Shelby County, Missouri - Biographical sketches, 1911 (part 11 of 16)

Mr. Greenfield was one of the charter members of Farmers' ]iank of Leonard, assisting in its organization and having lieen from the start a valued member of its board of directors. He is a man of resourceful nature, is progressive and energetic, and his course has been so ordered in all the relations of life as to retain to him the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He has shown a loyal interest in all that has tended to advance the welfare of his native county and is essentially liberal and progressive as a citizen. His enterprise and thrift are shown in the attractive and commodious modern residence, tine bam and other substantial buildings on his homestead, and he has reason to find satisfaction in the fact that he has been content to remain on his "native lieath" and to continue his identification with the great basic industry under whose influence he was reared, for he has achieved marked success and is one of the independent farmers and business men of the section in which he maintains his home and where he is surrounded by those environments that make for peace and happiness. He has served as school director but has never consented to become a candidate for any specific ])olitical office. He gives his allegiance to the Repul)lican party, his wife holding mem])ership in the jNF. E. church, to whose support they are liberal contributors.

Mr. Greenfield has been twice married. In 1871 he wedded Miss Melissa Ward, wbo was born in Iowa and who was a daughter of Charles and Rachel Ward. Mrs. Greenfield was summoned to eternal rest on the 4th of April, 1888, and of the eight children five are now living. Concerning them the following brief record is given : Samuel F., who is engaged in real estate business at Dighton, Lane county, Kansas; Joseph Victor, wbo is identified with the mining business at Marble, Colorado; Mary, who is the wife of George Thompson, of Adams, Oregon ; Nellie, who is the wife of Elmer Loft, of Shelby county, Missouri, and Wesley S., of this county. On the 10th of December, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Greenfield to Mrs. Emeline (Ward) Rogers, who was born in Pennsylvania, and who is a sister of his first wife. No children have been born of the second marriage. The family home is one notable for its gracious hospitality and is a favored rendezvous for the wide circle of friends that Mr. and Mrs. Greenfield have gathered about them.

Robert E. Capp

This energetic, enterprising and successful farmer and sheep breeder of Salt River township, in which he is one of the most progressive and esteemed citizens, is a native of this county and has passed the whole of his life to the present time within its borders. He secured his education in its district schools, acquired the graces of social life among its people, learned the duties of citizenship under its civil institutions, and has devoted all the years of his later youth and manhood to its progress and development. He is therefore wholly a ])roduct of the county, and his career, which has been successful for himself, has also ministered to the welfare of the region of his nativity, in which he has always felt a deep and abiding interest.

Mr. Capp was born on October 12, 1878, and is a grandson of David Capp, a native of Pennsylvania, and a son of Robert Jackson Capp, whose life began in this state on July 15, 1846. For many years the father owned a farm of 109 acres of good hind in this county and farmed it with skill, industry and progressiveness. He was also, during his residence in the county, an extensive feeder of hogs for the markets, and enjoyed a wide and creditable reputation as such. In 1908 he moved to a farm of thirty-seven acres near the town of Jasper, in the county of the same name, this state. And there he lived until the following year, when he sold this land and on January .3, 1910, bought property in Clarence, where he now lives. He was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Powell, a native of Benton county, Missouri. Six children have been born of the union, and all of them are living and residents of Shelby county. They are: John D.; AVilliam H. ; Mary, the wife of Wesley Clark; Sarah Ann, the wife of Albert Kendal; Jesse, and James T. Capp, who trades extensively in mules. The mother of these children died on December 24, 1904. In politics the father is a pronounced Democrat and an energetic and helpful worker for the success of his party in all its campaig-ns. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church, South. Robert E. Capp grew to manhood on bis father's farm and attended the district school in the vicinity when he had oppoi'tunity during his boyhood and youth. While his educational facilities were limited, he made good use of them and thereby laid the foundation for an extensive fund of general knowledge which he has since acquired from judicious and reflective reading. After leaving school he continued to work on the home place and assist the family until he reached the age of eighteen. At that age he started a farming and live stock industry of his own on eighty acres of land which he rented for a time and then purchased. His farm is located near Bacon Chapel and is one of the best in that part of the township, and he has made it what it is by the vigor and skill with which he has cultivated it and the good judgment and taste with which he has improved it.

Early in his career as a farmer Mr. Capp took a liking to sheep and ever since he has fed and raised this interesting and profitable but uncertain and delicate animal for the markets on an extensive scale. Under his care and accurate knowledge of the business the uncertainties of the sheep industry are carefully guarded against, and the constitutional delicacy of the animal is provided for, so that he escapes the usual hazards incident to the industry. For he is one of the best informed and most judicious breeders and feeders in this part of the country, and his output holds a high rank wherever sheep are sold within the range of his operations and shipments. He has, therefore, been very successful in his live stock enterprise, as he has been in his farming industry, which is carried on with equal intelligence and ability, and prosecuted with equal energy and vigor.

Mr. Capp was first married on September 20, 1899. One child was born of the union, but it is now deceased. Its mother, whose maiden name was Grace A. Teter, died on March 31, 1901, and on April 20, 1904, the father married a second wife, taking as his companion in this union Miss Effie Bunion. They have had two children, both of whom are living and still at home with their parents, being yet of tender years. They are a son named Clell and a daughter named Cozette. The father is a faithful working Democrat in political affairs and devoted to the welfare of his party. In religious relations he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

Hansford S. Carroll

Aged forty-two years and still unmarried, Hansford S. Carroll has not the incentive to interest in the welfare of his township and countj' that married men iiave on account of their families. He is, nevertheless, earnestly and serviceably devoted to their general good and does all in his power to promote it, impelled by his high sense of duty as a citizen and his loyalty to the region of his nativity and his lifelong residence with the exception of one year, which he passed in Oregon. He has shown his interest in his locality as a steady contributor to its industrial and commercial development, and also by his active part in helping to advance and intensify all the mental and moral agencies at work among its people.

Mr. Carroll was born in Shelby county, Missouri, on March 2-t, 1808. He is a grandson of James Carroll, a native and for many years a leading farmer of Indiana, and a son of Benjamin Carroll, who was also a native of Indiana. When he was but three years old the father was brought by his parents to Missouri. The family located on a farm of 100 acres near Bacon Chapel, and on that farm Benjamin grew to manhood and learned tlie ins and outs of the occupation he followed throughout the years of his activity. At the age of nineteen he bought ninety acres of land, on which he took up his residence and engaged in farming and raising live stock on his own account. The land was new and undeveloped, and all that it subsequently became in productiveness and comeliness he made it by his systematic industry and the judgment with which he developed and cultivated it. He found it remunerative through the vigor of his operations in farming it, and his live stock operations were also profitable.

In 1858 he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet McBroom, a native of Monroe county, Missouri. They became the parents of eight children, six of whom are living: Richard L., Hansford S., John C, Lizzie (wife of W. H. Miles, of Macon, Missouri), Nannie and AVilliam T. Except Mrs. Miles they are all residents of this county. The father and mother are now living with their son Hansford S., the immediate subject of this brief memoir.

He was educated in the district schools of Shelby county and after leaving school assisted his father on the home farm for a number of years. He at length yielded to a longing he had felt for some time to see the Pacific coast region, and went to the state of Oregon, where he passed a year engaged in farming. But Missouri was more to his liking, and at the end of the period mentioned he returned to this state and again took up his residence in Lentner township, Shelby county, on a farm of fifty-two acres in the neighborhood of his father's place near Bacon Chapel.

Like his father, Mr. Carroll has shown liimself to be progressive and enterprising, and has improved his fann and l)rouglit it to a high state of productiveness. He has studied the nature of its soil and kept in touch with the latest thought and discovery in the science of agriculture, and he has industriously applied to his work all that he has learned by study and observation. It follows, as a matter of course, that he has been successful, for the soil of this portion of Missouri has never yet failed to respond liberally to the hand of skillful and persuasive husbandry. Hi s political faith rests upon the principles of the Democratic party and he gives that organization his continued and elTective support. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen, and to that, too, he is devoted in loyalty of feeling and activity of service. He ignores no duty of good citizenship, but performs all with fidelity and intelligence.

John L. Quigley

Successful and progressive as a farmer and mill man, upright and enterprising as a citizen, clean, capable and energetic as a public official, John L. Quigley, of Salt River township, this county, has exemplified in his useful career among the people of his township and county many of the best and most admirable traits of elevated and productive American citizenship. He has met every pul)- lic and private duty in a manly and straightforward manner and discharged all with fidelity and ability. And while pushing his own advancement with commendable industry and intelligence, he has also given the affairs and the enduring welfare of the region in which he lives careful attention and valuable advocacy and assistance.

JNIr. Quigley was born in Monroe county, Missouri, on April .S, 1858. His grandfather Quigley was l)orn and reared in Kentucky, and Samuel Quigley, his father, was also a native of that state. The father came to Missouri in 1854 and took up his residence in Monroe county, where he remained until 18G1. He then moved to Adams county, Illinois, and during the next six years was actively engaged in farming in that county. In 1867 he returned to Missouri and located in this county near Shell)ina, where he continued his farming operations until his death on July 4, 1886. His political faith and active support were given throughout his manhood to the Democratic party, and he was warmly attached to its principles.

In 1844 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Wallace, a native of Tennessee. They became the parents of nine children, six of whom are living: Lizzie, the widow of the late Thomas Beasley, of California; William H., who resides in California; and John L., Charles, Robert and Warren, all residents of this county. The mother is still living, and although she is well advanced in years, she is still vigorous and active, and is blessed with the good opinion of all who know her past usefulness or are brought into contact with her present genial and pleasing disposition and obliging manner.

county and after completing it helped his father on the home farm until he reached the age of twenty-four years. He then determined to found a home of his own, and to this end he bought a farm of 125 acres in this county near Bacon Chapel. In connection with his farming he has for years operated a saw mill, which is one of the great conveniences of the neighborhood, and is known far and wide for the excellence of the work done on it.

Mr. Quigley has not been wholly absorbed in his own aflfairs, although he has at all times given them close and careful attention. The interests of his township and county have appealed to him with force and he has responded to the appeal with energy and intelligence, giving the region around him the benefit of his l)readth of view, progressiveness and enterprise in connection with local public affairs, and doing whatever he could to promote the welfare and advancement of the people. In 1905 he was appointed game warden by Governor Folk, and although he occupied the office only two years, he made a record of efficiency and fidelity in it which is still highly commended and stands strongly to his credit.

On February 5, 1884, he was^mited in marriage with Miss Mary Z. Farrell, a native of Shelby county, Missouri. They have had three children, two of whom are living and both still at liome with their parents, a son named Everett and a daughter named Nellie. In political affairs the father adheres faithfully to the principles of the Democratic party and is one of its most energetic and efficient workers in all campaigns. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, and in religious affiliation with the Christian church. The people of his township esteem him highly as one of their best and most useful citizens, and this estimate of him is held good throughout the county. It is based on well demonstrated merit, has been sustained by consistent fidelity to duty and ujirightuess of life, and is borne modestly by him although freely accorded by all classes of Shelby county residents.

John C. Priest

One of the most popular and esteemed citizens of Shelby\'ille and one of the most successful men in the business world of the city is John C. Priest, who has been a farmer and stockman and extensively engaged in the real estate, abstract and loan business from the dawn of his manhood, and who has won success and prominence in every line of activity in which he has been occupied, winning his way to prosperity and consequence by the application of good common sense to his business and to popular favor by his genial nature, obliging dispositio7i and high character.

]\rr. Priest is a native of Shelby county and was born within its borders on February 1, 1855. His grandfather, Louis Priest, was a native of Virginia, and in that state, also, his father, ^fadison J. Priest, was born, his life beginning in 1811 and the place of his nativity being Frederick county. He was reai-ed to manhood on his father's farm in that county and obtained his education in the schools of the neighborhood. In 1836, when he was twenty-seven years old, one year after liis marriage, he brought his young wife to Missouri, both determined to brave the perils and privations of the western wilds in the hope of finding a fortune amid its hoimdless opportimities, and, at any rate, of securing a better chance of advancement than their own state at that time seemed to offer. They located in Shell)y county on government land which they took up, and on this they expended their efforts to good purpose until the death of the husband in 1884. Mrs. Priest was born and I'eared in Hampshire county, Virginia, and lier maiden name was Sarah A. Vandiver. They became the parents of five children, four of whom are living: William L., of Shelby coimty; Mary E., the widow of Eobert M. Sprinkle, who lives in "West Virginia ; Silas W., whose home is in Leonard, this county; and John C, the immediate subject of this review. In politics the father was a Democrat and took an active interest in the affairs of his party. He was also energetic in promoting the welfare of his community by every means in his power.

John C. Priest obtained his education in the district schools and the Shelbyville high school. After leaving school he worked on the farm at home until 1894, laboring in connection with his father a portion of the time and on his own account during the remainder. In the year last mentioned he moved to Shelby^'ille, and here he has been continuously, prominently and successfully engaged in the real estate, loan and abstract business ever since. He has also, during the later years, been engaged in

In 1883 Mr. Priest was imited in marriage with Miss Emma C. McMurray, a daughter of John F. and Martha C. (Dunn) ]\IcMurray, of Shelby county. Four children were born of the union and all of them are living. They are: Jessie, Minter, Vincil and Tommy D., the last three named are still living at home with their father. The mother died in 1894, and in 1896 the father married a second time, his choice on this occasion being Miss Nellie J. McMurray, a sister of his first wife. She, also, has passed away, leaving Mr. Priest a widower for a second time. In politics he is a Democrat and an earnest worker for his party. He is at the present public administrator of Shelby county and was mayor of Shelbyville two years, from 1902 to 1904. His fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in religious affiliation he is allied with the Methodist Episcopal church. South. Fortune has favored him in his business ventures because he has made her do it by his capacity, shrewdness and close attention to his affairs. And the people esteem him highly because they have found him worthj^ of their regard.

James J. Hiles

Serving his country well in war and during the greater part of the rest of his life to this time (1910) helping to expand its greatness and augment its l)ower through peaceful industry, James J. Hiles, of Black Creek township, Shelby county, lias proven himself an excellent citizen and worthy of the high and universal esteem in which he is held throughout this county and in many portions of those that surround it. He is a native of Kentucky, born in Scott county on May 18, 1839, has lived and was educated in Illinois, followed the flag through the terrible experiences of the Civil war, engaged in merchandising for a few years, served on the police force in the United States capitol at Washington, D. C, and has l)een one of the prominent, progressive and successful farmers of this county during the last thirty-nine years. Thus, tried in many lines of useful endeavor, he has proved faithful and capable in all, and won on honest and demonstrated merit the rank he holds in the general estimation and regard of the public.

Mr. Hiles is a son of Jacob and Mary (Haley) Hiles, the former born in Scott county, Kentucky, February 12, 1805, and the latter on June 1, 1813. His paternal grandfather, Falser Hiles, was a native of Gennany. The father came to Missouri in ISO.') and settled on eighty acres of land in this county, and on this land he was actively and continuously engaged in general farming, until his death, which occurred Januarj^ 17, 1881. He was married in Kentucky to Miss Mary Haley. Of the eight children born to them five are living: James J., the immediate subject of this review ; Louisa, the wife of Zetos Beathards, of Shelby county; Alonzo, whose home is in St. Louis; Eliza, the wife of John Griffith, and Martha, the wife of E. A. Baker, of Shelbyville. In political faith and allegiance the father was a Democrat and in religion he belonged to the Christian church. He was active in the sei-\Mce of both organizations and made his membership in each valuable to it. His wife survived him some years, her death occurring on March 14, 1894.

James J. Hiles obtained his education in the district and select schools of Adams county, Illinois. After leaving .school he enlisted in the Federal army at Quincy, Illinois, his company forming part of the Third Missouri Cavalry under command of Col. John M. Glover, his enlistment taking place in September, 18()1. His regiment was soon at the front, and until the close of the momentous and sanguinary struggle was engaged in active service. Mr. Hiles participated in the battles of Mount Zion, in Boone county, Missouri, Little Rock, Arkansas, and a great many engagements of minor importance. He was discharged in New Orleans in 1865 and turned to his Shelby county home soon afterward.

After his return he located in Shelbyville and engaged in the grocery and confectionery trade with enterprise and profit until 18()9, when he was appointed a member of the capitol police force in "Washington, D. C. He remained there in that capacitj^ until 1871, then came back to Shelby county and bought a farm, on which he has been energetically and continuously occupied in general farming ever since. In connection with his farming operations he carries on an extensive and active live stock business, and he conducts both lines of his work with a vigor and intelligence that bring

Thomas E. Garrison

Mr. Hiles was married on July 18, 1871, to Miss Elizabeth S. Hill, a daughter of Z. B. Hill, of Shelbyville. They have had five children, four of whom are living: William R., Mary I., Lucy E. and Zerald A., all of them still members of the parental family circle. The father is a Eepublican in politics, a member of the Christian church, to which his wife also belongs, and an Odd Fellow and member of the Grand Army of the Republic fraternally. He is a very prominent and influential man.

This progressive and enterprising farmer and stock man of Bethel township, this county, has seen strenuous times in peace and war, but tried by the very extremity of fortune it did not subdue him, or even discourage his determined spirit, which has always felt itself equal to any emergency, and ready for any undertaking in the line of his desires and abilities. He is a native of Missouri, born in Knox county on April 9, 1841, and has been a resident of Shelby county since he reached the age of ten years. His father, Thomas E. Garrison, was born and reared in Virginia and came to Missouri in 1839. He took up his residence in Knox county, where for a number of years he was actively and progressively engaged in farming. His wife, whose maiden name was Jane C. Vandiver, was also a native of Virginia and a daughter of Samuel Vandiver. Six children were born of the union, all of whom grew to maturity and four of them are living now. They are : James W., whose residence is in Shelbyville ; Thomas E., the subject of this brief review; Fi-ancis N., who has his home in Adair county, this state; and Charles L., who is an esteemed citizen of the state of Arkansas. The mother died in 1877 and the father in 1883.

Thomas E. Garrison attended the district schools of Bethel township, Shelby county, and the high school in Shelbyville. After leaving school he enlisted in the Confederate army. Company E, Third Missouri Infantry, and served to the close of the war except for a period of ten months, during which he languished in a Federal war prison. He took part in the battles of Lexington, Missouri, Corinth, Mississippi, and numerous others of greater or less im- ]3ortance. Not long before the siege of Vicksburg he was taken prisoner, and during the next ten months, as has been stated, he was confined in a Federal prison.

At the close of the war Mr. Garrison returned to his Shelby county home, and since then he has been continuously, actively and very successfully engaged in farming and raising live stock on a large scale. His fine farm in Bethel township comprises 500 acres and he has it well improved and the most of it under advanced and skillful cultivation. He manages his operations with judgment and conducts them with vigor, making every effort to secure the best returns for his outlay of intelligence and labor, and usually succeeding through the superior quality of his work and management. His extensive stock industry is conducted with the same care, skill and energy, and it also yields abundantly in response to his persuasive care and close attention to its every detail.

In addition to his farm and stock business Mr. Garrison has othur interests of value. He is a stockholder in the Farmers' Bank of Bethel and a member of its board of directors, and he also holds a considerable block of the capital stock of the Bank of Newark, Missouri. All that he has he has acquired solely through his own efforts and good business capacity, and his high standing as a man and citizen is also due to the inherent elements of his cliaracter and his devoted attention to all things involving the welfare of his township and county, whose interests are all very dear to him. He wa< married in 1867 to Miss Sophia A. EUyson, a native of Macon county, Missouri, and a daughter of Davis M. and Ruth (Spencer) Ellyson, who were born and reared in Virginia. Four children have been born in the Garrison household, and two of them are living: Lena, the wife of Christie Moore, of Bethel, and Jane D., the wife of J. M. Whitelock, of Kirksville, Missouri. The father is a consistent member of the Methodist church. In politics he is a Democrat and has served some years as school director.

Chaeles B. Garner

Born, reared and educated in Shelby county, and during all the years of his mature life but one taking part in its industries and mingling freely with its people, Charles B. Garner, of Black Creek township, is well known throughout its extent, and the general confidence and esteem of the people, which is freely accorded to him, is based upon definite knowledge of his worth as a man and usefulness as a citizen. He is one of the leading farmers and stock men of the township in which he lives, and one of the most important factors at work for its development and improvement.

Mr. Garner's life began on October 6, 1871, and he is a son of Charles Julius and Mary (Glahn) Garner, natives of Germany, where Mr. Garner's grandparents and other ancestors were born and lived, contributing in their several ways and generations to the progress of that great empire. The father was born in 1831 and came to the United States in 1855. He passed the first three years of his life in this country traveling over it and making studious observations with a view to finding a location that pleased him for a permanent residence. He then located in Clarion coimty, whei'e he lived until 18G4. In that year he moved to Shelby county and settled on a farm near Leonard, on which he passed the remainder of his days in energetic and successful farming and stock-raising, dying on May 10, 1903.

?Ie was a man of considerable ]irominence locally, and through his industry and frugality acquired a competency. In 1866 he was united in marriage with Miss ^fary Glahn, who came to this country from the Fatherland also and helped to make one of its comfortable and prosperous homes. They had seven children and five of them are li^-ing: Rozena, whose liome is in Hannibal ; Louise "\V., the wife of George E. Clote, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; George B., who lives in

Shelby county; Augusta F., the wife of Charles E. Post, of Gridley, California, and Charles B., the subject of this memoir. The father was a Lutheran in religious faith and a Republican in politics. Both his church and his political party received his earnest and helpful support.

Charles B. Garner was educated in the country schools and an excellent academy at Leonard. He was reared on his father's farm, and after leaving school continued to assist in its labor and helj) the family until 1900. He then went to Sue City, in Macon county, and took charge of a drug store. But he did not find mercantile jjursuits agreeable, and at the end of one year returned to Shelbj- county, and here he has ever since been engaged in farming and raising stock with great enterprise, intelligence and success. His fine farm comprises 180 acres of land and is well improved and skillfully cultivated. The knowledge of his business which Mr. Garner applies to both his farming operations and his stock industry, are well rewarded in the returns they bring him, and his rank as a progressive and upto-date farmer is among the highest in his township.

On October 31, 1900, Mr. Garner united in marriage with Miss Anna Vallier, a daughter of William and Susan (Linton) Vallier, esteemed residents of this county. But two children have been born in the Garner household, a son named Edwin Kenneth, and Mary A., who is the light and life of the home. In political faith and allegiance Mr. Garner gives his earnest and effective support to the Democratic party, and in fraternal relations he is allied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern AVoodmen of America. His wife is a loyal and devout member of the Christian church. Both stand high in the confidence and respect of the people and richly deserve the regard so generously bestowed upon them.

Theodore Heinze

Orjjhaned at the age of six years by the death of his father, and brought into a strange land, far from the scenes and associations of his childhood and the traditions and history of his family, when he was nine, Theodore Heinze, oue of the substantial and progressive farmers and stock men of Black Creek township, in this county, began life in this country undei- very trying circumstances, and with no prospect of advancement except the possibilities of what he should be able to do for hunself. No smiles of Fortune brightened his rugged pathway and no favoring circumstances helped him in his slow and painful progress. But he had that within him that gave him assurance of success, and he was guided by its influence, using all his powers and living frugally and judiciouslj^ until he got a good start.

Mr. Heinze was born on March 20, 1863, in Berlin, Germany. He is a son of Theodore and Louisa (Hueter) Heinze, also natives of Germany, where the father was born in 1823, and where he passed the whole of his life, dying there in 1869. He was a carriage and wagon maker and flourished at his trade, but his health failed and he passed away at the early age of forty-six. In 1862 he was married to ]\Iiss Louisa Hueter and tliey became the parents of four children, two of whom are living, Theodore and his sister Martha, the wife of John Rufner, of Shelby county.

Three years after the father's death, the mother, finding herself without much prospect of advancement in a worldly way, and having small children to rear, educate and prepare for the battle of life, determined to seek the greater freedom of choice and alnmdance of opportunity offered by this country to workers, and in 1872 brought her family to Missouri, locating in Shelbj' county, and here the members of the family who are living have ever since been domesticated, mingling freely in the activities of this locality and taking their part in its ]iroduetive industries with advantage to tliemselves and benefit to the township and county of their residence, in whose prosperity and progress they have shown themselves to be deeply and earnestly interested.

Theodore Heinze's scholastic training was begun in his native land and coml^leted in the district schools of Shelby county. He began his life work here on a farm, and he has been engaged in farming and raising live stock ever since. By thrift, industry and good management he has acquired the ownership of 175 acres of good land, and he has improved his farm with commodious and comfortable buildings, ocpiipped it with all the necessary a]ipliances for advanced agriculture and brought the land to a high state of cultivation. His stock industry is as extensive as his facilities allow and is as flourishing and profitable as first rate management can make it.

Mr. Heinze was married on December 7, 1892, to Miss Louisa Rathjen, of Shelby county. They have had five children, but only three of them are living - Marline, Dora and Alvina - a 11 of whom are still at home with their parents and popular members of the family circle. In politics the father adheres to the principles of the Republican party and is zealous in the support of them. His religious connection and that of his wife is with the Lutheran church, and in the affairs of the congregation to which they belong they both take an earnest interest and an active part. They are esteemed wherever they are known as worthy and estimable citizens, enterprising in the management of their own affairs and energetic in helping to promote the enduring welfare of the community around them.

John H. Werr

The interesting subject of this brief memoir is well worthy of honorable mention in a work that pur]iorts to show in personal histories the qualities of industrial force, productive energy, sterling manhood and elevated citizenship which have given Shelby county its distinctive character and won its advanced state of progress and development. For. while the story of his life presents no s]iectacular features or high adventures for contemplation, it shows well what thrift and enterprise can accomplish through steady application to tlie ordinary affairs of life.

Eosle (Weinman) Werr, also natives of Germany, l)ut long residents of this county. The father was born in 1833 and married in Germany. He brought his family to the United States in 1886 and settled near Bethel, in Shelby county, Missouri, and here he was actively, energetically and profitably engaged in farming and raising stock until his death, which occurred in 1905. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, six of whom are living : George ; Maggie, the wife of John Bower; John, whose home is in Black Creek township ; Fred; Rosina, the wife of Christian Claussen ; and Henry, all residents of Shelby county and good factors in its industrial, mercantile and social life. The father was a Lutheran in church connection and a Repulilican in political faith and allegiance. He was successful in his business in this country and rose to general esteem and popularity among the people, who recognized his worth, intelligence and excellent citizenship, and found him upright and reliable in every relation in life and warmly interested in the welfare of the community in which he lived and expended his sti'ength in useful and productive labor. John Werr grew to the age of sixteen in his native land and obtained his education there. He came to this country with his parents in 1886 and has ever since been a resident of this county. For some years after his arrival in this locality he worked on the home farm with his father. He then hired out as a hand on other farms in the neighborhood until 1899, when he bought a farm of eighty acres and began operations on his own account. He was frugal and thrifty while he was working for others, and he has applied the same qualities to his efforts in his own behalf, in which he has also shown great industry and excellent judgment. He has been successful from the beginning of his enterprise and his progress in it has been steady and substantial. He now owns 160 acres of first rate land and has it all under advanced and productive cultivation. His stock industiy is in just proportion to his farming operations, and is managed with the same care and skill that he l)estows on them, and he is prosperous in both.

On February 12, 1899, Mr. Werr was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Neusehafer, a daughter of John and Catherine (Reinheimer) Neusehafer, esteemed residents of Shelby county. Two children have followed the imion and they still sanctify and brighten the family altar. They are Evers and William, and both are attending school. The political faith of the father is firmly anchored to the Republican party and he is an energetic and effective worker in behalf of its principles and candidates. He and his wife are leading members of the Lutheran church in their neighborhood, and by all classes of the people living around them and wherever they are known elsewhere they are held in high esteem and cordial regard. They are model farmers and excellent citizens.

Henry Arnold

This leading farmer, esteemed ditizen and public-s]Mrited man of Black Creek township, this county, has shown in his successful and somewhat striking career in this country that, in spite of adversi- ties and trials which attended him for years from his childhood, he is made of the fiber and possesses the qualities which command success and compel even troubles to minister to the progress of the man who has them. He is a native of Germany, where he was bom on February' 14, 1864, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Xeuschafer) Arnold, also natives of the Fatherland and belonging to families long resident in that country.

The father passed the whole of his life in his native land, conducting a promising business as a farmer, and dying there in 1867. He was married in 1860, and by his marriage became the father of one child, the interesting subject of this brief sketch. He obtained a limited education in the place of his birth, his opportunities being scant because he lost his father by death three years after his own life began, and the mother was left in straitened circumstances. "When the son was seventeen years old he and his mother determined to try for better conditions and more extensive opportimities than their own land seemed to offer, in the land of j^romise in which so many of their countrymen had found fortune and favor.

Accordingly they came to the United States in 1881 and located in Shelby coimty, and here the son has been continuously, actively and very successfully engaged in farming and raising stock ever since. He had nothing to start on, but he met his requirements bravely and resolutely, and has made every day of his labor tell to his advantage. The qualities of industry', frugality and good management that have made his race so thrifty and }jrogressive. and won it the high rank it has attained in the industrial world, were manifest in him and he stemmed the tide of poverty and disaster that seemed against him with a patient and deteiTuined spirit, and he has won the success in life that he must have felt was due him if he made the proper efforts to secure it. He now owns 380 acres of good land, having recently added twenty acres to his farm, and has the greater part of it imder advanced cultivation, with good buildings for the accommodation of his family and the products of his land and a complete equipm-ent of good farming implements, including everything necessary for the complete and profitable fanning of his estate. His stock industry is also extensive and is managed with great skill, intelligence and thrift.

Mr. Arnold is also a stockholder in the Bank of Lentner and the State Bank of Clarence. He was married in 1888 to Miss Anna Eeinheimer, who was at the time a resident of Shelby county. She is a daughter of Peter and Catherine (Xoah) Reinheimer, who are well known in the county and held in respect by all who know them. Mr. and ^kfrs. Arnold have had eight children, five of whom are living, and all still at home with their parents. They are : Edward. Martin, Anna. Henry P. and Ireta D. The father is a pronounced Eepublican in his poltical convictions and allegiance, and takes an active part in the affairs of his party, although he has never been a candidate for any political office. He and his wife are zealous and devoted members of the Lutheran church.

Black Creek township has upon its fertile and highly productive soil a number of the most progressive and successful farmers in Shelby county. They are men of thrift and enterprise, and they study the nature of the soil they cultivate, its possibilities and requirements and by reading and good judginent keep themselves in touch with all the latest developments in the science of agriculture, so as to secure the best results in their work. Among them none stands higher in public esteem as a farmer and as a citizen than James Sass, whose well improved and attractive farm of 224 acres is in section 29, and is one of the best in the township.

Mr. Sass is a native of Holstein, Germany, where he was horn on December 7, 1851, and where he lived until he was seventeen years of age and obtained his education. He is a son of Jergin and Louisa (Widow) Sass, also natives of Germany. They were the parents of ! seven children, four of whom are living : Nicholas, Catherine, the wife of Emil Claussen ; James and Ag-nes, all residents of Shelby county. The mother died in her native land, and in 1871 the father l)rought the rest of the family to the TTnited States and direct to this county, following hither his son James, who came to the county in 1869. The father was a farmer all his life, and after conducting a profitable industry in his chosen vocation for a period of twenty years in Shelby county, died here in 1891.

as he was approaching his manhood began to think of better opportunities for advancement in life than his own land seemed to offer, and to study where he could find them. He was well informed as to the boundless resources of the United States and the wealth of opportunity in them, and determined to avail himself of the promise the land across the sea held out to industry, thrift and good management. Accordingly, youth of seventeen as he was, he braved the heaving Atlantic, without friend or kindred in his company, and in due course of time arrived in Shelby county.

He had been well trained to farming and at once entered upon that occupation as his life work. He has been engaged in it ever since, and has been successful and prosperous from the start. For he has known how to do his work well and manage his operations skillfully, and although his progress was slow at first, it was steady and rapidly increased. In connection with his farming he has carried on a flourishing stock industry, and in this line of effort he has also succeeded, making it jiay good returns for the labor and care he bestowed on it. As has been noted, he owns and cultivates 224 acres of fine land and has his farm well improved.

He has taken an active interest in public affairs and risen to prominence in the community. All the duties of good citizenship have found him ready for their performance, and the people esteem his devotion to the welfare of the township and county in wliich ho has lived and labored so effectually to his own advantage and for the benefit of the locality. In politics he is a Prohibition- ist and in religion a member of Independent Holiness cluirch, and in both bis party and bis cburch organizations be has long taken an earnest and serviceable interest.

Mr. Sass bas been married twice, tirst in 1877 to Miss Mary Doss, a resident of Shelby county. They had one child, their son John, who is living. The mother died in 1884, and in 1885 the father married a second time, making Miss Catherine Krauter, also of Shelby county, his choice. Of their three children, one, their son Henry, is living and is still at home.

Francis M. Churchwell

From its very beginning the career of Francis M. Churchwell, who lives on a fine farm of 320 acres near Shelbyville, as a farmer and live stock breeder and dealer, has been successful and jn'ogressive. He is a gentleman of great enterprise and industry, thoroughly familiar with all that is latest in discovery and methods in the lines of endeavor to which his life to this time (1911) has been devoted, and decidedly skilful in the application of his extensive knowledge concerning them. He is a native of Missouri and has never lived in any other state, but has devoted all his years of m.-'.tiirity to its welfare and the advancements of its agricultural and live stock industries, and at the same time has given the general welfare of the locality of his home earnest and intelligent attention.

Mr. Churchwell was born in Marion county, this state, on August 4. 1843. He is of English ancestry, his grandfather, Samuel Churchwell, having been born and reared in that country, and of Virginia parentage, his father. Thomas Churchwell, and his mother, whose maiden name was Susan E. Tarpley, having been natives of the Old Dominion. The father was born on March 22, 1810, and came to Missouri in 1836. He took up his residence in Marion county on a farm of eighty acres, and there he was actively and successfully engaged in farming and rearing live stock until bis death.

On November 30, 1837, he solemnized his marriage with Miss Tar])ley, who was born on January 16, 1818, and they became the parents of seven children, six of whom are living : Eliza J., the wife of John T. Poor, of Garfield county, Oklahoma; Meredith T., whose home is in Shelbina ; Francis M., who also lives in this county ; Thomas J., a resident of the state of Nebraska; William Harvey, another of the family residing in this county; and Sarah Ann V., the wife of Isaac Bethards, whose home is also in Shelby county. The father died on July 12, 1886, having survived his wife thirtysix years, her death having occurred on November 12, 1850. In politics he was a Whig until the death of the party of that name, and after that a Republican. His religious association was with the Missionary Baptist church, and he was devoted to the welfare of his sect. But, although a man of peace in times of ])eace. be did not hesitate, in his young manhood, to take up arms in defense of his country, having been a volunteer and valiant soldier in the Black Hawk war.

course of s])ecial training for business at the Jones Commercial college in St. Louis. After leaving that institution he taught school three terms, and then located on a farm of 100 acres near Emden, on which he lived until 1889. In that year he moved to a farm of 200 acres near Shelbyville. This farm he occupied and improved until 1903, when he made his home on the one he now resides on, which is also near Slielbyville. This comprises 320 acres and is well improved and very skillfully cultivated. It has been brought to a high state of productiveness, and has handsomely su]iported and advanced the extensive industry in feeding and raising live stock for the markets which Mr. Churchwell has conducted on it from the time when he took possession of it. He is especially interested in breeding and raising mules, and deals in them extensively as an adjunct to his other live stock operations. He has been very successful in all his undertakings and is one of the leading and most substantial farmers and stock men in Black Creek township.

On October 31, 1867, Mr. Churchwell was united in marriage with Miss Sarah A. V. Durrett, a native of Marion county, Missouri. They have had eleven children and twenty-four grandchildren, all of whom ai'e living: Eichard H., of Cascade county, Montana; Frances J., the wife of A. C. Yawter, of Neoslia, Missouri ; Sarah A., the wife of Polk Connoway, of this county; Marj' S., the wife of Prank Connoway, whose home is also in this county ; Thomas H., a resident of Cascade county, Montana; Mona L., the wife of James T. Churchwell, of Raymon, Montana ; Rebecca E., the wife of

Walter McCue, a resident of Shelby county, Missouri ; Francis M., Jr., the third member of the family, whose home is in Cascade county, Montana; John S., who resides in Pratt county, Kansas ; and "William T. and Benjamin D., who are living at home with their ]iarents. In ]>olitics the father is a Repulilican, and in religious association a member of the IMissionary Baptist church. It goes without the saying that he is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Shelby county and is regarded as one of its leading and most useful men.

Henry Rathjen

The early pioneers of Shelby county redeemed the region froiu the waste and laid the foundations of its present greatness and advanced development. The men and women of a later generation and all subsequent ones have gone on improving and enriching the domain according to their opportunities and capabilities, adding successive features of progress and forces of culture as the times demanded and their resources allowed. From the beginning the fortunes of this portion of the state have been in the hands of callable and self-reliant people, ready to take advantage of every circumstance for its aggrandizement and willing to make any sacrifice to accomplish its greatest good. The future of the county and the commonwealth dejiends upon the fiber and foi'ce of the present generation and those that shall come after it.

ments of its duty, the career of Henr.v Rathjen, of Black Creek township, and others like him, is well worthy of consideration. He is a progressive and wide awake fanner and stock man, fully abreast with the times in his Inisiness and alive to all the elements and powers of good citizenship and what is demanded of it. What the young farmers and stockmen of the county are doing gives abundant assurance that there will be no backward step, and that no proper means of development, intellectual, moral or social will be overlooked and that no material advantages will pass unnoticed or neglected.

^Ir. Eathjen is a native of the county and has passed the whole of his life to this time within its borders. He was born on February 17, 1877, and is a son of Christian and Elizabeth (Cordis) Rathjen, natives of Germany. The father was born in 1841 and came to the United States in 1868. He came at once to Shelby county, Missouri, on his arrival in this country, and found a home in a German settlement containing many of the friends of his earlier life in his native land. He took up as his own the leading occupation of the settlement, and the one to which he had been reared, becoming a farmer and stock-raiser. He continued his operations in this dual line of nsefxil and profitable endeavor until his death on December 29, 190G, and was successful in all he undertook.

He was married on October 10, 1870, to Miss Elizabeth Cordis, and by this marriage became the father of four children, all of whom are hving: Hiram, Lizzie, the wife of Theodore Heinze, Henry and Anna, the wife of Hugh Dane, all of them residents of Shelby county. The father and mother were for many years devout and consistent workers of the Lutheran church and attentive to all the retiuirements of their duty as such. Henry Rathjen was educated in the country schools of Shelby county and iunnediately after completing their course of instruction began the cai-eer of farmer and stock man in which he is still engaged. He now owns 100 acres of good land, well improved and nearly all under cultivation. He is a Democrat in politics and has his religious athliation witli the Lutheran church. On February 16, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Kate Keller, a daughter of Philij) Keller, an esteemed resident of Shelby county. They have one child, their son Cliristian Henry. Mr. Rathjen is as enterprising and i)rogressive with reference to the affairs of the county as he is in his own business. He is everywhere regarded as an excellent citizen and an upright and useful man, worthy of all esteem and earnestly interested in the enduring welfai-e of the township and county in which he lives.

John S. Chixn

Devoting the first few years of his early manhood to farming on his father's farm, and four of its most strenuous and trying ones to the defense of his political opinions during our Civil war, then returning to the peaceful and productive jnirsuit of agriculture, with a flourishing live stock industry in connection, John S. Chinn, of Black Creek townshi]), in this county, has been tried in laborious exertion on the soil of our countrj', both when it has been plowed l)y the sword for men's destniction and furrowed liy the plowshare for their sustenance, and has not been found wanting in either case. He is one of the successful farmers of his township and one of its most esteemed citizens.

Mr. Chinn was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, on July 30, 1830, and is a grandson of Thomas Chinn, a native and planter of Virginia, where his father, William S. Chinn, also, was born, his life beginning in 1790. The latter moved from his native state to Shelby county, Kentucky, and lived there until 1834, when he came to this county and located on the site of the present town of Bethel. There he engaged in general farming until about 1845. He then moved to the ]ilace on which his son now resides near Shelbyville, and engaged in merchandising in that town, continuing his operations for a period of four years.

But mercantile life was not to his taste, and at the end of the period named he gave it up and returned to farming, which he followed until his death in 1856. He was married in 1811 to Miss Lucy S. Chinn, of Kentucky. They had ten children, four of whom are living: Zuelda J., the wife of William Hill, of this county; Elijah, whose home is in Clarence; John S., the subject of this memoir; and Charles R., a resident of Webb City, Missouri. The father was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Christian church, to both of which he was loyally and serviceably devoted. Fraternally he was a member of the order for many years.

attending the country schools and afterward assisting the family until 1862. In that year he enlisted in the Confederate army under General Price, his regiment being subsequently transferred to the command of General Magruder. He served until the close of the war, seeing a great deal of active service, participating in the battles of Kirksville, Missoviri, Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Milligan's Bend, Pleasant Hill and Shreveport, Louisiana, and many engagements of less importance. He was mustered out of service at Shreveport, Louisiana, at the close of the war, and returned to his home in this county, where he was continuously and suecessfulh^ engaged in general farming and raising stock until 1902, when he retired from active pursuits. He is still living on the old homestead, however.

Mr. Chinn was married on September 15, 1858, to Miss Mary J. Pickett, of Shelby county. They have one child, their son Charles E., who is a resident and esteemed and influential citizen of this coimty. In politics the father has l)een a life-long Democrat. In fraternal life he has been for many years a member of the Masonic order, and in religion he communes with the Christian church, to which he has long belonged. In all these organizations he has been a zealous and usefvil factor, and in all the elements of elevated and sei'\'iceable citizenship he has met the full requirements. Having reached the age of four score years, he is crowned with patriarchal honors and his life is mainly retrosi)ective. But the retrospect is pleasing, for he has lived acceptably and worthily, and everybody who has knowledge of

Whether in the rage of battle or fury of the charge in the most momentous civil war of modem history, or laboring all his ardor in the most exacting tasks of peaceful industiy at the busiest season of his occupation, William H. Phipps, one of the successful and progressive faiTuers of Lentner township in this county, has never flunked or shirked his duty. In all the relations of life and under all circumstances he has been a true and faithful citizen of his country. and its utmost calls to sei"vice have met with a ready and cheerful response from him.

He was bom in England on March 25, 1842, and when but three years of age was brought by his parents, George and Mary (Bobinson) Phipps, also natives of that country, to the United States. The father was born in 1810 and remained in his native land until 1845. In that year he moved his family to this country and located near Rochester, Xew York. He was very skillful in the work of trimming fruit trees and also in threshing wheat with the flail, and he found plenty of demands on his acquirements during the ten years he lived in the East. In 1855 he joined the tide of migration westward, moving to Illinois, where he bought land and followed farming until his death, which occurred in 1891. He was a very energetic and thrifty man and was reasonably successful in everj-thing he imdertook.

His marriage with Miss Mary Robinson took place in 1833 and resulted in nine children, two of whom are living, William 11. and his older brother, George, who lives in Iowa. The father was a man of very good standing, both in the states of New York and Illinois, and enjoyed the respect of the people in every locality in which he lived. The mother, also, was held in high esteem, and both were worthy of the regard of those who knew them on account of the upright lives they lived and the excellence of their citizenship and demeanor in all the relations of human existence. William H. Phipps was educated in the country schools of central Xew York, where he was reared, and in 1861, when he was but nineteen years old, fired with the zeal of youth and the patriotism of a man, he enlisted in Company F, Eighth Xew York cavalry, in defense of the Union, to which he was so warmly attached that he, was willing to risk his life in its behalf. His regiment was under the command of Colonel Crook, and he served in it something over three years, being discharged at Rochester, Xew York, on December 8, 1864. The command was in the thick of the fight during the most strenuous years of the momentous conflict, and ^Ir. Phipps faced death on some of the most famous battle fields of all hvmian history, among them Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He also participated in many minor engagements, and still bears the marks of service in a way that makes them known to all observers. At the battle of Beverly Ford, Virginia, February 6, 1864, he was shot in his right elbow, which caused him to pass four months in Lincoln hospital in

Washington, D. C, and has left him with a stiff arm ever since, a daily and hourly reminder of the hardships and perils of the awful scenes through which he passed during his military sei-vice.

After leaving the army he returned to his New York home and worked on his father's farm imtil 1867. He then determined to seek his fortunes on his own account in the farther West, as it was then, and in a region which, having been wasted by the war, offered great opportunities of advancement to those who would help to rebuild it and continue the development of its resources. Accordingly, in the year last named he came to Missouri and located in Shelby county. Here he bought twenty acres of land on which he has been actively and profitably engaged in farming and raising stock ever since. He has prospered through industry, thrift and good management, and has added to his farm as he has advanced in material acquisitions until now he has 162 acres, the greater part of it under cultivation and j'ielding excellent returns for the labor, care and intelligence he bestows upon tilling it and developing its resources.

On September 14, 1869, Mr. Phipps was united in marriage with Miss Martha E. Heckard, a daughter of Michael and Rachel (Heckart) Heckard, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Delaware. They came to Shelby county in the early days, and here the father entered a tract of government land, on which he flourished and reared his family. Mr. and Mrs. Phipps have had six children, four of whom are living, all of them residents of Shelby county. They are: Mary, the wife of

E. B. Robey; William A., one of the substantial and progressive farmers of Black Creek township; Essie M., the wife of J. E. Hollenbeek, of Shelbina, and Bertha May, the wife of George Coddry. In politics the father is a Republican. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They are among the most esteemed and useful citizens in the township of their residence.

John L. Kelso

Starting in life as a young man with nothing by way of equipment for its strident and exacting warfare but his own faculties and the spirit that controlled and directed them, and now one of the most successful and prosperous farmers and stock men of Black Creek township in this county, John L. Kelso presents in his career and achievements a fine illustration of what is possible to industry, frugality and thrift in this land of inexhaustible wealth of every material kind and almost boundless opportunity in the development, transformation and use of what nature has so bountifully bestowed for the service of mankind.

Mr. Kelso is a native of Shelby county, where he was born on January 12, 1862, and a son of Samuel and Eliza J. (Barr) Kelso, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Delaware. They were married in 1855 and had seven children, five of whom are living: Alvina, the wife of John Foey, a highly respected citizen of Shelby county ; AVilliam, whose home is in Colorado ; John L., the subject of these paragraphs; Charles, who is also a resident of Colorado ; and James, who lives in this county. The father was bom in 1S28 and came to Missouri in his boyhood with his parents. The family settled in Shelby county, and here he grew to manhood and obtained his education. He began life as a farmer and continued to follow this avocation until his death, in 1S72. He was a Republican in politics and a member of the Southern Methodist church. His success and progress in his farming operations gave promise of making him a man of consequence and considerable worldly wealth, but his early death at the age of fortyfour cut short his career and left its large promise unfulfilled, his plans incomplete and his family but indifferently provided for.

Orphaned at the age of ten years by the death of his father. John L. Kelso was obliged to make his own way in the world from an early age. He obtained a limited education in the district schools of Shelby county, where he has passed the whole of his life to this time, but his opportunities to attend school were scant and irregular, owing to the circumstances of the family, who needed what he could earn to aid in its support. He worked out by the month for a meager compensation for a time as a boy and youth, and later for better wages, all the while assisting the family and laying up what he could for himself. He was very frugal and industrious and by very slow accretions succeeded in accumulating a small sum of money. By this toilsome and painful process he climbed slowly upward on the rugged road to prosperity until 1885, when he bousrht 160 acres of land and began farming and raising stock on his own account. Since then his progress has been more rapid, and he has at length, through arduous effort and close attention to his business, acquired a competency and is comfortably fixed, with assurance in his circumstances against all ordinary calamities and bright prospects for the future, for he is still full of energy and determination, and has all his past experience to guide and help him to greater success and prosperity, and feels every incentive of duty to make the most of his opportunities. He now has 280 acres of good land and nearly all of it at an advanced stage of cultivation.

Mr. Kelso was married on April 7, 1885, to Miss Laura B. Clark, a daughter of James and Isabelle (Graham) Clark, esteemed residents of Shelby county. James, Leta and Elva, the three children bom of the union, are all living and still at home with their parents. The father is a Prohibitionist in politics and a member of the Holiness church in religion. His wife also embraced the Holiness religion until her death in 1902.

No element of the immigrant population of this country has done more for its development and improvement in a material way than that which the Fatherland has given it. The German is the great toiler in any field of effort suited to his taste or capacity, and his patience and persistency is always in proportion to the task before him. His offspring, even though born in this country and reared amid circumstances very different from those of his own childhood and youth, inherits his traits and reproduces them in further iisefulness to the community in which he hves.

"William Clausseu, one of the substantial and progressive farmers of Black Creek township, Shelby county, is of this class. He was born in Shelby county, Missouri, on January 30, 1878, and is a son of Henry and Anna Magdaline (Groezinger) Claussen, the former a native of Holstein, Germany, and the latter of Jo Daviess county, Illinois, but of German parentage. The father came to the United States in 18G9 and found congenial surroundings and plentiful suggestions of his native land in a German Lutheran settlement in this county. But a short time after his arrival he went to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where there was a similar settlement or colony. He remained there until after his marriage in 1873, then returned to Shelby county, and here he passed the remainder of his life, which ended on November 25, 1903.

In early life the father was a miller, but during almost the whole of his residence in this county he followed farming and raising stock and was very successful in his operations. In politics he was a Republican and in religious faith a Lutheran, with strong devotion to both his party and his church. He and his wife were the parents of four children, all of whom are living and residents of this county. They are : Christian, Mary, the wife of Valentine Nothnagel, a sketch of whom will be found in this

William Claussen obtained his education at Red Star district school, in this county, and while attending it and for some years after leaving it worked on his father's farm, helping in its cultivation and assisting the family. He remained at home until March 8, 1903, when he was married to Miss Anna Neuschafer, of Shelby county. He then bought 160 acres of good land and began a farming and stock raising industry of his own. This he has ever since carried on with vigor and good judgment, and through it has risen to comfort for life, in a worldly way, and to consequence and standing in the township as a citizen. For he has been as energetic and judicious in aiding to ijromote the welfare of the locality of his home and advance the interests of its people as he has been in pushing his own affairs to profitable results, and by this means has won the regard and good will of all classes of those who live around him.

Mr. and Mrs. Claussen have had three children, their sons Henry and Elmer and their daughter Grace. They are all living and still members of the parental family circle. The father is a pronounced Republican in politics, with an ardent interest in the welfare of his pai"ty and a constant readiness to render it any service in his power. He and his wife are devoted members of the Lutheran church. Born and reared in Shelby county, and thoroughly at home among its people, with all their interests embarked upon its currents of pr()S])erity and advancement, they are loyal to it and its general

John Geoege Burckhaedt

It is a matter of gratification to the publishers of this history that within its pages will be found represented so large a quota of the men who have here attained to success and honor in their respective fields of endeavor and who have found within the gracious borders of the fine old county of Shelby ample scope for productive effort.

Of this number was John George Burckhardt, who was one of the enterprising farmers of Bethel township and who was a member of one of the sterling families of this section of the state, where he took up his abode more than forty years ago.

John G. Burckhardt was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, on the 27th of September. 1842. He was a son of John G. Burckhardt, also a native of Germany, who came with his family to America in the early '50s, and located on Long Island, New York, in which state he and his wife passed the residue of their lives.

Their son, John G., Jr., was twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to the United States. He was reared to maturity on historic old Long Island, at Glencove, and there he received a common school education. Wlien the Civil war was preci])itated upon a divided nation he gave distinctive evidence of his loyalty to the land of his adoption. Soon after tlie outbreak of the war, at the age of nineteen years, he tendered his services in defense of the Union, by enlisting as a private in the 4th New York Volunteer Infantry, in which command he served two years. Through faithful and gallant service he won promotion to the ofiSce of corporal and later to that of sergeant of his company. At the expiration of his tenn of enlistment he received his honorable discharge, but shortly afterward, in 1863, he enlisted in the navy, becoming fireman on the g-unboat "Anemana," and he continued in the navy arm of the Union service until the close of the war, when he received his final discharge, after having made an admirable recoi'd in both departments with which he was thus connected.

After the close of the war John G. Burckhardt located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he found employment in the steel rolling mills until 1869, when he came to Shelby county, Missouri and purchased a small tract of land in Bethel township, where he engaged in farming and stock-growing. As a raiser of highgrade live stock he eventually attained a wide reputation and pronounced success, and he ultimately l)ecame the owner of a fine landed estate of three hundred and ten acres. He gave special attention to the breeding of pedigree or registered stock, including Clydesdale horses, shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep, and from his well-ordered stock farm were sold many fine animals for breeding purposes. He became one of the influential citizens of the county, where he ever commanded unqualified confidence and esteem, and where he ever gave his aid and influence in support of all measures tend- ing to advance the general welfare. He was a Eepublican in his political adherency, served for many years as a member of the scliool board of his district, was actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Repulilic and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was one of the pillars of the Presbyterian church at his home, in which he was a deacon at the time of his death, which occurred on the 4th of October, 1909. Of this churcli his wife also has been a devoted member for many years, and she still resides on the old homestead farm. Mr. Burckhardt was one of the prominent factors in the organization of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Shelby county, and was vice-president of the same at the time of his demise. He served many years, and with marked interest and efficiency, as statistical reporter of Shelby county, supplying data for the government.

On the 18th of December, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of John G. jJurckhardt to Miss Frances Vawter, who was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on the 3d of January, 1843, and who survives him, as has already been stated. Of the seven children of this union all are living except one, Louise C, who died in womanhood. Concerning the others the following brief record is entered: Sarah A. is the wife of Henry Beckley, of Shelby county; John F. Mai'garet is now Mrs. Harry Barnes, of this county; Elizabeth is the wife of Andrew Easdale, of this county ; George has charge of the old home farm; and Mayme is the wife of Arthur Hamilton, of Woodlake, Nebraska.

Valentine Nottinagel

This prosperous and progressive fai'mer of Black Creek township, Shelby county, who has used all his opportunities for his own advantage and the good of the township and county in which he lives, is a native of the city of Griesheim, near Hanover, in Germany, where he was born on July 4, 1875, and came to this country with his parents in 1881, when he was but six years old. The family located at once in Shelby county, and here Mr. Nothnagel has lived ever since. He grew to manhood in this county and has been from his childhood interested in its people and one of the active factors in promoting their welfare and the development of the locality of his home. Even though he began his education in his native land, he may be appropriately claimed as a product of this county, for he completed his scholastic training in its schools, married among its citizens and has devoted all his energies to magnifying its industries and adding to its wealth and power.

Mr. Nothnagel is a son of Peter and Catherine (Bork) Nothnagel, also natives of Germany, the father having been born in the same place as Ms son. The l^arents were married on December 5, 1872, and became the parents of four children, two of whom are living, Catherine, the wife of William Gerlicli, of this county, and Valentine. Having heard the word of promise from the New World, which offered better chances for advancement in life than the Old, the father determined to move his family to this country and brought it to the United States in 1881. They found a new home with familiar associations among the early Lutheran settlers of Shelhy eounty, and here the family has been domesticated from the time of its arrival. The father has been a steady and thrifty farmer and stock man ever since, and is now living on a farm of sixty acres near Clarence, where he carries on his two exacting and profitable industries, giving them the close and careful attention the German people give everything to which their duty leads them.

He has also been zealous and serviceable in promoting the good of his commimity as a farmer and a citizen, and is regarded as a very worthy and useful man. His political allegiance is given to the Bepublican party, in whose affairs he takes an active interest, and in clnirch relations he and his wife are devout and consistent Lutherans.

Their son Valentine began the battle of life for himself by working out by the month, continuing his slow progress in this line of labor until February 23, 1902. On that date he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Agnes Cla\isson, of Shelby county. He then deemed it his duty to provide a permanent home for his family and bought HiO acres of land, which constitute the farm on which he now resides, and on which he conducts a thriving business in general farming and raising live stock. He has built his operations in those lines of useful endeavor from a small beginning up to a high state of developmont, and is regarded as one of the thrifty and successful farmers and stock men of Black Creek township. He was industrious and frugal as a hired hand, saving his earnings to get a start in life, and he has followed the same rules of conduct as a landowner, making slow but steady l)rogress at first, and enlarging his operations as success crowned his efforts. Four children have been born to him and his wife, and all of them are living aTid are still members of the parental family circle. They are John Henry, Rosa Matilda, Carl Edward and Katy Louisa. The father is a Eepiiblican in politics and he and his wife are Lutherans in religious faith and training. They are highly respected as sterling and estimable citizens.

George W. Moore

With a parentage combining the best traits of the Scottish yeomanry and those that are worthy and conuneudable in the people of Marjdand, G. "W. ^Moore, of Black Creek township in this county, who is one of the thrifty and successful farmers and stock men of that locality, has inherited qualities that have characterized the bone and sinew of two parts of the world which have made honorable records in history and are very fruitful in industrial life. And he has been true to his ancestry, and exemplified in his own career all that was sterling and productive in it and the sections from which his parents came.

Mr. ^ioore is, himself, a native of Shelliy county, Missouri, where his life began on September 16, 1852. He is the only son and child of Hugh and Mrs. Alexine (Richardson) ^loore, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Maryland. The father was born in 1806 and came to the United States with his parents in 1820. As he neared and passed his majority in age he traveled considerably, and finally located in this county as one of the most desirable regions he bad seen for his purposes. He was a stonemason and worked at his trade in many localities. After settling in Shelby county he purchased some land and farmed in connection with his mechanical industry for a numlier of years, then gave up the trade and devoted himself exclusively to farming and raising stock until his death, which occurred in 1893. His wife died in 1875. They had one child, their son, George W. The father was a Democrat in political faith and lie and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Their son G. W., who has passed the whole of his life to the present time in this county, was educated in its district schools. After completing their course of instruction he worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until the death of his pai-ents. He has since been active and constant in his work as a farmer and stock man, and by close attention to his business, and judicious judgment of it has made a great success of it. His farm comprises 180 acres of superior land and he has the greater part of it under excellent cultivation. He is a skillful farmer and a careful and studious stock-raiser, and he makes both industries minister to his advantage. His farm is well improved and fully provided with the necessary appliances for its successful tillage, and he has one of the most attractive and valuable country homes in his township.

energetic and enterprising in aiding all commendable public improvements and worthy undertakings for the development and advancement of his locality. In politics he is a firm and faithful Democrat, with great interest in the success of his party and effective activity in promoting it. He is regarded on all sides as a very worthy and useful citizen and enjoys the esteem of all who know him. He was married on May 3, 1877, to Miss Elizabeth Perry, a daughter of B. F. and ]*[argaret (Carroll) Perry, well known and highly respected residents of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have had six children and four of them are living: Magazine, the wife of Don Mclntyre, of Shelby coimty; and Mollie, George T. and Dulcie, all of whom are still living at home with their parents.

Benjamin F. Perry

Thelifestory of this successful farmer and valued citizen of Shelby county, who lives in Lentner township, and is now retired from active pursuits, if written out in full would form a narrative of thrilling adventure, considerable romance and variety of feature and tragical experiences, followed by gratifying success in his business and the esteem and good will of the people among whom he has lived and labored during the last fortyfour years, and to whom he has demonstrated his worth and his title to their regard by his industry and prosperity as a farmer and his usefulness as a man.

Mr. Perry was born in Morgan county, Indiana, on August 25, 1827. His father, AVilliam Perry, was a native of Kentucky. And in that state his grand- father, whose name -was AVilliam, also first saw the light of this world. The father settled in Morgan county, Indiana, at an early day and died there in 1839. He was an extensive faiTuer, owning and cultivating with success and profit a quarter section of land. He was married in Indiana to Miss Elsie Eunis, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of seven children, of whom the only one now living is Benjamin F., the interesting and venerable subject of these jjaragraphs.

Benjamin F. Perry had no opportunities whatever for attending school. In his boj'hood and youth the family lived in a new country and had to endure the hardships and privations of pioneers. Every available force was required to aid in the development and cultivation of the laud, and like the sons of other pioneers, Mr. Perry was obliged to do his part of the farm work from a very early age, while before beginning that the unsettled condition of the country made schools scarce and there was danger to young children who attended them. He worked on the home farm and assisted the family until 1843, often hiring out as a hand to other farmers in the neighborhood. This sturdy and laborious life deprived him of all chance for mental training in the schools, but it developed his body, giving him vigor and suppleness of frame, and it also cultivated in him a spirit of daring and self reliance and awakened in him a desire for travel and adventure.

In the year last named, when he was but sixteen years old, he began a season of wandering from place to place which lasted six vears. At the end of that period he married and settled down in Indiana. But the longing for variety of surroundiugs and conditions would not be stiUed, and after two years of quiet life in his native state he procured a team and house wagon and during the next fifteen years journeyed through many states working on farms. In 1866 he came to Shelby county and bought laud on which he has ever since been living and until 1904 was energetically engaged in fanning. In that year he gave up active work, dividing among his children the 300 acres of land which he had acquired, all except thirty-seven acres, which he retained for his own use.

During the Civil war he refused to take either side of the sectional controversy and was persecuted by the partisans of both, losing everything he possessed, and then left the region of his losses and sought a location free from the danger of further jiersecution. He was married in 1848 to Miss Margaret Carroll, a resident of Indiana. Of the ten children born to them eight are living: Jerusha, the wife of Louis Perry, of Nebi'aska ; Alexander, whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri ; Nannie Elizabeth, the wife of G. "W. Moore, of this county, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume ; Savannah, the wife of George Coonrod, of Shelby county ; Benjamin and AVilliam, who live in this county; IMargaret, the wife of Homer Kendall, of Oglesby, Illinois ; and Eliota, the wife of I. Kite, of Anabel, Missouri.

Having reached the age of eighty-three years and lived acceptably and serviceably more than half of that period among this people, with an enduring and helpful interest in their welfare, ^Ir. Perry is esteemed by them as a citizen and venerated as a patriarch. He has richly earned the rest he now enjoys after his long- day of toil and trial, and is fully entitled to the mildness and benignity of his life's evening. And by the uprightness and usefulness of his residence among them he has fairly won the entire regard and good will of the people of Shelby county. They recognize this fact and freely accord him the prominence as one of their leading men his merit has brought him.

John Neuschafer

The late John Neuschafer, whose untimely death on October 5, 1888, cut short a luminous career full of usefulness to the community in which he lived, was a native of Hesse Cassel, Gei'many, born on January 11, 1839. He came to the United States in 1868 and. at once located in Shelby county, Missouri, in a German colony established here, where he found many of the customs and characteristics of his native land and people of tastes, habits and aspirations kindred with his own. The German Lutheran settlement in which he took up his residence was essentially a farming community and as he had been trained to the pursuit its people followed, he entered upon it with energy and spirit in their midst.

Mr. Neuschafer bought land and was actively and profitably engaged in cultivating, developing and improving it, with gratifying present success and great future promise, when death ended him and his useful labors at the early age of forty-nine years. But, during the twenty years of his residence in this county he gave abundant proof of his skill and good judgment as a farmer and his uprightness and public spirit as a citizen, becoming as warmly attached to the land of his adoption as he was to that of liis nativity, and taking an earnest and helpful interest in all its public affairs - civil, educational and religious institutions and its industrial and commercial activities and contributing his full share to their advancement, according to the measure of his capacity and opportunities. He was very successful in his own affairs, beginning work here on a farm of 100 acres and ending his life on that farm enlarged to 356 acres.

On December 14, 1869, Mr. Neuschafer was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Reinheimer, a German, like himself, but born and reared in Australia, where her life began on November 1, 1851. They became the parents of eleven children, and all of them are living and own their own homes in Shelby county. In their several stations and localities they carry out the teachings of the family fireside around which they grew to maturity, following with fidelity the excellent example given them by their parents and adding not only to the wealth and material strength of the county, but also to the power, sterling worth and progressive spirit of its citizenship. They are : Mary, the wife of Henry Von Thun ; Elizabeth, the wife of Harmon Rathjen; Louise, the wife of Philip Keller ; Emma, the wife of Christian Prange ; Henry; Sarah, the wife of John Werr; Anna, the wife of William Claussen ; Peter ; Catherine, the wife of Albert Kuehner ; Louis and John.

for a number of years, and in many other Tvays manifested his cordial and serviceable interest in the community. He belonged to the Lutheran church and took an active part in promoting its progress, as does his widow, who is still living on the old homestead. He was an ardent Eepublican in politics and gave his party energetic and effective service, and, although deeply interested in his own affairs, never neglected those of the locality in which he lived. His father, Jacob Neuschafer, passed the whole of his life in Germany, where his forefathers lived for many generations. He was the father of six children, all now deceased.

Mr. Neuschafer was one of the most esteemed citizens of Black Ci"eek township. He was enterprising, progressive and broad in his views, and was an inspiring force in his commimity, both through his o^ti activity and the forces he stimulated to action and helped to direct into proper channels in others. His memory is embalmed in the lasting regard of his township as one of its most estimable and worthy citizens.

Thomas E. Peiest

Young in years, as the statistical annalist counts age, but in full touch with the progress and aspirations of the times, and therefore of the proper makeup and caliber for any time in which his lot might have been cast ; of an ancestry springing from the heroic age of our country's history, yet depending wholly on his own resources and capabilities, and therefore up to the requirements of any age, and under any circumstances wholly and sincerel_v a scion and representative of Missouri and Shelby county of the present day, Thomas E. Priest, of Black Creek township is well worthy of a place in a work purporting to record the achievements and indicate or suggest th^ liromise of the future of this portion of the middle West.

Mr. Priest is a native of Shelby county, born on June 6, 1885. and the son of William L. and Anna S. (A'andiver) Priest, the former also a native of this county and the latter of Virginia. He began his education in the district schools of Shelby county and completed it at a graded school in Shelbj-ville. After leaving school he worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until April 9, 1905, when he was imited in marriage with ^liss Elizabeth Reinheimer, a native of this county, born on August 3, 1885, and daughter of Charles and Emma Eeinheimer, well known and highly respected residents of the county.

Directly after his marriage Mr. Priest bought 185 acres of land and on that has been energetically and successfully engaged in farming and raising live stock ever since. His operations in both lines of his productive industry have been extensive and have been conducted with .iudginent and skill. He is studious of his business and ever on the alert to take advantage of any suggestion extensive reading of the best agricultural and stock i)ublioatious or the lessons of experience given him, and so keeps his business up to date in every respect. He is accounted one of the most advanced and ]irogi"essive famiers and stock men in his township and well deserves his rank. Two children have been born in this household, his daughters Myra C. and

Margaret, liotli of whom are living and help to brighten and warm the family hearthstone with their winsome presence. In politics Mr. Priest is a Democrat, in fraternal life a Modern Woodman of America, and in religious affiliation a Methodist Episcopalian, belonging to the Southern branch of that church, of which his wife is also a member.

Mr. Priest's grandfather, Matthew Priest, was a native of Virgina, where his forefathers were long residents and extensive planters. His father, William Priest, was born in Shelby county, Missouri, on November 4, 1837, and has passed the whole of his subsequent life in the count}', except when he was absent on a short mining expedition to Colorado before the Civil war and another after it and during the years of that momentous sectional conflict, when he was in the Confederate army. He was educated in the district schools and at Shelb^^ville High school. After leaving the high school he taught for a year, then, in 1859, when the almost universal slogan was "Pike's Peak or Bust," he crossed the plains with a mule team to Denver in search of gold. But he did not remain long on this expedition. Returning to Shelby county, he clerked in a general store in Shelbina until 1861.

In that year, when martial music was all the American people heard, and the lowering of clouds of civil strife, which had so long darkened our whole sky, burst with all their fury on our unhappy country, he enlisted in the Confederate army under the command of Major Adams. He served to the end of the war, and at its close was mustered out of the service at Memphis, Tennessee.