USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 89
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William C. Doane, Jr., a former newspaper man, one of the founders of the Joplin "Daily American," a retired attorney-at-law, one of the well-known farmers of Lone Oak township and a successful merchant of "Ada," was born in Lone Oak township, Bates county, Missouri on July 7, 1866, a son of William C., Sr. and Mary E. (Hancock) Doane. William C. Doane, Sr. was born in Gloucestershire, England in 1844. He emigrated from his native land an came to the United States in 1860, making the journey thence on a sailing vessel which was six months on the way. Mr. Doane, Sr. landed at New Orleans, Louisi-
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ana and from that city went to St. Louis, Missouri and from St. Louis to the state of Illinois, where he located temporarily at Quincy. He came to Bates county, Missouri from Quincy, Illinois on January 1, 1866 and purchased the tract of land, comprising one hundred twenty acres, upon which his son, Charles W., now resides. Later, Mr. Doane, Sr. increased his holdings by the addition of a forty-acre tract of land. In addition to farming and cattle raising, he made coffins for the need of the pioneers of this part of the country and also followed the trade of gunsmithing, both of which trades he had mastered in England in his youth. To William C., Sr., and Mary E. Doane were born three children, who are now living: William C., Jr., the subject of this re- view; Charles W., a prosperous farmer and stockman of Lone Oak township, Bates county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume; and Hattie Lee, the wife of William Lacorse, of Lewiston, Idaho. The mother died at the Doane homestead in Lone Oak town- ship in 1891 and seven years afterward she was united in death with her husband, who died March 19, 1898. The remains of both mother and father were laid to rest in the cemetery at Butler, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. William C. Doane, Sr., were honored and respected among the best families of pioneers who settled in Bates county.
William C. Doane, Jr., attended the public schools of Lone Oak township, Bates county, and Butler Academy. After leaving school, Mr. Doane, Jr., returned to his father's farm, where he was for several years engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He left the farm to engage in newspaper work at Joplin, Missouri, and for two years was with the Joplin "Daily American" and the "Daily American," assisting in the founding of the latter paper. From Joplin, Mr. Doane, Jr., went to Kansas City, Missouri, where for ten years he was associated in part- nership in the law business with F. M. Knard. The former retired from the firm and returned to the farm in Bates county, Missouri, a place embracing forty-one acres of valuable land, where he now resides, located ten miles southeast of Butler. In connection with his farm work, Mr. Doane, Jr., conducts a general store and he calls the place, "Ada." His place is on Rural Route 5 from Rich Hill, Missouri.
W. C. Doane, Jr., was married March 16, 1918, to Anna V. Stan- bury, a native of Missouri, reared near Stillwell, Johnson county, Kan- sas. By a former marriage to Maggie E. Shuster, of Lone Oak town- ship, Bates county, Mr. Doane has three children: Charles McKinley, fireman with the "Frisco" railroad, Kansas City, Missouri; William H.,
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who enlisted in the Fourteenth United States Cavalry, April, 1915, and is now a corporal stationed at Valverde county, Texas; and Edgar D., a grocer, Kansas City, Missouri.
Thomas F. Cannon, a prominent farmer and stockman of Mingo township, a former well-known hotel keeper of Urich, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. Mr. Cannon was born January 28, 1861, in Pike county, a son of Cornelius and Lydia Cannon, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Alabama. The Cannons came to Missouri in 1878 and settled on a tract of land, comprising eighty acres now owned by the son, Thomas F., the subject of this review, a farm located in Mingo township which place they purchased for fourteen hundred dollars. Thomas F. Cannon is one of five living children born to his parents, the other children being, as follow: C. G., of Pomeroy, Wash- ington; Mrs. Sarah Amanda Scranton, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Kizzie Billings, Urich, Missouri; and Mrs. Louisa Williamson, Nebo, Pike county, Illinois.
For nearly five years, Thomas F. Cannon was engaged in the hotel business at Urich, Missouri. He left this state and for two years was a resident of Oklahoma. On his return to Missouri, he settled on the Cannon home place in Mingo township and has spent the remainder of his life to the time of this writing in 1918 engaged in the pursuits of farming and stock raising in Mingo township, Bates county. Mr. Cannon has increased the original holdings of the Cannons and his farm now embraces one hundred twenty acres of valuable land, a splendid country place, neatly kept and most attractive in appearance. The residence and farm buildings are situated on an eminence over- looking the farm and Cove creek, which flows past the farm on the west.
October 31, 1884, Thomas F. Cannon was united in marriage with Jennie L. Carney, a daughter of J. and Margaret Carney, of Henry county, Missouri. Mrs. Carney died in 1911 and her remains were laid to rest in White Oak cemetery. Mr. Carney resides at the present time in Henry county, Missouri.
Mr. Cannon states that he is related-politically-to Joseph G. Cannon, ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives. Thomas F. Cannon is one of the committeemen of the Republican party in Mingo township, at the time of this writing. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Knights and Ladies of Security. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon are among the representative citizens of Bates county.
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The following, relative to the early history of Mayesburg, Bates county. Missouri, has been contributed by Mr. Cannon and will undoubt- edly be of interest to the older readers of this volume. He states that J. M. Mayes and L. O. Carlton were the first merchants at Mayes- burg, beginning business at this place in 1879. Their establishment was known as Mayes & Carlton. Later, the firm dissolved partner- ship and L. O. Carlton erected a new store building and entered the mercantile business independently. Poage & West erected a drug store building and "Nick" Miller built a hardware store building at about the same time, the former establishment afterward burning to the ground. At the high tide of its prosperity, Mayesburg boasted two general stores, a hardware store, a confectionery, two blacksmith shops, a millinery store, and a postoffice. L. O. Carlton was the first postmaster. Resi- dents of Mayesburg now receive mail on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri.
Clyde C. Owens, proprietor of a general store at Mayesburg, is one of Mingo township's progressive "hustlers." Mr. Owens is a native of Henry county, Missouri. He was born October 9, 1885, a son of Thomas and Allie (Showman) Owens, both of whom are natives of Ohio. Thomas Owens is a member of one of the sturdy and sterling pioneer families of Missouri. He came to this state when he was a very small boy with his parents, who settled on a farm near Urich. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Owens still reside at Urich, Missouri, the former, now at the advanced age of seventy-six years. Mrs. Owens is sixteen years the junior of her husband. They are the parents of four children, who are now living: Ada, the wife of Lon Ray, of Butler, Missouri ; Kate, the wife of Arthur Scholl, of Wellsville, Kansas; Gladys, the wife of Fred Hillebrant, of Windsor, Missouri; and Clyde C., the sub- ject of this review.
Clyde C. Owens attended school at Hickory Grove school house, at Lucas, and at Urich, Missouri. He was reared on a farm, but he began life for himself as a clerk in the employ of W. B. Morlan, at Urich, Missouri. Mr. Owens was later employed by H. Harvey, at Urich, Missouri. In 1915, the former purchased the Walter Gilbert general store at Mayesburg and for the past three years has been con- ducting this mercantile establishment, continuing the business estab- lished and doubling the trade. He carries a general line of merchan- dise, hauling the goods from Urich, nine miles away. Mr. Owens' store is a widely-known market for country produce and as he pays as good
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prices as are paid at railroad points. He enjoys a most liberal patronage. He is located on Rural Route 29 from Urich, Missouri. Besides the store, Mr. Owens is the owner of his residence.
February 15, 1912, Clyde C. Owens was married to Jessie Goodacre, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Goodacre, of Bolivar, Missouri. Both parents of Mrs. Owens are now deceased. She is a native of the state of Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Owens has been born one child, a daugh- ter, Eunice Elizabeth. The Owens family is widely known in Bates county and no citizens in Mingo township stand higher in the public estimation than do Mr. and Mrs. Clyde C. Owens. Mr. Owens is a young man of unimpeachable honesty and integrity and he takes a comprehensive view of local affairs and is quick to respond to the calls made for aid in promoting the welfare and prosperity of the com- munity in which he lives.
George Gench, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Hudson town- ship, is one of Bates county's best citizens. Mr. Gench was born in McLean county, Illinois, on January 9, 1860, a son of Frederick and Mary (Brauer) Gench, both of whom were born in Saxony, Germany. Frederick Gench located in the state of Illinois, when he was a young man, and there resided ten or twelve years when he came thence to Bates county, Missouri, and settled in Prairie township on a tract of land purchased from the Bradley brothers for ten dollars an acre, one hundred twenty acres of prairie land. He split the rails with which to fence his farm and built a rude house of two rooms constructed of roughly-hewed timber. Later, Mr. Gench built a comfortable frame residence on his place. Pleasant Hill was the nearest railroad center at that time. Frederick Gench was deeply interested in educational matters and for many years served as a member of the school board in his district. To Frederick and Mary Gench were born the following children: John, of the firm of Gench Brothers of Rich Hill, Missouri ; Mary Ann, the wife of Edward Keller, of Appleton City, Missouri; George, the subject of this review; Lizzie, the wife of Henry Grob, of the state of Washington; Lon and Frank, twins, the former, in the hardware business at Butler, Missouri, and the latter, in the Peoples Bank at Butler, Missouri ;and Carl, who is engaged in fruit and truck growing in the state of Florida. The father died in 1884 and the mother joined him in death in 1907. In the early history of Bates county, the name Gench stood as it stands today, the synonym of honor and no citizens were held in higher regard than were Mr. and Mrs. Fred- erick Gench.
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In the public schools, the "cipher" schools, and the mission schools of Bates county, Missouri, George Gench obtained his education. Upon leaving school, he engaged in farming on the home place until he was eighteen years of age. He then left Missouri and went to Kansas, where he located in Leavenworth county for two years. Returning to Bates county, Missouri, he again engaged in agricultural pursuits and in 1887 purchased his present country place, a farm comprising eighty acres of land partly improved at the time of his purchase. All the improvements now on the place have been placed there by Mr. Gench, including a residence, a house of eight rooms built in 1905; a barn, 48 x 60 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, used for stock and feed ; a silo, having a capacity of one hundred ten tons; and other necessary farm buildings needed to facilitate the handling of stock and grain. Mr. Gench raises brown Swiss dairy cattle, the herd headed by a registered male, and at the time of this writing in 1918 he has twelve milch cows. He is also interested in Duroc Jersey hogs, but has only a few on the place at this time.
. The marriage of George Gench and Caroline Hammer was sol- emnized November 27, 1884. Caroline (Hammer) Gench is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Anton Hammer. Mrs. Gench's mother died when the former was an infant and the little girl was reared by her step- mother, Mary (Grob) Hammer. Anton Hammer first married a sister of Mrs. Gench's mother and to the first union was born a son, Fred, who resides in Pleasant Gap township. The other children of Anton Hammer are as follow: Emma, the wife of Gottlieb Hirschi, of Rock- ville, Missouri; Louisa, the wife of Fred Drawe, of Rockville, Missouri ; Louis, of Olds, Alberta, Canada ; Willie, a truck farmer in Florida ; and John, of Rockville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. George Gench are the par- ents of eight children: Lewis, a well-to-do farmer and stockman of Hudson township, Bates county, Missouri; Agnes, the wife of Eldo Hirni, of Visalia, California; Gertie, the wife of Albert Hirni, of Rock- ville, Missouri; Martha, the wife of Carl Bartz, of Pleasant Gap town- ship, Bates county, Missouri; Frances, Edith, Eva, and Orville, at home with their parents.
Mr. Gench affiliates with the Republican party and for the past eight years he has been the justice of peace of Hudson township. He is a quiet, unobtrusive citizen, yet a man long considered one of the substantial, progressive agriculturists of the county.
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William E. Walton .- The high position in the citizenship of Bates county which is held by William E. Walton, founder of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, Missouri, has been honorably and honestly won. His long career extending over a period, of forty-seven years in Bates county has been marked by a regard for the well being of his fellow- men and a heartfelt desire to advance the interests of his adopted com- munity, which has not been excelled by any individual in Bates county. Mr. Walton's success as a financier has been such as to place him in the front ranks of banking men of Missouri. His course in dealing with the people, who placed trust in him, has been of such an open nature and so honorable as to cause them to always have implicit confidence in his word. On the other hand, there are scores of citizens in Bates county, now prosperous, who have good and just reasons to be immeasur- ably thankful for his kindness in times of stress and his assistance in times of need. Mr. Walton, while amassing a competency by strictly honorable dealings, has endeared himself to the mass of Bates county citizens as no other one man has done. Coming to this county a young man of ambition, integrity, and industrious habits, when the develop- ment of the county was practically in its infancy, he has played a very prominent part in the great work of bringing Bates county to the very forefront of Missouri counties and no name enrolled in the citizenship of this county is held in greater esteem than his.
William E. Walton was born August 31, 1842, on a farm in Cooper county, Missouri, a son of William P. and Louisa (Turley) Walton. His father, a native of Virginia, came to Missouri from his native state in 1837. He was married in this state to Louisa Turley, a daughter of Samuel Turley, a native of Kentucky, who moved from Madison county, Kentucky, to Cooper county, Missouri, in 1813. He was one of the earliest of the Missouri pioneers and came here in a day when the coun- try was wild and sparsely settled and the red men were still disputing the right of the invading white settlers to occupy what had for untold years been their camping and hunting grounds. Samuel Turley entered land from the government, improved it for his permanent habitation, and resided thereon for a period of fifty years. Jesse B. Turley, brother of Samuel Turley was, for over thirty years a Santa Fe trader and was well acquainted with many of the noted frontier characters of the early days. He wrote the "Life of Kit Carson" and was intimately acquainted with the famous hunter and scout who lived for a time with the Turley family. Benjamin T. Walton, an uncle of William E. Walton, served
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as a captain in the Fifty-second Virginia Regiment, Confederate army, during the Civil War and was killed at the battle of Port Republic.
Mr. Walton was reared and educated in Cooper county, attending the old-time "subscription schools," whereby each parent paid one dol- lar per pupil per month. There were eleven children in the Walton family, the following of whom are now living, all reared in a log cabin : William E., subject of this review; Mrs. Mary Marshall, Eldorado Springs, Missouri ; James W., Salt Lake City, Utah ; Mrs. Florence Hoops, Kan- sas City, Missouri; Mrs. Virginia Chamberlin, Los Angeles, California : Mrs. Lutie Williams, Los Angeles; and Mrs. Nellie Stoddard, Los Angeles, California.
William E. Walton came to Bates county, and located in Butler in 1870. His first work on coming here was to make or write up com- plete abstracts of title to all land and town lots in Bates county, making probably the first complete set of abstracts ever made in Bates county. Mr. Walton became the local representative of Eastern firms, who loaned large sums through him to Bates county land owners, and he has had more experience in loaning money on farm lands than any other person in this section of Missouri. In those days, money was an absolute necessity and an essential to the development of the county. The incoming settlers were mostly men from the older states and more settled communities, where land had advanced in price, and young men came here where lands were cheap in order to get a start. Through Mr. Walton, they obtained financial backing with which to carry on their farming operations and develop their land. Mr. Walton and the Walton Trust Company have loaned millions of dollars upon Missouri farm lands and afterward sold the farm mortgages to hundreds of Life Insurance Companies, Savings Banks, and individual investors through- out the country. It is a fact that they never allowed any mortgage buyer to lose a dollar of principal or pay any of the contingent expenses connected with the transactions. On the other hand, Mr. Walton always protected the land-owner who borrowed the money and gave assistance to the mortgagee to the limit of his ability and never allowed a mortgage to be foreclosed if it were within his power to prevent it by giving counsel, encouragement and further needed assistance to the struggling farmer. Many well-to-do farmers of this section have good reasons to bless his kindly interest and his encouragement to them to do their best.
The Missouri State Bank of Butler is his creation and this bank
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was organized by him in 1880. For a period of thirty-seven years, he was connected with this bank in the capacity of cashier and president. In 1891, he organized the Walton Trust Company of Butler, one of the most important and strongest institutions of its kind in this part of Mis- souri. He served as president of this concern for twenty-one years. The Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company are vertiable monuments to his enterprise and financial ability and are of such rock- ribbed stability and built upon a standard policy of fair dealing and integrity that they bid fair to endure as long as the civic state exists. Mr. Walton is now a stockholder and a director of the Missouri State Bank and the Walton Trust Company, but at his own request, he retired from the presidency on January 1, 1917.
The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Wal- ton and, in 1874, he was elected county clerk of the county and served for a period of four years. Aside from taking a good citizen's interest in local, state and national politics he has never aspired for prominence in political affairs. For over forty years he has been a member of the Christian church of Butler and takes a great interest in church and religious matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Butler Lodge No. 180. Mr. Walton is deeply inter- ested in history, especially if it relates to his home state and section, and he has served two terms as president of the Old Settlers' Society of Bates County.
Mr. Walton was married in March, 1878, to Miss Cora Allen, of Butler, Missouri, a daughter of F. M. Allen, of Butler.
Personally, Mr. Walton is an approachable, genial, kindly and accommodating gentleman and is upon most friendly terms with the majority of Bates county citizens. His life work has been creative and productive and his aim in life has been to assist to the extent of his power in the right development of the resources of his home county. In this endeavor, he has succeeded and his name in this history of Bates county is one of the most honored-his rightful place in the history of his home community has been won and he is valued to such an extent a sto place him in the forefront of the Bates county citizenry.
J. Emmett Hook, a well-known farmer and stockman of Hudson township, president of the Bank of Rockville, is a member of one of the old, pioneer families of western Missouri. He is a native son of Bates county who has grown up and progressed with his home county, and has taken a prominent and active part in the development of this
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county since early young manhood. Mr. Hook was born at the Hook homestead March 23, 1869, and has lived all of his life on the farm which he now owns in Hudson township. He is a son of the late James S. Hook, one of the most prominent of the early pioneers of Bates county.
James S. Hook was born in Alleghany county, Virginia, May 31, 1814, and was a son of Stephen Hook, a native of Maryland, who fought in the War of the American Revolution. Stephen Hook moved with his parents to. Virginia and there grew to manhood and married Miss Sally Hansberger, a native of Virginia. James S. Hook was reared to young manhood on the parental farm in Virginia and came West in the year 1840, first locating in Monroe county, Missouri. He raised but one crop in that county and in 1841 came to Bates county, where he entered land and improved the farm upon which his son now resides. Mr. Hook entered four hundred eighty acres of land but accumulated a total of nine hundred acres, which became one of the best-improved tracts in Bates county. The original papers granting James S. Hook title to the land and signed by Presidents Pierce and Buchanan are still in possession of J. Emmett Hook. When Mr. Hook first came to Bates county he . earned his living by hewing logs near Johnstown for a wage of thirty- five cents per day.
James S. Hook took an active part in building operations and assisted in the erection of four court houses in Bates county. An inci- dent of Civil War times is recalled by the scrip paid by General Price to Mr. Hook for seventy head of cattle which the Confederate com- mander commandeered when the troops were camping on the Hook farm. This scrip, of course, was never redeemed and is still held by the son, J. Emmett. In 1891, the father turned over the active man- agement of the farm to his son, and lived in quiet retirement for the remainder of his life, his death occurring on November 5, 1905. Dur- ing his long life he took an active and influential part in political mat- ters and was prominent in Masonic circles ..
On December 28, 1846, he was married in Hudson township to Miss Rebecca Hornsinger, daughter of Jacob Hornsinger, one of the pioneers of Bates county. Mrs. Rebecca (Hornsinger) Hook was born in Boone county, but came to Bates county with her parents when but two years of age. Ten children were born to this marriage. of whom J. Emmett is the youngest.
J. Emmett Hook, with whom this review is directly concerned,
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received his primary education in the public schools of Bates county and his higher learning in the Northwestern Normal School at Stan- berry, from which school he graduated. After finishing his normal course he returned home and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm. In 1891, his father laid aside the duties of the farm, and since that time the son has had entire charge of the place. He has followed in his father's footsteps as a successful tiller of the soil and stockman and has made a pronounced success in the oldest of honor- able vocations. Mr. Hook is thorough in his methods of agriculture and has succeeded in becoming prosperous on his own account as well as assisting materially in the development of his section of the state of Missouri along advanced lines. He has other financial interests besides his farm lands and is president of the Bank of Rockville, Mis- souri.
On November 29, 1891, Mr. Hook was married to Miss Elizabeth Scott, who was born in Pettis county, Missouri, June 20, 1869. She was a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Johnson) Scott. Mrs. Eliza- beth Hook departed this life February 5, 1896. Mr. Hook was again married on January 1, 1905, to Miss Lena Argenbright, and to this marriage have been born two sons, Howard A. and Joseph Emmett. Mrs. Lena Hook was born in Bates county, June 17, 1874, a daughter of Preston and Rebecca (Harrison) Argenbright, who were parents of eight children. Preston Argenbright was born near Staunton, Vir- ginia, October 16, 1838. Mrs. Rebecca Argenbright was born in Ten- nessee, November 23, 1841. During the Civil War times, Mr. Argen- bright was a member of the Missouri State Militia and served as justice of the peace.
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