A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography, Part 31

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 31
USA > Missouri > Atchison County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 31

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Viter the war Mr. Hagey resumed farm mig The cultivated rented land umtil 1807. then secured a farm of one hundred and

sixty acres, which he improved as rapidly a: possible until it was under a good state of cultivation, provided with adequate build- ing's and machinery and in all ways amply equipped for practical farming. In 1866 he married Miss S. M. Odell, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Van Vickle ) Odell. loth of whom are dead. Miss Odell came of a good family, is a woman of high pur- pose and good ability and has been to Mr. Hagey a noble and helpful wife. They have seven children, named as follows : James F .. Horatio M., Abraham C., Cora S. (Mrs. Seals, of Wilcox, Nodaway county). Ber- tha ( Mrs. McClay, of Nebraska ). Etta and Zulu.

Mr. Hagey is a public-spirited man, who it ever ready to do his full share in the ad- vancement of the best interests of the com- munity. From the fact of his service on the Confederate side of the war of the re- bellion, he is not identified with the Grand Army of the Republic, yet he counts among his best and truest friends many old fighters who were opposed to him in 1861-65. He is at: Odd Fellow.

NATHANIEL SISSON.

The subject of this sketch, the senior member of the real estate, loan and abstract firm of N. Sisson & Son, is one of the three remaining active business men of Maryville who occupy the same business rooms, occt- pied continuously for the past quarter of a century. He came into the county August 6, 1866, and has witnessed the transforma- tion of a vast prairie dotted here and there with the cabins of a few settlers into the present populous and prosperous county of Nodaway.

Mr. Sisson was born May 25. 1845. in

NATHANIEL SISSON.

WYIK

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a typical early settler's log cabin on a farm in Meigs county, Ohio, a son of Nathaniel Potter Sisson, who was born in the ad joining county of Gallia, in the year 1817. being the same year the paternal grandparents settled in that county. Authentic history of this branch of the Sisson family begins in Ot- sego county, New York state. Family tradi- tion, however, begins with "three brothers," emigrants from the old country, supposed to be Scotland, and settled in what is now Rhode Island, about the time of the early settlements at or near the city of Providence. From this point one removed to Virginia ; one settled in the eastern part of New York state, and one, the great-great-grandfather, in the western part of the same state, near Rochester, subsequently removing to Ot- sego county, where he died. He had three sons-Samuel, Arnold and John. The latter, the great-grandfather, occupied a homestead near Wells' bridge, which is still in the possession of members of the family.

The family of John Sisson, the great- grandfather, consisted of nine boys and four girls, of whom John, Benjamin and Amos settled in Indiana, and Jiles, Wilson, Aaron and Simeon settled in Ohio. There is no record as to what became of the other two sons, Wright and -. Of the daughters, Elizabeth married Benjamin Saunders; Edith, a Mr. Gardiner; Rebecca, a Mr. Wil- ber,and Sarah married Alvin Peck, of Berlin, Rensselaer county, New York. Grandfather Simeon Sisson, whose wife's maiden name was Potter, removed to a point near Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, remaining but a few years, and thence by raft ( the then common mode of travel) down the Ohio river, land- ing at Gallipolis, Gallia county, as before stated, in the year 1817. His family -- Elisha, Sarah ( who married Orvil Farmer ), 15

Nathaniel P., William and Lewis, who are all now deceased except Lewis-settled in Meigs county, Ohio. Grandfather Simeon and grandmother are buried in the cemetery at Middleport, same county, they having both died ( of cholera ) in middle age, leaving a family of young children.

Nathaniel P .. the father, being a boy of tender years, was apprenticed to his uncle Wilson to learn carpentering. Becoming (i.ssatisfied, he departed from his employer without leave, drifting down the river in a pig trough, for want of a better boat! This early experience determined his calling ; for years he followed boating on the Ohio. Subsequently learning the trade of stone- cutter, gaining a competence, he bought and improved several farms, the last one being in Rutland township. Meigs county, which is still in the possession of a member of the family. He was married twice-first to Rebecca MeKinster. One child was born to this marriage, John M., the mother dying while he was an infant ; he now occupies the old homestead. His second marriage was to Sarah Harrington Canode, nee Green, the widow of David Canode, who died leaving two small children, George W. and Mary. Sarah Harrington Green was the daughter and oldest child of William Green and Mary Green, ncc Earhart, whose chil- dren were Sarah Harrington, Catha- rine, Harriett, Samuel, Mary, Josephine, Joanna MI .. William and Eliza. The grandparents of said Sarah Harrington Green, were Andrew Green and Mary Green. nee Harrington, whose children were, Sam- tel. William. Deborah, James, John and An- drew (twins ). Polly. George W., Jonathan H. and Alafare. The Green family was formerly from Hagerstown, Maryland. Grandfather Green was among the first set-

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BIOGRAPHIICAL HISTORY.

tier- and made the first "clearing" where the town of Me.Arthur. Vinton county, Ohio. how stands. His child Sarah. being the first child born in the village ( March 10, 1816), was by the proprietor of the town presented with a town lot in recognition of the fact. She 's still living, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Though seventy years have passer since she removed from McArthur She still remembers names of the first set- ter- and recounts the thrilling incidents of these early times when wolves and wild In- dians were the dread of the pioneers.

The children of Nathaniel P. Sisson and Sarah H. Sisson, brothers and sisters of the subject of this sketch, named in the order of their ages, are : Dr. David Sisson, of Meigs county, Ohio; Nathaniel, this subject : Fran- cis M1 .. of Yuma county, Colorado; Eleanor Rebecca, deceased; Ann Eliza, the wife of 1 .. M. Harvey, of Meigs county, Ohio; Sarah Jane, deceased ; and Charles, also deceased. The deceased children all died in infancy we are buried with their father in the fam- ily's private burying-ground on a very high l" near the middle of the old home farm in Kudand township, the father, Nathaniel P., Lang died at his home in Middleport, Feb- rvary 18, 180.1.

In religion the Sisson ancestors inclined ti' & Quaker order; the Greens were Meth- e-ts : the parents of this subject were men- i the Middleport congregation of the Giorgian church, in which faith the family Us reired. From infancy enjoying the "e, teddy going home life of the well-to- of it mer's of southeastern Ohio, the boys skolen the farm in summer, and all, boy's 00 girls, big and little, attended in winter 1 The district school, of which Ohio at

1 time could bust the best.

object at the breaking out of the

Civil war was a boy of sixteen. Fired with the patriotism of the hour in support of the Union, he enlisted. August 9. 1862, in Com- pany C. Ninety-second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. A month later he was rejected by the mustering officer and sent home because of his youth. October toth following he crossed the Ohio river and enlisted as a re- cruit in Company .A. Second West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, of which company his brother David was then a member, that regi-

ment, with others of General Lightburn's command, at that time being cured at Point Pleasant. Virginia. Entering immediately upon active duty. he was constantly with his command in the field until July 4. 1805. he received an honorable discharge from the ser- vice of the United States, at Wheeling. West Virginia, having gained four inches in stat- ure and one-fourth his original weight dur- ing his service. Except for a few months his company was body guard for General Scammon at Charleston. Scouting, chasing guerrillas and bushwhackers, doing outpost and picket duty in the mountains of West

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Virginia, with an occasional "brush" with a regiment or two, occupied his regiment until the "raid" upon Lynchburg under General Hunter in the spring of 1864, after which the Virginia brigade, consisting of the First, Second and Third cavalry regiments, was sent to the Shenandoalı valley, where it be- came a part of Sheridan's cavalry. The bat- tle of Winchester, of July 24th, Opequan September 19th, Fisher's Hill September 22d. and Cedar Creek, of "Sheridan's Ride" celebrity, October 19th, in all of which with many minor engagements he participated, closed the campaign of 1864.

Wintering in log huts at Camp Averel, near Winchester, February 27, 1865. found Sheridan's cavalry in the saddle scattering the last remnant of Early's command at Waynesboro March 3d, raiding the rear of Richmond, then returning to the federal lines at Whitehouse Landing, thence around by way of City Point to the extreme left of Grant's army, then investing Petersburg. Ar extensive cavalry raid was planned in that direction and actually begun which termin- ated unexpectedly with the victorious battle of Five Forks April 1, 1865, which decided the fall of Richmond, the city being evac- uated the next day. Sheridan immediately fell upon the rear and flanks of Lee's re- treaing army, the cavalry skirmishing and fighting every day, our subject as bugler for General Capeliart. He and the General both had their horses killed under them by a vol- ley from the enemy at Deep creek. Sheridan threw his command in front directly across his line of march, when, April 9th, Lee found all hope of further retreat cut off. The place was Appomattox. Bugler Sissons' personal recollections of these matters were well re- lated by the Maryville correspondent of the ·

St. Louis Globe-Democrat of March 13, 1897:

"A BIT OF WAR HISTORY.

"The Last Hostile Bugle Command Before Lee's Surrender.

"A bugler who blew the last 'charge' of the Civil war lives in this city. He talks interestingly of that final rush at Appomat- tox and the truce that speedily followed. His hardened lips sounded the inspiriting cavalry command that practically ended the bloody conflicts of four years and resulted in ultimate peace and the perpetuity of the Union.

"When the war broke out Nathaniel Sis- son enlisted in the Second West Virginia Cavalry. He rode under the flag of that gallant regiment through many a perilous struggle, and the year 1865 found him, un- der Custer's command, in that part of the field where hostilities were formally ended.

".We had been pursuing Lee's retreat- ing army all day on the 8th of April. '65.' said Mr. Sisson to the Globe-Democrat cor- respondent. 'On that day we had captured a train of cars bearing supplies for Lee, and sent out from Richmond. We also made quick work of a belated wagon train, and. tired after so vigorous a day of foraging, went into camp.

"'After lying on our arms all night. we were called early, and before daylight were in the saddle, ready for the events of the most glorious day of the war. The trouble began at an early hour. We ad- vanced and met the enemy's skirmish line. brushing them before us easily. In a short time we were advancing, apparently, on Lee's wagon train, but, instead, we soon

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BIOGR. IPHIICAL HISTORY.

i und wurde headed through Lee's blew the last order of the war; but his regi- army. Then the last bugle command of a hostile nature was blown and we were chang- ing at the1. As we rushed on two of Gen- eral Gordon's aids rode out, carrying a flag of truce. That practically ended the war."

"This historic flag of truce, mentioned by Mr. Sim, was the dirty towel so humor- ous'y referred to by General Gordon in his lecture on The Last Days of the Confed- cracy.

A federal officer rode ont to meet the trece-learers continued Mr. Sisson. 'Mean- while Custer rode at the head of his charg- ing column, entirely ignorant of the prof- ferel truce. The aids spurred their horses and overtook Custer, who ordered the col- umn to halt. The moving line stopped and the dashing Custer rode back to General Gordon's headquarters. While terms of surren ler were being discussed a squad of Confederate cavalry dashed into the front of the Union ranks. Gordon hastened to send them command to cease hostilities, but i und himself without an aid. He dis- jatched a willing federal soldier, who bore Gordon's order to end the attack. This was the gallant southern general's last official direction of the war, and it was executed by - Hier from the opposing ranks.

" Cister came back from Gordon's tent d'une. V. he passed we heard him tell tien- oral Cape art. umcovering his head the while. that General Lee was treating for capitula- un. The of us who heard it set up a cheer. It were carried down the line and we. .. the sky . until the very hills shook mint can để jny from the throne of tem-nos i the boys in blue, who realized

· Bugier Assen does not claim that he

mental historian gives him the credit for it. and facts bear out the statement. The bugler who sounded the final charge before Lee's surrender is a well-to-do citizen, and was formerly a partner of ex-Governor More- house in the real-estate and loan business."

Having received the flag of truce in rec- Cognition of his gallantry, General Custer was given the post of honor, the right of the line. in the grand review of Grant's and Sher- man's armies May 24th in Washington city. General Custer and staff were the first to pass, then General Capehart and staff, with which was Bugler Sisson. All the cavalry. infantry and artillery of both armies made up the most imposing military pageant ever witnessed on this continent.

Returning after almost three years of continuons service, still a minor, Mr. Sisson exhausted his small army savings in further- ing his education. On July 31st, alone, with all his worldly belongings packed in a small grip, he started, like many boys of the time. to seek his fortune in the great unsettled west, arriving, without incident, in Mary- ville, as before related.

School-teacher, cabinet-maker, county road and bridge commissioner, studying sur- veying and engineering the while, in 1871 he engaged as engineer with a firm in St. Joseph, and for two years superintende | the building of bridges, his masterpiece being : wagon bridge for a toll bridge company lah over the Brazos river near Calvert. Texas, with stene abutments, and wooden superstructure spanning the entire street with one span, of two hundred and sixty- Vy feet-two hundred feet being considere 1 la engineers the limit of safety for worden

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

superstructures. This bridge stood and an- swered all requirements for over twenty years and was crushed down only by the on-rush of one hundred and fifty head of wild Texas cattle.

April 13. 1875. with H. C. Fisher, the cashier of the Farmers' Bank, and Albert P. Morehouse, he entered upon the real- estate and abstract business, under the firm name of Morehouse, Sisson & Company. During the partnership the firm published the first lithographic map of the county, the original draft of which was prepared by Mr. Sisson. At the end of about three years Fisher retired, and the firm became More- house & Sisson. After fourteen years of partnership he bought the interest of the late Governor Morehouse and conducted the busi- ness alone till 1896, when his son, arriving at his majority, was taken as a partner, un- der the present firm name. In 1877 Mr. Sis- son prepared and had copyrighted an origi- nal system of abstract books known as the American system, which the firm uses.

October 14, 1874, Mr. Sisson was mar- ried. at Lexington, Missouri, to Miss Mary S. Hughes, of that city, a daughter of George E. Hughes and Anna Hughes, ncc Groves. Her father, going with the great rush of gold-seekers in 1850 to California across the plains with ox teams, prospered for a time and was lost-whether by sickness or otherwise was never known. Her mother was a daughter of Thomas Groves, who moved from near Nashville, Tennessee, to Monroe county, Missouri, where he died, leaving a quite numerous family, several of whom later settled in Nodaway county. Mrs. Hughes remained a widow and reared her children, James T., Georgian and Mary S., when she died, at the latter's home, Feb- ruary 10, 1900.

Mr. and Mrs. Sisson have two children : Nathaniel Paul, a member of the firm of N. Sisson & Son, who served as the first lieu- tenant of Company E, Fourth Missouri Regiment, in active service in the Spanish- American war of 1898-9, and at this time is the captain in command of said company : and Donna, a bright school girl of thirteen summers.

In politics Mr. Sisson early took an act- ive interest, as a member of the Maryville Tanner Club, composed of two hundred of Maryville's good citizens. He was elected its captain in 1868, and that year cast his first vote for his old commander. General U. S. Grant. Mr. Sisson has never held any very important office. He was city clerk, alderman for six years, member of the Mary- ville school board and for three years its president : he aided in securing the three ward school buildings. As the successor of Hon. Nicholas Ford, who was nominated by the Greenback party and endorsed and elected by the aid of the Republicans to congress twice in succession, Mr. Sisson was nominated and made the race for congress from the Fourth Missouri district in 1882: the Republican convention failing to en- dorse him as they had Ford, he was in the ensuing election defeated. In 1892 he was the candidate of the Republican party of Nodaway county for representative to the general assembly, but was defeated by a small plurality.

In religion Mr. Sisson is liberal. While not a member of any, he is a patron of all churches. He is a member of Sedgwick Post, No. 21, G. A. R., and he is its pres- ent commander. In the order of A. F. & A. M. he is a member of Maryville Lodge, No. 165 ; of Owens R. A. C., No. 96, and Mary- ville Commandery, No. 40, K. T .; and he

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

is also a member of Moila Temple. St. Joseph.

The Sisson residence occupies a beautiful ten-acre plat west of and adjoining Mary- ville, embowered in evergreens, shrubs and flowers, an ideal home.

HON. EDWIN A. VINSONHALER.

Hon. Edwin A. Vinsonhaler, an attor- ney at law of Maryville, is distinctively American : so were his ancestors, both lineal and collateral, for several generations. llc is a direct descendant of the pioneer Vinson- halers of Ohio, being a great-grandson of George Vinsonhaler, who went into the Buckeye state with Massie, who was sur- veying and locating land warrants in Ross county. George Vinsonhaler was a survey- or by profession and resided in the vicinity of Martinsburg. West Virginia, which was the original American home of the family. Ile left that state and became an active fac- tor in the development of Ohio and died in: Chillicothe. One of his children was Ja- cob Vinsonhaler, the grandfather of our sub ject. He left Ohio in 1841 and settled in the Platte purchase in Missouri, and then located land in what is now Hughes township, Nod- away county, where Jacob Vinsonhaler died. in 1860, when seventy years of age. In his carly hic he was a teacher, and he was also connected with the administration of Gol- ernor Mac Arthur, one of the early chici executive of Ohio, for whom he acted as private - cretary. He was married at the . Il h me of the governor to Miss Nancy MeDonald who died in Andrew county. Miori, in 18-8.

( quer ys children, George Vinsonha ler, the father of our subject, was the second ir er ler of birth. He is a resident of Mary

ville and was identified with the farming interests of Hughes township until 1882, when he removed to the city, where he has since maintained his residence. He married Miss Sarah Rea, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who emigrated west- ward in early womanhood and became a teacher, also acting as assistant to her uncle, the Rev. Samuel Irvin, who had charge of the Sac and Fox Indian mission, in the. northeastern part of Doniphan county, Kan- sas; and Rev. Irvin was in charge of it from 1837. From Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. he shipped part of the lumber which was used in the erection of the mission buildings, and for many years he devoted his energies to the work among the red men there. Out of the mission which he established grew Highland University. His niece taught the white children of the agency until she gave her hand in marriage to George Vinsonhaler, the wedding ceremony being performed by ber unele, who thirty years later performed a like ceremony for our subject. Her mar- riage was blessed with four sons, namely : Dr. Frank Vinsonhaler, of Little Rock, Ar- kansas; Duncan M., of Omaha, Nebraska; Harry, of St. Louis; and Edwin .A., of this review.

Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished and happy is he if his lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. Mr. Vinsonhaler of this review has developed the powers with which nature endowed him and to day he occupies a distinctively representative po- sition at the bar of northwestern Missouri. He pursued his education in the common schools of Nodaway county, in the academy at Graham, Missouri, and in Highland Uni- Versity. After attaining his eighteenth year he engaged in teaching school for a

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

few terms, but, desiring to enter upon the practice of law, he began reading in the of- fice and under the direction of the well known law firm of Johnston & Jackson, of Maryville. He was born October 10, 1854, and was therefore twenty-three years of age when admitted to the bar before Judge Kel- ley in 1877. During the year following he was appointed justice of the peace for an unexpired term of one year and his time was devoted to the duties of his office and to the regular practice of law. In the fall of 1878 he became a candidate to the office of pro- bate judge, and. though defeated, he carried his township by a large majority, showing he had the confidence and support of those among whom he lived and who knew him best. During the two succeeding years he served as deputy county clerk in the office of John S. Miller, and on the expiration of that period was elected county tax collector, fill - ing the position for one year. At the next election he was chosen by popular ballot as probate judge for a term of four years. In 1887 he entered upon the regular practice of law. In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county and for four years served as city attorney of Maryville. He has been connected with many prominent civil cases, some of which have became prece- dents, involving points not before deter- mined.

In 1879 Mr. Vinsonhaler was united in marriage to Miss Helen Wyman, who died in 1881, and in 1884 he wedded Miss Cora E. Bayless, a daughter of W. H. Bayless, of Highland, Kansas. Their children are Louise, Bayless, Sarah and Elizabeth. Mr. Vinsonhaler and his family are well known in Nodaway county and are cordially wel- comed in many of the best homes. The name of Vinsonhaler has been inseparably

interwoven with the history. progress and advancement of this community. Through the period of its entire development a sub- stantial advancement has been promoted in many ways by those who have borne the family name.

The subject of this review is one who has brought his keen discrimination and thorough wisdom to bear not alone in pro- fessional paths but also for the benefit of the city which has so long been his home and with whose interests he has been so thor- oughly identified.

MORGAN B. WILLCOX.

This honored and respected citizen of Lincoln township. Nodaway county, Mis- souri, and gallant soldier of the Civil war, is a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, born May 18, 1843. He is a son of Samuel and Luzina ( Phillips) Willcox, both na- tives of Pennsylvania. His grandfather was Solomon Willcox, who was also a na- tive of Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Sam- uel Willcox were the parents of several chil- dren, who are: Moses, who was killed at Fair Oaks, Virginia, during the Civil war; Luttica, Rebecca, Nancy, Charlotte and Morgan B. The mother's death occurred February 28, 1859. Mr. Willcox's death occurred in 1877. at Canton, Illinois, aged seventy years.

At Lincoln's call for three hundred thou- sand men, Mr. Willcox went into service, becoming a member of the Fourteenth Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, Sep- tember 22, 1862. Colonel James Schoon- maker had command of the regiment, and our subject served in Captain A. F. Dun- can's company for three years. Ile was under Generals Kelley, Hunter and Sheri-

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Han at different times. Ile was in the battle at Harper's Ferry, Hattonville, West Vir- ginia. Morefield, Winchester. Martinsburg, and Partsville, West Virginia. At Shenan- death Valley they were under fire almost every day for two or three months, during the battles of Winchester. Fisher Ilill and Colar Creek. On General Averill's raid to Salem, West Virginia. Mr. Willcox was Kicked in the side by a base, after which he received an la norable discharge at Alexan- Iria. Virginia, whence he went to Pittsburg, Lennsylvania, later to Fulton county, Illi- mois, where his parents had located during the war.

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A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography, Part 31

Author: Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 726

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 726