USA > Missouri > Henry County > History of Henry County, Missouri > Part 32
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Mr. Teays was a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal
JAMES T. TEAYS
MRS. ELIZA ANN TEAYS
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Church, South. The brothers, James E. and Edward Teays, erected the Teays Chapel on a beautifully wooded and grassy plot of ground between the two residences on the place, because of the expressed wish of their parents. James T. Teays and his wife had planned, eventually, to build the church and had selected the place for its erection. Not long before her death the mother accompanied her son, James E., to the site she preferred and said to him: "Father and I often talked of building a church on this spot, and if you build it, build it right here." He did so and the church is a handsome, substantially built structure, situated on a grassy sward shaded by giant forest trees, making it one of the most beautiful country churches in this section of Missouri. The Teays brothers built this chapel in 1881, and consecrated the edifice to the memory of their parents. What better memorial could devoted children erect than a re- ligious edifice? The deed showed nobility of character and a reverence for the memory of godly parents seldom surpassed or equaled.
The mother of Joseph H. Wilson, the sage of Deepwater township, and James T. Teays' mother were sisters, of Revolutionary ancestry, the particulars of which can be found in the biography of Mr. Wilson, else- where in this volume. The great-grandfather of James T. Teays was once captured by savage Indians and kept captive for seven years in Vir- ginia. James T. Teays was the son of Stephen Teays, who married a Miss Carroll of the Carrolls of Carrollton, Virginia, and of Carrollton, Ohio. Thomas Teays, father of Stephen Teays, married Catherine Lee and was an officer in the Colonial Army which served in the French and Indian Wars. He was captured by the Indians and condemned to death at the stake, but his life was saved by the intercession of a squaw. He was held a prisoner for seven years. The family is of French Huguenot origin and the direct ancestors in France fled to Germany to escape re- ligious persecution.
James E. Teays has lived all of his life upon the land where his birth occurred. He has never married but has devoted his life to the care of his brother's family. He is one of the best citizens of Henry County, who is universally respected and stands among the leaders of his county.
Edward Teays was born on the Teays homestead June 5, 1850, and was married April 15, 1875, to Miss Elizabeth Dickason, who has borne him seven children, six of whom are living: Rev. William Combes Teays, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at Papinville, Mis- souri; Mary Everett, wife of F. W. Drake, Glenwood Springs, Colorado;
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James Dickison, residing on the old home place; Sarah Virginia, wife of F. L. House, Appleton City, Missouri; Edna Eliza, wife of W. B. Wool- dridge, Trinidad, Colorado; Betsy Eleanor, wife of W. F. Henry, Walsen- burg, Colorado.
Mrs. Elizabeth (Dickison) Teays was born in Bear Creek township, Henry County, January 23, 1854, and is the daughter of Samuel (born May 25, 1807, died 1862) and Mrs. Sarah Ann (Combes) Dickison (born July 23, 1816, died March 5, 1876), natives of Virginia. Samuel Dickison moved to Ohio from his native State with his parents in 1819 and was there reared to young manhood. He came to Henry County and entered a tract of Government land in Bear Creek township in 1836. Mrs. Eliza- beth Teays was the only child of this second marriage of her father. There were three children born of a former marriage, one of whom is living: Artemus Jefferson Dickison, Sumpter, Oregon. Sarah Ann (Combes) Dickison was the daughter of Col. John Combes, who was born September 11, 1777, and was a pioneer in Johnson County, Missouri. He served as commissioned officer in the War of 1812 and received a tract of land in Kentucky for his services.
Wiley H. Alexander .- The Alexander farm in Davis township is one of the finest tracts of productive land in this section of Missouri. The tract, which consists of 180 acres, is one mile and one-eighth in length and one-fourth of a mile wide and has been the home of the Alexanders since 1896. All of the improvements were placed on the land by the present owner. The residence, a pretty white cottage, is located on one of the highest spots in Henry County and from this place one can see in every direction for many miles. Five towns can be seen from the Alexander residence, Clinton, eight miles away ; Montrose and Deepwater, twelve miles distant; Urich, twelve miles to the northwest, and Hartwell, while La Due, four miles to the southeast, can be plainly seen. This farm is well improved and Mr. and Mrs. Alexander are continuously add- ing to the attractiveness of the place. Mr. Alexander is engaged in gen- eral farming and stock raising and has fifteen horses and mules on the place, including seven brood mares.
Wiley H. Alexander was born December 19, 1859, in Kentucky, the son of John B. (born 1819, died 1887) and Julia (Rowland) Alexander (born 1826, died 1871), to whom were born children as follows: R. C., living in California; L. G., deceased; John F., California; Mrs. Nannie S. McMurdray, Kentucky; and Wiley H., subject of this review. John
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B. Alexander was the son of Philip Alexander, who left Kentucky en route to Missouri in 1831 and was killed by Indians while crossing south- ern Illinois. His widow later made her home in Illinois, but the parents of Wiley Alexander lived all of their lives in Cumberland County, Ken- tucky.
Wiley H. Alexander resided in his native State until 1882, when he came to Missouri, and after a residence of six months in Sedalia he located in Henry County on a farm situated about four miles from his present home place. He rented land for a time and then bought his farm which he improved and sold when he purchased his present place in 1896.
On May 12, 1892, there occurred the marriage of Wiley H. Alex- ander and Miss Lillie Gragg and to this union were born children as fol- low: Naomi Elizabeth, a graduate of the Warrensburg Normal School and who is now teaching the Carterville High School; Mary May, who studied at the Warrensburg Normal and Oklahoma City High School and is a teacher in the Deepwater schools; Herbert Henry, who spent two years in the Clinton High School and became a student in the Quincy, Illinois, Business College, where he contracted a fatal sickness, dying on February 28, 1917, at the age of twenty years; Nina, graduated from Clinton High School, class of 1918; Ralph Lee, a student in the Clinton High School; Margaret Maurine, attending the district school. By a former marriage in 1884 with Jennie Gilmer, Mr. Alexander has two children: Mrs. Julia Gates, a former teacher of Henry County, and Georgia, principal of one of the ward schools at Carthage, Missouri, and a graduate of the War- rensburg Normal School. Mrs. Jennie (Gilmer) Alexander died in 1889. Mrs. Lillie Alexander taught school for nine years, beginning at the age of eighteen years. She studied for one year in the Pilot Grove Collegiate Institute and graduated from this institute in 1889.
Mrs. Lillie (Gragg) Alexander was born in Henry County, January 27, 1865, and is the daughter of Henry H. (born 1820, died 1893) and Elizabeth (Sevier) Gragg (born 1835, died 1912), natives of Missouri and Tennessee, respectively.
Elizabeth (Sevier) Gragg was a daughter of Abraham Sevier, a de- scendant of the famous Sevier family of Tennessee, who were of French descent and included Governor Sevier. Abraham Sevier came to Henry County and settled on Camp Branch as early as 1851. Henry H. Gragg was a son of Malcolm Gragg, a pioneer settler of Howard County, Mis- souri, who entered Government land in that county nearly a century
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ago. During the early forties, three sons of Malcolm Gragg came to Henry County and entered land in this county. Their parents also lo- cated in this county. Henry H. Gragg was twice married, being the father of seven children by his first marriage. He was married to Eliza- beth Sevier in 1864 and this marriage was blessed with four children: Mrs. Lillie Alexander; George W., Rockville, Missouri; Mrs. C. O. Swift, Springfield, Illinois; Amos E., Hutchinson, Kansas. Prior to coming to Missouri, the Graggs resided in Illinois.
The Democratic party has always had the allegiance of Mr. Alex- ander. Both he and Mrs. Alexander are members of the Mt. Carmel Presbyterian Church. He is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America Lodges at Clinton, Missouri.
Ernie C. Brown .- The pretty farm residence of Ernest C. Brown, located in Walker township on a beautiful stretch of well kept State high- way, is in the midst of one of the most fertile sections of Missouri. Mr. Brown is owner of 300 acres of land, but is farming a total of 400 acres in the vicinity of his home farm of 240 acres. Mr. Brown was born August 17, 1874, in Deepwater township, and is a son of M. V. (born March 4, 1837) and Helen M. Cecil (born August 7, 1847) Brown. His mother was born in Leesville township, a daughter of Judge Wilson M. Cecil, a pioneer of Henry County who came to this county from Kentucky and was one of the first county judges of the county. M. V. Brown is a native of Sangamon County, Illinois, and is the son of R. D. Brown, a native of Pennsylvania. M. V. Brown came to Henry County in 1872. His father came to Missouri at a later date and died at Appleton City. Mr. Brown, Sr., is still residing at his home place in Deepwater town- ship. The old Brown homestead is a splendid Colonial style house, built of hardwood lumber as early as 1857 and was used as a hospital and a fort during the Civil War when the residents of Bates County were ordered from the county as a result of General Ewing's Order No. 11. For further particulars regarding M. V. Brown the reader is referred to his biography given elsewhere in this volume.
Ernie C. Brown was educated in the district schools and the Apple- ton City Academy. He has always followed the vocation of farmer. In the spring of 1896 he settled on the farm nearby where his brother Charles now lives and cultivated this large tract until 1904, when he went to Benton County, Missouri, and remained in that county for two years,
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returning to Henry County in 1906. He then settled on the Hackler place, which he has improved considerably.
Mr. Brown was married on November 28, 1900, to Miss Mable C. Hackler, who was born in Benton County, Missouri, a daughter of J. R. and Nannie E. Hackler, the latter of whom died when Mrs. Brown was a child. J. R. Hackler was a native of Virginia who ran away from home at the age of fourteen years and enlisted in the Confederate Army. Dur- ing one of the battles in which his regiment took an active part he was shot through the leg and ever afterward was a cripple. For a year after leaving the service he was forced to live on corn bread and milk. In 1866 he went to the mining region and remained for four years, during which time he accumulated a competence which he invested in land in Benton County. He also bought land in Henry County upon which he resided until 1898 and then returned to Benton County, where his death occurred on October 23, 1896. He was father of two children: Mrs. Mabel C. Brown and James E. Hackler, who is owner of the home place in Benton County.
Mr. Brown is an independent Democrat who votes the National Democratic ticket as a rule but is inclined to independence of thought and action in local, county and township affairs. He has filled the office of treasurer of Walker township and is one of the best known of the younger generation of farmers in Henry County.
Albert L. Steele .- For nearly fifty years Albert L. Steele has resided upon the farm where his birth occurred December 10, 1869. He is the son of Albert Harrison Steele (born 1827, died December 18, 1893) and Elizabeth (Woodson) Steele (born December, 1842). Albert H. Steele 'was a native of Kentucky and was a pioneer settler of Henry County. He was one of the original "forty-niners" and crossed the plains with the gold seekers and returned to Missouri by way of the Isthmus of Panama after mining for some time on the Pacific slope. He first settled in Deep- water township and later made a permanent settlement in Walker town- ship on the place now owned by his son, Arthur L. Steele. He was mar- ried in 1864 to Elizabeth Woodson, who was born in a log cabin located near the "old adobe" church in Walker township in 1842. She was a daughter of Shadrich Woodson, who was one of the earliest pioneers of Henry County. For further particulars concerning the Woodson family the reader is referred to the biography of Chesley G. Woodson in this volume. The elder Steele became a large land owner in Henry County and was widely and favorably known. He was father of children as follow: Mrs. Mollie Belt, deceased; Albert L., subject of this review;
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Nannie, died in infancy ; William J., Walker township; Frank H., Kansas City, Missouri; Ida, died in infancy ; Mrs. Pearl Walker, Walker township.
Albert L. Steele· attended the home district and received such edu- cation as the schools of his day afforded and has always resided on the home place of the Steele family with the exception of a few years spent in Kansas City. He is owner of 112 acres of excellent farm land.
Mr. Steele was married on October 24, 1900, to Miss Ella Markie Simpson, who was born in Texas, May 24, 1877, a daughter of Duke and Alice (Lutzenheizer) Simpson, the latter of whom died in 1881. Duke Simpson later went to California and remained in that State until 1913, when he returned to Missouri, visiting among relatives and friends for some time and is now making his home in Oklahoma. He was twice married. After her mother's death Mrs. Ella Markie Simpson Steele was reared in Bates County by Judge Francis M. Steele. Mr. and Mrs. Albert L. Steele have four children: Earl, born November 29, 1901; Paul, born June 13, 1904; Alice Elizabeth, born October 16, 1906; Francis A., born November 7, 1909.
Mr. Steele is a pronounced Democrat. He and the members of his family are associated with the Hopewell Cumberland Presbyterian Church and frequently attend Stone's Chapel for divine services. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World Lodge of Piper, Missouri.
John F. Focht .- Although John F. Focht, well-to-do farmer of Walker township, during a career as an agriculturist, has earned the right to re- tire from active labor, he willingly gave up his mode of living which provided for a round of travel and sight-seeing throughout the country, to return to Henry County and take active charge of his farm in order that the food supply of the nation might be enhanced. Mr. Focht is owner of 246.67 acres of farm lands in the northwest corner of Walker township, four acres of which lies in Bates County. Mr. Focht has had an inter- esting career and is one of the best posted and intelligent citizens of Henry County.
Born on an Ohio farm, near the city of Wapokaneta, Ohio, August 15, 1863, he enjoys the distinction of being a son of the first white child born within the confines of his native county. He is the son of Daniel and Maria (Justus) Focht, the former of whom was a direct descendant of one of Baron Steuben's soldiers who came to America and assisted in the fight for the independence of the American colonies. Daniel Focht was born near Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in May, 1813, and was a son of Adam Focht who settled in the wilderness of western Ohio as early
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as 1836, cleared a home from the forest and swamp land and reared a family of sons as follows: Louis, Adam, John, Samuel, William, Daniel, and Jacob. His father established a home in Pennsylvania, the western part not many years after the Revolutionary period upon a grant of land which had been given to the family by a grateful Government.
Tradition says that the original Focht ancestor paid his passage across the Atlantic with Steuben's expedition by fighting with the Ameri- can forces. Daniel Focht was reared to young manhood in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and in 1836 located in western Ohio. He was there married and reared a family of twelve children, nine of whom are living: Mrs. Jane Hulbert, living in Ohio; Jacob, a citizen of Ohio; Mrs. Hannah Abbot, Bates County, Missouri; John F., subject of this review ; William, living in Ohio; Mrs. Dora Cummins, Indiana; Mrs. Susan Winegardner, Ohio; and Mrs. Leora Butler, living in Southern Idaho.
John F. Focht was reared in Auglaize County, Ohio, and was there married in 1890 to Miss Vona Brackney, who was also born in Auglaize County, a daughter of Riley and Matilda Brackney, well-known residents of that county. One son has been born of this marriage: Russell C., born in March, 1893, a successful farmer of Walker township, who mar- ried Mazie Hughes.
Leaving his native State in November 2, 1882, John F. Focht went to Iowa and was employed at farm labor in that State for a period of ten months. He was then employed in Nebraska for seven months ; Kansas, eight months; New Orleans and the Southland, three months. After this sight-seeing trip over the country, he returned to Ohio and after a short visit with the home folks of four months he made a trip through Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, stopping for a time in Kansas City and Omaha, where he was employed at gainful labor. After his marriage in 1890 he settled down on an Ohio farm for six years. In 1896 he sold out and traveled a distance of three thousand miles to Chehalis, Washington, toured Idaho, attended the Portland, Oregon Exposition and then located near Chehalis, where he was engaged in farming for eleven months. He and Mrs. Focht then toured California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colo- rado and ended their trip at Creighton, Missouri. Since that time he has owned three farms and is now located on one of the good farms in Henry County. His last trip was a tour of Idaho in 1917.
Mr. Focht is a Democrat in politics and is one of those widely traveled men who are well posted upon the events of the day and knows his native land and loves it for its vastness and beauty.
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John Bernard Schmedding .- Eighty-four years ago the four Schmed- ding brothers, John, Theodore, Garrett and Bernard, came to Henry County and founded the Germantown settlement. They erected the first Catholic Church on Schmedding land in 1834 and also assisted in the building of the present church prior to the Civil War. Theodore Schmedding later went to the Osage Mission at St. Thomas in Kansas and died there. The others remained in Henry County and reared families and assisted ma- terially in the development of the county. As the years passed, others came from Germany and a large settlement has grown up and prospered in the neighborhood of Germantown, extending over three adjoining town- ships and reaching over the line into Bates County to the westward. The Schmedding family originated in Westphalia, Germany, and the Schmed- ding brothers crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel in 1831. They walked to their destination from Lexington, Missouri, to Henry County.
John Bernard Schmedding, Montrose, Missouri, is owner of 400 acres of land, consisting of three farms and with three sets of improvements, 320 acres of which is located northwest of Germantown and eighty acres just west of Montrose is a worthy descendant of pioneer stock. He was born near Germantown, Henry County, August 12, 1850, and is the son of John Bernard (born 1800, died 1865) and Elizabeth (Walbert) Schmed- ding (born 1807, died 1872). His mother was born in Westphalia, Ger- many, and came to America when a young lady and was married to John B. Schmedding in Osage ounty. To John Bernard and Elizabeth Schmed- ding were born five children: Bertha, died in infancy; Annie, wife of Anton Mucke, died in Henry County; Henry, died in 1862; John Ber- nard, subject of this review; Joseph H., a resident of Germantown.
There were no free schools in this section of Henry County during the boyhood days of John Bernard or "Barney" Schmedding. He and his brother, Joseph, managed the home place of the family until Barney was married. He then settled upon his own land and made a division of 880 acres of land which he and Joseph H. owned together and farmed in common after the death of their mother. John Bernard received 400 acres and the brothers gave a sister a tract of 160 acres, which they im- proved for her. For three years after his marriage, Mr. Schmedding lived in a log house and then erected a handsome house, which was his place of residence until the fall of 1911, when he and Mrs. Schmedding moved to a pretty cottage home in Montrose.
Mr. Schmedding was married in 1880 to Miss Nora Buckley, who was
J. B. SCHMEDDING AND FAMILY
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born in Canada December 14, 1863, the daughter of Michael and Helen (Quilligan) Buckley, both of whom were natives of Ireland. The Buck- leys immigrated to Canada and from Canada came to the United States in 1868. They resided at Jacksonville, Illinois, for two years and then came to Henry County, settling upon a farm nine miles north of Montrose. Michael Buckley died April 22, 1907, aged sixty-seven years. Helen Buck- ley died February 22, 1911, aged seventy-seven years. They were parents of four children: Mrs. Nora Schmedding; Mrs. Catherine Carver, Walker township; Mrs. Mary Matheny, Montrose, Missouri; Ella, is deceased.
The children born to John Bernard and Nora Schmedding are: John, Joseph H., Lee, Lawrence, Nina Viola and William Edwin. John is a farmer in Deepwater township, married Lena Cook and has five children: Edith, Geneva, Marcellus, Mildred and Edwin. Joseph H. lives on the home place, married first time to Edith Cook, who died, leaving two chil- dren: Josephine and Bernard. His second wife was Minnie Towns. Lee Schmedding is deceased. Lawrence lives on the home place, married Hilda Licher, and has three children: Harry, Amanda Fredericka, Erschell Justin. Nina Viola is deceased. William Edwin, born November 16, 1891, is now a member of the National Army and after undergoing training at Camp Funston is now in France fighting on behalf of world freedom. He is a member of the 355th Supply Company, 89th Division, National Army. He went to France June 2, 1918.
The Republican party has always had the support of Mr. Schmedding and he has served as justice of the peace of Deepwater township. He and all of his family are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Schmed- ding is the oldest native born citizen of the southern part of Henry County.
Earl R. Caldwell, one of the progressive young farmers of Walker township, who is farming 120 acres of the Caldwell home place, was born in 1890 and is a son of John Caldwell, who was born in Ohio in 1844, and who first located in Pettis County when he came from his native State to Missouri. In the spring of 1875, he came to Henry County and settled on a tract of prairie land which he improved with a splendid farm residence which is a mansion in size and became very successful as an agriculturist. John Caldwell became owner of 320 acres of well improved land, and he tilled his acreage until his removal to Urich on April 1, 1911, where he engaged in the milling and feed business. Mr. Caldwell married Abigail Neptune, who was born in Ohio in 1844 and died in March, 1914. Of the children born to John Caldwell and wife, six are
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now living: Charles, Urich, Missouri; Francis, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Net- tie Toalson, Urich, Missouri; Mrs. Flora Long, Walker township; Earl R., subject of this sketch; Florence Chenoweth, Walker township.
Earl R. Caldwell was educated in the district school and took charge of the home farm when his father removed to Urich. He was married in 1911 to Miss Nelia Allison, daughter of A. H. Allison of Walker town- ship, a sketch of whom appears in this volume. They have two children: Vestal Harvey, aged four years; and Frances Willard, aged three years.
Mr. Calwell is a Republican and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John Caldwell operated the first threshing outfit ever used in Henry County and for a number of years after coming to Henry County, he operated a sawmill and threshing outfit operated by steam.
George Gretzinger .- The home place of Mr. and Mrs. George Gret- zinger in Walker township is one of the truly attractive farmsteads in Henry county, and its owners can truthfully say that they have placed every tree, shrub, building and all improvements upon the tract upon which they settled in February of 1889. The nucleus of the Gretzinger farms was a tract of ninety-six acres which came to Mrs. Gretzinger from the Lebold estate upon the death of her mother, Mrs. John Barth. Mr. Barth gave them enough additional land to eke out 160 acres, which they built up and created into a splendid prairie farm. In addition to this home place they own 200 acres in White Oak township which Mr. Gretznger and his sons are cultivating and raising large crops upon.
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