USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 31
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Eugene and James H. Sidebottom, whose life stories are recorded on other pages of this volume, have also long been residents. He was educated in the schools of his boyhood, which were housed in log structures rudely furnished with slab benches and wanting in almost all the other sources of physical comfort, as they were in everything in the way of instruction beyond the elementary branches of learning.
Mr. Sidebottom assisted his father and brothers in breaking up the wild land on which the family located on their arrival in the county, remaining at home with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-seven. This was in 1876, and the next year he was married to Miss Mary J. Ogan, a daughter of Irvin and Rebecca (Jones) Ogan, the earliest settlers in Clay township, who came to Linn from Boone county in 1835 and located on a tract of land in Parson Creek town- ship, from which they moved the next year to the land which is now owned, occupied and cultivated by their son-in-law and his wife. A brief account of their lives appears elsewhere in this history, and shows their early connection with the affairs of the county.
After his marriage Mr. Sidebottom moved to his present farm, and to the improvement and further development of this he has ever since given his attention in an energetic and thoughtful way, studying its needs, observing its manifestations, heeding its suggestions, and making the most of its possibilities in every direction. He has also given some care to breeding and feeding live stock for the markets, and while he has carried on this branch of his business on a small scale, he has so ordered it that he has made its products creditable to himself and his township and its operation profitable to a very gratifying degree.
Mr. and Mrs. Sidebottom have two children living, their daughter Willie Esther, who is the wife of E. V. Wilkinson of Livingston county, and their son Lawrence E., who is a resident of Linn county, and one of its most highly respected citizens. The parents are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the children also lean to that denomination. All the members of the family are recognized as persons of high character, upright living and productive public spirit. They take great interest in the progress and improvement of their several communities, and do everything in their power to ad- vance the welfare of their residents.
In political relations Mr. Sidebottom is a Republican with firm faith in the principles of his party, but he has never been an active partisan, and has never held or sought a political office of any kind. He serves the state well and wisely in his industries and in the faith-
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ful performance of all the duties of citizenship, and that fully satisfies his sense of public duty.
C. E. KELLEY
This gentleman has a special interest in the welfare of Linn county, Missouri, and by his sturdy and serviceable devotion to the good of its people has made himself one of the county's most substan- tial and highly esteemed citizens. His special interest in the county arises from his having been born in it and reared and educated among its residents, and in part also from his having been from his youth engaged in the leading industry of the locality of his home as a general farmer.
His life began in Yellow Creek township on February 2, 1861, and his father, B. A. Kelley, was also a native of Missouri, born in Calloway county on October 5, 1839. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary White, was not, however, a Missourian by nativity, but was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, on March 10, 1839. They were prosperous farmers and their son, C. E. Kelley, was reared on the home farm, in this county, to which his parents moved prior to his birth. He obtained his education in the country school near the farm, and as soon as he was able began farming for himself.
Mr. Kelley's grandparents were Francis and Mary (Pace) Kelley, who were born and reared in the vicinity of Frankfort, Kentucky, and moved to Missouri at an early date, passing the remainder of their lives in this state. They, also, were farmers, and persons of prom- inence in the community in which they lived. It is therefore not to be wondered at that the subject of this brief memoir should feel a very warm attachment to Missouri, since his family have lived in it and drawn their stature and their strength from its fruitful soil for three generations.
C. E. Kelley took to farming naturally, and he has never pursued any other occupation except for a time to render the county excellent service as county treasurer for two terms extending from 1896 to 1898 and from 1898 to 1900. As he has always been an active working Democrat and taken great interest in the success of his party, he was also its candidate for judge of the eastern district of his county in 1902, but owing to the preponderance of the other party in the dis- trict at the time, he was not successful in the election. This, however, did not dampen his political ardor or render him less active in seek- ing to promote the welfare of his party and the triumph of its prin-
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ciples and candidates, for which he has continued to work through all the subsequent years of his life. A few years after the time of his candidacy for judge he was nominated for the lower house of the state legislature, but was again defeated, George W. Martin of Brook- field being chosen over him at the election after a very spirited campaign.
In fraternal relations Mr. Kelley is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows and that of Modern Woodmen of America. He has also been for over thirty years a member of the New Garden Baptist Church in his township, and been one of its trustees for a long time. His devotion to his church and church work has been very strong and his zeal in behalf of the congregation to which he belongs has been fervent and effective, giving him high standing in the church as one of its most useful and estimable members, always ready for any duty he can perform or any service he can render for the good of the cause of religion in general and his own sect in particular, counting no effort on his part too great if it brings results.
Mr. Kelley was married on August 1, 1883, to Miss Lily D. Ridg- way, a daughter of George W. and Melinda (Hardy) Ridgway, and the granddaughter of Thomas and Sally B. (Ridgway), natives of Ken- tucky and early arrivals in Missouri, locating in Linn county after a short residence in Howard county. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley have five children living and five grandchildren. The children are: Floella, the wife of M. D. Coster, who has one child; Harry E., who is married and has three children; Leslie G., who is also married and has one child; Gladys, who is the wife of F. W. Maddox; and Gilbert, who is still living at home with his parents. All the members of the family are highly respected for their genuine worth, the elevated tone of their citi- zenship and their upright and useful lives. The people everywhere who know them esteem them cordially as representatives of the most sturdy and sterling manhood and womanhood of the county in which their years have passed to the present time.
CHARLES R. BURRIS
Nearly two-thirds of the years the interesting subject of this brief memoir has lived have been passed in Linn county and on the farm which is now his home. He came to it with his parents when he was fifteen years old and has never known any other home except six years spent in Oklahoma since then. From it he completed his educa- tion at the neighborhood school; on it he finished his training as a
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farmer; here he attained his majority and began his life work as a tiller of the soil; and here, also, he has continued his operations as such to the present time. His life on this farm has been an open, industrious and faithful one before the people, and has brought him their good opinion as a farmer and their esteem as a citizen. The residents of Clay township know him well and have naught but good words to say of him in every relation of life.
Mr. Burris was born on October 17, 1863, in Boone county, Indiana, and is a son of Robert T. and Louisa A. (Caldwell) Burris, also natives of that state. The father's life began in Boone county, that state, in 1835 and he was reared and educated there. There he was married, also, and there he farmed until 1878, when he moved his family to Linn county and located on the farm now occupied by his son Charles. He erected all the buildings and made all the other improvements on the place, and lived on it and at Meadville and in Linneus until his death, which occurred in January, 1911, moving off when he retired from active pursuits.
During the Civil War he was a soldier in the Union army, in the Seventy-second Indiana and Forty-fourth Indiana, for two years. His regiment was a part of the mounted infantry, and he was in the portion of it detailed to scout duty. He also saw considerable active service in the field, and met every call to duty with ready responsiveness, a spirit, of genuine courage and a willingness to face whatever was before him without regard to consequences. The mother is still living. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, all now deceased but their sons Charles and Elmer. The father was a leading member of the Presbyterian church and an elder for a number of years in the congregation to which he belonged, and which he rendered faithful service.
The grandfather, Thomas M. Burris, was born and reared in Ken- tucky, and in his young manhood moved to Boone county, Indiana, where he was a pioneer. In that county he took up a tract of govern- ment land on which he passed the remainder of his life, improving it into an attractive and valuable farm, on which he died at a good old age, standing well in his community and enjoying the regard and good will of all its people. He and his wife had eight children, four sons and four daughters, two of the eight being still alive. He was a blacksmith and farmer, and a scion of families long domesticated in Scotland.
Charles R. Burris lived to the age of fifteen in his native county and began his education in its public schools. He came with his parents to Linn county in 1878, as has been noted, and remained at home until
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he reached the age of twenty-three, assisting in the work on the farm. He then taught school four years, at the end of which he returned to the farm, on which he has been settled ever since. For five years he also conducted a meat market in Linneus.
On August 12, 1886, he was united in marriage with Miss Emma J. Withrow, a daughter of James Withrow, one of the pioneers of Linn county and for a number of years county surveyor. By this marriage Mr. Burris became the father of two children, one died in infancy, and his daughter Bessie, who is now the wife of T. E. Proctor of Gage, Oklahoma. Her mother died in 1891, and in 1894 the father married a second wife, joining himself with Miss Sadie E. Boone, a native of Missouri. Her parents came to Linn county in 1866. Of this marriage one child has been born, Lillian Ruth Burris, who is still living at home with her parents.
Mr. Burris is an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and his religious connection is with the Presbyterian church. Although mod- est and undemonstrative by nature and in manner, he has been a man of force and influence in his township because he has shown genuine worth and manifested a cordial, intelligent and helpful interest in its progress and improvement and the enduring welfare of its people. He has always been a warm supporter of projects undertaken for the promotion of its advancement or the accomplishment of any good pur- pose. No man in the township is more highly esteemed, and none deserves to be.
JOHN F. WOOD
With 640 acres of good farming land, well improved and under an advanced state of cultivation, and conducting in connection with his farming operations a flourishing live stock business, John F. Wood of Clay township is one of the most prosperous and progressive men in this part of the county of Linn, and stands well among the people as a leading and very serviceable citizen. His industries are valuable to the township and county of his residence, and his attention to all public interests is always zealous and productive of good.
Mr. Wood was born in Appanoose county, Iowa, on December 5, 1861, and is a son of John and Augusta (Woodward) Wood, both born and reared in Indiana. The father was a farmer during the greater part of his life, but he enlisted in the army for the Mexican War and went through that short, sharp and highly beneficial conflict. He joined a company raised in Indiana and followed the flag of his country from the beginning to the end of the war, taking part in several of its bat-
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tles, and receiving a wound at that of Vera Cruz, which disabled him for the service for a time. But when he recovered he re-enlisted and was in at the death, entering the city of Mexico with the triumphant army of General Scott.
He moved to Iowa in the early fifties and located government land with the warrant he secured for his services in the war, choosing a tract on Soap creek near where the town of Moulton now stands, and there for a number of years he operated a saw mill. In 1864 he came to Linn county and took up his residence on a farm in Jackson town- ship, where he died in 1908, and his wife in 1897. They had four sons and four daughters, and of the eight three of the sons and one of the daughters are living. The father was a great rifle shot and hunter, and kept his larder stored with the fruits of his skill. For wild game was abundant in the county at the time of his location in it, and he knew as well as anybody where to find it and how to get it. He was also a devout and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and always attentive to his duties as such.
The grandfather, James Wood, moved to Indiana from Kentucky, and his wife, Priscilla Wood, was near the Pigeon Roost Indian raid when it occurred in the latter state. Her remains are buried in Linn county. She and her husband were valued pioneers in at least two states and saw a great deal of the hardships and dangers of frontier life in each of them. But they were of heroic mold and bore all the trials of their lives with commendable courage and fortitude.
John F. Wood was reared to manhood in Linn county and obtained his education in its public schools, he being but three years old when the family moved to this county. He began life for himself as a hired man, but soon afterward changed his residence to Arizona, where for six years he was engaged in mining and the cattle industry, and did much in operating pack trains in that part of the country. In 1880 he returned to Linn county, and here he has lived ever since. As has been noted his farm comprises 640 acres, and he handles live stock on a large scale, raising mostly cattle and hogs, conducting every department of his business with great enterprise and success and mak- ing them all profitable to him.
Mr. Wood was married on April 12, 1891, to Miss Emma B. Powell, a daughter of Andrew Powell, a pioneer of Linn county who settled here about 1840, coming to the county from Boone county, Missouri, but being a Virginian by nativity. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have six chil- dren: Walter A., George W., Ethel S., Bertha G., Augusta M. and Julius F. Their mother died on December 25, 1910. She was a mem-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
ber of the Presbyterian church, while he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal denomination.
In his political faith and allegiance Mr. Wood is a member of the Democratic party, and is loyal to his convictions in reference to public affairs. He has not been a very active partisan, and has not sought any public offices, but he has served as school director for a number of years. In the progress and improvement of his township and county he is always warmly and practically interested, aiding in the promotion of all worthy undertakings involving the welfare of the people. He is well known all over the county, and in all parts of it stands well in the regard and good will of its residents, who look upon him as one of the county's most enterprising and estimable citizens.
JOSEPH A. PERRY
This prominent and prosperous farmer of Clay township is a native of Linn county and has passed the whole of his life to the present time (1912) within its borders. He was born in Jackson township on December 9, 1870, was reared and educated in the county, married here and has been engaged in farming from his youth. So that all he is is a product of Linn county, all his interests have grown and flourished on its soil, it is the shrine of his domestic life, and everything promotive of its welfare has been an object of solicitude to him and enlisted his earnest and effective aid.
Mr. Perry is a son of Henry C. and Surepta (Smith) Perry, the former a native of Audrain county and the latter of Linn county in this state. The father was born in 1844 and brought to Linn county by his parents in his childhood. He grew to manhood in this county and obtained his education here. In November, 1861, when he was but seventeen years old, he enlisted in the Union army, being enrolled in Company F, Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Rin Morris, under whose command he served until he received his dis- charge in December, 1864, in Savannah, Georgia, after three years of very active and exciting service.
He participated in the battle of Shiloh and was taken prisoner there. For a short time afterward he suffered all the horrors of Andersonville prison, and while confined in that awful place his weight went down to ninety pounds. But he was soon exchanged and again in active field service, taking part in the great battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. After that he went with Sherman to the sea and had a share in all the engagements of that memorable and waste-
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ful expedition. He was also in the battle of the Wilderness, where Death reaped a great harvest of noble young men on both sides of the sanguinary conflict.
After his discharge from the military service he returned to Linn county and farmed here until his death, which occurred in 1903. He and his wife were the parents of four sons and four daughters. Three of the sons and two of the daughters are living, and all but one of the sons reside in Linn county. The father was a justice of the peace for many years, and was long a devout member of the Baptist church. He was a man of influence in the township and county, and was highly esteemed.
The grandfather, whose name was also Joseph A. Perry, was a Virginian by birth. He came to Missouri and located first in Audrain county, then moved to Sullivan county, and about 1847 changed his residence to Linn county. He operated the old Austin mill on Locust creek for a number of years, making lumber and shingles and grinding corn. The end of his useful life came in Linn county in 1871. He married with Miss Harriet Talley. She was born in Audrain county and met her death in a railroad wreck in 1883, a sad and sudden ending of a very useful life.
The grandfather also served during the Civil War in the Twenty- third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, being in that regiment four years fighting and marching side by side with his two sons, Henry and James W. Like his son, Henry, he was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh and confined in Anderson prison for a time. After his exchange he immediately went back into the active service and took part in all the battles and marches to the end of the war in which his regiment was engaged. In 1849 he crossed the plains with ox teams in search of fortune in the gold fields of California, and remained in that state a number of years.
Joseph A. Perry, the immediate subject of this review, has lived in Linn county all his life to this time. He was married in this county in 1896 to Miss Nellie C. Wilson, a daughter of Enoch G. and Annie (Marple) Wilson. Six children have been born of the union, all of whom are living. They are: Orlena S., Amy F., John F., Emogene Marie, Elzora and Nellie E. The father has served as constable and tax collector for six years, and as a member of the school board for a number of years. In religious affiliation he is a Baptist, and his wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He represents the third generation of his family that has lived in Linn
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county and labored for its growth and development, for all its civil institutions and the best interests of its people in every way. The record of the family is an honorable one in all respects, and the people of the county have paid its members in their day and generation the tribute of respect that is always due to genuine worth, elevated citizen- ship and useful service.
HENRY TOOEY
Called from the scenes of his earthly labors at the early age of fifty-two years, when all his faculties were in full power and usefulness and all his plans for his own advancement and the good of the people around him were moving forward in steady and fruitful triumph, the late Henry Tooey left the whole city of Brookfield and county of Linn to mourn their loss in his untimely death, and dazed by the suddenness of the dispensation of Providence which called him to the higher life. He died of pneumonia on Monday morning, April 24, 1911, after an illness of only four days.
It is a pleasing though melancholy task to place on record in a permanent form a brief account of his career while the recollection of its trials and conquests is still fresh in the public mind, and to pay tribute to his character, citizenship and achievements, which are a source of comfort to his surviving friends and of inspiration to those who are struggling after him, in whose memory they still linger with a celestial fragrance and an influence productive of good in many ways.
Mr. Tooey was born at Thayer, Linn county, Missouri, on January 19, 1859, and was a son of Patrick and Bridget (Dixon) Tooey, the former a native of County Mayo, Ireland, born in 1823. The father came to the United States in 1839 with his parents and brother and sister. The family located at Mount Morris, Livingston county, New York, and there the youth of sixteen grew to manhood and supple- mented in the public schools the scholastic training he had received in his native land.
He did not linger long at the schoolroom form, however. He saw the great world before him with urgent claims on his time and ability, and became eager-hearted to be "in among the throngs of men" and bear a hand in their great work of accomplishment and development. At an early age he began contracting in construction work, and also kept a hotel in Buffalo, New York. Later he followed boating on the great lakes and the New York canals for a time, making a success of everything he undertook.
Morey
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One of his first contracts was on the Genesee Valley canal, to the building of which he made material and appreciated contributions. Afterward he secured large contracts on the Erie Railroad and for widening the Welland canal. By the time he completed these he heard the voice of the Great West proclaiming its need of men of his caliber, and he hearkened to the plea. Coming West, he took large contracts in the construction of the Ohio & Missouri Railroad in Illinois. In 1856 he built twenty-one miles of railroad in Callaway county, Missouri. Within the same year he located in Linn county and founded the old town of Thayer. About this time he also completed thirteen miles of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad. In addition to these varied and exacting engagements, he conducted a large general store and was occupied in freighting from Brunswick and points in Macon county. His business was extensive and had many features in its wide variety. But he gave every department of it close and careful attention, and made it all tell greatly to his advantage.
During his residence in New York state he was united in marriage with Miss Bridget Dixon, and by this marriage they became the parents of nine children, three of whom are living: Gus, a resident of Brook- field; Stephen, who lives in St. Joseph, and Mrs. Kate Griffin, whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri. The mother died in 1866 and the father in May, 1899. He was a Catholic in religion, a Democrat in political faith and action, a genial, companionable and stimulating man in social life, and is yet well remembered as one of the best and most useful citizens of the county and held in high esteem for his valuable services to the people wherever he lived and labored for the general welfare.
Henry Tooey was reared in this county and obtained his education in its public schools. His scholastic opportunities were, however, very limited, as at a very early age he began the battle of life for himself as a clerk and salesman for his uncle, James Tooey, whom he served with fidelity and ability for several years. His mother died when he was but seven years of age, and when he was fourteen he located at Brookfield, where he soon secured employment in the store of H. Emanuel & Company, thus following his natural bent, which was toward mercantile life, and for this he had such decided talent that he rose rapidly in its domain toward the first rank. It was manifest early in his career that he was a born merchant and possessed real genius for his chosen occupation. In the course of a few years he became the practical head and real guiding spirit of the establishment he had entered at the bottom of the ladder, and soon afterward became
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