USA > Missouri > Saline County > History of Saline County, Missouri > Part 94
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
Mr .. Parsons was raised in Paris, Maine, his father being a manufacturer of woolen goods and a farmer, and when not at school the son was assist- ing in the business. He received his academic course at Hebron academy, at which were educated Hannibal Hamlin, President Pierce and Prof. Swallow. Mr. Parsons taught several terms at the same school which President Pierce had also taught, and also taught near Boston, Massachu- setts. In 1848, Mr. Parsons came to Saline county, Missouri, and located on his present farm near Miami, where he has ever since made his home. On May 29, 1851, he was married at Paris, Maine, to his early love and schoolmate, Miss Kate Hill; to them has been born: Flora J., F. Ella, Bettie K., Emma L. and Anna M .; all living, except Miss Ella, who died at school in Warrensburg, Missouri, March, 1881. Mr. Parsons is an earnest granger, and for some years has been master of the Saline county grange. In 1859, he was a candidate for representative of Saline county, and was only defeated by one vote. In 1876, he was elected to the state senate from this, the nineteenth senatorial district, serving four years, and during both sessions was chairman of the committee on enrollments; he was also a member of the committee on emigration. He was a very hard working member of the general assembly, and stood high in the senate. At the close of each session, the senate passed him a vote of thanks for his careful and laborious work in the committee. See senate journal, 30th general assembly, page 988. In December, 1862, he enlisted in the Confederate army, in the command which was captured at the Blackwater, on the second day out. But his Yankee shrewdness saved him from capture. He ran a little ways out, and laid down in the high grass, and thus escaped. He enlisted again in 1864, and was made first lieutenant, and was with General Price in his retreat to Louisiana, and was ranking officer, surrendering his regiment at Shreveport.
ROBERT PARRISH, grain dealer, P. O., Miami. Robert Parrish, of the firm of Parrish Bros., Miami, Missouri, was born in Marion county, Missouri, September 23, 1837, where he was raised on a farm, and was educated at Philadelphia Academy in the same county. He was engaged in farming at the breaking out of the war, and in June, 1861, entered the Confederate army. In 1863 he was captured at Helena, Arkansas, and taken to the Alton, Illinois, prison, where he was kept eight months, and then taken to Ft. Delaware, where he remained twelve months, and was then exchanged and sent to Richmond, Virginia. He enlisted as a pri- vate, and was discharged as a first lieutenant. At the end of the war he returned to Marion county, and shortly after to Knox, where he remained until 1868, engaged in stock and grain trade. He then came to Saline county, Missouri, and engaged in farming until 1870, when he went into the stock trade and continued it four years. He then came to Miami, and engaged in the grain business, in which he is still engaged. His
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house, of Parrish Bros., ships the largest half of the grain shipped from Miami. In November, 1875, Mr. Parrish was married to Miss Mary E. Taylor, daughter of John J. Taylor, of Shelby county, Missouri, by whom he has three children, all living. He is a careful, but very active, business man, and is one of the stand-bys of Miami. The war left him penniless, but by active industry and business habits, he has made a com- petency.
JOHN H. McDANIEL. Is a son of Judge R. E. and Delia McDan- iel, and was born in Caroline county, Virginia, July 31, 1838. In 1842 his father moved the family to Cooper county, Missouri, and in 1844 to Saline county, where John was raised on a farm. He finished his educa- tion in Columbia College, Washington City. Returning home in 1859, he commenced the grocery business in Miami. He soon disposed of his grocery, and early in 1861 volunteered in the M. S. G., and was in all Price's battles of 1861. In December, 1861, he was third lieutenant in Capt. Ruxton's company, in Robinson's recruits, and with all the rest was captured at Blackwater, and imprisoned first in St. Louis, then in the Alton penitentiary. From the penitentiary he escaped in the following manner: Some of his fellow prisoners and messmates had taken the oath of loyalty, and were to be passed out by the guard. Stationing himself near the guard, Mr. McDaniel secretly and deftly abstracted the certificate of one of his friends from his pocket, after the guard had passed him, and after it had been inspected and carelessly stuck in his pocket by the soldier; he then returned to his quarters for a short time, and came down prepared to go. On presenting the stolen certificate, the officer on guard, as soon as he read the name, exclaimed, "you have been here before." "Yes; but I left some baggage, and returned for it, and thought perhaps you would not recognize me," said McDaniel. "Pass out this man," was the order, and John was free. Returning home to Saline he was confined there with sickness for over six weeks. He then struck for Dixie via St. Louis, Cincinnati and Canada, crossing the lines on Chesapeake bay. On the 12th of October, 1863, he was again captured, and taken to St. Louis, where he was recognized by the prison officials. He tried again to escape, but, though he was not caught in the act, had to wear a ball and chain for several months, which came near crippling him for life. From St. Louis he was again transferred to Alton. Soon afterward, the officers of the prison called for volunteers from the prison, to help whitewash some buildings, and putting on a citizen's coat, and passing the guard in broad daylight, John made his second escape. The war, however was soon over now, and at its close he was made deputy- sheriff of Caddo parish, Louisiana. He returned home, and entered the dry goods business, under the firm of McDaniel & Boyer, in which he remained until 1870, when he sold out, and removed to the splendid farm
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
on which he now lives. January 11, 1870, Mr. McDaniel was married to Miss Claire Rucker, of Howard county, Missouri. Children: Rucker S., Noel P., Forest R., and Robert R., living, and one dead.
CHARLES P. BONDURANT, farmer and merchant, P. O., Miami. Was born August 15, 1803, in Cumberland county, Virginia. His father died soon after his birth, and he was raised by an uncle, and chiefly in the country. He received a good business education. From his 26th year until 1837, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Virginia. In 1837 he came west and located in Saline county, near his present home, and has been engaged in farming ever since. When he came to Saline there were few inhabitants, and fewer still on the prairies, and he has seen many changes pass over the fair face of Saline. The tall green grass and the countless wild-flowers of the prairie, have all turned into waving corn and wheat, under his eye, and the little country postoffice has grown into the city, before him, with its church spires, its business houses, its public buildings and its handsome residences. In the awful storm that swept the continent from 1860 to 1865, he was a Union man, but a southern sympa- thizer. April 11, 1833, he was married to Miss Caroline E. Smith, and they have a fair prospect of celebrating their golden wedding. To them has been born Mary W., (Hays) Betty (Hughs), and Charles P., Jr., all living. Energy and pluck were all the capital Mr. Bondurant had when he started in life, and he has made all he has. In connection with Mr. Surbaugh, his son has recently erected a saw-mill with a capacity of 8,000 feet per day, four miles northwest of Slater.
JUDGE R. E. McDANIEL, merchant and farmer. Judge McDaniel, who during the latter years of his life, was one of Saline's most prominent citizens, was born near Dumfries, Prince William county, Virginia, March 9, 1799. He lived in Virginia until 1841, when he moved west and settled in Booneville, where he carried on the mercan- tile business for several years. In 1844 he moved to Saline county and established two stores, one in Miami and one in Marshall, then but recently located. He superintended both establishments for several years. He had entered a large body of land, southeast of Miami, and on retiring from the mercantile business, he turned his attention to farming, and improved a large farm. At his death he possessed several thousand acres of first-class Saline county land. After becoming a citizen of Saline, he united himselt with the Bethel Church, having joined the Baptist Church long before leaving Virginia. His business habits were excellent, his per- sonal integrity beyond question, and his disposition kind and generous in the extreme-and his benevolence extended to every class of his fellow citizens. In no sense was Judge McDaniel an office-seeker, but he held the office of county judge for a number of years. In 1858 the democ- racy of Saline nominated him as their candidate for representative, the
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
whigs or know-nothings opposing him with William H. Letcher, then, as now, a resident of Marshall. The contest was an exciting one, and party lines were sharply drawn. Mr. Letcher was elected and Judge McDaniel defeated, but by a very small majority. The personal popularity of both gentlemen made the race still more exciting. The war found Judge McDaniel, as he had always been, a straight, uncompromising states-rights southern democrat. For five years he was moderator in the Baptist General Association of Missouri, and always acquitted himself to the sat- isfaction of his brethren. He was always a consistent Christian. He died on the night of April 6, 1870, and his remains rest in the church-yard he loved so long and so well, and there, with others of his family, await the judgment day. He caught his death stroke riding home in a rain from Howard county, where he had been on a'charitable errand of assist- ing the indigent widow of his whilom warm friend and pastor, A. P. Wil- liams, D. D. Judge McDaniel was married three times. First, to Miss Delilah Priddy-his two last being sisters, Misses Delia and Jane Rich- ardson. He raised a family of eleven children, eight of whom are still living, and seven of them residents of Saline county: Reuben E., John H., Giles R. and Alex S. are well known farmers of Saline, while Mary N. is the wife of Rev. William M. Bell, of Miami; Flora E. is the widow of Quincy A. Thompson, and now lives in Liberty, Missouri; and Lucy is the wife of C. C. Ross, a prominent farmer of Miami township.
REUBEN E. McDANIEL, farmer, P. O., Miami. Son of Judge R. ,E. McDaniel, was born June 15, 1836, in Caroline county, Virginia. After his father had moved to Saline county, he went to school in the country, and then finished his education in 1856-7 in Columbia College, Washing- ton City. In 1857 he went as pilot on the Missouri river, and remained there until 1869. In that year he quit the river and came to the farm upon which he now lives, and has been occupied in farming and stock- feeding since. He has a handsome residence on a fine farm, overlooking all the surrounding country. In March, 1868, he was married to Miss Kate White, of St. Louis, having five children, four of whom, Edmund N., Maud R., Reid K. and Aubrey T., are still living.
HENRY CLAY SURBAUGH, farmer, P. O., Miami. Son of Wm. Surbaugh, born April 13, 1844, in Saline county, and was raised on a farm, receiving his education at the Miami Institute. In December, 1861, he was taken prisoner with the Robinson recruits, on Blackwater. He was released on oath in April, 1862, and returned home. In 1864 he went to California, where he staid until 1866, and returned to Saline and com- menced farming. November 24, 1870, he was married to Miss Susan F. Doak, by whom he has four children: Allie C., Bertie B., Fannie M., William T., all living. From 1873 to 1876 he farmed in Chariton county,
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
returning in the latter year to Saline county, to the farm on which he now lives.
THOMAS H. BOOKER, farmer, P. O., Miami. Son of P. D. and Martha A. Booker. Was born April 11, 1835, in Amelia county, Vir- ginia. His parents moved to Saline county when he was but two and one-half years old, and settled on a farm southeast of Miami. Mr. Booker received a good independent education, has been a great reader, and is an intelligent and cultivated gentlemen and a good farmer. Feb- ruary 14, 1856, he was married to Miss Agnes Lacy (daughter of Dr. William A. and Agnes Lacy, of Saline county), to whom has been born six sons and three daughters, all living: William P., Eugene A., Thomas, Stonewall, Agnes O., Mary, Edward L., Albert Sidney, Addie L. and John C. Mr. Booker was a southern man, of course, but did not enter the confederate army until 1864, when he joined Price's invading army when it reached Saline. Like most southern men in Missouri, he lost everything by the war except his land, which the soldiers could not carry away. He has a fine and well improved farm, and from the front porch of his residence can be seen over one hundred as fine farms as the sun ever smiles upon. The view is indeed a grand one.
GEORGE T. TAYLOR, merchant, P. O., Miami. Mr. George T. Taylor was born September 13, 1848, in La Grange, Oldham county, Kentucky, and is a son of Wm. G. and A. P. Taylor. His father was a druggist, and was the clerk of the court for several years. George lived in Kentucky until he was fifteen years of age, mostly attending school. He then went to Louisville, and was there employed in superintending the tobacco trade of Frazer Bros. for several years. In 1869 he went to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and engaged as salesman. In 1873 he went to War- ren county, Kentucky, and commenced in the general mercantile business for himself. In February, 1881, he united with Mr. Hahn in purchasing the dry goods stock and business of Mr. Henry Boyer, a well-known merchant of Miami, and in April of this same year moved to Miami, leav- ing his store in Warren county in charge of one of his clerks. Mr. Taylor was married December 5, 1876, to Miss Ermin Sweeney, of Gallatin, Ten- nessee. They have two children living: Julia E. and Elizabeth A. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Methodist Church South, and a Master Mason.
WILLIAM T. WHITE, farmer. Was born in Clarke county, Vir- ginia, September 23, 1832. His father died when William was only eight years old. About four years after his father's death, his mother removed with the family to Ohio, where they remained about eighteen months, and then moved to Illinois, where they lived until 1856. In 1856 William, who was grown, moved the family to Saline county, Missouri. February 23, 1871, he was married to Mrs. Alice Coleman, whose maiden name was Wright. Mrs. Coleman had one daughter, Mary E., when she married
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Mr. White. Five children have blessed this union: Robert L., Ella, Ernest H., William, and Frank, all living. Mr. White is a member of the Baptist Church, and has an excellent farm in good cultivation.
JOSEPH A. FISHER, farmer. Was born in Aberdeen, Ohio, Janu- ary 8, 1834. When Joseph was only one year old, his father moved to Maysville, Kentucky. When he was about fourteen years old, they moved to Louisville, where they lived about four years, and then moved to Bourbon county, Kentucky. Mr. Fisher, having received a good edu- cation, then worked on a farm until 1854, when he moved to Knox county, Missouri, and there engaged in farming until 1868, when he moved to Saline county and located here, and has since been engaged in farming and handling stock. January 22, 1862, Mr. Fisher was married to Miss Theresa E. Baker, of Marion county, Missouri. They have had five children, all now living: Thomas J., Pauline, Eliza, Sarah E., and Nancy. In 1861 he enlisted in the M. S. G., and was out eight months. He is a shrewd but liberal business man. He is a Master Mason.
JAMES M. JOHNSTON, farmer, P. O., Fairville. Was born in New Brunswick, on the 18th day of April, 1837, and is of Scottish parent- age. When he was about four years old, his parents moved to Meigs county, Ohio, where he lived until fifteen years of age. At that age he went to Mason county, Virginia, where he made his home until 1871, in which last named year, he came to Saline county, and here located per- manently. When only thirteen years old he went to work in a foundry and learned the moulders' trade. At the age of seventeen, he went on the Ohio river and learned the trade of pilot. Since he came to Saline, in 1871, he has been engaged in farming. In July, 1869, he was married to Miss Kate Long, of Mason county, Virginia. They have two children: Oscar P. and John A., both living. He is a member of A. F. & A. M. and of I. O. O. F., and also of the Ancient Order of Redmen. Mrs. Johnston died in the autumn of 1880.
NICHOLAS J. SMITH, farmer, P. O., Miami. Mr. N. J. Smith, one of the large farmers and stock feeders of Saline county, was born in Henry county, Kentucky, February 13, 1834, where he was raised and educated. In his thirteenth year he made a profession of religion, and united himself with the Baptist Church, to which his family for sev- eral generations have belonged. Mr. Smith first came to Saline on a visit just previous to the war, and while here, married Miss Mattie J. Smith, daughter of Stephen Smith, one of the old settlers of the county, from Henry county, Kentucky, now dead. Delighted with Saline, Mr. Smith determined to make it his home. Settling up his affairs in Ken- tucky, he returned, and purchased the J. M. White farm of 1,000 acres. This he soon after reduced by sale to a section, and he has now one of
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
the finest and most desirable farms in Saline county. Since the war, like all Saline farmers, he has abandoned the raising of hemp, and has turned his attention to the raising of cereals, and to the raising and feeding of stock. In July, 1879, Mrs. Smith died, leaving five children living: Thomas S., Susan E., Mattie E., Robert O., and Clark P. Mr. Smith has always been a consistent Christian, kind and charitable, and a hospit- able, old-fashioned Kentucky gentleman. He is also a most excellent and successful farmer.
AMOS A. WHEELER, M. D., P. O., Miami. The subject of this sketch is a son of Alfred and Ruth Wheeler, and was born near Miami, August 4, 1842, where he grew to manhood. While attending school at the Miami Institute, the war broke out, and in the autumn of 1861, he was captured at Blackwater, taken to St. Louis, and held, as a prisoner, for three months, when he was released, after taking "the oath." He remained at home one year, then spent eighteen months in Colorado, variously employed. At the close of the war, he returned to Miami, and after reading medicine three years in a private office, he entered the med- ical department of Ann Arbor University, where he attended lectures one year, then to Bellevue Hospital Medical College, from which he grad- uated in the spring of 1868, when he returned to Miami, commenced his profession, and has built up a large and paying practice. He was united in marriage, September 30, 1859, to Miss Alice S. Vaughan, and to the union has been born three sons and three daughters, all living. He is an official member of the Christian Church, and superintendent of the Sab- bath school. Is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the I. O. O. F., at one time one of the Grand Lodge officers, also of the I. O. G. T. and A. O. U. W. He is a strong advocate of temperance; believing, from his own early experience, the only safe plan to be total abstinence.
SALT FORK TOWNSHIP.
MRS. ANNA DAVIS ADKISSON, P. O., Napton. Mrs. Adkisson was born in Kentucky in 1807, and was the daughter of Cornelius Davis, with whom she moved to Missouri, and settled with him at New Madrid, in 1810. The earthquakes of 1811 broke up Mr. Davis, and he moved to central Missouri, and located his New Madrid claim, about five miles above Booneville, in 1819. In the spring of 1821, he again moved, and located in the Big Bottom, in Saline county. February 17, 1823, she married Mr. Walker Adkisson, a native of Halifax county, Virginia, born in October, 1789, who moved to Missouri and settled in the Big Bottom, in 1819. After her marriage they remained in the bottom about a year, and in 1824 settled on Salt Fork creek, about a mile above where Mr. Stouffer now
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lives, living there a couple of years, and then moving to where she now lives, with her son-in-law Mr. Stouffer, where her husband died in 1844. Mrs. Adkisson raised four sons and three daughters, five of whom are now living.
DR. S. D. MARTIN, physician and farmer. Dr. S. D. Martin was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, in 1825, where he was raised and educated, and continued to live until 1853. In 1853 he moved to Missouri, and settled in Grand Pass township, Saline county, where he lived until a few years ago, when he moved to the farm he now lives on, three or four miles south of Marshall. Dr. Martin married, in 1847, Miss Kate Pink- erton, of Woodford county, Kentucky, and has had ten children, of whom there are now living: Rebecca, wife of Henry S. Hopkins; Lizzy, wife of Wm. H. Hurt; Annie, Ernest, Samuel, and Solon. Dr. Martin graduated in the medical department of the Transylvania Univer- sity, Lexington, Kentucky. In 1849 he went to California, for a year or so, and saw Indian wigwams where Kansas City now stands. During the war he enlisted in the M. S. G., and was in Price's battles of 1861. Was captured in Robinson's recruits at Blackwater. Released on oath from Alton, in 1862. For some years he lived in Pettis county, and moved to his present residence in 1877. The doctor is a member of the Christian Church, belongs to the I. O. G. T., and has been successful both as physician and farmer. Started out in life with only his profession, and now owns 225 acres of choice land near Marshall. He took the pre- mium for the largest and best crop of hemp, before the war.
DR. MATTHEW W. HALL, physician and farmer, P. O., Salt Fork. Was born in Washington county, Kentucky, in 1817, and is a son of Rev. Nathan Hall, a well known minister of that state. In 1820 his father moved near Lexington, Kentucky, and remained there until Matthew was twenty years of age. In the spring of 1837 Dr. Hall went to Salem, Illinois, and lived there eight years, and in February, 1845, moved to Arrow Rock, Saline county, where he lived and practiced his profession for twelve years. In 1857 he moved to his farm in Salt Fork township, where he has since resided. Dr. Hall was educated and graduated in medicine at the Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. In 1839 he was married at Salem, Illinois, to Miss Agnes J. Lester, of Charlotte county, Virginia, and has had eleven children, eight of whom are now living: Dr. C. Lester Hall, of Marshall; W. Ewing Hall, Esq., of Kansas City; Dr. John R. Hall, of Marshall; Mrs. Louisa Trigg, of Boonville ; Matthew W. Hall, Jr., living in Boonville; Dr. Thomas B. Hall, practicing with his father; Miss Florida Lee Hall and Miss Effie Hall. Dr. Hall is a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church, membership at Mt. Olive, and also a Free and Accepted Mason, has been a member of the Arrow Rock lodge for thirty-five years. In 1860 Dr. Hall was elected to
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HISTORY OF SALINE COUNTY.
represent Saline county in the legislature, and was an uncompromising pro-slavery democrat, and earnestly supported the war measures suggested by Gov. Jackson, and attended the session at Neosho. In 1874 Dr. Hall was again elected by the democrats to represent Saline in the legislature. In December, 1861, he was captured with the regiment of recruits on Blackwater, of which he was surgeon. He was taken to St. Louis, then to Alton, paroled to hospital duty, and finally paroled to go home. His oldest son, Dr. C. Lester Hall, now of Marshall, was captured at the same time.
JAMES H. McCALLISTER, deceased. Born in Kanawha, Virginia, about the year 1813. While still a boy his father moved to Christian county, Kentucky. In 1835 he came to Cooper county, Missouri, and soon after moved up to Saline county, near McCallister Springs, then the property of his father. In 1846 he was married to Miss Mary J. Ram- sey, by whom he had eight children, all living: Margaret E., James T., Susan J., George Floyd, Mary, Albert R., Martha A., and Minnie M. Mr. McCallister died in July, 1880, since which time Albert, his youngest son, has carried on the farm. During the war Mr. McCallister was a Union man, but did not enter either army, remaining quietly on his farm. Once his house was searched by the Confederates, but through the cool- ness of his wife nothing valuable was found, though the sum of $700 in coin was concealed on the premises at the time. At another time she saved her husband from a bushwhacker by treating the thing as a joke, and laughing the man out of his intention. Mrs. McCallister was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, and came with her parents to this state at an early date. At various times during the last thirty years of his life, Mr. McCallister was justice of the peace, deputy sheriff, and constable.
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