Linn County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 14 of 15)

On October 9, 1881, Mr. Bowyer was united in marriage with Miss Malinda Turner, a* daughter of William and Hannah (West) Turner of Linn county, this state. Of the children born of the union seven are living: Berl, Ploy, Mabel, Sally, Omi J. Spencer and Sterling P. Floy is the wife of 0. L. Phillips; Mabel is the wife of C. E. Goins, and Sally is the wife of G. D. Alexander. Omi J., Spencer and Sterling P. are still living under the parental roof tree.

Mr. Bowyer is a Democrat in his political relations and has been an active and intelligent worker for his party for years. He has held no office, however, and desired none but that of school director. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows. He has pushed his own business with enterprise and vigor, and he has displayed the same qualities with regard to the affairs of his township and county, taking;; an active part in every undertaking involving their progress and improvement. He is well known and well thought of in all parts of the county, both for his skill and progressiveness in his business and for his public spirit and strong local patriotism as a man and citizen.

Although not a native of Linn county, Dr. Jenkins Gooch, who now lives near Purdin, but in Jackson township, has been a resident of the county from the time when he was but three months old, and is now the oldest physician and surgeon within its borders. He is passing the evening of his long and useful life on his farm, retired from active practice, resting from his labors and enjoying the fruits of his past-time industry and good management in his business affairs. And the evening of life for him is one of great serenity and beauty. For he is comfortable in a worldly way and he is cheered and consoled for all the cares he has ever borne and all the privations he ever suffered by the universal esteem of the whole population of the county in which he so long labored and ministered to the welfare of the people of all classes and conditions.

Dr. Gooch was born on his father's farm in Chariton county, Missouri, on September 7, 1841, and within the same year his parents moved to Linn county and located on government land in Jackson township. Their history will be found in a sketch of the doctor's brother, Alexander Gooch, which appears elsewhere in this volume. The doctor was reared to manhood in Jackson township, and obtained his early education in the schools of the wilderness around him, the one he attended most being located one and one-half miles southwest of his father's farm, and known as the Mount Olive School. As he grew to boyhood and youth, he assisted in clearing the wild land on which the family was located, and later received more advanced instruction in academic lines at Roanoke Academy, in Howard county.

After completing the course of learning available at this institution, he began studying medicine under the tuition of Dr. Harvey, of Roanoke, and, when he felt that he was sufficiently prepared, attended lectures at the Missouri Medical College, in St. Louis. This was in the winter of 1867-8, and he began his practice in the summer of 1868. He kept up his close attention to his profession and his industry in practicing it until about two years ago; then, feeling that he had accomplished his mission in it, he retired from practice, devoting his attention to his farm, on which he has since been living quietly.

But before Dr. Gooch 's professional life, or his preparation for it, began, he had thrilling experiences and adventures, which gave him opportunity to show the mettle of which he was made, and proved that it was sterling. In 1862 he joined Company K, Second Infantry, First Brigade, Confederate army, under General Price, and during his serv- ice received a serious wound in the arm at the battle of Pea Eidge, which disqualified him for further military activity, and he was thereupon discharged and ready to return to his home.

He had, however, no other means of transportation than walking, and made the journey from Little Rock, Arkansas, to this county on foot. He was suffering from his wound, ill with chills and fever, and without arms of any kind, offensive or defensive. While in this condition he lost his way in an extensive forest, and during his wanderings met with a ferocious panther, from which he only escaped by strategy and heroic exertion. After arriving home and getting his wound cured, he went to Nebraska in 1865, and for eighteen months was engaged in freighting in that state and Colorado. In his military service, on his long and wearying journey home, and in the hazardous pursuit he followed on the road, or along the old trails, he faced every danger with loft}^ courage, and although his physical strength was often severely tried, his spirit made it equal to every requirement, whether of peril or privation.

Of his professional career and services to the people of this county, it would seem superfluous to speak. His exhaustive knowledge of his profession and his wisdom and skill in applying that knowledge; his mastery of its theory and his resourcefulness in practice; his genial and sympathetic nature, which is so persuasive in effect and so helpful in a curative way, and his indefatigable industry in attending to calls during the years of his full energy and vigor, are so well known all over Linn county that no description of them here could add to the general knowledge on the subject in this locality, which has been the scene of his labors. The value, the productiveness, the advanced state of cultivation of his fine 200-acre farm in Jackson township, and the commodious and complete improvements on it, are also so well known that no comment on them would be in place here. These all speak for themselves in the territory for which this work is intended.

On February 11, 1874, the doctor was married to Miss Bettie Morris, a daughter of Jeremiah Morris, who came to Missouri in 1854, to Buchanan county, and came to Linn county in 1860. He emigrated to this state from Larue county, Kentucky'. The cause of the Southern Confederacy enlisted his sympathy, and he served in its army for one year. His wife, the mother of Mrs. Gooch, was Miss Martha McGovock before her marriage, and was a native of Wythe county. Virginia.

Dr. and Mrs. Gooch have had thirteen children, eleven of whom are living : Tilden, Linn, Richard, Lena, Mildred, Nannie, Cordie, Warren, Roy, Drink and Cleo. Lena is the wife of E. Phillips, and Mildred is the wife of Carlus Stevenson. The doctor has never been very active in politics, but has always been interested in good government for his county, state and country, and always deeply interested in the welfare of the whole people. A lingering representative of the fading band of heroic pioneers who settled this county, he is held in reverence by all its residents.

A native of Missouri, and from his boyhood a resident of Linn county, William McGhee, one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Enterprise township, is well known to the people of this and other parts of the county, and all they know of him is to his credit. He is industriously and profitably engaged in farming and raising live stock, and is also active and progressive with reference to the affairs of his township and the whole of Linn county, and the people esteem him as one of their most useful and enterprising and far-seeing citizens.

Mr. McGhee was born m Calloway county, Missouri, on November 24, 1871. His parents, James W. and Eebecca (Miller) McGhee, were also born in Missouri, the latter in Calloway and the former in Linn county. The father was reared and educated in this county, and passed the whole of his life within its borders. He was an extensive live-stock man for his opportunities, and attained considerable local reputation for his success in the business. He and his wife were the parents of two children : William T. and his brother, Charles E. The father died in 1911, but the mother is living.

William T. McGhee was brought by his parents to Linn county in his boyhood, and grew to manhood here. He obtained his education in the country schools in the neighborhood of his father's farm, and assisted in the labor of cultivating the latter and what was incident to the stock business carried on bj' his father. When he attained his majority, he started in the live-stock industry and as a general farmer for himself, and he has ever since been engaged in those two lines of employment and business.

On March 24, 1894, he was united in marriage with Miss May Muirhead, a daughter of Hugh Muirhead, who became a resident of Linn county in 1858, and is now deceased. Five children have been born of the union, and all of them are living. They are : Nettie, Jay, Jessie, Lessie and Frances. The father has taken an active part in political affairs in his township, and has served as township collector and trustee four years. He is an earnest working member of the

Democratic party, and his services in the field and his wisdom in counsel are warmly appreciated by both the leaders and the rank and file of his party.

The first member of this particular branch of the McGhee family to locate in Linn county was John McGhee, the grandfather of William T. He came to the county about the year 1845, and entered a tract of government land in Enterprise township. With great energy and continued industry, he cleared, broke up and improved his farm, making it one of the most advanced and attractive in the township at the time. But he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his labor on it, dying at the early age of thirty-five. But, although his life was so short in the county, he left behind him, when he answered the summons inevitable to all mankind, an excellent example as a farmer and a good name as an upright, honest, straightforward and progressive man and citizen. His grandson, William T. McGhee, has the same reputation, and well deserves it.

George A. Barnes

The venerable subject of this brief review, who is one of the patriarchs of Jackson township, Linn county, has been a resident of the township in which he now lives continuously for fifty-four years, and has passed forty-five years on the farm which he now occupies and owns. His life record is interesting from many points of view, and worthy of commendation from all. He is now more than eightyone years old. He is a native of another state than this ; grew to manhood in another many miles away from the border of Missouri ; passed two years in the gold regions of the Pacific slope; then came back to Linn county, became possessed of the tract of land which constitutes his present fine farm, when it was an unbroken expanse of wilderness, and settled down from all his wanderings. He has since devoted his time and energies to improving his farm and making it comfortable as a home and valuable in its productiveness.

Mr. Barnes was born in Tennessee, on April 9, 1831, and is a son of William and Sarah (Durham) Barnes, the former a native of North Carolina and the latter of Tennessee. Tlie parents and several of their children came together to Missouri in 1855 and located on a tract of government land in this county. The land had not been broken and was still wasting its substance and its strength in producing the wild growth of ages. Mr. Barnes lived on it a number of years and brought it to some degree of fruitfulness. In 1864 he crossed the plains to the state of Washington, and tliei-e he passed the remainder of his life, which ended in 1884. The mother died in this county. They had a large family, all now deceased but George A. The father was a Baptist in religion and a Democrat in politics.

George A. Barnes was reared in Alabama and came to Missouri in 1856, but he passed some few years in Illinois first. He came direct to Linn county and remained liere about one year. In 1857 he went to California, but, even if successful, his life as a miner in that state was not to his liking, although he stuck it out for two years. At the end of that period he returned to Missouri and, nine years later, took up his residence on his present Jackson township farm in this county, and on this he has made his home ever since.

In 1867 he was married on this farm to Miss Susan Morris, a native of Linn county. They have four children: John H., Parmelia E., Sarah J. and Jacob A. Even as late as then the country around him was largely undeveloped, almost wholly unimproved and but sparsely settled. Mr. Barnes resolutely joined hands with the other pioneers and helped to give an impetus to progress here that has been steady and continuous and has wrought wonderful improvements, and is still at work and with constantly augmenting power. It has been his good fortune to see the countrj' leaping forward, and it is a source of great present comfort to him to know that he has done his full share in assisting in bringing about the change.

He has been assessor of the township, and in many other ways has been of service to its residents and all its civil, educational and religious institutions. For a number of years he has been retired from active pursuits, but he has never lost interest in the locality of his home, and has never stayed his hand when he could do it good. The people of the l^ownship respect him highly for what he has done, for the good citizenship he has displayed, for the uprightness of his long life and for his sterling manhood in private and public relations of every kind.

Obadiah Broyles

There is nothing in history more impressive, and, if viewed with the eye of true discernment, nothing more grand and inspiring, than the march of empire in this country, moving from the Atlantic slope over the AUeghanies, across the Mississippi valley, and on over the Rockies to the shores of the Pacific. And that it was largely an advance of mighty consequence due to individual effort rather than to organized forces, only adds to its grandeur, in the last analysis.

One family of this militant conquest of the wilderness, step by step, by hardy pioneers, independent of one another, yet all tending to the same glorious end, is represented in Jackson township, Linn county, Missouri, by Obadiah Broyles, one of the leading live-stock breeders of this part of the state now, but a child of five years when he became a resident of this county. He was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, on May 13, 1848, and is a son of Christopher and Margaret J. (Broyles) Broyles, also natives of that state, where the mother died soon after the birth of her son Obadiah. The father was a farmer in his native state, and he followed the same pursuit after reaching this state and county.

In 1853, gathering his household goods about him, and such personal property as he deemed necessary for supplying his wants on the way and enabling him to get a start in the wilderness to which he was going, he left "the dark and bloody ground," and journeyed with teams to Missouri and Sullivan county, where he laid the foundations of his new home. He bought forty acres of land which was still in the sleep of ages and had never heard the commanding voice or felt the persuasive hand of the husbandman. On this little tract in the wilds he built a crude log cabin as a home for himself and family, and at once went to work to break up his land and make it yield his household a livelihood. He made it fruitful by his persistent and well directed labor, and lived on or near it until his death, which occurred in 1877.

By his first marriage he became the father of four sons and four daughters. Three of the sons and two of the daughters are still living. Their mother, as has been stated, died in Kentucky, and the father married, as his second wife, Mrs. McCormick, a widow, who added three to his offspring, all of whom are living. The father attempted nothing in his work but general farming and raising enough live stock for his own purposes. But he succeeded in making his way to a comfortable estate in this county for his day and circumstances, and left his mark on this locality in doing it.

His son Obadiah had no educational advantages in the way of direct schooling. When he was of a suitable age to go to school, there was no school available in the neighborhood of his home. And if there had been, he could not have derived much benefit from it, for from his boyhood he was forced, owing to the circumstances of the family, to make his own way by working out by the month, as there were many mouths to feed, and all the force the family could command was put in action to satisfy their requirements.

He continued to work for others until lie reached the age of twentysix ; then, in 1870, in response to the longings within him, began to do something on his own account. In 1882 he bought 260 acres of land, the nucleus of his present farm of 580 acres, and began to repeat on it the work of development and improvement wrought by his father on his patch in the wilderness on which he got his start and reared his family. He broke up his land gradually and improved it with good buildings. And as one tract became fruitful, he bought another, until he acquired the whole of his present fine farm of 580 acres, as has been indicated.

Mr. Broyles was first married in 1874 to Miss Mary Fields, who died in 1887. They had seven children, five of whom are living: Walter ; Ada, who is now the wife of Frank A. Whetstone ; Orson ; Cordia,. who is the wife of C. J. Gore, and Mary E., who is the wife of Winfield Edens. In 1889 he married, as his second wife. Miss Nettie Wood, a daughter of James N. Wood, who became a resident of Linn county during the Civil War. They have seven children: Fannie J., Alfred, Almira, Irene M., Curtis L., Hope C. and Flora I. His second wife is still living. Her parents were Indiana farmers, who moved from their native state first to Iowa and afterward to this county.

The principal industry which Mr. Broyles is engaged in is breeding draft horses, fine jacks and registered Hereford cattle, and in this industry he is easily one of the leaders in this part of the state, and is widely and favorably known as one. He is also held in good esteem as a man and a citizen of enterprise and progressiveness, earnestly and practically interested in the abiding welfare and continued improvement of his township, county and state in all avenues of advancement.

Alexander Sayers

Although only sixteen years of age when he became a resident of Linn county, Alexander Sayers of Jackson township is properly classed as a pioneer in this region, not merely by courtesy or construction, but because of the actual facts in the case. He was a youth in years but a man in stature and strength when he came, and he took a man's place and did a man's work in the great task of settling, improving and developing the country. And his record for stalwart manhood and faithful service among the people here is excellent from the beginning.

also natives of Virginia. They moved to Kentucky some years after their marriage, and there they continued farming, the occupation that had employed their energies in their native state. Long years they lived and labored in Kentucky, and at last died on the farm they had made valuable and attractive by their industry and skill, and which had yielded abundant harvests in return for arduous but wisely directed toil. The grandfather, whose name was also Alexander Sayers, was a pioneer of Kentucky, often a companion of Daniel Boone, and an Indian tighter of local renown.

Alexander Sayers grew to the age of sixteen in Virginia, and obtained there all the schooling he ever got from the schoolmaster. In 1848 he came to this state in company with his uncle, Samuel Sayers, traversing the long and dreary distance with teams and consuming a month and a half in the journey. On their arrival in Linn county they located in Jackson township, and here Mr. Sayers found employment in a grist and saw mill on Locust creek. In 1854 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Morris, a daughter of Thomas Morris, a pioneer of Linn county, who became a resident of it in 1837.

After his marriage Mr. Sayers determined to quit working in the mill, which had been the scene and beneficiary of his labors for six years, and start an enterprise of his own. He bought a tract of land in Sullivan county which he improved and lived on until 1865. In that year he returned to this county and took up his residence on the farm which he now owns and occupies, and which has been his home ever since. It was in the wilds when he took possession of it, and still the habitation and roaming ground of its aboriginal occupants, man and beast. Deer and wild turkeys were plentiful, and he got his share of them by the skill of his marksmanship and good judgment as a hunter. But he made no specialty of this.

Mr. and Mrs. Sayers have had eight children: John W., Thomas, James A., Martha S., Mary E., David L., Walter and Altie E. The father has always been warmly interested in the welfare of his township and county, and willing to do everything his circumstances would permit to advance it. During the Civil War he served as a state militiaman, and while not called into actual hostilities, he was always ready for the call if it came and prepared to do his full duty in obedience to it.

In his political relations he is an ardent Democrat, and as such has served as township supervisor and collector. But in the performance of his duties while in office he knew no party, but exerted all his activities in behalf of the whole people and for the common good. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has been a member for many years. And in the congregation to which he belongs he is a zealous and faithful worker in every department of its activity. The people around him have found him true to every trust and worthy of their highest confidence and esteem, and they have bestowed their regard on him freely.

Browning Savings Bank

This enterprising, progressive and highly useful financial institution, which the people of Browning and the surrounding country make liberal use of as a depository of their savings, and which they hold in very cordial confidence and esteem, was founded in April, 1884, and opened for business on the fourteenth day of that month, with a capital stock of $10,000. The first officers were B. D. Boiling, president, and C. A. Deadrick, cashier. The original directors, in addition to Mr. Boiling, were C. A. Deadrick, J. H. Biswell, J. Schrock, Perry McCollum and J. W. Anderson, the last of Hamilton, Missouri. Mr. Boiling has held the office of president of the institution from the time of its organization, but the cashier has been changed several times in the twenty-eight years of the bank's history.

The changes in the cashiership were in regular order as follows: C. A. Deadrick was succeeded by W. P. Taylor, and Mr. Taylor by W. T. Prather. Mr. Prather retired in favor of T. M. Sayers, and he in turn gave way to J. B. Harmon, who is now the vice president, and whose successor as cashier was F. R. Duncan, who still fills the position. The capital stock remains as it was at the founding of the bank. But the volume of business has been greatly expanded and the reputation of the institution for sound and conservative management, coupled with commendable enterprise in the control of its affairs, has grown and spread as time has passed until now the bank is considered one of the best of its magnitude in the state.

Beverly D. Boiling, the president of the bank, was born at Perryville, Boyle county, Kentucky, on April 18, 1852, and is a son of James Paine and Lucinda (Kenley) Boiling, also natives of Kentucky, who became the parents of two children, their son Beverly D. and their daughter Luella, who is now the widow of Thos. H. Gooch. Her husband was a soldier in the Union army during the Civil War. James P. Boiling was a millwright and farmer, and followed the two industries

In 1860 the family moved to Missouri and located for a short time in Sullivan coimty, removing to Nodaway county in the spring of 1861. In the fall of that year the father enlisted in defense of the Union in Company B, Thirty-fifth Missouri Volunteer Infantry. The regiment soon became a part of the Army of the Cumberland, and Mr. Boiling remained in it until he died from an illness contracted in the service, his end coming at Cairo, Illinois, on February 24, 1864, and leaving his son an orphan at the age of twelve years.

Not long after the father joined the army the mother removed her children to Sullivan county again. The son remained there about one year, then went to Louisville, Kentucky, to pursue a course of business training in the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College. After completing this course and working for a time at various occupations he secured a position in the custom house as admeasurement and recording clerk for steamboats. He held this position two years and three months, but found the confinement and close application the duties required telling on his health and reducing his flesh.

He therefore deemed it advisable to seek a change of climate, and came to Linn county, Missouri, locating near Enterprise in the township of the same name. After remaining there two or three years he removed to Texas in 1873, and during the next few months rambled over that great state. Finally he took up his resident in the northern part and accepted a position as commissary with a grading company on the Trans-continental Bailway, holding the place for three months. He then took a trip over parts of the state he had not previously visited, and at the end of it located in Madison county, where he was appointed deputy clerk of the district court, a position he held for three years, improving his leisure time by studying law, and in November, 1874, he was admitted to practice by Judge James Burnett of that district.

Mr. Boiling practiced law about one year, and then abandoned Texas and the profession at the same time. He moved to Browning and started an enterprise in the lumber trade, and at the same time keeping a stock of farm implements, and kindred commodities. His business started practically with the town and has grown with its growth. In the course of a few years it expanded to such proportions that he handled annually about one hundred carloads of lumber and a number of farm machinery. His mother died at Browning in 1887, after a residence of several years in the town.

Mr. Boiling's grandfather, Richard K. Boiling, was born at Petersburg, Virginia. He moved from the Old Dominion to Kentucky in his young manhood, and several years afterward was accidentally killed in a fight arising out of a feud. While looking at the fight as an innocent spectator he received a wound from a pistol ball which proved fatal. His wife was, before her marriage to him, Miss Priscilla Little, and they became the parents of eight children, seven sons and one daughter, all of whom have been dead for a number of years.

On February 25, 1877, Mr. Boiling was united in marriage with Miss Sarah 0. Fleming, a daughter of Judge Jas. T. Fleming. Their living children number four: James P., a farmer and stock-breeder; John L., a bookkeeper in Kansas City, Missouri; Bemice L., who is still living with her parents; and Beverly F., who is attending school.

Mr. Boiling is a member of the school board of Browning. He is a Eepublican in politics, but too deeply immured in business to be either desirous of public office or an active partisan. His lumber and implement business was quite successful, and under his wise and skillful management the bank over which he presides has also become an institution of magnitude, doing an extensive and very active business. On February 29, 1912, its resources amounted to $219,290.45. The surplus aggregated $30,000, and the net undivided profits $10,139.14, all on a capital stock of $10,000.

In religious connection he and the members of his family belong to the Christian church. He is the oldest banker in Linn .county in the number of years continuously devoted to the business and has been one of the most successful. In the affairs of his township and county he has always shown a verj^ active and serviceable interest, and the people throughout the county look upon him as one of the best and most progressive and useful men among them.

The scion of a martial family, and himself a soldier in the Civil War, even though but for a short time, it would not have been surprising if natural inclination had led this prominent and successful farmer of Linn county to devote himself to military life and make the trade of arms his occupation for all his years. But whatever attractions the tented field, the glory of conquest, the fervor of battle and fury of the charge might have had for him in early life, if they had any, they did not win his mature judgment, and he has steadily and zeal-

Mr. McCoUum is a native of Clay county, Kentucky, born on March 20, 1835. His parents, Daniel and Lydia (Johnson) McCollum, were also natives of the Blue Grass state and passed the whole of their lives within its borders. The father was born on December 22, 1806, and died at the age of seventy-four years. The mother passed away in 1884, aged seventy-six. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters. Three of the sons served in the Union army during the sectional strife that almost tore our country asunder in the awful years of 1861 and 1865.

The grandfather, David McCollum, was born and reared in South Carolina, and in early manhood emigrated to Kentucky among the pioneers of that state. He afterward became a pioneer of Missouri also, locating in this state and Linn county in 1847. He was a captain in a Kentucky regiment in the War of 1812, but during the greater part of his life he was a farmer, and as such he left the mark of his plowshare in the soil of three states of the Union. He died in Linn county at the age of ninety-six.

Perry McCollum was reared to the age of twenty in his native state of Kentucky, and at that age started out to make his own way in the "world. His first design was to find a place suited to his desires for his operations, and in 1855 he came to Linn county on a prospecting tour. He remained one year, and then decided to look further, but in 1857 he returned here, and here he has ever since remained. In 1864 he bought an unimproved tract of land, which he cleared as the basis of his operations and for a permanent home for himself and his family.

Having established himself on this and put it in good condition for cultivation and occupancy, he bought additional land and repeated the process on that, and then made other purchases successively until he owned at one time 700 acres, the greater part of which, however, he devoted to grazing purposes. The call to arms in 1861 to save the Union aroused his patriotism to fervor, and he enlisted in Company B, Missouri Home Guards. But he found himself unfit for military service and resigned at the end of the first month after his enrollment.

He returned to the pursuit of farming, and in that he has ever since been industrioiisly, extensively and profitably engaged. On July 10, 1860, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret McCollum, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Hughes) McCollum. Of the offspring from the union seven are living: Nancv, who is the wife of R. I. Gun- ter; Rachel, who is the wife of Dr. Nevins; Curtis B.; Miimie, who is the wife of R. J. McCollum; Nellie, who is the wife of J. N. Wilson; Dr. Herman E., whose home is in Laramie, Wyoming, and Dr. Beverly B., who resides in Los Angeles, California.

Mr. McCollum is a Republican in political relations and loyal tg his party. But he has never sought or desired official positions of any kind. He has, however, under the persuasion of the people around him, consented to serve on occasions in several township offices and as a justice of the peace. His record in each proved that the people were wise in urging it upon him and fully vindicated their judgment and confidence in electing him to serve them in the advancement of their public interests.

The religious affiliation of Mr. McCollum and his wife is with the Methodist Episcopal church, and in fraternal life he has been a Freemason for many years. His devotion to the interests of his church and his lodge has been constant and serviceable, and he has exemplified the teachings of both in his daily demeanor in all the relations of life. In industry he has Confined himself to general farming and raising considerable live stock as the years have come and gone. As a farmer he is one of the leaders in Linn county. As a man and citizen he is recognized as estimable, worthy and useful in the highest degree. And as a representative of Linn county yoemanry, he is cheerfully accorded a rank among the best.

J. W. Duncan

An enterprising farmer in times of peace from his youth to the present time, and a gallant soldier in defense of the Union during the Civil War, J. W. Duncan of Bueklin township has furnished in his career a good illustration of the adaptability of American manhood to whatever situation may confront it and its genuine and devoted interest in the welfare of the country under all circumstances. He has never shirked duty in any line of endeavor and has been his own main reliance in all. His success in life is almost wholly due to his own ability and judicious use of opportunities as they have come, and all his achievements are but expressions of his native force of character sharpened and intensified by the stern but etfective lessons of experience.

In 1859 the father moved his family to Kansas, where he lived twenty-five years, then returned to Missouri and located in Jackson county. There he died in 1903. His sole occupation through life was farming, and this he followed wherever he lived. His father, Elijah Duncan, came to Missouri from Tennessee, and after a residence of some years in this state died in Holt county. He, also, was a farmer and prospered at the business, as did his son Thomas and as has his grandson J. W.

J. W. Duncan grew to manhood in Missouri and Kansas and attended the ordinary country schools in both states. After leaving school he began farming on his own account, putting in practice for himself the knowledge he had acquired while working at home under the direction of his father. He farmed for a time in Kansas and two years in Arkansas. When the Civil War was in progress, although he was not yet at man's estate, he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, which helped to swell the ranks of the federal army, entering the service in this company in 1861, when he was but seventeen years of age. In 1862 he was transferred to the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, in which he served to the end of the war. He took part in thirteen engagements in all, among them the battle of Prairie Grove and Kane Hill. But, though his comrades fell at his side by the score during some of the battles, he escaped unhurt, and at the close of his military career returned to his home ready for other duties, whatever they might be in kind and however arduous in performance.

He resumed his farming operations and continued them in various places until 1895, when he located in Linn county on the farm on which he is still living and laboring to such good advantage. He is careful, up to date and progressive in his work, prudent and thrifty in his business management and far-seeing in all his calculations. As a result he has a very good and well cultivated farm, is prosperous in a material way, and stands high in the estimation of the people of his township.

Mr. Duncan was first married in 1869 and by that union became the father of ten children, all of whom are living. Their mother died in 1893, and in 1894 the father married a second wife, joining himself with Mrs. Crippen, a widow of this county. They have had three children, of whom two are living. The parents are among the most highly respected citizens of the county.

Joseph Van Dyke

Success in any enterprise or undertaking is creditable to the man who wins it, and always to be commended. But when it involves commanding an unbroken tract of land, wild with the growth of centuries, to systematic fruitfulness, wresting from it a comfortable competence and making it one of the fruitful and attractive products of civilization, the achievement is of much more than ordinary consequence and worthy of much more than ordinary approbation and praise. Such an achievement as this is one of the claims of Joseph Van Dyke, an extensive and prosperous farmer of Parson Creek township, on the regard and approval of the people of Linn county, and further claims are shown and acknowledged in his high character as a man, his public spirit and progressiveness as a citizen and his genuine merit in every way.

Mr. Van Dyke came to Missouri and Linn county from Adams county, Illinois, in 1866, driving through with teams. He lived in Illinois ten years, having moved to that state in 1856 from Tennessee, where he was born in 1838. He attained his manhood in Illinois, and became a farmer there, and also operated a threshing outfit. He continued doing this, as well as farming in this county, working the threshing outfit every fall for forty-nine years in succession without missing one.

He is a son of Kichard and Lueinda (Carter) Van Dyke, also natives of Tennessee, and farmers in three states. They moved to Adams county, Illinois, in 1856, and farmed there until 1870, when they came to this state and located on a farm in Jackson county, where they died, the father in 1873 and the mother in 1874. Fourteen children, nine sons and five daughters, were born of their union, and seven of the sons and four of the daughters are living, and in their several localities and walks in life are exemplifying in a commendable way the sterling qualities of manhood and womanhood that have made the family respected wherever its members, have dwelt.

The paternal grandfather of these children, Freeman Van Dyke, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and endured the hardships and privations of military service in that memorable contest from its beginning to its close. He was twice married, his second wife being Miss Polly Whittle before her union with him. He died in Tennessee, as did his widow some years later, both having attained an advanced age and being highly respected.

and lie has never followed any other occupation except operating his threshing outfit with a very unusual if not an unparalleled record, as has been mentioned. When he came to Linn county in 1866, he bought 100 acres of land, and this he subsequently increased by additional purchases to 440. The land was all wild when he bought it, and without improvements of any kind. He has brought it to an advanced state of cultivation, erected good buildings on it, and made it one of the best farms in the township where it is located. In addition to his farming, which is of a general character, he has for a number of years been extensivelj' engaged in raising and feeding live stock for the markets, local and general, and a very gratifying success has been won by him in both lines of his industry by his energy and good management.

Mr. Van Dyke was married on February 22, 1860, to Miss Catherine Manerd, a native of Illinois, and by this marriage became the father of thirteen children, five of whom are living : Alfaretta, who is the mfe of Richard Coley, and resides in this county; Luciuda, who married C. Littejall, and also has her home here; Hattie, who lives in Nebraska, and is the wife of Lamont Runyan ; James, a Linn county farmer, and Joseph, Jr., whose home is in Iowa. Their mother died in 1905.

Mr. Van Dyke has long taken an earnest interest and an active part in all matters of public improvement in his township and county, and is well known throughout the county in consequence of his zeal and energy in this behalf. He is also firmly fixed in the respect and regard of the people in every township for the same reason, and also because of his strict integrity, general enterprise and elevated citizenship. No duty to his fellowmen in the way of promoting their welfare and dealing squarely with them at all times is neglected or slighted by him, and they hold his disposition and his conduct in these respects in the highest appreciation. Linn county has no more sterling citizen, and none who enjoys or is entitled to a larger measure of esteem from the residents of the county generally.

John T. Gooch

Although always a man of peace, and devoted to the constructive and productive rather than the destructive lines of human endeavor, John T. Gooch, a pioneer of Linn county, and now one of the leading farmers of Enterprise township, has demonstrated that he can shoot when his country's safety requires the effort, and also when the needs of his household or the almost universal passion for hunting makes it desirable. When he came to Linn county, in his youth, the region abounded in wild game, and the supplies for the frontier tables were scant. He, with others, made up for the remoteness of this locality from the markets by free levies on the deer and wild turkeys that still roamed at will throughout the region. And when the integrity of the Union was endangered by armed resistance, he promptly shouldered his musket and marched to its defense.

Mr. Gooch is a native of Bath county, Kentucky, where his life began on January 1, 1835. His parents, Thomas S. and Rachel (Trumbo) Gooch, were also born in Kentucky, the former in Harrison county in 1810, and the latter in Bath county in 1815. The father was a farmer in his native state, and in 1848 brought what family he then had to Missouri and located on government land in Benton township, Linn county. The journey was made with teams, and consumed several weeks of wearying travel, exposure to frequent perils, and many privations. And when its destination was finally reached, the conditions were found to be still full of hardship and danger.

But the parents were resolute, courageous and determined. They set to work to clear and cultivate their wild domain, and within a few years had made a comfortable and fruitful home of it. They remained on the farm until the death of the father in 1873. The mother passed away at Browning on September 15, 1885. They had seven sons and one daughter. The daughter and three of the sons are living. Three of the sons served in the Union army during the Civil War and were with Sherman in his historic and spectacular march to the sea.

The father was first a Whig and afterward a Republican in politics, and his religious affiliation was with the Christian church. The grandfather, Thomas Gooch, was a native of Virginia, a pioneer of Kentucky, and a renowned Indian fighter, making a glorious record in the campaigns of "Mad Anthony" AVayne, when necessity forced that distinguished warrior to take the field against the ferocious hosts of the forest. He had one brother, James, who settled in Grant county, Kentucky. He became the father of five sons, one of whom moved to Mississippi, and was the founder of the family in that state. He died in Harrison county, Kentucky. Three of his sons became residents of Missouri. They were Thomas, William, John and James. These boys were bound out until twenty years of age to learn trades. Two of them became tanners, one a boot and shoe maker, and one a saddler. William and John came to Missouri in 1832.

this county and settled on the wild prairie of Benton township. Here he completed his limited education in the primitive schools of the time, all that were available to him, and assisted in clearing the home farm, remaining with his parents until 1856. In that year he homesteaded on his present farm, securing a portion of it at 75 cents and the rest at $1.25 an acre, although it was all prairie. He settled on it with a determination to make the most he could of it, and its present condition shows that his labors have not been wasted and he has not spent his strength in vain. He has converted it into a model farm, well improved with good buildings, completely equipped for its proper tillage, and brought to an advanced state of development and productiveness.

In 1858 Mr. Gooch was married to Miss Ophelia Sutherland, a daughter of William Sutherland, who came to Linn county in 1836. Two children have been born of the union: Thomas S., who died in 1884, and William P., who is living on the home farm, which he cultivates with the skill that comes from close study and practice in applying the knowledge thus attained, backed with good judgment and reflective observation. He is accounted as a worthy successor of his father in the ranks of enterprising and progressive farmers.

In political faith and affiliation the father is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for John Bell, of Tennessee, in 1860. During the Civil War he served in the Missouri State Militia from 1862 to 1864, first with the rank of first lieutenant and afterward with that of captain. He saw some service in actual hostilities against the bushwhackers, but his company was mainly employed in guarding railroad and other property. He and his wife are devout and faithful members of the Christian church.

William P. Gooch, the son and only living child of John T. Gooch, was born on July 30, 1859, and has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) on his father's farm. He was educated in the country school in the neighborhood, and from his boyhood has been employed on the homestead. In 1885 he was joined in wedlock with Miss Etta Patterson, a daughter of Dr. Lewis Patterson. Four children have been born of the union, only three of whom are living : John C, Lewis B. and Paul L. The parents are members of the Christian church. They are in charge of the family homestead and devote their time to general farming. Like the elder Mr. and Mrs. Gooch, they are well esteemed throughout their township and in other parts of the county as estimable and upright persons and enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizens. Representing the third generation of his family that has contributed to the advancement of Linn county, William

Simon Good

Orphaned in his boyhood by the death of his father, and compelled at an early age to do much toward providing for his own livelihood, and also to aid in caring for his mother and other members of the family, Sim.on Good learned long ago the stern but useful lessons of self-reliance and the application of all his resources wisely and judiciously in the great struggle for advancement among men. The knowledge gained thereby and the habits thus formed have been his mainstay through all his subsequent years, and they have never for a day been without their value to him. He is now one of the prominent and successful live-stock men of Clay township, in this county, and he has reached his rank in this business and one of equal altitude in his farming operations wholly through his own exertions, ability and excellent management.

Mr. Good's life began in Fairfield county, Ohio, on December 7, 1860. His parents, David and Lydia (Beery) Good, were natives of Pennsylvania, and of the sturdy Dutch stock of that state, which does nothing startling or spectacular, but holds on to every gain it makes in any line of effort or walk of life. The father was a farmer and miller. He took up his residence in Ohio in his young manhood, and remained there until 1865, industriously engaged in the two occupations for which he had been trained.

In 1865 he moved his family to Page county, Iowa, but his work was soon afterward cut short by death in his new home. The mother survived him many years, passing away in 1904. They had two sons and two daughters, and to the care and rearing of these children she devoted herself with the resolute endurance of a Spartan woman and the inflexible fidelity to duty of a Eoman matron. The children made her house their home until they reached maturity, and all worked for the common good of the family as soon as they were able to do anything of value and worthy of remuneration.

Simon Good grew to manhood in Page county, Iowa, obtaining a limited education in the country schools, and becoming a farmer even before he left school, passing his summers in farm work for the families'^ living in the neighborhood of his home. As soon as he could get a start, he began farming on his own account, and this he continued doing in the county named above until 1902. In that year he moved to Missouri and bought 200 acres of uncultivated but promising land in Linn county. Out of that unbroken and untamed expanse he has made his present farm, which is one of advanced development and fruitfulness, and is improved with good buildings and other structures needed for its purposes.

For a number of years Mr. Good has been breeding Percheron horses and high-grade jacks and mules for the markets, and also handling hogs in large numbers, breeding and feeding enough to enable him to ship two carloads a year on an average. The work incident to the cultivation "bf his farm and the proper management of his live-stock industry makes up his sole occupation, and, as he gives it his whole attention and performs it with intelligence and judgment, it brings him in good returns.

He was married in 1883 to Miss Lulu Allen, a native of Andrew county, this state, where her parents were pioneers. Nine children have been born of the union, and all of them are living. They are: Andrew E., Ocie C, Mabel L., Eufus C, Allen V., Willis P., Carl E., Earl R. and Leland F. Ocie is now the wife of Lee Wilson, and Mabel is now Mrs. Sensintaffar. Both are residents of Linn coimty. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and take an active part in its work, as they do in every other agency and undertaking designed to promote the welfare of their township and county.

William Robbins

(Deceased) The late William Bobbins, of Parson Creek township, although not one of the first pioneers of Linn county, was still an early one, and one of the most valued of his day, and gave promise of being one of the most useful men in his township. But his usefulness was cut off at the early age of thirty-four years and four months by a sudden and tragic death, which gave the sparsely settled region, as it was at that time, a great shock and made all its residents deplore the fact that he could not have been spared to fully develop his plans and realize the expectations his life of ten years among the people had awakened.

Even in his short earthly career Mr. Bobbins lived in many places and was active in the service of the public in them all. He was bom in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1834, and was a son of William and Nancy (Sloan) Bobbins, also natives of the Key- stone State. The father was a farmer, and he too met with a tragic end, dying of cholera in the same year in which his son was born. His offspring numbered seven, four sons and three daughters. Of the seven only two of the sons are now living, one being a resident of Pennsylvania and the other of Iowa. The family is of English descent, but the progenitors of the American branch came to this country at an earlyday and several generations of it lived in Pennsylvania.

William Bobbins of this sketch lived for some years in his native county and his residence was then changed to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he attained his manhood. In spite of his orphanage in his infancy, he secured a good education, first attending the district schools in his locality and afterward pursuing a full course of instruction at Duff's College in Pittsburg, from which he was graduated in 1853. He taught school until the spring of 1854, then journeyed by team overland to California, being three months making the trip, and undergoing many hardships on the way.

Mr. Bobbins remained two years in the Golden State, teaching school and working with a threshing outfit, and at the end of the period mentioned returned to his native state. But the West still wore a Avinning smile for him, and in 1858 he again turned his face in the direction of the setting sun, coming to Missouri and locating on a tract of 160 acres of wild land which he purchased - the land now occupied by his widow and one of her sons. He put up a log house in which to shelter his family and log stables for his livestock, and began industriously to break up his land and bring it into productiveness. He lived on the land and did what he could to make a good farm out of it until his death on October 31, 1868, which resulted from the kick of a horse.

He was married in Pennsylvania in 1858, on February 4, to Miss Martha C. Christy, a native of Allegheny county in that state. They had seven children, six of whom are now living: Elizabeth E., who is the wife of A. M. Ward, of Kirksville; Nannie A., the wife of Dennis Wood, of St. John, Kansas; Charles F., a Linn county farmer; Margaret C, now Mrs. Henry Smiley, of Wheeling, Livingston county; William C, who is living on the old homestead with his mother; and Bertie M., who is the wife of Edward Darling, also a resident of this county.

Mr. Bobbins was a frugal and industrious man, eager to make the best possible provision he could for his family. With this end in view, while developing his farm he also taught school in this county during the winter months. He was also a strong L'nion man, and in 1860 cast the only vote received by Abraham Lincoln for President in Parson Creek township. During the Civil War he served as first lieutenant of one of Linn county's companies of Missouri State Militia. On account of his loyalty to the Union his family suffered greatly from depredations by raiders, being twice robbed of their live stock and provender, and subjected to other indignities, including threats of personal injury. At the time of their father's death the oldest of the children was less than ten years of age. The mother certainly deserves great credit for her care and good management in raising so large a number of children left in their tender years without the aid of a father's providing and protecting hand. She was made in the heroic mold of womanhood for which the noble race of pioneer women were distinguished, however', and assumed her duties with, resolute courage and performed them with great constancy and fidelity. She is a veritable old-timer in this region, and recollects distinctly the days when deer stalked boldly into her dooryard and wild turkeys gobbled and strutted ai'ound her cabin, fearless of danger, and almost as if in defiance of the intrusion of a new and conquering race into their erstwhile unquestioned domain. In those days the nearest church was so far away that she and her husband could get to it never oftener than once a month, and frequently not that often. The nearest neighbor they had was a mile and a half across the prairie, and the schools were few, widely scattered and of the most primitive character. She is an admirable monument and reminder of a condition of life that has passed away forever, and is as widely and highly esteemed as any lady in the county. Her sons, as they grew up, developed and improved the farm of 240 acres, making it one of the best in the township.

Sidney 0. Parsons

The life of this interesting business man began in Jefferson county, Iowa, on May 31, 1873, so that he is now thirty-nine j^ears of age. But, although he must rank as a young man yet, he has seen a good deal of life in various ways, and has 'lived and labored usefully in three of the great states of the American Union, thirteen years in the state in which he was born, ten in Kansas and sixteen in Missouri, and his record is good and creditable to him in all, and especially so in this state, where he has passed nearly all his years since attaining his manhood.

men of Bucklin, this county, where he has lived continuously since coming to Missouri. He has also mingled in the public life of the community with advantage to it and considerable credit to himself. He is a son of John J. and Mary S. (Smith) Parsons, the former a native of Iowa and the latter of Ohio. They are both living and are practically retired from active pursuits after having been engaged for years in zealous and profitable farming.

Their son Sidney was reared to the age of thirteen in Iowa, then, in 1886, the family moved to Smith county, Kansas. In 1896 the son came to Linn county and located at Bucklin, where he has ever since been engaged in business and official duties, having served as city alderman from his ward and as city collector two terms. He is a Democrat in political relations and always active and effective in the service of his party, as a member of which he was chosen to the offices he has filled.

On February 24, 1894, he was married in Smith county, Kansas, to Miss Rose Harper, of that county. They have two children, Bera M. and Harvey H. The father is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America, and is zealous in his devotion to the Christian church, to which he has belonged for a number of years. He takes great interest in all the organizations to which he belongs, and his membership in them is warmly appreciated by their other members. He performs all his duties with the energy with which he carries on his business, and is enterprising and progressive in everything he undertakes. The residents of the city of his home esteem him highly, and he has shown himself to be well worthy of their regard, confidence and good will in every way.

Quincy R. Bruce

A veteran of the Civil War, and since "the battle flags were furled" an industrious and successful farmer, Quincy R. Bruce, of Jackson township, has well met the requirements of his manhood and his duty to his country in war and peace, and has the respect of all who know him for his fidelity in both, as well as for his uprightness as a man and his usefulness and progressiveness as a citizen. And this respect is based on thorough knowledge of him, for he has lived in this county more than half a century.

(Clark) Bruce, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Vermont. The father was born in 1810, and was a stonemason and farmer by occupation, following these industries in his native state and after coming to Missouri and Linn county in 1859, bringing his five sons and their mother with him. The family located on unbroken land in Jackson township, and there the father died in 1867. The mother passed away July 17, 1891, at the age of ninety years.

-The father was an active and energetic Republican, always a zealous worker for the interests of his party, and as its candidate he served in a number of township offices. In religious connection he was a devoted member of the Baptist church. The grandfather, William Bruce, was born in Virginia and married in West Virginia. He moved to Ohio in early married life, and was killed by a runaway slave. The great-grandfather was born and reared in Scotland. He came to this country about the time of the Revolution, and was killed at Marietta, Ohio, by Indians.

The tragedy that darkened the lives of his forefathers has also been present in that of the subject of this sketch. He was reared to the age of twenty in his native state, then came with his parents to this county. The awful storm cloud of the Civil War was then darkening our sky, and two years later broke with all its fury on our unhappy country. Mr. Bruce was one of the first to volunteer for the defense of the Union, enlisting in 1861 in Company C, Eighteenth Missouri Infantry, in which he served three years and saw a great deal of active field work. He took part, with his regiment, in the battles of Shiloh, where Death rode rampant through the ranks ofwn->th contending armies; Corinth, Mississippi, where two savage eiigagements were fought; Buzzards' Roost, Peachtree Creek, the siege of Atlanta, and many minor conflicts.

Mr. Bruce was discharged at St. Louis, Missouri, November 18, 1864, on account of illness incurred in the service. He returned to his Missouri home and turned his attention to farming in this county, and here he has been engaged in the same pursuit ever since. He has been successful in his farming operations and through them has accumulated a comfortable estate. He has also taken an active and serviceable interest in the political, civil, moral and educational affairs of the county, and his citizenship has been well appreciated by the people because of its elevated character and its usefulness.

He was married in 1867 to Miss Mary J. Smith, a native of this county. Her parents, William B. and Maria (Gillespie) Smith, came to Linn county in 1841, and were therefore pioneers here. Mr. and

U8 History Of Linn County

Mrs. Bruce have five children living: Cora, Archie, Daniel, Zella and Jesse. Cora is the wife of W. R. Phillips and Zella of A. M. Kilborn. Their father is a Republican in political relations and has always been active in the service of his party. On one occasion he was its nominee for the office of county judge. His religious connection is with the Baptist church.

Alexander Gooch

The son of a pioneer and himself entitled to all the reverence and distinction that pertains to the rank, Alexander Gooeh, of Jackson township, enjoys the high esteem of all the residents of Linn county, not only on this account, but also because of his excellent personal character, his enterpi-ise and progressiveness in the days of his greatest activity and the long continued usefulness he has exhibited to every interest of this region, to which he was brought in childhood, and in which he has lived ever since and labored with fidelity and good results from his boyhood.

Mr. Gooch was born in Chariton county, Missouri, on November 23, 1835. He is a son of Rowland and Delia (Millsap) Gooch, the former a native of Madison county, Kentucky, and the latter of North Carolina. The father was born in 1813, and throughout his life from his young manhood he was engaged in tilling the soil. His parents, Gideon and Nancy (Leavell) Gooch, brought him to Missouri in 1829, and located in Chariton county, then almost wholly a wilderness. The trip was madg^^^nth wagon teams, and had the usual succession of hardships, privS,tions and perils.

On his arrival in this state Gideon Gooch took up a tract of land in Chariton county, but after spending ten years in clearing this tract and reducing it to productiveness, he moved his family to Grundy county, where he ended his days. He was a soldier under General William Henry Harrison in the War of 1812, and took part in all the battles with the Indians fought by that distinguished warrior, remaining three years in the service in a regiment commanded by Colonel Dudley. At one time he was surrendered to the British with the rest of his regiment, but was in captivity only a short time. He and his wife were the parents of eight sons and six daughters, all now deceased.

Their son, Rowland Gooch, the father of Alexander, grew to manhood in Chariton county, and in 1841 came to Linn county, locating in Jackson township on land which he received from the government. He cleared this land, transformed it into a good farm and lived on it until his death, which occurred in 1899. His wife died in 1855, and he afterward married Mrs. Louisa Haller, the widow of Dr. Haller. By his two marriages he became the father of eight children, sis of whom, five of the sons and one of the daughters, are still living. He was a great hunter, and loved the sport. Deer and wild turkeys fell in great numbers under his unerring aim, and not only kept his larder stored with good provisions but added to his fame as Nimrod of great expertness. He was a member of the Baptist church for many years and faithful in his devotion to it.

Alexander Gooch grew to manhood in Jackson township and obtained a limited education at a school kept in a rude log schoolhouse on his father's farm. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty and assisted in clearing the farm. In 1855 he begam farming for himself on government land, which he took up in its wild state. He broke up the soil, brought it to productiveness, put up all the improvements on it, and made of it the excellent farm on which he now lives.

He was first married in 1854 to Miss Mary F. Bragg, and by this marriage became the father of eight children, five of whom are living: William J., John A., Harvey P., Mary E., and Howard B. Their mother died in 1871, and in 1874 the father maiTied Miss Mary E. Phillips, a native of Kentucky. Four children were born of this union. Nova J. and Jerry P. are living. During the Civil War Mr. Gooch served as a member of the Home Guards. He was a justice of the peace for twenty years, and was school director for a number. In religious connection he is a Baptist. He is well known and highly respected throughout the county.

A veteran of the Civil War, and since^ the close of that momentous sectional conflict, which so nearly rent our country asunder, for years an industrious and thrifty mechanic, and ever since a progressive and prosperous farmer, Stephen W. McCollum, of North Salem township, has a record of usefulness and fidelity to duty which would be creditable to any man. In times of peace he has forged the implements of useful and productive industry; and in times of war he has shown that he knew how to handle the implements of aggressive and defensive warfare.

August 10, 1827. His parents, David and Rachel (Morris) McCollum, were born and reared in South Carolina, and moved from that state to Kentucky early in their married life. The father was a blacksmith, and worked at his trade in his native state and that of his first adoption. In 1840 he brought his family to this state, and in 184.3 to Linn county, and here the father continued to work at his trade. Both parents died in this county. They had twelve children, all of whom, also, are dead but their son Stephen W., and he is now nearly eighty-five years old.

He was about fourteen years of age when the family moved to Missouri. Almost all educational advantages, as furnished by schools, were denied him, but Nature was his teacher, and she imbued him with a spirit of independence and self-reliance, which the additional lessons of experience, always thorough but sometimes severe, intensified and made practical. As soon as he was large and strong enough he began learning his trade as a blacksmith under the instruction of his father.

On July 24, 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Eighteenth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in defense of the Union, and he served actively and to his cost until he was honorably discharged from the army on February 6, 1865. At Marks' Mill he was taken prisoner, and during the next ten months he suffered all the horrors of one of the awful prison pens of the Confederacy. This experience was far worse, in his estimate, than the fourteen big battles in which he took part, including the engagement at Prairie Grove, Arkansas. He was wounded twice, once in the neck and once in the head.

After his discharge from the army he returned to his home and resumed work at his trade. This he followed for a number of years. He has now been living retired from all active pursuits for some time, bearing his burden of years cheerfully and with considerable vigor and activity, and finding the evening of his long and useful life comforted by the universal esteem bestowed upon him as a man and a patriarch by the people of his whole township and many other parts of Linn county.

Mr. McCollum was married on February 11, 1849, to Miss Elizabeth Boiling, a native of Missouri. They had five children, Benjamin F., William M., Mary, Robert and Shannon D. The mother of these children died on September 27, 1874, and the father took as his second wife Mrs. Margaret Bunch, a widow, who is still living. Among the few remaining links that connect Linn county of the present day with the dawn of its history, noije is more generally, more sincerely or more deservedly revered than this venerable couple. They have lived long and lived serviceably here, and the people around them are proud of the high examples they have given of true and faithful American manhood and womanhood. Mr. McCoUum's grandfather, David McCollum, was a native of South Carolina, a blacksmith by occupation and an excellent citizen, like all the other members of the family. He died in Indiana.

Thomas S. Lambert

Thomas S. Lambert is an industrious and prosperous farmer of Enterprise township in this county, who is a native here and has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) within the limits of Linn county. He was born in the county on September 11, 1869, a son of Albert and Euth (Stanford) Lambert, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. The father is a carpenter and farmer, and has lived in the county since 1862, when he came to this locality with his parents. He attained his manhood here and completed his education in the schools of this section. He is still living and actively engaged in his customary industries, and with results beneficial to himself and advantageous to his community.

His father, Albert Lambert, moved to Missouri and Linn county from Ohio in 1865, as has been noted, and lived here. Of the children bom to him two sons and one daughter are living. The maternal grandfather, Thomas Stanford, settled in this county in 1851 on laud which he took up from the government, and which he broke up, improved and brought to an advanced stage of development and cultivation. During the Civil War he was a soldier in the Union army for three years and saw a great deal of active service in the field and on the march. He is now living in the state of Oklahoma, in prosperous circumstances and is generally esteemed there as his memory is held in high respect here.

After leaving school Thomas S. Lambert learned the carpenter trade and has since worked on a saw mill, operated a threshing outfit and been profitably engaged in farming. He is a handy man, can tnm his abilities to many lines of usefulness, and has always foiuid his capacity in demand. He is now following farming as his main occupation, although he still works at his trade when there is need of it to help some enterprise in the community along, to accommodate a neighbor, or to keep himself employed in times of leisure. He is well known throughout Enterprise township and in many other parts of the county as a good mechanic, a progressive farmer, a straightfor- Tvard and upright man and a progressive and public- spirited citizen. Mr. Lambert was married on December 25, 1887, to Miss Hannah Hannon, a native of this county. They have ten children: Henry, Charles, Loland, Fred, Loland, Minnie, Ethel, Goldie, Roy and Gladys. While the father's life to the present has been quiet and entirely unostentatious, it has been very useful. He has sought no prominence in social or political life, having no taste for either, and has taken no very active part in political controversies and contentions. He has done his duty with reference to public affairs with a good citizen's sense of responsibility, and been content, for the rest, to go his way along the path of daily requirements and without public notice. His fidelity to duty has not, however, gone unnoticed, and he is generally esteemed as an excellent man and citizen.

Albert S. Lambert

Prosperous in a worldly way, with his highly improved, well cultivated and richly productive farm of 440 acres; prominent in his business as an enterprising and progressive farmer, whose skill in cultivating his land always brings him excellent returns for his labor, and standing well in the regard of the whole people of Linn county as a man and as a citizen, Albert S. Lambert, of Enterprise township, has found Linn county a good place for a man of industry, ability and selfreliance, and has never regretted that his parents brought him to this locality when he was but fifteen years old, although the severance of old ties when he left his native state might have been a source of deep regret and sorrow to him.

Mr. Lambert was born in Washington county, Ohio, on March 10, 1850, and is a son of Albert and Elizabeth (Edgerton) Lambert, also natives of Ohio, the former born in Belmont and the latter in Washington county. The father's life began in 1814. He grew to manhood in his native state and afterward passed nearly thirty years as a farmer there. In 1864 he left Ohio for Missouri, but on the way stopped in Iowa, where he and his family spent one winter. In the spring of 1865 they came on to Linn county and on arriving here located on an unimproved and unbroken track of land on Bear branch in Grant sville township. This the father and sons cleared and improved into an excellent farm, and on it the father died in 1895. The mother lived until 1907, when she too passed away.

Edward M. Randolph

They were the parents of twelve children, nine of whom are living. The father was a Quaker in his religious belief and practices. The grandfather, Albert Lambert, was a native of North Carolina and moved from that state to Ohio in his early manhood. He accompanied his son Albert and the rest of the family to this county, and here he passed the remainder of his days, dying at a good old age.

Albert S. Lambert was fifteen years old when his parents brought him to this county, and here he completed the country school education he had begun in his native state. He remained at home and assisted his father in clearing, improving and cultivating the home farm until 1868, then, although he was but eighteen years old, he began working for himself in the department of labor to which he had been trained, starting in as a farmer on a small scale and gradually enlarging his possessions and his operations as he prospered, clearing one piece of land after another and improving each in turn. He now has a farm of 440 acres, all cleared and the greater part of it under cultivation, and it is one of the best in the county.

On June 27, 1867, Mr. Lambert was married to Miss Ruth Standford, a daughter of Thomas Standford, a pioneer of this county who located here in 1851. Mr. Standford was in the Civil War two years, and on the Union side. He belonged to Company K. Seventh Missouri Volunteer Infantry. He is still living but is a gentleman well advanced in years. Mr. and Mrs. Lambert have had four children, three of whom are living: Thomas S. C, Lillie (Mrs. George Spencer) and Herman.

In addition to his extensive farming operations Mr. Lambert has for some years been largely engaged in breeding registered Hereford cattle and Poland-China hogs. Both in the extent of his business in this respect and in the quality of his products he is one of the leading live stock breeders in the county. In his live stock enterprise as in his farming he gives his close personal attention to every detail, and omits nothing on his part necessary to secure the best results, and in his efforts toward this end he is entirely successful.

The interesting subject of this brief review is practically the father of Merceline. While others Avere associated with him in founding the town, his was the controlling spirit in the enterprise and his the guiding hand in carrying it into effect and fruitfulness. He directed the laying out of what was at the time intended as a village, with hopes of its growth and development into a town of some size and pretensions during his life, doubtless, and with the possible dream of its becoming in time a city of magnitude and a potency of weight in the mercantile, industrial and civic life of the county and state. To what extent his hopes have been realized it remains with him to say. But the village he founded has far surpassed the expectations of others in the rapidity of its growth and the enterprise and sweep of progress it has developed.

Mr. Randolph is evidently not satisfied with what has been achieved, or else he has been stimulated by that to still greater efforts, and his view has been expanded to wider possibilities. For he is still actively engaged in the real estate and loan business, and is adding every year to the size, beauty and importance of the city, the comfort and enjoyment of its residents, and its consequence among the municipalities of Linn county and the state of Missouri.

Mr. Randolph is a native of Marion county, Missouri, where his life began on December 5, 1838. He is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Anderson) Randolph, the former born in Louisiana and the latter in Maryland. The father was a planter in his native state, and came to Missouri in 1834. He located in Marion county and there conducted a farm for a number of years. From there he removed to Edina in Knox county, where he died in 1903, and where the mother passed away in 1906. They had six sons and one daughter, all of whom are deceased but three of the sons.

Edward M. Randolph was reared and educated in Marion and Knox counties, and began his business career as a clerk in a general store at Newark in the latter, working there three years in that capacity. He then engaged in business for himself at Newark and Edina for a period of fifteen years. In addition he operated a mail route and express line between Edina and Quincy, Illinois, for a number of years. Afterward he served as circuit clerk of Knox county for six years, and was then associated with Senator L. F. Cottey in the real estate and loan business for some years, all the time adding new features to his experience and business knowledge, all of which have been of value to him ever since.

In 1887 he came to where Marceline now stands and, in company with other persons, purchased 2,000 acres of land. On this he platted and laid out the town in the winter of 1887-8, devoting 600 acres to the townsite. He at once became a resident of the place and all his subsequent years have been passed here. He still owns 500 lots of the original plat of the town, and 120 acres which have never been platted, in addition. He has put up fifty dwellings in the city besides several business blocks, among the latter the Metropolitan block, the Randolph block and the Commercial block, in the erection of the last of which other persons were associated with him.

Mr. Randolph has been connected in a leading way with every enterprise of value in connection with the expansion and improvement of the city. He assisted in organizing the First National Bank, of which he is one of the original stockholders, and his ready mind has conceived and his skillful hand has helped to fashion many other institutions which are highly creditable and largely useful to the community.

On December 10, 1861, Mr. Randolph was united in marriage with Mis^ Annie Hamilton, a native of Knox county, ]\Iissouri. They have no children. But have reared and educated a number, over a dozen in all. They maintain a very attractive home, however, which is a center of social culture and enjoyment and of refined, genuine and gracious hospitality. It is one of the popular resorts of the city, and is much frequented by the host of admiring friends of its occupants, who regard it as an ideal domestic establishment.

Mr. Randolph has been a loyal and devoted member of the Democratic party from the dawn of his manhood. Not, however, because he has ever been desirous of a political ofBce of any kind, whether it came by election or appointment, but because he has an abiding faith in the principles of the party and their value in promoting good government. His church connection is with the Southern Methodists, and in fraternal life he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

This enterprising, progressive and broad-minded man is now the last remaining landmark in the community of the time when what is now the city of Marceline was an unbroken expanse of prairie, the only one left of the forces which spoke the municipality into being. He is well known throughout the county of Linn and those which adjoin it, and he is as highly esteemed as he is widely kno-mi. For his life has been useful in a material way in what it has produced, and much more serviceable in its uprightness and the example of elevated citizenship which it has furnished.

Clifford R. Hinton

Clifford R. Hinton, of Parson Creek township, this county, has a high reputation as an enterprising and progressive farmer and deserves it. He farms his land with intelligence and skill, and in a manner that makes every acre of it yield a proper return for the labor bestowed on it, and conducts all his affairs with system and prudence. This is a logical result of his circumstances and his training and methods of procedure. He was born on the farm he tills and has worked on it from his boyhood. He therefore knows it well and is familiar with its needs. He is a son of prudent parents who trained him in good business methods, and he studies his work with diligence and close and discriminating observation.

Mr. Hinton came into being on March 20, 1873, the son of William H. and Mary A. (Ainsworth) Hinton, natives of the state of New York bom near the city of Rochester. The father was a miller and worked at his trade in his native state until after the Civil War began. In 186 - he enlisted in the Union army in a regiment of New Yoi-t infantry, and he remained in the service about four years in all, seeing a great deal of the strife and taking part in several battles.

After the close of the war he located in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he was employed until 1868. He then came to this county and bought a tract of wild prairie land of 180 acres, and this unbroken expanse he converted into a valuable and productive farm, improved it with commodious and comfortable buildings, made a profitable and desirable rural home of it and lived on it until his death, which occurred in 1887. The mother is still living and maintains her home at Meadville.

The father built the Meadville flour mill. He operated it for some time, then disposed of his interest in it, and thereafter gave his whole attention to his farming. He was a Republican in political faith and allegiance, but he never filled a public office or took a very active part in political contests. He and the mother were married in the state of New York and became the parents of nine children, four of whom are living: Dayton L., who resides in the state of Oklahoma; Clifford R., the subject of this writing; Alda M., who is the wife of James Bailey and has her home at Meadville; and Sadie D., who lives with her mother. The grandfather of these children, Simeon Hinton, was born in England and died in New York state, where he was engaged in farming many years.

Clifford R. Hinton grew to manhood on the farm he now owns and cultivates and obtained his education in the district school in the neighborhood. His whole life from boyhood to the present time (1912) has been passed on this farm and in its tillage except one year, during which he was in the grocery and hardware trade at Meadville. Mercantile life was not agreeable to him, and he did not tarry long at it.

Mr. Hinton was married on November 12, 1902, to Miss Nannie Dicks, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Knox) Dicks, natives of Missouri and residents of Linn county at the time of the marriage. The family located here in 1870, and here the mother died. The father is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Hinton have two children, their daughter Marjorie M. and their son Forest C. The father is a Freemason and the mother belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. They are highly respected throughout the county, in all parts of which they are well and favorably known.

Henry F. Evertson

This enterprising, progressive and successful farmer of Parson Creek township has passed something more than two-thirds of his life to the present time in this county, and during the whole of the period of his residence here has been actively connected with the leading industry of the locality, and since attaining his manhood a prominent force in carrying it on. He has made his impress on the region in the example of industry, thrift and good management he has given its people, and also in the results he has achieved in helping to build up its industrial, mercantile and commercial influence and importance.

Mr. Evertson is a native of Adams county, Illinois, where his life began on January 22, 1867. His parents, William and Sarah (Murry) Evertson, were southerners, the father born in Virginia in 1823 and the mother in Tennessee. The father was a farmer in four states, and made an excellent record as such in each. From Virginia he moved to Ohio and lived there for a time, then came on westward to Adams county, Illinois, and there remained forty years. In 1881 he moved to this county and located near Fountain Grove. In that neighborhood he was actively and profitably engaged in farming for twenty years, and at the end of that period changed his residence to the farm no\T occupied by his son Henry, on which he died on January 26, 1904, at the age of eighty-one years.

He and his wife were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters. Eight of the ten are living yet, but Henry is the only one of the number who resides in Linn county. His grandfather, Jei'emiali Evertson, was born and reared in Virginia and passed all the earlier years of his life as a planter in that state. In middle age he moved to Illinois and the remaining years of his earthly activity were

Henry F. Evertson grew to the age of fourteen in Illinois and began his education there. In 1881 he came with his parents to this county, and here he has passed all his subsequent years. He completed his education in the country schools of the county, and soon after doing so began life for himself as a farmer, which he has been ever since. In addition to his general farming operations, which are managed with skill and good judgment, he is extensively engaged in breeding Aberdeen- Angus cattle and Poland-China hogs. And as he is careful and attentive to all requirements in every detail of his business in both departments, his output is large and holds a high rank in the markets, local and general.

On January 26, 1896, Mr. Evertson was united in marriage with Miss Flora M. Shiflett, a daughter of Harrison and Rebecca (Lively) Shiflett, who became residents of Linn county in 1887. The mother died here in 1900, as did the father some years later. Mr. Evertson is a wide-awake and progressive citizen, and is held in high favor and enjoys a widespread popularity because of his public spirit and enterprise in regard to public improvements and everything that helps to promote the substantial and enduring welfare of the township and county of his home. He also takes an earnest interest and an active part in the fraternal life of his community as a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, which he also attends and helps to support. He is an excellent farmer, an aggressive citizen for the public good, a genial and obliging man socially and a most estimable force in his locality in every way.

John B. Walby

Beginning life for himself at the age of eighteen as a Union soldier in the Civil War, and since the close of that memorable and momentous sectional conflict actively engaged in farming on a liberal scale and in an enterprising and progressive manner, John B. Walby, of Parson Creek township, this county, has been from his youth a valuable contributor to the greatness, wealth and progress of the United States and a worthy exemplar of its best and most serviceable citizenship.

Dative of London, England, and the latter of the state of Indiana. The father was a butcher by occupation, as was his father before him, whose name was also Benjamin Walby. The grandfather moved his family to the United States about the year 1837, crossing the ocean in a sailing vessel. On arriving in this county the family came direct to Quincy, Illinois, and there the grandfather engaged in butchering, carrying on a profitable business. He invested his earnings in land in the county around him to good advantage, and passed the remainder of his days in Quincy.

He and his wife were the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom are now deceased. Their son Benjamin, the father of John B., followed his trade and also engaged in farming in Adams county, Illinois, until 1867, when he brought his family to Missouri and purchased railroad land in Livingston county. He cleared this land, improved the farm, brought it to an advanced stage of productiveness, and then sold it, and bought other land near Spring Hill in the same county. On this second farm he died in 1901, having survived by twenty-four years the mother, who died in 1877. They had four sons and three daughters, but all of the seven have died except three of the sons. The parents belonged to the Baptist church, and the father was a devoted member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

John B. Walby obtained his education in the district schools of Adams county, Illinois, and remained at home with his parents until he reached the age of eighteen years in 1862. He then enlisted in defense of the Union in the Seventy-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but his connection with that regiment was short, as he was discharged soon after his enlistment on account of illness incurred in the service. Late in 1863 he again enlisted for a term of one year, becoming a member of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, and in this regiment he served out nearly all of his term of enlistment.