A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 89

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

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Mr. Virden became identified with the banking business of New Hampton when it started as a stockholder of the Farmers Bank, and has continued as a director of this institution ever since, also spending several years as its president. As a builder of New Hampton he aided in the erection of one of the leading mercantile houses of this thriving community. Mr. Virden has not been identified with the politics of his locality, save as a voter, and, having been brought up under a republican roof supports the principles and candidates of that party. He is one of the directors of the New Hampton school and served his country school efficiently in a like capacity prior to becoming a resident of the town.

Mr. Virden was married to Miss Angie Chipp, a daughter of John W. Chipp, an ante-bellum settler of Harrison County from Indiana. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Virden: Lizzie, who is the wife of Curtis Larmer, of Albany, Missouri, who died in 1910, and has three children, Louise, John and Margaret; Stella, who married Charles A. Rowland, of New Hampton; Amy J., who married Lewis T. Gibbs, of Kosse, Texas; and Paul H. These daughters were educated beyond the public schools, Mrs. Larmer attending the Albany Institute and the female college at Liberty, Missouri, where her sister Stella attended later, while the other daughter acquired a liberal educa- tion in different schools at home and elsewhere.

BEN F. WOOD. In the thriving little community of Laredo in Grundy County no one family has had more intimate and active relations dur- ing the past thirty years than the Woods, who were among the early settlers. Ben F. Wood has been particularly prominent in this locality, has been a teacher, a farmer, a banker and business man, and many times has accepted the responsibilities and honors of public position.

Ben F. Wood was born in Grant County, Indiana, November 17, 1856. His father, William Wood, was born in Kentucky, August 15, 1827, and married Marinda Braffett, who was born in Ohio, October 30, 1834. The paternal grandparents were Joseph Wood and wife, and the maternal grandparents were Silas and Mary (Woods) Braffett. William Wood had an unusual military record. Early in his career he enlisted for service in the Mexican war in the army under General Scott, and some years later while living in Indiana entered the service of the Union army in 1861 as second lieutenant in Company I of the Twelfth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers. At the end of one year he was honorably discharged and afterward reenlisted in Company I of the One Hundred and First Indiana Regiment, and was promoted from second lieutenant to captain, and commanded a company until his final discharge from service in 1865. He was in the battle of Chickamauga, and in the historic fight at Missionary Ridge on September 6, 1863, was. wounded. From Indiana he moved out to Grundy County, Missouri, in

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1871, went back to the old state in 1872, but in 1874 located permanently in Grundy County and bought a farm of 179 acres two miles east of the present site of Laredo.

Ben F. Wood received most of his education in country schools in Indiana, and was about fifteen years of age when the family first came to Grundy County, and was eighteen when they located here perma- nently. In 1874 Mr. Wood began teaching school in Grundy County, and for seventeen years followed that vocation in this and surrounding counties and there are many people now in mature years who recall him as one of their instructors when children. In 1891 Mr. Wood was elected cashier of the Bank of Laredo, and for practically a quarter of a century has been one of the vital factors in the growth and develop- ment of this little town. He is at present a member of the board of directors of the Citizens Bank, of Laredo. In 1894 he established an insurance and loan business, and in 1896 bought the Laredo Tribune, and continued in active newspaper work for fourteen years and still owns a third interest in that paper.

Mr. Wood has always been a stanch republican, and for twelve years served as a member of the Republican County Central Committee, and during ten years of that time was secretary of the committee. He has held a commission as notary public for twenty-eight years, served as a justice of the peace sixteen years, and for the past ten years has been mayor of Laredo. He was also township clerk and assessor for six years, and has been a member and secretary of the local board of education for nineteen years. This is an unusual record of public service, and indicates how high in the esteem of the com- munity Mr. Wood stands. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and with the Modern Woodmen of America, having affiliation with Lodge No. 253, A. F. & A. M., and is now the secretary of this lodge. For thirty-nine years he has been an active member of the Baptist Church, and is now serving as trustee and deacon in the church at Laredo.

On May 8, 1878, Mr. Wood married Miss Mary McKay, a daughter of Moses and Roxana (Fenn) Mckay. Her father was born in Switzer- land County, Indiana, August 28, 1833, and her mother was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, September 7, 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of six children: Althea, Orion, Claud, Icy, Susan and William McKay Wood. The son Claud died in infancy. Althea mar- ried George Snyder of Colorado, and now lives at Long Beach, Cali- fornia. Orion married Margaret Hill, daughter of Andrew J. and Katie Hill of Worth County, Missouri, and they have four children, Lemuel, Mary K., James L. and Buford N. The daughter Icy married Dr. Charles Nair of Pennsylvania, and now living in Linneus, Missouri. Susan is the wife of William B. Schweizer of California, and has one child, Mary M., and they too live at Long Beach, California.

CHARLES BENNETT. Long life and prosperity have been given to Charles Bennett, of Andrew County, who has already passed the seventy-fifth milestone of life's journey, and while on the way has accumulated more than an average share of this world's goods, repre- sented in substantial lands and farm improvements in section 15 of Platte Township. His home has been in this one locality since the spring of 1867, and in all these years he has succeeded not only in living peaceably with his neighbors but in making himself a positive factor for good to others as well as his own family, from whom he enjoys all the honors of old age.

Charles Bennett is a native of Canada, born in the Province of

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Quebec, October 17, 1838, the third of thirteen children whose parents were Andrew and Ann (Abbott) Bennett. All the children grew to maturity, and two of the sons and two of the daughters are now deceased. The parents were natives of County Cork, Ireland, his father born in 1797 and his mother in 1817. They were married in Canada in 1833, Andrew Bennett having emigrated to America at the age of thirty-four. His death occurred in 1865, having for many years followed farming both in the old country and in Canada. In 1867 the widowed mother with her children removed to Andrew County, Missouri, and some years later she removed to Gentry County, and died at Stanberry at the home of her youngest daughter June 4, 1911, at advanced years.

Charles Bennett grew up on a Canadian farm, and as his parents were poor and burdened with the responsibilities of a large household, his educational advantages were somewhat neglected, and during his active manhood he has acquired most of his learning by close and atten- tive reading and observation. For several years after coming to Andrew County he and his brother Andrew worked together and engaged in farming on a partnership basis. Mr. Bennett now owns a well im- proved farm of 250 acres in Platte Township, but at one time his posses- sions amounted to 500 acres, part of which he distributed among his children. On October 1, 1912, he suffered a heavy loss by fire which destroyed a fine barn 168 by 42 feet, with a hundred tons of hay and all the farming implements. He carried $1,500 insurance, but the total loss was more than six thousand dollars. Mr. Bennett is an interesting talker, a man of broad views gained by practical acquaint- ance with the world and with men, and possesses a philosophic turn of mind. As a result of an accident and advancing years he has almost lost his eyesight, and now has to see the printed page through the eyes of other members of the household.

In 1881 Mr. Bennett married Mrs. Susanna H. (Nugent) McComb. She brought him one son by a former marriage, Thomas Leroy McComb, who is now in the grocery business in Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have four children of their own: Andrew, a farmer in Gentry County, who married Flora Ingles and has three children; Anna, who is the wife of Frank Troupe of DeKalb County, and has four children; Joseph Emerson, who married Ada Van Natta and has two sons; and Winnie, living at home.

JAMES M. VAN METER. A successful career has been that of James M. Van Meter of Rochester Township, Andrew County. Many things constitute success, and it is not alone in his material possessions, ample though they are, that the success of Mr. Van Meter is measured. When just entering manhood he went away to the war, spent three years in fighting for the Union, and the close of the war came with an honorable record as a soldier but with the serious struggle of life before him. He came out to Northwest Missouri about this time, and in face of obstacles which few young men of the present century would willingly face began making a home. There followed many years of unremitting toil, often handicapped by discouragements, but with perseverance and persistence he has several years passed that point where independence is established, and in addition to serving his own ends has been a valuable citizen to the community, and served as one of the county judges of Andrew County.

James M. Van Meter was born in Pike County, Ohio, March 8, 1843, and two years ago passed the age of three score and ten. His parents were Noble and Helen (Cruze) Van Meter. The grandparents were

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Jacob and Susan (Moore) Van Meter, the former a Virginian, and the latter from Pennsylvania, the daughter of a man of Irish birth. The grandparents spent their lives in Ohio farming. Noble Van Meter was born in Pike County, Ohio, September 17, 1818, while his wife was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, May 4, 1818, and at the age of fifteen was brought by her parents to Ohio, where she grew up and was married. She died in 1899, and Noble Van Meter passed away in 1901, after a long career as a farmer. In the early days he had his share of strenuous toil, lived and made a home in a district covered with hardwood timber, of size and quality that would now yield a considerable wealth, though at that time the forests were considered an incumbrance, and Mr. Van Meter as other early settlers spent many years in the heavy task of clearing off the trees from their land. Noble Van Meter had an exceedingly meager education, but was a man of industry, honest and straightforward, and did well by his home and his community. He served in the State Militia but save as a voter par- ticipated little in politics or public affairs. James M. Van Meter was the oldest of eight children, the others being mentioned as follows: Catherine Ann, the widow of Warren Miller, lives in Oklahoma; Martha Jane, deceased wife of Thomas Remmel; John, deceased; Eliza, deceased wife of Thomas Greenwalt; Susan, now deceased, who married Robert Irons; Charles, deceased ; America, deceased wife of Thomas Greenwalt.

Judge Van Meter grew up in Pike County, Ohio, lived with his parents and received the advantages of the local schools, and at the age of nineteen volunteered his services to help put down the rebellion. He enlisted August 6, 1862, at Bainbridge in Ross County, Ohio, in Com- pany H of the Eighty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Senator Foraker was a sergeant in the regiment, and Mr. Van Meter and this distinguished Ohio statesman have many times stood picket duty together. He continued in the war until its close and was mustered out at Columbus, April 14, 1865. He had many narrow escapes, and can relate many interesting incidents of the war, particularly in the campaigns involv- ing the subjugation of Tennessee and Northern Georgia, during 1863-64. In the battle of Chickamauga he was wounded in the left leg, but only a flesh wound, and was not out of service on that account. At Eutaw Creek in Georgia a ball passed through his right thigh on August 6, 1864, and this sent him to the hospital for four months, and after he was able to be up and around but still convalescent he was placed in charge of a ward in the hospital, and the war was over before he was able to resume active duty. Mr. Van Meter participated in the Tulla- homa campaign, was at Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, at Ringgold, Georgia, and until wounded and disabled was in the famous Atlanta campaign under Sherman, involving ninety days of almost continuous fighting from Dalton to the capital city of Georgia. At the close of the war his blanket had thirty-two bullet holes, and on one occasion while he was asleep a bullet pierced his knapsack under his head.

On November 24, 1865, a few months after his honorable discharge from military duties, Mr. Van Meter landed in St. Joseph, Missouri, and there took a stage to Albany, where he remained until the following March. He then came into Andrew County, and with the exception of a short time spent in Colorado working in the mines he has been a resident of this county ever since. For forty years he has lived in Rochester Township, and his, home has been at his present farm thirty- one years. Until a few years ago Mr. Van Meter owned 420 acres in one body, but has since given his son 207 acres, and now has only 190 acres under his active control. This farm is located on the east

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side of Platte River, and under his management has had a splendid record of production through many years. He has raised mules, cattle, horses and hogs, has specialized in the Hereford cattle and the Duroc red hogs. A considerable part of his land is in the river bottoms, especially valuable for corn, and the uplands have been utilized for stock pasturage. When Mr. Van Meter came into Andrew County he started with exceedingly modest resources, on ten acres of ground and with a two-room house built from the native lumber. He had no place for his cattle, tied his cows up in the night, and had a rough log shelter for his mules. The experiences of his early boyhood in the timber districts of Ohio stood him in good stead when he came to Northwest Missouri, and all the extensive clearing and improvements on his home farm and those of his sons constitute a splendid testimonial to his efforts and enterprise. He cleared up 200 acres, and removed the stumps from the fields.

Naturally Mr. Van Meter has affiliated with the republican party since casting his first vote while with the army in the South. He served with efficiency in the office of county judge one term, and for thirty years has been clerk of the district school board. He is a member of the Masonic order and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has interested himself in Grand Army organizations. Mr. Van Meter is a director of the Peoples Bank at Union Star.

April 9, 1871, he married Charlotte Jane Courter, who was born in Delaware County, Ohio, June 2, 1855, and came to Andrew County with her parents September 6, 1864. Her parents were Edward S. and Mary Elizabeth (Rolson) Courter. Her father was born in New Jersey and her mother in Delaware County, Ohio, and both died in Andrew County. Her father was born May 16, 1833, and died January 20, 1891, and her mother was born April 29, 1833, and died April 20, 1884. Mrs. Van Meter's father was a carpenter and shoemaker by trade, which he followed in Ohio, but was a farmer after coming to Missouri. In 1861 he went out to California, accompanying a freighting outfit from St. Joseph. Mrs. Van Meter is one of three children, the other two being deceased, named Eliza and Wingenand Courter.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Meter have special reasons to be proud of their family of children, ten in number, mentioned briefly as follows: Gor- don C., who is a progressive young farmer on a part of the old home- stead; Alonzo F., also on the home farm; Mary Ethel, wife of Robert Humphrey of Alvin, Texas; Julius A., of Chaseley, North Dakota; Ellen, wife of Edward Huffaker, of Andrew County; Rosa, wife of Jackson Gates of Rochester Township; Catherine, living at home with her parents; Grace, wife of John Courley of Grand City; Lillian, wife of Lloyd White of Conception, Missouri; and Etta, wife of M. J. Cross of DeQuincey, Louisiana.

HON. KEERAN McKENNY. When Judge Keeran McKenny came to Gentry County for his permanent settlement, in 1871, he was pos- sessed of a serviceable team of horses and enough cash to purchase the land he needed for a home. In the forty-three years that have followed he has accumulated more than eleven hundred acres of land, and in addition to being extensively interested in farming and stock raising operations has large holdings in other enterprises, commercial and financial, and occupies an important place among the men who have developed this part of Northwest Missouri. Mr. McKenny's career has been an active, industrious and interesting one, and he has used the implements of destruction as well as those of construction, for during the Civil war he served his adopted land as a soldier, and following

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the close of that struggle remained in the employ of the Government for several years. He is a native of Ireland, born in Kings County, June 25, 1844, a son of John and Catherine (Guinan) Mchenny.

The paternal grandfather of Judge McKenny was Andrew Mc- Kenny, who passed his life in Etin, his only child being John Mc- Kenny. The latter was born in Kings County, and was there married to Catherine Guinan, who died in Ireland, their children being: Bridget, who died in Gentry County as Mrs. James Rourke; Mary, who married Chris Cummings and died in Nodaway County, Missouri; Thomas A., a farmer and stockman of Gentry County; Judge Keeran, of this review; and Kate, who died at Laramie, Wyoming, as Mrs. John Guinan. The father immigrated to the United States in 1854, settling in Ohio, where he was first engaged as a contractor in public highways, but later adopted the vocation of a farmer, to which he devoted his energies to the time of his death, in 1902, when he was seventy-six years of age. He married a second wife after coming to this country, in Clark County, Ohio, in 1858. Mr. McKenny was too old to participate in the Civil war as a soldier, and never desired public office, being content to live his life merely as an industrious agriculturist and good citizen of the land of his adoption.

Judge Keeran McKenny left his native land as a boy of twelve years, two years after his father had come to America. He was granted only ordinary educational advantages in the public schools, but made the most of his opportunities and acquired a good mental train- ing. Under the capable preceptorship of his father he learned the duties of farmer and stock raiser, vocations to which he has given the best years of his life. When the Civil war came on his sympathies were with the Union, and in August, 1862, when but eighteen years of age, he enlisted at South Charleston, Ohio, in Company C, Captain Smith, the. 110th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Col. J. Warren Keifer. His regiment first belonged to General Millroy's army, and after the battle of Winchester, in June, 1863, they joined the Army of the Potomac and belonged to the Third Army Corps. . They got to the front at Winchester, Virginia, and participated in the engagement that made "Sheridan's Ride" famous. In 1864 Mr. McKenny was made a member of the Sixth Army Corps, and went up the Shenandoah Valley with that intrepid general, participat- ing in the Strasburg fight and later in the battle of Cedar Creek, where Gen. Jubal Early's army was victorious in the forenoon and later met with defeat. Then the 110th did no more campaigning until the spring of 1865, when the campaign for the capture of Rich- mond began and Judge McKenny with his regiment participated in such noted battles as the Wilderness, Mine Run, Chancellorsville, Spott- sylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Appomattox, at which last named the 110th was in the lead with the Sixth Army Corps when General Lee surrendered his broken army. Judge McKenny accompanied his regiment to the grand review at Washington, D. C., and was mus- tered out at Columbus, Ohio, in June, 1865. He was twice wounded during his service, first at Winchester, and a second time at Cedar Creek. One bullet, which he still keeps, was taken from his side, and the other one bored through his left thigh in its flight. Judge McKenny was discharged as corporal of his company, and has since taken an active interest in Grand Army matters, being at this time a popular comrade of Tyler Post, at Ford City.

Following the close of the Civil war Judge McKenny continued to pass some six years in the employ of the United States as a freighter and wagon-master. He joined the Forde company at Leavenworth, Kansas,

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in April, 1866, and made his first trip across the plains to Salt Lake City, his train taking out the Thirty-sixth Infantry to relieve what was known as the "galvanized Yankees," Southern prisoners who went out West instead of returning to the South. Judge McKenny remained in that western country until 1871, making two trips to Texas, and during his various trips across the plains the red man was in hostile evi- dence frequently, but no serious encounters occurred.

Judge McKenny wound up his service for the Government at Fort Hayes, Kansas, and returned to Missouri and engaged in farming on Grand River, Gentry County. After spending eight years in that local- ity he came to his present farm, three miles northeast of Ford City, here taking up 160 acres of land, which he improved and developed. As the years have passed he has continued to add to his land holdings, and now has a farm and a ranch, more than, eleven hundred acres of land. His general farming operations are extensive, and stock raising has been a conspicuous factor in his activities, he showing marked suc- cess as a cattle feeder, while his pasture and ranch are well stocked with Mammoth steers.

In politics Judge McKenny is a republican, and has attended state conventions and helped to nominate a candidate for governor of his state at Springfield. He has also served on the republican county committee, and nearly thirty years ago was elected presiding judge of Gentry County, a position in which he served four years. He helped to promote the Citizens National Bank of King City, of which he is at this time president, and was one of the organizers of the Ford City Bank. Reared a Catholic, he has continued to hold membership in that denomination.

On February 10, 1874, Judge McKenny was married in Gentry County, Missouri, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Flood, a daughter of Michael Flood and a sister of John Flood of King City, whose history appears on another page of this work. Judge and Mrs. McKenny have been the parents of the following children: Frank, who is cashier of the Citizens Bank of King City; Catherine, who died here as Mrs. Frank Downey, and left a child, Michael; Thomas A., who died at the age of five years; James, a bookkeeper at Casper, Wyoming, who married Marie Vadonna ; Thomas Leo, who died at the age of eight years; Mary, who married Mr. O'Malley, of Albany, and has two children, Kathline and Elizabeth; Charles, of this locality, who married Madge Handley; Annalaura, who died at the age of two years; and Veronica Grace, who died when seventeen years of age.

WILLIAM M. HUNT. One of the oldest business men of Polo is William M. Hunt, proprietor of the Pioneer Drug Store. Mr. Hunt has lived in this vicinity for fifty-three years, and whether as a business man or citizen his relations have always been straightforward and public-spirited, and in this section where he has spent so many years he has practically as many friends as acquaintances.

William M. Hunt was born October 30, 1849. His father was Rev. John W. Hunt, who is now living at the advanced age of eighty- five years at Polo, and who was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, in 1829. The grandfather was James M. Hunt, of Kentucky, who saw some active service as a soldier during the War of 1812 and the Indian wars. Reverend Mr. Hunt was one of a family of ten sons and three daughters. He married Susan Lebo, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of John D. Lebo. Reverend Mr. Hunt and wife were the par- ents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely: William M .; John F .; Daniel M .; James R .; Sarah L .; Mary L .; Martha J.,

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A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III, Part 89

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