History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 38

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

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Adam Vernaz came to Warrensburg with his parents in 1867, when he was four years of age. The Vernaz family located in the old town, Adam receiving his education in the village school. After leaving school he entered the employ of Baldwin & Richards, proprietors of the War- rensburg "Standard." Later he was employed at the "Journal-Demo- crat" office. In 1904 he went into partnership with his brother. Julius C., who for about eight years had been in the drug business. In 1907 the death of Julius C. Vernaz dissolved the partnership and Adam Vernaz has continued the business alone. He carries a splendid and complete line of drugs and the basement of the building, which is located at 116 West Pine street, is well stocked with oils and dry paints.

January 10. 1887, Adam Vernaz and Fannie O'Brien were united in marriage. Fannie (O'Brien) Vernaz is the daughter of James and Rebecca (Swan) O'Brien, of Sedalia, Missouri. She was born in Canada. Mr. O'Brien died about 1903 in Sedalia, Missouri, and his remains are interred in the cemetery at Sedalia. His widow survives him and resides at Sedalia. To Adam and Fannie Vernaz have been born three daugh- ters, all of whom are engaged in teaching: Juanita, a teacher in the public schools of Warrensburg: Lucille, who is teaching in the Home Economics department in the schools of Bolivia, Missouri; and Mercedes, who specialized in music at the Warrensburg State Normal and is now supervisor of music in the Kirkwood public schools, Kirkwood, Mis- souri. Mr. and Mrs. Vernaz reside in their home at 109 West Russell avenue, in Warrensburg, where they are held in high esteem and have countless friends.

J. G. Orsborn, a well-known citizen of Warrensburg and Civil War veteran, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1843, the son of Joseph and Charity Orsborn, natives of Pennsylvania. In 1856 the Ors- born family moved to Ohio and located in Noble county. To Joseph and Charity Orsborn were born ten children: Mrs. Louisa Thomas, Marion, Kansas; Mrs. Mary ( Morton) Kelly, died in Noble county, Ohio, in 1916: J. G., the subject of this review: John H., was killed at Brigham, Utah, twenty-five miles from Salt Lake City, in 1870; E. G., a Civil War veteran, serving in the Thirtieth Ohio Infantry, and whose

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death occurred in 1902; Elizabeth H., wife of Mr. Kent, resides in Indiana; Mrs. Sarah Jane Morrison, died in Noble county, Ohio; Fran- cis Marion, was killed in early manhood in a railroad accident in Vir- ginia; Rachel Melvina Harper, resides in Guernsey county, Ohio; and Samuel B., died in Noble county, Ohio. Both father and mother died in Noble county, Ohio.

J. G. Orsborn attended school in Noble county, Ohio. When he was nineteen years of age he enlisted in the Civil War in Noble county, Ohio, August 13, 1862, and was in the service for three years. He was mustered out June 26, 1865, at Washington, D. C. His regiment was in the Kanawha campaign of 1862. Mr. Orsborn was detailed by Major-General Sherman to the navy, in which he served twenty-two months on the Mississippi and Florida coasts and the Caribbean sea. He took part in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and then joined his regiment three days before Sherman arrived at Columbia, South Caro- lina, and he was with Sherman from that time until the war closed, taking part in the Grand Review at Washington. Fifty years later, in 1915, he took part in the National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic and marched over the identical streets in the Capital City.

After the Civil War, J. G. Orsborn returned to his home in Noble county, Ohio, and for a number of years he was in the oil-drilling busi- ness. In August, 1867, he came to Johnson county, Missouri and for about one year and a half remained in Warrensburg and Holden. As there was no railroad at that time by which connections could be made with Ft. Scott, Kansas, Mr. Orsborn made the trip there in his spring wagon, taking with him some people from Holden. When he was ready to return three persons from Baxter Springs, Kansas accosted him, wishing to know how they could get to the railroad by Sunday. They remarked that they would gladly give sixty dollars if they could get to the train by Sunday and a bargain was immediately made whereby they were to pay Mr. Orsborn the above stated sum if he made the desired connection and twenty dollars if he missed the train. They made the trip in one day and arrived in Holden one hour before the departure of the train, and he received the sixty dollars. Mr. Orsborn returned to Ohio in 1869.

March 23, 1871, J. G. Orsborn and Maria J. Toland were united in marriage at Zanesville, Ohio. Maria J. (Toland) Orsborn is the dangh-

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ter of Willis and Arminta Toland. She was reared and educated in Muskingum county, Ohio, and there both her father and mother died. Their remains are interred in Duncan Falls cemetery in Muskingum county, Ohio. To J. G. and Maria J. Orsborn have been born the fol- lowing children: Harry, who is an ordained minister of the Baptist church and began his ministerial work at Blackwater in Johnson county, Missouri, and is now a professor in the Minneapolis High School, Min- neapolis, Minnesota; Lura M., who was the wife of Professor Emery Killion, a member of the Missouri Legislature, whose death occurred at Sweet Springs, Missouri, and she later married Miner Lewis and now resides at Roundup, Montana, where her husband is a prominent merchant ; Herbert C., who was a soldier in the Spanish-American War, serving in the Fifth Missouri Infantry, and in 1906, while engaged in electrical engineering at Warrensburg, was accidentally killed by a train on the Missouri Pacific railway; Orville J., who was the organizer of the first teachers' agency west of the Mississippi, which was known as the Midland Teachers' Agency, and is now in the United States mail service in Salt Lake City, Utah, after working out of Warrensburg for a number of years; Dr. George E. Orsborn, who is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal and later took a course in the Minne- sota State Normal, was engaged in teaching in Knob Noster for two years and in the Philippine Islands, where, at the age of twenty-one, he was superintendent of one hundred seventy schools and post- master in a city having a population of twenty thousand, now, a gradu- ate of the Kansas City and Denver medical schools, was assistant surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital in Denver, Colorado, and is now a brigade surgeon in the national army, with rank of major; and Ernest C., who for ten years was employed as telegrapher and auditor by the Great Northern Railroad Company and is now manager of the Roundup Taxi Company, Roundup, Montana. Mr. and Mrs. Orsborn devoted their lives to the welfare of their children rather than to the accumulation of wealth. They always kept the children in school and gave each a good education, that which no one can take from them. Mrs. Orsborn has a sister, Elizabeth, residing in Warrensburg.

Mr. Orsborn remained in Ohio from 1869 until 1885, when he came back to Missouri and located at Holden, where he resided for three years. He was appointed engineer and custodian of the State Normal building and grounds and for three years resided in Warrens-

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burg. He then moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was employed as engineer for the Kansas City Cable Company. For three years Mr. Orsborn was at Liberty, Missouri and from there returned to Warrens- burg, where he took charge of the electric light plant at Pertle Springs. Later he put in operation a new plant at Warrensburg. For eight hundred seventy-eight nights Mr. Orsborn was on duty at the War- rensburg plant and never missed a night. He was employed as engineer at Columbia, Missouri, for three years and after leaving Columbia entered the employ of the Mohler Brothers' Nursery Company, with whom he remained four years. For some time Mr. Orsborn was engaged in the real estate business. In 1905 he and his family moved to Minne- sota on land in the Chippewa Indian reservation, which Mr. Orsborn entered from the government. After he had proven his claim they returned to Warrensburg. He has in his possession many fine specimens which he has collected while on hunting and fishing trips in various parts of the country. A splendid astronomical telescope containing a lens which cost five hundred dollars was until recently the property of J. G. Orsborn, who used it in connection with a lecture given on astronomy. He sold the telescope to the Warrensburg State Normal School.

James Theodore Drummond, a citizen of Johnson county, Mis- souri, worthy of great consideration, was born in Mckeesport, Penn- sylvania, April 5, 1847, the son of Samuel B. and Sarah E. (Tingle) Drummond, natives of Pennsylvania. He is one of eight children born to his parents as follow: Rowena; John A., Warrensburg; James Theodore, the subject of this review; Rhoda; J. H .; William T .; Mrs. Sarah E. Rucker, Warrensburg; and Edwin, a civil engineer, Phoenix, Arizona.

Samuel B. Drummond came from Pennsylvania to Missouri in the fall of 1867 and located on a farm of eighty acres, three miles south of Warrensburg, paying seven dollars and fifty cents an acre for the land. He died on the farm, which had been his home for eleven years, his death occurring about 1878. He was a member of the Mt. Zion Cumberland Presbyterian church and his remains were interred in the cemetery at Mt. Zion. Sarah E. (Tingle) Drummond died in Cali- fornia while on the way to visit her daughter, Rhoda. She was buried at San Diego, California.

James Theodore and John A. Drummond received their education

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in the public schools of Ohio. In the spring of 1867 they together came to Missouri. They spent their first night in Missouri at the Western Hotel in Warrensburg. This hotel was located on the site of the pres- ent Young Women's Christian Association building. The following morning the two brothers saw a large number of people going and coming along the railroad right-of-way east of the hotel and they inquired of the proprietor what the attraction might be to cause so many people to be going and coming. The proprietor answered, "Go and see. You will find something interesting." The boys followed the crowd and saw suspended from the end of a rope, which was attached to the limb of a tree growing near the right-of-way. a victim of the early vigilance committee. The committee had finished their work that night.

The first work which James Theodore Drummond did in Missouri consisted in cutting timber. When the Drummonds came to Missouri lumber was hauled from Warrensburg to Clinton and Mr. Drummond paid for the lumber in the first home he built in Warrensburg by haul- ing lumber to Clinton. Cameron Moore & Company were the pioneer lumber dealers. The Drummond brothers were engaged in the sawmill business for some time and then in the business of well-drilling. They had been employed in this work in Ohio previous to coming to Missouri and they shipped their outfit west.

In 1868, James Theodore Drummond and Georgeanna Gilliland, the daughter of Harvey Gilliland, were united in marriage. Mrs. Drum- mond was a niece of James Gilliland, of Warrensburg. Two children born to James Theodore and Georgeanna Drummond are now living : Elza H., a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School and is now in the employ of the Crane Company in Salt Lake City, Utah ; and Ernest T., a prosperous ranchman of Watsonville, California. He owns a beautiful home near the Pacific coast.

The Drummond brothers engaged in well-drilling until 1873, when James T. entered the feed and coal business, in which he is still engaged. About 1878 the Drummond brothers purchased the old fair grounds and there raised strawberries for the market and also put in operation a syrup factory, making sorghum molasses. The government offered at that time a premium of twelve hundred dollars for the best report on steam, fire, train, or open farm work. The Drummond brothers won the premium on the latter. When the land became valuable, James

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T. platted his portion of the ground and sold it. On the plat of the city this is known as the "Drummond Addition." Mr. Drummond then purchased one hundred feet of ground on South Holden street and erected the brick building, 25x70 feet in dimensions, on the second floor of which is his home. He is also the owner of another brick build- ing located at 206 Holden street, which is occupied by a bakery, the Air Dome, which is located between the above mentioned properties, and a farm, comprising forty-eight acres four miles south of Warrens- burg. Mr. Drummond takes great pleasure in gardening a small part of his farm, raising enough vegetables for their own use.

In 1896, James T. Drummond and Mary E. Greim, a niece of Nicholas Greim, a pioneer of Warrensburg, were united in marriage. To James T. and Mary E. (Greim) Drummond have been born the following children: Clyde and Ruby, both graduates of the Warrens- burg High School who reside with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Drum- mond reside at 200 South Holden street in Warrensburg. They are numbered among Johnson county's most substantial citizens.

Charles Houx, a prominent stockman of Centerview township, is a native of Johnson county and a member of a worthy pioneer family. He was born on the Philip Houx farm, the son of James H. Houx and the grandson of Philip Houx, who came from Kentucky to Missouri. About 1834 he settled on a farm in Centerview township. Philip Houx first located in Lafayette county upon coming from the South and later, when his son. James H., was seven years of age moved to John- son county, where he lived the remainder of his life. His death occurred about 1854 and he was interred in the family cemetery. Charles Houx is one of seven children born to James H. and Mary Everett (Wilson) Houx, as follow: Charles H., the subject of this review; Edwin W .; Mrs. Susan Elizabeth Williams, Columbia, Missouri; Marie, who died in 1911; Albert, who died from drowning when seven years of age; Mrs. Roberta Edmiston, St. Louis, Missouri; and Samuel B., Houston, Texas. The mother, Mary Everett (Wilson) Houx, is a native of Virginia. She came to Missouri when about four years of age, with her parents, who settled in Henry county. A sketch of Mrs. James H. Houx appears in this volume. James H. Houx died in 1903 and interment was made in the Warrensburg cemetery.

Charles H. Houx attended the city schools of Warrensburg, Mis- souri, and the Warrensburg State Normal School for two years. He was

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reared on the farm in Centerview township and until twenty-one years of age remained at home, assisting with the work of the farm. He then went to Colorado and for six years was engaged in the cattle business in that state, following ranch work. When he returned to Johnson county he entered the stock business here and has been thus engaged ever since. In 1900 Mr. Houx also became interested in a cattle ranch in New Mexico. He is associated with the Felix Cattle Company in this connection and has at present five thousand cattle on the ranch, which is devoted exclusively to the breeding of white-face Herefords. At the present time Mr. Houx in addition ships to the market about twenty cars of cattle and hogs from Johnson county.

In 1907, Charles H. Houx was united in marriage with Ethel Clark, the daughter of H. F. and Rosa (Goff) Clark, of Warrensburg, Mis- souri, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. To Charles H. and Ethel (Clark) Houx have been born two children: Charles, Jr., and Edwin.

Mr. Houx has been director of the Bank of Centerview since its organization in 1893 and the president since 1900. The Bank of Center- view has at present a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars and a surplus fund of fifteen thousand with deposits at the time of this writing amounting to one hundred thousand dollars. This bank is one of the soundest institutions of its size in the state. Mr. Houx is a charter member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, No. 673, of Warrensburg, Missouri. He is a fine, capable, promising young man who in a quiet and unassuming way is making a splendid success of life. Mr. Houx is the son of an old schoolmate of Senator Francis M. Cockrell, when he was a boy at Chapel Hill College.

R. H. Wood, ex-judge of Johnson county and a member of a pioneer family, is a citizen of real worth. He was born March 22, 1841, in what is now Simpson township, Johnson county. He is the son of James M. and Angeline (Thornton) Wood, natives of Virginia. James M. Wood was born January 8, 1812. He came from Virginia to Mis- souri in 1831 and located temporarily in Saline county. In 1833 he moved to Johnson county and settled on a farm of eighty acres eighty miles north of Warrensburg, which land he entered from the govern- ment. This farm is now owned by his son, R. H. Wood, the subject of this review. Angeline (Thornton) Wood was born in 1817 in Orange

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county, Virginia, and when she was six years of age came with her parents, John and Elizabeth Thornton, to Missouri. In 1833. they settled in Johnson county. Mrs. Wood was a writer of literary ability and in an article written relative to life in Missouri in the early days states that her father and mother lived in a tent on their land, which they entered from the government, until the double log cabin was built. James M. and Angeline (Thornton) Wood were the parents of eight children: Mary Susan, died at the age of twelve years; John William, died in infancy; Thomas, died at Virginia City, Montana; George Lewis, died in infancy; R. H., the subject of this sketch; Benja- min, died in the Confederate service at Springfield, Missouri; James Leonidas, died in infancy; and W. W., a graduate of the Lexington Law School, Lexington, Kentucky, attorney, Okmulgee, Oklahoma. The death of James M. Wood occurred in 1851 and interment was made in a private cemetery belonging to John Thornton, the father of Mrs. Wood. She survived her husband forty-seven years, and died January 8, 1908, at the age of ninety-one years. Her remains were interred in the Warrensburg cemetery.

R. H. Wood attended the public schools of Johnson county. At the age of twenty years he enlisted in the Confederate army with a company formed at Lonejack which went south under the leadership of Colonel Cockrell, and which was reorganized at McKittrick Springs, Arkansas, August 16, 1862, and served throughout the remainder of the war in Captain Crispin's company, Colonel Gordon's regiment and General Shelby's brigade. His regiment took an active part in the battles of Prairie Grove, Shelby's Ridge, Mark's Mill, and Saline river, Arkansas. They were after General Steel on his raid and participated in many skirmishes. Mr. Wood was in Louisiana when the war ended.

After the war closed, R. H. Wood returned to Saline county, Mis- souri, and at the expiration of two years returned to Johnson county and engaged in farming in Simpson township, where he resided until ten years ago, when he moved to Warrensburg. He was elected county judge of Johnson county, from the eastern district, and served two terms at the time Judge Stevens was the presiding judge, with I. G. Farnsworth as associate. During his term in office, the first concrete culverts were built in Johnson county. One culvert north and one south of Warrensburg were built to test their durability and to ascertain the cost. The experiment proved so satisfactory that no other kind are now built and the county road plan was adopted whereby three

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hundred miles of good roads were built and more than a thousand concrete culverts on the different highways.

December 3, 1867, R. H. Wood was united in marriage with Sarah D. Pemberton, of Saline county, Missouri. To this union were born seven children: James Madison, died in infancy; Edward R., resides in Colorado; Mrs. Sarah A. Foster, Warrensburg; R. H., Jr., farmer in Simpson township; Thomas P., Parkin, Arkansas; James Madison, farmer, Simpson township; and Leslie M., Birmingham, Alabama. May 24, 1887, Mrs. Wood's death occurred and burial was made at Fair Oak cemetery. Later, R. H. Wood was married to Mrs. Agnes J. Fos- ter, of Simpson township. She is a native of Indiana and was reared and educated in Iowa. Mrs. Wood attended the public schools of Ft. Madison, Iowa, and the Congregational Church school at Denmark, Iowa. By her former marriage, she has four children now living: Mrs. James R. Brown, Chickasha, Oklahoma; Mrs. Minnie Fryrear, Simp- son township; D. E. Foster, Los Angeles, California; and Mrs. Nannie Taggart. Two children are deceased: James M., and George S. Mr. and Mrs. Wood reside in Warrensburg in their home, on Grover street, which they purchased in 1911 from Judge Bradley. Besides the city residence, Mr. Wood is owner of the home place of eighty acres of land in Simpson township and an adjoining farm, comprising four hundred twenty acres in all. Mrs. Nannie Taggart is a resident of Simpson township.

For seventy-six years, R. H. Wood has been a resident of John- son county. He has seen all the changes incident to the growth and development of the county and has always done his part in advancing the interests of his county and state. No man in Johnson county is more deeply interested than he in movements which have for their object public improvement and moral uplift and to them he has ever given his most earnest support and encouragement. Mr. Wood is a fine conversationalist, possessing a fund of interesting stories of pioneer and war days. He recalls the time when but two residences were between his old home and Warrensburg, a distance of eight miles, and there were only two stores in the old town, one of which was conducted by Mr. Tilford. In the early days, every country store kept a barrel of whiskey in stock as one of the staple articles and retailed it from the barrel by the drink, pint, quart, or gallon. The sales were almost invariably made in quantities, for if a man just wished a drink he helped himself or was invited by the merchant to take one.

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Benoia Scott, a veteran of the Civil War and prominent citizen of Johnson county, is a resident of Warrensburg of real worth. He was born August 13, 1844, in Illinois, the son of Robert and Mary (McGin- nis ) Scott. Robert Scott was a native of Indiana and Mary (McGinnis) Scott was a native of Virginia. The Scott family moved to Illinois and located in Macoupin county, near Scottville, which was named in honor of Robert Scott. When Benoia Scott was a child two years of age, his mother died and two years later the death of his father occurred in Bloomington, Illinois, leaving four small children to be separated and reared by strangers. The children of Robert and Mary Scott are: Thomas, who was reared in Pike county, Illinois, and now resides in Montana, Kansas; John W., who was reared by James Moore in John- son county, Missouri, and now resides in Laidlaw, Oregon: Benoia, sub- ject of this review; and Eliza Ann, who graduated from the Jackson- ville Female Seminary and later married John W. Morgan and whose address is now unknown.

The three Scott brothers enlisted in the Union army during the Civil War: Thomas W., in Company D, One Hundred Nineteenth Illinois Infantry; John W., in Company G, One Hundred First Illinois Infantry ; and Benoia, in Company B. One Hundred Twenty-second Illi- nois Infantry. After the war had ended, Benoia Scott visited his grand- mother, who informed him of the enlistment of each of his brothers and of their services in the Union army. Until that time not one of the brothers knew of the enlistment of the others nor, in fact, anything about them. The three brothers met for the first time, within their recollection, in October, 1865.

August 4, 1865, Benoia Scott received his honorable discharge at Springfield, Illinois. He served faithfully throughout the war and while he never missed a march, skirmish, or battle, in which his company was engaged, Mr. Scott was never confined in the hospital and prac- tically went through the war unscathed. A slight wound in the left hand, received at Ft. Blakely, April 9. 1865, where General Francis M. Cockrell's brigade surrendered, was the only injury he ever received.

General John B. Stone, of Kansas City, Missouri, who was presi- dent of the Ex-confederate Organization of Missouri, and Benoia Scott are the best and closest of friends and yet the first time they met was when they faced each other in the trenches in April, 1865, at Ft. Blakely. Alabama. Stone proposed an armistice one day when the troops lay on their arms and Scott agreed. The two captains met between lines for

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a few moments and agreed to give thirty minutes' notice before firing should begin on either side up to a certain point on the line. The Yankees were shy on tobacco, the Rebels on coffee. Why not swap? They did, and in the trying hours which followed the Union boys enjoyed some good smokes while the Confederates were drinking fine, old, black coffee. When the attack came, it so happened that John B. Stone was made prisoner by Scott's men and the sword of Stone delivered by him to Scott. At Mr. Scott's request, a parole was given John B. Stone. Before leaving Alabama, Mr. Scott was a guest of the Stone family, and father, mother, and sisters united in giving him a pleasant welcome, treating him with true Southern hospitality. Years afterwards, Colonel Bob Dalton one day mentioned John B. Stone in a conversation held in Warrensburg. "I wonder," said Benoia Scott, "if he might be John B. Stone whom I met at Ft. Blakely?" Dalton promised to find out, and an invitation to Kansas City, Missouri, for a visit with his old friend was the result. Benoia Scott accepted the invitation not once but many times and the Kansas City papers have repeatedly told of their meet- ings and of the handgrasp they now give one another and of the stories they tell of other days. Mr. Scott has in his possession many newspaper clippings of these comments and "writeups," which include pictures of both men. When the Confederate Reunion was held in Warrensburg, John B. Stone was the guest of Benoia Scott. The story of the "cement- ing of the Union" is no better illustrated than with the friendship of Benoia Scott and John B. Stone, who at one time faced each other in opposition at the battle's front. All honor and praise to them!

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 38

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