USA > Missouri > Bates County > History of Bates County, Missouri > Part 95
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Jefferson Herndon, better known as "Jeff" Herndon, owner of a fine farm of two hundred and thirty-one acres in Howard township where (61)
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he is widely and favorably known, was born May 19, 1861, in Tazewell county, Illinois. He is a son of James Walker and Frances (Wilson) Herndon, the former of whom was born in Tennessee, in 1827, and the latter of whom was born in Illinois in 1831. James W. Herndon accom- panied his parents to Illinois in boyhood in the early pioneer days of the settlement of that state and was there reared to young manhood and married. He died in Tazewell county in 1887. The widowed mother of Jeff Herndon resides in Illinois. There were five children in the family of James W. and Frances Herndon, namely: Mrs. Kittie Beck- man, Arkansas City, Kansas; Nannie, deceased; Jefferson, subject of this review; Benjamin, who is farming the old home place in Tazewell county, Illinois.
Jeff Herndon was reared on the old home place of the family in Illinois and attended the common schools of his native county. He remained on the home place until twenty-eight years old and began for himself in 1879. Upon his father's death he inherited eighty acres from the estate which he cultivated until 1893, when he sold out and came to Missouri, arriving here on March 8. He purchased two hun- dred forty acres of land in Howard township, through which the rail- road has run taking off nine acres. For the past twenty-four years Mr. Herndon has lived continuously upon his farm and has made a success in raising livestock and producing good crops.
Mr. Herndon was married in 1887 to Miss Lenna Miller, who was born in Tazewell county, Illinois, in 1860, and daughter of Moses and Lucia Miller, of Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Herndon have five children : Harlan, Montana: Mrs. Frances Hoffman, living in Kansas: William Lester. Frank, and James, at home with their parents. Mr. Herndon is a Democrat in politics and is one of the substantial and well-thought- of citizens of his section of Bates county.
John McKee, well-to-do farmer of West Point township and presi- dent of the Bank of Amsterdam, Missouri, is one of the most substantial and influential citizens of his neighborhood. Mr. McKee was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1857, a son of John and Elizabeth ( Peddon) McKee, of Scotch-Irish origin and who lived all of their days in Ireland. Four of their children came to America to find homes in this country. John McKee left his native land in 1869 and upon landing at New York City. had barely sufficient funds to enable him to reach his destination, which was Peoria, Illinois. He soon got a job as farm hand during the harvest season at a wage of thirty dollars per month, later working for twenty
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dollars per month. His object in coming to America was to get a "bit of land" which would be his own home. Land rose to such a high price in the vicinity of Peoria, Illinois, that he decided to come further west. He saved his money and came to Bates county, where he rented for a time and invested his savings in stock for the farm which he intended to buy. After casting about for a suitable location he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres at a cost of sixteen dollars an acre. This was raw land and unfenced at the time of purchase. When Mr. McKee first came to Bates county there was much free range for cattle and he took advantage of this condition and invested a good part of his savings in cattle which ranged the prairies. He erected all the buildings on his place, built the fences and in 1887 added eighty acres more to his hold- ings at a cost of twenty dollars and twenty-five cents an acre-a tract which had been broken up and fenced. Mr. McKee has always handled livestock and for a number of years was a successful sheep raiser. By careful management and hard work he has become practically inde- pendent and is rated as one of the best farmers and stockmen of Bates county.
Mr. McKee was married in 1878 to Bessie McKee, who was born near Belfast, Ireland, in 1849 and departed this life on July, 28, 1894. To this union children were born as follow : Mrs. Lizzie Crawford, living in West Point township; Eleanor G., who is at home with her father. Mr. McKee was formerly allied with the Democratic party but has long been an advocate of temperance and prohibition. So pro- nounced has his views upon prohibition become that of late years he has definitely allied himself with the Prohibition party and now stead- fastly supports his party's candidates at election time. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church.
A. E. Moore, a prominent farmer and stockman of Pleasant Gap township, was born in Bates county January 17, 1875. He is a son of William and Nancy (Gragg) Moore, the former a native of Indiana, and the latter of Henry county, Missouri. The family came to Bates county in 1868. In 1876 they moved to Barton county, and the father died shortly afterwards. The mother married for her second husband, A. H. Wood- fin. They are now deceased.
A. F. Moore was one of a family of three children born to his parents, two of whom are living: A. H., Pleasant Gap township and A. E., the subject of this sketch. A. E. Moore spent his boyhood days mostly in Bates county. He was educated in the public schools of this county,
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and the high school at Springfield, Missouri. He has made farming and stock raising his principal occupations, and has been successful in his line of endeavor.
Mr. Moore was united in marriage March 14, 1901, with Miss Car- rie Rogers, who is also a native of Bates county, and was born on the place where she now resides. She is a daughter of Judge James Madi- son and Lucy ( Wilson) Rogers.
Judge James Madison Rogers was born near Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. He came to Bates county in 1851, coming from Platte county to Bates. He first settled near Mulberry, where he remained until about the time the Civil War broke out, when he left the county. In 1865, he returned and settled in Pleasant Gap township, where he engaged in farming and stock raising and spent the remainder of his life. He was prominent in the affairs of Bates county for a number of years. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party and he generally took an active part in politics. He served as judge of Bates county and held other minor offices. He died in 1902, aged eighty-seven years. He was widely known in Bates county and held in high esteem by his fellow citizens.
Judge Rogers was married three times. His first wife was Sarah Moon. Four children were born to that union, one of whom, Mrs. Angeline Gassoway, is now living. After the death of his first wife, Judge Rogers married Levena Sittles and four children were born to that union, one of whom is now living. John, who resides at Harwood, Vernon county, Missouri. After the death of his second wife, Judge Rogers married Miss Lucy Wilson, a native of Callaway county, Mis- souri. To this union seven children were born, five of whom are living as follow: Sterling, Los Angeles, California; Mrs. Emma Settle, Harri- sonville, Mo .; W. D., Jefferson City, Missouri; P. V., Porterville, Cali- fornia : and Mrs. A. E. Moore, the wife of the subject of this sketch.
To Mr. and Mrs. Moore have been born three children as fol- low: Willis, Lucile Fern, and Nannie Irene.
Mr. Moore is a Democrat and takes an active interest in local political affairs. He has served two terms as constable of Pleasant Gap township. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons No. 140, Butler, and he holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America.
Mr. and Mrs. Moore have an extensive acquaintance in Bates county, and have many friends.
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Oscar Hand, of Elkhart township, former township assessor and central committeeman of the Republican party, belongs to one of the old families of Bates county, his parents with their children and worldly possessions, having driven overland from their former home in Illinois to Bates county in 1871. Mr. Hand was born in Knox county, Illi- nois, in 1857, and is a son of Ellis and Jane (Kennedy) Hand, the former having been born in Indiana in 1832 and still resides in Bates county. The wife and mother was also born in Indiana and is now eighty-one years old. Both Ellis and Jane Hand were children when they accompanied their respective parents to Knox county, Illinois. They grew up in that county and were there married. Two weeks trav- eling were required to bring the family to Bates county and the trip was a distinct novelty to the younger children, who rather enjoyed the outing. They made their home here at a time when there was no town of La Cygne, and Butler was but a settlement. Their nearest market was at Harrisonville, where they drove their stock and hauled their grain to be sold and shipped.
Ellis Hand followed the vocation of farming all of his life and became quite prominent in the civic and political affairs of Elkhart township and the county. He served several terms as a member of the township board and was actively identified with political matters as regards the Republican party with which he was always identified, serving as Repub- lican committeeman. Six children born to Ellis and Jane Knox were reared to maturity : Oscar, subject of this review and the eldest son of the family; Lizzie, wife of Charles Evans, residing near Scott City, Kansas: Albert, Kansas City, Missouri; George, a farmer in Elkhart township: Minnie, who married William Allen, who is now deceased : Rebecca, wife of Buell Mudd, living near Burdett, in Bates county.
The early education of Oscar Hand was obtained in the public schools of Illinois and Bates county. He applied himself diligently to his studies and has become well informed through constant reading. From his youth he has been engaged in farming and with the exception of nine years spent in Kansas City in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad Company and the stock yards, has lived in Bates county since coming here in 1871. He removed to Kansas City in 1880 and returned to the farm in 1889.
Mr. Hand was married to Mary J. Peebles, a native of Illinois and daughter of Abraham Peebles, who came to Bates county and located in Elkhart township as early as 1869. Mr. and Mrs. Hand have three
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children : Ethel, wife of William Spencer, Adrian, Missouri; Elsie, and Roy, residing in Claudell, Kansas.
Mr. Hand is prominently identified with the Republican party and is one of the leaders of his party in Bates county. He has filled the office of township assessor and is the present central Republican committeeman for Elkhart township. He is secretary of the local Cen- tral Protective Association and is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
Robert Marshall, of Elkhart township, is a son of one of the early pioneer families of Missouri, the family having made its first settlement in north Missouri as early as 1856. He was born in Brown county, Indiana, in 1845, and is a son of James and Artemesia (Fallowell) Mar- shall, the former a native of Tennessee, but was reared in Indiana, and the latter was born and reared in Indiana. They came west and located in north Missouri in 1856, but remained only two years, going to Macou- pin county. Illinois, in 1858. The family made their home in Illinois until 1880 and then came to Bates county and located in Elkhart town- ship, one mile west of the village of Elkhart. They both died at the age of seventy years and within one month, the father dying in Febru- ary 20, 1881, and the mother March 20, of that same year. James and Artemesia Marshall were parents of the following children: William, died in Bates county in 1907 ; Louisa, married J. M. Scott, now deceased : Lucinda, wife of James Patterson; Robert, the subject of this sketch; and two children died in infancy.
Robert Marshall was educated in the public schools of Indiana and Illinois and followed in his father's footsteps as a tiller of the soil, beginning his own career upon the place of one hundred acres which he owns in Elkhart township. His farm is well kept and highly pro- ductive and he carries on general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Marshall was married in 1873 to Sarah Jane McCoy, who was born in Caney county, Missouri, and to this marriage have been born two children: James P., who is assisting his father with the farming operations; and Maude, also at home with her parents. Mr. Marshall is affiliated fraternally with Elkhart Lodge, Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and is a Republican.
J. O. Brown, well-known citizen of Passaic, Mound township, was born in London, Madison county, Ohio, in 1849. and is a son of James P. and Mary A. ( Black) Brown, the former a native of Hamp- shire county, Virginia, of English descent, and the latter a native of
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Pickaway county, Ohio. James P. Brown was a drover who was engaged in the arduous business of driving herds of cattle across the country from western Ohio to the Pittsburg and across the Alleghany Mountains to other Eastern markets for a number of years. When Bates county was largely in an unsettled state and the land was still owned to a con- siderable extent by the United States Government, he with three other men, came to this section and entered one and three-quarters sections of government land at a cost of one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre. Of this original tract, J. O. Brown, subject of this review, owns one hundred and seventy-six acres. James P. Brown never took up his residence in this county, but returned to Ohio and engaged in farming for the remainder of his days, dying at his home in Madison county, Ohio. He became identified with the Whig party when it was formed and when the Whigs were succeeded by the Repubicans as a political organization, he espoused the principles of that party. The three chil- dren reared by James P. and Mary A. Brown are : J. O., subject of this sketch: Elizabeth, wife of Charles Frye, wealthy land owner of Circle- ville, Ohio; Annie, wife of David Campbell living at Dayton, Ohio. Another son, Charles Wesley, is deceased.
The boyhood and school days of J. O. Brown were spent in his native county of Madison and Ross county. Ohio. He migrated to Bates county, Missouri, in 1877 and has since been engaged in farming operations. His first employer in this county was Levi Steele, and he later handled cattle in his brother's interest for some time. He was engaged in herding cattle on the plains for four years and was then engaged in pasturing cattle for fifteen years in all. Finally when the wire fence came into vogue, and the entire country was crossed and criss-crossed with fences of barbed or woven wire, thus cutting up all the free ranges which had marked the surface of Bates county for a long period of time, he fenced his land and then engaged in farming like other settlers. He has two hundred and thirty-six acres of very fine land in Mound township and makes his home in the pretty little village of Passaic. Mr. Brown is an excellent farmer and keeps only the best grades of livestock, his special fancy being Shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs.
Mr. Brown was married to Alice Troutman, of Ohio. They have three children. namely: James Arthur, a student in the Adrian High School; Gladys, also in high school; and Harry, who is attending the Passaic public school. Mr. Brown has always been a stanch Republican
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and is a member of Crescent Hill Lodge No. 1, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Butler.
When Mr. Brown came to Bates county there was no railroad in the county and no Passaic. Butler was a little village consisting of a cluster of houses around the public square. There were no highways, and one followed the trails which crossed the open prairie and took the shortest route to any given destination. Wild animals, such as wolves and deer, were plentiful. Prairie chickens and wild turkeys were here in abundance. For fifteen years, Mr. Brown kept bachelor's hall and then decided that he needed a helpmeet. When he came to this county, he, like others, had little expectation of ever seeing the country so thickly populated as it is at this day, and had no idea that land values would climb as they have been doing of late years. He was content to herd his cattle upon the plains and did not undertake actual cultivation of his land until he saw that intensive farming was inevitable and that the old days of the free range were gone, never to return.
J. C. Denton, who has a fine farm located in Mound township on the Jefferson Highway, seven miles north of Butler, and three miles south of Adrian, was born in Monroe county, Tennessee, in 1857. He is a son of William H. and Fathie Ann (Stephens) Denton, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter a native of North Caro- lina. The Dentons came to Missouri in 1857 when the subject of this sketch was but six months old. They first located in Saline county. where they remained for one year and then removed to Johnson county. where they made a permanent location. The family lived in Johnson county during the dark days of the Civil War, and J. C. Denton remem- bers some of the sadness and hardships of that period. William H. Denton made his home on a farm eight miles south of Warrensburg and there spent the remainder of his life. He followed farming until 1885, when he engaged in the grocery business in Warrensburg until his retirement, and attained the great age of eighty-eight years before death called him. Three children of William H. Denton are living: John Denton. Columbia, Missouri: J. C., subject of this sketch; Rich- ard, Parsons, Kansas.
J. C. Denton was reared in Johnson county and educated in the public schools. He followed farming in that county until 1886. He then came to Bates county and purchased his present homestead of eighty acres, which is well improved and yields him a comfortable living. Mr. Denton was married in 1882 to Florence Glazebrook, a daughter
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of James Glazebrook, an early settler in Missouri.
As a good citizen, Mr. Denton takes an active and influential inter- est in township and county affairs. He has held the office of school director of his district on several occasions and is allied with the Repub- lican party in whose activities he takes a keen interest, being prominent in party councils. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and is a member of the Baptist church.
C. W. Chrisman and G. E. Chrisman, widely known in Bates county as the "Chrisman boys," are representatives of a pioneer family of Bates county and they are still residing at the Chrisman homestead in East Boone township. C. W. Chrisman was born in 1855 in Jackson county, Missouri, and G. E. Chrisman was born in 1860 in the same county, both sons of Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman. The Chrisman trace their lineage back to a prominent colonial family of Virginia. Ewin Chris- man was a son of John Chrisman, who came to Missouri in 1832 and set- tled on a vast tract of land in Jackson county, as the boundaries were later defined. Ewin Chrisman came to Bates county, Missouri, from Jackson county in 1877 and purchased a farm comprising ninety-two and a half acres of land in East Boone township.
To Ewin and Mary M. Chrisman were born eight children, seven of whom are now living: J. L., who resides in Oklahoma; J. T., Arm- strong, Missouri; C. W., one of the "Chrisman boys," a subject of this review ; E. F., Adrian, Missouri; G. E., the younger of the "Chrisman boys," a subject of this review; Mary E., deceased; Mrs. Anna F. Corbin, Kansas City, Missouri ; and Mrs. Ida L. Haley, Slater, Missouri. Mrs. Chrisman, the mother, one of the most highly respected and esteemed of Missouri's noble pioneer women, died in Bates county at the Chrisman homestead in 1904. Eleven years later. she and her husband were united in death. Ewin Chrisman died in 1915. He was one of the best citizens of East Boone township, a gentleman who easily made many friends, and wherever he was known his name was honored as the synonym of honesty, integrity, and uprightness. He was an honored veteran of the Confederate army, having fought bravely in many battles, serving faithfully for two years with Company K. Missouri Infantry, under "Fighting Joe" Shelby.
The "Chrisman boys" have spent more than forty years in Bates county on the home place in East Boone township and they well recall the pioneer conditions and primitive appearance of Bates county, for amid the scenes of the early days they spent their young manhood. (62)
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There were very few settlements in Missouri in the middle of the nine- teenth century and practically all the land was open prairie at the time the Chrismans settled in this part of the state in 1877. There were no roads, just mere beaten trails across the unfenced prairie, and the set- tlers traveled by their sense of direction. Wild game abounded and one day, in the late seventies, C. W. Chrisman killed a deer near Pleasant Gap. The Chrismans did their trading either at Harrisonville, Mis- souri, or at La Cygne, Linn county, Kansas, selling their corn for twelve and a half cents a bushel, their meat for two and a half cents a pound. The two brothers once took a load of meat on their sled to Freeman, Cass county, Missouri, and sold it for one dollar and ninety cents per hundred pounds, and that was the highest market price. The hardness of life in the new country and the universality of suffering from the privations and hardships inspired a more neighborly spirit in the old days than now exists. The early settlers necessarily depended upon their neighbors for assistance in times of sickness and distress and assis- tance was more freely given then than now. Physicians were few and difficult to secure. Dr. G. W. Chrisman was the nearest one to be had in this vicinity and he probably traveled thousands of miles. all told, during his career and watched beside the bedsides all night long of hundreds of different sufferers in this part of the state. The McNeil school house was the first school building to be erected in this district and William Kirk was the first "school master." Reverend Pitts and Reverend John Sage were pioneer preachers, whom the Chrisman broth- ers personally knew. They state that the old-fashioned revivals always attracted large crowds of people and they are of the opinion that the early settlers attended church better than do the people of today. G. E Chrisman tells of an old trail which led past the old Chrisman home place, along which he has seen hundreds of covered immigrant wagons going southwest. The inmates of the wagons would frequently encamp near the home of the Chrismans. The old home was built of lumber hauled from Pleasant Hill, the weatherboarding of walnut, and it was probably erected long before the Civil War. When the Chrisman broth- ers would take their produce to market in the old days, it required two entire days to make the trip. G. E. Chrisman describes a very destruc- tive prairie fire which he witnessed one autumn and he states that for many years the grass out on the prairie grew higher than an ordinary man. He relates how he used to participate in "wolf drives" and has seen many captured and four years ago took part in a "drive" which
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resulted in the capture of three wolves. From this brief account, the reader may be able to form a fairly clear concept of the early institutions and conditions.
C. W. Chrisman has been in charge of the Chrisman place for many years. He and his brother are engaged in raising good grade cattle and Poland China hogs. Both C. W. and G. E. Chrisman are stanch Democrats and highly respected and valued in East Boone township. The "Chrisman boys" have neither married, but have been content to spend their lives together at the old homestead, which has become a landmark in Bates county.
F. A. Huston, a well-known auctioneer of Bates county, is one of the prominent citizens of Deer Creek township. Mr. Huston was born in Illinois in 1860, a son of John and Catherine Huston. The Hustons came to Bates county, Missouri, in 1876 and settled on a farm in Walnut township. John Huston purchased a tract of land in this township, which tract comprised one hundred ninety-five acres, and engaged in general farming. To John and Catherine Huston were born ten chil- dren, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. Addie Cox, Miami, Okla- homa: F. A., the subject of this review; Mrs. Mattie Harris, Kiowa, Kansas ; Perry, who resides in Kansas; Mrs. Acenith N. Moudy, Creede, Colorado: Melvin S .; and Elbert, Walnut, Kansas. The father died in 1892 and the widowed mother makes her home with her eldest daugh- ter in Oklahoma. John Huston was one of the most unostentatious of men, open hearted and candid in manner, yet retaining in his demeanor much of the courtesy of the old-time gentleman.
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