USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > A memorial and biographical record of Kansas City and Jackson County Mo. > Part 13
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Familiar with the experiences of pioneer life in Ohio, Seth Brant, the father of our subject, also became a frontier settler of In- diana, casting his lot with the early settlers of Owen county. There he spent his re- maining days, and his death occurred in
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1853. By occupation he was a farmer and followed that pursuit as a means of liveli- hood throughout his entire career. His family numbered four children who grew to maturity: the Major, whose name heads this sketch; Rev. J. E., Margaret J. and Thomas J., who is cashier of a bank in Utica, Nebraska.
Major Brant was reared in the state of his nativity and acquired the greater part of his education in the public schools, but also pursued his studies for a short time in the university at Greencastle, Indiana. He afterward engaged in teaching in Lan- caster, Indiana, for a while. He had to give up a cherished plan of securing a col- legiate education on account of the death of his father, and soon after he left Indiana and came to Missouri, arriving in this state in 1857. Here he located in Macon county, and opened the Bavier coal mines on land which he had purchased, taking the first coal from this mine. Subsequently he re- moved to Mercer county, Missouri, where he engaged in farming and merchandising near Pleasanton, until the breaking out of the civil war. He also engaged to some extent in dealing in stock, doing quite a profitable business along this line. He would take stock in exchange for merchan- dise and drive them to Westport, where he would sell to freighters.
Immediately after the breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Brant enlisted in the first Iowa militia, in April, 1861, and was elected first lieutenant and afterward as captain of the company. He served the three months term of enlistment, and then went to Leav- enworth, Kansas, where he joined the service as a private of the fifth Kansas cav- alry, in which he remained for little more than three years. He was the first sergeant
of his company, afterward was made first lieutenant, and gallantly participated in all the battles of his regiment. He had a shoul- der broken while on skirmish duty by his horse falling. When his term as a cavalry- man had expired, Lieutenant Brant re-en- listed in the Hancock veteran corpsin 1865, and for another year remained at the front. There were sixteen men in this company, including Mr. Brant, who had been officers, yet would not accept any official position in the company, caring not for the insignia of . rank and content to faithfully perform their duty as loyal defenders of the old flag and the cause it represented, having only the approval of their own consciences.
After five years of faithful and meritorous service, Major Brant returned to Missouri to find that he had lost all of his earthly possessions, and that he must begin life anew. He located in Lexington, Missouri, where he carried on a livery stable for a time and subsequently a grocery store. During his residence there he was marshal and collector of Lexington for four years. In the fall of 1876 he came to Kansas City, where he engaged in the dairy business, which he carried on for a few years, when he purchased the broken down plant of the Kansas City Oil Company and began business, under the name of Brant & Son Oil Company. After successfully managing the new enterprise until 1890, he sold out to Sutton Brothers. Once more he resumed the livery business, which he conducted for about three years, when, in April, 1894, he was appointed to his present position and has since been the efficient superintendent of the Kansas City workhouse. He has planned a new building, which is now under course of construction, and planned after the manner of his suggestions, and will be
I. P. Henty.
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one the best equipped and most substantial city buildings imaginable.
Major Brant is one of the well known and prominent men of Kansas City. He is a valued member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is now serving as commander of Mc- Pherson post. His interest in military affairs has never abated, and he was one of the organizers of company A, the largest company in the third regiment of the Mis- souri national guards. For several years he was in command of the company, which was excellently drilled, as he was a splendid disciplinarian.
In 1857 Major Brant was united in mar- riage with Miss Elizabeth Fairleigh, by whom he has had three children, -all de- ceased. He is a popular citizen, a gentle- man of courteous, genial and kindly inanner, and his circle of friends is limited only by the circle of his acquaintances.
J AMES P. HENRY, M. D., has for nearly half a century maintained his residence in Independence, Missouri, and is therefore entitled to rank foremost among its pioneers. There are now only eleven men living in this city and township who were here when Dr. Henry came to Independence in the spring of 1849.
James P. Henry was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, June 29, 1819, and when small removed with his father's family to Harrison county, that state, where he was reared. Jesse Henry, his father, was a man of local prominence in his day. For some twenty years he served as sheriff of Harri- son county, his hoine during this period be- ing in Cynthiana. In 1845 he left his Ken- tucky home and came over into Missouri,
first making settlement in Booneville, and a year later removing to Independence, where the closing years of his life were passed and where he died in the spring of 1852. He was one of the first mayors of this city. His wife, the Doctor's inother, was before her marriage Miss Nancy Porter. She died in Independence in the year 1876. In their family were six children, -three sons and three daughters, -James P. being the eldest.
He received an academic education at Cynthiana, and was there deputy sheriff under his father for several years. Later he filled the position of deputy clerk of the circuit and county court for about two years in Harrison county. Then he took up the study of medicine, at first in Cynthiana and subsequently in the Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, where he gradu- ated in the spring of 1843. After practic- ing one year in Cynthiana he came, in Oc- tober, 1844, to Missouri, locating at New Franklin, Howard county, where he re- mained five years, or until his removal to Independence in the spring of 1849. Since that date he has been a constant practi- tioner. At this writing he is regarded as the oldest practicing physician in Jackson county; and throughout his whole residence here he has in many ways been prominently identified with the best interests of the city. For about ten years he was the regular at- tending physician at the county asylum and for a number of years was one of the cur- ators of the orphan asylum of Kansas City, having been appointed to the latter position by Governor Woodson.
Dr. Henry is a man of family. He was married in Clark county, Kentucky, in April, 1845, to Miss Eleanor Smith, a native of that county, and to them were born two children-Mary E. and Charles M. Charles
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M. died in Independence, January 17, 1895. He was for many years deputy recorder in Kansas City.
Early in life Dr. Henry was initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry, and has been a Royal Arch Mason since 1845.
3 UDGE JOHN W. HENRY, judge of the circuit court, and one of the most eminent representatives of the bench and bar of Missouri, now living in Kansas City, is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Cynthiana, Harrison county, January 27, 1825, and is a son of Jesse and Nancy (Porter) Henry, who were also na- tives of that state.
His father was a very prominent man, being recognized as a leader in public affairs, and for many years served as sheriff of Har- rison county, while his business energies were directed toward merchandising. In the spring of 1845 he came to Missouri, lo- cating in Booneville, but about three years later he went to Independence, where he spent his remaining days, his death occur- ring in 1852. His wife survived him about fifteen years. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and people of the highest respectability. Their children numbered six, three of whom are now living, namely: James P., a physician of Independ- ence, Missouri; Mary T., wife of J. Brown Hovey, once a prominent lawyer of Kansas City; and John W.
The paternal grandfather of the Judge was Watson Henry, a native of Virginia, who in the pioneer days of Kentucky settled in that state. He reared a large family and lived to an advanced age. The maternal grandfather of our subject, Andrew Porter,
spent his entire life in Kentucky, and en- gaged in business as a millwright.
In the state of his nativity the Judge was reared to manhood and acquired his educa- tion. Early in life it became his desire to enter the legal profession, and at the age of sixteen he took up the study of law, being graduated in the law department of the Transylvania University before he had at- tained the age of twenty years. He is a man of broad mind, of keen discrimination and quick perception,-qualities which are very essential to the successful advocate. Being fitted for active practice, he at once entered upon the prosecution of his chosen profession, with which he has since been connected. As an advocate he was thor- ough and painstaking, laboring earnestly for his clients' interests. He seemed intuitively to recognize the important points in a case and give thein their proper weight and argu- inent, and he won many important cases. His professional career has always been con- nected with Missouri. He continued in gen- eral practice until 1875, when he was made judge of the circuit comprising Macon, Schuyler, Adair and Putnam counties, Mis- souri. He was on that bench from 1872 until 1877, when he was elected to the su- preme bench, and served ten years. In 1887 the Judge came to Kansas City, and since 1889 has occupied the position which he is now creditably and acceptably filling, that of judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit. He has a mind particularly free from bias and from impetuosity. His decisions are the results of careful, calm deliberation, of thorough weighing of the evidence and of the law applicable to it. He rarely if ever makes a mistake, and his long connection with the bench, covering a period of about twenty years, indicates his special fitness
John Dr. Henry.
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and the confidence reposed in him. He is indeed a leader in the profession in Missouri, which has ever stood as the protector of the rights and privileges of the people of every civilized nation. He has also served in other official capacities, having in the win- ter of 1854 been appointed superintendent of the schools of Missouri.
For fifty years the Judge has been a resi- dent of Missouri, and in the early days of the history of the state he traveled over forty counties, making speeches. He has ever been a promoter of the public welfare, deeply interested in all that pertains to the upbuilding of the state, and is one of the most prominent and highly esteemed citizens in all Missouri.
In 1849 was celebrated the marriage of Judge Henry and Miss Maria Williams, daughter of Frank and Martha (Talbot) Williams. They have five children, three sons and two daughters. Nannie is now the wife of E. C. Johnson, and they have three children, -Hattie, Henry and Marie. Jesse married Miss Katie Davidson, and resides in Jefferson City, Missouri, with their three children,-Donald, Porter and Jesse P. Frank, an Episcopalian minister located at Greeley, Missouri, married a Miss Turner. Robert is serving as deputy county clerk of Jackson county. Martha died in infancy. The mother of this family is a member of the Christian church. Their home is located on Linwood avenue, on the outskirts of the city.
3 OHN O. BOGGS .- Among those who have passed the center mile- stone on life's journey, leaving be- hind them a career untarnished, is numbered this gentleman. Almost with the
first introduction of civilization into Jack- son county, he took up his residence here. Wild was the land, the forests unbroken and progress still a thing of the future. Indians frequently visited the neighborhood and Jackson county was indeed a frontier set- tlement. In the labors that have trans- formed it into its present high improved condition, with its excellent farms, splendid homes and extensive business interests, Mr. Boggs has ever borne his part.
Our subject was born in Lee county, Virginia, October 30, 1818, and traces his ancestry back to colonial days. His grand- father, James Boggs, was a native of North Carolina and a soldier in the Revolution. The father, John Boggs, was born in Vir- ginia, in 1771, and in that state was mar- ried to Nancy Wells, who was born in Lee county, Virginia, in 1773. In 1822, they removed to Kentucky, spending their last days in Lawrence county. They had four- teen children, all of whom reached years of maturity, namely: James, Hugh, Mrs. Eleanor Shepherd, Mrs. Phoebe Kendall, David (deceased), Mrs. Nancy Burton, Mrs. Elizabeth Sparks, William, Mrs. Mary Hol- brook, Mrs. Rebecca Holbrook, John O., Elijah, Mrs. Aurenia Gamble and Mrs. Jemima Gamble. Two of the sons, Will- iam and John, were soldiers in the Confed- erate army. The parents were both faith- ful members of the Baptist church, and Mr Boggs took a very active part in its work.
Our subject is the only survivor of the family. On a Kentucky farm he was reared to manhood and early became familiar with all the labors incident thereto, but his school privileges were exceedingly meager and he is principally self-educated. In 1839 he came to Jackson county, Missouri, and made his home three miles north of Lees Summit.
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For six years he worked for others and then began trading in the stock business. In 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, he crossed the plains with ox teams, leaving Jackson county on the 7th of May, and arriving at the gold diggings on the 7th of September. He made the trip in safety and there engaged in trading in hogs, cattle, mules and horses. In this ven- ture he won considerable success and the following ycar he returned home by way of New York.
Mr. Boggs then purchased a farm three miles north of Lees Summit, -a tract of wild prairie land on which stood no house or other improvement. He has killed deer all over this prairie and has seen here the Shawnee, Wyandotte and Delaware Indians. For some years after locating on this farm, Mr. Boggs did his own housekeeping as well as farm work. The labor of cultivating the farm was carried steadily forward until the once wild lands yielded to him a good return.
After a time he secured as a companion and helpmeet on life's journey Mrs. Peace McGuire, nce Kennedy, a widow lady and a native of Kentucky. They were married in 1857, and her death occurred at Lees Sum- mit, March 26, 1876. By her first marriage she had two children: Eliza, now the wife of James Inskip, of Kansas City, by whom she has one son, William; and Paulina, wife of Joseph M. Cooper, of Kansas City, who has three children,-James, Walter and Peace. Mr. Boggs reared and educated his wife's daughters. He was again married January 7, 1877, his second union being with Mrs. Elizabeth Crane, widow of Dr. Crane, of Ashland, Ohio. She was born in the Buckeye state, and died March 25, 1895.
Mr. Boggs was living upon his farm when
the war began. He had over 300 acres of land, all fenced, owned a few slaves and was doing well, but both armies invaded this region and from his farm took whatever they desircd. Fences were torn down and it seemed that ruin reigned in the neighbor- hood. Our subject entered the Confederate service and participated in the battle of Lone Jack. He then went south, joined Captain Longhorn's company, which formed a part of Colonel Upton Hayes' regiment and Shelby's command. He was afterward commissioned captain, was assigned to Colonel Slayback's regiment, and was in the commissary department. He took part in the battle of Prairie Grove and in the cam- paign against the Red river expedition of General Banks, also thc engagement at Mark's Mill, ·where over 1, 500 prisoners were captured. He was all through the Arkansas campaign and in the various battles and skirmishes until the surrender of General Shelby at Shreveport, Louisiana. He next went to Baton Rouge and drew rations for the regiment at that place and St. Louis. He assumed command of the regiment after General Slayback went to Mexico, and re- turned home with and disbanded the troops. He was never wounded or captured, but returned to his farm to find that the labor of ycars had been all swept away, the crops used for food for the armies and the fences and houses burned to the ground.
With characteristic energy Mr. Boggs began again the work of making a good farm, erected new buildings and continued the improvement until 1873, when he sold out. He is still engaged in the stock business and was also for a time engaged in selling dry goods.
Politically, Mr. Boggs has always been a democrat, has frequently served as delegate
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to the party conventions and has been deeply interested in the success of the democracy. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and his religious belief is that of the Baptist church, in which he has served both as trustee and clerk of the congregation at Lees Summit. He has been called to public office on various occasions, having been constable of Prairie township, and a mem- ber of the city council of Lees Summit. He has also been mayor of the city and for twenty years was justice of the peace. He has allowed nothing to interfere with his faithful performance of duty, and his public and private life are alike above reproach.
a M. CARTER, M. D., one of the ablest representatives of the med- ical profession in Kansas City, is a native of Ohio, born in Dresden, February 15, 1840, son of Ezekiel and Re- becca (Bryant) Carter, who were natives of Parker county, Virginia. The father of our subject was a farmer by occupation and he removed to Columbus, Indiana, in 1850, at which place his death occurred in 1873. Mrs. Carter died in 1856. They had a family of eight children, four of whom are living, our subject being their youngest child. He was reared on a farm, and in the common schools and the high school of In- dianapolis he obtained a good practical education.
In 1857, when seventeen years of age, he began the study of medicine, first under a preceptor and afterward at the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, at which he graduated March 1, 1861. Immediately thereafter he located at Lawrenceville, Illi- nois, where he practiced till July 6 of the same year. At about that time, the war
feeling was running pretty high and Doctor Carter's pariotism manifested itself by mak- ing speeches to encourage enlistment in a company that was raised in the neighbor- hood. He had volunteered himself, and when the company was made up he was elected captain by a unanimous vote. The Illinois quota of this call was filled, and the company could not at this time be mustered into service. Captain Carter at once tele- graphed Governor "Dick" Yates that he had one hundred and ten men and asked for instructions. Governor Yates ordered him with the company to Saint Louis, where, August 8, they were mustered into service, as company C, eleventh Missouri infantry, Captain Carter being mustered as commander of the company. His regiment was act- ively engaged throughout the war, parti- cipating in nineteen hard-fought battles without receiving a scratch; but upon one occasion his hat was shot from his head and his sword broken by a piece of shell. On the 24th of April, 1864, his company having become greatly decimated by death and capture, it became necessary to consolidate it with company G, seventh Missouri in- fantry, when Captain Carter resigned his commission.
Upon his return to civil life he resumed practice at Lawrenceville, where for twenty- two years he lived attending to the demands of his practice, and for twelve consecutive years of the time was public administrator of the county, and for four years justice of the peace. Since settling in Kansas City he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession and has built up a large and lucrative business. He is now professor of diseases of children in the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, Kansas City, having been called to the chair in September, 1894.
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A republican in politics, he was a mem- ber of the city central committee from 1888 to 1894. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows lodges, becoming con- nected with both orders in Illinois in 1865; was connected with the grand lodge of the I. O. O. F. of Illinois for twelve years; a member of the grand lodge of Masons of Illinois for eighteen years; was an officer in that body from 1878 to 1884; and has been secretary of Heroine lodge, No. 104, A. F. & A. M., of this city since 1890.
Dr. Carter was married January 24, 1 865, to Miss Kate J. Feagans, a native of Vir- ginia, of which union two children were born, one living,-Bertha H., wife of B. W. Walley, of Kansas City.
In both professional and social circles, Dr. Carter is prominent, being widely known as a Mason throughout the country, and as a physician he ranks with the ablest.
N. SOUTHERN, SR., editor and manager of the Daily and Weekly Sentinel, Independence, Missouri, was born in 1850, at Tazewell, located between Cumberland and Clinch mountains, in east Tennessee. He has been connected with the Sentinel since 1887, and manager and editor of the same since 1890. The Sentinel is a Democratic paper and in favor of free coinage of silver, is now in its thirtieth year, having been established in 1865, and is one of the best known weekly papers in the state. Mr. Southern is averse to making business changes and will doubt- less retain control of the Sentinel as long as he lives.
Mr. Southern came to Missouri in 1870. In 1874 he went to Texas and engaged with a corporation by which he was employed
for thirteen years. During that time he re- turned to Independence and married Miss Emma Henley, daughter of Alonzo and Elizabeth Henley.
ON. WILLIAM LARKIN WEBB, editor and proprietor of the Inde- pendence Progress, Independence, Missouri, is a gentleman well known in western Missouri, and needs no introduc- tion here.
As early as 1832 Mr. Webb's grandfather, Larkin Webb, came from Giles county, Ten- nessee, to this state and settled in Jackson county. About a year later he purchased land on the Sni creek, in the northern part of Van Buren township, where his closing years were spent, and where he died, leav- ing a widow and family of small children. His son, Andrew Jackson Webb, the father of our subject, was born in Giles county, Tennessee, July, 1831, and was therefore only a year old at the time of their emigra- tion to Jackson county. At his father's death Andrew J. was yet a mere boy, but upon him devolved the principal care and support of the family, and he provided for them as best he could as long as his mother lived. He was married in 1855 to Miss Sarah Ann Lynch, a native of Platte county, Missouri, born in 1832. Soon after their marriage he purchased a tract of new land in Van Buren township, built a cabin on it, settled there and devoted his energies to the improvement and cultivation of his farm. He still makes his home on it. During the civil war he was a soldier in the Confederate army and served under General Shelby, be- ing in the ranks about three years. He and his wife are the parents of five children,
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namely: William Larkin, David R., Mary E., George A. and Midian M.
William Larkin was born on his father's farm January 12, 1856, and made it his home until 1891, being absent, however, much of the time. After completing his studies in the common schools he attended the normal school at Warrensburg, Missouri, and the William Jewell College in Liberty, this state, and after leaving college was for some time engaged in teaching, spending his winters in the schoolroom and his summers in work on the farm. Also he served as deputy assessor of Van Buren township. In the summer of 1887 he was appointed by President Cleveland to the position of United States gauger for the western district of Missouri. This office he filled for about one year, when he resigned. In the summer of 1888 he was nominated for the state legis- lature, to represent the first district, and in the fall of that year was elected by a large majority. In 1890 he was re-elected. While a member of that honorable body he rendered able service on a number of com- mittees, among which were the emigration committee, internal improvement committee and the committee on local bills: of the first named he was chairman.
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