USA > Missouri > A history of northwest Missouri, Volume III > Part 99
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On March 9, 1882, he married Nannie Caroline Waterson, who was born in Brown County, Kansas, June 20, 1861, a daughter of James and Artemisia (Cameron) Waterson. The Waterson family were prom- inent pioneers of Kansas, and have also been long known in Andrew County. Some of the interesting details concerning this family name will be found on other pages in a sketch of E. M. Waterson. Mr. and
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Mrs. Roberts have eight children : Minnie Bell, who died January 25, 1814, was the wife of J. J. Hall; James W. was graduated from the law department of the University of Missouri in 1910, was nominated for the office of prosecuting attorney in Andrew County before receiving his diploma, was elected as a democrat, succeeding in overcoming a normal republican majority of about three hundred, and was nominated for a second term in that office, but withdrew from the campaign in order to remove to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where he is now one of the successful members of the bar; Jesse L. is a farmer in Andrew County; Joseph Ernest died January 20, 1883, at the age of four years; Claude V. is a farmer in Andrew County; Ruth Lucile is the wife of Clarence Chris- tianson, an Andrew County farmer; Lloyd W. and Loren L. are both at home.
WILLIAM THORNE. The owner of a fine farm on section 5 of Lincoln Township in Andrew County, William Thorne represents the sturdy stock of old Devon, England. It was in that section of Southern Eng- land, noted for its stock and dairy industries, that William Thorne spent his boyhood and early manhood, and has exemplified the qualities of his race in his career in Andrew County, which has been his home for over forty years.
William Thorne was born in Devonshire in May, 1842, the son of Henry and Mary (Thorne) Thorne. His parents spent all their lives in Devonshire, where his father was a carpenter and later a farmer. There were seven children: John, deceased; Mary Lord of England; Anna Carey, deceased; William; Edwin, who lives in England; and Jacob of England, and one that died in infancy.
William Thorne is the only member of his family to come to America. He came direct to Savannah in the spring of 1870 and has spent most of his life in this locality since that year. Two or three years he was engaged in mining near Georgetown, Colorado, but otherwise his work has been along the line of farming. His success is due to his individual enterprise and industry. For several years he was known in Andrew County as a hard-working, sober and intelligent farm hand, then rented a farm for several years, and finally bought his present place in Lincoln Township. Mr. Thorne is the owner at the present time of 330 acres, which in its cultivation and improvements measures up to the high standards of Andrew County agriculture. It is devoted to general farm- ing and stock raising.
Mr. Thorne since becoming an American citizen has affiliated with the democratic party. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1875 he married Martha J. Hunter, who was born in Kentucky, a daughter of Samuel Hunter, and came to Andrew County during childhood. She died at the old home in Lincoln Township in 1914 at the age of sixty-two. She was the mother of ten children : Henry, who lives at Long Branch; Ina, of Fillmore; Clara, wife of Donald Turner, of Lincoln Township; Charles, who is living on the farm; Kate, at home; Thomas, of Fillmore; Arlene, wife of Chester G. Turner, of Jackson Township; Clyde, at home; Myrtle, at home; and Benjamin, who is still in the home circle.
L. A. AEBERSOLD. Representing an Andrew County family that has been identified with that section for a half century, L. A. Aebersold has exhibited the sturdy qualities of his Swiss ancestors and has established . himself securely both in material circumstances and in the esteem of his community. Mr. Aebersold has accomplished those things that are most worth while, has provided a home, has reared a family, has lived amicably
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with his friends and neighbors and enjoys esteem both at home and abroad.
L. A. Aebersold was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, October 30, 1859, a son of John and Barbara (Yenni) Aebersold. Both parents were born in Switzerland, and his father is still one of the honored old resi- dents of Andrew County, and a sketch of his life and family will be found on other pages in this publication. L. A. Aebersold was the oldest of five children, three of whom are still living. He was five years old when his parents in 1864 left Ohio and after spending the following winter in Indiana came into Andrew County in the spring of 1865 and located in Lincoln Township. Here Mr. Aebersold grew up, attended the local schools, and learned the lessons of industry on his father's farm. He remained at home with his parents until 1881, and then spent a year in Colorado employed by a railroad contractor in getting out ties. On his return to his father's place he farmed a year, then married, and took his bride to a rented place in Nodaway Township, where he spent one year. In 1883 Mr. Aebersold came to his present homestead in section 36 of Jackson Township. His first purchase was 160 acres, and he subse- quently added another eighty acres, making a fine farm of 240 acres, nearly half of section 36. This has been his home ever since with the exception of one year which he spent in Texas. Mr. Aebersold has invested his surplus in the lands of Western Texas, and owns two sections in Gray and Parson counties, and has brought that land into an improved condition and employs it both for grazing and for the staple crops of that part of the Lone Star State. When Mr. Aebersold located on his home farm in Jackson Township a little more than thirty years ago, the house was a small one of four rooms, and there was also a small pole barn. His own progress and prosperity is exemplified in the changed conditions in these two classes of improvements. There now stands a fine modern nine-room dwelling, with attractive surroundings, and with well equipped and substantial barns and other outbuildings. Mr. Aebersold has found success in general farming and stock feeding and shipping.
Politically he is a republican, and has served his community as a school and road officer. He was brought up in the faith of the German Reform Church and is a member of that denomination in Amazonia. Fraternally he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. On December 31, 1882, Mr. Aebersold married Lizzie Maag, who was born at Savannah, Missouri, October 5, 1860, a daughter of Casper and Margaret (Smith) Maag. Her father was a native of Switzerland and her mother was born in Canada, and both died in Lincoln Township of Andrew County. Mr. and Mrs. Aebersold have a fine family of children, most of whom are established for themselves and by their lives are honor- ing father and mother. Their names and stations in life are: Albert Aaron, who lives on one of his father's farms in Texas and by his mar- riage to Georgia Goodloe has one child, Herman L .; John Alexander married Frances Cottrell, lives near Fillmore in Andrew County, and has one child, John C .; Roy Tillman, lives in Texas, and by his marriage to Emma Yenni has two children, Devere and Lawrence Sheldon; Robert Carl, who lives on the homestead with his father, married Emily Faires, and has one child, Warren G .; Louis Emmett is cashier of the Farmers Bank of Nodaway; Walter Ray lives at home; Emma Elizabeth died in 1900 at the age of two years; Barbara Elizabeth died at the age of eight months.
JAMES PLEASANT GILLISPIE. A resident of one locality for more than half a century is not an unimportant distinction, especially when the years are filled with useful efforts, with satisfying accomplishment in
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material things and the esteem of fellow citizens, and such is the position of James Pleasant Gillispie in Andrew County, Missouri, where he was born, where he spent his school days and early youth, where he has accumulated a sufficient property for advancing age, and where he has been honored as one of the judges of the county.
Judge Gillispie was born at Lincoln Creek in Jackson Township, Andrew County, March 16, 1858, a son of J. H. and Marion ( Cornelison) Gillispie. His father was born in Madison County, Kentucky, and as a child was brought to Andrew County by his widowed mother during the '40s. He died July 13, 1895, at the age of sixty-nine, and his wife passed away January 13, 1884. J. H. Gillispie was first married to a sister of his second wife, and the one child of the first union, Andrew, is now deceased. By his second marriage there were five sons and three daugh- ters: W. T., of Jackson Township; Susan Frances, wife of William Hoffman, of Jackson Township; Judge James P .; John M., of Jackson Township; Mary Elizabeth, deceased, who married David Roberts; Edward Lafayette, of Jackson Township; Margaret Rebecca, wife of Jesse Robinson, of Fillmore; and Benjamin B., who died in 1906. J. H. Gillispie spent most of his life on a farm in Jackson Township, where his son John now resides. During the California gold excitement he made a journey overland to California with ox team in 1849. He was a democrat, served as justice of the peace many years, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and belongs to the Christian Church.
Judge Gillispie has spent all his life in Andrew County, had a country school education, and the first year after his marriage worked as a renter, and then conducted a farm owned jointly with his brother, John M., for seven years. They owned 140 acres in partnership. Since that time he has been an independent farmer. Judge Gillispie now has a fine stock farm well known in Lincoln Township, situated on sections 1 and 2, comprising 1863/4 acres. All its improvements except the resi- dence represents his own enterprise. For about ten years Judge Gillispie did a profitable business as a breeder of Shropshire sheep, and now specializes in Poland China hogs.
He has been an active democrat since casting his first ballot back in the '70s, was a candidate for sheriff in 1900, and served as county judge from his district for one term of two years, 1902-04. He is affiliated with the Masonic order.
On September 10, 1882, Judge Gillispie married Susannah Elizabeth Bohart. Mrs. Gillispie comes of one of the wealthy and prominent old families of Andrew County and was born in this county October 29, 1862. Her parents were William and Mary (Burns) Bohart, both natives of Indiana. Her father was born in 1842 and her mother in the same year, and her father came to Missouri in 1860 and her mother in 1858. They were married in Andrew County and were prosperous farmers there. Her father died February 25, 1874, and her mother April 17, 1903. The four Bohart children were: Mrs. Gillispie; Sally, wife of N. S. Dickson, of Andrew County; Philip Emery, deceased ; and Jennie, wife of J. L. Martin, of Andrew County. Judge Gillispie and wife had only one child, Carl Emery, who died in April, 1887, at the age of four years.
E. M. WATERSON. For more than forty-five years E. M. Waterson has been a resident of Andrew County, and has lived at his present home place in section 2 of Lincoln Township since 1883, has prospered like the majority of Andrew County farmers, has been a liberal provider for his family, has been interested in business affairs, and is honored in his community for his private success and for his value as a citizen.
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E. M. Waterson was born at Marysville, Kansas, August 2, 1858. That date of itself indicates an early residence in the Sunflower State, and Mr. Waterson has the distinction of having been the first white child born in Marshall County. A few hours after his birth the first white girl was born in that community, named Hattie McGill. Mr. Wat- erson's parents were James and Artemisia (Cameron) Waterson, his father a native of Ohio and his mother of Kentucky. Both the Waterson and Cameron families were Kansas pioneers, having gone to that terri- tory in 1844. The grandfather, Thomas W. Waterson, who died at Marysville, Kansas, September 5, 1889, was born in Pennsylvania in 1811, went from there to Cincinnati and in 1854 settled in Doniphan County, Kansas, and in 1860 took up his residence at Marysville. It is said that he was the first justice of the peace appointed in the Territory of Kansas, his appointment coming in 1854. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature in 1855 and in 1857 and was four times mayor of the City of Marysville besides other offices of trust. From 1860 until the year of his death he was a Marysville merchant, finally selling out and spending his last days in retirement. His success as a business man was measured by the accumulation of a property estimated at upwards of a hundred thousand dollars. Combined with this was a thorough public spirit and liberality which caused him to contribute in many ways both to the public good and to individual needs.
James and Artemisia were reared in Kansas, were married in 1857 in Brown County, and soon afterwards took up pioneer claims in Marshall County. James Waterson was killed at Marysville, Kansas, in 1868, while driving a team. He was then thirty-four years of age. His widow survived him many years, and died near Savannah in Andrew County, Missouri, August 6, 1884, at the age of forty-four. There were three children: E. M .; Nannie, wife of J. A. Roberts, of Andrew County ; and John, a resident of St. Joseph.
In 1863, when E. M. Waterson was five years of age, the family moved to Andrew County, Missouri, owing to the troubles incident to the war. After the war the family returned to Kansas, lived there until the death of the father, when the mother once more brought her children to Andrew County. During his residence in these two states E. M. Waterson spent his boyhood and acquired his education in the common schools. He has lived in Andrew County since 1868, and has been a farmer since reaching his majority. He now owns 160 acres, and has had his home on this farm since March 15, 1883. Its improvements are to be credited to his own management and labor, and he has prospered through the work of general farming and stock raising. For one year he was a director of the Andrew County Mutual Telephone Company, and for the past eighteen years has been a director and agent for the Andrew County Mutual Fire, Lighting & Wind Storm Insurance Com- pany. In politics a democrat, Mr. Waterson twice led his party ticket as candidate for the offices of county judge and county collector. His only fraternal affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen of America.
In March, 1883, Mr. Waterson married Sarilda Mackey. She was born on the farm where she now lives, November 30, 1856, and has never lived in any other locality longer than eleven months. Her parents were John O. and Sarah (Cameron) Mackey. Her father was born in Ken- tucky, March 10, 1811, and her mother in Clay County, Missouri, in 1824. John O. Mackey came to Clay County when a youth, was married there in December, 1842, and in 1844 came to Andrew County as a pioneer. He died on the old farm in Lincoln Township in 1857, while his widow survived him fifty years, passing away in 1907. John O. Mackey was not only a pioneer farmer but a blacksmith by trade, and
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had one of the shops which supplied a service to a large country com- munity. He worked in the fields during the day time, and would usually spend several hours doing his work as a blacksmith in the night. There were six Mackey children, as follows: Eliza Mary, widow of C. M. Rumburg, of California; Anderson, of. Andrew County; Elizabeth, deceased wife of W. W. Bussell; Mrs. Waterson; James, who died at the age of sixteen years; and Frances, who died at the age of four years. Mr. and Mrs. Waterson are the parents of five children: Lola May, wife of C. F. Clark, of Loveland, Colorado, and who died March 1, 1915; Alice, wife of Henry Ordnung, of Andrew County; John Ray, who died at the age of four years; Ralph and Ada, both at home.
WILLIAM ENT. In point of years of continuous residence William Ent is the oldest citizen of Lincoln Township, Andrew County. More than fifty-five productive and useful years have been spent in this com- munity. It is difficult to measure the work and influences that can properly be ascribed to such a man as William Ent. If he has pros- pered beyond the average of men, his success is only a just desert, since through all these years he has gone about among his fellow men with the uprightness of conduct and the incorruptible integrity which more than justify any material reward that has followed his labors.
William Ent is a native of Ohio, born in Knox County, December 25, Christmas Day, 1836, a son of John and Susanna (Baxter) Ent. His father was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother in Knox County, Ohio. John Ent was taken by his parents when a child to Knox County, Ohio, grew up there, became a farmer, and died in March, 1847, when his son William was only ten years of age. The Ent family was established in Andrew County by the grandparents, Peter and Elizabeth (Davis) Ent. Grandfather Ent was a native of New Jersey, lived in Pennsylvania and in Knox County, Ohio, but in 1847 settled among the pioneers of Andrew County. He bought a farm, a portion of which is now owned by his grandson, William Ent. Peter Ent died in Andrew County in 1862, and his wife passed away within the same week of his death, both being advanced in years, past eighty. All their ten children came out to Andrew County except John Ent, who had died in Ohio the same year ยท the rest of the family went to the West. William Ent's mother died in Savannah, Missouri.
William Ent grew up in Knox County, received a limited education from the local schools, and in 1854 started out to satisfy the usual long- ings of a boy for travel and adventure. His chosen destination was the Pike's Peak gold district, but he never reached Colorado. His mother had gone to Iowa to live with her people and the son met her in that state in 1856, and in November, 1858, he arrived in Andrew County, with an ox team and wagon. On the way he had encountered the typical Missouri mud, and it was all he could do to make progress with an empty wagon and three yoke of cattle. Arriving in Andrew County he never proceeded further west, since his grandfather managed to hold him in this part of Missouri. William Ent was one of a family of five children, the others being: Delilah Graham, of Iowa City, Iowa; John, deceased; Samantha, deceased; and Mary Webber of Albia, Iowa. The mother of this family came to Andrew County about 1870.
William Ent has lived in Andrew County continuously since 1858. His career has been one of effective endeavor, not only as a farmer, but also as a business man. At the present time he owns and occupies eighty acres in section 12 of Lincoln Township, land formerly owned by his grandfather. He bought this land in 1865, and developed it as a splendid fruit orchard. Much of the old orchard has since been cleared away
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and is now used for other purposes. For fifteen years Mr. Ent was engaged in the fruit packing business at Savannah and packed as high as twenty thousand barrels of apples in a single season besides manu- facturing about a thousand barrels of cider. During 1864-65 he con- ducted a sawmill in Andrew County. From these facts it can be seen that Mr. Ent has lived and worked in such a way as to profit himself and to furnish a service to the community.
As a citizen voter Mr. Ent's record goes back nearly sixty years. His first presidential vote was cast for James Buchanan in 1856, but on the whole he has been identified with the republican party, having voted the democratic ticket only three times in the course of fifty years. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been particularly prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternity with which his membership has been identified more than half a century. He is the oldest member in good standing of Savannah Lodge No. 14, and has represented his home lodge both in the Grand Encampment and in the Grand Lodge in the State of Missouri. During the Civil war he served nine months in the Missouri State militia on the Union side.
In 1859 Mr. Ent married Miss Annie Spencer, who was born in Portage County, Ohio, and died in 1870. She was the mother of three children : Perry, who died in 1905; Kitty, who died at the age of twenty years; and Flavia, wife of James Harless, of Wichita, Kansas. In 1872 Mr. Ent married Mrs. Artemisia Cameron Waterson, a widow who brought him three children of her own, and who died in 1883, the mother of four children by Mr. Ent, two of whom died in infancy, and the other two are : Bertie, of St. Joseph ; and Frank, of St. Joseph. On December 7, 1886, Mr. Ent married Mrs. Louisa S. Piper. She was also the mother of two daughters by her former marriage, one of them now deceased. By his third wife Mr. Ent has a son, Lawrence S., who is now engaged in the active management of the home farm in Lincoln Township. Mr. Ent's son Perry left four children, and three of these have been reared by their grandfather and are now living with him, named Ruby, Beulah and William. Mr. Ent sometimes speaks of his homestead in Lincoln Township as the orphans' home. Besides his own children it has been a home for half a dozen children by the previous marriages of his two wives and also the home of his three grandchildren.
WALTER KURZ. The Kurz family has a record of more than thirty years' residence in Andrew County. In the cultivation and improve- ment of land and in the raising of the fruits thereof it is only a matter of justice to say that they have not only kept pace with but have been leaders in raising the general agricultural standards of this section of the state. Mr. Walter Kurz, whose home is in section 11 of Lincoln Town- ship, is one of the younger representatives of this family, and what he has accomplished in the last quarter of a century will serve to indicate the substantial things associated with this name.
Walter Kurz was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, July 18, 1871, one of the younger children of Benedict and Elizabeth (Biegler) Kurz. His father was born in the same canton in 1831, and his mother in 1832. Benedict Kurz was a man of education and of no little prominence in his native country. He taught school for a number of years and then on account of his health took up farming. He was active in local politics, served as mayor three terms, each term four years in duration, of his home Village of Wattenwyl and was representative of his home district, Seftigen, in the Federal Government six years, having resigned his post when he left Switzerland for America. He had many friends, stood high in the community, and it was on account of financial troubles
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brought about by his generosity in attaching his name to bonds for his friends that led him in 1883 to leave Switzerland and come to America. He came direct to Andrew County, where many of his fellow countrymen had located, and bought 158 acres of land in Lincoln Township, and lived there as a farmer until his death in 1899. His wife passed away in 1896. The old home place is now occupied by their son, Fred E. After coming to America Benedict Kurz took out citizenship papers, and voted with the democratic party. He was a member of the German Reform Church. Brief mention of the nine children in the family is as follows: Fred E., the present proprietor of the old homestead ; John, who lives in Lincoln Township; Elizabeth, who died in 1888 at the age of twenty-eight; Ernest, a resident of Texas; Alexander, who lives with his brother, John; Joseph, a resident of Kansas; Gottfried, of Texas; Walter ; Millie, who lives with her brother, Ernest, in Texas.
Walter Kurz was twelve years old when the family came to America, and most of his education was acquired in the national schools of Swit- zerland. He lived at home with his parents until the age of twenty-three, and then for three years was a farmer in partnership with his brother, Joseph. After his marriage he bought a farm of eighty acres, and applied himself industriously and with characteristic vigor to the task of paying for the land and improving it. When that was accomplished he bought an adjoining eighty acres, and on the second eighty he has his present homestead. The second purchase was a well improved farm. His success has come from general farming and stockraising, and no man stands higher in that community than Walter Kurz.
Politically he is identified with the democratic party, and has served his community as a school and road officer. He is a member of the German Reform Church at Amazonia.
In 1899 Mr. Kurz married Rosa Lee Durtchi, who was born in Canton Bern, Switzerland, in 1872, and in 1883 came to this country with her parents, Adolph and Rosa Durtchi. Her father is still living, a resident of Fillmore, Andrew County. Mr. and Mrs. Kurz are the parents of seven children: Benjamin, Edna, Selma, Aline, Ernest, Clarence and Irma Lee.
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