USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 35
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Chief Marksbury is a member of Lodge No. 27, Knights of Pythias, Knights and Ladies of Security No. 564, and also holds a membership in the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen No. 506.
Ernest Theodore Behrens, editor and manager of the Sedalia "Leader and Railway Federationist," was born in Cole Camp, Missouri, September 15, 1866, a son of William and Elizabeth Behrens, natives of Germany, who came to Pettis County, Missouri, in 1836. They located in Sedalia in 1875 and both died here. William Behrens died in 1896 at the age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Behrens attained the age of seventy-six years. William Behrens became a large land owner in Benton County, Missouri, and traded much of his land for Sedalia property. He was a veteran of the Civil War, serving first in the Home Guards and later, enlisting in the Union Army. Mr. Behrens was taken prisoner with others and was sen- tenced to be shot, but at the eleventh hour orders were given to exchange the prisoners. The Behrens children are: Mrs. Catherine Adams, Sparta, Illinois ; Mrs. Gussie Wetzel, Washington, D. C .; Bernard, Kansas City, Missouri; Ernest T., subject of this sketch.
Ernest Theodore Behrens was educated in the public schools of Sedalia and learned the trade of cigarmaker at the age of fifteen years. He engaged
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in the cigarmaking trade in 1885, but since 1889, he has followed the printing and newspaper business. He was first associated with the "Truth" in 1889, a paper which he established. In 1892 he established the "Western World." This was followed by the "Liberator" in 1910, of which the "Railway Federationist" is the logical successor. This latter paper is the official organ of the railway employes department of the American Federa- tion of Labor, which has a membership of over 600,000 railway employes. Mr. Behrens also publishes the "Sedalia Leader," a local newspaper.
Mr. Behrens first became identified with the labor movement in 1884, and has assisted in the organization of over seventy-five per cent. of the local labor unions of Sedalia. There are forty-five locals and auxiliaries in Sedalia and these locals have a membership of approximately 3000. He holds a membership in the cigarmakers union and for four terms he served as president of the State Federation of Labor and has held every office in the local labor assemblies.
John Wesley McClure .- The McClure family is one of the most promi- nent and substantial families in Pettis County, who have been resident in Pettis County since 1876. During the past forty-three years members of this family have been extensive farmers and stockmen in the northern part of Pettis County. One of the best known of this family, whose life was well spent and who was for many years a leading and influential citizen of the county, was the late John Wesley McClure, of Hughesville township. Mr. McClure was born in Montgomery County, Missouri, in 1845. He was a son of Winston McClure, a Missouri pioneer.
Winston McClure was born near Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, June 16, 1818. He resided in his native county until he was seventeen years old and then went to Ross County, Ohio, locating near Chillicothe. From there he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, and thence to Oldham County, Kentucky, where he was married, in 1840, to Miss Lucinda Bohanan, a daughter of Rev. Abraham Bohanan, a minister of Oldham County. In 1841 he came to Missouri, first locating in St. Louis County. A few years later he located in Montgomery County, and was largely engaged in farming and stock raising in that county for several years. While a resident of Montgomery County he was the largest stock dealer in that section of Missouri. The ravages of the Civil War caused him severe losses. After the war he transferred his farming and stock- raising operations to Saline and Cooper counties, and in 1876 he came to Pettis County. With his three sons-John Wesley, Das and Ben F .- he
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engaged in stock raising and feeding on a very extensive scale. The busi- ness of McClure & Sons ranked among the most extensive in western Missouri. They fed from 500 to 700 head of cattle annually, and dealt heavily in mules and horses. Hundreds of acres of corn were cultivated each year, and all of their operations were on an immense scale. Winston McClure died a highly respected citizen of Pettis County.
John Wesley McClure was reared in Montgomery County, and he came to Pettis County not long after the close of the Civil War. He and his two brothers leased land for several years and fed hundreds of cattle and hogs for the markets, buying corn in Iowa for their feeding. For a number of years he was associated with his father and brothers, and all worked together for their common good and profit. Eventually, the partnership was dissolved and each invested in land for his own use and farmed on his own account. Prior to his marriage, Mr. McClure purchased part of his home farm in Hughesville township. This farm of 640 acres was but the nucleus around which he built up an immense estate of nearly 2,000 acres. His first home was burned to the ground in 1892, and in 1893 he erected a beautiful residence, which is all modern in every respect and which is one of the most imposing and handsome farm residences in this section of Missouri.
In 1879 John W. McClure and Miss Erna Glasscock, a native of Pettis County, were united in marriage. Mrs. Erna (Glasscock) McClure is a daughter of Charles and Rosa (Smith) Glasscock, both of whom were born and reared in old Virginia. Charles Glasscock was the son of Aldia Glasscock, a pioneer attorney of Pettis County, who was associated with Judge Reese Hughes in the practice of law at Georgetown. He brought a retinue of slaves with him when he came to Pettis County, and entered a large tract of land, which he developed into a splendid farm. Charles Glasscock was born in 1831, and accompanied his parents to Pettis County in 1841. He now resides in Kansas City, Missouri. Rosa, his wife, was born in 1838. Mr. Glasscock farmed extensively in Pettis County until his removal to Kansas City, in 1886. Twelve children were born to Charles and Rosa Glasscock, as follow: Two children died in infancy ; Lawrence Lee, lives in Los Angeles; Mrs. Erna McClure, of this review .; Charles L., county clerk of Lafayette County, Lexington, Mis- souri; Ferdinand S., Kansas City, Missouri; A. A., lives near Liberty, Clay County ; Lee, a commission merchant, Kansas City, Missouri; Mrs. Emma Welch, Mrs. Charles Decker and Shirley, living in Kansas City; William, lives in Lafayette County.
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The children born to John Wesley and Erna McClure are as follow : Walter V., on the home farm; John W., Charles L. and Lucille. Walter V. McClure married Bessie Aldridge, a daughter of James Aldridge, of Pettis County, and has one child, Erna Annie, born April 21, 1918. Walter V. is managing the home farm of 600 acres. He is owner of 300 acres, which he received as his share of the estate. He is following in his father's footsteps, and is carrying on stock raising on an exten- sive scale. Two hundred acres of the farm were in wheat during the past season, and averaged twenty-two bushels to the acre when har- vested and threshed. One hundred and sixty acres of corn have been harvested, which yields twenty-five to twenty-seven bushels to the acre- a splendid yield, considering the almost total destruction of the corn crop in Missouri during the past hot, dry summer. Mr. McClure feeds from 100 to 120 head of cattle for the markets each year. For the past two years he has been paying particular attention to the pure-bred Herefords, and has sixty cows with calves at the present time. This department is proving to be a most profitable one, inasmuch as the calves raised by him bring from $95 to $100 per head at private sale. All feed raised on the place is fed to livestock on the farm. During 1917 he sold 350 head of fat hogs, raised on the farm, and at the present time is feeding a large drove of 425 hogs. Three men are always employed in caring for the livestock and conducting the farming operations, and one tenant remains permanently on the farm. For the next harvest season Mr. McClure has sown 200 acres to wheat. Fifteen head of horses and four mules are kept to perform the farm work. Mr. McClure is also specializ- ing in the breeding of jacks, and he had three thoroughbreds sold at the L. M. Monsees sale. In 1912 he purchased three thoroughbred jennies of L. M. Monsees, and in 1915 purchased three more, at an average cost of $80 per head. From this venture in thoroughbred stock he has real- ized $2,000 from sales of the progeny of the Monsees stock. Mr. McClure is a well-educated, enterprising citizen. After attending the public schools he pursued a course at Central College, Fayette, Missouri.
John W. McClure is a farmer, residing at Hughesville, married Iva Shelton, and has three children: John W., Lucille and James Clinton. Charles L., is deceased, married Florence Bruce. Lucille McClure is the wife of Ernest W. Jones, and has one child, Ernest Walker. A sketch of Mr. Jones appears in this volume. Mrs. McClure is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. All of her sons are Free Masons.
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The Democratic party always had the steadfast allegiance of John Wesley McClure, and he was ever ready to expend both time and money in assisting his friends to political preferment. He was an influential member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was largely instrumental in the building of the Methodist Episcopal Church South at Hughesville, being one of the heaviest contributors to the building fund. He was loyal to his church, and lived according to his belief. He was long a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being first affiliated with the Longwood Masonic Lodge and later becoming a member of the Sedalia Masonic Lodge.
H. H. Kroencke .- The career of H. H. Kroencke is so closely inter- twined with the organization and history of the leading Military Band of Sedalia, that an account of one leads to the story of the other. Mr. Kroencke has not only made a distinct and pronounced business success since his advent in Sedalia in 1887, being the proprietor of the H. H. Kroencke Department Stores, but he has achieved a State-wide reputation as a band leader and musician. Since 1892, Mr. Kroencke has been identi- fied with local musical organizations. He was first a member of the Sedalia Military Band, then was director of the Independent Band, the leadership of which he turned over to L. E. Friemel, and for a time the band was known as Friemel's Military Band. Upon Mr. Friemel's death Mr. Kroencke took charge and the name of the organization was changed to Sedalia Military Band. In 1913 he organized the Kroencke Concert Band with sixteen members. In one year the membership was increased to thirty-eight musicians. The great World War has taken its toll from the membership and the following members of this great band are now in the United States Military service: two Trueblood brothers, Jack and James Matthews, Leonard Peyers, Wilbur and Otto Fischer, Ed Meeks, H. E. Schwenck, Otto Buehler, Fred Brink, E. Bunner, Glenn Hatton, Gilbert Worm, Howard Brown, Ed Franklin, S. A. Wood, S. J. Pritchard, Hiram Henry and Irvin Hobrecht. This band meets on Mondays and Fridays and is one of which the citizens of Sedalia are very proud. It has played at the State fairs held in Sedalia and during the fair held in 1917, Mr. Kroencke had charge of two bands, besides an orchestra. When the sacred concert was given at the Fair grounds, the leader of the Thavins Band not being present to conduct the concert, Mr. Kroencke took his place and without even a rehearsal conducted the concert suc- cessfully,
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H. H. Kroencke was born at Cole Camp, Missouri, February 23, 1866, the son of Herman H. and Anna (Buchholtz) Kroencke, the former of whom still lives at Cole Camp and is aged eighty-two years. Mrs. Kroencke died in 1914. The Kroencke family located at Cole Camp in 1860, on a farm in the neighborhood, and Kroencke, Sr., followed farming until his retirement. The Kroencke children are as follows: Mary, wife of Fred Brauer, Cole Camp, Missouri; George, formerly a well known citizen of Sedalia, died in 1916; H. H., subject of this review; Sina, wife of Henry Luber, Cole Camp, Missouri; John, a farmer and cattle buyer, Cole Camp, Missouri; Maggie, wife of A. G. Eickhoff, a lumberman of Cole Camp; Sophia, wife of W. H. Holsten, Cole Camp; Herman H., Cole Camp, Missouri.
Mr. Kroencke received his education in the public schools of his native town and began his musical education when but a youth, under John Busch, and later joined John Busch's Band. He located in Sedalia in 1887 and in 1895, he purchased the general store, formerly owned by William Beck. He took John C. Cordes in as partner and the partnership continued successfully until 1909. The Kroencke stores carry complete stocks of dry goods, shoes and groceries.
In 1915 Mr. Kroencke became the agent for the Dort Automobiles and has done an excellent business with this splendid motor car. Three rooms are occupied by his extensive business departments and an im- mense trade is handled by a large force of salesmen.
Mr. Kroencke was married in 1888 to Miss Emma Michaelis of Cole Camp. Two children have blessed this union, each of whom is a musi- cian : Leonard H., Sedalia, married Louise Amborn and has a daughter, Dorothy Jane; Genevieve, wife of W. P. Stanley of the Sedalia Democrat.
Mr. and Mrs. Kroencke reside at 1500 West Broadway.
Charles M. Solon .- The grocery establishment owned and operated by Charles M. Solon is one of the neatest and best kept high grade gro- ceries in Sedalia. This store is located at 116 East Third Street and was founded by its proprietor on July 3, 1911.
Charles M. Solon was born in Springfield, Illinois, November 17, 1884, the son of T. J. and Mary (Reed) Solon. Thomas J. Solon, the father, is a native of County Mayo, Ireland, and came to America when a young man. While a resident of Springfield, Illinois, he married Mary Reed, a native of that city. Mr. Solon is a shoemaker by trade and ope- rates a shop at 113} East Third Street. T. J. and Mary Solon are parents of the following children: John J., San Francisco, California; Charles
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M., subject of this sketch; Thomas J., lost his eyesight by accident, at- tended a school for the blind, learned piano tuning and is now following his profession in St. Louis, Missouri; Catherine, wife of J. L. Williams, Sedalia; Mary, wife of B. F. Whalen, Sedalia, Missouri.
Charles M. Solon attended the parochial and high schools of Sedalia and for eight years prior to engaging in business for himself he was in the employ of the Sedalia Hardware Company.
Mr. Solon was married April 22, 1914, to Miss Irene Kilgore, of Se- dalia, a daughter of William and Nancy (Mooney) Kilgore, residents of Sedalia, who also have a son, Leo Kilgore, an employe in the Missouri, Pacific railway shops. Mr. and Mrs. Solon have a son, William Thomas, seventeen months old. The Solon family residence is located at 1100 West Third Street.
Charles H. Raiffeisen .- For a long period of seventy years the Raif- feisen family have been identified with the business and farming inter- ests of this section of Missouri, and its members are universally re- spected as honest and industrious citizens. A worthy member of this excellent family is Charles H. Raiffeisen, for many years a business man of Sedalia, and popular with many citizens of Pettis County. His genial demeanor and kindly nature have made him many warm friends who esteem him for his many good qualities of heart and mind. Mr. Raif- feisen, was born in Morgan County, Missouri, the son of Carl C. Reif- feisen, one of the pioneers of that county.
Carl C. Reiffeisen was born across the waters in Germany near Coblenz, on the Rhine, and when a young man, in 1849, he set sail for America from Antwerp, Holland. Arriving at New Orleans after a long voyage in a sailing vessel he came up the Mississippi River to St. Louis and on the Missouri River by boat to Jefferson City, and thence overland to Haw Creek, near Florence in Morgan County. Here he took advantage of the fact that vast areas of free government awaited the homeseeker, and he entered farming land and created a farm from the wilderness. Here he followed agricultural pursuits and reared a considerable family of sons and daughters. He departed this life in 1907 at the great age of eighty-seven years, and his remains were interred in the cemetery at Sedalia. Early in life he married Charlotte Schupp who proved to be a worthy and faithful helpmeet to him in the task of carving a home and rearing an excellent family.
Mrs. Raiffeisen died in 1911 at the age of seventy-nine years and her remains were laid to rest beside those of her husband. The Raiffeisen
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children are: William, C. Julius, Chalres H., Charlotte, Albrecht, Amelia, Marie and Sophia. William Reiffeisen resides in Sedalia and is a car- penter in the employe of the car-building and repair department of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway. He married Bessie Homan and has two children, Carl and Edna. C. Julius Raiffeisen resided on the home farm until twenty-two years of age, then clerked in a general store for ten years and in the fall of 1888 became connected with the J. A. Lamey Manufacturing Company. Mr. Raiffeisen is a partner in the business and is vice-president of the company. He is also president of the Arkansas Rice Land Development Company which owns and is develop- ing a large tract of 1,040 acres of land in Arkansas. C. Julius Raiffeisen was married in 1882 to Miss Elizabeth Wolff; of California, Missouri, and for the past two years they have resided at Long Beach, California.
Carl C. Raiffeisen was a veteran of the Civil War. He enlisted in the Union Army at Florence, Missouri, and after one year's service in the field he was honorably discharged from the service on account of defective eyesight. He then enlisted in the Missouri Home Guards and served until the close of the war. William F. Raiffeisen, an uncle of Charles H. Raiffeisen, who remained in Germany, is known to fame as the originator of the Rural Credit System. which did much to amelliorate the financial condition of small European farmers and was extended to this continent in later years. For a number of years Charles H. Raif- feisen was a member of the Southern Commercial Congress, an organiza- tion which was instrumental in building up a Rural Credits System in this country, although the direct aim of this Congress was not accom- plished in entirety, a nation-wide interest in the question was brought about. The United States Government eventually became interested and the present plan of loaning money to farmers through farm loan asso- ciations was recently inaugurated. Mrs. William Raiffeisen has a brother, Corporal Raymond Homan who enlisted at Fort Scott, Kansas, and was sent to Camp Funston for training and is now in France serving as a brave soldier in defeating the Huns and making the world safe for free democratic government.
Charles H. Reiffeisen was reared to young manhood on his father's farm and followed farming until twenty-two years of age. He came to Sedalia in the fall of 1880 and for the ensuing six years was employed as salesman until he engaged in retail and mail order business on his own account. Mr. Raiffeisen's place of business is located at 115 West Main Street.
Mr. Raiffeisen was married in 1886 to Miss Katie Bahrenburg, of
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near Cole Camp, Missouri. To this marriage was born a son, Otto J., a graduate of the Missouri State University, Engineering Department in 1910, who is now employed as chief draughtsman and assistant chief en- gineer for the Arizona Copper Company at Clifton, Arizona.
The other children of Carl C. and Charlotte Raiffeisen are: Char- lotte, wife of W. P. Siegel, Syracuse, Missouri; Albrecht, died in 1889 at Sedalia; Miss Amalia Raiffeisen, Long Beach, California; Mary, wife of Lewis Mothersbaugh, Syracuse, Missouri; Cophia Raiffeisen, Long Beach, California.
A. L. Dickman, jeweler and optometrist, 113 Ohio Street, Sedalia, Missouri, was born in Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, March 7, 1870. He is a son of C. H. and Flora (Thomas) Dickman, the former a native of Germany. C. H. Dickman came to America from his native land when sixteen years of age and located at Fulton, where he remained until 1875. He then located in Sedalia where he died in 1903. His widow makes her home in Sedalia with her daughter, Mrs. Herman Ludemann. The chil- dren born to C. H. and Flora Dickman are as follows: Anna, wife of J. R. Major, Chicago, Illinois; Minnie, wife of C. F. Walch, Sedalia, Mis- souri; Clara, wife of H. C. Ludemann, Sedalia; Bertha, wife of Harry Wolf, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
A. L. Dickman was educated in the public schools and the Robbins Business College. His first employment was with the J. West Goodwin Company as news carrier of the Sedalia "Bazoo." His next position was a clerkship in the drug store of Q. C. Slack and later with Dr. R. T. Miller. The Miller store kept a stock of drugs and jewelry and maintained a re- pair department. While employed in this store, Mr. Dickman learned the trade of jeweler and in 1891, he embarked in business for himself at Pilot Grove, Missouri. Three years later he located in Sedalia, in a room to the rear of the Sedalia National Bank, where he remained in business for six years. Being ambitious to perfect himself in the various depart- ments adjunct to the jeweler's business he went east in 1893 and studied optometry and graduated from the Philadelphia Optical College in 1894. Upon his return to Sedalia he added an optical department to his store and moved to 113 South Ohio street, to his present location, in 1903. The Dickman establishment carries a splendid line of watches, clocks, jew- elry, and specializes in fitting optical goods and Mr. Dickman is one of the most successful optometrists in the State of Missouri. A first-class watch and clock repair department is maintained in the Dickman estab- lishment which is one of the best equipped in its various lines in the State.
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A. L. Dickman was married in 1898 to Miss Stella Meredith of Black- water, Cooper County, Missouri, a daughter of George and Lou (Burney) Meredith, the former of whom is deceased and the latter lives at Miami, Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs, Dickman have an attractive and pleasant home at 1607 West Third Street. Mr. Dickman is a member of the American Optical Association, the Missouri State Optical Association and the Jewelers Association of Missouri.
Nicholas Hocker Gentry .- It is not given to many men to achieve a fame and renown which is world-wide in their particular professions, or to receive the highest honors from their fellows which can possibly be bestowed upon them. Pettis County is famous the world over for the fine livestock which is produced and bred within the confines of the county. In this county reside citizens who have had much to do with making Pettis County famous as a livestock breeding center. Among them, and one of the foremost, is Nicholas Hocker Gentry, owner of "Wood Dale Farm," a splendid country estate of 520 acres in Cedar township. Mr. Gentry has lived upon his land since the date of his birth, March 16, 1850. During the sixty-eight years of his residence in this county he has won fame and honors for himself which are unsurpassed in the fraternity of breeders of livestock. Mr. Gentry's reputation as a breeder of Berkshire swine is worldwide, and he has been acclaimed the greatest Berkshire hog breeder in the United States and the the entire world by the leaders in the livestock industry.
Mr. Gentry began breeding Shorthorn cattle when he was eighteen years of age, and achieved a considerable reputation in this field, dispos- ing of the products of his herd at private sales to buyers in all parts of the United States. His success as a breeder of Berkshires has far over- shadowed his accomplishments in other fields, however. His "Wood- Dale" herd of Berkshires is the finest in the world without exception. At the World's Fair held at St. Louis in 1904, where the greatest exhibit of Berkshires ever held in the world was shown, he was awarded twent- six prizes out of thirty-one offered, for having exhibited the greatest Berkshires ever shown-every one of which was bred and raised on "Wood Dale Farm" in Pettis County. Prior to this fair Mr. Gentry was awarded more prizes and more prize money than any other exhibitor of swine of any breed at the World's Fair in Chicago, in 1893. "Wood Dale" herd competed with the best herds of America, as well as the most noted prize winners from the leading shows in England, both in 1892 and 1893.
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