History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 78

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

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Mr. Gentry was married in 1886 to Miss Emily F. Haynes, a daughter of Anthony and Mary (Montgomery) Haynes, both of whom are now deceased. The father was a prominent educator, and for many years was a professor in the Young Ladies Seminary at Boonville. Mr. and Mrs. Gentry have an adopted daughter, Catherine Sneed Gentry, who is

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now the wife of Charles A. Clark, of Chicago, Ill. She has one son, Charles T.

Mr. Gentry is a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and Mrs. Gentry are members of the Presby- terian Church, and rank among Cooper County's leading citizens.

Frederick Charles Betteridge, the capable cashier of the Cooper County Bank, Bunceton, Mo., is a native of Canada. He was born at Guelph, Ont., Oct. 10, 1870, a son of George and Ann Maria (Jones) Bet- teridge. The parents were both natives of England, where they were married, and about 1860 went to Canada, settling at Guelph. In 1874 the family removed to Connecticut and settled near Woodstock. In 1877 they went to Illinois and lived at Greenville about 10 years, and in 1888 came to Missouri and settled in Cooper County near Bunceton. The father now resides at Bunceton at the age of 85 years, the mother having died in 1899. They were the parents of the following children: William A., a well known breeder of Shorthorn cattle at Pleasant Green, Mo .; G. A., a farmer and stockman in Kelly township; Mrs. A. L. Palmer, Lebanon township, and Frederick Charles.

Frederick C. Betteridge was educated in the public schools and Ken- tucky University at Lexington, Ky., where he was graduated from the business department of that institution. He taught school for 11 years in Cooper County, and was very successful as an educator. In 1903, Mr. Betteridge accepted the position of assistant cashier of the Cooper County Bank, and after 11 years of service with that institution he became cash- ier, a position which he has since held. Mr. Betteridge has been identified with the Cooper County Bank for over 16 years, and during that time this institution has developed rapidly and kept pace with the commercial and financial requirements of the progressive town and surrounding coun- try. The deposits of this bank in 1903 were about $80,000.00, and today they are about $300,000.00. The original surplus was $2,000.00, and it is now $42,000.00. The capital stock is $20,000.00.

Frederick Charles Betteridge was united in marriage Aug. 14, 1900, to Miss Lillian May Baughman, a daughter of Samuel P. and Laura Baugh- man, natives of Kentucky. The father died in 1919, aged 81, and the mother now resides with Mrs. Betteridge in Bunceton.

Mr. Betteridge owns a fine farm of 145 acres in Kelly township, which he bought in 1899. He directs the operation of this farm per- sonally, and has made a success of farming and stock raising, as well as banking. He is a careful student of the complicated problem of banking

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and financing, which, together with years of experience in this field, well qualify him for the responsible position which he holds. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and has an extensive acquaintance over Cooper County and an intimate knowledge of it's business affairs.

Benjamin Harned, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Kelly town- ship, is a descendant of a pioneer family. He was born at Price's Land- ing, Scott County, Mo., March 25, 1859, and is a son of George and Marcia (Pash) Harned, both natives of Nelson County, Ky. They settled in Scott County about 1855, and 10 years later came to Cooper County and settled on the farm which is now owned by W. P. Harned, and here spent the remainder of their lives. George Harned was one of the earliest Shorthorn breeders of Cooper County and prior to his death he sold a part of his herd to his son. W. P. Harned, who still continues the business. Lee Harned, a brother of George Harned, was a Confederate soldier in the Civil War, and was killed at the battle of Shiloh. Another brother, Atkin Lee Harned, lost an arm in the battle of Baton Rouge, La., while in the Confederate service. George and Marcia (Pash) Harned, were the par- ents of the following children: W. P. lives near Vermont Station; Ben- jamin, the subject of this sketch; Edwin Price, Bunceton; Hulda, mar- ried Walter Williams, and died at Columbia, Mo., and Atkins, died in infancy.

Benjamin Harned was educated in the public schools at Franklin and in Professor Cully's school at Bunceton. He has followed farming and stock raising all his life, and has met with very satisfactory success. He moved to his present farm in April, 1902. His home farm consists of 247 acres and is known as "Walnut Rows Farm". This very appropriate name is given the place on account of two rows of walnut trees which stood along the road side at the place. Mr. Harned owns in all 563 acres and is one of the prosperous farmers and stock raisers of Cooper County. His other farm of 320 acres is called "Tanglewild".

Jan. 10, 1888, Benjamin Harned was married to Miss Bettie Brad- ley, a daughter of R. L. and Marian (Clark} Bradley. The former a native of Page County, Va., and the latter of Frankfort, Ky. R. L. Brad- ley came to Cooper County in 1847 and settled on a farm 4 miles west of Bunceton. He spent the remainder of his life in this county and died in 1892, age 67 years. His wife died in 1908, age 78 years. They were the parents of the following children: Frank Slaughter, born Nov. 17, 1856, and died Sept. 13, 1881; John Williams died in infancy; Margaret Lee, died in infancy ; Tompkins, born Jan. 13, 1859, lives in Camden County,

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Mo .; Mary McPherson, born Feb. 24, 1865, and died June 30, 1895; Sue Clark, born Feb. 24, 1869, and resides at Boonville, Mo .; Bettie, the wife of Benjamin Harned, the subject of this sketch, born June 23, 1867. All of the above named children were born in Kelly township, Cooper County. Mrs. Harned was educated in the public schools of Kelly township and the Baptist Female College at Columbia, Mo.

To Benjamin Harned and wife have been born the following children: George, at home with his parents; Bettie married R. L. Harriman, Bunce- ton; Clara Virginia, married Clyde T. Nelson; Benjamin, Jr., married Eunice Jones ; Josephine, Hulda, Atkin Lee, Porter Allen, Myrtle Jewett, and Marian and Marcia, twins, all residing at home with their parents. There is one grandchild in the family, Bettie Lee Harned, daughter of Benjamin Harned, Jr.

The Harned family is well known and highly respected in Cooper County and Benjamin Harned is a public spirited and enterprising citizen.

Adam Schuster, one of LaMine township's most substantial farmers and land-owners, and a member of the board of directors of the Farmers Stock Bank of Blackwater, was born in this county in 1855. He is next to the youngest of the six children born to Frank and Terrica (Cleatta) Schuster, pioneers of Cooper County.

Frank Schuster was a weaver by trade in his native Germany, and early became imbued with a desire, like thousands of his fellow countrymen, to come to America to find a home amid the free conditions of the unsettled West. Weaving by night and farming by day, he saved enough money to bring himself and wife and their small children here. Upon his arrival in this country, he settled in St. Louis, and after a couple of years there joined the German colony in Cooper County and bought a farm of tim- bered land in LaMine township, and there built a home. Among the children born to him and his wife after their arrival in this country was Adam, the subject of this sketch. The other children of this pioneer couple were as follows: Moritz, deceased, further mention of whom is made in this volume; Mrs. Sophia Sandrock, deceased; Joseph, a shoe- maker at Boonville; William, deceased; and Anna, who married Joseph Esser, and is now deceased. The mother of these children died at her home in LaMine township about 1861, and five or six years later Frank Schuster returned to Germany and there married a second time, return- ing to his home in Cooper County with his second wife. Some years later he made a second trip back to Germany on a visit to kinsfolk. Not long after his return home, about 1870, a wagon in which he was riding

MR. AND MRS. ADAM SCHUSTER

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

was caught at a railway crossing by a train and he received injuries from which he died not long afterward, he then being about 65 years of age.

Adam Schuster was about 15 years of age when his father died, and he thus early was thrown pretty largely upon his own resources. He began working as a farm hand at $14 dollars a month, but continued his schooling, however, during the winter months. When 17 years of age he began working for Adam Eckert at the butcher trade, and was thus em- ployed for three years, when he went to St. Louis to work, and while there witnessed the completion of the first bridge constructed across the Mis- sissippi River. He worked as a butcher in St. Louis for two years, and then went to Virginia City, Nev., where he worked at butchering for two years, when he returned to his old home in this county and resumed his work as a farm hand. In 1880, he rented the farm on which he now lives, and in 1882 bought the same. Mr. Schuster has 464 acres in his home farm, and owns beside a farm of 86 acres near Pilot Grove. He is a mem- ber of the board of directors of the Farmers Stock Bank at Blackwater, which he helped to organize, and of which he has been a director since its organization ; he also is a stockholder in the Arrow Rock Bank. When he bought his present farm it was raw prairie, and all the improvements on the place have thus been made by himself. He recalls well that in his father's day the farming was done by oxen, and the wheat was reaped with scythes. Many a day, he recalls, has he plowed corn with oxen. One year his father had 17 acres in wheat which made 1,700 bushels. This wheat was hauled in barrels to the mouth of the LaMine River, whence it was taken by steamboats to St. Louis, where it sold on the market at $2.25 a bushel. In those days, wild hogs, turkeys and other wild game were plentiful in the LaMine regions, and the settlers had no trouble in keeping their tables supplied with meat. Hogs roamed the timber at will and without apparent ownership, and the man who found one could law- fully call it his own.

Sept. 9. 1883, Adam Schuster was married to Lowell Cramar, who was born on a farm a mile cast of where she now lives, April 17, 1865. daughter of Gabriel Allen and Nancy (Herndon) Cramar, the former of whom was born in this county. a member of one of the pioneer families, and the latter in Madison County, Kv. No children have been born to this union, but Mr. and Mrs. Schuster have reared several nieces and nephews. Mr. Schuster is a republican, though, as he says, "not much on politics," and he and his wife are members of the Christian Church.

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Joseph Sells, one of the enterprising business men of Prairie Home, and a member of the blacksmithing firm of White & Sells, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Moniteau County, Dec. 20, 1887, a son of William H. Sells. William H. Sells was a Union veteran of the Civil War, and a native of Iowa. He enlisted in his native State and served 18 months. After the war he went to Kansas, and from there to Moni- teau County, Mo., and later removed to Texas County, Mo., where he died in 1913. His widow now resides in that county. They were the parents of the following children: Alice, married Joseph Chandler and lives in Oklahoma; Dasie, married William Wood, California, Mo .; Ed., resides at Lupus, Mo .; Guinn, deceased; Sarah, married Philip Wittenberger, Jamestown, Mo .; George, Texas County ; Pink, Texas County ; Joseph, the subject of this sketch; Willie, married Ed. Mayberry, Texas County ; and Vernon resides in Texas County.

Joseph Sells was united in marriage in 1913 to Ida Martin, a daughter of Menro and Eliza (Murl) Martin. The father died in 1908 and his remains are buried in Bethel Cemetery in Moniteau County, and the mother now resides at Lupus. They were the parents of the following children: Clara, married Ambrose Coots, Jamestown; Douglas, resides at Lupus ; Mary ; Nathan, Lupus ; Job, now serving in U. S. Army in France, having enlisted in California; Ida, the wife of Joseph Sells; Cora, mar- ried Harry Childers, Lupus. To Mr. and Mrs. Sells have been born two children: Mildred and Francis. Mr. Sells became a member of the firm of White & Sells in 1919. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America at Jamestown, and he also belongs to the Yeomen at that place. He is a young man of industry and integrity and is making good in his chosen line of industry.

David R. Cully, who during his active professional career, was one of the prominent educators of this state, is a native of Ohio. He was born in Wayne County, Ohio, Jan. 17, 1836, a son of Joseph and Margaret Cully. Joseph Cully was born in Baltimore, Md., about 1798 and settled in Ohio when a young man. He lived to the advanced age of 99 years and 10 months. His wife was born in Washington County, Md., about 1802, and died at the age of 85 years. They were the parents of eight children, two of whom are living, David R., the subject of this sketch, and James, who lives at Cleveland, Ohio, and holds the position of president of the welfare board in that city. The deceased children are William, died at Massilon, Ohio; Mrs. Elizabeth McMillan, died at St. Paul, Minn .; Joseph died at the age of 21 years in Wayne County, Ohio; Mrs. Margaret

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McDowell died at Dalton, Ohio; Mrs. Marrah McCall, died at Crawfords- ville, Iowa, and Thomas died in Florida in Feb., 1918.

David R. Cully was educated in Vermillion Institute, Hayesville, Ohio, and was the youngest student in that institution. He then entered Jeffer- son College, now Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa. and was graduated in the class of 1858. Mr. Cully then came to Boonville, Mo., at the invitation of John W. Sutherland, who was at the head of the Missouri Female College at that place. At that time there was a Baptist College at Hopewell Church, Kelly township, and Mr. Cully taught there for ten months. The following year Hopewell Academy was built and Mr. Cully taught at that institution for six years which included the Civil War period. He then taught two years at the Missouri Female College at Boonville. About this time a building was erected at Concord Church, 3 miles northeast of Bunceton, and was offered to Mr. Cully, provided he would conduct a school there for five years. He accepted the proposition and shortly after this the town of Bunceton was laid out and a railroad built, and this school was moved to Bunceton, where Mr. Cully conducted it for six years. In 1877 he was elected superintendent of the schools of Mexico, Mo., and held that position one year. He was reelected, but on the same day was elected superintendent of the Sedalia schools. He ac- cepted the Sedalia position and served as superintendent of the schools of that city for 10 years. In 1898 he returned to Kelly township and took charge of "Seclusion Stock Farm", where he has since resided.

"Seclusion Stock Farm" is one of the valuable farms of Cooper County. It contains 320 acres and is one of the historic old places of the county. The farm residence, which is over 100 years old, was the second house built in Kelly township.

David R. Cully was united in marriage in 1864 to Miss Susan Chilton, a daughter of Charles and Mary E. (Chilton) Chilton native of Fauquier County, Va. The Chilton family came from Virginia to Missouri about 1840, and first settled at Old Franklin, Howard County, and soon after- wards removed to Boonville. Charles Chilton died at Boonville in 1849 at the age of 29 years. His widow died in 1912 at the age of 86 years. A sister of Mrs. Cully, Eloise Chilton, makes her home with the Cully family and is a half owner of the farm.

The Chilton family are of old American stock and trace their ancestry in this country back to Colonial times, and were early settlers in Cooper County. Mrs. Cully's grandfather, Mark Anthony Chilton, at one time owned 1,100 acres of land in Kelly township. He was a native of Vir-

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ginia. Gen. John Blackwell, of Revolutionary fame, was Mrs. Cully's great grandfather. He received a grant of land from the government in the Sciota Valley in Ohio, and Mark Anthony Chilton inherited an inter- est in that land, which he traded for the Kelly township land. Samuel Chilton, an uncle of Mrs. Cully, was a prominent attorney at Warrenton, Va., and was one of the attorneys who defended John Brown, of Harper's Ferry fame. He was not in sympathy with John Brown's cause, how- ever, he made an able defense for him. This was about the last case that he ever tried. He died in Washington, D. C. shortly afterwards.

Amos O'Neal, a veteran of the Civil War, and a retired farmer and land-owner of LaMine township, is a native of Virginia. He was born in Raleigh County, Va., Feb. 16, 1841, son of Jesse and Mary (Shumate) O'Neal, the latter of whom also was born in Virginia, who came to Mis- souri in the '50s with their family, and here spent their last days.

Jesse O'Neal was born in North Carolina in 1808, and was a farmer all his life. He married in Virginia, and there resided until the '50s, when with his family he came to this State. He first tried Moniteau County, but not being wholly satisfied with conditions there, came to Cooper County in 1856, and the next year bought a tract of land in LaMine town- ship, paying $12.50 an acre for the same, and there spent the remainder of his life. He died in 1869. His widow died in 1885. She was born in 1812, a daughter of Daniel Shumate. Jesse O'Neal and his wife were the parents of 12 children, of whom Amos was the sixth in order of birth, and three of whom are still living.

Amos O'Neal was 15 years of age when he came to this county with his parents in 1856, and here he grew to manhood, attending the district school in LaMine township. He was 20 years of age when the Civil War broke out, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a member of the Second Missouri Cavalry, with which he served most of the time under Gen. N. B. Forrest, though a part of the time the command was in the brigade of Gen. Sterling Price, west of the Mississippi. Mr. O'Neal was taken prisoner at Bahalia, Miss., and was a prisoner of war for nine months, when he was paroled on account of illness. During his long mili- tary service he one time came very near death, when his horse was shot from under him by a cannon ball. Another time a minnie ball struck a stirrup and knocked it off. Upon receiving his discharge at the close of the war, Mr. O'Neal returned home, arriving by boat at Arrow Rock, July 4, 1865. The next year he returned South, where he remained for three years, when he returned to Cooper County, married in the fall of 1869, "settled down" on the farm and has ever since been quite content

AMOS O'NEAL

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HISTORY OF COOPER COUNTY

here to reside. Mr .. O'Neal has a well improved farm of 205 acres. For some years past he has been living practically retired, the operations of the farm being carried on by his eldest son, S. A. O'Neal, who is married and lives on the place. Mr. O'Neal is one of the veteran farmers of the county, whose memory extends back to the days when oxen were used in farming, and he has many interesting stories to tell of the days now long gone. He is a stanch democrat, and is a Baptist.

Oct. 2, 1869, Amos O'Neal was married to Lucinda Cramer, who was born in LaMine township, Oct. 19, 1851, daughter of Gabriel and Mary (Jeffress) Cramer, and who died on Oct. 22, 1914. To this union nine children were born, namely: Sanford Alonzo, who is farming the home place; Edward Lee, a merchant, farmer and stockman living at Black- water; Silas, also of Blackwater; Gabriel, deceased; Riley, deceased ; Aubrey, of Kansas City Mo .; Nora, deceased ; Grace, wife of D. L. Edson, of West Boonville, and Freeman, who is now (spring of 1919) with the

American Army in Europe. Freeman O'Neal enlisted in the Medical Corps of the National Army for service in the World War in 1917, and sailed for overseas in July, 1918. Sanford A. Freeman, who is looking after the affairs of the home farm, married Agnes Reynolds, who also was born in this county, and has two children, Alma, wife of H C. Minard, and Amos, who during America's participation in the World War served as a member of the S. A. T. C. at Missouri State University, Columbia.

Howard B. Collins, proprietor of the Bank Hotel, Bunceton, Mo., is a mining man of vast experience. Mr. Collins was born in Denver, Colo., Sept. 27, 1875. He is a son of Samuel G. and Emilie (Browning) Collins, the former a native of Mississippi, born in 1849, and the latter of New York, born in 1852. They went to Colorado in 1868, where the father was employed in the banking house of Koontz Bros., at Denver, until 1879. He then went to Leadville, Colo., where he has since been interested in mining and milling properties. They now reside at Denver, Colo. To Samuel G. and Emilie (Browning) Collins were born the following chil- dren: Howard B., the subject of this sketch; Edna W., who is now secre- tary of the Rocky Mountain Division of the Civilian Red Cross, with head- quarters at Denver, and Walter G. manager for J. D. Lacy & Co., Port- land, Ore. He was drafted by the war department as a timber expert. during the World War, and served in that capacity until the war closed. He is a Yale graduate.

Howard B. Collins was educated in the public schools at Denver, the Shattuck Military School at Faribault, Minn., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Boston, Mass., where he was graduated in the

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class of 1898. He then went to Cripple Creek, Colo., and later to Lead- ville where he was engaged as mine operator and manager of mining and milling properties until Jan., 1918, when he came to central Missouri to take charge of a zinc and baryte mining property, where he remained until June, 1918. He then came to Bunceton in partnership with George H. Hubbard of Versailles, in the operation of the Hubbard Cannel Coal Mine. Mr. Collins sold his interest in this mine to his partner, and on May 4, 1919 purchased the Bank Hotel at Bunceton. Mr. Collins is giving Bunceton a good hotel, which is much appreciated by the public.

Howard B. Collins was married Sept. 2, 1902 to Miss Georgia Curf- man, a daughter of Dr. George W. Curfman, of Denver, Colo. Mrs. Col- lins' parents are both deceased, the father died in 1918, and the mother in 1915, and their remains are buried at Crown Hill Cemetery, Denver, Colo. Mrs. Collins has one brother, Floyd G., a mechanical engineer of New York City. He is a graduate of the State Agricultural College of Ft. Collins, Colo. Mrs. Collins was educated in the North Denver High School and the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. She has specialized in music and for a number of years taught music in Denver. To Mr. and Mrs. Collins have been born one daughter, Miriam Browning, who was born at Denver, Colo., and is now a student in the Bunceton high school. Mr. Collins is a member of the Masonic lodge and the Signa Alpha Epsilon College fraternity.

Charles E. Steele, cashier of the Farmers Stock Bank at Blackwater and many years one of Cooper County's best known educators ; is a native son of Cooper County. He was born on a farm six miles south of Boon-' ville Jan. 27, 1872, son of John A. and Eliza J. (Batten) Steele, the latter of whom, born in Howard County, is still living, now a resident of Boon- ville.

John A. Steele, who died at his home on the old Steele farm south of Boonville Jan. 26, 1917, just 50 years to the day from the time he had settled on that place, was a Tennesseean, born on Aug. 10, 1835, and was nine years of age when he came to Missouri with his parents in 1844, the family settling on a farm in the vicinity of Clarksburg. William H. Steele, the father, was a native of Ireland and his wife, who was a Blackburn, was born in Kentucky or Tennessee. They spent the remainder of their lives on the farm near Clarksburg. John A. Steele grew to manhood on that pioneer farm and in time became a substantial farmer on his own account. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity and was a demo-

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crat. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this biographical review was the sixth in order of birth, the others being the following: John T., Webb City; Maggie, widow of M. C. Toler, living near Boonville; Georgia, wife of J. E. Rennison, Boonville ; Frances, wife of U. T. Toler, Columbia ; William H., near Otterville; Lavine, wife of John C. Muntzel, Boonville, and Claud W., deceased.

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History of Cooper County, Missouri, Part 78

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