A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 56

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

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Mr. Kidwell entered land in the Martinsville locality in 1854 and this he set about improving and converting into a home, he continuing to be engaged in farming during the period of his lifetime. He did valuable service locally during the dark days of the Civil war in aiding those who met misfortune by having relatives in the army of the Union. A member of the Christian Church, which he joined at the age of seventeen years, he remained true to its teachings throughout his life and reared his children to honorable and upright lives. In politics Mr. Kidwell was a republican, and at various times was honored by election to local offices, serving efficiently and faithfully as assessor, surveyor and justice of the peace, while in his church life he was also looked up to as a leader, and at different times for a long period of years acted as deacon and elder. He manifested an active interest in the development of the school system, believed firmly in public education of an advanced order, and four of his children taught school, while one of them is now a practicing osteopath physician. As a farmer, Mr. Kidwell was successful in his general operations, and also carried much stock. His farm was in section 22, township 64, range 29, and there he continued his active labors until his retirement some time before his death, an event that occurred June 5, 1910.

Mr. Kidwell was married to Miss Rebecca E. Magee, who was born October 20, 1829, daughter of John and Elizabeth Magee, of Henry County, Kentucky, and died March 18, 1905; both are buried in the old cemetery. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell were as fol- lows: Livonia, who died in childhood; Jemimah B., born July 16, 1851, who died in 1858; Josephine, born October 13, 1853, married E. P.

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Jessee, and lives in Loveland, Colorado; Benjamin F., of this review; Emma F., born February 4, 1858, married John Barnes and lives near Martinsville, Missouri; Julia A., born December 27, 1860, married Dr. George Eberhart, and both are deceased, she being buried at Benkleman, Nebraska ; John F., born November 18, 1862, and now living at Loveland, Colorado; Rebecca E., born March 18, 1864, married Tol Anderson and lives near Martinsville, Missouri; Alvin P., born January 6, 1868, lives at Ottawa, Kansas; and Ollie Jane, born December 20, 1870, married Doctor Quigley, and lives at Mound City, Missouri.

Benjamin F. Kidwell was born November 12, 1855, and was reared near Martinsville, where his education was secured in the country schools, although this was of a limited character, as he did not start going to school until he reached the age of thirteen years. As a youth he gave his attention to assisting his father on the homestead place, and in the meantime learned the trade of carpenter, a vocation which he has fol- lowed with some degree of success in connection with his other enterprises. In 1891 he embarked in the mercantile line at Martinsville, and in this vocation has continued to be engaged ever since, being at present the proprietor of a business which attracts a trade extending all over this part of the county. In addition he has carried on farming, and has shown himself a capable man of affairs in whatever venture he has found himself engaged. As a developer of Martinsville, Mr. Kidwell has erected the best residence in the village, two store buildings and other substantial structures here, and helped promote the Martinsville Bank as a stockholder, being also a stockholder in one of the New Hampton banks. In political matters he is a democrat, but frequently exercises his right of franchise independently, and has never taken enough interest in politics to endeavor to secure public preferment, although always ready to give of his time, his influence or his means in supporting good and progressive civic movements. His religious connection is with the Christian Church.

On November 25, 1877, Mr. Kidwell was married to Miss Laura E. Edson, a daughter of Alonzo and Arloa (Ferguson) Edson. Mr. Edson came to Missouri from Coles County, Illinois, about the time of the close of the Civil war, and here both he and his wife passed their remaining years in the pursuits of the soil. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Edson were as follows: William A., a resident of Kendall, Kansas; Daniel Leroy, who died in infancy in Illinois; Isaac Millard, a resident of Har- rison County, Missouri ; Mrs. Kidwell, who was born February 13, 1860; James Martin, who is a farmer of the New Hampton locality ; Ulysses Grant, who died in childhood; and Ira Ellsworth, a resident of Great Bend, Kansas.

The children and grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell are as follows: Nellie Arloa, born January 27, 1879, married September 28, 1898, Henry Atwood, who died May 31, 1903, leaving two children, Ione K. and Goebel Dean, and she married again a Mr. Sylvey, lives at Martinsville, and by this union has one daughter-Laveska Maud ; Lemon Leroy, born December 2, 1880, married April 8, 1912, Maud Deason, and has four children-Laberta Margarite, Lilburn Worth, Grace Mildred and Catherine Elaine; William Gustavus, born October 12, 1882, married March 26, 1905, Jennie Bartlett and has three children-Mary Etta, Berdina Ruth and Paul William; Alvin Elsworth, born February 2, 1885, married March 11, 1906, Fannie Lambert and has two children- Eunice Luella and Bernice Lavaughn; Mary Bertha, born August 8, 1888, married October 17, 1906, Lloyd England, and has a son-Harold D .; Alta Gladys, born December 3, 1890, married November 17, 1909, Charles Walters, and has one child-Opal Madaline; and Robert Wilber,

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born September 6, 1893, Ola Edith, born September 21, 1896, Lucy Dorothy, born June 17, 1899, and Lula Ruth, born January 21, 1902, all living at home with their parents.

PROF. A. E. TAYLOR. Cameron, Clinton County, has a full corps of painstaking, efficient school teachers, noteworthy among whom is Prof. A. E. Taylor, principal of the high school, one of the best schools of the kind in the county. Well educated, wide-awake and progressive, Professor Taylor holds a position of note among the successful educators of Northwestern Missouri, the satisfactory results that he obtains from his chosen work proving that he is in reality the right man for the right place. A son of Rev. T. C. Taylor, he was born, December 12, 1883, on a farm in Sullivan County, Missouri, not far from Green City.

Rev. T. C. Taylor was born in Ohio, of English ancestry, and was there reared to agricultural pursuits. A man of deep religious. con- victions, he became a minister of the gospel, and as a preacher in the Methodist Episcopal denomination was for many years a circuit rider. He is now living in West Plains, Missouri, an honored and respected citizen. The maiden name of his wife was Edson.

The son of a circuit rider, A. E. Taylor attended school in many different localities as a boy and youth, also receiving instruction in books at home. He subsequently attended high school and college, and after a brief experience in teaching completed the course of study at the Wesleyan College. In 1908 Professor Taylor accepted his present position as principal of the Cameron High School, and has since per- formed the duties devolving upon him in this capacity with rare ability and wisdom, winning the praise and approval of parents and pupils. He is fond of athletics, playing base ball and foot ball easily and enthusi- astically, and is especially popular with the boys under his charge.

Professor Taylor married, July 18, 1907, Bertha Snyder, and they are the proud parents of two sons, K. Wetzel and Murlin. The pro- fessor and Mrs. Taylor are faithful and valued members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

J. EMMETT HODGIN. Sixty years have passed since the Hodgin family first established its home in Holt County, and through these years the name has been associated with successful enterprise in the handling of land and live stock, with progressive activity in community affairs, and with those substantial virtues which give character to any community. A son of the pioneer settler and one of the leading farmers in the vicinity of Maitland, J. Emmett Hodgin was born in Holt County, August 28, 1879. His parents were Joseph and Susan E. (Denny) Hodgin. His father, who came to Holt County in 1854, arrived with only $30 in his pocket, having driven by wagon across the country to this then wilderness community. He broke hemp ten days for Mr. Ish for his first log cabin, his habitation for a number of years, until he was able to construct a more modern dwelling. His first settlement was on the place where he spent the remainder of his life. In spite of the small capital with which he started, he eventually acquired ownership of 725 acres in Holt County, all of it improved with the exception of forty-five acres of timber land. The land was put in cultivation and managed through his labors, and in time he erected several substantial buildings. When Joseph Hodgin passed away in Holt County in January, 1914, the community lost one of its finest old settlers. He was an active republican, a member of the Christian Church, and one fact in particular that should long be remembered is that he was instrumental in starting the first school and the first church in his community. Joseph Hodgin married for his

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first wife Harriett Lawrence, and the two children living of that marriage are Jennie and Ellsworth. His second wife, Susan E. (Denny) Hodgin, is still living, and is the mother of three children: Nellie, the wife of Dyke Williams; J. Emmett; and Barney.

J. Emmett Hodgin married Florence Glenn, a daughter of William Glenn. To their marriage have been born three children: Glenn, and twins, Hazel and Helen. These children were born on Mr. Hodgin's present homestead, which is a portion of his father's estate. Mr. Hodgin is now farming 288 acres of land, and is the individual owner of 200 acres. When he located here the house in which he still lives was on the farm, but all the other improvements and buildings have been the result of his own efforts. For the past two years he has taken an active interest in good roads. In the capacity of overseer he put the roads in good condition and obtained the county seat road past his farm. Mr. Hodgin is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and has served as clerk on his school board. In politics he is a republican.

STEPHEN C. ROGERS. The gentleman whose name heads this review is one of the best known citizens of Kingston, as well as one of the most familiar figures on its busy streets. He may not have earned the dis- tinction of being one of the earliest settlers, but fifty-eight years of resi- dence in Missouri will at least entitle him to a place among its representa- tive citizens. An early teacher, for many years a leading member of the bar, a successful operator in the line of agricultural endeavor, and a public-spirited citizen who has contributed to his community's welfare in various ways, Stephen C. Rogers in each of these varied capacities has shown himself a man of resource and ability, and is entitled to the esteem and respect in which he is universally held.

Born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, March 20, 1848, Mr. Rogers is a son of Hugh L. W. Rogers. His great-grandfather, John Rogers, was a soldier under General Washington during the Revolutionary war, while Maj. David Rogers, the grandfather of Stephen C. Rogers, was an officer during the War of 1812, and fought under the redoubtable General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. Hugh L. W. Rogers was a farmer by vocation, and in his native State of Tennessee married Miss Barbara Cawood, a daughter of Stephen Cawood, a son of a Revolutionary officer and a member of an old and honored Virginia family. In 1856 Hugh L. W. Rogers migrated to Missouri, settling in Clinton County, and engag- ing in farming until the Civil war, when he took the Union side and had a brilliant record as a soldier and officer. Returning to his farm at the close of hostilities, he continued as a tiller of the soil until his death in 1875. Their children were as follows: Albert G., Stephen C., Rhoda J., David H., Hugh L., Mary and Alice.

Stephen C. Rogers was reared a farmer and his early education was secured in the public schools, following which he became a student in the University of Missouri, from which he was graduated in 1873, with a good record as a student. At that time he accepted a call to take charge of the Kingston school, which had just been established in its new brick building, and entered upon his duties in 1874 as superintendent, a posi- tion in which he secured the approbation of the people of the community and in which he remained until increasing interests in other directions demanded his undivided attention. He studied law while engaged in this capacity, and in 1875 was admitted to the bar, since which time he has continued in practice as one of his community's leading lawyers. In recent years Mr. Rogers has been engaged in farming and real estate operations, and at this time is one of Kingston's large land holders and heaviest taxpayers. He is also widely interested in business interests of

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varied character, including the proposed interurban railroad, of which he has made the survey from Excelsior Springs to Kingston. A man of intense public spirit, he has served in various positions of trust and responsibility, giving of his best efforts in behalf of the community wel- fare. He served as county prosecuting attorney, as mayor of Kingston, as school commissioner and was president of the school board, and county surveyor and highway engineer. In 1914, at the solicitation of friends, accepted the superintendency of the public schools of Kingston, of which he has since had charge. Under his able direction, the school system of this thriving city is being developed into one of the finest in this part of the state. As is evident, even from this brief sketch, thor- oughness is one of Mr. Rogers' most prominent characteristics. No rolling stone, he has evinced exceptional perseverance and patience, as well as talent, in every position which he has been called upon to fill. His support is given to the republican party in affairs of a political character.

In 1876 Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Mattie Edwards, of Boon County, Missouri, and to this union there has been born one child : Miss L. R., a graduate of the University of Missouri, and a well-known Government educator, who has spent some time teaching in the schools of the Philippine Islands, and is now stationed at Ponce, Porto Rico.

JOHN E. SLATER. Practically everyone in Holt County knows this prominent resident of Bigelow Township. Mr. Slater has lived in this locality thirty-five years, and his experiences and achievements, both before that time and since, have been such as to furnish data for inter- esting reading.

John E. Slater was born June 14, 1854, in Yorkshire, England, at the town of Wakefield, a place made famous in literature as the scene of the story, "The Vicar of Wakefield," by Oliver Goldsmith. His parents were Abraham and Sarah (Emerson) Slater. Of the seven children, five grew to maturity. John E. was fifteen years of age when his parents emigrated to America. His father had spent seven years as a mechanic's apprentice in England, and was a product of the thorough and systematic training which prevails in old country industrial lines. He worked as machinist and engineer in England, and it was the custom in his time for an apprentice to know every detail in the construction and operation of an engine before getting a certificate entitling him to perform the duties of engineer. After coming to America he located in Pittsburg, found work as a machinist, and later was sent to South St. Louis, a suburb of the city better known as Carondelet. Some years later he assisted in the construction of three of the largest locomotive engines ever operated west of the Mississippi River. Work as engineer and machinist employed him during most of his remaining years, and he died at St. Louis, while his wife passed away in the same house a few years later.

John E. Slater is a man who has made his way with few of the advantages of education and training so liberally supplied to boys of the present generation. His schooling was at an end by the time he reached the age of thirteen, and at that time he began firing an engine of which his father was foreman. It has been his lasting regret that his oppor- tunities for schooling were so limited, and though his own success has been all the more noteworthy for these early deficiencies, he does not take the view that many practical self-made men do, but believes thor- oughly in the right of every boy and girl to thorough training at public expense. On leaving home Mr. Slater first located at Lockport in Will County, Illinois, and engaged to work for $100 a year. His labors were

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almost incessant from 4 o'clock in the morning until 8 o'clock at night. He remained there about eighteen months, then returned home to South St. Louis, and got employment in the same plant with his father. He continued at work in rolling mills until 1876, and then began farming a little west of St. Louis, renting a place.

In 1878 Mr. Slater married Ella Stuart, daughter of Samuel and Adeline (Shepard) Stuart. She was one of a family of eleven children, nine of whom survive. Her father came from Kentucky and her mother from Pennsylvania, and they were married in St. Louis County. In the spring of 1879 Mr. Slater and his bride arrived in Holt County, and, almost strangers and with few possessions, began the long struggle to make themselves a home and a competence. Mr. Slater rented about sixty acres, comprising a portion of his present fine estate. The house was a log building, and the first settler on the farm owned by A. B. Welton, arrived in 1849, an early period in the history of Holt County, when a horse and buggy was as unusual and rare a sight as an aeroplane at the present time. The roads then were mere paths through the woods, and had many devious turnings in order to follow the high ridges of ground. Mr. Slater's career as a Holt County farmer was spent on rented land for some twelve or fifteen years, but prosperity was gradually coming to him, and his first purchase was forty acres at $25 an acre. Since then he has steadily increased the area of his land holdings, and now has 485 acres, all situated in the bottom and regarded as some of the finest and most productive soil in Holt County. Year after year has witnessed extended improvements in buildings, fencing and better adapta- tion of the land to advanced farming, and his homestead now represents almost the last word in its facilities and comforts.

Mr. and Mrs. Slater became. the parents of three children: Irl R. died at the age of eighteen, while attending the Kirkwood High School, and it was the cherished ambition of his father to give him all the advantages which had been lacking in his own career. The other two boys, Cecil Stuart and Ralph Emerson, died in infancy. They were twins, and died about four months after their birth.

Mr. and Mrs. Slater are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, has membership in the lodge at Mound City and in the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at St. Joseph. For a number of years he has been active in local affairs, has served on the school board, and is a member of the committee supervising the big drainage ditch through his land, and also on the board in what is known as the Tarkio Drainage District. He has been a member of the board since it was organized about seventeen years ago

JOHN RICHARD SIMPSON. Farming, in all its branches, has been considered a good line of business since the beginning of the world, and particularly in the rich farming districts of Northwest Missouri it is possible to find in that business many of the most competent and suc- cessful citizens. Among the men of Worth County who have long been identified with this industry, and in such a manner as to reach sub- stantial places in the general business consideration of the district is John Richard Simpson. He is a son of Joseph Simpson, who came as a pioneer to Worth County in 1859, and settled on the west fork of Grand River; where he still lives, after more than fifty years as an active and successful farmer.

John Richard Simpson is a native of Northwest Missouri, and has spent practically all his life in the community where he was known as a child and youth. He was born January 1, 1861, grew up in the country districts about Grand River, and was educated in the district schools.

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While still living at home, he started for himself at the age of twenty- one, and finally moved to a farm rented from his father, located in Union Township in section 35, township 67, and range 32. In that one locality Mr. Simpson has had his home since 1886. After a few years as a renter, he bought the 114 acres comprising the place, and began a vigor- ous campaign of improvement, both of the land and of his own material resources. When he moved to that farm its improvements were of a somewhat primitive character, consisting of a box house of one story on a foundation 14 by 16 feet, and a stable for four horses. For several years Mr. Simpson boarded as a bachelor until he was thirty-three. The years of successive industry and good management have told their tale, and his success is now measured by a splendid farm of 286 acres, besides a half interest in 160 acres in Butler County. His home tract lies in several different sections and in adjoining townships, though only a public highway separates the various fields. As a farmer, Mr. Simpson has found his chief success as a stock raiser. He has an ideal farm for cattle and hogs, with splendid natural windbreaks, an abundant supply of water, and an equipment in buildings which it has been his pride to keep thoroughly up to date and in line with the most advanced ideas of farm and stock management. For a number of years he has been one of the large feeders in that locality, and has shipped both to Chicago and St. Joseph markets.

Politically a republican, Mr. Simpson cast his first presidential ballot for James G. Blaine, and has never missed a presidential vote since. He has held no office, except as a member of his home school board. On September 27, 1893, in Worth County, Mr. Simpson married Miss Sarah Angeline Strachan. Her father, William Strachan, a native .of Scotland, was a veteran of the Civil war, having twice enlisted and beginning as . a private, was discharged at the end of the war as fife major. William Strachan married Mary J. Hagans, a daughter of Mason Hagans, one of the old settlers of Missouri. Mr. Strachan died August 28, 1893, and his wife ten months later. Their children were: Nellie, wife of B. F. Wall of Worth County; Mrs. Simpson; Stella J., who married Ralph Moore of Jerome, Idaho; and Mrs. Dr. B. H. Miller of Blockton, Iowa. While Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have no children of their own, Mr. Simpson has a paternal pride in his nephew, Silas T. Simpson, who has distin- guished himself. After graduating from the State University in 1912, owing to his splendid record in the agricultural department, was at once assigned to a position as assistant professor of animal husbandry. At · his home farm Mr. Simpson has one of the beautiful country residences which give character to the rural districts of Worth County, and it was erected in 1900, and is surrounded by substantial barns and other build- ings for stock and grain purposes. Mr. Simpson is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, while his wife is identified with the Christian denomination.

J. E. GARTSIDE, M. D. The present efficient county recorder of Cald- well County needs no introduction to the county's people. Doctor Gart- side has lived in Caldwell County for thirty-one years, is one of the most successful practitioners of medicine, and while there are hundreds of people who place implicit faith in his ability as a physician, there is a still wider range of his followers who esteem him for his ability and in- fluence as a public leader. Doctor Gartside has for a number of years been one of the leaders in the republican party of Caldwell County, has acted as delegate in county, congressional, state and national con- ventions, and was a delegate to the convention of 1908 at Chicago. He was elected to his present office as county recorder in 1910, and has

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handled its affairs in a manner to justify the action of the people in electing him.

Doctor Gartside was born at O'Fallon, St. Clair County, Illinois, June 22, 1860. His father, Job Gartside, who was a coal contractor en- gaged in the development of coal mines, was a native of England, came to America in his youth, and was in the midst of a successful business career when called away for service in the Union army to defend the integrity of his adopted country. He went South in Company D of the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois Infantry. His services in- cluded duty during the siege of Vicksburg, at Champion Hill, Black River Bridge, and his army career was terminated by ill health. He was brought back to St. Louis and died from the results of his service as a soldier in 1864. He was at that time in the prime of life. He left a widow and an only son, Doctor Gartside. The mother of Doctor Gartside was Alice D. Blackshaw, who was also born in England and is now living in Montgomery County, Missouri.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 56

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