History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 73

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

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On Christmas of the year 1878. William G. Pollock and Elizabeth Neff. daughter of Jacob L. Neff, a native of Frostburg, Maryland, and Catherine (Atherton) Neff. of Perryville, Kentucky, were united in

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marriage. Jacob L. and Catherine Neff were the parents of the fol- lowing children: George G. M., Montserrat township; Mrs. Elizabeth Pollock, wife of William G. Pollock, of this review; Elmore Pitts, de- ceased; Mrs. Emma McGraw, deceased; and Mrs. Gertie Pogue, Hazel Hill township, Johnson county. By a former marriage, Mr. Neff was the father of two children: John Henry, deceased; and Mrs. Hattie Horn, of Oklahoma. He was married to Catherine Atherton in Johnson county and both he and she are now deceased. The mother died July 2, 1899, and the father ten years later, January 1, 1909. Both parents are interred in Oak Grove cemetery.

Mr. and Mrs. Pollock are excellent and estimable people. Both are members of leading pioneer families and they justly deserve to be classed with those who spent their lives bravely and nobly laboring for the upbuilding of Johnson county.

Charles Henry Dutcher, prominent banker and retired educator, was born February 17, 1841. in Pike county, Illinois, son of Squire and Elizabeth A. (Townsend) Dutcher, both of whom were natives of New York. Squire Dutcher was born in 1806 in Columbia county, a mem- ber of a highly respected family of moderate circumstances. He was reared on a farm and all his life was spent in hard labor. In early manhood, he learned the carpenter's trade and he became very skilful and dexterous in this vocation. While residing at Sandlake. Rensselaer county, New York, Mr. Dutcher became acquainted with Miss Town- send and at that place they were united in marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Dutcher left the state of New York in 1839 to establish a new home in the West, which was then a wilderness infested with Indians and wild animals. Many of their friends no doubt thought it was a rash, fool- hardy, dangerous thing to do and parted sadly from the young people, convinced that the savage red men would never allow them to reach the new country. The Dutcher family traveled by canal to Buffalo, up Lake Erie to Cleveland, Ohio, down the canal to Portsmouth, down the Ohio to its mouth, and then up the Mississippi until they had reached what is now the western part of Pike county, Illinois. Across the wild, unsettled, open prairie they traveled until a fertile spot was reached near the present site of Barry, where the family settled. Squire Dutcher spent the remainder of his life at this place and here the children were reared to inaturity amid the scenes of primitive. pioneer life. All the privations and hardships incidental to life in a new country were bravely

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and cheerfully borne by the father and mother, who wisely set an example for their children. an example of uncomplaining endurance of the trials and afflictions of this existence that will never be for- gotten. Squire Dutcher's death occurred at the home of his son, Albert, in Kirksville, Missouri, January 5, 1888, where he had been spending several years living in quiet retirement. Mr. and Mrs. Dutcher were good people, indefatigable in right doing, earnestly and scrupulously exact in the performance of every duty imposed upon them.

On the farm in Pike county, Illinois, Charles Henry Dutcher was reared to manhood. His boyhood days were spent in assisting his father with the farm labor and attending the district school, which was located near his home. Later, he was a student for one year at the Christian University at Canton and then he entered the Kemucky State Univer- sity at Harrodsburg, where he pursued his studies for five years, gradu- ating with the class of June, 1864, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During the Civil War, the work of the institution was inter- rupted slightly but was not seriously handicapped when the buildings of the State University were temporarily confiscated, for hospital pur- poses, by the authorities representing the Confederate government. Mr. Dutcher and his colleagues were obliged to attend recitations held in the churches, the Masonic Temple. the rear rooms of store buildings, and not infrequently on the street, where the students would be seated on the curbstones. Through all the trying times of the long conflict the work of the University was never abandoned, although it was con- tinued much of the time under very adverse conditions. Practically the entire session of 1862 and 1863, Mr. Dutcher served as volunteer nurse in both the Union and Confederate hospitals at Harrodsburg.

The first year after Charles Henry Dutcher had completed his college course he was employed as professor in a boys' school at Dan- ville, Kentucky. The succeeding eight years were spent in teaching in private schools and academies in Boyle, Marion, and Garrard coun- ties, Kentucky. In 1872 and 1873. Mr. Dutcher was principal of the city schools of Kirksville, Missouri, and from 1873 until 1877 he held the chair of natural science and Latin in the Kirksville Normal School. In the latter year he was called to the Cape Girardeau Normal School to assume the presidency of that institution. This school had been dis- rupted by factional quarrels, but Mr. Dutcher's conservative, business- like procedure in the management of the institution restored harmony

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and placed the school on a firm, substantial basis. In November, 1880, he resigned the position of president to engage in the banking business in Butler, Missouri. But, greatly preferring school work, in June, 1881, he accepted an election to the chair of natural science in the Warrens- burg State Normal School, which position he filled until 1892, at which time he retired from the profession of teaching. Mr. Dutcher was a true educator. His career in the teaching profession was pre-eminently suc- cessful. He possesses the rare gift of ability to impart knowledge and among his students are many who have attained prominence in the professional and business world, among whom are John R. Kirk, ex-state superintendent of public instruction of Missouri, who is now president of the Kirksville Normal School ; and W. T. Carrington, another ex-state superintendent of public instruction of Missouri, who is now president of the Springfield Normal School

In December, 1880, Mr. Dutcher and William E. Walton established in Butler, Missouri, the Exchange Bank, a private financial institution having a capital of thirty-seven thousand dollars. One year later, this bank was changed to the Butler National Bank with a capital stock of sixty-six thousand dollars and the first year after organization Mr. Dutcher was president of the bank. It was afterward reorganized as the Missouri State Bank of Butler and has since been conducted as such under the laws of the state. Mr. Dutcher is still one of the principal stockholders of this bank as well as of the Walton Trust Company of Butler, in the organization of which he was prominent. Mr. Dutcher was one of the founders of the Kirksville Savings Bank, at the time he was engaged in school work there in 1873, but he has since sold his interest in that banking institution. He assisted in the organization of the National Bank of Newton, Kansas, which was later sold, and Mr. Dutcher and his associates purchased the Park National Bank of Kansas City, Missouri, which bank they now own. He was one of the original incorporators of the Montana Savings Bank of Helena. Mon- tana, which bank began business with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. During the panic of 1893, this bank went into liquida- tion, but within two years paid out in full and not a depositor or a stock- holder was loser. At the present time, Mr. Dutcher is a stockholder in the Peoples National Bank of Warrensburg and also of the Bank of Foster.

In August, 1872, C. H. Dutcher and Laura A. Tucker, of Jefferson-

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town, Kentucky, were united in marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Dutcher were born three children: Lydia M., who died December 7, 1914; Flora B., at home; and Edwin T., a traveling salesman, who resides in War- rensburg. The mother died in 1880. In September, 1883 Mr. Dutcher married Mrs. Rella P. Lynes, of Boone county, Missouri.

In 1895, Mr. Dutcher purchased a tract of land comprising forty acres, located one and a half miles east of Warrensburg. He planted a young orchard on this place and in its growth he was keenly inter- ested. He sold the place nine years later, but retained his interest in horticulture and developed abilities along this line that have been rcog- nized in various ways by the Missouri State Horticultural Society, of which he has been a member since December. 1892. He served as president of this association from 1905 until 1908, having filled the office of second vice-president from 1901 until 1903 and first vice-president from 1903 until 1905. In 1907. Mr. Dutcher was appointed president of the State Board of Agriculture of Missouri by Governor Folk and served on that board four years. He still attends all the state meetings, however, and was present at the last one, which was held in December, 1916, at Kansas City, Missouri. He is a member of the Missouri Val- ley Horticultural Society, with which he affiliated in 1898, an organiza- tion which has been in existence since 1868. In 1918, this society will celebrate its semi-centennial anniversary. The territory covered by this association includes all the counties of Missouri and Kansas con- tiguous to Kansas City, Missouri.

Since February, 1866, Mr. Dutcher has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He has had conferred upon him the Royal Arch degree. In 1868, he affiliated with the Odd Fellows. Mr. Dutcher is a valued member of the Christian church, of which he was an elder for many years.

When Mr. Dutcher was employed to teach his first school in Danville, Kentucky, immediately after completing his university course. he was two thousand dollars in debt and had but seven dollars and fifty cents in his pocket. By the constant practice of industry and economy, he has accumulated a competence and he attributes his success to two excellent business principles-to live within his income and to make his surplus work. Mr. Dutcher is now in his seventy-sixth year and he might well be envied by men and women a score of years his junior. He has ever kept active physi-

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cally and mentally and he is not yet an "old man." At their home on Market street Mr. and Mrs. Dutcher greet all their friends with the enthusiasm of youth and their friends are numbered by the score, both in this state and far beyond its confines. As a leader of men, various elements have combined to clothe Mr. Dutcher with public influence- a child-like simplicity and purity of motive that placed him far above all suspicion of selfishness, the utter absence of everything factitious in matter or manner, a kindliness of nature that made him susceptible to every cry for human sympathy, a chivalry of sentiment that raised him above all the petty jealousies of public life, and a firmness of purpose, a force of will that has moved everything before it and which has won for him the respect and attention of the most learned scholars of Missouri.

Peter Theiss, proprietor of the "Prospect Hill Dairy and Stock Farm," was born in 1860 in southern Germany, the son of John and Margaret (Kunsig) Theiss, both of whom were natives of Germany and are now deceased. Mr. Theiss has one brother and two sisters in the old country, John, Jr., Elizabeth, and Katherine, and two brothers in America: Henry, who resides at Wheeling, West Virginia; and Jacob, who at present is in the Klondike region in the northwest terri- tories of Canada, where the richest gold fields in the world are located.

In 1887, Peter Theiss emigrated from Germany and came to America, locating for a short time in Marietta, Ohio, from which city he went to Denver, Colorado, where he remained two years. From Denver, Mr. Theiss came to Missouri and lived for some time in Kan- sas City, coming thence to Warrensburg, in which city he has ever since resided. When Peter Theiss landed in America, he had but five dollars in his pocket, which constituted his entire capital with which to start life in the new and strange land.

In the autumn, of the year in which he came to Warrensburg, after being employed for several months in work on the Magnolia Opera House, Peter Theiss entered partnership with Gottlieb Leichhammer in the bakery business. They erected a brick building, to be used for the bakery, which placed them in debt one thousand dollars. Within a very brief time, Jacob Leichhammer left Warrensburg, his partner, Peter Theiss, to pay the debt. Life did not look very bright or hope- ful in those days, which were burdened with debt. but Mr. Theiss never knew the meaning of the word "failure" and steadily pushed ahead

RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. PETER THEISS.

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until the debt was paid and the building traded for forty acres of land in Johnson county, which small farm is a part of his present splendid stock farm of one hundred thirty-seven acres of valuable land, which comprises the "Prospect Hill Dairy and Stock Farm." In 1897, Peter Theiss purchased the twenty-seven acres of land, upon which his resi- dence is located. He devotes a part of his time and attention to the raising of hogs usually having on the farm one hundred head of fine stock annually. At the time of this writing, in 1917, Mr. Theiss has fifty head of cattle.

In 1890 Peter Theiss was united in marriage with Anna Giersig, the daughter of John and Theresia ( Klein) Giersig, of Warrensburg, Missouri. Both parents of Mrs. Theiss are now deceased. John Giersig was a stonecutter by trade, but after coming to Johnson county, Missouri in 1884, he engaged in farming. The Giersig family was well known and very highly respected in this county, as honest, industrious, capable citizens. To Peter and Anna (Giersig) Theiss have been born nine children: Henry Adolph, of Warrensburg, Missouri; Mary Eliza- beth; Sophia Katherine; William John; John Peter, who died at the age of eight years and six months; Francis Joseph; Anna Magdalene; Karl Antonio; and Louis George. With the exception of the oldest son, the remaining seven children are at home with their parents.

The dairy business was started at "Prospect Hill Dairy and Stock Farm" in 1901, when Mr. Theiss traded a large number of hogs for heifer calves. He was not able to feed the hogs on account of the drouth that year, which cut short the corn crop. When these calves had fully grown, the dairy business was begun. Both Mr. and Mrs. Theiss labored early and late, providing feed for the herd and keeping the milk flowing. Mrs. Theiss deserves much praise and commendation for the assistance she has always willingly and cheerfully given. With- out her aid and encouragement, the "Prospect Hill Dairy" could not have been the splendid success that it is. There are only Jersey cows on the Theiss place and a pure-bred male heads the herd. At the present time, the milk is skimmed at "Prospect Hill Dairy" and the cream sold in the city of Warrensburg. Mr. Theiss owns the second separator brought to this county, a De Laval. The separating-room is kept perfectly clean and sanitary. In this room is a tank used in the cooling of the milk. The barn for the cattle is 36 x 48 feet, with a basement in which are the stanchions for twenty-eight cows. The

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milking-room in the basement of the barn has a concrete floor with proper drainage. There are two concrete silos on the farm, one erected in 1907 and the other in 1913, both of which are 16 x 30 feet. The barn used for the horses and feed is 36 x 48 feet and there is a third barn, not so large.

Peter Theiss is a philosopher. He states that it has been his experience that if a man wants anything enough to be "willing to buckle in and work hard" he can have just about what he wants in this world. Mr. Theiss is perfectly right in his theory that "the trouble with a lot of people in this world is that they don't want anything." He bought the first manure spreader used in Johnson county and operated it on his stony farm and now "Prospect Hill Stock Farm" is as productive as any farm in this section of Missouri. He says any farm is good if one knows how to farm. Mrs. Theiss states that the hillsides of their farm would not even grow å decent weed, when the Theiss family came to live here. Further evidence of the truth of Peter Theiss' philosophy is found in the electric plant on the Theiss farm, which Mr. Theiss himself installed. The power generated by this plant runs the washing machine in their home, and pumps the water to both the residence and the barns. The Theiss home, a handsome, modern structure of stone obtained from the farm, was built in 1897 and is lighted by elec- tricity and heated by a furnace. The pipes are so connected in the furnace room that both the residence and the barn, where the cattle are kept in the winter time, are heated. It must certainly be granted that whatever Peter Theiss wishes to do, he can do. He has an aquar- ium in an outdoor cistern, which he cut in solid rock, 50 x 100 feet in dimensions and sixty-five feet in depth, holding thirty feet of water in which he has placed a great variety of fish.

For the past twenty-five years, Mr. Theiss has been a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, being a charter member at War- rensburg. There is no citizen in Johnson county more worthy of com- mendation and notice in a work of this character than Peter Theiss. He has succeeded remarkably well in life where failure was predicted and all the success that has deservedly come to him has been due to his own energetic and determined efforts. In his own words, he has been "willing to buckle in and work hard" and he is getting just about what he wants in this world.

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Rudolph Loebenstein, the well-known district agent for the North- western Mutual Life Insurance Company, is a member of a prominent and highly respected family of Warrensburg, Missouri. He was born November 11, 1865, in Atchison, Kansas, son of Bernhard and Sarah (Aaron) Loebenstein, both of whom were natives of Germany. Bernhard Loebenstein was born in Datterode, Curhessen, and in that province was reared to manhood. In 1856, he emigrated from the old country and came to America, where he located for a short time in the city of New York, from which he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, thence to Rolla, Missouri. At the last named city, Mr. Loebenstein engaged in the retail clothing business and, later, was in the same business in Atchison, Kansas. In 1866, he moved with his family to Warrens- burg, where he opened a clothing store on West Pine street. Within a brief time after coming to Warrensburg, Bernhard Loebenstein became associated in the mercantile business with Manuel Frank, and they con- ducted a clothing store in partnership until 1879, when Mr. Loebenstein purchased Mr. Frank's interest in the establishment. Later, Mr. Loebenstein was associated in business with John H. Wilson, who is at the present time conducting the Buente Mercantile Company's establish- ment. During the Civil War, Bernhard Loebenstein enlister in Septem- ber, 1861, at St. Louis, Missouri, with the Second Missouri Infantry and served until September, 1862 under Captain Marder and General Osterhaus. His corps took an active part in the battles of Wilson Creek and Corinth, Mississippi, fighting under General Grant at the latter place. Mr. Lobenstein was mustered out and honorably discharged at Benton Barracks, Missouri. September 27, 1863, he was united in marriage with Sarah Aaron in St. Louis, Missouri, and to theni were born five chil- dren: Caroline, deceased; Rudolph, the subject of this review; Bertha, Warrensburg, Missouri; Dr. Samuel, a leading dentist of Kansas City, Missouri; and Flora, the wife of Sylvain Kahn, of Sedalia, Missouri. The father died October 23, 1895, and interment was made in the Jewish cemetery at Sedalia, Missouri. Mr. Loebenstein was a worthy and val- ued member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Grand Army of the Republic, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was a thoroughly capable and strictly honorable business man, a citizen universally respected and esteemed. October 23, 1910, exactly fifteen years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Loebenstein joined him in death.

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Rudolph Loebenstein attended the public schools of Warrensburg and the Warrensburg State Normal School and later, was a student at Spalding's Commercial College, Kansas City, Missouri. He assisted in his father's store in his boyhood days and from 1885 until 1889, he was associated in business with the elder Loebenstein, under the firm name of B. Loebenstein & Son. For one year, Rudolph Loebenstein was on the road as traveling salesman for C. H. Garden & Company, manufac- turing hatters of Philadelphia. In 1885, Mr. Loebenstein became a member of the Sons of Veterans, United States of America, gaining his right to membership from his father's service in behalf of the Union. His rise in the order was rapid, being captain of the local camp, muster- ing officer of the Division of Missouri, commander of the Division of Missouri, chairman and member of the council-in-chief of the United States, and finally was elected major-general of the order (the third highest office in the United States) at the meeting held in St. Joseph. Missouri in 1890. He presided at the meeting of the commandery-in- chief at Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1891, winning the respect and esteem of all his colleagues. In 1890, he was appointed assistant postmaster of Warrensburg, Missouri, which position he filled until August, 1892. when he was elected, at Helena, Montana, quartermaster-general of the Sons of Veterans of the United States of America, with headquarters located at Chicago, Illinois. At Knoxville, Tennessee, Mr. Loebenstein was re-elected to the same position, which he filled six years.

In February, 1900. Rudolph Loebenstein and E. N. Johnson, of the Peoples National Bank of Warrensburg, formed a partnership under the firm name of Johnson & Loebenstein and conducted a brokerage busi- ness at Colorado Springs, Colorado for three years. Mr. Loebenstein, in 1903, went from Colorado Springs to Sedalia, Missouri, where he was associated in the clothing business with the St. Louis Clothing Company of Sedalia until 1910. He was appointed district agent for the North- western Mutual Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1911, which position he now holds. His territory covers the counties of Cass, Lafayette, Johnson, Pettis, and Jackson. exclusive of Kansas City and Independence. Mr. Loebenstein is a member of Corinthian Lodge Number 265 Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and of War- rensburg Lodge Number 673, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is also a director of the Home Service Section of the American Red Cross. Mr. Loebenstein is a quiet, unobtrusive, industrious citizen, one

HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

who, though not at all courting publicity, is very widely known through- out the state and even beyond its confines.

Riley Coats, a successful and industrious agriculturist of Hazel Hill township, is one of Johnson county's excellent citizens, born December 12, 1866 in Warrensburg township. He is a member of a fine pioncer family, who came to this county in the early days from Kentucky. Mr. Coats is a son of Ariel and Mary ( Bryson) Coats, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Ariel Coats came to Johnson county in 1835 with his parents. He was then but a mere boy, twelve years of age. His father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Amos Coats, lived for several years on a farm in Warrensburg township and there died. Both parents were laid to rest in the family cemetery, known as the Coats cemetery, which is located two miles east of the Coats homestead. To Ariel and Mary Coats were born eight children: Squire W., deceased; Mrs. Lee Smith, a daughter, deceased; Amos, Hazel Hill township. Johnson county ; Mrs. Bettie Cecil, a widow, Cornelia, Missouri; Mrs. Mattie Dunn, Excelsoir Springs, Missouri; Robert. Hazel Hill township, Johnson county; Mrs. Katie Gorman, Wagner, Oklahoma ; and Riley, the subject of this review. The father died at the age of seventy-three years, in Warrensburg town- ship, and interment was made in Coats cemetery. Mrs. Coats, who was born in 1831, was burned to death at the home of her son, Amos, the tragic accident occurring in 1906, while she was visiting at his home in Hazel Hill township.

Riley Coats attended school at Valley schoolhouse in Warrensburg township. He remained at home with his parents until he was twenty- four years of age. At that time he began farming for himself in Hazel Hill township and one year later, purchased a farm of ninety-one acres of land located near Liberty cemetery. Mr. Coats resided in Warrens- burg seven years, 1906-1913, where he was engaged in the meat busi- ness. In 1908, he purchased his present country place. This is a farm comprising one hundred eighty acres of land, in Hazel Hill township, originally owned by Mitchell Burriss. Mr. Coats has greatly improved the farm since he moved to it. He has built two large barns and put all the farm buildings in excellent repair. The farm is well watered and located, being six miles north of Warrensburg. Mr. Coats is engaged in general farming and he is considered one of the most capable and intelligent farmers in this county. In October. 1917. Mr. Coats sold forty acres of land. a part of his farm.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 73

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