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 48
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 48
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D. V. WHITE,
farmer, and dealer in mules and blooded horses. Mr. White's an- cestors, both paternal and maternal, came originally from Virgina. His grandfather, G. White, was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and subsequently became one of the first pioneers of Madison county, Kentucky. His grandfather on his mother's side, James Moore, was also a pioneer to Kentucky from Virginia, and was an intimate friend of Daniel Boone. His father, Jerre White, was a native of Kentucky and was there married to Miss Anna Moore, of the same state, and of this union, eight children were born, D. V. being the youngest. D. V. White grew up in his native county and followed farming and dealing in stock there until October, 1881, when he came to this county and settled on his present farm. He has a farm of 290 acres. Besides giving his attention to the ordinary farm interests, he deals in horses and mules and makes a specialty of handling blooded horses, in which line he is a thorough master of his business. In the early part of 1862 he enlisted in Captain Douglass' company, raised in his native county, and served until twenty-two months before the close of the war, when he was taken prisoner and held until the restoration of pence. He was married, May 5, 1865, to Miss Sallie Orvin, of Mad- ison county, Kentucky, a daughter of Nathan and Melina Richardson Orvin. Mr. and Mrs. White have seven children - Wm. S., Melina, Allie, Jerre, Harry, Stephen and Martha. Both parents are members of the Christian church.
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
JOSEPH WILHOIT,
farmer. Except about three years during the war, from 1862 to 1865, when Mr. Wilhoit was engaged in clerking in Glasgow, farming has been his occupation through life, which he still follows. He now has a place of 240 acres in a good state of cultivation. He was born in this county September 21, 1837, and was reared on a farm. In youth he attended the schools of the neighborhood, and by close appli- cation acquired a good education for all the practical purposes of busi- ness. During his experience as clerk in Glasgow he also obtained an excellent knowledge of business transactions in the mercantile line, and in all business affairs he is a man of more than ordinary informa- tion. On the Ist of February, 1860, he was married to Miss Lucy Crigler, of this county, but a native of Madison county, Kentucky. They have two children, Mollie and Farris. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhoit are both members of the Christian church.
WILLIAM WILHOIT,
farmer. Mr. Wilhoit was born in Howard county, Missouri, Sep- tember 28, 1830, and was reared in this county, where he has fol- lowed farming from youth, and now has a large farm of 535 acres, well improved and well stocked. He was married September 27, 1863, to Miss Mary E., daughter of J. V. Bastin, of this county. Mrs. Wilhoit was born July 2, 1840. They have three children, John P., Alvin and Anna. Mr. Wilhoit's father, John Wilhoit, was a native of Virginia, but went to Kentucky early in life, where he married Miss Catherine Crigler. They reared a family of ten chil- dren. In 1820 the family came to Howard county, where William was born, and where the father died in 1855 and the mother in 1874. John Withoit was an energetic and industrious man, and was an intelligent, successful farmer. He was respected by all who knew him as a worthy, upright citizen. His wife was a good and true and noble-hearted woman, and both were exemplary members of the church.
JUNE WILLIAMS,
who in youth attended Hon. James G. Blaine's school in Kentucky, and was born and reared in that state, has been a citizen of Howard county since 1853, and is one of the substantial and highly respected farmers of the county. He was born December 3, 1830, and at the age of nineteen, in 1849, bid good-bye to the dear ones of his native home in Scott county, and started for the gold fields of California. He remained in the Aladdin land of the Pacific until 1851, when he returned to
"His old Kentucky home, far away."
But on his trip he had passed through Howard county, this state, and had become impressed with the fertility of its soil and its other supe- rior natural advantages, and accordingly, in 1853, he came to this
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
county, where he settled and engaged permanently in farming. His place is about four and a half miles from Glasgow, and contains 212 acres of the best quality of land. On the 18th of December, 1854, Mr. Williams was married to Miss Martha Rucker, of Randolph county, but formerly of Virginia, and they have nine children living - Junie, Granville, Archie, Dabney, James, Mattie, Horace, Rena and Carrie. One, besides, is dead-Sidney. Mr. Williams is a member of the Masonic order. His father, Merrett Williams, was a Virginian by birth, but was reared in Kentucky. Mrs. Merrett Williams, mother of June, whose maiden name was Eliza Smith, was of Fayette county, Kentucky.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
J. B. AINSWORTH.
William Ainsworth and family were among the earliest pioneers of Howard county - in fact they lived in a fort in this county for a time after their arrival. His wife, before her marriage, was a Miss Lucretia Smith, and both were from Kentucky. J. B., the son, and subject of this sketch, was born a number of years after their emigra- tion, April 7th, 1834; and two years after his birth his father, with the family, moved to Cedar county, Missouri. There young Ains- worth spent his boyhood days on the farm and in school, and when a youth sixteen years of age, returned to Howard county where he has since lived. Here he has followed farming and now owns a good farm of 190 acres with an excellent orchard and good substantial improve- ments. In March, 1862, he was married to Miss Mary Smith, of this county, and they now have one child, Alice,
THOMAS S. ALSOP.
If, as Macauley says, the biography of the people of a country is the history of the country itself, then the history of Iloward coun- ty and particularly of Franklin township, in this county, can never be written without giving the Alsop family a conspicuous place on its pages. Thomas Alsop, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Spottsylvania county, Virginia, where he was reared and there married Miss Judith Minor, after which, in 1804, they emi- grated to Kentucky. Of this union, Elliott, the father of Thomas S., was born, Subsequent to this they moved to Louisville, Ken- tucky, where Mrs. Alsop died. There Mr. Alsop married again a lady of his own name, but no issue came of his second marriage. In 1818, he came with his family to Old Franklin, in this county, mak- ing the whole trip from Louisville in a keel boat, and here he lived
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
until his death. At this place he started the first hotel ever kept in the county, and was the sheriff of the county, executing during his term of office, William G. Short, the first victim of the gallows by sentence of court after the admission of Missouri into the Union. He died in 1828, the same year the site of the old town was washed away by the river. Elliott, the father of Thomas S., was born in Scott county, Kentucky, May 12th, 1804. He was brought up to the plasterer's and bricklayer's trades and worked at these some time after he reached manhood. By industry and economy he accumulated enough to engage in the mercantile business, which he did in 1833 in the town of New Franklin, and in this he continued until the day of his death, January 12th, 1872, a period of over forty years, thus es- tablishing and building up the large business, since so well and suc- cessfully conducted by his sons. He took an active part in building up the town of New Franklin, and in 1828 or 1829, erected one of the first houses, if not the first, built in that place. He was widely known as a man of unswerving integrity and public spirit, and not only rose to wealth and social prominence himself, but contributed materially to the prosperity of the place in which he lived and of the surrounding country. On the 6th of December, 1838, he was united in marriage to Miss Julia A., daughter of Shepherd Gum, an old set- tler of the county, and seven children were born of this union, three of whom are now living: Thomas S., John H. and Charles C. Elliott, who was a leading farmer of the county, died some years sub- sequent to his father's demise. He served for four years in the Con- federate army under Generals Pemberton and Jos. E. Johnson, and was classed among the bravest of the brave. The other sons consti- tute the firm of E. Alsop's Sons, in New Franklin. Thomas S., the eldest, was in partnership with his father a number of years prior to his death, and has been in business where he now lives for over thirty years. Mrs. Alsop, the mother, is still living, one of the venerable ladies of the community, known and esteemed for her many social and motherly virtues. On the 4th of October, 1870, Thomas S. Alsop was married to Miss Mary A. Herndon, of this county, who died, however, February 9th, 1874. She left him two children, Luta H. and Mary C., the latter now deceased. He was married the sec- ond time, October 10th, 1877, Miss Mary L. Strainge, of Pike county, becoming his wife. They have two children, J. Elliott and Anna B.
THOMAS C. BOGGS,
proprietor of the Fairview farm. In the biographical sketches of How- ard county, Mr. Boggs is entitled to more than a passing notice. For many years he has been one of the most successful and prominent farmers of the county. He was born in Washington county, Missouri, October 14th, 1822, and was a son of Joseph L. and Abigail ( Carr) Boggs, who were married in this state. His mother was originally from North Carolina, but his father was a native of Virginia. His father, however, was reared in Kentucky, and came from that state to
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
Missouri when a young man. He was a man of great industry, un- tiring energy and more than ordinary intelligence, and although he started out in life for himself practically without a dollar, it was not long before he succeeded in acquiring a comfortable home, and subse- quently placed himself in comparatively easy circumstances. On coming to this state, no other employment more profitable offering, he worked for some time in the lead mines, and from this time gave his at- tention to farming, which he followed through the remainder of his life. In about 1838 he moved to Howard county, where he lived until his death. He is spoken of by all who knew him as an energetic, suc- cessful farmer, a worthy, useful citizen, a kind neighbor and an up- right man. Thomas C., now himself well advanced in years, was a youth but sixteen years of age when his father settled in this county. He was brought up to the strictest habits of industry and frugality and taught the lesson in life which so many fail to learn that permanent, substantial success is the reward only of personal worth. Nor was his education neglected. His father had learned from personal ex- perience that the advantages of a good education could not be too highly estimated. And, although school facilities in that early day were not of the best, the son had the full benefit of such schools as were in reach, and by pursuing his studies with the same zeal and energy that have characterized his subsequent life in everything he has undertaken, he succeeded in acquiring a good practical education. Reared to a farm life, to the free and independent manner of living which only the farmer enjoys, on reaching the age that it became proper to adopt some permanent calling and to provide for himself, he not unnaturally concluded to follow that to which he had been brought up and which, withal was most congenial to his tastes. Some time after having engaged in farming for himself he was married to Miss Levina Kingsbury, of Howard county, the date of his marriage being September 15th, 1846. The following spring, in March, 1847, he settled on what is a part of his present farm. Here he has lived for over thirty-six years, and from a small beginning has come to be one the first farmers of the county. Inheriting the strong qualities of his father's character to a marked degree, qualities that would have made him a successful man from almost any situation in life, it is perhaps not surprising that his career as a farmer has been one of unbroken success. He has steadily increased the acreage of his possessions and year by year added to the value of his estate, until now he has over 700 acres of as fine land as there is in the county, and one of the best improved farms thoughout the surrounding country. As far back as 1868 he erected a fine commodious dwelling on his place at a cost of no less than $15,000. Thus a life of industry and good man- agement has not been without its reward. But he has been more than personally successful. Above and beyond that he has been a useful citizen - one who has done a great deal for the advancement of the agricultural interests of the county and for the promotion of its gen- eral prosperity. Seeking no office, averse to every form of notori- ety, working out quietly and modestly his own useful and honorable
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
mission in life, he has gone steadily forward in his career, and in making himself one of the first farmers of the county, has contributed more to its wealth and material interests than if he had held every office in its gift from representative to constable, or had led its citi- zens in a hundred useless battles. Such men are the pillars of society, the real forces which impel civilization forward. Mr. and Mrs. Boggs have a family of six children, Robert J., John M., Levina, now the wife of H. W. Harris ; Nannie C., now the wife of Dr. V. Q. Bonham ; Willie J. and Sallie M. Mr. B. is a member of the Masonic frater- nity.
J. M. BOGGS,
son of T. C. Boggs, whose sketch appears elsewhere, was born in Howard county, Missouri, March 24, 1850. Mr. Boggs was reared on his father's farm, and in youth was given excellent educational advan- tages. Besides attending the ordinary common schools he took courses in Kemper's well-known school at Boonville, and in Central college, at Fayette. At the conclusion of his last course in college he returned to the farm and has since followed that occupation . He was married on the 3d of September, 1881, to Miss Anna M. Hunter, of this state. Mr. B. is a member of the A. O. U. W. He is a young man of ex- cellent qualities and of good business qualifications, and with the en- ergy and resolution he possesses his future is a most promising one.
R. J. BOGGS,
an elder brother of J. M., is now thirty-six years of age, and has therefore had a somewhat more extended experience in the world. Like his brother, he was brought up on the farm and received a good education, attending both the common schools and Kemper's college. He has devoted his time to farming and stock raising, in both of which he has met with excellent success. In 1876 he went to the re- public of Mexico, where he dealt in stock between that country and Texas, also having important stock interests in the Lone Star state. He remained on the Rio Grande -first on one side, and then the other - until 1881, a period of five years, and then returned to How- ard county, where he has since lived. For about a year after his re- turn he was engaged in clerking in a business honse, but in 1882 resumed farming, which he has since followed. He and his brother own a farm of 209 acres. R. J. was born in this county October 26, 1847. He is a member of the Masonic order.
DR. N. M. BONHAM.
In scanning the lives of the more useful class of men, one meets with much to incline him, if not to the views of the optimist - that everything is for the best, at least to the conviction that there is far more of good in the world than of evil. We are drawn to this reflec- tion particularly by tracing the life of Dr. Bonham, extending through
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
a long series of years, from carly struggles to comparative ease, in which is visible throughout an earnest purpose to do good in the world, with constant efforts for the amelioration of the condition of the unfortunate in spirit as well as in body. Passing the opportuni- ties he has had to accumulate wealth, if he had availed himself of them at the sacrifice of the higher purpose which controlled him, he might have become, more than ordinarily, a wealthy man. But pe- cuniary means was to him not the great object of life, and if a com- fortable property has come to him, it has come only as an incident to a successful and useful life. Of a refined and sympathetic nature, sensitive to the misfortunes of others, and suffering by them almost as much as if they were his own, the medical profession offered to him a field of labor which he felt it was his duty to enter. Accordingly, he devoted all his energies to the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of medicine, which he continued until he obtained. And having placed himself in a position to alleviate the physical suffering of men, a higher, grander field of effort opened up before him. Called fre- quently too late to the bedside of the suffering, when the time for the human physician had passed, he there saw the transcendent im- portance of teaching the hygiene of the soul above and before that of the body. Hence, with a disinterestedness and regard for the wel- fare of others, characteristic of his whole life, he also devoted himself to the ministry, in which he has done a noble service without reward, save the imperishable reward that awaits him when all earthly rewards shall have crumbled into dust. Thus, as we have said, his life has been given to good works-a life studded and jewelled with noble deeds, and such a one as teaches the heart to feel that
" Man is not all inhumanity to man."
Dr. N. M. Bonham was born in Blount county, Tennessee, December 4, 1820. He was a son of Martin L. Bonham, of Tennessee, and a grandson of Benjamin Bonham, of Virginia. The father of Benjamin Bonham was a native of England, and came over to Virginia many years before the revolution. Benjamin himself was an officer in the revolutionary army, and served under Washington until the close of the seven years' struggle. Dr. Bonham's mother was a native of Virginia, and before her marriage was a Miss Orphia McDaniels. His parents reared ten children, of whom the doctor was the seventh. He was reared on his father's farm in Tennessee, and was educated in the neighborhood schools and by hard study at home. As he ap- proached manhood he gave himself to the study of medicine, for to that profession nature seems to have devoted him, and by the time he was twenty-two years of age he found himself prepared to enter the lecture-room of a medical college as a student, though to the young men of to-day this may not appear to be of special credit to his energy and perseverance. He entered the Missouri medical college, of St. Louis, in 1844, from which he was afterwards duly graduated. In 1848 he came to Pike county, Missouri, and formed a partnership with Dr. W. W. Freeman in the practice of medicine, in which he continued
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
until he came to Howard county. He came to this county in 1850 and located in Boonsboro, where he continued to labor through sum- mer's heat and winter's cold, in sunshine and in darkness, for fifteen long years, and until he moved to Franklin, where he now lives and still ministers to the sick and suffering. Dr. Bonham has been an almost life-long member of the church, and for over thirty-five years he has been ordained and has officiated as a member of the gospel in the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination. He was ordained by the Salt River Presbytery in 1848. Death, the grim messenger, has not passed by his door withont a call. His first wife, Margaret A., to whom he was married April 1, 1849, was taken from him May 27, 1868. She left four children-V. Q., R. V., N. Worth and Maggie, now deceased. Dr. Bonham was again married, April 13, 1870, to Sallie Stewart, but she lived to comfort her husband only a few months, passing away November 20, 1870. Six years afterwards, November 9, 1876, he was the third time married to a most excellent lady, Sue E. Burckhartt, of Randolph county.
DR. V. Q. BONHAM
was born in Howard county, Missouri, October 18, 1856, and barring the time he was absent attending the Rush medical college, of Chi- cago - the fourth college in which he has been a student -he has practised in this county since his graduation from Vanderbilt univer- sity, of Nashville, Tennessee, in 1877. He is a son of Dr. N. M. Bonham, of Franklin, a self-made man and self-educated physician, who has gone to the front in the medical profession regardless of all difficulties, because he was determined to take that position, and with whom Dr. V. Q. is now associated as a partner in the practice. Dr. V. Q. Bonham was reared in this county, and in early youth took the usual course in the common schools. Subsequently he entered the State university in Columbia and studied the higher branches, after which he centred his whole mind and time on the study of medicine. He took a long and severe course of preliminary reading and instruction under his father, and in 1875 entered the Missouri medical college, which he also attended in 1876. He then entered Vanderbilt university, of Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was afterwards duly graduated. Returning home after his graduation, he at once entered actively into the practice and continued in this until the spring of 1883, when he went to Chicago and took a course in the Rush medical college of that city, returning afterwards and re- suming his practice in Howard county. On the 29th of Angust, 1880, Dr. Bonham was married to Miss Nannie C. Boggs, a highly accomplished and most excellent young lady, and their union has been blessed with a bright and interesting little daughter - Maggie L.
WILLIAM H. BOWMAN, DECEASED.
On the ninth day of June, 1879, Howard county lost one of her best citizens, in the death of William H. Bowman. He was a man
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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.
whose life had been useful and just. As a citizen, he was public- spirited, and a steadfast friend to law and order. As a neighbor, he was hospitable and kind to all around him. And as a man, he com- bined, to more than an ordinary degree, the qualities of mind and health that make one respected and esteemed by all with whom he is associated. William H. Bowman was born in Mercer county, Ken- tncky, February 17, 1813. He was a son of John Bowman and Fannie C., formerly a Miss Perkins, who were married December 7, 1806. His parents were natives of Virginia, but emigrated to Ken- tucky early in life, and settled in Mercer county, where they lived until their death. William H. was reared in his native county. His father having been a farmer, and he, himself, having been brought up to farm life, he naturally adopted that as his permanent occupation. He continued to live in Mercer county, and follow his chosen calling until 1853, when he came to Howard county, and made this his home until his death. Ilowever, before leaving Kentucky, he was married on the 27th day of October, 1840, to Miss Hannah F. Read, of that state, born November 17, 1821, a noble and devoted woman who died one year after reaching this state, July 18, 1854. She left him four children- Anna, Fannie C., Nicholas and Ella. On reaching this county, Mr. Bowman at once engaged in farming and stock raising, and soon took rank with the leading farmers and stockmen of the county. He acquired a splendid farm of 320 acres, and had it im- proved in a thorough and complete manner. In the stock business he showed broad-minded enterprise in securing the best class of stock from which to breed. As both farmer and stock raiser he was re- garded as one of the leading men of the county. By the death of his wife, he was left, as has been observed, with four motherless children, and at that time among comparative strangers. Mr. Bow- man was too sensible a man, as well as too warm hearted, and domes- tic in his nature to think of rearing his children without the care of one who could take the place of mother, or to go through the long journey of life without the tenderness and affection of wife. Accord- ingly, on the 30th day of October, 1855, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Keill, a worthy and excellent lady, born in this state Angnst 4, 1835. By this union five children were born, and are now living - George A., William Taylor, Edwin P., Laura M., and Mary. On the 9th day of June, 1879, as noted above, Mr. Bowman fell to sleep in death -
God's finger touched him, and he slept.
Something over a year afterwards his second wife, she who had reared his children, and loved and comforted him through the circling seasons of near twenty-five years, followed him in death. Her spirit passed from earth September 24, 1880.
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