History of Cass County, Missouri, Part 51

Author: Glenn, Allen
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Topeka, Kan : Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 904


USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 51


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The Stevens family moved from New Hampshire to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1833. There Alfred Stevens lived for thirty-nine years, and was engaged in farming. During the Civil war he served in Company H, One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio infantry, and enlisted and was mustered out, at Cleveland, Ohio. He came to Cass County, Missouri in 1872, and bought one hundred and forty acres in Dayton township from Jacob F. Rogers, who left for Kansas. At present the farm contains two hundred and forty acres. A cabin was on the place when it was pur- chased. This cabin is still standing, but is now weather boarded, and finished on the inside and forms part of a newer and larger house of substantial construction.


Alfred Stevens was married in 1850 to Amelia C. Smith, at Solon, Ohio. Six children were born to them. Those living are: William A.,


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subject of this sketch; Albert M., now a merchant of Clinton, Missouri ; and Charles S., a banker at Garden City, Missouri. Those deceased are: Flora A., died at nine years; Alice A., died aged seven years; Emma A., died at two years. Mrs. Amelia Stevens died in 1912, aged eighty-two, and was buried at Garden City cemetery.


Alfred Stevens was master of the Mound Valley grange, organized at Austin in 1873. He was later secretary of the grange, at which time it did considerable co-operative work. He also distributed supplies for the destitute there, after the ravages of the grasshoppers in 1874 and 1875. He was secretary and director of the grange store, organized at East Lynne, was justice of the peace for four years, and president of the Farmers' Bank at Garden City, when it was first organized.


The original Stevens farm increased from one hundred acres to seven hundred acres, when it was divided among the three sons. William Stev- ens has the home place. On it are two large stock and hay barns. One is 38x70 feet with a basement. The other is 40x80 feet and also has a basement. Mr. Stevens' principal business is dairying and sheep raising. He also raises full blood Poland China hogs. He milks from fifteen to twenty cows, and raises yearly, from seventy-five to one hundred Shrop- shire sheep, and from forty to fifty hogs. He was one of the first men in this vicinity to handle sheep, and formerly kept from four hundred to six hundred head. For many years his dairy produced much cheese and butter, most of the latter being shipped to Kansas City, Missouri. He also ran a sorghum mill for over thirty years. Mr. Stevens now makes his home with William A., and is in good health at the age of ninety-one years, but lost his eyesight five years ago.


William Stevens was married November 25, 1879, to Emma C. Sliffe of Austin, Missouri. She is the daughter of Henry J. and Sarah (Walter) Sliffe. Her parents came to Cass county from Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1869, and settled near Austin. Mrs. Stevens has five brothers and four sisters living. They are: Mrs. Susan Yoder, of Pando, Colorado; Frank Sliffe, of Mill City, Oregon ; Mrs. Ida Tipton, of Cement, Oklahoma; Jacob G., John Day, Oregon; Mrs. Hattie Kenagy, Rupert, Idaho; Robert N., Rupert, Idaho; Mrs. Dessa Hurt, Ashland, Oregon; William, farmer at Austin, Missouri, on the home farm; and George, Kansas City, Missouri.


Mr. Stevens held the office of assessor for Dayton township for two years, 1913 and 1914.


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Andrew Gordon Deacon, a Civil War veteran, and pioneer business man of Harrisonville, now deceased, was born September 21, 1841, in Brighton, Canada. His wife, Jennie Madora Davis, was born August 10, 1857, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She died April 16, 1893, at Harrisonville, Missouri. In April, 1876, Andrew Gordon Deacon and Jennie Madora Davis, daughter of a prominent physician of Tennessee, were united in marriage, and to this union were born six children: Robert R., Mary Belle, William C., Elizabeth Sayre, Mrs. George B. Spivey, nee Helen Davis Deacon; and Andrew Gordon, Jr.


Andrew Gordon Deacon had an unusually fine army record. He enlisted May 10, 1861, in Captain E. S. Bragg's company, which was later Company E, Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. In the fights leading up to the battle of Antietam, sixty-five per cent. of the men in Captain Bragg's company were killed or wounded, but because of their unyielding pertinacity and invincible bravery they were known as the "Iron Brigade." Andrew Gordon Deacon lost his right arm in the battle of Antietam, fought September 17, 1862, the bloodiest single day in the war. The Union sol- diers fought splendidly and justified the confidence of their commander. This battle re-established the prestige of the Union army and while the nation was receiving the news with joy, Andrew Gordon Deacon, wounded and ill with intermittent fever, was being cared for in a private home in Keedysville, Maryland. Later he was taken to the Armory Square Hos- pital in Washington, D. C., where he was confined for four months. He had never been off duty a day up to the time of losing his arm. For "soldierly conduct in action" Andrew Gordon Deacon was promoted to second lieutenant by President Lincoln. When Lieutenant Deacon had recovered from the effects of the wound he secured a transfer to the Vet- eran Reserve Corps, in which he remained two and a half years, guarding Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana.


After the surrender of General Lee, April 9, 1865, Lieutenant Deacon was assigned to duty with the Freedmen's Bureau under General O. O. Howard, with headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. The Freedmen's Bureau was created by Congress in the war department March 3, 1865. It was to assume a relation of guardianship over the freedmen, direct his first steps in self-support and protection. Mr. Deacon's work consisted mainly of ratifying contracts and adjusting differences between the two races. For two and a half years he was with the bureau.


In 1868 Andrew Gordon Deacon came to Harrisonville, Missouri,


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going into business with his brothers, John B. R. and E. C. Deacon. The firm sold implements and hardware. In 1888 the two elder brothers retired and Andrew Gordon Deacon became sole owner. The business was then incorporated under the name of the Deacon Hardware Com- pany, taking in as associates A. G. Deacon and his two sons, Robert R. and Wm. C. Deacon. Under this name the firm continued until August, 1907, when the stock and business were purchased by the Burch brothers.


Mention has already been made of two brothers of Andrew Gordon Deacon. He had three: Robert R., who located in Butler, Missouri, and was engaged in the hardware business there; E. C., who came to Cass County in 1868, a merchant and banker, one of the original Lincoln Re- publicans who helped organize that party in Illinois, died January 27, 1913; and John B. R., who was in business in Harrisonville with E. C. and Andrew Gordon. Andrew Gordon Deacon died April 1, 1914. His career was marked by constant industry and integrity, earnest effort and determination directed along well-defined channels. Honest and rugged, he was distinctly a gentleman of the fine old school.


Robert R. Deacon, son of Andrew Gordon Deacon, enlisted as private in Company E, Fifth Missouri Volunteer Infantry at Harrisonville, Mis- souri, for the Spanish war, April 27, 1898. May 4, 1898, he was appointed second sergeant and May 18 was sent from Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, where he was mustered in, to Chickamauga Park, Georgia. In the summer of 1898 he returned to Missouri to assist in recruiting the regiment to full complement. He was mustered out and honorably dis- charged November 9, 1898.


Jonathan Famuliner, a prominent citizen of Garden City and one of Cass County's extensive landowners, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Ross County, in 1854, a son of Charles S. and Sallie Ann (Piper) Fam- uliner, natives of Ohio. Both parents are now deceased. They were the parents of the following children: Catherine, deceased; Elizabeth, Piatt County, Illinois ; John, Piatt County, Illinois; Hepbsy, deceased; Eliza, deceased; William, deceased; George, deceased; Charles, Camp Branch township; Marion, Butler, Missouri, and Jonathan, the subject of this sketch.


Jonathan Famuliner received a good common school education in Ohio and Illinois. The Famuliner family removed from Ohio to Illinois in 1863, when Jonathan was about eight years old. In 1874 they came to


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Missouri and settled in Cass County, four miles northwest of where Gar- den City now stands. This was the grasshopper year, and many of the settlers were leaving at that time after the country had been devastated by these destructive pests of the plains, which seemed to take possession of the entire country and devoured every green vestige of vegetation. Grasshoppers or no grasshoppers, the Famuliner family had come to Cass County to stay and make good, and they did. Jonathan and his brothers had purchased seven hundred acres of land four miles north of Garden City in 1870. After coming here in 1874 Jonathan Fumuliner engaged in farming and stockraising, and also bought and fed cattle and hogs exten- sively, and prospered. He bought additional land whenever opportunity and circumstances presented themselves until his broad fields now aggre- gate fourteen hundred acres of productive and well improved farm land. While Mr. Famuliner has already obtained a very satisfactory degree of success, he is still alert and active in the business world. As he expresses it himself, he is "still hustling." In addition to his other extensive land holdings, he has ten acres of land adjoining Garden City, where he resides.


Mr. Famuliner was united in marriage in February, 1876, with Miss Elizabeth McCance, a daughter of James and Margaret McCance, of Camp Branch township. The McCance family settled in Dayton township, Cass County, in 1870, and the parents are now deceased. They were the parents of the following children: Mary Stofer, died at Cazad, Nebraska; Eliza- beth, wife of Jonathan Famuliner, subject of this sketch; J. D., lives in Cozad, Nebraska; Charles, lives in Cozad, Nebraska; Thomas McCance, lives in Cozad, Nebraska; Reverend Robert, a Christian minister, who resides in Iowa; Hester, lives in Florida; Mrs. Anna Williams, Nebraska, and Mrs. Belle Woodruff, Cozad, Nebraska.


To Jonathan Famuliner and wife have been born the following chil- dren: Reverend J. W., pastor of the Christian church, Wichita, Kansas ; Charles, a successful farmer and stockman, of Camp Branch township; Emma, married William Patton, Index township; Florence, married Ezra Harrison, Dayton township; Effie, married A. A. Allen, Camp Branch township; Thomas, resides in Camp Branch township.


The Famuliner family all belong to that progressive and thrifty type that lives up to the highest requirements of citizenship. Jonathan Famu- liner is a progressive and public-spirited man, who always stands ready to co-operate with any commendable enterprise that has for its object the betterment of the community. Mr. Famuliner was school director on the


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school board in Camp Branch township during almost the entire time of his residence there. He and his wife are members of the Christian church at Garden City, and are highly respected in the community.


Joseph Shelton West, the efficient trustee of Dayton township, is a worthy son of a fine old pioneer family. He was born in 1874 in Bates County, Missouri, son of J. T. and Elizabeth C. (Kimberlin) West. J. T. West was born in Worth County, Missouri in 1842 and Elizabeth (Kimber- lin) West is a native of Arkansas. J. T. and Elizabeth (Kimberlin) West were the parents of four children: Mrs. Hattie B. Helms, Warrensburg, Missouri ; Joseph S., subject of this review; Grace V. Coe, Creighton, Mis- souri, and Bessie, deceased.


J. T. West, father of the subject of this review, moved from Bates County to Sherman township when Joseph Shelton was five years of age. He located five miles southwest of Creighton where he purchased one hun- dred twenty acres of land. Mr. West has from time to time increased his holdings until he now owns more than eight hundred acres of fine farm land in Sherman and Dayton townships. J. T. West began life in Platte County, Missouri, cutting cordwood by the day. From the days of his boyhood Mr. West has been marked for his economy, integrity and con- stant industry and his present prosperous condition has come as the re- sult of earnest effort and determination, of no little enterprise and energy. J. T. West is pre-eminently a self-made man and the story of his life should be the source of great inspiration to the youth of today. When his children became of age he gave each five hundred dollars and urged them to make good use of the money. That all have done so is proof enough that the father's teaching and example were not fruitless.


Joseph Shelton West spent his boyhood days as the average lad on the farm, attending school in Sherman township and assisting his father with his work. There is always much which a boy on the farm can do and Joseph was the only son. He was ever a willing worker and these early experiences laid the foundation for much of his later success in life. It was the father's greatest desire that his children should have advantages denied him and all received the benefits of a good education. Joseph Shel- ton attended school in Chillicothe one year and Garden City one year. Until he was twenty-three years of age he remained at home. He bought his first farm when he was twenty-six years of age. This place consisted of one hundred twenty acres near Dayton, Missouri.


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In 1900 Joseph Shelton West and Lois J. Morgan, daughter of Lind- say R. and Hannah J. (McKissen) Morgan, were united in marriage. Lindsay R. Morgan is deceased and is buried in Bufford cemetery. Hannah J. (McKissen) Morgan is at present residing in Harrisonville, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. West remained upon the farm near Dayton until 1910, when they sold the place and purchased their present home, formerly the Thomas Hutton farm. This place consists of one hundred sixty acres, nicely located one-half mile south of Garden City.


The West farm is a splendid stock farm. Mr. West handles a fine grade of stock, hogs and cattle. He ships each year one car of hogs and keeps from twenty to twenty-five head of cattle and fifteen head of horses. The buildings on the place are all in excellent repair. He has two good barns and two granaries. Mr. West erected one barn since coming to the place and remodeled all the other buildings. His comfortable residence consists of one story and a half and is a home that is a model of house- wifely neatness.


For five years Joseph S. West was the capable director of the Cass County Mutual Insurance Company. Two years he served with much credit to himself and great satisfaction to all concerned as member of the township board. Mr. West has been the trustee of Dayton township for the past two years and at present is clerk of the school board. To every trust reposed in him Joseph S. West has been true. He has served and is now serving his country faithfully and well and he has made for himself a name which is the synonym for strict integrity and unimpeachable honor.


F. E. Coe, the faithful cashier of the Bank of Creighton, was born in Galesburg, Illinois, July 29, 1877, son of Moses E. and Jennie M. (Par- sons) Coe. Moses E. Coe was a native of Illinois, born in 1845. Jennie M. (Parsons) Coe was also a native of Illinois. Both parents died in Illinois, the father in 1880 and the mother in 1914.


F. E. Coe came to Cass County in 1885, from the home of his grand- mother in Illinois, to live with his uncle, D. P. Coe. D. P. Coe came to Sherman township in 1866. F. E. Coe was just a child of eight years when he came to his uncle's home. The year following his coming, 1886, D. P. Coe died. He is buried in Byler Cemetery. R. S. Coe, son of D. P. Coe, resides in Sherman township.


The boyhood days of F. E. Coe were much like those of the average lad on the farm. He attended school in Cass County and Chillicothe, Mis-


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souri. When he attained manhood he followed the pursuits of agriculture in Sherman township until 1904, when he was elected cashier of the Bank of Creighton, which position he has since filled with much honor and credit to himself and great satisfaction to the bank officials and its patrons.


In 1898 F. E. Coe and Dola V. West, daughter of J. T. and Catherine (Kimberlin) West, of Sherman township, were united in marriage. Mrs. West is deceased and Mr. West is residing in Creighton.


The Bank of Creighton was organized June 6, 1902, with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars. At the time of organization the officers were as follows: Wm. M. Poynter, president; W. L. Poynter, cashier ; Wm. M. Poynter, E. M. Morlan, Geo. C. Carter, G. W. O'Bannon and W. A. Wade, directors. The present officers are: J. T. West, president; F. E. Coe, cashier; W. B. Benn, vice-president; J. T. West, E. M. Morlan, W. H. Waymire, George C. Carter, W. L. Poynter, W. B. Benn and F. E. Coe, directors. The present capital stock of the Bank of Creighton is ten thousand dollars with a surplus of five thousand and deposits amounting to one hundred thousand dollars. The bank owns its own building, a sub- stantial brick structure, 25x50 feet in dimensions. The bank was moved to its present location September 1, 1904. January 14, 1914, the Bank of Creighton bought out the Farmers' State Bank of Creighton and absorbed it, cancelling its stock, paying off the deposits and assuming the loans. In November, 1905, this bank was blown up and four thousand dollars stolen. The loss was fully covered, however, by insurance.


F. E. Coe deserves much commendation for the capable way in which he has through skillful management brought the Bank of Creighton un- usual and deserved success. He has risen to this position of honor and trust because of his personality and merits, and he is fully justifying the confidence reposed in him. Mr. and Mrs. Coe are valued members of Creighton society.


Tandy W. Hunt, owner and proprietor of the "Maple Hill Farm" in Index township, is a former county judge and a Cass County pioneer. He was born in Johnson County, Missouri, five miles south of Holden, August 8, 1848, and is a son of John B. and Nancy L. (Campbell) Hunt. John B. Hunt was a native of Kentucky, born April 4, 1817. When a lad about ten years old he came to Lafayette County, Missouri, and settled in Johnson County, near Holden, in the early forties. November 2, 1855, he came to Cass County, and settled on a place adjoining the farm where


...................


MR. AND MRS. TANDY W. HUNT AND FAMILY.


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Tandy W. Hunt now lives, in Index township. He owned two hundred acres here at the time of his death. His wife, Nancy L. Campbell, was a native of Virginia, born January 11, 1824, and died January 2, 1896, her husband having preceded her in death a number of years. He died June 22, 1862. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary A. Wollard, deceased; Mrs. Matilda C. Wall, Blair, Missouri; Tandy W., the subject of this sketch; Samuel Wilson, deceased; Mrs. Louisa J. Coke, Creighton, Missouri; John L., died in infancy; and John W., died in infancy.


The Hunt family settled in Index township in 1855. At that time the country was sparsely settled and there were but three houses between the Hunt home and Harrisonville. One could drive from their place to Austin without even passing a house. Ox teams were more common then than horses. Among some of the old settlers whom Mr. Hunt recalls who lived there in the early days are Uncle Jimmy Bullock, Billie Adams, Lott Watts, Lilborn Nalor, Samuel P. Thistle and Jack Adams. Mr. Hunt says that his father had the first photograph of himself made that was ever taken in Austin township, the work being done by a traveling pho- tographer.


Tandy W. Hunt received his education in the schools such as were afforded in those pioneer times, but he has added considerable to the schooling which he received in childhood by the experiences of a life time. He has always been a close student of men and affairs and kept himself well posted on current events. His father died in the early part of the war. When Order No. 11 was issued the mother and children went to Johnson County, where they remained until the close of the war, and upon returning in 1865 they found their home devastated and everything destroyed, but they proceeded with brave hearts and willing hands to begin the struggle of life over and finally succeeded. Mr. Hunt, the sub- ject of this sketch, remained with his mother until 1877 when he began life for himself, on a place adjoining the home farm, where he has since been engaged in farming and stock-raising and has met with well merited success. The place is known as Maple Hill Farm and is one of the valu- able farms of Index township.


Mr. Hunt was married August 17, 1876, to Miss Sarah Katherine Parker, of Index township, a daughter of James and Bettie Ann (Alkire) Parker. The Parker family came from Virginia. They were pioneer (37)


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settlers of Lafayette County, Missouri, where Mrs. Hunt was born. To Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have been born the following children: Mrs. Ina L. Hinchman, Index township; Mrs. Edna Mable McNeal, Meridian, Idaho; Mrs. Ada Pearl Prigmore, Alva, Oklahoma; Mrs. Jimmie Farnsworth, Blair, Missouri; Mrs. Frankie C. Harrison, Index township; Louise, at home; Willie and George Edward, died in infancy.


Mr. Hunt has been a life-long democrat and has always taken an active interest in political affairs. In 1906 he was elected county judge of the south district of Cass County and re-elected to succeed himself in 1908 and again in 1910, serving three terms, which is unusual in Cass County. A candidate is rarely elected to that office for more than two terms ; however, Mr. Hunt received a larger majority the third time that he was a candidate than he did on preceding occasions. During his term of office his aim was to give public affairs the same careful and conscien- tious consideration which he gives to his own private affairs, and the result was that he gave the county three successful and economical admin- istrations. During the time that Mr. Hunt was one of the county judges the new County Home was built, the fradulent railroad bonds were com- promised, settled and finally disposed of, local option was declared legal after a severe contest and the county has been dry ever since. In 1904 Mr. Hunt was elected trustee of Index township, resigning that office when he was elected county judge.


Mr. Hunt is one of Cass County's successful and honored citizens. During his career, both public and private, he has formed many acquaint- ances whose confidence and esteem he holds.


W. H. Wade, the genial proprietor of the "Elm Valley Stock Farm" in Sherman township, was born near Galesburg, Illinois, in 1866, a son of G. W. and Isabel (McGrew) Wade. G. W. Wade, a native of Kentucky, came to Missouri in 1868. He settled near Wadesburg, which was named for W. A. Wade, a brother of G. W. Wade, who operated a blacksmith's shop there before the war, when horseshoe nails were made of rod iron. Isabel (McGrew) Wade was a native of Illinois. She was born near Galesburg. To G. W. and Isabel (McGrew) Wade were born three chil- dren: Mrs. Mary Frances O'Bannon, Creighton, Missouri; W. H., sub- ject of this review; and J. O., who resides in California.


G. W. Wade, father of the subject of this review, lived near Wades- burg and Creighton the remainder of his life. For nearly sixty years he


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followed the pursuit of farming in this vicinity. In 1874 Isabel (McGrew) Wade, mother of the subject of this review, died. She is buried at Wades- burg, Missouri. Mr. Wade married his second wife, Phoebe Jane Wilson, in Wadesburg. To G. W. and Phoebe Jane (Wilson) Wade were born two children : C. B. Creighton, Missouri, and Mrs. Edith Ross, residing near Greatfalls, Montana. Mr. Ross, husband of Mrs. Edith Ross, is in the wheat business, and in 1916 raised seven thousand bushels of wheat. Mr. Wade was living in Wadesburg when Order No. 11 was issued. He was with the federal service at Harrisonville when an epidemic of measles broke out and all were quarantined in one house.


In February, 1917, G. W. Wade died on the farm near Creighton. He was seventy-six years and six months of age at the time of his death, a noble member of the brave clan of pioneers whose labors have done so much toward bringing Cass County up to its present prosperous condi- tion. We can not be too grateful to those men and women who, like G. W. Wade, endured all the countless hardships of primitive conditions while spending their lives clearing, cultivating, improving the land and better- ing conditions that their sons and daughters might have life in a fuller measure. Unselfishly they blazed the trail and forged ahead that those who came after them might find the path easier to tread and perchance have time to gather some of the blossoms which grow by the wayside. Mrs. Wade, widow of G. W. Wade, is at present residing in Creighton, Missouri.




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