Linn County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 11 of 15)

Joseph J. Littrell

The late Joseph J. Littrell of Parsons Creek township, who departed this life on April 24, 1899, at the age of nearly sixty-seven years, was one of the most extensive, enterprising, progressive and prosperous farmers not only in his township but in the whole of Linn county. His farming was his sole occupation, except some raising and feeding of live stock as incidental to it, and he gave his whole time and attention to it, saving what was necessary for the duties of active and patriotic citizenship, and the results were commensurate with his efforts and devotion.

1832, and was a son of James and Melvina (Harvey) Littrell, natives of Bourbon county, Kentucky. They moved to this state and Howard county about 1825 and were married there. Even that county was sparsely settled at the time and by reason of his superior intelligence and force of character the father became a man of prominence and influence in connection with its political, educational and social affairs, and also an extensive landholder.

In 1841 the family moved to Linn county, and here the father took Tip a large tract of government land, to which he added until he, at one time, owned about 900 acres, on which he erected what was probably the first frame house in this part of the state. The mother died in 1878, and the father's life ended at the home of his son Joseph in 1884. He owned a number of slaves before the Civil war, some of which he brought with him from Kentucky, and all of which he lost in Missouri when slavery w^as abolished in this country during the war. He and his wife were the parents of five children, two sons and three daughters, all of whom have died but the last born of the daughters, who is now the widow of Dr. Gish of Kansas City, Mo.

Joseph J. Littrell was reared in this county and obtained what education he could get in the primitive schools kept in the country districts during his boyhood. They were but crude in method and limited in scope at the best, and would fall far behind the requirements of the present day, but they prepared a race of sturdy and heroic men and women for the battle of civilization against the untamed forces of the wilderness, in which man, beast and Nature herself seemed leagued in opposition to the progress of mankind and in defense of the treasures of the wild from possession and use by the on-coming hosts of conquest and improvement.

After leaving school Mr. Littrell engaged in farming on a large scale and continued his operations in this line until his death. During the Civil war he served in the state militia, and for many years he was one of the most active and servicable members of the Christian church in this part of Missouri. Throughout the county he was well and favorably known as a wide-awake and progressive farmer, a far-seeing and public spirited citizen, a man of high character and a true representative of the best citizenship of the county and state, and his reputation in these respects extended far beyond the limits of the county on all sides.

enlisted a company in tliis county for the Mexican war. They had two children, one of whom grew to maturity and married Benjamin Wolf, but is now dead. Her mother died in 1857, and in 1859 the father married a second wife, uniting himself on this occasioh with Miss Mary E. Alexander, a daughter of Spencer Alexander, a pioneer of Livingston county who located there in 1837 and passed the remainder of his life there.

By his second marrige Mr. Littrell became the father of nine children, all of whom are living but one. They are : James S., William B., John E., Susan A., Ida B., Bertha E., Daisy M. and Robert E. Susan is now the wife of Henry J. Barnes and resides in Livingston county; Ida married M. C. Arnold and has her home in Hastings, Neb., Bertha is now Mrs. H. M. Tompkins, and her home is in Wheeling, Mo., and Daisy is the wife of H. P. Smith and a resident of Johnson, Ark. The sons are engaged in farming and raising live stock for the most part, and are men of influence in their several communities. Their mother is still living and maintains her home on the old homestead where she is held in universal esteem as one of the most estimable and serviceable matrons known to the residents of that neighborhood, and this judgment of her worth is fully and cordially indorsed wherever else the people have knowledge of her.

John P. Palmer

The subject of this brief but suggestive life story has been a resident of Linn county, Missouri, throughout the last thirty years, and during the whole of that period has been of valuable assistance in promoting the progress and improvement of this part of the state in material and all other ways. He is modest and unostentatious in his demeanor and manner of living, but a man of genuine merit, warmly interested in the welfare and further development of the region of his home, and firmly and fervently loyal to his country in every respect. The people in all parts of the county recognize his worth and value his citizenship among them.

Mr. Palmer was born in Washington county, Ohio, on April 27, 1856. His parents, Pemberton and Susan C. (Hardy) Palmer, were also bom in that state, and the father is still living there. The mother died there a number of years ago. Five of their children grew to maturity, but their son John is the only one of the number who is living in Missouri. The father is now well advanced in years and practically retired from active pursuits. In his days of activity he was a man of high standing and influence in his locality, prominent in the councils of the Republican party, of which he is still a loyal and zealous member, and served as a county commissioner and justice of the peace for many years.

The grandfather, Jewitt Palmer, moved from his native state of Massachusetts to Ohio when the state was young and in the distant West. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and in times of peace was an industrious and prosperous farmer. He died in Ohio long after that state ceased to be new and far to get to, and when he was himself well advanced in the number of his years and the length and usefulness of his creditable career.

John P. Palmer attained his manhood in his native county and secured what education he was able to get in its district schools. His opportunities in this respect were limited, as the exigencies of the farm work required his aid in its performance from a very early age. Even before he reached his majority he began farming in Ohio on his own account, and he continued his operations in this line of endeavor in that state until 1882, when he yielded to a desire he had long felt and came West.

In the year last mentioned he located in this county and bought the land which is now his farm, and which he has raised to generous productiveness by his skillful and systematic farming, and made a very desirable rural home by the valuable improvements he has put upon it. Its development and improvement has not been spasmodic, but steady and according to a well managed system, and the results are in accordance with the good judgment that arranged for them and the persistent industry and application that has wrought them out.

Mr. Palmer was married on August 8, 1877, to Miss Kate Beck, who is also a native of Ohio. They have six children: Philip E., Pemberton G., May, John, Joseph and Ruth. May is now the wife of W. H. Duncan and lives in Linn county. Ruth still abides with her parents. The father is a justice of the peace, and has occupied the office for a number of years. He is a Democrat in political relations, but has never been a particularly active partisan, although always true and loyal to his pplitioa] convictions. He stands by the locality of his home at all times and does all he can to advance the well being of its residents. In religious affiliation he and his wife are members of the Church of Christ, and both work zealouslj^ for its enduring welfare.

This gentleman has the distinction of being the pioneer merchant of Purdin and one of the most active and potential forces in building and developing the town to its present size and importance. When he located there and opened the first store in the place or vicinity, the site was marked by a saw mill, but there were no roads leading to it, and the whole of its history was yet to be made. Mr. Beckett entered into the spirit of the requirements and has aided greatly in meeting them and making the most of an unpromising situation. His modest little store has expanded into the imposing establishment and large trade of the Purdin Mercantile Company, of which he was the founder and has been the president from the beginning of its successful and profitable career.

Mr. Beckett was born in Linn county and is a native of Benton township, where his life began on January 5, 1857. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Trumbo) Beckett, the former a native of Howard county, Missouri, and the latter of Kentucky. John Beckett, father of James and grandfather of W. G., was among the first settlers in the neighborhood of Linneus, having come to this locality about 1831. He proved himself to be a man of great energy and fine constructive capacity, redeeming seven farms from the wilderness and improving them to an advanced state of productiveness, and also building a number of bridges which were greatly needed for the convenience of the people and the development of the region. He died in Chariton county, leaving eloquent monuments behind him to declare his usefulness and worth by their extent and the timeliness of their construction, and many of his large family of fine children to mourn their bereavement and follow his illustrious example in usefulness to the communities of their residence and service to the people lining in them.

James Beckett, the father of W. G., was a farmer and also a dealer in tobacco in considerable quantities, buying his supplies in Linneus and distributing them to his customers in the stores near and far and to some extent in the large markets. He passed the whole of his life in this county, where he died in 1874. His first wife died in 1857, and some time afterward he married her sister as his second wife. She bore him two children, making him the father of five in all.

W. G. Beckett grew to manhood on his father's farm and obtained Ms education at schools in Linneus. After leaving school he conducted the operations of the family homestead until 1877. He then went to Illinois and during the next two years attended a business college in

Springfield in that state. In 1883 he located where Purdin now stands and erected a building in which he opened a general store. The site for a town had been surveyed and laid out ten years before, but there was nothing but a saw mill, as has been stated, and railroad station to show any signs of progress toward a town, and there were no established roads to the i^lace.

Mr. Beckett, however, was not discouraged. He had come to the locality to do business and he determined to remain and accomplish his purpose. He carried on his store alone one year, and then took in two partners, H. H. Street and James Lee. Not long afterward he bought the interests of these gentlemen in the business, and again conducted it on his own account for a time. In 1895 he organized the Purdin Mercantile Company, with a capital stock of $30,000 and himself as president of the corporation.

With a view to enlarging his business he erected in 1893 an addition to the store house in which his enterprise is now conducted, the original structure having been occupied by him some years as a tenant. When he did this he had also in view the establishment of a bank in the town, and in reorganizing his business after building the addition to his store he gave up the drug department in order to make room for the bank. He carried out his purpose in 1894 by organizing the Bank of Purdin, a private banking institution with a capital of $5,000, which he conducted in his store until 1900, when the new bank building was put up, on the reorganization of the bank. Mr. Beckett was the first president of this institution and is still one of its directors.

Mr. Beckett is a gentleman of extensive property and has been a forceful factor in the public life of the community. In addition to his extensive mercantile interests he owns and operates several farms in Linn county and some also in the Eed river valley in Texas. He was also agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railroad for a period of thirteen years, and has been mayor of the village and township treasurer, and has given the community good service in other positions of importance. He is a Democrat politicallly, and while not an active partisan is loyal to his party and renders it good service on all occasions.

On November 19, 1879, Mr. Beckett was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Martin, a native of Illinois. They have two children: Their son, Craig W., who is engaged in business with his father, and their daughter, Bessie M., who is still living in San Francisco. All the members of the family are widely known and stand high in the regard and esteem of the people throughout the whole extent of their acquaintance. In their home communities they have hosts of friends and are universally and deservedly popular. The father belongs to the Elks and the Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Christian church.

Joseph T. Duncan

Seeking nothing in life but the faithful discharge of every duty that lies before him and to make the most of his opportunities for advancement; caring nothing for prominence among men and the empty show of high social alliances or political elevation and influence ; and altogether averse to the cares and responsibilities of public office, Joseph T. Duncan of Parsons Creek township has steadfastly adhered to the occupation with which he began his career, and has made a gratifying success of it.

His highest ambition in a material way has been to be a good farmer and get from his land proper returns for his labor, while making it a comfortable and attractive home for his family and a pleasant resort for the numerous friends of his household. That he has done this the imited testimony of the whole population of his township would establish, and the condition and appearance of his farm would prove without any other evidence. It is a silent but most effective preacher of the benefits of forecast, calculation, thorough knowledge and faithful application, and its improvements show judgment and good taste in their construction and arrangement.

Mr. Duncan was born on the old family homestead in this county on October 7, 1871. He is a brother of John H. Duncan, in a sketch of whom elsewhere in this volume the history of the family is briefly told. He was reared and educated in Linn county, and worked at home with his father until he reached the age of twenty years. He then began farming on his own account and has been doing this ever since with profit to himself and decided benefit to his own land and the township in general.

The farm which he now owns, lives on and cultivates comprises 148 acres, is very fertile and yields abundantly, responding with great readiness and liberality to the persuasive hand of its skillful husbandman. He has enriched it with good buildings, well-made fences and other necessary improvements, and in all respects made a model farm of it, and has done all this himself, for the land was unimproved and uncultivated when he took possession of it, and still almost in the condition in which the wild men of the forest left it when, like a receding

On April 18, 1894, Mr. Duncan was united in wedlock with Miss Susie A. Curtis, a daughter of Ashbill S. and Sarah (Thorne) Curtis, highly respected residents of Linn county for many years. The father, who died in this county in 1909, was born at Hobart, Lake coimty, Indiana, and was an early pioneer in California. The mother, who is still living here, is a native of Kentucky, but became a resident of Missouri at an early age.

Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have had five children, four of whom are living, their sons Thomas G., Donnie A., Joseph L. and Morgan R., and all of them are still members of the parental family circle. The parents are members of the Christian church and zealous in helping to promote its interests and add to the value of its work for the good of the community. The father also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to his farming operations he carries on an active and profitable industry in raising and feeding live stock. He is favorably known and well esteemed throughout the county as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, an excellent and progressive farmer and a man of high character and commendable demeanor in all the relations of life.

John H. Duncan

For sixty-two years the Duncans, father and son, have lived in Linn county and aided in pushing forward its progress and development; and for three-quarters of a century three generations of them have been residents of the state of Missouri, and each has turned a portion of the wilderness into productive farming land and made it fruitful with all the products of an advancing and ascending civilization. The immediate subject of this brief review, John H. Duncan, is now one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Parsons Creek township, following the vocation of his father and his grandfather, and adhering to it from his youth to the present time without interruption, and during the whole period in this county and the neighborhood in which he now lives.

Mr. Duncan was born in this county on January 13, 1858, and is a son of Thomas Garland and Mildred (Gooch) Duncan, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of this state. The father was brought to Boone county, Missouri, by his parents in 1837, when he was but four years old. His parents cleared and improved a farm from the wilder- ness in Boone county and died on it well advanced in years. Their son Thomas G. grew to manhood on that farm, and from it went forth as a volunteer in the Mexican War to aid in defending the honor of his country from the aggressions of a haughty foe.

In 1849 he crossed the plains to California in company with two of his brothers, making the trip with ox teams. On his return to this state the next year he lo,cated in Linn county, and following the example of his father,, took up a tract of wild land which he cleared and made a good farm of, living on it until his death in 1902. The mother was a daughter of Gideon Gooch, one of the very early pioneers of this county. She and her husband were the parents of fifteen children, six sons and nine daughters, and seven of the fifteen are still living. The mother died in 1894. Both parents were prominent in the Christian church in this section and very zealous in its service. They helped to organize its first congregation here and to build its first house of worship in this locality.

John H. Dimcan was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education in the country school in its neighborhood. He assisted in clearing the farm and splitting rails for its necessary fences. At the age of twenty-one he began farming for himself, and has been doing this ever since. He studies his business and applies the knowledge he gains to his operations, keeping pace with the progress and impi'ovement in methods, and has' the reputation of being one of the most systematic and successful farmers in his township, and one of the most enterprising and progressive.

On November 9, 1879, Mr. Duncan was married to Miss Mary Howell, a daughter of Lilburn L. Howell, one of the pioneers of Linn county, whose history is briefly recounted on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have one child, their daughter Ethel, who is now the wife of Brainard Harvey and resides on the home farm. The parents belong to the Christian church and are ardent workers for its best interests in the congregation in which they hold their membership.

Mr. Duncan has witnessed the marvelous changes that have been made in the appearance and condition of Linn county, and has helped materially to bring them about. He has always been a warm advocate of progress and improvement, and has given positive proofs of his convictions in this respect by his earnest and serviceable support of all undertakings designed to keep up and quicken the advance. He is one of Linn county's most sturdy, sterling and useful citizens, and among the men most highly esteemed by its residents of every class and condition.

Joseph Botts

Belonging to one of the oldest families in Linn county, a family that has been among those who have longest demanded tribute from Its fruitful soil in return for skillful and systematic labor bestowed upon it, and himself one of the leading farmers of Parsons Creek township, Joseph Botts is deserving, in the fullest measure and from every point of view, of the elevated position he holds in the regard and good will of the people of his township and the residents of the county throughout its extent.

Mr. Botts is a native of Howard county, this state, where he was born on January 25, 1848. He is a son of Seth and Elizabeth (Littrell) Botts, the former born in Tennessee and the latter of the same nativity as himself. The father was born on January 1, 1786, and grew to manhood in his native state, and there contracted his first marriage, which was with a Miss Hicks, who died in Missouri. They came to this state by the river route at an early date in its history and located in Howard county, where they were extensively engaged in farming for a number of years. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of New Orleans, in which the flower of the British army, crowned with laurels of victory from many a bloody field in the wars of continental Europe, went down to ignominious defeat under the unerring rifles of the backwoodsmen of America, whose guns were pointed by ideas, charged with the munitions of liberty and fired in behalf of the hopes of mankind, and therefore never missed their mark, or were grounded at the feet of a conquering foe.

In 1834 the parents moved their family to Linn cotmty and took up a wild tract of government land along Locust creek, and later the father added to his domain other tracts of value. Early in the forties he built a grist mill on Locust creek, which was the first structure of the kind in this part of the state, and for a number of years supplied the people Avith flour and its other products for many miles around it. A portion of the old mill dam is still to be seen; and although it is now, like mad old King Lear, crowned with the ivies and weeds of forgetfulness and grief, it is still a memorial of the primitive period in this region, when it was a force of great consequence in progress and development.

The father's second marriage, which united him to the mother of his son Joseph, was solemnized in this county, and by it he became the father of three sons and three daughters, of whom Joseph and three of his sisters are the only ones living. The sisters are: Nancy, now the wife of Judge Thomas Evans of Meadville; Sarah E., the widow of J. H. Sidebottom, a sketch of whom will be found in this work; and Mary F., who is the wife of Wm. Geeren, and lives in this county. The father died on September 17, 1872, and the mother on September 24, 1907. They belonged to the Baptist church and were leaders of that sect in this part of Missouri, holding services in their house before the sect had a church edifi,ce here. The father was an official in the church for many years.

Joseph Botts grew to manhood in this county and obtained his education in the public schools and in private schools kept at his father's house. From his youth he has been engaged in farming and in overseeing farm work; and although he has had many temptations to follow other pursuits, he has steadfastly adhered to this, and by his industry, thrift and good management, he has made it profitable to himself and beneficial to his township and county throughout all the years of his connection with it.

On December 20, 1866, he was married to Miss Almeda Lander, a native of Macon county, Missouri, and the daughter of Barney and May (Powell) Lander. Five children have been born of the union, all of whom are living: Virgil, who is a Linn county farmer; Lola, who is now the wife of Charles Harvey, and also resides in this county; Maude, who married with William Goff, and has her home in Linn county; Modie, who is the wife of Frank Bowen of Linn county; and Arlie, who is still living at home with his parents and assisting in the work on the farm.

Looking on Linn county from an early date as his permanent home, Mr. Botts has always been deeply and intelligently interested in its progress and improvement and the welfare of its residents. He has been earnest and serviceable in support of all good agencies at work among its people, and in pushing every worthy project for its advancement. He is held in high estimation throughout the county as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, of strict integrity, strong character and genuine local patriotism of the finest quality. The people in all parts of the county regard him as one of their best and most representative citizens.

Lilburn L. Howell

Occupying the honorable and always revered position of a pioneer in this county, although a native of it, and being a connecting link joining the life of the present day, with its advanced development, rapid progress and long list of notable achievements already in its garner as a basis of further strides of development in this region, to the remote period of the county's history when the dawn of civilization was just breaking and beginning to flood the thirsty East with the golden radiance of its promise, Lilburn L. Howell of Clay township is a subject of unusual interest to the biographer as well as a man of much more than ordinary consequence in the estimation of the public.

Mr. Howell was born in this county on February 6, 1839, and is a son of William L. and Frances (Slaten) Howell, natives of Hopkins county, Kentucky, where they were reared, educated and married. The father was a farmer in his native state, but as the section of it in which he lived was rather well settled and had all its institutions firmly established, and he longed for the freer life and larger opportunities of the frontier, he determined to seek his advancement in life in a newer and more undeveloped portion of the country.

In 1833 he brought his family overland from his Kentucky home to this state and chose Linn county as his future residence. He took up a quarter section of government land three miles north of Meadville, and located on that. The land was all heavily timbered at the time, and without improvements of any kind. He put up a log cabin as a shelter for his family and began to clear and cultivate the soil. The dwelling had few comforts or conveniences, as we estimate such things now. Its chimney was constructed of sticks and mud, and all its other appointments were but little, if any, removed beyond that state of crudeness. But it had the sacred .character of a home, was a domestic altar, and the firm foundation of high and worthy hopes and enviable prospects.

During his life the father improved several similar farms in Linn county, and finally died in 1872, at the age of sixty-three years, on the one now owned and occupied by his son Lilburn. He was one of the renowned hunters of this part of the state, and particularly successful in bringing down deer, wild turkeys and large game in general, even though the chase was at times hazardous and always required expertness with the rifle, especially when game became less plentiful in the region than it was when he first "stuck his stake" and founded his household shrine in it. He was county assessor of Linn county in 1862 and 1863.

He and his wife were very prominent in the Methodist church in this localitjs the father being one of the leaders of the sect in its early history here, and the mother also active in all church work. Eight of their children grew to maturity, their son Lilburn and seven of his sisters, but only four of them are now living. Their mother Jied in 1870.

Their grandfather, James Howell, was also a native of Hopkins county, Kentucky, and came to Linn county, Missouri, in 1832, locating in Clay township, where he cleared and improved a farm. There were but 10 families in the county at that time. He owned the only grind stone in this section and the neighbors and Indians came for miles around to use it.

He was one of the first county judges elected in the county, and served in that capacity for a number of years. In 1849 he crossed the plains to California with ox teams, but instead of hunting for gold in that state he gave his attention to farming, remaining there until his death. He was married twice and became the father of seven sons and by the two unions, four by the first and three by the second.

Lilburn L. Howell was reared to manhood on his father's farm in this county, which he helped to clear and in the cultivation of which he was employed from an early age, assisting in breaking up the ground for the first time when he was but ten years old. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty, and then began farming on his own account, moving to Kansas for the purpose and remaining there until 1866. In that year he returned to this county, and here he has lived and labored industriously and profitably ever since, clearing and improving the farm on which he lives and making it one of the most valuable in the township in which it is located.

While living in Kansas Mr. Howell served in the militia of that state and aided in driving out of it the Confederate army under the command of General Price. He was present when the city of Lawrence was raided by the Confederates and witnessed many of the incidents attending that event. He also saw many other impressive outgrowths of the sectional feeling, which was intense in degree and violent in expression all along the border, as it always has been everywhere in border warfare.

Mr. Howell was married in 1859 to Miss Amanda Pennington, a daughter of Garrett and Susan (Pruitt) Pennington, early arrivals in this county. Five children were born of the union, all of whom are now deceased but two: Mary, who is the wife of John H. Duncan, a sketch of whom will be found in this work; and Leona, the wife of Robert P. Hincher, both of them residents of Linn county. Their mother died in 1886. The father is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and zealous in the service of the congregation to which he belongs. He is one of the most highly respected citizens in the county, as well as one of the oldest in length of life among its people.

James H. Sidebottom

(Deceased) The untimely death of the late James H. Sidebottom, one of the intelligent, enterprising and successful farmers of Parsons Creek township, on August 30, 1884, at the early age of forty-four years, when he was in the prime of his manhood and fullness of his vigor, cast a gloom over the section of the county in which he had lived and labored, and called forth strong expressions of regret in many other localities. For Mr. Sidebottom was a good man and a useful citizen, and had the unstinted respect of everybody who knew him in all parts of Linn county.

Mr. Sidebottom was born in Mason county, Kentucky, on May 13, 1840, and was a son of Rev. Robinson E. and Nancy (Burton) Sidebottom, the story of whose lives is briefly given in a sketch of his brother, Eugene Sidebottom, to be found elsewhere in this work. James was seventeen years old when the family moved to this county and located on an unimproved tract of land between Laclede and Linneus. He assisted in clearing this farm and bringing it under cultivation, remaining at home until his marriage on July 21, 1867, to Miss Sarah E. Botts, a daughter of Seth and Elizabeth (Littrell) Botts, and a sister of Joseph Botts, in a sketch of whom on another page of this volume the family history will be found.

After their man-iage James H. Sidebottom and his bride located on the farm now occupied by the family, which Avas also an unbroken tract of timber when they took possession of it. They erected a log cabin and cleared the land to the extent of 250 acres during the life of the husband, and were rapidly making it one of the desirable rural homes of the township, when death ended his labors, and left to others the completion of the good work he had begun and so succseefully carried forward. During the Civil War he served in the state militia, as he was always ready to do anything he could for the benefit of his own locality, his state and the whole country, and he deemed the preservation of the Union a matter of the utmost importance to all mankind.

He and his wife were the parents of nine children, six of whom are living: Thomas B., Joseph C, David G., Lenora (who is the wife of J. L. Evans of Meadville), Seth E., and Florence (the wife of "W. H. Morrison of Livingston county). The mother is still living on the farm she helped to bring to fruitfulness, and is still as warmly interested as ever in the welfare of the township and county in which she has her

During his life Mr. Sidebottom showed his interest in the progress and improvement of his locality by earnest support of every commendable undertaking designed to promote its advancement and add to its influence and importance in the state. He also had a sincere and practical regard for the comfort and betterment of its people in every way, and did all he could to improve conditions for them, morally, mentally, socially and materially. His public spirit and progressiveness were highly appreciated by all who had the benefit of them, and wherever he was known he was warmly esteemed for his genuine worth and elevated and useful citizenship.

Walter Pendleton

Grandson of one of the two first white settlers in Linn county, and following in the footsteps of grandfather and father in tilling the soil of the region the former helped materially to open to civilization, Walter Pendleton of Marceline township has an interest in the county imusual in its character and basis, and embodying historical elements that in the nature of the case can appertain to but few men in any community. His grandfather sowed the seed of the present civilization of the county, and his father and himself have helped to mature and reap the crop, so far as it has advanced to the present time (1912).

James F. Pendleton, the pioneer alluded to, and his companion, William Howell, residents of Howard county, came into the Locust Creek country in 1830 on a hunting expedition. They found the country greatly in accordance with their desires and determined to return and settle on some of its fertile land. Accordingly, in the fall of 18.31, they came back to the region and built the two first cabins erected within the borders of the county, as it is now, choosing their location in what is now Locust Creek township, and fixing their claim in Section 14, Township 58, Eange 21, which is now the most southwestern section of that township. They built a cabin and fenced five or six acres of their land that fall, then returned to their Howard county homes. The next spring they moved their families to the new land they had selected, and thus became the first bona fide white settlers in Linn county.

Walter Pendleton was born at Laclede on August 13, 1870, and is a son of Larkin C. and Ada (Spurling) Pendleton, also natives of Missouri. The father was a carpenter and clerk in times of peace, and a valiant soldier in the Union army for four years during the Civil War. He died in Chillicothe, Missouri, in May, 1906. The mother is still living and has her home in Marceline. They were the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter, all of whom are living, but Walter is the only one of the three who resides in Linn county.

He was reared and educated in this county and began life as an apprentice to the printing trade in the office of the Marceline Journal under the instruction of Dr. Smith, who was then the proprietor of the paper. He worked at the trade until 1897, then began the farming industry, which he has conducted ever since. He is progressive and successful in his undertaking, and is generally recognized as one of the leading farmers in the township with reference to the modernness and intelligence of his methods and the breadth of view and enterprise with which he carries on his operations, keeping pace with the progress in agriculture and securing the best attainable returns from all the land he has under cultivation.

On March 10, 1897, Mr. Pendleton was united in marriage with Miss Louisa A. Wyant, a daughter of George W. and Louisa (Baugher) Wyant. They became residents of Linn county in 1855, moving to this state from Virginia, and locating in Baker township, where they owned a large tract of land. In 1889 they moved to what is now Marceline township, and here the father died in August, 1910. The mother is still living, making her home with her son-in-law, the subject of this sketch, where she enjoys the respect and regard of the people of all classes in a marked degree because of her genuine worth.

Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton have three children, their daughter Irene and their sons Cason W. and Page E. The parents belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. They are well and favorably known throughout the county and none of its citizens is more highly respected than are they. For they perform with fidelity and energy every duty they owe to their township and the surrounding country, take their part cheerfully and effectively in all projects for the betterment of their community and give helpful countenance and support to all good agencies at work among its people. In connection Avith the material welfare of the region in which they live, and its development and improvement, they are energetic and progressive, aiding in every way they can to promote its advancement at the most rapid rate consistent with wholesome growth and enduring benefit.

To read or reflect over the life story of this gentleman and the historical suggestions it calls up is like opening a door into an old romance or retracing the footsteps of history - not her shining footsteps which mark her progress along the high course of great affairs, but those she has made in this region in her useful walks among the sturdy founders and builders of the county. The story and what it opens the way to, carry the mind back instinctively to the time when this was a pristine wilderness, still inhabited by its wild denizens of man and beast, and when the region was yet in its sleep of ages, awaiting the commanding might of mind to call it to arise and greet its lord, the civilization that was to come. This is an oft-told tale in American chronicles, and it is enough to allude to it here without any attempt to narrate it over again. It inevitably suggests, also, the striking contrast between that period and the present, and emphasizes anew what human enterprise has done in the way of conquest over the American wilds and the development of their resources for the benefit and service of mankind.

Albert P. Swan

There is always a peculiar interest attaching to the founders of new commonwealths, .counties, cities or communities. Something of paternity seems to belong to them, and all the subsequent achievements of what they found apears to reflect credit on them. Albert P. Swan bears this relation to the city of Marceline. He was one of its pioneer residents, helped to start it on its beneficent way of progress and of benefit to the surrounding country, aided in fencing in the land on which it stands, and took a forceful part in laying the foundations of its civic, educational and religious institutions, and he now beholds the result of the prevision and enterprise of himself and his fellows in foimding the city, and sees that that result is good in every way.

Mr. Swan was born near Birmingham, Oakland county, Michigan, on July 17, 1842, and is a son of Avery and Catherine (Ackerman) Swan, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of the state of New York. The father was a farmer and moved from New York state to Oakland county, Michigan, when that region was still an almost unbroken wilderness. He cleared and improved a farm there, then sold it and moved to St. Clair county, where he did the same work over again. Some years later he changed his residence to Macomb county and made a new home out of another tract of the wilds. He was born in 1806 and died at Pontiac, Michigan, in 1880. The mother died near Birmingham in 1872, on September 15th. They had ten children, six sons and four daughters, and five of the number are living. John Swan, the grandfather of these children, was born and reared in Connecticut.

Albert P. Swan was reared in Oakland and St. Clair counties, Michigan, attended the country schools and aided his father in clearing one of the two farms he redeemed from the wilderness and made valuable with improvements. After finishing his education he engaged in farming in his native state, and there he continued his operations in this useful line of endeavor until 1869, when he came to Missouri and located on the Linn county farm which is still his home. This he has improved until it is one of the best, most productive and most desirable in the county in proportion to its size, and one of its most attractive rural homes.

Mr. Swan was married on April 13, 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Langworthy, a daughter of William and Lydia (Latham) Langworthy, pioneers of Michigan, where they both died. Mr. and Mrs. Swan have had nine children, seven of whom are living: Estella, the wife of Edward Anderson of Linn county; Kate, the widow of the late G. A. Beech; Cora, the wife of Frank Porter, also a resident of this county; Arthur L. and Alice L., twins, the latter being now the widow of the late Arthur M. Haley; and Euth E. and Ernest W., who are living at home with their parents, with whom Mrs. Haley also dwells.

Mr. Swan gives his political faith and support to the principles of the Republican party, but he is not and never has been desirous of public office, finding plenty to occupy his time and energies in attention to the requirements of his farm and the ordinary duties of citizenship. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and earnestly interested in its work for every good purpose, as they are in all worthy undertakings and agencies for the betterment of their community and township and the substantial welfare of their residents. They are well known in all parts of the county and everywhere are highly respected.

Ward L. Ballard

This interesting subject, who is one of the model farmers of Bueklin township, has had experience in agricultural pursuits in several different places and under widely varying circumstances. He was reared from the age of eleven years on a farm in one of the counties of this state on its southern border ; he lived on and brought into market as a partially improved farm a tract of unbroken prairie in Western Kansas, and he has been one of Linn county's substantial and progressive farmers during the last twenty-three years. If a man can learn the art of farming through study and experience in its operations Mr. Ballard ought to be a master of it, and his farm and all his work on it show that he is.

Ward L. Ballard was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, on February 13, 1865, and is a son of Alexander and Eliza (Bratt) Ballard, also natives of that state. The parents moved their family to Missouri in 1876 and located at Thayer, in Linn county, where the father owned 180 acres of land, and on this they lived twenty-five years. They then moved to Broolvfield in this county, and there they ended their days, the father dying on December 10, 1905, and the mother on December 10, 1910.

The father was a merchant and lumberman in Pennsylvania, but in Missouri he devoted himself wholly to farming as long as he kept up active pursuits. He and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. They had three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, and all but one of them reside in Linn county. Joseph Ballard, grandfather of Ward L., was a farmer in Pennsylvania, where he died. His ancestors were English people, some of whom came to this country at an early date and became loyal and patriotic American citizens, as all their descendants have been, wherever they have lived and whatever their pursuits.

Ward L. Ballard was educated in the public schools and assisted his father in the work on the home farm until he was twenty-years of age. In 1885 he went to Norton county, Kansas, and took up a tract of government land, which he lived on and improved for three years, then sold it. In 1888 he returned to Missouri and bought a farm in Linn county, which is still his home and has been ever since. It comprises 230 acres, and when he purchased it was only partially developed and under cultivation. The industry and intelligence he has applied to its cultivation during the last twenty-three years have made it one of the choice farms of the township in which it is located and worthy of fair comparison with any of its size in the county.

On Jan. 11, 1888, Mr. Ballard was united in marriage with Miss Mollie Sights, a daughter of Isaac and Margaret (Wood) Sights of Linn. Sis children have been born of the union, all of whom are living. They are : Vena C, Herbert R., Mabel M., Myron W., Marguerite and Edward 0. They are all yet members of the parental family circle, and while aiding in the work on the farm, they also add to the attractiveness of the home as a social center and resort for the numerous friends and admiring acquaintances of the household.

The father is a Republican in political faith and allegiance, and loyal to his party and zealous in its service. But he has never sought or desired official station and has steadily preferred the freedom and independence of private life. He and the members of his family attend the Methodist Episcopal church. He takes an active interest in the improvement of his township and is considered one of its most estimable and useful citizens from every point of view.

Robert K. Kinney

After living to the age of twenty-eight years in his native state of New York, and then twelve and a half years in Kansas, where he was a pioneer, Robert K. Kinney, one of the best known and most highly esteemed farmers of Bucklin township, chose Linn county, Missouri, as his home and has lived here almost thirty years. He has been a farmer here ever since his arrival in the county and has lived all the time on the farm which he now owns, occupies and cultivates. He has also mingled freely with the people of the county, borne his full share of the labor and care connected with their industries, done whatever he could to promote their welfare, and contributed in every way open to him to the progress and improvement of his township and the whole county. He is justly esteemed as a forceful and useful citizen, with an active practical and productive interest in the locality of his home and full of zeal in aiding in its advance.

Mr. Kinney was born at Toddsville, Otsego county. New York, on May 14, 1844. His father and mother, Joseph A. and Lorena (Murdock) Kinney, were also born and reared in that state. The father was a physician and practiced his profession in his native state for a period of fifteen years, or until 1868, when he came to Missouri and bought a farm in this county seven miles north of Brookfield, on which he died in 1884, and where his wife died in 1901. They were the parents of four sons and one daughter. The daughter died some years ago. The sons are all living and all residents of Linn county, as they have been for a long time.

"William Kinney, the grandfather of Robert K., was a native of Salem, Massachusetts. He moved from there to the state of New York, where he operated a distillery and a cotton mill for many years. He then moved to Kentucky and carried on his business in that state, and there he died at an advanced age, after a long and successful business career, and in the full enjoyment of the respect and good will of every- body that knew him. For he was an upright and straightforward man in all the relations of life and made himself a very worthy and useful citizens wherever he lived.

Robert K. Kinney obtained his education at a good academy in Otsego county, New York, and after completing it engaged in the draying business until 1872. In that year he moved to Mitchell county, Kansas, where he was among the earliest settlers. He took up a tract of government land in that county and lived on and farmed and improved it for twelve and a half years. In 1884 he came to this county and bought the farm in Bucklin township on which he now resides, and which he has brought to an advanced state of improvement and productiveness. The farm comprises 112 acres and is all under skillful and studious cultivation, for Mr. Kinney is a progressive and wideawake farmer and a thorough master of his business.

Mr. Kinney was married in the state of New York on February 23, 1865, to Miss Mary E. Hilts, a native of the same state as himself. They have had six sons and two daughters. One of the daughters has died, but all the rest of the children are living. They are: William F., James A., Eobert K., Jr., Howard, Bert and Calvin, sons, and their sister Opal. All stand well in the estimation of the people who know them and are altogether worthy of the high regard in which they are held.

The father is a Republican in political faith and allegiance and has long been an active and servicable worker for his party. While living in Kansas he filled all the ofiSees in the gift of the people of his township, and for eight years served as county clerk. He is a man of force and influence in this county, but he has never sought a political office here, haying found himself always sufficiently occupied with the management of his farm and the ordinary duties of citizenship without any of the cares and responsibilities of official station or public life in any capacity. In fraternal circles he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a cordial and helpful interest in the affairs of his Lodge and those of the fraternity in general.

His long residence in the county and his public spirit in its behalf have made him well known in all parts of it and won him the regard and good will of all its people. His farm is something of a historic landmark also. The old town of Thayer, which never realized the promise of its birth, and has practically gone off the map, was laid out on this farm, and for a time the land was looked upon as very likely to become a profitable asset in the mercantile and commercial life of this part of the county. It has been profitable to Mr. Kinney, for he has

Rev. Walter Tormey

Living now retired, and enjoying a rest richly earned in many years of devotion to the welfare of his fellow men and active labor in their behalf, and crowned with the reverent regard and affectionate esteem of all who knew him, this faithful servant of the Catholic church and most worthy representative of its priesthood is peaceful, prosperous and happy in his advancing years of present worldly comfort and grateful reminiscense. He has abandoned the dusty, crowded and jostling highway of life for one of its shadiest and most agreeable by-lanes. The din of traffic and worldly strife lias no longer magic for his ear. The myriad footfall on the city's stony walks is but noise or nothing to him now. He has run his race of toil or ambition, his day's work is accomphshed.

Yet he is not indifferent to the welfare of his kind, but is as ever, deeply interested in all that can promote it and readily responsive to every call on him for aid in the effort to secure it. This devout, capable and conscientious "Father in Rome" is a native of Ireland, and was born in County Cavan on June 29, 1850, a son of Walter and Rose (McCormick) Tormey, who were born and reared in the same country and county as himself. The father was farmer, millwright and mill owner, and died a short time before the birth of his son. The mother lived until 1907.

Rev. Father Tormey grew to manhood in his native county. His course of instruction, after the elementary and prejjaratory periods, was all directed toward fitting him for his chosen work as a priest, and some time before it was completed in the merely scholastic department, he had made choice of his future home and field of operation. In 1871 he followed his desire by emigrating to the United States, and soon after his arrival in this country entered St. Bonaventure's College at Allegany, New York, as a student of theology according to the teachings of the Catholic church, and a candidate for admission to its priesthood. He was graduated from that excellent institution in June, 1874, and at once came to Missouri and located in St. Joseph.

On August 6th of that year he was ordained by Bishop Hogan and assigned to missionary work in Atchison and the adjoining counties. He built a church at Phelps and planted a colony at Irish Grove. x\fter remaining at his first assignment three years he was called to St.

Key. Waltek Tokmey

JosejA, where he passed ten months in charge of a parish whose pastor was away on leave of absence for the benefit of his health. On December 31, 1878, he arrived in Brookfield and assumed charge of the church in that city which was founded in 1859, through the admirable zeal and industry of Bishop Hogan.

This parish at that time contained about thirty-five families, and these were not permanent residents, as the region was then in a migratory state. He succeeded, however, in maintaining the size of his congregation, even under such an unfavorable condition, as he was as zealous in securing the newcomers as he was regretful in parting with those who left, and in a short time began to show his efiSciency and influence by making a steady increase in the number of his communicants.

A year or two after his arrival he founded a school, which continued in useful operation for a number of years, and in 1894, by which time the parish had increased the number of its families to one hundred, he built the present church edifice to meet the growing requirements of his congregation. His labors were arduous, and often very trying, but his industry was equal to every demand, and his patience and perseverance overcame all difficulties. The church continued to grow in membership and power, and he constantly gained in influence and popularity.

In 1908 Father Tormey retired from active church work, having been engaged in it continuously for over twenty-four years, and during almost the whole of that period in fields that were new and undeveloped, and which therefore required more than ordinary exertion, adaptability endurance and steadfastness in application. But his usefulness to the church has not been wholly expended in his own charges in its service. He has assisted very materially in building up its strength, exalting its reputation and enriching its conquests in this section of the country generally, and his name is revered among its adherents, as his fidelity, ability, devotion to duty and his high character and the value of his services entitle it to be. He is now the oldest Catholic priest in northern Missouri, except Father Kennedy, of Cliillicothe in Livingston county.

Cornelius Buckley

Although born and reared to the age of twenty years in a foreign land Cornelius Buckley of Yellow Creek township in this county, where he operates a large and productive farm, has shown his deep and abiding interests in the welfare of this country and his ^villingness to risk everything in its defense in the time of war and employ all his energies for its good in time of peace. He has worked at different industries in various parts of the country, helping to magnify its industrial and commercial greatness, and when armed force threatened the destruction of the Union he took his place in the army of defense and helped to save it from that awful disaster, in which the welfare of the whole human family would have been seriously affected and human progress would have been set back and hampered for many years, if not for generations.

Mr. Buckley is a native of County Cork, Ireland, where his life began on October 2.3, 1834. His parents, Cornelius and Mary (Horrigan) Buckley, were also born and reared in that county. There also they were educated and married, and there they died after long years of usefulness, and their remains were buried in the soil that was hallowed by their labors. They were the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter, their son Cornelius being the only one of the three now living.

He remained in his native land until he reached the age of twenty years, then came to the United States, making the trip on a sailing vessel and landing at Boston in 1854. He went at once to Sandwich, Massachusetts, where he woi'ked in a glass factory for five years. In 1859 he came West to Rockford, Illinois, and during the next three years he farmed in the vicinity of that city. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Ninetieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and in that company he served to the close of the Civil War, being mustered out of the army in June, 1865, with the rank of corporal and receiving his discharge in a camp near the city of Washington, after the grand review of the whole Federal army, in which he participated with what was left of his company.

During the war Mr. Buckley took part in the following battles: Coldwater, Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi ; Eesaca, Atlanta, Lovejoy 's Station, Eome, Kenesaw Mountain, Dallas, Jonesboro, Fort Mc- Allister and Savannah, Georgia ; Missionary Ridge and Knoxville, Tennessee; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Bentonville, North Carolina, and many minor engagements. He was in the Fifteenth army corps under General John A. Logan, and his regiment participated in some of the hardest fighting of the war. At Missionary Ridge he was wounded in the left arm.

After his discharge from the army he returned to Rockford, Illinois, and resumed his farming operations. In November, 1867, he moved to this state and took up his residence in Yellow Creek township on a farm which he then purchased and has ever since occupied as his home. His farm now comprises 550 acres, and he has the greater part if it under cultivation. The land was unbroken prairie when he bought it, but his assiduous industry and vigor and skill in cultivating it during the last forty-four years have transformed it into a very productive and highly improved estate, with good buildings and other necessary structures, and it is now one of the most comfortable and valuable country homes in the township.

Mr. Buckley was married on September 29, 1867, to Miss Honora Power, like himself a native of County Cork, Ireland. She came to the United States in 1862 to join a sister here who was then living at Eockford, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Buckley have four children: Mary A., David J., an account of whose life will be found in this history; Cornelius, Jr., and William J. The mother is still living, as are all four of the children. All the members of the family belong to the catholic church. The father is a Democrat in political faith and allegiance and serves his party loyally and with efficiency on all occasions. He has served as township trustee and as a member of the local school board.

Mr. Buckley is well known in all parts of Linn county as an excellent farmer and a wide-awake and progressive citizen, deeply and intelligently interested in every project for the improvement of his locality and always willing to do his full share of the work necessary to promote any commendable undertaking designed to advance its welfare and enhance the substantial and enduring good if its people. Everywhere the residents of the county hold him in high esteem, and he is altogether worthy of the regard and good will they bestow upon him.

David J. Buckley

Having made an excellent record as a public official in different positions in the service of his county and state, and now making one equally as good as an enterprising and progressive farmer, and having in addition wrought well and successfully in business, David J. Buckley of Yellow Creek township, former sheriff of Linn county, has shown and is showing himself to be a resourceful and adaptable man, ready for any duty and well qualified for its faithful and intelligent performance.

Mr. Buckley was born in the township of his present residence on May 29, 1870, and is a son of Cornelius and Honora (Power) Buckley, a sketch of whose lives will be found in this work. He grew to manhood on his native heath and was educated in the district schools in the neighborhood of his father's farm. Until he was thirty-four years old lie remained at home and assisted his father in the labors of cultivating the farm, during the last several years of the time managing the farm on his own account and making a first rate job of it.

In 1901 he was appointed a clerk in the state legislature and served through the session of that year. In 1902 he was made assistant grain inspector from the Kansas City office, and this position he held until the spring of 1903, when he resigned it. The next year, 1904, he was elected sheriff of the county, being the only Democratic candidate who was successful in that election. He served his full term of two years and at the end of it declined a renomination for the office.

In 1907 he moved to Kansas City, this state, and accepted employment with the Kansas City Grain company as weigher and inspector of grain. At the end of eight months he resigned this position to take that of superintendent of the prison barns in Jefferson City. This place was not agreeable to him, and in February, 1909, he gave it up and turned his attention to farming, in which he has ever since been engaged. He has 148 acres of land, all under cultivation, and the farm is well improved with good buildings and other necessary structures. It is completely equipped with all necessary machinery of the most approved modern type, and the work done on it is pushed with A-igor and energy and directed by intelligence and skill according to the most advanced methods of farming.

In politics Mr. Buckley is a pronounced Democrat of strong convictions and great devotion to the interests of his party. He is an active and effective worker for it in all campaigns, and has been a member of its county central committee during the last twelve years and is now the chairman of that body. He served two years as township trustee, an equal length of time as constable, and has been influential in the councils of his party from his early manhood. In church relations he is a Catholic and in fraternal life a Knight of Columbus. He takes an active and serviceable part in the work of each of these organizations, and his membership in them is highly valued by their other members.

On September 8, 1906, Mr. Buckley was united in marriage with Miss Nell Bowyer, a daughter of Thomas B. and Mary A. (Alexander) Bowyer of Linneus, whose lives are briefly given in a sketch of them in another part of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Buckley have two children, their daughter Honora C. and their son John B. The father is well and favorably known throughout the county and in many parts of the state beyond its borders, and everywhere he enjoys the respect and regard of the people in a marked degree because of his genuine worth as a man and citizen.

Thomas B. Glasgow

Although a native of the agricultural county of Chariton in this state, and reared on a farm with no pressing desire to seek any other occupation than that of his forefathers for several generations, Thomas B. Glasgow, one of the best and best known farmers of Yellow Creek township in this county, has had a life of considerable adventure and excitement at times. He has farmed, he has freighted across the plains into the mining regions, and he has lived in a mining camp and been engaged in mining. After it all he returned to farming and has followed that pursuit on the land which he now cultivates and has without interruption for nearly forty-six years.

Mr. Glasgow's life began on July 25, 1844, on his father's farm in Chariton county, and on another belonging to his father in Iowa he lived and worked and attended the country schools until he reached the age of eighteen, having about the same experiences and opportunities as the sons of other farmers in the neighborhood. He is a son of Marmaduke and Elizabeth (Kinney) Glasgow, who came to this state from Richland county, Ohio, making the trip by the river route, down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Missouri, and arriving at their destination in 1839. The father was a farmer in his native state, and he engaged in the same pursuit in this state.

After a residence of about five years in Chariton, and soon after the birth of Thomas, the family moved to a farm near Centreville, Iowa, the county seat of Appanoose county in that state. This farm the father bought after selling the one he owned in Chariton .county in this state. The mother died on the Iowa farm in 1852, and sometime afterward the father married again. He died in 1857. He was the father of five sons and three daughters, all of whom are now deceased but Thomas and his sister, Mrs. Mattie Sevier, who is also a resident of Linn county. The father was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and prominent as a leader in its work.

His son Thomas even in his youth took up the battle of life for himself and ever since has made his own way in the world. In 1862, when he was but eighteen years of age, he engaged in freighting across the plains to Denver, and after following this line of adventurous and often hazardous work for a time, toiled in the mines at Central City, Colorado, in the hope of making a strike and a fortune. But he was not successful in the measure of his hopes and desires, and in 1866 determined to return to farming. The quiet life on a good farm wore a winning smile for him after a few years of the loneliness and danger and hardship of

Accordingly he came back to Missouri and bought a portion of his farm of 880 acres in Yellow Creek township, Linn county. Here he has lived and been energetically and profitably engaged in farming ever since, increasing his acreage and enlarging his operations as he has prospered, and finally making himself one of the leading and most extensive farmers in his township. He has his farm well improved and under an advanced state of cultivation and productiveness, all of which is the result of his ovm energy, industry and excellent management of his affairs.

On June 11, 1875, Mr. Glasgow was married to Miss Emma Anderson, a daughter of John and Mary (Hubbard) Anderson. Two children have been born of the union: Ora B., who is now the wife of Thomas Stauber of St. Catharine, Linn county, and Cora E., who is now the wife of Lawrence Miller of St. Catharine, a sketch of whom will be found in this history. Mr. and Mrs. Glasgow are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

William G. Hughes

Although born and reared in Missouri, William G. Hughes, the present postmaster of Bucklin, has lived in Linn county only sixteen years, but during the whole of his residence in the county has been in business as a leading druggist and conducting the oldest and one of the best established commercial emporiums in the city of his residence at this time. He located in Bucklin on August 14, 1896, and at once bought the pharmacy of W. E. Shook, the first started in the city, and one that has long enjoyed a large trade and great popularity.

Mr. Hughes was born at New Cambria, Macon county, Missouri, on March 23, 1876. He is a son of Hugh H. and Eachel (Williams) Hughes, natives of Wales, the father born at Garthbeibias Dalmaen Parish, in Montgomeryshire, where, for a number of years he was engaged in farming. He came to the United States on May 16, 1841, and first located at Ebensburg, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, where he and his wife were married in September, 1860. They moved to Missouri in 1869 and took up their residence in New Cambria, Macon county, where the father continued his farming operations until his death in August, 1899. The mother died there in 1885.

father was a vocalist and taught singing for over thirty years. His father, whose name was also Hugh Hughes, was born in the same shire as his son, and came to the United States in 1841. He was born in 1790 and died on his farm in Pennsylvania in 1866, at the age of seventy-six and highly respected by all who knew him.

William Q. Hughes grew to manhood and obtained his academic education at New Cambria, attending the common schools. He began making his own living by clerking in a dry goods store for a short time after leaving school. In 1894, when he was eighteen years of age, he entered the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, but was able to remain but one year. Thereafter he worked in East St. Louis for a short time, then went back to the farm and remained until August, 1896, when he came to Bucklin and purchased the drug business which he is still conducting, as has been stated.

On January 22, 1905, he was appointed postmaster of Bucklin, and he has held the ofBce continuously from then to the present time. He has also served as alderman and city assessor one term each, and made a record that was highly commended by the people of the city in each of these offices, as he is doing in that of postmaster. He is conscientious, painstaking and zealous in attention to his official duties, giving every detail of his office his personal care, with as much fidelity and assiduity as he displays in his private business.

Mr. Hughes has been an active and effective working member of the Republican party from the dawn of his manhood. He is also a member of the Order of Freemasons, the Order of Elks and the Order of Odd Fellows, and takes an earnest interest in the work of each of his lodges. He was married on June 10, 1905, to Miss Frances M. Riley, a daughter of Jasper J. and Miriam (Harper) Riley of Richmond in Ray county, this state. Mr. Hughes is a very active and progressive man in regard to the improvement of the community in which he lives, and is universally esteemed by all classes of its people as one of their most worthy and estimable citizens from every point of view, and he is altogether deserving of the rank he holds in the public mind.

Dr. William B. Scott

For about twenty three years busily engaged in an active and extensive practice as a physician and surgeon, and the representative of the third generation of his family as residents of Linn county. Dr. William B. Scott of Bucklin has a special interest in this part of the state, and by his skill and industry in his profession and his high character as a man and usefulness in many ways as a citizen, has endeared himself to the people who have had the benefit of his services, and still have it, and won their esteem to a very unusual degree.

The doctor is a native of Bucklin township, in which almost the whole of his life to this time has been passed, having been born at the old town of Wyandotte on January 8, 1865, the place of his birth before the founding of Bucklin being the only town or semblance of a town within the present limits of the township. It was only a hamlet, and has no present existence save in the memory of the early residents of this section, its site having long been a well improved farm. It is a scene of prosperity and productiveness now, but "all its charms" as a town have fled as completely as those of "Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain," which has been so beautifully emblamed in Goldsmith's undying song.

Dr. Scott is a son of Charles and Susan (Wyatt) Scott, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Missouri. The father came to this state and county with his parents, Bazwell and Clarinda (Carter) Scott, from Virginia in 1855. The family located at Wyandott, where Bazwell Scott became widely known and prominent in the affairs of the township of Yellow Creek, of which Bucklin township was then a part. He engaged in mercantile business there and also cultivated a farm. He was a man of considerable force of character, but held on to customs with great tenacity, once making a trip to his old home in what is now West Virginia on horseback because he was afraid to travel on a railroad. He and his wife were the parents of two sons and eight daughters who grew to maturity. The parents died at Wyandotte and their remains were buried there.

Their son Charles, the doctor's father, also became a farmer near Wyandott, and later kept a general store at Bucklin. He served the community for some years as street commissioner, and died in Bucklin on March 18, 1911. His widow and their four living sons are residents of this county. One other son was born in the family, but he died a number of years ago. The mother is now well advanced in years but still hale and energetic, exhibiting yet much of the spirit of the pioneers, and highly esteemed as one of the most sterling of them in this part of the country.

Dr. Scott grew to manhood in Linn county and obtained the foundation of his academic education in its public schools. He also attended the Kirksville State Normal School, and after leaving it taught school two years. In 1886 he began studying medicine in the office of his uncle, Dr. J. C. Scott, at St. Catharine, and the next year entered the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis as a student. He was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. in 1889 and at once begin practicing his profession at Bucklin, where he remained continuously until 1901. In that year he went to Oklahoma and for a period of about 10 months held a claim on a tract of government land, but while there also engaged in practice.

In 1902 he returned to Bucklin, and there he has made his home ever since. From 1892 to 1901 he was in the drug trade in Bucklin, but since his return he has devoted himself exclusively to his practice, which has been sufficient in its demands to take all his time and attention. He is still an industrious and reflective student of his profession, keeping in touch with its best literature and availing himself of all means of his command to improve his knowledge of it in theory and practice. He is an active and attentive member of the American Medical Association and the State, County and Grand Eiver Medical societies, securing what information he can from each and contributing to the interest and value of their proceedings in response to every demand they make upon him.

In 1910 the doctor was appointed surgeon for the railroads at Bucklin, and has since held that important and highly useful position and performed its duties with satisfaction to the railroad companies and the general public, and he has also continued his general practice with great industry and zealous attention to its needs. He does not, however, neglect the duties of citizenship and takes part in political affairs as a firm and faithful adherent of the Democratic party. As such he was elected county coroner in 1892 and held the office until 1894. During his tenure of it he conducted the inquest on the Meeks family and secured the first evidence against the Taylor boys. For details of this case consult the general history of Linn county in another part of this volume. He was also appointed local register of the state board of health in 1910, and is still holding that very needful and serviceable position.

Dr. Scott was married on April 10, 1894, to Miss Laura Bell, who is also a native of this county. They have three children, their daughters May and Cora Bell and their son William B., Jr. In the fraternal life of the community the doctor has many connections, being a member of the Masonic Order, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the

Col. Thaddeus J. Stauber

A minister of the gospel for many years until his voice failed him, and even after that disaster giving considerable time and attention to evangelical work in the locality of his home; a gallant and intrepid Union soldier during the Civil War, in which he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by the value and fidelity of his services ; a farmer in St. Charles county of this state for a time; a vigorous and prolific editor of an influential paper, and then, until the end of his life one of the leading farmers of Yellow Creek township in this county, the late Col. Thaddeus Stauber was a very useful man in many localities and in a variety of serviceable occupations, in all of wliich he was true to every duty.

Colonel Stauber was born in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, on April 25, 1825, and was a son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (McCord) Stauber, also natives of that state. The father was a manufacturing hatter and carried on an enterprise in that line at Lewistown, Pennsylvania, for many years. He moved to Missouri in 1866 and located in this county on a farm one mile and a half north of St. Catharine, where he lived about fifteen years. At the end of that period he changed his residence to Topeka, Kansas, and there he died. His wife died in Scotland county, this state. They had four sons and four daughters who grew to maturity, but none of them resides in Linn county at this time (1912).

Thaddeus J. Stauber was reared in his native county and prepared himself for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. For some years he was attached to the Baltimore conference of that denomination and filled appointments under its assignment. In 1853 he went to the Berryville, Virginia, circuit, where he remained engaged in the active work of the ministry for one year, then lost his voice and was compelled to retire from the service of the church for a time. In 1858 he came to Missouri and took up his residence on a farm near Flint Hill in St. Charles county, which he cultivated two years, and at the same time rendered the community surrounding him good service as a local preacher.

seat of the adjoining county of Lincoln, and this newspaper he edited and published until the beginning of the Civil War. He was ardentlyattached to the Union and when armed hostilities threatened its disniemberment he felt it his duty to go to its defense. . Accordingly, in the fall of 1861 he enlisted under Col. John B. Henderson and was stationed in Pike county. A short time afterward he was appointed provost marshal of Calloway county.

While performing the duties of this office he was taken prisoner by a company of bushwhackers, but made his escape from them and then determined to raise a regiment of his own. With this end in view he came to Linn county and recruited the Forty-sixth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, of which he was made lieutenant-colonel, and which he served in that position to the close of the war, when he was mustered out of the service with the rank that had been conferred upon him when he raised the regiment.

In 1865, after his discharge from the army, he returned to this county and bought 140 acres of land in Yellow Creek township, to which he moved his family the next year. He resided on this farm until his death on September 4, 1893, and raised it to a high state of improvement and productiveness, making it one of the best and most attractive farms, of its size in the township of its location. For he farmed as he preached and fought with all his faculties alert and studious of his work and all his powers energetically employed in performing it.

Col. Stauber was married on October 24, 1854, to Miss Margaret Burwell, a native of Virginia. They had six children, four of whom are living : Ealph 0., who is a lawyer in St. Joseph, Missouri ; Edward B., who is a resident of the state of Idaho ; Nannie B., who is now the wife of C. Maddox of this county ; and Thomas M., who is engaged in farming in Linn county. The mother is still living and has her home at the old homestead.

Colonel Stauber was a firm and faithful Eepublican in his political faith and attachment, and an ardent and efficient worker for the good of his party. He was chosen as its candidate to represent Linn county in the state legislature in 1869, and made an excellent record for good service in that body. He always had the enduring welfare of Linn county and his state at heart, and suffered nothing to divert him from striving to promote that, without regard to personal or other considerations. He was a Freemason in fraternal relations and continued in the work of his church as a local preacher until a few years before his death. Throughout Linn county he was well and favorably known and

George A. Haley

Although not a native of Linn comity or the state of Missouri, or even of the United States, George A. Haley, one of the leading farmers of Marceline township, has been a resident of the county for over fortyone years, and all of the time on the farm on which he now lives. He is one of the few and fast-fading old settlers of this locality who are left to tell the story of the early days, when he, with others, laid the foundations of the present civilization and industrial and mercantile development, as he came to this region soon after Marceline was laid out and started on its career of startling progress and rapid growth.

Mr. Haley was born in Ontario county, province of Ontario, Canada, on October 3, 1843. He is a brother of Dr. Robert Haley of Brookfield, in a sketch of whose life, to be found elsewhere in this volume, the family history is given. In his native country the young Canadian reached his maturity and obtained his education, finishing at first rate schools in Toronto, and after leaving school he farmed in Ontario until 1870. In that year he moved to this state and located on a tract of 190 acres of wild land in what is now Marceline township, which he bought.

His subsequent years in the county have been devoted to improving this land, bringing it to an advanced state of productiveness, equipping it with everything required for its best cultivation and enriching it with a comfortable dwelling, commodious barns and all the other structures needed for the proper use and development of its resources. He has applied his energies to these demands in all their phases and features, and has thereby made his farm one of the most valuable and desirable in the township of its location, and one that is a fair representative of the best and most valuable in the county.

Mr. Haley was married on April 14, 1867, to Miss Hannah Mc- Kenzie, like himself, a native of Canada, where the nuptials were solemnized. They have had two children, their daughter Margaret, who is living at home with her parents, and their son Arthur M., who has died. He grew to manhood, and at the time of his death was the husband of an estimable lady, whose maiden name was Alice Swan. The mother of these children died in the year 1906.

the best for the country, and embody the best theory and the most satisfactory guarantee of good government. He has no political ambition on his own part, and no desire whatever for public office of any kind. His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church, and in all the good work it undertakes for the benefit of his community he has an earnest interest and an active part.

Mr. Haley has been earnest in his desire and sedulous in his efforts to aid in promoting the substantial and enduring welfare of his township and county, and to this end has never stayed his hand when good work in their behalf was to be done. Whatever the project, if it involved advancement for the people, he has been at the front with good adice and ready assistance, and the other residents of the locality have Avitnessel his public spirit and have not withheld their commendation of it, and his generous devotion to the public weal in all respects. Th^y look upon him as one of their most progressive, useful and representative citizens, and they esteem him cordially in accordance with this estimate.

Lawrence Miller

Not far beyond the full maturity of his manhood in years, but ripe in business training and exi^erience, Lawrence Miller, one of the leading merchants of Linn county, with a large and active general store in the town of St. Catharine, is a very useful, public spirited and progressive citizen and one of the best known and most highly esteemed men in this part of the state of Missouri. While not a native of Linn. county, he has lived in it from the time when he was four years old and been in business among its people continuously for nearly fifteen years. The strong regard felt for him is therefore based on a thorough knowledge of his worth, and the wide popularity he enjoys is due to his genial nature, his warm interest in the welfare of his township and county and his energy in striving to promote it.

Mr. Miller was born in Miami county, Indiana, on July 1, 1877. His parents, George B. and Nancy E. (Petty) Miller, are also natives of that state, the father having been born in Miami county in 1841 and the mother in Wabash county in 1847. The father grew to manhood in his native state and began life as a farmer there. In 1862 he enlisted as a soldier for the Union in Company H, Eighty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he served to the end of the war and was then discharged with the rank of corporal, to which he was promoted

His regiment was in the very thick of the fight during almost all of the four years' conflict and he saw a great deal of active service. He saw and partook of all the horrors of the deluge of death at Gettysburg, was with Sherman in his historic march to the sea, and participated in many other renowned engagements of the momentous sectional strife which so nearly rent our stricken land asunder and cost so much in blood and treasure, but which settled forever some of the most troublesome problems of statecraft our country has ever known.

In 1867 he came to this county and engaged in farming until 1873. In that year he returned to Indiana, where he remained until 1881 and followed the same pursuit. In the year last mentioned he again became a resident of Linn county, and came to stay, as he bought a farm in Locust Creek township, which he lived on and farmed until 1897. In that year, in association with his son Lawrence, he started the mercantile enterprise at St. Catharine which the latter is now .conducting on his own account, having bought the business from his father in 1901.

The father was postmaster of St. Catharine seven years, and always, from the time of his second arrival in the coimty, has been a man of prominence and influence in its affairs, political and material. He is a member of the Masonic order, and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. They are now living retired in Brookfield, with three sons and four daughters alive devoted to their welfare and zealous in doing them reverence and augmenting their happiness. The grandfather, Miller, was born and reared in Kentucky and moved from that state to Indiana at an early date, and there he died.

Lawrence Miller gTew from the age of four years to manhood in Linn county and was educated in its public schools. He assisted his father on the home farm until 1897, when together they inaugurated the general merchandising enterprise at St. Catharine which is still in the family name. The father and son conducted the business together for six years. The son then bought the father's interest in the business, and since that time he has carried it on alone, as has been stated.

The progress of the firm in trade and the expansion of its business were such that in 1908 it was obliged to secure more commodious and convenient quarters, and in that year the present store building, Avhich is 30" by 90 feet in dimensions, was erected to meet the requirements. Since then the growth in business has steadily continued, and it now amounts to over $30,000 a year. The territory covered by the trade has greatly enlarged, the reputation of the store in the mercantile world has risen to a high point, its popularity has extended widely and been considerably intensified, and the number of its patrons has increased by leaps and bounds from year to year. For it is conducted on an elevated plane of integrity, progressiveness and consideration for the wants of the purchasing public in every respect.