A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 13

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Missouri > A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2 > Part 13

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

On February 26, 1901, Judge McKee contracted a second marriage, in which he was united with Miss Frances P. Redd, a native of Pal- myra, Marion county, Missouri, and the daughter of Judge John Thomas and Elizabeth Ann (Francis) Redd, natives of Kentucky. Judge Redd was judge of the old sixteenth judicial district of this state before and after the Civil war, and was also a member of the state constitutional convention. He was born in 1816 and died in December, 1884. He came to Missouri with his parents in his boyhood and later became one of the first settlers in Marion county. His wife died in 1886, aged sixty-two years. They had ten children, five of whom are living. Kate S. resides in Memphis, making her home with her sister, Mrs. Judge McKee. E. B. is a resident of Marion county, Missouri. Minnie, who married John M. Jayne, lives in Memphis. Nellie P., who married A. S. Jayne, lives in Monroe county, and Frances is the wife of Judge McKee. She was educated in public and private schools in Palmyra and in the Kindergarten Training School in New Britain, Connecticut. At the time of her marriage she was a teacher in a kindergarten in Brooklyn. The five children in her father's family who have died were : Annie, who married Edward Bright; Virginia, who married Jacob Earhart; Emily, who married David M. Proctor; Mary, who married John Larkin, and John T. Redd.

The judge has one of the most complete and modern law offices in northern Missouri and one of the most complete libraries of law books. Among the old and valued relics in his office is an old arm chair his father had at the time the judge was a child, and an old mahogany desk over one hundred years old, which the judge has now as his work desk and has had for more than forty years. He has his office decorated with a photograph of each judge of the circuit since its organization, save one that could not be obtained.

The life story of this fine old gentleman and eminent citizen of Scotland county is full of suggestiveness and inspiration. He began the struggle for advancement among men in his youth, and in doing so relied only on himself. He confronted obstacles to his progress and difficulties in his way with a serene, lofty and determined spirit, and overcame them all. He challenged Fate herself into the lists, and met her on almost equal terms. He won his way to worldly comfort and consequence in public esteem, and did it without a blot on his name. And now he rests secure in the cordial regard and good will of all who know him. The contemplation of him at his present age reminds the thoughtful observer of some genial year. Its flowery spring, its leafy summer, its plenteous autumn have flown never to return. Its gifts are strewn around us; its harvests are in our garner. But in this case, best of all, although undoubtedly hastening to its close, its days of bloom, and warmth and fruitfulness are not yet wholly past.

JUDGE JOHN THOMAS REDD. Judge Redd was a native of Kentucky, born in what is now Oldham county, September 7, 1816. His parents, John T. and Ann Bullock, were also native Kentuckians. His father was a farmer, and the judge was reared a farmer's boy and was educated at the common schools in Kentucky. In October, 1834, he came to

1372

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

Missouri with his parents, who settled four miles north of Palmyra. In 1840 John T. began the study of law at home. Three years later he went to Palmyra, and in the spring of 1844 was admitted to the bar. He at once entered the practice and remained in Palmyra until his death, on Christmas day, December 25, 1884. In February, 1856, he was elected judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit of Missouri, composed of the counties of Marion, Ralls, Shelby, Monroe and Audrain. His competitor was Judge J. D. S. Dryden, who ran as a Democrat, while Judge Redd was known as an American. The judge remained on the bench until the summer of 1861, when he was deposed by the action of the "Gamble Government" of Missouri. The previous February he had been chosen one of the delegates from the district to the state con- vention. His prominent services in that body were heartily endorsed and applauded by the people of Marion county. During the Civil war he remained quietly at home a sympathizer with the south. After the war, by the operations of the Drake constitution, he was disfranchised for some time, but just as soon as possible after the removal of the dis- abilities of the ex-Confederates and their sympathizers, he was called from private life to again fill a seat on the bench. At the special elec- tion in 1871, he was elected judge of the sixteenth circuit; in 1874 he was again elected, and served until January 1, 1881. No more popular judge ever presided over the circuit, which, among others, had known such illustrious names as Tucker, McBride, Hunt and Wells. Few of his rulings were ever controverted by the supreme court, and his opin- ions have been renowned for their fairness, judicial learning, weight and strength. After his retirement from the judgeship he devoted him- self to the practice of the law, of which he had been such an efficient expounder.

April 12, 1838, Judge Redd was married to Miss Elizabeth Ann Francis, born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, October 2, 1823. To their union, an exceptionally happy one, were born eleven children, ten of whom lived to maturity. One son, Edward B., is a talented minister of the Christian church, of which Judge Redd and his wife were both members.

ROGER NORTH TODD lived between the years of 1797 and 1846, and the intervening years gave him many opportunities for public service in the community which was honored in being his home and the scene of his activities. He was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, on September 5, 1797, and moved to the Boone's Lick country in 1818, locating in Frank- lin, Missouri, soon after his brother, Judge David Todd, moved to that place. In 1819, when he was twenty-two years old, he married Miss Matilda Ferguson, of Lexington, Kentucky, bringing her back to Mis- souri with him, and for some time they remained in a fort near the town of Franklin. In the following year he moved to Boone county, at first settling just east of Columbia, on the farm which afterwards came to be known as the William Mosley place, near the present village of Shaw. Mr. Todd and his family here lived in a typical log cabin of the day, built with one large room, a low roof, an open fire place and a mam- moth chimney. It is related that one day while he and his young son had gone to the mill, his wife was sitting before the fireplace, rocking the baby in the cradle, when a bear fell down the chimney, without an- nouncing himself in any manner whatsoever save by his appearance. The animal had climbed upon a pile of wood near the cabin, thence made his way to the roof, from which he lost his balance, falling into the room through the capacious chimney. Fortunately the fall stunned Bruin, and the fire doubtless burned his paws a little, and these facts gave

1373

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

the terrified but courageous mother an opportunity to seize her infant child from the cradle, and beat a hasty retreat from the little cabin, which she regarded as all too small for such company as had uncon- ventionally intruded itself upon her, and made fast the door, passing the remainder of the day in the yard outside. There she remained with her child until the return of the husband, late in the evening, and after Mr. Todd had shot the bear, the little family once more took up their abode in the cabin. While it was by no means a common occurrence for these denizens of the woods to precipitate themselves into respect- able households in such a manner, still life in the wildernesses in the early days was attended by many experiences not less unpleasant or exciting than the one just related.

Upon the organization of Boone county in 1820, Mr. Todd was ap- pointed to the office of circuit clerk and recorder, which office he held continuously thereafter until his death, a period of twenty-five years. He was said to have been one of the most obliging and courteous offi- cials Boone county ever had. Mr. Todd had no printed forms to guide him, and no printed books to save time; but all the deeds, mortgages, executions, subpoenas and other papers were written by him, as well as all the deed records, court records, marriage records and indexes. In that day, the quill pen was in use, and Mr. Todd was not only a care- ful writer of legal documents, but a good copyist and an accurate and painstaking official. After he was appointed clerk, Mr. Todd moved to Columbia, and in August, 1822, he purchased some lots at the southwest corner of Broadway and Third streets, where he built a house which is still standing, and for many years thereafter it was known as the Col. T. F. Russell property, and now called the George W. Smith place. For many years Mr. Todd kept the records of his office in a frame room in the corner of his front yard, but when he moved to the country he had the records moved to the courthouse. It was built in about 1838 when Mr. Todd moved onto his farm on Bear creek, two miles north- west of Columbia, where he lived till his death, which occurred on April 11, 1846.

Mr. Todd was not only a successful county official, a good farmer and , a devoted and attentive husband and father, but he was one of the greatest students of Shakespeare that the country ever had. He was a great reader and one of the earliest advocates of higher education that Boone county knew. He was one of the first trustees of the Columbia Female Academy, and sent three of his daughters to that school. He was one of the subscribers to the university fund in 1839 and was the father of that prince of gentlemen, Robert L. Todd, a member of the first graduating class of the university, who succeeded his father as circuit clerk and recorder.

Mr. Todd was greatly assisted in his life work by his good wife, and often said that whatever success he attained was due entirely to her. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Robert L. Todd; John N. Todd; Edgar Todd; Susan, the wife of C. C. Branham; Caroline, who married John F. Burnam; Mary E., the wife of Thomas B. Gentry, and Matilda, who died young. They were all Presbyterians, and Mr. Todd was a member of the Masonic order. Mrs. Todd sur- vived her husband for some years, and lived in Columbia until 1871.

REV. MARCUS LEMON GRAY, son of Emanuel Lemon and Martha Ellen (Graham) Gray, was born eight miles west of Shelbyville, Mis- souri, on October 7, 1857. He was educated in Shelbyville high school, Central College and Vanderbilt University. He became a thorough student, a strong thinker, and has continued in the pathis of scholarship.

1374

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

The power of a Christian home had ever helped to direct his life, and in the fall of 1874, when on a visit to his uncle, J. R. Graham, of Clinton, Kentucky, he fell under conviction of sin and joined the church. Later the call to the ministry was unmistakably clear, and he received deacon's orders in 1882, at Plattsburg, Missouri, and elder's orders in September, 1885, at Columbia, Missouri, both ordinations be- ing at the hands of Bishop Granbery. His subsequent appointments are as follows: St. Charles, Fulton, Auxvasse, Wellsville, Rocheport, Salisbury, Cameron, Lineville, Gooding church, St. Joseph, Platte City and Weston, Cowgill, Chillicothe district, and Plattsburg district. Earnest and faithful work has ever characterized his pastorates. Re- vivals in each class, missionary zeal, grounded on knowledge, wise and wide visitation, a clear and strong gospel from the pulpit, have been the aims of his ministry. At St. Charles a $1,200 parsonage debt was paid; $3,300 was expended at Fulton in remodeling the church; a new property was built at Wellsville, and everywhere improvement and care of the church property placed under his charge marked his service. His admirable system, executive power, patience, courage, untiring energy and zeal have been most clearly shown in his presiding eldership. By his initiation, faith and perseverance, various building enterprises have been begun or carried to completion; notably, Chillicothe, Milan, Holt, Excelsior Springs and Kingston churches. In 1882 he married Miss Margaret Henton, of Louisville, Missouri. Mr. Gray is a pure man, a consecrated Christian, a diligent and sympathetic pastor, a thoughtful and earnest preacher, a wise executive and an untiring worker.

COL. J. B. WELCH. In 1894 the University of Missouri dropped its preparatory work and relegated all college preparation to the second- ary schools of the state. Seeing the need of a fitting school for the university in Columbia, George H. Beasley, Herman F. Harris and John W. Wilkinson, recent graduates, organized and founded a school known as the University Academy, and procured a charter from the state, outlining its plan and policy.

For three years this school offered high school advantages to the . rural students of Boone county, and enabled other students from various towns of the state to make up conditions, to meet the university require- ments for admission. During those three years, Mr. Ignatius McCut- cheon bought out the interests of Mr. Harris and Mr. M. R. Conley bought out Mr. Wilkinson.

In 1897, Mr. J. B. Welch bought out the interest of Mr. Conley and Mr. Mccutcheon, and the following year, bought the interest of Mr. Beasley and converted the school into a military boarding school for boys. This school held its sessions in a brick building that stood oppo- site Parker Memorial Hospital, originally known as the Columbia Col- lege. Because the first work of the University of Missouri was done here, the building has been called the cradle of the university.

Mr. Welch continued his boys' school here until 1903. At first the enrollment was largely made up of day students, but the number of boarding students increased, until finally day student patronage was discontinued. In 1902 Mr. Welch bought a twenty acre tract west of the university, and a year later erected a brick building with capacity for thirty boys and their teachers. The school in its new quarters kept true to its traditions as a preparatory school for the university, and also extended its courses of study to meet requirements for Yale and Harvard, and the range of its patronage extended into Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and New Mexico. Its motto has been "The boy, the unit,-

1375

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

not the class." Great emphasis has been laid upon personal super- vision and individual instruction. Owing to restricted numbers, there is no massing of boys into large dormitories, and consequently, no haz- ing. In 1905, by act of legislature, the academy became a post of the National Guard.

In October, 1907, the building was destroyed by fire, and the school was continued, during the remainder of the session, in a small hotel in town. As soon as the ruins were cleared away a new building was begun on the old site, larger and better equipped, and was ready for occupancy in September, 1908.

The school is not in any sense reformatory. It utilizes all reasonable methods to encourage good, to supplant evil,-but it will not take a vicious boy, or keep one that proves to be such. This policy has enabled the principal to conduct a clean school, where a boy can live a clean life.

The principal of the University Military Academy received his early education in a common school in central New York; his prepara- tion for college at Cazenovia, New York, and his degrees of A. B. and A. M. at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. After grad- uating in 1870, he was for two years a teacher of Latin and Greek in a military school at Cheshire, Connecticut.

For twenty years Mr. Welch was the principal of three prominent high schools: Willimantic, Connecticut; Westfield, Massachusetts; and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. For four years he was principal of the Me- Collom Institute, at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire. During these years his graduates entered Yale, Harvard and other New England colleges.

Mr. Welch came from New Hampshire to take charge of Marmaduke Military Institute, at Sweet Springs, Missouri, but the building was burned within a year, and was not rebuilt. He came to Columbia to educate his children, hoping at the same time to build up a school of his own, and the University Military Academy, as it stands today, is the result of his efforts.

JUDGE WILLIAM T. DEMONEY. Judge Demoney, prominent in busi- ness circles as a leading stock shipper, grain dealer and farmer, and county judge of the eastern district for two terms, was born on Janu- ary 6, 1865, in Scotland county, Missouri. He is the son of William E. and Sarah Elizabeth (Timmons) Demoney, of whom the following brief facts are here set forth : William E. Demoney was born in 1838 and died on the 3d day of June, 1865, at the early age of twenty-seven years. He was a native of Ohio and the son of Philipp Samuel De- money, a New Englander, who first settled in Ohio and in 1844 came to Missouri. William E. was reared in Scotland county and there mar- ried Elizabeth Timmons, born in Indiana, but a resident of Ohio Points when she married her husband. They were the parents of one son, the subject of this somewhat brief review,-William T. Demoney. The father was a soldier in the Union army in the Civil war and his marriage took place when he was home on a furlough. He enlisted at Memphis in 1862, in the Twenty-first Missouri Regular Infantry, in Company B, and served three years. His first furlough was after six months of service, which completed his first period of enlistment, but he re-enlisted for another three years, so that he saw practically all of the war. He served in the south and the southwest and was active in many important conflicts, without more than slight accidents, but after his discharge from the service at Mobile, he fell from the transport which he had there boarded en route for home and was drowned before aid could reach him. Thus ended a long and honorable career in his

1376

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

country's service, and so it was that the subject was reared without a father's care. The widow of Mr. Demoney later married a Mr. Duncan of Illinois, some three years after the death of her husband, and they lived in Scotland county for something like fifteen years, after which they went to Colorado, and there Mr. Duncan died. Four children were born of this marriage, as follows: Mary Florence Husted, living near Worthington; Ella, the wife of A. W. Kinder, of Carroll county, Mis- souri ; Joseph Henry, a resident of Putnam county ; and Donie Husted, of Worthington. The mother of Mr. Demoney lives in Martinstown.

When William T. Demoney was three years old he was adopted and reared by his grandfather, James T. Timmons, a preacher of the United Brethren faith, in Putnam county, and now deceased. When he was twenty-one years old, Mr. Demoney began life on his own responsibility, and his first independent work was as a farm laborer. He eventually rented a farm and began to operate for himself. Since that time he has owned and sold numerous farms in and about this county, and at the present time owns a farm of sixty-five acres, thir- teen acres of which is in the town of Worthington. In 1910 Mr. De- money moved to Worthington, and he has since 1907 been prominent as a shipper of live stock and grain, his efforts along those lines hav- ing been especially successful and indicative of his splendid ability as a man of business.

Mr. Demoney is a Republican in politics and for eight years he was justice of the peace in Elm township, his service covering the years between 1890 and 1898. In 1898 he was elected county judge of the eastern district, and served two terms of two years each in his capacity as judge, proving himself an efficient and capable incumbent of the posi- tion. He is prominent in fraternal circles including the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Brotherhood of America of Worthington, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances in and about his home city.

On the 25th day of September, 1887, Judge Demoney was united in marriage with Dora, the daughter of J. B. Timmons, of Putnam county, and they have three children, as follows: Ona, the wife of Clanda Crooks, of Worthington, and the mother of one child, Lois; Leonore and Orona are both attending school in Worthington. Three other children were born to these parents, all dying in childhood; Ophal died at the age of two years; Gilby Blains died when three and a half years old, and Gurney died in infancy.

REV. ELIAS PETERMAN. One of the best known, if not perhaps the best known man in Lemonville, Missouri, is the Rev. Elias Peterman, who is not only a Methodist minister of note, but is also the postmaster of the village. He is now a man of over seventy years, yet accomplishes more work than many men of fewer years. He bears a war record that is one to be envied, having been in the thick of the fighting through- out the war, and after the close of the war his life on the frontier as a mission minister affords an example of courage and loyalty that is seldom to be found. He has lived in Lemonville for the past seventeen years, and during twelve of these has served as postmaster.

The Rev. Elias Peterman was born in Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania, on February 11, 1841. His parents were George and Rosa (Slater) Peterman, his father being a native of Switzerland and his mother a Pennsylvanian by birth. The region where Elias Peterman grew up was mountainous and his father was a timberman. The latter was twice married and by his first marriage had six children: Joseph, Jacob, George, William, Tena and Nancy. His second wife was Rosa

1377

HISTORY OF NORTHEAST MISSOURI

Slater and they became the parents of Joana, Josiah and Elias, who were twins and W. S. Smith. All of these children, with the exception of Tena and Elias, are dead.

When Elias Peterman was twenty-seven years of age he came and settled in .Centreville, Iowa, but previous to this came his Civil war experiences. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted, being in April, 1861, in Company "A," of the Thirteenth Ohio Regiment, his arrival in Ohio having been only two months previous. He saw serv- ice all during the war, most of this being in the southwest. He took part in the battles of Carnifex Ferry, in Virginia; Shiloh; Stone river ; Murfreesboro; Lovejoy Station; Nashville, when General Hood was captured; Missionary Ridge; Lookout Mountain; Chickamauga and countless smaller engagements. He was under constant fire for one hundred and twenty days during one period of his service. After the battle of Missionary Ridge his term of enlistment expired, but in spite of all he had been through he re-enlisted. After the war closed his regiment was sent into Texas, and there he remained on provost duty, until February, 1866. Then, as has been mentioned he located in Cen- treville, where he worked at his trade of harness maker until 1874 when he went to Fillmore county, Nebraska, and took up a homestead of eighty acres. He remained in Nebraska until 1891, during most of this time working at his trade and farming on his land which was in the dry belt. In March, 1891, he came to Missouri and settled on a farm four miles east of Lemonville, a farm owned by his son-in-law and con- sisting of two hundred and forty acres. He moved to Lemonville in 1895, in the month of February, and two years later was appointed postmaster by President Mckinley. He has two rural routes running from the village, and his service as postmaster has been highly satis- factory.

He is well known as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, having traveled widely as a missionary preacher throughout this section of the West in the early days. He has been the local minister for thirty years, and has performed fifty-one marriages in and around Lemonville.

In politics he is a stanch Republican, and all of his sons and sons-in law are also Republicans and strong supporters of this party. He is a member of the Lemonville post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has been an active member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Order of Masons, since 1884. He is a member of the chapter and is a Knight Templar in this ancient order.

He was married in 1865, on the 6th of June to Harriet Lane, of Jones Mills, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They have six children : John A., who is a merchant in Bagley, Guthrie county, Iowa; Mollie, who is Mrs. Barnes, and lives in Indianola, Warren county, Iowa; Martha Rebecca, Mrs. Still of Unionville, Missouri; James H., who is cashier of a bank in Indianola, Iowa; Katherine married Mr. Henry and lives in Putnam county, two and a half miles east of Lemon- ville; Thomas C. is a telegraph operator in Perry, Iowa. Of these children the first-born was born in Pennsylvania, the daughters were all born in Iowa and the other two sons in Nebraska.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 13

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864- , ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912