Linn County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 13 of 15)

William A. Borland, as has been noted, came to Linn county with his parents after attaining his majority. He remained at home with his parents after their arrival in this county and helped to clear and farm the wild land on which the family located. Prior to this, however, he left his Ohio home for a time in the service of his country, enlisting in 1862 in Company D, Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served to the close of the war, three years in all. He took part in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky; the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and the hard fought conflict in Nashville, Tennessee, and also participated in numerous engagements of a less important character. After the war was over he returned to his Ohio home, and since then has always been engaged in general farming on a progressive scale.

Mr. Borland was married on January 4, 1880, to Miss Ida Norvell, a daughter of Francis Norvell, who came to Linn county from Kentucky in 1845. One child has been born of the union, a daughter named Gertie, who is now the wife of Oliver Harvey. In political faith and allegiance Mr. Borland is a Republican and loyal at all times to the principles of his party. In church connection he is a Presbyterian and his wife a Baptist. They are true to their church duties, as they are to all others, being excellent citizens and warmly and practically interested in the progress and further development of their township and county and the promotion of their welfare in every way. They are favorably known throughout Linn county and in every part of it are highly respected. They are prosperous in their business, too, and esteemed wherever they are known as good farmers, whose work is an example to the people around them and whose general worth is highly commendable. Clay township has no better citizens, and none for whom the people generally have a higher regard. They are modest as to their merits, but their friends and acquaintances everywhere know how to estimate them properly.

Harvey S. Johnson

Although young yet in years, Harvey S. Johnson, county clerk of Linn county, has been well prepared by education and training in official duties for the position he now holds, and is filling with such entire satisfaction to the people. They note his capacity, his fidelity to duty, his obliging disposition and his careful attention to their interests and

Mr. Johnson is a native of "the dark and bloody ground," Kentucky, which has made a spectacular figure in every phase of our history, and won great renown for its people in each of them. He was born in Fleming county of that state on April 2, 1880, but became a resident of Missouri and Linn county when he was but four years old. His parents, Benjamin F. and Mary (Dillon) Johnson, were prosperous farmers in Kentucky until the spring of 1884, when they moved to this county and located on a farm a short distance east of the town of Browning, and began farming operations according to the most advanced and approved methods of this period. The father is also extensively engaged in rearing and dealing in cattle and mules.

The son began his education in the rural schools of Linn county and completed it at the Chillicothe Normal School, which he attended in 1898 and 1899. After leaving that institution he returned to his home on his father's farm, and during the next two years did his part of the work of cultivating it and pushing forward its development and improvement. He determined to try his hand in another line of endeavor, and in 1901 entered mercantile life at Browning. He followed this with a gratifjnng measure of success until 1903, when he was appointed deputy county clerk by Benjamin B. Edwards, then county clerk, but in failing health.

He entered upon his duties with alacrity, and in a short time exhibited so thorough a mastery of the requirements of the office that when Mr. Edwards died, ending a very useful and appreciated life and public service of a high order, the governor of the state readily yielded to the preponderating voice of the people, and appointed the deputy to serve out the unexpired term. When the time came for another election, in 1906, the action of the governor was fully justified by the people of the county, who elected Mr. Johnson for the succeeding term in the office.

In politics Mr. Johnson is a Democrat and always loyal to his party and energetic and effective in its service. As a citizen he is progressive, public-spirited and enterprising, enthusiastic in his support of every worthy undertaking for the development and improvement of the county and the betterment of its people. But he applies his energies in this behalf with intelligence and judgment, and seeks the advancement of his locality only along lines of wholesome progress, involving enduring Avelfare and substantial advantages of permanent value.

Eugene Stuetevant

and a fruitful contributor to their enjoyment. He is a gentleman of high character, superior intelligence and a most genial and companionable nature. In every relation of life he is a type of the best citizenship of Linn county, of western push, enterprise and resourcefulness, of patriotic devotion to the interests of his country - of elevated American manhood in every way, and he is universally appreciated and esteemed as such wherever he is known and by the people of all classes and conditions.

Eugene Sturtevant

While himself a man of peace, with all his years and energies to the present time (1912) employed in the domain of production, Eugene Sturtevant, one of the leading farmers and stock men of the Grantsville township, this county, comes of a martial strain, his father having been a soldier in the Civil War and his grandfather one in the War of 1812. He would not hesitate to follow their examples if occasion required it, but happily in his day there has been no great demand for volunteers to either defend the country from foreign invasion or the Union from dismemberment.

Mr. Sturtevant is a native of Sandusky county, Ohio, born on July 19, 1857, and one of the two living children and sons of Lyman and Elsie Jane (George) Sturtevant. The father was born on October 17, 1837, in Jefferson county. New York, and was reared there until he reached the age of seventeen. About 1854 the family moved to Sandusky county, Ohio, and there, having completed his education in the district schools of his native county, he worked on his father's farm for some years. At the beginning of the Civil War, when that tornado of death and disaster burst forth on the country, he promptly joined the forces mustering for the defense of the Union, and the next three years found him in the army, and facing death on many a sanguinary field of bitter conflict. As a member of Company A 72 Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving three years with the army of the Potomac, taking part in the batle of the Wilderness, Petersburg and others.

After the term of his service expired he returned to his Ohio home, and in 1870 moved to Missoiiri and took up his residence in Linn county about seven miles north of Brookfield, and devoted his attention to farming. He was married on December 10, 1855, to Miss Elsie Jane George, and they became the parents of three children, two of whom are living, Eugene and Ms brother M. G., a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. The father was for many years one of the most active and serviceable members of the Grand Army of the Republic in this part of the country, holding his membership in the Post located in Brookfield.

Eugene Sturtevant was thii'teen years old when his parents moved from their old Ohio home to their new one in this county. Here he grew to manhood and completed his education, turning his attention to farming, the occupation of his forefathers for several generations, as soon as he left school. He now owns a farm of 280 acres seven miles north of Brookfield, which is near the old family homestead and one of the best in the township. Its natural richness and fertility have been increased by the careful and intelligent cultivation bestowed on it, and the buildings and other improvements are in keeping with the rest of its attractions and elements of value, which are all of a high order.

OnFebruary 15, 1880, Mr. Sturtevant yvas united in marriage with Miss Zylpha D. Lambert, and they became the parents of one child, their daughter Mabel Eugenia, who is now (1912) traveling in Europe She is a graduate of the Law Department of State University and was the successful contestant as best law student open to all nations, for a trip around the world. Having lost his first wife, the father, on February 23. 1895, married a second, uniting himself at this time with Miss Mary J. Thompson. They also have one child, their son Roy L., who is living at home with his parents, and assisting in the work on the farm and the management of the extensive business in rearing and feeding cattle for the markets, which his father has been conducting during the last twenty years or longer.

Mr. Sturtevant 's paternal grandfather, Charles Sturtevant, who was a man of much more than ordinary intelligence, force of character and influence, was born in Jefferson county. New York, and moved to Sandusky county, Ohio, in 1846, and died there on November 10, 1863. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, as has been stated, and at all times, in war and peace, took an earnest interest in the welfare of his country, and employed all his energies in seeking to promote it. He filled a number of local oflSces while living in New York, and rose to prominence among the people of his county, as he did among those of his new locality in Ohio. His public spirit and breadth of view made him a leader, and his intelligence and energy in carrying out whatever he undertook sustained him in that relation to his commimity, wherever he lived. His memory is still warmly cherished in Ohio, and the beneficial force of his example as a citizen is often referred to in the section of the state in which he passed the last years of his useful and appreciated life.

Mr. Eugene Sturtevant has served four years as trustee of Grantsville T. P. and as collector for two years and a member of the T. P. board for the Post six years. In politics he is a Eepublican, and is also a member of I. 0. 0. F. Wife is member of Baptist church.

Howard T. Murrain

It is not surprising that the leading industry of Linn countj'' is farming, and it would not be if there were other great industries available from mineral deposits or other sources. For the land is so fertile and responsive, the climate is so genial and uniform from year to year, and the seasons are so regular in circuit and character that farming is a pleasure, and under any kind of ordinary circumstances is almost certain to be profitable in this part of the great state of Missouri. Men of almost every taste and condition in life turn to agriculture in this locality as the pursuit most likely to bring them good returns for their labor and least likely to delude them with false hopes.

Among the men who have found this domain of human endeavor profitable and reliable, Howard T. Murrain, of Locust Creek township, who lives in the vicinity of Purdin, is prominent and has made an excellent record as a progressive and successful farmer. He was born in this county in 1860, and is a son of George and Louisa (Turner) Murrain, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a farmer, and came with his father, Gilliam Murrain, to Missouri and Linn county in 1837. The family located north and east of Linneus, where the grandfather of Howard cleared a farm, carving it out of the wilderness, and transforming its unpruned luxuriance of production into succeeding harvests of the fruits of systematic cultivation.

Gilliam Murrain was a soldier in the War of 1812, and when a young man was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Mitchell. They had three sons and six daughters that grew to maturity. Their son George was reared from an early age to manhood in this county, and was married here. During the earlier part of the Civil War he served in the home militia, and while in that service died from the effects of exposure in 1862. The mother and three of their four children, Mrs. Emma Shoup, of Hamilton, Missouri, and Mrs. D. L. Marshall, of Brookfield, Missouri, are living. The mother's father, Absalom Turner, died in Kentucky, and a few years later his widow married as her second husband Benjamin Burt, who came to Linn county to live in

Howard T. Murrain grew to manhood in this county and obtained his education in the Linneus schools. While attending school he worked on the farms, and after completing his education continued to do so until he took up the struggle for advancement among men for himself. Then, being trained to farming, he sought no other occupation, and this he has adhered to ever since. By his energy, thrift and good management he has made his calling profitable and himself one of the substantial farmers of his township. He has also been prominent in the public affairs of the township, serving it as collector for a number of years.

Politically Mr. Murrain trains with the Eepubliean party, but, while he is always eager for its success because he is a firm believer in its principles, he is not an active partisan. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally he belongs to the Order of Odd Fellows. On May 6, 1894, he was married to Miss Nellie Purdin, a daughter of Alexander and Susan M. (Southerland) Purdin, and by this marriage has become the father of two children, his son Alexander T. and his daughter Edma L. His farm is proof of his skill and vigor, his intelligence and his progressiveness as a farmer, and the general esteem in which he is held shows his high standing as a man and a citizen.

Lee A. Wilson

Of Virginia ancestry, Ohio parentage and Linn county, Missouri, nativity, Lee A. Wilson, a prominent and successful farmer of Clay township, is connected in his family history with three of the great commonwealths of the American LTnion, and his record shows that he possesses many of the salient characteristics which distinguish the residents of them all. By inheritance and training he has the traits prominent in the two older states, and by actual residence among the people of Missouri he has acquired the habits and customs peculiar to them, the aspirations they cherish, the motives which impel them and the state pride they so justly feel.

Mr. Wilson was born in this county on January 4, 1883. His parents, Enoch G. and Amy (Marple) Wilson, were therefore not early arrivals here and do not rank among the county's revered pioneers. But they were excellent citizens of their day and esteemed as such. They were natives of Licking county, Ohio, where the father was born in 1833 and the mother a few years later. They grew to maturity in their native state and were married there in 1864. The father was a school teacher in that state and also did some farming there. One year after his marriage he and his young wife came to Missouri and located in Livingston county, where they lived fifteen years on a farm they redeemed from the wilderness and develojied into value.

In 1880 they moved to this county and took up their residence on the farm in Clay township now owned and cultivated by their son Lee. It, also was unimproved when they took possession of it, and they erected the buildings and made the other improvements on it, having bought the land in its totally uncultivated state. On this farm the father died in 1889. Their offspring numbered four: Lillian, who is now the widow of W. J. McCollum; Eliza B., who is the wife of Francis W. Thompson and has her home with him in the state of Oklahoma; Nellie, who married Joseph Perry and now lives in Linn county; and Lee A.

The father always took an active and serviceable part in the affairs of the locality in which he lived. He served as assessor and collector of taxes while living in Livingston county, and in every other way open to him contributed to the welfare and advancement of his home township there and here. Fraternally he was a Freemason and in religious affiliation was connected with the Methodist Episcopal church. The grandfather was born and reared in Virginia and moved to Ohio in his young manhood. He passed the remainder of his life farming in that state and died in Newark, Licking county, well advanced in years.

Lee A. Wilson has passed the whole of his life to this time [1912) in Linn county. He was educated in the public schools and from the dawn of his manhood has been engaged in farming on the land his father redeemed from the wilderness. He has been successful in his operations, and is accounted one of the best farmers in Clay township. He is also one of the township's most appreciated and acceptable citizens, with warm interest in its welfare and the progress and benefit of its residents in every way. He is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church.

In 1906 Mr. Wilson was united in marriage with Miss Ocie C. Good, a daughter of Simon and Lula (Allen) Good, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have one child, their daughter Hazel. Their farm is a monument of their enterprise and thrift. Their upright lives are creditable to the citi- zensMp of Linn county, and the universal esteem in which they are held is not only a proof of their merit but also of the ex,eellence of the people around them, who know how to appreciate genuine worth.

James A. Neal

One of the names which sparkle with undimming luster all through the early chronicles of Linn county is that of Neal, and it was the patronymic of members of the family to which the pleasing subject of this brief record belongs. They were early arrivals in the county, John M. Neal locating in what is now Clay township in 1836, and other members of the family coming either with him or soon after his arrival. They were men of mold and became prominent and influential in the civil affairs of the county in their day, leaving their impress on the life of this region in indelible characters, all of which are entirely to their credit.

James A. Neal was himself an early settler in the county, locating within its limits in 1841, and on the Clay township faiin on which he passed the remainder of his long and useful life in 1842. He was born at Georgetown, Scott county, Kentucky, on June 8, 1811, and died on his farm in this county in 1898, at the advanced age of eighty-seven, and after a residence of fifty-seven years in Linn county. His parents were Presley and Frances (Mackintosh) Neal, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father moved to Kentucky late in the eighteenth century, and there the mother died. The father continued to farm in that state until the burden of years rendered him incapable of further active labor. He then came to this county to live with his son James, and on the farm of the latter he died in 1868.

His father, Daniel Neal, the grandfather of James, was a Revolutionary soldier and served throughout the war for American independence. He was conspicuous in the battle of Brandywine, near Philadelphia, in September, 1777, in which the gallant La Fayette was seriously wounded. A spectacle case made by this Revolutionary patriot is still in the possession of the family, and kept as one of its most cherished heirlooms. The father of James A. Neal was married three times, and his offspring numbered seven, four sons and three daughters, all now deceased.

ward returned to Kentucky. In 1836 he came again to this state and took up his residence in Kansas City, where he remained until 1839, working on the Shawnee Indian Mission, where Indians were instructed during the thirties. After passing about two years more in Kentucky he came a third time to Missouri, arriving in Linn county in 1841 with the intention of remaining.

The next year he took up a tract of wild land from the government and to the improvement of this he devoted the rest of his life. He cleared and broke up his land, and by continuous and wisely applied industry made his farm one of the most productive and valuable of its size in the county. He lived to see the region he entered when it was a wilderness, with only a log cabin here and there, and all its possibilities as yet undeveloped, or nearly so, well populated, highly improved and far advanced on a career of vast progress and usefulness. Before he departed this life he saw the erstwhile unpruned and untamed growth of centuries replaced by the golden harvests of systematic industry, the once unbroken expanse of woods and prairie made over into rich and fruitful farms, all the products of civilization expanding their benefits around him, and the whole region the home of an enterprising, ambitious, self-reliant and patriotic people. And it is greatly to his credit that he did his full share toward bringing about the vast and highly gratifying change of conditions.

Mr. Neal was married in Linn county in 1842 to Miss Elizabeth Eussell, a daughter of Thomas and Sophia (Mullins) Russell, early Linn county pioneers. Mrs. Neal survived her husband four years, her life having ended in 1902. Their offspring numbered fourteen, and eleven of them are living : Sarah, Presley, Clinton, Clayton, Mary, Martha, La Fayette, James, Joseph, Sophia and William. Sarah is the wife of George W. Myers, of Peoria, 111., and Sophia, widow of John W. Humphfres, who resides in Meadville, Nebraska.

In the public affairs of the county Mr. Neal always took an active part during his years of vigor and energy. He served as sheriff from 1865 to 1869, and during the Civil War was in the state militia taking part in all it had to do in the troublous and turbulent years of the great strife between the sections of our then torn and bleeding country. For a long time he and his wife were among the most attentive, serviceable and devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally he was connected with the Order of Odd Fellows for more than half a century. He fell into his long sleep in the fullness of years and after having enjoyed for nearly three score the unstinted esteem and, during

Stephen F. Baskett

Among the advanced, progressive and studious farmers of Linn county Stephen F. Baskett holds a high rank, being regarded, not only in his own township of Clay, but throughout the county as one of the leading men in his business. He began farming on his own account at the age of twenty-one, and has been engaged in this occupation ever since. He has therefore had long experience in the business, and he has, in addition, made a study of it and kept in touch with its advancement in every way.

Mr. Baskett is a native of Sullivan county, Missouri, and was born near Fields' mill on November 28, 1867. His parents, George P. and Mary E. (Fields) Baskett, were also born in Missouri, the former in Sullivan county and the latter in Linn county. The father's life began in 1845. He was educated there, and in 1862, when he was but seventeen years of age, enlisted in defense of the Union in Company A, Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was soon in the midst of hostilities and was kept in active field service to the end of the war. Mr. Baskett took part in the battle of Shiloh and many other important engagements.

After the close of the war he returned home and changed his residence to Linn county a few years later. He died here on March 19, 1888. The mother is still living. Of the ten children born to them seven are living, and all of them are residents of Linn county. The father served as township clerk and in other local offices. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was a man of prominence and influence in his township, and was regarded as one of its most estimable citizens.

The grandfather, Stephen J. Baskett, came to Missouri from Kentucky when he was a young man and located in Sullivan county. He was a merchant and farmer. Late in life he came to Linn county, and here he died well advanced in years. He was thrice married, his first wife being a Miss Slaughter, who was a native of Howard county, this state. They became the parents of two sons and four daughters.

Stephen F. Baskett was brought by his parents to Linn county at an early age. He grew to manhood here and was educated in the district schools. At the age of twentj^-one he started his life work as a farmer, and he has never had or sought any other occupation. This has been entirely to his taste, and he has so conducted his operations in it that he has made it very profitable in a pecuniary way, and secured for himself a high and widespread reputation for his capacity and skill as a farmer.

On Februarj'' 21, 1892, Mr. Baskett was united in marriage with Miss Martha E. Smith, a daughter of Daniel Smith, who was born in Ohio and became a resident of Linn county in 1876. No children have been born of the union. Mr. Baskett takes an active interest in the public affairs of his township and county. He has served as township collector, and in other ways has rendered the locality of his home excellent and valued service. He is always zealous and energetic in promoting the progress of this part of the state, and his zeal and energy are at all times guided by intelligence and inspired by an earnest desire for the lasting good and general welfare of the community. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows, and his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, which he also attends. They both take an active part in church work. Mr. Baskett has ever been a great lover of music, and for a number of years taught vocal music at nights in connection with his farm work, and still takes an active part in drilling voices for special work. He is also warm and practical in the support of his fraternity. Every interest of the county has his ardent aid, and no duty of citizenship is too burdensome for his faithful performance of it, or too small for his attention. He is one of the most representative men in his township.

Seth Griffeth

Made an orphan at the age of three years by the death of his father, and consequently thrown on his own resources at an early age, Seth Griffeth, one of the best known and most prosperous farmers in Clay township, this county, has made an excellent record and proved that he contained in his make-up the elements of self-reliance and resourcefulness which fitted him for any emergency and enabled him to command circumstances to his purposes and make them minister to his advancement.

Mr. Griffeth is a native of Missouri, born in Sullivan county on October 19, 1861. His parents, Wesley and Sarah (Wilsey) Griffeth, were born and reared in Pike county, Illinois. The father was a farmer and followed Ms chosen occupation in his native state until about 1857, when he moved to this state and took up his residence on a tract of unbroken prairie land in Sullivan county. He improved this property and made a good farm of it, living on it until his death, in 1864. The farm is fourteen miles west of Milan, and is now one of the most desirable in that part of the county. During the Civil War the father served in the state militia in this state. The mother is still living and has her home now at Parsons, Kansas, where she has been living a number of years.

They were the parents of two sons and three daughters. Two of the daughters have died. The father was a hunter of considerable local celebrity. Game was plentiful in Sullivan county when he located there, and he was very successful and skillful in securing hosts of tributes to his alertness in the chase, especially deer and wild turkeys. His wife was a devoted member of the Christian church and took a cordial and helpful interest in the welfare of the congregation to which she belonged.

His son Seth grew to manhood in Pike county, Illinois, and obtained his education there. In 1880 he returned to Missouri, and during the next sixteen years lived on the old homestead in Sullivan county. In 1896 he moved to Linn county and has lived ever since on the farm in Clay township which he now owns and cultivates, and which he has brought to a high degree of improvement and productiveness. He is a capable and wideawake farmer, studies his land and its needs and keeps in touch with the advances in the science of agriculture, and he makes his farming pay him good returns for the labor and care bestowed upon it.

Mr. Griffeth was married in Sullivan county in 1888 to Miss Mary Walker, a daughter of Frank and Jane (Hoover) Walker, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. Mr. Walker located in Sullivan county in 1841, taking up a tract of government land on which he passed the rest of his life. Mr. and Mrs. Griffeth have had five children, three of whom are living: William G., I. Trussell and Arthur F. Their mother had two children by a former marriage : Jane E. Clevenger and Edith M., the latter being now the wife of Eberly Dennis, of Linn county. All the members of the family belong to the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

They are well and favorably known throughout the county and stand high in the regard of the people in every part of it. They have lived uprightly, taken a serviceable interest in every public need of their township and county, performed all the duties of good citizenship with fidelity, and given excellent examples of manhood and womanhood to the people living around them, in every way. Among the sterling and sturdy residents of Clay township they are in the first rank, and no family in the locality of their home is held in higher esteem, and none deserves to be.

Orsa A. Potter

For a number of years a prosperous farmer of the rich prairie soil of central Illinois, and since 1904 engaged in tilling that of a fine farm of 240 acres in Jefferson township, this county, which is in many respects more desirable than almost anything his native state has to offer in the same line, Orsa A. Potter has devoted all his time and energies from his youth to the vocation of the old patriarchs of sacred history, and has found it both pleasing in pursuit and profitable in results.

Mr. Potter was born in Shelby county, Illinois, on February 10, 1870, a son of William and Sarah (Barrett) Potter, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. The family name was originally Potterf , and the early members of the family in this country made honorable records in colonial and Revolutionary history under that name. Mr. Potter's parents were farmers. The father journeyed on horseback from his Ohio home to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1850, and there broke up a tract of wild prairie, which, by industry and good management, he transformed into a valuable and productive farm. He then repeated this performance on another tract, and after such and other signal service to the region laid down his trust, dying in 1899. The mother survived him seven years, passing away in 1906. The father was a Republican in political faith and always effectively serviceable to his party.

His father, Samuel Potterf, was a son of Jasper Potterf, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, who defended the cause of the American colonies through its successions of brightness and gloom from the time Avhen the war began until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, at which he was present, and which he helped to bring about. He was a sharp shooter in the service, and many a haughty British officer was forced to bite the dust in obedience to a summons from his unerring rifle. After the war he settled in Ohio, and there he passed the remainder of his days.

obtained his education in the country schools in the neighborhood of its location. After leaving school he farmed in the same county on his own account until 1904, when he came to Missouri and Linn county and bought the farm of 240 acres which he now owns, occupies and cultivates in Jefferson township. He has his land all brought to an advanced state of productiveness and the farm well improved with good buildings. He studies his business and keeps in touch with the latest discoveries and methods in farming, and is known far and wide as one of the enterprising, progressive and successful farmers of this part of northern Missouri.

He carries on general farming operations as extensively as the size of his farm will permit, and in addition conducts a flourishing and expanding business in breeding Hereford cattle and Percheron horses. By this industry he has done a great deal to improve the live stock in his township and county, and thereby been of considerable service to the people around him. He has also made the business profitable to himself by giving every detail of its management the most careful and studious attention, thereby winning for himself and his output a high and widespread reputation, he being everywhere considered a careful, judicious and reliable breeder of high grade live stock.

Mr. Potter was married on September 14, 1892, to Miss Alfaretta Pogue, a native of Shelby county, Illinois, and a daughter of Hiram and Eachel (Hunt) Pogue (Rachel Hunt's parents were Quakers of Indiana), early settlers in that county and both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Potter have one child, their son Loren W., who still abides with them under the parental rooftree, and assists his father in the work of the farm and the stock breeding industry.

Mr. Potter is a firm and faithful Republican in political relations, and at all times zealously loyal and serviceable to liis party, although he has no desire for anything it has to bestow in the way of public office. His farming and his live stock industry occupy his time and attention, except what is necessary for social requirements and the duties of citizenship, and he prefers to leave the administration of public affairs to those who have a taste and desire for it. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious afiiliation belongs to the Methodist church in Laclede. He is an excellent farmer, a wise and successful stock breeder, a sterling and progressive citizen and an upright and straightforward man, and the residents of Linn county esteem him in every locality in accordance with this estimate.

John W. Lockhart

Prominent as one of the leading farmers of Clay township in this county, held in high esteem as a capable and successful school teacher for many years, and revered for his religious services as a local preacher, John W. Lockhart is altogether worthy of the rank he holds in the estimation of the people, as is shown by his success and achievements in his several vocations, his high character and his faithful performance of all the duties of citizenship in behalf of his township and county.

Mr. Lockhart, although not "native here, and to the manor born," his life having begun in Henry county, Illinois, on April 10, 1864, is as warmly interested in the progress and development of Linn county as if he were a son of its soil. In fact, he has drawn his stature and his strength from that soil, for he has lived in Clay township from the time when he was four years old, and scai'cely remembers any other home. He is a son of John W. and Elizabeth (Hull) Lockhart, natives of Virginia, the father born in Rappahannock county on June 13, 1818, and the mother in the same county on June 18, 1835.

The father was a wagon maker and a first rate workman at the craft. In the fifties, sometime, he moved his family to Henry county, Illinois, where he farmed and did repair work at his trade until 1868, when he came to Missouri and located in Linn county. He bought a tract of wild land in Clay township which he cleared and improved, making it over into a first rate farm on which he lived many years. He died at Breckenridge, Caldwell county, this state in 1903, and the mother passed away in Linneus in 1884. They had two children, one of whom has died.

Mr. Loekliart's grandfather, Willis Lockhart, was also a Virginian, and his great-grandfather was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. They were prosperous planters in Virginia, and of Scotch ancestrj^ The mother's family originated in England, and the progenitors of the American branch of it also came to this country and settled in the "Old Dominion" in colonial times. The members of both hoiises took part in the affairs of the commonwealth in various ways in the earlier days, helped to lay its foundations and rear the superstructure of its colonial greatness and aided in the development of its later progress as a state.

Mr. Lockhart was but four years old when the family moved to Linn county, and he grew to manhood here and obtained his education in the district schools of Clay township and at Avalon College. After completing his education he taught school in Linn and Ray counties for a period of twelve years, being engaged in farming at the same time and ever since. He has also long been prominent in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal church, as his parents were, and has rendered local congregations excellent service for many years as a preacher in time of need. In public affairs he has taken an active and serviceable part, and has shown capacity of an unusual order for them in service as township trustee.

.On August 31, 1886, Mr. Lockhart was married in this coimty to Miss Emma B. Cuberly, a daughter of William Cuberly of Ohio, an early settler in Linn county. Seven children were born of the union, all of whom are living: Myrtle, who is now the wife of E. E. Gibson, and Irving, Victor, Harry, Mary, Pauline and Frank. Their mother died on October 4, 1910, and in 1911 the father married a second time, uniting himself with Miss Anna Grice, a native of West Virginia, who is, like himself, well esteemed in all parts of the township and elsewhere where she is known.

Wells D. Brown

The late Wells D. Brown, of Marceline, where he was one of the leading business men of the city for more than twenty years, had a very interesting and successful business career. His activity and alertness for opportunities led him to many places in several different states, and gave plenty of spice and variety to his operations. But wherever he lived and in all that he did he always commanded the high regard and esteem of the people around him, and was an ornament and a great benefit to every community in which he lived, being a man of great public spirit and energy and effectiveness in behalf of the general welfare of his locality.

Mr. Brown was born on November 2, 1852, in the village * of Ontario, Wayne county, New York, where he was reared to the age of eleven years and began his education. In 1863 he became a resident of Coldwater, Michigan, and in 1877 located in Monroe county, Missouri. There he began his business record and was married on January 9, 1879, to Miss Martha Jane Wood, the daughter of Caleb and Sarah Wood, who came to this state from Bourbon county, Kentucky, and were among the very first settlers of Monroe county, Missouri.

Four children were born of this union: Charles Burton, whose life began on April 23, 1881, died in infancy; Fred Wood, whose time of birth was April 13, 1883; Sarah Estella died, who came into being on

September 12, 1886, and Frances 0., who was born on February 25, 1890. Two of the children are living, and in their several locations and stations in life are exemplifying the excellent traits of character for which their parents were everj^vhere distinguished.

In 1882 the parents moved with what family they then had to Chicago, where they remained two years, then returned to Missouri, taking up their residence at Clarence, Shelby county. In 1888 the family moved to Marceline, and in 1890 the father started the leading lumber business in that city, which he conducted with great success and excellent results until his death. This occurred on May 25, 1911, at the comparatively early age of fifty-seven years and seven months, and removed from the activities of the town and county one of their best merchants and most enterprising and progressive citizens, as well as one of the most serviceable.

Mr. Brown took a very active, intelligent and helpful interest in everything pertaining to the locality of his home, and could always be counted on to give strong support to whatever made for its further development and improvement or ministered to the welfare of its residents. No duty of citizenship was too small for his attention or too large for him to undertake and successfully perform. The people of Marceline esteemed him highly for his excellent character, his strong sense of fidelity, his uprightness in all his transactions and his general worth and usefulness as a man.

Bearing the name of a warlike clan distinguished in Scottish history, and a scion of families prominent in its deeds of valor, William B. McGregor, although a native of Linn county, Missouri, and now a resident of Locust Creek township, has had his interest in the chronicles of his ancestors quickened by breathing in the fragrance of their native heather and mingling freely with their other descendants through narratives of their doings given him by his father, who acquired a knowledge of them during his two long residences in Scotland.

He was born on a farm about two miles south of St. Catharine in this county, on January 29, 1876, and is a son of Duncan and Rachel Ellen (Dick) (Young) McGregor, the former of whom was born in Prince Edward's Island, Nova Scotia, in 1832, and the latter in Ohio in 1841. When the father was only one year old he was taken to

Scotland, where he remained until he was twenty-one. He then returned to the United States, and located for some years in Pennsylvania, afterward removing to Missouri and finding a new home at Dry Hill, near St. Louis. He remained here engaged in mining until 1860, then went back to Scotland for another residence of about five years. At the end of that period he once more came to Linn county, and here he passed the remainder of his days.

He was married on March 4, 1875, and being a man of very progressive ideas, he and his wife took an earnest interest and active part in everything pertaining to the development and improvement of the township and county of their residence. They were especially zealous in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church, the father being one of the trustees who built the Seely chapel. But they were ready and energetic in all other worthy projects undertaken by the congregation to which they belonged, and were accounted among its most valuable and useful members.

Their son William was reared in Linn county and obtained the greater part of his education in its schools. He attended a common school to the end of its course of instruction, then the high school at Marceline, and afterward the college in Brookfield. After leaving the institution last named he secured special training and preparation for the profession of teaching at the Kirksville State Normal School. He began teaching in 1897, when he was twenty-one years of age, and taught three years in country schools and ten as principal of the schools in Brookfield.

His extended services in this line of useful endeavor commended him to the people of the county as a capable, intelligent and upright man, and in November, 1910, they showed their appreciation of his worth and his fitness for administrative duties by electing him county recorder by a majority of 300 votes, as the nominee of the Democratic party, to which he has belonged from the dawn of his manhood, and in whose service he has ever been zealous and etfective, although not, at any time, allowing partisan considerations to influence his work as a school teacher, or in reference to any general interest of the people.

On December 24, 1900, Mr. McGregor was married to Miss Ida Eose Burch, a daughter of D. D. and Stella (Pancost) Burch, a sketch of whom will be found in this work. Of the children born of the union four are living, Randolph Ryvers, Muriel Hope, Alberta Marguerite and Eubert William. The father is a devoted and serviceable member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Brookfield. He also belongs to the Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of

S. Milton Robinson

America, the Woodmen of the World, the National Annuity, the Brotherhood of American Yoemen and the A. F. & A. M., and takes an active part in the proceedings of them all.

Having passed forty-five of the seventy years of his life in this county, mingling freely with its people, taking an active part in all worthy projects for its advancement and improvement, and performing with intelligence and fidelity all the diaties of citizenship, S. Milton Robinson, of Brookfield township, is one of the best known and most highly esteemed farmers in the county. He is a leader, too, in his line of employment, his fine farm of 360 acres being a model of fruitfulness and high cultivation, and his live stock business being a source of considerable addition to the commerce and mercantile influence of his township.

Mr. Robinson was born in Belmont county, Ohio, on April 7, 1840. His parents were Thomas and Martha (Kerr) Robinson, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. The father was a farmer, and passed the whole of his life in Belmont county, Ohio, where he died in 1854. The mother survived him many years and died in this county. They had six children, five of whom are living, two of the sons being residents of Linn county, Milton and his brother James W.

The paternal grandfather, Samuel Robinson, was born and reared in Ohio, and died in that state. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, but in times of peace was throughout his life a farmer. The Robinson family is of Scotch origin, the great grandfather of Milton having^ come to the United States from Scotland before the Revolutionary war. He located for a time in Maryland, but when the voice of the vast rich region beyond the Alleghanies from his early American home began to attract the farther East, he joined the tide of emigration westward and took up his residence in Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his days and reared a family.

S. Milton Robinson grew to manhood and obtained his education in his native county. He lived with his parents on the farm and assisted in cultivating it until toward the close of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company K, Fifty-first Ohio Infantry, and was thus enabled to be in at the dying agonies of the Southern Confederacy. He did not, however, reach that stage of the momentous conflict without participating in some of the hardest and bloodiest fighting of the war. He was on the fateful field of Nashville, where everv inch of ground was hotly contested by each army, and went through the deluge of death at Franklin, Tennessee, besides taking part in several other engagements of moment.

In 1866 he came to Missouri and settled on the farm which is still his home. He was obliged to clear his land, break it up and literally hew his farm out of the ^v'ilderness. He has added to his first holding by subsequent purchases until he now owns 360 acres of as fine land as can be found in the county in its natural richness, and its value has been vastly augmented by the improvements he has put on it and the high state of development and productiveness to which he has brought it.

Mr. Robinson has farmed his land with great industry and skill, and so applied his efforts that every week of his labor on it has been made to tell to his advantage. During the last forty-five years he has also conducted a profitable and progressive live stock business, making a specialty of shorthorn cattle, of which he has fed and shipped one or two carloads every year to the eastern markets. His number has never fallen below one carload and seldom gone above two, he having been more concerned about supplying quality to the markets than numbers. He has also raised fifty-eight crops of grain, and general farm produce in proportion.

Mr. Robinson was married in 1902 to Mrs. Alice (King) Fruin, a native of Sanilac county, Michigan. He is a Republican in politics, loyal to his party and energetic and eflfective in its service, and a Presbyterian in church allegiance. He has served the congregation to which he belongs as moderator for a continuous period of thirty-five years, and his services in that capacity have been of great benefit to the church and are held in high appreciation by its members. A model farmer, an excellent citizen, a progressive live stock man, a faithful servant of his church, and deeply and practically interested in the welfare of his township and county, it is not surprising that he is held in high esteem by the people all around him, and is estimated at his real worth, for his life has been an open book before them with no stain on any of its pages.

Evan S. Tharp

What is now Linn county was practically almost all a wilderness when Evan S. Tharp, late of Clay township, took up his residence within its present borders. But he was not ignorant of the conditions which faced him on becoming one of its early pioneers in 1844. For he had made a previous trip to this region from his home in Kentucky on horseback and carefully looked over the ground before deciding to locate here. He knew when he came that for years his residence must be on the frontier and subject to the privations, hardships, arduous toil and constant dangers involved in such a situation. And it is greatly to his credit that he confronted all the conditions with steadfast courage and endured whatever they brought with resolute fortitude. It is also a tribute to the sturdy and sterling character of his manhood that he triumphed over his difficulties and won a substantial success in his new home.

Mr. Tharp was born in Marion county, Kentucky, on August 11, 1820, and was a son of John and Chinese Tharp, who died in the Blue Grass State after creditable records of usefulness extended over many years of steady industry and fidelity to duty. They were frontier residents also, for what Linn county, Missouri, was when he settled in it, Marion county, Kentucky, was in their day. Their son Evan was therefore inured to the requirements of pioneer life when he came to this county, and by that very fact was a valuable addition to its early population and a forceful factor in its early history.

He grew to manhood in his native state and for a number of years after leaving school followed farming there. But the West had a persuasive voice for him, and so, as has been noted, he made a trip to northern Missouri on horseback, which was an undertaking of magnitude in those days. His purpose was to see for himself what promise of advancement in a worldly way this region might show. He was pleased with the outlook, and in 1844 came again, bringing his family with him with the design of making his home here for the remainder of his days.

He took up a tract of 120 acres of government land in Clay township, built a log cabin on it in the crude fashion of the time, with a chimney constructed of sticks and mud and other features in keeping, and began to clear and cultivate his land. It was all timber when he took possession of it, but it did not remain so long. He worked with industry and perseverance, and soon the forest depths, which for ages had echoed only the terrifying sounds of wild beasts and birds of prey, began to resound with the more agreeable notes of the woodman's ax and their loud consequent as the wood monarchs, rank after rank, came crashing to the earth.

widow is still living. She also was a native of Kentucky, bom in 1826, and they were married in that state. Her maiden name was Josephine F. Conder. They became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living: John H., Martha A., James H., Margaretta E., Robert L., Cassie A., William W., Richard A., Mary C. and Sarah E., twins. During the Civil War the father served in the Missouri state militia. His church connection was with the Baptist sect and fraternally he belonged to the Order of Odd Fellows. In his young manhood all the people esteemed him for his strong character, sterling manhood and useful citizenship; and in his later years they revered him for what he had done for the improvement and development of his township and all the other services of his citizenship.

Samuel Shoup

Having been a resident of Linn county for forty-four years, Samuel Shoup, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Parson Creek township, is properly classed as a pioneer and is held in the highest esteem as such, and is respected by all classes of the county's population also on account of his high character, sterling worth and enterprising and progressive citizenship, which he has made serviceable to his township and the county in general from his youth, or during the whole time of his residence here.

Mr. Shoup was born in Delaware county, Indiana, on January 7, 1853, and is a son of John and Frances (Shoup) Shoup, natives of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where the mother was born in 1811 and the father in 1812. The father was a farmer and moved from his native state to Indiana about 1830. He secured a farm in Delaware county on a lease and remained on it until 1866, clearing it for cultivation and making a first rate farm of it. In the year last mentioned he moved his family to Henry county, Illinois, and in 1868 came from there to Linn county, Missouri, where the parents passed the remainder of their lives.

On his arrival in this county the father bought the farm on which he died in 1899, having survived the mother twenty years, her death having occurred in 1879. They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom have passed away but Samuel, his brother John and their sister, Mrs. Martha Cole, who resides in Illinois. One son, Martin, died in the Union army during the Civil War. He served in the Twenty-fifth Indiana Infantry. Their grand- father, John Shoup, was born in Pennsylvania and died on a farm he moved to in Indiana, a number of years prior to his demise, and which he cultivated with all his force until his end came, leaving a creditable record for industry, thrift and fidelity to duty in both states, and being highly respected wherever he was known in each.

Samuel Shoup passed his early life in Indiana and Illinois, and was fifteen years old when his parents moved to this state and county. He began his education in the primitive schools, with their log houses and slab benches, in Indiana, continued it in similar temples of learning in Illinois and completed it in schools of the same scope and equipment here. He remained at home with his father and assisted him in the worK on the farm until the death of the latter, and then cared for and farmed the homestead ten years longer for the benefit of the family that was left.

In 1909 he moved to the farm he now owns and lives on, and since then has devoted his attention exclusively to that. He is a skillful farmer and conducts his operations with both energy and intelligence, keeping abreast with the progress in agriculture and giving his township a good example of up-to-date theories and methods and strong proof of their value. He is also zealous in his support of all public improvements and every undertaking designed to promote the general well being of the county.

On January 16, 1889, Mr. Shoup was married to Miss Clara B. Cassidy, a daughter of George M. and Mary E. (Lee) Cassidy, who became residents of Linn county in 1871. The mother is still living, but the father died a number of years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Shoup have no children of their own, but are rearing an adopted son whose name is Eobert C, and who is now 15 years old. Mr. Shoup belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and Mrs. Shoup is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their genuine worth and usefulness aa citizens have given them a strong hold on the regard and good will of the people in all parts of the county.

Houston Luyster

Although a native of Mercer county, Kentucky, where he was bom on August 16, 1843, Houston Luyster, one of the prosperous and enterprising farmers of Clay township, has lived in Linn county fifty-six years and has all the time been connected with its farming industry except for three years of the Civil War, during which he was in the

Union army, fighting and doing detached duty in defense of the Union. He has been industrious and frugal, making every week of his time tell to his advantage, and by his energy and progressiveness has won a substantial competence for life from the ready and responsive soil on which he has worked.

Mr. Luyster is a son of Abram and Nancy (Utley) Luyster, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a farmer and came to Missouri in 1854, locating for two years in Cass county and at the end of that period changing his residence to Linn county, and buying a tract of wild land one mile south of the farm which his son Houston now owns and cultivates. He cleared and improved his uncultivated domain, as it was when he took possession of it, and passed the remainder of his days on it, dying in 1881. The mother died in 1888.

They had five sons and five daughters, and of the ten children four of the sons and three of the daughters are living. The parents were leading members of the Presbyterian church, and faithful in their duties toward it. The grandfather, John Luyster, came to this country in company with his two brothers. He lived for a time in the state of New York, then moved to Kentucky, where he died well advanced in years.

Houston Luyster was eleven years of age when his parents brought him to Missouri and thirteen when the family moved to Linn county. He obtained his education in the primitive schools of his boyhood and youth, which were housed in crude log structures and very limited in their range of instruction and facilities. He remained at home with his parents until 1862, when he enlisted in Company H, Second Provisional cavalry regiment, went out of that into Company A, Forty-second Missouri volunteer infantry, for a term of three years. His term of enlistment took him through the bloody and disastrous conflict, but as he was on detached duty most of the time he did not see a great deal of field service. He took part, however, in the battle of Bald Knob, Tennessee, in addition to a number of minor engagements.

After the war Mr. Luyster returned to Linn county and bought the farm in Clay township which he has ever since occupied, and which he has greatly improved in appearance and condition, adding a great deal to its attractiveness and value, and raising it to a high standard of productiveness. No effort has been omitted on his part to make his farm a first rate one, and, as he has given it close study and the most

On the 31st of August, 1873, Mr. Luyster was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Tharp, a daughter of Allen and Emeline Tharp. Three children have been born of the union, all of whom are living. They are: James W., a Linn county farmer; Estella M., who is the wife of W. P. Brinkley; and Ethel, who married with Edward Stephenson and has her home at Brookfield, Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1907. The father is a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has always shown a warm and helpful interest in the affairs of the township and county in which he lives, and is everywhere regarded as a highly useful, enterprising and serviceable citizen, and is universally esteemed as such.

Christian Barter

The son of a pioneer of Missouri and himself an early arrival in the state, coming to Caldwell county with his parents when he was but two years old and to Linn county when he was twenty-two. Christian Harter of Clay township, where he has for over half a century been engaged in farming and helping to build up and develop the county, has lived long and creditably among this people, and now in his declining years there is not one that does not do him reverence for his genuine worth and his extended and valuable services to this region and its residents.

Mr. Harter was born in Richland county, Ohio, on April 6, 1837, and is a son of Christian and Catherine (Crouse) Harter, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1805. He grew to manhood in Virginia and operated Harper's Ferry over the Potomac river for a number of years. At an early day in the history of Ohio he moved to that state, making the trip with teams, literally through the wilderness. He secured a tract of timber land which he cleared; then, in 1839, again took up his course westward, coming to Missouri and locating in Caldwell county. There he bought a half-section of wild land, on which he lived and labored ten years, being accidentally killed in 1849 by the overturning of his sleigh. The mother died one year later.

Their offspring numbered eight, six sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and one of the daughters are living. The father was a great hunter of deer, and the old rifle with which he did such excellent execution is still in the possession of his son Christian. But his rifle was not used only for hunting wild game. He used it with effect in the Mormon war waged in Caldwell and Daviess counties, and Indians, too, if they were hostile and disturbed the whites, sometimes fell before his deadly aim, as there was at times no temporizing with them, and the general safety demanded that swift and summary punishment be meted out to the irreconcilables.

Christian Harter of this sketch was but two years old when his parents brought him to Missouri. He was reared in Caldwell county to the age of twenty-two and obtained what education he was able to secure in the humble and limited country schools near his home. They were kept in log cabins, furnished with slab benches and the rest of their equipment was in keeping with their shelter and furnishings. But Mr. Harter had no other educational facilities, for the shadow of death darkened his boyhood, his father being killed when the son was but twelve years old and the mother dying when he was but thirteen.

In 1861 he moved to Linn county and bought a tract of wholly unimproved and uncultivated land. On this he put up a small log dwelling and began the arduous work of breaking up his land and getting it under cultivation. In 1862 he joined the provisional militia of the state under Colonel De Graw, and in this organization he served one hundred and nineteen days, but was engaged most of the time in guard duty. Since the war he has been continuously engaged in farming on what was once an unbroken expanse of wilderness but which he has transformed into an excellent farm.

Mr. Harter was married on May 15, 1859, to Miss Mary C. Tolson, a daughter of Benjamin and Catherine (Tyre) Tolson. Her father was a soldier in the Mexican War, enlisting at Linneus, and died in the service. Mr. and Mrs. Harter have eight children: John W.; Eliza J., the widow of the late John Taylor; George Edward, a sketch of whom follows this account of his father's life; Mary E., who is the wife of E. S. Randall; Julia I., who is the wife of W. G. Randall; Flora M.; Rosa L.; and Nettie C, who is the wife of E. L. Pittman. All the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. The father is one of the oldest and most revered members of that fast-fading band of hardy pioneers who laid the foundations of civilization in this part of the state of Missouri. He is well known throughout the county and is highly esteemed by all classes of its citizens, as he is in other parts of the state where he is known.

cated here and has farmed and taught school in the county for fourteen years, and has been successful in both occupations, being highly regarded as a farmer and held in general esteem as a progressive and capable teacher, industrious and enterprising in his work of all kinds and faithful in performing it at all times.

On September 12, 1889, he was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Agin, a daughter of Lewis and Mary A. (Ballington) Agin, who became residents of Linn county about 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Harter had two children: Their son Joy H., who married Miss Elizabeth M. Frisbie of St. Louis, and their other son, Edward L., who is living at home with his father. The mother died on May 8, 1907. The father is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America in fraternal circles, and his religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church.

Nathaniel G. Ransom

One of the most extensive and best known farmers in Linn coimty is Nathaniel G. Ransom who makes his home in Brookfield, and from that city as a base of operations superintends the cultivation of his farms and all that pertains to them. But his extensive farming operations do not furnish his onh- title to notice and consideration. He is also one of the most enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizens of the county, and in all parts of it he stands high in public estimation on this account, justifying his rank by his activity in behalf of every commendable undertaking for the improvement and further development of the locality in which his interests lie.

Mr. Ransom is a native of Cayuga county. New York, where his life began on September 20, 1852. His father, whose name was also Nathaniel, was born in Vermont and his mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Wood, in Rhode Island. The father was a farmer and followed his chosen occupation in the state of New York until 1867, when he came to Missouri to live and bought 720 acres of land in Linn and Chariton counties, 400 acres of the tract having been somewhat cultivated and improved. He then moved his family here, and he lived on and farmed his land until the burden of years induced him to give up all active pursuits. He died in Linn county in 1898, at the age of ninety years. The mother died in 1888, aged seventy-five. They had four sons, Benjamin and Nauaniel; also Joseph and Robert, deceased. The two last named died in New York. Benjamin died a number of years ago and was a prominent farmer of this county at the time of his death, leaving the subject of this brief memoir and his son, Nathaniel G., Jr., the only male representatives of the family living at this time (1912).

The paternal grandfather, Robert Ransom, was a native of Vermont and a farmer in the state of New York, where he died at a good old age. The maternal grandfather, Henry Wood, was born at Bristol, Rhode Island, and became a sea captain. He began following the sea early and kept it up for a great many years, going to all parts of the world where commerce leads, and coming in contact with people of all climes and tongues. He lived to the age of ninety-six years.

Nathaniel G. Ransom grew to the age of fourteen in his native state and then came with his parents to Linn county, Missouri, where he has ever since resided. After completing in the schools of this county the education he began in that of his nativity, he started in life for himself as a farmer. He has adhered to the vocation of his forefathers in spite of many temptations to engage in other business, and his success and the increasing magnitude of his operations prove the wisdom of his choice. He now owns 1,400 acres of land, all of good quality, and the greater part of it under cultivation. He is a vigorous and skillful farmer, and so manages his work that he makes every acre he has in tillage yield its full tribute of recompense for the care and labor bestowed upon it, and all his holdings keep pace with the progress in agriculture. In addition he is a large stockholder in the Brownlee Bank.

Having such large and valuable interests in the county, it is inevitable that Mr. Ransom should take an active part in its public affairs. Without regard to political claims or party needs, he is energetic and effective in helping to control them for the best interests of the people and the enduring welfare of the county and state. The only political office he has held is that of membership in the board of aldermen in Brookfield, and he was chosen to this more by the activity of his friends and the progressive people of the commimity generally than through any effort or desire of his own. He gave the city good service in the office, and they have shown their appreciation of it.

On January 22, 1883, Mr. Ransom was joined in wedlock with Miss Virginia Millar, a native of Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Thomas and Olean F. Millar, who came from that state to Linn county about 1868. Three children, all living, have been born of the union: Rena M., Virginia M. and Nathaniel G., Jr., all of whom are still residents of this county, and stand well in the regard of its people.

The improvement and further development of the county of his home has always been an object of great solicitude to Mr. Ransom, and he has been earnest in his support of all good projects involving this result. Nothing that he deems of value to the region in which he lives goes without his effective and intelligent practical support, and he by no means always waits for other persons to take the initiative. He is active in the fraternal life of his community as a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in social circles generally he is a live force. With reference to the cause of public education he is one of the most earnest and potential men in the county, and in every way he is one of Linn county's best and most useful citizens.

Aid R. Lewis

Although his life has been the uneventful and necessarily somewhat monotonous one of a plain and unpretentious farmer, with none of the spectacular features which give men opportunity to exhibit their showy qualities. Aid R. Lewis of Clay township has found in it opportunity to demonstrate that he is a man of sturdy character, upright living and faithful to duty in every form of its calls upon him, and he has found enjoyment in his lot, laborious as it has been, and unrelenting in its demands for service and attention at all times. This is one of the advantages of plain and simple living. "Contentment, like the primrose, blooms along the common, beaten track."

Mr. Le^vis is a native of Linn county, Missoiiri, born on October 17, 1871. His parents, Benjamin F. and Phoebe (Henderson) Lewis, were natives of Ohio, the father born in Washington county in that state in 1828, and the mother in Huron eoimty, in 1835. The father grew to manhood in his native state, and in 1842 moved to Illinois. He was in quest of a region as nearly to his taste as he could find, and from Illinois changed his residence to Minnesota. From there he moved to Kansas, and finally, in 1871, came to Missouri and Linn county.

Here he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives, hers ending in 1884 and his on February 9, 1912. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters, and of the number four are living. The grandfather, Hezekiah Lewis, came to this country from England in 1794, and became a resident of Washington county, Ohio, where he died in 1861. He was a farmer in his native land and also in this country, and a good one, as was his son and as is his grandson.

hood here, drew the bone and sinew of his frame from the local soil, obtained his education in the county schools, and has devoted all the years of his youth and manhood and all his energies to his part in the industries of the locality. And when the golden thread of sentiment began to run to a practical end in the fabric of his life, he was united in marriage with one of Linn county's desirable young ladies.

While attending school he worked on his father's farm and for a time after completing his education also. When he started to fight the battle of life for himself he began as a farmer, and he has continued the struggle for advancement among men to the present time (1912) as a farmer, with the exception of four years passed in the employ of the Burlington Railroad. In 1903 Mr. Lewis left the farm for a time, and began the study of telegraph}^ under Mr. E. A. Corey, then agent in charge of the Linneus station. At the end of one year he was given the position of night operator at Memphis, Missouri, the duties of which position he discharged for a like period of time, when he was promoted to the position of agent and operator at Piano, Iowa, where he remained but a few months, when he received another promotion, and filled various positions of trust until 1907. He was then compelled to resign, on account of his wife's health, and returned to the farm with the hope that the change would result in great benefit to her. But in this he was disappointed as Mrs. Lewis passed away on March 7, 1912, at the University Hospital of Kansas City, where she had gone to undergo an operation which they both believed would restore her to her former good health.

He has been successful in his imdertakings and is now a man of comfortable worldly estate, and stands well in the estimation of his friends and neighbors and the people of the county generally. But it is to be noted that all the progress he has made has been through his own efforts, and all his achievements are the results of his own ability, industry and good management in every department of his business.

On November 28, 1894, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage with Miss Cordie Phillips, a daughter of James L. Phillips, who became a resident of Linn county in 1845. Her mother's maiden name was Sarah Bowyer. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have had five children, four of whom are living, and all still members of the parental family circle and adding to its attractiveness as well as assisting in the work on the farm and in the household. They are: Carroll D., Vashti R., Iva M. and Bertie P. The father is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows. He is widely and favorably known, and is everywhere highly esteemed.

Jeremiah Fruin

Was for a number of years an extensive landholder of Linn county, and also a leading contractor and builder in St. Louis. Jeremiah Fruin, of the firm of Fruin & Colnon of the Missouri metropolis, showed in several ways his capacity for great affairs and also for finding the way to them and conducting them to successful and most serviceable achievement. Undertakings whose magnitude would stagger even men of considerable ability and breadth of gauge, and would seem impossible to smaller men, were matters of easy accomplishment with him, and under the magnetism of his masterly management moved forward to completion as smoothly as the planets in their orbits.

He was practically retired from active pursuits, at the time of his death in March, 1912, but his past record is as given in the paragraph above. No difficulty ever daunted, no disaster ever dismayed him. If he found obstructions in his way he easily went around or over them, and often even commanded them to his service and made them wings and weapons for his advancement along his luminous and triumphant course.

Mr. Fruin was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1831. When he was two years old his parents, John and Catherine (Baker) Fruin, brought him to the United States, and in this country the father, who was also a contractor, died in 1861. The son grew to manhood in America and in time became a resident of Missouri and bought about 3,000 acres of land along Locust creek, Linn county. He never lived on this land, but his son, John Jacob Fruin, handled it for many years.

The father kept on with his contracting enterprises in various places, after a time locating in St. Louis, where he became one of the leaders in construction work, building street railways, sewers and other large avenues of public utility. He wrote his name in large and enduring phrases in that great city especially, and what he did there is in keeping with its greatness and enterprise, whose requirements are extensive and exacting, and demand the power of genius to meet them.

John Jacob Fruin, his son, was married in 1894 to Miss Catherine Hawthorne, a St. Louis lady at the time of her marriage. She is a daughter of Robert and Mary (Potts) Hawthorne, natives of Manchester, England. They were married in New Jersey, and were the parents of two sons and five daughters, all of wliom are living. Mrs. Fruin 's maternal grandfather, Joseph Potts, was an English army officer who was in the service in India and died there. Her paternal grandfather, William Hawthorne, was a professor of Mathematics in Dublin, Ireland, and his life ended in that city.

Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Fruin have had two sons and one daughter. The sons are living but the daughter has died. Jeremiah S., the older son, is a student at St. Marj^'s College, St. Marys, Kansas, and Alfred H. is attending school from the home of his parents.

Thomas L. Watson

The late Thomas L. Watson of Jefferson township, this county, who died on December 25, 1877, was in many respects a verj- interesting man, and although his career presented few spectacular features, it had some elements of heroism in it, and was always conducted in the staight and narrow path of duty in all the relations he bore among men. He lived in Linn county forty-four of the fifty-two years of his life, and during almost the whole of his mature life was engaged in farming.

Mr. Watson was born in Chariton county, this state, on July 23, 1825, and was the son of Thomas and Sarah Jane (Fowler) Watson, natives of Virginia, and among the earliest settlers in Linn county, locating here in 1833. The father was a man of local prominence in both Chariton and Linn counties, representing each in the state legislature. He kept the first tavern in this county, and the structure stood on the Brunswick and Chillicothe road on a farm now belonging to W. 0. Anderson. His father, Thomas Watson, was born in Ireland and came to this country in 1773 before the Revolutionary War, in which he took part, being in the Colonial army throughout the seven years of the struggle and was present at the surrender of General Cornwallis. He died in this county in 1840, at the age of ninety-seven years. He served as sergeant of Captain Sam Kearsley's company, which was attached to the Sixth Virginia Regiment, commanded by Colonel James Hendricks.

Thomas L. Watson was reared on a farm and obtained his education in the primitive country school in the neighborhood of his home. When the Mexican War began he and his two brothers enlisted in Captain Barbee's company, and during the war were in General Price's command. They served through the whole of the short but decisive conflict, and at its close returned to Linn county. In 1849 Thomas became an argonaut and went with the moving throng to California. He came back a year later, and on March 13, 1851, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza J. Parks, a daughter of James and Frances (Heryford) Parks, of Chariton county. He then located on the farm on which he died, the land having been granted to him by the government for his services in the Mexican War.

Although a vigorous farmer and attentive to all his duties as such, Mr. Watson was a great hunter, having the reputation of killing more deer than any other man in this county. He always had an abundant snpply of venison the year round, and seemed to know better than any of his neighbors where to get game at all times. In addition to his farming and hunting he kept the first ferry on Locust creek in this county, and carried a hickory club on going to and from the ferry with which to kill snakes.

Mr. Watson was a deacon in the Baptist church for twenty-three years, and throughout his life, from the dawn of his manhood, was a most worthy and estimable citizen. His widow survived him almost thirty-three years, dying on the farm on August 12, 1910. They were the parents of thirteen children, six sons and seven daughters. Six of the daughters and two of the sons are living. Charles H., the first born of the family, was badly wounded while discharging a gun, the breech pin entering his forehead, when he was seventeen years old. He died of this wound seven years later, but in the meantime more than forty pieces of his skull were taken out from time to time. The other children were named in the order of birth: Missouri F., William T., James, Jordan P., Bettie L., Mary E., Sarah R., Oscar Y., Ada E., Ellen L., Clarence B. and Zella M. Those who are now living are: Missouri F., Wm. T., Bettie L., Sarah R., Oscar Y., Ada E., Ellen L., Zella M., and all are residents of Linn county but two.

Frank E. 6Ress

Photography, the real "art preservative" in all our activities, which catches and fixes in imperishable lineaments the witching smile of childhood, the noble beauty of womanhood, and even smoothes away the ruggedness from the wrinkled brow of care, is well represented in Brookfield by the work of Frank E. Gress, the leading photographer of the city and this part of the state. He has a thorough mastery of his business in all its details, and he gives his patrons the full benefit

It is gratifjdng to the people who patronize him and the residents of the whole community to know, too, that he is a native artist, having been born, reared and educated in Linn county, and began his career as an artist here. His life began on December 10, 1884, at Bucklin, where his parents, Frank and Helen (Harrison) Gress, were then living. The father was a native of the state of New York and the mother of Missouri. The father was in the railroad service during the greater part of his mature life, serving as station agent at Bucklin for ten years, and afterward as a conductor until his death, which occurred in 1907, the mother dying within the same year.

The son, who is the immediate subject of these paragraphs, began life for himself under the deep gloom of his double bereavement through the death of his parents, and amid difficulties of a serious nature due to his having to care and provide for the five younger children in the family and his grandmother. He supported them all for years, and is still aiding in the support of three of the children. But these difficulties did not freeze up the artistic soul within him or dampen the ardor with which it inspired him. They seemed only to strengthen the fiber of his manhood, increase his determination to succeed in life and fortify his courage for its battle.

Mr. Gress grew to manhood in Brookfield and attended its public schools. After leaving school he served a year and a half as apprentice to J. C. Gardner, prominent as a photographer in Brookfield, and at the close of this apprenticeship went to Kansas City, Missouri, where he passed five years completing his preparation for his profession and perfecting himself in the details of the business. At the end of the period mentioned he returned to Brookfield, and on May 6, 1906, opened the studio which he now conducts, and which, by his industry and enterprise he has made the most complete, and through his artistic sense the most ornate and attractive, in this locality and one not easily surpassed in any city of the size and rank of Brookfield or much larger ones.

On October 1, 1911, Mr. Gress was united in marriage with Miss Pyrle G. Churchill, a native of Iowa and the daughter of L. S. and Emma (Gold) Churchill, residents of the county since 1908. In the fraternal life of the community Mr. Gress has taken a warm interest as a member of the Order of Elks and several other fraternities. In all matters pertaining to the improvement of his home city and county and the welfare and benefit of their people he has always been energetic and helpful, never withholding his hand from any that he could aid, and never stinting the service he has sought to render. His career has been prosperous from the beginning, and he has appreciated the support the community has given him. In return he has done all he could to help the city along, and the people appreciate his efforts in the same measure. They esteem him also as a man and a citizen, and he has shown himself worthy of the regard bestowed upon him by his demeanor in every relation in life.

James Hier, Sr

Having located at Marceline within a year after the town was founded, and having passed all his subsequent years within its borders, actively engaged in industrial or mercantile pursuits, James Hier, Sr., who is one of the few of its old settlers still left to tell the story of the earlier days of struggle and effort to get the new municipal creation on its feet and moving forward, is entitled to the veneration felt for him as pioneer, and the universal respect he enjoys as a man and citizen.

Mr. Hier was born in the mining section of Wales on January 19, 1846, and is a son of William and Lettuce (Lews) Hier, both of whom passed the whole of their lives and died in Wales. The father was a miner, and the son grew to manhood amid mining scenes, and also went to work in the mines as soon as he was old enough, which was in his boyhood. He remained at home, working in the mines and cherishing an ambition for something better in life, until 1869. Then, being twenty-three years old, and full of resolution and self-reliance, he determined to seek wider opportunities and more promising conditions in a foreign land than any which appeared before him in his own.

Accordingly, in that year he came to the United States and located at Bevier, Macon county, in this state. He at once found employment in the mines there, for the work of which he was well qualified, and remained there engaged in mining twenty years. In 1889 he moved to Marceline, and here he passed the first two years of his residence working in the mines also, and being among the first men to dig coal in this locality. He was not, however, merely a coal digger as a laborer, for he was operating the mine himself and on his own account.

In 1891 Mr. Hier opened a grocery store, and in the management of this he has been continuously engaged almost ever since. He has won and kept the confidence of the people as a merchant, and has also secured for himself their approval and regard as a citizen and public official, having served them and the city well and wisely as an alderman for some years. He has always been deeply and intelligently interested in the progress and develoi^ment of the city, township and county of his residence, and has shown his interest by judicious and helpful support of every desirable enterprise for their advancement.

In politics Mr. Hier is a Eepublican and loyal to his party, though not eager for anything it has to bestow in the way of public office. Fraternally he is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious affiliation he has been a member of the Baptist church for fifty-five years. Both his lodge and his church claim a large share of his attention, for he believes firmly in both as means of grace for the improvement of mankind, and is zealous in aiding them to the largest and best development and greatest usefulness.

Mr. Hier was married on December 23, 1865, to Miss Ann Evans, who is, like himself, a native of Wales. They have seven children: Annie, who is now the wife of William L. Mathewson, of Washington ; William, who is a resident of Montana ; Margaret M., who is the wife of Lawrence Love, of Marceline; James T., a resident of Marceline; Elizabeth, who married Sandusky C. Bevans, and has her home with him at Marceline ; Hannah, who is married to J. H. George, and dwells at Marceline, and Elmer, who resides in the new state of Oklahoma, and exemplifies the enterprise of its people in his own.

Price Bowyer

Well known throughout Linn county and the counties which adjoin it as a leading farmer and breeder of high grade horses and jacks, and generally respected by all classes of the people as an elevated and useful citizen. Price Bowyer of Jackson township, this county, occupies a position in the public regard that would be creditable to any man and must be based on genuine merit. In their estimate of him the people are not misled by any pretentiousness or display of tinsel on his part, for he is a plain, practical man of business, and as such they have known him long, for he has lived in the county from his birth.

Mr. Bowyer was born in Clay township in 1861, the date of hia birth being December 30. He is a son of Spencer and Sarah A. (Deering) Bowyer, the former also a native of this county and the latter born in Warren county, Missouri. The father was born in Clay township in 1835. His father, Jesse Bowyer, was born and reared in Tennessee and came to Missouri in his young manhood. He located first in Howard county, then, at an early day, moved to Linn county, where he died well advanced in years.

Spencer Bowyer, the father of Price, grew to manhood in Linn county aud farmed here for many years, then retired from active work and took up his residence in Linneus. He and his wife were the parents of thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters. Seven of the sons and three of the daughters are living, aud five of the ten are residents of Linn county, still abiding in the land of their parents and grandparents.

Price Bowyer was reared and educated in Linn county, and has been engaged in farming aud breeding high grade horses and jacks, as has been noted, from the dawn of his manhood. He has been successful in both departments of his industry, and has won for himself a wide-spread and excellent reputation as an enterprising and progressive farmer, and a knowing and far-seeing live stock man. All his operations are conducted with the utmost care and on the best information available to him, and the result is that his products are of the first quality in both harvests and stock.