USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 67
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On February 16, 1890, he married with Miss Maria Catherine Quenzer, a native of Germany, who came to this country in 1884, at the age of twelve years, with her mother, Mrs. Katharina Quenzer, widow of Mieh. Quenzer, and who afterward married Peter Keller, the father, as has before been stated. They have had three children, two of whom are living, their sons Philip, born in November, 1891. baptized January 30, 1892, and Carl Al- bert, born April 24, 1907, baptized May 20, 1909, both of whom are still at home with their parents. The other ehild was a daughter of the household named Gretchen, born June 7, 1894, baptized July 15, 1904, who died on Angust 3, 1909, at the age of fifteen. She was a very promising young lady and her un- timely death enveloped the whole com- munity in grief and gloom. The father is a Republican in politics and a Inth- eran in religion. He takes a helpful in- terest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his township and county and is accounted one of the best and most
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PHILIP KELLER, JR.
Among the wide-awake, enterprising and progressive farmers and stock men of Black Creek township, in this county, Philip Keller, Jr., is entitled to a high rank, both on account of his achieve- ments in what he has done and his aims at higher and better results in stock breeding for himself and the people all around him. He has for years been ac- tive and energetic in his efforts to raise the standard of cattle in his township, and by his energy, foresight and per- sistency, he has been successful in a large measure.
Mr. Keller was born in Griesheim Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, on March 22, 1873, and came to the United States and Shelby county, Missouri, with his parents when he was a boy nine years old. He is a brother of Peter Keller, in a sketch of whom in this work the family history will be found. He began his edu- cation in the schools of his native land and completed it in those of this county. After leaving school he worked on his father's farm and assisted the family, re- maining at home with his parents until 1895. He then bought the farm of 150 acres of land on which he now resides and since that time has been industrious and constantly engaged in cultivating, developing and improving it. He has made it a model of its size and character and increased its value considerably.
In connection with his farming he car- ries on an active and flourishing indus- try in raising live stock and otherwise handling this necessary commodity for the markets. His specialty in this line is thoroughbred Aberdeen-Angus cattle,
and his herd is one of the best known and most admired in this part of the state. From it he has introduced the breed into other herds, greatly to their advantage and that of the men who own them, and much to the improvement of the grade of cattle produced in the lo- cality.
Mr. Keller is very energetic in the management of his business, losing no opportunity to enhance his prosperity and realize the desires he has in connec- tion with the live stock industry in this county, and his enterprise in this behalf is highly appreciated by the people resi- dent here. He is also alive and alert in reference to the general welfare of the region in other ways, giving his earnest aid to every worthy undertaking for the improvement of his township and county and the benefit of their inhabitants. In politics he is a Republican, and in re- ligion he and his wife are Lutherans.
On November 3, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie Nenschafer, a daughter of the late John and Kather- ine Nenschafer, of this county. Two children have been born of this union, Lydia and Anna Marie, and both are still living at home with their parents. The latter are reckoned among the most worthy and estimable citizens of Black Creek township, as they are known to be faithful in the performance of every duty with reference to both public and private life, and to be impelled by lofty motives and aiming at highly commendable re- sults in all their activities. They are con- sistent members of their church and zealous workers for its advancement in every way.
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
WILLIAM M. HAWKER.
Mr. Hawker has been a resident of Missouri since his childhood days and has been long and prominently identified with the great basic industry of agri- culture in this section of the state. In connection with this important line of enterprise he gained large and substan- tial success, becoming one of the large landowners and influential citizens of Marion county, and continuing to reside on his fine homestead farm until Febru- ary, 1904, when he removed to the at- tractive little city of Hunnewell, Shelby county, where he owns and occupies a commodious and modern residence and where he is living virtually retired.
Mr. Hawker has the distinction of be- ing a native of the island of Jamaica, West Indies, where his father was a resi- dent for a few years after his immigra- tion from Germany. Mr. Hawker is a son of Frederick and Louise (Ginter) Hawker, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, where their marriage was solemnized, in the city of Guten- berg. In 1844 they came from the island of Jamaica to the United States, and soon afterward established their home in Marion county, Missouri. The father purchased land in Warren township and thereafter gave his attention principally to farming and stock-growing until his death, which occurred in 1869. His wife passed to the life eternal in 1871, and both were earnest members of the Luth- eran church. Of their eight children six are now living, namely: William M., who is the immediate subject of this re- view; Mary, who is the wife of Finley Mitchell, of Marion county; Elizabeth,
who is the wife of William Barnett, of the same county ; John, who is the owner of a valuable ranch in the famous Bitter- root valley of Montana; Fannie, who is the wife of Joseph Freeland, of North Dakota; and Etta, who is the wife of Edward Ettings, of LaBelle, Missouri. The father espoused the cause of the Republican party at the time of its or- ganization and thereafter continued a stalwart supporter of its cause until his death. During the Civil war he was loyal to the Union and did all in his power to aid in its preservation.
William M. Hawker was about two years of age at the time of the family removal to Marion county, Missouri, where he was reared to manhood on the home farm and received a common school education, which he has since effectually amplified through his association with the practical activities of life and through his well directed reading. Dur- ing his entire active career lie never abated his allegiance to agriculture and its allied industry of stock-raising, and he directed his energies with marked discrimination and ability, so that he received the most generous returns from his efforts. He accumulated a fine landed estate of 320 aeres, and the same was as productive and valuable land as can be found in this favored section of the state. ITis old homestead, now owned by one of his sons, comprises 316 acres. His residence is one of the most modern and attractive in the village and is sur- rounded by grounds comprising about three acres and twenty aeres nearby. Mr. Hawker is a stockholder and director of the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank of Hunnewell, in politics he gives a staunch
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM M. HAWKER
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
adherence to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist church, in which he is a deacon. During the Civil war Mr. Hawker was thoroughly in sympathy with the cause of the Union, and in 1862 he enlisted in the home guard, being a member of the company stationed at Palmyra, this state, under command of Captain Lear.
On the 11th of February, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hawker to Miss Sarah F. Couch, who was born and reared in Marion county, this state, where her father, Marshall Couch, was an early settler. Mr. and Mrs. Hawker became the parents of eight children and all are living except one son that died. Mollie is the wife of Harry Huggins, of Shelbina, this county ; Charles is engaged in farming in Salt River township; El- vira is the wife of Thomas Burdett, of Sharpsburg, Missouri; Frederick has charge of the old homestead farm, in Salt River township, Marion county; Vernie is engaged in farming in Shelby county ; Myrtle is the widow of Charles Enyard and now resides in the city of St. Lonis; and Gertrude is the wife of James Freshwater, a farmer of Marion county.
GEORGE E. STEWART.
All of the forty-two years of life which George E. Stewart, one of the enterpris- ing, progressive and successful farmers living near Clarence, has lived from his birth, on January 13, 1868, to the present time (1910), have been passed in Shelby county, and those of them since he ar- rived at years of discretion and produc- tiveness have been fruitful in good both
for himself and the locality in which he has spent them. For he has been one of the reliable men in promoting every form of public improvement and devel- oping every resource of valne whom his township has furnished to aid in push- ing forward the car of progress in the agricultural, industrial and commercial life of the county.
Mr. Stewart was born in the county and has never felt any strong inclination to wander beyond its borders. He ob- tained his education in its public schools, grew to manhood on one of its fertile farms, married one of its esteemed daughters, and has, ever since he began the battle of life for himself, been a con- tributor directly and essentially to its welfare and the benefit of its people. He is a son of William and Elizabeth (Las- ley) Stewart, natives of Ireland. The father was born in 1812, came to this country when he was a young man and located for a time in Pennsylvania. He then came West with the tide of migra- tion that was surging toward the Rocky mountains and settled in Shelby county, Missouri, where he passed the remainder of his days. He was actively and profit- ably engaged in farming and raising live stock in this county until 1887. In that year he retired from active pursuits and from then until his death, on February 9, 1899, lived with his son George. In commection with his farming operations he also did considerable work at his trade as a stone mason in the neighborhood of his home. Among other buildings on which he worked, which are of historic interest, was the old Bethel mill, which was long a landmark in the region and a rallying place for the whole countryside,
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of which he laid the foundation. His skill was employed also on other struc- tures with histories, for he was an early arrival in the county and helped blaze the way for the civilization and develop- ment that was soon to follow in his wake.
He was married in 1845 to Miss Eliza- beth Lasley, who also came to this coun- try from Ireland, as has been stated, and they became the parents of twelve chil- dren, eight of whom are living: Marga- ret, the wife of William Stone, of Tama county, Iowa ; Mary, the wife of George Sickle, of Shelby county. Missouri; Rob- ert, whose home is in Shelbyville ; Eliza, the wife of W. G. Chick, also a resident of Shelbyville: Alice, the wife of J. W. Ray, of this county ; Andrew, a prosper- ous Shelby county farmer; Celestia. the wife of William West, of Kansas; and George E. In politics the father was a Republican, in fraternal life an Odd Fel- low and in religion a Presbyterian.
George E. Stewart was educated in the district schools of this county and started his career as a farmer and stock man very early in life. His first venture was the purchase of 131 acres of land on which he went to work for himself, and from the start he has been successful and enjoyed increasing prosperity as the years have passed. He farms well and wisely and his farm responds generously to his skillful husbandry. His stoek in- dustry is extensive, and it, also, is active and profitable. Both are managed with intelligence and the most careful atten- tion to every detail of the work connected with them from start to finish.
On September 3, 1890, Mr. Stewart was united in marriage with Miss Arminda Hirrlinger, a daughter of Jacob F. and
Martha (McCroskey) ITirrlinger, es- teemed residents of this county. Three children have been born in the Stewart household, and all of them are living and still at home with their parents. They are two daughters, Geraldine E. and El- sie L., and a son, Kenneth W. In poli- ties the father is a Prohibitionist and in religion a member of Holiness church, to which his wife belongs also. They are active and zealous workers in the church and take an earnest and serviceable in- terest in everything pertaining to the ad- vancement and improvement of the town- ship and county in which they live. Everybody that knows them respects them for their worth and the estimable quality of their citizenship.
HARMAN RATHJEN.
Beginning his career as a farmer on his own account at the dawn of his man- hood, and continuing it without inter- ruption through all the subsequent years of his busy life, Harman Rathjen, one of the wideawake and enterprising farmers and stock men of Black Creek township in this county, has given a fine example of what steadfastness of purpose and the use of every opportunity for ad- vancement can accomplish even in the unobstrusive and often unnoted life of a husbandman in the rural districts of this state, far from the seaboard and aside from the highways of the world's great activities.
Mr. Rathjen is a native of Shelby county and was born in 1871. He was educated in the district schools of the county, attending for the most part the Red Star school in the township of his
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present residence. He is a brother of Henry Rathjen, a sketch of whom ap- pears in this work in which the history of the parents will be found. After leav- ing school, and while attending, he worked on the home farm with his father, remaining at home and assisting the family until 1893. He then bought the farm on which he now resides and to the development, improvement and cultiva- tion of which he has ever since devoted the greater part of his time and energies. This farm comprises 129 acres and is one of the best of its size in the town- ship. It is well improved, vigorously and skilfully cultivated and has been brought by his labors and good manage- ment to a high state of productiveness. The live stock industry carried on in connection with the farming operations is extensive and active, and sedulous care to every requirement of the business. with a view to securing the best results, has made it highly profitable. The spe- cialties of this industry are cattle and hogs of superior breeds.
Mr. Rathjen was married on Febru- ary 17, 1896, to Miss Elizabeth Neu- schafer, a daughter of the late John and Catherine (Reinheimer) Nenschafer, of this connty. Four children were born of the union, three of whom are living, and all still at home with their parents. They are Amelia, the daughter of the house, and Edward and Alfred, the sons. In polities the father is a Democrat of the reliable and constant kind, and in re- ligion he and his wife are Lutherans, de- votedly loyal to their church and serv- iceable to the congregation to which they belong.
Mr. Rathjen has been successful in his
business, building it to good proportions and conducting it with vigor, enterprise and progressiveness. He has also been attentive to the wants of his township and county, and given his energetic and helpful aid to every worthy undertaking for their advancement. While not an of- fice seeker in any sense, he has been of great service to his political party in all the campaigns it has conducted since his youth, and by the spirit and effective- ness of his work in its behalf has won the appreciative regard of both its lead- ers and its rank and file. He is consid- ered one of the best and most represen- tative citizens of his township, and is correspondingly esteemed by all its in- habitants.
VALENTINE KRAUTER.
With filial devotion to his parents that is altogether commendable, this esteemed farmer and stock man of Clay township, Shelby county, has passed with them the years of his maturity as he did those of his childhood and youth, assisting in providing for the wants of the family and helping in every way available to him in bettering the condition of its members. Since the death of his father in 1908, at the age of seventy-seven years, he has stood loyally by his nearer parent and looked after her comfort with constant and considerate attention.
He was born on March 13, 1870, in Grosherzogthum Hessen, Germany, and is a son of Peter and Margaretta (Borok) Kranter, also natives of that place. The father was born there in 1831 and came to the United States in 1881, settling among the German Lutherans in Shelby
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county, Missouri. Here he engaged in general farming until his death, which occurred in 1908. His marriage occurred in 1859, and he and his wife were the parents of four children, two of whom are living, Valentine and his older sister Katharine, the wife of James Sass, of this county, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. The father was a Republican in politics and a Lutheran in religion.
His son Valentine began his education in his native land and completed it in a distriet school in Shelby county, which he attended for a short time. He came to this country and Shelby county with his parents when he was eleven years old and grew to manhood here, where he has lived and labored ever sinee, giving all his energies to the advancement of his own fortunes and the development and improvement of the township and county in which he lives. While grow- ing to manhood he worked on the farm operated by his father and he has been actively and prosperously engaged in the same occupation during all the subse- quent years of his life.
Mr. Kranter began operations for him- self with literally nothing in the way of capital or worldly possessions, and has made all he now owns by his own un- aided efforts, to use his own expressive utterance on the subject, digging all hie has out of the ground. His success in his careful and continued industry is a tribute alike to his own enterprise and good management and to the land which he has cultivated-the ground out of which he has dug the substance of his estate. Hle now owns 160 acres of land which he cultivates and twenty aeres of
valuable timber land. He also carries on a very active and flourishing live stock industry, which he manages with the same care, intelligence and attention to details that he employs in his farm- ing, and he makes it profitable by this method of condueting it.
Since the death of his father, as has been stated, he has lived with and cared for his mother, who is now sixty-nine years of age. In his political faith and allegiance he is connected with the Re- publican party, and although he has no aspiration to official station and desires nothing of public life, he is loyal and serviceable to his party and true to the political convictions he holds. In re- ligion he is a Lutheran, cordially inter- ested in his church and at all times ready to do what he can to advance its inter- ests. He is also true to the locality in which he lives, giving his energetic and effective support to every commendable undertaking for its advancement. and helping in every way at his command to augment and intensify the mental, moral and social agencies at work among its people. The duties of citizenship rest upon him as an imperative obligation, and none of them is neglected or slighted by him. He is well worthy of the uni- versal esteem in which he is held throughont Clay township and in all other parts of Shelby county.
JONATHAN JARRELL.
This successful, enterprising and pro- gressive farmer and stock man of Black Creek township, this county, is a native of Kent county, state of Delaware, whose boast has long been that she represents
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"greatness, not bigness," where he was born in 1854. He is a brother of James Wesley Jarrell, who is also a resident and prosperous farmer and stock man of the same township in Shelby county in which his brother Jonathan lives. A sketch of him will be found in this vol- ume, and in that the family history will appear at some length. The brothers have been residents and important fac- tors in the agricultural life of the county since 1865, when they came to this lo- cality with their parents after a resi- dence of a few years in Rush county, In- diana.
Jonathan Jarrell was a boy of eleven years of age when he came to Shelby county, and in the district schools of this county he completed the education he had begun in those of Rush county, Indiana. During the last forty-five years he has lived in Shelby county, and during the whole of that period, after he reached years of maturity, he has been actively and progressively engaged in farming and raising live stock. His present farm comprises sixty acres of fine land, is well improved with good buildings and has been brought by his industry, enterprise and thrift to a high state of development and productiveness. His stock industry is as large as his acreage justifies, and is conducted with the same care, attention to every detail and extensive and accu- rate knowledge of its requirements that distinguish him in his farming opera- tions, and in both he has been so success- fnl as to have won a reputation as one of the best and most progressive men in his township engaged in these interesting and profitable pursuits.
In his political faith and activity Mr.
Jarrell is a devoted member of the Dem- ocratie party and one of the ardent work- ers in his township for its success and advancement. In religious allegiance he is allied with the Christian church, and in its welfare he also takes an active and serviceable interest. He has been ef- fective and loyal in his work for the de- velopment and improvement of his coun- ty and township, and his enterprise and public spirit in their behalf are well ap- preciated by their people.
Mr. Jarrell was married in 1890 to Miss Eliza Fink, a resident of Shelby at the time of her marriage. They have one child, their son Roy, who is still a member of the parental household and following in his father's footsteps by fidelity to every duty and laborious ef- forts to aid in advancing the interests and prosperity of the family to which he belongs. The father is one of the best known and most esteemed citizens of his township, and his long life of usefulness among the people of this section gives him full title to the general regard in which he stands. He has shown himself to be a good citizen as well as a good farmer, and there is no one who knows him that does not respect him.
JAMES WESLEY JARRELL.
Like his younger brother, Jonathan Jarrell, who is a resident of Black Creek township, this county, and a sketch of whom appears in this work, James Wes- ley Jarrell, of the same township, and one of its progressive and wide-awake farmers and stock men, is a native of Kent county, Delaware, where he was born in 1852. He is a son of John P.
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and Elyda (Minner) Jarrell, of the same nativity as himself. The father was born in 1827 and left his native state of Delaware with his wife and the children they then had in 1857, locating in Rush county, Indiana, where the family lived until 1865, and then moved to Missonri, taking up a new residence in Shelby connty. The father was a farmer all his life from youth to his death, in 1892, and was closely connected with and inter- ested in the welfare and prosperity of this connty during the last twenty-seven years of his earthly career. He was sue- cessful in his operations, according to the standards of his day and was true to all the duties of citizenship in every re- spect. His marriage with Miss Minner took place in 1848, and they became the parents of five children, all of whom are living. They are: James Wesley, Jona- than, William. Samuel T. and George W., and are all residents of this county bnt Samuel T., whose home is at Tyrone, Oklahoma. The father was a Democrat in his political faith and a member of the Christian church in his religious affilia- tion.
James Wesley obtained his education in the district schools of Rush county, Indiana, and those of Shelby connty, Missouri. While attending school and after completing his education he worked on his father's farm, remaining at home and assisting the family until 1876, when he engaged in farming and raising stock on his own account on seventy acres of land given him by his father. In the spring of 1910 he disposed of his old homestead and purchased ninety-five acres in the same township, where he now
resides. He has been successful in both lines of his industry and is universally regarded as one of the substantial and progressive men in his township. For, while advancing his own interests and enlarging his prosperity, he has taken an earnest interest and an active part in promoting the enduring welfare of the locality in which he lives and contribut- ing to the substantial good of its people.
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