USA > Missouri > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Missouri > Part 67
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ity for irresponsible people. In the early days, Mr. Wall was a well- known and adept hunter and there were many days that all the meat that the family had was the wild game, which he brought home from one of his hunting expeditions. Mrs. Wall vividly recalls seeing herds of deer as she stood in the doorway of their primitive, rude log cabin. In spite of the privations and hardships of pioneer life, and she has experienced them all, Mrs. Wall says that those were the happiest days of her life. She is a bright, intelligent lady, one of Johnson county's noblest pioneer mothers and worthy of the highest regard and esteem.
W. A. Tompkins, proprietor of one of the best dairy farms in Mis- souri, was born in Smith county, Kansas in a dugout on his father's land claim, in 1883. Stephen E. and Frances R. (Arment) Tompkins, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Ohio, had gone to Smith county, Kansas about 1880 to take up a land claim in that state and three years later, on September 7, 1883, their son, W. A., was born. When he was but a small lad, the Tompkins family moved from Kansas to Missouri and in 1892 settled on a farm in Warrensburg township, Johnson county. Stephen E. and Frances R. Tompkins were the par- ents of four children: W. A., the subject of this review; Ernest E., who resides in Pennsylvania; Earl C., who resides in Warrensburg township; and Frona, the wife of George Lacy, of Enid, Oklahoma. At the time of his death, in 1907, Stephen E. Tompkins was owner of one hundred twenty acres of choice land in Johnson county. Mrs. Tomp- kins died in 1914.
In the Oakland district school of Warrensburg township, W. A. Tompkins received his education. Until he attained maturity, he remained at home with his parents. He then assumed charge of the home place and engaged in general farming and stock raising, in which vocations he is still engaged in addition to conducting the dairy on his farm. Mr. Tompkins annually raises nearly two hundred head of hogs, having a pure-bred male.
In 1906, W. A. Tompkins and Rena Powell were united in mar- riage. Rena (Powell) Tompkins is the daughter of Andrew and Rachel Powell, of Warrensburg township. The parents of Mrs. Tompkins are now deceased and their remains are interred in the cemetery at War- rensburg. To W. A. and Rena Tompkins have been born two chil- dren, both daughters, Lora and Mildred. Andrew Powell was a vete-
STEPHEN E. TOMPKINS AND FAMILY.
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ran of the Civil War, enlisting at Marietta, Ohio and serving through- out the war in the Union army.
Recently, Mr. Tompkins began conducting a dairy on his splendid stock farm of two hundred acres. One hundred forty acres of the place are in pasture land and the remaining sixty acres are devoted to the raising of small grains, corn, and hay. Mr. Tompkins rotates his crops every three years. In 1911, he erected a silo, which he has annually filled since that time and which he considers the best investment feature on his place. His farm is well watered by the Fletcher branch, a small stream, which flows through it. W. A. Tompkins has at present fifty head of dairy cattle of different breeds, but chiefly Holsteins, a regis- tered Holstein male heading the herd.
Mr. Tompkins' dairy is well equipped with separators and sanitary devices of all sorts. The milkhouse has a concrete floor and in it has been installed an engine to run the milking machine and separators and the tank, in which the milk is cooled. Ice is brought from the city every day in the summer to be used in cooling the milk. The proper precautions in sterilizing everything used in connection with the milk- ing are taken in this room and a sterilizing outfit for this purpose has been installed. The cowbarn is kept perfectly clean, having a concrete floor with excellent drainage. There stanchions for ten cows have been placed and the milking is done by an Empire Milking Machine, a double unit apparatus, which milks two cows at a time. Twenty-four cows are now being milked and there will soon be thirty. Milking is done twice daily, at 5 A. M. and at 4:30 P. M. and the milk delivered in the city of Warrensburg each morning. All the cattle are tubercular tested. The milk is delivered in ten-gallon cans and Mr. Tompkins finds a ready market for the product of his dairy, selling some to the Missouri Dairy Company, a part to the Warrensburg creamery, and a part to the Warrensburg drug stores.
Mr. and Mrs. Tompkins are progressive, young people, filled with an energetic determination to succeed, and they are accomplishing their purpose. It is an inspiration to know young, hopeful citizens, such as these, who are numbered among the best in Johnson county.
Reverend J. S. Hodges, proprietor of "Sunny Slope Stock Farm" in Rose Hill township, is a native of Ohio and one of the widely known (25)
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ministers of the Baptist church. He was born August 22, 1865, a son of J. W. and Mary ( Bennett) Hodges. The father was a son of Charles W. Hodges, a native of Maryland, who settled in Ohio late in life and spent the remainder of his years in that state. He was of English lineage. Mary (Bennett) Hodges was a native of Pennsylvania and when but a mere child moved to Ohio with her parents and in that state was reared, educated, and married. To J. W. and Mary Hodges were born six children, four of whom are now living: T. B., Case, Missouri; J. S., the subject of this review; Mrs. Aletha Ann Snedeker, Jonesburg, Missouri; and Mrs. Alice Laura Smith, Warrenton, Mis- souri. In 1866, the Hodges family moved from Ohio to Missouri and settled in Warren county on a farm of one hundred sixty acres of land and on this place both the father and the mother died. J. W. Hodges departed this life February 4, 1905, and Mrs. Hodges followed him in death ten years later. She died in April, 1915.
Reverend Hodges attended the public schools of Warren county and later, was a student for two years at the William Jewell College, where he specialized in theology. Previous to entering college, Rev- erend Hodges was a successful farmer in Warren county. After receiv- ing his theological training, he entered the ministry and preached many years in several of the different country churches in Warren county. In 1911, Reverend J. S. Hodges was appointed Colporter Missionary of his church and for six years worked in connection with the different Baptist associations, namely, those of Bear creek, Saltriver, Quiver, St. Francis, and Johnson county. He delivered, on an average, from twenty- five to thirty sermons each month and was continually traveling. He is not now devoting his entire time to church work but is planning to do so in the near future.
In 1917, "Sunny Slope Stock Farm" was purchased by Reverend Hodges, who is at present engaged in general farming and stock rais- ing. This place comprises two hundred forty acres of land which are well watered and splendidly adapted to the growing of stock. The farm is nicely improved, being plentifully supplied with all necessary farm buildings, all of which are in good repair. The residence is a comfortable house of seven large. airy rooms conveniently arranged. One hundred twenty acres of "Sunny Slope Stock Farm" are in grass and pasture land and Reverend Hodges harvested seventy tons of hay this season, of 1917. He raised twelve hundred bushels of oats and had
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sixty-five acres in corn. There are forty head of cattle on the place now, five of the herd milch cows, and a large number of high-grade hogs. Reverend Hodges advocates crop rotation, the liberal use of commercial fertilizer and manure, and of a larger stock production. He will devote some attention to dairy work within a short time. Reverend Hodges finds time from the manifold duties of his stock farm to frequently preach the doctrines of Christianity and it is the plan to have his son, John, who resides on the farm with his parents, to assume the management of "Sunny Slope" and then he will be at liberty to resume active church work.
In October, 1890, Reverend J. S. Hodges and Frankie P. Lytle, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Lytle, of Montgomery county, Mis- souri, were united in marriage. To this union have been born four children: John R., Holden, Missouri, who married Laura Garrett in December, 1915, and to them has been born one child, a daughter, Helen and they reside on the farm with his parents; Harry B., who is deceased; Mary and Murle, at home. Reverend and Mrs. Hodges are fine, upright, Christian people, enrolled among the county's best and most valued citizens.
G. V. Raker, the efficient cashier of the Bank of Magnolia, was born in Johnson county, Missouri, in 1889. He is a son of R. N. and Martha Jane (Atkins) Raker, who were the parents of the following children : Mrs. Viola Carmichael, Holden, Missouri; R. L., Holden, Missouri; T. C., Holden, Missouri; Mrs. Ural Fisher, Blairstown, Missouri; G. V., the subject of this review; Gorman, Holden, Missouri; and Gordon, Holden, Missouri. Mrs. Raker, the mother of these children, is a daughter of James and Elizabeth Atkins and a sister of R. O. Atkins.
Mr. Raker, whose name introduces this sketch, received his early education in the district schools of Johnson county. He later was a student at the Warrensburg Business College. After completing the business course, Mr. Raker was employed as clerk by the Magnolia Lumber Company, which position he held for some time when he accepted a position with the National Bank of Commerce of Kansas City, Missouri, and afterward with the First National Bank of Kansas City. In 1913, he came to Magnolia to assume the duties of cashier of the Bank of Magnolia, of which financial institution he is a stock- holder.
In 1915. G. V. Raker was united in marriage with F. Flossie Farns-
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worth, daughter of W. R. and Edna E. Farnsworth, a biography of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Raker reside in Magnolia, where they have a nice, comfortable home, a house of six rooms. In addition, Mr. Raker owns a farm of seventy-four acres of land located west of Magnolia on which place is a pleasant home and plenty of well-built farm buildings. This place Mr. Raker owns but has never been engaged in farming on it, always renting the farm.
The Bank of Magnolia is one of the sound financial institutions of which Johnson county is proud. The officers of the bank at the present time are as follow: G. B. Graham, president; F. P. Parrott, vice-presi- dent ; G. V. Raker, cashier; and J. C. McDougal, assistant cashier. The official statement of the bank's business issued August 31, 1917, dis- closes excellent conditions. The loans and discounts amount to thirty- six thousand two hundred twenty dollars and ninety-two cents and the present capital stock of the Bank of Magnolia is ten thousand dollars; surplus, two thousand dollars; undivided profits, three thousand nine hundred seventy-three dollars and forty-one cents and the deposits at the close of business on the last day of October of this year amounted to thirty-nine thousand dollars. The people of the country surrounding Magnolia and the residents of Magnolia have unbounded confidence in this bank and they attribute much of the institution's success to the capable management and keen business judgment of its splendid and well-qualified officials.
George B. Graham, president of the Bank of Magnolia, is one of Johnson county's most successful business men and respected citizens. He is a native of Johnson county, a member of a well-known and prominent pioneer family, a son of Robert and Nancy Graham born in 1874. Robert Graham was a son of Guy Graham, who came to Missouri from Virginia in 1833 and settled on a farm located west of Hazel Hill. G. B. Graham's great-grandfather, Robert Graham, Sr., also came to Missouri in 1833 and homesteaded a tract of land in Hazel Hill township. Robert Graham was a highly intellectual man and gave his children the best educational advantages which he was able to afford and two of his sons, Samuel and James, later became teachers. Robert Graham, Jr., served in the Civil War with the Seventh Missouri Cavalry and after the war ended returned to his home in Johnson county, where he purchased sixty acres of land and engaged in farming and stock raising, becoming very successful and prosperous. He was married
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just after the war. Mr. Graham was an ambitious and industrious man and at the time of his death, in 1914, he was the owner of four hundred acres of valuable farm land in Johnson county. He was a Demo- crat and had been active in political affairs, serving his party long and well. For two terms, Mr. Graham was judge of the county court from the western district and he had given excellent service and splendid satisfaction to all his constituents. His death has been deeply deplored in Johnson county, where he was numbered among the best and most public-spirited citizens. Mrs. Graham is now residing in Holden.
G. B. Graham attended school at Stony Point, where he was under the instruction of Professors Swearengen and Ship. Later, he was student at the Warrensburg State Normal School and after graduation from that institution was engaged in teaching school for several years. Mr. Graham taught his first school at the Houx school house and his last at Kingsville, where he was employed as principal, in Johnson county. He taught in Rice's Business College at Butte, Montana, for a short time and then went to the Philippine Islands as a soldier in the regiment serving under General Otis and later. under General Funston. When he returned to Johnson county, he remained with his parents for one year, after which he moved to his present country home and has since been engaged in farming, stock raising, and dairying. Mr. Gra- ham is a charter member and stockholder of the Bank of Magnolia and for some time has held the office of president of the bank.
In 1901, G. B. Graham was united in marriage with Maude Brothers, daughter of J. Z. Brothers. Mrs. Graham is the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Brothers, who are highly respected residents of Holden, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Graham have been born two sons: Guy and George B., at home with their parents. After their marriage they moved to the farm at Magnolia and they have continued to reside on this place and own this farm for the past sixteen years.
The Graham place comprises one hundred sixty acres of good farm land, forty acres of which are now in grass. In 1917, Mr. Graham built a large, well-equipped barn and silo. He is engaged chiefly in raising Jersey cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs and mules. At the present time, he has eighteen milch cows and ships the cream from the dairy to Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Graham has a modern dairy barn, which has accommodations for twenty cows. He harvested forty tons of hay this season and six hundred bushels of wheat. At the time of this writing,
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in 1917, he had sixty acres in corn which promised a "bumper crop." In addition to his farm, Mr. Graham owns his handsome residence in Mag- nolia, a house of eight rooms which is modern throughout. Both he and Mrs. Graham are well known in Johnson county, where the Graham and Brothers families have long been enrolled among the county's most substantial and best families.
Dr. R. L. Bills, ex-coroner of Johnson county and one of the county's ablest physicians, is a native of Morgan county, Missouri. He was born in 1867, a son of A. M. H. and Nancy J. Bills. Jonathan Bills, grand- father of Dr. R. L. Bills, came to Missouri in the early days from his native state of Tennessee. The father of Jonathan Bills and two broth- ers were refugees from England and from them the Bills family in America have descended. A. M. H. Bills was the father of fourteen children, six by his first marriage and eight by his second marriage. He homesteaded the tract of land that is now the site of Ft. Scott, Kansas, but during the Civil War lost all his possessions. He enlisted in the Confederate army and fought throughout the conflict, taking an active part in many important engagements and skirmishes and he was not once injured. A. M. H. Bills was a graduate of the Physio- Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the class of January 25, 1854, and after the war had closed he resumed his medical practice at Barnett, Missouri. He was there united in marriage with Nancy J. Cox and to them were born eight children, one of whom was Dr. R. L., the subject of this review. Dr. A. M. H. Bills resided on a farm and was very suc- cessful as a farmer and stockman. In 1880. he met with a fatal accident and his career was prematurely ended. A large saw-log fell on him and death resulted almost instantly. The senior Doctor Bills left the mother with her seven little ones, of whom R. L. was the oldest and he was a child thirteen years of age. The father was a generous, kindly man and an earnest supporter of every worthy public enter- prise, a liberal contributor to all institutions. Dr. Bills had a host of friends wherever he went and he was valued highly in this county. The mother survived her husband but a few years. She died in 1899.
At the age of thirteen years. Dr. R. L. Bills was left at the head of a family of seven children to care for an invalid mother and an aged grandmother and keep the little ones tgoether. That was a job truly "man-size," but the lad did it and did it well. For many years he barely managed to "keep the wolf from the door," but as the other
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children grew older they aided and in time the family was in com- fortable circumstances. In 1886, R. L. Bills entered the Miller County Academy and after graduating engaged in teaching school for several years in Miller and Moniteau counties. He became interested in the study of medicine and in 1891 took up this study under the instructions of his half-brother, Dr. J. T. Bills, who is a graduate of the American Medical College of St. Louis, Missouri, in the class of 1884 and is now engaged in the practice of his profession in New Mexico. Later, R. L. Bills matriculated in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of St. Louis, Missouri. Financially handicapped, he had to work his way through college and after one year in college returned to Vernon county and associated with his former tutor, Dr. J. T. Bills, and practiced medi- cine for two years. He then returned to college in 1894 and two years later graduated in the April class. Dr. Bills located in Magnolia at that time and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession in this city. In 1904, he did post-graduate work in the University Medical College at Kansas City, completing the four-years course.
Dr. R. L. Bills was united in marriage with Sallie A. Strange, the only daughter of George M. and Nancy J. Strange. The father is now deceased and the mother has remarried and is now Mrs. John Greaves, of Kingsville, Missouri. To Dr. and Mrs. Bills have been born six children : Mabry Moore, Marvin Lee, Curtis Jarvis, Vernie Irene. Joseph Raymond, and Miriam Ernestine, all of whom are at home with their parents. It is the doctor's earnest desire that each of his children may have a fine education, which he firmly believes is the best legacy a parent can bestow. In the handsome, thirteen-room residence in Mag- nolia, Doctor Bills has his office, his store of drugs, his medical library, and an operating room. Arrangements have been made whereby his patients may stay in his home. He has a very large practice, his terri- tory covering a circuit of twenty-five and thirty miles.
Mrs. Bills retains the old patents to the homestead of two hundred twenty-five acres of land which her father entered from the govern- ment and which he gave to her. Her farm is located two miles west of Magnolia. The doctor has charge of the place and he has it well stocked with cattle of mixed breed, mules, and horses. Forty tons of hay were harvested this season, fifteen hundred bushels of oats, and eighty acres of the farm were in corn. The farm is well watered and nicely improved and at the lowest figure worth twenty thousand dol-
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lars. Their city property is valued at five thousand dollars.
For two terms, Doctor Bills was the county coroner of Johnson county. He is a Democrat and is active in political affairs, taking a keen interest in all elections. He is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Doctor and Mrs. Bills are active and valued members of the Christian church, as are all their children. The Bills family are very talented in music and six mem- bers of the family are members of the Magnolia Band, of which the doctor is manager. Prof. Frank Preston, who possesses a fine musical education, is the band instructor and master. The band consisted of fifteen different instruments and is the only organized band in Johnson county.
Doctor and Mrs. Bills are enrolled among the county's best and most substantial citizens.
S. Y. Sanders, a prominent stockman of Warrensburg, Missouri, owner of "Quarry City Stock Farm," is one of the best known horse- men of the state. He was born in 1850 in Jackson county, Missouri on his father's farm near Lonejack. S. Y. Sanders is the son of James and Mary A. (Yankee) Sanders, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. James Sanders left Virginia in early manhood and went to Kentucky, where he remained but a short time. In 1829 he moved from Kentucky to Missouri and in the winter of 1830 located near the present State Fair Grounds in Pettis county. From there he went to Jackson county in 1830 and entered land in Van Buren town- ship. The farm, which James Sanders entered from the government, comprised one hundred acres in Jackson county and one hundred twenty acres in Johnson county, for which he paid twenty-five cents an acre. Mary A. (Yankee) Sanders was the daughter of Samuel and Amelia (Graves) Yankee, natives of Kentucky. To James and Mary A. San- ders were born the following children: Charles, who fell into a spring and was drowned at the age of three years; George, who died during the Civil War and is buried at Van Buren, Arkansas; Mrs. Julia Span- hower, deceased; Thomas, deceased: Mrs. Mary Gipson, the wife of Judge P. Gipson, Kingsville, Missouri: S. Y., the subject of this review; Mrs. Josephine Houston, who resides in Idaho: J. B., deceased; R. E., Kingsville, Missouri. The mother died in Jackson county in 1874. Mr. Sanders continued to reside on the farm, which he had entered from the government, until 1898, when he moved from the farm to Warrens-
REX MOORE 3819
SANDER
S. Y. SANDERS.
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burg and for the remainder of his life made his home with his daughter, Mrs. Gipson. His remains were interred in Underwood cemetery at Lonejack, Missouri.
S. Y. Sanders received his education in the public schools of Lone- jack, Missouri. His first teacher was Martin Rice, the celebrated his- torian of Jackson county and author of "Rural Rhymes and Talks" and "Tales of the Olden Times." Mr. Sanders was but a lad of eleven years when the Civil War began. But even at that youthful age, he was at the battle of Lonejack, Missouri. He took his stand on a gatepost only a fourth mile away and observed the entire struggle. After the battle was over, the small boy was indispensable for his services in caring for the wounded men and his assistance in hauling away the dead horses, in which work he was engaged for four days. Although his father and one brother were serving in the Confederate army, Mr. Sanders' mother sent him with soup to the place where the wounded Union men were lying. When the lad protested against going his mother replied that the men were some mother's boys and though they were enemies they must not needlessly suffer. Besides soup, she sent other provisions from her own small store and her kindness of heart and thoughtfulness were greatly appreciated by the dying and wounded men. The Sanders lad saw much of the guerilla warfare of the trying days of the sixties. His uncle, Robert Sanders, was shot and killed in the old court house at Warrensburg, while confined as a prisoner there. Robert Sanders was taken captive, while serving in the Confederate army, and he was at the window of his cell when some one outside shot him. When Order No. 11 was issued, Mrs. Sanders and her son moved to Higgins- ville, Lafayette county. Six of their neighbors were taken captives by Kansas "jayhawkers" and lined up against a fence and shot down. The men, Jonathan Hunter, William Hunter, Benjamin Potter, Calvin Tate, Jonathan Cave, and Andrew Owsley, were preparing to leave the county and had their wagons loaded, when the incident occurred. All the men were buried in one grave on the John Phillips' farm near Lonejack. Burial was made by the wives, mothers, and sisters of the dead men.
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