USA > Missouri > Jackson County > History of Jackson County, Missouri > Part 62
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
factory every modern improvement and labor saving device known to the trade, which has stood the test. Highly paid skilled workers are employed in this establishment and the maximum amount of output is maintained at all times.
Carl H. Bryant, M. D., was born in Independence, Mo., Jan. 16, 1881. He is a son of Dr. John Bryant of this city and a grandson of Dr. John Bryant, who was a son of George S. Bryant, who came to Independence from Kentucky in 1850 and died here a few months later. A biographical sketch of the Bryant family, tracing the genealogy of the Bryants in America from the year 1700, is given elsewhere in this volume in the sketch of Dr. John Bryant. Dr. Bryant's mother was Harriet Smart, prior to her marriage, and she is a daughter of the late Judge Thomas Austin Smart, of Kansas City, a pioneer who settled there in 1836 and owned a farm whereon much of the business section of Kansas City is built. A sketch of Judge Smart accompanies that of Dr. John Bryant.
Carl H. Bryant was educated in the public and high schools of Inde- pendence and graduated from Woodland College. After completing the course at Central High School, Kansas City, he entered Yale University in 1900 and four years later was graduated from that institution with the degree of Ph. B. He then entered the Medical Department of John Hop- kins University at Baltimore, Md. and was graduated from this institution with the degree of M. D. in 1908. For a period of eighteen months fol- lowing graduation he served as interne at the Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Conn. He returned to Independence and practiced his profession in his home city for one and a half years and then located in Kansas City. He practiced in the city until August, 1916 and then became medical director of the Kansas City Life Insurance Company, a position which he capably filled for two years and then resigned to enter the service of his country, then at war with Germany. He received a commission as captain in the medical corps of the army Sept. 16, 1918, following which he was in training camp for two weeks and was then sent to Hoboken, N. J., the port of embarkation of the army. He served in the medical corps in the trans- port division, office of the surgeon, Hoboken, N. J., until July 31, 1919, when he received his honorable discharge from the service. He then re- turned home.
Dr. Bryant was married May 23, 1910, to Miss Mary Tanner Shannon, a daughter of Alexander and Isabel Shannon of Brooklyn, N. Y., both of whom are deceased. Three children have been born of this union: Eliza- beth, John Smart and Carl H., Jr.
He is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
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Alexander Ramsey, an old settler and veteran of the Civil War, resid- ing on Rural Route No. 6, Blue township, Independence, Mo., was born in Bedford County, Pa., Feb. 24, 1831. He is a son of John and Mary (Weaverling) Ramsey both of whom were born and reared in Bedford County, Pa., and spent their lives in that county. They were parents of the following children: Mrs. Esther Oler, Mrs. Marie Sparks, Mrs. Eliza Chamberlin, William Wesley, all deceased; Alexander, of this sketch; and Jeremiah, his twin brother, who died in 1915 in Bedford County, Pa., aged 85 years.
In 1854, Alexander Ramsey went to the Pacific coast by way of Nicaragua and there met John P. St. John, afterwards governor of Kan- sas. He and Mr. St. John formed a friendship which lasted for life, and they became partners in the mining and wood cutting industry. They cut and sold many thousand cords of wood for the mining camps of Cali- fornia. This partnership lasted for three years and St. John and Ram- sey had several interesting adventures. In 1855 they made a trip to Honolulu and while there they saw King Kalakaua and Queen Liliokalani, took dinner with them at the Royal palace and they also took daguerreo- type photos of their Royal Highnesses. They returned to the States in 1856. In 1857 the partners returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama, landing at New York City. Mr. Ramsey went to his home in Pennsylvania and Mrs. St. John went on to the home of his family in Illi- nois. The next time they met was on the battle field at Alexandria, Va., where both were serving with the Union army. Mr. Ramsey had enlisted with Company C, 133rd Pa. Volunteer Infantry and St. John had enlisted with an Illinois regiment. Both reenlisted after their first term of service and served until the close of the war. Mr. Ramsey's two brothers, Jere- miah and Wesley W. Ramsey served with the Union army also. A brother- in-law, Joseph Chamberlain, a Union soldier, was captured by the Con- federates and died in Andersonville prison. James Oler, a nephew, was held in Andersonville prison for nine months and two days and then made his escape. John Oler, another nephew, who served as drummer boy, died in the service. John, George and Joseph Badgeley, three brothers- in-law of Mr. Ramsey, were Civil War veterans. George Hymes, another brother-in-law, was a Civil War veteran and moved to Independence after the war and died here.
In March, 1866, Mr. Ramsey came west and located in Independence. He again met Mr. St. John who was engaged in the real estate business with Richard Dawson and with him laid out the St. John and Dawson
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addition to the city. For a time Mr. Ramsey operated a dray from the Pacific depot to the city. The old Santa Fe trail had its western terminus at Independence at that period. When John P. St. John became governor of Kansas, he appointed Mr. Ramsey a guard at the Kansas State peniten- tiary and he served during St. John's two administrations as governor. For ten years he served as foreman of delivery service for Bullene, Moore, Emery and Co., of Kansas City, Mo., resigning this position to take a place as watchman in Machinery Hall of the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. He then returned to Independence.
Alexander Ramsey was married in Fulton County, Pa., in 1853, to Elizabeth Bodgley, a daughter of Jonathan L. and Jemima (Chrisman) Bodgley, who moved to Independence in 1868. Mrs. Ramsey died Aug. 26, 1911, leaving one child, now Mrs. Ella Harlin, Independence.
Mr. Ramsey has a great-grandson, Russell A. Hayden, of Denver, Colo., who served in the World War with Base Hospital No. 29, located at London, England. He enlisted for service at Greeley, Col. and served for one year.
Ella Ramsey was married in Independence, Dec. 27, 1870, to James W. Harlin, who died Feb. 4, 1915. Mr. Harlan was a tinner and sheet metal worker by trade, a brother-in-law of the late A. G. Slack, and was a veteran of the Civil War, having served as a private in Company A, 132nd Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. To James W. and Ella Harlin were born children as follow: Susan, wife of W. S. Hayden, Greeley, Colo .; Harry H., St. Clair Park, Kansas City, Mo .; James A., Omaha, Neb .; Charles E., Duluth, Minn. Mrs. Harlin has six grandchildren: Russell A., Howard H. Hayden, Howard H., Walter V., Henrietta and Marion Harlin.
Otto H. Schowengerdt, successful farmer and dairyman, of Blue town- ship, was born in Franklin County, Mo., Feb. 15, 1879. He is a son of William and Anna (Schlowmann) Schowengerdt.
William Schowngerdt was born in Warren County, Mo., in 1839 and was reared in that county. He moved from his native county to Franklin County and thence to Jackson County in 1884 and settled on a farm in Blue township where he resided engaged in farming and stock raising until 1914 when he removed to a home at 424 North Main street, Independence. He died in September, 1916 and his remains were interred in Woodland cemetery. Mrs. Anna Schowengerdt was born in Warren County, near Hopewell, in 1849 and is living at the home in Independence. The chil- dren of the Schowengerdt family are: Elizabeth, deceased; Ernest, a
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
farmer on the Blue Springs road; Jennie, wife of Louis Iringer, Arley, Mo .; Otto H., subject of this sketch; Oscar, a farmer in Blue township; Nettie, wife of Emil Goettel, Alliance, Ohio.
After receiving his early education in the public schools, Otto H. Schowengerdt studied at Spaldings Commercial College. He has followed farming and dairying since he began his own career. His herd consists of 20 dairy cows and his farm of 77 acres is situated two miles south of the Independence court house. He purchased this tract in 1903 from his father and has placed all of the existing improvements thereon. The nine room residence which is furnace heated was erected in 1905. A good barn for the sheltering of his hogs and cattle is on the place which is equipped with other good buildings among them being a sanitary dairy barn in process of erection. A good spring of water and a large cistern supply ample water for the dairy business. Thirty acres of alfalfa fur- nished four cuttings during the past year. The milk from the dairy is sold at the farm to the Forrest Dairy Company.
Mr. Schowengerdt was married Feb. 15, 1906 to Miss Laura Allemann who was born on a farm in Gasconade County, Mo., Dec. 28, 1884. She is a daughter of John and Dora (Werle) Allemann of Hermann, Mo. Mr. Allemann is 70 years of age and resides at Hermann. Mrs. Allemann died in 1916. The Allemann children are: Albert, deceased; Margaret, deceased; Rosa, wife of Frederick Hosenjager, Kansas City; Arthur, Inde- pendence, Mo .; Mrs. Laura Schowengerdt of this sketch; Rudolph, de- ceased; Otto, Independence, Mo .; Hulda, wife of Homer House, Independ- ence, Mo .; Freda and Ida, twins, the former of whom is the wife of Theo- dore Blust, of Hermann, Mo., and the latter is the wife of Henry Eickhoff, St. Louis, Mo.
The children born to Otto H. and Laura Schowengerdt are: Herbert, aged 13 years, and Marvin, ten years of age.
Virgil E. Phillips, member of the well known grocery firm of Phillips and Thomson, Bristol Station, Blue township, at the corner of Fifteenth and Hardy avenue, is a native of Jackson County. He was born May 24, 1872 and is a son of James Warren Phillips, a native of Virginia who was born in 1828.
James Warren Phillips accompanied his parents from Virginia to Warren County, Ky. when a boy and he again accompanied them from Kentucky to Lafayette County, Mo. about 1840. He came to Jackson County in 1854. He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1862 and served until the close of the war with Gen. Francis M. Cockrell. He surrendered
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with his command in Louisiana. Upon his return to Jackson County he found his home destroyed. Rebuilding, he engaged in farming until his death in 1872, his remains being interred in the old Reese cemetery in Sniabar township. His wife was Sarah Eletha (Graham) Phillips, who was born in Kentucky and was brought to Missouri by her father, Edward Graham, when she was five years old. She died in 1910. The children born to James Warren and Sarah Eletha Phillips are as follow: Alice died when 20 years of age; James Luther, Excelsior Springs, Mo .; Joseph Franklin, Kansas City, Mo .; Julia Lenora, wife of J. P. V. Vandyke, Buck- ner, Mo .; Charles R., Grain Valley, Mo .; John W., Portland, Ore .; Carrie died at the age of eight years; Virgil E. of this sketch.
Virgil E. Phillips received his early education in the Pink Hill dis- trict school. After leaving school he was employed in various grocery stores in Kansas City until the opening of his present establishment in 1915. The firm carries a full line of groceries and meats, the business being in direct charge of Mr. Phillips who learned the meat cutting trade in Kansas City. The Phillips store is neat, well kept, completely stocked and has an excellent trade.
Mr. Phillips was married in 1911 to Edna Thomson, a daughter of Matthew Thomas and Sallie (Rhodes) Thomson, the former of whom died in December, 1918 and the latter now resides at 1715 Elmwood, Kansas City. The children of the Thomson family are: Benjamin, Kansas City ; Mrs. Edna Phillips ; Lucie, a teacher in the Yeager School and partner in the business; Fred, lives at 20th and Elmwood, Kansas City; Floyd, lives at 18th and Spruce, Kansas City; Oliver, deceased; Grace, at home with her mother.
Mr. Phillips is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
J. M. Peck, a well known grocer, located at the corner of Main and ยท Short streets, Independence, Mo., is a native of Kentucky, born Nov. 12. 1848, in Fleming County and he is a son of William and Sarah (Prater) Peck, both born and reared in Kentucky. His mother died in Fleming County, Ky. and his father died at Newport. William Peck served in the Union army for three years during the Civil War, enlisting in Indiana, where he removed in 1859. He lost the sight of one eye while in the service, the misfortune being caused by the premature explosion of a gun cap while he was engaged as a sharpshooter. The children born to Wil- liam and Sarah Peck are as follow: Mrs. Elizabeth Church, Indianapolis, Ind .; J. M. Peck, of this sketch; Mrs. Mary Noland, deceased.
J. M. Peck came West in 1867 and located at Junction City, Kan. He
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was in the employ of the Patterson and Epperson Packing Company, who were in all probability the first packers of beef and pork in Kansas. In 1869 this company erected a packing house in the West Bottoms at Kan- sas City, and J. M. Peck killed the first beef for this firm and assisted in the cutting and packing. This was the initial start of the great packing industry in Kansas City. The Armour Packing Company located here the following year and rented the Patterson and Epperson building for a year, or until they had a building erected at their present location.
Mr. Peck returned to Indiana in 1872 and was married to Cynthia Lease. Upon his return to Kansas City he entered the employ of the Armour Packing Company and remained with this firm for ten years. After this he was engaged in the mercantile business in Kansas City, Kan. until June, 1915. He then came to Independence and opened his grocery store on Jan. 12, 1916 and has since been engaged in business and has built up a very satisfactory trade.
Mr. and Mrs. Peck have two children: Florence and Margaret. Mar- garet married W. T. Goodman of Independence and has two children, William Harold and John Marshall. Mr. and Mrs. Peck and daughter, Margaret, reside at 203 South Spring street.
J. M. Peck served as a member of the school board in Kansas City, Kan. before that city was incorporated as the city of Wyandotte. At the time he located at Junction City, Kan., the Union Pacific Railroad, then called the Kansas Pacific Railroad, was built to Hays, Kan. in 1867. He recalls that the rate of fare was ten cents per mile. The locomotive burned wood for fuel and that buffaloes were roaming by the thousand in the vicinity of Hays.
Michael Tierney .- A review of the life of Michael Tierney, one of the oldest of the living pioneer citizens of Jackson County, takes one back to the old days of the stage coach era and the times when Jackson County was an unpeopled wilderness. Mr. Tierney is the last survivor of the stage coach drivers of the early days when the stage was the only means of transportation between Independence and other Missouri towns. He was born in County Galway, Ireland in 1831 and came to America with a company of Irish immigrants when a boy. The trip across the ocean in those days required several weeks and the ship landed at New Orleans, whence Michael Tierney made his way by steamboat up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Independence. He soon entered the employ of Preston Roberts and was also employed by William D. Lancaster. He made a trip across the plains with a freighting outfit as helper and mule
MICHAEL TIERNEY.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
driver with a Farrell outfit in about 1849. During the Civil War and before and after that time he drove the stage coach and carried the mail from Independence to Sedalia for Mr. Roberts who was a government mail contractor. Mr. Tierney was on the road both night and day and many times in danger of his life. Frequently when heavy rains or spring thaws had set in he would have to drive the coach across swollen streams whose waters would overflow the bed and seats of the coach. On one occasion he remembers that a number of passengers enroute to Sedalia were so frightened at the prospect of fording a swollen and angry stream that they jumped out as the lead mules entered the water and were left stranded on the opposite bank of the stream, it being impossible for him to turn and recross the Blue River. They had to walk back to Inde- pendence and wait for the departure of the next stage. After the war was over, Mr. Tierney was employed on the farm of Preston Roberts and was thus employed for a number of years. In the meantime he had been preparing for the future and had been investing his savings in a tract of land in Blue township, a part of the Roberts holdings. For several years before Mr. Tierney settled on his farm, he had paid for the place and had it rented to Bartley McDermott. He has owned the Tierney place for over 50 years and it embraces a total of 280 acres, one of the finest farms in the county. The Tierney residence is situated on a hill south of the roadway and overlooking the entire farm, a greater part of which is Blue River bottom land-very rich and fertile.
Michael Tierney was married in 1874 to Honoria Lardner who was born in County Galway, Ireland. She died in 1897, aged 49 years. To this marriage the following children were born: Frank, a farmer in Blue township; William, who is operating the home place, his father having long since retired; Mary and Isabelle, both of whom are at home.
Frank Tierney is a farm owner. He married Mary Conway and has five children, viz: Frank, Edwin, Thomas, John and Robert Tierney.
Mr. Tierney has always been a Democrat. He is a member of the Catholic church as are all of his children. He is undoubtedly the oldest living pioneer in Blue township and is in all probability the oldest in Jack- son County. Few men have lived to witness as great and far reaching changes as has this pioneer. Few men have better records for a lifetime of industry and honesty of purpose. It is said of Michael Tierney that his employers of the early days placed entire trust in him and his reputation for honesty, reliability, integrity and trustworthiness in every undertak-
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
ing with which he was entrusted in a day when men of stanch nerve and strength were required to do things was unsurpassed.
Many times during the days of the Civil War, Michael Tierney was held up by bushwhackers and roving bands who sought to obtain money packages which he carried on the stage. He invariably outwitted them, however, and his favorite hiding place for the money was in the interior of the horse collars. During a big storm while enroute from Sedalia, he became lost and drove across country, across streams and through woods, finally landing at Blue Springs, many miles out of his way. On this oc- casion there were two girl passengers in the coach and these girls sang during the entire night, thus keeping up the spirits of the passengers and driver.
On another occasion he was held up while on the west side of Pleasant Hill and he was robbed of his purse and personal possessions. A leader of the bushwhackers, Cole Younger, then infesting the neighborhood offered to recover his money for him, but he refused to tell who robbed him because of the certain enmity which the recovery of the money involved.
Mr. Tierney recalls the time when the Jayhawkers from Kansas cap- tured Independence and their looting of a lot of red colored calf skins from John Duke's store. The Kansans used the calf skins for leggings and henceforth were known as the "Redlegs".
He never received bodily harm and whenever there was a fight in the vicinity of his coach, the bushwhackers would request him to vacate the coach, inasmuch as they did not want him harmed. They had no desire to stop the running of the stage, as Mr. Tierney carried them the daily newspapers which kept them informed of events over the country. Even when he carried valuables he would have an escort. The leader of the guerillas, Cole Younger, would never allow his men to molest the mail carried on the stage.
P. F. Gray, paving contractor, 2517 East Tenth street, Kansas City, Mo., was born in Belfast, Ireland, April 28, 1872, and is a son of Robert and Susan (Raddia) Gray, the latter of whom died in Ireland in 1874.
Robert Gray emigrated from his native isle to America in 1874 and settled in Kansas City. Not long after his arrival in the city he engaged in contracting and spent several years in the business. He and Peter Souder had the contract for making the cut on the grade of the Missouri Pacific Railroad just east of the depot. He followed the paving contract- ing business and the building of sewers in Kansas City until his death in
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1905. He was one of the best known of the early Kansas Citizens and was recognized as an honest and dependable workman. He was father of the following children: Robert Gray, now lives in Belfast, Ireland, who for some years was captain of Fire Department No. 19, and was a mem- ber of the Kansas City fire department for over 20 years; Susan Gray lives in Belfast, Ireland; and P. F. Gray, subject of this sketch.
P. F. Gray received his schooling at Ballymena, County Antrim, Ireland, and when 21 years of age he began contracting. He has followed contract work since that time, following in the same line as his father before him.
Mr. Gray was married April 28, 1899, to Miss Sadie Harland, of Bel- fast, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have three children: Catherine, Susan and Joseph.
Mr. Gray is known in Kansas City and the cities where he has under- taken contracts, as a man of reliability, dependable, honest and able and willing to perform any task for which his contract calls. No contract is too large for him to undertake.
William H. Young, carpenter, residing at 1115 West Elm street, Inde- pendence, Mo., was born Dec. 19, 1859, on a farm in Blue township. He is a son of D. L. and Melinda (Hackett) Young, natives of Kentucky.
D. L. Young was born in 1833 and his wife was born in 1838. They came to Jackson County and were here married in 1858. Upon the out- break of the Civil War, D. L. Young enlisted in the Confederate Army and was captured by the Federals and imprisoned at Leavenworth. He was later inducted into the Union service and had the unique distinction of having an honorable discharge from both armies. He died in 1899 and was buried in Woodlawn cemetery. Mrs. Young died in 1907 and her remains were laid away by the side of her husband. The children born to D. L. and Melinda Young are: Lulu, wife of Ed Gilchrist, Kan- sas City, Mo .; D. L., Jackson County, Mo., and W. H., subject of this review.
W. H. Young was reared in Jackson County and educated in the pub- lic schools of Independence. After leaving school he learned the trade of carpenter under his father's tutelage and worked with him for several years. After his marriage he followed farming pursuits for six years and then resumed his trade of carpenter.
Mr. Young was married in 1884 to Miss Laura E. Surface, a daughter of William E. and Maria C. (St. John) Surface, the latter of whom was a relative of ex-governor John P. St. John, of Kansas, and lived to attain
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY
the age of 93 years. William E. enlisted in the Union army in Indiana and served throughout the conflict with an Indiana regiment of volun- teers. Mr. and Mrs. Young have two daughters: Esta E., wife of George Sheen, Independence, Mo .; Nina J., resides with her parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Young are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are an estimable couple who stand high in the community.
Francis Marion Searcy, living retired at 932 South Noland street, Independence, Mo. was born in Clay County, Mo., near the town of Lib- erty, April 27, 1848. He is a son of Ambrose W. and Mary Ann (Moore) Searcy, natives of Kentucky who came from Madison County, Ky. to Mis- souri in 1846 and located at Liberty, later coming to Jackson County, after the close of the Civil War. Ambrose W. Searcy first settled on a farm in the Blue Valley and then bought a farm two miles east of Inde- pendence where he spent his remaining years. He died in 1891 and his wife died in 1916. They were parents of the following children: Reuben Howell, Kansas City; Francis M. of this review; Josephine, wife of Charles W. Searcy, Raytown, Mo .; Mary Alice, wife of James Anderson, Olathe, Kan .; Cassandra, Charline and Ambrose W., Independence, Mo.
Francis Marion Searcy attended the subscriptions schools of his native county and grew up to the life of a tiller of the soil. He accompanied his parents to Jackson County after the Civil War and farmed with his father for several years. He then bought a farm of 71 acres about five miles northeast of Independence, to which he later added 50 acres in 1886. He sold this farm in 1911, having moved to Independence in 1909. Mr. Searcy has been three times married. His first marriage took place Dec. 30, 1869 with Susan Barton of Jackson County who died in 1888. He was married the second time to Cora E. Rogers, Sept. 17, 1890. She died Nov. 15, 1896. He was married the third time to Susan E. Rogers in December, 1909. The present Mrs. Searcy is a daughter of Allen and Margaret Webb, the former of whom was a son of Joseph Webb, a pioneer of Blue township who entered land in the vicinity of Salem church and south of the McCune home. He died in 1861. Allen Webb died at Warrensburg, while a prisoner of war
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