USA > Missouri > St Charles County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 115
USA > Missouri > Montgomery County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 115
USA > Missouri > Warren County > History of St. Charles, Montgomery, and Warren counties, Missouri, written and comp. from the most authentic official and private sources, including a history of their townships, towns and villages, together with a condensed history of Missouri > Part 115
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1085
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
A., the wife of G. Snick ; Sarah, now Mrs. Long ; Elizabeth J., now Mrs. Brookmann ; Creed L., Fields C., Charles B. and Louisa J., the wife of T. J. Christman.
GEORGE BARTHOLOMAEUS
(Editor and Proprietor of the Volksfreund, Warrenton).
Mr. Bartholomaeus was a lad about 9 years of age when his pa- rents, Adam and Sophia Bartholomeus, came to America from Bavaria. He had previously attended school at Schweinfurt-on-the- Main, and after the settlement of the family in this country he at- tended the public schools of Baltimore, Md. He also studied at home and for a time had instruction from a private tutor. In 1857 he en- tered the office of the Deutscher Correspondent under Col. F. Raine, where he learned the printer's trade, and later he contributed articles from his own pen and letters to other papers as a correspondent. He made a specialty of the study of the labor question and has written quite extensively on that subject .. As correspondent he wrote principally for labor journals, and some of his letters at- tracted wide and favorable comment from papers and writers of unquestioned repute. Mr. Bartholomaeus was a member of various labor unions and benevolent societies, and has ever taken an active and earnest interest in the cause of ameliorating the condition of the wage-workers of the land and in advancing the laboring class to that position of consideration and influence in society, and in the government of the country, to which by every principle of right and justice it is entitled. £ It is a notorious fact that the people who build the fine houses of the land and produce all the delica- cies of life do not have them to enjoy, but that according to our present system of distribution of the profits of labor, those get them whose hands were never soiled by manual toil, and upon whom the sun of a full hard day's work never shown. Of course this is an out- rage on justice and humanity, and a crying shame that calls loudly for reform. He continued in the city of Baltimore until 1876 when he came West. In 1880, in partnership with Mr. F. A. Boehmer, ' he started the Warrenton Volksfreund. The Volksfreund is a German weekly and has proved an unqualified success. From a sub- scription list of 340 to begin with, its circulation has been increased to within six subscribers of 1,000. It is devoted to the general in- terest of the community and country, and in particular to the cause of the Republican party, as the party of progress and mankind. It is unquestionably one of the ablest conducted of the many able papers supporting that party. October 15, 1865, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Griensesen, in Baltimore, Md. She died July 17, 1868. His second wife was a Miss Caroline Benseler before her marriage. They have four children, namely : Carl J., Louisa S., Wilhelmina Louisa C. and Annie. The mother of these died September 24, 1883. Mr. Bartholomaeus is a member of the German Evangelical Church at Warrenton.
1086
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
FRANK A. BOEHMER
(Attorney at Law and Notary Public, Warrenton).
Mr. Boehmer, though a young man, has advanced himself to a po- sition of more than ordinary prominence in his profession, considering the length of time he has been engaged in the practice. But in view, perhaps, of the facts that he had the best of opportunities to prepare himself for a successful career at the bar, opportunities which he did not fail to improve, and that he is a young man of unquestioned mental force and acumen, as well as of untiring industry and studious, regular habits, this is not otherwise than should be expected. With the start he has already obtained as a lawyer, and the favoring cir- cumstances in which he is placed, his future at the bar certainly seems one of promise. Mr. Boehmer is a native of Warren county, born July 21, 1855, in Warrenton, Mo. His father, Dietrich Boehmer, was a carpenter by trade, well known as one of the old and respected citizens of Warren county. For many years, however, he has been engaged in farming, in which he has been successful and is now living on his comfortable homestead of 160 acres, adjoining Warrenton. His wife, who was a Miss Wilhelmina Forderhase before her marriage, is also still living. They reared but one child, Frank A., the subject of this sketch. He was given superior advantages for an education. His general education was received at the Central Wes- leyan College, and in law he took a regular course in the State Uni- versity of Missouri, where he graduated in 1879. In May, 1880, in partnership with F. W. Schierbaum, he established the Warrenton Sentinel, and in the fall of that year published a German edition to the paper, which was called the Volksfreund. About a year after the paper was established the publication of the English edition, or the Sentinel, was discontinued, but the Volksfreund was kept up. In the fall of 1883 he sold the Volksfreund office to George Bartholomaeus, who still continues the publication of the paper. Mr. Boehmer had also been engaged in the practice of law while in the newspaper busi- ness, and after he sold out he concentrated his whole time and atten- tion on his law practice. November 22, 1881, he was married to Miss Alwine Wessel. They have one child, Olivia, about two years of age. Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of the German Evangelical Church. Mr. Boehmer served in 1879 as deputy county clerk of his county.
THOMAS N. BONDURANT
(Depot and Express Agent, Postmaster, Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, Pendleton).
On his father's side Mr. Bondurant, as his name indicates, is of French ancestry and is a lineal descendant of one of the gallant old soldiers of the Revolution who came over to this country from France under Lafayette to fight for the liberties of the people of our then infant and struggling Colonies. The Bondurant family
1087
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
settled in Virginia, where Mr. Bondurant's father was born and reared and where he married and lived until his death. Mr. Bondu- rant's mother was a Miss Jane B. Neblett, of Lunenburg county, Va., and was of Scotch descent. They reared a family of eight children, all of whom are living. Thomas Bondurant, the subject of this sketch, was the fourth in the family of children and was born in Franklin county, Va., June 27, 1833. He was reared in that county and received a good general English education. In 1862 he enlisted in the Confederate army, a member of Co. C, Tenth Virginia cavalry, in W. H. F. Lee's brigade of Hampton's division. He served with courage and fidelity for three years, or until the close of the war, and was one of the thousands and hundreds of thousands of brave soldiers of the South who dared to do or die wherever duty called. At the close of the war he received the appointment of justice of the county court of Franklin county, which position he held up to the time of his removal to this State. March 26, 1856, Mr. Bondurant was married in Franklin county, Va., to Miss Sarah E. Neblett, a daughter of William S. and Mary A. (Cheeley ) Neblett, of that couty. After the war he continued to reside in Virginia, engaged principally in farming pursuits until 1871, when he removed to Missouri and located at Pendleton. Here he followed merchandising for some four years. In September, 1883, he was appointed depot agent of the Wabash at this place, and has since continued to hold this position. Shortly he was also appointed express agent and in the spring of 1873 he was made postmaster, which position he has filled up to the present time. In 1882 he was elected justice of the peace of Elkhorn township and has since held this office. Mr. Bondurant received a commission as notary public from Gov. Woodson about (1873) 11 years ago and has since exercised the functions of this office. He now holds all the positions mentioned above, and, as all know, he discharges the duties they require with thorough efficiency and entire satisfaction to all con- cerned. The multiplicity of his duties and the celerity and thorough manner in which he discharges them show conclusively that he is a man of more than ordinary business aptitude and energy. Mr and Mrs. Bondurant have five children : Georgia, who is the wife of Por- ter C., son of Col. Clay Turner ; Willard E., now traveling auditor of the International and Great Northern Railway, and resides at Pales- tine, Tex. ; Rebecca S., now ticket agent and telegraph operator of the Wabash at Ferguson, Mo .; Mary V., the telegraph operator at Pendleton ; and Jerome T., who is yet a youth and at home. Mr. and Mrs. B. are members of the M. E. Church South, and Mr. B. is a member of the A. F. and A. M. and of the Masonic Mutual Aid Association.
JOHN BRANDT
(Farmer, Post-office, Warrenton).
Dr. Henry F. Brandt, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a well educated physician, who came over to this county from Prussia
1088
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
and located in Warren county, on Charrette creek, in 1832, where he engaged in the practice of his profession, and also improved a farm. He was married after his emigration from Prussia to Miss Marie Bock- horst, in Warren county. Five children are living, reared in this union, namely : Eliza, Henry, John, Julius and Emelia. Eliza is the wife of Richard Hedemann, of St. Charles county ; Henry is a prac- ticing physician of that county ; Julius is also practicing medicine, and resides near Warrenton ; Emelia is the wife of William Gendeman ; John Brandt, the subject of this sketch, was born in this county in 1838. He was reared on his father's homestead, and became a farmer on reaching the age that it was proper for him to start out for him- self, that being the calling to which he was brought up. Later along he also engaged in merchandising, and is still in the mercantile busi- ness. He has a good farm of 160 acres, besides other valuable lands. In the mercantile line he carries a large stock of goods for a store out- side of a large town, his stock representing a value of over $4,000. Mr. Brandt has an excellent trade, and is justly popular as a mer- chant for his fair dealing and gentlemanly, accommodating treatment of all who have business with him. . In 1864 he was married to Miss Margaret Rethorst, a daughter of J. H. and Catherine (Kirkhoff) Rethorst, who came from Germany in 1840. Her father has been dead for many years, but her mother is still living, and has been in- duced to make her home with Mrs. Brandt, where her old age is made bright and pleasant by the kindness and affection of her daughter and others of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Brandt have four children: Eu- genia, Herman, Emil and Arnold.
JULIUS BRANDT, M. D.
(Physician and Surgeon, and Farmer and Stock-raiser, Post-office, Warrenton).
As would be expected of the large immigration into this country from Europe, representatives of every class of society are to be found, from the most humble to those of the highest respectability. Among those of the better class of people who came from Germany and made their homes in Missouri during the " Thirties,"were the parents of the subject of the present sketch. Of them, however, mention has al- ready been made in the sketch of John Brandt, the Doctor's brother, so that it is unnecessary to repeat here what has been said there. Suffice it, therefore, to say that Doctor Brandt's parents were peo- ple of marked intelligence and culture, and of recognized social standing of influence. The Doctor was born on his father's home- stead in this county July 3, 1840, and as he grew up received an ex- cellent common-school education. While yet in youth he began the study of medicine under his father, and in due time matriculated at St. Louis Medical College where he took a regular course of two terms and graduated with honor in 1865. Immediately following his graduation, Dr. Brandt returned to the vicinity where he had been reared, and engaged in the practice of his profession, in association with his father. His thorough qualifications for the practice soon be-
1089
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
came apparent to all by his success in the treatment of cases, and he was not long in becoming popular as a physician. In 1871 he was married to Miss Louisa, a daughter of Herman Rethorst, of this county. The year next succeeding his marriage Dr. Brandt removed to his present location where he has ever since been actively engaged in the practice, and in the management of his farms. His homestead is one of the handsome and valuable farms of the community. . It contains 250 acres, and is improved in a first-class manner. His resi- dence is a large and tastely built two-story frame, and is handsomely set off by a beautiful yard and exceptionally attractive surroundings. He also has another place of 300 acres, a part of the old parental homestead. The Doctor and Mrs Brandt are members of the German Evangelical Church.
JOSEPH P. CHILES
(Of Chiles Bros., Dealers in General Merchandise, and Railroad Supply Contractors, Pendleton).
Mr. Chiles located in the vicinity of Pendleton immediately after the war and engaged in milling, which he followed successfully for about 12 years, when he withdrew from the milling business and began merchandising in the town of Pendleton. His experience in business has been quite satisfactory and he has succeeded in placing himself in good circumstances. When he came here his cash capital amounted to about $100, which were all the means he had of any kind to begin with. This is a record of which he has no cause to be ashamed, but, on the contrary, is one of much credit. Besides his merchandising he is also doing a large business at contracting with the Wabash Railroad, which he furnishes with large quantities of supplies annually. He sup- plies the road with about 3,000 cords of wood, some 20,000 ties and over 25,000 fence posts per year, besides other supplies. He is an Illinoisan by nativity, born in Cumberland county, October 18, 1844. His father was William F. Chiles, formerly of Alabama. His mother was ante-nuptially Miss Martha Plummer from Indiana. They were married in Morgan county, Ind., in 1839, and removed thence to Illi- nois and from there to Warren county, Mo., in 1844. In 1850 the family removed to Montgomery county where the father was engaged in farming until 1859 and in milling from 1859 to 1865, but in 1865 returned to Warren county where he has been living ever since. He is a carpenter by trade, but has also from time to time followed other pursuits, including milling and farming. The mother died in 1865 and had borne her husband eight children, five of whom are living, namely : Thomas K., Joseph P., Elizabeth A., John S. and Robert N. Joseph P. Chiles, the fourth in the fam- ily and the subject of this sketch, was principally reared in Montgom- ery county and was married at Pendleton, in Warren county, Novem- ber 9, 1869, to Miss Eliza McIntyre, a daughter of David and Martha McIntyre. Mr. Chiles' wife died February 5, 1884, leaving him six chil- dren : Martha J., Luella, Annie E., Thomas F., Angus and David N.
1090
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
During the war Mr. C. joined the Union army, Co. F, Forty-ninth Missouri volunteers, and served for about a year, or until the end of the war. He and his partners carry a stock of $2,000 and have an excellent trade. He is one of the enterprising, thorough-going and successful business men of his part of the county.
SAMUEL B. COOK
(Attorney at Law and Editor and Proprietor of the Warrenton Banner).
Mr. Cook purchased the Banner office in the summer of 1882 and has ever since been conducting the paper as editor and proprietor. The Banner is one of the old and well established country journals of the State. As a business enterprise it has been a marked success, while in point of standing and influence it occupies an enviable posi- tion. It is Democratic in politics and has rendered valuable services for the party in advocating with ability sound Democratic doctrines, and in supporting at all times only those of its party adherents for the public service or political advancement who were known to meet the old Jeffersonian test, honesty and capacity. It is perhaps more largely due to the influence of the Banner that Warren county, with an unquestioned Republican majority, has so often elected Demo- cratic nominees for different offices. The high character the Banner had attained before Mr. Cook took charge of it has suffered nothing in his hands. On the contrary, both as a business investment and as a journal, strictly speaking, its career under his management has been one of steady and substantial advancement. He brought to the paper a personal popularity he has long enjoyed which has been of much value to it, and certain individual characteristics in editorial and busi- ness management that have contributed largely to its success. Mr. Cook was well known in the county when he took charge of the paper, as he still is, as one of its most popular and highly respected citizens. He had been repeatedly elected to office, though a Democrat and in a Republican county. His connection with politics, also, has been such, and his experience in affairs, as to fit him for the successful man- agement of a paper among the people by whom he was and is so well and favorably known. The Banner continues to bear unmis- takable evidence of prosperity and of marked influence on public opinion and in political affairs. Mr. Cook is a clear, vigorous and effective writer, and being a man of strong convictions and earnest, sincere purposes, his articles have a weight and influence which could not result from the writings of one less candid and clear-headed, and in whom the public have not the utmost confidence. As a newspaper Mr. Cook keeps the Banner fully abreast the times, giving each week all the latest and most reliable news, well selected and digested, of interest to the constituency among whom it circulates. Nothing, however, of a purely sensational nature, where few or no facts are involved, are admitted to its columns, and nothing that may not be read with propriety in the best guarded and most careful household. The Banner has a large circulation and is justly regarded by business
1091
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
men of intelligence as an exceptionally valuable advertising medium. It has a large patronage of advertisers, and its business of this class is steadily increasing. Unquestionably the Banner is one of the valuable pieces of country newspaper property in the State. Mr. Cook has been a resident of Warren county since 1865, or since he was 13 years of age, having been reared in this county from that age. He is a native of Virginia, born in Warren county January 11, 1852. His parents were William Cook of that county and wife nee Sarah M. Kelly of Fauquier county. The Cook family have long been settled in Virginia, and Mr. Cook's grandfather, William Cook, Sr., was also of Warren county, that State. William Cook, Jr., Samuel B.'s father, was a merchant by occupation, and in business at Front Royal until 1852, when he removed to Crawfordsville, Ind. For some seven years at Crawfordsville he was engaged in the hotel business. In 1859 he removed to Atchison county, Mo., and kept a hotel at Rock Port for some three years. He then removed to Washington county, where he followed merchandising for three years, and in Jan- uary, 1865, came to Warren county, settling near Marthasville, where he died in November of the same year. In the family there were five children besides Samuel B., four of whom had grown to mature years before their father's death. The children were Alexander, who afterwards died in Arkansas; William, who is now a resident of Texas ; Scott and David, both married and residents of this county, and Emma, who was the wife of George W. Kite, now of Saline county. Samuel B. Cook worked on a farm until he was 21 years of age, when, having received a fair common school education in the ordinary English branches, he came to Warrenton and began the study of law under Hon. Charles .E. Peers. After a regular course of study, in 1874 he was admitted to the bar, Judge W. W. Edwards of the circuit bench presiding. Such were his recognized qualifica- tions for the practice and his ability as a lawyer, that in about nine months after his admission, the office of county attorney becoming vacant, he was strongly recommended for that position both by his brother attorneys and a number of the influential men of the county. Upon these unquestioned indorsements Gov. Woodson appointed him to the office. His discharge of the duties of that position were emi- nently satisfactory to the public. In the fall of 1874 Mr. Cook was appointed deputy sheriff and collector of the county under John A. Howard, Esq. This position he held by reappointment for four years. He then became a candidate for the office himself, his oppo- nent being Judge D. P. Dyer, one of the popular men of the county, and a nephew of Col. D. P. Dyer, of St. Louis. Judge Dyer was the Republican candidate and had a party majority in the county, but Mr. Cook, through personal popularity, overcame the majority against him and was triumphantly elected. In 1880 he was re-elected by an increased majority and held the office for four years. Shortly prior to the close of his second term he bought the Banner office and has ever since been connected with the paper. He is also the President of the Bank of Warren County. In the fall of 1879 he
1092
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
was married to Miss Ella M. Howard, a daughter of John A. Howard, former sheriff of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have two children, Fannie and Jessie T.
CAPT. JOSEPH L. FANT
(Attorney at Law and Notary Public, Warrenton).
Unless one were to give some attention to the family biographies of the earlier settlers of Missouri, or those who came to this State prior to the late war, he could form no adequate idea of the large, prepon- derating percentage of the people who are of Virginia antecedents. Though without authoritative, actual statistics on the subject, it is perhaps safe to say that at least 75 per cent of the population of Mis- souri, coming of ante-bellum families, are originally of Old Dominion parentage. Among the large number of worthy and respected citizens of Warren county who may be classed in the above category, is the subject of the present sketch. Capt. Joseph L. Fant is himself a na- tive of Virginia, though from early youth he was reared in Missouri. He was born in Fauquier county, September 15, 1824. When he was about 12 years of age his parents, Richard L. and Rachel ( Blackburn ) Fant, removed to Missouri in April, 1836, and stopped for about a year in St. Charles county, but then came thence to the vicinity of Marthasville, in Warren county. In 1839 they removed to Warren- ton, and six years afterwards to Jefferson City, where the father engaged in the hotel business. He was a wheelwright by trade, and followed that up to the time of going to Jefferson City almost exclu- sively. Subsequently his time was divided between his trade and the management of his hotel. His wife died in Callaway county in the fall of 1858, and he in 1862, at Warrenton. They reared a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters, namely : Mary, who died the wife of Richard Owens, of this county ; Martha, the wife of James Vivian, of St. Louis ; Hamilton G., now a successfully retired banker of Washington City, D. C. ; Lucy A., the wife of Henry Oliver, of Callaway county ; Salina, who is the widow of Charles Simon, of that county ; Thomas W., a resident of California ; Roberta, who married Lieut. Edward Fant, of the regular United States service before the war, and during the war a gallant officer in the Confederate army, killed before Richmond in June, 1862. She is also deceased. Capt. Fant remained with his parents until about the time he was 14 years of age, when he started out for himself. He obtained a situation in the store of H. G. Fant, in the fall of 1843, at Jefferson City, in which he clerked for some two years. He then became a trader on the plains with the Indians. Shortly after the outbreak of the Mexican War, young Fant enlisted under Capt. Monroe M. Parsons, in Co. F, First Missouri riflemen, commanded by Col. A. W. Doniphan. After the close of his term of service, Mr. Fant returned to Warrenton, his former home, and in the fall of 1817 was married to Miss Ruth H. Stewart, a daughter of Griffith Stewart, Esq., of Warren county. About this time he engaged in the manufacture of tobacco and in
1093
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
general merchandising. Continuing in this for a number of years, he also, after a time, read law, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar, when he located at Warrenton for the practice of his profession. He took the side of the Union during the war, and early enlisted in the Federal service. In the summer of 1862 he was made Second Lieutenant of Co. C, Thirty-second Missouri, and in the following summer was promoted to a captaincy, the command of Co. K, which he held until he was honorably discharged from the service. He then returned to Warrenton and engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, and became interested in farming. He has since been actively identified with these pursuits, and is also a notary public. The Captain and Mrs. F. have nine children : Victoria J., single and with her parents ; and Joseph L., married and resident of Chillicothe ; Lucy A., the wife of John P. Regan, of St. Francois county ;. Ham- ilton G., who is married and a resident of Springfield : Chauncy B., married and residing at Jonesburg ; Clarence V., unmarried and still at home ; and Vidona. Three are dead.
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