USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 31
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On July 17, 1875, Mr. Prettyman was united in marriage with Miss Josie Cummings, a native of Cass County. She is a daughter of Benjamin
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Cummings, a Cass County pioneer, who came here in the early fifties. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Prettyman, as follows: Walter S., farmer and stock raiser, Grand River township; Arthur S., a farmer and stock raiser, Peculiar township; Stella, married George Kane, Seattle, Washington; Opal, married Louis Greenlee, Grand River town- ship; and Sterling Price, resides with his parents.
Mr. Prettyman is a member of the Masonic lodge and has been a life long democrat, who takes a keen interest in local politics and has served as a member of the township board and held the office of justice of the peace. He and Mrs. Prettyman are members of the Presbyterian church and are among Cass County's most representative families.
The Prettyman family are of English descent and at an early day lived in the vicinity of London and the title of one hundred and thirty acres of land within the city limits of London, is still in the Prettyman family, and their right of ownership to this property has been agitated for a number of years.
John J. Burke, one of the veteran merchants of Harrisonville, is a native of Cass County. He was born two miles south of Harrisonville on the place known as the Burke homestead. Here he was reared to manhood and received his education in the Bellplain school and the Har- risonville public school.
In the spring of 1874 Mr. Burke went to Texas. After remaining there one year he returned to Cass County and engaged in farming on the old home place. Mr. Burke remained there until the spring of 1877 when he became a clerk in the grocery department of the W. H. Barrett & Company store at Harrisonville. He soon became manager of that depart- ment, remaining in that capacity until January 1, 1890, when he resigned. He organized the firm of J. J. Burke & Company which consisted of him- self and his brother, George G. Burke. They engaged in the grocery business and continued with marked success until August 15, 1898, when J. J. bought his brother's interest in the business and took Bert P. Grose, his son-in-law as a partner. This firm enjoyed a good business until they sold out April 21, 1905. Mr. Burke then engaged in the real estate, loan and insurance business which he continued about three and one-half years, but during this time he had a longing to be behind the counter again and November 1, 1908, he again engaged in the grocery and feed business which he continued until December 1, 1916. At that time he again dis-
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posed of the grocery business and at the time of this writing is taking a well earned vacation.
John J. Burke was united in marriage October 17, 1877, with Miss Nancy Eveline Pearson, a native of Cass County. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have one daughter, Beryl L., the wife of Bert P. Grose, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Burke are members of the Baptist church.
Ernest B. Pearce, vice-president and secretary of the W. E. Pearce Hardware & Mercantile Company, of Pleasant Hill, is a descendant of one of the pioneer families of Cass County. The W. E. Pearce Hardware & Mercantile Company is the outgrowth of one of the oldest business estab- lishments of Pleasant Hill. Ernest B. Pearce is a son of William E. and Margaret (Burns) Pearce, the former a native of England, born in 1823, and died in 1908, and the latter a native of New York, who now resides at Pleasant Hill. William E. and Margaret (Burns) Pearce were mar- ried in Beardstown, Illinois, in 1858.
William E. Pearce came to America in 1844 and located at Cincinnati, Ohio. He had learned the tinsmith's trade in his native land and when he came to this country he engaged in that line of work. From Cincin- nati he went to St. Louis and from there to Illinois, where he was mar- ried. In 1867 he came to Missouri with his wife and family and located at Pleasant Hill. Here he engaged in the hardware business in partner- ship with Theodore Leland, who is now living at Cripple Creek, Colorado. Mr. Pearce bought Leland's interest in 1877 and since that time the busi- ness has been owned and controlled by the Pearce family. The first store opened by Pearce & Leland was a frame structure, twenty by forty feet, located on Wyoming street. This building was burned when that entire block was destroyed by fire and after that Mr. Pearce established his business on First street and erected about 1885 the brick building, twenty by seventy-five feet and two stories high. In 1907 a two-story addition, twenty by seventy feet, was added and in 1912 the warehouse in the rear, thirty by forty feet, was built. In 1909 the company was incorporated under the name of the W. E. Pearce Hardware & Mercantile Company, with E. B. Pearce, vice-president and secretary, Margaret E. Pearce, presi- dent, and L. E. Pearce, treasurer. This company does an extensive busi- ness and carries a full line of hardware, stoves, tinware, buggies and fenc- ing. The value of their stock is seldom, if ever, less than ten thousand dollars. It may be truly said of this institution that it is much more
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extensive than the average store found in a town the size of Pleasant Hill.
William E. and Margaret (Burns) Pearce were the parents of nine children, as follows: Mrs. Nellie Cheatham, Dallas, Texas; two died in infancy ; Mrs. Lydia Jarrott, Los Angeles, California; Mrs. H. D. Williams, Little Rock, Arkansas; Mrs. J. D. King, Hutchinson, Kansas; Dr. G. D., Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Ernest B., the subject of this sketch, and Lester E., treasurer of the Pearce Hardware & Mercantile Company.
Ernest B. Pearce was educated in the public schools of Pleasant Hill. At an early age he was associated with his father in the hardware store, in fact was brought up in that line of business. Mr. Pearce's business education has been of the practical kind. He knows the hardware trade well enough to know that there is still much to learn about it and this can be said of but few, even of those who have long been engaged in the business.
Mr. Pearce was married in January, 1905 to Miss Minnie Whitsett, of Hereford, Texas, a daughter of J. F. Whitsett, formerly of Lees Sum- mit, Missouri. One child has been born to this union, Ernest W.
Mr. Pearce relates an amusing incident in connection with the Pearce hardware business which happened fifty years ago. Shortly after Pearce and Leland engaged in business in Pleasant Hill a capable traveling sales- man came along one day and sold Mr. Leland a carload of grindstones and also a carload of bird cages and when the two cars arrived and were unloaded the back end of the store was stacked to the ceiling with grind- stones and bird cages. The two young merchants saw that it was neces- sary to make leaders of this surplus stock and, increditable as it may seem, there was not a bird cage nor a grindstone left in the store within less than a year.
James Chandler, a pioneer resident of Peculiar township and Civil War veteran, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Clay County, March 24, 1832, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Prather) Chandler, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. William Chand- ler was the son of James Chandler, both of whom settled in Clay County, Missouri, in 1831. They drove from Kentucky to Clay County, Missouri, with teams and covered wagons and brought a number of slaves with them. James Chandler's grandfather and three sons came to Missouri with this outfit and were well equipped for the task of beginning life in the then new country of western Missouri. They spent the remainder
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of their lives in Clay County, where they ranked as successful farmers and prominent citizens.
Elizabeth Prather, mother of James Chandler, was a native of Ken- tucky, as was also her father, Thomas Prather. James Chandler was one of a family of seven children, six of whom are now living. He was reared to manhood and educated in Clay County. During the Civil War he served in Company F, Second Missouri Infantry, under General Sterling Price. During the course of his military career Mr. Chandler served with his command in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas. He was in the latter state when General Price surrendered. Mr. Chandler participated in many hard fought battles, skirmishes, and engagements of lesser importance without number. He was never wounded nor taken prisoner, but during the course of his career had many narrow escapes, common to the lot of the soldier in time of war.
Mr. Chandler followed blacksmithing for a number of years in Clay County in early life and 1867 he came to Cass County, locating in Peculiar township, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising for five years. From Peculiar township he went to Johnson County, Kansas, where he bought a farm near Westport, upon which he remained eight years. He then went to Chautauqua County, Kansas, where he remained until 1889, when he returned to Cass County. Three years later Mr. Chandler went back to Chautauqua County, where he remained until 1901 when he again returned to Cass County. Mr. Chandler owns a well improved farm of one hundred sixty acres in Peculiar and Pleasant Hill townships and he also is the owner of six hundred twenty acres of land in Kansas, sixty acres of which are in Johnson County and the rest in Chautauqua County. He is one of the prosperous farmers and stock raisers of Cass County. He moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, February 15, 1917, where he now lives.
August 3, 1866, Mr. Chandler was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- beth Cannon, a native of Jackson County, Missouri, and a member of a pioneer family of this state. She is a daughter of Alexander and Eliza (Fowler) Cannon. Alexander Cannon was born near Knoxville, Tennes- see. He was an early settler in Cass County and one of the county judges here when the Civil War broke out. For a time, during that period, he served with the home guards here. His wife, Eliza Fowler, was born in Clay County, Missouri, in 1825. When she was one year old her parents settled in Jackson County. Their farm occupied a portion of the present
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site of Kansas City. The workhouse of Kansas City, Missouri, stands on the site of the stables.
To James Chandler and wife have been born two children, as follows: Eliza, who resides with her parents; and Joseph B., who lives near Ottawa, Kansas. They were both born in Cass County. Mr. Chandler has always supported the Democratic party and he and his wife are members of the Christian church.
Young Fowler Gibson, a prominent farmer and stockman of Peculiar township, belongs to a pioneer family of western Missouri. He was born near where the old workhouse stood, between Eighteenth and Twentieth streets on Woodland avenue, Kansas City, Missouri, in 1860, and is a son of Robert Washington and Constantia (Fowler) Gibson. Robert Wash- ington Gibson was a native of Alabama, born September 29, 1822, and came to Missouri with his parents, who settled on what was then known as the Platt Purchase, a part of which is now Platt County, Missouri. Later the family removed to Texas, settling on the present site of Austin, where the father spent the remainder of his life. Robert Washington Gibson, the father of the subject of this sketch, returned to Missouri, and settled in Jackson County where he died January 17, 1864. Constantia (Fowler) Gibson, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Clay County, Missouri, November 16, 1822. She was a daughter of Rob- ert Young Fowler and Jane Boggs, pioneers of Missouri and very early settlers at Cooper's Ford. They settled in that section of the state while yet an Indian reservation was located in that vicinity. The Boggs family came from Kentucky and Jane Boggs' father was a cousin of Governor Boggs of Missouri. The Fowlers were Virginians.
Mr. Gibson's mother, Constantia Fowler, was reared on a farm where Kansas City now stands, and at that time there was not the slightest hint of the great western metropolis of today. That section was all farm land and Mrs. Gibson often related that it was one of her duties during her girlhood to bring the cows home from the commons where they were graz- ing on the present site of the Kansas City stockyards.
There were two children born to Robert Washington and Constantia (Fowler) Gibson: Young Fowler, the subject of this sketch, and Robert Lee, born September 30, 1863. In 1867, three years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Gibson sold her farm of forty acres in Jackson County for one hundred dollars per acre, and came to Cass County with her two children, then seven and four years old, and purchased the farm of two
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hundred and forty acres in Peculiar township which Young Fowler Gib- son now owns. The place is located on section 13, township 45, range 31. Mrs. Gibson paid twenty-one dollars per acre, which was the highest price paid for farm land in that vicinity up to that time. The place was fairly well improved for the times with some fencing and a long double log house, which is still standing and remains an interesting relic of pioneer days. Mr. Gibson still has many interesting relics of pioneer days, among which are his mother's spinning wheel, flax hackle, flax wheel, reel and a part of the old loom and many articles of furniture bearing the distinction of antiquity. He has real feather beds which his mother owned and counterpanes which she made and have been in use for over sixty years.
After coming to Cass County the mother conducted farming opera- tions on her place, and as the boys gradually grew up, they cooperated with their mother on the home place and after they had reached manhood the same spirit of cooperation prevailed, and the Gibson family always had one purse in common. The mother died November 13, 1895. After the death of the mother additional acreage was added to the Gibson farm which now consists of three hundred acres, of which the school house occupies one-half acre.
The Gibson brothers were educated in the public schools and oper- ated the home farm together, until 1907, when Robert Lee's health failed and he removed to Belton, where he died March 14, 1911, and Young Fowler now operates the home place, although he rents a large portion of it, but retains most of the pasture land and is successfully engaged in raising horses, Shorthorn cattle and hogs. He still has in his herd descendants of the cattle which his grandfather brought from Kentucky nearly a hundred years ago. However, he regrets that within the last few years he has lost out on his strain of horses which his grandfather brought to Missouri at the same time.
Young Fowler Gibson and his brother, Robert Lee Gibson, were mar- ried on the same day to sisters by a double marriage ceremony, which took place November 30, 1893. Young Fowler was married to Mary Vir- ginia Bradley and Robert Lee to Kittie Bradley, daughters of Arch Brad- ley, of Cleveland, Missouri. Robert Lee's widow now resides in Harrison- ville.
To Young Fowler Gibson and wife were born two children: Con- stantia, born October 8, 1896, graduated from the Harrisonville high school, in the class of 1916, and is now a student in the State Normal School at Warrensburg and Archer B. born September 22, 1900, and is
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now a student in the Harrisonville High School. The mother of these children died June 24, 1903.
Mr. Gibson is a Democrat and has served as township trustee for four years and has also been collector and justice of the peace of Peculiar township. He is a substantial representative of one of Cass County's pioneer families.
Sidney Johnson Hamilton, a former sheriff of Cass County and the present proprietor of the Harrisonville Hotel, is one of the best known men in the county. Mr. Hamilton was born in Grand River township, February 15, 1871, and is a son of Matt and Susan (Samuel) Hamilton, both members of representative Cass County pioneer families. The father was born near Sulphur Lake, Monroe County, Kentucky. He came to Cass County in 1867. He was married a year or so after coming here and for a number of years was engaged in farming and stock raising in the vicinity of Belton. In 1898 he went to Walla Walla, Washington, where he died in 1913. His wife, Susan Samuel, was a native of Cass County, daughter of Henry Samuel, a respected pioneer of this county, who spent his life here. Henry Samuel died in 1871. Sid Hamilton's mother died in Walla Walla, Washington, in February, 1911.
Sid J. Hamilton is one of a family of two sons born to his parents, the other one being Bryant, who now resides near Walla Walla, Washing- ton. Mr. Hamilton was educated in the public schools. He was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1906, when he was elected sheriff of Cass County for a term of two years, and at the expiration of his term of office, he was re-elected for a term of four years. Thus he served six years, which was the longest period that any man ever held the office of sheriff of Cass County. While serving his term as sheriff of Cass County, Mr. Hamilton won the reputation for being a capable and fearless officer. During the six years that he was sheriff he handled three hundred seven prisoners and took twenty-seven to the penitentiary. During his entire career he never lost a prisoner. February 1, 1917 Mr. Hamilton took charge of the Harrisonville Hotel and is giving Harrisonville a hotel in which its people feel just pride and which the traveling public surely appreciate.
Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage May 1, 1893 with Miss Nannie Brown Kerr, a native of Madison County, Kentucky, and a daughter of Caleb Kerr, a well known and highly respected Jackson County pioneer
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now residing in Cleveland, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have been born three sons as follows: S. Glenn, clerk in the House of Repre- sentatives, Washington, D. C .; Paul A., a student in Missouri University, a member of the class of 1918; and Brutus K. Paul A. received the appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in the fall of 1916, but refused to accept it, preferring to continue his course at the university. He has won a national reputation as one of the leading football players of the country and is captain of the Missouri University team. The youngest son, Brutus K., is a student in the Harrisonville high school, and is also prominent in the world of athletics as was the older brother Glenn when he was in school. Mr. Hamilton is a member of the time honored Masonic lodge, Woodmen of the World, and the Knights of Pythias. His political affiliations have always been with the Democratic party.
Bert P. Grose, a progressive business man of Harrisonville, who has had an extensive mercantile experience, is a native of Cass County. He was born in Gunn City, December 7, 1879. When he was a small boy his parents moved to Harrisonville, where "Chuck", as he is familiarly called, attended the public schools during the winter months and in the summer time worked in the country until he was twelve years of age. He then entered the dry goods store of Scruggs & Clemments as clerk and worked in that capacity until August 15, 1898. He resigned his position to become a partner in the grocery and feed business with his father-in- law, John J. Burke. This arrangement continued until April 21, 1905, when the firm of J. J. Burke & Company disposed of their mercantile interests and bought a farm one mile south of Harrisonville, which Mr. Grose operated until January 1, 1908. At that time the Globe Trading Company was incorporated and Mr. Grose became a stockholder in that organization, becoming an active member in the conduct of the business. He was thus engaged until January 1, 1911, when he disposed of his stock in that corporation and engaged in the general mercantile business for himself under the firm name and style of B. P. Grose & Company. This firm had a remarkably successful career. November 22, 1916, they began a closing out sale with a view of disposing of their stock and retiring from the mercantile business. This retail sale, which ran for several weeks, is acknowledged to have been the largest of its kind ever conducted in Cass County. In February, 1917, Mr. Grose disposed of his business in its entirety and on March 1, 1917, opened up a salesroom for automobiles on
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Independence street, Harrisonville, associating with J. J. Burke under the firm name of Burke and Grose. They are doing an excellent business. Although a young man he ranks among the successful business men of Cass County and his genial and courteous manner not only makes for him a success in business, but has made many friends in the community.
Bert P. Grose and Beryl L. Burke, daughter of J. J. Burke, a sketch of whom appears in this volume, were united in marriage January 24, 1897, and they have one daughter, Eveline Burke Grose, who was born March 10, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Grose are members of the first Baptist church.
H. B. Edelen, owner and proprietor of "Fair View Stock Farm", is one of the progressive and widely known stock men of Cass County. He was born near Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, November 25, 1860, and is son of William B. and Evelyn (McAfee) Edelen, natives of Kentucky. William B. Edelen was born at Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky, October 27, 1827. He was a son of Len Edelen, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and a descendant of a member of the colony which founded Baltimore, who came to this country with Lord Baltimore. Len. Edelen and a brother went to Kentucky at an early day and settled in Lebanon, where he spent his life, engaged in the manufacture of hats. He died April 15, 1865.
Evelyn Breckenridge McAfee, mother of H. B. Edelen was born in Kentucky, November 27, 1832, and died in Cass County, October 27, 1914. She was a daughter of General Robert B. McAfee and was born on the family estate on Salt River in Mercer County. General McAfee was edu- cated for the law and at one time was ambassador to one of the South American countries. He was in the diplomatic service of the United States for a number of years and was prominent in his day and time. During his lifetime he wrote a history of Kentucky, which is considered one of the best early histories of that state.
William B. Edelen was engaged in the drug business in early life at Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky, and later removed to Jessamine County. This was about 1866 and he was engaged in farming and stock raising about nine miles from Nicholsville, until he came to Missouri with his family in 1872, reaching Cass County, January 22. They came by boat as far as Cairo, Illinois, making the trip on the "Robert Mitchell" and "Dove". From Cairo they made the trip to Pleasant Hill by rail. In 1874 the father bought a farm in Mt. Pleasant township where he was
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successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until his death, March 24, 1898. His wife and the mother of the subject of this sketch, departed this life October 27, 1914. The father was prominent in the affairs of Cass County during his life time and was an unusually well educated man, and was an especially fine penman. He was a staunch supporter of the policies and principles of the Democratic party and both he and his wife were consistent members of the Presbyterian church. They were the parents of eight children as follows: Laura, born November 20, 1853, married C. H. Moore, died October 12, 1895; James McAfec, born August 17, 1855, resides in Kansas City; William Hall, born November 9, 1858, and is now deceased; H. B., the subject of this sketch; Lubel, born Janu- ary 1, 1863, married J. H. Young, Belton, Missouri; William Hall, born March 21, 1865, resides at Cleveland, Missouri; Thomas Brown, born November 10, 1869, Oakland, California; and Robert Leonard, born June 15, 1871, and died July 1, 1871.
H. B. Edelen was twelve years old when he came to Cass County with his parents and thus received his education in the public schools of his native state and Cass County. He remained on the home farm with his father until he was twenty-five years of age, when he engaged in farming and stock raising on his own account and since that time has resided on "Fair View Stock Farm" which he now owns, with the exception of four years. This is one of the fine farms of Cass County and contains two hundred and four acres. Mr. Edelen carries on general farming and stock raising and specializes in registered Shorthorn cattle, saddle horses and registered jacks and jennetts, and is without a doubt the most success- ful breeder of high class registered jacks in Cass County. He has justly won the reputation of producing some of the best pedigreed horses in the state, for which he has generally found a ready market at profitable prices. He is also well known as a successful raiser of Duroc Jersey hogs, usually marketing about two carloads each year. For a number of years he was extensively engaged in feeding and shipping stock, but in recent years has not given that industry so much attention.
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