History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 94

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220

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buried in Howard county. Mr. Vanhorn is the oldest of nine children, all of whom are dead but three. Joshua is living in Saline, and Ward in Howard. Mr. Vanhorn spent a large portion of his early life in the family of his uncle, Judge John Vanhorn, an account of, whose life and services in connection with the early history of the county, appears elsewhere in this volume. He was judge of the county court for twelve years. In 1850 he polled the largest vote ever cast for a candidate in the history of the county. He died in 1880, in the eighty- fourth year of his age; he was buried in the Columbia cemetery. He was twice married, but had no children ; he was first married in 1817, to Miss Nancy White, a native of Virginia; she died in 1877, and is buried in the Columbia cemetery. John Vanhorn was appointed jailor when the war broke out, and held the position until its close. He was a Union man.

ABRAHAM VICTOR.

The subject of this sketch is the son of Isaac and Caroline (Lion) Victor, of Spiesen, Prussia, where he was born November 15, 1835. He came to the United States in the spring of 1852 and settled in Rocheport, Boone county, Missouri, engaging in the sale of dry goods and notions which he peddled, travelling on horseback. In 1854 he left Boone county, but continued the business of peddling until 1857, when, in partnership with Simon Schiffman, he opened a store of general merchandise at Georgeton, Missouri. He remained in this business until 1863, when he sold out and returned to Prussia. After a stay of fifteen months he returned to the United States in 1864, settling in Columbia, Missouri, where he was employed as a salesman by A. & M. Barth. In 1865 he went to Rocheport and engaged in the mercantile business under the firm name of Victor, Myer & Co. They failed in business in 1869 and again in 1871. They also had a store in Columbia. In 1872 Mr. Victor went in business with Loeb, Myer & Co., Columbia, Missouri, and remained with them for two years. August 1st, 1874, he bought Fred. Mayfield's liquor store on Broadway and Ninth Street. He is now running the only wholesale liquor store in Boone county. He is exclusive agent for the wholesale trade of Anheuser's lager beer. He also deals largely in hides, tal- low, furs, etc. In addition to the liquor and hide trade Mr. Victor is largely interested in railroad ties, buying from forty to fifty thousand annually. He has a tobacco and cigar store on Broadway, under the firm name of A. Victor & Co. The liquor and hide store is conducted under the individual name of the proprietor. Mr. Victor was married

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March 21st, 1866, to Aurelia, daughter of Abraham Arnold. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. Their names are Bell, Minnie, Isadore and Albert. One child. died in infancy. Mr. Victor is one of eight children, five daughters and three sons. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of the family and the only one now in America. Mr. Victor is a member of the Masonic order, also an Odd Fellow.

JAMES H. WAUGH.

Mr. Waugh is a native of Kentucky, and was born in Nicholas county, December 26, 1832. His parents were Archer S. and Matilda G. (Piper) Waugh, also natives of Kentucky, the latter of whom still. survives in her eightieth year, and resides near Carlisle, Kentucky. James H. was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the country schools and the town of Carlisle. In October, 1854, at twenty-one years of age, he came to Columbia, this county, and began clerking in the dry goods store of J. H. Parker. Subsequent to this he was deputy sheriff for several years, and in January, 1862, was appointed sheriff by Governor Gamble, to succeed John M. Sam- uel, who declined to take the required oath of loyalty. In November following, Mr. Waugh was elected to the office, and served two years. He took no part in the civil war, other than acting occasionally as mili- tary escort to St. Louis. Associating himself, in 1865, with Mr. John M. Samuel, Mr. Waugh and he organized the Exchange National Bank of Columbia, with Mr. Waugh as president and Mr. Samuel as cashier. Besides Mr. Waugh, the directors were R. L. Todd, Gen. J. B. Douglass, Sanford F. Conley, John Machir, Dr. William H. Dun- can and William W. Tucker. The directors were subsequently in- creased to nine in number, and Mr. Waugh has been president ever since the organization. He has served the city of Columbia in differ- ent official capacities since his residence here, and is at this writing town treasurer. From 1867 till 1873, he was treasurer of the Uni- versity board of curators. He helped organize the Valley National Bank of St. Louis in 187- and was a director therein till 1879. He was also a director in the construction of the Boone County and Jefferson City railroad, built from Centralia to Columbia. Mr. Waugh was married at Arrow Rock, Missouri, May 3, 1859, to Miss Sophia Sid- ney Venable, daughter of Hampton Sidney Venable, deceased. They have one daughter living (Mary E. wife of Chas. B. Sanders, of St. Joseph) and one son and one daughter deceased, each dying at the age of sixteen months. Mr. W. belongs to no church, but his wife

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and daughter are Presbyterians. Politically, he was formerly a Whig, but now votes the Democratic ticket. He has made his own business. capital, never having heired any patrimony. His success as a business. man is too pronounced to need any extended comment here.

DR. LEMUEL WATSON. 1

: Dr. Watson belongs to a family, whose male members are or have- been, to a considerable extent, prominent physicians. His grand- father, Wm. Watson,. was a native of London, England, and a cousin to Sir Thomas Watson, the eminent English physician and medical author, who was chief physician by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen. Sir Thomas still lives in London, at an advanced age. Wm. Watson came to America before the revolutionary war. He settled in North Carolina, on Edenton Sound, near the Chowan river. Being a stout Whig; or " rebel, " he had his property destroyed and his. home broken up by the British soldiers under Cornwallis' command. He removed to a plantation on the James river, in Virginia, and was- again burned out by King George's men.

Dr. Lemuel Watson was born in Orange county, North Carolina, September 2d, 1824. He was educated in the common schools of his neighborhood and at Jackson College, Middle Tennessee. He came to the latter State when young, and remained until May, 1849, when he removed to Missouri. His first location was in Clay county, and he afterwards resided in Clinton and Buchanan counties. He came to Columbia in the fall of 1863. In 1874 he located in Lexington and remained until the spring of 1881. Then, April 1, he returned to Columbia, where he still resides. Dr. Watson, inheriting the family disposition, decided, upon reaching maturity, to become- a physician. He first began the study of medicine under his brother, Dr. John D. Watson, of Clay county. In 1851 to 1852 he at- tended lectures at Pope's Medical College, St. Louis. After practicing about seventeen years, in 1869 he attended the Jefferson Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, and in 1870 received a diploma and an honorary de- gree - the best that could be obtained in that celebrated school. The doctor is a believer in electricity as a therapeutic agent, and has always employed it when practicable. In 1879 he added the vitalizing electro- thereapeutic cabinet bath as an auxiliary to his ordinary course of treatment of disease. The doctor is well versed in the science of elec- tricity and claims for his bath (for which he is the sole agent in Boone county ) that it is made for the use of physicians in their prac-

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tice as an auxiliary to medicine in the treatment of both acute and chronic diseases, thereby increasing their armamenta medicamen- torum a hundred fold, enabling them to treat cases successfully that have defied the most skilful treatment with medicine alone. Owing to the diversity of applications that can be made with electricity in this bath, combined or uncombined with hot vapor and hot dry air, many diseases yield readily to the bath treatment alone, yet a judi- cious system of medication is approved in conjunction with the bath. As to the effect of the bath Dr. Watson maintains that in diseased con- ditions of the body it cleanses the skin and opens the pores ; equalizes the circulation and relieves congestion ; preserves health and prevents disease, purifies the blood by removing the impurities which accumu- late in the fluids and tissues of the body ; imparts vigor to the system and strength to the mind ; removes morbid sensations and strengthens the nerves. If you are tired and worn, it will refresh and invigorate. Will establish more natural appetite, complete digestion, pure secre- tion, perfect assimilation, more complete nutrition. Will make you richer by giving you health. He has great success in the treatment of disease by this method.

Dr. Watson has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Susan Smith, of Ray, to whom he was married December 23d, 1853. By this union there were four children, two of whom are now living, one, Dr. Claude Watson, a rising young physician of Kansas City, and the other, Miss Lulu Watson, at home with her father. Mrs. Susan Watson died in July, 1860, and the doctor was subsequently married to his present wife, who was Mrs. Anna Stone, a native of Kentucky. There are no children of this marriage. The doctor and his family are members of the Christian church and useful and honored members of society.

DR. B. A. WATSON.

Dr. Berry Allen Watson was born in Charlotte county, Virginia, January 28th, 1834. He moved with his father to Callaway county in 1840. He graduated at Westminster College, Fulton, in 1857, with the degree of A. B. After graduating, he taught school. Was princi- pal of Dover Academy, in Lafayette county, Missouri, until 1860. Dur- ing the war served for a while in Capt. Jo. Shelby's company. From 1863 to 1864 he attended Louisville and Bellevue Medical colleges, graduating at the latter place.in 1866. Located at Millersburg, Calla- way county, where he practiced for three years. In 1871 came to Columbia, where he still resides. Dr. Watson was married May 4th,

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1864, to Clara E. Ward, of Callaway county. They have six children, all living. Mrs. Watson is a member of the Baptist church. Dr. Watson is a Mason. He is also a member of the Boone county and District Medical Association.

JAMES STANSBURY WHARTON.

James Stansbury Wharton, assistant miller and book-keeper of the Columbia Milling Company, was born at Bunker's Springs, West Vir- ginia, June 8th, 1856. He was educated at Frederick City, Maryland, attending the academy at that place for four years, graduating at the age of sixteen. In 1872 he commenced the milling business at a place called Sir John's Run, entering what was known as the Morgan Mills. Stayed there three years. In 1876 he went to Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, and took charge of the Eureka Mills, owned by the Parker brothers. Stayed with this firm two years. Leaving the Parkers he went to Buckeye Town, Maryland, where he entered a mill owned by C. S. Simmons. In 1879 he came to Columbia, Missouri, where he was engaged by Anderson, Henderson & Co., proprietors of the Colum- bia Mills. He is now acting as clerk and assistant miller. He is a practical miller and book-keeper, and a thorough business man. He was married, April 21, 1881, to Miss Katie, daughter of James and Mary Jane (Turner) Brown.

WILLIAM EDMONSON WRIGHT.

William E. Wright, the official surveyor of Boone county, is the son of Peter and Jenny Wright. He was born near Nashville, Tennessee, December 18th, 1818. His father was born in Virginia, June 25, 1787, and moved with his father to Tennessee in the early settling of that State. He grew to manhood on the farm near Nashville, and was married September 20, 1810, to Jenny Edmonson. In July, 1818, came to Missouri and selected a home in Boone county, to which he moved with his family the following year. He settled near the head of the Two-mile prairie, about nine miles northeast of Co- lumbia. He was appointed county surveyor in 1821, and was also one of the judges of the county court, and was elected to represent the county in the Legislature in 1822 and 1824. He died May 28, 1847. The subject of this sketch was but eight months old when his parents landed in Boone county. He was educated at the Columbia Academy and at Bonne Femme Academy, under the instructions of Summer- field, Roche and Cunningham. Learned surveying under his father and

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his uncle, George. Cannot remember when he could not give courses from the compass. Accompanied his father and uncle on government surveys when but fourteen or fifteen years old and assisted them in their labors. He has followed farming and surveying since he reached manhood. Was elected county surveyor in 1880. Had previously acted as deputy. On assuming the duties of his office, he removed to Columbia, where he now resides. Had previously lived in Missouri township. Mr. Wright was married, January 13, 1848, to Augusta C. Siedikum, of Savannah, Red River county, Texas. Mrs. Wright is a native of Germany. They have had seven children, three of whom are living. Mr. Wright is a Democrat in politics, and has been all his life. He was a Union man during the war, but took no part in the struggle. He is a member of the Christian church and a Mas- ter Mason.

WILLIAM POPE YEAMAN. 1

William Pope Yeaman was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, May 28, 1832. His father, Stephen M. Yeaman, was born in Pennsylvania, but while a small child emigrated, with his father, Samuel Yeaman, to Ohio ; but afterwards, in early manhood, sought a home in Ken- tucky, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar and soon gained for himself a responsive and remunerative practice. At the age of twenty-seven he married Miss Lucretia Helm, daughter of Hon. George Helm, of Hardin county.

The subject of this sketch is the third child and third son in a family of nine children, eight of whom were sons. He studied law in the office of his uncle, Gov. John L. Helm, at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and at the age of nineteen was admitted to the bar. At about the same age he was married to Miss Virginia Shackelford, of Hardin county, Kentucky. This lady, by her many noble and ster- ling qualities, has proven a help-meet indeed to her husband. A large and interesting family of children have claimed her almost undivided attention and afforded her a real pleasure. For nine years Mr. Yeaman devoted his talents and energies to the practice of law, and, for so young a man, he attained to remarkable eminence in his profession.

At the age of twenty-seven, after a severe and prolonged struggle between ambition and a sense of duty, he yielded to his conviction of duty to preach the gospel, and was ordained a minister of the Baptist church. His first pastorate was at Nicholasville, Kentucky.

In 1862 Mr. Yeaman was called from this church to the pastorate .

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of the First Baptist church in the city of Covington, Kentucky. In this pulpit he was the successor of many of the leading ministers of his denomination.

In December, 1867, he accepted a call from a prominent church in the city of New York. In that city he soon took high rank among his brother ministers, and the church of his charge-the Central Baptist church - was greatly increased in numbers and influence.

In March, 1870, he accepted a call from the Third Baptist church, of St. Louis, and in the following month entered upon the work of this important field. In the same year the faculty and trustees of William Jewell College conferred on him the merited honor of doctor of divinity.

In 1875 Dr. Yeaman was elected chancellor of William Jewell College, and two years afterwards resigned.

In October, 1876, he resigned the pastorate of the Third Baptist church of St. Louis, and gave his time and attention to the duties of the chancellorship, and to the editorial management of the Central Baptist, the denominational organ in the State.

In April, 1877, he was called to the Garrison Avenue Baptist . Church, and in October, 1877, he retired from the editorial chair to give his time more entirely to preaching.

In the same month he was chosen president of the Missouri Baptist General Association, at an annual meeting held in the city of Lex- ington.

In 1882 he yielded to the wishes of his many friends and became a candidate for state superintendent of public schools of Missouri. Though he went into the convention with the strongest following, he was beaten for the nomination by a combination of the adherents of weaker candidates. The same year Dr. Yeaman removed to Co- lumbia, and will make his future home in the "Athens of Missouri."

DAVID H. YOUNG, M. D.,

Was born in Boone county, Missouri, July 3, 1856. His father, Archibald L. Young, was also a physician, and was a native of Jessa- mine county, Kentucky, born September 30, 1829. He was one of a family of seven children, six sons, and a daughter. Himself and all his brothers studied- medicine, and five out of six became practicing physicians. Their only sister married a medical doctor, and their father - grandfather to the subject of this sketch - was also an M.

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D. Dr. Archibald L. Young, took his first degree at the Transyl- vania University of Lexington, Kentucky, and the next, at the New York (city) College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating from both those institutions. He practiced in the city hospitals for two years after his graduation before returning to Kentucky. He only remained a short time in his native State, when he came out to Mis- souri and located for the practice at Fulton, Callaway county. Dur- ing his residence there, he was physician of the deaf and dumb asylum, and assistant physican of the lunatic asylum. His coming to. Fulton was in about 1849, and he remained till the spring of 1856, when he moved to Columbia, this county, where he remained till his death, on February 23, 1869. He had married, in 1853, Miss Sarah Hickman, daughter of Capt. D. M. Hickman, one of the early settlers of Boone county. Five children were born of that marriage, the sub- ject of this sketch being the oldest. The others were named respec- tively, Mattie, Archibald, Cornelia and Sallie, all living except Mattie, who died when only two years old. Dr. D. H. Young was educated at the Kemper Institute, Boonville, Mo. and the State University, at Columbia. He studied medicine with Dr. A. W. McAlester, of Columbia, and also took the medical course of the University. He received the degree of M. D. from the Missouri Medical College, of St. Louis, in 1877. Returning to Columbia, he practiced medicine for two years, then went and took a course at Bellevue Medical College, of New York, from which he came back to Columbia, and resumed the practice, in which he continues at this writing.

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CHAPTER XX.

MISSOURI TOWNSHIP.

Topography - "Terrapin Neck"-The "Pictured Rocks "- Caves - Borough's Cave - Early Settlers and Settlements-The "Firsts " - Lo ! the Poor Indian - Killing of Todd and Smith by the "Noble Savages" -Statements of Joseph Cooper and James Barnes - Persinger's Account of the Affair and of the Battle on the Bonne Femme (?) - A Bear Hunt -Organization -Early Mills - Tragedies-In the Civil War - Killing of Sidney Denham - Fight between Desperadoes and a Deputy Sheriff -Negro Riot - Country Churches and Cemeteries - The Town of Rocheport. - Early History - Notes of General History - Cholera in Rocheport -During the Civil War- Bushwhacker ; Raids-The "Buffington " Affair-Anderson's Attack on the "Yellowstone"-Since the War-Tobacco - The Riot of April, 1882 -Town Government - Public Schools - Cemetery - Churches - Secret Societies - Business Interests - Biographical Sketches of Old Settlers and Prominent Citizens of Missouri Township.

TOPOGRAPHY.

Missouri township is divided into about three well defined natural divisions : The Missouri river valley, called " Terrapin Neck ;" the table lands lying between the Perche and Callaham hills on the east, and the Moniteau hills on the west; river hills on the south, and a continuation of the plateau at the north which extends far into Perche township. The table lands form the largest subdivision of this town- ship, and there is perhaps no finer land in the State of Missouri ; certainly none finer than Thrall's prairie which forms the heart of this plateau, the prairie portion of which lies in Perche township. The blue grass which grows upon this plain is equal to the best grown in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and furnishes ample pasturage the year round for the vast herds raised in this section. The value of the farms and the fertility of the soil has attracted to this section a class of farmers equal in judgment, industry and skill to the superiority of the soil they cultivate ; hence the agricultural interests of this section of the county have been developed to a degree of excellence hardly to be found elsewhere in the county. As a rule, stock raising pays better than anything else, and when the plantation is once stocked it requires less outlay of money to keep up the business. Most of the land'is in blue grass. The horses, cattle and sheep raised in this portion of the township are nearly all thoroughbreds. Many of the farmers sell almost exclusively for breeding purposes. Nearer the hills, where the soil is less adapted to blue grass, immense crops of

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wheat, corn and oats are annually produced. The river hills them- selves are very rich and produce the finest fruit grown in the country. Some fine vineyards have of late years been planted and produce great quantities of grapes. Peaches and apples seldom fail along the high hills and sloping ridges near the river bank. The soil is rich enough - to produce any of the crops grown in this climate, but washes badly when plowed.

" Terrapin Neck ". is a long, narrow strip of river-bottom land extending from a few miles below Rocheport to the mouth of the Perche, which flows into the Missouri river near Providence. This body of land is very rich, producing fine corn and wheat. Before the war large crops of hemp were raised in this section, but of late years the principal crop has been corn. The corn crop never fails - in the bottom, and the hog crop, upon an average, is equal to twice the production of a like area of territory elsewhere in the township. The valleys of the Moniteau, Perche, Callaham and Sugar Creek, and the various tributaries of those streams are little less productive than the river bottom and produce a greater diversity of crops.

Missouri township has a greater variety of soil, and less that is wholly unproductive, perhaps, than any other subdivision of the county. The Perche flows from north to south directly through the eastern portion of the township. The valley lands along this stream are densely settled and the farms on either side extend almost to the water's edge. The stream drains a large extent of territory and is subject to overflows, but of late years many of the exposed planta- tions have been enclosed with wire and post and rail fences that are proof against the floods.

Missouri is well supplied with bridges and is connected with Colum- bia and Rocheport by a good macadamized road. The internal improvements are fully upon an average with the most favored sections of the county.

REMARKABLE NATURAL FEATURES.

THE PICTURED ROCKS.

On the Missouri river, about four miles east of Rocheport, are what are known by the local name of " the pictured rocks," called elsewhere " the Indian pictographs of Boone county." They consist of a number of drawings of a rude character, together with some sort of hieroglyphics, made upon the surface of a high cliff of rocks.

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The " pictured rocks" are upon the land of L. Torbett, Esq., on whose farm are also some eight or nine mounds. On one of these mounds stands the residence of Mr. Torbett. The present route to the cave is eastward from the house one hundred yards or more, thence south through a small field, at the edge of which a short path leads down a steep ravine densely overgrown with trees and vines, from which the visitor soon emerges on the bank of the river. One hundred yards down stream is a large spring which makes its appear- ance some thirty feet above the surface of the river. Coming out of a cavernous opening, it rushes in a series of tortuous leaps over moss- covered rocks into the river. The volume of water discharged would drive an ordinary mill. The cliff of rocks here is about one hundred feet in height, the top overhanging some ten feet, protecting the lower surface of the cliff, and this circumstance is one that accounts for the preservation of the pictures to this day. All along the face of the cliff, under the overhanging ledge or shelf, are the remarkable repre- sentations. At the height of nearly fifty feet above the spring is the largest visible group. This comprises, among other pictures and hieroglyphs, two rudely executed drawings of human figures, perhaps twenty inches in height, with arms extended ; one small human figure with a staff in its hand ; numerous circles, with dots and crosses in the centre ; spots within semi-circles, half resembling the human eye, etc. Other figures, at different places on the rocks, are those of a wild tur- key ; of a man wearing a jockey cap, from which a plume or feather de- pends ; of numerous circles ; fantastic figures, some of an arabesque character, others plain ; of a square or cube ; of a Masonic compass and square, etc.

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History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 94

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1220

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220