USA > Missouri > A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III > Part 22
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FAMILY GROUP OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN KELLY
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resentative farmers, and in the latter year moved to Lock Springs, and established a store for the sale of general merchandise. His store was burned out in 1909, but was soon afterwards replaced with a substantial brick building, which is now one of the best in the town. Besides his operations as a merchant, Mr. Litton has a good farm east of Lock Springs, and leases his land. Politically he is a democrat, and is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, and in 1872, joined the Masonic Order and is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Though past the limit assigned by the Psalmist to human life, Mr. Litton is still in the best of health and his present vigor gives promise of many more years of usefulness.
MARY JOSEPHINE LANE KELLY. In Davis Township of Caldwell County are to be found many homesteads that are not only valuable and attractive places from the standpoint of farming, but represent many of the most substantial families in this community. One of them, two miles out of Braymer, is the Kelly estate, now owned and occupied by Mrs. Kelly, whose husband was the late John Kelly, for many years actively identified with farming interests in this section. Mrs. Kelly occupies a home with 110 acres of land, and the original farm comprised 250 acres, but it has been divided, and Mrs. Kelly now occupies about half of the original acreage, with the old home. The Kelly homestead is a residence of seven rooms, attractively situated, and surrounded with barns, fields of grain, meadows and pastures, and all of it comprising almost an ideal rural residence.
The late John Kelly was born in Fulton County, Illinois, September 23, 1846. His father was Joseph Kelly, a native of Ohio, and the grand- father came from Ireland and was an early settler in Ohio. John Kelly was reared in Schuyler County, Illinois, was educated in the local schools, and was only seventeen years old when he volunteered for service in the Union army. He made an excellent record as a soldier, and then returned home to take up the practical duties of civil life, in which his record was not less noteworthy for the prosperity he won.
Mr. Kelly married, in 1868, Mary Josephine Lane, who was born January 22, 1847, and was reared and educated in Illinois. Her father was Alfred Lane, an Illinois farmer, born in Kentucky, and a man who exemplified the best manners of the old-fashioned Kentucky gentleman. Alfred Lane married Lydia Stambaugh, who was of Pennsylvania German stock. Mr. Lane was a democrat in politics, and in religion affiliated with the German Baptist Church or the Dunkards. Mrs. Kelly's mother died at the age of forty-four. The children in the Lane family were : Adren ; Mary Josephine Kelly ; James C .; Napoleon Bonaparte ; John C. B .; Rosa ; Amanda ; Elizabeth ; and Robert Lee, now deceased.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kelly lived for several years on an eighty acre farm in Illinois, and then sold out and came to Caldwell County, where he acquired 250 acres. He was a successful farmer and stockman and also operated during the season a threshing outfit. The improvements now seen on the farm are largely the result of his labors and enterprise. When he died, on April 5, 1908, he left a family of seven children, named as follows : Joseph, who is a capable young farmer operat- ing a place adjoining his mother's; Alfred E., who owns a valuable farm of 100 acres in Davis Township; James, now deceased; Iva McFee, who lives southeast of her mother; Cora M. Deam, who lives near Brecken- ridge, Missouri; Walter L., who is a young man in his twenties and a vigorous and successful farmer, assisting his mother in the management of the home estate; and Lou, who lives at Canton, Illinois.
The late John Kelly prospered during his residence in Caldwell Vol. III-10
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County, and deserved the high esteem in which he was held, since he made it a rule of conduct that his promised word should be as binding as a bond, and practiced the golden rule in all his relations with his fellow men.
NEVIN M. WETZEL, M. D. The president of the Daviess County Medical Society, Doctor Wetzel has been engaged in a large practice as physician and surgeon at Jameson and vicinity since 1903. His natural qualifications, his thorough training, and successful work have given him the high standing among the county's medical fraternity, so that his official position is an honor well deserved.
Doctor Wetzel comes of a prominent old Pennsylvania family. Many of the name are mentioned for prominent activities in the Pennsyl- vania annals of colonial and revolutionary times as well as in the affairs of the state. Some years before the Revolution four Wetzel brothers, John, Henry, Lewis and Jacob, emigrated from Germany and found homes in the new world, and a large number of their descendants have been identified with Pennsylvania. Doctor Wetzel's grandfather was Joseph Wetzel, his great-grandfather, Philip Wetzel, and his great-great- grandfather, Peter Wetzel. Peter's grave in Pennsylvania is marked by a large boulder, on which is cut the enigmatic characters-"I II 17." Doctor Wetzel interprets this to refer to Isaiah II, 17, a passage that reads-"And the loftiness of men shall be bowed down and the haughti- ness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."
Dr. Nevin M. Wetzel was born November 9, 1869, in what is known as Nitney Valley, near Lamar, Union County, Pennsylvania, a son of. Reuben and Matilda (Poorman) Wetzel. Both parents were born in the same locality, and the father was a farmer and stockraiser. In 1870 he brought his family from Pennsylvania, and after spending a year in Iowa settled in Daviess County, Missouri, in 1871, buying a farm two miles south of Jamesport. That was his home until about 1901, when he sold and bought another place three miles west of Jamesport, where he is still living, now in advanced years, at the age of eighty-three, having been born in 1831. The mother died in 1883. Her eleven children are named as follows: Alice, Mary, Olivia, Eva, Dr. Nevin, Cordelia, Reu- ben M., Ella and Etta, all of whom are living, while Lydia and Everett are deceased. The father is a republican and a member of the Presbyter- ian Church.
It was probably from his sturdy line of ancestors that Doctor Wetzel inherited his faculty of persistent and sustained effort which has been an important factor in his progress and success. His education has been exceedingly liberal and thorough, but it was acquired by hard work, and he earned nearly all the means used to take him through his various courses. He was educated in the country schools and the Jamesport High School, had a two years normal and business course at Grand River College in Edinburg, and in 1893 finished a special teacher's course at the Chillicothe Normal. Then followed several years of successful teach - ing, six months in Livingston County and the remainder of the time in Daviess County. In 1896 he entered the Barnes Medical College at St. Louis, now known as the National University of Science and Arts, took the full course of four years, and was graduated M. D. April 12, 1900. It has been the ambition of Doctor Wetzel to secure the highest qualifica- tions in his service as a physician and surgeon, and following his gradu- ation he spent several years in further preparation, attending post- graduate course and doing hospital work at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, the Bellevue Hospital and Medical College of New York, the University
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of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, and at Pittsburg. In the fall of 1903 he located for active practice at Jameson, and almost from the beginning has had full demands upon his time and ability. In 1908 he attended clinics in Chicago, and so far as his busy career allows is a constant student.
Doctor Wetzel has been honored for the past five years with the presidency of the Daviess County Medical Society, and is also a mem- ber of the Missouri State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Politically he was formerly a republican, but is now aligned with the progressive movement. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Doctor Wetzel was married October 4, 1910, to Miss Lillie Joachimi, of Versailles, Morgan County, Missouri.
JOHN EARL SCOTT. The Bank of Jameson, in which Mr. Scott has been cashier for the past five years, is the central financial institution of that prosperous and thrifty community served by it in Grand River Township of Daviess County. The names of the men associated with it during the quarter century of its existence would quite fairly represent the list of solid and substantial citizens of this community. The Bank of Jameson was organized in 1889, and started out with a capital of $10,000, but since 1892 the capital has been $15,000. An index of its strength is its present surplus and undivided profits, totaling over twenty thousand dollars. The first officers and directors were: M. G. Netheron, president ; A. J. Selsor, vice president ; L. M. Brown, cashier ; R. J. Lownie, secretary; and Z. A. Kimball and E. J. Walls. Sev- eral changes in the personnel were made in 1910, and since then the officers have been : J. F. Brown, president; J. H. Gillespie, secretary and vice president ; J. E. Scott, cashier ; R. E. Irwin, assistant cashier.
The Scott family has long and influentially been identified with Dav- iess County, John Earl Scott was born on his father's farm near Jame- son, November 15, 1880, a son of A. D. and Matilda J. (Brown) Scott, both of whom are still living, the former a native of De Witt County. Illi- nois, and the latter of Harrison County, Missouri. The grandfather was Dr. Alexander K. Scott, who came to Daviess County many years ago and settled on a farm east of Jameson. Beside the improvement and cultiva- tion of this land, which is still owned by his descendants, he also served the community through his profession as a physician. Up to 1892 Mr. A. D. Scott owned and operated a farm east of Jameson and adjoining the old homestead in Grand River Township, but then moved into town and began merchandising. The firm has since become the A. D. Scott & Sons, handling a large general merchandise stock, with a custom that has been steadily growing for years. Mr. A. D. Scott has been one of the very successful men, and besides his large farm east of Jameson owns 600 acres in Kansas and another tract in Oklahoma, and has stock in the Bank of Jameson. The father and sons have cooperated in their enter- prise, and their success serves to illustrate the truth of the Maxim, "in union there is strength." The active management of affairs has been turned over to the sons, who are all capable business men. The six children in the family are: Cordie ; John Earl; Jesse R .; Ray ; Albert, who died in 1912; and Laura.
John Earl Scott had a thoroughly practical training for business, with an education from the public schools of Grand River Township. He gained a knowledge of merchandising in the Scott store at Jameson, and followed that with a business course in Chillicothe. For more than ten years most of his time has been given to banking. In 1903 he was elected assistant cashier of the Bank of Jameson, but in 1906 resigned to accept the place of assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Gallatin and
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a few months later was promoted to cashier of that institution. He re- mained with the Gallatin Bank until 1908, and after that assisted in the management of the Scott family interests at Jameson until January 18, 1910, since which date he has filled the post of cashier in the Bank of Jameson. He is also a member of the firm of A. D. Scott & Sons.
In 1905 Mr. Scott married Lulu J. Graham, a daughter of Charles J. Graham of Jameson. Their two children are Richard Earl and Martha Lee. Mr. Scott is the present chancellor commander of Jameson Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and while a republican has never mingled in politics with any ambition for office.
BEN A. YATES. Since the year 1878, when he established himself in business at Pattonsburg, Ben A. Yates has associated his name with every movement which has marked the city's growth and development. Primarily a business man, the needs of his adopted community found in him a liberal contributor of time, ability and energy, and his public- spirited services in office of importance have been such as to hasten his locality's growth, elevate its ideals and add to its prestige.
Mr. Yates was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, August 21, 1855, and is a son of James A. and Louisa (Kibler) Yates. The Yates family is of English extraction, its founder in America having emigrated to this country prior to the War of the Revolution, and several families settled in New York and Virginia, Richard Yates, the war governor of Illinois, having come from the latter branch. The Kiblers originated in Germany, from whence Ben A. Yates' maternal grandfather came to the United States. The parents of Mr. Yates were both natives of Rappa- hannock County, Virginia, and there his father passed his entire life, teaching school in that and Page County. He died when Ben A. was still a small child, but the mother is still living, and since 1913 has made her home with her son, although previous to that time she lived in her native county.
Ben A. Yates received his education under the instruction of his uncle, Charles W. Yates, who was for fifty-two years a teacher and died in the schoolroom. After completing his studies, Mr. Yates secured em- ployment with the blind millionaire, Charles Broadway Rousse, who operated a chain of stores in Virginia, and with whom Mr. Yates re- mained for three years. In 1876, desiring to see something of the West, and believing that here better opportunities awaited the man of ambi- tion and energy, Mr. Yates came to Gallatin, Daviess County, Missouri, and in partnership with his cousin, R. G. Yates, began a grocery business. This association continued for two years, when Ben A. Yates disposed of his interests at Gallatin and came to Pattonsburg, here purchasing the Isaac McCulley hardware stock. Here he was successful in building up a large and representative business, through good management and hard and industrious labor, and continued to operate the enterprise alone until 1898, when he admitted to partnership his brother, W. Byrd Yates, and the firm adopted its present style of Yates Brothers. It is probable that this firm will be soon dissolved, however, as W. B. Yates has recently been appointed postmaster of Pattonsburg and will undoubtedly dispose of his business holdings that he may give his entire attention to his of- ficial duties. A large, up-to-date stock is carried by this store, includ- ing all kinds of shelf and heavy hardware, stoves and agricultural imple- ments and machinery, and the various other articles which are to be found in a modern hardware establishment. On two occasions Mr. Yates has suffered severe losses by fire, but in spite of these setbacks has pros- pered satisfactorily, and his standing in business circles is that of a sub- tantial man at the head of a paying business. His many years of honor-
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able and upright dealing have also gained him the name of a man of the utmost integrity, and his signature is an honored one on commercial paper.
Mr. Yates was reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has been generous in his support of its movements. Frater- nally, he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is the oldest in point of membership at Pattonsburg, and with the Knights of Pythias, in which he has been for years and is at present district deputy. Politically Mr. Yates is a democrat, and at various times has been called upon to fill such important offices as mayor, alderman and member of the school board, and for the past twenty years has held his present position of city treasurer. His public service has been character- ized by a display of conscientious fidelity to duty and an interest in his community which has put personal ambitions aside. Personally, Mr. Yates is a polished, courteous gentleman, a credit to the name he bears and to the community in which he has spent so many years.
In 1880 Mr. Yates was united in marriage with Miss Minnie Gabel, of Kansas, who was born in Ohio, and to this union there have come two daughters : Helen G., who is the wife of Gilbert Gromer, of Pattonsburg; and Lee, who is the wife of Charles Agee, of Mount Ayr, Iowa.
W. Byrd Yates, recently appointed postmaster at Pattonsburg, and a brother of Ben A. Yates, was born in Rappanhannock County, Virginia, January 19, 1852, and like his brother received his education under the instruction of his uncle, Charles W. Yates. When he was ready to enter upon a career of his own, he chose railroading as his sphere of activity, and until 1885 was employed on a run between Wilmington and Phila- delphia. In the year mentioned Mr. Yates was appointed to the United States Mail Service, under the administration of President Cleveland, and in this connection came to Missouri, continuing to act in the same ca- pacity until 1898, in which year he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. With his brother, Ben A. Yates, he founded the firm of Yates. Brothers, hardware dealers, a venture that succeeded and prospered, and. which will only terminate because of Mr. Yates' appointment to the post -. mastership by President Wilson. Mr. Yates is a stalwart and uncom- promising democrat and has long been an active and influential worker in the interests of his party. He is a Mason fraternally, and a member of the Christian Church.
In 1893, while a resident of Clinton County, Missouri, Mr. Yates was united in marriage with Miss Anna Wright, and four children have been born to this union: Mary, who is attending school at Lexington, Mis -- souri ; and Dorothy, Virginia and Elizabeth, all residing at home.
JOHN DAVIS DUNHAM, M. D. Holding the distinction of being the oldest practicing physician of Pattonsburg, in point of continuous serv- ice, Dr. John Davis Dunham has ministered to the physical wants and needs of the people of this place since July 14, 1881, and during this time has also taken an active and helpful part in the movements which have contributed to the community's growth and development. His skill in his profession and his sympathetic nature have attracted to him a large professional, business and given him high position in his calling, but his increasing duties have not deterred him from participation in affairs aside from his vocation.
Doctor Dunham was born in Pike County, Ohio, February 28, 1855, a son of Dr. W. H. and Henrietta (Odell) Dunham, and a member of an old and honored family on both the paternal and maternal sides. The Dunham family originated in England, from whence two brothers came to the United States, one going to Michigan and one to Alabama, it being-
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from the latter that Doctor Dunham is descended. His grandfather, Michael Dunham, emigrated from Alabama to Ohio. The Odell family came originally from Castle, Town and Church of Odell, Derbyshire, England, and possessed a coat-of-arms. The Castle of Odell was one of the strongest in the world at the time of its erection and was presented to Walter the Fleming by William the Conqueror. From Walter the Fleming descended the entire family, and the name has been variously spelled in the public records as Wahul, Woodhul, Wodhul, Wodell, Odle and Odell. The Castle of Odell passed out of the family name about the year 1575, when Agnes Odell, the owner, married Richard Chetwodes. The Ashtons, about two hundred years ago, purchased the property and erected a house of modern style (French Chateau) within the west wall; the wall they preserved, owing to its great antiquity and strength. The interior of the house contains some of the rooms that formed part of the . ancient stronghold, and the River Ouse flows on the east side, while the Village of Odell surrounds it. The foregoing record, being taken from the British Museum, is correct and authentic.
The Odell family was founded in America by three Odell brothers, who emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1760, and one of these mi- grated to New York State, ex-Governor Odell being one of his descend- ants. The maternal great-grandfather of Dr. John D. Dunham was Maj. James Odell, who married and settled near Baltimore, Maryland, but in 1800 migrated to Fairfield County, Ohio, and later went to Highland County, Ohio, where he is found raising a company of volunteers for service during the War of 1812. At the close of that struggle he went to the Territory of Michigan and later was elected a member of the first Constitutional Convention of that state. He died in 1845.
William Odell, son of Maj. James Odell, and maternal grandfather of Dr. John Davis Dunham, was born at Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1806, and was seventeen years of age when he went to Virginia, in which state he engaged in teaching school. He served as a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1827 and 1828 and was a prominent man in his community, but in 1841 went to Pike County, Ohio, making the journey of 450 miles by wagon. There he passed the remaining years of his life. Among his children was a son, James F. Odell, who was land appraiser for Seal and Scotia townships, Pike County, Ohio, sheriff of Pike County, United States marshal, deputy sheriff and United States pension agent, and still a resident of Pike County.
While in Virginia, William Odell was married to Sarah Candy, who belonged to a Scotch-Irish family that came to America from Ireland. Her father, Capt. James Caudy, emigrated to this country in 1751, built a blockhouse, and with a company of volunteers protected the first set- tlers of Hampshire and Jefferson counties, Virginia. Caudy Castle, an inaccessible retreat in the mountains, 887 feet high, is always pointed out to sightseers who visit that part of Virginia. Another family con- nection of distinction enjoyed by Doctor Dunham is through his father's mother, who was a Pickerel, and whose father, Thomas Pickerel, served as a drummer-boy during the War of the Revolution. . The Pickerels were likewise known for their religious fervor, and were the builders of the first Campbellite (Christian) Church in Ohio.
Dr. W. H. Dunham, father of Dr. John Davis Dunham, was born in Brown County, Ohio, and for many years practiced medicine in Pike and Jackson counties, Ohio. During the Civil war he raised and com- manded as captain a company of volunteers, known as Company I, Thirty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for two years, his principal services being at Summerville and Gauley Bridge, Virginia. In 1864 he graduated from the Cleveland Medical Col-
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lege, although he had been practicing for many years previous, and in 1865 came to Cypress Township, Harrison County, Missouri, and pur- chased land, his family joining him here in the following year, June 9, 1866. For many years Doctor Dunham continued to be engaged in the practice of his calling in connection with farming operations, but later removed to Kansas, where he remained for one year, and then made removal to Bentonville, Arkansas, where his death occurred, August 14, 1900, aged seventy-seven years, three months, twenty days. Mrs. Dun- ham is still living at Bentonville. She is now eighty years of age, having been born in Virginia, September 14, 1834. The five children of Doctor and Mrs. Dunham still survive: Mary, Dr. John Davis, W. O., Frank and G. A.
Dr. John Davis Dunham first attended the public schools of Harrison County, Missouri, and later became a student in Grand River College, at old Edinburg. In 1872 he attended the high school at Bethany, Mis- souri, but in the following year left his studies in order to engage in freighting between Wichita, Kansas, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma. During the winter of 1874 he entered the Keokuk College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Keokuk, Iowa, and was graduated from that institution with his degree of Doctor of Medicine, March 16, 1879, at that time beginning practice in Harrison County. He remained there, at Happy Valley, for two years, and something less than one year at Blue Ridge, and July 14, 1881, came to Pattonsburg, which he chose as his permanent field of endeavor. He has never had reason to regret his decision, for here he has won success and standing in his profession, the esteem and respect of his fellow-citizens, and the reputation of being a helpful and stirring man in a progressive community. Aside from his calling, he has been engaged successfully in the drug business, having purchased a pharmacy Decem- ber 15, 1907, and since 1892 has been a registered pharmacist.
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