USA > Missouri > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Missouri > Part 57
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In the pioneer homes the clothing was provided as well as the food by the work of the women in the home. Mrs. Reavis, in her youth, has often watched the making of clothing from the time the flax was gathered and the wool was cut from the sheep until the garments were ready to wear. It was not always easy to provide shoes for all the family and often the little children were obliged to remain in the house in cold weather. Frequently a young lady would go to church
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barefooted, carrying her shoes with her and putting them on when she had reached the church.
Among the pioneer preachers, whom Mrs. Reavis recalls, were Reverend Thomas Mulkey and Reverend Thomas McBride. There were no churches in the early days and religious services were held in the log cabin homes. Sometimes a traveling preacher would visit the settlement and then the settlers would come miles and miles to hear him preach. The pioneer preacher was a settler just like the rest. He was always welcome and even the poorest settler was glad to share all he had with him.
It was a great thing for the old town of Warrensburg when the early settlers began to get their mail regularly. At first, the mail was brought about twice a month by men on horseback. Sometimes the mail carriers were delayed several days on account of high water and many times the postmaster had to spread the mail out in the sun to dry. At first there were no roads on the open prairie and deer. wild turkeys, and prairie chickens abounded, but little by little life in the new country began to change.
Lorretta Warren was united in marriage with John Reavis, the son of James Reavis, an early pioneer of Missouri, who came from Kentucky. To John and Lorretta (Warren) Reavis were born the following children : Mrs. Mary Box, Mrs. Anna Kreb, Mrs. Etta Adams, Mrs. Alice Hunter. and Mrs. Martha Hull, with whom Mrs. Reavis now makes her home. Mr. Reavis died in 1910 and for the past seven years his widow has resided with her daughter. Mrs. Hull on the farm in Montserrat township.
The brave, true lives of the hardy, noble men and women like Mr. and Mrs. Reavis have made this beautiful county possible. We could not now be enjoying the good things we think so absolutely essential had not they lived before, worked hard. and done without much and it is a pleasure to have the white-haired pioneers still with us. There is no better thing to do in this world than to live so that other people will be happier because one has lived.
J. P. McCann, M. D., a successful physician and surgeon of War- rensburg, Missouri, was born in 1880 in Russellville. Missouri, a son of James and Mariah (Fowler) McCann. the former, a pioneer of Mis- souri, a native of Kentucky, who came to this state in boyhood and the latter, a daughter of James Fowler. James McCann engaged in
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farming and stock raising upon coming to this section of the country and has become widely known and prosperous.
Dr. J. P. McCann attended school in Warrensburg, Missouri. He was a student at the Warrensburg State Normal School, of which in- stitution he is a graduate. After completing the course in the Normal School, he matriculated in the American Medical College, St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in the class of 1902. He then began the practice of his profession at Lamonte, Missouri and remained there until 1914, when he went to New York for further study, taking a post-graduate course in the medical college, specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose, and throat. Prior to this, Dr. McCann had done research and post-graduate work in the medical college at Chicago, Illinois in 1904. In 1915, he located in Warrensburg in the Montgomery building. Dr. McCann has one of the most completely equipped offices of his profes- sion in the city. He has all the new and improved devices and surgical instruments needed for any emergency, including an X-ray apparatus, a gas and oxygen machine, and a special suction pump, which is used to keep the blood out of the throat during operations in that part of the body. Dr. McCann is an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist, but at present is engaged in general practice as well. He has been in great demand since opening his office and has an extensive practice, often making calls many miles from the city.
In 1901, Dr. J. P. McCann was united in marriage with Mary I. Harris and to them were born two children: Kenneth and Margaret. Mrs. McCann died and in 1912 Dr. McCann was united in marriage with Mary Purnell, the daughter of T. A. Purnell, of Greenridge, Mis- souri. Both Dr. and Mrs. McCann are members of the Methodist church and he is a valued member of the Johnson County Medical Society.
In addition to his residence in Warrensburg, Dr. J. P. McCann is the owner of a splendid stock farm near Lamonte. Politically, he is affiliated with the Democratic party and he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Calvin T. Hull, a prominent and prosperous stockman of Mont- serrat township, was born in 1850 in Rockbridge county, Virginia, the son of Jacob and Nancy Hull. When C. T. Hull was nine years of age, he came to Missouri with his mother and in 1859 settled in John- son county, where Mrs. Hull and an older son, Frank, purchased one hundred sixty acres of land and engaged in farming.
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Mr. Hull attended the public schools of Jolinson county. He was reared on the farm and from earliest boyhood assisted with the work of the farm. When he attained maturity he began life for himself on the farm, engaging in stock raising .. He is now the owner of a fine stock farm in Johnson county, a well-watered place, comprising two hundred seventy acres, eighty of which are in bluegrass. C. T. Hull devotes almost his entire attention to the raising of cattle and hogs for the market.
In 1878, C. T. Hull was united in marriage with Martha Reavis, the daughter of John and Lorretta (Warren) Reavis. John Reavis was the son of James Reavis who came from Kentucky to Missouri in the early days. John and Loretta Reavis were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Mary Box, Mrs. Anna Kreb, Mrs. Etta Adams, Mrs. Alice Hunter, and Mrs. Martha ( Reavis) Hull, the wife of the subject of this review. The death of John Reavis occurred in 1910 and his widow now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. C. T. Hull. To C. T. and Martha (Reavis) Hull have been born four children: Mrs. Cleo Hunt, Holden, Missouri; Mrs. Byrle Miller, Nor- borne, Missouri: Mrs. Goldie Dawson, Lone Elm, Kansas; and Annie Laurie, who resides at home with her parents. All four daughters attended school in Johnson county at the Dawson school house, which is located near their home and all are graduates of the Warrensburg State Normal School. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hull are members of the Christian church.
C. T. Hull has been a resident of Johnson county more than half a century and has seen the countless changes incidental to growth and improvement. He has ever been an earnest supporter and enthusiastic helper in all causes having for their object the betterment of the com- munity. He takes a keen interest in securing better schools, better churches, and better roads. Mr. Hull is one of the county's best and most highly respected citizens.
O. B. Hall, M. D., of Warrensburg, Missouri, is one of the leading physicians of Johnson county. He was born in 1868 in Kent county, Michigan, the son of Seth Thompson and Margaret Ann Hall. Seth Thompson Hall was born in Genesee county. New York, the son of Elisha Hall. Elisha Hall's father, Elijah Hall, was a native Virginian and the son of one of the Pilgrim fathers, who came to America in the "Mayflower" in 1620.
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O. B. Hall attended the Greenville High School, Greenville, Michigan and is a graduate of the Michigan Agricultural College in the class of 1893, from which institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1893, he entered the Detroit Medical College and for two years was a student in that institution. He completed his medical training in the University Medical College at Kansas City, Missouri, in 1898.
In 1898, after completing college, Dr. Hall began the practice of medicine in Warrensburg, Missouri. He is engaged in general prac- tice and has patients all over Johnson county. Dr. Hall drives a car and he has established a record for quick and punctual attention to calls. He is at present the secretary of the Johnson County Medical Society and he has served in this capacity since 1913. Dr. Hall was at one time president of the County Secretaries' Association of Missouri.
December 26, 1899, Dr. O. B. Hall was united in marriage with Christina M. Hinkel and to them was born a son, Emil Blinn. Mrs. Hall died soon after the birth of their son. May 24, 1904 Dr. Hall was united in marriage with Zephie E. Collins, the daughter of A. B. Collins, of Warrensburg, Missouri. To Dr. O. B. and Zephie E. (Col- lins) Hall have been born three children: Inez Marguerite, Ethel Josephine, and Max Edward. Both Dr. and Mrs. Hall are highly esteemed members of the Baptist church, of which Dr. Hall is a dea- con. They have a beautiful home in Warrensburg and in addition, Dr. Hall is the owner of considerable income property.
Dr. Hall has always taken a keen and active interest in civic affairs and for six years was a member of the city council of Warrensburg. He is a member of the Democratic party and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Odd Fellows.
Dr. M. D. Hamisfar, a successful dentist of Warrensburg, Mis- souri, is a native of Ohio. He was born in 1865 in Perry county, Ohio, a son of Dr. Leroy and Mary C. (Williams) Hamisfar, the former, a son of William Hamisfar and the latter, a daughter of William Will- iams, of Pennsylvania. William Hamisfar was born in Germany and in early manhood emigrated from his native land and came to America, and settled in Ohio. His son, Dr. Leroy Hamisfar, was a graduate of the School of Dentistry at Delaware, Ohio and of the Baltimore Dental College, Baltimore, Ohio. He was engaged in the prac- tice of medicine and dentistry for thirty years in Somerset and St.
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Marys, Ohio. In 1875, Dr. Leroy Hamisfar moved from Ohio with his family to Missouri and they settled on a farm of more than three hundred acres of land, located four miles south of Warrensburg. After coming to Missouri, Dr. Hamisfar devoted his entire attention to farming and stock raising and became widely known in Johnson county as a prosperous and influential citizen. He died in 1882 and his widow now resides in Warrensburg at 310 East Broad street. Dr. M. D. Hamisfar, the subject of this review, has living one brother and one sister: James H. and Florence K., both of whom reside in Warrens- burg.
M. D. Hamisfar attended the public schools of Ohio and the War- rensburg State Normal School, Warrensburg, Missouri. He is a grad- uate of the Western Dental College, Kansas City, Missouri in the class of 1896 and also was a special student in the Kansas City School of Pharmacy and graduated from the University Medical College at Kansas City with degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1895. In 1896. Dr. Hamisfar began the practice of dentistry in Warrensburg, Missouri and has continued in the practice of his profession in this city ever since.
In 1902, Dr. M. D. Hamisfar and Grace Ethel Davis. the daughter of Dionysius Davis, a prominent farmer of Johnson county, Missouri, were united in marriage and to this union has been born one child, a daughter, Eulia L.
Dr. Hamisfar is a man of exceptional ability and remarkable versatility. He has perfected a local anaesthetic, which contains no injurious narcotics or habit-forming drugs, after spending much time and labor in difficult study and research. He uses this anaesthetic in his own practice. He is also a talented musician and for the past twenty-five years has been a member of every musical organization in the city of Warrensburg. In his office is a Vita-Nola, which the doctor frequently accompanies with his violin in a pleasing and masterly man- ner. He is a deep thinker and has read widely, being a close student of the world's greatest writers and no reader in Johnson county is better informed than he on the standard authors. He is himself a writer of ability, having contributed many valuable articles to the dif- ferent dental journals. Though not a church member, he has written several very able articles on religious subjects and the true philosophy of life. Dr. Hamisfar is also well known as a public speaker, frequently
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addressing various conventions held in Missouri. He is a member of the State and the National Dental Societies and in 1899 was elected delegate to the National Dental Association, held at Niagara Falls, representing the Missouri State Dental Association.
Thomas Eugene Williams, a leading farmer and stockman of Hazel Hill township, has been a resident of Johnson county for nearly sixty years. He was born June 21, 1858, on his father's farm in Hazel Hill township, a place located seven miles northwest of Warrensburg. He is the son of Thomas Williams, Sr., who was born in Tennessee in 1821. In the autumn of 1857, Mr. Williams, Sr., moved from Tennessee to Missouri and settled on the farm in Johnson county, where his son, Thomas Eugene, was born the ensuing summer. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Williams, Sr., were born the following children: E. A., War- rensburg, Missouri; Parilee, who was the wife of J. W. Cleveland and who died in 1906; Vianna, the wife of R. D. Brandon, of Gilroy, Cali- fornia; Melissa, the widow of Samuel K. Heck since 1884, now residing at Flagler, Colorado; Dufa, who died in childhood in 1862; E. D., a prominent citizen of Franklin, Kentucky, where he has been a merchant for forty years and is now the president of one of the best banks in that city; and Thomas Eugene, the subject of this review. The father died in 1859 and the mother in 1863. Thomas Williams was buried in the old cemetery at Warrensburg and Mrs. Williams was laid to rest at Mount Moriah. Thomas Eugene, the youngest of the six children, was left an orphan at the age of five years.
In the country schools of Johnson county, Thomas E. Williams obtained his primary education. He later attended the Warrensburg State Normal School, from which institution he graduated with the class of 1880. He then began teaching school and for nineteen consecu- tive years was thus employed. His first school was at Mount Morial. Eight successive terms, Mr. Williams was employed as teacher of the Aullville school, two terms at Number 61 in Salem district, five terms at McCoy and during his long career as teacher Mr. Williams never applied but for one school. As an educator, he was remarkably suc- cessful and highly regarded.
In 1891, Mr. Williams moved to his present country home, for which he traded a stock of merchandise in 1885. This place comprises one hundred thirty acres of good farm land, conveniently located within a
THOMAS EUGENE WILLIAMS AND FAMILY.
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mile and a half southwest of Robbins and nicely imporved. Mr. Will- iams has himself improved the farm, building the residence in 1913 and the barn in 1909, and since he has owned this place, he has not only added all the improvements now on it but has also given his three children the best of educational advantages. The Williams home is one of the pretty, attractive country places for which Johnson county is noted and of which all are proud. All the trees Mr. Williams him- self planted. The cyclone of 1913 wrought great havoc on the Williams farm, blowing away all the farm buildings except the barn, which was unroofed, and the residence was badly demolished, totaling a loss of more than a thousand dollars. Undaunted, Mr. Williams has his beauti- ful place again in excellent repair.
In 1883, Thomas Eugene Williams was united in marriage with Minerva Ellen Stewart, the daughter of Eli Stewart, an honored pioneer of Simpson township, and Mary Ellen (Roach) Stewart, who now lives at Leeton, Missouri. The father is now deceased. To Thomas Eugene and Mary Ellen Williams have been born four children: Elmer Eugene, who attended the Warrensburg State Normal School and is a graduate of the Warrensburg Business College, now engaged in the mercantile business at Robbins; Nettie Maude, who died at the age of one year and eleven months; Mary Ola, who is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1915 and is now engaged in teaching school, having taught school for the past seven years, employed at the home school, in Columbus township, at Hazel Hill, and for the past three years at Salem ; and Alma Leota, who also is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1915, and of the Warrensburg High School prior to that, and now is employed as teacher in the new Consolidated District Number 3, having taught her first term of school in Coleman Number 65, consolidated district, and in 1916 and 1917 at Rye, Colorado, Pueblo county, where she was as- sistant superintendent, and last term she taught at Coleman.
Mr. Williams, on October 18. 1917, succeeded in getting the Will- iams family together for a family reunion. His entire family were gathered at the Williams home for the first time since 1876. This family has always been one of the most public-spirited, conspicuous families in this section of Missouri, every member of which is known widely for his honesty, charity, and humanity. No other people in Johnson county
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are more interested in the public welfare and the well-being of their particular community than are the members of this splendid family.
Dr. J. H. B. Hoefner, a prominent osteopath of Warrensburg, Mis- souri, was born in 1877 in St. Charles county, Missouri. He is the son of Henry and Caroline (Vosz) Hoefner, both of whom are of German descent. Henry Hoefner is the son of Casper Hoefner, who emigrated from Germany to America in 1851 and settled in St. Charles county, Missouri, where he purchased a farm, upon which his son, Henry, was reared. Henry Hoefner is now the owner of four hundred twenty acres of land in St. Charles county, where he is a successful and influential farmer and stockman. Caroline (Vosz) Hoefner is the daughter of Ernest Vosz, who was of German lineage. Of the children born to Henry and Caroline (Vosz) Hoefner, the following are now living: Arnold, New Melle, Missouri; Fred, New Melle, Missouri; Henry, Franklin, Pennsylvania ; Dr. J. H. B., the subject of this review; Victor, Waukegan, Illinois; Edwin, New Melle, Missouri; Mrs. Anna Karren- brock, New Melle, Missouri; Mrs. Matilda Pierce, Hastings, Nebraska ; Laura, New Melle, Missouri; and Edna, New Melle, Missouri.
J. H. B. Hoefner received his early education in the public schools of St. Charles county, Missouri. He was a student in the Warrens- burg State Normal School for three years and later attended the American School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, Missouri, of which in- stitution he is a graduate of the class of 1903. After completing col- lege, Dr. Hoefner began the practice of osteopathy in Warrensburg, Missouri. His wife, Dr. Lavina Hoefner, who is a graduate of the American School of Osteopathy in the class of 1903, is associated with Dr. J. H. B. Hoefner in the practice of their profession. They were united in marriage in 1903, soon after graduation from college.
Osteopathy is a comparatively new scientific treatment for dis- ease. A score of years ago few physicians, whether in private practice or hospitals or just out of medical college, considered it necessary to know the conditions of the mouth before prescribing drugs for physical illness. Osteopathy has taught truths, which the medical profession lost sight of, but within the last fifteen years has slowly acknowledged. Discredited by the medical profession, by medical journals, and medical schools, osteopathy has in fifteen years built up a practice of more than eight thousand men, having four years' training, including more
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than one hundred physicians with full medical training plus a course in osteopathy. There were means of learning fifteen years ago what was truth and what was quackery about the practice of osteopathy, but by refusing to look for the truth and concentrating attention upon the quackery, the medical profession lost fifteen years. No appeal can be stronger, no justification more complete, than the following para- graph quoted by William H. Allen, secretary of the Bureau of Municipal Research in his book, "Civics and Health," from an osteo- pathic physician, having both the medical and osteopathic degrees:
"The physical method of treating disease presents a tremendous and significant departure from the empiricism of medicine and the experimentation of dietetics, the restricted fields of electricity, sugges- tion, water cures, and massage. The patient as an individual is not treated; the disease as a disease is not treated; the symptoms are not treated; but the entire physical organism, with its many parts and diverse functions, is exhaustively examined until each and every ab- normal condition, whether of structure or of function, causing disease and maintaining symptoms, is found and administered to with the skill of a definite art, based upon the data of an exact science."
Dr. Hoefner chose this branch of therapeutics as his specialty be- cause he had personally seen so much good accomplished by osteopathy where other methods of treatment had failed. The human body is like other machines, when all parts are normal and working harmoni- ously perfect health follows inevitably and Dr. Hoefner firmly believes no apparatus but the human hand is needed to secure this harmony of the parts of human anatomy. He has been very successful in his chosen profession. He is the owner of his handsome residence in Warrens- burg and is a stockholder in the Still-Hildreth Sanitarium at Macon, Missouri and in the Knob Noster Brick & Tile Company. Dr. Hoefner is a worthy member of the Christian church, of which he is a deacon. Politically, he is affiliated with the Democratic party.
John T. Stevens, a prominent and successful farmer and stockman of Washington township, is one of Johnson county's most highly re- spected pioneers. He was born in 1847 in Moniteau county, Missouri, the son of Absalom and Elizabeth Stevens. Absalom Stevens was the son of David and Rebecca ( McClanahan) Stevens. David Stevens was born in New York, the son of Isaiah Stevens, who was killed while
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serving in the Revolutionary War with Washington's army. David Stevens left New York in early maturity and located in Virginia on a plantation on the Roanoke river. Here he was united in marriage with Rebecca McClanahan and to them was born Absalom, the father of the subject of this review, in 1811 in eastern Tennessee, where David and Rebecca Stevens had moved within a short time after their marriage. David Stevens enlisted in the War of 1812 and served throughout the conflict. In 1816 he moved with his family to Missouri and located permanently in what is now Moniteau county, where he engaged in farming, becoming widely known as a capable, industrious, and highly esteemed citizen. Absalom Stevens was reared to maturity on the home place in Moniteau county and was married in that county and there reared his family. In 1863, he moved from Moniteau county to Johnson county, where he was a prominent and influential farmer. His death occurred in 1898.
The boyhood days of John T. Stevens were spent as the average lad on the farm in those early times spent his days. He assisted his father with the work on the home place and attended school, which was held in an old log house not far from their home in Moniteau county. School lasted but a few months in the year and even when it was in session the older boys and girls could not always go. The majority of children in the old-time schools learned thoroughly that which they did learn, but few learned much. The bright ones would learn rapidly, as the "master" heard them "say their lessons" as often as they wished, but the slow ones learned almost nothing. Often chil- dren would go to school all that they could for several years and not be able to read and perhaps would be obliged to leave school to go to work before they had learned enough to read a simple story or write a letter. John T. Stevens was sixteen years of age, when his father moved to Johnson county. The first teacher, whom he recalls having in the Johnson county schools, was Mr. Ball. As a youth, Mr, Stevens often heard two of the earliest pioneer preachers: Reverend George Langdon and Reverend "Jimmie" Porter.
John T. Stevens was united in marriage with Mary C. Miller in 1873. Mary C. (Miller) Stevens is the daughter of James Miller, a well known pioneer of Missouri. To John T. and Mary C. Stevens were born ten children: J. Robert, farmer, Washington township, Knob Noster,
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