A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 93

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

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William T. Ragland attended the country schools, the high school in Monroe city and the State Normal School at Kirksville. He then

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taught school in the rural districts for a year, following this by two years of teaching in the Monroe City schools. In this way he earned the money necessary for his law course in the law department of Wash- ington University, at St. Louis. Here he completed the reading which he had begun during his years spent in teaching, and was admitted to the bar at Palmyra, Missouri, in 1889, before Judge Thomas H. Bacon, the examining committee, being Waller Boulware, Major R. B. Bristow and Captain H. J. Drummond. The young lawyer at once engaged in practice in Monroe City, entering upon a partnership with Senator John C. Peirsol. The firm was known as Peirsol and Ragland, and for several years the relationship continued, with their practice constantly growing.

In 1892, Judge Ragland was elected prosecuting attorney, and was thus obliged to sever his connection with Senator Peirsol. He served two terms in this office as the successor of the Honorable James H. Whitecotton. Upon the expiration of his term of office he resumed practice in Monroe City, where he lived until 1905, when he removed to Paris, Missouri. On the 1st of January of that year he was appointed a member of the state board of law examiners ,the first board of this kind to be established in the state of Missouri. The board was ap- pointed by the supreme court and he was chosen as its first president. For the next five years, he gave a considerable amount of his time to the affairs of this body, resigning only upon his election to the bench of the circuit court. He was elected to this seat of honor in November, 1910, and took his office in the following January, as the successor of Judge D. H. Eby, of Hannibal.

In politics Judge Ragland has always been a Democrat, and has been quite active in party matters. He is deeply interested in fraternal affairs, being a member of the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, affiliating with Paris Lodge, No. 19, and being a Past Master of the Monroe City Lodge, No. 64. He is also Past Grand of the Monroe City Lodge of Odd Fellows, and is Past Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias Lodge of the same place. He and his family are members of the Chris- tian church.

On the 7th of October, 1890, Judge Ragland married in New Lon- don, Missouri, Miss Mary E. Watson, a daughter of James Poindexter Watson, who was a son of a pioneer settler in Ralls county. Judge and Mrs. Ragland have three children : Harold P., who is with the Graham Paper Company, in Chicago; Mary E., of Paris, and Reginald W., who is now a student in the University of Missouri.

J. W. ROBERTSON. The citizens of Randolph county boast of their fine farms and rural homes, and among them there is hardly one more notable than the Locust Grove farm just northwest of Roanoke, owned by J. W. Robertson and Son. The father of the present proprietor made it into a stock farm many years ago and Robertson & Son con- duct it chiefly for breeding and raising high grade saddle horses, mules and jacks. Among horsemen the farm has a reputation far beyond the limits of the county.

The founder of the Robertson property in Randolph county was John Wesley Robertson, grandfather of the subject, J. W. Rob- ertson. This pioneer was a native of Virginia, whence he came into Randolph county when all of which country was being newly settled and at a time when government land was plentiful. He could have bought government land in great quantities at a very low price, but he preferred the best that was to be had and he therefore gave eight dollars an acre for his choice of a homestead. He chose a situation by

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running water and the farm which he selected has long since shown the excellent judgment of its original locater. The grandfather brought with him a number of slaves, and during the early days on the old plantation was a raiser of live stock, tobacco and grain.

The father of the present Mr. Robertson was A. J. Robertson, the maiden name of whose wife was Caroline Davis. She was fifteen years of age when he married her, and she proved a good wife and excellent helpmate to her husband. She was born in Marion county, Missouri, a daughter of John and Sarah (Morehead) Davis, the former a native of North Carolina and the mother of Virginia. Both of her parents died in Marion county, Missouri. Her father drove an ox team to California during the period of "forty-nine" and spent twenty years on the western coast. The eight children in the family of A. J. Robert- son and his wife were as follows: Philip A .; J. W .; Frances; Andrew J .; Anna D .; William; Charles A .; and Katherine, deceased.

The father died at the age of fifty-eight years. He had been a suc- cessful man in his business of farming and left an estate of five hun- dred acres. In politics he was a Democrat and a member of the Methodist church, of which he was one of the most liberal supporters. The mother still lives at her home in Roanoke, where she has a fine large house and is surrounded by the society of many friends.

John Wesley Robertson, the proprietor of Locust Grove Home- stead, was reared on the old farm and there developed a splendid physique, he being considered one of the strong men of the county. His schooling was obtained at Roanoke but he has acquired his effi- ciency largely through actual performance of duty and responsibility. At the age of twenty-six he married Miss Kate Finnell, a native of Randolph county and a daughter of Elijah Finnell, now deceased.

The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Robertson are as follows: Andrew Jackson; Mrs. W. C. Finnell; William Roscoe; and John Wesley, Jr.

The five hundred acres in Locust Grove Farm is all devoted in some way or another to the chief business of the place, which is the raising of fine saddle horses, and mules. The barns and other facilities are of approved patterns and very commodious, so that there are stalls for a hundred animals at one time. Mr. Robertson and his son have about fifty mules, ten jacks and twenty saddle horses. The latter include some of the fast horses of the state, prize winners and show animals. Among them is Grand MacDonald, who was foaled on this farm and was sold when a 2-year-old for twelve hundred dollars. He has since been sold for $12,000, and has been a prize winner in the Central Park shows and has bid high against all competition. Randolph K. is another of the fine examples of Locust Grove farm, and is a beautiful saddle horse and very valuable.

WILLIAM H. PEELER. A resident of Moniteau township in Howard county for nearly eighty years, William H. Peeler has been so long and closely identified with this locality that its history could not well be written without reference to his work, influence and family. The beau- tiful rural estate which is now his home was also his birthplace, and he was born on the 23rd of July, 1834, at a time when Missouri was on the western frontier of the United States and while Andrew Jack- son still occupied the presidential chair.

He is one of the children of Judge David Peeler, one of the pioneers and big influential figures in the last century of Howard county. The life and services of David Peeler are properly commem- orated on other pages of this work. A native of North Carolina, he had

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come to Missouri when the state was new and bought a quantity of government land in Howard county. He owned many slaves, farmed on a large scale, and represented the county in the legislature and for a long time was county judge.

William H. Peeler grew to manhood on the old plantation and be- came thoroughly familiar with the life and times of this section during ante-bellum days. His education was acquired in the Howard county schools. He married Miss Eliza M. Atherton, an Illinois lady and rep- resentative of an old and honored family. Her father was W. G. Atherton, a native of Pulaski county, Illinois, and her grandfather was William M. Atherton, a native of Kentucky. She lost both her parents when she was a child, and was reared in the home of an unele in Illi- nois, getting her education in the schools of that state, where she re- mained until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Peeler became the parents of six children, who are named as follows: Jennie, wife of C. W. Smith, of Howard county; Prof. William B., formerly of Columbia and now in the faculty of Hardin College at Mexico; Decatur Atherton, at home ; Charles F., who is connected with an electrical company of Bingham Canyon, Utah; James E., of Columbia; and Eva May, at home. The children were all educated at Columbia and their parents gave them very liberal advantages in preparing them for useful careers.

Mr. Peeler's farm is known as Locust Grove, and both by its situa- tion and improvements attracts attention as one of the fine rural homes of Howard county. The fact that the place has been under competent management for the greater part of a century is to a large degrec responsible for the air of permanence and substantial comfort every- where prevailing. It is a home of refinement and culture, and repre- sents the best of both the old and the modern age in this long-settled section of Missouri.

DAVID GEERY. A prominent and prosperous agriculturist of Howard county, David Geery, living on the state highway, five and one-half miles from Fayette, is widely known as proprietor of two fine estates- Highland Farm and Fairview Farm-two valuable and handsome pieces of property, the first containing three hundred and thirty acres of land, and the last one hundred and sixty acres. He was born in Howard county, Missouri, August 19, 1849, on the old Geery plantation, which is now included in the Highland farm, a son of Charles Geery.

His paternal grandfather, James Geery, with his good wife, Sarah, came to Missouri from Kentucky in pioneer days, and having bought a tract of wild land from the government was here engaged in farming until his death.

Charles Geery was but a small boy when brought by his parents to Howard county, where he grew to manhood. Succeeding to the occupa- tion of his ancestors, he became a farmer, and was engaged in tilling the soil until his death, which occurred in 1868, when he was but fifty- six years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Peeler, survived him, passing away at the advanced age of eighty-three years. She was a daughter of David Peeler, for many years a prominent and influential citizen of Howard county. She bore her husband six chil- dren, as follows: Felix, who died in childhood; Mrs. Fanny Dinkle, deceased; David, the special subject of this brief biographical review ; Mrs. Florence Dinkle, deceased; William, of Fayette; and Jesse, whose death occurred at New Franklin, Missouri. His mother was a valued member of the Christian church.

Having obtained a practical education in the district schools, David Geery began assisting his father, receiving an excellent training in

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the different branches of agriculture. Finding the occupation both con- genial and profitable, he has since continued as a farmer and stock- raiser, and the great success that he has obtained in his work is evi- denced in his large fields of blue grass and tame grass, and his many acres of waving grain in the harvest seasons. He takes especial pride in his stock, raising Hereford cattle and Poland China hogs on an extensive scale. He has a most beautiful home, it being a large, ten-room house, well furnished, and amply supplied with all the needed comforts of life.

Mr. Geery married, November 15, 1884, Miss Sylvia A. Mitchell, who was born near Columbus, Ohio, where she was reared and cducated. Her father, James Mitchell, came to Howard county, Missouri, in 1873, settling in Moniteau township, where he was engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1900, at the age of seventy-two years. To him and his wife, whose maiden name was Caroline Meek, the follow- ing named children were born: Thomas Mitchell; Sylvia A., now wife of David Geery, our subject; Martha, deceased; Charles; Sarah, wife of Rev. Mr. Schilling, of Fayette; Edward; William; Humphrey ; and Mrs. Kate Harris, of Boone county. Mr. Geery is a faithful and active member of the Christian church, of which he is the treasurer.

S. H. WOODS, superintendent of the Howard County Farm, which is located twelve miles northeast of Fayette, is a man of prominence among the county officials, possessing in an eminent degree the discretion, trustforthiness and force of character requisite for the responsible position which he is so ably filling. He was born, July 3, 1879, in Howard county, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, the late Adam Woods.

Adam Woods was of pioneer ancestry, his parents having migrated from Kentucky to Missouri at an early day, becoming one of the first settlers of Howard county. He helped as a boy to assist in clearing a homestead from its primitive wildness, and later in life bought land, and was engaged in general farming until his death, in 1897, at the age of fifty-nine years, his birth having occurred in 1838. He was a man of much strength, standing six feet in height, and weighing two hundred and ten pounds, just twenty pounds less than his son, S. H., the subject of this sketch, who is of the same height. He was honest and fair in his dealings, and a consistent member of the Baptist church. He married Nancy Jane Rosebury, who was born in Howard county in 1838, and has here spent her entire life, being now seventy-five years of age. Of the nine children that blessed their union, seven are now living, as follows: W. J .; Mary ; David P .; Martha A .; Sally S .; S. H .; and Nancy Jane.

S. H. Woods at the age of seventeen began cropping with his oldest brother, W. J. Woods, who bought a farm, and for several years operated it successfully. Mr. Woods subsequently bought one hundred and eighty acres of land, and in its cultivation met with good success, raising excellent crops of blue grass, tame grass, wheat and corn. He also made a specialty of breeding and raising cattle and hogs, horses and mules, in that branch of agriculture securing satisfactory results. His farm, lying four and one-half miles southeast of Armstrong is a valuable piece of property, well repaying him for the time and labor he has spent in improving it. Mr. Woods is now serving his fifth term as superin- tendent of the Howard County Farm, his record of service in this capacity bearing evidence of the satisfactory manner in which he is discharging the duties devolving upon him. The County Farm contains three hun- dred and five acres, two hundred of which Mr. Woods, with the assist- ance of one hired man, keeps under a good state of cultivation, raising Vol. III-40

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the crops common to this section of the state, and in addition keeps considerable stock including a good dairy of ten cows, from which he makes butter. The farm is amply supplied with buildings, including the superintendent's five-room cottage; the main buildings, which are of brick, were built by W. J. Megraw; a commodious barn; and a pest house. This farm, with its improvements and appointments is a credit to the county, and one of which its citizens may well be proud.

Mr. Woods married, October 29, 1902, Cora Kirby, who was born February 25, 1883, in Howard county, a daughter of F. M. and Minerva (Holtzclaw) Kirby, who reared a family of ten children, three sons and seven daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Woods are the parents of two children, namely : William Francis, born September 15, 1903, and Henry Shores, born January 20, 1909. Politically Mr. Woods is a Democrat, and religiously he is a director of the Baptist church, to which he has belonged since seventeen years of age.

JAMES A. COLLET. Engaged in the practice of law at Salisbury, Chariton county, Mr. Collet is one of the prominent and influential mem- bers of the bar of Northeastern Missouri and is a citizen whose progres- siveness and public spirit have been exemplified in a most emphatic and benignant way. He has served as prosecuting attorney of his native county and has been accorded other distinctive marks of popular con- fidence and esteem. He is a leader in the councils of the Democratic party in this section of the state and is the owner of two farms, one of three hundred and twenty acres, situated one mile west of Mendon, and one of three hundred and sixty acres, seven miles northeast of Salisbury, this valuable estate receiving his personal supervision. He is a scion of an honored pioneer family of Missouri, with whose history the name has been identified for nearly a full century.

About the year 1820, William Collet, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, came from North Carolina to Missouri and estab- lished his home on an embryonic farm near Kirksville, Adair county, where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. They were sterling pioneers of the county and ever commanded secure place in the confidence and esteem of all who knew them. He had served as a soldier in the Mexican war, as a member of a Missouri volunteer regi- ment, was a stalwart Democrat in politics, and both he and his wife held membership in the Baptist church. They reared three children : King, John Robinson, and Andrew Jackson, all of whom are now de- ceased.

John Robinson Collet was born on the old homestead in Adair county, in 1836, and he passed the closing years of his life on his farm, about fourteen miles north of Salisbury, Chariton county, where his death occurred in December, 1904. He gained his early educational training in the somewhat primitive schools of the pioneer days, but it was later given him to profit fully by the lessons to be learned under that wisest of all head-masters, experience. His entire active career was one of , close identification with farming and stock-growing, through the medium of which he eventually won definite independence and prosperity, though the ravages of the Civil war left him with virtually no financial resources or property interests of more than nominal order. He was industrious and ambitious, and the passing years enable him to make good the handicap thus entailed. He served under Gen. Sterling Price as a valiant soldier of the Confederacy in the war between the states, was a stalwart in the camp of the Democratic party, and was a most zealous member of the Baptist church, in which he served in official capacity for many years, his wife, who still survives him and resides in the home

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of her son James A., of this review, having likewise been for many years a devoted churchwoman of the Baptist faith.

As a young man, John R. Collet wedded Miss Lucy M. Smith, who was born in Chariton county, in 1837, and who is now one of the vener- able representatives of one of the honored pioneer families of her native county. She is a daughter of Alexander and Jane (Bricken) Smith, who were born and reared in Kentucky, where their marriage was solemnized and whence they came to Missouri in 1821. At a point twelve miles north of the present thriving little city of Salisbury, Chariton county, Mr. Smith entered claim to a tract of government land, and he was one of the very first settlers in that part of the county, where he de- veloped a productive farm and where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Mr. Smith was one of the honored and influen- tial citizens of the county, served for a number of years in the office of justice of the peace and also gave effective service in the office of deputy sheriff. His five sons were gallant soldiers of the Confederacy in the Civil war.

Concerning the children of John R. and Lucy M. (Smith) Collet, the following brief data are consistently entered: William A. is a farmer in Oklahoma ; Benjamin R. resides on a farm, north of Salisbury ; Ezekiel is likewise a farmer of this county; James A. is the immediate subject of this review; Eva is the wife of Matthew Decker, and they reside in Macon county ; Caroline is the wife of Lewis Kimery and their home is in the state of Oklahoma; Rosa is the wife of Robert J. Owens, of Chariton county; Ora M. is the wife of William Moxley, and they live in Oklahoma.

James Anderson Collet was born on the home farm, twelve miles north of Salisbury, on the 11th of August, 1868, and he attended the country schools until he had attained to the age of fourteen years. in the meanwhile having learned the lessons of practical industry through his association with the work of the farm. He continued to be identified with farm work until he had reached his legal majority, and in the meanwhile had sufficiently amplified his education to become eligible for pedagogic honors. For four years he was a successful and popular teacher in the district schools of his native county, and he then began the study of law at Keytesville, the county seat, under the able preceptor- ship of Judge William W. Rucker, the present member of congress from this district. He initiated his technical studies in 1892 and con- tinued them under the direction of the law firm of Crawley & Son, of Keytesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1893, upon examination before his former preceptor, Judge Rucker, who was then presiding on the bench of the Twelfth judicial circuit, and thereafter he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Keytesville, until 1903, in the meanwhile having achieved distinctive prestige as an able and resource- ful trial lawyer and effective counselor. He served as prosecuting attorney of the county from 1897 until 1901, and gave an administra- tion that materially enhanced his professional reputation. In 1903 he formed a partnership with Chappell B. Crawley and Joseph W. Jamison, and they opened an office in the city of St. Louis, where he continued to be engaged in active practice under these conditions about one year. He then returned to Keytesville, where he continued his successful labors in his profession until 1907, when he purchased a farm of six hundred and forty acres, one mile north and west of Mendon, and assumed the active supervision of the same, in addition to continuing in the active practice of his profession, and is now located in Salisbury. He has a substantial and representative clientage, and has been identified with much of the important litigation in the courts of this section of the

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state, where he holds secure vantage ground in the esteem of his pro- fessional confreres and the general public.

In politics Mr. Collet has ever given unwavering allegiance to the Democratic party and he has been influential in the manoeuvering of its forces in his native state. From 1904 until 1910 he served as a valued and influential member of the state central committee of his party and he has otherwise rendered yeoman service in the furtherance of its cause. He is a member of the Missouri State Bar Association and the Chariton County Bar Association. Liberal and progressive in his civic attitude, Mr. Collet gives earnest co-operation in the promoting and carrying forward of enterprises projected for the general good, and he is specially interested in the good roads movement, in which connection he is a member of the executive committee of the organization that is carrying forward the noteworthy and important improvement of con- structing a modern turnpike road from Des Moines, Iowa, to Jefferson City, Missouri.

On the 16th of May, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Collet to Miss Mary E. Miller, who was born in Virginia, but who was reared and educated in Chariton county, Missouri. She is a daughter of John C. and Almeria (Hawes) Miller, who came from the Old Dominion state to Chariton county when she was a child and who are now both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Collet have three children: Lucy, John Caskie and Frederick A.

JOHN SEBREE BASKETT. Prominent among the extensive and prosperous agriculturists of Howard county is John S. Baskett, propri- etor of Elm Ridge Farm, which is located in Richmond township, five miles southeast of Fayette. A native of Howard county, he was born July 8, 1853, a son of Robert W. Baskett, coming from honored Virginian ancestry.

His paternal grandfather, Robert Baskett, was born in Virginia in 1790, and died in Howard county, Missouri, in 1880, at a venerable age. Coming from his native state to Missouri in pioneer days, he brought forty slaves with him, and with their assistance cleared and improved a large and valuable plantation, on which he raised large crops of tobacco each year, in course of time acquiring much wealth. He settled in Howard county with his family in 1839, taking up land two and one-half miles north of Fayette, where he resided until his death. He married first Lucy Crewdson, who belonged to a prominent family of Virginia, and to them five children were born, as follows: William; Jesse; Robert W., father of John S .; Reuben H .; and Mary Ellen. The mother of these children died in early life, and Robert Baskett was subsequently twice married, by his third wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Dodd, had one son, Joseph D. Baskett, of Nevada, Missouri.

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A history of northeast Missouri, Vol. 2 pt 2, Part 93

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