Pettis County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1919 (part 5 of 14)

Clement Jones. - Every county must have leaders and each section of that county must have a real leader ; one who can be depended upon to devote his time, money, and energies to the furthering of enterprises and movements which are intended to benefit the mass of the people in the county. Fitted by nature, endowed with excellent mentality, Clement Jones of Longwood township has long been a leader in many excellent movements in his community and in Pettis couty. He is a Pettis County citizen with a broad vision and gifted with the ability to lead, endowed with energy which permits him not only to successfully conduct his own individual enterprises, but naturally places him in a place of leadership. The northern section of Pettis County, especially that part of the county which is rich prairie land, is noted the country over for the fine resi¬ dences and splendid improvements on the farms. No section of the State of Missouri surpasses this section for the beautiful, modern homes which grace the landscape on every side. The beautiful farm residence which is the home of Mr. Jones in Longwood township was the first modern home to be erected in this part of Pettis County - built in 1904. This house sets far back from the highway and contains nine rooms with a basement and is modern in every respect. The Jones estate embraces a total of 720 acres in one body upon which the proprietor is extensively engaged in the raising and feeding of live stock. Mr. Jones markets nearly 200 head of fat cattle yearly; fattens for the markets over 400 head of hogs yearly; and maintains a herd of fifty to sixty ewes, finding sheep a very profitable and cheaply maintained adjunct to his fanning operations. In fact, Mr. Jones maintains that he clears more money in profit from his herd of sheep than from any other department and the animals keep his fields and pastures clear of weeds. The Jones farm is substantially fenced with woven wire, supported by steel corner posts, set in cement, and is one of the best improved in Pettis County.

Clement Jones was born January 20, 1867, in Iroquois County, Illi¬ nois, and is a son of Henry Jones, an aged resident of Heath's Creek town¬ ship, concerning whom an extended review is given elsewhere in this history. Clement Jones accompanied his parents to Pettis County in March, 1868, and was reared and educated in this county by a father who believed in right upbringing and education for his children. He re¬ mained at home until 1892, operating the home farm in partnership with his father. It was then time for him to make a home for himself and he received as a gift outright from his father, a tract of 160 acres, which, while it was rich prairie land, was poorly improved. Mr. Jones has taken this land and built it up into a model farmstead equipped with three large barns and every facility for carrying on farming and stock raising on a large scale. He has made good.

On November 16, 1892, Clement Jones and Miss Tennie Harvey of Pettis County were united in marriage. Two children have blessed this union: Lora B. Jones, a graduate of Sedalia High School, now at home with her parents; Clement Van Jones, aged twenty-two years, a student in Sedalia High School. Mrs. Tennie (Harvey) Jones is a daughter of Albert J. and Nannie (Gorrell) Harvey, the former of whom was bom near Arrow Rock, Missouri, a son of Missouri pioneers. Mrs. Nannie Harvey was bom in Kentucky. A. J. Harvey came to Pettis County during the fifties and built up a farm of 240 acres from unimproved prairie land. Mr. Harvey was one of the first of the prairie farmers to make the venture into the level uplands away from the two commodities which were deemed absolutely necessary to sustain life by the early pioneer - water and timber. He made a success of his venture and others soon followed in his wake. To Albert J. and Nannie Harvey were born children as follow: Renna, living on the home place; A. U., now in Florida for the benefit of his health, owns a farm in Longwood township; Mrs. Ida Alexander, Nelson, Missouri; Mrs. Clement Jones, of this review.

Mr. Jones is a Democrat whose spoken word is influential in the affairs of his party in Pettis County. He is a member of the lodge of Modern Woodmen at Longwood. He is a director of the Bank of Longwood and is a steward trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Longwood. Mr. Jones is the district steward of the Sunday Schools of this district, a position which he has filled for the past eight years. As chairman of the Church Building Committee or president of the Finance Board of the church during the erection of the splendid new Methodist Church at Longwood in 1916, he had practically entire charge of the building of the church and the expenditure of the $12,000 required to defray the expenses of erection. Mr. Jones gave a great deal of his time and personally supervised the building operations while the church edi¬ fice was being reared and the result is the finest, most convenient, and best built rural church in this section of Missouri - an edifice of which all classes of people in this vicinity are proud.

George W. Cook. - Pure-bred live stock is the only kind to be found on the farm owned and operated by George W. Cook, in Bowling Green township. The Cook farm embraces 223 acres and was purchased by Mr. Cook in January 1907. The only building then on the place which now remains is the farm residence which has since been remodeled and occu¬ pies a commanding and attractive situation overlooking miles of the sur¬ rounding country. Three large barns and three silos have been erected by Mr. Cook. Mr. Cook has a herd of fourteen pure-bred registered Shorthorn cattle and a number of milch cows and has over sixty head of cattle in all. He is regularly engaged in the breeding of registered stock of this well-known breed. One hundred head of registred Duroc Jersey hogs are kept on the Cook farm. The poultry on the place are of pure¬ bred Plymouth Rock variety and 200 hens kept. Mr. Cook is a member of the Duroc Jersey Breeders Association.

George W. Cook was born May 9, 1863 in Portsmouth, Ohio, a son of George and Martha Jane (Coburn) Cook, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Martha Jane Cook was born near Pittsburg of Scotch ancestry. George Cook, the elder was born in 1839 and died in November, 1917. He was a son of John Cook, a woolen manufacturer who emigrated from Germany to America in 1845, and located at Chillicothe, Ohio. George Cook was reared in Ross County, Ohio, and married at Porthsmouth, Ohio, while operating a farm in that vicinity for George Davis. He lived on the Davis farm for thirty-three years, and later bought a farm which he sold after some years. Mrs. Cook was born in 1843 and died in January, 1917. To George and Martha Jane Cook were born the following children: Mrs. Minnie Apple, Lucasville, Ohio; Ernest A., Portsmouth, Ohio; Fred H., Sedalia, Missouri; Junietta, Portsmouth, Ohio; Mrs. Martha Jane Apple, Portsmouth, Ohio; Clyde E., Lucasville, Ohio; Mrs. Vena E. Fencetemacher, a widow living at Portsmouth, Ohio.

George W. Cook came to Sedalia in 1884 and attended Prof. Robbins Academy on Ohio Street. He returned to Ohio and was employed in the store owned by George Davis at Union Mills, for two years. In 1886 he went to Iowa and operated a creamery and a general store for one year. He then engaged in the mercantile business for two years, after which he sold out and went to Minnesota and was in the employ of Thomas Killen, a merchant, for one year. Returning to Iowa he operated a store at Luana for one year. After his marriage, in 1887, he engaged in dairy farming and manufactured butter and cheese in Iowa until 1895 when he sold out and came again to Pettis County, Missouri. He bought a farm near Green Ridge, which he sold in 1899, or rather traded the farm for a store at Syracuse. In 1907 he traded a stock of goods for his pres¬ ent farm.

Mr. Cook has been twice married. His first marriage in 1887 was with Carrie J. Lang who died in 1900, leaving two children: Orlyn, aged twenty-eight years, now at Norman, Oklahoma; Mrs. Ruth J. Peterson, International Falls, Minnesota. His second marriage August 14, 1901, was to Edna M. Bridges, who was born in Morgan County, Missouri, July 8, 1878, a daughter of Dr. T. R. and Sarah (Inge) Bridges. Dr. T. Bridges was born in Morgan County, Missouri, and practiced medicine in that county for many years, dying in August, 1911, aged sixty-seven years. Mrs. Bridges died in 1899, aged forty-eight years. To George and Edna M. Cook have been bom two children: George Thaddeus, born in 1904 ; and Martha Frances, bom April 4, 1911.

Church. Mr. Cook is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and he and Mrs. Cook are also affiliated with the Royal Neigh¬ bors. Both are active members of the Beaman Chapter of the Red Cross and have given liberally of their funds to all war charities. Mr. Cook is chairman of the Bowling Green Division of the County Council of De¬ fense and is a member of the Volunteer Sales Committee for boosting the Liberty Loans. He is usually found in the forefront of all movements for the welfare of the people of the county.

Thomas R. Fleming. - "Oakhurst," located a few miles north of Sedalia on the rock road, is a beautiful country place owned by Thomas R. Fleming, one of the best known citizens of Pettis County. This farm consists of 146.5 acres and is splendidly improved, a handsome white farm residence sets in a grove of trees and all other farm buildings are in keeping with the house. Mr. Fleming is one of the extensive hog feeders of Pettis County, feeding from 300 to 400 head of hogs annually. In addition to his own farm he has leased the adjoining farms and is operating 300 acres. Mr. Fleming feeds three carloads of cattle annually.

Thomas R. Fleming was born February 11, 1864 in Boston, Massa¬ chusetts, the son of Robert T. Fleming, who was born in Ireland in 1845 and died in 1913. Robert T. Fleming emigrated from Ireland in 1863, leaving his native County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland to try and make his fortune in America. In 1869 he located in Kentucky and re¬ mained there until 1884 and then came to Pettis County, Missouri. He purchased a farm in 1885 from the First National Bank of Sedalia. His first home in this county was a humble log cabin which was later sup¬ planted by a handsome home which still graces the home place of the Flemings within sight of Thomas R. Fleming's home. The wife of Robert T. Fleming was Annie Moran, who was also born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1845 and departed this life in Pettis County in 1910. Three children were born to this marriage : Thomas R. ; Kate, living on the home place; Mrs. Julia McCarthy, on the home place.

Thomas R. Fleming was twenty years old when the Fleming family made a permanent settlement in Pettis County. After coming to this county he engaged in farming. Having obtained a good education in private and subscription schools in his native State of Kentucky, he is a well read and well informed citizen who is likewise possessed of business ability of a high order. In 1900, Mr. Fleming rented his present home farm and then purchased it from the Missouri Trust Company. Since taking possession of the place he has done considerable improving, has remodeled his residence and otherwise beautified the surroundings. The entire tract has been refenced and is one of the most attractive and pro¬ ductive farm steads in Pettis County.

Mr. Fleming was married in 1899 to Miss Ora McClung, who was born in Pettis County, a daughter of John G. and Mary E. (Barret) McClung, who were pioneer settlers of Pettis County.

John Givens McClung was bora in Virginia in 1812, and was a son of John and Polly Ann McClung. When nineteen years old he removed with his parents to Brownsville, Kentucky. Here he engaged in farm¬ ing and on April 12, 1841, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Barret, the daughter of Augustus M. and Mary (Marshall) Barret. On Thursday, October 8, 1851, in company with A. M. Barret, Woodford Dunn, James W. Ray, John Jamerson and James Kelly, Mr. McClnng left Brownsville enroute to Missouri on horseback, there being no railroads in those days which led to this section of the West. On his arrival in Pettis County, Mr. McClung purchased a section of land eight miles west of the present site of Sedalia. A part of this land was purchased directly from the United States Government at $1.25 an acre, and the original deed bears the signature of President James Buchanan. Mr. McClung then re¬ turned to Kentucky, and in the following year, 1852, he removed his fam¬ ily to this county. The trip was made overland by horseback and wagon. They settled on the McClung land and Mr. McClung proceeded to erect splendid improvements on the tract. All of the lumber, brick and build¬ ing materials which went into the construction of his home and farm buildings were necessarily hauled from Boonville, Missouri, in wagons. Mr. McClung for years was extensively engaged in stock raising and was very successful. He drove herds of cattle and sheep overland to the St. Louis market. John G. McClung died on August 19, 1875. His youngest son, Edward L. McClung owns the old home place, and no part of the land has ever been transferred, during the long period of sixty-seven years it has been owned by the McClung family. John G. and Mary E. McClung were parents of children as follow: Mrs. Mattie Payton, on farm four miles west of Sedalia ; Mrs. Maude Mosely McCluney, deceased wife of Dr. T. P. McCluney, a former resident of Sedalia, now in Califor¬ nia; Mrs. Sarah Frances Creel, deceased; Lida married J. D. Brown, both deceased; Charles M., former Probate Judge of Pettis County, deceased; Edward L., on the home place; Emma married J. B. Gamell west of Se- dalia; Mrs. Lena Barret, wife of Hinton Gould, west of Sedalia; Mrs. Ora M. Fleming. Mrs. Mary E. (Barret) McClung died on March 9, 1909, at the age of eighty-five years. She was a daughter of Augustus M. and Mary (Marshall) Barret.

Augustus M. Barret was born in Berksville, Kentucky, May 11, 1804. He was married in 1823 to Miss Mary Marshall of Greensburg, Kentucky. Mrs. Mary Barret died in 1828 and he afterwards married Miss Mary Cunningham, of Litchfield, Kentucky, who died shortly afterwards of consumption. In 1837 he married Miss Bereroyal Rountree in Browns¬ ville, Kentucky. For a long period of twenty-six years Mr. Barret served as clerk of both the Circuit and County Courts of his home county in Kentucky. In 1852 he, with his family moved to Missouri by the over¬ land route and settled in Georgetown, Pettis County. Mr. Barret resided first on what was called the Delahunt place, northwest of Georgetown. The following spring he moved upon the Court House square, one block west of the old Kidd Hotel. At that time R. R. Speddon was clerk of the court in Georgetown. Speddon being a politician, he did not care to perform the duties of the office, and he therefore installed A. M. Barret as his deputy in the little red brick office (which is still standing). In 1853, Col. John Phillips, a newly fledged iawyer from Kentucky, came to Georgetown, bringing letters of introduction to Mr. Barret who kindly gave him the place of assistant deputy in the clerk's office. This was done so that Mr. Phillips could have time to look around and establish himself in his profession. In 1854 Mr. Barret moved to the farm now occupied by Crown Hill Cemetery, Sedalia. He purchased this land from the government at a cost of $1.25 an acre and made the first settlement on the prairies in that section of the county. His house was the first one built and occupied by his family in that immediate neighborhood which is now the city of Sedalia. His farm was a mile long from north to south and a half mile wide. Mr. Barret was a candidate for circuit clerk in 1857 but his death intervened. He died September 1, 1857.

Mr. Fleming has long been prominent in the affairs of the Demo¬ cratic party in Pettis County and served for twenty years as committee¬ man for his precinct. He is a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Sedalia, and is fraternally affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, being a Fourth Degree Knight, and is a member of the Knights of Father Matthew. Mrs. Fleming is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter (1812) Gen. David Thomson.

Joseph B. Johnson. - Sixteen years ago J. B. Johnson of Georgetown, Pettis County, took possession of a worn-out farm adjoining the village on the southwest. He had saved a fund of $2,000, with which he made a first payment on 305 acres of land the total cost of which was $17,750. During this period he has not only paid for his land, but has purchased an additional tract at a cost of $5,000. Mr. Johnson owns 340 acres of land and was engaged in the dairy farming business until 1917, when he sold his fine herd of Holstein cows and is now engaged in general farm¬ ing. He has both thoroughbred and grade cattle on his place and has been constantly improving and bettering his farm. When he took pos¬ session of the land the soil was depleted and the buildings were in poor condition. Now, the fertility of the soil has been restored and the farm dwelling is a handsome structure. The Johnson farm is one of the best in Cedar township and Pettis County.

Joseph B. Johnson was born March 15, 1874 in Ford County, now Elliot, Illinois, a son of John B. and Sarah Johnson, natives of Norway, who came to America and followed farming to the end of their days. The mother of J. B. Johnson died in 1880. His father died in 1884, leav¬ ing six children orphaned, with the youngest child only six months of age. J. B. Johnson was ten years old when his father died, and for the next eight years he worked out for his board and clothes. In 1893 he began to draw a man's wages and received from $22 to $23 per month, very high wages for farm hands even in those days. He worked steadily and saved his money but had the misfortune to lose $500 of his savings through no fault of his own. In 1902 he came to Pettis County and since his coming here prosperity has smiled upon him, all of which is due to the hardest kind of work and good financial management, and the as¬ sistance of a capable and devoted wife.

Mr. Johnson was married February 12, 1901, to Mary Josephine Hanson, bom in Illinois, February 20, 1872, a daughter of Swedish pa¬ rents. Mrs. Johnson died on September 26, 1918. During the last four years of her life she suffered greatly from cancer. She was a deeply religious woman, a kind and faithful helpmeet to her husband, who at¬ tributes his success to her counsel and assistance while winning his way in Pettis County. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson fought the good fight side by side and won. They have brought into the world a family of fine chil¬ dren: Frances Harriet, born January 20, 1902, a junior in Sedalia High School; Lester Charles, born August 23, 1904; Vivian May, born July

Mr. Johnson is a Republican and is a member of the Lutheran Church of which Mrs. Johnson was also a member. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles and carries insurance in the Missouri State Mutual.

Mental Parsons Tuck is a native of Pettis County who has made good in the county of his birth, and is one of the best known of the suc¬ cessful farmers and stockmen of Houstonia. Mr. Tuck is owner of a splendid farm of 400 acres of rich prairie land in Blackwater and Hous¬ tonia townships. This farm is well improved with a good seven-room house, good farm buildings and fences in a good state of repair. Mr. Tuck, while now a resident of Houstonia, looks after his farm and also owns a tract of forty-six acres on the northern edge of Houstonia. This property is also splendidly improved with an imposing residence.

M. P. Tuck was born May 17, 1852, in Pettis County, the son of Dr. Ryland Tuck who was born in Virginia in 1820 and died in Pettis County in 1903.

Dr. Ryland Tuck was a native of Virginia. His father died in his native State and his widowed mother left the home State and came to Missouri with her three children, during the early thirties. They settled in Cooper County, and here Ryland Tuck was reared to young manhood. In 1844, he made a visit to the old home scenes in Virginia and upon his return he made a settlement on the prairies of northern Pettis County. He was married in this county to Elizabeth Prigmore, who was born in 1820 and died March 27, 1881. She was a daughter of Benjamin Prigmore, a son of one of the earliest of the Pettis County pioneers. Benja¬ min Prigmore drove the first wagon that ever made a track across the prairies of northern Pettis County, and settled on the South Fork. He was one of the best known of the first pioneer settlers of this section of the county. Seven children were born to Dr. Ryland and Elizabeth Tuck, as follow: Mrs. Mary Frances Rhodes, living on a farm five miles west of Houstonia; Fendel H., a farmer living in Houstonia; Mental Parsons, of this review; one child died in infancy; Elizabeth Catherine Rhodes, Jiving on a farm eight miles southwest of Houstonia; Pleasant, deceased; Mrs. Jane Johnson, Warrensburg, Missouri.

Tuck. Mrs. M. P. Tuck

proved from undeveloped prairie land. Three hundred and twenty acres of the original home place, part of which was purchased directly from the United States Government, is owned by the two sisters of Mrs. Rhodes. Doctor Tuck was a charter member of Sweet Springs Masonic Lodge, and was a leading Democrat in his day. Doctor Tuck studied medicine under the tutelage of Doctor Rockwell, a pioneer physician who was located in the eastern part of Pettis County. He graduated from the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and practicced medicine in the vicinity of Houstonia until old age came upon him. Doctor Tuck was one of the best known of the pioneer physicians of his day and he practiced success¬ fully over a large extent of territory. In his day the doctors went horseback over the country to call upon their patients and the life was a hard one for a professional man. His last days were spent in peaceful retirement at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Fannie Frances Rhodes. In 1880 he and his sons purchased land. The doctor bought 244 acres and added to this about 440 acres, the Tuck estate eventually exceeding 720 acres, in all.

M. P. Tuck received his education in the district school and when a boy he worked upon the home farm. When he attained his majority, he began on his own account as a tiller of the soil. With his savings he in¬ vested in farm land in 1880, purchasing a quarter section. He improved this tract, sold eighty acres of it and then bought other land. He pur¬ chased 200 acres of his brother and at his father's death he received 120 acres as his share of the estate. This made a farm of 400 acres upon which Mr. Tuck resided until the spring of 1905 when he moved to Hous¬ tonia and left his son in charge of the home place. In the spring of 1906 he purchased his present home place of forty-six acres.

Mr. Tuck was married in October, 1887, to Miss Willie Hieronymous, who was born in Longwood township, Pettis County, in 1864. She is a daughter of Rex Hieronymous and is descended from one of the earliest of the Pettis County pioneers. A fuller account of the Hierony¬ mous family is given elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch of R. J. Kemp and Charles J. and Frank Hieronymous.

The children bom to M. P. and Willie Tuck are as follow: Ruby, an art student at Washington University, St. Louis; Lorene, wife of John R. Higgins, living on a farm southwest of Houstonia ; Leland, managing the home farm, married Virginia Sewell and has one child, Leland; Mary Nell, and Joy, at home with their parents; Mary Nell is studying to be-

Mr. Tuck is vice-president of the Farmers Bank of Houstonia and is a leading and influential citizen of his community. He is a Democrat politically, but has held no office except that of district school director and member of the school board of the consolidated school district of Houstonia, a position which he has filled for the past thirty years. During these many years Mr. Tuck has been one of the progressive and fore¬ most advocates of better education facilities for the young, and has up¬ held his advanced views along educational lines consistently and per¬ sistently to the well being of the community. For the past twenty years he has been a member of the Sweet Springs Masonic Lodge.

Alexander Dow. - To have lived several years past the alloted three score and ten given to man according to the Holy Scriptures, endured the hardships of hard-fought campaigns as a Union soldier in the Civil War, then make a home in Pettis County, rearing a splendid family of sons and daughters and yet retaining a keen interest in life with mental faculties unimpaired, a zest for living still uppermost, is the pleasant restrospective of Alexander Dow, for the past thirty-eight years justice of the peace at Georgetown, Missouri. For the same length of time this well-preserved and intelligent old settler has been active in religious and Sunday school works. His has been a useful life.

Alexander Dow was born on a farm located one mile north of Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, January 6, 1842. He is a son of Duncan and Catherine (Comrie) Dow, natives of Scotland, who emigrated from their native heath in 1840 and settled in Logan County, Ohio. Duncan Dow operated one of the first threshers ever brought to Logan County. This antiquated machine was of the "ground-hog" type with solid cylin¬ ders which burst one day while its operator was getting up steam in the threshing season of 1847, and Mr. Dow was instantly killed. Three children were fatherless: Peter, who still lives on the old homestead in Ohio; David, died in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was a well-known merchant; Alexander, subject of this sketch.

When a boy of nineteen, Alexander Dow hearkened to President Lincoln's call for troops to quell the rebellion of the southern states and he enlisted in 1861 in Company C, Fifteenth Regular United States In¬ fantry, Fourteenth Army Corps, under command of General Thomas. Mr. Dow served for three years, as company clerk and was with his com- mand when it participated in the battles of Stone River, Corinth, Missis¬ sippi, and in the campaign up the Tennessee River, and to Athens, Ala¬ bama. His command was then ordered to Kentucky and to Louisville, and went in pursuit of General Bragg's Army as far as Stone River. After spending the winter at Chattanooga, following this campaign, the Fourteenth Army Corps went through Kenesaw and to Atlanta, Georgia. At Atlanta the Fifteenth Regiment was detached and sent back to Nash¬ ville, Tennessee. Soon afterwards, Private Dow's term of enlistment expired and he returned home. In 1865 he went to Illinois with the in¬ tention to engage in the cattle business in Champaign county. During that winter he taught a term of school and in the spring he rode to Bloomington, Illinois, and began farming for a land owner named Thornberry. While driving one of his employer's teams the animals ran away, throwing him from the wagon, breaking his collar bone and causing a curvature of the spine. This accident required that he return home in order to get well again. He did so and for some time sold books and had great success in selling "Horace Greeley's History of the Civil War" in several Ohio counties.

Mr. Dow taught school for one term in Brown County, Ohio, and was for two years engaged in merchandising in Darke county, Ohio. After his marriage he sold his store and in 1869 came west to Sedalia. Upon his arrival in the new and booming town of Sedalia he found every avenue of business so crowded that he was compelled for his own good to make other plans than a mercantile career in Sedalia. He arrived in Sedalia on New Year's day and after a careful survey of the situation he deemed it the better policy to go out in the country where things were not so crowded and buy a farm. This he did and for some time he tilled a farm located five miles west of the city. He then sold out and came to Georgetown where he lived for two years upon a rented farm in Cedar township near the village. He then bought 100 acres adjoining the town of the northeast and moved to the place in the spring of 1878. Mr. Dow's farm now embraces 175 acres and it has been his home for the past forty years. The Dow farm is a beautiful tract of valley and hill land, a por¬ tion of which is still in a wooded condition.

Alexander Dow was married in 1868 to Louise Dill, who was born in Darke County, Ohio, a daughter of Major Dill, a well-known merchant of that county. Mrs. Dow died in 1894. This marriage was blessed with children as follow: Charles G., died at the age of two years; John P., a druggist in business at Lafayette, Colorado; Walter A., a merchant at Coleman, New Mexico; Harvey D., a prominent attorney of Sedalia; Augustus C., an insurance man of Topeka, Kansas; Ralph W., with the insurance firm of Meriweather and Dow, Sedalia; Arthur I., a conductor on the Santa Fe railroad, Raton, New Mexico; Mary L., wife of James A. DeJarnette, Cedar township. Mr. Dow's second marriage occurred on December 31, 1895 with Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Erskine, a widow who by her former marriage, has four children: James, manager of the farming ouerations at the County Home Farm; Mrs. Sallie Rodecker, Sedalia; E. J. Erskine, a merchant, Sedalia; Mrs. Hallie DeJarnette, Cedar town¬ ship.

Mr. Dow is prominent in the affairs of the Republican party of Pettis County and has filled the office of justice of the peace of Cedar township since 1880, except a period of four years, holding probably the record for Pettis County in the number of years he has served in this capacity. Since 1880 he has been superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday school at Georgetown, and in many ways this fine old gentleman has endeared himself to the people of his neighborhood. His record has been a clean and honorable one, and he has good and just right to be proud of the ambitious sons whom he has reared. Mr. Dow, despite his age, is mentally keen, enjoys reading, and has been a student during his entire life, being well informed concerning public and world events.

Ernest W. Jones, attorney and stockman, Hughesville township, has a splendid farm of four hundred and twenty-six acres, which is well improved with new and modern buildings. Mr. Jones erected a handsome bungalow of eight rooms in 1914, which is modern in every respect. He is an extensive producer of Duroc Jersey swine, the annual output of the farm running from three hundred to four hundred head of fat porkers each year. General farming operations are carried on this large farm, one hundred and sixty acres of the place being sown to wheat for the season of 1919.

Ernest W. Jones was born at Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri, July 21, 1887. He is a son of Hon. Thomas M. and Lucy B. (Morse) Jones, of El Paso, Texas. Thomas M. Jones was born in Franklin County, Missouri, a son of Thomas A. Jones, a son of Virginia parents and a direct descendant of the Jones family of Maryland, a member of whom was Governor Thomas Jones, who was chief executive of the State of

Maryland during the early period of the nation's history. Thomas M. Jones was born in 1862, and was educated for the legal profession. He practiced law in Phelps County for a period of twenty-five years, and served as prosecuting attorney of the county for four terms. In 1902 he located in El Paso, Texas, where he has an extensive law practice and is one of the leaders of the bar in the border city. Four children were born to Thomas M. and Lucy B. Jones, as follow: Harold Ambrose, deceased; Ernest W., of this review; Thomas M., El Paso, Texas; Lucy Fay, deceased.

Ernest W. Jones was educated in the Rolla public schools and grad¬ uated from the El Paso, Texas, High School in 1905. He then entered the University of Missouri and graduated from the law department of the State University in 1909. He began the practice of his profession at El Paso in 1909, and continued in the legal profession in that city until 1913. During his residence in El Paso he represented his county in the State legislature as senator. In 1913 he came to Sedalia, and practiced his profession for a little over a year and then took up his residence on the farm in Hughesville township.

On June 26, 1912, Ernest W. Jones and Erna Lucille McClure were united in marriage. Mrs. Erna Lucille Jones is a daughter of the late John Wesley McClure, an extended biography of whom appears in this volume. One child has blessed this marriage - Ernest Walter Jones, bom April, 1914.

Mr. Jones is a Democrat. He is a member of the Methodist Epis¬ copal Church, as is Mrs. Jones. He is affiliated fraternally with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

William A. Claycomb. - Twenty years ago, when W. A. Claycomb purchased the old Thornton place of 100.5 acres, in the southwest part of Longwood township, Pettis County, he had very little money and was obliged to incur an indebtedness at the very beginning of his career. Since 1898 he has been constantly adding to his acreage, and now has a splendid estate of 672 acres. Mr. Claycomb's policy has been to buy land, even if he had to go in debt for it, a method of procedure which was invariable during his whole career, and make the land pay for itself with a succession of crops. His plan has proved successful. On the heights overlooking the valley of the Muddy River, Mr. Claycomb erected, in 1917, one of the finest farm mansions in this section of Missouri. It is a splendid modern brick structure of ten rooms, fitted with every modern convenience to make living comfortable, and finished in hardwood throughout. The lawn facing the highway to the west is enclosed with a stone wall, in keeping with the general plan of the building. Mr. Claycomb has been an extensive feeder of live stock for years, and annually produces over one hundred and fifty head of swine for the markets. He also feeds and fattens over one hundred head of cattle annually.

William A. Claycomb was born in Sedalia, in 1869, a son of John D. and Augusta (Washburn) Claycomb, natives of Virginia. John D. Claycomb was a "Forty-Niner" who crossed the plains in 1850 and delved in the gold mines of California for a few years. Upon his return to Missouri he came to Sedalia, after a residence in Saline County for a few years. He eventually made a settlement on the plains above the Muddy River, and resided upon his farm for forty years. In his old age he removed to a home in Sedalia, where he died in January, 1918, aged eighty-five years. He was father of four children: O. W. Claycomb, Guymon, Oklahoma; William A., of this review; Robert 0., Lawton, Okla¬ homa; Mrs. Kate Powell, Hughesville township. The old home place of the Claycombs is now owned by the subject of this sketch, the homestead being located just northwest of the new home recently erected by Mr. Claycomb. An extended biography of John D. Claycomb is written in this volume.

The early schooling of William A. Claycomb was obtained in the Sedalia public schools and Fayette College, and the old log school house known as the Fristoe School. He has always resided in Pettis County, with the exception of some years spent in southwest Missouri, during the nineties. After farming the home place for some time after reaching his majority, he purchased his own farm, as herein stated, and eventually became owner of the home place.

Mr. Claycomb was married in 1892 to Miss Mollie Talbert, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of William Talbert, who moved from his native State to Barry County, Missouri, and died there. The children born to W. A. and Mollie Claycomb are as follow: William Talbert, a farmer, resides in Saline County, married Rosella Claycomb, and has one child, William Talbert, Jr.; Ruth, wife of Joseph Menefee, Jr., living at home ; Lawrence, died in 1916, at the age of twelve years ; Bruce and Dorothy, at home, and Marjorie Ann, born November 7, 1918.

working, industrious citizen, who has the welfare of his community and family at heart, and believes in building up the land which has come into his possession.

Padfield N. Kemp, probably the oldest living native-born pioneer of Heath's Creek township, was born February 28, 1843, and is now owner of one hundred acres of the farm upon which he was born, over seventy-six years ago. He is a son of Thomas Hall and Regina (Newbill) Kemp, both of whom were natives of old Virginia. Thomas A. Kemp was born January 12, 1792, and died September 17, 1846. He first settled in Callaway County, far back in the old days, when the first pioneers came to Missouri up the Missouri River, in order to make homes in the wilderness. During the early twenties he located in Pettis County, bought a small place, and afterwards entered government land. Maria R. (Newbill) Kemp was bom July 14, 1788, and died March 25, 1872. There were eleven children born to this pioneer couple; Sanford, deceased; William Giles, deceased; Amanda De Jarnette, deceased; Mrs. Bettie or Elizabeth Scott, James T., Ezekiel Franklin, all deceased ; Susan Maria Estes, of Sedalia ; Robert Jordan Kemp, Heaths Creek township; Padfield N., of this review; Sarah Theresa Brooks, St. Louis, Missouri, and Josephus, deceased.

Schools during the boyhood days of P. N. Kemp were likely to be held in the summer season, as well as in the winter, and the term was but for three months in the year. School was held in a log building fitted with benches made of rough split logs. The only light let in the building was from an opening cut out of one of the logs in the side of the struc¬ ture. A wide fireplace occupied one side of the room, and it wras filled with blazing logs in winter. Wooden chimneys served as a flue in the school house, as well as for the Kemp home, which was also built of hewn logs. Hunting was good in those days, and wild game abounded. Mr. Kemp recalls that the first court of Pettis County was held in a little store at Pinhook, the court house or county seat later being located at Georgetown. Thomas A. Kemp owned, during his lifetime, 400 acres of land. At his death this estate was divided and Padfield Kemp received forty acres. To this he added a ten-acre tract, and then fifty acres. He moved to his farm at the time of his marriage, in December, 1868, to Margaret Lavina Steele.

In October, 1864, Mr. Kemp enlisted for service with the Confederate forces in Colonel Wood's Regiment, Marmaduke's Brigade, General Price's Division, and took part in the memorable retreat of Price's army down through Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, finally surrendering at Shreve¬ port, Louisiana. After the surrender he returned home to live a life of industry and peace upon the farm.

Margaret Lavina (Steele) Kemp, for many years his devoted and faithful wife, was born October 21, 1850, and died January 28, 1907. The children born to Padfield and Margaret L. Kemp are : Edward, rural mail carrier on route No. 1, out of Sedalia; Arthur Hall Kemp, constable of Sedalia township; Mrs. Ella McFarland, Bowling Green township; Lillie May, deceased; Rosa, wife of Dr. Simcoe, of Callaway County; Ora, wife of Rev. Hugh Barley, Benton, Kansas; Harry Hall, deceased; Margaret, her father's capable housekeeper. Mrs. Margaret Kemp was born in Callaway County, a daughter of John Steele, a Callaway County pioneer.

Mr. Kemp has always been a Democrat, and it is practically certain that he will always remain loyal to Democratic principles of government. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is well respected and esteemed by all who know him.

James William Blackburn, retired Houstonia, is a native Missourian, and is a son of Missouri pioneer parents. He was born March 5, 1842, in Shelby County, Missouri, and is a son of Samuel and Nancy (Grewell) Blackburn, both natives of Kentucky.

Samuel Blackburn was born in 1800 and died in 1880. He was a son of Robert Blackburn, a native of North Carolina, who was a pioneer in Kentucky. When seeking a location in Kentucky, Robert Blackburn, ac¬ companied by his two brothers, rode horseback from North Carolina to Kentucky, at a time when the entire country between his native State and Kentucky was an unsettled wilderness. Samuel Blackburn was reared in Kentucky and there married Nancy Grewell, who was born in 1810 and died in 1875. She was a daughter of John Grewell, a native of Delaware who was also a Kentucky pioneer. In 1836, Samuel Blackburn and his wife settled in Shelby county, Missouri, and there developed a fine farm. He was one of the first pioneers in Shelby County and was prominently identified with the development of that county. Samuel and Nancy Blackburn had a family of ten children, as follow: Marshall; Mary; Elizabeth; and Thompson, deceased; Emma, wife of Robert Given, Saline County; James W., subject of this review; John N., lives in Shelby County; Samuel T., the present county judge of Shelby County; Webster and Robert, deceased.

out he tried to enlist in the Confederate Army, but his martial aspira¬ tions were very much opposed by, his father. However, so determined was the young man to take a part in the fighting that he enlisted with the Confederate forces at a camp in the neighborhood and then returned to his home to get a supply of clothes. After returning home he was captured by Union forces and prevented from joining the Confederate Army as a soldier. Later he served in the Missouri Home Guards. When he attained his majority, he began farming on his own account in Shelby county and became owner of a farm in his native county. He sold out in 1873 and came to Saline County where he engaged in farming until 1883. In that year he came to Pettis County and purchased a farm, six miles east of Houstonia. He erected a good home on this tract and other sub¬ stantial buildings and improved a fine farm of 320 acres. Mr. Blackburn sold this farm in 1911, and then located upon a larger place, three and a half miles west of Houstonia in Blackwater township. The Blackburn farm consists of 490 acres and is one of the best improved places in northern Pettis County. Mr. Blackburn turned over the farm manage¬ ment to his son in 1916 and moved to Houstonia.

March 5, 1863, James W. Blackburn and Miss Mary T. Simpson were united in marriage. To this union were born ten children: Annie, Sam¬ uel W., Emma J., Josiah L., Vinie, Alice, Joshua, Ruby, Porter, Granville.

Annie is the wife of Joseph Franklin and resides on a farm near Knob Noster, Missouri. She is mother of seven children: Joseph, For¬ rest, Ruby, Thomas, Nell, Annie Lee, James.

Samuel W. was bom November 24, 1865, and died in November, 1914, near McAllister Springs, Missouri. He had married Miss Uda Bennett and left three children: Marianna, Ganelle and Porter.

Mr. Blackburn has two grand sons, Joseph and Forrest Franklin, serving in the National Army. Both boys enlisted in the service soon after the United States declared war upon Germany and are soldiers in the Thirty-fifth Division, American Expeditionary Forces. They have participated in some hard-fought battles on the western front in France.

Mrs. Mary T. (Simpson) Blackburn, mother of the foregoing chil¬ dren, was born in Monroe County, Missouri, October 14, 1845, and de¬ parted this life November 30, 1918. She was a daughter of Walker and Catherine Ann (Dixon) Simpson and was a devoted wife and a kind and helpful mother whose loss is sincerely mourned not only by her fam¬ ily but the people of the Houstonia neighborhood. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and a devoted Christian woman in every sense of the word Christian.

James Henry Newland, proprietor of a well-improved and fertile farm, situated on the Rock Road, which forms the first link of the Sedalia- Booneville Highway, is a native of Polk County, Missouri. He was born August 20, 1859, and is a son of Judge William Henry and Mary (Carter) Newland. The Newland home place is situated in section 1 of Cedar township, and embraces 160 acres of good land, intersected by the rock road. This place has been the home of the Newlands since 1893, and is well improved with an attractive white farm house, good barns, a silo, and wire fencing. Mr. Newland is engaged in general farming and stock raising.

Judge William Henry Newland was born in Giles County, Tennessee, in 1817. He was reared to young manhood in his native county, and there married Mary Carter, a native of the same county. One year after their marriage they came to Polk County, Missouri, with their first born son, and there made a home among the first settlers of the county. Mr. New¬ land entered government land and improved a farm, upon which he resided until he made a permanent settlement in Pettis County, in 1866. He settled upon what is known as the Newland farm, near the village of Newland, so named in his honor. His home was just across the road from that of the subject of this sketch. Here he lived and died, engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, his death occurring on September 22, 1906, at the great age of eighty-nine years. He served one term as Probate Judge of Polk County. Mrs. Mary Newland died in 1875, leaving children as follow, five living out of a family of ten children born: L. M. Newland, a farmer, living in Polk County, Missouri; Carter Newland, Marshall, Missouri; D. Clinton, living on a part of the home place; James Henry Newland, of this review; Mrs. Anna Suddath, Linn, Osage County, Missouri, whose husband is a Methodist minister.

J. H. Newland attended the district school of his neighborhood, and began to make his own way in the world in 1888. He possessed a team of horses and a mule. For two years he made his home with his father, while engaged in tilling rented land. He then purchased fifty-four acres, valued at $500. His first payment on this farm was $250. With the assistance of a capable and devoted wife he has accumulated a quarter section of land, which is free from all incumbrances.

On August 2, 1888, Mr. Newland was married to Miss Addie New¬ land, who was born near Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, February 20, 1864. She is a daughter of Samuel and Mary W. (Martin) Newland, the latter of whom was born in 1823 and died in 1913. Samuel Newland was a native of Clark County, Kentucky, and his wife was born in Bour¬ bon County, Kentucky. Mary W. (Martin) Newland was a daughter of John W. Martin, who settled in Callaway County in 1828, and died there at the age of fifty-seven years.

Mrs. Newland died in 1913, at the age of ninety years. Samuel New¬ land located in Callaway County in 1834. He died in 1892, at the age of eighty-four years. Five children have been born to James Henry and Addie Newland, as follow: John Fulton, Mary L., Charles, Henry Wilson, and Samuel Francis. John Fulton Newland was born October 22, 1891, became a private in the National Army October 20, 1918, and was in training at Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth, Texas, and trained at Camp Stanley, San Antonio, Texas, in the cavalry, until his honorable discharge from the service, December 20, 1918. Mary L. Newland is at home with her parents. Charles Joseph, at home with his parents, was born January 20, 1897, was inducted into the National Army in August, 1918, received an honorable discharge and was placed in the deferred classification list. Henry Wilson Newland, aged eighteen years, assists his father on the farm. Samuel Francis Newland was born in January, 1905.

For a period of five years Mr. Newland and his brother operated a general store at the village of Newland, and conducted the Newland postoffice until rural route No. 1 was established and the postoffice then discontinued. He is a stanch and uncompromising Democrat of the old school, who has always taken an active interest in political matters on behalf of Democratic policies and his friends. He is a member of the Beaman Lodge, Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Newland professed the Presbyterian faith at the age of fourteen years in Callaway County.

John Ellis Mitchell, M. D. - For the past twenty years Dr. John E. Mitchell, of Hughesville, has been practicing his profession as physician in the farming sections of Pettis County. His power of diagnosis, and ability to prescribe and heal the sick and ailing has grown and his skill has become more pronounced with the years that have passed. The life of a country physician is not one of ease, and does not permit of remain¬ ing in a cosy and comfortable office to prescribe for visiting patients. The doctor must be ready at all times to respond to the call of distress, at any hour of the day or night, no matter what the condition of the weather or roadways. Doctor Mitchell has measured up to the require¬ ments of his difficult and exacting profession and has kept pace with the advancements made in medical science since his graduation, in 1898, from the Medical University. In addition to his physician's duties he is a successful agriculturist. Doctor Mitchell is owner of 720 acres of very fine land, near the town of Hughesville, which he is improving into a splendid country estate, and which is devoted to stock raising. Dr. J. E. Mitchell was born in Hughesville township, February 26, 1872, the son of James Dillard Mitchell, a native of Cooper County, and former well and favorably known resident of Pettis County.

James Dillard Mitchell, late of Hughesville township, was born in 1835 and died in 1908. He was a son of Fleming H. Mitchell, a native of Tennessee, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving under that famous hero, Gen. Andrew Jackson, whose standard he followed in the memorable battle of New Orleans. Fleming H. Mitchell settled in Cooper County, Missouri, in 1820, when much of this section of Missouri was in a wild and undeveloped state. He cleared his pre-emption of heavy timber and created a farm from the wilderness, on the land grant which a grate¬ ful government awarded him for services in the War of 1812. He assisted in clearing the site of the present city of Boonville, Missouri, and was quite prominent in political affairs in Cooper County, for years being one of the leading citizens of the county. In his old age he came to live with his son, James D., at his country home near Hughesville, and died here, aged over eighty years. James D. Mitchell was reared in Cooper County, and was brought up to lead a farmer's life. In 1865 he located in Hughes- ville township and created in the course of years a splendid farm of 420 acres in section 29. His hobby was the growing of apples, and he planted forty acres of his farm to apple trees, carefully caring for the trees while his sons attended to the farming operations. One crop alone brought him the large return of $2,500, and for years the Mitchell orchards were famous in this locality.

James D. Mitchell was married in 1858 to Miss Mary K. Ellis, who survives him and now resides at 705 Harrison street, Sedalia, Missouri. Mrs. Mary K. (Ellis) Mitchell was born in 1836 at Georgetown, a daugh¬ ter of Willis B. Ellis, who served as sheriff of Pettis County during the troublesome times of the Civil War. Ten children were born to this union: Thomas A., a farmer, Hughesville township; Fleming S., deceased; Dr. John E. Mitchell, of this review; Dr. H. E. Mitchell, who died in 1917, while serving on the staff of Grace Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri; Dr. J. D. Mitchell, a practicing dentist, Sedalia, Missouri; William and James, died in infancy; Mrs. Nellie Brashears, a widow, residing with Mrs. Mitchell; Mrs. Leonidas Luther, Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Julia A. Smith, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. J. E. Mitchell studied at the Warrensburg State Normal School, and there finished his classical studies before entering Washington University, at St. Louis, to pursue the study of medicine. He was a student of the Washington University when it was merged with the State University and created into the Medical Department of Missouri State University. He received his degree in 1898, and at once began practice at Poston, Missouri. He remained at Poston in active practice until 1912, and then located in Hughesville. Dr. Mitchell has an extensive and lucrative prac¬ tice, which extends over a radius of territory twelve to fifteen miles in extent. In addition to his extensive private practice he is the physician in charge of the County Home.

Doctor Mitchell was married June 25, 1902, to Miss Sallie Elmore, a daughter of Oliver Elmore, late of Heath's Creek township, and one of the prominent early settlers of Pettis County. The reader is referred to the sketch of N. P. Elmore, of Sedalia, for extended information regard¬ ing the Elmore family. Doctor and Mrs. Mitchell have two sons and a daughter: John Ellis Mitchell, Jr., born 1904; James Oliver Mitchell, born in 1906, and Mary Emeline, born in 1908.

societies. He and Mrs. Mitchell worship at the Christian Church of Hughesville. Doctor Mitchell is vice-president of the Hughesville Bank, and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America lodges.

George W. Landes. - There must be considerable satisfaction in being able to say, if one is a farmer that he has made and created what is visible to the eye of the outward appearance of the farmstead. This is what George W. Landes, a native Virginian, has accomplished in Hughes¬ ville township. His fine farm of 190 acres, with its neat farm residence in the center of the tract, is ample evidence of the fact that Mr. Landes has built up his estate from land which had little or no improvements on it when he purchased it, in 1885. The Landes farmstead is noteworthy from the fact that none but pure-bred hogs are raised on the place. Mr. Landes maintains a herd of from sixty to one hundred head of pure-bred Poland China swine on his place, which are sold to hog fanciers at good prices, in all parts of the United States. During past years he held several successful annual sales, but lately disposes of the animals at private sales and has a demand for all that his breeding pens can produce. He owns a herd of pure-bred Angora goats, and has a fine herd of pure-bred shorthorn cattle, part of which are eligible to registration.

Mr. Landes was born August 17, 1855, in Augusta, near Staunton, Virginia, the boyhood home of President Wilson. He is a son of Abraham and Isabella (Finley) Landes, the former a native Pennsylvanian, and the latter of Virginia. His parents spent all of their lives in Virginia, his father dying there in 1866, and his mother departing this life in 1862. Abraham and Isabella Landes were the parents of five children: Josiah, spent his life in Virginia and died there, in 1918; George W., of this review; Marion, deceased; Riley, LaMonte, Missouri; Anna, wife of Rev. Eusler, a Methodist minister of Maryland.

Left an orphan when eight years of age, George W. Landes was reared in the home of kindly strangers and received a good up-bringing. When twenty-one years old he started out to make his own way. He spent one year in Ohio, and lived in Illinois from 1876 to 1878. In the latter year he came to Pettis County, and during the first year of his residence in this county he was employed at farm labor for monthly wages. He then rented land near LaMonte for six years, in the meantime saving enough money to pay the initial purchase price of his present homestead. His forty years of residence in Pettis County have brought him success, warm friends, and, although past sixty-three years of age, Mi1. Landes is a young man in appearance and actions. The Landes home is modern in every respect, with lighting system, furnace and running water. In fact, the entire farm is a model of its kind.

In 1880, George W. Landes and Mary Todd were united in marriage. They have children as follow: Luther Earl, deceased; Annie L., wife of Dr. John G. Martin, New Mexico ; Lester C., Hughesville, Missouri, married Ethel George, and has two children; Harvey, born in 1892, formerly a private soldier in the National Army in training at Camp McArthur, where he went in July, 1918, and was honorably discharged from the service in January, 1919 ; Ralph Marion, Ruby May and Mary M., at home.

The mother of the foregoing children was born in Ohio, a daughter of J. A. and Isophene (Bobbitt) Todd, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana. The Todd family migrated to Pettis County and made a settlement near LaMonte. Mrs. Todd is deceased, and Mr. Todd now resides in Texas, having reached the great age of eighty-one years.

Mr. Landes is a Democrat. He is a member of the Christian Church, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge of Hughes¬ ville.

Jonathan McNutt, late esteemed resident of Heath's Creek township, was born on October 7, 1838, and died in 1893. He was born and reared in Ohio, and accompanied his parents to Kansas prior to the Civil War, and homesteaded land in the new State when Kansas was thrown open for settlement to the homesteaders. Mr. McNutt served for a time in a Kansas regiment of volunteers during the Civil War, and after the war he came to Pettis County, Missouri, after disposing of his farm in Frank¬ lin County, Kansas. He purchased and improved a farm in Pettis County and became owner of 145 acres. He was twice married, his first wife being Emeline Sewell, who died in Kansas, leaving a daughter, Mrs. Flora Phillips, who died in Sedalia.

In 1888 Mr. McNutt was married to Mrs. Mary E. (Lawler) Ellis, who was born in Cooper County, Missouri, September 22, 1844. She is a daughter of Timothy and Mary Jane (O'Brien) Lawler, natives of Ireland. Timothy Lawler emigrated from Ireland and made his way to Missouri in the early days, and became well to do as a farmer and stockman. He was born in 1789 and died in 1854, settling in Cooper County as early as 1819. He reared a family of nine children, of whom Mary E. McNutt is the youngest, and her brother, William Lawler, aged eighty-five years, born July 6, 1833, a bachelor living with Mrs. McNutt, are the only survivors of this family. Mary E. Lawler was first married in 1866 in Cooper County to Benjamin F. Ellis, born in 1844, and died in 1877. Mr. Ellis served in the Confederate army, and fought at the Battle of Bull's Run and many other engagements in Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. He was badly wounded at Vicksburg. Mr. Ellis was born in Heath's Creek township, a son of John and Malinda (Ramey) Ellis, who first settled in Cooper County and then made a permanent home in Pettis County.

For two years prior to Mr. McNutt's death Mr. and Mrs. McNutt resided in Sedalia, Missouri. Five years later Mrs. McNutt returned to the farm. Mrs. McNutt is a member of Gilead Christian Church, and is a bright, intelligent and well-preserved lady of the old school.

William Hoffman, the oldest established merchant of Longwood and northern Pettis County has been engaged in the mercantile business since 1875. He began as clerk in a Longwood store, soon became inter¬ ested financially in the business and became sole proprietor in 1888. The Hoffman store is well stocked with a variety of general merchandise and a drug store owned by Dr. J. D. Prowell is maintained in connection. The drug business is in charge of W. M. Hoffman.

William Hoffman was born January 17, 1840 in Kingsport, Tennes¬ see. He is a son of Aaron and Mary Ann (Richardson) Hoffman, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Tennessee. The Hoffmans are of old Penn¬ sylvania Dutch descent, the Richardsons being of Scotch-Irish ancestry, a strain which produces thorough-going Americanism. Aaron Hoffman died at Athens, Alabama, while living with his eldest son who cared for him and his aged wife during their last years. Aaron Hoffman was father of eight children: John R., deceased; Mrs. Margaret J. Martin, died in Texas; Mrs. Lavina Skinner, Kingsport, Tennessee; James, de¬ ceased; Bruce died in childhood; Mrs. Helen M. Nelms, died in Kingsport, Tennessee; William, subject of this review; a daughter died in infancy.

In the summer of 1858, William Hoffman left his boyhood home and came to Pettis County. Sixty years of residence in this county have been productive of good results and he ranks as one of the substantial and well known pioneers of the county. For one year he taught school. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the old Confederate State Guard in 1861, and served under General Price. He was through Price's mem¬ orable campaigns, fought in many battles and skirmishes served in the battle of Lexington, and returned home after the ending of Price's first campaign in Missouri. After remaining home a few days he found it expedient to leave, but was captured by a detachment of Company I, Jeff Davis' First Iowa Cavalry on Blackwater and taken to the old Gratiot Street Federal Prison in St. Louis. He was held there for six weeks and then transferred to the prison at Alton, Illinois. After being held there for seven months, he was exchanged and taken to Vicksburg where he was set free. He then crossed the Mississippi River to Little Rock, Arkansas, and enlisted at Camp Horsehead, Western Arkansas under Col. R. H. Musser. Musser's Battalion was organized at Camp Horsehead, Arkansas and afterwards consolidated with Gen. John B. Clark's Ninth Infantry regiment. This battalion participated in the battle of Pleasant Hill, and other minor battles. On the banks of Red River, the Confederate forces were divided, the Texas troops following the banks of the river and Mr. Hoffman's command went forward to meet Steele's Army on Saline River, Arkansas. After the battle of Jenkins Ferry, he was taken down with rheumatism, later being paroled by Gen. E. R. S. Canby at Shreveport, Louisiana, June 23, 1865. He was dis¬ charged June 23, 1865 from Company H, Ninth Missouri Infantry.

Mr. Hoffman remained in Louisiana for one year after his discharge and raised a crop of corn and cotton in Claiborne Parish. He returned to Pettis County in 1866 and taught school for the next three years. On November 29, 1869, he was married to Sarah Lavenia Martin, a native of Scott County, Virginia, adjacent to Mr. Hoffman's native county in Tennessee. She was born in 1840. Soon after his marriage Mr. Hoffman located in Longwood where he has since been engaged in the mercantile business.

The following children were born to William and Sarah Hoffman: Genevra May, wife of Foree Bellwood, Saline County, Missouri, owner of a fine farm, and residing in Marshall, Missouri; Mrs. Dr. J. D. Prowell, Longwood, Missouri; Yolande, wife of W. Lee Lower, Longwood town¬ ship; one child died in infancy; William Martin, in charge of the Long¬ wood drug store. The mother of these children is a daughter of Thomp¬ son G. Martin who was prominent in the affairs of Scott County, Vir¬ ginia and represented his county in the Virginia State Legislature. Her mother was Denise W. (Morris) Martin. The Martins came to Pettis County after the Civil War, the widow dying in 1903 at the home of William Hoffman.

Mrs. Genevra May (Hoffman) Bellwood is mother of the following children: Captain James M. Bellwood; Elithe, wife of William G. Boatright, a lieutenant in the field artillery of the National Army, enlisted in 1917, and is now in France; William H., Ruth, a student in Missouri University; "Blue Eyes," a student in Marshall High School; Foree and John, twins. Captain James M. Belwood enlisted in the Regular United States Army in 1917, was trained at Fort Riley, where he pursued the special officers course, and was first commissioned a second lieutenant, then promoted to a first lieutenancy then captain. He was ordered to France on November 5, 1918, as captain of Company A, Twenty-fifth Machine Gun Battalion, but when the armistice was signed his sail¬ ing date was cancelled and he is now located at Camp Sheridan, Alabama. Mrs. Yolande Lower has two daughters, Lavenia Martin and Catherine McLellan Lower. William H. Bellwood volunteered in the aviation de¬ partment of the National Army at the age of eighteen years, trained at Champaign, Illinois, transferred to Texas, returned to Champaign, was taken ill and was honorably discharged from the service.

While Mr. Hoffman is a Democrat he is inclined to vote independ¬ ently in local affairs. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. William Hoffman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is connected with a family of religious workers, of pioneer days, her uncle, Rev. Dr. Patton of East Tennessee, was editor of the Holsten Christian Advocate for several years and prominent in church circles.

Robert Jordan Kemp. - Seventy-seven years have elapsed since Robert Jordan Kemp, pioneer of Heath's Creek township, was born, in a cabin on his father's primitive farm not far from his present home. Great changes have taken place in Pettis County since then. Few houses were to be seen on the prairies. The school house which the Kemp children attended was built of logs, and school was held for about three months in the year. Game abounded. Mr. Kemp recalls that it was a favorite pastime of his to catch wild turkeys in a trap, of his own contrivance, to the number of five and six birds at a time. The settlers had plenty of food; fish were plentiful, and the streams of Pettis County afforded a fisherman's paradise. The meetings of the settlers were held in the school house, and the primitive ox-cart was the principal mode of convey¬ ance, as well as the beast of burden.

the boys and girls of the Kemp family were born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp have lived upon their farm of 200 acres for fifty years, and this fine farm is part of a large tract entered by Mr. Kemp's father in the early twenties. Every tree, every shrub, every plot of bluegrass, and every improvement on the place were erected by the owners. The spring of 1919 will witness a half-century since Mr. Kemp began the redemption of the tract from prairie land.

Robert Jordan Kemp was born March 22, 1841, and is the son of Thomas A. Kemp, an early pioneer of Heath's Creek township, a sketch of whom appears in this work in connection with that of Padfield N. Kemp of Heath's Creek township. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Kemp enlisted at Longwood, Missouri, with a company of men who joined General Price's army of invasion of Missouri. He participated in the famous retreat of Price's army down through Missouri and Kansas and Arkansas, and eventually surrendered with the Confederate forces at Shreveport, Louisiana.

On November 28, 1867, R. J. Kemp was married to Sallie H. Hiery¬ nomus, born in Pettis County, October 28, 1848. She is a daughter of Rector Hierynomus, a native of Kentucky, who settled in Pettis County in the early thirties. Seven children have blessed this marriage: Charles Henry, married Tillie Berry, and resides on the home place; Mrs. Eva Berry, Sedalia, has one child, Irene; Lenona, wife of William Hierynomus, is mother of six children; Joseph, deceased; Carrie, wife of James Rob¬ erts, Otterville, Missouri; has six children; Grover, resides in Natchez, Mississippi, and Elizabeth, deceased.

Rector Hierynomus was the son of John Hierynomus, who came from Kentucky to Pettis County in the early thirties and established a home in this county. He reared a large family of eighteen children, who were bom of two marriages. His first wife was Susan Franz, of Kentucky, who died in 1861. She was a daughter of Henry Franz, a native of Vir¬ ginia and a Pettis County pioneer. There were nine children born to the first marriage: Catherine, deceased; John, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary Pace, a widow, living in Sedalia; Mrs. Sallie H. Kemp, of this review; Mrs. Nancy Garrell, Sedalia; Mrs. Vassa Kelly, a widow, living at Tulsa, Oklahoma ; Frank, resides in Oklahoma ; Benona, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Bettie Binckley, Sweet Springs, Missouri. By a second marriage of Rector Hierynomus with Susan Kemp, the following children were born : , Charles, an auctioneer, Sedalia, Missouri ; Mrs. Willie Tuck, wife of M. P. Tuck, Houstonia, Missouri ; Mrs. Sue Anderson,

Smithton, Missouri; Reuben, Washington; Mrs. Eliza Marr, Nelson, Mis¬ souri; Hope, a stenographer, employed in Sedalia; Tim, an auctioneer, Sedalia.

Mr. Kemp is a Democrat. He and Mrs. Kemp are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. They are a jolly, hospitable and companionable couple, who are highly respected in their community.

Emmett David Orear. - The success achieved by E. D. Orear, cashier of the Bank of Longv/ood, Pettis County, shows that it is not necessary for an ambitious young man to go to a large city or town in order to win success. Mr. Orear was bom and reared in the pretty inland town of Longwood, saw his opportunity in his home village, and has remained there. He discerned the need of banking facilities for the accommodation of the farmers and stockmen of the rich territory tributary to Longwood, and joined with others in establishing the bank, a project which has met with well-deserved success. Only recently, in 1916, Mr. Orear erected one of the finest and most attractive modern homes in Pettis County. He is a successful farmer and stockman, as well as banker, his stock farm embracing 286 acres adjoining the town of Longwood. Mr. Orear raises pure-bred Duroc Jersey swine on his farm.

E. D. Orear was born August 15, 1877, in Longwood. He is a son of Judge E. H. Orear, now living in Sedalia. Judge Orear was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. When a young man he left his native State and came to Howard County, Missouri. Here he was married to Cinnia N. Moffett, born in Howard County, in 1843, a daughter of pioneer parents. Mrs. Orear died May 10, 1915. She was mother of the following children: Willie L., died at the age of forty-five years; Nannie, wife of Rev. S. P. Clayton, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, resides at Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Callie Gray, Marshall, Missouri, whose husband has served as county clerk of Saline County for the past six years ; Cecil C., a farmer of Heath's Creek township; Emmett David, subject of this review; Dollie, deceased; Alexis H., a merchant of Longwood.

Judge E. H. Orear was engaged in farming and stock raising in Longwood until his removal to a home in Sedalia, in 1900. He was a welleducated man, who was long a leader in his community. In 1888 he was elected to the office of probate judge of Pettis County, and served a term of four years, giving eminent satisfaction to the people of the county in the faithful performance of the duties of this important position.

After obtaining his primary education in the public schools of Pettis County, E. D. Orear studied in the Nevada, Missouri, High School and the Warrensburg State Normal School. When he became of age he took charge of the home farm and has since been engaged in farming and stock raising and banking. He was married October 30, 1900, to Louise Lower, a daughter of the late Capt. John Lower, of Longwood township, a full account of whose life and career appears in this volume in connection with the biography of Judge R. N. Lower. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have two children: Mary Millicent, born October 24, 1902, now a student in the Synodical College, Fulton, Missouri, where she is a member of the sophomore class, and Ruby Louise, born January 19, 1905.

The Bank of Longwood was organized in April of 1910 by E. D. Orear and a number of the substantial farmers of the Longwood neigh¬ borhood. The officers of the bank are: R. N. Lower, president; E. D. Orear, cashier; Clement Jones, vice-president. The seven directors are: E. D. Orear, R. N. Lower, Clement Jones, W. E. Taylor, J. B. Greer, Frank Hierynomus and Thomas J. Raines. This bank was established by and for the convenience of the farms of the Longwood neighborhood, and the institution has met with a well-merited and deserved success. The capital of the bank is $10,000. The deposits exceed $170,000. The surplus on January 1, 1919, has reached the total of $16,000.

The bank is housed in its own substantial, neat-appearing, concrete building, fitted with modern and handsome fixtures and every convenience for the transaction of the business which has come to the bank in a steadily increasing flow since its inception.

A. H. Orear, of A. H. Orear & Company, conducting a general mer¬ chandise store at Longwood, Missouri, is a native of Longwood. The firm is composed of A. H. and C. C. Orear, brothers, sons of Judge David H. Orear, a sketch of whom appears in this work in connection with that of E. D. Orear, bank, of Longwood. The Orear store is an old-established one, and is completely stocked with high-class and dependable goods, to supply the surrounding rural population. The firm began business in March, 1918.

A. H. Orear was born December 28, 1882, and received his early education in the Longwood schools. He then studied at Sedalia High School and the Warrensburg State Normal School. From 1914 to 1917, inclusive, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia, Idaho.

His first experience in the mercantile business was in Longwood, in 1911, in the old brick store building. He disposed of this business and went to Idaho, remaining there until 1918, when he came back to Longwood and purchased his present store.

Mr. Orear was married in March, 1911, to Miss Ethel Marshall, a daughter of R. A. Marshall, of Longwood township, a sketch of whom appears in this history. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have one child, David Allen, aged four years.

Cecil C. Orear, farmer and stockman, of Heath's Creek township, owner of 380 acres of land in Longwood township, besides 186.66 acres in his home place, is a native of Longwood. Mr. Orear's home farm is known as "Maple Lane Farm," and is one of the beautiful and well-improved farms of this section of Missouri. The farm is so named because of the rows of splendid maple trees which border the roadway in front of the residence. Mr. Orear feeds and produces over one hundred head of hogs and one hundred head of cattle annually on his place.

C. C. Orear was born January 3, 1872. He was educated in the common schools, Sedalia Business College, and the Kansas City public schools. He has generally been engaged in farming with the exception of one year employed in the stock yards at St. Louis, and twelve years spent in the mercantile business at Longwood. Mr. Orear moved to his present home in 1913.

In February, 1914, Mr. Orear was married to Velma Thorpe, of Napton, Saline County, Missouri, a daughter of John Thorpe. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have one child, Cecil C., Jr., born March 24, 1918.

William Alonzo Lower. - The late William A. Lower, of Longwood township, was a citizen of Pettis County, who made a splendid success of his life work. Born in Kentucky, he accompanied his father, Capt. George Lower, to Pettis County, when an infant in arms. He was reared to young manhood in this county, and became one of its leading and best-respected citizens through a long career. Mr. Lower achieved a repu¬ tation as a fanner and stockman second to none in Pettis County. Deviat¬ ing from the well-worn path of agriculture, followed since time immemo¬ rial by others in a mediocre way, he studied the science of animal hus- bandry and won fame as an expert breeder. His vocation was the pro¬ duction of pure-bred livestock, and in this he became successful and widely known.

W. A. Lower was born in Kentucky in 1853. Full particulars con¬ cerning his parentage and ancestry will be found in the sketch of Judge R. N. Lower, elsewhere in this volume of Pettis County history. Mr. Lower was reared and educated in Pettis County, and was brought up to follow the pursuit of agriculture. After his marriage, in 1878, he and his wife settled upon a quarter section of land which had come to them through inheritance. This 160-acre farm was but the nucleus around which, in the years which followed, Mr. and Mrs. Lower built up the large estate of 500 acres which now comprises the Lower holdings in Longwood township. In course of time a beautiful home was erected, modem in every respect, the W. A. Lower farmstead becoming one of the bestequipped and best-improved places in this section of Missouri. Early in his farming operations Mr. Lower began specializing in the breeding of pure-bred registered Hampshire swine, and made a pronounced success of this undertaking, which his son is still carrying on with undiminished interest.

W. A. Lower was married in 1878 to Miss Mary McClellan, who was born in Illinois and accompanied her parents to Sedalia, Missouri, when but a child. She is a daughter of Samuel Ripley McClellan, a native of Maysville, Kentucky. S. R. McClellan was reared in Dayton, Ohio, and moved to Peoria County, Illinois, where he resided until about 1866, when he came to Pettis County. Mr. McClellan was a large land owner, and dealt heavily in Missouri lands during his residence in Pettis County. He died at Sedalia, May 16, 1876. His wife, Charlotte, nee Osborn, was a native of Virginia. Samuel R. and Charlotte McClellan were parents of nine children: Louis, Kansas City; Mrs. Miranda Yount, a widow, Okla¬ homa City; Edgar, Long Beach, California; Mrs. Augusta Pottinger, near Dayton, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Lower, of this review; Warren, living in New Mexico; Frank, deceased; Mrs. Catherine Strauser, Houghton, Michigan; Mrs. Hattie McCormick, Kansas City. The children born to William A. and Mary Lower are as follow: William Lee, Hattie and Catherine.

William Lee Lower is managing the "Hampshire Hill Farm," and is successfully carrying on the business founded by his father. He mar¬ ried Yolande, daughter of William Hoffman, of Longwood, and has two children, Lavinia Martin and Catherine McClellan. Hattie, died in

October, 1909, wife of Dr. F. L. Sutton, who is also deceased, left two children, Frank Luther and Lee Cowan, now living with their grand¬ mother Lower. Catherine McClellan married David Arnold, resides at Paris, Missouri, and has one child, John Wesley.

During his entire life the late William Alonzo Lower was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and endeavored to live a just and Christian life. He died September 20, 1915, and his loss was truly and sincerely mourned by those who had known him and had admired his sterling qualities during his useful career. He was a Republican, and took quite an interest in the affairs of his party. For many years he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Lower and the children of the family are all members of the Presbyterian Church.

Thomas Leslie Scott. - When Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Leslie Scott of Heath's Creek township began their wedded life in 1892 they had little of this world's goods and none of the comforts which they can now enjoy in their modern home of the present day. At the time of their marriage this estimable and congenial couple were owners of ninety acres of land not yet paid for. They started married life in debt. Eighty acres of the land had been bargained for by Mr. Scott before his marriage and ten acres was purchased from an uncle. They next bought the uncle's entire farm, then Mr. Scott purchased his mother's farm and during twentysix years of honest endeavor, good management and self-denial, they have become owners of a splendid tract of 360 acres of valuable land which is well improved with a modern farm residence of ten rooms, fitted with electric lights and hot and cold running water. Mr. Scott carries on general farming and stock raising and fattens for the market about forty head of cattle yearly. The Scott home was erected in 1912.

Thomas Leslie Scott was born September 10, 1863, on land which he now owns. He is the son of Thornton P. (b. January 6, 1831, d. October 1, 1870) and Mary E. (Kemp) Scott. Thornton P. Scott was born in Heath's Creek township and was a son of Hiram Scott, one of the first pioneers to settle in this township and whose wife was a Miss Anderson. He was a son of Adam Scott, a Pettis County pioneer. Adam Calhoun Scott was a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Pennsylvania, served as a soldier of the Revolutionary War and was one of the first of the Mis¬ souri pioneers, and one of the first to settle in Pettis County. He was born in 1746 and died in 1831.

Scott. Mrs. T. L. Scott

he improved and resided upon until his death. On January 12, 1853 he was married to Mary E. Kemp who was born December 18, 1832 on land now owned by the Scotts in Heath's Creek township. She was a daughter of Thomas A. Kemp, a Pettis County pioneer, a sketch of whom is in this volume. Mrs. Mary E. Scott died May 26, 1916, at the age of eighty-four years. The children born to Thornton P. and Mary E. Scott were as follow: Sarah Catherine, Mary Virginia, and Thomas Leslie. Sara Catherine Scott was born October 24, 1853 and was married to John L. Collier October 25, 1875. She is now a widow and resides in Sedalia. Mary Virginia Scott was born February 23, 1856, married William F. McFarland, deceased, and she resides in Longwood township.

Thomas L. Scott began to work when he was seven years old, and he resided with his mother until after his marriage in 1892. What he has accomplished and what he has accumulated has been won with the hard¬ est kind of labor and exceedingly good management, with the assistance of a devoted and capable wife to inspire him. On April 6, 1892, Thomas Leslie Scott and Stella Frances Hendrix were united in marriage. This marriage has been blessed with the following children: Orvis Hendrix, born February 22, 1893; Alta Marie, born October 21, 1894, married Earl Orr, a farmer, living near Sedalia, and has one child, Thomas Leroy Orr; Neva Catherine, born August 10, 1899, died in May, 1914.

Mrs. Stella Frances (Hendrix) Scott was born in Callaway County, Missouri, April 19, 1868. She is the daughter of William Lafayette and Catherine Jane (Craighead) Hendrix, natives of Tennessee and Missouri respectively. William L. Hendrix was an early pioneer in Missouri and was one of the Forty-niners to cross the plains to California in search of gold. He was born in 1829 and died in 1894. He crossed the great plains and mountains to the slopes of the Sierras with oxen and remained there for two years. He obtained some of the elusive yellow metal, as a return for his labor in the mines and returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After his return from the West he married and settled in Callaway County, where he joined his mother. He removed to LaMonte, Pettis County in 1881 in order to care for Mrs. Craighead (Kemp) the grandmother of Mrs. Scott, who had grown very feeble with age. In 1887 he returned to Callaway County. Catherine Jane (Craighead) Hen¬ drix, mother of Mrs. Scott, was born in 1832 and died in 1916. She was a daughter of George Craighead, who was a son of Isaiah Craighead, a Missouri pioneer, coming to the new State via the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers when the boats laden with his goods and supplies were of necessity pulled by hand against the current. The early settlers man¬ aged to transport their belongings by pulling on the ropes attached to their craft and walking along the banks of the river in places. William Craighead married a Miss Powell, a relative of the Pettis County Powells. The old brick mansion which was for many years the seat of the Craigheads in Callaway County, built by George Craighead, is still standing, four miles south of Fulton, Missouri. Up to a few years ago there were five generations of this old pioneer family living. The members of the family are noted for the great age attained. Mrs. Sarah (Craighead) Kemp, grandmother of Mrs. Scott, was born in 1813, came to Missouri with her parents in 1821 and lived to be ninety-five years old. William L. Hendrix was father of eleven children: George Robert, deceased; Sarah Ellen English, Kansas City, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth, deceased; John Lee, living near Fulton; James Craighead, deceased; Nancy Ida Bird, Kansas City, Missouri; William, deceased; Mrs. Stella F. Scott, of this review; Linna Catherine Shaffer, Kansas City; Maggie Nichols Kemp, Callaway County; Charles Gillin, Kansas City. The Craighead home, near Fulton, was for many years a great meeting place for the people of the neighborhood. Camp meetings, festivals, and kindred meetings were held in this home, and the grounds adjoining, the family for years having been very prominent in the county. Mrs. Scott's mother died at her home in Fulton.

Mr. Scott has been a lifelong Democrat, as was his father before him. He and Mrs. Scott are members and workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Longwood. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World at Sedalia. Few families can point to a longer residence in Missouri and Pettis County that the Scotts - three generations of this family have lived on the Scott land.

Richard Nathaniel Lower, presiding judge of the County Court of Pettis County, and large land owner and stockman of Longwood township, is a native of Jefferson County, Kentucky, but has lived nearly all of his life in Pettis County. Judge Lower was born on January 15, 1850, and is the son of Capt. George Lower, late pioneer citizen of Pettis County.

Capt. George Lower was born April 10, 1810, in Alsace-Lorraine. George Lower was reared to young manhood in his native country and immigrated to America in 1837. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Augustus, whom he married in 1833, and two children, Henry and Charles. When Mr. Lower came to America he was accompanied by some friends whose passage money he had defrayed. He first located at Port Hudson, Mississippi, where he was a construction foreman on the first steam railroad in that section of the country. He went from there to Kentucky, and was engaged in freighting produce down the Mississippi on flat boats. He managed to get together a considerable sum of money. Later he located at a point twelve miles east of Louisville, Kentucky, and conducted a general merchandise store. A large plantation owner, Will Locke by name, then persuaded him to take charge of his plantation and operate it with the slaves for a period of five years. This venture was successful and he accumulated $10,000 during five years. Mr. Lower then came to Pettis County and bought 700 acres of land in Longwood township. He increased his acreage to 2,350 acres, much of which he gave to his children during his lifetime. He gave his children on an average of 200 acres each.

During the Civil War Mr. Lower was appointed a captain of militia, and served the Union faithfully during his term of service. Although reared in the Lutheran faith, he became a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was active in religious matters during his long residence in this county, where he was a prominent figure until his death, in 1887.

Captain Lower's first wife died in 1841, and he was again married, in 1842, to Margaret Host. This union was blessed with children as follows: George, living west of Longwood; Jacob, living on a farm in Longwood township; Charles Nicholas, living in Longwood township; John Louis, deceased; Richard Nathaniel, subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Callis, Hughesville township; William A., deceased; Jesse, deceased. The children of the first marriage were: Henry, died in Pettis County; Mrs. Catherine Hieronymus, deceased; Mrs. Nancy Swope, Longwood township. Mrs. Margaret (Host) Lower died in 1865, and Captain Lower then married Mary Dice in 1866. One child was born to this union - Mrs. Louise Orear, Longwood.

R. N. Lower attended school in the little frame school house on his father's farm. His early schooling has been supplemented by reading, observation, and the influence of his travels in all parts of the country. He is a well-informed man, and a leader in his home community ana county. Mr. Lower has accumulated a splendid estate of 1,009 acres of land, all lying in one body in Longwood township. Upon this large farm are three sets of farm improvements. The home residence is a beautiful, modern structure, equipped with every appointment and convenience to make living enjoyable and comfortable. He has given a farm of 156 acres to his daughter, Mrs. Taylor. Judge Lower located on his present home place in 1885, and purchased 220 acres on five years' time, giving his note for the indebtedness. He paid out on the land in two years, and has placed practically every improvement upon the farm, including the beautiful shade trees which surround the residence. His thoroughbred shorthorn cattle are the feature of the place, and Judge Lower has always been an extensive cattle man.

On March 20, 1877, R. N. Lower was married to Miss Margaret Godbey, born near Otterville, Missouri. She was a daughter of the late Rev. Josiah Godbey, and a sister of Doctor Godbey, of St. Louis. Rev. Godbey was a Kentuckian, who preached the gospel in Missouri, and reared four sons, who also became ministers. Mrs. Margaret (Godbey) Lower died in 1890, leaving children as follow: One son, died in infancy; Mrs. Mamie Lenora Pottinger, living on part of the Lower land; Mrs. Caroline Corinne Taylor, living on a farm near Longwood; Jessie Helen, wife of Oliver Timperman, a stationery manufacturer, of Brooklyn, New York.

Judge Lower's second marriage was in 1891, to Anna J. McChesney, of Odessa, Missouri. Mrs. Anna J. Lower is a daughter of W. K. McChes¬ ney, a native of Virginia, who was born in 1840 and died in March, 1910. Mr. McChesney was married in Tennessee to Julia Frances Latham, born November 15, 1839, in Virginia, a daughter of James Latham. Soon after their marriage, in 1859, Mr. and Mrs. McChesney came to Lafayette County, Missouri, where Mr. McChesney engaged in the mercantile busi¬ ness at Mount Hope, Missouri, later locating in Odessa, where he died. There were nine children born to W. K. and Julia Frances McChesney, as follow: Lillian, William Yancey and Thomas Hugh, and Maude, deceased; Mrs. Anna J. Lower, of this review; Mary Virginia, wife of T. L. Gant, Odessa, Missouri; Roger, formerly a newspaper man, former president of Odessa College, and now engaged in the real estate business at San Jose, California; Fred, superintendent of the schools at Maryanna, Arkan¬ sas; Samuel, deceased.