USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 30
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Samuel N. Gordon was educated in the public schools of Montgomery County, the Pleasant Hill High School, and Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. He then took a course in the School of Pharmacy at St. Louis. He then entered the employ of Dr. F. T. Buckner and was with him from 1886 to 1891. He engaged in the drug business on Wyom- ing Street, Pleasant Hill and for twenty-four years conducted business there, when he sold out to James T. Lain, a young man who had been in his employ as clerk for sometime and who still continues the business.
Mr. Gordon was married in 1900 to Miss Grace Craig. She is a daughter of Perry Craig, a Cass County pioneer who settled near Cole- man before the Civil War. He died in Los Angeles, California, in 1914.
Mr. Gordon takes an active and commendable part in the local affairs of his town and county. He served as city treasurer for eight years and in 1909 was elected mayor of Pleasant Hill and re-elected in 1911. Mr. Gordon thus gave the city two successful and efficient administrations.
He is a director of the Citizens Bank of Pleasant Hill and has held that position more than six years. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, having been made a Mason in 1889. He is the owner of one of the cozy and comfortable homes of Pleasant Hill, which is located on Lake Avenue and was formerly the residence of Dr. J. L. Warden.
John Chester Pelsor, the veteran wagon-maker of Pleasant Hill, is a native of Franklin County, Indiana. He was born at Brookville in 1837, a son of John and Dorothy B. (Morgan) Pelsor. The father was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and his father was a Virginian who, at a very early day, migrated to Kentucky and from there to Ohio. When he made the trip from Virginia to Kentucky he frequently was compelled to seek the
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protection of the forts at night as the country was then infested with hostile Indians. He was accompanied by a brother who was killed by the Indians, on the Ohio river, while he was navigating a raft along that stream. Dorothy B. Morgan, the mother of our subject, was a native of Indiana, born a few miles south of Brookville.
John Chester Pelsor was one of a family of seven children, as follows: Tracy, died in a hospital at Quincy, Illinois, during the Civil War, while in the service; Angeline, lives in Schuyler County, Illinois; Emeline, deceased; Mary, deceased; Elvira, deceased; Olive, lives at Mondamin, Iowa; and John Chester, the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Pelsor was educated in both private and public schools at Brook- ville, Indiana, and also attended school in Illinois. At the age of twenty- five he enlisted in Company A, Eighty-fourth Regiment, Illinois Infantry. His regiment saw service in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama and took part in many important engagements of the Civil War, including Perryville and Stone River. During the latter engagement it was under fire from Monday morning until Saturday evening. Mr. Pelsor entered the service as a private in the infantry and was later detailed to the pioneer brigade and pontoon service and about the time of the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, he was transferred to the First United States Veteran Volunteer Engineers and promoted to artificer the same day. He was the only one that received this promotion in the battalion. He was mustered out of service June 30, 1865, after having served three years lacking one month and eleven days.
In 1868 Mr. Pelsor came to Missouri and settled in Old Town, Pleasant Hill and for seven years was in the employ of Mr. Jackson, who conducted a wagon shop there. In 1875 he bought out his employer and moved the shop to its present location and since that time has been engaged in the manufacture of carriages and wagons. Mr. Pelsor has also done an exten- sive repairing business. He has built one hundred twenty-five wagons in addition to his repair work.
Mr. Pelsor was married in 1860 to Mary C. Misener of Macomb, Illi- nois, and to this union have been born six children, but one of whom is living, Guy, who resides at Pleasant Hill. Mr. Pelsor is one of the suc- cessful business men of Pleasant Hill and has accumulated considerable property. He owns three residences and it may be truthfully said of him that his career has been a successful one both as a soldier and a citizen. Mr. Pelsor is a member of the Masonic lodge and holds mem- bership in the Christian church. He has served a number of terms on
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the city council and has also been a member of the local school board. He is now in his eighty-first year and has seen many changes during his forty-nine years of residence in Cass County.
Walker R. Brannock, one of the best known livestock dealers in Cass County, has been successfully engaged in that business at Pleasant Hill and vicinity for many years. Mr. Brannock was born in Cynthiana, Har- rison County, Kentucky, in 1847. He is a son of W. A. and Louisa (Colvin) Brannock, both natives of Kentucky and descendants of pioneer settlers of that state. The mother died when Walker R. was eight months old, and the father passed away at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, in 1903, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. They were the parents of three chil- dren, as follows: C. W., who spent his life in the vicinity of Pleasant Hill, and is now deceased; E. L., who resides west of Pleasant Hill; and Walker R., the subject of this sketch.
Walker R. Brannock came to Missouri in 1856, when he was nine years old, accompanying his grandfather, James Brannock, who settled at Chapel Hill. There was a Presbyterian school at that place and here Walker R. Brannock received the greater portion of his education. This little institution is famous for having had among its students many men who in later life attained national reputation. Senator Cockerell was a student there and also Joseph Mercer attended that institution.
Mr. Brannock, whose name introduces this sketch, saw brief but active service in the Civil War. When General Price and his army were on the march to Westport, young Brannock, then a youth just a little past sixteen, fell in line with the advancing army in the vicinity of Pleasant Hill and was with the soldiers two days and nights but was not in the battle. After that engagement he returned to his home and soon after- wards returned to Kentucky where he remained until the close of the war. Mr. Brannock relates many incidents that took place during the early days of the Civil War. Some of these stories are amusing, some serious and all are interesting. He tells of one occasion when Col. D. R. Anthony with three hundred Federal soldiers stopped at his father's place, near . Pleasant Hill, over night. The officers of the command remained in the Brannock residence over night while the men slept in the barn and around the hay stacks. Mr. Brannock, Sr., was known to be a strong southern sympathizer. However, he entertained the Federal officers in a most hospitable manner. He had a barrel of old Kentucky whisky in his cellar and dispensed toddies freely among his guests. The next morning, when
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the troopers departed, in appreciation of their treatment they left Mr. Brannock's place and stock undisturbed. At that time he had about twenty head of horses which conspicuously lined themselves along the fence by the road as the troops rode by. They no doubt were a great temptation to the soldiers as they needed the horses very much. This is evidenced by the fact that they stopped at Squire Hockaday's place about two miles south and took every horse that he had, notwithstanding the fact that he was a Union man. Mr. Brannock says that in this particular instance an ample supply of Kentucky rye made a very satisfactory substitute for loyalty to the Union. W. A. Brannock had two brothers who served in the Confederate army under General Shelby. They were Prof. J. P. and T. Y. Brannock of Nevada, Missouri. Both were captured at Marshall, Missouri, and confined in the Federal military prison at Rock Island.
Mr. Brannock engaged in farming and stock raising in early life and for the past thirty-four years has dealt extensively in live stock, having handled about one hundred car loads a year. During these years he has noted a wide range of prices of live stock. He has bought hogs as low as one dollar and seventy-five cents per hundred, and sold them, delivered at the St. Louis market, for two dollars and forty-five cents per hundred. Compared with the present market price of sixteen dollars and thirty cents at Kansas City, Missouri, there is a wide difference. Mr. Brannock is also known as a successful horseman, particularly in training fast horses. He broke "Ned Forest", sire of Edwin Forest, who made a mark of 2:113 at Tarrytown, New York, at a time when that was considered a fast mark. This horse sold for sixteen thousand dollars. W. K. Vanderbilt was the purchaser. Later Mr. Vanderbilt sold him to Mr. Bonner, who retired him from the track.
In 1873 Walker R. Brannock was united in marriage with Miss Jennie Arnold of Big Creek township. She is a daughter of George B. and Mary Arnold, natives of Garrard County, Kentucky, and very early settlers in Cass County. The Arnold family came to this county in 1852 and settled near Pleasant Hill. They came up the Missouri river by boat as far as Westport Landing. Mrs. Brannock was five years old when her parents settled in Cass County. George B. Arnold had a brother, Isaac Arnold, who served as county treasurer of Cass County and was a Confederate veteran. Two other brothers, Alexander and David, also served in the Confederate army. George B. Arnold died in 1914, aged ninety-two years. His wife preceded him in death a number of years, having passed away in
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1888, aged fifty-nine years. They were the parents of ten children as fol- lows: Jennie, the wife of Walker R. Brannock, the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. Lena Whitsitt, Hereford, Texas; Isaac, contractor, Kansas City, Mis- souri; Robert, who resides on the old Arnold homestead near Pleasant Hill; William, who died at the age of twenty-two; Mrs. Etta Brannock, Pleasant Hill; Charles F., a commission merchant, Kansas City ; Mrs. May Thompson, Kansas City; Mrs. Burnie Guyton, Pleasant Hill; and George C., Alto, New Mexico.
Mr. and Mrs. Brannock are well known in Pleasant Hill and rank among Cass County's most representative people.
W. S. Sloan was born in Polk township, Cass County, October 26, 1839. He is a descendant of one of the very early pioneer families of Cass County. His parents were J. X. and Martha (Wethers) Sloan, both natives of Indiana.
J. X. Sloan and wife came to Missouri in 1830 and settled near Inde- pendence, Jackson County. About three years later they removed to what is now Cass County but at that time Van Buren. J. X. Sloan died in 1891, his wife having preceded him in death several years. She died January 1, 1849 and their remains rest in Sloan Cemetery. This ceme- tery was laid out by J. X. Sloan in 1848 and the first to be buried there was the body of his son, Newton Sloan. The following year, 1849, another son, Albert, and the mother were laid to rest in that cemetery.
W. S. Sloan was one of a family of ten children, three of whom are now living, born to J. X. and Martha (Wethers) Sloan, as follows: Mrs. Labesta Jane King, Wichita, Texas; W. S., the subject of this sketch, and R. W., of Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Those deceased are Cynthia A. Storms, who died in 1905; Mary G. Hinshaw, who died in 1906; Archibald Newton; Mrs. Eliza James, who died in 1896; Albert; Martha, who died in 1848, age one year; and Amanda, who died in infancy. After the death of the mother of these children, the father married Prudence Milton and the following child was born to this union: J. X. Sloan, of Joplin, Mis- souri.
W. S. Sloan was reared in Cass County and educated in a private school. He has made farming the principal occupation of his life and he says that since he began his career as a farmer not a year has passed but that he has followed the plow. He was married in 1863 to Miss Nannie E. Temple, a daughter of Augustus and Sarah (Oldham) Temple and to this union have been born the following children: William Richard,
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Ingalls, Kansas; Charles F., Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Mrs. May Jennings, Grain Valley, Missouri; James Walter, Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Mattie Bell, who died at the age of five; and Leonard, Pleasant Hill, Missouri.
W. S. Sloan was here during the Civil War. He served in the Home Guards and did considerable service with that organization. He often had to go to Pleasant Hill to do guard duty and at one time served under Colonel Nugent for six months, although he was never regularly enlisted.
Mr. Sloan's farm is located in Pleasant Hill and Polk townships. He makes his home with his son James W., who operates the home place. James W. was married in 1898 to Miss Vivian E. Ward, daughter of David M. Ward of Kansas City, Kansas. They have two children, Tod and Ray.
Sterling Price Fleming, judge of the north district of Cass County, is a native of Texas. He was born at Waco, August 10, 1862, and is a son of James Harrison and Martha S. (Simpson) Fleming. The father, James Harrison Fleming, was born in Kentucky in 1825 and came from Illinois to Cass County, Missouri, several years before the war. In 1849 he joined the host of gold seekers who went across the plains and over the mountains to California and, after spending some time there, returned. Mr. Fleming located in Pleasant Hill township on what is now the Thornton place and a few years later removed to Belton, where he followed farming. He later returned to Pleasant Hill, where he died in 1878. His wife, Martha S. Simpson, was a native of Missouri and a daughter of George Simpson, a Jackson County pioneer. After the death of her father, her mother married Capt. Thomas Thomas of Pleasant Hill, Missouri.
To James Harrison Fleming and wife were born the following chil- dren: Richard S., who was born in 1855 and died in 1879; Mrs. Ada Farmer, Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Henry Clay, who was born in 1859; Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Sterling Price, the subject of this sketch; David Samuel, who was born in 1865; Nannie Margaret, died at the age of three years; and Nellie May, who died in infancy. When the Civil War broke out, the Fleming family removed to Texas. David Fleming, a brother of James Harrison, enlisted in the Confederate army and was killed during an engagement in Arkansas.
Sterling Price Fleming, the subject of this sketch, and his two brothers, Henry Clay and David Samuel, own and operate what is known as the "Valley View Stock Farm", which they have successfully conducted for more than twenty-two years. This farm consists of four hundred twenty-five acres of fertile bottom land, located on Big Creek, two miles
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southeast of Pleasant Hill. The Fleming brothers make a specialty of Shorthorn cattle and rank among the leading breeders in this section of the state. For years they have been uniformly successful as prize win- ners at county fairs and similar stock exhibitions. The "Valley View Stock Farm" is one of the ideal places of Cass County. The place is equipped with all modern methods of handling cattle, including two large silos and other conveniences in thorough keeping with the advanced ideas of modern stockmen.
Judge Fleming was elected judge of the county court for the north district of Cass County in 1914 and re-elected to that office in 1916. He is capable and conscientious in the performance of the duties which devolve upon him as county judge and in that capacity, as well as in private affairs, he has won the confidence of his neighbors and fellow-citizens. He is a member of the Masonic lodge, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Mod- ern Woodmen of America and the Central Protective Association.
J. R. Vandeventer, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Grand River township is a native of Illinois. He was born in Stevenson County, May 22, 1853, and is a son of James and Jane (Sprowles) Vandeventer, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Ohio. They located in Stevenson County, Illinois, at an early day when that section of the country was wild and unbroken and considered on the frontier. Their first home there was a log house. They remained in Illinois until 1866, when they came to Cass County, Missouri, and settled five miles south of Harrisonville in Grand River township. The father was engaged in farm- ing and stock raising and met with more than ordinary success in his undertaking. He bought land from time to time and at the time of his death, he owned over eight hundred acres of some of the best land in Cass County. He was a man who was firm in his convictions and would sacrifice everything for what he believed was right. He opposed the Cass County bond business from the start and fought it to a finish. He was a member of the Baptist church and a lifelong Republican. He died March 8, 1888 at the age of sixty-nine years and his wife departed this life in 1903 at the age of eighty-two. They were the parents of eight children, four of whom grew to maturity as follows: Elizabeth, married John Bodenhammer and died at Columbus, Kansas; James, Jr., lives in Lincoln County, Kansas; Rebecca, married David R. Hutchison of Grand River township and is now deceased, and J. R., the subject of this sketch.
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J. R. Vandeventer was educated in the public schools of Illinois and Cass County. The first school which he attended in Cass County was held in the brick house in Harrisonville which has since been remodeled into a residence and is now known as the Doctor Beady property. Mr. Vandeventer has been engaged in farming and stock raising since boy- hood and has been unusually successful in this line of endeavor. He owns about four hundred acres of land, the same being a part of the old home- stead, five miles south of Harrisonville. His son resides on the place and Mr. Vandeventer lives in Harrisonville but supervises the farming opera- tions on his place.
In 1875, Mr. Vandeventer was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Holloway of Cass County. She is a daughter of Lawson and Mahala (Jackson) Holloway. The father was born near Knoxville, Tennessee, and the mother was a native of Jackson County, Missouri. She was a daughter of Rev. John Jackson, a pioneer Baptist minister of Missouri. Mrs. Vandeventer's father settled in Cass County about 1831. He was a successful farmer and stockman and died in 1879. His wife died three days after his demise.
To Mr. and Mrs. Vandeventer have been born three children as fol- lows : Archie D., resides on the home place in Grand River township; Della A., the wife of Will Russell, Grand River township; and Amy H., married William A. Simmons, Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Vandeventer is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and is a Republican. He and his wife belong to the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Vandeventer have traveled quite extensively and frequently spend the winter seasons in Florida. In 1906 they took a two years' trip through old Mexico, the Pacific coast and the northwest and every time they return to Cass County, Mr. Vandeventer says that Missouri looks a little better to him than it did when he went away.
James A. Prater, better known to his friends and acquaintances, who are legion, as "Jim" Prater, is a former sheriff of this county and an early settler here. "Jim" Prater was born in Fleming County, Kentucky, in 1858, and is son of Allen and Marenda (Hawkins) Prater, both natives of Kentucky and descendants of old Kentucky stock.
The Prater family came to Missouri in 1866 and for a time lived near Pleasant Hill, when they removed to West Peculiar township where the father was engaged in farming until his death in 1884. He was prominent in local affairs in his community during his life time and was especially
JAMES A. PRATER.
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interested in church work. He was an elder in the Christian church at Peculiar for a number of years and later was identified with the West Union Christian church in which he was also an elder. During the Civil war he cast his lot with the Confederacy, serving throughout that great conflict with Kentucky troops under the command of Generals Morgan and Jackson. His wife, who was a devout member of the Christian church and a consistent Christian, died in 1874.
Allen and Marenda (Hawkins) Prater, were the parents of the fol- lowing children, of whom James A., the subject of this sketch is the only survivor: Milfred E., served four years in the Confederate army under the command of Generals Jackson and Lee, in the army of Tennessee and Virginia; Wallace W., spent his life on a farm near Pleasant Hill; Isaac H., died in Kansas City; Elizabeth married Andrew Stultz, and spent her life in Wisconsin ; Charles Marshall, died in early manhood; and Ida Belle, married Alonzo Woods and they are both deceased; and James A., the sub- ject of this sketch.
Mr. Prater received his education in the public schools of Cass County. He was less than twenty years of age when his father died and at that time he engaged in farming and stock-raising on his own account in the vicinity of Pleasant Hill. Mr. Prater has been identified with the Demo- cratic party since boyhood and has always taken an active part in politics. He served as constable of Pleasant Hill township for a time, and when Sid J. Hamilton became sheriff, January 1, 1907, Mr. Prater was appointed deputy and served in that capacity for six years. In November, 1912, he was elected sheriff of Cass County, serving until January 1, 1917. Dur- ing his incumbency in the offices of deputy sheriff and sheriff of Cass County, which covered a period of ten years, Mr. Prater was a fearless and capable officer and won the reputation for honest law enforcement, without fear or favor. At the expiration of his term of office he moved to his farm, one and a half miles west of Harrisonville, where he now resides. It is one of the attractive and valuable places of Cass County, within con- venient distance of Harrisonville, and here Mr. Prater is engaged in gen- eral farming and dairying on a moderate scale.
In 1878 Mr. Prater was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Bledsoe, a native of Cass County, and a daughter of Abram Bledsoe, a pioneer of western Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Prater have been born the following children: Willie May, married William Lawson and died, leaving four children, Garland, resides in St. Louis with an aunt, Nellie May, Minnie Opal and James Wilson, reside with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
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Prater; Minnie, married William Nichols, a commission merchant of St. Louis, Missouri; Nellie, married John Brierly, an employe of Emery Bird & Thayer, Kansas City, Missouri; and Ben D., a civil engineer, who is now county surveyor of Cass County.
Mr. Prater is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
T. F. Prettyman, a prominent farmer and stockman of Grand River township, is a descendant of one of the early pioneer families of Cass County. Mr. Prettyman was born in Grand River township in the locality where he now resides in 1853, and is a son of Mathias and Mary A. (Majors) Prettyman. Mathias Prettyman was a native of Delaware and came to Cass County, Missouri, with his parents in 1846. They drove from Delaware to this county and took up government land in Grand River township just a little west of where T. F. Prettyman now lives, and he owns eighty acres of the original homestead. Mathias Prettyman and his wife spent their lives here after coming to Cass County, as did also his father. They were among the very earliest settlers in this section of Cass County and when they came here this was a wild unbroken country. Indians were still here and deer and wild turkeys were plentiful. There was only one cabin between Harrisonville and the Prettyman home, a distance of six miles, and Harrisonville at that time was a small fron- tier village and most of the houses there were constructed of logs.
T. F. Prettyman has spent practically all his life in Cass County, where his interests are. He was educated in the best schools which the pioneer times afforded. Some of the early school houses where he attended school were constructed of logs and were of the crude pioneer type, but Mr. Prettyman obtained the fundamentals of a very good education in the three R's and has been an extensive reader and a student of events and a close observer all his life. He has made farming his chief occupa- tion and is one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of Cass County. He owns and operates two hundred and forty acres of land, which is a very valuable farm. He specializes in Shorthorn cattle.
Mr. Prettyman was one of a family of five children born to his par- ents as follows: T. F., the subject of this sketch; John S., Kansas City, Missouri; and William J., Kansas City, Missouri. Two daughters are deceased, one died in infancy and the other at the age of eight years.
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