USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 42
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Mr. Smith's life began near Findlay, Hancock county, Ohio, on February 6, 1863. He is a son of Reuben and Christina (Boyles) Smith, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was a farmer, and during a part of the Civil War served in the Ohio state militia. He died in 1863, when his son was still an infant, and left the care of him and the four other children in the family to the mother.
This excellent woman felt her bereavement keenly and deeply mourned the great loss she had sustained. But she also realized in- tensely her heavy responsibility in the rearing of her children, and she put everything else aside in order that she might meet that fully. With the fortitude and courage of a Roman matron she entered upon the performance of her duties in this respect, and she never abandoned them for a moment until they were discharged to the full extent and in the best manner her circumstances would allow. She brought her five children to Linneus in June, 1866, and here continued the devoted care of them she had begun in her former home. Sometime after her arrival in this county she was married a second time, uniting herself in this
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marriage with a Mr. Haymaker. Her first husband was a son of John W. Smith, who died in Ohio, leaving two sons and one daughter at the time of his demise.
Robert R. Smith grew from the age of three years to manhood in Linneus and obtained a limited education in the public schools of that city, attending them in winter for a few years and working in the summer at anything his willing hands could find to do. His great desire was to lighten the burden of family care borne by his mother, to whom he was faithful and fervent in filial devotion. When he was eleven years old he became a bread-winner, first as a clerk in a grocery store, then as a farm hand. Earnestly desirous of better pay for his time and labor, he next accepted employment as a section hand on a railroad. From this occupation he went to clerking for a lumber dealer, and from that to clerking in a dry goods store.
Mr. Smith's brave, manly heart won him friends in early youth who have stood by him in all his vicissitudes in life, and in every position he held he won the good will of both his employers and the patrons of their business. From the start his aim was high, and in all circumstances his efforts were zealous and well applied. His progress, too, although very slow and painful at first, was steady always, and after a time became more rapid, easy and agreeable, and widening opportunities gave him scope for more decided and far-reaching usefulness.
His general popularity was handsomely demonstrated in 1892, when he was elected treasurer of Linn county by a majority of 240 votes. In that election every other candidate of his party but two was defeated. So well did he perform his duties in this office, that at the end of his first term he was elected for another by a majority of 640 votes. At the close of his second term he was invited to enter the mer- cantile firm of Hartman & Tooey as a stockholder and the secretary of the company, which was then the largest capitalized corporation in northern Missouri. This has since become the Tooey Mercantile Com- pany, and Mr. Smith is now its vice president. It is a leader among the mercantile institutions of Brookfield, and has few if any rivals in magnitude and extent of business in this part of the state.
Mr. Smith is also a stockholder in the Linn County Bank, and a director and the treasurer of the Inter-Ocean Life and Casualty Com- pany of Springfield, Illinois, which he founded. His political allegiance and services are given to the Republican party, to which he is loyally devoted. For some years he was a member of its state central com- mittee of Missouri. He was married on January 25, 1888, to Miss Sallie E. Phillips, a daughter of John C. Phillips, whose life story is briefly
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told on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two sons and two daughters: Calvin O., who is a graduate of the University of Chicago and now a student in the law department of Harvard; and Maurice R., Catherine and Virginia, who are living at home with their parents.
Mr. Smith has from his early manhood taken a very active interest in fraternal organizations, in two of which he holds appreciated mem- bership. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. In the latter of these he has been par- ticularly zealous and effective in service, and has risen to a very high official position in its government, being at this time chairman of its general board of directors, an office to which he has been chosen by the Head Camp of the fraternity in annual sessions.
In 1898 he was elected Venerable Consul of Brookfield Camp No. 2127, and under his guidance in a few years the camp more than doubled its membership. In 1901 he became a candidate for Head Banker of the fraternity, a position requiring both business ability of a high order and incorruptible integrity. He was unanimously chosen to the posi- tion by the Head Camp that year. In this office he demonstrated so clearly that he was sterling and fitted for any responsible position in life, that in 1903 he was elected a member of the general board of directors, and since then has been made chairman of the board.
The membership of the Modern Woodmen of America is very large. It is an insurance order, and as such its funds are greater than those of any other insurance fraternity in the world. It covers a vast territory in this country and others, and its interests are multitudinous in number, great in magnitude and extensively diversified in character. Its head banker has enormous responsibilities and its directors are heavily burdened with them also. To win not only distinction but uni- versal approval and commendation in either position is a high tribute to a man's business capacity and unyielding integrity. To win this in both is a triumph that is attainable by few men and must be based on genuine merit of the most exalted kind in him who achieves it. Mr. Smith has shown that he has such merit.
OSCAR F. LIBBY
In his own history and that of his parents Oscar F. Libby of Laclede, this county furnishes a fine illustration of the migrations of the American people from one part of the country to another, their changes of occupation from time to time, according to the circumstances
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in which they find themselves, and their universal and masterly adap- tiveness to conditions whatever the requirements of those conditions may be. He and his parents were born in far-away Maine, lived in three other states before becoming residents of Missouri, and both he and his father changed their occupations whenever opportunities were presented for profitable ventures in new or different lines of endeavor. These are experiences common in our history, but they argue no want of steadfastness or stability on the part of our people. On the contrary, they are proofs of the great alertness, restless activity and genius for conquest in all domains of activity of the American mind, and out- growths or causes of the enterprise which has made our nation so rich and great and given us so commanding a rank among the leading pow- ers of the world in arms, in arts, in industries and in commerce.
Oscar F. Libby's life began in Cumberland county, Maine, on December 9, 1852, and he is a son of Nathaniel S. and Sarah (Freeman) Libby, also natives of that state and county, where the father was born on January 14, 1830. In March, 1855, led by the richness of the prairies of the West, he left his native state and moved his family as it was then to Greene county, Illinois, but only remained there two months. He then moved to St. Croix county, Wisconsin, and there pur- chased 160 acres of school land.
The region in which he made his purchase did not seem to him at the time the best for the exercise of his enterprise, and accordingly he changed his residence and base of operations temporarily to Goodhue county, Minnesota, where he took up a tract of government land of 160 acres. In the fall of 1855 he went back to the pineries of Wisconsin, and passed the winter there logging with oxen. The next spring he began to improve his Minnesota land, and became a prominent man in the region of its location. He was a member of the first board of trus- tees of Roscoe township in Goodhue county and assisted in organizing the county.
He lived in that county until he proved up on his land, then traded it for $200, a yoke of oxen, a cow and a log chain, which was thought to be a first rate deal for that period. In May, 1861, he again crossed the Mississippi river to his St. Croix county, Wisconsin, land and began to improve that. In time he made a fine farm of it for the state of development then considered advanced and then left it for other new and untried regions and fresh fields of conquest over the wilderness.
It was in October, 1869, that he brought his family to Linn county, Missouri, and located at Laclede. Soon afterward he moved to a farm
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three miles north of that town, where he resided until his death, which occurred on July 20, 1901. He was married in April, 1851, to Miss Sarah Freeman, also a native of Maine and a daughter of George Free- man of that state. Of the eleven children born of the union ten are living: Oscar F., the immediate subject of this sketch; Walter, who is a resident of Cheyenne, Oklahoma; Ernest L., whose home is at Linn Creek, Camden county, in this state; Lucy F., who is still residing on the family homestead north of Laclede; Sarah M., now the wife of I. H. Watson of Brookfield; Lucius E., who is also living on the homestead; Lottie L., who is now the wife of Charles Sternkey of Brookfield ; John, who has his home at Bonne Terre, St. Francois county, Missouri ; Grace, who married with William F. Havner and is living at No. 308 North Fifth street, Kansas City, Kansas ; and Maria H., who is now Mrs. Carl E. Brown of Clarimere, Oklahoma.
Oscar F. Libby obtained the greater part of his scholastic training in Wisconsin, being about eighteen years old when the family moved to this state and county. But after his arrival here he attended public schools in Linneus and Laclede. At the age of twenty he began teach- ing in the public schools of the county and adhered to that profession for twelve terms. While engaged in teaching he also studied law at home, and in June, 1878, was admitted to the bar. Since then he has been busily occupied in his profession, and steadily rose in rank in it until in 1906 he was elected judge of the county court for a term of two years.
Mr. Libby is a Democrat in political faith and allegiance, but he has never been desirous of public office and has never sought official station either by appointment or election. His being chosen county judge was by motion of the people of the county, who knew his ability and high character, and without any solicitation on his part. He has, however, always been active and energetic in connection with public affairs, and in every way open to him has shown his deep and abiding interest in the progress and development of his county and the enduring welfare of its people.
On September 27, 1882, Mr. Libby was joined in wedlock with Miss Rebecca J. Watson, a daughter of James H. and Rebecca J. Watson, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Chariton county, Missouri. Six children have been born in the Libby household, five of whom are living: Oscar F., Jr., whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri ; Harry J., who is a resident of Shelbina, this state; and Louis, Mary V. and Bertha E., who are still at home with their parents.
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L. A. MOORMAN
With the native quickness of perception, resourceful adaptation to circumstances, and readiness for any requirement, which he inherited from his Irish ancestry, well trained by an excellent education, and all his faculties still warm with the fire and energy of young manhood, L. A. Moorman, manager and treasurer of the Moorman Lumber Com- pany of Marceline, which he founded, is well worthy of the high hopes entertained of him as a business man and a wide-awake, enterprising and progressive citizen. He has high character and strict integrity to back his other qualifications for success in life, and his industry leaves no hour go by without paying its tribute to his advancement in life and the benefit of whatever he has in hand for his own welfare or that of other persons.
Mr. Moorman is a native of Missouri, having been born in Chariton county on August 23, 1875. He is a son of Benjamin F. and Mary (Shands) Moorman, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Virginia. The parents moved to Missouri in 1864 and located in Char- iton county. They farmed in that county for a number of years, but are now living retired from active pursuits in Marceline. Of the chil- dren born of their union four sons and one daughter are living. The ancestors of the father came from Ireland to this country at an early day and settled in Virginia. Some of their descendants moved to Ken- tucky when it was still largely a wilderness, and others have since become residents of Missouri. Wherever they have lived they have followed the occupation of the old patriarchs and been farmers.
L. A. Moorman was reared to manhood in Chariton county and began his education in its public schools. He attended the Keytesville High School and the Normal School at Kirksville, and afterward the University of Chicago. His aim was to qualify himself as a high grade teacher, and after leaving the university he taught in the public schools of this county for a period of eleven years, the earlier part of the time at various places in the country districts, then two years as principal and five as superintendent of the schools in Marceline. His influence . for good in the management and improvement of the Marceline schools was considerable and is still felt and acknowledged by teachers and school patrons alike.
In 1911 he resigned as a teacher and school official and turned his attention to the lumber trade, purchasing the business of the late W. D. Brown, deceased. In order to give himself a wider sweep and greater resources in the business, he organized the Moorman Lumber
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Company, with himself as general manager and treasurer, but with the wisdom of others interested in the company to add to his own for the general advantage of all. The company is prospering finely under his management and its trade is increasing rapidly. He stood high in the estimation of the public as a school teacher, and he has now won general confidence and esteem and many warm encomiums as a business man.
Mr. Moorman has always been deeply and practically interested in the development and improvement of his township and county, and has never hesitated to do his full share of the work of promoting their advancement. In political faith and allegiance he is a member of the Democratic party and consistently loyal and serviceable to it. In fra- ternal relations he is connected with the Masonic order, in which he has advanced to the degree of Knights Templar. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian, and an earnest worker in the congregation to which he belongs.
On December 6, 1906, Mr. Moorman was united in marriage with Miss Eugenia M. Ringo of Kirksville. Like her husband, Mrs. Moor- man is well educated, and like him she is sincerely, warmly and intelli- gently interested in the welfare of Marceline, Bucklin township and Linn county. Although her manifestations of local patriotism cannot cover all the ground and be active in all the channels of usefulness that have the benefit of Mr. Moorman's activity, in her own department of helpfulness she is as energetic and genuinely serviceable as he is in his. Both have a high place in the estimation of the public and a strong hold on the confidence, regard and esteem of the whole people, including every class.
JOHN M. ANDERSON
(Deceased)
The late John M. Anderson, who died in Bucklin township, this county, in 1899, was one of the pioneers of that portion of the county and one of its most substantial and esteemed citizens. Besides the romance and hardships attending his coming into the wilderness and hewing out a farm from its broad expanse of unbroken soil, in a time when the region in which he located was largely unpeopled and still infested with its savage denizens, ferocious Indians and beasts of prey, his life had many adventures and incidents of much more than ordinary interest. And throughout the course of it he presented a manly front to every opponent, whether of man or circumstance, and always main-
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tained his independence, self-reliance and upright and elevated position among his fellow men.
Mr. Anderson was a native of the Old Dominion, having been born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, about the year 1807. He was a son of Milton Anderson, who was also a native of Virginia, and a life-long resident of that state, where he died at a good old age. The son remained at the place of his birth until he reached the age of twenty- nine years, and was educated and married there. After attaining his majority he engaged in farming, and followed that occupation in Vir- ginia until 1836, when he moved his family to Missouri and located near Brunswick in Chariton county.
The journey from his old home to his new one, which was then one of considerable extent, was made with teams, and he brought his slaves, live stock and household equipment with him. It was a long and tedious trip, and not without peril in many parts; for the Indians were at all times likely to be hostile, the common necessaries of life were difficult of attainment, roads were few, bridges in many places unknown and ford- ings undetermined as to depth and safety. But he and his wife were resolute in spirit and strong in courage, and they persevered to the end of their long journey, through the unknown to the unknown, and reached their destination, with all their belongings, in safety and com- parative comfort.
The family remained in Chariton county about two years, then moved to Linn county, finding another new home on government land which the father took up a short distance west of Bucklin. He broke up and cultivated this land, erected as good buildings for the shelter of his family, his live stock and his crops as he could under the circumstances, and lived on it until his death in 1899, the year in which his wife also died. At the beginning of the Civil War he owned some 1,500 acres, and had about 300 acres fenced and a large portion of it under culti- vation. The war cloud threatened him in every way. Party spirit ran high along the border and there were many indications that the war would be predatory and respect neither life nor property on either side, which is always the case in border warfare. Mr. Anderson's sympa- thies were with the South, and he took his slaves and stock, with his family, to Texas, establishing himself on a farm which he bought near Sherman, the county seat of Grayson county in that state. He remained there until after the close of the war and then came back to his Linn county home.
Mr. Anderson was married in Virginia to Miss Mary Hubbard. They had eight children, five sons and three daughters. Two of the
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sons and three of the daughters are living: Robert L., who resides in this county; Hezekiah, a resident of Marceline; Mary, who lives with her brother on the homestead; Emma, who is now the wife of Thomas B. Glasgow of this county; and Edward, who lives on and farms the land occupied by his parents during their lives.
The father was a Democrat in political faith and party allegiance, and an energetic and effective worker for the success of his organiza- tion. But his zeal was inspired by conviction and principle, and had no element of personal ambition in it, as he never sought, desired or would accept a political office of any kind, either by appointment or election. He was prominent as a farmer and influential as a citizen throughout the county, and enjoyed extensive popularity among all classes of its people. Before the end of his long and useful life he became a patriarch among them, and received the veneration due to such a rank. And it must be said to his credit that he deserved the good will and regard so richly bestowed upon him, as he was upright and straightforward in all the relations of life, and true to every duty of his manhood.
BRADFORD MCALLISTER
From a tidewater county on the coast of Maine to a wholly agricul- tural one in the interior of Missouri; from the shores of the Atlantic to the prairies of the West, beyond the great Father of Waters; from the hazards and stirring life of the manufacturing, fishing and other indus- tries of the East to the remote and quiet pursuit of tilling the soil and the occupations allied with and growing out of that in the Middle West, is a far step; but it is one which the interesting subject of this brief review has taken with advantage to himself and to the people here, among whom he brought by it the energy, resourcefulness and enter- prise indigenous to his native state, and the ingenuity and adaptiveness characteristic of its people.
Bradford McAllister has shown that he has the adaptiveness of the residents of his native section of the country by seizing and harnessing opportunity for his service as they have come to him, and by ready coalescense with new conditions and his enterprise in making the most of them. For, whether he was connected with the fishing or the manu- facturing industry, or with neither, whatever his occupation might have been in the region of his birth, the conditions and requirements for men of mold and progressiveness, and the opportunities offered them there were very different from those of the region in which he now lives; and
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he has been as ready in his use of what has been offered here as he could have been in what was available there, and probably has made as much progress, if not more.
Mr. McAllister was born in Waldo county, Maine, on August 6, 1846, and is a son of Alfred and Waitie (Foster) McAllister, also natives of that state. The father was a general merchant there, and there the mother died. They were the parents of five sons and one daughter, all of whom are now deceased except Bradford and one of his brothers. After the death of the mother the father married again. He brought his family to Missouri in 1866 and located in Carroll county, where he engaged in farming, remaining in that county until his death, which occurred there.
Bradford McAllister, who is of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and whose grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, grew to the age of twenty years in his native state, obtained a common school education there, and after leaving school learned the trade of a blacksmith and carriage maker. He came to Missouri with his father, and after his arrival in this state farmed for a number of years. He also kept a store in Carroll county seven years. He prospered in both enterprises, and on coming to Marceline in 1891 began business in operating a dray and express service, of which he was the sole owner and manager, and . which he carried on for sixteen years, handling ice throughont an exten- sive scope of territory in connection with that business. His business became large and it opened his eyes to a new opportunity, which he lost no time in embracing.
At the end of the period named he bought the creamery of which he is now the head, and took his sons into the business with him, and it has since been conducted under the firm name of B. McAllister & Sons. He also founded the bottling works, which he operated some time. Since his purchase of the creamery it has been rebuilt and enlarged, and in connection with it a large silo and commodious barns have been erected. The firm owns a fine herd of cows as one source of supply for the creamery. It sells ice cream, butter and other creamery products exten- sively and continues to handle ice and carry on the dray and express line. Its business is extensive and active, and requires the energy and close attention of all the members of the firm in its various departments.
On March 13, 1869, Mr. McAllister was married to Miss Malinda J. Brown, a native of Missouri. They have had twelve children, ten of whom are living: Charles A., M. Emma, William A., Ralph N., Chester B., Ross, Olive A., Hazel B. and Earl. The father is a Socialist in his political faith and takes a considerable interest in the affairs of his
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party. He is also earnestly interested in the progress and development of his township and county, and is widely and favorably known as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, always ready to bear his part of the burden of cost, labor and influence necessary to carry out new undertakings for the general welfare of his locality and bring them to a successful conclusion. Throughout the county he is well esteemed in business circles, for his devotion to the duties of citizenship and as a man. The other members of the family share in the good opinion and general regard bestowed on him.
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