USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 65
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WILLIAM CLAUSSEN.
No element of the immigrant popula- tion of this country has done more for its development and improvement in a ma- terial way than that which the Father- land has given it. The German is the great toiler in any field of effort suited to his taste or capacity. and his patience and persistency is always in proportion
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to the task before him. His offspring, even though born in this country and living at home with her mother. reared amid circumstances very differ- ent from those of his own childhood and youth, inherits his traits and reproduces them in further usefulness to the com- munity in which he lives.
William Claussen, one of the substan- tial and progressive farmers of Black Creek township, Shelby county, is of this class. He was born in Shelby county. Missouri, on January 30, 1878, and is a son of Henry and Anna Magdaline (Groezinger) Claussen, the former a na- tive of Holstein, Germany, and the lat- ter of Jo Daviess county, Illinois, but of German parentage. The father came to the United States in 1869 and found con- genial surroundings and plentiful sng- gestions of his native land in a German Lutheran settlement in this county. But a short time after his arrival he went to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where there was a similar settlement or colony. Ile remained there until after his marriage in 1873, then returned to Shelby county, and here he passed the remainder of his life, which ended on November 25, 1903.
In early life the father was a miller, but during almost the whole of his resi- dence in this county he followed farming and raising stock and was very success- ful in his operations. In politics he was a Republican and in religions faith a Lutheran, with strong devotion to both his party and his church. He and his wife were the parents of four children, all of whom are living and residents of this county. They are: Christian, Mary, the wife of Valentine Nothnagel, a sketch of whom will be found in this
work; William and Paulina, who is still
William Claussen obtained his educa- tion at Red Star district school, in this county, and while attending it and for some years after leaving it worked on his father's farm, helping in its cultiva- tion and assisting the family. He re- mained at home until March 8, 1903, when he was married to Miss Anna Neu- schafer, of Shelby county. He then bought 160 acres of good land and began a farming and stock raising industry of his own. This he has ever since carried on with vigor and good judgment, and through it has risen to comfort for life, in a worldly way, and to consequence and standing in the township as a citizen. For he has been as energetic and judi- cious in aiding to promote the welfare of the locality of his home and advance the interests of its people as he has been in pushing his own affairs to profitable re- sults, and by this means has won the re- gard and good will of all classes of those who live around him.
Mr. and Mrs. Claussen have had three children, their sons Henry and Elmer and their daughter Grace. They are all living and still members of the parental family circle. The father is a pronounced Republican in politics, with an ardent in- terest in the welfare of his party and a constant readiness to render it any serv- ice in his power. Ile and his wife are de- voted members of the Lutheran church. Born and reared in Shelby county, and thoroughly at home among its people, with all their interests embarked upon its currents of prosperity and advance- ment, they are loyal to it and its general
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weal in every way, and are known and acknowledged to be among the most es- timable and useful citizens of this part of the state.
JOHN GEORGE BURCKHARDT. (Deceased.)
It is a matter of gratification to the publishers of this history that within its pages will be found represented so large a quota of the men who have here attained to success and honor in their respective fields of endeavor and who have found within the gracious borders of the fine old county of Shelby ample scope for productive effort.
Of this number was John George Burkhardt, who was one of the enter- prising farmers of Bethel township and who was a member of one of the sterling families of this section of the state, where he took up his abode more than forty years ago.
John G. Burekhardt was born in Wur- temburg, Germany, on the 27th of Sep- tember, 1842. He was a son of John G. Burekhardt, also a native of Germany, who came with his family to America in the early '50s, and located on Long Is- land, New York, in which state he and his wife passed the residne of their lives.
Their son, John G., Jr., was twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to the United States. He was reared to maturity on historie old Long Island, at Gleneove, and there he re- ceived a common school education. When the Civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation he gave distinctive evi- dence of his loyalty to the land of his adoption. Soon after the outbreak of
the war, at the age of nineteen years, he tendered his services in defense of the Union, by enlisting as a private in the 4th New York Volunteer Infantry, in which command he served two years. Through faithful and gallant service he won promotion to the office of corporal and later to that of sergeant of his com- pany. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he received his honorable dis- charge, but shortly afterward, in 1863, he enlisted in the navy, becoming fire- man on the gunboat "Anemana," and he continued in the navy arm of the Union service until the close of the war, when he received his final discharge, after hav- ing made an admirable record in both departments with which he was thus con- neeted.
After the close of the war John G. Burekhardt located in Allentown, Penn- sylvania, where he found employment in the steel rolling mills until 1869, when he came to Shelby county, Missouri and purchased a small tract of land in Bethel township, where he engaged in farming and stock-growing. As a raiser of high- grade live stock he eventually attained a wide reputation and pronounced suc- cess, and he ultimately became the owner of a fine landed estate of three hundred and ten acres. He gave special attention to the breeding of pedigree or registered stock, including Clydesdale horses, short- horn cattle and Shropshire sheep, and from his well-ordered stock farm were sold many fine animals for breeding pur- poses. He became one of the influential citizens of the county, where he ever com- manded unqualified confidence and es- teem, and where he ever gave his aid and influence in support of all measures tend-
JOHN G. BURCKHARDT
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ing to advance the general welfare. He was a Republican in his political adher- ency, served for many years as a member of the school board of his district, was actively affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was one of the pil- lars of the Presbyterian church at his home, in which he was a deacon at the time of his death, which occurred on the 4th of October, 1909. Of this church his wife also has been a devoted member for many years, and she still resides on the old homestead farm. Mr. Burck- hardt was one of the prominent factors in the organization of the Farmers' Mu- tual Fire Insurance Company, of Shelby county, and was vice-president of the same at the time of his demise. He served many years, and with marked in- terest and efficiency, as statistical re- porter of Shelby county, supplying data for the government.
On the 18th of December, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of John G. Burckhardt to Miss Frances Vawter, who was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on the 3d of January, 1843, and who survives him, as has already been stated. Of the seven children of this union all are living except one, Louise C., who died in womanhood. Concerning the others the following brief record is en- tered: Sarah A. is the wife of Henry Beckley, of Shelby county; John F. Margaret is now Mrs. Harry Barnes, of this county; Elizabeth is the wife of Andrew Easdale, of this county ; George has charge of the old home farm; and Mayme is the wife of Arthur Hamilton, of Woodlake, Nebraska.
VALENTINE NOTHNAGEL.
This prosperous and progressive farmer of Black Creek township, Shelby county, who has used all his opportuni- ties for his own advantage and the good of the township and county in which he lives, is a native of the city of Griesheim, near Hanover, in Germany, where he was born on July 4, 1875, and came to this country with his parents in 1881, when he was but six years old. The family located at once in Shelby county, and here Mr. Nothnagel has lived ever since. He grew to manhood in this county and has been from his childhood interested in its people and one of the active factors in promoting their welfare and the de- velopment of the locality of his home. Even though he began his education in his native land, he may be appropriately claimed as a product of this county, for he completed his scholastic training in its schools, married among its citizens and has devoted all his energies to mag- nifying its industries and adding to its wealth and power.
Mr. Nothnagel is a son of Peter and Catherine (Bork) Nothnagel, also na- tives of Germany, the father having been born in the same place as his son. The parents were married on December 5, 1872, and became the parents of four children, two of whom are living, Cath- erine, the wife of William Gerlich, of this county, and Valentine. Having heard the word of promise from the New World, which offered better chances for advancement in life than the Old, the father determined to move his family to this country and brought it to the United States in 1881. They found a new home
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with familiar associations among the has followed the same rules of conduct early Lutheran settlers of Shelby county, and here the family has been domesti- cated from the time of its arrival. The father has been a steady and thrifty farmer and stock man ever since, and is now living on a farm of sixty acres near Clarence, where he carries on his two exacting and profitable industries, giv- ing them the close and careful attention the German people give everything to which their duty leads them.
He has also been zealous and service- able in promoting the good of his com- munity as a farmer and a citizen, and is regarded as a very worthy and useful man. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, in whose affairs lie takes an active interest, and in church relations he and his wife are devont and consistent Lutherans.
Their son Valentine began the battle of life for himself by working out by the month, continuing his slow progress in this line of labor until February 23, 1902. On that date he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Agnes Clausson, of Shelby county. He then deemed it his duty to provide a permanent home for his family and bought 160 acres of land, which constitute the farm on which he now resides, and on which he condnets a thriving business in general farming and raising live stock. He has built his op- Mr. Moore is, himself, a native of Shelby county, Missouri, where his life began on September 16, 1852. He is the only son and child of Hugh and Mrs. Alexine (Richardson) Moore, the former a native of Scotland and the latter of Maryland. The father was born in 1806 and came to the United States with his erations in these lines of useful en- deavor from a small beginning up to a high state of development, and is re- garded as one of the thrifty and success- ful farmers and stock men of Black Creek township. He was industrions and frugal as a hired hand, saving his earnings to get a start in life, and he parents in 1820. As he neared and
as a landowner, making slow but steady progress at first, and enlarging his op- erations as success crowned his efforts. Four children have been born to him and his wife, and all of them are living and are still members of the parental family circle. They are John Henry, Rosa Matilda, Carl Edward and Katy Louisa. The father is a Republican in politics and he and his wife are Luther- ans in religions faith and training. They are highly respected as sterling and estimable citizens.
GEORGE W. MOORE.
With a parentage combining the best traits of the Scottish yeomanry and those that are worthy and commendable in the people of Maryland, G. W. Moore, of Black Creek township in this county, who is one of the thrifty and successful farmers and stock men of that locality, has inherited qualities that have char- acterized the bone and sinew of two parts of the world which have made honorable records in history and are very fruitful in industrial life. And he has been true to his ancestry, and exemplified in his own career all that was sterling and pro- ductive in it and the sections from which his parents came.
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passed his majority in age he traveled energetic and enterprising in aiding all considerably, and finally located in this commendable publie improvements and county as one of the most desirable regions he had seen for his purposes. He was a stonemason and worked at his trade in many localities. After settling in Shelby county he purchased some land and farmed in connection with his me- chanical industry for a number of years. then gave up the trade and devoted him- self exclusively to farming and raising stock until his death, which occurred in 1893. His wife died in 1875. They had one child, their son, George W. The father was a Demoerat in political faith and he and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. worthy undertaking's for the develop- ment and advancement of his locality. In polities he is a firm and faithful Dem- oerat, with great interest in the snecess of his party and effective activity in pro- moting it. He is regarded on all sides as a very worthy and useful citizen and en- joys the esteem of all who know him. Ile was married on May 3, 1877, to Miss Elizabeth Perry, a daughter of B. F. and Margaret (Carroll) Perry, well known and highly respected residents of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have had six children and four of them are living : Magazine, the wife of Don MeIntyre, of Shelby county; and Mollie, George T. and Dulcie, all of whom are still living at home with their parents.
Their son G. W., who has passed the whole of his life to the present time in this county, was educated in its district schools. After completing their course of instruction he worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until the death of his parents. He has since been active and constant in his work as a farmer and stock man, and by close at- tention to his business, and judicious judgment of it has made a great success of it. His farm comprises 180 acres of superior land and he has the greater part of it under excellent cultivation. ITe is a skillful farmer and a careful and studions stock-raiser, and he makes both industries minister to his advantage. His farm is well improved and fully pro- vided with the necessary appliances for its successful tillage, and he has one of the most attractive and valuable country homes in his township.
Mr. Moore has not neglected the in- terests of his township and county while building his own fortunes. He has been
BENJAMIN F. PERRY.
The life story of this successful farmer and valned citizen of Shelby county, who lives in Lentner township, and is now re- tired from active pursuits, if written ont in full would form a narrative of thrill- ing adventure, considerable romance and variety of feature and tragical experi- ences, followed by gratifying success in his business and the esteem and good will of the people among whom he has lived and labored during the last forty- four years, and to whom he has demon- strated his worth and his title to their regard by his industry and prosperity as a farmer and his usefulness as a man.
Mr. Perry was born in Morgan county, Indiana, on August 25, 1827. His father, William Perry, was a native of Kon- tucky. And in that state his grand-
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father, whose name was William, also first saw the light of this world. The father settled in Morgan county, Indiana, at an early day and died there in 1839. He was an extensive farmer, owning and cultivating with success and profit a quarter section of land. He was married in Indiana to Miss Elsie Ennis, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of seven children, of whom the only one now living is Benjamin F., the interesting and venerable subject of these paragraphs.
Benjamin F. Perry had no opportuni- ties whatever for attending school. In his boyhood and youth the family lived in a new country and had to endure the hardships and privations of pioneers. Every available force was required to aid in the development and cultivation of the land, and like the sons of other pio- neers, Mr. Perry was obliged to do his part of the farm work from a very early age, while before beginning that the un- settled condition of the country made schools scarce and there was danger to young children who attended them. He worked on the home farm and assisted the family until 1843, often hiring out as a hand to other farmers in the neigh- borhood. This sturdy and laborious life deprived him of all chance for mental training in the schools, but it developed his body, giving him vigor and supple- ness of frame, and it also cultivated in him a spirit of daring and self reliance and awakened in him a desire for travel and adventure.
In the year last named, when he was but sixteen years old, he began a season of wandering from place to place which lasted six years. At the end of that
period he married and settled down in Indiana. But the longing for variety of surroundings and conditions would not be stilled, and after two years of quiet life in his native state he procured a team and house wagon and during the next fifteen years journeyed through many states working on farms. In 1866 he came to Shelby county and bought land on which he has ever since been liv- ing and until 1904 was energetically en- gaged in farming. In that year he gave up active work, dividing among his chil- dren the 300 acres of land which he had acquired, all except thirty-seven acres, which he retained for his own use.
During the Civil war he refused to take either side of the sectional contro- versy and was persecuted by the parti- sans of both, losing everything he pos- sessed. and then left the region of his losses and songht a location free from the danger of further persecution. He was married in 1848 to Miss Margaret Carroll, a resident of Indiana. Of the ten children born to them eight are liv- ing: Jerusha, the wife of Lonis Perry, of Nebraska ; Alexander, whose home is in Kansas City, Missonri; Nannie Eliza- beth, the wife of G. W. Moore, of this county, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume: Savannah, the wife of George Coonrod, of Shelby county ; Ben- jamin and William, who live in this county; Margaret, the wife of Homer Kendall, of Oglesby, Illinois; and Eliota, the wife of I. Kite, of Anabel, Missouri.
Having reached the age of eighty-three years and lived acceptably and service- ably more than half of that period among this people, with an enduring and helpful interest in their welfare, Mr. Perry is
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esteemed by them as a citizen and vener- ated as a patriarch. He has richly earned the rest he now enjoys after his long day of toil and trial, and is fully entitled to the mildness and benignity of his life's evening. And by the uprightness and usefulness of his residence among them lie has fairly won the entire regard and good will of the people of Shelby county. They recognize this fact and freely ac- cord him the prominence as one of their leading men his merit has brought him.
JOHN NEUSCHAFER.
The late John Neuschafer, whose un- timely death on October 5, 1888, cut short a luminous career full of useful- ness to the community in which he lived, was a native of Hesse Cassel, Germany, born on January 11, 1839. He came to the United States in 1868 and. at once lo- cated in Shelby county, Missouri, in a German colony established here, where he found many of the customs and char- acteristies of his native land and people of tastes, habits and aspirations kindred with his own. The German Lutheran settlement in which he took up his resi- dence was essentially a farming com- munity and as he had been trained to the pursuit its people followed, he entered upon it with energy and spirit in their midst.
Mr. Neusehafer bought land and was actively and profitably engaged in culti- vating, developing and improving it, with gratifying present success and great future promise, when death ended him and his useful labors at the early age of forty-nine years. But, during the twenty years of his residence in this
county he gave abundant proof of his skill and good judgment as a farmer and his uprightness and public spirit as a citizen, becoming as warmly attached to the land of his adoption as he was to that of his nativity, and taking an earnest and helpful interest in all its publie af- fairs-civil, educational and religious in- stitutions and its industrial and eommer- cial activities and contributing his full share to their advancement, according to the measure of his capacity and oppor- tunities. He was very successful in his own affairs, beginning work here on a farm of 100 acres and ending his life on that farm enlarged to 356 acres.
On December 14, 1869, Mr. Neuschafer was united in marriage with Miss Cath- erine Reinheimer, a German, like him- self, but born and reared in Australia, where her life began on November 1, 1851. They became the parents of cleven children, and all of them are living and own their own homes in Shelby county. In their several stations and localities they carry out the teachings of the fam- ily fireside around which they grew to maturity, following with fidelity the ex- cellent example given them by their pa- rents and adding not only to the wealth and material strength of the county, bnt also to the power, sterling worth and progressive spirit of its citizenship. They are: Mary, the wife of Henry Von Thun; Elizabeth, the wife of Harmon Rathjen; Louise, the wife of Philip Kel- ler ; Emma, the wife of Christian Prange ; Henry; Sarah, the wife of John Werr; Anna, the wife of William Claussen; Pe- ter; Catherine, the wife of Albert Kueh- ner; Louis and Jolın.
The father served as road overseer
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for a number of years, and in many other ways manifested his cordial and service- able interest in the community. He be- longed to the Lutheran church and took an active part in promoting its progress, as does his widow, who is still living on the old homestead. He was an ardent Republican in polities and gave his party energetie and effective service, and, al- though deeply interested in his own af- fairs, never neglected those of the local- ity in which he lived. His father, Jacob Neuschafer, passed the whole of his life in Germany, where his forefathers lived for many generations. He was the father of six children, all now deceased.
Mr. Neuschafer was one of the most esteemed citizens of Black Creek town- ship. He was enterprising, progressive and broad in his views, and was an in- spiring force in his community, both through his own activity and the forces he stimulated to action and helped to direct into proper channels in others. His memory is embalmed in the lasting re- gard of his township as one of its most estimable and worthy citizens.
THOMAS E. PRIEST.
Young in years, as the statistical an- nalist counts age, but in full touch with the progress and aspirations of the times, and therefore of the proper make- up and caliber for any time in which his lot might have been cast ; of an ancestry springing from the heroic age of our country's history. vet depending wholly on his own resources and capabilities. and therefore up to the requirements of any age, and under any circumstances wholly and sincerely a scion and repre-
sentative of Missouri and Shelby county of the present day, Thomas E. Priest, of Black Creek township is well worthy of a place in a work purporting to record the achievements and indicate or suggest the promise of the future of this portion of the middle West.
Mr. Priest is a native of Shelby county, born on June 6, 1885, and the son of Wil- liam L. and Anna S. (Vandiver) Priest, the former also a native of this county and the latter of Virginia. He began his education in the district schools of Shel- by county and completed it at a graded school in Shelbyville. After leaving school he worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until April 9, 1905, when he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Reinheimer. a na- tive of this county, born on August 3, 1885, and daughter of Charles and Em- ma Reinheimer, well known and highly respected residents of the county.
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