USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 61
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ZACHARIAH R. KLING
Having come to Linn county about nineteen years ago with no capital but his ready hand, his clear head and his indomitable spirit and pluck, and having won from the soil a competency which makes him comfortable for life, Zachariah R. Kling, of Jefferson township, whose fine farm of 240 acres is located two and one-half miles south of Laclede, has shown in his successful career the power of persistent industry, good management and unconquerable will in this land of boundless wealth and almost boundless opportunity in advancing their possessor along life's highway to prosperity and consequence among men.
Mr. Kling is a native of Adams county, Illinois, where his life began on December 25, 1868, and the son of Martin and Anna (Bren- ner) Kling, who were born in Germany. The father was reared to the age of seventeen in his native land and obtained his education there. He came to the United States about the year 1848, and enaged in farm- ing near Quincy, Illinois, where he is still living. The mother, whom
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he married in Adams county in the neighborhood of his farm, died there in December, 1909. They were the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, six of whom are living, Zachariah being the only one resident in Linn county. Both parents were reared in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal church.
The paternal grandfather, whose name was also Zachariah, came with his family to this country when his son Martin came over, and passed the rest of his life in Adams county, Illinois, where he died after long years of usefulness as a farmer there and in his native land. He was an early settler in Illinois and prominent in the local affairs of his new home, and was valued for his services during his period of activity and revered as a pioneer and patriarch in his declining years.
Zachariah R. Kling grew to manhood in his native county and farmed there until 1893, when he came to Missouri and located in Linn county on the farm which he now owns, and which he has made one of the best in the county. He bought it on his arrival, largely on time payments, and has cultivated it with skill and excellent judgment, and with very good results. He soon cleared it of debt, and as he is a wise and progressive farmer and his land is as good as any in the county, the fruits of his labor increased rapidly, and in a few years placed him above the reach of want, and, as far as such an estate could, beyond that of adversity.
Mr. Kling was married in 1892 to Miss Edith E. Woollen, a native of Adams county, Illinois, also, and the daughter of James A. and Susanna (Borgholthous) Woollen, the former a native of Maryland and the latter of the state of New York. They were married in 1845, and both are now deceased, the father having passed away in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Kling have four children, all sons: Ralph, Elmer L., Calvin E. and Byron E.
From the time of his arrival in this county Mr. Kling has taken an active and helpful interest in its public affairs. He is a Republican in politics and has firm faith in the principles of his party. Officially he has served as school director for a number of years. He has always been zealous in behalf of public improvements and earnest in the support of all worthy projects for their accomplishment, giving the advancement of the county along lines of wholesome development the same energetic attention he has bestowed on his own, and seeking to promote the general welfare of the people in every way he could. He and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and both are highly esteemed.
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GEORGE LLOYD.
The subject of this brief review is one of the best known and most successful farmers and stock men in Jefferson township, where he has lived since 1881, on a tract of 235 acres of land, which was in its primi- tive state of wildness when he bought it, and is now, by reason of his industry, skill and progressiveness as a farmer one of the most valu- able and desirable rural homes in the township, which is a region of well improved and well cultivated farms. During the whole period of his residence on this land Mr. Lloyd has made every day tell to his advantage and its improvement, and it is now a pleasing monument to his enterprise, good judgment and excellent management.
Mr. Lloyd was born in Hocking county, Ohio, on December 19, 1847. His parents were David and Elizabeth (Thomas) Lloyd, the former a native of Wales and the latter of Ohio. The father was brought to the United States by his parents when he was but seven years old, the family locating first in Pennsylvania and later moving to Ohio at a time when that state's rich soil and undeveloped oppor- tunities challenged the attention of the world and attracted hosts of emigrants from the older states of the Union and many foreign coun- tries, all of whom found the promise it gave verified.
In 1858 he moved his family to Adams county, Illinois, and there he died in 1877. He was a farmer and miller, and a skillful workman in both occupations. The mother passed away in Oklahoma in 1910. They had four sons and one daughter, four still living, but George being the only one residing in Linn county. The grandfather, Anthony Lloyd, was a music teacher in Pennsylvania, and ended his days there. He found that state satisfactory on his arrival in this country from Wales and never left it. With its teeming and prosperous population it was a good field for his art, and he sought nothing better.
George Lloyd moved with his parents to Adams county, Illinois, when he was eleven years old, and there he attained his manhood and received his education, all but the most elementary part of it. After leaving school he worked for a while on his father's farm and then started in the same occupation on a farm under his own management. He remained in Illinois until 1881, then moved to Linn county and bought the land he now owns and cultivates. Prior to the last five years he confined his operations to general farming, but during that period he has also been actively and profitably engaged in raising mules and Belgian horses for the markets. His judgment of live stock is good and every stage of his operations in breeding it is marked by
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intelligence and the utmost attention to details in order that he may secure the best results, and his products have high rank wherever they are known.
Mr. Lloyd was married in 1869 to Miss Caroline Daggett, a native of Illinois, where he was then living. Nine children have been born of their union, and seven of them are living: Wyatt, Landa, Thomas, Rufus, Charles, Rose and Asa. Mr. Lloyd has always been warmly interested in the progress and further development of his township and county, and their improvement to the highest attainable degree, and has been active in promoting their advancement. His efforts in this line are governed by intelligence and directed by good judgment, and are valued by the people around him because of their effectiveness. He is regarded as a man of high integrity, admirable public spirit and strong progressiveness-in short as one of the best citizens of the township.
CHARLES P. BECKWITH
Well known throughout Linn county as an enterprising, progres- sive and successful farmer of Parsons Creek township, and also as a citizen deeply, intelligently and practically interested in the advance- ment and improvement of the region in which he lives, Charles P. Beckwith is held in high regard by all classes and ranks of Linn county people. He has lived on the farm he now occupies, owns and cultivates for twenty-one years, and in the state of Missouri for forty-one. He has therefore long been a contributor to the wealth and importance of the state, and especially to the betterment of Linn county, for to this county he has given the best and most productive years of his life to the present time (1912).
Mr. Beckwith is a native of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York, where he was born on December 1, 1842. His parents were Rus- sell and Rosetta (Douglass) Beckwith, the former born in Chenango county, New York, and the latter of the same nativity as their son Charles. The father's life began in 1813, and he lived in his native state until 1871, industriously and profitably engaged in farming and working at his trade as a carpenter. In the year last named he moved his family to Missouri and located in Livingston county south of Wheeling, where he died on his farm in 1888, and where the mother passed away in 1895.
They were the parents of two sons and two daughters, and of the four only their son Charles and two of his sisters are living. The
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father was a Republican in political faith, and took an active part in the affairs of his party. He served as a justice of the peace for many years. The grandfather, Elisha Beckwith, was also a native of the state of New York and a carpenter. In middle life he moved to Aslı- tabula county, Ohio, where he died well advanced in years and after making a long record of highly commendable usefulness and fidelity to every duty.
Charles P. Beckwith grew to the age of eighteen on his father's farm in his native state and obtained his education in the district schools in the neighborhood. In October, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth New York Cavalry, and was soon at the front and in the midst of hos- tilities. His regiment was in time assigned to the Army of the Poto- mac, and was a part of the force commanded by General Sheridan in his Shenandoah Valley campaign in Virginia, which was made famous by his brilliant victories over the Confederates and his sensational ride to the battle of Winchester.
Mr. Beckwith took part in the battle of Gettysburg, during which he carried dispatches for General Slocum. He also participated in the terrible contests at Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, the Wilderness and Brandy Station. At an earlier period in the war he was with McClel- lan at Fort McGregor, White House Landing and in the campaigns around Richmond, and in the latter part of the war he was a part of the mighty army that won the battles of Petersburg, Winchester and Cedar Creek. He was in many minor engagements, too, his regiment being on duty in the thick of the conflict nearly all the time of its service.
In 1864 he was mustered out of the army and returned to his former home in New York, where he remained until 1871, when he accompanied his parents and the rest of the family to Livingston county, in this state. In 1891 he bought the farm on which he now lives, and to this he has given his attention ever since. It was timber of the growth of ages when he bought it, but he has cleared and improved it with great industry and good taste, and it is now one of the desirable country residences in the township and as well cultivated and productive as any other.
On April 28, 1866, Mr. Beckwith was married to Miss Elizabeth Dalrymple, a native of Chautauqua county, New York. They have five children, Eva M., Addison E., Nellie M., William G. and Cora B. Nellie is now the wife of Norris Humphries and lives in Meadville. Both par- ents are living. The father is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he keeps alive the memories of the war without any
R. SPENCER KATHAN
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of the bitterness of feeling that marked its progress. He is widely and favorably known in Linn county and those which adjoin it, and every- where the esteem bestowed upon him as a farmer and a citizen is cordial, generous and richly deserved.
R. SPENCER KATHAN
It is an old adage, and as true as it is old, that "the Law is a jeal- ous mistress," the implication being that she will brook no worship from her votaries for any goddess but herself. The pleasing subject of this brief memoir seems to have been duly impressed with this fact from the very beginning of his devotions at the shrine of Themis, for since he began the study of law he has been steadily diligent in the prosecu- tion of it, both before and since his admission to the bar, and his indus- try has been rewarded by the acquisition of a comprehensive and accu- rate knowledge of the groundwork of his profession, and, in a more material way, by a large and steadily increasing practice.
Mr. Kathan is a native of the Province of Quebec, Canada, where his life began on October 6, 1866. His parents, Rufus and Lucy M. (Gilman) Kathan, were also born in Quebec, and were reared and mar- ried there. The father was a farmer and hotel keeper in his native land. He came to the United States and Linn county, Missouri, in 1865, on a kind of prospecting tour, but returned to Quebec before the end of the same year. In 1874 he came again to this county, but again for only a short stay, returning to his native city a few months later. But in 1876 he came to remain and brought his family with him. He bought a farm adjoining Bucklin on the South, and this farm he im- proved and lived on until he retired from active pursuits a few years ago. At that time he took up his residence in Bucklin, where he and his wife are now living.
They are the parents of two sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. The ancestors of these children on both sides of the house were Scotch-Irish people, and all the American members of the family have shown the strong and fruitful traits of character which come from a judicious mixture of the Scotch and Irish blood. The Kathans, how- ever, have lived in Quebec for at least four generations, Earl Kathan, grandfather of R. Spencer, having been a native of that city. He operated a farm in the vicinity, and died at a good old age in Quebec.
R. Spencer Kathan was a boy of ten when his parents brought him to Linn county, Missouri, to remain. He completed in the schools of this county the academic education he had begun in those of his native
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place, and then passed four years in the Normal department of the State University, in special courses of training for the vocation of a teacher. After leaving the University he taught school seven years, four of them at Bucklin and two at Laclede. In 1894, the last year of his teaching, he started to study law and in 1896 he was admitted to the bar.
Mr. Kathan began practicing his profession in Bucklin the same year, and here he has remained ever since, growing in practice and pro- fessional reputation, and rising steadily in the confidence, regard and good will of the people all over the county. He served as prosecuting attorney for Linn county from 1905 to 1907, having been elected as the candidate of the Republican party, to which he has belonged from the dawn of his manhood, and rendered loyal service ever since. He has been a member of its county central committee for Linn county for a number of years, and always a potential force in its campaigns.
His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church, in the work of which he takes an active part. He was married on May 7, 1893, to Miss Ruby M. Herriman, a native of this county. They have four children, their daughters Lois, Beryl, Marjorie and Claudine. The father has had a predilection for fraternal life from his youth, and as soon as he was old enough gratified his desire in part. He is now a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Order of Odd Fellows, the Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the World, and in his lodge in each of these orders he is an active worker and his membership is highly valued by the rest of the members, for his zeal is tempered with prudence and intelligence and good judgment govern all his efforts.
In the public affairs of the county he has always taken a helpful part, whether the enterprise he supported was directed to the material improvement of his township and county, or involved the moral, mental and social improvement of their people. No duty of citizenship has been neglected by him, and all have been performed with intelligence and a high sense of personal responsibility. In all parts of Linn county he is regarded as an able, resourceful and skillful lawyer and an up- right, conscientious and altogether estimable man, and he is universally esteemed on this basis.
JAMES PHILLIPS
Coming to Linn county as a young man twenty-four years of age and on his arrival here buying a tract of wild, unbroken land as the basis of his hopes of advancement in this region; devoting himself with assiduous industry and fruitful intelligence to the development
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and cultivation of his untamed purchase until he converted it into a model farm enriched with good buildings, fences and other improve- ments necessary for its proper occupancy and cultivation, and equipped with modern appliances for the work that has to be done on it; and while doing all this devoting himself with a good citizen's zeal and enterprise to the progress of his township and county and the enduring welfare of their residents, James Phillips, one of the leading farmers and live stock breeders of Parsons Creek township, has made a record here of which any man might justly be proud, and which the people of his locality on all sides highly commend.
Mr. Phillips is a native of the province of Ontario, Canada, where his life began on September 12, 1845. His parents, John and Polly (Sharrard) Phillips, were also born in the Dominion, the former in the province of Nova Scotia and the latter in the province of New Bruns- wick. The father was a school teacher and farmer. He located in Ontario in his young manhood and passed the rest of his life in that province, dying there in 1901 at the age of eighty-four years. The mother died in 1862. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. Their son James is the only one of their offspring who resides in Missouri, and he represents the family creditably among the people of this state.
Some time after the death of his first wife the father married again, uniting himself in the second marriage with Miss Mary Perkins, a native of England. They had three daughters and two sons, and all but one of these are living and reside in Canada. Their mother died in 1902. The grandfather, William Phillips, was born and reared in Scotland. He was impressed into the navy when a young man, and when he obtained his release he located in New Brunswick. There he was married, and a short time afterward moved to western Canada, where he died well up in years.
James Phillips grew to manhood in his native province and obtained his education in its district schools. He followed farming there until 1869, when he came to Linn county and bought the farm on which he now lives. This, as has been indicated, was in its state of primeval wildness, rich in promise but stubborn at first in yielding up its treasures. Mr. Phillips broke up the land and began cultivating it. His progress was slow for a time, but the genius of command was in him, and the soil that had yielded nothing but the unpruned growths of the wilderness for ages became responsive under his persuasive and systematic tillage, and grew rapidly into comeliness, fruitfulness and
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high value. He has now one of the most desirable farms of its magni- tude in the township of its location.
In 1872 Mr. Phillips was joined in wedlock with Miss Jane Ander- son, who is, like himself, a native of Canada. They have had three children, two of whom are living: Susan, who is the wife of E. O. Glore and resides in Livingston county, this state; and Emma, who married J. W. Gillispie, and now dwells with him in the state of Nebraska. John, the only son born in the family, has been dead a number of years.
In addition to his farming operations Mr. Phillips has been engaged for a number of years in breeding Shorthorn cattle, of which he has a registered herd of twenty-four head. He also breeds Chester White hogs on an extensive scale and with great success. All his work in both his farming and his live stock industry is conducted with the utmost care, and the results in each are the full measure of attainment possible to intelligence, industry and skill in the circumstances of the case.
In the public affairs of Linn county Mr. Phillips has long shown the most cordial and helpful interest and been a force of influence and fruitfulness. He has served as president of the township board four years, as a justice of the peace two years, and as clerk of the school district thirty-five years, and in each of these offices he has made a record highly creditable to himself and beneficial to the township. In fraternal relations he is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and in political affairs trains with the Democrat party. To all the duties of citizenship he is true and faithful, and the residents of his township regard him as one of their most sterling and representative men.
SHELDON J. MERCHANT
Born in the state of New York and reared from boyhood to man- hood in Pennsylvania, Sheldon J. Merchant, now one of the prominent and progressive farmers of Jefferson township in this county, passed all the early years of his life amid the great activities and throbbing industries of two of the most potential states of the American Union. He has passed nearly all of the last two-thirds of his years in Missouri, another great state which needs only time to put it abreast of the two in the East already mentioned, and its present pace of progress will soon do that.
Mr. Merchant was born in Cattaraugus county, New York, on
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November 2, 1843. His parents, Chauncey H. and Helen D. (Vansyle) Merchant, were also natives of New York state, and the father, who was a farmer, died in that state in 1886, after having passed the whole of his life within its borders. The mother survived him nineteen years, passing away in 1905. They were the parents of four sons and two daughters, but all are deceased except three of the sons, of whom Sheldon is the only one living in this state.
One of the sons lives in Marion, Indiana, and the other is still a resident of the state of New York. These two served in the Union army during the Civil War, one of them in the Tenth Pennsylvania and the other in the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery. Their brother Shel- don was also a Union soldier in that memorable conflict and still bears the marks of his service. He obtained his education in the district schools of Pennsylvania and was engaged in that state until 1861.
The effort of the South to secede from the Union fired him with patriotic fervor and he determined to aid in preserving the integrity of the republic at whatever cost to himself, and in the year last men- tioned enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Eleventh Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, for a term of three years. At the end of his term he was discharged, but in 1864 he enlisted again, this time in the Eighth New York Heavy Artillery, where one of his brothers was, and in November of the same year was discharged on account of disability incurred in the service.
During his life in the army Mr. Merchant took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and sev- eral others of less importance. At Cold Harbor he was shot through the leg, and this wound developed into a condition that rendered him unfit for further military duty. Before receiving it, however, he saw considerable service in the Shenandoah Valley. After his discharge from the army he returned to his old Pennsylvania home, where he remained until 1867.
In that year he came to Missouri and located first in Chariton county, removing soon afterward to Carroll county, and from there to Brookfield, where he was in the grocery trade seventeen years. At the end of that period he took up his residence on the farm he now owns, occupies and cultivates, and on which he has had his home ever since. He has found farming agreeable as a steady occupation, and by his energy, industry and good management has made it profitable.
On May 5, 1869, Mr. Merchant was married to Miss Elizabeth Riggs, a daughter of Martin and Mary J. (Eager) Riggs, who became residents of Linn county in 1865, and both died here. Mr. and Mrs.
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Merchant have had seven children, three of whom are living: Mary H., who is the wife of W. A. Thompson, of this county; Martin E., who is a prosperous Linn county farmer, and Herbert, who is also farming with profit in this county.
The father is a Republican in political faith and party member- ship, and firm in his allegiance to his political organization. He has served as township assessor, and has long been one of the reliable workers for the principles and candidates of his party in his township. Fraternally he belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, being a charter member of Brookfield Post in that organization. The mother is a member of the United Brethren church, and he also attends its services. In all departments of the public and industrial life of his township and county he is active in behalf of improvement and prog- ress, and in support of all the agencies at work in them for the moral, mental, material and social advancement of their residents he is earn- est, liberal and very helpful. The people of Linn county know his worth and esteem him in accordance with it, which gives him a high place in their regard.
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