USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 35
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A little history of the name Longacre seems appropriate here. The original name of this family was Ammerman. At an early day the found- ers of this family in America came from Germany and settled at a town called Longacre in New York state, and shortly afterwards moved to an- other town. They were unable to speak English and their newly found acquaintances, not knowing what their real names were, called them Longacre. Soon they became generally known in that community as Longacres and adopted that name, which has stuck to the family ever since.
Samuel B. Longacre, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the public schools of Cass County. His mother died when he was four- teen years of age and since that time he has practically made his own way in the world. He inherited forty acres of the home place in Peculiar township and has added, by purchase, ninety acres and now has one of the fine farms of Cass County. His place is well improved and he has a fine orchard of four acres, consisting of thrifty bearing peach, pear, apple and cherry trees. He is one of the successful horticulturists of the county.
Mr. Longacre was married October 13, 1891 to Miss Zora Florence Young, daughter of W. R. and Mary Ellen Young of Peculiar township. Mrs. Longacre was born in Adams County, Ohio, and came to Johnson County, Missouri, with her parents in the fall of 1870. Two years later the family came to Cass County. The other children of the family, besides Mrs. Longacre, are: Oscar O. Young, a physician at Garden
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Grove, California; and Mary E., now the wife of Charles Longacre of Salt Lake City, Utah. The father died in March, 1908, and is buried at Pitts Chapel cemetery. The mother resides at Garden Grove, California.
To Mr. and Mrs. Longacre have been born three children, as follows: Myron Young, a chemist in the employ of the United States government in the soil survey; Annie Laurie and William Richard, residing at home with their parents.
J. N. Morrison, the veteran mail carrier of rural route No. 4, Pleasant Hill, Missouri, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Adams County, Decem- ber 7, 1861, and is a son of Joseph J. and Elizabeth (Cobbler) Morrison, both natives of Adams County, Ohio. They were the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are as follows: J. N., the subject of this sketch; Viola E. Morrison, Seattle, Washington; and E. F., Marion, Indiana.
Joseph J. Morrison came to Cass County, Missouri, in March, 1875, and settled in Peculiar township. Two years later he removed to Labette County, Kansas, where he died October 22, 1877. His wife died in Ohio in 1871.
J. N. Morrison, when a boy, lived with his uncle, W. R. Young and worked for Isaac Smart and George Roberts, near Harrisonville, Missouri. He received his education in the old Walnut Grove school near that place. At the age of nineteen he began farming for himself, near Trading Post, Linn County, Kansas. In 1885 he returned to Missouri and was engaged in farming in Peculiar township for a time, when he went to western Kansas. After remaining there about a year, he returned to Cass County and entered the employ of a dairyman near Harrisonville. In 1892 he removed to Pleasant Hill and bought a place consisting of ten acres, located one and one-half miles west of town. In November, 1902, he was appointed mail carrier and has devoted himself to that occupation ever since, cover- ing a distance of twenty-six and five-eighths miles daily in the townships of Big Creek, Peculiar, Camp Branch and Pleasant Hill. Mr. Morrison has made a reputation for always being on the job. During his first seven years as mail carrier he never missed a trip, regardless of the weather or other seemingly impossible conditions. He has been in the business longer than any other rural carrier in Cass County. Mr. Morrison has recently purchased an automobile which he will use on his mail route hereafter, another evidence of his progressiveness.
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Mr. Morrison was united in marriage October 12, 1899 with Miss Ida Parker, a daughter of H. C. and Mary E. (Rowland) Parker of Pleasant Hill. H. C. Parker was born in Pleasant Hill, old town, a son of Green- berry Parker, a native of Kentucky, who located at Pleasant Hill prior to the Civil War. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have no children. Mrs. Morrison is industrious and ambitious as well as her husband and finds recreation and remuneration in the poultry business. She makes a specialty of White Plymouth Rock chickens and finds a ready market for the product of her chicken farm. She has frequently had her chickens on exhibition at fairs and poultry shows and has never failed to carry off honors in the way of premiums.
Although comparatively a young man, Mr. Morrison has seen many changes and noted the occurrence of many unusual events in this section of Missouri. He has a distinct recollection of the devastation wrought by the grasshoppers in 1874 and 1875. He is one of the reliable and sub- stantial men of Cass County. Mr. Morrison has been known to the editor of this work practically all his life.
W. A. Bronaugh, proprietor of the "Maple Grove Stock Farm", is one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Pleasant Hill township. Mr. Bronaugh was born in Pleasant Hill township March 28, 1859. He is a son of William F. and Sarah E. (Swope) Bronaugh, natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of the following children: Robert, died at Pleas- ant Hill, September 26, 1916; Samuel, died February 17, 1916, at Gunn City, Missouri; Annie, was drowned in the cellar at the old home place in Pleasant Hill township, at the age of three years; Maggie married James Dunn and is now deceased; William A., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Akers, who resides at Pleasant Hill.
William F. Bronaugh, the father, came to Cass County about 1850 and located on a farm about three and one-half miles south of Pleasant Hill. This was later the Robert Bronaugh place. William F. Bronaugh purchased it when he first located in Cass County and made his home thereon until the time of his death. His death was a tragic and untimely one and occurred at a time when the country was infested with robbers and murderers, and he was a victim of that type of men. When Order No. 11 was issued in September, 1863, he left his place, as required to do under the order, and after the close of the war he returned to find his farm stripped of everything of value that could be moved or destroyed. He decided to go to Kansas City and engage in freighting over the Santa
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Fe trail, and in that way retrieve some of his losses and improve his farm with the money thus earned. Accordingly on May 4, 1865, he started for Kansas City, that being the nearest point on the Santa Fe trail. He was accompanied by a hired man and his son, Robert Bronaugh. Robert and the other man proceeded on the way with four ox teams, while Mr. Bronaugh followed on horseback. In those days it was not an uncommon thing for the average man of affairs to carry considerable money on his person, as it was not the custom to carry bank accounts, and in under- taking such a trip as Mr. Bronaugh contemplated, it was necessary to carry quite a large amount of money to pay expenses on the road and cover purchases of freight. Accordingly on the evening before Mr. Bro- naugh's departure, Mrs. Bronaugh sewed the needed money in the back of Robert's coat. Robert was a boy of twelve. The money was secreted in his coat after he had gone to bed and he knew nothing of the hidden treasure which he carried with him on the trip. The next day as Mr. Bronaugh was on his way to Kansas City he was riding quite a distance behind the other part of his train when about a mile from Gregg's store he was held up on the road by bushwhackers, who demanded his money. After searching him they found only one dollar in his possession, and they were so disappointed and exasperated that they murdered him, firing seven bullets into his body. They then tied his body to the horse and turned the animal loose. The horse, however, instead of running away went but a short distance on the prairie. It was found by some citizens and soldiers near Gregg's store the following morning, when the body was recognized by John Olson as that of Mr. Bronaugh. The affair was reported to his people at Pleasant Hill and his body was buried in the cemetery at that place. After murdering Mr. Bronaugh the highwaymen cut his saddle into shreds in their search for money. Robert and the hired man knew nothing of the murder until they reached Little Blue, when they were informed by citizens of that place of the tragedy. This was one of the many tragedies which was the outcome of the times and conditions of the Civil War.
William A. Bronaugh was reared in Pleasant Hill township and received his education at Plum Grove school. At the age of seventeen he began life for himself, working by the month on a farm. Later he was employed on the construction of the Santa Fe railroad in New Mexico, California, near Peach Springs and Hackberry, on the desert of Arizona. His last work in this connection was with his brother, Robert, and cousin, Ben Frazier, who had a contract for grading nine miles of the Santa Fe
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road west of Hackberry, Arizona. Mr. Bronaugh returned to Pleasant Hill and began raising wheat on the home farm in which he had an inter- est of ninety-four acres, and since that time has devoted himself to farm- ing and stock raising, in which he has been more than ordinarily success- ful. He is known throughout this section of the state as an extensive registered stock breeder. At this writing he has ten registered jacks and jennets and a number of Percheron horses. He also has thirty-five head of registered Shorthorn cattle. He is an extensive hog breeder, making a specialty of raising hogs. Mr. Bronaugh has increased his acreage and now owns a splendid farm of four hundred seven and one-half acres.
Mr. Bronaugh was married November 25, 1896 to Miss Martha Alice Knorpp of Pleasant Hill, a daughter of James C. and Laura Alice (Thol- man) Knorpp. Mrs. Bronaugh's mother died in 1905 and her remains are buried at Pleasant Hill and the father now resides in Jackson County. Mr. and Mrs. Bronaugh have two children, Laura Elizabeth and Mary Margaret, both attending school.
The "Maple Grove Stock Farm" is located three miles south of Pleas- ant Hill on the Jefferson highway and is one of the ideal farms of Cass County. The residence is a modern eleven room structure which was built in 1907, and the place is well equipped with barns, feed sheds and other conveniences usually found on a first-class stock farm. Barn No. 1 is sixty by eighty feet; barn No. 2, forty by sixty feet; barn No. 3, thirty-two by forty feet. Another barn is twelve by thirty-two feet, a wagon and tool shed thirty-two by forty feet, and implement shed twelve by fifty feet, and there are three tenant houses on the place.
Mrs. Margaret L. Bronaugh, widow of the late Robert B. Bronaugh, is a native of Bath County, Kentucky, born April 18, 1851. Mrs. Bro- naugh bore the maiden name of Sharp and is a descendant of Revolu- tionary ancestors. Her parents were Richard G. and Nannie (Jones) Sharp, both natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of the follow- ing children : Catherine, who died in infancy ; Henry, who died in infancy ; Margaret, the subject of this sketch; and Virginia, who married Dr. Fletcher Grimes, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mrs. Bronaugh was reared and educated at Sharpsburg, Kentucky, a town which was named in honor of her great-grandfather, Moses Sharp, a Revolutionary soldier and a native of Virginia. He was born May 2, 1757 and in 1795 settled in Kentucky. He died June 25, 1820. His wife,
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Elizabeth Walker was also a Virginian, born March 13, 1762, and died September 25, 1855.
The following is a copy of the transcript of the Revolutionary record of Moses Sharp: "Bureau of Pensions, Washington, D. C., October 7, 1913. Moses Sharp enlisted 1776, two years, private under Capt. John Holcomb Martin, December 5, 1780 under Charles Allen, November 4, 1780 to February, 1781 under Col. Lawson, September 5, 1781 to Novem- ber 19, 1781, Deputy Commissioner of Chesterfield County, Virginia, to secure supplies for the army. Resident of Soldier Enlistment, Cumber- land County, Virginia." Moses Sharp was born May 2, 1757 and married, in Cumberland County, Virginia, July 17, 1783, Elizabeth Walker. He died near Sharpsburg, Bath County, Kentucky, June 25, 1820. They were the parents of the following children: Mary, who was born May 30, 1784; John, who was born May 15, 1786; Elizabeth, who was born January 26, 1790, married James McGinness, January 26, 1809; Richard, who was born April, 1792, married Emily Witcher, February 12, 1818; Martha, who was born April 11, 1794, married Duncan O. Richart; William W. who was born September 12, 1796, married Maria S. Caldwell, February 15, 1825; Dr. Joseph Sharp, who was born May 5, 1799, married Catherine Ratliff, September 20, 1826; and Thomas, who was born August 11, 1801, mar- ried Lawrenda Robeson August 14, 1823.
Robert B. Bronaugh and Miss Margaret L. Sharp were united in mar- riage at Sharpsburg, Kentucky, February 24, 1886 and came to Cass County, settling in Pleasant Hill township. Robert Bronaugh was born April 18, 1851, in Garrard County, Kentucky. He was a son of William and Sarah (Swope) Bronaugh, natives of Kentucky, who came to Cass County when Robert B. was eight months old. They were the parents of the following children: Robert Benedict; Samuel Hardin, who died in February, 1916; Annie, who died at the age of there; William A., a stock- man, Pleasant Hill township; Margaret Dorcas, married James Dunn, and died about 1895; Mary Elizabeth, married Clayborne Akers and resides at Pleasant Hill.
To Robert B. and Margaret L. (Sharp) Bronaugh was born one child, Sarah Amelia. She was reared in Cass County and educated in the public schools and later attended Howard Payne College, Fayette, Missouri, and the Synodical College at Fulton, Missouri. She then took a course in the Art Academy at Cincinnati, Ohio. She is an accomplished young woman and resides with her mother at Pleasant Hill.
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Robert B. Bronaugh died September 26, 1916, and thus closed the useful career of one of Cass County's representative citizens of real worth. Mrs. Bronaugh, who is an estimable woman, now owns the old Sheppard residence at Pleasant Hill where she has a comfortable and well appointed home.
H. C. Henderson, a well known and successful farmer and stockman of Mt. Pleasant township, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Morgan County in 1853, and is a son of Silas and Sarah (Gorham) Henderson. Sarah Gorham, the mother, was a descendant of New England ancestors, and Silas Henderson was a son of David and Elizabeth Henderson.
Silas and Sarah Henderson were the parents of the following children : Mrs. Adaline Alderson, Chapin, Illinois; Mrs. Lucretia Rentschler, Con- cord, Illinois; Mrs. Mary E. Savill, Redding, Iowa; H. C., the subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Miriam Craig, Kansas City, Missouri. Allen H. Henderson of Alamo, New Mexico, is a half brother, having been born to a second marriage of the father.
H. C. Henderson was reared on a farm in Illinois and received his edu- cation in the public schools and the Jacksonville Business College, Jack- sonville, Illinois. When he first came to Missouri, he settled in Nodaway County, where he bought a fine farm which he sold in 1907 and came to Cass County, settling in Mt. Pleasant township. Here he bought two hun- dred and eighty acres of land near Belton, where he has since been engaged in general farming and stock raising. He has a splendid farm and ranks among the successful agriculturists of Cass County. He gives particular attention to raising Duroc Jersey hogs and has been especially successful in this field of endeavor. His theory of successful farming is effectual conservation of the soil and in order to accomplish this result he figures on keeping enough of stock on the place to practically consume the grain and hay production, depending upon the stock for his profits.
Mr. Henderson was married in 1893 to Miss Gertrude L. Blair, a daughter of James H. and Rebecca Blair. She is a sister of James F. Blair and C. R. Blair, of Mt. Pleasant township. To Mr. and Mrs. Hender- son have been born two children, Charles Franklin and Carl Blair, both residing with their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Henderson have a beautiful home and the Hendersons are known for their gracious hospitality and have many friends.
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MR. AND MRS. H. C. HENDERSON AND FAMILY.
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William M. Faulkner, Union veteran, now residing at Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has been a resident of Cass County for over half a century. He was born in Washington County, Illinois, December 29, 1846, and is a son of Marcus G. and Eliza (Railey) Faulkner, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. Marcus G. Faulkner was born August 11, 1809 and when he was twenty-three years of age removed from Ken- tucky to Washington County, Illinois, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1885.
William M. Faulkner is the only surviving member of a family of five children born to his parents. The others were as follows: Levi Wesley was a member of Company F, Forty-fourth Illinois Infantry and was killed at the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, when he was twenty-six years old; Isaac Newton was also a member of Company F, Forty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and was severely wounded at the battle of Stone River and never fully recovered from his wounds, dying a few years later; Simeon W., died at the age of twenty; and Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor died in Texas at the age of forty. After the death of the mother of these children, the father was married again and one child, Cynthia Eliza, now residing at Pasadena, California, was born to this union.
William M. Faulkner was educated in the public schools of Irvington, Illinois. When only seventeen years of age he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred Fifty-fourth Illinois Infantry at Irvington, Illinois, under Captain James Elliott. He served with his regiment mostly in Kentucky and Tennessee and saw much real soldiering. He participated in a great many engagements and skirmishes and after having served one year and five months was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, in October, 1865.
In April, 1867, Mr. Faulkner came to Cass County. He was on his way to Kansas but stopped here to visit an uncle, Pouncey Smith, who had resided in this county for a number of years. Mr. Faulkner became so favorably impressed with this section of the country that he abandoned his original plan of going to Kansas and settled permanently in Big Creek township. He farmed rented land in Big Creek for thirteen years and in 1880 bought two hundred twenty-five acres in that township. His land cost him on an average of about twenty dollars per acre and it is now worth easily five times that amount. His land is all in one body and con- veniently located to market, being only three miles northwest of Pleasant Hill. The place is well improved and has an abundant water supply. Mr. Faulkner moved to Pleasant Hill in November, 1907, where he purchased the Doctor Neal property, and has made his home there since.
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In 1869 Mr. Faulkner was married to Miss Phoebe White, daughter of Mrs. Elizabeth J. White of Greenwood, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Faulkner have been born six children as follows: Alva B. a plumber, Kansas City, Missouri; Orion M., died at Hot Springs, Arkansas, at the age of forty; Clarence Graham, died in infancy ; Marcus Elmer lives at Pleasant Hill, Missouri; Homer and Elsie, both died in infancy. Mrs. Faulkner, the mother of these children, died December 24, 1914, aged sixty-nine years. Her remains are buried in Union cemetery, Big Creek township.
Mr. Faulkner began life in Cass County without capital and today is one of the well-to-do men of this section. He has earned every dollar that he possesses by honest toil and is a typical representative of that class of men who have made the west the power that it is in the financial and commercial world.
James H. Hale, a well known farmer and stockman of Mt. Pleasant township, is a native of Virginia. He was born in 1854, a son of Leff and Elvira Hale, both also natives of Virginia and of German descent. The father died in 1863 and later the mother removed to Iowa, where she spent the remainder of her life.
James H. Hale came to Jackson County, Missouri, in 1870 and began working as a farm laborer for seventeen dollars per month. Later he engaged in farming on his own account and in 1892 bought eighty-four acres of land in Cass County, where he has since made his home and been uniformly successful in farming and stock raising.
Mr. Hale was married in 1876 to Miss Rebecca Hazelette, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Jane Hazelette, natives of Virginia, who were born and reared in that state and migrated to Missouri in 1869. They located in Jackson County. The father was without capital and at first was employed by the day. Later he bought a farm, buying more land from time to time, until he owned several farms. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the Confederate army.
Mrs. Hale was one of a family of five children born to her parents, the others being as follows: Mrs. Belle Edgerton, Raymore, Missouri; L. Hazelette, who lives in the west; Mrs. Berta Duncan, who lives in Iowa; and Asa Hazelette, Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Hale has one brother and a sister living, Mrs. Sena Holaman, Jackson County, Missouri, and Elbert Hale, Cleveland, Missouri.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Hale have been born the following children: Mrs. Jessie Hays, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Sophia Burton, Yates Center, Kansas; Zoll Hale, Belton, Missouri; and Mrs. Sadie Miller, Belton, Mis- souri.
When Mr. Hale came to Missouri this section of the state was sparsely settled and much of the country was in a raw and unbroken state. The town of Belton had not been thought of. Game of all kinds were plentiful ; great flocks of wild turkeys could be found along the timber that skirted the streams and prairie chickens were to be found everywhere, and in certain seasons of the year countless numbers of wild geese made their periodical visits to this section and feasted on the corn of the early set- tlers. Mr. Hale also remembers the visitation of the grasshoppers when those pests swept down on the country like a gigantic cloud, turning day- light into darkness and destroyed everything before them. Mr. Hale is a progressive farmer and one of the substantial men of Cass County.
George S. Johnson, proprietor of the "Evergreen Percheron Farm", is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Polk township. He was born in Dearborn County, Indiana, in 1854 and is a son of J. C. and Eliza- beth (Hargitt) Johnson, natives of Virginia. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Melinda Ann Nickerson, Heyworth, Illinois; T. N., deceased ; Mrs. Mary Passwater, Greenwood, Missouri; George S., the subject of this sketch; R. M., Greenwood, Missouri; R. W., Heyworth, Illinois ; Chris W., Jackson County, Missouri; Mrs. Jennie Myers, Rock Island, Illinois; A. W. and A. E., twins, the former residing in Big Creek township and the latter in Bloomington, Illinois; and J. A., Heyworth, Illinois.
George S. Johnson received his education in the common schools of his native state. His early educational advantages were not of the best. He says when he was seventeen years old he only had one school book and that was an oldtime elementary speller with a blue back. He started in life for himself and followed farming for four years. He then went on the road for a huckster company and held that position for five years. In 1877 he sold his interest in Illinois and came to Cass County, settling in Pleasant Hill township. Five years later he bought forty acres of land in Polk township at ten dollars per acre. Later he sold his property and went to Stanton County, Kansas, where he proved up on one hundred sixty acres of land. When he went to that section of Kansas it was a wild, unbroken country, and his nearest neighbor was thirteen miles dis-
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tant. While there he was instrumental in establishing the postoffice at Fisher, Kansas, and was appointed postmaster. His personal acquaint- ance with vice-president Adlai Stevenson aided him in securing the appointment. While in the west he was engaged in freighting and used four teams in that work. He hauled the first lumber where the town of Boston, Colorado, was built. He freighted over that entire section of the country, going as far as Fort Sill and Fort Reno. He returned to Illinois after the death of his first wife in 1888. After following farming there for two years he went on the road for a drug company. In 1905 he returned to Cass County, Missouri, and purchased two hundred acres of land in Polk township, for which he paid thirty-nine dollars per acre. This is his present home, located two and one-half miles east of Pleasant Hill and known as the "Evergreen Percheron Farm".
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