USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 47
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build up the territory in which the paper eireulates, and has always been consid- ered by him a direet and positive means of reaching the people for the purpose of benefiting them in every way. He is a gentleman of strong convictions and fearless courage in declaring them. In all his efforts for the advance and im- provement of his section of the country he has built for the future, and in the sweep of his vision no avenne to pro- moting the interests of the public, men- tal, moral, municipal, county or state, has been overlooked or given slight at- tention. His record of service to the people of Shelby county is a long one, and there is nothing in it all that is not creditable to him and worthy of the most elevated and productive citizen- ship. And although he is approaching the age of four score years, liis vigor is still unabated, and all his faculties are still in full harness and energetic work. Missouri has no better citizen and none who has done more for her welfare ac- cording to his opportunities.
JOHN D. TOLLE.
Mr. Tolle has been a resident of Mis- souri from the time of his nativity to the present, is a member of one of the ster- ling pioneer families of this common- wealth, and he is now numbered among the representative farmers and stock- growers of Shelby county, where he has maintained his home for sixty years and where he has gained a large measure of success. the while he has held a secure place in the confidence and regard of his fellow men. He was loyal to the cause of the Confederacy during the Civil war and was one of its valiant soldiers.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
Mr. Tolle was born in Marion county, primitive pioneer schools of Marion Missouri, on March 17, 1842, and is a county, where he was reared to manhood and where he continued to be identified with farming until there came the call of higher duty and he tendered his serv- ices in defense of the institutions under whose influence he had been reared. In June, 1862, he enlisted in the command of Gen. Joseph Porter, with which he participated in the engagements at Moore's Mill, Clapp Ford, and Cherry- ville, besides a large number of skir- mishes. He was wounded in the conflict at Moore's Mill and was taken off the field by Union soldiers, being cared for and receiving medical treatment at a farm house, and his injury was of such order that he was incapacitated for further service, so that he was mustered out and received his honorable discharge in 1862. son of Parmenas W. and Susan Jane (Davis) Tolle, both natives of the state of Virginia, where the respective fam- ilies were founded in an early day. Par- menas W. Tolle was born in the year 1812, and in the pioneer days he came to Missouri and settled in Marion county, where he turned his attention to agri- cultural pursuits and where he continued to reside until 1849, in which memorable year he joined the exodus of gold seek- ers making their way across the plains to California, and he died of cholera while en route to the new Eldorado, his remains being interred on the wild plains of the west. His wife survived him by a number of years, passing the elosing years of her life in Marion county, this state. She was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and of the same denom- ination her husband also was a member prior to its division from the Methodist church in the north, at the time of the Civil war. In polities Mr. Tolle was an old-line Whig, and he was known as a man of superior mentality and sterling integrity of character. Of the eight ehil- dren four are now living, and concern- ing them the following brief record is entered : Lucy Jane is the wife of Wil- liam P. Johnson, of Marion county; Panlina L. is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia, Missouri; John D. is the immediate subject of this review; and Frances P. is the wife of John Smith, of St. Joseph, Missouri.
John D. Tolle passed his boyhood and vonth on the home farm and was af- forded the advantages of the somewhat
After the war Mr. Tolle continued to reside in Marion county until 1869, when he removed to Shelby county and took up his abode in Black Creek township. where he is now the owner of a well im- proved and valuable farm of 240 acres. the same being devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of excel- lent grades of live stock. Mr. Tolle has shown much energy and discrimination in the handling of his business affairs and the operation of his farm, and through his well ordered efforts he has attained to a position as one of the sub- stantial farmers and representative eiti- zens of the county. He is held in high esteem in the community that has so long represented his home, is a staunch ad- herent of the Democratie party, is af- filiated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife
DAVID MORGAN
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
hold membership in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South.
In the year 1870 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tolle to Miss Martha A. Wheelington, who was born in Mary- land, and who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Tolle have four children, Susan E., who is the wife of Gideon McDonald, of Shelby county; Daisy I., who is the wife of Henry Wear, of this county; John F., a mail clerk, resides in St. Louis; Charles Wainwright is married to Grace D. Triggle, of Clinton county, Missouri, and resides on his father's farm. Mr. Tolle has five grandchildren.
DAVID MORGAN.
Of the seventy-three years of life vouchsafed to the late David Morgan, one of the most successful manufactur- ers and business men of Shelbina, and one of its leading and most representa- tive citizens, fifty-five were passed in the United States and forty-six in Shelby county, Missouri. He was born in Wales on August 9, 1830, and became a resi- dent of this country in 1848. The por- tion of his native land in which he lived was filled with highly-tinted stories of America as a land of great promise and almost boundless opportunity for indus- try, and these stories filled his youthful mind with an ardent desire to come to and live in a country of such openings and possibilities, and when he reached the age of eighteen years he could no longer resist the tug on his heart strings Columbia was making.
He, therefore, at that age determined to brave the leaving ocean, on which
steam had not yet depoetized commerce and travel, and journey forth in an ef- fort to work out for himself a better ca- reer than seemed possible to him in his own country. He left the scenes and as- sociations of his boyhood, and without the companionship and encouragement of any other member of his family, em- barked himself and his hopes in a sailing vessel bound for the city of New York. His voyage, although prolonged, was un- eventful, and all the discomforts it brought him were cheerfully borne in the faith he cherished that he was making his way to prosperity and consequence among men. They were afterward amply atoned for by the success he achieved, the estate he accumulated and the influence and high esteem to which he attained.
On his arrival in this country Mr. Mor- gan took up his residence in Cortland county, New York. There he learned the trade of a wagon maker and worked at it until 1857. In that year the west- ern fever that had been burning in his brain for some time reached a climax, and he came to Missouri, locating in Shelby county. When he arrived in Shelbina he at once started a wagon fac- tory in the town, and this he conducted successfully and with a high and wide- spread reputation for the excellence of his output until his death on April 30, 1903. Some years later he also engaged in merchandising in implements and road vehicles, having his sons associated with him in the enterprise, which was carried on under the firm name of D. Morgan & Sons. This business was prof- itable, like the other, and Mr. Morgan was highly esteemed. His popularity
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extended all over this and the adjoining counties, and he was extensively and favorably known in other parts of the state.
On January 12, 1860, Mr. Morgan was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Williams, the marriage being solemnized in Monroe county, of which the bride was a resident at the time. They became the parents of four children, all of whom are living and reside in Shelbina. They are: William W., James H., David, Jr., and John R. Their mother is still living and also has her home in Shelbina. Many of her forty-three years of wedded life were years of toil and endurance. But like her husband, she was at all times sustained and buoyed up by the hope of better conditions, and was winning her way toward them by faithful attention to every daily duty, both with reference to her family and the community in which she lived. Her record is well known to the people around her, and there is not one who does not esteem her highly.
In political faith Mr. Morgan was an ardent Democrat of the old school. And while he was ever loyal to his party and faithful in its services, he never sought or desired a political office for himself either by election or appointment. His principal concern in public affairs cen- tered in the welfare of his city, township and county, the progress and elevation of their people and the full and whole- some development of every industrial, mental and moral agency at work in their midst. And to the practical and useful realization of his desires in these re- spects he gave himself with ardor and an energy that accomplished good results
in themselves and more in the forces in other persons which they awakened and set in motion. In fraternal life he was connected with and devoted to the Ma- sonic order, socially he moved in the first rank in the community, and in busi- ness cireles he was regarded as a leader, a judicious guide and a strong source of inspiration.
The men of the present day in Shelby county are doing their part to keep up and quicken the progress and sane and safe development of the region, and are doing many things which their fore- fathers could not do. But the latter wronght well with the means and the knowledge they had, and nothing can take away from them the credit of hav- ing laid broad and deep the foundations of the county's prosperity and civil in- stitutions, and made them altogether worthy of the stately superstructure which has been reared upon them. Among the settlers in the county in the primitive stage of its history none is entitled to higher credit or was more worthy of esteem than David Morgan. the interest- ing subject of this brief memoir.
WALTER C. BOWER.
In the sketeh of the career of John C. Bower, appearing on other pages of this work, is given data concerning the family genealogy of which the subject of this review is an honored representa- tive, and by reason of the fact that ready reference may be made to the article mentioned it is not deemed requi- site to repeat the data in the present sketch. Mr. Bower is one of the repre- sentative business men and highly es-
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
teemed citizens of the county that has been his home from his childhood days, and is now engaged in the retail hard- ware trade in the thriving village of Bethel, where he controls a large and substantial business.
Walter C. Bower was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, on September 21, 1841, and he was about five years of age at the time of the family removal to Shelby county, Missouri, his father, the late John L. Bower, having been one of the early members of the staunch Ger- man colony which had as its center the village of Bethel. In the schools of this village Walter C. Bower secured his early education, and after completing his stud- ies he worked with his father at the cab- inet maker's trade until 1869, when he became associated with his brother, John C., in the purchase of the furniture busi- ness conducted by their father. After a short interval he bought his brother's interest in the enterprise and he con- tinued to be successfully engaged in the manufacturing and sale of furniture and the conducting of a general repair shop in this line until 1893, when he sold the business and engaged in the hardware trade, in which he has since continued with success, having a commodious and well equipped establishment, in which are handled a full assortment of heavy and shelf hardware, stoves, ranges, paints, oils, builders' supplies, etc. Mr. Bower has been a thorough and enter- prising business man and has gained a large measure of success through his honorable and well directed efforts, so ordering his course as to maintain a sure hold upon the confidence and esteem of the community that has represented his
home from his childhood days. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Bethel and also in the Farmers' Bank of this village. He is the owner of valuable real estate in the village and also has well improved farm land in the county.
Though never ambitious for public of- fice of any description, Mr. Bower is aligned as a loyal supporter of the cause of the Republican party, he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife hold membership in the Ger- man Methodist Episcopal church in their home town.
In 1868 Mr. Bower was united in mar- riage to Miss Catherine Carroll, of Shelby county, and their only child died in infancy. Mrs. Bower died in 1870, and on December 8, 1876, Mr. Bower was united in marriage to Miss Cath- erine Fox, who was born in Germany, whence she came with her parents to America, the family home being finally established in Shelby county. Of the eight children of this union, seven are living, namely: Anna, who is the wife of Rev. William R. Velte, a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church and now a resident of Denver, Colorado ; Ida, who is the wife of Frederick Morris, of Green City, Missouri ; Walter G., who is engaged in business in Bethel ; and Nora, Adam, Clarence and Monroe, who re- main at the parental home.
WILLIAM T. ZIEGLER.
Mr. Ziegler is one of the well known and popular citizens of his native vil- lage of Bethel, where he conducts a prosperons business as a blacksmith and where he is a representative of one of
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
the sterling pioneer families of the county. He was born in Bethel, Septem- ber 9, 1856, and is a son of George and Sophia (Steinbach) Ziegler, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in the year 1810 and was a boy at the time of the family im- migration to America, having been reared and educated in one of the east- ern states and having come to Missouri in 1844 and numbered himself among the sturdy German founders of the col- ony of Bethel, Shelby county, where he became a citizen of influence and one who commanded the unreserved esteem of the community. Here he followed the blacksmith trade for nearly half a een- tury, and here his death occurred in the year 1884. His marriage to Sophia Steinbach occurred prior to the removal to Shelby county and her death occurred in 1892. Of their thirteen children, ten are living, and concerning them the fol- lowing brief record is consistently en- tered for perpetnation in this volume: Catherine is the wife of Michael Durr- stein, of Quincy, Illinois; George is a resident of the state of Oregon; Henry resides in Bethel; Sophia is the wife of Henry L. Hoffman, and they reside in the state of California; Wilhelmina is the wife of Herman Erich, a farmer of Shelby county ; Mary is the wife of Will- iam Steinbach, of Bethel; Matilda is the wife of Thomas Shadel, of Edina, Mis- souri; Julia is unmarried and resides in California and is a twin of William T., subject of this sketch ; and Christina is the wife of John L. Smith, of La- Grange, Missouri. The father was a stannch adherent of the Republican party and took an intelligent interest in
the questions and issues of the day, and both he and his wife held membership in the German Lutheran church.
William T. Ziegler is indebted to the schools of Bethel for his early ednea- tional discipline, and after leaving the same he was engaged in farm work for three years, after which he followed the trade of tinsmith for two years. He then turned his attention to the sturdy trade of blacksmithing, and he has fol- lowed the same consecutively and suc- cessfully during the long intervening years, being known as a skilled artisan and having a large and representative patronage. He is the owner of a nice home and other property in his native town, and he gives his support to all measures and enterprises that tend to further the progress and prosperity of the village and connty. He and his wife are zealous in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which they are de- voted members; he is affiliated with the Bethel lodge of Free & Accepted Ma- sons, and I. O. O. F., No. 603, Hebron Lodge; and in politics, though never an aspirant for public office, he gives a staunch support to the cause for which the Republican party stands sponsor.
On December 2, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ziegler to Miss Enna Pflum, of La Grange, this state. She was born and reared in Missouri and is a danghter of the late S. PAum, who was a sterling citizen and success- ful business man of Marion county. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler became the parents of seven children, of whom four are living. namely : Carl F., who is engaged in busi- ness at Laclede, this state; Bertha, who is the wife of Harry C. Bair, of Bethel,
HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
individually mentioned on other pages of this work; and William H. and Leslie E., who remain at the parental home.
JOHN G. BAUER.
Among the sterling and honored citi- zens contributed to Shelby county by the great empire of Germany is John G. Bauer, who is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the county and who has here gained a generous measure of snecess through his own well directed efforts. He is one of the rep- resentative business men and influential citizens of Bethel, where he has main- tained his home for more than sixty years and where his sterling attributes of character have retained to him im- pregnable popular confidence and es- teem.
Mr. Bauer was born in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, December 1, 1835, and is a son of John G. and Nat Bauer, who immigrated to America in 1839, when he was a child of four years. The little family disembarked in the city of New Orleans, from which point they proceeded by packet boat on the Mississippi river to Muscatine, Iowa, in which vicinity the father purchased a tract of land and engaged in farm- ing. He was one of the pioneers of that section of the Hawkeye state, where he continued his residence until 1845, when he came with his family to Missouri and numbered himself as one of the sturdy German colonists of Bethel, Shelby county. Here he engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits, but he was not long permitted to continue his endeavors, as his death occurred in 1846, less than a
year after his settlement here. His wife preceded him by a number of years, her death occurring in 1836. He was a de- vont member of the Christian church. Of their five children, two are now liv- ing, the subject of this review being the younger and his sister, Christina, being the wife of Moses Miller, of Bethel.
John G. Baner, whose name initiates this article, gained his rudimentary edu- cation in the common schools of Iowa and continued his studies in the Bethel schools, having been about ten years of age at the time of the family removal to Missouri and having been reared to manhood in the staunch old Bethel col- ony. After leaving school he served an apprenticeship to the shoemaker's trade, to which he devoted his attention for several years, after which he engaged in the jewelry business, in which he has since continued, being now one of the pioneer merchants of Bethel, where he has directed his efforts along normal and straightforward lines of enterprise and where he has gained a large and well merited success. After the close of the Civil war he took a course in phar- macy, under the preceptorship of Pro- fessor Fink, of Bethel, and prior to the disbanding of the original colony he conducted a drug store for a number of years, in connection with his jewelry business, and still continues it.
In 1882 Mr. Bauer became associated with three other substantial citizens in purchasing the Bethel grist mill in Bethel, after the division of the colony, and in 1902 he purchased the interests of the other stockholders, since which time he has continued to operate the mill in an individual way. In addition to
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
this valuable property he is the owner of other improved realty in his home town and also has about 225 acres of fine farming land in this section of the county. The major portion of this land is located in Bethel township, and the same is devoted to general farming and to the raising of live stock.
As a citizen Mr. Bauer has at all times stood exponent of the utmost loyalty and publie spirit, and he has contributed a generous quota to the civic and material advancement and prosperity of his home town and county. In polities he accords an unwavering allegiance to the Repub- lican party, taking a lively interest in local affairs of a public nature, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church. Mr. Bauer has not narrowed his life within the confines of mere material success, but has shown the utmost kindliness and good will in his intercourse with his fellow men, doing all in his power to alleviate dis- tress and suffering and showing a high appreciation of his stewardship. Thus it is but a natural result that he holds the unqualified esteem of the community and is admired for his unostentatious Init generous elements of character.
On October 30, 1864, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Bauer to Miss Louise Stark, who was born in Würtemburg, Germany, October 11, 1846, and who was a child at the time of the family immi- gration to America. Her parents passed the closing years of their lives in Shelby county, where her father, Joshua Stark, was a successful stone mason. Mr. and Mrs. Baner became the parents of six children, of whom four are now living, namely: Julius H., Christine E., Luh
Irene, and Catherine, all of whom re- main at the parental home except the one son, who is engaged in the farming and milling business in Bethel, being as- sociated with his father. He married Miss Rosa Pepper and they have one child, deceased. Catherine is now Mrs. J. D. Taylor, of Bethel.
JAMES W. TURNER.
A native of Shelby county, Mr. Turner is numbered among its representative farmers and stock-growers, being the owner of a well improved farm of eighty acres, in section 16, Black Creek town- ship, and having also the supervision of the farm owned by his widowed mother. Of the family history, adequate details may be found in the sketch of the career of his brother, William R. Turner, on other pages of this publication.
James W. Turner was born on the old homestead farm of his father, in Black Creek township, this county, August 7, 1862, and is a son of the late William Hohan Turner, one of the honored and influential citizens of this section of the county. Mr. Turner was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his native township and as a boy and youth he contributed his quota to the work of the home farm, waxing strong in mind and body and gaining a thorough and valuable experience in connection with all departments of farm work. He has never wished or found it expedient to sever his allegiance to the great basic art of agriculture, and his home farm, comprising eighty acres of most arable land, all under cultivation, is one of the model places of Black Creek township.
S. G. PARSONS
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HISTORY OF SILELBY COUNTY
In the same township is located the fine farm of his mother, the same comprising 200 acres, and this is operated under his direct supervision and management, be- ing devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of excellent grades of live stock. Mr. Turner was the first man to bring the famous Hampshire sheep into the state of Missouri, which is now so popular in this section of the country, and is essentially enterprising and pro- gressive in his methods, bringing to bear indefatigable energy and marked dis- crimination in the forwarding of his farming operations, so that he is able to reap generous rewards from the efforts put forth. He is one of the substantial farmers and representative citizens of his township and is well upholding the prestige of the honored family name which he bears, being held in high re- gard by all who know him. Though never ambitious for public office he ae- cords a loyal and zealous support to the cause of the Democratic party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
In August, 1889, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Ruth A. Gar- rison, who was born and reared in Shelby county and who died in 1887, being sur- vived by one child, Gaynell, who remains at the paternal home. On March 1, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Turner to Miss Nora Shudy, of Shelby- ville, who likewise was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Johanna Shudy, a representative citizen of Shelbyville. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have two children-James Francis and Vietor Ellis. Mrs. Turner is an active member of the Christian church, giving
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