USA > Missouri > Dade County > History of Dade County and her people : from the date of the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 52
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John E. Scroggs was about 5 years old when he came to Dade County with his father and step-mother. Before coming to Missouri his father had run a store on White river, in Arkansas. JJohn F. Scroggs grew up on a Center Township farm and obtained his meager education in the district schools of the neighborhood. He remained at home till 18 years of age, when he enlisted (1862) in the Federal army, Sixth Missouri Cavalry, as a private. Went into camp at Springfield and to the front soon after. He remained in the service three years and was mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., having attained the rank of corporal. After his return home he again took up farming as an
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occupation, which he followed for one year, then taught school in the neighborhood for two years. In 1869 he bought a farm of 80 acres in section 20 in Center Town- ship. In November of the same year he married Malinda C. Dicus, a daughter of John M. and Jane (Tucker) Dicus, born in Center Township in May, 1848. Her parents were early settlers of the county, coming from Tennessee, and were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. Both are now dead. Malinda C. died in November, 1875. To this marriage were born five children, three of whom died in infancy :
(1) Rachel Jane, married Lon Hurt. They had six children.
(2) Ruth, born in 1872, married R. E. Wasson of Greenfield. They have three children.
The second wife of John E. Seroggs was Virginia McConnell, born in Sac Township, Dade County, daughter of Theodore and Margaret McConnell. She died in No- vember, 1882, leaving four children:
(1) Edwin T., a farmer living in Center Township, east of Greenfield. He married Kate Mitchell, and they have one child.
(2) William L., a merchant in Greenfield, also in the automobile business. Married Maude Engeleman. They have three children.
(3) David D., married Lottie Hartsock, and they re- side in Appleton City. He is editor of the Journal. They have one boy.
(4) Rosa Ella, married T. K. McConnell of Green- field. He is a civil engineer, former county highway engi- neer, and now engaged in the grocery business. They have one daughter.
The third wife of John E. Scroggs was Nannie Lieu- allen, born near Lynchburg, Va., died in November, 1912, at the age of 59 years. Born of this marriage is one boy, Arthur C., now living at Humansville and editor of the Star-Leader.
John F. Scroggs married his present wife, Evelyn E. (Fisher) Ketchum, November 14th, 1914. She was born
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at Pontiac, Livingstone County, Illinois, July 1st, 1865, daughter of George and Martha A. (Pratt) Fisher. Her father came to Dade County in 1875 and located in Green- field. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, but owned a farm northwest of Greenfield. He died in Dade County. Mrs. Scroggs is a member of the Presbyterian church.
John E. Scroggs is a member of the Presbyterian church and has been an elder for 15 years. He is a Re- publican in politics, is justice of the peace in Center Town- ship and is serving his second term as police judge of the city. He has been a successful business man, at one time owning 400 acres of land, of which he has left 230 acres, highly improved. He has retired from the farm and owns a comfortable home in Greenfield.
JOHN C. SEYBERT.
A native of Sac Township, Dade County, Missouri, born July 4th, 1854, son of Silas E. and Mary Jane (Jack- son) Seybert. His father was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, was educated in the east, married there, and came to Dade County in 1837. He was three times married, his first wife having died in Pennsylvania. His second wife was a Finley of pioneer stock. He married her in Dade County. His third wife was Mary Jane, widow of Meridith Hailey, who had two daughters by her first husband, Jane Hailey, who is now Mrs. T. B. Roun- tree of Cane Hill, and Fannie, who is now Mrs. Wood Kirby of Dadeville.
To this last marriage five children were born:
(1) John C. Seybert.
(2) Margaret, died at the age of 16 years.
(3) Samuel J. Seybert.
(4) William Seybert, in mercantile business in Cedar County.
Silas E. Seybert was a trader, and at one time owned about 1,000 acres of land in Dade and Cedar Counties. He built the first water mill at Seybert on Sac river and it took its name from him, and still retains it. He was a
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Democrat, both from tradition, precedent and practice, and, in keeping with his ancient ideals and to fill a present as well as a long-felt want, he established a distillery, which he operated in connection with the mill. His life came to a tragic end, being shot in the very early days of the war, aged about 53 years. His widow re-married and lived until about 1910. She married Harvey Lloyd, and lived in Cedar County.
John C. Seybert obtained a meager education in the common schools of the county, and afterward, during the years 1875 and 1876, attended the Morrisville College. He was thrown upon his own resources when about 12 years of age, and worked until he married. He was married April 1st, 1878, to Miss Jennie L. Johnson, who was born February 7th, 1856, a native of Georgia. They were mar- ried at Fort Smith, Ark. After a short honeymoon he brought his bride to Dade County and rented land from his brother, Samuel. His worldly possessions at this time consisted of one pony. The following year he rented land in Cedar County of The. Johnson, then concluded to try Arkansas, going to that state overland in a wagon, but never unloaded his goods. He came back to Dade County and rented part of the old homestead near Seybert, which he cultivated for three or four years, then bought on credit a tract of 125 acres lying north of Seybert. This was unimproved timber land. He built a small house upon it, cleared and fenced, and after six or seven years sold out to William Toler. This was in 1893. After disposing of his farm lie went to Cane Hill and entered the produce business, which he followed for ten years. In the meantime he had invsted now and then in real estate, first buying 60 acres in Cedar County, then 80 acres lying directly north of Cane Hill. After this he traded for 341 acres west of Cane Hill and moved upon it, where he remained for six years, even- tually selling it in 1908 and went to California. He re- mained in the Golden state less than one year, when he bought a flour and feed business at Skiatook, Okla., and lived there two and one-half years, when he sold out and came back to Dade County. In 1912 he bought 282 acres in
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Sac Township, where he now lives. It was then known as the Tom Smith place and was well improved. Mr. Seybert is engaged in general farming and feeds a carload or more of hogs for market each year. The farm is well watered with springs and spring branches. It is now called "The Willow Springs Stock Farm."
Mr. Seybert ånd wife were the parents of six children, three of them dying in infancy. Those living are:
(1) Mary, born September 19th, 1879, married to Clem Doolin. They had one child, Pearl. For her second husband she married a Mr. Sullivan of Joplin, Mo., where they now live.
(2) Sallie, born April 2nd, 1887, married Ervin Keller of Dade County. He died and she married Mr. Flemming of Cedar County. They have one child.
(3) Roger M., born October 20th, 1890, married Flos- sie Duncan, a native of Dade County. He lives with his father, and they are jointly interested in farming and stock raising enterprises.
Mr. Seybert's wife died on the 17th of March, 1907.
John C. Seybert is a member of the Christian church at Cane Hill, is a life-long Democrat and has been honored by his party by being elected judge of the county court of Cedar County, where he served with distinction for two years. He also served as justice of the peace for two years, and has been a member of the school board for more than 12 years, part of the time in Cedar County and part of the time in Dade County. He holds membership in the I. O. O. F. lodge at Stockton.
Mr. Seybert is a representative citizen of that sturdy, dependable stock for which Pennsylvania is famous. In appearance many times as rough and rugged as their native hills, but always a warm, true heart within. It is men of this class who have conquered the wilderness of the world and made many of them to bloom and blossom as a rose.
ALBERT HAWES SCOTT. Deceased.
A native of Dade County, Missouri, born September 13th, 1853, died September 11th, 1912, son of Emerson and
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Amanda (Tucker) Scott. They were married in Dade County and were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living. Albert H. Scott was fourth in order of birth. He was 36 years of age when he started in life for himself. He was married at this age February 27th, 1889, to Rosa Stockton, born December 9th, 1866, daughter of Gibson and Rebecca (Patterson) Stockton. Her father was a native of Polk County, while her mother was born in Dade County, in which county they were married. Mrs. Scott was the third of a family of four children. Her two broth- ers, who are still living, are John Stockton and William Stockton, both farmers, living in Polk Township, about four miles east of Greenfield.
At the time of his marriage Albert H. Scott owned 100 acres of land fairly well improved. It was upon this farm that he took his bride and began life in earnest. He fenced the place with wire, eleared out additional fields and prospered. From time to time he purchased adjoining land until at the time of his death he had 228 acres all in one body. In 1906 he built a six-room dwelling house, and was a thrifty, well-to-do farmer. In politics he was a Demo- crat and served as a member of the school board for many years.
Mrs. Scott is a member of the Baptist church, a lady of culture and refinement and of a good family. Mrs. Scott and her sons continue to run the farm. They are engaged in general farming and feed about a earload of hogs each year. They also have raised sheep successfully. Four chil- dren were born to this union, all now at home:
(1) Lester, born January 8th, 1891.
(2) Elmer, born September 21st, 1893.
(3) Finley, born January 31st, 1895. Is now in In- struction, Company B, Medieal Corps, U. S. A.
(4) Arlie, born May 22nd, 1900. Is now in school.
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WILLIAM E. SHAW.
Was born in Polk Township, Dade County, Missouri, September 17th, 1841, son of Samuel E. Shaw, born in Chris-
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tian County, Kentucky, November 16th, 1818, and died in Dade County in 1891. His father, William, emigrated from Scotland and finally settled in Kentucky. Samuel E. Shaw was a farmer and very successful in his operations. He was the owner of 700 acres of land and a strong anti-slavery man. He came to Dade County in the spring of 1841. In politics he was originally a Whig, but afterward a Repub- lican. He was sheriff and collector of Dade County and presiding justice of the county court. During the Civil war he was captain of the Home Guards, his sympathies being with the North. When he first came to Dade County he took up a claim of 160 acres of government land in Sac Township, all in the timber, upon which he built a double Jog house and otherwise improved. This house was after- ward ceiled and weatherboarded and became quite habit- able. He was a member of the M. E. church and a public- spirited citizen.
Samuel E. Shaw was married in Kentucky to Sarah Katherine Petty, a native of North Carolina, born in 1814 and died in Dade County in 1899. She was of English an- cestry, a member of the M. E. church and the mother of seven children, four of whom are still living:
(1) William E. Shaw, the subject of this sketch.
(2) Mary Ann, married George W. Freedle, a Dade County farmer, who died in Greenfield in 1915. She still lives in Greenfield.
(3) Sarah C., married Isaac T. Sloan, now deceased. He was a Sac Township farmer, afterward recorder of deeds of Dade County. She still resides in Greenfield.
(4) Cyrus M., a retired Dade County farmer, now re- siding in Greenfield. Hle still owns a large farm in Sac Township.
James J. Shaw was the oldest child of this family. He enlisted for service in the Civil war in the Sixth Missouri Cavalry, and later in the Militia, and served during the war. Hle was lieutenant in the Militia. He represented Dade County one term in the Missouri Legislature, was a justice of the peace in Sac Township, a successful farmer, and died in Greenfield in 1910.
ARKLEY FRIEZE AND FAMILY.
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William E. Shaw was raised on a farm and attended the country schools. When less than 20 years of age he enlisted in the state troops, August 16th, 1861, and was later mustered into the United States service. He served over four years, was a non-commissiond officer and was mustered out at New Orleans as orderly sergeant. Return- ing home, he bought a farm in Sac Township and afterward moved to North Township, where he remained until he was elected recorder of deeds of Dade County. During his term of office he resided in Greenfield, after which he bought a farm in Marion Township and moved there. Again, in 1912, he took up his residence in Greenfield.
About the year 1865 he joined the M. E. church and was licensed as a local preacher in 1880. after having com- pleted the required course of study. In 1884 he was or- dained as a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian church and took charge of a congregation in Sac Township, spend- ing half the time at Oak Grove church, and has remained in the Ozark Presbytery ever since. He was called to the church in Greenfield in 1906. During his administration the fine brick church was erected at a cost of $3,500. He is now on an extended vacation in California.
William E. Shaw was first married December 10th, 1865, to Sarah S. Barnett, born in Vernon County, Missouri, in 1838. Both her parents are now dead. She died Septem- ber 21st, 1890. Seven children were born of this marriage, all living :
(1) James E., a merchant and mechanic of Greenfield, operates a tank factory and garage, sells automobiles, and is prosperous. He married Katie Griggs, and they have six children.
(2) Robert E., resides in Kansas City, is a traveling salesman by occupation, married Elizabeth Jackson, and they have one child.
(3) Luther M., married Bertha Merrill, lives in west- ern Iowa, is a painter and paperhanger by occupation, and they have three children.
(4) Jessie May, married J. T. Davenport, a carpenter by occupation, lives at Riverside, Calif. They have three children.
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(5) Hugh E., was first married to Jessie German. They have two children; second, to Nora Kitchen, and they have one child.
(6) Ivar W., a soldier in the United States Army, now located in the Philippine Islands. Is a veteran of the Span- ish-American war.
(7) Anna E., is now living with her brother, who is a plumber at Nampa, Idaho.
William E. Shaw married for his second wife Martha J. Jones in 1892. She was born in Cooper County, Missouri, in 1852, a daughter of Jesse and Martha (Taylor) Jones, who came to Marion Township in 1861. He was a farmer. She received a common school education. Her father rep- resented Dade County in the Missouri Legislature during the war, being elected by reason of his military record.
To this union was born a daughter, Leta E., August 3rd, 1893. She attended the public schools of the county and High school. Has a good musical education and fol- lowed teaching as a profession till her marriage in 1909 to Paris E. Wyrick, a farmer, residing on the Shaw farm in Marion Township. They have two children.
William E. Shaw is a member of the G. A. R. and has acted as chaplain since his membership. In politics he is a Republican, having been elected recorder of deeds on that ticket, and a member of the Thirty-eighth General Assem- bly of Missouri.
He has 17 grandchildren and congratulates himself upon the fact that he has never lost a child or grandchild by death.
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LEVIN WILCOXON SHAFER.
Was born at Muncie, Ind., Angust 8th, 1837, son of George and Martha (Wilcoxon) Shafer, who went from a spot in the Meimia Valley near Portsmouth, O., to Indiana in a very early day. They were of German ancestry, the forebearers of the family emigrating from the Fatherland to southern Ohio. They were farmers, and George went to Indiana when Muncie was but a hamlet. He was a success-
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ful farmer and stock raiser and died in Indiana at the age of 92 years. His first wife died at about the age of 35 years. They were both members of the M. E. church. He was again married. To the first marriage were born four chil- dren, only one of whom is living, Margaret, now Mrs. H. Weir, now living on a farm near Muncie, Ind. One son, John, was a veteran of the Civil war.
Levin W. Shafer was raised on a farm, graduated from the Muneie High School, from a business college in Cincin- nati, read law in Muncie and was admitted while a young man to practice in the courts of his native state. At the breaking out of the Civil war he recruited a company while reading law in December, 1864, and was mustered into the service as second lieutenant of Company G, 134th Indiana Infantry Volunteers, under the call for 300,000 men to serve 100 days. His commission is signed by President Lincoln and Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. He saw considerable service during his short enlistment. After the surrender of General Lee he was detailed to duty on court- martial at Decatur, Ala., and was detained there until No- vember, when his regiment was mustered out.
He then returned to Indiana and resumed his law studies and was admitted to the practice. In November, 1865, he came to Lamar, Mo., but finding no attraction there, after a sojourn of one month he came to Greenfield and hung out his shingle. He immediately built up a lucra- tive practice, which he maintained during his active life.
As the years went by Levin W. Shafer became one of the leading lawyers of southwest Missouri. He accumu- lated a large amount of money and property, but lost much of it in mining operations and speculations. He built a splendid home in Greenfield upon land owned by his father- in-law, and this home and its surrounding lawn is still one of the show places of the city. Among his friends and neighbors he was, to use the words of a local newspaper, "The best loved man and citizen of Greenfield." He was a prominent Mason, and in politics a Republican, though not a politician. In the 70's he was elected probate judge of Dade County and served four years. He affiliated with the
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Liberal Republicans in 1872, voting for Greeley and Brown, which caused both his Democratic and Republican friends to desert him, resulting in his defeat when he run for re- election. His departure from the fold was, however, soon forgotten and condoned, when, in the fall of 1904, he was elected circuit judge on the Republican ticket in the Twenty-sixth Judicial Circuit, which position he held up to the time of his death, which occurred May 9th, 1906, at Lamar, where he was holding a term of court, life ceasing suddenly while sitting in a chair from an affection of the heart.
He was married to Jane H. Bowles in 1866, daughter of Samuel B. and Elizabeth (Vaughn) Bowles of the Bowles family of nation-wide reputation through the editorship of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican. Mrs. Shafer was born in Sequatchie Valley, Tenn., August 15th, 1842, of English ancestry. The Vaughns went to Virginia in a very early day, and a Vaughn, a great-grandfather of Mrs. Shafer, served in the Revolutionary war. The Vaughns lived mostly in Louisa and Culpepper Counties, Virginia. Mrs. Shafer's parents came from Tennessee to Dade County about 1850 and located in Greenfield. Her father was a physician and established a lucrative practice.
Mr. and Mrs. Bowles were both members of the Presby- terian church. He was a prominent Mason, and old-line Whig, and afterwards a Republican. During the Civil war a military post was established (the Missouri Voluntary Cavalry, under Colonel John F. Phelps), and Dr. Bowles was the post surgeon. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bowles died many years ago in Greenfield.
Levin W. Shafer and wife were the parents of six children:
(1) Carl 1., died at the age of 16 years.
(2) Bertha Bowles, born in Greenfield, married Fred W. Warner, president of the Oakland Motor Company at Pontiac, Mich. They have two sons, Fred W. and. Daniel Sumner.
(3) Frederick L., born in Greenfield October 5th, 1871.
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(3) Eleanor K., born in Greenfield October 5th, 1873, married Hugh Harrison, a merchant of Greenfield.
(5) Lina Bowles, born in Greenfield May 13th, 1876, is now with the Kansas City branch of the Oakland Motor Company.
(6) Philip, died in infancy.
Mrs. Shafer is a member of the Presbyterian church. Frederick L. Shafer attended the Greenfield schools and took the academic course for two years at Drury College, Springfield, entered the Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Va., in 1891, taking academie course for three years. He then returned to his home in Greenfield and read law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1897. Was with his father in the practice until the former was elected circuit judge, and then he continued the prac- tice in the firm of Shafer & Bowles, later as Shafer & Wet- zel, and since then alone.
In the year 1900 he made a set of abstract books of Dade County, which he later sold, and for some time he has been engaged in abstracting, nsing a set of books owned by S. A. Payne.
Frederick L. Shafer was married in 1902 to Jennie Clark, born in Dadeville in 1876, a daughter of Edgar and Ann Eliza (Morris) Clark, early settlers in Dade County. They were originally from Kentucky.
To this union were born three children:
(1) Frederick L., born in Greenfield in 1903.
(2) Janice B., born in Greenfield in 1905.
(3) Edgar Clark, born in Greenfield in 1911.
Frederick L. Shafer is a prominent Mason, a member of the local lodge I. O. O. F. and is an active Republican in politics.
The Shafer family has been one of the landmarks of Dade County. Levin W. Shafer served for 35 years con- tinuously on the school board of Greenfield district, and was always identified with every public movement in the county. His election as circuit judge on the Republican ticket in a district overwhelmingly Democratic was a just tribute to his worth as a man and the esteem in which he was held as a citizen.
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RALEIGH J SHIPLEY.
Born June 26th, 1844, in Warren County, Tenn., son of Tidance and Lucinda (Mitchell) Shipley, who in the fall of 1850 came overland, driving ox teams, from Ten- nessee to Dade County, bringing two children with them: Raleigh J. and Laura, who is now Mrs. John Faurbin of Cheyenne, Wyo. There were several other pioneer fam- ilies came to Missouri with the Shipley's, among them the Mitchell family. They all settled near Greenfield. Two years after coming to the county, Tidance Shipley bought 40 acres of land and entered 160 acres, making 200 acres in one body lying two and one-half miles northwest of Greenfield. Here he raised his family, which consisted of four children :
(1) Raleigh J., the subject of this sketch.
(2) Laura, now Mrs. John Faubein of Cheyenne, Wyo.
(3) William J., who died about 1896, leaving a fam- ily of five children, who are now scattered.
(4) James S., a merchant and real estate man of Greenfield.
Raleigh J. Shipley remained at home until the break- ing out of the civil war, when he enlisted in the Union army. A full history of his company and regiment, with mention of his individual service, will be given in another place in this volume. Mr. Shipley has been Commander of the local G. A. R. Post in Greenfield since 1900, and is now Officer of the Day in that organization. He has always taken an active part in all the enterprises of the G. A. R., and much of its local success is due to the zeal and en- thusiasm of Mr. Shipley.
During the war Mr. Shipley saved the greater part of his meager wages and upon his return home he pur- chased 120 acres of land two miles east of Lockwood, upon which there were practically no improvements except one small log cabin, which he patelied up and to which he took his bride and began life in earnest.
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He lived on this farm seven years, made some im- provements and sold it and purchased 80 acres of land on Sons Creek, to which he afterward added 40 acres, all lying just five miles west of Greenfield, and fairly well im- proved. He lived on this place seven years, when he traded it for 80 acres near Ernest. He afterward sold this and bought 80 acres in Center Township on the Arcola road, two and one-half miles northwest of Greenfield. He lived on this place some time, when he sold it in 1902 and bought a small farm of 30 acres adjoining the city of Greenfield, where he is at present living a happy, retired life.
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