History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 53

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

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Dr. O. W. Cochran received his elementary education in the public schools of Boone County. James Cooney, who later became congressman from the Seventh District, was his teacher. Dr. Cochran attended the State University of Missouri at Columbia for three years. He is a grad- uate of the Louisville Medical College, a member of the class of 1885. March 4, 1887, he came to Gooch's Mill, and he has been located here for the past 32 years. Dr. Cochran is the owner of a farm, comprising 375 acres of valuable land in Saline township. He is perhaps the oldest prac- titioner in Cooper County, and he has established an unusually fine prac- tice.

In December, 1887, Dr. O. W. Cochran was united in marriage with Octavia V. Quarles, a daughter of Charles Quarles, of Prairie Home town- ship. Both the father and the mother of Mrs. Cochran were natives of Virginia, and both are now deceased and their remains are interred in Ellis Cemetery near Prairie Home. To Dr. and Mrs. Cochran have been born the following children: William Owen, who was born Dec. 7, 1888, and died July 11, 1916; Nellie, the wife of Frank Bornhauser, of Prairie Home township; Anna Gray, the wife of Ernest C. Oerly, of Saline town- ship; and Samuel Victor, a student in the Boonville High School. Dr. and Mrs. Cochran have five grandchildren; Virginia, Margaret, B. O., and Willie Gray, and an infant. All the children of Dr. Cochran and wife are graduates of the Boonville High School. The doctor and Mrs. Cochran are worthy and valued members of the Baptist Church.

Dr. Cochran was in charge of the war work in Saline township, man- againg the Liberty Loans, Red Cross work, United War work campaign,

DR. O. W. COCHRAN AND FAMILY

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

the Armenian Relief, and he was chairman of the township Council of Defense. For eight years he has been chairman of the democratic cen- tral committee of Cooper County. Dr. Cochran is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the World, and the Modern Woodmen of America. Dr. Cochran made the race for the State senatorship in 1909 and was defeated by one vote by Sam C. Major, now congressman from the Seventh District of Missouri. Dr. Cochran is a good citizen, and a man of high ideals. He commands the respect and admiration of all with whom he comes in contact.

Dr. Ace Overton Donahew, veterinarian, with offices at 803 East Morgan street, Boonville, Mo .; has during the 17 years he has been prac- ticing his profession, made a reputation as a skilled and competent veter- inarian, which is second to none in Central Missouri. Dr. Donahew's practice extends over Cooper, Howard, Moniteau, Pettis, and Saline Counties and part of Boone County, Mo. He was born Aug. 17, 1865, in Mount Sterling, Ky. His father was John Donahew (b. 1820, d. 1888), born in Kentucky and a son of John Donahew, a Kentucky pioneer. John Donahew migrated with his family to Missouri in the fall of 1870, bring- ing his movable possessions to this county in wagons. He settled on the prairie near La Monte, Mo., and in the fall of 1874, removed to a farm in Saline County. His first few years in Missouri were disastrous ones, facing total crop failures through the dry years of the early seventies. The panic of 1873 had its effect, also, with the dropping of prices of farm products ot their lowest level in many years. The grasshopper pest of 1872-73 also cleaned out the crops on the prairies. Mr. Donahew man- aged to make a new start in Saline County, prospering and was making plans to purchase a farm of his own when he was stricken down with typhoid fever and died in 1888. The entire family was attacked, and the father succumbed. John Donahew married Mary Pettit, who was born in Stanton, Ky., in 1840 and died in 1909. She bore him five sons: Andrew, died in 1916; Ace Overton, of this review; James F., Redding, California ; Edward, Slater, Mo .; Austin, Kansas City. Mrs. Donahew, faced with the task of keeping her family together and rearing them to maturity. She succeeded and all of her sons, now living are excellent citizens in their respective localities. For three years the family lived on the old Ben Derrick farm near Orearville, Mo. In 1891 they removed to Slater, Mo. and resided there for seven years. Mrs. Donahew then moved to Kansas City.

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Dr. Ace O. Donahew was educated in the Kansas City Veterinary College and studied his profession for three years, 1888-1889-1900. He first practiced for three years at Slater, Mo. He was then located at Fayette, Mo. for four months prior to coming to Boonville on May 15, 1903.

Combined with Sr. Donahew's knowledge of the science of his pro- fession is a profound understanding of animals, and an expert insight into the characteristics of the horse. For a period of 15 years prior to taking up the study of his profession he was one of the best known horse break- ers and trainers in this section of the West. He studied the art of horse training under Prof. Gleason of Kansas City, and then made a business of training and breaking track horses. Regularly each season he would make the circuit and would be at all the racing meets when trotting and running races were in the heyday of popularity with the western people. Dr. Donahew trained "Jim Ramey" of Sedalia and broke and trained sev- eral track animals for John R. Gentry of Sedalia, who produced "John R. Gentry" and "Theodore Shelton" the greatest two-year-olds of their day. He trained "Sam Fuller" of Fayette, and was the trainer of "King Herod" and "Telegram", two of the noted pacers and trotters of this sec- tion of the country.

Dr. Ace O. Donahew was married in 1906 to Miss Theresa German of Hermann, Mo., a daughter of Capt. Henry German. This marriage has been blessed with three children: Garmon Frederick, Frances Louise, and Dorothy May.

Dr. Donahew is a democrat and takes quite an interest in political matters. He is fraternally affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

George Hutchin Moore, proprietor of "Truesdale Stock Farm," is a descendant of one of the first pioneer families of Cooper County, mem- bers of which have been prominent in the affairs of this county for over a century. His great grandfather was Maj. William Moore, a native of North Carolina, who settled in Cooper County in 1816, soon after the close of the War of 1812, during which struggle he served as major in an American regiment. George Moore, son of Major Moore, married a Miss Stephens of the old Stephens family of Cooper County, who settled here as early as 1817.

Charles F. Moore, father of George H. Moore, of this review, was born in Cooper County in 1829 and died in 1913. He married Martha Inglish, a daughter of Hutchin Inglish, a pioneer settler of Moniteau County, and who was a native of Kentucky. Charles F. Moore conducted

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a store at the old town of Palestine and was an extensive grain buyer and shipper for a number of years. He was a citizen of versatile attainments, well educated, and proficient in many lines. He was a veterinary sur- geon. He was one of those neighborhood geniuses who could turn a deft hand and brain to almost anything in the line of a farmer's necessity and do it well. He speculated largely in Missouri land and bought and sold farms in Cooper County, becoming a large land owner on his own account. During the last 20 years of his life he made his home in Boonville. Charles F. Moore was father of six children: George Hutchin, subject of this review; Return L., for 25 years local agent for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. at Boonville, now living in Georgia; Cornelia is the wife of R. L. Windsor, Clarks Fork township; Mrs. Florence Eller lives near Fayette, Howard County, Mo .; Gillis Moore lives in Kansas City; Ger- trude is the wife of Ben Curtis, Poteau, Okla.

G. Hutchin Moore was born July 26, 1852. He was educated in the district school and attended Professors Cullough and Simpson's Institute, near Concord Church. He began upon a rented farm on his own account near Billingsville in 1873. In 1877 he removed to Johnson County, Mo., and after farming in that county for four years he returned to Cooper County in 1882 and purchased part of his father's home place in June of that year. For the past 31 years Mr. Moore has resided on his farm and is the owner of 240 acres, upon which he has practically placed all of the existing improvements. The Truesdale Stock Farm is noted for the fine horses produced and raised on the place. The sons of Mr. Moore are breeders of saddle horses and jacks. They sold "Missouri King," a three- year-old, to P. Hawkins, who later sold him to a California man for $5,000. The strain of the Moore horses is the "Rex McDonald" breed. "Missouri King' was awarded the grand championship prize at the Royal Stock Show in Kansas City. Mammoth jacks are bred on the Moore farm, which has had as high as a dozen or more head of fine thoroughbreds at one time in the stables.

G. Hutchin Moore was married in 1873 to Miss Lucretia Eller, born in Cooper County in 1854, a daughter of David and Martha (Oglesby) Eller, natives of Kentucky, who were pioneers in this county. The chil- dren born of this union are: Mrs. Claudia Gosnold, Los Angeles, Calif .; Mrs. Daisy Dean Rutherford, living near Otterville, Mo .; Mrs. Bessie Coleman, Bunceton, Mo .; Marvin, a resident of Los Angeles, Calif .; Trevor H., on the home place; Della, at home with her parents.

Mr. Moore is a democrat and is a member of the Bapitst Church.

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

Frank N. Blank, proprietor of "Grove Place," a valuable farm of 240 acres in Prairie Home township, is one of the most successful cattle breed- ers in that section. Mr. Blank was born May 24, 1876, son and only child of Jacob and Emma (Hofferberg) Blank, the former of whom was born on that same place, son of Nicholas Blank, a native of Germany, and one of the pioneers of that section of Cooper County. Nicholas Blank and wife were among the first members of the Evangelical Church at Pleasant Grove, and are buried in the churchyard there. Jacob Blank died in 1878, at the age of 32 years, and his widow survived him but two years, her death occurring in 1880, she then being 26 years of age.

Frank N. Blank, early orphaned, was reared in the household of his uncle, Ernest Kirschman, and upon coming into his majority took over the fine farm which had come to him through his father and his grand- father. He grew up on that place, completed his schooling in the old Prairie Home Insitute and from the days of his boyhood has given his attention to agricultural pursuits, a vocation which is returning him ample rewards. "Grove Place Farm" is an admirably improved place of 240 acres which was "entered" from the Government by one Murphy in the days of the Van Buren administration, and was purchased from the patentee by Mr. Blank's grandfather, Nicholas Blank. The place is well situated three and one-half miles northeast of Prairie Home, and is well watered, a good pond and springs being supplemented by a driven well 214 feet deep. Since taking over the management of the property, Mr. Blank has made numerous substantial improvements on the same, these including the erection of a new farm house in 1899, and the building of three barns, one in that same year, another in 1902, and another in 1912, besides garage, machine shop and such other buildings as required. Since 1901 Mr. Blank has been engaged in the breeding of registered Hereford cattle in partnership with his brother-in-law, Henry Spieler, their present herd of about 40 head being headed by "Excelsior VI" and "Free Lance," and in this connection has done much to improve the strain of Hereford throughout this section, the products of "Grove Place" herd being in wide demand. As one of the means of exploiting this herd Mr. Blank, who is a highly-skilled amateur photographer, maintains a well-equipped photo- graph "gallery" on his place.

In 1899, Frank N. Blank was united in marriage to Bertha Spieler, who was born in this county, and to this union one child has been born, Lucille, who is at home. Mrs. Blank is a daughter of Otto and Margaret (Young) Spieler, the latter of whom is still living making her home on

FRANK N. BLANK

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

the home place. Otto Spieler and wife were the parents of eight chil- dren, Mrs. Blank having three brothers, Ernest, of Wooldridge; Otto, of St. Louis; and Henry Spieler, of Wooldridge, who is a partner of Mr. Blank; Mrs. Charles Oerly, deceased; Mrs. Lon S. Swanstone, near Gooch's Mills ; Laura and Minnie, at home.

Mr. Blank is a member of the Herford Breeders' Association. He is a republican, and a member of Pleasant Grove Evangelical Church, and is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen.

Lon V. Wendleton .- The most complete farm plant in the central part of Cooper County is that of Lon V. Wendleton, in Palestine township. The Wendleton farm is improved with a handsome, modern farm resi- dence, large barns, shops and a planing mill so as to make the place inde- pendent of outside assistance. The saw mill and planing mill was erected by Mr. Wendleton so as to prepare the lumber for his new home, which is practically built of hardwood lumber, cut from the timber on the farm of 543.5 acres, which he is managing. The house consists of ten rooms, finished in oak, cherry, walnut, and red elm, all of which was cut, sawed, and finished for use on the farm. The planing mill has been in operation since 1915 and has already paid for itself and done work far above in value of the original cost. Mr. Wendleton does some custom work merely for the accommodation of his neighbors. This fine home is lighted by gas, and heated by a hot water heating plant. The modern day, progressive farmer of the class to which Mr. Wendleton belongs, has come into his own and is fast seeing the light of better days.

Mr. Wendleton is owner of 137.5 acres, the rest of the large tract which he is farming being the property of his uncle, Henry Wendleton. Considerable live stock is produced on the Wendleton farms; one carload of thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle is fed each year and fattened for the market; from one to two carloads of hogs are sold on the markets; 60 sheep are maintained the year round.

Lon V. Wendleton was born Dec. 22, 1886, on a farm three miles west of his present home. He is a son of David Wendleton. He has resided with his uncle, Henry Wendleton, since he was 10 years of age and has had the management of his uncle's large farm for several years.

Mr. Wendleton was married Sept. 29, 1908, to Miss Grace Hendrick, who was born in the Indian Territory, May 12, 1888, and is a daughter of James P. and Eva (Turner) Hendrick, natives of Missouri. James B. Hendrick resided for a few years in the Indian Territory, and after his return to Missouri, settled in Lafayette county, where he resided until

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

his removal to Boone County, where he is now residing. Three children have blessed this marriage: Mildred, born Oct. 5, 1909; Ruth, born Jan. 20, 1911; Earl, born March 12, 1915.

Mr. Wendleton is a democrat. He and Mrs. Wendleton are members of the Christian Church. He is a member of the Masons. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wendleton are well informed and well educated people, who are hos- pitably inclined and of the true Missouri, progressive type. Both have had the advantages of study in the State University and the Normal Academy, and endeavor to keep abreast of the times.

Henry Wendleton was born in Cooper County in 1854, and was a son of David Wendleton, a native of Holland, who left his native land, came to America, and located permanently in Cooper County, Mo., in 1833. Further details of the history of the Wendleton family will be found in the sketch of David Wendleton. Mr. Wendleton has been twice married; his first wife having been a Miss Catherine Barbara Zimmerman, who died in 1903. His second marriage, in 1906, was with Sophia Muntzel, who died two and a half years after her marriage.

J. Louis Staebler .- A rich and fertile farm, well improved and located advantageously, such as the farm of J. Louis Staebler, of Billings- ville, is a possession of which any man can well be proud. The Staebler place consists of 200 acres and has a handsome residence of 11 rooms erected in 1907 and modern in every respect. This home is equipped with a gas lighting system, water system, furnace and was one of the first modern homes built in this section of Cooper County. Mr. Staebler is a producer of hogs and raises and feeds about 150 head of animals yearly for the markets. He was born in Champaign County, Ohio, June 6, 1856.

J. Louis Staebler, Sr., his father, was born in Germany in 1820, and died in Cooper County, Mo., in 1903. The ancestral seat of the Staebler family is at or near Stuttgart, Wurtemburg, Germany. Mr. Staebler im- migrated to America in 1853 and settled near Urbana, Ohio. This section of Ohio, at that time, was in a more or less wooded condition and the forests in process of clearing. The soil was wet and malaria was pre- valent among the settlers and residents. Mr. Staebler became afflicted with malaria and was advised by his family doctor to come west, entirely out of the malaria-ridden country. He had friends in Missouri and learned through them of the excellence of the climate in the Cooper County neighborhood. Accordingly, he disposed of his property in Ohio, and drove across country in company with two other families, their belong- ings being carried in six wagons. In 1859, Mr. Staebler brought his be- longings to Missouri with two teams and lived for the first two years on

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a farm south of Boonville. J. Louis Staebler, Sr., served in the State Militia during the Civil War. When General Rice's Army raided Boon- ville and Cooper County in 1863, the Confederates raided the Staebler farm, stripped the farm and home of provisions and live stock and feed, and robbed him of his money and all his possessions. A battle was fought near the Staebler place between the Union forces under General Kratz Brown and Price's men. In 1873 he located on the farm owned by his son, J. Louis Staebler, Jr. His wife was Christina Grauer. She was born near Stuttgart, Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1833 and departed this life Jan. 20, 1917. J. Louis Staebler was the only child of his parents.

Nov. 7, 1889, J. Louis Staebler was married to Elizabeth J. Dueschle, born in 1867, near Pleasant Green, Mo., a daughter of Adam, Sr., and Catherine (Shook) Dueschle, natives of Germany and early settlers in Cooper County. Mr. and Mrs. Staebler have two children: Esther O., a graduate of the business college at Boonville; Edith, at home with her parents.

Mr. Staebler is a republican. He is a member of the Billingsville Evangelical Church and is a member of the Woodmen of the World. He is an intelligent, well posted citizen, who has made a success of his life work and has arrived at the point in life where he can live in comfortable circumstances.

Henry P. Robien .- Success in farming and stock raising seems to be characteristic of the members of the Robien family in Cooper County, and Henry P. Robien, who has a splendid farm of 180 acres just south of Boonville, is no exception-rather, he is one of the most successful of the family, inasmuch as he is owner of 450 acres of land in addition to his home farm, situated south of Billingsville. Mr. Robien has resided on his home place for the past 18 years and it is well improved with a large brick house and other substantial farm buildings, there being two sets of im- provements on his land. Mr. Robien is a large feeder of cattle and hogs, fattening two carloads each of these animals each year.

Mr. Robien was born near Speed, Mo., Sept. 25, 1872, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Hoflander) Robien, a sketch of whom appears in this volume in connection with the biography of William G. Robien of Prairie Lick. When Henry P. Robien was three years old, his parents moved to a farm just south of Boonville. Here he was reared to young manhood and attended the district school. He remained at home until he was 28 years old and then began doing for himself.

Mr. Robien was married in 1901 to Henrietta Zimmerman, born on the farm near Billingsville, in 1879, a daughter of George and Helena

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(Renken) Zimmerman, natives of Wurtemburg, Germany. George Zim- merman was born in 1834 and died on April 5, 1905. His wife, Helena, was born in Germany in 1838, and died Jan. 17, 1907. George Zimmer- man came to America and settled in Cooper County in 1852. Helen (Renkin) Zimmerman came to America with her parents in 1843, and was reared and married in Cooper County. The Zimmermans settled on the farm now owned by Henry P. Robien in 1891. They were parents of five children: Henry, Emma, Frederick, and Catherine, all deceased; Hen- rietta, wife of H. P. Robien, is the only living child.

H. P. and Henrietta Robien have two children, namely: Helen Marie Robien, age 14 years; and George Henry Robien, aged 17 years.

Mr. Robien is a republican, but has little time for political matters. He and his family are members of the Evangelical Church. He is popular, well and favorably known and is one of the young hustlers in Cooper County.

George W. Carey, of "Maple Grove Farm," a mile north of the town of Prairie Home, is not only the oldest native born pioneer in this section of Missouri, but is a member of the first families of Missouri. His grand- father settled here in territorial days. Mr. Carey was born on a place four miles north of the place on which he is now living on Jan. 14, 1833. Among the names of the pioneers who were prominent in affairs here in the days of his boyhood, Mr. Carey recalls James McLain, Andrew Wells, Robert Johnston, James Adair, and William Smith.

John Carey, a Tennesseean, who came here and entered a tract of land, now a part of Frank Kirschman's farm in Prairie Home township, 100 years or more ago, was the founder of the Carey family in this sec- tion. His son, Evans Carey, father of George W. Carey, entered two tracts of land at the same time, a quarter section on Cave Creek in Saline township, now owned by James Cartner, and the tract now included in "Maple Grove Farm," owned by his grandson, Robert A. Carey, and for many years the home of the venerable George W. Carey. In time, Calvin M. Carey, one of Evans Carey's sons, and an elder brother of George W. Carey, bought the interests of the other heirs in this latter piece of prop- erty, and in the succeeding generation his youngest son, Robert A., the present owner, bought the undivided interests of his brothers and sisters, "Maple Grove Farm" thus having been held in the Carey name since the day the original patent was granted. George W. Carey has been twice married. His first wife, Polly Woods, died many years ago, and is buried

GEORGE W. AND MAATILDA T. CAREY AND DESCENDANTS

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in Providence Cemetery. By that union he has two daughters, Mrs. Clara Adair, of Prairie Home township, and Mrs. T. F. Hale, of California, Mo. Feb. 2, 1885, Mr. Carey married Mrs. Matilda T. (Miller) Carey, widow of his deceased brother, Calvin M. Carey. This union is without issue.

Calvin M. Carey was born in Saline township in 1825, and died in 1879, and is buried in the Salem Cemetery in Prairie Home township. Dec. 2, 1862, at Tipton, he was united in marriage to Matilda T. Miller, and to that union were born seven children all of whom are living, save George Calvin, who died at the age of three years, the others being as follows: Prof. Estill Carey, now principal of the high school at Malta Bend, Mo .; Harriet, wife of L. P. Stark, St. Louis; Anna, wife of R. W. Payne, Fayette; Maud, wife of R. L. Meredith, Joplin; Sarah, wife of Starke Koontz, Boonville, and Robert A., proprietor of "Maple Grove Farm."

Mrs. Matilda T. (Miller) Carey was born on a farm near Richmond, Ky., June 6, 1840, and was but six years of age when in 1846 her parents, James E. and Harriet F. (Tevis) Miller, came to Missouri with their fam- ily, and located in Howard County. A year later they moved to Moniteau County and settled on a farm a mile south of Tipton, where James E. Mil- ler died shortly afterward in 1847. His widow died in 1867. Of the 11 children born to James E. Miller and wife, Mrs. Carey is the only survivor. She was educated in the district school and in a boarding school or sem- inary, which then was being conducted in the settlement which was the forerunner of the present city of Sedalia, that having been in the days before the Sedalia townsite was platted, and was living at Tipton at the time of her marriage to Calvin M. Carey in 1862. Mrs. Carey has an unusually well cultivated memory and her recollection of social conditions here in the days of her girlhood form a most interesting chain of remin- iscence. She has one great-grandson, Robert Miller Payne, and 20 grand- children, namely: Matilda, Anna Maud and Robert E. Carey; Edna, Estill, Helen and Lenore Stark; Francis and David Koontz; Lee, Carey, Lillian, Harriet, and Guy Meredith ; Robert, Martha, and William Richard Payne, and Virginia Lee and Robert A. Carey.

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History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 53

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861 Publication date: 1919 Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Johnson, William Foreman, b. 1861
Publication date: 1919
Publisher: Topeka : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1464