USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 63
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v Joseph J. Littrell was reared in this county and obtained what edu- cation he could get in the primitive schools kept in the country districts during his boyhood. They were but crude in method and limited in scope at the best, and would fall far behind the requirements of the present day, but they prepared a race of sturdy and heroic men and women for the battle of civilization against the untamed forces of the wilderness, in which man, beast and Nature herself seemed leagued in opposition to the progress of mankind and in defense of the treasures of the wild from possession and use by the on-coming hosts of conquest and improvement.
. After leaving school Mr. Littrell engaged in farming on a large scale and continued his operations in this line until his death. During the Civil war he served in the state militia, and for many years he was one of the most active and servicable members of the Christian church in this part of Missouri. Throughout the county he was well and favor- ably known as a wide-awake and progressive farmer, a far-seeing and public spirited citizen, a man of high character and a true representa- tive of the best citizenship of the county and state, and his reputation in these respects extended far beyond the limits of the county on all sides.
Mr. Littrell was married twice. His first union was formed in 1851 and was with Miss Mary A. Barbee, a daughter of Captain Barbee, who
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enlisted a company in this county for the Mexican war. They had two children, one of whom grew to maturity and married Benjamin Wolf, but is now dead. Her mother died in 1857, and in 1859 the father married a second wife, uniting himself on this occasion with Miss Mary E. Alexander, a daughter of Spencer Alexander, a pioneer of Living- ston county who located there in 1837 and passed the remainder of his life there.
By his second marrige Mr. Littrell became the father of nine chil- dren, all of whom are living but one. They are: James S., William B., John E., Susan A., Ida B., Bertha E., Daisy M. and Robert E. Susan is now the wife of Henry J. Barnes and resides in Livingston county ; Ida married M. C. Arnold and has her home in Hastings, Neb., Bertha is now Mrs. H. M. Tompkins, and her home is in Wheeling, Mo., and Daisy is the wife of H. P. Smith and a resident of Johnson, Ark. The sons are engaged in farming and raising live stock for the most part, and are men of influence in their several communities. Their mother is still living and maintains her home on the old homestead where she is held in universal esteem as one of the most estimable and serviceable matrons known to the residents of that neighborhood, and this judg- ment of her worth is fully and cordially indorsed wherever else the peo- ple have knowledge of her.
JOHN P. PALMER
The subject of this brief but suggestive life story has been a resident of Linn county, Missouri, throughout the last thirty years, and during the whole of that period has been of valuable assistance in promoting the progress and improvement of this part of the state in material and all other ways. He is modest and unostentatious in his demeanor and manner of living, but a man of genuine merit, warmly interested in the welfare and further development of the region of his home, and firmly and fervently loyal to his country in every respect. The people in all parts of the county recognize his worth and value his citizenship among them.
Mr. Palmer was born in Washington county, Ohio, on April 27, 1856. His parents, Pemberton and Susan C. (Hardy) Palmer, were also born in that state, and the father is still living there. The mother died there a number of years ago. Five of their children grew to maturity, but their son John is the only one of the number who is
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living in Missouri. The father is now well advanced in years and prac- tically retired from active pursuits. In his days of activity he was a man of high standing and influence in his locality, prominent in the councils of the Republican party, of which he is still a loyal and zeal- ous member, and served as a county commissioner and justice of the peace for many years.
The grandfather, Jewitt Palmer, moved from his native state of Massachusetts to Ohio when the state was young and in the distant West. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and in times of peace was an industrious and prosperous farmer. He died in Ohio long after that state ceased to be new and far to get to, and when he was himself well advanced in the number of his years and the length and usefulness of his creditable career.
John P. Palmer attained his manhood in his native county and secured what education he was able to get in its district schools. His opportunities in this respect were limited, as the exigencies of the farm work required his aid in its performance from a very early age. Even before he reached his majority he began farming in Ohio on his own account, and he continued his operations in this line of endeavor in that state until 1882, when he yielded to a desire he had long felt and came West.
In the year last mentioned he located in this county and bought the land which is now his farm, and which he has raised to generous productiveness by his skillful and systematic farming, and made a very desirable rural home by the valuable improvements he has put upon it. Its development and improvement has not been spasmodic, but steady and according to a well managed system, and the results are in accordance with the good judgment that arranged for them and the persistent industry and application that has wrought them out.
Mr. Palmer was married on August 8, 1877, to Miss Kate Beck, who is also a native of Ohio. They have six children: Philip E., Pem- berton G., May, John, Joseph and Ruth. May is now the wife of W. H. Duncan and lives in Linn county. Ruth still abides with her parents. The father is a justice of the peace, and has occupied the office for a number of years. He is a Democrat in political relations, but has never been a particularly active partisan, although always true and loyal to his political convictions. He stands by the locality of his home at all times and does all he can to advance the well being of its residents. In religious affiliation he and his wife are members of the Church of Christ, and both work zealously for its enduring welfare.
W. G. BECKETT
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W. G. BECKETT
This gentleman has the distinction of being the pioneer merchant of Purdin and one of the most active and potential forces in building and developing the town to its present size and importance. When he located there and opened the first store in the place or vicinity, the site was marked by a saw mill, but there were no roads leading to it, and the whole of its history was yet to be made. Mr. Beckett entered into the spirit of the requirements and has aided greatly in meeting them and making the most of an unpromising situation. His modest little store has expanded into the imposing establishment and large trade of the Purdin Mercantile Company, of which he was the founder and has been the president from the beginning of its successful and profitable career.
Mr. Beckett was born in Linn county and is a native of Benton township, where his life began on January 5, 1857. His parents were James and Elizabeth (Trumbo) Beckett, the former a native of Howard county, Missouri, and the latter of Kentucky. John Beckett, father of James and grandfather of W. G., was among the first settlers in the neighborhood of Linneus, having come to this locality about 1831. He proved himself to be a man of great energy and fine constructive capacity, redeeming seven farms from the wilderness and improving them to an advanced state of productiveness, and also building a num- ber of bridges which were greatly needed for the convenience of the people and the development of the region. He died in Chariton county, leaving eloquent monuments behind him to declare his usefulness and worth by their extent and the timeliness of their construction, and many of his large family of fine children to mourn their bereavement and follow his illustrious example in usefulness to the communities of. their residence and service to the people living in them.
James Beckett, the father of W. G., was a farmer and also a dealer in tobacco in considerable quantities, buying his supplies in Linneus and distributing them to his customers in the stores near and far and to some extent in the large markets. He passed the whole of his life in this county, where he died in 1874. His first wife died in 1857, and some time afterward he married her sister as his second wife. She bore him two children, making him the father of five in all.
W. G. Beckett grew to manhood on his father's farm and obtained his education at schools in Linneus. After leaving school he conducted the operations of the family homestead until 1877. He then went to Illinois and during the next two years attended a business college in
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Springfield in that state. In 1883 he located where Purdin now stands and erected a building in which he opened a general store. The site for a town had been surveyed and laid out ten years before, but there was nothing but a saw mill, as has been stated, and railroad station to show any signs of progress toward a town, and there were no established roads to the place.
Mr. Beckett, however, was not discouraged. He had come to the locality to do business and he determined to remain and accomplish his purpose. He carried on his store alone one year, and then took in two partners, H. H. Street and James Lee. Not long afterward he bought the interests of these gentlemen in the business, and again conducted it on his own account for a time. In 1895 he organized the Purdin Mer- cantile Company, with a capital stock of $30,000 and himself as pres- ident of the corporation.
With a view to enlarging his business he erected in 1893 an addi- tion to the store house in which his enterprise is now conducted, the original structure having been occupied by him some years as a tenant. When he did this he had also in view the establishment of a bank in the town, and in reorganizing his business after building the addition to his store he gave up the drug department in order to make room for the bank. He carried out his purpose in 1894 by organizing the Bank of Purdin, a private banking institution with a capital of $5,000, which he conducted in his store until 1900, when the new bank building was put up, on the reorganization of the bank. Mr. Beckett was the first president of this institution and is still one of its directors.
Mr. Beckett is a gentleman of extensive property and has been a forceful factor in the public life of the community. In addition to his extensive mercantile interests he owns and operates several farms in Linn county and some also in the Red river valley in Texas. He was also agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Kansas City Railroad for a period of thirteen years, and has been mayor of the village and town- ship treasurer, and has given the community good service in other posi- tions of importance. He is a Democrat politicallly, and while not an active partisan is loyal to his party and renders it good service on all occasions.
On November 19, 1879, Mr. Beckett was united in marriage with Miss Sarah J. Martin, a native of Illinois. They have two children: Their son, Craig W., who is engaged in business with his father, and their daughter, Bessie M., who is still living in San Francisco. All the members of the family are widely known and stand high in the regard and esteem of the people throughout the whole extent of their
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acquaintance. In their home communities they have hosts of friends and are universally and deservedly popular. The father belongs to the Elks and the Odd Fellows, and is a member of the Christian church.
JOSEPH T. DUNCAN
Seeking nothing in life but the faithful discharge of every duty that lies before him and to make the most of his opportunities for advancement; caring nothing for prominence among men and the empty show of high social alliances or political elevation and influence; and altogether averse to the cares and responsibilities of public office, Joseph T. Duncan of Parsons Creek township has steadfastly adhered to the occupation with which he began his career, and has made a grat- ifying success of it.
His highest ambition in a material way has been to be a good farmer and get from his land proper returns for his labor, while mak- ing it a comfortable and attractive home for his family and a pleasant resort for the numerous friends of his household. That he has done this the united testimony of the whole population of his township would establish, and the condition and appearance of his farm would prove without any other evidence. It is a silent but most effective preacher of the benefits of forecast, calculation, thorough knowledge and faithful application, and its improvements show judgment and good taste in their construction and arrangement.
Mr. Duncan was born on the old family homestead in this county on October 7, 1871. He is a brother of John H. Duncan, in a sketch of whom elsewhere in this volume the history of the family is briefly told. He was reared and educated in Linn county, and worked at home with his father until he reached the age of twenty years. He then began farming on his own account and has been doing this ever since with profit to himself and decided benefit to his own land and the township in general.
The farm which he now owns, lives on and cultivates comprises 148 acres, is very fertile and yields abundantly, responding with great readiness and liberality to the persuasive hand of its skillful husband- man. He has enriched it with good buildings, well-made fences and other necessary improvements, and in all respects made a model farm of it, and has done all this himself, for the land was unimproved and uncultivated when he took possession of it, and still almost in the condi- tion in which the wild men of the forest left it when, like a receding
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wave, they fell away before the onward march of civilization and progress.
On April 18, 1894, Mr. Duncan was united in wedlock with Miss Susie A. Curtis, a daughter of Ashbill S. and Sarah (Thorne) Curtis, highly respected residents of Linn county for many years. The father, who died in this county in 1909, was born at Hobart, Lake county, Indiana, and was an early pioneer in California. The mother, who is still living here, is a native of Kentucky, but became a resident of Missouri at an early age.
Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have had five children, four of whom are living, their sons Thomas G., Donnie A., Joseph L. and Morgan R., and all of them are still members of the parental family circle. The par- . ents are members of the Christian church and zealous in helping to promote its interests and add to the value of its work for the good of the community. The father also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to his farming operations he carries on an active and profitable industry in raising and feeding live stock. He is favor- ably known and well esteemed throughout the county as an enterpris- ing and public-spirited citizen, an excellent and progressive farmer and a man of high character and commendable demeanor in all the relations of life.
JOHN H. DUNCAN
For sixty-two years the Duncans, father and son, have lived in Linn county and aided in pushing forward its progress and develop- ment; and for three-quarters of a century three generations of them have been residents of the state of Missouri, and each has turned a portion of the wilderness into productive farming land and made it fruitful with all the products of an advancing and ascending civiliza- tion. The immediate subject of this brief review, John H. Duncan, is now one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Parsons Creek township, following the vocation of his father and his grandfather, and adhering to it from his youth to the present time without interruption, and during the whole period in this county and the neighborhood in which he now lives.
Mr. Duncan was born in this county on January 13, 1858, and is a son of Thomas Garland and Mildred (Gooch) Duncan, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of this state. The father was brought to Boone county, Missouri, by his parents in 1837, when lie was but four years old. His parents cleared and improved a farm from the wilder-
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ness in Boone county and died on it well advanced in years. Their son Thomas G. grew to manhood on that farm, and from it went forth as a volunteer in the Mexican War to aid in defending the honor of his country from the aggressions of a haughty foe.
In 1849 he crossed the plains to California in company with two of his brothers, making the trip with ox teams. On his return to this state the next year he located in Linn county, and following the exam- ple of his father, took up a tract of wild land which he cleared and made a good farm of, living on it until his death in 1902. The mother was a daughter of Gideon Gooch, one of the very early pioneers of this county. She and her husband were the parents of fifteen children, six sons and nine daughters, and seven of the fifteen are still living. The mother died in 1894. Both parents were prominent in the Christian church in this section and very zealous in its service. They helped to organize its first congregation here and to build its first house of wor- ship in this locality.
John H. Duncan was reared on his father's farm and obtained his education in the country school in its neighborhood. He assisted in clearing the farm and splitting rails for its necessary fences. At the age of twenty-one he began farming for himself, and has been doing this ever since. He studies his business and applies the knowledge he gains to his operations, keeping pace with the progress and improve- ment in methods, and has the reputation of being one of the most sys- tematic and successful farmers in his township, and one of the most enterprising and progressive.
On November 9, 1879, Mr. Duncan was married to Miss Mary Howell, a daughter of Lilburn L. Howell, one of the pioneers of Linn county, whose history is briefly recounted on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Duncan have one child, their daughter Ethel, who is now the wife of Brainard Harvey and resides on the home farm. The parents belong to the Christian church and are ardent workers for its best interests in the congregation in which they hold their membership.
Mr. Duncan has witnessed the marvelous changes that have been made in the appearance and condition of Linn county, and has helped materially to bring them about. He has always been a warm advocate of progress and improvement, and has given positive proofs of his convictions in this respect by his earnest and serviceable support of all undertakings designed to keep up and quicken the advance. He is one of Linn county's most sturdy, sterling and useful citizens, and among the men most highly esteemed by its residents of every class and condition.
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JOSEPH BOTTS
Belonging to one of the oldest families in Linn county, a family 4. that has been among those who have longest demanded tribute from its fruitful soil in return for skillful and systematic labor bestowed upon it, and himself one of the leading farmers of Parsons Creek town- ship, Joseph Botts is deserving, in the fullest measure and from every point of view, of the elevated position he holds in the regard and good will of the people of his township and the residents of the county throughout its extent.
Mr. Botts is a native of Howard county, this state, where he was born on January 25, 1848. He is a son of Seth and Elizabeth (Littrell) Botts, the former born in Tennessee and the latter of the same nativity as himself. The father was born on January 1, 1786, and grew to man- hood in his native state, and there contracted his first marriage, which was with a Miss Hicks, who died in Missouri. They came to this state by the river route at an early date in its history and located in Howard county, where they were extensively engaged in farming for a number of years. The father was a soldier in the War of 1812, and took part in the battle of New Orleans, in which the flower of the British army, crowned with laurels of victory from many a bloody field in the wars of continental Europe, went down to ignominious defeat under the unerr- ing rifles of the backwoodsmen of America, whose guns were pointed by ideas, charged with the munitions of liberty and fired in behalf of the hopes of mankind, and therefore never missed their mark, or were grounded at the feet of a conquering foe.
v In 1834 the parents moved their family to Linn county and took up a wild tract of government land along Locust creek, and later the father added to his domain other tracts of value. Early in the forties he built a grist mill on Locust creek, which was the first structure of the kind in this part of the state, and for a number of years supplied the people with flour and its other products for many miles around it. A portion of the old mill dam is still to be seen; and although it is now, like mad old King Lear, crowned with the ivies and weeds of forgetful- ness and grief, it is still a memorial of the primitive period in this region, when it was a force of great consequence in progress and development.
The father's second marriage, which united him to the mother of his son Joseph, was solemnized in this county, and by it he became the father of three sons and three daughters, of whom Joseph and three of his sisters are the only ones living. The sisters are: Nancy, now the
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wife of Judge Thomas Evans of Meadville; Sarah E., the widow of J. H. Sidebottom, a sketch of whom will be found in this work; and Mary F., who is the wife of Wm. Geeren, and lives in this county. The father died on September 17, 1872, and the mother on September 24, 1907. They belonged to the Baptist church and were leaders of that sect in this part of Missouri, holding services in their house before the sect had a church edifice here. The father was an official in the church for many years.
Joseph Botts grew to manhood in this county and obtained his edu- cation in the public schools and in private schools kept at his father's house. From his youth he has been engaged in farming and in over- seeing farm work; and although he has had many temptations to follow other pursuits, he has steadfastly adhered to this, and by his industry, thrift and good management, he has made it profitable to himself and beneficial to his township and county throughout all the years of his connection with it.
v On December 20, 1866, he was married to Miss Almeda Lander, a native of Macon county, Missouri, and the daughter of Barney and May (Powell) Lander. Five children have been born of the union, all of whom are living: Virgil, who is a Linn county farmer; Lola, who is now the wife of Charles Harvey, and also resides in this county; Maude, who married with William Goff, and has her home in Linn county; Modie, who is the wife of Frank Bowen of Linn county; and Arlie, who is still living at home with his parents and assisting in the work on the farm.
. Looking on Linn county from an early date as his permanent home, Mr. Botts has always been deeply and intelligently interested in its progress and improvement and the welfare of its residents. He has been earnest and serviceable in support of all good agencies at work among its people, and in pushing every worthy project for its advance- ment. He is held in high estimation throughout the county as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, of strict integrity, strong char- acter and genuine local patriotism of the finest quality. The people in all parts of the county regard him as one of their best and most representative citizens.
LILBURN L. HOWELL
Occupying the honorable and always revered position of a pioneer in this county, although a native of it, and being a connecting link join- ing the life of the present day, with its advanced development, rapid progress and long list of notable achievements already in its garner as
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a basis of further strides of development in this region, to the remote period of the county's history when the dawn of civilization was just breaking and beginning to flood the thirsty East with the golden radi- ance of its promise, Lilburn L. Howell of Clay township is a subject of unusual interest to the biographer as well as a man of much more than ordinary consequence in the estimation of the public.
Mr. Howell was born in this county on February 6, 1839, and is a son of William L. and Frances (Slaten) Howell, natives of Hopkins county, Kentucky, where they were reared, educated and married. The father was a farmer in his native state, but as the section of it in which lie lived was rather well settled and had all its institutions firmly established, and he longed for the freer life and larger opportunities of the frontier, he determined to seek his advancement in life in a newer and more undeveloped portion of the country.
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