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 46
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 46
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JOHN W. ROCK,
farmer. Mr. Rock, who is one of the substantial farmers of Howard county, and who has served as justice of the peace of his township for the past seven years, has been a resident of this county for over twenty-five years. He was born in Barren county, Kentucky, Sep- tember 5, 1829. His father, Joshua Rock, was a native of Virginia, but came to Kentucky and was there married to Miss Mary Farhis, and lived in Barren county until 1841, when they immigrated to Mis- souri and settled in Linn county. Two years later they moved to Macon county and lived there ten years; then, in 1853, moved to Grundy county. John W. was twelve years old before his parents left Barren county, namely, 1841, and consequently spent most of his youth in this state, and particularly in Macon county, where he attended the common schools, receiving a good ordinary education. When a young man he worked for a time at the carpenter's trade, but was reared on a farm and has followed that occupation thus far through life. In 1857 he came to Howard county, where he has since resided, and now owns a farm of 1811 acres in a good state of im- provement. He served for a while in the enrolled militia, and after- wards in the Missouri state militia. On the 15th of May, 1857, he was married to Miss Mary M., daughter of Peter and Polly Page
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
Ford, of this county, but originally of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Rock have two children, Mary B. and Laura. Both parents are members of the Baptist church.
JOHN A. J. ROOKER.
About 1750 William Rooker, then a mere boy, left his father's hearthstone in England and took passage on a vessel for America. Landed here, he first made his home in Alabama, where he afterwards married and lived a number of years, but later on settled in Tennes- see, and during his residence in the two states reared a large family. His descendants settled in the various states and it is believed all of that name in this country may trace their origin back to him as their common ancestor. Three of his sons and one of their sisters settled in the vicinity of Indianapolis, Indiana, and that city was originally laid off on the land which then belonged to their sister's husband. John Rooker, another son and the father of the subject of this sketch, came to this county from Tennessee in 1816. He was born March 2, 1785, and married in Tennessee before leaving that state, his wife having before her marriage been a Miss Mary A. Gillespie. On their arrival here they spent their first winter in Fort Hempstead, but in the following spring settled on the place near Glasgow, where he died forty- four years afterwards, December 20, 1850, his wife having preceded him to the grave about two months. They reared a family of eight chil- dren. John Rooker was a man of the greatest enterprise, industry and resolution, and withal he was possessed of unmistakable business ability. As soon as he became settled in his new home he embarked in trading by flat-boats, between Old Chariton and New Orleans. He accompanied his own boats down the river on which he transported tobacco, corn, hides, etc., and selling his stocks and also the boats at New Orleans, he would then return by steamboat to St. Louis and thence often walk up the Missouri to Old Franklin. This he continued for over twenty years and succeeded in accumulating a comfortable estate for old age. His son, John A. J., the subject of this sketch, was born and reared in this county, his birthday having been the 5th of November, in the year 1820. Farming became his regular occu- pation, and he was married on the 3d of December, 1842, to Miss Mary A., daughter of Samuel and Jane Maddox. In 1843 he moved to Linn county, Missouri, but his wife dying there about two years afterwards, he returned to Howard county in 1845. Here, November 2, 1847, he was married to Miss Nancy T., daughter of William and Margaret Jackson, and then moved again to Linn county. He remained in that county for nearly twenty years and until after the late war, when he emigrated to Iowa, but returned to Missouri one year later and settled in Howard county, where he has since lived. He has an excellent farm of 264 acres, and besides giving his attention to this, he was for a number of years extensively engaged in buying and shipping tobacco to distant markets, including Liverpool and London, to which
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
he made direct shipments. By his first wife he has a daughter, Clasinda ; and by his second, nine children are now living: Lizzie, Alice, Erasmus, Thomas J., Octavia, James, Nannie, Willie and Lucy.
GRANVILLE C. SARTAIN,
farmer. For many years Mr. Sartain was engaged in handling and training fast horses. In 1849 he went to Texas, where he remained three years. He was long accounted one of the best trainers and judges of running stock in central Missouri. In this business he was engaged in connection with farming, and the last mentioned occupation he still follows. He has a farm of 282 acres improved. He was born in Montgomery county, Tennessee, December 10, 1829, and was one of a family of ten children, born to Wright and Nancy Duncan Sar- tain, the father originally from Kentucky, but the mother a native of Virginia. When Granville C. was about five years of age his parents came to Missouri and settled in Howard county, where he was brought up. When twenty-nine years of age he was married in July, 1856, to Miss Mary B. Golden, of this county, but six years afterwards she died leaving him four children : William, Matthew, Sarah and Mary B. In 1864 he joined General Price's command in this state, and served for a short time in the Confederate army. In October of the same year, he married again, Miss Rebecca Peacher then becoming his wife. They have six children, Joseph, James, Clarence, Harvey, Addie D. and Mandie.
DR. F. M. SCROGIN,
physician and surgeon. In youth, the future for young Scrogin seemed no brighter than for most of the other boys in his neighbor- hood who had their way to make in the world unaided by means of influential friends. Yet, through a vista that many did not look, he saw a brighter light than they - a future when he would be blessed by an ample competence of this world's goods, would be a prominent and useful citizen of his community, a physician respected and wel- comed for his skill in his profession, and surrounded by a devoted and worthy family ; but it was a vista that could be seen through only by determined purpose, and it revealed a future that could be realized only by constant effort, untiring, increasing industry. And thus he has kept his eye steadily on the light, has struggled on bravely through all difficulties and overcoming all obstacles, until, at last, he has reached the goal of his ambition, has become a physician esteemed for his ability, a citizen comfortably situated and highly respect- ed in his community. Dr. Scrogin was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, August 8, 1819, and in youth had the advantages afforded by the ordinary schools of his neighborhood, by which he received a good, substantial education. Being brought up on a farm and under the influence of life in the country. he acquired those habits of industry and grew into that regularity and manner of life that are
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
the secret of so many successful careers. At the age of eighteen he commenced the study of medicine under Drs. Price and Perkins, of Lexington, Kentucky, in which he continued several years, and in due time entered the medical department of the Transylvania university, of that city, and afterwards graduated at the close of the session for 1843-44. He then entered regularly upon the practice of his profes- sion in Lexington, in which he continued until 1844, when he came to Missouri, and located at Switzer's Mills, in Chariton county. There he remained and prosecuted his practice with marked success for seventeen years and until 1861, when he came to his present location in this county, where for the last twenty-two years he has never failed to answer the call of the suffering. Nor has his labor of life gone unrewarded. He has an ample, comfortable estate of 700 acres of fine land, and his homestead is one of the best improved farms in Howard county. He was married on the 20th of July, 1854, to Miss Martha Switzer, formerly of Virginia, daughter of Daniel Switzer, founder of the Switzer mills. Dr. and Mrs. Scrogin have four chil- dren - Ollie, Arthur, Dixie and Daisy. The doctor is also a member of the I. O. O. F. His parents, Robert C., and Sidnie Terrill Scrogin, were both natives of Virginia, but came to Kentucky early in life.
HON. THOMAS SHACKELFORD.
To those who are to come after us, and who shall know anything of the history of this section of the state, the name of the subject of this sketch will not be unfamiliar. For many years he has been prominent in public life, at the bar, in business affairs and as an agri- culturist. His father was a Virginian by birth, and by occupation a stone mason, but subsequently he became a large farmer in Saline county, Missouri ; and he had those sterling qualities about him and that broad-minded, plain, vigorous intelligence, which, even without the advantages of a good education, bring success where industry, enterprise and strong common sense can win it; and which, when combined with mental culture, place the individual in the front of the thought and more advanced life of the community in which he lives. The native force of the father was transmitted in a marked degree to the son, and besides this, he has had the advantages of an excellent education obtained by private instruction. He was born in Saline county, Missouri, February 6th, 1822. His father, Judge Shackelford, whose name also was Thomas, first settled in Kentucky after leaving Virginia, where he followed his trade, but afterwards, in 1821, came on to Missonri, and settled in Saline county. In the meantime, however, he had married Miss Eliza C. Pulliam, a young lady originally from North Carolina. Here they reared their family which consisted of eight children. Transferred from the rock quarries of his former home to the fertile prairies of Saline county, Judge Shackelford's success was speedy and ample, and he soon took rank as one of the leading citizens of a wealthy county. He was appointed to the beuch of the county court, and
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
otherwise figured prominently in public and business affairs. The re- mainder of his life, and that of his excellent wife, was spent in the home of their adoption, and the remains of both now rest in the neighborhood cemetery near where they lived and died. Thomas Shackelford, the son, on reaching early manhood, or rather during the later years of his youth, read law under Judge Leonard, of Fay- ette, and made such progress in the study that he was admitted to the bar with marked distinction before he was twenty-one years of age. He soon went to the front in his profession and since then has been connected with most of the leading cases of this county, having prac- tised in Glasgow for the last forty years. In a property point of view his success has been not less flattering. He has been a large stockholder in the Glasgow Savings bank since its first establishment, and has been the president of that institution during the whole time. He also owns a magnificent farm of 685 acres, one of the handsomest and best improved farms in the county, and does a large business in blooded stock and high-graded cattle. He is a man of great enter- prise in whatever he engages, and he is as public-spirited and solici- tons for the general welfare as he is enterprising. He has been among the foremost in building up Glasgow, and has contributed a leading share toward the development and prosperity of the surround- ing country. In 1861 he was chosen to represent the people of this district in the constitutional convention which had to consider the action Missouri should take in the pending crisis, and was a steadfast friend to the Union. In 1875 he was again chosen as a constitutional delegate and sat in the convention that formed the present constitu- tion. The facts that none but the ablest and best men are chosen to form constitutions, and that he has been selected by this district as their representative in the only two representative constitutional con- ventions that have been held in his life-time, are eloquent testimonials to his integrity, ability and popularity. He was married June 17th, 1851, to Miss Sarah E., daughter of John Harrison, one of the early settlers and highly respected citizens of this county. They have a family of three children. Ida E., wife of Rev. C. C. Hemenway, of Auburn, New York, and Maud and George C. Mr. and Mrs. Shackel- ford are both members of the M. E. church south, and he is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the I. O. G. T., and takes an active interest in both orders.
SYDNEY SHACKELFORD,
farmer. Mr. Shackelford, one of the most successful and enterpris- ing farmers and business men of Howard county, began his industrial life in the mercantile business at the early age of seventeen, which he pursued with success for over ten years, and then engaged in farming and stock raising, which still occupies his attention, in connection, however, with the tobacco business. He was born in Saline county, Missouri, March 6, 1831, and was reared and educated in that county. In 1847 he came to Glasgow and engaged in merchandising, being a member of the firm of Baston, Hutchinson & Co., and in this he con-
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
tinued until 1856, when he went to St. Louis and began the wholesale grocery business. In that city he was the leading member of the firm of Shackelford, Finney & Co., in which he remained until 1858, when he sold out and commenced farming in this county on a large scale, and raising stock. His place embraces 700 acres of excellent iand, and is one of the best grain and stock farms in the county. The improvements are of a very superior class, and he has some as fine stock as there is in the county. As a farmer and stock raiser he is progressive and full of enterprise, and believes that agricultural inter- ests should be conducted on the same principles that govern other business. On the 2d of March, 1858, he was married to Miss Lucy Bouldin, daughter of I. E. Bouldin, of Austin, Texas, but in March, 1873, she was taken away by death. By this union he has one son living, Everett. He was married again, June 2, 1877, to Miss Flora Bouldin. By this marriage he has two children living, Sydney and Mizell. Mrs. Shackleford was born in this county March 28, 1853, and was a daughter of James L. Bouldin.
WILLIAM H. SIGLER,
merchant, lumber manufacturer and dealer. That there are ample and almost unsurpassed opportunities here for men to thrive by en- terprise and good management is forcibly illustrated by the career of Wm. H. Sigler. He came to Glasgow six years ago with barely enough means to begin business on a small scale, and now he is one of the foremost business men in the county ; is, perhaps, the largest lumber manufacturer in this whole region of country. He has two large mills in Glasgow alone, besides important milling interests elsewhere, and in west Glasgow, of which he is the postmaster, he also has a general store and deals extensively in grain. In one of his mills in Glasgow he has just added a complete plant of machinery for the manufacture of laths and staves, which he has begun on a large scale. He employs a large corps of hands in his various establishments. Such a man is of value to any community in which he lives, and a sketch of his career will well repay reading. He was born in Putnam county, Indiana, June 11, 1850. His parents, James and Elizabeth Sigler, were originally from Pennsylvania. When William H. was about five years old they moved from Indiana to Wayne county, Iowa, where the father carried on farming and the milling business, and to the latter occupation William H. was brought up, which he followed until the breaking out of the war, When hostilities began he, of course, took the side of his own section, and being as courage- ous as he was sincere in his attachment to the union, he enlisted in company B, 6th Kansas infantry, which was afterwards changed to cavalry. He served three years, and at the expiration of his term returned home and resumed the milling business. In 1871 he went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he remained most of the time until in 1877, when he came to Glasgow. In January, 1874, he was married to Miss Emma J. Kingdon, a native of Illinois.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
WILLIAM H. AND KIRK P. SILVEY,
farmers. William H. Silvey, the father of Kirk P., is a life-long res- ident of Howard county, and is one of the oldest, in point of contin- uous residence, in the county, having been born here February 26, 1819. He was the youngest of a family of six children born to Alex- ander and Sallie Silvey, only two of whom are now living. His father was a native of Virginia, and his mother, whose family name was originally Holmes, was from North Carolina, but they were mar- ried in Kentucky, whence, in 1818, they came to this state and set- tled in Howard county. His father died here in 1860, and his mother in 1863. William H. obtained a good ordinary education in his youth, and having been reared on a farm, be adopted that as his oc- cupation. He has a farm of good land numbering 200 acres, com- fortably improved. He is an intelligent, upright, well-to-do farmer, and is respected by all who kuow him. January 11, 1843, he was mar- ried to Miss Martha E. Yager, originally from Madison county, Vir- ginia. Both are members of the Baptist church. Mr. and Mrs. Silvey have two children living, Amanda, widow of the late Dr. Pile, and Kirk P.
Kirk P. Silvey was also born in Howard county, his natal day being the 6th of December, 1848. In youth he had the ad- vantages afforded by the common schools, and in these received a good practical education. His father brought him up to habits of in- dustry and in the way to upright and honorable manhood, and his early training has not been thrown away. Like his father, he is a well-respected farmer and citizen. On the 16th of February, 1871, he was married to Pauline Broaddus, of this county. They have four children, Leroy F., William F., Bunyan and an infant. He has a farm of 171 acres.
JOEL R. SILVEY,
farmer. Mr. Silvey's father, Joseph H., who died January 23, 1883, was a son of Alexander and Sarah Silvey, and was brought with his father's family to this county when a small boy. Here he grew up and married and reared a large family, his wife having been formerly Miss Eliza J. Witt, a native of this state, who died February 4, 1881. Of their family of ten children, eight are now living, viz : Sarah F., wife of J. N. Robinson ; Ledru, grocer, in Salisbury, Missouri ; Alex. F., farmer, of this county ; Joel R .. subject of this sketch ; Belle, wife of C. J. Simpson ; James S., student in the law department of the state university ; Ernest B. and Strange S. A son ( Leeroy ) died during the war in the military prison at Alton, Illinois, and Jennie died unmarried. The father, at his death, left a neat farm of 1762 acres, on which Joel R. and his younger brothers now reside. Joel R. was born October 12, 1855, where he now lives. He has followed farming from boyhood, and is an intelligent and industrious and well- respected farmer and citizen. In youth he received a good ordinary
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
education, and after he grew up was married, July 11, 1878, to Miss Ella Estill, daughter of one of the old settlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. S. are both members of the Christian church.
DANIEL W. SKAGGS,
farmer. Mr. Skaggs came to Howard county from Johnson county, in this state, in 1863, and now owns a good farm of 191 acres in a fair condition of improvement. He was the seventh of a family of eleven children born to Joseph and Effic Donham Skaggs, the father a native of East Tennessee, and the mother of Pennsylvania. They were mar- ried in Kentucky, however, where both had gone early in life, and in Warren county of that state the subject of this sketch was born June 6, 1813. When Daniel was a boy seven years of age his parents moved to Henry county, Tennessee, where they lived about ten years and then immigrated to Missouri, settling first in Lafayette county, and two years afterwards in Johnson county. He was educated in the common schools of Tennessee and of this state, and was brought up to the occupation of a farmer, which he has since followed. In May, 1839, he was married to Miss Frances A. Wright, of Kentucky, but she died in 1862, leaving him four children - Mary, William, George and Laura A., of whom George is the only one living. He was again married in March, 1864, Miss Elizabeth Thorp, of this county, becoming his second wife. Of the last marriage four chil- dren are living - Effie, Willie A., Joseph F. and James E. Both are members of the Baptist church.
THOMAS BERRY SMITH,
professor of natural sciences in Pritchett School Institute, was born in Pike county, Missouri, December 7, 1850. His father was a Virginian and his mother a Missourian. His boyhood was spent on a farm, en- gaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising. He attended school a few months during the winter of each year. In his seventeenth year he was sent from home to a high school in Clarksville, Missouri. In 1869 he was allowed to begin a four years' course in Pritchett In- stitute, Glasgow, Missouri, from which he graduated in February, 1873, receiving the degree of B. A. After teaching a few months in the country he was elected to the chair of natural sciences in Pritchett School Institute in September, 1873. In September, 1875, by direc- tion of the institute, he went to Yale college and entered the Sheffield scientific school to prepare himself for the department of chemistry, physics and mineralogy in Pritchett School Institute. He remained until June, 1876, and visited the Centennial exposition on his way home. In September he entered again upon his school duties as pro- fessor of chemistry and physics in Pritchett School Institute. He has since that time been connected with the North Missouri Normal school at Kirksville, Missouri, Carleton college at Northfield, Minnesota, and McCune college at Lonisiana, Missouri. He is now professor of nat-
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
ural sciences in Pritchett Institute, having been elected to that chair after the resignation of Professor S. H. Trowbridge in 1882. He received the degree of master of arts from his alma mater in 1879. He is a member of the M. E. church - joined at Glasgow in January, 1870- and is a Sunday-school worker. He has been an active worker in the I. O. G. T., and is a member of the A. O. U. W. In 1881 he joined the American association for the advancement of science. He was married December 27, 1877, at Richmond, Missouri, to Miss Emma Marvin Newland, second daughter of the late Rev. W. M. Newland. He has written a good deal ; has been a contributor in prose and verse to the Kansas City Review, St. Louis Christian Ad- vocate, Ware's Valley Monthly, Visitor and Teacher ( Kirksville ) and other periodicals. In 1880 he published a chart entitled "Circle of the Material Sciences," which has been highly commended by educa- tors. He has travelled considerably over the United States, including three trips to Texas, three to Virginia, where he spent several weeks in the mountains, two by ocean steamer from Norfolk to New York, and two to St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. After ten years in the school room as teacher and professor, working in his chosen field - Nature -he is satisfied with his vocation, and expects to spend his life in doing all he can to make better the human race, leading the young amid the mysteries of nature, and among them searching for the wondrous Designer of all.
A. W. STANLEY,
farmer, stock raiser and fruit grower. In farming it is the same as in any other business ; some men lead in it, a great many move along in a mechanical sort of way, like marking time, and still others unfortun- ately fall victims to industrial asthenia and are counted out entirely. Mr. Stanley is in every sense one of the first class. His place is a revelation of neatness, taste and good management, and he is a pro- gressive farmer. He is now going largely into apple culture, simply because it is a plain matter of figures that it pays better than corn and wheat growing. His place numbers 382 acres, and he has 181/2 acres in orchards, to which he is adding every year. In early man- hood he was a school teacher, and this fact throws a deal of light on his subsequent intelligent, successful career. He has been, and is now, a leading man in his locality ; was a director in the Howard county bank at Glasgow ; has been a justice of the peace, and is now a notary public. He was born in this county September 6, 1830, and was here reared and educated. He commenced his career by teaching school, and after awhile became so situated that he could go to farm- ing, and has gone on persevering in industry and intelligent manage- ment, until now he is one of the substantial men of Howard county. He was married November 28, 1854, to Miss Cynthia A. Crawley of this county, and they have eleven children : Newton, Laura, Mary A., Boyd, Cornelia, Ida, James, Wilmoth, William P., Emma, Leonard E. Mrs. Stanley was born January 20, 1834. Mr. Stanley's father,
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