History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages : together with a condensed history of Missouri, a reliable and detailed history of Howard and Cooper counties-- its pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens, general and local statistics of great value, incidents and reminiscences, Part 106

Author: National Historical Company
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1198

USA > Missouri > Cooper County > History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages : together with a condensed history of Missouri, a reliable and detailed history of Howard and Cooper counties-- its pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens, general and local statistics of great value, incidents and reminiscences > Part 106
USA > Missouri > Howard County > History of Howard and Cooper counties, Missouri : written and compiled from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of its townships, towns, and villages : together with a condensed history of Missouri, a reliable and detailed history of Howard and Cooper counties-- its pioneer record, resources, biographical sketches of prominent citizens, general and local statistics of great value, incidents and reminiscences > Part 106

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).

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passing through other enclosures and always by the most direct routes. The fences are all of the best quality, and are kept in neat farm-like condition, while each enclosure, of convenient size for the purpose for which it is designed, is abundantly supplied with good water, either by a running stream, a well or a pond, but usually by the former. The surface conformation of the place is gently rolling, with occa- sional abrupt declivities near the draws that lead through it, but no where too broken for cultivation, while every acre of ground is well drained. Here and there are handsome groves of forest trees, which add an additional charm to the natural beauty of the farm, and afford welcome shades to the flocks and herds that tenant its pastures. In short, as a stock farm, both in natural advantages and in the manner in which it is improved, it is without a superior, if it has an equal, in the state. The dwelling of the proprietor, to speak without warmth, is a perfect trinmph of the art of architecture. Cost seems not to have been considered in its construction. Beyond question, it is one of the finest country mansions in the west, if not in the whole country. It is built on an almost colossal plan, and is arranged and finished according to the most approved ideas with regard to comfort, con- venience and good taste. The whole building is lighted with gas and supplied with water from private works constructed on the place. In a word, as a home it is all that a cultivated and refined mind could wish, or that abundant means without vulgarity could supply. The other buildings on the place are in keeping with the residence. All in all, Raven Wood farm, with its fine mansion and other buildings, its miles of undulating fields and well kept pastures - the one waving with rich harvests like the waters of a lake gently agitated by the wind, and the other relieved here and there by flocks and herds of grazing stock, with its handsome groves of shade trees and its long lines of lanes leading off as far as the eye can reach - all conspire to present a picture of prosperous farm life and beauty, which, to use an expression of Quintilius, may be felt by the observer, but cannot be described. That a man who would show the enterprise and good taste displayed by Mr. Leonard in the improvement of this magnificent estate, to say nothing of the ability necessary to successfully manage it, would have a class of stock on his farm worthy of the expense and labor involved in preparing it for stock raising purposes, goes without saying; and so are found upon his place the best grades of stock of nearly every class to be had in this country or in Europe. At the present time he is making a tour of the countries beyond the Atlantic, selecting from the different

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classes of stock the very finest representatives for purchase and for importation. His best stock all come from long lines of pedigreed families, as officially authenticated registers show; so that when a hoof is taken from his farm with the usual guarantee, it may be relied upon as being what it is represented. In the quantity as well as the quality of his stock Mr. Leonard ranks among the leading fine stock raisers of this section of the country. And in introducing the finest grades of stock into Cooper county, as well as encouraging by exam- ple progressive, enterprising methods of farming, he has rendered a service to the county of the highest importance to its agricultural, and therefore to its best interests. The biographical sketch of such a farmer is well worthy of more than the usual measure of space in the history of the county. Nor would such a sketch have been at all satis- factory or just without a notice of his magnificent farm. The Lconard family is an old and honored one in the history of the country. It comes down to us from a date long prior to the revolution, and in every generation has been represented by members prominent for their services in public or private life. In the war for independence an ancestor of Mr. Charles E. Leonard was a trusted and personal friend to General Washington, and was relied upon by the latter in emergencies of the highest importance to the welfare of the colonies ; and so from that day to this the family has held an honorable place in the affairs of the country. But space does not permit a review of the lives and services of each of its members in this connection. Nathaniel Leonard, the father of Charles E., the subject of the present sketch, was born at Windsor, Vermont, June 13, 1799, and was reared and educated in his native state. In an early day he came west, and finally fixed upon Cooper county as the place of his permanent abode. Here he engaged in farming, and soon afterwards in stock raising, and, notwithstanding the many hardships and disadvant- ages with which he had to contend in that early day, his industry, energy and enterprise triumphed over all obstacles, and he ultimately became one of the most successful farmers and wealthy stock raisers of central Missouri. On the 27th of September, 1832, he was married to Miss Margaret Hutchison, originally of Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, born February 1, 1810. Both lived to old age. He died December 30, 1876 ; she January 2, 1880. They were as highly es- teemed as neighbors and friends, and in every relation in life, as any residents within the borders of the county. They reared a worthy family of children, and of these Charles E. Leonard, the subject of this biography, was the fourth. He was born March 27, 1839, and

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was reared on the farm. His father being a man of superior educa- tion himself, and appreciating the full value of mental training and culture, determined to give his children the best school advantages the country afforded. Charles E., after some time spent in the primary schools, was sent to Kemper's well known school at Boonville, that modest but able institution of learning to which central Missouri owes so much. There he pursued his studies until he was prepared to enter upon a university course. From Kemper's he became a matriculate in the state university at Boonville, in which he continued until he was duly graduated. Returning from the university he at once entered actively upon the duties of assisting his father in the management and conduct of the large stock farm, the responsibilities of which had begun to weigh heavily upon the latter on account of his advancing years. Thus brought up to the occupation of handling fine stock, for his father was a noted raiser of the best grades of stock, and having since devoted his whole life to this line of business, it is not surprising that he is justly regarded as one of the most competent and successful fine stock men in Missouri, and, in fact, throughout the west. His career has been an eminently successful one, and still comparatively a young man, the future promises results far more important to himself and valuable to the stock interests of the state than he has yet realized. Let, our stock raisers generally imitate the ex- ample of Mr. Leonard, and Missouri will become, as she has every natural advantage to, the first fine stock state in the union. On the 22d of October, 1872, Mr. Leonard was married to Miss Nadine N., daughter of James M. Nelson, Esq., banker at Boonville, Missouri. They have one child, a son, N. Nelson. Mr. Nelson is expected to return from Europe during the coming fall.

H. H. MILLER, M. D.,

physician and surgeon, Bunceton. Few members of the medical pro- fession in this section of the country have enjoyed better advantages and opportunities than Doctor Miller for becoming thorough and accomplished physicians and surgeons. His father, Colonel Miller, was a wealthy planter and business man of Rockingham county, Virginia, and in youth, the son was given superior English and classic education, taking a course in the sciences, and in Latin and Greek, qualifications of the utmost importance to the higher attainments in medicine and surgery. After his courses in the New Market and Southwestern academies of his native state, he entered upon the study of medicine, under Doctors Miller and Jeunings, at Elkton, Virginia,

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and when prepared to attend medical lectures became a matriculate in the University of Virginia, graduating from that eminent institu- tion in the spring of 1860. During the winter of the same year he attended lectures in the Medical College of Richmond, and in the fol- lowing year received a diploma also from that able school of medi- cine. He had hardly more than completed his professional education when the war burst upon the country with all the lurid glare and deaf- ening thunder of its fury. True to the Old Dominion and to her im- perishable traditions, he laid all his hopes and aspirations for a life of eminence and usefulness in his profession aside, and flew to the ranks of her brave sons, then gathering from every mountain and every valley, to defend with his life the sacred soil where Washington lived and died, from the hostile tread of an invading foe. The first year of the war he served as first lieutenant of a company in the 10th Vir- ginia infantry, commanded by Colonel Givans, one of the regiments of Stonewall Jackson's immortal command. During this service he participated in all the battles and skirmishes in which the tireless, sleepless, fearless Jackson was engaged, including both the battles of Bull's Run, the seven-days' fight around Richmond, the terrible battle of Cedar Mountain, and many others. In 1862 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the same command, and served in that capacity until the close of the war. On the restoration of peace Doctor Miller returned to Elkton, Virginia, and engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. Well schooled in medicine and surgery as he was when the war began, his three years' experience with the suffering and dying of Jackson's noble command, his friends and comrades, was a school, a sad and almost heartrending one, but a school, nevertheless, worth more to the practitioner than a life time spent in the colleges would be. He went into the war a thorough scholar ; he came out of it a thorough physician. In 1870 Doctor Miller came to Missouri, and lo- cated at Taberville, and in 1873 came to Bunceton, where he has since been engaged in the practice. Here he enjoys an enviable reputation as a physician and surgeon, and commands a wide and lucrative practice. Personally he is as highly esteemed as he is professionally. Doctor Miller was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, July 11, 1839, and was a son of Colonel Henry and Susan ( Hansberger ) Miller, of that county. His paternal ancestors for four generations were natives of the same county. His father was a leading planter of that county, and was also largely interested in the milling business, flouring, grist, card- ing, and sawing. He died there in 1875. After his removal to this county, Doctor Miller was married, April 10, 1873, to Miss Amanda,

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daughter of Reuben Ewing, one of the pioneer settlers of Cooper county. Mrs. Miller is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and the doctor is a member of the A. F. and A. M., at Bunce- ton, Lodge No. 456.

S. C. MITCHELL, M. D.,

physician and surgeon ; also interested in farming and stock raising, Palestine. Doctor Mitchell, a leading physician, and influential citizen of Palestine township and that section of the county, is a representa- tive of one of the oldest and most highly respected families in the county. His father, W. N. Mitchell, who was a native of Tennessee, came here as early as 1816, and located at that time, at or near Cole's Fork, the central place of rendezvous for most of the early nally of North Carolina. They reared a family of four sons and four

settlers of the county. His wife, Miss Margaret Miller, was origi- daughters, of whom the doctor was the youngest child. His father became a prominent farmer of the county, and died liere May 6, 1865. The doctor was born November 26, 1839, and grew up on his father's farm. In youth, by study, in the ordinary country schools, and at home, during his leisure from farm employment, he acquired a sub- stantial and practical education. At the age of twenty-three, he com- menced the study of medicine, at Boonville, Missouri, under Dr. H. C. Gibson, one of the most thorough and scientific physicians of central Missouri, and in due time became a matriculate in the St. Louis medi- cal college, from which he was graduated with marked honor, in 1865. Returning then to Cooper county, he at once entered actively upon the practice of his profession, which he has since continued with untiring energy, and with the most gratifying success. Although more of a physician than a business man, in the sense of accumulat- ing property, his twenty years, nearly, of hard work in his profession have not been altogether without substantial returns. Besides being comfortably situated at Palestine, he has a neat farm ncar this place, where he is interested in both grain growing and stock raising, the latter, however, only in a general way. As a citizen, he is progressive and public-spirited, and as a neighbor and friend, he is universally esteemed. Doctor Mitchell was married November 15, 1867, to Miss Ann Eliza, daughter of James and Lucinda Craig, old and valned resi- dents of the county. The doctor and his estimable wife have one daughter, Miss Mattie E., a cultured and amiable young lady. He and his family are members of the Baptist church.

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J. HENDERSON MOORE.

In the biographies of such families as that of which Mr. Moore is a worthy representative, is to be read the true history of the develop- ment and prosperity of Cooper county. His father, G. W. Moore, was one of its early settlers, and opened up a large farm here, leaving the county at his death the richer and more prosperous by his having lived in it, and with a large family to carry forward the work of de- veloping its resources and improving it. He was a native of North Carolina, and eame here when a young man and located in Palestine township. He made his farm on land he entered from the govern- ment, and was married to Miss Frances T. Stephens, originally from Virginia, a lady worthy to have taken part with him in building up a comfortable fortune. After forty years of intelligent and successful industry in the county, he died at his homestead on the 18th of April, 1861, sadly regretted by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and deeply mourned by his family. He and his good wife reared a family of ten children : eight sons and two daughters. Of these J. Henderson, the subject of this sketch, was the eldest. He was born March 22, 1822, and was reared in the family homestead. After he grew up, and some years after he attained his majority, he was mar- ried to Miss Mary A., daughter of James and Elizabeth ( Miller) Mc- Carty. She (Mrs. Moore) was a granddaughter of Judge James Miller, one of the three first judges of the county court. They were married on the 24th of January, 1850. Three children, now living, followed this long and happy union, viz. : Lorenzo H., J. Warren and Hattie J., wife of O. N. Dills, all residents of Palestine township. After his marriage Mr. Moore located on the farm where he now lives, an excellent homestead of 330 aeres, well improved and in good con- dition. He is a modern, ideal, progressive farmer, paying more re- gard to the quality of the products and stoek he raises than to the quantity. Neat about his farm and enterprising in its management, he is one of the business-like, successful farmers of the county. Per- sonally, he is regarded as a valued citizen, and a kind and and accom- modating neighbor. His excellent lady, Mrs. Moore, is an earnest and devoted member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.

J. WARREN MOORE,

proprietor general store, Palestine. Mr. Moore, a son of J. Hender- son Moore, a prominent farmer of this eounty whose sketch precedes this, was born at the family homestead December 28, 1856, and was

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reared on the farm. His father being a man of advanced and liberal ideas with regard to education, as well as other matters, gave his son good school advantages in youth. J. Warren, after the usual course in the preparatory schools, entered William Jewell college, of Liberty, Missouri, where he proseented his studies with great zeal and energy, and in his course at that institution acquired an excellent English ed- neation. After his return from college, in February, 1880, he estab- lished his present store at Palestine. He carries an excellent stock of goods in the general mercantile line, and, by his energy, fair dealing and pleasant, popular bearing, has built up an extensive and profitable trade. He was married March 20, 1882, to Miss Clara Pasmore, origi- nally of Canada, but reared and educated at Liberty, Missouri -an accomplished and most estimable lady. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have one child, a bright little daughter, Pearl. Mrs. Moore is a member of the Baptist church.

CHARLES F. MOORE,

farmer, stoek raiser, trader, veterinary surgeon and piscatorist. Few men, if any, in Cooper county, or in this section of the state, have led more active lives, and, in the pursuits in which Mr. Moore has been engaged, more successful ones than his has been. Reared in the country, and to a farm life, to which circumstances and his own tastes inseparably attached him, in this situation his great energy and enter- prise have found various employments of profit to himself and of value to the community, in all of which he has been entirely successful. The common average of men are content to follow one line of indus- try - whatever they may happen to fall into in youth or early man- hood. Others of strong character and of vigorous intellect and energy, strike out into new fields of existence -anywhere and everywhere that promises favorable results. To this class the biography of Mr. Moore shows him to belong. He was born in Cooper county May 6, 1826, near the place where he now resides, and was a son of George W. and Frances T. ( Stephens) Moore, reference to whom is made in the sketch of J. Henderson Moore, on a previous page of this work. At the age of about twenty-two, July 26, 1846, he was married to Miss Martha A., daughter of Hutchins English, of Monitean county, where she was reared and educated. He resided one year in Moni- teau after his marriage, and then removed to his own native county, in which he has since made his home. For five years he fol- lowed farming here with great assiduity and energy, giving his atten- tion to nothing else. At the expiration of this time such had been his

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success that he was able to engage also in merchandising, which he did at Palestine, and, by a nine years' experience in this line, showed that he had the qualities to win success in this calling as well as in farming. He then turned his attention to buying and shipping to- bacco, and in 1863 began buying and shipping live stock to the whole- sale markets, which he followed for three years, reaping annually a rich harvest from this business. In 1866 Mr. Moore withdrew from all other pursuits and turned his attention exclusively to his present magnificent farm. This splendid estate contains 225 acres of the finest quality of land, all under fence and handsomely improved. His buildings, including dwelling, barns, sheds, etc., are all neat, sub- stantial and comfortable. He follows grain growing and stock rais- ing on a large scale, and also deals largely in wheat and other grain, which he has followed since 1857. He ships annually from 50,000 to 100,000 bushels of grain to the general wholesale mar- kets. On his place he has a fine orchard, consisting of 1,000 grafted peach trees of the best varieties, and about 300 apple trees, all of fine grades. An intelligent, educated stockman, he has made a specialty of studying the diseases of domestic animals, and has become, both by scholarly research and many years' practical ex- perience, one of the best posted and most thorough veterinary sur- geons in this section of the state. He has a wide reputation and an extensive practice in this profession. On his estate he has two large pouds, or more properly small lakes, each of which covers about one acre of land, and these are devoted to fish culture, as well as being used for stock purposes. He has a large variety of fine fish, in the propagation and cultivation of which he takes an active interest. Mr. Moore and his excellent wife have reared a family of six children : George H., R. L., general railway agent at Boonville ; Cornelia, now the wife of L. B. Windsor; Florence, Gillie and Gertie. Mr. Moore and family are members of the Bap- tist church, and he has been a member of the Masonic lodge at Boonville.

JAMES M. MOORE,

farmer and stock trader. Mr. James M. Moore is another worthy representative of the George W. Moore family mentioned in the sketches of J. Henderson, Charles F., and R. L. Moore in this vol- ume. He was born in this county on the old homestead, February 2, 1834. Like his brothers he was reared to the occupation of a farmer, in which his father was a marked success, and at the age of about twenty years was married, November 16, 1854, to Miss Rebecca,

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daughter of J. C. Todd, of Morgan county. They settled on a farm in Cooper county, and he and his worthy wife went to work to carve out their fortunes by honest, patient industry. But seven years had not circled round before the hand of death was laid upon her, and she was no more. She died January 5, 1861. Of this union one son is now living, J. T. Moore. Afterwards the father was married to Miss Jane, a daughter of Robert Seaton, formerly of Natchez, Missis- sippi, but for many years prior to his daughter's marriage a citizen of Cooper county. She was born in Natchez but was reared in this county. They were married June 5, 1862. Three children were reared by this marriage : Aggie, Minnie and Myrtle. Mr. Moore settled on his present farm in March, 1867, a comfortable homestead of over 100 aeres, exceptionally well improved. He is a neat farmer and an intelligent, business-like manager, and succeeds better with a small farm than many do with twice or thrice his number of acres. He has been engaged in stock trading a number of years, and in this business achieves satisfactory success. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are worthy and exemplary members of the Christian church.

FREDERICK NUNN,

farmer and stock raiser. Mr. Nunn, who is one of the neatest and most intelligent farmers of Palestine township, is a native of Bavaria, and is a self-educated, self-made man. He was born September 9, 1815, and was a son of Michael and Barbara ( Ulrich ) Nunn, of the same kingdom. He was reared in his native country and acquired his education, sufficient for all practical purposes, by private study of evenings after working hours, and at other times when not at work, after he had reached his majority. He came to America in 1835 and lived in Virginia for nineteen years. There he obtained his start in the world by digging wells -dug eighty-five in Jefferson county, in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, that averaged 100 feet in depth each, all through rock. He also improved two farms in that county. From there he came to Cooper county in 1854, where he has since lived and been engaged in farming. He has one of the neatest, best kept farms of over 200 acres in the county. Besides ordinary grain growing he gives considerable attention to stock raising, in which he is very suc- cessful. Mr. Nunu has been married twice : First, in his native country in 1833, to Miss Catherine Page. She died cleven days after their arrival in Boonville in 1854. Of his family of three children by this union, two are living, John and George. In the fall of 1855 he was married to Miss Catherine, daughter of David Wednelton, originally

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of Germany. Eight children have followed their marriage : David C., Barbara, wife of George Watson; Fannie, deceased ; Maggie, de- ceased ; Jennie, William M., Lulu and Lena. Mrs. Nunn is a member of the Baptist church.

H. F. OGLESBY,

farmer. Among the well-to-do farmers of Palestine township who are natives of the county is Mr. H. F. Oglesby, who was born here May 13, 1836, and has spent his whole life so far in the county of his nativity. He was one oftwo children of P. G. Oglesby and wife, Millie C., a daughter of Henry Woolery. His father, who was born in Ken- tucky in 1804, came here with his parents from that state when a young man and lived in this county until his death July 2, 1845: He was married to Miss Woolery a short time after his arrival here, and be- sides H. F. they had a daughter Nancy E., now Mrs. Henry S. Tits- worth. H. F., after he grew up, was married April 14, 1859, to Miss Martha C. Nichols, who bore him three children : Mary, now the wife of C. W. Cordry, Charles W. and Pleasant G. But on the 4th of June, 1864, death invaded his home and took his noble wife, the de- voted mother of his children. Two years and a half afterwards Mr. Oglesby was again married, November 24, 1871, Miss Nancy E., dangh- ter of Joseph and Nancy Woolery, then becoming his wife. This union is blessed with two children : Mattie Hamilton and Robert F. Farm- ing has constituted Mr. Oglesby's life occupation. Immediately after his first marriage he settled on the old homestead in Palestine town- ship, where he has since lived. He has 200 acres in this place, and has it substantially and comfortably improved. He is a good practical farmer and a well respected citizen and neighbor. Mr. Oglesby and his wife are both members of the Missionary Baptist church

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Author: National Historical Company Publication date: 1883 Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1198

Author: National Historical Company
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: St. Louis : National Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1198