A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 59

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

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Dr. Jones resigned his professorship in 1896 to become the president of the Orphans' School of the Christian Churches of Missouri, at Fulton. The name of the school was afterwards changed to Daughters College, and later to its present name, William Woods, in honor of Dr. W. S. Woods and his noble wife, who have been its largest benefactors.

When Dr. Jones entered upon his duties in 1896 he found one build- ing with accommodations for one hundred boarders, and a debt of $30,000. His first work was to remove the debt, which under the circumstances that existed seemed a well nigh hopeless task. He was advised by many to leave the school to its fate, but instead he redoubled his efforts. Within six or eight years the debt was canceled, the stoves and lamps of former years were replaced by steam and electric lights; a music hall added ; a steam laundry built and equipped ; E. L. Edwards dormitory with accom- modations for fifty boarders built; and many other improvements made. In 1907 was completed the D. M. Dulany Memorial Auditorium, per- haps the handsomest school auditorium in the state, the widow of Mr. Dulany giving the first $7,500 for the building with the understanding that the balance would be raised. The same year saw the campus almost doubled in size by the purchase of six acres of land. In all this work Dr. Jones displayed the greatest business acumen, handling the affairs of the institution with foresight, shrewdness and capability. Excep- tional as his career was, and as prominent as was his position, he was a singularly unostentatious worker. He had the simplicity and guile- lessness of a child with an independence and heroism begotten of a sublime faith in God, a clear conscience, and an overmastering passion for service to his fellow men. No fitter text could be chosen as an appre- ciation of his life work than "Well done, good and faithful servant." Dr. Jones was strikingly constructive in his thinking and acting and was planning still greater enlargement of the school which had become to him as well beloved as one of his own children, when death claimed him. He had planned an Academic Hall, and had visited other schools to get the best plans. That the great work accomplished by him is fully appreciated, is shown by the following resolutions, adopted by the William Woods College Alumnae, May 29, 1912, when $5,000 was raised the first day :

"Whereas, We, the Alumnae Association of William Woods College, realizing the great loss we have sustained in the death of our beloved President, J. B. Jones, and wishing to perpetuate his memory ;

"Be it Resolved, That We, as an Association, try to raise $40,000 to build an Academic Building, also a Gymnasium; this to be dedicated in the year Nineteen Hundred Fifteen, on our Twenty-fifth Anniver- sary, as 'The J. B. Jones Memorial.'

"Be it Further Resolved, That we take as our Motto the beautiful words from our college song written by President Jones,

"For thee, O William Woods, we stand,

To thee we pledge our faith and love."

Dr. Jones' first wife died at Fulton in 1902. She had entered most heartily with him in all his life's work and had been a true helpmeet in every undertaking. In 1904 he was married to Miss Carrie D. Anderson of Louisa county, Virginia. She had been for a number of years a teacher of English, holding positions in some of the leading educational institutions of her own and other states, and was just prior to her marriage principal of the girls' department in Miller Manual Labor School of Albemarle county, Virginia, a somewhat unique and handsomely endowed school. Her experience and training eminently fitted her for the work she assumed in William Woods College. She taught Bible literature for one year after her marriage, but her time and

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her best efforts were given to aiding her husband in the administrative work of the college; and after his death she became acting president, in which capacity she ably officiated from November, 1911, to June, 1912, and is retained by the management as a valued assistant in the affairs of the institution.

HENRY S. HOUF. Numbered among the large land holders and rep- resentative agriculturists and stock growers of Callaway county, Mr. Houf holds high vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of the people of his native county and has accounted well to himself and the world in all the relations of life. He is a scion of one of the old and honored families of this section of the state, is a man of fine intellectu .. ality and business acumen, and has been influential in the promotion of industrial and civic enterprises that have tended to conserve progress and prosperity. His fine country home is situated two and one half miles south of the village of Hatton and his farm comprises five hundred and sixty acres of excellent land. He is also vice-president of the Farmers' Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance Company of Callaway county and is a citizen whose prominence specially entitles him to recognition in this publication.

Peter and Mary Eve (Summers) Houf, paternal grandparents of him whose name initiates this review, came from Staunton, a beautiful little mountain town in Augusta county, Virginia, to Callaway county, Missouri, in 1823, and they numbered themselves among the sterling pioneers of McCredie township as now constituted. The grandfather entered a tract of government land about two miles south of the present village of McCredie, and there he reclaimed a farm from the wilderness. He was a wheelwright by trade and as such found much requisition for his services in addition to supervising the work of his farm. He owned about three hundred acres of land and continued to reside on his home- stead until his death, about the year 1853, his wife surviving him by several years. Their home was known for its hospitality and there enter- tainment was accorded to the itinerant pioneer clergymen, who frequently preached to the settlers who gathered there. Both Peter Houf and his wife were most devout members of the Methodist church and they lived "godly, righteous and sober lives," doing well their part as workers for the development of the county in which they thus early established their home. Of their fourteen children ten lived to rear families of their own, and many representatives of the name are still to be found in this section of the state.

Jacob Houf, father of Henry S. of this sketch, was born at Staunton, Virginia, in 1822, and thus he was an infant at the time of the family removal to the wilds of Missouri. He was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer epoch and eventually became one of the pros- perous farmers and stock growers of Callaway county. He succeeded to the ownership of his father's homestead farm and there continued to re- side until his death in November, 1908, his estate at the time of his de- mise having comprised about three hundred and twenty acres. He was a man of most gentle and gracious personality, sincere and steadfast in all things, and of him it may consistently be said that he never made an enemy. Both he and his wife were held in affectionate regard by all who came within the sphere of their influence and both were devoted mem- bers of the Baptist church, in which he served as deacon for many years prior to and up to the time of his death. His political support was given to the Democratic party but he never had aught of desire for public office.

As a young man Jacob Houf was united in marriage to Miss Eliza

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Stults, who proved a faithful and devoted companion and helpmeet and a gracious mother of his children. She was born in Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, in 1827, and was a daughter of David Stults, who died in that state, his widow later becoming the wife of William Hardin. Mrs. Houf was thirteen years of age when she came with her mother and stepfather to Missouri, and the family settled in Callaway county where she was reared to maturity and where her marriage was solemnized. She was summoned to the life eternal in November, 1911, and her memory is revered by all who knew her. The maiden name of her mother was Mary Simcoe. Jacob and Eliza (Stults) Houf became the parents of seven children of whom the eldest is Henry S., to whom this sketch is dedicated ; Mary E. is the wife of Thomas J. Fisher, who lives five miles north of Fulton, Missouri, Callaway county ; Harriet died in infancy ; John W. is a resident of Callaway county, Missouri, and lives on a Missouri river bot- tom farm; Laura is the wife of T. Duggin Smith, and they reside in Jackson township, Callaway county, Missouri; James B. is in McCredie township and resides on the old homestead ; and Jacob O. is in McCredie township and owns eighty acres of the old home.

Henry Stults Houf was born on the homestead farm mentioned above and the date of his nativity was January 20, 1849. He early learned the lessons of practical industry and his preliminary educational discipline was obtained in the common schools. Thereafter he attended West- minster College at Fulton for one year, and finally he completed a four years' course in the Holbrook Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, in which institution he was graduated. Thereafter he devoted ten years to the pedagogic profession in which he was specially successful and popular, and during one year of this period he was a member of the faculty of Hardin College, at Mexico, Missouri.

In 1879 Mr. Houf established his home on a farm five miles north of Fulton adjoining the old homestead of his father, and there he continued to be engaged in stock growing and agricultural pursuits until 1909, when he sold the property and purchased a small farm near the city of Fulton, Missouri. In 1911 he exchanged the small farm for his present well im- proved farm of five hundred and sixty acres situated in Liberty town- ship about two and one-half miles south of Hatton. He has given his at- tention principally to the live-stock business in which he has bought, fed and sold cattle and mules upon a somewhat extensive scale and through his industry and good management he has gained success well worthy of the name. His career has been one of close and worthy application to business and he has stood at all times exponent of loyal and broad-minded citizenship. He is vice-president of the Farmers' Mutual Fire & Light- ning Insurance Company of Calloway County, which controls a large and prosperous business throughout Callaway county, having at present four and one-fourth millions of farm property insured. He is stanch in his allegiance to the Democratic party, but has not been a holder of public office. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of the (Modern) Maccabees, and both he and his wife are devout and zealous members of the Baptist church at Rising Sun, Calla- way county, Missouri, in which he has served most acceptably as deacon. He has also been for many years treasurer of the Little Bonne Femme As- sociation consisting of forty churches combined together for the spread of the gospel in Callaway, Boone and part of Montgomery county, all in Missouri. Mr. Houf has continued to take a deep interest in educational affairs and that he is appreciative of the value of proper intellectual train- ing is evidenced by the fact that six of his eight children have been graduated in college.

On the 7th of July, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Houf

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to Miss Louisa J. Bishop, who was born in St. Johnsville, New York, on the 16th of May, 1852, and who is a daughter of John and Eliza (Groo- cock) Bishop, who immigrated to America from Leicestershire, England, where all of their children were born with the exception of Mrs. Houf, the parents having passed the closing years of their lives at the home of H. S. Houf in Callaway county, Missouri. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Houf.

Harry W., who was graduated in the medical department of the Uni- versity of Missouri, is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Las Vegas, New Mexico; Herbert B. remains with his parents on the home farm and is associated in its work and management; Harriet E. is the wife of Rev. C. L. Bullard, who is pastor of the four churches in Boone county, Missouri; Homer J., who wedded Miss Hayden Houchins, resides on a farm near that of his father; Harold S., who was graduated in Westminster College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and who has been a successful teacher, is at the present time at the parental home; Henrietta L. is the wife of J. Lon Dunn, of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work; Horace, who likewise was graduated in Westminster College, is a clergyman of the Baptist church and holds a pastoral charge at Wilmington, Delaware; and Helena is a successful and popular teacher of painting and vocal music in the public schools of Fulton.

GARLAND CARR BROADHEAD. Columbia, Missouri, has rarely been called upon to mourn the loss of a distinguished citizen whose death cost not only the city and the state, but the country at large, so irreparably, as did that of the Hon. Garland Carr Broadhead, eminent American geologist and savant, which occurred December 15, 1912. Mr. Broad- head's achievements in the field of science gained him nation-wide prom- inence and throughout his career he was the recipient of official honors that brought him into every-day contact with the leading men of his time. Garland Carr Broadhead was born October 30, 1827, in Albermarle county, Virginia, and came of an old and illustrious American family. His paternal grandfather, John Broadhead, was born in Yorkshire, Eng- land, from whence he came to this country in 1776, and served under General Burgoyne. At the close of the War of the Revolution he settled in Virginia, and there was married and had three sons: William, who moved to Kentucky; Thomas, who remained in Virginia; and Achilles, who became the father of Garland C. Broadhead. Achilles Broadhead was a farmer in Albemarle county, Virginia, until 1836, in which year he moved to St. Charles county, Missouri, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was well known in both localities, and served in the ca- pacity of justice of the peace both in Virginia and Missouri. He was married in November, 1817, to Mary Winston Carr, who was a descend- ant of Sir Thomas Carr, of Topping Castle, King and Queen, afterwards King William and Caroline county, Virginia. Sir Thomas Carr married a Miss Garland in England, and they had three children: John, Robert and Major Thomas. The latter, of Bearcastle, Louisa county, Virginia, married Mary Dabney and they had one son, John. This John Carr married (first) Mary Garland, and had one son, and married (second) Barbara Overton, and had six children, namely, Mary, Dabney, Samuel, Overton, Garland and Elizabeth. Of these Garland Carr was married in 1783, to Mary Winston, and they had children as follows: Frank, Daniel Ferrill, James Overton, Elizabeth Anne Barbara and Mary Winston, the last named the mother of Garland Carr Broadhead.

Garland Carr Broadhead received his education at the University of Missouri and the Western Military Institute of Kentucky, where he

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studied civil engineering under Gen. Bushrod Johnson, formerly of the West Point Military Academy faculty, and also under Col. Richard Owen. In 1852 he entered the service of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and was engaged for five years in surveying, construction, etc. His natural tastes and the knowledge he had acquired, led him to make geology his special study, and in 1857 he was appointed assistant geologist of Missouri, was in 1868 appointed assistant geologist of Illinois, and in 1873 was appointed state geologist of Missouri, in charge. In 1875 he was occupied with making mineral collections for the state of Missouri, for the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C., and for the Centen- nial Exposition at Philadelphia. During that exposition he was one of twenty jurors, American and foreign, charged with making awards for mines and geology, and in this association rendered valuable services with the leading scientists of the world.

From 1879 to 1881 Professor Broadhead was engaged in railroad survey work in Kansas and Missouri, and in the latter year became special agent in Kansas and Missouri for quarry industries for the tenth United States census. In 1883 and 1884 he was engaged in assorting geological specimens for the Missouri State University, and in the latter year became a member of the Missouri River Commission, by presidential appointment. From 1887 to 1897 he was professor of geology and mineralogy in the Missouri State University and during that time was also a member of the State Board of Mines and Geology. During all these years he traveled extensively in Missouri and other states, making spécial studies, particu- larly in geology and mineralogy, and collecting specimens. His writings upon these and kindred subjects were voluminous, and the last few years of his life were devoted to writing of his personal knowledge of the early history of Missouri, especially in regard to old trails and roads of Mis- souri and rock and earth formation of different counties of Missouri. A great many of these articles have appeared in the leading journals of the country, particularly in St. Louis newspapers. Professor Broad- head's close investigation and clearness in report earned for him a na- tional reputation as a scientist and membership in various scientific bodies, among them the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of America and the Geographical Society of America, as well as several historical organizations, viz .: The Virginia Historical Society, the Illinois Historical Society and the Missouri Historical Society. Mis- souri University conferred upon him the honorary degree of master of sciences. A Whig in his political views in early life, he subsequently became a Democrat, and in his latter years expressed independent con- victions. He occupied various positions not pertaining to his profession and most of them came to him unsought. His religious faith was that of the Presbyterian church, although he belonged to no religious denom. ination.

On December 20, 1864, Professor Broadhead was married at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, to Miss Marion Wallace Wright, a daughter of William Winlock and Malinda (West) Wright, who died November 24, 1883. Mr. Broadhead was married (second) June 18, 1890, to Miss Victoria Regina Royall, a sister of the late Gen. William B. Royall, U. S. A., and a niece of Gen. Sterling Price. There were five children born to the first union, of whom three are still living: Garland Carr, a graduate of the Missouri State University, civil engineer by occupation, and at present located in Texas; Marion Gertrude, who married S. F. Conley, of Columbia, a well known real estate and insurance man; and Harry Howard, a graduate in law of the University of Missouri, now in the clothing business, married, and living in Columbia. Mrs. G. C. Broadhead died January 26th, 1913.

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GAITHER BERRY. Practically from the beginning of settlement and improvement in Northeastern Missouri the Berry family has been con- spicuous in the transformation of the wilderness into farms, as extensive producers of the fruits of the soil, and owners of thousands of broad aeres in various localities, but especially in Callaway and Audrian counties. To those best acquainted with this section of the state as an agricultural community, probably no name is more familiar than that of Berry, and with it have been associated many of the interests which have been at the foundation of the prosperity of Northeast Missouri.

The settlement of the Berry family in Callaway county was made in about 1818, at about the same time when the Galbraiths settled in the same locality. Both families were from Christian county, Kentucky, where E. G. and Sally Ann (Galbraith) Berry were born. These rep- resentatives of the two families grew up together in Callaway county and in their marriage was founded the branch of the family with which the present necessarily brief sketch is concerned. In the death of the late E. G. Berry, which occurred in 1907, when he had attained the fine old age of ninety-seven years, seven months and seventeen days, one of the most useful and venerable of the pioneers of this section of the state passed to his reward. It was in about 1862 that he had moved to a prairie farm near Cote's Prairie in Callaway county, but his first farm, which was a particularly fine one, he had cleared out from the dense woods on Auxvasse creek. At one time he was the owner of three thousand acres of land in Callaway county, and to each of his children he gave large and valuable farmsteads. In early days he was one of the chief among the wheat and tobacco growers in this vicinity.

Six children were born to E. G. and Sally Ann (Galbraith) Berry, and of that number Caleb, who was the father of the subject of this review, was born in Cote's Prairie, Callaway county, on the 4th day of July, 1841. He came into possession of his father's original homestead on Auxvasse creek, but in about 1873 traded the place to his father for a tract of seven hundred and twenty aeres of open prairie land at Littleby, eight miles east of the City of Mexico. It has long been a characteristic trait of the enterprise of the Berry family to lend itself to the develop- ing of large tracts of raw land into productive and valuable farms, and the fine estate of Littleby which Caleb Berry developed is one of the most speaking examples of this brand of enterprise. Caleb Berry turned five hundred acres of the prairie into productive fields, and later the cultivated area of the farm included its every acre. In addition he in- creased his holdings in the same vicinity to three thousand acres, bought at priees ranging from three dollars and seventy-five cents to twenty-eight dollars the aere, and before the conclusion of his active career had put it all into cultivation. With his grain crops and his horses, mules and cattle, he prospered from the outset of his career and increased his orig- inal capital many fold. Caleb Berry was the only man in that vicinity who paid an income tax. He often fed as many as two hundred and forty steers at a time, and was one of the leading shippers of stock from this section of Missouri. He has given each of his children a large farm, and in about 1894 moved to Mexico, where he has since lived a retired life. He has here confined his attention principally to the buying and developing of small pareels of real estate at Mexico, and at the present time owns some thirty or forty acres in or adjoining the limits of that city.

Caleb Berry married one of his schoolmates, Miss Betty McCall, a daughter of J. E. McCall, who was from Virginia, and the MeCall family has long been a prominent one in Callaway county. After a wedded companionship of forty-six years Mrs. Berry passed away in 1909, the mother of six children, of which number one had died in childhood and

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one as a young married woman. The two daughters and two sons now living are : Ada, the wife of Dr. Cornett, of Rush Hill; Minnie, the wife of J. E. Azdell; Walter, a farmer living two and a half miles northeast of Mexico; and Gaither Berry, who occupies the old farm near Littleby.

Gaither Berry was born near Reform in Callaway county on the 2d day of October, 1870, and has resided on his present homestead since he was two years old. His early education came to him through the village school, situated near the farm, and he remained at home with his parents until he had reached the age of twenty-four, at which time he went west, spending some time in the state of Texas. His father later gave him a fine farm of three hundred and fifty acres and he purchased an additional hundred and sixty acre tract near the town of Worcester, and on this he began his independent farming career. He is today the owner of seven hundred and eighty-seven acres, comprising one of the finest farms in Audrain county. His residence is a ten room house and he has other dwellings on the place for his helpers. Mr. Berry employs three men during the greater part of the time, and his entire farm is devoted to agriculture and stock raising, the latter being his specialty. He feeds each year about one hundred cattle, seven hundred and fifty sheep and a hundred hogs or more.

Mr. Berry was married near his old home on April 18, 1900, to Miss Ada McCue, a daughter of Henry and Martha (Hockaday) McCue. The father was a native of Virginia and the mother of Callaway county, Mrs. Berry also having been born in this county. The McCue family, like the Berrys, is one of the old Missouri families, having its origin in the Old Dominion, and has for many years been connected with the development and progress of its adopted state. The grandfather of Mrs. Berry was Col. Moses H. McCue, who was born in Augusta county, Virginia, on the 10th of July, 1808. He married Miss Sarah F. Steele in September, 1838. He was a man of considerable prominence in his native county and state and served Augusta county for twenty years in the important office of high sheriff, at the conclusion of which period of able service he migrated from his native state of Missouri in October, 1857, making the trip by the overland route. He was accompanied at that time by his entire family, comprising his wife, ten children and a dozen or more servants. His second son, Moses Henry McCue, and the father of Mrs. Berry, was at that time fourteen years of age, his birth having occurred on November 6, 1843. The latter served in the Confederate army in the company of Capt. Dan McIntyre and gave gallant aid to the cause of the 'Confederacy in his capacity of soldier. On June 2, 1868, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha Hockaday, and in 1883 moved to Audrain county with his wife and five children, where he resided on his fine farm six miles east of Molino, until death ended his long and busy life on July 28, 1910. These parents reared five children, concerning whom the following brief mention is here made : Wallace Hart McCue, the first born, is now married and resides on the old farmstead with his mother; Laura is the wife of J. J. Wakefield near Mexico; Lida married Gray Wilson of Molino; Ada, the wife of Mr. Berry; and Florence, the wife of J. J. Browning, of Paris, Missouri. Concerning the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Berry, it may be said that he was Otey Hockaday, born in Clark county, Kentucky, on July 10, 1805, and that he came to Fulton, Callaway county, this state, in about the year 1835. Here he engaged in the mercantile business, continuing for three years, when he turned his attention to the business of farming, and moved to a fine farm which he bought, some twenty miles northeast of Fulton. There he resided until 1869. when he moved to Cass county and his remaining years were spent in that county, death claiming him in September,

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 59

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