A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 25

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

USA > Missouri > A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III > Part 25

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1891 his wife died, and in 1893 he left the farm and moved to Jamesport, and about that time married Mrs. Ella M. (Jones) Tonkrey.

1457

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

Her death occurred in 1898, and in the following year he married her sister, Mrs. Lizzie (Jones) Power. Mr. Hill has two children, both by his first wife: William L., who owns a portion of his father's old farm and is active manager of the entire estate ; and Fondie E., wife of Orphus Critten, of Gilmer, Texas. Mr. Hill is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, and has fraternal associations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Politically he is a democrat, and until recently the only office he con- sented to hold was that of school director in his home district in the country. He was prevailed upon to become a candidate for the office of mayor of Jamesport and was elected in April, 1914, for a term of two years.

When Mr. Hill came to Missouri Jamesport was still in the future, and he has witnessed practically every improvement from the erection of the first buildings through the various changes which have developed a thriving and prosperous little city. When he was a boy very little of the land was improved, and the settlers carried their grist sixteen miles to mill, that being an undertaking that required a day each way. coming and going. There were no railroads within 100 miles, and all the country was a paradise for hunters, abounding in wild game, including deer, turkey, prairie chicken, etc. Mr. Hill himself has experienced prac- tically all the inconveniences, discomforts, pleasures and incidents of pioneer times, and is one of the intelligent, prosperous and public-spirited citizens of this community.

WILLIAM CARSON ELDER. In the service of the Burlington Railway as its agent at Albany since January 12, 1886, Mr. Elder has had per- sonal supervision of nearly all the merchandise shipped in and out of that thriving Northwest Missouri community during the past thirty years. For a number of years he performed his official duties almost unaided and with his own hands handled most of the freight that came in or went out over that road. While his relations with the community have thus been of an interesting and important nature, he has also been a constructive business man, and is interested in several of the local enterprises that constitute the business activities of Albany.

William Carson Elder was born in Warren County, Illinois, December 18, 1860. His boyhood was passed in the manner of boys at that time, with school attendance, recreation in baseball and other outdoor games, and with a practical experience as clerk in his father's store at Gerlaw. In 1879 he began his career as railroader with the Burlington Company as an extra man on the St. Louis division of the road. At Gerlaw he acquired the art of telegraphy, and his first regular station was at Alsey, Illinois. He was transferred to Mount Ayr. Iowa, on a letter from W. C. Brown, now president of the New York Central Lines. From there he was transferred to Hummeston as agent. subsequently in the same capacity to Ridgeway, Missouri, and in 1886 to Albany. This station had had several agents before Mr. Elder came, but he now has one of the longest continuous records in one place with this division of the Burlington system.

On coming to Albany Mr. Elder worked in a small office about 8 by 10 feet, and only at times was given a helper. Still though the business of the station grew with the general development of the town and surround- ing district, the adequacy of the station and its facilities was not materi- ally improved until 1911, when two new rooms were built. Albany at that time was a division point. During the early years traffic was light and the train often came in with only an engine and two or three merchandise cars, and very frequently Mr. Elder did all the work of handling the

1458

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

freight, at the same time looking after the duties of the telegraph room and the clerical matters. Since then his responsibilities have increased and he now has five aids on the payroll and all of them are kept busy.

Mr. Elder has the distinction of having shipped the first carload of coal into Albany for the retail trade in 1887. He has been in the coal business ever since, and subsequently added grain. Five years ago he began putting up natural ice, and is now at the head of the Artesian Ice Company, while his grain and coal business is conducted under the name Elder Grain and Coal Company. His company and the Albany Milling Company ship all the grain marketed at this point.

While these duties and activities have made him a useful factor in the community, Mr. Elder has also been a leader in local affairs. When the aldermanic body was doubled he was elected an alderman and served two terms. During that time the electric light committee had him as chairman four years, and many important extensions to the plant were made. While a citizen who endeavored to do his full share in community improvements, Mr. Elder is not a politician, and confines his interest along that line to voting with the republican party.

Mr. Elder is a member of the Methodist Church and of the Order of Railway Telegraphers. At Albany on April 25, 1888, he married Miss Lola C. Twist. Her father, Frank Twist, was a Union soldier, a carpen- ter by trade, and came to Missouri from Ohio, though born in New York State. Mr. and Mrs. Elder had the following children: Frank Cleo, who died at the age of three years. Frederick Alonzo, who married Bernice E. Jones and has a son Donald Franklin, and a daughter, Anna Kathlyn; Harry T., of Seattle, Washington; Morris D., his father's assistant in the railroad office; Paul Shamblin; Clarice May; Margaret Frances; and Alice Kathryn.

Mr. Elder has an interesting ancestry. His paternal grandfather, David Elder, who died at Mount Ayr, Iowa, at the age of seventy-two, was a native of Ohio, and spent all his active career as a farmer. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, and of Scotch stock, his father having been born in Scotland. David Elder married Isabel Wray. Their children were: John; William; Clark; A. Alonzo; James, who was killed in the battle of Stone River during the Civil war; Rebecca, who married William Campbell, of Kenton, Ohio; and Margaret, who married R. J. Lawhead of Mount Ayr, Iowa.

The maternal grandfather of Mr. Elder was John Hogue, a son of James Hogue. James Hogue was born in Ireland in 1754, came to America at the age of fifteen, and a year later found work at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. From that community a few years later he enlisted for service during the American Revolution in Captain Henrick's Rifle Com- pany, and in three days was on his way to Boston. At that city his com- pany was assigned to the Quebec expedition under General Benedict Arnold, made the arduous campaign to the St. Lawrence, participated in the battle and the storming of the heights, and was taken a prisoner after General Montgomery was killed. The British threatened to send all the English, Irish and Scotch back to England to be hanged as trai- tors unless they enlisted and fought against the Americans. Before the prisoners were sent off James Hogue and Thomas Walker escaped, were recaptured, again escaped, and while living among the French the British authorities again apprehended him, and tried him by court martial and sent him to England. While being taken to prison in England he got loose from his captors, hid for a time in a cellar, and then traveled over- land towards London. While on the way he met the king's brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who asked him and his companions what ship. they belonged to. They explained to the duke that they had permission

1459

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

to go by land to London. In London they were once more captured, made their escape and James Hogue was finally put aboard a British ship bound for Halifax, subsequently sent to Charleston, South Carolina, then back to Halifax, and there was put on board an English privateer which fell in with an American vessel and in the engagement the British ship was captured. Mr. Hogue quickly made friends with the captain of the American ship, finally reached Baltimore, and was assigned to service on the American frigate Trumbull. After about five and a half years of service in the many vicissitudes between the English and Americans, he reached Philadelphia, and was granted as pay for his work in the patriot cause a ticket for forty shillings. In 1784 James Hogue moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and in 1788 to Butler County, Ohio. which was his home until 1826. One of his children was John Hogue, maternal grandfather of William C. Elder.

Mr. Elder's father was A. Alonzo Elder, who died in Albany, Mis- souri, December 31, 1895, at the age of fifty-seven. He had come to Albany a few years previously, and was associated with his son in the coal and grain business. He was born in Canton, Ohio, in 1838, came to Illinois in childhood, took up a career as a farmer, and in that state married Sarah Hogue, daughter of John and granddaughter of James Hogue. She died in Tarkio, Missouri. The children of A. Alonzo Elder and wife were: William C .; Margaret I., wife of Clark McConnell of Fairfax, Missouri; Anna Lee, wife of William H. Kendall of Tarkio, Missouri.

WILLIAM SAMUEL WALKER. More than threescore years and ten have passed since the Walker family became identified with Harrison County. In this Middle West country that is a long time to be resident of one locality, and the associations with the name are as honorable as they are long continued. Almost exactly seventy years after William S. Walker was brought to the county as an infant he became postmaster of Bethany by appointment from President Wilson on June 6, 1913. The date of his first arrival in the county was July 4, 1843, and with the exception of his army service and several years during the war decade he has lived in Northwest Missouri ever since.

William Samuel Walker was born in North Carolina October 16, 1842. His grandfather, William Walker, was a native of Ireland and founded the family in America, locating in North Carolina, where he died a number of years before the Civil war. He owned slaves and operated a plantation in Rockingham County. His children were : James, who spent his life in North Carolina ; John, who died in North Carolina ; Dan- iel; and Jesse, who was last heard of in Indiana.

Daniel Walker was born in Rockingham County, North Carolina, in 1810. and died in 1864 at the age of fifty-four. He had perhaps the or- dinary education of men of the time, and was trained to farm pursuits. Soon after the birth of his son William he started with wagons and teams for Missouri, where he entered a tract of government land in Butler Township of Harrison County, and for the next twenty years was suc- cessfully identified with agriculture and the improving of his land. The old homestead is situated in section 9, township 63, range 29. Daniel Walker was a quiet unassuming farmer citizen. and had no military or political record, though a regular supporter of the democratic party and decidedly in sympathy with the southern cause and during the war fur- nished a son to the Confederate army. More of his time and attention were given to church matters. He was an active Presbyterian and helped erect the Matkins Church in Harrison County. and was one of its elders. IIe was likewise positively committed to the advancement of education.

1460

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

and as a trustee of his district helped to provide school facilities in a pioneer country. He died from a bronchial affection when he should have been in the prime of his life.

Daniel Walker married Mary M. Edminston, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Gilson) Edminston, both of whom were of North Carolina. Mrs. Walker died in Andrew County, Missouri, at the age of sixty- four. Her children were: William S .; John G., a farmer in Butler Township, Harrison County ; James, who died unmarried; and Newton, who died in West Haven, Connecticut, leaving a family.

William Samuel Walker grew up in the new country of Harrison County, and the outbreak of the war between the states found him just coming into manhood. His education had been finished in the country district near home, and soon after leaving his books he enlisted in Com- pany G of the First Missouri Cavalry, in the Confederate army. The company was raised in Harrison County and its first commander was Captain Patterson and the second Captain Enyart, while the regiment was first commanded by Colonel Childs and subsequently by Colonel Elijah Gates. From the rendezvous at Gentryville the regiment went to the front at Lexington where it did its first fighting as part of the army of General Sterling Price. From Lexington the army fell back into Arkansas, and Mr. Walker participated in the battle of Cross Hol- lows, better known in history as Pea Ridge or Elkhorn. The entire army then was transferred to Memphis, but arrived too late for the battle of Shiloh, though it took part in the battle at Corinth, and then moved to the vicinity of Vicksburg, where Mr. Walker was in the Baker's Creek or Champion Hills fight. At that point, May 16, 1863, he was with a squad of his comrades who were captured by the Third Kentucky Regiment. The prisoners were taken to Camp Morton, In- dianapolis, and thence started for Point Lookout, Maryland. At Har- risburg, Pennsylvania, Mr. Walker made his escape just a month after his capture. The box-car in which he was riding was waiting in the yards for another train to pass, when an Irishman came by and asked if the boys wanted water. He took Walker's hand and gave it a squeeze and whispered that if he made his escape the Irishman would be on hand to do all he could for him. It was dusk, and while the car-doors were locked, the prisoners had cut holes to let in air, and these apertures were large enough to crawl through. Walker and a companion made the passage without being discovered, and, following directions, on reach- ing a little hedge gave a cough, which was answered by the Irish friend. The latter took them to his own home, put them upstairs in a double tenement house, the other side of which was occupied by Union people, and there Mr. Walker discarded his Confederate uniform and was given a hat and trousers instead. After spending the night there Mr. Walker went to the iron furnace in the city, and was given work. That was June 17th, and he remained in the furnace two months, and then worked in the harvest fields until September 1st, and then went south to Ken- tucky. Near Maysville he hired out to a farmer named Henry Jeffries, and became so much one of the family and so intimate that when Mr. Jeffries accused him of being a Confederate he admitted the truth of the suspicion on the assurance that the fact would not get beyond the knowledge of the family circle. After that he was treated in the same kindly manner by this Union friend, and lived in Kentucky, was mar- ried, and in 1867 left the state with his young wife and returned to Missouri.

On reaching the community where he had spent his boyhood Mr. Walker took up farming and followed it actively for five years. He then went to Andrew County to a farm, and later for ten years was a

1461

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

merchant at King City. During his residence there he served as a mem- ber of the council, and was otherwise active in local affairs. In 1898 Mr. Walker returned to Harrison County and at Bethany became a member of the firm of Slemmons & Walker Brothers, the principals of which were his sons and his son-in-law. Mr. Walker was bookkeeper of the concern until he retired to accept the duties of the local post- office.

Politically Mr. Walker has always been a democrat, and cast his first presidential vote for Horatio Seymour, later voted for Horace Greeley, and for every democratic candidate since. He is an original Wilson man, and had two competitors for the postmastership, and suc- ceeded B. P. Sigler in that office. He has given an excellent administra- tion of the local office. He is a past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has sat in the grand lodge. His church home is the Presbyterian. He owns one of the substantial homes of Bethany, located in front of the Christian Church, and his family are located in the same neighborhood.

Mr. Walker was married in Kentucky about war times to Kate Cal- vert, who died at Bethany in 1900. Their children were: Mary, wife of J. B. Slemmons, of Bethany; Robert L., who married Elizabeth Walker, is a member of the firm of Slemmons & Walker Brothers; James M., who married Nancy Clark, is also of the same firm; George P., who married Lois Barnes, also a partner in the firm. For his second wife Mr. Walker married Miss Emma Hubbard, a daughter of Edgar L. Hubbard and a sister of Edward S. Hubbard, an old and prominent family elsewhere mentioned in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Walker had two children, Ralph L. and Walter, the latter dying at the age of seven.

RILEY NAPOLEON FUNK, of New Hampton, is one of the successful agriculturists of Harrison County and a native of the locality. He was born on his present farm, December 13, 1869, and has spent his entire life on this property. Here he lived as a schoolboy, here he passed his youth and secured his first impressions of work and here he began life when he married. His farm, which his father purchased at the close of the Civil war and on which he spent his last years and died, is situated in section 17, township 63, range 29, where Mr. Funk is the owner of 190 acres of good land, and forty acres in section 11.

Martin Funk, the paternal grandfather of Riley N. Funk, was born December 25, 1800, and was of German descent of Rockingham County, Virginia, his remote ancestor being one of four brothers who came to America from Germany and probably settled in the Old Dominion State. There is no record of their having owned slaves and few of them deviated from the beaten path of agriculture. They were Men- nonites originally, and one Henry Funk, of the earlier members of the family, published an almanac in Virginia, and was one of the few who became a scholarly man. Martin Funk was a man of fair education and a democrat in politics, but was not a confessed member of any church nor did he have any military or political history. His life was passed amid the peaceful pursuits of the soil, and his death occurred in June, 1881, when he was eighty years of age. .

Nathaniel Funk, the father of Riley N. Funk, was born August 25, 1826, and as a child went with his parents to Henry County, Indiana, where he was reared, educated and married. He did not serve in the army during the Civil war, as the township in which he resided made up the money necessary to provide the troops called for by the Govern- ment, and in 1865 came to Harrison County, Missouri. Mr. Funk was a democrat, but in no sense was a politician and ran for no office.

1462

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

although he held that of postmaster, when the office was located in his house, before the location of the Town of "Hamptonville," now New Hampton, which latter place was laid out the same month Riley N. Funk was born. Nathaniel Funk was one of the substantial men of his com- munity and was called upon to aid in the erection of the first churches of the locality. He aided in the building of the Foster Church, being one of its chief contributors, and never failed to donate to such worthy objects. He was a Universalist in religious belief, and having no such organization here he divided his church labors. Mr. Funk belonged to no secret order; his friendship for education was shown by his capable and faithful service as a member of the district school board.

Nathaniel Funk lived a long and active life, and died December 23, 1909. He married the first time Eliza J. Courtney, a daughter of John Courtney, of Indiana, and to them there were born three children : Joseph, a leading farmer of Harrison County ; Mart, of El Paso County, Colorado; and Margaret, who became the wife of J. W. Sevier, of Port- land, Oregon. Mr. Funk's second marriage was to Miss Catherine Huffman, who was born August 15, 1832, and died in June, 1890, daugh- ter of Jonathan Huffman, a Virginia man who passed away in Rocking- ham County, that state. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Funk : Riley N., of this notice; Gillie A., who is the wife of Sam Clay- tor, of Harrison County ; and Sam T., a farmer of New Ifampton.

Riley N. Funk has passed his life as a farmer, and has been success- ful in his ventures, having also identified himself with a number of busi- ness ventures, including the public or farmers scales of New Hampton and the farmers lumber yard, in both of which he is a stoekholder. He has taken enough interest in public affairs to gain the name of being a good citizen, and gives his political support to the democratic party. A Methodist in his religious belief, he is one of the trustees of Shady Grove Church. Mr. Funk was married February 14, 1894, to Miss Margaret A. Smith, a daughter of Edward Smith and a sister of John E. Smith, a sketch of whose career and family will be found in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Funk there have been born the following chil- dren : Kathryn Frances, born November 26, 1894, was educated in the New Hampton High School and the Maryville Normal School, and is now a teacher in the public schools of Harrison County ; and Estella Alice, born September 6, 1897; Nora Thelma, born October 16, 1899; Hazel Agnes, born March 14, 1901; Roberta Moe, born September 17, 1902; Garland Edward, born June 3, 1904; Marie Pearl, born August 15, 1906. All these children except the two youngest, Garland and Marie, are members of the South Methodist Church with their parents. Mr. Funk is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Lodge No. 285, of New Hampton.

GEN. ROBERT WILSON. Among the stalwart men who helped to shape the destinies of the state, few have played a more important part than Gen. Robert Wilson, who spent the latter years of his life on his farm in Andrew County, a short distance north of St. Joseph. Sympathetic with the needs and aspirations of the people, clear and fixed in his own ideas of expediency and right, and giving expression to his ideals both by precept and example with force and dignity, his was a character of inestimable usefulness during the formative and tempestuous years of the state's first half century.

Born near Staunton, Virginia, November, 1800, Robert Wilson lived there until he eame to Missouri in 1820. Settling in Howard County, he taught school for a time and later found employment in the office of the Cireuit Clerk. Subsequently he was appointed postmaster of Fayette and in 1823 was elected Judge of the Probate Court. In 1828 he was elected clerk of the Circuit and County Court, which office he continued

DR. NICHOLS' SANATORIUM, SAVANNAH

Derry Nich oll

1463

HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

to hold until 1840. Meantime he had studied law under his brother General John Wilson and had been admitted to the bar. In 1837 on the outbreak of the so-called Mormon war, he was appointed brigadier general of the state forces by Governor Boggs and was instrumental, by his firm and judicious conduct of affairs, in ridding the state of a pop- ulation so generally obnoxious to its citizens. In 1844, Randolph County having been formed and he having removed to Huntsville, he was sent therefrom to the State Legislature. Removing thence to Andrew County in 1852, he was elected in 1854 to represent that district in the Senate and re-elected in 1858, although he was a whig and the district strongly democratic.

In the early part of 1861, General Wilson was chosen as a union delegate to the convention called by the state to determine its attitude regarding secession and at its first session, February 28th, he was elected vice-president with Sterling Price as president. Subsequently Price having fled to join the Confederacy, General Wilson succeeded to the presidency and presided over the convention's deliberations until its close. In January, 1862, he was appointed by Acting Governor Hall to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired term of Waldo P. John- son expelled, and discharged the duties of that office for two sessions until the election of B. Gratz Brown.

After retiring from the Senate, General Wilson though keeping in close touch with public affairs devoted himself to agriculture, in which his interest was intense. While on a visit to his old surroundings in Central Missouri, he was stricken with pneumonia and passed away May 10, 1870, at the home of his nephew, Capt. Ben Wilson, at Mar- shall, leaving behind a record that was unblemished as to both public and private life and one that was unusually rich in evidences of the highest usefulness to his fellow-men.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 25

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