USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 53
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In the public affairs of the town Mr. Lyda has long been energetic
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and prominent. He has been one of the trustees of the municipality and the treasurer of the board during the last four years and has ren -. dered highly acceptable service in that capacity. Politically he is a Democrat with a very warm interest in the success of his party, and fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and a Modern Woodman of America. On February 28, 1909, he was married to Miss Mary Shain, a native of Atlanta. He has been very successful in business and stands well in the regard of the people all over the county.
WILLIAM A. MILES.
The late William A. Miles, who died in Atlanta, Maeon county, Missouri, after a useful residence of more than half a century in this region, was one of the leading citizens and most prosperous and suc- cessful men in Lyda township during his life. He was active in several lines of productive industry, the leading ones being farming and stoek breeding and general merchandising. He was progressive and enter- prising in all and showed it in every department of his work. As the pioneer breeder of shorthorn cattle in this county he contributed essen- tially to the improvement of the live stock industry, both in general and special ways; in conducting his farming operations he was studi- ous, thoughtful, systematic and up to date in all respects, and in his career as a merchant he was always up to the latest turns of the fac- tories and changes of style in his stoek, introdneing every new con- trivance for the comfort, convenience and enjoyment of the people around him.
Mr. Miles was born in Franklin county, Virginia, on November 7, 1825, and accompanied his parents in two moves westward with the course of empire in his boyhood, going with them to Pulaski county, Kentucky, when he was five years old, and coming with them to this county when he was fourteen. He is a son of Armistead J. and Eliza- beth A. (Arthur) Miles, also natives of Virginia. The father's life began on October 15, 1796, and ended on June 30, 1880, nearly all of his mature years being passed on the frontier. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812, although he was but a boy at the time in the number of his years. He had, however, the spirit of a man, and proved it by the enthusiasm he showed in the cause of his country and the manner in which he sustained that cause on the gory field of battle. The excite- ment of camp and march and deadly conflict rather stimulated than satisfied the longing for adventure and conquest he had within him, and kept him going in obedience to its requirements throughout the remainder of his life. In 1830 he moved his young family to Kentucky,
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
locating in Pulaski county, then on or very near the frontier, and still redolent of the wild life of the untrodden West. But the farther West had still a beckoning hand for him, and in 1839 he yielded to its per- suasions and came to Macon county, Missouri, taking up his residence in Lyda township, as the county is now divided. Here he engaged in farming as extensively as his circumstances would allow, and con- tinued his operations until the death of his wife in 1857 at the age of fifty-seven years.
William A. Miles grew to the age of fourteen in Pulaski county, Kentucky, then came with his parents to this county. It was a wild and unsettled region, still wanting in all the luxuries and scant in many of the necessaries of life. The wild men of the forests and plains still roamed at large through it, and with their kindred terrors, the savage beasts of prey, still claimed dominion over the expanse and all that it contained. Together they resisted the encroachments of the civilizing forces that threatened their supremacy, filling the days with peril and making night hideous with their unearthly noises. Amid such condi- tions our young adventurer grew to manhood, and from them he acquired the self-reliance and resourcefulness that distinguished him through life. His entire life was passed in farming and raising stock, and engaged for a time in general merchandising in connection. He worked on the family homestead until 1893, when he moved to Atlanta. He was a farmer of an elevated standard, bending his efforts to the improvement of the agricultural conditions around him, in which he saw his own advantage and great good for the rest of the people. He started a herd of shorthorn cattle, as has been noted, being the pioneer in this particular line of improvement, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing his neighbors and associates in the cultivation of the soil fol- lowing his example and working toward the result he had desired and anticipated. He was also an example and a stimulus in better methods of farming, in this, too, his residence in the township proving decidedly beneficial.
On Angust 5, 1847, he married with Miss Naney Daugherty, a native of Pulaski county, Kentneky, and a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Lee) Daugherty, who moved from there to this county in the early days. Joseph Daugherty was born on June 8, 1801, and died on June 9, 1855. His wife came into being on February 5, 1802, and passed away on November 7, 1843. They lived clean and upright lives and were highly respected. Mr. and Mrs. Miles became the parents of twelve children. The seven of these who are living are: Fountain A., a resident of Oregon: Joseph D., a sketch of whom appears in this
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work ; Madison L., who lives at La Plata in this county; Margaret L., the wife of J. M. Elsea, of Atlanta; William N., whose home is at Jack- sonville in Randolph county; Charles H., of Macon, Missouri; and Arthur B., who resides at Port Arthur, Texas. The father was an active Democrat in politics, always zealous in the services of his party, and representing his township for many years in county and state con- ventions. He was a member of the Masonic order and filled many important offices in his lodge. He died at Atlanta on October 12, 1894, where his wife's life ended in June, 1887.
JOSEPH D. MILES.
Enterprising and successful as a farmer, prominent in the public life of his township and county, influential in business circles and well established in social relations, Joseph D. Miles, of Atlanta, in this county, where he is now living at rest from exacting labors and enjoying the results of his many years of energetic industry, is an ornament to his community and a fruitful potency for good in the citizenship of the state.
Mr. Miles was born in Macon county on Jannary 9, 1854, and has passed the whole of his life to this time within its borders. He is a son of William A. and Naney (Daugherty) Miles, the former a native of Franklin county, Virginia, and the latter of Pulaski county, Kentucky. A brief account of their lives will be found elsewhere in this volume. The son, Joseph D., was educated in the schools convenient to his home, working on the farm while attending the sessions, and preparing him- self in both mental and physical development and training for the strenuous battle of life that awaited him. He remained with the family, working under the direction of his father in the management of the farm until 1881, when he began operating a farm on his own account adjoining the homestead. He continued the policy of improvement and systematic cultivation of the land which he had already begun, and as the years passed the property steadily increased in value, in produc- tiveness and in all else that goes to make a comfortable, profitable and attractive country home. He continued his progressive and successful operations until 1896, when he disposed of his farm and moved to Kan- sas, remaining there until JJanuary 1, 1909, when he returned to Atlanta, where he has since resided.
In the industrial, mercantile and social life of his present residence town Mr. Miles takes an active and serviceable interest in every prac- tieal way, giving his aid to all worthy undertakings for the good of the community, and through it the welfare of the rest of the county. He
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is a stockholder in the Atlanta State Bank and is connected with other institutions of value to the people and the general well being. He was connected as a stockholder with the Quenemo (Kansas) State Bank and gave its affairs careful attention while there, but disposed of it in August, 1909. The public affairs of the county, state and nation also interest him greatly. He is an unflinching Democrat in politics and renders his party valuable and appreciated service at all times. He has been a delegate frequently to county and state conventions, and is always found in the front rank of the organization lighting valiantly and intelligently for victory when a campaign is in progress. As road overseer for a long time and member of the school board for six years he was potential in contributing to the advancement and improvement of the township and elevating one of its most serviceable and valued institutions, helping to raise the schools to a high degree of efficiency and enlarge their facilities in many ways. He has also been very useful to the people as a member of the township committec.
In fraternal relations Mr. Miles is an enthusiastic Freemason. IIe has belonged to the order from the dawn of his manhood and given it his earnest, intelligent and constant support in every way from the beginning of his membership. On March 24, 1881, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Dunnington, a daughter of Palatine and Angeletta (Gilstrap) Dunnington. Iler maternal grandfather was Louis Gilstrap, a prominent citizen of Bevier. Both she and her husband are highly respected by all classes of people.
HENRY CLAY SURBECK.
Two counties in Missouri have had the services and three banks have been helped to consequence and standing in the state by the busi- ness capacity and enterprise of Henry Clay Surbeck, of Atlanta, although he is now but twenty-seven years of age. This record shows that he is able, knowing and attentive to duty, and fully justifies the high standing he enjoys as a financier, citizen and business man. He began his business career early in life and has been very successful in all his undertakings from the start. The progress he has made and the triumphs he has won are also all his own, as he owes nothing to family influence or the special favors of fortune, having made his own way in the world by his own energy and ability.
Mr. Surbeck was born at Elmer, in this county, on February 4, 1882, and has passed the whole of his life to this time (1909) in this state, except during the time of his attendance at a business college outside, and the greater part of it in Macon county. His father, J. M.
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Surbeck, was born and reared in Switzerland, but has been a resident of this county for many years. The son was educated in the district school near his home in Eher and at Blees Military Academy, where he was one of the first students enrolled. After leaving that institu- tion he pursned a course of special instruction at the Gem City Busi- ness College in Quincy, Illinois, from which he was gradnated in 1903. The next year he organized the Bank of Gifford, in the town of that name, and during the next three years was one of its stockholders and directors, and its cashier. In this position he had opportunity to aid greatly in building up and improving the town of Gifford, and he did all his circumstances allowed in that direction. Much of the present prosperity and development of the town is due to his own activity and the forces he put in motion to the same worthy end in others. The seed he sowed was good and it fell on fruitful ground. The harvest has been bountiful, what was sown producing well, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold.
In 1907 Mr. Surbeck sold his interests at Gifford and accepted a position as cashier in a bank at Othello, Washington. But he was not made to occupy a subordinate position and work wholly under the direc- tion of others. He quit the Washington bank in December, 1908, and organized the Bank of Atlanta, of which he was one of the original stockholders and directors, and of which he was at once chosen cashier, a position he is still filling with great acceptability to the directorate and the patrons of the bank and with decided credit to himself. The institution was started with a capital of $15,000. It has had a steady and increasing prosperity under the management of Mr. Surbeck, and is now accounted one of the soundest, safest, most progressive and best managed financial agencies of its magnitude in the state. It does a general banking business, including all the approved features of mod- ern banking, and while its policy is liberal, it is guarded with abundant cantion in protecting the interests of its promoters. At the same time, it is at all times ready to do what it can to advance the welfare of the community, aid in its improvement and accommodate the requirements of its people. In addition to his connection with this bank and other productive enterprises in Atlanta, Mr. Surbeck was one of the directors and the secretary of the Gifford Brick and Tile Company for some time, and is still a stockholder in the company. In politics he is a zealous working Republican, loyal to his party and effective in its service. His fraternal alliances are with the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in both of which he takes an earnest interest and holds an influential rank as a member.
JAMES H. HOUGHTON
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
JAMES H. HOUGHTON.
V
Having passed the advanced age of four-score years, during nearly forty of which he has been a resident of this county and the township in which he now lives, James H. Houghton, of New Cambria, has wit- nessed marvelous changes in this country, and in his way and to the extent of his powers and opportunities, has helped to bring them about. He was born in Rochester, New York, when that now far eastern city was almost a western outpost of our civilization ; and he is living at this time nearly a thousand miles west of the place of his birth, and is still hundreds of miles cast of the center of our great domain. His years and experience cover the onward march of American settlement and conquest from the great lakes to the Pacific, and the redemption of all the intervening country from a wilderness to a thriving, populous and wonderfully productive empire.
Mr. Houghton is a son of James and Julia ( Kadie) Honghton, the former a native of England and the latter of the state of New York. The father came to the United States as a young man and located at Rochester, New York. There he devoted his attention to farming and met and married with Miss Julia Kadie. They had three children. but all are deceased except the subject of these brief paragraphs. The father died in 1902, and his wife in 1901.
Their son, James H. Houghton, grew to manhood and was educated in his native place and the state of Ohio. In 1870 he became a resident of Missouri, locating at New Cambria, where he followed the pursuit of his father, industriously and profitably tilling the soil for three years. In 1873 he became a merchant, dealing in furniture, and this enterprise he carried on for about three years more. In 1876 he returned to farm- ing and is still actively engaged in that pursuit. He owns a vast extent of land, 420 acres, the greater part of which is under cultivation and highly improved. It is not in accordance with his views and has not been his practice to become possessed of great traets of land merely to let them lie idle for the advance in settlement and development to give them value. He believes that every landholder owes much to his own day and generation, and ought to make his land yield its tribute to the sustenance and service of mankind, and he has acted on this belief with good results for himself and great beneficence to the regions in which his land is located.
Mr. Honghton has all his life been a great believer in the rights of the people of the country and their ability to govern themselves well and wisely. He has, therefore, always been a pronounced Democrat
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
in political faith and allegiance, and has rendered at all times valuable service to his party, both in trying to keep it in the right path of prin- ciple and policy and in aiding to make its cause successful in the elections. He has never sought or held public office, however, never having been desirous of either the honors or emoluments of official station. He has discharged the duties of citizenship from the com- fortable and inconspicuous post of private life, and his performance of them in that way has given his attention to them all the more weight, since it has been manifest that it was not based on any expectation or desire of special personal gain.
Mr. Houghton's marriage occurred in 1852, and by it he was united with Miss Julia Mason, a native of Ohio. They have had seven chil- dren, all of whom are living, and all but one of them very near the family hearthstone. The children are: Julius H., of Pascola, Texas; Loren P., William, Wallace and Theodore, all of New Cambria, and Charles and Walton, of this county.
Mr. Houghton is now eighty-three years of age. Ile is still very active and vigorous, and gives attention to the duties of life with the same earnestness and zeal that distinguished him in his early and more mature manhood, not because he has to, but because from the very nature of his mind and make-up he finds pleasure in work and a great sense of satisfaction in being occupied. The responsibilities he carries and the number of interests that force themselves on his atten- tion would worry and wear many a much younger man, but he bears them lightly, and disposes of all matters of business with promptness and case. This is the result, doubtless, of abundant resources of vital- ity kept fresh and active by continual use, and trained to readiness and promptness in response to all demands.
Not only is this "Father in Israel" one of the oldest citizens of the county, but also one of the most esteemed and venerated. He is truly representative of the people among whom he has so long lived and labored, and embodies in himself their best traits of character and manhood, and exemplifies in his daily life their highest ideals, loftiest aspirations and noblest attributes. His life has been an example to the young, a stimulus to the men in their prime and a satisfaction to the old. All classes revere. him and have pride in him as one of their best and most admired citizens. It cannot be said of such a man, either, that he has lived in vain or that he has come far short of his full power for good in the world. For he has been useful at every period of his life, and at every stage of it has met his responsibilities with the full measure of his capacity and up to the limit of his opportunities. What
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wonder then that his evening is mild and genial and his sunset rosy with the promise of a glorious morrow ? It is the inevitable result of his well-spent years.
Mr. Houghton is a stockholder in the New Cambria State Bank. He and his wife belong to the Episcopal church. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for over thirty years.
EDWIN O. SNOW.
Whether viewed in the light of his eminent business success, in that of his elevated and serviceable citizenship, in that of his loyalty and devotion to the community of his home and his activity and intelli- gence in promoting its welfare, or looked at with reference to all together, no man stood higher in Macon county during his life, or was held in more general and appreciative esteem by its people than the late Edwin O. Snow, of Atlanta. His untimely death in 1908, at the age of fifty-three, when it was supposed that he had still long years of usefulness to the county and state awaiting him, cast a gloom over the whole of his township and caused deep and lasting regret in many other localities.
Mr. Snow was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on December 23, 1855, and was a son of Orson and Rosella (Ward) Snow, the former a native of the state of New York. The son came to Macon county when he was twelve years old, with his father, and grew to manhood here. He completed in the public schools of this county the education he had begun in those of his native city, and when he left school took his place among the productive forces at work in this region as a farmer a short distance east of Atlanta. In 1881 he moved to Kansas, and for a year was industriously engaged in farming in that state. He then moved to Hastings, Nebraska, and there carried on a general mercantile business until 1883. Returning to Atlanta in the year last mentioned, he again started an enterprising business in general mer- chandising, and this he conducted successfully and with increasing profits until his death. His business views were broad and his spirit was progressive. He laid all his resources under tribute to give the people around him the best general store the circumstances would warrant, and he was eminently successful in his design, winning renown as a merchant and sealing all comers unto him in friendly regard as a man. His stock was always selected with judgment and a full knowl- edge of the trade he had to supply as well as the markets from which he procured his merchandise. It was a large part of his desire to lead the taste of the community to higher development and loftier standards
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while catering to it, and his establishment was in its measure educa- tional as well as mercantile. This was the opinion of the people, and the credit it implied and expressed was freely and voluntarily tendered him by them, but he never claimed it for himself.
In polities Mr. Snow was an ardent and very active Republican. He was prominent and influential in the leadership of his party, serving as township committeeman for many years, and applying his knowl- edge of the people and his force of character wisely and effectively in the service of the cause he espoused and the candidates it put forth for the suffrages of the electorate. His fraternal relations were with the Masonic order, of which he was long an energetic, enthusiastic and valued member, taking to heart its noble teachings and exemplifying in his daily life its pure and lofty precepts. But neither party allegiance nor lodge connection narrowed him or made him bigoted or intolerant. On the contrary, every means he had of mingling with his fellow men and learning of them seemed to broaden and liberalize him. In 1877 he was united in marriage with Miss Cora M. Davies, a daughter of William and Mary (Williams) Davies, natives of Baltimore, Maryland. He and his wife became the parents of two children, both of whom died in infancy. The father's record is embalmed in the memory of all who knew him and is redolent of the fragrance of genuine manly worth. ¥
VOLKERT D. GORDON.
Orphaned at the age of nine years by the sudden death of his father when the latter was far from his home and his family, and by that of his mother when he was but eight, Volkert D. Gordon, one of the leading citizens and most progressive and successful business men of this county, was obliged by the stern arbitrament of fate to take up the burden of life for himself at a very early period in his career, and has been obliged to bear it ever since. He has made his own way in the world without the aid of Fortune's favors or adventitions circum- stanees, and every triumph recorded to his eredit is wholly his own. The triumphs number many and stand forth as tributes to his business capacity, his persistent industry and thrift, and his unwavering confidenee in himself and his powers of advancement.
Mr. Gordon was born in Newark, Wayne county, New York, on December 12, 1848, and is the son of James B. and Martha (Vaughn) Gordon, also natives of the state of New York. The father grew to manhood in Wayne county. He was a wagon manufacturer and devel- oped a considerable industry in that line of production in his native state, where he remained until 1857. The West held out a persuasive
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
hand to him and her voice of promise filled his heart with hope. In the year last mentioned he left the scenes and associations of his boy- hood, and came on a prospecting tour to Missouri. Macon county looked good to him, and he determined to locate here and grow into consequence with the country. In 1859, when he was returning to his former home with a view to closing up his affairs there and leaving the region forever, he was fatally stricken at Sturgis, Michigan, and died within a few days after the illness began. His young wife, who was a daughter of Stephen and Mahitable Vaughn, and to whom he was married in 1847, had preceded him to the other world by two years, dying in 1855.
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