USA > Missouri > Shelby County > General history of Shelby County, Missouri > Part 74
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Luther Kemp was five years of age at the time of the family removal from Indiana to Shelby county, Missouri, and here he was reared to manhood under the invigorating influences and labors of the home farm, while his educational opportunities were limited to a some- what desultory attendance in the district schools, which he attended at intervals until he was sixteen years of age. He was but thirteen years old at the time of his father's death, and after leaving school he found employment on neigh- boring farms until 1888, after which he rented land and engaged in farming on his own responsibility for three years. Thereafter he was again employed by others until 1893, and in the meanwhile he was frugal and industrious, saving his earnings and formulating his plans for a future of independence in connec- tion with the branch of industrial enter- prise in which he had been trained. In the year last mentioned Mr. Kemp pur- chased fifty-three aeres of land in see- tion 26, Taylor township, and he has sinee added to the area of his holdings until he now has a well improved farm of 220 aeres, representing the tangible results of his careful and well directed endeavors. Hle is one of the substantial and successful farmers and stock-grow- ers of the county, is appreciative of the many opportunities here afforded in his chosen field of endeavor, and is essen- tially loyal and progressive as a citizen. His success is most gratifying to con- template from the fact that it has been gained through his own exertions and ability, and he well merits his prosper- ity, as does he also the esteem in which he is held by those most familiar with
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his life and labors. He is a stockholder and director of the Farmers' Bank of Leonard, is a Republican in his political allegiance, has never been a seeker of official preferment, though he has served efficiently as school director of his dis- trict, and he is affiliated with Cherry Box Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is liberal in his support of the work of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is an earnest member.
On January 31, 1893, Mr. Kemp was united in marriage to Miss Martha Ham- rick, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of William F. and Martha J. Hamrick. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp became the parents of eight chil- dren, all of whom are living, namely: Olin, Vincent, Freda, Ruth, Theodore, Elsie J., Richard and James.
FORREST G. BODWELL.
Dependent largely upon his own re- sources since his boyhood days, it has been given Mr. Bodwell to achieve a suc- cess of no stinted order and one that stands creditable to him as one of the most earnest and indefatigable workers of the world. He has been a resident of Taylor township for more than forty years, in fact since his boyhood days, and here, beginning with no financial reinforcement or fortuitous influence, he has directed his labors with such dis- crimination and ability that he is now numbered among the substantial agri- culturists and stock-growers of the county, being the owner of a well im- proved farm of 240 acres-a palpable evidence of his success and independ-
ence. He has not, however, hedged him- self in with the confines of mere per- sonal advancement but has stood ex- ponent of loyal and liberal citizenship, lias guided his course along the lines of strictest integrity and honor, and thus has merited the staunch hold which he maintains upon popular confidence and esteem.
Mr. Bodwell is a scion of families founded in New England in the colonial epoch of our national history, and is himself a native of the old Bay state, having been born at Haverhill, Massa- chusetts, on February 9, 1851, and be- ing a son of Aaron G. and Lucy (Howe) Bodwell, whose marriage was solem- mized in the year 1843. His father was born in Massachusetts, on Angust 7, 1818, and his mother was a native of New Hampshire, where she was born on April 9, 1818. The father, who was a shoemaker by trade, came with his fan- ily to Missouri in 1854, settling in Lewis county, where he continued in the work of his trade until his death, which oc- curred in 1859. Of his four children, the subject of this sketch is now the only survivor. In 1861 the widowed mother became the wife of James W. Jeffries, and they took up their residence in Shelby county, where Mr. Jeffries was engaged in farming until his death. Mrs. Jeffries is still living, having reached the ripe old age of ninety-three years.
Forrest G. Bodwell was about three years of age at the time of the family removal to Missouri, and was only eight years old at the time of his father's death. Ile came to his stepfather's farm in Marion county in 1861, just
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after his mother's second marriage, and here he was reared to the sturdy disci- pline of the farm, in the meanwhile se- curing such educational advantages as were afforded in the district school, col- loquially and facetiously known as "Grub College," in Taylor township, the family having removed to Shelby county in 1866. He continued to attend this school at intermittent intervals un- til he was about twenty years of age, and in the meanwhile he continued to assist in the work of the home farm until 1881, when he purchased forty acres of his present homestead, in section 27, Taylor township. As success attended lıis indefatigable efforts he made judi- cious investments in adjoining land, un- til he now has a fine farm of 240 aeres, the major portion of which is under eul- tivation, while everything about the place bears evidence of thrift and pros- perity. He has given his undivided at- tention to the management of his farm- ing interests and, starting with nothing, is now one of the leading agriculturists and stock-raisers of this section. His career has been marked by hard and persistent work and he has a full and practical appreciation of the value and dignity of honest toil and endeavor. In polities Mr. Bodwell is enlisted under the banner of the Democratic party, in whose cause he takes a lively and intel- ligent interest, and in public affairs of a local order he gives his aid and in- fluence in the support of all measures projected for the general good of the community. He is affiliated with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, has served for several years past as elerk of the school board of his district, and
he contributes in liberal measure to the work of the Christian church, of which his wife is a zealous member.
On November 15, 1877, Mr. Bodwell was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Evans, who was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Eleazer and Melinda (Walker) Evans, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bodwell became the parents of nine children, all of whom are living except one, James, who died at the age of two weeks. Elizabeth L. is the wife of John B. Alexander, of Macon county ; Samuel G. is a successful farmer of Shelby county; Lula G. is the wife of Chester Gillaspy, of this county; and Ruby, Rose, Mary C., Florida and George remain at the parental home.
JOHN A. CHRISTINE.
John A. Christine, of Salt River town- ship, one of the most extensive and prom- inet farmers of Shelby county. has dem- onstrated in his long career of fifty-four years of usefulness among the people here that his mettle is of the firmest fiber, his manhood of the most vigorous kind and his self-reliance and capacity are of a character that yields to no diffi- culty, is daunted by no danger and dis- turbed by no disaster. He has met every requirement of every situation in which he has found himself in a masterful way, performed every duty properly belong- ing to him with fidelity and recognized every elaim of elevated citizenship with entire devotion to his county, his state and his country.
Mr. Christine, a native of Shelby county, born on January 26, 1857, ob-
MR. AND MRS. JOHN A. CHRISTINE
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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY
tained his education in the country schools and a graded school in Shelbina, and has passed the whole of his life to the present time on his native soil. He is therefore thoroughly imbued with the spirit of this people and in deep and ser- viceable accord with their every worthy aspiration. He has aided in the promo- tion of all commendable undertakings among them for their progress and im- provement, and has helped to lead them along lines of wise development while aiding them in their progress. It is, con- sequently, an entirely logical result that he is highly esteemed on all sides as one of the most useful and representative men. in the county ..
While he is a native Missourian, his father, John Joseph Christine, was born and reared to the age of fourteen and one-half years in Germany. At that age he came alone to the United States, withi- out relative or friend on the vessel that brought him across the Atlantic, or any acquaintance in the long journey across the continent that brought him to Walk- ersville, in this county, before he reached the age of twenty-one. His life began in 1829 and ended tragically in 1862 in the massacre of Centralia, where he was in the service of the government as a Union soldier. His whole activity during his life in this country was devoted to farm- ing and raising live stock, except the time passed by him in the army.
Smith, of Idaho; and Celia, the wife of Matt Smith, of this county. In politics he was a pronounced and ardent Repub- lican and as earnest in his devotion to the welfare of his party as he was to the preservation of the Union.
His son John A. thus found his child- hood and youth darkened by the awful shadow of our Civil war, which not only deprived him of his father, but left the family in very straitened circumstances. He left school at an early age in order to assist his mother in providing for the honsehold and worked on the farm until his marriage. He then rented land and farmed it for five years. At the end of that period he bought 120 acres six miles north of Shelbina, which forms a part of the 920 acres which he now owns and lives on, the most of which is under culti- vation. On this farm and its subsequent additions he has lived and labored faith- fully as a farmer and in raising live stock during the last twenty-nine years. During this period he also manufactured molasses in the autumn months of every year for over thirty years with great suc- cess and profit.
Mr. Christine's day of toil has been long, however, and its exactions have been heavy, and he is now gradually re- tiring from active pursuits. But he still keeps up his interest in all public affairs, serving as a member of the school board and in other ways aiding in the progress and development of his township and county, as he has always done, having heen a charter member of the Shelby County railroad and interested in miner- to time. On March 26, 1876, he was mar-
In 1856 he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy E. Snawder, of this county, and by this marriage became the father of three children, now living, and one that is deceased. Those living are : ous other public improvements from time John A., the engaging subject of this memoir ; Mary Frances, the wife of Frank ried to Miss Letha Ann Cadwell, a
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daughter of Noah and Sarah (Hinton) Cadwell, prominent residents of this county. Eight of the nine children born of the union are living-Mary Frances, the wife of H. M. Bragg; Sarah Ellen, the wife of Moses McIntosh; Allie, the wife of Orville Thompson; Jessie, the wife of William F. Stewart; John T., Charles H., Harry S. and Abbie Jewel. They are all residents of Shelby county, and the two last named are still at home with their parents. The father is a Re- publican in his political belief, an Odd Fellow and a Modern Woodman of America in his fraternal and a member of the Missionary Baptist church in his religious relations.
JOHN FORMAN.
As a worthy representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Mis- souri, of which state he is a native son, having been a resident of Shelby county for fully half a century, Mr. Forman is well entitled to consideration in this pub- lication, and the more so from the fact that he has contributed his quota to the civic and material upbuilding of the county, which has been his home from his childhood to the present day, except for a period of 'a few years passed in the great western mining regions of the west. many years ago. He is now ven- erable in years, but is still actively iden- tified with agricultural pursuits and stock-growing, through the medium of which he has gained success and inde- pendence, being one of the representa- tive citizens of Taylor township, where his well improved farm is located in sec- tion 28.
John Forman was born in Ralls county, Missouri, on March 16, 1832, and is a son of Benjamin F. Forman, who was born in beautiful Shenandoah county, Virginia, on March 18, 1794, being a scion of a family founded in the Old Dominion in the colonial era of our national history. The lineage is traced back to staunch English origin. Benjamin F. Forman was reared to ma- turity in his native state, and in 1814, when twenty years of age. he came to the wilds of Missouri, which was then considered to be on the very frontier of civilization. He first located in Boone county, where he remained about eight years, at the expiration of which he re- moved to Ralls county, where he secured a traet of wild land and initiated the reclamation of a farm. In that county he continued his residence until 1842, when he removed with his family to Shelby county, where he purchased 120 acres of land, in Taylor township. Here he developed a productive farm, to which he continued to give his supervi- sion until his death, which occurred in 1874. He was a millwright by trade, but after coming to this state his principal vocation was that of farming. He en- dured the full tension of the pioneer epoch and his name merits a place on the roll of the sterling early settlers of Missouri. On his farm he erected a mill. the motive power for which was pro- vided by horses, and in the operation of this primitive mill he was enabled to provide the pioneer settlers with wheat and buckwheat flour, this being one of the first mills erected in the county and supplying settlers over a wide area of country. Mr. Forman was a man of
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RESIDENCE OF JOHN A. CHRISTINE, SHELBY COUNTY, MO.
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strong individuality, staunch integrity of character and of much energy and enterprise, so that he naturally wielded beneficent influence in the community. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and both he and his wife were zealous and consistent mem- bers of the Missionary Baptist church.
In the year 1823 Benjamin F. Forman was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bowling, who was a native of Kentucky, and who proved a faithful and devoted wife and helpmeet, being one of the noble pioneer women whose strength and fortitude were well exercised in the days when conditions in this section were of the most primitive order, ne- cessitating many deprivations and hard- ships, as viewed from the standpoint of the present day. She was summoned to the life eternal in 1854, and of the eleven children, four are now living, namely: Stephen, who resided in Mon- roe county, this state (since died) ; John, who is the immediate subject of this re- view; Daniel, who resides in Elk county, Kansas; Aaron B., who is living in Shelbyville, Shelby county, Missouri; and Thomas W., of whom specific men- tion is made on other pages of this work.
John Forman was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days, and his reminiscences of the same are most graphie and interesting. He was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to Shelby county, and here his educational advantages were limited to a somewhat intermit- tent attendance in the old Sanders schoolhouse, a most primitive "institu- tion of learning," in Taylor township.
Necessarily arduous labor fell to his portion in connection with the work of the pioneer farm while he was yet a mere boy, but he waxed strong and vig- orons under this sturdy discipline, con- tinning to be associated in the work and management of the home farm until 1854, after which he was employed by the month on neighboring farms for sev- eral years, within which time he broke many acres of virgin prairie.
In 1860, moved by a spirit of adven- ture and a desire to improve his material fortunes, Mr. Forman made the long and hazardous trip across the plains to California, utilizing an ox team for transportation and being four months en ronte. After his arrival in the Golden state he seeured work on a ranch, being thus employed during the first winter, and, after devoting two years to ranching and gold mining, he purchased a team and outfit and engaged in freight- ing from Marysville, California, across the mountains to the mining camps at Virginia City and Carson City, Nevada, this venture proving fairly successful. He continued to be thus engaged until 1866, when he again made the long over- land journey and returned to Shelby county, Missouri. For a short time he remained with his brother Aaron in Shelbyville, and he then rented land and was thereon engaged in farming until 1868, when he purchased his present farm of eighty acres, in section 28, Tay- lor township, where he has lived and labored during the long intervening years, marked by well directed effort and due material success. He has made his farm one of the valuable places of
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the county, the same having been im- proved with substantial buildings and being under effective cultivation, while he has also devoted no little attention to the raising of live stock of excellent grades.
Mr. Forman is one of the honored and influential citizens of his township, has ever shown a loyal interest in those en- terprises and measures that have tended to advance the general welfare of the community, is a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and has served as road overseer and school director. Both he and his wife have long been active and devoted members of the Missionary Baptist church at North River.
On April 26, 1871, Mr. Forman was united in marriage to Miss Martha J. Rodgers, who was born in Marion county and reared in Shelby county, where her parents, the late Jonathan and Eliza (Davis) Rodgers, were early settlers, having been natives, respec- tively, of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Forman became the par- ents of five children, all of whom are living and concerning whom the follow- ing brief data are entered in conclusion of this sketch: Miss Lillian M. remains at the parental home; Charles E. is en- gaged in business in Great Falls, Mon- tana; John W. is a resident of the same state, being engaged in ranching in Fer- gus county ; and Orville R. and Benja- min C. remain at the parental home, being associated in the practical work and management of the farm and being popular young men of their native county.
JACOB HOOFER.
The honored subject of this memoir, who died at his fine homestead farm, in Taylor township, on April 5, 1900, passed the major portion of his long and useful life in Shelby county and was a member of one of the earliest pioneer families of this section of the state, to whose civic and material development he contributed his quota. His life was marked by signal industry and was guided and guarded by the loftiest prin- ciples of integrity and honor, so that he was not denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. He achieved snecess and independence through his own efforts and made his life count for good in all its relations, so that it is most consistent that in this work, devoted to the county that so long represented his home, there should be incorporated a tribute to his memory, thus perpetuating a brief record of his worthy life and worthy deeds.
In one of the picturesque cantons of the fair little republic of Switzerland, Jacob Hoofer was born on September 9, 1832, and he was about four years of age at the time of his parents' immi- gration to America. His father, Ulery Hoofer, was born in Switzerland in the year 1801 and was there reared to ma- turity, as was also his cherished and de- voted wife. In 1836 they came to Amer- ica and, after remaining for a short time in Pennsylvania, they made their way westward to the wilds of Shelby county, Missouri, then an isolated and sparsely settled section, and one that represented the virtual border of civilization. The father purchased a tract of wild land
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from the government, the same having been located in Taylor township, and his thrift and energy not only enabled him to gain more than average success ae- cording to the standard of the locality and period, but he also became influen- tial in the affairs of this section, where he developed a productive farm and where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. He estab- lished one of the first orchards in the county and the same was long one of the largest in this section, the seed for the orehard having been brought by him from Pennsylvania. Of the eight chil- dren only two are now living-Frances, who is the widow of Charles E. Bowen and resides in Knox county, this state; and John, who is a resident of Hanson, Kansas.
Jacob Hoofer was reared to maturity on the pioneer homestead in Taylor township, early gaining his full share of experience in connection with the ar- dnous work of the farm, and finding but meager opportunities for diversion or for the securing of an education. His only schooling in a specific way was con- fined to abont two terms in the primi- tive district school, but his was an alert and receptive mind and he effectually made good the early handicap through the lessons gained in the valuable school of experience and through self-disci- pline. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm until he was seventeen years of age, when he indulged the spirit of ad- venture by aligning himself with the sturdy argonauts who were making their weary and hazardous way across the plains to the New Eldorado in Califor-
nia. He was one of the historic "Forty- niners," and in that memorable year that marked the discovery of gold in California he crossed the plains with an ox team and joined the throng of gold- seekers. He remained in California for three years and his efforts were at- tended by an appreciable success, as he accumulated a considerable amount through his labors as a miner.
In 1852 Mr. Hoofer returned to the parental home, where he remained until 1857, when he purchased 120 aeres of most productive land in Taylor town- ship. Here he developed one of the val- nable farms of the county, being ener- getie, progressive and indefatigable and making his one of the model farms of this section. In 1865 he removed to Towa and purchased a farm in Free- mont county, where he continued to be successfully engaged in agricultural pur- suits until 1890, when he returned to Missouri and located in Polk county, where he remained for three years, en- gaged in farming. He then sold his property there and returned to his old home in Shelby county, where he pur- chased the present homestead farm oe- enpied by his widow, in section 23, Tay- lor township. Here he passed the resi- due of his life, secure in the esteem of all who knew him. He was a Republican in his political adhereney and took an intelligent interest in the questions and issues of the hour, while he was ever loyal to all civic duties and responsibili- ties, though never a seeker of public office of any kind.
On March 5, 1857, Mr. Hoofer was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann Greenfield, who was born in La Grange
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county, Indiana, on August 19, 1838, and one of the pioneers of Holmes county, whose parents, Samuel and Hannah (Michaels) Greenfield, were honored pioneers of the county. Mrs. Hoofer continues to reside on the homestead farm, is a devout member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and is held in affectionate regard by all who have come within the sphere of her gracious and kindly influence. Of the nine children, six are living, and concerning them the following brief record is consistently given in conclusion of this memoir : Sarah is the wife of Frederick Schurk, of Lincoln, Nebraska; Laura is the wife of William King, of Farragut, Iowa; Emma is the wife of George W. Halli- burton, of Shelby county; and Martha, Jennie and Henry remain with their widowed mother, the last named having charge of the home farm, which com- prises 120 acres and which is one of the well improved and attractive rural demesnes of the county.
LEWIS SMITH.
Numbered among the representative farmers and stock-growers of Taylor township is this well known and popular citizen, who has been a resident of Shelby county since his childhood days and who claims the fine old Buckeye commonwealth as the place of his nativity.
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