USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 75
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In religious connection he and the members of his family belong to the Christian church. He is the oldest banker in Linn county in the number of years continuously devoted to the business and has been one of the most successful. In the affairs of his township and county he has always shown a very active and serviceable interest, and the people throughout the county look upon him as one of the best and most progressive and useful men among them.
PERRY MCCOLLUM
The scion of a martial family, and himself a soldier in the Civil War, even though but for a short time, it would not have been sur- prising if natural inclination had led this prominent and successful farmer of Linn county to devote himself to military life and make the trade of arms his occupation for all his years. But whatever attrac- tions the tented field, the glory of conquest, the fervor of battle and fury of the charge might have had for him in early life, if they had any, they did not win his mature judgment, and he has steadily and zeal-
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ously devoted himself to the safer and more profitable pursuits of peaceful industry.
Mr. McCollum is a native of Clay county, Kentucky, born on March 20, 1835. His parents, Daniel and Lydia (Johnson) McCollum, were also natives of the Blue Grass state and passed the whole of their lives within its borders. The father was born on December 22, 1806, and died at the age of seventy-four years. The mother passed away in 1884, aged seventy-six. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters. Three of the sons served in the Union army during the sectional strife that almost tore our country asunder in the awful years of 1861 and 1865.
The grandfather, David McCollum, was born and reared in South Carolina, and in early manhood emigrated to Kentucky among the pioneers of that state. He afterward became a pioneer of Missouri also, locating in this state and Linn county in 1847. He was a captain in a Kentucky regiment in the War of 1812, but during the greater part of his life he was a farmer, and as such he left the mark of his plowshare in the soil of three states of the Union. He died in Linn county at the age of ninety-six.
Perry McCollum was reared to the age of twenty in his native state of Kentucky, and at that age started out to make his own way in the world. His first design was to find a place suited to his desires for his operations, and in 1855 he came to Linn county on a prospecting tour. He remained one year, and then decided to look further, but in 1857 he returned here, and here he has ever since remained. In 1864 he bought an unimproved tract of land, which he cleared as the basis of his operations and for a permanent home for himself and his family.
Having established himself on this and put it in good condition for cultivation and occupancy, he bought additional land and repeated the process on that, and then made other purchases successively until he owned at one time 700 acres, the greater part of which, however, he devoted to grazing purposes. The call to arms in 1861 to save the Union aroused his patriotism to fervor, and he enlisted in Company B, Missouri Home Guards. But he found himself unfit for military serv- ice and resigned at the end of the first month after his enrollment.
He returned to the pursuit of farming, and in that he has ever since been industriously, extensively and profitably engaged. On July 10, 1860, he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret McCollum, a daughter of Robert and Mary (Hughes) McCollum. Of the offspring from the union seven are living: Nancy, who is the wife of R. I. Gun-
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ter; Rachel, who is the wife of Dr. Nevins; Curtis B .; Minnie, who is the wife of R. J. Mccollum; Nellie, who is the wife of J. N. Wilson; Dr. Herman E., whose home is in Laramie, Wyoming, and Dr. Beverly B., who resides in Los Angeles, California.
Mr. McCollum is a Republican in political relations and loyal to . his party. But he has never sought or desired official positions of any kind. He has, however, under the persuasion of the people around him, consented to serve on occasions in several township offices and as a justice of the peace. His record in each proved that the people were wise in urging it upon him and fully vindicated their judgment and confidence in electing him to serve them in the advancement of their public interests.
The religious affiliation of Mr. McCollum and his wife is with the Methodist Episcopal church, and in fraternal life he has been a Free- mason for many years. His devotion to the interests of his church and his lodge has been constant and serviceable, and he has exemplified the teachings of both in his daily demeanor in all the relations of life. In industry he has confined himself to general farming and raising con- siderable live stock as the years have come and gone. As a farmer he is one of the leaders in Linn county. As a man and citizen he is recognized as estimable, worthy and useful in the highest degree. And as a representative of Linn county yoemanry, he is cheerfully accorded a rank among the best.
J. W. DUNCAN
An enterprising farmer in times of peace from his youth to the present time, and a gallant soldier in defense of the Union during the Civil War, J. W. Duncan of Bucklin township has furnished in his career a good illustration of the adaptability of American manhood to whatever situation may confront it and its genuine and devoted inter- est in the welfare of the country under all circumstances. He has never shirked duty in any line of endeavor and has been his own main reliance in all. His success in life is almost wholly due to his own ability and judicious use of opportunities as they have come, and all his achievements are but expressions of his native force of character sharpened and intensified by the stern but effective lessons of experience.
Mr. Duncan is a native of this state born in Franklin county on February 16, 1844. His parents, Thomas J. and Margaret (Nelson)
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Duncan, were also natives of that county, and the mother died there in 1849, when her son J. W. was but five years old.
In 1859 the father moved his family to Kansas, where he lived twenty-five years, then returned to Missouri and located in Jackson county. There he died in 1903. His sole occupation through life was farming, and this he followed wherever he lived. His father, Elijah Duncan, came to Missouri from Tennessee, and after a residence of some years in this state died in Holt county. He, also, was a farmer and prospered at the business, as did his son Thomas and as has his grandson J. W.
J. W. Duncan grew to manhood in Missouri and Kansas and attended the ordinary country schools in both states. After leaving school he began farming on his own account, putting in practice for himself the knowledge he had acquired while working at home under the direction of his father. He farmed for a time in Kansas and two years in Arkansas. When the Civil War was in progress, although he was not yet at man's estate, he enlisted in Company E, Fourth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, which helped to swell the ranks of the federal army, entering the service in this company in 1861, when he was but seventeen years of age. In 1862 he was transferred to the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, in which he served to the end of the war. He took part in thirteen engagements in all, among them the battle of Prairie Grove and Kane Hill. But, though his comrades fell at his side by the score during some of the battles, he escaped unhurt, and at the close of his military career returned to his home ready for other duties, whatever they might be in kind and however arduous in performance.
He resumed his farming operations and continued them in various places until 1895, when he located in Linn county on the farm on which he is still living and laboring to such good advantage. He is careful, up to date and progressive in his work, prudent and thrifty in his business management and far-seeing in all his calculations. As a result he has a very good and well cultivated farm, is prosperous in a material way, and stands high in the estimation of the people of his township.
Mr. Duncan was first married in 1869 and by that union became the father of ten children, all of whom are living. Their mother died in 1893, and in 1894 the father married a second wife, joining himself with Mrs. Crippen, a widow of this county. They have had three chil- dren, of whom two are living. The parents are among the most highly respected citizens of the county.
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JOSEPH VAN DYKE
Success in any enterprise or undertaking is creditable to the man who wins it, and always to be commended. But when it involves com- manding an unbroken tract of land, wild with the growth of centuries, to systematic fruitfulness, wresting from it a comfortable competence and making it one of the fruitful and attractive products of civiliza- tion, the achievement is of much more than ordinary consequence and worthy of much more than ordinary approbation and praise. Such an achievement as this is one of the claims of Joseph Van Dyke, an extensive and prosperous farmer of Parson Creek township, on the regard and approval of the people of Linn county, and further claims are shown and acknowledged in his high character as a man, his public spirit and progressiveness as a citizen and his genuine merit in every way.
Mr. Van Dyke came to Missouri and Linn county from Adams county, Illinois, in 1866, driving through with teams. He lived in Illinois ten years, having moved to that state in 1856 from Tennessee, where he was born in 1838. He attained his manhood in Illinois, and became a farmer there, and also operated a threshing outfit. He con- tinued doing this, as well as farming in this county, working the threshing outfit every fall for forty-nine years in succession without missing one.
He is a son of Richard and Lucinda (Carter) Van Dyke, also natives of Tennessee, and farmers in three states. They moved to Adams county, Illinois, in 1856, and farmed there until 1870, when they came to this state and located on a farm in Jackson county, where they died, the father in 1873 and the mother in 1874. Fourteen children, nine sons and five daughters, were born of their union, and seven of the sons and four of the daughters are living, and in their several localities and walks in life are exemplifying in a commendable way the sterling qualities of manhood and womanhood that have made the family respected wherever its members have dwelt.
The paternal grandfather of these children, Freeman Van Dyke, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and endured the hardships and privations of military service in that memorable contest from its beginning to its close. He was twice married, his second wife being Miss Polly Whittle before her union with him. He died in Tennessee, as did his widow some years later, both having attained an advanced age and being highly respected.
Joseph Van Dyke became a farmer in Illinois after leaving school,
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JOSEPH VAN DYKE
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
and he has never followed any other occupation except operating his threshing outfit with a very unusual if not an unparalleled record, as has been mentioned. When he came to Linn county in 1866, he bought 100 acres of land, and this he subsequently increased by additional purchases to 440. The land was all wild when he bought it, and with- out improvements of any kind. He has brought it to an advanced state of cultivation, erected good buildings on it, and made it one of the best farms in the township where it is located. In addition to his farming, which is of a general character, he has for a number of years been extensively engaged in raising and feeding live stock for the markets, local and general, and a very gratifying success has been won by him in both lines of his industry by his energy and good manage- ment.
Mr. Van Dyke was married on February 22, 1860, to Miss Cath- erine Manerd, a native of Illinois, and by this marriage became the father of thirteen children, five of whom are living: Alfaretta, who is the wife of Richard Coley, and resides in this county; Lucinda, who married C. Litterall, and also has her home here; Hattie, who lives in Nebraska, and is the wife of Lamont Runyan; James, a Linn county farmer, and Joseph, Jr., whose home is in Iowa. Their mother died in 1905.
Mr. Van Dyke has long taken an earnest interest and an active part in all matters of public improvement in his township and county, and is well known throughout the county in consequence of his zeal and energy in this behalf. He is also firmly fixed in the respect and regard of the people in every township for the same reason, and also because of his strict integrity, general enterprise and elevated citizen- ship. No duty to his fellowmen in the way of promoting their welfare and dealing squarely with them at all times is neglected or slighted by him, and they hold his disposition and his conduct in these respects in the highest appreciation. Linn county has no more sterling citizen, and none who enjoys or is entitled to a larger measure of esteem from the residents of the county generally.
JOHN T. GOOCH
Although always a man of peace, and devoted to the constructive and productive rather than the destructive lines of human endeavor, John T. Gooch, a pioneer of Linn county, and now one of the leading farmers of Enterprise township, has demonstrated that he can shoot when his country's safety requires the effort, and also when the needs
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of his household or the almost universal passion for hunting makes it desirable. When he came to Linn county, in his youth, the region abounded in wild game, and the supplies for the frontier tables were scant. He, with others, made up for the remoteness of this locality from the markets by free levies on the deer and wild turkeys that still roamed at will throughout the region. And when the integrity of the Union was endangered by armed resistance, he promptly shouldered his musket and marched to its defense.
Mr. Gooch is a native of Bath county, Kentucky, where his life began on January 1, 1835. His parents, Thomas S. and Rachel (Trumbo) Gooch, were also born in Kentucky, the former in Harrison county in 1810, and the latter in Bath county in 1815. The father was a farmer in his native state, and in 1848 brought what family he then had to Missouri and located on government land in Benton township, Linn county. The journey was made with teams, and consumed several weeks of wearying travel, exposure to frequent perils, and many priva- tions. And when its destination was finally reached, the conditions were found to be still full of hardship and danger.
But the parents were resolute, courageous and determined. They set to work to clear and cultivate their wild domain, and within a few years had made a comfortable and fruitful home of it. They remained on the farm until the death of the father in 1873. The mother passed away at Browning on September 15, 1885. They had seven sons and one daughter. The daughter and three of the sons are living. Three of the sons served in the Union army during the Civil War and were with Sherman in his historic and spectacular march to the sea.
The father was first a Whig and afterward a Republican in politics, and his religions affiliation was with the Christian church. The grand- father, Thomas Gooch, was a native of Virginia, a pioneer of Ken- tucky, and a renowned Indian fighter, making a glorious record in the campaigns of "Mad Anthony" Wayne, when necessity forced that dis- tinguished warrior to take the field against the ferocious hosts of the forest. He had one brother, James, who settled in Grant county, Ken- tucky. He became the father of five sons, one of whom moved to Mississippi, and was the founder of the family in that state. He died in Harrison county, Kentucky. Three of his sons became residents of Missouri. They were Thomas, William, John and James. These boys were bound out until twenty years of age to learn trades. Two of them became tanners, one a boot and shoe maker, and one a saddler. Wil- liam and John came to Missouri in 1832.
John T. Gooch was a youth of thirteen when the family came to
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this county and settled on the wild prairie of Benton township. Here he completed his limited education in the primitive schools of the time, all that were available to him, and assisted in clearing the home farm, remaining with his parents until 1856. In that year he homesteaded on his present farm, securing a portion of it at 75 cents and the rest at $1.25 an acre, although it was all prairie. He settled on it with a deter- mination to make the most he could of it, and its present condition shows that his labors have not been wasted and he has not spent his strength in vain. He has converted it into a model farm, well improved ยท with good buildings, completely equipped for its proper tillage, and brought to an advanced state of development and productiveness.
In 1858 Mr. Gooch was married to Miss Ophelia Sutherland, a daughter of William Sutherland, who came to Linn county in 1836. Two children have been born of the union: Thomas S., who died in 1884, and William P., who is living on the home farm, which he culti- vates with the skill that comes from close study and practice in applying the knowledge thus attained, backed with good judgment and reflective observation. He is accounted as a worthy successor of his father in the ranks of enterprising and progressive farmers.
In political faith and affiliation the father is a Republican. He cast his first presidential vote for John Bell, of Tennessee, in 1860. During the Civil War he served in the Missouri State Militia from 1862 to 1864, first with the rank of first lieutenant and afterward with that of captain. He saw some service in actual hostilities against the bush- whackers, but his company was mainly employed in guarding railroad and other property. He and his wife are devout and faithful members of the Christian church.
William P. Gooch, the son and only living child of John T. Gooch, was born on July 30, 1859, and has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) on his father's farm. He was educated in the country school in the neighborhood, and from his boyhood has been employed on the homestead. In 1885 he was joined in wedlock with Miss Etta Patterson, a daughter of Dr. Lewis Patterson. Four children have been born of the union, only three of whom are living: John C., Lewis B. and Paul L. The parents are members of the Christian church. They are in charge of the family homestead and devote their time to general farming. Like the elder Mr. and Mrs. Gooch, they are well esteemed throughout their township and in other parts of the county as estimable and upright persons and enterprising, progressive and public-spirited citizens. Representing the third generation of his fam- ily that has contributed to the advancement of Linn county, William
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P. Gooch worthily upholds the good name and stimulating traditions of his ancestry, and fully deserves the regard bestowed on him.
SIMON GOOD
Orphaned in his boyhood by the death of his father, and compelled at an early age to do much toward providing for his own livelihood, and also to aid in caring for his mother and other members of the family, Simon Good learned long ago the stern but useful lessons of self-reliance and the application of all his resources wisely and judi- ciously in the great struggle for advancement among men. The knowl- edge gained thereby and the habits thus formed have been his mainstay through all his subsequent years, and they have never for a day been without their value to him. He is now one of the prominent and suc- cessful live-stock men of Clay township, in this county, and he has reached his rank in this business and one of equal altitude in his farm- ing operations wholly through his own exertions, ability and excellent management.
Mr. Good's life began in Fairfield county, Ohio, on December 7, 1860. His parents, David and Lydia (Beery) Good, were natives of Pennsylvania, and of the sturdy Dutch stock of that state, which does nothing startling or spectacular, but holds on to every gain it makes in any line of effort or walk of life. The father was a farmer and miller. He took up his residence in Ohio in his young manhood, and remained there until 1865, industriously engaged in the two occupa- tions for which he had been trained.
In 1865 he moved his family to Page county, Iowa, but his work was soon afterward cut short by death in his new home. The mother survived him many years, passing away in 1904. They had two sons and two daughters, and to the care and rearing of these children she devoted herself with the resolute endurance of a Spartan woman and the inflexible fidelity to duty of a Roman matron. The children made her house their home until they reached maturity, and all worked for the common good of the family as soon as they were able to do anything of value and worthy of remuneration.
Simon Good grew to manhood in Page county, Iowa, obtaining a limited education in the country schools, and becoming a farmer even before he left school, passing his summers in farm work for the families living in the neighborhood of his home. As soon as he could get a start, he began farming on his own account, and this he continued doing in
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the county named above until 1902. In that year he moved to Missouri and bought 200 acres of uncultivated but promising land in Linn county. Out of that unbroken and untamed expanse he has made his present farm, which is one of advanced development and fruitfulness, and is improved with good buildings and other structures needed for its purposes.
For a number of years Mr. Good has been breeding Percheron horses and high-grade jacks and mules for the markets, and also han- dling hogs in large numbers, breeding and feeding enough to enable him to ship two carloads a year on an average. The work incident to the cultivation of his farm and the proper management of his live-stock industry makes up his sole occupation, and, as he gives it his whole attention and performs it with intelligence and judgment, it brings him in good returns.
He was married in 1883 to Miss Lulu Allen, a native of Andrew county, this state, where her parents were pioneers. Nine children have been born of the union, and all of them are living. They are: Andrew R., Ocie C., Mabel L., Rufus C., Allen V., Willis P., Carl E., Earl R. and Leland F. Ocie is now the wife of Lee Wilson, and Mabel is now Mrs. Sensintaffar. Both are residents of Linn county. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and take an active part in its work, as they do in every other agency and under- taking designed to promote the welfare of their township and county.
WILLIAM ROBBINS (Deceased)
The late William Robbins, of Parson Creek township, although not one of the first pioneers of Linn county, was still an early one, and one of the most valued of his day, and gave promise of being one of the most useful men in his township. But his usefulness was cut off at the early age of thirty-four years and four months by a sudden and tragic death, which gave the sparsely settled region, as it was at that time, a great shock and made all its residents deplore the fact that he could not have been spared to fully develop his plans and realize the expectations his life of ten years among the people had awakened.
Even in his short earthly career Mr. Robbins lived in many places and was active in the service of the public in them all. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on June 24, 1834, and was a son of William and Nancy (Sloan) Robbins, also natives of the Key-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
stone State. The father was a farmer, and he too met with a tragic end, dying of cholera in the same year in which his son was born. His . offspring numbered seven, four sons and three daughters. Of the seven only two of the sons are now living, one being a resident of Pennsyl- vania and the other of Iowa. The family is of English descent, but the progenitors of the American branch came to this country at an early day and several generations of it lived in Pennsylvania.
William Robbins of this sketch lived for some years in his native county and his residence was then changed to Columbiana county, Ohio, where he attained his manhood. In spite of his orphanage in his infancy, he secured a good education, first attending the district schools in his locality and afterward pursuing a full course of instruction at Duff's College in Pittsburg, from which he was graduated in 1853. He taught school until the spring of 1854, then journeyed by team overland to California, being three months making the trip, and undergoing many hardships on the way.
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