USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 40
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Mr. Holland was married December 15, 1875, in Johnson county, to Miss Anna Shepherd, who was born March 11, 1855, in Wilmington. Fluvanna county, Virginia, a daughter of John and Eveline (George) Shepherd, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Shelby county, Ken- tucky, in 1867, five years later removing to Johnson county. Missouri. They located near Knob Noster and he resided there until death. The mother of Mrs. Holland died February 6, 1902. Mr. Shepherd died November 17, 1906. To Mr. and Mrs. O. T. Holland have been born children, as follow : Charles, born in 1877. deceased: J. Burl, born November 29, 1878, Rich Hill, Missouri; Adah B., born July 28, 1881, wife of R. W. Crawford, Nevada, Missouri; Eva Vern, born in 1884, the wife of F. L. Martin, Hume, Missouri; and Ralph, born November 1, 1886, Rich Hill, Missouri.
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Mr. Holland has generally voted the Democratic ticket but has never aspired to political preferment, preferring to do his duty as a private citizen instead of bothering with political matters. He and Mrs. Holland attend the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Holland is a member of the Baptist church. The home life of the Hollands is a pleasant and hospitable one and they thoroughly enjoy their comfort- able home which is open to their friends and the wayfarers at any and all times. They are among the excellent citizens who have done a con- siderable part in creating Bates county as it now is.
Charles B. Briscoe, pioneer farmer of Walnut township, owner of a half section of fertile land southwest of the town of Foster, is a native of Cooper county, born August 22, 1847, and a son of Samuel L. and Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, who are among the earliest of the pioneer settlers who settled and developed Cooper county, Missouri. There are three sets of farm improvements on the Briscoe farms, the land being divided into three tracts by the public highways. Mr. Bris- coe is wintering at this writing, fifty-five head of cattle in one herd, thirty- four head in another and has a number of very fine Poland China hogs on the place.
Samuel L. Briscoe, his father, was born March 2, 1817, in Madison county, Kentucky, a son of Andrew Briscoe, who had seven brothers, who when grown, dispersed in various directions, some settling in Ohio, others locating in Illinois, and others of the family in Indiana. Andrew himself settled in Kentucky, and in June, 1817, moved to Howard county, Missouri. The following year he settled in Cooper county, Missouri, entering there a large tract of 640 acres of free government land. The old Briscoe homestead where Charles B. Briscoe was born and reared, recently sold at a high price of $137.50 an acre-so great has been the advance in value of Cooper county farm lands during the past century. Samuel L. Briscoe was reared to young manhood on the primitive farm in Cooper county and made his home there until 1877, when he came to Bates county and settled on a farm in Walnut township, south of Foster, dying here January 12, 1894. His children were as follow: Charles B., subject of this review: Susan T. Morris, born July 4, 1859, residing in El Dorado, Missouri; William T., born July 22. 1864, lives on a farm northwest of Foster: Andrew Logan, resides on the old home place of the family in Walnut township; Mrs. Mary Eugenie, born in 1850, wife of Lawrence Eads, living at Arrow Rock, Cooper county, Missouri. Mrs. Alpha Ann ( Corum) Briscoe, mother of the foregoing children, was born
CHARLES B. BRISCOE.
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in Cooper county, near Palestine, February 3, 1828, and died in Bates county, in December, 1909. She was a daughter of Hiram Corum, a native of Georgia, who settled near Old Palestine, Cooper county, as early as 1815.
In the early pioneer days of the upbuilding of Cooper county, the schools were among the best in the country and. as a rule, were sup- ported by private subscription on the part of the pioneers who were descended from some of the best families of the South. Well educated college men came from the East and the younger sons of the families received the benefit of learned instruction from them. Charles B. Briscoe attended school and received instruction in both common and higher branches from college men who came from the East and Kentucky. In his younger days Mr. Briscoe saw roving bands of Indians passing his home in Cooper county, and he remembers with glee that "Grand- mother" Cole kept a pan of hot suds ready to pour upon prowling Indians who had a miserable and thieving habit of taking whatever they could lay their hands upon from the homes of the settlers. Mr. Briscoe came to Bates county in 1869 and during his first year's resi- dence in this county he made his home on a place near the old village of New Home while looking after the erection of a shack on his eighty- acre tract in Walnut township which he had purchased in 1868 at a cost of five dollars an acre. He moved to his present home place in 1870 and for the past forty-five years has been engaged in agricultural pur- suits with considerable success.
On December 3, 1871, he was married to Miss Lucinda C. Miller, born November 29, 1852, on a farm in New Home township, located near the village of New Home. She was a daughter of Oliver H. P. and Charlotte (Bryants) Miller, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respec- tively. O. H. P. Miller was a soldier in the Confederate army and died in 1863 in Springfield prison, where he had been confined following his capture by the Federals during the Civil War. Mr. Miller was born in Miller county, Missouri, and came to Bates county when a young man. A brother of Mrs. Briscoe, Henry Clay Miller, was killed at the battle of Lone Jack, while serving with the Confederate forces. Other chil- dren of the family were: Rev. William B. Miller, New Home, Missouri; Mrs. Emily Jane Perry, deceased; Mrs. Prudence Elizabeth Woodfin, Walnut township; Mrs. Mahala Susan Comer, living near Nevada, Mis- souri ; Mrs. Josephine Daniel, deceased; John, residing on the old home farm in New Home township; and Mrs. Martha Weadon, New Home
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township. To Charles B. and Lucinda C. Briscoe, have been born the following children: Alvin Jeter, lives in Florida; Charles Barton, born April 7, 1874, married October 30, 1895, to Nellie Leona Jones and has nine children, Charles Bryan, Fannie Helen, Glenn Francis, Ruby Grace, Mabel Leora, Edith Marie, Ernest Hiram, Pauline Mildred, Louis Edward; Samuel Perry Briscoe, born January 5, 1876, killed August 22, 1917, his remains being interred in Foster cemetery; Clara Gertrude, wife of Ed Shelton, Kansas City, born October 2, 1877, has five children -Arthur Perry, Ernest, Luther, Lottie Marie, Charles James; Tattie Grace, wife of Rand Deaton, Foster, Missouri, born December 11, 1878, and has two children-Lulu Belle and Harvey ; Henry Clay Briscoe, born August 30, 1880, lives on a farm four miles northwest of Foster, mar- ried Belle Caton, and has two sons, Horace Lee, and Hubert; Margaret C. Briscoe died at the age of fifteen years; Robert Ewing Lee Briscoe, farmer, Walnut township, born March 22, 1885, married Theresa Lake and has three children. Velma Lucille, Frances Laverna, and Katherine Marie ; Nora Belle, born March 28, 1888, married John Burns, and lives at Bisbee, Arizona: Frank Stanley Briscoe, born September 18, 1890, lives in New Home township, married Belle Halley.
Mr. Briscoe is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Briscoe belongs to the Christian denomination. During his whole life since attain- ing voting age, Mr. Briscoe has been allied with the Democratic party and served for six years as assessor of Walnut township. He is widely and affectionately known throughout the countryside as Uncle Charley Briscoe and is highly esteemed as a good and industrious citizen of Bates county.
James S. Cline, proprietor of "Sunny Site Farm," one of the best improved farms in this section of Missouri, located in Howard township, Bates county, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cline has made an excellent rec- ord as a progressive farmer and stockman since locating in this county. "Sunny Site Farm" comprises three hundred fifty acres of land devoted to stock raising on an extensive scale. Mr. Cline erected in 1911 a beauti- ful, modern bungalow, which has seven rooms and is equipped throughout for comfort and convenience. He has built a large barn, 32×40 feet in size, and eighteen feet to the eaves; erected a silo, 16x40 feet, with a capacity of one hundred eighty tons of silage. Mr. Cline feeds from forty to fifty head of cattle annually, about two car loads of hogs, and at this writing, December, 1917, was feeding several hundred head of sheep.
J. S. Cline was born in Livingston county, Illinois, April 21, 1874,
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a son of George W. and America ( Fishburn) Cline, natives of Illinois and Pennsylvania, respectively. George W. Cline was a son of German par- ents. He became a prosperous farmer in Illinois and was owner of a half section of valuable land. He died September 10, 1902. Mrs. America Cline, mother of the subject of this review, died January 21, 1916. Ten children survive them: Mary, died at the age of fourteen years; Charles and John, live in Iowa; Frank, lives in Indiana; George, Harry, and Eugene, reside in Illinois; Emma, lives in Illinois ; Mrs. Ida Marlin, lives in Illinois; Mrs. Kate Kent, resides in Kalispel, Montana, and James S., of this review.
After attending the district schools of his native county, Mr. Cline began life for himself, when he attained his majority. He worked upon his father's home place until the year 1905. He then went to Indiana and for a period of five years cultivated a farm in White county. He became owner of two hundred acres of land in this county, which land he sold in 1909 and invested the proceeds in six hundred fifty acres in Howard town- ship, Bates county, Missouri. He improved this place and erected a fine residence, and in 1911 resold the three hundred twenty acres containing the improvements to the former owner of the tract. He then erected improvements of a substantial character upon the remaining acreage, lo- cated on the south side of the public road. Mr. Cline has made good in Missouri and is a splendid farmer and manager.
Mr. Cline's marriage with Miss Willa M. Borland took place in 1905. Mrs. Willa M. (Borland) Cline was born in Essex, Iowa, a daughter of William and Mary (Mudgett) Borland, the former of whom is deceased and the latter now resides near Chatsworth, Illinois, having married Dwight Davis after Mr. Borland's death. Mr. Davis died in October, 1917.
During the year 1917, Mr. Cline harvested ninety acres of corn which yielded from thirty to sixty bushels per acre ; thirty acres of wheat which yielded an average of fifteen bushels to the acre ; and had sown sixty-five acres of wheat for the harvest of 1918. Mr. Cline had a field of sixty acres of oats which yielded fifty bushels to the acre. He believes thoroughly in the efficacy of fertilization as a means of growing larger crops and has put his belief into actual practice on his land with excellent results. He raises the Duroc Jersey hogs and Polled Angus cattle, his herd leader being a registered Polled Angus bull.
Politically, Mr. Cline is an independent Republican. He and Mrs. Cline are members of the Baptist church and Mr. Cline is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
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Isaiah L. Weirick. The Weirick stock farm in Howard township, Bates county, is a splendidly equipped place for the purpose ; in fact, 110 better nor more modern place exists in the county or this section of Mis- souri. The farm buildings, in their color tone of white, resemble a small village when seen from a distance. Besides the home, Mr. Weirick has erected a tenant house on the place. A large barn, one of the largest of its kind in the county, was completed in 1917 at a cost of forty-five hun- dred dollars, and which is 40x120 feet in extent. The horse barn is 30x44 feet in size and the buildings are conveniently grouped. The engine house, garage, granary, 36x64 feet, with a fourteen foot shed, and other necessary buildings all fit into the business-like arrangement. Mr. Weir- ick has also erected a large silo, 16x36 feet with a capacity of one hun- dred fifty tons of silage. He maintains a dairy herd of grade cows, head- ed by a Polled Angus bull of the registered thoroughbred type. In De- cember. 1917. he was feeding twenty-seven hundred head of sheep for the markets. For the past four years, Mr. Weirick has been a heavy sheep- feeder. He is planning feeding five hundred hogs during 1918 and has seven thousand bushels of corn purchased for this purpose. During 1917. he raised eighty acres of corn, into which the sheep were turned for the purpose of consuming grain and forage fodder without waste.
I. L. Weirick was born September 1, 1871. in Ohio, a son of William and Sarah (Beach) Weirick, both of whom were natives of the Buckeye State. They removed to Shelby county, Illinois, in 1872 and resided there until 1900, when both Mr. I. L. Weirick's parents removed to Oklahoma, where they now reside. William and Sarah Weirick are the parents of the following children: Mrs. Margaret Wamsley, resides in Oklahoma, her parents living with her; Mrs. Irene Ehrsman, of Nebraska: Minnie, lives in Oklahoma with her parents; James and Charles, live in Oklahoma: Mrs. Ora Gay resides in Oklahoma; and Edna, lives in Oklahoma.
Reared on the home farm in Illinois, and after receiving his educa- tion in the district schools, Mr. Weirick began for himself upon attaining his majority. From 1892 until 1896, he worked upon his father's farm and in 1897 accompanied his parents to their new home in Oklahoma. However, he returned to Illinois in 1897 and engaged in farming for himself. His first farm in Illinois consisted of two hundred acres to which he later added eighty acres and also bought twenty-five acres adjoining the town of Cowden whereon he made his home. During the summer of 1908 he disposed of his Illinois holdings, invested the
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proceeds in Bates county land, and in February, 1909, he moved his family to this county, where he soon attained a reputation as being a successful stockman and a man of decided business ability.
Mr. Weirick was married in August, 1899, to Miss Grace Fritts, born in Illinois, a daughter of T. J. and Mattie Fritts, the former, a native of Indiana and tlie latter, of Illinois. Two children have been born to this union, namely: Fritts Henry, born April 17, 1905, and Russell True, born April 23, 1908. In January, 1918, the Weiricks took up their residence in Rich Hill. Mr. Weirick is independent in his political views and votes as his conscience and good judgment dictate. He and Mrs. Weirick are members of the Church of Christ.
James J. Franklin .- The late James J. Franklin, leading citizen and early settler of Howard township, Bates county, Missouri, was a son of one of the earliest of Missouri's pioneers. Settling in Bates county in 1872, at a period when there were very few people living in the south- ern part of the county, he became one of the most prominent and active citizens of his section of the county. Mr. Franklin was born March 17, 1833, in Tennessee, a son of Fayette Smith Franklin, a native of Amherst county, Virginia, who was a son of John Franklin, who kept a tavern in Amherst county. His father was a brother of Benjamin Franklin, author of "Poor Richard's Almanac," statesman, and inventor, the value of whose services in behalf of his country while the struggle for freedom of the American Colonies was going on, can never be overestimated. Fayette Smith Franklin moved from Virginia to Ten- nessee after his marriage with Mary Ann Tyree, of Virginia. In 1839, he migrated to Greene county, Missouri. After a short residence there, he moved to Taney county, where he died in 1850. James J. Franklin moved to Pettis county, Missouri, in the early sixties and there enlisted in the Confederate army, serving throughout the Civil War under the Confederate banner until the surrender of Vicksburg by General Pem- berton, when he was paroled and returned to his home. From Pettis county, he moved to Bates county in 1872 and settled on a farm located north of the present Franklin home, later moving to the farm now owned by his widow and which was given to Mrs. Franklin's mother by her grandfather Ewing as a part of her inheritance from the Ewing estate. .Mrs. Franklin's mother deeded the farm. This farm was raw, unbroken land at the time Mr. and Mrs. Franklin began to make it their home. The Franklin farm consists of one hundred sixty acres and the resi- (28)
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dence is located in a beautiful grove of maples and evergreen trees, presenting an attractive appearance to the traveler. Mr. Franklin died April 12, 1915, after a long life spent in useful and honest endeavor.
James J. Franklin was married December 17, 1867, to Miss Mary R. Field, a daughter of William H. and Mary ( Ewing) Field. Mary (Field) Franklin was born in 1841. in Henry county, Missouri. Her father was born in Virginia in 1814 and died in 1889. He migrated to Cooper county, Missouri, during the early thirties with his father and was there married to Mary Ewing, after which he made a settle- ment in Henry county, where he resided until 1841, when he returned to Cooper county. After the close of the Civil War, he settled in Pettis county, where he lived until 1872, when he moved to Bates county. Both parents of Mrs. Franklin died at her home. Five children were born to James J. and Mary Franklin, as follow: Marie Ewing, at home with her mother: Eugene, who lives on the home place with his mother; Arthur G. and Ernest, of Kansas City, Missouri: and Earl, who died at the age of nineteen years. Eugene Franklin, the eldest son, was born in 1871 and was married in 1905 to Harriet Shepherd. born in Pettis county, a daughter of J. L. Shepherd, a resident of How- ard township. Eugene and Harriet Franklin have three children: Earl Bedford, Mary Mildred, and Eugene Lee. Eugene Franklin has served two terms as township tax-collector and has served one term of two years as township assessor, having been re-elected to the position in March, 1917. The office came to him unsolicited and was bestowed upon him by his fellow-citizens as a token of the high esteem in which he is held. He is a Mason and prominent in Howard township.
In politics, the late James J. Franklin was a Democrat and for years was one of the capable leaders of his party in Bates county. He served as township assessor of Howard township and performed the duties of the office in a capable manner. He was a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and was fraternally affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. The death of Mr. Franklin marked the passing of one of the best-known pioneer settlers of this neighborhood and a man who was held in affectionate esteem by his neighbors and by those who knew him best. His death was sincerely and truly mourned by his family and the people of Bates county with whom he was widely . acquainted. Mrs. Mary R. Franklin is one of the oldest pioneer women of Bates county living at this time, and. in point of years of residence in this section of the county, she holds second place.
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Robert J. Sproul, farmer and dairyman, New Home township, was born in 1879, in Vermilion county, Illinois, a son of William and Flora (Pribble) Sproul, who came to Bates county in 1880 and settled on a farm three miles south of the Sproul place in New Home township. William Sproul cultivated his farm in New Home township until 1914, when he went to Montana and filed upon a government homestead and has since proved up on the place. There were seven children in the Sproul family, four of whom are living.
Robert Sproul was educated in the public schools of Bates county and has resided on his present farm of two hundred ninety acres since 1904. This farm was formerly owned by his wife's father, and Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are gradually improving the place, one of the most recent of the improvements being the handsome bungalow. The Sproul homestead is located just north of Nyhart, which furnishes a convenient shipping point for the farm products. Mr. Sproul maintains a fine herd of Jersey milch cows, to the number of twenty, on the place and ships the product of his dairy to the creameries.
Mr. Sproul was married in 1904 to Miss Lettie Daniel and to this marriage have been born four children: Max, born June 16, 1905; Clare, born August 22, 1908; Zyx, born June 2, 1911; and Bill, born December 27. 1914. Mrs. Lettie (Daniel) Sproul was born in New Home township within a short distance from her present home. She is a daughter of William and Sarah A. (Winston) Daniel, natives of North Carolina. William Daniel was born in 1837 and died in Novem- ber, 1895. When Mr. Daniel was a child his father died and the lad came to Missouri with his mother in 1848. The family first settled in Pettis county and William Daniel made a settlement in Bates county after completing his service in a Missouri Union regiment during the Civil War. He came to this county in 1865 and located in New Home township, first purchasing a tract of fifty acres which he improved and added gradually to his holdings until he became owner of five hundred twenty acres in one large tract. Mrs. Sarah A. ( Winston) Daniel was born in 1838 in North Carolina and accompanied her parents to Lafay- ette county, Missouri, in the early forties, later settling in Pettis coun- ty where her marriage with William Daniel took place. She met her death under tragic circumstances while living on the Daniel home place with her brother. Jess. She was all alone at the home and was busily engaged in raking leaves and tidying up the lawn in the fall of 1906. As she piled up the leaves she built a fire in order to consume them and
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make a clean job. While plying her rake too near the fire of blazing leaves and brush, her clothing was ignited and she was burned to death while at the pump trying vainly to quench the flames.
Mr. Sproul is a Socialist, politically. Mrs. Sproul is a member of the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Sproul are both intelligent, enter- prising, hard-working citizens, who are making a pronounced success of their farm and dairy work and have many friends.
Thomas Henry Tilson, proprietor of "Blue Grass Valley Farm," consisting of four hundred fifty-five acres in New Home township, and owner of one hundred seventy-six acres of rice land in Liberty county, southeastern Texas, is one of the real "old timers" of Bates county, having been born on a pioneer farm situated just a half mile north of his present home. His sixty-six years in Bates county have been indus- triously and profitably spent in accumulating a substantial competence. Not content to sit down and rest upon his hard-won laurels and take life easy, Mr. Tilson has only recently begun the pioneer life all over again in a new and hitherto undeveloped country. On October 3, 1916, he entered a homestead in Campbell county, Wyoming, consisting of a half section of good farming land. He spent the summer season on this tract and has filed upon another half section.
T. H. Tilson was born December 20, 1851, in New Home township, a son of William Stewart Tilson (born in 1815, died January 28, 1858). William S. Tilson was a native of Washington county, now Unicoi county, Tennessee and came to Bates county in 1838. In September of that year he arrived at Balltown in Vernon county, Missouri, and then came to Bates county. Upon his pre-emption tract in New Home town- ship he built a one-room log cabin with a chimney at the end built of sandstone. After Mr. Tilson's death, the roof of the cabin was enlarged and extended so as to make covered porches on two sides, one end of each porch being boxed in so as to make two additional rooms. This cabin stood until 1911. In those early days, deer, wild turkeys and prairie chickens were plentiful and the Tilson larder was never empty of plenty of good meat. W'm. S. Tilson was married in this county to Judith Turner, born in old Virginia, September 30. 1826, a daughter of George W. Turner, who came to Bates county from his native state in the early thirties and here spent the remainder of his days in farm- ing pursuits. Mrs. Tilson died in 1881. During the dark days of the Civil War, times were bad, and when Order No. 11 was issued the entire family went to Vernon county and resided near Balltown until 1866,
THOMAS HENRY TILSON.
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when they returned to the home place in Bates county. All of the live stock owned by the family had been stolen or run off but one old mare. There were not boards enough about the place sufficient to build a pig pen. The floors, windows, and doors were gone from the cabin, and they were in poor circumstances for some time. There were seven children in this pioneer family, as follow: George W., died in October, 1911; Mary E., deceased; John F., died in 1864; Thomas H., subject of this sketch; William Stewart, died in infancy ; James Edward and Marion Francis, deceased.
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