USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 55
USA > Missouri > Atchison County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 55
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
No one need be in doubt as to Mr. Stevens' political preferences, for during many years he was a stalwart advocate of Republican principles, and, while not an aspirant for office, he did all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of his party. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant church, and his life was conformed to its teachings. He died January 25, 1901, when seventy-two and a half years of age. When a young man he could walk fifty or sixty miles without feel- ing fatigued. He was six feet in height. weighed one hundred and sixty-five pounds. was wiry and strong, and bore his years lightly. He made for himself an honorable business record and reared a number of children of whom he had every reason to be proud. Honesty characterized all his busi- ness dealings and fidelity to duty was always one of the salient features throughout the entire period of his manhood. The pos- sessions he left were sufficient to enable him to put aside business cares.
From a local paper we take the following account :
A PIONEER SETTLER GONE.
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Death has again entered our midst and claimed for its own one of the oldest and most respected citizens of Atchison county.
Robert Stevens was born in Belmont county, Ohio, on July 17, 1828. When he was but five years old he removed with his parents to Guernsey county, living at this place until 185 -. He then removed to Vin- ton county, where, January 6, 1852, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Barnett. Ten years later he with his wife came to Stark county, Illinois, where another four years were spent. In 1869 several families came west to make a home for themselves in the
wilderness. He and his family were among this number. They settled on the farm where he lived at the time of his death, which occurred on Friday, January 25, 1901, after a short illness, caused by a giving away of the nervous system.
Eleven children were born to this union, five sons and six daughters. Five of this number died in infancy. The remaining six -IV. A. Stevens, R. B. Stevens, E. S. Ste- vens, Mrs. David Fauntz, Mrs. J. H. Noble and Mrs. S. A. Faris-all live near the old home. These with their helpmates and chil- dren were all present when the messenger angel came and took from them a kind and loving father.
When Mr. Stevens came to Missouri he found nothing but a wide expanse of fertile prairie land, with only an occasional settler. his nearest trading point being a distance of twenty miles from his home. He lived to see his county grow both in population and wealth until it is now one of the first in the state.
"Uncle Robert Stevens," as he was fa- miliarly called, was looked upon by every one that knew him as an example of hon- esty and uprightness. He was never known to turn a deaf ear to any worthy cause, and many are they who have been relieved by his generosity. The stranger was never turned away from his door. It was these traits of character, together with his kind and cheerful disposition, that won for him the love and honor of all that came in con- tact with him, whether socially or in a busi- ness way. The high esteem in which he was held by the community was testified to by the unusually large number that gathered to pay their last tribute of respect to all that was mortal of him whom they had known so long and well.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
The funeral services were held at the family residence on Sunday, January 27. at HI O'clock, conducted by Rev. Mr. Jeffers. pastor of the Methodist Protestant church. of which church the deceased had been a member for twenty-four years. llis remains were interred in the London cemetery.
May the sorrowing family, and espe- cially his faithful companion, in this their hour of sad bereavement look to Him who i: able to bind up the broken heart. and re- ceive comfort, knowing that "Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal."
"Why should we weep when the weary ones rest
In the bosom of Jesus supreme,
In the mansions of glory prepared for the blest ? For death is no more than a dream."
JAMES L. HEPBURN.
For many years Mr. Hepburn has been connected with the industrial and agricul- tural interests of Nodaway county. He now makes his home near Gaynor, where his worth as a business man and citizen is wide- ly recognized. The Scotch blood flows in his veins, and the sterling characteristics of that race have been manifest in his thrifty and progressive career. He was born on the Island of Shapinshay. in September, 1842. and the ancestry of the family can be traced back to the time of Bothwell and Mary, Queen of Scots. The Hepburns opposed the political conditions of the times and thus in- curred the displeasure of the ruling house. se that their flight to the Orkney's became a necessity. Many years afterward the fam- ily was founded in America. Thomas Hep- burn will be remembered by many of the early settlers of Nordaway county. He was
born in 1802, and at his death was buried i: Long Branch cemetery. He married Miss Jenette Lawton, who died in this county and was buried by the side of her husband. They left the Orkney islands in 1850, sailing from Kirkwell and landing at Quebec. They spent some time in Montreal, Canada, and after- ward located in Belleville, Ontario, whence in 1868 they removed to Nodaway county. locating upon the farm which is now owned and conducted by the Hepburn Brothers, and is regarded as one of the leading farm- ing properties in this portion of the state. In the Canadian provinces the members of the family chiefly followed agricultural pur- suits, although John and James learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, while David. the fourth son, served the queen of Great Britain for three years in the standing army. part of his services being at the time of the Fenian war. The children were educated almost entirely in Canada, acquiring a mental discipline that well equipped them for the (luties of life. The surviving children in or- der of birth are : John : Thomas, who resides in Assiniboia, in the Northwest Territory, Canada: James L ..; David: 'Richard; and Margaret, the wife of James Burgher, of No- daway county. The last four are residents of this county, and all of the sons, with the ex- ception of Thomas, are members of the firm of Hepburn Brothers. They are numbered among the thrifty, substantial and trust- worthy men of their community.
James 1 .. Hepburn attended the La Chute Academy at Quebec, and pursued a course in the grammar school at Van Cleck's Hill. Ontario. He was also an assistant teacher in one of those institutions, but abandoned educational work in order to learn the trade of carpenter. For ten years after his ar- rival in Nodaway county he and his brother
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
John, constituting the firm of Hepburn Brothers, engaged in contracting and build- ing, and many of the large barns. residences, bridges and public buildings stand as monu- ments of their skill as mechanics. These in- clude the Dinsmore, McFarland. Shroyer. McGlothlan and many other residences sit- uated for miles up and down Honey creek. In connection with their early efforts in farming in Nodaway county the Hepburn Brothers handled cattle and in this regard have kept pace with the development of the cattle-raising industry and the improvement of the stock. They now raise full-blooded Hereford cattle and feed their crops. Their business methods commend them to public confidence and they are men of well known reliability who carry on their work in a practical and progressive manner, doing much to improve the grades of stock raised in Nodaway county.
While in the province of Ontario James Hepburn served with the police and also with the volunteers, but such service was more in the nature of the training of our old mili- tia days than of actual service with modern regulars. He and his brothers are all advo- cates of the Democratic principles, but have never been office-holders, with the exception of James, who for twenty-five years has as- sessed Independence township. In the conn- ty convention of 1900 he was chosen as a delegate to the state Democrate convention held in Kansas City. He is the only one of the brothers married. In February, 1872, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Maria J. Robinson, who was born in Montreal, Can- ada, of Scotch-Irish parents. Their children are : Rev. Henry, a graduate of Park Col- lege, Missouri, and the McCormick Theo- logical Seminary at Chicago; Jessie, a grad- ttate of Park College, now teaching school in
Nodaway county ; Esther, also a graduate of the same college; and George and Lottie, attending the Maryville ( Missouri) Semi- nary. They also have two children de- ceased : Marguerite, who was educated at Park College and died at the age of twenty- two years; and Anna, who died in infancy.
The Hepburns are among the leading Presbyterians of Gaynor, and he whose name introduces this record is an elder in the church. The family name is synony- mous with integrity in all the walks of life, and the family record is unclouded by a shadow of wrong or a suspicion of evil.
JOHN C. HUNT.
John Corwin Hunt, the senior member of the prominent law firm of Hunt & Bailey, who for twenty years has been identi- fied with the legal profession of Atchi- son county, became a resident of this county in August, 1879. Mr. Hunt is a gentleman highly connected, and is justly proud of the history of honorable ancestry and of the record of family patriotism as manifested during the trying years of the war of the Rebellion.
He was born in Randolph county, In- diana , October 2, 1855, and is a son of Miles and Mary L. ( Botkin) Hunt, the former of whom was a distinguished lawyer and patriot, and a highly honored citizen. Mary L. Botkin was a daughter of Hugh Botkin, of Scotch-Irish extraction, whose ancestors settled in South Carolina. The posterity of the Botkins drifted into east Tennessee in the early days. Miles and Mary L. Hunt were the parents of the following children : Oliver, who was a soldier in the One Hun- dred and Twenty-fifth Illinois Volunteer In- fantry, served on the staff of General Jeffer-
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
son C. Davis, and is now a lawyer of Tusco- la, Illinois: William T., deceased ; James A., a farmer of Britton, Oklahoma, who was a soklier in the One Hundred and Twenty- fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry: Dr. Basil, cleceased, who served four years in the Union army: Henry C., who was a soldier in the Sixty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and is now a practicing physician in Blackford county, Indiana ; John C .; Monzo L., a far- mer of Oklahoma : Mrs. Melinda Keever, of Atchison county, Missouri; Mrs. Sarah K. Dixon, of Edgar county, Illinois: Rachel, the wife of James L. Stephenson, of Atch- son county, Missouri ; and Caroline, the wife of Alfred T. Oaker, of Atchison county, Mis- souri.
Ilon. Miles Hunt was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, in 1808, and died in 189 ... At an early day he settled in Randolph cout :- ty, Indiana, and there laid out the town of Huntsville, where John Corwin Hunt, the subject of this sketch, was born and reared. lle was a man of unusually strong mind, of wonderful mental grasp of affairs, with re- markable strength of purpose and fixity of intention. Ilis superiority was immediately apparent and he was often selected to trans- act public business in an official capacity. The impress of his mind has been long vis- ible in the legislation of the state of Indiana, in the lawmaking body of which state he served for forty years, during which period he secured the passage of the law which gave to that state ber first free public schools. But, strange to relate, for this beneficent legislation he was a few years later burned in effigy by his former friends, so certain did they feel that he had added his endorse- ment to a useless and extravagant expendi ture of the public money .. But before the next election day came around the wisdom
of his action had become so apparent that he was returned to the legislature and remained in that body until schools for nine months in the year were the rule in Indiana. Mr. Hunt was elected district attorney for the counties of Jay, Randolph and Wayne, on the Democratic ticket, when there was an ad- verse majority in the district of fifteen thou- sand votes. He studied law in Randolph county, in which county he was admitted to the bar.
During the trying times of the war of the Rebellion he was one of the stanchest sup- porters of Governor Morton, and was chosen colonel of the Sixty-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, but was persuaded by the governor . to decline a commission and remain in the state, where loyal men of strength of char- acter were greatly needed and where he could render greater service to his country than he coukl in the field. He was with the force that went to drive out of Indiana his cousin. the Confederate general. John Morgan, and in all respects in those years of war his ex- ample was a potent inspiration to young men of his acquaintance, many of whom through his influence united with the army of the Union, with the determination to aid in the preservation of the integrity of the Repub- he, he himself having four sons and twenty- seven nephews aiding in the accomplishment of that noble cause.
The Hunt family originally came from England. Hon. Miles Hunt was the son of a farmer and the grandson of a Baptist preacher. His father removed to Kentucky from South Carolina during the very early years of the nineteenth century. Other sons of this Kentucky farmer became useful and prominent men. Rev. William Hunt was a pioneer circuit rider of Indiana and Ohio; Dr. Basil Hunt was a successful medical
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
practitioner of Randolph county, Indiana: and Lewis Hunt was a prosperous merchant of Jay county of the same state. Judge Hunt, of the supreme court of the United States, was a cousin of Hon. Miles Hunt, as was also the Hon. George Il. Pendleton, of Ohio. The poet, Leigh Hunt, and the great- great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, were brothers and Englishmen.
Jolin Corwin Hunt received an excellent primary education in the public schools, and afterward he spent five years in Lee's Aca- emy at Loxa, Illinois, graduating under Principal T. J. Lee, a West Point man. The following year he passed in the law office of his brother in Douglas county, Illinois, and then taught school and read law for two and a half years, Bishop & Mckinley, of Edgar county, Illinois, being his preceptors a por- tion of the time. In 1876 he entered Michi- gan University and there took a course in the law department, graduating in the class of 1878. After making a tour of explora- tion in search of a suitable location for open- ing an office of his own, which tour included a portion of Texas, he finally selected Atchi- son county, Missouri, as the place to his mind most desirable. His first work in Dale township was the teaching of the school there during the winter, and at the suceeding fall election he was elected prosecuting attor- ney of the county. In this office he served two years, which were followed by four years' ser- vice in the office of city attorney of Rockport, these six years constituting the aggregate of his public service. In the practice of the law his first prominent case was the defense of Harris, charged with murder in the first degree, and of Blake, who was jointly indiet- ed with Harris. Both of these defendants were convicted, but broke jail and are still at large. Mr. Hunt assisted in the defense
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of Sons and Bales, charged with murder in the first degree, and cleared them. He pros- ecuted Morrow for murder and secured his conviction of manslaughter in the fourth de- gree, the only conviction of the kind report- ed in Missouri for such an offense. He de- fended a man for highway robbery, who ac- tually held up his victim, forced him to sign a check and sent it to the bank to have it cashed, elearing him on a technicality. Much of the important civil business transacted in the county, and also some of the same kind of business outside of the county, has been handled by Mr. Ilunt or by the firm of which he is a member.
Mr. Hunt was married in Atchison coun- ty, in 1881, to Miss Emma M. Lane, by whom he has had the folowing children : A son, Henry B. Hunt; and a daughter, Margaret M. Hunt, who died at six years of age.
BEN V. PRATHER.
The late James Basil Prather, of Mary- ville, whose life was passed chiefly within the limints of Nodaway county and whose aets and deeds are most worthy of memory and emulation, was born in Mercer county, Ken- tucky, April 6, 1834, and died in Maryville. February 23, 1891. Mr. Prather was a son of Colonel I. N. Prather, who founded the first Prather home in Nodaway county. in White Cloud township, in 1841. Colonel Prather was born in 1802. James B. Pra- ther was his eldest son. Colonel Prather was an influential citizen and Democrat, and the first meeting of the Nodaway county court was held at his residence. He was a large farmer for his time and died possessed of a modest fortune. James B. Prather's youth was passed on his father's homestead and in
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
near-by public schools, where he acquired a , service in the best years of his life, and sufficient knowledge of affairs and of the brought to it a rare judgment born of fine common branches of learning to enable him to embark in business. His fondness for study led him, during the course of his long and active business life, to read systematical- ly until his education can be said to have been thorough and complete. One who knew him most intimately says: "He was a ripe scholar, a close student and a deep thinker." Hle possessed some knowledge of the dead languages, was a thorough mathematician, and reached his conclusions by logical rea- soning and careful analysis. That he early developed marked ability is attested by the fact that in 1856, when he was but twenty- two years old, he was elected sheriff of Nod- away county. He served three years in that capacity and was then elected clerk of the circuit court, in both of which offices he ac- quitted himself with credit and won the en- tire confidence of his constituency. natural endowment and large and continued success in business. The financial standing and the upright character of its owners greatly aided the institution's growth and prosperity, and it has always maintained its reputation as one of the safest banks in northern Missouri. In the early '70s, Mr. Prather became interested in thoroughbred horses and conceived the idea of establishing a farm for the breeding of them. His large farm, known as the Faustiana, was adequate- ly equipped with that object in view, and the business was carried on till his death, with great success and profit. Its renown spread beyond the limits of the state and to the horse markets of the large cities where an- nual yearling sales were conducted. This was one of his pet schemes and the profits it yielded and the records of Jim Gray and Galen and other products of his farm were sufficient achievements to gratify his am- bition.
As a business man Mr. Prather was the peer of any man in Maryville. His ability to handle large affairs seemed innate, and as he acquired experience his capacity for ai- fairs of increased magnitude and requiring greater foresight broadened and extended. Hle entered the drug trade in partnership with the late Albert T. Ellis in 1800. This partnership existed and prospered for twen to six years and was dissolved only by his death. In 1869, in company with George Baker, E. S. Stephenson, J. E. Alexander and W. C. Orear, he organized a bank at Maryville, under the name of George S. Ba- ker & Company, which concern was checked- ed by the Nodaway Valley Bank, at which time Mr. Prather became its president and Theodore 11. Robinson its cashier. Of this institution Mr. Prather was very proud. Ile gave to it more than twenty years active
Mr. Prather was the architect of his own fortune and enjoyed it quietly and without ostentation. He gave alms and dispensed charity in strict accord with the words of Christ. He did not take much stock in the preaching of the modern clergy and was not fully convinced that Christ was anything more than a good man and a reformer among the Jews: yet he had a clear and firm belici in a supreme being. Ilis reading was along the line of popular authors and occasionally he quoted from them readily and accurately. He knew by heart Lochiel's Warning and Rienzi's Address to the Romans, and Mil- ton's Paradise Lost was a work which he greatly admired. His cordial manner and tender emotion endeared him to all who rec- ognized the beauty of his character. Envy
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
found no place in his bosom. he had a word of good cheer for all and was one of the first to aid the suffering and distressed. He loved and was devoted to his family and his sis- ters. In political affiliations he was a Dem- ocrat, but in later life and while absorbed in business he let other men manipulate pol- itics. He was a Knight Templar Mason and was the first master of Maryville lodge. He was a man of fine apearance, five feet ten and a half inches in height. and weighed two hundred and fifteen pounds.
Mr. Prather married Emma F., a daugh- ter of W. R. and Sarah ( Warren) Holt, November 16, 1873, and their children are: Ben V. Prather, born July 17, 1875, and Elizabeth and Mary Prather. Ben V. P'ra- ther is the active manager of the estate of his father and his personal interests and those of his mother are matters to which he devotes his time exclusively. He was grad- uated in the public schools of Maryville and later studied a year at De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana. He was married, Sep- tember 2, 1896. in Covington, Kentucky, to Bessie Guerin, a daughter of the late Rev. Lawrence Guerin, the rector of the Episco- pal church at Lake Providence, Louisiana. Following in the path of his worthy father, Mr. Prather joined the Masonic fraternity young and belongs to the local lodge, chap- ter and commandery, and to the shrine and consistory at Kansas City, Missouri.
DAVID McMICHAEL.
This well-known and honored citizen of Nodaway county is now living a retired life on his fine farm one mile west of Graham and one mile east of Maitland. A native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, he was born November 3, 1822, and is a son of
James and Sarah ( Smith) McMichael. His father was born in Ireland and when young was brought by his parents to America, lo- cating in Philadelphia, where his father en- gaged in the manufacture of bricks and where both parents died. In religious faith they were Catholics. Their children were James, the father of our subject : Cornelius, a wagonmaker: John and David, both black- smithis; and Eliza.
James McMichael grew to manhood in Philadelphia and began his business career as a farm hand. After his marriage he en- gaged in farming on rented land in Lancas- ter county, Pennsylvania, until 1832, when he moved to Cincinnati, and later to Butler county, Ohio, where he was first employed at teaming and subsequently engaged in farming on rented land. In 1837 he went to Blackford county, Indiana, and entered one hundred and twenty acres of heavily tim- bered land, which he converted into a good farm. Being a good judge of horses and well versed in the treatment of their dis- eases, he became a local veterinary surgeon and also dealt in horses, which he sold to eastern firms. He met with success in his labors and left his family in comfortable circumstances. His patriotism led him to enlist during the Civil war, although well advanced in years, and he received from Governor Morton the appointment of wagon "boss" in the United States army. but he died very suddenly at Camp Jo Holt, at Jef- fersonville, Indiana, and his remains were taken to his old home for interment. His wife died on the homestead in 1876. She was a native of Maryland and the only child of her parents. Her father, who was a far- mer by occupation, was of Pennsylvania Dutch descent, while her mother was of Eng- lish lineage. The latter was married twice,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
her first husband being Mr. Smith. The his home until coming to Nodaway county. subject of this sketch is the oldest in a fam- ily of six children, the others being Ann. the wife of A. Conley, of Indiana ; Eliza J .. the wife of B. Hart: Sarah, the wife of J. Cunningham: James, a resident of Iowa; and Isaiah. of Delaware county, Indiana. The parents were members of the Catholic church.
David MleMichael was reared to habits of industry, and was educated in the com- mon schools. He accompanied his parents on their various removals and remained a resident of Blackford county, Indiana. in- til reaching manhood. Subsequently he was employed as a farm hand in Butler county. Ohio, and while there was married in 1846 to Miss Mary A. Huls, of that county. Her father. Anthony Huls, a farmer by occupa- tion, was born in New York, and died in Preble county, Ohio. His children were Sylvanus, Joel, William, David. John. George. Harriette. Charlotte, Olive, Direxa, Mary A. and Margaret, all of whom lived to be married. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. McMichael were Sarah J .. the wife of Corydon Bird, mentioned further on ; and James S., a resident of Graham. The mother of these children died in Wapello, lowa, in 1858, and the following year Mr. MeMichael married Miss Frances .A. Daw- son, who was born, reared and educated in Virginia, and with a brother went to lowa as a school teacher. There the brother died and she was left alone. She died in this county. June 3. 1896, leaving one daughter, Mary E., the wife of J. Perkins, a farmer of Ravenwood.
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