Macon County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1910 (part 17 of 20)

Mr. Kale is a Republican in polities and aetive in the service of his party. He is an enthusiastie member of the fast fading Grand Army of the Republie, and by his connection with it keeps alive the memories of his military service, keeping in evergreen recollection its racy enjoyments, thrilling adventures and its privations, now softened by time, and burying in oblivion the strong passions and bitter seetional feeling incident to the sanguinary and desolating conflict. His religious conneetion and that of his wife is with the Missionary Baptist church, but at heart they are both Hardshell Baptists. Both take a cordial interest and a leading part in church work. Approaching now the sunset of life, this good and useful couple are comforted and gratified with the knowledge that the people among whom they have so long lived and labored respect them highly and appreciate the services they have rendered to the community. For on all sides they are regarded as among the most worthy and estimable eitizens of the county. Mr. Kale's special delight in his stock industry is in fine horses and sheep, and he has done a great deal toward improving the standard of these animals all over the eounty.

Arthur C. Skinner

This esteemed farmer and merchant of Narrows township, Macon county, represents the third generation of his family born and reared in Missouri. His grandfather, John Skinner, and his father, Rev. William R. Skinner, were born in Randolph county, and he is himself a native of Bevier in Macon county, where his life began on September 94, 1875. His father who is now the pastor of Missionary church just north of Bevier, was born in 1846, and during his boyhood and youth worked on his father's farm in Randolph county. He obtained a com- mon school education and supplemented it with extensive reading, especially in theology, for he determined early in his manhood to enter the Christian ministry. This he did in 1867 in Macon county, which has ever since been the principal field of his labors, although he is often ealled to preach and render other ministerial services in other communities than the one in which he lives. His present home is in Macon City, and as has been stated, he is the revered pastor of the Baptist church north of the city of Bevier.

Rev. Mr. Skinner was married in 1867 to Miss Sarah Sneed, a native of this county. "They have had ten children, nine of whom are living: Arthur C., the subjeet of this writing; Albert, who lives in Bevier; L. Nora, the wife of James L. Vansiekle of Macon City; Eli, whose home is in Huntsville, Randolph county; Theodosia, the wife of H. P. Goodale, a resident of Texas; Omer, who lives at Bevier; and Lizzie, Clara and Ruby, all of whom have their home in Macon City. The father is still hale and hearty, and as energetie in his work as when he first entered upon it. His services to the church are highly appreeiated and he oceupies an elevated position in the regard of the leaders and governing bodies of the sect and section for which he officiates.

Arthur C. Skinner obtained his early education in the district schools of Bevier and other places in Macon county, and after leaving school assisted his father on the home farm until 1884, when he rented land and engaged in farming on his own account, also raising stock in goodly numbers and making regular shipments to the markets, where his output held a high rank because of the skill with which it had been fed and cared for as shown by its excellent condition when shipped and delivered. He continued his operations along these lines until 1900, when he determined to seek a change of occupation. In obedience to this determination he went to Macon City and entered the employment of the Adam Rogers Company, extensive manufacturers of brick for building purposes. He worked for this company two years as an ordinary hand and during the next three as foreman of the plant.

By the end of the period specified Mr. Skinner had had his expertence in the industrial and business world, and it left him with a longing. for the oceupation he had abandoned, with its free and independent life. In 1905, therefore, he concluded to return to it, and to this end bought forty aeres of good land in Narrows township, this county, which tract is a part of his present farm. He has resided on the farm ever since and given his time and best energies to developing and improving it, eultivating the original forty aeres and the additional forty which he has since acquired with skill and judgment, according to the most aproved modern methods, and has had the gratification of seeing his labors well rew. rapidly inereasing in value. He has been very successful as a farmer, gathering a competeney for himself and contributing to the progress and improvement of the township by his own aetivities and by these he had awakened and stimulated by his example. As the time passed Mr. Skinner found that his farming and stock raising operations were not sufficient to fully occupy his mind and ` faculties, close as was the attention he gave them. He had room and ability for other engagements, and on April 13, 1909, he bought the store and business of James Vansickle, whieh is known as the Narrows Creek store, and since then he has been engaged in general merchandising in eonneetion with his farming and other industries. The store is well known throughout a large extent of the surrounding country and has an extensive trade. i long time it was the only store and contained the only postoflice within a eireuit of many miles, and was, therefore, not only a eenter of distribution but a social, business and political focus for this whole section of the county. The increase in population and the multiplication of business houses in its vieinity have not robbed it of its supremacy, and it is still one of the leading resorts of the people in all the surrounding territory. On February 24, 1884, Mr. Skinner was united in marriage with Miss Mollie R. Waller, a daughter of Richard Waller, one of the substantial and influential citizens of Macon county. The five children born of this union are all living and all still members of the family household. They are Elmer, William, Gladys, Georgia and Theodore. Mr. Skinner is a Republican in polities, à Modern Woodmen of America in fraternal relations, and a member of the Missionary Baptist church in religious affiliation. He and his wife, who also belongs to this church; are aetive ehureh workers, with loyal devotion to the congregation and zeal for its welfare.

Descended from old Virginia families whose history has long been coincident with that of the Old Dominion, in which they have lived from colonial times, Dr. Alonzo Thompson of Round Grove township, this eounty, exhibits in his own character and career the salient eharaeteristies of his ancestry and fully exemplifies them and the traditions of the family and the state in which it grew to prominence before his birth.

October 3, 1783, and the father in 1818) and reared in Louisa county, Virginia. There the Doctor's father, passed his early years, remaining until he reached maturity. In 1837, at the dawn of his manhood, he determined to seek a home in the west, even though it involved a surrender of most of the comfort and all of the luxuries of life and a discipline of danger and endurance. He came to Missouri that year and located in Randolph county, where he remained four years, At the end of that period he moved to this county, taking up his residence on government land in Narrows Creek township, which he secured as a homestead, and on which he passed the remainder of his life actively engaged in farming and raising stock. He died in 1868 leaving a well improved and highly productive farm of 160 acres, which he had wrested from the wilderness and transformed into a valuable and attractive home.

The Doctor's father was married in 1840 to Miss Mary E. Butler of this county, and by this marriage became the father of ten children, Six of these have passed away, leaving as the survivors of the family Susan, who is the wife of S. M. Dorety of Duncan, Oklahoma; John H., who lives at Greencastle, Indiana; William M., who is also a resident of Duncan, Oklahoma; and James P., who has his home in Kansas City, Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1863, and in 1865 the father married a second wife, Miss Mary E. Moore, a native of Loudoun county, Virginia. The Doctor is their only child. The father was an ardent Demoerat in polities and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church South, of which he was a devout and active working member for many years. The second wife died April 25, 1909 in Oregon.

Dr. Thompson began his scholastie training in the eountry schools of this county, continued it in the graded publie schools of Macon City and completed it at the old St. James Military Aeademy there. In 1890 he entered the medical department of the State University at Columbia, where he completed the first year's course of instruction. In 1891 he matrieulated at the Baltimore Medical College, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. on March 23, 1892. His next move was to take a post graduate course in the New York Polyelinie institution, at which he passed four and a half months. Suffering when he left that institution from failing health, he made a tour of the South with a view to the restoration of his vigor, and on his return to Macon county in the spring of 1894, he turned his attention to farming for the same purpose. After farming for a year he began the practice of his profession in Macon City in 1895. He continued to practice there until 1901, then retired to his farm in Round Grove township, and on this he has lived and labored ever since, giving up his practice altogether, and devoting his entire time and energy to the operations of the farm, whieh eomprises 518 aeres and is all under eultivation.

In the local affairs of the township and county the Doctor has always taken an active and serviceable interest, whether they were professional, politieal, mereantile or social. He served two years as eounty physician, and has long been an active and zealous member of the Macon County Medical Society, of which he was seeretary in 1896 and 1897. The genius of improvement in this section of the state has felt the influence of his quickening spirit and known the benefit of his material assistance. and all moral, mental and material agencies for advancement have commanded his aid in counsel and in activ ice. He was married on October 4, 1904, to Miss Margaret Sti! daughter of Elbert and Margaret (Fullmer) Stiles, prominent residents of Shelby county in this state. Two children have blessed the union and brightened the home of their parents, their sons, Howard Alonzo and Harry Lysander. 'lhe Doctor is an active Demoerat politically, earnestly devoted to the welfare of his party and one of its most effective workers in all eampaigns. His wife is a member of the Southern Methodist church, in the work of which she takes great interest and an active part. Both are highly esteemed throughout the county, numbering their friends by the host and firmly established in the go opinion of all the people. *

One of the oldest residents of Macon county and one of the early arrivals in this section from the country farther east, George W. Graves has witnessed the growth of the section from a primeval wilderness to its present state of progress and high development, and has contributed his full share of the labor required to bring about the gratifying change. He also bore his full share of the burden of pioneer life and risked all the hazards of the frontier, becoming familiar with them in his boyhood, when they were numerous and at all times imminent, and seeing them gradually removed through the onward march of civilization and its conquest of the wilderness.

Mr. Graves was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, on October 12, 1829, and came to this county with his mother in 1838, when he was but nine years old. He is a grandson of Robert Graves, a prominent citizen of the eounty of his nativity, and the son of Jessie and Celia (Graves) Graves, and the only survivor of their eight children. His parents were born, reared and married in Kentucky, Pulaski county, and there the father passed the whole of his life as an industrious and well-to-do farmer. After his death the mother brought the two sons she had to Missouri and loeated in Macon county. Here the sons grew to manhood and obtained their education in the distriet sehools, or rather in the subscription schools of the neighborhood, as they were in those early days. While attending school and after leaving the shrine of Cadmus George W. worked on farms and assisted his mother, remaining with her until 1850. In that year he took up eighty acres of government land, on which he has been aetively and extensively engaged in farming and raising live stock ever since.

Mr. Graves has given his farm his closest attention from the start and prospered in working it. He has inereased it to 120 aeres, all of which he eultivates with industry and skill, getting large returns for his intelligent labor and raising the value of his property by steady increases from year to year. He is a student of his business and applies with judgment and profit what he learns by reading and observation, keeping himself abreast of the most advanced thought in agricultural pursuits, and disseminating his aequisitions on the subjeet among his friends and neighbors by his example and the results of his experiments.

On January 12, 1850, Mr. Graves was married to Miss Louisa Moss, a native of Macon county and daughter of Carl and Mary Moss, prosperous and esteemed farmers of that county. By this union they beeame the parents of four children, all of whom are living and residents of Macon county. They are: Francis Marion; Martha Ann, the wife of John Bohannon; John A.; and Mary P., the wife of John Whiles. In polities the father has been a life-long Demoerat, always loyal to his party and zealous in its service, firmly attached to its prineiples and feeling it to be his duty to do all he could to have them prevail in the government of the country. He is now fourscore years of age and over, and has passed nearly three-quarters of a century in Macon county. He is a venerable link connecting the dawn of the county's history with its present noonday splendor of development and power, and is revered by the people accordingly, as he is, also, for his sterling worth, his usefulness in the past in promoting the welfare of the township and county, and his upright and elevated citizenship. Macon county has no better man among her people and none who is held in more general good will and esteem. His life is an inspiration

Although comparatively a young man yet, Joseph F. Sears, cashier of the Bank of Ethel, in this county, has already established himself firmly in the confidence and regard of the people of the county as an excellent business man and a first-rate citizen, ardently devoted to the interests of the town and eounty in which he lives and willing to do all in his power to promote them and the enduring welfare of the people. He is a native of Macon county, born near the village of Walnut on September 15, 1881, and a son of James M. and Martha E. (Rice) (Smiley) Sears, the mother having been at the time of her marriage to Mr. Sears the widow of a Mr. Smiley, who was killed in one of the terrible battles of the Civil war. By her first marriage she became the mother of one daughter and one son, and by the second of a daughter named Myrtle, who is now the wife of C. S. Swarthout, of La Plata, and Joseph F., the immediate subjeet of this brief review. The father was for many years one of the leading farmers of Walnut township, in this county. He is now living retired from active pursuits, he and his wife making their home at La Plata. He is a Demoerat in politieal faith and served for a number of years as constable in La Plata township.

Joseph F. Sears has lived a rather quiet life, passing all of his mature years in the serviee of the Bank of Ethel, first as bookkeeper and clerk and later as cashier. He was prepared for the performance of duty in life by training in the publie schools of La Plata and a eourse of special instruetion at the Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illinois. Soon after completing his education he was appointed bookkeeper and elerk in the Bank of Ethel, or, rather, assistant eashier. In 1906 he bought some stoek in the bank and was ehosen a member of its board of directors, and in 1908 was made cashier, Since his accession to this position the bank has made rapid progress, enjoying a steady inerease in its business, the number of its patrons and the general confidence and good will of the community in which it operates and to the welfare of which it contributes essentially.

Mr. Sears is earnestly devoted to the interests of the bank and gives its affairs his whole attention except what is required by his family and the needs of the township and county. All his investments are in its stock, of which he now owns a considerable volume, acquired by small but steady and continued purchases, his holdings making him one of the principal owners of this valuable and profitable property. He is a Demoerat politieally, but, although he is deeply interested in the suecess of his party, he has never been a very active partisan and has always refused to accept a political office of any kind. In fraternal relations he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, and his religious connection is with the Christian church. He is one of the elders of the congregation to which he belongs and has long been one of the most active workers in its worthy and commendable undertakings.

On July 16, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Ethel B. Baity, a native of La Plata and daughter of George W. and Margaret (Saunders) Baity, also natives of Macon county. Mrs. Sears was a teacher in the publie schools of La Plata for a number of years and is a very aecomplished lady. She and her husband have one child, their son Joseph F., Jr., who is the light and life of their beautiful home, which is a center of social eulture and refined and gracious hospitality, and a favorite resort for the most intelleetual and eultivated people of the community. Mr. Sears began life with practically nothing and has been very successful. He and his wife are everywhere held in the highest esteem and are very popular.

M John Tooley

Tn the case of John Tooley, one of the prominent, enterprising and successful farmers of Middlefork township, Macon county, desire and duty, the positive and negative poles of our being, have worked harmon= iously and enabled him to pursue, in the main, the vocation he wished and win the results he sought. He has tried his hand at various occupations, but never had to be driven to any, and found enjoyment and profit in all. The experience has given him breadth of view and self knowledge, and each pursuit has helped to make him more capable for the next.

Mr. Tooley is a native of this county and was born on July 7, 1860. He is a son of Stephen and Louisa E. (Walker) Tooley, the former born in Shelby county, Kentucky, and the latter in Macon county, Missouri. The father's life began in 1829, and he came to Missouri in the fifties, locating in Macon county. Here he was busily occupied in general farming until 1868, when he moved to Clarence in Shelby county and became a dealer in tobacco, buying and selling extensively, making large shipments to the eastern markets and supplying a considerable local trade. He built the first tobaceo barn in Clarence and continued his operations in handling the staple artiele of merchandise of almost universal use which claimed his attention until 1872. He then saw better opportunities for profit and advancement in handling live stock, and he turned his attention to this commodity, in which he dealt actively until 1893. He then moved to this county, and, retiring from business, has made his home with his son John ever since. For a quarter of a century he was interested in general merchandising at Clarence, being for a time a member of the firm of Chinn, Tooley and Company and afterward of that of Tooley and Bishop.

Mr. Tooley's parents were married in 1856. His mother's maiden name was Louisa E. Walker, and she was a daughter of Isham M. Walker, one of the revered pioneers of Macon county, a brief account of whose useful life will be found elsewhere in this work. Of the seven ehildren born of the union only two are living, John and his sister Nannie, who is the wife of Thomas Boulware of Louisville, Kentueky. Tn polities the father has always been an energetie and loyal Demoerat, interested in the triumph of his party and on all occasions doing what he could to make it vietorions. His business career is greatly to his eredit and gave him high rank in mercantile circles, and his elevated citizenship touching all the relations of life has won him the respect and regard of all elasses of the people.

John Tooley's edueation was limited to what he could get in the eurrieulum of the distriet sehools in Shelby and Macon counties, except what he learned in the stern but thorough school of experience. When he finished his scholastie studies he went to California, where he remained until 1885, doing whatever he found to do, and doing everything as well as he could. He mined some, helped to build bridges, and found profitable employment in other lines of endeavor, being always willing to perform any labor that was at hand and making the most he could of it. In 1885 he returned to Macon county and bought eighty acres of land, the nucleus of his present farm of 330 acres, and here he has been vigorously, diligently and successfully engaged in farming and raising live-stock ever since. He is enterprising and prosperous, and occupies a position of prominence and influence in the civil and social life of the township and county. He has given elose and intelligent attention to the needs of the section of the state in whieh he lives, and his service in promoting its advancement are highly appreciated by all its people.

Mr. Tooley was married on November 27, 1888, to Miss Catherine Graves, a native of Macon county and a daughter of William R. and Permelia (Reynolds) Graves, an account of whose lives appear on another page of this volume. "The union has resulted in five children all of whom are living and still at home with their parents. They are Lulu, Riley, Marie, Eva and Isham. The father takes an active part in local polities as a Democrat firm in the faith and of unwavering loyalty to his party. In its behalf he exerts himself with energy and effectiveness, and is known throughout the county as one of the men of influence in his township whose counsel is warmly welcomed and whose services are highly esteemed in the county organization and all the undertakings of the party. He and his wife are zealous and devoted members of the Christian church and earnest and energetie workers in its behalf.

Lysander Lee Graves

Born, reared, educated and married in Middlefork township, Maeon county, in which he has expended all the energies of his life from his birth to the present time, Lysander Lee Graves is wholly a product of that township and a worthy representative of its people. He is one of the intelligent and energetic farmers of the county, and exhibits their salient characteristies of industry and thrift in his business as he shows their publie spirit, progressiveness and breadth of view in his citizenship.

Mr. Graves was born in Middlefork township, this county, on March 9, 1866, and is a son of William R. and Permelia (Reynolds) Graves. He is a brother of Robert M. Graves of the same township, in a sketeh of. whom, elsewhere in this work, a brief history of the parents will be found. Lysander L. Graves has shown himself to be worthy of his ancestry and a fine exemplar of the sterling traits of character and manhood for which they were distinguished.

Like others of his day and locality, Mr. Graves obtained his education in the eountry sehools near his father's home and worked on the parental farm while getting it. He remained at home until 1890, assisting his father in the work of the homestead and laying up what he could save of his earnings as a part of his equipment for the battle of life when the time should come for him to take it up for himself. This he did in 1890, when he bought eighty aeres of land and began farming on his own account. He has conducted his operations with great enter- ° prise and skill, farming intelligently and progressively, and managing his business with shrewdness and careful attention to its every detail, and he has been very successful. He now owns 480 acres and has most of it under cultivation and yielding abundant returns for the labor and care he bestows upon it.

Mayers, a native of this county and a daughter of A. T. H. and Minerva (Rowland) Mayers, who are well known and highly esteemed throughout the county. Six ehildren have been born of the union, but only four are living. They are two sons, William A., and two daughters, Gertrude Beulah and Homer Lee, all of whom are still abiding with their parents. The head of the house is a zealous, loyal and active Democrat in polities, at all times eager for the success of his party and doing all he can to bring victory to its banners. He has also been active and serviceable to the community in ways not directly political, having served with credit to himself and benefit to the township as school director, and taken a cordial and effeetive interest in every commendable enterprise for the advancement and improvement of the eountry all around him and the promotion of all its productive activities. He is prominent in the public, business and social life of the township, and richly deserves all the encomiums that have been passed upon him as a farmer and a eitizen, and they are many, for he is universally esteemed.

William Green Graves

Among the enterprising and successful farmers and business men of Middlefork township, Macon county, William Green Graves holds a high rank. In everything he has undertaken he has shown ability, intelligence and progressiveness of a high order, and has so far made every day of his activity count to his advantage and advancement. In his farming operations he has been and is eminently successful, and for the short period of his experience as a merchant he is able to show good returns both as a man of business and in the favorable impression he made on the business world around him and the scene of his enterprise.

Mr. Graves was born in the township in which he now lives on April 3, 1864. He is a son of William R. and Permelia (Reynolds) Graves, a brief account of whose lives will be found in a sketch of his brother, Robert M. Graves, elsewhere in this work. William G. Graves obtained his education in the district schools of Macon county, working on his father's farm while attending them, and preparing himself by both study and experience in practical industry for the battle of life that was before him. He remained at home with his parents until 1892, when he and his brother, Hiram N. Graves, a sketch of whom appears on another page, formed a partnership and bought a general store at Woodville, in which was then located the postoffice at that place, and during the next five years they conducted a flourishing and profitable business under the firm name of Graves Brothers. "They handled general merchandise and had a considerable trade, meeting the requirements of the locality in the extent and variety of their stock and making a friend of every patron by the upright and square manner in which they dealt with all comers.

In December, 1897, after Mr. Graves had sold his interest in the store at Woodville to his brother and lived for some months on the Hogan farm, which he rented for one year, he and his brother-in-law, John W. Tooley, bought out the other heirs of the William R. Graves estate, and on 400 aeres of the land belonging to it prior to their purchase Mr. Graves settled down to farming as a permanent occupation, determined to give his whole attention to the management, development and improvement of his property and the operations properly growing out of it. Since that time he has been continuously and extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits and raising live-stock for the markets on a large seale. He has been very enterprising and far-seeing, has applied intelligenee and energy to his work, and has had his eyes open and his faculties ready to take advantage of any opportunity he might find to improve his condition and accelerate his progress. Studious of his business and looking to all its details with sleepless vigilance, he has made it prosperous in a high degree, and risen to the first rank among the farmers of Macon county.

Mr. Graves has also taken an active and intelligent interest in local public affairs and lent himself willingly, zealously and effectively to all undertakings for the improvement of the township and county and promoting the lasting welfare of their people. He served wisely and efficiently as school director, and in many other ways has given the people the benefit of his intelligence, progressiveness and breadth of view. In politics he is an active working Democrat, with good judgment as an adviser and indomitable energy as a worker in behalf of his party, and his services to it are highly appreciated by both its leaders and its rank and file.

On March 5, 1895, Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Miss Eva Haley, a daughter of James and Sarah (Wedding) Haley, prominent residents of Randolph county in this state. The four children born of this union are all living and all still at home with their parents. They are Hettie, Opal, William G., Jr., and J. T., and are now seeking to aequire good edueations and prepare themselves to take their parents* places in the general esteem and good will of the people and carry the family name to farther conquests in business life and keep up the excellent reputation it has socially and in every other way. The family home is one of the pleasant and popular resorts for elevated social enjoyment in the township, and is a center of refined and gracious hospitality. Wherever they are known Mr. and Mrs. Graves are held in the highest esteem.

A Hiram M. Reynolds

This prominent and prosperous farmer and leading citizen of Middlefork township, in this county, is a brother of Ebenezer E. Reynolds, a sketeh of whom will be found on another page of this work, which contains the family history at some length. Mr. Reynolds born in Randolph county, Missouri, on December 20, 1836, and is a son of George and Sarah (Skidmore) Reynolds, the former a native of Georgia and the latter of Kentueky. "They eame to Missouri in the very early days, being pioneers in the state, and passed the remainder of their days here.

Hiram M. Reynolds obtained his education in the distriet schools of Shelby county, where he passed his boyhood and youth. He located in Macon county early in the seventies and has been profitably engaged in farming and raising stock here ever since, with the exception of ten years, which he passed at Carthage, Jasper county, occupied in railroading. Farm life had, however, a potent and commanding voice for him, and at the end of the period mentioned he returned to Macon county and bought forty acres of land, on whieh he is still living and expending his powers to his own advantage and the great improvement of the place. He was also engaged in farming in Shelby county at the dawn of his manhood, and made his industry there tell in every way to his benefit. He farms with skill and judgment, applying to his work the information he gleans from a careful reading and study of what is written on the subject, as well as the lessons of experience, and is regarded as one of the most progressive agriculturists in the township.

Mr. Reynolds was married in 1863 to Miss Nancy J. Crane, a native of Kentucky, and by the marriage became the father of four children, all of whom are living. They are: John; Mattie, wife of C. E. Long; George W.; and James P., all residents of this county. The mother of these children died in 1876, and in September, 1880, the father married a second wife, being united on this oceasion with Miss Catherine M. Hodges, who was born and reared in Macon county. The five children born of this marriage are all living and are: Ida, the wife of John E. Fredeick, of California; Albert E., who lives in this county; Frank, who is in business in Hannibal; and Hiram N. and Charles E., both of whom are living at home with their parents.

In polities the father has been a life-long Demoerat, warmly interested at all times in the success of his party and doing all he can to bring that about. In religion he leans toward the Christian church, of whieh his wife is a zealous and energetie working member. She and her husband are well esteemed, both on account of their personal merit and their publie spirit and zeal in promoting the welfare of the community in which they live and the comfort and convenience of its people. They are leaders in thought and action in all good works, and are held in high appreciation for the enterprise they show in both.

born in the locality of his present residence on April 1, 1849. He has witnessed all of its subsequent splendor of development, progress and achievement, and in his own way and location has done his part towards all that has been aecomplished, giving his aid at all times to every worthy undertaking for the improvement of his township, which was the place of his nativity and has always been his home, and doing all in his power to advance the interests of its people.

Mr. Graves is of North Carolina ancestry on his father's side, his grandfather, Thomas Graves, having been born and reared in that state. His father, William R. Graves, the son of Thomas, was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, on December 12, 1822, and became a resident of Macon county in this state when he was a boy of sixteen, coming hither in 1838. He took up a traet of government land, but soon afterward sold his claim. He then bought a tract of 160 acres, and with that as a nucleus he built up a plantation of 1,000 acres. True, the country was new and unpeopled, and the advances of the white race were still stubbornly resisted by the Indians. The forests and plains were still the roving grounds of wild beasts, which were all too willing to levy on the fruits of systematie industry and even human life itself for their subsistence. Danger lurked in every shadow and every day was fraught with peril. The common necessaries of existence were hard to get and the luxuries were altogether unattainable. But Mr. Graves met all the conditions of his frontier life with lofty courage, cheerful endurance and a resolute determination to build and prosper where he had stuck his stake. Having started farming in the wilderness, he never faltered in his purpose, but kept on improving his land and enlarging his operations until, as has been shown, he became one of the most extensive landholders in the county. He raised considerable numbers of cattle and other live stock and fed a great many for the markets every year, and this industry was one of the principal faetors in building up his fortune.

As a pioneer settler and a man of capacity, breadth of view and progressiveness, he was called on to take an active part in the early government of the township and county, and had a large share in getting them started in municipal life and laying the foundations of their eivil institutions and their present prosperity and greatness. He rose to commanding influence in the county, and when he died on June 20 1898, was one of the most prominent citizens of northeastern Missouri. In 1845 he was married to Miss Permelia Reynolds, a native of Macon county, who died in 1869. They beeame the parents of thirteen children, three of whom have passed away. Those living are: Ursula Jane, the wife of J. J. Richardson; Robert M., the interesting theme of this arti cle; Mary D., the wife of R. H. Walker; Hiram N., who lives in Macon City; James F.; William G.; Sarah, the wife of William Riehardson; Isabelle, widow of James Rowe; Catherine, the wife of John Tooley; and Lysander Lee. They are all residents of this county, and in their several spheres are accounted as being among the most progressive, representative and useful citizens of the section of the state in which they live. In politics the father was a prominent and influential Demoerat, and in religion a leading and hard working member of the Christian ehurch.

Robert M. Graves is literally a child of the frontier and the product of its conditions. He obtained his education in the district schools in the neighborhood of his father's farm, which he attended irregularly during the winter months for a few years, all the while assisting in the labors of the farm, whieh in that day formed the first requirement for everybody. At the best his gleanings from this field of small production would have been slender, but he was not allowed to get all even it might have furnished. The Civil war broke out in the midst of his school days, and that great sectional eontest so disturbed the social, eivil and business institutions of this part of the state that almost everything was at a standstill during its continuance. The warfare waged in and around this seetion was of a predatory nature, and it required the utmost vigilance on the part of the farmers to save what they had from the foragers of both sides to the controversy. Mr. Graves remained at home, partially to help in taking care of the property and carrying on the work and partially because it was dangerous for anyone to be on the highways much of the time. He lived with his parents until 1873, when he married and moved into a home of his own

Since then he has been continuously and very actively engaged in farming and raising stock, and in all his operations he has been eminently successful. He began with a farm of 200 acres, which he bought on time, and he now owns 600 aeres, 500 of whieh are under eultivation and highly productive.

Mr. Graves has not only been successful in business and in developing and promoting his own welfare, but he has also taken an active and helpful interest in the prosperity and progress of the township and county, and done all he could to advance théir interests along lines of wholesome development. He has served the publie well and wisely as constable, justice of the peace and school director officially, and by his example and influence has inspired and kept at work the spirit of progress in others, stimulating them to exertion and directing their force to worthy and profitable results.

On January 9, 1873, Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Miss Flora A. Sage, a daughter of James and Sarah (Jett) Sage, natives of Kentucky and pioneers of Missouri, now living in Macon county, where they have long resided. Mr. and Mrs. Graves have had six children, three of whom have died. Those living are Philip M., a prosperous farmer in this county, and Grace and Emory, who are still living with their parents on the family homestead. The father is a very active, hard working Demoerat, influential in his party and regarded as one of its wisest and most judieious leaders. He and his wife and all the children are members of the Christian church and are among the most energetic and effective workers in the congregation to which they belong. 'The family stands well socially and is regarded as one of the most useful, representative and estimable in the county, dignifying and adorning life, both publie and private, official, social and religious, and bearing well its part in the performance of duty and in service to the community whatever may be the line of endeavor that requires attention and the force of action and example.

Born, reared, educated and trained in social life in the empire eity of this country, and during the last seventeen years practicing medicine in a rural community in the West, Dr. Francis H. Newton of Elmer in this county has given a striking proof of his adaptability to eireumstances and his readiness and eapacity to meet their demands, whatever they may be. His record is a gratifying tribute to the versatility of American manhood and an evidence of the commanding spirit of independence that dominates it.

Dr. Newton was born in New York city in 1858, a son of Lawrence and Mary A. (Ettriek) Newton, natives of England and the parents of nine children. All the children of the household grew to maturity, the Doctor being the youngest of the nine. The father died in 1875 and the mother in 1877. The Doctor therefore became an orphan before he reached his manhood, and was left almost wholly to his own resources for advancement in life, without parental assistance or even guidance at the beginning of his career. He obtained a good elementary education and something more in the way of scholastie training in the publie schools of his native city, also attended Earlham College at Richmond, Indiana, and as soon as he completed their courses of instruction began the study of medicine. He had already chosen his life work, with the promptness of decision that has distinguished him alway steady adherence to his first choice he has exemplified another characteristic of his nature. His technical training for his professional work was secured at the Northwestern University, St. Joseph, Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1 with the degree of M. D. from the medical department of that renowned and progressive institution.

In the whole history of a man, whatever of incident or adventure, of trial or triumph, it may involve, there ean searcely ever be any hour more intensely interesting or fraught with the greater weight of vital significance to him than the one in which he stands on the threshold of the big and busy world, and anxiously contemplates his own part in its work and selects the locality in which that shall be performed. Dr. Newton, no doubt, still recollects that hour in his experience with vividness, and recalls it even now with thrilling interest. But he did not dally on the verge of his responsibility. His face was set in line with the progress of the sun and the course of empire, and he promptly fell in with the moving tide and came to Missouri, a yet young but rapidly progressing portion of the eountry and laden with unworn opportunities for skill and ability industriously applied to any useful oceupation.

He loeated at Elmer and began his practice. There was need for a man of his caliber in the town at the time and his arrival was at what close reasoners might call **the psychological moment." His progress was gratifying from the start and has been continuous and more and more expansive ever since. He has devoted himself almost wholly to the demands of his business and is reaping the reward of his fidelity in an extensive and remunerative practice and a position of commanding influence in the regard and good will of the people to whose benefit he has so essentially ministered.

The publie affairs of the township and county have deeply interested him and their needs have closely engaged his attention. 'To see the seetion in which he lives prosper and progress, to have all its moral, edueational and social forces doing their best for the wholesome improvement of the people, and to witness its material resources pouring their stores into the world's great treasure house under the impulse of highly vitalized and wisely direeted power, has been one of his leading ambitions, and in the full measure of his capacity and opportunties he has aided in the effort to realize it. In his professional work he has been of signal and continued service to the community; and in the domain of progress and improvement he has never withheld his hand from any undertaking that he considered of value or likely to result in substantial good.

In the study of his profession and the use of the means for greater mastery of its possibilities he has been indefatigable. He has been an industrious reader of the best medieal journals and similar literature, and for many years has taken an active and helpful part in the proceedings of the County, State and American medical associations. In polities he is a pronounced and zealous Republican, earnestly interested in the welfare of his party and devoted in his service to it. Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Yeomen, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Royal Neighbors, and each of these estimable fraternities has his cordial support in all its worthy efforts for advancement toward greater usefulness. He was married in 1895 to Miss Martha Enyeart, a native of this county, and has two children, his daughter Nellie Franees and his son George Lyman, both of whom help to brighten and warm the family hearthstone and render the home of their parents additionally attractive to their hosts of admiring friends.

Y Ebenezer E. Reynolds

The oldest native born resident of Middlefork township, Macon county, Ebenezer E. Reynolds has a distinction all his own, and one that entitles him to and secures for him the respect and consideration of all its people. But he is not dependent on the accident of his birth for the esteem in which he is universally held. He has demonstrated in his long and useful life among this people that he possesses qualities of head and heart that would win him regard and good will anywhere and establish him in the favorable opinion of any community.

living in that state from early colonial times. His grandfather, James Reynolds, moved from that state into Georgia as a young man, and in Georgia Ebenezer's father, George Reynolds, was born. He became a resident of Missouri in 1819, two years before the admission of the territory into the Union as a state. Mr, Reynolds located first in what was then Howard county, where he remained a number of years. Then, after a short residence in Randolph county, he moved to Macon county in 1836 and founded his home at Woodville, where he was prosperously engaged in farming until his death in 1851. He was one of the pioneers of this portion of the state and his memory is embalmed in the hearts of the people as that of one of the founders of their present civil institutions and their substantial prosperity. He was married to Miss Sarah Skidmore, a native of Kentucky. They had fourteen children and two of them are still living: Hiram M., who is a resident of this county, and Ebenezer E.

In political taith and action the father was an ardent Democrat throughout his mature life, and to the end of his days he gave loyal and unstinted support to the principles and candidates of his party. He was also influential in the early government of the township, being one of the wisest and most far-seeing of the first settlers and well qualified to lead in local publie affairs. Many of the movements toward a local autonomy and settled form of government were started and all were heartily supported by him. He lived to see the fruits of his labors and his self-sacrificing devotion to the good of the neighborhood in a well developed and prosperous community, full of present life and energy and rich in promise for the future.

Ebenezer E. Reynolds obtained what scholastic training was available to the ehildren of the frontier in the primitive eountry schools of his boyhood in this locality. But Nature was his main teacher, and Tree communion with her gave him breadth of view, quiekness of perception, readiness in action and unyielding self-reliance. He remained with his parents until 1861, then at the first call for volunteers in defense of his politieal prineiples, whieh were deemed to be seriously threatened by the controversy between the North and the South, and the election of a president of the United States on sectional issues, he enlisted in the State Guards, a little later transferring his allegiance and his arms to the service of the Confederaey, and entering its armies in a company under the command of Captain Ben. Eli Guthrie. His military serviee eontinued to the end of the war. It was arduous, dangerous and trying, and he still bears the marks of its hardships upon him. He partieipated in many noted engagements, among them the battles at Lexington, Missouri; Pea Ridge, Arkansas; Corinth, Vicksburg and Iuka, Mississippi; Franklin, Tennessee; New Hope Church and Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and others, besides many skirmishes and minor engagements. He was wounded seven times, but none of the wounds were so serious as to incapacitate him for service permanently.

When the great civil strife between the sections of the country ended Mr. Reynolds was mustered out of the service at Jackson, Mississippi. He then returned to this county, where he purchased land and was actively engaged in farming and improving it and raising stock until 1894, when he retired, having won a competency and earned a rest for the remainder of hìs days by the intensity if not the length of his industry, and the trials of his years of action if not the amount of labor performed in them. He owns forty acres of land and has been a successful man, wining by worth and fidelity to duty the high place he occupies in the esteem of his fellow men.

In polities Mr. Reynolds is an unwavering Democrat, and with a loyalty to his party that never hesitates, he is always ready for the march when the advance is sounded to help with all the powers at his command to win victory for the cause to which he is pledged. His services to the party are highly appreciated by its leaders, and they are sincere and disinterested, for he has never sought or desired any of the honors or emoluments of public office. His religious connection is with the Missionary Baptist church, in which he has long been an active worker. He was married on May 30, 1867, to Miss Mary J. Shoush, of Macon county. All of the six children born to them are living. They are: Robert Lee, who lives in Hannibal; Gilla Ann, wife of Joseph Robey, of this county; Hesekiah, who is also a resident of Hannibal; George M., who lives in Joplin; Sarah Jane, wife of Perry Chinn, of this county; and Ebenezer, who is living in Hannibal. Their mother died on October 14, 1883, and on July 27, 1898, the father married Mrs. Mary C. Keen, of Macon county. They have had three children, one of whom is living, their son Dennis, who is still with his parents.

This prominent, public-spirited and progressive citizen and prosperous farmer of Middlefork township, Macon county, was born in the neighboring county of Shelby on December 25, 1845, and is a son of Kentucky parentage, his parents and all his grandparents having been born and lived in the Blue Grass state. His paternal grandfather, George Reynolds, was one of the early settlers in what is now Shelby county, and also lived for a number of years in Macon county.

Mr. Reynolds is a son of George Madison and Elizabeth (Raney) Reynolds, who emigrated from their native state to Missouri about the year 1838 and located in Shelby county. The father was born in 1821. He was therefore but seventeen years old when he became a resident of this state. His school days were over when he came hither, and they would have been if he had not ended them before. For the exacting conditions of the frontier, as this portion of Missouri was then, required that every available force be put to work in breaking up the land, making necessary improvements and finding a living for the household whose members were engaged in this arduous but promising task. Mr. Reynolds was large and old enough to do a man's portion of the toil, and he was often foreed by the exigeneies of the situatian to do more. He gave himself resolutely to the performance of the duties before him, and passed the remainder of his days farming in Shelby county, first oy his father's farm and later on his own, ending a busy and useful life in 1885 on the land he had helped to redeem from the wilderness and make over into a comfortable home.

Tn all his ventures Mr. Reynolds was successful, forging steadily ahead in a worldly way until he beeame the owner of 400 aeres of highly fertile land with good buildings and other improvements plentifully bestowed upon it, and winning his way in the regard and good will of the people around him until he was universally esteemed. He was married in 1843 to Miss Elizabeth Raney, a native of Pulaski county, Kentucky, as he was of Lincoln county in that state. Of the twelve children born to them seven are living: George, the immediate subject of this article; Sarah Frances, the wife of J. H. Hughes, of Wright eounty, Missouri; William, who lives in Randolph county; John D., whose home is in Macon county; Clemency, the wife of R. G. Heron, of Bevier, Macon county; Eben, a prosperous citizen of the new state of Oklahoma; and Elizabeth, the wife of James Heron, who is now living in Shelby county. The father was a life-long member of the Demoeratie party in political allegiance and a Baptist in ehureh relations.

George Reynolds, the third of the family to bear the name in direet and immediate descent, was edueated at the Liberty sehool in Shelby county and grew to manhood in that county. He remained there until 1876, when he attained his majority and took up the burden of life for himself. He had aequired a thorough knowledge of farming on his father's farm, and he chose the occupation of his forefathers for generations as his own. Coming to Macon county in 1876, he at onee turned his attention to farming and raising stock, and to those lines of industry he has steadfastly adhered during all his subsequent years in spite of all temptations to take up and follow others which promised more considerable immediate returns. He now owns and successfully and profitably farms 135 acres of land, his farm, which is all under cultivation, being considered one of the best and most desirable in the township of Middlefork.

Mr. Reynolds has given close, constant and careful attention to his agricultural and live stock interests, but he has not allowed them to absorb the whole of his time and energy. He has taken an active and leading part in local public affairs and performed his whole duty in the service of his township and its people. He served as a justice of the peace from 1882 to 1894, clerked in a general store at Woodville three years, and was diligently employed as road overseer for fifteen years. In all these positions he was faithful and zealous, and the people who have had the benefit of his services in them have naught but praise for the manner in which he has always discharged every duty, whether it was in business or official station, in publie or in private life.

On April 17, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Ollie Albright, a daughter of J. M. and Ann Albright, well known and highly respected citizens of Macon county. Of the seven children born of this union three have died. The four living are: James M. and John N., who live in Macon eounty; Edgar, whose home is in Oklahoma; and Porter, who is a prominent business man in Hannibal, Missouri. The father has always taken a very active part in polities as a Democrat, rendering his party good service and helping it to win many victories in the eounty and state. In religious affiliations he is connected by membership with the Holiness church, in which he is also a zealous and effeetive worker. His thirty-three years of residence and useful and produetive labor in Macon county have not been devoid of excellent results. He has aequired a competency for himself and aided materially in building up and improving the county. In private and in publie life he has been a stimulating example to the young, a companion and help. to the mature and a comfort to the aged, and all alike hold him in the highest esteem.

Descended of a sturdy Seoteh aneestry, and reprodueing on the soil of the New World the traits of character and habits of industry which have given the race to which he belongs success in the old and renown throughout the whole world, with triumphs in every field of human endeavor, James Porter Robuck, of Middlefork township, Macon county,

Mr. Robuck is a native of Missouri, born on February 11, 1852, in Randolph county. His grandfather came from Scotland to the United States when he was a young man and loeated in "Tennessee. There he grappled with the then wild conditions and wrested from reluetant Nature a substantial competence and achieved considerable prominence and influence among the early settlers. In Tennessee his son, Henry Kelso Robuck, the father of James P., was born on August 4, 1816, and there he lived and labored on the parental frontier acres until 1834. He was then but eighteen years old, but the manly independenee he inherited from his parents made him eager to begin the battle of life for himself and at a place remote from family influence, so that whatever he might accomplish would be wholly his own triumph, won by his own efforts and ability, without the aid of any other force.

In 1834, therefore, he eame to Missouri and entered eighty aeres of government land in Randolph county. To the cultivation and improvement of this land he devoted himself with faithful and telling industry, and in time had the reward of his diligence and eapacity in the ownership of 165 aeres of the best farm land in the township in whieh he lived. He continued to work his farm and enjoy its produets until 1892, when he sold all his property and moved to Macon county, making his home with his son until his death on December 31, 1898. He was married on December 7, 1837, to Miss Rhoda Jane Jenkins, of Randolph county, and they became the parents of eleven children, five of whom are living: Mary Ann, wife of Cyrus Halteman, of Randolph county; Albert, who lives in Shelby county; James P., the subject of this writing; John, who is a resident of Moberly, Missouri; and Lee, whose home is in Dallas, Texas. The father was an ardent Democrat in politics and a member, an elder and an active worker of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, giving the congregation to which he belonged excellent service for many years and standing high among its members, as he did in the community in general, and wherever else he was known.

James P. Robuek was educated in the district schools of Randolph county. He remained with his parents, helping to brighten their home and assisting them on the farm until 1874. He then moved to Macon county and became possessed of land, in the eultivation and improvement of whieh he has ever since been sedulously and profitably engaged. He now owns 145 acres of excellent land, which is all under cultivation and yielding rieh returns for the skill and labor he bestows upon it. In connection with his farming he carried the United States mails from

1895 to 1899 on one of the star routes that were the subject of violent politieal eontroversy during the administration of President Arthur. Like his father, James P. Robuck has won success by his own efforts and ability, and his triumphs are all his own.

Mr. Robuck was married on January 15, 1874, to Miss Martha Cox, a daughter of F. M. and Sarah E. Cox, early settlers in Macon county. Five children were born of this union and three of them are living: A. L., one of the rising citizens of Macon eounty, and Hattie and Harry, who are still under the shelter of the parental roof and add brightness and warmth to the family fireside.

In his political allegiance the father became a Democrat at the dawn of his manhood and he still adheres to the party of his first choice. To this party he has always rendered effective service and both his counsel and his activity are highly appreciated by its leaders. He served as one of the road commissioners of the county three years and is now constable for Middlefork township, serving his second term. He has also served four terms on the school board, and the present elevated standard of the schools shows the vigor and wisdom of his administration of the office. In fraternal relations he is connected with the order of American Patriots, and in religious affiliation he leans to the Presbyterian church, of which his wife is an active and zealous working member.

A native of Kentucky, a resident of Missouri, a sojourner in California, a farmer, a stock breeder, a manufacturer, a merchant and a publie official for years, Andrew S. Cox, of Middlefork township. Macon county, has seen life in many places and a great variety of attitudes. A striking exception to the rule that a rolling stone gathers no moss, he has acquired a considerable amount of worldly wealth and risen steadily through all his wanderings in travel and occupation to a position of commanding influence in his community and is firmly established in the regard and good will of its people.

Mr. Cox was born in Byron county, Kentucky, on October 11, 1836. He is a son of Louis A. and Caroline P. (Baird) Cox, natives, also, of Kentucky, but for many years residents of Missouri. The father was born in Byron county, Kentucky, on October 25, 1815, and located at Bloomington, Macon county, Missouri, in 1842. During the next two years he followed farming at that point, then moved to Hannibal, where he wrought diligently and profitably as a mason, remaining six years. In 1850, moved by the siren voice of the California gold fields, he journeyed across the trackless plains to that distant eldorado, making the trip with ox teams, and determined to remain until he acquired a fortune or exhausted his resources in the attempt. After an absence of sixteen years he returned to Macon county, and for four or five years devoted his energies to farming. At the end of the period mentioned he went to New Mexico to work on a railroad, and there he died on May 20, 1879.

The parents of the subject of these paragraphs were married in 1835 and had five children, three of whom are living, himself and his brothers, Spruce M., now living in Oklahoma, and James K., a resident of Washington. The father belonged to the Demoeratie party politically and throughout his mature life gave it his cordial and unwavering support.

Andrew S. Cox became a resident of Missouri when he was but six years old and grew to manhood amid the rugged scenes and experienees of pioneer life. He obtained his limited scholastie training in the primitive eountry sehools of the day and locality, and, after leaving school at an early age, took his place in the productive industries of Macon county by working on farms in the vicinity of his home as a hired hand, assisting in the duty of supporting the family in the absence of the father. In 1854 he and his brothers, in conneetion with their mother, purchased 160 aeres of school land to have a home of their own and make some headway in the struggle for advancement. This land they broke up and improved, and on it Andrew remained until 1866, diligently engaged in farming. By that time he had aequired some means, and determined to go to California in search of his father. He erossed the plains with teams, the only means of transportation then available, and after a stay of eighteen months on the Paeifie slope brought his father baek to Macon county and the home the mother and sons had won from the wilderness.

Turning the farm over to the management of the father, the son started an enterprise in making wagons and coffins, which he conducted for a period of five years, doing some farming in connection with his manufaeturing. But farming and raising live stock was the business for which he deemed himself best suited, and so, at the end of the period named above, he abandoned his wagon and coffin making and gave himself up almost wholly to the industries he preferred until 1908, when he retired from aetive pursuits. In the meantime, however, he founded the village of Cox and conducted a general store there for six years, also serving as postmaster, a position which he filled acceptably for twenty-one years.

In the public affairs of the township and county Mr. Cox has always manifested a lively and intelligent interest and taken an active part. He served as a justice of the peace four terms, as school director a number of years and in various other township offices. He has been very successful in all his ventures and made everything tell to his advantage, acquiring a competence for life, of which his fine farm of 116 aeres is the nucleus. But he has not been selfish in his advancement, but has freely contributed to the improvement of the township and county, seeking by every means at his command to keep their progress abreast of his own. He enjoys the regard and good will of the people in a marked degree, and stands forth prominently among them as one of their leading citizens, deeply interested in their welfare and zealous in promoting it.

On Mareh 9, 1869, Mr. Cox was married to Mrs. Susan M. Dunham, of this county. They have had seven children, three of whom are living: Ernest E.; Mora O., the wife of Calvin Robuck; and Mabel L., who is living at home with her parents. The others are also residents of Macon county. In polities the father has always been an energetie working Demoerat, giving the prineiples and candidates of his party effeetive and appreciated support at all times, and earnestly striving for their success in every proper way. He and all the members of his family are members of the Christian ehureh and zealous workers for its advancement. Mr. Cox is a eharter member of the congregation to which he belongs, and donated to it the ground for the church edifice and the cemetery attached to it.

V Andrew B. Vansickle

Beginning the battle of life with no armament but his natural endowment of pluck, self-reliance and determination to win, good health and a hopeful spirit, a limited common sehool education and a few hints from the academy of experience, which came to him even as a boy, Andrew B. Vansickle, now one of the leading farmers and stock breeders of Narrows township, Macon county, has made his way steadily forward through diffieulties and untoward conditions to consequence in a worldly way and general esteem among the people in the way of reputation. It is much to his eredit, too, that his triumphs are all his own, owing nothing to favoring cireumstances of the smiles of fortune.

Mr. Vansickle was born in Macon county, Missouri, on October 13, 1864. He is a grandson of Louis Vansickle, a native of New York state and one of the first settlers in this county. He eame to this region before there was anything in the nature of a local government or suf- ticient people living in it to make one. A hardy adventurer, daring the rage of wild men and the elements, the fury of beasts of prey and other perils, he was engaged in hunting and trading with the Indians, and so beeame one of the pathfinders for the advance guard of the army of conquest and civilization that was to follow.

His son, Henry Vansiekle, the father of Andrew, was born in Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1828, and was brought to Missouri by his parents in 1839. The family located in Macon county seven miles and a half south of the present Macon City, where the father entered one of the first tracts of land taken up from the government in this locality. When the son grew to manhood he also took up a traet of government land and make it his permanent home. He fenced and broke up his land, and by eontinuous and well applied industry gradually brought it to fertility and gathered about him such home comforts as the frontier could furnish, in time making his place one of the best and most attractive farms in this part of the county. But in addition to being a farmer, he was also a trader and dealer in land, buying and selling to advantage as the tide of immigration into the region swelled, and so became a man of eonsiderable property and also one of considerable influence in the locality. Some years before his death, which occurred in 1894, he sold all his land and retired from active work.

The elder Vansickle was married twice. His first wife, whom he married in 1848, was Miss Mary Snell, of Ralls county. They had eight children, five of whom are living: John H., who lives in Kansas; Frances, the wife of H. S. Smith, of Ne ; Sarah, the wife of Ed Butner, of Wagoner, Oklahoma; Mary Jane, the wife of S. R. Perkins, of this county; and Andrew B., the subject of this memoir. Their mother died in 1866, and two years later the father was married to Mrs. Mary L. Duffy, a native of West Virginia. Of the second marriage six children were born and five of them are living: Brookie, the wife of H. S. Adkins, of Imola, Oklahoma; Ethie M., the wife of Fred Zollman, of Macon county, Missouri; Maud, the wife of Albert Holcomb, of Michigan; Mattie, the wife of Dr. Hyatt, of Macon City; and Barney, who lives in Oregon. In his political faith the father was an ardent supporter of the Republican party in national affairs. In local matters of public import he gave the welfare of the county his first consideration and sought to promote that without regard to party or personal interests. He was a useful citizen and did his full portion toward developing and building up the part of the state in which he lived, and knowing his services and the integrity of his character, the people held him in high esteem.

'Andrew B. Vansickle obtained his education in the frontier schools of Macon county, which he was able to attend but for a short time, and irregularly at that, owing to the poor health of his father. This compelled him to leave school at an early age and take charge of the farm, of which he had the practical management until 1882. In that year he went to Osage county, Kansas, where he was engaged in coal mining fortwo years. He then returned to this county, and after mining here for a time he again turned his attention to farming and raising stock, in which he is still actively engaged. He now has 190 acres of land of fine quality, the most of which is under cultivation and yielding liberally to the faith and steady industry of its skillful and enterprising owner.

Mr. Vansiekle was married on March 7, 1886, to Miss Caroline C. Miller, a daughter of John W. and Maria C. Miller, well known residents of this county. All of the ten children born of this union are living. They are: William H. and Forrest A., Thomas E., Charles, Ruth, Dora, Minnie, Philip, Fred, and Mary Maude, an infant, all of whom are still living with their parents. The father is a pronounced Republiean in politieal relations and always gives effective support to the principles and candidates of his party. He is successful and prosperous in his farming and stock raising industries, carrying them on extensively and with vigor and progressiveness. He also travels extensively, being sales agent for the W. P. Soash Land Company, of Soash, Texas. Throughout Macon and the adjoining counties, and in many other localities, he is well known and held in the highest esteem.

Exhibiting in his business and professional career great versatility and adaptiveness to circumstances, with readiness to meet and resources to deal successfully with all conditions, Barnett R. Williams of Ethel, law-student, farmer, real estate dealer, former school teacher and one-time merehant, has proven himself to be one of the most capable and representative men in Macon county, and is correspondingly esteemed by all elasses of its people. He has met every requirement of his duty in all relations, and while pushing his own affairs to extensive and profitable development, has also given due attention to every want of the community and fostering care and appreciated assistance to every undertaking designed to promote its substantial progress and the welfare of its people.

Barnett R. Williams

a son of Sanford and Sarah (Mitchell) Williams, also natives of North Carolina and belonging to families domestieated in that state from early colonial times. They moved their family to Missouri in 1881 and located in De Kalb county, where they engaged in farming. Their offspring numbered ten and all of them are living. They are: Barnett R., the immediate subject of this writing; Laura, the wife of George Stauver of Savannah, Missouri; Dora, the wife of James Ganote; Lucy, the wife of Mitchell Lowe; Mary Jane; Flora, the wife of Daniel Rice; Thomas R., Charles, Earl and Argolis. The parents are still living and actively engaged yet in operating their farm, near Albany, Gentry county Missouri.

Their son Barnett R. grew to manhood on the parental homestead and secured his education at the country schools of the neighborhood and the Northwestern Normal School at Stanberry in this state. He became a teacher after leaving the latter institution and for about seven years dispensed to others the acquisitions in the way of scholarship he had gained, and while doing this studied law under the direction of Major J. L. "McCully of Stanberry, and later for a short time under that of C. H. Goodman of Albany in Gentry county. He quit teaching to pursue a course of study in Christian College at Albany, and after completing that engaged in mercantile life from 1898 until 1902, when he sold his interests in the business and turned his attention to farming in Macon county. He is still closely connected with that industry. He owns and cultivates 515 acres of first rate land with diligence and skill and with excellent results. He is also extensively engaged in the real estate, mortgage, loan and insurance business, and in addition to all his other interests, has a nice practice as a lawyer to look after and attend to. While he is one of the busiest men in Ethel he is not satisfied and left his home town to enter the Law Department of University of Missouri in February to complete his study of law.

In political relations Mr. Williams has been a Democrat from his youth. He is true and loyal to his party and is at all times active and effective in its service, giving good advice in council and energetie work in the field, accomplishing good results himself and awakening powers of fruitful activity in others by his influence and example. He has been town attorney of Ethel two years and town collector two. He is also president of the local school board. In fraternal life he is connected with the Masonic order, the Order of Odd Fellows, the Order of Elks and the Order of Woodmen, and his religious affiliation is with the Baptist church. For many years he has held a commission as a notary public. In church and lodge relations he is zealous and devoted,

On April 5, 1896, Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Miss Myrtle M. Ross of Stanberry, this state, but of Nova Scotia parentage. Three children have blessed the union and brightened the family circle, Helen, George and Barnett R., Jr. "The father is a self-made man in the fullest sense of the expression. He has made his own way in the world without the aid of Fortune's favors or adventitious cireumstances, and he has so conducted his progress that every step of it has been on solid ground and a permanent advance. He has had clearness + of vision to see and alertness of spirit to seize his opportunities as they came, and has even turned adversities to his advantage and made of them wings and weapons for his further promotion. And all the time he has made the most of everything that eame his way. His career is a high tribute to the resourcefulness of American manhood and furnishes a fine illustration of what thrift, industry and capacity ean accomplish in this land of open opportunity and boundless produetiveness.

On February 3, 1910, Mr. Williams moved his family to Columbia, Missouri, where he entered the Law Department of the Missouri University where he expects to remain until he finishes the course, at which time he will move back to Macon county and pursue the practiee of his chosen profession that he has so long aspired to complete.

Isham M. Walker, of Narrows township, Macon county, who is well and favorably known as a successful and progressive farmer and excellent citizen, is a native of the county and was reared and educated almost wholly within its borders. He was born on October 15, 1853, and if not himself exactly a child of the frontier, inherited from his parents its sturdy independence, self-reliance and capacity for any task that might properly be laid before him.

Mr. Walker's parents, Isham and Mahitable (Murphy) W AS. were dwellers in this state in its pioneer days and experienced all the hardships and privations and felt all the alarms of such a state of existenee. The father was born in Kentucky in 1816, and came with his parents to this state when he was a small boy. His father, Johnson Walker, was also a native of Kentueky and born into being there while it, too, was a wilderness. He grew to manhood on or beyond the border of civilization and was prepared by his experiences there for the more exaeting ones that awaited him in the new home still farther from the eenters of eultivated life to which, as a young man, he brought his little family at a very early day in the history of what is now the rich, populous and influential state of Missouri. The family located in Howard county, and the son, Isham, Sr., who had come to that seetion as a child, remained at home until he reached the age of nineteen. In 1835, taking his father's example as his ineitement and guide, he sought a new home in an undeveloped region, determined to make his own way in the world and build a name and reputation for himself without the aid of parental influence or family standing. He came to Macon county and entered land on which he determined to found a home and develop a eitizenship of usefulness. Macon county then extended all the way to the lowa line and was sparsely peopled.

On the land on which he thus became possessed the elder Mr. Walker passed the remainder of his days, developing and improving his property and adding to it until he owned 800 ae On this farm

- also he reared his family and rose to prominence and influence as one of the leading landholders of the county and one of its most judicious, progressive and serviceable citizens. During the whole of his residence in the county he was actively engaged in extensive general farming and raising superior live stoek, and in all his undertakings he was eminently successful. He took an active interest, also, in the publie affairs of the county, helping to give proper trend and enterprise to its forces of development and improvement, and to guide its political and moral ageneies along lines of wholesome and elevating poteney.

The father's death oceurred in 1877. His first marriage was with Miss Mahitable Murphy, of Macon county. They became the parents of seven children and five of them are living: Elizabeth, the widow of L. E. Hope, of Christianburg, Kentueky; Gabriel M., who lives in Macon county; Sarah J., the wife of Jacob Albright, of Joplin, Missouri; Andrew B., who is one of the prosperous citizens of St. Louis; and Isham M. The mother of these children died in 1855, and in 1860 the father was married a second time, on this occasion being united with Miss Malinda Andrews, of Howard county, in this state. Of their two children only one is living, Anna D., the wife of George Wisdom, of Macon county. The father was a Democrat in polities and a Baptist in religious connection. He took an active part in the work of both his party and his church. Second wife died in 1897.

Isham M. Walker, like nearly all the children of his day and locality, obtained his education in the district schools in large measure. But unlike most of the others, he had the benefit of a finishing course at Mount Pleasant College, in Huntsville, Missouri. He passed his early life assisting his parents on the farm, working on it even after leaving college, and remaining at home until 1876. He then started a farming enterprise of his own on 100 acres of land which his father gave him, and has continued it energetically and profitably to the present time. He now owns 210 acres of good land and has the greater part of it under skillful and productive cultivation.

Mr. Walker has not, however, devoted himself wholly to his own interests. He has been zealously serviceable to the community as a member of the school board and in many other ways, aiding in every worthy projeet for the improvement of the region around him, and contributing essentially and substantially to the welfare of its people, He was married on November 19, 1876, to Miss Mary J. MeGrew, a daughter of Clinton and Angeline (Spencer) MeGrew, prominent citizens of Macon county. They have five children, all living in Macon county but one. They are: Susan Luella, the wife of Alfred Purdy; Melville C., whose home is at Rockyford, Colorado; Hubert E., of this county; Henry F., also of this county; and Victor T., who is still at home. The father is a Democrat in polities and he and his wife are Baptists in religion, and both active workers in the church to which they belong. They stand well in the county, being reckoned among its most prosperous and influential citizens and most active factors for good to the whole people. They are generous in social life, making their home a center of refined and considerate hospitality, and contributing liberally to everything that ministers to the enjoyment of their hosts of friends, who hold them in cordial admiration as all the rest of the population does in high respect.

The wild plains and sloping hillsides of Missouri required heroie effort on the part of the pioneers to awaken them to cultivated produetiveness and make them yield their due tribute to the service of eivilized man, and the pioneers who did this were men and women of heroie mold and stern endurance, willing to dare any danger and undergo any hardship to redeem the wilderness from the waste and lay in it the foundations of a great, wealthy and progressive commonwealth. "They wrought with care, even though crudely, as their circumstances and successful farmers of Narrows township in Macon eounty. They were natives of Kentucky and repeated on the soil of Missouri the triumphs their forefathers had won on that of their native state. The father came to this state in 1833, a young adventurer twenty-seven years of age, and located on Mud creek, where he entered government land still virgin to the plow and all untouched, as yet, by the hard but kindly hand of systematie husbandry. He was one of the first settlers in that region and had his full share of the stirring and startling experiences of the frontier. But he pursued his chosen way, fencing and breaking up his land, and gradually but surely transforming the wild domain into an excellent and highly improved farm. He prospered in his lofty venture and added to his acres until, at the time of his death on July 22, 1881, he was possessed of 337, the greater part of which was yielding tribute to his enterprise, industry and skill.

Josiah Huntsman was married tw His first wife was a Miss Poareh, of Kentueky, and through his marriage with her he became the father of five ehildren, three of whom are living: Newton and Thomas, who live in Randolph county, this state, and Martha Jane, who still has her home under the parental roof. "The father was married to Miss Daisy Collins, who was also a native of Kentucky. Five children were born of this marriage also and four of them are living. They are: James T. who resides in California; Henry M., the immediate subject of this sketch; William P., an esteemed citizen of Walla Walla county, state of Washington; and C. J., whose home is in Randolph county, Missouri. The father was first a Whig in polities, and when the party of his early choice and loyalty passed away he became a Demoerat, taking part in the eampaigns of his party and giving its principles and candidates earnest and effective support until the end of his life. He was an earnest and devout member of the Christian church for many years, active in all its worthy undertakings and zealous in defense of its articles of faith.

Henry M. Huntsman accepted his heritage as a child of the frontier, with all that it involved, without repining. He attended the distriet school near his home and obtained in its instructions all of the direet scholastie training it was his lot to get. He did his part of the hard work on the farm and gave the family all the support he could in its early struggle with the wild conditions opposed to its advancement, although these had been much improved by the time he appeared on the scene. After leaving sehool and reaching the estate of manhood he still remained at home, assisting his parents, until 1882, when he bought 120 acres of land in Macon county and took up his residence on it. Making it his life work to develop and improve this tract, and all besides that he might be able to add to it, he has ever since sedulously devoted himself to the task he set for himself, in the performance of which he has been very successful. He now owns 200 acres of fine farming and grazing land, all of whieh is under cultivation and in a high state of fruitfulness. His main business is general farming at an elevated standard of excellence, and he makes the work profitable. In addition he raises, and feeds and ships, large numbers of eattle. Of these he takes such care that he is always prepared to deliver them to the markets in good condition, and thus maintains the high * rate at which his output has long been scheduled.

Mr. Huntsman was married on February 12, 1882, to Miss Pettie Watson, a daughter of Benjamin Watson, one of the leading citizens of Macon county. "They have had six children, five of whom are living: Frank C. and Hugh N., who live at Alliance, Nebraska; and Benjamin V., William M. and Waldo W., who are still at home with their parents. In politics the father is a Populist, not extreme in his views, but firm in defense of those he holds. Fraternally he belongs to the order of Woodmen of the World, and in religious connection he and his wife are associated with the Christian church, in the work of which they take an active part. They are also faithful in the performance of all their duties as citizens, taking broad and progressive views of life and living up to them. "They heartily support every commendable enterprise for the advancement of the community and the elevation of the moral and intellectual standard of its people. All who know them respeet them highly as altogether worthy and estimable faetors in the publie and private life of the township and county, and supporters of its most valued institutions.

Y George L. Walters

George L. Walters, one of the successful and progressive farmers of that rich agricultural portion of Macon county, known as Round Grove township, furnishes in his career a fine example of Pennsylvania enterprise and thrift transmitted to another generation and transplanted in a region distant and different from that in which it originated. He was born in Macon county, on the farm whieh is still his home, on December 27, 1862, and is a son of Aaron and Ann (Border) Walters, who were born, reared and edueated in Pennsylvania, and were among the early settlers of Macon county. The father came to this state at a very early date and bought land from the government, which was still in a state of primeval nature and not yet given over

"This hardy adventurer knew the perils he faced and the diffieulties he would have to encounter, but he had the spirit of a Spartan and dared any danger, smiled at any difficulty, in his determination to win suceess on the frontier and make a name and achieve an estate for himself, where nature held everything in readiness for the industry and thrift whieh she awaited as the proper recipients of her bounty. He siruggled with her wild condition, faithfully toiled on under her unrelenting frown, and in due time found her yielding to his persistent industry and courage and rewarding him with annually expanding benefaetions. He fenced and improved his land and in time made it one of the best farms in the township of its location. He added to his possessions as prosperity gave him the means, and when he died in 1875 was the owner of 240 aeres of excellent land, well improved, reduced to a high degree of produetiveness and in itself a valuable estate.

About four years before the father died he gave up aetive work and turned the management and operation of the farm over to his son George, and that progressive and skillful manager has been in charge of it ever sinee, His venerable mother is still living, aged seventy-five years, and she makes her home with him. She was his father's second wife and the mother of two children, George L. and his older brother Joseph, both residents of Macon eounty. Both have been successful and each is a substantial and well esteemed citizen, active in all efforts for the improvement of the county and in line with every undertaking that will minister to the comfort, convenience and enduring welfare of its people.

George L. Walters obtained his education in the district schools near his home, and on leaving school settled down at once to his lifelong occupation of cultivating the paternal homestead. He has never , had any other home or desired any. He has prospered on this and added to its extent until it now comprises 358 acres, about half of whieh is under cultivation and worked with assiduous industry and commendable skill and judgment. Mr. Walters has risen to a high rank among the farmers of the township, giving all his attention to his one pursuit and making the utmost of that. Like the skylark of poesy, he is a ''type of the wise, who soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of heaven and home."

desired a political office, being content to serve the state from the honorable post of private citizenship, doing what he could for its advancement in his own way and leaving its government to those whom the people ehose to administer its affairs. He is regarded as an excellent citizen and estimable man.

Andrew J. Asbury

Andrew J. Asbury, of Hudson township, who is one of the leading citizens of Macon county, and has reflected credit on it and its people in both private and publie life, is a native of Missouri, born in Howard eounty on April 22, 1855. His grandfather, Elijah Asbury, was a native of Virginia, and belonged to a family that for generations held high rank in the Old Dominion, where the family name is one of prominence in the ehronicles of the state, running back into colonial times.