USA > Missouri > Pettis County > History of Pettis County, Missouri > Part 47
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Henry Young Field accompanied his parents to Pettis County in 1853 and engaged in farming on the Field estate when he attained ma- turity. In the fall of 1878 he was elected clerk of Pettis County on the Democratic ticket, and served for two terms in this capacity. Mr. Field owned a farm of 400 acres in Heath's Creek township and was widely and favorably known throughout the county. He was married in December, 1856, to Mary Baker, who was born in Gerard County, Kentucky May 1, 1838, and bore him children as follow: Nannie, died in infancy ; William, died at the age of seventeen years; Mrs. Lucretia Davis died in Okla- homa; John R., of this review; Nellie, died at the age of fourteen years; Allie, wife of David Bouldin, living on a farm near Hughesville; Edmonia, wife of Samuel May, living near Hughesville; Janie, wife of Allen Frick, Sedalia. Mrs. Field reared twenty-two children in all, those besides her own children being wards. She has seven grandchildren and one great- grandchild. She is a daughter of Lucretius Baker, who was born in Clay County, Kentucky, in 1809. His parents were natives of Virginia and both died in Kentucky. He was married in 1835 to Nancy Rout who died in 1845. In 1846 he was again married to Lydia Montgomery, of Kentucky. Mr. Baker came to Pettis County in 1854 and purchased a farm of 400 acres, fifteen miles north of Sedalia on the Independence and Boonville trail. Mr. Baker died in Pettis County in 1893.
John R. Field was reared in Pettis County and has always been en- gaged in farming. He was married on September 12, 1910, to Miss Sallie Madison Major, who was born in Sedalia, Missouri. She is a daughter of Dr. Thomas Turley Major, who practiced dentistry in Sedalia for many years. Dr. Major was born in Franklin County, Kentucky, March 4, 1829, a son of Oline T., a native of Virginia, and Nancy T. (Gunnell) Major, a native of Kentucky. The family removed to Saline County, Missouri, in 1848, and Dr. Major was reared in that county. He took up the study of dentistry in 1852 with his brother, Dr. A. C. Major, of
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Brownsville. In 1863 he located at Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri, and afterwards practiced his profession at Waverly and Lexington. He located in Sedalia in 1868, practiced his profession in Sedalia for many years and died in this city on June 24, 1902. Doctor Major was married in 1850 to Rachel Lewis, who bore him three children: Margaret, wife of John Stewart, deceased; Lizzie, deceased; Nannie, wife of John T. Grimshaw, Los Angeles. She has a son, Edwin, who served in France as . a soldier in the National Army.
Mrs. Rachel Major died in 1857. Doctor Major was again married, in 1864, to Miss Mattie Buckner, who died in 1899, at the age of sixty- seven years. Three children survive her: Mrs. Sallie Field, of this re- view; Dr. George Major, engaged in dental manufacturing in Kansas City, and Miss Anna May Major, making her home with Mr. and Mrs. Field. Doctor Major was a soldier in the Confederate Army and served under General Price. The Major family is a very old one in American annals and its beginning in this country dates with the year 1700 when Bartholomew Dupuy, a Frenchman, who fought bravely in the armies of Louis XIV of France, fled to America with his wife, Susanna La Villan, rather than renounce his religious belief. He was a Huguenot.
Mr. Field is a Democrat of the true and steadfast kind, who is a firm believer in democratic principles of government. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Field is a member of the Christian Church.
James B. Finley, a substantial farmer and stockman of Longwood township, was born in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri, July 17, 1858. He is a son of Rufus W., born in 1824, in North Carolina, and Mary (Brown) Finley, a native of Kentucky.
Rufus W. Finley was a son of George B. Finley, who left his native State of North Carolina in 1832 and journeyed to Ray County, Missouri, where he made a permanent settlement. Travis Finley of the same name, but no relation, accompanied him to the undeveloped section of what is now Ray County, and both men played a prominent part in the settling up and developing of that county. Rufus W. Finley became well edu- cated and was a man gifted beyond ordinary attainments. For a num- ber of years he taught school in Ray County and resided in that county until 1863 when he removed to Lexington and the same year he removed to Saline County and settled on a farm, where he resided until his death, in 1896. During the Civil War he was a captain in the Union Army and served as enlisting or provost officer at Lexington, Missouri, during
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the war. He was father of eleven children, nine of whom were reared to maturity : Sarah, lives in Saline County; Mrs. Mary F. Chilson, Califor- nia; Mattie E. lives with her sister in California; James B., subject of this review; George B., died in 1873; Samuel lives in Oklahoma City; Ada and Emma reside in Mississippi; Nathan H., Collinsville, Oklahoma ; Nannie lives in Washington, D. C .; Rufus W. died in 1876. The mother of these children was born in Kentucky in 1830, and departed this life on October 1, 1909. She was a daughter of James and Martha (Scroggin) Brown, who came to Pettis County from Kentucky in 1844, and settled on a farm, four miles northeast of Sedalia. Rufus W. Finley, or Professor Finley as he was more familiarly known, established the Boys School at Sweet Springs in co-operation with Dr. Yantes in 1848 and there became acquainted with Miss Brown. This was the first school of its kind in Saline County.
Having a talented and well-educated paternal parent, it was only natural that James B. Finley had the advantages of a good education. His public school work was supplemented by private tutoring under his father who was insistent that his children receive a good education. He has always followed farming and when a young man he went to the West and roamed over Kansas and Oklahoma in the hope of finding a suitable site for a home. He homesteaded land in Haskell County, Okla- homa, for three and a half years, decided that this section of the west was too dry and the making of crops too precarious an undertaking and returned to old Missouri. Having been reared just across the Pettis-Saline County line, he was well acquainted with the Houstonia neighborhood. He rented land in the vicinity of Houstonia for five years, and in 1897, he had a capital sufficient to make a payment on 240 acres of land, with- out improvements. Mr. Finley has improved his farm to a considerable extent and has erected in 1916, one of the best and most modern homes in his vicinity. Good fencing surrounds the farm land and a silo is used to store silage for winter feeding of cattle which he produces to the extent of two carloads each year besides feeding from one to two carloads of hogs annually. Mr. Finley raises over one hundred head of hogs annually, and is a mule breeder to a considerable extent.
On November 18, 1908, James B. Finley and Miss Inez Boatright were united in marriage. Mrs. Inez Finley was born near Herndon, Saline County, Missouri, and is a daughter of William G. and Nancy Frances (Buie) Boatright. William G. Boatright was born in Howard
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County in 1830, and has resided on his farm near Herndon, Missouri, for the past fifty years. Mrs. Nancy Frances Boatright died in December, 1913. She was a daughter of the Rev. David Buie, who was a pioneer preacher of the Cumberland Presbyterian faith in Saline County, and who established several churches in the county. The children of the Boatright family are as follows: John W., Saline County; Lewis, de- ceased ; Finis H., Saline County ; George F., Sedalia; Charles R., Califor- nia ; Mary F., at home with her father; Mrs. Anna Deil, North Dakota; Mrs. Inez Finley, of this review; Mrs. Sallie Maupin, Kansas City; Leslie G., owner of a farm near the Saline County home place; Jesse died when two years old.
Politically, Mr. Finley is a pronounced Democrat. He and Mrs. Finley worship at the Presbyterian Church.
James Melvin Coats .- For nearly seventy years the late James Melvin Coats, of Houstonia township, resided in Pettis County, and at the time of his death was one of the oldest pioneer citizens of the county. He was born November 30, 1842, in Kentucky, and was but seven years of age when his parents settled in this county, in 1849. At this period of the county's development there were but few settlers on the prairie, and much of the land was then open range. Richard Coats, his father, died in 1854. His mother, Pauline (McCombs) Coats, kept her family together and continued the development of the farm in Houstonia town- ship. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War James M. Coats enlisted in the Union Army and served with a Missouri regiment for about one year. He was a private soldier in Company D, 5th Provisional Regiment, which was organized and equipped for State duty during the latter part of the conflict.
On February 12, 1868, James Melvin Coats was united in marriage with Miss Eva Ann Strole who, during over fifty years of happy and prosperous wedded life, has been a faithful helpmeet and companion of her late husband. Mr. and Mrs. Coats settled upon án eighty-acre tract which was given them by Mr. Coats' mother, on condition that he care for his mother during the remainder of her days. This they consented to do and they made their home with Mrs. Coats and her family for the first five years, while developing the farm. Mrs. Eva Coats worked side by side with her husband in the fields, and drove the ox team, hitched to the plow, while her husband drove the horses. Often she had trouble with the brutes, who would heed no restraint when thirsty, but would
MR. AND MRS. J. M. COATS.
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dash across the open country to the nearest water hole in order to quench their thirst, it then becoming necessary for Mr. Coats to go and get the erratic team, so that his assistant could continue the work of plowing. Mrs. Eva Coats was one of a large family of girls, who learned to do all kinds of farm work, and, there being plenty of female help in the Coats household to do the housework and cooking, she was thus left free to help her husband with the farm work. There is no indi- cation, when one observes her healthy, bright appearance, although she is now in her seventieth year, that the work injured this pioneer lady in the least. Rather, it promoted her health and assisted in the developing of a robust constitution. In 1873, Mr. and Mrs. Coats built their com- fortable home, and, being desirous of owning a large farm, they went in debt for land, succeeding in becoming owners of 480 acres of rich prairie soil in Houstonia township. This land is in three tracts, the home farm consisting of 240 acres, there being two other farms of 120 acres each. The land is free from debt, and is the reward of years of hard, unremitting toil and good financial management on the part of Mr. and Mrs. Coats.
The children born to James M. and Eva Ann Coats are: Sue Belle and James Richard, at home with their mother; Leslie A., a farmer in Blackwater township, married Maude McGruder, and has one child, Beatrice Alk .la; Elbert Clement, born February 26, 1890, enlisted in the National Army December 12, 1917, and is now in France, a member of the 270th Aerial Squadron of Mechanics, and is serving as assistant hangar chief on the American front in France.
Mrs. Eva Ann Coats was born March 6, 1849, in Virginia. She is a daughter of James T. and Barbara (Kite) Strole, both of whom were natives of Virginia. The Stroles came to Pettis County, Missouri, in the fall of 1860 and settled south of Dresden, where Mr. Strole rented land for some years. He finally bought a farm in Houstonia township, and there lived the remainder of his days, engaged in farming. James T. Strole died in October, 1886. Mrs. Barbara Strole died in June, 1886. They were parents of twelve children, five of whom are living: Mark Strole, lives near Nevada, Missouri; James Strole, lives in LaMonte; Mrs. Caroline Kelly, near LaMonte; Mrs. Eva Ann Coats, is the youngest survivor of this large family, which boasted seven daughters.
James Melvin Coats was a member of the Houstonia Christian Church, and lived according to the precepts of his religious belief. He
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was honest to the core, hardworking, a splendid citizen and a kind father, whose loss to the community in which he had resided for so many long years was deeply felt by all who knew him. All who knew him respected and admired him for his many sterling qualities, and has was ever ready and willing to give his assistance to worthy projects for the public good.
Richard A. Marshall .- One hundred years ago, Richard Marshall, grandfather of R. A. Marshall, whose name heads this review, came to Howard County, Missouri, from his ancestral home in Virginia, and formed one of the vanguard of hardy pioneers who opened up this rich section of Missouri for settlement. He landed at old Fort Boone, across the Missouri from Arrow Rock, and a little later he purchased 800 acres of land in Saline County, and owned land in different tracts from Nelson, Missouri, to Knob Noster in Johnson County. Richard Marshall was a kinsman of Chief Justice John Marshall, of Virginia, and Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall is a member of the same old family.
Joseph Marshall, father of Richard A., was born in Saline County, Missouri, in 1823 and died on July 3, 1901. He responded to the call for volunteers to assist in the invasion and conquest of Mexico in 1846, and served during the memorable campaigns which wrested a vast tract of territory from the southern Latin Republic. In return for his services he received a grant of land from the government. Not having had enough hardships and adventures, and still being a young man, when gold was discovered in the Sutter Creek in California, he crossed the great plains and mountains in 1849 and secured a amount of the precious yellow metal which amply repaid him for his trip. He settled on his government patent of 160 acres in Saline County, not far from the north- ern border of Pettis County and became wealthy in the course of time, accumulating a large estate of over 1,600 acres of land. He had married Mary Porter, who died in 1856, leaving children as follow: R. A. Mar- shall, and a sister who died in childhood. His second wife, whom he mar- ried some time later, was Lizzie Lynch, who bore him ten children: Mrs. Mollie Pyle, died in Saline County ; Mrs. Janie Pyle, Marshall, Missouri; Robert, living with his mother on the old homestead; James, Marshall, Missouri; Joseph, a farmer, Saline County; Eva, wife of Joseph Scott, near Hardemann, Missouri; Mrs. Nettie Pyle, Marshall, Missouri; Mrs. Stella Meredith, Miami, Oklahoma; Scott, and William, farmers in Saline County.
R. A. Marshall received $3,000 as his share of his father's estate, some land and some money, making up the total. This included sixty
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acres of his present farm of 180 acres, upon which Mr. Marshall moved in February, 1877, and in 1882 he purchased his additional land. Mr. Mar- shall has placed all of the existing improvements on his farm, and he and his wife and family have lived happily and comfortably here for over forty years.
In 1878, R. A. Marshall and Miss Lillie Hanley were united in mar- riage and to this marriage ten children have been born: Joseph Frank- lin, superintendent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at Havre De Grace, Maryland; Porter Allen, a merchant at Virginia, Idaho; Archibald lives on the home place and is a farmer; Ethel is the wife of A. H. Orear, a merchant of Longwood; Mrs. Gertrude Spriggs, Detroit, Michigan, her husband being employed in the Timken Works; Dixie, wife of Louis Montgomery, who is also employed in the Timken Manufactur- ing Co.'s plant at Detroit; Mrs. Lillian Bates, living on a ranch in Ne- braska; Mrs. Mary Hicks, whose husband is auditor of the Long Pine Lumber Company, Bogaloosa, Louisiana; Louise and Martha, the two youngest children are at home. The mother of this interesting family was born and reared in Saline County. She is a daughter of Archibald (b. March, 1819, d. June, 1909) and Phoebe (Claycomb) Hanley. Archi- bald H. Hanley was a native of Virginia. He came from Monroe County, Virginia, to Saline County, Missouri, and settled there in 1843. Archi- bald Hanley was father of the following children: Mrs. Mollie Jones, Kansas City; John lives at Rich Hill, Missouri; James, Boise, Idaho; Mrs. Virgie McDaniel, near Aramo, Idaho; Mrs. Daisy Powell, on the old homestead; Lee, in Saline County. Mrs. Phoebe Hanley was born in 1830 and died March 9, 1892. Mr. Hanley was first married in 1843 to Miss Flora Cook, and that fall came to Saline County and settled on a farm of forty acres which he entered from the government. Mrs. Hanley died in 1853, leaving four children, only two of whom grew to maturity: Mrs. Mary E. Jones and John C. Hanley.
Mr. Hanley's second wife, who before her marriage was Julia A. Claycomb, lived but one year, and left one child, who died at seven years of age. For his third wife, Mr. Hanley married Phoebe E. Clay- comb, who . bore him children as follow: Virgie, James M., Lillie B., George W., R. E., Lee, and Daisy D. After the death of his third wife he married Mrs. Eliza (Howe) Rucker, a widow.
Mr. Hanley purchased his farm in Saline County in 1857, and was one of the best known of the pioneers of Saline County. He was a prom-
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inent Odd Fellow and churchman, having organized the Christian Church near his home.
He was a son of Archibald and Susan (Kinkaid) Hanley, of Virginia, and comes of Revolutionary ancestry. Both Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are descended from Revolutionary ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have eleven grandchildren.
Mr. Marshall is a thorough Democrat of the old school. He and Mrs. Marshall are members of the Bethlehem Christian Church. He is affil- iated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Wood- men Lodge of Longwood.
Mr. Marshall is a jolly, hospitable old settler of the true Missouri type, who loves to reminisce over the old days when the country, now so thickly populated, was almost a virgin wilderness, abounding in wild game and the streams teeming with fish. He recalls that his grand- father, like many others of his day, was a mighty hunter and spent most of his time when not urgently employed upon his farm, tramping or riding over the country, happy in his favorite recreation. Back in those days the wheat was "tromped" out by horse power, and he recalls seeing this done and assisting at the work many times when a boy. The "ground hog" thresher superseded the old laborious method of "tromp- ing" out the grain. The settlers would "boat" their hogs and mules to the St. Louis market, and also ship their wheat to St. Louis. This period of the Great World War was not the only time that wheat brought two dollars per bushel for Mr. Marshall remembers when his father received the extremely high price of $2.25 per bushel for a crop. In 1865 they were forced to pay as high as $12 per hundred weight for flour and the children and parents used burnt molasses in lieu of sugar for sweetening. The old "ground hog" thresher operated on the principle of the present- day corn sheller, the wheat being pitched in when it was cut up, the thresher would knock out the wheat and chaff and then they would have to use the "blower" to separate the wheat from the chaff. His father owned one of the first in the country and people would travel to the Mar- shall farm for a distance of fifty miles to see the new fangled wheat thresher in operation.
Nathan Harris .- The history of the Harris family in Missouri ex- tends over a long period of nearly ninety years in the State. Conse- quently, the members of this family are counted among the oldest of the Missouri pioneer family descendants. In 1830 Nathan Harris, grand- father of the subject under review, migrated from Kentucky to Missouri.
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He located on the Blackwater River in Saline County and built a mill at a point on the river which later became known as the Harris Mill Ford. He erected a dam and flume and built the mill which served for a variety of industries, such as grinding grain and sawing lumber for the incoming settlers. Mr. Harris also made whiskey and opened up a salt spring in the neighborhood and engaged in the manufacture of salt. When the news of the great gold discovery on Sutter Creek in California was made known in this section of Missouri, Nathan Harris crossed the plains with an ox team and, arriving in the gold mining region on the Pacific slope, he set up a hotel in the mining country. He operated this hotel for several years and engaged in various enterprises and became possessed of con- siderable valuable property, the most of which he lost through defective titles. Soon after his business discouragements he returned to his home in Missouri and died shortly afterwards.
Burrell Harris, father of the subject of this sketch, was reared in Saline County and there married Nancy Eliza Tevis, who was born in 1824 and departed this life in 1869. Burrell Harris came to Pettis County in 1872 and invested in a large tract of land near Houstonia, on the east. In 1875, he moved with his family to this land and proceeded with its development. He erected a residence almost in the center of the tract and resided there until his removal to California, in 1881. He was born in Kentucky in 1817 and died in 1897. He accumulated 525 acres, prac- tically all of which is now owned by his sons and daughters. To Burrell and Nancy Elizabeth Harris were born children as follows: Charles C. died in Saline County at the age of nineteen years; F. C. resides with his son-in-law, Mr. Vickery, in Houstonia township; Lulu died in California in 1896; Bettie lives in California; Nathan, subject of this sketch; W. B., a farmer in Houstonia township; Mary L., resides at San Jose, California.
Nathan Harris was fifteen years old when the family settled in Pettis County. He received his share of the home place near Houstonia and has improved a fine farm of 210 acres. Mr. Harris resided upon his farm until January, 1906, when he removed to Houstonia where he owns a comfortable and attractive modern home. He oversees the farming operations from his home in Houstonia and visits the place daily.
Mr. Harris was married in 1890 to Miss Myrta Tevebaugh, a daughter of H. B. and Georgia Tevebaugh, the former is deceased and the latter makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Harris. Four children have blessed this union: Eugene W., Mary Lillian, Walter H., and Russell.
Eugene W. Harris was born on July 2, 1893, and had established him-
-
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self in the poultry and produce business in Houstonia prior to his enlist- ment in the National Army for service in the World War. He was edu- cated in Sedalia High School, William Jewell College, Drake University, and the Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky. He enlisted in the National Army on December 13, 1917, was trained at Jefferson Bar- racks, Missouri, Battle Creek, Michigan, and the Aviation Camp at Lake Charles, Louisiana. In September of 1918, Private Harris crossed the Atlantic for service in France. Mary Lillian Harris graduated from the Houstonia High School and studied at Stevens College, Columbia, and Christian College, Columbia, and is now a student in Missouri State Uni- versity. Walter H. Harris is conducting the poultry business at Hous- tonia. Russell is attending public school and is aged twelve years.
Mr. Harris is a Democrat and he and Mrs. Harris are members of the Christian Church. They are highly respected in the community and have many warm and steadfast friends.
William B. Harris, a prosperous farmer, Houstonia township, is a member of one of the oldest of the Missouri pioneer families. He was born on a farm in Saline County, August 9, 1865, and is the son of the late Burrell Harris, who resided in Pettis County for a number of years prior to his removal to California, where his death occurred. Burrell Harris was a son of Nathan Harris, of Virginia, who settled at the Har- ris Mill Ford on Blackwater River as early as 1830. For further par- ticulars regarding the history of this old Missouri family, the reader is referred to the sketch of Nathan Harris, brother of William B. Har- ris, elsewhere in this volume.
William B. Harris was eight years old when his father settled in Pettis County, just east of where William B. now lives. He was educated in the local public schools and in 1880 he accompanied his father to California and while living at San Jose, California, for about four and a half years, he attended the city schools. Upon his return to Pettis County, in 1885, he engaged in farming on his own account. Later he received his share of the estate and has increased his acreage to 212 acres of splendid land in one body. To this original tract of 132 acres he has added 80 acres and has placed all of the existing improvements on the farm. The Harris home is a handsome and imposing structure of ten rooms, modern throughout, which Mr. Harris erected in 1910, remodeling his old home.
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