USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 75
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In 1909, George N. Yost and Sophia Schapeler were united in marriage. Sophia (Schapeler) Yost is a daughter of Ferdinand and Katy (Kauffman) Schapeler, of Pleasant Gap township. Both parents of Mrs. Yost are now deceased. To George N. and Sophia Yost have been born three children: Vera, Helen, and Lloyd George.
Fraternally, George N. Yost is affiliated with the Papinsville Chap- ter No. 140, of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, joining in 1906. Mr. Yost is at present chairman of the Prairie township chap- ter of the Red Cross. Politically, he is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party.
William Frank Finklang, of Prairie township, secretary and treas- urer of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman, was born November 9, 1878 at Her- mann, Missouri, a son of Jacob and Minnie (Vogelsang) Finklang, natives of Germany. Jacob Finklang came to the United States in 1853 and located at Hermann, Missouri, where he was married in 1861 and resided until 1882, when he moved with his family to Bates county and followed his trade of blacksmithing at Papinsville, then a flourishing town. Mr. Finklang enlisted in the Civil War in 1861 at St. Louis and
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served under General Lyons, who fell in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The day before the engagement, the regiment in which Jacob Finklang was serving was sent to Jefferson City to guard the capital and thus he was not in the battle. He served faithfully and well for twenty- nine months, when he was honorably discharged and he returned to his home at Hermann, Missouri, whence he came to Bates county. Mrs. Finklang, mother of William Frank, died at Hermann. Mr. Finklang was again married, his second wife being Mrs. Mary Bollweg, to whom he was wedded in 1890. He died March 4, 1918, and his widow resides at Rockville, Missouri. Interment was made for Jacob Finklang in the cemetery of the German Reformed Church in Prairie township, of which he was a highly respected member and earnest worker since 1890. Besides his widow, Jacob Finklang left the following children : Bertha, the wife of Briska Siedler, of Hermann, Missouri; Henry, who is in the employ of the Santa Fe Railway Company at Dodge City, Kan- sas; William Frank, the subject of this review; Ludwig, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Mis- souri; Mary, the wife of Albert Kaepili, of Meridian, Mississippi; Lena, who is now taking a course in nursing at St. Joseph, Missouri; and Anna, who resides at home with her mother at Rockville, Missouri.
In the public schools of Bates county, William Frank Finklang obtained his elementary education, which was later supplemented by two years' college work at Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mis- souri. After leaving college, Mr. Finklang entered the employ of the Simmons Hardware Company at St. Louis, Missouri, and for two and a half years remained with this company, after which he was employed by the Rock Island Railway Company at Forsyth Junction, St. Louis, Mis- souri, for five and a half years. He then settled on his present farm of eighty acres, one and a half miles northwest of Prairie City. Mr. Finklang is the owner of a splendid farm and he is successfully engaged in raising cattle and hogs and in general farming.
December 27, 1903, William Frank Finklang and Frederika Schape- ler were united in marriage. Mrs. Finklang is a daughter of Ferdi- nand and Jacobine ( Kauffman) Schapeler, of Prairie township, Bates county, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Finklang have been born five chil- dren, four of whom are now living: Calvin, Ella, Meta, Pauline, and Paul, who died in infancy.
Mr. Finklang manifests a most commendable interest in civic and political affairs and he has capably filled the office of assessor of Prairie
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township for three terms, or six years. He is secretary and treasurer and one of the members of the directorate of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville, Missouri, a company composed of ninety-eight stockholders organized February 1, 1915, proprietor of the Farmers Elevator at Rock- ville. The present capital stock of the Farmers' Equity Union is sixty- five hundred dollars. The shares are valued at twenty-five dollars each and no one may hold more than eight shares. This company is grow- ing and prospering to a marked degree and is now one of the foremost grain firms in Bates county. Politically, Mr. Finklang is a stanch Repub- lican.
William Frank Finklang is an enterprising American, of progressive spirit and stands for everything which promises the betterment of his county and community. Mr. Finklang has had a wide experience in business affairs and seldom engages in enterprises which do not even- tually redound to his advantage, thus proving his judgment sound and discriminating, his knowledge of men keen, his endowment of good com- mon sense plentiful.
E. H. Hirni, of Prairie township, Bates county, was born at Pap- insville in 1886, a son of Christian and Lena (Wirtz) Hirni, the father, a native of Switzerland and the mother, of Illinois. Christian Hirni came to Illinois with his father, Christian Hirni, who was a member of Napoleon Bonaparte's bodyguard when he, the son, was three years of age and later located at Papinsville, Missouri, in 1869, at which place he was engaged in conducting a butcher shop for a few years. After- ward, he and Jacob Hirni and Mart Bennett operated the old Papinsville mill, the only mill in this vicinity, none being nearer than Pleasanton, Linn county, Kansas. E. H. Hirni still has a part of the boiler, which is now used as a reservoir tank in the stock yards of his country place. It was originally twenty-eight feet in length, including the fire box and all fixtures. The burr-stone was quartz rock containing irregular cavi- ties and made a good millstone. Christian Hirni was elected treasurer of Bates county in 1890 and he left a most honorable record of efficient management, being probably the most capable man who has ever held this office. Mr. Hirni gave special attention to collecting back taxes and he was instrumental in the accumulation of so large a fund obtained from this one source that Bates county was out of debt at the close of his term of office. Mr. Hirni was a most valued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville. He died in 1912, leaving a widow who resides at Rockville, Missouri, and fifteen children. He had been
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married three times, his second wife being a cousin of his first wife and the third wife was a Miss Lena Wirtz.
E. H. Hirni, the subject of this review, was educated in the public schools of Papinsville, Missouri, and practically all his life he has been engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He is now cultivating a good farm, embracing one hundred sixty-four acres of land in Prairie town- ship, located two miles north of Prairie City. All the improvements on the place are in excellent repair and with the exception of the residence all have been placed there by Mr. Hirni. The barn is well constructed, 32 x 60 feet in dimensions and thirty-three feet to cone. The farm is well supplied with good water from a drilled well, drilled in the autumn of 1917, three hundred four feet in depth, the water from which is so abundantly supplied with natural salts that the stock require none addi- tional. Mr. Hirni has sixty head of cattle, eight to ten horses, and fifty head of Duroc Jersey hogs constantly on his place and of his present herd of cattle twenty are registered Aberdeen Angus. Mr. Hirni is an enthusiastic "booster" of red clover as a soil builder, profitable crop, and stock conditioner.
January 7. 1909, E. H. Hirni and Alma Hirschi were united in mar- riage. Alma (Hirschi) Hirni is a daughter of Gottlieb and Emma (Ham- mer) Hirschi, formerly of Pleasant Gap township, now residents of Rock- ville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Hirni are the parents of four children : Alma Adelaide, Ruby Gladiola, Leroy Hirschi, and Troy Edward.
In the spring of 1917. E. H. Hirni was elected trustee of Prairie township and he is now serving in this capacity. He is the treasurer of Consolidated School District No. 7. Mr. Hirni is vice-president of the Farmers' Equity Union of Rockville and a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of Rockville. He is township committeeman of Prairie township and a stanch Republican in politics. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Papinsville, as was his father before him. E. H. Hirni is distinctively one of the leading men of his township, a citizen of much more than local repute, a respected son of one of Bates county's honored pioneers.
Mr. Hirni is probably the only citizen of Bates county who has in his possession a piece of lumber taken from the old wooden bridge which spanned the river at Papinsville. This piece of lumber is five by ten inches and is a part of Mr. Hirni's scales.
Albert B. Thurman, a successful and prominent agriculturist and sheep raiser of Mingo township, is a representative of one of the pio-
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neer families of Warren county, Missouri, a son of F. A. Thurman, who came to Missouri from Franklin county, Kentucky, when two years of age, in 1831, with his parents. The Thurmans settled on land in War- ren county and there F. A. Thurman was reared to maturity. He came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1879 and located on the Highley place in Mingo township, purchasing later forty acres of prairie land from the widow of Doctor Tuttle, of Adrian. To F. A. and Armilda (Sher- man) Thurman, the latter a native of Warren county, Missouri, were born the following children : Henry, who died at the age of fifteen years; Mrs. Susan Robinson, deceased; Mrs. Mollie Laughlin, who died in Colo- rado; Mrs. Huldah Mickleberry, deceased ; Mrs. Rebecca Jones, who died in Colorado; Albert B., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Maggie Crow, of Wenatchee, Washington; and five children died in infancy. The mother died in October, 1886, and interment was made in West ceme- tery. Mr. Thurman survived his wife five years, when in July, 1891, they were united in death and he, too, was laid to rest in West cemetery.
Albert B. Thurman attended school at Peter Creek school house in a district composed of the west half of Mingo township. This school house was erected before the Civil War and during the conflict was used as a dwelling. It was about 24 x 32 feet in dimensions, and for many years one of the land-marks in Bates county. John Witten, of Johnstown, Missouri, was Albert B. Thurman's first instructor. The following families sent children to Peter Creek school house to be edu- cated: Thornburgs, Settles, Staleys, Gilberts, Wolfenbergers, Utleys, Cumptons, Graggs, Lakeys, and Mays and Judge Nicholas and Dr. Lee Bradley, of Warrensburg, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Thur- man engaged in farming and stock raising in Mingo township and with the exception of two years has been continuously employed in these vocations in this township to the date of this writing in 1918. Mr. Thurman purchased his present home in 1901 for seventeen and a half dollars an acre from Thomas J. Suttles and since acquiring the owner- ship of the farm has made it one of the splendid country places in Mingo township. He has followed sheep raising for the past twelve years and has had as many as two hundred head of Shropshires and Oxfords on the farm at one time, but he now has probably one hundred. He raises high-grade animals and finds the production of wool very profitable. Mr. Thurman sold the first wool produced for eleven cents a pound, which price compared with the present market quotations of ninety cents to one dollar presents a striking-and to the producer-very satis- factory difference.
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March 27, 1894, Albert B. Thurman and Eva Stayton, a daughter of J. W. and Nancy (Hendrickson) Stayton, were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Stayton were both born in Adair county, Kentucky. The Staytons came to Bates county in 1881 and Mr. Stayton now resides on his farm near Aaron, Missouri. To Albert B. and Mrs. Thurman has been born one child, a daughter, Ruey, who is now the wife of George Wells, of Mingo township. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are the parents of two children : Eva and Lucille. Mr. Wells is the owner of a valuable farm comprising eighty acres of land located two and one-fourth miles north- east of Aaron, Missouri, a part of the old John Massey place.
Mr. Thurman takes a most commendable interest in public affairs and he has held the office of constable and of collector of Mingo town- ship. He was a candidate for judge of the county court from this dis- trict in 1916.
Willie M. Hardinger .- The Hardinger family is one of the oldest and most prominent families in Bates county, and the subject of this review has been a resident of this county since 1867. His fine farm of two hundred forty acres in Charlotte township is widely known as the "Cloverdale Stock Farm," one of finely improved places in the county, and noted for its crop production and livestock. Mr. Hardinger was born in Linn county, Iowa, September 21, 1866, and is a son of William Nathaniel and Mary E. (Berryhill) Hardinger, late prominent residents of Bates county.
William Nathaniel Hardinger was born in Bedford county, Penn- sylvania, in the year 1837, and was a son of George and Mary Hardinger. His parents removed to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1852, and in 1856 he removed to Linn county, Iowa, where he followed farming until his removal to Bates county in 1867. In 1865 he married Mary E. Berry- hill, a native of Linn county, Iowa, and who was born in 1843, a daughter of Joseph and Jane (Butler) Berryhill, the former a native of Ohio and the latter a native of Michigan. When Mr. Hardinger came to Bates county he located on section 35 in Charlotte township and improved one hundred twenty acres of land. In 1880 he made a trip to California and remained there until 1881, when he returned and erected a store building at Virginia, conducted a store there for a little over a year and then disposed of the business to George Short. For his first forty acres bought in this county he paid ten dollars an acre. Mr. Hardinger continued to reside upon his farm until his death on Sep- tember 23, 1917. His death marked the passing of one of the best known and best beloved citizens of the county, whose honesty and
WILLIE M. HARDINGER AND FAMILY.
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Christianity were proverbial. For many years he was identified with the Presbyterian church and was active in church work. He was promi- nently identified with the Democratic party and served for a time as justice of the peace of his township. His wife had preceded him in death eleven years, her death having occurred in March, 1906. Willie M. Hardinger, subject of this review, is the only child of his parents.
The education of Willie M. Hardinger was supplemented by a course in the Butler Academy and he then settled down to the life of a tiller of the soil. All of the days of his residence in Bates county have been spent on the Hardinger farm. He has increased the original acre- age to two hundred forty acres, he and his wife owning one hun- dren twenty acres about three miles distant. "The Cloverdale Stock Farm" is located about one and a half miles south and five and a half miles west of Butler. Mr. Hardinger carries on general farming activities and raises Red Polled and Shorthorn cattle for the markets.
He was married, May 24, 1888, to Ida L. McElroy, who was born and reared in Charlotte township, a daughter of William A. McElroy, an early settler of this township. Mr. and Mrs. Hardinger have four living children: Lee M., who is married and resides upon one of his father's farms; Elmer, Arthur, and Ruth, at home with their parents.
William A. McElroy, father of Mrs. Hardinger, was born Septem- ber 27, 1839, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Humphrey) McElroy, both natives of the Buckeye . state. The family settled in Fulton county, Illinois, in 1844. The mother died in 1878 leaving five children. William A. McElroy was reared to young manhood in Illinois and during the Civil War, he served in the Seventy- second Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry. On August 30, 1866 he married Miss Sarah J. Drum, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, May 23, 1844. In 1869 Mr. McElroy located on section 28, in Charlotte township and has resided in Bates county for nearly fifty years. The following children were born to them: Mary C. Drysdale, on the old home place ; Minnie E. Hendrickson, Los Angeles, California; Nellie B. Burk, Charlotte township; Ida L., wife of the subject of this review; Frank W., Texas; and Clarence J., Arizona.
Mr. Hardinger has been more or less active in political affairs since attaining his majority and has always been a supporter of the Demo- cratic party. During Governor Folk's administration he received the appointment of county assessor of Bates county and ably performed the duties of this office. He has also served as justice of the peace and as township assessor. He is affiliated fraternally with the Butler Lodges,
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Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and Mrs. Hardinger are members of the Presby- terian church and take an active interest in church works. Mr. Har- dinger is a director of the Missouri State Bank of Butler and takes a prominent part in all county movements of a meritorious and beneficial character.
Willis Isaiah Yeates, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Mingo township, is one of Bates county's representative citizens. Mr. Yeates was born November 24, 1846, in Kentucky, a son of John D. and Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates. Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates was a great-niece of Daniel Boone, the most famous of American scouts, pio- neers, and hunters. Mr. and Mrs. Yeates came to this state from Ken- tucky in 1851 and located in Franklin county on Labadie bottom land. They came to Bates county in 1883 and settled on a farm in Mingo township, where they spent the remainder of their lives. John D. Yeates purchased the country place, where his son, Willis Isaiah, now resides and at one time his estate embraced two hundred five acres of valuable farm land in Mingo township. Mr. Yeates was engaged in farming and stock raising. To John D. and Anna E. Yeates were born the following children: Willis Isaiah, the subject of this sketch; John Thomas, who now resides in Texas; William Samuel, deceased; Mrs. Martha Mildred Shelton, New Haven, Franklin county, Missouri ; James E., Seattle, Washington; Mrs. Mary E. Doherty, of Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri ; and Mrs. Rose Ingham. of Henry county. Sam- uel Boone, a brother of Anna Elizabeth (Boone) Yeates, erected the first building, a cabin, in Paola, Kansas, at a time when the Miami Indians still haunted that section of the country. The father and mother both died in Mingo township, Bates county, and they are buried in Cove Creek cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Yeates were held in the highest respect and esteem in their community and they were widely and favorably known throughout Bates county.
Willis I. Yeates received his education in the public schools of Franklin county, Missouri. On account of the necessarily primitive conditions of pioneer life and the hardships imposed by the Civil War, Mr. Yeates enjoyed but few educational advantages or opportunities of any sort. The school house which he attended was a rude log struc- ture, having a dirt floor. He came to Bates county in 1883 and pur- chased eighty acres of land, which he still owns, and to his original holdings he has since added two tracts of land, one comprising eighty
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acres, the other twenty-two acres of timber land. Mr. Yeates built his present residence in 1909, situated on the Urich and Creighton road. The Yeates place is nicely improved and well kept. Mr. Yeates is not now actively engaged in farm work, but rents his land.
June 3, 1908 Willis I. Yeates and Kate L. Board were united in marriage. Kate L. (Board) Yeates is a daughter of John and Mary (Duvall) Board, who came to Bates county in 1875. Both parents of Mrs. Yeates are now deceased and their remains are interred in Oak Hill cemetery in Spruce township. Mr. and Mrs. John Board were the parents of the following children: Thomas Board, Rockville, Missouri; James W., Altona, Missouri; . Mrs. Annie Stayton, Aaron, Missouri ; Mrs. Eleanor Poage, Marshall, Missouri; Mrs. Cora McRoberts, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Ida Rexrode, Adrian, Missouri. By a former marriage Mr. Yeates is the father of one child, a son, John Thomas, of Mingo township.
Fraternally, Mr. Yeates is affiliated with the Wadesburg lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Creighton, Missouri and was formerly a member of the Johnstown lodge. In earlier days, Judge Estes Smith and Mr. Yeates together attended the meetings of the Wadesburg lodge. Mr. Yeates has always taken an active interest in the public affairs of his township and county and he is recognized as a public-spirited citizen in his community.
William Henry Charters, a late prominent farmer and stockman of Bates county, Missouri, the one who pushed the big bone Poland China hogs to the front in western Missouri, was a native of New York City. He moved with his parents to the state of Ohio, when he was a child five years of age, and in that state was reared and educated.
In 1881, Mr. Charters came to Bates county, Missouri and pur- chased sixty acres of land. He later added to his original purchase a forty-acre tract of land, making a nice farm of one hundred acres located nine miles east of Butler. Mr. Charters brought with him, when he came to Missouri from Ohio, a big bone Poland China hog and he devoted his time, attention, and energies to introducing this breed of hogs in this section of the country. His son, William Henry, Jr., has continued the work begun by his father and is now one of the leading producers of big bone Poland Chinas in Bates and adjoining counties. The hogs shipped from Ohio are from the Clever herd, a celebrated herd of Poland China hogs in that state. Prior to his coming to Mis- souri, Mr. Charters was manager of the Greenwood herd of Shorthorn
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Durham cattle, the most famous herd of Durhams in the United States, for twelve years on the farm located ten miles west of London, Ohio.
The marriage of William Henry Charters and Margaret Carroll was solemnized at London, Ohio in 1880. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was born in Morgan county, Ohio, a daughter of Philip and Margaret Carroll, the former, a native of Pennsylvania and the latter, of New York City. Both Mr. and Mrs. Carroll were reared and educated in the state of Ohio. The Carrolls came to Bates county, Missouri in 1881 and settled on a farm in Deepwater township, a country place located nine miles east of Butler, where they still reside. Mr. Carroll is now at the advanced age of eighty-seven years and his wife is but three years his junior. To Philip and Margaret Carroll were born the following children: Mrs. Margaret (Carroll) Charters, the widow of the subject of this review; M. V., of Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. E. S. Onion, Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Rose Clark, Chicago, Illinois; George, of Woodward, Oklahoma; Mrs. Celia Hubbard, Kincaid, Kan- sas; Frank, Spruce, Missouri; Clark, of Butler, Missouri; and two sons, James and John, who are deceased. Margaret (Carroll) Charters was educated partly in a convent at London, Ohio and partly in the public schools of Madison county, Ohio. William Henry and Margaret (Car- roll) Charters were the parents of five children, who are now living: Mrs. Aline Herman, the wife of John A. Herman, Jr., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; William Henry, Jr., Butler, Missouri; Mrs. Lola Young, Spruce, Missouri; Mrs. Mabel Smith, Spruce, Mis- souri; and L. J., an electrician and machinist, Wichita, Kansas. Mr. Charters, Sr. was accidentally killed in an automobile tragedy on July 5, 1916 when sixty-five years of age. His remains were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler. Mrs. Charters resides in the city of Butler at 314 West Mill street.
William Henry Charters was a model stockman and a careful farmer, as the splendid condition of his place in Bates county attested, and as a business man he was noted for clear insight and sound judg- ment which rarely failed to redound to his advantage. He was an "all- round man," earnest in his purpose, candid in his relations with his fellowmen, honorable and upright in all his transactions. He was held in the highest esteem by his neighbors.
John A. Herman, Jr., a successful agriculturist of Shawnee town- ship, a capable and popular merchant of Culver. Missouri, is one of the county's prosperous and progressive, young citizens. Mr. Herman, Jr.,
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