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 40
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 40
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
some place of 485 acres, all well improved ; and besides this, he has another body of land of 1,062 acres in Randolph county, Missouri. Prior to the war he owned twenty-two slaves, and notwithstanding he lost those and a great deal of other property, he is still regarded as one of the wealthy farmers of Howard county. In the spring of 1858 he was elected justice of the peace, which position he filled for six- teen years, and in the fall of 1874 was elected to the office of county judge, and has proved himself an able and efficient member of that body. Judge Tolson has been three times married. By his first wife he had two sons, John and Joseph. By his second, formerly Miss Sarah F., daughter of Wm. B. Gibbs, he had two daughters : Bettie, the wife of James Gibbs, and Anna. His present wife was formerly Miss Lo Manion, daughter of John O. Manion, of Ken- tucky, and late of this county He and his wife are both members of the Christian church, with which they have been connected for many years.
JOHN D. TOLSON.
Notwithstanding one's opportunities in life may not be unfavor- able, opportunities will not bring success unless united with the qual- ities which enable him to win it even in the face of difficulties. That Mr. Tolson's career as a business man has been characterized by marked success, is perhaps not entirely undue to the fact that he was not without a nucleus of means with which to begin business, yet he undoubtedly owes more to his own exertions for what he has accom- plished than to any other canse. Though comparatively a young man, he already occupies a prominent position among the business men of the county. John D. Tolson, the elder of two sons, born to Judge Benjamin H. Tolson and his first wife, Eliza Downing Tolson, was born in this county December 10, 1843, and was educated in the com- mon schools of the county, having also the advantage of a course at Central college ; but as the war broke out in 1861, thus necessitating the closing of that institution, he was prevented from completing his education there as he had expected to do. After the conclusion of the war he engaged, in September, 1865, in the dry goods business as the leading partner in the firm of J. D. Tolson & Co. Two years later the firm became Tolson, Pankey & Crews, and two years later still, in 1865, he retired from business entirely and thereupon engaged in farming. Continuing farming until 1874, he then embarked again in merchandising, dealing mainly in hardware, but shortly afterwards added a stock of groceries, his brother becoming his partner for a time, and then retiring. In 1877 he disposed of the grocery branch of his trade, but continued in business, dealing in farming implements and machinery. In 1883 Mr. Tolson consolidated his farming implements and machinery business with the grocery, grain, etc., house of Boughner & Hughes, Mr. Hughes retiring and Mr. Smith taking his place, the new firm being styled, Boughner, Tolson & Smith, as given before. Few houses, if any, in Howard county do a business equal in magui-
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
tude to the trade of this establishment, and its popularity and influ- ence is rapidly increasing. Mr. Tolson was married October 5, 1869, to Miss Kate Crigler, daughter of Lewis Crigler, an old pioneer of the county, and they have four children : Lewis C., Josephine H., John D. and Irving. He is a prominent member of the I. O. O. F.
JOSEPH TOLSON,
although a comparatively young man, has had a somewhat varied ex- perience in business, and the fact that he now has one of the largest and best farms in the county, well improved and well stocked, is proof conclusive that his career has not been a disastrous one. He, also, is a son of Judge Tolson, and was born in this county January 22, 1850. He was brought up on his father's farm, but in his youth had the ad- vantage of the common schools, and of a course at Ceutral college, which latter institution he attended during the terms of 1867 and 1868. After his course at college he returned to the farm where he remained four years, but in 1872 engaged in the drug business in Fayette, con- tinuing in this but one year ; he then with his brother, John D. Tolson, engaged in the grocery and hardware trade under the firm name of Tolson Bros. Retiring from this firm two years afterwards, in 1875 he formed a partnership with Solon Smith in the stock business, and this he followed for four years. He then retired from the stock trade and resumed farming, in which he is now engaged. He was married July 31, 1873, to Miss Shanie Page, a young lady of this county. She died March 22, 1874. He was married again January 10, 1881, to Miss Laura F. Payne, a daughter of R. J. Payne, a citizen of Howard county. They have one child, Joe S. Mr. Tolson is a member of the Masonic order. His wife is a member of the Baptist church.
GEORGE B. TOLSON,
brother of Judge Tolson, of Howard county, and one of the responsi- ble and substantial citizens of the county, is a farmer by occupa- tion and owns a place in section 17, near Fayette, of 160 acres. Mr. Tolson was born in this county, September 1, 1831, and was here reared and educated. In 1852 he went to Grundy county, this state, and engaged in school teaching, which he followed until 1855. Returning then to this county he gave his attention to farming, continuing that occupation until 1861, when he enlisted in the Richmond Grays under Captain John B. Clark, Jr., afterwards General Clark. Eight months after his enlistment the company re- organized and was then known as company B, second battalion, in which he continued. During the last two years of his service in the army he was adjutant of the 9th Missouri regiment, which position he filled until the final surrender at Shreveport, La., in June, 1865. Returning home at the conclusion of the war he resumed farming. In 1869 -November 26 - he was married to Miss Mattie, daughter of B.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
G. Embree, a native of Kentucky, but also an old settler of Howard county. Mr. Tolson has four children - Rosalee, Mary K., Pearle and John B. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order. In 1878, he was elected to the office of justice of the peace and re-elected in 1882.
CHARLES J. WALDEN.
When nine years of age, Mr. Walden was left an orphan by the death of his father in California, in 1851. Aside from the sympathy and encouragement a devoted mother gave, he has had but little help from others to make his way through life. What he has accom- plished, therefore, he owes mainly to his own exertions - is a monu- ment to his own worth as a man. And the story of much of his life is a record of struggles amidst difficulties to rise in the world, result- ing, just as the meridian is approached, in a reasonable degree of success. Charles J. Walden was born in Carroll county, Mo., October 27, 1842. In 1852 he came to Howard county with his mother and her family of seven children, his father having died in California in 1851. In the spring of 1853, he was apprenticed to the printer's trade and entered the office of which he is now the proprietor, the paper then being known as the Howard county Banner. Having served an ap- prenticeship of more than four years, he went to school in Central college one term, after which he returned to the farm, working during the summer and attending country school during the winter months, until the spring of 1861. When the civil war broke out he enlisted in General J. B. Clark's company, known as the Richmond Grays. The greater part of the four years' struggle was spent in the army, the last service being in the trans-Mississippi department, under General J. O. Shelby. On the 13th of June, 1865, with about 1,300 survivors of the " lost cause," he stacked arms at Shreveport, La., and took the oath of allegiance and turned his face homeward to old Howard. On his arrival home he found things in an unsettled condi- tion, owing to the adoption of what is called the " Drake constitu- tion," which disfranchised a large portion of the white male popula- tion of the state. He went to Illinois, and after remaining there only a short time, returned to Missouri, stopping at Hannibal a few months. From there he went to Huntsville and from there to Glasgow in the spring of 1867. He continued to reside at Glasgow until October, 1872, when he bought the Advertiser office at sheriff's sale and re- turned to the home of his boyhood days. He was united in marriage to Miss Bettie Holloway, at Glasgow, Mo., on the 12th of Jannary, 1862, and to them have been born nine children, six of whom are now living - Wilber A., Jennie M., Jessie B., Freddie H., Homer and Charlie.
DR. JAMES J. WATTS,
though not one of the carlier settlers here, is nevertheless one of the older practitioners of Howard county. He came to Fayette in 1859,
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
and has been in active practice in this county every since-a period closely approaching twenty-five years. His father, William Watts, and mother, Mary B. Smith, were natives of Virginia, and there mar- ried and reared their family. Dr. James J., the subject of this sketch, and the youngest of five children, was born in Madison county, of that state, October 2, 1818, and was educated in his native county. In 1836 he began the study of medicine with Drs. Blakey & Thrift, of Orange county, Virginia, which he continued until 1837, when he came out with his father's family to Missouri and here set- tled in Randolph county. Resuming his medical studies in this state under his brother, Dr. Wm. B. Watts, which he continued until 1839, he then entered the medical department of the university of Louis- ville, Kentucky, where he remained as a student until 1840. On his return to Randolph county, after his course at the medical school, he began the active practice of medicine at Huntsville, which he con- tinued until 1847. In that year he returned to the medical school at Louisville, where he graduated in 1848. Then resuming his practice in Randolph county, he continued it without interruption until 1859, when, as has been observed, he came to Fayette-practising, how- ever, for the six years preceding bis removal to this city in the south- ern part of Randolph county. He was married March 31, 1840, to Miss Martha W. Lewis, a lady of excellent attainments. They have had eleven children, eight now living-William H., Charles W., Mary E. (now dead), James J., Agnes W., Millard F., Laura H., Katie J. and Gertrude L. Dr. Watts is a member of the M. E. church south, and aside from being a successful and capable practitioner, which his forty years' experience sufficiently attest, is regarded as an honorable and upright man.
HAMPTON B. WATTS,
the popular and efficient county assessor, was born in Howard county, Missouri, January 14, 1848. His father, Benjamin Watts, who came here in 1835 from Clark county, Kentucky, made this county his home until 1856, when he was killed by an elk on the present site of Fayette. Hampton has lived here all during life, with the exception of four years, which he spent in Texas. September 12, 1868, he was married to Miss Mary J. Morton, who was born in Clark county, Kentucky, January 20, 1847. They have had six children, four of whom are now living - Evelyn M., William W., Hampton M. and Benjamin W. Mrs. Watts is a member of the Christian church. Mr. W. has an excellent farm of 200 acres, located about one mile from Fayette.
GEORGE H. WILCOXSON
is one of the most successful farmers of Howard county, and he is a descendant of one of its pioneer citizens, Isaac Wilcoxson, a man who possessed all the sterling qualities of a hardy, brave and successful
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
pioneer. Isaac Wilcoxson, the grandfather of George H., immigrated to this county from Mercer county, Kentucky, with his family, in the year 1818. He died here the 8th of November, 1826. The land on which he settled, and of which he made his farm, he bought under the so-called " land sales" regulation, for which he paid $8 per acre, even in that early day. It was regarded as one of the best bodies of land in the county. Joseph Wilcoxson, his son and the father of George H., was but eleven years old when the family came to Mis- souri, having been born in Mercer county, Kentucky, March 30, 1807. He died, also, in this county, where he had spent his whole life since boyhood, September 9, 1856. He was one of the leading farmers and prominent citizens of the county. Public-spirited and a friend to education, he not only saw to it that his own children had the advantages of good schools, but he exerted himself actively for the general maintenance of common schools in the county. George H. Wilcoxson, born in Howard county, Missouri, November 12, 1835, was reared on his father's farm, and there formed a taste for the oc- cupation of farming which led him to adopt that calling as his em- ployment in life. However, during his youth he was given a good education, which he anxiously sought, having taken the course of the common schools and also attended Central college. He remained on his father's farm until twenty-two years of age, and in 1857 settled on the place where he now lives. He has a splendid farm of 565 acres, and the improvements are of a very superior class. The esteem in which his grandfather and his father were held by those around them has descended to the son undiminished. He was married February 24, 1864, to Miss Sallie Richardson, daughter of James Richardson, of this county. They have three children : Laura B., Hattie M. and Anna.
R. P. WILLIAMS.
In 1835 there came to Howard county a comparatively young man, who subsequently became one of its most worthy citizens and suc- cessful farmers, and whose descendants have since become promi- nently identified with the business and public affairs of the county and state. Francis Epps Williams, the father of R. P., came of excellent Virginia parentage. His father, Thomas Roper Williams, was a man of sterling worth, one of the most successful farmers and highly re- spected citizens of Campbell county, Virginia, His mother, form- erly Miss Elizabeth Cross, of the well-known Cross family of that state, was a lady of amiable qualities and withal superior intelligence and culture. Francis Epps Williams was born in 1801. In youth he acquired a good practical education. When thirty-four years of age he came to Missouri and settled in Howard county. He after- wards became the owner of the Governor Jackson farm, near Fayette, and prior to the late war was one of the wealthy men of the county. He was a man of strong, clear intelligence, energetic and industrious almost to a fault, a good manager, conducting his farm on business
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
principles, yet open-hearted, hospitable and kind in that bounteous spirit, characteristic of the typical old-fashioned Virginia gentleman. He was a man who had no tastes for public life and was free from all political ambition, perferring rather the quiet and pleasures of home and the society of neighbors and personal friends. Thus in compar- ative retirement, and with modest worth, he lived out a long and useful life, and died regretted by all who knew him, leaving a name that is an honor to his descendants, an inheritance they have not proven un- worthy to receive. In early manhood he was married to Miss Mar- tha A. Talbot, of his native state, a lady worthy in every sense to have been the wife of the true-hearted sterling man that he was, and of this union four sons and two daughters were reared to majority, viz. : Martha A., the widow of the late R. T. Prewitt ; Colonel John F. Williams, insurance commissioner of this state ; Maria O., wife of Judge Henry, of the supreme court ; R. P., of Fayette ; W. T., now deceased ; and Frank and Earnest, twins. Mrs. Williams now finds a pleasant home in the family of her son, R. P. R. P. Wil- liams, the second son, now a banker of Fayette, has always lived in this county, and his life is so intimately interwoven with business affairs and interests of the county that this volume, in a biographical point of view, would hardly be complete without an ontline, at least, of his career. Mr. Williams was born in Howard county Missouri, on the 8th of September, 1841, and was educated in the schools of the county and in the state university. In 1866 he engaged in merchandising in Fayette, which he followed until 1871, when the Fayette bank was organized. Of this institution he was assistant cashier. This position he held until 1878, when he aud Mr. Payne purchased the bank, of which he is still one of the principal owners, On the 31st of October, 1877, he was married to Miss Anna Overall, of St. Charles county, and a granddaughter of one of the first set- tlers of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have a family of two children - Jenet and Adele.
JOHN D. WISELY.
The Wisely family came originally from Pennsylvania, Daniel Wisely, the grandfather of John D., having lived in that state (then a colony ) before the revolution. He was a volunteer in the colonial army during the war for independence, and served through the entire struggle. After peace was restored he went to Wythe county, in the State of Virginia, and settled there, where he reared his family, and where Daniel, Jr., the father of John D., was born in 1796. Daniel Wisely, Jr., was reared in his native county, and was there married to Mary Straw, also of Virginia, of which union ten children were born, and of these John D. was the fourth, having been born in Wythe county, Va., December 1, 1820. In 1836 the family came to Missouri and settled in Howard county and here the parents died ; the father, July 18, 1868, and the mother, November 4, 1872. John D. was brought up to the occupation of a farmer and this he has ever
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
since followed, although for a number of years he was engaged in milling, but in connection with his farming interests. His milling ex- perience extended from the spring of 1860 up to about the middle of 1877, having run a mill on his place during that time. In 1877, he disposed of his milling interest and again turned his whole attention to farming. In 1879, he moved on the farm on which he now lives- a body of land of 590 acres. In 1865 he was married - January 26 -to Miss Frances A. Pulliam, of this county, and they have six children - John D., Jr., Luella, Mary, Minnie, Hattie and an infant.
JULIUS C. WITHERS,
drugs, paints, oils, books, etc. The interest of a father in the wel- fare of his son is a blessing that Mr. Withers never knew, his father having died a few weeks before the son's birth. His father, whose name also was Julius C., was a native of Kentucky and came from Danville, in that state, and settled in this county early in youth. Having attained to manhood here, he married Miss Mary F. Wil- liams, of this county, and subsequently, in August, 1851, died, his wife surviving him. Of this union, Julius C., the subject of this sketch, was born, September 5, 1851. When in his tenth year he obtained a situation as clerk in the drug store of Dr. Hawkins, in Glasgow, this county, in which he continued until 1863. After this, having taken a course in the common schools, he entered Central col- lege, at Fayette, and there acquired a more advanced education. Thus equipped from the schools, and with a practical knowledge of pharmacy, in 1875, he formed a partnership with Mr. H. Miller and engaged in the drug business in Fayette. At the expiration of a year, Mr. Miller withdrew and Mr. Withers continued the business alone until 1879. He then disposed of his interest, selling to Messrs. Dud- geon & Smith, and engaged in farming. Discontinuing farming in 1882, he established his present business, in which he has been very successful. He was married, August 6, 1876, to Miss Emma C. Tin- dall, daughter of Thomas Tindall, of this county, and they have two children - Alice and Mary. Mr. Withers is a member of the Baptist church. What he has accomplished in life he owes almost wholly to his own exertions.
ROLAND E. WITT
settled on the farm where he now lives in 1873. Prior to that he had been engaged in various occupations and had been reasonably suc- cessful in all. He acquired a good education in his youth, and at the age of twenty he was well qualified to enter upon the duties of school teaching. He taught school two years, from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, and was very successful as a teacher. In 1860, he engaged in the saw and grist-mill business in Carroll and Chariton counties which he fol- lowed four years. He was then offered a position as clerk in the com- missiou house of Keller, Austin & Co., St. Louis, which he accepted,
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
and which he filled one year. At the expiration of that time he en- gaged as a salesman, first with Witt, Sloan & Co., and afterwards with Scott, Collins & Co., continuing with the two firms in all three years. From St. Louis, in 1868, he went to Audrian county, where he gave his attention to farming, following that until 1873. He then returned to Howard county, where he had been principally reared, and settled on the farm on which he now lives. He has a handsome place of 250 acres in an excellent state of cultivation and improvement. Mr. Witt is a native of Nelson county, Virginia, and was born December 1, 1838. His parents were also natives of the same county. His father, David H. Witt, was born April 3, 1817. When quite a young man, he (D. H. ) was married in his native county to Miss Jane M. Bates, and by this union they reared four children, Roland E. being the eldest. In 1844 the family came to Missouri, and for a short time stopped in Saline county, and then came on to Howard county, where they settled. The father died January 20, 1877. Roland E. was but six years old when his father's family came to this state. He was married October 30, 1860, to Miss Mary E. Collins, a native of Nel- son county, Virginia, and they have nine children, John C., Jane B., Sarah E., Mary I., Stella F., David H., Maggie, Mariam and Leta. Mr. Witt is a member of the Masonic order, and both as a Mason and a citizen he is without reproach.
JOHN A. WOODS
was the seventh of nine children, the family of Larkin K. and his wife Mary, whose maiden name was Hocker. Larkin K. Woods was a native of Kentucky and was born in that state in 1803. In 1816 he was brought with his father's family to Howard county, where he was reared and lived until his death, which occurred February 14, 1866. John A. was born in this county August 26, 1844, and was brought up on his father's farm, where he lived until 1867. He then settled on his present farm, which now consists of 210 acres. On the 4th of April, 1866, Mr. Woods was married to Miss Martha J., daughter of Boyd Mccrary, an old settler of this county. They have five children : Boyd, Tillie, Eva, Hattie and Mabel. Like most of the young men in this part of the state during the war, Mr. Woods enlist- ed in the Confederate army, with which he continued until the general surrender. Being quite a youth, however, when the war broke out, he did not enlist until 1864, then becoming a member of company E, of General Clark's division, He surrendered at Alexandria in 1865.
JAMES H. WOODS.
That the pioneer days of Howard county have long since passed away, is plainly manifest from the fact that so many of the active men of the present day are the grandson's of those who cleared away the forests and first made homes within its borders. Mr. Woods is one of these, his father having been born in this county and having here
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
lived and died. Archie Woods, the grandfather of James, came to Howard county among the first of its early settlers and here he made his home and reared his family. Archie, Jr., his son, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and on reaching manhood was married to Miss Elizabeth Wilkerson, of this county. They had two children, James H. being the elder. James was born in this county September 15, 1851. He was brought up on his father's farm and in youth was given a good practical education in the common schools of his neigh- borhood. He followed farming and stock dealing until 1875, when he engaged in merchandising in Boonsboro. But after an experience of one year in the mercantile business, in which he was reasonably successful, he returned to his farm, where he has since lived. He has a place of 235 acres of well improved land, and on his own estate enjoys the compe- tence and independence which his industry and good management have brought him. The maiden name of his wife was Sallie L. Af- flick, of Monroe county, Missouri. They were married February 1, 1883.
DR. URIEL S. WRIGHT,
who has been in practice in Fayette about twelve years, although com- paratively a young man, has achieved marked success in his profes- sion. He is now thirty-six years of age, a native of Howard county, and hence enjoyed excellent educational advantages in his youth. It is to indite an eloquent testimonial to the vast service Central college has been to the people of central Missouri to sketch the lives of the men who have grown up here since it was established. Dr. Wright also drank of this noble fountain of knowledge from which so many have drawn, but which none have exhausted. .
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