USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 32
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a member of the firm of Hartman & Tooey, of which Mr. S. P. Hartman was the nominal head but Mr. Tooey was the inspiring and directing force.
This is in brief the outline of the career of this fine specimen of Missouri manhood and business enterprise. Of the struggles and diffi- culties involved in that career; the obstacles in the way of the aspiring young man and his mastery over them; his wealth of resources for every requirement and readiness for all emergencies, and the substan- tial triumph he won over every obstruction to his progress, the com- munity which witnessed his labors and shared in their benefits need not be told. Neither need its people be reminded of the uprightness of his private life, his strict integrity in business, his quick and respon- sive enterprise in reference to all matters involving the enduring wel- fare of the city and county of his home, or the obliging disposition, the courtesy, the grace and the consideration for others which dis- tinguished him in social life.
The record of their esteemed citizen and leading merchant is an open book before them, and they are familiar with every paragraph inscribed on its pages. How well they knew him and how highly they regarded him was well shown by their grief over his early death and the universal honor bestowed upon him at the burial of his remains. He had no political ambition for himself, but was a devoted member of the Democratic party and zealous at all times for its welfare. In fraternal life he belonged to the Knights of Columbus and the Order of Elks, and in religious faith and practice he was a firm and consistent Catholic.
Mr. Tooey was married in 1887 to Miss Hattie Rider, a daughter of the late C. P. and Julia (Austin) Rider. The fruit of the union was one child their daughter Josephine, who with her mother, survives the father and has her home in Brookfield. The wife and daughter are among the most esteemed residents of the city, and they all are richly deserving of the regard and good will in which they are held by all classes of the people in the city. They are faithful to every duty, as was the head of the house during his life, and like him, they dis- seminate genial sunshine and the force of a good example in each case all around them.
HIRAM K. BARGAR.
For the full period of forty-seven years Hiram K. Bargar, president of the Peoples Bank of Meadville, has been a resident of Linn county and one of the forceful factors in the aggregate of its
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productive potencies. He came to the county a young man twenty years of age, and during the next thirty-seven years was energetically and profitably engaged in farming on a tract of land he took up from the government in its state of primeval wildness, and which by indus- try and steady application he transformed into one of the best farms in Parson Creek township.
Mr. Bargar is a native of Harrison county, Ohio, born on January 21, 1845. He is a son of John and Eliza (Gatchell) Bargar, natives of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and a brother of Henry C. Bargar, in a sketch of whom, on another page of this volume, the family his- tory is briefly told. While he was yet quite young the family moved to Tuscarawas county, Ohio, and there he grew to manhood and ob- tained his education, attending the country school near his home for the purpose.
After leaving school Mr. Bargar farmed in Tuscarawas county until 1865, then, in December of that year, came with his brother Jacob to Missouri. The brothers located in Linn county and bought a considerable tract of wild land, which they farmed together for six years. At the end of that time they divided the land, and each still owns the part he took at the division. Until ten years ago Hiram was engaged in general farming and breeding Shorthorn cattle. In 1902 he retired from farming and moved to Meadville, where he has ever since had his home.
Mr. Bargar was married in 1868 to Miss Esther Sproull, also a native of Ohio. They have no children, but they seem to have adopted the community in which they live as the object of their solicitude. For there is no undertaking designed to promote the welfare of its people in any way in which they are not zealous and energetic par- ticipants, and all their efforts in this behalf are guided by intelligence and impelled by a high sense of duty and comprehensive breadth of view.
When the Peoples Bank of Meadville was founded, Mr. Bargar was one of its leading promoters and was chosen president at its organization. He has held this office and directed the policy of the institution from the start, and under his wise and prudent manage- ment it has flourished and grown strong in its resources and in the confidence and regard of the people of the whole county. In the de- velopment and improvement of Parson Creek township it has been of great service, and toward individual patrons it has always been liberal and considerate. And thus it has helped the region in which
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it is located and does business in both the public and the private life of its residents.
In the fraternal life of the community Mr. Bargar has long been prominent and serviceable as a member of the Masonic order. While he seldom takes any part in political contests of any kind, he is a firm believer in the principles of the Republican party and gives it his support in all national and state campaigns. In reference to local interests he looks solely to the welfare of the people, and bestows his suffrage on the candidates he believes most likely to work for that. He is broad-minded and liberal in his views on all questions which divide men in opinion, and as tolerant toward the convictions of others as he is firm in his own. Every form of activity for good has his earnest practical support, and every duty of citizenship receives his careful and conscientious attention. Linn county has no better man within its borders, and none who is more universally esteemed.
JAMES D. HATFIELD
One of the best known and most highly esteemed farmers of Locust Creek township in this county, and one of its most sturdy and representative citizens, James D. Hatfield has won the station in the regard of his fellow men to which his merit entitles him, and the goal, in that respect, toward which he has been working throughout his quiet, unostentatious but very creditable and useful career. He has always performed his duty faithfully in all the relations of life, giving his own affairs close and careful attention, and ministering in the full measure of his power and opportunities to the growth, progress and improvement of his township and county.
Linn county has an especial claim on the interest and regard of Mr. Hatfield. It is the county of his birth and has been the seat of all his operations. And, although these have been wholly in the unob- trusive domain of general farming, they have been valuable to the county in at least the same proportion in which they have been profit- able to him. His life began on May 10, 1871, and he is a son of William Henry Harrison and Ruth A. (Beckett) Hatfield, who were married on June 15, 1865.
The father was born in Ray county, Missouri, on September 20, 1841, and moved to Linn county with his parents in 1853, when he was between twelve and thirteen years of age. He was reared on his father's farm, and was about to begin farming on his own account when the terrible storm cloud of the Civil War burst over our un-
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happy country. At that time, when the integrity of the Union was endangered, he deemed that his path of patriotism lay in the direction of the army of defense, and he promptly enlisted in Company F, First Missouri Cavalry.
He was in the service three full years and took part in all the engagements in which his regiment participated. He was many times in the very midst of a deluge of death, but he escaped unharmed, and when mustered out of the army returned to his Linn county home. From then to the end of his life he was actively and profitably engaged in general farming, and the performance of his duties as a worthy man and good citizen deeply interested in the welfare of his county and its people.
He died on February 7, 1910, and his remains were buried in the Beckett cemetery. By his marriage to Miss Ruth A. Beckett, which took place, as has been stated, on June 15, 1865, not long after his return from the war, he became the father of seven children, but three of whom are living: James D., his brother Walter Van Buren, and his sister Mary, who is the wife of Charles Palmer, of Eureka, Montana. James and Walter are joint occupants and cultivators of a farm of 110 acres four miles south of Linneus.
James D. Hatfield was reared and educated in Linn county, and has passed all the years of his life to this time (1912) within its bor- ders. He has been a farmer from his youth and has studied his busi- ness to great advantage, applying the most approved modern methods to his work, and thereby greatly increasing the returns for his labor and giving force to his influence and example for progressiveness. He was married on June 29, 1904, to Miss May Chittum, also of this county.
Walter Van Buren Hatfield, the only brother of James, and his partner in conducting the farm, was born in Linn county on July 27, 1875, and from childhood his life has run parallel with that of his brother. He, too, has been a farmer ever since he was old enough, and has also been enterprising and progressive in the industry. He is active, energetic and knowing as a farmer, has public spirit and breadth of view as a citizen, and enjoys wide and well-founded popu- larity socially. He and his brother are members of the Order of Odd Fellows and take an active part in the work of the lodge to which they belong. On October 6, 1901, he was married to Miss Edith G. Logue, a native of Linn county. They have two children, their sons Harry L. and Joel James, who will probably be reared as farmers, too, and trained to follow in the footsteps of their father and his forefathers
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for many generations, since farming is coming to be one of the most scientific and expansive of all the ordinary industries among men, and is likely to soon engage the best minds of the country, and pay them well for their atention to it.
EDWARD RICHARD McDONNELL
The first born of the five sons and only children of a very thrifty family, whose members, although they have all reached maturity and are in business for themselves, still all work together for their common good, with their father as general superintendent of their labors, Edward R. McDonnell, of Jefferson township, in this county, is a very interesting man, both in himself and in his unusual association with the other members of the family, and also in the striking example he and they give of the value of the unity of effort in a common cause.
Mr. McDonnell is a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, where he was born on January 17, 1866, and the son of Alexander and Ellen (Dempsey) McDonnell, both of the same nativity as himself. The father was born in January, 1821, and was a farmer and jobber. The mother is the daughter of Joseph Dempsey, a man of local prominence in the county of her birth, and prosperous according to his circum- stances and opportunities.
In 1867 the father determined to move his family to this country, where he believed he would find better chances in life for himself and his offspring than his own land gave any promise of, and accordingly he braved the stormy Atlantic in pursuit of his hopes. The expatriated voyagers landed in New York, where they remained two years. But the father had not come to the United States to be kept cooped up in a big city, and decided to seek some locality in the West where he could enjoy the larger and more open life of a vast expanse, with all of its awakening industries crying aloud lustily for help in their development.
In 1869 he came to Missouri and took up his residence on a farm one mile and a half east of Clarence in Shelby county. He remained on that farm twenty years, making a good living for his family and gradually accumulating an estate of value. In 1889 he moved to Linn county and located about a mile and a half southwest of Laclede, where he is still living. The earnestness of his purpose in determining to make his home in this country for the remainder of his life was shown by the fact that as soon as he could, after his arrival on this side of the water, he took out his naturalization papers and became
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a citizen of the United States. As such he cast his first vote for Gen- eral Grant for president in the national election of 1868. The party he then joined he has adhered to ever since.
In 1864 he was married to Miss Ellen Dempsey, and by this union became the father of five children, all sons and all living. They are: Edward Richard, whose farm is two miles and a half north of Laclede; Joseph, who is a conductor on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail- road, and has his home in Brookfield; John Thomas, who lives a mile and a half southwest of Laclede on a fine farm; James William, who is also a farmer, and lives on the family homestead near his brother John Thomas; and Alexander, who is living on the home farm with his father and his brother James William. The father and brothers to- gether own 980 acres of land in Linn county, and the father is the general manager of the cultivation of all of it.
Edward R. McDonnell was about three years old when his parents brought him to Missouri. He was reared and educated in Shelby county, and as soon as he was old enough engaged in general farming, and to this line of endeavor he has adhered faithfully ever since. He and his brothers are industrious, skillful and progressive farmers, and they get good returns for the labor and intelligence they bestow on their land. Their farms are models of judicious improvement and ad- vanced cultivation, being reckoned among the best in their township, and worthy of all the praise they get.
Mr. McDonnell looks after his own business with the closest atten- tion to every detail, and applies to it all the information he can get from reading, observation and reflection. To the affairs of his town- ship and county he gives the same kind of attention with the view of aiding with all his power and according to his best judgment in promoting their further progress and development and securing the best conditions he can for the enduring welfare and highest improve- ment of their people. He supports effectively all worthy undertaking's which involve these results, and his help is always valuable and highly appreciated.
On April 16, 1902, he was married to Miss Katharine Carroll, a daughter of Thomas Carroll, of Quincy, Illinois. The five children born of the union are all living. They are Alexander Thomas, Edward Jos- eph, James William, Richard John and Ellen Katharine. The parents are well esteemed in all parts of the county for their industry and frugality, their strict uprightness in all the relations of life, their en- gaging social qualities, and the sterling character and genuine useful- ness of their citizenship. They are warmly interested in all the agen-
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cies at work among the people for their betterment, and manifest their interest in the most practical and beneficial way. They are fine types of the sturdiest manhood and womanhood of Jefferson township, and are everywhere admired and commended as most worthy and estimable persons.
M. G. STURTEVANT
M. G. Sturtevant, who is one of the prominent and progressive, and therefore highly successful, farmers of Linn county, is admirably located on the old family homestead of 275 acres of the best farming land in Locust Creek township, about seven miles north of Brookfield, where he carries on extensive farming operations, and owns one of the most comfortable and attractive of all Linn county rural homes. He is looked up to by his neighbors and acquaintances as a model farmer, whose example in modern scientific agricultural methods is well worthy of imitation, and cannot but be profitable in practical application to their own farming industry.
Mr. Sturtevant was born in Sandusky county, Ohio, on October 5, 1861, and was nine years old when his parents, Lyman and Elsie Jane (George) Sturtevant, moved from his native state to Missouri and took up their residence on the farm which he now owns and culti- vates. He is a brother of Eugene Sturtevant, in the sketch of whose life, elsewhere in this volume, the family history will be found briefly outlined.
The immediate subject of these paragraphs obtained the greater part of his education in a country school in this county, and began farming on his own account soon after he left school. He has conducted his operations with great enterprise and progressiveness, and made them tell greatly to his own advantage and also to the benefit of the country around him by the spirit of progress they have awakened and kept in action for many years throughout the township in which they are carried on.
Mr. Sturtevant was married in November, 1887, to Miss Alice Murrain, and by this union has become the father of three children, all of whom are living. They are: Georgia, the wife of C. B. Cleveland, whose home is about five miles north of Brookfield; and Laura Esther and Charley Orie, who are still living at home with their parents and adding to the brightness, warmth and attractiveness of the parental family circle.
The father gives great attention to matters of public improvement
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in his township and county, and is always zealous in behalf of the best interests of their people. He is not an active partisan in politics, a dogmatist in religion, or a controversialist on any subject. He is tolerant of the views of others, and gives cordial mental hospitality to any suggestion that seems of value, no matter what source it comes from, and systematically applies his intelligence, the result of his ob- servation and reflection, to the affairs of his locality with no view but that of securing the best results of every project started and every effort made for the good of the region and its inhabitants. He is an excellent citizen and universally esteemed as such, not only through- out Linn county, but in all other localities where his sterling qualities are known.
JOHN R. FAIN (Deceased)
Although he was nearly sixty years old when he died, the late John R. Fain, of Locust Creek township, Linn county, was at the height of his power and full of vigor, and gave promise of many years of active service to his family and his community before he was fatally stricken. His death occurred on April 3, 1909, when he was just fifty- nine years and seven months of age, but he had already achieved enough in his struggle for advancement among men to entitle him to high regard as a forceful and enterprising man, and had exhibited public spirit and enterprise in reference to the progress and develop- ment of his township and county, and the elevation and improve- ment of their people, of a character sufficiently valuable to give him a place among the best and most useful citizens of this part of the state.
Mr. Fain was born in Howard county, Missouri, on September 3, 1849, and was brought to Linn county by his parents in 1852, when they determined to make this county their home. After completing his education with such facilities as were available to him, he became a farmer, following the occupation of his ancestors for many genera- tions, and by industry, thrift and good management, rose to the first rank in the county in the extent and profitable results of his operations.
On June 8, 1872, he was married to Miss Ellen Beckett, of Linn county, and by this union became the father of four children, three of whom are living, Frank, Lesbia and Edith, and all of them still have their home with their mother. The father's death was universally de- plored, and his remains were consigned to their last resting place, in the Beckett private burying ground, amid many manifestations of
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esteem from all classes of the people among whom he had lived and labored for so many years.
The Fain family resided for several generations in Tennessee, and John Fain, Sr., the father of John R., was born in Wilson county of that state on May 19, 1812. He subsequently lived with his parents in Buncombe county, North Carolina, Habersham county, Georgia, and again in Tennessee, but this time in the eastern part of the state. In 1831, when he was but nineteen years of age, he came to Missouri to live, and located on a farm in Howard county. There he remained and cultivated his land until 1850.
About that time the voice of a siren broke forth upon the world and set millions of its inhabitants in many lands on fire with eager- ness and hope. This was the voice of California informing mankind that her rivers, hills and mountains were teeming with gold, and call- ing upon all who wished a share of the treasure to come and get it. John Fain, Sr., hearkened to the call, and, in company with five of his neighbors, crossed the plains to the gold fields with ox teams. He was fairly successful in his venture, and continued his mining operations until 1852, when he met with a serious accident which crippled him for life. A heavy timber fell on one of his ankles and crushed it so badly that he never recovered the use of it.
He then determined to return to his Missouri home and rejoin his family, making the trip by water down the Pacific, across the Isthmus of Panama by land, and again by water up the Mississippi and Mis- souri to the place of debarkation nearest to his residence. He had accumulated about $3,000 during his stay in California, but owing to the excessive cost of medical attendance and necessary remedies for his wounded limb, he arrived at his home with only $1,200.
He at once moved his family to Linn county and took up his residence on a farm in Jefferson township, where he became one of the most enterprising, progressive and prosperous of all the farmers in that portion of the county, and one of the township's most promi- nent and influential citizens, being as enterprising and progressive for the locality in a general way as he was for himself, and devoting a great part of his energy to promoting its development and improve- ment.
He was married in 1835 to Mrs. Catherine Davis, whose maiden name was Hall. Three of the nine children born to them are living: Benjamin, who makes his home with the family of his late brother John R .; Thomas J., a resident of Silt, Colorado; and Sarah Jane, the widow of William Beckett, of Seagoelville, Texas. Their mother
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died in 1876, and some time afterward their father contracted a second marriage in which he was united with Mrs. Rebecca (Peacher) Stearns, of Howard county in this state.
MARCELLUS E. WARE
This venerable son of an esteemed pioneer of Linn county, and who was brought to the county when he was but two years old, has lived here seventy-four years, and from his youth has been engaged in farming except a period of a little over three years, which he passed in the Union army during the Civil War. The martial life and the defense of his country in times of danger came to him naturally, for he is from a family of soldiers, his father and one of his uncles having fought in. the War of 1812.
Mr. Ware was born in Chesterfield county, Virginia, on July 7, 1836, and is a son of William and Harriet (Lockett) Ware, natives also of that county. The father was born in October, 1795, and at the age of seventeen enlisted in a Virginia regiment for the overthrow of British aggressions on our commerce in our second war with the mother country. In 1838 he brought his family to Missouri and Linn county, making the long and trying journey with teams.
He purchased a claim on his arrival in this county, and in 1843 entered another on his record in the war. He improved his land and lived on it until his death, which occurred on August 20, 1862. The mother survived him four years to the day, dying on August 20, 1866. They were married in Virginia and had four sons and eight daughters, all now deceased but two of the sons and one of the daughters. In his political adherence the father was a Henry Clay Whig, and espoused the cause and doctrines of the great Kentucky statesman with ardor and defended them with vigor, for he was a well educated and very intelligent man. He and his wife were members of the Baptist church. The grandfather was a well-to-do Virginia planter and died in that state. He had two sons in the War of 1812.
Marcellus E. Ware grew from infancy to manhood in Linn county and obtained his education in the early schools of the county. Primi- tive and crude in their housing and equipment, and narrow in their range of instruction as they were, they met all the requirements of the pioneers, for they and their children had no opportunity for advanced learning, the physical needs of their situation demanding all their time and attention except the meager allowance of the winter months for a few years which they were able to devote to schooling.
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