A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 50

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

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Mrs. Martha Pritchett was born in Pike county in July, 1830. She has led a life of exceeding industry and was the faithful companion of her husband for many years. She has had the good fortune to retain that condition of health and spirits which permitted her to ever respond to the call of duty, and on her eightieth birthday she prepared dinner for seven harvest hands, besides performing the regular routine of her home work. She united in early life with the church, and it was she who gave the religious training to the large family of sons and daughters who went from her home with the passing years. The children born to her and her husband were: Charles E. and Orion R., both prominent citizens of Frankford, the latter being the mayor of the town; Mary became the wife of W. E. Allison of Kirksville, Missouri ; Sallie Ollie died at Colum- bia, Missouri, as the wife of W. J. Hetzler ; Laura died in childhood ; John William passed away in 1901; Leo and Ole were twin brothers; the former is a resident of Frankford and the latter died in childhood; Claude P. of this review and Myrtle, who married H. L. Caverly of Frankford.

Claude P. Pritchett attended the country schools from the age of seven to eighteen years, after which he took collegiate course, two years, in the high school of Frankford. Having decided upon mechanics as his sphere he began his trade with the Gardner Governor Works at Quincy, Illinois. While pursuing his course of instruction he applied himself to a task involving originality of a high order, during vacations, evenings and other off-duty opportunities. His co-apprentices gave their evenings and rest-time to cards or other amusements and ridiculed him for his folly in bending over the table or the bench in the working out of his own ideas. They called him "country" and "farmer" and other names meant to carry a sting with them in their attempts to dissuade him from his occu- pation, but he persisted in whittling or drilling or boring or turning with the lathe until he laid before them a model steam engine of one-half horse power, unlike anything in the shop. He was discovered one day working at his invention by Mr. Gardner, who inquired what he was working on. Although he feared a reprimand he told his employer that he was developing his own idea in the use of steam, and instead of the "scold" he expected he was encouraged to continue his efforts, and assured the young inventor-in-embryo that he would encourage any of his apprentices and render them every assistance in their efforts to bring to light something new in the mechanical world. The toy engine Mr. Pritchett made was brought home with him and was put to work run- ning a lathe, and it occupies a place in his industrial establishment today. He made a second engine, complete, and the two, together with the model in wood, carry one back to his "shop" days at Quincy and stimulate inquiry as to the results of his later life. When he came back to Frank- ford he built a sort of pole shack for his first workshop and the repair work that came to him the first year encouraged him to enlarge his plant. He added more machinery until his machine shop was fitted to do every- thing required of him; he added a blacksmith shop; put in a saw- mill and adjoining it he installed a planing-mill. He equipped his plants with a water system by planting an old boiler to the water depth, for a well, which gives a constant supply. He devised a steam "jack" for turning his logs on the carriage and a steam device for dragging the logs to the carriage, one man being able to do the work alone. He uses a traction engine for power in cutting lumber and utilizes its power in summer for threshing grain, a business he has followed for more than twenty-five years. In the machine shop he installed a motor in a buggy and made the first auto that ever ran about Frankford. Discovering

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that this was not to be the successful auto he made a new engine com- plete, save for the tires, and thus again demonstrated his prowess as a mechanic. Thus interested in automobiles he became a dealer and this department. of his many sided enterprise has brought him substantial returns. Although he has mastered the mechanism of the machines, he has installed his oldest son as demonstrator and salesman, and the com- bination of father and son, each in his own role, has produced a business without friction. The conditions at the plant of Mr. Pritchett, as indi- cated herein, reveal his situation now in contrast with it when he returned to Frankford with his engine and an acquired trade. It suggests the possibilities open to a boy whose energies have been applied to the accomplishment of a certain end, and it is a lesson worthy of emula- tion on the part of the present day youth and the youth of generations yet unborn.

Mr. Pritchett married in Frankford on April 1, 1894, Miss Daisy Campbell a daughter of William Campbell and a granddaughter of George Campbell, pioneer citizen of this locality, originally from Ken- tucky. She is a relative of the noted reformer and preacher, Alexander Campbell, and her mother was Miss Bina Stark. Mr. and Mrs. Pritchett are the parents of four children: Dale, who is seventeen years old, is his father's chief assistant; Alva is the only daughter, and Frank and Ole are the younger members of the household.

The family are members of the Christian church, and Mr. Pritchett is an active worker in the Sunday school of that church. He is a Democrat, an alderman of Frankford, and mayor pro tem of the city.

ENOS F. HOSTETTER. One of the senior residents of Frankford, whose memories include the evolution of present civilization from the primitive conditions of pioneer days in Missouri, is Enos F. Hostetter, formerly farmer and merchant, now retired, making his home in Frank- ford, Pike county. Of Mr. Hostetter's grandfather, Isaac Hostetter, a detailed account is given elsewhere in this work. When that pioneer of more than a century ago was making the journey from Kentucky to Pike county, he and his wife made a brief stay in St. Charles county. Here it was, in 1810, that Enoch Hostetter, who lived to become the father of Enos Hostetter, was born. Amid farming scenes in the new country, Enoch Hostetter spent his childhood and youth. He was a sol- dier in the Black Hawk war, for which service he was made a pensioner of the government. His residence in Frankford began before the Civil war and here it was that he spent the rest of his life. He was a quiet, normal citizen, remarkable for little except his lack of bad habits, for he never used either tobacco or strong drink. He was a Democrat in politics and was a stanch member of the Baptist church. Mrs. Enoch Hostetter, the mother of our subject, was a member of the Floyd family of Lewis county, two of her sisters being Mrs. Jo Little. of that locality and Mrs. Jackson. The marriage of Sarah Floyd and Enoch Hostetter occurred in the thirties and their children were as follows: William H. now a farmer near Frankford; Isaac N., who died here in 1912; John T., of Los Angeles, California; Eliza J., who became Mrs. J. J. Nichols, and who resides on the farm which was her childhood home; Harriet, who is Mrs. John T. Burroughs and lives in Nevada, Missouri ; Enos F., the facts of whose life are given below; and Elizabeth, Mrs. Daniel Thornton, who died in Pike county, Missouri. The mother of this family died in 1852, after which Mr. Hostetter took another mate. The second wife was Lucinda Benn, who had been the widow of Mason Benn.

The date of Enos F. Hostetter's birth was November 6, 1845, his birthplace being a farm near Frankford. This locality, Peno township,

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was his childhood playground and his school facilities began with the historic log cabin school house of the community. He clearly remembers its latch door, its window opening of an omitted log, the slab benches that were too high to permit the little feet of children to reach the floor, and the short terms of often but three months of the year. Before Enos Hostetter had passed beyond school age, however, crude desks had sup- planted the primitive bench and slanted shelf. He thus witnessed by degrees the departure of the old and the coming of the new.

When Enos Hostetter took his place among men, it was as a represen- tative of the agricultural vocation. In this occupation he continued until a serious accident to himself forced him to retire from manual labor to work of a more sedentary nature. In the year 1868, when he was returning on a cold day from a trip to Louisiana, Missouri, with two acquaintances, he alighted from the wagon in which they were riding in order to obtain some warmth from the exercise of walking. As he did so, the jarring of a loaded gun in the bottom of the wagon caused the weapon to discharge its load of bird shot, striking Mr. Hostetter in the right side. The wound thus inflicted threatened his life, disabled him for several months and resulted in his seeking lighter employment.

Upon recovering from his injury, Mr. Hostetter engaged in mer- chandise in Frankford, as a member of the firm of Thompson, Hostetter & Company. When after several months this firm sold out and was dissolved, he entered the employ of Lowry and Turnbull as a clerk, re- maining with them in this capacity for about fifteen years. At the end of that time he accepted a position in the employ of G. L. Praul & Company, continuing for five years. He then went into business once more, this time as a member of the firm of Hostetter & Donovan. After seven years of mercantile activity, this partnership was discontinued and that of Hostetter & Brown was launched. This firm existed until about the time of Mr. Brown's election to the office of county recorder. At that time Mr. Brown sold his business interests to Mr. Gentle. This firm continued about eighteen months when they sold the store in July, 1912, and Mr. Hostetter retired from active business.

The Democratic party holds the fealty of Mr. Hostetter, as it claimed that of his father. His adherence to its principles, however, is evidenced chiefly by his casting of his ballot. Of societies only the church is of sufficient interest to him to include him in membership. The Christian denomination is the religious choice of Enos Hostetter and to it he gives his support and his service.

The marriage of Mr. Hostetter was solemnized February 28, 1882, when Miss Florence Magnuss became his wife. She represents a former Baltimore family, her father being Alexander Magnuss and her mother Olive Sanders Magnuss. Her brothers and sisters include Benjamin F. Magnuss ; Ella, who is Mrs. I. D. Elsea ; James, who married Bertha Steele and who is now deceased; Maud married J. W. Gentle of Frankford, Missouri ; William, whose wife was a Miss Hubert; Lola, who became Mrs. G. W. Blackwell ; and Lee and Glenn Magnuss, who reside in Kansas City, Missouri. Florence Magnuss Hostetter was the second child and oldest daughter of her parents.

Into the Frankford home of Enos and Florence Hostetter one daugh- ter was born, who was named Mabel. She is the wife of Raymond B. Parker, of Hannibal, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Parker are the parents of one daughter, Mildred, the only grandchild of Enos Hostetter and his estimable wife.

GREEN G. THOMPSON, a substantial and prosperous farmer of Frank- ford, is a representative of one of the oldest families of Ralls county, and

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was born three miles from the city in which he now makes his home, his birth occurring in February, 1846. His father, Gilbert J. Thompson, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1811, and came to Missouri as a youth with his father and others of the family in 1826. They be- came settlers of Ralls county, locating permanently on Peno creek, where the senior Thompson, the first Gilbert of the name, gave up the remainder of his life to farming activities. The farm responded bounti- fully to the industrious efforts of this new family and remained its abiding place during the lives of its pioneer founders.

The grandfather of the subject, who was Gilbert Thompson, died when he was about seventy years of age. He married Jane Shannon in . Kentucky, and they were the parents of nine children, five sons and four daughters. The sons were John, Jarvis, William, Gilbert J. and Harvey. The daughters were Betsey, who married John R. James; Nancy, the wife of William Penix; Sarah became the wife of James Alford, and Susan, who married Jerry Douglass.

Gilbert J. Thompson was given a primitive education in the country schools of his home place which in his early day were nothing to boast of. He followed in the footsteps of his worthy father and became an extensive farmer. He was deeply interested in live stock raising and mules, horses, sheep and hogs were produced in large numbers on his place. He was a Democrat, but not a politician. In matters of church relationship he held membership in the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was for years an elder in that body. He favored the cause of the South in the times of stress and storm incidental to the war period, as might be ex- pected of one of his Kentucky ancestry and birth, but he refrained from giving actual aid to the cause. He married Mary S. Tapley, a daughter of Green Tapley, who was a Virginia settler of Missouri and one of the leading men of Ralls county. Mrs. Thompson died in 1875, the mother of eight children, as follows: John H., who died in Vandalia without issue ; Hannah J., who married John J. Hutchinson, and passed away in this community; William J. of Vandalia, Missouri; Joseph H. of California; Lee Anna became the second wife of John T. Hutchinson, and lives in Fulton, Missouri; Virginia married J. C. Donovan and died at Frankford; James P., engaged in the livery business in Frank- ford, and Green G., of this review. The father died in 1885.

Green G. Thompson came to mature years in the country village near Frankford. He attended the schools there, then finishing with a course of study in Van Renssalaer College nearby. In 1868 he fol- lowed his natural inclination and carried out the desire he had cher- ished for years to see some of the country beyond that in which he had been reared, and he accordingly made the water trip to California. landing on the Pacific Coast April 20, 1868, and crossing eastward to Nevada. There, at Virginia City, he secured employment as a station- ary engineer in a mine. He remained in the West until the Union Pacific Railroad was completed and returned home by that route, being among the first patrons of the line in the year 1870. For a brief time prior to his trip to the West Mr. Thompson had been em- ployed in the engine room of the flour and woolen mills in Frankford. where he gained the knowledge which proved so useful to him in loeat- ing a position in the western country. Returning to the old home, he resumed farming and has continued it with success since that time, save for a period of four years when he was a member of the mercantile firm of Thompson & Donovan in Frankford. He cultivated a large portion of the two fine farms that are accredited to him on the tax rolls. and has always enjoyed prosperity and comfort in his rural life. In recent years he became a resident of Frankford, where he has en-

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joyed the advantages of more advanced schools and proper church influ- ences for his growing family. In a political way, Mr. Thompson ad- heres to the faith of the Democratic party, which is the dominant influ- ence in Pike county, and for many years he was a conspicuous figure in Pike county politics, and was on various occasions a delegate of his party to state and other Democratic conventions. When Grover Cleve- land was nominated for the presidency at St. Louis, Governor Francis remembered Mr. Thompson with a ticket of admission to the conven- tion, and there he witnessed the workings of one of the greatest political conventions ever assembled.

On September 4, 1873, Mr. Thompson was first married. Miss Susan J. Douglass, a daughter of Jerry Douglass, became his wife on that day, and she passed away on December 24, 1882, leaving her husband and an adopted daughter, who was reared to years of womanhood but passed away in 1910. His second marriage was consummated in 1889, Miss Lillian Carstarphine, daughter of John Carstarphine becoming his wife. John Carstarphine was at that time a farmer, but was originally a native of Kentucky, and had been; previous to his settling in Missouri, a Colorado miner. He married Miss Julia Owen and their two chil- dren were Lillian and Owen. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have a son and. daughter,-Jefferson C. and Frances M. Thompson.

Mr. Thompson and family hold membership in the Presbyterian church, in which he is especially active, being a ruling elder of the Frankford body of that church, and prominent in the Sunday school work as an able and efficient teacher. The family is one which has ever enjoyed the highest esteem and confidence of the farming community where they spent the earlier years of their life and of the city of Frank- ford, where they have passed their more recent years, and where Mr. Thompson is regarded as one of the valuable and representative citi- zens of the town.

HON. MICHAEL JACKSON JONES. Among the prominent and popular men of Pike county who have won distinction in various callings, none comes more vividly before the public mind than does Hon. Michael Jack- son Jones. . As a farmer, as financier and as statesman, he has been equally successful, and his name will live in the annals of Missouri history as one of its makers. Born near Frankford, on January 28, 1839, he was reared on the farm his father settled in 1820. Numerous representatives of this fine old family have played an honorable part in the industrial and political history of Pike county for almost a hundred years, and as its chief figure today, "Jack" Jones ably maintains the dignity and the substantial record of this pioneer family.

William Jones, the father of the subject, was a man of about thirty when he departed from his Virginia home on horseback, his goal being the state of Missouri. He was born in the Old Dominion in December, 1791, and came to his majority without any advantages beyond those of a common schooling. He was reared on a farm and inured to the cus- toms of slave times, and in after years he became an owner of slaves him- self. He crossed the Mississippi river at St. Louis, and located two miles northeast of Frankford. His choice proved a happy one and this locality was ever afterward his home, and the farm he brought under subjection there is now the property of his son "Jack." One of the old darkies who was once the property of the family, Rufus Blackwell by name, still lives in the community at a patriarchal age, and among his race is considered the "man of wealth" in Pike county.

William Jones made his success as a farmer in raising grains and stock. The prosperity he ever enjoyed in his vocation placed him among

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' the independent men of his day, and when he passed away he left a modest estate as witness of the industry and success of his life. He came to Missouri as a Whig, having been reared under that political influence among the followers of Adams, Hamilton and other great Whigs of the Revolutionary period, but with the issues of the Rebellion his policy changed and he became a Democrat. In his makeup as a man and in his relation to his fellows as a citizen, William Jones was strikingly well equipped. He possessed a strong moral bent without owning alle- giance to any sect or church, and he ever demonstrated a fine sense of justice and fairness in his dealing with his fellow men, feeling keenly the purport of his obligation. He was humane in dealing with his sub- jects and manifested all the finer sentiments toward his family and friends. He knew no fraternity other than what justice and humanity prompted, and when he died on February 19, 1875, the community lost a useful citizen, in whom it had long been wont to place its trust and confidence.

Just who was the head of this immediate family in Virginia is some- what obscured by incomplete records, but whoever he was, four of his sons established homes for themselves in Pike county and left families there at their deaths. Dabney, Harrison and Michael were the three brothers of William Jones whose presence was felt among the Virginia pioneers of Pike county.

William Jones married Charlotte Cleaver, a daughter of General Stephen Cleaver who settled in Pike county as a pioneer from Kentucky, where he was born and where he married and passed a few years of his active life. The general became an Indian fighter in his native state as a result of his antipathy for the "red man of the forest," which he acquired as the outcome of his early experiences with them. As a youth in his home state he was shot through the knee, made a captive by Indians,. and forced to live among the tribe for some four years. He escaped and was made commander of the troops that were sent against them by the state, and gave distinct aid in subjugating the band. When he moved to Missouri the General settled three miles northeast of Frankford and finished his life as a farmer. He died in about 1840 and of his children, William and Henry moved to Arkansas; Thomas passed away in Monroe City, Missouri; Mrs. John Cobb died in Waco, Texas, and Mrs. Char- lotte Jones died in Pike county, on April 2, 1881.

The issue of William and Charlotte (Cleaver) Jones were the fol- lowing children : Stephen, Henry and William, Jr., passed away in early manhood, William, Jr., leaving one son, Stephen William; M. J., of this review ; and Margaret, who became the wife of Edward Hesser and died in Louisiana, Missouri, leaving two sons.

Michael Jackson Jones was educated in the public schools and in Van Renssalaer Academy in Ralls county. He was engaged in farming on the parental homestead when the Civil war broke out, and he immedi- ately enlisted, adopting the cause of the Confederacy as his own. Dur- ing his two years of service he was with the First and Fourth Missouri Infantry in General Cockrell's Brigade. He took part in the fight at Lexington, was a unit of General Price's army in the battle of Elkhorn, or Pea Ridge, and went with the command to Memphis following that engagement to reinforce the Confederates in the East. He took part in the battles at Corinth and Iuka and participated in the manoeuvering in the defense of Vicksburg to Grand Gulf and was shot through the lung in the engagement at Champion Hill, or Baker's Creek. The minie ball which thus ended his service is still imbedded in his back and it made him an invalid and unfit for any duty throughout the remainder of the war. With the restoration of peace in the country, Mr. Jones resumed

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his farming amid the scenes of his boyhood and has continued it since · then. His success in this field of endeavor has been even more pro- nounced than was that of his father, and his extensive farming and stock raising interests have known him only as manager for some years. He has been president of the local bank for twenty years, that organiza- tion being known as the Frankford Exchange Bank, and is closing a prominent political career with two terms in the Missouri house of representatives. For many years Mr. Jones has participated warmly in the political parleys of the Democratic party in Pike county. He has known the Missouri leaders of the party almost since the war period. He has sat in state conventions with them and has counselled with candi- dates and managers in contested campaigns with the political enemy since his disabilities in the field of politics were removed. In 1908 he was first elected to the legislature and took part in the Forty-fifth gen- . eral assembly. He was returned to that body in 1910 and held the chair- manship of the committee on game and fish, and served on the committees of election, roads and highways, banks and banking and printing.

Among the acts with which his name is prominently associated are the bill to encourage permanent road building by permitting the citizens along the proposed road to pay one-fourth of the expense, the county one- fourth and the state one-half, which bill became a law and has already demonstrated its efficiency as a builder of gravel roads. He secured the passage through the house of a bill pensioning all disabled Confederate soldiers, but the confusion in the senate resulting from the loss of the capitol prevented it from becoming a law. He got 99 out of 109 votes. But the bill which does Mr. Jones the greatest honor, however, is his memorial to the soldiery of Missouri. He secured in this connection the passage of a law directing the state to erect a monument to the Confed- erate. and Federal soldiery of the Commonwealth in commemoration of their deeds at Vicksburg. The contract was let and the monument is to be completed about July, 1913. He was made a member of the joint com- mittee to select a site for the monument, which duty was performed in 1912, and the location selected was on Confederate avenue, upon the battleground, between the lines of the two opposing armies and where the most of the Missouri troops were engaged. Thus has the life of Mr. Jones as the representative of the people been one of the greatest activity, along lines which best express the will of the people, as well as his own high sense of right and justice.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 50

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