USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 54
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
same place. He was very successful in all his undertakings, making everything pay that he put his hand to, and showing his hroad intelligence, business acumen and masterly management in all. He owned 760 acres of land, which was farmed by tenants, and had considerable town property in addition.
Mr. Crow was never married, but, al- thongh he had no family claims to impel him to action, he was, nevertheless, one of the most useful and progressive men in his community in all that pertains to the general welfare and the substantial and lasting good of the people. In polit- ical affairs he was firmly attached to the Democratic party, and one of its most energetic working members. He never aspired to publie station nor was willing to accept a political office of any kind, either by appointment or election. But no duty of citizenship was neglected by him, and all were performed with vigor, intelligence and an ardent desire to ad- vance the best interests of his county, state and country. He was regarded as one of Shelby county's best and most representative men, and was universally esteemed as such throughout the county and the whole of northeastern Missouri.
MARTIN S. BUCKMAN.
Of Kentucky ancestry and immediate parentage, and imbued with the spirit of enterprise and daring which laid the foundations of the great state in which his parents were born, and the breadth of view and progressiveness which have so largely aided in building the super- structure of the commonwealth, Martin S. Buekman, of Salt River township, in
this county, has repeated in some meas- ure on the soil of Missouri the perform- ance of his progenitors in the blue grass region. True, he has not been called upon to face the dangers, endure the hardships or engage in the large under- takings which were portions of the lot of his ancestors in the wilds of Kentucky in its frontier days, but whatever has come his way to do or endure he has con- fronted with a manly spirit and over- come by persistent and well directed energy, and has therefore met in his day the duty of life as faithfully as they did in theirs.
Mr. Buekman was born in Monroe county, Missouri, on December 3, 1856, and came into life, therefore, after the frontier period had passed, although the country here was even then sparsely settled and very largely undeveloped. His grandfather, John R., and his father, Joseph R. Buckman, were natives of Kentucky, where the father was born on November 5, 1813. He came to Missouri in the early days and located in Monroe county, where passed the remainder of his days busily engaged in farming and raising live stock and rearing to ma- turity, with the best instruction and ex- ample he could give them, his numerous offspring. He was a man of energy and determination, and was successful in his ventures, retiring in 1877 from larger operations to a farm of 240 acres in this county.
He was married in 1838 to Miss Martha Simms, of the same nativity as himself, and by this marriage they be- came the parents of ten children, nine of whom are living: John G., whose home was in Monroe county, this state, died
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December 25, 1909; Benjamin, who re- marriage with Miss Emma Simms, of sides in California; Frank, who lives in Monroe county, Missouri. They have had eleven children, ten of whom are liv- ing: Olive, the wife of Loren Yates, of Monroe City; Lambert, Lillian, Alfred, Grigg, Julius, Benjamin, Mary (de- ceased), Otis, Martha and Genevieve. In politics the father is a Democrat and in religion a Catholic. Shelby county; Mary A., the widow of the late George W. Drake, whose present home is in Quiney, Illinois ; Douglas, also a resident of Monroe county, Missouri; Martin S., the subject of this brief re- view; Kate, the wife of Stephen Seward, of Monroe county; Elizabeth, who lives in this county; and George, who has his residence in the state of Nebraska. The father died in 1880. IIe was a Democrat CHARLES N. SCHWIETERS. in polities and a Catholic in religious faith and allegiance. He was twice mar- ried, his first wife having died in 1865. His second wife was Frances Fowler. George was born to the second marriage. His second wife died in 1872.
His son, Martin S. Buckman, grew to manhood on his father's farm and ob- tained a limited education in the district schools of Monroe county. After leav- ing school he worked on the home farms in Monroe and Shelby connties with his father until 1880. Then, by the death of the father the conditions of the home were changed, and he bonght a farm of 240 acres of his own in Shelby county. On this as a nucleus he has ever since been energetically and skillfully en- gaged in farming and raising live stock, increasing his land and his business as Fortune has smiled on his enterprise and ability, until he now owns about 1,000 aeres of good land and has it all under cultivation and brought to a high state of improvement and productiveness. He also holds stock in the Commercial Bank of Shelbina and is one of its directors, besides being interested in other indus- tries of value.
Thrown on his own resources at the early age of fourteen years, and at that age leaving his home to try his fortunes in a distant and strange land in which he had no relatives and few, if any, ac- quaintances, Charles N. Schwieters, one of the substantial retired farmers and live stock men of Salt River township, Shelby county, has, in his subsequent career and achievements fully justified the faith of his friends and his own in his ability to take care of himself in a worldly way and make his own progress a certainty, and at the same time be of good service to any community which might have the benefit of his citizenship and good example of industry.
Mr. Schiwieters was born in Prussia, Germany, on October 2. 1848. His father, Casper, and his grandfather, Joseph Schwieters, were natives of the Fatherland also, as was his mother. whose maiden name was Mary Gayner, and in that great empire their forefath- ers had lived many generations before them. The father was born in 1813 and married to Miss Gayner in 1846. They became the parents of seven children, four of whom are living: Sophia, the
On Jannary 30, 1882, he was united in wife of Christopher Kuelme, of Lentner,
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
Missouri; Charles N., the interesting subject of this review; Clement, who re- sides in Los Angeles, California; and Barney, whose home is still in Germany. The father, Casper Schwieters, was a soldier in Germany and took an active part in the war of 1848 in that country, through the disastrous ending of which numbers of distinguished Germans be- came exiles from their native land.
Charles N. Schwieters began his edu- cation in Germany and completed it in night schools in this country. At the age of fourteen he came to the United States, and under the persuasive allure- ments of the West, which were based on a solid foundation of real wealth of op- portunity, he left the Atlantic seaboard to those who found it satisfactory and himself hastened into the bustling ae- tivities and expanding hopes and pros- pects of the great Mississippi valley, lo- cating in Qniney, Illinois, arriving in that eity in 1863.
Ilis resources financially were very limited and it was necessary for, him to find employment at once. He soon found an engagement on implement and bridge work, on which he spent the hours of toil during the day, and with character- istie energy and foresight, attended school at night. He continued this ar- rangement until 1868, then moved to Warsaw, Illinois, where he worked in a woolen mill abont two years. In 1870 he came to Missouri and located near Lentner in this county, where he passed one year on a farm. But there was still a voice from the farther West within him, pleading for recognition, and in 1871 he went to Colorado and in that
state and Nevada he passed the next five years.
He did not, however, find that section of the country as agreeable to him as this, and in 1877 he returned to Missouri and Shelby county, and located on a farm of eighty acres, which he occupied three years. The spirit of roving and adventure was not yet fully satisfied in him, and in 1880 he moved to Monroe county, and during the next ten years he was prosperously engaged in farming and raising live stock in that county. In 1890 he once more became a resident of Shelby county, and this has been his home ever since. He was industriously and skilfully engaged in farming here from that time until 1908, when he re- tired from active work and rented to his sons the 360 acres of fine land which he had acquired.
In November, 1868, he was united in marriage with Miss Johanna Moessmer, who was born in Germany in 1848 and is a daughter of Charles and Clara (Dehner) Moessmer of that country. By this marriage he became the father of eleven children, nine of whom are liv- ing: Clement J., John C., Frederick W., Henry V., Frank, Louis N., Joseph, Wil- liam and Clara May. They are all resi- dents of Shelby county but Frank, who lives in Monroe county. Louis lives on the old homestead, and Joseph, William and Clara May are living at home with their parents. The father is a Repub- liean in politics, and ardently supports his political party in all its campaigns. IIe belongs to the Catholic church, and is devout and constant in his obedience to its teachings.
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A poor boy with nothing but his own health, strength and unconquerable spirit, and a friendless exile from his native land, at the age of fourteen; a man of large means and a highly re- spected citizen in the country of his adoption at sixty ; this is his record, and it is creditable to our land of great re- sources and abundant opportunities. But it is far more to his credit, because it has been his native ability, fidelity to duty and determined industry and fru- gality which have wrought such gratify- ing results. Others, many of them, have had similar or equal opportunities, but he has taken advantage of his and made the most of them. The people among whom he has lived, labored and suc- ceeded so well recognize his merit and esteem him accordingly as one of their best citizens. Ile also owns two fine residences in Shelbina.
MORT. D. AYERS.
Orphaned in his infancy, when he was little more than one year old, by the untimely death of his father at the early age of forty-four, and being one of eight children left for the mother to rear and educate, Mort. D. Ayers, now one of the prosperous, progressive and en- terprising farmers of Salt River town- ship in this county, was forced to begin the battle of life for himself at an early age, and for years after beginning it found the struggle an arduous and try- ing one. But he had the make-up of a man of merit and determination, and never lost faith in himself or his ability to win ont in the contest, whatever its difficulties.
Mr. Ayers was born at Bay City, Michigan, on May 30, 1867, and is a son of Wright and Clara (Wright) Ayers, natives of Massachusetts, where the father was born in 1824, and where they were married. They had eight children, only two of whom are now living, Mort. D. and his older sister, Mina, the wife of Mr. Middleton, of Allen, Michigan. The father was a carpenter and pros- pered at his trade, bidding fair to win a competence for himself and his family, when death ended his labors in 1868.
After his death, about one year, that is, in 1869, the mother brought her off- spring to Missouri and located in Shel- bina. Here the son obtained a limited common school education, and as soon as he completed it immediately engaged in farming and raising live stock on a farm of 120 acres of land three miles east of Shelbina. The career as a farmer which he thus began he has continued to the present time, and in his efforts for ad- vancement has been successful, winning a comfortable estate through his persist- ent and judiciously applied industry and his frugality and good management. He is now one of the substantial and well- to-do farmers and stock men of his town- ship, and is also regarded as one of its most progressive and enterprising citi- zens in respect to all matters of public improvement. For he has taken a warm and helpful interest in every worthy un- dertaking designed to advance the wel- fare of the locality of his home or pro- mote the good of its people.
On July 24, 1887, Mr. Ayers was united in marriage with Miss Julia Nitsche, a daughter of Fred and Minnie (Miller) Nitsche, of Shelbina, where
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Mrs. Ayers was born on May 5, 1866. Four children have been born to the union, three of whom are living: Clara Lillian, the wife of James T. Greening. of this county, and Lee Frederick and Alberta, who are living at home with their parents. As a member of the Ma- sonic order and the Order of Odd Fel- lows the father has taken a deep interest in the fraternal life of his community and contributed to the expansion of its usefulness and the strengthening of its forces for good. He has sought nothing in the way of political preferment. but has, nevertheless, taken a very active in- terest in local public affairs with a view to securing the best results for the gen- eral weal of the township and county of his home. No duty of citizenship has been neglected by him, and all have been performed with zeal, fidelity and intel- ligence, and he is esteemed by his fellow men of the locality in accordance with his demonstrated worth and usefulness.
GEORGE A. WRIGHT.
This valued citizen and prosperous farmer and live stock man of Salt River township began life for himself with nothing and now has a comfortable com- petence, all of which he has acquired by his own thrift, persistent industry and excellent management. He knows what is required in the way of effort for ad- vancement where the competition is so keen and the avenues of progress are becoming so crowded, when a man has nothing to depend on but his own un- aided faculties, and he can therefore ap- preciate the endeavors of others situated as he was when he began the struggle.
Mr. Wright was born in Lewis county, Missouri, on July 28, 1865, where his parents had located two years before. Ilis father, also named George, was born in Canada in 1825 and is still living at the grand old age of eighty-five years, with a considerable measure of his vigor still available. He is like some genial and fruitful year, passing to its elose, doubtless, but with some of its warmth and beauty and usefulness still remain- ing. He came to the United States be- fore the Civil war and took up his resi- denee in Illinois, where he followed farm- ing two or three years. In 1863 he moved across the Mississippi to Lewis county, Missouri, but four or five years later became a resident of Shelby county, and here he has ever since had his home. In 1899, after farming and raising live stock for a period of more than sixty- five years, he retired from active pur- snits and moved to Shelbina, where he now resides.
He was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Hastings, of Ohio. They became the parents of twelve children, six of whom are living: Ella, the wife of J. W. Peters, of Shelbina ; George A., the pleasing subject of this sketch; Wil- liam, who is a resident of Paris, Mis- souri; Lillie, the wife of Roy Haskins, of Shelbina; Nettie, the wife of Lonis Noble, also a resident of Paris, Missouri ; and Ida, the wife of David Montgomery. of Shelbina. The mother of these chil: dren is still living. In politics the father is a Republican, and in religious affilia- tion a member of the Christian church.
George A. Wright obtained a limited education in the country schools of Shelby county, and after leaving school
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at an early age worked on farms in the neighborhood of his home, and also at railroading until 1885. He was thrifty and economical, and by the year last mentioned felt himself able to engage in a permanent occupation, and therefore bought a farm near Shelbina. He pros- pered on this, and in 1896 bought an- other farm of eighty acres, on which he has been actively and profitably engaged in farming and raising live stock from that time to the present. In 1909 he purchased ninety acres adjoining. As his prosperity has increased he has pur- chased additional land, and now owns 260 acres, all of which he has under ad- vanced and productive cultivation.
Mr. Wright has his farm well im- proved with good buildings and fully equipped with all the necessary ap- pliances for its tillage according to the most approved modern methods, and he studies his business in all its features with a view to securing the best results for all his ontlay of toil and care in con- nection with it. He is regarded as one of the enterprising and progressive farmers and stock men of his township, and the appearance of his farm indicates that he deserves the reputation he en- joys.
On November 22, 1887, he was united in marriage with Miss Amanda L. Peters, who was born in Scotland county, Missouri, on May 8, 1859, and is a daughter of William and Matilda (Rice) Peters. Seven children have been born of the union, five of whom are living, and are at home with their parents. They are: Artie Francis, Benjamin Alex- ander, William P., Porter Clifford and
Gladys Loree. In polities the father is a Republican.
JOHN H. MOORE.
Born April 24, 1848, in Bethel town- ship, this county, and having passed all his subsequent years within the county, John H. Moore, of that township, where he carries on an extensive business as a farmer and stock man, has witnessed the progress and development of the re- gion and has done his part to aid in pro- moting them. In his boyhood the local- ity of his present residence was but little removed from its wild state, or at the most was still but sparsely peopled and its settlement was in a primitive state. But he, when he grew to manhood, and many others like him, gave attention to the needs of the locality and under their quickening labors it has grown to great- ness, wealth and power, with every ele- ment of its civilization intense with ac- tivity and enterprise.
Mr. Moore is a son of Elisha and Ad- monia (Brown) Moore, the former a na- tive of Kentucky and the latter born in the same state, but brought to Missouri by her parents at a tender age. The father came to Ralls county, Missouri, in about 1829, but settled in this county in 1836, and passed the remainder of his days here actively and profitably en- gaged in farming and raising live stock. He was first married in 1830 to Miss Amanda Gentry, a native of Ralls conn- ty, in this state. They had three chil- dren. Their mother died in 1843, and the father afterward contracted his mar- riage with Miss Admonia Brown. Five
MR. AND MRS. JOHN H. MOORE
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children were born of this union, four of his party, but never desirous of official whom are living, William, Jolin H., Tandy G. and Mary E., the wife of S. Bragg, of Bethel. The father was a Whig in politics. His death occurred in 1851 and that of the mother on August 7,1891.
Their son John H. began his education in the district schools of this county and completed it at a high school. Since leaving school he has been continuously and energetically engaged in farming and raising stock, and by industry and good management has become one of the most extensive farmers in the county. He owns over 1,200 acres of land, which is of good quality and the greater part of it is under advanced and skillful cul- tivation. The stock industry connected with the farming operations is also ex- tensive and conducted with great enter- prise and excellent judgment. Mr. Moore is also a leading stockholder in the Shelby County Railroad Company and has other interests of value in the county and elsewhere.
On July 15, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Nannie Moran, a daughter of Solon and Mary Winifred (Martin) Moran, natives of Madison county, Kentucky, who came to Missouri when their daughter, now Mrs. Moore, was but six months old. By her marriage to Mr. Moore she has become the mother of eight children, seven of whom are liv- ing-Mary Edna, the wife of Walter Singleton ; James C., Lulu D., Hattie, Lucy R., John, Jr., and Frankie, the wife of Charles E. Baldwin, of Knox county, Missouri. In politics the father is an active, working Democrat, always zealous and effective in the service of
station of any kind, although he has served on the school board for a period of over twenty-five years. He does not belong to any fraternal or social organi- zation, but is a devoted and serviceable member of the Baptist church. He has been very successful and always mani- fested a lively and helpful interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his township and county. He is looked upon as a model farmer of large enter- prise and great progressiveness and is universally esteemed as a citizen and a man correct in his demeanor in every re- lation of life. And as he has passed all the years of his life in the locality of his present home the people around him have full knowledge of his worth.
RICHARD O'DONNELL.
This prosperous and highly respected retired farmer of Shelby county, whose well improved and skillfully cultivated farm of eighty acres lies in Salt River township, is a good illustration of the adaptability of the Irish race and its readiness to grapple with any condition in life and secure advancement if given a fair chance. He came to this country after going from his native land to Aus- tralia and passing a few years there. He had practically nothing when he came, but the qualities of pluck, perseverance and shrewdness, with which nature had endowed him, and he is now a man of substance, with a comfortable compe- tence for life and stands high in the es- teem of all who know him.
Mr. O'Donnell was born in Ireland on September 15, 1833. His father, Jolın
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O'Donnell, and his grandfather, Richard O'Donnell, were also natives of the Emerald Isle, and there their forefath- ers lived many generations. The father came to the United States in 1845 and located in New York City, but three years later returned to Ireland, and there passed the balance of his life. He was a stone mason by occupation and did well at his trade. He was married in 1832 to Miss Mary Shea, also of Ire- land, and they had six children.
Richard O'Donnell obtained his edu- cation in Ireland and passed the years of his early manhood in Australia, where he was engaged in building bridges and saw mills. It was natural that he should seek better opportunities away from his native heath than the political and social conditions in his own country afforded, and as Australia was a new and pro- gressive land, with seeming abundance of opportunity for a poor but ambitious young man, he went there. And the qual- ities of head and hand and heart which he possessed. which would have won him success almost anywhere, were service- able to him there. But still he hankered for America, and in 1877 he came to this country and found a home in Chicago, where he worked six months. He then moved to Shelby county and located on the farm in Salt River township on which he now lives, and on which he was actively and profitably engaged in farm- ing and raising live stock until his re- tirement from active work in 1904.
Mr. O'Donnell's farm comprises eighty acres of good land and is well im- proved. He applied to its cultivation while he was in charge of it the intelli- gence he had gained in his extensive and
varied experience, and also what he had gained in study and from observation and reflection, and he brought it to a high state of fertility and productive- ness. It is now farmed by tenants, but Mr. O'Donnell still supervises the farm- ing, and the same care and systematic work that he performed is the rule gov- erning all its operations, and the stand- ard of excellence in farming set up by him still prevails in every feature of what is done on the place.
Mr. O'Donnell was married in 1870 to Miss Jane Cross, also a native of Ire- land. They have had eight children, six of whom are living. and all residents of Shelby county. They are: John, also a prosperous farmer; Thomas, who re- sides in Shelbina ; Richard, Jr .; Mary, the widow of Eugene Bailey; Eugene, who is a farmer of this county ; and Eve- lyn, who is at home with her parents. The father is a pronounced Democrat in his political faith and allegiance, and his religious connection is with the Catholic church, of which he is a devout and faith- ful member.
JOHN F. SPARKS.
Born of one of the sturdy strains of Virginia yeomanry on his father's side of the house, his paternal grandfather, Robert Sparks, having been a product of old families in the Old Dominion, and of Kentneky parentage on both sides, John F. Sparks, of Salt River township, in this county, has reproduced in his own career on the soil of Missouri the best historical and traditional life features of his ancestry in the two older states of the Sonth, and shown that whatever the
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