USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 56
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George Oak was born in Jefferson County, Va., Feb. 10, 1843. He accompanied his parents to Cooper County, Mo., in 1858, and has always followed farming and operating threshing outfits. Mr. Oak has resided on the land which he owns since 1873 and settled on the place in 1880. All improvement was placed thereon by himself or under his direction, excepting the house and barn, which were built by William Sombart. The Oak estate consists of 256 acres of good land a few miles south of Boon- ville. In years past Mr. Oak operated a saw mill, grist mill or feed grinder, and threshing outfits, work which has now been taken up by his sons and son-in-law, who are also managing his large farm.
Mr. Oak was married in 1865 to Miss Mary Gault, who was born in Belfast, Ireland, and died in 1918, at the age of 73 years. Eight children were born to George and Mary Oak, as follows: Robert and Edward, de- ceased; Frank lives on the home place; George, died Feb. 2, 1919; Alice, the deceased wife of Alex Hoefer, her death occurring in 1903; Annie is the second wife of Alex Hoefer of Boonville; Margaret is the wife of George Lacey, living on the Oak home place; Bessie is at home.
Mrs. Alice Hoefer was accidentally shot while killing sparrows.
George White Lacey was born in Virginia in 1888, was inducted into the National Army on Sept. 1, 1918, was in training for military service at Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C., and was honorably discharged from the service Jan. 5, 1919.
Mr. Oak has been a lifelong republican, although his son Frank is a pronounced democrat. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and is one of Cooper County's best and most substantial citizens.
Viet C. Eppstein .- The Eppstein family is an old and honored family of Boonville and Cooper County whose members have been prominently identified with Cooper County over four score years. Viet C. Eppstein, traveling salesman of Boonville, is worthy representative of this fine old family. Mr. Eppstein was born in Boonville, April 26, 1862.
The history of the Eppstein family in America begins with Joseph Eppstein, a native of Germany, who with his wife, formerly Barbara
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Reitz, together with their family of seven children, came to America, disembarking at Baltimore, Md. From there they came west on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as far as it ran-about 100 miles-after which they boarded a canal boat which took them to Pittsburg, and thence by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis. Mr. Eppstein left his family in St. Louis, came up the Missouri to Boonville, and located on a farm near Pisgah. Later he moved to Boonville and died in this city of measles in 1858. Joseph Eppstein was a German of the better class in his native land, where he was a manufacturer of coaches and wagons, and also had other important interests. His wife, Barbara, survived him over 30 years, and died in Boonville, in 1882. There were reared a family of five sons and three daughters as follows: Col. Joseph Eppstein, Henry, Viet, George, Frank, Barbara, Katie or Kittie, and Frances, all of whom are deceased.
Col. Joseph A. Eppstein made a record as a citizen and soldier which any American can read with pride and satisfaction. He was born in Germany, Jan. 1, 1824, and was 14 years of age when the family came to America. In 1843 he went to St. Louis and was employed in a store in that city until 1847. In February of that year he enlisted in Company C, 3rd Missouri Mounted Rifles, in which he was made sergeant, and served for nearly two years, until Oct., 1848. After the expiration of his ware service which led him to Mexico City with General Scott's con- quering forces, he returned to St. Louis and in Aug., 1849, was given charge of a store, which he conducted until 1850, and then returned to Boonville. He engaged in the mercantile business with his brother Viet Eppstein until 1860, when he purchased his brother's interest. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he at once organized a company of 135, every one of whom with a single exception was of German birth or ancestry. This company was known as the "Boonville Corps". He then organized a battalion and a company of cavalary, but these were only for local service. He later organized the 6th Battalion Missouri State Guards, and after that a number of companies, both cavalry and infantry. From March 24, 1862 to Jan., 1863, he was lieutenant-colonel of the 13th Cavalry, Missouri State Guards, and then by consolidation of troops, he became the commander of the Missouri State Militia and served until the close of the war. He followed merchandising after the war until 1878, when he was appointed postmaster of Boonville and served until his death in 1885. In 1867 and 1868 he represented Cooper County in the Legislature. June 14, 1846, he was married to Theresa Bertrand of St. Louis. He was
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father of seven children: Joseph M., William H., Emil M., Louis B., Alex- ander, Charles A., and Theresa G.
Viet Eppstein, father of V. C. Eppstein, whose name heads this review, was born Feb. 12, 1827, and died March 7, 1901. He was born at Mainz, Germany, and was 14 years of age when he left home and became a clerk in the store of Davy Jones at Pisgah, he then went to New Orleans and remained for a time. Upon his return to Boonville he engaged in partnership with his brother Joseph in the mercantile business, in 1850. He continued actively in business until 1869, when he made a trip to Europe where he remained for a year. Returning in 1871, he purchased the store of his brother and when he had attained the age of 60 years (1887) he retired from active business, while retaining an interest in the Eppstein store which was conducted then by his son, Viet C. Eppstein, having as partner George Hain, under which management the store con- tinued in operation until 1900. In that year V. C. Eppstein sold his inter- est in the business to his father. Upon the elder Eppstein's death in 1901, the widow sold the business to George Hain in 1906.
Mr. Eppstein was public administrator of Cooper County from 1872 to 1876, and was reelected in 1880 and served until the latter part of 1884. He served several terms as a member of the City Council of Boon- ville and was known as a public spirited citizen. Mr. Eppstein was a man of broadness and culture who reared a splendid family of sons and daugh- ters. He was married on Nov. 20, 1851 to Miss Fannie, daughter of Anthony Fox who came to this country in 1835. Anthony Fox was a native of Herbelsheim near Strasbourg. He first settled in New Orleans, and in 1835 accompanied by his wife, Rosalie, he came to Boonville and established a brewery which he operated for a number of years. The children of Charles and Rosalie Fox were: Frank, Charles, Rosa, Amelia, and Mrs. Fannie Eppstein, deceased ; and Mrs. Sophia (Sombart) Miller, one of the oldest pioneer women of Boonville. Mrs. Fannie (Fox) Epp- stein was born in 1835 and died in 1908. The children born to Viet C. and Fannie Eppstein were: Louise, Rose, Mary, Viet C., Fannie, Sallie, Lollie.
Louise is the wife of Daniel Wooldridge, who formerly operated "Dan's Drug Store", was known as Mr. Dan, was a fine musician and a town character. Both Dan and Louise Wooldridge are deceased. .
Rose married George Sahm, who for many years with his father George Sahm, Sr., conducted a very successful shoe business in Boonville, and died in 1896. She has one daughter, Corinne Frances, wife of H. M.
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Herzog, an interior decorator. Mrs. Herzog is mother of a son, Herman Theodore Maximilian Herzog. Mary is the wife of George Hain, retired merchant of Boonville. Fannie married M. A. Eisen, druggist of Hot Springs, Ark. Sallie is wife of C. H. Weaver, of Hot Springs, Ark. Lollie is the wife of John Tillman, superintendent of the Jefferson Hotel, St. Louis, Mo.
Viet C. Epstein was educated in Prof. Merrill's Seminary, where he studied for three years. He spent four in the Boonville public schools. He then studied for four years in Mentzker's Business College and re- ceived a thorough ground work in business preparation. He entered the Eppstein store in 1879 and remained in the business until 1900. In Nov., 1901, he began traveling for the Swofford Brothers Dry Goods Company of Kansas City and was in the employ of this firm for four years. He was then in the employ of the Ferguson-Mckinney Company of St. Louis for 10 years. Aug. 1, 1916, he became a member of the traveling sales force of the Richardson Dry Goods Company, of St. Joseph, covering west- ern and central Missouri.
Mr. Eppstein was married Nov. 15, 1887 to Miss Belle Gentry, of Louisiana, Mo., a daughter of Capt. Jesse and Susan Gentry, natives of Virginia. Captain Gentry served with the Union Army during the Civil War and was with Sherman on his famous march to the sea." Mr. Epp- stein has one son, Viet Gentry Eppstein, born May 4, 1889. He is engaged in the publishing business and is president of Rogers and Hall Publishing Company, of Chicago. V. G. Eppstein is a born newspaper man and pub- lisher. At the age of 13 years he edited and published the "Boonville Success", and at that time was said to have been the youngest editor in the country. He graduated from the Kemper Military Academy in 1907, studied for two years at the State University, and two years at the Uni- versity of Chicago. This talented young man has worked his way upward to the presidency of the Rogers and Hall Publishing Company from a subordinate position paying $15 per week. He married Miss Peggy Zim- merman of Chicago.
Mrs. Belle (Gentry) Eppstein was born Feb. 28, 1869 and died Aug. 6, 1918. She was a talented, popular and well loved woman of Boonville who has been sadly missed from the best social circles of the city.
Mr. Eppstein is a democrat. He is a member of the Catholic Church, and is affiliated with the United Commercial Travelers, the Travelers Health Association, the Travelers Protective Association, and the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Eppstein made a trip to Europe in 1881 and traveled
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over the continent for more than a year. He visited Mainz, the ancestral seat of the Eppstein family and found that from records which dated back 200 years, that his ancestors had originally come from Vienna, Austria. in 1681. His original ancestor who came from Vienna, was a tanner by trade, but most of his lineal descendants were farmers.
Frank Klekamp .- One of the prettiest farms in this section of Mis- souri is that of Frank Klekamp, in Clarks Fork township, Cooper County. The Klekamp holdings consist of 160 acres, 120 acres of which is com- prised in the home place, where Mr. Klekamp and his family have resided since June 20, 1916. Forty acres of the farm is pasture and timber land. The Klekamp tract is improved with a beautiful, modern bungalow, and is one of the prettiest homes on Lone Elm Prairie.
Mr. Klekamp was born in Germany, July 4, 1859, and is a son of William and Charlotte Klekamp, who lived and died in their native land. When 22 years of age, Frank Klekamp immigrated to America, and after a residence of one year in St. Louis, where he worked as a common la- borer, he came to Cooper County. From Aug., 1883, he was in the employ of the late John King, as farm laborer, until 1884. Te then worked for Mr. Hockenberry for one year and after his marriage in 1885, he worked for Mr. Hockenberry for two years more. With his savings he became possessed of a team of horses, and carefully saving his earnings, he bought 100 acres of land in 1888, improved it and then bought his 40 acre tract. In June, 1918, he sold his former homestead to his son, and purchased his present place.
Mr. Klekamp was married in 1885 to Minnie Menzpeter, who was born in Germany, March 18, 1862, and came to America with an uncle in 1882.
Three children were born to Frank and Minnie Klekamp, one of whom died in infancy. The others are Emma and Albert. Emma Klekamp was born in 1890 and is the wife of Augustan Toellner of Clarks Fork town- ship. Albert Klekamp was born Oct. 23, 1891, and married Ilda, daugh- ter of H. P. Muntzel. They were married on April 30, 1916, and have one child, Irene Klekamp.
Mr. Klekamp is a republican, and he and his family worship at the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lone Elm.
George C. Harness .- Seventy-two years of residence in one vicinity and practically on one farm is a record for George C. Harness of Pales- tine township, one of the most interesting of the pioneer residents of
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Cooper County, and owner of a beautiful country estate of 186 acres. All of the improvements on this attractive place have been built by the owner. A driveway leads up to the handsome farm residence and the big red barns. One of the landmarks on the place, which marks the spot where an old time log cabin stood years ago, is a large cedar tree, planted in the early forties. George C. Harness was born on the place, June 29, 1847. Conrad Harness, his father, was a native of Virginia, and was born March 27, 1811. He died March 20, 1898. The Harness family is of Holland Dutch descent. Conrad Harness was a son of Adam Harness, whose father was Peter Harness, a native of Holland, who first settled in Pennsylvania. Adam Harness was a soldier in the War of 1812. Con- rad Harness was married April 19, 1835, to Ann Tucker, who was born April 13, 1817, and died March 3, 1897. She was a daughter of Josephus and Sarah (Hutton) Tucker, who were Cooper County pioneers. The father of Sarah (Hutton) Tucker was a quartermaster in the American Army in the War of 1812. In 1841, Conrad Harness left the old Har- ness home in Virginia and made the long overland trip to Cooper County, driving two six-horse teams, with all of his movable possessions. He located on the farm now owned by the subject of this review. The first home of the family was a two-story log house; later the family moved to a new one-and-a-half story log house, which was a comfortable abode. Conrad Harness settled on what was known for years as the Harness homestead in 1850 and accumulated a large estate of over 600 acres prior to his death. The children born to Conrad and Ann (Tucker) Harness are as follows: Jacob T., deceased; John Josephus, deceased ; William T. died at Lexington, Okla .; Henry C., and Charles C., deceased; George Conrad, of this sketch; Isaac H., a ranchman at Chickasha, Okla .; Sarah Elizabeth Hurst, deceased; Edwin B., deceased; Mrs. Henry Crawford, Palestine township.
George Conrad Harness attended school in a little old log school house, where the pupils had to chop the wood to keep the big stove filled with chunks of wood. Two boys were detailed each week for this job and they managed to spend most of their time keeping up the fire, car- rying wood for a distance of about one-fourth mile. The pupils sat on rough slab benches. An old fashioned pine desk ran clear around the room, with a shelf beneath for books and slates. The bench on which the small youngsters sat had no backs and they were continually tumbling off to the floor. When the teacher called the class, the boys would jerk
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the big bench up. The room was eventually heated by a little wood stove, the pipe of which ran through a hole in the middle of the roof. As a re- sult, the log house caught fire and burned to the ground one day, and George Harness felt "blue" about it for a time.
Cooper County was a hunter's paradise in the forties and wild ducks and geese were plentiful. Prairie chickens and pigeons swarmed over the land in untold numbers and George Harness became a good shot. The most fun was the hunting of wild turkeys at night in the timber. Conrad Harness, his father, killed many deer around Bunceton, but the deer were all gone when George was big enough to hunt deer. The children of those old days lived under primitive conditions, but were happy and contented, more so than the children now-a-days, who have every convenience and luxury at their disposal.
George Conrad Harness was married in 1872 to Martha Dills, who was born in Indiana, July 10, 1855, and died in Cooper County, Mo., May 10, 1910. She was a daughter of John Dills, a Kentuckian, who first migrated to Indiana and then came to Missouri. Two children blessed this union: George Irving, born March 4, 1881; and Nellie Gertrude, her father's capable housekeeper, born Aug. 26, 1885.
Mr. Harness is a democrat and a Baptist, a good and stable and reli- able combination, which indicates that he comes of the old reliable Southern stock.
It is worthy of record that in 1863, Conrad Harness crossed the plains with an ox team outfit, driving three yokes of cattle hitched to a heavy freight wagon through Iowa and thence to Idaho and Montana, where he followed freighting for three years, until his return to Missouri in 1867.
Walter Wade Reavis is owner of a fine farm of 240 acres in Clarks Fork township. He was born on what is now the George A. Carpenter farm, Clark's Fork township, on Aug. 1, 1867, son of Henry Joseph and Lucy A. (Gentry) Reavis, the former of whom was born on that same farm. Henry J. Reavis was born in 1839, his parents having been among the early residents of that part of Cooper County, and continued to make his home on the farm on which he was born until 1872, when he moved to the Meyer place near the store at Clarks Fork. He later moved to what is the farm now owned by his son, Forest, and there died on March 22, 1914. He is buried in the old family cemetery on the farm on which he was born. His widow is living with her son, the subject of this sketch. She was born in Madison County, Ky., in 1849, and came with her parents to Missouri, locating first in Howard County, and in 1877 coming to Cooper County, where, at Bunceton, on Nov. 15, 1866, she was married to Henry
W. W. REAVIS
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J. Reavis. Her father died in this county and is buried at Walnut Grove Cemetery. Her mother died in Howard County, where she was born. To Henry J. and Lucy A. (Gentry) Reavis were born three children: Walter Wade; E. Forest Reavis, who is living on his mother's farm in Clarks Fork township, and Stella W., who died at the age of 10 years.
W. W. Reavis has followed farming all his life. He received his schooling in the Fairview, Jefferson and Ellis district schools and as a young man assisted his father on the farm. In time he became owner of the place on which he and his mother are now living. This farm was owned many years ago by Mrs. Fulkerson, who with her husband is buried on the place. Abraham Weight later bought the place and he and his wife also are buried there. Among other graves in this plot is that of Daniel Davis, a friend of Abraham Weight, who died Nov. 4, 1881. The headstone at Mrs. Fulkerson's grave gives the date of her death as Sept. 11, 1854. Abraham J. Weight's gravestone gives the date of his birth as Nov. 27, 1822; his death, Feb. 3, 1894. Julia A., his wife, born Jan. 25, 1834; died on Feb. 1, 1906. Among the graves are those of an infant son and an infant daughter of the Weights.
Mr. Reavis is one of the best known huntsmen in Cooper County and his home is adorned with numerous trophies of the chase, including a half dozen handsomely mounted deer antlers. He has about 30 deer to his credit. The Reavis family tradition has it that the Reavises were ever great hunters and from the days of his boyhood this present representative of the family has found much pleasure with his dogs and guns. Mr. Reavis also has a valuable collection of Indian relics, arrow points and the like, as well as an interesting collection of pioneer relics, household articles, hunting paraphernalia and the like, formerly used by his grand- father, Henry Johnson Reavis.
Lafayette Montgomery Moore .- One hundred and three years have elapsed since the first of the Moore family settled in Cooper County. Prior to this time there were not white people in this section, excepting roving bands of hunters or trappers .. The Indians roamed at will over the land and camped beside the flowing waters; wild animals were plen- tiful and great forests stretched along the streams and on the hill and valley lands.
The Moore farm in Palestine township, along the valley of the Petit Saline River, known as "Idylhour Place," and formerly owned by the late Lafayette Montgomery Moore, is one of the historic places of interest in Cooper County. This land has been settled for over a century ; during the Civil War a battle was fought thereon between a roving band of Con-
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federates and Union forces. Some men were killed and many wounded; the wounded and dying were taken to the old Moore house on the hill, a landmark in Cooper County. Several soldiers died and were buried near the old house, later to be taken up and removed to the Moore Cemetery. This old brick house was, in bygone days, a station on the overland stage route between Boonville and Versailles, and is situated eight miles south of Boonville. Lafayette Montgomery Moore, of this review, was born in Cooper County, Jan. 16, 1838, and died April 17, 1902, on the farm which his grandfather entered in 1816.
Maj. William Hamilton Moore, grandfather of L. M. Moore, was born in North Carolina in 1777, and died in Cooper County in 1861. He was descended from the distinguished Moore family which numbers among its progenitors, Tom Moore, the songster, and Gen. Wade Hampton Moore, of Revolutionary War fame. Maj. William Moore commanded a battalion of American troops in the War of 1812. He married Anne Cathey, born in Haywood County, N. C. She had five sisters, all of whom were re- markable and talented women. Major Moore became owner of over 3000 acres of land in Cooper County, his land holdings extending as far as the present site of Bunceton, Mo. He tilled his large acreage with slaves, whom he brought from the South. Before his death he freed two of his oldest slaves-the first negro slaves ever set free in Cooper County. Major Moore reared ten sons and three daughters: Dr. William H., An- drew, Robert, John, Thomas, James, deceased; Sarah is wife of John Hutchinson, left a daughter, Mrs. John Elliot; Margaret married Hon. Lawrence V. Stephens, former member of Missouri Legislature and father of Joseph L. Stephens; Mary married Harvey Bunce, for 11 years sheriff of Cooper County and after whom Bunceton was named.
Dr. William H. Moore (II) was born in North Carolina, in 1802, and died in Cooper County in 1867. He was a physician and practiced in Cooper County many years. Dr. Moore also taught school and compiled some of the early textbooks used in the schools of the early days. He was one of the first physicians to practice in Cooper County and at the same time he followed the pursuit of agriculture with considerable suc- cess. He married Edith Trammel of Arkansas and was father of the fol- lowing children : Lafayette Montgomery, of this review; William H. died in Windsor, Mo .; Margaret, wife of James Harris; Martha, wife of Joshua C. Berry, now living at Speed, Mo.
Lafayette Montgomery Moore was educated in the common schools and followed farming and stock raising during his entire life. He built a home upon his farm of 120 acres which was burned and then supplanted
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by the present neat, attractive cottage known as ."Idylhour Place." He was married on March 2, 1865, to Matilda Morton, who bore him children as follows: Lee, died in infancy in 1867; Allen B., born 1867, died 1888; Judge B. L. Moore of Boonville; Harvey Bunce, Gibson Stephens, Edith Grace, and Erastus Beverley Moore.
Harvey Bunce Moore, who resides with his mother on the Moore homestead, was born Jan. 26, 1872. He was educated in Central Busi- ness College, Sedalia, Mo., and the Chillicothe Normal School, and the State University at Columbia, Mo. For five years he taught school in Cooper County and at the same time operated the home farm. Mr. Moore is conducting a business of his own, as manufacturer and salesman of the Kill Germ Disinfectant Company. He is an intelligent, courteous and progressive citizen, who stands high in the estimation of the people of his home county. Mr. Moore, like his ancestors, is a thorough democrat. He is a Baptist. He is affiliated with the Mason's Lodge of Bunceton. Judge B. L. Moore is also a Mason.
Edith Grace Moore is wife of Edgar Rudolph, assessor of Cooper County and is mother of one child, James William Randolph. Prof. E. Beverley Moore was born in 1880, educated at Central Business College of Sedalia and the Kirksville Normal School. He has taught school for the past 17 years. He is also a farmer and owns a farm, one mile east of the Moore farm.
Mrs. Matilda Morton Moore was born in Tennessee, Nov. 14, 1840, and is a daughter of Isaiah and Matilda (Tate) Morton, both natives of Tennessee. Isaiah H. Norton was born in 1803 and died in 1899.
The history of the Morton family in America begins with John Mor- ton, a native of England, who immigrated to America late in the 17th century. John Morton, his grandson, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The father of Isaiah H. Morton was John Morton, who fought in the War of 1812 under Gen. Andrew Jackson, and who disap- peared during Jackson's last campaign. Matilda Tate Morton was a daughter of Maj. John Tate, an officer in the American Army during the War of 1812.
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