USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 72
USA > Missouri > Atchison County > A Biographical history of Nodaway and Atchison counties, Missouri : compendium of national biography > Part 72
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Henry F. Stapel may truly be called a self-made man. He is the architect of his own fortune and has builded wisely and well. When only fourteen years of age he started out in life to provide for his own mainte- nance, and, leaving home, made his way to West Union, Iowa, where he worked on a farm and at herding cattle, receiving four- teen dollars per month in compensation for his services. In 1875 be removed to Atchi- som county, Missouri, where he entered the service of William Hunter, who paid him at first fifteen dollars per month, later in- creasing his salary to eighteen dollars per month. He was employed in that way for
MR. AND MRS. H. F. STAPEL.
THE NEW YORK -1.02 L BRARY
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
a half year, when, actuated with a desire to obtain a better education than he then possessed and thereby gain a livelihood by other than manual labor, he entered the State Normal School, at Peru, Nebraska, in that year-1875. His capital was not suffi- cient to meet the expenses of an uninter- rupted course in that institution, but he possessed a strong determination and be- lieved that a way would be open whereby he might earn the amount necessary to de- fray his expenses. He spent three years in the normal school and was graduated in the class of 1878. He then came to Rock- port, making the journey on foot. and on reaching his destination he had but three cents in his pocket. During the summer of that year lie worked in the harvest fields and in the autumn he began teaching school, a profession which he followed through the succeeding three years. Desiring to still further perfect liis education he then entered the University of Michigan, with a view of qualifying himself for the profession of the law, and pursued the literary and law course, being graduated in the law department of the university in 1884. with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
Mr. Stapel then returned to Atchison county, Missouri, and entered upon his busi- ness career here in connection with journal- istic work. He wished to connect himself with a calling in which he might exercise a due amount of influence, desiring to en- ter a sphere of usefulness whereby he might be in close touch with the great problems of the day and at the same time secure a good living. He believed that Rockport offered an excellent field for a first-class and up-to-date Democratic paper. Accordingly he purchased the Atchison County Mail and began its publication on the ist of January, 34
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1885. About this time he received the ap- pointment from President Cleveland to the office of postmaster of Rockport, by which his financial independence was established and he was thus enabled to inaugurate a policy in connection with the Atchison County Mail, which brought it into immedi- ate popularity. This journal is the oldest Democratic paper in the county. When it was purchased by Mr. Stapel it had a circu- lation of about three hundred copies and was then a five-column quarto, one boy doing the work of the office. Under the wise . policy inaugurated by Mr. Stapel the paper has acquired a circulation of three thousand weekly, and has been enlarged to a six- column quarto and furnishes employment to a force of about twenty people. When he assumed the management the business was located in Buckham's Hall, a building which would be in striking contrast with the jour- nal's present handsome quarters in the Insur- ance building. The Mail is the official paper of Atchison county and is also the official or- gan of the Missouri Mutual Insurance Con- panies. Through the columns of his jour- nal Mr. Stapel has largely promoted the wel- fare of his adopted county. He has ever been on the side of progress, reform and improvement, and his editorials have car- ried weight in influencing public opinion.
Ilis labors, however, have not been lim- ited to one line. a work of still greater ben- efit and importance being that which he has performed as the founder of the Missouri Mutual Insurance Companies. The idea was conceived by Mr. Stapel in 1880. He hield the opinion that the old insurance com- panies were robbing the public by charging excessive rates. and he resolved that with the assistance of the legislature of the state he would himself engage in the insurance busi-
BIOGRAPIIICAL HISTORY.
ness on the mutual plan. Iligh salaries would therefore not have to be paid to officials and the insured would share the profits. But it required seven years to secure the passage of a law under which He could work, and it was not until 1880 that he wrote the first policy for the Farmers' Fire Insurance Company of Atchi-on county, the parent company of them all. Ile had blanks prepared and made other necessary arrangements to engage in the work as soon as the bill was passed in the legislature. His first business in this Ime was transacted on a table which cost fifty cents and stood in the office of the Mail. The first regular soliciting was done by the secretary of the company, and so immediately popular was the idea of mutual insurance that his first day's horseback ride into the country secured for him one hundred thou- sand dollars' worth of business. The com- pany has had a most wonderful and healthy growth until a mammoth business is now being conducted in the one hundred and four- teen counties of the state of Missouri. At the present time, after eleven years of work. with very few exceptions every land-owner in Atchison county carries a policy in the Mutual Insurance Companies. Insurance in some of the companies, under the manage- ment of this central company at Rockport, is carried at less than one-fourth of the cost of insurance in eastern companies. The officers have just reason to mention this fact with pride, for it represents thousands of dollars annually saved to the insuring public. Each year the companies are gain- ing the confidence of a greater number of people, as the fact is demonstrated that mu- tual insurance is no longer an untried ven- ture, but has been proved to be a must glowing success, even though it has met
with very severe and uncalled for opposi- tion from line companies and their agents. The promoters of mutual insurance may also be proud of the fact that from a very insig- nificant beginning in putting into practical application the principles of mutual insurance in: Missouri in 1889 this move has inspired other states to introduce this method of in- surance, which is now found in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas and many other states of the Union, which are benefitted by the organization and success of the plan. Although capital and effort opposed the mu- tual plan and its beginning was small, the officers of the company continued their work until their business has now assumed mag- nificent proportions. They have over fif- teen million dollars of assessable capital and the confidence of a very large per cent of the people not influenced by line insurance agents. In 1889. the year in which the first company was organized, two other companies were also established to engage in the mutual insurance business, namely : The Globe Lodge of the Farmers and La- borers' Mutual Protection Life and Accident Insurance Company and the Missouri Farm- ers' Tornado, Cyclone and Wind-Storm In- surance Company. The cost of the latter to the people has been less than the interest on the old line rate, there having been but five assessments during the last ten years. ending in 1900.
After the passage of a bill permitting farmers to organize for the purpose of in- suring against hail, the Farmers' Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Missouri was organized. This made but one assessment in three years, at a cost of one per cent. The same year, 1897, the legislature enacted a law authorizing the chartering of plate- glass insurance by mutual companies, and
Business Office at Headquarters of the Missouri Mutual Insurance Companies, Rockport, Mo.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
under this law the Missouri Town Mutual Plate-Glass Insurance Company was author- ized to transact business. The business ac- cumulated so rapidly that in 1897 it was found that the quarters of the company were becoming inadequate for the demand for space, and Mr. Stapel devised a plan for the erection of a new building, one which should be equal to the demands upon it made by the business for which it was designed. He interested about two hundred people in the scheme, and the result was the erection of a fine two-story pressed-brick and stone building, the dimensions of which were twenty-six by one hundred and twenty feet. The building, fixtures, cases, application and policy files, boxes and furniture cost over fifteen thousand dollars, and it is said to be the most attractive building west of Chicago.
Home Office: RockPort,Mo.
It is supplied with water-works, electric lights and telephone and is also in direct tel- egraphic communication with all the world. This is the first mutual-insurance building in Missouri or the United States. From it are directed the operations of hundreds of agents, who in all parts of the state take applications and collect premiums for the fire, tornado, life, hail, plate-glass and acei- dent departments of the Rockport companies. These companies have paid in the past eleven
years for losses, deaths, accidents, etc., over one thousand claims, aggregating more than one hundred thousand dollars. The fine building is named in honor of its promoter, the Stapel Mutual Insurance Building. It has a steel vault, with steel boxes, containing twenty-two million dollars' worth of insur- ance. As fast as the above mentioned com- panies were organized Mr. Stapel became their secretary, and has ever since continued to serve each company in that capacity. The success of his insurance enterprise is always uppermost in his mind, and, while it is yet in its infancy, it is one of the strongest and safest financial institutions of the state, do- ing business in nearly every county and with branch institutions in Arkansas and Texas. In addition to Mr. Stapel the companies are under the management of John Knirim, president ; and A. E. Lane, W. M. Bressler, John Cooper, Joseph Durfee, A. E. Wyatt, D. A. Quick, M. T. Buckham, W. H. Hind- man, C. E. Volkmann, E. H. Stapel and C. R. Rolf.
Besides the postoffice, to which he was appointed by President Cleveland, Mr. Sta- pel has held no public position. He main- tains a membership in many of the popular insurance companies and is a Mason, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, a Modern Woodman, a Woodman of the World, a member of the A. O. U. W., of the Iowa Traveling Men's Association, the Odd Fel- lows' Annuity Association, and the Safety Fund Insurance Society.
Mr. Stapel was first married in 1887, to Lilly Sly, a daughter of Judge John F. Sly, of Fairfax, Missouri. Mrs. Stapel died, leaving a son, Jolin. In 1895, while touring in Europe, Mr. Stapel met, at Mu- nich, Germany, Miss Anna Neidlein, and the same year they were married, in London,
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England. After Mr. and Mrs. Stapel's marriage they continued their travels in Holland. Germany, France, Belgium and England. Mr. and Mrs. Stapel have a daughter, named Friede. In July, 1900. Mr. Stapel, together with his family, sailed for the Paris Exposition and afterward completed a tour of Europe, returning to the United States in the autumn. They are members of the German Lutheran church.
In 1886 Mrs. Stapel entered the Con- servatory of Music, at Munich, Germany. where she studied piano and voice culture and where she was graduated in 1893, and in this country she is well known for her musical attainments.
MRS. WILLIAM DUNN.
Mrs. William Dunn is one of the well known residents of Lincoln township. Her husband, the late William Dunn, died Att- gust 16, 1895, and the community lost one of its valuable citizens. He was numbered among the carly settlers of Lincoln town- ship and was a man of sterling worth, who aided in the promotion of every interest cal- culated to prove of public good to his town or county. A native of Westmoreland county. Pennsylvania. He was born October 13, 1834, a son of Thomas and Sarah ( Barber ) Dunn, the former a native of the Keystone state, while the latter was born in the north of Ireland. By their marriage they became the parents of five sons who reached mature years, nanich : John, Thomas G., William, Matthew and James. The last named was a solhier in the Civil war and is now living in Greeley, Colorado. The daughters of the family are: Jane, who died in childhood ; Elizabeth, who died in Louisa county, lowa ; Mrs. Sarah Dougherty, who died in the
same county: Catherine G., who died at the age of five years ; and Mrs. Lydia Dill, who departed this life in Eskridge, Kansas. The father of these children died in Winchester, Kansas, at the advanced age of eighty-two. He was a blacksmith by trade and during the greater part of his life followed that pur- suit. He held membership in the Reformed Presbyterian church and his life was in har- mony with his professions. His wife, a mem- ber of the same church, died at the age of seventy years. The children were reared in that religious faith and upon their minds were early impressed the lessons tending toward the development of an honorable manhood and womanhood.
William Dunn spent his boyhood days in the Keystone state, and in his father's shop learned the blacksmith's trade, working at the forge for some time. He became an ex- pert in the methods of handling iron and steel, and his mechanical genius enabled him to keep everything about his farm in good condition. The educational privileges which he enjoyed were afforded by the common schools of the neighborhood. When the country became involved in civil war he espoused the cause of the Union, entering the federal service as a member of the Seventy- sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, with which he remained for two years. lle participated in the battle of Petersburg and lost the index finger of his right hand, which was shot off in an engagement. lle was also in severai other battles and skirmishes as a member of the Army of the Potomac in Virginia. He then received an honorable discharge and re- turned to his home.
At the age of twenty-five Mr. Dunn had married Miss Rachel MeClellan, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania. They had five children, three of whom are now de-
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ceased, one having died while Mr. Dunn was serving his country as a soldier. Mrs. Su- san E. Stewart has also passed away, dying in Clay Center, Kansas, and John M. died in Louisa county, Iowa, April 4, 1877. In 1866 Mr. Dunn removed the family to Louisa county, Iowa, where he resided until 1879. working at his trade and following agricul- tural pursuits. His first wife died in that county, and was survived by the following children : Sarah J., the wife of John Walker, of Page county, Iowa; John M .: Susan E., who has since died, the wife of Matthew Stewart, of Clay Center, Kansas ; and Nancy, the wife of Robert Peck, of Northboro, Iowa. Mr. Dunn was again married, his . second wedding taking place in Page coun- ty, Iowa, Sarah A. Glasgow becoming his wife. She indeed proved to him a faithful companion and helpmeet on life's journey. She was born in Allegheny county, Pennsyl- vania, near Pittsburg, a daughter of Alex- ander and Sarah (Taggart) Glasgow, the former a native of the Keystone state, while the latter was born in the north of Ireland. Mrs. Dunn was a maiden of eleven summers when the family emigrated to the western part of Des Moines county, Iowa. . Her fa- ther died in 1857, leaving to the mother the care of the following children: Elias Thomas; Jolin Calvin; Mrs. Sarah Dunn; Donald C .; Elizabeth, the wife of H. Walk- inshaw, who served in the Thirty-ninth Iowa Volunteers; William; Mary Agnes, who died in infancy; and Andrew Wilson and Robert Hamilton, both deceased. Two of the sons were soldiers in the Civil war. John Calvin being a member of Company C, Eleventh lowa Infantry, and is now a resident of Page county ; while Donald C., a resident of Clarinda, Iowa, served also with the Eleventh Regiment of Iowa Volunteers.
The mother died in Page county, Iowa, at the age of eighty-one years, in the faith of the Reformed Presbyterian church, of which she was a consistent member.
Unto William and Sarah Dunn were born three children : Bertha Mary, who is a grad- uate of the high school of Westboro and is now a successful and popular teacher of Lin- coln township; W. T. G., who is eighteen years of age ; and John Oliver, who is now seventeen years of age. Their home is a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which was purchased by Mr. Dunn on his removal to Lincoln township. On the farm are a good residence, commodious barns and outbuildings, a windmill and the latest im- proved machinery. Mr. Dunn was a very progressive agriculturist who carefully con- ducted his business affairs and won success thereby. He was six feet in height and weighed one hundred and sixty-five pounds ; his manner was genial and courteous; his treatment of others was considerate, and in his family he was a devoted husband and father. Ile held membership in the Re- formed Presbyterian church and enjoyed the warm regard of all who knew him. Mrs. Dunn, since her husband's death, has care- fully managed her business interests and cared for her children and has displayed con- siderable business and executive ability in the control of the farm. She. too, has many friends and is widely known in her adopted county.
HENRY P. HURST.
Henry P. Hurst, a prominent and repre- sentative farmer and stock-raiser of Atchi- son county, was born in Fayette county, Ohio, May 13, 1843, his parents being Will- iam and Charlotte (Duvall ) Hurst, both of whom were natives of Ohio, in which state
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they were married. The father was a son of James Hurst, also a native of Ohio, to which state the family removed from Maryland, when James Hurst was a young man. He was a brick mason and also operated a farm in the Buckeye state. He became one of the pioneers of Missouri, locating near St. Jo- seph in 1850, but subsequently he came to AAtchison county. His last days were spent in the home of his children. An earnest Christian gentleman, he long held member- ship in the Methodist Episcopal church and took an active part in its work, laboring earnestly for its promotion and for the adop- tion of its principles. A man of sterling integrity and honor, he enjoyed the high re- gard of all who knew him. In his family nere twelve children, namely: William, Hooper, Caroline, Sarah, Thomas, Elliott, Ezra, Charles, Joseph, Mary J., Harriet and Cynthia.
William Hurst, the father of our subject, was reared to manhood and married in Ohio, where he began the struggle of life. In 1855, believing that he might better his finan- ciay condition and supply his family with more comfort and privileges in the west, he he came to Missouri, establishing a home in the fertile region of Atchison county. They there endured all the hardships and trials of pioneer hte, but ultimately their labors were rewarded. The father purchased a tract of school land and transformed it into an ex- collent farm, the rich and fertile soil becom- ing fields of productiveness. He also carried en st ck-raising and met with a fair degree Để success for that day. He was widely and favorably known. his sterling integrity and honor commanding the confidence and es- teem of all who knew him. Politically he was a Whig and later a Republican. For a number of years he filled the office of jus-
tice of the peace and he was a consistent and faithful member of the Methodist church. lle died in August, 1887, and his wife sur- vived him about twelve years, passing away in 1899. at the ripe old age of eighty years. Their children were: Mareen, a farmer of Nebraska: Thomas, of AAtchison county; Henry P., of this review: B. W., an attor- ney at law at Gilman City, Missouri : Mrs. Alice Smelser, in Kansas: Hannah, Florence and Lienoir. Three are deceased.
Ilenry P. Hurst, whose name introduces this record, was reared on the home farm and as a boy he followed the plow, turning the furrow in many a field that was under- going preparation for the spring planting. Ile was educated in the common schools and remained under the parental roof until he had attained his majority. He has been a resident of Missouri since he was thirteen years of age. His first business venture was the purchase of a calf, which he raised and sold. In later years he and his brother rent- ed a farm together and afterward bought property, continuing its cultivation for five years, when Mr. Hurst of this review was married and their business interests were dissolved, our subject selling his share in the farm. He then bought eighty acres of land. upon which he yet lives, and as the years passed and his financial resources increased he extended the boundaries of his fields un- til the homestead farm now comprises five hundred and sixty acres, in addition to which he has seventy acres in another part of the county and eighty acres in Iowa. Throughout the years he has engaged in dealing in calves and has been a very suc- cessful stock-dealer for ahost a quarter of a century. His business interests have been so carefully conducted that he is now one of the substantial residents of the community,
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.
and in addition to his farming investments he is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Tarkio, and has property in that place which is rented. His home farm is un- der a very high state of cultivation, divided into grain fields, meadows and grazing pas- tures. There are a commodious, two-story frame dwelling, nicely located on a natural building site, a large barn and substantial outbuildings. There are also a fine grove and an excellent orchard upon the place, to- gether with all modern accessories and con- veniences which go to make up a model farm of the twentieth century. In 1862 Mr. Hurst took the place of his brother, who was serving in the Fifth Missouri Cavalry in the federal army at the time of the Civil war and had been wounded, in consequence of which he was incapacitated for duty. Our subject served in his stead for four months and was stationed at Kansas City and Inde . pendence. Previous to this time he had been serving in the state guards and was sworn into the state service.
April 10, 1870, Mr. Hurst was united in marriage to Miss AAngeline Hindman, a lady of intelligence, born in Holt county, Mis- souri, and a representative of an honored pioneer family, her parents being John and Nancy J. ( Stephenson ) Hindman. William Hindman, her grandfather, was a native of Kentucky, but moved to Missouri at an early day, settling in Holt county. Here lie be- came a well known farmer. His children were : Thomas, Marion, William and John M. John Hindman was reared to manhood in Clay county, Missouri, and later entered the Mexican war, where he saw active service and many hardships. He received from the United States government a land warrant, which was laid out in Holt county. This he greatly improved and afterward sold, mov-
ing to Atchison county, where he carried on farming for several years, and at the time of his death left considerable property. He was born in October, 1825, and his death occurred June 18, 1858. He married Nancy J. Stephenson, who was born February 10. 1830, in Parke county, Indiana. She was a daughter of William and Margaret ( Front- man ) Stephenson. Margaret Frontman was a daughter of Peter Frontman, who was of German descent. The Stephenson family were the first white settlers in Holt county, Missouri, where they assisted in the growth and development of the place. William Stephenson, Mrs. Hurst's maternal grand- father, was born in Culpeper county, Vir- ginia, in March, 1789. His father was a native of Ireland, and his mother was born in France. He was married in Virginia in 1813, to Margaret Frontman, and then moved to Bond county, Illinois, where sev- eral of his children were born. He then moved to Parke county, Indiana, where he remained until June, 1840, when he took up his final residence in Holt county, Missouri, where two of his sons resided. He died in 1842. anl his wife lived for several years afterward. Their children were as follows: Mrs. Theresa Baldwin, Blank S., Peter, Mrs. George Baxter, William, John F., Alexan- dria, Margaret, the wife of J. Hindman, Nancy J., James, Michael .A., Ebna, Mrs. Rebecca Collins, Mrs. Sarah Hutton and Mrs. Rachel Rice.
John M. and Nancy ( Stephenson ) Hind- man were the parents of four children : W. H. ; Angeline, the wife of our subject ; Sarah, the wife of L. Mooney; and Robert, of .Ar- kansas. January 18, 1859. Mrs. Hindman married John Sly, of Pickaway county, Ohio. He was born February 22, 1828, a son of Henry and Ann ( McCollister ) Sly.
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Henry Shy was a native of Virginia and his wife was a native of Maryland. John Sly engaged in shipping cattle in his native state, and in 1857 located in Clark town- ship. Atchison county. Missouri, where he purchased a large tract of land, on which he built a large brick house and several fine out- buildings. He served several years as coun- ty judge and was well known in the commu- nity. Mr. and Mrs. Sly were the parents of four children: 11. O .. a prominent farmer : Lillian, the wife of Il. F. Staple: Senoma. the wife of George Ilunter: and Mary, the wife of H. E. Wyatt. Mr. Sly was a Dem- ocrat in politics. His wife died December 25. 1882. lle is still living.
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