USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 44
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
on his father's land holdings. Eventually his father gave back the land to him and he prospered exceedingly, becoming owner of eight hundred acres in Bates county and a part owner with his brother, Charles Bell, of four thousand acres in Kansas. Having given land to his children he now owns a tract of three hundred sixty acres. During his active career, Mr. Bell was an extensive raiser and feeder of cattle.
James S. Bell was married in 1876 to Fannie Rand, who was born in Missouri in 1853, a daughter of James Rand, a pioneer settler of Bates county, concerning whom an account is given elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Bell departed this life in 1889. The following children were born to James S. and Fannie (Rand) Bell: Frank, Bartlettsville, Oklahoma; James S., a farmer in Osage township, and Mrs. Lillian L. Collins.
It is worthy of note that James L. Bell was father of twelve children, all of whom attained maturity and of whom the following are now liv- ing: James S .; Mrs. Louisa Sulens, Pueblo, Colorado; Mrs. Virginia Yagle, Saline county, Missouri; Charles C., Oklahoma; Lida and Hat- tie, Pueblo, Colorado.
Mr. Bell has been a life long Democrat. He was the first Demo- cratic township-official to hold office in New Home township after the war when the vote was given to the former secessionists. He is a mem- ber of the Methodist church.
William M. Bell. The late William M. Bell, of New Home town- ship, a pioneer settler of Bates county, was the son of Missouri pioneer parents. He was born in Cooper county, Missouri, March 21, 1850, and departed this life at his home in Bates county, January 5, 1916. He was a son of James L. and Hannah Maria (Sherman) Bell, both of whom were natives of Virginia. James L. Bell was a son of Rev. Charles Bell, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal faith, a miller and owner of a large plantation in Virginia. Rev. Charles Bell was ot Eng- lish descent and his ancestors settled in Virginia prior to the Revolu- tionary War.
James L. Bell was born in Virginia in 1807, married in that state and migrated to Cooper county, Missouri, in the early thirties. He was a son of Charles Bell, who was born November 20, 1770, and died August 29, 1825. The Bell family became well established in Cooper county and were wealthy prior to the Civil War period, during the course of which so many families of Southern extraction were impov- erished. Hannah Maria (Sherman) Bell was a daughter of Captain
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Samuel Sherman, who was born in Virginia on March 3, 1776, and there married Nancy Martin, who was born November 27, 1781. Sam- uel M. Sherman was a veteran of the War of 1812, and departed this life January 14, 1815. During the Civil War, James L. Bell, with his family, removed to St. Louis county, Missouri, and remained there until the close of the war. After the war was over, he came to Bates county and settled on land in New Home township which he had previously entered from the United States Government.
William M. Bell accompanied his parents to St. Louis county, where he remained until the Civil War closed and then went to Cooper county and spent about one year in assisting close up his father's affairs in that county. This task being accomplished he came to Bates county and lived with his father on the Bell homestead until he erected the home now occupied by his widow and son in New Home township. He began with one hundred acres of land which he improved and brought to a high state of cultivation. He prospered during the course of time and added to his possessions until he owned two hundred sixty acres of the best land in Bates county. The Bell homestead is located on a hill and the farm land gently slopes to the southward from the home. For the first year of their residence on the place, he and his wife lived in a one-room cabin which was boxed, ceiled, and weatherboarded, after which additions were made to the residence.
Mr. Bell was married on December 7, 1881, to Miss Rosa Caldwell, who was born November 6, 1860, in Johnson county, Missouri, a daugh- ter of Benjamin and Martha (Craig) Caldwell, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively, and whose parents were pioneers who settled near Boonville, Missouri. Benjamin Patton Caldwell, father of Mrs. Bell, was a son of Benjamin P. Caldwell, who resided in Kentucky and died there. His wife was Elizabeth Toomey, who was left a widow with a large family which she brought to Missouri in 1839. Her chil- dren were James, Benjamin P., Elizabeth, Mary Jane. Margaret, Phoenis, Christopher, and Catherine Caldwell. Benjamin Patton Cald- well was born in 1824 and died in July, 1907. He located in Johnson county, Missouri, in 1848, and came to Bates county in 1878, settling in New Home township. Mrs. Caldwell, mother of Mrs. Bell, died when Mrs. Bell was a child, and Benjamin P., married Mrs. Martha Koontz, a widow.
To William M. and Rosa (Caldwell) Bell were born children as follow: Mary, wife of Albert Ellis, Alamosa, Colorado, mother of two
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children, Irene and Rosalie; William Louis, a farmer living in New Home township, married Sylvia Goodrum, and has four children, Har- old, Donald, Pauline and Virginia; and Fletcher Caldwell, who is man- aging the home place of the Bell family, born April 11, 1894, received his education in the district schools, a very intelligent young man who is a capable farmer and a good citizen. Like his father before him, Fletcher Caldwell Bell is a Democrat and he is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, South.
The Bell family is one of the oldest and most highly respected pioneer families in Bates county, every member of which is a successful and enterprising citizen. William M. Bell was a worthy representative of his family and his life was so lived that when death called him from his earthly labors his loss was sincerely mourned by the people of his home community.
Joseph S. Franklin, during the forty years of his residence in Bates county, has achieved a success which is remarkable, and he has risen from a condition of comparative poverty in his young manhood to become one of the large land owners of western Missouri. The Franklin holdings comprise eleven hundred acres of productive prairie lands in Walnut township bordering on the Kansas line just south of the town of Wor- land. There are six sets of farm improvements on this vast acreage and the land is tilled by the sons-in-law of Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin began his career as a herder of sheep and cattle on the plains in the west part of Bates county in the interest of Judge B. Clark, of Boonville, who formerly owned the land which Mr. Franklin gradually purchased. Much of the Franklin land is underlaid with extensive coal deposits which are on the eve of development by mining concerns.
J. S. Franklin was born August 4, 1849, in Owen county, Indiana, and was a son of John and Jane ( Elliot) Franklin. His father was born in Burke county, North Carolina, October 14, 1824, and was the son of Thomas C. and Dorothy (Davis) Franklin, natives of North Carolina of English extraction. Thomas C. Franklin, grandfather of the subject of this review, was a cousin of Benjamin Franklin, famous in American colonial and Revolutionary history. He settled in Indiana as early as 1825. John Franklin was educated in the Spencer Academy, Indiana, and on October 28, 1844, married Jane Elliot, of Virginia, who bore him three children: James D., deceased; Joseph Samuel, subject of this sketch; and John Thomas. Mrs. Jane Franklin died September 28, 1853 and on October 3, 1857, John Franklin married Susan J. Moore, daugh-
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JOSEPH S. FRANKLIN AND FAMILY.
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
ter of Hon. George W. Moore, who bore him five children : Robert Burns, Highland Mary, Dorothy, George and Della. John Franklin became owner of four hundred twenty acres of land and departed this life in 1892. James D., his oldest son, served in the Union army during the Civil War and died in 1913. John Thomas Franklin, his sec- ond son, is living in Greene county, Indiana.
The early education of J. S. Franklin was obtained in the district schools of his native county in Indiana. He left home to make his own way in 1868 and located in Carroll county, Missouri, where he was en- ployed at farm labor until 1871. He then went to Kentucky and remained there for one year, returning to Carroll county. In 1874 he made a return trip to Indiana and remained amid old home scenes until 1877 when he again came to Missouri and made his home with Judge Clark, of Cooper county. Judge Clark owned a large tract of land in the west- ern part of Bates county and he leased this tract to Mr. Franklin who came out here and took charge of it in 1878. Mr. Franklin at first cared for a drove of one thousand, five hundred thirty-five sheep on a partnership basis, but the raising of sheep proving to be unprofitable during the first six years of his tenure, he engaged in cattle raising, made good profits and paid back his losses incurred during the sheep raising venture. He then went to see Judge Clark and leased the land so as to engage in cattle raising on his own account. For the past thirty years he has been accumulating acreage. His first investment was in eighty acres at the cost of ten dollars an acre ; he then bought another "eighty" at a purchase price of twenty-five dollars an acre ; bought two hundred forty acres at eighteen dollars an acre, and so on, until he had gath- ered together his large estate of one thousand one hundred acres. Seven hundred acres of the Franklin land is underlaid with the top vein of coal which is being mined in different parts of the county and another five- foot vein has been discovered at a depth of two hundred seventy- five feet below the surface. Mr. Franklin has recently leased one hun- dred acres for coal mining of the surface coal, the mining to be done by drifting.
Mr. Franklin was married September 25, 1879, to Mattie E. Smith, born April 27, 1852, in Cooper county, Missouri, a daughter of Jeremiah Smith (born 1810-died 1896), a native of Tennessee, who was a Mis- souri pioneer, and witnessed the first steamboat which steamed up the Missouri river in 1817. He lived at Old Franklin, where his parents were pioneers. He was a son of Thomas Smith, and when a young
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
man, he married Letitia George, who was reared to maturity in Cooper county. Col. Robert Mccullough, an early sheriff of Cooper county, was a relative of the Smith family. Mr. and Mrs. Franklin have six children, three sons and three daughters, as follow: Maude, wife of L. P. Sylvester, living on the Franklin land, has four children-Alice, Lemuel, Efton, and Edra; Minnie H., wife of I. E. Mullies, also living on the Franklin farm, has two children-Edna, and Ewing; Clark C., Clay Center, Nebraska, married Jennie Ellis, and has three children- Ruby, Joseph, and Maxine; Edward, Cheyenne, Wyoming, married Maude Miller ; Lura, wife of Lon Baldwin, on the Franklin farm, has two children-Vernie, and Lavina Fern; William Wirt, a druggist, Hume, Missouri.
Mr. Franklin has always been a Democrat and served as deputy sheriff of Bates county for twenty years, holding office under Sheriffs Glazebrook, Ludd, Morris, Collier and Joe T. Smith. He belongs to the Baptist church while Mrs. Franklin is a member of the Presbyterian church. Few men who began their active careers without capital and have spent their whole lives as tillers of the soil have accomplished more thạn has J. S. Franklin. His industry during these many years has been unabated and his business judgment was always been sound; his stand- ing in Bates county places him among the county's leaders.
William D. Clouse, an intelligent, enterprising, progressive farmer of Walnut township, is a native of Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. Clouse was born January 3, 1878, a son of William Henry and Mrs. Lovina (Schroyer) Shepherd Clouse, natives of Ohio and Indiana, re- spectively. His father was born in Meigs county, Ohio, and his mother was born in Posey county, Indiana. The first husband of William D. Clouse's mother was killed at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, while serving in the Union army. William Henry Clouse was reared in Ohio and when a young man went to Illinois. He was married in that state and in 1867, came out West and made a settlement in Jackson county, Missouri, where he resided until 1880. In that year he located in Bates county, living on a farm near Worland, until his removal to a farm near Foster. When the town of Foster was started, he engaged in the livery and transfer business and also carried the mail for several years. Later, he engaged in the grocery business after disposing of his livery busi- ness. When the town, or business section, of Foster was destroyed by fire, his place of business was burned out and he then went to Okla- homa and is now residing on a farm located just on the outskirts of the
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city of Shawnee. Mr. and Mrs. Clouse celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary on December 5, 1914. The following children were born to William H. and Lovina Clouse: James Albert, Shawnee, Okla- homa; Charles H., an extensive farmer and stockman, Walnut town- ship; Mrs. Araminta Pierce, living near Mulberry, Kansas; Thomas Thornton, now a soldier in the National Army, in training at Long Island, New York; Mrs. Mary Alice Teckel, Kay county, Oklahoma; William D., subject of this sketch; Emma Jane, wife of M. H. Thomas, Walnut township; Sabitha, deceased. By her first marriage, Mrs. Clouse is mother of one child, Mrs. Ada Belle Epham, Shawnee, Okla.
WV. D. Clouse was educated in the Foster public schools and as- sisted his father in his business for several years. He then joined the Eldorado Springs Brass Band and played in this organization for two years. He also clerked for his brother in the store at Foster for some time. In 1901, he began farming on his own account near Sprague, Missouri. In 1902, he located on the J. P. Thomas place and resided there for a year. In 1903, he made his first purchase of ninety acres from the Walnut Coal Mining Company and to this tract he has added an- other forty acres. Mr. Clouse has built all the improvements on his farm and has a very pretty farmstead, improved with handsome cot- tage, a splendid barn, and other necessary buildings, all kept in a fine state of repair.
Mr. Clouse was married on May 28, 1900, to Miss Martha Thomas, born July 21, 1882, in New Home township, the youngest daughter of J. P. Thomas, pioneer settler of New Home township, concerning whom an extended review is given elsewhere in this volume. To W. D. and Martha Clouse have been born two children: Cecil Calvin, born De- cember 13, 1903, and Doris Pauline, born December 15, 1913. Mr. Thomas is allied with the Republican party but votes independently of party domination, believing that the cause of good government can best be served by voting for the man who seems best fitted to perform the duties of the office sought, rather than to adhere strictly to party lines. He and Mrs. Clouse are members of the Christian church and both are members of the Red Cross, in which organization Mrs. Clouse. with many other women of the Foster neighborhood, is a worker.
Matthew S. Simpson, proprietor of "Valley View Farm," located upon the Jefferson Highway southwest of Butler in New Home town- ship, widely known livestock dealer, is a "self-made", successful citi- zen, who has lived in Bates county for nearly forty-eight years and can
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rightly be classed with the old settlers of the county. Valley View Farm comprises one hundred seventy-seven acres, the odd acreage being due to the fact that the Missouri Pacific Railroad runs through the farm. Mr. Simpson has resided on his present place since October 2, 1907, and during his tenure on the farm has rebuilt practically all of the fences, replacing the worn out and delapidated fences, which for- merly divided the land into fields, with woven wire fencing of the best quality. He has remodelled both residence and barns and liberally used paint until the Simpson place is one of the most attractive farm- steads along the Jefferson Highway. As a usual business venture, Mr. Simpson feeds about four car-loads of cattle annually and at the time of this writing, December of 1917, had about three loads of cattle on the place. He feeds all grain raised on the farm and also buys grain to complete his feeding. The splendid grain crops raised on the place in 1917 obviated the necessity of buying grain during the past winter season. For a number of years, Mr. Simpson has been an extensive buyer and shipper of cattle, an occupation which has given him a wide and favorable acquaintance thoughout Bates county.
M. S. Simpson was born October 30, 1864, in Hancock county, Illi- nois, a son of William Harrison and Sarah Ellen (Zinn) Simpson, na- tives of Illinois. William H. Simpson was a son of Irish parents and the parents of Mrs. Sarah Simpson were natives of Virginia. In 1870, the family came to Bates county and located on a farm seven miles northwest of Butler, on Miami creek in Charlotte township. William H. Simpson developed a good farm and is still residing on the place upon which he settled forty-eight years ago. He was born in 1838 and is one of the oldest settlers of Charlotte township. His children are as follow: William A., died March 9, 1915; Matthew S., subject of this sketch; E. E., living in Kansas City; C. A., resides in Butler ; Harry H., living in Charlotte township; L. P., living on a farm one mile southwest of Butler; Fred G., residing near Centralia, Oklahoma, and Mrs. Josephine Wilcox, Butler, Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1887.
The small amount of schooling which M. S. Simpson received was at Hazel Dell school house. Being the second son of the family, it was necessary for him to begin working on the farm when still a youth. Being strong and hardy, he was able to do a man's work while still in his teens, and his boyhood days were spent in tilling the acreage upon his father's farm, planting and harvesting the crops from year to year.
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When he became of age, he began farming on his own account. His first farm was located in Elk county, Kansas, where he engaged in graz- ing stock for a period of six years. In 1891 he left Elk county, Kansas, and went to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was employed with the Waupam Wind Mill Company for one year. He then moved to Edgar, Clay county, Nebraska, and farmed in that county for a year, returning to Bates county in 1894. He rented land for two years after his re- turn and then purchased eighty acres. Upon the opening of the Kiowa Indian reservation in Oklahoma in 1901 he drew homestead claim No. 3213, located sixteen miles northwest of Anadarko, Mckinley town- ship, McAdoo county, September 19, 1901, he located on his claim and sold it in the spring of 1903 to W. C. Mason, of Ainsworth, Iowa. He returned home and purchased eighty acres in section 18, Mound town- ship, upon which he resided until October 2, 1917, when he moved to his present farm in Section I of New Home township.
Mr. Simpson was married May 25, 1889, to Laura M. Dunbar, who was born in Nebraska, a daughter of James A. and Margaret (Tripp) Dunbar, native residents of that state. To this marriage have been born the following children: Mrs. Nellie B. Osborne, living on a farm nine miles southwest of Butler; William H., married Olive Nightwine, and lives near Nyhart; Sarah Ellen, wife of Orlen Eggleson, Butler, Missouri, has one child, Anna Laura; James A., employed in a Kansas City bank; Charles, farming on his own account in Bates county ; and Leona, Cleo, Joseph, and Louise, at home. Mrs. Nellie Osborne is the mother of three children: William, Christina, and Robert. Mr. Simpson is a Republican in politics.
Mrs. Lulu (Rand) Fleming, residing on her farm of one hundred sixty acres in New Home township, located on the Jefferson Highway, not far from Rich Hill, is a daughter of one of the old and prominent families of Bates county. She was born July 20, 1861, in Benton county, Missouri, a daughter of James Rand, a native of Indiana.
James Rand was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, November 16, 1829, a son of James and O. (McLean) Rand, natives of Ohio. His grandfather, Thomas Rand, was a Revolutionary soldier and one of the pioneers of Kentucky. James Rand was reared on a farm, and at the age of twenty-three years, married Margaret Bassett, who was born in 1833 and died in 1883. Mr. and Mrs. Rand came to Missouri in the early fifties and located in Benton county. During the Civil War, Mr. Rand was a captain of the Home Guards. He had removed to Indiana
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soon after the outbreak of the Civil War. He returned to Benton county at the close of the war, in 1865, and after a further three years' resi- dence in that county removed to Bates county and began the improve- ment of a tract of about two thousand acres of land, which he had entered from the government in 1857. His home place contained four hundred eighty acres and upon this tract he erected a home which was considered a splendid mansion in those days. He developed in all about one thousand acres and was extensively engaged in cattle raising, feed- ing from one hundred to one hundred fifty cattle and a proportionate number of hogs yearly. Mr. Rand died July 23, 1882. His children were as follow: Charlie, who died at the age of twenty-three years; Carrie, died when seven; Thomas, died at an early age; Harry, died when one year old; Rolla, lives in Kansas City; Mrs. Lulu Fleming, subject of this sketch; Benjamin L., Osage township; and Fannie, deceased wife of J. S. Bell, of New Home township, who was the eldest of the family.
Mrs. Lulu (Rand) Fleming inherited a quarter section of land from her father's estate. January 8, 1882, she was united in marriage with T. L. Fleming. The children born to this marriage are: Margaret, wife of Charles Ganaway, Rich Hill, mother of following children, one of whom, Thelma, aged fifteen years, has been reared by her grandmother as her very own, the others living being Moselle, thirteen years old; Ruth, eleven years old, and Gertrude, aged six; Samuel J. Fleming, born October 17, 1888, now a private in the National Army, stationed at Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, Headquarters Three Hundred Thirty-sixth Field Artillery.
The Fleming residence, situated upon an elevation overlooking Jefferson Highway, is a very attractive place. Many evergreens dot the large lawn, which slopes gently from the house to the road. The land is underlaid with coal, which is now being mined to assist in supply- ing the great demand for fuel in the country at the present time. Mrs. Fleming is a member of the Christian church. She is a capable business woman, one who is amply able to manage her own affairs.
James L. Strien .- The Strien family is one of the oldest and most historic of Bates county and the old homestead in New Home township contains many reminders of the days of long ago when this thickly set- tled country was a wilderness. A wide open fireplace sends out a cheery blaze on cold, wintry days to the visitor upon entering the large living- room of the house. Natural forest trees shade the yard bordering on
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the highway. An account of this old family covers a period of four score years of their part in Missouri's history and sixty-three years of the history of Bates county.
The late James L. Strien, of New Home township, was born Sep- tember 11, 1842, in Franklin county, Missouri, a son of William P. H. and Levicy Cole (Boles) Strien, the former, born October 22, 1812, and the latter, born August 16, 1813. Both parents were natives of White county, Tennessee. William P. H. Strien was one of the earliest of Missouri's pioneers. He came from Franklin county to Bates county in 1854, after two years' residence in Vernon county, Missouri. He pre-empted and also purchased land in what is now the northeast part of New Home township. The Strien place was practically covered with timber which required the hardest kind of labor to clear and place in cultivation. Willianı P. H. Strien died November 17, 1862, and his remains are interred in the family burial plat near the homestead. Levicy Strien, his wife, died May 30, 1860.
James L. Strien was twelve years old, when his parents came to Bates county, and he was a strong lad for his years. He wielded an axe and drove an ox-team, thus assisting clear the place of timber and place it under cultivation. About 1861, or 1862, he crossed the plains with a freighting outfit and for a period of three years served as a "bull whacker" or ox-team driver in the West. His first overland trip was made from St. Joseph to the famous mining camp of Virginia City in Nevada and he made the return trip mostly by boat on the Missouri river. While in the Western country, he hauled goods over the moun- tains and handled flour, when it retailed for one hundred dollars per sack. He drove for the Diamond R. Freighting Company and had many interesting and exciting experiences during his three years as plainsman. He drove a freight wagon pulled by six yoke of oxen. Mr. Strien freighted between Helena, Montana, situated at the head of navigation on the Missouri river, to Virginia City, and it is said that he hauled the first load of goods into Virginia City, when the famous mining city was in process of building. When he returned to his old home in Bates county in 1865 he found nothing but the ruins of the house which his father had built, and of necessity, was compelled to erect another home for himself. Mr. Strien returned home in 1865 and settled on the old home place of the family, residing there until his death, June 19, 1915. He became owner of four hundred twenty acres of well-
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