USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Missouri > Part 27
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Vincent Carter was born January 4, 1814, in Tennessee, and his wife was born in Indiana, March 13, 1821, and they were married February 28, 1839, coming to Gentry County, Missouri, in 1841, where they entered land, owning in all about 200 acres.
Elijah Carter, the father of Vincent Carter, came with his son to Gentry County in 1841 and died here in 1858. Two brothers, John and Hiram Carter, and two cousins, Big and Little John Carter and Richard Glendenning also located in this county at that time, and, from the families of the Carters and Glendennings sprang the Methodist Episcopal Church of Gentry County, their homes being the headquarters for the entertainment of the ministers of that church. The first camp meeting, in about 1842, was held on the Elijah Carter place, where the Carter Ceme- tery was also located. There were about 200 people who attended the meeting, coming from Daviess, DeKalb, Nodaway, Gentry and other counties, and they generally came in ox wagons and were well supplied with provisions which they cooked and ate on the ground. The ministers present were Isaac Burns and Noah Richardson, both devoted servants of the early church.
Elijah Carter, grandfather of E. A. Carter, was married in Tennessee to Susannah Castle, and they had fifteen children: Elizabeth, Vincent, Saleta, Jane, Nancy, Joseph, Katie, John, Sarah, Hiram, Susannah, Nathan, Martha, Lewis and Mary, and they also reared two adopted children. Mrs. Carter died in 1859.
The children of Vincent and Patience Carter were: Elizabeth, the widow of Wesley Mack, who lives on the home place; William G., of New Hampton; Susannah, wife of Jackson Dye, deceased; Elijah Albert, of this sketch; John L., of Gentry County; Martha, the wife of William Clelland, of Harrison County, Missouri; Hiram Franklin on the home place; Jane, the wife of Fillmore Needles, who died October 11, 1881, leaving two children, James Clelland and Carrie Belle.
E. A. Carter spent his boyhood days on his father's farm and attended the subscription and public schools, and since growing to manhood, en- gaged in farming in Gentry County, continuing in this vocation until about
(20)
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1906 when he settled at New Hampton, where he now lives on six and one- half acres which he owns in the west part of town, on which he has a nice residence, barn, walks, trees, garden, etc. Prior to locating here, he owned 253 acres, on which he had made his home since 1878. He still owns eighty acres of this land.
Mr. Carter was married December 16, 1867 to Martha Stewart, who was born June 13, 1862, a daughter of Samuel and Mary Stewart. To Mr. and Mrs. Carter, nine children have been born: Laura, the wife of James Holden; Mary, who died when five years of age; Jeanette, the wife of James Barger, deceased; Samuel, of Emporia, Kansas; Stella, the wife of Harry Watts; Maggie, the wife of Robert C. Holden; Vincent on the home place ; Beatrice, the wife of Elmer Scott, and one son who died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter are now living a pleasant and enjoyable retired life, surrounded by their family and friends, who respect and honor them. They are members of the Methodist church.
Mr. Carter has a vivid memory of the early happenings in Gentry County and relates many interesting incidents of pioneer days. He says that his father used to haul cured bacon to St. Joseph, which he sold for two and one-half cents per pound, slaughtering from forty to fifty hogs at one time, which it took two years to grow, as they let them run in the woods and a little corn was fed to them in the winter only.
Mr. Carter was born one mile east and one mile south of Lone Star in a log cabin and the clapboards of this cabin were held on with weight poles, as no nails were available. Chinkin were held in place between the logs with mortar made of mud and the puncheon floor was made of slabs split and hewn; the hearth was made of mud, stone and sticks with a mud chimney. The cabin was built on 160 acres of land which his father had preempted at $1.25 per acre. Mr. Carter says his father began life on this place with one horse, one yoke of steers, one cow, a wife and one baby, one wagon and one dog, but that nearly every other man in the neighborhood had from six to eight hounds, or dogs.
In those days farming implements were very crude and the breaking plows which were made by the blacksmiths were pulled by three or four yokes of steers.
Mr. Carter says that the only schooling he received was in a log cabin, made similar to the one in which he was born, and that one log was left out across one end and greased paper was used for window lights. The teachers in those days did not believe in "sparing the rod and spoiling the child."
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The first postoffice and gristmill were in the southern part of Gentry County and it cost twenty-five cents in those days for postage for letters, the government collecting from the receiver.
Grain was cut with a hooked sickle and pounded out with sticks called flails and the chaff was blown out by the wind. The flour was ground at the mills, but had to be bolted by hand before using and the corn was soaked to soften it and then grated for meal. Biscuits were a luxury, only to be had on Sunday. All the cooking was done in the fire place.
Flax and hemp were raised and the fiber spun into cloth and the mother would card the wool and also spin it into yarn and weave it into cloth and then make the clothing for the entire family; she often worked until eleven or twelve o'clock at night. The father made the shoes for the family and also for the neighbors.
On Sunday, the family walked to church or else rode in an ox team wagon and all of the children went barefoot in season until they were about twelve years of age.
When Mr. and Mrs. Carter started in life they rented land and owned a span of three year old colts and a second hand harness. They had four sheep and one dozen hens apiece. The second year after their marriage they bought forty-five acres of land, going in debt for it, later trading this farm for 120 acres near Locust Grove schoolhouse, also going in debt for the difference in price. By hard work and thrift, they finally owned 252 acres of land on which they lived until they moved to New Hampton.
J. E. Goble, the efficient and enterprising manager of the Matkins Mercantile Company of Matkins, Missouri, is a native of Butler Township, Harrison County, born November 20, 1882, the son of J. W. and Mary (Jeffries) Goble, the former having died in 1915 and is buried in Matkins Cemetery and the latter now living on the home place in Butler Township.
J. W. Goble was a native of Indiana, born near Shelbyville, but moved with his parents to Iowa, finally locating in Gentry County, Missouri, where they purchased land. Mrs. Goble was born and reared in Gentry County. She and her husband had the following children: Harvey, who married Florence Thrasher and who died in Oklahoma at the age of forty years; Roy Bert, who married Nellie Heath and who, together with two children Herbert and Clifford, all died with the flue within four days of one another in October, 1918; a third child, Bertha Ellen, is being reared
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by Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Goble; J. E. Goble, the subject of this sketch ; Belva Ann, the wife of Charles Pettit, of Butler Township; Walter C., who died with the flu in South Dakota, October 17, 1918. His widow and three children, Curtis, Olin and Azalee, live in Butler Township; and Homer, of Butler Township, who married Esta Salmon and who have two children, Vonetha and Vivera.
J. E. Goble spent his boyhood days in Oklahoma and in this county, attending school in both places. He entered the mercantile business in Oklahoma when a young man and remained there for one year, then de- ciding to accept the position as manager for the Thomas store at Matkins, holding this place for eight years, when he became manager for Scott and Morgan, which position he now very acceptably fills. This is a general store, carrying dry goods, groceries, hardware and shoes, and they also purchase country produce of all kinds. Mr. Goble possesses the excellent qualifications which enable him to be a first class manager of this store and the success of the business is largely due to his faithful efforts and initiative ability.
Mr. Goble was married February 7, 1909 to Leona Shaughnessy, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Brown) Shaughnessy. Her father is deceased and her mother is now living in California. Mrs. Goble has a twin sister, Leora, the wife of George McDaniels, and also has four brothers: Fred, Morris, Matt and Clifford Shaughnessy ; and two sisters : Mrs. Judea Jackson, deceased; and Mrs. Carrie Konomos, or Dubuque, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Goble have three children: Edna, Alvin and Goldie. Mr. Goble is a member of the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Goble is inter- ested in all affairs pertaining to the community welfare.
A few years before the Civil War, a Presbyterian Church with Masonic hall above, was built at Matkins, but this building was burned during the war, and the next church that was built was the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, which was erected in 1875, and which was also destroyed by fire in 1895, and an attempt was made at the same time to destroy the Thomas store. The church, which is the only church in Matkins, was rebuilt in 1895.
William W. Adams, the proprietor of Center Valley Farm, is one of the successful farmers and stockmen of Butler Township, and a descend- ant of a leading pioneer family of Gentry County. He was born May 11,
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1863, the son of William and Delila (Wood) Adams, both natives of Illi- nois, where they were married. They came to Missouri about 1855 via ox team and settled in the northeast part of Gentry County, where Mr. Adams entered forty acres of land, which he eventually sold and pur- chased 100 acres. He served in the State Militia during the Civil War and died about 1893, and his wife died in 1908; both are buried in Lone Star Cemetery. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary Hunter or Dallas Township; Mrs. Matilda Spillman of Worth County ; John, who died in 1917; Willis, who lives near the home place in Gentry County ; William W., of this sketch; Mrs. Lizzie Groom of Gentry County ; and Mrs. Lorella Shofner, of Union Star, Missouri; and Charles F. and Della, both on the home place in Gentry County.
William W. Adams attended the Gentry County schools during his boyhood days, and grew to manhood on his father's farm, leaving at the age of twenty-four years, when he rented land in Gentry, Worth and Harrison counties, and, after five years, he bought a small farm of fifty acres southwest of Bethany, which he sold five years later and bought 174 acres, now a part of the home place of 254 acres, which is located one-half mile from Matkins and six miles south of New Hampton. This place has been improved by Mr. Adams, he having a good residence. He built three barns, cement silo, 14x32 feet, and, at the present time, the farm is one of the best improved in the community. The water, which is excellent, is piped to the feed lots and pumped by a windmill. Mr. Adams does general farming and raises Shropshire sheep, cattle and hogs. He began life with the proper energetic spirit and his good farm and home, and the respect with which he is held is the result of his own efforts applied in the right manner.
Mr. Adams was married August 14, 1887, to Mary A. Dotson, a daughter of Noah and Serelda (Smith) Dotson, both of whom are de- ceased. Her father was a native of Iowa and died in Butler Township, Harrison County, and her mother, who was born in Harrison County, died near Bethany, where she is buried.
Mr. and Mrs. Dotson were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Adams; Lafayette, of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Alice, of Gentry County ; Sarah Susan Roush, of Enid, Oklahoma; Charlie, of Arizona ; J. E., of southern Missouri; Willie, of Denver, Colorado; and Ona, deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Adams have seven children, as follows: Francis Lee, who married Mabel Lewis, of Colorado; William Seth, who died at the age
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of twenty-two years; Laura A., the wife of Ross Arthur, of Buffalo, Kan- sas; Nora D., the wife of Preston Watson, of Butler Township; Cora, the wife of Walter Parks, of Butler Township; Stella, at home; and Cecil Clifton, also at home and who has just finished two years in the high school at New Hampton.
The grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Adams are: Thelma, Pauline and Wilbur Adams; Clevtis, Keith and Evanelle Watson; Kenneth Parks and B. E. Arthurs.
Mr. Adams has also found time, aside from his personal duties, to assist in the affairs of the township, having been justice of the peace for four years, a member of the township board and clerk of the school board. He is also a member of the New Hope Baptist Church and the Woodmen of the World.
The Adams family is one of the representative families of this county and highly esteemed by all.
Marvin L. Thomas, a leading citizen of Butler Township, and who, until September, 1919, had been engaged in the mercantile business, is a native of this township and descended from one of the pioneer families of this section, whose members took a prominent part in the development and opening up of this locality. He is the only child born to D. S. and Sallie E. Thomas, the former a native of North Carolina, born October 16, 1841, but his father, D. M. Thomas, moved two years later to Butler Township and entered land three miles south of Matkins. He died May, 1862, and is buried near the Big Spring, southwest of Matkins.
D. S. Thomas was married in Maryland, September 25, 1866, to Sallie E. Elliott, daughter of Vachel A. and Elizabeth A. Elliott, of Anne Arun- del County, Maryland. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Con- federate Army September 1, 1861, having the distinction of being the first one to volunteer from Butler Township. Two others enlisted, but neither of them ever returned. Mr. Thomas enlisted with Company G, First Missouri Cavalry, under Colonel Elijah Gates, and was in the battles of Blue Mill Landing, Siege of Lexington, Pea Ridge, Edwards Station and Champion Hills. He was captured May 17, 1863, at Big Black, Missis- sippi, and was in prison at Fort Delaware until August, 1863, when he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, and was paroled in the spring of 1864, where he remained until August, 1870. He then came to Butler Township and lived on a farm formerly owned by his father
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until March, 1878. His wife died September 1, 1911, and is buried at Matkins Cemetery. D. S. Thomas was a strong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, uniting in 1859. He was superintendent of a Sunday school in Maryland for four years and served in this capacity in Missouri from 1871 to 1903, when he resigned on account of poor health, but performed this office again from 1906 to 1912.
Marvin L. Thomas is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is a member of the official board of the Methodist Church at Matkins, Missouri.
Mr. Thomas is a Democrat and has been active in political affairs, thereby gaining many warm friends throughout the county. With the exception of two years, he has been county committeeman of the Demo- cratic party since 1898. He was alternate to the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore when Woodrow Wilson was nominated and also attended the national conventions at St. Louis in 1916 and at San Fran- cisco in 1920, and was a delegate to the State Judicial Convention at St. Joseph in 1904, and at Excelsior Springs in 1906. Mr. Thomas received luis education in the district schools and also attended Northwest Missouri College, now known as Palmer College, at Albany, Missouri. The ma- ternal great-grandfather of M. L. Thomas was a Revolutionary soldier and was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered, and was also a veteran of the War of 1812. His maternal grandmother, Elizabeth A. Lee, was related to General Robert E. Lee, the famous Confederate general.
Mr. Thomas is a man of excellent literary attainments, a keen ob- server and reader of events, and is well posted in the history of his town- ship, recalling vividly the older settlers. The first store in the town of Matkins was started in 1878 by Joseph Tague, and in 1879 D. S. Thomas formed a partnership with Mr. Tague under the name of Tague and Thomas, which partnership continued for one year, when Mr. Thomas and S. D. Whitely organized a store here, erecting a new building. They were in business together until 1886, when Mr. Thomas bought Mr. Whitely's interest and continued in business by himself until 1893, when M. L. Thomas became partner. D. S. Thomas died March 5, 1917, and the business was continued by his son, Marvin L. Thomas, until September 15, 1919, when he sold the stock and rented the store building and fixtures.
The first doctor to locate in Matkins was Doctor Mohler, who lived here only a short time, and in 1886 Dr. J. W. Cavanaugh began practicing in this vicinity and continued until 1892, when Dr. E. D. Rathburn came
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here and lived until 1896. Other doctors who practiced here were Dr. H. P. Yeater, from 1893 to 1895; Dr. G. T. Walker, from 1896 to 1898; Doctor Forbes, Doctor Funk and Doctor Wilson, the last named leaving in May, 1912, and since that time there has been no doctor here.
A. B. Akes was the first blacksmith, locating here in 1880, but left three years later. The present blacksmith is William Duncan.
D. S. Thomas was the first and only postmaster at Matkins, this office having been discontinued on June 29, 1907. D. S. Thomas was justice of the peace and member of the Township Board from 1881 to 1891. He served as school director and district clerk from 1882 to 1891.
John T. Green, successful farmer and stockman and proprietor of Green's Hereford Farm, in White Oak Township, was born on the farm adjoining the farm where he now lives, August 4, 1871, the son of Marcus L. and Frances (Johnson) Green.
Marcus Green was born in Clay County, Missouri, June 15, 1838, and died on his home place in White Oak Township, April 11, 1913, and is buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery. His wife was born in this county and died in 1872 and is buried in White Oak Cemetery. They were the par- ents of the following children: Martha E. Thomas of Omaha, Nebraska ; Nancy, who lives on the home place and John T., the subject of this sketch. Marcus L. Green was married a second time to Nancy E. Dot- son, who lives on the home place. To the second marriage, were born three children: Mary Arthur of White Oak Township; Charlie and Joseph Green of White Oak Township.
Marcus Green was a veteran of the Civil War of Company B, 23rd Missouri Cavalry, and was wounded at the time of Price's raid, having been shot through the left breast and left for dead. He recovered and lived to be seventy-five years of age.
John T. Green was educted in the county schools and attended the Stanberry Normal School for two terms, and, after finishing his educa- tion, he engaged in farming and stock raising which he has followed ever since. He bought eight-nine acres of his present farm in 1899, for $22.50 per acre and two years later bought sixty acres for $20.00 per acre, and in 1917, purchased sixty additional acres for $100.00 per acre, and in 1921 he acquired 160 acres more, making a total of 369 acres in his present farm, which is situated on the Jefferson Highway, three miles east of New Hampton.
JOHN T. GREEN
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Mr. Green has remodeled his recidence, built a silo and barn and made other improvements. He also has two tenant houses on the place, and the farm is well watered. Mr. Green has been raising Hereford cattle for about nineteen years, and has one of the best males in this part of the country. He also raises O. I. C. hogs, draft horses and mules, and is considered as one of the most practical and successful farmers in this county.
Mr. Green also takes an active part in the affairs of the county and has served as collector and constable three different times; the first time he served as collector, he was only twenty-one years old, and served four years, and was elected the second time, but afterward refused to run again.
Mr. Green was married the first time in 1895 to Della May Dotson. She died in 1898, leaving a daughter, Della May, who is at home with her father. He married the second time to Rebecca Brooks, June 13, 1901, and she died May 5, 1921. Mr. and Mrs. Green reared an orphan boy, Paul Kinder, who lives with Mr. Green on the home place.
Mr. Green is an enterprising farmer and a leader in the affairs of the community.
Stacy G. Youngman, one of the successful farmers and stock raisers of Butler Township, who has made his home on his present farm ever since he was seven years of age, with the exception of two years spent in Colorado, was born in Worth County, Missouri, October 26, 1869, tne son of Jacob and Rachel (Cart) Youngman. His father was a native of Kentucky, but moved to Iowa early in life, where he lived until 1865, when he came to Worth County, Missouri, and followed farming there, owning a farm of 100 acres near Denver, Missouri. He came to Butler Township in 1876, purchasing 260 acres of land, 160 acres of which he owned at the time of his death, in 1903, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife was a native of Virginia and they were married in Iowa. She died at the age of sixty-nine years, in 1912, and both she and her husband are buried at Matkins, Missouri. Jacob Youngman was quite a Whig politician, but affiliated wth the Republican party at its organization. He was a men- ber of the Methodist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Youngman were the parents of the following children: Nellie, who died at the age of twenty years; Harry L., who died when twenty-seven years old; Stacy G., the subject of this sketch; C. F ..
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a farmer in Butler Township; Jacob O., a farmer of White Oak Township: Edward E., a railroad man of Enid, Oklahoma; Irvin U., who died when twenty-two years of age; William A., a farmer in Gentry County; Katie Pearl, the wife of William E. Gray, of Butler Township. They are the parents of one daughter, Lois Margery. William Gray served in the late World War, enlisting at Bethany, Missouri. He was sent to Camp Dodge, May 24, 1918, thence to New York and went overseas August 16, 1918, with the Eighty-eighth Division. He arrived in England August 27, 1918, and went immediately. to France, and, in September, was sent to the front with Company C of the 351st Infantry. He was near Metz at the time the armistice was signed. While in France he was in a hospital at Gonde- court with influenza and was returned with a casualty list May 25, 1919 and was mustered out at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, June 13, 1919.
By a former marriage of Jacob Youngman, he had the following children : Mrs. Elizabeth Ainslie, of Oklahoma; Mrs. Alice Mock, of Cali- fornia; Lewis Youngman, of Kansas City, Kansas; Mrs. Mary Tull, of Butler Township, and Miss Carrie Youngman, the address of whom is unknown.
Stacy G. Youngman was educated in Butler Township, and has fol- lowed farming and stock raising all of his life. He lives on the home farm of 160 acres which he and his sister, Mrs. Gray own. This place is one mile west of Matkins and is a well improved farm. Most of the farm is in pasture.
Mr. Youngman takes a keen interest in the various movements which tend to upbuild and better the community and has filled the office of clerk and assessor, holding these positions for eleven years and was trustee for two years. He performed the duties of office very faithfully and has many friends who hold him in high esteem.
Charles A. Miller, the capable and well known prosecuting attorney of Harrison County, Missouri, was born December 26, 1889, the son of Judson D. and Myrtle D. Miller, a further sketch of whom appears else- where in this volume.
Charles Miller received his education in the public schools of the county and was graduated from the Maryville State Teachers College in 1911. He then entered the Kansas City School of Law and was gradu- ated in the class of 1913 and was admitted to the bar. While attending
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school, Mr. Miller taught school for six years, teaching three years in Harrison County, Missouri. He was principal of the schools at Missouri City for two years and superintendent of the schools at North Kansas City, Missouri for three years. In 1913, he began the practice of his profession in North Kansas City, but located in Bethany in 1919, and made the race for county attorney in 1920. He was elected and is now serving his first term.
Mr. Miller is an able conscientious young attorney and is meeting with well merited success.
April 21, 1911, Mr. Miller was married to Virdie A. Webb, a daughter of James B. Webb and wife of Clay County, Missouri. She was educated at Maryville State Teachers College. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have a son, Leroy, and daughter, Laverne.
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