History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 84

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

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In 1902, S. L. Shannon and Bertie James were united in marriage. Bertie (James) Shannon is a daughter of Calvin and Sarah James,

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noble pioneers of Johnson county. To Mr. and Mrs. Shannon have been born three children: Ethel, Marion, and Walter. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shannon are valued and worthy members of the Presbyterian church and highly esteemed and respected in Johnson county. Mr. Shannon is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and with the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically, he is a Democrat.

Fred N. Thompson was born in Johnson county, Missouri in 1858, son of W. C. and Isabel Thompson. W. C. Thompson was a son of Robert Thompson who came from Tennessee to Johnson county in 1834 and entered one hundred sixty acres of land. Robert Thompson was of Irish lineage. For about thirty years, he was justice of the peace for this section of Missouri and he was called upon to settle the disputes of the settlers in all parts of the country. He was of strict Presbyterian belief and the leader in all religious affairs as well as social functions. Robert Thompson was a man worthy of the greatest respect and admiration, a gentleman of the old school, possessing high ideals and strong personal character. His death occurred in 1868. W. C. Thompson entered two hundred seventy-two acres of land in Johnson county, a part of which tract his son, Fred N., now owns. Eleven children were born to W. C. and Isabel Thompson, seven of whom are now living. The father died in 1912 and the widowed mother resides in Chilhowee, now at the advanced age of eighty-one years.

Susan Lewis, Lucy Johnson, and Lydia Graham were at different times employed as teacher at Old Town, when Fred N. Thompson was a schoolboy. He later attended school at Stony Point. As a lad, he has heard many of the pioneer preachers, among whom were: Reverend Wooldridge, "Uncle John" Morrow, Finis King, Sam McElvaine, and Reverend Cockrell. Mr. Thompson attended church services at Chil- howee, Pisgah, Shiloh, and Providence. Often in his youth, he has been a participant in an old-fashioned revival and camp-meeting.

"How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood. When fond recollection presents them to view!"

On his father's farm, Fred N. Thompson began life for himself, engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. In 1886, he went to Holden, Missouri, where he accepted a position as an employe of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, which position he held for ten years, when

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he returned to Johnson county farm district and purchased the old homestead. "The Old Home Stock Farm" comprises two hundred fifty-three acres of land, the larger part of the tract being in meadow and pasture land. On this farm, Mr. Thompson raises horses, mules, and cattle. At the present time, in 1917, he has fifty-three cows and heifers, of which herd he now milks twenty cows. A registered Jersey male heads the herd. Mr. Thompson ships the cream from his dairy to several different markets. This year of 1917, he has sixty-five acres of the place in corn, fifteen acres in oats, and will have forty tons of hay. "The Old Home Stock Farm" is well watered and well located.

In 1879, Fred N. Thompson and Stacy Ann Albin, daughter of James E. Albin, who came from Indiana to Johnson county in 1873. were united in marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have been born two children: Mrs. Sadie Wetherill. Chilhowee, Missouri: and Mrs. Eva Strawsburg, Chilhowee, Missouri. Both Fred N. and Mrs. Thomp- son are worthy, consistent, and highly valued supporters of the Baptist church. Politically, Mr. Thompson is a Republican, but he has always been a great admirer of the late Senator F. M. Cockrell. He is affili- ated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and with the Odd Fellows.

W. L. Martin, M. D., one of the leading medical practitioners of Johnson county. was born in 1876 in Christian county, Missouri. He is a son of Reverend J. J. Martin, one of the brave pioneer preachers of the Methodist church and a man of marked intellectual ability. Reverend Martin filled many prominent and important positions and charges in this state. At one time, he was president of Carleton Col- lege, Farmington, Missouri. He was the chaplain of the State Peni- tentiary, during the administration of Governor Hadley. Reverend J. J. Martin was the minister of the different city churches of Joplin. Inde- pendence, Lamar, Marionville, and Mt. Vernon and in practically each of these cities was the prime factor in the building of the present beau- tiful church buildings now found in the above mentioned places. For many years, Reverend Martin was the chaplain serving the Grand Army of the Republic. He is now located at Mt. Washington. He is an exceptionally fine man, a scholar, a thinker-of whom there are so few in this world-and a gentleman, a true leader of men.

W. L. Martin attended the public schools of Joplin, Missouri. He attended Joplin High School, later entered Westplains College, com-

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pleting his college course at Carleton College. He attended St. Louis University four years, graduating from the School of Medicine with the class of 1902. After completing his work in the university, Dr. Martin came to Chilhowee, where he opened an office and at this place has ever since been engaged in the practice of medicine. He is now enjoying a splendid practice and the highest respect and esteem of the different members of his profession. He is a member of the Ameri- can Association of Railway Surgeons. Dr. Martin is the local surgeon for the Rock Island Railway Company.

In 1905, Dr. W. L. Martin and Lulu Johnson, the daughter of N. A. Johnson, now of Oklahoma, were united in marriage. To Dr. and Mrs. Martin have been born two children, both daughters: Pauline and Helen. Dr. Martin has always taken a keen interest in public affairs and was for two years the mayor of Chilhowee and is now, in 1917, a member of the Chilhowee School Board and the City Board of Public Works. He is an intensely deep thinker and much in advance of his time, but with all the broad perspective of the truly educated man, he is perfectly willing that others may have opinions that do not coincide with his own. Dr. and Mrs. Martin are held in the highest esteem and are very popular in Chilhowee.

R. T. Atkins, a well-to-do and highly respected farmer and stock- man of Chilhowee township, is a member of a prominent pioneer family of Missouri. ' He was born in Johnson county in 1866, son of James and Elizabeth (Elliott) Atkins, who came to Missouri in 1850 from Kentucky and located in Moniteau county, where they resided two years, coming thence to Johnson county, where they settled in Chil- howee township on a large farm, part of which was purchased and a part entered from the government by Mr. Atkins. He was at one time owner of nearly six hundred acres of land in this county. July 28, 1850, James Atkins and Elizabeth Elliott, daughter of George Elliott, of Kentucky, were united in marriage and to them were born eleven chil- dren, seven of whom are now living: Mrs. Patsy Raker, Magnolia, Missouri; George, Salesville, Montana; Cary, Salesville, Montana; Judge Robert O., Blairstown, Missouri; R. T., Magnolia, Missouri; Mrs. Sallie Gill, Warrensburg, Missouri; and John, Holden, Missouri. The father died in 1903. Mr. Atkins was a highly esteemed citizen, a man of strict integrity and high ideals. For forty-five years he was a valued and worthy elder of the Presbyterian church. In 1912, he

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was joined in death by his wife, who was one of Johnson county's most respected and honored pioneer women.

R. T. Atkins attended school at New Liberty in Chilhowee town- ship, where Miss Bettie Baker, Reverend VanAusdal, Miss Julia Hol- land and Miss Antha Holland were at different times employed as teacher. When Mr. Atkins was a youth, there was much open prairie and virgin sod land. There were no roads, but the early settlers traveled along trails and by directions. Yokes of oxen were used when the sod was broken. Among the pioneer preachers, whom he knew and now recalls, were: Reverends J. H. Houx, Givens, and Morrow. Mr. Atkins has attended revival meetings, when the settlers from a circuit of many miles came enmasse, many of them in wagons and many on horseback. R. T. Atkins was born and reared on the farm and he is now engaged in the vocations of farming, stock raising, and dairying. His place in Chilhowee township comprises eighty acres of fine farm land and on this farm, Mr. Atkins is raising cattle and hogs, having seventy-five head of Duroc Jersey hogs at the present time, in 1917, and milking five cows. The cream from the Atkins dairy is marketed in Magnolia. The farm is abundantly supplied with water from a spring which has never been known to be dry.

In 1888, R. T. Atkins and Stella Box, daughter of R. M. and Anna E. (Warren) Box, were united in marriage. Mrs. Atkins is a mem- ber of a well-known and excellent pioneer family. Her father was a captain in the Union army and her mother was a daughter of T. C. and Elizabeth Warren, in whose honor the city of Warrensburg was named. To Mr. and Mrs. Atkins have been born two children: Mrs. Lyle Raker, Holden, Missouri; and Harold, at home with his parents. Harold Atkins is one of the county's most promising, young citizens. He is an exceptionally bright, industrious youth and a naturally gifted mechanic and architect. He takes care of his car and recently repaired and remodeled the residence, adding a splendid veranda, which he himself designed. He has made the old home an attractive, hand- some place and all his work has been done in a skilful, neat, workman- like manner. The Atkins family is widely known and highly regarded in this county and in their community Mr. and Mrs. Atkins number their friends by the score.

B. M. Squires, a prosperous and widely-known farmer and stock- man of Rose Hill township, is a member of a prominent pioneer family

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of Missouri. He was born in 1867 in Carroll county, Missouri, a son of W. O. and Frances ( Hancock) Squires, the former, a native of Ken- tucky and the latter, of Carroll county, Missouri. W. O. Squires was born in 1842 in Kentucky and in early manhood moved to Missouri and settled on a large tract of land in Carroll county, where he became very successful and influential. At one time, Mr. Squires was the owner of more than one thousand acres of land in Carroll county. Frances (Hancock) Squires was the daughter of Stephen Hancock, an honored pioneer of Carroll county. To W. O. and Frances Squires were born nineteen children: S. P., of Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary Barker, Pratt, Kansas ; S. J., Bosworth, Missouri: Mrs. Belle Kyle, Neosho, Missouri ; Mrs. Eveline Singleton, Long Beach, California; Mrs. Louvina Morrow, Hardy, Montana: Mrs. Roberta Brooks, Hardy, Montana; E. A., Bos- worth, Missouri; S. P., Wichita, Kansas; Mrs. Ruth Ainsley, Dewitt, Missouri; Mrs. Eliza Fritzlau, Liberty, Missouri: Mrs. Emma DeShoug, Long Beach, California: B. M., the subject of this review; H. C., of Florida; J. D., who is deceased; Mrs. Mildred Withers, Carrollton, Missouri; and three children died in infancy. Sixteen of the nineteen children were reared to maturity and fifteen are now living. Those who died in infancy were Susan, Frances, and Walter. The mother died in 1882 and seven years later the father departed this life. Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Squires were fine, worthy, and estimable citizens, who bravely and nobly did their part well in the upbuilding of the state of Missouri.

In 1889, B. M. Squires was united in marriage with Margaret Grant, a daughter of Richard and Anna Grant, of Carroll county. Mr. Grant was a successful and enterprising farmer of Carroll county. He died in 1906, one year after the death of his wife. Margaret (Grant ) Squires is a graduate of Carrollton Academy. Carrollton, Missouri and for several years prior to her marriage was engaged in teaching school. She is one of the seven living children of the family of nine born to Mr. and Mrs. Grant and the only one not residing in Carroll county. To B. M. and Mrs. Squires have been born two children: Walter R. and Mildred B. Their son is in partnership with the father in farm- ing and stock raising and the daughter is engaged in teaching school at Chilhowee. Miss Mildred is a graduate of the Warrensburg State Normal School in the class of 1917. Both Mr. and Mrs. Squires are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

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In 1904, the Squires family came to Johnson county and purchased the old Clifford homestead. After three years, Mr. Squires sold this place, realizing a fair profit, and he then purchased one hundred acres of land near Medford for thirty-eight dollars per acre which he sold after three years for sixty-five dollars per acre. He bought one hun- dred fifty acres of land in Rose Hill township at that time for which tract he paid thirty-seven and a half dollars an acre. He was recently offered one hundred dollars an acre for his farm, one hundred acres of the place being fine grass land, fifty acres good corn land, producing an excellent crop this season, of 1917. The place is well equipped and watered, making an ideal stock farm considering the size and Mr. Squires is devoting much time to the raising of cattle, hogs and horses. This year he has sixty head of cattle, seventy-five to eighty head of hogs, and fourteen head of horses. He prefers Poland China hogs and Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Squires is an enthusiastic advocate of the manure spreader and of crop rotation. Besides farming and stock rais- ing, Mr. Squires is engaged in dairying to a certain extent and at the present time is milking ten cows. Mrs. Squires is an industrious and energetic woman and she has had splendid success with her depart- ment of the farm labor, poultry raising, having between seven and eight hundred Rhode Island Red chickens. She takes keen pleasure in her work and enjoys watching the growth of her charges and attend- ing to their marketing. Both Mr. and Mrs. Squires are highly intelli- gent, capable, and splendid citizens and Johnson county is to be con- gratulated for having been the chosen home of this family.

J. S. Raber, an enterprising and well-to-do farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, is a member of a widely known pioneer family of Missouri. He was born in Hickory county, Missouri in 1865, son of Daniel and Susanna (Nofzinger) Raber. The father was born in Baden, Germany May 2, 1825 and when about eleven years of age came to America and located in Ohio, where he grew to manhood and became a successful and prosperous farmer. Susanna (Nofzinger) Raber was one of the family of Nofzingers who emigrated from Ger- many in 1846 and settled in Ohio. In 1859, the Rabers moved from Ohio to Missouri and located in Hickory county, where at one time Mr. Raber owned nearly seven hundred acres of land and was exten- sively engaged in farming and stock raising. He sold his farm in Hickory county in 1890 and moved to Johnson county and settled on

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a farm in Rose Hill township, after residing a few years on a place near Holden. Mr. Raber and his son, S. W. Raber, bought a farm in Rose Hill township one mile south of Medford, where he lived until his death, October 24, 1905. A year later the mother went to Ohio to visit two daughters and one son and died at the home of her daugh- ter, Mrs. Josie Rychner at Pettisville, Ohio, in March, 1917. Her body was brought back to Missouri and laid to rest by the side of the father's in the Mennonite cemetery. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom are now living. S. W. Raber, a capable and influential farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, is a brother of J. S. Raber, the subject of this review.

In 1888, J. S. Raber came to Johnson county with a capital of four- teen dollars and forty cents, with which to begin business. He and his brother, D. B. Raber, formed a partnership and engaged in farming rented land for several years. J. S. Raber invested fifty cents in a plow, three dollars in a cultivator, and two dollars and sixty cents in a set of harness. He had remaining of his original fund but eight dollars and thirty cents, which he spent for feed. It was absolutely necessary that he have good crops that first year-and he did. In the course of time, by practicing rigid economy and constant industry, J. S. Raber began to prosper and to accumulate property. In 1901, he purchased one hundred twenty acres of land in Rose Hill township, upon which he built the ensuing year a comfortable, modern residence of eight rooms, supplied with hot and cold water, furnace, gasoline lights, and all the latest conveniences. The home is surrounded by large, beau- tiful trees and a well-kept lawn and is one of the attractive country places in the township. Forty acres of the Raber farm are in grass and meadow and this season, of 1917, fifty-five acres were in corn. Mr. Raber raises Duroc Jersey hogs and is just beginning to handle white face cattle. He owns six mares and is engaged in breeding mule colts. He makes it a point to raise enough feed for the stock that he has. He is a progressive, intelligent agriculturist and is working hard to build up the fertility of his land by crop rotation and fertilization.

In 1915, J. S. Raber and Ellen S. Yoder were united in marriage. Mrs. Raber is a daughter of Levi and Susanna Yoder, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. By a former marriage with Laura Slabach, in 1893, J. S. Raber is the father of two children: Nellie

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Marie and Ralph D. Their mother died in 1912. For many years, Mr. Raber has been a member of the school board and a township commit- teeman. He is affiliated with the Republican party. Mr. Raber is a worthy member of the Methodist church, of which he has been a valued steward, trustee, and at one time Sunday School superintendent. The Raber family is considered one of the best and most highly regarded families in Rose Hill township.

R. A. Farnsworth, a prosperous and capable farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, is the oldest child of a family of ten, members of a well-known and highly regarded pioneer family of Johnson county. He is a native of Missouri. Mr. Farnsworth was born in 1855 in Henry county, in a log cabin which stood on the banks of Noris creek. He is a son of C. L. and Nancy C. Farnsworth who were the parents of the following children: Mr. Farnsworth, whose name introduces this sketch; Mrs. Louisa J. Fowler, Enid, Oklahoma; Mrs. Helen E. Hall, Longton, Kansas; Reason W., deceased; Mrs. Mary L. Parkhurst, Kinsley, Kansas; Mrs. Lucy A. Parkhurst, Hollywood, California ; Albert A., Lutesville, Missouri; Mrs. Ida F. Duck, Urich, Missouri; Edna E. and Cyrus L., Blairstown, Missouri. In 1854, the father moved from Greene county, Tennessee to Missouri and in 1855 he came to Johnson county, where he engaged in farming for two years and then went to Cass county and entered three hundred twenty acres of land. When Order Number 11 was issued, C. L. Farnsworth was com- pelled to leave his homestead there and return to Johnson county. After the war closed, he sold his place in Cass county and purchased two hundred forty acres in this, Johnson county, and the rest of his life was spent on this farm where he was engaged in raising stock and in general farming. Mr. Farnsworth constantly added to his acreage and at the time of his death in March, 1909 owned fifteen hundred acres of valuable land in Johnson county. He was active to the very last and not for a day resigned his control of business matters. At the sale, held after his death when the estate was being settled, the stock he had on his farm brought more than four thousand dollars. For a man eighty years of age, this is an unusual record. He was a citizen of Johnson county worthy of the greatest respect and consideration.

R. A. Farnsworth obtained his education in the country schools of Cass and Johnson counties. He attended school held in a log cabin, having puncheon benches and a log left out on one side of the building

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for a window. "Billy" Busan was the teacher of this school, in Cass county. At the age of twenty-one years, Mr. Farnsworth purchased an interest in his father's stock and became associated in business with him, this arrangement continuing for five years. In 1881, the son bought a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land in Rose Hill town- ship, for which place he paid three thousand dollars. His holdings have since increased and R. A. Farnsworth now is the owner of six hundred eighty-six acres of valuable farm land in Johnson county. He has in previous years been a very successful breeder of Shorthorn cattle, but recently he gave all his stock interests to his boys.

In 1877, R. A. Farnsworth was united in marriage with Mary Frances Snell, daughter of Z. Snell, a brave pioneer of Johnson county, coming here in 1867, when Mrs. Farnsworth was a child, eleven years of age. Mr. Snell settled on the John Shoup farm. Mrs. Farnsworth attended school held at Stout school house and when but a little girl would start out alone across the wide, unbroken prairie and follow the trail which led to the school. Mr. Summers was then employed as teacher and among her schoolmates were Mrs. Boston, nee Fulton, and Mrs. "Bill" Stout, who was then Jennie Colvin. To Mr. and Mrs. Farnsworth have been born seven children, five of whom are now liv- ing: S. A., Blairstown, Missouri; E. R., Urich, Missouri; Zella F., deceased; Grover C., deceased; Harrison F., Blairstown, Missouri ; James F. and Henry F., at home with their parents. Henry F. Farns- worth is now married and is building a beautiful bungalow. He and James F. are in partnership in the poultry business and in the past eight months, dating from the time of this writing, they have sold thirty-six hundred dozen eggs which brought them one thousand dollars.

When R. A. Farnsworth was a young man in his courting days, he never owned a buggy, and an auto was unheard of, but assisted the girl of his choice to mount behind him on his horse and would thus escort her in fine style any place she desired to go. The older people and little children traveled in farm wagons, but the young folks went on horseback, and everybody had a good time no matter how he got there. There were no roads and trails and directions were relied upon in traveling any distance. It was no easy matter to go from place to place in the early days when to go very far from home was dangerous, yet people were more sociable and hospitable in those days than now and they did much more visiting. The settlements were scattered and

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few. The prairie was a vast, unbroken, unfenced plain and wild game of all kinds abounded. Mr. Farnsworth has witnessed the gradual change from this state to the present condition, the change that has made Johnson county one of the garden spots of Missouri and he has nobly done his part in the county's upbuilding.

Mrs. Mary (Stigall) Surber, the highly esteemed widow of the late Alfred Surber, a successful and prosperous farmer and stockman of Rose Hill township, has been a resident of Johnson county for the past forty years. Mrs. Surber is a native of Kentucky, a daughter of F. Stigall. She was born in 1849.

In 1866, Alfred Surber and Mary Stigall were united in marriage in Kentucky. Mr. Surber was a well-to-do and industrious farmer of that state and a Confederate veteran. He had met with splendid and deserved success in the South but, in 1877, believing that opportunities were greater in Missouri he desired to move to this state and in the same year the family came to Johnson county and settled on a farm in Rose Hill township. On the place to which she then came. Mrs. Sur- ber still is residing. To Alfred and Mary (Stigall) Surber were born eleven children, of whom the following are now living: John and David C., who are unmarried and make their home with their mother ; Martha and Eula, both of whom are teachers and reside with their mother : Levi, ex-constable of Rose Hill township, who is married and resides on a farm in Johnson county : George, Garden City, Missouri; D. R., Garden City, Missouri; Mrs. Walter C. Elliott, Tyrone, Okla- homa ; and Mrs. Walter S. Jackson, Holden, Missouri. John has charge of the home farm and David C. is in charge of the lumber yard at Medford. Martha is employed as teacher in the Garden City schools and Eula is employed at the home school at Doak school house.

Alfred Surber was one of Johnson county's most worthy citizens. He lived to enjoy the new Western home but a score of years, never- theless in that length of time Mr. Surber became widely known and respected. In twenty years, he established a name and reputation in this section of Missouri which was the synonym for honesty and uprightness, a name that his children may well be proud to bear. Mr. Surber was a consistent and highly regarded member of the Christian church, a truly Christian gentleman. He died in 1897.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 84

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