USA > Missouri > Jasper County > A history of Jasper County, Missouri, and its people, Vol. II > Part 56
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Mrs. Lauderbaugh, namely : Nellie Hazel, Walter William and Raymond Isaac.
JOB CASEBOLT .-- An esteemed and highly respected resident of Jasper county, Job Casebolt has for many years been conspicuously identified with the advancement of the agricultural prosperity of Jasper county, and is now busily employed in general farming in section fifteen, Madison township. A native of Virginia, he was born June 18, 1845, in Scott county, the year in which Texas was admitted as a state to the Union and the year in which Andrew Jackson's death occurred.
His father, Job Casebolt, Sr., was born in Virginia, where his father settled on coming to this country from Germany. In 1854 he came to Missouri with his family, making the long and tedious overland journey with teams. Locating in Jasper county, he was here a resident until his death, in January, 1856. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Garlick, died in the fall previously. They were the parents of eight children, four of them being sons. Two of the sons, William, of whom a brief account is given elsewhere in this volume, and Job served as soldiers in the Civil War, belonging to the Union forces.
Brought up on the home farm, Job Casebolt acquired his early knowl- edge in the primitive log school house of his times. Soon after the out- break of the Civil War he enlisted in the Fourteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, under command of Captain A. H. Campbell and Colonel Blair, and as a rough rider did gallant service as a soldier, taking part in the engagements at Camden, Arkansas, and at Saline Cross Roads. He also made many raids on the enemy, and did duty in guarding property in various parts of Arkansas, for a time being under command of General Thayer. On one occasion he was sent with his regiment to Red River to assist General N. P. Banks, but arrived too late to be of any assistance. In June, 1865, Mr. Casebolt was honorably discharged from the service at Fort Gibson. Returning home, he subsequently spent some time in Kansas, living at Fort Scott from 1866 until 1869, when he came back to Jasper county, Missouri, and bought a farm seven miles north of Car- thage and lived there four years. He then sold there and bought a farm in the west part of the county, where he lived until 1900. Then settling in Madison township, Mr. Casebolt bought his present farm of one hun- dred and twenty acres, in section fifteen, and has since continued the im- provements previously inaugurated. He has a good residence, comfort- able and convenient farm buildings, everything about the premises in- dicating the care and supervision of an excellent manager and a thorough-going farmer.
In June, 1866, Mr. Casebolt was united in marriage with Mary E. Dazey, who was born in Jasper county, Missouri, where her parents, Jacob and Nancy (Beach) Dazey, were among the first settlers. Four- teen children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Casebolt. Six are now living, namely : John W., Job M., Dora F., Carrie B., Charles A. and James C. Elizabeth married C. A. Cullum, and died at the age of twenty-two. Seven others died in infancy. Politically Mr. Casebolt is an earnest supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and is now serving as road supervisor of Duval township.
JACOB F. GRAFF .- There is no one nation that has contributed to the complex composition of our American social fabric an element of more sterling worth or of greater value in fostering and supporting our national institutions that has Germany. Of this fine elass of adopted citizenship it would be difficult to discover an individual more repre- sentative from every viewpoint than Jacob F. Graff, one of the largest
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property holders and most prominent men in all Jasper county. He is the owner of four hundred and forty acres of the finest and most ad- vantageously situated agricultural property, and in addition owns two residence properties in LaRussell. He is, in fact, an able exponent of the progressive spirit and strong initiative ability which have caused this section to forge so rapidly forward, and he enjoys the high regard of a wide circle of people.
Jacob F. Graff was born February 22, 1846, in Leinfelden, Oberamt Stuttgart, Wurtemberg, Germany, and is the son of John George and Kathrena (Elsazer) Graff, farmers in the Fatherland. The grand- father, Rev. John George Graff, was a Lutheran minister, a composer of songs and the author of a prayer book. When a young man but nine- teen years of age Jacob Graff came to America to seek out the fine op- portunities of which he had heard so much. He came only a short time after the elose of the Civil war, the date of his arrival in New York being July 17, 1865. Having an offer of employment in Michigan in the capacity of a farmer, he journeyed there and remained in the service of his first employer for a period of six years and eight months. In the meantime he learned the language and adapted himself to new conditions. In 1872, in the spring of the year, he made a momentous change by removing to Missouri, going first to Boone county, where he worked throughout the season on the farm and plantation of William Bass where he was foreman on the ranch of 2.000 aeres of land. In the fall of the year he went to Lawrence county, where he arrived on the 8th of November. With his savings he bought a farm in the vicinity of Pieree City and he remained upon the same until 1890, steadily ad- vancing in prosperity and experience. In the year mentioned he sold his Lawrence county holdings and removed to Jasper county, and on August 12, 1890. he purchased two hundred and eighty acres of fine bottom land on Spring River. Here he has prospered exceedingly and is one of the most substantial and highly regarded agriculturists of the state. His property includes a number of beautiful acres, and in 1897, in one of the most beautiful locations in Jasper county, he erected a handsome farm residence. He has since added one hundred and sixty acres to his holdings, making four hundred and forty in all. In addi- tion to his other distinctions Mr. Graff has achieved local fame as a remarkably shrewd and accurate weather observer and prognostieator, having studied weather and atmospheric conditions for a life time. After many years of activity he is now practically retired, having given over the chief burden of farm labor into the charge of his son, William G. Graff. of whom further mention will be made in the succeeding biography.
Mr. Graff laid the foundation of a happy household and congenial life companionship when, on January 23, 1875, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Antonia Brinkman, who, was born in Trestain Kenickrich, Saxony, and at the age of five years came to America with her mother. The mother was a physician and had practiced in Saxony, and she was one of the first women to practice medicine in the United States. After several years spent in Racine, Wisconsin, Mrs. Graff went to Michigan and from there came to Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Graff have reared four children : Rosa, born on the 26th of January, 1876; Albert W., born on the 20th of October, 1877; William G., born on the 7th of August, 1879 ; and Carl, born on the 4th of August, 1881. Rosa is a gifted musi- rian and a successful teacher of music. She has been twice married, wedding first Henry Oltmann, who was killed by lightning, and at his death he left two children. Herman T. and Harold C. She is now the wife of Lucian C. Stemmons, and they live in Newton county, Missouri. Albert W. Graff is a successful farmer and stock raiser in Sareoxie
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Col. Williams G. Graf
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township, Jasper county. He married Katie Evarts, and they have four children : Earl, Altha, Freda and Dorothy. Carl Graff is a farmer and an extensive dealer and shipper of cattle and hogs. He graduated from the Great Western Business College, Webb City, Missouri, where he completed the course in five months. He married Helen Moody, of Jericho, Cedar county, Missouri.
Mr. Graff, of this review, is interested in political matters and the success of good government, and at one time he was a candidate of the Republican party for the office of judge of county court. The family are Baptists in their religious belief, except Mr. Jacob Graff himself, who still holds to the Lutheran faith.
WILLIAM G. GRAFF .- As an exponent of modern auctioneering and a demonstrator of the length to which it may be developed scientifically, William G. Graff, of Sarcoxie township, has won more than local reputa- tion, and stands today as a man who is a leader in his profession. Pos- sessed of those absolutely necessary traits of ready wit, repartee and convincingness, he has combined them with a pleasant personality and honorable business methods, and the whole goes to make up a character whose name is known over four counties. Mr. Graff has not limited his operations to auctioneering, however, as he is one of the best judges of live stock in his section, and raises a good many farm animals which find a ready market, in addition to carrying on general farm sales. He is a native of Lawrence county, Missouri, and was born August 7, 1879, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth Graff, whose sketch will be found preceding this.
William G. Graff attended the public schools, and even as a lad was noted for his humor and the vast fund of anecdotes upon which he could draw in an appropriate manner on all and every occasion. After gradu- ating from the Carthage Business College, in 1893, Mr. Graff naturally took to auctioneering, and the success that he has gained shows that he made no mistake when he chose this field as the medium through which to follow his career. Mr. Graff's ready wit is spontaneous and his humor contagious. Blessed with the faculty of being able to portray the char- acters about whom his stories are built, he is also able to correctly pro- nounce the various dialects without which no story can be justice done to, and once launched on one of his famous talks he is never in want of eager, interested listeners, who appreciate his stories and linger to bid on his goods. Strictly legitimate methods have always been the only kind which he has employed, and his motto, as shown upon his business card, reads: "Prices Talk." Mr. Graff is a graduate of the leading auction school of the world, the Missouri School of Auctioneering, and his trade extends all over Lawrence, Newton, Jasper and Barton counties. Having made a special and earnest study of live-stock, he is known as an excellent judge of animals, and he follows breeding and stock raising on the farm of his father, which he has been managing for several years.
Mr. Graff married, July 14, 1906, Miss Millie Krueger, of Sedalia, Missouri, daughter of Christian Krueger, a farmer of Pettis county, and one child has been born to this union : Willard, born July 19, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Graff are Baptists in religious faith and valued members of the congregation of that denomination.
ISAAC LAUDERBAUGH .- Especially worthy of note in a work of this character is Isaac Lauderbaugh, a prosperous farmer of Preston town- ship, who has been a resident of Jasper county for upwards of forty years, and during that time has been prominently identified with its development and progress, while, as opportunity has occurred, he has
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given his influence to encourage the establishment of beneficial enter- prises. A son of Thomas Landerbaugh, he was born in 1842, in Colum- bia county, Pennsylvania, near Bloomsburg, coming from thrifty Ger- man stock.
Thomas Lauderbaugh was born, reared and educated in Pennsylvania. and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits during his earlier life. He subsequently moved with his family to Henry county, Illinois, and there spent his last days, living on the home farm until his death, at the age of sixty-one years. He married Eliza Hartman, a native of the Key- stone state, and she survived him, passing away at the venerable age of eighty-three years. Of the thirteen children born of their union, eleven were reared and married. One son, Frank, died in Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, when aged about thirty years, Thomas died at the age of thirty- eight. Three daughters and five sons are now living. One of the sons, Jesse Lauderbaugh, of Jasper county, Missouri, served as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war.
Brought up on the parental homestead, Isaac Lauderbaugh obtained his early education in the public schools of his native state, and from his youth up has been engaged in agricultural pursuits. Locating in Jasper county, Missouri in 1869, Mr. Lauderbangh soon began investing in land, and is now the owner of one of the best pieces of property in Preston township, the "Picnic Grove Farm," which contains two hun- dred and thirty-four acres of rich and highly productive land. When he first came to the county he lived for three years in Duvall township, afterwards occupying the Collin's farm three years. He then opened a grocery in Preston township, and in addition to managing his store served for a time as postmaster. He purchased his present farm of Mr. Allen S. Trotter, and has since continually added to the improvements previously inaugurated, materially enhancing the value of his property and increasing its attractiveness. He has a good ten-room house, two barns, one being thirty-six by forty-three feet, and the other twenty-four by thirty-six feet, and has water pumped into the house by a gasoline engine from a well, two hundred and fourteen feet deep, and into the barn by the same power and stored in a tank with a capacity of ten barrels. Mr. Lauderbaugh pays considerable attention to the raising of cattle and swine, keeping Short-Horn cattle, and a good grade of hogs.
On September 28, 1865, Mr. Lauderbaugh was united in marriage with Mary C. Fowler, who has been in very truth a helpmate as well as a most congenial companion, much of Mr. Lauderbaugh's success, so saith he, being due to her timely assistance and wise counsel. She was born in Columbia county. Pennsylvania, which was also the birthplace of her father, Josiah Fowler, whose birth occurred in Columbia county, where he spent his entire life, as did his wife, who was before marriage Anna Seybert. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler had one son, William R. Fowler, who enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil war, and was killed at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Lauderbaugh have five children, namely : Emma, wife of Ehmer Clark, of Carthage, Mis- souri ; William, a prominent farmer of Preston township; Maggie, wife of Jacob Byers, of this township; Elmer O., also of Preston township ; and Mamie, wife of Elmer Frost, of Preston township. Mr. and Mrs. Lauderbaugh have been married forty-six years and not a death has oc- eurred in the family. Of their eleven grand-children all are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Lauderbaugh are both active members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder, and likewise superintendent of its Sunday School.
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GUS PONCOT .- Prominent among the honored and respected residents of Jasper county is Gus Poncot, who has taken an active part in advanc- ing the agricultural interests of Jackson township and is noteworthy for his good citizenship and many excellent traits of character. His home estate, "Maple Lawn," located at the corner of Grand Avenue and Evergreen Boulevard, is one of the finest in its improvements and appointments of any in this section of the county, every- thing about the premises indicating the care and supervision of an ex- cellent manager and a thorough-going agriculturist. A native of France, he was born in 1842, coming from a family active in civic affairs in times of peace and equally as patriotic in times of war.
His father, Antoine Poncot, spent his earlier years in France. In 1856, responding to the lure of the newer world, he immigrated with his family to the United States, locating in Missouri. Taking up land in Osage county, he cleared and improved a valuable homestead, on which he and his good wife spent their remaining years, his death occurring at the age of seventy-three years, while his wife died when sixty-nine years old. He married Jane Quinten, a native of France, belonging to an old and respected family, and to him ten children were born, eight sons and two daughters.
At the age of fourteen years, having acquired a good education in the schools of his native district, Gus Poncot accompanied the family to Missouri, and continued a resident of Osage county until 1882. Indus- trious and enterprising, he there accumulated money, and in looking about for a permanent location selected Jasper county as the most fav- orable for its farming advantages and possibilities. Settling in Sarcoxie township, three and one-half miles northeast of Reeds, Mr. Poncot im- proved a good farm, one of the very best in the neighborhood, and for twenty years was there employed in agricultural pursuits, making a specialty during that time of raising fine horses and Jersey cattle. Selling out in 1902, he bought the P. F. Dell property, now known as the Mc- Kelvey farm, near Knight Station, and lived there a short time. Dis- posing of that land at an advantage, Mr. Poncot bought his present es- tate of twenty acres, "Maple Lawn," and has now a pleasant and attractive home, the pretty, seven-room cottage being tastefully furnished and surrounded by a lawn ornamented with beautiful shade trees, shrubs and flowers, presenting to the passer-by a charming picture of rural com- fort and pleasure.
Mr. Poncot married, in Osage county, Missouri, in 1865, Estelle Perrier, a daughter of August Perrier, who immigrated from his native country, France, to the United States in 1852, settling in Missouri. Mrs. Poncot is a woman of culture and refinement, who received hier educa- tion in a convent at Saint Louis. Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Poncot, namely : Mrs. Belle Burks, of Sarcoxie township; Amelia, wife of S. C. White, of Oak Hill, Arkansas; Mrs. Anna Pearce, of Union township ; and Edward S., a noted educator of Salt Lake City, having been a college professor in California for a number of years.
Professor Edward S. Poncot was born in Osage county, Missouri, December 31, 1873, and as a boy of nine years came with his parents to Jasper county. He laid a substantial foundation for his future educa- tion in the district schools, and after graduating from the University of . Missouri took post graduate courses in other institutions of learning. He has been identified as an instructor with California colleges, and this year, in the summer of 1911, visited France and Germany.
JOHN HENRY DUNNING .- One of the older citizens of Union town- ship and a prominent member of the farming community, J. H. Dunning, proprietor of Oak Grove Farm, is widely known throughout this section
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of Jasper county as an upright, honest man, of sterling worth and a fine representative of those courageous pioneers who bravely dared the hard- ships and privations of frontier life, coming here when the country was new and in its original wildness. He was born May 29, 1835, in Trigg county, Kentucky, but was brought up in Missouri.
His father, Shadrach Dunning, was born, reared and married in Ken- tucky. Subsequently, desiring to invest in cheap land, he came with his family to Missouri, making the long and wearisome journey with ox- teams, camping by the wayside nights and depending for meat on the wild turkey and deer everywhere so plentiful. He brought his slaves with him, and having purchased a large tract of Government land in Henry county cleared and improved a good homestead, on which he and his faithful wife spent their remaining years. He was a man of upright character, and his wife belonged to the Baptist Church. She was born in North Carolina, but was reared in Kentucky, her maiden name being Adah Morris. Of the eleven children born into their household, five sons and six daughters, the following-named are living : Mrs. Malinda Arnett, who was born eighty-two years ago: John Henry; Albert, of Henry county, Missouri ; Mrs. Amanda Reid, of Minnesota ; and Mrs. Sarah Mc- Farland, of California.
But a child when his parents settled in Henry county, Missouri, John H. Dunning developed into manhood on the home farm, and was trained to habits of industry and economy, thus in his youth laying the founda- tions of his subsequent success. He was educated in the rude log school- house of pioneer days, and was early initiated into the labors ineidental to farm life. He served throughout the Civil War in the Confederate army, as a member of Company K, Sixteenth Missouri Volunteer In- fantry. In 1866 he came to Jasper county on a prospecting tour, and in February, 1867, assumed possession of his present property, Oak Grove Farm, which is located on section twenty-three, Union township, and contains three hundred and twenty acres of as good land as can be found in this vicinity. He has made excellent improvements, having a com- modious house, a large barn and all the outbuildings required by a pro- gressive and up-to-date agriculturist. Red Fox mine, one of the rich mines of Jasper county, is only forty rods east of Oak Grove farm.
Mr. Dunning married, March 1, 1855, Margaret MeFarland, who was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, of Scotch ancestry. Her father, James MeFarland, was born in Kentucky, and moved from there to Illinois and thence to Missouri. After coming to Missouri he was engaged in business as a cattle dealer for many years, his death occurring in Jasper county, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years. Mr. MeFarland married Sarah Maze, who was born in Tennessee, and died in Henry county, Missouri. Of their five children, three grew to years of maturity, as follows: Robert McFarland, who settled in California, and died in Missouri, while here on a visit, in 1910; Mrs. Eliza Bowling, of Carnegie, Oklahoma; and Mrs. Dunning.
Eight children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Dunning, two of whom, George Y. and Robert Lee, died in infancy. Three died after reaching years of maturity, as follows: Eudora, who married T. B. Prigmore, and died in Jasper county, leaving six children; Gertrude, who married A. C. Roper; and Ada Belle, who died at the age of twenty- seven years. The three children that are living are Ella May; John Henry, Jr., of California ; and Albert West, living on the homestead.
Brought up on the home farm, Albert W. Dunning received good educational advantages, especial attention being paid to the development of his natural musical talent, and he is now a popular teacher of music. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he
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and his father are indentified in politics with the Democratic party. The Dunning family are among the leading people of the community, and are members of the Baptist Church.
TAYLOR HOOD .- Occupying a foremost position among the prosperous and progressive agriculturists of Jasper county, Taylor Hood has spent the larger part of his life in Union township, on his present estate, Rock Spring Farm, and since attaining manhood has been actively identified with the best interests of town and county, generously using his influence to promote the public welfare. A son of the late David K. Hood, he was born in Maury county, Tennessee, August 7, 1846, during the time of the Mexican War. He is descended from a Southern family of some note, and his grandfather, Thomas Hood, spent the larger part of his life in South Carolina.
David K. Hood was born and reared in South Carolina. He went in Tennessee when a young man and learned the trade of saddle and harness maker. In 1853 he came to Jasper county, Missouri, bringing with him his mother, wife and children, and a few slaves. Locating in Union township, he bought the land now included in Rock Spring Farm, and immediately began its improvement. He soon became prominent in local affairs, and his home, which was a spacious structure, was the center of a gracious hospitality, every visitor to the place, be he friend or stranger, rich or poor, saint or sinner, being warmly welcomed. He was a Union man in sentiment during the Civil War; a member of the Ma- sonic Fraternity ; and an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which he belonged. He lived to the good old age of seventy- six years, honored and respected for his many virtues.
David K. Hood was twice married. He married first Martha Kinzer, who was born, lived and died in Maury county, Tennessee, her death oc- curring in 1852. She bore her husband four children, as follows : Norris C., M. K., Taylor and Virginia T., the latter deceased. By his marriage with Susan Morris, his second wife, David K. Hood became the father of the following children : Missouri, David (deceased), Dan, Sherman, Lizzie, Henry, John, Cora and E. Everett.
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