USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 81
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
Elmer Elsworth Laughlin was born and named August 22, 1865,
825
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
in Tama county, Iowa. His father and mother came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1869. E. E. Laughlin's registered farm No. 33, consists of about one thousand five hundred acres, containing some of the best land in Walnut township, and is now almost all in grass and pasture, carrying at present three hundred head of cattle, twenty mules, some horses, a flock of registered Shropshire sheep which supplies rams not only for Bates county but over in Kansas. Besides his Hereford cows, hogs, jennets, and pure-bred Plymouth Rock fowls are not only known at home but abroad.
In 1887, E. E. Laughlin's father gave him one hundred sixty acres of land, the cream of Walnut township. This was not improved until 1893, when he married Miss Nellie Green, of Blue Mound, Kansas, a. daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Mary Green, natives of Saybrook, Illinois. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin's father and mother are both buried at Blue Mound, Kansas. Miss Nellie Green was a most successful school teacher. Commencing at the age of seventeen, she taught school, went to school, thus preparing herself for a most successful busy life. Like her father before her, she never was out of the harness in church work, wherever she was located, and was always consulted at every church meeting. Her mother remembered the preaching of the power- ful Peter Cartwright, which made her a stronger Methodist which was handed to her daughter Nellie, who likewise never thought of deserting the teachings of the home of John M. Green. Mrs. E. E. Laughlin always superintends all the fruit sales and the labor connected with it, which was no small item in the success of the farm. The same is true of the poultry yard. Her home is nine rooms, modern, with accomo- dations for the family and her friends which was designed for her own special wants.
E. E. Laughlin got a degree of B. S. from the Kansas Normal Col- lege, took two years in the Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. The one hundred sixty acres was a stalk field in 1893, so the planning was from the "stump." One of the delights is the absence of nursery trees and the setting of the lawn with forest trees, each having a history of itself. The entrance to the farm through the cement posts was published in agricultural papers, and Mr. Laughlin claims to be the father of this particular design of gate posts. Mr. Laughlin was the first president of the Missouri Corn Growers' Association, lectured on agriculture for four years, but "gabbing" took his mind off business which paid better than "preaching agriculture." A casual look over
826
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
the farmstead one has the impression of a well-planned, make-as-you-go, permanent country home and the historian ventures the guess the only way he will leave this farm is by main strength of the last day. Look him up in one hundred years.
E. E. Laughlin and wife have three boys. Paul V. Laughlin, born in 1895, is equipped with the best business education he could get both at the State Normal and Agricultural College at Columbia, Missouri, has held some very important positions of trust, but has now cast his lot with his father in the active management of the farm which he hopes to net him more than good salaries. But just now his number is in the selective draft and he looks for the call to arms. David W. Laugh- lin, named after his grandfather, born in 1900, is in the high school work, thinks and enjoys farm work, and his father thinks he will make his mark worthy of the name he carries. Rutherford J. Laughlin, born in 1901, he too, of splendid parentage, goes into high school work with a relish, strictly modern in all his ideas, and bids fair to more than carry a good name.
Genealogy-from Century Dictionary-"Laugh," Irish for lake ; "Lin," Irish for spring. "Justine McCarty's History of the Irish Peo- ple, 1270 A. D.": Laughlin was an Irish Lord in the north of Ireland. warring with the south faction of Ireland. Robert Laughlin of Revolu- tionary period was a weaver ; James Laughlin of 1812 with William Henry Harrison, a blacksmith; David Laughlin, W. Laughlin, 1861-65, a farmer; Elmer E. Laughlin, a farmer. The blood lines of the grand- parents of E. E. Laughlin are: Laughlin, Irish ; Lee, Scotch ; Blangy, French ; Scott, Scotch. Genealogy of Mrs. E. E. Laughlin-all English.
William T. Briscoe, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred sixty acres in Walnut township, was born July 22, 1864, in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of Samuel Logan and Alpha Ann (Corum) Briscoe, early Missouri pioneers, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in con- nection with the biography of Charles B. Briscoe, brother of the sub- ject of this review, who accompanied his parents to Bates county in 1877 at the age of thirteen years. Mr. Briscoe had little opportunity to attend school in Bates county. He assisted his father on the home place until 1886 and then began farming on his own account. He first rented part of the parental homestead and after his marriage in 1887 he moved to a farm south of Foster, where he resided for three years. In 1890 he moved to southern Missouri and purchased a farm near Mountain View and for thirteen years was engaged in producing fruit
827
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
and raising livestock. He sold out there in 1904 and rented a farm located southwest of Foster near Independence church for two years. In 1906, he bought his present home farm and he and his family have since made their home thereon.
Mr. Briscoe was married September 15, 1887, to Alice May Steele. born in Cooper county, Missouri, May 1, 1860, a daughter of James H. and Alice Maria (Bartlett) Steele, the former of whom was born in Cooper county, and the latter in Cooper county, Missouri also. James H. was a son of William Steele, a Missouri pioneer. Mrs. Alice Maria Steele died in Cooper county and her father removed to Bates county in 1881, dying here in August, 1895. Three of the children of William T. and Alice May Briscoe died in infancy. The others are: Alonzo Otis, born February 29, 1892, a graduate of the Normal School at War- rensburg, studied at Columbia University, Columbia, Missouri, and now filling the position of superintendent of the Orrick, Ray county, High School; Charles Logan, born April 9, 1894, and died September 24, 1894; Alpha Dale, born November 21, 1896, a teacher in the Foster public schools; Lottie Opal, born February 20, 1899, attending school at Orrick, Missouri; John Gabriel, born December 23, 1900, also attend- ing school at Orrick.
The Democratic party has always had. the support of William T. Briscoe, but he has never at any time in his life, been a seeker after political honor. He is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America lodge. The Briscoe homestead is an historic place from the standpoint of early associa- tions and being one of the first farmsteads improved in Walnut town- ship. The residence was formerly a stopping place on the old stage line which ran from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, to Fort Scott, Kansas, and the Marvel postoffice was conducted in the house for some time in the early days.
Otis P. Hart, a successful and enterprising, young agriculturist and stockman of Mingo township, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Hart was born December 15, 1879, a son of George W. and Mary Eliza- beth (Sims) Hart, both of whom were born in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Hart are the parents of two sons: Oren Kenton, of Bartles- ville, Oklahoma; and Otis P., the subject of this review. A more com- prehensive sketch of the Hart family will be found in the biography of George W. Hart, which appears elsewhere in this volume.
In the public schools of Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri,
828
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Otis P. Hart received his elementary education, which was later sup- plemented by a four years' course in Appleton City Academy, Appleton City, Missouri. After leaving school, Mr. Hart was engaged in the piano business in Illinois for fifteen years. For the past three years, he has been engaged in farming and stock raising on the Hart home place in Mingo township, Bates county, Missouri and is making a suc- cess of handling cattle, horses, and hogs. He is a progressive, intelli- gent, willing worker and has a high standing among the good citizens of his community.
The marriage of Otis P. Hart and Mrs. Jennie V. Nordin, of Rock- ford, Illinois, was solemnized in 1905. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are well known in Mingo township and they move in the best social circles of their township and county. They possess pleasing personalities and the happy faculty of retaining close personal friendships and among the younger people of the county they are very popular. Mr. Hart keeps abreast of the times in everything pertaining to his vocations and his up-to-date methods combined with economy, industry, and his thorough understanding of the principles underlying all business must in time be inevitably attended by a large measure of success.
Andrew J. Hoover, an honored veteran of the Civil War, a former merchant of Adrian, Missouri, now a retired stockman, is a native of Indiana. Mr. Hoover was born April 9, 1838, a son of Adam and Rebecca (Thomas) Hoover. The paternal grandfather of A. J. Hoover was a gifted and beloved Dunkard minister in Maryland, Rev. Adam Hoover.
In White county, Indiana, A. J. Hoover attended the public schools of the state. In winter he went to school and assisted with the chores at home : in summer he attended to the various duties incumbent upon a boy on the farm in the early days and did any other work which would earn an honest cent. Life was a hard treadmill, but it did not prove that "all work and no play" made A. J. "a dull boy." The school which he attended was like most of the country schools of his day-barren and uncomfortable. There were no bright, pleasant schoolrooms, airy in summer and warm in winter, no comfortable seats, fitted to the indi- vidual, no convenient desks, no pictures, no blackboards, no books of reference. Children in those days had little to make school pleasant or interesting. School life, like home life, was stern and full of drudgery.
When the Civil War broke out, A. J. Hoover enlisted with the Union forces. He served for three months under Colonel Milroy and then enlisted in the Seventy-second Indiana Regiment, serving three
ANDREW J. HOOVER.
829
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
years until the battle of Stone River and was then transferred to Wiley's brigade of mounted riflemen. Mr. Hoover fought in thirty-two hard- fought battles, among them being: Perrysville, Stone River, Peach Tree creek, Chickamauga, Rock Springs, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, on Sherman's march to the sea, capture of Savan- nah, and he marched through the Carolinas to Washington and took part in the Grand Review. After the war had ended and he received his dis- charge in July, 1865, Mr. Hoover returned to his home in Indiana and the ensuing year, 1866, came west to Missouri and located at Lonejack in Jackson county, where he engaged in farming for one year. In 1867, he moved to Bates county and located in Deer Creek township, where he at one time owned five hundred acres of land. Mr. Hoover bought cattle extensively, fed and wintered them and sold the herd the following autumn, when he would again buy more cattle to feed and winter. He once herded five hundred twenty cattle on the present townsite of Adrian, for at that time there were vast tracts of open prairie in Bates county. He recalls how farmers and stockmen would cut native hay and make great ricks, around which they would herd their cattle. Mr. Hoover erected a large, substantial brick building in Adrian in 1883 and entered the mercantile business at this place and for seventeen years was thus employed. He has in recent years divided his holdings among his children and he and his wife are residing at Adrian in quiet, con- tented retirement. Mr. Hoover has still in his possession sufficient property insuring a comfortable income, owning among other build- ings the one in which the postoffice at Adrian is located.
The marriage of A. J. Hoover and Rachel Denton was solemnized on March 15, 1866 and to this union have been born four children, who are now living: Professor W. T., of Adrian, Missouri, who married Miss Lulu Owens and to them have been born two children: Halbert and H. A .: India, of Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. Mary Black, Adrian, Mis- souri, mother of two children, Mrs. Goldie Schantz and Mrs. Lenna Ware; and Mrs. Ida Haas, Adrian, Missouri, mother of two children : India Mae and Charles Hoover. Mr. Hoover has four great-grandchil- dren: Mrs. Goldie Schantz has three children: Frederick, Dorothy, and Emery; Mrs. Lenna Ware has one child, Wilma: Mrs. Rachel (Denton) Hoover was born June 12, 1849 in Indiana, Benton county, a daughter of Dr. William and Elizabeth (Bodkin) Denton.
Since the day of the expulsion of two beings from the Garden of Eden, history has again and again demonstrated the truth of the old
830
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
adage that, "There is no excellence without labor." Mr. Hoover's career has but furnished further proof of its truth. His life was early consecrated to honest, patient, unremitting toil. He in youth joined the army of workers to whom the great state of Missouri is indebted for its wonderful prosperity. He has a vivid recollection of Bates county as it was when he came here more than fifty years ago. There were no bridges and the roads were but beaten trails. He has many times hauled wheat to Pleasant Hill before the railroad had reached Harri- sonville. He states that deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens were to be found in abundance and could be had for the hunting. A. J. Hoover has been a busy worker, he has done his work wisely and well, and he and his noble wife are now enjoying the just recompense of their labors. Mr. Hoover's life story is a notable example of the success which surely attends and crowns all worthy efforts based upon honor- able, upright, manly principles. Mr. Hoover is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and has for years attended the national encamp- ments of the Union veterans and he and Mrs. Hoover have traveled extensively over the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. He is well-informed, broad-mindekl, hearty and strong, able to take long automobile trips each season.
John Blangy, one of the old settlers of Bates county, living retired upon his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Walnut township, was born in 1852 in Starke county, Illinois. He was a son of James W. and Sarah (Scott) Blangy, the former of whom was a native of New Jersey, and the latter, of Ohio. The Blangy family came West in 1869 and set- tled on Walnut creek, purchasing a farm now owned by Fred Laughlin and comprising one hundred and forty acres. After Mrs. Blangy died, James C. moved to the neighboring state of Kansas and settled on a farm eight miles west of Pleasanton, where he resided for some years, eventually disposing of his farm to a coal mining company and retiring to a home in Pleasanton, where he died in September, 1902.
At the age of eighteen years, John Blangy began farming on his own account but made his home with his parents until his marriage in 1876. On January 2, of that year he was united in marriage with Emma Schwechheimer, born in 1857, at Canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, a daughter of George Philip and Annie Marie (Leoffler) Schwech- heimer, the former of whom was born in Baden, and the latter in Schlait- dorf, Wurtemburg, Germany. At the age of twenty years, George Schwechheimer came to America. His wife was eighteen years of age
831
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
when she immigrated to this country. They resided in Ohio until after the close of the Civil War, in which George Schwechheimer served as a soldier in an Ohio regiment of volunteer infantry. George P. Schwech- heimer served as a private, then was promoted as orderly sergeant in Company K, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served four years and was honorably discharged from the service on the 11th of January, 1864, at Huntsville, Alabama. In 1871 they came to Missouri and settled on what is now the Swarens place in New Home township, where Mr. Schwechheimer died in 1883. To George and Annie Marie Schwechheimer were born seven children: Mrs. Emma Barbara Blangy ; Willie George, deceased; Philip, a railroad man at Sedalia, Missouri; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Lydia McGehee, Vernon county, Missouri; Mary Magdalene, deceased. The mother of these children died in 1870. By a second marriage with Julia Engel he was the father of seven children: Charley, deceased; Mrs. Matilda Haley, Lost Spring, Wyoming; Mrs. Flora Hicklin, Hume, Missouri: Albert, living near Sprague, Missouri; Edward, a resident of Fort Scott, Kansas; Walter, resident of Kansas City, Missouri ; John, living in Wyoming.
Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Blangy settled on their home place on Walnut creek and have lived there continuously with the exception of two years spent in Colorado. Mr. Blangy is a Republican, and both Mr. and Mrs. Blangy belong to the Methodist Episcopal church. Their children are as follow: Mary Alta, born in 1877, wife of Clarence Click, living near Worland, Missouri; Sarah Pearl, born 1878, wife of Denny Bright, resides in Bates county; Ira John, born in 1880, resides on a farm near Hume in this county; Effie Mabel, born in 1884, wife of Frank Smith, Walnut township; Ada Theresa, born in 1885, wife of William Lee, residing on a farm northwest of Foster.
Fred E. Popp, who is farming the Popp estate of three hundred acres in the southwestern part of New Home township, was born in Madison county, Illinois, in 1866. He is a son of the late Michael and Barbara Popp, natives of Prussia, Germany. Michael Popp was born in 1829 and died in Bates county in 1897. He immigrated to America in 1845 and first settled at St. Louis, where he was employed as laborer for two years. He went from St. Louis to Madison county, Illinois, and after a period of employment as farm laborer he invested his savings in sixty acres of farm land which he cultivated until 1871. In that year he sold his Illinois farm and came to Bates county and made a first
8.3.2
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
settlement at Prairie City, eight miles east of Rich Hill, where he lived for eleven years. He then bought the farm of three hundred acres which his son, Fred E., is now managing. He built a handsome farm residence and a large barn and prospered as the years went on, living on the place until his death. A six-foot vein of excellent coal under- lies the Popp land. Mrs. Popp departed this life on the old home place, June 5, 1917. The other children of the family are as follow: Mrs. Mary Schmidt, deceased; Mrs. Pardcha Cattelson, Creighton, Missouri; Mrs. Barbara Yeager, deceased; George, living in Oklahoma; Conrad, a farmer in Bates county. Mr. Popp is an independent Republican voter and is a member of the Lutheran church.
William T. J. Henley .- The late William T. J. Henley, a widely and favorably known farmer of Howard township, was one of the real "old settlers" of Bates county. He was born on June 14, 1846, in Clark county, Indiana, the son of Noah and Louisiana ( Monday) Henley, the former of whom was a native of England and the latter of whom was born in Kentucky. Noah Henley was reared in Randolph county, North Carolina, and made a settlement in Kentucky, where he was married, and afterward removed to Clark county, Indiana, where he reared a family and spent the remainder of his days engaged in agricultural pursuits. W. T. J. Henley was reared and educated in his native state and was married in Clark county on June 21, 1866, to Miss Margaret E. Bower, who bore him children as follow: Noah Edgar, born November 25, 1867, resides near Ft. Scott, Kansas; John William, born March 2, 1869, died in infancy ; Jacob T., born March 3, 1870, lives on a farm near Hume, Missouri ; Dennie B., born May 15, 1871, resides in Washington ; Jefferson M., born April 10, 1873, died at the age of three years; the next child died in infancy, unnamed; James C., born June 14, 1875; Robert T., born December 16, 1876, is living on the home place; Katie A., born August 31, 1878, married Leonard Daniels and resides on a farm in Osage township: Rolla I., born June 18, 1880, lives in Butler, Mis- souri ; Okra P., born May 17, 1882, lives at Rich Hill, Missouri; Mrs. Minnie M. Cook, born July 7, 1883, married James Cook, died January 29, 1908; Cleveland B., born December 22, 1884, resides on a farm near Butler, Missouri ; Maggie E., born October 3, 1887, married Burk Ander- son, resides in Rich Hill: Albert, born February 8, 1893, died in infancy. The Henley family is one of the largest in Bates county. The mother of this large family of children was born May 14, 1847, in Clark county, Indiana, the daughter of John and Angelina (Robbinett) Bower, natives
833
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
of North Carolina. Mrs. Henley is well preserved for her age, despite the fact that she endured the hardships of pioneer life and has brought up so many children who are all living useful and industrious lives.
Mr. and Mrs. Henley came to Carroll county, Missouri, in 1868 and resided in that county until their removal to Bates county in the autumn of 1875. John Bower, father of Mrs. Henley, had purchased a tract of forty acres in Howard township, which he gave to his son- in-law. This land was raw prairie land, unbroken and unimproved. During their first season the Henleys lived in a little shack on their nearby farm while their own residence was being built. They erected what in those days was considered a mansion and which is still the Hen- ley home place, an attractive farmstead surrounded by great trees and shrubbery which were planted by Mr. and Mrs. Henley when they first settled here. The Henley home place consists of one hundred and sixty acres located just northwest of Sprague on the highway between Rich Hill and Hume. Mr. Henley died May 12, 1904.
Mrs. Henley has the following living grandchildren : Robert E. Hen- ley married Muzy Gates and has five children, as follow : Emma, Frances, Thelmo, Roy, and Virgie. Noah Edgar Henley married Annie New- som and has four children: Ora, Lela, Alice, and Claude. Jacob T Henley married Lizzie McNamer, and has one child, Charles. Dennie Henley married May Jones, and is father of two children, Pansy and Bryan. Mrs. Katie Daniels has four children, Parker, Harry, Pansy, and Dorothy. Rolla I. Henley married Belle Potter, has the following chil- dren; Ernest and Stella, twins, and Pauline. Okra O. Henley mar- ried Nellie Martin, and is father of six children, Lorene, Ethel, Elsie, William, and Mary and Mabel, twins. Cleveland B. Henley married Lizzie Bottoms, and has two children, Harold and Herman. Mrs. Mag- gie Anderson is mother of six children, Marium, Everett, Ernest, Nell, Ruth, and Clyde.
Mr. Henley was a lifelong Democrat and was a member of the Christian church, of which religious denomination Mrs. Henley is a devout member. The late Mr. Henley's life was so lived that he left an example of industry and right conduct which will for all time serve as a rule of conduct for his children and descendants. He was a kind parent and a good provider for his family and no task was too great for him to attempt in order to insure comforts and proper maintenance for his own family. He was well liked in his community and will long be remembered as a sterling pioneer citizen of Bates county in whom all
(53)
834
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
had confidence and for whom every one who knew him had high esteem.
William Moore Mills, successful merchant at Foster, Missouri, where he has been engaged as a merchant since 1884, is a pioneer citi- zen of Bates county and a native Missourian. Mr. Mills was born in Clinton county, Missouri, March 31, 1856, a son of Evan P. Mills, who was born in Kentucky in 1818, and was a son of Evan P. Mills, a Vir- ginian, who was a pioneer settler of Kentucky. Evan P. Mills, father of William Moore Mills, of this review, migrated, to Clay county, Mis- souri, as early as 1839, and ten years later, in 1849, married Mary S. Morris, and then located in Lexington, Missouri, for a short time prior to settling in Clinton county. From the early fifties until 1863 Evan P. Mills lived in Clinton county and he then moved to Clay county, and resided in that county and Liberty, the county seat, until 1876, when he located in Butler. For awhile he was engaged in teaming but advancing age compelled his retirement from active labor and he resided in Butler until his death in 1904, one of the honored and aged residents of the county seat. To Evan P. and Mary S. ( Morris) Mills were born the following children: Thomas died in infancy; Bettie L., deceased; William Moore, subject of this sketch ; Jasper S., deceased; Mrs. Maggie McFarland, Butler, Missouri; Lida died in 1866.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.