A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 4

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

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On July 14, 1909, Mr. Prentiss was married at Bethany to Miss Lillian C. Neville, a daughter of James M. Neville. A short time previously Mrs. Prentiss had retired from her office as county super- intendent of schools, and about the same time Mr. Prentiss left the postoffice, their marriage marking the conclusion of their official career. Mrs. Prentiss was born in Harrison County, was for a number of years engaged in educational work, served in committees in the State Teachers' Association, and has been actively identified with musical and literary circles at Bethany. She is a graduate of the Bethany High School and the Warrensbrug State Normal School. Mrs. Prentiss is now regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the Elizabeth Harrison Chapter at Bethany. Mr. Prentiss and wife are active members of the Methodist Church ; he is a trustee and she is president of the Ladies' Aid Society.

REV. GEORGE SHERMAN MURPHY, D. D. A man of broad culture, earnest convictions, and strong character, Rev. George Sherman Murphy, pastor of the First English Lutheran Church at St. Joseph, is well known throughout this section of the county as an active and effective worker in all religious and charitable undertakings. He was born, March 4, 1865, near Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, a son of Joseph Murphy, and grandson of Andrew Murphy, both natives of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, Patrick Murphy, was born and reared in Ireland, and on coming to this country located in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, where he spent his remaining days. Andrew Murphy was a farmer by occupation, and spent his entire life in his native county. He was a man of great piety, and a faithful member of the Scotch Covenanter Church.

Growing to manhood in Juniata County, Joseph Murphy embarked in mercantile pursuits when young, settling in Reedsville, Mifflin County, where he was actively and prosperously engaged in business until his death, while yet in manhood's prime, having been but thirty-one years old when called to the realms above. The maiden name of his wife was Mary Wherry. She was born in Mifflin County. Pennsylvania, a daughter of George and Sarah (Hoyt) Wherry, coming from German and English ancestry. She is now living with her son George, a bright and active woman, seventy-four years young.

The only son of his parents. George Sherman Murphy attended the rural schools until fourteen years of age, and then began clerking in a store at Yeagertown, Pennsylvania, from that time being self-support- ing. He subsequently entered the employ of the William Mann Com- pany, proprietors of the largest axe factory in the world, located in Mifflin County, and there, as a metal polisher, earned money with which to advance his education. Entering Susequehanna University, at Selins- grove, Pennsylvania, at the age of twenty-three years, Mr. Murphy continued his studies there two years, and then became a member of the sophomore class of Wittenberg College, in Springfield, Ohio, and in 1893 was graduated from that institution with second honors. He was immediately engaged as tutor in Greek at that college, and ere long

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was advanced from tutor to professor of Greek, and occupied that chair until 1903.

At the age of nineteen years Mr. Murphy had united with the Lutheran Church, and was licensed to preach at a meeting of the Wittenberg Synod, at Plymouth, Ohio, September 29, 1895, and ordained at a meeting of the East Ohio Synod, in Canal Dover, on October 21, 1900. His first charge was at Lucas, Ohio, where he had a successful pastorate. In 1906 he was called to St. Paul's Church, at Peabody, Kansas, where he was stationed six years. An enthusiastic worker while there, Mr. Murphy inspired his congregation to such an extent that a church was built at a cost of $20,000, and was dedicated free of debt.

In 1912 Mr. Murphy came to St. Joseph as pastor of the First English Lutheran Church. He at once set about raising funds for a new church, and that was completed and dedicated on January 18, 1914, a new parsonage also being finished at that time. The church building is a beautiful structure of stone, built in modern style, and containing various rooms for Sunday school and social meetings aside from the main auditorium. There is also a large kitchen and dining room, hand- somely finished and furnished, that add much to the equipment of the building. The entire cost of this handsome structure was $62,000, every dollar of which has been paid.

On December 29, 1896, Mr. Murphy was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Webber, who was born at Penn Grove, New Jersey, a daughter of William and Mary (Harris) Webber, and a lineal descendant on the maternal side of Roger Williams. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have one child, George W. Murphy, born August 12, 1899.

Fraternally, Mr. Murphy is a member of Clarke Lodge No. 101, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Springfield, Ohio; of Mitchell Chapter No. 14, Royal Arch Masons, of St. Joseph; of Newton Com- mandery No. 9, Knights Templar, of Newton, Kansas; of Wichita Council No. 12, Royal and Select Masters, of Wichita, Kansas; of Isis Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Salina, Kansas; and of all the bodies of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, St. Joseph, Missouri. He is also a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. For six years Mr. Murphy was president of the Peabody, Kansas, Chautauqua. In June, 1914, the honorary degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him by Midland College, Atchison, Kansas.

ROBERT HUGH MILLER. It is doubtful if, throughout the newspaper world of Northwest Missouri, there has been a better known or more greatly beloved figure than the late Robert Hugh Miller, of Liberty, who for forty years successfully guided the destiny of the Liberty Tribune. A pioneer citizen of Clay County, he started life as a poor boy, and worked his own way steadily upward through the force of sheer merit. Kindly natured and generous in his disposition and at all times thoughtful for others, he was a man in a thousand, whose friends were numbered by the hundreds and who was universally respected, admired and esteemed. Quiet and unassuming at all times, he was yet a man of infinite resource and absolutely fearless in his denunciation of whatever he believed to be an evil or an injustice. Talented and most capable, strong in good qualities and firm in his character, faithful to every duty which devolved upon him, a loyal and true friend, he was a credit at once to his forebears, his community and his craft, and when he passed away. February 14, 1911, he left a void in the hearts

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of those who knew him which time has not yet filled nor will for many years.

Robert Hugh Miller was born November 17, 1826, in the City of Richmond, Virginia, a son of John E. and Mary (Rogers) Miller, the father a native of Scotland, and the mother a native of the Old Dominion, her parents being patriots of the Revolution. The father was a kinsman of High Miller, the eminent Scottish geologist and writer, author of "Old Red Sandstone." John E. Miller died in 1829, and soon thereafter the mother removed with her children to Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, from whence, three years later, she made her way to Paris, Monroe County, Missouri, where, in order to keep her little family together, she secured a position as a school teacher, her son being among her pupils. She remarried in Missouri and died in 1870, and was buried in a secluded cemetery, but in later years the son had her remains carefully disinterred and laid to rest in the public cemetery at Bowling Green, Missouri, where a handsome monu- ment marks her grave.

In 1840, when fourteen years of age, Mr. Miller was apprenticed to the printer's trade in the office of the Patriot, a newspaper published at Columbia, Missouri, and when that sheet was discontinued Mr. Miller joined the force of the Statesman, where, under the editorship of the late Col. William F. Switzler, he gained experience which was invalu- able to him in later years, and was thrown in contact with such men as Warren Woodson, James S. Rollins, Dr. William Jewell, James L. Stephens, old Doctor Duncan, the Todds, the Basses, the Clarksons, the Hickmans and the great lawyer, old Jack Gordon. Having com- pleted his apprenticeship, January 1, 1846, he set about securing a location wherein to establish a newspaper, and with the late John B. Williams chose Liberty, Missouri, as a field of operation and founded the Liberty Tribune. The first issue bore the date of April 4, 1846, and the partnership continued for less than a year, Mr. Miller buying Mr. Williams' interest, and from that time until Mr. Miller sold the Tribune plant to the late John Dougherty, in September, 1885, he continued as its sole owner, the last issue while he was in charge bearing the date of the last Friday in September. Hence, he was sole editor and proprietor of the Tribune for nearly thirty-eight years, continuously.

In an article written by a lifelong friend, D. C. Allen, which was published in the Tribune at the time of Mr. Miller's death, Mr. Allen says, in part: "As can be understood, the Tribune remained stanchly whig until in 1852, when the whig party went down in defeat under Scott and Graham, leaving 'trailing clouds .of glory' all over its past. With the characteristic devotion of old whigs to the names of Clay, Webster, Crittenden and their compeers, it declined to support the democracy in 1856 and 1860, but in those years gave its countenance respectively to Fillmore and Donelson, and Bell and Everett. After 1860 it gave its adherence to the democratic party, and remained one of the truest democratic newspapers in Missouri. During the whole time of Mr. Miller's connection with the Tribune it gave its earnest advocacy to every measure calculated to advance the interests of his community and state. It stood for William Jewell College, first, last and all of the time. In 1860 it urged the people of the county to vote $200,000 in bonds for the construction of the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior railroad, designed to connect Kansas City with the Hannibal railroad at Cameron. The tone of the Tribune was ever moderate and it was always on the side of law, of order, of faith, of the Constitution. In its columns, extending from April 4, 1846, until in September, 1885,

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is stored very much the larger portion of the facts which go to making up the history of the people of our county, socially, educationally and politically. There is no contrivance which can measure the influence of those facts as they were gathered and disseminated.

"The education of Mr. Miller did. not extend beyond the primary studies. This he supplemented by the education of the printing office, which had its advantages not elsewhere attainable. Above all, it stored his mind and memory with an infinite mass of faets. In addition he read a good deal outside of the printing office. All this made of him a man of extensive and valuable information. In estimating the char- acter of Mr. Miller, one must not forget a combination in him of very high qualities. These were the highest integrity, a strong sense of justice, fine courage, an unusual call to duty, deep tenderness of feel- ing, great reverence for the past, earnest devotion to principle, a lofty conception of the obligations of friendship-all under the control of strong, massive common sense.

"His reverence for the past constantly urged him to seek out and accumulate objects of antiquity, curios connected with his own family, old papers and documents illustrating the history of the county and state, and family relics. He obtained every little object which had any association with his mother. He loved to gather articles connected with the Revolutionary war. His tenderness to persons, especially the poor, and to dumb animals, could, if necessary, be shown by many facts. He could not endure ill treatment of dumb animals. His horse, his cows, his dog, any pet about the place, must receive proper attention. There seemed to be a sympathy and personal attachment between him and his old riding horse. He was a very hospitable man, loved the best food, and provided a great abundance of food in his household. He loved to sit down to his dinner table surrounded by his friends and kinfolks, with viands in lavish abundance.

"It seems hardly necessary to add that he was a most valuable citizen. He was one of the most faithful of friends. No one can charge him with ingratitude. His word or promise was as good as gold. No one will pretend there was in our community a truer or more faithful man. He gave to charitable purposes as a prudent man should-that is, with discrimination and judgment-but he always gave where there was any merit. He was replete with kindness in his family and among his friends. He went in and out before the people of Clay County for sixty-five years. He was an appreciable part of the community. Since Mr. Miller retired from editorial work, he had allowed himself more ease and leisure than formerly. He was one of the most industrious, energetic men we have had in this county-during his earlier years constantly at work-and was gifted with rare business acumen. By 1885 he had achieved a handsome competence. By prudence, good management and safe investment, before his death he had added to this. Mr. Miller was a man of great order and method. He had a place for everything and insisted that everything should be in its place. In his office work he demanded that everything be exact. He allowed no negligence. His pride was in the mechanical neatness and beauty of the Tribune. He was one of the rare few who made a fortune in the printing office.

"At his death, he belonged to no denomination of Christians, but he was never known to utter a word against Christianity. Why or how he attained and retained this attitude towards the church is inserutable-at least he left no explanation."

Mr. Miller was married first June 28, 1848, to Miss Enfield (Enna) F. Peters, daughter of John R. Peters, of Clay County, and five children

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were born to this union: Millard Fillmore, who died in youth; Belle, deceased, who was the wife of J. J. Stogdall, of Liberty; Julia, who is the wife of Edwin Withers, of Liberty; Hugh, a resident of Kansas City ; and Irving, a resident of Junction City, Kansas. Mr. Miller's first wife died December 3, 1867, and May 3, 1871, he was married to Miss Louise Wilson, daughter of Hon. John Wilson, of Platte County. Five children were born to this union : Roy, who died in early manhood ; Bessie, who married first a Mr. Day, and then L. Noel, and now resides at Glasco, Kansas; Ida, who is the wife of Prof. A. V. Dye, of Bisbee, Arizona; Clark, now a resident of Richmond, Missouri; and Mary, the wife of Harry Smith, of Richmond, Missouri.

Mrs. Louise (Wilson) Miller was born in Platte County, Missouri, August 7, 1844, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Trigg-Clark) Wil- son. Hon. John Wilson was born in Christian County, Kentucky, Feb- ruary 13, 1804, and about the year 1828 moved to Booneville, Missouri, where he married, and, entering the practice of law, became prosecuting attorney for all of Southwest Missouri. In 1841 Mr. Wilson came to Platte County, settling on the old Norton farm adjoining Platte City, where his name was enrolled as a practicing attorney of Platte County, July 13th of that year. In 1856, 1862 and 1864 he was elected to the Legislature of the state, and opposed secession, but in 1865 voted against emancipation. In the latter year he was appointed county attorney, an office in which he served several years. In his early days he was an ardent whig and gloried in the fact that he was the first man to propose General Taylor for president. Mr. Wilson was a member of the circle of lawyers who framed the constitution of Missouri, and was associated with such leading men as Doniphan, Atchison, Burnett, Rees and Wood, and other history makers of the state. Far and wide he was known as "Hon. John Wilson from Platte," "The Old Line Whig" and "The Loud Voiced Orator." At different times his name was mentioned in connection with the offices of supreme judge, governor and United States senator.

Mr. Wilson became the father of twelve children, of whom five are living at this time : James B., a resident of Kansas; Hon. Robert P. C., of Platte City; Charles B., of Oklahoma; John, of Kansas City; and Louise, who is now Mrs. Miller.

Elizabeth Trigg Clark, the mother of Mrs. Miller, was the daughter of Robert P. and Malinda (Trigg) Clark, the latter being a daughter of Col. Stephen and Elizabeth (Clark) Trigg, of Virginia and Ken- tucky. Colonel Trigg was a member of that distinguished Virginia family which furnished four congressmen to the nation. He was a member of two patriotic conventions that met at Williamsburg, Vir- ginia, in 1774 and 1776, and among his compeers are found Jefferson, Harrison, Randolph, Lee, Marshall, McDowell, Henry and Peyton. In 1779 Colonel Trigg was sent to Kentucky by the governor of Virginia and after he had fulfilled his commission he decided to make the "Dark and Bloody Ground" his home. At the head of a band of brave and hardy men he pursued the Indians and established a barricade near Harrodsburg, known as Trigg's Station. Subsequently he was elected to the Legislature, was a trustee of the original towns of Louisville and Covington, and fell covered with blood and glory at the battle of Blue Licks, Kentucky, August 17, 1782. He married Elizabeth Clark, and had a family of nine children, of whom Elizabeth Clark, Mrs. Miller's mother, was the fifth in order of birth.

Capt. Christopher Clark, of Colonial Virginia fame, married Penelope Massie, a granddaughter of Benjamin Ashley, Earl of Shaftesbury, died in 1741, leaving seven children, among them Micajah, his second

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son, who married Judith Adams. The latter's children were : Robert, William and John. Of these, Robert married Susannah Henderson, and had a family of thirteen children, one of whom, Christopher, was a member of Congress from Virginia during Jefferson's administration. Another son, James, was a member of Congress from Kentucky in 1812-16, and governor of his state in 1838. Another of the sons of Robert Clark, Bennett Clark, came to Missouri, settled in Howard County, and was the father of Robert P. Clark, the grandfather of Mrs. Miller.

Gen. John P. Clark, Sr., was for many years a member of Congress, a Confederate state senator and a brigadier-general in the Confederate army. He was the grandfather of John B. Clark, Jr., who was also a brigadier-general of the Confederacy and a member of Congress from 1872 to 1882; and of Robert C. Clark, now head of one of the public institutions of Missouri. Robert P. Clark, the grandfather of Mrs. Miller. was prominent in the affairs of Missouri as a territory, and was a member of the convention which framed the constitution under which Missouri was admitted to the Union as a state.

Mrs. Miller, who still survives her distinguished husband and resides at Liberty, was educated at Platte City, and at the Ladies' College, Liberty. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, and is well known in social circles of the city.

NOAH H. KING. Years of familiarity with financial affairs gave to Noah H. King an experience that fitted him most admirably for his present position as manager of the Tootle Estate, the business of which runs into many millions of dollars, and in which work he has been en- gaged since January, 1910. Mention of this magnificent estate is made elsewhere in this work in connection with the sketch of the late Milton Tootle, Sr., who created the estate, so that further details concerning the scope and magnitude of Mr. King's activities will not be necessary at this point in regard to his connection with the Tootle affairs.

Mr. King is not a Missourian by birth. He claims the State of Illinois for his natal state, and he was born there in 1873, the son of William A. and Elizabeth (Wilkins) King. The King family is directly allied with the family of which Austin A. King was a member. It. will be remembered by Missourians that he was governor of the State of Missouri from 1848 to 1852 and furthermore that he was the first judge of Buchanan County, to which office he was elected in 1837. The family had its origin in Tennessee, the grandfather of Noah H. King having come to Buchanan County, Missouri, prior to Civil war days, and he was killed while serving as a soldier in the Union army.

William A. King was born in Tennessee, and was engaged in farm- ing activities in Missouri practically all his maturer life, with the exception of two years spent in Illinois about the time of his marriage, during which time Noah H. of this review was born.

Noah H. King was educated in the country schools of his home community, and reared on his father's farm, there remaining until 1890, when he came to St. Joseph and started in business life as an office boy with the Buell Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of woolen goods in St. Joseph. The boy remained with them for three years, and in 1893 went with the State National Bank of St. Joseph. He continued with that fiscal institution until it was liquidated, in 1896, when he became discount teller with the Tootle-Lemon National Bank, remaining with them until January 1, 1910, when he became the active manager of the Tootle estate, which position. he still is filling with all of satisfaction to those most concerned.

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It will be seen that Mr. King's actual banking experience from the time he began up to the time when he became associated with his present business did not extend over more than seven years, but much of close familiarity with the business was crowded into that period. While discount teller for the Tootle-Lemon National Bank he also served a term as manager of the St. Joseph Clearing House Association.

Mr. King has also been connected with other business enterprises, among them being his association with the Davis Milling Company of St. Joseph, of which he has been secretary since 1910.

Mr. King is fraternally identified by his relations with the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 40, of St. Joseph, and he is socially prominent as a member of the St. Joseph Country Club and the Highland Golf and Country Club.

In 1898 Mr. King was married to Miss Mary Cannon, a daughter of Thomas Cannon of St. Joseph, who came to St. Joseph in about 1870 and here engaged extensively in the starch and glucose business. He is now living retired in this city. Mr. and Mrs. King have a son, Horace J. King. The family home is at No. 2638 Folsom Street.

JAMES H. MEYER. Through a period of more than six decades the name of Meyer has been prominently connected with the history of Holt County. It is an honored name and one that is familiar to the people of this part of Northwest Missouri by reason of the honorable and useful lives of those who have borne it. James H. Meyer, of Hickery, is a worthy representative of the family whose history forms a connecting link between the past and the present. He saw Holt County in the days when its land was but little improved, its pioneer homes widely scattered and its evidences of development few. In the work of progress and de- velopment that has since wrought marvelous changes he has borne his part and today ranks among those valued and substantial citizens of the community who laid the foundation of the present prosperity of the county.

James H. Meyer was born in Holt County, Missouri, December 31, 1853, and is a son of Andrew and Mary (Secrist) Meyer. The father, a native of Germany, emigrated to the United States about 1835, and for several years, while seeking a capital with which to establish himself as a farmer, accepted such honorable employment as came his way, work- ing in the City of Saint Joseph when there were but two white men in that place. In 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold, he made his way across the plains to California with an ox-team, the journey consuming four months, and after sixteen months of hard and successful effort returned to Missouri with $6,000 in gold. This he invested, in 1850, in a farm of 440 acres, located about four miles south of Mound City. About ten acres of this land had been cleared, but there were few improve- ments, and the family home was a small log cabin with a clapboard roof, in the construction of which not a nail had been used. During the Civil war Mr. Meyer invested heavily in land, prospered wonderfully through his wise and judicious business dealings, and accumulated some two thousand three hundred acres of land, on which he made various valuable improvements. When his wife died he gave up active pursuits, and from that time until his own death lived among his children. He was a man of exemplary habits, a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church, and was highly esteemed by his fellow citizens who elected him county judge of Holt County. The thirteen children, all born in this county, were as follows: Anna E., who married W. A. Long; James H., who married Fannie L. Pointer; Mary M., who married Charles Corsaut and died at the age of twenty-one years; Alfred A., who married Edna Phillip; an

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 4

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