USA > Missouri > Johnson County > Portrait and biographical record of Johnson and Pettis counties, Missouri ; containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 1
USA > Missouri > Pettis County > Portrait and biographical record of Johnson and Pettis counties, Missouri ; containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the counties, together with biographies and portraits of all the presidents of the United States > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85
Gc 977.801 J63p 1139234
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01053 9200
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/portraitbiographjap00chap
4
PORTRAIT AND
BIOGRAPHICAL
RECORD
Or
JOHNSON AND PETTIS COUNTIES , MISSOURI
Containing Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the Counties.
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the Presidents of the United States.
Sc 977.801 g63p
CHICAGO: CHAPMAN PUBLISHING CO.,
1895.
PREFACE. 1139234
enda- 3750
HE greatest of English historians, MACAULAY, and one of the most brilliant writers of the present century, has said: "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people." In conformity with this idea the PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD of this county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the county to rank second to none among those comprising this great and noble State, and from their lips have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelli- gent public. In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells how some, commeneing life in poverty, by industry and economy have accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have become learned men and women, with an influence extending throughout the length and breadth of the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy-"they have done what they could." It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after.
Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a saered treasure, from the fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work and every opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publishers flatter them. selves that they give to their readers a work with few errors of consequence. In addition to the biograph ical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given.
The faees of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made at their residence or place of business.
July, 1895.
CHAPMAN PUBLISHING CO.
PORTRAITS
AND
BIOGRAPHIES
OF THE
PRESIDENTS
OF THE
UNITED STATES
bc
RESIDENTS.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
HE Father of our Country was born in West- moreland County, Va., February 22, 1732. His parents were Augustine and Mary (Ball) Washington. The family to which he belonged has not been satisfactorily traced in England. His great-grandfather, John Washington, emi- grated to Virginia about 1657, and became a prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence and John. The former married Mildred Warner, and liad three children, John, Augustine and Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first married Jane Butler, who bore him four children, two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached maturity. Of six children by his second mar- riage, George was the eldest, the others being Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and Mildred.
Augustine Washington, the father of George, died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an estate on the Potomac, afterwards known as Mt. Vernon, and to George he left the parental resi- dence. George received only such education as the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a short time after he left school, when he received private instruction in mathematics. His spelling was rather defective. Remarkable stories are told of his great physical strength and develop- ment at an early age. He was an acknowledged leader among his companions, and was early aoted for that nobleness of character, fairness and veracity which characterized his whole life.
When George was fourteen years old he had a desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant was secured for him, but through the opposition of his mother the idea was abandoned, Two
years later he was appointed surveyor to the im- mense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business he spent three years in a rough frontier life, gaining experience which afterwards proved very essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen years of age, he was appointed Adjutant, with the rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, then being trained for active service against the French and Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. They soon returned, and in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not long survive him. On her demise the estate of Mt. Vernon was given to George.
Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddie as Lieu- tenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia was reorganized, and the province divided into four military districts, of which the northern was assigned to Washington as Adjutant-General. Shortly after this a very perilous mission, which others had refused, was assigned him and ac- cepted. This was to proceed to the French post near Lake Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania. The distance to be traversed was about six hun- dred miles. Winter was at hand, and the journey was to be made without military escort, through a territory occupied by Indians. The trip was a perilous one, and several times he nearly lost his life, but he returned in safety and furnished a full and useful report of his expedition. A regiment of three hundred men was raised in Virginia and put in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Maj. Washington was commissioned Lieutenant-Colo- nel. Active war was then begun against the French and Indians, in which Washington took
20
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
a most important part. In the memorable event of July 9, 1755, known as "Braddock's defeat," Washington was almost the only officer of dis- tinction who escaped from the calamities of the day with life and honor.
Having been for five years in the military serv- ice, and having vainly sought promotion in the royal arıny, he took advantage of the fall of Ft. Du- quesne and the expulsion of the French from the valley of the Ohio to resign his commission. Soon after he entered the Legislature, where, although not a leader, he took an active and important part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha (Dandridge) Custis, the wealthy widow of John Parke Custis.
When the British Parliament had closed the port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the provinces, "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all!" It was then, at the suggestion of Vir- ginia, that a congress of all the colonies was called to meet at Philadelphia September 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably if possible. To this congress Col. Washington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the congress re-assembled, when the hostile inten- tions of England were plainly apparent. The battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought, and among the first acts of this congress was the election of a commander-in-chief of the Colonial forces. This high and responsible office was con- ferred upon Washington, who was still a member of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but upon the express condition that he receive no sal- ary. He would keep an exact account of ex- penses, and expect congress to pay them and nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the fortunes and liberties of the people of this country were so long confided. The war was conducted by him under every possible disadvan- tage; and while his forces often inet with reverses, yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his com- mission as Commander-in-Chief of the army to the
Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He retired immediately to Mt. Vernon and resumed his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning all connection with public life.
In February, 1789, Washington was unani- mously elected President, and at the expiration of his first term he was unanimously re-elected. At the end of this term many were anxious that he be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third nomination. On March 4, 1797, at the expiration of his second term as President, he returned to his home, hoping to pass there his few remaining years free from the annoyances of public life. Later in the year, however, his repose seemed likely to be interrupted by war with France. At the prospect of such a war he was again urged to take command of the army, but he chose his sub- ordinate officers and left them the charge of mat- ters in the field, which he superintended from his home. In accepting the command, he made the reservation that he was not to be in the field until, it was necessary. In the midst of these prepara- tions his life was suddenly cut off. December 12 he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, which, settling in his throat, produced inflamma- tion, and terminated fatally on the night of the 14th. On the 18th his body was borne with mili- tary honors to its final resting-place, and interred in the family vault at Mt. Vernon.
Of the character of Washington it is impossible to speak but in terms of the highest respect and admiration. The more we see of the operations of our government, and the more deeply we feel the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common interest, the more highly we must estimate the force of his talent and character, which have been able to challenge the reverence of all parties, and principles, and nations, and to win a fame as extended as the limits of the globe, and which we cannot but believe will be as lasting as the exist- ence of man.
In person, Washington was unusually tall, erect and well proportioned, and his muscular strength was great. His features were of a beautiful sym- metry. He commanded respect without any ap- pearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious without being dull.
JOHN ADAMS.
JOHN ADAMS.
] OHN ADAMS, the second President and the first Vice-President of the United States, was born in Braintree (now Quincy) Mass., and about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735. His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated from England about 1640, with a family of eight sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of John were John and Susannah (Boylston) Adams. His father, who was a farmer of limited means, also engaged in the business of shoe- making. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical education at Harvard College. John graduated in 1755, and at once took charge of the school at Worcester, Mass. This he found but a "school of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the study of law. For this purpose he placed himself under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. He had thought seriously of the clerical profes- sion, but seems to have been turned from this by what he termed "the frightful engines of ecclesi- astical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvin- istic good nature," of the operations of which he had been a witness in his native town. He was well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He gradually gained a practice, and in 1764 married Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his marriage, in 1765, the attempt at parliamentary taxation turned him from law to politics. He took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, and the resolutions he offered on the subject be- came very popular throughout the province, and were adopted word for word by over forty differ- ent towns. He moved to Boston in 1768, and became one of the most courageous and promi- nent advocates of the popular cause, and was chosen a member of the General Court (the Leg- islature) in 1770.
Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first dele-
gates from Massachusetts to the first Continent- al Congress, which met in 1774. Here le dis- tinguished himself by his capacity for business and for debate, and advocated the movement for independence against the majority of the mem- bers. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a res- olution in Congress that the Colonies should assume the duties of self-government. He was a prominent member of the committee of five ap- pointed June 11 to prepare a declaration of inde- pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, but on Adams devolved the task of battling it through Congress in a three-days debate.
On the day after the Declaration of Independ- ence was passed, while his soul was yet warm with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter to his wife, which, as we read it 110w, seems to have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. "Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question was decided that ever was debated in America; and greater, perhaps, never was or will be de- cided among men. A resolution was passed without one dissenting colony, 'that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and in- dependent states.' The day is passed. The Fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treas- ure that it will cost to maintain this declaration and support and defend these States; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means, and that posterity will triumph,
24
JOHN ADAMS.
although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not."
In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed a delegate to France, and to co-operate with Ben- jamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in arms and money from the French government. This was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it separated him from his home, compelled him to cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to great peril of capture by the British cruisers, who were seeking him. He left France June 17, 1779. In September of the same year he was again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold him- self in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the British cabinet might be found willing to listen to such proposals. He sailed for France in No- vember, and from there he went to Holland, where he negotiated important loans and formed im- portant commercial treaties.
Finally, a treaty of peace with England was signed, January 21, 1783. The re-action from the excitement, toil and anxiety through which Mr. Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After suffering from a continued fever and becoming feeble and emaciated, he was advised to go to England to drink the waters of Bath. While in England, still drooping and desponding, he re- ceived dispatches from his own government urg- ing the necessity of his going to Amsterdam to negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health was delicate, yet he immediately set out, and through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he made the trip.
February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here he met face to face the King of England, who had so long regarded him as a traitor. As Eng- land did not condescend to appoint a minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accomplishing but little, he sought permis- sion to return to his own country, where he ar- rived in June, 1788.
When Washington was first chosen President, John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice-
President. Again, at the second election of Wash- ington as President, Adams was chosen Vice- President. In 1796, Washington retired from public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President, though not without much opposition. Serving in this office four years, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, his opponent in politics.
While Mr. Adams was Vice-President the great French Revolution shook the continent of Europe, and it was upon this point that he was at issue with the majority of his countrymen, led by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy with the French people in their struggle, for he had no confidence in their power of self-govern- ment, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist philosophers who, he claimed, caused it. On the other hand, Jefferson's sympathies were strongly enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence originated the alienation between these distin- tinguished men, and the two powerful parties were thus soon organized, with Adams at the head of the one whose sympathies were with England, and Jefferson leading the other in sympathy with France.
The Fourth of July, 1826, which completed the half-century since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, arrived, and there were but three of the signers of that immortal instrument left upon the earth to hail its morning light. And, as it is well known, on that day two of these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coinci- dence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly failing, and on the morning of the Fourth he found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On being requested to name a toast for the cus- tomary celebration of the day, he exclaimed "Independence forever!" When the day was ushered in by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannons, he was asked by one of his attend- ants if he knew what day it was? He replied, "O yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July-God bless it-God bless you all!" In the course of the day he said, "It is a great and glorious day." The last words he uttered were, "Jeffes. son survives." But he had, at one o'clock, resigned his spirit into the hands of his God.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
HOMAS JEFFERSON was born April 2, 1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va. His parents were Peter and Jane (Ran- dolph) Jefferson, the former a native of Wales, and the latter born in London. To them were born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas was the elder. When fourteen years of age his father died. He received a most liberal educa- tion, having been kept diligently at school from the time he was five years of age. In 1760 he entered William and Mary College. Williams- burg was then the seat of the Colonial court, and it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and going much into gay society; yet he was ear- nestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in his morals. In the second year of his college course, moved by some unexplained impulse, he discarded his old companions and pursuits, and often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study. He thus attained very high intellectual culture, and a like excellence in philosophy and the lan- guages.
Immediately upon leaving college he began the study of law. For the short time he continued in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly, and distinguished himself by his energy and acuteness as a lawyer. But the times called for greater action. The policy of England had awak- ened the spirit of resistance in the American Col- onies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had ever entertained soon led him into active politi- cal life. In 1769 he was chosen a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he mar-
ried Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful, wealthy, and highly accomplished young widow.
In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, where, though a silent member, his abilities as a writer and a reasoner soon become known, and he was placed upon a number of important com- mittees, and was chairman of the one appointed for the drawing up of a declaration of independ- ence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jef- ferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal changes before it was submitted to Congress. On June 28, a few slight changes were made in it by Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 1776.
In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia. At one time the British officer Tarleton sent a secret expedition to Monticello to capture the Governor. Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family ere his mansion was in possession of the British troops. His wife's health, never very good, was much injured by this excitement, and in the summer of 1782 she died.
Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. Two years later he was appointed Minister Pleni- potentiary to France. Returning to the United States in September, 1789, he became Secretary of State in Washington's cabinet. This position he resigned January 1, 1794. In 1797, he was chosen Vice-President, and four years later was elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron
28
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Burr as Vice-President. In 1804 he was re- elected with wonderful unanimity, George Clin- ton being elected Vice-President.
The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second ad- ministration was disturbed by an event which threatened the tranquillity and peace of the Union; this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated in the late election to the Vice-Presidency, and led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraor- dinary man formed the plan of a military ex- pedition into the Spanish territories on our south- western frontier, for the purpose of forming there a new republic. This was generally supposed to have been a mere pretext; and although it has not been generally known what his real plans were, there is no doubt that they were of a far more dangerous character.
In 1809, at the expiration of the second termn for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he de- termined to retire from political life. For a period of nearly forty years he had been continually be- fore the public, and all that time had been em- ployed in offices of the greatest trust and respon- sibility. Having thus devoted the best part of his life to the service of his country, he now felt desirous of that rest which his declining years re- quired, and upon the organization of the new ad- ministration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell for- ever to public life and retired to Monticello, his famous country home, which, next to Mt. Vernon, was the most distinguished residence in the land.
The Fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth an- niversary of the Declaration of American Inde- pendence, great preparations were made in every part of the Union for its celebration as the nation's jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jeffer- son, as the framer and one of the few surviving signers of the Declaration, to participate in their festivities. But an illness, which had been of several weeks' duration and had been continually increasing, compelled him to decline the invita- tion.
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