USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 42
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Mr. Peterson was married in Rochester, New York state, Septem- ber 14, 1880, to Miss Jane Watson, who was born in 1863, in Penfield near the city of Rochester, New York, Monroe county, a daughter of Edward Marshall and Catherine ( Eagan) Watson, the former a native of Cambridgeshire, England, and the latter of Brooklyn, New York. When seventeen years of age, Mrs. Peterson left home and came West with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have no living children. Mr. Peterson is a Republican. He is a member of the Catholic church.
John J. Houtz, extensive farmer and livestock breeder of West
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Boone township, a native of Illinois, is one of the recent additions to the progressive citizenship of Bates county, a man who is doing his full share in bringing the agricultural interests of this county to the front. Progressive, enterprising and aggressive in his methods, he has achieved a remarkable success in his vocation during the fifteen years of his residence in this county. Mr. Houtz was born in Woodford county, Illinois, October 26, 1873, a son of John C. and Sarah J. ( Garst) Houtz, natives of Virginia. During the Civil War, John C. Houtz served in the Home Guards of his native State. George and James P. Houtz, his brothers, served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. In 1865, John C. Houtz located in Woodford county, Illinois, where he built up a splendid farm of two hundred sixty acres of very rich and valuable land. He died in Illinois, in February, 1895, aged sixty-six years. The mother of John J. Houtz departed this life in 1889, aged fifty-three years. There were ten children in the Houtz family, six of whom are living: John J., subject of this review; Henry A., Edward L., Frank I., and Mrs. Lulu B. Harris, reside in Boone county, Nebraska ; Mrs. Etha L. McMullen, who lives in Salt Lake City.
John J. Houtz was reared in Woodford county, Illinois. He began farming on his own account when twenty-one years old. He purchased eighty acres of rich Illinois land and owned the farm until 1902, at which time he sold out and came to Bates county where he first invested in a quarter section of land. Some time later, he added another quarter to this tract and farmed a half section of land. Fire destroyed the buildings on this place and he erected what were considered the finest improvements on the countryside. In fact, Mr. Houtz has found it a profitable business to take hold of a rundown farm, place better im- provements upon it, bring back the soil to a better state of cultivation, and then dispose of the farm at a profit. He has handled, during the course of his residence in this county, over two thousand acres of land. He is at present owner of seven hundred twenty acres of land in the vicinity of Merwin and has one of the best improved farms in the north- west part of Bates county. Upon his large acreage there are four sets of farm improvements and his home place near Merwin comprises a half section, upon which he erected a handsome residence and barns in 1916. He maintains a herd of one hundred pure-bred. registered Here- ford cattle on his farms and is a breeder of Poland China hogs. Mr. Houtz specializes in the breeding of Percheron horses and mules, own- ing a fine blooded Percheron stallion, registered as "Brown Richard,"
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and he keeps two jacks in his barns. He is thoroughly versed in the science of livestock raising and is ever ready to give his neighbors assistance and advice in the proper care of their stock.
Mr. Houtz was married November 28, 1895, to Miss Sarah Jeter, who was born in Woodford county, Illinois, daughter of James H. and Mary (Peterson) Jeter, natives of Virginia and New Jersey, respective- ly. James H. Jeter settled in Illinois with his parents and resided there until his death, which occurred in June, 1916, at the age of seventy- five years. Mr. Jeter died at Raymore, Missouri, the family having removed to this state in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Houtz have four children : Pauline, a graduate of the Raymore High School, taught school for three years and was a student of the Warrensburg Normal College; Pearl, a high school graduate and student of the Warrensburg Normal; Edith, attending the Merwin High School; and Gale.
After four years' residence in Merwin, the Houtz family took up their residence on the present home place in October, 1916. The Houtz farm is one of the best equipped in this part of Bates county and the land is underlaid with natural gas. Mr. Houtz is independent in his political views. He is a member of the Christian church. He is frater- nally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Court of Honor.
David Clayton Wolfe, a late prominent citizen of Charlotte town- ship, an early settler of this county, was one of the most advanced and progressive farmers in this section of Missouri. Self-educated, a great reader, a religious worker, gifted mentally beyond the attainments of ordinary men, he was a visionary to the extent that he frequently advo- cated measures for the lasting benefit of the people, which measures were in advance of the thought of his time. To Mr. Wolfe belonged the credit of originating the system of road dragging which is now in use along the main highways of this county. He was the first man to drag the roads in the vicinity of his farm in Bates county and he started the campaign for road dragging and a better system of roads in Bates county, when the greater part of the citizenship was opposed to such a procedure. He was a stanch advocate of prohibition and had he lived to the present day would have been gratified at the steps and measures that have been taken to insure national prohibition in the United States. David Clayton Wolfe was born September 23, 1864, and died February 10, 1917. His place of birth was in Dallas county, Iowa, and he was a son of Charles W. and Mary Josephine (Young) Wolfe, natives of Ohio.
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Charles W. Wolfe, his father, was born in Athens county, Ohio, in 1842, a son of Jacob and Sarah (Brunson) Wolfe, the former a native of Athens county and the latter, a native of Bedford county, Pennsyl- vania, but reared in Ohio.
C. W. Wolfe was reared and educated in the county of his birth, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Twenty-second Ohio Infantry, and served for five months. He then went to Dallas county, Iowa, and farmed and taught school until September, 1864, when he enlisted in Company "K," Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He saw active service in Georgia, Mis- sissippi, and was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea. Mr. Wolfe was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, July 24, 1865, and discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in August, 1865. He then returned home. Mr. Wolfe was married July 10, 1862, to Mary Josephine Young, who was born in Athens county in 1844, daughter of John and Mary (Higgins) Young. In 1870, Mr. Wolfe came to Bates county and lo- cated in Homer township, where he resided for two years and then purchased a tract of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township, which he improved. There were five children born to Charles W. and Mary Wolfe: James Irvin, David C., Julia E., Jacob V. and Bertha. Mr. Wolfe resides in Butler.
David Clayton Wolfe was reared to young manhood at the Wolfe homestead, located two and a half miles southwest of Virginia in Charlotte township. He lived practically all his days in this locality, excepting a short time spent in Colorado. He was married February 22, 1888, to Miss Tella May Park, and eight children were born of this marriage : W. J., living at Blue Mound, Kansas ; Warren D., in real estate investment and loan business, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Bonnie Darnes, who formerly taught school in this county, and now lives at Attica, Kansas; Mrs. Bessie Hardinger, Charlotte township; Joe Clay- ton, Burdee Marie, George and Charles, twins, at home. (Three grand- children have been born: Willard Wolfe Hardinger, deceased; George Robert Darnes, and Tella Virginia Darnes.) The mother of the chil- dren was born October 25, 1866, in Crawford county, Ohio, a daughter of George Washington and Susan (Quaintance) Park, natives of Ohio, who came to Missouri in 1876 and settled on a farm in Charlotte town- ship, Bates county. G. W. Park resided here until his death in 1906, becoming an honored and highly respected citizen of the county, hav- ing been the pioneer advocate of prohibition in Bates county. Mrs. Park is still living at the age of eighty-six years.
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At the time of his marriage, David Clayton Wolfe purchased eighty acres of land one-half mile east of Virginia. The first home was a small two-room house of one and a half stories, and he also erected a barn. The first small house served as his home for some time and he later erected the present beautiful home of the family, which is one of the most attractive and best-kept places in Bates county. A beautiful grove of shade trees fronts the highway, all of which were planted by Mr. Wolfe. He increased his acreage gradually until, at the time of his death, he and Mrs. Wolfe owned a total of three hundred well- improved acres. Politically, Mr. Wolfe was allied with the Democratic party. He belonged to the Christian church, of which he served as elder for a number of years. He was a candidate for state representative on the Democratic ticket in 1912 and made the race for the office upon a pronounced advanced platform which he enunciated with clearness and decisiveness during the campaign. His platform as published in the newspapers at that time called for the enactment of: "A law limit- ing the owners of land to possession of 640 acres in each county; a law changing the time of tax assessments from June to March of each year ; a system that will solve the question of roads."
He was the pioneer in the good roads movement in Bates county, although his first efforts to have the county authorities undertake the grading of highways met with bitter and determined opposition. The first graded and dragged roads in the county were those which bor- dered upon his land. He dragged these roads with a "King Road Dragger" for years without pay, and lived to see the authorities make a fair start upon a system of better roads throughout the county. He was a Good Templar and was a strong advocate of national prohibition. He was also a firm adherent to the cause of "woman suffrage" and, had he lived to the present, his hopes regarding national prohibition and woman's suffrage would have been gratified. Mr. Wolfe was a con- stant reader who kept abreast and even ahead of his own time. He was a deep thinker and, endowed with literary ability, he was enabled to express his thoughts in poetic vein on many occasions. He was a "man worth while" in the community and his loss to the county was deeply mourned by his many friends and acquaintances. His influence among his fellow-citizens was always for good, he was never known to sanction evil in any form, a Christian in name, he endeavored to live a Christian life, and he bequeathed a respected and honored name to his children who will always revere his memory because of his upright-
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ness, his kindness, his broadness of vision, and his integrity of purpose.
Edgar D. Waller, successful farmer, livestock and grain dealer, New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, while his grain and live- stock business office is maintained at Foster, is one of the "live wires" in the livestock and business world of Bates county. Since he began for himself upon a rented farm seventeen years ago, he has accumulated three farms totaling eight hundred acres located in New Home town- ship. Since 1902, he has been engaged in the grain and livestock busi- ness with headquarters at Foster. Mr. Waller was born on a farm in Walnut township, Bates county, in 1879, a son of George and Eveline (DeMott) Waller, natives of Illinois, where they were reared and mar- ried. George Waller removed to Bates county, Missouri, in 1870 and made his home here until his removal to Madison, Kansas, in 1901. Mrs. Eveline Waller died in 1883. George and Eveline Waller were parents of three children: Harvey, deceased; Edgar D., subject of this review, and Walter, Kansas City, Missouri. .
E. D. Waller was educated in the Foster public schools and began farming on his own account in New Home township. His first purchase of land was for a quarter section in 1900 at a cost of twenty dollars per acre, which was bought on time. The place was but poorly improved with an old shack, but Mr. Waller soon replaced this with a good dwelling and other buildings. He lived on this place for two years, then sold it and went to Madison, Kansas, where he purchased a farm and remained but one year. Selling out, he returned to Missouri, where he rented the farm owned by I. H. Botkin, his father-in-law. He pros- pered in this venture, and, in 1906, bought a farm consisting of one hundred twenty acres, adjoining the Botkin place; added fifty acres in 1907; bought eighty acres more in 1915; and, in 1917, he purchased a large tract of five hundred sixty acres, making a total of eight hundred ten acres which he now owns and manages. Mr. Waller feeds over one hundred head of cattle annually for the markets and employs from three to twelve men in the conduct of his farming operations. During 1917, he harvested three hundred acres of corn which yielded forty bushels to the acre; one hundred fifty acres of wheat which averaged seventeen bushels to the acre, and eighty acres of oats, which gave a yield of forty-five bushels to the acre. For the wheat harvest this year (1918) he has sown three hundred acres.
Mr. Waller was married in 1900 to Miss Ina Botkin, a daughter of Isaac H. Botkin, an aged and highly respected pioneer resident of Fos-
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ter, concerning whose career an extensive biography is given in this volume. From October, 1916, to February, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Waller made their residence in Rich Hill, Missouri. Mr. Waller is a Democrat in politics, but his whole time and energy are devoted to his extensive farming and business interests. His success is, without doubt, the most striking of that accomplished by members of the younger generation in Bates county.
Warren Littlefield .- The late Warren Littlefield, of New Home township, Union veteran, and successful farmer, was favorably known in Bates county. He was an industrious and enterprising citizen who was held in high esteem by all who knew him in this county, and his influence was ever felt on the side of good deeds and worthy move- ments. He was born August 11, 1834, and died January 25, 1906. Mr. Littlefield was a native of Pennsylvania, and a son of George and Mary (Miller) Littlefield, natives of Pennsylvania, who removed to Brown county, Illinois, in 1840. In this county, under pioneer conditions, War- ren Littlefield was reared to young manhood, and upon the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted on September 17, 1861, in Company C, Third Missouri Cavalry Regiment, and saw over three years of hard service in the southwest. He fought in many battles and skirmishes and was honorably discharged from the service November 26, 1864. He was married in 1866 and he and his young wife made their start in life on eighty acres of land which had been given to them by Mrs. Littlefield's father. This tract they sold and in 1881 purchased one hundred twenty acres of land in New Home township, Bates county, Missouri, upon which Mr. Littlefield erected substantial improvements. To this farm they later added forty acres more from the old Sam McCowan place. The Littlefield farm is one of the best in Bates county and from year to year has yielded its owners excellent crops. Under Mr. Littlefield's wise management the farm prospered and he accumu- lated sufficient of this world's goods in the form of money and property to maintain him and his devoted wife in comfort the remainder of their days. His death in 1906 was a sad loss to his family and the commun- ity in which he had long been held in high respect.
On July 4, 1866, in Illinois, the marriage of Warren Littlefield and Margaret Ellen Tyson was solemnized. This marriage was blessed with the following children: Mrs. Augusta Vanatta, living in Iowa; Mrs. Eva Gray, residing near Lorimer, Iowa; Mrs. Ella Barnard, Mon- tana; Minnie, wife of George Kelly, New Home township: Frank, at
WARREN LITTLEFIELD.
MRS. ELLEN LITTLEFIELD.
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home with his mother and managing the home place; Harry, owner of the old Shannon farm in New Home township; Bertha died at the age of twenty-four years; Alice died in infancy. Mrs. Margaret Ellen Littlefield, nee Tyson, was born in Schuyler county, Illinois, March 5, 1847, a daughter of George Tyson, one of the pioneers of Schuyler county, Illinois. George Tyson was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1807, a son of Zephaniah Tyson, who was born in Virginia in 1771, who enlisted in the Indian Wars in 1790 and fought under General Wayne. He also fought in the War of 1812 under General Harrison. He married Margaret De Long, and in 1830 he moved to Illinois, dying there in 1849 at the age of seventy-eight years. George Tyson went to Cincinnati, Ohio, when a young man and worked on a flat boat, engaged in trading on the Ohio river for some time. He married Lucinda Bellamy of Culpepper county, Virginia, then sold his flat boat and went overland to Schuyler county, Illinois, where he accumulated 480 acres of land and became wealthy. He owned a saw-mill and a grist-mill which he operated with profit. In 1866 he went west and disappeared, his death probably coming at the hands of savage Indians. He also owned a half section of land in Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Tyson died September 10, 1876. They were parents of the following sons and daughters: Robert, deceased; Alfred, deceased, served in Second Illi- nois Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War; William, deceased, served in the One Hundred Fifteenth Illinois Infantry Regiment; Levi lives near Abilene, Kansas; Mrs. Caroline Kirkham, Mt. Sterling, Illi- nois ; Mrs. Melissa Johnson, deceased ; Mrs. Angeline Dimmick, deceased, whose husband was a Union veteran. Mrs. Warren Littlefield makes her home on the old family farmstead and is an intelligent, right-thinking woman who holds dear the memory of her late husband and keeps abreast of the times, being proud of the fact she and Mr. Littlefield are numbered among the early settlers of Bates county.
Mr. Littlefield was a stanch Republican, who, while he never sought political preferment, often attended political gatherings and delighted in hearing the issues of the day discussed and in discussing them among his friends and associates. He was a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church which is also the church attended by Mrs. Littlefield. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a very religious individual, a sterling, upright, moral citizen who loved his home life, and was good and kind to the members of his family. Mr. and Mrs. Littlefield are deserving of a place of honor in the annals of the county which they have assisted so ably in creating.
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Joseph T. Smith, ex-sheriff of Bates county, member of one of the honored pioneer families of Missouri, proprietor of one of the best im- proved farmsteads in western Missouri, located in Walnut township, near Foster, was born in Clay county, Missouri, July 23, 1854. His parents were William S. and Mary M. (Birkhead) Smith, natives of Kentucky.
William S. Smith immigrated to Missouri in the early forties with his parents when he was but a youth, and became one of the famous "forty-niners," making the long overland trip to the newly discovered California gold fields in 1849. He crossed the plains via the ox-team route in company with other adventurous spirits and remained for two years in the gold country, returning home by the sea route with a small fortune in gold. After his return in 1851, he was married in Lincoln county, Missouri, to Mary N. Birkhead and then moved to a farm in Clay county. In 1855 he came to Bates county, and first settled near Papinsville, then the county seat. When the decision was made to lo- cate the county capital at Butler in 1856, he went there and erected the first store building. He later traded his stock of goods and store build- ing for a tract of land located one mile west of Butler, engaged in farming, and died in 1862. He left a widow and the following children to mourn their loss: Margaret, deceased; Mrs. Sarah Ann Spicer, Clay county, Missouri; Alice Ruth, deceased; Joseph T., subject of this sketch; Reuben B., James N., William W., deceased, and two children died in infancy.
Joseph T. Smith was reared in Butler and upon the family farm west of the city and the family resided there until Order No. 11 was issued in 1863, after which they went to Lincoln county, Missouri, and resided with Mrs. Smith's people until 1868. They then returned to the farm in Bates county and set about rebuilding and repairing the dam- age which had been done during the war. Mr. Smith lived upon the home place for ten years, assisting his mother in supporting the family. In 1878, he moved to Butler and for thirteen years was engaged in the livery business. In 1880, he went to Colorado, and remained in the western mountain country from the spring of that year until 1883, when he returned to Butler and again entered the livery business. In 1885, he made a visiting trip to Nebraska points and remained in that state until 1888, when he returned home. He received the appointment of deputy sheriff of the county soon after his return and served for four years. He then engaged in the livestock business, entered politics and
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was elected sheriff of Bates county in 1899, taking up the duties of his office on January 1, 1900. He served two terms of two years each as sheriff, and the concensus of opinion is that Mr. Smith made the best sheriff Bates county had had up to that time. During his term of office, the hanging of James B. Gartrell for the murder of D. B. Donnekin in the western part of Bates county, took place. Following his term in office, Mr. Smith bought a farm one mile east of Butler upon which he and his family resided until 1909. He then disposed of his farm and lived in the city of Butler until purchasing his present home farm in Walnut township in March, 1912.
The Smith farm is beautifully located in a fertile valley just south- west of the town of Foster and is considered the best improved tract in Walnut township. The farm consists of two hundred acres of rich bot- tom land and is devoted to the raising of cattle, hogs and horses. Mr. Smith prefers the Shorthorn breed of cattle.
On November 8, 1882, Joseph T. Smith and Nora May Porter were united in marriage. Mrs. Nora May Smith was born at Ottawa, Illi- nois, in 1867, and is a daughter of Samuel B. and Mary E. (Burwell) Porter, natives of Ohio, who first located in Illinois, then went to Min- nesota, from there to Iowa, thence to Colorado, resided in Nebraska and Iowa and from there went to Montana, finally making their home with Mr. and Mrs. Smith when old age came upon them. Her father died in Butler in 1911, her mother following him in death two years later in 1913. The parents of Mrs. Smith were descended from Pennsyl- vania ancestry, her mother, Mary E. (Burwell) Porter, a daughter of Samuel and Celia (McKinley) Burwell, the latter a sister of President William McKinley's father.
The Democratic party has always had the firm allegiance and sup- port of Mr. Smith and he and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christ- ian church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is one of the most popular and best-known ยท pioneer citizens of Bates county and enjoys a wide and favorable ac- quaintance in the county.
Frank Ray Swarens, grain dealer and sucessful farmer of New Home township, whose place of business is at Foster, Missouri, was born June 10, 1865, in Menard county, Illinois. His father was John Swarens, born in 1837, and died in 1899, a native of Woodford county, Illinois, and of German ancestry. He, John Swarens, was left an orphan
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at the early age of eleven years and was reared in the home of a mar- ried sister. When he reached mature age, he married Miss Anna Ray, who was born in 1843 in Sangamon county, Illinois, a daughter of Sam- uel Ray, who moved from his home state of Kentucky to Illinois, in an early day. She died in 1908. In 1867, John Swarens moved from Men- ard county to Sangamon county, Illinois, and resided there until he came to Bates county, the entire family arriving in this county on March 1, 1882, making a permanent settlement in New Home township. John Swarens prospered exceedingly in his new environment and be- came one of the leading and most substantial citizens of Bates county. Prior to his death he was owner of five hundred thirty acres of rich farm land.
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