USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 47
USA > Missouri > Atchison County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 47
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On the 6th of June, 1894, Rev. Mr. Mc- Bride was united in the holy bonds of matri- mony to Miss Jennie Catherine Rankin, who was born September 16, 1873. in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, near Boston. She was a daughter of David and Frances ( Doug- lass) Rankin. Her father was born Septem- ber 29, 1837, in Londonderry, county Donc- gal, Ireland, and was brought by his parents to this country when less than two years of
age. His wife, a daughter of Colonel Will- jam Douglass, was born in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1839. The home of Rev. and Mrs. McBride is blessed with the presence of two little children : Davidson Rankin, who was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania, December 17. 1896, and Mary Frances, born in Oskaloosa, Iowa, February 20, 1900.
Mr. McBride has attained considerable prominence as a representative of the min- istry of his denomination. He is a thought- ful, earnest and logical speaker, and his man- ner and delivery are often very impressive, bringing home to the minds of his auditors a recognition of the soul's needs and of the true purpose of life. He is tolerant and broadly sympathetic. and wherever he has labored he has won the respect of people of all denominations.
DANIEL R. EVERSOLE.
If there is a self-made man in northwest- crn Missouri who more richly deserves his success than Daniel R. Eversole, the pop- ular merchant and worthy citizen of Mary- ville. Nodaway county, his name has not been suggested to the editors of this work. Mr. Eversole as truly represents the spirit of progressive Americanism as any man can. and the story of his rise from obscurity by honest, hard work to a leading position in the community will be read with interest by all and should be read, for the lesson it con- tains, by struggling and ambitious young men who feel the need of an encouraging example.
Daniel R. Eversole was born May 17, 1854, in a log cabin with clapboard roof and a primitive short door, which stood on a farm near Bolivar, in Tuscarawas county,
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Ohio, a son pi Jacob A. Eversole, now of Maryville, Missouri, where the son has won success as a merchant and high standing as a citizen. What little school education the Imy ever enjoyed he obtained before his six- teenth year, for at that early age he took up the battle for bread.
Mr. Eversole's first work was as a helper in a bridge-construction gang on the line of the Lake Shore Railroad, in the fall of 1870. He came to Missouri in 1870 and found em- ployment on the line of the Kansas City Railroad, then being built. He stopped in Andrew county until the road had passed Maryville and was on the pay-rolls as a track man for a year and a half. July 2, 1872. he first entered Maryville. He went to school the following winter and in the summer of 1873 worked in a store in Craig, Missouri. Toward fall he returned to Nod- away county and aided his brother in erect- ing the Hopkins public-school building. He also worked in an elevator a short time and succeeding it all he secured employment with G. Kuenster, one of the prom'nent grocers of Maryville, which employment and the ex- perience it afforded him laid the foundation for his entry into the dry goods business.
Mr. Eversole has been identified with the dry goods trade of Maryville for twenty- six years, having begun in the business as a clerk with Lieber & Michau, one of the most prominent of the old-time firms of the city. After faithful service for six or seven years, he was given a one-fourth interest in the business upon the retirement of Mr. Michan from the firm and the announcement of the change of it- mune to John Licher & Com- pany. This latter firm continued business EPHRAIM 11. RALSTON. for three and a half years and was succeeded Many leading interests of northwest Missouri are in the hands of a comparative- I. F. M. Petty, Mr. Eversole retaining an interest in the new firm for a year and a ly young generation of business men, and
half longer. Soon after his withdrawal he formed a partnership with Gus Romasser and they embarked in the business under the name of Eversole & Romasser. January I, 1886, nine years later, Mr. Eversole pur- chased the interest of his partner and be- came the sole owner and promoter of the business. The firm of Eversole & Romasser opened their store. eighty feet deep at 103 on the square, and it was predicted by com- petitors that within six months their enter- prise would fail for lack of patronage. But when that time had passed the firm was stronger instead of weaker. and it has grown stronger year by year ever since. Their stock was enlarged by the addition of new departments and in order to meet the de- mands upon them their store room was lengthened to one hundred and sixteen feet and the whole filled from bottom to top with a stock seven times as large as the original one. This success has come to Mr. Eversole without any show or bluster, purely as a re- sult of his peculiar and popular methods of doing business.
Mr. Eversole has not been interested in many enterprises, preferring rather to con- fine his attention to one thing and be con- tent with its success. Since the organization of the Maryville Seminary he has been one of its directors, and he is the secretary of the board. lle was married, in Galesburg. Illinois, May 18, 1880, to Miss Dessie .1. Shaw, a sister of Mrs. C. A. Anthony, of Maryville. Their two children are Ralph W. and Miss Mand Eversole.
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the consensus of opinion is to the effect that such interests are being managed with exceptional ability. One of the leading prominent young men of affairs of this rich and rapidly developing part of the state is Ephraim H. Ralston, of Quitman, Nodaway county, the proprietor of the Rals- ton Bank and one of the foremost in all progressive movements of the town and county.
Mr. Ralston organized a bank at Elmo, Nodaway county, in 1889, and was pro- prietor of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of that place until 1898. when he founded the Ralston Bank, of Quitman. This insti- tution, under his able management, has be- come known as one of the solid and sub- stantial banks of northwest Missouri. It occupies a commodious two-story building, up to date in all its appointments, and its office is fitted up in attractive, modern style. Mr. Ralston's strong personality and good personal appearance, affability and courtesy, render him a model banker, approachable to all, and his excellent judgment in finan- cial affairs and his disposition to aid all worthy and promising local enterprises make him a most desirable capitalist for a progressive country like that surrounding Quitman. Having lived in this vicinity from boyhood, he has a very extensive ac- quaintance and is well informed as to all conditions governing business and as to property values over a territory compara- tively large.
Mr. Ralston was born near Centerville, Iowa, June 26. 1866, a son of Ephraim P. Ralston, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio. The family of Ralston is of Scotch origin and the name has long been well known in connection with financial interests in the United States. The celebrated banker and
capitalist, Ralston, of California, was a dis- tant relative of our subject. Men of the name have always been known for those prominent Scotch characteristics, honesty, perseverance and frugality, and they have been enterprising to a noteworthy degree. It may be added that they have proven themselves true friends and formidable foemen. Ephraim Ralston married Emily Daugherty, reared near Centerville, Iowa, who aided him in all ways possible in the struggle of life and contributed not a little to his success. He died at Independence, Kansas. The children of Ephraim and Emily ( Daugherty ) Ralston now living were named as follows: Dora, who married William Ritchie and lives at Elmo, Mis- souri; Ephraim Il., the subject of this sketch, and H. E. Ralston, of Maryville, Missouri.
Mr. Ralston came to Hughes township. Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1872, and has lived in the county continuously since that time. He was only about six years old then, and his education was obtained in the public schools of the county. Even in his youth he had a decided liking for business and his small deals were usually successful. One way and another he gained an inform- ing business training, which has been valu- able to him in all his later life. One of the studies most interesting to him, and not the least valuable, was the study of human nature, which has made him a good judge of men.
In 1896 Mr. Ralston married Miss Kate Orr, of Kansas City, Missouri, a daughter of M. M. Orr, who was for many years a prominent citizen of Valley Falls, Kansas. Mrs. Ralston's mother died in 1890, deeply regretted by all who knew her. Mrs. Rals- ton has two sisters, named Ida and Ellen.
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Mr. Ralston is a public-spirited man. and every movement tending to enhance the public weal has his earnest support. Po- litically he is a Republican, active and in- fluential in party work, and has often been a delegate to important conventions of his party. Ile is an enthusiastic Odd Fellow and has an extensive acquaintance among members of that order. He possesses the public confidence in a high degree, and. yet in the prime of a vigorous manhood. even- tually has before him many more years of usefulness. Mr. and Mrs. Ralston have two children, named Charles and Nellie.
SAMUEL C. TAYLOR.
This well-known farmer and honored citizen of Nodaway county, Missouri, was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, February 20. 1838, and is a son of John and Jane (Duke ) Taylor, natives of the same state. His paternal grandparents. Samuel Tay- lor and wife, were both born in Ireland, while his maternal grandparents, Major lames Duke and wife, were natives of Scot- land and Ireland, respectively. All were carly settlers of Ohio and occupants of farms. Major Duke, who also followed the carpen- ter's trade, served with distinction as an of- leer in the war of 1812. The parents of our subject both died in Guernsey county, Ohio, the father at the age of fifty-five years, the mother at the age of eighty. In their family were eight children, four of whom are still living, and all are agriculturists.
Upon the home farm Samuel C. Taylor grew to manhood. He attended school to a limited extent, but is almost wholly a self- educated as well as a self-made man. At the age of twenty three years he married Miss
Nancy E. Gunning. a native of Pennsyl- vania, and they have become the parents of seven children, namely: Maggie M., who married F. G. Sallee and has one son : U. Grant, who married Clara A. Grey and has one son and five daughters ; Sherman, a resi- dient of Hamilton county. Jowa: Walter, at home: Etta, who married Frank Anderson and has one son and one daughter: Clara. the wife of Charles Anderson : and Sammel E .. at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor began their do- mestic life on a farm in Guernsey county. Ohio, where he worked for twelve dollars and a half per month for one year, and then moved to Jasper county. lowa. where he purchased eighty acres of land. making it his home for eleven years. In the fall of 1875 he came to Nodaway county, Missouri. and bought eighty acres of wild prairie land. to the improvement and cultivation of which he at once turned his attention. Prospering in his new home. he purchased another eighty-acre tract in 1880, and now has a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres. which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and improved with good and substantial buildings. At one time he owned forty acres of land, one-half mile from where he now lives, but he sold that. He has given his children good school privileges, and the family is one of prominence in the commim- ity where they reside. Both Mr. and Mrs. Taylor are active and prominent members of the United Presbyterian church, and he has ever taken an active part in its work and has assisted in building four churches. Since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860. he has affiliated with the Republican party, and for several years efficiently served as school director in his district, which office his sons have also
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filled. He is widely and favorably known and justly deserves the high regard in which he is held.
E. E. PECK.
A prominent and representative farmer and one of the early settlers of Atchison county. Missouri, is E. E. Peck, the subject of this sketch. He has witnessed and taken an important part in the growth and develop- ment of this section. His birthplace was near Toronto, Canada, born September 3. 1831, a son of Washington and Mary ( Wil- cox) Peck, the former a native of Connecti- cut and the latter of New York. The grand- father of our subject was Jacob Peck, of English descent, who took with him to Can- ada his two sons Anson and Washington, the latter of whom engaged in the coopering business with his father until 1840; then began a life of travel which he continued more or less through his whole existence.
With family and household goods he first moved to Kendall county, Illinois, where he bought a farm of six hundred and forty acres, remained a short time, then went north, locating near Sheboygan Falls, Wis- consin, where he purchased another farm and conducted it until 1846, when he sold out and removed to Sheboygan, where he re- mained one year. Disposing of this prop- erty. Mr. Peck returned to Canada and bought a farm upon which he remained one year, selling it then to move into Killworth, where he started a cooper shop and worked at his trade until 1850. At this time the whole land was attracted to the western. slope, and with a part of his family Mr. Peck went overland to California and opened a dairy at Nevada City, milk selling at that time for two dollars per gallon. A period
of four busy years passed. as Mr. Peck also engaged in mining, at the end of which time he returned to western Canada and bought a farm upon which he remained until 1857. when he again came west, locating in Atchi- son county, Missouri. The winter was spent in this new home. but the following season the family removed into New Mexico and two years were passed there.
· At this time came the first mutterings of the Civil war, and, the government having provided an escort for all Americans, Mr. Peck took advantage of this offer and re- moved his family to Pasadena, California, where they remained for two years. From this location Mr. Peck next moved to Ore- gon, where he spent one winter and then emigrated to Arizona, where he held a water privilege. finally settling down in Washing- ton, where he bought the Round Mound farm and became at once prominent in pub- lic affairs. He was the choice of the people for the position of state senator and well represented his constituents. Later in life he made one more change, selling his farm and moving to Centralia, where his life ended in 1889, at the advanced age of eighty- six. His life had been full of change, but his was a nature to enjoy it. Never rich, he had a competency and was able to care for a large family.
The first wife of Mr. Peck, who was the mother of our subject. died in 1831. She came of an old family well known in the early days of Methodism, of which her father was an expounder. The children of this mar- riage were: Mrs. Elizabeth Whiffen : and David A., our subject : the second family of children being Mrs. Mary Banghart. Ed- mond S .. Mrs. Jane Keys and Mrs. Emma E. Colvin. The mother died in Washington. Our subject accompanied his father in
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many of the family removals, and when in Canada. in 1855, he married, and all removed to Missouri, where he has remained. This land at that time was almost universally owned by southern capitalists who would not sell it. but after the settlement of the slave question willingly disposed of it. During the war our subject saw twenty-seven days of militia service, and in 1863 he enlisted in the Second Nebraska Regiment and was sent northward against the Indians. The members of this regiment furnished their own horses and saw much hard fighting at Whitestone Ilill in Dakota, where thirty-eight .Amer- icans were killed and many of the Indians. Mr. Peck was out nine months, but was placed in the commissary department and was fortunate enough to return home with- out a wound.
Before his war service Mr. Peck had 1 ade his first purchase of land seli-support- ing. . At that time he had thirteen acres broken and had built a shanty, and now he entered into the serious business of improv- ing the rest of his land, and, as able, to add to it. That he has been successful is proven by his magnificent farm of four hundred and twenty-five acres, located three miles from Westboro, all under cultivat'on, im- proved with fences, orchards, ornamental shrubbery and a beautiful residence. He has carried on general farming and also has fed and raised a great many cattle.
In many ways Mr. Peck has been public- spirited and of assistance to the commercial interests of his section. He was one of the principal organizers of the Farmers' Bank ist Westboro, with a capital of ten thousand dollars, which has been increased, and is con- sidered one of the substantial institutions of this county. He holds a controlling interest and is the vice president. He also assisted
in the organization of a bank at Shenandoah, lowa, and still owns much of the stock. He is a good judge of men and has shown ability in whatever direction he has turned his at- tention.
The marriage of Mr. Peck took place in Canada, to Miss Hannah M. Woodhull. a daughter of Josiah and Eliza ( Kiser ) Wood- bull, natives of Canada. They moved to Missouri in 1860, settled upon some of the rich land in this county, became successful and died in this place. They reared the fol- lowing children: Catherine, Mrs. T. Har- rington ; Anna E., Mrs. E. W. Comfort ; the wife of our subject: Clementine, Mrs. G. Schram: Margaret. Mrs. F. Lee; Electa, Mrs. N. S. Davis: Lucinda, Mrs. \, Simp- kins: Charles and John W. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have been blessed with intelligent and interesting children. namely: Josiah W., a banker in Westboro; Anna. Mrs. John Ware: Emma, Mrs. Uttvits; Frank, a farm- er: Ross, a member of the faculty of the Normal school in Fremont, Nebraska : Carrie L .. Mrs. W. Gordon ; and George, who mar- ried Miss Irma Ilurst and lives on the home- stead. The mother passed away September 25. 1885, beloved and lamented by all with whom she had been associated. Like her husband and family, she had long been a con- sistent member of the Methodist church, a good wife, a loving mother and a firm friend.
GILBERT M. CAMPBELL.
Gilbert M. Campbell is a highly respected citizen of Atchison township. Nodaway county, where he owns and conducts a farm of eighty acres. He was born in Ohio coun- ty. Indiana. October 30, 1838, and is a son of Alexander Campbell.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
Alexander Campbell was born in Wood-
second term of service and was honorably ford county, Kentucky, June 18, 1798, and . discharged May 26, 1865. was a son of Gilbert and Mary Campbell, After the close of the war he continued to reside in Indiana until 1866, and lived in Illinois from 1866 to 1872, when he came to Nodaway county, Missouri. He pur- chased wild and undeveloped land in Atchi- son township, which he has worked into ex- cellent farming land, having a tract of eighty acres. He is a man of high character, honest and upright in all his dealings, and enjoys the respect of all with whom he is acquainted. his father being a native of old Virginia. Alexander Campbell was united in the bonds matrimony, in Switzerland county, Indiana, with Sophia Cunningham, who was born in Vermont in 1811 and was a daughter of William and Caroline (Bacon) Cunning- ham, she dying in Switzerland county, In- diana. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, as follows: Caroline Spencer ; Mary Buttery ; Gilbert M .; William, who served Gilbert M. Campbell was united in mar- riage, in Iroquois county, Illinois, Decem- ber 25. 1867, with Mrs. Amy Campbell, the relict of David O. Campbell, a soldier of the Civil war who died six weeks after his marriage. He was a member of the Seventy- seventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infan- try, and died of fever at Peoria, Illinois. -- Mrs. Campbell is a daughter of Abraham and Eliza ( Girrard ) Ditmars. Her father trade and followed it until his death, No- | died in Ohio in the sixty-seventh year of his in Company B, Fifty-second Regiment In- diana Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war, and now lives in Kansas: Sarah E. ; Lewis, who served in the Thirty-seventh Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, now lives in Illinois; Edward A., who served in the One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry: George R. and James Edward. Mr. Campbell was a carpenter by politics. His wife died September 21, 1896, They had three children: Amy, the wife of
vember 18, 1865. Ile was a Republican in 1 aged eighty-four years.
Gilbert M. Campbell was reared on the farm and received his education in the pub- lic schools. He was living in Indiana when the Civil war was in progress and on Feb- ruary 26, 1862, enlisted in Company B, Fif- ty-second Regiment, Indiana Volunteer In- fantry, under Captain William Strickland and Colonel Reynolds. He fought at Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, and was in the Third Brigade. Second Division, at Fort Pillow; was in the service from the time of enlist- ment until May 26, 1865, and was with General Sherman at Vicksburg, and under General A. J. Smith for a time ; and was in Price's Raid, and at Blakely, Alabama, in Arkansas and Missouri. He enlisted for a
age, and his wife died March 14. 1891. our subject : Elihu ; and Mary Symes, de- ceased. Three children were born to Gilbert M. Campbell and his wife, who grew to ma- turity and are now living: Maud, the wife of Elmer Derrickson, of Taylor county, Iowa; Mary B., who lives at home; and Ina E., who also lives at home. Two children are deceased: Frank and Lily B. Polit- ically the subject of this sketch is a Repub- lican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
HENRY TOEL.
The best stepping-stone to public favor ! is duty well done. This fact has been ex- emplified in the successful career of the man
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whose name is the title of this notice. De- votion to duty, however hard and exacting. has been Mr. Toel's most distinguishing characteristic, and his fellow citizens have come to regard him with the highest ap- probation, and, as one of the most prominent of these has asserted. "there is no man in Vodaway county more deserving than Mr. Toel of a record in any work devoted to local biography."
Ilenry Toel. ex-sheriff and ex-recorder of Nodaway county, Missouri, was born in the Grand Dukedom of Oklenburg. Ger- many, February 19, 1828. His father, Rev. Henry Toel, was a Lutheran minister of whose five children Henry was the eklest. The men of the family depended on farm work for a livelihood, and when Henry Toel started life it was as a farmer. He married, in his native land, in 1852. and with his family and a few hundred dollars loft Europe, in 1861. and came to the United States.
Mr. Toel stopped first in 'Whiteside county, Illinois, and there remained until 1867, when he removed to Marshall county. Iowa. The following year he went into Missouri and settled in Nodaway county. lle farmed with varying success until 1875. when he removed to Maryville, and soon thereafter he was appointed deputy sheriff. lle was nominated and elected sheriff by the Republicans in 1878, and was re-elected in 1880. and, the party still desiring to honor lom, he was elected county recorder in No- vember. 1882, and completed six years of continuous service as a public official in 1884.
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demned criminals, as in the case of the Tal- bott brothers, or in the performance of the more agreeable administration of the or- dinary affairs of the office. He has not been permitted to pass entirely out of the domain of politics. For three years after the expiration of his term of service as county recorder he was engaged in the grocery trade in Maryville, and for the past ten years he has been doing a gradually increas- ing insurance business and, as opportunity offered. dealing in real estate.
Henry Toel married Margaret E. Egts, and their children are: Sophie, the wife of Lewis Jones, of Oklahoma : Mary, the wife of Rev. J. L. Jones, of Maryville, Missouri ; Mrs. Elizabeth Weaver: Mrs. John W. Heren : Henry Toel, a farmer : J. W. Toel, a traveling salesman: George C. Toel, of the firm of Toel & Son, of Maryville: Min- nie, the wife of George Lorance, of Mary- ville. Missouri.
D.WV'ID WOODARD.
The versatility of Americans is pro- verbial, and their adaptability to the chang- ing conditions of peace and war is one of their most remarkable characteristics. In all parts of our country are men who, upon the call to arms, dropped the hoe or left their places at the desk or bench to take up the rifle, and who, when peace came again. at once put themselves in accord with the even tenor of civil life. Many such citi- zens live within the borders of Nodaway county, Missouri, and it is our purpose now to give some account of the life of one of these, David Woodard. of Lincoln town- ship, whose postoffice address is Elmo.
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