USA > Missouri > Linn County > Compendium of history and biography of Linn County, Missouri > Part 78
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They were the parents of eight sons and five daughters. Five of the sons and four of the daughters are still living. Five of the sons of the household fought in defense of the Union during the Civil War in Missouri regiments, and all made good records for valor on the field, endurance on the march and fidelity to duty in every way. The father was first a Whig and afterward a Republican in his political relations, and in religious connection both he and the mother were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The grandfather was born in Ger- many and the grandmother in England.
Their son Samuel grew from the age of eleven years to manhood in this county, and completed in its country schools the education he had begun in those of the county of his nativity. He assisted his father in clearing and breaking up the farm and drove five yoke of oxen when fourteen years old to break up the sod, and aided in its cultivation until he reached the age of twenty-one. He then set up as a farmer on his own account on the farm which he now owns and lives on. Like his father, he began on virgin soil, and like him also, he has transformed a tract of 500 acres of the wilderness into a garden and made it fruitful with all the products and fragrant with all the flowers of systematic farming in this part of the country.
In connection with his farming operations he has been engaged for a number of years in breeding high grade cattle and horses, and by his sedulous care, broad intelligence and striking enterprise in the busi- ness, has won a place among the most prominent and successful stock breeders in northeastern Missouri, as well as high rank as a progres- sive, successful and up-to-date farmer in touch with the latest develop- ments in the business, and studious of its advancement and judicious in the application of all he learns on the subject. Also educated his children in the State Normal at Kirksville, Missouri.
On March 30, 1873, Mr. Linhart was married to Miss Virginia M.
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Safreed, a native of Jackson county in what is now West Virginia. Her father, Samuel Safreed, died in that state, and her mother brought the family to Missouri and reared and educated her children in this state and died in Oklahoma, eighty-four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Lin- hart have seven children living: Edith R., who is now the wife of E. E. Harris; Alfa J., who is the wife of Dr. J. W. Dodson; Clinton C., who is a Dr. A. S. O .; Ernest W., Dr. A. S. O .; Jennie M., who married Dr. W. E. Atherton and has her home with him in Missouri; Walter T., Normal student; and Ephonzo, Dr. A. S. O.
Mr. Linhart trains with the Republican party in political affairs and is a firm believer in the principles of his party. But he is not a very active partisan, and has never been an office seeker. He and his wife are devoted members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in the congregation to which they belong he has served as superintendent of the Sunday school and his wife as a teacher in it for a number of years. Both are well known all over the county, and both are highly esteemed by all classes of its residents, the husband as a progressive, enterprising and public-spirited citizen, and the wife as a conscien- tious, industrious, intelligent and widely serviceable lady, true to her duty in every way, and a force for good in her community through her zeal and activity and the fine example of sterling womanhood which she gives to all who know her.
PHILIP FOX
To no class of its foreign population does this country owe more than to that resourceful, all-conquering and thrifty element that has come from Germany. Wherever representatives of the German people locate, in this land or any other, they make the most of their oppor- tunities and the locality in which they settle soon feels the quickening impulse of their quiet but persistent industry, and soon shows the bene- ficial results of their presence and the influence on others which they exert.
Philip Fox, one of the leading farmers and live stock men of North Salem township, this county, is a fine representative of the race, and his successful and useful career in his home locality is strong proof of the sturdiness and fruitfulness of the race to which he belongs by nativity and training. He was born in Germany near the Rhine on November 26, 1852, and there, also, his parents, George P. and Ann E. (Kuhn) Fox, first saw the light of this world and passed the whole of
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their lives. The father was a farmer there and prospered in his busi- ness according to the standards of the country, and, at the end of long lives of toil and fidelity to every duty, there he and his wife laid down their trust and were gathered to their fathers, the descendants of many generations of residents in the neighborhood. They were the parents of one son and two daughters, but their son Philip is the only one of their offspring living in the United States.
Philip Fox grew to the age of seventeen in his native land and learned the baker's trade there. In 1869 he went to London, and there he worked at his trade until 1872. In that year he came to the United States and journeyed westward to this state, taking up his residence in Shelby county, where he passed five years working at his trade at intervals, but on farms most of the time, and then spent three years in Adair county in the same occupations, not making any considerable amount in the way of wages, but working hard, living frugally and saving his earnings for a more ambitious and productive course in life.
In 1880 he came to Linn county and bought a tract of railroad land in North Salem township, and from the service of others he at once transferred his energies to the promotion of his own welfare, breaking up his wild purchase and making it productive. He has improved his farm with good buildings and fences, cultivated it carefully, wisely and energetically, and made it all pay tribute to his enterprise and industry. As he prospered he made additional purchases until at one time he owned 490 acres, a large part of which is still in his possession. On this land he has followed general farming extensively, and has also given attention to feeding live stock for the markets with success and on a considerable scale.
On May 8, 1878, Mr. Fox was married to Miss Mary F. Thudium, a daughter of Juhn G. and Christina (Straus) Thudium, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. One child has been born of the union, a daughter named Annie D., who is now the wife of H. C. Spencer, an esteemed farmer of Linn county and one of the leading citizens of the locality of his home.
Mr. Fox belongs to the Masonic order fraternally, is a German Lutheran in religious affiliation and a Republican in his political rela- tions. He takes an active interest in local public affairs, but not as a politician or candidate for public office, but solely for the purpose of aiding in promoting the welfare of his township and county and the good of their residents. He has a good farm, for he has made it one, and is a stockholder in the Bank of Purdin. His citizenship is of an
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elevated and useful character, and the people around him estimate him at his true value, which is a high one.
DANIEL THUDIUM
An excellent farmer and a good school teacher, Daniel Thudium, of Linn county, Missouri, has shown himself to be a man of capacity and progressiveness in two lines of useful endeavor, in each of which there is plenty of room for intellectual and business ability of a high order, and in both of which considerable force of character and self- reliance are necessary to win any considerable degree of success. Mr. Thudium has won this in both, and he has thereby displayed the needed characteristics. He has also established himself in the regard and good will of the people of the county as a first-rate citizen and a square and upright man.
Mr. Thudium was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 23, 1851, and is the second son and child of John G. and Christina (Straus) Thudium, a sketch of whom will be found in this work, in which the family history is given at some length. While Daniel was still in his infancy the parents moved to Wisconsin, and in 1856, when he was but five years old, they brought their family to this state and located in Linn county. Here he grew to manhood and obtained such an education as the primitive country schools of the time could give him. They were in keeping with the condition of this region in the period of his boyhood and youth, full of the proper spirit, but lacking development and facilities for the best work they aimed at, but still tending upward, like the people who supported them, and making the best showing they could.
Mr. Thudium assisted in clearing and breaking up his father's wild domain, remaining at home until he reached the age of twenty, and then set up as a farmer for himself. He repeated on another tract of unbroken prairie the performance of his father, his brothers and himself had worked out on the old family homestead. While waiting for his land to come to fruitfulness he taught school in the winter months for a number of years, and his reputation as a schoolmaster is still a good and strong one.
In 1882 he moved to the farm he now owns and occupies, or a part of it, which was also wild prairie, and which he has transformed into a very valuable and highly productive and well improved farm. Nature did her part in making the land rich and fertile, and he has done his by
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accepting her bounty on her own terms of hard labor and good man- agement. The bargain has been kept on both sides with the utmost fidelity. Mr. Thudium has cultivated his land with sedulous industry and skill and it has responded to his efforts with ever increasing gener- osity in the returns it has yielded.
Mr. Thudium was married on January 4, 1872, to Miss Sarah E. Hill, a daughter of Willis D. Hill. He was born and reared in North Carolina and became รก resident of Linn county in 1856. Of the nine children born of the union seven are living: Charles W., Clara E., who is now the wife of A. J. Nester; Edward T., John W., Estella, now the wife of W. Warren; Benjamin H., and Rosie L., who is the wife of Lowel Pace.
General farming and raising live stock have been the occupation of this enterprising man from his youth. He was also engaged in buy- ing and shipping of live stock for the last thirty years. He now owns 880 acres of land and cultivates the greater part of it. He is a Repub- lican in politics, an Odd Fellow in fraternal life and a member of the Christian church in religious connection. He is public-spirited and progressive in reference to public affairs, just as he is in reference to his own interests, and always ready to do his part to advance the im- provement of his township and county. His wife died in 1909, and thus deprived him of the help of an excellent woman.
BENJAMIN S. WILSON
Although not a native of Linn county, Benjamin S. Wilson, one of the most progressive and prosperous farmers of Marceline township, began the battle of life for himself as a tiller of its fertile and fruitful soil, and has been one of its leading agriculturists ever since. He has lived on the farm he now occupies and cultivates since 1876, and during the thirty-five years of his ownership of it has steadily improved it, increased its productiveness and value, added to its attractiveness and enhanced it in every way, until now it is one of the best in the township.
Mr. Wilson was born in Marshall county, Tennessee, on December 31, 1844, and is the son of Samuel and Martha (Weaver) Wilson, natives of North Carolina, where the father was born in 1817. He was a farmer in Tennessee, whither he went with his parents in early life, and continued his operations as such in that state until 1854. In that year he moved to Iowa, but remained only a few months, changing his residence from Iowa to Macon county, Missouri, before the end of the
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year. In Macon county he entered government land south of Laplata, on which he lived until 1865. He then moved to Henry county, this state, where he died in 1886. His wife died there in 1885. They were the parents of five sons and two daughters, and of the seven children born to them six are living.
The paternal grandfather, Samuel Wilson, emigrated from North Carolina to Tennessee and died in Marshall county in that state. Ben- jamin S. Weaver, the maternal grandfather, was a soldier in the War of 1812 and also in the Black Hawk Indian War of 1831-32. He bore himself bravely and serviceably in each, and made an excellent record as a valiant, capable and intelligent soldier, with fidelity for every duty and readiness to face the foe at any moment, no matter what the hazard.
Benjamin S. Wilson was ten years old when his parents moved to Macon county, Missouri, and there he completed his growth to man- hood and obtained the greater part of his education, attending the dis- trict schools in the neighborhood of his father's farm for the purpose. He assisted his father in clearing the homestead and remained at home with his parents until he came of age. He then came to Linn county and began farming on his own account, purchasing and locating on the farm which is still his home.
On March 1, 1866, he was united in marriage with Miss Julia Stuart, a resident of this county at the time of her marriage. She became the mother of eight children by this union, and three of her offspring are living: Laura E., now the wife of H. H. Sportsman, of Marceline; Martha, who is now Mrs. Jones and lives in Oklahoma; and John S., who is a traveling salesman. Their mother died in 1882, and in 1885 the father married a second time, uniting himself on this occa- sion with Miss Flora B. Johnson, also a resident of this county. They have had five children, all of whom are living: Vonia, Claude, Urban, Ruth and Russell. All of them are residents of Linn county.
Mr. Wilson served in the state militia for three months during the Civil War. He is a pronounced Democrat in political faith and alle- giance, and has been township trustee and filled other local offices. His fraternal connection is with the Masonic order, of which he has been a member many years. In all parts of the county he is favorably known and highly respected as a man, a citizen and an enterprising and representative farmer, warmly and helpfully interested in public improvements and zealous in behalf of everything that contributes to the welfare of his township and the county at large, or the comfort and convenience of their residents.
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JOHN G. THUDIUM
The wonderful thrift and resourcefulness, the firm inflexibility of purpose, the persevering and all-conquering industry, and the power to make the most of every circumstance, which characterize the people of the German empire, have been the theme of orator and poet on many occasions and in many latitudes. Their armies have been at times the terror of Europe. Their statesmanship has won the admira- tion of mankind. In latter days the products of their factories fill the markets of the world. Wherever they camp the wilderness blossoms as the rose, and whatever they put their hands to grows and flourishes. The results which follow their efforts in aggregation, are seen in proper proportion in their individual enterprise, the underlying principles being the same in each case and tending to and working out the same end, in small or great achievements.
One of the best illustrations of what the basic elements of the Ger- man character and make-up can accomplish is furnished in the career and the achievements of John G. Thudium of North Salem township in this county. He is now one of the oldest residents of Linn county, but even at his advanced age he is still enterprising and progressive, in what he sees if not so much in what he does, or no longer attempts. For his day of toil, or trade, or ambition is over. The din of traffic and of worldly strife has no longer magic for his ear. The myriad footfall on the city's stony walks is but noise or nothing to him now. His day's work has been accomplished, and he has come home to enjoy the splendor of the sunset, the milder glories of late evening. What is to be said of him is therefore almost altogether retrospective, but it is none the less striking and instructive in a high degree.
Mr. Thudium was born in Wurtemberg, Germany on April 12, 1823. He is a son of Daniel and Christina (Blessing) Thudium, natives of the same province. The father was a truck gardener. He came to the United States in 1880, or about that time, and located in St. Louis, where he passed the remainder of his days. But before leaving his native land he served his time in the German army. The mother died in Germany in 1835. Of her offspring of two sons and two daughters, John G. is now the only one living. Sometime after the death of his first wife the father married a second, and by this marriage became the father of one son and one daughter, both of whom are now deceased. The grandfather and great-grandfather both passed their lives and died in Wurtemberg.
John G. Thudium grew to the age of fourteen at home and attended
MR. AND MRS. JOHN G. THUDIUM
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
school. He then served three years' apprenticeship to a shoemaker, and after that did journey work in his native land for six years. In 1847 he decided to come to the United States, and took passage on a sailing vessel, which was fifty-six days making the trip across the stormy Atlantic. He landed at New York and went at once from there to Philadelphia, where he remained six years. During two years of the time he was in business for himself and did a great deal of work mak- ing shoes for the soldiers who were enlisting for the Mexican War, for which the government was then making ready.
While living in Philadelphia Mr. Thudium was married in 1849 to Miss Christina Strauss, who was also a native of Germany. In 1852 he moved to Dodge county, Wisconsin, and bought a tract of land. On that he followed farming for four years, then, in 1856, came to Linn county, Missouri, and settled on the farm which he now owns and occupies. This was government land, wholly unimproved and virgin to the plow. It was a tract of 160 acres, and on it Mr. Thudium built a log cabin and began to transform it into a home for himself and his family. He improved this tract and made it productive, then bought more land, and kept adding to his possessions by successive purchases until he became the owner of about 2,000 acres. On this vast expanse he carried on general farming and engaged in raising cattle on an ex- tensive scale, and made both lines of business pay.
But he was not wholly absorbed in his own affairs. He had a warm and cordial interest in the land of his adoption, and during the Civil war took his place and rendered what service he could in defense of the Union in the Missouri State Militia. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the German Lutheran church. In addition to his ex- tensive holdings of farming lands, he is also a stockholder in the Wheeler Savings Bank of Brookfield and the Bank of Purdin. He came to this county without means of any kind in the way of capital, and he is now one of the wealthy men of Linn county, and his estate is due altogether to his own industry, thrift and excellent business capacity and management.
Mr. Thudium and his wife are the parents of seven children, all of whom are living. They are: Henry, Daniel, Mary, the wife of Philip Fox, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume; John, Sarah, the wife of Alexander Bailey; Matilda, who is living at home with her father; and George. Their mother died in March, 1910. The father is now on the way to the ninetieth anniversary of his birth, and his vigor and activity shame many men of far fewer years. The storms of life have not shaken his firm foundations and its cares and burdens have
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
not much bowed his frame or at all soured his nature. He is a genial, kindly, lovable old gentleman, whom everybody esteems and all Linn county venerates for his genuine worth.
ASA O. MCKINNEY
Standing well in business circles all over the county, and held in high regard as a man and citizen, Asa O. Mckinney, hardware mer- chant and dealer in farming and other implements, who conducts the only business of the kind in New Boston, has used his time and oppor- tunities in life to the present time (1912) to good advantage for him- self and also greatly to the benefit of the community in which he lives, which has been his home from his birth, and the scene of all his useful activity.
Mr. Mckinney's life began on a farm near the townsite of New Boston on February 2, 1879. He is a son of Charles and Maggie (Diedle) McKinney, the former a native of New York and the latter of Germany. After many years of faithful and profitable toil on his farm the father retired from agricultural pursuits and moved into New Bos- ton, where he kept a drug store during the rest of his life, which ended in 1910. He was prominent and successful as a farmer, and he was also prosperous and held in high rank in his business as a druggist. The mother is still living at New Boston, where her two sons, the only sur- vivors of her four children, are both in business and both doing well.
During the Civil War the father was a soldier on the Union side of the great sectional conflict, serving in Company C, First United States Reserve Corps, Missouri Home Guards, of which his father was captain. He was in this company seven months, and was engaged mainly in doing guard duty. At the end of the period mentioned he was discharged, and immediately re-enlisted, joining the Tenth Mis- souri Cavalry, but illness prevented his going into the service with that regiment.
Asa O. Mckinney was reared and educated in this county, and after leaving school farmed for himself for five years. He then bought his present business, and to this he has given his attention ever since, studiously, progressively and with conquering enterprise. He has built up a large and active trade, and in doing so has established him- self in the confidence and good will of the people as a straightforward, upright and conscientious merchant, as well as one who is master of his undertaking in all its features and details. He took charge of the
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business in 1907, and he has made steady progress in it from then until now.
On November 23, 1901, Mr. McKinney was united in marriage with Miss Daisy Davis, a native of Macon county, Missouri, and the daugh- ter of Edgar and Eliza (Greenstreet) Davis, long residents of that county and well esteemed in all parts of it. Mr. and Mrs. McKinney have two children, their daughter Eudima and their son Charles Edgar. The father is a member of the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America in fraternal relations and earnestly interested in the welfare of both of the organizations to which he belongs.
In reference to public affairs, although he is neither an office seeker nor a politician, he is true to his duties as a citizen and always zealous for the best interests of his township and county. He cor- dially supports all undertakings for their progress and improvement, and gives effective aid to all good agencies at work among their res- idents for worthy ends, moral, intellectual, social and material. He has a profitable business and it requires his close attention. But he never allows it to absorb his time and energy to the exclusion of the claims of citizenship, and to these he always gives heed in a practical and fruitful way. He has made his mark in his township as one of its best and most representative men.
GRANVILLE H. STONE (Deceased)
Although but fourteen years of age when he became a resident of Missouri, and but twenty-two when he located in Linn county, the late Granville H. Stone of North Salem township is fully entitled to be listed with the pioneers of this county and the state, and one of the heroic personages who blazed the way for the present high state of civilization and development in this part of the country. From the time of his arrival in Missouri, youth as he was, he made a hand on his father's farm and did as much as any other person in helping to reduce it to productiveness and improve it with the requirements of a comfortable home.
Mr. Stone was a native of Grayson county, Virginia, where his life began on November 11, 1820, and his parents, Stephen and Mary (Chaney) Stone, were of the same nativity as himself. The father was a planter and owned a large number of slaves. In 1834 he moved
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY
his family by teams to Missouri, consuming six weeks in making the trip. He located near Fayette in Howard county, where he bought a small tract of land on which he lived and labored eight years. In 1842, at the end of the period named, he sold his land in Howard county and moved to Linn county, where he bought a larger tract of land in North Salem township.
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