USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 82
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
The mother of the foregoing children died in 1900 at the age of seventy-five years. She was a daughter of Jasper Shotwell Morris, who was the first white child born in Mason county, Kentucky, or Maysville, which in those early pioneer days was the meeting and stopping place of all the settlers from Virginia who were coming westward down the Ohio river to people the wilderness of Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. Jasper S. Morris later served as a scout and lieutenant in the War of 1812, in the Indian campaign of that period, and became widely known along the frontier. He was personally acquainted with many of the famous border and wilderness characters of that day and was a friend of such famous scouts and Indian fighters as Daniel Boone, Louis Wetzel, Simon Kenton and others. The three historic charac- ters previously mentioned often made the Morris home their head- quarters, and one can imagine the tales that were told around the Morris fireside of their exploits, in the dense forests of the "Dark and Bloody Ground" and the land of the Ohio.
William Moore Mills received such education as was afforded by the primitive school of his boyhood days and accompanied his parents to Bates county in 1876. During his first year's residence in Butler
835
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
he worked in the Mcclintock woolen mills, having previously learned the trade of weaver and wool worker in Clay county, Missouri. He was then employed in various stores for about six years. For a period of three years he served as clerk in the Morris drug store, and for two years following, 1880-1882, he was employed as a traveling salesman. Six months of 1882 were spent as clerk in the drug store owned by Doctor Pyle. He was then employed in the F. M. Crumly drug store until his removal to Foster. He first came to Foster in 1884, and on January 1, 1885, opened a drug store, which he conducted for sixteen years. He then established his present business and carries a general stock of merchandise in a good-sized room located on the main street of Foster. Mr. Mills has been continuously engaged in business in Fos- ter longer than any other merchant in the town.
On January 1, 1889, the marriage of William Moore Mills and Miss Mollie N. Trimble was consummated. This marriage has been blessed with children as follow: William N., superintendent of the shoe department of the Besse-Avery Company, Kansas City, Missouri; Ella Nora, at home with her parents; Ralph, auditor and bookkeeper for S. A. Gerrard & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a commission firm doing business in southern California and handling fruits, vegetables, etc. Mrs. Mollie N. (Trimble) Mills was born in Bates county in 1870, and is a daughter of F. M. Trimble, a former treasurer of Bates county, a native of Kentucky who made an early settlement in Bates county and died here.
Mr. Mills has been a life-long Democrat and has taken a keen inter- est in the affairs of his party during his forty-two years of residence in Bates county. He is fraternally affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Butler, and has many warm and steadfast friends in the county. His standing as a merchant and citizen is high and he is one of the leading citizens of his home city and county.
Charles W. Doane, a prominent farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, is of a pioneer family of Bates county. Mr. Doane was born on the farm in Lone Oak township, where he now resides, on January 1, 1872, one of three living children born to his parents, William C., Sr., and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane, who are as follow: William C., Jr., farmer and merchant at "Ada," a sketch of whom appears in this volume ; Charles W., the subject of this review; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, Lewiston, Idaho. The parents are now deceased and their remains are interred in the cemetery at Butler. A more comprehensive sketch of Mr. and
836
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Mrs. Doane is given in connection with the biography of William C. Doane, Jr.
In the public schools of Lone Oak township and of Butler, Charles W. Doane obtained his education. He returned to Lone Oak town- ship, after leaving school, to the farm where he was born, and has lived there since. The Doane farm is nine miles southeast of Butler and is a tract of valley land in Pleasant Valley school district, a district organized prior to the time of the Civil War by Doctor Requa when the Indian school at Harmony Mission was being conducted. It is a nicely improved and well watered country place. Mr. Doane raises good draft horses and mules and, at the time of this writing in 1918, has from fifteen to twenty-five head of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle. The improvements on the place include a new, six-room cottage, built in 1917 and a barn, 36 x 48 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, built in 1917. Mr. Doane is an industrious farmer and stock- man and his efforts have been attended with success.
The marriage of Charles W. Doane and Lizzie E. Hancock was solemnized March 5, 1895. Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane is a native of Pleasant Gap township, Bates county, Missouri, a daughter of David and Sarah (Willy) Hancock. Mr. Hancock died in 1900 and burial was made in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. The widowed mother now makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Doane. To Charles W. and Lizzie E. (Hancock) Doane have been born three children: Elmer Lee, of Butler, Missouri; Mary Catherine, the wife of Roy Walker, of Lone Oak township, Bates county ; and Buford Lloyd, who is at home with his parents.
As a farmer and stockman, Charles W. Doane has won a conspicuous place among the leading men of the township. Personally, he is highly respected by his neighbors and friends and Lone Oak township is proud to designate him as one of her native sons who have "made good."
W. S. Mahan, an honored veteran of the Civil War, ex-mayor of Adrian, the highly respected justice of the peace of Deer Creek township, Bates county, Missouri, is a native of Iowa. Squire Mahan was born in Taylor county, Iowa, in 1846, a son of Thomas and Mary (Mavity) Mahan, who later returned to Orange county, Indiana, the place of their nativity. Thomas Mahan was a son of Peter Mahan, a native of Virginia and a son of an Irish immigrant. Mary (Mavity) Mahan was a daugh- ter of Michael Mavity, a native of Kentucky and of Norman French descent.
-
--
-
W. S. MAHAN AND FAMILY.
837
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
In Indiana, W. S. Mahan was reared to manhood and in that state recived his elementary education and later entered college. After leaving college, Mr. Mahan was employed in teaching school in Indiana for thirteen years. During the Civil War, he abandoned his profession and enlisted with the Union forces, serving with the Twenty-fourth Indi- ana Infantry throughout the conflict. He took an active and important part in many decisive engagements, fighting bravely at Shiloh on April 6, 1862, when the list of casualties for the Union side alone was thirteen thousand men, the Confederates losing ten thousand seven hundred valiant fighters, and later taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, one strong position left the Confederates after Memphis and New Orleans had fallen, which resulted in Pemberton signing the articles of sur- render on July 4, 1863, after King Hunger had allied himself with Grant and had done his worst for several weeks, and lastly being present at the capture of Mobile in the spring of 1865.
After the Civil War had ended, W. S. Mahan returned to his home in Indiana and there resided until 1880, when he came to Bates county, Missouri, and purchased two hundred acres of land near Adrian. At that time, Mr. Mahan bought a team of mules and assisted in the build- ing of the Missouri Pacific railway in this county. Afterward, he entered the teaching profession and for three years was thus engaged, when he again abandoned it and this time entered the mercantile business at Adrian. Until 1893, Mr. Mahan conducted a grocery store in this city and he was one of the successful merchants of Adrian when he was com- missioned notary public of Bates county and appointed an insurance agent. Prior to coming to Missouri, Mr. Mahan had served as justice of the peace in Indiana and in 1910 he was elected to the same office in Bates county and for the past eight years has ably filled the position of justice of the peace in Deer Creek township. He disposed of his insurance work, in 1911, selling to C. W. Mahan, who is now conducting the business at Adrian.
The marriage of W. S. Mahan and Sarah J. Gifford, a daughter of Josephus and Elizabeth Gifford, was solemnized October 22, 1871, in Orange county, Indiana. To this union have been born two children : Mrs. Lula D. Haven, Kansas City, Missouri; and Clyde G., of Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are valued workers in the Chris- tian church and Mr. Mahan is one of the worthy elders of the church and a teacher in the Christian Bible School. They reside in Adrian, where they own a beautiful home, a comfortable residence of seven
838
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
rooms. Mr. Mahan sold his farm in 1889 and invested the proceeds in stock of the Adrian Banking Company.
Squire Mahan was one of the very first residents of Adrian, Mis- souri, and no one in Bates county is better authority on the early history of this flourishing little city than is he. Mr. Mahan states that Adrian was planned and founded by the Adrian Town Company in June, 1880. An agreement had been made with the Missouri Pacific Railway Com- pany whereby the Bates County Town Company was to have the privi- lege of locating towns and stations in return for the grant of right-of- way through Bates county. The particular depot of Butler was to be located not less than one mile from the court house and the Adrian Town Company purchased land in this vicinity and platted it and the Missouri Pacific railroad and the town of Adrian, ten miles away, were being built simultaneously in Bates county. Squire Mahan recalls that the first train came into Adrian on August 1, 1880. Adrian was organ- ized as a village with M. V. Meisner as justice of the peace. S. P. Cox opened the first mercantile establishment in Adrian, a small grocery store in a box house, and he was obliged to borrow Mr. Mahan's team of mules in order to secure his first load of groceries from Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Cox erected the first brick building in the town, in 1883, which building is now occupied by Howard Smith, the clothier, who is conducting a business establishment. Garfield Moudy bears the dis- tinction of having been the first child born in Adrian and the Methodist
Episcopal church as the oldest church of the five now in existence, namely : Methodist Episcopal, Baptist, United Brethren, Christian, and The Brethren. After Adrian was incorporated as a city, J. N. Bricker was elected the first mayor of the city. Squire Mahan has been and still is one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Adrian and during the past thirty-eight years he has held many offices of public honor and trust in the village and in the city. He has served as alder- man, as mayor of the city, as city collector, and as a member of the township board, holding the last-named position for six years. Politi- cally, Squire Mahan is affiliated with the Republican party and is a most active party worker. Squire Mahan was appointed agent of the Adrian Town Company to sell the lots from the original plat of eighty acres.
Squire Mahan has already passed the allotted three score years and ten and is still alert and active, bidding fair to consume many years in going down the shady side of life's mountain to the "twilight and evening bell and after that-the dark" and he has erected for himself
839
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
a monument in the respect and affection of his associates and friends that will prove more lasting than an epitaph carved in marble or chiseled in granite. Mr. and Mrs. Mahan are not only zealous workers in the church but in their daily lives demean themselves as true, sincere fol- lowers of the holy Nazarene.
Judge David McGaughey, a late prominent citizen and leading public official of Bates county, Missouri, was one of the best known and most highly respected men in this section of the state. Judge McGaughey was a native of Indiana. He was born August 26, 1826, at Mount Carmel in Franklin county, Indiana, a son of Robert and Mary (Clark) McGaughey. Robert McGaughey was born at Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, of Scotch and Irish descent, a descendant of David McGaughey, a native of Ireland, who emigrated from his home land because of the political troubles there and came to America in 1772. David McGaughey was one of the first to volunteer in the Revolutionary War and he served as General Washington's aid until the end of the struggle. He first saw his future wife when he was on the battlefield of Monmouth, the battle taking place on her father's farm. She was Mary Lytle. David McGaughey and Mary Lytle were united in mar- riage soon after the war had ended and they located at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mary (Clark) McGaughey, the mother of Judge David McGaughey, was born at Indian Hill in Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1810.
In his youth, David McGaughey attended the public schools of Indiana and in 1845 matriculated at Miami University in Ohio, at which institution he was a student for three years. On leaving college, Mr. McGaughey engaged in teaching school in different localities in the West and South. In June, 1854, he entered the law office of Gen. Lew Wallace and with him read law for one year. In the summer of 1855, Mr. McGaughey went to De Moines, Iowa, from Indianapolis, Indiana, and in Iowa was employed in locating land warrants for eastern parties and in surveying. He was elected a member of the first city council of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1858, Mr. McGaughey left this city and located at Hackbury Ridge in Andrew county, Missouri, where he was engaged in teaching school for one year. The following year, Mr. McGaughey began practicing law at Albany in Gentry county and in 1860 was elec- ted county superintendent of schools in Gentry county. During the Civil War, he was for a time a resident of Falls City, Nebraska and while there was elected prosecuting attorney of Falls City and appointed
8.40
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
superintendent of schools by the county court. Mr. McGaughey came to Bates county, Missouri, in August, 1865, and was for several years county superintendent of schools and director of Butler Academy. He was appointed by the Bates county court in 1866 county seat commissioner. While serving in that capacity, the old Bates county court house and jail were built. He cleared up the sale of the old county court house at Papinsville, the former county seat, and sold the building to Philip Zeal. When the twenty-second judicial district was organized in 1869, David McGaughey was elected the first circuit judge. When serving as judge, the four-hundred-thousand-dollar bond swindle, involving the Kansas City & Memphis railway, came up in the form of an injunction, as did also the two-hundred-thousand-dollar swindle, involving the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, and both were defeated by Judge McGaughey's decision in favor of the people of Bates county. Due to that decision, the tax-payers of this county are not burdened with a heavy bonded debt. For six years, Judge McGaughey was presiding judge of his district. He was appointed by the governor of Missouri to complete an unexpired term and was after- ward elected to fill a term of four years. He was one of the three organ- izers of the Butler Presbyterian church, founded in this city in 1867, the first church in Butler. The church building was erected in 1868 and Judge McGaughey was made ruling elder. Politically, Judge McGaughey was a stanch Republican. He was an officer in the first Republican club organized west of the Mississippi in Iowa.
October 26, 1875, Judge David McGaughey and Dorcas Tuttle were united in marriage. Mrs. McGaughey is a native of Clark county, Ohio, a daughter of David and Rebecca (Buckles) Tuttle. To Judge David and Dorcas McGaughey were born four children: John Edwin, who is in the employ of the Wabash Railway Company and the Wells Fargo Express Company, located at St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary Rebecca, who is employed by the Walker-Mckibben Mercantile Company at Butler, Missouri; Katherine L., who is employed as bookkeeper for the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company at Butler, Missouri and David Earl, a successful druggist at Kansas City, Missouri. Mrs. McGaughey has five grandchildren. Helen, Frank S., Josephine, Laura Katherine Martha Jane. Judge McGanghey died January 12, 1892, and Mrs. McGaughey has reared their children and reared them well. Her home is in Butler at 308 Harrison street.
Judge David McGaughey was a careful, conscientious official. He
841
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
transacted all business coming within his sphere of duties with prompt- ness and cautious discernment and the wisdom of his decisions met with the unqualified approval of all. His career was distinctively marked by progress onward and upward and at last he stood the peer of his fellowmen in all that constitutes true citizenship. He was decidedly a man of action, an intelligent, energetic, resourceful Western man.
in the highest esteem by the public and an influential factor for good in his community, at the very zenith of a vigorous manhood and men- tality, there still remained much to be accomplished, the children he loved so well to be reared and educated, when he was called to lay down the burdens of life. Judge McGaughey lived not in vain. He has bequeathed to his descendants a name they may well be proud to bear and to all the inspiration of a life of tireless endeavor, a record upon which not a single blot can be found. Judge McGaughey was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
J. B. Armstrong, secretary of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company of Butler, Missouri, is one of Butler's most widely and favor- ably-known citizens. Mr. Armstrong is a worthy representative of a splendid, old, pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in 1861, at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, a son of Samuel and Sallie Emily (Hon) Arm- strong, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Kentucky. Samuel Armstrong was a son of John M. and Elizabeth (Gibbons) Armstrong. John M. Armstrong was also a native of Virginia. He came to Missouri with his family in the earliest days and was a pioneer merchant at Pleasant Hill prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Eliza- beth (Gibbons) Armstrong was an aunt of the Gibbons. twin brothers, John and Hank, who at the time of the death of John Gibbons were the oldest twins in Missouri. The land which is now the site of the Missouri Pacific railway station was formerly owned by John M. Arm- strong and he often related how he was want to kill deer, when he first came to Missouri, on the land which is the present townsite of Pleas- ant Hill. Both he and his wife died at Pleasant Hill and their remains are interred in the cemetery at that place. Samuel Armstrong was a lover of fine horses and was recognized as an exceptional judge of high- class horses. He won a silver loving cup at a Bates county fair in the days before the Civil War for the best saddle horse entered. This cup is still treasured by his son, J. B. Armstrong. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Samuel Armstrong enlisted with the Confederate army at Pleasant Hill. He died while in service one year after he had enlisted,
8.12
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
his death occurring in Indian Territory. The widowed mother died at Butler, Missouri, in 1890, where her home was at that time, and she was laid to rest in the cemetery at Pleasant Hill. To Samuel and Sallie Emily Armstrong were born two children, who are now living: Fannie Bertha, Tulsa, Oklahoma; and J. B., the subject of this review.
J. B. Armstrong attended the city schools of Pleasant Hill. He has made his own way in life since his early boyhood days. He began his first mercantile work in the business establishment of E. D. Harper, his stepfather, working nights and Saturdays. At a later time, Mr. Armstrong was employed by Russell & Gustin, of Pleasant Hill, for nearly one year. Prior to that, he was in the employ of Myers & Cooley. Mr. Armstrong came to Butler on February 4, 1882, and accepted a position with C. S. Wheeler & Company. In the autumn of the same year, the firm changed to Bennett & Wheeler, E. A. Bennett becoming a member. Mr. Armstrong purchased an interest in the busi- ness establishment in January, 1884, and the name was changed to Bennett, Wheeler & Company. The firm was incorporated as the Ben- nett-Wheeler Mercantile Company in 1890. At the present time, Mr. Armstrong's two sons, Edward H. and Samuel M., have interests in the company. When he began working in the employ of the C. S. Wheeler & Company, J. B. Armstrong was bookkeeper and he held this position for many years. He now calls himself "the general roust- about," as he knows every department thoroughly. The present capi- tal stock is thirty-five thousand dollars and the officers of the company are, as follow: O. A. Heinlein, president and business manager ; S. E. Heinlein, vice-president : J. B. Armstrong, secretary; and Edward H. Armstrong, treasurer.
October 9, 1884, J. B. Armstrong and Mary Maud Harriman were united in marriage. Mrs. Armstrong was a daughter of J. R. and Helen (Morrell) Harriman, of Butler. Both Mr. and Mrs. Harriman are now deceased. To J. B. and Mary Maud Armstrong have been born five children: Helen, who is now Mrs. Day, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma : Edward H., treasurer of the Bennett-Wheeler Mercantile Company, Butler, Missouri; Samuel M., who has been engaged in the banking business for the past seven years at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and is soon to be called into service in France; John, who died in childhood at the age of four years; and Dorothy, a graduate of the Butler High School, who is now at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong purchased their present residence in 1904, which home was formerly the
843
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
Doctor Everingham property, comprising nearly three acres of land in the grounds surrounding the house, located within the city limits at 500 North Main street. The Armstrong home is one of the beautiful, modern residences of Butler.
Mr. Armstrong started in life empty-handed, but he surmounted all obstacles and has pushed aside all barriers that would have obstructed the pathway to success of the ordinary man. He was endowed with both ambition and ability, and with an indomitable will and courage he has pushed steadfastly forward overcoming difficulties and accumulating a handsome competence. Honest and honorable, upright in all rela- tions of life, true to family and friends and to the best interests of his city and county, J. B. Armstrong is justly enrolled among the most respected and valued citizens of Butler.
Alonzo Dixon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mount Pleas- ant township, is one of the most highly respected citizens of Bates county. Mr. Dixon came to Bates county in 1857 with his parents, Lewis and Elizabeth (Silvey) Dixon, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Lewis Dixon first came to Bates county in 1856, at which time he made arrangements with Ex-Sheriff Clem, afterward Judge Clem, to enter one hundred sixty acres of land, the Dixon homestead. Mr. Dixon returned with his family the following year, in 1857, and located at Butler. He and Judge Clem, in partnership, operated a saw-mill located south of Butler on the James Brown farm. They made posts, rails, and fencing materials and Lewis Dixon fenced his farm of one hundred sixty acres with lumber sawed at his mill. During the Civil War, because of Order No. 11, Mr. Dixon was taken prisoner, placed in the guardhouse at Butler, taken to the guardhouse at St. Louis, Missouri, and thence to Alton, Illinois, and Jefferson City, Missouri. He remained in prison until the close of the war. When Lewis Dixon again took up the fight of making an honest and honorable living, after he was released in 1865, he was penniless. He resumed farming and stock raising, pur- suits which he followed the remainder of his life. Mr. Dixon died Janu- ary 5, 1886, and five years afterward he was joined in death by his wife. Mrs. Dixon departed this life in June, 1891. Both father and mother were laid to rest in the family burial ground on the home place, the farm Mr. Dixon had entered from the government in 1856. The Dixon homestead is located one mile south of Butler.
Alonzo Dixon attended the district schools of Bates county. He has spent his entire life, up to the time of this writing in 1918, in Bates
844
HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY
county. About twenty-seven years ago, he moved to his present farm, formerly known as the old Porter place, located three and a half miles southwest of Butler. All the splendid improvements on the place, Mr. Dixon has himself added. He is successfully engaged in farming and stock raising. The Dixon farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of land.
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.