USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 58
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THOMAS O'NEILL
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been a very useful man to the puble and of great and enduring benefit to scores of individual youths who were beginning their struggle for advancement among men and acquiring the necessary knowledge for their progress.
Mr. O'Neill is a native of Lafayette, Tippecanoe county, Indiana, where he came into being on April 27, 1853. He is a son of William and Sophia (Mitchell) O'Neill, who were born, reared, educated and mar- ried in County Monaghan, province of Ulster, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1851. The father was born on December 24, 1830, and died on November 27, 1896. His parents were William and Catharine (Comiskey) O'Neill, and his father died when he, the son, was but one year old. The infant was reared to manhood in his native land and. obtained a common school education there.
After reaching the required age he served three years in the Royal Irish Constabulary, and also passed a year and a half traveling through Scotland, securing a good knowledge of that country. After his arrival in America he was engaged in railroad construction work in various parts of Indiana and Illinois, and also kept a hotel for a time at Coats- burg in Adams county, in the latter state. In 1861 he moved his family to this county and located at St. Catharine, where he passed the remain- der of his days keeping a hotel, railroading and dealing in live stock. The mother died on February 25, 1888. They were the parents of seven sons and one daughter, five sons of whom are living, three of them in Linn county, one in Clarence, Missouri, and one in St. Louis.
Thomas O'Neill was eight years of age when his parents located at St. Catharine. He passed the rest of his boyhood and his youth at that place attending private schools, in which he obtained a good education. At the age of twenty-one, having acquired a mastery of telegraphy, he entered the employ of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad as operator at St. Catharine, and has been so employed there ever since, except during three years which he passed at other points along the line. In 1878 he was also appointed agent for the railroad company at St. Cath- arine, and this position he has held continuously from the time of his appointment to it.
During his occupancy of the post of telegraph operator he has instructed and trained 226 students in telegraphy in his office, giving them all the best instruction he was capable of, and making of many of them first class operators, the training being the best attainable and the result of it depending largely on the readiness, quickness and intelli- gence of its recipient, for it was equally available and judicious for all.
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Mr. O'Neill's faculties have not, however, been devoted solely to the railroad business. He served nine years and a half as postmaster of St. Catharine, and has given considerable attention to farming and dealing in live stock, still owning and cultivating the old family home- stead. He also served as clerk to Hon. Walter Brownlee, the member from Linn county during the last session of the state legislature, and has been a member of the local school board and a justice of the peace for a number of years.
Mr. O'Neill was married on September 26, 1880, to Miss Eva Stolp, a native of Whiteside county, Illinois. They have two sons and one daughter: Edward P., who is now engaged in business in Kansas City, Missouri; William O., who is at this time agent at St. Catharine; and Pauline C., who is still living at home with her parents. All the mem- bers of the family have lofty ideals of usefulness and great energy in working toward them.
In politics Mr. O'Neill has been a Democrat from his youth, and for a number of years one of the leaders of his party in this county. He is an energetic but judicious worker for its welfare at all times, and has great influence and effectiveness with the people, as he is universally popular, and so conducts himself, in political and all the other affairs of life, as to retain his strong hold on the confidence and esteem of the public and deserve the regard and good will of all classes, always seek- ing to promote the public weal and secure the best results of all activi- ties for his township and the county in general. He is truly patriotic and public-spirited in all his efforts, whatever may be the conditions involved.
He was reared in the faith and teachings of the Catholic church and is one of its most devoted and loyal adherents. At the same time he is tolerant of the views and convictions of other men, and ready at all times to aid any good cause, no matter what its origin may be. In fraternal life he is connected with the Knights of Columbus and the Woodmen of the World, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Order of Good Templars. Although tracing his ancestry from the O'Neill stock of the old kings of Ulster, he never speaks of this fact, and is in all respects a devotedly loyal, patriotic and high-minded American citizen, thoroughly democratic in his views and earnestly interested in the welfare of the masses of the people and the general improvement of their conditions of life. All American institutions have his unwavering support, especially those in which the enduring good of the plain people of the country is involved.
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WILLIAM L. SENSINTAFFAR.
The family name borne by the interesting subject of this brief review appears as early as 1837 in the history of Linn county, and it runs through the local chronicles of all the subsequent years. In that year Jacob and Nancy (Helonodolar) Sensintaffar came to the county from their native home in Tazewell county, Virginia, and cast in their lot with the founders of civilization in this region. They were of the proper caliber for pioneers, and showed it first by making the trip with wagon teams, long, wearying and dangerous as it was, and they showed it subsequently by the whole course of their lives on the frontier.
They were the grandparents of William L. Sensintaffar, and they took up the farm of 160 acres on which he now lives on a soldier's claim granted by the government. Jacob Sensintaffar also brought his father with him, and thus four generations of the same house have dwelt on the same farm in Linn county, which its present owner and occupant is peopling with the fifth. This is a very unusual if not a unique experience in a locality comparatively so new as this county. The grandmother did some of the first spinning and weaving in the county, and members of the family have, at various times, been the leaders in other good movements.
William L. Sensintaffar was born on the farm which he now owns on December 26, 1866, and is a son of Rufus and Harriet E. (Culbert- son) Sensintaffar, the former born in Tazewell county, Virginia, and the latter in Shelby county, Missouri. The father was brought to Linn county by his parents when he was but three years old, and the farm was then first occupied. He grew to manhood on it, lived on and farmed it to the end of his days, and died on it in 1889 and he and wife are buried on it. The remains of the grandparents of the present occu- pant, and those of his great-grandfather, are buried on it. By all its associations it is, therefore, hallowed ground to him, and he does hin- self credit by retaining it in his possession.
During the Civil War the father served four years in the Confeder- ate army under General Sterling Price. He was in the campaign in the Southwest and saw a great deal of active service, taking part in the battle of Lexington, Missouri, and all the engagements of the Red River region. He was married in Linn county in 1866, but death robbed him of his wife in 1883. They were the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters, and six of their offspring are living, but only two of them are residents of Linn county. Their father was one of two sons born to their grandparents, who also had four daughters. All
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six are now deceased. The first representative of the family in America came to the United States in 1765 from Germany and settled in Penn- sylvania. Two of his sons afterward moved to Virginia, and now its representatives are to be found in many states in the different sections of the Union.
The present owner of this interesting family homestead has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) on it, and obtained his educa- tion in the country schools in its vicinity. His energies and his years have been employed in farming the land of his fathers, and he has never had or sought any other vocation. The spirit of improvement planted on the place by them has been his inspiration also, and has impelled him to keep pace with the progress of events and the improve- ments in farming, and he is regarded as one of the most enterprising and up-to-date farmers in the county, as well as one of the most intelli- gent and discriminating.
On September 27, 1888, Mr. Sensintaffar was married to Miss Mol- lie E. Moss, a daughter of Luke and Rebecca (See) Moss of Shelby county, Missouri, where they were early settlers. Five children have been born of the union, and all of them are living and still members of the parental family circle. They are: Olive Lillian, Pauline R., Naomi L., Walter W. and Robert M. They are all recognized as persons of genuine worth and wherever they are known they are esteemed as valu- able members of their own community and desirable additions to the manhood and womanhood of Linn county and the state of Missouri.
In his political faith and allegiance Mr. Sensintaffar is a Democrat, but, while he is at all times desirous of the success of his party, because he is a firm believer in its principles, he has never sought or desired any of the honors or emoluments it has to bestow for himself. The substantial and enduring welfare of his township and county is all he desires or seeks through local public affairs, and he is willing to leave the administration of them to those who have a taste for it. He is quiet and unostentatious in his manner of living and his general disposition, but he is sterling in his citizenship and manhood, and is universally regarded as being so and esteemed accordingly.
JOSEPH A. DODD
Although not a native of Linn county Joseph A. Dodd, one of the prominent farmers and live stock men of Jefferson township, has lived in the county since he was one year old or less, and has mingled freely 'with the people here, taken part in all their activities, made their inter-
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ests his own, and been in every respect zealously and practically one of them. He received his education in Linn county schools, drew his stature and his strength from its soil, acquired all his social training in association with its residents, and has devoted all the years of his life from boyhood to expanding its industrial, mercantile, commercial and political power. He is therefore as much a Linn county man as if he were a native among its people, and this is the way he feels about the matter.
Mr. Dodd was born in Calloway county, Missouri, on April 29, 1854, and is a son of Joseph and Sarah J. (Jordan) Dodd, who came to this state from Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1845, making the journey with teams, which at that time was an undertaking of great magnitude and beset with peril almost all the way through. It required great fortitude and endurance, and even at the best was awfully wearying to both body and mind. But these persons were resolute and went through the ordeal without flinching, and when they reached their destination were ready for the new trials that awaited them.
They located in Calloway county and remained there until 1855, when they moved to Linn county. The father bought 420 acres of land on the boundary line between this and Chariton counties, and estab- lished his family on it. The land was wild and raw, untouched by the plow and wholly ignorant, as yet, of the persuasive hand of the sys- tematic husbandman. Mr. Dodd broke up the land, improved it with comfortable buildings and reduced it to a considerable degree of pro- ductiveness, then sold it in 1867. In August of that same year he died. The mother survived him fifteen years, passing away in 1882. They were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters, all of whom are now deceased but Joseph A. and his sister, Mrs. S. A. Henley, of Laclede. The parents were members of the Baptist church and assisted in putting up the first church edifice for that sect in this part of Missouri.
Joseph A. Dodd grew to manhood in the neighborhood of his pres- ent residence and obtained his education in the primitive schools of his boyhood here. The schoolhouses were then rudely constructed of logs and furnished with slab benches, and their course of instruction and methods of teaching were in keeping with their equipment. But they turned out rugged and sturdy men and women, fitted for the duties before them, and with solid and serviceable attributes just suited to the work of laying the foundations of a great state and one of its best counties. He assisted his father in breaking up and improving
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the farm, and remained with his mother until her death, then began farming on his own account.
In his youth and young manhood he was a great hunter, and in 1873 went to Kansas on a buffalo hunting expedition that lasted six months. In his later years he has indulged in the chase but sparingly, but he still enjoys it with all his old time zest and enthusiasm. The farm he now owns and cultivates comprises over 200 acres of excellent land, and he farms it with skill and intelligence, carrying on general farming operations with very gratifying returns for his labor. In addition, he is an extensive breeder of Shorthorn cattle and White Chester hogs. He has a good modern dwelling on his farm and all the other improvements are of present-day types, ample in size for their purposes and convenient in arrangement for what they have to house.
In politics Mr. Dodd is a pronounced Republican, but he has never held a political office or desired one, although he is loyal to his party and zealous in its service. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. On January 18, 1880, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza J. Benway, a daughter of Moses and Rose (Grappott) Benway, the former a native of Canada and the latter of the state of New York. They settled in this county in 1868.
Mr. and Mrs. Dodd have six children: Mabel E., who is now the wife of Walter Sanders and resides in Chariton county; Osceola, who is living at home with the parents; Joseph, Jr., who is also still a mem- ber of the parental family circle; Edna, who is the wife of Clyde Day and also lives in Chariton county; and Moses B. and Clarence A., who are also still living at home. Mr. Dodd is well known throughout the county and is cordially esteemed in all parts of it as an excellent farmer, an upright man and a progressive and useful citizen from every point of view.
HENRY F. ENGLEHART
Born in the state of New York and now a resident of Missouri; his father a native of Sweden and his mother of Pennsylvania; a school boy until he reached the age of eighteen, and then a soldier in defense of the Union to the close of the Civil War, and present in some of the most important engagements of the momentous and sanguinary con- flict; and ever since "the battle flags were furled" an industrious and fruitful worker in the domain of peaceful productiveness, Henry F. Englehart, now one of the leading farmers of Jefferson township in this county, has had variety enough in location and pursuits to satisfy the
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most exacting. It must be said to his credit, however, that no matter where he was located or what occupation he was engaged in, he has always met the utmost requirements of his duty and performed it to the best of his ability.
Mr. Englehart was born in Niagara county, New York, on February 27, 1846, and is a son of Francis A. and Lydia (Shuck) Englehart, the former a Swede by nativity and the latter a Pennsylvanian. The father was born in Stockholm, the capital of his native country, and began making his own way in the world as a cabin boy on ocean going vessels at the age of twelve. He followed the sea twelve years, and during that period saw many countries and a great variety of manners and customs among men.
In 1843 he located in Niagara county, New York, and engaged in farming there. The next year he was married, and settled down to the uneventful routine of tilling the soil as a permanent occupation, vainly imagining that his days of excitement and thrill in life were over. But soon after the Civil War began he enlisted in Company H, Sixteenth New York Volunteer Infantry, and thus entered on another career full of tragedy and ending in disaster to him. His regiment was early in the field and in the midst of the hottest engagements. At the battle of South Mountain, Maryland, in September, 1862, his right arm was shot off, and he was soon afterward honorably discharged from the army. He returned to his New York home and there he died in 1908. The mother died in 1863. They had three sons, all of whom are living, one in the state of New York, one in Minnesota, and Henry F. in Missouri, Linn county.
Henry F. was reared to the age of eighteen in his native state and obtained his education there. In 1864, following the example of his valiant father, he enlisted in the Union army, in Battery M, First New York Light Artillery, and duty led him also into the midst of the carnage and often between unrolling columns bent on each other" .: destruction. He took part in the battles of Resaca, Buzzard's Roost, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Big Shanty and Pumpkin Vine Creek, Georgia, the siege of Atlanta, and many smaller engagements. During the siege of Atlanta he was taken ill and missed a portion of the fighting. On May 30, 1865, he was honorably discharged from the service and returned to his New York home, where he remained unt :: 1868.
In that year he came to Missouri and located first in Caldwell county, where he passed a number of years. He then spent three years in Colorado, and in 1885 settled in Linn county. For a time after his
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arrival in this county he rented land. and farmed it as a tenant, then bought the fine farm of 127 acres in Jefferson township on which he now lives. He has since devoted his time and efforts to its cultivation and improvement, and with its great fertility, its choice location and its good buildings of modern types, it has become one of the most valuable of its size in the county, or, indeed, in this part of the state.
On September 9, 1884, Mr. Englehart was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Johnson, a native of Noble county, Ohio, and the daugh- ter of James and Margaret (David) Johnston, who came to Missouri to reside in 1866, selecting Linn county as their home, and ending their days here. Mr. and Mrs. Englehart have five children: Marcus J., Margaret, Francis A., Alva F. and Alice G. Francis is a cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which he entered in 1909.
In political faith and allegiance Mr. Englehart is a pronounced and unwavering Republican. He cast his first vote for our martyred pres- ident, Abraham Lincoln, in 1865. Being a soldier in the field at the time. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and all the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Englehart saw this portion of Missouri when it was all almost unbroken prairie, and she and her husband have done their whole duty in help- ing to bring about the improvements with which she is now so highly gratified. They are excellent citizens, and all classes of the people esteem them as such.
HENRY C. BARGAR
Well known throughout Linn county as one of its prominent and successful farmers and extensive breeders of Shorthorn cattle, and also standing high in the regard of the people as a progressive and enter- prising citizen of fruitful publie spirit and strong local patriotism, Henry C. Bargar of Parsons Creek township has reached his elevation through no favors of Fortune or specially propitious circumstances, but strictly and solely on his merit and the good work he has done for himself and his township and county. He has been a resident of Linn county for over forty-three years, and is therefore one of its oldest set- tlers now living. His whole career among this people has been credita- ble to him and beneficial to them.
Mr. Bargar was born in Harrison county, Ohio, on November 15, 1840, and grew to manhood and obtained his education in that state, attending the district school in the neighborhood of his home in the
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winter and working on his father's farm in the summer. He is a son of John and Eliza (Gatchel) Bargar, natives of Chester county, Pennsyl- vania. They moved to Ohio early in their married life and for a num- ber of years lived in Harrison county, then moved to Tuscarawas county in the same state, where their lives were ended on their farm.
Besides being a farmer the father was also a blacksmith, and he wrought diligently at his trade for some years and then bought a farm. Four sons and four daughters were born of his marriage, and of the eight six are now living, three of them in Linn county. He was a good farmer and a skillful mechanic. As a citizen and a man he was also estimable in all the relations of life and strictly upright in all his deal- ings with his fellow men. The mother was a woman of superior excel- lence and force of character, and both stood high in the regard and good will of everybody who knew them.
Henry C. Bargar has been loyal and fervent in his devotion to the Union from his boyhood, and he has shown his devotion in peace and war. In October, 1861, when he was not yet of age, he enlisted in Com- pany E, Fifty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, to aid in saving the coun- try from being torn asunder, and he still bears the marks and feels the effect of his service in the army. His regiment was first in the Army of the Ohio, then in the Army of the Cumberland, and afterward in that of the Tennessee. In these commands he took part in the battles of Perryville, Kentucky, and Stone River. In the latter he was shot through the right leg, and in consequence of the wound was off duty for six months.
On his return to the service he participated in the Tullahoma cam- paign, and the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and all those of the Atlanta campaign. His regiment was then returned to Tennessee and had active work in the terrible battles of Nashville and Franklin. In April, 1865, when General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Mr. Bargar was in eastern Tennessee, and soon after that decisive event he was discharged from military duty and returned to his old home in Ohio, where he remained until 1869, again engaged in farming.
In the year last mentioned he became a resident of this county, locating at once on the farm he now owns and cultivates in Parsons Creek township. This was nearly all wild and unbroken land when he took possession of it, and he has devoted all his subsequent years to its cultivation and improvement, making it into a model farm in skill of tillage, amplitude and attractiveness of buildings and other equip- ment, and bounty of prodactiveness. And he has done all this in spite
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of the fact that he has been for years a great sufferer at times from his old army wound and other effects of his military service.
Mr. Bargar was married in Ohio in 1866 to Miss Mary A. Laffer, who was born and reared in the state in which she was married. Eleven children have been born of their union, and ten of them are living: Alice, who married W. H. Robbins and resides in Linn county; Ella, who is the wife of Wm. Terwillagar, and abides with him in Oregon; Ida, the wife of Howard M. Thompson of Parsons Creek township, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; Jennie, who is the wife of Archabald Matthews, and also a resident of Linn county; Aggie, who married with John Lomax of this county; Lavina, who is the wife of William Jackson, and has her home in Livingston county; John, who is a resident of California; Joseph M., who is in business in Kansas City, this state; Thomas, who is a Linn county farmer; and Standly M., who is yet at home with his parents.
Mr. Bargar's political affiliation is with the Republican party, but he has never been an active partisan or sought or desired a public office. Fraternally he is a zealous member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and in religious matters he leans toward the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which his wife is a member. In the vast progress and improvement of Linn county since he first saw it he has borne a zealous and serviceable part, and he is now regarded, for what he is and what he has done, as one of the county's best and most serviceable citizens.
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