A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 20

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

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about six years, and then located in Fulton and spent a short time in the grocery business with L. H. Holt. At that time he removed with his family to St. Angelo, Texas, and engaged in sheep ranching, and re- mained there until 1901, in which year he sold 20,000 sheep at $3.40 a round, and moved back to his home farm. That was the well-remembered dry year, and with admirable foresightedness Mr. Smith bought a great deal of land at very reduced prices, this property having since increased many times in value. He has since been engaged in trading lands, rais- ing sheep, and farming, and in 1907 put in 515 acres of wheat on his own land, harvesting 10,000 bushels, probably the largest crop ever har- vested by one man in the county. At the present time Mr. Smith resides in Fulton, where he has a handsome brick residence on Court street. He is a member of the Good Roads Commission, his fellow-members be- ing J. W. Walthall and J. L. Maughs, and has interested himself in various movements for the good of his community and its people. In political matters he is a Democrat, and his religious belief is that of the Baptist church, in which he has acted as deacon.

On October 9, 1889, Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Zerelda Carter, who was born in 1862, daughter of John W. and Margaret (Ha- den) Carter. Three children have been born to this union: Mabel Lee, Mattie C. and Robert C.

DAVID S. SMITH. With the discovery of coal in the fertile fields of northeastern Missouri, land that formerly was thought of little value soon became the source of great revenue to its owners, while property more desirable advanced in jumps and bounds, and today many of the leading citizens of Callaway and other counties are living on land set- tled on at an early time by either themselves or their fathers, owing their independence because of the rich veins of black diamonds to be found secreted in their farms. One of these, David Sneddon Smith, living about three quarters of a mile west of Columbia, is considered one of his community's substantial men because of the value of the old homestead, but he would have undoubtedly become successful in any case, being pos- sessed of the qualities of industry, perseverance and integrity, qualities that go to make up the successful business man in any line of endeavor. Mr. Smith was born March 4, 1866, near Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, and is a son of James and Rachael (Sneddon ) Smith ..

James Smith was born in Nova Scotia, in 1831, and as a young, un- married man came from Philadelphia with a coal prospecting company, which pursued its activities in the southern part of Callaway county. For a time he worked on the first railroad that entered Callaway county, and entered 160 acres of land at Richhill, Missouri, but three years later returned to the East, and at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, was married to Rachel Sneddon, who was born in Scotland. Returning to Missouri with his wife, Mr. Smith bought forty acres of land in the southern part of the county. Prior to the war he engaged in the coal business, and for a time supplied coal to the insane asylum, but in 1864 again went East, and remained there until 1868 or 1869 when he came to the home place, a tract of 196 acres, which he purchased from Judge Nesbit. This land he mined himself during the rest of his life, and also purchased eighty acres more land southwest of Fulton, and at the time of his death, in 1907, was one of his section's well-to-do men. His wife also passed away on the homestead farm, having been the mother of five children, of whom three reached maturity: Agnes, who married John Sartor and lives in Callaway county; Robert James, who is now deceased; and David Sneddon. Mr. Smith was a stanch Republican, an Odd Fellow in his fraternal affiliation, and an active and consistent member of the Presbyterian church.

He Boney

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David Sneddon was brought to Callaway county when he was still an infant, and his education was secured in the public schools of Fulton and Westminster College. He followed in his father's footsteps as a miner and has been uniformly successful in his operations, being the owner of 275 acres of good land. He resides on his farm in a comfortable little home, situated on the top of a hill looking east into Fulton and between the Jefferson City and Columbia roads, a very convenient locality.

On October 27, 1903, Mr. Smith was married in Jefferson City, Mis- souri, to Elizabeth Morsinkhoff, who was born June 11, 1879, in Ger- many, daughter of John and Gertrude (Reikers) Morsinkhoff. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have no children. Like his father, he is a Republican, but has not cared to enter public life, being satisfied to give his entire attention to his agricultural and mining operations. He is well known throughout this part of the county, and has drawn about him a wide circle of friends.

DAVID CLIFTON BIGGS is a native son of Missouri, born in Pike county, near Curryville, on May 2, 1866. He is the son of William K. and Martha Biggs, natives of Missouri, who located in Pike county and thereafter devoted their lives to agricultural interests and stock raising. Their son was educated in the public schools of the county and graduated from the Gem City Business College of Quincy, Illinois, thereafter, until he reached his majority, remaining on his father's farm and assisting with the work of the home place.

In 1887 Mr. Biggs engaged in the general merchandise business at Curryville, in which he continued for about two years, after which he became identified with the Bank of Curryville in a clerical capacity, re- maining until 1891, when he went to St. Louis and connected himself with the Merchants Laclede National Bank, in which place he continued to remain for about eight years. In 1889 Mr. Biggs accepted a posi- tion with the Roberts, Johnson & Rand Shoe Company as cashier, and in 1895 was made treasurer of the company, a position which he retained until their consolidation with the Peters Shoe Company with the name The International Shoe Company, and he is now treasurer of the com- pany and manager of the credit department of that company.

June 4, 1902, Mr. Biggs was married to Miss Ethel Hill Goddard, the daughter of Maj. George H. and Virginia A. Goddard.

Two children were born to them,-Alice Goddard, who died when she was two years old and Ethel Hill, who died in infancy.

Mr. Biggs is a member of the St. Louis and Noonday Clubs. His home is maintained at 5370 Waterman avenue, St. Louis, while he has a country residence in Clarksville, Pike county, Missouri.

WILLIAM J. BONEY, of Cairo, is a well-known agriculturist and pioneer resident of Randolph county, Missouri, who when but a little child came to this county with his father in 1837 and has spent practically three- quarters of a century within its borders. During this long interim his citizenship has been of that order that has stamped him as one of the sterling men of Randolph county. He was born in Dublin county, North Carolina, October 26, 1834, and by paternal descent comes of Belgian ancestry. His father was James T. Boney, a native of North Carolina and a farmer who came to Randolph county, Missouri, in 1837, and settled on a homestead in Cairo township, which remained his abode until his death in September, 1891. His mother was Miss Elizabeth Carr prior to her marriage, also a North Carolinian by birth, who passed away in Randolph county in 1893. Two brothers of James T. Boney who had remained in their native state of North Carolina, also passed to the life beyond in 1891, one in October and one in November, and thus

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the three brothers were united in death within a period of two months. William Boney, the grandfather of our subject, was a son of Wimberk Boney, one of three brothers that came to the United States from their native Belgium and settled in North Carolina. One of these brothers who did not like North Carolina went north and was never heard from afterward. Wimberk Boney thus became the original progenitor of the Boney family in the United States. The maternal lineage of William J. Boney leads back to a romance of the early part of the eighteenth century. Nancy Penny, a young English maiden, was betrothed to a young man but the father broke the engagement at the last moment. In her mortification and despair the young woman hid aboard a vessel bound for America and while on shipboard met a young man named Peter Andrew Brosard, a Frenchman, whom she married. Their daugh- ter married Barnet Brock, and a daughter of this union married John Carr. It was Elizabeth, daughter of John Carr, that married James T. Boney and bore him ten children, as follows: John C., who crossed the plains in 1850 and died in California the third day after his arrival there; Dolly Ann, deceased; William J., whose name introduces this review ; Elizabeth Jane, who is the wife of W. L. Landram, of Randolph county, Missouri; Gabriel, who was killed in the battle of Helena, Arkan- sas, on July 4, 1863; Susan, the wife of E. S. Morrison, of Randolph county, Missouri ; Catherine Alice, deceased; George W. and Mary, the latter now Mrs. J. R. Campbell, both residents of Randolph county, Missouri; and David Mitchell, who died in 1867.

William J. Boney was reared in Randolph county, Missouri, and took up carpentering there in 1854, following that trade for six years. The second year he spent in North Carolina but he then returned to Randolph county, where he did carpentering until his marriage in 1860, at which time he took up farming, the vocation he has now followed for more than fifty years. He has also been interested in the raising of fine blooded stock and in 1880 became part owner of the first Hereford bull brought into Randolph county. He was a director in the Jacksonville fair fifteen years and was twice president of the fair association. As one of the oldest citizens and pioneer residents of Randolph county he has very appropriately served as president of the Old Settlers' Reunion for the past thirteen years and there is probably no one in this section more familiar with the history that has been made here in the last half or three-quarters of a century than is Mr. Boney. He has always been a firm Democrat, ever desirious for the success of his party, and at. one time served as mayor of Cairo for several years, also as a member of the school board. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order, and in religious faith and church membership he is a Baptist.

Mr. Boney has been twice married. On March 8, 1860, he wedded Emily, daughter of S. R. and Eliza (Darby) Campbell, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. To this union there were born the following children : Walter Green, now a lumber merchant at Cairo, Missouri ; Arthur Terrell, who is engaged in the hardware.business at Cairo; Robert Madison, now located at Merced, California ; and James T., a prominent stockman of Randolph county, who is managing the home farm. Indi- vidual mention of each of these sons except Robert M. will be found on other pages of this volume. The mother of these sons died in 1890 and in March, 1891, Mr. Boney was married to Mrs. Mary Jane Roberts, born Bennett, who was the widow of John S. Roberts. There have been no children by this marriage.

JAMES T. BONEY. The farm and stock interests of Randolph county, Missouri, have a prominent representative in James T. Boney, who is

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well known throughout this section of Missouri as a breeder of fine Here- ford cattle and has been very successful in this line of business. He was born November 11, 1869, and is the youngest son of William J. Boney, one of the highly esteemed pioneers of Randolph county, whose individual sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. William J. Boney is a North Carolinan by birth, while Emily Campbell, his wife and the mother of James T., was born in Missouri. She passed away on May 5, 1890. The father came to Missouri with his parents in 1837 and when he arrived at a responsible age took up carpentering but subsequently became a farmer and has since followed that vocation. Four sons were born to these parents, namely : Walter Green Boney and Arthur Terrell Boney, of Cairo, Missouri ; Robert Madison Boney, now located at Merced, California ; and James T. Boney, the subject of this sketch.

In 1879 the father moved to the farm on which our subject now resides and in 1883 brought the first Hereford stock into Randolph county. James T. later became associated with his father in the breed- ing of this strain of cattle and has since made it a specialty. His stock is all registered, the head of the herd being Bonaparte, a thoroughbred Hereford sire. Mr. Boney is also engaged in general farming.

The marriage of Mr. Boney occurred August 3, 1899, and united him to Margaret Tait, a daughter of Robert and Jean (Gemmell) Tait and for twelve years a successful teacher in Pennsylvania. The father of Mrs. Boney, a Virginian by birth, was an engineer and is now deceased, his death having occurred on November 17, 1909. The mother was born in Scotland and is still living. To these parents were born eleven chil- dren, namely : Margaret, the wife of Mr. Boney; Jennie, now Mrs. J. R. Marshall of Kansas City, Missouri; William, deceased; Daisy, the wife of C. F. Haworth of Parsons, Kansas; James, a resident of Kansas City, Missouri; Herbert, whose twin brother died in infancy; Robert, now of St. Louis, Missouri; Mary, the wife of W. A. Howell, John and Catherine, the wife of E. L. White, all residents of Moberly, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Boney have one son, William Campbell Boney, born July 10, 1900.

Mr. Boney is a Democrat in his political adherency and in church membership is a Baptist, while Mrs. Boney affiliates with the Presbyterian denomination. Both are regarded as citizens of the most worthy char- acter and stand high in the esteem of the community.

FRANK CURRIE is president of the Farmers' Elevator Company of Clarksville and has been identified with the affairs of Pike county since 1869. He is a public-spirited citizen and in politics is a stalwart Repub- lican. He manifests a deep and sincere interest in all matters projected for the good of the general welfare and has served with the utmost effi- ciency on the city council and as mayor of Clarksville.

A native of Wells county, Indiana, Frank Currie was born at Ossian, August 9, 1849. He is a son of John Currie, whose birth occurred in Johnston, Scotland, in 1823, and who came to the United States with his father, John Currie, Sr., in 1835. The grandfather of the subject of this review was a cotton-mill worker in his native land and after his arrival in America he settled in the state of New York, where he passed the residue of his life. He was the father of the following children,- John, James, deceased ; Mrs. Lucy Christian, of Santa Clara, California; Martha, of Ossian, Indiana; and Elizabeth, wife of the postmaster of Richmond, Virginia, during the Civil war period.

John Currie, Jr., married Miss Christine McDonnold, a daughter of James McDonnold, of Irish birth. Mrs. Currie passed away in Nebraska and is buried in the cemetery at Brock, that state. Concerning the chil-

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dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Currie the following brief data are here in- corporated,-Frank is the immediate subject of this review; Mary is the wife of William Livingston, of Neely, Nebraska; Rebecca is the wife of Alexander Kersell, of Santa Clara, California; Etta is Mrs. Cecil Grimes, of Broken Bow, Nebraska; and Thomas Currie is a resident of Ranches- ter, Wyoming.

In 1859 John Currie removed with his family to Barry, Illinois, where he was engaged in the milling business. Subsequently he settled in Mis- souri and assumed charge of the flouring mill at Paynesville, which he operated for several years. Eventually he established his home in Ne- braska, where he died in 1895. He was a Union man during the strife between the states and had strong faith in the ability of the North to preserve the integrity of the nation. During the final months of the war his son Frank bore arms and braved the dangers of battlefields as an item in the great war quota engaged in sustaining the flag and restoring the authority of the United States throughout all the states.

Frank Currie, of this notice, left school, as it were, to become a sol- dier. He enlisted for service in the Union forces at Barry, Illinois, in 1864, as a drummer boy, and was assigned to Campany I, Twenty-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, joining his regiment at Natchez, Mississippi. He witnessed the assault on Fort Pillow during his trip down the Mis- sissippi river and his command joined General Canby in the latter's cam- paign for the subjugation of the Confederates about Mobile. Under Gen. A. J. Smith his regiment was sent against the fortified and almost impregnable position of the Confederates at Spanish Fort. During the ensuing conflict Mr. Currie was an orderly serving under Col. Richard Ritter, then commanding a brigade. In the midst of the hail of bullets, the bursting of shell and shrapnel and in the presence of death Mr. Currie crawled over the shot-riddled log barricade of the rebels and de- livered his orders without other evidence of his proximity to the work of the enemy than that offered by the smear of pine resin over his uni- form, which he received while sliding over the perforated logs during the siege. Subsequently at the short siege of Fort Blakely, which followed the surrender of Fort Spanish, he did a similar service for his regiment. When the war ended he was selected by Col. Richard Ritter to accompany the detail from the army sent to Mexico to watch developments along the Rio Grande while the Mexicans were deposing Maximilian and re- suming home control of their national affairs. During the trip to Mexico the entire comand came near being lost in a storm while crossing the Gulf of Mexico. In order to save human life the four hundred and fifty mules aboard the ship had to be cast into the sea. On reaching their destination the troops were stationed at Brownsville and Mr. Currie was orderly for the commander and had little to do save to watch the military operations of the Mexicans as they assaulted the fortifications about Matamoras in an effort to dislodge the Austrians supporting the European usurper. When it was ascertained that Maximilian's doom was sealed the Federal troops returned to the United States and were mustered out of service in Springfield, Missouri, in May, 1866.

Immediately after his discharge from the army Mr. Currie returned to Barry, Illinois, where he resided for two years, at the expiration of which he went to Martinsburg, where he secured employment in a mill. Later he joined his father at Paynesville, Missouri, and there aided the latter as a miller for about one year. He then went to Topeka, Kansas, and for the next three years traveled through Kansas, Colorado and Texas. Returning to Paynesville in 1868 he there resumed the milling business as a partner in the firm of Currie & Idle. He subsequently pur- chased his partner's share and conducted the plant alone till 1880, when

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he disposed of it to P. A. Grimes. In 1880 he located at Winfield, Mis- souri, where he built a mill and elevator, which he operated until 1884. In the latter year he came to Clarksville, which place has since repre- sented his home, and for the next ten years he bought grain for the Imperial Mill Company. He then joined local capital and formed the Farmers' Elevator Company, which enterprising concern erected the Clarksville elevator. The success of this venture became early apparent and the single plant yielded to a small system of elevators along the Burlington railroad, namely,-those at Kissinger, Anada and Damron. The company is capitalized with a stock of $8,000 and is officcred as follows,-Frank Currie, president; Edgar McDonald, vice-president; and Henry Wells, secretary.

In Paynesville, in 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Currie to Miss Alice Wells, who died in Winfield, Missouri, in 1884, without issue. June 4, 1902, he married Miss Mayme Warren, of Higginsville, Missouri. Mrs. Currie is a daughter of John and Emma (Watson) Warren, formerly of Higginsville, and she is a sister of Lewis Warren, of Santa Barbara, California. Mr. and Mrs. Currie have three children, -Frances and Mary and Martha, the latter of whom are twins. As previously noted, Mr. Currie is a Republican in politics. In religious matters his wife is a devout member of the Christian church and both Mr. and Mrs. Currie are popular in connection with the best social affairs of their home community.

JAMES H. KISSINGER is one of the leading implement dealers in Pike county. Missouri, and he has been connected with mercantile affairs in Clarksville since 1892. He is distinguished for his pioneer ancestry, his father having immigrated to Pike county over eighty years ago. Mr. Kissinger was born five miles southeast of Clarksville, the date of his nativity being the 29th of March, 1840. He is a son of Hendley Kissin- ger, who established his family among the hardy pathfinders in Missouri as early as 1830. The family came hither from the Crab Orchard region of Lincoln county, Kentucky, where the father was born June 15, 1795. He was a pioneer farmer in this state and in the month of February, 1874, he passed away upon the farm he had helped to subdue almost within sight of the placid waters of the Mississippi.

John Kissinger, paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, came out of the Keystone State into that romantic Kentucky retreat known as the Crab Orchard region. His ancestors were of the German strain and when or where they first found foothold in Pennsylvania is not definitely known. John Kissinger's wife was a Miss Middleton and they became the parents of the following children : Nancy married Lewis Hutchinson and became the mother of seventeen children: she died in Kentucky; Martha married John Bryant and died in the vicinity of Weston, Missouri ; Catherine was Mrs. Edmund Bryant at the time of her demise which occurred near Ashley, Missouri; Margaret married James Buford and they both died near New London, Missouri, without issue; and Hendley married Catherine B., a daughter of Henry Middleton, whose wife was Governor Ousley's sister. Mrs. Kissinger was born in 1799 and died in 1871. This union was prolific of three children, namely. -Nancy, who married W. A. Forgey, died in Pike county, Missouri, at the age of eighty years and had thirteen children; Johu died in 1852 without issue, and James H. is the immediate subject of this review.

The compendium of manhood in Hendley Kissinger embraced a per- sonality noted for its strong Christian and civic virtues, with but little mental fortification from books but with good business acumen that resulted in his becoming one of the most successful stockmen and agri-

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culturists of his time. His position as a man of God led him into chan- nels of intense activity as a promoter of all things religious, humane and charitable. He was a charter member of the Christian church of Clarksville, organized in 1851. He was made an elder and remained such until he united with the Salem church in 1870. He was a charter member of the Salem church, which was built at the corner of his farm. If the staunch members of a church can be termed its pillars this worthy father and conspicuous example of Christian citizenship constituted one of its chief foundation stones. He was originally a Whig in his polit- ical affiliations and later allied himself with the Republican party. In every sense of the word he was a fine, Christian gentleman, one whose word was as good as his bond and one who commanded the unqualified confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact.

James H. Kissinger came to maturity with only a country school education. He was engaged in farming as the head of a family some time before he reached his majority and during the period of the Civil war he was enrolled as first lieutenant of Company A, Third Regiment Missouri State Militia, under the command of Colonel Stuart. This organization rendered but little more than a home guard service and it was only called into the field to repel threatened invasion and to sup- press bands of bushwhackers and other enemies of the public peace.

In 1866 Mr. Kissinger engaged in the blooded stock business on Lin- wood Farm. He handled and bred Shorthorn cattle, Southdown and Shropshire sheep and Berkshire hogs, and Clydesdale horses. In 1884, when the condition of the stock market became so unsatisfactory as to force him to abandon his stock-raising projects, he saved his farm and confined himself later on to the stock business as a dealer and feeder. During the years of his ascendancy he built up one of the famed breed- ing farms in the United States. He starred his three lines of entries in the exhibit pens at state fairs in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and at local stock shows, winning many thousands of dollars in prizes. In 1875 his herd did not lose a single prize. In connection with the noted J. H. Pickrell he imported from Europe twenty thousand dollars worth of new sires and dams for his herds and the sudden and fatal slumping of the market for fine stock alone put an end to an enterprise that had made history for nearly twenty years.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 20

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