History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 65

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174

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Mr. Cole is a native of Lafayette county, Missouri. His father, Henry Cole, was one of the first pioneers of that county and of Mis- souri. Henry Cole settled on a tract of land in Lafayette county in 1818, two years before Missouri became a state. He came to Bates county, Missouri in 1876 and located on a farm in Spruce township, where he spent the closing years of a long life of usefulness, although his death occurred at Clinton in Henry county, to which place he had

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moved but a very short time prior to answering the death summons. Henry Cole died in 1892 at the noble age of eighty-four years and his remains were interred in Dover cemetery in Lafayette county beside those of his wife, Sarah Cole, who had preceded him in death thirty- two years before. Mrs. Cole died in 1860. Henry and Sarah Cole were the parents of five children, who are now living: Judge W. T .. Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Rebecca Chirs, Eldorado Springs, Missouri; Robert, Santa Rosa, California; J. W., the subject of this review; and Sallie, Sweetsprings, Missouri.

J. W. Cole was born in 1857 and was reared on the farm in Lafay- ette county and educated in the district schools there. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits prior to entering the mercantile business at Culver in 1896, at which time he purchased the Charles Greer store and, as has been mentioned above, was engaged in conducting this general store at Culver for thirteen years. After disposing of his stock of merchandise at Culver, Mr. Cole entered the employ of "Mat" Rosier at Butler and was with him for two years, then spent two and a half years in California. On his return to Missouri, J. W. Cole located on a farm in Shawnee township, Bates county and for two years was again engaged in the pursuits of agriculture, interested in both general farming and stock raising. He traded his farm interests for the mer- chandise at Ballard in 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 1918, is profitably employed in conducting the general store at that place.

In 1897, J. W. Cole and Julia Douglass, a daughter of Sydney and Melinda Douglass, were united in marriage. Sydney Douglass was one of the county's leading citizens and was at one time county recorder of Bates county. He is now deceased and Mrs. Cole's mother resides at Warrensburg, Missouri. To J. W. and Julia (Douglass) Cole has been born one child, a daughter, Lillian, who is at home with her parents. The Cole family stands high among the best families of Bates county.

Darius Teeter, a late honored pioneer of Bates county, was a native of New York. Mr. Teeter was born in 1834 in Cayuga county, a son of Conrad and Mary (Hall) Teeter, the father, a native of New Jersey and the mother, of Cayuga county, New York. In the common schools of Wisconsin, Darius Teeter received his education. His parents moved to Wisconsin five years before it became a state, in 1843, and there thie mother died when the son, Darius, was still very young. When he was twenty-one years of age, his father sold the homestead and Darius and his brother bought a tract of government land in the northern part of

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the state of Wisconsin and engaged in farming. From there, Darius Teeter and a friend, Thomas Springsteen, started for Pike's Peak, Colo- rado in the spring of 1860 driving ox-teams. They arrived at Denver on July 4, 1860 and for two years engaged in mining and freighting in Colorado. Mr. Teeter left Colorado once, going thence to Omaha, Nebraska and returning the following spring to Colorado with freight. In the summer of 1862, he went to Oregon with his oxen and was there outfitted for a prospecting tour in Idaho and in that state, then a terri- tory, he prospered, making enough money with which to get a "good start" in life. Mr. Teeter filed a claim to the land which is the present townsite of Boise, Idaho in Ada county and the log cabin built by Darius Teeter and William Richie, partners, is preserved by the Historical Society of Boise. A large influx of people from different sections of the United States soon settled the country. Charles Teeter, a brother of Darius Teeter, came to Boise, Idaho in 1863 and after the latter dis- posed of his land interests the two brothers engaged in the mercantile business at that place until Darius Teeter returned to Wisconsin in 1866. His first partner never returned to the old home, the one with whom he left Wisconsin, Thomas Springsteen. Mr. Teeter remained in that state until 1870, when he came to Missouri and settled on land in Bates county, section 7 in Spruce township, a tract comprising one hundred six and two-thirds acres, which he purchased from James Arm- strong for eight dollars an acre. To his original holdings, Mr. Teeter added until he owned one hundred ninety-two acres of choice land in this county. He had been a resident of Bates county for forty-eight years and had been constantly at work all these years improving and bettering the condition of his farm. The improvements, which have all been placed on the land by Mr. Teeter, include a nice residence, a two- story structure built in 1894, two well-constructed barns, a granary, a tool shed, and a splendid windmill, which pumps the water, from a well that is never dry, into the feed lots for the stock. Mr. Teeter's first residence in Bates county was a house, 16 x 24 feet in dimensions, built by himself from lumber which he hauled from Holden, Missouri, forty miles away. One pleasing feature of the Teeter farm is the orchard, covering four acres of land, planted when he first came to this part of the country.

In 1866, Darius Teeter and Emma Abbott, of Wisconsin, were united in marriage. Mrs. Teeter was born in Indiana. To this union were born three children, who are now living: Mrs. Cora Embree, of Butler,

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Missouri; George D., who is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business at Apache, Caddo county, Oklahoma; and Clarence A., who is at home with his father and manages the farm in Spruce township. The faithful wife and loving mother, one of the bravest, noblest pioneer women who ever came to Missouri, died in 1901 in California, while she and Mr. Teeter were there on a visit. Her remains were brought back to Bates county, Missouri for burial and interment was made in Cloud cemetery. Mr. Teeter died in February, 1918.

Few men in Spruce township were as well and favorably known as Darius Teeter. A gentleman, a representative of one of the old colonial families of New York, of a sterling pioneer family of the old Northwest Territory, a man, who by sheer pluck, industry, and will-power subdued adversity and conquered fortune and won success, a pioneer, himself, of western Missouri surely deserves more than pass- ing notice in a work of this character. He was a life-long Republican. Mr. Teeter was in many ways one of the most remarkable men to be found in our county. He possessed many admirable traits of character, a high sense of honor, honesty, justice, and integrity, and he was always interested in the development and prosperity of his township and county and did his full share in laying broad and deep the foundations of the county's progress. Although Mr. Teeter was far past the allotted span of human life, he retained much of his youthful vigor, both physically and mentally, to the time of his last fatal illness. He lived his life in such an upright and exemplary manner that his soul was quietly gath- ered to the bosom of his Maker upon "sunset and evening star and one clear call."

Benjamin Ireland, an honored and respected pioneer of Bates county, Missouri, one of the proprietors of "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" in Spruce township, is one of the successful stockmen of western Missouri. Mr. Ireland was born September 13, 1848 in Kentucky, a son of Samuel and Ann (Tyler) Ireland. The father died in Henry county, Kentucky in 1866. Mrs. Ireland came to Bates county, Missouri in 1870 to make her home with her sons, Benjamin and Charles, who had come West the preceding year. The mother died at the Ireland homestead in Spruce township in 1885 and her remains were laid to rest in Bethel cemetery.

In the public schools of Pleasureville, Henry county, Kentucky, Benjamin Ireland received a good common school education. He was a young man, twenty-one years of age, when he left his native state and came to Missouri with his brother, Charles, born in 1842, and set- (43)

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tled on the farm in Spruce township, where the two brothers have ever since resided with the exception of one year spent in Vernon county, Missouri. They purchased an eighty-acre tract of land in Vernon county and resided on it just one year and then returned to Spruce township and for five years were engaged in farming on the John Winegardner place, when they purchased one hundred sixty acres of their present home place for eleven dollars an acre. This tract of land had a ten-rail fence enclosing twenty acres of it. The Ireland brothers now own two hundred forty-five acres of land in Spruce township and eighty acres of land in Shawnee township, one of Bates county's prairie farms. Their neighbors in the days of the long ago were Mr. Loggins, the Shrews- burys, the Pogues, the Webbs, the Greers, the Johnsons, the Sheltons, the Pettis family, and the Andrews family, all of whom resided along the creek. In the year 1874, the Ireland boys were obliged to drive their cattle to Barton county, Missouri to winter them on account of the devastation wrought in Bates county by drouth and the grasshoppers. The two brothers, Benjamin and Charles Ireland, came together to this country and have remained together throughout all these years. The older brother, Charles, has never married and is now seventy-six years of age. They have been partners all their lives and have together resided on a farm in Bates county for nearly a half century. It would be difficult to find a similar case or two brothers like the Ireland brothers in the state of Missouri. The "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" lies twelve miles northwest of Montrose, twenty miles northeast of Butler, and three miles southeast of Ballard.

The marriage of Benjamin Ireland and Callie Harmon, a daughter of Adam and Nancy Harmon, of Spruce township, Bates county, was solemnized in July, 1884. Both the father and mother of Mrs. Ireland are now deceased, their deaths occurring in old Indian Territory. To this union have been born seven children, all of whom have been rearc to maturity and are now living: Charles, a successful farmer of Spruce township; H. C., who is engaged in farming on the home place ; Grover, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Spruce township; Emzey Vest, a prosperous stockman of Spruce township: Carrie, the wife of Henry Jones, of Henry county, Missouri; James F., a well-known farmer and stockman of Spruce township; and Sudie, at home with her parents. Emzey Vest and H. C. Ireland are prominent stockmen of Bates county and are widely known in western Missouri as successful breeders of big bone Poland China hogs. H. C. Ireland has a fine herd of good grade

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cattle on the home farm in Spruce township, in the raising of which he has been interested for several years. James F. Ireland has an estab- lished reputation for producing high grade Hereford cattle, having at the present time in 1918, twenty-five head of white face cows, four red Polled Herefords, and a pure bred Hereford steer, in addition to a splendid Percheron horse, "Komar," weight two thousand pounds, and two fine jacks, "Sam" and "Monte Cristo," each fifteen and a half hands high, a saddle stallion, and a herd of big bone Poland China hogs. James F. Ireland resides on the Catterlin place adjoining the "Ireland Brothers' Stock Farm" on the east. (The Irelands have sown two hundred acres of wheat in 1918.) He is one of the most enterprising stockmen in the township and enjoys his work. He purchased three jennets last season, of 1917. Each of the Ireland children is doing well in life, all are assum- ing honorable places of influence in their respective communities, sons and daughters of whom their parents may well be proud. The Ireland family has long been regarded highly and valued among the best fami- lies of this section of the state.

W. H. Smith, proprietor of the Red Ball Garage in Butler, is one of the enterprising business men of Bates county. Mr. Smith is a native son of Butler. He was born August 13, 1879, a son of Frank and Eliza- beth Smith, the former, a native of Michigan and the latter, of Indiana. Frank Smith came to Montrose, Missouri, in 1866 and thence to Butler and for thirty-five years was engaged in the hardware business in this city. a merchant widely and favorably known throughout the county. He now resides in the city of Butler at 312 Adams street, where he is liv- ing in quiet retirement after nearly two score years of active labor in the strenuous fields of merchandising. To Frank and Elizabeth Smith were born four children who are now living: W. H., the subject of this review: Pearl, Butler, Missouri; Mrs. P. A. Delameter. Winter- haven, Florida : and Frank, Jr., who is with his brother, W. H., in the garage business at Butler.

Mr. Smith, whose name introduces this review, attended the city schools of Butler, Missouri, and later Butler Academy. Since 1908, Mr. Smith has been engaged in the garage business at Butler, Mis- souri.

The marriage of W. H. Smith and Louise Endres, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Endres, of Butler, Missouri, was solemnized in 1901. John Endres was for many years one of the leading bakers of Bates county, conducting a bakery at Butler, and after his death

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Mrs. Endres conducted a restaurant in this city for several years. To Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Smith has been born one child, a son, "Billy," who is now eight years of age. The Smith residence is in Butler at 19 South Main street. Both the Smith and Endres families are widely known and highly respected in Bates county.

The Red Ball Garage was opened January 15, 1908, and is located at 17 and 19 South Main street. The building has a frontage of ninety- five feet and a depth of one hundred fifteen feet, and is constructed of reinforced concrete, with an iron roof, and not a post in the entire struc- ture. This building was erected in 1917 and is a strictly modern garage in every respect. The north apartment, a room 65 x 115 feet in dimen- sions, is used for storage and display and the south room, 30 x 115 feet in dimensions, is used for shop purposes. Mr. Smith has a general repair shop in which all kinds of machine work is done, batteries recharged, cars put in first-class condition. He has installed a complete vulcanizing plant for casings and inner tubes and in addition carries a general stock of automobile accessories. The Red Ball Garage has the agency for the Buick automobiles. W. H. Smith is a wide-awake salesman, an expert mechanician, and a "hustler." He is making a deserving success in his line of work.

William H. Cotten, a pioneer of Bates county, widely known and noted horseman, large land-owner of Osage township, is an individual who was not afraid to venture his capital in the early days of the develop- ment of southern Bates county. He had faith in the ultimate growth of population in this section of Missouri, and foresaw the time when land values would rise to undreamed of heights. Accordingly, he began accumulating land just as soon as he was financially able and for years was one of the shrewdest of Missouri traders. When he came to Bates county in 1870, he drove across country from Cooper county with an old and balky team of horses attached to a wagon of equal vintage fitted with wooden axles, and in debt to Abe Waite, of Cooper county, in the sum of $300. During the forty-seven years of his residence in this county, he has been successively school teacher, trader, farmer, live stock man, and won a fame for himself as a breeder of race horses which reached far beyond the borders of Missouri. The Cotten homestead is one of the finest in this part of Missouri. It is a beautiful residence situated upon a hill which overlooks a great stretch of country and gives a close view of Rich Hill, only one and one-fourth miles to the east- ward. This place consists of one hundred fifty acres of rich land.

WILLIAM H. COTTEN.

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Mr. Cotten owns in all eight farms totalling eleven hundred acres, nearly all of which are located in Osage township. Four farms are equipped with good buildings, and Mr. Cotten oversees the farming operations upon five hundred acres of this land directly, and handles and feeds over seventy-five head of cattle annually.

W. H. Cotten was born in Miller county, Missouri, October 25, 1840, the son of Gabriel and Margaret (Guy) Cotten, both of whom were born in this state, the children of pioneer parents. Gabriel Cotten was born in 1807 and died in 1875. He was the son of Benjamin Cotten, of Kentucky, who settled in Cooper county early in the nineteenth century, his first home being in the neighborhood of old Fort Boone. He ran away from home when still a very young man and thus became a pioneer of a great state. He later made a permanent settlement in Miller county, where William H. was reared to young manhood and later taught school in Cooper county. During the Civil War period William H. removed to Canada, where he had the advantage of good school facilities and applied himself accordingly. After his return home he taught school in Cooper county. For two years after coming to Bates county in 1870 he also taught school at Old Rich Hill. Mr. Cot- ten's first investment in Bates county was in forty acres in Osage town- ship, located near Old Rich Hill, at a cost of $15 per acre. He went in debt for this farm and sold it not long afterward at a profit of $200. He then began trading and dealing in livestock and made a success of this business. He made a good friend in Martin Perry, who had capital and usually financed young Cotten in his earlier ventures. Dur- ing 1872, when the grasshoppers ate most of his crops, Mr. Cotten paid as high as twenty per cent. interest for the use of borrowed money. He had a good crop in the following year and began to prosper. For two years he resided on his first farm and then leased a farm near that of H. P. Robinson for four years. For two years following he was engaged in the saw mill business. In the spring of 1880, land began to rise in value and he deemed it advisable to get possession of all the land which his capital would permit. In the spring of 1881, he bought two hundred forty acres in addition to a tract of two hundred forty acres which he had purchased in 1880. During the winter of 1880 and 1881, he fed a large herd of cattle on the "Mound" and sold them at a considerable profit in the spring. He invested the proceeds in land and has continued to follow out a definite and well-defined course in land investments, and for land has paid all the way from $15 to $60

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per acre. His home farm was purchased in 1903 and is worth at a fair valuation, over $100 an acre.

Mr. Cotten's greatest accomplishment, however, was in the producing of a famous breed of race horses. From a dam purchased of the late Edward Crabb, of Osage township, he bred "Redwood Redman" in 1884 and thus created the famous breed known by this name. The dam which foaled the noted race stallion was obtained from Mr. Crabb by a trade which involved but $80 in money values. Mr. Cotten produced from Redwood Redman, the following noted track winners: "Blondy Redwood," 2:084; "Dewey Redwood," 2:16; "Woodshine," 2:08, a three-year-old which he sold for $1,000 and which had never been started in a race prior to the sale. Mr. Cotten also received $1,000 for "King Redman," 2:16. He made a number of track campaigns with "Redwood Redman" in Iowa, St. Louis and raced him at Terre Haute, Indiana. He sent "Blondy Redwood" to Dallas, Texas, for the races and the famous mare won three purses on the Dallas track.

On February 8, 1871, Mr. Cotten was united in marriage with Amanda H. Ratekin, who was born in Callaway county, Missouri, a daughter of Edward Ratekin, who came to Bates county in 1869 and spent the remainder of his days in this county. Mr. Cotten has one child, a daughter, Mrs. Ida Davis, residing at Rich Hill, mother of four chil- dren; Sydney Cotten. Lowell, Wiley, and Marcella Davis. Politically, Mr. Cotten is aligned with the Democratic party and has generally been a supporter of Democratic principles. He is a member of the Christian church. Notwithstanding his age, he is one of the most vigorous of men and leads an active, outdoor life, and takes a keen interest in every- day matters. He is a member of the Christian church.

James A. Harrison, of Shawnee township, is one of Bates county's most successful agriculturists. Mr. Harrison was born in 1878 in Grand- River township, Bates county, Missouri, a son of Edmund S. and Sarah E. (Williams) Harrison, the former, a native of Morgan county, Mis- souri and the latter, of Pettis county, both members of sterling pioneer families of Missouri. The Harrisons came to Bates county in 1866 and located in Grand River township, moving thence to Shawnee township in March, 1879. In his later years E. S. Harrison was an honored resi- dent of Adrian, Missouri, where he died February 4, 1918 at the age of seventy-two years and two months. To E. S. and Sarah E. Harrison were born two children, who are now living: Mrs. J. W. McCombs and J. A., the subject of this review. Mrs. Sarah E. Harrison was born in September, 1855 and resides in Adrian.

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J. A. Harrison was reared and educated in Shawnee township in Bates county. He attended school at Griggs school house in Shawnee township and acquired an excellent common school education. After leaving school, he became associated with his father in the business of farming and stock raising on the home place, which the son pur- chased in 1906. The Harrison farm, at that time, comprised one hun- dred ninety-one acres of land. It now embraces eight hundred eighty acres of valuable land, three hundred forty-one acres of which are located in Shawnee township and the remainder in Spruce township. Mr. Har- rison is engaged extensively in stock raising and his place is admirably suited to this purpose and well equipped with all the most modern con- veniences for handling large herds of stock.

The marriage of J. A. Harrison and Stella Reeder, a daughter of R. D. and Emma Reeder, formerly of Mingo township but now residents of Adrian, Missouri, was solemnized in 1902. Mrs. Harrison was born in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri and was educated at Edwards school house in the aforesaid township.

There are four different sets of improvements on the Harrison farm. Mr. Harrison's home place has a beautiful, modern residence of eight rooms ; three barns, 40 x 60, 60 x 72, and 54 x 60 feet in dimen- sions, respectively ; two silos ; a machine shop; a garage ; a wood house ; and an excellent hog house, 24 x 50 feet in dimensions, constructed with a concrete floor and supplied with water. The farm in Spruce town- ship has a comfortable, attractive residence, a house of six rooms, and a barn, 60 x 100 feet in dimensions, having a silo attached. All the feed lots on both farms are furnished with concrete watering tanks and all the buildings are painted white, kept in splendid repair, are neatly arranged, and present a striking appearance attracting the attention of all passersby. The thrift and care evidenced by the general surround- ings of the Harrison farm bespeak the intelligent, industrious, progres- sive husbandman. Mr. Harrison has on the place, at the time of this writing in 1918, one hundred and sixty-five head of two-year-old steers and four hundred head of Poland China hogs, in addition to a large herd of mules. During the harvesting season, he keeps eight mule-teamis busy going from sunrise until sunset. Mr. Harrison employs three assistants all the time and all find plenty of work to do.

The true western spirit of enterprise and progress is most strikingly exemplified in the busy life of J. A. Harrison, a gentleman whose ener- getic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to subdue many adverse circumstances and advance steadily until he has won and now

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retains a conspicuous position in the business world. Mr. Harrison has never desired or sought public honors or the emoluments of office, as, to use his own terse phrase, he has "been too busy to hold office."

C. A. Allen, abstracter of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, proprietor of "Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the able financiers and progressive agriculturists of Bates county. Mr. Allen is a native of Iowa. He was born in 1870 in Warren county, a son of F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen, who settled in Bates county, Missouri in 1876. F. M. Allen was one of the leading merchants of Butler, Missouri for twenty years, conducting a music store in this city from the time of his coming to Missouri until his death in 1895. Mrs. Allen joined her husband in death a few days after he died and inter- ment was made for both father and mother in the cemetery at Butler. F. M. and Mary J. (Allen) Allen were the parents of four children, who · are now living: Mrs. W. E. Walton, Mrs. E. A. Bennett, Frank, and C. A., all of whom reside at Butler, Missouri.

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History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 65

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1174

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174