History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 90

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174

USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 90

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).

Mr. Hook has always been aligned with the Democratic party, and is usually interested in the welfare of his party. He has served the people in several minor offices and generally takes an active and influen- tial interest in local civic affairs. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is fraternally affiliated with the Masonic Order, in which he belongs to Rockville Lodge No. 341, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; the Appleton City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of Butler Lodge No. 958, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Maccabees of Rockville. Mr. Hook is known as a progressive and enterprising citizen who is ever ready to assist worthy local enterprises of a meritorious character. He is popular, well liked, and highly esteemed by all who know him.

913

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Jerome T. Donnohue, a well-known and successful young agricul- turist and stockman of Hudson township, is a member of one of the highly respected pioneer families of Bates county. He was born on the farm where he now resides, a son of Daniel and Anna (Wilson) Donnohue, the former, a native of Missouri and the latter, of Virginia. The Donnohues settled in Hudson township in the late sixties on a farm located one-half mile southwest of Hudson, which was then quite a village with a store, a postoffice, and a doctor. Daniel Donnohue owned one hundred eighty acres of land in Hudson township, a farm which he spent the greater part of his life in improving and where he died in 1909. Mrs. Donnohue, the widowed mother of Jerome T., the subject of this review, resides at Appleton City, Missouri.

In the public schools of Hudson township, Bates county, Missouri, Jerome T. Donnohue obtained his elementary education. He is a graduate of Appleton City High School, Appleton City, in the class of 1907. After completing the high school course, Mr. Donnohne returned to the home place, a part of which he now owns, and has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. For the past two years he has been handling graded sheep and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has a herd of forty-five on the farm. Mr. Donnohue raises high-grade Duroc Jersey hogs, Shorthorn, cattle, and good mares and mules. The past autumn, he planted thirty-five acres of the place in wheat. The Donnohue farm comprises one hundred sixty-eight acres of land, a large portion of which is devoted to pasture.

In 1912, Jerome T. Donnohue and Minnie Deller, of Hudson town- ship, a daughter of Henry and Agnes Deller, residents of St. Clair county, Missouri, were united in marriage. To this union have been born three sons: Vern, Harry, and Albert. Mr. and Mrs. Donnohne stand high in their community and are respected by all who know them as young citizens of genuine worth. Mr. Donnohue is a stanch believer in the efficacy of hard, continued labor and he has probably done more diffi- cult manual work than any other man of his years in the township. He is a gentleman of much public spirit, progressive ideas, and enter- prise and he is deeply interested in the advancement of his township and county. He is numbered among the excellent citizens of Hud- son township and Bates county, as was his father before him.

E. M. Capps, of the Capps Realty Company of Rich Hill, Missouri, is one of the leading and most successful citizens of Bates county. Mr. Capps is a native of Camden county, Missouri. He was born in (58)

914

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

1876, a son of John W. and Mary E. (Vance) Capps, who are now residents of Putnam county, Missouri. They are the parents of four sons and one daughter, who are now living, as follow: E. M., the sub- ject of this review; S. E., of Kirksville, Missouri, the civil engineer of Adair county; G. H., of Worthington, Missouri, the foreman of the steel bridge construction "gang" of Burlington; A. B., a conductor employed on a street railway at Davenport, Iowa; and Minnie, the wife of G. E. Robbins, of Davenport, Iowa.

Mr. Capps, whose name introduces this sketch, received his elc- mentary education in the public schools of Schuyler county, Missouri. . He is a graduate of the Glenwood High School, Glenwood, Missouri. After completing the high school course, Mr. Capps entered the gen- eral mercantile business at Worthington, Missouri, and was thus engaged for five years. While at Worthington, he became interested in the real estate business, trading his property in this place for a farm near Parsons, Labette county, Kansas. He moved to Parsons, Kansas, but not on his farm, which he soon afterward traded for a grocery store at Webb City, Missouri, an establishment which he conducted for four months, when he traded it for property in Rich Hill, Missouri. E. M. Capps is still the owner of a mercantile establishment in this city. Two years ago, dating from the time of this writing in 1918, Mr. Capps established his real estate business at Rich Hill, a business for which he had from experience found himself well adapted, and he opened his present office in the Benedict building. The Capps Realty Company is one of the most aggressive and successful in this county and the amount of business done annually has far exceeded the expectations of E. M. Capps. He sells farm lands, city properties, stocks of goods, and, in addition, writes insurance policies and makes farm loans. He states that within the last eight months farm land has advanced fifteen per cent. in value. Mr. Capps also has the agency for the Chevrolet and the Grant Six cars in partnership with his brother-in-law, F. E. Berry, and the firm is enjoying an excellent business, having sold ten Grant Six cars in the six weeks of the opening season and at the present rate of sale Capps & Berry hope to sell seventy-five to eighty Chev- rolets this year of 1918.

The marriage of E. M. Capps and Pearl N. Barnes, a daughter of E. T. and Mary (Dyer) Barnes, of Queen City, Missouri, was solemnized February 28, 1900. To this union have been born two daughters: Cleta and Ione. Mr. and Mrs. Capps are well known and

915

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

respected in Bates county and they are numbered among the best families of Rich Hill, where they number their friends by the score.

J. P. Herrmann, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, a member of one of Bates county's pioneer families, and justice of the peace of Shawnee township, is a native of Monroe county, Illinois. Mr. Herrmann was born September 29, 1866, a son of John A. and Barbara Herrmann. The Herrmanns settled in this county on the farm in Shawnee township, where Mr. and Mrs. John A. Herrmann still reside and have lived for forty-nine years, in 1869. August Herr- mann, the paternal grandfather of J. P. Herrmann, came to Bates county, Missouri, a few years later and in this county died. His remains are interred in a cemetery in Shawnee township, located near the Herr- mann homestead. Mrs. Herrmann, wife of August Herrmann, died at Waterloo, Iowa, and interment was made at Burksville, Illinois. To John A. and Barbara Herrmann have been born seven children, who are now living: Anna, the wife of Theodore Marqueardt, of Independence, Kansas; August B., Jacksonville, Illinois; Elizabeth, the wife of John Deerwester, of Shawnee township; J. P., the subject of this review; Maggie A., the wife of William Hart, of Clinton, Missouri; Lula, at home with her parents; and John A., Jr., a prominent merchant at Culver, Missouri. The Herrmann family has long been numbered among the best and most substantial families of western Missouri.

In the public schools of Shawnee township, District 48, in the first school house erected there in 1872, J. P. Herrmann obtained his edu- cation. His first instructor was Miss Sarah Reynolds, who is now Mrs. Sarah (Reynolds) Schantz. Mr. Herrmann remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-seven years of age and then moved to his present country place. He began with a tract of land, embracing eighty acres, cultivated but unimproved, and is now owner of two hun- dred forty acres of choice land in Shawnee township, a splendidly improved, abundantly. watered, well-located farm.

In 1895, J. P. Herrmann and Henrietta Filgus, a daughter of August and Henrietta (Erscamp) Filgus, were united in marriage. Mrs. Filgus died in Bates county in 1902 and interment was made in the cemetery at the Reformed church of Prairie City, Missouri. Mr. Filgus now makes his home at Prairie City. To J. P. and Henrietta ( Filgus) Herrmann have been born the following children: Guy Anderson, Kan- sas City, Missouri; Carl Adam, Kansas City, Missouri; Lena May and Herbert Hadley, both at home with their parents.

916

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

There are two sets of improvements on the Herrmann farm in Shawnee township, including a beautiful residence, a seven-room struc- ture, 46 x 30 feet, built in 1895 and remodeled in 1910; a barn, 4+ x 56 feet, for cattle, with a silo, 14 x 32 feet of one hundred tons capacity ; a second barn, 44 x 36 feet, for horses, having a concrete floor ; a com- fortable tenant residence ; and a third barn, 32 x 36 feet. Mr. Herrmann has on his farm, at the time of this writing, in 1918, thirty head of high-grade cattle, in addition to large herds of horses and hogs.

Mr. Herrmann has been justice of the peace of Shawnee township and a member of the township board for many years. He was a candi- date for county judge on the Republican ticket in the election of 1904 and made a very creditable race. Mr. Herrmann takes a broad view of life and keeps himself well-informed relative to public and political affairs and he has long been numbered among the public spirited citi- zens of Bates county.

Col. John Ewing Holcomb, a native of Gallia county, Ohio, came with his family to Butler, Missouri, in the fall of 1869. His sons, Phineas H. Holcomb, and Anselm T. Holcomb, both attorneys of Bates county, had preceded him. He bought a small tract of land, on Pine street, on the knoll, this side of Oak Hill cemetery. He built a very handsome and comfortable home there and at once took a prominent part in the upbuilding of the county. His family, his wife, and his children : P. H., A. T., Eliza, Sarah H., Charles, and Sumner, were most highly estimated. Mr. Holcomb lived in Butler until about 1886, when he temporarily moved with his sons, Charles and Sumner, to Greenwood county, Kansas, and bought there a small farm, which he owned at the time of his death. He bought lands in Hudson and Osage townships and built two or three houses in the east side of Butler. He was assistant postmaster in Butler from 1873 to 1876. He was a Master Mason, and, with Dr. Lyman Hall and Charles M. Peck, established the present chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Butler. In his latter years he was greatly afflicted with rheumatism and heart trouble. Mr. Holcomb was a man of wide and extensive information. He was a good story-teller and an engaging conversationalist and always a Republican in politics. While Mr. Hol- comb never affiliated with any church, his life was so pure, honorable, and stainless that he enjoyed the highest esteem of all his neighbors and acquaintances and the general public.

The following, from a boy-hood friend, Hon. William Symmes, gives an impartial history of his life in Ohio:

COLONEL JOHN EWING HOLCOMB.

917

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

"Colonel John E. Holcomb was born in Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio, on August 16, 1817, and died at his home in Butler, Bates county, Missouri. August 30, 1889, in the seventy-third year of his age. On September 12, 1838, he was married to Miss Mary Matthews, daughter of Captain Phineas Matthews, by whom he had eight children, five boys and three girls. One son and one daughter have passed on before him. An aged widow, four sons and two daughters survive him to mourn their irreparable loss, all of whom he saw happily situated in life. Mr. Holcomb resided in Vinton till the fall of 1869. when he moved with his family to Butler, Missouri. He was the third son of General Samuel R. Holcomb and brother of the late General A' T. Holcomb, and Hon. E. T. Holcomb, of Vinton, Gallia county, Ohio.

"Colonel Holcomb held many positions of trust and honor while he resided in Gallia county, among which was that of United States mar- shal, during the war; justice of the peace for many years ; postmaster ; clerk in the house of representatives, etc. He was engaged in the mer- cantile business for many years, and was trusted and honored by all with whom he came in contact. He loved the just and true. With a willing hand, he gave alms and with an honest heart and faithful hand he discharged all and every public and private trust. 'An honest man-the noblest work of God.'"

The "Gallia Tribune," Gallipolis, Ohio, says: "He was a son of the late General Samuel R. Holcomb; lived at Vinton, in this county, until about twenty years ago, when he removed to Missouri. He was provost marshal during the Rebellion and was a man fearless in the dis- charge of his duty. His convictions were of the strongest; he was a man of the kindest of hearts ;

"'And where he met the individual man, He showed himself as kind as mortal can.'

"No man ever lived in Gallia county, Ohio, whose word was more a synonym for truth than his. No man had keener sense of personal honor ; and no man can point to an action of his that was not of the truest and purest kind. His heart was as big as the world, and in it was a world of love and charity."

The "Bates County Democrat" says: "No citizen of Bates county was ever more highly esteemed than John E. Holcomb. He was straight- forward. upright, honorable, and just in all his dealings with men. At home in the midst of his family he was kind, affectionate and consider-

918

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

ate, ever solicitous of the welfare and happiness of his loved ones there. To his family he leaves the legacy of a noble and well-spent life, upon which they may look back with unconcealed pride. To the world, the example of a good man."

His wife, Mary Matthews Holcomb, after her husband's death, remained in Bates county until her death, December 15, 1894. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Eliza S. Wilcox, of Passaic, this county, aged nearly seventy-seven years. She retained, in a marked degree, all her excellent faculties to the last moment. She was a mem- ber of a very prominent family in southern Ohio and was from youth distinguished for her kind, gentle, and amiable disposition. She was an Universalist in her religion.

The oldest son, Phineas H. Holcomb, came to Bates county in 1869 and died in Butler, January 27, 1917, at the age of seventy-six years. He was an excellent lawyer and a citizen of the highest type. His second son, Anselm T. Holcomb, was admitted to practice law in 1868, in Butler, and practiced in Bates county till the fall of 1878, when he removed to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he still resides, and in his sev- enty-third year is still engaged in the practice of law. He has always been a taxpayer in Bates county and owns a farm of three hundred fourteen acres near Foster. He has been highly honored by official positions, and is regarded as a successful business man. His daughter. Eliza S., married Richard Wilcox, who lived at Passaic. Mrs. Wilcox, now a widow, owns a fine farm near that village. Sarah H., his second daughter, married Captain John C. Bybee and lives with her husband and daughter at Kansas City, Kansas. Charles M. Holcomb, so well known to the older citizens of Butler, moved to Kansas in 1885 and died at Buffalo, Wilson county, Kansas, in April, 1917, loved, honored, and respected. His wife, Belle Morgan, and six children survive him. Sumner C. Holcomb, born January 7, 1857, was admitted to the bar at Butler about 1881, engaged in the practice of law in Butler until 1886, when he removed to Woodson county, Kansas. He has been five times elected prosecuting attorney of Woodson county. He married Margaret Trueman, and has two children; Lydia Grace and Sumner C .. Jr. He is a highly esteemed and prosperous citizen of Yates Center, Kansas.

Amos J. Hughes, an honored pioncer of Bates county, a member of one of the oldest families of the state, is a native of Pettis county.

919

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

. Mr. Hughes was born June 11, 1848, a son of James A. and Elizabeth (Johnson) Hughes, both of whom were natives of Kentucky.

In 1873, Amos J. Hughes moved from Pettis county to Bates county, Missouri, and settled on a tract of land located in Spruce town- ship one mile west of his present country place. Mr. Hughes purchased at that time forty acres of land for fifteen dollars an acre. He has since increased his holdings and is now owner of one hundred twenty-eight acres of land in Spruce township, a well-improved farm and nicely situ- ated. The improvements on the Hughes place include a comfortable residence, a structure of one and a half stories ,and a good barn, 32 x 40 feet in dimensions. Mr. Hughes is interested in general farming. When he came to Bates county, in 1873, Mr. Hughes was owner of a team of horses and a cow. There was a small, rudely-built house on the forty-acre tract of land which he purchased from William Tyler, who now resides at Butler, and this was the Hughes home for many years until better, happier days dawned. In the autumn of the year of 1873, the blue-grass was so tall that a man on horseback might easily hide in it. Mr. Hughes remembers the drouth of the summer of 1874, when from June 11 until the spring of 1875 there was no rainfall, for he was obliged during that time to haul water from four miles away in order to keep his family and his stock alive. He relates an interesting incident in his life, which most strikingly illustrates the conditions under which traveling was done in Missouri in 1875. Mr. Hughes started on horseback from Clinton, Missouri, for his home in Spruce township. He traveled through two miles of water in Big creek, passed Old Urich in Henry county and Old Dayton in Cass county, crossed the Grand river, south of Dayton where the bridge now is, and was lost, utterly lost. Mr. Hughes traveled on and on and on, and in one instance was obliged to make an opening in a fence in order to get through, to get out of a field into which he had gone he never knew how, and at last gave his horse the rein and the animal found the way home. They were both completely worn out for they had gone from eighty to one hundred miles that day.

The marriage of Amos J. Hughes and Mary J. Moore was solemnized in 1869 in Pettis county, Missouri. To this union have been born four children, who are now living: Lillie R., the wife of Elijah Dark; Lulu Frances, the wife of John Greer, of Butler, Missouri; Daisy, the wife of Albert Swartz, of Adrian, Missouri; and Mary A., the wife of Thomas

920

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

Powers, of Lanton, Howell county, Missouri. Mr. Hughes has the following brothers and sister living: Pleasant S., Amsterdam, Missouri; George W .: and Mrs. Sallie Sharp, of Vernon county, Missouri.

Amos J. Hughes has been an eye-witness of the development and advancement of this great commonwealth and in his own quiet, unas- suming way has been a potential factor in contributing to the pros- perity and upbuilding of the community in which he resides.

George Hertz, proprietor of "Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Bates county. Mr. Hertz is a native of Iowa. He was born Novem- ber 21, 1867. in Johnson county, a son of Henry and Florentine Hertz. The father is now deceased and the mother still makes her home at the Hertz homestead in Iowa. Mrs. Florentine Hertz celebrated her eighty-fourth birthday on December 28, 1917. She is one of the beloved pioneer women of Johnson county, Iowa, where she and her husband settled in the earliest days and improved a splendid farm.

George Hertz, obtained his education in the public schools of John- son county, Iowa, was engaged in raising Percheron and Belgian draft horses there prior to coming to Bates county, Missouri, in 1904. About six years ago, Mr. Hertz began raising Hereford cattle and, at the time of this writing in 1918, he has on the farm in Mount Pleasant township eighteen head of high-grade animals. Last year, 1917, Mr. Hertz also began the breeding of big-bone Spotted Poland China hogs. He is an enthusiastic advocate of pure-bred stock, for he states that it costs no more to raise a good animal than it does to raise a "scrub."

The marriage of George Hertz and Rose Leuenberger was solemnized September 28, 1898. To this union were born two children : Harold and Esther. Mrs. Hertz, the mother of the children, is deceased. Mr. Hertz remarried. November 22, 1916, his second wife being Myra Ethel Eaton, a daughter of Herbert and Marian Rosalie Eaton, of John- son county, Iowa.

"Shady Brook Stock Farm" in Mount Pleasant township comprises one hundred forty acres of land, well watered by Mound branch and two wells which have never been known to have been dry. This farm lies one and three-fourths miles northeast of Butler and is one of the nicely improved country places of Bates county. The residence is a two-story structure of nine rooms and there are two well-constructed barns on the farm. Mrs. Hertz has complete charge of the poultry on "Shady Brook Stock Farm" and she is making a name for herself as

921

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

an exceptionally successful producer of pure-bred Plymouth Rock chickens and Toulouse geese and at the present time she has a flock of one hundred twenty-five fine birds.

Mr. and Mrs. Hertz are comparatively newcomers in Bates county, but both possess to a marked degree the happy faculty of making and retaining friends and they have now countless warm personal friends in this part of the state. George Hertz is a man of industry and excel- lent judgment and one of Bates county's progressive citizens.

J. W. Moles, farmer and stockman of Shawnee township, was born in Jackson county, Missouri, September 17, 1868, the son of G. W. and Mary (Tabor) Moles, the former of whom was born in 1840 in Missouri, but returned to Kentucky with his parents and remained in that state until 1866. In that year G. W. Moles made his home in Jackson county, and after a residence of some years in that county he located in the northern part of Bates county. He now lives in Adrian. Mrs. Mary (Tabor) Moles was born at Crescent Hill, Missouri, in 1841, and died in 1916. They were parents of children as follow: Mrs. John Allen, Adrian, Missouri; Mrs. William Poindexter, deceased; A. N. Moles, Mound township, Bates county; J. W. Moles, of this review; A. D., Adrian; Effie, at home with her father; Mrs. Marian Roberts, Adrian.

J. W. Moles received his schooling at Altona and Old Index in Bates and Cass counties. At the age of twenty years he began to make his own way in the world. He began farming on his own account in Mt. Pleasant township near Butler. He purchased his first farm in 1895 of Frank Pickett, a tract consisting of eighty acres located seven miles southeast of Adrian in Shawnee township. Mr. Moles has improved this farm with good buildings, trees, a well and other improvements. He rebuilt the residence in 1902. The barn was erected in 1901. Mr. Moles raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. Forty acres of the farm are sown to wheat and forty acres are in grass at the present time.

On February 15, 1893, J. W. Moles and. Miss Mellie Sloan were united in marriage. Mrs. Moles was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Z. B. and A. (Duesman) Sloan, the former of whom was born in 1845 and the latter in 1851. The Sloans came to Bates county, Mis- souri, in about 1883 and Mr. Sloan died at the Soldiers' Home, Leaven- worth, Kansas, in August. 1915. Having been a veteran of the Civil War, he made his home at Leavenworth in his extreme old age under

922

HISTORY OF BATES COUNTY

the care of the United States Government. Mrs. Sloan lives in Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Moles are parents of the following children: Otha C., born October 12, 1894; Neva M., born June 3, 1896; Claude V., born December 5, 1897; Harry D., born December 30, 1899, died April 25, 1900; Lena C., born' April 16, 1901; Clyde O., born March 1, 1903; Alva D., born February 13, 1905; Gertie L., born March 3, 1907; Wilma R., born April 30, 1909, died October 16, 1910. Mr. Moles has been a member of the township board for seven years and has served as trustee of the township.

Hon. Lucien Baskerville, former representative of Bates county, is a progressive farmer and stockman of Deepwater township. He is the son of William Baskerville, late pioneer settler of Deepwater township, who was one of the best-known citizens of the county.

William Baskerville was born in Montgomery county, Virginia, May 20, 1828, the son of William B. and Mary (Ferguson) Baskerville, natives of Virginia. The family left Virginia in 1837 and moved to Cooper county, Missouri, residing in that county for twelve years. Will- iam B. Baskerville later located in Henry county, Missouri, and was engaged in the mercantile business and in agricultural pursuits in that county until his death in 1882 at the age of ninety-two years. When William Baskerville was twenty-three years of age he joined an over- land freight train as teamster and made the long trip to New Mexico. After he had served as teamster for twelve months he was promoted to the post of wagonmaster, and in 1852 took a train through to Cali- fornia, arriving on the coast in the spring of 1853. He then returned to New Mexico and took a drove of 20,000 sheep through to California. He returned home in 1854, spent the winter at home, and in the spring of 1855, he made another trip to California but was taken sick and remained ill for nearly a year. In the fall of 1856 he made a trip to the West Indies, and from the Islands came home by way of New Orleans, arriving late in that year. He then engaged in the mercantile business with his father in Henry county, Missouri, and continued in business until the breaking out of the Civil War. From 1861 to 1865 he was engaged in farming. He had previously purchased his home farm in Deepwater township. Bates county, in 1856, when land was cheap and plentiful. He improved the tract and made his permanent home thereon in section 25, of Deepwater township, in 1869. Mr. Baskerville became owner of over three hundred thirty-six acres of well-improved 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.

History of Bates County, Missouri, Part 90

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854- Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1174

Author: Atkeson, William Oscar, 1854-
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Cleveland, Historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1174