USA > Missouri > Mercer County > History of Harrison and Mercer Counties, Missouri : from the earliest times to the present : together with sundry personal, business, and professional sketches and family records : besides a condensed history of the State of Missouri, etc > Part 60
USA > Missouri > Harrison County > History of Harrison and Mercer Counties, Missouri : from the earliest times to the present : together with sundry personal, business, and professional sketches and family records : besides a condensed history of the State of Missouri, etc > Part 60
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
John Roberts was born in Dent County, Ind., April 18, 1826, and is a son of Joseph and Delila (Blunt) Roberts, who were born and married in Kentucky, and were of English and Irish descent. The mother's father was a ranger in the Revolutionary War. Joseph was a farmer by occupation, and after his marriage moved to the northern part of Indiana, where our subject was reared. The father died in Wapello County, Iowa, leaving a widow and eight children. John
608
HARRISON COUNTY.
and William Roberts, of Chariton, Iowa, are now the only representa- tives of the family. Mr. Roberts was a Whig in politics, and him- self and wife were active members of the Christian Church. John Roberts accompanied his parents to Iowa, and there began life for himself a poor young man. In 1847 he was united in marriage with Miss Jane Downey, a native of Boone County, Ind., whose parents were natives of Kentucky and Virginia. Mr. Roberts continued to live in Iowa about ten years, and toward the latter part of the decade his wife, who was the mother of ten children, lost her eyesight. Her death occurred in 1879, and Mr. Roberts then married Mrs. Joseph Car- gill, whose maiden name was Sarah A. Jackson. During the war Mr. Roberts enlisted in August, 1862, in Company G, Twenty-third Mis- souri Infantry, under Col. Robinson, and served three years, for which he now draws a pension of $6. He is now one of the well-to- do farmer citizens of his township, owning 120 acres of good land, and has served as constable four years. He is a public-sprited man, and a school director. In politics he is a Republican, and he takes an active part in the G. A. R.
Wright Roberts was born in Belmont County, Ohio, November 7, 1838, and is a son of Charles and Sarah (Harris) Roberts, natives of Southern Canada, and Belmont County, Ohio, and of Welsh and Irish origin, respectively. Charles Roberts came to the State with his father when a boy, and arrived at maturity in Belmont County, Ohio, where he was married August 26, 1830. He farmed in that county until 1845, and then went to what is now Morrow County, Ohio. In 1864 he came to Harrison County, Mo., where he followed agricult- ural pursuits in Akron settlement two years, and then finally located in Chariton, Iowa, with his wife and youngest daughter. There he lived with his son, T. H., until his death. He was formerly a Whig in politics, but afterward voted with the Republicans. He was a thrifty man of kindly disposition, and himself and wife were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Wright Roberts is the fifth son of a family of thirteen children, eight living, and was reared upon his father's farm, receiving but a limited educa- tion during his youth. He remained at home assisting his father until twenty-five years of age, and, then began life for himself in Morrow County, Ohio. September 1, 1863, he was united in marriage with Miss Samantha Severe, then aged nineteen, who is a native of Knox County, Ohio, and a daughter of Bethel and Charlotte (Con- way) Severe, natives of Ohio and Virginia. Soon after his marriage, Mr. Roberts immigrated to Harrison County, Mo., and after five years'
1
/
609
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
residence here moved to Otoe County, Neb. Thirteen years later he returned to Harrison County, and located in the vicinity where he had once lived, and where he now resides. He is numbered among the substantial men in Harrison County, of character and personal worth, and owns a farm of 160 acres in Akron settlement, which is well stocked and located. He is a Republican in politics, and himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To them five children have been born, three of whom are living: Cora A. (wife of W. L. McFall), Jennie L. and Lloyd S. Mr. Roberts served for fourteen months in the army during the war, being a member of Company B, Forty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
T. J. Roberts was born in Marion County, Ind., four miles from Indianapolis, in 1840, and is a son of Abner and Nancy (McDonald) Roberts, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and of German and Scotch -Irish descent, respectively. In 1830 they went to Marion County, Ind., of which place they were early settlers. They were the parents of ten children, all but three now living. They moved to Henry County, Iowa, in 1856, and in 1869 came to Harrison County, Mo., where the father died in 1870. The mother died November 6, 1887, when seventy-seven years of age. He made his home with his parents during his youth, and in August, 1862, enlisted in Company B, Sev- enty-ninth Indiana Infantry, Col. Knefler's command, under Capt. Louis Mankler. He participated in the battles of Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga and Mission Ridge (the regiment consolidating with the Seventy-ninth and Eighty-sixth Indiana during the latter engagement), at Dalton, Resaca, Adair, New Hope Court House, Picket's Mill, Pine Knob, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Springfield and Nashville. After the war he went to Indi- ana, where he married Rosanna Metsker, who died eleven months
later. Her child died soon after. In 1870 Mr. Roberts came to Har- rison County, Mo., where in 1874 he was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Prasak, who died in 1879, and by whom he had two children; Ida Belle, and Nellie Ellen. In 1881 he married Miss Jane Hadley, of this county who is the mother of two children: Fred R. and Harley S. Mr. Roberts owns 190 acres of well stocked and im- proved land. Heis a member of the Methodist Church, and always votes the Republican ticket.
E. N. Roberts was born in St. Clairsville, Belmont Co., Ohio, September 3, 1844, and is a son of Charles and Sarah (Harris) Roberts, natives of Canada and Belmont County, Ohio, respectively. They were married in Belmont County, Ohio, August 26, 1830, after which
610
HARRISON COUNTY.
the father farmed there a number of years. In 1845 he immigrated to Morrow County, and in 1864 came to Harrison County, Mo. Two years later he went to Chariton, Lucas Co., Iowa, where he died in January, 1875, at which time he was leading a retired life. He was a well-to-do man, and himself and wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was for many years a class leader. Of the thirteen children born to them eleven grew to maturity and eight are now living, all of whom are married. E. N. Roberts was principally reared in Morrow County, Ohio, and received a district- school education. He made his home with his father until twenty-four years of age, and then married, April, 11, 1867, Miss Eleanor Frazier, daughter of Robert Frazier. After his marriage he came to Harrison County, Mo., where he has since resided in the vicinity of where his father once lived. He is now a well-to-do citizen, and the owner of 260 acres of well stocked and nicely improved land, upon which he has lived with the exception of the years between 1881 and 1886, when he served as assistant cashier in the Bethany Savings Bank and rented his farm. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are leading members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, and have one child, Nellie F., aged thirteen.
C. W. Robertson, dealer in drugs and medicines at Ridgeway, Mo., was born in 1854, in Niagara County, N. Y., and received his educa- tion in the academy at Lockport, N. Y. He began the study of med- icine in the spring of 1874, with Dr. C. N. Palmer, of Lockport, N. . Y., and graduated from the Buffalo Medical College, at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1879, after a three years' course. He then attended the Uni- versity of the City of New York one year, and in the spring of 1881 moved to Ridgeway, where he began the practice of his chosen pro- fession, and where he has since enjoyed excellent success, and has a constantly increasing patronage.
In the winter of 1886-87 he attended lectures at Rush Medical College, at Chicago, Ill. He began life for himself at the age of twenty-four, in poor financial cir- cumstances, and is now, through energy and practical business ability, a well-to-do man. He purchased the drug store he now owns Decem- ber 1, 1883, from G. W. Brewer, who established the business in the spring of 1881. Mr. Robertson is a member of the I. O. O. F. He is the youngest of a family of ten children born to John and Susan (Quade) Robertson, natives of Scotland and Ireland, respectively. The father came to the United States at the age of twenty, and settled in Niagara County, N. Y., where he died in 1869, aged fifty-four. He was a farmer by occupation.
Col. W. P. Robinson was born in Carlisle, Nicholas Co., Ky.,
611
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
February 20, 1826, and is a son of George and Clarrissa (Holladay) Robinson, both natives of Kentucky. The father was of English descent, and his parents were early settlers of Kentucky, whither they moved from Virginia about 1790. He was a tanner by trade, and followed that occupation until some three or four years before his death, which occurred while upon a trip to New Orleans in 1853. The mother died shortly after the birth of William P., who was the only child, and was taken by his mother's brother and cared for for a period of about three years, when the father was again married, to Sarah Mountjoy, who bore him three daughters: Mary A., wife of Dr. J. E. Whitecraft, of Stanton County, Kas .; Eliza J., deceased wife of the late Alfred Williams, of Boone County, Mo., and Sarah A., wife of Samuel Sherman, of McPherson County, Kas. Upon his father's second marriage William P. was taken home, where he remained until the death of his step-mother, which occurred about 1835, when, his father again breaking up housekeeping, he was returned to the home of his uncle, where he remained, occasionally attending school in the primitive log school-house of that day, until in his twelfth year. He was then sent by his father to Wabash College, Ind., with the in- tention of giving him a thorough collegiate education, but owing to unsuccessful business speculations was compelled, at the end of about ' two years, to take the boy home again to learn the tanner's trade. Soon after attaining his majority, in the summer of 1847, he enlisted for the Mexican War, for a term of three years or during the war, in a company of volunteers which was then being raised in his native town. This company, upon the organization of the regiment, became Company E, Third Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, of which the subject of this sketch was elected orderly sergeant. After a hard
campaign of nearly one year, the regiment then being with Gen. Scott's army at the City of Mexico, peace was declared between the two nations, and the troops returned home, arriving there about the 1st of August, 1848. On the 31st of the same month he was mar- ried, and a short time thereafter his father retiring from business William P. succeeded him, and carried on the same until the fall of 1854, at which time he, with his family, immigrated to Iowa, and located upon a farm in Washington County. In the spring of 1856 he came to Harrison County, Mo., and followed the business of farming and school teaching in Colfax and Hamilton Townships (then Marion Township) until the breaking out of the war in 1861. At this period, after the flag of our country had been fired upon at Fort Sumter, loy- alty and disloyalty were the all absorbing themes of the people's at-
612
HARRISON COUNTY.
tention and conversation, and excitement ran riot throughout the length and breadth of our land. The subject of this sketch boldly and zeal- ously espoused the cause of the old flag, under which he had fought in Mexico, and with other loyal friends of the Union in the county, united in devoting their whole time and energy toward unifying the loyal sen- timent and bringing it into active operation. In furtherance of this object, in July, 1861, he, with about fifty or sixty other young and middle aged men, enlisted in a company at Eagleville, which had been partially raised at Cainesville by John A. Fisher, and with this addi- tion was now full. This company was being raised for a regiment of infantry to be commanded by Col. Jacob T. Tindall, of Trenton, Mo. Upon the organization of the company William P. Robinson was elected captain, and upon the organization of the regiment this com- pany became Company D, Twenty-third Regiment Missouri Volun- teer Infantry. He then removed his family to Sangamon County, Ill. He remained in command of Company D until wounded at the battle of Shiloh, on the 6th of April, 1862, and as soon as his wound permitted him to return to the regiment, about the first of the follow- ing June, he was commissioned colonel of this regiment, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Col. Tindall, who was killed in that bat- tle, and as such did faithful and gallant service until mustered out with his regiment at Atlanta, Ga., on the 22d day of September, 1864. In the spring of 1867 Col. Robinson returned with his family from Illinois to Harrison County, Mo., and taking up his residence in Bethany conducted the Harrison County Press, a weekly newspaper, for about six months, when he abandoned the newspaper business, and served as deputy county clerk until 1872, when he was elected probate judge. After filling that office for one term of four years he was re-elected for a second term, but resigned in 1878, and became a candi- date for county clerk, in which office he has served continuously by re- election in 1882 and 1886, respectively. In politics he had been an old line Whig from the time he was old enough to vote, and at the election in 1860 cast his vote for Bell and Everett, since which time he has been a stanch and unswerving Republican, and has taken an active part in all political campaigns in the county. The first wife of Col. Robinson was Rachel Sims, a native of Nicholas County, Ky., who died June 5, 1865, and who bore him eleven children: Clarrissa, deceased; Fannie, wife of John L. Grenawalt, of this county; Mary R., wife of Charles W. Barber, of McPherson County, Kas .; Lucinda, wife of Frank Simmons, of Springfield, Ill .; George, of McPherson County, Kas .; Thomas and Robert (twins), who died in infancy; Ann
613
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
E., wife of Judge J. F. Bryant, of Bethany; Elizabeth, wife of George R. Williams, 'of McPherson County, Kas .; William H., of the same place, and Charles, who died in infancy. The present wife was Sarah E. Kendall, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, by whom the Colonel has had five children: Edgar P. (deceased), Jessie (wife of William O. Selby, of Bethany), Kathleen, Harry P. and Louis P. Col. Robin- son is a member of the G. A. R., and was the first commander of Lieut. T. D. Neal Post, No. 124, at Bethany, Mo. He is also a Knight Templar, and was one of the charter members of Bethany Commandery, No. 42, and himself and wife are members of the Christian Church, and earnest workers in the promotion of the cause of temperance and morality.
Robert D. Rogers was born in Tazewell County, Va., June 14, 1830, and is a son of Gilbert R. and Sene (Doak) Rogers, natives of Sussex County, Va., and Tazewell County, Va., and born in 1804 and 1806, respectively. The father was a cabinet-maker by trade, which occupation he followed until his death in 1864. R. D. is the eldest of a family of four sons and three daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, except one; he grew to manhood in his native county, learning the cabinet-maker's trade during his youth, and was married in that county November 30, 1854, to Miss Nancy, daughter of William Six, and a native of Wythe County, Va. Before becom- ing of age Mr. Rogers was elected captain of a company of militia, and when twenty-one was elected district assessor of his county,
which office he filled two years. After his marriage his principal occupation was that of farming until the spring of 1859, when he removed to Bethany, Harrison Co., Mo. From 1861 until 1865 he worked at his trade in Mitchellville, and then engaged in the mercantile business at that place two and a half years. From that time he worked at carpentering until 1871 when he moved upon some raw land he had purchased, where he now resides. Up to the present year he has been engaged in carpentering while his son man- aged the farm. He has held various local offices, the position of town- ship trustee having been filled by him six years, and has been the assessor of his township since 1881. He is a Democrat in politics, and was appointed by the Governor in 1877 county assessor, in which office he held a full term of two years. He has received several nominations for county offices by his party, and although he has always run ahead of his ticket has been defeated on account of the Republican majority in the county. . In 1882 Mr. Rogers received a majority of ninety votes for circuit clerk in his township when the Repub-
614
HARRISON COUNTY.
lican majority was ten votes. To Mr. and Mrs. Rogers the follow- ing children have been born: William D., Mary J., wife of James P. Garton), Missouri A. (wife of J. J. Wilson), Cora A. (wife of Stephen C. Duncan), Lydia E., Sene E., Robert T. and Edgar W. Three children were lost in infancy. Mr. Rogers joined the Bethany I. O. O. F. lodge in 1864 and the A. O. U. W. in 1887. He is not a member of any church, but Mrs. Rogers belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
T. G. Rogers was born in Clay County, Ky., in 1841, and is a son of George H. and Nancy (Robinson) Rogers, natives of North Carolina. The father immigrated to Clay County, Ky., after his marriage, and there engaged in farming. While there he served as sheriff, and filled other offices, and in that county his twelve children were born, nine of whom are living. In politics he was a Democrat, and in creed his
wife was a Baptist. They moved to Daviess County, Mo., in 1847, where both the father and mother died. T. G. Rogers was six years old when his parents came to Missouri and passed his youth upon a farm in Daviess County. He began life for himself by clerking for his brother-in-law, M. Moss, with whom he afterward engaged in the mercantile business several years. In 1864 they sold out and went to Gallatin, Mo., but in 1866 traded their store for a flour and gristmill near Gallatin which they sold in 1870, then going to Trenton, ' Grundy County. There they engaged in the mercantile line, and in 1879 Mr. Rogers sold his interest to Mr. Moss, and went into business at Caines- ville with John Hall, who was succeeded by his nephew, G. R. Wilson. Messrs. Rogers & Wilson are among the leading merchants in Caines- ville at present, and carry a choice stock of general merchandise. They do a large business and are well patronized by Mercer and Harrison Counties. In 1861 Mr. Rogers married Miss Elenor, daugh- ter of Isaiah Chambers, a pioneer of Mercer County. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have one child, Herbert T., who is a groceryman in Cainesville, and married a daughter of Hon. Joseph H. Burrows. Mr. Rogers assisted in establishing the Bank of Cainesville in 1883, since which time he has been vice-president of the same. He is a member of the A. F. and A. M., and also the I. O. O. F.
J. M. Rogers was born in Gallatin, Daviess Co., Mo., January 26, 1846. His father, Jacob S. Rogers, was born in Kentucky, and came to Missouri directly from his native State when a young man. He entered land near Gallatin, where he farmed about five years, and. then entered more land near the present site of the town, upon which he farmed more than twenty years, becoming one of the prominent
615
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
and substantial farmers of the place. He owned about 560 acres of good land, and was interested in stock raising, keeping on an average over 100 head. He was united in marriage in Daviess County to Miss Elizabeth T. Scott, daughter of Charles Scott [see sketch], by whom he had seven children, three now living: Martha Hagan, C. M. and J. M. Rogers, all of whom are married. The father died upon his farm in Daviess County, and was buried at Gallatin. The mother is a resident of Cainesville. J. M. Rogers received but a limited educa- tion during his early life, which was passed upon his father's farm. At the age of fifteen he began life for himself, hiring out as a farm hand, and when seventeen enlisted in the Forty-eight Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Capt. Summers, in which he served about six months. He then enlisted in the Fifty-first Missouri Infantry, under Capt. Halleck, and, after being mustered out at the close of the war, returned to Daviess County. He worked there for a short time, and then went to Montana, spending about thirteen years west. At the expiration of that time, having accumulated some means, he returned to Missouri, locating in Harrison County, where he has since resided. On the 23d of March, 1880, he was united in marriage with Miss Laura Goddell, which union has been blessed with three children, all living: Leroy, Inas N. and an infant unnamed. Since his return from the west Mr. Rogers has been engaged in the mercantile busi- ness with J. M. Moss, at Cainesville, the firm being known as Moss & Rogers. Mr. Rogers is a well-to-do business man, owning an interest in the firm's store house, town property in Cainesville and real estate in Scotland and Daviess Counties. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of the G. A. R., and his wife belongs to the Baptist Church.
John M. Sallee, attorney at law of Bethany, Mo., was born in Mercer County, Mo., October 22, 1849, and is a son of Joseph M. and Matilda Ann (Dunkerson) Sallee [see sketch]. He was reared to man- hood in his native county, and, after receiving a good literary educa- tion prepared himself for teaching, which he did four years in early life. He began the study of law about 1876, in Iowa, and for several years alternately read law and worked at various occupations, in order to secure a livelihood. In 1883 he came to Bethany, Mo., where he was admitted to the bar, and which he has since made the field of his professional labors, meeting with good success and controlling a lucrative practice. He is an unswerving Democrat, and, although he has never held an office by election, served a short while by appoint- ment as prosecuting attorney for Harrison County, in 1886, filling the
616
HARRISON COUNTY.
unexpired term of the late Oscar Butler. November 20, 1870, he married Sarah C. Elmore, daughter of the Rev. G. C. Elmore, of Mercer County, which union has been blessed with two children: Ile, a daughter aged fourteen, and Clyde, aged one. Mr. Sallee is a Master Mason, and has passed all the chairs in the local Blue Lodge.
John D. Savage was born in Carter County, Ky., November 17, 1842. His father, Nicholas Savage, was born in West Virginia, and reared in Kentucky, in Greenup and Carter Counties, of which his parents were early settlers. In the first named county he married Mary McCrosky, a native of Virginia, and about 1875 sold his farm and moved to Missouri, where he died in 1883. His wife is still liv- ing at the advanced age of eighty-one. Of a family of six sons and two daughters who grew to maturity, six are now living; two brothers and one sister who reside in Daviess County, Mo., and our subject, are the only residents of this State. John D. grew to manhood upon his father's farm in Greenup County, where he was married in March, 1867, to Helen H. Swearingen. Mrs. Savage was born in Greenup County, and is a daughter of Clement Swearingen of the same place. After his marriage Mr. Savage farmed one year upon the home place in Kentucky, and in the fall of 1868 came to Missouri, where he bought land upon which he still resides. He now owns 330 acres of rich bottom land, well fenced, and thirty acres timbered. He has a good house and substantial outbuildings, and has made all the improvements upon the place himself. Mr. and Mrs. Savage are the parents of the following children: Jennellie (wife of Charles Stitts, of Daviess County), Mary N., Fred., Nicholas, Henrietta, Garlie D. and Charlie. Mr. Savage is always interested in educational matters, and has been a member of the school board a number of years. He is a Master Mason, and a member of the McFall lodge. In politics he is a Democrat. Both himself and wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal | Church.
C. M. Scott was born in Davidson County, Tenn., in March, 1822, and is a son of Charles and Ann (Miller) Scott, natives of Washington County, Va., and Tennessee, respectively. The father was a mechanic by trade, and was married in Davidson County, Tenn. (William Miller being his wife's father), where for many years he served in official positions. His family of two daughters and one son were born there. In 1822 he immigrated to Missouri, where he established a ferry at the mouth of Grand River, Brunswick, Mo. Soon after he engaged in blacksmithing at Bluffton, then the county seat of Ray County. Shortly after himself and wife became victims of a fever, and died
617
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.