History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 70

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

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abundance of water and plenty of good farm buildings facilitates the handling of stock.

In November, 1901, W. A. Robey and Nellie Phillips, daughter of M. A. Phillips, were united in marriage. To this union have been born two sons, both of whom are now attending school: Frank and Waldo.

Millard Hobbs, proprietor of "Cloverdale Stock Farm" in Jackson township, is one of Johnson county's most successful and progressive farmers and stockmen. Mr. Hobbs was born in Pike county, Illinois in 1853, a son of a highly respected Mexican War veteran, D. K. Hobbs, who was a son of Solomon Hobbs, a native of Kentucky, who, in early pioneer days, moved to Illinois, where he became a very prominent farmer. The Hobbs family trace their descent back to three brothers, who came to America in the earliest colonial days and from whom the Hobbs family in this country have all descended. The three Hobbs brothers were natives of Germany. Millard Hobbs' father was a leader in his community in Illinois and for many years filled the office of township assessor. Mr. Hobbs, Sr. enlisted in the Mexican War and he and a brother, David, left home together to answer the country's call. Mr. Hobbs came back alone. He had buried his brother out on the plains. He died before the troops reached Mexico, from exhaus- tion, due to the long march. Mr. Hobbs returned to his farm after the war ended and became prosperous and influential. He and Mrs. Hobbs were the parents of nine children four of whom are now living: Millard, the subject of this review: Mrs. Catherine Howard, Holden, Missouri ; Edith, Holden, Missouri; and Frank, Kingsville, Missouri. The father died in 1893. Mrs. Hobbs had preceded her husband in death a few years, in March, 1887.

The Hobbs family came to Johnson county in 1868. At Raulston schoolhouse in Johnson county, Millard Hobbs attended school. R. T. Fryer was employed as teacher there when Mr. Hobbs was a school- boy. He knew personally several of the pioneer preachers, among them: Reverend W. W. Sisk, Reverend Pitts, and the Cobb brothers. When Millard Hobbs was a youth, practically all of Johnson county was open prairie and wild game of many different kinds abounded. One year. the Hobbs family obtained all their meat from game and never left the doorstep to hunt for the animals, and wild prairie chickens. As a lad. he has often seen the virgin sod broken by men and boys, who

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drove yokes of oxen while at this work. Crops were abundant in the early days, when the soil was new. Mr. Hobbs made his first money raising wheat, which he sold for one dollar and ten cents a bushel. He enjoys recalling the happy times of his youth, when the boys and girls would ride horseback across the prairie to attend dances and parties. Mr. Hobbs states that in those days of perfect freedom the moral con- ditions were apparently far better than today. In 1892, he purchased one hundred sixty acres of land in Kansas and two years later sold this tract and bought one hundred thirty acres of land in Cass county, Missouri. Mr. Hobbs sold his Cass county farm six years ago and moved to Johnson county, where he purchased two hundred ninety acres of land in Jackson township. He is devoting his attention to raising cattle, hogs, and grain. He has at present a large herd of registered Herefords and more than fifty head of hogs. The farm is well equipped for handling stock, having three large barns in good repair and the fencing well in order. Mr. Hobbs harvested eight hun- dred bushels of oats and fifty tons of hay this season, of 1917. He had fifty acres in corn and is planting, at the time of this writing, thirty- five acres of his place in wheat.

In 1884, Millard Hobbs and Alberta Sutlief, of Kansas, were united in marriage. Mrs. Hobbs is a daughter of George Sutlief. To this union have been born ten children: Mrs. Mable Beasley, Pleasant Hill. Missouri ; Mrs. Cora Curran, Santiago, California ; Mrs. Cula Grey, Mt. Grove, Missouri; Mack, who is serving in the army of the United States; Mrs. Helen Carter, Holden, Missouri; Morrill, Holden, Mis- souri; Hazel, Kenneth, and Gilbert, all at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs are excellent citizens and they are rearing one of the best families in the county. They are well known and highly regarded among the most substantial and public-spirited people of the township.

James M. Shepherd, the assistant postmaster of Warrensburg, Missouri, was born December 12, 1865, in Simpson township. Johnson county. He is a son of William Morgan and Mary Arena (Herndon) Shepherd, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Johnson county.

Mr. Shepherd, with whom this review is concerned, learned the printer's trade in youth and began work on the "Warrensburg Stand- ard" at the age of fourteen years, in 1881. This paper was edited by Major Roderick Baldwin, a pioneer newspaper man of Johnson county.

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For twenty-seven years, Mr. Shepherd was an employe in the office and owner of the "Standard." He was an honest, fearless, aggressive editor, whose editorials were widely read and excited much comment. He was never afraid to boldly state that which he believed to be right and his opinion was ever favored with the greatest respect. Mr. Shep- herd has been the assistant postmaster for the past eleven years, having been appointed assistant by Joe H. Smith, postmaster, in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd reside in Warrensburg at 136 Grover street.

John L. Fickas, of Warrensburg township, was born in the home of his father on the farm which is now owned by the son in Warrens- burg township, on July 17, 1859. He is the son of James and Nancy (Baker) Fickas. James Fickas was born in 1833 in Boone county, Missouri, and when four years of age came to Johnson county with his father and mother, Adam and Susan (McDonald) Fickas, who located first in Warrensburg township and then one year later, in 1838, settled on a farm one-fourth mile east of the present location of "Bow- mansville," the store and shop of Mr. Bowman, and on this place both the mother and father died. Mrs. Adam Fickas died in 1875 and twenty years later, in 1895, she was joined in death by her husband. They were buried in the cemetery on the homestead. At the time of his death, Adam Fickas was the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land in Johnson county. Nancy (Baker) Fickas was born in Tennessee, the daughter of James Baker. She was married to James Fickas in Pettis county and to them were born six children: Jacob, deceased; Saralı, who is married and now Mrs. Raabe, residing in Iowa; John, the sub- ject of this review; Laura Belle, the wife of W. M. Wallace, of Vernon county, Missouri; Luvenia, the wife of J. C. Leary, of Warrensburg, Missouri; and Malinda Ellen, the wife of Hill Hunter, of Knob Noster, Missouri. A more comprehensive history of the Fickas family will be found in the sketch of Adam Fickas, which appears elsewhere in this volume. James Fickas died February 21, 1917. Nancy (Baker) Fickas died June 27, 1907. James Fickas was stricken with total blindness on March 30, 1864 and he was cared for to the end of his days by his son, John Fickas. He was an industrious and energetic man and even after he was blind he was able to cut wood and gather corn and do a man's work on the farm. There has never been in Johnson county a more remarkable exemplification of patient, courageous endurance, of strong will-power, of true fortitude. Mr. Fickas was truly a "man worth while."

MR. AND MRS. JOHN L. FICKAS.

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

In district school Number 55, John Fickas received his education. He has always lived on the farm where he now resides and was never away over ten days in his life, remaining with his parents as long as they lived and on the homestead, which he inherited, ever since they have been gone. The farm, which comprises one hundred sixty acres of land that were partly entered by the father from the government and partly by the grandfather, the land costing one dollar and twenty- five cents an acre. John Fickas has in his possession the old land patents, signed by the President of the United States many years ago. On this place, Mr. Fickas is engaged in farming and stock raising, devoting much attention to raising cattle, hogs, horses, and mules.

March 21, 1886, John Fickas and Mary E. Galyon were united in marriage. Mrs. Fickas is the daughter of George Galyon, who died when she was an infant. To John and Mary E. Fickas have been born five children : James A., who is city mail carrier of Warrensburg; Lulu R., the wife of Earl C. Joy and they reside in Idaho; W. C., who is unmarried and resides in Idaho; Ernest E., who married Cecil Curtis and resides in Montana; and Ethel B., who lives at home with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Fickas are highly respected and esteemed in Johnson county, where the Fickas family has long been held in the highest regard. Mr. Fickas is a worthy member of the Modern Wood- men of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America.

Holt Davis, a well-known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Jackson township, is one of Johnson county's own sons, a member of a prominent pioneer family of Jackson township. Mr. Davis was born here November 28. 1847. a son Michael and Maria Davis, who came to this part of Missouri from Illinois in 1846 and settled on a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land. Although Holt Davis has passed the allotted three score years and ten, he is still a young man. as active and alert both mentally and physically as many men of fifty. yet he is perhaps the oldest man in Jackson township who can claim this township as his birthplace. Michael Davis was a very successful farmer and stockman and a highly respected citizen of Johnson county. He died August 10, 1904.

Mr. Davis, the subject of this review, attended school at Miller and Baker school houses in Jackson township. His first teacher was Jasper Ferguson. Holt Davis was born on the farm and his boyhood

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was spent much as the average boy on the farm spends his youth. His time was divided between attendance at the country school and assist- ing with the work on the farm. In 1881, he left the country and moved to Pittsville, where he entered the mercantile business in which he was engaged four years and then he returned to the farm to remain permanently. Mr. Davis owns an excellent stock farm, a place com- prising two hundred seventy-three acres located near Pittsville. A portion of his place is rented and of the remainder the larger part is grazing land. He has extensive stock interests and is raising a large herd of Shorthorns on his place.

In 1873, Holt Davis and Julia A. Warford were united in marriage. Mrs. Davis is a daughter of William A. and Martha J. Warford, who came from Colorado to Missouri and settled in Johnson county in 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are worthy and valued members of the Baptist church. Politically, Mr. Davis is a Democrat.

The first money which Holt Davis earned was made raising wheat on a small tract of four acres of land. He received two dollars and ten cents a bushel for his grain and the next year increased his acreage to fourteen acres from which he reaped not one bushel of grain. Thor- oughly disheartened, Mr. Davis gave up the production of wheat then and for all time. Having been a resident of this county seventy years, Holt Davis knows perhaps as much about the changes which have taken place in the county as any one now living. He remembers when the main highway was the only road in this part of the state. Houses were far apart and if one traveled any great distance he went by stage- coach. Oxen were used for farm work, especially in breaking sod. The one thing constantly feared and dreaded was the destructive prairie fire. Mr. Davis has many, many times helped fight this common foe of the pioneer. He and Mrs. Davis are numbered among the best citizens of Johnson county.

J. M. Williams and Cyrus Williams, prosperous farmers and stock- men of Jackson township, are worthy representatives of a sterling pio- neer family of Johnson county. They are widely known even far beyond the confines of this county as the "Williams boys." J. M. Will- iams was born in Johnson county in 1850, a son of Jesse and Anne Williams, both of whom were natives of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Will- iams came to Missouri in 1837 and settled on a tract of land comprising two hundred forty-four acres located in Jackson township, a portion

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of which was purchased and the remainder entered from the govern- ment by the former. Those early days were the halcyon days of the stockman in Johnson county. Unlimited grazing land was at the dis- posal of the first settlers and it was duly appreciated and utilized. To Jesse and Anne Williams were born nine children, six of whom are now living: J. P., Jolly, Clay county, Texas; J. M., of this review; Mrs. Martha Wakeman, Odessa, Missouri; Mrs. Amanda J, Boisseau, Warrensburg, Missouri: Cyrus, of whom further mention will be made in this sketch; and Dr. George, a leading physician of Odessa, Mis- souri. The father died in 1897 and the mother departed this life in 1908. When Jesse Williams came to Jolinson county, Missouri, the tract of land which he purchased and entered was chiefly of swampy nature and overgrown with brush, and timber, but he diligently went to work to make the place habitable and almost entirely with his own hands wrought from the gloomy and rather forbidding forested land one of the best farms in Jackson township. In a great measure, he was "the architect of his own fortunes," and for many years the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Williams were closely interwoven with the rise and progress of Johnson county's industrial and financial interests. They reared and educated a large family, every member an industrious, successful, honorable citizen. In addition to work of his farm, Mr. Williams followed his trade, which was that of carpentering, in the new western home, and he was well known as a careful and skilful workman.

The Williams boys attended school which was held at Washington schoolhouse in Johnson county. J. M. Williams vividly recalls his first day at school and his first instructor, who was Mr. Roundtree. Miss Nannie Pitts afterward taught the Washington school during J. M. Williams' schoolboy days. He remembers many of the pioneer preachers, among whom he was personally acquainted with Reverends Warren Pitts and Minton. The young people of the early days had many pleasures and enjoyed attending church, parties, country dances, and "bees" of various kinds. The Williams brothers often drove yokes of oxen in the days gone by, especially when they were breaking sod. The first money earned by J. M. Williams was well earned. He received it for cutting corn and invested it in a calf, which he later sold realiz- ing a good profit. From this humble beginning. his interest in stock has grown and developed and he is now recognized as one of the most progressive stockmen of the township.

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Cyrus Williams was born in 1854 and has been afflicted with blind- ness for many years. For a long time, he and his older brother, J. M., have together resided at the old homestead in Jackson township, in the home built by their father long ago. On their farm is still standing the log cabin in which all the children of the Williams family were born. This past season, the Williams brothers harvested fifteen hun- dred bushels of oats and they had thirty acres of the place in corn. They have planted, this autumn, sixty acres in wheat. The Williams farm is one of the best cultivated and most valuable tracts of land in Johnson county, consisting of one hundred forty-seven and forty- four hundredths acres. The Williams brothers gave personal atten- tion to their place until recently, when they determined to rent the land and retire from the active labors of the farm. They still look after their agricultural and stock interests, but perform no manual labor, contented with managing their business affairs and unostenta- tiously enjoying the fruitage of their former activities.

J. N. Williams, a prominent lumberman of Johnson county, is one of the most enterprising and successful citizens of Jackson township. Mr. Williams is a native of North Carolina. He was born in 1866 in Surry county, a son of James D. and Nancy (Ridenhour) Williams, both of whom were natives of North Carolina, in which state they were reared, educated, and married. James D. Williams was a son of Will- iamson Williams, a native of North Carolina and of Welsh and Scotch descent. In 1869, the father of J. N. Williams came to Johnson county, Missouri from North Carolina with his wife and children and they settled on a farm in Jackson township. Two years later, the grand- father, Williamson Williams, joined them in the new Western home and spent the remainder of his life in Johnson county. To James D. and Nancy Williams were born seven children, four of whom are now living: J. H., Kingsville, Missouri; J. N., the subject of this review ; Mrs, Lydia Paul, Kingsville, Missouri; and Mrs. Minnie G. Majors, Lonejack, Missouri. The father died in 1883 at the Williams home- stead in Jackson township.

George Sage was instructing the school held at Fairview school- house in Jackson township, Johnson county, when J. N. Williams first attended school. In those schoolboy days, Mr. Williams often stood in the doorway of the schoolhouse and watched the deer, wild turkeys, and prairie chickens that often left the forest nearby and came within

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the view of the children. Wild game abounded in Johnson county in the early days. Mr. Williams states that in his youth the settlers could travel in a straight line from the Williams farm to Holden, a distance of thirteen miles, and to do so had to ford the numerous streams along the way. He recalls the time when Holden was a small village and when there was not one building in the town that was not a frame building. The first brick structure was a novelty.

After his father's death in 1883, J. N. Williams assumed the man- agement of the home place. He was at that time a young man, seven- teen years of age, and for many years remained at the homestead. Early in life, he became interested in the lumber business and engaged in buying logs and shipping them to different sawmills in the country. At first, he conducted the lumber business in connection with farming and stock raising, but after a few years of experience he devoted his entire attention to the lumber industry. He has operated in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Mr. Williams buys the logs on the ground, cuts and ships them, and he is at present employed by the largest walnut-mills in the United States, furnishing walnut logs for the Penrod Mills of Kansas City, Missouri. There the logs are made into gun stocks for musket barrels and shipped to the Rock Island Arsenal.

On his farm of sixty acres of land in Jackson township, J. N. Will- iams is raising fine Poland China hogs and an excellent strain of Ply- mouth Rock chickens. In addition to the lumber business, stock rais- ing, and poultry raising, Mr. Williams is intensely interested in horticulture, for which from boyhood he has had a decided liking. To him this department of husbandry has a peculiar fascination and to gratify himself he is planting ten acres of his place in orchard, which he hopes in time will be one of the finest and most valuable of the small orchards in Johnson county.

In 1886, J. N. Williams was united in marriage with Nora C. Wagner and to this union were born seven children, four sons of whom are now living: Albert F .. Kingsville, Missouri; Otto W., Kansas City, Missouri; Leslie M., Kingsville, Missouri;and J. D .. Kingsville, Missouri. The mother and two children met with a tragic death by drowning in 1903. Four years afterward, in 1907. the marriage of J. N. Williams and Armelia Ellis, daughter of Frederic Ellis, of Prior- lake, Minnesota, was solemnized and to them have been born four

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children: Roy E., Mildred L., Evelyn E., and Dorothy L., all at home with their parents.

Mr. Williams built one of the most beautiful homes in this part of the state on his farm in 1914. This residence is a structure of stucco and the interior woodwork is either walnut or oak veneer. The mas- sive walnut door of the front entrance is three feet in width and made from a log obtained at Horton, Kansas. Mr. Williams aided in sawing clown the tree and the log was shipped to the Penrod Mills of Kansas City. The living room is wainscoted with panels of walnut to a height of five feet and the natural grain of the wood is perfect. The dining room is so finished, but in oak. Some of the rooms are finished in walnut and others in oak veneer, and the doors are so finished that they correspond with the woodwork of the room. Mr. Williams has a handsome library table constructed from a walnut stump which was taken out of the ground. The workmanship, besides the material used «lisplayed in its construction is far above the average.

Honorable Reuben B. Fulkerson, a late prominent and public- spirited citizen of Johnson county, was a leading pioneer whose life story is full of historic interest, a man of far more than local repute an honored and respected patriarch of the long ago. Mr. Fulkerson was a native of Virginia. He was born October 22, 1812 near Albing- ton, Virginia and when he was still a little child his parents moved from their plantation home to the hills of Tennessee and in that state Reuben B. Fulkerson grew to young manhood. His early years were spent on his father's farm in Tennessee. The advantages and oppor- tunities of his youth were limited but he made the most of all he had. His chances for obtaining an education were restricted to a few months attendance at the log schoolhouse of the pioneer settlement but by firmness of purpose and energy of character, which were always strik- ingly his most predominant characteristics, he succeeded in acquiring sufficient knowledge of the common branches to serve as the basis for further education obtained in later life by wide reading and close observation and practical experience.

In early manhood, Reuben B. Fulkerson came to Johnson county Missouri. He entered the mercantile business and was the first mer- chant in Columbus township. A few years afterward he located at Lonejack, Missouri and for a long time was one of the leading mer- chants of that place. He took the lead in many public enterprises and

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became widely and favorably known in Missouri. He was essentially a man of the people and the possessor of the happy faculty of winning and retaining countless friends. His honor and integrity were never impeached and the best element in Johnson county rallied to his sup- port in the election of 1850 and he was elected representative of John- son county for the session of the state Legislature which met in 1850 and 1851. Mr. Fulkerson rode horseback to Jefferson City to attend the meeting.

Honorable Reuben B. Fulkerson was united in marriage in 1838 with Polly Cockrell a sister of General Francis M. Cockrell, and to this union were born four children: Helen B., deceased, wife of Frank Bradley : Mary Anne; Nancy Margaret ; and Elizabeth. Mary Anne Fulkerson and W. L. Robinson were united in marriage and to them were born three children, all of whom are now deceased. A daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Robinson. Carrie Ellen, married James Bos- well and they were the parents of five children, four of whom are now living: Samuel and Walker L., both of Lonejack, Missouri: Mary D. and Shannon, of Lonejack. Missouri. Seven years after Mr. Robin- son's death, Mrs. Robinson returned to the old homestead and is now residing with her two sisters, Nancy Margaret and Elizabeth. Reuben B. Fulkerson died August 22. 1902. His wife died in 1897.

The three sisters, Mrs. Robinson, Miss "Lizzie," and Miss Nancy. are delightful conversationalists and they enjoy recalling incidents and friends of other days. They state that Basin Knob school house was the first to be erected in this part of the country. "Uncle Jube." an old colored man who was one of the slaves of the Fulkerson household. drove a team of oxen hitched to a huge log which was thus dragged over the tall prairie grass in order to make a trail so the Cockrell boys might find their way to school. The boys afterward became known throughout the country. They were General and Colonel Cockrell. James Cockrell was probably the first of the Cockrells to settle in Johnson county. Relative to the Basin Knob school house, there are rocks from the old chimney of that building still to be seen near the home of the Fulkerson sisters. The story is related that at the time General Francis M. Cockrell was born one of the old "darky" slaves begged permission from his master and mistress to name the new arrival. The privilege was granted and as the old negro wrote the name of his choice in the family Bible he declared earnestly that the

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 70

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