History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 97

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

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country relative to the different distinguished members of the American branch of the Logan family. The name itself suggests Scottish origin and there is all probability and small doubt that the ancestors of Mrs. Shaneyfelt were the same as those of John Logan, a noted Scottish poet, son of George Logan, who was a prosperous farmer in East Lothian in the seventeenth century. To the American Logans belonged James A. Logan, who with Benjamin Franklin headed the group of scientists for whom Philadelphia was distinguished in the earliest colonial days, and John A. Logan, of Illinois, the Republican candidate for Vice- president, with James G. Blaine for President, in the election of 1884. The Logans were distantly related to Daniel Boone, the famous hunter of North Carolina, whose efforts opened Kentucky to the world. The father of Mrs. Shaneyfelt was a wealthy and influential landowner in Warren county, Missouri.

Nathan Shaneyfelt was born February 14, 1842, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. He was a young man at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War and, in 1862, he enlisted with the Federal army and served throughout the remainder of the war, receiving no wounds or serious disablements. Mr. Shaneyfelt was in the thick of the Battles of the Wil- derness, engagements which took place in a desolate region south and east of the Rapidan, in the Wilderness itself, at Spottsylvania Court House, and at Cold Harbor, in the spring and summer of 1864. In the battle at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, it was said that ten thousand of the "boys in blue" fell in twenty minutes. Mr. Shaneyfelt was in the army of Union soldiers at Petersburg, when General Burnside ordered the soldiers into the "crater," which became a gigantic grave for hun- dreds of brave fellows, and he was in at the close, when brave General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. That meant the end of strife and, after receiving his honorable discharge, Mr. Shaneyfelt came to Missouri in 1867 and located in the "Daniel Boone neighborhood."

September 18, 1868, Nathan Shaneyfelt and Bettie Logan were united in marriage in Warren county, Missouri. The marriage cere- mony was pronounced by Reverend James E. Welch, who was after- ward a leading citizen and prominent Baptist minister of Warrensburg. To this union have been born seven children: Emma, born June 22, 1869; Abram, born July 8, 1870, and died at the age of six months ; Lena

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H., born February 3. 1873, is now married and resides in Kansas City, Missouri; Mary Alice, born November 27, 1874, and died June 30, 1907; Robert E., of Warrensburg, Missouri, born July 18, 1876; Alberta, born December 30, 1879, wife of Edward Ridge, and they are residents of Warrensburg, Missouri; and Harriet Luella, born August 27, 1886, wife of Frank Anderson, a leading groceryman of Warrensburg, Mis- souri.

The Shaneyfelts remained in Warren county eight years after their marriage and then they moved to Cooper county, in 1876. Thence they came to Johnson county, Missouri, in 1881 and settled on a farm of forty acres located near Warrensburg, where they have resided continu- ously since. Thirty-six years ago, they paid nine hundred seventy dol- lars for their farm, but the land has trebled in value since that time. When they were married, Mr. and Mrs. Shaneyfelt purchased one hun- dred acres of land in Warren county and to do so went in debt for almost the entire amount and they paid ten per cent. interest on the borrowed money. They endured a multitude of privations and hardships, but Mr. Shaneyfelt was a soldier and Mrs. Shaneyfelt, a pioneer's daughter, and, by constant industry and the practice of rigid economy, the countless vicissitudes of those early years have been overcome and they are now in comfortable circumstances.

The world claims a knowledge of its men and women as its just due. The laws of nature and of nature's God have forbidden isolation. "No man liveth unto himself." Every individual on this broad earth influences and is influenced by some other individual. Then it is pecu- liarly fitting and proper that the lives of noble men and women, such as Mr. and Mrs. Shaneyfelt, should be commemorated in a work of this character, that their example, so worthy of emulation, may teach the way to honorable success.

S. P. Sammons, a well-known and successful farmer of Warrens- burg township and prominent horseman of Johnson county, is a son of an honored and respected pioneer. Mr. Sammons was born June 8, 1861 in Johnson county, a son of John Wilson and Calthe ( Markham) Sammons, who came from Kentucky to Missouri as early as 1840. John Wilson Sammons was born and reared in the South and in Ken- tucky was united in marriage with Octavia Marsh, probably in the lat- ter part of the year 1839, and immediately after their marriage Mr. and

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Mrs. Sammons came West to make their home. To John Wilson and Octavia (Marsh) Sammons were born seven children, and of the entire family only one son is now living: John, who resides in Texas. The mother died in 1855. About 1856, the marriage of John Wilson Sam- mons and Calthe Markham was solemnized in Johnson county, Mis- souri and to this union were born four children, all of whom are now living: Ella J., the widow of George T. Wilson, who is making her home with her brother, S. P., the subject of this review, and of whom further mention will be made in this sketch; S. P., the subject of this biographical sketch; Beauregard, who married Mary Ray, and they reside eight miles southwest of Warrensburg, Missouri; and C. M., who married Ola Williams, and they reside ten miles northeast of Warrens- burg. Missouri. For many years, John Wilson Sammons rented farm land and was engaged in general farming and stock raising in Johnson county. He first located near Columbus and then about 1870 rented the John Ramsey place, a farm of one hundred acres of land, located five miles northeast of Columbus, where the Sammons family lived for nearly twelve years and in 1882 moved to a farm located seven miles north of Holden. Three years later, the family were residing on a farm seven miles north of Windsor and on that place remained two years, whence they moved to the country place just north of Warrensburg. residing there six years and then moving to the farm located two miles west of Mount Moriah church, where they were located for six years, and then moved back to their former place. The last two farms had in the meantime been purchased by the sons of John Wilson Sammons. During the Civil War, Mr. Sammons was living on a farm north of Columbus. Several times he was captured by the Union soldiers, but he managed to obtain release each time. He died December 12, 1910. Mrs. Sammons, the mother of S. P., had preceded her husband in death a few years. She died November 28, 1902. Both John Wilson and Mrs. Sammons held membership in the Christian church and they were both earnest and tireless church workers. Mr. Sammons cleared and improved many different farms in Johnson county. He was a good farmer and met with a fair degree of success as a breeder and raiser of fine stock. Personally, he and Mrs. Sammons were kind, hospitable, companionable people and throughout life they maintained a high social standing in this county. John Wilson Sammons was a representative chore farmer of Johnson county and with his death there passed away

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one of the most useful citizens who ever lived in this section of Missouri.

In 1902, S. P. Sammons and Mrs. Ella J. (Sammons) Wilson pur- chased in partnership the Staley place, a farm of forty acres of land which lies one and a half miles north of Warrensburg, and there they are now residing. Mr. Sammons is unmarried and the husband of Mrs. Wilson has long been deceased. She manages the household for her brother and Mr. Sammons is engaged in general farming and breeding and raising thoroughbred Denmark saddle horses. In addition to his own farm, Mr. Sammons rents other land and for the past twelve or fifteen years he has made a specialty of Denmark registered saddle horses. Recently, he sold three horses which were bred at the R. A. Long farm. He has, at the time of this writing in 1917, two other horses which were sired by "Forest King" of Sweetsprings, Missouri. S. P. Sammons is distinctively one of the leading horsemen of Johnson county and a citizen of much more than local repute.

Every member of the Sammons family is a worthy and valued member of the Christian church. For seventy-seven years, the Sam- mons name has stood for all that constitutes rectitude and honor and the Sammons family have been potent factors in the upbuilidng of the material prosperity of Johnson county. Their many sterling traits of character and their genuine worth have won for S. P. Sammons and his sister, Mrs. Wilson, the highest regard and esteem of their wide circle of acquaintances.

Levi Noland, an aged resident of Post Oak township, was born in Madison county, Kentucky. August 9, 1838, a son of Jackson Noland, also a native of Madison county, Kentucky, whose father, William Noland, was born in Virginia and was a pioneer settler of Kentucky at a time when the Indians were still contesting with the incoming white settlers for supremacy, and wild game and buffalo abounded in the state. His mother, Lucy (Jones) Noland, was also born in Madison county, Kentucky. Seven children were born to Jackson and Lucy Noland of whom Levi is the oldest. Three of the children are still living in Kentucky. During the days of Levi Noland's boyhood, his father's home was among the canebrakes bordering the Mississippi river in Madison county, Kentucky. The year's produce of the farm would be loaded on flatboats and floated down the Mississippi to New Orleans from which point his father and others would walk back to their Kentucky home.

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Levi Noland was reared a farmer, but learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for many years. After his marriage in 1857, he engaged in farming until 1879, when he came to Henry county, Mis- souri and located in the town of Ladue where he followed his trade as carpenter for eleven years. From there he removed to St. Joseph and worked for one year at his trade. He then moved to the town of Kins- more ten miles southwest of St. Joseph, where he followed his trade and became postmaster. He conducted a general store and filled the office of postmaster for five years and then lived on a farm for several years on account of his wife's failing health. One of his children had settled in Johnson county and he and his wife came here to be near them. They first lived on a farm near Knob Noster and in 1911 moved to their present location in Post Oak township. During the spring of 1917, Mr. Noland spent some time in Colorado, visiting his son.

Mr. Noland was married to Miss Julia Williams of Kentucky on December 25, 1857. To this marriage were born the following chil- dren: Lucy, the deceased wife of John Cox; Sarah Frances, who was reared to maturity, married, and died in 1912, leaving eight children; Josephine, who is married and now resides in St. Joseph, mother of eight children; Elizabeth, died in infancy; Jackson, died at the age of two years; Mrs. Nancy Jane Smith, who lives on a farm five miles northwest of Knob Noster; John William, on the home place in John- son county ; Lee, lives at Akron, Colorado; Nellie and Julia Ann, twins, who died in infancy; and Frances and Margaret, who died in infancy. The mother of these children was born April 6, 1840, in Kentucky and was a daughter of one of the old Kentucky pioneers who lived to the age of ninety-six years. She died in April, 1910. Mr. Noland has fifty- two grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. He and Mrs. Noland lived together happily fifty-two years and during all this time there was never a cross or angry word passed between them. In the eventide of his long, busy, now lonely life, this is a matter of great satisfaction and consolation to him. Mr. Noland is a member of the Baptist church and all during his life he has striven earnestly to live according to the precepts of the Great Teacher.

William Henry Drinkwater, a successful and prominent farmer and stockman of Montserrat township, was born July 29, 1863 in Cooper county, Missouri, a member of one of the best-known and most respected pioneer families of Missouri. He is a son of John and Marian

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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY

(Bales) Drinkwater, the former, a native of Kentucky and the latter, the daughter of Oliver Bales, of Cooper county. To Mr. and Mrs. Drinkwater have been born the following children: Sarah C., wife of Mr. Harter, of Pullman, Washington; Harvey B., Oiltown, Oklahoma ; Margaret P., wife of Mr. Butler, Johnson county, Missouri; William Henry, of this review; Oliver, Johnson county; Fannie Frances, wife of Mr. Jackson, Kansas City, Missouri; and Rosie Lee, who is married and resides in Kansas City, Missouri. By a former marriage with Nancy Hall, of Cooper county, John Drinkwater was the father of two sons: James Robert, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Freddie, who was killed in childhood by a horse. Nancy (Hall) Drinkwater died in the sixth year of her marriage. John Drinkwater came with his parents to Missouri, when he was but a small boy. They settled on a tract of land in Cooper county, which farm the father entered from the gov- ernment. Until the time of his marriage with Nancy Hall, John Drink- water remained at home with his parents and assisted in the work on the home place but at the age of twenty-five years, he began life for himself. He was by trade a blacksmith, and he followed his trade in the years prior to and during the Civil War. At the time of the war, Mr. Drinkwater lived in Pleasant Green. Cooper county and for sev- eral years was mayor of the city. For fifteen years, the Drinkwater family resided in Pleasant Green. After his second marriage, Mr. Drinkwater went to Iowa, where the family lived for two years. When they returned to Missouri, Mr. Drinkwater purchased the farm on which his son. Oliver, now resides. This place comprises seventy-five acres, on which he was engaged in raising horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep, keeping stock in proportion with the size of the farm. He also con- ducted a small blacksmith-shop in connection with his farm. Mr. Drinkwater died in December. 1895. He was an honest, hardworking, capable citizen, a man of countless estimable qualities and he had many friends. The widowed mother is still living, making her home now with her youngest child, who resides in Kansas City.

March 27, 1887. William Henry Drinkwater was united in mar- riage with Anna Lee Cruise, daughter of T. A. Cruise, of Cooper county, a native of Kentucky. To Mr. and Mrs. Drinkwater have been born six children: William Leonard, Leo, Harry Jennings, Lena May, Grover, and Gladys M. The father of Mrs. Drinkwater served through- out the Civil War with the Confederate army, serving under Major-

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general Francis M. Cockrell. Her uncle, the brother of her father, served in the Union army. Both Mr. and Mrs. Drinkwater are mem- bers of the Cumberland Presbyterian church and they are widely known, influential citizens of Johnson county, enrolled among the county's best families.

The Drinkwater farm comprises one hundred sixty acres of land located due north of the town of Montserrat. Thirteen years ago last March, of 1918, the Drinkwaters moved to this place. They have been residents of Montserrat township since that time. With the exception of nine months, when they lived at Rich Hill, Missouri, and eighteen months, when they lived at Chilhowee, Mr. and Mrs. Drinkwater have resided in Montserrat township ever since their marriage thirty years ago. He is engaged in raising cattle and sheep and hogs. Mr. Drink- water prefers the Shropshire breed of sheep, as they are heavier and yield more wool than the Southdowns, the two breeds which lead in the Mississippi valley.

Mr. Drinkwater is a valued member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an honest, honorable, strictly moral citizen, a son well worthy the name Drinkwater, a name which is the synonym for count- less sterling qualities.

George Adams, one of the best, most industrious, and enterprising of Montserrat township's agriculturists, was born July 26, 1866 on the farm which is now his home. He is a son of Thomas and Sarah Ann Adams, honored pioneers of Johnson county, who were the parents of the following children: Mrs. George Roberts, Knob Noster, Missouri; Martha, deceased; Mrs. Tom Clare, Jefferson township; Mrs. Timothy George, of Montana: Mrs. J. W. Dawson: John, a biographical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume: James, Warrensburg; Mrs. James Ivy, Columbus, Kansas; George, of this review: Sallie, wife of John Dillingham: Julia, wife of Walter Hay, Washington, Missouri; and Thomas B., Miami, Oklahoma. Thomas Adams was a Union vete- ran, having served throughout the Civil War. He became a well-to-do and successful farmer and stockman after the war, owning four hun- dred acres of land at the time of his death, January 4, 1888. In August, 1910. Mrs. Adams was united in death with her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Adams were highly respected and esteemed in Johnson county, where they were numbered among the county's best families.

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At the time of this writing George Adams is the owner of more than five hundred acres of land in Johnson county. He began with a very small tract of land, which he inherited from his father's estate, and by hard labor and cautions saving has acquired his present splendid country home. Mr. Adams has none to thank but himself for his fine stock farm, for the money which purchased it was made buying and selling sheep and mules. He had at the beginning of his business career much ill fortune and a very gloomy outlook, but in time the tide turned and he began to prosper. Mr. Adams first had success in handling mules. He now is devoting much time to sheep raising, and for the past ten years has been keeping annually one hundred head of Oxfords and for fifteen years has never had any but a pure-bred male at the head of the herd. He sells the lambs and keeps the best to increase the herd and for wool growing. Mr. Adams is partial to the Oxford breed. Scientists in agriculture have pronounced the Oxford the largest of the medium-wooled sheep, the best adapted to feed on wet pastures, and especially useful to produce mutton lambs to be marketed in early sum- mer, at four and five months of age. He believes the Oxford produces the most as well as the best wool. Mr. Adams also keeps Chester White hogs, which, too, are purebred. Mr. Adams has usually four brood sows and one male and from them obtains two litters of pigs each year, which means that he has ready for market forty to fifty hogs annually. He does not attempt to keep a certain number of mules at any one time, but is constantly buying and selling them. Fifteen years past he began raising purebred Shorthorn cattle and at the present time has forty cows and heifers, seventeen yearlings, and twenty-seven head of young calves. At the head of the herd is a purebred male. With the exception of about fifteen acres, all the Adams farm is now under cultivation or in meadow. The residence was built by his father, but additions have since been made to the original log structure. The view from the Adams home is a fine one, taking in the entire farm. Very few farmers in Missouri have as fine barn as is found on the George Adams farm. This barn was built many years ago of black walnut. Thomas Adams constructed it from lumber obtained from a mammoth black walnut tree, which grew upon the place and had been blown down. This tree was six feet in diameter and sixty feet to the nearest limb and from it sixteen-foot lumber was sawed and used in

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the building of the barn, which is now standing and is in excellent repair.

On New Year's day, 1889, George Adams and Anne Haller were united in marriage. The parents of Mrs. Adams were natives of Ger- many, from which country they had emigrated and several years prior to the marriage of their daughter had settled in Johnson county. To George and Anne (Haller) Adams were born six children: Edith, wife of Mr. Skidmore, residing on a farm near the home of her parents; Nellie, wife of Mr. Cronhardt, residing near Knob Noster, Missouri; Lydia, Sarah Anne, Henry H., and George Gaylord, at home. Mr. Adams has always been interested in good roads and the people of his community owe him much for his strenuous efforts in securing the fine highways in their neighborhood. Oak Hill road, which runs for a mile and a half along the Adams farm, was largely built by George Adams. Assistance was not available from the other citizens of the township and, undauntedly, Mr. Adams worked practically alone in its construction. Much praise and credit are due an enterprising citizen, such as he, who can find time from the countless duties devolving upon him in the management of his own private affairs to build without help a highway, which will benefit not only himself but also his neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are earnest supporters of the Baptist church, of which Mr. Adams has been a worthy elder for many years.

S. P. Piper, the capable engineer of the Light & Water Plant of Holden, Missouri, is one of the well-known citizens of Johnson county, a member of a good, old, pioneer family. Mr. Piper was born in 1867 in Johnson county, Missouri, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Kim Piper, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume.

In 1882, S. P. Piper left Missouri and went to Texas to reside. He remained on a ranch in that state five years and then returned to John- son county, Missouri and he has lived in this county continuously since that time. Mr. Piper went to Texas just six years after the adoption of the state's present constitution and when the country was largely undeveloped. He saw the state when it was really "woolly" and his experiences there he will never forget. Until about eighteen years ago, S. P. Piper was engaged in the pursuits of farming and stock raising. He then abandoned the farm and began the work of engineer and since 1900 he has been employed in this capacity at the city's Light & Water Plant in Holden.

S. P. Piper and Mary Gibson, of Indiana, were united in marriage

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in 1896. To this union have been born three children, all of whom are at home with their parents: Helena, Maude, and William. Mr. and Mrs. Piper are highly respected in Holden and they number their friends by the score in Johnson county. Mr. Piper is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Politically, he is affiliated with the Democrats.

More than a half century ago, the Pipers settled in Johnson county. The family of children, of whom S. P. was one, literally "grew up with the country" and each member has well maintained the good name and excellent reputation established by the father, a name that has come to be symbolic of honesty, honor, and industry.

Kim Piper, a well-remembered and beloved pioneer of Johnson county, was a native of Kentucky. He came to Missouri from his native state in the early fifties and located first in Pettis county, coming thence to Johnson county in 1859. Mr. Piper brought his wife and two chil- dren with him from the South to establish the new home in what was at that time the "western wilderness." His friends had said that it was a rash thing to do and prophesied that the family would be killed by the red men of the forest. All the household goods they could pos- sibly do without were sold and the rest, with provisions, were put into the large emigrant wagon. Beds and bedding, with their scant cloth- ing, were placed on the backs of the horses. The feather beds were so carried on the horses as to make a good platform, upon which the children sometimes rode. They found this great sport until going downhill or over a rocky road, at which time they were glad to climb back into the wagon beside the patient, unchiding mother. The family were ferried over the rivers, the horses swam across, and the wagon would be taken to pieces and carried across in a skiff, one part at a time. As they proceeded on their journey, the men of the emigrant train. for there were several members of the party westward bound, would

be obliged to cut away the trees so that the wagon could get through. Two brothers of Kim Piper were with the train: John and Mason. Mason Piper returned to Kentucky during the Civil War and never came West again. The Piper family located on a tract of land in Johnson county, after a brief sojourn in Pettis county, a farm located about five miles south of Holden, Missouri. On this place, the father engaged in farming and stock raising and in the course of time became very well to do and influential. Several years later, Kim Piper sold

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History of Johnson County, Missouri, Part 97

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