USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 33
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
Mr. Ware worked with his father on the home farms until March, 1862, when he enlisted in Company F, First Missouri Cavalry, to aid in fighting to save the Union from dismemberment. He was in the command of Major Mullins and was in the service a little over three years. His regiment was engaged in fighting bushwhackers mainly, but these predatory warriors kept it busy and gave it plenty of active service. Mr. Ware was wounded in October, 1864, in Linn county, Kansas, in an engagement with the army of General Sterling Price. After the war he returned home and has been farming in this county ever since.
He was married in October, 1865, to Miss Emily Barnes, who died in 1882, leaving no children. Mr. Ware was married a second time within that same year, uniting himself with Miss Mary Alsbury, a native of Pike county, Illinois, and a daughter of Charles and Margaret Alsbury. They had eight children, six of whom are living: Eva J., Charles E., Ollie B., H. Elmer, Emma F. and Orpha M. The father is a Republican in political alliance. He has served as township trustee and school officer. He has been a member of the Baptist church for fifty-six years, devotedly loyal to it in feeling and service and fidelity to the teachings it enjoins.
Mr. Ware is now among the oldest settlers of Linn county in the number of his years and the length of his residence in the county. The early days with their dangers, privations and arduous toil are deeply impressed on his mind. He recollects distinctly when Indians were numerous in the county, when deer disported about the cabins of the pioneers, when wolves made night hideous with their howlings, and when wild turkeys abounded in the whole region, unalarmed as yet by the gun of the hunter, unwise to the snares of the trapper, and seeing nothing to fear from the conquering invaders of their long undisturbed ranges. He can compare the state of the country then with what it is now, and rejoice in the share he has had in effecting the change. For he has always been alert and energetic in pushing forward the devel- opment and progress of the region, and doing his whole duty to it and its residents.
THE PEOPLES BANK OF MEADVILLE
This excellent fiscal institution is a state bank and was organized in June, 1903, with a capital stock of $15,000, and the following offi- cers : H. K. Bargar, president ; T. J. Stevenson, vice president ; George W. Adams, cashier, and the president and vice president, with S. Darl-
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ing and H. Hartshorne, directors. Mr. Stevenson acted as vice pres- ident two years, and at the end of that period was succeedd by W. M. Botts. Three years later, however, he was again elected vice president, and he served in that office until his death in 1909.
The present officers (1912) are: H. K. Bargar, president; F. J. Black, vice president; G. W. Adams, cashier; E. E. Smith, assistant cashier; and H. K. Bargar, W. M. Botts, H. Hartshorne, F. J. Black and N. H. Randall, directors. The capital stock has remained the same as at the start, but the bank has now $10,000 in undivided profits and surplus. It does a general banking business, embracing all approved features of modern banking, and is regarded as one of the most pro- gressive, enterprising and wisely managed banks of its size and capacity in Linn county.
George W. Adams, the cashier and controlling spirit, is a native of Jackson county, Ohio, born on April 29, 1840. His parents, George M. and Melinda (Helphenstein) Adams, were born and reared in Vir- ginia and moved to Ohio in 1820, locating in Jackson county, where the father was a prosperous merchant tailor and passed all of the remain- der of his life except the last few years, when he made his home with his son George W., in whose residence he died in 1887. The mother passed away in 1870. They were the parents of five sons and three daughters. All of the daughters and three of the sons are living.
The father served as auditor of Jackson county, Ohio, at one time, and in that office his son George W. began the active work of making his way in the world as a clerk. He grew to manhood in his native county and obtained his education in its public schools. After serving four years in the county auditor's office, he was engaged for three years in the dry goods trade in association with his father, and during the Civil War he was a clerk in the commissary department of the Union army in Nashville.
Mr. Adams remained in the military service to the close of the war, and in the fall of 1865 moved to Brookfield, Missouri, where he conducted a flourishing enterprise in the grocery trade for some time, and afterward was engaged in real estate transactions on a consider- able scale. He also served as deputy postmaster under W. E. Snow from 1873 to 1883. In the year last named he was elected county clerk of Linn county, filling the office eight years. Then in 1891 he moved to Meadville and founded the Bank of Meadville, which he served as cashier for one year.
He returned to Brookfield, and in that city worked for Hartman, Tooey & Company, dealers in clothing and drygoods until 1893, when
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he became cashier of the Santa Fe Exchange Bank of Marceline. But he served in that capacity only a short time, as the people of the county again elected him county clerk, and he again occupied the office eight years in continuous and very acceptable performance of its duties. At the end of that period he once more turned his attention to banking, founding the People's Bank of Meadville, with which he has ever since been connected.
Mr. Adams was first married in May, 1861, to Miss Hattie Hyatt, who was like himself a native of Ohio. They became the parents of five children, two of whom are living, Edward M. and Hattie K., who is now the wife of Harry Root of Portland, Oregon. Their mother died in 1877, and the father chose as his second wife Miss Lida Martin, a sister of George W. Martin of Brookfield. They had three children, all of whom are living: George M., who is a resident of San Fran- cisco; Earl C., whose home is in St. Louis, Missouri; and Dr. Wilson R., who is a prominent physician and surgeon and resides in Linneus.
Mr. Adams lost his second wife by death in 1898, and in January, 1901, he contracted a third marriage, uniting himself on this occasion with Mrs. Mary D., the widow of L. N. Goodale of Meadville, who still abides with him. He has been a loyal and zealous Republican from his youth, and has always rendered his party energetic and effec- tive service. Fraternally he is a Freemason and a Knight of Pythias, and in religious connection a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is one of the leading citizens of Linn county, and is regarded by all classes of its people as one of the most upright, influen- tial and useful men in the county, and as a fine representative of all that is best in its manhood. The bank of which he is practically the head has prospered greatly under his judicious management, and every interest of the county has had, at all times, his cordial, intelligent and helpful support.
JOSEPH T. WALKUP
All of the sixty-two years of life that have passed for Joseph T. Walkup to the present time (1912) have been spent by him in Linn county. His earthly career began in this county on February 27, 1850; he grew to manhood here; he obtained his education in Linn county schools ; his two marriages occurred in the county, and united him with two Linn county ladies; his children were born in the county, and all the years of his activity have been employed in Linn county industries. This record, which is not unusual in the older sections of the country,
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where the march of history has proceeded for hundreds of years, and hosts of families have been settled for many generations, is somewhat out of the ordinary in this comparatively new section, wherein civiliza- tion began scarcely more than three-quarters of a century ago, and where the population was for many years largely of a migratory char- acter, while so much of the territory was open for choice of location and occupancy.
Mr. Walkup is a son of John and Elizabeth (Smith) Walkup, natives of Boone county, Missouri, where the father was born on November 29, 1818, and the mother in 1823. The father grew to man- hood in Boone county and in 1839, soon after attaining his majority, came to Linneus. He was a gunsmith by trade and opened a shop in Linneus. But he soon afterward took up land in Clay township and became a farmer. He broke up this land and brought it under cultiva- tion, then sold it and moved to a location three miles west of Linneus. On this he lived and labored many years, but finally moved to Chilli- cothe, Livingston county. The mother died in 1880 on the old farm and his life ended in 1901 at the ripe old age of eighty-three years.
When the Mexican War began Mr. Walkup, the father of Joseph, enlisted in the company recruited here by Captain Barbee to aid in defending the honor of his country and avenge the insults heaped upon its flag by the hot-headed and heedless Mexicans. He served in that company throughout the war and was almost constantly on duty on the march or in the field during its progress, taking part in a number of its notable engagements, but escaping unharmed, although Death was often busy in the ranks around him.
After the close of the short but decisive struggle Mr. Walkup returned to his Linn county farm and from then to the end of his life except during the Civil War, devoted himself to the pursuits of peace- ful industry. He continued farming, and was also very active in church work as an exhorter and local preacher. In the Civil War he was again in arms, fighting for the Southern Confederacy under the command of General Price, his old commander in the Mexican conflict. He and his wife were the parents of three children who grew to maturity and are yet living; Joseph T., Andrew F. and Mary J., who is now the wife of John G. Wiley and lives in Linn county.
In politics the father was first a Whig and later a Democrat. He served as a justice of the peace for many years in this county. His father, Robert Walkup, the grandfather of Joseph, came as a pioneer to Boone county, this state, from his native state of Kentucky. He passed the remainder of his days in Boone county, residing there many
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years, as he came at an early date and lived to a ripe old age. He also was a farmer and a man of prominence and great activity in connection with the public affairs of the township and county in which he had his home.
Joseph T. Walkup has followed farming from his boyhood, and has also engaged in raising and feeding live stock for many years, handling mostly cattle. He has shown himself to be a good farmer and live stock man, and has been successful in making both branches of his industry profitable to himself and beneficial to the country all around him. He manages his work with close attention to every detail, pushes it with energy and vigor, and secures results commensurate with his outlay of time and labor.
Mr. Walkup was married in March, 1871, to Miss Mary L. Gish, and by this union became the father of two children, both of who have died. The mother is also deceased, having passed away on July 25, 1910. The father contracted a second marriage on November 16, 1911, in which he was united with Josephine Bailey, a daughter of A. K. Bailey, now the postmaster of Meadville, where the lady was living at the time of the marriage.
In the public affairs of his township Mr. Walkup has taken a lively and serviceable interest from the dawn of his manhood. He has served as township collector two years and as township trustee for four years. He was also trustee of Parson Creek township for eight years. He is a member of the Democratic party in political relations, of the Masonic order fraternally and he and wife of the Baptist church in religious connection. Both are favorably known and highly esteemed in all parts of Linn county, and in all other places where they have had opportunity to make their merit known to the people.
ALBERT J. RICHARDSON
The grit and pluck and self-reliance, which are always elements in the character and make-up of the real man, are strikingly shown in the case of Albert J. Richardson, leading contractor and builder of Marce- line in this county. From the humble condition of a coal miner at the age of eleven years, and with no educational advantages but what he secured for himself through correspondence schools, Mr. Richardson has raised himself to his elevated state of prosperity and conse- quence in the community of his present home. In very early life he was forced to live frugally and work hard, but his efforts for his own
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advancement were steady and continued in spite of great difficulties, and his progress was of the same nature, as he held every foot of ground he gained in his struggle.
Mr. Richardson was born at Rothville, Chariton county, Missouri, on June 4, 1880. He is a son of Silas J. and Alice E. (Hall) Richardson, the former a native of this state and the latter of Iowa. The father was a coal miner in his period of activity, but now both parents are living in Marceline. The son grew to manhood in Macon and Linn coun- ties, and for a short time at irregular intervals attended a public school. When he was but eleven years of age he began working in the mines at Lingo, Macon county, alongside of his father.
He continued this toilsome and unpleasant occupation until 1906, part of the time in Macon county and part in Linn. In the year last mentioned he began working at the carpenter trade, and in 1909 started contracting on large buildings. Among the monuments to his skill and enterprise are the new Methodist Episcopal church in Marceline, which cost $14,000, two structures of magnitude in Macon county, and a num- ber of other buildings for business and residence purposes. He is highly capable in his craft, thoroughly conscientious in his work and guided in everything by a high sense of duty. The people where he is known esteem him cordially as a mechanic, a contractor and an excel- lent citizen.
Mr. Richardson has been married twice, his first union, which was with Miss Myrtle Grady of Marceline, was formed in 1901. They had one child, their daughter Willner, whose mother died in 1908. In September, 1909, the father married again, becoming united with Miss Mary Wilson, who is still living.
In the fraternal life of his community Mr. Richardson has taken an active interest as a member of the Order of Foresters and in its religious life and activities as a communicant and regular attendant of the Christian church. He has also been zealous and serviceable in the material advancement and improvement of his city and county. The very nature of his business makes him very desirous of such prog- ress and energetic in helping to promote it. His private efforts at mental development have been fruitful too, and have made him a well- informed man on a great variety of subjects and wise in the matter of public affairs. Although not an active partisan in politics, he believes firmly in the principles of the Republican party and adheres to them in the bestowal of his suffrage. His first interest in local affairs, how- ever, is the welfare of his locality and that of the people who live in it, which he never allows party considerations to overbear or becloud. He
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is regarded as one of Marceline's best and most progressive, reliable and serviceable citizens.
COL. GEORGE W. MARTIN
A valiant soldier for the Union during the Civil War, and still bearing in the sight of all who meet him the mark of his service and devotion to the cause he espoused in the empty sleeve he wears as one result of the terrible carnage at Gettysburg; for many years owner and editor of the Brookfield Gazette, and still connected with it in a leading and very serviceable way; and at this time (1912) postmaster of the city in which he lives and has so long and so effectively labored for the good of its people, Col. George W. Martin, of Brookfield, has been true to his country and rendered it signal service in war and peace, in private life and official station, and always, under all circumstances, by the fine example he has given of genuine gentility and citizenship of the most elevated character.
Colonel Martin was born near Sardis, Ohio, a village on the Ohio river in Monroe county about forty-two miles below Wheeling, West Virginia, and his life began there on December 30, 1838. He is a son of Wilson and Rebecca (Venham) Martin, long residents of the village of his nativity, where the father engaged in the cooperage and mer- cantile lines of activity. There also he served as postmaster and a justice of the peace for a long time, and there his life ended. The mother was a daughter of Ray Venham, who, while he was yet a mere boy, took part in Indian skirmishes when the red men were making a last desperate effort to hold the hills and valleys along the upper Ohio. He is honorably mentioned in De Hass' history of West Virginia for helping a wounded comrade to escape from the savages in one of the skirmishes which took place near Fort Henry in the neighborhood of Wheeling, West Virginia. The rescue was effected by crossing the river at night in a canoe in the very face of the Indians.
The Martins were pioneer settlers in the Ohio river valley. Capt. Absalom Martin, a great uncle of the Colonel, served with distinction in the war of 1812. He was the founder of Martin's Ferry, and it is now claimed that he was the first permanent settler on the west bank of the Ohio, locating at and starting the town to which he gave his name before the settlement of Marietta, whichi, however, has far surpassed the earlier town in population, local influence and commercial im- portance.
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The Colonel's great-grandfather, Reuben Martin, who was of Welsh descent, was, at an early day, engaged in the iron industry in Essex county, New Jersey, before coming to what was then called the West, and was one of the pioneers of that industry in the United States. His great-grandmother was a native of Holland, and was related to Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States.
Colonel Martin was educated in the public schools and at a private school in Woodsfield in his native county. He began teaching school in that county at the age of sixteen and continued two years. In 1856 he came to Missouri and during the next three years taught in Lincoln and Montgomery counties. At the end of that time he returned to Ohio, and there he again engaged in teaching, remaining steadfast in the work until the beginning of the Civil War. When that terrible storm cloud of dissension and disaster broke upon our unhappy country he enlisted in Company B, Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, one of the first three years' regiments raised in Ohio.
He was mustered out of the service on October 26, 1863, on account of disability from wounds. He took part with his regiment in the battles of Greenbriar, Alleghany Summit, McDowell, Second Bull Run, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. He was wounded at Alleghany Sum- mit, McDowell, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. From the wound received at Gettysburg he lost his right arm. He showed great capacity and fidelity in the army and received successive promotions. His first rank was first duty sergeant; from that he was raised to orderly ser- geant, and from orderly sergeant to first lieutenant. And in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg he was in command of his company.
The Colonel served for a short time in 1863 as regimental quarter- master, and in the spring of 1864 was made sutler of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Ohio Regiment, which he served in that capacity until October of the same year. He was then appointed purveyor of the First Brigade of the First Division of the Army of West Virginia. This division he accompanied as its purveyor to the Army of the James, remaining in his position and performing its duties well and wisely until the following spring.
In the spring of 1865 he returned to Missouri and engaged for a time in mercantile business in Brookfield. In the fall of 1868 he was elected assessor of Linn county for a term of two years. In 1870 he was elected clerk of the county court, and in 1874, was re-elected to this office, filling it with great acceptability to the court and the people eight years consecutively in all. Being cordially and intelligently inter- ested in the progress and improvement of every community in which
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he has lived, he strongly advocated the adoption of the system of town- ship organization by Linn county.
He was the Republican nominee for state auditor in 1888, served as Department Commander of the Department of Missouri, Grand Army of the Republic in 1891 and 1892, and represented Linn county in the General Assembly of the state in 1907. In the meantime, however, after resuming his residence in Brookfield in January, 1879, he engaged in the real estate business, and about the same time was appointed local land agent for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, in which position he was able to do a great deal for the development and improvement of the county.
Another field of effort in which he has done a large amount of good for the county is that of journalism, he having for a number of years owned and edited the Brookfield Gazette, for which he still writes edi- torials. He wields a fluent and graceful pen, which is burnished gold and cheering with good fellowship when there is no cause for it to be otherwise, but can be tempered steel when occasion demands that it shall. He is a strong and able writer at all times, and his name stands high in editorial work and in the domain of journalism all over the state.
His political alliance has always been with the Republican party since he has been a voter, and he has rendered the party great service with pen and voice for many years, rising on his ability and zealous work for it to a position of leadership in its councils, where his judg- ment is always regarded as of great value and his influence is of com- manding weight. On account of his loyalty to his party, his unques- tioned ability and his high character he was appointed postmaster of Brookfield in March, 1911, and is still filling the office with great satis- faction to the people and high credit to himself in every way.
On October 24, 1865, Colonel Martin was married to Miss Sarah J. Wilson, of Wheeling, West Virginia. Mrs. Martin, who died on April 3, 1900, was a lady of unusual ability and superior accomplishments. She served two terms as Department President of the Women's Relief Corps for the Department of Missouri, and one term as National Pres- ident of that organization. The three children born of their union are: Georgie, now Mrs. E. H. Shepperd; William W., who is assistant cashier of the Linn County Bank, and married Miss May Doane; and Charles H., who is unmarried. The father is a member of the "Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows," of the "Benevolent and Protective order of Elks," of the "Grand Army of the Republic," and of the "Missouri Commandery of the Military order of the Loyal Legion."
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GUY W. BIGGER
With an ancestry that began in England generations ago, and has run in the history of this country through several states and shone in many lines of useful action almost from colonial times, Guy W. Bigger, one of the prominent and successful hardware merchants of Marceline has had high incentives to elevation and patriotism in his citizenship, uprightness and public spirit in his conduct and energy and enterprise in his business. He is the great-grandson of a native of England who came to this country and settled in Virginia soon after the Revolution, and who raised a regiment for the defense of his adopted land in the War of 1812. He is the grandson of one of the pioneers of Linn county who located within its limits in 1844 and passed the remainder of his days here, improving land and adding greatly to the progress and importance of the country. And he is a son of Clellen G. and Leah J. (Powers) Bigger, a sketch of whose lives will be found on another page of this work, and which contains a more extended and explicit history of the family.
Guy W. Bigger was born at Linneus in this county on June 24, 1871, and grew to manhood there. He began his education in the schools of Linn county and completed it at the University of Michigan. He then returned to this county and took up his residence in Marceline, where he served as assistant postmaster under Jackson Whiteman, and afterward as postmaster to fill out an unexpired term of which there were eight months remaining, this term expiring in 1903.
In 1904 he started his enterprise in the hardware trade, and to this he has since given his time and attention with highly commendable industry and gratifying profits. He has been successful in his business from the start, not only in building up a large and remunerative trade, but also in establishing himself firmly in the confidence and esteem of the people as a progressive and up-to-date merchant, a wideawake and public-spirited citizen and an upright and estimable man.
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