USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 32
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Lee Montgomery .- For over sixty years the Montgomery family have been prominently identified with the growth and advancement of Pettis County, and the individual whose name heads this review is a worthy son of a distinguished father and grandfather who have figured in the history of this county for many years. Lee Montgomery, a leading member of the Pettis County bar and junior member of the law firm of Montgomery & Montgomery, was born in Sedalia, August 23, 1869. He is the son of John Montgomery, Jr., the dean of the legal profession in Pettis County.
John Montgomery, Jr., was born in Springfield, Kentucky, August 19, 1844, and is the son of Dr. Thomas J. Montgomery, who settled in Pettis County in 1857, locating at Georgetown, where he practiced medicine for some years, until his removal to Sedalia, there continuing his practice. During the Civil War he served as regimental surgeon in the 7th Regi- ment, Missouri State Guards, under Colonel Phillips, and for some time was medical director for the Missouri Central District. The wife of Doctor
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Montgomery was Emily Flourney, prior to her marriage. She died during the Civil War. Doctor Montgomery, with Judge John F. Phillips and others, organized the First Presbyterian Church of Sedalia, in 1859, and he served as elder of the church for several years. This church stood on the present site of the Terry Hotel, and its first pastor was the Rev. John Montgomery, a brother of the doctor. John Montgomery read law in the office of Phillips & Vest, the former of whom became a federal judge, and is still residing in Kansas City. The latter was Senator George Vest, who represented Missouri in the United States Senate for several years and whose name became famous throughout the land. He made the classical speech at the famous dog trial, in which he espoused the cause of the plaintiff and paid a tribute to the undying affection of the dog for his master. Studying law under such eminent legal lights as these gentle- men afforded the best kind of training for an ambitious student, and Mr. Montgomery was admitted to the bar on September 6, 1866. He imme- diately opened an office in a frame building north of the Court House Square and has practiced law continuously in Pettis County and Missouri for the past fifty-two years. Mr. Montgomery has never sought nor has he preferred political office, but has devoted his time and talents to the practice of his profession. In 1898 he was appointed referee in bankruptcy by Judge J. F. Phillips, and held this position for this federal district for a period of ten years.
Mr. Montgomery enjoys the distinction of being the oldest member of the bar in Pettis County and one of the oldest in this section of Missouri. He was married in November, 1868, to Miss Maggie Sneed, a daughter of Judge John M. Sneed, who came to Pettis County in 1858, and was also one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church. Full particulars of the life and career of Judge Sneed are given elsewhere in this volume. To John Montgomery, Jr., and wife were born two children: Lee, subject of this review, and George, a manufacturers' agent and also a manufac- turer of freight and passenger elevators, Kansas City, Missouri.
Lee Montgomery received his early education in the public and high schools of Sedalia and graduated from the local high school in 1886. He pursued his college preparatory course at Westminster College, where he joined the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, and then entered Princeton University, graduating therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1893. His diligence and strict attention to his studies at Princeton won him high honors, and he was awarded a fellowship in philosophy. At
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both Westminster and at Princeton he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity. Mr. Montgomery was admitted to the bar in May, 1895, and became a member of the firm of Montgomery & Montgomery in 1896.
In May, 1897, Lee Montgomery was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth P. Zimmerman, a daughter of B. W. and Nellie (Carr) Zimmer- man, former well-known residents of Sedalia, now residing in St. Louis. Mr. Zimmerman is proprietor of the Central Lumber Company, and is still active at the age of seventy-five years. Four children have been born to Lee and Elizabeth P. Montgomery, as follow: Elizabeth, a junior in Randolph Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia; John Z., a sopho- more in Missouri State University, Columbia; Elinor, a junior in Sedalia High School, and Lee, who is yet in the grade school. Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery and family reside at 711 West Sixth street.
Lee Montgomery has forged rapidly to the front among the members of the bar of Pettis County and Missouri, and occupies a leading and influential place in the legal profession. He is a hard student and worker, who places his professional ethics upon a high plane. For a period of ยท seven years he served as secretary-treasurer of the Missouri State Bar Association. For the past twenty years he has been a member of the local library board. At the present time he is serving as president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Sedalia, and is president of the Country Club, a popular institution of which he was one of the founders and organizers.
Elijah E. Johnston .- The career of E. E. Johnston, postmaster of Sedalia, as a business man, legislator and public official, has been a distinguished one and his accomplishments since becoming a citizen of Sedalia, thirty-six years ago, place him in the front rank of Sedalia's foremost citizens. The clothing store of which he was the practical founder and which is now conducted by him and his three sons, is the oldest established business in the city and has a standing for honest methods and square dealing surpassed by no firm in Sedalia.
E. E. Johnston was born in Coles County, Illinois, and is a son of William B. and Josephine (Adams) Johnston, the former a native of New York and the latter of Ohio. The Johnstons located in Coles County in 1835, and purchased land in that county for twelve and a half cents per acre. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston developed a splendid farm of 160 acres, and made it their home until death called them. In those early days they experi- enced all the privations of creating a home in a new and undeveloped country. People lived amid the most primitive surroundings, and it is
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recalled by Mr. Johnston that there was but one wagon in their home vicinity when the elder Johnston located in Coles County, and this one was of the old lynch-pin style, hand made. To William B. and Josephine (Adams) Johnston were born five children: John, deceased; Louise, wife of Rev. Amos Weedon, both deceased; Hamaline, died in 1914, served in the 123rd Illinois Regiment during the Civil War; Elijah E., subject of this review. The mother of the foregoing children was a daughter of the Rev. John Adams, a Methodist circuit rider, who preached the gospel among the early settlers of Illinois over a circuit embracing two hundred miles. He traveled from place to place on horseback, and frequently had to swim the swollen streams to reach his destination. The lot of the early-day preachers was a hard one.
E. E. Johnston was educated in the schools of his native county, and engaged in the mercantile business at Charleston, Illinois, with the firm of Hall & Davis. He soon purchased the interest of Mr. Davis and later sold out to J. W. Hall, prior to locating in Sedalia in April of 1882. Upon coming to this city, he purchased the Finis Arnold Clothing Company store and is still the owner of this thriving establishment, which is the oldest established clothing business in Pettis county. This store is now operated by the three sons of Mr. Johnston --- John, Hugh and Clarence.
On September 20, 1878, Mr. Johnston was married to Miss Martha Jane Tinsman, the daughter of Mrs. Martha Tinsman, a widow of Coles County, Illinois, now deceased. The father of Mrs. Johnston died when she was but a child. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have been born five children: John, Hugh and Clarence operating the E. E. Johnston Clothing Store, 209 Ohio street, Sedalia, Missouri; Josephine, wife of Frank E. Brown, a dispatcher for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company for many years; Thomas Wellington, deceased. The Johnston home is located at 710 West Fourth street.
The career of E. E. Johnston in public life has been a noteworthy and a useful one. His first venture into politics was during the nineties, when he made the race for mayor of Sedalia on the Democratic ticket. Later he was elected representative from Pettis County, and served with dis- tinction as a member of the forty-third and forty-fourth general assem- blies. While serving as a member of the Missouri State legislature he was the author of the compulsory school attendance law, which had the backing of the school superintendents of Kansas City, St. Louis, the W. C. T. U. and the president of Columbia University, and as a result this law was passed and is considered to be the best school law enacted in the
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State of Missouri within a period of fifty years. Mr. Johnston was also the author of the county superintendent bill, making it compulsory or mandatory upon all counties in the State to elect county superintendents, who should have charge of the public school system in the county. Prior to its enactment only a portion of the more progressive counties had a county educational system. While a member of the legislature he secured the passage of the appropriation of $200,000 to defray the expense of erection of the State Fair buildings at Sedalia.
March 19, 1914, Mr. Johnston was appointed postmaster of Sedalia. His conduct of the affairs of this important office has been accomplished with the same degree of attention and with which he had previously carried on his private business. The Sedalia postoffice, under his manage- ment, is no sinecure and Mr. Johnston gives his undivided attention to the duties at hand, with the result that the Sedalia postoffice is noted for its efficiency, and the office now ranks sixth in volume of receipts in the State. The Sedalia postoffice employs thirteen clerks and fourteen city carriers. In addition to his duties as postmaster, Mr. Johnston has had charge of the enlistment of men for the United States marine service in this vicinity, enlistments for the naval service, and the postoffice is now the central government accounting office for Pettis County.
Mr. Johnston is a member of three Blue Lodges-Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Chapter and Commander, and is a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.
Samuel Parks Johns .- The oldest lumberman engaged in business in Missouri in point of years spent in the business and in age is probably S. P. Johns, Sr., founder of the lumber firm of S. P. Johns & Sons, one of the most substantial and enterprising business institutions in Sedalia, which was founded in the eighties by Mr. Johns. Mr. Johns was born in Preble County, Ohio, September 1, 1835, and is a descendant of Quaker ancestors who were followers of William Penn, and came to America from their native Wales as early as 1735. He is the son of Stephen M. and Sarah (Parks) Johns, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Preble County, Ohio.
Stephen M. Johns was born in Fayette Conty, Pennsylvania, in 1809, and died at Pana, Illinois, in 1870, his death being the result of injuries received while rolling logs. He was a son of John Johns, a native of Pennsylvania, and who died in Parke County, Indiana, at the age of seventy- nine years. John Johns was the son of James Johns, who died in 1824, at the age of eighty-two years, and was a son of the first immigrant of the family who came from Wales to America in 1735, and was a Quaker, who followed in the footsteps of William Penn. James Johns died and was
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buried at Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, whither he had migrated in a very early day. John Johns made a settlement in Parke County, Indiana, and his son, Stephen M. Johns, keeping alive the traditional progress of the family ever westward in the task of the building up of the country, moved onward to Pana, Illinois, and there did his part in assisting in the development of a newer country.
To Stephen M. and Sarah (Parks) Johns were born twelve children: Samuel Parks, subject of this review; Catherine, died in infancy; John and Emanuel, deceased; Lemuel, Greencastle, Indiana; Martha, wife of Theodore Tunison, Pana, Illinois; Thomas M., deceased; Robert, Pana, Illinois; Owen, Tacoma, Washington; Stephen M., deceased; Sarah Alice, wife of C. W. Wallace, Kansas City, Kansas; Joseph, Tacoma, Washington. Large families seem to have been the rule in the Johns family, inasmuch as Stephen M. Johns was not only the father of twelve children, but was the eldest of sixteen children born to his own parents. Mrs. Sarah Parks Johns, mother of the above-named children, was born in Preble County, Ohio, in 1815, and departed this life at Pana, Illinois, in 1893.
The earl education of Samuel Parks Johns was obtained in the com- mon schools of his home town and Waveland Academy, Waveland, Indiana, where he pursued a scientific course. When twenty-one years of age he began his lumbering career at Terre Haute, Indiana, with T. B. Johns, a second cousin, who was engaged in the lumber business in that city. Mr. Johns remained at Terre Haute until 1860 and, after teaching school for one year, he located at Litchfield, Illinois, where he established the lumber business of Johns & Co. Five years later he located in Pana, Illinois, and continued his lumber business in that city until 1880, when he came to Missouri. During the first year he was located at Warsaw, Missouri, but in 1881 he established himself in business at Sedalia, where he rapidly developed a thriving business. His business expanded in due time and he established lumber yards at Lexington and Hughesville, Missouri, but of late years he has disposed of all of his outside holdings and now devotes his attention to the Sedalia business exclusively. His two sons, William M. and R. M. Johns, are managers of the business, which is conducted under the name of S. P. Johns & Sons. In addition to the lumber yards owned and operated by the firm, and which are located on West Second street, covering an entire half block in extent, the firm operates a planing mill located on East Second street, housed in a two-story building, 50x80 feet in dimensions.
On February 1, 1850, Mr. Johns was married to Miss Margaret Ann
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White, of Waveland, Indiana, and to this marriage were born the following children: Laura A., born 1863, died at Sedalia, Missouri, in 1881; William M., associated in business with his father; S. P. Johns, Jr., engaged in the lumber business at Seattle, Washington; R. M. Johns, associated with his father in the business; Margaret A., wife of E. C. Emmert, Kansas City, Missouri, a lumberman in that city. The Johns family residence is located at 706 West Seventh street.
Mr. Johns cast his first vote for James Buchanan, in 1856, and voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Since that time he has consistently voted the Republican ticket, but with inclinations to independence in his voting.
Henry C. Hatton .- The late Henry C. Hatton, former superintendent of the County Home, was a capable and successful citizen of Pettis County, who was respected universally for his integrity and purposeful citizen- ship. Mr. Hatton was born in Boone County, Missouri, April 15, 1845, and came to Pettis County when a young man. He engaged in farming, and after his marriage, in 1885, he operated a flouring mill at Green Ridge, Missouri, and resided there for a period of fifteen years. In connection with his milling business he also operated a well-improved farm in the vicinity of Green Ridge. In 1900 Mr. Hatton took charge of the County Home as superintendent, and with his accepting this position a new and better era in the management of the Home and County Farm began, which has been carried on still more successfully by his widow.
In September, 1885, Henry C. Hatton and Mary S. Middleton were united in marriage. Mrs. Mary S. Hatton was born on a farm situated on Coon Creek, five miles west of Sedalia, in Pettis County. She is a daughter of William E. and Amanda (Shobe) Middleton, who were natives of Kentucky. The Middleton family came to Pettis County, Missouri, in 1857, and Mr. Middleton located at Georgetown, the old county seat. He served as county assessor for eight years, and during the Civil War he returned to Kentucky. After the war he sold his farm and moved to Sedalia, so that his children could have better educational advantages. In 1885 he removed to Cedar County, but returned to Sedalia, where his death occurred, in 1904. Mr. Middleton was born in 1828. Mrs. Amanda Middleton was born December 21, 1834, and died June 12, 1916. They were parents of six children, five of whom were reared to maturity: Samuel, Denton, Texas; Mrs. Virginia Elizabeth Cushenberry, Kansas City, Missouri ; Mrs. Sallie N. Elliot, living seven miles south of Sedalia ; Mrs. Mary S. Hatton, of this review; William Trader, Galena, Kansas.
Eng by E & Williams & Bro NY
Many & Hatton
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Mrs. Mary S. Hatton was educated in the public and high schools of Sedalia, and is a well-read and intelligent woman. After her husband's death she took entire charge of the Pettis County Home, and so well has she performed the duties of her position and so capable has she proven herself in the discharge of her responsibility that her supervision and management has the approbation and commendation of the officials and practically the entire citizenship of Pettis County. It is stated that no county home in Missouri is better cared for or its inmates happier or more contented than in Pettis County.
Since March 2, 1900, the Home has never been better managed, with less cost to the county. For the first five or six years of Mrs. Hatton's incumbency there were from eighteen to twenty inmates of the home, then the number increased to twenty-four and twenty-six unfortunates, and the inmates number as high as thirty-eight at the present time. The County Farm consists of eighty acres, which are kept in an excellent state of cultivation.
In politics the late Mr. Hatton was a thorough Democrat, and was prominently identified with his party in Pettis County for many years. He was affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Royal Tribe of Joseph. He and Mrs. Hatton were members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Hatton departed this life on October 21, 1909. His death marked the passing of a good and useful citizen, who was universally esteemed and respected for his integrity, honesty and upright citizenship.
Wesley S. Scott, member of the real estate firm of Carl & Scott, Sedalia, Missouri, was born at Houstonia, Pettis County, November 3, 1865. He is the son of Josiah and Mary A. (Jones) Scott, natives of Ohio and Virginia, respectively.
Josiah Scott was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1835, and died February 8, 1895. They came from Ohio to Pettis County in 1859 and located upon a farm, four miles east of Houstonia, where Mr. Scott pur- chased 400 acres of land at $1.25 an acre. This land was raw prairie, and he improved it into a highly productive farm, which was the home of the subject of this review for a period of thirty-nine years. In 1862 Josiah Scott enlisted in the 7th Missouri Cavalry, under Col. John F. Phillips, now serving as federal judge in Kansas City. Mr. Scott served with his regiment until the close of the war. He fought at the Battle of Wilson Creek, and was engaged in many skirmishes with his regiment, whose
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duty it was to keep order in Missouri and free the State from marauding and lawless bands which infested this section during the war. After his honorable discharge from the service Mr. Scott returned to his farm and became prosperous as the years passed, dying an honored and respected citizen of the county. Two children were born to Josiah and Mary A. Scott: Wesley S., subject of this review; Thomas L, died March 6, 1906, aged thirty-six years. He married Mamie Robertson, and is survived by the widow and two children-Lewis C. and Margaret-who reside on the Scott homestead, east of Houstonia. Mrs. Mary A. Scott was born in 1837 and died January 28, 1900. Both are buried in Bethlehem Cemetery, in Saline County.
Wesley S. Scott attended the district school of his neighborhood and lived upon the home farm until 1904, when he was elected county tax collector of Pettis County, on the Republican ticket. His duties as collector necessitated his removal to Sedalia and he served as collector for two years. At the expiration of his term of office he engaged in the real estate business and has since been profitably engaged, with offices at Third and Ohio streets, in Sedalia.
May 5, 1887, Mr. Scott was married to Minnie L. Wood, a daughter of C. C. and Lizzie M. (Austin) Wood, of La Monte, Missouri, the former of whom died in November, 1903, and the latter now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Scott. C. C. Wood, father of Mrs. Scott, was a soldier in the Confederate Army, serving in a Virginia regiment through the war. He fought at the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, and Gettysburg, where he was a member of General Pickett's division which made the famous Pickett's charge. The parents of Mrs. Scott came to Missouri from their native State, Virginia, in 1876. To Mr. and Mrs. Wood were born three cihldren: Rev. O. L. Wood, Springfield, Missouri; Mrs. Volette F. Glass, Knob Noster, Missouri; Ashby A., Des Moines, Iowa. To Wesley and Minnie L. Scott have been born two sons, Edwin W. and Lionel J. Edwin W. Scott is a graduate of William Jewell College, class of 1904, and is now in the employ of Swift & Company; at Hutchinson, Kansas. He married Ruth Dorsey, of Houstonia, Missouri, and has one child, Eugene W. Scott, aged three years. Lionel J. Scott is now a private in the National Army, serving in France, a member of the 140th Machine Gun Company, 35th Division, under Gen. J. L. Hines. He enlisted August 5, 1917, was trained at Nevada, Missouri, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and sailed for France in May, 1918.
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Mr. Scott is fraternally affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Woodmen of the World.
Peter Pehl, a substantial and well-to-do citizen of Sedalia, was born in Bad Ems, Germany, July 22, 1855. He is the son of Michael and Eliz- abeth (Wagner) Pehl, both of whom were natives of Germany. Michael Pehl died in 1887, at the age of fifty-seven years. Elizabeth Pehl died in 1905, aged sixty-four years. They were parents of five children, as follow: Peter, eldest of the family; Karl, deceased; Mrs. Anna Recken, living in Germany ; Wilhelm, lost at sea, while in command of the ship Nell Pomania, which sank near the Azores Islands while on the homeward-bound trip, drowning the captain and crew; the youngest, Mrs. Clara Bohn, who resides in Germany.
Peter Pehl received his education in the schools of the city of Mayence and Freiburg, Germany. When eighteen years of age he emigrated to America and first settled in Cooper County, Missouri, where he was employed as farm hand at a wage of $8.00 per month for one year. He was frugal and industrious, and managed to save the greater part of his earnings during that first year. In 1874 he located in Sedalia, and found employment more to his liking, and during the ensuing eight years he carefully saved such of his earnings as were not necessary for his suste- nance, and in 1882 established himself in the hotel and restaurant business on Osage street operating a retail liquor business in connection. Prior to engaging in business for himself he had served a four-years' appren- ticeship in order to thoroughly learn the business in which he subse- quently amassed a fortune. Mr. Pehl worked long hours and worked hard from six o'clock in the morning until midnight every day. During the many years in which he has been engaged in business he has prospered, and wisely invested his surplus capital in real estate in Sedalia to such good purpose that his principal employment is now the care and upkeep of his various properties in the city. Mr. Pehl is owner of the Pehl build- ing, located at the corner of Ohio and Second streets, consisting of three stories, 75x100 feet, and he also owns six buildings, 109 to 121 Second street, Sedalia. For a period of twenty-seven years, from 1882 to 1909, Mr. Pehl was engaged actively in business in Sedalia and has become one of the best known and most substantial figures in the commercial life of the city.
On September 20, 1886, Peter Perl and Augusta Bartel were united in marriage. To this marriage have been born the following children: Karl
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