USA > Missouri > Cass County > History of Cass County, Missouri > Part 61
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Mrs. Yost resides in her cozy cottage on Main Street, Belton, inde- pendent in the possession of an abundance of this world's goods and devotes much of her time to church work. She is an estimable lady and rich in the possession of the esteem of all who know her.
Rev. E. W. Miller has been an ordained minister of the gospel for twenty-three years. He has also had a successful business career and today is one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Cass County. He was born in West Virginia in 1851, and is a son of B. F. and Jane (Still) Miller, natives of Pennsylvania, of German and Irish descent. The father was engaged in farming for some years in his native state when he moved to West Virginia, remaining there until 1856, when he went to Illinois. In 1902 he came to Belton, Missouri, where he spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1907. His wife passed away in 1894 at Ada, Kansas. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Maggie L. Mea- dor, Belton, Missouri; Rev. E. W., the subject of this sketch; Elijah McCoy, Marston, Illinois; and Mrs. Mary Meiller, Belton, Missouri. B. F. Miller, the father, was a deacon in the Baptist church for forty-five years. The real joy of his life was religious work. He was kindly disposed and made many friends. The mother was also inclined towards church work and possessed a modest, unassuming, Christian spirit.
In early life Mr. Miller was engaged in farm work when his health failed. After partially regaining his health he started out one morning in August with a two-horse wagon and a pair of steelyards. At noon he had bought three hundred pounds of butter at ten cents per pound. He met an old German friend, who said: "What's you do?" "I am buying butter, Mike," said Mr. Miller. His friend, who was a grocer, said: "What are you paying?" "Ten cents," replied Mr. Miller. After a few words with the grocer, Mr. Miller sold him his three hundred pounds of butter for fifteen cents per pound. Thus he had made fifteen dollars in
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half a day, which gave him his first insight into the profits of merchan- dising. A short time afterwards he fully equipped a wagon with general merchandise and began peddling and buying produce through the coun- try. The next fall he opened a general store at Buffalo Prairie, Illinois. This venture proved a splendid success. After six years he sold his busi- ness there and went to Ottawa County, Kansas, and invested in a store and residence, having bought a section of land in Mitchell County some time previously. Here he engaged in the cattle business and also con- ducted his general store. Ten years later he sold out and went to Jackson County, Kansas, where he bought a quarter section of land, engaging in general farming and stock raising. Three years later he sold that and went to Gallatin, Missouri, and sold groceries for a year.
In 1898 Mr. Miller came to Cass County and bought four hundred acres of land in Mt. Pleasant township, three miles from Belton, and for fourteen years he was successfully engaged in farming and stock raising on that place. He has specialized in Poland China hogs, fed cattle exten- sively and has prospered. In 1913 he bought six acres of land in Belton, where he built a beautiful home. There he and his wife now reside.
Rev. Miller was married in 1872 to Miss Mary L. Crabs, a daughter of Abraham and Mary Crabs. The mother bore the maiden name of Har- rington and was a native of New York State. The father was a native of Ohio. He was a carpenter by trade, but also owned a farm. Mrs. Miller was one of a family of eight children born to her parents, as follows: Mrs. Sarah Duffield, deceased ; Mary L., the wife of Rev. E. W. Miller, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Margaret J. Davis, Salina, Kansas ; Philip P., Ada, Kansas; Mrs. Cassandra E. Mote, who resides in Oklahoma; Will- iam D., who resides in Oklahoma; Asa H., Manchester, Kansas ; and Abra- ham, who lives in the State of Washington.
To Rev. and Mrs. Miller have been born four children, as follows: Mrs. Ollie J. Clark, Jr., Blue Rapids, Kansas; A. F., who is extensively engaged in the dairy business, who recently sold twenty head of Jersey cows at an average of one hundred seventy dollars each, Belton, Mis- souri ; Ernest W., Belton, Missouri, and Louis Earl, Belton, Missouri.
Rev. E. W. Miller began his church work as Sunday School Superin- tendent at Ada, Kansas, where he served for ten years. In 1894, he was ordained to preach in the Baptist church, his first pastorate being at St. Clare, Kansas. Since coming to Missouri, he has served the West Union and other churches. He has really given his time to needy churches with
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but little pay, more for the good that he can do than for the remunera- tion which he receives. He has been a member of the Baptist church for fifty-two years and his wife has been a member of that denomination for forty-seven years.
Rev. Miller is a director in the Cass County Mutual Insurance Com- pany and is now devoting his attention to that company.
T. J. Collier, a well known and successful farmer and stockman of Big Creek township, is a native of Missouri. He was born at Centralia, Boone County, in 1868, and is a son of Valentine Smallwood Peyton and Frances Elizabeth Collier. The mother died in Kansas in 1891. The father came to Cass County in 1898 and died in 1906 in Big Creek town- ship. He was a veteran of the Mexican War, and drew a pension as such. He and his wife were the parents of eleven children, only two of whom are living: Robert E. Lee Collier, of Collinsville, Oklahoma, and T. J. Collier, the subject of this sketch.
T. J. Collier was educated in the public schools of Marshall and Cen- tralia, Missouri, and followed farming in his native county for a number of years. In 1898 he came to Cass County and settled in Big Creek town- ship. Two years later he purchased one hundred and seventy acres of land, for which he paid thirty dollars per acre, and later added eighty acres at a cost of forty-two dollars and fifty cents per acre, and is today the owner of one of the well improved and valuable farms of Big Creek township. His place is well watered, having three good wells and also a branch of Big Creek courses its way through his broad acres, which makes of it an ideal stock farm. The farm is well improved with a good residence and other buildings, and located only five and one-half miles south-west of Pleasant Hill. Mr. Collier is quite extensively engaged in the dairy busi- ness, and milks about twenty-five cows. He is also a successful hog raiser and has on hand about fifty head of Duroc hogs. He is an advocate of mixed farming and soil conservation, and puts his theory into profitable practice. He raises wheat, corn and tame grass, and about seventy acres of his farm are devoted to blue grass.
Mr. Collier was married in 1892 to Miss Jennie Riner, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Ellen (Thompson) Riner, natives of Virginia. The Riner family came to Cass County, Missouri, in 1870, and settled at Har- risonville. Later they removed to Big Creek township where they purchased a farm of eighty acres from William Prater, and spent the remainder of
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their lives there. Mr. Riner died in 1908 and his wife departed this life in 1896 and their remains are buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. He was a Union soldier during the Civil War and served in an Ohio regiment.
Mr. and Mrs. Collier have one child, Mary Elizabeth, a teacher, having taught her first school in 1915 and is now a student at William Woods College, Fulton, Missouri. She graduated in 1917 and holds a State Teacher's certificate. Mr. Collier is a prosperous and progressive citizen and the family is well known and popular in the community.
Frank Huber, of Belton, is a Cass County pioneer who for years has been prominent and influential in the affairs of Belton and vicinity. Mr. Huber was born near Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1847, and comes from an old Pennsylvania family who received their land grants from William Penn. His parents were David and Elizabeth Huber, the former of Swiss and the latter of Scotch descent. In 1719 C. Herr built a house, which is still standing, in Lancaster County, Penn- sylvania. He was Mr. Huber's great-great-grandfather. Mr. Huber and one sister, Mrs. Catherine Good, are the only surviving members of his family. She resides in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Huber spent his boyhood days in his native state. In 1870 he came to Missouri, settling at Lees Summit, where he remained about a year, when he returned to Pennsylvania. In 1872 he came back to Mis- souri and two years later bought one hundred fifty-three acres of land one mile north of Belton. Here he has followed farming and general stock raising and has also dealt extensively in stock. Mr. Huber has prospered and increased his acreage from time to time and now owns four hundred acres of valuable land, which is said to be the best farm in Cass County.
In 1875 Mr. Huber was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Barr, a daughter of Benjamin Barr, of Pennsylvania. They have had four children : Benjamin, deceased; Bertha, deceased; Mrs. Mattie Sams, Belton, Missouri; and Mrs. Mary Yocum, Kansas City, Missouri.
Locating in the vicinity of Belton at an early date, as Mr. Huber did, gave him an opportunity of seeing much of the development of that section of the county. He saw the ground where the thriving city of Belton now stands when it was unbroken prairie. He recalls the first church in Belton which was moved by the Christian denomination from
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High Blue to Belton, and soon after this the Methodists erected a church there. He says that times were good in the early days although money was scarce and the men who lived here in those days were kind, cour- teous, and of high moral character, "the most hospitable people in the world."
In 1870 bond voting for railroads became epidemic in many western counties and townships and about that time Raymore and Mt. Pleasant townships became obligated to the extent of one hundred ten thousand dollars. Later these bonds were rated at about ten cents on the dollar and at that time Mr. Huber, Nathan Harrelson, William Colburn, Benja- min Barr, Frank Blair, J. N. Hargis and others borrowed eleven thou- sand dollars and bought these township bonds, levied a tax, collected the same, and paid off the bonds. This move eliminated a great deal of hard- ship which the future would have had to bear in disposing of this indebt- edness.
Mr. Huber was a charter member of the first bank that was organized in Belton, in 1875, the Bank of Belton, and has been a member of its board of directors ever since. For a number of years he served as vice- president of that institution. He became its president in 1914 and is now serving in that capacity. Mr. Huber has been active in everything that has had for its purpose the upbuilding and betterment of his town and community. He contributed one thousand dollars to the construction of the rock road from Belton to Kansas City. He contends, however, that he has done but little as he feels that no man can do more than his duty and he has never gone beyond that limit. Mr. Huber's motto is, "Don't do right because you are afraid to do wrong; but do right because it is right to do right."
Dr. E. S. Moad, a prominent physician of Belton, is a native of Mis- souri. He was born in Platte County in 1860, and is a son of Dr. G. L. and Sidney E. (Sanders) Moad, the former a native of Virginia and of Scotch descent, and the latter also a member of a prominent southern family, her father having served with the rank of major in the Confed- erate army. Dr. G. L. Moad, the father, practiced medicine in Missouri for a number of years. He was an able practitioner and his reputation as a skillful physician extended far beyond the boundaries of this state. He not only was regarded as a great physician, but as a man was held in the highest esteem by those who knew him. He was prominent in Masonic
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circles and held office in the Grand Lodge of the Masonic Order. He died in 1900 and his wife departed this life in 1904. They were the parents of two children: W. R. Moad, who resides in Texas; and Dr. E. S., the subject of this sketch.
Dr. E. S. Moad attended the High School at Clinton, Missouri, and after receiving a good preparatory education, entered the Washington University of Medicine, where he received his medical education, after which he practiced with his father for a number of years at Clinton, Mis- souri. In 1888 he came to Belton, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He is a well-read, careful physician. Dr. Moad has been very successful in his professional work and has built up a large practice. During the last few years he is giving more attention to office work, making a specialty of diseases of women.
Dr. Moad was married in 1890 to Miss Stella Berry, daughter of M. A. Williams, of Cass County, and one of a family of three children born to her parents, as follows: Mrs. W. A. Williams, Belton; Mrs. J. F. Darby, Blue Springs; and Mrs. Dr. Moad. To Dr. and Mrs. Moad have been born two children: Mrs. A. E. Ford, Blue Springs, Missouri; and Mildred, who resides in Belton, with her parents.
Dr. Moad has seen many changes since coming to Belton. Especial- ly have many of the hardships in the practice of medicine in the country been eliminated. He says when he came here the age of the telephone and the automobile had not yet arrived. In his early practice he has ridden on horseback at all times of night, long distances over the prairie, when the thermometer was below zero. The advent of the automobile and telephone changed all this. A brief interview with the doctor over the telephone may make a call unnecessary, and if it is necessary, with the automobile, it is only a matter of a few minutes to reach the bedside of the most remote patient.
Dr. Moad was reared in the Presbyterian faith. He has always been a strong advocate and supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.
Isaac J. Holloway, a Cass County pioneer, is a native of Kentucky. He was born in Madison County, that state, in 1832, a son of John G. and Sallie (Jacobs) Holloway, natives of Kentucky, and descendants of old Virginia stock, of English origin. John G. Holloway came from Ken- tucky to Missouri, with a two horse wagon in which he brought his fam-
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ily, when Isaac J., the subject of this sketch, was a child. He settled in Jackson County, Missouri, where he homesteaded a quarter section of land which was situated in the western part of the county not far from the Shawnee Indian reservation. Black Bob, the celebrated Shawnee Chief and founder of the Black Bob reservation, was well known to the Holloway family and has eaten dinner at the Holloway home. Isaac J. Holloway remembers Black Bob well and says that he was an honest Indian and that the Shawnees were a quiet, peaceable tribe.
Isaac J. Holloway was married in 1860 to Mary Ann Keeney, a daughter of Michael and Nancy Keeney, natives of Tennessee, a very prominent family of that state, of German descent. Until January 4, 1917, Mrs. Holloway was the only one living of a family of nine children, when she, too, was called away. She was born in Jackson County, Mis- souri, and reared on a farm there. She had seen much of the pioneer life of Missouri and noted with interest all these years the many changes that have taken place in the local social and industrial evolution. She recalled the old "house-raisings," the "quilting-bees," and other social and semi-social gatherings. She remembered making a trip, from her home in Jackson County to Springfield, Missouri, with a two-horse wagon. To Mr. and Mrs. Holloway were born the following children: W. A., Belton, Missouri ; S. R., Belton, Missouri ; and E. L., Alva, Oklahoma.
Mr. Holloway has been a successful farmer and stockman and has accumulated a competence. He owns two hundred thirty-four acres of land which he rents, and resides in Belton, where he and his wife have a comfortable home. They are both members of the Christian church and have been earnest workers in the cause of Christianity all these years.
Mr. Holloway has observed many changes that have taken place dur- ing a period of over fifty years in this section of the State. He recalls going to mill, on horseback to Harrisonville, and carrying two bushels of grain. This trip required two days. He says that his education was obtained in the "subscription schools." Those who sent children to school paid their pro rata share of the teacher's salary. Mr. Holloway was not only a pupil in those old subscription schools but later became a teacher. He recalls the days when plows with wooden moldboards were used, when grain was threshed with a flail, and the harvest season was a time of neighborly co-operation from a sort of semi-social standpoint.
Game of all kinds was plentiful in this section during Mr. Holloway's boyhood days. He has counted as many as seventeen deer at one time on
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the present site of Belton. There were countless wild turkeys. Prairie chickens were so plentiful that he frequently killed them with rocks. Numerous occasions are still fresh in his memory when prairie fires came sweeping from the "Indian country." He recalls how settlers would ride to meet the advancing fire on horseback and by a system of back-firing generally stop the advance of the devastating flames. Many changes have taken place during Mr. Holloway's lifetime and no doubt, notwithstand- ing that we are living in an age of rapid evolution, the next century will fall considerably short in the way of material changes which have been witnessed by him.
C. R. Champion, a progressive and enterprising real estate man of Raymore, Missouri, is a native of Illinois. He was born in Tazewell County in 1863, and is a son of Alfred G. and Emeline R. (Kibby) Cham- pion. The father, Alfred G. Champion, was born in Pennsylvania in 1837 and died in Illinois in 1905. When C. R. Champion was three months old his parents removed from their native state and settled in Illinois. They drove through with ox teams. Alfred G. Champion was a son of Abraham Champion, a millwright, who became very well-to-do. At one time he owned over fourteen hundred acres of land in Illinois. He built the first mill in the vicinity of Pekin, Illinois. It was located some dis- tance south of Pekin on the Mackinaw River and known as Champion's Mill. He operated this mill nearly all his life and at the same time had other interests. The piling of this old mill is still standing. All the tim- bers used in the construction of this mill were hewn by hand. Abraham Champion built a great many other saw and shingle mills in that vicinity later and sold them to other parties. There is still standing a command- ing residence of early days, one mile north of Green Valley, Illinois, which was built by Abraham Champion. The framework of this building is all of walnut. Abraham Champion was born in Pennsylvania in 1812 and died in Illinois in 1862. C. R. Champion's mother was a daughter of Charles Kibby and a native of Ohio. She died in 1895. C. R. Champion has one sister living, Mrs. Mary Larimore, who resides in Tazewell County, Illinois.
C. R. Champion was reared in Illinois and educated in the public schools. He remained at home and when sixteen years of age became manager for his father. Later he engaged in farming and in 1901 went to Iowa, where he engaged in farming and selling farm implements. In
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1903 he came to Cass County and bought a farm near Raymore where he was engaged in farming and in the hog business. Shortly after com- ing to this county Mr. Champion became interested in the real estate business. From time to time he handled more or less property. In 1915 he moved to Raymore and since that time has devoted most of his atten- tion to real estate. He has put through some important transactions, among which might be mentioned the Allen deal, which involved a cash transaction of one hundred fifty-five thousand dollars, and he has handled a great many farms. Mr. Champion has much valuable Cass County property listed for sale at the present time. Mr. Champion also accom- modates the traveling public, keeping a hotel at Raymore.
In 1887 Mr. Champion was united in marriage with Miss Laura A. Hootman, of Illinois, a daughter of Henry and Mary Hootman, natives of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Champion have three living children, as follows: Alfred Jackson, Mary, and Mrs. Ethel Frantz, all residing at Raymore, Missouri. The Champion family have an extensive acquaintance and are representative people of Cass County. Mr. Champion is of that genial type who readily makes friends and by square business methods has won the public confidence.
Alex King, a pioneer merchant of Raymore, was born in Gallia County, Ohio, in 1846, and is a son of Newell and Clarisa (Durst) King, of Ohio. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Saman- tha Swisher, who resides in Ohio; Mrs. Lucina Swisher, who also resides in Ohio; Harvey, Raymore, Missouri; Wesley, Raymore, Missouri; S. W., Kansas City, Missouri; and Alex, the subject of this sketch. The father died when Alex was a child and the mother departed this life in 1882.
Alex King was reared and educated in Ohio. In 1869 he came to Missouri, located in Cass County, and followed farming and stock raising for a few years, when he engaged in the grocery business, built up a large trade and prospered. When Mr. King settled in Raymore there was no railroad and the country was very sparsely settled. At that time the broad, unfenced prairie in the vicinity was used for common grazing ground. Wild game was in abundance. Prairie chickens were here in great numbers. Raymore was a small frontier settlement with only a few houses and no churches.
Mr. King was married in 1877 to Anna Carl, a daughter of John and Comfort Carl, pioneer settlers of Cass County, natives of Pennsylvania.
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To Mr. and Mrs. King have been born the following children: Mrs. Viola May Hooper, Columbus, Ohio; Arthur Lee, Raymore, Missouri; Henry Martin, Stanley, J. Milton, and Gladys, all of Raymore, Missouri.
Mr. King is one of the progressive and prosperous citizens of Ray- more. He owns two brick buildings and a fine, comfortable residence, and is vice-president of the Bank of Raymore. He is of retiring dis- position, and has never sought political honors. Alex King is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and active in church work. He is one of Cass County's prominent, representative citizens.
N. F. Houston, a prominent farmer and stockman who has been identified with Cass County for forty-five years, is a native of Missouri and a descendant of a prominent old American family. Mr. Houston was born in Miller County, this State, in 1841, and is a son of Dr. Christopher C. and Catherine (Whitsitt) Houston, pioneers of Missouri.
The Houston family was founded in America in the latter part of the eighteenth century by John Houston, who came from Scotland and settled in Pennsylvania, and the direct line of descent from him is as follows: John Houston, Christopher, James, Christopher C., N. F., the subject of this sketch, his son James M., and his grandson, Joseph, who is now fifteen years old.
N. F. Houston is one of eight children, living, who were born to his parents, as follows: Wiley W., North Dakota; Magnus F., Ordway, Col- orado; Perry D., Grain Valley, Missouri; Newton F., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Laura E. Campbell, Mineral Wells; Mrs. Mary E. Sapping- ton, Clarksburg, Missouri; Mrs. Columbia Dickerson, Cornelius, Oregon ; and Mrs. America Burwitz, Cornelius, Oregon.
N. F. Houston came to Cass County in 1872. In the following April he gathered corn on shares and sold his share at seventeen cents per bushel. In 1878 he bought eighty acres of land from James Allen at twelve dollars and fifty cents an acre, which at that time was considered a fair price. He engaged in farming and stock raising. He also bought and shipped cattle and produce and for twenty-eight years was the prin- cipal shipper from Raymore. He began shipping cattle before the Kansas City market had developed sufficiently to attract attention and in those days he shipped cattle to the St. Louis market. At that time there were vast tracts of open range and Mr. Houston, like many other cattle men of the west, took advantage of this free and unlimited grazing ground and
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pastured a large number of cattle, which at that time was a very profit- able business.
Mr. Houston was married in 1883 to Mrs. Mary Quick, a native of Missouri and a daughter of G. G. Daothit, who was a Kentuckian and an early settler in Missouri. Mrs. Houston is one of a family of five chil- dren born to her parents, as follows: Thomas A., Plain View, Texas; Mrs. J. Dora Pfost, Raymore, Missouri; John P. Winside, Nebraska; Mrs. Sallie A. London, Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Mrs. Houston. By a former marriage, in 1870, to Jane A. Williams, daughter of Isaac L. Williams, Mr. Houston has the following children: James M., Kansas City, Missouri ; W. P., Belton, Missouri ; Mrs. Blanche V. Gray, Salina, Kansas, and Mrs. Maud M. Evans, Lawrence, Kansas.
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