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 52

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

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 52
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 52

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A. NETHERTON

(Manufacturer of and Dealer in Saddles, Harness, Etc., Kearney).

Mr. Netherton was born in Jefferson county, Ky., October 18, 1830, and was the youngest in a family of five children of John and Betsey (Wells) Netherton, both of Maryland. They came to Kentucky in an early day, and the father is still a resident of that State, in Bullitt county. The mother died in 1884. Mr. Netherton's grandfather was a physician by profession and served in the War of 1812. They reared a family of five children : Eliza, wife of William Hall, now de- ceased, his widow being a resident of Louisville, Ky. ; William, a farmer of Kentucky ; Richard, a farmer of Callaway county, Mo .;

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

James, a farmer of Kentucky, and the subject of this sketch. Mr. Netherton attended the common schools until he was about 16 years of age and then began to learn the saddle and harness-maker's trade. In 1856 he came to Missouri and first located at Parkville, then in Platte City, and in 1858 at Plattsburg. He remainded at the latter place until 1861, when he went into the Confederate Army under Col. John T. Hughes, becoming a member of Co. K, Hughes' regiment and Gen. Platte's division. He was in the engagements at Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Dry Wood and Lexington, and in the early part of 1862 went to Clinton, where he engaged in farming near that place, but times became so critical there that he came to Haynesville, in Clinton county, where he worked at his trade until 1864. He then went to Indiana, and was married there in March, 1865, to Miss Eliza Hollingsworth, a daughter of Elias Hollingsworth, a farmer of Marion county, Ind. In 1867 Mr. Netherton removed to Centreville, Mo., now Kearney, and has made this his home ever since. He has a good trade in the saddle and harness business, and keeps an excellent assortment of goods on hand. Mrs. Netherton is a lady of great energy and ex- cellent business qualifications, but no less refined, and of agreeable, winning manners. While her husband attends to his saddle and har- nessmaking business she, with commendable industry, keeps a neat hotel at Kearney, which has a good patronage and is doing well. It is the only hotel in the place. But although without competition she keeps it with as much determination to excel as if there were any number of competing houses in the place.

A. L. NORFLEET, M. D. (Physician and Surgeon, Kearney).

Dr. Norfleet is a young physician who has been to more than ordi- nary labor and expense in the acquisition of his professional education, having started out with the determination to qualify himself thoroughly for his calling. He was principally reared in Lafayette county, this State, and at the age of 20 began the study of medicine under Dr. J. B. Wood, of Waverly. Subsequently he took regular courses at the St. Louis Medical College, and graduated with marked credit in the class of '81. He afterwards practiced medicine in Lafayette county until early in 1882, when he located at Kearney. Here he has ever since resided and practiced his profession, except most of the year 1883, when absent attending medical lectures, either at New York or Philadelphia. He attended medical college at both of those cities for the purpose, as stated above, of acquainting himself with the most ad- vanced learning in his profession in the Eastern States. Returning thence to Kearney, he resumed his practice here, and has already suc- ceeded in taking a leading position among the most prominent physi- cians of the county. He is highly esteemed at Kearney, personally as well as professionally. On the 18th of January, 1858, Dr. Nor- fleet was born in Miller county, Mo. He was the eighth in a family of ten children of Larkin and Frances (Gaw ) Norfleet, who came to

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Missouri from Kentucky in about 1854, and located in Miller county. In 1865 they removed to Johnson county, and four years later to Lafayette county, where they now reside. Dr. Norfleet is a well known and much esteemed minister of the M. E. Church South.

CAPT. WILLIAM H. PENCE

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Kearney).

Among the old and highly respected citizens of Clay county whose lives form the woof and warp of the history of the county, is the sub- ject of the present sketch. Capt. Pence, now a man in his sixtieth year, has been a resident of the county almost continuously from childhood. His parents, Adam and Annie (Snell) Pence, came to this county from Kentucky as early as 1825. They located three miles west of Liberty, where the father entered land and improved a farm. He subsequently returned to Kentucky with his family and re- mained a short time, after which he bought land near Kearney and settled here permanently. He became a successful farmer and a large land-owner, and is still living at the advanced age of 81. His good wife, 80 years of age, is also living. Seven of their family of eleven children are now themselves the heads of families, and all but two, Josiah and Doniphan, residents of this State. The latter reside in Kentucky, and Doniphan has been sheriff of Nelson county for about seven years. In an early day, the father followed the distilling business for some years, but farming was his permanent occupation. Capt. Pence was born in Scott county, Ky., in 1825. Reared, how- ever, in Clay county, Mo., he entered the army, under Doniphan, for the Mexican War, and participated in the expedition to Santa Fe, El Paso, Chihuahua, and on down to Monterey, where a junction was formed with Gens. Taylor and Wood. After the war, Capt. Pence came home by New Orleans with the other Missouri volunteers. In 1849 he went to California, and was successfully engaged in trading for several years, but met with a reverse that more than offset all the profits of the business. He was a regular trader, engaged principally in supplying different mining districts with goods from Sacramento or San Francisco by pack-mule transportation, something after the fashion of the merchants in the Land of the Pyramids, only they use camels to transport their goods, and call their trains " caravans." On one of these expeditions to a mining district in the northern part of Cali- fornia, Capt. Pence had a train of about 26 pack mules, loaded with goods, and when away up in the mountains a heavy snow storm came on, the snow finally becoming so deep that travel was impossible. Being thus snow-bound, the snow continued to fall until it became about fifteen feet deep. There was no hope of it passing off before starvation would overtake the train. Still Capt. P. and his assistants resolutely fought against fate until their packmules were all either starved or frozen to death. Seeing a like fate staring them in the face, themselves, they improvised each a set of snow shoes, and, abandoning everything, made their way on foot to the nearest settle-

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

ment, after indescribable suffering from cold and hunger. Capt. Pence's loss was about $7,000. After that he was, of course, com- pelled to quit the business as a trader, but still having a little means left he engaged in a small way in stock trading in the Sacramento Valley, where he owned a ranch and some stock. But in 1852 he sold out in California and returned to Clay county. Here, the following year, he was married to Miss Dinitia Estes, a daughter of Henry and Lucinda (Cronin ) Estes, who came here from Virginia in about 1820. Mr. Estes was one of the party who laid off the town of Liberty. Capt. Pence, after his marriage, resided on a farm in Platte county that he owned for about a year, and then returned to Clay county, where he has ever since made his home. He has a good farm of 300 acres, all well improved, and raises considerable stock, including some thoroughbred short horn cattle. He also deals in stock to some ex- tent. In 1861 Capt. Pence entered the Southern army under Gen. Price, becoming captain of Co. C, of Col. Thompson's regiment, where he served a term of about six months. Subsequently he returned home, and for a time was a member of a company of paw-paw militia, organized in the county, to prevent the Kansas jayhawkers from rob- bing and plundering the people. In 1871 Capt. Pence had the mis- fortune to lose his first wife. To his present wife he was married in 1880. She was a Miss America Smith, a daughter of Hon. J. M. Smith, an attorney of Buchanan county, but who was murdered by the Home Guard on his return home from St. Joseph in 1864. Capt. Pence has held the office of road overseer for the past 29 years, and is a Mason of long and honorable standing. He has been treas- urer of the lodge at Kearney for the past eight years. Eight of his family of children are living, and one deceased, the latter having been Lucinda, the wife of Edward Miller. The Captain and wife are mem- bers of the Christian Church.

A. W. PIPES (Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Kearney).

The fifth in a family of ten children, Mr. Pipes was born in Mercer county, Kentucky, February 19, 1828. His father was Nathaniel Pipes, and his mother's maiden name, Margaret Harmon. Both his grandfathers, John Pipes and John Harmon, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War under Washington. The Pipes were of English descent and settled in North Carolina. The Harmons were of German extraction and settled in Pennsylvania. Mr. Pipes was reared in Mercer county, Kentucky, and continued to reside there after he grew up until 1855, when he came to Missouri to locate a land claim. In the meantime he had taught school in Kentucky for several years, and afterwards also followed merchandising at Mitchellsburg, being also postmaster at that place. After locating and securing some valuable lands in Missouri and Kansas, he returned to Kentucky and engaged in dealing in hogs and corn quite extensively, in which he had good success. In 1856 he was married to Miss Rachel Brand, a daughter

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

of James A. and Catherine (Blink) Brand, formerly of Maryland. On both sides his wife was probably of German descent. After his marriage Mr. Pipes removed to Marion county, Kentucky, where he bought a farm, which he conducted with success, and also carried on the stock business, dealing principally in cattle, hogs and mules. He re- mained there until 1882, and then sold out and went to Texas, locating in Denton county. But not being satisfied with the country, he soon afterwards returned to Missouri and bought the farm where he now resides, in Clay county. He has a good farm and deals in cattle and hogs, and mules and horses. Mr. and Mrs. Pipes have seven children : Alonzo L., Laura K., wife of James W. England, James N. (Nat), Obie S., Mary L., Lizzie M. and Imogene. Two others died in infancy. Both parents are members of the Christian Church, and Mr. P. is a member of the A. F. and A. M.

ABNER J. PORTER (Farmer, Post-office, Kearney).

Mr. Porter commenced life for himself as a brick-mason while yet a youth, and after learning that trade worked at it a number of years. Finally, however, after the Civil War he turned his attention to farm- ing and has been principally engaged in farming and stock-raising ever since. He is a native of Virginia, born in Orange county in 1827. He was the second in a family of ten children of Samuel S. and Mary A. (Becker) Porter, both of old Virginia families. They came to Missouri in 1843 when Abner J. was about sixteen years of age. They settled in Clay county, and here the father became a prosperous farmer. He owned at one time about 600 acres of land. Mr. Porter, Sr., died in 1875, at the age of 80 years. His wife died in 1864, at the age of 61. Both were members of the Baptist Church. Seven of their family of children are still living. Abner J. Porter began learning the brick trade in 1848, and worked at it until he enlisted in the State Guard in 1861. In the meantime, in 1849, he was married to Miss Susan Dykes, a daughter of John and Susan Dykes, formerly of Kentucky, and who came to Clay county in 1827. Of this union were born nine children : George, John W., Benjamin D., Abner J., Emerson, Shearly S., Mary S., wife of L. B. Keas, and Alice and Nettie, the last two deceased. The mother of these died in 1873. She was a member of the Christian Church. To his present wife Mr. Porter was married in 1880. She was a Miss Sarah J. Lafore, daugh- ter of William Lafore. She is also a member of the Christian Church, as is likewise Mr. Porter himself. Mr. Porter owns about 550 acres of land in two places. His home place contains 395 acres and is well improved. Mr. Porter is a prominent farmer and stock-raiser, and is one of the highly respected citizens of the northern part of the county.

LEWIS O. RILEY

(Farmer and Fine Stock Raiser, Post-office, Kearney).

Mr. Riley's father, Alfred M. Riley, who died in this county about three years ago, was one of the old and well respected citizens of the

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

county. He came here from Kentucky in 1830, and was a farmer by occupation. He also taught school for many years, and took a warm interest in the cause of education and in church matters. He was an elder in the Mt. Gilead Church for about 40 years. Elder Riley was twice married. His first wife, who was a Miss Lucy J. Tapp (the mother of the subject of this sketch), died in 1849, leaving eight children, five of whom are living. His second wife was a Miss Ann Morris. Of this union four children of the six are living. Lewis O. Riley, the subject of the present sketch, was born on the farm near Kearney in 1839. In 1861 he entered the Southern army under Gen. Price, and was in the infantry service for about six months. About this time he was married to Miss Isabelle Smith, a daughter of George and Mary (Harris) Smith, of Clay county. After his mar- riage Mr. Riley settled down to farming on a tract of 200 acres of land given him by his father. He has ever since been actively en- gaged in the duties connected with his farm. For a number of years he has made something of a specialty of stock, particularly fine short horn cattle, of which he has a handsome herd. Mr. R.'s farm now contains 326 acres, and is one of the most comfortable homesteads to be found in this part of the country. Mr. Riley is a member of the Clay County Short Horn Association, and is in every sense an enter- prising, go-ahead agriculturist. Mr. and Mrs. Riley have seven children : Mary, Annie, Gertrude, Arthur, George A., William S. and Charles A. They have lost four, including Horace, who died, at the age of twenty years, last spring. The others, Lucy, Lizzie and Lewis, died in childhood.

J. D. SAUNDERS

(Dealer in Furniture and Undertaker's Goods, Kearney).

Mr. Saunders came out to Missouri in 1882 from Virginia, where he had been engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, and set- tled in Kearney. A young man of limited education but of business qualifications, he was employed by Mr. James T. Riley, of Liberty, this county, to manage and carry on his branch store in that line in the town of Kearney. He carries a full line of furniture and all kinds of undertaker's goods required at this market. Mr. Saunders has a good run of custom, especially in the furniture line. In the under- taker's line his trade is all that could be expected, considering the health and longevity of the people in and around Kearney. He was born in Franklin county, Va., April 19, 1852, and was the eldest of nine children of John Q. and Nancy S. (Webster) Saunders, his fa- ther of an old Virginia family but his mother of Pennsylvania descent. The family came to Missouri in 1880 and settled in Callaway county, near Mexico, where they now reside. The father entered the South- ern army in 1862 and served throughout the war without receiving a wound, notwithstanding he participated in the battles of Gettysburg, Vicksburg, Seven Pines, Petersburg and others. Mr. Saunders, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the common schools, and at

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Greenville and Tusculum College, East Tennessee, in the latter of which he spent two years. He commenced life for himself at the car- penter's trade, which he followed until 1867, or for a period of about ten years. He then engaged in the furniture and undertaking busi- ness, which he followed until 1882 at Rocky Mount, Va. Thence he came to Missouri, as stated above. In 1878 Mr. Saunders, Jr., was married to Miss Ellen Hurt, a daughter of Joel L. and Sallie Hurt, of Bedford county, Va. Mrs. Saunders' father died in 1878. Her mother is still living, a resident of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Saunders have two children, William D. and Lawrence Cleveland. Mrs. S. is a member of the M. E. Church.

WILLIAM SEYMOUR

(With Bradley & Co., Dealers in Hardware, Agricultural Implements, Etc., Kearney).

Mr. Seymour is of English-Scotch parentage, and was born in Jef- ferson county, N. Y., July 8, 1842. His father, Calvin Seymour, a native of England, was a wealthy farmer and prominent citizen of Jefferson county. The mother was a Miss Almyra McKnight before her marriage, originally from Scotland. Each came to the United States at an early age, and after they grew up were married in New York. The father died in 1859, at the age of 70 years ; the mother in 1860, at the age of 60 years. Both were members of the Presby- terian Church. The father was also a prominent officer in the Masonic Order. He was a member of the Old Line Whig party, and a great admirer of that prince of statesmen, "Harry of the West." William Seymour was reared in Jefferson county and concluded his education at Watertown Academy, where he spent four years, graduating in the class of '59. He then commenced an apprenticeship at the tinner's trade, in which he continued until the war broke out. Early in 1861 he enlisted in Co. A, Ninety-fourth New York infantry, and was at once ordered South. He served throughout the war. He took part in the first battle of Bull Run, where he was wounded. In 1863 he was transferred to the Twentieth New York cavalry, and at the close of the war was orderly sergeant of his company. Mr. Seymour took part in a number of the principal battles of the war, including the second battle at Manassas, the battle at Cedar Creek, and the one at Alda. He was also present at the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. After the close of the war he returned to New York, and in 1873 came West as far as Frankfort, Ky., where he worked at his trade. Afterwards he went to Dayton, Ohio, where he had charge of a tin- ware and stove house, and in 1877 he went to Ft. Smith, Ark., where he was also engaged in the tinware and stove business. Three years afterwards he came to Missouri, locating at Smithville, and in 1884 he came to Kearney, where he engaged in his present business with Mr. Bradley. Their business has already been described in Mr. Bradley's sketch, which appears on a preceding page. In 1873 Mr. Seymour was married to Miss Fannie Partridge, a daughter of Charles Partridge, formerly of England. Mr. and Mrs. S. have five children :

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Reuben, Peal, Fannie, Charles and Mary. Mrs. S. is a member of the Episcopal Church.

P. TAPP SOPER

(Farmer, Post-office, Kearney).

Mr. Soper was the eighth in a family of thirteen children of Benj- amin and Nancy (Tapp) Soper, the father a native of Maryland, but the mother born and reared in Kentucky. They were married in Kentucky and came to Missouri in 1830, settling in Clay county, where the father followed farming and carpentering, having been brought up to the first occupation and being a natural mechanic. He lived a worthy and respected life in this county and died in 1877, at the age of 81. He had served as justice of the peace for about twenty-five years and had always taken a warm interest in public schools, being for many years an active and useful member of the district school board. 'Squire Soper was of German descent, though the family had long been settled in this country. His wife died in 1879, at the age of 78. Both were members of the Primitive Baptist Church. Their children were Almedia, Louisiana, Martha E., Ann M., Almilda, John L., Fannie E., James W., P. Tapp, Emeline, Nannie N., Benjamin F. and Alfred B. Five of the above are deceased, Almedia, Ann M., John L., James W. and Nannie N. John L. was murdered by an assassin from ambush at the age of 50 years. He was out in his barn- yard feeding stock at nightfall and was shot down in cold blood. The mystery of his murder was never unraveled, although the greatest efforts were made to ferret out the crime, both by the unfortunate man's relatives and the public authorities. This, at least, has proved one exception to the often-quoted couplet of Dryden : -

" Murder may pass unpunished for a time, But tardy justice will o'ertake the crime."

The difficulty that rendered investigation little less than hopeless was that Mr. Soper was not known to have a personal enemy. Some years before he had been quite dissipated, but had fully reformed and long prior to the time of his death had worthily established the repu- tation of being one of the most steady, quiet and exemplary citizens of the community. He was a man of marked intelligence and great energy and was rapidly coming to the front as one of the representative men of the county. The mystery of his murder will probably never be made clear to those who knew him in life, and to whom his sad and untimely taking-off was a great bereavement, until the light of the Judgment Day, which is to reveal all things, shall come ; then the fate of the murderer will be sadder and far more pitiable in proportion, as the tortures of the lost exceed the ills of this life, than that which overtook Mr. Soper on the fatal night of his death. P. Tapp Soper, the subject of this sketch, was born in this county, July 11, 1835. He was reared on his father's farm, and afterwards continued farming as his regular occupation, engaging also in raising and handling stock.

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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY.

Mr. Soper is now comfortably situated on a good farm of over 100 acres. In December, 1861, he enlisted in the Southern service at Lex- ington, Mo., becoming a member of an infantry regiment in the Mis- souri State Guard. Six months later, after the expiration of his term of State Guard service, he enlisted in the regular Confederate army and continued in the army until the close of the war, being paroled at Shreveport, La., June 16, 1865. After his first six months' term he was under Gen. Shelby, and during his entire service participated in no less than forty-two engagements, and had two horses killed under him, but never himself received a wound. In how many instances, alas ! was the reverse of his experience true. How often it was the case that one horse bore different riders, even on one field of battle, where the brave reinsmen, one after another, fell, whilst the gallant war-horse which bore them passed through the battle unharmed ! After the war Mr. Soper returned home and resumed farming. In 1866 he was married to Miss Georgie Cook, a daughter of James and Lucy Cook, formerly of Kentucky. Her father died in 1841, and her mother afterwards became the wife of Col. Moses Hubbard, who also is now deceased. The mother made her home with Mrs. Soper until her death, which occurred in 1878. Mr. and Mrs. S. have seven children, James M., Mary L., Nannie S., Fannie M., Alexander C., Dollie and Lida M. They have lost four in infancy. Both parents are members of the Christian Church.

JOHN V. STROETER

(Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Kearney).

Mr. Stroeter is one of those thrifty, intelligent German-American citizens, almost invariably law-abiding and useful to the community where they live, who came over to this country when young men, without means and for the purpose of establishing themselves com- fortably in life by honest industry and attending strictly to their own business. This is his record here exactly. He was born in Prussia in 1835, and was one of a large family of children. After receiving a partial education in his native country, he came to the United States in his seventeenth year and made his home in Wisconsin. There, for several years, he worked on a farm during the cropping seasons as a laborer at six dollars a month, with board, washing and mending in- cluded, and during the winters he worked for his board, nights and mornings and of Saturdays, and attended school during the balance of each week. His parents, Emanuel and Maria (Kæstner ) Stroeter, came over in 1854 with their family, and soon afterwards he went to live with them. But in 1860 he started out for himself as a farmer, and five years later he removed to Madison county, Ill. Mean- time, in 1860, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Mueller, a daughter of Conrad and Anna Mueller from Hesse-Darmstadt. Mr. Stroeter continued to reside in Illinois until 1882, when he came to Clay county and bought the farm where he now resides, one of the hand- somest farms in this part of the county. It contains 214 acres and

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Author: Publication date: 1885 Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author:
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1156