A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 63

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

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Edinburg, in Grundy county, Missouri, was the place and November 15th of 1869 the time of the birth of Sheldon E. Botsford. His general education was pursued in the common schools and in Grand River College, supplemented by a course in Davenport College (at Daven- port, Iowa), where he received the degree of Master of Science.

Determined to secure as broad and complete an education as pos- sible, Mr. Botsford next went to Chicago, where, supporting himself by daily work at his inherited trade of carriage painting, he attended evening schools in order to master shorthand and typewriting, besides studying in the law offices of Curtis Haven. In the summer of 1890 he went to Moberly, Missouri, where he continued his legal research under the direction of Judges Martin and Terril. Finally, with Judge Hall of Trenton, and also Harber & Knight, he completed his studies of the technicalities of the law.

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Being thoroughly equipped with so much training of the most practical nature and with knowledge relating to the most worldly of all professions, Mr. Botsford surprised some of his friends by enter- ing quite another profession. Becoming deeply interested in the motives and ideals of the organized church, he entered the ministry of the Methodist denomination and for ten years remained a member of its conference, filling pastorates in Gorin, in Novelty, in Kahoka, in Edina, in Excelsior Springs and in Jamesport. In 1903 he located at his own request at Hedge City, and his activities here combined the mercantile and agricultural. He has a farm of 160 acres and has had charge of a large amount of additional property. Five years were spent by Mr. Botsford at Hedge City, from which place he moved in 1908.

A logical sequence of Mr. Botsford's legal education and the public work to which he had given so much attention was his interest in politics. In 1904 he was elected a member of the Missouri legislature and was honored by re-election in 1906. He was a very prominent figure in the state assembly, being active on the militia committee and that of public schools and text-books. At the Forty-fourth general assembly he served ably as speaker pro tempore of the house.

Most signal. service has been done by Representative Botsford in his work for temperance legislation in the state of Missouri. He was one of the instigators and supporters of the local option enactments of the Forty-fourth assembly, which legislation has resulted in the elimina- tion of saloons from eighty-two counties of the state. While the fight for local option was in progress, Mr. Botsford was everywhere in the thick of the fight, both lending his moral assistance to the issue and taking an active part as a member of the state committee in charge of the campaign. His political alignment is with the Democratic party, which has honored him with the important offices he has held. In addition to his membership in the legislature, he served in 1905-1906 as vice president of the State Democratic Club.

The family of ex-Representative Botsford consists of his wife and their three children. Mrs. Botsford was formerly Miss Caroline Fow- ler, a daughter of S. K. Fowler, a wealthy farmer residing in Edina. Mr. and Mrs. Botsford's two sons and one daughter are Samuel K., Paul Parmalee and Margaret Louise Botsford.

E. THOMAS CARSTARPHEN. The activities and associations of the Carstarphen family in Northeast Missouri furnish material for many interesting details of local history. While not among the first families in point of time, the Carstarphens have been identified with Ralls county since pioneer days, and each family group has achieved a worthy degree of material prosperity and has contributed its full share to the life and development of the vicinity.

It is a Scotch name, and the bearer of it into Ralls county was Ezra R. Carstarphen, father of the well known citizen of New London named at the beginning of this article. Ezra was a young man when he abandoned his native county in Oldham county, Kentucky, and in his search for a new abode in the commonwealth of Missouri was accom- panied by his sisters Mary, Drusilla and Elizabeth.

Born in Kentucky, December 28, 1826, Ezra R. Carstarphen was a son of R. E. and Mary (Bennett) Carstarphen. The records show that Mary Bennett was of English and German ancestry, while the mother of R. E. Carstarphen was a Miss Evans, a Scotch woman. Ezra was the only son in his father's family. His sister Mary married Squire Nichols, his sister Elizabeth married Dr. Keightley. and his other sister, Drusilla, became the second wife of Dr. Keightley.

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Ezra Carstarphen was trained as a farmer and followed that voca- tion through his brief career. His education was not extensive, but he was a man of capability. He was married after some years of bachelorhood, and the few remaining years of his life were given to the welfare of his family and to his church. He located upon a farm near the river north of New London, and there his widow brought up their two sons, subsequently selling the place to Judge H. J. Priest, one of the well known officials of Ralls county. Ezra Carstarphen manifested a sincere interest in spiritual matters, was a member of the Baptist church and was practically the builder of the church of that denomination at New London. He owned a few slaves, and the emancipation proclamation during the war threw his influence upon the side of the South. He had no active part in politics, but favored the Democracy. His death occurred on the 15th of September, 1869, while his wife survived until July 23, 1910.

He had married in Pike county on June 16, 1861, Miss Christiana Brown, a daughter of William Brown, who came to Missouri from Bourbon county, Kentucky. Mrs. Carstarphen was born in Pike county, Missouri. Her mother's maiden name was Melvina Pierce. William Brown, her father, attained the advanced age of ninety-six years. Mrs. Carstarphen was left a widow when her son, E. Thomas, was only three and his brother but six years of age and with large security debts to pay. By good management and hard work she paid them all and kept the farm until her sons were old enough to work and manage for themselves. Hers was a strong and beautiful character. William and E. Thomas Carstarphen were the only children of Ezra Carstarphen and wife. Both sons are farmers in the same neighbor- hood and are recognized as among the successful citizens of the com- munity.

E. Thomas Carstarphen was born in Ralls county on the 20th of May, 1866. His minority was spent on the old farm and his boyhood training was finished in the New London public schools. He became a farmer, but after following this work for several years was turned aside by an ambition for professional endeavors. He chose osteopathy and after a course or two began practice in Illinois, then completed his studies in 1899 at Kirksville. From there he went to Rome, Georgia, later practiced a few years in Memphis, Tennessee, and then in St. Louis. In 1905, being satisfied with his experience in professional life, he returned to the most substantial of all productive industries, farming.

On his return to Ralls county Mr. Carstarphen bought the Taylor Jones farm, one of the noted estates along Salt river and one of the pioneer homesteads of the county. The place and its proprietorship are features of local history. Taylor Jones was both a pioneer settler and a distinguished citizen of Ralls county, a man of fine intelligence and was a prominent factor in educational affairs. Among his several children was the late Henry Clay Jones, whose classical education and wide information gave him a leading place among the strong men of Ralls county. Taylor Jones entered his farm from the government, and it passed from the heirs of Henry Clay Jones to Mr. Carstarphen. The pioneer character of the home site is indicated by the presence of the log cabins which once were the shelter for the Jones family and their retinue of negro servants, and there are other landmarks which attract the attention of the visitor. The 390 acres of land in the estate yield bountifully of the grains and grasses committed to their bosom, and the ownership of such a place is a fitting climax to the achieve- ment of any practical farmer.

Mr. Carstarphen on March 12, 1907, married Miss Virginia Wat-

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son, a daughter of James P. and Eliza (Tutt) Watson, another inter- esting family of Ralls county, whose history will be found on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Carstarphen are parents of three children : Lewis Henry, born May 28, 1908; Elizabeth, born June 29, 1910; and George Thomas, born January 14, 1912.

The successful farmer of Northeast Missouri is often found to be one of the influential figures in the general commercial affairs of his community, and hence Mr. Carstarphen is one of the directors of the Bank of New London. He is a progressive farmer and stockman, and at the present time is introducing the English Tamworth swine and is breeding the White Face cattle. He is a blue lodge Mason, and his family are members of the Christian church. His home is one of the delightful places of Ralls county, not only for its external improve- ments and associations, but especially as the abode of a fine family circle and the culture and moral tone which one likes to connect with the model rural home.

ROBERT LEE PATTON. The farming interests of Northeastern Mis- souri are in the hands of efficient, capable men, who have given to their labor that application of scientific effort that is bound to bring the best results. Years of observance of the best methods have brought the occupation of farming up to the standard of one of the sciences, and the constant improving of farming machinery has done wonders in making the raising of large crops a surety. Many of the agriculturists of Northeastern Missouri are natives of this section, have spent their entire lives here, and as a consequence are thoroughly conversant with erop and climatic conditions, and in this class stands Robert Lee Patton, who is engaged in cultivating a fine tract of land in Randolph county, although he makes his home in his modern residence in Clifton Hill. Mr. Patton was born in Randolph county, Missouri, July 22, 1875, and is a son of J. C. and Sarah M. (Alexander) Patton, also natives of this county. The father, who was a lifelong agriculturist here, died in 1906, while the mother still survives and makes her residence on the old homestead. They had two children: Robert Lee; and Mary M., the latter the wife of C. J. Patton, of the same name, but no relation.

Robert Lee Patton secured his education in the public schools of his native vicinity, and the North Missouri Institute, being reared to agricultural pursuits and spending his boyhood and youth on his father's farm. On attaining his majority, he started farming on his own account, and has met with a full measure of success, being now the owner of 175 acres of well-cultivated land. Here he has erected substantial barns and appropriate outbuildings, and the whole farm presents a pleasing and attractive appearance, reflecting the ability and industry of its owner. Although Mr. Patton resides at his home in Clifton Hill, he superintends the work on his property, which he is cultivating with modern farming machinery, and by scientific methods. In political matters he is a Democrat, and while he has not cared for public prefer- ment, has at all times been active in supporting his party's candidates and measures, as well as all movements calculated to be of benefit to his community or its citizens. He is fraternally connected with the A. F. & A. M., having filled several offices in his lodge, and he and Mrs. Patton are popular members of the Order of the Eastern Star.

On April 5, 1899, Mr. Patton was united in marriage with Miss Eva Milam, a daughter of J. Milam, a complete review of whose life will be found in another part of this work. Two children have been born to this union, namely : Edwin M., born April 30, 1900; and Mary E., born July 5, 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Patton are members of the Methodist

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church, and are well and favorably known in social circles of Clifton Hill.

THERON BALDWIN POWERS. One of the prominent citizens of Ralls county, Theron Baldwin Powers resides in Perry and is a director of one of its leading banks. From first to last his life has been a some- what varied one, beginning in the dawn of manhood with a journey across the "Great American Desert" to the Eldorado of the far west, living for many years under the tension and excitement incident to a new and unbalanced country and concluding his activities with forty years of prosaic existence-although a successful one-upon a Missouri farm. Mr. Powers was born in Monroe county, Missouri, February 23, 1834. His boyhood was spent near Florida, which gave to the world the great humorist, Mark Twain, and the mental diversion which came to him was divided between the labor incident to the farm and the pursuit of the "Three R's" in a cabin school.

Mr. Powers' father was Richard D. Powers, a slave-holding pioneer of Monroe county, who came hither from Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was a native son of Kentucky, being born in Greenup county, that state, and was a type of the aristocratic frontiersman of slave times. He married a Miss Poage, who at her death left him four children : Marcus M., who died as a farmer in Monroe county; Harvey, who moved to California, and died there; Milford, who passed away at Long Beach, California; and James W., residing in Paris, Missouri. For his second wife Richard D. Powers married Judith Shortridge, who also reared a family and took a mother's place in the hearts of her step- children. Her own children were: Julia, who married a Mr. Saunders; Jane, who became the wife of a Mr. Gillespie; Malinda, who married a Mr. Saunders; Orion, a well known lumber merchant of Paris, Mis- souri; and Theron B.

Theron B. Powers was beckoned by the "call of the wild" upon the near approach of manhood and yielded to the persuasion of friends to cross the plains. He left home in 1854 in company with the Terrill brothers of Randolph county, Missouri. James and John Terrill had made the trip to California before and knew the sources of profit in handling stock among the mines and took out a drove of mules and a bunch of cattle. They left the Missouri river at Kansas City and followed the Santa Fe trail out into Colorado, where the California trail separated from it and then led off through Utah, and Sacramento was reached without interference by Indians or serious loss of life or stock. Once at the seat of the great mining industry of the west, Mr. Powers, while selecting a business for himself, took the advice of a negro who was acquainted with the situation and engaged in teaming. He purchased his mules from the caravan which took him out and the venture proved one of the most profitable outside of the mine. He built up a patronage and extended his acquaintance over a wide scope of territory. His supply station was Colfax, California, and he freighted for Frank Smith & Company, of Austin, among others of that mineral region. As an indication of the juice such a melon as freighting yielded at that time, three loads of goods transported from origin to destination brought him $1,500.

While Mr. Powers was in California, the Civil war was fought and all the incidents of reconstruction were under way before his return to Missouri. He left California by boat from San Francisco, and reached New York by way of the Isthmus or Horn. He arrived just fifteen years from the day he began his journey to the west. Although beyond the sphere of influence as affecting the cause of the South in

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its contest for slavery and for independence, Mr. Powers imbibed a strong feeling for his southern brothers and when the news of Presi- dent Lincoln's assassination was reported to him he celebrated the event with a yell. However, when advised that the military at Sacra- mento were riding the mayor of the city on a rail for a similar offense and that any exaggerated manifestation of spirit from citizens was likely to be met with powder and ball, quiet was easily restored and Mr. Powers repressed his feelings.

Resuming the work of the farm, Mr. Powers purchased land in the locality of his birth and carried on agriculture and stock-raising suc- cessfully until the infirmities of age began to tell on him. He gathered together a considerable area of the domain about him and from his efforts and those of the family combined, he has made provision for his children. He persuaded his old friend and business associate, Marcus LaFrance, to sell him a suburban tract of ground upon which he built a commodious home and other improvements required for a man accustomed to a rural life when living in town, and in 1906 came to Perry to spend the remainder of his years. When the Peoples Bank was organized, Mr. Powers was one of the original stockholders and he has been a member of the board of directors since. He was chosen vice president of it in the beginning and served in that capacity until 1912.

Mr. Powers was married in February, 1870, to Miss Mildred Hocker, a daughter of Joseph T. and Margaret (Browning) Hocker, pioneers to Missouri from Kentucky and Virginia, respectively. The other Hocker children were: Annie E., the wife of O. G. Powers, of Paris, Missouri ; Martha, the widow of Thomas V. Vaughan, of Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Powers have had these children: Mary Emma, of Perry, Missouri; Cassie Violet, wife of E. W. Foree, of Monroe county ; Hattie R., the wife of M. V. Davis, of the same county; Homer N. and Oscar Browning, who are farmers of Monroe county; and Charles O., an assistant in the Peoples Bank of Perry.

Mr. Powers brought up his family in the Missionary Baptist faith. By inheritance and practice he is a Democrat.

JOHN BLEDSOE, M. D. In a review of the lives of those who have been a conspicuous factor in the development of any community, a strong thread in the warp and woof of its citizenship, it becomes one's duty to speak of him who has nursed that community from its infancy, as it were, to a stage of development approaching perfection, and who watched over its physical destiny through many long and strenuous years,-the physician of the early day.

In John Bledsoe is presented just such a character as is suggested in the previous paragraph, and one whom posterity is entitled to know from a perusal of personal and genealogical facts gleaned while the vital spark still animates his body, and while many of his contem- poraries still witness events and incidents of his whole career. Dr. Bledsoe can scarcely remember when he was not a resident of Missouri. He was brought into the state in about 1844, when he was a lad yet without his letters and in Monroe county the family established its permanent home. They were settlers from Gallatin county, Kentucky, where the doctor was born July 22, 1839. The father was Willis Bled- soe, born in that same district in the Cracker commonwealth, in 1801. His grandfather was of Scotch-Irish blood, and was Hiram Bledso, who married Winifred Hutchinson. This ancient ancestry lived the lives of slave-holding planters of Gallatin county and there died. Their children were Baylor. Samuel, Jesse, George, William, Willis, Mrs. Nancy Morton, Mrs. Weber, Mrs. Winifred Ellis and Miss Bettie.

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Willis Bledsoe, their son, was a man of ordinary education, who spent his life on the farm. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist church and was first a Whig and then a Democrat in politics. He made the journey to Missouri by boat, locating at Florida and soon afterward purchased a farm seven miles south of that town. There he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring on October 20, 1880, while his wife passed away September 18, 1867. He married Jane Donally, whose father was a political refugee from Ireland because of his con- nection with the futile attempt of his compatriots to throw off the British yoke and again become free. Mr. Donally married Betsey Gardner and they both died in Kentucky. The issue of Willis and Jane Bledsoe were: James, who died in Mexico, Missouri; Dr. John, of this notice; Willis, of Modesta, California; Jane, widow of James Vance, of Perry, Missouri, and Abner, who passed away in Mexico, Missouri, October 5, 1904.

John Bledsoe was a country youth and equipped himself for the duties of citizenship chiefly in Prairie Seminary in Monroe county, Missouri. He was yet engaged in farming when the firing on Fort Sum- ter brought on the Civil war, and he straightway made the cause of the South his own, enlisting in the Confederate army. He joined Captain Hastings' company of Colonel Rollins' battalion and became a unit of General Price's army. His only engagement was that at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 8, 1862, after which he left the service under discharge, and en route for home was taken prisoner in Henry county, Missouri, by an Iowa brigade commanded by Capt. H. H. Heath. After two months spent in the Alton, Illinois, military prison, he decided to take the oath of allegiance to the United States and was discharged, whereupon he returned home. During the remainder of the war period Dr. Bledsoe applied himself to the work of the farm. Choosing medicine as his life work, he began its preparation with a course of reading under Dr. M. L. Catron of Monroe county, and fol- lowing this he took a course of lectures in the Keokuk Medical College. With his studies partially completed, he decided to apply his knowl- edge in actual practice and he did so near Perry, under the direction of Dr. S. M. Lapsley. For his final course he entered the McDowell Medical College in St. Louis, and took his diploma from that institu- tion on February 27, 1867.

Ready for active and permanent work in medicine, Dr. Bledsoe located in Perry, then just platted, and containing a crossroads store and the usual blacksmith shop. His experience of a quarter century of close application was replete with little else than hard work. The long rides. and drives over a wide area of unsettled country,-the exposure to weather conditions that too often tried the metal of the man, made inroads upon his own constitution and seriously impaired his hearing; all of which conspired to shorten his active career as a practitioner and he began to withdraw from it in about 1892, gradually abandoning the work entirely.

Dr. Bledsoe became a landowner in early manhood, and has main- tained active farming interests up to the present time. He was one to demonstrate the adaptability of this section to the apple, and owns one of the largest orchards in the county. Following the discovery of coal in this locality he executed a coal lease July 15, 1892, to the Van- dalia Coal Company, covering a hundred acres of land, at a royalty of five cents per ton. The Ralls County Coal Company succeeded the Vandalia people and completed the lease eventually, this being the first attempt at commercial mining done in the county.

To his farming, his fruit and his mining interests may be added

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the doctor's connection with banking at Perry. He helped to organize both the Perry Bank and the People's Bank and is a director of the former institution. In politics he is a Democrat and his leanings are toward the Presbyterian church, and although he has never added his name to the roll, his belief in the usefulness of the church is a strong one, and he has always assisted in the support of its good work.

On November 12, 1873, Dr. Bledsoe married in Monroe county, Miss Allie Wommack, a daughter of Hiram Wommack and his wife, Louisa Zimmerman. . Mrs. Wommack's father, George Zimmerman, was a Virginia farmer, and Mr. Wommack was a native of Tennessee, who came out to Missouri in his boyhood days. The Wommack children were : Kate, who married Dr. Brown and died in Audrain county, Missouri; Watt, who passed away in Pueblo, Colorado; Mollie, the wife of Foss Matthews, of Bowling Green, Missouri; Victoria, who is Mrs. Gam Hannah, of Perry, Missouri; J. Madison, of Bremen, Oklahoma ; Lima, the widow of William Provines, of San Antonio, Texas; Annie married Alexander Reed and both are deceased; Mrs. Bledsoe was the next, and the youngest of the family was Lillian, the widow of A. B. Ayres, of California.

The children of Dr. and Mrs. Bledsoe were three in number, and are as follows: Lurla, who died in 1910 as the wife of Robert L. Dye, leaving two children,-J. R. and Juanita; Willis Wommack, a farmer of Monroe county, Missouri, married Nellie Alford; they have a son, Eugene Alford; and Lee, the wife of Joseph M. Kendall, who has two children,-Jo Lee and Marvin Mack.

Dr. Bledsoe's fraternal relations are represented by his membership in the Masonic order, in which he has attained the Master's degree. He joined the fraternity in his city as a charter member, and has served as junior and senior warden in his lodge.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 63

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