USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 59
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
James H. Raybourn, ex-deputy clerk of Bates county, Missouri, ex-assessor of Deepwater township, ex-secretary and a present member of the board of directors of the Mutual Fire and Lightning Insurance Company of Bates county, is one of the brave clan of noble pioneers of this county and a representative of one of the oldest families of western Missouri. Mr. Raybourn is a native of Missouri. He was born in Henry county on his father's farm near Calhoun in 1843, a son of John C. and Sarah P. (Pinkston) Raybourn, natives of Madison county, Kentucky. John C. Raybourn came to Missouri among the earliest set- tlers and located on a tract of land in Henry county near Calhoun, where his son, J. H., the subject of this review, was born. The Raybourns set- tled in Missouri about 1840 and Mr. Raybourn lived but a few brief years to enjoy the new Western home. He died in Kentucky, while on a visit to the old homestead, in 1845 and interment was made in that state. John C. Raybourn was one of the leading business men of Henry county in his day and although he was a resident of the county but 'a short time before his death his future career appeared bright and promis- ing, when in early, vigorous manhood he was cut down by the Grim Reaper, leaving a widow and five little ones, J. H., then a babe two years of age, in a strange country and with little financial support. J. C. and Sarah Raybourn were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth M. Myers, Everett, Washington; Elihu G., who died at Apple- ton City, Missouri, in 1911, at the age of seventy-four years; William B., who is engaged in farming in Hudson township on land entered from the government by their stepfather, John D. Myers; J. H., the sub- ject of this review; and George W., of Sedan, Kansas. John C. Ray- bourn was a member of the jury in Henry county that sentenced the first man to be hanged in that county. The cabin home built by him in the early forties on his land two or three miles northeast of Calhoun is still standing. There is the birthplace of J. H. Raybourn. Mrs. Sarah P. Raybourn remarried, her second husband being John D. Myers. Mr. Myers and Mrs. Raybourn were united in marriage in 1847 and to them were born four children, all of whom are now deceased: Clay F., who died at Appleton City in the eighties; Dewitt Clinton, who died about 1879; Oscar F., deceased ; and Sarah, who died in infancy during the Civil War and is buried in a cemetery near Dresden, in Pettis county, Mis- souri. John D. Myers was a native of Pennsylvania, but he was reared to maturity in Virginia. He came to Missouri in the early days and set- tled in Bates county, where he was for years one of the leading citizens
JAMES H. RAYBOURN AND WIFE.
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and a prominent man of affairs. He served two or more terms as mem- ber of the county court and was presiding judge at the time of the out- break of the Civil War. In the years immediately following the Civil War, Mr. Myers served as county clerk of Bates county. Mrs. Sarah P. Raybourn Myers died at Appleton City, Missouri, in July 1890.
When J. H. Raybourn was a small lad, he recalls being taken on horseback with his stepfather, Mr. Myers, to Butler to attend the county court in the days before the prairies were taken up by the early settlers and that they would not pass a dwelling on the way. Mr. Raybourn came to Bates county, Missouri with his mother and stepfather, about 1847, and they settled on land, section 6, in Hudson township, which is now occupied by William B. Raybourn. This land was entered by Mr. Myers, who died in the seventies and was buried in High Point ceme- tery in Hudson township. J. H. Raybourn obtained his education in the "subscription schools" of Bates county, in the "log college" of Hud- son township, as he himself states. His stepsister, Catherine Myers, was his first instructor. Mr. Raybourn afterward attended school at Dresden and Knob Noster. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Mr. Raybourn left Bates county and took up his residence with his uncle in Henry county for three months and then joined his parents at Smith- ton in Pettis county. They returned to their home in Bates county in 1862 and in August of the same year Mr. Raybourn returned to this county. The First Iowa Cavalry were stationed at Butler and he joined the Missouri State Militia, enrolled under Captain Newberry, and served with his company until it was disorganized. Mr. Raybourn then joined the Fifth Provisional Regiment and, later, the Forty-fifth Missouri In- fantry, and with the latter remained until the close of the war in 1865. After the war, John D. Myers assumed his official duties as county clerk, circuit clerk and ex-officio recorder and J. H. Raybourn was appointed his deputy. They were in office at the time the Bates County Court was held at Pleasant Gap, in 1865, and in the spring of 1866 Mr. Ray- bourn hauled the records to Butler and placed them in the temporary office of the Bates county clerk, located on the southeast corner of the public square. He served faithfully and well for six years in the county clerk's office and, after vacating his official position, was employed as assistant in mercantile establishment in Butler for many years. Early in the seventies, he purchased his present stock farm in Deepwater town- ship, a place comprising one hundred fifty acres of land, and moved to it and there resided until 1912, when he moved to the country place
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located one mile south, where he has since resided. Mr. Raybourn still owns his original holdings, however.
J. H. Raybourn's first wife was Ada V. Holloway, of Cass county, a daughter of Thomas Holloway, an early settler on Tennessee branch, which took its name from the fact that Mr. Holloway came from Ten- nessee. Mr. Holloway planted one of the first orchards in Cass county of apple trees grown from the seed taken from apples he had brought from Tennessee; but no two trees bore fruit alike or like the original apples. Ada V. Raybourn was a good, devoted wife. The marriage of J. H. Raybourn and Telitha V. Van Hoy was solemnized January 1, 1879. Mrs. Raybourn was born in 1851 in Henry county, Missouri, a daughter of Capt. John M. and Mary (Ludwig) Van Hoy, the former, a native of North Carolina and the latter, of Pennsylvania, both of whom are now deceased. The Van Hoys were honored pioneers of Henry county. Capt. John M. Van Hoy was an officer in the Federal army in the Civil War and he served as sheriff of Henry county for many years prior to the war. He was a prominent and influential politician of Henry county. His death occurred in Pettis county and his wife died in Bates county. To J. H. and Telitha Raybourn have been born the following children : Paul D., who died January 24, 1903 at the age of twenty-three years, while a student at Missouri State University. a graduate of Appleton City Academy; Mabel, who died in infancy ; Stella D., the wife of Payton R. Davis, of St. Clair county, Missouri; Arthur, who died in infancy ; Mary Alice, the wife of Lon Varns, Appleton City, Missouri: J. T., who is engaged in farming on the home place ; C. V .. a well-known farmer of Deepwater township, and L. T., deceased, who were twins. By the former marriage, Mr. Raybourn is the father of three children, who are, namely : Mattie P., the wife of Henry Smizer. deceased about eight years, her death occurring at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Professor C. B., who has been superintendent of the Littleton Public Schools, Littleton, Colorado for the past fifteen years, in charge of the city and county schools; and D. C., Mountainburg, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Raybourn are worthy and consistent members of the Pres- byterian church, and regular attendants of the Pleasant Ridge Presby- terian church.
Mr. Raybourn has for many years been a prominent citizen of his township. He has served the people of Deepwater township as assessor and as a member of the township school board. He was formerly sec- retary of the Mutual Fire & Lightning Insurance Company of Bates
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
county and for the past eighteen years has been a member of the direc- torate of the company. He is numbered among the representative and substantial farmers and stockmen of Deepwater township, in which township he owns two hundred twenty acres of valuable land. The hos- pitality and geniality of Mr. and Mrs. Raybourn are proverbial and there is no more highly respected and esteemed family in Bates county, Missouri. In point of years of residence in Bates county (seventy-one years) Mr. Raybourn is the oldest pioneer. He has continuously resided in this county for seventy-one years.
James Hardin, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is one of the honored and respected pioneers of Bates county. Mr. Hardin is a native of Nicholas county, Kentucky. He was born October 16, 1845, a son of Wesley Hardin, a native of Virginia. Wesley Hardin had, in early manhood, moved with his parents to Kentucky and in that state was married. From Kentucky, Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Hardin went to Illinois and settled in Menard county in 1854 and there reared and educated their son, James, the subject of this review.
In February, 1865, at Springfield, Illinois, James Hardin enlisted in the Civil War and served until the close of the conflict in Company A, One Hundred Fifty-second Illinois Regiment of Infantry. Mr. Hardin was sent to Tullahoma, Tennessee and from there to Memphis, Ten- nessee, where he remained until mustered out at the end of the war. He had done guard duty in the war, principally. After the war had ended, Mr. Hardin returned to Springfield, Illinois, and from there went back home. In 1868, he came to Bates county, Missouri, and purchased his present home place in September of that year and in September, 1870, moved to it. He paid seven and a half dollars an acre for eighty acres of land and ten dollars an acre for ten acres of timberland at that time. The Hardin place was raw prairie at the time of the purchase. Mr. Hardin built a post and rail fence enclosing his land, the rails being nailed on the posts with old iron nails. This improvement was made the first year of his residence. A house, 14 x 22 feet in dimensions, was built of pine timber, the lumber for its construction hauled from La- Cygne, Linn county, Kansas. It required two days to make the trip. The first year, Mr. Hardin raised . twenty-five bushels of sod corn per acre and he has continued to improve his land and bring it up to a high state of cultivation through all the succeeding years. In the early days, a stage line operated from Butler to LaCygne, Kansas.
October 17, 1867, James Hardin and Mary A Stone were united in
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
marriage at Lincoln, Illinois. To this union have been born five chil- dren: Fred L., at home; Edwin, Butler, Missouri; Katie Frances, at home; Frank S., at home; and Hugh, Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin celebrated their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary on October 17, 1917.
Mr. Hardin rebuilt the residence in 1907 and the Hardin home is now a comfortable, convenient house of seven large, well-lighted rooms. A silo was erected in 1917. The farm is well supplied with barns, hav- ing a commodious horse barn, cattle barn, and implement and crib barn, in addition to numerous sheds to facilitate the handling of stock. Mr. Hardin keeps registered Poland China hogs, which stock he has found to be the most profitable investment on the place. He milks ten head of Red Polled cows and ships the milk to St. Joseph, Missouri. Although Mr. Hardin personally oversees the work of the farm, he is not now actively engaged in agricultural pursuits but is quietly spending the clos- ing years of his life on the home place, leaving the immediate supervision of the farmi work to his sons, Fred L. and Frank S. Mr. and Mrs. Hardin have worked hard in the days gone by and no people in Missouri more deserving of the comfort and ease with which they are surrounded can be found.
The worthy pioneers of Mount Pleasant township are represented by no more enterprising and successful farmer and highly esteemed citizen than James Hardin. Belonging to the large and honorable class of good yeomen, who by deeds not words have done so much to develop the resources of our great commonwealth and advertise its advantages to the world, he has long been a forceful factor in Bates county and by a life singularly free from fault he has wielded a wholesome influence for good upon all with whom he has had business or social relations.
J. S. Brown, widely-known as the "Watermelon Man," of Butler, Missouri, propagator of the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, is the most noted plant breeder in this part of Missouri. Mr. Brown was born in Danville, Illinois, in 1851, a son of Shelby and Mary Brown, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The Browns came to Missouri in 1869 and settled near Appleton City, where Mr. Brown engaged in general farming. To Shelby and Mary Brown were born the following children: Jacob, deceased; Abraham, a successful farmer of Pleasant Gap township; Dallas, whose address is unknown; William, deceased; J. S., the sub- ject of this review; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Armantha Neal, Montrose, Missouri; Ellen, deceased; Almona, deceased. The mother died at the
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age of seventy-eight years at Appleton City, Missouri, on November 9, 1895. Shelby Brown joined his wife in death in November of the ensuing year, 1896.
In Vermilion county, Illinois, J. S. Brown obtained his education. He came West with his parents in 1869 and with them settled in Hud- son township at a time when practically all Missouri was an open prairie. Shelby Brown purchased a farm comprising one hundred sixty acres of land, where the Browns resided until about 1890. The Brown home- stead is still in the possession of a Brown, I. M. Brown, who, is, how- ever, no relation to the family with whom we are now concerned.
J. S. Brown came to Butler, Missouri, in 1891, at which time he purchased his present country place from J. P. Edwards, a farm compris- ing one hundred acres of choice land, at that time but very poorly improved. The Brown farm lies two miles south of the Bates county court house and is now one of the nicely improved places in Mount Pleasant township. For several years, Mr. Brown has been engaged in stock raising and feeding, although he has always been interested in plant breeding and has raised watermelons in greater and lesser quanti- ties since he came to Bates county. About 1905, Mr. Brown began privately investigating and experimenting and he has secured a remark- able result in crossing watermelon plants in the "Elsie Lee" watermelon, a fine, long, dark-green melon having a delicious, juicy, red core, a melon now very famous in this vicinity. Mr. Brown began the improve- ment of the "Elsie Lee" nearly eight years ago and he is still at work. The melon was named in honor of his only daughter, Elsie Lee. He had planted four acres of his farm in melons in 1917 and finds the grow- ing of them a very pleasant and profitable business, though involving much labor. He states that constant cultivation and care are the princi- pal things to observe in melon production. Mr. Brown plants twelve feet apart and thins the plants to one in a hill. He thinks the reason why so many successful agriculturists fail in producing a paying crop of melons is that they neglect the melon plants for a few days when other plants need attention and those few hours in a hot, dry summer may mean the loss of the entire melon crop. Five of Mr. Brown's melons brought one dollar and twenty-five cents each on the Butler market last year, of 1917.
January 22. 1880, the marriage of J. S. Brown and Annie Nettie Merryfield was solemnized at Appleton City, Missouri. Mrs. Brown is a daughter of Abraham and Mary J. (Moore) Merryfield, of Utica, New
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HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
York. Mr. and Mrs. Merryfield came from New York to Rockford, Illi- nois, and to Missouri in 1868 and settled at Appleton City, where both later died. To J. S. and Annie Nettie Brown have been born four children : Alva O., Spokane, Washington; Elsie Lee, the wife of Thomas Stout, a well-to-do merchant of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; Lena, deceased ; and Omer E., who recently married Marie Council a daughter of H. H. Council, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Brown reside on rural route 7.
Actively interested in all that pertains to the public good and ready and willing at all times to put forth his best efforts to benefit his fellow- man and make the community wiser and better, Mr. Brown is a com- mendable example of the "self-made" man. He is the Luther Burbank of Bates county.
Joseph Tipton, a highly respected farmer and stockman of Mount Pleasant township, is a member of one of the oldest pioneer families of Missouri. Mr. Tipton is a grandson of James Tipton, an honored pio- neer of Benton county, Missouri. James Tipton came from Tennessee to Missouri in a "prairie schooner," having four fine Kentucky horses for motor power. As far back as they are known, the Tiptons have been lovers of good horses and these particular ones were draft horses of the type used in the forties, strawberry roan in color, with proudly arched necks, they created quite an impression upon the early settlers of Benton county. Joseph Tipton was born in 1848 in Benton county, Missouri, a son of Thomas, Sr., and Nancy E. (Henderson) Tipton, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. Thomas Tipton, Sr., came to Mis- souri with his father, James Tipton, about 1840. James Tipton died many years ago in Hickory county, Missouri. To Thomas, Sr., and Nancy E. Tipton were born five children, three of whom are living: Thomas, Jr., Benton county, Missouri; William, who resides at the Tip- ton homestead in Benton county, Missouri; and Joseph, the subject of this review. The father did not live long amid the pioneer surround- ings of their new western home. He died in Benton county. Mrs. Tipton remarried, her second husband being William Wright. To Mr. and Mrs. William Wright were born two sons and two daughters: John, who has been baggage master at Sedalia, Missouri, for the past twenty-five years ; George, who is engaged in farming in Hickory county, Missouri : Martha, deceased ; and Lucinda, deceased. Mrs. Nancy E. Tipton Wright departed this life in Benton county.
Prior to the Civil War, there were no public schools in Missouri
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and Joseph Tipton was educated in the "subscription schools" of the early days in Benton county. In his boyhood days, the Indians of the vicinity frequently visited the Tipton home and traded their hand-woven baskets for articles which they wanted. Mr. Tipton remained at home with his parents until he was thirty-two years of age. He left home at that time and traveled in the West, staying six months in Oregon and two years in California. In the autumn of 1882, he returned to Mis- souri and located in Bates county near Appleton City. He rented land for a time and then purchased a farm, which he afterward sold and then went back to California. On his second coming to Bates county, Mis- souri, Mr. Tipton bought a farm located eight miles east of Butler. He again disposed of his land and left Missouri for California. In 1905, he returned to Bates county for the third time and at this time bought his present country home, a farm comprising forty acres located two and a half miles south of Butler on the Butler and Appleton City road. Mr. Tipton has himself improved the place, building and planting. He has a pleasant and comfortable residence of eight rooms, a large barn, and a smoke-house, now on the farm.
The marriage of Joseph Tipton and Cynthia J. Taylor was solemnized in 1880. Cynthia J. (Taylor) Tipton is a daughter of James Wesley and Sarah (Rice) Taylor, of Benton county, Missouri, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. James Wesley Taylor was a cousin of Zach- ary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, the soldier- statesman, who was born in Virginia in 1784 and died July 9, 1881, and he was a veteran of the War of 1812 and of the Civil War. In the War of 1812, Mr. Taylor and a comrade were so weak from prolonged march- ing that they were left behind by the troops to die. An acorn, which they divided, partially restored their strength and with a mighty effort they managed to regain their company the next day. In the Civil War, Mr. Taylor made up a company of men, Company I, Missouri State Mili- tia, and of it was chosen captain. In times of peace, he was engaged in the profession of teaching. Mr. Taylor was intensely interested in horticulture and planted the first orchard ever planted out south of the Osage river at Warsaw. He carried the trees on the back of his horse from Jefferson City to his home. Mrs. Tipton still has a variety of rose- bushes, which came from the Taylor homestead and were planted by her father there. Mrs. Taylor was always proud of the distinction of having been present to see the first steamboat sail up the Missouri river to Jefferson City, which was in her day as much of an event as the passing
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of the first aeroplane across our city would be to us. Mr. and Mrs. Tip- ton have no children of their own, but they have reared and educated as their own two girls: Jessie Miller, a niece of Mrs. Tipton, the wife of Fred Nickly, of Butler, Missouri; and Cecil Nickly, the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Nickly, who is employed as teacher in the Apple- ton City High School and will graduate from the Warrensburg Normal School in the class of 1918.
Joseph Tipton is a man of strong character, practical mind, and of enterprise and thrift. As citizens, both he and Mrs. Tipton are all, and more, that any community could desire, lending their support liberally and cheerfully to all good enterprises for the social, moral, and intellec- tual improvement of the township and county in which they reside.
Bate Batchelor, a late prominent and influential farmer and stock- man of Deepwater township, was one of the substantial and leading citi- zens of Bates county. Mr. Batchelor was a native of Kentucky, born December 18, 1868, a son of John and Sarah J. (Allen) Batchelor, who came to Missouri and settled in Bates county on a farm located near Appleton City, when their son, Bate, was a child five years of age.
Mr. Batchelor, whose name introduces this review, was reared on the farm near Appleton City and his youth was spent much as the aver- age lad on the farm spends his boyhood days. He assisted his father with the work on the home place and attended Oak Grove district school, applying himself assiduously to his farm duties and to his studies, grow- ing strong and vigorous mentally and physically. Mr. Batchelor was always interested in agricultural pursuits and in early manhood began farming and stock raising, which he followed the remainder of his life. In 1900, he and his wife located on the farm, which is the present home of his widow, located four and a half miles south of Spruce in Deep- water township and, as the place is well adapted to the production of both stock and grain, Mr. Batchelor became very successful in both general farming and stock raising. He was very prominently identified with the stock interests of Bates county, especially, and his stock farm became noted for the high grade Poland China hogs and white face cattle bred and raised there on. In matters of business. Bate Batchelor was careful and methodical, and all his dealings were marked by dis- criminating judgment and a high sense of fairness and honor.
The marriage of Bate Batchelor and Clara Cumpton was solemnized June 1, 1898. Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor is a native of Deepwater township, born March 18, 1871. a daughter of W. G. and M. L. Cumpton.
BATE BATCHELOR AND WIFE.
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Mrs. Batchelor's father is a member of an honored pioneer family of Johnson county, Missouri, in which county he was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Cumpton are now living, he at the age of seventy-five and his wife is one year his junior. Mrs. Batchelor attended school in Cump- ton school district in Deepwater township, Bates county, Missouri. To Bate and Clara Batchelor was born one child, a daughter, Nina E., who was born May 13, 1900. Mr. Batchelor died December 22, 1910 and interment was made in Union cemetery.
"Fairview Stock Farm" in Deepwater township, now owned by Mrs. Clara (Cumpton) Batchelor, widow of Bate Batchelor, is one of the pretty, rural homes of Bates county. The place is nicely located and well watered and the residence is situated at the highest point of the farm, affording a splendid view of the surrounding country, and thus the farm came by its name, "Fairview Stock Farm," which is registered. Mr. Batchelor purchased the land from Mr. Van Meter, of Butler, Mis- souri. The farm embraces two hundred acres of land, twenty acres of which are timber land. A barn, 32 x 42 feet in dimensions, having a capacity of sixty tons of hay, unbaled, has been added recently to the improvements of the place, the frame of which structure is of native timber, walnut lumber sawed for this purpose on the farm. All the pastures are enclosed with hog-tight fencing of wire. D. M. Cumpton, a brother of Mrs. Batchelor, has charge of the farm work.
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