USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 33
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Mrs. Van Meter was reared in Cass County and educated in the public schools. She was united in marriage with Lee Van Meter January 31, 1897. He was a native of Kentucky, and came to Cass County with his parents when he was six years old, in 1878. He was a son of William Van Meter.
For a number of years Lee Van Meter was engaged in the under- taking business at Freeman and prior to that time conducted a grocery business there. At the time of his death he was chief clerk for the Bank of Freeman. He was a staunch Democrat and an ardent supporter of the policies and principles of that party, and at one time was a candidate for county clerk of Cass County. He served as collector of Dolan township for a number of years. He was of the progressive type of business man and was of a generous nature and of a genial and courteous manner, and made many friends. He died October 23, 1914.
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Mrs. Van Meter was appointed postmaster of Freeman by President Wilson, March 14, 1913, and has capably administered the affairs of that office to the present time. The Freeman post office is an important distributing point for mail. Besides the great amount delivered at the post office, there are two rural routes out of Freeman that handle con- siderable mail.
Mrs. Van Meter is a woman of more than ordinary executive ability and is not only mentally, but tempermentally well qualified to hold the important position which she does. Being reared, educated and spent her life thus far in the vicinity of Freeman, she has a broad acquaintance and a host of friends, and is popular in the community. She is a member of the Eastern Star and Temple Sisters, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
A. J. Bennett, a prominent farmer and stockman of Dolan township, has been a resident of Cass County for fifty years. He was born in Upshur County, Virginia, now West Virginia, June 8, 1844, son of Stuart and Margaret M. (Swish) Bennett, both natives of Virginia, and descend- ents of old Virginia stock. The father was prominent in the affairs of his county, and when a young man served as deputy sheriff of Upshur County, under an uncle of his, and later he was elected commissioner of revenue, an office which under the laws of Virginia at that time practically included the present-day offices of county assessor, tax collector, and treasurer. . He was a well educated man, considerably above the average of his time, and A. J. Bennett has in his possession one of his father's old account books covering a period of the early forties. The handwriting in this book and the artistic manner in which the entries are made, bear evi- dence to his systematic methods and capability. This writing was done with the old-fashioned quill pens, made by the writer's own hands.
When the Civil War broke out A. J. Bennett's sympathies were with the Union. When seventeen years old he enlisted in the Virginia State Militia, which was organized in the locality of his home for the purpose of guard duty. In October, 1862, he enlisted in Battery E, First West Virginia Light artillery. His service was in the Virginias, his battery operating with the army of West Virginia. During his term of service Mr. Bennett was seriously injured by a kick from a horse, as a result of which his skull was fractured and his jaw broken. He was thus inca- pacitated for further military service. After lingering between life and death for several weeks, he finally recovered, and in 1863 was honorably
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discharged on account of disability. Mr. Bennett has in his possession an interesting relic relative to his injury received while in the army, a letter written by his father to his mother concerning his condition and the uncertainty of his recovery. The young soldier was in Camp Hughes Hospital, near Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the letter referred to is dated November 12, 1862, and written from Clarksburg. The father had recently visited his son, and, among other things in the letter which he wrote concerning A. J., he makes the statement that "the boy is hav- ing the very best of treatment and that his comrades are very solicitous as to his recovery, for they say that he is a soldier, every inch."
After being discharged from the army, A. J. Bennett returned to his home in Upshur County, and in the fall of 1863 the family removed to McDonough County, Illinois, where the father died in 1864. The mother died several years later, at Skidmore, Missouri. They were the parents of eleven children, two of whom are now living.
In 1867 A. J. Bennett came to Cass County and settled in Peculiar township, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until 1878, He then removed to Dolan township, where he purchased seventy-seven acres of land, to which he has added from time to time until he now owns four hundred forty-five acres. He has recently sold forty acres to one of his sons. Mr. Bennett has followed general farming and stock raising and is perhaps the best known breeder of Aberdeen Angus cattle in Cass County. He has made a splendid success of this line of endeavor, but within the last year, on account of poor health, has practically retired.
Mr. Bennett was married in 1865 to Miss Eliza J. Painter, a native of Illinois. They have three children, as follows: George R., who is now operating the home farm for his father; James H., a professional musician, who resides in Kansas City, Missouri; and Lewis J., who is engaged in the real estate business in Kansas City, Missouri. All the boys are accomplished musicians, a talent which they inherit from their mother. One son, Charles S., is deceased.
Mr. Bennett is a member of the Masonic lodge. He has been a life- long Republican, and has held the office of the justice of the peace of Dolan township for a number of years. Mr. Bennett has a particular fondness for fire arms and is regarded, even at his present age, as one of the best rifle shots in the county. He attributes his love of guns to the fact that he was reared in the mountains of Virginia and in his early days fire arms were his companions and playthings. His residence is a veritable arsenal, for defensive purposes only, as Mr. Bennett explains.
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In his collection are found rifles, shotguns, muskets, and revolvers, gen- erally in pairs. Mr. Bennett is well known in Cass County and is one of its representative citizens.
James B. Famuliner, a prosperous and progressive young farmer and stockman of Grand River township, is a native of Cass County. He was born in 1880, and is a son of George W. Famuliner, a sketch of whom appears in this volume.
James B. Famuliner spent his boyhood days in Camp Branch town- ship and attended the district schools and the Harrisonville High School, later taking a business course at Chillicothe, Missouri. He was associated with his father in farming and stock raising until he was about twenty- four years old, when he engaged in business for himself. He is a practical stockman and keeps a valuable herd of pure-blood Shorthorns as well as a number of grade cattle. He has also met with success in raising Poland China hogs and frequently has had as many as five hundred on his place. While Mr. Famuliner is not a faddist, he is fully in accord with modern scientific methods of handling stock. He uses hog cholera serum with success, never having met with any loss from that malady since he introduced this method of treatment on his place. He has a splendid farm of two hundred eighty acres, especially well adapted to stock raising, well watered, and with an abundance of natural shade trees. His place is well improved. It is located about five miles south of Harrisonville.
Mr. Famuliner was married March 3, 1909, to Miss Martha Belle Shumate, of Harrisonville.
Politically, he is a Republican. Mr. Famuliner has never aspired to hold political office. He and his wife are members of the Christian church.
George W. January, of Freeman, Missouri, belongs to a family of pioneer merchants of this state and is practically a Cass County product, having been brought here by his parents when he was about a year old. Mr. January was born in Boonville, Cooper County, August 5, 1843. He is a son of Joseph H. and Lavisa A. (Watson) January, the former a native of Ohio, and the latter was born in 1812, in Clark County Ken- tucky. The father was engaged in the mercantile business at Win- chester, Kentucky, when he was a young man and later kept a store in Boonville, Missouri. In 1844 or 1845, he located at Harrisonville, where
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he was engaged in the mercantile business until his death, about 1850. His wife resided there until the Civil War broke out, when she went to Illinois. At the close of that great conflict she returned to Harrison- ville. However, Mrs. January remained there but a year or two, when she removed to Freeman and spent the remainder of her life in that vicinity. She died March 12, 1889.
George W. January is the only surviving member of a family of five children. He was reared in Harrisonville, and for a time in early life was engaged in the mercantile business there with a half-brother. When the Civil War occurred he entered the Confederate service and for a time was in Colonel Hurst's command. He saw service in Missis- sippi, Alabama, and Georgia, as well as in Missouri and other states. He was in a number of important engagements and many skirmishes. He was at the battle of Wilson Creek, First Corinth, and Big Black Bridge. He was taken prisoner at the latter place and for seventeen months was confined in the Federal Military prisons at Camp Moulten, Indiana, Fort Delaware, and Elmira, New York. After being exchanged he returned to the front and was again captured at the fall of Mobile, Alabama. He was confined in a Federal prison camp for a few weeks. Mr. January was never seriously wounded, although he had many nar- row escapes, common to the lot of a good soldier in action. At one time he was struck by a spent ball and on another occasion his gun was shattered by a Federal bullet and knocked from his hand.
At the close of the war Mr. January remained in Kentucky for a year, and in the spring of 1866 returned to Harrisonville. Shortly after that he engaged in the mercantile business at Salem, Illinois. After re- maining there one year he went to Morristown, which was located about a mile north of where Freeman now stands, before the railroad was built through that section. In 1868 he located there, and in 1871, when the town of Freeman was started, he built a store building on the corner where the Bank of Freeman now stands. Here he engaged in the gen- eral mercantile business. His was one of the first stores to be started in Freeman, although John Rowden located there in the mercantile busi- ness about the same time. He continued business there until 1890, and during that time did a very extensive business. For a number of years, about the time that he was in business, Freeman was one of the best trading points in western Missouri, and people came from a distance of thirty miles south to do business at that point. In 1890 Mr. January disposed of his mercantile interests and engaged in farming in West
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Dolan township, where he now owns four hundred acres of well-improved land under an excellent state of cultivation. This farm is said to be one of the best farms in Cass County. It is now operated by Mr. January's son and is devoted to general farming and stock raising.
Mr. January was united in marriage September 23, 1879, with Miss Belle Ryan, of Grandriver township, a daughter of William A. Ryan, a prominent pioneer of Cass County. To Mr. and Mrs. January have been born five children, as follows: Russell Price, who was born February 9, 1883, and now operates the home farm; Mary Angie, who was born December 10, 1884, and resides at home; Leslie Lee, who was born November 23, 1886, Freeman; Irvin Ryan, who was born July 29, 1888, and died October 11, 1912; and Charles, who was born March 15, 1896, Free- man. Mr. January is a Democrat and has always supported the prin- ciples of that party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. George W. January is one of Cass County's substantial pioneer citizens, whose career might well be emulated by future generations.
J. S. Thomas, the well-known blacksmith and coal dealer of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, in 1859. He is a son of George and Catherine (Baker) Thomas, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio. The father was born in 1818 and died in 1878, and the mother now resides in Kansas City, Missouri. They were the parents of five children, three of whom are living, as follows: J. S., the subject of this sketch; Dr. Ross, dentist, Kansas City, Missouri; and Tennyson, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Thomas family went to Kansas in 1865 and settled in Nemaha County, where they lived ten years. Their home was in the vicinity of Centralia. George Thomas, the father, was largely instrumental in get- ting the railroad built through that town by giving the company the right-of-way through his farm without cost. In 1875 George Thomas and family came to Missouri and settled at Pleasant Hill.
J. S. Thomas learned the blacksmith's trade at Ottawa, Kansas, and for a few years worked at his trade in Ottawa and Fort Scott, Kan- sas, and for seven years in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1893 he purchased a blacksmith shop from J. K. Anderson and at the same time engaged in the retail coal business. For twenty-four years Mr. Thomas has successfully conducted the blacksmith shop and carried on the coal busi- ness in connection with it.
Mr. Thomas was married in 1887 to Miss Cora E. Colville, near
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Coleman, Missouri. Her father, J. R. Colville, is a Cass County pioneer and now lives at Pleasant Hill. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have been born five children, as follows: George R., star route mail carrier, Pleasant Hill; Harry E., blacksmith, Pleasant Hill; Frank A., a clerk in the Pleasant Hill post office; Elsie May, a teacher in the Pleasant Hill public schools ; and Ross, a student in Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas.
Mr. Thomas is a member of the Masonic lodge, Modern Woodmen of America, and Royal Neighbors. Mr. Thomas has served on the Board of Education of Pleasant Hill for the past eighteen years. He is one of the substantial men of Cass County and is well and favorably known throughout a large section of the country.
Levi Smith, who conducts the only meat market at Harrisonville, Missouri, is perhaps one of the best posted men in the meat business in the country, and has had a vast and varied experience both in the wholesale and retail departments of this important business. Mr. Smith was born at Alden, Erie County, New York, July 6, 1865, and is a son of Levi and Sarah J. (Lovett) Smith, natives of New York. The father was a butcher and for years carried on what was known as a small wholesale business in Buffalo, New York. This was before the day of large packing houses, and he killed and sold meat to the retail butchers of that city. He and his wife both died in Buffalo, New York.
Levi Smith, the subject of this sketch, was practically brought up in the meat business, having worked with his father, and when he was sixteen years old he was a competent butcher. At about that age he went to Kansas City, Missouri, and entered the employ of the Jacob Dole Packing Company, where he worked at his trade about two years. He then accepted a position with the Junction City Packing & Provision Company, at Junction City, Kansas. His experience prior to this time had been in the killing and wholesaling business, but here he worked in the retail department and learned that part of the business. After remaining with that concern for two years he went to Enterprise, Kansas, where he was employed in a meat market for a time, when he returned to his old home in New York State on a visit. While there he accepted a position at his trade in Warsaw, New York. After remaining there for a time he went to Chicago and entered the employ of the Nelson Morris Packing Company, and a year later returned to Warsaw, New York, where he worked for two years, when he came back to Chicago and worked for the Nelson Morris Company another year. He then entered
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the employ of the Minneapolis Stock Yards and Packing Company at New Brighton, Minnesota. Shortly afterward this packing house was closed and Mr. Smith went to Kansas City and entered the employ of Swift and Company. About six months later he saw an advertisement in a newspaper stating that there was a butcher shop for sale at Harri- sonville, Missouri, and having saved some money, he decided that he would investigate with a view of engaging in business for himself. Accordingly, he came to Harrisonville and the result was that he bought the market in December, 1892. At that time there were three other markets in the town. Mr. Smith was an absolute stranger in Harrison- ville, and the first year here was not encouraging, but business began to pick up and he had a good trade almost before he knew it, and did a good business until he sold out, about five years later, and went to Leon, Iowa, and after six months there returned to Harrisonville and bought his old stand back. A few years later he sold out again and went to Denver, Colorado, but the outlook there was not satisfactory to him and Mrs. Smith, and they returned to Missouri in a very short time and he engaged in the meat business at Butler, Missouri. About nine months later he bought back his old Harrisonville market, which he again sold after a few years and went to Roswell, New Mexico, and later to Hereford, Texas, and managed a meat market there about a year. In 1911 he returned to Harrisonville and for the last time to date, and bought his old market back again.
Mr. Smith is one of the best meat men in the country, and conducts his market under thoroughly modern sanitary methods and his place of business presents an appearance of neatness and artistic arrangement equalled by few meat markets in the larger cities. He does all his own slaughtering and has a large feed lot in the western part of town, where he frequently feeds fat cattle for a number of weeks. He employs six men continually and at times has additional help. His is now the only meat market in Harrisonville, and his square business methods and up-to-date market, with the best possible service for his customers, seems to have made it practically impossible for a competitor to endure here for any length of time.
Mr. Smith was married to Miss Altia Bevier, of New Brighton, New York, a native of that state, born near Attica. They have one child, Levi, Jr., an enterprising young business man, who is associated with his father in the meat market.
Mr. Smith is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and
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Knight Templar Mason, and a member of the Mystic Shrine, belonging to Ararat Temple at Kansas City, Missouri. He holds membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is a Republican.
Speaking of the time when he contemplated locating in Harrisonville, Mr. Smith says that he was talking with a friend who conducted a meat market in Kansas City about his contemplated business venture and his friend said, "For God's sake don't go down there, for those people will look at you as though you were some wild animal." Mr. Smith says the prophecy was fulfilled in the following manner: An old gentleman passed his place every day and did his trading at another market, and one day as he was passing Smith's market, he stopped and approaching the screen door, closely shaded his eyes with his hand, and was looking inside when Mr. Smith invited him to come in and the old gentleman said, "No; I can see in," and that was as far as he went. This was the ful- fillment of the prophecy of his Kansas City friend, thought Mr. Smith. However, later on business took a turn and since he first came to Har- risonville he has seen thirty-five competitors come and go and at the present writing has the field to himself.
M. F. Parker, manager of the George M. Kellogg Flower and Plant Company, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has charge of one of the leading institutions of Cass County. The conduct and management of such an institution requires a big man, and Mr. Parker has measured up to the standard. Several years of service in successfully conducting the affairs of this mammoth business has demonstrated beyond a doubt that Mr. Parker is the man for the place.
M. F. Parker was born at Pleasant Hill in 1857, and is a son of W. H. Parker, a native of Kentucky, who settled in Cass County in the early thirties. In 1849 W. H. Parker crossed the plains with ox teams, going to the Pacific Coast. W. H. Parker's father was one of the very earliest settlers in Cass County. He came here shortly after 1830 and settled in Polk township. He died there about 1876.
M. F. Parker was educated in the public schools of Pleasant Hill, and in early life went to Colorado. He was engaged in mining at Silver Cliff, Canon City, and Leadville, about three years. He then went to New Mexico, and was engaged in firing a locomotive on the construction of the Santa Fe railroad there. He says that society in New Mexico was not of the elite in those days, inasmuch as the population consisted mostly of Mexicans and Indians. In 1880 Mr. Parker returned to Pleasant Hill
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and taught school for a year and then was engaged in the ice business with Mr. Kellogg for a time. He later conducted a garden and fruit farm for thirteen years in Warrensburg, Missouri. In 1903 he entered the employ of Mr. Kellogg in connection with his greenhouses. In 1908 he became manager and superintendent of that business and since that time has served in that capacity.
Mr. Parker was married in 1881 to Miss Zaidee K. Kellogg, a daugh- ter of George M. Kellogg, founder of the mammoth Kellogg greenhouse of Pleasant Hill. To Mr. and Mrs. Parker have been born three children, as follows: Ethel, who married Albert E. Shirling, head of the science department of Manual Training High School, Kansas City, Missouri; Glenn K., who has charge of the George M. Kellogg Flower and Plant Company's store in Kansas City, Missouri; Bessie, who married W. F. Hoffhaus, Pleasant Hill, Missouri.
Mr. Parker is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and the Order of the Maccabees. He is one of the progressive business men of Cass County.
The George M. Kellogg Flower and Plant Company of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, is one of the largest institutions of its kind to be found any- where. This business was established by George M. Kellogg in a small way in 1884. The first plants were grown in a small structure, which was built adjoining the kitchen of Mr. Kellogg's home, and was heated by a small box stove. A year or so later the business had developed to quite large proportions, and to accommodate the demand for more room Mr. Kellogg built three rooms, 15x60 feet, which were heated by a brick flue and a furnace, and covered with the regular glass hothouse roofs. Additional greenhouses have been built to meet the demand of this rapidly growing industry, until these houses aggregate between nine and ten acres under glass. The company now carries insurance on four hundred thousand square feet of window frames and glass. This business has grown to tremendous proportions and the Kellogg Company have customers to whom they ship flowers in the principal cities throughout the United States.
Under the present arrangement of the Kellogg gardens there are thirty houses devoted to the culture of roses, which usually contain the following number and varieties: Twenty-seven thousand Killarneys, twenty thousand White Killarneys, eleven thousand American Beauties, seven thousand Richmonds, four thousand five hundred My Marylands, two thousand five hundred Kaiserines, three thousand six hundred Shaw-
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vers, two thousand Mrs. Russells, twelve hundred Mrs. Wards, twelve hundred My Ladys, twelve hundred Sunbursts, twelve hundred Perles, twelve hundred President Carnots, and one thousand Minnehahas.
Fifteen houses are devoted to carnations, containing thirteen thous- and Enchantresses, four thousand five hundred Mrs. Wards, four thous- and five hundred Mrs. Washingtons, five thousand White Enchantresses, two thousand five hundred White Perfections, and the same number cach of Victory, Beacon and Comfort, fifteen hundred C. P. Bassett, and the same number of Harlow Warden roses. Ten houses are devoted to ferns, Easter lilies, callas, azalias, hydrangeas, gloxnias, begonias, cyclameon, pot chrysanthemums, rambler roses, and all kinds of budding plants. Six houses are devoted to green asparagus plumosis, springerii, Smilax, and adiantum for cutting. Four houses are given to the Golden Spur Narcissus and several thousand tulips of leading varieties for forcing. Considerable space is given to sweet peas and violets. Peonies, gladiolas, gypsophila, shasta daisy and hardy phlox are grown in the fields for cutting through their seasons. Altogether the Kellogg gardens are num- bered among the most beautiful and interesting spots of Cass County.
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