USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 60
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
John L. Trundle was reared and educated at Lonejack, Missouri. Shortly after leaving school he came to Cass County and engaged in farm- ing near Drexel. In 1894 he bought his present place of ninety-six acres in Big Creek township. He took possession the following year and since that time has been successfully engaged in farming and stock raising and in recent years has been quite extensively interested in the dairy business. He has a well improved farm with a good residence and other farm build- ings. His place is well watered and one of the best natural stock farms in Big Creek township.
Mr. Trundle was married in 1880 to Miss Bettie Hunt, a daughter of Noah and Nancy (Cave) Hunt. Noah Hunt was a Jackson County pio- neer, settling in that county with his parents near Lonejack in 1842. He was born February 20, 1831, and was one of a family of fourteen children. In 1849 his father bought a power grist mill near Lonejack and Noah was placed in charge of the mill and soon saved two hundred dollars out of his earnings, which gave him his start in life. He had a successful busi- ness career and died November 22, 1908. His wife died in 1879. They were the parents of the following children : Marion, Robert and Benja- min, all engaged in the milling business at Pleasant Hill, Missouri ; Buford was a farmer, Lonejack, Missouri, and owned the old homestead at Lone- jack, including the old mill and carding machinery, and died February 26, 1917; William, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Lutie Rowland, Liberty, Missouri; Mrs. John Blackwell, Lonejack; and Mrs. John L. Trundle.
661
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Mr. and Mrs. Trundle have two children: Roger I., farmer, Big Creek township; and John, resides with his parents.
The Trundle family are prominent in the community and are entitled to classification among the early pioneers of western Missouri.
U. G. McCulloh, a prosperous and enterprising farmer and stockman of Dayton township, was born in 1868, son of W. G. and Matilda (Souders) McCulloh. W. G. McCulloh was born in 1828 in Franklin County, Penn- sylvania. Matilda Souders was born in Fulton County, Pennsylvania. W. G. and Matilda (Souders) McCulloh were the parents of the following children : A. S., deceased; J. H., Garden City, Missouri; Mary E., deceased; Sarah E., deceased; George S., Garden City, Missouri; Clara B., deceased; Mrs. Laura J. Morlan, Garden City, Missouri ; U. G., sub- ject of this review; and O. B., Garden City, Missouri.
W. G. McCulloh, father of the subject of this review, migrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1851, locating temporarily in Cincinnati, where he aided in the erection of a tabernacle in which the world renowned Jenny Lind was to sing. When the tabernacle was completed, W. G. McCulloh immigrated to Illinois, where he lived, in Henry and Carroll Counties, until 1858. At that time he left Illinois for Johnson County, Kansas. Later he went to Miami County, Kansas, and thence to Cass County, Missouri, in May, 1866, where he settled permanently in Dayton township. W. G. McCulloh was in Kansas when the Civil War broke out and he enlisted in Company B, Third Kansas Infantry, which was after- wards changed to the Eighth Kansas Infantry. He was mustered out as second lieutenant and in 1864 re-enlisted in Company C, Fifteenth Kan- sas infantry and was mustered out as first lieutenant. Mr. McCulloh was in the battle of Little Blue and the battle at Westport, Missouri. After the war he came to Cass County and tried to forget the struggle, which had cost the nation so much in tears and blood, in the peaceful pursuit of farming. In Dayton township he and his noble wife reared their family. From 1871 until 1875 W. G. McCulloh was Registrar of Deeds for Cass County, and he gave the same conscientious attention to the manifold duties of this office that was characteristic of all his activities, public or private. At the time of his death, September 8, 1914, Mr. McCulloh was owner of five hundred sixty acres of land. His wife had preceded him in death seven years before. Mrs. McCulloh died August 22, 1907. Both parents of U. G. McCulloh are buried in the Dayton cemetery.
662
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
U. G. McCulloh, like many farmers' sons of his day and locality, divided his boyhood days between work on the home farm and attendance in the public schools of Cass County. He remained on the home place, assisting his father, until he was forty-two years of age. At that time he purchased one hundred four acres of land which formerly belonged to A. S. McCulloh, Sr., who had located upon it in the seventies. This place is located one and a half miles southeast of Dayton, Missouri, and here Mr. McCulloh is engaged in general farming, raising grain, hay, horses, hogs and cattle.
Although U. G. McCulloh is a young man, he has lived long enough in Dayton township to have witnessed the many changes incidental to growth and development. He recalls vividly the grasshopper year of 1874. He was then just a child of six years, but a keen-eyed, impression- able boy. He remembers the building of his father's large stock barn that same year, for the elder McCulloh was a prominent stockman of his day. Mr. McCulloh also witnessed the building of the two churches of Dayton township in 1879, the Methodist and the Union. The cyclone of June 15, 1912, swept away all the buildings on his father's farm except the old horse barn, including the residence, two implement sheds, one hay barn, one hog barn, and one stock and hay barn. U. G. McCulloh lost many valuables which were in the residence, including books and maps and precious arti- cles which can never be replaced. A family by the name of Welker were living upon the place at that time, but none was injured, all having taken refuge in the cellar.
Mr. McCulloh has been an active factor in the upbuilding of his county and will long be remembered as one of her most valuable citizens. Not a man in Dayton township has a wider circle of friends than he, and that is perhaps one of the best measures of a man's success in life.
Dr. C. N. James, a prominent veterinary surgeon of Belton, Missouri, is a native of Jackson County. He was born in 1882 and is a son of W. H. and Lillian James, who reside on their home place in Jackson County. The mother is a native of Iowa. The father came from Illinois in 1867 and is a distant relative of the celebrated "James boys." Elizabeth Noble, the paternal grandmother of Doctor James, was a native of Ireland and when four years of age her parents immigrated to Canada. She was brought from Canada to Ohio by an uncle who journeyed on foot and carried her on his back most of the way.
663
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
The James family dates back to colonial times in Virginia and were extensive slave-owners, at one time owning over four hundred negroes. On his mother's side, Doctor James traces his lineage to Ohio. They removed to Iowa at an early day. An uncle of his was a member of an Iowa regiment who was killed at the battle of Vicksburg.
Doctor James is one of a family of six children born to his parents. The others are as follows: Dr. P. M., Hickman Mills, Missouri; Montova, Joplin, Missouri; Mrs. Inez Deweese, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Nellie Mckinney, Oakland, California, and Thelma, Jackson County, Missouri.
Doctor James received a good preparatory education in the public schools and then entered the Kansas City Veterinary College, where he was graduated with the Class of 1910. He located at Belton, Missouri, where he has since been engaged in his professional work. He has a large practice, and is a very skillful veterinary surgeon. He likes the practice of his profession and gives each case that comes within the scope of his practice the best that is in him.
In 1904, Doctor James was united in marriage with Miss Bernice Delroney, a daughter of H. C. and Nellie Delroney, of Jackson County, Missouri, and to this union have been born three children as follows: Marion, Virginia, and C. Noble.
In addition to his professional duties, Doctor James takes a com- mendable interest in local affairs and has served as township assessor and clerk of the township board. He is a young man of pleasant manners and kindly disposition, and by his straightforward methods has won the con- fidence of the public.
Thomas C. Bundy, owner and proprietor of the Drexel elevator at Drexel, Missouri, is one of the extensive grain dealers of Cass County. He is a native son of Cass County, born in Coldwater township, in 1884, a son of Henry C. and Lucy (Hainline) Bundy. Henry C. Bundy was a native of Virginia, born in 1844. He was reared to manhood in his native state, and when nineteen years old, enlisted in the Confederate army, and fought in the ranks of the soldiers of the lost cause, until the close of the war. In 1870, he came to Missouri, and first settled in Buchanan County, where he remained two years, and in 1872, came to Cass County, locating on the old Parks farm in Coldwater township, where he remained two years. He then bought a farm in Coldwater town- ship consisting of 80 acres, and as his finances would permit he added to
664
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
this until he had acquired an estate of 1,500 acres, which he divided equally between his children previous to his death. Here he was success- fully engaged in farming and stock raising until 1909, when he bought a home in Drexel, and spent the remainder of his life there. He was a man of strict integrity, and a Cass County pioneer, who did his part in laying the foundation of this county deep and broad, upon which future genera- tions may build. Mrs. Henry C. Bundy, who was a native of DeKalb, Missouri, born in 1848, now resides at Drexel. To Henry C. Bundy and wife were born the following children: C. C., Harrisonville, Missouri; Mrs. Ella Gartin, Smithville, Missouri; Arthur, Freeman, Missouri ; Mrs. Rebecca Beck, Freeman, Missouri; Lee, died at the age of twenty-eight; F. E., livestock commission merchant, Kansas City, Missouri; John S., Drexel, Missouri; Thomas C., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Geneva Keetch, Liberty, Missouri; H. T., Drexel, Missouri; and Mrs. Abbie R. Hamlin, Lisle, Missouri.
Thomas C. Bundy was reared in Cass County, and educated in the public schools of Drexel, and Central Business College, Sedalia, Missouri. He was engaged in farming and stock raising in Coldwater township, until 1915. He then purchased the Drexel Elevator from the estate of Harvey Reed, and since that time has been devoting himself to the grain business. He also handles seeds, coal and building material, including sand and brick. In addition to conducting the above mentioned business in Drexel, Mr. Bundy owns and operates a portion of the old home farm, which consists of two hundred and forty-five acres. Here he carries on general farming and stock raising, and keeps a good grade of Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs.
Mr. Bundy was married June 15, 1910, to Miss Mary Lucille Dale, a daughter of Sydnor and Laura (Clark) Dale, of Freeman, Missouri. The Clark and Dale families were very early settlers in Cass County. To Mr. and Mrs. Bundy have been born three daughters, all of whom were born in Coldwater township, as follows: Mildred Aleen, Dorothy Lavoon and Lois Marie.
Mr. Bundy is a progressive business man and a substantial and well- known citizen of southwestern Cass County.
J. M. Shouse, president of the Citizens Bank of Belton, is one of the largest land owners in Cass County and a man of extensive interests. Mr. Shouse is a native of Missouri, born in Platte County, and a son of
665
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
Benjamin and Margaret Shouse of Woodford County, Kentucky. Accord- ing to the best authority, the family formerly lived in Pennsylvania, the father being of German and the mother of French lineage. Benjamin and Margaret Shouse came to Missouri in 1844, settling in Platte County, where the father engaged in farming. They were the parents of twelve children, seven boys and five girls, eight of whom are now living, as follows: John S., Platte County, Missouri; J. M., the subject of this sketch; Z. T., Caldwell County, Missouri; Mrs. Laura Widmer, Caldwell County, Missouri; Mrs. Sarah Herndon, Caldwell County, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Widmer, Caldwell County, Missouri; D. P., Platte County, Mis- souri; and Edward T., Abeline, Kansas.
J. M. Shouse began life for himself with a capital of seventy-five dollars. His first work on his own accord was clearing some new ground for his father for which he was to be paid with the use of the land for a time. With the proceeds of the first crop, he bought a team. In 1871 he purchased ninety-six acres of land in Johnson County, Kansas. Mr. Shouse bought this land on borrowed money and the first year was unable to pay the interest. Later on fortune favored him and he finally paid out and since that time he has met with success generally and accumu- lated considerable property. He now owns six hundred ninety-five acres of land, most of which is very valuable. In 1903 he moved to Belton, where he has a nice, substantial residence, which he remodeled in 1914, modernizing it in every particular. His career has been a successful one. Mr. Shouse says that for whatever success has come to him his wife is entitled to as much credit as he.
Mr. Shouse was married November 5, 1868, to Miss Harriet Lamar, daughter of John and Frances Lamar, natives of Tennessee. The Lamar family consisted of the following children: Betty, Belton, Missouri; Har- riet, wife of J. M. Shouse, subject of this sketch; William, Kansas City, Missouri; Charles, Belton, Missouri; John, Harrisonville, Missouri; and Henry, Belton, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Shouse have been born the following children : J. L., principal of Westport High School, Kansas City, Missouri ; Benjamin P., deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Idol, Pleasant Hill, Mis- souri; one child died in infancy; Herbert, merchant, Muskogee, Okla- homa; Mrs. Nellie Rosier, Belton, Missouri; N. B., merchant, Muskogee, Oklahoma; Harriet, teacher in White school, Kansas City, Missouri; Edward and Franklin, who died in childhood.
Mr. Shouse became president of the Citizens Bank of Belton at the
666
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
time of its organization in 1908, and he has held that office since that time. He endeavors to keep himself posted on current events and usually votes the Democratic ticket. He has taken a commendable interest in the wel- fare of the public schools of his locality and has served as director and treasurer of the school board for more than twenty years. Mr. Shouse and his wife are members of the Baptist church, in which he has served as deacon for many years.
Mr. Shouse has always been held in the highest respect and esteem by his neighbors who know him best. As evidence of the confidence which his friends have in his integrity, he has been named as executor of three wills, and in each case, when responsibility devolved upon him, he admin- istered the estates capably and conscientiously. He has no record in public office of which to boast, but in his own unobtrusive way, as a business man and neighbor, and in his interest in church and school work, he has left his impress upon the community.
W. P. Houston, a prominent Cass County attorney and the present efficient mayor of Belton, is a native of Missouri. He was born in a one room log cabin amidst the pioneer surroundings of Maniteau County, Missouri, December 2, 1872. His parents removed to Cass County and settled in Raymore township the following year. Mr. Houston's first rec- ollection is therefore of Cass County. He says that like Dickens' Abel Magwich he "became aware of himself, first, down in Essex, thieving turnips for a living." He is a son of N. F. and Jennie A. (Williams) Houston. His father now resides at Raymore, having made his home there since 1873. N. F. Houston is a son of Dr. Christopher Columbus Houston, who lived to be one hundred years old and who practiced medi- cine about fifty years. Jennie A. Williams, mother of W. P. Houston, is a descendant of one of the early pioneer families of Maniteau County.
To N. F. and Jennie A. (Williams) Houston were born the following children : J. M., an attorney in Kansas City, Missouri; W. P., the sub- ject of this sketch; Isaac L., died in infancy; Mrs. Blanche V. Gray, Ray- more, Missouri, and Maude M. Evans, Lawrence, Kansas.
W. P. Houston was reared in Raymore, Missouri, and educated in the public schools, Warrensburg State Normal School, and the Dixon School of Law, Dixon, Illinois. He was admitted to the bar in 1903 and began the practice of his profession at Belton, Missouri, the same year. How- ever, before taking his course in law, he had been engaged in teaching
667
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
school for eight years. Since being admitted to the bar he has been engaged in the practice at Belton, where he has a large clientage, which he has won, not only by his ability as a lawyer, but by his honesty and integrity in everyday life.
Mr. Houston was united in marriage, March 15, 1895, with Miss Mary E. Hiatt, a daughter of John R. and Emily Hiatt, a pioneer family of Franklin County, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Houston have been born the following children : Esther A., a graduate of the Belton High School, who is now assistant to her father in his office, and who is a talented musi- cian ; Florence May, a student in the Belton High School, who has won a reputation not only in Belton but in Cass County as a gifted elocutionist ; George G., a student in the Belton Grade School, who also oversees his father's dairy interests; William, also a student in the Belton schools, who is said to be a youthful Chesterfield in manners and a born diplomat; Myrtle M., who leads her class in scholarship much of the time; and James Newton, three years old, who wields the sceptre of governing power in the household.
Mr. Houston is a Democrat and takes a prominent part in the affairs of his party. He has served as state representative from Cass County for two terms, during which time he was active and influential in repre- senting his constituents at the State Capitol. He drafted the Township and Special Road District Bill, took it to Jefferson City three days before the legislature adjourned, and succeeded in placing it upon the statute books of the State. He also organized the Mount Pleasant Township Road District No. 1, which was the first of the kind in the State. He is now serving his third term as mayor of Belton and during his incumbency the city has spent ten thousand dollars on its streets, twelve thousand dol- lars for an electric light plant, ten thousand dollars for a city hall, and induced the railroad company to spend five or six thousand dollars in improving its city property. Under Mr. Houston's administration great progress has been made in enforcing the prohibitory law. The "booze" condition has been so cleared that not even the drug stores keep it now. His administrations have been clean, honest, and fearless and today Belton is one of the best governed towns in Missouri.
Mr. Houston has farming interests, owning a fine place near Belton which is well stocked and where he has also quite an extensive dairy. The family home is an imposing structure with an antique air situated near Belton.
668
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
W. E. Yost, a Cass County pioneer, whose successful career was closed by the hand of death May 4, 1909, belonged to that class of noble men who not only leave their family a heritage in the way of earthly pos- sessions but a family name of inestimable value, that will pass on down the corridors of time for the benefit of future generations.
W. E. Yost was born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in 1839, a son of George J. and Elizabeth Yost, natives of Kentucky, and of German descent. They came to Missouri prior to the Civil War. W. E. Yost, whose name introduces this sketch, came here with his parents.
January 30, 1879, W. E. Yost was united in marriage with Miss Phil- ena A. Olmstead, a daughter of Justice and Sarah J. Olmstead, the former of Bartholomew County, Indiana, and the mother from near Lexington. To this union were born the following children: One died in infancy ; George J., who was born November 2, 1881, now deceased; Mrs. Maud E. Hawthorn, who was born August 7, 1882, Belton, Missouri; Mary E., who was born August 25, 1885, now deceased ; Mrs. Anna Lee Rosier, who was born August 6, 1866. Mrs. Yost came to Cass County in November, 1866.
Mr. Yost was essentially a farmer and stockman and one of the most successful men in this special line of endeavor in Cass County. However, he was interested in other avenues of enterprise and was a man of keen foresight and exceptionally good business judgment. He saw opportuni- ties and made a comfortable fortune where other men blindly bemoaned the cruelty of fate. At the time of his death he owned eighteen hundred acres of valuable land which bore mute testimony of his successful career. He was also equally successful in the world of finance and for a time was president of the Bank of Belton.
While Mr. Yost's time and energy was largely devoted to his private affairs, yet he was public-spirited and charitable. He took a keen interest in the upbuilding and betterment of the community and was especially interested in the progress and future of Belton. The esteem in which he was held by his friends and neighbors is best told in an article written by W. A. Hill, which appeared in the Belton Herald, May 13, 1909, and which follows : "It was more than a generation ago that the writer first met Mr. Yost. At that time he was living with his father, George J. Yost, at the old homestead which stands today as one of the old landmarks of Cass County, and which is now included in the Yost estate. The acquaintance we had with Mr. Yost was such as is usually acquired by people that have lived as close neighbors for a long series of years and while the acquaint-
669
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
ance ripened into friendship, and on my part to high respect and esteem, yet the relation we sustained to each other was not as close and intimate, perhaps, as sometimes bind men together; nevertheless to me it is a most pleasant reflection, as I look back over the long years of our acquaintance, with the consciousness that I was permitted to enjoy the friendship and confidence of one possessing the splendid qualities and noble traits of char- acter as did William E. Yost.
In some respects Mr. Yost was a remarkable man, especially along the line of the acquirement and the accumulation of property, seemingly having an intuitive knowledge in this respect possessed by few men engaged alone in the pursuit of agriculture and stock raising. We knew him when he owned only eighty acres of land and as the years went by we saw him add to this, one farm after another, until he had acquired nearly two thousand acres, which he left as a heritage to his family and with the splendid possession he was the same plain, unassuming neighbor and friend as when he owned only the eighty acres. Perhaps no man ever lived in Cass County who was missed by so many people after his death as he will be. While he dealt with men on strictly business principles, yet we never knew of a person, in need of assistance, applying to him in vain, and many have been the men who would have been unable to raise a crop for the support of their wives and children had it not been for the loan of a load or two of corn from him to feed their team while raising the crop. And often we have heard it remarked that a man's credit had to be at a very low stage if he could not get help from Will Yost.
Mr. Yost was a man reserved in his disposition. It was not his nature to impart to others his business, which he kept largely to himself, and we know not the extent of his benefactions, but this we know: That it has often fallen to our lot to raise money for charitable, and other purposes, through voluntary donations, and we never went to Mr. Yost but what he responded cheerfully and liberally. Yes, he will be missed, missed as a business man in the community with which he had been so long identified, missed as an upright, honorable citizen, missed as a friend and neighbor ; but most of all he will be missed by his family, by her who had walked with him life's pathway, who had shared with him life's joys and borne with him life's sorrow-she who has been left widowed by his death, who had leaned on his strong arm for support. Who can tell the desolation of her heart and the sorrow of her life as she sits in the still quiet and listens for a voice that is forever stilled, a footfall that will be heard no
670
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY
more forever. Yes, he will be missed as a tender, loving father by the children for whom he had toiled and labored and struggled, and over whom he had watched with such deep anxiety and solicitude. But to them his memory will be sweet and tender and when they make pilgrimages to his grave and place upon it choicest flowers and moisten them with tears, which will come unbidden, they will look back on the years gone by and recall the many tender, loving acts of father and esteem them as memories sweet and precious to them."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.