USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 79
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After the close of his military service Mr. Salyer engaged in farm- ing on a tract of eighty acres of land which he bought when he first came to the county, and he continued his operations in this line and on that land until 1880. During the next five years he was associated with John Henry Griffin in conducting a distillery. He was next in the internal revenue department of the government for thirteen years at
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
intervals, living in Macon during a portion of this time and on his farm the remainder, the farm on which he now resides. It now com- prises eighty-one acres and is in a fine state of productiveness. Four years ago Mr. Salyer retired from active work to pass the remainder of his days in a well-earned rest and the enjoyment of the worldly comfort his industry and thrift have brought him.
On March 10, 1852, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha J. Bonham, a native of Indiana. She died in 1858, and on December 13, 1859, he contracted a second marriage, being joined on this occasion with Miss America A. Smith, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana. They had three children and all of them are living: Charles D., who resides in this county ; Anna M., the wife of Charles Belsher of Clarence, Missouri, and James W., whose home is also in Macon county. The father has all his life adhered faithfully to the Democratic party in political affairs and rendered it loyal and effective service. In 1868 he was elected a member of the State house of representatives, the first Democrat elected after the Civil war, and he has also served two years as assessor and two as collector of the township. He was long a mem- ber of the school board and has belonged to the Masonic fraternity for fifty-two years. His day of toil and trial was stormy and trying, but its evening is calm and peaceful, and in his old age he is crowned with the admiring esteem of all who know him.
JEFFERSON MORROW.
This prominent and progressive farmer and extensive stoek breeder and dealer of Macon county, whose home is in Morrow township, which was named in honor of his distinguished father, is recognized as one of the most upright, enterprising and snecessful men in the township. The portion of the connty in which he lives is his native heath and has been his abiding place during the greater part of his life. It was here that his parents located in the early days of the region's history, giving the township its name and laying the foundations of its present pros- perity and commercial and industrial importance. A short account of their useful and appreciated lives will be found in a sketch of Mr. Morrow's brother, Johnson Morrow of Callao, elsewhere in this work. They were pioneers in this region and, like others of their class, were of heroie mold, all-daring and all-enduring.
Jefferson Morrow was born in the township of his present resi- dence, and which bears his name, on October 10, 1850. He begun his education in the country schools of the township and completed it at
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
MeGee College, located at College Mound, after attending for a period a graded school in Canton, Missouri. After leaving college he remained with his parents and assisted them in the work of the farm until 1872. He then went to California, and during the next three years was over- seer on ranches located in Colusa, Shasta and Tehama counties in that state. In 1875 he returned to the parental homestead, where he remained until the spring of 1876. He then began farming for himself on the place which is now his home, and has been so occupied ever since. His farm at this time (1910) comprises 375 acres and nearly all of it is under cultivation. He has been very successful as a farmer and gained a reputation as one of the most enterprising and progressive in the county. But his favorite business has been raising and feeding live stock for the markets, and in this his operations have been very exten- sive and successful. He gives his attention principally to cattle and mules, and in the markets where they are sold extensively he is regarded as one of the most successful and reliable producers in this part of the country. For his output is always prepared for shipment with the utmost care from the day when the stock comes into his possession until he parts company with it forever, and it is also shipped with every precaution to secure proper attention and good treatment in trans- portation.
Mr. Morrow is a man of great public spirit and one of the leading factors in the development and progress of the township and county of his home. He has served as a member of the local school board for over twenty-five years, and as road commissioner for many. He is also a stockholder in the Bank of Callao. In politics he is a Democrat, and in all the relations of life a thoroughly reliable and upright man. In political affairs he takes an active and serviceable interest with zeal in the work for the success of luis party, but his devotion to it never blinds him to the substantial welfare of his community, which is, in all public affairs, the first consideration with him, whatever the exigencies of the party cause may be.
He was married on February 1, 1876, to Miss Artelia Davis, a daughter of James and Susan (Mckinney) Davis, the father a native of Illinois and the mother of Missouri, and both long residents of Macon county. Eight children have been born in the Morrow household and six of them are living: Minerva Susan, the wife of Willard Wright of Macon county; and Jefferson D., Mabel Gwendolyn, Tazwell F., Bertie Webb and Mary Emma, who are still living at home with their parents and adding to the attractions of the family cirele.
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
WILSON R. GREEN.
For more than seventy years this prominent and progressive farmer and highly successful stoek man has lived in Chariton township, Macon county, where he was born on February 13, 1840, and from which he has never wandered, being like Wordsworth's skylark, a "Type of the wise, who soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of Heaven and home." Nature endowed him with qualifications that would have commanded success in any environment, and he never found it neces- sary to wander from the place of his nativity to give them opportunity or work out their inevitable products-a competence for himself and an elevated place in the regard and good will of the people all around him.
Mr. Green is a son of Louis and Naney (Gross) Green, natives of Kentucky, where the father was born in 1805, in Wayne county. He remained in his native county until 1824, then, an aspiring young man of nineteen, adventured into the wilderness of this state, as it was at that time, finding a new home and a new field for the development of his hopes in Macon county. He took his place in the hazardous and exacting life of the frontier and faithfully did his part to bring the region under the dominion of civilizing and improving forces. Taking up a tract of wild land, he improved it by arduous and continuous effort, and made it over into a good farm, on which he passed the remainder of his days. HIe succeeded admirably, according to the measure and methods of his time, and reared his family of nine children to usefulness, two dying in infancy. Six of them are still living : "Sis," the widow of the late Isaac Johnson of Macon county; Isaac Robert; Rnu; Christiana, the wife of Grub Banning; Wilson R., and John, all of whom are residents of this county and esteemed as worthy members of its elevated and progressive eitzenship. The father was a Democrat in polities and a member of the Christian church in religion.
Wilson R. Green began his scholastic training in the district schools of Chariton township and after leaving this institution he assisted his father on the home farm until 1858; when he began the battle of life for himself by purchasing fifty acres of land and settling down on it as a base of operations and the foundation of the prosperity he had deter- mined to win. He has been continuously engaged in farming ever since, and in addition, has carried on a very extensive and profitable industry in raising stock for the markets. He has increased his farm to 167 acres and enriched it with good improvements suited to its needs, and also provided it with everything necessary for its advanced and
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
successful cultivation according to the most approved modern methods, and it is known far and wide as one of the model farms of the region in which it is located.
On December 30, 1858, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- beth Kitchen, a daughter of James and Pricilla (Vond) Kitchen, long esteemed residents of this county. Of the eleven children born of the union nine are living: Celia F., the wife of James Lncas; James L .; Phronia, the wife of William Teters; Sarah, the wife of John B. Lucas; William Logan; Ella, the wife of Clement Wolber; Mary Ann, the wife of Isaac Rice; Levi, who is living at home, and Etna, the wife of Wade Webster. They are all residents of Macon county except Mrs. Wolber, who lives in Carroll county.
In politics Mr. Green is a Democrat and an active and effective worker for the success of his party and its candidates in all its cam- paigns, although he has been content with the honorable post of private citizenship and has never accepted a public office for himself, either by election or appointment. It is not to be inferred, however, that Mr. Green's life has been all passed in the pursuits of peaceful industry and free from strife. During the last part of the Civil war he joined the state militia and served for a period of three months or more under the command of Colonel Denny. While the company to which he belonged saw some active service in the closing days of the hostilities, he escaped without disaster. He and his wife are devoted members of the Christian church and take an active part in the benevolent and improving work in which the church is engaged, giving their aid to all worthy undertakings and being held in high appreciation in the congregation to which they belong.
A. FRANK GIBSON.
Descended from old North Carolina families which lived in the Old North state from colonial times and for many generations took part in the Civil government, military history and general development of that state, A. Frank Gibson of College Mound in this county, has by no means lowered the tone or been wanting in the elevated charac- teristics of the strain to which he belongs. Long an educator and now a public official and merchant, his career is creditable alike to his family and himself, and furnishes a fine example of the best citizenship of this state.
Mr. Gibson is a native of Macon and was born in Chariton town- ship on April 26, 1871. His grandfather on his father's side, Robert A. Gibson, migrated from North Carolina to Missouri in his young
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
manhood and near the dawn of civilization in this region. He located in Randolph county, where his son, Robert L. Gibson, the father of A. Frank, was born in 1833. While the son was yet a small boy the family moved to Macon county, and here it has ever since been domesticated. Here Robert L. Gibson grew to manhood and obtained his education. Here also he was successfully engaged in farming until the beginning of the Civil war. And from here he went forth as a volunteer in the Federal army in defense of the Union, enlisting under one of the early calls for troops as a member of Company F, Second Missouri cavalry.
He remained in the service until the close of the momentons strug- and bore faithfully and heroically his full share of the hardship and hazard incident to the strenuous military life of that memorable period. When "the war drum throbbed no longer and the battle flags were furled," he returned to Missouri and took up his residence at College Mound, where he passed the remainder of his days in general merchan- dising. He served as postmaster of the town until his death in 1902, his tenure of the office covering a period of twenty-two years. As a merchant and contractor he furnished nearly all of the briek and sand used in the erection of McGee College. He was very successful in all his undertakings and rose to considerable prominence and influence during his residence at College Mound.
In 1866, soon after his return from the army, Mr. Gibson was united in marriage with Miss Louisa F. Summers, of Macon county. They became the parents of eight children and seven of them are living: Eugene, of Sayre, Oklahoma; A. Frank, who is the immediate subject of this review; Ione, the wife of W. B. Allen, of Columbia, Missouri ; Lola, the wife of W. C. Rice, of Boise, Idaho; Estella and Everett E., who live in Kansas City, Missouri, and Robert E., whose home is at Col- lege Mound. The father was a Republican in politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic in fraternal life and was connected with the Christian church in religions affiliation, and was an ardent worker for the welfare of all the organizations in which he held membership.
A. Frank Gibson was educated in McGee College, and after leaving that institution became a teacher, pursuing his vocation in the district schools of Macon, Chariton and Randolph counties. His engagement as an educator was as principal of the graded public school at College Mound and Leathers distriet, and lasted until 1904, when he turned merchant and started the successful mercantile career which he is still developing. On the death of his father in 1902 he was appointed post- master of College Mound, and he has held the office ever since. He is
WALTER C. GOODSON
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
also a notary public and is carrying on a flourishing real estate business in connection with his other engagements.
In politics he, also, is a Republican and in fraternal life a Free- mason, with membership in the auxiliary organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodman. He be- longs in addition to the Sons of Veterans, and in religious connection is a member of the Christian church. On November 28, 1900, he was united in marriage with Miss Myra B. Cunningham, a daughter of Rob- ert B. and Martha A. Cunningham, prominent residents of Chariton county. One child has blessed the union and sanctified the family hearthstone, a daughter named Dorothy Helen, who is living at home with her parents.
WALTER C. GOODSON.
A representative of one of the old and honored families of Macon county, which has been his home from the time of his nativity, Mr. Goodson is one of the able younger members of the bar of the county and is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city of Macon.
Mr. Goodson was born in the village of New Cambria, Macon county, on the 25th of April, 1878, and is a son of Grandison and Missouri (Hammack) Goodson, who still maintain their home in New Cambria. Grandison Goodson was born in Carroll county, this state, on the 27th of May, 1848, and was reared and edneated in Macon county, whither his parents removed when he was a child. For twenty years he was engaged in the drug business in New Cambria and he is now presi- dent of the New Cambria Bank. For a number of years past he has given his attention principally to agricultural pursuits, and he is the owner of a well improved landed estate in the vicinity of New Cambria. In 1876 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Missouri Hammack, who was born and reared in Macon county, where her father, Anthony Ham- mack, was an honored pioneer settler. Of the five children of Grandi- son and Missouri Goodson, four are living: Walter C., who is the immediate subject of this review; William Hammack, who is engaged in medical practice at Liberty, Missouri; John Virgil, who is engaged in the practice of law in New Cambria, and Grandison Anthony, who is associated with his father in the management of the home farm.
Walter Conrad Goodson, whose name initiates this review, gained his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of his native village, after which he continued his studies in turn in the Normal school at Chillicothe, Missouri, and in the law department of the Uni-
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versity of Missouri, at Columbia. in which latter he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, duly receiving his well-earned degree of Bachelor of Laws and being shortly afterward admitted to the bar of luis native state. In the following year he completed an effective post- graduate course in the law department of the University of Missouri, and in July, 1900, he initiated the active practice of his profession in Macon, where he has proven himself a capable trial lawyer and a safe and conservative counsel. He has given his attention closely to the work of his profession and in the same his business, already of substan- tial order, shows a constantly cumulative tendency. In politics lie accords a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party, he holds member- ship in the Baptist church, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.
JOHN W. NEEL.
1
This prominent, progressive and successful farmer and stockman of Morrow township, Macon county, who is one of the leading men in his lines of exertion and one of the most influential and esteemed citi- zens of the region in which he lives, has been actively and energetically engaged in tilling the soil of this state and helping to angment its live stock industry during all of the last thirty-two years. His grand- parents and great-grandparents lived in Kentucky and were extensive farmers and live stock breeders in that state, and also important per- sonages in the civil and political history of the commonwealth. In that state, also, his father, Thomas W. Neel, was born and reared, his life having begun there on June 15, 1830. In 1853, when he was twenty- three years old, he came to this county to secure the opportunities for advancement it offered and aid in its development and improvement.
On his arrival in Macon county the elder Mr. Neel located in Mor- row township and bought forty acres of wild land, which he made the base of his operations and the foundation of his fortune. He cleared and improved his little tract, then bought others and repeated the process on them, all the time expanding his interests in the stock indus- try, and making steady progress toward the goal of independence and substantial worldly comfort on which he had fixed his vision. His operations grew more and more extensive, until, at the time of his death on July 4, 1901, he was the owner of 280 acres of as good land as there was in the county, and enjoyed a well-founded reputation as one of the most extensive stock breeders and dealers in this part of the country.
He was married in 1853 to Miss Elizabeth Frances Vass, also a native of Kentucky. They had ten children, eight of whom are living:
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James T., who resides in South Dakota; John W., the direct subject of this brief review; Alonzo S., a prominent citizen of Macon county ; Presley M., whose home is in Montana; and Columbus F., Robert 1., Renben V. and Earl F., all of whom live in this county, and are well and favorably known in all parts of it.
John W. Neel is the second born of the living children of his par- ents, and came into being in the locality of his present residence on April 4, 1856. He obtained his scholastic training in Morrow district school in the township of the same name, and after completing its course of instruction worked on the home farm with his father for a year or two. He then began farming and raising stock on his own account and has followed the same pursuits ever since, his work in these lines of endeavor covering a period of thirty-two years, as has been noted above. He has been steady, industrious and capable, and has made every day of his labor tell to his advantage. He now owns 340 acres of first rate land, nearly all of which is under advanced and productive cultivation, and his live stock industry is also extensive and profitable, for by his skill and attention to it he makes it so.
In the public affairs of the township and county he has always taken a leading and very serviceable part, aiding in the promotion of every worthy enterprise and doing all he could to advance the best interests of the people. He has served them well and wisely as a school director, and in all matters of public import his example and his zeal have been potential for the general weal and the wholesome progress of the region in which he has his home. His political faith is firmly fixed in the Democratie party and he is at all times energetie and effect- ive in its service. His wife is a devout member of the Christian church, and to this religious organization he also gives his support and aid.
On June 17, 1877, Mr. Neel was united in marriage with Miss Rebecca Morrow, a daughter of Jefferson Morrow, Sr., and his wife Minerva, whose maiden name was Minerva Summers. They were early settlers in this portion of Macon county and the township of Morrow was given its name in honor of the husband, who was one of the leading. spirits in redeeming it from the wilderness and laying the foundation of its present consequence and aronsing to activity all the elements of its advanced'and advancing civilization. Mr. and Mrs. Neel have had five children, all of whom are living. They are: Ernest G .. who resides at Moberly, Missouri ; William Oscar., who has his home in the city of Macon: and Mary M., Fred A. and Thomas Jefferson, who are still at home with their parents and adding to the brightness and cheer of the family circle.
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
CHARLES CURTIS PIERCE.
Embracing in his ancestry distinguished names, both in the patronymie and the given appellations, and inheriting from his imme- diate parentage the firmness of fiber and personal heroism that char- acterizes the people of Kentucky at their best. Charles Curtis Pierce, one of the leading farmers and influential citizens of Morrow township, Macon county, has well sustained the reputation and traditions of his family and made his record creditable alike to the state of his nativity and that of his adoption.
Mr. Pierce was born on January 1. 1842. in Marion county, Ken- tucky, and is a grandson of Jacob Pierce, a native of that state and a man of prominence in its industrial, eivil and political history. His son. Thomas Jefferson Pierce, the father of Charles C., was born in Marion county. Kentucky, in 1806, and was reared and educated in that county. He was also married there to Miss Martha Hart, a native of Mercer county, the marriage occurring in 1835. After passing a num- ber of years of his mature life in Marion county, the father moved what family he had left with him to Daviess county in the same state, and there he died in 1851, passing away at Owensboro at the early age of forty-five. He was a physician and farmer. He and his wife were the parents of three children : A son named Thomas Benton, who died; and Ellen, the widow of T. C. Johnson, who is now residing at Billings, Montana, and Charles Curtis, the immediate subject of this writing, who are living.
The last named obtained a good education at a select school in Greenville, Muhlenberg county, Kentucky, and on completing it came to Missouri to make what was then the farther West his home and grow to greater consequence with its development. He located in Randolph county and during the next four years taught school there. At the end of the period mentioned he moved to Macon county and became a farmer. but still continued to teach in the winter terms of school nntil 1876, when he gave up the professional line of his activity, and since then he has devoted himself wholly to the industrial line. He has been very successful in his operations in both farming and raising live stock, and is regarded as one of the most progressive and substantial men in the township of his residence. His fine farm comprises 160 acres of land, is well improved with commodions and comfortable buildings and has been provided with all the appliances necessary for its progressive and profitable cultivation. The stock industry that is carried on in commection with the farming operations is an active and flourishing
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HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
one, and, as it is managed with skill and intelligence, it yields gratifying returns for the labor and care bestowed upon it.
Mr. Pierce has taken a very active and helpful part in the public affairs of the township in which he lives. He has served as a justice of the peace for upwards of sixteen years, and as a member of the school board equally as long. In matters affecting the progress and enduring welfare of the county he has been an active and effective factor. His church affiliation is with the seet known as Christians, while his present ยท wife is a Baptist. She is a native of Maeon county and was a widow when their marriage occurred in 1905, being Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Epperly.
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