USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 38
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Nathan A. Smith was the son of George Washington Smith who was born at Mint Springs, Virginia, May 10, 1810, and died April 10, 1894. He was a pioneer of the Otterville neighborhood and resided there during the Civil War, holding a quartermaster's commission for furnishing sup- plies for fourteen regiments of the Union Army. He was named in honor of George Washington and his mother was Nancy Neal, whose father came to America from Belfast, Ireland. George W. Smith was a son of John Smith, born in Pennsylvania in 1747 and served for seven years as a soldier in the Centinental Army under General Washington. He fought in the battles of the Brandywine, Saratoga, Germantown, Stillwater and was with Washington's Army at Valley Forge. He died in 1819 from disease contracted in the army. His home, in Albemarle County, Vir- ginia, adjoined Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.
Shields R. Smith was educated in the public and high schools of Otterville, Missouri, and the Hill's Business College in Sedalia, attend- ing the latter school when Mark A. McGruder had charge of the law de- partment. His first employment, after leaving school was with the New York Poultry and Egg Company, remaining with this company for one year, at their plant in Sedalia. He was then transferred to St. Louis in charge of the company's office in that city. In November of 1903 he
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went to Chicago in the employ of the Priebe-Swater Company as traffic manager. He returned to St. Louis on September 30, 1904, as traffic manager for the National Poultry and Egg Company. In October, 1906, he entered the employ of the Bell Telephone Company as division store- keeper, with headquarters at Sedalia. He was next appointed solicitor and adjuster of claims, and in September of 1907 he was appointed to the post of manager. In November, 1910, Mr. Smith was elected man- ager of the Sedalia Home Telephone Company, and in July, 1913, he ac- cepted the post of district manager of the. Kinloch Long Distance Tele- phone Company for central and southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas, positions which he is now capably and efficiently filling.
Mr. Smith was married on October 10, 1908, to Miss Elizabeth Geigel of Sedalia, Missouri, a daughter of William (b. September 28, 1854, d. May 7, 1916) and Susan (Roef) Geigel (b. May 11, 1854, d. July 3, 1889), who were parents of the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth Smasel, Cole Camp, Missouri; William, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Mrs. Susie Mergen, Sedalia. Mr. and Mrs. Smith reside at 404 West Fifth Street.
Mr. Smith is a Democrat and is a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. He is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and is past exalted ruler of the Sedalia Lodge and is a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Knights and Ladies of Security. He is vice-president of the Sedalia Chamber of Commerce.
Arthur C. Harter, manager of the Sedalia Milling Company, was born in Windsor, Missouri, October 16, 1874. He is a son of Morris (b. 1840, d. 1908) and Nancy Elizabeth (Bass) Harter. Morris Harter was born in Indiana, February 18, 1840, and came to Missouri in 1870, locating in Henry County where he operated a sawmill which he pur- chased of. a Mr. Weaver. For some time after his arrival here he did commercial sawing of lumber and also operated a grist mill under the firm name of Weaver & Harter. Mr. Harter came from Windsor to Se- dalia in 1876 and engaged in the milling business in partnership with Samuel Zimmerman, under the firm name of Zimmerman & Harter. The business was incorporated in 1892 and the name of the firm was changed to the Sedalia Milling Company. In 1895 Mr. Harter became sole pro- prietor of the mill and it is still operated by members of his family.
Morris Harter served in Company K, Third Indiana Cavalry, throughout the Civil War. He was wounded at Missionary Ridge by a minnie ball through the right thigh and lay in the hospital for some time.
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Returning to his home after his discharge he made a trip to Missouri, with a view to seeking a location. At no time during the war was the Third Indiana Cavalry Regiment entirely together. The regiment was split up into good detachments and took part in Sherman's March to the Sea. Mr. Harter saw a great deal of action and ardous services. He taught school in Indiana when a young man. He was attending school at Frankfort, Indiana when war broke out. He died August 28, 1908.
Three children were born to Morris and Nancy Elizabeth Harter, as follows: Mamie, wife of M. B. Thornburgh, Owatonna, Minnesota ; Jewel, wife of W. I. Thomas, Sedalia; Arthur C. Harter, of this review. Mrs. Nancy Elizabeth Harter was born in Missouri in 1846 and now makes her home at 511 West Second Street.
' Arthur C. Harter attended the Sedalia public schools and the Cen- tral Business College of Sedalia and was practically brought up in the milling business. When a boy he entered his father's mill and acquired a thorough knowledge of milling. Upon his father's death he succeeded him as the head of the business and now ranks as one of the leading millers of this section of Missouri.
The Sedalia Milling Company is one of the really important manu- facturing concerns of Sedalia. Upon Mr. Harter's death the company was re-incorporated by A. C. Harter, his mother, and sisters, with a capi- tal stock of $40,000. With the expansion of the business and consequent growth under A. C. Harter's management the capitalization ,was in- creased in 1918 to $150,000. The firm buys and sells grain and flour. The mill has a capacity of 200 barrels of flour daily, together with an output of 100 barrels of meal, and 1,000 sacks of feed. The special brand of flour manufactured by the Sedalia Milling Company is the popular "Blue Barrel Patent" which has been made by the firm for over thirty- eight years and is a prime favorite with housekeepers over a large sec- tion of territory.
A. C. Harter was married June 4, 1902, to Mrs. Josie Brimmer, nee Atkins, a daughter of Sloughter and Sarah Atkins of Pettis County. By her former marriage Mrs. Harter has two children: Raymond L. Brim- mer, born November, 1893, enlisted in the United States Navy, Sub- marine Service and is now serving as first-class electrician on U. S. Sub- marine L-8; Harvey Brimmer enlisted during the war in Company 10, Truck Service Division, U. S. A., having entered training at the Rahe Army Auto School, Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Harter reside at 223 South Stewart Street.
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Mr. Arthur C. Harter is one of Sedalia's most progressive and en- terprising business men who has rapidly forged to the front rank in the commercial life of the city and is one of the leaders in the movement to place Sedalia in the front ranks of Missouri's manufacturing and com- mercial centers. He is not alone a leader in his line of business, but takes a keen and absorbing interest in promoting the general welfare and prog- ress of his home city in advanced lines.
Dr. George F. Townsend, veterinarian, Sedalia, Missouri, was born in Smith County, Kansas, May 24, 1881. He is the son of Isaac F. (born January 31, 1837, died February 26, 1912,) and Julia Frances (Hart) Townsend (born in 1841). Isaac F. Townsend was born near or at Henry- ville, Indiana, and was the son of George Harmon Townsend, a native of Clark County, Indiana, born in 1811. George Townsend, the elder, was the son of Isaac Townsend, of New York, a soldier of the Revolution, whose father immigrated from Holland to America in pre-revolutionary days and made a settlement in New York. The Townsend family is probably one of the oldest of the American families. Isaac Townsend was reared to young manhood in Indiana, and enlisted at Jeffersonville, Indiana, for service in an Indiana regiment and served for three years in the Civil War. He homesteaded land in Smith County, Kansas, in 1876, and there reared his family. His wife, Julia Frances (Hart) Townsend was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and now resides at Smith Center, Kansas. I. E. and Julia Frances Townsend were parents of five children. Those living are: William H. and Charles H., living at Smith Center, Kansas; Mrs. Lela May Shook, Greene, Iowa, and Dr. George F. Townsend, subject of this sketch.
After attending the public and high schools of Smith Center, Kansas, George F. Townsend studied for two years in the State Normal School at Emporia, Kansas, and one year at the Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas. He then studied for three years at the Kansas City Veterinarian College and graduated from this institution. He located in Sedalia on April 15, 1913, and practiced in partnership with Doctor Warren for one year. He then opened an office at 116 South Kentucky street, and has built up a splendid practice in Sedalia and the surrounding country. For the past three years Doctor Townsend has been Deputy State Veterinarian.
Doctor Townsend was married August 28, 1907, at Columbus, Indiana, to Bertha May Stuckey, a daughter of Joseph L. and Lydia (Everode) Stuckey, who now reside at Columbus, Indiana. Mrs. Townsend's grand-
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father, David Everode, was a veteran of the Civil War, and died in Sep- tember, 1918, aged eighty-four years. He and his wife celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary on January 28, 1918. Doctor and Mrs. Townsend have a daughter, Velma Fern, who was born at Smith Center, Kansas. The Townsend city residence is located at 602 West Sixteenth street.
Doctor Townsend is affiliated fraternally with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Missouri Valley Veterinarian's Association, and the State Veterinarian's Association, the former society being the largest in mem- bership of its class in the world.
Judge Isaac Moseley Danforth .- Living quietly and contentedly upon "Brookton Farm," northeast of Sedalia, a beautiful country estate of 160 acres, is a well-read, useful and universally respected pioneer citi- zen of Pettis County. Since March 17, 1869 "Brookton Farm" has been his home and the half century of time which Mr. Danforth has spent in Pettis County has been a very useful period in his life, given in great measure to the assistance and well being of his fellow men. Isaac M. Danforth was born in the city of Lafayette, Indiana, August 8, 1854, the son of Samuel Danforth, whose ancestry was of the very earliest of the families of old New England. The progenitor of the Danforth family in America was Nicholas Danforth, a native of Framlingham, England, who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1634. Nicholas Danforth had three sons, Samuel, Thomas and Jonathan. Samuel II was ordained a minister and graduated from the second class at Cambridge University in 1643. Anna, one of three daughters born to Nicholas Danforth was a direct ancestor of James A. Garfield. These three daughters were Eliza- beth, May and Anna. Samuel, direct ancestor of Judge Danforth, and son of Samuel, graduated from Cambridge in 1683, and had charge of a church at Taunton, Massachusetts. Thomas, son of Samuel (III) was born in Taunton, and established himself as an extensive brazier and pewter manufacturer at Norwich, Connecticut.
Thomas Danforth had four sons, among whom was Thomas (V), who had seven sons. His son Samuel (VI), grandfather of Judge I. M. Danforth, was born at Middleton, Connecticut, and died at Hartford, Connecticut. He was father of eight daughters and one son, Samuel (VII), father of the subject of this review. Four daughters of Samuel Danforth (VI) conducted a select school for young ladies in New York City.
I. M. DANFORTH.
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Samuel Danforth was born June 8, 1816, and died on his farm near Sedalia, Missouri, April 4, 1879. He was first married to Eliza Bullock, a daughter of William and Eliza Bullock of Lafayette, Indiana, February 6, 1842. Mrs. Eliza Danforth died without issue and on September 8, 1852, Samuel Danforth was married to Jemima Robinson, a daughter of Joseph. Robinson, a native of Lincolnshire, England. Mrs. Jemima Dan- forth died in 1864, leaving children as follow: Isaac Moseley, of this re- view; Charles Seymour, born March 4, 1856 and died July 10, 1871; Philura, died in Lafayette, Indiana; Anna Louisa is the wife of William P. Henderson, Sedalia, Missouri.
Samuel Danforth learned the trade of silversmith and jeweler at Hartford, Connecticut. After a stay of some years in New Orleans he located in Lafayette, Indiana, and conducted a jewelry store in that city for over thirty years. During the epidemic of cholera in 1848, he spent almost his entire time in assisting the sufferers and victims of the epi- demic. In 1869, he came to Pettis County, Missouri and purchased a farm where he resided until his death.
Many noted men have sprung from the first ancestor of the Dan- forths who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, nearly three centuries ago. Thomas Danforth, the oldest son of Nicholas, was vice-governor of Maine for a number of years. Charles Danforth was the founder of the Danforth Locomotive Manufacturing Company. Many members of the family have been teachers and ministers. A geneological history of the Danforth family issued in 1902 gives exhaustive information con- cerning this old family.
Isaac M. Danforth was educated in the public and high schools of Lafayette, Indiana, and was fifteen years of age when the family came to Missouri. For a period of fifteen years, Mr. Danforth represented the Home Insurance Company. In 1894 he removed to Sedalia and for five years was engaged in the insurance business with Landmann Brothers in the Missouri Trust Company's Building. In 1899 he returned to the farm where he is now making his home.
Mr. Danforth was married on October 25, 1882, to Miss Ella R. Murray, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1855, a daughter of George Murray, a contractor and builder. Mr. Murray was one of the pioneer contractors and builders of Sedalia and he erected a woolen mill and many of the finest residences of the city. The following children have blessed this marriage: George Moseley Danforth, a successful farmer who is
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operating 363 acres in Bowling Green township; Charlotte, died February 17, 1916, was wife of R. Sterling, and left two children, Wilson, aged two years, and Deloris, aged ten years; Charles Samuel, at home; Susie Lee, wife of John Glinker, with the Sedalia Light and Traction Company ; Edwin Virgil, born June 17, 1897, enlisted in the Auto Service of the Na- tional Army and studied at the Rahe Auto School, Kansas City, Missouri and was honorably discharged from the service December 9, 1918.
Judge Danforth is a member of Salem Methodist Church as is his son, Charles Samuel, superintendent of Salem Sunday schools, who is an ardent church and Sunday school worker and organizer, with a good address and ability to deliver a good speech. Judge Danforth is a Repub- lican and was once the candidate of his party for the position of represen- tative from Pettis County. He was elected judge of the County Court of Pettis County in November of 1904 and served from January 1, 1905 to January 1, 1909. His associates in the court were Judges Messerley and Rayburn during his first term. During the second term he was asso- ciated with Judges McAninch and Haggard. During his term of office much constructive work of a valuable and useful character was accom- plished or placed under way. The rock road district was extended to twelve miles and the $200,000 bond issue was voted after the district was formed. Judge Danforth was an active factor in promoting the good roads movement and at the Smithton meeting it was decided to extend the twelve mile limit. The road districts of the county were all re- arranged and he, with Judge Haggard, arranged thirty-eight road dis- tricts in the county. Judge Danforth and his associates in his first term also laid out the Sixteenth Street road direct to the Johnson County line.
Through his influence and direction, a more rigid enforcement of the Sunday closing laws, affecting the saloons, was obtained and the Sedalia saloon men were induced to remove the curtains from the front windows and doors on Sundays so as to afford an unobstructed view of the interior. Several saloons, which were found guilty of disregarding and breaking the Sunday closing laws, were closed entirely, and the greater number in Sedalia were finally induced to obey the laws-the result being more quiet and less drunkenness on the Sabbath than heretofore.
James N. Wilkerson, merchant, contractor and man of affairs in Sedalia, is a member of one of the oldest pioneer families in Missouri of Virginia ancestry. His grandfather, William Wilkerson was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1810 and came from Adair County, Ken- tucky, in 1836 and located on a farm, one and a half miles southwest of
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Higginsville, in Lafayette County, Missouri. William Wilkerson was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1810, his ancestors having come from Scotland to Virginia in pre-Revolutionary days. For over eighty years the members of this old family have been prominently identified with Missouri. He married Mehitable Kelly, born in Rowan County, North Carolina, in 1812 and died in 1904. Her mother was a Miss Malone, a native of Ireland, who died in Lafayette County, Missouri. John Wesley Wilkerson, father of James N. Wilkerson, was born in Lafayette County, Missouri in 1847, and died in 1875 at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he had removed from Lafayette County, and 'had engaged in farming. He was married to Lydia Pelley of Adair County, Kentucky, a member of the Pelley family who were prominent in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and formerly owned the land whereon the Fort Smith Cemetery is located. The children born to John W. and Lydia Wilkerson are: James N., sub- ject of this sketch; John, Eldorado, Kansas; Emma Carter Wilkerson, deceased; George Irvin, deceased. After the death of John W. Wilkerson his widow married George Ridge, a native of Lafayette County, and two children were born of this marriage: Hugh, deceased; Alice, wife of Fred Havens, Fort Smith, Arkansas.
During the boyhood days of the subject of this review the family were making a trip from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Warrensburg, Mis- souri, at a time when freshets had occurred and many streams were out of banks. Mr. Ridge, his stepfather, loaded the family and belongings in an ox-wagon and upon their arrival at Indian Creek, it was found that the stream was out of banks and several people were detained while wait- ing for the high waters to subside. One traveler offered $10 to any one who would get him and his buggy across the swollen stream. Mr. Ridge agreed to make the attempt and, taking the man's horse with the owner behind him, the horse swam across the stream with the double load in safety. He then returned and hitched the horse to the buggy, again making a successful crossing. Recrossing the river, he fastened the wagon bed of his outfit to the running gears with chains and compelled the oxen to swim the creek. Shortly afterward the family arrived at Joplin, then a hustling boom town. They stopped in Joplin for a short time and got acquainted with James Butcher, whose daughter some years later became the first wife of James N. Wilkerson.
James N. Wilkerson was reared in the home of his grandmother, Mehitable Wilkerson, and followed farming pursuits when a boy. He
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learned the trade of stone mason at Carthage, Missouri, and in 1888 re- moved to Sedalia and followed contracting and building. For several years he served as a member of the city police force and then went on the road as deputy for the Select Knights and Ladies, and later served as Supreme Deputy for this fraternal order from 1900 to 1907. Mr. Wil- kerson began the erection of houses in Sedalia in 1910 and during the past five years he has erected over fifty cottages in this city. He is owner of two farms, one of 200 acres and the other of 206 acres, on Spring Fork, and supervises the cultivation of his land. He is also proprietor of a grocery business, located at 103 West Main Street.
Mr. Wilkerson was first married in 1887 at Warsaw, Missouri, to Lusetta Butcher, who died on August 4, 1908, at Sedalia. Four children were born to this marriage: Jesse I., Sedalia; F. Claud, a leading attor- ney of Sedalia, a sketch of whom appears in this volume; Charles Otto, now serving in the United States Navy as coxswain with headquarters at D. Island, San Francisco; James N., died in infancy. Mr. Wilkerson's second marriage took place on August 21, 1909, with Mrs. Henry Ritt- man nee Laura Ridge. A daughter, Mary Virginia, was born to this marriage.
E. H. Bennett, proprietor of the E. H. Bennett Implement and Hardware Company, is one of the live business "wires" of Sedalia and Pettis County. Mr. Bennett began business at 214 South Osage street in February, 1918, and has developed a splendid trade during the short period in which he has been engaged in business. The Bennett concern has two storerooms, 60x120 feet, filled with a standard assortment of hardware, agricultural implements and harness. In addition to his gen- eral business, Mr. Bennett has charge of the local territory for the selling and installation of the Delco electric lighting system, a lighting plant particularly adapted to farm dwellings. The Delco system is probably the most successful and satisfactory lighting system manufactured today, and over one hundred and fifty plants are in use throughout Pettis County at the present time. The owners of the plants now in use in some of the finest farm residences in Pettis County are its most enthusiastic endorsers and advertisers.
Eugene H. Bennett was born in Osage County, Missouri, December 9, 1864, the son of Henry H. and Elizabeth (Jarvis) Bennett. Henry H. Ben- nett came to Missouri from Illinois during the thirties, and settled in Osage County, which was his home county for many years, until his death, at
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the age of ninety years. He was one of the adventurous plainsmen who crossed the great plains in the forties and went to the gold fields of Cali- fornia, where he remained until 1854, and then returned to Osage County and engaged in farming. The train with which he was connected had several brushes with the Indians on the overland trip, and eternal vigi- lance was the watchword of the members of the train. The wild men of the plains were always hovering about the outskirts and in the rear of the expedition, on the lookout for stragglers whom they could cut off, murder and rob, the Indians being too cowardly to attack a formidable train of upwards of one hundred wagons. Mr. Bennett was fond of recalling instances of his memorable trip and relating them to his children. There was one laggard with the outfit who had the bad habit of staying behind the others, always being last to get his team ready and the last to turn into the camp at nightfall. One day, when he had lagged too far in the rear he was beset by the Indians and was in danger of capture, but his comrades, fortunately, saw his predicament in time and rushed to his assistance and drove off the Indians. Ever after this laggard was among the first to be ready to take the trail and was always found in the van- guard of the train. When the Civil War broke out Henry H. Bennett enlisted with the Union Army and served for three years in behalf of the Union. His wife, Elizabeth (Jarvis) Bennett was born in Gasconade County, Missouri, and was living in that county when the first steam railroad was built through the county and entered Jefferson City. She died in 1913, and her remains were laid beside those of her husband in Mount Zion Cemetery, in Osage County.
To Henry H. and Elizabeth Bennett were born eight children: Henry H., deceased; William Nelson, deceased; Edwin, deceased, and Eugene H., of this review ; Mary Ann, divorced wife of George Snyder ; Martha (Bran- son), Osage County ; Mrs. Margaret Backchies, St. Louis, Missouri, and Mrs. Anna Bastin, Bell, Maries County, Missouri.
Eugene H. Bennett followed farming as an occupation from his boy- hood days. He resided in Osage County until 1901 and then came to Pettis County and purchased a large farm of 320 acres, near Hughesville. His son now owns this farm. Mr. Bennett followed farming and stock raising successfully until he came to Sedalia, in March, 1915. In February of 1918 he embarked in business.
Mr. Bennett was married January 14, 1886, to Sarah E. Hassler, a daughter of Pleasant H. and Amanda (Lisle) Hassler, the former of whom
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died in 1915 and the latter in 1912, their remains being interred in College Hill Cemetery, Osage County, Missouri. Ten children have been born to this marriage: Pleasant H., on the home farm near Hughesville; William N., engaged in the automobile business at Kansas City; Ray E., a soldier in the National Army, enlisted in May, 1917, and was sent to France with the expeditionary army in May, 1918; Fay, at home; Norris and Charles, at home ; May, wife of Charles Horan, Sedalia; Cora, wife of Henry Strobe, Sedalia; June, wife of Wesley Ream, living on a farm, six miles north of Sedalia ; Lula, at home. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have an attractive home at Eighteenth and Limit streets.
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