Macon County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1910 (part 15 of 20)

Walter Conrad Goodson, whose name initiates this review, gained his preliminary edueational discipline in the publie sehools of his native village, after which he continued his studfes in turn in the Normal school at Chillieothe, Missouri, and in the law department of the Uni- versity of Missouri, at Columbia, in which latter he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, duly receiving his well-earned degree of Bachelor of Laws and being shortly afterward admitted to the bar of his native state. In the following year he completed an effective postgraduate course in the law department of the University of Missouri, and in July, 1900, he initiated the active practice of his profession in Macon, where he has proven himself a capable trial lawyer and a safe and conservative counsel. He has given his attention closely to the work of his profession and in the same his business, already of substantial order, shows a constantly cumulative tendency. In polities he accords a staunch allegianee to the Demoeratie party, he holds membership in the Baptist church, and is affiliated with the Masonie fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

This prominent, progressive and successful farmer and stockman of Morrow township, Macon county, who is one of the leading men in his lines of exertion and one of the most influential and esteemed citizens of the region in which he lives, has been actively and energetically engaged in tilling the soil of this state and helping to augment its live stock industry during all of the last thirty-two years. His grandparents and great-grandparents lived in Kentucky and were extensive farmers and live stock breeders in that state, and also important personages in the civil and political history of the commonwealth. In that state, also, his father, Thomas W. Neel, was born and reared, his life having begun there on June 15, 1830. In 1853, when he was twentythree years old, he came to this county to secure the opportunities for advancement it offered and aid in its development and improvement.

On his arrival in Macon county the elder Mr. Neel loeated in Morrow township and bought forty aeres of wild land, which he made the base of his operations and the foundation of his fortune. He cleared and improved his little tract, then bought others and repeated the process on them, all the time expanding his interests in the stock industry, and making steady progress toward the goal of independence and substantial worldly comfort on which he had fixed his vision. His operations grew more and more extensive, until, at the time of his death on July 4, 1901, he was the owner of 280 acres of as good land as there was in the county, and enjoyed a well-founded reputation as one of the most extensive stock breeders and dealers in this part of the country.

James T., who resides in South Dakota; John W., the direet subject of this brief review; Alonzo S., a prominent citizen of Macon county; Presley M., whose home is in Montana; and Columbus F., Robert A., Reuben V. and Earl F., all of whom live in this county, and are well and favorably known in all parts of it.

John W. Neel is the second born of the living children of his parents, and came into being in the locality of his present residence on April 4, 1856. He obtained his scholastie training in Morrow district school in the township of the same name, and after completing its course of instruction worked on the home farm with his father for a year or two. He then began farming and raising stock on his own account and has followed the same pursuits ever since, his work in these lines of endeavor covering a period of thirty-two years, as has been noted above. He has been steady, industrious and capable, and has made every day of his labor tell to his advantage. He now owns 340 acres of first rate land, nearly all of which is under advanced and productive cultivation, and his live stock industry is also extensive and profitable, for by his skill and attention to it he makes it so.

In the publie affairs of the township and eounty he has always taken a leading and very serviceable part, aiding in the promotion of every worthy enterprise and doing all he could to advance the best interests of the people. He has served them well and wisely as a school director, and in all matters of publie import his example and his zeal have been potential for the general weal and the wholesome progress of the region in which he has his home. His political faith is firmly fixed in the Democratic party and he is at all times energetic and effective in its service. His wife is a devout member of the Christian ehurch, and to this religious organization he also gives his support and aid.

On June 17, 1877, Mr. Neel was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Morrow, a daughter of Jefferson Morrow, Sr. and his wife Minerva, whose maiden name was Minerva Summers, They were early settlers in this portion of Macon county and the township of Morrow was given its name in honor of the husband, who was one of the leading spirits in redeeming it from the wilderness and laying the foundation of its present eonsequenee and arousing to activity all the elements of its advanced and advancing civilization. Mr. and Mrs. Neel have had five children, all of whom are living. They are: Ernest G., who resides at Moberly, Missouri; William Oscar., who has his home in the city of Macon; and Mary M., Fred A. and Thomas Jefferson, who are still at home with their parents and adding to the brightness and cheer of the family eirele.

Charles Curtis Pierce

Embraeing in his aneestry distinguished names, both in the patronymie and the given appellations, and inheriting from his immediate parentage the firmness of fiber and personal heroism that characterizes the people of Kentucky at their best, Charles Curtis Pierce, one of the leading farmers and influential eitizens of Morrow township, Macon county, has well sustained the reputation and traditions of his family and made his record creditable alike to the state of his nativity . and that of his adoption.

Mr. Pieree was born on January 1, 1842, in Marion county, Kentucky, and is a grandson of Jacob Pierce, a native of that state and a man of prominence in its industrial, eivil and political history. His son, Thomas Jefferson Pierce, the father of Charles C., was born in Marion county, Kentucky, in 1806, and was reared and educated in that county. He was also married there to Miss Martha Hart, a native of Mercer county, the marriage occurring in 1835. After passing a number of years of his mature life in Marion county, the father moved what family he had left with him to Daviess county in the same state, and there he died in 1851, passing away at Owensboro at the early age of forty-five. He was a physician and farmer. He and his wife were the parents of three children: A son named Thomas Benton, who died; and Ellen, the widow of T. C. Johnson, who is now residing at Billings, Montana, and Charles Curtis, the immediate subject of this writing, who are living.

The last named obtained a good education at a select school in Greenville, Muhlenberg county, Kentucky, and on completing it eame to Missouri to make what was then the farther West his home and grow to greater consequence with its development. He located in Randolph county and during the next four years taught school there. At the end of the period mentioned he moved to Macon county and became a farmer, but still continued to teach in the winter terms of school until 1876, when he gave up the professional line of his activity, and since then he has devoted himself wholly to the industrialline. He has been very successful in his operations in both farming and raising live stock, and is regarded as one of the most progressive and substantial men in the township of his residence. His fine farm comprises 160 acres of land, is well improved with commodious and comfortable buildings and has been provided with all the appliances necessary for its progressive and profitable cultivation. The stock industry that is carried on in connection with the farming operations is an active and flourishing

Mr. Pierce has taken a very active and helpful part in the publie affairs of the township in which he lives. He has served as a justice of the peace for upwards of sixteen years, and as a member of the school board equally as long. In matters affecting the progress and enduring welfare of the county he has been an active and effective factor. His church affiliation is with the sect known as Christians, while his present

* wife is a Baptist. She is a native of Macon county and was a widow when their marriage occurred in 1905, being Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Epperly.

Mr. Pierce's first marriage was with Miss Nancy L. Summers, a daughter of Joseph and Martha Summers, esteemed residents of Macon county, in which she was born. They had four children and all of them areliving: Rosa J., the wife of W. A. Hart, of Macon county ; Lulu M., the wife of C. A. Dunkard, of Lewiston, Montana; Mittie, the wife of John Miller, of Macon county, Missouri, and Charles A., who also resides at Lewiston, Montana. The father is a Democrat and at all times zealous and effective in the service of his party.

Tn the history of this eountry the family to which E. C. Featherston, of Callao in this eounty, belongs has been aetive in many places and various lines of endeavor. Its name sparkles in the annals of four great states of the Ameriean union and dignifies and adorns almost every form of industrial energy, and social, civil, military and official life. It had its American origin in Virginia, employed its faculties in the development of Kentueky, helped to bring a portion of Missouri from primitive conditions to a state of advanced improvement and striding progressiveness, and aided in giving the mining industries of California a lift at the very beginning of their wonderful eareer. In all the relations of life and in every department of human energy the members of the family have borne themselves in a manner greatly to their own eredit and the advantage of the communities in which they lived.

E. C. Featherston was born in Monroe county, Missouri, on May 31, 1858, and is a son of Green and Anna (Broaddus) Featherston, natives of Kentucky and early arrivals in Missouri. The father was born in Jessamine county of the Blue Gr state in 1828 and remained there until 1846, His father, Burrell Featherston, was a native of Virginia and belonged to families resident in that state from colonial times.

His son Green obtained his edueation in the county of his nativity and aided in carrying on the extensive farming operations conducted by his father until he reached the age of eighteen. At that time he was a youth in years but a man in stature and spirit, and he determined to begin the battle of life for himself, and, as his father had done, in a region remote from family influence and in which there was opportunity yet to begin at the foundation of affairs and work from that to the desired results wholly by his own efforts. He therefore came to Missouri in 1846 and took up his residence in Randolph county, where he remained until 1849. The golden harp of California was then fairly ringing out its seductive music to the ravished ear of the world, and Mr. Featherston was enchanted by the inspiring strain. He joined the ''Fortyniners" in their dramatic and spectacular argonautie expedition across the trackless plains and forbidding rugged mountains to try his luck in the gold mines. He was one of the successful adventurers, mining profitably until 1852. He then returned to this state and again located in Monroe eounty to continue the farming industry he had abandoned three years before.

This one experience satisfied his longings for adventures in distant regions, and he devoted himself wholly to his farming and stockraising enterprise until 1870. In that year he moved to Moberly, which was in need of builders to meet the demands of its then rapid development, and during the next nineteen years he worked at the carpenter trade in that eity, doing some teaming in connection with his industry at his trade. In 1889 he gave up aetive work and moved to Monroe county, where he made his home with his son until 1892, when he died. At the dawn of his manhood eame the call to arms to defend the eountry against the aggressions of Mexico, and he was one of the first to respond. In that short but decisive contest, the Mexican war, he justified his family name and history by his valor, taking part in nearly all the prineipal engagements and sharing in the glory that came to the arms of our citizen soldiery in eonsequence of their entire subjugation of our haughty neighbor of the southwestern border.

The elder Mr. Featherston was a Democrat in political allegiance and energetic in the service of his party. He was allied. fraternally with the Masonic order, and in religious relations with the Christian church. He was married in 1853 to Miss Anna Broaddus, of Kentucky, and they became the parents of three children, all of whom are living: Luella, the wife of R. L. Broaddus, of Madison, Missouri; and Allen G., a resident of Randolph county, and Eliza C., of this county.

county, and after leaving school worked as hired hand on farms in the neighborhood of his home until 1878. In that year he started learning the trade of carpenter, and to this line of activity he adhered until 1888. Agricultural pursuits at that time seemed to offer better advantages than mechanical industry, and they were more in the line of his tastes. He therefore turned his attention to farming and raising stock, which he followed with marked success until 1896, when he sold his farm of sixty-five acres and all its equipment and moved to Bynumville in Chariton eounty. There he passed three years in the milling business, and in 1899 took advantage of a better opportunity that presented itself for an extensive trade in grain and mill produets at Callao in this county, moving then to that town, where he has ever since had his home and the seat of his mercantile and eommereial undertakings.

In all the communities of his residence Mr. Featherston has taken an earnest and helpful interest, showing good qualities of leadership in enterprises for publie improvement and of persisteney in earrying them to successful issues. In April, 1906, he was eleeted mayor of Callao, and he filled this important and responsible office with great eredit to himself and benefit to the town until April, 1909, when he was eleeted vice-president of the school board and made superintendent of the construction work in building new school houses. In polities Mr. Featherston is independent, holding himself free to support any poliey or eandidate he deems in line with his eonvietions and likely to prove of benefit to the people and their best interests. He is a Freemason in fraternal life and a member of the Christian church in religious allegiance, taking great interest in the welfare of and being an active and effeetive worker in both his lodge and his church. On December 27, 1888, he was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Cunningham, a daughter of A. J. and Sallie (Duncan) Cunningham, long residents and highly esteemed eitizens of Monroe county, Missouri. All of the six children resulting from the union are living. They are: Ressie, Harry M., Russell, Glenn, Chester and Lucille, all still at home with their parents and contributing to the brightness and warmth of the family fireside. The family stands well in the community, its members are leaders in social, edueational and ehureh work, and they are all held in the highest regard throughout the county, and wherever else they are known.

Tt is the eonvietion of many persons of keen diserimination and searching powers of analysis that the erown of distinetion among men, which has been sullied with infamy by so many rulers, smirched with dishonor by so many statesmen and stained with blood by so many warriors, should be placed where infamy has never sullied it, dishonor has never smirched it and blood has never stained it, on the brow of the successful teacher in our public schools, whose triumphs are won for and not over his fellow men, and whose empire is built in the realms of intellect and genius and not of the erushed and bleeding fragments of dismembered kingdoms, subjugated states or enslaved peoples. If this were done that crown would find a fit resting place on the venerable brow of William Alexander Mathis, of Callao, now four score years of age, and revered as one of the patriarchs of the community and one of the most estimable citizens the county has ever had.

Mr. Mathis was born in the state of Tennessee on January 23, 1829, and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Jackson) Mathis, natives of Virginia and residents of both North Carolina and Tennessee before they came to Missouri in 1831. The paternal grandfather, Charles Mathis, was born and reared in England and came to this country as a young man, locating and passing the remainder of his days in Virginia. His son John, on arriving in this state with his young family, took up his residence in Randolph county, where he remained ten years. In 1841 he moved the family to Macon county, and here he was actively and successfully engaged in raising corn and tobaeco until his death, being eighty-four years of age. He and his wife were married in about 1824, and became the parents of seven children, but three of whom are living now: Robert, William A. and John H., all residents of Callao. The parents were zealous and energetic working members of the Methodist Episcopal Chureh South.

William A. Mathis began his edueation in the district schools of this county and completed it, so far as immediate scholastic training was concerned, at MeGee College at College Mound. He taught in the district schools of Macon county, five years before entering college, and after leaving college he became a teacher in the publie schools of the state, and he adhered to this beneficent but exacting occupation with but little interruption until 1897, making an excellent record as a teacher and helping along the rugged highway to scholarship many a boy who has since become distinguished in the chronicles of this and other states. From 1866 to 1874 he was also engaged in merchandising, condueting at Callao a general store, which had an extensive trade and which he disposed of in the year last named. In 1872 he was elected county superintendent of the publie schools, serving a term of two years, at the end of which the office was abolished and that of county commissioner of schools created. Some years later he was elected to this office and filled it acceptably, as he did that of teacher and superintendent. His service to the county as teacher and official in connection with the cause of publie education forms one of the bright pages in the history of this portion of the state, and its benefits are plainly shown in the present efficiency of the schools, for which he helped materially to lay the foundation, and to the attainment of which he contributed by his industry, capacity and breadth of view.

Mr. Mathis was made a Freemason in 1853 and has ever since taken a deep and serviceable interest in the welfare of the order. He has mounted its mystie ladder through the degrees of the Royal Arch chapter and the commandery to that of Knight Templar, adorning every step of his advancement by the activity of his membership and the daily exemplification he has given of the morality and uprightness embodied in the symbolic teachings of the fraternity. His political allegiance has always been freely given to the Democratic party, and is based on reading, observation and reflection that have brought him strong convictions on publie questions and theories of government. He has been constant and effeetive in the service of his party and in his days of activity was accounted one of its wheelhorses in all local campaigns. In church membership and energetic church work he is allied with the Southern Methodists and has been from his boyhood.

It is shown in these brief paragraphs that the life story of this good man is full of inspiration for the youth and of stimulus for the man of mature age. It is a recital of fidelity and usefulness in all the relations of earthly existence, crowned with the comforts, enjoyments and public esteem which are the legitimate results of industry, capacity and upright living. It shows that for singleness of purpose and watehful vigilance there is always opportunity for advancement in this country of boundless possibilities, and that for well spent years during the period of energetie endeavor old age is sure to bring a benign and peaceful evening to the day of toil and tinge the twilight of life with all the glories of a serene and cloudless sunset.

One of the prosperous and progressive farmers and stock breeders of Callao township, James P. Mason has reaped from the soil of Macon county an abundant harvest from the seed of skill and industry he has sown in it and good returns for the services he has rendered the people and the elevated citizenship he has exemplified among them in their lasting regard and general good will. He was born in Rappahannock county, Virginia, on February 19, 1851, and is a son of Daniel and Ann

(Heaton) Mason, who also were born in that state and grew to maturity amid its historie scenes and richly laden traditions. The father's life began there in 1814, and he remained on his native heath until 1867. J He was a son of David Mason, a native of Germany, who came to the | United States soon after the Revolutionary war.

During the Civil war the family estate was wasted by the successive foraging expeditions from both armies, and the members of the household felt the keen edge of the sectional strife in many ways. The low i ebb of industrial conditions and impoverished prospects in the region which had given them life and sustenance for so many years made them i long for better opportunities and brighter hopes in a newer section of the country, where they might retrieve their fortunes, win a new estate and escape political persecution while doing it. In 1867 they moved to Missouri and settled in this county, where the father followed farming i in a general way and with considerable success until his death in 1903. f His marriage occurred in 1835 and brought him eight children, of whom but two are living, James P. and his older brother, William D., who is i still a resident of Virginia. 1

James P. Mason received but a limited education. He was but ten years old when the great Civil war began, and the country around him was seriously unsettled and disturbed for some years before the actual beginning of hostilities, and almost everything else was ignored by the people but the momentous struggle that all saw was inevitable. During N the war the schools were almost wholly suspended, the state of the country and the daily shock of battle elaiming everybody's attention at and around the center of the confliet. Mr. Mason therefore grew to the age of sixteen without much opportunity to attend school, and at that age accompanied his parents to this state, where the exactions of the farm in a new and sparsely settled eountry absorbed every energy and took up all the time. He remained at home and assisted the family until 1878, when he bought 100 acres of land and began farming on his own account. From then until the present time (1910) he has been actively and successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, including raising li tock. He now owns 122 acres of good land, which he has rendered highly produetive and improved into a comfortable and substantial country home, equipped with all that is necessary for its full cultivation and the rational enjoyment of life.

Mr. Mason farms all his land and carries on in connection with his husbandry an extensive industry in raising stock. This has been his favorite pursuit for years and he has made a pronounced success of it.

township and securing for its people every convenience available under the circumstances. In politics he is a Democrat and in religion a member of the Christian ehureh. On December 2, 1877, he was married to Miss Margaret Alice Wright, whose parents, Claiborne and Martha (Trimble) Wright, have long been residents of this county. Four children eame of the union, two of whom are living: Dr. L. O. Mason, of Bevier, and Jennie O., the wife of Joseph Summers, of Callao. No family is more highly respected throughout the county, and none has a higher claim on the esteem of the whole people.

In spite of all the advances made by the medical profession through the countless minds and other searching agencies constantly turned upon its requirements, developments and manifestations, the human race is still subject to sickness, disease and death, and this is the universal condition throughout the world. The need of good physicians is therefore always and everywhere felt, and, be it said to the eredit of the profession, their services are always and everywhere appreciated by those who have the benefit of them. The life of the country doetor is one of self-sacrifice and privation. He is and has to be at the call of everybody when needed, and no conditions of weather or temptations to personal eomfort can be allowed to have weight against the stern and unrelenting demands of duty. It is meet and proper, therefore, that the man who is everybody's helper and friend should have everybody's esteem and be universally appreciated.

Dr. William H. Gooch, of Elmer, in this county, is one of the professional men in this part of the state who enjoys this universal esteem and appreciation, and he has won it by his capacity as a physician and surgeon and the fidelity with which he devotes his time and attainments to the service of the people. He made thorough preparation for his professional work and entered upon it well qualified for all its probable exactions. Then he has been studious, observant and reflective during his practice, always alert for the reception and assimilation of any hint given him by reading, experience or conference with others. His natural aptitude for the work he has chosen has, therefore, been developed and trained in the best school, the one which a mind eager and inquiring keeps for itself.

Dr. Gooch was born at Browning, Linn county, Missouri, in 1871. His father, Henry Gooch, was born and reared in Kentucky and came to Missouri to live in 1856. He took up his residence on a farm he bought near the present town of Browning, and on that he passed the remainder of his days, energetically and profitably engaged in farming and raising stock. In 1866 he was united in marriage with Miss Helen Robinson, who was also a native of Kentucky, where her forefathers, like those of her husband, lived for several generations. The union resulted in three children, all of whom are living: Loga, the wife of Sherman Hale, of Purdin, Missouri; May, the wife of Joseph Gibson, of Hillsdale, Uinta county, Wyoming, and Dr. Willard H. The mother died in 1896 and the father in 1905.

The Doctor grew to manhood in his native place, assisting his father on the farm and obtaining his education in the publie schools and at Prairie Seminary. At the age of sixteen he became a school teacher, and after following that exacting but self-developing oceupation for two years, turned his attention to mereantile pursuits, in which he passed three profitable years. While he sojourned in the realm of merchandising, in which he never intended to pass his life, he began the study of medicine, and when he was ready to give it his whole attention in technieal study, he quit trade and entered Barnes Medical University with his life work well in view and all his energies harnessed to the task of preparing for it. He was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1898, then pursued a post-graduate course at the National College of Electro-Therapenties in Indianapolis, Indiana, and another at Barnes University. During the latter he had valuable praetieal experience as an interne at the St. Louis City hospital.

In 1899 Dr. Gooch located at Elmer and began the practice of his profession. He has made his home at that town ever since and been one of the busiest men there. He has risen steadily in his profession, winning and holding the regard of his brethren in the same line of endeavor and the confidence and esteem of the whole people. His practice has grown to fine proportions and includes the best elass of residents of the township and much of the surrounding country. He is active and progressive in the affairs of the eounty, politieal, social and general, and takes a leading part in the fraternal life of the community. His political allegiance is given heartily to the Demoeratie party, whieh he serves faithfully and efficiently, and which has shown its appreciation of his services and its estimate of his worth and capacity by electing him coroner for four conseeutive years, beginning in 1900, mayor of Elmer Tor three years, and a member of the board of village trustees, an office whieh he is still filling to the general satisfaetion of the people of the town.

Royal Neighbors. He is also an active and valued member of the Missouri, lowa and Illinois State Medical Associations. In 1892 he was married to Miss Lena Childress, who was born and reared in this state. They have two children, their daughters, Pearl and Bernice. Ten years of active practice have given Dr. Gooch prominence in his profession and an exalted place in the estimation of the people of Macon county. Yet it may properly be said that his career is only fairly begun. And as he is a progressive man, and keeps abreast with the most advanced thought in all departments of activity, and has high charaeter and ability as the mainsprings of his aspirations, it is inevitable that his progress will steadily continue and that he is destined to be one of the most useful and eminent citizens of the state.

Charles A. Miller

The life of Charles A. Miller, one of the enterprising and successful farmers and stockmen of Morrow township, Macon county, is not an eventful one in the eyes of the world at large, but it has shown many lights and shades to him, and his career is wholly the work of his own energy, capacity and persistent industry. He was born on November 8, 1882, in Coshocton county, Ohio, and within the same year his father died at the early age of twenty-four, leaving his young wife with two infants to rear and provide for. The struggles of the family were arduous and continued, but pluck was not lacking in the mother, and when the children grew to years of accountability they gave abundant evidence of the same spirit. They all worked their way forward and upward, holding all the ground they gained in the effort for advancement, and at length reached a position of comfort and independence in a worldly way and of consequence and importance in the esteem of the people around them.

The paternal grandfather, Levi Miller, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and in his early manhood moved to Stark county, Ohio. There he took his place in the industries of the locality, devoting his life mainly to farming. There also his son Charles A., the father of the subject of these paragraphs, was born, reared and educated, his life beginning in 1858. After leaving school he learned the trade of a miller and the remainder of his short life was passed in zealous attention to its demands. He was married in 1879 to Elizabeth Mizer, of Ohio, who is now living with her son Charles. They had two children, both of whom' are living, their daughter Kate, who is now the wife of Dr. Allen, of Cairo, Missouri, and their son Charles A. The father died, as has been stated, in 1882.

Charles A. Miller was brought by his grandfather, William Mizer, to Missouri at the age of six years and grew to manhood in this county. He attended the distriet sehools of Morrow township in his boyhood and youth, assisting in the work on his grandfather's farm while doing so and for some years after leaving school. When he reached his majority, or soon afterward, he set up for himself as a farmer, and in this line of action, coupled with raising live-stock, he has ever since been profitably engaged. He began practically with nothing and now owns 160 acres of excellent land, all of which is under cultivation and yielding abundantly in response to his faith as a husbandman and the energetic and skillful labor he bestows upon it. He is young in years, but the lessons of experience have ripened in him early and he is wise beyond his age. For he studies his business with a view to seeuring the best results from his efforts, and is enjoying the fruits of his enterprise in a substantial and inereasing prosperity and the general regard and good will of the community around him, in which he is universally looked upon as a first rate farmer, an excellent citizen and a thoroughly representative man.

In reference to publie improvements and the multiplication of all good agencies and the comforts and conveniences of life for the people in general he is eminently progressive, broad-minded and energetie, eonferring with his neighbors and friends for the publie advantage and doing his full share in the work of promoting it. His politieal faith is grounded in the principles and governmental theories of the Demoeratie party, and his political activity is expended in its behalf. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodmen of America. On March 3, 1909, he was married to Miss Chlora Wright, a daughter of George Wright, of this county. She is a prominent member of the Christian church.

David W. Jones

Having come with his parents to Macon county when he was but five years old and lived within its borders ever since, David W. Jones, of Lingo township, is praetieally a product of its resources and institutions, and except what is due to inherited race and family characall that is involved in his personality and record is American ssourian. He was born in South Wales on March 3, 1851, and in 1856 accompanied his father and the rest of the household from the land of his birth, when the parents were looking up a prespect for the family in the New World. Mr. Jones is therefore fifty-eight years old and has lived in this county more than half a century. He obtained his education in the publie schools of Callao township, learned his efficiency in the duties that have occupied him nearly all of his life so far in tilling the fertile and responsive soil of this region, and formed his friendships and associations almost wholly with its people. Knowledge of his native land is with him merely matters of dim and distant memory, tradition, family narrative and general reading, and in sympathy, devotion and interest he is altogether American.

Mr. Jones is a son of William and Jane (Rees) Jones, who were born, reared, edueated and married in Wales. When they arrived in this country they located for a short time on Yellow ereek, in Ohio, then came on to Missouri and took up their residence in Macon county. Here the father passed several years working in the eoal mines, an oceupation he had followed in his own country, but devoted the later years of his life to farming. His arrival in this part of the state was an event of far greater importance to it than he supposed when he came. For it was to him and Hopkin Evans that the region was indebted for the discovery of coal here, and all the development and results of the mining industry in this section that have come since are due largely to their intelligence and sagacity, although like many other discoverers and inventors, they never reaped their proper share of the harvest they made possible. The diseovery would doubtless have been made later, but the early years of the mining work in the region, and all that they embodied, were the immediate results of the special knowledge and capacity possessed by these men.

At the time of his death the father owned and farmed ninety-four acres of land, and had it all in a good state of productiveness and well improved with good buildings and other structures. He was married in 1848 to Miss Jane Rees, in association with whom he had grown from childhood to manhood. They became the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: David W., of Lingo township; Elizabeth, the widow of the late Daniel T. Evans, of this county ; Thomas R., who lives in Bevier; Jennie, the wife of F. D. Jones, also of Bevier; Susan, the wife of David Davis, of Oklahoma; William T., who resides at Callao; and Evan, whose home is at Bevier. In political allegiance the father was a Republican and in religious affiliation a member of the Presbyterian church.

After leaving school David W. worked in the mines near Bevier and on his father's farm, assisting the family until 1873. He then started on a laborious but successful eareer for himself, working in the mines in winter and farming in summer for a period of twelve years. In 1885 he gave up mining and since then has devoted his whole attention to farming and raising stock. He has flourished in all his undertakings and now owns 160 acres of productive, well cultivated and highly improved land. His farming operations are extensive and he knows how to make them profitable. His practical knowledge of the science of agriculture, gained in years of studious experience and from careful reading and reflection, together with his skill in applying it, has won him a wide and well established reputation as one of the leading farmers of the township, and his close and intelligent attention to every feature of his stock industry has brought him success and good esteem in that line of endeavor also.

In polities Mr. Jones is a Republican of firm convictions and great activity. He is always energetic in the service of his party and his services to it are highly appreeiated. In local affairs he is zealous for the continued welfare of the community and sedulous and effective in his efforts to promote it. His wife is a devoted and earnest member of the Methodist church, taking great interest in its work and held in high esteem by its other adherents. Her maiden name was Tirza Morgan and she is a daughter of Thomas J. and Tabitha (Evans) Morgan, natives of Wales but long respected residents of this county. She was married to Mr. Jones on April 10, 1873, and they have had two children, both living, their sons, William T. and Ralph, both residents of Macon county.

Descended from old English families, whose history runs back into the deep shadows of a distant past in the mother country, and himself born and reared in one of the most progressive and influential states of what was once the West, John Thompson brought to Missouri when he was twelve years old sterling traits of character inherited from his forefathers, which were broadened in scope and intensified in action by the stirring impulses and great wealth of opportunity, amid whieh he grew from childhood to man's estate in new sections of this country, different in many partieulars but alike in their striding progress toward high development and improvement.

Mr. Thompson is a native of Meigs eounty, Ohio, where he was born on December 29, 1856. His parents, James and Jane (Graham) Thompson, were natives of England, the father born in 1821 and the mother two or three years before. "Their ancestral homes were near historie Neweastle-on-Tyne, which always enlists the interest and admiration of the traveler and retains the love of its people, but which did not offer to any but the privileged classes in and around it the opportunities for advancement and the promise of material, politieal and soeial eonsequence held out to all elasses by the open hand of the New World. Moved by this fact, and eager to secure for his offspring the best chance that was attainable, Mr. Thompson brought his family to the United States in 1856 and loeated near Middleport, in Meigs county, Ohio, where he continued his operations as a miner, which he had begun and followed for a number of years in his native land. The family remained in Ohio twelve years, then sought even better opportunities in life by eoming to this state in 1868 and locating in Macon county. Here the father bought land which he farmed energetic and profitably until ten years ago, when he retired from active business on account of advancing years. He now makes his home with his son John.

In 1846 the father was married to Miss Jane Graham, and they heeame the parents of four children, one of whom has died. Those living are: Jane, the wife of W. B. Willis, of Emporia, Kansas; Thomas, who resides in this county; and John, the immediate subject of this brief review. The father has belonged to the Republiean party from its birth, and during the active years of his life, both in this state and Ohio, he was very energetie in its service. He always took an earnest interest in the welfare of the community around him and did what he could to promote that and the lasting good of its people. He is now generally esteemed as one of the patriarchs of Macon county, and his record of profitable service to its people is cherished for the advantages to them it has brought and the elevated and stimulating citizenship it exemplifies.

John Thompson, whose name is a household word in Lingo township, this county, where he has passed more than forty years of his industrious and productive life, was prepared for the strenuous duties that awaited his coming to this part of the country by his experiences in Ohio as a boy destined to depend on his own exertions for advancement in the world. He became a resident of Macon county when he was twelve years of age, and completed in the district schools in the neighborhood of his present home the education he had begun in those of Meigs county, Ohio. He remained at home and assisted the family until 1879, when he began the struggle for the improvement of his fortunes on his own account. In that year he bought forty acres of land, and ever since then he has been actively and successfully occupied in farming and raising superior live stock. He now owns and cultivates 270 acres, which he has acquired through his enterprise, thrift and good management, and makes a specialty of shorthorn cattle, running seventy-five to one hundred head on an average every year. His foresight and enterprise in this respeet have done considerable to raise the standard of eattle in the township and many other localities, and his name is well known as one of the most progressive and successful stock breeders in this part of the state. In fact, Mr. Thompson is one of the most prominent and influential men in the township, which has the honor of his citizenship and the benefit of his progressiveness and breadth of view.

For, while he gives his own interests close, careful and intelligent attention, he is not oblivious of the claims of the community on him, and he responds to them liberally and with all the ardor and energy of his nature. He is foremost in every good work undertaken for the benefit of the township and its people, and his excellent judgment is much relied on for wise counsel as his energy and activity are for the accomplishment of practical results. He has served as school director with great acceptability and is now president of Distriet No. 4 in the township. His political affiliation is with the Republican party, for which he is a zealous worker, and in which his services are highly appreciated. On October 24, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Fletcher, whose father, James Fletcher, was born in England but now lives in this county. All of the eight children born of this union are living. They are: Elizabeth, who is living at home; James, whose residence is at Fargo, Oklahoma; Margaret, the wife of W. M. Fessler, who is living in that town also; Roy, of Texhoma, Oklahoma; and Daisy, William, Nellie and Bertie, all of whom are still under the family roof. The whole family is held in high esteem and all its members deserve the regard bestowed upon them.

Owen W. Jones

For forty-three years, or thereabout, this venerable eitizen of New Cambria has been a resident of Macon county, and the work of his long record of usefulness among its people stands forth in enduring phrase and eonspieuous memorials to his eredit. He loeated in this region when it was still largely an unbroken waste, or so sparsely settled that the few homesteads in its midst only emphasized and intensified the far surrounding loneliness and primeval conditions of wildness. He stuck his stake in this wilderness, however, and through his labors, and those of others like him, it has been transformed to its present state of high development and continuous and substantial progress. Mr. Jones may literally be ealled the father of the progressive town in whieh he now has his home. He was one of its founders, laying out its streets, plotting its ground into building lots, and building within its present limits the first hotel and the first general store ereeted in this portion of the eounty. From the germ he planted it has grown to material consequence, social distinction, municipal importance and commercial influence. And in the substantial character of its people and its institutions it shows that its foundations were well and broadly laid and its future was wisely provided for.

Mr. Jones is of Welsh ancestry, his parents, Owen W. and Margaret (Evans) Jones, having been born, reared, educated and married in North Wales, where their forefathers lived and labored for many generations. The father was born in 1790 and brought his family to this country about 1830. He located in the village of Floyd, Oneida county, New York, where he was engaged extensively and prosperously in farming and raising stock until his death in 1866, He and his wife were the parents of ten children, but three of whom are living, Owen W. and his brothers, John O. and Watkins C., all of them residents of New Cambria.

Owen W. Jones was born at Floyd, Oneida county, New York, on January 15, 1833. He obtained his education in the publie schools of that village and at Whitestown Seminary, being graduated from the latter with a certificate of qualification as a teacher in the publie schools. He followed the occupation of teaeher for a number of years in his native county, then came with his brother, W. C. Jones, to Iowa, where they passed several summers together. In 1864 Owen, still possessed of the western fever, and deeming the frontier the most desirable loeality for the exereise of his powers and the realization of his hopes, moved into Missouri and took up his residence in this county, where he has lived ever since. ;

Mr. Jones was a progressive man and thoroughly imbued with the possibilities of the region in which he cast his lot. To his imagination it opened in vistas of growth and development, and he saw its future rich in the fruits and fragrant with the blossoms of civilized life, the home of an industrious, enterprising and prosperous people making the most of their material resources and eultivating in time all the higher powers of mental and moral greatness, And he at once, or soon after his arrival, began to work to make his vision a reality. As has been noted above, he laid ont a town and prepared it for settlement. The result has justified his most ardent hopes, for although his municipal offspring is now but fairly started in its eareer of advancement, it is already one of the rising and promising towns of this part of the state. As a nucleus for the thriving settlement he felt must follow his efforts, he built a hotel and put up a general store building, and in the latter opened a merchandising enterprise which he condueted successfully, as he also did the hotel, until 1891. In that year he sold all his interests in these undertakings and retired from aetive business, but he had made an enduring record in both and in other lines of endeavor which ean never be effaced from the history of the locality. He served twelve years as railroad land agent and twenty-two as postmaster at the town he founded; and as he was eminently successful in the management of his private affairs during his activity, so was he also in conducting the interests of the railroad company to profitable results and the affairs of the postoffice with great eredit to himself and satisfaetion to the people who patronized it, and to the government.

In political relations Mr. Jones has been a Republican from the birth of the party, and in his younger years he was a very earnest and effective worker for the success of his organization. For many years he has been an earnest working member of the Presbyterian church, the edifice in which the congregation to which he belongs having been built by him. He was married on October 8, 1866, to Miss Libby J. Cole, who was born and reared in the same community as himself. Six of the eight children they had are living: Della E., the wife of Arthur Boone, of La Belle, Missouri; Clara C., the wife of William Grant, of the same town; George W., whose home is in St. Joseph, this state; Ada M., the wife of John T. Evans, of Pierre, South Dakota; Vernon L., who is living at home; and J. Burton, who also dwells in New Cambria. The name of the family stands high in Macon county, and every member of it is esteemed in the community of his or her home. For all are most worthy and estimable eitizens.

Y John W. Lunday

Tried by many tests of his fidelity to duty, including work on the farm and at the forge, the perils of the battlefield in terrible civil warfare, the exactions of business, the blandishments of social life and the temptations of official station, John W. Lunday, an eminent citizen of New Cambria, in this county, has been proven sterling in all and altogether worthy of the high esteem in which he is universally held. He was born in this county, in the town of Winchester, on October 19, 1838, and has passed all of his subsequent years within its borders. There is. therefore, nothing taken for granted or speculative in his record, for it has been an open book among this people, and is well known to them all.

Mr. Lunday is a son of Gabriel and Ellen (Windle) Lunday, natives of Virginia and pioneers of Macon county. His grandfather, James Lunday, was also a Virginian and came to this eounty very early in its history. The father was born in Montgomery county, in the Old Dominion, in 1805, and became a resident of Macon eounty, Missouri, in 1836, loeating in Winehester, Liberty township, where he took up a homestead from the government. He was actively and profitably engaged in farming this land and raising live stock on an extensive scale until 1870, when he retired from active pursuits and sold his property, having by that time acquired the ownership of 300 aeres of land in Russell township, whose high state of development and productiveness and valuable improvements represented in large measure the labors of his years of strenuous endeavor in this state. He did not, however, live long to enjoy the rest he promised himself, but died in 1872 in Chariton county, just outside of Macon, in a new home he had established there. His marriage oceurred in 1832 and resulted in the birth of nine children in his family, six of whom are living: John W., Temple F. and James W., residents of this county; Rachel Ann, wife of J. W. Braley, of Horton, Kansas; George T., who lives in New Cambria; and Philip R., who is a citizen of Chariton county. In his early manhood the father was a Whig and remained loyal and true to his party until it passed out of action into history, giving place to the Republican party. From then to the end of his life he was a member of that organization and stood by it with the same loyalty and devotion he had bestowed on his first choice in political relations. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church and was an aetive worker in its ranks.

John W. Lunday was literally a child of the frontier and grew to manhood under the weight of its exacting labors and amid the experiences of its rugged, hazardous and spectacular life. He obtained the little education available to him in the primitive eountry sehools of his boyhood in this locality, where, at that time, nature was the source of inspiration and experience the prineipal sehoolmaster. He worked hard on the parental aeres, as all boys of the period situated as he was were obliged to do, remaining at home and assisting the family in the farm work and the necessary toil of a blaeksmith shop on the homestead, until the beginning of the Civil war. Having been brought up with reverence for the Union, and looking upon its dismemberment as the worst of evils, at the beginning of hostilities he promptly joined a company organized as a part of the state militia, of which he remained a member until 1864. He then enlisted in the regular federal service as a member of Company K, Forty-second Missouri infantry, under com- mand of Colonel Forbes. The regiment was stationed on the border most of the time during the, rest of the war and only saw actual fighting in skirmishes. But it was a valuable aid in subduing the border warfare and protecting the lives and property of the people from bands of predatory marauders.

Mr. Lunday was mustered out of the service at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1865, and returned then to his Macon county home. He soon afterward started a blacksmithing enterprise at New Cambria, devoted to general smithing and repairing and the sale of farming implements. He was in eharge of this industrial and mereantile undertaking until 1898, when he determined to retire from business and sold his establishment. He is still living in New Cambria and is regarded as an important faetor in the commercial, official and social life of the town. He has served several terms as a member of the town board and is a charter member and direetor of the New Cambria State Bank. He is nlso prominent and energetie in all movements undertaken for the improvement of the town and the welfare of its people, being as enterprising, far-seeing and progressive in reference to such matters as he was in his successful private business career.

On March 4, 1869, Mr. Lunday was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Wilson, a native of Ohio and daughter of Moses and Jane (Me- Coy) Wilson, the former born in New Jersey and the latter in Ohio. Three children were born in the Lunday household, but only one is living; a son named Charles G., whose residence is at the town of Hope in Arkansas. 'The father is a Republican in polities and zealous in the service of his party. He belongs fraternally to the Grand Army of the Republie, and in religious inclination he favors the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is a leading and hard-working member. New Cambria has no eitizens who are more highly respected than Mr. and Mrs. Lunday, and none more worthy of universal esteem and ndmiration.

Marcus B. Leist

Mareus B. Leist, of Callao township, whose transactions as a breeder and handler of superior strains of horses are so extensive that they have attraeted the attention of dealers in the noblest animal we have throughout the eountry, and even made him a name and reputation in foreign lands, has a history in himself and his ancestors that is full of interest. He is descended from families of the hardy woodsmen of Pennsylvania who helped to open up that great domain to civilization and lay the foundations of its prosperity, and who were as valiant in defending it as they were courageous and resolute in braving the perils of its wild and savage condition as an unbroken and trackless expanse of wooded mountain, dense forest and virgin plain. Some of them fought with Washington at Fort Du Quesne and aided in clearing the way for the advance of his army toward that hapless and tragical conflict. In the following days of the American Revolution many of them stood shoulder to shoulder with the great commander and helped greatly to win his final triumph. Later, their descendants invaded the farther wilderness and began the conquest of what is now the state of Ohio and its transformation into a civilized and productive region, fragrant with all the flowers and rich in all the fruits of cultivated life.

Among the early settlers in Ohio were some of the forebears of Marcus B. Leist, of this county, who is the immediate subjeet of this review, and it was in Pickaway county, in that state, that he was born, his life beginning on December 23, 1846. He is a son of Cornelius B. and Isabel (Wann) Leist, both born and reared in Ohio, as their parents were. They had eight children, four of whom are living: Marcus B.; Emma, the wife of Wilson Stout, of*Ohio; John P., who lives in Indiana, and Laura, the wife of Charles Cook. The mother died in 1897 and the father in 1901.

"Their son, Mareus B., has shown the military spirit of his ancestors and been a fighter, too, but only in the army of peaceful conquest and the contests among men for the advancement of their several fortunes and the gratification of their various ambitions. His father was a farmer, and after obtaining a limited education in the district schools of his native county, the son became one also. He began farming for himself soon after leaving school and has continued his operations in this line ever since. In connection with them he has made a specialty of raising fine cattle and horses, and, as has been intimated, has conducted the business and is still conducting it on a seale of great magnitude, his eonquests in this line being as great in their way as were the achievements of his forefathers in theirs.

In 1904 Mr. Leist came to Missouri and located in Callao township, this county, where he now lives. He immediately began farming and specializing in raising cattle and horses. He has rapidly expanded his business in this latter industry until he has become the most extensive breeder of horses in Missouri and has the largest stable of Percheron and other imported stallions in the state. His products in the cattle industry are also of superior quality, and within the short period of his residence in Macon county he has probably done more than any other man to raise the standard of stock, generally, throughout the state. His farm comprises 640 acres of choice land, and is partieularly well adapted to the purposes for which he rented it. It affords fine grazing grounds for his stock and also yields abundantly for the maintenance of his herds in the elements of other food for them besides producing in plentiful supply the output of general farming.

Mr. Leist has applied to the development and improvement of the county in general the same energy, capacity and progressiveness that he has employed so suecessfully in bringing about the higher standard of stock in this region and in building up his own interests. He has been one of the main promoters and is now one of the principal stoekholders and the vice-president of the Callao Fair Association, which is known far and wide for the excellence of its management, the enlightened and progressive spirit that distinguishes it and the high charaeter of its displays, exhibits and entertainments. He has also been very active and potential in securing a vast improvement in the roads in the eounty, and in awakening a spirit of enterprise in the way of a general movement for good roads in all parts of the state.

In political faith he is a pronounced Republican, with an ardent interest in the welfare of his party and great energy in serving it. But he has been steadfast in his determination to keep out of publie office and has resisted all the importunities of his friends and the leaders of his party to become a eandidate, accept a nomination or take a political position by appointment. Fraternally he is connected with the order of Odd Fellows. In 1868 he was married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Peter, a native of Ohio. They have eight children, their sons, Edward and Charles M., and their daughters, Mary Alice, Sarah E., Margaret B., Carrie, Florence and Lela. Although but six years a resident of Missouri, Mr. Leist has risen to the first rank among its eitizens and is an acknowledged leader in some of its lines of publie improvement. In all respeets he is regarded as one of the most progressive, estimable and useful men in the state. No one stands higher in publie esteem or is more worthy of regard and good will from all classes,

Thomas L. Jenkins

It seemed something like the irony of fate that the interesting subjeet of this brief review, after being reared in the pursuits of peaceful industry in a foreign land, and crossing the swelling ocean to find a better home, brighter prospects and ampler opportunities in this land of promise, should land on the battlefield soon after his arrival and discover that he was in the very center of a maelstrom of civil war, but such was his experience. He was born in South Wales on February 16, 1830, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Lewis) Jenkins, natives and life-long residents of that country, and now the only one living of their three children. They also have been dead many years, and Thomas is altogether alone in the world, except for the ties he has made and the hosts of friends he has gained in this country.

Mr. Jenkins grew to manhood and obtained a limited common school education in his native land, being able to attend for only a few terms, and very irregularly, at a school of low grade in whose course of instruction nothing was included but the rudimentary branches. He remained in the land of his birth until he reached the age of twentyeight, then came to this country, arriving in 1858 and stopping for a short time in Pennsylvania. But the West was his chosen destination, and he soon made his way toward it, moving to Ohio, and in that state working for farmers and doing some farming for himself until the beginning of the Civil war.

By the time that terrible storm burst upon the country Mr. Jenkins had become attached to the principles of our government and our institutions, and was firmly in favor of the perpetuation of the Union. He volunteered at once as a member of the Home Guards, and took his place in the discipline and other work of the organization. But he soon grew tired of inactivity in military service, and enlisted in Company E, Sixty-sixth Ohio infantry, which was soon placed under the command of General Slocum and some time afterward under that of General Hooker. Mr. Jenkins remained in the service until the close of the war and was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in June, 1865. He found that the contest in which he had volunteered to take an active part was not play but real and terrible war, involving constant vigilance and exertion, great hardships and privations in camp and on the march, and deadly strife to the last extremity on the battlefield. But he never faltered in his duty, or shirked a peril or any part of the burden of his service. Among the battles in which he took part were those of Buzzard's Roost and Resaca, Georgia, Peach Tree creek in the same state, Kenesaw Mountain, and others in the same part of the country. And as his command belonged to a fighting division of the army. the skirmishes and other small encounters with the enemy became so numerous that they were, in a little while, of almost daily occurrence and considered as searcely worthy of note.

After his return from the army Mr. Jenkins remained in Ohio three years, following the same pursuits as before the war. In 1868 he came to Missouri and took up his residence in this county, making his home in Lingo township, where he has ever since dwelt. From that time to the present (1909) he has been energetically and continuously engaged in farming and raising stock on an ascending scale of magnitude and profit, but since 1904 has been acting only as superintendent of his large interests and not doing any onerous work. He now owns 221 acres of good land and has the greater part of it under cultivation, while the buildings and other improvements on the farm are modern, commodious and valuable, his farm being a model country home.

'The welfare of the community around him has engaged the attention of Mr. Jenkins and enlisted his interest and assistance at all times. He has been enterprising and progressive in regard to the development and improvement of the township and eounty, and has never hesitated to do his full share in the work of promoting it. His political principles are those of the Republican party and he is one of its most zealous and effective supporters, doing all he ean to win success in its campaigns and, by his counsel and example, diding materially in keeping it true to itself and its professions. His fraternal relations are with the Grand Army of the Republie. Of this organization, which is now fast fading from the sight of men, he is an enthusiastie member, and at its periodical campfires lives over again with his companions the scenes and incidents of the war without the danger of deadly bullet, destructive sabre or lacerating bayonet, and, be it said too, without the bitterness of feeling or warmth of passion evolved in actual warfare. He was married in 1860 to Miss Jane Edwards, of Ohio, and by the union became the father of ten children, three of whom have died. Those living are: Hannah, the wife of Thomas Vantine; Joseph and Benjamin, all residents of this county; Lizzie, the wife of Charles Thiehoff, of Marceline, in Linn county; Thomas, who is living at home with his parents; Catherine, the wife of George Owers, who also lives at Marceline; and Missouri, the wife of E. S. Jones, whose home is in New

Born, reared, educated and married in Lingo township, Macon county, and having expended all his energies up to the present time in helping to push forward its progress and development, Logan $. Blew, one of its enterprising, progressive and successful farmers, is wholly a produet of the township and a representative man among its people. His life began in their midst on August 7, 1864, and he is a son of Willis and Margaret (Lingo) Blew, natives of Kentucky but long resi- dents of this county. The father came here as a young man and found the eountry young in settlement and development also. He took up a tract of wild land in Lingo township and passed the remainder of his days in developing and improving it. Success erowned his efforts. He made his untamed domain over into a good, well improved and highly produetive farm, and won for himself standing and respeet among all elasses of the population.

His marriage with Miss Margaret Lingo, of Kentucky, occurred in 1847 and resulted in the birth of eleven children to them, eight of whom are living: Sarah, the wife of P. R. Ellis, of Des Moines, Iowa; John S., a resident of this county; James F., who also lives in this county; Margaret, the wife of Wilson Swearingin, of Chariton eounty; Ira M., whose home is at Nashville, Oklahoma; Logan S., and Mary H., the wife of John Bidel, who lives in Colorado. Four states have the benefit of their progressive and useful eitizenship and the fidelity with whieh they meet every obligation in life.

Logan S. Blew had no other facilities for education than those furnished by the distriet schools of his native township, and he was unable to attend even them with regularity or for any great length of time. His serviees were needed on his father's farm, and he gave them to the requirements of the family, both while he was attending school and after he stopped going, until 1885, when he began the struggle for advancement among men on his own account, buying a tract of land, small but promising to start with, and working out of it profits that enabled him to buy more from time to time, until he now owns 119 acres, nearly all of which he eultivates and which he has improved with good, eomfortable farm buildings and other struetures, making it one of the substantial, produetive and valuable country homes of the county.

Mr. Blew has been active and progressive in respect to the affairs of the township as well as in his private business. During the last eight years he has rendered excellent service to the people as elerk of the distriet school board, using his prominence and influence, which are considerable, greatly to the advantage of the schools, the improvement of those who attend them and the satisfaction of people most direetly interested, the parents of the pupils. In other respeets also he has been potential for good in the locality, aiding by his wise counsel and his material assistance every worthy undertaking for the benefit of the section, leading in all enterprises and rendering yeoman serviee in bringing them to a successful conclusion. He takes a prominent part in the eouneils of the Demoeratie party, of which he is a zealous member, and does effective work in all its eampaigns. On May 10, 1899, he was mar- ried to Mrs. Carrie B. Lingo, a daughter of George and Ann Tarr, who came from England to this county many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Blew have had two children, Claude M. and Opal D., both of whom are living and abide with their parents. The latter stand well in the regard and good will of the people all over the county.

William W. Anstine

Three of the great states of the American Union have contributed to the progress and had the benefit of the services of William W. Anstine, who is now a prominent farmer and leading, public-spirited and representative eitizen of Lingo township in this county, where he has lived and flourished during the last forty years. He was born in York county, Pennsylvania, on August 24, 1837, and lived and labored there on his father's farm until 1863. He then moved to Hancock county, Ohio, where he passed six years diligently employed on farms which he rented. In 1869 he eame to Macon county, Missouri, and since then he has been an element of value among the productive agencies of this region.

Mr. Anstine is a son of Jacob and Eve (Sherry) Anstine, natives of Pennsylvania, where the father was born in 1812, married in 1836 and died in 1887, and his wife died there in 1903. Five of the ten children born of their union are living: William W., the oldest, being the only one who resides in Missouri. The others are: Emanuel, who lives in Pennsylvania; Catherine, the wife of Frank Hess, whose home is in Pennsylvania; Jacob L., who is in business in Baltimore, Maryland; and John, who also has his home in Pennsylvania. The father was a stonemason and wrought diligently at his trade throughout all his mature life. He also farmed extensively and was successful and prosperous.

William W. Anstine was prepared for the battle of life in the distriet schools of his native county and by the lessons and examples given him at the parental fireside and in his labors on the family homestead. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-six, then turned his face westward, determined to follow the course of empire in that direction, He moved to Hancock county, Ohio, and there, during the next six years, farmed land he rented, as has been stated, not caring to purchase any, as he still felt that the voice of destiny was calling him to a region farther west. In 1869 he obeyed this impulse and came to Missouri, locating in Lingo township, this county, where he still lives, and which has seemed to satisfy all his longings. Ever since his arrival in this locality he has been energetically and profitably engaged in farming and raising stock for the markets, carrying on both industries on an ascending scale of magnitude and success. His farm now comprises 120 aeres of land, is well improved and has become one of the model country homes of the township in which it is located. He has farmed it vigorously, but with intelligence and good judgment, and it has never failed in responsiveness to the labor he has bestowed upon it and the skill with which he has cultivated it.

Feeling that he had at length reached his permanent abiding place, Mr. Anstine began to take an active part in the political, eivil and social life of the township soon after his arrival among its people. He has served them well and wisely as township assessor for two years and as school clerk and director for a long time. To all projects for the advancement of the region in mental, moral or material power, or in the enlargement of the comforts and conveniences of its people, he has given direct, effective and practical aid, his services stamping him as a far-seeing and broad-minded man full of energy and capacity for promoting the publie good.

On August 18, 1861, Mr. Anstine united in marriage with Miss Eliza Hershey, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where the marriage oceurred, and is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Akins) Hershey, who belonged to families long resident in that state. Five children were born in the Anstine household, all of whom are living. Their homes are widely seattered, but in their several loealities they are exemplifying in their daily lives the admonitions and examples given them under the parental roof and contributing their portion to the substantial merit and sterling worth of elevated Ameriean citizenship. These children are: William Henry, who lives in Howell county, Missouri; Mary Jane, the wife of William Teter, whose home is in Trinidad, Colorado; Sylvester, who is a eitizen of La Junta, Colorado; Alice, the wife of Mert Milleron, a resident of Macon county; and Sarah, the wife of Clape Cupp, who is in Howell county, Missouri. Mr. Anstine is an earnest worker in political contests and his services are highly appreciated by the leaders of his party. He adheres to the principles and polieies of the Republiean organization, and as he believes in them firmly, he does all he ean to give them supremacy in the councils of the county, the state and the nation. In local affairs the good of the community has his first consideration, party interests coming afterward. The people of Macon county, among whom so large a portion of his life has been passed, know him well and esteem him highly.

It is a far step from the mountains and mines of Wales to the wild prairies, boundless fruitfulness and rapid progress of the great West in this country, and involves a wonderful change of scene, associations, surroundings and possibilities. But it is a step that William T. Jones, one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Valley township, in this county, has taken greatly to his own advantage and the benefit of the locality in which his work of construction and development has been done. His experiences in this respect form a large part of his education and have contributed essentially and extensively toward bringing him to the wide knowledge of men and affairs which he possesses and the development of the faculties of self-reliance and resourcefulness for which he is distinguished.

Mr. Jones was born in Breeknouckshire, in the southern part of Wales, on July 31, 1837, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Williams) Jones, of the same nativity as himself. The parents brought their family to this country in 1854, when the father was forty-four years old and his son William between sixteen and seventeen. "The father, who was born in 1810, was a shoemaker and worked at his trade both in the land of his nativity and that of his adoption. On the arrival of the family in this eountry it found a new home in Kane county, Illinois, where the father bought eighty-eight acres of land. He farmed his land and worked at his trade in that eounty until his death in 1858. By his marriage in 1835 to Miss Mary Williams, the daughter of a neighbor in Wales, he became the father of five children, all of whom have died except William T. -

William T. Jones obtained a limited common school education in his native land, and after his arrival in this country gave himself up wholly to the exacting service required of him on his father's-farm, in the management and operation of which he was the main dependence. The land was fertile and responsive and he was industrious and skillful. The family prospered and enjoyed comforts and consequences in this country it would never have attained in that of its origin. The son worked for other farmers in addition to what he did at home, and all his earnings were devoted to the support and advancement of the household. On the death of his father he became the owner of the farm, and he continued to carry on its work and improvement until 1864.

interests in Illinois, he moved to Missouri and located in Macon county. In eonnection with his mother he bought 240 aeres of land in Valley township, which he has since inereased by the purchase of twenty additional aeres, and on this land he has lived and flourished until the present time. He has been very energetic and progressive in his undertakings and has made them all minister to his prosperity and advancement. In addition to extensive general farming, he has, from the beginning of his operations in this county, conducted a considerable and aetive industry in raising live stock, running on an average about sixty to seventy-five cattle a year. He has all his land under cultivation but about thirty-five acres, which are devoted to grazing and furnish a fine range for his cattle.

Very soon after becoming a resident of this county Mr. Jones began to take an active interest and helpful part in local publie affairs and everything involving the enduring welfare and continued progress of the township. He served four terms as school director with great credit to himself, benefit to the schools and acceptability to the people, and has been influential in other lines of publie duty. All matters of publie improvement projected for the good of the locality have his earnest and intelligent support, and the general affairs of the county, state and nation enlist his warm and serviceable interest. His political affiliation is with the Republiean party, to whieh he adheres through approval of its principles, and its service he is energetie and effective. He cast his first vote for Lincoln in 1860. He and his wife are devoted and zealous working members of the Congregational church, and are esteemed in the eongregation to which they belong as among its most effective forces for good.

Mr. Jones was married on December 7, 1869, to Miss Margaret Havard, a daughter of Henry and Catherine (Edmunds) Havard, natives of Wales and prominent residents of Macon county for a long time. Her life began on September 15, 1845. Nine children were born of the union and eight of them are living: Henry J., of Cimarron county, Oklahoma; Walter S., of Montpelier, Idaho; Catherine and Fred J., who are still living with their parents; Edward, who also lives in Cimarron county, Oklahoma; and Arthur B., at home, and Irene, married December 29, 1909, to Oakley Antree, of Caldwell, Kansas. All in their several localities and lines of endeavor are contributing to the progress, wealth and power of our country and adorning its elevated citizenship. The voice of History is unbroken in attestation that the most progressive, influential and powerful nations are those that are liberal in naturalization. The greatness and the rapid advance of the

United States are due in large measure to their immigrant population, which has been warmly welcomed hither from all parts of the eivilized world from the beginning of our history.

John Davis

Enterprising, suecessful and progressive as a farmer, broadminded, patriotic and upright as a citizen, clean, capable and far-seeing as a publie official, and an ornament to the social and religious life of the community in which he lives, John Davis, of Valley township, Maeon county, is one of the representative men in this part of Missouri and embodies in himself and his career much of what is best in its citizenship and history. ,

Mr. Davis is a native of that great commonwealth which is giving Virginia a elose run for the retention of her oldtime title of ** Mother of Presidents," and has a very potential influence in the publie life of our country. He was born in Ohio in 1863, and is a son of Thomas and Jane (Griffith) Davis, natives of Wales, who eame to this eountry soon after reaching their maturity. The father was born in 1825 and became a resident of the United States in 1850. On his arrival in this country he located in Ohio, where he worked in a grist mill and the coal and iron mines for fifteen years. In that state, also, he met with and was married to Miss Jane Griffith, who was born and reared in the same country as himself, and who was moved by the same impulse that brought him to this eountry - the hope of finding better opportunities for advancement than her own land afforded her. In 1865 they brought their family to Missouri and took up their residence in Russell township, this county. Here the father homesteaded eighty acres of government land and bought eighty in addition. The Civil war had stopped the progress and development of the state and paralyzed all its industries. It had also laid waste and devastated the fair domain. and left the sears of its searing passage on many a fruitful field and in many a village, town and eity. The Davis family arrived at a time when there was great need of recuperating forces, and great progress and development, with their attendant benefits of material wealth and personal comfort, awaited enterprise, industry and thrift. The father of the family settled down on his farm of unbroken land and began the work of developing and improving it. He farmed it vigorously in the summers and worked in the mines during the winters, leaving the care of the land to his sons while he was absent, but superintending their work and taking care that it was well and wisely done.

for a number of years, and his farming and stock raising operations until 1901, when he retired from all aetive pursuits, and since then he has made his home with his children. Success followed all his efforts, and when he sold his property in the year last named he owned 213 acres of fine land, a eonsiderable amount in live stock and farm equipment and possessions of value in other kinds of acquisitions. He and his wife became the parents of eight children, all of whom are living: Elizabeth, the wife of Rev. H. R. Williams, now living in Oklahoma City; David W., a resident also of the young but enterprising state of Oklahoma, with his home at Edmond; Margaret, the wife of JJ. B. Mendanhall, of Brookfield, Missouri; James T.; John, of this county; 'Thomas, of New Cambria; Mary, the wife of Edward Chambers, of Whitewater, Colorado; and Stephen L., whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri. In polities the father is a Hepubliean and in religion a Presbyterian. He is active in the service of both his party and his church, and is highly esteemed as a valuable adjunct in the work of each, as he is as a man by the citizens generally in all the relations of life.

John Davis had no advant in the way of education except such as were afforded by the distriet schools of Russell township in his boyhood and youth. He was brought to this county by his parents when he was but two years old, and all of his subsequent years have been passed within its borders and in the promotion of its advancement. He learned usefulness and the value and dignity of labor on his father's farm, and by his continual communion with nature in her various manifestations received as many lessons in the way of self-development and self-reliance as he did in other things at the primitive publie school of the neighborhood. He remained at home and assisted the family until 1891, when he bought 160 acres of land upon which he at once went to work to make a home and develop a career for himself. He broke up and improved his land, adding to its extent as he prospered until he now has 433 acres, the greater part of which is cultivated, and also gave seope to his ardent love of animal life by raising stock on a large scale. Stock raising has, in fact, been his chief industry, and he has been very successful in the pursuit of it.

Mr. Davis has also given considerable attention to local publie affairs, serving for a number of years as school director and aiding in the promotion of every enterprise he deemed of value to the township orits people. He is a Republiean in polities and he and his wife are zealous members of the Congregational ehureh, in the work of which they take a leading and very serviceable part. Her maiden name was

Mary J. Morris, and she is a daughter of John and Jane (Evans) Morris, natives of Wales but residents of Macon county for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were married on February 18, 1891. The two children born to them are both living and still at home. "They are a daughter named Essie Jane and a son named Leslie Morris The parents have hosts of friends in the county and the respect of all who know them.

Thomas A. Rowland

Mr. Rowland was ineumbent of the office of mayor of his native town of Bevier, Macon county, and is one of its best known and most highly esteemed citizens, as is evident from the fact that he has been called upon to serve as chief executive of its municipal government.

Mr. Rowland was born in Bevier on the 3rd of October, 1868, and is a son of Ephraim and Margaret (Dee) Rowland, the former a native of Wales and the latter of England, in which latter country their marriage was solemnized in the year 1850. Ephraim Rowland was born in the year 1824 and was reared and edueated in his native land. In 1855 he immigrated to America and thereafter was located in Utah until 1867, when he came to Missouri and turned his attention to mining, with which line of industry he was identified for many years, during the major portion of which he maintained his home in Bevier, where he was held in high regard as a man of honesty and integrity. He died in 1905 and his wife passed away in December, 1907, both having been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They became the parents of seven children, of whom five are living. namely, Edward, who is a resident of Spokane, Washington; John, who resides in Ogden, Utah; Mary, who is a resident of Bevier; Thomas A., who is the immediate subjeet of this review; and James, who is a resident of Salt Lake City. The father eventually became a successful real estate dealer, having handled large traets of farm lands as well as city and village property. He was a Republican in polities, but never sought or held publie office.

Thomas A. Rowland, whose name initiates this article, was reared to maturity in Bevier, to whose publie sehools he is indebted for his early educational training. After leaving school he found employment in the local office of the Burlington railroad, and there learned the art of telegraphy, in which connection he was eventually made operator at the Bevier station. In 1888 he engaged in the train service of the same railroad and was employed in this capacity for three years. Since that time he has been identified with various lines of business enterprise,

In polities Mr. Rowland has ever given an unfaltering allegiance to the Republican party, in whose eause he has rendered effective service in a localized way. In 1900 he was chosen seeretary of the Bevier board of education, which position he filled for three years. In 1901 he was elected mayor of his home city, giving an able and popular administration and retaining the office for a term of two years, at the expiration of which, in 1903, he was eleeted justice of the peace, in which position he is still serving. In 1904 he was elected a member of the board of aldermen, serving one and one-half years, and in 1907 his fellow-eitizens further showed their confidence and appreciation of his eligibility by again calling him to the office of mayor, in which eapacity he served until April, 1909. He holds a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of his home city, and as mayor he put forth every effort to conserve its progress and prosperity, the while insisting upon judicious economy in the municipal government and the protection of the interests of the people in every way. His popularity has ample foundation and he has the good wil! and high esteem of the community in which he has maintained his home during practically his entire life thus far.

Although himself a native of this country and of the state of Missouri and, therefore, reared altogether under the influence of American institutions, and with their spirit and tendencies constantly before his mind, John J. Williams, of Valley township, this county, is but one generation removed from the mother eountry, and must have had his childhood and youth filled with the sugzestions born of its history, its traditions, its eustoms and the genius and trend of its publie affairs. His parents, William W. and Winifred (Edwards) Williams, were born in Wales, and, although they eame to the United States while they were yet children, they never wholly forgot their native land or lost their reverence for it, notwithstanding they were at all times loyal and true to the land of their adoption.

The father was born in Wales on September 30, 1827, at a town ealled Tyngwndwn Blanperal, and was brought to America by his pareuts in 1840. The family located in Jackson county, Ohio, on a farm in the neighborhood of Oak Hill, where William grew to manhood and was educated in the country schools. He worked on his father's farm as boy and man until 1867, when he moved to Missouri and found a new home in Valley township, Macon county, where he has passed the subsequent years of his life, accumulating a competence and gaining the esteem and confidence of the whole people.

On his arrival in this county Mr. Williams bought eighty acres of land and at once began an energetic industry in farming and raising live-stock, which he continued to prosecute vigorously and successfully until 1893. He was then sixty-six years of age and had become the owner of about 1,000 acres of good land, the greater part of which was under systematic and skilful cultivation. He felt the weight of advaneing years and deemed it his right to retire from active pursuits and live in ease and freedom from arduous toil for the remainder of his days. He stil! owns his vast landed estate and devotes to it the attention of an overseer, but leaves to others the labor of cultivating it and keeping it in order.

Mr. Williams, the father of John J., was married in 1851 to Miss Winifred Edwards, like himself, a native of Wales. They had twelve children, of whom six are living: Jane, the wife of Morgan Thomas, of Valley township; David E., whose home is in the same locality; Benjamin E., who lives at Ethel, in this county; Margaret, the widow of the late J. H. Jones, of Macon county; John J., the interesting subject of this sketch, and Annie, the wife of G. L. Owen, of Skidmore, Missouri, The father has been a Republican in national polities from the birth of the party, and has been zealous in the service of the organization. His wife died July 20, 1892. His church affiliation is with the Presbyterians.