History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 90

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

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Dr. Anderson received his early education in the public school at Hummingdale, Missouri and began the study of medicine when six-

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teen years old in the office of Dr. E. C. Royston, of Henry county, with whom he studied for two years. He also studied for a short time with Dr. H. E. Pitcher, of Chilhowee. When but nineteen years of age, Dr. Anderson entered the old Missouri Medical College which is now incorporated as the Medical Department of Washington Univer- sity. This was the first medical school established in the state of Mis- souri. Dr. Anderson graduated from this institution in 1889 and after one year's practice at Blairstown he entered the office of Dr. Ward in Post Oak township and practiced with Dr. Ward for nine years. Since that time he has practiced on his own account very successfully. He moved to his present place of residence in 1891 and has enjoyed a remunerative, continuous practice for twenty-seven years. During this time he has made a host of warm, steadfast friends and has established himself as one of the ranking physicians in this section of Missouri.

Dr. Anderson was married to Minnie D. Carr, of Shawnee Mound, Henry county. June 21. 1893. To this union have been born two very interesting children: Beulah W., who is a graduate of Forest Park University at St. Louis and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Missouri University in 1916, and during the past year has been head of the English Department of Forest Park University; and John Galen, the second child, is a graduate of the Missouri Military School located at Mexico, Missouri, studied one year at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, and was enrolled as a dental student at Washington Uni- versity when he enlisted as a member of Hospital Unit Number 21, for duty in France among the wounded soldiers of the allies. Mrs. Minnie D. (Carr) Anderson is a daughter of Thomas J. Carr, a miller of Henry county, and Martha R. (Howerton) Carr, and a granddaugh- ter of Judge Richard Carr, who was one of the early pioneers of Lafay- ette county and served as judge of the county court for several terms.

Dr. and Mrs. Anderson are well-educated, refined, likable people, who take a keen interest in the affairs of the world and are highly esteemed for their usefulness to humanity. Mrs. Minnie Anderson is a graduate of the Baptist Female College of Lexington, Missouri; studied at the Warrensburg Normal and at the Bayard Female College, Clinton, Missouri. She won a medal for excellence in art at the Baptist Female College of Lexington. Dr. and Mrs. Anderson are members of the Christian church. Dr. Anderson is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; of the Johnson County, the Missouri State.

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and the American Medical Associations; and of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, of Washington, D. C.

Otto Hilke, substantial retired farmer of Holden, Missouri, had very little of this world's goods when he left Geramny fifty-eight years ago to seek a home and fortune in this land of opportunity. His worldly possessions were but a few cents and he owed his passage money, but he was endowed with a good mind, strong body, and a willingness to work hard in order that he might realize his ambitions. Opportunities were here in this new country in plenty and he would be unhampered with the governmental and cast restrictions which pre- vail in his native land to this day. Here. Otto Hilke found that one man is as good as another, that the only standard of measurement by which the worth of citizens is gauged includes ability to do things, honesty, integrity, and individual worth. He found a way to surmount the difficulties which beset a poor man's way and, during the thirty- six years which he has spent in Johnson county, he has accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to keep him and his in comfort for the remainder of their days.

Otto Hilke was born in Germany September 29, 1844. He imi- grated to America in 1859 and located in Iowa and, in 1864, in St. Louis where he was employed as laborer and resided on Broadway and Fifth Avenue. When he came to Johnson county in 1881, he pur- chased one hundred twenty acres of land in Columbus township, later added ninety-eight acres to his holdings, and engaged extensively in stock raising. Mr. Hilke's theory of successful farming on Johnson county land, followed by the most successful agriculturists of the county, calls for less plowing and more live-stock,-a method of farm- ing which restores worn-out land to a better condition of fertility and conserves the soil to a greater degree than intensive cultivation. During Mr. Hilke's career in this county he has accumulated considerable prop- erty and is owner of the old Cockrell farin, whereon Senator Cockrell was born. For a number of years Mr. Hilke specialized in the raising of thoroughbred Hereford cattle and was very successful in this impor- tant branch of animal husbandry. For some time. he also bred Short- horn cattle. Mr. Hilke concluded to retire from the active labors of the farm in 1911 by reason of advancing age and he moved to a com- fortable home in Holden.

Otto Hilke was married in 1891 to Wilhelmina Roth, of Franklin

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county, Missouri, who was born near Versailles, Missouri. Mrs. Hilke resided in St. Louis at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Hilke have two children: Matthias, who resides on the home farm and is a successful farmer; and John, who resides on the old Cockrell farm, which was purchased by his father.

Mr. Hilke is a Democrat in his political belief. He always took an active and influential part in local civic affairs in Columbus township and has served as school director and road commissioner. He was the most influential factor in the building of the Blackwater or St. John the Baptist Catholic church, a mission of the Holden Catholic church, with which Mr. Hilke is now affiliated. Mr. Hilke is highly respected in his home community and is one of the useful and valued citizens of Johnson county.

Jacob Ayres, a well-known pioneer citizen of Johnson county, has long been classed with the most successful farmers and stockmen of Post Oak township. Mr. Ayres was born July 27, 1830 at Plainfield, in Middlesex county, New Jersey, a son of Oliver and Hettie (Corell) Ayres, both of whom were members of prominent and highly respected colonial families of New Jersey. There, on the old family estate, Jacob Ayres grew to manhood. Actuated by a desire to make his own way in the world and to own a home of his own, Mr. Ayres left New Jersey when he was thirty years of age and came West to try his fortune in the forests and on the prairies of Missouri. He arrived in Warrens- burg in May, 1860. Mr. Ayres was at that time engaged in the light- ning-rod business, but within a few years after his coming to Warrens- burg he purchased a farm in Johnson county and began farming and stock raising, which pursuits he has followed continuously since.

September 24, 1860, the marriage of Jacob Ayres and Mary Jane Marr, daughter of Daniel Marr, a leading pioneer of Johnson county, was solemnized and to this union were born two children, both daugh- ters, both of whom are now deceased: Delia, who married Jerome Sammons and after his death, which occurred about twenty years after marriage, she married James Quarrels Watchman, of Warrensburg, Missouri; and Julia M., the wife of George LaCoque, of Iowa. Mrs. LaCoque died in 1901. The mother of Delia and Julia died in 1870. March 11, 1872, Jacob Ayres and Mrs. Hettie (Medley) Freeman were united in marriage and to them have been born five children: Oliver, Jr., who is married and is now residing in Emmett, Idaho;

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Lena, the wife of Charles Webster, residing in Bates county, Missouri; Rebecca, the wife of George Granger, residing on a farm nine miles from Warrensburg; Viola, the wife of E. T. Houts and they reside on a farm one and a half miles northwest of Warrensburg; and Jacob Randolph, Jr., who married Elsie Phillips and they reside on the home place with his parents.

During the Civil War, Jacob Ayres, the subject of this sketch, served for nine months in the Federal army under Capt. M. U. Foster. Mr. Ayres was in the thick of the two battles fought at Lexington and he took an active part in several other important engagements and skir- mishes. Prior to the war, Mr. Ayres had purchased sixty acres of land in Johnson county and was engaged in farming and stock raising. He paid fifteen dollars an acre for this tract of land and in 1868 sold it for twenty dollars an acre. He then purchased a tract of sixty acres located in Chilhowee township ,for which he paid fifteen dollars an acre, and upon this farm resided eight years and then sold it to Silas Cully, about 1870, for twenty dollars an acre. In 1887, Mr. Ayres bought his present country place, a farm comprising ninety acres of valuable land located in Post Oak township for which he paid twelve dollars an acre. This farm has been constantly growing in value dur- ing the past thirty years and is now one of the fine country homes in Post Oak township.

Jacob Ayres has overcome a multitude of discouraging obstacles that have beset his path since coming to Missouri fifty-seven years ago. He has by well-directed energy and constant industry acquired a suf- ficiency of material wealth to place him in comfortable and compara- tively independent circumstances. Jacob Ayres knows full well the meaning of the term "honest toil" and what is involved in the Scriptural injunction to earn one's bread "by the sweat of the brow." Too rapidly the ranks of the brave pioneers are thinning and it is only fitting and proper that those of "the old guard" whom we are glad to still have with us, should have their meed of praise and full share of honor ere they, too, join the noble band who have gone on before. Honored and respected by all, Jacob Ayres is enrolled among the county's most valued citizens. He has been a worthy member of the Providence Baptist church during the entire period of his residence in Johnson county, though he was clerk of the Cornelia Baptist church for ten years. Politically, Mr. Ayres is a stanch, life-long Republican.

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Samuel Dudley Boosinger, a progressive, capable farmer and stock- man of Simpson township, ranks with the best citizens and most sub- stantial men of Johnson county. Mr. Boosinger was born in Macoupin county, Illinois, February 27, 1861, a son of H. F. and Ellen (Blake) Boosinger, who were the parents of five children: Oscar, Emma, Annie, Kate, and Samuel Dudley, three of whom are now residing in Johnson county, namely: Emma, the wife of Walter Willard, of War- rensburg; Kate, the wife of Jefferson Coffman, of Columbus; and Samuel Dudley, the subject of this review. H. F. Boosinger came to Missouri from Illinois in the autumn of 1868, bringing his wife and children to reside on a farm located four miles northeast of Warrens- burg. For nearly forty years, H. F. Boosinger was a chore farmer in Johnson county and during that time was for ten or twelve years in charge of a place comprising nearly two hundred acres of land. He retired from active farm work in 1910 and is now making his home with his daughter, Kate, near Columbus, Missouri.

The schools in Johnson county were few and of indifferent quality, when Samuel D. Boosinger was a boy, and his early education was limited. He did not attend school after he was fifteen years of age and when he was eighteen years old, Mr. Boosinger began to be self-sup- porting and was married. He was in early manhood employed on the different farms in the neighborhood, as a renter. About 1882, he pur- chased seventy acres of land in Warrensburg township, a tract for which he paid thirty dollars an acre and after five or six years sold it for thirty-five dollars an acre. Mr. Boosinger then went to Oklahoma, where he remained twelve years, returning to Johnson county in 1904. At that time, he purchased his present country home in Simpson town- ship, a farm comprising one hundred thirty-four acres originally, for which he paid fifty-two hundred dollars, and to which he has added since a forty-acre tract, located two miles north of his first purchase, which cost him twenty-six hundred dollars. The place on which he resides is a part of the old William G. Parman homestead, land entered by him from the government for twelve and a half cents an acre. The house, which is part log, that was built by William G. Parman is still standing and it is said to be the oldest house now in Simpson township. Mr. Boosinger has practically all the farm in grass and he is specializ- ing in stock raising. At the time of this writing. in 1917, he has a

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herd of fifty or more Shorthorn cattle, which have been pronounced by well-informed stockmen to be very fine stock.

December 21, 1879, the marriage of Samuel Dudley Boosinger and Alice Parman, daughter of William G. Parman, was solemnized and to this union have been born seven children, all of whom are now living: Arthur D., born November 15, 1880; Beulah Pearl, born Novmber 15, 1887, married John Snow, and they reside at Lamonte, Missouri; Davis Earl, born January 2, 1889, married Effie Browning, and they reside on a farm in Montserrat township; William H., born February 20, 1899; Robert O., born January 6, 1901; Daisy Nell, born January 1, 1904; and Teddy Alfred, born June 4, 1906.

Politically, Mr. Boosinger is affiliated with the Republican party and, though he is intensely interested in public affairs, he has never aspired to official preferment, preferring the life of the quiet, peaceable tiller of the soil to that of office-seeker. Samuel D. Boosinger has always been a worker and the key notes to his success are persistent application, indomitable perseverance, and unquestioned integrity. He and Mrs. Boosinger not only possess the highest esteem of their neigh- bors, but they are widely known and respected throughout Johnson county.

S. F. Belt, an industrious enterprising farmer and stockman of Simpson township, is one of Johnson county's best and most public- spirited citizens, an agriculturist of more than local reputation. Mr. Belt was born in Clay county. Missouri, September 10, 1863, a member of a pioneer family, who came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1857. He remained with his parents thirty-eight years and then left the home- stead and came to Johnson county.

In 1906, S. F. Belt moved from his old home to a farm in Johnson county, a place comprising originally one hundred acres, which he pur- chased from Mrs. Foster, to which he has since added. and it now is a tract of two hundred forty-four adjoining acres of land. Mr. Belt has rebuilt the residence, erected a barn, added a chicken-house, sheds, and all the other improvements now on the farm. He is engaged in both general farming and stock raising and is well pleased with the success he has had and the progress he has made since coming to Johnson county. He handles only a good grade of stock and at the time of this writing, in 1917, has forty head of cattle, fifty head of hogs, twelve head of horses and mules. In 1915, he bred, raised, and sold one hun-

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dred sixty-five head of hogs. The Belt farm is unanimously conceded to be one of the finest farms in the township.

December 10, 1884 the marriage of S. F. Belt and Lottie Belt was solemnized in Carroll county, Missouri. To this union have been born four children, three of whom are now living: Joseph E., who is employed as bookkeeper at the Commercial Bank of Warrensburg; Homer L. and Eugene P., at home with their parents. Mrs. Belt is a valued member and earnest, consistent worker of the Hazel Hill Chris- tian church. Mr. Belt is a stanch Democrat but he has never wished or sought political preferment.

S. F. Belt has been a resident of Johnson county but eleven years, yet even now his place among those of highest standing in the county is assured. From the first, Mr. Belt has taken a keen interest in promoting the material interests of his chosen township. His country place is a model of neatness and thrift, the improvements up-to-date and well kept, the drainage as nearly perfect as it can be made, and an air of prosperity seems to pervade the entire farm. Mr. Belt is a worker, and his name for honesty and integrity stands high in business circles. It has been said of him that, "S. F. Belt's word is as good as a government bond." He and Mrs. Belt are highly respected in their community and they have a host of friends in Johnson county.

E. A. Eldredge, a prominent, young agriculturist of Madison town- ship, is a native of Cooper county, Missouri. Mr. Eldredge was born in 1878, a son of James, Sr. and Eliza (Hawkins). Eldredge. James Eldredge, Sr. was a native of Rhode Island. He located in Cooper county, Missouri several years prior to the Civil War. During that conflict, he enlisted and served with the Southern army for almost the whole of the war period of four years. Mr. Eldredge was a sailor pre- vious to his coming West. After the war ended and he returned to Missouri to reside permanently, he became interested in farming and stock raising, which pursuits he followed in Cooper and Johnson coun- ties the remainder of his life. To James and Eliza (Hawkins) Eldredge were born the following children: Mrs. Sarah Porter, Holden, Mis- souri; Mrs. May Boggs, who resides in the vicinity of Holden Mis- souri; Henry, who died in 1911; James, who resides on the home place near Holden, Missouri; and E. A., the subject of this review. The Eldredges moved to Johnson county from Cooper county in 1881 and for the past quarter century the name Eldredge has been inseparably

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connected with the growth and development of Madison township. James Eldredge, Sr. was an industrious, enterprising citizen, who had the welfare of his community at heart, a man intensely interested in better things and in aiding his fellowmen improve their environment. His death in 1912 has been deeply felt and greatly lamented in John- son county. Mrs. Eldredge is now making her home in Holden, Missouri.

When three years of age, E. A. Eldredge came to Johnson county with his parents and for the past thirty-six years this county has been his home. Mr. Eldredge has always resided near Holden, Missouri. He was reared and educated in Madison township and twenty years ago began life for himself, following the vocation of farming. In the spring of 1912, Mr. Eldredge moved to the farm which is now his home, a place he had purchased in 1910. The Eldredge farm comprises one hundred eighty acres of valuable land in Madison township.

E. A. Eldredge was married in January, 1912 to Myrtle Merritt, of Holden. They have one son, Lewis, aged two years. Mr. Eldredge is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and he is a worthy member of the Christian church. Politically, he is independent.

F. A. McWethy, president of the Johnson County Live-Stock Asso- ciation, is one of the most progressive and best-known agriculturists of Johnson county. He is a native of Ohio and though Mr. McWethy is still a young man he has been a resident of six different states at dif- ferent times during the past forty-five years. He was born January 10, 1872 at Kirtland in Lake county, Ohio and when he was yet a child, two years of age, his parents moved to Westfield, New York, where they resided until the son, F. A., was a lad seven years of age and then the family returned to Kirtland, Ohio. A few years later, the McWethys again left Ohio and this time came West. They located in Ness county, Kansas and remained there until the time of the opening of Oklahoma for settlement, in 1889, when they went to that part of the country and located on a tract of land in Kingfisher county. One year after the McWethys moved to Oklahoma, Mrs. McWethy, mother of F. A., the subject of this review, died, leaving the son, then a young man eighteen years of age, motherless. F. A. McWethy has one sister living: Mrs. George M. Hiles, of San Antonio, Texas. The father died August 28, 1913.

Mr. McWethy, whose name introduces this sketch, was a resident

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of Oklahoma for seven years. In that state, F. A. McWethy and Ora Brower were united in marriage. The McWethys have two children: A. C. Brower, Independence, Missouri; and Floy May, who was born December 12, 1900 and is at home with her parents. Two years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. McWethy went to Boulder county, Colo- rado to make their future home and after a brief residence near Long- mont, came to Missouri and located at Clarksdale, residing there for three years, coming thence to Johnson county and settling on the farm, which is now their present home. after one year spent on half the Allison place located south of Holden. Mr. McWethy purchased the Allison land for thirty-five dollars an acre and sold it twelve months later for fifty- five dollars an acre. He then bought his fine country place and since acquiring the ownership of this farm has been constantly at work improving it. The residence is a pleasant, attractive home, a well-built structure, modern throughout. The father of F. A. McWethy died here. He had made his home with his son the last three years of his life.

At the time of this writing, in 1917, F. A. McWethy is president of the Johnson County Live-Stock Association. He has a state-wide reputation is a successful stockman and breeder. Mr. McWethy is specializing in registered Shorthorns and he has at this time a large herd of exceptionally high grade cattle on the farm. He is a valued member of the Yeomen and a consistent and worthy Christian gentle- man. a member of the Latter Day Saints church of Holden, Missouri and the superintendent of the Holden Stake Sunday School Association of this denomination. Mr. McWethy is a man of high ideals and pos- sessor of a keen sense of honor and justice, a citizen whose word is as good as any Liberty bond. The McWethy family is highly regarded among the best families of this section of the state.

Simeon Thomas Lewis, the oldest resident of Holden, Missouri, an honored pioneer of Johnson county, and one of the brave veterans of the Confederacy, is a native of Kentucky. Mr. Lewis was born in 1836 in Munfordville, Hart county, Kentucky, a son of S. C. Lewis who was one of the first settlers in Pettis county, Missouri. The elder Lewis came to Missouri in 1850 with his family. The Lewis family were with a train of emigrants from Kentucky, a train composed of six dif- ferent families that came West in emigrant wagons. The faimlies sep- arated after reaching Missouri and some settled in Pettis county, others in Jackson and Clay counties. S. C. Lewis was the father of the follow-

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ing children: S. Thomas, the subject of this review; William H., Lees Summit, Missouri; Mary, who is married and resides at Rich Hill, Mis- souri; John, Schell City, Missouri; Jennie, now Mrs. Fulkerson, Garden City, Missouri; and Fannie, who is now Mrs. Pullon and is living on the old home place in Bates county near Altona, Missouri. Mr. Lewis remained in Pettis county several years and then moved to Bates county on the farm where his youngest daughter, Fannie, is now resid- ing and there he spent the remainder of his life.

S. Thomas Lewis was reared and educated in Warren and Barren counties, Kentucky. He was a youth fourteen years of age, when his parents moved West with their family, and after coming to this state attended the olden time "subscription school" for a few months. S. T. Lewis enlisted in the Civil War, serving first under General Price, in the Windsor Guards in February, 1862. Mr. Lewis was transferred to the Second Missouri Infantry and for some time served under General Burbrage and then under Maj. Francis M. Cockrell. Twice in battle. Mr. Lewis was severely and dangerously wounded. He took a promi- nent part in the struggle at Baker's creek. While recuperating from his wounds, he did post duty and then served as hospital warden. He was at Vicksburg during the siege and at the time of its capture on July 4, 1863. At the close of the year 1862 Vicksburg and Port Hudson were the only Confederate fortresses on the Mississippi and after months of unsuccessful maneuvering, General Grant brilliantly executed a bold plan of separating Pemberton and Johnston. driving Pemberton into Vicksburg and compelling Johnston to retreat. Grant laid siege to the city on May 19 and in the days which followed provisions became so scarce that rats and mule-flesh were used for food. Flour sold for one thousand dollars a barrel. in Confederate money. For seven weeks the inhabitants endured untold suffering in the caves which were dug in the banks and then Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg and thirty- two thousand men. Months later, Mr. Lewis obtained a furlough at Shreveport, Louisiana and from there went to Texas, returning after a brief absence to Shreveport, where he was in active hospital service at the time the war closed in 1865.

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 90

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