A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 117

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912

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Charles B. Newburn has been a resident of Andrew County since eleven years of age, acquired some education in the public schools of Illinois, and after coming to Missouri combined practical experience on the farm with some attendance in the local schools. On reaching his majority he took up farming as a practical vocation, and followed it with substantial success until 1900. Since that year his home has been in Cosby, and for five years he was engaged in the hardware and imple- ment business with J. P. Anderson under the firm name of Anderson & Newburn. Mr. Newburn has some valuable property which measures his life accomplishments as a farmer and business man, owning 240 acres in Rochester Township and a quarter section of land in Western Kansas in Jewell County. Mr. Newburn is a republican in politics, and has been a member of the Cosby town council since its organization. His church home is the Christian, and he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

On September 6, 1882, Mr. Newburn married Florence M. Newton. She was born in Preble County, Ohio, October 10, 1861, and was brought to Andrew County when seven years of age. Her parents were Thomas and Lucinda (Leach) Newton. Thomas Newton, Sr., the great-grand- father of Mrs. Florence M. Newton Newburn, was born in Ireland. He came to America, and on the 28th of March, 1818, bought a carding mill Vol. II1-50

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of his son Thomas Newton, Jr., the consideration being $1,000, which is shown by the original contract still in the possession of the family. The mill was on Beaver Creek, in Preble County, Ohio, and was used for carding wool for many years. Thomas Newton, Jr., was married in 1823 to Mrs. Rebecca Anderson (her former husband being dead). To them was born two children: Elizabeth Newton (Early) and Thomas Newton. The father, Thomas Newton, Jr., died in 1840. The mother, Rebecca Newton, lived with her children until her death in 1862 at the age of seventy-five years. Thomas Newton, Jr., had two sons by a former marriage, Isaac and Asa Newton; and Rebecca Newton, wife of Thomas Newton, Jr., also had five children by the name of Anderson, from a former marriage. Thomas Newton, the father of Mrs. Florence M. Newton Newburn, was born in Preble County, Ohio, on October 31, 1829, and died in Andrew County, Missouri, July 2, 1905. Lucinda Leach Newton, his wife, was born in Tennessee August 18, 1830, and died in Andrew County, Missouri, December 11, 1900. Thomas Newton and Lucinda Leach were married in Eaton, Preble County, Ohio. In 1867 Thomas Newton and wife and three children and William Leach (his wife's brother) drove through in a wagon from Eaton, Ohio, to Roches- ter, Andrew County, Missouri, the trip taking six weeks. Jacob Leach, the grandfather of Mrs. Newburn on the mother's side, was married in Tennessee in 1826, to Matilda Jennings (who with her brother, Pleasant Jennings, had come from England). About the year 1831 Jacob Leach and wife with two small children left Tennessee and came through on horseback to near Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives. They were parents of eleven children, as follows: Luelsa Leach Jellison, Lucinda Leach Newton, Sarah Jane Leach Charles, Julia A. Leach Potterf, Mary Ellen Leach Krug, Susanna Leach White, Peter Leach, who died in infancy, William Leach, John P. Leach, Matilda Leach Wilson and Thomas N. Leach. Jacob Leach died near Eaton, Ohio, in the year 1880, and his wife Matilda Leach died in 1882. Thomas Newton followed farming most of his life, but when a young man had learned the trade of cooper, and also worked at various times at car- pentry. He possessed a natural genius for mechanical work, and that was a factor in his success as a farmer. The children in the Newton family were: Sarah, deceased wife of Richard Skinner; Thomas W., who lives at St. Joseph ; Mrs. Newburn; Eva, wife of Edward Kelsey, of Rochester Township; James E. Newton, born April 8, 1852, died March 6, 1853, and William A. Newton, born October 11, 1853, and died August 28, 1855.

Mr. and Mrs. Newburn have one son, Percy E., who was born on a farm in Rochester Township, July 22, 1883. He received his education in the country schools and after finishing a course in a commercial college at Savannah became an employe of the Cosby State Bank, and is now a director and assistant cashier of that institution. Percy Newburn mar- ried Clara E. Hartman, a daughter of J. W. Hartman, now deceased.

RUDOLPH C. MANDLER. An industry that has grown and flourished in Northwest Missouri during the past several decades is the operation of farm lands for the production of dairy goods. Ever since the neces- sity for pure milk has been recognized many of the most progressive agriculturists of this section have devoted their activities to dairying, and that industry is the chief feature of the farm enterprise of Rudolph C. Mandler, a prosperous and well known citizen of section 12, Monroe Township, Andrew County. Mr. Mandler has spent practically all his life in Andrew County, and has won his present standing as a business

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man and farmer by close attention to business, and a well seasoned judgment in the management of his affairs.

Rudolph C. Mandler was born near Berlin, Germany, February 1, 1870, a son of John and Louisa (Reschke) Mandler, natives of the same country. Three months after his birth his parents emigrated to America, locating at St. Joseph. The father died in this country in September, 1871, at the age of thirty-eight. His widow subsequently married Chris- tian Harr, and she lived until 1910, passing away at the age of sixty-six. By her first marriage there were three children: Mrs. Christina Ochse, deceased ; Rudolph; and Louisa, wife of Louis Bepper of Fall City, Nebraska. By her marriage to Mr. Harr there were four children: Christian Harr of Easton, Missouri; Eva, wife of William Bunse, God- fried, and Herman, all of Cosby.

Rudolph C. Mandler was brought to Andrew County before the beginning of his conscious recollections, and after his education found employment on farms, and has steadily advanced to a substantial pros- perity. He is now proprietor of a farm of 120 acres, and most of its improvements have been placed there by Mr. Mandler. He keeps a dairy of eighteen graded Jersey cows, and ships cream to the St. Joseph market. The other bi-products and farm produce are fed to Poland China hogs, and he also has been successful as a poultry raiser, the barred rock fowls being his specialty. Mr. Mandler is also a director in the Cosby State Bank.

In politics he voted with the republican party, and is a member of the Evangelical Association. On March 3, 1893, Mr. Mandler married Mary Bunse. She was born on the farm where she now lives July 31, 1871, and has never had any other home than this place. Her parents were Christian and Minnie (Zimmerman) Bunse, both of whom were born in Waldec, Germany, were married there, and in 1866 emigrated to America and settled in Andrew County. There her mother died in 1875 and her father passed away in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Mandler are parents of four children now living : Elsie, Wesley, Freda and Ada, besides one named Selma and an infant who are deceased.

FATHER HENRY B. TIERNEY. As a poet-priest and lecturer, Father Tierney's reputation and recognition have been growing steadily for the past ten years, and while he is claimed as a product of Northwest Mis- souri, the influence of his oratory and his song has spread afar. He has been in Trenton nine years, where in addition to the upbuilding of St. Joseph's parish there, he has made himself an important factor in the civic and social affairs of that community. He has spread through- out the country this motto: "Get acquainted with your neighbor, you might like him." He was particularly active in the Trenton Commercial Club, and prepared much of the literature for the publicity committee of that club, as a result of which "The Trenton Idea" has made Trenton perhaps the most talked of town in the State of Missouri. In fact, "The Trenton Idea," of which Father Tierney is the originator, is now nationally known and is being adopted throughout the country as a prac- tical plan of real union between town and country.

Father Tierney was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, July 13, 1878, of Irish-American parentage. His father was Mark Tierney and his mother Margaret Gleason, both of them natives of Indiana. but of Irish parents. Father Tierney attended the public schools of St. Joseph, going through the grammar and high schools of that city. His inclinations were early turned toward literary work. His first poem appeared in the old St. Joseph Gazette in 1888, when he was only ten years of age. A few years later he became reporter and special writer for several of the

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St. Joseph daily papers, and also contributed to papers in other Ameri- can cities and also to a London paper in England. He now entered the Benedictine College, St. Benedict's, at Atchison, Kansas, and finished with honors the six-year classical course. During all this time his writ- ings were appearing regularly in leading periodicals. He then returned to practical journalism on the St. Joseph Press and the Gazette Herald for one year, at the expiration of which he resumed his theological studies and a course in sacred oratory at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis. While in the seminary he revealed his unusual powers as a speaker and also an extraordinary ability as a writer of prose and verse. By this time his poems were being published in periodicals not only in the United States, but by magazines abroad. In 1903 he received a gold medal from King Christian of Denmark as the grand prize for the best royal poem in the international literary contest celebrating the remarkable visit of the Dowager Czarina of Russia to her royal father, King Christian, in Denmark.

Father Tierney was ordained by Rt. Rev. M. F. Burke in January, 1906, at St. Joseph Cathedral, the church in which he had been a member all his life and in which his parents were married July 4, 1877, by Bishop John J. Hogan. The young priest's mother was at the point of death at the time of her son's ordination, and as a special privilege from Bishop Burke he was permitted to say his first mass at the bedside of his dying mother. February 1, 1906, Father Tierney was sent to Brook field. Missouri, and January 1, 1907, was assigned to the pastorate of St. Joseph's Church in Trenton, Missouri, and the St. John's Mission Church in Gillman City. His parish now extends over territory com- prising five counties, i. e., Grundy, Harrison, Mercer, Daviess and part of Livingston. He holds services at nine points in these five Northwest Missouri counties, in four of which he has churches.

As an American poet Father Tierney has been frequently called the successor of Father Abram Ryan, the late poet-priest of the South. His published poems if collected would fill several volumes. Neale & Co., Union Square, New York, have just published (May, 1915) the first volume of his poems. Five thousand copies of the first edition have been sold. He is noted as an orator, and has appeared on the lecture platform in all parts of the country. Some of the subjects of his lectures are : "Shams and Hypocrites, a Constructive Lecture;" "Back to God, the Moral Revolt;" "Is God Dead ? a Plea for the Common Man;" "Thou Shalt Not-a Lecture on Marriage;" "Literature and Life;" "True Education ;" "Unity of Christendom ;" "The Scarlet Woman, a Lecture on the Catholic Church;" "Money, Women and Whisky." He is an active member of the International Lyceum Association of America, the Catholic Writers' Guild, and Council No. 571 of the Knights of Columbus at St. Joseph. Father Tierney's poetry is characterized by a rare charm of expression as well as a wonderful delicacy of sentiment. He furnished the words and the music to an ancient Irish lullaby from a Gaelic fragment, entitled "S-Hoh-Heen Shoh," a ballad which was sung by one of the principals of the Irish National Theater Company at St. Louis World's Fair, and has since been published and had a large sale. His best known poems are : "Mother o' Mine," "The American Flag," and "The Heart of God."

THE AMERICAN FLAG

Unfurl the flag of freedom, lo, behold! The ensign of a people young and bold ; Repeat our banner's story, Salute the flag of glory Which reveals the stars of freedom in each fold.

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REFRAIN

The Stars and Stripes shall never kiss the dust, The sword of Justice never sleep in rust,

O, our hearts are loyal, true To our old red, white and blue

Love for God and home and country is our trust.

Every true heart of the nation deep must feel The thrilling, patriotic vim and zeal

Which has shaped our glorious fate, Making each new grateful state

In Old Glory's azure field a living seal !

God has made our land a nation rich and great, He inspired our fathers with a nation's fate, Their principles were few, Immortal, simple, true-

Eternal, are His laws for man and state.

Americans we are, and brave at heart, And every man of us will do his part, Let our declaration stand, Soul aflame and flag in hand,

We will serve in peace and war with willing heart. -Father H. B. Tierney, in Leslie's Weekly.

SAMUEL TENNESSEE FUNK. A worthy and capable representative of the agricultural interests of Harrison County is found in the person of Samuel Tennessee Funk, who is the owner of 300 acres of well- developed land in sections 16 and 17, township 63, range 29, and in section 11, of the same township and range. Mr. Funk was born March 10, 1874, on the old Funk homestead at New Hampton, upon which Riley N. Funk now resides and which the latter owns.

The paternal grandfather of Samuel T. Funk was Martin Funk. who was born December 25, 1800, in Rockingham County, Virginia, of Ger- man descent, his remote ancestor being one of four brothers who came to America from Germany and probably settled in Virginia. It is not known that they owned slaves, and for the most part they were agri- culturists, although Henry Funk, one of the early members of the family became a scholarly man and was the publisher of an almanac. The Funks were originally Mennonites. Martin Funk had a fair edu- cation, was a democrat in politics, although he never held political office, had no military record, and was not a professed member of any church. He followed farming throughout his life and died in June, 1881, when he was eighty years of age.

Nathaniel Funk, the father of Samuel T. Funk, was born in Rock- ingham County, Virginia, Angust 25, 1826, and was a child when he accompanied his parents to Henry County, Indiana. There he was reared, educated and married, and was living there when the Civil war came on, but the township in which he resided furnished the money necessary to provide the troops called for by the Government, and he was not drafted for military service. He came to Harrison County, Mis- souri. in 1865, and purchased the homestead at New Hampton. in section 17, township 63, range 29, and there passed his remaining years and died December 23. 1909. He was a democrat in politics, but not a politician. and only held the offices of member of the district school board and post-

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master, the latter when the office was situated in his home, before the location of the Town of "Hamptonville," now New Hampton. He was one of the substantial men of his community and aided in the building of the Foster church. He was a Universalist in religious belief, but as there was no church of that denomination in his neighborhood, he divided his labors, and never failed to donate to religious movements. He belonged to no secret or fraternal order. Mr. Funk was married the first time to Eliza J. Courtney, a daughter of John Courtney, of Indiana, and three children were born to them: Joseph, a leading farmer of Harrison County ; Mart, of El Paso County, Colorado; and Margaret, who became the wife of J. W. Sevier, of Portland, Oregon. Mr. Funk's second marriage was to Miss Catherine Huffman, who was born August 15, 1832, and who died in June, 1890, daughter of Jonathan Huffman, a Virginian, who died in Rockingham County, his native state. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Funk: Riley Napoleon, who lives on the old homestead; Gillie A., the wife of Sam Claytor, of Harrison County ; and Samuel T., of this notice.

Samuel T. Funk grew to manhood on the homestead farm at New Hampton, and received his education in the district school, in the mean- time learning the elements of farm work and assisting his father and brothers. He left the parental roof at the age of twenty-one years, at which time he was married and located upon a portion of the home- stead. He has continued to be successfully identified with the raising of grain and the breeding of stock, and through industry and intelligent effort has made himself one of the substantial men of his township. His improvements are of the most substantial character, and his com- modious and conspicuously large two-story house is one of the best farm residences in the locality. In his political affiliations Mr. Funk is a democrat, but he is without experience in public office. His religious connection is with the Christian Church, and at the present time he is acting as deacon of the New Hampton church.

In February, 1895, Mr. Funk was married to Miss Nannie Clabaugh, a daughter of Isaiah J. Clabaugh, and to this union there have been born seven children : Bernice, Ed Ray, Edith May, Doris, Lucille, Robert S. and Lois. Mr. Funk's interests outside of his farm are as a stockholder in the Farmers Lumber Association of New Hampton, the Farmers Scales and the Worth Mutual Telephone Company here.

Isaiah J. Clabaugh, who passed away at New Hampton in September, 1907, at the age of sixty-four years, came here in the fall of 1876 and was a farmer south of the village for several years, when he moved to the town and was engaged in the hardware business for two decades. He was a man of prominence in church matters, being a preacher of the Primitive Baptist faith, and was a reader and great student of the Bible. He had no military record during the Civil war, and his only public service was as postmaster during the early days of New Hampton, his political belief being that of the democratic party.

The Clabaughs originated in Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Funk's grand- father was Henry Clabaugh, who spent his life in Ohio. He married Rebecca Hofert, and their children were: Joseph S. A., who died at Albany, Missouri; Isaiah J .; Lavina, who married William Laferty and died in Oklahoma; and John D., of Wieser, Idaho. Isaiah J. Clabaugh was born in Ohio, and as a young man left the state and went to Iowa, where he was married, subsequently going to Nebraska, where he home- steaded land near Beatrice, and finally coming to Missouri. His wife was Miss Nancy Beebe, a daughter of Arch Beebe, and she died in 1881, the mother of these children : Arch L., a lawyer and real estate man of New Hampton ; Charles C., of Canon City, Colorado; and Nancy, who

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is Mrs. Funk. Mr. Clabaugh was married a second time, his wife being Anice Highnote, and they had four children: Worthy, John, William, and Ruth.

Arch L. Clabaugh, son of Isaiah J. Clabaugh, and brother of Mrs. Funk, was born near Beatrice, Nebraska, April 4, 1870. He received his early education in the public schools, following which he attended the Stanberry Normal School, and entered upon his career as a teacher. He followed the profession in the public schools of Harrison County for four years, his last school being at Bell, just east of New Hampton, and next engaged in farming for three years in Worth County, Missouri. This was followed by a period in the hardware business with his father at New Hampton, and finally he engaged in real estate transactions which have occupied his attention to the present time. Mr. Clabaugh read law alone in his own office and was admitted to the bar before Judge Wana- maker, examined by a committee composed of Alex Cummins, Ezra Frisby and Carl Winslow, and was examined in a class with Polk Oxford of Cainsville. His admission occurred May 18, 1905, but he has prac- ticed little, using his legal knowledge in his own private business and in advising people to keep out of lawsuits.

CHARLES A. EVANS. It requires some exceptional ability and talent to run successfully a country journal anywhere, and the problem is no less difficult in Northwest Missouri. One of the men who have ventured with success in this special field is Charles A. Evans, now editor and proprietor of the Edgerton Journal in Platte County. Mr. Evans began working in a printing office when a boy, contributing his wages to the support of the family, which had been deprived of its head through the affliction of blindness. Mr. Evans has been connected with a number of newspapers in Northwest Missouri, and though a product of the older school of journalism, has adapted himself to the modern usages and requirements and is conducting a live and prosperous paper at Edgerton.

Charles A. Evans was born at Liberty in Clay County, Missouri, February 20, 1861, a son of Lafayette and Sarah (Huff) Evans. There were three other children: Mary, deceased; Margaret, wife of Fred Gordon, of Nevada, Missouri; and Annie, deceased. The parents were married in Tennessee, moved from there to Springfield, Illinois, and thence to Liberty in Clay County, Missouri. The father was a tailor by trade, and followed that vocation a number of years. He and his wife are Baptists, he a democrat, and served in the Home Guard during the war.

Charles A. Evans grew up in Liberty, and had little schooling. In 1878 his father went blind, and as the only son the burden of family support largely fell on his youthful shoulders. He spent his years of apprenticeship and also earned journeyman's wages with the old Liberty Advance, spending ten years there, and then became foreman for the Liberty Tribune, filling that post ten years. Removing to Nevada, Mis- souri, he bought a half interest in the Nevada Noticer, but five years later sold out and returned to Liberty with the Herald. In 1900 Mr. Evans went to Triplet, Missouri, bought the Tribune there, and there showed his special ability as a newspaper man, since he was the first editor who had succeeded in running that paper for more than a year. The party from whom he acquired it had lasted only eleven weeks. He made the enterprise self-supporting and profitable, and continued its management for six years. Selling out, he went to Richmond, Missouri, to become manager of the Democrat, and somewhat later this paper was sold and the plant removed to Independence, Mr. Evans going along with it. A year later he became connected with the Dearborn Democrat, and in

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February, 1908, bought the Edgerton Journal, which he now owns and publishes.

Mr. Evans is a democrat in politics. He was married December 23, 1891, to Gertrude I. Mosby, a graduate of Liberty Ladies' College, who was born northeast of Liberty in Clay County. They have two sons: Estes of Kansas City, and Jack M. of Kansas City.

JOHN DONOVAN. On November 18, 1913, sudden death brought to a termination the career of this honored and influential citizen of St. Joseph. It was said of John Donovan that probably no man had done more to further the interests of his home city, at least during its modern epoch of upbuilding, since it was through his efforts and influence in a conspicuous degree that St. Joseph became an important cattle center and the location of several of the extensive packing house industries. All his life he was a hard worker, beginning with the time when as a small boy he drove cattle to earn a meagre support, and the results he accomplished in less than sixty years of life are a tribute to a marvelous energy and fine personality. His character was the positive expression of a strong nature, and he fully merited the confidence and esteem reposed in him in the city to whose advancement he contributed in such practical and generous measure. For a number of years John Donovan was one of the substantial capitalists and men of affairs in Northwest Missouri. He was president of the St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat & Power Company, vice president of the St. Joseph Stock Yards Company, was a banker, built or helped to build a number of St. Joseph's most conspicuous architectural monuments, and was interested in enterprises of a varied character that did much to uphold the civic and material welfare of St. Joseph. Essentially a practical and rugged business man, blunt in his speech, vigorous and effective in all his manners and actions, he was nevertheless a man among men, and has many pleasing associa- tions with the friends who had been attracted to him by his sincerity, genialty and sterling worth of character.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 117

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 912

Author: Williams, Walter, 1864-1935 editor
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 912