USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 72
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80
On December 24, 1900, Mr. McGregor was married to Miss Ida Rose Burch, a daughter of D. D. and Stella (Pancost) Burch, a sketch of whom will be found in this work. Of the children born of the union four are living, Randolph Ryvers, Muriel Hope, Alberta Mar- guerite and Rubert William. The father is a devoted and serviceable member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Brookfield. He also belongs to the Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of
S. MILTON ROBINSON
705
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
America, the Woodmen of the World, the National Annuity, the Brotherhood of American Yoemen and the A. F. & A. M., and takes an active part in the proceedings of them all.
S. MILTON ROBINSON
Having passed forty-five of the seventy years of his life in this county, mingling freely with its people, taking an active part in all worthy projects for its advancement and improvement, and perform- ing with intelligence and fidelity all the duties of citizenship, S. Milton Robinson, of Brookfield township, is one of the best known and most highly esteemed farmers in the county. He is a leader, too, in his line of employment, his fine farm of 360 acres being a model of fruitful- ness and high cultivation, and his live stock business being a source of considerable addition to the commerce and mercantile influence of his township.
Mr. Robinson was born in Belmont county, Ohio, on April 7, 1840. His parents were Thomas and Martha (Kerr) Robinson, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. The father was a farmer, and passed the whole of his life in Belmont county, Ohio, where he died in 1854. The mother survived him many years and died in this county. They had six children, five of whom are living, two of the sons being residents of Linn county, Milton and his brother James W.
The paternal grandfather, Samuel Robinson, was born and reared in Ohio, and died in that state. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, but in times of peace was throughout his life a farmer. The Robinson family is of Scotch origin, the great grandfather of Milton having come to the United States from Scotland before the Revolutionary war. He located for a time in Maryland, but when the voice of the vast rich region beyond the Alleghanies from his early American home began to attract the farther East, he joined the tide of emigra- tion westward and took up his residence in Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his days and reared a family.
S. Milton Robinson grew to manhood and obtained his education in his native county. He lived with his parents on the farm and assisted in cultivating it until toward the close of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company K, Fifty-first Ohio Infantry, and was thus enabled to be in at the dying agonies of the Southern Confederacy. He did not, however, reach that stage of the momentous conflict with- out participating in some of the hardest and bloodiest fighting of the war. He was on the fateful field of Nashville, where every inch of
706
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
ground was hotly contested by each army, and went through the deluge of death at Franklin, Tennessee, besides taking part in several other engagements of moment.
In 1866 he came to Missouri and settled on the farm which is still his home. He was obliged to clear his land, break it up and literally hew his farm out of the wilderness. He has added to his first holding by subsequent purchases until he now owns 360 acres of as fine land as can be found in the county in its natural richness, and its value has been vastly augmented by the improvements he has put on it and the high state of development and productiveness to which he has brought it.
Mr. Robinson has farmed his land with great industry and skill, and so applied his efforts that every week of his labor on it has been made to tell to his advantage. During the last forty-five years he has also conducted a profitable and progressive live stock business, making a specialty of shorthorn cattle, of which he has fed and shipped one or two carloads every year to the eastern markets. His number has never fallen below one carload and seldom gone above two, he having been more concerned about supplying quality to the markets than numbers. He has also raised fifty-eight crops of grain, and general farm produce in proportion.
Mr. Robinson was married in 1902 to Mrs. Alice (King) Fruin, a native of Sanilac county, Michigan. He is a Republican in politics, loyal to his party and energetic and effective in its service, and a Presbyterian in church allegiance. He has served the congregation to which he belongs as moderator for a continuous period of thirty-five years, and his services in that capacity have been of great benefit to the church and are held in high appreciation by its members. A model farmer, an excellent citizen, a progressive live stock man, a faithful servant of his church, and deeply and practically interested in the welfare of his township and county, it is not surprising that he is held in high esteem by the people all around him, and is estimated at his real worth, for his life has been an open book before them with no stain on any of its pages.
EVAN S. THARP (Deceased)
What is now Linn county was practically almost all a wilderness when Evan S. Tharp, late of Clay township, took up his residence within its present borders. But he was not ignorant of the conditions
707
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
which faced him on becoming one of its early pioneers in 1844. For he had made a previous trip to this region from his home in Kentucky on horseback and carefully looked over the ground before deciding to locate here. He knew when he came that for years his residence must be on the frontier and subject to the privations, hardships, ardu- ous toil and constant dangers involved in such a situation. And it is greatly to his credit that he confronted all the conditions with stead- fast courage and endured whatever they brought with resolute forti- tude. It is also a tribute to the sturdy and sterling character of his manhood that he triumphed over his difficulties and won a substantial success in his new home.
Mr. Tharp was born in Marion county, Kentucky, on August 11, 1820, and was a son of John and Chinese Tharp, who died in the Blue Grass State after creditable records of usefulness extended over many years of steady industry and fidelity to duty. They were frontier residents also, for what Linn county, Missouri, was when he settled in it, Marion county, Kentucky, was in their day. Their son Evan was therefore inured to the requirements of pioneer life when he came to this county, and by that very fact was a valuable addition to its early population and a forceful factor in its early history.
He grew to manhood in his native state and for a number of years after leaving school followed farming there. But the West had a per- suasive voice for him, and so, as has been noted, he made a trip to northern Missouri on horseback, which was an undertaking of magni- tude in those days. His purpose was to see for himself what promise of advancement in a worldly way this region might show. He was pleased with the outlook, and in 1844 came again, bringing his family with him with the design of making his home here for the remainder of his days.
He took up a tract of 120 acres of government land in Clay town- ship, built a log cabin on it in the crude fashion of the time, with a chimney constructed of sticks and mud and other features in keeping, and began to clear and cultivate his land. It was all timber when he took possession of it, but it did not remain so long. He worked with industry and perseverance, and soon the forest depths, which for ages had echoed only the terrifying sounds of wild beasts and birds of prey, began to resound with the more agreeable notes of the wood- man's ax and their loud consequent as the wood monarchs, rank after rank, came crashing to the earth.
He cleared his land, developed it into a good farm and lived on it until his death, which occurred in 1893. It is the farm on which his
.
708
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
widow is still living. She also was a native of Kentucky, born in 1826, and they were married in that state. Her maiden name was Josephine F. Conder. They became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living: John H., Martha A., James H., Margaretta E., Robert L., Cassie A., William W., Richard A., Mary C. and Sarah E., twins. During the Civil War the father served in the Missouri state militia. His church connection was with the Baptist sect and fraternally he belonged to the Order of Odd Fellows. In his young manhood all the people esteemed him for his strong character, sterling manhood and useful citizenship; and in his later years they revered him for what he had done for the improvement and development of his township and all the other services of his citizenship.
SAMUEL SHOUP
Having been a resident of Linn county for forty-four years, Sam- uel Shoup, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Parson Creek township, is properly classed as a pioneer and is held in the highest esteem as such, and is respected by all classes of the county's population also on account of his high character, sterling worth and enterprising and progressive citizenship, which he has made service- able to his township and the county in general from his youth, or dur- ing the whole time of his residence here.
Mr. Shoup was born in Delaware county, Indiana, on January 7, 1853, and is a son of John and Frances (Shoup) Shoup, natives of Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, where the mother was born in 1811 and the father in 1812. The father was a farmer and moved from his native state to Indiana about 1830. He secured a farm in Delaware county on a lease and remained on it until 1866, clearing it for cultiva- tion and making a first rate farm of it. In the year last mentioned he moved his family to Henry county, Illinois, and in 1868 came from there to Linn county, Missouri, where the parents passed the remain- der of their lives.
On his arrival in this county the father bought the farm on which he died in 1899, having survived the mother twenty years, her death having occurred in 1879. They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters, all of whom have passed away but Samuel, his brother John and their sister, Mrs. Martha Cole, who resides in Illinois. One son, Martin, died in the Union army during the Civil War. He served in the Twenty-fifth Indiana Infantry. Their grand-
709
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
father, John Shoup, was born in Pennsylvania and died on a farm he moved to in Indiana, a number of years prior to his demise, and which he cultivated with all his force until his end came, leaving a creditable record for industry, thrift and fidelity to duty in both states, and being highly respected wherever he was known in each.
Samuel Shoup passed his early life in Indiana and Illinois, and was fifteen years old when his parents moved to this state and county. He began his education in the primitive schools, with their log houses and slab benches, in Indiana, continued it in similar temples of learn- ing in Illinois and completed it in schools of the same scope and equip- ment here. He remained at home with his father and assisted him in the work on the farm until the death of the latter, and then cared for and farmed the homestead ten years longer for the benefit of the family that was left.
In 1909 he moved to the farm he now owns and lives on, and since then has devoted his attention exclusively to that. He is a skillful farmer and conducts his operations with both energy and intelligence, keeping abreast with the progress in agriculture and giving his town- ship a good example of up-to-date theories and methods and strong proof of their value. He is also zealous in his support of all public improvements and every undertaking designed to promote the general well being of the county.
On January 16, 1889, Mr. Shoup was married to Miss Clara B. Cassidy, a daughter of George M. and Mary E. (Lee) Cassidy, who became residents of Linn county in 1871. The mother is still living, but the father died a number of years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Shoup have no children of their own, but are rearing an adopted son whose name is Robert C., and who is now 15 years old. Mr. Shoup belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and Mrs. Shoup is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Their genuine worth and usefulness as citizens have given them a strong hold on the regard and good will of the people in all parts of the county.
:
HOUSTON LUYSTER
Although a native of Mercer county, Kentucky, where he was born on August 16, 1843, Houston Luyster, one of the prosperous and enter- prising farmers of Clay township, has lived in Linn county fifty-six years and has all the time been connected with its farming industry except for three years of the Civil War, during which he was in the
.
710
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
Union army, fighting and doing detached duty in defense of the Union. He has been industrious and frugal, making every week of his time tell to his advantage, and by his energy and progressiveness has won a substantial competence for life from the ready and responsive soil on which he has worked.
Mr. Luyster is a son of Abram and Nancy (Utley) Luyster, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Kentucky. The father was a farmer and came to Missouri in 1854, locating for two years in Cass county and at the end of that period changing his resi- dence to Linn county, and buying a tract of wild land one mile south of the farm which his son Houston now owns and cultivates. He cleared and improved his uncultivated domain, as it was when he took possession of it, and passed the remainder of his days on it, dying in 1881. The mother died in 1888.
They had five sons and five daughters, and of the ten children four of the sons and three of the daughters are living. The parents were leading members of the Presbyterian church, and faithful in their duties toward it. The grandfather, John Luyster, came to this country in company with his two brothers. He lived for a time in the state of New York, then moved to Kentucky, where he died well advanced in years.
Houston Luyster was eleven years of age when his parents brought him to Missouri and thirteen when the family moved to Linn county. He obtained his education in the primitive schools of his boy- hood and youth, which were housed in crude log structures and very limited in their range of instruction and facilities. He remained at home with his parents until 1862, when he enlisted in Company H, Second Provisional cavalry regiment, went out of that into Company A, Forty-second Missouri volunteer infantry, for a term of three years. His term of enlistment took him through the bloody and disastrous conflict, but as he was on detached duty most of the time he did not see a great deal of field service. He took part, however, in the battle of Bald Knob, Tennessee, in addition to a number of minor engagements.
After the war Mr. Luyster returned to Linn county and bought the farm in Clay township which he has ever since occupied, and which he has greatly improved in appearance and condition, adding a great deal to its attractiveness and value, and raising it to a high standard of productiveness. No effort has been omitted on his part to make his farm a first rate one, and, as he has given it close study and the most
711
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
careful attention, his purpose has been achieved with entire and grati- fying success.
On the 31st of August, 1873, Mr. Luyster was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Tharp, a daughter of Allen and Emeline Tharp. Three children have been born of the union, all of whom are living. They are: James W., a Linn county farmer; Estella M., who is the wife of W. P. Brinkley; and Ethel, who married with Edward Stephenson and has her home at Brookfield, Missouri. The mother of these chil- dren died in 1907. The father is a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has always shown a warm and helpful interest in the affairs of the township and county in which he lives, and is everywhere regarded as a highly useful, enterprising and serviceable citizen, and is universally esteemed as such.
CHRISTIAN HARTER
The son of a pioneer of Missouri and himself an early arrival in the state, coming to Caldwell county with his parents when he was but two years old and to Linn county when he was twenty-two, Christian Harter of Clay township, where he has for over half a century been engaged in farming and helping to build up and develop the county, has lived long and creditably among this people, and now in his declin- ing years there is not one that does not do him reverence for his genu- ine worth and his extended and valuable services to this region and its residents.
Mr. Harter was born in Richland county, Ohio, on April 6, 1837, and is a son of Christian and Catherine (Crouse) Harter, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1805. He grew to manhood in Virginia and operated Harper's Ferry over the Potomac river for a number of years. At an early day in the history of Ohio he moved to that state, making the trip with teams, literally through the wilderness. He secured a tract of timber land which he cleared; then, in 1839, again took up his course west- ward, coming to Missouri and locating in Caldwell county. There he bought a half-section of wild land, on which he lived and labored ten years, being accidentally killed in 1849 by the overturning of his sleigh. The mother died one year later.
Their offspring numbered eight, six sons and two daughters. Two of the sons and one of the daughters are living. The father was a great hunter of deer, and the old rifle with which he did such excellent
712
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
execution is still in the possession of his son Christian. But his rifle was not used only for hunting wild game. He used it with effect in the Mormon war waged in Caldwell and Daviess counties, and Indians, too, if they were hostile and disturbed the whites, sometimes fell before his deadly aim, as there was at times no temporizing with them, and the general safety demanded that swift and summary punish- ment be meted out to the irreconcilables.
Christian Harter of this sketch was but two years old when his parents brought him to Missouri. He was reared in Caldwell county to the age of twenty-two and obtained what education he was able to secure in the humble and limited country schools near his home. They were kept in log cabins, furnished with slab benches and the rest of their equipment was in keeping with their shelter and furnishings. But Mr. Harter had no other educational facilities, for the shadow of death darkened his boyhood, his father being killed when the son was but twelve years old and the mother dying when he was but thirteen.
In 1861 he moved to Linn county and bought a tract of wholly unimproved and uncultivated land. On this he put up a small log dwelling and began the arduous work of breaking up his land and getting it under cultivation. In 1862 he joined the provisional militia of the state under Colonel De Graw, and in this organization he served one hundred and nineteen days, but was engaged most of the time in guard duty. Since the war he has been continuously engaged in farm- ing on what was once an unbroken expanse of wilderness but which he has transformed into an excellent farm.
Mr. Harter was married on May 15, 1859, to Miss Mary C. Tolson, a daughter of Benjamin and Catherine (Tyre) Tolson. Her father was a soldier in the Mexican War, enlisting at Linneus, and died in the service. Mr. and Mrs. Harter have eight children: John W .; Eliza J., the widow of the late John Taylor; George Edward, a sketch of whom follows this account of his father's life; Mary E., who is the wife of R. S. Randall; Julia I., who is the wife of W. G. Randall; Flora M .; Rosa L .; and Nettie C., who is the wife of E. L. Pittman. All the members of the family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. The father is one of the oldest and most revered members of that fast-fad- ing band of hardy pioneers who laid the foundations of civilization in this part of the state of Missouri. He is well known throughout the county and is highly esteemed by all classes of its citizens, as he is in other parts of the state where he is known.
George E. Harter, a son of Christian and Mary C. (Tolson) Harter, was born in Linn county on August 8, 1868. He was reared and edu-
313
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
cated here and has farmed and taught school in the county for four- teen years, and has been successful in both occupations, being highly regarded as a farmer and held in general esteem as a progressive and capable teacher, industrious and enterprising in his work of all kinds and faithful in performing it at all times.
On September 12, 1889, he was united in marriage with Miss Jen- nie Agin, a daughter of Lewis and Mary A. (Ballington) Agin, who became residents of Linn county about 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Harter had two children: Their son Joy H., who married Miss Elizabeth M. Frisbie of St. Louis, and their other son, Edward L., who is living at home with his father. The mother died on May 8, 1907. The father is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America in fraternal circles, and his religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church.
NATHANIEL G. RANSOM
One of the most extensive and best known farmers in Linn county is Nathaniel G. Ransom who makes his home in Brookfield, and from that city as a base of operations superintends the cultivation of his farms and all that pertains to them. But his extensive farming opera- tions do not furnish his only title to notice and consideration. He is also one of the most enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citi- zens of the county, and in all parts of it he stands high in public esti- mation on this account, justifying his rank by his activity in behalf of every commendable undertaking for the improvement and further development of the locality in which his interests lie.
Mr. Ransom is a native of Cayuga county, New York, where his life began on September 20, 1852. His father, whose name was also Nathaniel, was born in Vermont and his mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Wood, in Rhode Island. The father was a farmer and followed his chosen occupation in the state of New York until 1867, when he came to Missouri to live and bought 720 acres of land in Linn and Chariton counties, 400 acres of the tract having been somewhat cultivated and improved. He then moved his family here, and he lived on and farmed his land until the burden of years induced him to give up all active pursuits. He died in Linn county in 1898, at the age of ninety years. The mother died in 1888, aged seventy-five. They had four sons, Benjamin and Nataniel; also Joseph and Robert, deceased. The two last named died in New York. Benjamin died a number of
714
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
years ago and was a prominent farmer of this county at the time of his death, leaving the subject of this brief memoir and his son, Nathaniel G., Jr., the only male representatives of the family living at this time (1912).
The paternal grandfather, Robert Ransom, was a native of Ver- mont and a farmer in the state of New York, where he died at a good old age. The maternal grandfather, Henry Wood, was born at Bristol, Rhode Island, and became a sea captain. He began following the sea early and kept it up for a great many years, going to all parts of the world where commerce leads, and coming in contact with people of all climes and tongues. He lived to the age of ninety-six years.
Nathaniel G. Ransom grew to the age of fourteen in his native state and then came with his parents to Linn county, Missouri, where he has ever since resided. After completing in the schools of this county the education he began in that of his nativity, he started in life for himself as a farmer. He has adhered to the vocation of his fore- fathers in spite of many temptations to engage in other business, and his success and the increasing magnitude of his operations prove the wisdom of his choice. He now owns 1,400 acres of land, all of good quality, and the greater part of it under cultivation. He is a vigorous and skillful farmer, and so manages his work that he makes every acre he has in tillage yield its full tribute of recompense for the care and labor bestowed upon it, and all his holdings keep pace with the prog- ress in agriculture. In addition he is a large stockholder in the Brown- lee Bank.
Having such large and valuable interests in the county, it is inevi- table that Mr. Ransom should take an active part in its public affairs. Without regard to political claims or party needs, he is energetic and effective in helping to control them for the best interests of the people and the enduring welfare of the county and state. The only political office he has held is that of membership in the board of aldermen in Brookfield, and he was chosen to this more by the activity of his friends and the progressive people of the community generally than through any effort or desire of his own. He gave the city good service in the office, and they have shown their appreciation of it.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.