A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 13

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

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More in business than in politics have all his activities been directed, and though a republican he has never sought nor held office. He is a Methodist, but a member of no fraternal order. In his prime he pos- sessed rather remarkable physical vigor, and even in his retirement his ambition for trading and money-making remains as keen as ever. He carries into age one valuable resource, and that is an interest in books and general affairs, and he has always been a wide reader, and has always retained an unprejudiced and impartial mind. Soon after his return from the army, November 2, 1865, he married in Harrison County Miss Nancy Ellen Wiley, who was born in Indiana December 2, 1844, and died November 4, 1911. She was a daughter of Wilfred Wiley, who lived in Johnson County, Indiana, and she came with her widowed mother in 1860 and located in Fox Creek Township of Harrison County. She was noted as an active Methodist, possessed a splendid voice in singing, and was a woman of strong and useful influence in home, church and community, and it was her efforts which brought her hus- band into the church. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel B. Neff had the following children: George T .; Landa P., who married Dora Harvey and at his death in Bethany left two children; Minta O., who married Robert Kin- kade of Coffey, Missouri; Emma M., who married Albert Springer and died in Harrison County ; Joseph S., who married Ella Babymeyer, and who is a farmer on the old homestead; Addie O., the wife of William Kinkade of Sherman Township; Eva L., wife of Frank Miller, near Harrisonville; Essie M., of San Diego, California; and Ona Ree, wife of Ross Tilley.

George T. Neff, the oldest of the children, grew up on his father's large stock farm in Harrison County, and received his education in the Stephens district school. At the same time he was given a thorough drilling in farming and stock raising, and was a pupil and disciple of his father. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one he became an inde-

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pendent farmer in Fox Creek Township, and later in Sherman Town- ship, and in his developing career followed somewhat closely along the lines in which his father was so successful. He has fed stock in large numbers on his land, and shipped in carload lots to the principal mar- kets. Although he still retains large interests as a farmer, Mr. Neff moved his family into Bethany two years ago in order to secure school advantages for his children. At Bethany he now conducts a meat and grocery business. Mr. Neff has taken no special active part in politics, and has never joined a secret order.

He is the head of a happy family. In Harrison County on Decem- ber 17, 1889, he married Miss Cora B. Nighthart. Her father was Philip Nighthart, who was born in Hesse, Germany, October 10, 1833, and in 1838 the family emigrated to America and settled among the pioneers in Sherman Township of Harrison County. Philip Nighthart went out to California when he was still a boy, following the gold discoveries of the days of 1849, but the most of his active years were spent in farming. He married Elizabeth Smith, who is still living at the Nighthart home- stead. Their children were thirteen in number, eleven of whom reached maturity, namely : Mary, wife of William Taggart; Mrs. Neff, who was born July 9, 1869; Ida' M., wife of Willard Bolar; Calm G., of Sugar Creek Township in this county ; Flora A., who died in Oklahoma as the wife of John Miller; John H., of Cypress Township, Harrison County ; Bess M., wife of Oscar Sanders, of Sherman Township; Pearl E., wife of Pearl Puls; Miss Velma ; Harrison ; and Goldie, wife of Roy Fordyce.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Neff are: Gladys Ona, a student in the University of Missouri; Kathleen, a senior in the Bethany High School; Daniel Barnett; and Maxine, who died at the age of four years.

JOHN H. CARPENTER. One of the old and honored family names of Harrison County is represented in the courthouse at Bethany by the present county treasurer, John H. Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter has the ability, not in common with most men, of combining politics and busi- ness successfully, and was a successful Harrison County farmer before he became generally recognized as a factor in public affairs.

He comes by this ability naturally, since his father, the late Judge Alfred Carpenter, is well remembered by all the older generation as one of the ablest men of his time, while the grandfather, Cephus Car- penter, back in Vermont, was a country lawyer and more especially dis- tinguished for the ability of his sons. Cephus Carpenter died in Ver- mont, and was the father of Ira, whose son, Senator Matt H. Carpenter, was one of the ablest public leaders from the state of Wisconsin; John H .; Bradford; Alfred; Stephen and Curtis, besides two daughters.

Judge Alfred Carpenter was born in Washington County, Vermont, March 13, 1810, and lived there until 1837. His was a fair education, but much reading and a keen interest in all public questions broadened his intelligence far beyond that of the ordinary man. When he left Vermont and started west, he stopped a time in Galena, Illinois, and then on to Jackson County, Iowa .. From Iowa he went west to Cali- fornia following the discovery of gold, encountering the Indians of the plains, later was a victim of the scourge of cholera, and after prospect- ing in California and being absent from home a year, returned by the Isthmus route. After nearly nineteen years of residence in Iowa, he moved to Missouri in 1856, locating and entering land on Yankee Ridge in Harrison County. His claim was in section 2, township 64, range 27. He broke the land, fenced it and Jared there ten years. His next place was in section 28, tow-skup 64 Zange 26, Trail Creek Township, where he lived until his death. He was a successful farmer, owned

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half a section of land, and in material circumstances as well as in public affairs was one of the most substantial men of the locality. He died March 23, 1880, at the age of seventy.

Judge Carpenter became a proponent of the abolition movement before he left New England, and everyone knew his convictions on the matter. He was a whig and then a strong republican, and a fervid admirer of William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips, the abolition orators of slavery times, and during the existence of that institution was one of the conductors on "the underground railroad," assisting many fugitive slaves to get beyond the jurisdiction of their masters. His first public service in Harrison County was as justice of the peace, and during the war, though past fifty, he enlisted in the Sixth Missouri State Militia, and remained about thirteen months, until discharged for physical disability "over age." His service was all as a private and confined to the state.

After the war he was chosen one of the county judges, and drew the lot which made him presiding judge, in which capacity he administered the fiscal affairs of the county eight years. It was during his adminis- tration that the first county farm was bought and the first county home built. At the same time the municipal townships were established and named. His term as judge began in 1864 and continued .until 1872. An important result of his official term was the placing of Harrison County on a sound financial basis, and the influence of that business- like term has continued and is said to be largely responsible for the freedom from indebtedness which the county now enjoys. After retir- ing from the office, he took little part in politics during the eight remain- ing years of his life. He assisted in the organization of the republican party in Harrison County, always attended county conventions, and was frequently honored as their chairman.

Judge Carpenter had no special gift as a public speaker, though able to hold his own in any conversation or private debate. He was noted for his independence in both thought and action. There was never a time when he did not have a conviction on questions of importance, and he uttered his sentiments without réservation. His pro-slavery enemies referred to him as the "old abolitionist of Yankee Ridge." In mat- ters of religion he was considered by many an agnostic, though a believer in the immortality of the soul, and later in life he is said to have em- braced the doctrines of spiritualism. While not opposed to the prin- ciples of secret orders, he never had a membership in one.

Judge Carpenter was married in Jackson County, Iowa, October 5, 1840, to Miss Mary K. Cheney. Her father, Carmel C. Cheney, was a shoemaker in Milford, Massachusetts, but after coming west was a farmer. He was prominent in Masonry, belonging to the chapter and commandery long before such organizations were effected in Harrison County, and had his affiliation with a lodge in Boston, Massachusetts. Mary K. Cheney, who died July 20, 1904, at the age of eighty-one, was born in Milford, Massachusetts, and was reared in a home of education and refinement. She possessed the intellectual and physical vigor of New England, was exceedingly industrious, and always retained her poise in whatever environment. When close to the age of four score, she was subpoenaed as a witness in court, and gave her testimony as composedly as if by her own fireside and in perfect English.

Judge Carpenter and wife were the parents of thirteen children, and those reaching mature life were: Winfield S., who died while in Company G of the Twenty-third Missouri Infantry; Annie U., who mar- ried Charles F. Fransham, and died in Harrison County; Carmel C., who was in the same regiment with his brother, and now lives at Moscow,

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Idaho; Ruth P., who married Alexander Cochran, and died at Pawnee, Kansas; Martha W., who married Warren N. Stevens, and now lives at Iola, Kansas; John H .; Mary A., deceased, who was the wife of Carl Wilson; Ida E., wife of Thomas Renfro, of Bethany; Alfred, of Fort Scott, Kansas; Esther K., wife of John J. Ellis, and now lives in Idaho; Sarah E., who married Thomas E. Bridge, deceased, and now lives at Chandler, Oklahoma; Eldora, wife of George Wooderson, of Harrison County ; and Schuyler C., of Mt. Moriah, Missouri.

Mr: John H. Carpenter was born in Jackson County, Iowa, Decem- ber 14, 1851, and was about five years old when his father settled in the Yankee Ridge community of Harrison County. His education came from the country schools in Ridgeway and Mt. Moriah localities, and from his majority engaged in farming as his life work. His pos- sessions in material goods were those of a poor man when he married, and near Mt. Moriah he bought forty acres on time, and paid for it by industry and frugality. His present farm, to which he moved in 1890, is located in section 34, township 64, range 26. His election in 1908 caused him to remove to Bethany.

In view of his father's activities in a political way, he grew up in an atmosphere where public questions and politics were in constant dis- cussion, and since casting his first presidential vote for Rutherford B. Hayes he has never missed a general election. For twenty-one years he served his home township, Trail Creek, as clerk and assessor, and was the representative of Harrison County in the convention of assessors held at Jefferson City in 1894. He was in the township office when elected county treasurer in 1908. At that time he won out in the pri- maries in competition with five opponents, but had the primaries of 1912 all to himself. Mr. Carpenter is a Methodist, and a member of the Knights of Pythias.

July 27, 1879, he married Miss Mary Silby Prater, a daughter of William J. and Margaret E. (Bailey) Prater. Her father came from near Vandalia, Illinois, to Missouri in the fifties, and was a farmer and blacksmith at Mt. Moriah. Mrs. Carpenter was the first of six chil- dren by his first wife. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have two children, William A. and Edith, who died when four years old.

CHARLES W. LEAZENBY, who belongs to the pioneer settlers of the Mount Moriah community of Northwest Missouri, and whose life has been passed as a farmer and stockman almost within the atmosphere of his bringing-up, is a native of Pickaway County, Ohio, and was born July 22, 1853. His father was William Leazenby, one of the heads of this somewhat numerous pioneer family, and was born March 1, 1827, in the same county and under the environment of a Methodist preacher's home, his father being the Rev. Joshua Leazenby, who moved into Ohio among its pioneers and was born March 18, 1797.

Following back to the original of the Leazenby forefathers, we find Thomas, the father of Rev. Joshua Leazenby, born July 1, 1751, in Dublin, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish blood and an only child, and who seems to have run away from home, according to tradition, at the age of twelve years. Making his way to America, we find from the best records acces- sible that he located in the Pennsylvania colony and there married Miss Elizabeth Bailey, they rearing a family of four children, among whom were Thomas and Joshua. In later years the old folks moved to Ohio, and their last years were passed in Pickaway County.

Rev. Joshua Leazenby spent his life in the ministry, having much to do with the effective work of the pioneer Methodists of Pickaway County. He was an excellent type of the pioneer preachers of that day, wore his

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"plug" hat, carried on his work on horseback, and possessed a greatly treasured library which contained among other books, Flavius Josephus' "History of the Jews," the works of Doctor Dick, and Baxter's "Saints' Rest." Like most pioneer preachers his emoluments were few, and as a result he left no large material estate, but the universal respect of his community went out to his memory when he was laid to rest, July 29, 1836. Rev. Joshua Leazenby married Lucinda Toothaker, a member of a family of rugged, virile, thrifty people, of English stock. Lucinda Toothaker was born August 1, 1803, and died July 4, 1881. She was the mother of these children: James, born July 27, 1823, who died in Miami County, Kansas, leaving a family; William, the father of Charles W., who died in Harrison County, Missouri, February 23, 1908; Rachel, who died in infancy; Alexandria, who died in childhood; Wesley, who spent three years as a soldier in the Union army during the Civil war, returned to farming and died as one of the successful agriculturists of Harrison County ; and Isaac, born May 9, 1835, who died January 21, 1887, leaving a family of several children.

William Leazenby's wife was Nancy Jane Coffman, who bore her husband two sons, Charles Wesley, of this review; and William Henry, whose career is sketched on another page of this work.

Charles W. Leazenby was a child of three years when his parents made their journey by wagon from Ohio and settled on Yankee Ridge, near Ridgeway, Missouri, in August, 1856. The family lived in their covered wagon until their primitive log cabin was built, having the usual puncheon floor and clapboard door that were to be found on Northwest Missouri pioneer homes.

After a few years, however, the family moved from this location and located at the Fransham farm, east of Ridgeway, and there resided about five years. Mr. Leazenby acquired his education from the country and in the Paola (Kansas) Normal School, and at the age of eighteen years began his career on his own account as a teacher. His first school was the "Stoner," now the "Banner," school, a district which was three by six miles and which sent to school then the well known Doctor Stoner, Rev. U. G. Leazenby, the superintendent of the Crawfordsville (Indiana) district of the Methodist conference, and Anthony Skroh, one of the leading Bohemian farmers of Madison Township. Mr. Leazenby was paid twenty-five dol- lars a month for the first term, which pleased him much, and his board cost him two dollars a week. On Saturdays he usually worked for the farmer he boarded with and was allowed a dollar for his work, and when he had finished his school he had saved enough money to buy him a good mule. He rode this animal to and from his school for two or three years. Mr. Leazenby's services were such as to be demanded again by the board at an increase of five dollars a month and he continued to teach in the country about Mount Moriah and in the schools of that village, spending his summers as a farmer, and teaching his last school at Melbourn in 1901.

Mr. Leazenby bought his first farm in 1880, in Madison Township, and was married that year, and his first home was made where he now lives. This place was a virgin farm, without evidence of having been touched by the hand of man, and here Mr. Leazenby erected a small frame house, 16x24 feet, a story and one-half high, this serving him until the erection of his more substantial residence some years later. He engaged in improving, breaking out and raising stock successfully and some ten years ago became seriously interested in Short Horn cattle and Poland-China hogs, a stock which he has continued to exploit on his farm and in his community to the present time. He believes in the best blood for his stock, and his success with it has been so marked that

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his judgment would seem to be correct. Following the death of his parents Mr. Leazenby purchased his brother's interest in the old par- ental home and owns it now, this farm lying adjacent to his own pioneer home, his parents having moved to it in 1871.

Mr. Leazenby is of republican stock. His father voted that ticket, and he himself cast his first presidential vote for Rutherford B. Hayes and has voted for every republican presidential candidate since, save in 1888 when Grover Cleveland ran the second time, when he voted for him. He was sadly disappointed in the defeat of James G. Blaine and of President Taft. Mr. Leazenby attended the republican state conven- tion at Jefferson City when Chauncey I. Filley was the acknowledged leader of the republican forces in Missouri.

On May 2, 1880, Mr. Leazenby was married to Miss Ella M. Forbes, a daughter of J. H. and Fannie (Griswold) Forbes, who came to Mis- souri at the close of the Civil war from Elkhart County, Indiana. Mrs. Leazenby was born at Port Huron, Michigan, October 27, 1855, and was the third of seven children: Maurice, now a resident of Arkansas, who at the age of fifteen years answered the call for "100-day men" during the Civil war, in 1861, and, re-enlisting, served for three years in the Union army; Iola, who became the wife of Eli Graves and now lives at Palisades, Nebraska; Ella M., who is the wife of Mr. Leazenby of this review; Louise, who married Bedford Graves, of Eureka, Nebraska; Cora M., who is the widow of Hick Price, of Longmont, Colorado; Franklin, of Harrison County, Missouri; and George W., of Marshall- town, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Leazenby have the following children: Miss Bessie Ruth, born March 6, 1881, graduated at the head of her class at Bethany High School, in 1900, finished a course in the Kirksville Normal with the degree of B. P., in 1904, in 1910 did special work in English in the summer school of the state university, began teaching after she had finished at Bethany, taught in the New London High School, two years in the graded schools of Joplin, one year in Cainesville High School and a year in New Hampton, and at Kirksville and Joplin was active in the work of the Young Women's Christian Association; Homer Wadsworth, born June 16, 1882, took his education from the country schools, has spent his life as a farmer, living adjoining the old homestead, and mar- ried Rhoda M. Trotter, their children being Charles Edwin, Mary Fern, Forrest Wayne and Richard Thurman; Miss Amy Jane, born August 28, 1886, graduated from Bethany High School in 1904, spent two sum- mer terms in the state university, taught in the rural schools and in the Mount Moriah graded schools two years, holds a state certificate and finished first in her class at Bethany, and is now (1914 and 1915) tak- ing special work in the university; Miss Gladys Fern, born April 24, 1891, graduated from Bethany High School in 1910, began teaching then in the rural schools, spent a term in the Maryville Normal school, and has also taken a year's work in the University of Missouri.

Mr. Leazenby is a Mason, with a master's degree, and with his family is affiliated with the Methodist Church. He has given an impetus to the good roads movement, and was a deciding force in locating the Coal Valley Trail past his farm, having donated money and labor heavily on this road, far beyond the requirements of the law. He is a man of wide and varied information, entertaining and instructive in his conversa- tion, and the literary atmosphere of his home makes it a mecca for neighbors and strangers alike.

JOHN BROWN BRYANT. One of the younger men of Harrison County who have shown successful ability in business affairs and have also

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made themselves useful in a public way is John Brown Bryant, a son of Joseph F. Bryant, a prominent Northwest Missourian whose career is sketched at length on other pages of this work.

John Brown Bryant was born in Bethany August 20, 1870, and has spent most of his life. either in the town or the close vicinity. His education came from the city schools, supplemented by attendance at Woodland College in Independence, Missouri, and a commercial course in the old Stanberry Normal. His practical business career began at the age of twenty in the Cottonwood Valley National Bank at Marion, Kansas, where he remained two years. He returned to Harrison County to take up farming, and it was as a substantial farmer that he was known in this community for fifteen years.

While on the farm, in 1904, he was elected a member of the county court from the south district as successor to Judge Taggart, and was re-elected in 1906. Judge Miller was presiding judge and his associates in the administration of county affairs were Judges Alley and Tucker. During those four years the board busied itself besides the routine affairs with repairing the bridges of the county destroyed or damaged in the notable flood of that time. They also improved the county farm, adding more land and constructing a substantial barn. Mr. Bryant's successor on the county board was Olin Kies. Besides his work as a county official Mr. Bryant also was a member of the Bethany school board a number of years.

Having given up farming in the meantime and moved into Bethany, Mr. Bryant became interested in merchandising as a grocer three years, and then became a partner in the firm of Walker, Bryant & Company until they sold out to Chambers & Davis. Since then his business has been real estate and insurance, and he is also secretary and a director of the Bethany Savings Bank. Since leaving the county board he has taken only a nominal interest in politics, but still classifies as a repub- lican, the political faith in which he was reared. His fraternities are the Masonic, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.

In Harrison County on December 23, 1891, Mr. Bryant married Miss Carrie E. Howell. Her father was the late Judge John C. Howell, who died while on the circuit bench including Harrison County. Judge Howell was born in Morgan County, Illinois, August 18, 1833, and died at Bethany, September 29, 1882, and had been identified with Northwest Missouri since childhood and for many years was a notable figure in law and politics. He was one of two children, his sister being Mrs. Carrie Carson. His father was a Kentuckian, but settled in Illinois, and on moving to Missouri first lived in Clinton County, but in 1847 went to Gentry County, where Judge Howell grew up. He completed his edu- cation at old Bethany College in what is now West Virginia, an institu- tion founded by Alexander Campbell. After entering law, he found himself rapidly promoted in favor and success, and as a democrat was elected to the circuit bench before the formation of the district in which Harrison County is now included. He was a Mason and a member of the Christian Church. Mrs. Bryant is the only child of Judge Howell's marriage to Belle Brown, who was born near Monroe, Wisconsin, and died at Bethany. Mr. and Mrs. Bryant have two children: Marie, who graduated from the Bethany High School in 1913; and Helen, now in one of the grades of the Bethany public schools.

JAMES HENRY MORROWAY, M. D. A resident of Ridgeway since 1900, where he is now in the possession of a large and profitable prac- tice, Dr. Morroway is an excellent type of the modern and successful

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physician. Through his practice he has contributed a large amount of individual service, has taken a part in the organized activities of the profession and with his thorough knowledge of public affairs and capac- ity for civic leadership has come into prominence in Northwest Missouri politics.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 13

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