USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
His reputation for the possession of these qualities of character and manhood is not confined to the county of his residence, but extends over the adjoining county of Chariton also, and as well through Macon and other neighboring counties. In all his demeanor as a man, and in the management of his business, he has shown that he has not been indifferent to the inspiration drawn from his ancestry. and that the lessons involved in the examples of his forefathers have not been lost upon him.
He has taken a lively and helpful interest in the progress and
332
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
improvement of his township and county, with energy in promoting the welfare of their residents and public interests of every kind, and broad intelligence and clearness of vision in finding the best ways in which to do good for the whole people in every way, morally, mentally, socially and materially. He can always be counted on to do his part toward the successful accomplishment of every worthy undertaking, and the peo- ple, wherever he is known, look upon him as one of the most serviceable men in this part of the state of Missouri.
EZEKIEL SMITH
Born in Ireland, reared to the age of fifteen in Canada, learning his trade of plasterer and bricklayer in Buffalo, New York, and work- ing at it in different parts of the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Ezekiel Smith, one of the leading farmers of Marceline town- ship, has swept a large part of this continent in his wanderings and, unlike the proverbial rolling stone, has gathered substance wherever he has been. For he has been capable and industrious, with a genius for large affairs and business ability of a high order, quick to see, alert to seize and wise to use to the best advantage for himself every oppor- tunity that has come his way.
Having come to Missouri from Chicago, after a residence of some years in that city, Mr. Smith is familiarly known as "Chicago Smith" all over Linn county, where he settled on his arrival in this state for a permanent residence in 1902. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, on December 25, 1846, and is a son of John and Jane (Hazel- ton) Smith, also natives of that country, and belonging to families long domesticated among its people. They emigrated to Huron county, Ontario, Canada, in 1846, while their son Ezekiel was yet an infant, and there they died, the mother in 1851 and the father in 1860. The father was a farmer in his native land and also in Canada. Four children, two sons and two daughters, were born of their union, and all of them are living in the United States, Ezekiel and one of his sisters, however, being the only members of the family who are resi- dents of Missouri. The other son and daughter have their homes in Chicago.
Ezekiel Smith dwelt to the age of fifteen years in Ontario and obtained a common school education there. At the age mentioned he crossed the line to Buffalo, New York, and there he learned his trade as a bricklayer and plasterer. After completing his apprenticeship he moved to New York city, and a short time afterward to Titusville,
333
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
Pennsylvania. In both places he worked at his trade, but in the latter did contracting on a large scale in it, putting up a number of large works of construction. He also had control of the construction work at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo and erected over eighty per cent of the buildings for that great enterprise, what he put up amounting to more than $1,000,000 in value. He did over $1,300,000 worth of work at World's Fair, Chicago. He also built over $1,500,000 worth of structures of different kinds for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, and had large contracts in construction work in San Francisco after the earthquake, putting up the new Mills build- ing, the First National Bank, and other large structures in that city. In addition he built Section 14 of the Chicago drainage canal.
Mr. Smith located in Chicago in 1866, and from then until 1902 he did contract work in plastering in that city. In the year last named he moved to Missouri and Linn county, taking up his residence on 800 acres of land which he bought in 1874. As a farmer he has been progressive and wide-awake, keeping pace with the utmost advance in the science of agriculture and applying the most approved modern methods in all his operations. As a stockbreeder he enjoys the dis- tinction of being the first importer of draft horses in this part of Missouri, and also the first importer of Shorthorn cattle here. He has recently turned his attention to speed horses and is producing some very fine ones, for he aims at the best results in all his work of every kind and omits no effort on his part necessary to secure them.
Mr. Smith has been married twice. His first union in wedlock was with Miss Mary Golding, of Chicago, and took place on October 11, 1869. By this marriage he became the father of two daughters: Alice M., who is now the wife of Paul Chase and lives in California; and Lulu J., who died a number of years ago. The mother of these children passed away in 1894, and on April 18, 1896, the father con- tracted a second marriage in which he was united with Miss Ella Donaldson, of Illinois. They have three children, Ernest D., Agnes H. and Newcomb C.
Mr. Smith is one of the best known and most esteemed farmers and citizens of Linn county. His farm is a model of skill in cultivation and attractiveness in improvements. He does his part in all essentials and the bounty of nature in this part of the country does the rest, and the results accomplished are highly gratifying and profitable to him and of great and wide-spread benefit to the people living around him throughout a large extent of country, near at hand, and to others in more distant localities, wherever his operations reach.
334
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
In the public affairs of the township and county of his residence he is zealously and intelligently active, aiding by every means at his command all undertakings for the improvement and progress of the region and the substantial and enduring welfare of its people. He is public spirited and enterprising for the county, as he is for himself, and his work for its advantage is energetic and effective. He is not an active partisan and has no desire for public office, but he votes with the Republican party because he believes in its principles and feels it his duty as a citizen to do all he can for the good of his community, Throughout the Middle West he is well and favorably known, and everywhere he is held in the highest esteem as a citizen, as a business man and as a fine type of true Americanism. Linn county knows no better farmer or more enterprising and useful resident within the whole compass of her territory.
EDGAR E. MASON
Born, reared and educated in Vermont, and habituated to the conditions, customs and methods of thought and action in New Eng- land until after the dawn of his manhood, Edgar E. Mason, now one of the most prominent and successful general farmers and live stock breeders in this county, found himself in a very different atmosphere when he came to this part of the country in 1878 at the age of twenty- two years. Yet with the universal adaptability of the American mind, he has so suited himself to the requirements of his present environ- ment, and made all its conditions so completely serviceable to him, that he is as if native here and without knowledge of or training in any other locality.
Mr. Mason was born in Bennington county, Vermont, on March 19, 1856, and is a son of Elijah B. and Sarah A. (Gillmore) Mason, also natives of that county. The father was a farmer and brought the members of his household to Missouri and this county in the autumn of 1877. He then bought eighty acres of the farm now owned and cul- tivated by his son Edgar, which comprises 200 acres at this time, and has been transformed from a wild and unbroken prairie by the indus- try, intelligence and skill of two generations of the family into one of the best farms in Missouri of its size.
The father was born in 1825 and died in 1829. The mother's life began in 1827 and ended in 1897. They were the parents of three sons and one daughter, but their son Edgar is the only member of the family now living in this state. His grandfather, Christopher Mason,
335
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
was born in 1797, and his wife, whose maiden name was Leah Barber, in 1798. They were farmers in Vermont and died in that state, in which the progenitors of the American branch of the family settled on their arrival in this country from England.
Edgar E. Mason was reared and educated in his native state, and followed farming in that state until the spring of 1878. He then joined his parents in this county, and at once went to work assisting in breaking up the land and making it over into a good farm. He has lived in this county ever since, and has made all his New England ingenuity and enterprise tell to his own advantage and that of the county. In addition to his extensive general farming operations he is largely engaged in breeding superior strains of live stock, including Percheron horses, registered stock, registered Duroc-Jersey hogs, Delaine-Merino sheep and some registered Holstein cattle, all of high grade and produced with every care in all the details of the business at every step of its progress.
On January 3, 1877, Mr. Mason was united in marriage with Miss Selina Myers, a daughter of Highland H. and Eliza (Babcock) Myers, natives of Vermont who came to Missouri and Linn county in 1882, and now reside in Brookfield. The father is a miller by trade and in his period of activity made himself very serviceable in this region, where men of his craft were scarce and widely scattered in the early days.
Mr. and Mrs. Mason have eight children: Charles, a prosperous Linn county farmer; Ida, who is the wife of J. R. Edgar, and lives in Manila, in the Philippine Islands; Ethel, who is married to Dr. H. D. Kneedler, a practicing physician, also in Manila; Harry, who is farm- ing in this county; Sarah, who is another member of the family resid- ing in the Pilippines; Ruby, who is attending school in Brookfield; and Geneva and Meritt, who are living at home with their parents. All the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church. They are all esteemed as most estimable and useful citizens, and fine representatives of Linn county manhood and womanhood in every way.
JOHN L. STEPHENS
Beginning before the dawn of his manhood and continuing his operations in the same line ever since, John L. Stephens, of Locust Creek township, has been farming in Linn county for over fifty years. In that long period the industry in which he is engaged has undergone
336
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
several progressive revolutions, but he has kept pace with the changes in methods and the progress in results, and is now, as he has ever been since his start, one of the most enterprising and advanced farmers of his township, a region in which there are many in the first rank.
Mr. Stephens is a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, where he was born on November 8, 1839, but was brought to Linn county, Missouri, by his parents when he was less than three years old, and has lived within its boundaries ever since. He was educated in its country schools, grew to manhood in association with its people, and has devoted all his time and attention to faithful labor in one of its leading industries and earnest efforts for its progress and development and the substantial welfare of its inhabitants. He is therefore wholly a product and a representative of the county, and wherever he is known is esteemed as a worthy one.
He is a son of John and Jane (Singleton) Stephens, the former a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, born on December 22, 1792, and the latter a daughter of John Singleton, of Virginia. They had two children: their son William Henry, who died on October 9, 1883, and John L., the interesting subject of this brief sketch, who is living on his excellent farm eight miles northwest of Brookfield. This gives strong proof of his skill and good judgment as a farmer, and his intel- ligence and culture as a man.
On January 26, 1869, Mr. Stephens was married to Miss Mary Alexander, a daughter of John and Olive (Root) Alexander. Two of the three children born in the Stephens household are living: Ed- ward H., who assists his father in the management of the home farm and lives on it; and Zelma, the wife of Victor Brown, who resides near Eagle Butte, in South Dakota, also on a farm. The father is earnest in his interest in the improvement of his township and county, as has been suggested, and energetic in his efforts to push their progress along as rapidly as wholesome and substantial development will per- mit. He takes an active part in increasing the power and usefulness of all good agencies at work among their people, physical, mental, moral and political.
Edward H. Stephens, the only living son of John L., and his mainstay on the home farm, is also a Linn county product and an ad- mirable representative of its sterling and sturdy citizenship. He was born on the farm where he now has his home on November 7, 1869, and obtained his education in the district school in the neighborhood. Like his father and his grandfather, he has followed no occupation but farming, and to this he has devoted studious and reflective atten-
337
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
tion, so that he is up-to-date in theory and methods in his work, and reaps rewards for his labor in accordance with his advanced ideas and manner of doing things.
On September 6, 1896, he was united in marriage with Miss Clara Morris, daughter of Rice and Kate (Nelson) Morris, of Linneus. One child was born of the union, a son named John, who is living with his grandparents. His mother died on July 4, 1899, and her remains were buried in Linneus cemetery, amid many manifestations of profound grief over her untimely demise, and the consequent loss to the com- munity of one of its most esteemed young matrons.
MATTHEW CLARKE
The interesting subject of this brief memoir is one of the most extensive and successful farmers in Chariton county near Marceline, and one of its best known and most esteemed citizens. He is of dis- tinguished parentage and family connections, but his reputation as a man and citizen and his hold on the confidence and regard of the peo- ple throughout the two counties in which he is well known are the results of his own sterling worth and strong manhood, without any aid from the distinction of his father or extraneous circumstances of any kind.
Mr. Clarke was born in Jackson county, Iowa, on August 10, 1859, and is a son of Francis and Jane (Elder) Clarke, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Irish parentage, but born in Pennsylvania. Her father, John Elder, was lieutenant in the War of 1812 under General Porter, and did valiant service at Fort Meggs. The father's life began in the Emerald Isle on November 18, 1816, where his par- ents, Patrick and Mary (Sheridan) Clarke, were also born and reared. In 1830 the family came to the United States and located in Perry county, Ohio, making its home at the town of Somerset, where its members remained three years. They then removed to Terre Haute, Indiana, and there Francis was employed on government work, subse- quently becoming a contractor.
He followed this line of activity at Terre Haute until 1840. In that year he moved to Jackson county, Iowa, where he entered 320 acres of government land and turned his attention to farming. There, also, he was married in 1844 to Miss Jane Elder. By this marriage he became the father of seven children: Edward, Patrick, Mary, Thomas, Francis, Jr., Matthew and Ann. In 1867 he sold his Iowa farm and
338
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
moved to Missouri, locating in Chariton county, where he improved a farm of 420 acres, on which he passed the remainder of his life and died on January 15, 1891. The mother died on April 2, 1902. Five of their children are living, three in this state and two of the sons in Idaho.
The father was a first cousin to General Phil. Sheridan, the noted cavalry leader of the Union army during the Civil War. He was an extensive dealer in live stock and prominent in the business, as well as very successful. In politics he was a life-long Democrat, and a man of such influence in his party in Chariton county that he was called by everybody "the Big Chief," but he would never accept a political office of any kind. In church connection he was a Catholic and a de- vout and consistent member of the faith, devoted to the interests of the congregation to which he belonged and a zealous worker in pro- moting them. He was almost as well known in Linn county as in Chariton, and was held in the highest esteem by the people in all parts of both, holding the most elevated rank in public regard both as a man and a citizen.
Matthew Clarke was eight years old when his parents became residents of Chariton county, and he grew to manhood on the family homestead not far from Marceline. He obtained his education in the district schools and has followed farming ever since he left school. He now owns 425 acres of land, all improved and constituting one of the finest farms in the two counties of Linn and Chariton, and one which can hardly be surpassed in fertility and skill in cultivation in the whole northeastern part of the state.
Mr. Clarke was married on November 1, 1885, to Miss Clara But- ler, a daughter of Timothy and Abigail (Derrough) Butler, long resi- dents of Chariton county. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke have had seven children, six of whom are living: Blanche, Timothy, Anna, Charles, Mary and Matthew, Jr. The members of the family all belong to the Catholic Church. In connection with his farming operations, the father handles live stock on a large scale and is very successful in the business.
ROBERT GLENN
The grandson of a Revolutionary soldier who fought valiantly for the independence of the American colonies when the liberties of mankind were at stake; the nephew of other gallant soldiers who fought with all their ardor in the War of 1812, in which our country established its freedom on the seas, as by the Revolution it established
339
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
its freedom on land; and himself a faithful servitor and defender of his country in the Civil War, Robert Glenn, now one of the progressive, enterprising and successful farmers of this county, is not only a scion of a military house, but has shown in his own record on the battlefield that the lessons of his ancestors were not lost on him, and that the patriotic spirit which impelled them descended to him in full measure.
Mr. Glenn was born in Marion county, this state, on May 8, 1841, and is a son of Absalom and Artemesa (Pepin) Glenn, natives of Mason county, Kentucky. The father was a farmer after reaching his maturity, and was a young man thirty-one years old when the family moved to Missouri. He was born in 1801, and his parents and the rest of the household located in this state in 1832. In 1844 he moved to Linn county and entered a tract of government land which he cleared and transformed into a fine farm, on which he died in 1862. His wife survived him forty years and passed away in 1908 at the age of ninety- four years.
They were the parents of four sons and seven daughters, and seven of the eleven are living, two of the sons and one of the daughters in Linn county. The grandfather, Robert Glenn, was born in Hagers- town, Maryland, and emigrated from there to Mason county, Ken- tucky, where he died in 1858. He was a planter on an extensive scale and at every period of his life intensely interested in the welfare of his country. When the aggressions of Great Britain became too seri- ous for the colonists to endure, and the United States declared their independence, he took the field with his patriotic neighbors and friends and helped to swell the numbers and augment the spirit of the "Old Maryland Line," which was the flower of General Washington's army, and proved to be its salvation on more than one gory field. He lived to be ninety-two years of age and died universally respected. The same intense devotion to country descended to his sons, two of whom fought under General Jackson in the battle of New Orleans.
In the third generation the interesting subject of this brief memoir also followed the flag of his country to the battlefield, enlisting in de- fense of the Union in the Sixty-second Missouri Militia for service during the continuance of the Civil War. He was three years old when the family moved to Linn county, and here he grew to manhood and obtained his education, attending select schools for his instruction. When he was sixteen he bought some land in Livingston county and for a time lived on and cultivated that. But he returned to Linn county after a short absence, and from that time to the present he has been one of the sturdy, enterprising and progressive cultivators of
340
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
the soil in this favored agricultural region. He owns 160 acres and does general farming of a high order.
Mr. Glenn was married in 1863 to Miss Julia A. Worlow, a daughter of Peter Worlow, one of the early pioneers of Linn county, settling in this part of Missouri about 1833. He was born in North Carolina and moved to Kentucky at an early age. From there he came to this county, and here he passed the remainder of his days, dying on his farm in Linn county, Missouri, at the age of sixty-one years, after a long record of useful labor which embraced three states in its course.
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn have seven children living: Sarah M., who is now the wife of A. J. Harter and resides in Linn county, Missouri; Kate E., who married G. F. Lacey and dwells with him in Los Angeles, California; Moses, who is a farmer in Linn county, Missouri; Nannie, who is the wife of Silvester Carter and has her home in Kansas; James R., who is engaged in blacksmithing in Linn county, Missouri; Frances, who is one of the leading teachers of Livingston and Linn counties; and Vich, who is the wife of Dr. G. S. Fitzjohn, of Seattle, Washington. Another daughter named Elva died a number of years ago. The parents are members of the Baptist Church. They are well known and highly esteemed in all parts of Linn county and many places beyond its borders.
GREGORY HOLCER
Born in Germany and living in that country to the age of ten years; reared from that age to manhood in Illinois; beginning life for himself as a farmer on the rich alluvial soil of the Prairie State; join- ing the mighty army raised for the defense of the Union and serving throughout the Civil War from the time of his enlistment; receiving two wounds in battle, and, after the close of the historic struggle, returning to his former pursuit in the domain of peaceful industry, in which he has ever since been engaged, Gregory Holcer of Clay town- ship, and one of its best known farmers, has had a varied and instruc- tive career, and has profited by its lessons, which, though often stern and severe, have all been useful.
Mr. Holcer is a native of the grand-duchy of Baden, Germany, where his life began on February 1, 1837, in the old family home which had been occupied by his father's branch of the household three hun- dred years. His parents were Antone and Barbary (Bellum) Holcer, who were of the same nativity as himself. The father was a farmer and followed his line of industry in his native land until 1847, when he
341
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
brought his family to the United States. The family then consisted of the parents and their two sons. The father bought land in Madison county, Illinois, after reaching this country, and on that continued his farming operations until his death, which occurred in the adjoining county of Bond in 1879.
The mother died in less than one year after her arrival in America, passing away in 1848, and the father married again, being connected in his second union with Miss Anna Deticker, a native of Switzerland and by this marriage became the father of three additional children. One son resides in Linn county, and here his mother died. The parents were German Catholics, the father and both of his wives, and all devout in their religious duties and faithful to the teachings of the church.
Gregory Holcer began his education in Germany and completed it in the frontier country schools of Illinois. As soon as he was able to start for himself the struggle for advancement among men he began farming, and he adhered to this line of industry in Illinois until 1862. In that year he enlisted in the Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infan- try, Company E, Union army, and served in that regiment until he was discharged on account of disabilities incurred in the service.
When he recovered his health, which was but a few months later, he again enlisted, becoming a member of Company E, Thirtieth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and in this command he remained until the close of the war. He took part in the battles of Arkansas Post and the Yazoo river, the siege of Vicksburg, the capture of Jackson, Missis- sippi, and Fort Beauregard, Louisiana, the Red River expedition and the battle of Mobile. At Vicksburg he was shot through several fingers and one of his legs. He received an honorable discharge from the army in 1865.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.