History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 82

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

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other farm work. He said, "Put me down as a farmer-a producer. That is what I am and what I wish to be." John M. Gilkeson is a true producer, a successful and highly intelligent farmer. He raises stock and feeds them well from the grain and feed which he produces on the farm.

October 15, 1895, John M. Gilkeson and Ella Markey, daughter of Amos Markey, of Centerview township, were united in marriage and to this union have been born two children: Helena, who is a student at the Warrensburg State Normal School; and Jack E., who is also a student at the Warrensburg State Normal School. The Gilkeson family are well known and prominent in Johnson county. They have long been enrolled among the best and most respected citizens of this sec- tion of the state.

G. A. Lobban, a prominent merchant of Warrensburg, is one of the county's "self-made" men, a leading and influential citizen, and a "booster" for his home city. He was born June 17, 1839, in Virginia, one of three sons born to his parents, John G. and Mary Jane Lobban, both of whom were native Virginians. Their children were: John L., who came West and settled in Johnson county about 1856, engaged in the mercantile business prior to the Civil War, continued to be one of Warrensburg's successful merchants for many years afterward, and died in 1891; William A., an ex-Confederate soldier, who was born and reared in Virginia; G. A., the subject of this review; and Mary Jane, the wife of Joseph Smith, who died in Warrensburg several years ago. Both parents died in Virginia. The father's death occurred in 1845 and the mother's a few years before that time.

In the common schools of Virginia, G. A. Lobban obtained a good education. In 1858, when he was a youth nineteen years of age, he left Virginia and came to Missouri, locating first in Warrensburg. In 1862. he went to Sedalia, where he was employed in government service as post clerk in the quartermaster's department, a position he held for three years and then returned to Warrensburg in 1865, when the Civil War had ended, and entered the plastering business. Mr. Lobban followed this vocation until 1874, when he entered the mercantile business, asso- ciated with Joseph Smith, his brother-in-law, in a store located on North Holden street. After a few years, Mr. Lobban assumed complete control of the establishment, which he sold in 1899. He then remodeled the store building, which he owned on North Holden street, and, in 1901,

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purchased a new line of merchandise and with his two sons, Albert and Leslie, opened the Lobban's Dry Goods Company's store at 212 Holden street and for the past seventeen years this establishment has continued in business and is today one of the best and most aggressive business firms in the city. The stock is kept in splendid condition, up to date. clean, and neatly arranged. G. A. Lobban was married in 1863 to Sarah Elizabeth Bratton, who died in 1874, leaving two children: Ida L. and J. Luther. In 1875 he was married to Sarah Ann Johnston, who died December 25, 1917. Five children were born to this union: Leora L .. Albert A., Leslie L., Ethyl C., and Carl P.

Mr. Lobban has always taken an active interest in municipal affairs and he was one of the committee appointed to meet at Sedalia, Missouri in 1869 to arrange to have the State Normal School located in Warrensburg. How successful and influential was this committee, composed of the city's most prominent and energetic citizens, is evidenced by the Warrensburg State Normal School. Mr. Lobban was a valued member of the city council for three years, dur- ing 1892, 1893, and 1894.

Besides his three sons, Albert A., Leslie L., and Carl P., all of whom are well known and highly respected merchants of Warrensburg, and J. Luther, G. A. Lobban has three daughters; Mrs. Ida L. Cord, Los Angeles, California; Mrs. John V. Brewer, Fort Worth, Texas; and Miss Ethyl C., teacher of singing in Warrensburg, Missouri. All the Lobban girls graduated from the Warrensburg State Normal School. Mr. Lobban has recently completed one of the most attractive and elegant residences in the city of Warrensburg. His home is located on East Market street.

Carl P. Lobban, of Carl P. Lobban's Athletic Goods Company of Warrensburg, Missouri, is one of this city's enterprising and successful young merchants. He is one of Warrensburg's own boys, having been born in the city in 1892, a son of G. A. and Sarah Ann (Johnston) Lob- ban, the former, a native of Virginia and the latter, of Missouri. G. A. Lobban came to Missouri in the early fifties. To Mr. and Mrs. G. A. Lobban were born five children: Albert, Warernbsurg, Mis- souri; Mrs. Leora Brewer, Fort Worth, Texas; Leslie. Warrensburg. Missouri; Ethyl, Warrensburg. Missouri; and Carl P., the subject of this review. The three sons, Alfred, Leslie, and Carl, are all prominent and leading merchants of Warrensburg. A more comprehensive sketch

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of the Lobbans appears elsewhere in this volume in connection with the biography of G. A. Lobban.

Mr. Lobban, whose name introduces this sketch, attended the city schools of Warrensburg and the Warrensburg High School. After completing his high school work, he traveled through the West for some time and spent several months in California and Texas. In Janu- ary, 1914, Carl P. Lobban entered the mercantile business in Warrens- burg, purchasing the H. E. Schneitter's Sporting Goods Company's establishment, and for the past three years has continued in business in Warrensburg at 122 North Holden street. The firm is now known as the Carl P. Lobban's . Athletic Goods Company. This store carries a complete line of sporting goods, athletic supplies, all things needed in the way of school supplies by the students of the Warrensburg State Normal School, and a large library of Victor records. This is the only store in the city which can completely equip the students of the Normal School. The stock is neatly and artistically arranged and is in every respect up to date and a model, clean line of the best that money can buy. Mr. Lobban is an ambitious "hustler" and he is deservedly "mak- ing good" in the mercantile business. He is one of the county's most highly valued and promising citizens of the younger generation.

James Lobban and Charles Lobban, proprietors of Lobbans' Garage of Warrensburg, Missouri, are two progressive, enterprising, young citizens of Johnson county, members of a prominent pioneer family of Warrensburg. The Lobban brothers are sons of James Luther Lobban, the late leading merchant of Warrensburg, who was a son of G. A. Lobban, a well-known merchant of this city, who has been connected with the mercantile interests of Warrensburg for the past fifty years. The grandfather, G. A. Lobban, a sketch of whom appears in this vol- ume, resides in Warrensburg on East Market street.

In the Warrensburg city schools, both James and Charles Lobban obtained their education. James Lobban and O. E. Hedlund were for- merly in partnership in control of the Warrensburg Garage & Sales Company but in November, 1915, Charles Lobban purchased the inter- est of Mr. Hedlund in the establishment which has ever since been conducted by the Lobban brothers as Lobbans' Garage. The building, in which the garage is located at 321 North Holden street, was erected in 1901 by J. L. Lobban, father of the Lobban boys. This structure is 60 x 100 feet in dimensions and is constructed of Warrensburg sand-

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stone with a floor of concrete. It was formerly occupied. by the War- rensburg Wholesale Grocery Company and then by the overall factory.

James Luther Lobban was born in Johnson county just after the close of the Civil War. He was an ambitious, enthusiastic merchant and a man of keen vision. He was the originator of the Warrensburg Wholesale Grocery Company, which has continued in business since his death and has grown until it has attained mammoth proportions in the field of merchandising and its splendid success is a silent tribute to the remarkable business judgment and foresight of James Luther Lobban. There is not a man in the city of Warrensburg or in Johnson county, connected in any way with the mercantile interests, who does not express the deepest regret because of the untimely death of Mr. Lobban. He was widely known and universally respected and admired for his count- less sterling and manly qualities. His sons should be proud to bear his name, the synonym for honorable business dealings.

James Lobban, Jr., is now connected with the Warrensburg Whole- sale Grocery Company and Charles has complete charge of the garage. Lobban's Garage has the agency for Overland cars in this district and besides does general repair work, vulcanizing, and auto livery. The firm is a live one, and the brothers are fine "hustlers," willing to push hard for business. They have been very successful and both are worthy of all the success which attends their efforts. In every way, James and Charles are well-qualified, excellent business men and worthy of the name they bear.

W. J. McMahan, a prominent farmer and stockman of Columbus township, is a native of Morgan county, Missouri. He was born April 23, 1865, a son of Andrew Jackson and Sarah Frances (Hull) McMahan, the former, a native of Johnson county and the latter, of Franklin county, Missouri. Andrew Jackson McMahan was born in 1834 on a farm located six miles southeast of Warrensburg, a son of Grantser McMahan, a native of Virginia, who came to Johnson county probably in the early thirties and located on the farm near Warrensburg, where his son, Andrew Jackson, was born. The grandfather McMahan died on the farm now owned by his grandson. W. J., the subject of this review, and burial was made at Mount Moriah cemetery. Before the Civil War, the McMahans moved to a farm in Columbus township and in 1868 settled on the farm known now as the W. J. McMahan place. In January, 1911, the death of Andrew Jackson McMahan occurred at his home in War-

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rensburg. Burial was made in the cemetery at Warrensburg. The widow of Mr. McMahan is now living, at the advanced age of seventy- six years, in Warrensburg. Mr. and Mrs. McMahan were the parents of nine children: Mrs. Bettie Burris, Warrensburg, Missouri; W. J. the subject of this review; Bennie, who died in childhood at the age of four years; Annie, who died at the age of six years; Malah, who died at the age of six years; Mrs. Dora Welch, deceased; Addie, who died in childhood; Mrs. Mattie Fitzgerald, Columbus township; and Arthur, who died at the age of three years.

At Shiloh, W. J. McMahan received a good common-school educa- tion. Early in life, he began farming and stock raising and until he was thirty-three years of age remained at home and worked for his parents. Mr. McMahan's first school teacher was Abraham Whaley, a well- known pioneer of Columbus township and at one time owner of the Forrest Wilson farm in this district. In 1902, Mr. McMahan pur- chased his present home from his father. The McMahan farm com- prises one hundred seventy-five acres of valuable land, twenty acres of which are timbered, upland with the exception of a small tract of twenty acres. W. J. McMahan and his father added all the improvements now on the place, which include a splendid stock and hay barn, 28 x 54 feet in dimensions, and a comfortable residence of six rooms built about 1893. Cattle, hogs, and horses of high grade are raised on this farm, which is located twelve miles northwest of Warrensburg.

October 5, 1897, W. J. McMahan was united in marriage with Sadie Dillon, daughter of E. E. Dillon and Maria Jane (Ramsey) Dillon, honored pioneers of Knob Noster. Mr. Dillon was a native of Illinois. He came from that state to Johnson county about 1865 and bought a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land now owned by Perry and Debo Fulkerson. On this place, Mrs. McMahan was born. She has living two sisters: Mrs. Birdie McCullum, of Kansas City, Missouri; and Mrs. Mary A. Richley, Warrensburg, Missouri. E. E. Dillon died in 1894 and Mrs. Dillon is now residing in Warrensburg. The father was laid to rest in the cemetery at Columbus, Missouri. To W. J. and Sadie (Dillon) McMahan have been born three children: Uel, who is now a student in the Farmers High School; Erma Lee, who is a student in the Warrensburg High School; and Jesse Vernon, at home with his parents. The McMahans are one of the highly valued and most respected families of Johnson county.

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C. A. Curnutt, a competent and successful farmer and stockman of Columbus township, is a native of Tennessee. He was born in 1865 in Anderson county, a son of Calloway and Sarah E. (Harliss) Curnutt, both of whom were natives of Tennessee and are now deceased. The father died in 1885 and the mother died prior to her son's coming West. Both parents departed this life in the state in which they were born.

Mr. Curnutt, whose name introduces this sketch, came to Missouri in 1886 and for two years was located in Nodaway county. He then went further west and after three years returned to this state to reside in Holt county until 1891. He then went back to Nodaway county and thence came to Johnson county in 1903. locating first in Centerview township, where he purchased the Sarah L. Baile farm, which he sold in 1910. Mr. Curnutt then spent one year in the South, after which he returned to Johnson county and bought his present home from John A. Webb. This place was formerly owned by Pressley Anderson and Mr. Waldon, who entered the tract of land from the government. Mr. Waldon owned at one time four hun- dred acres of land in this township. C. A. Curnutt's place comprises three hundred twenty acres of land located ten and a half miles north- west of Warrensburg and two and a half miles southeast of Columbus. The larger portion of the farm is in pasture and Mr. Curnutt is devoting special attention to stock raising. He has the place well equipped with a good barn, silo, feeder, and crib conveniently arranged for handling stock. As a rule, Mr. Curnutt keeps a large number of registered Oxford sheep, but at the time of this writing has none on the farm. He has also devoted much attention to raising Aberdeen Angus cattle, but at the present time, in 1917, has but three head. An interesting little plat of land of the Curnutt farm, of special attractiveness to up-to-date farm- ers, is in alfalfa, which has been cut three times this past season. Mr. Curnutt was well pleased with his harvest and will increase his acreage next year. He is a most progressive and well-informed agriculturist and since his coming to this farm has been constantly at work improv- ing it. He has put up eight hundred rods of four-foot fencing and has drilled a well four hundred feet in depth. The water in the well rose within twenty-four feet of the top and it is pumped to the residence, barn, feed lots, and besides this water supply there is a spring, which has never gone dry, on the place. The farm lies on the Warrensburg and Columbus road. The home is located on a high ridge overlooking

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the farm and is one of the pretty places in Columbus township.

In 1915, C. A. Curnutt was united in marriage with Dora E. Ross, daughter of John Ross, now deceased, a late prominent citizen of Mait- land, Missouri. Mrs. Curnutt's mother is yet living. To C. A. and Dora E. Curnutt has been born one child, a son, Clarvel Ross. Mr. and Mrs. Curnutt are thrifty but enterprising citizens and they have made a host of friends in Johnson county. They are numbered among the best, most respected, substantial families of Columbus township.

James J. Campbell, proprietor of "Brookside Farm" in Columbus township, is a direct descendant of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of 1776. Mr. Campbell is a native of Howard county and a member of a prominent pioneer family of Missouri. His parents came to Missouri in an early day from Kentucky. He was born August 25, 1872, a son of James and Priscilla Grace (Rush) Campbell. James Campbell was born November 9, 1824 and Mrs. Campbell in 1833. They were the parents of fourteen children: Harriet Frances Leakey, McAlester, Oklahoma; Alphonso, deceased; Mrs. Ruth N. McMullen, Rich Hill, Missouri; William Thomas, deceased; Mrs. Sidney Parker Werton, Joplin, Missouri; Mrs. Sallie Bell McMullen, Henrietta, Okla- homa ; Mrs. Emily Grigsby Nelson, St. Louis, Missouri ; Stephen Romeo, Rich Hill, Missouri; Nancy Jane Bynum, deceased; Mrs. Grace Rush Ainsworth, Idaho Falls, Idaho; James J., the subject of this review; Mrs. Kate Celeste Mudd, Kansas City, Missouri; Casey Blake, Odessa, Missouri; and one child died in infancy. James Campbell, Sr. was a veteran of the Mexican War and he also served in the Civil War for four years with the Confederates. He died June 28, 1878 and his remains were interred in the cemetery at Boonesboro in Howard county. The mother survived her husband many years. She died September 1, 1913 and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Rich Hill in Bates county. Mrs. Campbell was a member of the Rush family, who traced their lineage back to Benjamin Rush, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. In 1912, a reunion of the James Campbell family was held at Rich Hill, Missouri and the ten children, survivors of the splen- did family of fourteen, were all present and the three daughters-in-law, also.

James Campbell, Jr. obtained his education in the public schools of Howard and Johnson counties. Mr. Campbell came to Columbus with his mother in 1884 and he was then a lad twelve years of age. He

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was a child six years of age, when death entered their home and left him fatherless. The mother rented a farm and for a few years they resided there. Mr. Campbell purchased his present home in 1898 from James M. Stout. This place was formerly the Hornbuckle place. Mr. Campbell has added all the improvements now on the farm, including fencing, wells, orchard, barns, and residence. A barn was built in 1909, which is 40 x 48 feet in dimensions and sixteen feet to square, used for stock, grain, and hay. The eight-room residence was built in 1914 and is modern throughout, having a splendid basement and supplied with water and wired for lights. Mr. Campbell has a fine herd of high grade Polled Aberdeen Angus cattle. a registered male heading the herd of twenty cows and heifers. He produces on "Brookside Farm" the feed for his cattle and hogs and he has one of the best Spotted Poland China male hogs in this county. "Brookside Farm" comprises one hundred fifty-two acres of land located two miles northwest of Columbus, eleven miles southeast of Odessa, and seventeen miles from Warrensburg. Blackwater is but a mile away and a tributary flows through the northwest corner of the place. This is one of the beautiful country homes of Johnson county and it was acquired not by inheri- tance but by hard labor and the practice of constant economy and frugality.

June 2. 1897, James J. Campbell, Jr. was united in marriage with Rosa Boyd Stout, daughter of James M. and Nancy Ann ( Fitch) Stout. natives of Kentucky, who came to Missouri in 1874. The grandfather of Mrs. Stout came to America in colonial days from England. The Stouts were formerly residents of Columbus, but Mrs. Stout is now making her home in Warrensburg, Missouri. To Mr. and Mrs. Camp- bell has been born one child, a daughter, Ada Lucille, who is now a student at the Warrensburg State Normal School. Miss Ada Lucille has an established reputation for high scholarship for as a student in the Odessa High School she won the Columbia University scholarship in 1917, which would have admitted her as an honor student in the State University of Missouri. She is a young lady of excellent attainments and marked ability. a daughter of whom to be proud. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell are progressive, intelligent citizens and Mr. Campbell is one of the county's most public-spirited men, a "booster" for good roads, better farms, and better homes.

Will R. Jones, a well-known truck farmer and gardener of War-

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rensburg, Missouri, is a son of a highly respected pioneer family of Nodaway county, Missouri. He was born in Nodaway county in 1858, son of Alfred and Eliza (Heflin) Jones. Alfred Jones was one of the first settlers of Nodaway county, settling there in 1846, when the county was very sparsely settled. Mr. Jones donated two and a half acres of land, the site of the home where his son, Will R., was born, for a ceme- tery. At one time an old log school house, where the old-fashioned "subscription school" was held stood on this tract of land. Alfred Jones always took an active interest in schools and churches and was a liberal supporter of all worthy enterprises. Both he and his wife are now deceased. They died in Nodaway county and were buried in the ceme- tery at White Cloud church.

In the home school in Nodaway county, Will R. Jones received a good common school educatin. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-eight years of age and then began farming on a place he purchased in Nodaway county, where he remained until 1895. Mr. Jones sold his farm in that county and, in 1905, came to Johnson county. He bought the Stratton place, comprising one hundred twenty acres of land located three and a half miles east of Warrensburg and for seven years was there engaged in general farming and stock raising. For eighteen months, Mr. Jones was then employed on the state farm, after which he bought a small tract of land, embracing five acres within the corporation limits of Warrensburg, and he has since been engaged in truck farming and gardening. The State Normal classes in agricul- ture are frequently brought to Mr. Jones' little farm to be shown a practical demonstration of intensified farming.

In 1893, Will R. Jones was united in marriage with Sarah Parish and to this union have been born two children: Otta and Merle. By a former marriage, Will R. Jones and Lucy Bootwright were the parents of two children, who are now living: Mrs. Grace M. Rice, Barnard, Missouri; and Will R., Jr., a merchant of Atlanta, Georgia.

The methods which Mr. Jones uses in farming and gardening are interesting as well as instructive. He plants everything by line and evenly spaced, having hand tools adjusted for cultivation. In planting potatoes, Mr. Jones puts in two rows of potatoes and then one row of melons and so continues and when the potatoes are dug plants corn in their bed. With the lighter garden produce, he plants first the early variety and follows with a late variety and in this way usually raises

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two hundred dollars worth of melons on an acre of ground. Last year, of 1916, Mr. Jones raised on a two-acre patch five hundred seven dol- lars worth of produce, including potatoes, melons, cabbage, sweet corn, and other vegetables, and besides supplied his own home with an abun- dance of fresh garden products. He did not hire to exceed five dollars worth of labor, but did all the work himself. This year, of 1917, the five-acre tract will average a crop valued at more than two hundred dollars an acre. This busy gardener states that eggplant, sweet peppers, early tomatoes, the bush variety of summer squash are all very profit- able. He raises an extremely early variety of tomatoes, a variety which comes a week before most early varieties. Mr. Jones grows onions from seed. One season, he produced an average of eight hundred forty bushels an acre. He has in his possession a photograph of this unusual harvest. One year in Nodaway county, a patch of onions yielded an average of one thousand bushels an acre. The plants were transplanted from a hot bed and the onions were the yellow prizetakers. Every bit of ground is utilized and Mr. Jones finds little time for either sleeping or "loafing" when he is doing all the work on his little farm. He guarantees everything he sells to be exactly as represented and has not one dissatisfied customer. If asked the secret of his marked success as a gardener and truck farmer, Will R. Jones will tell the ques- tioner, "The main thing is for the gardener to be in love with his work."

L. C. Gore Jr., of the city of Warrensburg, is one of the prominent citizens of Johnson county. He was born in 1872 at Falls City, Rich- ardson county, Nebraska, the only son of L. C., Sr. and Mary Josephine Gore, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, of Indiana. L. C. Gore, Sr. was born in 1841. He entered the Union army at the out- break of the Civil War in 1861 and served throughout the conflict. After the war had ended, he located in Nebraska and when thirty-one years of age was accidentally killed by the unexpected discharge of a gun while he was away from home on a prospecting tour searching for a new location in Cloud county, Kansas. L. C. Gore, Sr. left a widow and an only son, L. C., Jr., the subject of this review. The widowed mother again married and to the second union were born two daugh- ters: Nellie, the wife of Carl Manning, of Custer county, Oklahoma; and Gladys, the wife of Walter Hightower, of Custer county, Okla- homa. The mother is now living, a resident of Weatherford, Oklahoma.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 82

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