USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 44
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Abram Amos, father of Nicholas Amos, came to Missouri in 1855. After one year in Boone County, he removed to Jackson County, locating
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on the farm now owned by the son, Nicholas, a place full of interesting, historie associations.
Nicholas Amos was in his seventeenth year when he came to this state with his father in 1855, and well remembers the condition of the county more than sixty years ago. He has witnessed the many changes which have occurred in that time, the wonderful transforming process of a half century.
The first house built in Van Buren township was built on the Amos farm. It was a double log cabin having a stone chimney between. One of the particularly interesting objects of historic significance is a noble, old apple tree, fourteen feet in circumference, which grows on the Amos place. This tree is undoubtedly the oldest apple tree in the state of Mis- souri and the largest perhaps in the United States. It is of the Vandiver species and was bearing apples in 1837. It has never yet failed to bear fruit. Another historic feature of this splendid farm is the old road bed of the Lexington Lake and Gulf Railroad which runs through the farm. It was graded shortly after the Civil War, but the rails were never laid on it.
With the exception of fourteen years, Nicholas Amos has lived in Jackson County since 1855, when he came to Missouri with his father. For fourteen years Mr. Amos was engaged in the grocery business at Pleasant Hill, Missouri. By his efficiency, honesty and square dealings, he won the entire confidence of all with whom he came in contact. In 1898 he moved from Pleasant Hill back to the old home place. His mer- cantile career had substantially ended.
In December, 1870, Nicholas Amos was united in marriage with Mollie Davis, a lady of intelligence and refinement, daughter of John and Sarah (Kersey) Davis, natives of North Carolina. Both parents have gone into the Great Beyond. The father died in Cass County in 1856, the mother in 1913, and both are at rest in Lonejack cemetery. A brother of Mrs. Amos, Drury Davis, lives in Van Buren township. Sarah (Kersey) Davis, the mother of Mrs. Amos, came to Missouri in 1837 with her father, Drury Kersey.
To Mr. and Mrs. Amos were born two children: Granville, born in 1878, who died in 1902, leaving a widow and one daughter, Granvillene; and Bessie, who married Hal Jerard of Pleasant Hill and is now residing in Manhattan, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Jerard have two daughters, Helen and June, who are receiving superior educational advantages, both being students in the college at Manhattan.
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Nicholas Amos has been very successful in his agricultural pursuits. His fine farm is well improved and is considered one of the best in the township. Very valuable walnut timber grows on his place. In 1916 he sold one hundred walnut trees for $1,000. The trees grew on a few acres near the house and barn. Mr. Amos is one of the prominent citizens of Jackson County and no one is more deserving than he of notice in a work like this. His life story is a very interesting one and he comes of an ancestry which has helped make history in more than one section of the United States. Benjamin Amos, a great-uncle of Nicholas Amos was one of the brave, old pioneers of Cole County, Missouri. He came to Cole County in 1814. During his long residence in Jackson County, Nicholas Amos has borne an enviable reputation. He and Mrs. Amos are honored and respected members of the community in which they have so long made their home.
B. F. Keyton, a highly-respected farmer and stockman of Cass County, has been a resident of Polk township for forty years. He was born in Virginia in 1847, son of James and Betsey (Powell) Keyton, the former a native of Virginia, the latter of Ohio. James and Betsey (Powell) Keyton were the parents of three children, two of whom are living: James, of Seattle; and B. F., subject of this review.
In 1861 Mr. Keyton enlisted in a drum corps in the Confederate service at Charlottesville, Virginia. He was then but a mere lad of fourteen. In 1864 he re-enlisted. For some time he was a guard on Bell Island. At the time Richmond was vacated he was driving a six- mule team. Mr. Keyton was with General Lee when he surrendered at the McLean house in Appomattox village, April 9, 1865, but was ten miles in advance of the army. His wagon was loaded with bacon. When he received the word that General Lee had surrendered he mounted one of the mules and made for Charlottesville. He arrived home safely, and no one ever called for the mule.
After the war Mr. Keyton came to Missouri, in 1867. He was theu but twenty years of age. He remained in Marshall, Saline County, until 1870, when he went to Kansas City, Missouri. From Kansas City he went to Kansas, thence to Westport, Missouri, where, in 1874, B. F. Key- ton and Lottie Ann Singleton, daughter of Manoah and Nancy Singleton, were united in marriage. Mrs. Keyton was born in Linn County, Mis- souri. Her parents have passed on to the Great Beyond. To B. F. and
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Lottie Ann (Singleton) Keyton have been born six children, all of whom are living: Manoah, of Polk township, married May Henley; Lena, wife of Thomas Ketteman, Greenville, Texas; Amy, wife of Everett Dillon, Polk township; Cora, at home with her parents; Russell, Kansas City, Missouri; and Proctor, in charge of the home place.
J. H. Davis, a neighbor of Mr. Keyton, residing one-half mile west of the Keyton farm, is the only "old-timer" near him remaining of the noble clan of pioneers who were here when he, Mr. Keyton, came a half- century ago.
In 1876 B. F. Keyton purchased seventy acres in Polk township. In the early eighties he bought forty acres of land from James Francisco through Judge Allen Glenn, of Harrisonville, paying but two hundred dollars for all. This land is now worth one hundred dollars per acre and is owned by Mr. Shreve. It lies just east of the W. W. White farm. Mr. Keyton has at different times increased his holdings until he now owns one hundred seventy acres. He follows general farming and stock rais- ing. At first he raised hogs and corn, and made money. In 1876 this now splendidly improved farm was raw land. All the improvements on the place have been placed there by Mr. Keyton and he may well be proud of it. In 1898 the home, a fine country residence, was erected. In addition to the other improvements, Mr. Keyton planted the large orchard of one hundred trees, an asset of inestimable value to his place. One of his well-built barns was erected in the eighties, and is 36x16 feet, with a twelve-foot shed. Another barn is 40x16 feet in dimensions with a 14-foot shed on two sides.
B. F. Keyton is numbered among those men whose untiring energy has made Cass County prosperous. Having lived in Missouri for half a century he is prominently identified with the growth of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Keyton have been long and favorably known and the Keyton family will long be remembered as a family of worth.
Mrs. Gabriella (Rowland) Collins, one of Cass County's noblest women. is a highly esteemed resident of Polk township, where she was born nearly seventy-three years ago. She belongs to one of the honored, old pioneer families of this section and was born in 1844, daughter of Jesse and Rebecca (Blackburn) Rowland. Both parents of Mrs. Collins were natives of Simpson County, Kentucky. In early manhood Jesse Rowland came to Missouri from Kentucky. This was in the thirties. He and his family were in Carroll County Missouri at the time of his death in 1865. There
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they had removed when Order No. 11 was issued. Rebecca (Blackburn) Rowland, mother of Mrs. Collins, preceded her husband into the Unknown, her death occurring in 1857 in Polk township. She is buried in Pleasant Hill cemetery.
Jesse and Rebecca (Blackburn) Rowland were the parents of ten chil- dren, only two of whom are now living: Mrs. Melinda Underwood, wife of James Underwood, died about 1890 and is buried in Lonejack cemetery ; Bluford, died at the age of eighty-four years in Lonejack, his widow sur- viving; Medford, died in Polk township and is buried in Pleasant Hill cemetery ; Henry, died in California; William, died in Polk township and is buried in Reed cemetery ; Mrs. Lucinda Cave, who was accidentally shot during the battle of Lonejack, dying about three weeks later; Robert, died at the age of seventeen and is buried in Pleasant Hill cemetery; Mrs. Isabell Parker, who resides at Pleasant Hill; Mrs. Gabriella Collins, sub- ject of this sketch; and Luther, who died at the age of seventeen years, during the war.
January 28, 1866, Dr. Robert Willis Collins a promising young phy- sician of Pleasant Hill, and Gabriella Rowland were united in marriage. Dr. Collins was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1837. He gradu- ated from the St. Louis Medical College and began the practice of medi- cine in Cass County in 1860. He enlisted in the Confederate Army as surgeon with "Fighting Joe Shelby" and served throughout the war. Dr. Collins was a close student, a careful, steady-handed surgeon, and rendered valuable service on many battlefields, during which time he per- formed every operation known to military surgery. He proved himself to be one of the best in the army. Dr. Collins was present at the sur- render of Vicksburg. After the war he returned to Cass County to again resume his profession of medicine. For one year he was at Pleas- ant Hill. In 1868 he and Mrs. Collins moved to a farm in Polk town- ship, where they resided for four years. This farm is two miles east of Mrs. Collins' present farm home. There is no man more highly es- teemed in a community than the family medical practitioner and in his day there was not among all the physicians one held higher in public favor than Dr. Collins. For forty years he followed his profession. At one time he was proprietor of the Dr. Buckner Drug Store in Strasburg. A number of years previous to his death, Dr. Collins lived in retirement. Throughout a long and useful life Dr. Collins retained the love and con- fidence of all, and when, July 26, 1914, he departed this life, great sor- row was felt throughout the entire community.
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To Dr. and Mrs. Collins were born ten children, eight of whom are now living: Laura, deceased ; Mrs. Lulu Belle Rowland, residing in Colo- rado; Jessie, at home; William, Wichita, Kansas; Robert, deceased; Mrs. May Brierly, of Jackson County, Missouri; Charlie, manager of the lum- ber yard at Strasburg, Missouri; Luther, at home; Mrs. Grace Glover, residing in Salina, Kansas; and Mary, at home.
Mrs. Collins is living in her new eight-room house at Strasburg, just completed, having removed from the farm February 28, 1917. She lived on the old home place forty-five years of her life. Although past the three- score years and ten, she enjoys the best of health, which in itself is suf- ficient evidence of a past well lived. Mrs. Collins unquestionably deserves the high esteem she enjoys, for her life has been one of continuous, un- selfish usefulness. That she has won an enviable standing was inevita- ble. When the Master calls and Mrs. Collins joins the doctor, whose noble helpmeet she was for forty-eight years, she will leave as a precious inheritance a good name, "which is rather to be chosen than great riches", a monument more enduring than marble.
John William Seaton, an enterprising and prosperous merchant of Strasburg, Missouri, was born in Polk township, Cass County, in 1869, the son of Hiram and Sarah A. (Kinnison) Seaton. Hiram Seaton, a Virginian, was born in 1840. From Virginia he went to Pennsylvania, where he and Sarah A. Kinnison were united in marriage. Sarah A. (Kinnison) Seaton was born near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1845. Hiram and Sarah Seaton immigrated to Missouri shortly after their mar- riage. After a few months' stay in Jackson County they came to Cass County, in the spring of 1868. Both parents have passed on, the father departing this life in February, 1873, and the mother in January, 1902. To Hiram and Sarah (Kinnison) Seaton were born three children: Eliza- beth, who died in infancy; John William, subject of this sketch; and Absolom Ward, who was born in 1871 and was killed by lightning on the Long farm in 1901.
Sarah (Kinnison) Seaton, widow of Hiram Seaton, married a sec- ond time, becoming the wife of James F. Seaton, a brother of Hiram Seaton. To this union were born six children, three of whom are living : Mrs. May Lancaster, of Polk township; Mrs. Mary L. Sechrest, of John- son County ; Charles, deceased; and Pearl Bailey, deceased.
John William Seaton received his elementary education in the com- mon schools of Cass County. He attended the State Normal School at
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Warrensburg during the presidency of Professor Osborn, from 1888 until 1890. Mr. Seaton started in life as a teacher, which profession he has followed most of the time for three years. When he returned home from the State Normal he taught in the home schools. For sixteen months he worked in the Aldridge district and at the time of his appoint- ment as postmaster, Mr. Seaton was again teaching in the home schools. He was an earnest worker, seeking faithfully to stimulate honest en- deavor. It was a great loss to the teaching profession when he resigned in 1893 to become the efficient postmaster of Strasburg. He received this appointment during Cleveland's administration and served four years. In connection with the postoffice Mr. Seaton engaged in general mercan- tile business. For fourteen years he so ably conducted this business as to become one of the leading merchants of Cass County. In 1907, his eyes failing him, he sold out to E. M. Hurst, retaining only the implement and vehicle business. He then traveled in various states for the Emigration Department of the Rock Island Railroad. Having retained the implement and vehicle business, Mr. Seaton has been connected with the business world continuously for twenty-four years, thus making him the pioneer business man of Strasburg. His long experience has taught him the demands of the trade and he has among his customers some of the most critical and fastidious buyers in the county. The first merchant in Strasburg whom Mr. Seaton remembers, was Henry A. Stack. V. B. Cave and Charles Easly, partners, were other early pioneers in the mercantile field.
November 25, 1893, John William Seaton and Minnie Noland were married, and to this union was born one child, a daughter, Delila. Mrs. Minnie (Noland) Seaton departed this life in March, 1897. The daughter, Miss Delila, is following in the footsteps of her father, having been en- gaged in the teaching profession for the past three years in Cass County, and at present in Johnson County.
Mr. Seaton's second wife, Myrtle E. Williams, is a daughter of J. B. and Mollie J. Williams, of Polk township. To Mr. and Mrs. Seaton have been born three children: Crystal, who is attending high school; Milea, and John William, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Seaton have a beautiful home in Strasburg, which was erected in 1894.
In his political relations John William Seaton is a Democrat. He has long taken an active interest in the party's affairs, and has been an important factor in each campaign. To have held the office of township trustee for twenty years and to have served as township committeeman for twenty years, is conclusive evidence as to how substantial and gen-
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uine his life has been, and how well founded the universal confidence reposed in him. His early education was obtained in the common schools, and through life he has had a good citizen's interest in them and has worked for their advancement. Since 1896 Mr. Seaton has served as a member of the school board almost continuously.
Mr. Seaton has been very closely allied with civic improvements in Strasburg. He has erected five brick, and two frame business buildings, which he still owns, besides several residences. He is also a stockholder of the Farmers National Bank of Pleasant Hill, Missouri.
Mr. Seaton recalls much of the early history of Strasburg. The first postoffice was established on the old stage-coach line between Warrens- burg and Pleasant Hill, with James Wilmott as postmaster. The post- office was named for him, Wilmott. The stage horses were changed at a barn on the present Rouch farm. Later the name of the office was changed to Lucas, then to Strasburg.
Mr. Seaton relates that when the railroad came and the town of Strasburg was laid out by John Flournoy, the main street was named Gamble Avenue, because gambling was the principal occupation along the street.
As this record abundantly discloses John William Seaton is pre-emi- nently a self-made man. He has by the force of his character and ha- bitual practice of honesty, industry and economy attained business suc- cess. He is a man of action as well as of ability, and that he has dis- charged worthily the various important trusts with which he has been honored is fully demonstrated by his present position of influence.
J. H. Davis, an early settler and prominent farmer and stockman of Polk township, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Hardin County in 1845, a son of Elijah and Mary (Hastings) Davis, the former a native of Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents. The mother came to this country with her parents when she was thirteen years old. The Davis family came to Missouri, settling in Cass County in 1868, and in 1869 the father located on a farm, part of which was in Pleasant Hill and a part in Polk township. Here he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising until his death, in 1892. Elijiah Davis and wife are the parents of the following children: William, Har- din County, Ohio; John, Phoenix, Arizona; Lydia, Hannah, Rosa, and Spear, all four of whom are deceased; and J. H., the subject of this sketch.
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J. H. Davis received a good public school education and in early life taught school in Ohio. He came to Cass County in 1869, and in the winter of 1871-72 taught the Willow Branch school, now District Num- ber 44. He recalls among his pupils who attended his school, the children of T. J. Lynch, Robert Mahaffey, Mrs. Austin, Noah Warrenstaff, Dan Ingram, and a Mr. Weldon. This was considered a good school district at that time and considerably in advance of many other districts for the reason that it had a frame school house. Mr. Davis farmed rented land here for about two years, and in 1874 bought one hundred sixty acres of land from Henry Cordell at ten dollars per acre, and since that time has been negaged in farming and stock raising. His place is now well improved, with a good orchard and substantial farm buildings. He is also a successful bee-keeper, and now has on hand fifty-six stands, from which he took four thousand pounds of honey during the past season. Mr. Davis is an expert bee man and knows all about the various raw materials from which bees make honey. He is a recognized authority on the quality and flavor of honey.
In 1871 Mr. Davis was married to Cornelia Myers, of Pleasant Hill. She is a daughter of Josiah and Elizabeth Myers, who came to Cass County from Ohio in 1867. Both are now deceased. The mother died in 1871 and the father passed away in 1883. Their remains are buried in the Staley Cemetery.
To Mr. and Mrs. Davis have been born six children, as follows : Harry, a farmer, who is an extensive wheat grower at Kingman County Kansas; James Addison, who was educated for the law, and after bei- admitted to the bar enlisted in the United States Army during the Spanish- American War, and died, after returning home, at the age of twenty- five years; Daisy, who married William Sloan, and resides in Polk town- ship; Charles S., real estate dealer, Kansas City, Missouri; Roy O., as- sistant cashier of the Farmers Bank of Strasburg, Missouri; and Ora C., a farmer, Kingman County, Kansas. There are eight grandchildren in. the Davis family.
Mr. Davis has always had a liking for the cattle business and has met with unusual success in that field of endeavor. Although now seventy- one years old, he takes care of fifty-five head of cattle. Mrs. Davis is also active for one of her years, and does her own household work un. assisted.
Mr. Davis is a great reader and has ever been a close student of men and events. Speaking of the progress of the times he observes that
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the progress of the last century may be classified according to the stages of the development of the mode of transportation, and he divides that development into six epochs ranging from the old Lynch-pin wagon, of years ago, to the automobile of today. He is a level-headed business man and one of the substantial citizens of this county.
Horace K. Templeton, a worthy member of a widely known southern family, and a representative of a fine, old clan of pioneers, was born in Johnson County in 1857, son of W. E. and Kitty E (Alexander) Temple- ton, natives of Alabama. W. E. Templeton was born in Alabama in 1832, and Kitty E. Alexander in 1835. They immigrated to Johnson County, Missouri, in 1853, and settled on the Alexander farm. W. E. and Kitty (Alexander) Templeton were the parents of three children: Silas A., of Polk township; Horace K., subject of this review; and Mary E., who died at the age of nineteen. W. E. Templeton and wife, parents of Horace K., resided in Johnson County throughout the war. They moved to the David Revis farm when Mr. Revis left Johnson County because of Order No. 11. Mr. and Mrs. Templeton lost at this time all the stock they had. In 1868 the Templetons moved to the farm now owned by the son, Horace K., which has ever since been the "old home place". W. E. Templeton purchased this place for eleven dollars per acre. Here he died, in 1881. His widow was later married to James Chinn. After Mr. Chinn's demise, Mrs. Chinn and M. L. McCaslin were united in marriage. Mrs. McCaslin is now eighty-one years of age. She recalls the battle of Lonejack, in 1862, the guns of which she plainly heard. She and her parents lived in a log cabin until 1862. They did their trading at Old Rose Hill, the one merchant of the place being a Mr. Baker. There was another store, just east of Hadsell, operated by Brakely Hornsby. Those were "times that tried men's souls".
Horace K. Templeton received his education in the Liberty School of Cass County. He was reared a farmer and since becoming of age has followed that occupation in Polk township, his present home. He owns the farm which his father bought in 1868.
In 1883 Horace K. Templeton and Sarah J. Atchison were united in marriage. Mrs. Templeton is the daughter of Thomas and Minerva Atch- ison, of Johnson County. Mr. and Mrs. Atchison came to Johnson County in 1881, and both have gone into the Great Hereafter. Both are at rest in Kingsville Cemetery, Johnson County. To Horace K. and Sarah (Atchi- son) Templeton have been born the following children: Harvey H., who
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married Nannie Morris, and resides in Kansas City, Missouri; Anna L., at home; and Ralph C., at home.
The Templeton place is well located on the county line, between Johnson and Cass Counties. Mr. Templeton is interested in general farming and stock raising, but at present particularly in the dairy busi- ness. His excellent dairy barn was built in 1913, 32x24 feet in dimen- sion, having a shed, concrete floor and room for eighteen dairy cows. He erected a concrete silo, 14x30 feet, in 1914, and in every way is well equipped to handle business on an extensive scale. Mr. Templeton keeps only Jersey cattle, which breed he considers by far the best for his pur- poses. The milk is separated in the Templeton dairy, which is a model for neatness and cleanliness, and the cream shipped.
Mr. and Mrs. Templeton are highly esteemed throughout the com- munity where they have lived for so many years. Mr. Templeton is a man of genial disposition, fair and honorable in all his dealings and is numbered among Cass County's best citizens.
James A. Roush, one of Cass County's best citizens and a progres- sive agriculturist, was born in Edgar County, Illinois, in 1867, son of Henry M. and Martha E. (Foutz) Roush. Henry M. Roush was a native of Ohio. From Ohio he migrated into Illinois, and in 1869 settled in Ver- non County. Here he remained until 1880, when he came to Strasburg, Cass County, locating upon a farm. In 1901 Henry M. Roush was called home. At the time of his death he was residing in Strasburg. Martha E. (Foutz) Roush is a native of Illinois, and at present a highly-respected resident of Strasburg. Henry M. and Martha E. (Foutz) Roush were the parents of four children: Calvin, who died in Vernon County; Mrs. Carrie M. Powell, of Strasburg, Missouri; Charles W., Wingate, Missouri; and James A., subject of this review.
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