History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 103

Author: Cockrell, Ewing
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Kan. : Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1234

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among his business associates as an honorable, upright, conscientious man.

E. B. Stockton, of the firms Stockton & Lampkin and Stockton & Lowe, is one of Johnson county's most successful and enterprising business men. Mr, Stockton was born in Hazel Hill township on his father's farm five miles north of Warrensburg, Missouri, in March, 1869, a son of A. J. and Rebecca E. (Crutcher) Stockton. A. J. Stock- ton was born in Johnson county, Missouri, a son of William Stockton, who was also a native of Johnson county. William Stockton came to Hazel Hill township in the early part of the nineteenth century, about 1832, and spent his first winter with Pleasant Rice, the first settler of Johnson county. The senior Stockton later entered two hundred forty acres of choice land in Hazel Hill township and years afterward at the Stockton homestead his death occurred. His son A. J., became the owner of a tract of land five miles north of Warrensburg, on which the Walters school house was located, and where his son, E. B., was born, a farm which he sold in 1875 and then purchased land adjoining the William Stockton homeplace. A. J. Stockton sold his country place in 1889 and moved to Warrensburg, Missouri, where he was living in quiet retirement at the time of his death on May 28, 1913. Three years later he was joined in death by his wife, who died July 28, 1916. Will- iam Stockton, father of A. J. Stockton, had departed this life in 1880 and his remains were interred in the cemetery at Mount Moriah church. Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Stockton were laid to rest in the cemetery at War- rensburg. A. J. Stockton was a prominent and influential citizen of Johnson county and his death has been deeply felt in this community, where both he and his wife numbered their friends by the score. A. J. and Rebecca E. (Crutcher) Stockton were the parents of five children, two of whom are now living: E. B., the subject of this review; and Mattie, who is the wife of Charles Bridges, the well-known clerk in the Warrensburg postoffice. Three children died in infancy. A more comprehensive sketch of the family of Mrs. A. J. Stockton will be found in the biography of her father, James Crutcher, given elsewhere in this volume.

Until 1889, E. B. Stockton resided in the rural districts of John- son county, assisting his father with the work on the farm, when the elder Stockton disposed of his land and moved to the city of Warrens-

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burg and with him came his son, who entered the grocery business at this place. In 1895, E. B. Stockton opened the Warrensburg Feed Mill, conducting both store and mill until December 6, 1898, at which time the mill was destroyed by fire. He sold his grocery and devoted his entire attention and time to rebuilding the mill, erecting the one now controlled by Stockton & Lampkin, personally attending to all the work of building, quarrying the rock, cutting the logs, hauling the logs to the mill on Blackwater to be made into lumber for the different mill buildings, the main one 40 x 40 feet, a second 20 x 40 feet, the office and ware room 15 x 60 feet, and sheds 25 x 60 feet in dimensions, which involved no small amount of difficult labor. The mill was opened for business in the autumn of 1899 and for eight years was conducted exclusively by Mr. Stockton, an experienced miller, having been em- ployed as engineer at the Magnolia Mill for some time when he first came to Warrensburg. In 1907, Mr. Stockton and Mr. Lampkin formed a partnership in the milling business and the firm Stockton & Lampkin has since been operating the mill at Warrensburg.

In June, 1898, E. B. Stockton was united in marriage with Mary E. Davenport, daughter of James M. and Martha Davenport. When Mrs. Stockton was but a child, her mother died. To E. B. and Mary E. (Davenport) Stockton has been born one child, a daughter, Ruth, who is completing her sophomore year in the Warrensburg High School at the time of this writing in 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Stockton reside at 411 Miller street in Warrensburg.

In public and political affairs, Mr. Stockton has always taken a most commendable interest and for four years he served as a member of the city council of Warrensburg. Fraternally, Mr. Stockton is affil- iated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Modern Brotherhood, and the National Annuity of America. He and Mrs. Stockton are respected and valued members of the Presbyterian church. The Stock- ton family is and has long been considered one of the best, most sub- stantial, most highly regarded families in this section of Missouri.

William L. Hyer, engineer of the "Roseland Farm & Manufactur- ing Company" of Warrensburg, Missouri, was born May 10, 1862 in Ross county, Ohio. He is the son of Levi and Sidney (Welscheimer) Hyer, both of whom were natives of Ross county, Ohio. They were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Jane H. Collins, who

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resides in Warrensburg; Mrs. Mary C. Keating, who resides in Monte- zuma, Iowa; Anna, who resides in Warrensburg; Philip Lawson, who was engaged in teaching school for several years in Johnson county and was in his senior year at Columbia University and would have com- pleted the course in the medical department within a few weeks when his death occurred at the university; Mrs. Mahalia Norris, whose death occurred at Belleville, Kansas ; and William L., the subject of this review.

When William L. Hyer was a child four years of age, his father moved with his family from Ohio to Missouri and located on the Theo- dore Hyatt place, which is the present site of the Johnson County Home, purchasing the farm in October, 1866 from the well-known pioneer, the father of the clerk of Johnson county, the present incumbent in 1917. On this farm the Hyer family resided until 1871, when they moved from the farm to Warrensburg and for several years Levi Hyer lived retired from active business. When William L. had attained maturity, he and his father were associated in the ownership of the Eureka Mills in Warrensburg. The father's death occurred in 1892 and two years later he was joined in death by his wife. Both parents were laid to rest in the cemetery at Warrensburg.

William L. Hyer spent his first night in Warrensburg on the floor of the old Robert's Hotel. The house was too crowded in those days for all patrons to have beds. He recalls that in his boyhood days an ordinary rain would form a really large creek on the site of the present depot, the water extending to the location of Blazell's Bookstore and the boys had great sport sailing rafts up and down the street. Warrens- burg has been an American Venice in its time. South of the present railroad tracks there were practically no houses then.

In the city schools of Warrensburg. William L. Hver received his early education. He later attended the Warrensburg State Normal School and he is a graduate of that institution in the class of 1888. After completing school, Mr. Hyer served as apprentice with the jeweler, Walter Sams, for one year, finishing the period of apprenticeship with L. D. Everhalt, who is now located in Hillsboro, Texas. On account of the condition of his health. William L. Hyer abandoned the jewelry business, which is very confining, and associated with his father acquired the ownership of Eureka Mills in Warrensburg in 1884, which they operated until the death of the father in 1892. William L. Hyer and

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his brother-in-law, Almont Collins, were then associated in operating the mill for many years. It was recently sold to the Roseland Farm & Manufacturing Company, a history of which appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Hyer has from the beginning of the company in the new place of business at the Eureka Mills building owned an interest in the factory and had been chief engineer of the company, a position, which he still holds.

February 3, 1913. William L. Hyer and Nellie Stone were united in marriage. Nellie (Stone) Hyer is the daughter of John W. Stone, the pioneer liveryman of Warrensburg, Missouri and Civil War vete- ran. Mr. Stone came to Warrensburg in the early sixties and is still actively engaged in business. He is one of the few brave and honored ones left of those who entered in business in Warrensburg just after the Civil War. Mr. and Mrs. Hyer reside in Warrensburg, Missouri in their home at 402 South Holden street, a home that was built in the late sixties. The Hyers purchased the residence in 1874. It was origi- nally a brick structure, but in late years a frame addition has been built, changing greatly the former appearance of the home. The location of the Hyer's home is ideal.

G. W. V. Smith, proprietor of "The Clarified Milk Dairy," of War- rensburg, was born in 1865 in Nodaway county, Missouri, son of Gus P. and Mary Ann (Riley) Smith, the former, a native of Kansas, hav- ing the distinction of being one of the first children born in that state, and the latter, one of Warrensburg's most highly esteemed women, that city being her present home. To Gus P. and Mary Ann (Riley) Smith were born six children: Jefferson, who resides in Kansas City, Missouri: Lemuel M., who resides in Kansas City. Missouri: Robert, of Long Beach, California: Mrs. E. R. Wallbridge, who resides in War- rensburg, Missouri; Mrs. Lucretia Josephine Ramsay, who resides in Metz, Missouri: and G. W. V., the subject of this review. The father died in Stockton, California in 1907 and the widowed mother has made her home in Warrensburg since that time.

In the public schools of Nodaway county, Missouri, G. W. V. Smith received his education. At the age of nineteen years, he began life for himself, employed in the dairy business, working for Joe Chris- topher in Warrensburg. That was more than thirty years ago and Mr. Smith is still in the dairy business in Warrensburg. He is the present

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proprietor of "The Clarified Milk Dairy," located on East Broad street in Warrensburg. G. W. V. Smith is the pioneer dairyman of this city. He started with a wagon fifteen years past and from a two-gallon can dealt out milk to his customers, using for measuring purposes a quart cup, which had a ring encircling it about the center to designate a pint. The dairy was then located at his present place of business on East Broad street. Mr. Smith sold his first dairy and for five years resided on a farm in Johnson county, where he was engaged in truck gardening. He then returned to Warrensburg and resided for two years, at the close of which time he returned to the farm. In March, 1917, Mr. Smith again returned to Warrensburg to engage in the dairy busi- ness at his former location.

In 1887, G. W. V. Smith was united in marriage with Mattie Brummel, of Bates county, Missouri. Mattie (Brummel) Smith is a daughter of John H. and Martha Brummel. Mr. Brummel died in February, 1917 at the age of eighty-two years and Mrs. Brummel, who is now eighty-three years of age, is making her home with her daugh- ter, Mrs. G. W. V. Smith. The father was laid to rest in the cemetery at Warrensburg. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but they have taken into their home two little ones, a boy, Archie, and a girl, Florence Frances. No children in this county are receiving bet- ter home training or more excellent care and both Mr. and Mrs. Smith regard their adopted son and daughter with the same affection that they would bestow had they been born to them. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are highly regarded among the county's best citizens. G. W. V. Smith is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Maccabees, and of the Modern Woodmen of America, all of Warrensburg.

A large dairy barn, 30 x 50 feet in dimensions, with stanchions for twenty cows, concrete floor, and all the latest improved devices is, at the time of this writing in 1917, in the process of erection. One large room in the dairy is planned for the cooling-room, which room the engine-room adjoins. A three-single-units milking machine will be installed within a short time. Mr. Smith has thirty-eight cows and at the present time is milking thirty-two of them. Twenty head of these are Holsteins, which were shipped from Wisconsin in March, 1916. The rest are Jersey and part Jersey cattle. A purebred registered Hol- stein male heads the herd. Mr. Smith is raising nineteen head of fine

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heifer calves for use in the dairy, all of them promising to be splendid milch cows. Besides fourteen acres of land south of the city, Mr. Smith has leased one hundred eighty acres from Mr. Cheatham. The tract of fourteen acres he owns. One hundred fifty-five acres of the Cheatham place is in pasture and the remaining twenty-five acres in corn. There is a silo on the farm and another large one will be erected this season, of 1917.

The clarifying of milk is done by a DeLaval Milk Clarifier. This . machine removes all impurities from the milk and allows the milk and cream to come from the same spout, thus eliminating separating the milk and cream. The whole milk is bottled, immediately after clarify- ing, in sanitary bottles and deliveries are made in the city twice daily. "The Clarified Milk Dairy" is kept spotlessly clean and pure. Much time, labor, water, and lime are used in keeping the place perfectly sanitary and G. W. V. Smith is doing everything in his power to make and keep his dairy first class. Two men are employed at this dairy all the time.

H. B. Stratton, owner and manager of the Warrensburg Bottling Works, was born in Hancock county, Ohio in 1877. He came to John- son county, Missouri with his parents, Isaac and Sarah Jane (George) Stratton, in 1882 and they located on a farm in Warrensburg township, the place located three and a half miles east of the city of Warrens- burg. Five children were born to Isaac and Sarah Jane (George) Stratton, of whom three sons are now living: W. E. and H. B., of Warrensburg, Missouri: and E. C., of Ray, North Dakota. Two years after coming to Johnson county, the mother died, in 1884. Mr. Strat- ton was remarried, his second wife being Lydia Jane Crawford, who now resides in Warrensburg. In 1898, the Stratton family moved from the farm in Warrensburg township to their city residence at 348 East Market street, where Isaac Stratton died August 15, 1908. Burial was made in the cemetery at Warrensburg.

On the farm in Warrensburg township, H. B. Stratton was reared to maturity. He attended the public schools of Johnson county in which he obtained a good common school education. He is the present owner and manager of the Warrensburg Bottling Works, which plant is located at 126 West Pine street in Warrensburg. It was purchased by Mr. Stratton in December, 1916 and put in operation in July, 1917. This

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factory is engaged in bottling soda water for the city trade and for retail trade in other places. A large quantity of the product is shipped to Strasburg, Sedalia, and many other points along the Missouri Pacific railway and much is also hauled overland to nearby towns. The capacity of the plant is one hundred cases a day. Seventeen different flavors are made, all of excellent quality. Mr. Stratton, himself, works in the factory and in addition employs three assistants.

January 1, 1901, H. B. Stratton was united in marriage with Vir- ginia L. Coats, the daughter of Squire W. Coats, of Warrensburg. To H. B. and Virginia (Coats) Stratton were born two children, Gladys and Archie. The mother of these children died March 19, 1905. Mr. Stratton was remarried, his second wife being Dessa E. Standley, the daughter of A. J. Standley, whose death occurred March 21, 1908 in California. H. B. and Dessa E. (Standley) Stratton are the parents of three children: Pauline, Henrietta, and Mary Frances. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton reside in Warrensburg at 502 Normal avenue. They are highly esteemed among the young people of their community and are numbered among the valued citizens of Johnson county.

L. L. Gregg, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Jackson township, is a member of a prominent pioneer family of Johnson county and a descendant of an old, historic family of Ireland. Mr. Gregg was born in Jackson county, Missouri in 1851, a son of Dr. John L. and Martha F. Gregg. The founder of the Gregg family in America was William Gregg, who emigrated from northeastern Ire- land in 1682. The history of the Gregg family in Ireland recalls the unhappy event which occurred during the reign of James I. of England. The last great triumph in Elizabeth's reign had been the putting down of the great rebellion in Ulster in northeastern Ireland, a rebellion led by Hugh O'Neill. When James I. succeeded Elizabeth, he took a step fraught with disaster. He confiscated the northeastern districts of Ire- land, constituting the province of Ulster, and in 1610 crowded the Irish out with no more said than that they must find subsistence elsewhere. Since that act an implacable hatred has existed between the oppressors and the oppressed. The ancestors of L. L. Gregg sought refuge in Scotland and then in Pennsylvania. Some time in their past history, the Greggs had embraced the Quaker faith and William Gregg was among the earliest arrivals of the sect of Friends to settle in William

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Penn's colony. William Gregg, the follower of Penn, was the father of John, who became father of William Gregg, Jr. and to him was born a son, Jacob, who became the father of three sons: Harmon, William, and David. Harmon Gregg was united in marriage with Susanna Smel- ser in Pennsylvania and to this union was born a son, Jacob, afterward the father of John L., the father of L. L., the subject of this review. In 1809, the three brothers, Harmon, William, and David Gregg, moved from Pennsylvania with a train of emigrants to Illinois and three years later to the territory of Missouri. The Gregg brothers were inmates of Cooper's Fort at the time of trouble between the settlers and the Sac and Fox Indians in what is now Howard county, Missouri and William Gregg was killed by the savages while on a hunting expedi- tion in Saline county.

Dr. John L. Gregg came to Johnson county, Missouri in 1857 and began the practice of his profession in this county. He and Mrs. Gregg were the parents of two children, of whom L. L. is the sole survivor. When L. L. Gregg was a child two years of age, his parents and he made a trip across the plains in an ox-wagon to California. The journey was too much for the strength of the delicate mother and she died shortly after they had reached California. Father and son returned to Missouri in 1854 and located first in Jackson county coming thence to Johnson county in 1857. Dr. Gregg continued to practice medicine all his life. He won recognition solely on his own merits as a physician. Dr. Gregg possessed the power to inspire confidence and in many ways was an ideal family physician besides a highly respected citizen. He died in 1896.

In 1878, L. L. Gregg and Anna E. Hill were united in marriage. Mrs. Gregg is a daughter of William Hill, an early settler of Johnson county, Missouri. The Hills came originally from Tennessee. To L. L. and Anna E. (Hill) Gregg have been born six children: John and Mrs. Daisy E. Kreeger, of Lonejack, Missouri; Homer V., Nashville, Tennessee ; Mrs. Mamie King. Oakgrove, Missouri; Luther L., Jr., and Mrs. Lydia E. Pemberton, of Lonejack, Missouri. Luther L., Jr., is associated in farming and stock raising with his father on the Gregg home place in Jackson township. The son attends to the general farm- ing and the father to the stock on the place.

The Gregg farm comprises two hundred eighty acres of land in

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Johnson county. In the autumn, of 1917, the Greggs harvested seventy- five tons of hay and had fifty-five acres of the farm in corn land. Mr. Gregg is specializing in breeding and raising Shorthorn cattle and he has had uniform success with his stock. At the time of this writing, there were seven acres of the Gregg farm in navy beans which promised a splendid yield.

A kindly man and good citizen, L. L. Gregg occupies a large place in the affection and respect of his acquaintances. Candor and probity have always marked his dealings with his fellowmen and his even tem- per and congenial qualities have made his company much sought. Those who know him personally have said, "He enjoys a good joke and a hearty laugh and has a host of warm personal friends."

W. Clark McDougal, late prosperous farmer and stockman of Chil- howee township, was a member of a fine pioneer family of Johnson county. He was born on July 3, 1854, in Ohio, a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Johnson) McDougal, both of whom were born in Ohio, the father of New York and the mother, of Virginia colonial stock, When Morgan's raiders passed through Ohio during the Civil War, Joseph McDougal met death at their hands. For a few years the widowed mother tried to maintain herself and her little ones on the farm in Ohio, and in 1872, they came to Missouri and settled on a farm in Chil- howee township, Johnson county.

When the McDougals came to Johnson county, forty-five years ago, the greater portion of the county was unfenced and the land was as yet but thinly settled and hardly recovered from the ravages of the Civil War period, when the armies of both the North and the South swept over the country. As a lad in Ohio, Mr. McDougal was delighted to obtain work at splitting logs at a wage of seventy-five cents per day. After the family moved to Missouri all the boys worked hard and saved carefully of their earnings, in fact, all that was not needed to purchase the veriest necessities, and they purchased a farm of eighty acres, where they engaged in farming and stock raising for many years, mak- ing a home for the brave woman who had done her best to make one for them years before. The mother died in 1900.

In 1890, W. C. McDougal and Alice Little were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born three children : J. Hammond; Margaret A .; and George C.

Alice Little McDougal, widow of the late W. C. McDougal, is the daughter of John Howe Little, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in

W. CLARK MeDOUGAL.

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this volume. She was born in Jefferson county, Virginia, January 2, 1855. Mr. McDougal departed this life October 23, 1917, after a period of industry and right living which left an indelible imprint upon the community in which he resided.

Three hundred and sixty acres of splendid farm land comprise the McDougal estate, one hundred and sixty acres of which are in pasture land and grass. Mr. McDougal was a successful breeder of Poland China and Duroc Jersey hogs besides raising large herds of cattle and horses. The farm is nicely improved and the residence is a very attrac- tive one.

Politically, Mr. McDougal was a Republican. He was one of the most highly valued and respected citizens of the county and his loss has been keenly felt by his many friends and acquaintances who valued him for his honesty and industry. He was a kind husband and a good father to his family-one who is sadly missed and whose memory will ever be enshrined in their hearts and memories.

Wallace Crossley, of Warrensburg, Lieutenant-Governor of Mis- souri, was born at Bellair, Cooper county, Missouri, October 8, 1874. He is a son of S. W. Crossley, a one-armed veteran of Stonewall Jack- son's brigade, who moved from Virginia to Missouri after the war and engaged in teaching in Boone and Cooper counties until his death in 1884, after which his widow, who was Miss Elberta Givens, a native of Kentucky, reared in Boone county, Missouri, moved with her son to Mexico, Missouri.

Wallace Crossley received his schooling in Mexico High School, William Jewell College and the State University. He taught at Mexico, spent a year in charge of Pilot Grove Academy and for three years was instructor in the English department of the Warrensburg State Normal after which he embarked in the newspaper business as editor and proprietor of the "Johnson County Star." He is still con- nected financially with the "Warrensburg Star-Journal," one of Mis- souri's largest country newspapers.

In 1904, he was sent to the Legislature from Johnson county, and served three terms. In 1912, he was elected State Senator without opposition from the district composed of Cass, Johnson and Lafayette counties. During his legislative career he took particular interest in measures affecting the state highway system, the public schools and prison reform, being a member of the senate committee whose report

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to the Legislature resulted in a sweeping change in Missouri's penal system.

Mr. Crossley was married December 30, 1902, to Miss Erma Cheat- ham of Warrensburg. They have no children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crossley are members of the Baptist church, and he belongs to several leading fraternal organizations.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 103

Author: Cockrell, Ewing Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Topeka, Kan. : Historical Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1234

Author: Cockrell, Ewing
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Topeka, Kan. : Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1234