USA > Missouri > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Missouri : past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county Vol. II > Part 19
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Both Mr. and Mrs. Couch are devoted members of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church. He is a Republican in political opinions and action, and cast his first ballot for James A. Garfield for president.
He is a thoroughly practical farmer, progressive and modern in his, ideas and methods, and ranks among the substantial and well-to-do citizens of his community, esteemed by all who know him.
Eliakim Cox. The subject of this sketch, for many years identified with Vernon county as one of its progressive, substan- tial citizens, owes his nativity to Greene county, Tennessee, where his birth occurred August 8, 1826. His father, Eliakim Cox, and
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his mother, Mrs. Nancy Graham, nee Long, were natives also of Tennessee ; his maternal grandfather lived to be 101 years old, having taken active part in the Revolutionary War, and his grandmother reached the age of ninety-nine years. It will be seen, therefore, that Mr. Cox comes of a family celebrated for their longevity. His mother was twice married, and reared to maturity a family of fourteen children. He grew up in his native state, attending as usual to farm duties, and there remained until 1849, when he came to Missouri, settling in this county; which has since been his home, and where he has continued to live, save for a short time during the late Civil War, when he was a member of Colonel Hunter's command ; he was honorably discharged on account of disability, after having taken part in the battles of Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Drywood and Lexing- ton. Following this, in 1862, he was forced into the Federal army and made to do duty for a few months. Mr. Cox's present pos- sessions embrace 800 acres of land. In 1849 he was first married to Miss Sarah Hale, of Tennessee, who died February 14, 1852, leaving one child, Archie G. Miss Louisa Dickson became his second wife in December, 1853, she having come to this county from Licking county, Ohio, when quite young. Their children are : William H., Nancy C., Enoch A., Alice and Edwin J.
J. J. Cox,* a native Missourian, was born in Cape Girardeau county, January 6, 1838, and is the eldest son of a family of fifteen children, eight of whom are now living (1911), born to Thompson and Nicy (Whitney) Cox, both natives of Missouri. His paternal grandfather settled in Missouri while it was yet a territory and died before our subject was born. His mother was born the year Missouri was admitted into the sisterhood of states. The father, who died in Missouri, was a Baptist in religious faith and in poli- tics adhered to the Democratic principles advocated by "Tom" Benton.
Our subject acquired his education in the common schools and lived at home till he was twenty years old. He then went to Waynesville, in Pulaski county, and there learned the black- smith's trade and followed it till after the opening of the Civil War. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company E, Fifth Regi- ment, Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, and entered the army. His regiment was kept in the west much of the time on scouting duty.
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He participated in many skirmishes and remained in the service till the close of the war, and was honorably discharged at Benton Barrack, August 13, 1865. Returning to Pulaski county, he re- sumed his trade and worked there two years and one year at Little Piney, and in 1869 removed with his family to Vernon county and followed his trade five years in Montevello township. In 1874 he settled at Milo and, resuming his trade there, followed it steadily for eighteen years, then engaged in mercantile business with his son under the firm name of J. J. Cox & Son. A little later the firm's business was transferred to the zinc mines region, in Jasper county, Missouri, where it is still carried on under the management of the son ; Mr. Cox remained at Milo and worked at his trade till September, 1910, when he opened the only butcher- ing establishment and meat market in the town. Mr. Cox by patient, persistent and persevering industry has achieved suc- cess. In his special line he as a blacksmith is widely known as a skillful workman and for many years has had a wide reputation as an expert horseshoer. Coming to Vernon county when it was but sparsely settled, he has seen the barren prairies converted into rich and fertile farms; has watched the growth of strug- gling pioneer towns into thrifty and populous villages and cities, and has witnessed the change of desolate plains, where the deer and other game roamed at will, into the happy dwelling places of a thrifty and prosperous people. Mr. Cox is an honored member of the Baptist Church at Milo and treasurer of the church board, and also belongs to Post No. 26, at Moundville, of the Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a Republican.
In January, 1861, Mr. Cox married Miss Eveline Williams, of Pulaski county, and they have five children, named, respectively, Arilons, Nicy, Minnie, Lula and Mattie.
Christopher C. Creek, who has passed his life in the place of his birth, in Dover township, Vernon county, Missouri, was born September 6, 1856. He was the fourth child and is one of two survivors of a family of six children born to Nathan H. and Mary J. (Freeman) Creek, the former born near Louisville, Ky., March 10, 1813, and the latter in Hopkins county, Tennessee, March 20, 1817. The paternal grandfather, Milton Creek, moved with his family from Kentucky, his native state, to Clay county, Missouri, in early pioneer days and there the maternal grand-
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parents settled with their family. Nathan H. and Mary J. were married in 1836 in Clay county and later moved to Vernon county in 1837, where he traded a horse for a claim to a quarter section of land in section 2, Dover township, on which he proved up. He afterwards bought another forty-acre tract in section 11. Here the father and mother established the family home and except three years during the Civil War, spent on the Withrow Morris farm, near Nevada, lived till their decease.
He was a Democrat in political opinion and in the early days of the country served seven years as justice of the peace. They were both members of the Missionary Baptist church and were known for the hospitality of their home. It was a common thing for the Indians to visit the farm and trade venison and other game for pork or farm products.
Mr. Creek died September 17, 1887, and his wife passed away January 7, 1892. Their other surviving child is Mrs. Sarah J., wife of Mr. T. D. Haynes, of Dover township.
Christopher C. acquired his education in the district schools and has always lived on the home place, a part of which he inherited on his father's decease and the remainder of which he bought. He has since bought other land and now owns in all 456 acres. Mr. Creek is a Democrat in political opinion and in religious faith and fellowship is a Baptist and about the year 1890 was ordained to the ministry. He is a member of Mission- ary Baptist church and has deeded to that body two acres of ground for a building site on which a house of worship has been erected and two acres for a cemetery.
On January 25, 1885, Mr. Creek was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Wolfe, who was born in Howard county, Indiana, April 25, 1866, a daughter of Moses A. and Lucinda J. (Collins) Wolfe, who moved from Indiana, their native state, to Vernon county, Missouri, in 1869. They settled first in Clear Creek township, thence went to Montevallo township and there bought forty acres of land. Mr. Wolfe, after a course of study at Will- iam Jewel College, Liberty, Mo., was ordained a minister of the Baptist denomination and lived in various places in Vernon county, and in 1909 settled in Nevada, where he passed away in July, 1910, and where his widow now makes her home.
Mr. and Mrs. Creek have six children, named respectively, Sylvia E., Verner V., Charles C., Holloway M., Eula L. and Ge-
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neva A. Creek, all of whom except Charles C., who lives at Milo, reside at home.
William F. Crigler, the junior member of the firm of Neff & Crigler, publishers and proprietors of the Nevada Herald, is a native of Benton county, Missouri, and was born October 3, 1865, to John N. and Mary J. (Short) Crigler, who moved from Vir- ginia to Barton county, Missouri, prior to the Civil War. The father served in the Union Army and returned to farming when the war was over. He moved with his family to Johnstown, in Bates county, in 1866, and there was engaged in general mer- chandising, and also served as postmaster. He afterwards re- sumed farming, and in 1899 departed this life at the age of sev- enty-one years. His widow still survives (1911).
The Crigler family is of German origin, and the ancestors of this branch were early settlers of Virginia. Our subject's ma- ternal ancestors were of Scotch-Irish lineage. The grandfather, John Short, late of Butler, Missouri, died there at the age of ninety years, and his widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Short, still survives at the age of ninety-seven years.
Our subject was reared on his father's farm and acquired his education in the common schools. After attaining his majority he spent two years in the employ of Mr. Oliver Duck, a stock dealer, at Schell City, then spent a year at Nevada, after which he returned to Schell City and remained there till in 1893, when he took up his permanent abode in Nevada. It was at this time he turned his attention to the printer's trade, entering the office of the Evening Post. Following that he was connected with the Southwestern Mail, and then was with Mr. J. W. McAnulty on the Republican.
In the early part of 1897 Mr. Crigler associated with Mr. O. W. Neff, leased the Republican and published it one year. Then, on February 1, 1898, they purchased the paper and plant, and chang- ing the name to The Nevada Herald, have since published it as the leading Republican journal in the county, both as a newspaper and as a moulder of public opinion along party lines.
Mr. Crigler is active in fraternal orders, being identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and The Tribe of Ben Hur.
On March 10, 1899, Mr. Crigler was united in marriage with
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Miss Bessie Schroeder, a daughter of the Rev. William and Kath- erine Schroeder, who lived in Nevada at that time, the father then being pastor of the Nevada Methodist Episcopal church- south.
Mr. and Mrs. Crigler have three children, named respectively Edgar M., Thelma K. and Harmon M. Crigler.
Woods S. Creel, a native Missourian, is one of the substantial citizens of Nevada, where he has lived since 1890. He was born . in Carroll county May 21, 1849, and is the fourth child of a fam- ily of seven children born to W. R. and Margaret (Woods) Creel, natives of Hart county, Kentucky, and Howard county, Missouri, respectively. Of their other children J. C. was killed at Altoona, Ga., in 1864 while serving in the Confederate army; Lizzie is de- ceased; Helen is married to Mr. J. W. Haliday, of Walkandaw, Mo .; Maggie was married to Judge O. J. Hale, of Carroll county, and died in 1908; W. R. is in the mercantile business at Carroll- ton, Mo., and Lou is the widow of Mr. John Yates and lives in Eldorado Springs, Mo.
The Creel family is traced to England, whence its first rep- resentative in this country came, settling in Virginia ; thence they went to Kentucky, to Illinois and finally to Missouri. Sashel Woods, our subject's maternal grandfather, was a native of Hart county, Kentucky. He was among the pioneer settlers of Carroll county, Missouri, in 1837, and a farmer by occupation. IIe went to California at the time of the gold craze in 1849 and it was to him that Colonel Hinkle, the Mormon chief, surren- dered, delivering his sword which is preserved among other his- torical relics in Carroll county. Our subject's father, W. R. Creel, served two terms as sheriff and also two terms as public administrator, and was twice elected to the legislature from Car- roll county, and died there in 1900 at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, our subject's maternal grandmother, died in 1861. when she was thirty-three years old.
Woods S. passed his boyhood in Carroll county and there attended the public schools and has always been interested in agricultural pursuits, stock raising and buying and selling horses and mules. In 1872 he moved to a farm in Moundville township, Vernon county, and lived there eighteen years, and then, in 1890. settled in Nevada. Here he purchased from Messrs. Sonsley
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Bros. their livery and sales stables and business, which increased under his good management and became the largest in its line in Vernon county.
Mr. Creel has always taken a commendable interest in public affairs and in 1907 was elected county judge for the southern district of Vernon county and in November, 1910, was re-elected for a second term. He is known as a man of clear discernment and sound judgment, and in the administration of high office he has the confidence and esteem of all. In religious faith Judge Creel is affiliated with the Christian denomination and for thirty-eight years he has served as an elder in that body.
In February, 1871, he married Miss Minerva J., a daughter of Dr. E. J. Atchinson, of Nevada. Of five children born to them, Fannie is married to D. C. Grinnell, of Kankakee, Illinois; Cora is the wife of Mr. Alva Forney, timekeeper for the Missouri Pacific railway at Nevada ; Joel is the wife of Mr. Burnie J. Har- ris, of Nevada, while Edwin R., Sidney M. and Carrie A., who was married to W. L. Samuel, of Nevada, are deceased, Mrs. Samuel dying in 1901.
William R. Crockett was the son of Dr. Samuel B. Crockett, a physician of recognized prominence and merit in Frankfort, Franklin county, Kentucky, where he lived until his death in 1850. For a number of years he had held the office of postmaster at that place. His wife, formerly Anna Instone, was a native of Frankfort; her death occurred in 1874. William R., the eighth child and fourth son of a family of eleven children, was born at Frankfort, Franklin county, Kentucky, February 13, 1836. In 1860 Cooper county, Missouri, became his home, and there he remained until 1861, when he enlisted under General Price and served throughout the war, gaining for himself an honorable record as a soldier. Among the engagements in which he par- ticipated might be mentioned those of Corinth, Iuka, Pea Ridge, Helena and others of less importance, though almost as severe in their results. After an active military career of some four years Mr. Crockett returned to Howard and Cooper counties and lived there until coming to Vernon county in 1870. In 1872 he pur- chased an interest in the Democrat. In February, 1886, Mr. Crockett took charge of the postoffice at Nevada, his appoint- ment to the position having been an able recognition of the
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services which he has rendered the Democratic party, in which he was ever an active and effective worker. March 17, 1870, he was married to Miss Mollie A. Trueman, who came to the state in 1860, her native place being in Franklin county, Kentucky. They had four children, W. V., Hallie B., Eugene B. and Owen V. Mr. Crockett was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
G. H. Croly, a prosperous farmer of Harrison township, Ver- non county, Missouri, was born August 30, 1862, and has always lived there. He is a son of Absolom and Caroline (Rosenbaum) Croly, the former a native of Illinois and the latter of Kentucky. The father lived in Vernon county from the time he was ten years old till his decease in 1900. He was a successful farmer and owned at the time of his decease 193 acres of land, and made a specialty of breeding and raising cattle and horses. He was a member of the Masonic order and a Democrat in politics. He was twice married, but had no children by the first wife. To the second union six children were born, of whom four are now- 1911-living, our subject being the second child in order of birth. The mother passed away in 1902.
Our subject attended the district schools till he was seven- teen years of age and grew up on the home farm, having the experiences common to the farmer boy. He remained with his parents till his twenty-fifth year, then, after working a rented farm a year, bought 160 acres in Harrison township which he improved and where he made his home and lived nineteen years. Selling this, he bought his father's homestead of 185 acres in sections 4 and 5 and now makes his home there, carrying on general farming with good success.
In politics Mr. Croly adheres to the principles of the Demo- cratic party as advocated by William Jennings Bryan, but has never sought or cared for political office. Mr. Croly is a bachelor.
Alfred Cummins, a native Missourian, was born in Camden county, February 11, 1836, the youngest of five children in the family of his parents, James and Ruth (Clinton) Cummins. The former came originally from South Carolina, but for some time resided in Kentucky, and in 1832 moved to Missouri, his death occurring in Laclede county in 1852. Mrs. Cummins died in Camden county in 1844; she was a Kentuckian by birth. In
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early life young Alfred became thoroughly familiar with all the details connected with a farm experience, the most of his time up to 1849 being passed in the county of his birth. When some thirteen years old he accompanied his father to Texas, from whence, after living there until 1854, he returned to Camden county, Missouri, and resumed his former occupation. In 1859 he settled in Vernon county and for about two years was engaged in teaching, but at the outbreak of the war, determined to sup- port the principles which he believed were right, he enlisted in Hunter's regiment of the C. S. A. (in June, 1861), and served until March, 1862, when, at the battle of Pea Ridge, he suffered the loss of an arm, this necessitating his return home. He only remained home a year, however, before accepting a position again in the commissary department, his term of service lasting until the close of the war. During his military career he took part in the battles of Carthage, Wilson's Creek and Drywood, and, as mentioned, the engagement of Pea Ridge. After recovering from the effects of the devastation wrought by that terrible internecine strife, Mr. Cummins followed farming and also handled stock to some extent until 1869, when he removed to Nevada. It was not long until his natural qualification for positions of political preferment became recognized and for two years he assessed the county, and in 1872 was called to serve as county collector, the duties of which office he discharged two years. Following this he served as treasurer for the same length of time, and was then elected county clerk of Vernon county, his term of service having extended over a period of four years. August 7, 1859, Mr. Cum- mins was married to Miss Susan A. Maxey, a native of Cooper county, whose father, Patrick L. Maxey, came to this county in 1857. She died March 5, 1879, leaving four children : Dora, wife of Joseph Davis; Nannie, Mrs. J. W. Talbott; James M., and Nellie. September 6, 1881, Miss Lizzie Snell became his wife, and they had two children, George and Mary. Mrs. Cummins was born in Monroe county, Missouri.
Marshall C. Cummins is one of the active, wide-awake and progressive young men of Nevada, Mo. A native Missourian, he was born in Badger township, Vernon county, March 7, 1879, and is the youngest of a family of three children born to James and Mourning (Baugh) Cummins, who are natives of Kentucky and
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Missouri, respectively. The father settled in Vernon county when a boy and has always carried on farming there. The other chil- dren are Ella, who is married to C. E. McDaniels, of Chickasha, Okla., and Warren, who lives in Nevada.
Marshall C. acquired his education in the district schools and grew up and lived on the home farm till he was twenty-four years old. On leaving the farm he settled in Nevada, where he was for a time employed as assistant deputy sheriff. Mr. Cum- mins has been somewhat active in public and political affairs and has a large circle of friends. At the election held in the fall of 1910 he was chosen clerk of the circuit court, receiving an unusually large majority of the votes cast, and on January 1, 1911 assumed the duties of his office as successor to Mr. J. E. Huff.
Mr. Cummins is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and Knights of Pythias.
George P. Currie, one of the substantial citizens of Richland township, Vernon county, Missouri, was born near Madison, in Jefferson county, Indiana, April 11, 1852, the second of three children and the only son born to George and Mary A. (Mc- Millan) Currie, the former born in Rock Bridge county, Vir- ginia, in December, 1797, and the latter born in 1818 in Jefferson county, Indiana, whither her family moved in 1812, settling on a parcel of land in the dense forest, which they cleared and im- proved. The father, George Currie, our subject's father, was the youngest of a family of four children, and after his father's death, which occurred when he was twelve years old, he lived with his mother till her decease. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, enlisting in a company of rangers in 1814 and serving till the war ended.
He was twice married, but had no children by his first wife. His marriage to Mary A. McMillan occurred in 1845, in Indiana, where they lived on land which he entered from the government, owning besides a quarter section in Jasper county, Illinois, which he secured as a veteran of the War of 1812, and also 160 acres in the same county, purchased from his brother, Robert Currie, who also was a veteran of that war. Both he and his wife passed their lives on the farm in Indiana, where he died in 1868 and she in 1892.
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George P. was educated in the public schools of his native place and at the Presbyterian College, Hanover, Ind., and remained on the home farm with his mother after his father's decease till 1880, when he engaged in the dairy business at Han- over, serving also two terms as township assessor. In the spring of 1882 he went to Sumner county, Kansas, whence in the fol- lowing autumn he came to Richland township, Vernon county. At that time Mrs. Isabell Smock, widow of David Smock, who died of fever in the Civil War, was living with her two children, Clara and Albert Smock, on a quarter section of land in section 15, Richland township, which her husband had bought, and on which they settled in the spring of 1882, coming from Jefferson county, Indiana.
Mr. Currie was united in marriage with Miss Clara Smock on coming to Richland township and they settled on eighty acres of this quarter section which came to Mrs. Currie from her . father's estate. Here Mr. and Mrs. Currie have made their home since their marriage, he having bought another twenty-acre tract in section 16 and eighty acres in section 21. In connection with his general farming operations Mr. Currie gives special attention to breeding and raising horses, mules and swine, and is part owner of the noted imported Percheron stallion "Volti- geur," which he keeps on his farm.
He is a Republican in political sentiment, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and is a trustee and elder in the Presbyterian church at Richards.
Mr. and Mrs. Currie have one child, Lottie E., who was born September 9, 1883, and is married to Mr. Edwin R. Benedict, of Rockville, Mo., and has one child, named Frances Aline Benedict.
Jasper Curtis, who ranks among the substantial farmers of Vernon county, was born in Lynn county, Missouri, November 7, 1858, to John C. and Hester Ann (Moore) Curtis, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee. Soon after the Civil War the father moved, with his wife and their family of six sons and two daughters to Lynn County, Missouri, where he acquired a quarter section of land, besides 120 acres in Cedar county, Missouri. When our subject was twelve years of age the family moved to Vernon county, where the father died in 1889. He was a fairly well-educated man, a thorough and successful
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farmer and a highly esteemed citizen, and in political opinions a Republican. His widow survived till 1908 and passed away at Joplin, Mo.
Jasper had but meager educational privileges, leaving school when he was twelve years old. When but ten years of age he became a "cowboy" and spent five years herding cattle, and then until his marriage worked as a farm laborer. He began farming on his own account on leased land and so continued five years, after which he bought eighty acres in section 9, Harrison town- - ship, to which he afterwards added 140 acres. Selling his hold- ings in 1908 he bought the place where he now makes his home, being forty-two acres in Harrison township and fifty-five acres in Drywood township. He is a practical general farmer and has achieved gratifying success in his operations.
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