Woodlandville, Missouri

Woodlandville is situated in section 5, township 49, range 13, being the southwest portion of Perche township. It is in that region of country known as the Thrall's prairie district. There is but one store and a blacksmith shop. The post-office is kept at the store. A great deal of business is transacted by W. B. Campbell, proprietor of the store, who keeps a general assortment of dry goods, groceries and notions, and exchanges goods for produce.

Passage source: History of Boone County, Missouri, published 1882.

The subject of this sketch is a practical farmer. Possessing many of the characteristics of a leader, he naturally became the representative of that worthy, influential and powerful class of citizens who, collectively, form the bulk of our population. This too without any special effort of his own in that direction. The farmers showed excellent judgment in selecting Mr. Wilhite, a man worthy of the 'honors conferred and capable of discharging the trust almost unanimously imposed. As a member of the legislature, Mr. Wilhite was not brilliant. His speeches were few, and never eloquent. He did not talk for the sake of talking. Such demagoguery is foreign to his nature. He strove to ascertain his official duty and then went earnestly to work to accomplish his purpose. His career in the State legislature won the esteem of every honest, conscientious representative in that body. His integrity, his devotion to principle, and, withal, his excellent judgment, made him a useful member ; useful not only to his constituents, but to the State at large, and to the party whose principles he represented. Mr. Wilhite was born in Boone county, Missouri, April 13th, 1830, and is at this writing about fifty-two years old, but looks much younger. His father was a native of Kentucky, but came to Missouri in 1818, when our State was yet a territory. The elder Wilhite was a farmer, and the subject of this sketch was brought up iu that business. His chances for acquiring an education were poor, but he made the best use possible of every opportunity that presented itself, and wheh in after years he was called from the farm to represent his county in the legislature he was prepared to discharge the duties of that office in the most acceptable manner. Mr. Wilhite was. married in 1853, but had the misfortune to lose his wife in th^ee years after their marriage. Their union was blessed with one child, a daughter, who grew up to womanhood and was married, but died in the first year of her wedded life. In 1851 Mr. Wilhite purchased a farm in Howard county, to which he removed, but soon returned to his father's old home in Boone county. In 1855 he bought a farm near Boeheport, on which he resided for about three years. He then purchased his present farm, near Woodlandville, consisting of 540 acres of very fine land. He has resided on this farm since 1864. It is admirably improved and in a high state of cultivation. In 1874 Mr. Wilhite was chosen to represent his county in the twenty-eighth general assembly. While a member of the legislature he was chairman of the committee on State University ; also ways and means, penitentiary, agriculture and scientific and benevolent institutions. He was reelected in 1876, without opposition, an endorsement without a parallel in the political history of Boone county. Since serving his last term in the legislature Mr. Wilhite has remained quietly on his farm, looking after his interests in that quarter, taking no part in politics whatever. He has frequently been solicited to again become a candidate for the legislature, but he seems rather to prefer the quiet home life of a well-to-do farmer to the anxiety and turmoil of political strife. Mr. Wilhite is a member of the Baptist church at Walnut Grove, and has always contributed liberally to the support of the gospel.

Passage source: History of Boone County, Missouri, published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Perche Township.