Linn County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1912 (part 3 of 15)

Col. George W. Martin

A valiant soldier for the Union during the Civil War, and still bearing in the sight of all who meet him the mark of his service and devotion to the cause he espoused in the empty sleeve he wears as one result of the terrible carnage at Gettysburg; for many years owner and editor of the Brookfield Gazette, and still connected with it in a leading and very serviceable way; and at this time (1912) postmaster of the city in which he lives and has so long and so eifectively labored for the good of its people. Col. George W. Martin, of Brookfield, has been true to his country and rendered it signal service in war and peace, in private life and official station, and always, under all circumstances, by the fine example he has given of genuine gentility and citizenship of the most elevated character.

Colonel Martin was born near Sardis, Ohio, a village on the Ohio river in Monroe county about forty-two miles below Wheeling, West Virginia, and his life began there on December 30, 1838. He is a son of Wilson and Eebecca (Venham) Martin, long residents of the village of his nativity, where the father engaged in the cooperage and mercantile lines of activity. There also he served as postmaster and a justice of the peace for a long time, and there his life ended. The mother was a daughter of Bay Venham, who, wliile he was yet a mere boy, took part in Indian skirmishes when the red men were making a last desperate effort to hold the hills and valleys along the upper Ohio. He is honorably mentioned in De Hass' history of West Virginia for helping a wounded comrade to escape from the savages in one of the skirmishes which took place near Fo^t Henry in the neighborhood of Wheeling, West Virginia. The rescue was effected by crossing the river at night in a canoe in the very face of the Indians.

The Martins were pioneer settlers in the Ohio river valley. Capt. Absalom Martin, a great uncle of the Colonel, served with distinction in the war of 1812. He was the founder of Martin's Ferry, and it is now claimed that he was the first permanent settler on the west bank of the Ohio, locating at and starting the town to which he gave his name before the settlement of Marietta, which, however, has far surpassed the earlier town in population, local influence and commercial importance.

The Colonel's great-grandfather, Reuben Martin, who was of Welsh descent, was, at an early day, engaged in the iron industry in Essex county, New Jersey, before coming to what was then called the West, and was one of the pioneers of that industry in the United States. His great-grandm£)ther was a native of Holland, and was related to Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States.

Colonel Martin was educated in the public schools and at a private school in Woodsfield in his native county. He began teaching school in that county at the age of sixteen and continued two years. In 1856 he came to Missouri and during the next three years taught in Lincoln and Montgomery counties. At the end of that time he returned to Ohio, and there he again engaged in teackjag, remaining steadfast in the work until the beginning of the CivirWar. When that terrible storm cloud of dissension and disaster broke upon our unhappy country he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, one of the first three years ' regiments raised in Ohio.

He was mustered out of the service on October 26, 1863, on account of disability from wounds. He took part with his regiment in the battles of Greenbriar, Alleghany "Summit, McDowell, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was Irounded at Alleghany Summit, McDowell, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. From the wound received at Gettysburg he lost his right arm. He showed great capacity and fidelity in the army and received successive promotions. His first rank was first duty sergeant; from that he was raised to orderly sergeant, and from orderly sergeant to first lieutenant. And in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg he was in command of his company.

The Colonel served for a short time in 1863 as regimental quartermaster, and in the spring of 1864 was made sutler of the Oue Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio Regiment, which he served in that capacity until October of the same year. He was then appointed purveyor of the First Brigade of the First Division of the Army of West Virginia. This di^asion he accompanied as its purveyor to the Army of the James, remaining in his position and performing its duties well and wisely until the following spring.

In the spring of 1865 he returned to Missouri and engaged for a time in mercantile business in Brookfield. In the fall of 1868 he was elected assessor of Linn county for a term of two years. In 1870 he was elected clerk of the county court, and in 1874, -^as re-elected to this office, filling it with great acceptability to the court and the people eight years consecutively in all. Being cordially and intelligently interested in the progress and improvement of every community in which

He was the Republican nominee for state auditor in 1888, served as Department Commander of the Department of Missouri, Grand Army of the Republic in 1891 and 1892. and represented Linn county in the General Assembly of the state in 1907. In the meantime, however, after resuming his residence in BrooMeld in January, 1879, he engaged in the real estate business, and about the same time was appointed local land agent for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, in which position he was able to do a great deal for the development and improvement of the county.

Another field of effort in which he has done a large amount of good for the county is that of journalism, he having for a number of years owned and edited the Brookfield Gazette, for which he still writes editorials. He wields a fluent and graceful pen, which is burnished gold and cheering with good fellowship when there is no cause for it to be otherwise, but can be tempered steel when occasion demands that it shall. He is a strong and able writer at all times, and his name stands high in editorial work and in the domain of journalism all over the state.

His political alliance has always been with the Republican party since he has been a voter, and he has rendered the party great service with pen and voice for many years, rising on his ability and zealous work for it to a position of leadership in its councils, where his judgment is always regarded as of great value and his influence is of commanding Aveight. On account of his loyalty to his party, his unquestioned ability and his high character he was appointed postmaster of Brookfield in March, 1911, and is still filling the office with great satisfaction to the people and high credit to himself in every way.

On October 24, 1865, Colonel Martin was married to Miss Sarah J. Wilson, of Wheeling, West Virginia. Mrs. Martin, who died on April 3, 1900, was a lady of unusual ability and superior accomplisliments. She served two terms as Department President of the Women's Relief Corps for the Department of Missouri, and one term as National President of that organization. The three children born of their union are: Georgie, now Mrs. E. H. Shepperd; William W., who is assistant cashier of the Ijinn County Bank, and married Miss May Doane ; and Charles H., who is unmarried. The father is a member of the "Independent Order of Odd Fellows," of the "Benevolent and Protective order of Elks," of the "Grand Army of the Republic," and of tlie "Missouri Commandery of the Military order of the Loyal Legion."

Guy W. Bigger

With an ancestry that began in England generations ago, and has run in the history of this country through several states and shone in many lines of useful action almost from colonial times, Guy W. Bigger, one of the prominent and successful hardware merchants of Marceline has had high incentives to elevation and patriotism in his citizenship, uprightness and public spirit in his conduct and energy and enterprise in his business. He is the great-grandson of a native of England who came to this country and settled in Virginia soon after the Revolution, and who raised a regiment for the defense of his adopted land in the War of 1812. He is the grandson of one of the pioneers of Linn county who located within its limits in 1844 and passed the remainder of his days here, improving land and adding greatly to the progress and importance of the country. And he is a son of Clellen G. and Leah J. (Powers) Bigger, a sketch of whose lives will be found on another page of this work, and which contains a more extended and explicit history of the family.

Guy W. Bigger was born at Linneus in this county on June 24, 1871, and grew to manhood there. He began his education in the schools of Linn county and completed it at the University of Michigan. He then returned to this county and took ujj his residence in Marceline, where he served as assistant postmaster under Jackson AYliiteman, and afterward as postmaster to fill out an unexpired term of which there were eight months remaining, this term expiring in 1903.

In 1904 he started his enterprise in the hardware trade, and to this he has since given his time and attention with highly commendable industry and gratifying profits. He has been successful in his business from the start, not only in building up a large and remunerative trade, but also in establishing himself firmly in the confidence and esteem of the people as a progressive and up-to-date merchant, a wideawake and public-spirited citizen and an upright and estimable man.

His reputation for the possession of these qualities of character and manhood is not confined to the county of his residence, but extends over the adjoining county of Chariton also, and as well through Macon and other neighboring counties. In all his demeanor as a man, and in the management of his business, he has shown that he has not l^een indifferent to the inspiration drawn from his ancestry, and that the lessons involved in the examples of his forefathers have not been lost upon him.

improvement of his township and county, with energy in promoting the welfare of their residents and public interests of every kind, and broad intelligence and clearness of vision in finding the best ways in which to do good for the whole people in every way, morally, mentally, socially and materially. He can always be counted on to do his part toward the successful accomplishment of every worthy undertaking, and the people, wherever he is known, look upon him as one of the most serviceable men in this part of the state of Missouri.

Ezekiel Smith

Born in Ireland, reared to the age of fifteen in Canada, learning Ms trade of plasterer and bricklayer in Buffalo, New York, and working at it in different parts of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Ezekiel Smith, one of the leading farmers of Marceline township, has swept a large part of this continent in his wanderings and, unlike the proverbial rolling stone, has gathered substance wherever he has been. For he has been capable and industrious, with a genius for large affairs and business ability of a high order, quick to see, alert to seize and wise to use to the best advantage for himself every opportunity that has come his way.

Having come to Missouri from Chicago, after a residence of some years in that city, Mr. Smith is familiarly known as "Chicago Smith" all over Linn county, where he settled on his arrival in this state for a permanent residence in 1902. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on December 25, 1846, and is a son of John. and Jane (Hazelton) Smith, also natives of that country, and belonging to families long domesticated among its people. They emigrated to Huron county, Ontario, Canada, in 1846, while their son Ezekiel was yet an infant, and there they died, the mother in 1851 and the father in 1860. The father was a farmer in his native land and also in Canada. Four children, two sons and two daughters, were born of their union, and all of them are living in the United States, Ezekiel and one of his sisters, however, being the only members of the family who are residents of Missouri. The other son and daughter have their homes in Chicago.

Ezekiel Smith dwelt to the age of fifteen years in Ontario and obtained a common school education there. At the age mentioned he crossed the line to Buffalo, New York, and there he learned his trade as a bricklayer and plasterer. After completing his apprenticeship he moved to New York citv, and a short time afterward to Titusville,

Pennsylvania. In both places he worked at bis trade, but in the latter did contracting on a large scale in it, putting up a number of large works of construction. He also had control of the construction work at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo and erected over eighty per cent of the buildings for that great enterprise, what he put up amounting to more than $1,000,000 in value. He did over $1,300,000 worth of work at World's Fair, Chicago. He also built over $1,500,000 worth of structures of different kinds for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, and had large contracts in construction work in San Francisco after the earthquake, putting up the new Mills building, the First National Bank, and other large structures in that city. In addition he built Section 14 of the Chicago drainage canal.

Mr. Smith located in Chicago in 1866, and from then until 1902 he did contract work in plastering in that city. In the year last named he moved to Missouri and Linn county, taking up his residence on 800 acres of land which he bought in 1874. As a farmer he has been progressive and wide-awake, keeping pace with the utmost advance in the science of agriculture and applying the most approved modern methods in all his operations. As a stockbreeder he enjoys the distinction of being the first importer of draft horses in this part of Missouri, and also the first importer of Shorthorn cattle here. He has recently turned his attention to speed horses and is producing some very fine ones, for he aims at the best results in all his work of everj^ kind and omits no effort on his part necessary to secure them.

Mr. Smith has been married twice. His first union in wedlock was with Miss Mary Golding, of Chicago, and took place on October 11, 1869. By this marriage he became the father of two daughters: Alice M., who is now the wife of Paul Chase and lives in California; and Lulu J., who died a number of years ago. The mother of these children passed away in 1894, and on April 18, 1896, the father contracted a second marriage in which he was united with Miss Ella Donaldson, of Tlinois. They have three children, Ernest D., Agnes H. and Newcomb C.

Mr. Smith is one of the best known and most esteemed farmers and citizens of Linn county. His farm is a model of skill in cultivation and attractiveness in improvements. He does his part in all essentials and the bounty of nature in this part of the country does the rest, and the results accomplished are highly gratifying and profitable to him and of great and wide-spread benefit to the people living around him throughout a large extent of country, near at hand, and to others in more distant localities, wherever his operations reach.

In the public affaii's of the township and county of his residence he is zealously and intelligently active, aiding by every means at his command all undertakings for the improvement and progress of the region and the substantial and enduring welfare of its people. He is public spirited and enterprising for the countj', as he is for himself, and his work for its advantage is energetic and elfective. He is not an active partisan and has no desire for public office, but he votes with the Eepublican party because he believes in its principles and feels it his duty as a citizen to do all he can for the good of his community, Throughout the Middle West he is well and favorably known, and everywhere he is held in the highest esteem as a citizen, as a business man and as a fine type of true Americanism. Linn county knows no better farmer or more enterprising and useful resident within the whole compass of her territory.

Edgar E. Mason

Born, reared and educated in Vermont, and habituated to the conditions, customs and methods of thought and action in New England until after the dawn of his manhood, Edgar E. Mason, now one of the most prominent and successful general farmers and live stock breeders in this county, found himself in a very different atmosphere when he came to this part of the country in 1878 at the age of twentytwo years. Yet with the universal adaptability of the American mind, he has so suited himself to the requirements of his present environment, and made all its conditions so completely serviceable to him, that he is as if native here and without knowledge of or training in any other locality.

Mr. Mason was born in Bennington county, Vermont, on March 19, 1856, and is a son of Elijah B. and Sarah A. (Gillmore) Mason, also natives of that county. The father was a farmer and brought the members of his household to Missouri and this county in the autumn of 1877. He then bought eighty acres of the farm now owned and cultivated by his son Edgar, which comprises 200 acres at this time, and has been transformed from a wild and unbroken prairie by the industry, intelligence and skill of two generations of the family into one of the best farms in Missouri of its size.

The father was born in 1825 and died in 1829. The mother's life began in 1827 and ended in 1897. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter, but their son Edgar is the only member of the family now living in this state. His grandfather, Christopher Mason, was born in 1797, and his wife, whose maiden name was Leah Barber, in 1798. They were farmers in Vermont and died in that state, in which the progenitors of the American branch of the family settled on their arrival in this country from England.

Edgar E. Mason was reared and educated in his native state, and followed farming in that state until the spring of 1878. He then joined his parents in this county, and at once went to work assisting in breaking up the land and making it over into a good farm. He has lived in this county ever since, and has made all his New England ingenuity and enterprise tell to his own advantage and that of the county. In addition to his extensive general farming operations he is largely engaged in breeding superior strains of live stock, including Percheron horses, registered stock, registered Duroc-Jersey hogs, Delaine-Merino sheep and some registered Holstein cattle, all of high grade and produced with every care in all the details of the business at every step of its progress.

On January 3, 1877, Mr. Mason was united in marriage with Miss Selina Myers, a daughter of Highland H. and Eliza (Babcock) Mj-ers, natives of Vermont who came to Missouri and Linn county in 1882, and now reside in Brookfield. The father is a miller by trade and in his period of activity made himself very serviceable in this region, where men of his ,craft were scarce and widely scattered in the early days.

Mr. and Mrs. Mason have eight children: Charles, a prosperous Linn county farmer; Ida, who is the wife of J. R. Edgar, and lives in Manila, in the Philippine Islands; Ethel, who is married to Dr. H. D. Kneedler, a practicing physician, also in Manila; Harry, who is farming in this county; Sarah, who is another member of the family residing in the Pilippines; Ruby, who is attending school in Brookfield; and Geneva and Meritt, who are living at home with their parents. All the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are all esteemed as most estimable and useful citizens, and fine representatives of Linn county manhood and womanhood in every way.

John L. Stephens

Beginning before the dawn of his manhood and continuing his operations in the same line ever since, John L. Stephens, of Locust Creek township, has been farming in Linn county for over fifty years. In that long period the industry in which he 's engaged has undergone several progressive revolutions, but he has kept pace with the changes in methods and the progress in results, and is now, as he has ever been since his start, one of the most enterprising and advanced farmers of his township, a region in which there are many in the first rank.

Mr. Stephens is a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, where he was born on November 8, 1839, but was brought to Linn county, Missouri, by his parents when he was less than three years old, and has lived within its boundaries ever since. He was educated in its country schools, grew to manhood in association with its people, and has devoted all his time and attention to faithful labor in one of its leading industries and earnest efforts for its progress and development and the substantial welfare of its inhabitants. He is therefore wholly a product and a representative of the county, and wherever he is known is esteemed as a worthy one.

He is a son of John and Jane (Singleton) Stephens, the former a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, born on December 22, 1792, and the latter a daughter of John Singleton, of Virginia. They had two children: their son William Henry, who died on October 9, 1883, and John L., the interesting subject of this brief sketch, who is living on his excellent farm eight miles northwest of Brookfield. This gives strong proof of his skill and good judgment as a farmer, and his intelligence and culture as a man.

On January 26, 1869, Mr. Stephens was married to Miss Mary Alexander, a daughter of John and Olive (Root) Alexander. Two of the three children born in the Stephens household are living: Edward H., who assists his father in the management of the home farm and lives on it; and Zelma, the wife of Victor Brown, who resides near Eagle Butte, in South Dakota, also on a farm. The father is earnest in his interest in the improvement of his township and county, as has been suggested, and energetic in his efforts to push their progress along as rapidly as wholesome and substantial development will permit. He takes an active part in increasing the power and usefulness of all good agencies at work among their people, physical, mental, moral and political.

Edward H. Stephens, the only living son of John L., and his mainstay on the home farm, is also a Linn county product and an admirable representative of its sterling and sturdy citizenship. He was born on the farm where he now has his home on November 7, 1869, and obtained his education in the district school in the neighborhood. Like his father and his grandfather, he has followed no occupation but farming, and to this he has devoted studious and reflective atten- tion, so that he is up-to-date in theory and methods in his work, and reaps rewards for his labor in accordance with his advanced ideas and manner of doing things.

On September 6, 1896, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara Morris, daughter of Rice and Kate (Nelson) Morris, of Linneus. One child was born of the union, a son named John, who is living with his grandparents. His mother died on July 4, 1899, and her remains were buried in Linneus cemetery, amid many manifestations of profound grief over her untimely demise, and the consequent loss to the community of one of its most esteemed young matrons.

Matthew Clarke

The interesting subject of this brief memoir is one of the most extensive and successful farmers in Chariton county near Marceline, and one of its best known and most esteemed citizens. He- is of distinguished parentage and family connections, but his reputation as a man and citizen and his hold on the confidence and regard of the people throughout the two counties in which he is well known are the results of his own sterling worth and strong manhood, without any aid from the distinction of his father or extraneous circumstances of any kind.

Mr. Clarke was born in Jackson county, Iowa, on August 10, 1859, and is a son of Francis and Jane (Elder) Clarke, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Irish parentage, but born in Pennsylvania. Her father, John Elder, was lieutenant in the War of 1812 under General Porter, and did valiant service at Fort Meggs. The father's life began in the Emerald Isle on November 18, 1816, where his parentS/ Patrick and Mary (Sheridan) Clarke, were also born and reared. In 1830 the family came to the United States and located in Perry county, Ohio, making its home at the town of Somerset, where its members remained three years. They then removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, and there Francis was employed on government work, subsequently becoming a contractor.

He followed this line of activity at Terre Haute until 1840. In that year he moved to Jackson county, Iowa, where he entered 320 acres of government land and turned his attention to farming. There, also, he Avas married in 1844 to Miss Jane Elder. By this marriage he became the father of seven children : Edward, Patrick, Mary, Thomas, Francis, Jr., Matthew and Ann. In 1867 he sold his Iowa farm and moved to Missouri, locating in Chariton county, where he improved a farm of 420 acres, on which he passed the remainder of his life and died on January 15, 1891. The mother died on April 2, 1902. Five of their children are living, three in this state and two of the sons in Idaho.

The father was a first cousin to General Phil. Sheridan, the noted cavalry leader of the Union army during the Civil War. He was an extensive dealer in live stock and prominent in the business, as well as very successful. In politics he was a life-long Democrat, and a man of such influence in his party in Chariton county that he was called by everybody "the Big Chief," but he would never accept a political office of any kind. In church connection he was a Catholic and a devout and consistent member of the faith, devoted to the interests of the congregation to which he belonged and a zealous worker in promoting them. He was almost as well known in Linn county as in Chariton, and was held in the highest esteem by the people in all parts of both, holding the most elevated rank in public regard both as a man and a citizen.

Matthew Clarke was eight years old when his parents became residents of Chariton county, and he grew to manhood on the family liomestead not far from Marceline. He obtained his education in the district schools and has followed farming ever since he left school. He now owns 425 acres of land, all improve^ and constituting one of tlie finest farms in the two counties of Linn and Chariton, and one which can hardly be surpassed in fertility and skill in cultivation in the wtiole northeastern part of the state.

Mr. Clarke was married on November 1, 1885, to Miss Clara Butler, a daughter of Timothy and Abigail (Derrough) Butler, long residents of Chariton county. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke have had seven children, six of whom are living: Blanche, Timothy, Anna, Charles, Mary and Matthew, Jr. The members of the family all belong to the Catholic Church. In connection with his farming operations, the father handles live stock on a large scale and is very successful in the business.

Robert Glenn

The grandson of a Revolutionary soldier who fought valiantly for the independence of the American colonies when the liberties of mankind were at stake; the nephew of other gallant soldiers who fought with all their ardor in the War of 1812, in which our country established its freedom on the seas, as by the Revolution it established its freedom on land~; and himself a faithful servitor and defender of his country in the Civil War, Eobert Glenn, now one of the progressive, enterprising and successful farmers of this county, is not only a scion of a military house, but has shown in his own record on the battlefield that the lessons of his ancestors were not lost on him, and that the patriotic spirit which impelled them descended to him in full measure.

Mr. Glenn was born in Marion county, this state, on May 8, 1841, and is a son of Absalom and Artemesa (Pepin) Glenn, natives of Mason county, Kentucky. The father was a farmer after reaching his maturity, and was a young man thirty-one years old when the family moved to Missouri. He was born in 1801, and his parents and the rest of the household located in this state in 1832. In 1844 he moved to Linn county and entered a tract of government land which he cleared and transformed into a fine farm, on which he died in 1862. His wife survived him forty years and passed away in 1908 at the age of ninetyfour years.

They were the parents of four sons and seven daughters, and seven of the eleven are living, two of the sons and one of the daughters in Linn county. The grandfather, Robert Glenn, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, and emigrated from there to Mason county, Kentucky, where he died in 1858. He was a planter on an extensive scale and at every period of ^is life intensely interested in the welfare of his country. When the aggressions of Great Britain became too serious for the colonists to endure, and the United States declared their independence, he took the field with his patriotic neighbors and friends and helped to swell the numbers and augment the spirit of the "Old Maryland Line," which was the flower of General Washington's army, and proved to be its salvation on more than one gory field. He lived to be ninety-two years of age and died universally respected. The same intense devotion to country descended to his sons, two of whom fought under General Jackson in the battle of New Orleans.

In the third generation the interesting subject of this brief memoir also followed the flag of his coimtry to the battlefield, enlisting in defense of the Union in the Sixty-second Missouri Militia for service during the continuance of the Civil War. He was three years old when the family moved to Linn county, and here he grew to manhood and obtained his education, attending select schools for his instruction. When he was sixteen he bought some land in Livingston county and for a time lived on and cultivated that. But he returned to Linn county after a short absence, and from that time to the present he has been one of the sturdy, enterprising and progressive cultivators of

Mr. Glenn was naarried in 1863 to Miss Julia A. Worlow, a daughter of Peter Worlow, one of the early pioneers of Linn county, settling in this part of Missouri about 1833. He was born in North Carolina and moved to Kentucky at an early age. From there he came to this county, and here he passed the remainder of his days, dying on his farm in Linn county, Missouri, at the age of sixty-one years, after a long record of useful labor which embraced three states in its course.

Mr. and Mrs. Glenn have seven children living: Sarah M., who is now the wife of A. J. Harter and resides in Linn county, Missouri; Kate E., who married G. F. Lacey and dwells with him in Los Angeles, California; Moses, who is a farmer in Linn county, Missouri; Nannie, who is the wife of Silvester Carter and has her home in Kansas; James R., who is engaged in blacksmithing in Linn county, Missouri; Frances, who is one of the leading teachers of Livingston and Linn counties; and Vich, who is the wife of Dr. G. S. Fitzjohn, of Seattle, Washington. Another daughter named Elva died a number of years ago. The parents are members of the Baptist Church. They are well known and highly esteemed in all parts of Linn county and many places beyond its borders.

Gregory Holcer

Born in Germany and living in that country to the age of ten years ; reared from that age to manhood in Illinois ; beginning life for himself as a farmer on the rich alluvial soil of the Prairie State; joining the mighty army raised for the defense of the Union and serving throughout the Civil War from the time of his enlistment; receiving two wounds in battle, and, after the close of the historic struggle, returning to his former pursuit in the domain of peaceful industry, in which he has ever since been engaged, Gregory Holcer of Clay township, and one of its best known farmers, has had a varied and instructive career, and has profited by its lessons, which, though often stern and severe, have all been useful.

Mr. Holcer is a native of the grand-duchy of Baden, Germany, where his life began on February 1, 1837, in the old family home which had been occupied by his father's branch of the household three hundred years. His parents were Antone and Barbary (Bellum) Holcer, who were of the same nativity as himself. The father was a farmer and followed his line of industry in his native land until 1847, when he brought his family to the United States. The family then consisted of the parents and their two sons. The father bought land in Madison county, Illinois, after reaching this country, and on that continued his farming operations until his death, which occurred in the adjoining county of Bond in 1879.

The mother died in less than one year after her arrival in America, passing away in 18-48, and the father married again, being connected in his second union with Miss Anna Deticker, a native of Switzerland and by this marriage became the father of three additional children. One son resides in Linii county, and here his mother died. The parents were German Catholics, the father and both of his wives, and all devout in their religious duties and faithful to the teachings of the church.

Gregory Holcer began his education in Germany and completed it in the frontier country schools of Illinois. As soon as he was able to start for himself the struggle for advancement among men he began farming, and he adhered to this line of industry in Illinois until 1862. In that year he enlisted in the Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company E, Union army, and served in that regiment until he was discharged on account of disabilities incurred in the service.

When he recovered his health, which was but a few months later, he again enlisted, becoming a member of Company E, Thirtieth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and in this command he remained until the close of the war. He took part in the battles of Arkansas Post and the Yazoo river, the siege of Vicksburg, the capture of Jackson, Mississippi, and Fort Beauregard, Louisiana, the Red River expedition and the battle of Mobile. At Vicksburg he was shot through several fingers and one of his legs. He received an honorable discharge from the army in 1865.

He returned from military service to his Illinois home, where he remained until 1868, then came to this county and bought the land in Clay township on which he now lives. The land was in its state of primeval wildness when he bought it. He has made all the improvements on it and transformed it into a model farm of considerable value, rich in productiveness, desirable in location, attractive in general appearance and up to a high standard in condition.

On April 23, 1874, Mr. Holcer was married to Miss Maiy Hern, a native of Switzerland, who was brought to the United States by her parents when she was but three years old. Seven children have been born of the union, all of whom are living : Anna J., Charles A., Robert L., Evelena, Benjamin H., Le\d M. and Zeta. All the members of the family are zealous in religious duties, and also earnest in their support

Mr. Holcer is a Republican in political faith and allegiance, but, although firm in his convictions and devoted to the success of his party, he has never sought or desired public office. He has, however, taken an active, practical and helpful interest in the progress and improvement of his township and county, and given every undertaking designed to promote their advancement his earnest and energetic support. Throughout the county the people esteem him highly for his excellent character as a man and his uprightness and progressiveness as a citizen.

John J. Deininger

Although but eight years a resident of Linn county, and modest and unobtrusive in his manner, John J. Deininger of Jefferson township is well known throughout the county as an enterprising and progressive farmer and a very active, far-seeing and successful live stock breeder. He has been in many parts of the country and has an extensive knowledge of it and of the springs of action for its residents in various sections. The lessons of experience and observation have been valuable to him in self-knowledge and development also, and he came to his present undertaking well prepared by nature and training for carrying it on successfully.

Mr. Deininger was born near Harrisburg, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 1858, and that county was also the place of nativity for his parents, John H. and Caroline (Zimmerman) Deininger. The father was a carpenter, and soon after the birth of his son John moved his family to Putnam county, Illinois, locating there in 1859. In his new home he engaged in farming and also worked at his trade. He died there on February 2, 1902, aged seventy-six years. The mother died in 1907 at the age of seventy-five. They were the parents of five sons and seven daughters. Two of the sons and six of the daughters are living, but John J. is the only member of the family who resides in this state.

The father was a Eepublican and prominent in the councils of his party in Illinois, where he was elected to a number of local offices. He and his wife were members of the German Lutheran church. The grandfather, John Deininger, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where he passed the whole of his life. He had a small family, all the members of which were Pennsylvanians by birth and passed eonsid-

John J. Deininger was but a few months old when he was taken by his parents from his native state to Putnam county, Illinois. He grew to manhood in that county and obtained his education in its district schools. After leaving school he learned the carpenter trade and worked at it twelve years, during a considerable part of the time being in the employ of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, erecting buildings along the line. He helped to put up the depot in Cheyenne and many others of the most important structures erected by the road at that time, and remained in its employ eight years. At the end of that period he passed one year in the state of Washington, and then three in Chicago working at his trade. From Chicago he returned to Putnam county, Illinois, where he remained doing carpenter work until 1905;

In that year he came to this county and bought the farm of 200 acres which he now owns and cultivates, and on which he lives. While he does general farming, he devotes his time and energies mainly to raising live stock of high grades, particularly Aberdeen-Angus cattle, registered stock. He makes a great success of his undertaking, and his name stands high in all the markets for the excellence of his productSi while locally they are in great demand for the purpose of improving the grade of cattle in this part of Missouri and the adjoining states.

On January 23, 1895, Mr. Deininger was united in marriage with Miss Hattie Umbarger, a native of Illinois and daughter of Josiab and Jane (Allen) Umbarger. The father died in 1909 and the mother is now living at Melvin, Ford county, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Deininger have three children, Bloyce A., Herma O. and John McNabb. The father is a Republican in his political faith and allegiance, and an energetic supporter of the principles and candidates of his party, although his personal ambition does not run in the direction of public office or political prominence. He did, however, serve as county assessor while living in Illinois. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Deininger has shown his interest in the progress and improvement of Linn county and Northern Missouri generally in practical ways of value by giving his aid and helpful counsel toward tlie promotion of every worthy and commendable enterprise involving the general welfare of this region and the enduring good of its people. His course in such matters is always directed by intelligence and measured by a broad and energetic public spirit, and is highly appreciated by the whole population. He is considered a valuable addition to the productive forces in this county and an ornament to its citizenship, and is cordially esteemed in accordance with this estimate.

Byron Lamme

Born in the midst of an active and comprehensive agricultural industry ; reared on a farm and learning its requirements by practical work in all departments of its operations ; obtaining his education at a country school in which all his associates were the children of farmers, and with no practical knowledge of any other pursuit, Byron Larame of Jefferson township, this county, when he began the battle of life for himself, became a farmer by both natural inclination and force of circumstances. And it was entirely logical that he should, for there was nothing in his surroundings or within the range of his vision to create a temptation or an incentive to make him anything else.

He has followed the pursuit in which he started through all his subsequent years, and has never regretted his choice. For he has been successful in his undertaking in a material way, and also by his skill and excellent judgment as a farmer has won a high reputation and established himself firmly in the regard and good will of the people around him, in whose welfare he has always taken a cordial and serviceable interest, and in whose behalf he has been at all times enterprising and progressive.

Mr. Lamme is a native of Linn county, born at Laclede in June, 1871. His parents, Tilford and Sue (Garrett) Lamme, were born in Mercer county, Kentucky. The father was a druggist and farmer. He canEie to Missouri about 1860 and located at Laclede, where in company with his father, Milton Lamme, he opened a drug store. He and his father also bought land in Linn and Chariton counties which rapidly increased in value and made them very comfortable in a jvorldly way. The grandfather died at Laclede in 1872, the father in 1874 and the mother in 1876. Six children were born to Mr. Lamme 's parents, five sons and one daughter, all of whom are liWng, three of them in Linn county. Their grandfather, Milton Lamme, was an extensive planter and owned a large number of slaves in Kentucky.

Byron Lamme w^s taken by his uncle, William Garrett, to a farm north of Linneus in his childhood, and was reared on that farm as a member of the uncle's family and attended school from there. At the age of twenty-five he began farming on his own account on the farm which he now owns and occupies, and of which he has 400 acres under the plow. He has also, for a number of years, engaged in raising live stock extensively, and has so managed both departments of his industry as to make them bring him large returns for his labor and care. His farm has been enriched by him with good modern buildings of commodious size and convenient arrangement, and been made attractive by judicious attention to appearance in the arrangement of trees, shrubbery and other adornments. It is easily one of the most valuable and pleasing country homes in the township.

Mr. Lamme was married on December 21, 1892, to Miss Lilhe Thorne, a daughter of Samuel Thorne, an early arrival in Linn county. Three children have blessed the union and brightened the family circle, and they are all still living and in full enjoj-ment of the respect and good will of all who know them. They are: Thorne T., who is a student; and Mary F. and Roy S. They are all yet members of the parental home and among its most admired attractions. The father is a Democrat in political faith and allegiance, but, while genuinely loyal to his party, he is not desirous, and never has been, of any of the honors or emoluments it has to bestow in the way of public office. Fraternally he is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows, and in church relations he is a Methodist.

James A. Moore

Having located in Linn county with his parents at the age of seven years, when the whole region was an unbroken wilderness, and having passed the remainder of his life to the present time in the county, actively connected with its industrial forces and zealous in the duties of citizenship, James A. Moore, of Brookfield, has witnessed every step of its transformation from its wild condition when he first knew it to its present high development and advanced improvement, and has borne his full share in the work of beginning, continuing and completing the great change.

Mr. Moore is a native of Anderson county in the eastern part of Tennessee, where he was born on November 3, 1835. His grandfather, also named James Moore, was born in North Carolina and served valiantly in the Revolutionary war. After the close of that momentous struggle for independence he moved to Tennessee and engaged in farming. He died in Alabama at a good old age, having removed to that state sonie time before his death. He was of English ancestrv, some

His son, Joseph T. Moore, the father of James A., was born in Alabama, on May 1, 1791, and was also a farmer in times of peace. But he too had a military spirit, and at the very dawn of his manhood obeyed his country's call to arms and took part in the War of 1812, passing five years in the army. He was with General George R. Clarke at the capture of Vincennes, Indiana, and there received a slight wound in the shoulder. As a partial reward for his military services he was given a patent for 160 acres of land in Linn county, Missouri, by the government, but prior to receiving this he had married Miss Jane Pate, a native of Alabama.

Mr. Moore, the elder, first came to Linn county in 1840 to locate his land, and in 1842 moved his family here, making the journey overland with horses and oxen and bringing their live stock along. Their first dwelling on the homestead was a tent, but it was not long before they built a log house to shelter them, and its curling columns of smoke arose in graceful motion, proclaiming to all who saw them that a new domestic altar had been erected in the wilderness and that it was at last hearkening to the call of civilization and preparing to put on the habiliments of a more advanced state of being and begin its march in the ranks of progress.

His wife died in 1846, having been the mother of five sons and one daughter. Three of the sons are living. Sometime after the death of their mother the father contracted a second marriage, which united him with Miss Sophia Eoot and brought him four additional children. He served three terms as county judge of Linn county and filled several minor offices with great acceptability to the people, and was for many years a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. His death occurred in 1873, but before his life ended he had cleared his land and converted it into a valuable and highly productive farm enriched with good improvements.

James A. Moore grew to manhood in the wilderness, helping his father to clear and cultivate the homestead, and remaining with him imtil he reached the age of twenty-three. His opportunities for schooling were necessarily very limited, owing to the unsettled condition of the country. But Nature was his tutor and gave him lessons of selfreliance and resourcefulness, with readiness for all emergencies and adaptability to all the requirements of his situation. At the age of twenty-three he bought a tract of wild land, which he cleared and improved, and on which he lived and prospered as a farmer until 1899, when he retired from active pursuits and moved to Brookfield to pass the remainder of his days in a well-earned rest. But he still superintends the operation of his farming industry and his live stock business, which have grown to great proportions.

By purchases from time to time he has increased the extent of his land to 1,400 acres, a large part of which is under advanced cultivation ; and his live stock industry, which was begun in 1862, has also expanded considerably. He raises and feeds numbers of cattle and sheep for the market and gives the business his close personal attention. In 1904 he started a private bank in Brookfield, known as "The Moore Bank," which has flourished under his management and become one of the established and popular financial institutions of the city.

On November 17th, 1858, Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Miss Sarah True, a native of Missouri. They have had four children : Nora, now the wife of Dr. Powers; Joseph, who is employed in his father's bank; EfBe, the wife of C. H. Jones of Brookfield, and Beedler A., who has been dead for a number of years. Mrs. Moore is still living and enjoys the regard and good will of all who know her. She has given her community a fine example of domestic virtue and usefulness, and has been of great assistance to her husband in the accumulation of his estate.

Following the examples of his father and his grandfather, Mr. Moore took part in the Civil war as a member of the state militia during that sanguinary conflict. He is not a member of any church or fraternity, but is an upright and true man in all the relations of life, and one of the most estimable and most esteemed citizens of the county. None stands higher in the public regard and none is more worthy of it.

Jasper G. Neece

From his boyhood this estimable and highly respected citizen of Brookfield township has been engaged in farm work and no temptation has ever been strong enough to win him from it to any other pursuit. He was born on a farm and trained to its labors. He has found the life in the open always agreeable and invigorating, and even the most laborious duties of his calling followed by their compensations in one way or another, and he has felt no desire to relinquish them. Being devoted to his pursuit in this way, he has necessarily studied how to make it as pleasant and profitable to him as possible, and so has become one of the most progressive and enterprising farmers in his township.

He was born in this county near Linneus on April 30, 1855, and is a son of Beverly and Sarah (McCormick) Neece, natives of Kentucky, where their families were domesticated for generations. The father was a blacksmith and for many years worked industriously at his trade. Later in life he became a farmer and abandoned the forge for all time. But he had been farming even while working at his trade. He was born on February 16, 1815, and while yet a boy was taken by his jaarents to McDonough county, Illinois.

There he grew to manhood and obtained a limited common school education. After leaving school he learned his trade, and early in his manhood moved to Missouri, arriving in what is now Linn county, and locating not far from the site of the present city of Linneus in the southern part of Sullivan county. He built the first blacksmith shop in Linneus and helped to clear the portions of the new born town which were laid out for streets. His later years, as has been noted, were passed on his farm, where he died in 1888.

His widow is still living, far advanced in years but still vigorous and active, and in the locality of her home held in veneration by the people as a faithful wife and mother who bravely bore her part in the strenuous times of founding the county, settling the wilderness and helping to foster and cultivate the first sproutings of civilization, and as having exemplified through all her years the l)est traits of sterling American womanhood, faithful to her family, her community and every claim to her attention, useful in her own activity and forceful in the example she has given, which has had its due effect on others.

She and her husband were the parents of thirteen children, eight daughters and five sons, all of whom grew to maturity. Two of the sons and four of the daughters are living: John M., a resident of Brookfield; Jasper G., the immediate subject of these paragraphs; Ann C, the wife of J. T. Waller of McComb, Illinois ; Martha E., the wife of Joseph C. Gambill of Salem, Missouri; Sarah E., now Mrs. George Hanson of Monroe City, Missouri ; and Minerva C, the wife of Sanford Buck of Springdale, Arkansas.

The father was county judge several terms, and also sheriff of the county. Afterward he represented the county in the lower house of the state legislature. He made a good record in each of these offices and won the lasting confidence and esteem of all the people. He was a Democrat in politics and a Baptist in religious affiliation, and a leading man in both his party and his church, taking an active part in the affairs of each and contributing to the success of all their efforts by his

Jasper G. Neece was reared on his father's farm and from boyhood bore his part faithfully in the labor incident to its cultivation. He attended the country school in the neighborhood of his home when he had opportunity, but his educational advantages were necessarily limited in scope and primitive in character. He was married in this county in 1881 to Miss Elvira Ware, a daughter of Robert H. and Jane (Wills) Ware, pioneers of the county and leading factors in its early life and history. Two children were born of the union, both of whom are living, Mabel C. and Mary J. Their mother died on November 13, 1910. The father is widely and favorably known in the county as a model farmer, an upright and reliable man and an excellent citizen.

William P. Brinkley

A man with a specialty in business or industry is always interesting, particularly if his specialty be a valuable one and its products are noble and serviceable in character. William P. Binkley, one of the enterprising and progressive and, therefore successful, farmers of Clay township has such a specialty, and by means of it he has given tone and distinction to his township and county, and exerted an important influence in other parts of Missouri and the adjoining states. He is an industrious and skillful farmer, and entitled to great credit for that. But his specialty is breeding high grade Percheron horses, and this gives unusual value to his operations. The products of his stock farm are noble animals, highly serviceable in many ways, and creditable alike to him and the farm on which he breeds them and raises them for the markets.

Mr. Brinkley is a native of Clay township, where his life began on May 8, 1875, and he has passed nearly all of his subsequent years within its borders, engaged in two of its leading pursuits and thereby aiding extensively in raising the standards of commercial influence and importance in the township. He has also been of great service to the people in helping to improve their live stock and make it more valuable. He is a son of Alexander and Nannie (Withrow) Brinkley, in a sketch of whom to be found elsewhere in this volume the family history is given at some length and with a recital of details.

College, Kansas City, and took a course in agriculture at the State University. He is president of the Linn County Farmers' Association and has acted as vice president of the State Corn Growers' Association. After leaving school he followed farming for a time, then passed two years in Kansas City in the coal and ice trade. But while his experience in trade was profitable and not disagreeable to him, he preferred the line of industry to which he had been trained, and so he returned to his native heath and again became a farmer. He saw improvements in the business, or in connection with it, which he was eager to introduce, and he has been very successful in making them by adding the live stock business to his farming operations, and confining his work in this to the production of none but superior animals. His stock output has a high rank in the markets and is much sought after by dealers and private purchasers who wish to secure none but fine specimens of a good breed.

Mr. Brinkley was married on April 7, 1897, to Miss Estella Luyster, a daughter of Houston and Margaret (Thorp) Luyster, an account of whose lives appears in this work. Four children have been born in the Brinkley household, all of whom are living. They are Lester L., Wilma F., Preston K. and Dorothy M., all of them still members of the parental family circle, and adding life and light to its attractions.

Mr. Brinkley is a member of the Order of Modern "Woodmen of America in fraternal relations and connected with the Methodist Episcopal church in religious affiliation. He takes a cordial and helpful interest in his church and his fraternity, as he does in everything that he believes conducive to the welfare and comfort of the people around him. He is always ready to aid in promoting any commendable undertaking involving the substantial and enduring good of his township and county, or helpful in pushing forward their progress and improvement. He is regarded on all sides as a very progressive and useful citizen, and is highly esteemed for his genuine worth and the elevated manhood he exemplifies, which are creditable to the locality of his home and representative of the best elements in the citizenship of his communitv.

James W. Burch

Comfortably established on 253 acres of fine farm land, which he has enriched with good buildings and other improvements, and brought to a high state of productiveness by his entei'prise and skill as a farmer, James W. Burch of Brookfield township, this county, is in a position which would seem to be beyond the reach of adversity, and in which he only needs to continue his operations and prudent management to make himself still more secure and prosperous in a worldly way.

Mr. Burch is a native of Gibson county, Indiana, where his life began on February 19, 1861. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Nixon) Burch, an account of whose lives will be found in this work. Born a farmer's son, and seeking no other occupation than that of his father, the son was reared with his life work constantly in view, and took to his training for it with readiness and diligence. From boyhood he performed what he could of the labor on the farm, but not as a mere drudge, or as a matter of necessity. The work had an interest and a meaning for him which gave it attractiveness, and as he wrought he reflected and observed so as to become master of all the requirements of his calling.

This disposition has attended him through life, and the application of it to whatever he has undertaken has been one of the sources of his success. His farm training was also a large part of his education, although he acquired such mental development and scholastic attainments as the subscription schools in the country during his boyhood could furnish. This was enough to prepare him for usefulness and enterprise as a farmer, and to give him such a mastery of the foundations of learning as were necessary for the proper management of his business and a creditable performance of the duties of citizenship, but not enough to tempt him away from his chosen sphere of activity, or make him dissatisfied with it.

By judicious reading, observation and reflection he has greatly enlarged his knowledge and made himself a well informed man. It is but natural, under the circumstances, that he should take an earnest interest in the affairs of his township and county, educational, industrial, moral and political, and he has done so. Nothing of value that is undertaken for the welfare of the people or the proper progress and development of the region in which he lives ever goes without his active aid. His political faith is pledged and his political services are freely given to the Eepublican party, but he has never been desirous of any of its honors or emoluments for himself. He supports the party and its candidates because he believes in its principles, and without any direct regard for his own elevation in a public way, or his personal interests.

On April 19, 1883, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Jane Prather, a daughter of Enos and Martha (Shirley) Prather, highly respected old settlers in Linn county. Six children have been born of the union, and all of them are living. They are : John, who is a resident of Brookfield; Cleo, whose home is also in that city; Rex, who lives on a farm near his father's ; and Gladine, Samuel and Kuth, all of whom are still members of the parental family circle. Like their parents, the sons and daughters of the household are worthy members of the commvmity and held in high regard and good will by the people. They are attentive to every duty and representative of the most sturdy and sterling citizenship of the county, with aspirations toward the best ideals and zealous efforts to reach them in every line of life in which they are employed or interested.

Samuel H. Burch

The son of a valiant soldier who fought courageously in defense of the Union in the midst of unrolling columns on many a bloody battlefield of the Civil War, and who carried the marks of his service through all the subsequent years of his life, sometimes painfully but always proudly, Samuel H. Burch had an inspiration for his patriotism and devotion to his country ever present at his paternal fireside, and its influence still abides with him. He has never himself been anything but a farmer and first-rate citizen, but in those lines of activity and usefulness he has exemplified, amid the pursuits of peaceful industry, the same qualities of manly worth and fidelity to duty that his father showed so well on the gory fields of sectional and fratricidal strife.

Mr. Burch was born in Pike county, Indiana, on October 24, 1856. His parents were John and Elizabeth (Nixon) Burch, the former a native of the state of New York and the latter of Kentucky. The father's life began in Onondaga county. New York, in 1831, and in 1842, when he was eleven years old, the family moved to Indiana and located in Pike county. He grew to manhood in that county and remained there until 1866, except while he was in the Union army during the Civil War. In 1861, soon after the beginning of that momentous conflict, he enlisted in Company I, Forty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and in that company he served to the close of the war, entering the service as a private and being mustered out with the rank of captain, which he secured by gallantry on the field.

His regiment was a part of the great fighting force of General Thomas, and each member of it seemed to catch the spirit of that great soldier and renowned commander. Mr. Burch took part in all the battles of that army while he was free to do so, including the deluge of death at Chicamauga, the spectacular fight at Chattanooga and manyothers of note. His service was cut short of its full measure by his being taken prisoner and confined in Libby prison eleven months, but even as it was, he was wounded five times during his field work. He languished in the terrible military prison that has gone into history as one of the record-makers of deadly torture until 1865, when he was released.

When he came to Linn county in 1866 he located eight miles west of Linneus on a tract of unimproved land. This he transformed into a fine and fruitful farm, living on it until his death in 1884. His widow lived there two years longer, and died in 1886. They had ten children, six of whom are living : Ira J., a resident of the new state of Oklahoma ; Samuel H., who is the immediate subject of this brief review; James W., who lives in this county; Katharine, the wife of H. J. Wigginson of Linneus ; Thomas A., an esteemed citizen of El Paso, Texas ; and John, whose home is in Chillicothe, Missouri.

The father was a Eepublican in his political allegiance, and as such was once the candidate of his party for the lower house of the state legislature. Fraternally he was a Freemason. The Grand Army post at Eversonville was named John Burch in his honor. In religion he was an ardent working member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In all the relations of life he was a true, forceful and estimable man, and was universally esteemed as such.

His son, Samuel H., was about ten years of age when the family moved to Missouri and settled in Linn county. Here he received such preparatory scholastic training as the time and facilities of the region afforded, and afterward extended his mental development by a thorough course of instruction at the Kirksville State Normal school. After leaving that institution he taught school six years, and since leaving that occupation has given his whole attention to farming. In 1887 he moved to his present home, which is a fine farm of 160 acres,, beautifully improved with good buildings, shade trees, ornamental grounds and other adornments of rural homesteads, and fully equipped according to the requirements of modern fai'ming of the most progressive type and character.

On October 7, 1886, he was married to Miss Minnie Stewart, a daughter of Charles and Sarah A. (Fell) Stewart. Five children have resulted from the union, all of whom are living. They are : Charles S., a prosperous farmer of this county; and Byron B., James W., Katharine S., and Helen M., all living at home yet with their parents. In connection with his farming operations the father has for years been feeding and handling for the markets a large number of cattle. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a member of the Order of Modern Woodmen of America.

John H. Brown

Actively engaged in farming in Linn county for the last thirty years, and an extensive operator in rearing and feeding live stock for the markets during the last twenty, John H. Brown, of Locust Creek township, has been a valuable contributor to the industrial activity and commercial importance of the county for almost a generation of human life. While he has prospered in his business and accumulated a comfortable estate, he has also made his operations tell to the advantage of the county, and has freely given his own time, attention and energy to aid in the great work of developing its resources and improving the conditions of life for all its people.

Mr. Brown is not a native of the county, and reached his estate of full manhood some years before' he became a resident of it. But he is none the less loyal to its interests or zealous in seeking to promote its welfare than he would have been if he had been born within its limits and drawn his stature and his strength from its soil. His life began on a farm in the adjoining county of Macon, and not far from its county seat, on March 16, 1856, where his parents, Isaac and Irene (Taylor) Brown, were then living and carrying on general farming operations.

The father was born near Shelbj^ille, Kentuckj^ and for some years after reaching his maturity was engaged in farming in his native state. He moved to Missouri and located in Macon county in 1851, and there he passed the remainder of his days, dying in the spring of 1861. At the time of his death he owned a farm of 160 acres, and as the land was fertile and responsive, and he cultivated it with energy and skill, he prospered in his undertaking and accumulated a comfortable competency.

His son John was reared and received a district schol education in Macon county, meanwhile obtaining valuable knowledge of his destined pursuit in life by practical experience in the work of his father's farm. For some years after leaving school he remained at home and assisted his father in the farm labors' then for a time farmed on his own account in his native county. In March, 1881, he moved to Linn county and bought eighty acres of good land, the nucleus of his pres- ent farm, and gave all his energies to its improvement and cultivation. He was successful from the start, because he applied assiduous industry and advanced intelligence to his work and management, and as he made headway he bought additional land, until he now owns 356 acres, and all of excellent quality for general farming and the rearing of live stock.

Mr. Brown has been alert and energetic in using all the means at his comamnd to quicken and enlarge his progress. As a means to this end, about twenty years ago he began to raise and feed cattle for the markets. In this department of his industry he has also enlarged his operations from a small beginning until he now ships two carloads of superior cattle to the great marts of trade nearly every year. He is careful in every step of the process of preparing his cattle for consumption, and they have a high rank in the markets because of the fine condition in which they arrive and their superiority to the ordinary run in many ways.

On December 18, 1882, Mr. Brown was married to Miss Gillie Ann Bunch. They have had ten children, seven of whom are living: Harry, who is in the employ of the government and lives in Washington, D. C. ; Walter R., who resides on a farm of his own east of his father's; Charles M.; and Lola, who is a school teacher and makes her home with her parents; and Clessie P., Herman D., and Stanley J., all of whom are still dwelling at home under the parental rooftree. The father has always taken an earnest interest in the affairs of the county, but has never sought or desired a political office. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and is a devoted and consistent member of the Christian Church.

"Zealous to soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of Heaven and Home," Clayton H. McCormick, one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Linn county, admirably located on 160 acres of productive land in Locust Creek township, is like the skylark in his aspirations and endeavors, and like it too in contentment with his lot in life. No temptation has been sufficient to lure him from his chosen occupation, and no showy promise of more rapid advancement has made him dissatisfied with it. Having put his hand to the plow in early life, he has never looked back or even sideways, but has

Mr. McCormick is a native of Waushara county, Wisconsin, where Ms life began on October 14, 1860, and a son of Matthew and Mary (Crandall) McCormick. The father was born in Lewis county, New York, in 1829, and remained there until he reached the age of fourteen. He then took up the battle of life for himself by leaving home and going to work on the Erie canal. In that service he was employed until he was twenty-one or twenty-two years old, and when he was about twenty-four, moved to Wisconsin and tui-ned his attention to farming.

In Wisconsin he founded his household and reared his domestic altar, remaining in the state about eight years. In 1866 he moved his family to Missouri and located in Linn county not far from St. Catharine. A few years later he moved to a farm some six miles north of Brookfield, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying on August 10, 1891. His wife died July 4, 1901. He was a valiant Union soldier during the Civil War, serving in a Wisconsin regiment, and showed his mettle on some of its bloodiest battlefields. He was in the Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and a number of small engagements.

Clayton H. McCormick was brought to Missouri when he was but six years old, and grew to manhood in the locality of his present residence. He obtained all the scholastic training he ever got at Linn Center School, on^ of the humble but effective country institutions of learning which dot our country plentifully in all parts and form one of the great bulwarks for the protection of the republic under whose benign influence we live. In this neighborhood he has followed farming from his youth, and during the last fifteen years has also been extensively engaged in rearing and feeding cattle for the markets. By his industry, intelligence and progressiveness in the management of his business he has thriven in both lines of his enterprise, and made his way slowly but surely to comfort and consequence in the way of a worldly estate. His farm comprises 160 acres of land, which he has improved with good buildings and brought to a high state of productiveness, making it one of the most attractive and valuable rural homes in the township in which it is located.

On March 22, 1886, he was married to Miss Allie England, a daughter of George and Jane (Bradshaw) England, old settlers who moved into Linn county in 1867. Two children have been born in the McCormick household, only one of whom is living, a son named Claude Ernest, who still has his home with his parents. He was graduated from the Brookfield high school with second honors in 1909, and is now pursuing a course in civil engineering in the State University at Columbia. No family in the township stands higher in the regard of the whole people than this one, and all its members richly deserve the favor with which their neighbors and friends look upon them, for they are citizens of the most sterling type, and true to every interest of their time and locality.

Robert Barkley Lambert

One of the largest landholders of Linn county, and one of its most extensive and prosperous farmers and stock dealers, Robert B. Lambert, of Locust Creek township, occupies a prominent position among the people on account of the extent of his possessions and the magnitude of his business. But he is also prominent among them because of his high character, public spirit, enterprise and progressiveness in behalf of the improvement of his township and county and his energetic and effective services in promoting the general welfare of the section and its inhabitants in every way.

Although not a native of Linn county or Missouri, Mr. Lambert has lived in the county ever since he was three years old, and has no recollection of any other home. He was born in Washington county, Ohio, on September 29, 1862, and is a son of Barkley and Asenath (Edgerton) Lambert, also natives of Ohio. The father's life began in Belmont county, Ohio, on November 4, 1822, and he was reared and educated there. After reaching manhood he engaged in farming and merchandising in his native state until 1865, when he came to Missouri and established a residence in Sullivan county. Four years later he moved to another farm about six miles north of Brookfield, where he remained until his death. All the years of his mature life were passed in general farming, and wherever he lived he manifested a cordial interest in the good and progress of his community. Before he left Ohio he served in the Home Guards during the closing year of the Civil War. His parents were Abner and Elizabeth Lambert.

Robert B. Lambert was, as has been stated, but three years old when his parents moved to Linn county, and here he grew to manhood and obtained his education. All his social training was acquired by association with the people of the county, and all his business enterprises have been conducted in their midst. He is therefore altogether a Missourian in everything but birth, and as loyal in his devotion to

Mr. Lambert has been continuously engaged in farming from his youth. He has conducted his operations with energy and skill, and has made them pay excellent returns for the intelligence and labor he has applied to them, and as he has prospered has steadily enlarged them.. He now owns and cultivates 927 acres of land, all lying north of Brookfield. One body of the farm includes all of Section 11, the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 14, the northwest quarter of Section 12, and fifty acres off of the west side of the west half of the northeast quarter of Section 12, all in township 58, Range 20, and the rest is in other tracts.

During the last twenty-seven years Mr. Lambert has also been actively and profitably engaged in buying, rearing and shipping cattle. He began with one carload the first year, and gradually enlarged his live stock business until he now averages about twenty carloads annually, and during the last five years he has fed on an average 250 head a year. This is extensive dealing, but he manages it with ease, so .complete is his system of operating and so comprehensive and masterly is his business capacity.

He was married on December 21, 1881, to Miss Mary Louisa Case. They have had eight children, five of whom are living: Lillie May, who is still at home with her parents; Roy J., who resides on his own farm of 208 acres one mile and three-quarters west of Brookfield; Ernest Oliver, aged eighteen, who is also still at home, as are Floyd Earl, aged sixteen, and Gladys Viola. The oldest son, Roy J., was married on February 13, 1910, to Miss Mary J. Booth, a native of Missouri, and at the time of her marriage living in Brookfield, Linn county, Missouri.

For a continuous period of forty-six years Mr. Lambert has lived, boy and man, in Linn county, and during considerably more than half of the time has been a large factor in its industrial strength and commercial power and influence. He has taken an active and serviceable interest in its pujblic affairs, although he is not an active partisan politically, and has been also a potential factor in the work of developing its resources and improving the condition of its people. His efforts in aiding every worthy undertaking for the benefit of the county have not been half-hearted or niggardly, but energetic, earnest and full of effectiveness. But he has wrought in this behalf with judgment and intelligence, and all his force has been directed along lines of wholesome progress and enduring good. He can always be de- pended on to give wise counsel, and also energetic action, when the enterprise proposed meets with his approval, and to point out the weakness and unworthiness of any that do not. Linn county has no better or more helpful citizen, and none whom the people hold in higher esteem for elevation of character, uprightness of life, sturdiness of citizenship and all the other traits of sterling American manhood. The parents are members of Methodist Church South.

William Jefferson Baker

In ^conducting the operations of his fine farm of 177 acres in Brookfield township and carrying on his extensive business in buying and shipping live stock, William J. Baker finds plenty to occupy his time and attention and satisfy all liis desires in the way of employment. He gives the public affairs of the township and county all the consideration and service good citizenship requires, but he has never had any aspirations for public office, and has preferred at all times leaving the administration of the government, local, state and national, to persons desiring to have control of it, and whose training and attainments turned them in that direction.

Mr. Baker was born, reared and educated in Linn county. He has married two daughters of its early settlers, and he has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) actively engaged in two of its leading industries. He is therefore a fair representative of its sturdy and sterling citizenship, and of the reliable factors which make up the sum of its producers and have wrought out its great progress, development and industrial and commercial strength. His life began on May 5, 1858, near North Salem, and he is a son of George and Isabel (MeCollum) Baker, the former a native of Brown county, Indiana, and the latter of Linn county, Missouri.

The father was born on July 1, 1837, not far from the city of Morgantown, in the Hoosier state, and throughout all the years of his activity, except during the Civil "War, was industriously engaged in farming. In the terrific sectional strife which came near rending our country assunder, he shouldered his musket and valiantly bore his part in the contest in defense of his political convictions, enlisting in the Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry and remaining in the service four full years.

and until recently gave his whole attention to its cultivation and improvement. He is now living in Brookfield retired from active pursuits. He has always manifested an earnest interest in the welfare of the county and taken an a,ctive and serviceable part in promoting its progress and improvement. In politics he is a pronounced Republican, and always zealous and energetic in the service of his party, but never with a view to securing any office for himself, even in his days of greatest activity and effectiveness.

Stephen McCollum, Mr. Baker's grandfather on his mother's side, was one of the pioneers of Linn county, and lived northeast of St. Catharine, where he owned about 400 acres of land. During the Civil War he warmly espoused the cause of the Southern Confederacy and gave two of his sons to its armies to fight in defense of what he believed in. He was a devoted admirer of Jefferson Davis, and made it a point to have as many as possible of his grand children named in honor of that distinguished but unfortunate statesman and leader of a cause that was doomed to defeat at its very start.

William J. Baker, as has been stated, was reared and educated in this county, and has been continuously engaged in farming from the time when he left school. For about fifteen years he also carried on an extensive business in breeding and feeding cattle for the markets, and during the last three has given his attention largely to buying and shipping live stock in general. He has always given close attention to political matters in the county, but only with a view to securing the best results for the benefit of the people, and with no reference to his own prominence, special personal advantage, or selection for olficial station of any kind, for this he has never desired. He has also been strong in his support of all commendable projects designed to promote the progress and improvement of the county, the development of its resources, or the mental, moral or material welfare of its people in any way.

On December 25, 1882, Mr. Baker was married to Miss Margaret Fosher, a daughter of Harrison and Margaret (Hays) Fosher, old settlers of Linn county. Six children were born of the union, all of whom are living. They are: Curtis C, who resides on a farm near Brookfield; Daisy A., who is the wife of T. D. Robinson, of Koshkonong, Oregon county, in this state; Roy E., who also lives on a farm near Brookfield; and Fred E., Nellie and William H., who are still living at home with their father.

himself on this occasion with Miss Nora M. Bunch, a daughter of David S. and Binda (Cook) Bunch, also esteemed old-timers of this county. By this second marriage Mr. Baker has become the father of five eliildren: Josie Alethea, Hazel Irene, Leona May, Martin Jefferson and Ralph. They also are all living and still members of the parental family circle, doing their full share of the work of the farm and household, and adding largely to the attractiveness of the home as a social center and popular resort.

Robert W. Davis

For nearly thi'ee score and ten years of his life this veteran of the Civil War and prominent real estate dealer and insurance agent of Brookfield had a varied and interesting experience. He had been active in the pursuits of peaceful industry, greatly to his own advantage and the benefit of the various communities in which his activities had been exerted, and he boldly faced death on some of the bloody battlefields of our sectional strife, in which high principles of government and human freedom were involved. In every line of endeavor he bore himself with ci'edit as a man of independence, self-reliance and resourcefulness, and in all done well.

Mr. Davis was bom in Lewis county. New York, on October 4, 1842, and died at Brookfield May 31, 1912. He was a son of William and Susan (Williams) Davis, also natives of the state of New York. The father was a carpenter and farmer. He was prominent in the public life of his township in his native county, and filled many of its offices with credit to himself and advantage to the township. The whole of his life was passed in his native state and he died there in 1900. His widow also died in that state, passing away in 1906.

They were the parents of six children, three of whom are living, Robert being the only one residing in Missouri at the time of his death. The others are: David H., a missionary in China and connected with the Chinese government in an official capacity ; Charles M., who is a farmer in Oneida county, New York; and Henry E., who is also a resident of New York state. Their paternal grandfather was Benjamin Davis, a native of New York and a pioneer farmer of Lewis county in that state, where he died after a long life of diligent labor and general usefulness.

Eobert W. Davis was reared in Oneida county, New York, and educated in the schools of Koine in that county. In August, 1863, he was not yet of age, he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Forty-sixth New York Volunteer Infantry, for the remainder of the Civil War, which was then at the height of its fierceness and fury. His regiment was known as the Fifth Oneida, and became part of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac, under the command of General Meade.

Mr. Davis took part in numerous engagements which led up to the terrible battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. In the awful carnage of that battle he was shot through the groin, and the wound disabled him for further active service during the war. For a number of years after the close of the momentous contest he was a cripple. He was formally discharged from the army in June, 1865, and immediately returned to his home in Oneida county. New York. There he engaged in contracting and building until 1880, and part of the time was superintendent of bridges on the Erie canal in the employ of the state of New York, with duties ranging from Albany to Buffalo.

In 1880 the persuasive voice of the great undeveloped West had potency with him and he came to Missouri, locating in Brookfield. He bought a farm north of the city and during the next six years followed farming with sedulous attention to all the requirements of his calling, and 'since then was also extensively engaged in buying, feeding and shipping live stock, and dealing in real estate and life insurance. In addition he was one of the founders of the Brookfield Paving Brick Company, and was a stockholder and one of the directors of the Linn County Bank, a financial institution of acknowledged strength. In politics he was a pronounced Republican, and while living in New York was very active in the service of his party.

Mr. Davis was married three times. His first wife, whom he married in 1867, died in 1871. In 1873 he was united with Miss Helen E. Clarke, a daughter of A. 0. and Fannie (Holloway) Clarke. This union resulted in the birth of two children, both of whom are living. They are: Mabel F., the wife of Leon R. Lane, of Topeka, Kansas, and Albert C, a resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Their mother died in 1891, and in 1894 the father married his last wife, whose maiden name was Katharine Roberts. They had five children: Robert V., Helen, Louise, Frances and Theodore, all of whom are living at home with their mother, and adding life, light and warmth to the family circle.

and commander of the post at the time of his death. His last service was the day before his death, when he was in command of the post on Memorial Day at Brookfield and marched with his old comrades for the last time. He was an enthusiastic Freemason of the Knights Templar degree. Although not to the manner of Missourians born, he readily adapted himself to his surroundings and the ways and aspirations of the people, and became as one of them. He had shown an intelligent and helpful interest in their welfare and done what he could to promote it, and had won their full confidence and esteem by his high character, sterling manhood and wide-awake and serviceable citizenship. Missouri was to him all that New York ever was, and he was to Missouri all he ever was or could have been to New York in the value of his devotion to the common weal of the state and his contributions to its advancement.

This eminent physician and surgeon has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession for forty-two years, and all of the time has made Laclede, Jefferson township, his home and base of operations. He is the oldest physician in continuous practice in Linn county, and one of the county's most estimable, influential and respected citizens. By long service to the people, in which he has shown great skill and mastery in his profession he has risen to the first rank in it. By earnest devotion to the interests of his township and county he has won popular approval universal in extent and of the highest degree in character. And by his genial nature, obliging disposition and fine social qualities he has endeared himself to the people around him as few men ever do anywhere.

Dr. Standly was born near Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, on January 13, 1847, and is a son of Eichard and Catherine (Bullock) Standly, both natives of eastern Tennessee. The father was born in 1812, and moved to Illinois in 1840, locating in Edgar county, near Paris, the county seat, where he passed the remainder of his life busily engaged in profitable farming. He died in October, 1869, of injuries received in a run-away accident, his team having become frightened and getting beyond his control. The mother died just one month before his tragic end came, in September, 1869.

The doctor's early life was passed on his father's farm and in the enjoyment of the educational facilities of his neighborhood. He afterward attended the Edgar Academy in Paris, and there completed bis academic education. Soon afterward, liaving determined to make the practice of medicine and surgery his work for life, he began preparation for the profession by private reading under the direction of a judicious tutor. After spending some months on this plan he passed the year 1867-8 as a student in the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in that state, and the next year attended Eush Medical College, in Chicago, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in February, 1870.

From the college he came at once to Laclede to practice his profession, having selected that town as his location with all the coimtry from which to make a choice. All the years of his subsequent life have been passed in that town, and his success as a physician and the high regard he enjoys as a man and citizen prove that his choice was wisely made. But the results of his residence here prove that he would have done well anjTvhere, as he possessed within him the qualities which always command success. He soon had a good practice, and in 1880 was able to embark with other persons in the drug trade under the firm name of Markham & Company.