A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 86

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

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CAPT. ISAAC B. BAKER. During a long lifetime, most of it spent in Hardin Township of Clinton County, Capt. Isaac B. Baker has ac- complished those things which are considered most worth while by ambi- tious men-years of honorable activity in business, with satisfying ma- terial reward, the esteem of his fellow men, and a public spirited share in the social and civic life of his community. Captain Baker gained his title by gallant service as an officer during the Civil war on the Con- federate side, and the qualities which enabled him to fight a good fight in that struggle between the states have been exemplified in his career as a farmer and stock man, and as a good citizen.

Isaac B. Baker was born December 28, 1837, in Bracken County, Kentucky, a son of Isaac Baker. Isaac Baker was a native of Virginia, and the son of a Tennessee pioneer who served as a soldier in the War of 1812. Isaac Baker, Sr., with his brother, Abram Baker, took a very prominent part in the very early industrial activities of St. Joseph, where they built the first packing house west of St. Louis. In the early years when the Missouri River was the outskirts of civilization and the central point where the great supply trains of the West met the markets of the East, they operated their packery to supply Government trans- portation trains and the large parties of emigrants departing for the gold fields of California. It was for a number of years one of the leading institutions of St. Joseph. These brothers besides their packing plant owned about three thousand acres of land in Northwest Missouri and had large herds of cattle and were among the leading moneyed men of this section. Abram finally. took his share of the business and returned to Kentucky, but Isaac remained in Northwest Missouri and lived on his large plantation in Clinton County, where he had extensive slave quar- ters and did business on a large scale. Isaac Baker married Elizabeth Hutchinson, who was born in Kentucky. Their thirteen children were: Captain John F., who died in St. Louis at the age of eighty-six ; Dr. J. S., a well-known physician now deceased; Henry B., a retired business man ; Martha, wife of Rev. Joseph Hopkins; Iliza J., who lives in the West, wife of G. W. Guyon; Abram Baker, who died in Clinton County ; Mrs.

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Elizabeth Lang, deceased, who was the wife of G. W. Lang; Minerva, who died at the age of eighty-eight in Logan County, Kentucky; Captain Isaac B .; James, a well-known citizen of Clinton County; Mrs. Helen Moore; George H., who lives with his brother, Captain Isaac; Jesse, of Kansas City. The father died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was a broad-minded and successful business man, liberal in all things, and was one of the finest examples of the old slave-holding aristocracy in Mis- souri. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. For many years the Baker homestead was noted for its hospitality, and friends and strangers were entertained there on the lavish scale charac- teristic of older times. .

Capt. Isaac B. Baker was reared on the old plantation, and a young man at the outbreak of the war enlisted in the Confederate service and became a member of Company M, in the Third Kentucky Infantry, under Col. J. T. Hughes. His regiment was with the command under Gen. Joseph Johnston, and also with Gen. John Morgan, and during the Ohio expedition Captain Baker was captured. For gallant service on the field of battle he was promoted from private in the ranks to captain of a company, and is now one of the few surviving Confederate officers still living in this section of Missouri.

After the war he returned home and engaged in the more peaceful pursuits of agriculture and stock raising, and his activities in that line are well known to the people of Clinton County. In 1866 he married Frances D. Stoutimore, a sister of D. L. Stoutimore of Plattsburg, and further details concerning this well-known old family will be found on other pages of this work. Mrs. Baker was a daughter of Josiah and Amelia (Lincoln) Stouteman. Captain Baker has two children : Jefferson Davis, who is prominent as a farmer and cattle raiser in Clinton County, with a place of 550 acres; and Margaret, wife of C. Gryson of Bates County, and they have a child, John C. Gryson.

Captain Baker now lives on his farm of 224 acres, which in its im- provements and its long associations with the substantial agricultural activities of the county stands as one of the best known and most valuable places. Captain Baker has lived a long life of seventy-five years, and while always positive in his convictions and vigorous in his activities has lived a life of honor among men.

SAMUEL CROWLEY. More than three-quarters of a century have passed since Samuel Crowley first took up his residence in Andrew County, and here his life has been passed in the pursuits of the soil. He has been successful in the accumulation of a large body of land in Jeffer- son Township, and his personal influence and financial stability are the result of patient application to farming, prudent investment and the habit of always living within his income. Mr. Crowley was born May 21, 1830, five miles from Excelsior Springs, Clay County, Missouri, and is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Macinnich ) Crowley.

John Crowley, the grandfather of Samuel Crowley. was born in Eng- land, from whence he emigrated to America during Colonial days, and took up his residence in Ray County, Georgia, where he passed his active years in the pursuits of agriculture. He was married twice and reared a large family, and in his declining years moved to the home of one of his children in Clay County, Missouri, where he died in 1847. Samuel Crowley, father of Samuel of this review. was born near Savannah, Georgia. in June, 1794, and migrated to Howard County, Missouri. with his brother, Jerry Crowley, at a time when the state was still the home of hostile tribes of Indians, the white settlers for the most part living at forts under the protection of the soldiers. Later he moved on to Clay Vol. III-37 .

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County, locating in the vicinity of Excelsior Springs, but in the spring of 1837 came to Andrew County and pre-empted the land on which his son Samuel now lives. That year he grew a crop, and in the same fall his family joined him, his wife dying here in 1848. Mr. Crowley resided in Andrew County until about the close of the Civil war, when he went to Oregon, and there died at the home of one of his children, in April, 1877. An excellent business man and an industrious worker, le ac- cumulated about 600 acres of land, and was known as one of the sub- stantial men of his community. He served during the War of 1812 and fought under Stonewall Jackson. In politics a democrat, he was in- fluential in the ranks of his party in this part of the state, and was ap- pointed by the governor as presiding judge of the Andrew County Court, which was held at that time under an old elm tree, there being no court- house. This office Mr. Crowley held for two or three terms, and during this time named the City of Savannah in honor of the place of his birth in Georgia. He and his wife were the parents of twelve children, as follows: James, who for many years was a farmer in Andrew County and died a bachelor when past fifty-seven years of age; Louise, who mar- ried Willis Gaines and crossed the plains to the Pacific coast in 1852 in an ox-team, her subsequent life being spent in Oregon, where she died ; Jane, who died in Colorado as the wife of Dean B. Holman, also crossed the plains in 1852; Matilda, who was married the first time to Elvis Sloan and second to James Shields, and died in California; John W., who was a member of the party which crossed to the coast, contracted mountain fever on the journey, from the effects of which he died ; Louisa, who died in Oregon as the wife of William Hudson; Mary Ann, who married Francis M. Holman, a brother of Dean B., and died in California ; George Washington, who died in Jefferson Township, Andrew County, married Maggie Dysart, of Andrew County; Benjamin Franklin, who died at the age of two years; Samuel, of this review; Thomas McClain, who died in Jefferson Township, married Elizabeth Smith, of Suisun City, Solano County, California; and Susan, who married Judge John L. Stanton, and died at Oregon, Missouri.

Samuel Crowley, who is the only one of his parents' twelve children still living, has resided in Andrew County, Missouri, all of his life with the exception of the period when he was crossing the plains and in the West during the excitement over the discovery of gold in California and the resultant rush to that state. He received a good public school educa- tion, and when he reached manhood adopted farming as his life's voca- tion, and in this has continued to be engaged to the present time. At this time Mr. Crowley is the owner of about one thousand acres of land, much of which he has himself put under cultivation, although a large part has been gained through wise investment and the exercise of fore- sight and good judgment. At the age of eighty-four years he is still active in body and alert in mind and is able to manage his large affairs himself, although he has an able assistant in his nephew, Samuel W. Crowley, named for him, and who has a son, also named Samuel.

Mr. Crowley has never married. He has been a democrat in politics all of his life, but has not been an office seeker, preferring to devote his activities to the peaceful pursuits of farming and stockraising. For many years he has been connected with the Masonic fraternity, and has many friends in that order, as he has in business and agricultural circles of Andrew County.

HON. WILLIAM DALE. While his long and busy career has been de- voted primarily to the vocation of farming, Hon. William Dale, of Roch- ester Township, has found the time, inclination and ability to serve his

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community faithfully in high public offices, and his record both in public and private life is such as to fully entitle him to the respect and esteem · in which he is held. Mr. Dale is a native of Dane County, Wisconsin, and was born February 16, 1869, a son of Edward and Elizabeth (Rowe) Dale, natives of Cornwall, England, where the father was born March 28, 1822, and the mother July 30, 1822. Mrs. Dale was the oldest of her parents' children, and with them migrated to Canada, settling in the City of Toronto, where she married Mr. Dale. In 1847 they moved to Wis- consin, securing land from the United States Government near Blue Mound, Dane County, and in 1852 Mr. Dale left his pioneer farm and joined the adventurous throng which made its way tortuously across the great sandy plains to the land of promise in California. There he spent two years in gold mining, with some measure of success, and at the end of that time returned to his Wisconsin home by way of the Isthmus and New York. He was engaged in farming until in 1862, in which year he enlisted for service in the Union Army, serving under General Thomas with a captain's commission in the commissary department, and partici- pated in the battles of Chattanooga and Chickamauga. He remained in the service until 1866, and had an excellent record as a soldier, being brevetted major at the time of his discharge and then returning again to his farm. In 1866 Mr. Dale came to Missouri and located on a farm in sections 5 and 8, Rochester Township, Andrew County, purchasing 400 acres of land, which had been partly fenced, and on which there was a log house. Here he passed the remainder of his life, engaged in the pursuits of the soil, and died in September, 1869, Mrs. Dale surviving until January, 1911. Mr. Dale was a hard and industrious worker, and during his life was successful in the accumulation of a handsome prop- erty. In addition to general farming, he was largely occupied in feeding stock, branding his cattle and turning them loose over the prairie. A re- publican in his political views, he stood high in the confidence of the peo- ple, and at the time of his death was serving as county judge of Andrew County. He was an active and valued member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. To Mr. and Mrs. Dale there were born the following children : Jane E., the widow of Horace A. Woodbury, of Rochester Township, residing on a part of the old home place; Sarah, who is the wife of N. Zink, of Nebraska ; Edward J .; Emma, a resident of Oklahoma; Kate, who died at the age of ten years; Mary A., who is the wife of A. J. Holt, of Stanberry, Missouri; and William.

William Dale has been a resident of his present property ever since he was brought to Missouri by his parents. He was given fair educa- tional advantages, attending both the country schools and the high school at Savannah, and for four or five years was engaged in teaching school during the winter months. He is now the owner of 230 acres, the most of which is a part of the old homestead, and here he has erected fine buildings and made many substantial improvements. This may be said to be a stock farm, and Mr. Dale raises and feeds thoroughbred Short- horn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs. The farm, which is known as Inwood Dale, is possessed of a fine grove of locust trees, also thirty-five acres of oak and elm forest.

Mr. Dale is one of the republican leaders of his county, being at present chairman of the County Central Committee, and in public life is known as a conscientious and honorable official. He served very capa- bly for two years in the capacity of county judge, and was subsequently elected to the lower house of the State Legislature, gaining much pres- tige through the able manner in which he looked after the interests of his community and his constituency. Fraternally, Judge Dale is affiliated with the Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. His religious

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faith, and that of his family, is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Judge Dale was married in September, 1884, to Margaretta Millen, who was born in Gentry County, Missouri, August 6, 1861, and came to Andrew County, Missouri, in 1865, with her parents, Andrew G. and Sarah Elizabeth (White) Millen, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Morgan County, Illinois. Both died in 1877, at Savannah, Missouri, the father being fifty-three years of age and the mother forty- eight. They were married in Illinois, where Mr. Millen was a railroad man, but after coming to Missouri, in 1857, engaged in farming. Four children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Dale, as follows: Harry Ed- ward; Sarah Elizabeth, who died at the age of five months; Dorothy M., and Esther J.

W. H. LILE. The business possibilities and advantages of country life in Northwest Missouri are capable of no better illustration than in the enterprise of W. H. Lile, a farmer and stock man and stock dealer, whose home is in Lincoln Township of Caldwell County. The Lile farm comprises 450 acres of highly improved land, and is located midway between Cowgill and Polo. In that section of country are few farms that compare with it in value and excellence of management. Mr. Lile us- ually keeps about a hundred head of cattle and four hundred hogs, and is one of the largest buyers and shippers in Caldwell County. His home is an unusually attractive place, a residence of nine rooms, situated on a well selected building site, and surrounded by a blue grass lawn, shade trees, orchard, and with ample barns and cattle sheds. Mr. Lile culti- vates a large acreage of corn and other grains, and though his training has been an intensely practical one, he follows the best methods of farm and animal husbandry.

W. H. Lile was born in Missouri February 6, 1855, was reared on a farm, and has been acquainted with the details of its management by practical experience since boyhood. His father was Henry W. Lile, who was born in Tennessee, June 11, 1811, and married Elizabeth King, who was born in Kentucky of an old family in that state in 1827. There were five children, two of whom are deceased, while the three living are: Wiley, who served as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil war; W. H .; and Martha Elizabeth, whose home is in Camden, Missouri. The father died February 9, 1873, at the age of sixty-two. Throughout his active career he had prospered as a farmer and stock man.

W. H. Lile received his education from the public schools, and learned the lessons of industry and honesty and has always practiced them and that has been a contributing source of his success. In 1881 Mr. Lile was married in Ray County to Jessie A. Kinkaid, who was born, reared and educated in that county, daughter of Frank L. Kinkaid. Mrs. Lile's mother is still living in this county at the age of eighty-one. Mr. Lile is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Cowgill Lodge No. 557 of the Masonic fraternity. He is a man of strong and vigorous physique, of frank and genial temperament and his home is a recognized center of substantial hospitality in Caldwell County.

WILLIAM L. CHAFFIN, M. D. Representing the first class ability and skill of his profession and with a large general practice, Doctor Chaffin is one of the young physicians and surgeons of Breckenridge who have quickly taken front rank in their profession. He began practice with an excellent equipment, and the test of real practice found him qualified for this important service to society.

Dr. William L. Chaffin was born at Breckenridge, Missouri, April 28, 1881. His father, John H. Chaffin, is a carpenter and contractor, and was

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born at Roanoke, Virginia, of an old Virginia family. He married M. Tros- ler, whose parents came from Kentucky. Besides Doctor Chaffin the par- ents had these children : O. L., a farmer and stock man; R. E., in the merchandise business; James lives at Lock Spring; and Eugene L. is a teacher.

Dr. William L. Chaffin was reared in Breckenridge, attended the pub- lic schools, finished the high school course, and in 1908 entered the Bennett Medical College of Chicago, where he continued his medical studies until graduating as one of the leaders in his class in 1912. With this preparation Doctor Chaffin returned to Breckenridge, and has since been favored with a large general practice. His offices are in the Post- office Building, and he is one of the few physicians who have the X-ray apparatus, and his other equipment and library indicate his thorough preparation for his work and his ambition to keep in close touch with modern advances made in the same. He is a member of the Caldwell County Medical Society.

LOUIS W. REED. A member of the Caldwell County bar since 1909, L. W. Reed possesses and has exercised qualities that are not far from brilliant, and in a community where he grew up from childhood, where he knows everybody and everybody knows him, has securely established a reputation for ability as a lawyer and has started on a public career which his friends believe will carry him far in local and state politics. Mr. Reed has been continuously in the office of mayor of Breckenridge since 1908, and in that time has done much to make the town a good place to live, and also a center of increasing commercial activity. Mr. Reed is also president of the Commercial Club of Breckenridge. In 1912, after an exciting campaign and against a normal republican major- ity in Caldwell County, he was elected to the office of county attorney of Caldwell County and the county has had no more vigorous and effective official in that position for a number of years.

Louis W. Reed comes of a family which has been identified with this section of Missouri since pioneer days. He was born in Daviess County, on a farm a few miles north of Breckenridge, on July 6, 1878. His father was the late Thomas W. Reed, a Kentuckian by birth, came to Northwest Missouri in the early days, and had to clear up a portion of the land and make a farm, and spent the years of a long life as an in- dustrious farmer and a citizen of more than ordinary influence. He mar- ried Abigail Dewey, who was born and educated in Indiana, and is a relative of the Dewey family which gave to the American nation Admiral George Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay. Mrs. Reed is still living, a ven- erable and lovable old lady, and keeps her home with her son Louis, at Breckenridge. Thomas W. Reed died in 1901 at the age of eighty-two. He had for a number of years been prominent in democratic politics, and served in the office of county judge. Of the seven children, most of them are still living in Northwest Missouri, and are people of prominence. Thomas P. Reed, one of the oldest, is a farmer in Daviess County, and one of the most successful men as an agriculturist and stock raiser in the . vicinity of Breckenridge. Another son is Phil Reed, a prominent busi- ness man of Cameron. Dr. Charles W. Reed, the brother next older than Louis, is a graduate of the medical department of Washington University at St. Louis, and for the past seven years has practiced with growing success and prestige in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Louis W. Reed grew up in Breckenridge, was educated in the local high school, and largely dependent upon his own resources has secured a thorough education and has a broad and accurate knowledge of the law. Mr. Reed was a student in the Missourian Wesleyan College at

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Cameron, and in his early days excelled as an athlete, especially in base- ball.

Mr. Reed has served four terms as mayor of Breckenridge. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has filled a number of positions in fraternal orders, was elected president of the Commercial Club in 1912, and is a member of the Methodist Church. Louis W. Reed is still a young man, and with a thorough foundation as a lawyer has the ability to push himself into a larger life of the state. He possesses a ready wit, and the eloquence of the born orator, is acquainted with men and with practical politics, and has all the direct and wholesome qualities which make for success in modern politics.

DR. W. A. LONG. A veteran of the Civil war, Dr. W. A. Long has spent over forty years in Northwest Missouri, in the vicinity of Mound City in Holt County, and has had a long and active career as a soldier, dentist, farmer and as a good citizen. He is perhaps one of the best known men in both Holt County and Northwest Missouri, one of the landmarks of his community, and has always enjoyed the high esteem of every place in which a portion of his life has been spent.

Dr. W. A. Long was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1837, a son of David and Mary (Shoemaker) Long. His parents were married in Pennsylvania, and his father was descended from Scotch stock and his mother from Dutch people. The Doctor was one of their seven children, of whom four are still living. The father and mother spent their lives in Pennsylvania, the former a farmer.

Doctor Long acquired his education in Pennsylvania, and in early manhood, in 1862, went out to fight the battles of the Union with the One Hundred and Fiftieth Pennsylvania Infantry, but was discharged at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in October, 1863, on account of ill health. Previous to his military career he had taken up photography as a pro- fession, at a time when the old daguerreotype and ambrotype were in the height of their popularity and represented the farthest advance of photography at that time. But after the war Doctor Long turned his attention to the study of dentistry, took a course at Baltimore, and began practice at Philadelphia, later practicing in several different places. In 1872 he came to Northwest Missouri, and has since been successfully iden- tified with this section as a dentist and as a farmer. He owns 240 acres of land, which he rents, his son, William E., assisting in its operation. During the past fifteen years the doctor has been practically retired from his profession, and he resides on his estate near Mound City, which has been his home since 1872. He has made many of the improvements which classify his farm as one of the best in the county.

Doctor Long first married, in Franklin County, Pennyslvania, Eliza- beth Swanger, a daughter of Henry Swanger. She died a few years after the birth of her children, who are also deceased. After coming to Northwest Missouri Doctor Long married Anna Meyer Griffith, who was born and reared in Holt County, a daughter of one of the distinguished old citizens, Judge Andrew Meyer, who lived to near the age of ninety years, and was active until two years before his death. By her first hus- band Mrs. Long had one child, Maud B., who is the wife of Leslie Thomp- son, of Oklahoma, both of whom were reared and married in Holt County. They have five children, two daughters and three sons. Mrs. Long's first husband was a farmer, and came to Northwest Missouri from Virginia. Mrs. Long's people were of German stock, and her father was a pros- perous farmer, and was also judge of the County Court. As one of the early settlers in Northwest Missouri he went out with the troops from this section to the Mexican war, having been one of the first to enlist and

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 86

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