USA > Missouri > A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III > Part 41
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Mr. Hodgin was married, November 27, 1879, to Miss Maggie Heskett, daughter of Curtis Heskett, and five children have been born to them : J. L., who is engaged in the clothing business with his brother at Maitland, married Emma Marti and has one daughter, Caryl; W. E., who is his brother's partner in the clothing business, married Laura Brownlee; Grace, who is the wife of C. D. Fulton, of Trenton, has two children, Morris and Harold V .; J. L. and L. R. All the chil- dren were born in Holt County.
LAFE KUNKEL. Among the substantial farmers of Holt County who have made an especially creditable record in agriculture and in citizen- ship, is the gentleman whose name is found at the head of this bio- graphical record, and whose valuable and attractive farm and residence are located in Hickory Township. Mr. Kunkel is a native of Holt County, and during his long residence here has seen the development of the county as well as the numerous changes which have revolutionized the vocation of agriculture, and, while contributing to the advance-
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ment of his community's interest, has kept himself fully abreast of modern inventions and new innovations.
Lafe Kunkel was born July 28, 1867, on the family homestead in Liberty Township, Holt County, and is a son of Benjamin Franklin and Hannah (Chester) Kunkel. His father, a native of Ohio, became one of the very earliest settlers of Holt County, traveling overland to this locality as a poor man and taking up his abode in the midst of a prac- tical wilderness. In the years that followed he experienced the hard- ships and discouraging experiences that are incidental to the first settlers in any new part of the country, but his untiring perseverance, steady application and good management of his affairs enabled him to over- come all obstacles which appeared in his path, and he was eventually able to retire from business activities with a handsome competence, now being a member of the retired colony at Forest City, Missouri. During his career in Holt County Mr. Kunkel established a reputation for honesty and integrity in his dealings and for public-spirited citizenship. He was married four times, and by his union with Hannah Chester was the father of four children: Lafe, Alvah, James and Willie, of whom . the last named died at the age of eighteen months. Benjamin F. Kunkel was a republican in his political views, but during his residence in Holt County never sought political honors. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the faith of which his children have been reared. Mrs. Kunkel passed away on the homestead place in Holt County.
Lafe Kunkel passed his boyhood and youth in alternately assisting his father in the work of the home place and attending the district schools of Hickory Township, where he obtained a good ordinary educa- tion. When he was reared to enter upon his own career, he secured a part of the old homestead, and in association with his brother, James, started operations, they now having 240 acres, all under a good state of cultivation and devoted to stock raising and general farming opera- tions. Some of the present buildings were started by Mr. Kunkel's father and completed by him and his brother, and they are now well arranged, in a good state of repair, furnished with good equipment, and present an attractive appearance. Nothing that goes to make up a modern twentieth-century farm has been neglected or left out of this property, and in every way it is a credit to its progressive and enter- prising owners.
Lafe Kunkel married Miss Anna Jackson, who was born in Page County, Iowa, daughter of John and Catherine (Parsons) Jackson, who had three other daughters and four sons. These were: George, James, Charles, Mattie, Alma, Blanche and Frank. Mr. and Mrs. Jack- son, farming people, were early settlers of Page County, Iowa, subse- quently moved to Kansas, and finally came to Holt County, Missouri. The father is deceased but the mother is still living. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kunkel: Nettie, Harold, Mark, Mildred, Raymond, Carl and Hugh, twins, and one who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Kunkel are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Kunkel, like his brother, is a republican, and is fraternally connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which latter order James is also a member.
RALPH M. MEYER. One of the fine farm homes near Maitland is owned and occupied by Ralph M. Meyer and his family. Mr. Meyer is the grandson of one of the pioneer settlers in this section of Northwest Missouri, and is a young man of much enterprise, has shown industry and intelligence in the management of his affairs, and stands as an influence for morality and progress in his community.
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Ralph M. Meyer was born on the old homestead in Holt County, February 1, 1878. His parents were J. H. and Fannie (Pointer) Meyer, and all their six children are still living. J. H. Meyer was also born in Holt County, and his father settled here when nearly all the county was a wilderness.
Ralph M. Meyer married, December 27, 1899, Mabel Terry of Forrest City, a daughter of W. H. Terry. They are the parents of four chil- dren : Galen, Ralph, Jr., Lucy S. and Clinton R. The present farm of Mr. Meyer has been occupied by him since 1902. In spite of misfortune he has prospered. He lost both his barn and his house by fire, the barn having been burned October 13, 1908, and the house on April 15, 1914. Both have been replaced by substantial structures. Mr. Meyer cultivates 187 acres of fine land, has improved it and does general farming and stock raising.
He was reared in the Christian Church, and has been assistant super- intendent of its Sunday school. Fraternally he is affiliated with Lodge No. 473 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Newpoint. He is now serving his third term as a member of the school board, and polit- ically is a democrat.
LOGAN MEYER. Prominent among the younger generation of agri- culturists of Hickory Township, one who has spent his entire career here and through progressive ideas and a thorough knowledge of farming has gained a substantial position is Logan Meyer. Mr. Meyer was born in Hickory Township, Holt County, Missouri, one-half mile from his present home, May 12, 1880, and is a son of James Henry and Fannie L. (Pointer) Meyer.
Mr. Meyer belongs to a family which has been long and favorably known in this part of the county. It was founded here by his grand- father, Andrew Meyer, who emigrated from his native Germany to the United States in 1834 and worked in the City of St. Joseph, Missouri, when there were but two white men at that place. During the gold excitement of 1849 he crossed the plains by ox-team to California, and returned in 1850 with $6,000 in gold, which he invested in farming lands in Holt County. He became one of his community's substantial men, the owner of 2,300 acres of land, and served for a time as county judge. Andrew Meyer married Mary Secriut, and they became the parents of thirteen children: Anna E., James H., Mary M., Alfred A., an infant, Willard P., Annilda, George, Robert E., Charles, Emma J., Marvin E. and Don C. James H. Meyer, the father of Logan Meyer, was born in Holt County, December 31, 1853, and secured an ordinary education in the district schools of his day. As he grew to manhood, he adopted the vocation of farming, in which he has continued to be engaged to the present time with much success, and at one time was the owner of 400 acres of land, but has since disposed of 200 acres of this property. He is a democrat in politics and has served for twelve years as a member of the school board, and is widely and favorably known throughout this section. He married Fannie L. Pointer, and six children were born to this union: William H., who married Cora Trimmer; Ralph M., who married Mabel Terry; Logan A., of this review; James H., Jr., who married Floy Sieper; Edgar R., who mar- ried Miriam Hayhurst ; and Frances P., who is the wife of Virgil Carter. All the children were born, reared and educated in Holt County, all are married, and all have children.
Logan Meyer was given his education in the district school and grew up on his father's homestead, on which he resided until embarking upon a career of his own. He is now the owner of 120 acres of good land,
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all under a state of cultivation, and with good improvements, all of which, with the exception of the barn which he built himself, having been here at the time of his arrival. Mr. Meyer is an energetic and persevering agriculturist, and his good business judgment, foresight and ability have enabled him to make a success of his operations. He is a well known and popular young farmer of this locality, and belongs to that class to which the county must look for its future improvement.
Mr. Meyer married Miss Hattie Wakely, who had three sisters and two brothers, of whom one sister died in infancy. Her father, William Wakely, has been a prominent republican, and served for some years as road overseer. To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer there have come four children, as follows: Ellen, born December 12, 1903; Mary, born September 23, 1905; Hazel, born July 6, 1907; and William Henry, born February 12, 1914, all in Holt County. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are members of the United Brethren Church.
BARNEY HODGIN. Among the representatives of the younger genera- tion of agriculturists in Northwest Missouri, there are found a number who have spent their entire lives on the properties which they now own and cultivate, and this class may be said to have an advantage of some nature, for a lifetime of residence on one tract naturally gives the resident a thorough knowledge of its needs and peculiarities. In this category may be numbered Barney Hodgin, of Hickory Township, an energetic and enterprising young farmer who is obtaining excellent results from his labors in the cultivation of a farm that has been in the family name for fifty-eight years.
Mr. Hodgin was born on his present property, March 23, 1887, and is a son of Joseph and Susan E. (Denny) Hodgin. The father was born near Salem, Washington County, Indiana, October 5, 1835, and was nineteen years of age when he first came to Northwest Missouri. At that time he was possessed of no means, and his first employment was that of breaking up the virgin prairie on the farm of a pioneer family of Holt County named Ish. Thus he secured the money to buy his first tract of land, located in what is now the City of Omaha, Nebraska, but at that time only a little settlement of sod houses. He had, how- ever, during his former short residence in Holt County, become so favorably impressed with the opportunities here, that in 1857 he returned to this locality and invested his earnings in Hickory Township land, paying therefor $4 an acre. There had been no improvements of any kind made on this property, and Mr. Hodgin first put up a small log cabin, which was followed by several other structures also composed of logs. His were the experiences which attended the efforts of the majority of pioneers who settled in this fertile region with little to aid them save their native intelligence and boundless ambition. The first ten or more years following his arrival were ones filled with the hardest kind of work, countless disheartening incidents and constant self-sacrifice, but his perseverance won out in the end, his original log shacks were suc- ceeded by substantial frame structures which still stand, and when he died he was the owner of 720 acres of valuable land, 600 acres being located in one body in Hickory Township. He died January 29, 1913, one of the substantial and highly respected men of his community. Mr. Hodgin was married first to Harriet Lawrence, and by that union there are two children living-Jennie Kline and T. E. In 1874 he was united with Miss Susan E. Denny, and they became the parents of three chil- dren: Barney, of this review ; Emmett, a graduate of Drake University ; and Nellie, who is the wife of Mr. J. I. Williams. Mrs. Hodgin, who
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survives the father, still makes her home with her sons on the old family place.
Barney Hodgin secured his early education in the district schools of Hickory Township, but was given better advantages than many youths, in an educational way, being sent to the high school at Oregon, and the State University at Columbia. When he laid aside his school books he returned to the duties of the homestead farm, and has continued to occupy himself in agricultural pursuits to the present time. He is thoroughly familiar with modern methods and machinery, which he uses constantly in his work, and through his accomplishments has earned the right to be accounted one of Hickory Township's able farming repre- sentatives. Mr. Hodgin was reared in the faith of the Christian Church, of which his parents were both members.
Mr. Hodgin was married to Miss Maud L. McNutt, one of the eight children of W. F. McNutt, who is a traveling salesman and resides at Columbia, Missouri.
COL. WILLIAM B. ROGERS. A veteran editor of Northwest Missouri, it has been given to Colonel Rogers to attain many distinctions both in and out of his profession. His career is a somewhat remarkable one, both for its length of service in the newspaper field, and for its expe- rience as a citizen, and official, a soldier, and a hard and conscientious worker for the right in whatever sphere duty has called him. He has been at the head of the Trenton Republican for forty-five years, and in his eightieth year is still an active figure in Grundy County affairs.
William B. Rogers was born February 8, 1835. His birth occurred in a portion of Greene Township now included in Perry . Township of Fayette County, Ohio. His father was Joel Rogers, born in Penn- sylvania in 1808, a son of Joel Rogers, a native of New Jersey, and the great-grandfather was named Thomas. The grandfather lived a time in Pennsylvania, moved thence to Ohio, and settling early in Fayette County, bought a tract of land in Greene Township, to the clearing of which he devoted all his spare time. By profession he was a Baptist minister of the old school, but like many pioneers in the faith gained most of his livelihood by tilling the soil. He continued his life as a preacher and farmer of Fayette County until his death. His first wife, grandmother of the Trenton editor, was Milcah Young, who died in early life. He was afterward twice married and had children by each wife.
Joel Rogers, father of Colonel Rogers, grew up in Fayette county, was trained in pioneer surroundings, and after reaching manhood bought a piece of timbered land in Perry Township. The mother of Colonel Rogers was Priscilla Beals, who was born in Greene Township, Fayette County. William Beals, her father, was born in North Car- olina, moved to Tennessee, later to Ohio, where he early settled in Fay- ette County, and cleared a farm from the wilderness of what was later Perry Township. He died there at a good old age. He married Nancy Caldwell, a native of the North of Ireland and of Scotch stock. Her oldest brother inherited the family estate, sold out and brought other members of the family to America, settling in Highland County, Ohio. Priscilla Beals Rogers died at the age of twenty-nine, leaving four sons and two daughters, the latter then spending several years in the home of their grandparents before returning to their father. The latter did not marry again until his children were nearly all grown.
With this ancestry and early environment, William B. Rogers was reared to habits of industry and as soon as old enough took his share in the duties of the household and farm. The school he first attended
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was kept in a house of logs. There was a typical fireplace and mud-and- stick chimney, and all the furniture had been roughly made by the home community. He sat on a slab seat, with no back and supported from the ground by wooden pins. For the older pupils in their writing exercises with the old quill pen a broad board was fastened at an angle to the side wall, and the boys and girls stood while at this rude desk.
Colonel Rogers first came to Missouri in 1856. At Burlington he left the railroad and crossed the Mississippi, and made his way on foot to Mercer County. None of that country had a railroad, a few of the streams were bridged, and civilization had taken an only insecure foot- hold. At fifteen dollars a month he labored as a farm hand, and that was his first business in this state. Having a pretty good training in the fundamentals, he was then selected as teacher of a district school, and was paid twenty-five dollars a month for looking after the intel- lectual and corporeal welfare of some country boys and girls who at- tended a log school such as he himself had known back in Ohio. With his earnings he advanced his own education through the Grand River College at Edinburg, and was a student there when the war broke out.
One of the instructors of the college resigned and young Rogers for a time supplied her position and also continued his own studies. Returning to Mercer County in the fall of 1861, he enlisted in the Mercer Battalion for six months, and remained in the service until the end of his enlistment. Some while after his return home he was elected in the fall of 1862 sheriff of Mercer County. A little later came the general order from Governor Gamble that all able-bodied men should join the state militia, and in response to that order twelve companies were formed in Mercer County, with Sheriff Rogers holding a commis- sion of colonel from the governor and in nominal command of all the county troops. Before the expiration of his term as sheriff he raised a company of volunteers for active service, which was designated as. Company D and attached to the Forty-fourth Regiment of Missouri Infantry, commanded by Col. R. C. Bradshaw, and himself as captain of the company. From Rolla, the first rendezvous, the regiment went into Tennessee and joined the Sixteenth Army Corps. Colonel Rogers was on the firing line at the great battles of Franklin and Nashville, and was with the federals who pursued the shattered troops of Hood toward Shiloh, and for a time was encamped on the Tennessee River. From there he went to New Orleans, was at the operations about Mobile. Bay, including the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. The regiment then went to Montgomery and went into camp on the site now occupied by the famous Tuskegee Institute. While on the march from Mobile to Montgomery the first news came of Lee's sur- render. Colonel Rogers received his honorable discharge after a long and creditable record in August, 1865.
Returning to Missouri, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Ravenna four years. In 1869 he bought the Grand River Republican at Trenton, and thus entered upon his long career as newspaper pub- lisher and residence at Trenton. The Republican was established in 1864, under the name of Grand River News, and will soon complete its fiftieth volume. A. C. Bentley and G. W. Buckingham were the first proprietors and editors. The ownership soon changed, and the name became Republican-News. When Colonel Rogers bought, the paper was a small weekly issue, four pages and seven columns to the page. Many improvements have been introduced. It has always progressed with its news service in keeping with the advancement of the community, and through its editorial columns has exercised a leadership and influ- ence over the moral and civic affairs of Grundy County which could
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not be omitted in any comprehensive survey of the last half century in that portion of Northwest Missouri. Some years ago a daily issue was begun and has successfully continued. The Republican has the dis- tinction of being the only country paper in Northwest Missouri hav- ing the Associated Press service.
Colonel Rogers was married April 14, 1863, to Cynthia A. Buren. They had been students together at Grand River Institute, and the acquaintance there ripened into marriage. Theirs was an unusually long and happy companionship. On April 14, 1913, family and friends celebrated with them their golden wedding anniversary, and a few months later, on August 21, Mrs. Rogers passed away. She was a mem- ber of the Ninety-nine, a woman's club, and was reared a Methodist, but joined the Baptist Church after marriage, and she and husband were both devout worshipers in that faith.
Cynthia A. Buren was born in Daviess County, Missouri. Her father, Rev. John Johanneus Buren, was born near Rogersville, in Haw- kins County, Tennessee, a son of Henry Buren, who in turn was a son of Simon Boerum. The latter, probably of Holland Dutch stock, lived in New Jersey, was a member of the first Continental Congress, and later fought for independence in Captain Brinkerhoff's company of New York volunteers. Grandfather Henry Buren went to Hawkins County, Tennessee, where he was granted a large tract of land, part of which is still owned by his descendants, and died there at the age of one hundred and five years. He married Mary Miller. Rev. John J. Buren early joined the Methodist Church, was licensed to preach, and about 1833 migrated to Missouri, and after residence in Jefferson County became one of the pioneer ministers of Northwest Missouri in Daviess County and vicinity. Later he was appointed presiding elder for the South St. Louis district, and lived in St. Louis four years. He then settled near Edinburg, where he entered government land, and lived until his death in 1852. Rev. John J. Buren was married in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1809, to Cosby Peery, a daughter of Wil- liam and Sarah (Evans) Peery, and granddaughter of Thomas and Mary Peery of Augusta County, Virginia. William Peery, who fought in both the War of the Revolution and the War of 1812, as is proved by Virginia records, subsequently became a planter and slaveholder in Tazewell County, where he and his wife died. Both Rev. John Buren and his wife received a present of slaves at their wedding, but the blacks were freed, and Reverend Buren was an original abolitionist and active in the cause. Cosby Peery Buren survived her husband until 1884, and her ten children were named: Paschal, Sarah M., Field- ing P., Wilbur F., Melville C., Emily, Cullen E., Cynthia A., John O. and Alvin B.
Colonel and Mrs. Rogers had three children, Carrie, Noble Giotto and William B., Jr. Carrie, the widow of Frank Louis Clark, was for thirteen years librarian of the Jewett Norris Free Public Library until she resigned in November, 1913. Noble Giotto Rogers, whose lamented death occurred July 21, 1912, was liberally educated, first in the Tren- ton schools and then in De Pauw University at Greencastle, Indiana. For two years he taught Latin in the Trenton High School, and for some years prior to his death was associated with his father in news- paper work. He was the compiler and publisher of a handsomely illus- trated booklet setting forth the advantages and resources of Trenton, and in 1911 published a history of Mercer County, a work of great merit and a contribution to local annals in that section of the state. By his marriage to Minnie Isabelle McGuire were born three children,
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namely : Alice Marion, William B. and Robert M. William B. Rogers, Jr., died when fifteen years old.
Colonel Rogers cast his first vote with the republican party, and has been a stanch upholder of the policies and candidates of that great political organization. Besides the office of sheriff, he was also honored while in Mercer County with election to the state senate, representing the fourth senatorial district. He has affiliation with Col. Jacob Smith Post No. 72, Grand Army of the Republic, and with Trenton Lodge No. 111, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. Among other interests he is president of the Trenton Building and Loan Association.
ALBERT J. LOUCKS. One of the young men of progressive enterprise whose energies are contributed to the welfare of the community as well as to the accumulation of material prosperity for himself is Albert J. Loucks of Holt County. Mr. Loucks owns a fine farm, and has introduced modern improvements instead of the old fashioned buildings and con- veniences which satisfied an earlier generation. He carries on the solid industry which in Northwest Missouri brings good crops and a satisfying degree of prosperity, and is not only providing well for his family but is a man of influence in his community.
Albert J. Loucks was born in Holt County, July 28, 1883, a son of John F. and Mary (Kunkel) Loucks. The parents were married in Holt County, and all their five children were born here, namely: David F., Charles E., Samuel G., Albert J., and Emma, wife of Louis Meyers. The paternal grandfather, Peter M. Loucks, came to Northwest Missouri from Ohio, settling here about 1851. Mary Kunkel was born in Holt County, and her father was a very early settler. The son Samuel G. is a graduate of the University of Missouri as a mechanical engineer, having been a member of the class of 1904.
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