USA > Missouri > A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III > Part 34
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In 1900 Mr. Meyer wedded Miss Daisy Hershner, who likewise was born and reared in Holt County, where her father was a pioneer settler. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have five daughters: Hazel, Frances, Maudene, Alice and Ruth, and the family is one of marked popularity in the social activ- ities of the home community.
JAMES CURTIS. For three score and ten years the Curtis family has had homes in Holt County in Lewis Township. In the pioneer times the family did its part with an industry which resulted in the clearing up and improvement of many acres in this fertile section, and in all the years that have elapsed the name has been associated with honorable activity in business, with material prosperity and good citizenship.
James Curtis, a son of the pioneer settler, was a child when the fam- ily came into his part of Northwest Missouri, and his range of recollec- tion extends as far back as perhaps any other living resident in Lewis Township. James Curtis was born in Marion County, Indiana, not far from Indianapolis, on August 25, 1839. His parents were James and Jane (Beelen) Curtis, his father a native of Kentucky and his mother of Marion County, Indiana. They were the parents of seven children : Thomas, John and James; Mary, wife of Robert Kane; Minerva, widow of Jake Meyer; Hannah, widow of Napoleon Irwin; and Rebecca, widow of Clark Proud.
In 1845 the father and his family sold their interests in Indiana, put their household goods in wagons, and made the long overland journey to Holt County, Missouri. The entire trip was accomplished with wagons and teams, they settled on land that is now included in the fine farm of James Curtis. The father on arriving at once applied himself to the heavy task of creating a pioneer home. He built a log cabin, and that was the habitation until a better residence could be erected. There were no railroads in that part of Missouri for a number of years, and the only high roads were little more than Indian trails. In fact, the Indians still lived in that section and around the settlers' cabins the wolves howled at night and there was plenty of wild game that could be stalked and killed by the expert riflemen. On coming to the county the father first bought eighty acres, paying about six dollars an acre. All the land was prairie, but it was a heavy task to turn over the virgin sod and prepare the fields for planting. In that vicinity the parents continued to live through the rest of their years, and the mother died when about sixty-six years of age and the father at the advanced age of eighty-three. At the time of his death he was the owner of 150 acres of land, and all of it was well Vol. III-15
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improved and represented a valuable homestead. The father was a man of exemplary habits and for many years an active worker in the Christian Church. Politically in early days he had followed the fortunes of the whig party, and from that went into the republican organization.,
James Curtis spent his boyhood on the old home farm, had schooling from such schools as were maintained in this part of Holt County during the '40s and '50s, and on reaching manhood applied himself industriously to the work of farming, which has been the basis of his prosperity. He married Elizabeth Cottier, daughter of John Cottier, and Catherine Cal- low, born on the Isle of Man. Mrs. Curtis was also born on the Isle of Man. They are the parents of four children: Seth, who married Eliza- beth Markt ; Catherine, wife of E. T. McFarlan and the mother of Eugene and Catherine; Maud, wife of Fred Campbell, and the mother of a daughter Kathleen; and Clarence, who died in infancy.
Mr. Curtis now has a splendid homestead, built up around the nucleus of the old estate owned by his father. All the improvements in build- ings have been put here by his own efforts and management, and he is now the owner of 360 acres, constituting a splendid farm, devoted to gen- eral agriculture. Mr. Curtis is a member of the Christian Church, is a republican in politics, and has served as a director on the home school board.
SCOTT CARSON. Of the men who have participated actively in the great growth and development of Holt County during the past four dec- ades, none are better or more favorably known than Scott Carson, the owner of 160 acres of good land, secured through the medium of indi- vidual effort. It has been Mr. Carson's fortune to have realized many of his worthy ambitions and to secure a standing in the community that makes him one of its representative men, not alone as a farmer who has always supported progressive methods and high standards, but as a citi- zen who has the welfare of his township and county at heart.
Scott Carson was born at Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana, Novem- ber 7, 1858, and is a son of Henry S. and Elizabeth (Markland) Carson. He had one brother, two sisters and one half-brother, the mother having been twice married. Henry S. Carson was a farmer throughout a long and reasonably successful career, and spent his early life in Howard County, Indiana, where he was the owner of a small property. In Novem- ber, 1864, he came to Northwest Missouri in search of a new home on which to locate, it being said at that time that it cost more to improve a farm than it did to purchase it. Finally he decided upon an eighty-acre tract, totally unimproved, which lay a little to the west of the present home of Scott Carson. The original house, built of logs, and boasting of but one room, continued to be the family home for five years, but the pass- ing time brought about a decided change, and new and substantial build- ings succeeded the straw sheds, while a commodious, modern home was erected as the family residence. Here Henry S. Carson continued to fol- low agricultural pursuits for twenty years, or until within a short time of his death, when he retired from active labor, retired to his home at Maitland, and there passed away. Both he and Mrs. Carson were devout members of the Christian Church, and in political matters he was a republican.
Scott Carson was about six years of age when he came with the family to Holt County, and here he grew to manhood on the home place, being thoroughly and effectively trained in the various pursuits with which the successful farmer must be familiar. When he was ready to enter upon a career of his own he was well prepared for his chosen calling, and as the years have passed he has well demonstrated the bene-
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BANK
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PEOPLES EXCHANGE BANK, JAMESPORT
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fits of an early training, when combined with industry, energetic labor and well-directed management. During his career he has accumulated a tract of 160 acres of fertile land, which he devotes to general farming and the raising of a good grade of stock, and here he has erected a set of good buildings, attractive in appearance, well arranged, and thoroughly equipped with comforts and conveniences. A life of honorable dealing has made Mr. Carson's name an honored one in commercial circles. In political matters he is a republican, and as such has been elected a mem- ber of the district school board of Hickory Township. Fraternally, he holds membership in the lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Newpoint. Mr. Carson was formerly a member of the Christian Church.
Mr. Carson was married to Miss Mahala C. Howard, who was born in Kentucky, daughter of Benjamin Howard, and to this union there have come five children: Elwin Edwards, Roxie May, Fred Blaine, Sarah Grace and Ruth, all born in Holt County, with the exception of Roxie, who was born in Southwest Nebraska.
GEORGE B. KOCH. As the popular Jamesport banker, George B. Koch requires no introduction to banking circles of Northwest Missouri. For a young man who has not yet passed his thirtieth birthday Mr. Koch has accomplished considerably more than the range of his years would lead one to expect. He was the organizer, is the chief stock- holder, and practically the head of the Peoples Exchange Bank of Jamesport, an institution which in service and equipment has few su- periors among the country banks of this state. Mr. Koch is a young man of broad outlook, of untiring industry, and his work shows him possessed of unusual ability as an organizer. With all this he possesses the genial manner which makes friends and holds them in bonds of steel.
George B. Koch was born October 22, 1885, in Clinton County, Missouri, a son of Jeremiah and Mary (Ward) Koch. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of Illinois. The former spent most of his life as a farmer. Some years ago he removed to Hample, Missouri, engaged in merchandising, served as a justice of the peace, and under the administrations of Mckinley and Roosevelt was postmaster of that village, although his own party affiliations were with the demo- crats. He possessed many admirable qualities of character, was success- ful in business and provided generously for his home and family. He and his wife were the parents of two children, and the other son, Alvin. lives in Kansas City.
George B. Koch received his education in the public schools of Clin- ton County, in William Jewell College at Liberty, where he was gradu- ated in 1906, and from the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois. He had already chosen banking as his profession, and his success therein is largely due to the fact that he has pursued the object of his ambition without pause since entering active life. He was first in banking at King City, Missouri, where he was cashier of the First National Bank. He filled that position until the fall of 1911, and then came to James- port and took the lead in organizing the Peoples Exchange Bank, of which he has since been cashier and is now the largest stockholder. Besides his banking interests Mr. Koch owns considerable improved real estate in Jamesport.
The Peoples Exchange Bank has a building which in point of equip- ment may properly deserve some consideration in this brief article. There are few bankers anywhere in Missouri that have a banking house equal to this, and it would do credit to a city of large population. The
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building stands on a foundation 30 by 80 feet, is built practically fire- proof, and besides its exterior attractions as one of the notable business blocks of the little city, its interior arrangement is of special note. The finishing is in Circassian walnut. Among other features one of the first to attract the casual visitor is the "farmers' corner," a particularly cosy place for the patrons to rest and discuss business, politics and other current matters, while sitting before the open fire in the old-fashioned fireplace. There is also a rest room for the benefit of the ladies who are patrons of the bank. The building is fitted with lavatories for the guests, a private water supply and sewer system, with hot water, heat, electric light, and the safety devices comprise the latest standard equip- ment of burglar proof safes and vaults.
Mr. Koch was married July 27, 1910, at King City to Miss Anna Claxton, who was born in Missouri. They have twin children, born October 23, 1914, named George B., Jr., and Mary Anna. Politically Mr. Koch is a democrat. Of a social nature, he finds time to belong to the following fraternities: The Scottish Rite Masons, the Mystic Shrine, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, with his wife has membership in the Eastern Star and the Pythian Sisters, and he is also state treasurer of the Order of Yeomen. Mr. and Mrs. Koch are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Jamesport, and he is president and treasurer of the board of trustees. He has a large acquaintance with men in banking circles, and his varied experience has given him a thorough insight into all the details of the business. At his age he has much to work for and attain, and those who know him predict that he is far from having reached the climax of his career.
G. W. GLENN experienced numerous hardships and discouragements, and it would be hard to find an individual who is more deserving of credit for lifting himself above the limitations of a responsible and cheerless youth. Early thrown upon his own resources, with his only ad- vantage a somewhat limited education of the district school kind, he ap- plied himself so earnestly and ambitiously to the securing of a competence that he was able to rise, step by step, to a position of independence, and today he is numbered among the substantial men of his locality.
G. W. Glenn was born in Highland County, Ohio, April 1, 1857, and is a son of James W. and Mary A. (Garrett) Glenn. The father, an agri- culturist all his life, brought the family from the Buckeye State to Mis- souri in 1868, settling first in Holt County, about one and one-half miles south of Maitland, on a tract of 160 acres, which had been partly im- proved. Such improvements as there were, however, were of the most primitive kind, the house consisting of two rooms, while the other build- ings included a few straw sheds. The father settled down here to make a comfortable home for his family, but did not live. to see his labors bear fruit, as he passed away about four or five years after his arrival. Later the farm was disposed of to William Shields, the mother married William Calloway, and the boys branched out for themselves. The children, all born in Ohio, were as follows: Emma, who married George Haigh; G. W., of this notice; Elwood, who married Ella Hinton ; Elmer Ellsworth, who married Lillie Lowper ; and Mattie, who married James Carlile.
G. W. Glenn was eleven years of age at the time the family came to Missouri, and he had already received an indifferent public school train- ing. For several years he attended the district school here, but the ill- ness and subsequent death of his father made it necessary that he go to work, and his education was thus neglected. In later years, however, he has added to his mental training by reading and observation, and is
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today considered a very well informed man. On taking his place among the world's workers, Mr. Glenn first was employed by a farmer, Freeman Libbie, for about four years, then becoming a renter on his own account. He lived on several properties at various times after his marriage, and then became a land owner. He has charge of 480 acres of good land, all devoted to general farming and stock-raising, in both of which enter- prises Mr. Glenn has met with well-earned success. He is known as a man of intelligence, both in his farming work and as a citizen, and can be depended upon to support good and progressive movements. In politi- cal matters he is allied with the republican party, but has not found time to enter actively into politics, or to seek public preferment.
Mr. Glenn was united in marriage with Miss Augusta Liddy, and to this union there have been born four children, all in Holt County : Florence, who became the wife of Emmett Hodgins, a farmer of Holt County ; and Charles W., Mattie and Freeman, who are single and reside with their parents.
J. T. NOLAN. In the fine rural community of Lewis Township in Holt County the Nolan family have been residents for more than three- quarters of a century. Mr. J. T. Nolan was born in this section and has spent a long and active career here as a farmer and useful citizen. It was his father who was the pioneer, and whose name appears on the records as an official actor in the first governmental activities of this county. As a family the Nolans have been close to the soil, enjoyed peace and prosperity, and their lives have been led along the paths of quiet industry and they have helped to make the community what it is today.
J. T. Nolan was born on the farm that he now occupies and which was his father's homestead on October 4, 1849. His parents were Harmon G. and Emilie (Hensley) Nolan. His father came to Holt County about 1838, soon after the Platt Purchase and before the land had been sur- veyed. Indians were numerous, wild game abundant on the prairies and in the forests, and his early experiences were full of pioneer incidents and hardships. He put up a log cabin in the midst of the woods, entered his land direct from the Government, and lived to see a wilderness trans- formed into a landscape of smiling farms. He and his wife came to Northwest Missouri from Jackson County, this state, and the parents were married in Independence, Missouri. In the early days all the grain raised on their farm and those of the neighbors was taken to market at Independence, and later to river ports higher up the Missouri. Nearly thirty years passed away before the first railroad was built, in 1868, through Forrest City, and by that time markets had been well established in different sections and the country very much changed from the time Harmon Nolan had first seen it. There were twelve children in the fam- ily, of whom ten grew to maturity. Both parents were of Irish descent and died on the farm now occupied by their son J. T.
Mr. J. T. Nolan grew up in Holt County, was educated in the local schools, and after reaching manhood married Fannie Cooper, daughter of George Cooper. To their marriage were born three daughters, Elma, Stella and Lela, all born on the home farm. After the death of his first wife Mr. Nolan married Frances Alkire, who at that time was the widow of West Dorsey. Mr. and Mrs. Nolan have two boys, Nelson and Guy, who were also born on the home farm.
Mr. Nolan has eighty acres of land, has made many improvements, and has an attractive farmstead, with comfortable means of living. Mr. Nolan's father was one of the early county judges of Holt County, and had the distinction of being foreman of the first grand jury ever em- paneled in this county. During the Civil war he was captain of a
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company recruited to the strength of 115 men known as the Silver Grays. While they did not get into active service, they were well drilled and always ready to guard the peace and security of the homes in this sec- tion of the state. Harmon Nolan was a man of fine character, and while he started life with nothing except willing hands, he at one time owned 320 acres in the home place, eighty acres in section 16, another eighty northwest of the home, and some forty acres besides that. He also at one time owned 160 acres in Kansas. Politically Harmon Nolan was an active democrat, and his son affiliated with that party until his recent change, as a result of his mature judgment, to the republican ranks. Mr. Nolan has done his part in public affairs, and for forty years has served as a member of the local school board. He is a member of the Christian Church. Both parents now rest in the Nolan graveyard, on the opposite side of the road from the son's home, and altogether there are about a hundred interments in that cemetery.
RICHARD WORNALL. Few names have been longer, more prominently and more worthily identified with the annals of Missouri's history, than that of Wornall, and the earliest pioneer of that name came to Missouri in 1844, landing at the foot of Main Street on the 12th of April, at what was then known as Westport Landing.
For many years previous Richard Wornall had been a successful farmer in Shelby County, Kentucky, and was looked upon as one of the leading representatives of this all-important and basic industry. It was but laudable ambition that prompted in him the desire to achieve afflu- ence and a position of social and commercial priority, but the speculative enterprises in which he embarked resulted disastrously and entailed such pecuniary loss and financial embarrassment that he found it necessary to dispose of his fine landed estate in order to pay his indebtedness and preserve his unsullied reputation for integrity and honesty, his character having eminently justified his reputation. With undaunted courage, he came to Missouri and set to himself the work of retrieving his fortunes in a new community and under conditions that typified the pioneer epoch in the history of this commonwealth.
On the confines of what is now Kansas City he purchased land at five dollars an acre, and this property is now appraised at almost fabulous valuation, as may well be understood. At the time of his removal to this state his family consisted of his wife and their two sons, John B. and Thomas, a daughter, Sarah E., having died at the age of fourteen years. Both Richard Wornall and his wife continued to reside on their Jackson County homestead until her death; he then returned to Kentucky and two years later remarried and continued to reside here, Winchester, Clark County, until his death in 1864.
Of his two sons who came to Missouri, his youngest son, Thomas, did not long survive his mother, dying with pneumonia only a few years after their landing at Kansas City.
JOHN B. WORNALL was born in Clark County, Kentucky, on the 12th day of October, 1822, and was a son of Richard and Judith Wornall. Richard Wornall removed with his family from Clark to Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1824, and purchased a farm four miles north of the historic old town of Shelbyville. This fine old homestead was near the old Burke Baptist Church, and in the services conducted in this somewhat primitive edifice John B. Wornall gained his early impressions of the spiritual verities and planted the seed of that deep Christian faith that guided and governed his entire life thereafter. He was further fortified for char- acter building through the counsel and admonition of parents of deep
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religious convictions and high sense of duty and responsibility, the gentle consideration and intrinsic piety of the devoted mother having left a gracious and abiding influence upon the lives of her children who ever accorded to her the utmost filial love and solicitude while she was living and revered her memory after she had passed forward to the "land of the leal." John B. Wornall became a man of broad information, wide intellectual ken and mature judgment, but his education was gained largely through self-discipline and active association with men and af- fairs, for in the days of his boyhood and youth the scholastic advantages afforded in the vicinity of his home were very meager, there having been no academy or other institution of higher learning within many miles of the old homestead plantation in Kentucky, where conditions were still to a large extent those of the pioneer days. After having resided for nineteen years on the Shelby county farm, John B. Wornall came with the family to Missouri and established a home in Jackson County, within whose limits is situated Kansas City, which metropolitan community was then represented by an obscure village known as "Westport Landing."
On the 12th of June, 1850, Jno. B. Wornall, who was a young man at the time of the family removal to Missouri, was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Polk, daughter of William Polk, of Kentucky, and she died within a year after their marriage, leaving no issue. On the 20th of September, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wornall to Miss Eliza S. Johnson, daughter of Rev. Thomas Johnson, and of the six children of this union two are living, Frank C. and Thomas J. Mrs. Wornall was summoned to the life eternal July 5, 1865, within a short time after the birth of her son Thomas J. Wornall, to whom a later sketch is dedicated, and later John B. Wornall wedded Miss Roma Johnson, a daughter of Reuben Johnson, of Howard County, Missouri. Of the three sons born of this union, one died in infancy, and the two surviving are John B., Jr., and Charles Hardin. Mrs. Wornall survives her honored husband and still resided in the beautiful old family homestead, at Sixty- first Street and Wornall Road, Kansas City.
John B. Wornall was ever the zealous supporter of the cause of popu- lar education and his influence in all the relations of life was benignant and pervasive. He was a patron of the arts and sciences and he held the highest of civic ideals, the while his inspiring faith was one of liber- ality in both action and financial co-operation. He was for more than a quarter of a century a member of the board of trustees of William Jewell College, at Liberty, the judicial center of Clay County, and for more than twenty-eight years of this period he was president of the board, besides which he contributed $10,000 as an endowment fund for the institution. Neither from choice or inherent predilection was Mr. Wor- nall a practical politician, but his ability and many sterling qualities so commended him to his fellow citizens that he was not permitted to escape official preferment. In 1869 at the democratic convention for the Fourteenth senatorial district, then comprising Cass, Bates and Jack- son counties, he was nominated by acclamation for representative of the district in the state senate, to which he was elected by a large and grati- fying majority and in which he served four years, his record having been in every respect admirable and marked by evidences of his earnest wish to foster the best interests of the state and its people. He was not a brilliant speaker but was looked upon as one of the most reliable, sub- stantial and far-sighted members of the deliberative body of the legis- lature. In his speeches on the floor of the senate and his utterances in the councils of the committee room he was invariably direct and sin- cere, resolute in his upholding the principles and measures which his
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