USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Cooper County, Missouri > Part 73
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Robert S. Tevis is a worthy descendant of excellent ancestors and is keeping alive the traditions of the family. He has made some sub- stantial improvements on the old homestead and is successful as a farmer and citizen. He has recently completed a 200 ton concrete silo on the place.
Mr. Tevis is a democrat as were his ancestors. He is prominent in the affairs of his township and county and is well and favorably known throughout the county. Mr. Tevis is a member of the Methodist Church South.
Edgar A. Carpenter, an energetic young farmer of North Moniteau township and owner of an excellent farm of 120 acres eight miles east of Bunceton, was born on a farm in Clarks Fork township Nov. 13, 1890, son of George A. and Mary M. (McCulloch) Carpenter, prominent residents of that community. Col. R. A. McCulloch, maternal grandfather of Mr. Carpenter, was an officer of the Confederate army during the Civil War and spent his last days in this county. He died Dec., 1911, and was buried in Pisgah cemetery, which is a part of the original confines of Mr. Carpenter's farm.
Reared on the home farm in Clarks Fork, Edgar A. Carpenter re- ceived his early schooling in the Ellis district school and during the years 1909, 1910 attended the Missouri Valley College at Marshall. He then resumed farming on the home place until 1911, when he began farming on his own account. He bought the farm on which he is now living and Feb. 28, 1912, moved onto the same. Mr. Carpenter has made substantial improvements. He has a good two-story seven-room farm house, a sub- stantiał barn 48x48, a machine shed and other suitable buildings. In addition to general farming, Mr. Carpenter gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock, is now feeding a car load of cattle and has a fine bunch of Duroc Jersey hogs.
June 7, 1911, Edgar A. Carpenter was united in marriage to Edna Missouri Lewis, who also was born in this county, and to this union two children have been born, Gladys Margaret and Robert Allen, the latter named in honor of his great-grandfather, the late Col. Robert Allen Mc- Culloch. Mrs. Carpenter is a daughter of J. F. and Margaret (King) Lewis, of North Moniteau township. J. F. Lewis also was born in this county, son of John M. Lewis, who was an early settler near Otterville. Mrs. Lewis was born in Moniteau County, where the Kings had located in
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.
pioneer days. She and Mr. Lewis were married at Tipton. To their union seven children were born: Miss Aura Lewis, of Kansas City; Mrs. Car- penter; Minnie, died at the age of 19 years, and Susan Frances, Mary Belle, Mildred and Lucille, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter are mem- bers of the Pisgah Baptist Church and Mr. Carpenter is affiliated with the Mystic Workers of the World at that place.
John R. Smith, a former teacher of Cooper County and for the past 20 years engaged in the mercantile business at Pisgah, one of the best known men in that section of the county. He was born on a farm near Clarksburg, Moniteau County, June 30, 1858, son of John I. and Peggy (Guyer) Smith, who were among the best known residents of Pisgah.
John I. Smith was a Kentuckian. He came to this state during the early '40s and located in Cooper County. He was for a short time a resident of Moniteau County, but soon made his permanent home half a mile southeast of Pisgah, in North Moniteau township, this county, and here spent the remainder of his life, as did his wife. She was born in Vir- ginia and came to this county with her parents. John Smith and his wife are buried in the Guyer cemetery. They were the parents of ten chil- dren, of whom three are still living: John R .; Mrs. Christina Diffenbaugh, Eldon; and Mrs. Birdie Scott, Pleasant Green. The deceased members of this family are Berry, Mrs. Mallie Allison, William, Mrs. Lucy Yancey, Henry, Mrs. Mattie Russell and Charles.
J. R. Smith received his schooling in the local schools and as a young men was for three winters engaged in teaching in this county, continuing his farm labors during the summers. In 1897, he bought an interest in the business of his father-in-law, Squire Moore, of the Moore Mercantile Company at Pisgah, and became actively engaged in the mercantile busi- ness at that place. This mutually agreeable partnership continued until the death of Squire Moore, after which the latter's son, T. J. Moore, bought his father's interest. A year later Mr. Smith bought his new partner's interest in the business and has since been conducting the store alone. He carries a general line of goods required in the local trade, handles all kinds of country produce and is recognized as one of the lead- ing merchants in that part of the county. Mr. Smith is a member of the Mystic Workers of the World at Pisgah.
In Aug., 1897, J. R. Smith was married to Ollie Frances Moore, daugh- ter of Squire Moore and Frances (Lovell) Moore, both now deceased. The late Squire Moore, who for years was one of the best known and most influential figures in the community life of the Pisgah, is buried in Pisgah
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cemetery. He and his wife had four children, Mrs. Smith having three brothers, Robert Moore, Wyoming; T. J. Moore, Moniteau township, and Edward Moore, Moniteau township. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have five chil- dren: Ruth, who was graduated from the Pisgah High School and is now a Cooper County teacher; Zaney, who also was graduated from Pisgah High School and is now teaching; Roy, who is now attending high school at Bunceton, and Woodson and Squire. The Smiths have a pleasant home at Pisgah and have ever taken an interested and helpful part in the gen- eral social activities of that community.
Charles H. Drechsel, one of Boonville township's best known and most substantial farmers was born in Saxony, Oct. 18, 1859, son of Charles H. and Wilhelmina (Pasley) Drechsel, both natives of that country, to whom were born five children, of whom the subject of this sketch is now the only survivor. In 1865 the senior Charles H. Drechsel and his wife and children came to America and settled at Boonville, where the father pres- ently bought a farm in Boonville township. Fifteen years later, in 1880, he made a visit back to his old home across the water and remained about three months, returning then to Boonville. About a week after his return he was taken suddenly ill and died, being then at the age of 53. His widow was married first time to Philip Pasley and by this first union was the mother of two children, of whom but one, Charles Pasley, of Kansas City, Mo., is living. She died in 1908 at the age of 72 years.
Charles H. Drechsel was but five years of age when he came to this country with his parents. He was reared on a farm in Boonville town- ship, receiving his schooling in the Clear Spring district school. As a young man he worked for some time by the month and then began to farm his father's place, inheriting 40 acres of it upon the death of his father. From time to time, as his affairs prospered, he bought more land, until he now is the owner of 551 acres, 260 acres of which lies in his home farm in section 1, well improved and amply equipped for the general farming and stock raising carried on so successfully by the pro- prietor. Mr. Drechsel is a republican. He and his family are members of the Evangelical Church, the faith in which he was reared, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias at Boonville.
In 1883, Charles H. Drechsel was united in marriage with Ellen Mellor, a member of one of the old families in this community. To this union seven children have been born, namely: Henry, deceased; Fred, deceased; Sophia, wife of John McNorton, of Boonville township; Rosa, wife of C. Meeks, of Kansas City, Mo .; Ernest, of Boonville township; Robert, at home, and Florence, wife of E. Quint, of Boonville. Mrs.
MR. AND MRS. CHARLES H. DRECHSEL
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
Drechsel was born at Belleville, Ill., Jan. 10, 1864, and was but a child when her parents, Fred and Jessie (Payne) Mellor, came to Cooper County, where kinsfolk had preceded them, and located on a farm in Boonville township. Fred Mellor was a native of Germany and his wife was born in Virginia.
Hon. Henry Judson Yancey, former state senator and for many years one of the best known and most influential figures in the political life of Cooper County, was born near the place on which he is now living, a mile south of Pisgah, in North Moniteau township, in 1853, son of Capt. Alfred and Jane Ann (Bowles) Yancey, both members of pioneer fam- ilies. Mrs. Bowles, grandmother of Senator Yancey, was a charter mem- ber of the Pisgah Baptist Church, and her brother, the Rev. John Longan, will always be held in pleasant memory hereabouts as the pioneer Bap- tist minister of this region. Almost from the days of his boyhood, the Rev. John Longan was a devoted missionary throughout this country, traveling horseback from settlement to settlement, preaching the gospel and neither expecting nor receiving compensation. It is a matter of early note that the only material compensation this devoted missioner ever re- ceived was on one occasion when his horse died and the members of his scattered congregations bought him another horse. But his memory is still green heareabout and when Pisgah Church celebrates its centenary, his long and faithful labor of love will be brought to mind.
Capt. Alfred Yancey, father of Senator Yancey, was born in Ken- tucky in the year 1820 and was but six years of age when he came with his parents to Missouri in 1826, the family first settling in Howard County and later came to Cooper County, where the Yanceys have ever since been prominently represented. Captain Yancey married here and settled on the farm just south of Pisgah, near where his son, the Senator, is now living. Preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, he was commis- sioned captain of the local company of state militia and rendered valuable service to the Union cause. After the war he settled down to his farm- ing and became a substantial farmer and landowner. Captain Yancey died in 1893 and his widow died in 1894. Both are buried in the Sapping- ton Cemetery at Clarksburg. They were the parents of four children, of whom Senator Yancey is now the only survivor, the others having been Mary Belle, who married George T. Clark, of Clarksburg; Mrs. Bettie Patrick and Jesse Layton Yancey.
Henry Judson Yancey received his schooling in the Yancey district and has given his chief attention to farming. When he was a boy of 17, he went to western Texas, where his uncle, Joseph Bowles, was engaged
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in cattle ranching, and for some time was engaged as a "cowboy," assist- ing his uncle in driving cattle through the then Indian country to Abilene, Kans. Though he enjoyed the wild, free life of the great plains, he re- turned from Abilene, quite content to give his whole time thereafter to th best interests of his home county. From the days of his young man- hood, Senator Yancey has given his earnest and thoughtful attention to civic affairs and has for years been reckoned as one of the strong per- sonal factors in the political life of this section, a leader in the ranks of the Democratic party, and in 1914 was elected to represent this sena- torial district in the 48th and 49th General Assemblies. During this period of service in the Senate, Senator Yancey rendered conspicuous service not only to his own district but to the State at large and had place on several of the important committees of the Senate; his most notable act perhaps being that of introducing and pushing through through the Senate to enactment the bill abolishing capital punishment in the State of Missouri.
Nov. 28, 1876, he was united in marriage to Isabel McNeal, who was born in Ohio, and to this union four children have been born: Jennie Alberta, died at the age of 23 years, and is buried at New Zion church- yard; Alfred Jesse, who is now connected with the State Grain Inspection Department, with headquarters at Kansas City; Mary Belle, wife of Ar- thur Elliott, North Moniteau township, and Anna E., who is at home with her parents. Senator and Mrs. Yancey have 14 grandchildren, the El- liotts having eight children, James Earl, Louis Judson, Vincel Weight, Mervin Lee, Anna May, Leta Belle, Luther Brant and Edward Raymond, while A. J. Yancey and his wife have six children, William Henry, Jesse Poindexter, Ada, Charles Brant, Woodrow Wilson, and Mary Frances. The Senator and his wife are members of the Pisgah Baptist Church and he is a member of the Mystic Workers of the World at Pisgah.
Mrs. Yancey's father, Archibald McNeal, also was a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War and died in service. He was a native of Ohio, as was his wife, who before her marriage was Mary Elizabeth Lippy. They were among the early residents of Moniteau township, and there Mrs. McNeal spent her last days. She died on May 5, 1887, and is buried in New Zion churchyard. Mrs. Yancey has a brother, George Mc- Neal, of Montrose, Mo.
Benjamin L. Morris, a substantial farmer of North Moniteau town- ship, has been for more than 20 years one of Cooper County's best known school teachers. Mr. Morris was born on a farm near Tipton, Mo., Dec. .
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7, 1866, son of Hugh B. and Juda (Davis) Morris, both born in Missouri, the former in Howard and the latter in Cooper County, and who reared a family of 10 children, all of whom are living. Hugh B. Morris was a son of Shadrack Morris, who was a son of Hammond Morris, a Virginian, who settled in this section of Missouri more than a hundred years ago. Hugh B. Morris was born in 1825 and died in 1907. His wife was born in Moniteau township in 1833 and died in Nov., 1918. Both are buried in the Pisgah Baptist Cemetery.
Of the 10 children of Hugh B. and Juda (Davis) Morris, B. L. Morris was the eighth in order of birth. He received his schooling in the local district schools, and Missouri State University at Columbia. Among his classmates at the university was the late Judge Divelbis, of Richmond, whose recent tragic death at that place was the occasion of such a shock to his friends. Upon his return from the university, Mr. Morris resumed farming and has ever since been thus engaged. In addition to his farm- ing, he has been for more than 20 years engaged in teaching school dur- ing the winters and is thus one of the best known and most influential members of Cooper County's excellent teaching force. In 1891, Mr. Mor- ris bought the farm on which he is now living, at the edge of the pleasant village of Pisgah, and has since resided there. In 1897, he erected a new house. In 1904 he built a new barn, which was swept away in 1909 in a cyclone, and he straightway put up another and better barn, a substantial structure 46x40 feet. His farm is one of the best in that neighborhood. The farm is well watered, several excellent springs being supplemented by a never-failing driven well, 176 feet in depth. Naturally Mr. Morris has given his close attention to local school conditions and in May, 1913, was one of the organizers of consolidated School District No. 1, of which, with the exception of two years, he ever since has been secretary, and to the general extension of which he devoted his efforts. Mr. and Mrs. Morris are members of the Pisgah Baptist Church, and their son, Lewis L. Morris, is clerk of the congregation.
December 22, 1891, B. L. Morris was married to Patience Baughman, who was born on the farm near Bunceton. She is a daughter of Henry and Anna '(Cole) Baughman, both born in this county, the former in 1835 and the latter in 1847. Both the Baughmans and the Coles are among the real "old families" of this section, particularly the Coles, for Mrs. Morris's maternal grandfather, Samuel Cole, was a son of Hannah Cole, after whom Cole's Fort received its name in the days of the Indian trou- bles in connection with the war of 1812. The Coles came from Virginia.
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Henry Baughman died in 1911 and his widow died in 1918. Both are buried in the Baptist Cemetery at Pisgah. They were the parents of seven children, of whom Mrs. Morris was the third in order of birth, the others being Charles Baughman, of Bunceton; Mrs. Margaret Underwood, of Webb City; Mrs. Minnie Morris and Mrs. Flora Edwards, of Bunceton ; Mrs. Mary Hadley, of Glendora, Calif ; and Mrs. Katie Gilbert, of Bunceton.
Mr. and Mrs. Morris have one son, Lewis L. Morris, born on Dec. 28, 1893, graduated from the Bunceton High School, and on Nov. 23, 1916, was united in marriage to Alice Doll, daughter of Ellen Edward and Nannie (Patton) Doll, residents of this county. Mrs. Alice Morris was born in Illinois, coming to this county with her parents, and was graduated from the Bunceton High School. Lewis L. Morris, who, with his wife, makes his home on the Morris farm, is a valued assistant to his father.
Philip Peter Neef, owner of "Riverside Farms" in Boonville town- ship, is a substantial farmer and stockman, was born in that township and has lived there all his life. He was born May 13, 1857, in Boonville town- ship, son of Jacob and Elizabeth Neef, natives of Germany.
Jacob Neef came to this country with his parents in 1848, immediately following the unsuccessful revolution in Germany, the family locating on a farm three miles west of Boonville. Not long after coming here he was married and began farming on his own account in Boonville township. During the Civil War he espoused the Union cause and served as a mem- ber of the Home Guards and was killed at the battle of Boonville in 1864, he then being about 36 years of age, and his widow was left with a family of small children to look after. She kept her family together and sur- vived her husband many years. She died in 1896, at 75 years of age. To Jacob Neef and wire were born six children as follows: George, de- ceased; Fred, living near Boonville; Mollie, wife of E. L. Moehle, Boon- ville township; Philip Peter: Frank, deceased, and Jacob, deceased.
Having been but seven years of age when his father was killed in battle, Philip P. Neef early found himself facing responsibilities and labors such as are spared the average boy and he thus grew up self- reliant and able to face the future. He stuck to the farm and after his marriage in 1879 rented a farm. In 1882 he bought 85 acres, a part of the farm on which he is now living and there established his home in a log cabin that was standing on the place. The ground was but incom- pletely cleared and was full of stumps, but the new owner went to work with a will and soon had it cleared and it also was not long until he had a more habitable dwelling house on the place. Mr. Neef added to his
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حمدبـ
PHILIP PETER NEEF AND FAMILY
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land holdings until now he is the owner of 317 acres of excellent land, 195 acres of which is in the home place, and he is one of the well-to-do farmers of the community. In 1900, Mr. Neef bought 110 acres adjoin- ing his original 85 and in 1906 he bought another farm of 123 acres as a home for his elder son, Carl, who also is making his home in Boonville township. Mr. Neef and his sons are republicans and the family are members of the Evangelical Church.
Dec. 28, 1879, Philip P. Neef was married to Julia C. Huth, who also was born in Boonville township, and to this union were born two sons, Carl A. and John H., the latter of whom, born on June 21, 1882, is unmar- ried and remains at home and is managing "Riverside Farms", the home place, and is one of the most successful breeders of Cooper County. He breeds Mammoth jacks, Percheron horses, Shorthorn cattle and O. I. C. and Chester White hogs, eligible to registration. For 13 years he has been a successful breeder of S. C. R. I. Reds, Reid's Yellow Dent seed corn and Poole, Marvelous, Fultz and Harvest King seed wheat.
Carl A. Neef, who was born on Dec. 15, 1880, married Flora Gantner and is living on a farm not far from his father's place. He and his wife have four children, Philip F., Catherine J., Carl E. and Margaret J., lively youngsters in whom their grandparents take much delight. Mrs. Julia C. Neef was born in Boonville township on Sept. 5, 1856, one of the seven children born to John Peter and Mary Madeline (Back) Huth, five of which children, three sons and two daughters, are still living. John Peter Huth and his wife were both in Germany and were married in this county, where their last days were spent. Mr. Huth came to the United States in 1848 and not long after his arrival in this country joined the rush for the gold fields of California, making the arduous overland trip. He re- turned in 1852 via Cape Horn and New York City and came to Missouri, loeating on a farm in Boonville township, where after his marriage in 1853 he and his wife lived. There Mr. Huth died May 26, 1896, aged 74 years. . His widow died in 1909 and was 79 years of age.
Truman H. Morris, one of the best known agriculturists in the south- ern part of Cooper County, and formerly one of the county's best known school teachers, is a native son of Cooper County, and a member of one of the county's pioneer families. He was born on a farm four miles north of Tipton, son of Hugh B. and Juda A. (Davis) Morris, both members of pioneer families. Hugh B. Morris entered from the government a farm north of Tipton. Eight of his 10 children were born, the two younger chil- dren being born on the farm to which he moved in 1868, and which is
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now owned and occupied by his son, Snode Morris. The Morrises have been represented in this section since territorial days.
Truman H. Morris received his schooling in the local district school and Missouri State University, which he attended during the years 1881- 82-83. Meanwhile he had been giving his attention to farming during the summers, at the same time teaching school during the winters, and for 25 years continued this dual vocation, 13 years of this period being spent at teacher at the Greenwood school. In all of that time Mr. Morris's employment as a teacher did not take him into districts farther than two miles removed from his home and he thus was enabled to carry on his farming operations uninterrupted. In 1904 Mr. Morris bought from the J. W. Penn estate his present farm of 200 acres, seven miles east of Bunceton. This is the old John R. French farm and the house of 15 rooms which stands on the place was erected by Mr. French before the Civil War. In this house are three great stone fire-places, which were built by the late Col. Robert A. McCulloch, and which are in good condi- tion. A stone fence and stile, together with great stone hitching-posts, at the front of the house, built more than 60 years ago, and a stone fence to the west, probably built at the same time, still stand, as true to the line as when built. The fine forest trees in the front yard were planted by Mr. French. It is recalled that in the days of the French proprietorship there, Mr. French maintained an orchard of 60 acres and the cider vine- gar which he produced from the products of that orchard helped no little in establishing the reputation Missouri has long held as a vinegar state. The old building in which he operated his cider-mill is still standing. On one occasion, Mr. French was unable to get barrels in sufficient quantities to care for his cider and he pumped the water out of his four cisterns and filled them with cider. Since taking possession of the place, Mr. Morris has made substantial improvements, including the erection of two barns, one 56x64 and the other 36x40, and has in other ways brought the farm plant up-to-date. Mr. Morris is a democrat and in 1895 he made the race in the primaries for the nomination for clerk of the Circuit Court. Fra- ternally, he is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Prairie Home and he and his family are members of the Christian Church at Pisgah.
Dec. 21, 1883, Truman H. Morris was married to Bettie Clawson, who also was born in this county, and to this union three children have been born; Jesse Teel, who is in government service in Washington, D. C .; and John Paul and Edith Gertrude, twins, who were graduated from the high school at Bunceton with the class of 1919. Jesse Teel
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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY
Morris, who is a graduate of the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Columbia University (New York), and of Carnegie Technical Institute at Pittsburgh, was for some time engaged as supervisor of manual training in one of the high schools at Pittsburgh, but transferred his services to the Government, and is now connected with the agricultural department in the bureau of live-stock inspection at Washington. Mrs. Morris was born in Clarks Fork township, a daughter of Jesse and Catherine (Pal- mer) Clawson, both long since deceased. Jesse Clawson was a well-known business man, and had an interest in a St. Louis packing plant. He died in 1865, and his widow died in 1900. Bot hare buried in Pisgah Cem- etery. They were the parents of nine children, five of whom are still living, Mrs. Morris having two brothers, R. M. Clawson, of Cass County, this State, and J. W. Clawson, of Vinita, Okla., and two sisters, Miss Kate Clawson and Mrs. L. M. Hagen, who are living in Los Angeles, Cal.
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