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 88

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 88
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 88


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business, Professor Haynes, in the spring of 1863, removed to St. Louis, where he established Haynes' Female Academy, which he con- ducted for two years, having, at the expiration of that time, eighty regular pupils. After the restoration of peace in 1865, he located in Lexington, Missouri, and, during his first year there, taught Haynes' Female Seminary, and the second year, Haynes' High School for boys and young men. In the summer of 1867 he was elected to the presi- dency of the Elizabeth Hull Female Seminary, and under his presidency that school reached a high point of prosperity. He was at the head of that institution three years, after which, owing to sickness in his family, he resigned and was succeeded by Rev. James A. Quarles. In 1870 be removed with his family to Boonville, and in the fall of the same year took charge of the Cooper institute, over which he has presided for thirteen years. He has become a permanent settler in Boonville, and established a permanent school, which maintains an average attendance of seventy-five students. He has now living seven children, all girls. Mr. Haynes has taken an active part for several years in the educational work of Missouri. While he has already been engaged in the private school, he has given much atten- tion and work to the furtherance of the interests of public education. He has taken a prominent stand with other educators of the state in this work, is an old member of the State Teachers' Association, and, at this writing, is the secretary of that body. He has been largely instrumental in the permanent establishment of a Teachers' Normal Institute in Cooper county, which has an annual attendance of seventy- five teachers.


EMMETT R. HAYDEN,


attorney at law. Mr. Hayden was born and reared in Cooper county. When a young man twenty years of age he was admitted to the bar, now thirty-six years ago. His opportunities to fit himself for the profession were excellent. In youth he had the advantages afforded by the schools of Boonville, then, as now, among the first in this part of the state. When he came to study law he had the constant inspection of his father, a prominent attorney of that day. Judge Adams, his uncle, also took a warm interest in his success. With these advantages and possessed of a naturally quick, active mind, it is not perhaps to be wondered at that he became qualified at so early an age to enter the most difficult and responsible of all the learned professions. Still it deserves to be set down greatly to his credit that he proved himself so worthy of his opportunities. And his career since has not disappointed the hopes his early years inspired. A man


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of exceeding modesty, avoiding what weaker men look to as the only hope of success - notoriety - plain and unpretentious in manners, and in all that he does, while he has not attracted the attention that many have of far less merit, yet, among those whose opinions are worth the most, he is regarded as an exceptionally safe, sound lawyer. He belongs to that class who are lawyers for the love of the law as the great science of human rights and of justice among men, and not for gain or fame. In other words he is neither a business man nor a politician in the legal profession, but a lawyer alone. Emmett R. Hayden was born in Boonville, Missouri, Jannary 8, 1827. His father, Peyton R., was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, but came to Missouri in 1817 and settled in Boonville in 1819. Mrs. Hayden, formerly Miss Maria Adams, was a daughter of John Adams, one of the early settlers of this county, and a sister to the late Judge Washington Adams, of the supreme court. Emmett R. was the fourth of a family of ten children, of whom four are now living. His father, born February 8, 1796, died in Boonville, December 26, 1855. His mother, born in this county, died February 4, 1875. They were married in the year 1819. As has been intimated, Emmett R. was reared in Boonville, and this city has continued to be home. Having been admitted to practice in 1847 he ranks as the oldest member now living of the Cooper county bar - the Nestor of the profession in this county. Ten years after his admission he wooed and won Miss Alice, the accomplished daughter of Judge Scott, of the supreme court. They were united in marriage, November 6, 1857. This union has been blessed with seven children ; Maria, William S., John B., Elizabeth, Alice, Emmett R., Jr. and Mary O.


REV. FATHER JOHN A. HOFFMANN


was born in St. Louis county, Missouri, near the city of St. Lonis, February 2, 1850. His parents, Peter Hoffmann and wife, whose maiden name was Frances Ballweber, are both natives of Bavaria, Germany, but came to this country in 1846 and settled in St. Louis, where they reared a large family and now reside. When the son, now Rev. Father John A. Hoffmann, was a youth twelve years of age, he began to take private lessons in Latin and Greek, which he con- tinued for six months and then became a student in the Christian Brothers' college, where, besides his classic studies, he entered upon a regular commercial course. There he remained until the fall of 1863, when he went to Milwaukee, Wis., and in the St. Frances De Sales seminary of that city pursued the regular curriculum of scho-


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


lastic studies, including Latin, Greek, English and German, prepara- tory to becoming a priest. He remained until the fall of 1869, when he returned to Missouri and took a course in philosophy in St. Vin- cent's college, located at Cape Girardeau. The following year he resumed his studies in the Milwaukee seminary of St. Frances De Sales, and December 29, 1872, was duly ordained a priest and was located in St. Louis until April 29, 1875, when he took charge of the church at Boonville, Missouri, where he has since continued.


WAID HOWARD, M. D.,


physician and surgeon. The idea so common that the successful and leading men in the professions are those who entered them in early manhood, finds a striking reputation so far as the medical profession is concerned, at least in the career of Dr. Howard. By the assent of all he is one of the most thorough and popular physicians in Cooper county, yet he had been merchandising up to his thirty-ninth year before he began the study of medicine, and was forty-two years old when he commenced practising. A man who can enter upon a new call- ing in life as he has, and upon one so difficult to master and so uncertain of success, and notwithstanding this place himself in the front rank of his profession, must be possessed of more than ordinary talents, as well as extraordinary energy and resolution. Yet such is the pro- fessional history of Dr. Howard in as plain language as it can be writ- ten. The chronological record of his life is as follows : He was born in Cooper county, Missouri, March 19, 1822. In youth he received a good, practical education in the ordinary schools of his native county. He grew up on a farm and followed that occupation until he was twenty-five years of age. Then he began merchandising at Gilroy, this county, moving subsequently to Tipton, Moniteau county, and followed the mercantile business until 1861, or until he was thirty- nine years old. Resolving then to enter the medical profession, he determined to go about it in the most sensible, practical way, and therefore put himself under the immediate tutorship of one of the most scientific, able members of that calling who ever honored Mis- souri by their residence in this state- Dr. E. H. Gregory, of the St. Louis medical college. Dr. (then Mr. ) Howard went to St. Louis in 1861, prosecuting his studies with unflagging energy until 1864, attending the above named medical college in the meantime, where he graduated with the most complimentary expressions from the faculty of the institution as to his qualifications and fitness of the work he was then to enter upon. And his career since has shown that these


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


assurances from those under whom he studied were not meaningless, empty compliments. After his gradnation he went to Montana and practised his profession in Diamond City for a time, but the scenes and associates of his old native county were too near to his heart for him to make his home among strangers. Accordingly, he returned to Cooper county and began the practice in the vicinity of Bunceton where he continued about ten years, and received a large and lucrative practice, establishing a wide reputation as a successful, scientific phy- sician. From there he came to Boonville, and here his name in the profession had already preceded him. Of his standing in this city it is unnecessary to speak, for all know that he ranks among the first physi- cians of the county. Dr. Howard has been twice married. His first wife was previously Miss Frances E. Smallwood. They were married April 2, 1846. She died, October 9, 1861. Of that union three children are now living : Frank J., Alice G., and Matilda R. Six years afterwards he was again married, Mrs. L. L. Oldham, nee Mc- Mahon, becoming his wife. The doctor and his family are connected with the M. E. church sonth.


P. L. HURT, M. D.,


physician and surgeon. Dr. Hurt began the practice of medicine in Lisbon, Howard county, in 1867, when a young man twenty-two years of age, since which he has been constantly and actively engaged in the practice, and has long enjoyed the reputation of a capable, suc- cessful physician. He remained at Lisbon a short time and then lo- cated in Arrow Rock, Saline county, but ten years ago came to Boonville, where he now enjoys an extensive and lucrative practice. He studied medicine under Dr. Scrogin, of Howard county, and after taking the regular course of Jefferson medical college, of Philadel- phia, was graduated from that institution in 1867. His father, Mar- tin C. Hurt, was a native of Kentucky, but came to Howard county with his parents in early youth. After reaching manhood he was married to Miss Permelia Philpott, of Chariton county, and P. L., now Dr. Hurt, was born of this union August 26, 1845. The son was brought up on his father's farm, in Chariton county, and after taking the usual course in the common schools, entered Central col- lege, in Fayette, where he completed his education.


JOHN H. HUTCHISON, DECEASED.


Among the families who have been intimately and prominently identified with the industrial and business progress of Cooper county,


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


and with its social life, from the pioneer days of the country down to the present time, none are more entitled to mention in the pages of this volume than the one represented by the name which heads the present sketch - John H. Hutchison. He came to this country in the bloom and vigor of young manhood, away back when the smoke of the Indian wigwam was the most familiar sign of the presence of human habitations in the virgin wilderness. For nearly thirty years he hore a leading part in the great work of transforming the county from an almost trackless wild into one of the fairest portions of the state. And when he suddenly was cut off by the cholera in Califor- nia, where he had gone during the gold excitement on the Pacific coast, he left a worthy family to represent him in the continnation of the work here, with which he had been so long and usefully identified. Nor have his descendants proved unworthy of him, nor of the part they have borne in the material and social affairs of the county. John H. Hutchison was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, June 9, 1798, and was a son of William and Margaret Hutchison, old and highly respected residents of that county. In youth he received an ordinary, practical education in the neighborhood schools, and on attaining his majority, in 1819, came out to Missouri, making his home first in Howard county. On the 15th of August, 1822, he was married to Miss Sallie Moore, daughter of Major William Moore, of Palestine township, Cooper county, and the same year settled in that town- ship. Having been brought up to a farmer's life, he continued to fol- low this occupation with but slight interruptions until his death. As a farmer he was very successful, and he rose rapidly in the confidence and esteem of those around him. A man of the strictest integrity and of superior intelligence, he was very naturally called upon to serve the people in official positions. In 1832 he was elected to the office of sheriff, and filled that position until 1836. Such was the es- timate placed upon his character, qualifications and ability that he was then elected to represent the county in the state legislature, and in this high office he acquitted himself with marked honor, both to himself and his constituents. The family of Mr. Hutchison con- sisted of five daughters and three sons, viz. : Elmina A., Sarah Ardell, Mary Eliza, Nancy Jane, Martha E., William W., Walter R. and Leonard. Of these, all are now living, except Sarah A. (Mrs. Wil- liam P. Speed ) and Leonard. The mother died Angust 29, 1849, and the following year the father, with his eldest son, went to California, where the father died of cholera on the 20th of the following Sep- tember. William W., the son, who accompanied him, was thus left


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


an orphan boy, but sixteen years of age, in the wilds of the Pacific coast, and without money or friends. But he battled bravely along among the miners and pioneers of that far-off country, in the days when the revolver and the howie knife were the only effective laws of the land, and is now one of the leading stock men and mine proprie- tors of Arizona territory. His first visit to Missouri was only a year ago, returning to the land of his birth, which he had left in early youth, far advanced beyond the meridian of life. Walter R. Hutchi- son, the other surviving son, has been connected with the banking in- terests of Boonville for many years ; and the fact that he holds the responsible position of cashier of one of the leading banks of that city, is a sufficient proof of his standing as an efficient, capable bank officer.


JAMES H. JOHNSTON,


of Cosgrove & Johnson, attorneys at law. Those but little more than past the meridian of life can remember when the men who are now conspicuous in affairs - the leaders in business, in the professions, and in public life - were comparatively unknown, were, to use a well-worn phrase, " young men, obscure and inexperienced." But as the wheel of time moved round, they came up, and those that were ahead gave way, and finally passed out of sight. So, too, there are those among the young men of to-day who are destined to take the places of the leaders of the present time, to make for themselves names as honorable and as proud to bear as any now have, or have hitherto attained. And if we look around us it is not difficult to point out those whose future promises to be among the brightest. Whoever has studied the lives of men who have attained to distinction can detect at a glance the signs in a young man, if there be any, of a life of future prominence and usefulness. Industry, integrity, a good mind, and an honorable ambition to rise in the world, are qualities that but seldom fail to take one, who possesses them, conspicuously to the front. And although Mr. Johnston is still comparatively a young man, these qualities in him bave already given evidence that his career will prove no exception to the general rule. But sixteen years have elapsed since he became twenty-one years of age, the ex- perimental, youthful third of a man's active life ; yet he has already established himself as one of the leading young lawyers of this part of the state, has held the offices of prosecuting attorney through three consecutive terms, and has been warmly and strongly supported for the circuit judgeship. He would be a dull observer, indeed, who could not read the probable future of such a record. James H. John-


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ston was born and raised in Cooper county, his birth having been on the 20th day of January, 1848. His father, Hugh A., is also a native of this county, where he still resides ; but his mother, whose maiden name was Eleanor Ware, was originally from Tennessee. James H., after receiving a good, practical English education, at the age of eighteen began the study of law, in 1866, under Ewing & Smith, of Jefferson City, under whom he prosecuted his studies two years, and was then admitted to the bar in Cole county. Returning thereupon to Boonville, in association with D. W. Ware he entered actively upon the practice of his profession. His partnership with Mr. Ware lasted three years, after which he continued to practise alone until 1882, when he became associated with Hon. John Cosgrove, present member of Congress, as a partner. As a lawyer Mr. Johnston is well grounded in the elementary principles of the law, and well up in the decisions of the supreme court of this state and of the other tribunals of last resort ; in the practice he is careful, painstaking and methodical, and in the management of causes in court is self-possessed, clear-headed and quick to see and take an advantage when not inconsistent with professional ethics. As a speaker he is animated and not unfre- quently eloquent to a rare degree, yet never illogical and always true in argument to his theory of the case. His success as a practitioner is well known. He was city attorney of Boonville in 1873, and prosecuting attorney of Cooper county from 1874 to 1880, six years. In 1878 the Cooper county delegation in the judicial convention (democratic ) enthusiastically supported him for circuit judge, but he withdrew his name from before the convention. In 1872 Mr. John- ston was united in marriage to Miss Mary, daughter of Rev. Avon D. Corbyn, formerly of this city. They have four children : Jennie C., Lizzie E., Kelley R. and Mary J. Mr. J. is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the A. O. U. W.


T. A. JOHNSTON.


This gentleman is the principal of the old and widely known Kemper family school. The Johnston family, which is well repre- sented in Cooper county, and in various parts of the United States and Scotland, is very ancient. General Joseph E. Johnston, of Vir- ginia, one of its most honored members, has furnished to the subject of this article the following account of its origin and outline of its history : -


" The founder of the family was a Norman, who, in the time of William the Conqueror, or soon after, settled in Scotland, in Dum-


,


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


frieshire, in the valley of the river Annan. His descendants were heads of a powerful clan prominent in the border wars. The parish called Johnstowne gave the name - it constituting the estate of the Norman above named, who, in French fashion, called himself de Johnstowne, or Johnstoune. The u was soon dropped, making Johnstone. De was afterwards dropped, as was done in Norman names all over England. The e was dropped in accordance with En- glish custom, but has been restored in Annandale in recent years. The ascension of James VI, of Scotland, to the English crown, which terminated the border wars and the practice of the border clans of subsisting by plunder, compelled most of the Johnstons to quit An- nandale. Many went to Edinburgh ; some to the north of Ireland."


From the north of Ireland Gavin Johnston came to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania before the revolutionary war, where he was killed by Indians. His family removed to the vi- cinity of Camden, North Carolina. From there, after the close of the war of independence, Alexander Johnston removed to the vicinity of McMinnville, Tennessee. After his death, and immediately after the second war with Great Britain, in 1817, his sons Robert, James and Alexander removed to this county, where they and many of their de- scendants have lived ever since. Mr. Johnston's father is John B. Johnston, the son of the above named Alexander. He has lived, since he became of age, continuously on a farm adjoining the one settled by his father when he first came to the county. On this farm the sub- ject of this sketch was born and reared. While he was still a boy the civil war broke out, in which he engaged for a short time near the close, on the side of the south. After the close of the war he ad- dressed himself to the business of completing his education. Having attended the Prairie Home institute for two sessions, he entered the Kemper school as a student in 1867 and graduated in 1869, doing also the last year's additional work as tutor in the school. During the next two years he retained the position of tutor, pursuing at the same time an advanced course of study. In 1871 he entered the state university and graduated in one year with the honors of the class. He immediately returned to take the position of associate principal in the Kemper school, with the expectation of making that his life work. In that work he has continned. In 1877 he was married to Miss Carrie Rea, of Saline county, daughter of the Reverend P. G. Rea, of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In 1881, on the death of Pro- fessor F. T. Kemper, with whom he was associated, he succeeded to the principalship of the Kemper family school. This position he has held ever since.


58


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HISTORY OF HOWARD AND COOPER COUNTIES.


BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JONES,


dealer in lumber and contractor and builder. Mr. Jones, a leading lumber dealer, and builder and contractor, of Boonville, has followed his occupation here for nearly twenty-five years, and has been engaged in the lumber business since 1866. He began in the world without a dollar, and by industry and good management has succeeded in placing himself in easy circumstances. He was born in Merrimac county, New Hampshire, September 10, 1828, and was a son of Na- thaniel and Rhoda Whittier Jones, both natives of that state. His father was a farmer by occupation, and to that calling Benjamin was brought up, which he followed with his father until he was nineteen years of age. He then went to Abbington, Massachusetts, where he learned the carpenter's trade under Ira Floyd, working there two years. From there he went to each of the following named places, working at his trade in each place, viz. : Lawrence, Massachusetts ; thence to Glover, Vermont ; thence to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin ; thence to Hast- ings, Minnesota, and thence to Boonville, Missouri, in 1859, where he has since lived. During the war Mr. Jones served one year in the home guards, or militia. He was married to Miss Mary Frost, of Glover, Vermont. They have two children, George A. and Herbert H. Mr. Jones has served two terms as a member of the city council, and is a member of the I. O. O. F. He is a thorough mechanic, a capable, enterprising business man, and an upright, honorable cit- izen.


FREDERICK T. KEMPER.


This eminent educator was born in Virginia in 1816, and died in Boonville March 9, 1881. His family is of German descent, and has long been prominent in Virginia. Ex-Governor Kemper, of that state, is his brother. Mr. Kemper came to this state at an early age, and completed his education at Marion college, near Palmyra. In 1844 he came to Boonville and founded the successful and famous school which bears his name. In 1854 he married Miss Susan H. Taylor, of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, who, with four children, Grace, Stella R., Susan A. and Mary G., survive him. In every relation in which Mr. Kemper came in contact with men, his influence was a commanding one. Especially was this trne of his work as an educator. His con- ception of the nature and magnitude of the work went far beyond any of his compeers. With him it was no flimsy imparting of antiquated or useless knowledge, but the starting into orderly activity of every power, physical, intellectual, or moral, which the student possessed ;


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not a laying np of stores, useful or useless, but a marshalling and de- veloping of powers, which, when once fitted for use, can achieve for their possessor whatever may be useful or desirable. This being the end proposed, his methods were perfectly adapted to it, and wonder- fully successful in securing the anticipated results. Men of affairs in every part of the country point back to the period spent in his school- room as the time when they first received sharp impressions, definite bias, and that impetus which enabled them to meet successfully the problems of life. As his conception of education was beyond the or- dinary understanding, so his methods were frequently misunderstood, but the best proof of their truth and value lies in the fact that they have lived down all opposition, and still flourish in unimpaired vigor. And yet, while his educational views were different from the common, no one valued scholarship more highly than he, or was more fully im- bued with its spirit. From his earliest youth he was a student, and kept up the habit to the end of his life. In its best form scholarship has two phases. At first the mind looks out upon the beautiful order of nature and, seized with curiosity, begins to acquire ideas. With the acquisition the habit grows. Gathering from every source, it does not rest till all the fields of thought have been visited, and their fruits brought into its treasure house. But the process does not stop there. The mind, fed and strengthened by its acquisition, becomes an origi- nator itself. So it was with Mr. Kemper. His mind travelled with ease in all paths of knowledge, and just as the traveller at first, care- fully trying his way along an unknown road by direction and guide- book, can at last discard all such helps, for the goal is reached, and he walks no longer by faith, but by sight ; so he rose grandly to the heights of original thought and investigation, discarding the imperfect systems and methods of meaner men. He was equally great in other points of character where he was less tried. In the family, the church, society, as a citizen, he was equally influential and useful ; so that at all points society, and especially the youth, was profited by his life and bereaved by his death.




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