USA > Missouri > Platte County > History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 32
USA > Missouri > Clay County > History of Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns, and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri; a reliable and detailed history of Clay and Platte Counties --their pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens. > Part 32
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
and father he was affectionate and devoted ; and as a citizen, he was just and honorable, and obedient to the laws. Few persons were so familiarly and favorably known as he. In personal bearing he was dignified, easy and affable ; and in every sense he was a man whose presence will long be kindly remembered. He was a successful farmer and rarely failed in any of his business ventures. All who shared his intimacy could receive the benefit of his rare insight into the affairs of life. William Clark, the subject of this sketch, grew to manhood on the farm in this county, and afterwards continued farming, to which he had been brought up. October 8, 1868, he was married to Miss Mary Field, a daughter of Joseph T. Field, deceased. She was born and reared in this county, and educated at the Liberty Female College and the Kansas City High School. Mr. and Mrs. Clark have two children, Lutie and John F. Mr. C. has a good farm of 347 acres, which is well improved, and besides this there are 320 acres of fine Missouri river bottom land, partly improved. Mr. Clark is and has been for some years engaged in feeding and raising stock. He handles about 100 head of cattle annually. He has been quite suc- cessful as a stock man.
JUDSON COCKRELL
(Dealer in Groceries, Liberty).
John W. Cockrell, the father of the subject of this sketch and Hon. Francis M. Cockrell, United States Senator from Missouri, were the sons of the two brothers in the family of Cockrells of Virginia. Senator Cockrell's father, however, left the Old Dominion at an earlier day than that of the removal of John W. Cockrell's family to Missouri. John W. Cockrell was born in Virginia January 20, 1797, and was married there to Miss Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of George G. Mitchell, who was born in Scotland. He received a classical educa- tion, lived and died in Staunton, Augusta county, Virginia, and was distinguished for scholarship, as hardly having his equal in education. Though dead he yet lives. They came to Clay county in 1846. He was a brickmaker, and built many of the first brick houses in this part of the country. He died here in about 1859. Judson Cockrell was in infancy when the family came to Missouri. He was born in Virginia, September 14, 1845. Reared in Clay county, he was educated at Will- iam Jewell College, and following the example of his father, he became a brick mason, and also learned brickmaking. He followed these continuously up to the time of engaging in the grocery business dur- ing the present year. He was fairly successful at his trades and accumulated some property. Mr. Cockrell has built a large number of houses at Liberty and in this vicinity, and is regarded as a thorough mechanic and upright, reliable builder. He engaged in his present business last spring, and is receiving a good trade, doing quite as well as he expected. He has a good stock of goods in the grocery line, and being an energetic, economical business man, he can hardly fail of success. In September, 1863, he was married to Miss Martha J.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
Mereness, a daughter of the late A. M. Mereness. Mr. and Mrs. C. had two children, John J., now a young man twenty years of age, and a clerk in his father's store in Liberty, Missouri ; and one deceased. Mrs. Cockrell died in 1868, and Mr. C. has not since remarried. His mother keeps house for him, his father being also deceased, as stated above.
OVID H. CORBIN
(Of O. H. Corbin & Co., Owners and Proprietors of the Liberty Flouring and Woolen Mills).
Mr. Corbin is a native of Virginia, born in Stafford county, October 9, 1820. His father was Benjamin S. Corbin, and his mother's maiden name was Sarah Preston. The father was a carpenter by trade and followed that for a number of years. He then engaged in the milling business for some years before his retirement from active work. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. In 1849 he removed to Missouri with his family and located at Liberty, where he died in 1860. His wife died here in 1863. Ovid H., the subject of this sketch, was reared in Stafford county and came to this State in com- pany with his parents in 1849. Under his father he learned the flouring mill business and also the millwright's trade. In fact, he was almost a natural mechanic. About the time he was of age he began working at the wagonmaker's trade, continuing that in connec- tion with carpentering and millwrighting. In a few years, however, he turned his attention to farming, which he followed until he came to Missouriwith his parents. Here he engaged in wagon and carriage making, and bought an established business in that line, which he con- tinued until 1856, having in the meantime purchased the interest of his partner, with whom he had previously been in business. In 1856 he, with two others, bought the Liberty flouring mills, and four years later they added a plant of woolen machinery. Ever since that time they have been engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods and also running their flouring mill. They make all kinds of cashmeres, jeans, blankets, yarns, etc., etc. In their flouring mill they have three run of buhrs and are also prepared to grind corn, buckwheat, and other grains for breadstuffs. November 10, 1841, Mr. Corbin was married in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, where he had removed three years before, to Miss Sarah A., a daughter of Jesse Petty, of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Corbin have ten children, Mary F., William H., James M. (the two eldest sons being their father's partners in business ), Beverly B., Benjamin F., George W. (he being the only one married ), Laura E., Herbert T., Adelaide J. and Hattie B. The children have all received each a good education, either at William Jewell College or the Female Seminary. Mr. Corbin, now in his sixty-fifth year, has retired from active work at the mill and turned the management of it largely over to his sons, William H. and James M. He himself, however, is still quite active and well preserved. Whilst in appear- ance he is somewhat venerable looking, on account of his long, white
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
silken whiskers and white hair, yet he is still erect of form, rather quick in his movements, considering his age, and, all in all, seems much younger than he really is. He is one of the pleasant, agreeable old gentlemen whom one is always pleased to meet.
CAPT. ARCHIBALD C. COURTNEY
(Proprietor of the Arthur House, Liberty).
The Courtney family, so far as this country is concerned, was originally from Pennsylvania. Capt. Courtney's father, John- Court- ney, served in the American army during the Revolution. He was a farmer by occupation, and became a man of well-to-do circumstances. Mr. Courtney, the elder, was twice married, and after the death of his first wife was married to Miss Lucinda Martin; they were both of Pennsylvania, and each wife bore five children. Capt. Archibald C. Courtney was the third child by the last marriage, and was born in Garrard county, Kentucky, to which his father had previously removed, May 1, 1815. At the time of his father's death in 1830, he was about fifteen years of age, but he afterwards remained with the family until his marriage, working industriously, though at lim- ited wages. Subsequently he engaged in stock trading and made several trips to Alabama and Georgia in that business, being quite successful. In 1840 Capt. Courtney came to Missouri on horseback and located on a farm of 200 acres near Kearney, where he subse- quently followed farming for twenty years, and was very successful. He owned at one time about 600 acres of fine land. His reverses, however, commenced upon the outbreak of the war. Affairs were in an unsettled and dangerous condition but, despite his efforts, he was unable to retain a neutral position. Consequently, in 1863, as a matter of policy, he identified himself with the Home Guards, and became captain of a company, which duty he performed for a while. His company was never out of the county. As a matter of fact his company did much valuable service to the law-abiding classes of both sides by assisting to keep out those who were more bent on plunder and committing other depredations, than in serving the cause which they pretended to adhere to. During the war he removed his family to Liberty and all his movable property that had not been stolen, and with the horses he had left established a livery stable. His two sons having without his knowledge taken sides in the war, went as their sympathies directed, with the South, and made gallant soldiers under Price until the close of the struggle. Capt. Courtney continued in the livery business for a time after the war and then bought out a general store, which he carried on for about two years. This he also subsequently sold, but bought into another business house and ran that for a short time. He ran the Arthur House for about ten years and in 1879 rented it to another party. Since then he has lived in retirement, except for about a year, during which he was engaged in the hardware business. Capt. Courtney has served as justice of the peace and in some other local offices. His life up to the beginning of
15
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
the war was very successful and he became comfortably situated, and he still has a modest competency, and can pass through the evening of life without the fear of destitution. Capt. Courtney is highly respected in this county and bears a name untarnished by a reproach. January 20, 1842, he was married to Miss Elizabeth A. Estes, a daughter of Henry Estes, one of the pioneer settlers of Missouri, referred to elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Courtney was born in Clay county, Missouri, and was only in her fifteenth year when she was married. She has been a most excellent helpmate to him and in the early days of his career herself helped in the laborious duties of farm life. Her energetic habits of that time have not left her in later years. Mr. and Mrs. Courtney have had twelve children, four. dying when young. Those living are William J., an attorney at Kearney ; Henry E., Jane, wife of John Merritt; Robert S., of Kansas City ; Alexander M., a stock raiser of Colorado ; Levinia, wife of Henry Smith, a member of the State Legislature, from Kansas City ; James A. and Archibald C., Jr. Mr. and Mrs. C. are members of the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. C. has been a deacon in the church for half a century.
ELI R. CRAFTON
( Manufacturer of Spring Wagons, Carriages, etc., Liberty).
Mr. Crafton is a native of Illinois, born in Adams county, August 29, 1843. His father was John Crafton, from Kentucky, and his mother's maiden name Margaret Becket, who was born and reared in Indiana. They were married in the latter State and removed to Adams county, Illinois, about 1838. They resided there nearly thirty years and then settled in Linn county, Missouri. He was reared in Adams county, Illinois, and early in the second year of the rebellion enlisted in the One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war. He was in Banks' Red River Expedition under the command of A. J. Smith, and participated in the engagements at Alexandria, La., Sabine Cross Roads, Yellow Bayou, La., Tupelo and Nashville, Tenn., the siege and capture of Mo- bile and the fight at Montgomery, Ala., besides many others of less importance. He is naturally very proud of the services he ren- dered, and regards them as the greatest honor of his life. After the war Mr. Crafton returned to Adams county, Ill., and began an apprenticeship at the carriage and wagon-maker's trade. After com- pleting that he continued to work at his trade, working later along at Quincy, Ill., St. Louis, Mo., St. Paul, Minn., and coming to Liberty in the summer of 1869. Here he continued at his trade as a journey workman until March, 1880, when he set up for himself, and has been in the carriage and spring wagon making business ever since. He has been satisfactorily successful and has established a good busi- ness, having employed now some four or five hands in his shop. August 3, 1870, he was married at Utica, Mo., to Miss Laura S. Sprinkle, a daughter of S. H. Sprinkle, formerly of Huntington, Ind.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
They have five children : Olive, Etta, Bessie, Ralph, and Law- rence. Both parents are members of the Episcopal Church.
GEORGE E. DAMON
(Manager of the National Flouring Mill, Liberty).
Mr. Damon is a native of Ohio, born in Lake county, August 2, 1847. His father was George Damon, a native of Massachusetts. His mother, whose maiden name was Mary Tyler, was a native of the same State. They were married in Massachusetts, and removed to Ohio in 1834, settling in Lake county, where they were of the pi- oneer settlers of the county. They resided in that county for nearly twenty years and then removed to Dane county, Wis. Before the removal of the family to Wisconsin the father was a wagon and car- riage manufacturer. Afterwards he followed farming until his death, `which occurred in April, 1861. George F. was born in Lake county, O., August 2, 1847. He completed his majority in Wisconsin, where he received a common-school education. At the age of twenty, how- ever, he began learning the miller's trade, at which he worked in Wisconsin until the fall of 1867, when he came to Missouri. Here he first worked at Westport and then at Kansas City. In 1878, being a thorough pratical miller by this time, he bought an interest in the mill at Moscow and ran that mill for three years. Mr. Damon came to Liberty in 1881, where he bought an interest in the National Flour- ing Mill, which is owned by a joint stock company, known as the Clay County Milling Company, of which he is manager. These mills have the roller process of making flour and turn out as good flour as is to be seen in the country. They have a capacity of 100 barrels every twenty-four hours and do both a custom and merchant milling business. The building is a three story brick. September 3, 1873, Mr. Damon was married to Miss Lizzie E. Stanton, a daughter of Samuel Stanton, of Kansas City. They have two children, William E. and Edna.
WILLIAM H. H. DAVIS
(Retired Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Liberty).
Mr. Davis, an old and respected citizen of this county, was one of the early settlers of the county. He came to Clay county in 1836. Mr. Davis was directly from Saline county to this county, but was from Arkansas to Missouri. His parents, Samuel B. and Elizabeth Davis, went to Arkansas from Kentucky when he was in childhood, away back in 1821, and settled in Hempstead county. William H. H. Davis, who was born in Logan county, Kentucky, June 3, 1816, was reared in Arkansas, and came to Missouri when a young man. He became a farmer and stock-raiser in Clay county, and in the fall of 1839 was married to Miss America W. Estes, a sister to W. W. Estes. He afterwards continued farming and stock-raising and in 1850 went to California, but soon afterward returned. In 1859, however, he removed to Texas and made his home in that State until after the
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
close of the Civil War, returning in June, 1866. After that time Mr. Davis was actively engaged with his farming and stock-raising interests until his retirement from active labor some years ago. His life as an agriculturist has been one of success. He accumulated an ample property for old age, and now has a fine stock farm of 600 acres, which is well stocked and well improved. Since his retirement, his son, William P., has had control of the farm, and is carrying it on with marked energy and success. In November, 1880, Mr. Davis had the misfortune to lose his good wife, the true and brave and generous- hearted, devoted woman who had been the partner of his joys and sor- rows for over forty years, and with whose life his own being had become so thoroughly united that it seemed to him worse than death itself to lose her. But in that sad hour when the parting came there was one consolation, one-hope that sustained him and made him brave to bear the heavy bereavement - the consolation and hope that the separation could not be long, and that in a few years their lives would again be united in a happier union, even, than they had known on this side the grave. Three children were the fruits of their long and happy mar- ried life: Thomas H., James J. (deceased ), and William P. William P. Davis was born on the farm where he now resides, August 12, 1849, and learned the practical details of farming and stock raising as he grew up. In 1876 he was married to Miss Annie Brasfield, a daughter of William E. Brasfield, whose sketch precedes this. They have two children, J. W. Lesler and Nellie. Mr. Davis, Jr., like his father-in-law, Mr. Brasfield, makes a specialty of raising fine saddle and harness stallions and fine jacks. He has a representative of one of the best breeds of horses in this country. The stock originated in Virginia, and was named for a family in the Old Commonwealth, noted for their fine appearance, chivalric qualities, and all that sort of things, and the men for being remarkably " fast " -- the Claibornes. They were one of the best families of Virginia, and knew that fact quite as well, if not better, than any one else. Mr. Davis' horse is named " Pat Claiborne," and any one can see at a glance that he is a regular, genuine, high-stepping, high-headed " pinked " Claiborne. He is one of the finest horses in the country, a horse of which his owner may well be proud. W. P. Davis makes a specialty of short- horn cattle, having his farm well stocked with some of the best blood, as well as good individuals. He has young stock for sale. The farm is situated three miles northeast of Liberty, on the Han- nibal and St. Joe Railroad.
JOHN A. DENNY (Retired Merchant, Liberty).
Mr. Denny, now retired from active business, is one of the oldest business men of Clay county, and one of its most highly respected citizens. He began merchandising at Liberty in 1852, having previ- ously clerked at this place for several years, and continued in mer- chandising with little or no interruption until his retirement, one year
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
ago. He was very successful in business, considering the population and wealth of the place and surrounding country, and accumulated a comfortable property. He is now, and for years past has been, a property holder of Liberty. Prior to the war he did a very large business for that time, carrying a stock of about $15,000. After the war his business was not so large as before, but was much safer, being done nearly altogether on a cash basis. Mr. Denny is still interested in farming, and has a handsome farm adjoining Liberty, on which he has resided for many years. Mr. Denny is a native of North Caro- lina, born in Guilford county September 12, 1814. His father was George Denny, who married January 14, 1808, Miss Jane Kenedy, both of early and well-to-do North Carolina families. They came to Missouri in 1835, and located on a farm in Clinton county, where they resided until their deaths. The father became a substantial farmer of that county, and remarkable for his longevity and the preservation of all his powers, physical and mental, until the very last. He left five sons and three daughters still living. He died in his ninety-sixth year, and only a few weeks before his death had been out hunting with a squirrel rifle, which he was able to shoot without the aid of glasses with won- derful accuracy. His death occurred March 24, 1879. His good wife preceded him to the grave some ten years. Mr. Denny, the subject of this sketch, was reared in North Carolina, where he received an advanced general English education, and also took courses of three years in Latin and Greek. He came to Missouri in 1836 and located in Clay county. Here he taught school for a few years, and then be- gan as a merchant's clerk, as stated above. November 20, 1844, he was married to Miss Harriet A., a daughter of James Marsh, formerly of Kentucky, but an early settler in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Denny have four children living : Martha J., wife of H. F. Simrall, whose sketch is given elsewhere ; Lunette, Ernest R., now merchan- dising in Liberty, and Minnie M., the latter now completing her course at Female College. One other is deceased, Portius E., who died at the age of 21, just before graduating at Westminster College. Mr. Denny and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. He has taken a prominent part in temperance work, and thinks that the cause must advance until prohibition crowns the work. Mr. Denny has served as city treasurer, and in other local positions of public trust, but has never sought nor desired office.
WILLIAM W. DOUGHERTY, M. D. (Physician and Surgeon, Liberty).
Among the prominent representative citizens of Clay county Dr. Dougherty occupies a well recognized and justly enviable position. He was a comparatively early settler here, and has been a witness to and active, useful participant in the progress the county has made from the condition of a sparsely populated frontier community to that of one of the leading counties in the State. His efforts have been united with those of the other old and useful citizens of the county in
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
building up the county and making it what it is to-day. In view, there- fore, of his long and prominent identification with Clay county, it would be an inexcusable omission not to present at least an outline of his life on these pages. Dr. Dougherty was born in Lawrence county, Ind., September 2, 1820, but he is a representative of an early and well known Kentucky family. The Doughertys settled in Kentucky from Virginia away back when the Blue Grass State was known as the " Dark and Bloody Ground," a name it received on account of the stubborn resistance the Indians made against the encroachments of the white settlers, and the many terrible massacres and house burn- ings that were visited upon the early white pioneers. Dr. Dougherty was a son of William and Ellen Dougherty, his parents being both originally of the same name, and cousins. The Doctor's mother died, however, when he was in infancy, and he was taken by his rela- tions in Trimble county, that State, to rear. In 1831, when he was about 11 years of age, his relations, with whom he was living, removed to Missouri, bringing him with them and settled in Pike county. There he attended district and select schools for several years, and acquired the rudiments of a good, ordinary, practical education. But when about 16 years of age he accompanied his uncle, Maj. Dougherty, west to the mountains, his uncle being quite extensively engaged in the Indian trade. Young Dougherty spent four years among the Indians of the far, far West, at a time when white faces were hardly less rare there than the moccasined, painted savage is to-day in Mis- souri. Returning to Pike county in 1840, in 1844 he began to study medicine under Drs. Lane and Rodman, of Trimble county, Ky., going thence directly from Pike county. In due time young Dougherty en- tered the Medical Department of the University of Louisville, where he took a regular course and commenced the practice in the spring of 1845. After his first course he located at Madison, Ind., for the practice of his profession, but did not graduate for some years afterward, and was shortly married to Miss Hannah C. Dougherty, daughter of Col. Robert S. Dougherty, a second cousin to his father. Two years later Dr. Dougherty removed to Orange county, Ind., where he practiced for about three years. While there he lost his first wife and only child, and a short time before leaving Orange county he was married to Miss Mary A., a daughter of John Frazier, an eminent civil engineer of that day, and who surveyed the routes of most of the early Western rail- roads. In 1850 Dr. Dougherty removed to Missouri, and, after stopping a short time at St. Joseph, located at Liberty. Here he entered actively upon the practice of his profession, and soon built up a large practice. Dr. Dougherty has been a resident of this county ever since that time, for a period now of nearly 35 years, except for about two years which he spent in Platte county, preceding 1858. While in Platte county he was postmaster at Iatan, under the admin- istration of James Buchanan, and also served as justice of the peace, besides attending to his general practice. Before going to Platte he had served as city councilman and mayor of Liberty, and afterwards he has served several times as city councilman. In 1868 he was
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.
nominated by the Democrats to fill a vacancy from this county in the Legislature, but on account of sickness was prevented from accepting the honor. In 1878, however, he was again nominated for the Legis- lature, and was elected by a large majority, defeating several of the most popular men of the county who were candidates. In the practical work of legislation he took an active and prominent part at Jefferson City. He introduced the bill to establish the State Board of Health, and also introduced and pushed forward to successful enactment the bill authorizing benevolent insurance companies in this State, principally in the interest of the Masonic order, of which he is a leading member. Dr. Dougherty was member of the committee on accounts in the House, and also of the committee on charities and benevolence, and on scientific and benevolent institutions. He made an enviable record in the Legislature, one that reflected credit on his high character and usefulness as a legislator. By his second wife Dr. D. has been blessed with a family of five children: Ella, the wife of John D. Share, of Wellington, Kas., a prominent dry goods merchant ; Mattie, wife of William H. Martin, a successful lawyer of Bedford, Ind. ; John, a partner with Mr. Share, at Wellington, Kas. ; William W., Jr., in mercantile business at St. Louis ; Charles L., who is now studying medicine under his father ; and Minnie, who died in 1872, at the age of six years. The Doctor and wife are members of the M. E. Church South. Dr. Dougherty is a prominent member of the Kansas City District Medical Society, of which he was among the originators, and helped to organize, and afterwards was its president.
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