USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 44
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In October, 1864, Mr. Kemp enlisted for service with the Confederate forces in Colonel Wood's Regiment, Marmaduke's Brigade, General Price's Division, and took part in the memorable retreat of Price's army down
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through Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, finally surrendering at Shreve- port, Louisiana. After the surrender he returned home to live a life of industry and peace upon the farm.
Margaret Lavina (Steele) Kemp, for many years his devoted and faithful wife, was born October 21, 1850, and died January 28, 1907. The children born to Padfield and Margaret L. Kemp are: Edward, rural mail carrier on route No. 1, out of Sedalia; Arthur Hall Kemp, constable of Sedalia township; Mrs. Ella McFarland, Bowling Green township; Lillie May, deceased; Rosa, wife of Dr. Simcoe, of Callaway County; Ora, wife of Rev. Hugh Barley, Benton, Kansas; Harry Hall, deceased; Margaret, her father's capable housekeeper. Mrs. Margaret Kemp was born in Callaway County, a daughter of John Steele, a Callaway County pioneer.
Mr. Kemp has always been a Democrat, and it is practically certain that he will always remain loyal to Democratic principles of government. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is well respected and esteemed by all who know him.
James William Blackburn, retired Houstonia, is a native Missourian, and is a son of Missouri pioneer parents. He was born March 5, 1842, in Shelby County, Missouri, and is a son of Samuel and Nancy (Grewell) Blackburn, both natives of Kentucky.
Samuel Blackburn was born in 1800 and died in 1880. He was a son of Robert Blackburn, a native of North Carolina, who was a pioneer in Kentucky. When seeking a location in Kentucky, Robert Blackburn, ac- companied by his two brothers, rode horseback from North Carolina to Kentucky, at a time when the entire country between his native State and Kentucky was an unsettled wilderness. Samuel Blackburn was reared in Kentucky and there married Nancy Grewell, who was born in 1810 and died in 1875. She was a daughter of John Grewell, a native of Delaware who was also a Kentucky pioneer. In 1836, Samuel Blackburn and his wife settled in Shelby county, Missouri, and there developed a fine farm. He was one of the first pioneers in Shelby County and was prominently identified with the development of that county. Samuel and Nancy Blackburn had a family of ten children, as follow: Marshall; Mary; Elizabeth; and Thompson, deceased; Emma, wife of Robert Given, Saline County ; James W., subject of this review; John N., lives in Shelby County ; Samuel T., the present county judge of Shelby County; Webster and Robert, deceased.
J. W. Blackburn was reared in Shelby County and was educated in the common schools of his native county. When the Civil War broke
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out he tried to enlist in the Confederate Army, but his martial aspira- tions were very much opposed by his father. However, so determined was the young man to take a part in the fighting that he enlisted with the Confederate forces at a camp in the neighborhood and then returned to his home to get a supply of clothes. After returning home he was captured by Union forces and prevented from joining the Confederate Army as a soldier. Later he served in the Missouri Home Guards. When he attained his majority, he began farming on his own account in Shelby county and became owner of a farm in his native county. He sold out in 1873 and came to Saline County where he engaged in farming until 1883. In that year he came to Pettis County and purchased a farm, six miles east of Houstonia. He erected a good home on this tract and other sub- stantial buildings and improved a fine farm of 320 acres. Mr. Blackburn sold this farm in 1911, and then located upon a larger place, three and a half miles west of Houstonia in Blackwater township. The Blackburn farm consists of 490 acres and is one of the best improved places in northern Pettis County. Mr. Blackburn turned over the farm manage- ment to his son in 1916 and moved to Houstonia.
March 5, 1863, James W. Blackburn and Miss Mary T. Simpson were united in marriage. To this union were born ten children: Annie, Sam- uel W., Emma J., Josiah L., Vinie, Alice, Joshua, Ruby, Porter, Granville.
Annie is the wife of Joseph Franklin and resides on a farm near Knob Noster, Missouri. She is mother of seven children: Joseph, For- rest, Ruby, Thomas, Nell, Annie Lee, James.
Samuel W. was born November 24, 1865, and died in November, 1914, near McAllister Springs, Missouri. He had married Miss Uda Bennett and left three children: Marianna, Ganelle and Porter.
Emma J. is the wife of John Montgomery, living eight miles west of Houstonia and has four children: Philip, Grace, James and Mary.
Josiah L. is a prosperous farmer, living east of Houstonia. He married Kate Schondelmaier and has three children: Ruth, James and Lee.
Vinie died at the age of eighteen months. Alice died at the age of six years. Joshua and Ruby are deceased.
Dr. Porter Blackburn is a practicing physician in St. Louis. He married Miss Alice Dodd.
Granville Blackburn resides on the home farm in Blackwater town- ship. He married Oak Montgomery and has two children: James and Robert.
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Mr. Blackburn has two grand sons, Joseph and Forrest Franklin, serving in the National Army. Both boys enlisted in the service soon after the United States declared war upon Germany and are soldiers in the Thirty-fifth Division, American Expeditionary Forces. They have participated in some hard-fought battles on the western front in France.
Mrs. Mary T. (Simpson) Blackburn, mother of the foregoing chil- dren, was born in Monroe County, Missouri, October 14, 1845, and de- parted this life November 30, 1918. She was a daughter of Walker and Catherine Ann (Dixon) Simpson and was a devoted wife and a kind and helpful mother whose loss is sincerely mourned not only by her fam- ily but the people of the Houstonia neighborhood. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and a devoted christian woman in every sense of the word christian.
Mr. Blackburn is a Democrat in politics and is a member of the Pres- byterian Church.
James Henry Newland, proprietor of a well-improved and fertile farm, situated on the Rock Road, which forms the first link of the Sedalia- Booneville Highway, is a native of Polk County, Missouri. He was born August 20, 1859, and is a son of Judge William Henry and Mary (Carter) Newland. The Newland home place is situated in section 1 of Cedar township, and embraces 160 acres of good land, intersected by the rock road. This place has been the home of the Newlands since 1893, and is well improved with an attractive white farm house, good barns, a silo, and wire fencing. Mr. Newland is engaged in general farming and stock raising.
Judge William Henry Newland was born in Giles County, Tennessee, in 1817. He was reared to young manhood in his native county, and there married Mary Carter, a native of the same county. One year after their marriage they came to Polk County, Missouri, with their first born son, and there made a home among the first settlers of the county. Mr. New- land entered government land and improved a farm, upon which he resided until he made a permanent settlement in Pettis County, in 1866. He settled upon what is known as the Newland farm, near the village of Newland, so named in his honor. His home was just across the road from that of the subject of this sketch. Here he lived and died, engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture, his death occurring on September 22, 1906, at the great age of eighty-nine years. He served one term as Probate Judge of Polk County. Mrs. Mary Newland died in 1875, leaving
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children as follow, five living out of a family of ten children born: L. M. Newland, a farmer, living in Polk County, Missouri; Carter Newland, Marshall, Missouri; D. Clinton, living on a part of the home place; James Henry Newland, of this review; Mrs. Anna Suddath, Linn, Osage County, Missouri, whose husband is a Methodist minister.
J. H. Newland attended the district school of his neighborhood, and began to make his own way in the world in 1888. He possessed a team of horses and a mule. For two years he made his home with his father, while engaged in tilling rented land. He then purchased fifty-four acres, valued at $500. His first payment on this farm was $250. With the assistance of a capable and devoted wife he has accumulated a quarter section of land, which is free from all incumbrances.
On August 2, 1888, Mr. Newland was married to Miss Addie New- land, who was born near Fulton, Callaway County, Missouri, February 20, 1864. She is a daughter of Samuel and Mary W. (Martin) Newland, the latter of whom was born in 1823 and died in 1913. Samuel Newland was a native of Clark County, Kentucky, and his wife was born in Bour- bon County, Kentucky. Mary W. (Martin) Newland was a daughter of John W. Martin, who settled in Callaway County in 1828, and died there at the age of fifty-seven years.
Mrs. Newland died in 1913, at the age of ninety years. Samuel New- land located in Callaway County in 1834. He died in 1892, at the age of eighty-four years. Five children have been born to James Henry and Addie Newland, as follow: John Fulton, Mary L., Charles, Henry Wilson, and Samuel Francis. John Fulton Newland was born October 22, 1891, became a private in the National Army October 20, 1918, and was in training at Camp Bowie, near Fort Worth, Texas, and trained at Camp Stanley, San Antonio, Texas, in the cavalry, until his honorable discharge from the service, December 20, 1918. Mary L. Newland is at home with her parents. Charles Joseph, at home with his parents, was born January 20, 1897, was inducted into the National Army in August, 1918, received an honorable discharge and was placed in the deferred classification list. Henry Wilson Newland, aged eighteen years, assists his father on the farm. Samuel Francis Newland was born in January, 1905.
For a period of five years Mr. Newland and his brother operated a general store at the village of Newland, and conducted the Newland post- office until rural route No. 1 was established and the postoffice then discontinued. He is a stanch and uncompromising Democrat of the old
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school, who has always taken an active interest in political matters on behalf of Democratic policies and his friends. He is a member of the Beaman Lodge, Woodmen of the World. Mrs. Newland professed the Presbyterian faith at the age of fourteen years in Callaway County.
John Ellis Mitchell, M. D .- For the past twenty years Dr. John E. Mitchell, of Hughesville, has been practicing his profession as physician in the farming sections of Pettis County. His power of diagnosis, and ability to prescribe and heal the sick and ailing has grown and his skill has become more pronounced with the years that have passed. The life of a country physician is not one of ease, and does not permit of remain- ing in a cosy and comfortable office to prescribe for visiting patients. The doctor must be ready at all times to respond to the call of distress, at any hour of the day or night, no matter what the condition of the weather or roadways. Doctor Mitchell has measured up to the require- ments of his difficult and exacting profession and has kept pace with the advancements made in medical science since his graduation, in 1898, from the Medical University. In addition to his physician's duties he is a successful agriculturist. Doctor Mitchell is owner of 720 acres of very fine land, near the town of Hughesville, which he is improving into a splendid country estate, and which is devoted to stock raising. Dr. J. E. Mitchell was born in Hughesville township, February 26, 1872, the son of James Dillard Mitchell, a native of Cooper County, and former well and favorably known resident of Pettis County.
James Dillard Mitchell, late of Hughesville township, was born in 1835 and died in 1908. He was a son of Fleming H. Mitchell, a native of Tennessee, who was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving under that famous hero, Gen. Andrew Jackson, whose standard he followed in the memorable battle of New Orleans. Fleming H. Mitchell settled in Cooper County, Missouri, in 1820, when much of this section of Missouri was in a wild and undeveloped state. He cleared his pre-emption of heavy timber and created a farm from the wilderness, on the land grant which a grate- ful government awarded him for services in the War of 1812. He assisted in clearing the site of the present city of Boonville, Missouri, and was quite prominent in political affairs in Cooper County, for years being one of the leading citizens of the county. In his old age he came to live with his son, James D., at his country home near Hughesville, and died here, aged over eighty years. James D. Mitchell was reared in Cooper County, and was brought up to lead a farmer's life. In 1865 he located in Hughes-
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ville township and created in the course of years a splendid farm of 420 acres in section 29. His hobby was the growing of apples, and he planted forty acres of his farm to apple trees, carefully caring for the trees while his sons attended to the farming operations. One crop alone brought him the large return of $2,500, and for years the Mitchell orchards were famous in this locality.
James D. Mitchell was married in 1858 to Miss Mary K. Ellis, who survives him and now resides at 705 Harrison street, Sedalia, Missouri. Mrs. Mary K. (Ellis) Mitchell was born in 1836 at Georgetown, a daugh- ter of Willis B. Ellis, who served as sheriff of Pettis County during the troublesome times of the Civil War. Ten children were born to this union : Thomas A., a farmer, Hughesville township ; Fleming S., deceased ; Dr. John E. Mitchell, of this review; Dr. H. E. Mitchell, who died in 1917, while serving on the staff of Grace Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri; Dr. J. D. Mitchell, a practicing dentist, Sedalia, Missouri; William and James. died in infancy; Mrs. Nellie Brashears, a widow, residing with Mrs. Mitchell; Mrs. Leonidas Luther, Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Julia A. Smith, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dr. J. E. Mitchell studied at the Warrensburg State Normal School, and there finished his classical studies before entering Washington University, at St. Louis, to pursue the study of medicine. He was a student of the Washington University when it was merged with the State University and created into the Medical Department of Missouri State University. He received his degree in 1898, and at once began practice at Poston, Missouri. He remained at Poston in active practice until 1912, and then located in Hughesville. Dr. Mitchell has an extensive and lucrative prac- tice, which extends over a radius of territory twelve to fifteen miles in extent. In addition to his extensive private practice he is the physician in charge of the County Home.
Doctor Mitchell was married June 25, 1902, to Miss Sallie Elmore, a daughter of Oliver Elmore, late of Heath's Creek township, and one of the prominent early settlers of Pettis County. The reader is referred to the sketch of N. P. Elmore, of Sedalia, for extended information regard- ing the Elmore family. Doctor and Mrs. Mitchell have two sons and a daughter: John Ellis Mitchell, Jr., born 1904; James Oliver Mitchell, born in 1906, and Mary Emeline, born in 1908.
The Democratic party has always had the support of Doctor Mitchell. He is a member of the Pettis County and the Missouri State Medical
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societies. He and Mrs. Mitchell worship at the Christian Church of Hughesville. Doctor Mitchell is vice-president of the Hughesville Bank, and is fraternally affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America lodges.
George W. Landes .- There must be considerable satisfaction in being able to say, if one is a farmer that he has made and created what is visible to the eye of the outward appearance of the farmstead. This is what George W. Landes, a native Virginian, has accomplished in Hughes- ville township. His fine farm of 190 acres, with its neat farm residence in the center of the tract, is ample evidence of the fact that Mr. Landes has built up his estate from land which had little or no improvements on it when he purchased it, in 1885. The Landes farmstead is noteworthy from the fact that none but pure-bred hogs are raised on the place. Mr. Landes maintains a herd of from sixty to one hundred head of pure-bred Poland China swine on his place, which are sold to hog fanciers at good prices, in all parts of the United States. During past years he held several successful annual sales, but lately disposes of the animals at private sales and has a demand for all that his breeding pens can produce. He owns a herd of pure-bred Angora goats, and has a fine herd of pure-bred shorthorn cattle, part of which are eligible to registration.
Mr. Landes was born August 17, 1855, in Augusta, near Staunton, Virginia, the boyhood home of President Wilson. He is a son of Abraham and Isabella (Finley) Landes, the former a native Pennsylvanian, and the latter of Virginia. His parents spent all of their lives in Virginia, his father dying there in 1866, and his mother departing this life in 1862. Abraham and Isabella Landes were the parents of five children: Josiah, spent his life in Virginia and died there, in 1918; George W., of this review; Marion, deceased; Riley, LaMonte, Missouri; Anna, wife of Rev. Eusler, a Methodist minister of Maryland.
Left an orphan when eight years of age, George W. Landes was reared in the home of kindly strangers and received a good up-bringing. When twenty-one years old he started out to make his own way. He spent one year in Ohio, and lived in Illinois from 1876 to 1878. In the latter year he came to Pettis County, and during the first year of his residence in this county he was employed at farm labor for monthly wages. He then rented land near LaMonte for six years, in the meantime saving enough money to pay the initial purchase price of his present homestead. His forty years of residence in Pettis County have brought
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him success, warm friends, and, although past sixty-three years of age, Mr. Landes is a young man in appearance and actions. The Landes home is modern in every respect, with lighting system, furnace and running water. In fact, the entire farm is a model of its kind.
In 1880, George W. Landes and Mary Todd were united in marriage. They have children as follow: Luther Earl, deceased; Annie L., wife of Dr. John G. Martin, New Mexico ; Lester C., Hughesville, Missouri, married Ethel George, and has two children; Harvey, born in 1892, formerly a private soldier in the National Army in training at Camp McArthur, where he went in July, 1918, and was honorably discharged from the service in January, 1919; Ralph Marion, Ruby May and Mary M., at home.
The mother of the foregoing children was born in Ohio, a daughter of J. A. and Isophene (Bobbitt) Todd, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana. The Todd family migrated to Pettis County and made a settlement near LaMonte. Mrs. Todd is deceased, and Mr. Todd now resides in Texas, having reached the great age of eighty-one years.
Mr. Landes is a Democrat. He is a member of the Christian Church, and is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America Lodge of Hughes- ville.
Jonathan McNutt, late esteemed resident of Heath's Creek township, was born on October 7, 1838, and died in 1893. He was born and reared in Ohio, and accompanied his parents to Kansas prior to the Civil War, and homesteaded land in the new State when Kansas was thrown open for settlement to the homesteaders. Mr. McNutt served for a time in a Kansas regiment of volunteers during the Civil War, and after the war he came to Pettis County, Missouri, after disposing of his farm in Frank- lin County, Kansas. He purchased and improved a farm in Pettis County and became owner of 145 acres. He was twice married, his first wife being Emeline Sewell, who died in Kansas, leaving a daughter, Mrs. Flora Phillips, who died in Sedalia.
In 1888 Mr. McNutt was married to Mrs. Mary E. (Lawler) Ellis, who was born in Cooper County, Missouri, September 22, 1844. She is a daughter of Timothy and Mary Jane (O'Brien) Lawler, natives of Ireland. Timothy Lawler emigrated from Ireland and made his way to Missouri in the early days, and became well to do as a farmer and stockman. He was born in 1789 and died in 1854, settling in Cooper County as early as 1819. He reared a family of nine children, of whom Mary E. McNutt is the youngest, and her brother, William Lawler, aged
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eighty-five years, born July 6, 1833, a bachelor living with Mrs. McNutt, are the only survivors of this family. Mary E. Lawler was first married in 1866 in Cooper County to Benjamin F. Ellis, born in 1844, and died in 1877. Mr. Ellis served in the Confederate army, and fought at the Battle of Bull's Run and many other engagements in Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. He was badly wounded at Vicksburg. Mr. Ellis was born in Heath's Creek township, a son of John and Malinda (Ramey) Ellis, who first settled in Cooper County and then made a permanent home in Pettis County.
For two years prior to Mr. McNutt's death Mr. and Mrs. McNutt resided in Sedalia, Missouri. Five years later Mrs. McNutt returned to the farm. Mrs. McNutt is a member of Gilead Christian Church, and is a bright, intelligent and well-preserved lady of the old school.
William Hoffman, the oldest established merchant of Longwood and northern Pettis County has been engaged in the mercantile business since 1875. He began as clerk in a Longwood store, soon became inter- ested financially in the business and became sole proprietor in 1888. The Hoffman store is well stocked with a variety of general merchandise and a drug store owned by Dr. J. D. Prowell is maintained in connection. The drug business is in charge of W. M. Hoffman.
William Hoffman was born January 17, 1840 in Kingsport, Tennes- see. He is a son of Aaron and Mary Ann (Richardson) Hoffman, natives, respectively, of Virginia and Tennessee. The Hoffmans are of old Penn- sylvania Dutch descent, the Richardsons being of Scotch-Irish ancestry, a strain which produces thorough-going Americanism. Aaron Hoffman died at Athens, Alabama, while living with his eldest son who cared for him and his aged wife during their last years. Aaron Hoffman was father of eight children: John R., deceased; Mrs. Margaret J. Martin, died in Texas; Mrs. Lavina Skinner, Kingsport, Tennessee; James, de- ceased; Bruce died in childhood; Mrs. Helen M. Nelms, died in Kingsport, Tennessee; William, subject of this review; a daughter died in infancy.
In the summer of 1858, William Hoffman left his boyhood home and came to Pettis County. Sixty years of residence in this county have been productive of good results and he ranks as one of the substantial and well known pioneers of the county. For one year he taught school. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the old Confederate State Guard in 1861, and served under General Price. He was through Price's mem- orable campaigns, fought in many battles and skirmishes served in the
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WILLIAM HOFFMAN.
MRS. WILLIAM HOFFMAN.
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battle of Lexington, and returned home after the ending of Price's first campaign in Missouri. After remaining home a few days he found it expedient to leave, but was captured by a detachment of Company I, Jeff Davis' First Iowa Cavalry on Blackwater and taken to the old Gratiot Street Federal Prison in St. Louis. He was held there for six weeks and then transferred to the prison at Alton, Illinois. After being held there for seven months, he was exchanged and taken to Vicksburg where he was set free. He then crossed the Mississippi River to Little Rock, Arkansas, and enlisted at Camp Horsehead, Western Arkansas under Col. R. H. Musser. Musser's Battalion was organized at Camp Horse- head, Arkansas and afterwards consolidated with Gen. John B. Clark's Ninth Infantry regiment. This battalion participated in the battle of Pleasant Hill, and other minor battles. On the banks of Red River, the Confederate forces were divided, the Texas troops following the banks of the river and Mr. Hoffman's command went forward to meet Steele's Army on Saline River, Arkansas. After the battle of Jenkins Ferry, he was taken down with rheumatism, later being paroled by Gen. E. R. S. Canby at Shreveport, Louisiana, June 23, 1865. He was dis- charged June 23, 1865 from Company H, Ninth Missouri Infantry.
Mr. Hoffman remained in Louisiana for one year after his discharge and raised a crop of corn and cotton in Claiborne Parish. He returned to Pettis County in 1866 and taught school for the next three years. On November 29, 1869, he was married to Sarah Lavenia Martin, a native of Scott County, Virginia, adjacent to Mr. Hoffman's native county in Tennessee. She was born in 1840. Soon after his marriage Mr. Hoffman located in Longwood where he has since been engaged in the mercantile business.
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