USA > Missouri > Livingston County > Past and present of Livingston County, Missouri : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01094 7809
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/pastpresentofliv02roof 0
TRUMAN C. BEASLEY
Past and Present
Livingston County, OF
Missouri
A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
A. J. Root
ILLUSTRATED
Sc 977.801 276 ~ U.2 VOLUME II
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1913
BIOGRAPHICAL
TRUMAN CROSS BEASLEY.
1142155
Among institutions which are of foremost importance to the commercial development of a city there are none more significant than the banks, as they facilitate business transactions and by ex- tending credit at the right time promote growth and business ex- pansion. The First National Bank of Chillicothe is a bank of this kind and occupies a foremost position in the commercial life of the community. It is ably directed by Truman Cross Beasley, its president, who by his conservative policy in regard to investments and his progressive spirit in helping along commerce and industry has made it what it is today.
Mr. Beasley was born on September 16, 1855, in Jasper county, Missouri. He is a son of Andrew Jackson Beasley, also a native Missourian, who was born in Pike county, May 25, 1826, and was reared there. He followed agricultural pursuits and was success- ful as a stock-raiser in the county of his birth and in 1861 came to Chillicothe, where he passed away July 6, 1911. His political affiliations were with the democratic party and his religious belief that of the Christian church. On January 4, 1853, he married in Jasper county, Missouri, Miss Eudora Perry, who was born in Cleveland, Tennessee, January 4, 1837. She came with her family to Missouri when fourteen years old, in 1851, and still resides in Chillicothe. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Eph- raim Beasley, a native of Kentucky, where he was reared to agri- cultural pursuits, which he followed during his life. He was a democrat and also an adherent of the Christian church. The paternal grandmother in her maidenhood was Rebecca Ruddel, a native of Scott county, Kentucky, where she passed her girl- hood days. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Beasley were ten children : Andrew Jackson, the father of our subject ; Rebecca ; Stephen R .; Amanda; Francis Marion; Sarah Jane; William Henry; America Virginia Josephine; James W .; and Catharine A. The maternal grandfather was Alexander Perry, a native of Tennessee, in which state he was brought up and where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was of the Methodist faith, a democrat
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
in politics and was one of the patriots who served in the War of 1812. He was murdered in Arkansas in 1862: His marriage to Elizabeth Woodlea took place in Tennessee, where she was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Perry had eight children : Eudora, the mother of our subject; John; Malinda; George; Greer; Mary; Margaret; and Lucretia. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Jackson Beasley had four children: William Herschel, who was born December 13, 1853, and died March 31, 1902; Truman Cross, the subject of this sketch; Ida Ella, who was born September II, 1860, and passed away at the age of about five years, August 28, 1865; and Lula, born September 30, 1870, who died November 19, 1876.
Truman Cross Beasley attended the public schools in Chilli- cothe, Missouri, where he was reared. He decided upon a com- mercial career and subsequently became well known as a mer- chant in Pattonsburg, Missouri, and also engaged in the banking business. Giving more largely his attention to the latter occupa- tion, he in time built up an extensive business in this line and served as president of the Daviess County Bank at Pattonsburg. In 1906 he came to Chillicothe as president of the First National Bank of Chillicothe. There has hardly been a man connected with the bank who has exerted a greater influence in its growth and development and in this important position he has done much valuable work in the promotion and expansion of trade and com- merce in the city which he makes his home. Under his guidance the resources of the bank have rapidly increased and the institution has among its depositors many of the most prominent people of the town and does business with most of the larger commercial institutions in the city, while it receives a large share of trade from the surrounding farming community. The interests of Mr. Beasley, however, are not confined to this institution only, for he also serves as president of the Pattonsburg Mercantile Company of Pattonsburg, Missouri, which company does an extensive trade in that city.
On May 30, 1888, Mr. Beasley was married at Pattonsburg, Missouri, to Miss Mattie Ewing, who was born near Bedford, Trimble county, Kentucky, September 14, 1866. Her father is George Douglas Ewing, who was born January 2, 1842, at Ewing- ford, Trimble county, Kentucky, where he was reared and made his home until 1885, when he removed to the state of Missouri, locating at Pattonsburg. He has made his permanent residence
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
there since that year and has become identified with the fire in- surance business, building up a large and profitable clientage. His political views incline him toward the democratic party and he affiliates with the Methodist church, South. He served with dis- tinction in the Confederate army, attaining the rank of orderly sergeant, and was a member of Colonel Giltner's staff of the First Brigade of General John H. Morgan's cavalry division. He also attained distinction along political lines, representing Trimble and Oldman counties, Kentucky, in the lower house in 1879 and 1880. He has followed his business successfully in Pattonsburg, Daviess county, Missouri, ever since locating here. On July 13, 1865, he married in Trimble county, Kentucky, Miss Artimecia Bain, a native of that county, where she was born October 27, 1842, and reared. She came with her husband to Pattonsburg in 1885. They were the parents of four children: Mattie, the wife of our subject; Charles Bain, born August 10, 1870; and Iva Watkins and Ira Scott, twins, who were born June 4, 1875, the former of whom died October 6, 1881, and the latter September 5, 1877. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Beasley was Fulton Ewing, who was born November 4, 1809, near Eminence, Henry county, Ken- tucky. He was reared in that county, where he later engaged in agriculture and stock-raising. He was a democrat in politics and of the South Methodist faith. He lived to the age of eighty years, passing away July 18, 1889, at Ewingford, Trimble county, Ken- tucky. His wife before her marriage was Miss Rachel Watkins Robbins, who was born in the same county and state as her hus- band, near Mount Olivet, and there was reared. Her marriage to Fulton Ewing took place March 14, 1833, in Henry county, Kentucky, and they had ten children : James, born May 18, 1834, who died on June 16th of the same year; Mary F. Ewing Morgan, born May 31, 1835, of La Grange, Kentucky; Robina, born May 17, 1836, who died July 16th of the same year; William Pryor, born August 28, 1837, of Milton, Kentucky ; Augustus M., born November 25, 1839, who died at Taos, New Mexico, September 24, 1904; George Douglas, the father of Mrs. Beasley; Tharisa Holmes Ewing, who was born September 12, 1843, and died October 19th of the same year; Abel Robbins, born August 31, 1844, of Mitchell, Indiana; Bettie E. Ewing Spilliman, born May 20, 1847, of Ewingford, Kentucky; and Christopher C., who was born February 20, 1849, and died on December 13th of the same year. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Beasley was Charles
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Bain, born October 2, 1795, in the state of Virginia. He removed with his parents to Kentucky, where he grew to manhood and became an agriculturist. In politics he was a democrat and his faith was that of the South Methodist church. On June 16, 1831, he married in Trimble county, Kentucky, Miss Nancy Trout, who was born December 14, 1809, in Switzerland county, Indiana, and was reared in Trimble county, Kentucky. Charles Bain passed away in that county on February 14, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bain had eleven children: Margaret Elizabeth, who was born January 3, 1833, and died May 4, 1839; Sarah Jane Bain Foree, who was born April 28, 1834, and died August 7, 1900; Salome, born January 24, 1836, who died September 9, 1857; Levi Lewis, who was born December II, 1837, and died May 7, 1847; Elvina Bain Dunn, who was born July 27, 1839, and died October 20, 1896; Mary Bain Martin, who was born January 8, 1841, of Pat- tonsburg, Missouri; Artimecia Bain Ewing, the mother of Mrs. Beasley, of Pattonsburg, Missouri; William Alexander, born Sep- tember 4, 1844, of Welch, Kentucky ; Eliza Trout Bain Hisle, born January 18, 1847, who makes her home in old Mexico; Matilda Bain Jordan, who was born March 20, 1849, and died February 25, 1884; and Jeremiah Trout, who was born March 22, 1857. The paternal great-grandparents of Mrs. Beasley were James Ewing and Robina (Scott) Ewing, who were born, educated and mar- ried in Edinburgh, Scotland. Soon after their marriage in 1799 they sailed for America. On account of contrary winds, shipwreck and other delays their voyage was fraught with hardships and dangers, taking six months. Their first child was born at sea and he was christened Douglas in honor of the Douglas clan of Scot- land, of which the great-grandmother was a descendant. Mrs. Robina (Scott) Ewing was one of the leaders in a movement for the higher education of girls and established the first girls' high school in the state of Kentucky at Frankfort. Mrs. Mattie Beas- ley, the wife of our subject, received her education in the common schools of Kentucky and later attended high school at Pattons- burg, Missouri. She is a lady of refined tastes and rare attain- ments and popular in the social circles of Chillicothe.
Mr. Beasley is a democrat in his political views and although he is public-spirited and has by his activities along mercantile and banking lines greatly contributed to the growth and development of the city which he calls his home, he has never aspired to public office. He holds membership in the Christian church, in which
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
organization he is interested. He has attained high rank in the Masonic order, being a member of the lodge, the chapter, the com- mandery and the shrine. He also holds membership in the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. His industry and energy have found substantial reward, resulting in most gratifying prosperity. He has made a creditable record in business, his course having been marked by steady progress gained through utilization of every opportunity that has presented itself. He is a man strongly marked by character and has come to be recognized as a forceful element in the community, his sterling traits having won him the high regard and confidence of all with whom he has come in con- tact, and his activities have been truly constructive in the develop- ment of his city and the surrounding country.
FRANK W. ASHBY.
Frank W. Ashby, who has been for fourteen years in active and successful practice as a lawyer in the courts of Missouri, has behind him a record of able work in the public service and before him a splendid opportunity for future advancement of which he cannot fail to make adequate and effective use. He was born in Chariton county, Missouri, December 19, 1872, a son of Richard and Addie (Gaffenany) Ashby, both of whom have passed away, the mother dy- ing in 1891 and the father in 1898. They are buried in Chariton county, Missouri. Frank W. Ashby comes of a family of early Ken- tucky settlers who came to Missouri at an early date and made peace with the Indians, doing much to forge the way to civilization in this section of the state. In Randolph county, Missouri, he was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Evans, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Cook) Evans, both of whom have passed away, the father dying in 1887 and the mother in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Ashby have become the parents of a son, Grant E. The family are members of the Methodist church.
Frank W. Ashby is essentially a self-made man, possessing in his character and personality all of the force, strength and determination which the word implies. He attended the public schools of Brunswick and at the age of fifteen began work on a construction train as water boy and was promoted to brakeman, serving in that capacity until he had saved sufficient money to pay his expenses through college at
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Stansbury, Missouri. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1898 and in the same year began to practice in the city of Chillicothe, where he has made a success in his profession, standing today in the front ranks of able and forceful practitioners. During his active legal career he has been interested in many important civil and criminal cases and has conducted such litigation in a most able manner. As a lawyer he is clear-minded and well trained, at home in all the major and minor departments of jurisprudence and the higher concerns of public policy and he possesses, moreover, that natural ability which commands success. Mr. Ashby is a democrat of the Jeffersonian type, believing in the majority rule and adhering strictly to the highest standards of political conscientiousness. He began his public life in May, 1905, when he was elected on the demo- cratic ticket to the office of city attorney and served four years, repre- senting the city in its protracted struggle for municipal ownership. Efficiently conducting the affairs of the office and impartially and fearlessly enforcing the law he has made a splendid record.
Mr. Ashby is one of the best known lawyers in Livingston county, standing always on the side of the public interest in professional and public matters. He is a young man possessed of a pleasing manner and personality and is deservedly popular with all classes of people, irrespective of party affiliation.
HAL D. McHOLLAND.
Hal D. McHolland, president of the Chillicothe Publishing & Printing Company and editor of the Chillicothe Daily and Weekly Tribune, is an experienced and able journalist, having been con- nected with this line of work since his childhood. A spirit of progress actuates him in the conduct of his newspaper and his enterprise and modern methods are manifest also in his business affairs. He is a native son of the city, born January 31, 1874, his parents being David A. and Adaline (Tiffany) McHolland, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. The father served in the Civil war as a member of the Fifty-second Indiana Regiment, going to the front as captain and being promoted to the rank of major and then to that of lieutenant colonel. He moved to Chillicothe after his discharge and there engaged in the wagon and blacksmithing business until his death, which
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HAL D. McHOLLAND
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
occurred in 1876. His wife was active in church and charity work in the city and was also prominent and influential in the affairs of the Women's Relief Corps. She has also passed away, her death having occurred in Chillicothe in 1907.
Hal D. McHolland acquired his early education in the public schools of Chillicothe and supplemented this by a course in Carver Business College. He began his independent career as a carrier boy for the Chillicothe Tribune and he has been connected with this paper since that time, rising through successive stages of progress and advancement to his present influential position. He was successively printer, foreman and then president of the Chilli- cothe Publishing & Printing Company and editor of the Chilli- cothe Daily and Weekly Tribune, his progressive methods being manifest in increased circulation and advertising patronage. He has a modern and well equipped plant and is conducting a paper that is thoroughly up-to-date in every particular. While the Trib- une is published as a progressive republican newspaper, it takes an independent position in municipal affairs, standing always in favor of reform and advancement in everything relating to the welfare of the individual and of the community.
On the 25th of November, 1896, Mr. McHolland married Miss Esther A. Dawson, a daughter of Joseph A. and Cornelia P. Dawson. Mr. and Mrs. McHolland have two children, Adaline Marjory and Joe D. Mr. McHolland is a member of the Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks and other secret societies. His wife belongs to the Daughters of the American Revolution and is prominent in club and social circles of the city. In Chillicothe they are widely known and popular and their home is a most hospitable one, its good cheer being greatly enjoyed by their many friends.
JOHN C. HARGRAVE.
Great honor is due John C. Hargrave not only as a native son and pioneer of Livingston county, where he was born September 7, 1839, not only as one of its most successful agriculturists, but also as one of the men who offered their lives in the great conflict that for- ever made the north and south one country and wrought its subse- quent greatness. He is a son of Benjamin and Tobitha (Nave) Har-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
grave, the former a pioneer settler in this district, coming to Liv- ingston county in 1833, at a time when the most primitive conditions prevailed and there were few signs of civilization. This was in the early days when wild game was still plentiful and often furnished the meat for the table. He owned several pieces of land which he gradu- ally cleared, put under cultivation and developed to a high state of productivity, and as the years passed became one of the well known and substantial men of the county. He also had a military record to his credit, having fought in the Black Hawk war. He died in 1890, at the age of eighty-three years, his death causing widespread regret. His burial took place in the Mount Pleasant Baptist cemetery. Mrs. Hargrave passed away when our subject was only four years of age and found a last resting place in the Nave family lot at Spring Hill, Missouri. She was the mother of four children. The Hargrave fam- ily is of old English origin, having settled on this side of the Atlantic in Tennessee, and John Hargrave, the grandfather of our subject, participated in the War of 1812.
John C. Hargrave acquired his education in various parts of the county, attending school until the age of sixteen years. He then assisted his father with the work of the farm until his patriotic spirit was aroused by the call to arms and he enlisted for service in the Civil war. During that conflict he lost an arm when he was on guard duty, protecting a paymaster. He subsequently began farm- ing on his own account, beginning with a tract of forty acres, but gratifying financial results gradually enabled him to increase his holdings until they amounted to six hundred acres. He has since di- vided this vast tract of land among his children, retaining only the farm of one hundred and ninety acres on which he now resides and to which he yet gives his undivided attention although over seventy years of age. He largely engages in general farming and is also an extensive stock-raiser, deriving a gratifying income from the latter branch of his activities. Modern equipment can be found upon his place and all up-to-date accessories to farming have been introduced by him. Mr. Hargrave has also erected a comfortable, handsome residence in which he makes his home.
In Jackson township, on November 27, 1864, Mr. Hargrave was married to Miss Sarah Gibbs, the ceremony being performed by Squire Pepper. Mrs. Hargrave is a daughter of David and Margaret (McWilliams) Gibbs, the father formerly well known as one of the pioneers of this section to which he came about the year 1835. To his credit stands distinguished service rendered during the Civil
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
war as a lieutenant. He was well known and well liked in Livings- ton county where he passed away in December, 1877, at the age of sixty-eight years, his wife following him in death about fifteen years later, in 1892, and both are buried in the Gibbs family lot. In their family were nine children. Mr. and Mrs. Hargrave became the parents of ten children of whom two died in infancy. The others are : Dixon, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Jackson town- ship, near the Gibbs schoolhouse; Margaret, the wife of George Grouse, a farmer of the same township; David, who follows the same occupation in the same locality; John, a graduate of the Chillicothe Normal School and a resident of Chillicothe; Fred, a farmer of Jack- son township; Kate, the wife of William Grouse, an agriculturist of Sampsell township; Sarah, who married Claude Boone, of Farmers- ville; and Rose, the wife of Edward Nothnagle, a farmer of Samp- sell township. Mr. Hargrave also has thirty-nine grandchildren.
Public-spirited and progressive, Mr. Hargrave has participated in the public life of the community and for some time served as con- stable of Jackson township, while for many years he has done able service as a director of the school board. His political affiliations are with the democratic party and in religious matters he gives his adherence to the Baptist church. He is also a valued member of the Anti-Horse Thief Association. A man strongly marked by char- acter, Mr. Hargrave has come to be recognized as a forceful element in the community, where his sterling traits have won him the high regard and confidence of all with whom he has come in contact. His success is highly merited and is to be attributed to his incessant industry, his energy and also to the faithful assistance of his wife who has shared with him in all his hardships. A native son and a pio- neer, he has not only been an interested witness of the changes that have here occurred but he has been helpful in bringing about the general advancement that the present generation enjoys.
R. L. ISHERWOOD.
R. L. Isherwood has demonstrated the full meaning of the word success as being the complete accomplishment of an honorable pur- pose. Integrity, energy, close application and good management --- these are the elements which have entered into his business career and crowned his efforts with prosperity. He now occupies an enviable
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
position in financial circles as vice president of the Chillicothe State Bank, and in the general business life of the city as the owner of some fine modern greenhouses and as the promoter of many other im- portant enterprises which affect directly the present security and future growth of the city. He was born in Cheltenham, Gloucester- shire, England, December 6, 1856, and is a son of R. L. Isherwood, these initials having descended to the eldest son in the family through many generations. For hundreds of years representatives of this line were cotton manufacturers in England and the father of our subject was for a long time interested in this industry. He is now living retired in Argentine, Kansas, having reached the advanced age of ninety-four. His wife passed away in that city in 1885, at the age of sixty-five, and her grave is in the Argentine cemetery. She was a representative of the Spencer family, members of which have been well known in various lines of activity in England. It sent representatives to various English wars and the maternal grandfather of the subject of this review, H. Spencer, fought through the entire Crimean war as general of an army corps.
R. L. Isherwood acquired his education in Millbrook College, Devonshire, England, from which he was graduated in 1872, and in Oxford College, from which he received his degree of B. S. in the following year. Immediately after completing his education he came to America and here learned the tinner's trade, following that occu- pation at Carrollton, Missouri, for three years. Afterward he went to Cameron, Missouri, and spent one year there, going to Jamesport at the end of that time and establishing himself in the hardware and implement business, in which he was engaged for twenty years, win- ning a high and prominent place in mercantile circles of that locality. At the end of that time he came to Chillicothe and accepted a posi- tion as traveling salesman for the International Harvester Company, a connection which he retained until 1904, when he transferred his interests to the Studebaker Company, with whom he remained for two years. In 1906 he built a large greenhouse, which he owns to- day and the conduct of which forms one of the most important of his business interests. The building is the largest of its kind in northern Missouri, occupying over an acre of land, and it contains the first concrete benches ever installed in a building of this char- acter. These are over one hundred feet in length and much credit is due Mr. Isherwood as the originator of the idea.
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