History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 87

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

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In 1876. M. R. Neil and Mary Miller, of Indiana, were united in marriage in this state. To them were born four children, two of whom are living: Mrs. Ella Mccullough, Hazel Hill, Missouri; and Nannie, a teacher who taught in Benton county one year, teaching fifteen years in all, and is now traveling. Blanche died at the age of eight years. The mother died in 1886. November 13, 1890, Mr. Neil and Ida Pound-

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stone were married. Ida (Poundstone) Neil was born in 1861 in Clin- ton county, Indiana. She is the daughter of E. J. and Sarah (Bridges) Poundstone, the former, born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1820, and the latter, in 1829. Mr. and Mrs. Poundstone were married in 1848 and to them were born the following children: Laura, born in 1849 and died in 1888; C. M., born in 1852; F. C., born in 1854; M. K., born in 1856; O. B., born in 1859; Ida, the wife of M. R. Neil, the sub- ject of this review; J. N., born in 1863; N. M., born in 1871. In 1866, the Poundstones came to Missouri from Indiana and they first located in Cooper county, where they remained five years and then settled in Pettis county. To M. R. and Ida Neil have been born the following children: Lawrence, born in 1891 on the farm near Hazel Hill and is now at home; Irene, born in 1895 and is now the wife of Herbert Baile, of Johnson county, Missouri; and Roy, born in 1897, and is now in the employ of the Standard Oil Company of Kansas City, Missouri.

After his marriage at Sedalia in 1890, Mr. Neil located on a farm one and a fourth miles west of Hazel Hill and on that place remained seven years and then moved to his present country home six miles southeast of Warrensburg. He is now the owner of nearly two hun- dred acres of valuable land, one of Johnson county's choicest stock farms. Twenty acres of the farm were in wheat last year, of 1917, ten acres in oats, fifty-five acres in corn, and the remainder in pasture land and grass. Mr. Neil devotes much time to raising cattle, annually having a large herd. The Neil residence is located on the summit of a hill from which one may obtain a fine bird's-eye view of the surrounding country. Both Mr. and Mrs. Neil are well-known and highly estim- able people and they are held in the highest respect by all who know them. Mr. Neil is a member of the Odd Fellows and he and Mrs. Neil are earnest and consistent members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The Neil farm is on what is nown as Bristle Ridge, which averages one-half mile wide and which rises first at Montserrat and runs into Henry county. According to government statistics, this is the most fertile ridge land in the state.

Mrs. Neil has in her possession a very precious relic of colonial days. This is a part of a Bible, which her great-great-grandfather, Richard Poundstone, carried in his knapsack, when a Hessian soldier. He came to Pennsylvania in 1784. This Bible was originally bound in heavy grade leather and was fastened with wide iron clasps.

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John T. Dofflemyer was born March 5, 1853, among the Wyan- dotte and Shawnee Indians of Wyandotte, Kansas. He is a son of Daniel and Anna Elizabeth Dofflemyer. Daniel Dofflemyer was born in 1813, of German parentage. His father was a gifted minister of the Ger- man Lutheran church and the son, Daniel, in late maturity became a missionary of the Methodist church among the Indians of Kansas. In early manhood, he was engaged in work in the gold mines of Cali- fornia. Mrs. Daniel Dofflemyer was born in Virginia. To Daniel and Anna Elizabeth Dofflemyer were born the following children: John T., of this review; Thomas J .. Los Angeles, California; Lewis, Ithaca, New York; Charles, who is engaged in the hotel business in California ; Mrs. Alice Lynn. Liberty. Missouri; and Mrs. Virginia Lee Neill, Ithaca, New York.

Mr. Dofflemyer, the subject of this review, attended the Kansas City High School. Until he was twenty-one years of age, he resided in that city. He was later a student at Prichard College and needed but five months more of college work to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Arts, when he left college and went to Colorado to work in the mines there. Mr. Dofflemyer was employed as a day laborer by a smelt- ing company at first and he gradually worked his way upward until he became the superintendent and then, having learned assaying, was placed in charge of that part of the work. For six years, John T. Dofflemyer was employed by the same company and at the close of that period of time he entered the mining business for himself, being thoroughly quali- fied for the work after six years of labor in all the different positions of mine labor. In the autumn of 1887, he came to Warrensburg and the ensuing spring moved on the farm, which he now owns. This place comprises two hundred forty-four acres of choice land in Johnson county, well located near Warrensburg. Mr. Dofflemyer is devoting his atten- tion exclusively to raising pure-bred stock. He raises Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs and keeps registered males at the head of the herds. He is also engaged in general farming, having that portion of his farm, which is not in pasture land, in grain. He has been very successful as an agriculturist as well as a miner. It is Mr. Dofflemyer's opinion that there will be found an abundance of oil in Johnson county at some future date as it has been his experience in mine working that where bituminous coal is found there will be found oil also, and as there are numerous extensive coal fields in this county, producing quan-

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tities of soft coal, the deduction drawn cannot surely be much amiss. Mr. Dofflemyer is a well-educated, intellectual man of keen judgment and insight and his opinions are well worth weighty consideration.

In 1880, John T. Dofflemyer and Leona Neil, of Indiana, were mar- ried. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Dofflemyer took place in Colo- rado. To them has been born one child, a son, Charles Daniel, who is the efficient and popular cashier and auditor of the "Elms Hotel" at Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Dofflemyer are highly val- ued in Johnson county among the respected and esteemed citizens of high social and financial standing.

John A. Adams, one of Johnson county's most honored pioneers and a member of one of the best and most respected of the early fami- lies of this state, was born October 16, 1841, at the Adams homestead in Johnson county. He is a son of Judge Daniel Adams, one of the leading, influential citizens of Johnson county in the early days, and Susan (McClary) Adams, daughter of Elijah McClary, an esteemed pioneer of Howard county, Missouri. Judge Daniel Adams was born Dcember 18, 1813 in Wilkes county, North Carolina, on his father's plantation, which was located on the south side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He was a son of John Adams, Sr., a native of North Caro- lina, who was a member of the renowned Adams family of Virginia, his father being a native of that state. The great-great-grandfather of John A. Adams, of this review, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, serving with a regiment from Maryland. The soldiers were then paid in shillings instead of dollars as are the soldiers of today. John Adams, Sr., a prosperous planter of the South, was a soldier in 1812-13 in Captain Martin's Company, North Carolina Militia. He moved with his family to Missouri in 1834 and settled on a large tract of land on Bear creek. The remaining years of his life were spent on his farm in this state and his death occurred in June, 1870. To Judge Daniel and Susan Adams were born twelve children: John A., of this review; Anna E., Jane, William P., Christina C., Elijah M., Susan E., Thomas R., Clara E., Robert H., Mary F., and James L. Judge Adams was the owner of a farm in Johnson county, the place comprising two hundred eighty acres of valuable land, all well fenced and improved. In 1852, he was elected a justice of the peace of Johnson county, for his town- ship, and he.served many years in that office, being re-elected. He was elected judge of the county court in 1866 and served two terms in that

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

office, being re-elected. For several years, Judge Adams was township clerk and the school director for his district. Both he and his wife were earnest and consistent Christians and worthy church members. Judge and Mrs. Adams were splendid types of noble, brave pioneers, whose lives spent in honest, patient labor are well worth emulating.

John A. Adams obtained his education in a "subscription school." for there were no public schools in Missouri until after the Civil War. John Adams, Sr., Daniel Adams, Abraham Adams, and John Jones secured a donation of one hundred dollars from the different settlers of the community, with which a building was erected on the farm belonging to John Adams, Sr. In this rude structure, both school and church services were held until 1870, when the present school house replaced the primitive one, which is still standing. There was a large fireplace on one side of the room and there were puncheon benches, for the children, arranged around the other three sides of the room. The old Adams home, which was built in 1840, also still remains on the home place, where a brother and a sister of John A. Adams now reside.

When the Civil War broke out, John A. Adams enlisted with Com- pany B, Twenty-seventh Missouri Infantry, in July, 1861, under Colonel Ben Grover. He later, April 1. 1862, enlisted and served three years in Company G, Seventh Missouri Cavalry Regiment. Mr. Adams was in active service three years and seven months. He was mustered out and honorably discharged April 20, 1865. His regiment had been kept in Kansas and Arkansas practically all the time. Colonel John F. Phillips was commander. After the war had ended, Mr. Adams returned to the farm and has ever since been engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. He is now owner of eighty acres of land in Montserrat township. He owned at one time a much larger tract of land but has shared with his sons in order to keep them near him. Annually, John A. Adams has a large herd of fine grade cattle. He raises pure-bred Shorthorns and keeps a registered male at the head of the herd. He also raises pure- bred Hampshire hogs. Mr. Adams has long been interested in the sub- ject of tiling. When just a lad, he read an article concerning the use of tile in Illinois and, being a bright and observing youth, he noticed the ill results of poor drainage on his father's farm and he often made the statement that when he became a man and owned a farm, his farm would be tiled. He has kept his word. At the time he owned his first small tract of land, Mr. Adams began to seriously study the differ-

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ent methods of tiling and from his study, observation, and experience, he has developed the present excellent combination method of using sewer and drain tile now found in successful use on his farm. At first, he used old rails and rocks and that was about 1878, when few farmers were paying much attention to drainage. Several years later, he began on Christmas week and for three months laid tile on his place. He had learned that the soil must be kept from washing away or soon he would have no place left, so after laying the tile, he filled the ditch- an innovation in those days. Mr. Adams has now one of the best- drained farms in this county. Most of his place is rich bottom land. The scene from the Adams residence is beautiful, for from the doorway one can look out over the surrounding country as far as the vision will reach.

In 1866, John A. Adams and Miss Mack, daughter of Godfrey Mack, were united in marriage and to them were born the following children: Benjamin F., born February 19, 1868, now of Montserrat township; Margaret A., born December 31, 1869, the wife of F. Wagner, of Eldon, Missouri; Sophronia J., born December 12, 1871, the wife of Daniel Burfend; Archie G., born December 1, 1873, of Absarokee, Mon- tana ; Jessie E., born September 8, 1875, the wife of Mr. George, of Mon- tana; Fred S., born October 5, 1877, of Montana; Frances E., born September 18, 1879, the wife of Mr. Thorp, of Haviland, Kansas; John A., Jr., born November 4, 1881, of Billings, Montana; Effie E., born December 18, 1883, now the wife of Mr. Fitzgerald, of Warrensburg, Missouri; and Elmer E., born April 2, 1888, who lives at home with his parents. Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams are worthy members of the Methodist church. of which Mr. Adams has been an esteemed and valued trustee for many years.

Alexander Shimel, well-known farmer and stockman, Madison township, was born on a farm in Morris township, Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1852, a son of Phillip and Catharine (Bum- barger) Shimel, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania of Ger -. man descent. The parents were reared in Pennsylvania and moved to Poweshiek county, Iowa, as early as 1863, being among the early pioneer settlers of that county. Philip and Catharine Shimel developed a good farm in Iowa and spent the remainder of their lives there. They were parents of twelve children, seven of whom are now living.

Alexander Shimel, subject of this review, was eleven years of age

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when his parents made a permanent settlement in Iowa and he com- pleted his schooling in that state. He was reared a farmer, and, hav- ing lost his father by death when he, the son, was fifteen years of age, he shouldered a considerable portion of the family's responsibilities when yet a youth. He began working for himself when twenty-one years of age and followed farming in Iowa until 1906. when he came to Johnson county, Missouri, and invested his capital in two hundred acres of fine land in Madison township. Of this tract, he has since disposed of forty acres and is now successfully tilling one hundred sixty acres in a capable and thorough manner so as to get the best crop yields possible from the soil. He has an excellent herd of registered Red Polled cattle on his place. He early learned in his native state that it pays to have good live stock on the farm. He was one of the pioneers in his neighborhood in raising high-grade stock. Mr. Shimel's farm is well improved and his standing as an agriculturist is such as to place him in the front rank with the most progressive farmers.

Mr. Shimel was married in 1878 to Orcelia A. Like and to this marriage have been born the following children: Amasa, living at State Center, Iowa; Ellis, of Kansas City, Missouri; Burton, of Holden, Missouri; and Helen, wife of Oscar Wilson, of Johnson county. The mother died December 31, 1891. Mr. Shimel later married Halla Pierce, of Tama county, Iowa, who has borne him six children: Elsie, wife of Thomas Turnbow, Johnson county ; Grace, wife of Ed Baldwin. Johnson county ; Fern, who married Willie Thomason, of Centerview, Missouri; Floyd, at home with his parents ; Elvin and Mildred, at home.

Mr. Shimel is allied with the Democratic party but is inclined to independence in voting on county and local issues, preferring to decide for himself concerning the qualifications of candidates for office. He is religiously affiliated with the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

John B. Murphy was born February 4, 1854, in New York City. He is a son of John Murphy, Sr., and Eliza (Shinn) Murphy, both of whom were natives of Cork county, Ireland. John Murphy emigrated from Ireland in 1848. He was born in 1823. Mr. Murphy came to the United States, where he settled after many years in Missouri, landing first in Boston and from that city going to New York about 1851, where he resided for nearly three years following his trade of stonemason, thence to Chicago, where he remained one year and from that metropo- lis to Jefferson City, Missouri. Mr. Murphy remained in Jefferson

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City two years and then resided in Syracuse a brief time and in Knob Noster, whence he came to Warrensburg in the spring of 1860, where his home was located next door to the residence of Senator Francis M. Cockrell. Eliza (Shinn) Murphy and John Murphy, Sr., were reared in the same district in the old country and were friends in childhood. They were separated in youth and then met again in America. The Shinn family emigrated from Ireland in 1847 and located in New York, where the daughter was married in 1852 to Mr. Murphy. To John Murphy, Sr., and Eliza Murphy were born the following children: John B., of this review: Thomas, deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Sheedy, Kansas City, Missouri: Mrs. Hannah Mannias, Warrensburg. Missouri; Rich- ard, Portland, Oregon; Dan, Kansas City, Missouri; and Kate, deceased. Until the time of the outbreak of the Civil War, John Murphy, Sr., was engaged in the work of stone masonry. He enlisted in the war, serv- ing throughout the conflict with the First Missouri Infantry. He took a prominent part in a number of the chief engagements of the war and was mustered out and honorably discharged at Little Rock, Ar- kansas. After the war, he returned to Missouri and lived in Warrens- burg until 1868, when he moved on a farm of one hundred thirty acres of land, where he spent the rest of his life raising cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep. He was justice of the peace at the time of his death in 1904, which office he had held for many years. John Murphy, Sr., was a genial, kindhearted, industrious citizen, a man of many sterling quali- ties, who possessed countless friends wherever he made his home.

In 1908, John B. Murphy and Katie B. Bare were united in mar- riage. Katie B. (Bare) Murphy was born in 1871 in Gentry county, Missouri, near Albany. Both Mr. and Mrs. Murphy are members of the Catholic church and fine, upright, Christian people. They are en- rolled among the county's good citizens and best families. Mr. Murphy is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security.

The Murphy place comprises one hundred eighty acres of land ten miles southeast of Warrensburg in Montserrat township. Mr. Murphy is devoting most of his attention to stock raising, having at the time of this writing, in 1917, nearly forty head of fine grade Hereford cat- tle, part of the herd being pure-bred, and five head of splendid horses.

Thomas Graves, a capable and progressive farmer and stockman of Montserrat township, was born in 1863 in Cumberlandshire, England. He is a son of Joseph and Nellie (Woods) Graves, both of whom were

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natives of England. Josepli Graves was born in 1833 in Cumberland- shire, England. Mr. and Mrs. Graves were united in marriage in 1860 at New Castle, England. Joseph Graves was a miner in the old coun- try. When he emigrated from England with his two sons, Isaac, who now lives at Mulberry, Kansas, and Thomas, the mother having died in England, and came to America in 1864, he followed the vocation of mining in this country. Mr. Graves located first in Massachusetts and for a time was employed in work on a mammoth tunnel then in the process of construction in that state. From Massachusetts, he went to Superior, Michigan, where he was employed in the copper mines. After one year of labor in the copper mines, Joseph Graves moved to Orangeville, Pennsylvania, and worked in the coal mines, remaining at that place four years. From the coal mines of Pennsylvania, he went to the coal mines of Ohio, and for eight years resided in Nelsonville. When his son, Thomas, was sixteen years of age, Mr. Graves moved from Ohio to Missouri and settled on a prairie farm for which he had traded property in Nelsonville. This farm comprised one hundred acres of land, where Mr. Graves lived for some time engaged in raising stock and in general farming. After thirty years, he sold the place and moved to a better farm north of Knob Noster, where he spent the last years of his life. His death occurred in 1911 on his farm near Knob Noster and interment was made in a private cemetery there. Joseph Graves had been married to Mary M. Arner while residing in Pennsylvania and to them were born three children: James, Knob Noster, Missouri; Mrs. Allie Skidmore, Knob Noster, Missouri: and Mrs. Ella Moorehouse, Wichita, Kansas.

March 23, 1891, Thomas Graves and Mary C. Hurd, of Johnson county, were married. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Graves have been born seven children: Joe C., born May 31, 1892; Nellie, born Decem- ber 16, 1894: Hannah J., born January 31, 1897; W. Thomas, born December 25, 1898: Hattie M., born November 17, 1900; Edna D., born December 15, 1905; and Herbert E., born June 12, 1910. Mr. Graves moved to his present country home in 1897. The Graves farm comprises ninety-five acres of land and is one of the best of the small stock farms in Johnson county. Mr. Graves is engaged in general farming and stock raising and has been very successful. He and Mrs. Graves are held in the highest respect and esteem in their community, where they have scores of friends.

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Truman E. Sproat was born November 27, 1867, in Lewis county, Missouri. He is one of ten children born to his parents, William and Mary Sproat, the former, a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and the latter, of Allegheny county, where she was born in 1829. The father of Mary Sproat was a popular proprietor of one of the early-day hotels in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, the keeper of an inn on one of the principal roads out of Pittsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Sproat were united in marriage in Allegheny county and to them were born ten children, as follow: Margaret, the wife of W. T. Sprague, Warrensburg, Missouri; Emma J., the wife of Mr. Williams, Warrensburg, Missouri; Anna, the wife of C. B. Smith, Lewis county, Missouri; Matilda, the wife of Mr. Kirkpatrick; Laura, deceased; Olive, the wife of W. R. VanBlarcum; John T., deceased; Charles, deceased; Truman E., of this review; and Jacob William, who is employed in the service of the United States Government in Honolulu, Hawaii. About fifty years ago, the Sproat family came to Missouri and settled on a farm in Lewis county. For ten years they resided on the place in Lewis county and then, about 1886, came to Johnson county, where they lived on a farm eighteen miles south of Warrensburg for six years and thence moved beyond Clearfork, at which place Mr. Sproat died at the age of eighty-four years.

In November, 1896, Truman E. Sproat and Mary Ella Adams were united in marriage in Johnson county. Mrs. Sproat has lived all her life at the old Adams homestead, entered by the great-grandfather, John Adams, in 1834. Upon their marriage, the death of Mrs. Sproat's great-grandmother, "Aunt Peggy" Adams, Mr. and Mrs. Sproat received the old historic Adams homestead of one hundred sixty acres, to which they have added land from time to time. To Mr. and Mrs. Sproat have been born six children: Verdin E., Katie L., James Eldon, Hillary H., Dale, and Loy. Both Truman E. and Mrs. Sproat are valued and highly respected members of the Baptist church.

Mr. Sproat is the owner of three hundred fifty acres of land, to which farm he moved at the time of his marriage. He is chiefly engaged in raising horned Durham cattle and Poland China hogs, all high grade stock though not registered. He has been very successful in his chosen vocation and much of his good fortune is due to hard work, perseverance, and keen business judgment.

James B. Wayman, for the past fourteen years one of the lead-

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

ing agriculturists of Johnson county, was born July 6, 1856, in Gentry county, Missouri, son of Jonathan and Julia A. (Williams) Wayman. Jonathan Wayman was born in Tennessee and when seventeen years of age came with his parents to Missouri. The Wayman family first located in Clay county, where they remained two years, and then moved to Gentry county, where the father entered land from the government, a tract of three hundred twenty acres, on which place he died. Jonathan Wayman remained at home with his parents until he was twenty-two years of age. At that time he was married to Julia A. Williams, who was born in Tazewell county, Virginia, and came with her parents to Missouri, where they settled in Gentry county. After his marriage, Mr. Wayman entered one hundred acres of prairie land, which had not been homesteaded by the settlers, who had chosen tracts of timbered land along the streams, and on this place resided the remainder of his life, engaged in the pursuits of farming and stock raising. He kept as much stock as the average farmer of his time, for stock raising was not very profitable in those days of few markets. Jonathan Wayman was a Southern sympathizer and active in public affairs. He was at one time justice of the peace for many years. To Jonathan and Julia A. Wayman were born the following children: Thomas Jefferson, de- ceased; Margaret Ellen, deceased; James B., of this review: Laura Hester, the wife of George Parman, Getnry county, Missouri; George W., of Kansas ; and Blanche, the wife of William Herrod, Gentry coun- ty, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wayman were highly valued and respected members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and Gentry county has never known more earnest, conscientious, devout Christian people. For more than twenty-five years, Jonathan Wayman was superintendent of the Sunday School held in their neighborhood.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 87

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