USA > Missouri > Saline County > History of Saline County, Missouri > Part 58
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530
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.
Marshall Lodge, No. 51, K. of P., was instituted by J. H. Turner, D. D. G. C. The date of its dispensation is February 4, 1878; of its char- ter, October 17, 1878. The charter members were: L. Schuman, J. W. Nordyke, E. K. Selig, P. H. Franklin, C. L. Hall, C. G. Patterson, and others. The first officers were L. Schuman, C. C .; E. E. Barnum, V. C .; C. G. Patterson, prelate; Job Harrison, M. of Ex .; C. W. Long, M. of K .; J. W. Nordyke, K. of R. and S .; J. B. Hicklin, M. at A .; L. Peters, I. G .; W. B. Colyer, O. G. The present officers are: J. M. Mossler, P. C .; M. M. Bond, C. C .; S. Herman, V. G .; James R. Colger, prelate; L. Schuman, M. of Ex .; E. K. Selig, M. of F .; J. W. Nordyke, K. of R. and S .; A. G. Lackey, M. at A .; J. R. Sparks, I. G .; Wm. Golladay, O. G. The present membership is sixty-three.
NORTON.
The town of Norton, located on the Chicago & Alton railroad, about midway between Marshall and Slater, was laid off by Jesse Van Winkle, who was the owner of the land, it being the eastern part of a 500 acre tract, section 18, township 51, range 20, purchased by him of Dudley Cooper in the summer of 1878. The town and railroad grounds embrace eighty acres. The railroad company have built a handsome station house and platform, and a side-track 300 feet long. In the same year, 1878, an elevator, with a capacity of 20,000 bushels, was built by Mr. John M. Woodson, of St. Louis, who is a partner with Mr. Van Winkle in the town enterprise. He also built a large storeroom, now occupied by Van Winkle & Clarey, general merchants. One blacksmith shop, and residences make up the rest of the town, so far.
As a business point, the village of Norton is backed up by a splendid body of farming country. Four roads branch out from it, and open com- munication with a grain-growing and stock-feeding region that has few superiors in the county. The famous
SULPHUR SPRINGS,
five miles northeast of Marshall, are situated but one mile from Norton, and will yet prove of great advantage to it. Already these springs are the summer resort for quite a number of invalids and pleasure-seekers.
THE TOWN OF SHACKELFORD.
This is one of the county's new, or "railroad towns." It was laid out in the fall of 1878, upon the completion of the railroad. The surveying into town lots was done by County Surveyor Ross. The town was laid out upon land belonging to Joe. Thompson & Son, James Huey, and Wm. Sheridan. Messrs. Rae & Page were the first to engage in business here. Their business was buying and shipping grain. Then
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
Flynn & Bro. built and opened out a grocery store, followed in the same line of business by Armentrout & Gauldin, now Armentrout & Bro. Next the hotel was built; then another store house; then a saloon, now a drug store.
At present there are two grocery stores, one dry goods establishment, a drug store, a blacksmith shop, hotel, a Baptist Church, a large grain house, railroad depot, and stock-yards.
BAPTIST CHURCH.
The Baptist Church, of Shackelford, was organized April 1, 1880. The original members were J. H. Huey, W. H. Vaughan, Emily Vaughn, May V. McPherson, M. E. Hatcher, Minnie Walk, Eliza J. Caswell, Carrie Caswell, Eveline Walk, Giles Turley, Gabriella Turley, Kate Huey, Emily J. Hunter, Elizabeth Cox, and D. H. Hatcher. A frame church building, to cost $700, is in process of erection.
BIOGRAPHY OF AARON F. BRUCE .*
The subject of this sketch, one of Saline's most distingushed men, was born in Wayne county, Kentucky, on the 12th day of July, 1807, and died in Saline county, Missouri, April 21st, 1866, being nearly fifty-nine years of age. He was a son of Wm. Bruce, a native of King George county, Virginia, and Sarah Bruce, his wife, whose maiden name was Vandever, and who was a native of Buncomb county, North Carolina. His father saw the army of Washington in its march to the final victory of the revolution at Yorktown. Both his parents lived to a green old age, the father being in his ninety-second, and the mother in her eighty-sixth year of age. The subject of this sketch was the sixth of a family of nine children, all of whom are now dead, except Mrs. Lavina Strother, mother of Hon. John P. Strother, late of Kentucky, but now of Marshall, and at present circuit judge of this circuit. In the year after his birth, his parents moved to Henry county, Kentucky, where they spent the remainder of their lives, dying in 1862, and where Aaron F. Bruce was reared. He was always industrious and energetic, even in boyhood. At that early day, school privileges were not abundant, and when a gram- mar school was started in his boyhood, in the neighborhood, his father told him and his brother they could attend. The brother attended, but Aaron told his father that if he would pay him the money that he intended to pay the teacher for his tuition, he would study his grammar at his plow-handle. This was done, and he carried his book with him into the field and cultivated his mind while he cultivated the corn. This serves
* This biography was not received by the printers in time to be inserted with those of " Distinguished Citizens of Saline County," and consequently appears here.
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
fitly to illustrate his indomitable will and energy. When a young man, this same brother persuaded him to embark in a mercantile venture in Owen- ton, Owen county, Kentucky, which proved financially disastrous, and was, in fact, entered upon in the first instance against the better judgment of Aaron. During this time both brothers were married, Aaron F. Bruce to Miss E. J. Robertson, of Woodford county, Kentucky. They were married on the 10th day of November, 1831, and Mrs. Bruce still survives him, after actively assisting him in his busy life, as only a true and faithful housewife can. But the failure at Owenton was not a conquest. Boldly striking out in reliance upon their energy and judgment Mr. Bruce and wife removed to Woodford county and started the race of life anew. Not satisfied with the prospect there, they sold out, and in the year 1837, removed to Missouri and pitched their tent on the magnificent prairie west of Marshall, then unbroken and blooming in virgin beauty and fragrant with the aroma of native flowers. Here they began anew the struggle for success, in which victory came as a reward to the indus- try and superior judgment displayed in nearly all his undertakings through life. His selection of lands, of which he became the owner in large quantities, was one of the best ever made in this, the richest of all counties.
In the year 1850, against the advice and protest of his parents, he joined that long and disastrous procession of pioneers, that moved across the continent to take possession of the golden shores of California, and work its precious mines. His reasons for going are best given in his own words. In a letter to his parents, began near Ft. Kearney, and written partly on the way and partly on his return, among other things, he says: " I am dyspeptic, and in rather a feeble state of health, and according to the advice of all the physicians, with whom I have conversed, I ought in justice to myself and family to take such a trip as this in order to prolong my life and benefit my family; and if, bye the bye, it should be the cause of my coming to my end in this world, it will not, in all probability, rob me of many days, nor take me from my dear family much sooner than if I had stayed at home." Further on he says: "I have three wagons and teams of oxen and cows, two mules and one horse. The wagons started on the 5th day of May, (1850) and I started on the 7th. We are now on the Platte river, about sixty miles above Fort Kearney, and in the midst of sickness and death on all sides. The cholera has been among the emigrants for about eight or ten days. I have been sick for five or six days myself, and have got well. * The doctor said I had it myself." Further on, under date of June 15th, he says: "We are still ascending the Platte river, or I might say, we are still in the valley of death. The cholera has been for several weeks making sad havoc in this emigration. Thousands have fallen victims to its wrath, if I may
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
so speak. The graves of the dead and tents of the sick stand thick on the way, while scarcely a cheerful countenance can be seen."
Through sickness, dangers, and death, this fearless man moved on. On July 5 he says: "Yesterday was the 4th of July. We took a snow- balling as we passed a deep bank of snow. * * Our health has much improved." On the 9th of February following he arrived at home, after having finished the journey to California overland, and disposing of his property and returning on a sail-ship by way of Panama. The ship landed, after being at sea forty days, when he weighed and found that he had gained twelve pounds over his weight at home. Among other things he says: "Well, I have got home again, after a long and unpleas- ant journey. Thousands of the most robust and best constitutions have fallen and left their bones to bleach on the plains, or have found a grave in the great ocean. Thousands died on the plains of cholera." At Salt Lake, he says that flour was $50 per barrel; sugar, coffee and dried fruit, 75 cents per pound. He says the road was lined with dead stock for one thousand miles, and that "at the great desert, which is forty miles wide where we crossed, I believe had all the stock that died there been placed in a line, they would have reached across it-they would have touched each other all the way; and had the wagons left there been placed with their bodies end to end, they would have reached across it. A barrel of , crackers would command $500. * * Two hungry fellows, after cross- ing the desert, sat down at a little brush shanty where was kept for sale pies, bread and meat, and they called for what they wanted, and when they got up their bill was $29, so said, and the writer thinks it likely."
When he returned, his dyspepsia was gone, and no doubt he had a new lease of life. So he plunged again into the activities of a farmer's life, rejoicing at his safe return and restored health.
On the outbreak of the late civil war he was a large slave-owner, and perhaps the largest hemp-grower in Saline county, his annual crop being from 300 to 400 acres. His sympathies were naturally with the south, and his wealth made him a prey to the avaricious. One day, as he was returning home from Marshall, a murderous detachment of militia lay in ambush intending to kill him, as one of them afterward confessed, but were prevented by the fact that he was in company with a Union man. Business was paralyzed by war, and, not content to, risk his life and do nothing at home, he left his beautiful home on Pilot Knob, four miles northwest of Marshall, and going to Nebraska City, embarked in a lucra- tive enterprise on a large scale, that of freighting for the government and transporting supplies across the plains to Colorado, whose silver and gold mines were then attracting a large emigration. In this business he employed many men and twelve heavy wagons and one hundred and twenty head of work cattle.
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
In the year 1865 he returned, to find much of the fencing on his large estate, laid waste by the jackals of war, and he set to work with char- acteristic energy to repair and re-build. An effort was made by vandals, during the war, to burn his fine mansion on Pilot Knob, but the incendi- aries becoming alarmed, fled in haste, leaving the family to extinguish the flames, after many of his valuable papers were burned. The ravages of war-the mental and bodily excitements and tensions, and his wanderings in the west, no doubt, told on his powers of life, and in the spring of 1866, his body fell a victim to the King of Terrors, but he gave pleasing evi- dence that his Christian spirit triumphed over death and entered upon a happier life beyond. He died the owner of about eleven thousand acres of Missouri's best land, and leaving much property beside, and a family of five children, all of whom are now living and have their homes in the city of Marshall, where lives also his widow, Mrs. E. J. Bruce. They are among our worthy citizens, enterprising, intelligent and cultivated. The sons are Wm. R., Sidney T. and Robert Bruce, and the daughters, Mrs. Georgia A. Bruce and Mrs. Mary B. Marmaduke. Aaron F. Bruce was no ordinary man. Although a farmer, persuing with unusual activity, the business affairs of rural life on a large scale, he was well posted in pub- lic affairs, and could readily puzzle the college man with questions in sci- ence and philosophy, as well as in theology. He had a fine intellect, with strong powers of analysis, and was deeply reflective in quiescent mo- ments. He was a liberal and faithful friend, a man of enterprise and pub- lic spirit and a kind'husband and father. If his mind had taken a turn to public affairs he would have made a conspicuous mark in the roll of dis- tinguished men.
Biographical Sketches.
ARROW ROCK TOWNSHIP.
WILLIAM T. PATTISON, P. O., Arrow Rock. Son of Dr. John Pattison, who was a native of Ireland, and came to the United States and settled in Virginia at an early date; his mother was a native of New Eng- land. The subject of this sketch was born on New Year's Day, 1822, in Fairfield county, Connecticut, at which place his parents were sojourning at that time. While he was yet an infant, his parents returned to Monroe county, in what is now West Virginia, and there he grew up, and was educated in the county schools, and at Yale College. At the age of twenty-three, Mr. Pattison, with a younger brother, established the first printing press in Monroe county, Virginia, and later the same couple founded at Omaha, the first newspaper ever published in Nebraska. On the 31st of October, 1849, he was married to Miss Nancy B. Clark, of Monroe county, Virginia, and had six children-two of them now living, Mary S. and Henrietta V. In 1850, Mr. Pattison moved to this county, and taught the male and female seminary in Arrow Rock for two years. He then bought a farm on Blackwater, and tried farming-at the same time continued teaching-and continued both for about eight years. He then moved to Marshall, and was appointed postmaster to succeed Michael Flynn, and was also made a justice of the peace, which offices, as well as that of express agent, stage agent, and notary public, he held at one and the same time, and in addition carried on a book and news store. During the war, Mr. Keithly was elected county treasurer, and failed to give bond. The court appointed Mr. Pattison to fill the office, giving bond, which he did, and collected about $11,000 of revenue, when he dis- covered that his appointment was illegal, and resigned. In his settlement with the court there was a difference of ten cents, and that against him- self. He then engaged in the grocery business, in what was then well known in Marshall as the old " gun-boat " house. He remained in Mar- shall until 1864, when the guerrillas and militia became so dangerous to non-combatants that he moved his family to Canada, and remained till the war ended, and then returned to Saline, and settled in Arrow Rock, where he now resides. He is justice of the peace, and has been for sev- enteen years, and notary public for many years. In 1860, he took the United States census for Saline county. His pen was known in the old Marshall Democrat, and for the last seven or eight years has been con-
536
HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
nected with the Saline County Democrat. He is a well-known and witty writer, and was the author of certain famous articles in 1860, known as the "Book of Chronicles." He is a public-spirited gentleman, and has done much to develop the mineral resources of Saline.
JUDGE STEPHEN M. THOMPSON, P. O., Arrow Rock. The subject of this sketch was born in Jefferson county, New York, June 3d, 1825, and is now in his fifty-sixth year. His father, Ichabod Thompson, and his mother Achsah, were natives of New York, and are both now dead. He. was raised on his father's farm, and was educated in the common schools and in the Clinton Seminary, Oneida county, N. Y. After he became of age, he engaged mostly in mechanical work and business. In 1867 he came west, and settled in Booneville, Mo., and lived there a short time, and then moved to Arrow Rock, in this county, where he settled permanently, and engaged in the milling business-operating a steam flouring mill, elevator, and saw mill. In 1870 he was elected one of the judges of the county court. He was a republican, but as he was never extreme, he joined the liberal wing in 1870, and was elected for six years. While on the bench he continued to prosecute his milling and elevator business, and does still. On the 6th of February, 1850, Judge Thompson was married to Miss Cyrene L. Nor- ton, of Jefferson county, N. Y., and has three children-Alice M., Norton S., and Bertha C. Judge Thompson has closely identified himself with the interests of this county, and while on the bench his mechanical know- ledge enabled him to save the county many hundreds of dollars.
TEMPLETON C. McMAHAN, P. O., Arrow Rock. Was born in Cooper county, Mo., October 10, 1830. His father, Wm. C. McMahan, a native of Kentucky, came to Missouri in 1810, and settled on a farm in Cooper county, and was killed near Brownsville, in this county, by the Indians, and robbed of about $20,000.
He was raised on a farm and educated in the neighborhood schools. In 1850 he entered the store of his uncle Jesse McMahan, in Arrow Rock, and remained there as clerk for six years. For several years after this he was occupied in teaching school in this and Cooper counties.
In April, 1858, he married Miss Sarah E. McJilton, of Arrow Rock, and in 1864 his wife died, leaving three children, two now living: Wil- liam E. and Nannie. In 1861 he engaged in the commission business in Arrow Rock, and continued it until 1863. He then went into the stove and tinware business with McGuffin, which they continued until 1872, when he returned to the commission business.
On the 1st of September, 1870, he was married to Miss Annie M. Reid of Cooper county, (now principal of the McMahan Institute), and has two children by this marriage, Carl Templeton and Arter Reid. Mr. McMahan has lived many years in Arrow Rock, and is ranked
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
among the most respectable citizens of the place. He was often arrested during the war by the soldiers on both sides, but was never taken from the county. He lost heavily by the war.
WILLIAM M. TYLER, P. O., Arrow Rock. Was born in Cooper county, Missiouri, October, 10, 1852. His father, Wm. D. Tyler, was a native of Virginia, but came to Missouri at an early day, and settled on a farm in Cooper county, where the subject of this sketch was raised, and educated in the country schools, and at Booneville. His mother was a native of Missouri. At the age of twenty-one he came to Arrow Rock, in this county, and engaged in the drug business, which he continued for several years, and then went into the grocery and produce business. Most of Mr. Tyler's business life has so far been spent in Arrow Rock, where he has many friends and a lucrative trade, obtained by fair and honest dealing. On the Sth of October, 1879, he was united in marriage to Miss M. P. Reid, of Cooper county. He is justly ranked among the leading business men of Arrow Rock.
SAMUEL C. McCLEAN, P. O., Arrow Rock. Was born in Dear- born county, Indiana, August 31, 1848. His father was a native of Ken- tucky, but moved to Indiana, and settled on a farm, where the subject of this sketch was born and raised to the age of sixteen. He then went to Owensville, Kentucky, and served an apprenticeship at the saddler trade, and then engaged in journey-work until 1871, when he left Ken- tucky and came to Missouri and located at Kirksville, in Adair county, and remained there seven years in the saddlery and harness business. In 1878 he left Kirksville and located in Arrow Rock, in this county, where he now is; and as he is the only saddler in Arrow Rock, he has a large trade, which he deserves, as he is a good workman, and deals honestly and squarely by his patrons. On the 8th of May, 1869, he was married to Miss Mary E. Richart, of Bath county, Kentucky, and has had five children, of whom only one, Charles Howe, is now living.
PLEASANT I. DAVIS, P. O., Arrow Rock. Was born in Kentucky, March 18, 1816. When he was but three weeks old, his father came to Missouri and settled in Howard county. There he was raised, and received such education as the country schools afforded. His father was a native of Virginia, but came to Kentucky when thirty-two years of age, and married in that state. His parents both died in Howard county, where they lived for thirty years. Mr. Davis was engaged in farming until 1841. He then went to Caldwell county, Missouri, where he remained about 8 years, engaged in farming. When the war broke out, Mr. Davis entered the Confederate army under Gen. Sterling Price, and was in the battles of Wilson Creek, Pea Ridge, Carthage, Cane Creek and Little Rock. He was under Shelby for about two years, served through- out the war. After the war, in the spring of 1866, he came to Arrow
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
Rock, where he has since been engaged in the livery business, and has a first-class business. At. twenty-one years of age he was married to Miss Berthilda Duncan, of Howard county, Missouri; has four children; Sarah L., Wade Hampton, Lena and Thomas.
ANDREW BROWNLEE, P. O., Arrow Rock. The subject of this sketch is a native of Augusta county, Virginia, where he was born October 15, 1796. His father was a native of Pennsylvania, but moved at an early day to Virginia. In 1825, Mr. Brownlee moved to this county, where he worked at the carpenter's trade a number of years. He had learned his trade in Virginia. He built the first house ever erected in Arrow Rock, a log house of two rooms-this was in the spring of 1830. In 1831 he purchased 160 acres of land, and in 1832 went to farming. He has lived on his farm, combining farming with his trade-his brother living with him, and running the farm. On the 9th of July, 1829, Mr. Brownlee was married to Miss Betsey Hall of this county, and has had ten children, of whom six are living-Mary Jane (Fenwick), Eliza (Reynolds), Florence (Herndon) Darwin, Sarah, Justin ( Jones). In 1874, Mrs. Brownlee died in Arrow Rock. Mr. Brownlee is one of the oldest citizens of Saline county, and has the esteem of all who know him.
JACOB BINGHAM, P. O., Arrow Rock. The subject of this sketch was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, February 20, 1820. His par- ents, John and Mary Bingham, were natives also of Rockingham county, Virginia, and moved to Missouri in 1825, and settled in this county on the farm where Jacob now lives, adjoining the town of Arrow Rock, and where the old people lived until their deaths. His father died November 5, 1838, and his mother June 25, 1863. Mr. Bingham purchased the farm on the death of his parents, and has added to it 200 acres. The farm is an excellent one, finely improved, and very valuable. Mr. 'Bingham is one of the first settlers in this locality and has seen it advance from un- claimed wilderness until it has been made to blossom as the rose. His father, with Burton Lawless, donated the land on which Arrow Rock is built. He was but five years old when his father came to Missouri. He has been a successful farmer, as his farm improvements abundantly testify .
JAMES A. WEST, P. O., Arrow Rock. The subject of this sketch is a native of Tennessee, where he was born, May 20, 1820. His pa- rents, Jesse and Susan West, were natives of Virginia, moving to Ten- nessee at an early day, and settled in the eastern part of the State. His mother still lives, and resides with him. In 1837 his parents moved to Missouri, and settled in this county, where he went to work on his father's farm. He has worked hard during his life, and has made a competence, and is prepared to live easy the rest of his life. In 1849 he moved to Ar- row Rock and located there, and engaged in the livery business, which he continued to conduct for twenty-five years, and for nine years had charge
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
of the mail route from Booneville to Marshall-the chief route from the east. He is known throughout the county, and is esteemed as an honor- able and upright man. In 1870 he bought the farm on which he now lives. Mr. West was married on the 19th of November, 1844, to Miss Ellen Hukill, of this county, a native of Fayette county, Kentucky. They have eight children: Jesse, Stephen G., Susan, James, John, Emma, Mitchell and Sallie.«
JOHN B. TOWNSEND, P. O., Arrow Rock. Mr. Townsend was born in Cooper county, Mo., February 20, 1821. His father moved from South Carolina to Kentucky at an early day, and remained there about three years, and then moved to Cooper county, Mo., near the Saline county line. Here John B. was born and raised on the farm, and was educated in the neighborhood schools. In 1849 he moved to this county and settled on the farm where he now lives. Mr. Townsend married at the age of forty-five. On the 20th of September, 1866, he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Dysart. They have five living children: Lena F., John E., Robert Lester, Susan P., Anna Louisa. Mr. Townsend is an old settler of Saline county, and a worthy citizen, who pays his taxes, lives honorably, hurts nobody, and renders to every man his due.
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