USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 43
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John and Anna Swarens were parents of the following children: Ella, wife of N. L. Livingston, died at Foster, Missouri; Frank Ray, subject of this biographical review; C. C., a leading farmer of New Home township; Mrs. Laura Bowman, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Hattie Barron, Kansas City; Mrs. May McCombs, deceased; Mrs. Joe Stetter, Kansas City; Iva and Emma, deceased. Mr. Swarens was a pronounced Democrat in his political affiliations. He and Mrs. Swarens were members of the Christian church and Mr. Swarens was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens were a valuable addition to the civic and agricultural life of Bates county and left a reputation for honest, upright, industrious living, for a high plane of right thinking and doing, which will make them long remembered in this locality. Their virtues and habits of life were visited upon their children, who occupy respected niches in the various communities in which they each reside.
The early education of F. R. Swarens was obtained in the schools of his native county in Illinois, and, at the time of his coming to Bates county with his parents, he was a sturdy boy of seventeen years, who was able and willing to do a man's work in the fields. He assisted his father in developing and cultivating the home place and, after his father's death, elected to remain there, subsequently purchasing the various interests of the other heirs in the family homestead. In 1913, he moved to Fos- ter, where he had become interested in the grain business. In 1918, this year, he deemed it the best policy, in view of the scarcity of farm help, to remove to the farm in New Home township where he could personally oversee the cultivation of his land. His home place in New Home township is a splendidly improved farm of two hundred forty
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acres. For the past five years, Mr. Swarens has been residing on the Mort Campbell place of one hundred twenty acres adjoining Foster on the east, and which he sold in December, 1917.
On September 4, 1889, Frank Ray Swarens and Vida, eldest daugh- ter of James P. Thomas, of New Home township, were united in mar- riage. The reader is referred to the biography of James P. Thomas, the oldest pioneer resident of this township, for further information regard- ing the Thomas family. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Swarens, nine of whom are living: Nona, wife of Charles Cobb, living on the home place in New Home township; Mrs. Mamie Sieg, living on an eighty acre farm in Howard township; James and Ray- mond, at home on the farm; Mrs. Oneta, wife of E. C. Cullison, Archie, Cass county, Missouri, where Mr. Cullison is employed as book-keeper for the Hurley Lumber Company; Leslie, book-keeper for Swift & Co., Trenton, Missouri; Leonard and Ruth, at home; Viola, deceased; For- rest, at home; and Martha, deceased.
Mr. Swarens has always been allied with the Democratic party and has held various township offices in New Home township, during the course of his residence there. He is a member of the Christian church and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. and Mrs. Swarens are highly esteemed citizens of Bates county, and are of that sturdy, progressive class who have done so much to bring Bates county to the front.
John J. March, ex-judge of the county court of Bates county, a pioneer citizen of New Home township, leading farmer and stockman, is a scion of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri and a de- scendant of colonial ancestry, of Swiss origin. . His great-great-grand- father was Rudolph March, who immigrated to America from his native land, Switzerland, and settled in North Carolina about the middle of the eighteenth century, or 1750. His son, Jacob March, great-grand- father of Judge John J. March, saw service in the American Revolution during the campaigns which restored the Carolinas to the American Colonial Government and drove the British from their strongholds in the Southern states. John J. March was born, January 1, 1861, in Boone county, Missouri, a son of Willis March (born 1820, died 1895) and Sarah (DeJarnette) March (born 1839, died 1907).
Willis B. March was born in Clark county, Kentucky, a son of John March, a native of Kentucky, who was a son of Jacob March, born in North Carolina, who was a son of Rudolph March, a native of Switzer-
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land, mentioned in the preceding paragraph as having emigrated from Switzerland to America in about 1750. John March left Kentucky and made a settlement in Boone county, Missouri, as early as 1844. His son, Willis B., was there reared to young manhood and served as a soldier in the Mexican War. 1846 to 1848. In 1849 he made the over- land trip to the gold fields of California, remaining four years and made a fortune. He again went to California in 1853, remaining three years. He married Sarah DeJarnette, who bore him children. as follow: John J .. subject of this review: Mrs. Emma L. Hart, a widow living at Bus- sey, Iowa; Joseph B., a farmer living in Osage township, county sur- veyor of Bates county for two terms, later graduated from the Law School of the Missouri University, who soon after our government be- gan the construction of the Panama Canal, offered his services and was accepted. remaining there for more than seven years, the latter half of this time being a district judge, having been appointed by the noted Joe Blackburn, of Kentucky, then Governor of the Canal Zone: Mrs. Carrie Yeates, Lamar, Colorado; Mrs. Mattie E. Ford Welch. Vernon county. Missouri, whose son, Dr. Lester R. Ford, born in October. 1886, graduated from the Warrensburg Normal College. graduated with honors at Missouri University, winning the Harvard Scholarship, later winning another scholarship at Harvard, studied in Paris, filled the chair of Professor of Mathematics at Harvard, lectured upon Mathe- matics at Edinburgh University, Scotland, for two years, holds several degrees, and is now a member of the National Army stationed at Camp Meade. Boston: Richard W., the youngest son. is a master mechani- cal engineer in charge of the operation of steam shovels in the strip coal mines at Rich Hill, Missouri.
In 1868, Willis B. March removed with his family to Bates county and settled on a pioneer farm four miles southwest of Rich Hill in Osage township. There were very few settlements on the prairie at this time and vast unfenced stretches of grazing land met the eye in every direction. Game was plentiful and herds of deer ranged the prairies. Highways were unknown and the settlers followed the beaten trails when traveling. In 1881, Mr. March sold his first farm and moved to another tract located a short distance west of the original home- stead. He resided here until his death. highly respected in the com- munity, which he had helped to create. He was a Democrat and filled various township offices.
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John J. March attended the State Normal School at Warrensburg, after receiving what education the district school was able to afford him. He taught school for several terms in Bates and Vernon counties and pursued a business course in a commercial college at Kansas City. From 1886 to 1891 he was engaged as bookkeeper for a coal mining concern in the vicinity of Rich Hill and during that time became finan- cially interested in mining. He was connected with the mining industry near Rich Hill from 1884 to 1894 and during that time purchased his farm in New Home township, removing to the place in 1892. Mr. March has, with the exception of the seven years intervening between 1910 and 1917, which were spent in Nevada, Missouri, resided on his place since 1892. He moved to Nevada to afford his children high school educational advantages. He formerly owned two hundred twenty-five acres in New Home township, but has recently disposed of a tract of sixty-five acres.
October 13, 1887, Mr. March was married to Miss Alice V. Powers, who has borne him two children, as follow: Nellie H., a teacher in the public schools, and a graduate of the Nevada High School. and Walter B., a graduate of the Nevada High School and now farming on the home place. Mrs. Alice V. March was born February 14, 1867, in California, a daughter of William and Mary (McCool) Powers, natives of Ken- tucky and Tennessee, respectively. William Powers was a son of one of the early Missouri pioneers who came to this state in 1840 and made a settlement in Bates county in 1845. He went to the gold fields of Cal- ifornia in 1849 and remained for three years. He was born in 1824 and died in 1868. His wife, prior to her marriage, was Mary McCool; she was born in 1827 and died in 1892. William Powers died when on a visit to Bates county to see about his property in this county. The Powers family returned from California in 1871.
Mr. and Mrs. March are members of the Christian church and Mr. March filled the post of elder of the Christian church at Nevada while a resident in that city. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He has been a life-long Democrat, one who has been prom- inent in the councils of his party and held the office of associate judge of the county court for two terms of two years each. He was first elected to the office in 1900 and again elected in 1902. During his term of office, the court in which he was a member, had charge of the erec- tion of the county court house at Butler -- the name of Judge March
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being carved upon the front entrance stone as one of the builders. Judge March was also a member of the District Drainage Commission which has had charge of the draining of the Marais des Cygnes valley and the redemption of a vast acreage of overflow land. Judge and Mrs. March are among the best and most intelligent of the citizens of Bates county and are prominent in their home community and the county.
David William Laughlin, late prominent resident of Walnut town- ship, was born near Mansfield, Ohio, January 23, 1831, and died in Bates county, on his country estate north of the town of Foster, Janu- ary 31, 1908. He was the son of James and Elizabeth (Lee) Laughlin. James Laughlin was a native of Pennsylvania and a son of James Laugh- lin (I) founder of the family in America, a Scotch-Irishman, who crossed the Atlantic in 1786, and settled in Pennsylvania, where he plied his trade of expert weaver. James, father of David William, fought in the War of 1812 under General William Henry Harrison and took part in the campaign against the British and intended to relieve General Hull at Detroit. David William Laughlin was reared to young manhood in Ohio and in 1853 he made a settlement in Tama county, Iowa. He served for about five months as a soldier in Company E, Twenty-fourth Iowa Regiment of Infantry, during the Civil War and was severely wounded by accident just before the Battle of Helena, Arkansas, receiving a bullet wound just below the heart, through the lungs. He was married in 1854 and continued to reside in Tama county until 1869 when the condition of his lungs required that he seek a dryer climate. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in that year and purchased a farm on Walnut creek in the township bearing that name. He chose for his future home one of the most beautiful sites in western Missouri overlooking the timbered area of Walnut creek to the south of the residence. He first purchased a tract of two hundred eighty acres. He settled permanently in Bates county in 1871. He erected a comfortable residence which was beautified as the years passed and the trees and shrubbery with which he surrounded his domicile grew. Mr. Laughlin increased his land holdings to a total of twelve hundred eighty acres, which included a section of land in Walnut township and another section in Kansas. The Laughlin home place north of Foster is one of the most attractive in Bates county or western Missouri. The white farmstead is located on a hill overlooking the wooded valley of the Walnut and is surrounded by shrubbery and trees. It resembles an eastern homestead with its flowers and vines. Upon Mrs. Laughlin's land is growing what is prob-
DAVID WILLIAM LAUGHLIN.
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ably the largest wild cherry tree in Missouri or the West and the greater part of the walnut timber is still standing in all of its virgin strength. Some of the walnut trees have attained a great growth, and it is a mat- ter of sentimental attachment to the beautiful stretch of woodland for Mrs. Laughlin to continually refuse all offers for the valuable timber contained in the tract.
On October 13, 1864, David William Laughlin and Mary Eliza Blangy were united in marriage. To this marriage were born the fol- lowing children: Elmer E., a prosperous farmer and large land owner of Walnut township, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Adelia, born February 3, 1868, wife of Dr. Herbert Canfield, Seattle, Washington, and mother of eight children-Clerice, David, Florian, Damon, Iris, Ruby, and Evelyn and Charles, deceased-David Canfield, the second oldest of these, being married and father of two children-Donald and Char- lotte; Florence, born September 22, 1870, wife of Bert Hartshorne, Car- terville, Missouri, mother of three children-Doyle, Lois, and Elpha; Wilson, born May 6, 1873, and died January 16, 1909, married Nettie Humphrey, of Pleasanton, Kansas, in 1899, who died in May, 1916, leav- ing two sons: Harold and Reese; Irving Scott Laughlin, born Decem- ber 19, 1875, married Mattie Sherburne, and died at Topeka, Kansas, December 13, 1908, leaving one son, Winston; Fred, youngest of the family. The widow of Irving S. Laughlin is now a trained nurse at San Diego, California. Mrs. Mary Eliza Laughlin, widow of David William Laughlin, was born January 26, 1846, in Ohio, a daughter of James and Mary (Scott) Blangy, natives of Pennsylvania, and whose respective parents moved to Ohio, and thence to Iowa in 1852. The Blangys came to Missouri in 1869 and settled in the northern part of Walnut township on the farm now owned by Fred Laughlin. James Blangy died in this county in 1903 aged eighty-two years. His wife died in 1881 aged fifty- eight years. Two children survive them: Mrs. David W. Laughlin, and John T. Blangy, who resides in Walnut township.
David W. Laughlin became a member of the Presbyterian church in 1863 and in 1873 became one of the founders of the Greenview Metho- dist Episcopal church in Walnut township. He was also a liberal sup- porter of the Foster Methodist church and was a liberal giver to all religious works. His remains are interred in the old Woodfin burial ground in Walnut township. Mr. Laughlin was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and his entire life was so lived that none knew him but to love him and his death was regarded as a sincere loss to the
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community in which he had been such a prominent and leading factor.
Fred Laughlin, who resides with his mother on the old home place, was born June 20, 1881. He was educated in the public schools and after- ward studied at the Missouri and Iowa Agricultural Colleges, specializing in agriculture and animal husbandry. Since assuming charge of the farm he has been identified with the building up of a herd of registered Hereford cattle and registered Percheron horses, also in the feeding of hogs and cattle.
Fred Laughlin was married on March 31, 1911, to Miss Willia Darr, who was born August 24, 1891, at Walker, Missouri, a daughter of Rob- ert and Jennie (Martin) Darr, natives, respectively of Shelby and Moni- teau counties, Missouri. They came to Vernon county, Missouri and thence to Bates county, where both died and their remains lie buried in Amoret cemetery. Two children have been born to Fred and Willia Laughlin: Wilfred, born May 22, 1912; and Weston, born September 27, 1916.
William Penn Cobb, or "WV. P." Cobb, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres in Walnut township, is one of the old settlers of Bates county, having been a bona fide resident of this county, with the exception of a few years during which he tried to find a better place of residence, since 1874. He was born August 29, 1855, in Lucas county, Iowa, a son of Robert Winchester and Sarah (Arnold) Cobb, both of whom were born and reared in Tennessee, whence they removed in 1853 and made a settlement in Iowa. From Lucas county, Iowa, they came westward to Saline county, Missouri, in 1868. Four years later, the family removed to Texas, and, in 1874, they came to Bates county and the father purchased a farm near Appleton City in this county and resided thereon until his retirement to a home in Rich Hill, his death occurring in 1896 at the age of sixty-three years. His wife and the mother of the following children died in 1875 at the age of forty years. The children were: William Penn, subject of this sketch; Mrs. Lizzie Derickson, resides in Oklahoma; John A., lives in western Kansas; Mrs. Anna Haynes, died in 1890, leaving five children; Mrs. Alice Hart, Kansas City; Mrs. Mollie Merchant, Rich Hill, Missouri, mother of four living children, and two children died in infancy.
W. P. Cobb accompanied his father to Missouri, Texas and thence to Bates county, where he resided with his father on the home place of the family, until 1875. He was then employed by John Brown, a far- mer living near Montrose, Missouri, after which he rented land in this
,
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
county until 1891. He removed at this time to western Kansas and purchased a homestead relinquishment of three hundred twenty acres, near Garden City, which he improved and cultivated until 1906. He sold his western Kansas farm in that year and, returning to Bates county, bought a farm one mile south of Rich Hill. He also owned an eleven-acre tract within the city limits of Rich Hill which he traded to Dr. E. N. Chastain for one hundred twenty acres in Walnut township in 1907. To this tract he has added forty acres, making a splendid farm of one hundred sixty acres in all.
Mr. Cobb was married in 1877 to Lizzie Griggs, who was born in Kentucky in 1861, a daughter of Roland and Minnie (Lewis) Griggs, who migrated to Bates county in 1870, moving thence to western Kan- sas in 1885, both parents dying in their new western home. To this marriage were born children, as follow: Claude, living on a farm east of Foster, married, but has no children; Chester, farmer, Walnut town- ship, married and has two children, Roland Wendell and Claude Tyrus; Arthur, farmer, New Home township, has two children, Selma May and Royal Weldon; May, a stenographer in Kansas City ; Harold, conducting a dairy farm at Overland Park, Kansas; Glennis, at home; Mrs. Maude Bright, Foster, Missouri, mother of two children, Evelyn and Cleo Irene. The mother of these children died in 1906 at the age of forty- six years.
Claude Cobb married Myrtle Jones, a daughter of N. C. Jones and niece of the famous "Buffalo" Jones. Mr. Cobb's first two children born, Millard, who died at the age of sixteen months, and Elmer, who died at the age of eight months, are buried in the family burial plat in Snodgrass cemetery, where also lie sleeping the remains of his father and mother. Mr. Cobb's second marriage occurred on September 13, 1908, with Emma Goodenough, of Foster, Missouri, a daughter of Jesse Goodenough.
Mr. Cobb is a Republican in politics and belongs to the Christian church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an honest, industrious, hard working farmer citizen of Bates county, one who has been successful despite the fact that he had little or nothing of this world's goods when he started on his career.
Albert Clay Collins, an enterprising and successful farmer and stockman of New Home township, one of the more recent additions to the citizenship of Bates county, has "made good" as a farmer and dairy- man. The Collins farm, consisting of two hundred acres of prime, rich
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land, is utilized so as to produce a maximum of crops. The home, with its buildings grouped about with large trees growing on the lawn and among the farm buildings, resembles a small village. The farm is pri- marily devoted to the dairy business, Mr. Collins maintaining a fine herd of thoroughbred Jerseys for cream production. The cream obtained from the milking of the thirty cows is shipped to the condenser at Fort Scott, Kansas, which is one of the finest concerns of the kind in the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have a flourishing poultry busi- ness and raise each year from eight hundred to twelve hundred white Leghorns, a breed of poultry noted for their egg production. They also have at present a fine flock of Pekin ducks to the number of twenty-five. Mr. Collins raises two hundred fifty hogs annually. Mrs. Collins has what is the only 'aviary in Bates county, and probably the only one in western Missouri, outside of Kansas City. She is raising Hartz Mountain and Rowler canaries and has seventy of the feathered songsters in the home at the present writing. With all these things to care for and all of which are money makers and each intended to add to the revenue of the Collins farm, it will thus be seen that Mr. and Mrs. Collins are very busy people.
A. C. Collins was born September 26, 1874, in Platte county, Mis- souri, a son of Harrison and Eliza (Herndon) Collins, natives of Ken- tucky, who removed from Platte county to Cass county, Missouri, in 1877. The senior Mr. Collins bought a farm in Cass county and re- sided there until 1884. In that year he went to Anderson county, Kan- sas, and bought a farm which he improved and resided upon until his return to his old home county. Having met with reverses in Kansas, he found it expedient to begin again in Platte county and eventually owned a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres, which he sold, in 1916, and retired from active farm work. Harrison Collins is now making his home at Smithville, Missouri, and is aged sixty-five years. A. C. Collins left home in 1900 and went to the Indian Territory where he remained two years. Returning to Platte county, Missouri, he re- mained there until 1909, when he made his permanent home in Bates county.
November 26, 1907, Mr. Collins and Miss Lillian L. Bell, a daugh- ter of James S. Bell, a Bates county pioneer, were married. Mrs. Col- lins was born and reared in Bates county. They have one child, Luella, born March 11, 1911.
Politically, Mr. Collins is a Democrat. Mr. Collins is a member
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of the Baptist church, and Mrs. Collins belongs to the Methodist Epis- copal church. Mr. Collins is fraternally allied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Smithville, Missouri. The team work, the co-operation in the management of their many departments of the farm work demonstrated by Mr. and Mrs. Collins is worthy of emulation. They always find plenty to do at all times of the year. They are mu- tually interested in the dairy business and the cultivation of the farm and are looked upon as an industrious, enterprising couple who are not afraid of work and are making good in their life work.
James S. Bell, a well-known Bates county pioneer, who is making his home with Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Collins, on the old Bell homestead, was born August 10, 1836, in Virginia, a son of James L. and Hannah Maria (Sherman) Bell, natives of Virginia, who immigrated to Missouri in 1837 and made a settlement in Cooper county. During the Civil War the family lived in St. Louis county and the elder Bell suffered losses exceeding sixty thousand dollars through the ravages of warfare. They remained in St. Louis county until 1867 and then came to New Home township, Bates county, in order to make a new start. James L. Bell lived in Bates county for the remainder of his days and died here. He was twice married, his second wife being Marinda (Mccutcheon) Bell, who is still living at the age of over ninety-four years.
J. S. Bell enlisted in the Southern Army in 1864 down in Texas, whither he had gone in 1861. He was a member of a band of Partisan Rangers connected with the Confederate forces and he served until the close of the war, taking part in many battles, the most important en- gagement being the battle of Mansfield, or Sabine Cross Roads. His service extended in all parts of Texas and Louisiana. After the war ended he became a trader in cattle and drove large herds of Texas cat- tle to the Northern states to be sold. When he first went to Texas he was interested in sheep raising but lost out in this venture and engaged in cattle raising and herding on the Texas plains. James S. Bell, his father, had entered large tracts of land in New Home township, enter- ing six hundred forty acres, which he gave back to his father during the war, when his father had met with severe reverses.
Until he was forty years old James S. Bell lived with his father and assisted him and helped to rear the entire family. During the war he helped to support the family in St. Louis county, and frequently shipped produce and grain to his father. He also kept the taxes paid (30)
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