and is one of its leaders in the county. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias.

On May 16, 1894, Mr. Coates was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Carmichael, a daughter of Delos Carmichael, who came to Missouri in 1868. He was born in the state of New York and reared in Hillsdale county, Michigan. In 1857 he made a trip across the plains to California, and a little later was a school teacher in New Mexico. His life in the mining camps and on the plains was full of adventure and often in critical danger. He had troublesome experiences with the Indians, and did not escape peril even when living and working among men of his own race. He is now living retired at Laclede. Mr. and Mrs. Coates have three children: Edward J., Charles R. and Laura V., all of whom are still living under the parental rooftree and assisting in the labors of the farm and the household.

Cephas Newsom

in the proper form for a heroic and very useful man. He was born in North Carolina in 1835, and was taken by his parents to Kentucky in his childhood. A few years later they brought him to Missouri, where the family found a new home in Carroll county, and where the parents passed the remainder of their days.

Mr. Newsom grew to manhood in Carroll county, this state, remaining there until 1865, when he came to Linn county and bought the farm on which he was killed in 1870. The cause of his death was the fall of a log, which he was hauling over Locust creek, on him, and which crushed out his life at once. He was at the time a young man of thirtyfive, in full vigor of body and mind, earnest in his ambition for success in life and resolute in his determination to work for it. He had already made his mark in the community as a man of intelligence and resourcefulness, and the people regarded him as a very useful and highly promising addition to the ,citizenship of the township and county.

When he came into this locality he bought his land in a wild and wholly unimproved condition, and in the five years or less of his occupancy of it he had broken it up, erected good buildings on it and brought a large part of it under cultivation. All his movements showed him to be a man of enterprise and progressiveness, and his example was influential in making others more contented under the hardships they were all obliged to undergo, and more determined to proceed with their work of improving their land and building up here a new field of fruitfulness for the material advantage of the state and country and enriching it with all the concomitants of civilized life and achievement.

Mr. Newsom was married about the year 1861 to Miss Mary J. Davis, a daughter of James and Nancy (Johnson) Davis, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a tailor and lived in Linneus for many years, ending his days in that city. The mother died in Chariton ,county. Mr. and Mrs. Newsom had six children, three of whom are living: Catherine, who is now the widow of G. F. Nesmith and lives in Garden City, Missouri; Mary E., -who is the wife of Wilson A. Strickler and has her home in this county; and John A., who is a Linn county farmer.

The mother of these children was married twice and Mr. Newsom was her second husband. Her former marriage was with H. Leabell, and by her union with him she had one child, Laura A., who is now the wife of S. A. Myers and resides in the state of Idaho. Mrs. Newsom is still living and has long maintained her residence in Parsons Creek township, where she is held in high respect as a most estimable and

Hon. Bfjnjamin L. White Histoey Of Lixn Couxty 585

Mr. Newsom served in the Missouri state militia during the Civil War. He was a devout and consistent member of the Christian church 'and zealously attentive to all the duties of citizenship. When he came to this county his neighbors were few and it was far between them, but wild game was yet abundant and furnished a ready supply of food, which, without it, would often have been very scarce. His widow is now seventy-five years of age, but very vigorous and active for her years and still full of energy.

Hon. Benjamin L. White

JDescended from sturdy old English stock on his father's side, and from people of the same sterling character in Germany and Ireland on his mother's; with his paternal ancestors domesticated in Virginia from early colonial times, and his branch of the family emigrating from the Old Dominion to Kentucky while the latter was still "the dark and bloody ground;" with them all making excellent records as strong, patriotic, elevated and progressive citizens wherever they lived, and taking their part in all the affairs of their several localities ; and with several generations of them pioneers, conquerors of the wilderness and potential forces in laying the foundations of mighty commonwealths, Hon. Benjamin L. White, a prominent lawyer of this county living at Marceline and now senator from the Sixth senatorial district of the state, has many incentives to public spirit and enterprise in public affairs and upright and estimable manhood in private life in the long and serviceable record of his family. And so truly has he lived up to the examples and inspiration to be found therein, that his forebears may not inaptly be said to be " Sceptered sovereigns who still rule liis spirit from their urns."

Senator White is himself a native of Kentucky, his life having begun in Adair county of that state on December 16, 1868. He is a son of Benjamin and Hannah J. (Winfrey) White, who were also born and reared in Kentucky. The father was a farmer who came to ]\Iissouri prior to the Civil war, but returned to his native state in 1862. In 1870 he started back to this state with an ox team, intending to make his home in Carroll county. But he got no farther on the trip than Montgomery county, Illinois, and there he passed the remainder of his days

They were the parents of eight children, seven sons and one daughter. Three of the sons are still living: Henry C, who resides at Decatur, Illinois; and William B. and Benjamin L., who are residents of Marceline. It should be stated in connection with the father, that he passed two years in the Union army during the Civil war, having enlisted in a Missouri regiment when the conflict v/as about half over. In his military career, as in everything else, he hearkened to the call of duty with a willing heart, and met its every claim to the limit of his power and opportunity.

Senator White grew to manhood on a farm in Montgomery county, Illinois, and was educated in the public schools and an academy in Hillsboro, in that county. He began life for himself as a clerk in a grocery store, and when he was about nineteen years of age tui'ned his attention to the study of law under the direction of J. J. Phillipps in Hillsboro. He was admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Illinois when he was twenty-one, and, following the example of his father and other ancestors, he at once started for the newer country of the farther West, coming to Carrollton, Missouri, and forming a partnership with Virgil Conkling, a lawyer of that city, for the practice of his profession.

Within the same year, 1889, he located at Marceline and entered upon his practice, and here he has lived and labored in his professional wor). ever since. His business has grown to extensive proportions and his reputation has expanded and risen as his practice has increased. T) e first political office he held in Linn county was that of city attorney o! Marceline. In 1908 he was chosen to represent the county in the If.wer house of the legislature, and in 1910 was elected senator from the sixth senatorial district, an office which he is now filling with great benefit to the people of the whole state and decided credit to himself.

In the one session of the senate which he has attended he was chairman of the committees on constitutional amendments and federal relations, and a member of the committee on the judiciary, the committee on labor and other important committees. It is on record that he was regular and prompt in his attendance at the meetings of he senate and the various committees to which he was assigned, that he took an active part in committee work and the proceedings of the senate, and that he was always heard with attention and approval in both. He has a wide and accurate knowledge of public affairs, state and national, is well versed in parliamentary law, has great force and fliiency

In his political faith and alliance Senator White is a Democrat of firm conviction in the principles of his party and entire loyalty to them. He is an energetic worker for the candidates of his party in all campaigns and one of the most effective campaigners it has in this part of the state. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Masonic order, the Order of Elks and the Modern Woodmen of America. His interest in the progress and improvement of, the county has always been warm and manifested in substantial work of value both in its wisdom and its volume. He is one of Linn county's best lawyers, most representative citizens and most esteemed men. On April 6, 1893, he was united in marriage with Miss Carrie E. Wolcott, a native of Scotland county, this state. They have one child living, their daughter Euth W., who is still at home with her parents. Mrs. White shares fully in the general esteem and popularity which her husband enjoys, and in every sense, both are worthy of it all.

Arthur K. Coates

The youngest of the three Coates brothers, who are prominent farmers and influential citizens of Parsons Creek township, this county, and the only representative of a large family who now live in the county, Arthur K. Coates exhibits in his daily life all the traits and characteristics of elevated manhood and progressive citizenship that have distinguished his house for many generations, and have given it high standing and general public approbation wherever it has been known.

Mr. Coates, like his brothers, Edward E. and Mark G., sketches of whom are published in this history, is a native of Caroline county, Virginia, where his life began in March, 1861. He is a son of John B. and Elizabeth J. (Eouzie) Coates, whose life story is briefly recorded in the sketch of his brother Edward. He came with the rest of the family to Missouri in 1877, after the Civil War had wasted all the siibstance of the household and here he attained his manhood and began the battle of life for himself as a farmer, following the occupation of his forefathers since the advent of the family in this country.

He .continued farming in this county until 1888, then went to what was at that time Washington territory, where he remained two years. In 1900 he returned to Missouri, and, after a residence of twelve years in St. Louis, returned to this county, and here he has maintained his home ever since. When he came a second time to this county early in the present year (1912) he bought the farm of 120 acres on which he now lives in Parsons Creek township, not far from the town of Meadville, and on which he is preparing to carry on farming operations with vigor and every effort to win the greatest and most creditable success.

Mr. Coates was married on March 12, 1894, to Miss Eva Sloneker, a native of Missouri. They have one child, their daughter Lorain, who is now seven years old. Mr. Coates does not intend to devote himself alone to farming. He has extensive and accurate knowledge of the sheepbreeding industry, and will give a large part of his attention to that. The strain he has selected for his enterprise in this line is the American Merino, which he believes is particularly adapted to this latitude and climate and the conditions prevailing here.

In politics Mr. Coates is a Democrat, warmly interested in the success of his party and energetic and effective in all campaigns in helping to promote that. He is a man of broad views with reference to public improvements, and always ready and willing to do his full share toward bringing them about, and is everywhere and at all times deeply interested in the general well being of the community in which he lives. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church. The residents of his township hold him in high esteem and throughout the county he is favorably known and sincerely respected as an upright man and a progressive, practical and serviceable citizen.

Mark G. Coates

Actively engaged in farming in this county from the time when he was eighteen years of age, and for many years prominent in the political and social life of the region, filling with credit to himself and benefit to his township a nmnber of local offices, and all the while manifesting a deep and helpful interest in the progress and imi^rovement of his locality, Mark G. Coates, one of the leading farmers of Parsons Creek township, has honestly earned the high esteem in which he is held by the people and won by his demonstrated merit the influence he wields among them.

Mr. Coates was born in Caroline county, Virginia, on June 27, 1859. He is a son of John B. and Elizabeth J. (Rouzie) Coates, an account of whose lives appears in a sketch of his brother, Edward R. Coates, elsewhere in this work. The father died in Linn county on July 16,

1880, and tlie mother is still living here. Their old plantation in Virginia was a part of one of the battlefields of the Civil War, and the father was a soldier in the Confederate army nnder "Stonewall" Jackson, which defended it against the Union troops and helped to write the name of the village of Milford, near which it is located, on tlie thrilling pages of the history of that terrible, sang^^inary and momentous conflict.

Mark G. Coates grew to the age of eighteen in his native county and was educated in its public schools and at its college in Bowling Green, the county seat. He came to Missouri with his parents in 1877, and from then to the present time (1912), excepting two years spent in Kansas, has been engaged in farming in the township in which he now resides. His farm of 120 acres is a model of neatness and skillful cultivation, and is improved with commodious and comfortable buildings and provided with every appliance necessary for its tillage according to the most approved methods of farming.

Mr. Coates has taken a very active interest in the public aifairs of his township for many years. He has served as township clerk and assessor, as a justice of the peace and as a member of the school board. He is a Democrat in political faith and allegiance and prominent and influential in the councils of his party in this coimty. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, and in church relations he and his wife are Methodist Episcopalians.

In all undertakings for the advancement and further development of his township Mr. Coates is a forceful factor, leading in thought and action, and stimulating others to exertion by the force of his example and his personal influence. He is public-spirited always, and all his manifestations in this respect are marked by breadth of view and discriminating intelligence. The people of his township regard him as one of their best and most serviceable citizens and one of their most upright and representative men, and as worthy of their esteem from every point of view.

On May 2, 1894, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Ada E. Watson, a daughter of Thomas L. and Eliza J. (Parks) Watson, a brief account of whose lives appears on another page of this volume. Two children have been born of the union, a son named John T. and a daughter named Jane Marie. All the members of the family stand well in the regard and good will of the people, who have found them all worthy of high esteem in every relation in life, and serviceable in connection with every agency working for the good of the community, morally, intellectually, socially and materially. They are all widely known in the

Louis T. Rowland

During all of the last thirty-two years this enterprising, progressive and successful farmer and live stock breeder has been a resident of Linn county, contributing essentially and substantially to its progress and improvement, helping to swell the volume of its products and its commercial and industrial importance, and representing in a gratifying way the strength and manhood of its citizenship. He has a special fondness for these lines of endeavor, and has made such a careful and discriminating study of all their bearings that he has impressed himself on the public estimation of his township as one of its best and most judicious farmers and stock men.

Mr. Rowland is a native of Delaware county, Ohio, born at the county seat of that county on February 12, 1856. His parents, Thomas J. and Mary (Jones) Rowland, were born and reared in Wales, where their families were domesticated for many generations. The father's life began on August 7, 1817, and ended in Delaware, Delaware county, Ohio, on May 10, 1893. The mother died in the same city on April 10, 1880. The father came to the United States in 1842 with his parents. His father, John Rowland, was a local exhorter for the Congregational church, and died near Delaware, Ohio, in 1850.

Thomas J. Rowland and his wife were the parents of five children who are now living, Louis W. being the only one who is a resident of Missouri. His brother, William R. Rowland, served in the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company E, during the Civil War, and upheld the cause of the Union on some of the bloodiest and most disastrous battlefields of that terrible deluge of death and devastation. He did his duty with full fidelity, but went through the conflict iminjured.

Louis T. Rowland was reared in his native county and educated in its public schools. After leaving school he worked as a clerk and salesman in a store there for some years. But mercantile life, especially in a subordinate capacity, did not satisfy his desires, and he longed to be at the head of some business of his own, and farming was the line he preferred. Accordingly, in 1880 he came to this county and bought the farm of 185 acres in Jefferson township which he now owns, occupies and cultivates.

in the most approved and up-to-date manner. He carries on a vigorous general farming industry, and in addition is one of the leading breeders of Poland China hogs in this part of the state. In all his operations in both branches of his enterprise he is careful over every detail, and his output is always first class and has everywhere a high rank in the markets.

Mr. Rowland was married on January 21, 1879, to Miss Eliza J. Glover, a daughter of Arthur and Mary A. (Warren) Glover, natives of Ohio, both now deceased. Four of the children born of the union are living : Mary D., who is now the wife of T. J. Threlkeld and resides in Alliance, Nebraska; Darly R., who is farming in this county; Esther L., who is living at home with her parents, and Roy, who is also still a member of the parental family circle. The father belongs to the Republican party in political relations, but he is not an active partisan. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church. Throughout the county he is well and favorably known as an enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizen, and everywhere he is high respected as such.

Ludwig C. Brendahl

For more than forty years an enterprising and progressive farmer in Jefferson township, this county, and, prior to entering upon his present industry, for two years employed in laying track for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, Ludwig C. Brendahl has shown his interest in the progi'ess and further development of this part of Missouri in two lines of constructive work, and rendered good service to the region in both. The industry and thrift, which are characteristic of the race from which he sprang, and which he has exhibited in a very commendable degree, have made his work effective, and his breadth of vision and enterprise have given what he has done for himself, high rank in quality and an extensive range in volume and value.

Mr. Brendahl is a native of Prussia, in the German empire, where his life began on March 8, 1838. His parents, John and Mary (Peters) Brendahl, were of the same nativity as himself, and the father passed the whole of his life, except a portion spent in military service, in the locality of his birth, where he died on October 8, 1870. He was a carpenter and wrought faithfully at his trade in times of peace. But when war prevailed and his country was engaged in it, he was at the front in defense of what it was contending for. He took part in the war of the allied countries of Europe against Napoleon, and was present at

Waterloo when the star of that illustrious conqueror went down into everlasting gloom. In one of the battles in which he Avas engaged he was shot through the foot. The mother came to the United States after his death and died in Clinton county, Iowa, in about 1874. They were the parents of six sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and three of the sons are living, and all residents of this country but one of the sons.

Ludwig C. Brendahl grew to manhood in his native land, and at the age of twenty years entered the German army for the three years ' service required of all young men by the law of that country. Soon after his term of military service expired in 1861 he was drafted for another short period of army duty in 1862 and again in 1866. In 1867 he came to the United States and for a few months dwelt in the state of Michigan. From there he came to Missouri and Linn county in 1868, and for two years worked on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad repairing track, as has been stated.

In 1872 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and which he has improved with good buildings and all the other appliances required for its advanced and profitable cultivation. The farm comprises 240 acres and is all under tillage according to the most approved methods of farming at this time, and its operations are managed with such excellent judgment and conducted with such vigor and intelligence that every acre yields good returns for the labor and care bestowed upon it.

Mr. Brendahl is also one of the most extensive breeders of Poland- China hogs in this part of the West. This branch of his industry is also well managed, and yields considerable and steady profit to its promoter, who, although he is one of the oldest farmers in the county in continuous connection with the industry here, is also one of the most enterprising and successfiil, in both the volume and the value of his work and the fruits of it all in every department.

On June 24, 1870, Mr. Brendahl was married in this county to Mrs. Varonacaw (Billiger) Bakeman. They have had three children, two of whom are living. The daughter Bertha, who was Mrs. Christian Johnson, died in 1898, leaving two daughters, Helga M. and Christina. Their sons Adolph and Emil, who now have the active management of the farm and the live stock industry. Their mother died on March 1, 1904, but they have remained with their father with filial devotion, determined to make his declining years as comfortable and free from care as possible by relieving him of all the burdens incident to the business in which the family is engaged. He is a devout member of the German Lutheran church, a most worthy and estimable citizen, a square and upriglit man, faithful to every duty and earnestly desirous of the substantial and enduring welfare of the region in which he has passed so long a period of his life, and is well known and highly esteemed in all parts of the county of his residence and those which adjoin it.

J. L. Wood

This busy, enterprising, progressive and very successful farmer and miller of Jefferson township, Linn county, Missouri, is in himself and in his possessions and operations one of the most interesting gentlemen in the county. He is the owner of 1,600 acres of land, 400 acres of which are covered by fine timber. He farms the land extensively, the cleared portion, and manufactures lumber from the timber on a large scale. Thus in two ways, by his agricultural productions and by the output of his mills, he contributes a great deal to augment the industrial and commercial wealth and importance of Linn county and northeastern Missouri.

His land is interesting too, highly interesting, aside from its extent and its fruitfulness. Many Indian and prehistoric relics of great value to the archeologist have been found on it, and geologists in the employ of the government of the United States have visited it to make scientific investigations. They have found it a fruitful field, and have reveled in the richness of its records and suggestions. The results of their examinations have been published in the government reports.

Mr. Wood is a native of Illinois and was reared in Chicago. He was educated in that city also, and remained there until 1886, when he came to Linn county and began farming on an extensive scale. The products of his broad acres devoted to agriculture yield abundantly, and supply material for his large and busy flour mill, which was built in 1878 and conducted successfully from the start. Since coming into his possession it has frequently been operated day and night for weeks at a time to its full capacity, and then has not always been able to meet the requirements.

In addition to this mill Mr. Wood owns and runs two large saw mills of considerable capacity, and these are kept busy with material supplied by his own timber lands. It would seem that these various enterprises, especially since they are very extensive ones, would fully satisfy his desire for work and business cares. But Mr. Wood is a very enterprising man and has an unusually active and resourceful mind.

Tear by year he has been pushing his farming to greater and greater proportions, and he is now promoting a project to drain the Locust creek bottoms, the work on which he hopes soon to begin. This is an undertaking of considerable magnitude and expense, but no task seems too hard or to involve too many difficulties for this resourceful man. And he carries on his large operations with an ease that is surprising to all observers, and marvelous to many who have little or none of his ability. It is so in almost all occupations. What the master mind can do without apparent effort or anxious care, ordinary mental capacity is staggered by the sight of and awed by its successful achievement.

The natural wealth which he is developing and transforming into useful commodities for the benefit of mankind has lain for ages untouched. And even since the region in which it is located has been peopled by men and women of energy and enterprise, it has remained almost wholly dormant. It awaited the advent of the commanding might of mind, which came in the person of Mr. Wood, and it is yielding up its treasure to him with a readiness and bounty that prove his caliber and generalship. He is doing a great deal toward the development of his part of the county and the people of his township regard him as one of their most useful men.

John G. Clinefelter

Brought to linn county at an early day in its history and when he was but two years old himself, and having passed all his subsequent life within its borders; beginning early to earn his own living and progressing from ix>verty to comfort and then consequence as the county advanced in development, population, productiveness and imxx)rtance, John G. Clinefelter. one of the prominent farmers and live stock men of Jefferson township, has epitomized in his own history, to some extent, that of T.iTiTi county itself, and is truly a representative man among its people.

Mr. Clinefelter was bom near Postville. Allamakee coimty, Iowa. on September 5. 1S63. and is a son of Peter and Mary (Jones) Clinefelter. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and passed the whole of his life from boyhood on a farm and engaged in or connected with the farming industry. When the great, unpeopled West allured him.

in his young manhood from his eastern home br its promise of rich and fruitful opportunities, he located first in Minnesota, but soon afterward moved to Allamakee county, Iowa.

From Iowa he moved his family to Missouri and Lum county in 1865, and on his arrival in this county he bought an unimproved and unbroken tract of prairie land east of Forker, which by industry and good management he transformed into a fine farm and improved with good, comfortable buildings. On this farm he lived and labored until his death in 1873. The mother died two years before, that is, in 1871. They had three sons and two daughters, but of the five John G. is the only one now living in this county. The family is of German origin, and all its members have shown in their daily lives the patient and persistent industry, and the other admirable traits of the great race from which they sprang.

John G. Clinefelter grew from infancy to manhood in Linn and Chariton counties, and began roughing it in the world's great battlefields at a very early age. The circumstances of the family were such that he was obliged to begin earning his own livelihood when he was but ten years old, and this necessity deprived him of almost all opportunity to attend school or acquire any instruction from books or teachers. But he had the great force of Nature for an instructor, and from her he learned self-reliance and resourcefulness, acquired knowledge of his own powers and learned how to use them with readiness for emergencies and a scorn of obstacles to his progress. Added to these the hard but thorough lessons of experience were valuable to him, and so he in time became a well informed man in a general way and one that was most practical, and able to turn his hand to almost any employment he found available to him.

He began his career by working for meager wages on farms for others, then rented land and for some years farmed as a tenant. In 1893 he bought the farm he now owns and cultivates, which he has improved with good buildings and other structures needed for its proper management, and made one of the most productive in the township in which it is located. His farming operations have been extensive and tave been of a general and comprehensive character. But they have aot occupied all his time and energy or fully satisfied his desires. A cumber of years ago he began breeding Jersey cattle and pedigreed Duroc-Jersey hogs, being the pioneer in this county in breeding that strain of hogs. He has also, for some length of time, conducted an annual sale of hogs and cattle for breeding purposes. He has been very successful in his live stock industry, as he has been in his farming, and is now .considered one of the substantial and prosperous farmers of the county.

Mr. Clinefelter was married on December 25, 1888, to Miss Effie A. Anderson, a sister of George W. Anderson, an enterprising and prosperous farmer of Jefferson township, a sketch of whom is published in this volume. Of the children born of this union three are living: Erma, who is now the wife of Galen Lewis, of this county; and Fred F. and Harold A., who are still living at home with their parents, and assisting in the management of the work on the farm in all its departments.

In political faith and allegiance Mr. Clinefelter is a Eepublican, but, while he is true and loyal to his party, he takes no active part in political controversies and has never sought or desired a political oflSce of any kind. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Brotherhood, and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. He is favorably known and cordially esteemed in all parts of the coimty as an excellent farmer, a citizen who is warmly interested in every means of promoting the general welfare of the locality in which he lives, and a man of strict integrity, high character and commanding enterprise.

Zachariah R. Kling

Having come to Linn county about nineteen years ago with no capital but his ready hand, his clear head and his indomitable spirit and pluck, and having won from the soil a competency which makes him comfortable for life, Zachariah R. Kling, of Jefferson township, whose fine farm of 240 acres is located two and one-half miles south of Laclede, has shown in his successful career the power of persistent industry, good management and unconquerable will in this land of boimdless wealth and almost boundless opportunity in advancing their possessor along life's highway to prosperity and consequence among men.

Mr. Kling is a native of Adams county, Illinois, where his life began on December 25, 1868, and the son of Martin and Anna (Brenner) Kling, who were born in Germany. The father was reared to the age of seventeen in his native land and obtained his education there. He came to the United States about the year 1848, and enaged in farming near Quincy, Illinois, where he is still living. The mother, whom he married in Adams county in the neighborhood of his farm, died there in December, 1909. They were the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, six of whom are living, Zachariah being the only one resident in Linn county. Both parents were reared in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal church.

The paternal grandfather, whose name was also Zachariah, came with his family to this country when his son Martin came over, and passed the rest of his life in Adams county, Illinois, where he died after long years of usefulness as a farmer there and in his native land. He was an early settler in Illinois and prominent in the local affairs of his new home, and was valued for his services during his period of activity and revered as a pioneer and patriarch in his declining years.

Zachariah R. Kling grew to manhood in his native county and farmed there until 1893, when he came to Missouri and located in Linn county on the farm which he now owns, and which he has made one of the best in the county. He bought it on his arrival, largely on time payments, and has cultivated it with skill and excellent judgment, and with very good results. He soon cleared it of debt, and as he is a wise and progressive farmer and his land is as good as any in the county, the fruits of his labor increased rapidly, and in a few years placed him above the reach of want, and, as far as such an estate could, beyond that of adversity.

Mr. Kling was married in 1892 to Miss Edith E. Woollen, a native of Adams county, Illinois, also, and the daughter of James A. and Susanna (Borgholthous) Woollen, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of the state of New York. They were married in 1845, and both are now deceased, the father having passed away in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Kling have four children, all sons: Ralph, Elmer L., Calvin E. and Byron E.

From the time of his arrival in this county Mr. Kling has taken an active and helpful interest in its public affairs. He is a Republican in politics and has firm faith in the principles of his party. OflScially he has served as school director for a number of years. He has always been zealous in behalf of public improvements and earnest in the support of all worthy projects for their accomplishment, giving the advancement of the coimty along lines of wholesome development the same energetic attention he has bestowed on his own, and seeking to promote the general welfare of the people in every way he could. He and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and both are highly esteemed.

George Lloyd

The subject of this brief review is one of the best known and most successful fanners and stock men in Jefferson township, where he has lived since 1881, on a tract of 235 acres of land, which was in its primitive state of wildness when he bought it, and is now, by reason of his industry, skill and progressiveness as a farmer one of the most valuable and desirable rural homes in the township, which is a region of well improved and well cultivated farms. During the whole period of his residence on this land Mr. Lloyd has made every day tell to his advantage and its improvement, and it is now a pleasing monument to his enterprise, good judgment and excellent management.

Mr. Lloyd was born in Hocking county, Ohio, on December 19, 1847. His parents were David and Elizabeth (Thomas) Lloyd, the former a native of Wales and the latter of Ohio. The father was brought to the United States by his parents when he was but seven years old, the family locating first in Pennsylvania and later moving to Ohio at a time when that state's rich soil and undeveloped opportunities challenged the attention of the world and attracted hosts of emigrants from the older states of the Union and many foreign countries, all of whom found the promise it gave verified.

In 1858 he moved his family to Adams county, Illinois, and there he died in 1877. He was a farmer and miller, and a skillful workman in both occupations. The mother passed away in Oklahoma in 1910. They had four sons and one daughter, four still living, but George being the only one residing in Linn county. The grandfather, Anthony Lloyd, was a music teacher in Pennsylvania, and ended his days there. He found that state satisfactory on his arrival in this country from Wales and never left it. With its teeming and prosperous population it was a good field for his art, and he sought nothing better.

George Lloyd moved with his parents to Adams county, Illinois, when he was eleven years old, and there he attained his manhood and received his education, all but the most elementary part of it. After leaving school he worked for a while on his father's farm and then started in the same occupation on a farm imder his own management. He remained in Illinois until 1881, then moved to Linn county and bought the land he now owns and cultivates. Prior to the last five years he confined his operations to general farming, but during that period he has also been actively and profitably engaged in raising mules and Belgian horses for the markets. His judgment of live stock is good and every stage of his operations in breeding it is marked by intelligence and the utmost attention to details in order that he may secure the best results, and his products have high rank wherever they are known.

Mr. Lloyd was married in 1869 to Miss Caroline Daggett, a native of Illinois, where he was then living. Nine children have been born of their union, and seven of them ai'e living: Wyatt, Landa, Thomas, Kufus, Charles, Rose and Asa. Mr. Lloyd has always been warmly interested in the progress and further development of his township and county, and their improvement to the highest attainable degree, and has been active in promoting their advancement. His efforts in this line are governed by intelligence and directed by good judgment, and are valued by the people around him because of their effectiveness. He is regarded as a man of high integrity, admirable public spirit and strong progressiveness - in short as one of the best citizens of the township.

Charles P. Beckwith

Well known throughout Linn county as an enterprising, progressive and successful farmer of Parsons Creek township, and also as a citizen deeply, intelligently and practically interested in the advancement and improvement of the region in which he lives, Charles P. Beckwith is held in high regard by all classes and ranks of Linn county people. He has lived on the farm he now occupies, owns and cultivates for twenty-one years, and in the state of Missouri for forty-one. He has therefore long been a contributor to the wealth and importance of the state, and especially to the betterment of Linn county, for to this county he has given the best and most productive years of his life to the present time (1912).

Mr. Beckwith is a native of Dunkirk, Chautauqua coimty. New York, where he was born on December 1, 1842. His parents were Russell and Rosetta (Douglass) Beckwith, the former born in Chenango county. New York, and the latter of the same nativity as their son Charles. The father's life began in 1813, and he lived in his native state until 1871, industriously and profitably engaged in farming and working at his trade as a carpenter. In the year last named he moved his family to Missouri and located in Livingston county south of Wheeling, where he died on his farm in 1888, and where the mother passed away in 1895.

father was a Republican in political faith, and took an active part in the affairs of his party. He served as a justice of the peace for many years. The grandfather, Elisha Beckwith, was also a native of the state of New York and a carpenter. In middle life he moved to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he died well advanced in years and after making a long record of highly commendable usefulness and fidelity to every duty.

Charles P. Beckwith grew to the age of eighteen on his father's farm in his native state and obtained his education in the district schools in the neighborhood. In October, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth New York Cavalry, and was soon at the front and in the midst of hostilities. His regiment was in time assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and was a part of the force commanded by General Sheridan in his Shenandoah Valley campaign in Virginia, which was made famous by his brilliant victories over the Confederates and his sensational ride to the battle of Winchester.

Mr. Beckwith took part in the battle of Gettysburg, during which he carried dispatches for General Slocum. He also participated in the terrible contests at Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, the Wilderness and Brandy Station. At an earlier period in the war he was with McClellan at Fort McGregor, White House Landing and in the campaigns around Richmond, and in the latter part of the war he was a part of the mighty army that won the battles of Petersburg, Winchester and Cedar Creek. He was in many minor engagements, too, Ms regiment being on duty in the thick of the conflict nearly all the time of its service.

In 1864 he was mustered out of the army and returned to his former home in New Y'ork, where he remained until 1871, when he accompanied his parents and the rest of the family to Livingston county, in this state. In 1891 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and to this he has given his attention ever since. It was timber of the growth of ages when he bought it, but he has cleared and improved it with great industry and good taste, and it is now one of the desirable country residences in the township and as well cultivated and productive as any other.

On April 28, 1866, Mr. Beckwith was married to Miss Elizabeth Dalrymple, a native of Chautauqua county, New York. They have five children, Eva M., Addison E., Nellie M., William G. and Cora B. Nellie is now the wife of Norris Humphries and lives in Meadville. Both parents are living. The father is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he keeps alive the memories of the war without any of the bitterness of feeling that marked its progress. He is widely and favorably known in Linn county and those which adjoin it, and everywhere the esteem bestowed upon him as a farmer and a citizen is cordial, generous and richly deserved.

R. Spencer Kathan

It is an old adage, and as true as it is old, that "the Law is a jealous mistress," the implication being that she will brook no worship from her votaries for any goddess but herself. The pleasing subject of this brief memoir seems to have been duly impressed with this fact from the very beginning of his devotions at the shrine of Themis, for since he began the study of law he has been steadily diligent in the prosecution of it, both before and since his admission to the bar, and his industry has been rewarded by the acquisition of a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of the groundwork of his profession, and, in a more material way, by a large and steadily increasing practice.

Mr. Kathan is a native of the Province of Quebec, Canada, where his life began on October 6, 1866. His parents, Rufus and Lucy M. (Gilman) Kathan, were also born in Quebec, and were reared and married there. The father was a farmer and hotel keeper in his native land. He came to the United States and Linn county, Missouri, in 1865, on a kind of prospecting tour, but returned to Quebec before the end of the same year. In 1874 he came again to this county, but again for only a short stay, returning to his native city a few months later. But in 1876 he came to remain and brought his family with him. He bought a farm adjoining Bucklin on the South, and this farm he improved and lived on until he retired from active pursuits a few years ago. At that time he took up his residence in Bucklin, where he and his wife are now living.

They are the parents of two sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. The ancestors of these children on both sides of the house were Scotch-Irish peoijle, and all the American members of the family have shown the strong and fruitful traits of character which come from a judicious mixture of the Scotcli and Irish blood. The Kathans, however, have lived in Quebec for at least four generations, Earl Kathan, grandfather of E. Spencer, having been a native of that city. He operated a farm in the vicinity, and died at a good old age in Quebec.

E. Spencer Kathan was a boy of ten when his parents brought him to Linn county, Missouri, to remain. He completed in the schools of this county the academic education he had begun in those of his native place, and then passed four years in the Normal department of the State University, in special courses of training for the vocation of a teacher. After leaving the University he taught school seven years, four of them at Bucklin and two at Laclede. In 1894, the last year of his teaching, he started to study law and in 1896 he was admitted to the bar.

Mr. Kathan began practicing his profession in Bucklin the same year, and here he has remained ever since, growing in practice and professional reputation, and rising steadily in the confidence, regard and good will of the people all over the county. He served as prosecuting attorney for Linn county from 1905 to 1907, having been elected as the candidate of the Bepublican party, to which he has belonged from the dawn of his manhood, and rendered loyal service ever since. He has been a member of its county central committee for Linn county for a number of years, and always a potential force in its campaigns.

His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he takes an active part. He was married on May 7, 1893, to Miss Ruby M. Herriman, a native of this county. They have four children, their daughters Lois, Beryl, Marjorie and Claudine. The father has had a predilection for fraternal life from his youth, and as soon as he was old enough gratified his desire in part. He is now a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Order of Odd Fellows, the Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World, and in his lodge in each of these orders he is an active worker and his membership is highly valued by the rest of the members, for his zeal is tempered with prudence and intelligence and good judgment govern all his efforts.

In the public affairs of the county he has always taken a helpful part, whether the enterprise he supported was directed to the material improvement of his township and county, or involved the moral, mental and social improvement of their people. No duty of citizenship has been neglected by him, and all have been performed with intelligence and a high sense of personal responsibility. In all parts of Linn county he is regarded as an able, resourceful and skillful lawyer and an upright, conscientious and altogether estimable man, and he is universally esteemed on this basis.

James Phillips

Coming to Linn county as a young man twenty-four years of age and on his arrival here buying a tract of wild, unbroken land as the basis of his hopes of advancement in this region; devoting himself with assiduous industry and fruitful intelligence to the development and cultivation of his untamed purchase until he converted it into a model farm enriched with good buildings, fences and other improvements necessary for its proper occupancy and cultivation, and equipped with modern appliances for the work that has to be done on it; and while doing all this devoting himself with a good citizen's zeal and enterprise to the progress of his township and county and the enduring welfare of their residents, James Phillips, one of the leading farmers and live stock breeders of Parsons Creek township, has made a record here of which any man might justly be proud, and which the people of his locality on all sides highly commend.

Mr. Phillips is a native of the province of Ontario, Canada, where his life began on September 12, 1845. His parents, John and Polly (Sharrard) Phillips, were also born in the Dominion, the former in the province of Nova Scotia and the latter in the province of New Brunswick. The father was a school teacher and farmer. He located in Ontario in his young manhood and passed the rest of his life in that province, dying there in 1901 at the age of eighty-four years. The mother died in 1862. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. Their son James is the only one of their offspring who resides in Missouri, and he represents the family creditably among the people of this state.

Some time after the death of his first wife the father married Bgain, uniting himself in the second marriage with Miss Mary Perkins, a native of England. They had three daughters and tAvo sons, and all but one of these are living and reside in Canada. Their mother died in 1902. The grandfather, William Phillips, was born and reared in Scotland. He was impressed into the navy when a young man, and when he obtained his release he lo.cated in New BrunsAvick. There he was married, and a short time afterAvard moved to western Canada, where he died well up in years.

James Phillips grew to manhood in his native province and obtained his education in its district schools. He folloAved farming there until 1869, when he came to Linn county and bought the farm on which he noAv lives. This, as has been indicated, was in its state of primeval wildness, rich in promise but stubborn at first in yielding up its treasures. Mr. Phillips broke up the land and began cultivating it. His progress A\'as slow for a time, but the genius of command was in him, and the soil that had yielded nothing but the unpruned growths of the wilderness for ages became responsive under his persuasive and systematic tillage, and greAv rapidly into comeliness, fraitfulness and

In 1872 Mr. Phillips was joined in wedlock with Miss Jane Anderson, who is, like himself, a native of Canada. They have had three children, two of whom are living: Susan, who is the wife of E. 0. Glore and resides in Livingston county, this state; and Emma, who married J. W. Gillispie, and now dwells with him in the state of Nebraska. John, the only son born in the family, has been dead a number of years.

In addition to his farming operations Mr. Phillips has been engaged for a number of years in breeding Shorthorn cattle, of which he has a registered herd of twenty-four head. He also breeds Chester White hogs on an extensive scale and with great success. All his work in both his farming and his live stock industry is conducted with the utmost care, and the results in each are the full measure of attaiument possible to intelligence, industry and skill in the circumstances of the case.

In the public affairs of Linn county Mr. Phillips has long shown the most cordial and helpful interest and been a force of influence and fruitfulness. He has served as president of the township board four years, as a justice of the peace two years, and as clerk of the school district thirty-five years, and in each of these offices he has made a record highly creditable to himself and beneficial to the township. In fraternal relations he is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and in political affairs trains with the Democrat party. To all the duties of citizenship he is true and faithful, and the residents of his township regard him as one of their most sterling and representative men.

Sheldon J. Merchant

Born in the state of New York and reared from boyhood to manhood in Pennsylvania, Sheldon J. Merchant, now one of the prominent and progressive farmers of Jefferson township in this county, passed all the early years of his life amid the great activities and throbbing industries of two of the most potential states of the American L^nion. He has passed nearly all of the last two-thirds of his years in Missouri, another great state which needs only time to put it abreast of the two in the East already mentioned, and its present pace of progress will soon do that.

November 2, 1843. His parents, Chauncey H. and Helen D. (Vansyle) Merchant, Avere also natives of New York state, and the father, who was a farmer, died in that state in 1886, after having passed the whole of his life within its borders. The mother survived him nineteen years, passing away in 1905. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters, but all are deceased except three of the sons, of whom Sheldon is the only one living in this state.

One of the sons lives in Marion, Indiana, and the other is still a resident of the state of New York. These two served in the Union army during the Civil War, one of them in the Tenth Pennsylvania and the other in the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery. Their brother Sheldon was also a Union soldier in that memorable conflict and still bears the marks of his service. He obtained his education in the district schools of Pennsylvania and was engaged in that state until 1861.

The effort of the South to secede from the Union fired him with patriotic fervor and he determined to aid in preserving the integrity of the republic at whatever cost to himself, and in the year last mentioned enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, for a term of three years. At the end of his term he was discharged, but in 1864 he enlisted again, this time in the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, where one of his brothers was, and in November of the same year was discharged on account of disability incurred in the service.

During his life in the army Mr. Merchant took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and several others of less importance. At Cold Harbor he was shot through the leg, and this wound developed into a condition that rendered him unfit for further military duty. Before receiving it, however, he saw considerable service in the Shenandoah Valley. After his discharge from the army he returned to his old Pennsylvania home, where he remained until 1867.

In that year he came to Missouri and located first in Chariton county, removing soon afterward to Carroll county, and from there to Brookfield, where he was in the grocery trade seventeen years. At tlie end of that period he took up his residence on the farm he now owns, occupies and cultivates, and on which he has had his home ever since. He has foimd farming agreeable as a steady occupation, and by his energy, industry and good management has made it profitable.

On May 5, 1869, Mr. Merchant was married to Miss Elizabeth Eiggs, a daughter of Martin and Mary J. (Eager) Riggs, who became residents of Linn county in 1865, and both died here. Mr. and Mrs.

Merchant have had seven children, three of whom are living: Mary H., who is the wife of W. A. Thompson, of this county; Martin E., who is a prosperous Linn county farmer, and Herbert, who is also farming with profit in this county.

The father is a Republican in political faith and party membership, and firm in his allegiance to his political organization. He has served as township assessor, and has long been one of the reliable workers for the principles and candidates of his party in his township. Fraternally he belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, being a charter member of Brookfield Post in that organization. The mother is a member of the United Brethren church, and he also attends its services. In all departments of the public and industrial liffe of his township and county he is active in behalf of improvement and progress, and in support of all the agencies at work in them for the moral, mental, material and social advancement of their residents he is earnest, liberal and very helpful. The people of Linn county know his worth and esteem him in accordance with it, which gives him a high place in their regard.

William Sharp

Representing the second generation of his family that has taken the wild land of Linn county in hand and brought it to systematic productiveness, and a residence of the household of sixty-one years in this region, a period which spans all the time intervening between the dawn of civilization nere and the present high state of development and improvement the county has attained, William Sharp, of Jeflferson township, is an interesting personage in the chronicles of Linn county, and both because of that and of his own high character and elevated citizenship, is worthy of special consideration in a work of the kind the promoters and publishers of this history are preparing for the purpose of perpetuating the record of the men who have made the county what it is and the course of events through which their triumphant march of progress has been made.

Mr. Sharp has a particular claim to attention from the fact that he was one of the boys born h^re in the early days and has lived in the county ever since. His life began in Locust Creek township on December 8, 1852, on a farm then occupied as tenants by his parents, John P. and Caroline (Hansford) Sharp, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Virginia. They are still living in this county, and are among its most revered pioneers and esteemed citizens.

The father is a farmer and brought his family from his old home in Tennessee to this county by ox teams in 1851. The journey was long and tiresome, especially for him, as he was obliged to walk most of the way, and it was full of hazard too, for along the greater part of it the friendliness of the Indians could not be relied on and the wild beasts of the forest and plain were deadly in their hostility. Against these dangers he was unarmed except with his flintlock rifle and his expertness in the use of it.

After his arrival in Linn county he rented land of Judge Moore for a number of years, then in 1859, or about that year, bought the farm on which he now lives in Brookfield township. This comprises 160 acres, and its present state of development and improvement is the result of the persistent and well applied industry of himself and his sons. For it was a wild, unbroken tract of prairie when he bought it, on which civilization had as yet made no mark and domestic comfort was still buried in the soil.

He and his family cleared the land of its wild growth, broke it up for cultivation and started it on its way to its present high value and fruitful fertility. The first dwelling erected on it for the abode of the family was a log cabin, and wild game was the main dependence for animal food for its inmates. This was abundant, however, and easy to get, and the land soon began to yield supplies for the other needs of its cultivators. The parents are still living on that farm, and they now dwell in comfort where they first camped in hope, having wrested the bounties of Nature from her great storehouse by their own determined efforts.

Ten children were born in their household, six sons and four daughters, and seven of them are living. One son is a resident of Michigan; one has his home in Montana, and still another dwells in Louisiana. William and two of his sisters live in Linn county. During the Civil War the family was troubled and the farm was wasted by the depredations of the predatory soldiery on both sides of the great sectional conflict, and suffered severely from the levies made upon them. The parents are zealous members of the Baptist church and helped to plant the sect firmly in this locality, helping to build the first houses for its use and strengthen its early congregations here. They also aided in putting up the first schoolhouse and maintaining the early country schools. Mr. Sharp's grandfather passed the whole of his life in Tennessee, where he died at the age of one hundred and four years, a veritable patriarch in his community and revered by all its people as such.

William Sharp grew to manhood on the old family homestead, which he helped to clear and break up, and secured his education in subscription schools maintained in the neighborhood. He worked with and for his father until he reached the age of twenty-two, then rented land and farmed it on his own account for twelve years. At the end of that period he bought the farm on which he now lives, which, like his father's, was all wild land and wholly unimproved when he took possession of it. He has devoted all his subsequent years to its development and improvement, and has made of it a good and valuable farm and a comfortable and attractive country home.

On March 18, 1877, Mr. Sharp was joined in wedlock with Miss Alice Duckworth, a daughter of Nelson and Sarah Duckworth, who came to this county in 1865 from their native state of Maryland, and died here a number of years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp have had three children, but death has robbed them of all. In political relations Mr. Sharp is a Democrat, but he has never held or desired a political office, and has never taken a very active part in political contests. He has not, however, been indifferent to the progress and improvement of his township and county, but has been energetic and serviceable in helping to advance their interests in every way open to him. The people around him have always found him ready to aid in every worthy enterprise, and they have a high regard for him because of his genuine manhood and public spirit.

James F. Belshe

Although he has been dead nearly twelve years, and in that period the residents of Linn county have made rapid progress and advanced on a swelling tide of prosperity and improvement, and have therefore been busy about a multitude of interests, the name and record of James F. Belshe are still fresh in the memory of Linn county people, and his example is yet potential among them for good. He was one of the leading farmers in the county in his lifetime, and dignified and adorned his calling by the intelligence, enterprise and vigor with which he followed it through life. And he was also a wide-awake and public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in the welfare of his community and zealous in helping to promote it.

early period in its history. He was a son of William and Nancy (Botts) Belslie, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee. The father came overland by team to this state and located in Howard county about 1825. The family resided in that county until 1839, when its residence was changed to Linn county, and here the father took up a large tract of land in Parsons Creek township. He added to his domain by subsequent acquisitions until he owned about 1,200 acres. The land was easy of attainment then, for he was one of the first if not the very first white man to settle in the neighborhood in which he lived.

When the parents came to this state they brought a number of slaves with them, and so were able to break up, clear and improve the land with more ease and rapidity than other householders who had no one but themselves to do the work. The father took an active part in the public affairs of the county and because of his superior intelligence and enterprise became a leading man in its early history. He was also very zealous in the work of the Baptist church, putting up the first house of worship for the sect in this locality, his activity in church matters making him even better and more widely known than he otherwise would have been.

In political faith and allegiance he was attached to the Democratic party, and a great Avorker in its behalf. His first wife died in this county in 1861 and he passed away here in 1874. They had twelve children, six sons and six daughters, of whom four of the sons and two of the daughters are living. After the death of their mother he married Mrs. Nancy Gooch, and a few years later death robbed him of her also. He then married as his third wife a Mrs. Bragg of this county at the time of her marriage.

James F. Belshe was reared in Linn county and educated in its district schools. He assisted in clearing his father's farm and breaking up its stubborn soil, beginning at this work when he was still but a boy. He continued farming until his death, and in connection with that industry also bred and raised high grades of horses and cattle. Like his father, he was a man of prominence and influence in the county, and in a number of toAvnship offices helped to administer the public affairs of this region for a long time, serving as school trustee for a continuous period of thirty years. He was a Democrat in politics and a Baptist in religious connection, and throughout his mature life gave valued service to the general public by his work in each organization.

was married to Miss Julia Slagel, and through this union became the father of five children, four of whom are living: James G., London E., and Joseph V. and William V., twins. Their mother died in 1862, and on May 19, 1867, the father contracted a second marriage in which he was united with Mrs. Phebe Taggart, a widow. The offspring from this union also numbered five, and three of them are living: Edward L., Henry F. and Fountain D. Their mother is still living but the father died on O^ctober 21, 1900.

He was one of the county's best citizens and one of Missouri's most representative and serviceable farmers. But his usefulness was not shown in his own occupation alone. Every form of the industrial life of this part of the state of Missouri held his close attention andinterest, and every agency at work for the good of its residents always had his earnest and helpful support and the benefit of his intelligence and good judgment. He was very popular among the people and enjoyed their esteem in bountiful measure. They knew him to be wise, progressive and prudent in the management of his business, strictly upright in all his dealings and correct in his deportment in all the relations of life from the beginning to the end of his long, clean and fruitful career. No man in Linn county stood higher in public estimation, and none in his lifetime deserved a higher rank.

Frederick L. Botts

Although young in years and also in his career as a farmer, Frederick L. Botts of Parsons Creek township has already written his name firmly in public estimation as one of the progressive, up-to-date and successful agriculturists of Linn county, and by his cordial, practical and helpful interest in the progress and improvement of this part of Missouri has taken rank as one of the wide-awake, alert and publicspirited citizens who are developing its resources to the best advantage and building its power and influence into enlarging magnitude in the industrial and commercial aggregates for which the whole country is famous.

Whatever he is, too, Mr. Botts is wholly a product of Linn county, and therefore a true representative of the industry, resourcefulness, enterprise and force of character of the people who inhabit this political division of Missouri. He was born in this county on November 16, 1877. He obtained his education in the district schools in the neighbor- hood of his boyhood home, and since leaving school, he has diligently added to the wealth and productiveness of the county by skillfully cultivating one of its large, fruitful and desirable farms.

Mr. Botts is a member of a family that has been prominent in Linn county affairs from the dawn of its histor5^ His great-grandfather came to this part of the state of Missouri about the year 1834, one of the early pioneers, and helped to lay the foundations of the civil and educational institutions of Linn county. His name was Thomas Botts, and he was a man of considerable local prominence and influence. One of his sons, William Leonard Botts, was the father of Frederick, and he also was born in this county.

AVilliam L. Botts was a farmer, working for his father and helping to clear and improve the wild domain on which that gentleman settled when he located here, and afterward repeating the performance on his own account. In his young manhood he married with Miss Almeda Jacobs, a native of Sullivan county, Missouri. They are now living in Meadville, retired from active pursuits and enjoying the rest from labor and the general esteem of the people which they have so richly earned by their long and useful industry and continuous upright and commendable manner of life.

They have two sons and one daughter living: Their son Frederick L., his brother Clifford L. and their sister Estella, who is now the wife of Ben Doolin, a resident of this county. Their grandfather, Joshua Botts, was a son of Thomas Botts, one of the first settlers in the county. The grandfather was brought to this part of the state as a child and passed the remainder of his life here. He followed in his father's course and cleared a farm on which he lived until his death. He married Miss Elizabeth Harvey, who is still living and has her home in Meadville. They were the parents of four sons and four daughters.

Frederick L. Botts has been actively and profitably engaged in farming in Linn county on his own account from his youth, starting out early in the vocation to which he was reared and adhering to it with tenacity ever since. On December 1, 1907, he was united in marriage with Miss Lula Stephenson, a daughter of Thomas J. and Julia (Thorne) Stephenson. Her father, Thomas J. Stephenson, came to this county after the Civil War and remained here until his death in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Botts are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, prominent in social life in their community, and earnest in their efforts to advance the interests of their township and county in every way they can.

Thomas M. Botts

All of the three score years of the life of this valued citizen and enterprising farmer of Parsons Creek township to the present time (1912) have been passed in the state of Missouri, and thirty-eight of them in Linn county. Wherever he has lived he has made an excellent record as a farmer and as a man of enterprise and public spirit, and the people have known and appreciated his worth and usefulness in other localities as they do in the township and county in which he is now living.

Mr. Botts came into being in Saline county, this state, on November 27, 1852, and is a son of Addison and Martha A. (Worden) Botts, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri. The father was born in Hancock county, Kentucky, in 1822, and in 1825, when he was but three years old, his parents brought him to Howard county in this state, making the journey overland with teams. On his arrival in Howard county the father took up a tract of unbroken government land in the improvement and cultivation of which he passed the rest of his life. He was a man of prominence and influence in the early history of Howard county, serving as county judge for a continuous period of twelve years and still occupying the ofiBee at the time of his death. His wife, at the time of her marriage to him, was a Mrs. Lucas. Their offspring numbered five, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are now deceased.

Their son, Addison Botts, the father of Thomas M., attained his manhood in Howard county and remained there, living with his jaarents and working for his father, until 1844. In that year he moved to Saline coimty, where he did as his father had done in Howard county - took up a tract of wild land and made a good farm of it. In 1860 he moved his family to Carroll county in this state, where he lived a number of years, and where his wife died in 1860. He then moved to Oklahoma, and passed aAvay in 1899. They were the parents of three sons and eight daughters, all of whom are living but two of the daughters.

Thomas M. Botts grew from the age of eight years to manhood in Carroll county and obtained the greater part of his education in its district schools. He remained at home until 1874, then united himself in marriage with Miss Cleopatra J. Littrell of Howard county, and changed his residence to this county and settled on the farm on which he now lives. Mrs. Botts is a daughter of David J. Littrell, who was

On his arrival in this county he took up a tract of wild government land, which he lived on until his death in 1893, devoting his time and energies to first clearing and then improving it, until imder his skill as a husbandman and his industry in his work it became an excellent and highly productive farm. He was married three times ; first to Miss Sarah Botts, and after her death to Miss Sarah V. Harvey, of whom death also robbed him. His third matrimonial union was with Mrs. Isabella Eyan, a widow.

Mr. and Mrs. Botts have four children: Minnie, who is the wife of J. W. Trimble of Chillocothe ; Ida, who is the wife of E. F. Post of Wheeling, Mo.; Nannie, who married M. M. Powers and resides in Kansas City, and Charles W., who is a resident of California. The parents are members of the Baptist church. They are well known throughout the country, and in all parts of it stand in the highest regard of the people as most estimable citizens and fine types of Linn county residents, representative of its sturdiest and most sterling citizenship.

John H. Botts

This well known and widely esteemed farmer of Clay township, Linn county, has several elements of unusual interest in his claim on the respect and good will of the people of this part of Missouri. He represents the fourth generation of his family that has lived in and drawn sustenance from the soil of Linn county, and is a scion of a household that has been maintained in the state of Missouri for almost one hundred years. His grandfather became a resident of the county in 1834, and passed the remainder of his days here, and his father, the great-grandfather of John H., also came to the end of his life in the county at the age of one hundred and ten years.

Mr. Botts was himself born in the county on September 22, 1839, obtained what education he could get in the primitive schools of his boyhood in this region, and from his early youth has been actively engaged in farming here, never having lived any where else. The place of his birth was about one mile south of his present home, and therefore the whole of his life to this time (1912) has been passed in the township in which he now resides, and in helping to develop its resources and increase its industrial and commercial importance and influence in the state.

His great-grandfather was a Eevolutionary soldier, too, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorlttown, Virginia, in 1781, which ended the war for our independence ; and he is a son of the first school teacher in this section, who afterward became his mother. In addition to these unusual and highly interesting conditions, he is a gentleman of the strictest integrity and uprightness, an enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizen and an excellent farmer.

Mr. Botts is a son of Seth and Maria (Harvey) Botts, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Kentucky. The father was commonly called "Major Botts," as he was a prominent man and had considerable influence in the county. He came to Missouri with his parents in 1816. His father, Thomas Botts, located the family in Howard county on land which he took up from the government, and which he cleared and transformed into a good farm. He lived on that farm until about 1834, when he moved to Linn county and took up his residence on its western boundary line, again entering land from the government and repeating on it what he had done on his former land in Howard county. He also operated a mill on Locust creek, and thereby gave the people of the section for many miles around one of the greatest conveniences they enjoyed at that early day. He died on his Linn county farm in 1852, and his wife passed away there some years later. They were the parents of three sons and five daughters, all of whom are now deceased. The great grandfather's name was also Thomas Botts.

Major Seth Botts, the father of John H., was born in 1813 and reared on the frontier. His opportunities for schooling were very limited, as the pressing needs of the family required the exertion of every available force to clear and improve the wild land on which it was dependent, and he was obliged to assist in this work from an early age. He came with his parents when they moved to this county, and here he too took up government land and made it over into a valuable farm. He added to his possessions by subsequent purchases until at one time he owned 1,000 acres of good land, and had a great deal of it under cultivation. He owned a number of slaves who helped him in his work, and he became a man of consequence in the county and one of its leaders of thought and action.

The mother died in 1880 and the father passed away at the home of his son, John H., in 1901. They had four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living but one of the daughters. In their church relations the parents were Baptists and leaders of the sect in this part of the country. They were largely instrumental in planting it in this locality, giving the use of their home for its early services for years, and helping to establish and strengthen it in every way they could. They were also zealous in other lines of improvement, especially that of public education. The mother, as has been stated, was the first school teacher in this part of the state, and she never lost her interest in school work.

John H. Botts grew to manhood in Clay township and obtained his education in the country schools of his boyhood and youth, such as they were. He was very young when he began to assist his father in the work on the farm, and he kept steadily at it for many years, remaining at home until he was twenty-seven years old. He then moved to the farm he now owns and lives on, and which has ever since been his home and the object of his greatest care and attention. It has responded generously to his skillful husbandry, and under his management has become one of the best in the township, and equal in value, attractiveness and fertility to almost any other of its size in the whole of Linn county.

On May 6, 1874, Mr. Botts was married to Miss Sarah Heckman, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Overpeck) Heckman, she came to this state many years ago from Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Botts have one child, their son Frank S., who is married but still living vfith. them. The father has served as township trustee seven years. He is a Democrat in political relations, a Freemason fraternally, belongs to the Church of Christ in religious affiliation, and is a deacon of many years service in his congregation. No man in the county is better or more favorably known, none has shown more merit, and on none have the people more liberally or more cordially bestowed their confidence and esteem.