A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 73

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

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tax law. He then became editor and business manager of the Macon Citizen, a newspaper then owned by the late Colonel Blees. In 1902 the four newspapers of Macon were consolidated into two plants, and Mr. Denslow then engaged in professional photography at Macon. Alto- gether he was in that profession at Macon for six years, and for one year had a studio at Kirksville and for two years at Trenton.

In 1908 the Trenton Daily News was organized with a capital stock of $10,000 and chartered as the News Publishing Company, with W. M. Denslow as editor. In less than three years this paper under his manage- ment had succeeded in building up the largest bona-fide daily subscrip- tion list of any daily paper in Grundy County. After nearly three years as editor and manager of the daily and weekly, Mr. Denslow resigned in order to take charge as secretary and manager of the Denslow History Company, which at that time was arranging for the publication of a voluminous history of Adair County, a publication which required two years' time to complete. After the successful issue of that publication Mr. Denslow concentrated his attention upon the business of photog- raphy at Trenton, until June, 1914, when he was called to take the position of local editor of the Trenton Daily and Weekly Times, a posi- tion in which he is still engaged.

Mr. Denslow has always been a republican in politics, but for the past several years the party has not shown sufficient progressiveness to justify his support, and in 1912 he entered the ranks of the progressives, and is still active in the support of their principles. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic lodge, the Royal Arch chapter, is Past Eminent Commander of Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery No. 24, Knights Templar, at Trenton, and also has affiliation with the Woodmen of the World and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

On May 22, 1880, Mr. Denslow married Malinda Caroline Schooler, a daughter of William D. and Malinda (Nichols) Schooler. To their mar- riage has been born one son, Ray V., a prominent Northwest Missouri citizen whose career is briefly sketched elsewhere in this publication.

JUDGE HENRY MILLS. In the election of November, 1912, the only candidate on the progressive ticket in Caldwell County to be elected was Henry Mills, who had been nominated by the new party for the office of county judge for the eastern district of the county. The mere fact of his election against the candidates of the older parties demonstrates his popularity and wide acquaintance in the county, and his fitness for the responsibility and the honor on the basis of his subsequent adminis- tration is unquestioned and exceptional. Judge Mills has been a resi- dent of Caldwell County most of his life, has been a practical and suc- cessful farmer, and has always been noted for his honesty and efficiency in every undertaking with which his name has been connected. He is an excellent business man, and in his private affairs as in his public duties has shown progressive views and is always ready to uphold what he believes to be right and his duty. His body has nominated him for a second term.

Judge Henry Mills was born on a farm April 26, 1872. His father, A. Mills, a native of Kentucky and of Kentucky and Virginia ancestors, saw service as a Union soldier during the Civil war. He was married in Kentucky to Miss Dicy Messer, also a native of Kentucky. They came into Missouri and settled in Ray County, where the father followed farm- ing until his death at the age of seventy years. In politics he was a re- publican, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife were active in the Baptist Church. His wife died at the age of sixty-five. There were six children, two sons and four daughters.

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Judge Henry Mills grew up on a farm and as soon as his strength permitted was made acquainted with the practical details of farm work, in which way he acquired a substantial training for the business which he has since followed, and was also given the advantages of the public schools. He began his career without means, and by industry, good man- agement and close application has made a noteworthy success as a farmer and stockraiser. Judge Mills owns 255 acres of land eight miles north- west of Cowgill, and there has one of the best improved and most valuable estates in the county. His farm shows in its every detail the progressive character of its owner.

Judge Mills married Dora Parker, who was born in Iowa, but received her education in Clay County, Missouri. Her father was William Parker, who with his wife is now deceased.

CHARLES G. TOWNSEND. No name in the northern part of Andrew County bespeaks a larger family relationship and one whose members have been more actively and influentially identified with the community than that of Townsend. With only a brief reference to the history of older generations, which has been covered in other articles in this work, the following paragraph will be confined to the career of one representa- tive of the family, Charles G. Townsend, who for a number of years has made a success as a farmer and stock man in section 23 of Benton Town- ship.

Charles C. Townsend was born in Winterset, Iowa, September 19, 1861, and is the eighth of ten children of William Calvin and Mary Ann (Judd) Townsend. The residence of the family in Iowa was only temporary, and soon after Charles C. Townsend's birth they returned to Missouri and located in Andrew County.

Charles C. Townsend grew up in this section of Northwest Missouri, attended the local schools, and for more than thirty years has been one of the prosperous factors in the agricultural district of Benton Town- ship. He is the owner of 142 acres, a portion of his father's estate, and is a farmer on the intensive plan, operating his property in the growing of grain and stock.

Aside from his industry as a farmer his name has been well known in the community through its relations with public affairs. For about twenty-five years Mr. Townsend served as judge of elections. He is president of the board of education, which position he has held for the past fifteen years, and is also a director in the Andrew County Agri- cultural and Mechanical Society. Politically he lines up his principles and actions with the republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend are both members of the Baptist Church at Bolekow, and he was superintendent of the Sunday school six years and treasurer of the church seventeen years. Fraternally Mr. Townsend is affiliated with Lodge No. 413, A. F. & A. M., at Bolckow. On December 14, 1890, he married Alice Wells, who was born in Putnam County, Missouri, June 19, 1865, and died at her home in Andrew County, January 14, 1908. She was the daughter of Judge F. M. Wells. Mrs. Townsend was a woman of thorough culture both of mind and heart, and was noted for her many useful activities. She spent about ten years as a teacher in Andrew County, having begun that vocation at the age of sixteen. A part of her education came from the Stanberry Normal School. She was also an effective member of the Baptist Church and for many years a teacher in the Sunday school. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Townsend: Grace, who lives at home; Mabel, who died at the age of six months; Ray L .; and Warren Reid.

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J. G. MOHN. One of the most favored localities in Caldwell County is Lincoln Township, and among the excellent farm homes found in this locality is the Sunnyside Farm, the proprietor of which is Mr. J. G. Mohn. Mr. Mohn is a native of Germany, though nearly all his life has been spent in America, and has introduced some of the German char- acteristics of thrift and thorough industry and careful management into his work as a Northwest Missouri farmer and stock man. His farm is located 41/2 miles southwest of Cowgill, and contains 160 acres of rich and productive land, farmed to the crops of corn, wheat, oats and grass, and his profits come largely through dairy and general stock raising. He keeps a good dairy with ten cows of high grade, and his other stock are cattle, hogs and poultry. The Mohn residence is a modern home of seven rooms, well furnished in good taste, and occupying a particularly attractive building site, overlooking a broad expanse of prairie and woodland, the view being one that is hardly excelled in this beautiful region of Caldwell County. Around the house are many large shade trees and a well kept and bearing orchard. Mr. Mohn has a large barn for his stock, 30x40 feet, besides sheds and granary, and keeps all his farming equipment in first-class condition, and even the casual observer can spell thrift and industry in every department of Sunnyside Farm.

Mr. J. G. Mohn was born in Germany in 1855, and his father was Fred Mohn, who had been reared on a German farm and was trained in the careful and thrifty manner of the German agriculturist. J. G. Mohn was a small boy when his parents emigrated to America and set- tled in Pennsylvania, where his father died when about twenty-eight years of age, leaving a widow and two sons, J. G. and William ; the latter is now a resident of Colorado. The widow was again married and came out to Ray County, Missouri, and died there. Both the parents were Lutherans in religion, and were substantial, honest and honorable people, and those qualities have been exemplified in their children.

J. G. Mohn was educated in the public schools, and was taught as one of the first principles the value and need of industry and honest relations with his fellow men. In 1884 Mr. Mohn married Miss M. Zieseniss, a woman of intelligence and piety who has been his loyal helpmate for thirty years. She comes of a family who for many years lived near Hamilton, Missouri, and her father was Henry Zieseniss, a prosperous farmer of Ray County, who was born in Germany and died in Ray County in 1893, at the age of sixty-eight. Mrs. Mohn was one of a family of five children, and has three brothers and one sister still living in Ray County. Mr. and Mrs. Mohn are the parents of three children : Mildred, wife of Frank Lamer, who lives near Polo, and they have two small children, one son and one daughter; and Albert Oscar, both of whom are at home. The sons were well educated, and are now progressive young farmers and assist actively in the management of Sunnyside Farm. Mr. Mohn is a republican in politics, and his wife belongs to the Methodist Church, and all the family have done much to support and keep up church activities in their community.

J. EDWARD CLARY. The substantial occupation of farming has en- listed both the early and the later interests of J. Edward Clary, who for thirty years has been a resident of Worth County, and for twenty- two years of this period has been located on his present property, two miles southeast of Sheridan. Mr. Clary came to Missouri from Menard County, Illinois, where he was born December 29, 1857. His childhood was spent on the family homestead near the Village of Petersburg, and his education came from the country schools, his father, Hugh Clary, being an agriculturist. The latter was also born in that county, spent

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his entire life there as a modest farmer, and died in November, 1896. He was without political history, save as a supporter of the democratic party, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

The Clary family were among the very first to settle in Menard County, Illinois. Judge John Clary, grandfather of J. Edward, located at Clary's Grove, in that county, about 1818, the year that Illinois was admitted as a state. Judge Clary was a Tennesseean, and was one of the judicial officers of Menard County during pioneer days. He was one of the old-time judges, upon whom it devolved to enforce the Illinois statutes as then in force, and the old volume of statutes which he used in his office with his name inscribed on the fly leaf in his own hand with a quill pen is one of the valued heirlooms in the home of J. E. Clary. Judge Clary's settlement in Illinois was at a time when that region was still overrun with Indians, and at this time it seems rather strange that he should imperil the lives of his family by exiling them among the redmen of the forest and plains in order to take part in the initial work of bringing civilization to a wilderness locality. He made the trip from Tennessee by the usual mode of travel, horseback, and brought with him his wife and two children. After selecting his location he left his little family to the mercies of a kind Providence, while he returned to his native state on a business mission that could not be transacted without his presence. His absence necessarily covered a period of weeks, and his family sorely felt his absence and proportionately welcomed his return. He was a factor in the establishment of order and the enforce- ment of law of the primitive sort that prevailed. Judge Clary was a factor in Menard County public affairs when "Honest Abe Lincoln" with his mighty frame and homely face presented himself as a citizen of the Prairie State, and the Clary and Armstrong homes provided for brief periods a residence for the youth who was later to become the nation's preserver. The wife of Judge Clary was a Miss Armstrong, a sister of old "Jackie" Armstrong, Lincoln's old chum in Menard County, and whose son, Duffy Armstrong, Lincoln defended and cleared of a charge of murder. Two of Judge Clary's sons were in the Mexican war. One of them, Thomas, died while the troops were crossing the Gulf of Mexico, and his body was lowered over the side of the transport into the waters of the gulf. The other, Robert, returned to Illinois after the war and lived ont his life there. Other children of Judge Clary were: Royal; John; William; Martha, who married James Bell; James ; Hugh; and Abe L., who was the first white child ever named after Abraham Lincoln in that county, and who died in the spring of 1914.

Hugh Clary, father of J. Edward Clary, married Louisa Traylor, a daughter of Henry Traylor. She is still living in Menard County, Illi- nois. Their children were as follows: John H. of Petersburg, Illinois; J. Edward; Samantha, who married G. M. Hudspeth of Petersburg, Illinois ; Leonidas, of Petersburg; William T., of Beason, Illinois; Frank of Petersburg; Warren P. of Grant City, Missouri; and Marion B. of Petersburg, Illinois.

J. Edward Clary has special distinction in Worth County through his business as a breeder of jacks for a quarter of a century, an industry which has developed into considerable proportions. He is one of the three men who have been most prominent in advertising Worth County in the stock business, and his products have been shipped to most of the states of the Union. Mr. Clary has also extensively engaged in feeding cattle for the market, and has through his enterprise in this direction afforded a market for thousands of bushels of corn in his neigh- borhood. He is also a sheep breeder, and for years handled the full bloods of the Shropshire strain. It is difficult to appreciate the full

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extent of the influence that can be exerted by the presence of one enter- prising citizen in such a rural community as Worth County. Mr. Clary, as an instance of his progressiveness, built the first silo in Worth County, and demonstrated to his own satisfaction and that of many farmers who examined it the success of this container as a means of conserving and modifying the food qualities of forage crops for all kinds of stock. He subsequently, with the confidence bred of his own experience, took an active part in introducing silos all over the county. When the good roads movement was launched in this part of Northwest Missouri, it found in Mr. Clary an earnest and enthusiastic advocate, and for twenty years he has helped drag the road from his place to Sheridan. He made the first road drag ever used in this county, taking his pattern from an address delivered by Mr. King, the inventor of the road drag, at Sheridan. He has well sustained in his community a reputation as an energetic, enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizen.

On first coming to Missouri, in 1884, Mr. Clary settled on a property northwest of Sheridan, a short time later moved into town, and from there came to his present place in 1892. He has been an ardent dem- ocrat all his life, but though attending county conventions has had no aspirations to serve the public in an official way. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. Though reared a Presbyterian, he affiliates chiefly with the Christian Church.

On February 22, 1881, Mr. Clary was married at Petersburg, Illinois, to Miss Louie E. Dowell, a daughter of Thomas F. Dowell. Mrs. Clary died December 4, 1884, leaving one daughter, Bertha. The second mar- riage of Mr. Clary occurred April 1, 1886, when he married Miss Amy E. Allison, the oldest daughter and fourth child in a family of nine born to James Allison, a successful Missouri farmer. To Mr. and Mrs. Clary the following children have been born: Luther L., who is engaged in farming in the vicinity of Sheridan; and by his marriage to Ethel Calkins has two children, James. Edward and Marzella; Harvey E., also a farmer who makes his home near that of his father, married Florence Scott, a daughter of W. W. Scott, and has one daughter, Alline ; Kyle A., a farmer in the locality of Sheridan, who married Selma Straight; Norma R., who married Newton Burns of Sheridan, has two children, Marvel and Max; Gertrude, who is a student in the Maryville State Normal School; and Elsie Marie, who lives at home and attends the pub- lie schools in Sheridan.

JOHN T. COTTIER. This name bespeaks a large family relationship with pioneer settlers in Northwestern Missouri, and fully seventy years have passed since the Cottiers first became identified with Holt County. Agriculture has been the chief vocation of the family, and an examina- tion of the records shows the Cottiers have been upholders of morality and religion and people of kindly neighborliness and usefulness.

John T. Cottier was born in Holt County on the old Cottier home- stead. That place was long one of the landmarks in Lewis Township, and there was no change in its ownership from about 1847 until 1899. Thomas Cottier, the father of John, was born on the Isle of Man in 1829. He married Minerva Beeler. They were married on the old Beeler homestead at Oregon, Missouri, February 7, 1850. Thomas Cottier came to Northwest Missouri by boat up the Missouri River as far as St. Joseph, and walked overland to Holt County as far as Oregon in 1847. He bought a relinquishment on an old land claim comprising 315 acres, and thus acquired the Cottier homestead, which was owned by him until his death. When he first found the land it had no improvements, and

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his first habitation was a log house, roofed with clapboards. His home was on this farm until 1891, when he moved to Forest City, Holt County, where he remained until his death in 1899. All his children, eight in number, were born on the farm. After his death the estate was divided and the homestead is now the property of Paul Elliott. Thomas Cottier was a sterling pioneer, and among his early experiences was as a soldier in the Mexican war, driving an ox team and wagon to Mexico.

John T. Cottier grew up among pioneer scenes, was educated in the district schools and also took a course in the high school at Oregon. At the age of twenty-seven Mr. Cottier established a home of his own by his marriage on September 5, 1882, to Cora Ferrin, daughter of Reuben Ferrin, who was one of the early settlers in Minnesota Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Cottier have six children : Hugh M., who married Flora Meyer, daughter of Judge George Meyer; Bettie, Helen, Thomas, Fay and Theodore.

Since his marriage Mr. Cottier has occupied his present home farm, and all his children were born there. He is the owner of 320 acres, all of it under cultivation, and his material progress and enterprise are illustrated by the improvements and commodious buildings which stand on the farm, all of which have been placed there since he took possession. Mr. Cottier and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics he is a progressive.

R. K. Ross. Sixty or seventy years ago Holt County was still largely wilderness. The settlers about that time found a few village commu- nities, numerous clearings and tilled fields, and some roads, but still the burden rested upon most newcomers of cutting down countless trees, up- rooting the stumps and brush, and starting cultivation where never before had been the civilized activities of white men. That was the condition when the Ross family first became identified with this section of Northwest Missouri, and as its members did their share of pioneer toil, so a later generation has enjoyed the fruits of better days, and has carried forward the same thrift and independence which have always characterized the name.

Mr. R. K. Ross, one of the most substantial farmer citizens of the county, represents the second generation of the family's residence, and is himself one of the older native sons. He was born at Ross Grove, November 26, 1852. His parents were Robert K. and Jane (Bird.) Ross. His father was born in North Carolina and reared in Tennessee, where he married Miss Bird, a native of the latter state. Nine of their children were born in Tennessee, and altogether the family comprised fifteen chil- dren, three of whom died in infancy. In 1846 or 1847 Robert K. Ross came out to Northwest Missouri. Railroads had not yet penetrated this section, and all transportation and carriage was either by boat or over- land by wagon and pack horse .. He made the journey with wagon and team, and arrived in this wilderness country without means. He worked for others for a time, and in 1851 settled on a small tract of land which he had acquired at Ross Grove. The first habitation erected for the shelter of his family was one of the typical log houses, and it was in that rude structure that R. K. Ross first saw the light of day. For a number of years wild game was plentiful, and even Indians were frequent visitors at the home of the settlers. The land was divided between prairie and timber, and in either case it was a difficult task to prepare it for cultivation. Robert K. Ross made his first acquisitions of land partly from the Government and partly from private owners, and paid from $2.50 to $3 an acre. He was a man of industry, of good habits, and of moral and religious character. He lived many years with

Mrs. Malinda Townsend

8.26. Townsend

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his son R. K., and died February 4, 1899, and was laid to rest at Mound City. As a result of his industry he left an estate of 200 acres. He was at one time the owner of 380 acres of land, but of this he sold a part to his three boys. His wife passed away in July, 1876,

R. K. Ross had the advantage of the district schools only, but no small part of his education was acquired in the home circle, by his own effort, through the advice of his teacher, and he therefore urges upon all young people not to neglect study at home. He lived at home with his father until March 1, 1877, and then started out on a farm of eighty acres. Mr. Ross married Mary Wehrli in 1877, a daughter of Peter and Mary (Vogel) Wehrli. Mrs. Ross was one of nine children, and the only daughter. To Mr. and Mrs. Ross have been born nine children, two of whom died in infancy : William T., who married Arletta Byergo; Robert, deceased; Isaac M., who married Elizabeth Jobe; Earl L., who married Emma Goodpasture; Roscoe P .; Varna May, who married E. L. McConnell; and Eva M. All the children were born on the home farm.

Mr. Ross' farm comprises the land on which he first settled after his marriage. All the improvements are the result of his management. He has owned as high as 6181/2 acres of Missouri land, but has divided it in part with his children.

For many years Mr. Ross has been an active member in the denom- ination known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. There has been a church of that denomination in this vicinity ever since 1870, and Mr. Ross has for the past thirty-six or thirty-seven years served as an elder. The church house at the present location has stood for about fifteen years. Its membership at the present time is fifty-eight. Mr. Ross' father was a prominent early settler who gave service to the community on the school board, and was one of the republicans in the early days. He was also a Mason. R. K. Ross has served as justice of the peace for eight years and served as one of the school board for several years. Like his father, he is a republican.

JOHN H. TOWNSEND. In the eightieth year of his age the venerable John H. Townsend still occupies his fine old homestead in section 21 of Benton Township, Andrew County. Mr. Townsend came to Andrew County when a boy, and imprinted on his life record and recollection are all the important phases of development, beginning with the pioneer period of log houses and primitive schools and crude means of cultivation, transportation and marketing, the beginning of the railroad era, and finally all those remarkable changes brought about in the age of elec- tricity and modern machinery and industrialism. He is one of the splen- did old citizens of Northwest Missouri, has spent his life in the quiet and unobtrusive vocation of the farmer, but in all his public relations has served his community well and is the head of a fine family.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 73

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