A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 75

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

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In 1870 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage with Miss Mary Sher- man, who was born in 1848, and died in December, 1911, a daughter of John Sherman. Two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson : Elizabeth, who is the wife of Everett G. Fisher, of Knox City, Missouri ; and Caroline, who lives with her father.

FRED E. GOODNOW. One of the most progressive men in Caldwell County, whether considered as a farmer and stockman, or as a citizen, is Fred E. Goodnow, who resides in Lincoln Township. He has been a resident of this locality for a quarter of a century, and everyone in that community can testify to his ability in getting profits from the soil and in the intelligent care and handling of livestock. He believes in and prac- tices intensive farming, and finds the raising of cattle and hogs both a pleasant. and profitable business. His farm comprises 120 acres of highly improved land.

Fred E. Goodnow is a native of Wisconsin and was born in Trempe- leau County, July 23, 1866. The home farm in Wisconsin was located near the Mississippi River. His parents were L. E. and Louise (Bis- sell) Goodnow. His father was of old New England family, and it was in that part of the United States that he grew up and married. The parents lived in Trempeleau County, Wisconsin, until 1869, and then when their son Fred was three years of age moved to Caldwell County, Missouri, and located on a farm 11/2 miles southwest of where Fred E. Goodnow now lives. The father died at the age of sixty-three. The mother passed away in 1912. Both were active members of the Baptist Church, and the father was a republican and held several local offices, and at one time was public administrator. There were eight chil- dren in the family, namely: Mrs. M. De Walt; Fred E .; Gertrude E. Spicer ; Carrie Ure; Alice Spicer ; L. H .; Ada Anderson; and Walter E. All the children were well educated, and four of them were successful and popular teachers before the responsibilities of home making larger interests called them from that profession.

Fred E. Goodnow was reared in Caldwell County and obtained a part of his education from the public schools. The training that has

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been of most value to him in later life was the practical experience on the farm while growing to manhood. On March 6, 1889, Mr. Good- now married Lou Bays, who was born in Caldwell County, a daughter of Miles and Elizabeth Bays. Mrs. Goodnow died at the age of thirty- six years, and left two sons: Miles, who is connected with the railway service in Kansas City; and Laurence, who is in California. On August 9, 1907, Mr. Goodnow married for his present wife Malvina Blair. Mrs. Goodnow was born, reared and educated at Breckenridge, in Caldwell County, and is a daughter of the Hon. W. F. and Edith (Waldo) Blair, her father a well-known citizen of Breckenridge and a former member of the Missouri Legislature. Mrs. Goodnow was one of five children, the others being Angeline, Vashti, Olive and Willard. Mr. and Mrs. Goodnow have three children, Louise, Olive and Freddie B.

Mrs. Goodnow supplies a part of the enterprise which makes the home farm profitable through her special department in the raising of white Wyandot chickens, and her flock is one of the best in Caldwell County. Mr. and Mrs. Goodnow have an attractive country home, an eight-room modern dwelling, situated on a beautiful building site surrounded by an ample lawn and fine shade trees. Other features about the farm are a large barn, 40x60 feet, extensive fields of blue grass meadow and the staple crops of Northwest Missouri, and the water supply for the farm is pumped by windmill.

Mr. Goodnow has been a republican for years, and in 1914 was the nominee of the progressive party for the Legislature, and although de- feated he ran ahead of his ticket and everyone, regardless of party ties, considered him thoroughly qualified for the office of representative. Mr. Goodnow affiliates with Cowgill Lodge of the Masonic order. He is a man of medium height, frank and courteous in manner, thoroughly business-like in everything he undertakes, and one of the valued and responsible citizens of Caldwell County.

WARREN E. DANLEY, M. D. Among the well-established medical practitioners of Avenue City is Dr. Warren E. Danley, who is also prom- inent in business circles as a member of the important firm of W. E. Danley & Co., conducting a large milling and mercantile enterprise, hav- ing substantial trade connections over a wide territory. Warren E. Danley was born at Red Bud, Randolph County, Illinois, December 25, 1865, and is the only child of Harley E. and Rosamond (Swift) Danley.

Harley E. Danley was born in Washington County, Ohio, November 28, 1842, the eldest son of J. W. and Elizabeth (Fairchild) Danley, the former of whom was born in Washington County, Ohio, in 1822. He was a son of John Danley, and a grandson of Benjamin Danley, who was a Revolutionary soldier, who was killed at the battle of the Brandy- wine, just before the birth of his son. The family preserves the old powder horn that he wore in his last battle. In the Civil war the grand- father of Doctor Danley proved that he possessed the same patriotic spirit that belonged to his grandfather, enlisting for service in Company I, One Hundred and Forty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with his son, Harley E., and died in the long siege that preceded the capture of Petersburg, Virginia. The grandmother of Doctor Danley survived him many years, dying in Avenue City, Missouri, March 17, 1913. They had three sons : Harley E., Joseph W., and Chauncey, the last named dying at the age of five years.

Harley E. Danley grew to manhood on the home farm in Ohio and taught school for some years. When the Civil war became a fact he enlisted for service, entering the same company and regiment as his father, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and during his term

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of enlistment was stationed for four months in front of Petersburg, Virginia. He then returned to Ohio, and in 1865 moved to Illinois, and from there, in 1867, to Johnson County, Kansas, and for seventeen years was a traveling salesman in that state for the William Deering Harvester Company and was also in the milling and mercantile business for three years. In 1900 he came to Avenue City and is now a partner with his brother, Joseph W. Danley, and his son, Dr. Warren E. Danley, in the firm of W. E. Danley & Co. He was married in Washington County, Ohio, to Rosamond Swift, who was born there January 24, 1842.

Warren E. Danley was carefully reared and liberally educated. After his boyhood school days he spent two years in the Baptist University at Ottawa, Kansas, and two years more in the Kansas State University, where he was graduated with his medical degree in 1887, nevertheless he then entered the medical department of the Northwestern University at St. Joseph, where he was graduated two years later. He decided to locate at Avenue City, and came here on March 6, 1889, and is the only one of his class of twenty-five doctors who has never changed his field of practice since beginning. He has been very successful in his pro- fession, has shown exceptional business capacity along other lines and personally stands high with his fellow citizens. A close attachment pre- vails between himself, his father and his uncle, and as they are united in a business relation they are equally so in many of their tastes. H. E. and W. E. Danley belong to the Masonic Blue Lodge at Saxton, in Bu- chanan County, and J. W. has his membership in Olathe, Kansas, and all are Shriners. Doctor Danley is a member of the county, state and of the American Medical Association.

JOSEPH W. DANLEY. Associated with his brother, Harley E. Danley, and his nephew, Dr. Warren E. Danley, in the milling and mercantile firm of W. E. Danley & Co., at Avenue City, Joseph W. Danley is one of the representative business men of this place. He was born in Wash- ington County, Ohio, February 18, 1862, the third son of J. W. and Elizabeth (Fairchild) Danley. He resided with his widowed mother and his brother for a number of years, and up to the time of his mar- riage, December 16, 1886, to Miss Mattie Berryman. She was born at Hudson, Illinois, and died October 24, 1896, at Olathe, Kansas, survived by two children : Royal C. and Faye E. The former is a practicing phy- sician at Hamburg, Iowa, having graduated at Bennett Medical College, Chicago, in the class of 1914. Mr. Danley was married June 7, 1899, at Fairfax, Virginia, to Miss Oneita G. Wakefield.

Mr. Danley is quite prominent in Masonic circles and is past com- mander of Olathe Commandery, Olathe, Kansas, and served four times as high priest of Olathe Chapter. Both he and brother are members of Sesostin Temple, Lincoln, Nebraska. The entire male membership of the family is affiliated with the republican party.

A. L. LEWELLEN. In some communities are found men hard to class- ify except as prominent and representative, because their activites are so numerous and useful, and they have achieved success in all their undertakings. Such a man is A. L. Lewellen, merchant and banker and formerly mayor and assistant postmaster, who is also a well-known jour- nalist, through editorial connection with the Rosendale Signal for a number of years. At present Mr. Lewellen is vice president of the Rosen- dale Bank and has high standing as a financier all over Andrew County. He was born in Preble County, Ohio, September 19, 1851, and is a son of Baford and Nancy (Peters) Lewellen.

Baford Lewellen was born in Kentucky in 1820 and died on his

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farm, near Rosendale, in February, 1899. He married Nancy Peters, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1821, and from Ohio they moved to Andrew County, Missouri, in 1866. They lived one year in Rochester Township and then located on the farm three miles from Rosendale, where they passed the rest of their lives, Mrs. Lewellen surviving until August, 1900. Baford Lewellen was a substantial farmer, owning 500 acres of land, and also was a lender of money before his neighbors could get bank accommodations. There were nine children in his family : Caroline, who is the. wife of Z. T. Wells, of Springfield, Missouri; Eliz- abeth, who is the widow of R. P. Bell, of Rosendale; A. L .; Joseph, who is deceased; Andrew M., who is a resident of Florence, Alabama; Am- brose, who lives at Gaylord, Kansas; John, who is a resident of Rosen- dale; Sarah F., who is the wife of G. W. Wells, of Prineville, Oregon; and Charles, who lives at Shenandoah, Iowa.

The public schools of Preble County, Ohio, provided the early edu- cation of A. L. Lewellen, his training since then having been given by farm work and the business activities into which his energy and enter -. prise have led him. He accompanied his parents when they came to Andrew County and assisted his father on the farm until 1882, since when he has been a resident of Rosendale and a leader in its business and public affairs. For sixteen years he was associated with his brother, A. M. Lewellen, in a general mercantile business, under the firm name of Lewellen Brothers. Under the administration of President Harrison, A. M. Lewellen was appointed postmaster of Rosendale and A. L. Lew- ellen was made assistant and continued in that capacity under other postmasters for eighteen years. He has always been very active in repub- lican politics and at one time, in the old convention days, before the adoption of the primary system, he was made his party's candidate for probate judge. Subsequently he was elected mayor of Rosendale and in that position served his fellow citizens ably, many improvements being undertaken and completed during his administration. He has always been a friend of education and has served on the school board with patience and wisdom. Mr. Lewellen is one of the original stockholders of the Rosendale Bank, one of the soundest institutions of the county, and for ten years served as vice president. For the last six years he has been very active in this connection.

In 1896 Mr. Lewellen was united in marriage with Miss Verna C. Holmes, who was born in Iowa, in February, 1866, and was reared in her native state. They have two sons: Maurice and Everett. Mr. Lewel- len belongs to Lodge No. 414, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, Rosen- dale, and also to the Odd Fellows at Rosendale.

For about four years Mr. Lewellen was associated with J. I. Bennett as editor of the Rosendale Signal, and during this period became a member of the Missouri Press Association, being recommended for mem- bership by Dean Walter Williams, at Warrensburg. Mr. Lewellen has not made journalism his career, but he recalls with lively pleasure the acquaintances he made while in harness and can never forget the enjoy- ment he found during numerous trips, including one down the Missis- sippi River, as a member of the above organization.

JOHN H. VAN BRUNT. Few cities may boast of a street railways sys- tem as complete and well operated as that which furnishes transporta- tion for the citizens of St. Joseph. The second city in the United States to operate cars by electricity, and the first in the world to use the trolley pole under the wire, it has long been proud of the facilities granted to the public, and its example has been followed by the progressive munic- ipalities in every state in the Union. It would be neither just nor cor-

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rect to give the credit for the desirable state of affairs to any man or any gathering of men, but it is only equitable to place an appreciation upon the signal services of John H. Van Brunt, who has been connected with the management of this important enterprise since 1890. A man of wide experience and intricate knowledge of transportation, in the capacity of vice president and general manager he has brought to his work a wealth of enthusiasm, a multiformity of ideas and a conscientious regard of the public welfare that the people of St. Joseph have not been slow to appreciate.

Mr. Van Brunt is an easterner and came to Missouri only when his business called him here, but since that time St. Joseph has been his home. He was born at Red Bank, New Jersey, September 7, 1867, and is a son of Peter S. and Mary H. (Thomas) Van Brunt, natives of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the father being a wholesale oyster dealer on the Shrews- bury River. Educated in the public schools, Mr. Van Brunt was grad- uated from the high school at Orange, New Jersey, and immediately entered upon his business career in the employ of I. B. Newton & Co., bankers, Wall Street, New York. He rapidly rose in this firm, and in 1887, when the concern purchased the St. Joseph Street Railways, he was given the responsibility of, taking charge of the receipts of the busi- ness. The firm had acquired the Frederick Are Line and the Citizens' Line, operating as the People's Street Railway, Electric Light and Power Company, and in 1888 built the Jule Street line and in 1889 the Messanie Street line. In 1890 the Union line was absorbed and subsequently the Wyatt Park line, and in 1895 the People's Street Railway, Electric Light and Power Company was reorganized, at that time becoming the St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat and Power Company. This was owned by the Harriman interests until 1902, when it was purchased by E. W. Clark & Co., of Philadelphia, and in February, 1913, again changed ownership, the purchasers being Henry L. Doherty & Co., of New York, the present owners. William T. Van Brunt, a brother of John H. Van Brunt, was president and general manager of the company from 1890 until 1902, when he retired and went to New York. He had been brought to St. Joseph from Scranton, Pennsylvania, originally to man- age the system at the time of its purchase and development. John H. Van Brunt became the superintendent of the system in 1890, and in 1902 was made vice president and general manager. Mr. Van Brunt's masterly management of the affairs of his company has made him widely known all over the state. He has made a close study of the science of transportation, has a broad knowledge of the principles governing the operation of railways and all the rules and regulations pertaining to traffic. The duties and responsibilities of the positions which he has held have demanded a large share of his attention, yet he has found time to give other enterprises the benefit of his broad knowledge and abilities and is president of the St. Joseph & Savannah Interurban Railway Com- pany, running from St. Joseph to Savannah, and is a director in the Empire Trust Company and the Provident Building and Loan Associa- tion, both of St. Joseph. He has also found leisure to mingle with his fellow men, and is a popular and valued member of the St. Joseph Country Club, the Benton Club of this city, the St. Joseph Commerce Club and Elks Lodge No. 40. His pleasant residence is situated on Asylum Road.

On April 27, 1892, Mr. Van Brunt was married to Miss Pearl Dough- erty, daughter of Alexander M. Dougherty, of St. Joseph, and they have three sons : John H., Jr., Frederick C. and Alexander D.

JOHN H. HURST. Born on the fine farmstead in the ownership and active management of which he is associated with his brother Absalom,

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John H. Hurst is numbered among the progressive young agriculturists and stockgrowers of Holt County, the well-improved farm being situated southeast of Oregon, the judicial center of the county. Here Mr. Hurst was born on the 14th of November, 1884, a son of John Hurst, and both of his parents are now deceased, the two sons mentioned in this paragraph being the surviving children, and one having died in early childhood.

John Hurst was one of the early settlers of this section of Holt County, where he established his residence on the farm now owned by his sons and where he devoted himself earnestly and effectively to its reclamation and development, the homestead comprising 160 acres and the permanent improvements being of substantial order. John Hurst was a citizen of sterling character, was a republican in his political allegiance, as are also his sons, and he commanded the high regard of all who knew him, the while he achieved independence and prosperity through his own well-ordered efforts.

John H. Hurst was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and is indebted to the public schools of Holt County for his early educa- tional discipline. He has never faltered in his allegiance to the indus- trial enterprise under whose influence he was reared, and as a progressive farmer and loyal and public-spirited citizen he is well upholding the prestige of the name which he bears. He is a zealous supporter of the cause of the republican party, but has not been ambitious for public office, which was likewise true in the case of his honored father, whose civic loyalty, however, prompted him to serve in the early days as a member of the school board of his district. Mr. Hurst still permits his name to be enrolled on the list of eligible young bachelors in his native county.

JAMES COLLINS. Few men in Northwest Missouri have had a more interesting and instructive experience in the acquisition of the material fruits of prosperity, particularly in the buying and selling of land, than James Collins. A native of Holt County, where his people were early settlers, he had to work from the time of childhood, and by hard expe- rience knows how to estimate the value of every dollar he has earned. Experience and honest toil taught him cool judgment in his transactions, and in the past thirty or forty years he has bought, improved and sold land all over this quarter of the state. His present position is one of well-established prosperity and esteem in the fine country community of Hickory Township.

Born in Holt County, March 10, 1855, James Collins was a son of J. Mason Collins, who came to Northwest Missouri at the pioneer year of 1833, and secured his first land from the Government. He was mar- ried in Missouri to Rebecca Stevenson, and their family consisted of eleven children altogether, five of them by a second marriage. His second wife was Achsah Robinson. The father died at the age of fifty years. His first location was near the Nodaway River, southeast of Oregon. He went out as a soldier to the Mexican war, and died in 1862, about a year after the outbreak of the Civil war. He was an industrious citizen, a man of good habits, and though beginning life poor was able to pro- vide for his family and interest himself in the general welfare of the community. He served for a time as justice of the peace, when that office was the highest in the community, where practically all the diffi- culties and litigation of the neighborhood was tried. Though his school- ing was limited, he had a hard, practical wisdom which availed him for good service in that office.

James Collins was about seven years of age when his father died, and he was reared in the home of his grandmother. With a common

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school education, he began work for his board and clothes at an early age, and in 1865 started out for himself. His first employer was a man named Price in Atchison County ; in 1867 he went to Fremont County, Iowa, and worked for an uncle named Stevens, then returned to Holt County and did farming for himself as a renter. In 1872 Mr. Collins located nine miles north of Craig, in Atchison County, and in 1873 bought sixty acres at $7 an acre. His next important step in life was his marriage to Julia Chainer, daughter of Andrew. Mr. Collins lived on his first sixty acre until the death of his wife, about 1877. Their one child was Della, who married Peter Souer, and they became the parents of two children, Esther and Edith, who now live in Atchison County. After the death of his first wife Mr. Collins married Anna Noble. That was in 1879.

His home was on his first farm for about nineteen years, and in the meantime he had increased his land to about three hundred acres. When he sold the price secured for his property was $40 an acre, sev- eral times what he had paid for it. Mr. Collins next moved to the vicinity of Tarkio, bought half a section, and was the first man in that part of the country to pay as high as $40 an acre for land. It was a well-improved farm, and by the improvements he placed upon it and by the general increase in land values, when he sold in 1900 it brought $50 an acre. Mr. Collins then returned to Fairfax and bought two farms, paying about $45 an acre for one and for another paid $100 an acre. That purchase likewise set a high mark in real estate transactions, since it was the first time anyone had paid $100 an acre for land in that vicinity. Later Mr. Collins bought an adjoining quar- ter section for $62.50 an acre, but while his first purchase was thor- oughly improved, with excellent buildings, the second lot of land had no buildings. It was on his farm at Fairfax that his second wife died. When Mr. Collins sold his land it brought $125 an acre. Mr. Collins then moved to Hickory Township, in Holt County, rented land for two years, and then bought the improved farm, comprising 200 acres, where his present home is situated. He married for his third wife Susan Miles. Both are members of the Christian Church, and Mr. Collins is a Mason at Fairfax. He has served on the school board, and is a democrat in politics. It will be of interest to recall some other land transactions, when Mr. Collins, about 1911, paid $104.50 an acre for a large tract of 480 acres. About 1879 Tom McCoy had bought the same land and paid only $5 an acre, and this remarkable increase indicates how Northwest Missouri has developed in the last thirty-five years. Mr. Collins also owned half a section of land in North Dakota, for which he paid $12 an acre, and three years later sold it for $25. Such are some of the more salient facts in the career of a man who began with no capital and has made his success entirely through his own energies.

DAVID CRIDER. Some of the most successful and progressive farmers of Holt County are carrying on operations at this time on the properties on which they were born and where they have passed their entire life. Thus, being thoroughly familiar with conditions, they are able to make their labors pay in full measure and have advanced beyond their fel- lows who have had to learn within a few short years the methods best adapted to the soil. In the former class stands David Crider, who is numbered among the younger generation of agriculturists, and is known as an energetic and thorough-going farmer of Hickory Township.

Mr. Crider was born May 19, 1880, on his present property, and is one of the nine children, of whom seven are living, of John and Hannah (Galvin) Crider. John Crider was born in Pennsylvania and there he

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grew to manhood in a farming community, early adopting agricultural work as his life's vocation. He was thus engaged in a modest way until the Civil war called him to the front in support of the Union, when he shouldered a musket and marched away as a member of Company F, Two Hundred and Ninety-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, having an honorable record. When his military experience was completed he re- turned to the pursuits and duties of peace, and for four years labored faithfully in his native state. His achievements, however, did not seem productive of great gains, and so, in 1869, he sought new fields, turning his face toward the West and finally locating in Holt County. Two years later he settled on the farm on which he spent the balance of his life, and where he died in February, 1906. When Mr. Crider arrived in Missouri he was possessed of a little capital, saved from his labors as a farm hand and his salary as a soldier, but he had unlimited ambi- tion, determination and perseverance, and these led him to a well-won success, his accumulations comprising one-half section of land at the time of his death. A man of good habits and an exemplary citizen, he held a high place in the esteem of the people of his community, and when he passed away there were many to mourn his loss. He was a republican in politics and an influential man in his party, although not one to thrust himself forward for personal preferment. Early in life he joined the United Brethren Church, to which he belonged throughout his life, and Mrs. Crider, who survives, is also a member of that denomination. She is a native of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and was married to Mr. Crider in that state.

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 75

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