USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 45
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The following children were born to William and Sarah Hoffman: Genevra May, wife of Foree Bellwood, Saline County, Missouri, owner of a fine farm, and residing in Marshall, Missouri; Mrs. Dr. J. D. Prowell, Longwood, Missouri; Yolande, wife of W. Lee Lower, Longwood town- ship; one child died in infancy; William Martin, in charge of the Long- wood drug store. The mother of these children is a daughter of Thomp- son G. Martin who was prominent in the affairs of Scott County, Vir- ginia and represented his county in the Virginia State Legislature. Her mother was Denise W. (Morris) Martin. The Martins came to Pettis County after the Civil War, the widow dying in 1903 at the home of William Hoffman.
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Mrs. Genevra May (Hoffman) Bellwood is mother of the following children: Captain James M. Bellwood; Elithe, wife of William G. Boat- right, a lieutenant in the field artillery of the National Army, enlisted in 1917, and is now in France; William H., Ruth, a student in Missouri University ; "Blue Eyes," a student in Marshall High School; Foree and John, twins. Captain James M. Belwood enlisted in the Regular United States Army in 1917, was trained at Fort Riley, where he pursued the special officers course, and was first commissioned a second lieutenant, then promoted to a first lieutenancy then captain. He was ordered to France on November 5, 1918, as captain of Company A, Twenty-fifth Machine Gun Battalion, but when the armistice was signed his sail- ing date was cancelled and he is now located at Camp Sheridan, Alabama. Mrs. Yolande Lower has two daughters, Lavenia Martin and Catherine McLellan Lower. William H. Bellwood volunteered in the aviation de- partment of the National Army at the age of eighteen years, trained at Champaign, Illinois, transferred to Texas, returned to Champaign, was taken ill and was honorably discharged from the service.
While Mr. Hoffman is a Democrat he is inclined to vote independ- ently in local affairs. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. William Hoffman is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is connected with a family of religious workers, of pioneer days, her uncle, Rev. Dr. Patton of East Tennessee, was editor of the Hol- sten Christian Advocate for several years and prominent in church circles.
Robert Jordan Kemp .- Seventy-seven years have elapsed since Robert Jordan Kemp, pioneer of Heath's Creek township, was born, in a cabin on his father's primitive farm not far from his present home. Great changes have taken place in Pettis County since then. Few houses were to be seen on the prairies. The school house which the Kemp children attended was built of logs, and school was held for about three months in the year. Game abounded. Mr. Kemp recalls that it was a favorite pastime of his to catch wild turkeys in a trap, of his own contrivance, to the number of five and six birds at a time. The settlers had plenty of food; fish were plentiful, and the streams of Pettis County afforded a fisherman's paradise. The meetings of the settlers were held in the school house, and the primitive ox-cart was the principal mode of convey- ance, as well as the beast of burden.
The present pretty farmstead owned by Mr. and Mrs. Kemp in Heath's Creek township is a luxurious abode compared to the log cabin in which
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the boys and girls of the Kemp family were born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp have lived upon their farm of 200 acres for fifty years, and this fine farm is part of a large tract entered by Mr. Kemp's father in the early twenties. Every tree, every shrub, every plot of bluegrass, and every improvement on the place were erected by the owners. The spring of 1919 will witness a half-century since Mr. Kemp began the redemption of the tract from prairie land.
Robert Jordan Kemp was born March 22, 1841, and is the son of Thomas A. Kemp, an early pioneer of Heath's Creek township, a sketch of whom appears in this work in connection with that of Padfield N. Kemp of Heath's Creek township. In the spring of 1864 Mr. Kemp enlisted at Longwood, Missouri, with a company of men who joined General Price's army of invasion of Missouri. He participated in the famous retreat of Price's army down through Missouri and Kansas and Arkansas, and eventually surrendered with the Confederate forces at Shreveport, Louisiana.
On November 28, 1867, R. J. Kemp was married to Sallie H. Hiery- nomus, born in Pettis County, October 28, 1848. She is a daughter of Rector Hierynomus, a native of Kentucky, who settled in Pettis County in the early thirties. Seven children have blessed this marriage: Charles Henry, married Tillie Berry, and resides on the home place; Mrs. Eva Berry, Sedalia, has one child, Irene; Lenona, wife of William Hierynomus, is mother of six children; Joseph, deceased; Carrie, wife of James Rob- erts, Otterville, Missouri; has six children; Grover, resides in Natchez, Mississippi, and Elizabeth, deceased.
Rector Hierynomus was the son of John Hierynomus, who came from Kentucky to Pettis County in the early thirties and established a home in this county. He reared a large family of eighteen children, who were born of two marriages. His first wife was Susan Franz, of Kentucky, who died in 1861. She was a daughter of Henry Franz, a native of Vir- ginia and a Pettis County pioneer. There were nine children born to the first marriage: Catherine, deceased; John, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Mary Pace, a widow, living in Sedalia; Mrs. Sallie H. Kemp, of this review; Mrs. Nancy Garrell, Sedalia; Mrs. Vassa Kelly, a widow, living at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Frank, resides in Oklahoma; Benona, lives in Oklahoma; Mrs. Bettie Binckley, Sweet Springs, Missouri. By a second marriage of Rector Hierynomus with Susan Kemp, the following children were born: Charles, an auctioneer, Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Willie Tuck, wife of M. P. Tuck, Houstonia, Missouri; Mrs. Sue Anderson,
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Smithton, Missouri; Reuben, Washington; Mrs. Eliza Marr, Nelson, Mis- souri; Hope, a stenographer, employed in Sedalia; Tim, an auctioneer, Sedalia.
Mrs. Sallie Kemp was postmistress of Kemp postoffice for a period of eighteen years, and also conducted a store for several years.
Mr. Kemp is a Democrat. He and Mrs. Kemp are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. They are a jolly, hospitable and companionable couple, who are highly respected in their community.
Emmett David Orear .- The success achieved by E. D. Orear, cashier of the Bank of Longwood, Pettis County, shows that it is not necessary for an ambitious young man to go to a large city or town in order to win success. Mr. Orear was born and reared in the pretty inland town of Longwood, saw his opportunity in his home village, and has remained there. He discerned the need of banking facilities for the accommodation of the farmers and stockmen of the rich territory tributary to Long- wood, and joined with others in establishing the bank, a project which has met with well-deserved success. Only recently, in 1916, Mr. Orear erected one of the finest and most attractive modern homes in Pettis County. He is a successful farmer and stockman, as well as banker, his stock farm embracing 286 acres adjoining the town of Longwood. Mr. Orear raises pure-bred Duroc Jersey swine on his farm.
E. D. Orear was born August 15, 1877, in Longwood. He is a son of Judge E. H. Orear, now living in Sedalia. Judge Orear was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. When a young man he left his native State and came to Howard County, Missouri. Here he was married to Cinnia N. Moffett, born in Howard County, in 1843, a daughter of pioneer parents. Mrs. Orear died May 10, 1915. She was mother of the following children : Willie L., died at the age of forty-five years; Nannie, wife of Rev. S. P. Clayton, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, resides at Sedalia, Missouri; Mrs. Callie Gray, Marshall, Missouri, whose husband has served as county clerk of Saline County for the past six years; Cecil C., a farmer of Heath's Creek township; Emmett David, subject of this review ; Dollie, deceased; Alexis H., a merchant of Longwood.
Judge E. H. Orear was engaged in farming and stock raising in Longwood until his removal to a home in Sedalia, in 1900. He was a well- educated man, who was long a leader in his community. In 1888 he was elected to the office of probate judge of Pettis County, and served a term of four years, giving eminent satisfaction to the people of the county in the faithful performance of the duties of this important position.
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After obtaining his primary education in the public schools of Pettis County, E. D. Orear studied in the Nevada, Missouri, High School and the Warrensburg State Normal School. When he became of age he took charge of the home farm and has since been engaged in farming and stock raising and banking. He was married October 30, 1900, to Louise Lower, a daughter of the late Capt. John Lower, of Longwood township, a full account of whose life and career appears in this volume in connection with the biography of Judge R. N. Lower. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have two children: Mary Millicent, born October 24, 1902, now a student in the Synodical College, Fulton, Missouri, where she is a member of the sophomore class, and Ruby Louise, born January 19, 1905.
Mr. Orear is a Democrat, and he and his family are members of the Longwood Presbyterian Church.
The Bank of Longwood was organized in April of 1910 by E. D. Orear and a number of the substantial farmers of the Longwood neigh- borhood. The officers of the bank are: R. N. Lower, president; E. D. Orear, cashier; Clement Jones, vice-president. The seven directors are: E. D. Orear, R. N. Lower, Clement Jones, W. E. Taylor, J. B. Greer, Frank Hierynomus and Thomas J. Raines. This bank was established by and for the convenience of the farms of the Longwood neighborhood, and the institution has met with a well-merited and deserved success. The capital of the bank is $10,000. The deposits exceed $170,000. The surplus on January 1, 1919, has reached the total of $16,000.
The bank is housed in its own substantial, neat-appearing, concrete building, fitted with modern and handsome fixtures and every convenience for the transaction of the business which has come to the bank in a steadily increasing flow since its inception.
A. H. Orear, of A. H. Orear & Company, conducting a general mer- chandise store at Longwood, Missouri, is a native of Longwood. The firm is composed of A. H. and C. C. Orear, brothers, sons of Judge David H. Orear, a sketch of whom appears in this work in connection with that of E. D. Orear, bank, of Longwood. The Orear store is an old-established one, and is completely stocked with high-class and dependable goods, to supply the surrounding rural population. The firm began business in March, 1918.
A. H. Orear was born December 28, 1882, and received his early education in the Longwood schools. He then studied at Sedalia High School and the Warrensburg State Normal School. From 1914 to 1917, inclusive, he was engaged in the mercantile business at Virginia, Idaho.
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His first experience in the mercantile business was in Longwood, in 1911, in the old brick store building. He disposed of this business and went to Idaho, remaining there until 1918, when he came back to Longwood and purchased his present store.
Mr. Orear was married in March, 1911, to Miss Ethel Marshall, a daughter of R. A. Marshall, of Longwood township, a sketch of whom appears in this history. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have one child, David Allen, aged four years.
Mr. Orear is a Democrat, belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Cecil C. Orear, farmer and stockman, of Heath's Creek township, owner of 380 acres of land in Longwood township, besides 186.66 acres in his home place, is a native of Longwood. Mr. Orear's home farm is known as "Maple Lane Farm," and is one of the beautiful and well-improved farms of this section of Missouri. The farm is so named because of the rows of splendid maple trees which border the roadway in front of the residence. Mr. Orear feeds and produces over one hundred head of hogs and one hundred head of cattle annually on his place.
C. C. Orear was born January 3, 1872. He was educated in the common schools, Sedalia Business College, and the Kansas City public schools. He has generally been engaged in farming with the exception of one year employed in the stock yards at St. Louis, and twelve years spent in the mercantile business at Longwood. Mr. Orear moved to his present home in 1913.
In February, 1914, Mr. Orear was married to Velma Thorpe, of Napton, Saline County, Missouri, a daughter of John Thorpe. Mr. and Mrs. Orear have one child, Cecil C., Jr., born March 24, 1918.
Mr. Orear is a Democrat, who takes a commendable interest in polit- ical affairs. Mrs. Orear is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
William Alonzo Lower .- The late William A. Lower, of Longwood township, was a citizen of Pettis County, who made a splendid success of his life work. Born in Kentucky, he accompanied his father, Capt. George Lower, to Pettis County, when an infant in arms. He was reared to young manhood in this county, and became one of its leading and best-respected citizens through a long career. Mr. Lower achieved a repu- tation as a farmer and stockman second to none in Pettis County. Deviat- ing from the well-worn path of agriculture, followed since time immemo- rial by others in a mediocre way, he studied the science of animal hus-
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bandry and won fame as an expert breeder. His vocation was the pro- duction of pure-bred livestock, and in this he became successful and widely known.
W. A. Lower was born in Kentucky in 1853. Full particulars con- cerning his parentage and ancestry will be found in the sketch of Judge R. N. Lower, elsewhere in this volume of Pettis County history. Mr. Lower was reared and educated in Pettis County, and was brought up to follow the pursuit of agriculture. After his marriage, in 1878, he and his wife settled upon a quarter section of land which had come to them through inheritance. This 160-acre farm was but the nucleus around which, in the years which followed, Mr. and Mrs. Lower built up the large estate of 500 acres which now comprises the Lower holdings in Longwood township. In course of time a beautiful home was erected, modern in every respect, the W. A. Lower farmstead becoming one of the best- equipped and best-improved places in this section of Missouri. Early in his farming operations Mr. Lower began specializing in the breeding of pure-bred registered Hampshire swine, and made a pronounced success of this undertaking, which his son is still carrying on with undiminished interest.
W. A. Lower was married in 1878 to Miss Mary McClellan, who was born in Illinois and accompanied her parents to Sedalia, Missouri, when but a child. She is a daughter of Samuel Ripley McClellan, a native of Maysville, Kentucky. S. R. McClellan was reared in Dayton, Ohio, and moved to Peoria County, Illinois, where he resided until about 1866, when he came to Pettis County. Mr. McClellan was a large land owner, and dealt heavily in Missouri lands during his residence in Pettis County. He died at Sedalia, May 16, 1876. His wife, Charlotte, nee Osborn, was a native of Virginia. Samuel R. and Charlotte Mcclellan were parents of nine children: Louis, Kansas City ; Mrs. Miranda Yount, a widow, Okla- homa City; Edgar, Long Beach, California; Mrs. Augusta Pottinger, near Dayton, Ohio; Mrs. Mary Lower, of this review; Warren, living in New Mexico; Frank, deceased; Mrs. Catherine Strauser, Houghton, Michigan; Mrs. Hattie McCormick, Kansas City. The children born to William A. and Mary Lower are as follow: William Lee, Hattie and Catherine.
William Lee Lower is managing the "Hampshire Hill Farm," and is successfully carrying on the business founded by his father. He mar- ried Yolande, daughter of William Hoffman, of Longwood, and has two children, Lavinia Martin and Catherine McClellan. Hattie, died in
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October, 1909, wife of Dr. F. L. Sutton, who is also deceased, left two children, Frank Luther and Lee Cowan, now living with their grand- mother Lower. Catherine Mcclellan married David Arnold, resides at Paris, Missouri, and has one child, John Wesley.
During his entire life the late William Alonzo Lower was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and endeavored to live a just and Christian life. He died September 20, 1915, and his loss was truly and sincerely mourned by those who had known him and had admired his sterling qualities during his useful career. He was a Republican, and took quite an interest in the affairs of his party. For many years he was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Lower and the children of the family are all members of the Presbyterian Church.
Thomas Leslie Scott .- When Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Leslie Scott of Heath's Creek township began their wedded life in 1892 they had little of this world's goods and none of the comforts which they can now enjoy in their modern home of the present day. At the time of their marriage this estimable and congenial couple were owners of ninety acres of land not yet paid for. They started married life in debt. Eighty acres of the land had been bargained for by Mr. Scott before his marriage and ten acres was purchased from an uncle. They next bought the uncle's entire farm, then Mr. Scott purchased his mother's farm and during twenty- six years of honest endeavor, good management and self-denial, they have become owners of a splendid tract of 360 acres of valuable land which is well improved with a modern farm residence of ten rooms, fitted with electric lights and hot and cold running water. Mr. Scott carries on general farming and stock raising and fattens for the market about forty head of cattle yearly. The Scott home was erected in 1912.
Thomas Leslie Scott was born September 10, 1863, on land which he now owns. He is the son of Thornton P. (b. January 6, 1831, d. October 1, 1870) and Mary E. (Kemp) Scott. Thornton P. Scott was born in Heath's Creek township and was a son of Hiram Scott, one of the first pioneers to settle in this township and whose wife was a Miss Anderson. He was a son of Adam Scott, a Pettis County pioneer. Adam Calhoun Scott was a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Pennsylvania, served as a soldier of the Revolutionary War and was one of the first of the Mis- souri pioneers, and one of the first to settle in Pettis County. He was born in 1746 and died in 1831.
Thornton P. Scott settled on the Scott homestead where his son Thomas L. now resides and he became owner of sixty acres of land which
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T. L. SCOTT.
MRS. T. L. SCOTT.
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he improved and resided upon until his death. On January 12, 1853 he was married to Mary E. Kemp who was born December 18, 1832 on land now owned by the Scotts in Heath's Creek township. She was a daughter of Thomas A. Kemp, a Pettis County pioneer, a sketch of whom is in this volume. Mrs. Mary E. Scott died May 26, 1916, at the age of eighty-four years. The children born to Thornton P. and Mary E. Scott were as follow: Sarah Catherine, Mary Virginia, and Thomas Leslie. Sara Catherine Scott was born October 24, 1853 and was married to John L. Collier October 25, 1875. She is now a widow and resides in Sedalia. Mary Virginia Scott was born February 23, 1856, married William F. McFarland, deceased, and she resides in Longwood township.
Thomas L. Scott began to work when he was seven years old, and he resided with his mother until after his marriage in 1892. What he has accomplished and what he has accumulated has been won with the hard- est kind of labor and exceedingly good management, with the assistance of a devoted and capable wife to inspire him. On April 6, 1892, Thomas Leslie Scott and Stella Frances Hendrix were united in marriage. This marriage has been blessed with the following children: Orvis Hendrix, born February 22, 1893; Alta Marie, born October 21, 1894, married Earl Orr, a farmer, living near Sedalia, and has one child, Thomas Leroy Orr; Neva Catherine, born August 10, 1899, died in May, 1914.
Mrs. Stella Frances (Hendrix) Scott was born in Callaway County, Missouri, April 19, 1868. She is the daughter of William Lafayette and Catherine Jane (Craighead) Hendrix, natives of Tennessee and Missouri respectively. William L. Hendrix was an early pioneer in Missouri and was one of the Forty-niners to cross the plains to California in search of gold. He was born in 1829 and died in 1894. He crossed the great plains and mountains to the slopes of the Sierras with oxen and remained there for two years. He obtained some of the elusive yellow metal, as a return for his labor in the mines and returned home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After his return from the West he married and settled in Callaway County, where he joined his mother. He removed to LaMonte, Pettis County in 1881 in order to care for Mrs. Craighead (Kemp) the grandmother of Mrs. Scott, who had grown very feeble with age. In 1887 he returned to Callaway County. Catherine Jane (Craighead) Hen- drix, mother of Mrs. Scott, was born in 1832 and died in 1916. She was a daughter of George Craighead, who was a son of Isaiah Craighead, a Missouri pioneer, coming to the new State via the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers when the boats laden with his goods and supplies were
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of necessity pulled by hand against the current. The early settlers man- aged to transport their belongings by pulling on the ropes attached to their craft and walking along the banks of the river in places. William Craighead married a Miss Powell, a relative of the Pettis County Powells. The old brick mansion which was for many years the seat of the Craig- heads in Callaway County, built by George Craighead, is still standing, four miles south of Fulton, Missouri. Up to a few years ago there were five generations of this old pioneer family living. The members of the family are noted for the great age attained. Mrs. Sarah (Craighead) Kemp, grandmother of Mrs. Scott, was born in 1813, came to Missouri with her parents in 1821 and lived to be ninety-five years old. William L. Hendrix was father of eleven children: George Robert, deceased; Sarah Ellen English, Kansas City, Missouri; Mary Elizabeth, deceased ; John Lee, living near Fulton; James Craighead, deceased; Nancy Ida Bird, Kansas City, Missouri; William, deceased; Mrs. Stella F. Scott, of this review; Linna Catherine Shaffer, Kansas City; Maggie Nichols Kemp, Callaway County; Charles Gillin, Kansas City. The Craighead home, near Fulton, was for many years a great meeting place for the people of the neighborhood. Camp meetings, festivals, and kindred meetings were held in this home, and the grounds adjoining, the family for years having been very prominent in the county. Mrs. Scott's mother died at her home in Fulton.
Mr. Scott has been a lifelong Democrat, as was his father before him. He and Mrs. Scott are members and workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Longwood. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World at Sedalia. Few families can point to a longer residence in Missouri and Pettis County that the Scotts-three generations of this family have lived on the Scott land.
Richard Nathaniel Lower, presiding judge of the County Court of Pettis County, and large land owner and stockman of Longwood township, is a native of Jefferson County, Kentucky, but has lived nearly all of his life in Pettis County. Judge Lower was born on January 15, 1850, and is the son of Capt. George Lower, late pioneer citizen of Pettis County.
Capt. George Lower was born April 10, 1810, in Alsace-Lorraine. George Lower was reared to young manhood in his native country and immigrated to America in 1837. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Augustus, whom he married in 1833, and two children, Henry and Charles. When Mr. Lower came to America he was accompanied by
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some friends whose passage money he had defrayed. He first located at Port Hudson, Mississippi, where he was a construction foreman on the first steam railroad in that section of the country. He went from there to Kentucky, and was engaged in freighting produce down the Mississippi on flat boats. He managed to get together a considerable sum of money. Later he located at a point twelve miles east of Louisville, Kentucky, and conducted a general merchandise store. A large plantation owner, Will Locke by name, then persuaded him to take charge of his plantation and operate it with the slaves for a period of five years. This venture was successful and he accumulated $10,000 during five years. Mr. Lower then came to Pettis County and bought 700 acres of land in Longwood township. He increased his acreage to 2,350 acres, much of which he gave to his children during his lifetime. He gave his children on an average of 200 acres each.
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