USA > Missouri > A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2 > Part 17
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to Monroe county, Missouri and located land on Crooked creek and then returned for those they had left behind. The happiness of the pioneer family was not long to endure, for Charles Buckner died the very next year, 1834, and his widow was left to struggle along as best she could. Charles Buckner had married Susan Thornton and they had five chil- dren, namely : Lucy, who married John Herd, and Sallie, who became the wife of Dr. Cunningham, both of whom moved to Sacramento, Cali- fornia, where they spent the remaining years of their lives: William F .; Harriet, who became Mrs. Campbell, and lived during her lifetime in Independence, Missouri; Frank emigrated to California in 1854 and never returned to Missouri to live.
William F. Buckner attended the schools of Paris, which was then only a little country village, but being ambitious to secure more of an education than was here possible, attended the Masonic Institute in old Philadelphia, in Marion county, Missouri. Mr. Buckner began his busi- ness career as a clerk in the state land office in Jefferson city. His brother-in-law, Mr. Herd, was appointed by the governor as the first register of the land office and he took the lad into his office as clerk where he served for about eighteen months. Shortly afterwards the Mexican war called to William Buckner, and he could not resist the appeal to his patriotism though he was young for military service. He enlisted at Paris in Captain Giddings' company, which was a part of Colonel Price's regiment. The command was ordered to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they remained until his term of enlistment expired, when they were returned to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to be mustered out in September, 1847. He then took up the study of medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. Cunningham, but.abandoned it to make the journey across the plains during that year of wild excitement when it seemed as though the whole country was emptying itself into California, 1849. He spent his first year in the golden land in mining and then for the next two years engaged in trading in horses and cattle. In 1852 he determined to return home and came back by way of the Isthmus of Panama and New Orleans. Upon his arrival once again in Paris he went back to studying medicine this time under the tutelage of Dr. Moss. In 1854 William Buckner in company with his brother, Frank. went again to California. He did not remain in California very long this time, but while he was there he engaged in trading in stock. His return trip this time was made by water and he landed in New York, making his way thence back to his old home and went into mercantile pursuits.
His first work was as a clerk for Crutcher & Dulaney and he soon became a partner in the firm. After a time he succeeded to the head of the firm and its name became Buckner & Mounce. This firm con- tinued to do business until after the close of the Civil war. Mr. Buck- ner found himself in rather poor health about this time and the year 1870 he spent in Hot Springs, Arkansas, trying to find a cure for his rheumatism. He returned to Paris much benefited, and in 1871 he entered upon the career which has made him so well known in this city, that of banking.
Years ago D. H. Moss organized the Farmers Savings Bank and later reorganized the original institution into the First National Bank with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, multiplying its capital as a savings concern by five. It was as assistant cashier of this bank that Mr. Buckner began his long connection with it. He was later made cashier and then when the bank became the Paris National Bank his splendid service as cashier won him the honor of being elected president, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Moss. With this change in
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the charter, the capital of the bank was reduced to seventy thousand dollars. For many years Mr. Buckner was daily at his post, but the close exacting work and the responsibility at last wore on even his iron nerve and on the 1st of January, 1912, he retired from the active man- agement and left this to his son.
Since reaching his majority Mr. Buckner has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons. In politics Mr. Buckner has always been a Democrat.
It was on the 7th of April, 1853, that Mr. Buckner married Miss Eliza Woods, a daughter of the Reverend Anderson Woods, a Baptist minister and farmer of the early days in this section of the country. Her mother was Elizabeth Harris, and her parents were natives of Kentucky and pioneers in Boone county, Missouri, where Mrs. Buckner was born in 1832. She died in June, 1912, leaving seven children, as follows: Sue, who married Frank V. Ragsdale, of Paris, Missouri; Sallie, who became the wife of A. S. Houston and lives in Mexico, Missouri ; Charles M., a business man of Marshall, Missouri; Anderson Duncan, who is cashier of the Paris National Bank; Mary is Mrs. C. R. Gibbs, of Mexico, Missouri; Emma lives in Paris; Frances is the wife of A. F. Neate, of Columbia, Missouri.
Anderson D. Buckner, who has taken his father's place as active head of the Paris National Bank, was born in Paris, Missouri, October 6, 1862. After completing the course of study in the city schools he entered the service of the old First National Bank and from a position as bookkeeper passed upward to that of cashier and acting head of the bank. He was made assistant cashier in 1885 and when his father was made vice-president in 1901 he became his successor as cashier and now with his father's retirement is executive in actuality.
Anderson D. Buckner is a member of the executive council of the American Bankers Association and takes a prominent part in the work of that body. He was elected to the above post at the meeting of the association in Detroit in 1912. In politics he is a Democrat and fra- ternally his affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the Baptist church and is unmarried.
JOHN TANDY BUSH. Twelve miles southwest of Fulton is a country estate which was patented direct from the government to the Bush name more than ninety years ago, about the time the state of Missouri and Cal- laway county were created by legislative acts. The Bush family has been prominently identified with the life and affairs of this vicinity ever since, and there are a number of well-known men who have figured in local his- tory as representatives of this family. John Tandy Bush, of the present generation, has gained prominence in the field of education, and as super- intendent of the Fulton city schools has an important work and responsi- bilities in the making of the coming citizenship of the city and county.
He was born at Barkersville on the Missouri river in Callaway county on the 18th of April, 1879. His parents, John Tandy and Made- line (Findley) Bush, were both natives of Callaway county. His pater- nal grandparents were Jordan and Sallie (Stewart) Bush, who were natives respectively of Clark and Nelson counties, Kentucky, and were married in that state. The Bush family is descended from an original John Bush, a Highland Scotchman, who emigrated to America and settled in the colony of Virginia. After the Revolution five brothers of the name went over the mountains and became pioneers of the region since embraced in Clark and Nelson counties, Kentucky.
Jordan Bush, the grandfather, and founder of the family name and fortunes in Callaway county, first came to this region in 1819 and
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remained long enough to enter land twelve miles southwest of the subse- quent site of Fulton. He then returned to Kentucky, where he married, and in 1829 brought his family and made permanent settlement in the timber on the original tract entered ten years previously. His location has ever since been considered one of the best in the country. With the slaves which he brought from Kentucky he developed a fine farm of five hundred acres, and his sons still own and occupy that pioneer estate. He died there in June, 1881, aged eighty-three, and his wife passed away in June, 1882, aged seventy-ninc. Their old home, built in 1854, was at the time and for many years afterward, one of the best in all that local- ity. When he first came to this section of Missouri in 1819 he entered his land in the midst of a total wilderness, in which he had complete choice of his location, and even when he made permanent settlement ten years later, his neighbors were few. He was the son of a wealthy farmer and trader in Kentucky, and consequently came to Missouri with consider- able money and possessions. He became a noted hunter and spent much of his time in the saddle. Before the war some forty slaves worked on his plantation. He was an old-school Baptist and a member of the nearby old Providence church. He and his good wife reared thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters. Of these three sons and three daughters are living in 1912. Samuel and Herndon are stockmen and farmers on the old homestead, while Fielding M., now living retired at Portland, was for many years a member of the Fulton bar and stood especially high for his ability in cross examination.
John Tandy Bush, Sr., now deceased, was born on the old homestead April 18, 1839, just forty years to the day before the birth of his son of the same name. In 1865 he married Madeline Findley, who was born at Marthasville in Warren county, April 28, 1849, and came to Callaway county in childhood with her parents, Milton and Polly (Pearl) Findley. The Findley family is of Irish and Welsh origin, and one of the ances- tors came into Kentucky with Daniel Boone. Milton Findley, who was born in Garrard county, Kentucky, and came to Missouri in 1839, was a blacksmith and farmer, and for a time had his shop in Marthasville, Warren county, and later moved to the old St. Aubert stage coach road near Fulton, where he had a shop and farm, and where he lived until his death in 1894, at the age of eighty-five. His wife, who was born in Greenbrier county, Kentucky, died in 1906 aged eighty-three. John Tandy Bush, Sr., gave all his active career to farming and stock raising, and was for a number of years a resident near Barkersville along the Missouri river. His family consisted of four sons and three daughters, namely : Ernest F., a graduate of the Missouri State University and the Washington University, taught for some years in Callaway county, was superintendent of city schools in Alabama and is now superintendent of the Wellston schools near St. Louis; Arthur N. died at the age of twenty-one; Rose Dale, a former teacher in this county, is now the wife of B. A. Bills, of Wainright in Callaway county ; William H. is a farmer near the old homestead; Addie P. died in childhood; John Tandy is mentioned in the following paragraph; and Madeline lives with her mother.
John Tandy Bush has made a profession of his work, and is a thor- oughly trained and devoted worker in the great field of education. He was graduated with honors and as class president from Westminster College in 1908, and was also a member of the college debating team. Since then he has taken special work in the Universities of Missouri and of Chicago. He began his career while in college by teaching several terms in the public schools of his home county, and in 1909 became principal of the Fulton high school, and in 1912 was made superintendent
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Priest
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of all the city schools. Professor Bush owns a farm near Fulton, and has an attractive home in the city, where he resides with his mother and sister. He and the family are members of the Methodist church.
BENJAMIN G. GRANT. This historical edition is fortunate in being able to present within its pages due record concerning representative members of the Grant family, whose name has been concerned with his- tory of Callaway county since the early pioneer era, ever standing expo- nent of ideal citizenship in all of the relations of life. Adequate review of the family record is given in the memoir dedicated to the late Samuel Grant, father of him whose name initiates this article, and thus it is not requisite to enter into details of the same in the present connection.
Benjamin George Grant, who is numbered among the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county, was born on the ancestral homestead, twelve miles east of Fulton, Callaway county, on the 15th of August, 1869, and this homestead is now owned and occupied by his younger brother, Emmett J., concerning whom individual mention is made in this publication. Mr. Grant was reared to the sturdy disci- pline of the farm and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality he was for three years a student in West- minster College, at Fulton. He continued to be associated with the work and management of the home farm until the time of his marriage, in 1897, and his present farm comprises four hundred and eighty acres of most fertile land. It is about one and one-half miles west of the village of Williamsburg and near the center of the beautiful Nine Mile prairie. He has made excellent improvements of permanent order, and the house, erected in 1897, is one of the most modern and attractive rural homes in Callaway county. Other buildings on the place are of high grade and thrift and prosperity are in evidence on every side. Mr. Grant gives his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, a specialty being made of grazing cattle for the market.
In politics Mr. Grant is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Nine Mile Presbyterian church, in which he holds the office of elder.
On the 15th of September, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Grant to Miss Georgia May Garrett, who was born on the farm of her father, east of Readsville, Callaway county, on the 18th of May, 1876, and who is a daughter of George W. and Susan (Crump) Garrett. Mr. and Mrs. Grant have one child, George Garrett, who was born July 31, 1899. The beautiful family home is known for its cordial hospitality and Mr. and Mrs. Grant and their son have a host of friends in the community.
JUDGE HENRY JACKSON PRIEST is the presiding judge of the Ralls county court, as well as being a successful farmer near New London. He is descended from the family of his name from Loudon county, Virginia, from which point both his father and grandfather emigrated to Mis- souri. His father was William Priest, and his grandfather, Henry Priest, followed his son to this state, and occupied the farm his son left when he moved into Monroe county.
Henry Priest was born in Loudon county, Virginia, and was of Scotch stock. His forefathers came into the colony of Virginia while its people were still subjects of the British Empire, and their posterity has contributed of the young blood of the family to the settlement of differ- ent parts of the West. Henry Priest's brother, Thomas, came out to Ralls county, and from these two have emanated the Priests of this sec- Vol. III -- S
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tion of the state. Henry's first wife was a Miss Murray who died in Virginia. Her children were James, William and a daughter. His second wife was Miss Melvina Culick, and to them were born Lewis; Harrison ; Jefferson; John; George; Sarah, who married Dr. Long of Paris, Missouri; Madeline died as the wife of Albert Shortridge and Emma, who married J. R. Parsons.
William Priest came out to Missouri in 1839. He was fairly equipped in an educational way and devoted himself to the development and improvement of his country home. He first settled in Ralls county, but abandoned this tract to his father in 1841 or 1842, as previously men- tioned, and settled on a new farm twelve miles northeast of Paris, where he spent the vigorous years of his life. He was a slave holder when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued and gave some aid to the Con- federate cause. His journey from the old home state was made by cara- van of wagons, with the family "darkies" forming a part of the caval- cade. He demonstrated his success as a farmer, despite his severe reverses as a result of the war, and was known for one of the prosperous men of his community. When he lost his second wife he returned to Ralls county and died in 1901. William Priest never identified himself formally with any church, yet he recognized and acknowledged its efficiency as a power for good in any community, and supported it in various ways. He ever kept step with the procession as an advocate and encourager of public education, and in his community in Monroe county the need for such influence and direction was strong enough. He was a Democrat following the war, and intensely partisan in his adherence to the cause.
The first marriage of William Priest was to Alcinda Dodd. She was a daughter of Maria Dodd, whose emigration from Virginia to Mis- souri occurred in 1819. Mrs. Priest died in 1854, the mother of Judge Henry Jackson Priest, of this review ; James, of Meeker, Colorado; Mar- tha, who married Howe McFarland of Paris, Missouri; Sarah M., who became the wife of Fount Watson. Mr. Priest's second wife was Emily Cochran, who died in 1890, leaving one child, William B. Priest, of Paris, Missouri.
Henry Jackson Priest was reared in Ralls county and received his early schooling in the primitive log cabin school of his district. He was born January 26, 1842, in Monroe county and was approaching his majority when the war broke out. He entered the service of the Con- federate branch of the Missouri guard in 1861 as a member of Captain George Bates' Company of the Second Cavalry, and was mustered into the regular Confederate service in Colonel Green's regiment, thereafter participating in several of the first battles and scrimmages on Missouri soil. He was at Cow Skin, Lexington, Wilson Creek, Pea Ridge and then crossed the river to the eastern department and took part in the battles of Corinth and Iuka with General Price's army. After the Iuka fight he was one of a detail of men to accompany a bunch of eight hundred horses, worn out and useless, to the prairies of Texas. The animals were left on the grazing lands between Waco and Houston, and Mr. Priest was then returned to his old command with General Price. He found it in Louisiana and with it participated in some fighting with General Banks and General Steele in that state. General Price subsequently made a second raid north toward Kansas City, and it was on this march that Mr. Priest decided that the fortunes of the Confederacy were doomed to failure. He decided to free himself from the possible political entan- glements in store for those found with the Rebel cause and joined a wagon train of men at Omaha, en route for California. This company comprised five wagons, some hundred and fifty mules and thirty-two
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men, and it followed the trail up the Platte river to Fort Laramie and thence down Bear river to Salt Lake, around the south end of the lake to the desert and out over the government trail to Sacramento, being ninety-six days in completing the journey. Though they in a number of instances saw the bloody trails of hostile Indians, they were fortunate enough to escape contact with the redskins.
As a means of livelihood in California, Mr. Priest found work as a teamster freighting from Sacramento to Virginia City and Gold Hill, Nevada, and was in that section some three years. Leaving there he went to Central America and spent some little time about Greytown, Nicaragua, but disliked the situation as he found it there and made his way back to the United States. During his absence he had accumulated a capital of one thousand dollars, with which sum he equipped himself for farming when he returned to Monroe county. Although Mr. Priest entered strenuously into farming and in the handling of live stock, he could not forget the call of the West, and in 1877 he made a trip over the old trail with a bunch of mules to Chico, California, and in 1881 or 1882 he repeated the experience. Each time he noted and was impressed with the vast changes occurring; the establishment of civilization and the building of permanent homes along the old trail strewn with the bleaching bones of men, women and children, slaughtered by hostile bands of Indians.
In 1890 Mr. Priest returned to Ralls county and subsequently pur- chased the Castephen farm near New London, which he has been improv- ing and cultivating since then. Many years ago he became identified with banking interests, and for the past fifteen years he has been presi- dent of the New London Bank. Matters pertaining to the general wel- fare of his county have ever won and held the interest of Judge Priest, and his political activity has been chiefly as a voter. He has seemed to be without personal ambition for office, and resisted all attempts to present him as a candidate for official positions for a number of years after his return to Ralls county. He finally consented to stand as a candidate for presiding judge of the county and was elected in 1898. He has been returned to the office at the expiration of each succeeding term, and his present term of office will expire in 1914. It was the stupendous debt of Ralls county which first attracted Judge Priest's attention, and the manner of handling it brought forth comments from him that brought his name into the limelight as good timber for the county bench. The sum of $338,000 was voted by the county toward the building of the "Short Line" railroad and it seemed to be the policy of the county board to simply pay the interest on these bonds from year to year with- out a serions thought of how the funds were to be raised to pay the principal when due. The interest payments were fifty cents on the hundred dollars, which, during the time to run, would mean a big outlay by the county, with the bonds themselves still to be paid. When Judge Priest came to the board a levy of ten cents on the one hundred per cent of the value of the property of the county was made to meet the interest and reduce the principal, which with the decrease of the debt and the increase of the valuation, has proved to be sufficient to pay the interest and to take up the bonds faster than they became due, and when 1914 dies every dollar of the old debt will have been satisfied. While this has been an important item to handle, the board has shown itself able to provide a large amount of permanent road work and to bridge the streams at most of the important crossings and to inaugurate an era of concrete culvert and small bridge work that is rapidly adding to the facility of travel and promising a reduction in the annual cost of road repairs in the future.
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Judge Priest's democracy is well known. He declared his fealty to it with the enfranchisement of the old Confederates and has encouraged his comrades and co-workers in delegate conventions occasionally since then, while he helped to nominate General Marmaduke for governor of Missouri.
On September 20, 1866, Judge Priest was married to Miss Jane E. McFarland, a daughter of Walter and Harriet (Matson) McFarland, whose children were Mercy, the wife of Harrison Glassock; William Harvey of Paris, Missouri; Jane E., born September, 1844; Richard A., of Hannibal, Missouri; Dr. Abraham, of Ralls county; Lucy, twice mar- ried and now deceased; Enoch of St. Louis; Mollie, the wife of Paul Flowerree of New London, and Walter, who is deceased.
Judge and Mrs. Priest have one son, Hugh Priest, of League City, Texas. He was born in Monroe county, in March, 1870. He married Miss Mattie Carter and has two children,-Imadell and Gertrude.
JOHN PLEASANT ARNOLD. Possessing a reputation as a breeder of some of the finest harness and saddle horses ever exhibited in this or other countries, John P. Arnold, proprietor of Nine Mile Stock Farm, at Williamsburg, belongs to one of Callaway county's old and honored families, and one that has been prominently identified with agricultural and stock raising operations in northeastern Missouri for many years. He was born on a farm located three miles northwest of his present property, January 19, 1860, the youngest son of Pleasant and Caroline (Scholl) Arnold, natives of Kentucky.
The maternal grandparents of Mr. Arnold, John and Sina (Jones) Scholl, were born in the Blue Grass state, and there married in 1815, the latter being the daughter of Giles Jones, who was born in 1756 or 1757, near Cardiff, Wales. John and Sina Scholl came to Missouri, being accompanied by Mrs. Scholl's mother for three days who then turned back to the Kentucky home, and after a long and eventful journey reached their destination in Callaway county and settled on a part of the present farm of Norman Davis, in 1824, at once commencing the cultivation of their land with their negro slaves. Several of Mrs. Scholl's most treasured possessions were some new counterpanes, for which she had raised the flax, and these being unbleached, she hung them on the buck bushes some distance from the little pioneer home. That same night snow came, and the winter was so severe that she was unable to again secure her counterpanes until spring. Several of these interesting old souvenirs of pioneer days are still owned by Mrs. Scholl's great- granddaughter. John and Sina Scholl spent the remainder of their lives on that property, the latter passing away some years prior to her hus- band's death, which occurred when he was eighty years old. One son, John Scholl reached maturity and secured the old farm, his daughter being Mrs. Norman Davis, wife of the present owner of the land. The Scholl daughters were: Minerva, who married Herman Hayes, and died in Callaway county at the age of ninety-four years; Matilda, who mar- ried James Love and died at the age of eighty years in Callaway county ; Louisa, who married in 1840 William Arnold, and died in Callaway county in 1895 ; Mary, who married Harrison Gregory, and died in New Florence, in 1911, being past eighty years and the last survivor; Caro- line ; Emily, who married Robert M. Berry, of Williamsburg, and died in 1905; and Isabel, who married John Gregory, and died in Mexico, Missouri.
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