USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County, Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume II > Part 85
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Mr. Haun was married, December 22, 1907, to Juanita Staley, a daugh- ter of Weldon E. and Angie (Evans) Staley. Her father was a son of Alfred and Lucinda (Brower) Staley, and was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, July 9, 1840. His father represented his county in the Legislature of North Carolina, and was a very prominent member of that body. In 1847 his parents moved westward, making the long overland jour- ney to Clinton county, Missouri, and in 1849 settled in Greene county, this state, where Weldon E. grew to manhood and has since resided. His father died in 1852. Weldon E. Staley spent his boyhood days on the farm and he began life for himself as a merchant at Cave Spring, which business he followed successfully there until 1878, and since that time has devoted himself exclusively to farming and stock raising, starting in Cass township with one hundred and ninety acres, and, prospering by good management and close application, he has added to his holdings until he now owns about three hundred acres of valuable land, constituting one of the most desirable farms in the northern part of Greene county, where he is regarded as a substantial and worthy citizen and is a man of influence for the general good of his community. He and Angie C. Evans were married, January 21, 1861. She is a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Evans, a honored old family of Greene county. Her parents were also natives of North Carolina, and were among the early immigrants to Greene county. To Weldon E. Staley and wife ten children have been born, named as follows: William
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W .. commonly known as "Major;" Mollie, Dollie, Fannie, J. Horace, Joseph A., Katherine, Bunch E., Effie, and Jaunita, the latter the youngest and the wife of the subject of this sketch.
To Mr. and Mrs. Haunt two children have been born, namely : Edward Staley, and George Robert.
Politically, Mr. Haun is a Democrat, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church at Walnut Springs.
JOHN A. STEINERT.
A farmer when he has raised his crop has performed only half his duty ; the other half is selling, which determines his profit for the year's work. It is just as important for the agricultural producer to know what the markets are as it is for the lumberman, the coal and ore producers, or the manufacturer to know what his goods are worth in the market and what competition he must meet in his selling. In some places it has been found possible to organize farming territories into zones of distribution and to control the output in such a way as to prevent congestion and wasteful prices by overcrowding the markets and in other ways. It stands to reason that such associations have unlimited power compared to the individual. One of the farmers of Wilson township, Greene county, who is not only a man who knows how to make his land produce well, but how to find ready markets for his varied products, is John A. Steinert.
Mr. Steinert was born in Stone county, Missouri, January 28, 1876. He is a son of Charles A. and Mattie (Cantrell) Steinert, the father a native of Germany and the mother was born in Dade county, Missouri. Charles A. Steinert spent his boyhood in his native land. immigrating to America when sixteen years of age. After spending a short time in New York he came on to Dade county, Missouri, where he was married and later located in Stone county, where he engaged in general farming, owning one hundred and sixty acres. His family consisted of four children, namely : Thomas lives in Greene county; Tinie is the wife of Silas Price and they live in Stone county ; William L. lives in Greene county, and John A., of this sketch. The parents of these children are both deceased.
John A. Steinert grew to manhood on the home farm in Stone county, and received a limited education in the district schools. When fifteen years of age he went to work for Lewis Hendrix, a farmer, with whom he re- mained four years, then hired to a Mr. Cox for a year, then worked for John Inman on his farm for a period of twelve years. He saved his money and finally purchased the old Yarbrough farin in Wilson township. It con-
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sists of one hundred and twenty acres, and he has placed it under excellent improvements and a fine state of cultivation. On it may be seen a good home and numerous outbuildings. The place is free from all indebtedness. The prosperity that has attended Mr. Steinert's efforts has been well de- served. He is a hard worker and takes a delight in general farming and stock raising.
On March 24, 1897, Mr. Steinert was married to Rosie Yarbrough, a native of Greene county, where she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is a daughter of Jerome B. Yarbrough, who was a well-known citizen of this county. He was a veteran of the Civil war. He served four years as a member of Company B, Twenty-fourth Missouri Volunteer Infantry, was a brave and faithful soldier and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. He served two terms as deputy sheriff of Greene county. Mr. Yarbrough has been deceased for several years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Steinert four children were born, named as follows : Mamie is attending the State Normal school at Springfield; Edreal, Sylvia and Paul are all at home and are studying agriculture.
Politically, Mr. Steinert is a Democrat in national affairs, but often votes independently in local elections. His wife is a member of the Christ- ian church.
FRANKLIN T. BISHOP.
There are few more inspiring aphorisms in our tongue than Emerson's famous "Hitch your wagon to a star." Posterity is indebted to the Sage of Concord for the crisp and noble counsel so universally needed. The privilege belongs to us all of gearing our lives up to lofty motives, of glorify- ing our commonplace and prosaic days with ideal sentiments and aspirations. There is happy suggestion likewise in reversing the good advice, to sense its truth from a slightly different angle. It is just as good philosophy, and in many ways even more helpful, to read the words "Hitch your stars to your wagon." In other terms let the infinite forces help you. join with you in tugging your particular load up the hill, harness the mightiest power in the world to your human necessities. The life of Franklin T. Bishop, proprie- tor of beautiful "Clover Dale Farm" in Wilson township, Greene county, would indicate that he has ever striven to live up to high ideals and direct his efforts along well regulated lines, and therefore material success has at- tended his efforts and at the same time he has established a reputation for right thinking and wholesome living, and what necessarily f "lows-good citizenship.
Mr. Bishop was born in Cumberland county. New Jersey, March 7,
1
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1862. He is a son of Horace and Phoebe (Housted) Bishop. The father was for many years engaged extensively in oyster raising on the Atlantic coast, and owned an interest in a large oyster vessel, with a crew of six men. He also owned a farm in that state.
Mr. Bishop, of this sketch, grew to manhood in his native state and received his education in Cedarville, New Jersey, attending school during the winter months and during the crop season worked on the home farm until he was eighteen years of age, when he left home to seek his fortune in the great West. He selected the state of Nebraska, where he took up a claim of three hundred and twenty acres, which he homesteaded and on which he spent twenty-three years, developing it into a fine farm and there he prospered with advancing years, and added to his original holdings until he owned one thousand acres. He traded the entire amount for an - excellent farm of four hundred and eighty acres in Kansas, and removed to the Sunflower state, continuing general farming with his former success for two years, then traded his farm there for Missouri land, in Mercer county, which he subsequently sold, and moved to Greene county, this state, where he now resides, and is now owner of a finely improved and produc- tive farm of two hundred acres in Wilson township, on which he has an attractive residence and numerous substantial, convenient and modernly appointed outbuildings. He raises a diversity of crops common to this latitude, but in connection with general farming he specializes in dairying, in poultry raising and handling blooded horses, and in one of the best-known and most successful stockmen in the western part of the county. His place is known as "Clover Dale Farm." He has a large herd of cows of an ex- cellent quality, and he keeps his barn in a sanitary condition, and looks to the w ."-being and comfort of his stock at all seasons. His dairy products are all taken by a Springfield concern. Mr. Bishop also specializes in poul- try raising, and does an extensive business in this line, keeping a large number of best breed of chickens, in the proper care of which he is well versed and is properly equipped for this work, and he also finds a very ready market for all his products in this department in Springfield. He is an admirer of good live stock of all kinds, especially horses, and he keeps a very fine herd of registered Percherons, including at this writing a stallion and four mares. His fine stock is greatly admired by all who sees it.
Mr. Bishop has been twice married, first, in Mediapolis. Iowa, to Mary Bridges, and to this union eight children were born, seven of whom are living in Greene county, Missouri. The wife and mother passed away on May 7, 1910. and October 11, 1911, he married Etta Huffman, a daughter of Frank and Mary Huffman, formerly of Kentucky.
The following are our subject's children, all by his first wife: Phoebe
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A., Gladys M., Ora M., Floy, Frank T., Laura K., Chester and Casper (de- ceased ).
Politically, Mr. Bishop is a friend of prohibition, and religiously he and Mrs. Bishop are Christian Scientists.
MARVIN H. SOUTHWORTH.
Industry, uprightness and intelligence are characteristics which will advance the interests of any man, and will tend to the prosperity to which all aspire. Such are some of the traits of Marvin H. Southworth, for forty years a well known contractor of Springfield and one of the most successful in southwest Missouri in his vocation. He has lived to see and take part in the latter day development of the Queen City in which he has ever mani- fested a just pride, and although he is now past his allotted three score and ten he is still active and in full possession of his faculties, as everyone should be in old age, if they have been fortunate enough to escape the untoward accidents which fate sometimes sends. He hails from the old Empire state and has evidently inherited many of the sterling characteristics of his Yankee ancestors.
Mr. Southworth was born, May 10, 1842, in Gowanda, Cattaraugus county, New York. He is a son of Aaron and Deborah (Barnes) South- worth. The father was a native of Steuben county, New York, where he grew to manhood, was educated in the public schools and there began life as a farmer which vocation he followed through life. Leaving New York state he came west in 1848 and located in Springfield, Missouri, and here continued farming with his usual success until his death in 1850. The mother of our subject was born in the state of Vermont, from which state she removed with her parents when a child to Gowanda, New York, where she and Aaron Southworth were married. Her death occurred in 1851. To these parents the following children were born: Mary Louisa, widow of Isaac Davis, she died in Springfield, April 16, 1912; Helen, who married Byron Van Vleit of western New York, died in 1889, leaving one chiid, Roy; Finette, who lives in Silver Creek, New York, married, first Edwin Brooks, by whom she had one child, Burk, and later married Byron Van Vleit, who had first married her sister, Helen, and two children were born to her second marriage, Lovie and Bessie; Marion H., of this review.
Mr. Southworth, of this sketch, grew to manhood on the home farm in the old Empire state and there assisted with the general work in the summer, and during the winter months he attended the common schools of his vicinity. He was first married in 1863 to Maria Welch, of western New
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York, and one of his school mates; her death occurred in 1909. To this union one child was born, Nellie, whose death occurred on August 1, 1895, at the age of eighteen years. On March 29, 1911, our subject married Mrs. Carrie L. Hevern, of Plymouth, Indiana, widow of Charles Hevern. She is a daughter of William R. Haskett, a farmer of that community, but he and his wife are both deceased; their family consisted of ten children.
Mr. Southworth was twenty-five years of age when he came to Spring- field, Missouri, about the close of the Civil war, and this has been his home ever since, consequently he has seen and taken part in the development of the city from a small town to the capital of the Ozarks. He here took up the trade of stone mason, and has been a city contractor for a period of forty years, being associated in this business with John Cowell, a well- known citizen here for twenty years. He is one of the most widely known contractors in southwest Missouri and he has laid the foundations of most of the important buildings in Springfield. Besides the court house there was but one brick building in the city when he came here. After the building season was over and during his first winter in Springfield, he sawed wood for Prof. J. Fairbanks, the supervising editor of this history. He was for a time engaged in the dry goods business in later years, a member of the firm of Hirsch, Southworth & Mack. He has been very successful as a business man and now in his old age he finds himself in possession of a comfortable competency and also enjoying the esteem of all who know him as a result of his industrious, public-spirited and honorable life.
Politically. Mr. Southworth is a Republican. He is a charter member of the local lodge of Knights of Pythias. He has been a member of Grace Methodist Episcopal church for a period of forty years, and has been active in its affairs. He was for some time chairman of its building committee, and has been honored with most all the offices of this church.
ERNST KEMMLING.
Greene county has furnished comfortable homes for many of the enterprising citizens hailing from the great German empire, who have been settling within her borders since early pioneer days when the land was still the home of various tribes of Indians, the Osages, Delawares and Kicka- poos, and also the haunts of many specie of wild denizens of the far- stretching forests. We have always welcomed the Germans or any of the people from her provinces, and this has been as it should be, for they have been courageous and not afraid of hard work and have been of untold assistance to us in clearing the fertile soil of its heavy timber of oak, hickory.
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walnut, ash and other hardwoods; and they, too, have helped build our substantial dwellings, convenient business blocks and imposing public build- ings. One of this sturdy class is Ernst Kemmling, who has resided on the outskirts of Springfield for a period of thirty-seven years, where he started in a modest way and in due course of time became owner of a vast tract of valuable land.
Mr. Kemmling was born in Germany, November 6, 1846. He is a son of Henry and Caroline (Hinkle) Kemmling, both natives of Germany also, where they grew up, were married and established their home, and there the father engaged in sheep raising for wool, principally.
To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kemmling seven children were born, namely: Henry and Augusta are both deceased; Carroll lives in Germany; Minnie is deceased; Ernest, subject of this sketch; Lena lives in Germany; and the youngest died in infancy.
Our subject remained with his father until he was twenty-one years. of age, at which time he was drafted into the Prussian army, and he served three years in the regular army, and was a soldier for a year in the great Franco-Prussian war, seeing a great deal of hard service, including the sanguinary battle of Cravalett, which lasted two days in the middle of a hot August, and in which engagement the Prussians lost thirty thousand men and the French thirty-two thousand men. Our subject was also before Metz for six weeks, where the French surrendered to the Prussians. The war was concluded July 4, 1871; Mr. Kemmling was honorably discharged from the service. He remained in his native land until December 27, 1871, when he sailed from the Fatherland for the New World, coming straight to Steubenville, Ohio, where he remained five years, during which he was employed by the Jefferson Iron Company. Leaving there he came to Springfield, Missouri, in March, 1877, and bought eighty acres of railroad land on which he settled and went to work. By close application, economy and good management he prospered with advancing years and added to his original purchase from time to time until he became owner of five hundred acres of good land, and ranked among the most enterprising and successful agriculturists of Greene county. He has been living on his present place. many years, near the north end of Campbell street. but of late years he has not been so active as formerly, merely overseeing his estate and engaging in trucking and gardening on a small scale and is now practically retired. He has accumulated considerable other property which he looks after, in- cluding a splendid home. He is certainly deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has accomplished since coming here, alone and unaided and with but little capital with which to start.
Mr. Kemmling was married in his native province on September 4.
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1867, to Minnie Meke, a native of Germany and a daughter of Louis and Charlotte (Henze) Meke, both natives of Germany, where they grew up. married and settled, and to them seven children were born, all of whom are now deceased except the wife of our subject.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Kemmling four sons were born, named as follows: Ernest L., Henry and August, all prosperous farmers of Greene county ; and John, who lives in Oregon on a farm, where he is doing well also.
Mr. Kemmling was for many years a member of the German Veterans. He has been a Democrat for the past thirty-seven years, and he and his wife belong to the German Evangelical church. They are well liked in their neighborhood, being hospitable, neighborly and honest in all their intercouse with the world.
HENDRY BAXTER.
Diversified farming in its truest sense calls for a methodical practice of a thorough rotation of crops, and three main points are to be kept in mind. First, the raising of paying crops ; that is, crops that will of themselves return good revenues to the farmer. Secondly, good crops must be raised with which to feed the live stock of whatever nature it may be. Thirdly, it is necessary to keep up a rotation of crops to meet these needs during the whole year, and consideration must be given also in this rotation to the improve- ment and maintenance of the fertility of the soil of the farm. All this is clearly understood and successfully carried out by Hendry Baxter, of Wilson township, Greene county, who, with thrift and foresight characteristic of the Scotch wherever they cast their lot, has by his own efforts become one of our best tillers of the soil and leading dairymen.
Mr. Baxter was born in Glasgow, Scotland, December 16, 1867. He is a son of David and Love (Cuthbertson) Baxter, both also natives of that city and country, where they grew to maturity, were educated, married and established their home. To them eleven children were born, six sons and five daughters.
Hendry Baxter was reared in his native city and there received fairly good educational training. He first came to America and a year later the entire family finally set sail for our shores, when our subject was nineteen years of age. The parents came to Greene county, Missouri, and settled on the farm of J. Peachers, which place consisted of eighty acres and here became well established through their industry and economy. Our subject first went to Eureka Springs. Arkansas, where he spent a year, then joined the rest of the family in Greene county, where he worked at farming, and
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when twenty-six years old he made the long trip back to Scotland for the sweetheart of his boyhood and in the city of Edinburg was married to Ellen Russell Gibson, a daughter of James and Elizabeth Gibson, both natives of Scotland, and there Mrs. Baxter grew to womanhood and received her edu- cation. Our subject stayed seven and one-half years in the United States before going back to Scotland. After his return from Scotland, he rented for nine years and then purchased the place where he now resides. He has worked hard, managed well and has made a good living and brought his farm up to a fine state of productivity and has a comfortable home. He is making a specialty of dairy farming and is now milking twenty-eight cows of a good grade of Jerseys. All his products are of a high quality and are sold direct to one concern in Springfield. He understands thoroughly the various phases of dairying and keeps his cows healthy and well cared for, everything about his place is sanitary and he believes in a "place for every- thing and everything in its place." He has made all his own improvements.
To Mr. Baxter and wife five children have been born, namely: Eliza- beth, David, James, William, all living at home; and one who died in infancy. Our subject's father and mother are both deceased; the mother of his wife is living, but the father died when our subject's wife was quite young. Our subject and family are members of the United Presbyterian church, and they stand high in the community throughout which they are well known.
CLAUDIUS ELSBERRY TREVITT.
In presenting the biographical memoir of this well-remembered gentle- man, whose life was that of a high-grade man, of noble ideals and laudable ambitions, it is believed that the youthful reader, whose destinies are yet matters for future years to determine, will be much benefited and ~cour- aged, for his was a life that made for success because of the honorable principles he employed in dealing with his fellow men and because of the many admirable qualities he possessed which made his daily- walk one worthy to be emulated. It is no easy matter to achieve a high degree of success in any calling in this age of strenuous endeavor and sharp competition, and when an individual succeeds in severa' vocations, as did the late C. E. Trevitt, for many years one of the leading citizens of Ash Grove. Greene county, he wins the admiration of all.
Mr. Trevitt was born in Greene county, Tennessee, November 3, 1857, and was a son of James F. and Locaddie ( Ripley) Trevitt. The father was a man of influence in public affairs. He spent his earlier life in Tennessee,
CLAUDIU'S E. TREVITT, Deceased.
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but removed to Georgia in the latter sixties and represented his county in the state Legislature.
Claudius E. Trevitt grew to manhood in the South and received a very good education in the public schools and Tecumseh College in Tennessee. He went to Georgia when about sixteen years of age, and remained in that state three years. In 1878 he came to Greene county, Missouri, locating on a farm just east of Ash Grove and worked on various farms for about three years, thien engaged in the furniture business in Ash Grove for about ten years, after which he devoted his attention to the grocery and hardware business, also dealt in real estate. He was very successful in all these lines of endeavor and built up a large business in each, having the confidence of the community by reason of his honest and straightforward dealings. He continued a very busy man until 1912 when he was compelled to retire from active life on account of failing health, and he continued to decline until he was summoned to close his eyes on earthly scenes on April 21, 1914.
Mr. Trevitt was married on January 25, 1880, to Nora McCrory, who was born in Louisiana, July 12, 1861, a daughter of James and Mary E. (Moss) McCrory. The father of Mrs. Trevitt was born in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, in 1829, and was a son of William and Mary (Hub- bard) McCrory. His father was born in Ireland, December 25, 1792, and from that country emigrated to America in an early day, finally establishing his home in Wilkinson county, Mississippi, where his death occurred in 1843. His mother was a native of Tennessee and died in 1829 when he was an infant. James McCrory grew to manhood in his native state and was educated in the common schools there. and was engaged in farming until he removed to Louisiana. He remained there until 1867, most of the time farming in Catahoula parish. He then came to Illinois but soon thereafter came on to Missouri and stayed a year in Saline county, and then removed to Greene and located on a farm where he spent the balance of his life, three miles east of Ash Grove. His fine farm consisted of one hundred and seventy acres. He was one of the successful general farmers and stock raisers of this section of the county. He was one of the first in his section of the county to help organize a grange in 1874. Mr. McCrory was married in 1855 to Mary E. Moss, daughter of George Moss, Esq., of Wilkinson county, Mississippi. Mrs. McCrory died February 14. 1868. They reared a family of three children all of whom grew to maturity, married and located in Greene county. Mr. McCrory's death occurred in 1902. Mrs. Trevitt grew to womanhood on the home farm in Greene county and received her education in the public schools ..
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