USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 68
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Troy F. Brown, merchant, founder and proprietor of the Fair Oaks Mercantile Establishment, Hudson township, is a Bates county citizen to whom opportunity beckoned-he heeded, and established a business where there was none before. Mr. Brown conceived the idea that a general store and trading establishment would do well in a certain location far from a town or village. In fact, he had a "hunch" that
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he could make good in the general mercantile field, and on May 1, 1917, he built his store and began business at a point in the heart of Round Prairie, eight and one-half miles southwest of Appleton City, and seven and a half miles northwest of Rockville, on section 21, just north of Round Prairie Baptist church. The store has made good and he is caring for a patronage that has ever been increasing. The store building is 20 x 40 feet in dimensions with a basement under the main floor and well stocked with a general line of goods. Mr. Brown pur- chases the produce of the surrounding farms at fair prices, hauls the pro- duce to Appleton City by motor truck and on the return trip brings the commodities in demand for his patrons. His business is conducted systematically, the McCaskey System of accounting having been installed and the store is kept up to the minute in many particulars.
Troy F. Brown, himself, was born in Hudson township, January 1, 1882, the son of W. G. and Mary E. Brown, an account of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Brown was educated in the pub- lic schools of Appleton City and worked on the home farm after com- pleting his schooling. He went to New Mexico in 1908 and remained in that state until 1911, at which time he returned home and engaged in the hardware and furniture business at Bolivar and Appleton City, Missouri, until establishing his own business in 1917. Mr. Brown is a born business man and enjoys his latest venture inasmuch as he is making a pronounced success of the enterprise. A look at Mr. Brown's latest calendar issued to his patrons will give a fair indication of his live-wire methods. He has adopted the following phrase as the slogan of his store: "If it comes from Fair Oaks, you will know it's good- the Newest Town in Bates."
The marriage of Troy F. Brown and Miss Bertha Hegnauer was solemnized in 1905. They have two children, namely: Ramona Arlene; and Wilma Elaine. Mrs. Bertha Brown is a daughter of Martin Hegnauer, of Rockville, Missouri, and was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
Harrison Philbrick, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, one of the wealthiest landowners of the county, sur- veyor of Bates county from 1868 until 1880, was a native of New Hamp- shire. Mr. Philbrick was born in 1840 at Rye in Rockingham county, a son of Daniel and Sarah Ann Philbrick, both of whom were natives of New Hampshire. Sarah Ann Philbrick was a relative of Daniel Webster, New Hampshire's most famous son, the most prominent figure in the history of our country in the interval between 1815 and 1861, a world- renowned statesman, diplomat, and orator.
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HARRISON PHILBRICK.
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Harrison Philbrick was a graduate of the New Hampton Theo- logical Seminary. He was a civil engineer in the early days in New York and in Ohio. Mr. Philbrick came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1867 and located temporarily in Hudson township. He moved to Butler in 1868 and seven years later moved to his country place now managed and occupied by his son, George Craig Philbrick. At the time the Phil- bricks settled in Bates county, the country was open prairie and to their home Papinsville was the nearest town and postoffice. Harrison Phil- brick was elected surveyor of Bates county in 1868 and for twelve years capably served in this county office. He became interested in stock raising after he had moved to his farm in 1875 and was in recent years one of the leading stockmen in western Missouri, raising cattle, hogs, horses, and sheep. At the time of his death in 1916, the Philbrick estate embraced nearly one thousand acres of land, which is still in the Philbrick name. The residence, a handsome structure of eleven rooms and two stories, was built in 1875 and remodeled and rebuilt in 1884, is one of the most conspicuous rural homes in the county. The farm, which was the original purchase of Mr. Philbrick, is supplied with all modern conveniences for facilitating the handling of stock and grain and the land is abundantly watered. George Craig Philbrick now has charge of the home place, the farm where he was born, and farms three hundred fifty acres of land which he owns. His sister, Lillie Haven, is his housekeeper. Miss Lillie Philbrick was educated in the city schools of Butler, Missouri, and is well known in Bates county. The Philbrick homestead is located four miles southeast of Rich Hill, Missouri, one of the valuable prairie farms of this vicinity, just above the overflow of the Marais des Cygnes.
The marriage of Harrison Philbrick and Jane Eastman, of Meredith, New Hampshire, was solemnized in 1868. To this union were born the following children: Lillie Haven, of whom previous mention has been made in this sketch; Ira Perley, who is engaged in farming and stock raising on a part of the home place ; Daniel Eastman, a farmer and stock- man on a part of the home place: George Craig, who resides on the original home farm; and Nellie, the wife of Willie Wills, of Neosho, Missouri. The mother died in 1885 and interment was made in the cemetery at Rich Hill, Missouri. Harrison Philbrick was united in marriage with Emma Lane in 1887. Emma (Lane) Philbrick was a n'ative of Ohio. She died in 1915 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Rich Hill. Mr. Philbrick died December 8, 1916, and he. too, was laid to rest in the Rich Hill cemetery.
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Harrison Philbrick was a gentleman of unusual intellectuality, broad perspective, and clearly defined principles. Honor and integrity were synonymous with his name and he enjoyed the unlimited respect, con- fidence, and regard of the people of Bates county. As a neighbor, there was none better, as a friend, there could be none truer, and on the roll of Bates county's best citizens the name of Harrison Philbrick will always be accorded an honorable place.
Dr. William C. Requa was one of the ablest men sent out by the United Foreign Missionary Board. The impression generally prevails here that he was connected with Harmony; but this is error. He was sent to Union Mission near Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma, in 1820, a year previous, to the settlement at Harmony and that was the field of his labors for about twelve years, but he frequently visited Harmony for the purpose of studying the Osage language under the tutorship of a Mr. Williams, agent and interpreter at the United States factory only one mile down the river from Harmony station; and he translated parts of the New Testament into the Osage language. On October 2, 1822, following the earlier example of Brother Fuller, also of Union station, he wooed and won Miss Susan Comstock, of the Harmony station, formerly of Wilton, Connecticut, and carried her off in triumph to Union, where there seems to have been great dirth of "females and mechanics," as one of the writers states it. She came with him to Bates county, after Union station was abandoned, and died here in 1833. Two sons and a daughter of Doctor Requa by a subsequent marriage still reside on the old homestead in Lone Oak township; and they have preserved a bunch of rare letters, which we have been permitted to read, and which ought to be preserved by some historical society. In a letter from Miss Susan Comstock, dated at Harmony station, May 20, 1822, addressed to her "Dear Mother, Brothers and Sisters," among other curious and interesting things she says: "My friends said I was com- ing to marry an Indian chief. I can inform them that I have had several solicitations of that kind from the head men in the nation, and one from old Sans Nerf, but I think I shall not grace the family with royalty at present. (The words above-"and one from old Sans Nerf"-are stricken out, but easily read.) When I tell them that I can not plant and hoe corn and carry wood on my back they do not urge the matter further."
Now, old Sans Nerf was a chief of importance, and a proposal of marriage from him was a distinct honor; but just why Miss Com-
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stock took the trouble to try to scratch out this interesting fact is a matter of conjecture. Possibly she was thinking then, May 20th, of the scholarly Dr. W. C. Requa, of Union station; or possibly she was afraid if she let the statement go it might in some way get back to "Old Sans Nerf" and hurt his gallant heart. Like Sister Fuller, who married Brother Fuller, in about seven days after the family all got settled at Harmony, she did not have to wait long to become the honored wife of one of the most remarkable men ever sent out by the United Foreign Missionary Board.
After her death in 1833, Doctor Requa married Jane Montgomery, "who lived only one year," in 1837; in 1840 he married Sarah A. Nut- ting, by whom he had nine children. He died in 1886, in his ninety- second year, honored and beloved by all who knew him. The author recalls having met him at his home in 1884, a vigorous-looking old gentleman at that time.
Ira M. Brown, owner of the "Vivo Vista Stock Farm" in Hudson township, is a native-born resident of Bates county and a member of a splendid pioneer family whose members stand high in the citizenship of this county. He was born January 26, 1870, and is a son of William G. and Mary E. (Wells) Brown, old and highly-respected residents of Hudson township, concerning whom an extended biography is given elsewhere in this volume.
"Vivo Vista Stock Farm" is a splendid tract of three hundred and twenty acres of well tilled and highly productive land located eight and a half miles southwest of Appleton City and exactly the same dis- tance northwest of Rockville. This farm is well stocked with high-grade Shorthorn cattle, registered Duroc Jersey hogs, and some fine horses and mules. Mr. Brown is a large feeder of livestock and his farm is arranged for handling large numbers of cattle and hogs. The farm equipment includes in the way of buildings, a metal-covered cow barn, a large horse barn, and a commodious hog house. In addition, there is a silo 14 × 30 feet in dimensions with a four-foot concrete base- ment. Mr. Brown purchased the land in 1895 from Shelby Brown and placed all of the improvements thereon. He built his residence in 1896. There are two wells on the place, 87 and 120 feet in depth, respec- tively, which show traces of an oil deposit on the land. A vein of coal twenty-six inches in thickness underlies part of the land. Mrs. Brown is a well-known breeder of Barred Plymouth Rock poultry, as well as the pure-bred Buff Orpington breed-a vocation which she has followed
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for the past twenty years with pronounced success. She is also a breeder and raiser of White China and Bourbon Red turkeys. She was one of the organizers of the National Bourbon Red Turkey Club and is now the secretary and treasurer of this organization, which has a member- ship covering many states of the Union. When the national exhibits are held her turkeys placed on exhibition invariably win premiums and ribbons. She carried away every premium offered at the World's Fair held at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1893. The National Club was organ- ized in 1907. The following are the national officers: Mrs. G. W. Price, Belmont, Ohio, president : Mrs. Clyde H. Meyers, Fredonia, Kan- sas, vice-president ; Mrs. Minnie M. Brown, secretary and treasurer.
Ira M. Brown received his education in the public schools of his native county and the Appleton City Academy. In 1891 he went to Oklahoma and for a time followed farming in that state. He also taught two terms of school during the winter of 1891 and 1892. In 1893 he became connected with the Overstreet Mercantile Company as book- keeper and remained with this concern for some time. In 1895 he returned to Bates county and engaged permanently in farming and stock raising. Success has attended his efforts.
Mr. Brown was married in 1892 to Miss Minnie Maud Browning, a daughter of F. P. and Louisa Browning, of Hudson township. Her father died in October, 1900, and her mother resides upon the Brown- ing home farm in Hudson township. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two. children: George Francis Quincy Brown, and Trucy Warren Brown.
Mr. Brown is president of the Bates County Mutual Fire and Light- ning Insurance Company and served as director of this company prior to his election as president in 1913. He has been a member of the company since 1896 and it is one of the strongest insurance concerns in this section of Missouri. This company has nearly $2,000.000 worth of insurance policies in force. Gottlieb Hirshi is secretary and August Fischer is treasurer.
William Conrad, well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson town- ship, is a native of Germany, was born in 1854, the son of Frederick and Dora Conrad, who immigrated to America from their native coun- try in search of a home and substance in 1869. The Conrad family first resided in Henry county, Illinois, where they were engaged in farm- ing for three years. In 1872, they located in Nebraska and home- steaded land in that state and practically every member of the family became prosperous and became owners of farms in the then new West-
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ern country. This was the homestead era in Nebraska and thousands of homeseekers poured into the state from the eastern part of the United States and from the crowded countries of the Old World. The Conrads settled in York county, Nebraska and after a few years of hardships were well satisfied with their new environments. Frederick Conrad died in Nebraska and his widow came to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on the farm now owned by her son William. She died on the farm in 1906 and her remains were interred in the cemetery at Apple- ton City. The Conrad children are as follow: Frederick, who formerly lived in Hudson township, and now resides in Nebraska. Marie and Dora died in Nebraska; and William.
Since coming to Bates county in 1894, William Conrad has been engaged in farming and stock raising in Hudson township. Of late years he has turned over the greater part of the task of managing his farm to his son. The Conrad farm consists of two hundred thirty acres and is located five miles northwest of Rockville and five miles southwest of Appleton City. The farm is well watered and especially adapted for stock raising, a branch of Panther creek flowing through the tract, and furnishing an ample water supply at all seasons of the year. Mr. Conrad purchased his farm from James M. Gwinn in 1894 and has since rebuilt the farm residence, it now being a comfortable structure of nine rooms. The large barn which is 42 x 48 feet in size, and sixteen feet to the square, is built of native lumber. Mr. Conrad keeps both Shorthorn and Jersey cattle and raises hogs, horses and mules.
William Conrad was married in 1873 to Albertina Reetz, of York county, Nebraska, a daughter of Martin and Mary Reetz, the former of whom is deceased, the latter is living in York county. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad have eight children : Clara, wife of Henry Heine, Merrill, Wis- consin : Lillie, wife of John Lambenstein, Hudson township; Otto, Bene- dict, Nebraska; John, Hudson township: Rosa, wife of Otto Renken; Walter, is farming the home place ; Albert, conducts a music store and insurance business at Appleton City: Oscar, Appleton City. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad are members of the German Lutheran church at Appleton City. For a period of four years, Mr. Conrad served as trustee of Hudson township and was a member of the township board for the same length of time.
Henry Beard, late of Deepwater township, was one of the early (45)
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settlers of Bates county who was noted for industry, intelligence and his progressive spirit. He was born in Knox county, Ohio, in 1838 and departed this life at his home in the southwestern part of Deep- water township in 1894. He was one of the Kansas pioneers and came from that state to Missouri in 1866 and first located on a farm north- east of Johnstown, where he lived for one year, then rented land in Deepwater township until 1875, at which time he purchased the Beard home place and made his home there until his death. He purchased one hundred acres of land of a Mr. Johnathan in that year and pro- ceeded to develop his property .. He later bought eighty acres more from a Mr. Reed and some time later bought another "eighty," at the time of his death owning two hundred sixty acres of land which was well improved and kept in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Beard erected all of the buildings on the place, set out practically all of the beautiful shade trees and was continually adding to the attractiveness of the home- stead when not engaged in his farming activities. He was one of the most successful stockmen in this section of Bates county and occupied a substantial place in the citizenship of the township and county. His death in 1894 was the occasion for much sorrow among relatives and friends. His life was so lived that a deep impress was left upon the community where he was for many years a valued and worthy member.
On April 21, 1866, Henry Beard and Miss Eliza Kretzinger were united in marriage in Coffey county, Kansas. Mrs. Eliza Kret- zinger Beard was born in Paulding county, Ohio, June 22, 1848, and is a daughter of Nicholas and Margaret ( Kingery) Kretzinger, the former of whom was born in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, and the latter having been a native of Marion county, Ohio. The Kretzingers came west from the old Buckeye state in 1865, and after a short residence in Henry county, they located in Deepwater township, Bates county. In the spring of 1866, Mr. Kretzinger went to Kansas and remained there but a short time, finally returning to Deepwater township, where he lived until his death in 1870. Mrs. Kretzinger died in Bates county in 1910 and her remains were interred in the Dickison cemetery.
The children of the Kretzinger family were: Van, living in Okla- homa; John, Spruce, Missouri; George, Rich Hill, Missouri; William, El Dorado, Missouri: Mrs. Emma Cunningham, Oklahoma; I. M. Kret- zinger, Deepwater township.
Mrs. Eliza Kretzinger Beard was reared and educated in Ohio, and her marriage with Henry Beard was a most happy one and pros-
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perous. Henry and Eliza Beard were parents of the following chil- dren: Charles, Parsons, Kansas; Emma, wife of James Frost, Deep- water township : Edith, wife of James Baker, Deepwater township; John, Summit township; Israel, who is cultivating the old home place; Ava, lives in Lone Oak township; Minnie, wife of John Pharis, living in Canada; Maude, wife of Thomas Parker, Deepwater township; Dora, wife of Claude Thomas, Pleasant Gap township; Nina, wife of Clay McKinley, Hudson township; two sons, Atlee, and Delany, died in youth, the latter dying at the age of thirteen years. Mrs. Beard has forty-nine grandchildren, as follow: Francis, Alta, Ora, Myrtle, Henry, Burley, Leslie, and Albert Beard; Thomas, Leo, and Francis Frost; Roy, Ethel, Ira, Oscar, Lloyd, Zephaniah, and Vera Baker; Harley, Her- schell, Buell, Basil, Cecil, Lucille, Kenneth Beard; Fremont, Rue, Don- ald, Dean, Clyde Beard; Clarice, Wilma and Thurman Beard; Opal, Miles, Rita, Kate, and Bernice Pharis; Gilbert, Warren, Mina, and Josephine Parker; Willis, Norma, and Welton Thomas; Chester, Cecil, Beulah, and Hazel Mckinley.
Mrs. Beard makes her home upon the old place which she and her husband created and where her children were reared to maturity. Although nearing the allotted three score and ten years in age, she is active, mentally alert, and does her own housework and many other duties which fall to woman's lot in and about a farm home. She is an intelligent and sprightly lady who has good and just right to be proud of the fact that she and her late husband reared one of the largest and finest families in Bates county.
Leonard Davis, farmer and stockman, Hudson township, was born in Hudson township in 1879. He is a son of Robert and Elizabeth ( Ford) Davis, the former of whom was born in Bates county and resided here all of his days. Elizabeth (Ford) Davis was a native of Boone county, Missouri. Both of Leonard Davis' parents are deceased, his father having died February 20, 1918, at the age of seventy-three years. Rob- ert Davis was a veteran of the Civil War, Union Army, and reared a family of seven children as follow: Mrs. Sarah Neff, Dodge City, Kansas; Mrs. Charles Zwahlen, Passaic, Missouri; Leonard, subject of this review; Mrs. Emma Gregg, Hudson township; Mrs. William Earsom, Pleasant Gap township; Mrs. Nora Davis, Rio Frio, Texas; Peter Davis, a farmer of Hudson township.
The early education of Leonard Davis was obtained in the Rich Valley school. He lived with his parents and farmed on the home place
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of the family until 1910, when he purchased his present farm of 120 acres from the family of Bernard Brown, a Bates county pioneer. Mr. Davis has thirteen and a third acres of timber land in addition. The Davis farm is nicely located seven miles southwest of Appleton City and eight miles northwest of Rockville. This farm is a fertile and pro- ductive tract and Mr. Davis is engaged in general farming and the rais- ing of cattle and hogs for the market.
On December 22, 1915, Mr. Davis was united in marriage at Clin- ton, Missouri, with Miss Maude Gabriel, a daughter of Earl and Jennie (Andrews) Gabriel, natives of Moniteau county, Missouri, who were parents of the following children: Mrs. Maude Davis, of this review; Dean, now at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago; Ernest, Hudson township; Mrs. Ruth, wife of Fayette Keene, Spruce, Missouri; Ora, King, Carroll, Lena, Pauline, LeRoy, Rita, at home with their parents on the home place in Hudson township.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis have a son, Robert Dean Davis, born Septem- ber 14, 1916. Mr. Davis is independent in his political views and votes accordingly. He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Rockville, Missouri, as was his father before him.
George H. Evans, pioneer, and prosperous farmer of Shawnee town- ship, was born March 20, 1857, on the old Evans homestead now owned by Henry Baunke, and which was entered by his grandfather, Elisha Evans, during the early pioneer days of the thirties of the settle- ment period of Bates county. Elisha Evans was a native of Virginia and made a settlement in Missouri, in the early twenties, residing in Lafayette county prior to making his location in Bates county. The father of George H. Evans was John Evans, born in Lafayette county, Missouri, in 1820 and practically reared in Bates county on the pioneer homestead of the Evans family. After his marriage with Louisiana Glass he continued to reside on the Evans place and made his home here until his death in 1897. He was widely and favorably known throughout Bates county and ably managed his fine farm of ninety acres in this county. Mr. Evans was of the true pioneer type, hos- pitable to the core, and always willing to give the stranger a bed and a place at his table. Whatever he possessed he was willing to share with his fellows, kindly disposed toward his fellow-men and a good. law-abiding citizen. During the Civil War period he removed with his family to Pettis county and made his home there near Sedalia until the war closed. He then returned to his home in Bates county. John
GEORGE H. EVANS AND FAMILY.
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and Louisiana Evans were parents of the following children: Will- iam A., Sheridan, Kansas ; Joel, deceased; Mrs. Parnesia Jane Wainscott, Barber county, Kansas; George H., subject of this review; Nancy and Verilla and Sarah Ellen, deceased; S. P., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Mis- souri Greer; and Mrs. Lovina Greer. John Evans was a veteran of the Mexican War.
The mother of the foregoing children was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of George W. Glass, a pioneer of Bates county who purchased a homestead in Summit township and also entered govern- ment land. Before the outbreak of the Civil War he owned a large tract of land in this county, but later in life he removed to St. Clair county, Missouri, where he died.
The early education of George H. Evans was received in school district Number 1 of Shawnee township, which was located on the Evans farm and located within two hundred yards of the home. This school house was built of logs and was very primitive in its furnishings. Mr. Evans remained at home and assisted his parents until he was twenty-five years of age. He farmed on his own account and in 1883 he bought his present home farm. At the time of the purchase there was but a small house upon the place. During the years that Mr. Evans has resided on his farm he has added to his holdings until he is owner of two hundred acres of the best improved farm land in his section of the county. He has enlarged the residence and practically built his home in 1895. The barn upon his home place was built in 1893. Mr. Evans is engaged in general farming and stock raising.
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