History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 66

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

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In the city schools of Butler, C. A. Allen received his elementary education. Later, he attended Butler Academy and was there instructed by Professors Naylor and Allison, and the Butler Commercial College. After completing a business course at the latter institution, Mr. Allen began life for himself employed as bookkeeper by the Butler National Bank and with that financial institution remained until it was merged into the present Missouri State Bank. For many years, he was treasurer of the Walton Trust Company of Butler and, at the time of this writ- ing in 1918, is the company's abstracter and is residing at "Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township.

C. A. Allen and Maud A. Porter, a daughter of Dr. H. P. and Mar- garet S. (Blakeslee) Porter, were united in marriage in 1891. Dr. Porter was one of the most prominent citizens of Butler, a late surgeon- general of the National Grand Army of the Republic at Butler. He died in 1912 and burial was made in Oak Hill cemetery. Mrs. Porter resides at Kansas City, Missouri. To C. A. and Maud A. Allen have been born two children: Horace, who is now a junior in the Butler High School; and Mildred. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are widely and favor- ably known in the county and they are numbered among the best fami- lies of Mount Pleasant township and Butler.

"Highland Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township lies one mile north of Butler and is one of the best equipped dairy farms in the state of Missouri. Mr. Allen is the owner of probably the finest herd of Hol-

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steins in western Missouri. He became interested in keeping only reg- istered cattle in the autumn of 1917 and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has ten head of remarkably good, registered dairy cows. The improvements on "Highland Stock Farm" are well worthy of notice and they include a handsome. modern, two-story residence, substantially built upon a stone foundation and having a roomy basement; a dairy barn, having concrete floors and stanchions for sixteen cattle; a garage and machine shed; the best chicken house in Bates county, constructed of doubled matched lumber, with concrete floors ; a granary, a coal house. and a comfortable tenant house. "Highland Stock Farm" comprises one hundred sixty acres of land located on the Jefferson highway and is one of the beautiful country places of Bates county. Mr. Allen is an enterprising farmer and stockman, and his methods combined with his interest, industry, and thorough understanding of business prin- ciples have been rewarded by a large measure of well-deserved success.

Arthur Ray Fox, the well-known proprietor of the Fox Studio at Butler, is one of the citizens of prominence in Bates county. He was born November 14, 1890 in Cass county, Missouri on his father's farm near Austin, a son of A. F. and Maggie (Black) Fox, both of whom are now honored residents of Butler, Missouri. A. F. Fox is a native of Woodford, Illinois. He came to Missouri in 1880 and in this state was united in marriage with Maggie Black, a native of Cooper county, Missouri, and after a few years residence in Cass county they came to Butler, where they now make their home, numbered among the most highly respected and best families of Bates county, Missouri. Arthur Ray Fox has one brother, Earl Fox, claim agent for the Nave McCord Wholesale Grocery Company of St. Joseph, Missouri and a resident of St. Joseph.

In the city schools of Adrian and Butler, Arthur Ray Fox received his elementary education. Early in his career, he was interested in newspaper work, employed first on the "Republican Press" and later on the "Democrat" at Butler. Later, he entered the Southern School of Photography at McMinnville, Tennessee and at this institution com- pleted a course in the art of photography. After working at his pro- fession for several months at different places, Mr. Fox purchased the Earl A. Steward Studio at Butler, Missouri in 1913 and has since been engaged in business in this city.

The marriage of Arthur Ray Fox and Birdie May Vantrees, a daugh- ter of C. and Emma (Thayer) Vantrees, of Butler, Missouri, was solem-

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nized August 6, 1911. Mr. Vantrees was born in Coles county, Illinois in 1860, a son of Hezekiah Vantrees, who came with his family to Mis- souri in 1868 and located in Vernon county. The elder Vantrees was a blacksmith by trade and he followed this line of work, blacksmithing, at Deerfield until 1895, when he moved to Bates county. Fourteen years later, in 1909, he died at Butler. The son, C. Vantrees, the father of Mrs. Fox, located at Butler, Missouri in the autumn of 1886, coming thence from Clinton, Missouri. He had mastered the blacksmith's trade in the early seventies and for many years worked beside the forge with his father at Deerfield. In 1881, he entered a carriage factory and server as an apprentice until he had become proficient in the work of carriage making, when he came to Butler, in 1886, and is now engaged in black- smithing and in general repair work in this city. Mr. Vantrees has now been at the forge for forty-five years and he is widely recognized as one of the best, most skilled workmen in the county. Emma (Thayer) Vantrees is a native of Ohio. She and Mr. Vantrees reside at Butler and they are numbered among the citizens of Bates county of the high- est standing. Mrs. Fox attended the city schools of Butler and she is a graduate of the Butler High School. She is very talented in music and has been the organist of the Methodist Episcopal church of Butler ever since her girlhood days.

The Fox Studio was opened March 1, 1913. Arthur Ray Fox pur- chased the interests of Earl A. Steward, a photographer located in the Williams building on the north side of the public square in Butler, the present location of the Fox Studio. The rooms occupied by the studio extend the full length of the building and are lighted from the front and from overhead. Since Mr. Fox has acquired the ownership of the gal- lery, new and expensive equipment have been installed, including an electric enlarger, an electric print machine, a cement sink, and a wash- ing system of his own devise, making the studio up-to-date in every particular and thus increasing the volume of work and the number of patrons in addition to improving the quality of work. The Fox Studio enjoys an immense patronage, the trade extending far beyond the con- fines of Bates county. Mr. Fox has always made it a point to secure photos of interesting gatherings and distinguished visitors of Butler and among his most recent ones are a photo of President Taft, when he was here November 5, 1917, and several different photos of Company B, taken when they were leaving for Camp Clark at Nevada, Missouri. Mrs. Fox was employed in the Fox Studio prior to her marriage, when

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it was owned by Mr. Steward, and she has won recognition as an artist of unusual ability. Her work is distinguished for its delicate grace and simple charm in dealing with child life and, in fact, the popularity of the Fox Studio has come in a large measure because of its success with child photos. The display of these on the walls of the studio is one of the most attractive features of the gallery and the pictures clearly show the touch of a master hand, the appeal of the artist. An art critic once said, on looking at a wonderful little etching Rembrandt had made of his mother, that he had to close his eyes for a moment because of the tears which rose unbidden at the sight of it, every line of her face ex- pressing kindness, sweetness, thoughtfulness. Nothing could have been omitted; the etching is complete. So it is with the photos of the Fox Studio. Mr. and Mrs. Fox keep well abreast of the times in the work of photography, always adding to their store of knowledge by reading the best literature on photo work and their art has justly won popular appreciation, impressing all critics with its truth, interesting treatment, and high quality. Mr. Fox is a member of the Photographers' Associa- tion of America and Mrs. Fox is a member of the National Women's Federation of the P. A. of A. On March 11, 1918, Mr. Fox enlisted for service in the military aeronautics branch of the Signal Corps and immediately left for Cornell University to pursue a course of study in preparation for his work at the front in France.

Daniel Cowan Jackling, son of Daniel and Lydia (Dunn) Jackling, was born at Old Hudson, Bates county, Missouri, August 14, 1869. His father was in the general mercantile business at that place until his death, December 19, 1869, a few months after the birth of the boy. Soon after the death of his father, his mother moved to Knob Noster, Johnson county, Missouri, at which place she lived but a short time, meeting with an accident by the explosion of a coal oil lamp, which resulted in her death, June 12, 1871, leaving the young Jackling, by the request of his mother, in the care of her sister, Abbie L. Dunn. The following November, Miss Dunn was married to J. T. Cowan, of Knob Noster, and the boy became the mutual charge of his new guar- dians.

Mr. Jackling was reared partly in the country and later was taken to Sedalia, Missouri, where he completed the work in the grade school. When he was nineteen years of age he entered the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, but at the end of his first year he decided to take mining engineering: so in the fall of 1889 he entered the School

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of Mines at Rolla, Missouri, and graduated from that school in the sum- mer of 1894.

Owing to the financial stress at that time he failed to secure a posi- tion; so in January, 1895, he went to Cripple Creek, Colorado, where he began his career in mining and mining interests, which gradually developed until he attained his phenominal success. At the present time he is superintendent of the building of the munition plants at Nash- ville, Tennessee, and Charleston, West Virginia, under the appointment of Secretary of War Baker. He is doing this work without remunera- tion.

William P. Largent .- Three things will always stand to the credit of William P. Largent, of Shawnee township, in summing up his accom- plishments during a long career of over thirty-five years in Bates county. As an "old settler" and a determined citizen he has triumphed over adver- sity and created an excellent farmstead; he and Mrs. Largent have reared one of the largest and best families in Bates county ; Mr. Largent has assisted in the science of stock raising by improving the blood of the livestock raised on his farm and likewise been influenced in the raising of better stock in the county. He is rightly of the opinion that it pays better to have fewer livestock on the place of the pure-bred variety than to have a lot of "scrubs" or stock of an indifferent breed. This idea is strictly in keeping with the latest intelligence known of the science of livestock raising. Mr. Largent has a fine herd of Here- ford or white face cattle, pure-bred Poland China hogs, and Shropshire sheep, not a great many of any variety but the kind of stock that he raises is of the best and many are registered purebreds. "Prince Albert," a fine horse raised by Mr. Largent, was sired by a registered saddle horse, the dam being a trotting mare. The weight of this splendid ani- mal is 1400 pounds and his action is fine, such as to make him an excel- · lent sire. Nearly all of his best horses were sired by "Redwood," the famous pacer bred by W. H. Cotten. Mr. Largent also raises some splendid mules from thoroughbred stock. He has just completed a con- crete crib which can be used as a granary and is in keeping with the rest of the farm appointments.

William P. Largent was born in West Virginia, May 3, 1856, and is a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Harman) Largent, both of whom were born and reared in Virginia. In 1858, the Largent family left the old home in West Virginia and moved to Peoria county, Illinois, where Jacob Largent settled upon a farm, dying at his home in Peoria county

WILLIAM P. LARGENT AND FAMILY.

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in 1871. After his death, Mrs. Largent returned to Virginia, but later came to Missouri in 1881, with William P. Largent. After a year's residence in Henry county, they located in Bates county in 1882. The first home of the Largents was in Grand River township, where William P. Largent lived until 1887. He then purchased his pres- ent home place in Shawnee township and here his mother died, her remains being interred in Crescent Hill cemetery. Mr. Largent bought his farm of C. H. Moore, who had previously bought it of J. W. Rankin. The improvements on the place at the time of Mr. Largent's purchase were of a negligible character and he has placed practically every build- ing on the place and through the course of years has beautified it in many ways. On December 29, 1899, the Largent residence burned to the ground and they were left homeless in the dead of winter. Their neighbors were very kind to them, however, and assisted them in many ways, Mr. R. L. Cantrell throwing open his home to them and gave them the use of his house while they were rebuilding. The present Largent residence was finished in 1902, the fine barn having been built in 1899.

On November 15, 1877, Mr. Largent did the best thing of his entire life. On that date he took to wifehood, Miss Nancy E. Lough, a native of Pendleton county, West Virginia, and daughter of George Amos and Mary Elizabeth (Hizer) Lough, who lived all their days in Pendle- ton county and died there. Twelve children have been born of this mar- riage, eleven of whom are living: Mary Etta, wife of William A. Shealey, Kinsley, Kansas; George E., Adrian, Missouri; Clara Susan. now Mrs. W. C. Davidson, Hoxie, Kansas; William E., Belpre, Kansas; Bertie Opal, wife of H. M. Erwin, La Grande, Oregon : Ola May, wife of W. A. Scheurich, Schell City, Missouri: Winnie Pleasant, wife of Leroy Park. Butler, Missouri: Ada Precious, wife of L. R. Kemper. Rockville, Mis- souri; Roxie Odessa, wife of John Morrow, Butler, Missouri; Arle Everett and Lulu Pearl, at home with their parents; Beatrice Daisy died in infancy. The rearing of the members of this splendid large family to lives of usefulness in their respective communities where they are living honest and worthy lives is a great accomplishment, and this one thing alone entitles Mr. and Mrs. Largent to an honored place in history.

J. W. Carver, of Shawnee township, a member of one of the honored pioneer families of Bates county, is a native of Ohio. Mr. Carver was born December 13, 1859 in Licking county, a son of E. and Samantha

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(Green) Carver, who came to Missouri in 1868 and located first in Benton county, coming thence to Bates county in 1870 and settling on a farm comprising eighty acres of land located near Culver. The father spent the remainder of his life on the Bates county farm and there his death occurred on June 14, 1898. Mrs. Carver, the widowed mother, sold the homestead and made her home with her son, J. W., until two weeks before she died. Her death occurred at her daughter's home at Ballard, Missouri in July. 1902. E. and Samantha (Green) Carver were the parents of seven children, three of whom are now living: David, deceased: Amanda, deceased: J. W., the subject of this review ; Elmer, deceased; Ida. the wife of T. H. Lynch, of Ballard, Missouri; Mollie, deceased : and Jefferson, of Henry county, Missouri.

In the public schools of Harmony district in Shawnee township, Bates county, Missouri. J. W. Carver received a good common school education. He remained at home with his parents until he was thirty- four years of age and then was engaged in farming and stock raising in Pleasant Gap township for twelve years and in Kansas for one year. Mr. Carver purchased his present country place in 1909 and has for the past eight years resided on this farm, a beautiful rural home two miles west of Culver. Missouri. He has, during his career, been the owner of several different farms in Shawnee township, tracts of land which he has purchased, improved, and then sold. The place he now owns embraces eighty acres of land.

March 23. 1893. J. W. Carver and Cynthia Thomas were united in marriage. Cynthia (Thomas) Carver was born October 1, 1858 in Pettis county, Missouri, a daughter of J. W. and Mary ( Diverse ) Thomas, brave pioneers of the early forties, who settled in Pettis county. J. W. Thomas was born in Virginia and reared in North Carolina, whence he came to Missouri about 1837 and they settled on a farm in the above mentioned county. Mr. Thomas lived sixty-one years on one place and he died at the noble age of ninety years. Interment was made for him in Hopewell cemetery. Mrs. Thomas had preceded her husband in death many years before. She died in 1873 at the age of forty-nine years. Mrs. Carver has three brothers living: Henry, of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county ; Joel G., of Pettis county; and Grant, of Pettis county. By a former marriage. Mr. Carver is the father of one child, a dangh- ter, Lillie E., who resides at home with Mr. and Mrs. Carver. To them have been born no children, but they have taken into their home an orphan boy. Frank Meyer, who is now eleven years of age and he has

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been with the Carvers since he was a little child, seven years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Carver deserve much credit and commendation for the admirable manner in which they are rearing the lad. He is being given all the care, attention, and opportunities their own son would have been given and every parent in Bates county knows full well just what that means. Mr. and Mrs. Carver have done no small deed of kindness. Last year, Frank Meyer attended school making a perfect record in atten- dance. When Mr. Carver was eighteen years of age, he opened his first bank account with the William E. Walton Bank of Butler, Mis- souri, putting in as much as five dollars! For forty years, he has con- tinued to transact his banking business with this financial institution. Master Frank is following in his foster father's footsteps and now at the age of eleven years has started a bank account.

When Mrs. Carver's father came to Missouri in 1837, he came in a wagon drawn by yokes of oxen. A few years later, he returned to North Carolina to transact some business and he went back to his old home, riding horseback, to North Carolina and from his old homestead back to Missouri. Mr. Carver recalls how the people of this vicinity used to drive their stock to East Lynne for shipment, when he was a youth, and he has often assisted in driving hogs to market. Both he and Mrs. Carver have borne their parts well in life and are destined to be long remembered as citizens who aided materially in the upbuild- ing of their community, township, and county.

James William Darby, of Butler, a retired agriculturist of Walnut township, Bates county, ex-justice of the peace of Walnut township, a former prosperous grain merchant of Foster, Missouri, is one of Missouri's native sons. Mr. Darby was born in 1853 in St. Louis county, Missouri, a son of Andrew and Nancy (King) Darby. Andrew W. Darby was born in North Carolina, March 21, 1814, a member of one of the leading colonial families of the South. He came to Missouri with his father in 1820. The senior Darby died and is buried in St. Louis county, Missouri. Andrew W. Darby and Mrs. Darby, a native of St. Louis county, Missouri, and a member of one of the oldest fami- lies of this state, moved from St. Louis county to Henry county in 1877 and there resided on a farm adjoining Brownington the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of the following children : Lavenia. who died in Bates county, Missouri, in 1909 and is buried in the ceme- tery at Brownington; J. T., who died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, about 1912 and his remains were interred in a cemetery at that place :

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Mary A., the wife of Mr. Duvall, of Clinton, Missouri; James W., the subject of this review; Miss Pinkey King, of Clinton, Missouri; and Mrs. Sallie E. Stevens, Clinton, Missouri. The mother died in 1890 and four years later she was joined in death by her husband, in 1894. The remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Brownington, Missouri.

James William Darby obtained his education in private schools in St. Louis county, Missouri, and later attended the Manchester Paro- chial School. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty- seven years of age and then began farming independently in Bates county, Missouri, to which county he came in 1880. Mr. Darby pur- chased at that time one hundred twenty acres of land and resided on it for sixteen years, when he retired from the active pursuits of agri- culture, rented his country place, and moved to Foster, Missouri, where he entered the grain business in connection with the Cannon Elevator Company. While a resident of Foster, Mr. Darby was elected justice of the peace of Walnut township, a position which he capably filled for seventeen years. In March, 1915, he removed to Butler and has since been one of the valued residents of this city. In 1892, he opened a coal mine on his farm in Walnut township, a vein three feet in thickness which is still being operated.

The marriage of James William Darby and Jennie Jennings, of Bates county, Missouri, was solemnized in 1880. Mrs. Darby died in 1909. January 24, 1916, Mr. Darby and Mattie Newkirk, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Oliver and Eliza Newkirk, of Tazewell county, Illinois, were united in marriage. The Newkirks came to Missouri from Illinois in 1882 and settled in Walnut township, where both the father and mother later died and their remains are now buried. Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Newkirk were the parents of twelve children, four of whom are now living: John, Foster, Missouri; Mrs. Rosa Gardner, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Mrs. Sadie Izatt, Pittsburg, Kansas; and Mrs. James William Darby, the wife of the subject of this review; and those deceased are Allie and Dema and six children who died in infancy.

Hon. Charles A. Denton .- A citizen's value to the state is usually measured by the accomplishment of a task which time alone proves to. have been of value to his fellow-men. An individual who has originated and placed in practice a real reform, and has done something worth while which stands out as having proven to be of inestimable benefit to his fellow-men, is a man worthy of commendation and his place in

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history is secure for all time to come. To Judge Charles A. Denton, able attorney, jurist, former judge of the circuit court, and political leader of his party in Bates county, belongs the credit for the instiga- tion of the present pardon board for the penal institutions of Missouri, a great and meritorious work which was inaugurated by him during his term of office as pardon attorney under the administration of Gov- ernor Herbert S. Hadley. In this great work, Judge Denton, while placing in actual practice his ideas of handling the problem of pardon- ing and paroling delinquents who had been condemned to punishment for transgressing the state laws, performed a service to mankind which years have proven to be of incalculable value and which gives him a place of honor as the doer of a public service.

Charles A. Denton was born on a farm in Adams county, near Quincy, Illinois, September 25, 1854. He is a son of Edmund and Jemima (Whitney) Denton, natives of Fleming county, Kentucky. Edmund P. Denton was born on April 1, 1832, and took up farming as his life vocation upon attaining young manhood. He removed to Illinois, where after residing for one year in Adams county, he made a permanent settlement in Hancock county. He became successful as a farmer and stockman, and was extensively engaged in breeding and dealing in fine livestock for a number of years. He became prominently identi- fied with political and public affairs in Hancock county and served for fourteen years as postmaster of Hamilton, Illinois. He also filled the office of member of the board of county supervisors in Hancock county. His life was a long and useful one and he died, highly respected through- out Hancock county, in May, 1911. His wife, Jemima, was born Decem- ber 24, 1832, and departed this life in June, 1889. Edmund and Jemima Denton were parents of eight children, of whom Charles A. is the eldest.

The early education of Judge C. A. Denton was obtained in the public schools of Hancock county, Illinois, following which he pursued a course in the Lutheran College at Carthage, Illinois, and the Uni- versity of Illinois at Champaign. He entered the State University when twenty years of age and was self-supporting while obtaining his collegiate training. Illness, however, prevented the completion of his university course and in 1874, he went to Kentucky in the hope of regaining his health. While a resident of Kentucky he continued his studies under private instructors, and upon returning to his home state he took up the study of law in the law offices of George McCreary, James Hagerman, and Frank Hagerman, the former of whom became

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History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 66

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