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 39
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but owing to failing health he returned to Missouri and located in Deerfield township, of this county. This continued to be his place of residence until the spring of 1884, when he purchased the homestead upon which he resided, entering at once actively and energetically upon his career as an agriculturist. He was married in 1859 to Miss Emira J. Marshall, a native of Pettis county, Missouri, who has borne him the following children : Eugene, a merchant in Nevada; Emmet, a hardware merchant; Elizabeth A., Ella J., and Emma F:
Maj. Alexander R. Patterson. Perhaps the most important events in the life of Major Patterson are those which refer to his career while a soldier during the late war; and brief mention of the part he took in that strife may not be uninteresting at this place. At the breaking out of war troubles he was living in Ohio, engaged in the saddle and harness trade, which he had previously learned, but almost upon the first call for troops he enlisted in the Thirty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry and soon commenced active service. His first engagement was at Camp Bartow, October 2, 1861, followed subsequently by the battles of Camp Alleghany, McDowell, Port Republic, and the fighting at Harper's Ferry, where he was captured. After his exchange his regiment joined the Seventeenth Army Corps, and from this time on he participated in the engagements at Thompson's Hill, Jack- son, Champion's Hill, Siege of Vicksburg, on the Meridian expe- dition, Big Shanty and all through the Atlanta campaign, his experience being one of such hardships and privations as cvery true soldier must endure. Returning from the battlefield as major, Mr. Patterson spent two years in the oil regions of Ohio, coming thence to this county in 1867, where he was subsequently appointed clerk of the probate court, serving for three years. Then he was admitted to the bar, but after practicing four years his attention was turned towards selling agricultural implements. and in the interest of this business he canvassed the entire county thoroughly. He also sold musical instruments for a time. In later years he was engaged in selling goods as an auctioneer. Major Patterson was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1828, the fifth child and fourth son of eight children in the family of his parents, Alexander and Mary (Sigfried) Patterson. The former was of Scotch ancestry,
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born in Milton, Pa., and by trade was a fuller and dyer, after- wards working as a stone mason. He died in 1844. His wife was also a native of Pennsylvania, and of German origin. Sep- tember 16, 1851, he married Miss Ann S. Graff, of Knox county, Ohio. Mr. Patterson belonged to the A. F. and A. M. and G. A. R.
William L. Pepper, who has been a resident of Vernon county thirty years, was born in Marion county, Missouri, April 4, 1840, to William H. and Sarah (Lair) Pepper, both natives of Mason county, Kentucky, whence they came when young with their respective parents to Marion county, Missouri, and there married and passed their lives near the town of Warren.
William L. grew up in his native place and remained at home till after the opening of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army. While en route to join his command he was wounded in an encounter with the Union troops and returned home, and going thence to Kentucky, remained there till the war was over. On his return he went to Johnson county, Missouri, and there, in December, 1870, was united in marriage with Miss Emily J. Henderson, a daughter of Joseph Walker and Leina (Houks) Henderson, natives of Kentucky, and pioneer settlers of Johnson county. Mr. Pepper lived in Johnson county till 1877, then lived four years in Barton county and in the fall of 1881 came to Vernon county, and bought and settled on 180 acres of land in section ten, Blue Mound township, to which he has since added 140 acres, owning now an entire half section. Here he has given his attention to general farming operations with grati- fying success, and is counted among the prosperous and substan- tial citizens of the district. Mr. Pepper is active in affairs and has served on the local school board and is a member of the town- ship board, and is now vice-president of the Farmers' State Bank at Schell City. In politics he is a Democrat and in religious fel- lowship is identified with the Christian Church.
Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Pepper, viz .: Leina, who died in infancy; Mary Alice, who is now-1911-a trained nurse, at Denver, Colo; William W., James M. and Ralph Pepper, all of Park county, Montana, and Josephine, who died in Montana.
Mrs. Pepper passed away in January, 1895, and on May 28, 1903, Mr. Pepper married Margaret H. Dade, who is a native of
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St. Clair county, Missouri, and who comes of English lineage. The first representative of the Dade family in this country came from Norfolk and Suffolk counties, England, in 1652, and settled in Warwick county, Virginia. Revolutionary historical records state : "Baldwin Dade, Va., was a cadet, Continental Dragoons, 1778; Francis Dade, Va., Lieutenant, Continental Dragoons ; Robert Dade, Va., Lieutenant Third Virginia troops, 1776, and died in August same year." Several of this family served their country in later years, among them being John Dade, an uncle of Mrs. Pepper, who was in the Mexican War under General Taylor, and whose widow now-1911-lives in Schell City, and receives a government pension.
Mrs. Pepper's parents, Baldwin and Catherine (Binns) Dade, were born, the former in Old Franklin, Howard county, Missouri, November 15, 1822, and the latter in Virginia, March 13, 1825. They were married in St. Clair county, Missouri, October 15, 1845, and after their marriage lived for a time in Cedar county, where Baldwin Dade conducted a store. A little later he pre- empted a quarter section of land in St. Clair county to which he added from time to time, owning at one time 500 acres.
In 1872 he exchanged his original purchase for a tract of 270 acres in St. Clair county on the line adjoining Vernon county, and made his home there thirty-five years, till he retired and moved to Schell City.
He served in the "Home Guards" during the Civil War.
He had a family of ten children, nine of whom lived to mature years. They are : Charles W., who died leaving a family ; John, who lives in Schell City; Douglass L., of St. Clair county ; Mrs. John W. Jones, of Vernon County; Truman A. Dade, of Vernon county; Dabney C., of St. Clair county; Mrs. A. K. Rogers, of Spokane, Wash .; Mrs. Pepper; Willoughby S., of Willow Springs, Mo., and Osceola B. Dade, of St. Clair county. One child died in infancy. Baldwin Dade died September 24, 1903, and his widow passed away April 5, 1908.
George W. Petty, M. D., a Kentuckian by birth, was born in Lancaster, Garrard county, October 14, 1850, and is a son of Garrod Scott and Elizabeth (Huffman) Petty, the former of Scotch-Irish descent, and the latter of German lineage, and both natives of Kentucky. The father was born in 1805 and died
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in 1865, and the mother born in 1815, passed away in 1866. Our subject's paternal grandparents, John and Patsy (Petty) Petty removed from Virginia to Kentucky and both died there in 1807. They had a family of four sons and one daughter, of whom the three eldest sons left Kentucky, with the purpose of settling in Texas, and were never afterward heard from, and it is supposed they were massacred. Our subject's maternal grandparents, Wil- liam and Elizabeth (Jackman) Huffman, reared a family of five children, among whom were lawyers and physicians, and all of whom left descendants in the home state. Dr. Albert G. Huff- man, who settled at Peabody, Kansas, and died there in the nineties.
George W. was educated in private schools in his native place and at Franklin Institute, where he was graduated with the class of 1864. Later he pursued a medical course at Kansas City Medical College, where he was graduated with the class of 1890, and still later, in 1904, received a post-graduate degree from the Chicago Polyclinic Institute. Dr. Petty began his professional career at Metz, in Vernon county, Missouri, in 1886, and re- moved thence to Nevada, his present home, in 1905. Prior to entering the medical profession, Dr. Petty had been engaged in the drug business at Metz some twelve years, and continued it in connection with his practice till 1903. He came to Metz in 1874, and for some years was the only merchant there, and lived there when the location of the village was changed to its present site on the Missouri and Pacific railroad, where he erected the first building. Dr. Petty was a charter member of the Metz Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church (South), of Nevada. Dr. Petty has been twice married. His first wife, whom he mar- ried at Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1874, was Mary Alice, daughter of Mr. E. C. Lynch, of Kentucky. She died in 1883, leaving one child, now Mrs. Lutie, widow of the late William McKee. She resides in Nevada and is an instructor in Cottey College. On August 12, 1885, Dr. Petty married Miss Mary A. Swearingen, a daughter of Newton and Ann Swearingen, of Metz.
Joseph C. Phelps is an influential citizen of Deerfield town- ship, Vernon county, Missouri. He was born in Madison county, Kentucky, June 9, 1850. and is the seventh child of a family of
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thirteen children (of whom nine are now living, 1911) born to Jonathan and Mary A. (Richardson) Phelps. The father was born September 17, 1811. With his wife he removed from Ken- tucky, their native state, to Missouri, in 1838, but soon afterward returned to Kentucky and there taught school and followed his trade as a gunsmith till 1853. He then settled on a farm with his family in Jackson county, Missouri, and lived there till 1867, when he moved to Howard county, having then a family of seven boys and six girls.
In 1879 he bought and settled on a farm of forty acres in Center township, Vernon county, and carried on farming till his decease, November 28, 1891, being especially interested in the breeding of cattle, horses and mules. He was a man greatly respected in the community and an elder and worthy member. of the Christian Church. His widow survived till 1900. Her father, Jack Richardson, served in the War of 1812, and was in the battle of Tippecanoe. Joseph C. had good educational priv- ilege, and attended school up to his twenty-second year and was graduated from the high school of Roanoke, in Howard county, Missouri. He lived with his parents till he was twenty-six years of age, then went to Texas on account of impaired health, and on his return settled in Vernon county, whither his father and family had moved. In 1890 Mr. Phelps bought and settled on a farm of eighty acres in section thirteen, Deerfield township, where he has since made his home with his family. Mr. Phelps has been a successful teacher and has spent thirty-one years of his life in that occupation. In Vernon county he has served two years as a member of the township board, two years as clerk and assessor and was a member of the Farmers' Alliance, when that organization existed. In political principles he is a progres- sive Democrat. On December 22, 1880, Mr. Phelps married Miss Mary K. Short, a daughter of Mr. Daniel Short, a native of Ken- tucky. Mrs. Pehlps was born in Kentucky May 14, 1858. To Mr. and Mrs. Phelps have been born four children, viz. : Georgia B .; born June 13, 1882; Shelton. J., born October 7, 1884; Roy Kesler, born December 21. 1888, and William J., born March 14, 1891. The eldest son, Shelton J., is superintendent of the schools at Mountain Grove, Mo. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps are faithful mem- bers of the Christian Church.
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William T. Phillips, who has been a resident of Vernon county, Missouri, more than thirty-five years, was born in Adams county, Ohio, June 11, 1846, and is the third child of a family of nine children (of whom six are now living, 1911) born to Henry and Elizabeth (Templer) Phillips. The father was a prosperous farmer in Adams county, Ohio ; was formerly from Louden county, Virginia ; a man of influence, in early life a Whig and a Repub- lican, after the organization of that party in 1856, and for forty years a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died in 1882. William T. acquired his education in the com- mon schools of his native place. After the opening of the Civil War he entered the army as a private in Company H, Fifth regiment Ohio Volunteers, and went with his regiment to Chica- mauga. He was in the Eight Days' Battle at Atlanta, Ga., and on July 22, 1864, was severely wounded in the thigh, but after being one month in the hospital, he was able to rejoin his regi- ment and was with Sherman in his "March to the Sea." The regiment was afterwards in provost service at Savannah, Ga., and continued thus occupied till sent to Washington to take part in the grand review, after which it was sent to Louisville, Ky., and mustered out. As a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, Mr. Phillips has attended four national encampments, held at Kansas City, Cincinnati, Columbus, O., and St. Louis, respectively.
Soon after returning from the war, Mr. Phillips settled in Bates county, Missouri, and there on November 5, 1872, married Miss Susan Willis. In 1875 he moved with his family to Vernon county and settled in Moundville, and during the next ten years was engaged in the hedge business.
In 1889 he was appointed postmaster by President Harrison, and served in that capacity nineteen years. He has been twenty- four years a member of the school board and has served two terms as justice of the peace. Mrs. Phillips has had five commissions as a notary public. To Mr. and Mrs. Phillips have been born eight children, viz. : J. Howard, born September 29, 1875 ; Blanche, born December 30, 1877 ; Merrill, born May 1, 1880; Sophia, born October 30, 1882; Edmonds, born March 2, 1885; Mabel, born November 2, 1888; Thomas H., born October 15, 1890, and Frances, born May 12, 1893.
March 24, 1910. Mrs. Susan Phillips died, and on October 5,
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1910, Mr. Phillips was again united in marriage with Mary A. Jones, of Sheldon, Mo.
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John Phipps was born and reared in Cole county, Illinois. Thomas Phipps, his father, was a native of Ohio, and an agri- culturist by occupation. He died in Illinois in 1880, leaving. besides his widow, who was formerly Miss Eva Harter, also of Ohio nativity, eight children to mourn his loss, seven sons and one daughter. In 1869 Mr. John Phipps became located in Vernon county, and here now owns an excellent farm. In 1872 Mr. Phipps was married to Miss Judith Longacre, originally from Cooper county, Missouri, and to them six children have been given : Minnie, Thomas, Henry, Sallie, Bennie and John.
Ernest D. Piercey, a native of Missouri, was born in Green county, August 5, 1882. He is of Scotch-Irish lineage, and is the second child of a family of five children born to John R. and Mary (Darnell) Piercey, natives of Laclede and Nodaway coun- ties, Missouri, respectively. Their other children are Virgil M., of Altoona, Kansas; Rosa, the wife of Mr. George Weyman, of Gar- field, Wash .; May, who is married to Mr. Henry Canaday, of Spokane, Wash .; and Irvin L. Piercey, of St. Charles, Mo. Our subject's paternal grandfather, Zadock Piercy, was a pioneer settler of Laclede county and died there in 1901, at the age of ninety years.
His maternal grandfather, Nelson L. Darnell, moved from Virginia, his native state, to Marysville, Nodaway county, Mis- souri. He came thence to Vernon county more than a quarter of a century ago, and settled in Deerfield township, where he built and for several years operated a saw mill. He afterwards went to Carthage, Mo., and there passed away, in 1903, at the age of eighty-five years. His wife's maiden name was Mary Ellen Rogers.
Ernest D. attended the public schools at Nevada, and while vet a boy began his training for the work to which he has since devoted himself, first in the employ of Mr. G. P. Kaupp, a gardener and greenhouse proprietor, and later was employed in the same line of work at Iola, Kan. On December 12, 1910, he took charge of what was known as the Weltmer Greenhouse, near the western limits of Nevada, the name of which was changed
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by the present owner, Mr. Frank R. Roe, to the Volcano Green- house. Mr. Piercey is thoroughly qualified by years of ex- perience and study for his line of work and takes delight in it, and under his wise management the business of which he has charge has shown most gratifying results. Mr. Piercy has de- voted much time to local military affairs, and as a member of Company H, Second Regiment, National Guards of Missouri, since April, 1901, has served three years as a private, six months as corporal, then as sergeant, and now holds the rank of second lieutenant. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
December 25, 1909, he was united in marriage with Miss Jessie M. Purcell, a daughter of James M. and Emma (Wol- ford) Purcell, of Sheldon, Vernon county, and natives of Vir- ginia and Illinois, respectively. There was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest D. Piercy a son, Ernest Clare, on April 10, 1911.
Mrs. Piercey is next to the youngest of five children, the others being, William E. Purcell, of Sheldon; Josie E. who is married to Mr. Arlie Taylor. of Rich Hill, Mo .; Lottie V., the wife of Mr. Frank Raper, of Iantha, Mo., and Annie L., who lives in Sheldon.
Albert A. Pitcher, who settled in Nevada, Vernon county, Missouri, about 1865, when the place was but a struggling ham- let, was an active factor in her material development and busi- ness life until his decease in 1878. He was of English lineage and was born in Herkimer county, New York, and was one of a family of two boys and two girls born to Dr. Almond and Julia (Holmes) Pitcher, who were natives of Gouverneur, N. Y. His brother Orville Pitcher lives in England, and the sisters, Cor- delia and Ann, are both deceased.
Responding to the call of President Lincoln for men, he en- listed and organized a company of cavalry, and entered the service as lieutenant and soon was made captain, and was later promoted to the rank of major, his command being sent to New Orleans, where he served as post marshal for some time. His regiment being the Thirty-fifth New York Volunteers, and served with distinction till the close of the war. After his discharge he took up his residence at Nevada, and engaged in business as a druggist, and also operated somewhat extensively in real estate.
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buying and selling, and made the subdivision known as Pitcher's Addition to Nevada, a well-known part of the city.
Mr. Pitcher was one of the men who had strong faith in the future of Nevada, and who wrought manfully toward the accom- plishment of their high hopes, but who did not live to see their full realization, though others have enjoyed the fruits of their labors. He was a kind-hearted, generous-souled man, sociable, hospitable and charitable, withal, and in all his intercourse and dealings with others, was actuated by high ideals and manly motives that won for him universal confidence and esteem, so that his passing away was mourned as a severe loss to the then young city.
In 1859 he was united in marriage with Miss Angeline Wight, whose family is of Welsh descent, and who is a sister of the honorable S. A. Wight, of Nevada. Of two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Pitcher, Ethel was married to Mr. Mark E. Harrison, deceased, late of Nevada, and now resides at home with her mother and has two children, Madaline and Ralph; and Mary Louise is deceased.
George W. Poage was a native of Pocahontas county, Vir- ginia, born April 14, 1819, the son of George and Betsy Poage, nee Beard. who were also Virginians by birth. The former was an agriculturist by calling and died at the old homestead; his widow departed this life in 1868, in Daviess county, Missouri. Ten children had blessed their union, six boys and four girls, and of this number George W. was the seventh child. He was reared on a farm and to the common school education which he received was added a two-years' training at Hillsboro Academy, which he left well prepared to enter at once upon the arena of daily toil. Up to the outbreak of the war he was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, but at that time enlisted in Company I, Nine- teenth Virginia Cavalry, under Col. Wm. L. Jackson, in Stonewall Jackson's brigade. He served until hostilities ceased, taking part in almost all the most severe engagements, miraculously escaping several times uninjured when his clothes were pierced by bullets. May 10, 1865, he surrendered at Lewisburg, W. Va. Mr. Poage soon returned to his home in Virginia, from whence he came to this county in 1869. In 1847 Miss Cornelia M. Hinchman became
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his wife, and to them six children were born, two of whom sur- vived, Fannie V. and Ida J.
Homer M. Poage, an active member of the bar of Vernon county, Missouri, is of Irish-English ancestry. His great-grand- father, Thomas Poage, immigrated from Ireland to Virginia, thence moved to Kentucky, and in the early part of the nine- teenth century settled in Monroe county, Missouri, where he lived many years and passed his last days. Homer M. was born in Scotland county, Missouri, May 30, 1873, to John and Elmyra (Marmaduke) Poage, natives of Monroe and Shelby counties, respectively. The father was a pioneer circuit rider of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), and experienced many hardships in the early days. He departed this life in 1882, leav- ing his widow who still survives-1911. Her father, James Mar- maduke, who was of English lineage, moved from Virginia, his native state, to Shelby county, Missouri, in the early forties and passed his active life there in the mercantile business. Homer M. is the eldest of a family of three children, the others being Ethel, who is married to Mr. Joseph B. Cousley, of Nevada, Mo., and John, who lives in Lexington, Mo.
Our subject acquired his education in the public schools of Nevada, and there studied law under the direction of Mr. Horace H. Blanton, and on December 31, 1899, passed his examination and was admitted to the Vernon county bar. He at once began the practice of his profession and has continued uninterruptedly since with gratifying success. Since 1908 Mr. Poage has served as city counselor.
Mr. Poage is actively identified with various fraternal and benevolent orders, being a Knight Templar, and a member of the Knights of Pythias, and Modern Woodmen of America, In religious faith Mr. Poage is affiliated with the Centenary Metho- dist Episcopal Church (South) of Nevada, and takes a lively interest in whatever tends to the betterment of his fellows.
Henry Pond,* a leading citizen of Metz, Vernon county, Mis- souri, was born in Statesville, Iredell county, North Carolina. July 18, 1866, and is the fifth child of a family of eight children born to Thomas J. and Margaret E. (Shufford) Pond, the former born near Norfolk in South Hampton county, Virginia, in 1829.
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and the latter near Statesville, North Carolina, of German par- entage. At the age of seven years, Thomas J. Pond was "bound out" to a Mr. Gavel, a cabinet maker, of Petersburg, Va., of whom he learned the cabinet maker's trade and with whom he worked till he attained his majority. He then went to States- ville, N. C., and began life on his own account. His first employ- ment was doing the inside finishing work of Concord Female College of that city, and there he met and became acquainted with her who, two years later, became his wife. After his marriage he built a shop on two acres of land which he bought in the outskirts of Statesville, and there gave his attention to the undertaking business, employing seven men in his shop and having charge of most of the burials in three adjoining counties. " Selling his business in 1868, he moved to Pleasant Hill, Mo., and the following spring, went to Pleasant Valley (now Old Metz) and opened a cabinet and undertaking shop. He conducted this business till new Metz was established, in 1890, then moved his shop thither, and there carried on the business till 1900, when he retired and moved to Tulsa, Okla., whence he returned to Metz, in 1904, and there died.
He belonged to the Masonic Order, and in 1876 united with the Christian Church. His wife is also deceased. Of their chil- dren, one died in North Carolina, at the age of three years, two died in Vernon county, one at the age of eight and the other at the age of sixteen years, and one, Hugh, died at Tulsa, Okla., in 1908, at the age of twenty-three. Those surviving, besides our subject, are William M., of Portia, Cal., Mrs. Jennie Baze, of Tulsa, Okla., and Mrs. Belle Ward, of Maunford, Okla.
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