USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 64
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W. H. Charters, Jr., attended the country schools of Bates county. His boyhood days were spent much as are the days of the average boy on the farm. Since he was twelve years of age, Mr. Charters has been self-supporting. He remained at home with his parents and assisted in the management of the home place until he was twenty-four years of age. In 1904 he went to Salt Lake City and spent one year in that city and Denver Colorado. About thirteen years ago, "Charteroak Stock
W. H. CHARTERS, JR.
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Farm" was established by Mr. Charters and he has since been constantly occupied in the management of the same.
April 5, 1910, W. H. Charters, Jr., and May Blizzard were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Charters have two children : Margaret Bernece, born March 19, 1911; Mildred frene, born May 15, 1917. May ( Blizzard ) Charters is a daughter of Wesley and Mary ( Baunke) Blizzard. Mr. Blizzard is now deceased and his widow resides at Butler. Mr. and Mrs. Charters reside at "Charteroak Stock Farm," which is located northwest of the city limits of Butler. The Charters' residence is situ- ated on an eminence overlooking the city of Butler. Though in the country, this home is supplied with all the conveniences of the most up-to-date city residence.
"Charteroak Stock Farm" comprises one hundred twenty acres of land lying just northwest of the city limits of Butler. This stock farm has been established thirteen years, dating from the time of this writing in 1918. Thirteen years ago, Mr. Charters leased three brood sows, big bone Poland Chinas, under contract for two years and at the end of that time his half interest in the herd of one hundred fifty head of hogs was sufficient to enable him to labor independently in the future. The first sale was held in 1908. W. H. Charters, Jr., is the first man in Bates county to use the single or double vaccine treatment for cholera and since he first tested the treatment he has constantly kept it up and now offers for sale only immune hogs. On February 7, 1918, Mr. Char- ters held a sale which was a world record sale in two respects. It was the largest pure-bred sow sale ever held in America, and in addition to this the greatest number was sold within a given time, eighteen head being sold in two hours and eighteen minutes. The total amount of the sale was eleven thousand two hundred dollars, an average of one hundred seventeen dollars each. Eight states were represented among the buyers at this sale. The Charters' herd is the oldest and largest herd of Big Bone Poland Chinas in Missouri. Mr. Charters has kept his hogs graded as to age and size and he has followed the rule of never crowding his stock in pasture. He always feeds some corn supplemented with tankage and shorts. "Charteroak Stock Farm" is well equipped to care for a large herd of hogs, being supplied with two stock barns, two hay barns, one sale pavilion, and ten other necessary buildings. . Mr. Charters has exported hogs to Havana, Cuba, one shipment of three head, the only shipment of the kind ever made by a Missouri breeder. Mr. Charters is also interested in breeding registered Shorthorn cattle.
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He has a small herd of high-class stock headed by "Premier Marshall" No. 519833, a pure-bred white Scotch bull which was purchased from J. M. Patterson, Liberty, Missouri.
Mrs. Charters is interested in poultry raising and about six years ago began raising pure-bred Barred Plymouth Rock chickens. This branch of the farm work at "Charteroak Stock Farm" has grown and developed until it has proven as successful and remunerative as hog rais- ing. Mrs. Charters has, at the time of this writing, about two hundred head of chickens on the place. The fowls are sold at "Charteroak," for prospective purchasers, knowing the quality of the Charters' Rocks, are only glad to go to the farm for them. Mrs. Charters is a lady of much energy and intelligence and she is as thoroughly alive to the possibili- ties of this profitable industry as Mr. Charters is to the raising of pure- bred Poland Chinas.
Mr. and Mrs. Charters are typical Americans and worthy representa- tives of eminently honorable Bates county families. Mr. Charters deserves all the success which has attended his efforts in the past and will continue to attend in the future for it is almost entirely due to his industry, energy, resolute purpose, and indefatigable persistence. He and Mrs. Charters are highly respected and valued in their community.
George H. Gutridge of Deepwater township, was born in a log cabin, on the farm which he now owns, April 27, 1863, and has the dis- tinction of being the only "old settler" living in Bates county who was born nearest the time of the issuance of Order Number 11 by Gen. Thomas Ewing in 1863. He is the son of Peter Gutridge, a native of Muskingum county, Ohio, who was born in 1822 and made a settlement in Deepwater township as early as 1845. He was married in Henry county, Missouri, in 1849, to Angelina Dickison, who was born in Lick- ing county, Ohio. During the Civil War period, Peter Gutridge re- turned to Ohio and was in that state when Order Number Eleven was issued. Mrs. Gutridge took her children and returned to her old home in Henry county, remaining there until after the close of the war. When the family returned to the cabin. the live stock had disappeared and the house had been looted of its contents and it was necessary for them to make a new start. Peter Gutridge died on his homestead in 1877. Mrs. Gutridge died in 1898, and the remains of both are interred in Dickison cemetery. They were parents of children as follow: Joanna, .
wife of Samuel S. Stapleton, deceased: Minerva, wife of Jonathan Jack- son, Deepwater township; Samuel W., living at Bliss, Idaho; Susan
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A., wife of William Fletcher, Oregon; Lewis, deceased; George H., subject of this review; Mary M., wife of Grant Thornberg, Oregon; John and Jefferson, died in infancy.
George H. Gutridge was educated in the district schools and But- ler Academy and also pursued a course of study in Bucks County College located in Muskingum county, Ohio. Mr. Gutridge has spent twenty-four years of his life in Oregon. He first went to that state in 1887 and remained for seven years employed in placer mining. In 1893, he washed out six thousand, two hundred thirty-six dollars in gold dust from his mines. He returned home and lived on the home place and engaged in mercantile business in Spruce until 1899 and again went to Oregon, this time remaining in the mining country of that state for eight years. On his first trip he became owner of or part owner of a gold mine and operated it on his own account. After a return trip home he journeyed a third time to the mining region and remained for only one year in Baker county on a ranch. His first home was located two and one- fourth miles from Spruce, a farm which he owned for some years, and he eventually became owner of the Gutridge home place consisting of one hundred and nine acres, partly through inheritance and partly by purchase of the interests of the other heirs. Mr. Gutridge remodeled his residence in 1909 and has done considerable improving about his property. He keeps good grades of cattle, hogs and horses, and is thrifty, and industrious.
Mr. Gutridge was married 'in 1893 to Miss Lydia M. Durrett, of Bates county, a daughter of Henry M. and Susan Caroline Durrett, the former of whom was a native of Virginia and the latter a native of Kentucky. The Durretts came to Missouri and first located in Cass county. After a residence of some years in that county they came to Bates county, and are now residing near Johnstown. Mr. and Mrs. Gutridge have an adopted daughter, Ermine, born July 9, 1911.
During the Civil War a company of soldiers who were a part of the command of General Price were passing through the country, camp- ing in the Spruce neighborhood, and stopped to gather apples from the Gutridge orchard. As they were stripping the trees, Peter Gut- ridge objected and warned them to desist as he did not want his fruit crop ruined. The soldiers continued to damage and strip the trees of their fruit, and seizing his gun, he fired over their heads with the inten- tion of showing that he meant to defend his property. A small shot happened to hit a soldier in the heel. Whereupon, Mr. Gutridge's
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arrest was ordered and he was taken to Balltown, Vernon county, but shortly afterwards turned loose and returned to his home. The first trading post of the Gutridges was at Johnstown and later at old Papins- ville, the first county seat. The elder Gutridge broke the prairie sod with ox-teams and the early life of the family in the rude log cabin which he erected upon his farm was lived amid primitive surround- ings and the accompanying hardships of the pioneer era of settlement. In the autumn of 1916, George H. Gutridge was awarded a lap robe as a prize, being the winner of a contest promoted in Butler to ascertain which old settler in the county was born here on the date nearest to the time when Order Number Eleven was issued.
Moses S. Keirsey, a late prominent agriculturist and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, a leading man of his community in Spruce township, one of the honored and respected citizens of the county who have gone on before, was a native of Tennessee. Mr. Keirsey was born in 1851, a son of Drury and Agnes Keirsey, who came to Missouri in the days before the Civil War and settled on a farm in Polk county. . M. S. Keirsey was reared to manhood amid the scenes of pioneer life in Polk county, Missouri. He came to Bates county in 1871 and set- tled on the farm, which is the present home of his widow, in Spruce township, a place comprising one hundred seventy-one acres of choice land, now nicely improved.
The marriage of M. S. Keirsey and Mary M. Williams, a daugh- ter of William and Susan (Hopkins) Williams, was solemnized in Polk county, Missouri in 1867. Mr. Williams died about the time of the marriage of his daughter, in 1867. and Mrs. Williams resides at Fair- play in Polk county, Missouri with her daughter, Addie. To M. S. and Mary M. Keirsey were born seven children, all of whom are now living: William D., a well-to-do farmer and stockman, Butler, Mis- souri; George, Ballard, Missouri: O. Williams, who is engaged in farm- ing in Spruce township; Fred, a prosperous farmer of Summit town- ship; Ollie, the wife of Melford Richardson, Chico, Butte county, Cali- fornia: Addie, the wife of C. M. Decker, of Shawnee township; and Josephine, who resides at home with her widowed mother. The father died January 7, 1917.
The Keirsey country place is one of the attractive rural homes of Spruce township. It is one of the prairie farms of Bates county and well improved with a comfortable residence, a structure of eight rooms, a stock barn used for horses, a feed barn, a cattle barn, and other
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needed farm buildings. Mr. Keirsey was a man of great energy and a progressive, industrious stockman, whose name was a familiar one to all the stockmen of Bates county for he had established a splendid reputation as a successful breeder of cattle and hogs and mules. He purchased the grain which he fed his stock from the farmers of the vicinity and was thus a boon to his neighbors, who would have other- wise had to haul their produce a long distance in order to ship it. Since he lias been gone, Mrs. Keirsey and her daughter, Miss Josephine, have remained on the farm and have attended to the stock interests although they rent the land. Mrs. Keirsey is a highly respected lady of much intelligence and she deserves great commendation for the admirable way in which she is continuing the work of Mr. Keirsey.
Like the majority of pioneers, M. S. Keirsey was a quiet, unobtru- sive gentleman, somewhat reserved in manner, but a larger-hearted, more kindly, more courteous man one could not find in this part of the state. His youthful experiences, his early life spent mostly out-of- doors, toughened and strengthened his physical and mental fiber and fitted him for the active pursuits of farming and stock raising which he followed in later years. He grew to maturity with a splendid, almost perfect, physique and in early manhood scarcely knew what fatigue or illness meant. Mr. Keirsey did not care for public honors or the emoluments of office but found happiness in his home in the associa- tions with his family, whom he loved with a deep devotion. He was an honorable, honest, upright citizen and the loss inflicted by the Grim Reaper has been and still is deeply felt in his community and in his home, but were he with us today he would no doubt counsel us, as did the poet many years ago counsel himself when he, too, was heart- broken with grief over the loss of a dear one:
"Be still, sad heart, and cease repining ; Behind the clouds the sun's still shining ; Thy fate is the common fate of all : Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary."
M. N. Teeter, an influential agriculturist of Shawnee township, is one of the successful sons of a sterling pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Teeter was born December 9, 1878 at the Teeter homestead in Shawnee township, a son of C. N. and Eliza (Hill) Teeter, the father, a native of New York and the mother, of Pennsylvania. The Teeters
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came to Missouri in 1865 and settled on a prairie farm in Bates county, after a few months residence in Butler. C. N. Teeter built their resi- dence in Butler from lumber which he hauled from Pleasanton, Linn county, Kansas and the old house still stands in this city, located about three blocks from the public square on the north side of the city. Mr. Teeter was an enterprising and capable farmer and stockman and suc- ceeded well in raising and feeding large herds of horses, cattle, and hogs. At the time of his death, in 1907, he was the owner of a valuable farm in Bates county, a place embracing three hundred twenty-three acres of land. The remains of C. N. Teeter were laid to rest in Cloud cemetery in this county. The widowed mother still resides at the old home place in Shawnee township.
At Griggs school house in Shawnee township, a building named in honor of William Griggs on whose farm the school house was located, M. N. Teeter obtained his education. School was held in the same school house in the days before the Civil War, and Mr. Teeter attended school at the old school house. When he was thirteen years of age, he had mastered the trade of blacksmithing and for seven years was engaged in following his trade in Bates county. When he had attained maturity, Mr. Teeter moved on the farm which had formerly been his father's and entered the stock business, in which he has ever since been engaged. He raises, buys, and sells cattle, hogs, horses, and mules and is the owner of one of the nice country places in his township, a farm embracing one hundred twenty acres of valuable land located ten miles east of Adrian and two and a half miles northwest of Ballard. The Teeter farm is well improved and equipped for handling stock.
The marriage of M. N. Teeter and Millie Gilbert, a daughter of J. F. and Jane (Hammond) Gilbert, of Grand River township, was solemnized December 24, 1899. Both the father and the mother of Mrs. Teeter are now deceased and their remains are interred in Hart cemetery in Bates county. Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Gilbert were the parents of thirteen children, all of whom have been reared to maturity and are now living, the oldest being fifty-five years of age and the eleventh is Mrs. M. N. Teeter: William, John, Howard, Charles, Victor, William, Mrs. Florence Hammond, Mrs. Grace Russell, Mrs. Dora Witterman, Mrs. Ruth Burk, Mrs. Blanche Embree, Mrs. Hilda Shield, and Mrs. Millie Teeter. Mr. Teeter has only one sister living, Mrs. Ella Mosher, who resides in Shawnee township. To M. N. and Mrs. Teeter have been born the following children : Madge, a student in the Adrian
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High School; Gladys, Orpha, Don, and Hurley, all at home with their parents.
The history of every community is but the aggregation of the biog- raphies of its citizens and the record of the relations which they have sustained one to another. Some may be of little interest to the casual reader, still they occupy important places in the record, and many lives that attract but slight attention from the world at large are often the most indispensable, being in many cases the lives of men and women who are moulding public sentiment and directing the destiny of their particular community. Mr. and Mrs. Teeter are widely and favorably known in the county and they are justly enrolled among its best and most representative citizens.
W. S. Hurt, proprietor of "Valley Grove Stock Farm" in Spruce township, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Hurt was born in 1854 at Colum- bia in Adair county and thirty-six years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, he came to Missouri and settled on a farm in Spruce township. He had twelve hundred dollars to invest at that time, the proceeds from the sale of his Kentucky land, a farm comprising one hundred twenty acres, and now, after nearly two score years in the West, he is the owner of one of the best and most attractive country places in Spruce township, Bates county. The sign of the "Valley Grove Stock Farm" is a pretty picture of two ears of Boone county white corn at the gate at the entrance of the driveway, a representation of the corn raised by Mr. Hurt on this farm and of his artistic ability, for he painted the picture.
When W. S. Hurt came to Bates county, Missouri in 1882, he pur- chased a tract of land in Spruce township, a small farm embracing forty acres, which he improved and then sold. He invested the proceeds of the sale in another forty-acre tract, which he afterward sold for eighty dollars an acre. Mr. Hurt retired from improving land, farming, and stock raising at this time and entered the mercantile business, in which he was engaged for nine years after buying the J. C. Noble stock of merchandise. Mr. Hurt was successful as a merchant. but he prefers the independence of the farm to the confinement of a store and in 1912 moved to his present country home in Spruce township, where he has since been contentedly at work, clearing the timber land for pasture, improving the land and the soil, raising horses, cattle, mules, and hogs. "Valley Grove Stock Farm" lies four miles northwest of Johnstown and two and a half miles southeast of Ballard. It comprises one hundred
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twenty acres of land, forty acres of which are underlaid with a vein of coal from twelve to eighteen inches in depth. There are two ponds, four wells, and one cistern on the place, making it one of the most abundantly watered farms in Bates county. The improvements include a nice residence, a ten-room structure, well built with conveniently arranged rooms which are neatly kept, and a splendid barn, 40 x 60 feet in dimensions. Mr. Hurt is devoting his attention chiefly to raising roan Durham cattle and O. I. C. Poland China hogs, having about forty head of the latter on the farm at the present time, in 1918.
In 1876, W. S. Hurt and Corinna Snow were united in marriage in Kentucky. To this union have been born eight children, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. Mertie Corwine, of Spruce township, Bates county ; Montie, the well-known collector of Mingo township, Bates county ; Otis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township; Pearl, de- ceased; Mrs. Laura Hill, who resides in Colorado; Loren, a successful farmer and stockman of Spruce township; Ivy and Bryan, both at home with their parents. Kindly, hospitable, and generous, the Hurt family's popularity is as extensive as their acquaintance, and their southern courtesy has become proverbial.
Among the progressive men of Bates county, who have assisted materially in developing the agricultural interests of this section of the state, W. S. Hurt takes high rank.
Andrew Hanson, an industrious and thrifty farmer of Shawnee town- ship, was born near Eureka, Kansas, January 6, 1862, the son of Chris- topher and Mary Hanson, the former of whom was a native of Norway and was one of the first settlers near Eureka. He later located in St. Clair county, Missouri, where the mother of Andrew Hanson died in 1868. Christopher Hanson departed this life in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1876. The other children born to Christopher and Mary Hanson besides Andrew, are: Mrs. Sophia Evans, St. Clair county, Missouri; Mrs. Martha Siivers, Rich Hill, Missouri. By a second marriage the following children were born to Christopher Hanson and wife: Frank, Rich Hill, Missouri; Lonnie Cox, an adopted son; Mrs. Alice Jackson, St. Louis, Missouri.
Andrew Hanson was reared in St. Clair county and there took up the vocation of farming. When seventeen years of age he came to Bates county and began working at farm labor on the farm of Adolphus Stuckey and remained on this farm for some time, eventually becoming the owner of the very place where he began his own career. On September
ANDREW HANSON AND FAMILY.
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17, 1885, he was married at the Stuckey homestead by Rev. A. H. Lewis to Mary E. Stuckey, the daughter of his employer, and for some time remained on the Stuckey farm. During his first year before marriage he raised a big crop of wheat on this farm, the yield averaging twenty- seven bushels to the acre. Prior to the advent of the railroad to Butler he raised a large crop of flax on land west of Butler. He hauled this crop to Rockville for shipment, the trip taking him two days for each load. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson have resided in Missouri, Kansas, and Okla- homa, and again came to the old Stuckey farm for a permanent stay in 1903. They took a pre-emption claim in Meade county, Kansas, in 1887, and proved up on it and for some time Mr. Hanson followed stock rais- ing in Meade county and Clark county, Kansas. They lived in "No Man's Land," now Beaver county, Oklahoma, for a few years prior to returning to Bates county where they homesteaded land in 1888. Mr. Hanson owns a splendid farm of two hundred forty acres, which is a part of the Stuckey farm of three hundred twenty acres.
Eight children have been born to Andrew and Mary E. Hanson, six of whom are living: Bertha, wife of Charles Stover, Shawnee town- ship; Alva, was killed by a stroke of lightning on June 25, 1910; Walter. married Maggie McGuire, and resides in Shawnee township; Lonnie, was killed by lightning on June 25, 1910 and Fonnie, twins; Hattie, Lloyd, and Edna at home. Mrs. Mary E. (Stuckey) Hanson was born February 1, 1867, near Fairbury, Illinois, and is a daughter of Adolphus Stuckey, a native of England, who came to America when but a lad and later made a settlement in Bates county as early as 1873. Before coming to Bates county he had his home in Illinois and during the Civil War he served his country in an Illinois regiment of volunteers throughout the war. Mr. Stuckey began in a small way in Bates county and erected a box house on his prairie farm, improved the place and became well to do as the years passed. He returned to Illinois and after living there for twenty-two years, he came back to his farm and died there in March. 1915. His wife was Nancy Cunningham before her marriage. She was born in Illinois, January 14, 1838, and died August 31, 1893. The Stuckey children were as follow: Mrs. Ida Shook, Fairbury, Illinois; Mrs. Hattie Vint, Walla Walla, Washington ; and Mrs. Mary E. Hanson.
Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanson it is interesting to note that Alva, Walter. Lonnie, and Fonnie were born in Beaver county Oklahoma. Hattie, Lloyd, and Edna, were born in Clark county, Kansas. The fine cedar trees growing in the yard of the Hanson farm and which
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add to the attractiveness of the place, were obtained by Mr. Hanson, who assisted in setting them out, when he was working for Mr. Stuckey in about 1880. The Hansons are industrious and honest people who have the good will and esteem of their neighbors and have many friends in their neighborhood.
Nancy (Cunningham) Stuckey was the daughter of Mr. Cunning- ham, who was one of the early pioneers of Bates county and was one of the first settlers of Butler.
J. W. Cole, merchant of Ballard, Missouri, is one of the successful business men of Bates county. Mr. Cole is the best authority on the history of the mercantile interests of Ballard and he states that the first store at Ballard was opened by Mr. Moreland in partnership with his two sons. It was he, who succeeded in having a postoffice estab- lished at this place, but which was discontinued several years ago when the rural routes were designated in Bates county. Mr. Moreland dis- posed of his mercantile interests after some time, selling to Dr. McFar- land, who in turn sold the establishment to Robert Beatty. Mr. More- land returned to Ballard from Urich, Henry county, where he had been for a short time, and purchased the store from Mr. Beatty. After- ward, he again sold out, this time Mr. Price being the purchaser, and he sold to Mr. Keirsey and Mr. Keirsey to "Mack" Greer and Mr. Greer to "Jake" Kedigh and Mr. Kedigh to J. W. Cole, the present owner, who bought the place of business in March, 1917. Mr. Cole is an experienced man in the mercantile business, having conducted a store at Culver for thirteen years prior to purchasing the business establishment at Ballard. Thus, the following men have consecutively been the leading merchant and most prominent business man of Ballard; Moreland, McFarland, Beatty, Moreland, Price, Keirsey, Greer, Kedigh, and Cole. Mr. Cole has a nice, clean stock of merchandise and of suf- ficient quantity for the demands and he is enjoying an excellent patron- age, drawing trade from the entire surrounding country, and the satis- faction of his customers is sufficient evidence of his marked success.
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